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Chapter 2: The Second Son Saga [Fantasy, - 5485 words]
2024.05.28 03:03 Spike_Flings Chapter 2: The Second Son Saga [Fantasy, - 5485 words]
This idea came to me in college and I've sort of played around with it over the years. I would appreciate any constructive criticism, especially focused on the prose and characters. This would be the introductory chapter of one of the main characters, Karl Klug, who is an important noble in his country. I hope you enjoy!
KARL 1
Three men stood beneath a great oak branch, hands bound and nooses pulled tight around their necks. The branches connected to a mighty tree, old as the mountains themselves. The men were all silent, as were the other corpses gently swinging in the morning breeze. The air was still cold from the dew, not yet banished by the still rising sun.
“If you have anything left to say, now would be the time.” Karl Klug, Lord of the Wald said as he eyed them with disgust from the back of his chestnut horse destrier. He sat tall in the saddle, his close cropped brown hair and clean shaven face a far cry from the ragged appearance of the condemned. His heavy, black, woolen cloak was pulled tight, the hood up to block out the wind. Under the cloak he wore a simple brown doublet, with a crest bearing the black tree on a green field that was the sigil of his house. Karl always made sure to represent House Klug when acting as Lord, as was his duty.
These men were thieves, rapists, and murderers. They attacked travelers on the roads of the Wald, and it was Karl’s duty, as Duke of the Wald and Lawspeaker to the King, to keep those roads safe. The law demanded only one punishment for their transgressions. Their fate would serve as a warning to other would-be bandits.
The first man, a stern face and hard eyes, said nothing, but spat on the ground. The second man, fat and whimpering, managed to speak out in between choked sobs “Please m’lord. Mercy! They made me do it!”
The last man, a boy no older than fifteen, barked at him to be quiet. “We’re done for Ozzy. Go to the Wainman with some dignity, would you?” Such bravery in one so young. What could he have become if he followed a different path?
With that, Karl nodded to Jorivs, his household Resolver, who pulled hard on the ropes, them each one by one into the air, sending them kicking and choking into the Beyond. The second one, Ozzy, screamed and begged for his mother before the rope cut him off. Jorivs tied the final line off to a stake, while Wolter, his barber-surgeon companion, scribbled something down in a book. “They go to their doom in all different spirits, yet they all dance the hangman’s jig just the same.” He said as he turned a page.
“Amazing the lessons they teach at Spierpont.” Jorvis chuckled as the last pair of legs stopped kicking. “Shame Lemba couldn’t join us.”
“The Elf has seen his fair share of death. Let him enjoy his peace.”
“I only jest, my lord.” Jorvis said as he took a sip from his canteen. He motioned for Wolter to take a drink, but the older man was too busy furiously scribbling in his notebook to notice.
Karl looked to the east. The dawn was still cresting the horizon. “I’m off to the woods. I will not be disturbed.” Matilda and the children will still be sleeping. Best not to wake them with my return.
His pages nodded and replied in unison “Yes my lord.” By Karl’s standing order, Jorvis was peeling the boots of the dead men, better they should shoe a pauper than rot on the condemned. Wolter sketched the hanging men in his book, taking special care to note the lolling tongues and soiled breeches. Jorvis had the boots in a loose pile when he pulled a knife and a small pouch from his belt. “The eyes,my lord?”
He nodded grimly. “Hain will have his due.” Jorvis took a small stool and set to work, all six organs removed in a few quick flashes of the blade. Jorvis placed the grim package in its usual place on Baldur, Karl’s horse. With the bloody sack tied to his saddle, Karl rode off towards the thick forest nearby, a page in tow to hold his horse.
The page started to speak, and then stopped himself. He was a small boy, ten or eleven at the most. He had been to several executions before and not once had he been troubled by the sight of death.
Karl noticed the indecisive boy and helped him along.
“Something bothering you, Wiglaf?”
“The” came a squeak. Wiglaf cleared his throat and tried again. “The Resolver grumbles, lord. He grumbles that it would be easier to take the eyes before hanging the condemned.” He said meekly
“I know he grumbles. I know. But this is the way things are to be done. Taking their eyes before they hang is not the punishment for their crime. These men had their trial, and I sentenced them to die, not to be tortured. Do you understand, Wiglaf?”
“Aye, my lord. I understand.” Wiglaf nodded.
Wiglaf. So eager to learn but so nervous to offend. I’ll talk to his father the next time we meet.
This was the first time in months he had a chance to take in the forest. The influx in banditry in the past year had been a great source of woe not only to Karl, but to the Waldish people as a whole. They had enough to be fearful of without their fellow man adding to their problems. It had kept Karl up many nights, as he racked his brain trying to figure out the cause.
He had built roads, sick houses, held fairs, endorsed the Bard’s college, done all in his power to keep the people happy and content and quiet, and yet, there were some who still turned to crime. Why? No. Not now. Not here. Karl decided that he needed to rest his mind from constant affairs of state, and allow himself to relax before he made his offering.
They reached a clearing, and Karl dismounted. “Hitch up Baldur and rub him down. Have something to eat from my pack if you get hungry. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone this time.” The page nodded. Wiglaf, a good lad, if a bit timid at times. Weather had concealed his typical path into the great forest, but muscle memory lead his way.
He enjoyed his solitary walks in the woods, it gave him a chance to forget the woes of rulership, the frustrations of fatherhood, and the horrible curse that befell his bloodline. Now that things had quieted down with the bandits, Karl hoped he might have more time to be a husband to his wife, Matilda, and a father to their children. His three children, though nearly adults themselves, still tended to make a commotion. What they need is a firm hand. Their mother will spoil them rotten if she has her way. Karl laughed to himself. She always gets her way.
His feet knew where he was going, even if his mind did not. He always returned to the same place, no matter what direction he turned. Are the woods themselves magic, or just the creatures that inhabit it? He wondered as he found the well worn dirt path covered by a tunnel of tree limbs. The branches must have kept this clear from storms after all.
Few who entered the Wald came back alive, save for the Elves and their slaves, who usually came out in one piece. Most who walked too far past the tree line simply vanished. There were rumors, of course. Even his own grandfather had claimed that he was, in fact, the same Helm Klug that had vanished without a trace in the winter of 542. He had fallen through a tree hollow and into the myth shrouded realm of Cunnan, where time flows differently, or so the stories go. As such, though ninety-five years had passed from the time of the vanishing, Helm had only aged ten years or so.
Karl’s realm was a dangerous one, even without the recent rise of the highwaymen. To an outsider, walking alone in the duchy of the Wald was like strolling past a dark alley with coins jingling loudly. To Karl Klug, Lord of the Wald, it was like walking into his own bedroom. He had grown up here, he knew that danger lurked behind every tree, above every branch, and below every root. Not once had he seen anything like what Grandfather Helm had rambled about. No fairies or witches or traces of Hain. Still, one had to tread carefully here. Even Karl would not dare to venture in some parts of the forest, for an ancient force still had power in the dark parts of Bordrim.
I hope Hain will be pleased with my tribute. To survive here, one had to know when to fight, when to run, and when to submit. Some might call that heretical, going against the word of the church, But that was not something he wished to think about now, not when he was trying to be at peace.
The fresh air cleared his head and refreshed his spirit. Karl took a long, deep breath filling his lungs with the cold morning damp. He knew he would not be distrubed here, as none but the Duke of the Wald may travel to this part of the woodland.
He had been Duke ever since the death of his father when he was just four years old, though he had not ruled in his own right until he was fourteen. In that time, he had learned much from his regents, and his mother, who was far more capable than many made her out to be. She had taught him that most men, however pure their intentions may seem, nearly always had some ulterior motive that they wished to advance. Karl remembered that as his most valuable lesson, and it had assisted him greatly as he came of age. My father’s sycophants did not last long when I ruled in my own right.
The sound of rushing water came to his ear as he walked by the River Cember where his father had drowned. He used to intentionally go out of his way to avoid being near it, but now he barely gave it a second glance. I used to be so afraid of the water, until I understood why Father died. But by then, Mother had the Court Elf Lembe throw me in Sillac Pond. How I thrashed! It didn’t seem so scary after that. Fate is far more terrifying than any danger and far more comforting than any joy. Once you have been through the worst, everything else can be done with ease.
Karl heard a branch snap in the trees to his right, and his hand slipped to the silver coated dagger at his hip. He stood still as the trees around him, slowly moving his eyes from right to left as he looked for the source of the noise. Funny. I was afraid of harmless water for so many years when there were very real threats all around me the entire time. As long as I stay on the path, no beast would dare harm me.
There were no further noises, and judging by the humming of insects and the singing of birds, there was no real threat. Probably a stag or maybe one of Grandfather Helm’s Fae creature having a laugh at my expense. He continued walking for some time, climbing up small, rolling hills and ducking under fallen tree trunks, before reaching a final, gentle incline which led to Hidden Hill. That was where they found his older brother, Jasper, hanging from the tree at the top. That was the day his father had told him about the curse that stalked their family.
He made his way up the slope, as he had countless times before. The top of the hill was clear, save for one tree, planted by Karl’s grandfather Helm upon regaining control of the Wald after decades of Gaunt rule. His family adopted that tree, and made it part of their heraldry. A great black tree, sounded by the green of the forest.
The air seemed to resist being pulled into his lungs now. He had to unclench his teeth, relax his shoulders. He looked down at his fingers. He had scraped away the flesh near the nails on his thumbs and middle digits. How long have I been at it this time? It is difficult to relax when I am surrounded by some many painful reminders of the past. No matter how deep in this forest I walk, I cannot escape the memories that tears at me.
He kept his eyes low. Karl enjoyed seeing the blooming flowers and vibrant weeds that grew along the path he always walked. One particular group of plants caught his eye. A clover patch. The old folks said that in every clover patch, there was one particularly special sprout. And so Karl made a point to look over each and every patch he saw, even if only a passing glance.
What’s this? He said to the tiny green sprout as he crouched down for a closer look. A clover with four leaves. Lucky, lucky. Karl smiled as he plucked the clover and put it in his coin purse. And a good omen too. I know Otto will love this.
Karl continued up the path, and sat beneath the great black tree, looking out onto the castle that stood proud below in the clearing. Grey Hallow, it was called, and it was among the oldest in Bordrim, predating even the great fortresses of the Empire that many great houses now called their own. With two rings of thick, tall walls and towers covering every angle of approach, no enemy had ever successfully stormed the walls. Though a knife in the back is sometimes better than a ram at the gate, as history has proved.
Karl grabbed the now wet sack that Jorvis had provided. He quickly found a small knothole and stuffed the grisly offering side. The Dule clasped his hands together and bowed his head. “Haim, please take this offering that we may know quiet peace.” He sighed. Was Haim even real? Or just another story to make obedient children?
As Karl reclined in the unearthed roots of the black oak, he smiled. *Real or not, offerings to Haim aren’t all terrible.*This was the tree that he had married Matilda under, after he came back from the Siege of Hammerring, the last remaining Imperial stronghold in Bordrim. He had made a fortune by securing the ransoms of important Imperials, bringing House Klug from the embarrassment of near bankruptcy to extreme wealth in a single day. He had spent coins like a drunken gambler blessed with immovable luck that night, and from then on men had begun to say he was the richest man in the kingdom. I don’t know about any of that. But riches aren’t just measured in gold. Karl thought as he ran his fingers along the black bark of the tree.
Searching through the leather pack he took from his saddle, Karl grabbed the cloth that held the dried venison and cheese he had carried along for his breakfast. The castle will just be coming to life now. He thought as the sun began to climb higher in the sky. After he had broken his fast, he pulled a quill, a tightly sealed ink pot, and a piece of parchment from his sack. He began to write.
“Your smile, a joy
Your laugh, a pleasure.
When we are together,
Troubles are light as a feather.”
Karl would have a servant hide that among Matilda’s things, where she would discover it later. Even after fifteen years of marriage, Karl loved to create these little surprises for his wife, just as she loved finding his cumbersome gifts and clumsy poetry.
A long, steady drumming sounded over the tops of the trees, booming from the direction of Grey Hallow, but far beyond. In the west, birds squaked and scattered to the wind. By the cadence of their beat, Karl knew it was the Elves, come to pay their respects and receive letters of safe passage as required by the Pact. A little earlier than expected. No matter. I prefer early to late. No doubt my Chamberlain, Aldred, will have everything prepared. Karl sprang to his feet, dusted off his trousers, and rolled the dried parchment. He followed the path back to the castle at a quick pace, humming a song his Bard had sung the previous night while they slept under the stars.
The day had well and truly begun upon his return. Servants wearing the green and black of his house dashed about as their duties required. Men stood guard wearing the Great Black Tree of the Klugs on their livery. The halls were alive with chatter and the scuffing of feet. Karl knew a long line of petitioners awaited him in his hall, but everyone knew that an audience with elves took precedence over the squabbles of men. They had all heard the drums, and they would be pressed together like bees in a hive just for a glimpse of the pointy eared outlanders. Every year, young elves Elves embarked on a great journey that they called *THING* or “The Taste” in the Imperial tongue. They spent anywhere from one to one hundred years living among the mortals, learning their ways and customs. Some spent the rest of their millennia-long lives among the mortals, watching dynasties rise and fall, technological marvels stun the world, and should they be unfortunate enough to make friends or find lovers, they witness death on a scale previously unimaginable.
Lemba is due to return home by the end of the year. After seventy years of service to my family, he’s earned his rest. Perhaps one of the newcomers would like a position at court. I would very much like to continue my lessons. Karl flexed his fingers at the mere thought of magic. Outlawed in most realms of men, Karl had insisted on instruction. The training was hard and the consequences if discovered by the Church would be dire, but in a land as dangerous as the Wald, every advantage counted.
The drums boomed, growing louder as the elves approached closer. I must hurry. I cannot insult them by wearing the same clothes I just wore to an execution. Karl jogged down the path from whence he came. Wiglaf was holding Baldur by his reigns, and he snapped to attention the moment he saw Karl approach. “The drums my lo-”
“I heard. Ride ahead and have your father prepare clothing for court.”
“Right away, my lord.” The page said as he galloped away. Karl followed at a quick but more relaxed pace. No sense in appearing sweaty and exasperated for my guests. He reasoned as he rode down the winding path.
His servants were waiting at the gate for him. They grabbed their reins from Baldur, and Karl climbed down from the horse. “Andred has selected your clothing, m’lord. Right this way, if you please.” Onna, the fat seamstress said and she beckoned him to follow. She led him to the laundry, where Karl pulled the dirty articles he had worn for the execution and picked up the courtly clothing she had laid out. He pulled the white linen tunic on first and fasted it was a leather belt inlain with a large silver buckle. His slipped into brown wool trousers next and grabbed a pair of light leather boots. While I won’t appear filthy in front of my guests, high fashion is not something I care to waste my gold on.
Karl sat in his finely carved chair on the dais at the end of the hall. It sat to the right of an identical, but smaller chair where his wife sat*.* She wore a black and green dress with a modestly cut v-neck which exposed her pale skin. Her golden hair lay in one long braid along her shoulder. and her piercing blue eyes smiled back at Karl’s own green. This was the women he had fallen in love with the moment he first spoke to her. She had been less convinced, at first. While he had been the highest born of her many suitors, he had not been her first choice.
“I thought you were boring!” She would tease him later. “You barely said a word the first three times we met.”
“I was nervous.” He would reply. “You captured my heart and my wits that day in High Hibaltia.”
“Well, that wit is what won me. Perhaps I just borrowed it for a time.” She smiled.
Cleverness, justness, kindness. These are the things that make me love you.
The couple held each other's hands as they looked over the court. The chamberlain, Aldred, was quickly giving some last minute instructions to his son and another page, and they immediately scrambled to their work. Guards stood firmly at attention in front of the doors, knowing that they would be facing a hallway full of eager onlookers at any moment.
Their three children stood to the side, talking amongst themselves. Grimbold was the oldest. And doomed to die young, as my brother and uncle have. He was tall, taller than Karl even. He had the arms of a blacksmith’s apprentice and Karl’s own brown curls. He shared his mother’s sky blue eyes and slender nose, as well as her quick temper. He’ll want more responsibility soon. I’ve already denied him a squireship. Perhaps a minor position at court would assuage him.
Next to Grimbold was Charlotte, their only daughter. She too had Karl’s curly brown hair, but she wore it in a long braid, like her mother. She was just like Matilda, in fact. They were both skilled with numbers, and Charlotte’s fascination with bards rivaled Matilda’s own obsession. The two of them often pleaded with Karl to hire this performer or that one, and Duke Karl Klug, Lawspeaker of Bordrim, would not resist his girls, especially Charlotte. She had just turned fourteen, and would be expecting suitors soon. I doubt any of them would be worthy of her. The two of us share a thin patience for stupidity and love makes fools of us all. Especially this false, courtly love the Pawley’s have been peddling these last centuries.
And then there was Otto, the youngest of the three. He stood in between his brother and sister, obviously uncomfortable and being talked over. Nervous and shy, Otto had trouble making friends with children his age. He got along well enough with Wiglaf, but the two never actively sought each other out for play. Probably waiting for the other to make the first move. Karl thought to himself.
“Otto!” Karl yelled. The boy snapped nearly to attention. “Come here, lad. I have a surprise for you.” The boy warily came before his parents.
“Close your eyes and stick out your hands, Otto.” Matilda gently urged.
Otto did as he was told. “Karl dug around in his coin purse and pulled out the clover and a gold coin. He placed the two in Otto’s open palm.
His eyes beamed just before the rest of his face lit up. “Is it real?” He asked as he squealed at his gift.
“Just found it this morning. I figured, with you as my son, I already have all the luck I need.” Otto grinned wide, his missing baby teeth apparent in his otherwise toothy smirk. “Now, with that coin, I want you to find a book that we can read together. Would you like that?” “Yes, father! Yes, yes!” Otto exclaimed, almost shaking with excitement.
“Now get back to your place. The Elves will be here soon.:
“Yes, father!” Otto slipped the clover and coin into his own purse and hurried back to his siblings.
Matilda leaned over and kissed Karl on the forehead. “You’re a good man, Karl Klug.” His mind raced back to dawn, and the creaking of ropes. “I try to be, my love.” He kissed her forehead back. There was a commotion behind the doors to the hallway. It started as a low murmur, and then grew in size, becoming a roar of excitement.
Lemba, Karl’s tutor and resident Elf, took
The Elves had arrived.
Two figures, hooded in dark crimson cloaks, approached the dais. Less than a quarter of what I was told to expect. Behind them were six large, muscular, green skinned orcs bound together at wrist and ankle. Less than a tenth of what I had prepared for. Some Orcs had obviously suffered wounds in the recent past, black blood welling up through tightly wrapped bandages at shoulder, scalp, or thigh. Karl knew from past experience that were these wounds even a slight inconvenience to the Elves, the Orc would be killed with no more pity than lame donkey.
The two cloaked figures marched in a praticed cadence as they moved towards the Duke and Duchess. They all move like that in this room. Is it tradition? Or something more calculated? Lemba, can you enlighten me?
“In due time.” The elf’s voice answered in Karl’s mind. “For now, let us see who has survived the journey.
Karl cast a quick and silent spell to identify the travelers, his only tell was a twitch of the nose, which may have been mistaken for an aborted sneeze.
Viksna and Piske Dun Beske, twin siblings of a prominent Orhani family. Lemba leaned and whispered into Karl’s ear. “The youngest children of a powerful family of sorcerors. T
“Viksna and Piske you illuminate my land with your presence.” Karl’s voice boomed across the hall. It had been so long since he had shouted without magical amplification that he wondered if his throat could even yell anymore.
The two outsiders removed their hoods and stood with clasped hands and bowed heads. Their hair golden, their ears pointed, they were both of a similar height and build, shorter than most men in the room, and Karl could tell they were thin even under their robes.
“And you honor us with your hospitality, Lord Klug.” The pair said in unison.
“You’ve arrived sooner than expected. Was your trip pleasant?”
“We ran into some trouble with monsters, I’m afraid.” Piske said, matter of factly.
“ They devoured quite a few of our slaves.” Viksna added. And of course, the Shadow King must have his due. Our traveling companions were not to his liking. We two and The six Orcs you see behind us are all that is left, I’m afraid, out of the seventeen souls we departed with. Ah, yes. The older races call Haim by his title and dare not refer to him by name. A superstitious bunch, the Elves.
Three slaves for each of us is hardly fitting.” Piske scoffed.
“A shame. I will see that they are tended to. And my servants shall make up for your deficit. See these creatures to their quarters.” He ordered with a wave of his hand.
Guards cautiously herded the six chained beasts on the points of spears, but the broken creatures simply did as they were told and offered no resistance, not even a scowl. They were broken in mind and spirit, they simply existed to do as they were told. Even still, they looked as if they could crush a man’s skull without much effort, and so the guards insisted on caution. I cannot say I blame them.
The instant their slaves were gone from the room, the elves both went down to one knee, each pulling a small bundle from their cloaks. In unison they spoke. “We have come to pay tribute to the Lord of the Wald. Bordermaster, River Watcher, Upholder of the Pact. We offer these small tokens to you, Great Lord.”
Karl pushed up from his seat on the dais and walked towards the pair, gesturing them to stand. This well rehearsed speech never fails to delight my courtiers. “You have left your great capitol of Orhani to live amongst the lesser lived. You have endured freezing cold and driving rain. You have crossed river and mountain, field and fell, and traversed the Wald itself. You have fought beast and monster and seen many things that Man fears in his dreams. You have lost friends and companions along your way, and for that, you have our sympathy. However, all is not lost, and these deaths have not been in vain. You have proved yourselves worthy of fellowship through your very deeds. I bid you stand, as friends of Men.” The two figures stood, pulling back their hoods as the ritual demanded. They both looked as beautiful as painted godlings, young as if in their prime, though each must have seen a hundred years come and go.
The two approached, stepping slowly, deliberately, in unison to the dais where Karl sat. Piske stepped forward, leaving his sister still as a statue with her bundle still in her hands.
“For you, my lord. A gift.” He bowed and handed the package to Karl.
“Thank you, Piske.” Karl exchanged a rolled parchment for the gift. The container was small, and light. It could have been empty if Karl did not know better. He pulled the string holding everything together, and opened the paper wrapping. Inside was a ring, small and green, with all manner of beasts carved intricately on the sides.
“This is remarkable, Piske. You have my thanks.” Karl said as he turned the ring over in his hands. He spied an eagle, a fish, a rat, and a bear amongst the throng of creatures on the metal.
Piske looked to Lemba, eyes practically screaming for help. Lemba chuckled to himself for a moment and then cocked his head in Karl’s direction.
“May I approach, my lord?” the Elf asked in the elegant Elvish tongue, hands out stretched. Karl nodded his approval and he came forward. Piske leaned forward, taking the ring from the Lord’s hand and slipped the emerald ring onto his own left pointer finger.
“This ring is rather...peculiar, my lord. Observe.” The Elf cleared his throat and began to shout “Will one of you fellows come out? We’d like to make introductions.”
A heavy silence, followed by quiet, confused muttering amongst the onlookers. Then a shriek came from the rear of the crowd, growing louder and closer by the second.
That’s when it appeared before Karl’s eyes. It came forward at a run. Sharp claws, huge black eyes, and jagged yellow teeth.
“The ring summons rats?” Karl answered in Elvish in between laughs.
“Or maybe it makes the wearer forget his manners.” came a perfect Elvish reply from the rat. Karl’s eyes shot wide. Bhalik’s Maw. Did that rodent just speak? He regained his composure and looked around his court. Everyone was staring up at him. Had they all heard too?
“They can’t hear me, you big oaf. Only the ring bearer can.” Karl glanced at the green band around his finger. “My name is difficult to pronounce, but for the sake of simplicity, call me Ymaut. Piske tells me you have a rather large network of informants. How would you like to expand?
“We’ll discuss another time. Thank you, Piske. You honor me.”
Piske bowed. “Of course, my lord. My sister has brought you a gift as well” gesturing to his companion. He stepped back to take her place, while Viksna approached, bowed and held out her tribute. The thing she brought was bigger and heavier than her brother’s gift. When Karl had finished unwrapping it, he understood why.
“A Grimoire.” he said quietly.
“May I approach, my lord?” Karl nodded absently as he flipped through the pages.
Viksna whispered. “I am told you enjoy practicing magic. I would be happy to teach you, if you’d like.”
“This is too much to trade for a mere letter of safe conduct. Anything in my power to give you is yours, if you but name it.”
Viksna thought for only a brief moment. “Should there be an opening for a position in your court that I may be suitable for, I would like to enter your service.”
Lemba is leaving my service, to return to Outland. If you would care to remain here and assume his role upon his departure, I would welcome the company.” Karl said as he struggled to tear his eyes away from the book. That will be all for today. My servants will show you to your chambers. Should you want for anything at all, you need only ask and it is yours.”
The two bowed low. “You honor us, my lord.” the two Elves said as one. As they slowly walked from the hall, Karl’s Chamberlain, Aldred, whispered in his ear. “My lord, Sir Vanya has come to charge Baron Stevers as an oathbreaker. My duty calls. Karl thought, the grimoire still open in his hand.
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KARL 1
Three men stood beneath a great oak branch, hands bound and nooses pulled tight around their necks. The branches connected to a mighty tree, old as the mountains themselves. The men were all silent, as were the other corpses gently swinging in the morning breeze. The air was still cold from the dew, not yet banished by the still rising sun.
“If you have anything left to say, now would be the time.” Karl Klug, Lord of the Wald said as he eyed them with disgust from the back of his chestnut horse destrier. He sat tall in the saddle, his close cropped brown hair and clean shaven face a far cry from the ragged appearance of the condemned. His heavy, black, woolen cloak was pulled tight, the hood up to block out the wind. Under the cloak he wore a simple brown doublet, with a crest bearing the black tree on a green field that was the sigil of his house. Karl always made sure to represent House Klug when acting as Lord, as was his duty.
These men were thieves, rapists, and murderers. They attacked travelers on the roads of the Wald, and it was Karl’s duty, as Duke of the Wald and Lawspeaker to the King, to keep those roads safe. The law demanded only one punishment for their transgressions. Their fate would serve as a warning to other would-be bandits.
The first man, a stern face and hard eyes, said nothing, but spat on the ground. The second man, fat and whimpering, managed to speak out in between choked sobs “Please m’lord. Mercy! They made me do it!”
The last man, a boy no older than fifteen, barked at him to be quiet. “We’re done for Ozzy. Go to the Wainman with some dignity, would you?” Such bravery in one so young. What could he have become if he followed a different path?
With that, Karl nodded to Jorivs, his household Resolver, who pulled hard on the ropes, them each one by one into the air, sending them kicking and choking into the Beyond. The second one, Ozzy, screamed and begged for his mother before the rope cut him off. Jorivs tied the final line off to a stake, while Wolter, his barber-surgeon companion, scribbled something down in a book. “They go to their doom in all different spirits, yet they all dance the hangman’s jig just the same.” He said as he turned a page.
“Amazing the lessons they teach at Spierpont.” Jorvis chuckled as the last pair of legs stopped kicking. “Shame Lemba couldn’t join us.”
“The Elf has seen his fair share of death. Let him enjoy his peace.”
“I only jest, my lord.” Jorvis said as he took a sip from his canteen. He motioned for Wolter to take a drink, but the older man was too busy furiously scribbling in his notebook to notice.
Karl looked to the east. The dawn was still cresting the horizon. “I’m off to the woods. I will not be disturbed.” Matilda and the children will still be sleeping. Best not to wake them with my return.
His pages nodded and replied in unison “Yes my lord.” By Karl’s standing order, Jorvis was peeling the boots of the dead men, better they should shoe a pauper than rot on the condemned. Wolter sketched the hanging men in his book, taking special care to note the lolling tongues and soiled breeches. Jorvis had the boots in a loose pile when he pulled a knife and a small pouch from his belt. “The eyes,my lord?”
He nodded grimly. “Hain will have his due.” Jorvis took a small stool and set to work, all six organs removed in a few quick flashes of the blade. Jorvis placed the grim package in its usual place on Baldur, Karl’s horse. With the bloody sack tied to his saddle, Karl rode off towards the thick forest nearby, a page in tow to hold his horse.
The page started to speak, and then stopped himself. He was a small boy, ten or eleven at the most. He had been to several executions before and not once had he been troubled by the sight of death.
Karl noticed the indecisive boy and helped him along.
“Something bothering you, Wiglaf?”
“The” came a squeak. Wiglaf cleared his throat and tried again. “The Resolver grumbles, lord. He grumbles that it would be easier to take the eyes before hanging the condemned.” He said meekly
“I know he grumbles. I know. But this is the way things are to be done. Taking their eyes before they hang is not the punishment for their crime. These men had their trial, and I sentenced them to die, not to be tortured. Do you understand, Wiglaf?”
“Aye, my lord. I understand.” Wiglaf nodded.
Wiglaf. So eager to learn but so nervous to offend. I’ll talk to his father the next time we meet.
This was the first time in months he had a chance to take in the forest. The influx in banditry in the past year had been a great source of woe not only to Karl, but to the Waldish people as a whole. They had enough to be fearful of without their fellow man adding to their problems. It had kept Karl up many nights, as he racked his brain trying to figure out the cause.
He had built roads, sick houses, held fairs, endorsed the Bard’s college, done all in his power to keep the people happy and content and quiet, and yet, there were some who still turned to crime. Why? No. Not now. Not here. Karl decided that he needed to rest his mind from constant affairs of state, and allow himself to relax before he made his offering.
They reached a clearing, and Karl dismounted. “Hitch up Baldur and rub him down. Have something to eat from my pack if you get hungry. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone this time.” The page nodded. Wiglaf, a good lad, if a bit timid at times. Weather had concealed his typical path into the great forest, but muscle memory lead his way.
He enjoyed his solitary walks in the woods, it gave him a chance to forget the woes of rulership, the frustrations of fatherhood, and the horrible curse that befell his bloodline. Now that things had quieted down with the bandits, Karl hoped he might have more time to be a husband to his wife, Matilda, and a father to their children. His three children, though nearly adults themselves, still tended to make a commotion. What they need is a firm hand. Their mother will spoil them rotten if she has her way. Karl laughed to himself. She always gets her way.
His feet knew where he was going, even if his mind did not. He always returned to the same place, no matter what direction he turned. Are the woods themselves magic, or just the creatures that inhabit it? He wondered as he found the well worn dirt path covered by a tunnel of tree limbs. The branches must have kept this clear from storms after all.
Few who entered the Wald came back alive, save for the Elves and their slaves, who usually came out in one piece. Most who walked too far past the tree line simply vanished. There were rumors, of course. Even his own grandfather had claimed that he was, in fact, the same Helm Klug that had vanished without a trace in the winter of 542. He had fallen through a tree hollow and into the myth shrouded realm of Cunnan, where time flows differently, or so the stories go. As such, though ninety-five years had passed from the time of the vanishing, Helm had only aged ten years or so.
Karl’s realm was a dangerous one, even without the recent rise of the highwaymen. To an outsider, walking alone in the duchy of the Wald was like strolling past a dark alley with coins jingling loudly. To Karl Klug, Lord of the Wald, it was like walking into his own bedroom. He had grown up here, he knew that danger lurked behind every tree, above every branch, and below every root. Not once had he seen anything like what Grandfather Helm had rambled about. No fairies or witches or traces of Hain. Still, one had to tread carefully here. Even Karl would not dare to venture in some parts of the forest, for an ancient force still had power in the dark parts of Bordrim.
I hope Hain will be pleased with my tribute. To survive here, one had to know when to fight, when to run, and when to submit. Some might call that heretical, going against the word of the church, But that was not something he wished to think about now, not when he was trying to be at peace.
The fresh air cleared his head and refreshed his spirit. Karl took a long, deep breath filling his lungs with the cold morning damp. He knew he would not be distrubed here, as none but the Duke of the Wald may travel to this part of the woodland.
He had been Duke ever since the death of his father when he was just four years old, though he had not ruled in his own right until he was fourteen. In that time, he had learned much from his regents, and his mother, who was far more capable than many made her out to be. She had taught him that most men, however pure their intentions may seem, nearly always had some ulterior motive that they wished to advance. Karl remembered that as his most valuable lesson, and it had assisted him greatly as he came of age. My father’s sycophants did not last long when I ruled in my own right.
The sound of rushing water came to his ear as he walked by the River Cember where his father had drowned. He used to intentionally go out of his way to avoid being near it, but now he barely gave it a second glance. I used to be so afraid of the water, until I understood why Father died. But by then, Mother had the Court Elf Lembe throw me in Sillac Pond. How I thrashed! It didn’t seem so scary after that. Fate is far more terrifying than any danger and far more comforting than any joy. Once you have been through the worst, everything else can be done with ease.
Karl heard a branch snap in the trees to his right, and his hand slipped to the silver coated dagger at his hip. He stood still as the trees around him, slowly moving his eyes from right to left as he looked for the source of the noise. Funny. I was afraid of harmless water for so many years when there were very real threats all around me the entire time. As long as I stay on the path, no beast would dare harm me.
There were no further noises, and judging by the humming of insects and the singing of birds, there was no real threat. Probably a stag or maybe one of Grandfather Helm’s Fae creature having a laugh at my expense. He continued walking for some time, climbing up small, rolling hills and ducking under fallen tree trunks, before reaching a final, gentle incline which led to Hidden Hill. That was where they found his older brother, Jasper, hanging from the tree at the top. That was the day his father had told him about the curse that stalked their family.
He made his way up the slope, as he had countless times before. The top of the hill was clear, save for one tree, planted by Karl’s grandfather Helm upon regaining control of the Wald after decades of Gaunt rule. His family adopted that tree, and made it part of their heraldry. A great black tree, sounded by the green of the forest.
The air seemed to resist being pulled into his lungs now. He had to unclench his teeth, relax his shoulders. He looked down at his fingers. He had scraped away the flesh near the nails on his thumbs and middle digits. How long have I been at it this time? It is difficult to relax when I am surrounded by some many painful reminders of the past. No matter how deep in this forest I walk, I cannot escape the memories that tears at me.
He kept his eyes low. Karl enjoyed seeing the blooming flowers and vibrant weeds that grew along the path he always walked. One particular group of plants caught his eye. A clover patch. The old folks said that in every clover patch, there was one particularly special sprout. And so Karl made a point to look over each and every patch he saw, even if only a passing glance.
What’s this? He said to the tiny green sprout as he crouched down for a closer look. A clover with four leaves. Lucky, lucky. Karl smiled as he plucked the clover and put it in his coin purse. And a good omen too. I know Otto will love this.
Karl continued up the path, and sat beneath the great black tree, looking out onto the castle that stood proud below in the clearing. Grey Hallow, it was called, and it was among the oldest in Bordrim, predating even the great fortresses of the Empire that many great houses now called their own. With two rings of thick, tall walls and towers covering every angle of approach, no enemy had ever successfully stormed the walls. Though a knife in the back is sometimes better than a ram at the gate, as history has proved.
Karl grabbed the now wet sack that Jorvis had provided. He quickly found a small knothole and stuffed the grisly offering side. The Dule clasped his hands together and bowed his head. “Haim, please take this offering that we may know quiet peace.” He sighed. Was Haim even real? Or just another story to make obedient children?
As Karl reclined in the unearthed roots of the black oak, he smiled. *Real or not, offerings to Haim aren’t all terrible.*This was the tree that he had married Matilda under, after he came back from the Siege of Hammerring, the last remaining Imperial stronghold in Bordrim. He had made a fortune by securing the ransoms of important Imperials, bringing House Klug from the embarrassment of near bankruptcy to extreme wealth in a single day. He had spent coins like a drunken gambler blessed with immovable luck that night, and from then on men had begun to say he was the richest man in the kingdom. I don’t know about any of that. But riches aren’t just measured in gold. Karl thought as he ran his fingers along the black bark of the tree.
Searching through the leather pack he took from his saddle, Karl grabbed the cloth that held the dried venison and cheese he had carried along for his breakfast. The castle will just be coming to life now. He thought as the sun began to climb higher in the sky. After he had broken his fast, he pulled a quill, a tightly sealed ink pot, and a piece of parchment from his sack. He began to write.
“Your smile, a joy
Your laugh, a pleasure.
When we are together,
Troubles are light as a feather.”
Karl would have a servant hide that among Matilda’s things, where she would discover it later. Even after fifteen years of marriage, Karl loved to create these little surprises for his wife, just as she loved finding his cumbersome gifts and clumsy poetry.
A long, steady drumming sounded over the tops of the trees, booming from the direction of Grey Hallow, but far beyond. In the west, birds squaked and scattered to the wind. By the cadence of their beat, Karl knew it was the Elves, come to pay their respects and receive letters of safe passage as required by the Pact. A little earlier than expected. No matter. I prefer early to late. No doubt my Chamberlain, Aldred, will have everything prepared. Karl sprang to his feet, dusted off his trousers, and rolled the dried parchment. He followed the path back to the castle at a quick pace, humming a song his Bard had sung the previous night while they slept under the stars.
The day had well and truly begun upon his return. Servants wearing the green and black of his house dashed about as their duties required. Men stood guard wearing the Great Black Tree of the Klugs on their livery. The halls were alive with chatter and the scuffing of feet. Karl knew a long line of petitioners awaited him in his hall, but everyone knew that an audience with elves took precedence over the squabbles of men. They had all heard the drums, and they would be pressed together like bees in a hive just for a glimpse of the pointy eared outlanders. Every year, young elves Elves embarked on a great journey that they called *THING* or “The Taste” in the Imperial tongue. They spent anywhere from one to one hundred years living among the mortals, learning their ways and customs. Some spent the rest of their millennia-long lives among the mortals, watching dynasties rise and fall, technological marvels stun the world, and should they be unfortunate enough to make friends or find lovers, they witness death on a scale previously unimaginable.
Lemba is due to return home by the end of the year. After seventy years of service to my family, he’s earned his rest. Perhaps one of the newcomers would like a position at court. I would very much like to continue my lessons. Karl flexed his fingers at the mere thought of magic. Outlawed in most realms of men, Karl had insisted on instruction. The training was hard and the consequences if discovered by the Church would be dire, but in a land as dangerous as the Wald, every advantage counted.
The drums boomed, growing louder as the elves approached closer. I must hurry. I cannot insult them by wearing the same clothes I just wore to an execution. Karl jogged down the path from whence he came. Wiglaf was holding Baldur by his reigns, and he snapped to attention the moment he saw Karl approach. “The drums my lo-”
“I heard. Ride ahead and have your father prepare clothing for court.”
“Right away, my lord.” The page said as he galloped away. Karl followed at a quick but more relaxed pace. No sense in appearing sweaty and exasperated for my guests. He reasoned as he rode down the winding path.
His servants were waiting at the gate for him. They grabbed their reins from Baldur, and Karl climbed down from the horse. “Andred has selected your clothing, m’lord. Right this way, if you please.” Onna, the fat seamstress said and she beckoned him to follow. She led him to the laundry, where Karl pulled the dirty articles he had worn for the execution and picked up the courtly clothing she had laid out. He pulled the white linen tunic on first and fasted it was a leather belt inlain with a large silver buckle. His slipped into brown wool trousers next and grabbed a pair of light leather boots. While I won’t appear filthy in front of my guests, high fashion is not something I care to waste my gold on.
Karl sat in his finely carved chair on the dais at the end of the hall. It sat to the right of an identical, but smaller chair where his wife sat*.* She wore a black and green dress with a modestly cut v-neck which exposed her pale skin. Her golden hair lay in one long braid along her shoulder. and her piercing blue eyes smiled back at Karl’s own green. This was the women he had fallen in love with the moment he first spoke to her. She had been less convinced, at first. While he had been the highest born of her many suitors, he had not been her first choice.
“I thought you were boring!” She would tease him later. “You barely said a word the first three times we met.”
“I was nervous.” He would reply. “You captured my heart and my wits that day in High Hibaltia.”
“Well, that wit is what won me. Perhaps I just borrowed it for a time.” She smiled.
Cleverness, justness, kindness. These are the things that make me love you.
The couple held each other's hands as they looked over the court. The chamberlain, Aldred, was quickly giving some last minute instructions to his son and another page, and they immediately scrambled to their work. Guards stood firmly at attention in front of the doors, knowing that they would be facing a hallway full of eager onlookers at any moment.
Their three children stood to the side, talking amongst themselves. Grimbold was the oldest. And doomed to die young, as my brother and uncle have. He was tall, taller than Karl even. He had the arms of a blacksmith’s apprentice and Karl’s own brown curls. He shared his mother’s sky blue eyes and slender nose, as well as her quick temper. He’ll want more responsibility soon. I’ve already denied him a squireship. Perhaps a minor position at court would assuage him.
Next to Grimbold was Charlotte, their only daughter. She too had Karl’s curly brown hair, but she wore it in a long braid, like her mother. She was just like Matilda, in fact. They were both skilled with numbers, and Charlotte’s fascination with bards rivaled Matilda’s own obsession. The two of them often pleaded with Karl to hire this performer or that one, and Duke Karl Klug, Lawspeaker of Bordrim, would not resist his girls, especially Charlotte. She had just turned fourteen, and would be expecting suitors soon. I doubt any of them would be worthy of her. The two of us share a thin patience for stupidity and love makes fools of us all. Especially this false, courtly love the Pawley’s have been peddling these last centuries.
And then there was Otto, the youngest of the three. He stood in between his brother and sister, obviously uncomfortable and being talked over. Nervous and shy, Otto had trouble making friends with children his age. He got along well enough with Wiglaf, but the two never actively sought each other out for play. Probably waiting for the other to make the first move. Karl thought to himself.
“Otto!” Karl yelled. The boy snapped nearly to attention. “Come here, lad. I have a surprise for you.” The boy warily came before his parents.
“Close your eyes and stick out your hands, Otto.” Matilda gently urged.
Otto did as he was told. “Karl dug around in his coin purse and pulled out the clover and a gold coin. He placed the two in Otto’s open palm.
His eyes beamed just before the rest of his face lit up. “Is it real?” He asked as he squealed at his gift.
“Just found it this morning. I figured, with you as my son, I already have all the luck I need.” Otto grinned wide, his missing baby teeth apparent in his otherwise toothy smirk. “Now, with that coin, I want you to find a book that we can read together. Would you like that?” “Yes, father! Yes, yes!” Otto exclaimed, almost shaking with excitement.
“Now get back to your place. The Elves will be here soon.:
“Yes, father!” Otto slipped the clover and coin into his own purse and hurried back to his siblings.
Matilda leaned over and kissed Karl on the forehead. “You’re a good man, Karl Klug.” His mind raced back to dawn, and the creaking of ropes. “I try to be, my love.” He kissed her forehead back. There was a commotion behind the doors to the hallway. It started as a low murmur, and then grew in size, becoming a roar of excitement.
Lemba, Karl’s tutor and resident Elf, took
The Elves had arrived.
Two figures, hooded in dark crimson cloaks, approached the dais. Less than a quarter of what I was told to expect. Behind them were six large, muscular, green skinned orcs bound together at wrist and ankle. Less than a tenth of what I had prepared for. Some Orcs had obviously suffered wounds in the recent past, black blood welling up through tightly wrapped bandages at shoulder, scalp, or thigh. Karl knew from past experience that were these wounds even a slight inconvenience to the Elves, the Orc would be killed with no more pity than lame donkey.
The two cloaked figures marched in a praticed cadence as they moved towards the Duke and Duchess. They all move like that in this room. Is it tradition? Or something more calculated? Lemba, can you enlighten me?
“In due time.” The elf’s voice answered in Karl’s mind. “For now, let us see who has survived the journey.
Karl cast a quick and silent spell to identify the travelers, his only tell was a twitch of the nose, which may have been mistaken for an aborted sneeze.
Viksna and Piske Dun Beske, twin siblings of a prominent Orhani family. Lemba leaned and whispered into Karl’s ear. “The youngest children of a powerful family of sorcerors. T
“Viksna and Piske you illuminate my land with your presence.” Karl’s voice boomed across the hall. It had been so long since he had shouted without magical amplification that he wondered if his throat could even yell anymore.
The two outsiders removed their hoods and stood with clasped hands and bowed heads. Their hair golden, their ears pointed, they were both of a similar height and build, shorter than most men in the room, and Karl could tell they were thin even under their robes.
“And you honor us with your hospitality, Lord Klug.” The pair said in unison.
“You’ve arrived sooner than expected. Was your trip pleasant?”
“We ran into some trouble with monsters, I’m afraid.” Piske said, matter of factly.
“ They devoured quite a few of our slaves.” Viksna added. And of course, the Shadow King must have his due. Our traveling companions were not to his liking. We two and The six Orcs you see behind us are all that is left, I’m afraid, out of the seventeen souls we departed with. Ah, yes. The older races call Haim by his title and dare not refer to him by name. A superstitious bunch, the Elves.
Three slaves for each of us is hardly fitting.” Piske scoffed.
“A shame. I will see that they are tended to. And my servants shall make up for your deficit. See these creatures to their quarters.” He ordered with a wave of his hand.
Guards cautiously herded the six chained beasts on the points of spears, but the broken creatures simply did as they were told and offered no resistance, not even a scowl. They were broken in mind and spirit, they simply existed to do as they were told. Even still, they looked as if they could crush a man’s skull without much effort, and so the guards insisted on caution. I cannot say I blame them.
The instant their slaves were gone from the room, the elves both went down to one knee, each pulling a small bundle from their cloaks. In unison they spoke. “We have come to pay tribute to the Lord of the Wald. Bordermaster, River Watcher, Upholder of the Pact. We offer these small tokens to you, Great Lord.”
Karl pushed up from his seat on the dais and walked towards the pair, gesturing them to stand. This well rehearsed speech never fails to delight my courtiers. “You have left your great capitol of Orhani to live amongst the lesser lived. You have endured freezing cold and driving rain. You have crossed river and mountain, field and fell, and traversed the Wald itself. You have fought beast and monster and seen many things that Man fears in his dreams. You have lost friends and companions along your way, and for that, you have our sympathy. However, all is not lost, and these deaths have not been in vain. You have proved yourselves worthy of fellowship through your very deeds. I bid you stand, as friends of Men.” The two figures stood, pulling back their hoods as the ritual demanded. They both looked as beautiful as painted godlings, young as if in their prime, though each must have seen a hundred years come and go.
The two approached, stepping slowly, deliberately, in unison to the dais where Karl sat. Piske stepped forward, leaving his sister still as a statue with her bundle still in her hands.
“For you, my lord. A gift.” He bowed and handed the package to Karl.
“Thank you, Piske.” Karl exchanged a rolled parchment for the gift. The container was small, and light. It could have been empty if Karl did not know better. He pulled the string holding everything together, and opened the paper wrapping. Inside was a ring, small and green, with all manner of beasts carved intricately on the sides.
“This is remarkable, Piske. You have my thanks.” Karl said as he turned the ring over in his hands. He spied an eagle, a fish, a rat, and a bear amongst the throng of creatures on the metal.
Piske looked to Lemba, eyes practically screaming for help. Lemba chuckled to himself for a moment and then cocked his head in Karl’s direction.
“May I approach, my lord?” the Elf asked in the elegant Elvish tongue, hands out stretched. Karl nodded his approval and he came forward. Piske leaned forward, taking the ring from the Lord’s hand and slipped the emerald ring onto his own left pointer finger.
“This ring is rather...peculiar, my lord. Observe.” The Elf cleared his throat and began to shout “Will one of you fellows come out? We’d like to make introductions.”
A heavy silence, followed by quiet, confused muttering amongst the onlookers. Then a shriek came from the rear of the crowd, growing louder and closer by the second.
That’s when it appeared before Karl’s eyes. It came forward at a run. Sharp claws, huge black eyes, and jagged yellow teeth.
“The ring summons rats?” Karl answered in Elvish in between laughs.
“Or maybe it makes the wearer forget his manners.” came a perfect Elvish reply from the rat. Karl’s eyes shot wide. Bhalik’s Maw. Did that rodent just speak? He regained his composure and looked around his court. Everyone was staring up at him. Had they all heard too?
“They can’t hear me, you big oaf. Only the ring bearer can.” Karl glanced at the green band around his finger. “My name is difficult to pronounce, but for the sake of simplicity, call me Ymaut. Piske tells me you have a rather large network of informants. How would you like to expand?
“We’ll discuss another time. Thank you, Piske. You honor me.”
Piske bowed. “Of course, my lord. My sister has brought you a gift as well” gesturing to his companion. He stepped back to take her place, while Viksna approached, bowed and held out her tribute. The thing she brought was bigger and heavier than her brother’s gift. When Karl had finished unwrapping it, he understood why.
“A Grimoire.” he said quietly.
“May I approach, my lord?” Karl nodded absently as he flipped through the pages.
Viksna whispered. “I am told you enjoy practicing magic. I would be happy to teach you, if you’d like.”
“This is too much to trade for a mere letter of safe conduct. Anything in my power to give you is yours, if you but name it.”
Viksna thought for only a brief moment. “Should there be an opening for a position in your court that I may be suitable for, I would like to enter your service.”
Lemba is leaving my service, to return to Outland. If you would care to remain here and assume his role upon his departure, I would welcome the company.” Karl said as he struggled to tear his eyes away from the book. That will be all for today. My servants will show you to your chambers. Should you want for anything at all, you need only ask and it is yours.”
The two bowed low. “You honor us, my lord.” the two Elves said as one. As they slowly walked from the hall, Karl’s Chamberlain, Aldred, whispered in his ear. “My lord, Sir Vanya has come to charge Baron Stevers as an oathbreaker. My duty calls. Karl thought, the grimoire still open in his hand.
2024.05.28 02:58 Massive_Cream_9091 Products for chafing?
Hey y’all - my partner has stage 4 +++ BC. We live in the southwest so we’re going into some HOT summers. She has issues with chafing and irritation under her breasts that’s really painful (also was an issue pre-diagnosis, seems like it’s worse now). Her skin’s a lot more sensitive now and she has to be careful with what products she uses. Anyone have recommendations of things that might help? Anyone else going through this? Thanks in advance!
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2024.05.28 02:41 Sc987_ Kidney problems?
Basically I've been getting on and off lower back pain for some time I'd say very dull but it's noticeable sometimes I don't drink for afew days due to being busy with mental health problems it's on both sides but it'll shift sometimes n it'll go for afew days n come back. I decided to Google it m see what I can find of what I'm seeing. Sometimes it's tingling but again it'll come n go. My eyes aren't puffy I have no itchy skin or water retention anywhere. But sometimes the pain can be pretty hard my urine isn't dark as it used to be it's brighish yellow I'm 16 5,7 with no medical history. I took some pain killers yesterday due to a headache n my pain came back and hasn't shifted , again from last month my BP bloods where fine but they were from a different reason. Its kind of took me by surprise after seeing what Google said and it said it can cause shock or anything worse. I have struggled with anxiety so I have digestive problems and they're only coming back to normal after months. I've been getting cold sweats but I'm not sure if it's anxiety related or kidney related. I don't have really dark urine but my lower back sides will hurt n it'll stay but yeah . I took propranolol for my anxiety I'm not sure if that would of been a reason but I'm not on them anymore. The doctors here said it isn't a emergency. I don't smoke drink take drugs I'm not over weight or underweight . I drink milk and water and eat alot but yeah I'm just conscered if I'm honest. But I'd mostly say I'm a very healthy teen but these pains are making me think otherwise.
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2024.05.28 02:34 Educational-Two9989 Does this look normal for 1.5 months in?
 | Should I keep going? submitted by Educational-Two9989 to tretinoin [link] [comments] Hi y’all, @tretinoin users or Tret experts, let’s me know what you think! So I have been using tretinoin for 1.5 months now. I started out with 0.025 for like 2 weeks and been using 0.05 since then. I don’t know if I am going thru a purging phase or I actually damaged my skin. I started out using 2x/week for about 3 weeks and now I use every night. I feel like my skin tolerates it well, it doesn’t feel irritated or itchy but my face is red, my pores are more pronounced and my skin just look worse overall. Here’s my routine: AM: clean face with just warm water—> clindamycin 1% —> Cerave moisturizer—> sunscreen. PM: clean face with Cerave cleanser—> mixture of moisturizer and 0.05 tret—> some more moisturizer. I am not sure if my barrier is damaged or I am just purging. What do you think? If you have any products you would recommend for barrier repair, pls let’s me know too. Thank you! |
2024.05.28 02:29 Ok_Coconut_2560 Noodles
My family has always been of great minds. I hated it. Growing up and having to study day and night to try and live up to them was extremely exhausting when I couldn't care how things worked as long as I was happy. I gave up but somehow everything kept turning out to be true.
Over my lifetime I have become the Gorden Ramsey of the science world. Known for my temper and also for huge things like curing world hunger using play-doe and cancer with baby powder I got in a back street ally while drunk.
To get my family off my back I started making random ideas so they could see me as a failure and leave me alone but...they keep working. And soon people started to praise me. Fame has left me with nothing but more and more attention. So today I plan to make sure that everyone can just think I'm insane and leave me alone and not some king.
I chuckled like a kid who was opening a Christmas present as I heard the crowd of people chatting and talking loudly as I hid behind my stage in a grey tight suit that my sister had picked out. I sighed and was ready to walk out and make a fool out of myself but my brother stopped me.
" Jack... I just want you to know how proud I am of you. Dad would have loved to see you right now. "
I thought it was ironic because last night while chilling on the couch watching TV and eating chips I made this theory up. He dusted off my shoulders held them tight and looked me in the eyes taking in the moment.
" go give them hell man. "
He had a goofy smile just like Dad but spoke with confidence.
" you got it, man. "
I heard my name being called onto the stage and the uproar startled me for a second but I collected myself and headed out after giving him a nod just to entertain him.
The lights were blinding as I grabbed the mic and looked at the table in front of me with a small box with the ingredients I needed and a chalkboard behind me.
After I stood still for a minute the crowd died down. I had not told anyone what I was presenting so the whole world was watching without a clue of what I was doing this time.
"Hello everyone. Today I believe I have my most important presentation yet..."
The crowd grew silent and hung on every word. And I heard my voice around the room through the speakers.
" Today I have with me a box...and inside is spaghetti I had for breakfast. "
The crowd laughed thinking it was a joke
" shut up "
The crowd grew silent once more
"Behind me is a chalkboard and I will now present my new findings to all of you...I have found out how to make portals to other worlds. "
A man in the far back of the audience yelled bullshit in a heavy Indian accent but he was so far it was a faint sound for me. I smiled at that thinking I had finally found something that would make me lose my title and I could go ahead and live a life without people making me feel like an evil man for not helping others.
I opened the box got a handful of the noodles and threw them at the chalkboard. I then grabbed a paper towel on standby to clean myself.
The noodles hit the board and slowly moved and rested on a spot on the board. I made eye contact with my brother backstage and he had a look on his face showing he believed in me.
I spun the board dropping the noodles to the ground I then grabbed the chalk and drew around the sauce and noodles that stuck to the board then drew my attention to the others that had fallen on the floor and drew an outline of that.
After it finished I threw the chalk in the crowd violently hitting an old lady in the face.
" Quickly I want a show of hands who thinks I'm a crazy guy "
Everyone raised their hands and I laughed to myself
I then went behind the board and laid it horizontally. I grabbed a small knife in my pocket and poked my finger with it. The crimson blood fell and hit the chalk and then as more and more blood hit the chalk it started glowing.
" you have got to be joking. "
I said out loud as it started to spark an orange glow and it slowly grew color to the rest of the chalk in orange sparks.
Once the symbol was fully sparking with orange the sauce began to swell and move around in a counterclockwise manner. I stepped away from it in shock as small parts of the blood in my finger began to float to the parts where it fell on the floor I drew my outlines on and started sparking those as well.
It started to smoke and hiss as if lightning could whisper and the orange began to take shape and the sauce made a doorway. The parts that were not on the board began to grow ice around them and started to make designs on the floor circling me and the board. Suddenly it grew in size and a large booming voice was heard through the portal as I felt panic of people start to set in.
A huge claw came out and scrapped the sides of my table trying to crawl out from the world it had been trapped in. Cold winds hit me as they cut my skin and threw around my clothes. As I saw the table was now melting from its touch.
A slimy green claw with mucus like a face-hugger egg from the movie Alien carved through the floor and pulled the rest of its body out slowly. A beast stood at 12 feet tall adjusting to our world as goop grew and shaped its body as people screamed, ran, and stood frozen in fear.
As it looked around it locked its spider-like eyes and swerled around coming out from the portal and twisting and turning around the body as it made its way to its head finding a place to rest. It then locked its eyes with me and its jaw twisted slowly from an ant-like maw to mine and slowly shrunk and it soon took the shape of me and knelt on the floor and spoke to me.
" master. "
I stood in shock as everyone seemed to calm down and watched to see what I would do.
"...umm "My family has always been of great minds. I hated it. Growing up and having to study day and night to try and live up to them was extremely exhausting when I couldn't care how things worked as long as I was happy. I gave up but somehow everything kept turning out to be true.
Over my lifetime I have become the Gorden Ramsey of the science world. Known for my temper and also for huge things like curing world hunger using play-doe and cancer with baby powder I got in a back street ally while drunk.
To get my family off my back I started making random ideas so they could see me as a failure and leave me alone but...they keep working. And soon people started to praise me. Fame has left me with nothing but more and more attention. So today I plan to make sure that everyone can just think I'm insane and leave me alone and not some king.
I chuckled like a kid who was opening a Christmas present as I heard the crowd of people chatting and talking loudly as I hid behind my stage in a grey tight suit that my sister had picked out. I sighed and was ready to walk out and make a fool out of myself but my brother stopped me.
" Jack... I just want you to know how proud I am of you. Dad would have loved to see you right now. "
I thought it was ironic because last night while chilling on the couch watching TV and eating chips I made this theory up. He dusted off my shoulders held them tight and looked me in the eyes taking in the moment.
" go give them hell man. "
He had a goofy smile just like Dad but spoke with confidence.
" you got it, man. "
I heard my name being called onto the stage and the uproar startled me for a second but I collected myself and headed out after giving him a nod just to entertain him.
The lights were blinding as I grabbed the mic and looked at the table in front of me with a small box with the ingredients I needed and a chalkboard behind me.
After I stood still for a minute the crowd died down. I had not told anyone what I was presenting so the whole world was watching without a clue of what I was doing this time.
"Hello everyone. Today I believe I have my most important presentation yet..."
The crowd grew silent and hung on every word. And I heard my voice around the room through the speakers.
" Today I have with me a box...and inside is spaghetti I had breakfast. "
The crowd laughed thinking it was a joke
" shut up "
The crowd grew silent once more
"Behind me is a chalkboard and I will now present my new findings to all of you...I have found out how to make portals to other worlds. "
A man in the far back of the audience yelled bullshit in a heavy Indian accent but he was so far it was a faint sound for me. I smiled at that thinking I had finally found something that would make me lose my title and I could go ahead and live a life without people making me feel like an evil man for not helping others.
I opened the box got a handful of the noodles and threw them at the chalkboard. I then grabbed a paper towel on standby to clean myself.
The noodles hit the board and slowly moved and rested on a spot on the board. I made eye contact with my brother backstage and he had a look on his face showing he believed in me.
I spun the board dropping the noodles to the ground I then grabbed the chalk and drew around the sauce and noodles that stuck to the board then drew my attention to the others that had fallen on the floor and drew an outline of that.
After it finished I threw the chalk in the crowd violently hitting an old lady in the face.
" Quickly I want a show of hands who thinks I'm a crazy guy "
Everyone raised their hands and I laughed to myself
I then went behind the board and laid it horizontally. I grabbed a small knife in my pocket and poked my finger with it. The crimson blood fell and hit the chalk and then as more and more blood hit the chalk it started glowing.
" you have got to be joking. "
I said out loud as it started to spark an orange glow and it slowly grew color to the rest of the chalk in orange sparks.
Once the symbol was fully sparking with orange the sauce began to swell and move around in a counterclockwise manner. I stepped away from it in shock as small parts of the blood in my finger began to float to the parts where it fell on the floor I drew my outlines on and started sparking those as well.
It started to smoke and hiss as if lightning could whisper and the orange began to take shape and the sauce made a doorway. The parts that were not on the board began to grow ice around them and started to make designs on the floor circling me and the board. Suddenly it grew in size and a large booming voice was heard through the portal as I felt panic of people start to set in.
A huge claw came out and scrapped the sides of my table trying to crawl out from the world it had been trapped in. Cold winds hit me as they cut my skin and threw around my clothes. As I saw the table was now melting from its touch.
A slimy green claw with mucus like a face-hugger egg from the movie Alien carved through the floor and pulled the rest of its body out slowly. A beast stood at 12 feet tall adjusting to our world as goop grew and shaped its body as people screamed, ran, and stood frozen in fear.
As it looked around it locked its spider-like eyes and swerled around coming out from the portal and twisting and turning around the body as it made its way to its head finding a place to rest. It then locked its eyes with me and its jaw twisted slowly from an ant-like maw to mine and slowly shrunk and it soon took the shape of me and knelt on the floor and spoke to me.
" master. "
I stood in shock as everyone seemed to calm down and watched to see what I would do.
Now that this creature knelt before me I realized that the room I was in was so terrible quietly you could hear everyone's ass get tight in anticipation of what would happen next.
" ...what...are you. "
I spoke carefully to the being that had taken the shape of myself. It still took my breath away and my throat was dry.
The beast was a deep green. The color mixed with shades of grey streaming from it. The longer I looked at it I could see it getting closer to what I looked like shaping itself.
From small flowing green tendrils to an arm they grew as they twisted and made bone then muscle and finally skin.
It locked eyes with me and it smiled deeply at me. As it formed the face finally.
" Your vassle. "
My eyes had not moved to the crowd at all but even though the lights hit the stage so hard it was enveloped in smoke.
The creature's eyes glowed as it answered brightly, not figuratively. This thing's eyes were glowing.
"To serve you, We are bound by blood magic. I am a reflection of your desires, Master, " it said, its voice now a whisper in my mind.
It began to stand up as my grey suit began to form on it and by the time it stood fully up it had copied what I looked like.
" let me explain everything. "
My body frozen in fear woke up with adrenaline as I blinked and a flash of green smoke covered my vision as he teleported right to me face to face.
Its body turned to smoke and went into the slits of my eyes. I felt visions follow me in my peripheral vision but surprisingly no pain followed power filled me and it felt like one hell of a drug.
My body and mind altered.
I was now in a very dark place with no walls or light except my reflection on the floor which waved like water.
I took a step back looking around and back to the reflection of me on the ground.
Soon the water rippled and my reflection fell through the floor like gravity was inverted. he flew upright and water fell off of him as he looked at me as he now stood straight ahead of me. He was just reflecting in the water but now eyed me down.
Collecting my nerves.
I begin to speak.
" what do you want..."
He was still in my form and stood perfectly straight. Now with water dripping from his...my hair.
Slight stubble with hair that hung down and my hazel eyes were not present within him but I was greeted with a swelling acidic green that doubled the size of my pupil.
" to serve you. "
He made no other movement than putting his hands behind his back like a soldier at ease.
I could not tell if it was lying or not.
" ...is that it? "
" I am the embodiment of your fear desires and brilliance. You have shaped me. Your desire for solitude birthed me. I will aid you in shaping the world how you see fit. Your reality becomes mine. "
There was a slight echo in the room as he spoke.
" wait...where are we "
I questioned haphazardly
" your mind. "
An awkward silence was in the air until I spoke
" so...am I just standing on the stage not making a sound? "
He gave me a concerned look.
" no...time has frozen outside for you. You may sleep here without having to in the real world so to others you look as if you never rest and you may think and plan what to do in battle here. For them, it will be about two seconds...Do...do you not have any knowledge of what I am? "
Suddenly I felt bad like I had encountered someone famous and I had no idea who they were. A slap in the face like a popular kid meeting someone who had never heard of them. Ego shattered.
" ok sorry no. I...don't go around reading about...monsters?"
I felt like was I saying the n-word of the demon realm not knowing if that word was offensive.
He folded his arms a little upset.
"Are you not a warrior? "
" well...no I...just watch TV and cook here and there- "
The demon cut me off
" weak. "
" excuse me? "
" look. I am an immortal being and after a while you get bored. So I'm sorry if I may be a little upset after being bonded with some nobody. "
I got quiet and I was a little annoyed that I was being roasted by some demon that I just met.
Its form wavers and eyes begin to open on its skin. Cheeks forhead etc.
"After being a god for so long it's fun to play with limitations. Makes things extremely exciting. "
" what do you mean by that? "
" look. You can only be so entertained by the same things. Life gets boring and now...you are going to help me with this. I get to have pure entertainment while you get every wish you could ever want. A mutual bond no? "
He then closed his eyes annoyed and the other eyes meshed back to his skin.
" though... the TV is not that interesting...life is what gets the blood pumping"
I felt the need to quickly change the topic
"Are there others like you? "
The room began to take shape very slowly as the water floor turned to wood and walls went around us.
" of course. You may meet them one day "
Confused and curious I pressed.
"Meet them? "
" yes. Summoning one of us is considered a threat to them. "
He spoke while opening and closing his newly found hand except backward.
" hm...no that don't look right "
I quickly responded
" Wait! How is doing that a threat! "
"Well, one doesn't just accidentally Summon one of us to suddenly get powers beyond human control. "
I thought back to how I summoned him by accident with some food I made.
" well...funny story but I summoned you using my breakfast..."
I had never regretted speaking so much as in that moment.
" What... "
Acid dripped from his words. Literally. His pupils split in half and his bottom jaw ripped open like an ant and curved giving sharpness to the bone.
"Please don't kill me. "
The room began to look like a cozy cabin with a fireplace and he slowly went back to normal.
" I would if I could. I've never felt so disrespected. We are bonded by your blood. If you die...I die. "
Suddenly I felt at ease by this new information.
Then a thought came to my mind
" ...God's can die? "
" you did hear me, right? "
The SAS from this guy was unneeded and I was starting to miss him being on his knees as weird as that sounds.
" so...all that power gone.... in an instant... "
" well...no actually God's powers don't just disappear they transfer to whoever killed them...wait...hold up."
He suddenly had an epiphany.
A smile grew on his face and he grabbed my shoulders
" you! You are going to help me kill the other gods! "
He sounded proud but I let him down.
" ha! No. "
" oh come on! Don't be like that. "
He did a pout.
"Look, man. I'm not killing gods for you. Just because you are bored. "
" hey...they might send people to kill you because you bonded with me. "
"What did I ever do to them? "
"They have a system to this stuff. They like to build and watch things play out. You're a problem. That can mess it up. So...they kill ya...to be honest, I don't know any other way to explain it, man. You know people normally just use my power to kill people and become a king and know this already. "
"This is outrageous. "
" bro. Look if you do this I will be able to get their powers and you will be able to do so much more than what I offer "
I tilted my head
" what can you do? Know what never mind. I will just talk to them and figure things out. "
He groaned and his form melted down sagging and it shot back up reforming
"Is there not anything that you want? Anything in the world? Gods don't put themselves in physical forms. They give people power and can make beings to hunt you. And if they care enough to come down themself. Ha, good luck."
I stopped and thought about it trying to weigh the options of pissing off higher beings.
Suddenly. I found something.
"Can you bring back the dead..."
He stopped confused.
" well...no "
" then I don't want anything "
" wait! "
He threw his arms out pleading
"I don't...but another God does..."
He crosses his arms smiling. He had left the question hanging letting me reconsider his offer.
I stopped and thought for a while before looking back up to him.
I let out a sigh and looked him in the eyes
" ok...you are going to help me get my father back. "
The demon smirked.
submitted by Ok_Coconut_2560 to dontmindthis9 [link] [comments]
Over my lifetime I have become the Gorden Ramsey of the science world. Known for my temper and also for huge things like curing world hunger using play-doe and cancer with baby powder I got in a back street ally while drunk.
To get my family off my back I started making random ideas so they could see me as a failure and leave me alone but...they keep working. And soon people started to praise me. Fame has left me with nothing but more and more attention. So today I plan to make sure that everyone can just think I'm insane and leave me alone and not some king.
I chuckled like a kid who was opening a Christmas present as I heard the crowd of people chatting and talking loudly as I hid behind my stage in a grey tight suit that my sister had picked out. I sighed and was ready to walk out and make a fool out of myself but my brother stopped me.
" Jack... I just want you to know how proud I am of you. Dad would have loved to see you right now. "
I thought it was ironic because last night while chilling on the couch watching TV and eating chips I made this theory up. He dusted off my shoulders held them tight and looked me in the eyes taking in the moment.
" go give them hell man. "
He had a goofy smile just like Dad but spoke with confidence.
" you got it, man. "
I heard my name being called onto the stage and the uproar startled me for a second but I collected myself and headed out after giving him a nod just to entertain him.
The lights were blinding as I grabbed the mic and looked at the table in front of me with a small box with the ingredients I needed and a chalkboard behind me.
After I stood still for a minute the crowd died down. I had not told anyone what I was presenting so the whole world was watching without a clue of what I was doing this time.
"Hello everyone. Today I believe I have my most important presentation yet..."
The crowd grew silent and hung on every word. And I heard my voice around the room through the speakers.
" Today I have with me a box...and inside is spaghetti I had for breakfast. "
The crowd laughed thinking it was a joke
" shut up "
The crowd grew silent once more
"Behind me is a chalkboard and I will now present my new findings to all of you...I have found out how to make portals to other worlds. "
A man in the far back of the audience yelled bullshit in a heavy Indian accent but he was so far it was a faint sound for me. I smiled at that thinking I had finally found something that would make me lose my title and I could go ahead and live a life without people making me feel like an evil man for not helping others.
I opened the box got a handful of the noodles and threw them at the chalkboard. I then grabbed a paper towel on standby to clean myself.
The noodles hit the board and slowly moved and rested on a spot on the board. I made eye contact with my brother backstage and he had a look on his face showing he believed in me.
I spun the board dropping the noodles to the ground I then grabbed the chalk and drew around the sauce and noodles that stuck to the board then drew my attention to the others that had fallen on the floor and drew an outline of that.
After it finished I threw the chalk in the crowd violently hitting an old lady in the face.
" Quickly I want a show of hands who thinks I'm a crazy guy "
Everyone raised their hands and I laughed to myself
I then went behind the board and laid it horizontally. I grabbed a small knife in my pocket and poked my finger with it. The crimson blood fell and hit the chalk and then as more and more blood hit the chalk it started glowing.
" you have got to be joking. "
I said out loud as it started to spark an orange glow and it slowly grew color to the rest of the chalk in orange sparks.
Once the symbol was fully sparking with orange the sauce began to swell and move around in a counterclockwise manner. I stepped away from it in shock as small parts of the blood in my finger began to float to the parts where it fell on the floor I drew my outlines on and started sparking those as well.
It started to smoke and hiss as if lightning could whisper and the orange began to take shape and the sauce made a doorway. The parts that were not on the board began to grow ice around them and started to make designs on the floor circling me and the board. Suddenly it grew in size and a large booming voice was heard through the portal as I felt panic of people start to set in.
A huge claw came out and scrapped the sides of my table trying to crawl out from the world it had been trapped in. Cold winds hit me as they cut my skin and threw around my clothes. As I saw the table was now melting from its touch.
A slimy green claw with mucus like a face-hugger egg from the movie Alien carved through the floor and pulled the rest of its body out slowly. A beast stood at 12 feet tall adjusting to our world as goop grew and shaped its body as people screamed, ran, and stood frozen in fear.
As it looked around it locked its spider-like eyes and swerled around coming out from the portal and twisting and turning around the body as it made its way to its head finding a place to rest. It then locked its eyes with me and its jaw twisted slowly from an ant-like maw to mine and slowly shrunk and it soon took the shape of me and knelt on the floor and spoke to me.
" master. "
I stood in shock as everyone seemed to calm down and watched to see what I would do.
"...umm "My family has always been of great minds. I hated it. Growing up and having to study day and night to try and live up to them was extremely exhausting when I couldn't care how things worked as long as I was happy. I gave up but somehow everything kept turning out to be true.
Over my lifetime I have become the Gorden Ramsey of the science world. Known for my temper and also for huge things like curing world hunger using play-doe and cancer with baby powder I got in a back street ally while drunk.
To get my family off my back I started making random ideas so they could see me as a failure and leave me alone but...they keep working. And soon people started to praise me. Fame has left me with nothing but more and more attention. So today I plan to make sure that everyone can just think I'm insane and leave me alone and not some king.
I chuckled like a kid who was opening a Christmas present as I heard the crowd of people chatting and talking loudly as I hid behind my stage in a grey tight suit that my sister had picked out. I sighed and was ready to walk out and make a fool out of myself but my brother stopped me.
" Jack... I just want you to know how proud I am of you. Dad would have loved to see you right now. "
I thought it was ironic because last night while chilling on the couch watching TV and eating chips I made this theory up. He dusted off my shoulders held them tight and looked me in the eyes taking in the moment.
" go give them hell man. "
He had a goofy smile just like Dad but spoke with confidence.
" you got it, man. "
I heard my name being called onto the stage and the uproar startled me for a second but I collected myself and headed out after giving him a nod just to entertain him.
The lights were blinding as I grabbed the mic and looked at the table in front of me with a small box with the ingredients I needed and a chalkboard behind me.
After I stood still for a minute the crowd died down. I had not told anyone what I was presenting so the whole world was watching without a clue of what I was doing this time.
"Hello everyone. Today I believe I have my most important presentation yet..."
The crowd grew silent and hung on every word. And I heard my voice around the room through the speakers.
" Today I have with me a box...and inside is spaghetti I had breakfast. "
The crowd laughed thinking it was a joke
" shut up "
The crowd grew silent once more
"Behind me is a chalkboard and I will now present my new findings to all of you...I have found out how to make portals to other worlds. "
A man in the far back of the audience yelled bullshit in a heavy Indian accent but he was so far it was a faint sound for me. I smiled at that thinking I had finally found something that would make me lose my title and I could go ahead and live a life without people making me feel like an evil man for not helping others.
I opened the box got a handful of the noodles and threw them at the chalkboard. I then grabbed a paper towel on standby to clean myself.
The noodles hit the board and slowly moved and rested on a spot on the board. I made eye contact with my brother backstage and he had a look on his face showing he believed in me.
I spun the board dropping the noodles to the ground I then grabbed the chalk and drew around the sauce and noodles that stuck to the board then drew my attention to the others that had fallen on the floor and drew an outline of that.
After it finished I threw the chalk in the crowd violently hitting an old lady in the face.
" Quickly I want a show of hands who thinks I'm a crazy guy "
Everyone raised their hands and I laughed to myself
I then went behind the board and laid it horizontally. I grabbed a small knife in my pocket and poked my finger with it. The crimson blood fell and hit the chalk and then as more and more blood hit the chalk it started glowing.
" you have got to be joking. "
I said out loud as it started to spark an orange glow and it slowly grew color to the rest of the chalk in orange sparks.
Once the symbol was fully sparking with orange the sauce began to swell and move around in a counterclockwise manner. I stepped away from it in shock as small parts of the blood in my finger began to float to the parts where it fell on the floor I drew my outlines on and started sparking those as well.
It started to smoke and hiss as if lightning could whisper and the orange began to take shape and the sauce made a doorway. The parts that were not on the board began to grow ice around them and started to make designs on the floor circling me and the board. Suddenly it grew in size and a large booming voice was heard through the portal as I felt panic of people start to set in.
A huge claw came out and scrapped the sides of my table trying to crawl out from the world it had been trapped in. Cold winds hit me as they cut my skin and threw around my clothes. As I saw the table was now melting from its touch.
A slimy green claw with mucus like a face-hugger egg from the movie Alien carved through the floor and pulled the rest of its body out slowly. A beast stood at 12 feet tall adjusting to our world as goop grew and shaped its body as people screamed, ran, and stood frozen in fear.
As it looked around it locked its spider-like eyes and swerled around coming out from the portal and twisting and turning around the body as it made its way to its head finding a place to rest. It then locked its eyes with me and its jaw twisted slowly from an ant-like maw to mine and slowly shrunk and it soon took the shape of me and knelt on the floor and spoke to me.
" master. "
I stood in shock as everyone seemed to calm down and watched to see what I would do.
"...umm "
Part two of the noodle demon.Now that this creature knelt before me I realized that the room I was in was so terrible quietly you could hear everyone's ass get tight in anticipation of what would happen next.
" ...what...are you. "
I spoke carefully to the being that had taken the shape of myself. It still took my breath away and my throat was dry.
The beast was a deep green. The color mixed with shades of grey streaming from it. The longer I looked at it I could see it getting closer to what I looked like shaping itself.
From small flowing green tendrils to an arm they grew as they twisted and made bone then muscle and finally skin.
It locked eyes with me and it smiled deeply at me. As it formed the face finally.
" Your vassle. "
My eyes had not moved to the crowd at all but even though the lights hit the stage so hard it was enveloped in smoke.
The creature's eyes glowed as it answered brightly, not figuratively. This thing's eyes were glowing.
"To serve you, We are bound by blood magic. I am a reflection of your desires, Master, " it said, its voice now a whisper in my mind.
It began to stand up as my grey suit began to form on it and by the time it stood fully up it had copied what I looked like.
" let me explain everything. "
My body frozen in fear woke up with adrenaline as I blinked and a flash of green smoke covered my vision as he teleported right to me face to face.
Its body turned to smoke and went into the slits of my eyes. I felt visions follow me in my peripheral vision but surprisingly no pain followed power filled me and it felt like one hell of a drug.
My body and mind altered.
I was now in a very dark place with no walls or light except my reflection on the floor which waved like water.
I took a step back looking around and back to the reflection of me on the ground.
Soon the water rippled and my reflection fell through the floor like gravity was inverted. he flew upright and water fell off of him as he looked at me as he now stood straight ahead of me. He was just reflecting in the water but now eyed me down.
Collecting my nerves.
I begin to speak.
" what do you want..."
He was still in my form and stood perfectly straight. Now with water dripping from his...my hair.
Slight stubble with hair that hung down and my hazel eyes were not present within him but I was greeted with a swelling acidic green that doubled the size of my pupil.
" to serve you. "
He made no other movement than putting his hands behind his back like a soldier at ease.
I could not tell if it was lying or not.
" ...is that it? "
" I am the embodiment of your fear desires and brilliance. You have shaped me. Your desire for solitude birthed me. I will aid you in shaping the world how you see fit. Your reality becomes mine. "
There was a slight echo in the room as he spoke.
" wait...where are we "
I questioned haphazardly
" your mind. "
An awkward silence was in the air until I spoke
" so...am I just standing on the stage not making a sound? "
He gave me a concerned look.
" no...time has frozen outside for you. You may sleep here without having to in the real world so to others you look as if you never rest and you may think and plan what to do in battle here. For them, it will be about two seconds...Do...do you not have any knowledge of what I am? "
Suddenly I felt bad like I had encountered someone famous and I had no idea who they were. A slap in the face like a popular kid meeting someone who had never heard of them. Ego shattered.
" ok sorry no. I...don't go around reading about...monsters?"
I felt like was I saying the n-word of the demon realm not knowing if that word was offensive.
He folded his arms a little upset.
"Are you not a warrior? "
" well...no I...just watch TV and cook here and there- "
The demon cut me off
" weak. "
" excuse me? "
" look. I am an immortal being and after a while you get bored. So I'm sorry if I may be a little upset after being bonded with some nobody. "
I got quiet and I was a little annoyed that I was being roasted by some demon that I just met.
Its form wavers and eyes begin to open on its skin. Cheeks forhead etc.
"After being a god for so long it's fun to play with limitations. Makes things extremely exciting. "
" what do you mean by that? "
" look. You can only be so entertained by the same things. Life gets boring and now...you are going to help me with this. I get to have pure entertainment while you get every wish you could ever want. A mutual bond no? "
He then closed his eyes annoyed and the other eyes meshed back to his skin.
" though... the TV is not that interesting...life is what gets the blood pumping"
I felt the need to quickly change the topic
"Are there others like you? "
The room began to take shape very slowly as the water floor turned to wood and walls went around us.
" of course. You may meet them one day "
Confused and curious I pressed.
"Meet them? "
" yes. Summoning one of us is considered a threat to them. "
He spoke while opening and closing his newly found hand except backward.
" hm...no that don't look right "
I quickly responded
" Wait! How is doing that a threat! "
"Well, one doesn't just accidentally Summon one of us to suddenly get powers beyond human control. "
I thought back to how I summoned him by accident with some food I made.
" well...funny story but I summoned you using my breakfast..."
I had never regretted speaking so much as in that moment.
" What... "
Acid dripped from his words. Literally. His pupils split in half and his bottom jaw ripped open like an ant and curved giving sharpness to the bone.
"Please don't kill me. "
The room began to look like a cozy cabin with a fireplace and he slowly went back to normal.
" I would if I could. I've never felt so disrespected. We are bonded by your blood. If you die...I die. "
Suddenly I felt at ease by this new information.
Then a thought came to my mind
" ...God's can die? "
" you did hear me, right? "
The SAS from this guy was unneeded and I was starting to miss him being on his knees as weird as that sounds.
" so...all that power gone.... in an instant... "
" well...no actually God's powers don't just disappear they transfer to whoever killed them...wait...hold up."
He suddenly had an epiphany.
A smile grew on his face and he grabbed my shoulders
" you! You are going to help me kill the other gods! "
He sounded proud but I let him down.
" ha! No. "
" oh come on! Don't be like that. "
He did a pout.
"Look, man. I'm not killing gods for you. Just because you are bored. "
" hey...they might send people to kill you because you bonded with me. "
"What did I ever do to them? "
"They have a system to this stuff. They like to build and watch things play out. You're a problem. That can mess it up. So...they kill ya...to be honest, I don't know any other way to explain it, man. You know people normally just use my power to kill people and become a king and know this already. "
"This is outrageous. "
" bro. Look if you do this I will be able to get their powers and you will be able to do so much more than what I offer "
I tilted my head
" what can you do? Know what never mind. I will just talk to them and figure things out. "
He groaned and his form melted down sagging and it shot back up reforming
"Is there not anything that you want? Anything in the world? Gods don't put themselves in physical forms. They give people power and can make beings to hunt you. And if they care enough to come down themself. Ha, good luck."
I stopped and thought about it trying to weigh the options of pissing off higher beings.
Suddenly. I found something.
"Can you bring back the dead..."
He stopped confused.
" well...no "
" then I don't want anything "
" wait! "
He threw his arms out pleading
"I don't...but another God does..."
He crosses his arms smiling. He had left the question hanging letting me reconsider his offer.
I stopped and thought for a while before looking back up to him.
I let out a sigh and looked him in the eyes
" ok...you are going to help me get my father back. "
The demon smirked.
2024.05.28 02:26 thewildwildkvetch What are these painless, non-itchy red spots on my thighs?
 | I have an appointment with a dermatologist but it is two months away. Hoping to get some insight in the mean time. submitted by thewildwildkvetch to DermatologyQuestions [link] [comments] These strange blotches appeared on my thighs about two months ago. Initially they looked like wrinkled dry skin patches. Over time they grew more red and irritated looking but have never been painful, itchy or leaking fluid. They are primarily on my inner thigh area and front of upper legs and seem to be spreading. They get worse when wet and don’t change when moisturized. Not an STD, no tick bites, no personal or family history of any skin issues, no changes in any personal products I use. Any ideas or tips? |
2024.05.28 02:17 Migraine_Brain_123 Lots of strange symptoms spanning multiple specialties Neurology, ENT, GI, ...
I suspect that all of my symptoms are connected, but they span lots of different specialties and it's impossible to get all my doctors together to go over things. So I'd like to know what you think and in particular answers to any of these questions:
Everything listed here I have had since I was an early teenager, all starting around that time. None have had any particular identifiable trigger.
Sorry this is a bit long, I'm trying to be comprehensive.
39M, 160 lbs, 5'11", white, in okay shape. Don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I eat fine, don't eat out, and drink plenty of water. Drink a few cups of green tea per day, occasionally a coffee in the morning. Rarely drink soda. Generally take care of myself.
IBS
It's about 50/50 constipation/diarrhea. I have symptoms from it every day. I'd say about 1/3 of the time its not that bad, 1/3 moderately bad, and 1/3 severe.
I have significant pain and bloating when it's acting up. Pencil-thin stools. Sometimes diarrhea and constipation at the same time, like I have to strain to get very liquidy diarrhea out.
There is also very significant distention. When it's not bothering me, my stomach looks flat, and when it is I can look fairly overweight, like a beer belly. I've never found anything that helps with this.
I've tried every elimination diet known to man, and nothing has helped. I haven't found any food triggers or other specific triggers. But just eating or drinking can trigger it. Sometimes I'll feel fine and take a sip of water, and a minute later I feel awful.
The IBS symptoms feel significantly different than "normal" GI problems, I can't describe how, but it feels more "wrong" than regular constipation, bloating, diarrhea, etc.
Medications:
50mg of CBD 2x/day, and it's the only thing that's ever helped with the IBS pain.
Pepcid 1x/day from acid reflux, presumably from the IBS.
Imodium, few times a week.
In the past I've tried tricyclic antidepressants, Bentyl, and some other stuff I don't remember, which weren't helpful.
IBS aura
Sometimes in the morning I will have a strange dream-like experience. It's not a dream per se, but I'm asleep, and it feels like one, but with no imagery or anything. There's an intense feeling of unreality and dissociation that comes along with it. I'd describe it as kind of similar to the strange feeling that comes with a migraine aura, but much more intense and much much weirder.
When I wake up, I feel extremely sleepy and confused for a few moments, but physically completely fine. Then after about a minute, I'm overwhelmed with sudden, immediate, incapacitating IBS pain. The pain will last all day, and is by far the worse IBS pain I get. It happens once or twice a year. And always exactly like this (e.g., never when I'm awake, or after a nap.)
I don't get anything like that "aura" preceding normal IBS symptoms.
Migraine with aura
The aura is a dark spot starting on the lower-right of my field of vision which increases to fill about 1/3 of the lower right-hand side. Random smaller dark spots appear across my field of vision, and sometimes small point-like scintillating spots.
Pain is also localized on the right-hand side just behind my eye, extending backwards for a bit, and I'd typically describe as throbbing.
The migraines come and go. I might have them every day for weeks, then none for months or years. But typically it's several a month.
I also have frequent regular headaches, several a week.
Neurological workup is fine otherwise.
Medications:
Cymbalta 60mg 1/day, as a preventative. It works okay.
Sumatriptan, when needed. Also works okay, both together make a migraine tolerable but still bothersome.
Eustachian tube dysfunction / objective tinnitus
In both ears, but primarily the right ear, I have Eustachian tube dysfunction. The tubes are closed most of the time, like I have a cold. I do the Valsalva maneuver several times a day to help. There's no fluid buildup though.
Often I hear a rumbling sound in my ears that is nearly identical to what you hear when you yawn. When this happens, by placing my finger just in front of my ear I can clearly feel something twitching, there's significant movement. Pressing with moderate force typically stops it.
It's extremely irritating and distracting, but doesn't seem to hurt my hearing. AFAIK nothing triggers the rumbling, and the only thing that stops it is pressure. It's mostly bothersome at night. I've been tested for allergies, and didn't find any serious ones.
Very occasionally, my ears ring for a few seconds or minutes. Sometimes the background "tone" changes, like when a bad movie cuts from one person's dialogue to someone else's and it feels like it doesn't match.
Deviated septum
A year ago I had a septoplasty and inferior turbinate reduction to correct a deviated septum I'd had since I was a kid, making it increasingly hard to breathe out of my right nostril. Covering the left nostril and breathing out of the right would make me feel like I was suffocating. AFAIK there was no trauma that caused this.
CT scans didn't show any sinusitis or inflammation and septal deviation was "moderate."
Surgery went great and it's much better, but the right-hand side still feels like there's less throughput. I can feel this clearly if I block one nostril and exhale out the other. The ENT says that there're no obstructions or other reasons he can see for this and doesn't know why it's happening. I'd say the right nostril has like 75% of the throughput of the left one.
ADHD/Anxiety/Depression
I've also been diagnosed with ADHD, the inattentive type.
Also anxiety and depression. As a teenager they were more severe, now they're more manageable. Saw psychologists for years but don't anymore.
I've tried several SSRI/SNRIs, and none of them have helped at all. But they have had sexual side effects of significantly decreased libido and difficulty maintaining erections. I still get erections in the mornings fine. Without the drugs I've never had these problems. They also made me pretty anhedonic in the long-run.
Medications:
I take Vyvanse 40 mg, a few times a week for the ADHD symptoms. I'd take it more frequently, but it causes the same sexual side-effects as the SSRI/SNRIs. For some reason the Vyvanse almost completely eliminates my anxiety within about an hour of taking it.
Cialis 5mg, for sexual side-effects, but it's only a little helpful.
Weird symptoms
I haven't had a diagnosis associated with any of these. I've had these all since I was a kid/teenager.
Probably not related to anything, but for completeness. I've also had all of these since I was a kid/teenager.
I've had so many tests I can't think of them all. They always come back normal, with the exception of low vitamin D (19).
I had lots of tests for IBS as a teenager, including uppelower GIs, and a bunch other I don't remember.
Recently had comprehensive metabolic panel, thyroid tests, testosterone test, estradiol test, and a bunch of STD tests. All normal, but Glucose is in the high 90s (but it's always been < 99) and cholesterol is a little high.
Blood pressure is on the high end of normal, resting heart rate is in the 80s.
My Apple watch says my EEG is fine, SpO2 is fine, and sleep is fine with no interruptions and no drops in SpO2 or respiration rate.
Other daily medications
Fexofenadine, multivitamin
submitted by Migraine_Brain_123 to AskDocs [link] [comments]
- Why does my skin turn purple? What is this rash?
- What is this weird IBS "aura"? Is it a kind of migraine? Why doesn't it happen with normal attacks?
- Can I do anything about the IBS distention?
- Why is so much wrong on the right side of my body? And why mostly on my face and head? Did I have a stroke?
- Is my objective tinnitus "twitching" and Eustachian tube dysfunction related to migraines?
- Why do I have difficulty breathing out of the right nostril even with no obstructions and a clear CT scan with no inflammation? There's clearly less throughput through the right nostril.
- Why do I randomly have extreme fatigue?
- What the hell is going on with the weird symptoms?
- What other treatments or tests should I try, given that my Drs have tried all the obvious ones, since I was a kid?
Everything listed here I have had since I was an early teenager, all starting around that time. None have had any particular identifiable trigger.
Sorry this is a bit long, I'm trying to be comprehensive.
39M, 160 lbs, 5'11", white, in okay shape. Don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I eat fine, don't eat out, and drink plenty of water. Drink a few cups of green tea per day, occasionally a coffee in the morning. Rarely drink soda. Generally take care of myself.
IBS
It's about 50/50 constipation/diarrhea. I have symptoms from it every day. I'd say about 1/3 of the time its not that bad, 1/3 moderately bad, and 1/3 severe.
I have significant pain and bloating when it's acting up. Pencil-thin stools. Sometimes diarrhea and constipation at the same time, like I have to strain to get very liquidy diarrhea out.
There is also very significant distention. When it's not bothering me, my stomach looks flat, and when it is I can look fairly overweight, like a beer belly. I've never found anything that helps with this.
I've tried every elimination diet known to man, and nothing has helped. I haven't found any food triggers or other specific triggers. But just eating or drinking can trigger it. Sometimes I'll feel fine and take a sip of water, and a minute later I feel awful.
The IBS symptoms feel significantly different than "normal" GI problems, I can't describe how, but it feels more "wrong" than regular constipation, bloating, diarrhea, etc.
Medications:
50mg of CBD 2x/day, and it's the only thing that's ever helped with the IBS pain.
Pepcid 1x/day from acid reflux, presumably from the IBS.
Imodium, few times a week.
In the past I've tried tricyclic antidepressants, Bentyl, and some other stuff I don't remember, which weren't helpful.
IBS aura
Sometimes in the morning I will have a strange dream-like experience. It's not a dream per se, but I'm asleep, and it feels like one, but with no imagery or anything. There's an intense feeling of unreality and dissociation that comes along with it. I'd describe it as kind of similar to the strange feeling that comes with a migraine aura, but much more intense and much much weirder.
When I wake up, I feel extremely sleepy and confused for a few moments, but physically completely fine. Then after about a minute, I'm overwhelmed with sudden, immediate, incapacitating IBS pain. The pain will last all day, and is by far the worse IBS pain I get. It happens once or twice a year. And always exactly like this (e.g., never when I'm awake, or after a nap.)
I don't get anything like that "aura" preceding normal IBS symptoms.
Migraine with aura
The aura is a dark spot starting on the lower-right of my field of vision which increases to fill about 1/3 of the lower right-hand side. Random smaller dark spots appear across my field of vision, and sometimes small point-like scintillating spots.
Pain is also localized on the right-hand side just behind my eye, extending backwards for a bit, and I'd typically describe as throbbing.
The migraines come and go. I might have them every day for weeks, then none for months or years. But typically it's several a month.
I also have frequent regular headaches, several a week.
Neurological workup is fine otherwise.
Medications:
Cymbalta 60mg 1/day, as a preventative. It works okay.
Sumatriptan, when needed. Also works okay, both together make a migraine tolerable but still bothersome.
Eustachian tube dysfunction / objective tinnitus
In both ears, but primarily the right ear, I have Eustachian tube dysfunction. The tubes are closed most of the time, like I have a cold. I do the Valsalva maneuver several times a day to help. There's no fluid buildup though.
Often I hear a rumbling sound in my ears that is nearly identical to what you hear when you yawn. When this happens, by placing my finger just in front of my ear I can clearly feel something twitching, there's significant movement. Pressing with moderate force typically stops it.
It's extremely irritating and distracting, but doesn't seem to hurt my hearing. AFAIK nothing triggers the rumbling, and the only thing that stops it is pressure. It's mostly bothersome at night. I've been tested for allergies, and didn't find any serious ones.
Very occasionally, my ears ring for a few seconds or minutes. Sometimes the background "tone" changes, like when a bad movie cuts from one person's dialogue to someone else's and it feels like it doesn't match.
Deviated septum
A year ago I had a septoplasty and inferior turbinate reduction to correct a deviated septum I'd had since I was a kid, making it increasingly hard to breathe out of my right nostril. Covering the left nostril and breathing out of the right would make me feel like I was suffocating. AFAIK there was no trauma that caused this.
CT scans didn't show any sinusitis or inflammation and septal deviation was "moderate."
Surgery went great and it's much better, but the right-hand side still feels like there's less throughput. I can feel this clearly if I block one nostril and exhale out the other. The ENT says that there're no obstructions or other reasons he can see for this and doesn't know why it's happening. I'd say the right nostril has like 75% of the throughput of the left one.
ADHD/Anxiety/Depression
I've also been diagnosed with ADHD, the inattentive type.
Also anxiety and depression. As a teenager they were more severe, now they're more manageable. Saw psychologists for years but don't anymore.
I've tried several SSRI/SNRIs, and none of them have helped at all. But they have had sexual side effects of significantly decreased libido and difficulty maintaining erections. I still get erections in the mornings fine. Without the drugs I've never had these problems. They also made me pretty anhedonic in the long-run.
Medications:
I take Vyvanse 40 mg, a few times a week for the ADHD symptoms. I'd take it more frequently, but it causes the same sexual side-effects as the SSRI/SNRIs. For some reason the Vyvanse almost completely eliminates my anxiety within about an hour of taking it.
Cialis 5mg, for sexual side-effects, but it's only a little helpful.
Weird symptoms
I haven't had a diagnosis associated with any of these. I've had these all since I was a kid/teenager.
- The skin on my hands, arms, feet, and legs occasionally gets this strange mottled look, with red/purple/white splotches, about .5 cm across. It looks alarming, but is not painful and no other symptoms are associated with it. No particular trigger for it.
- Sometimes, after exercise or moderate physical activity (e.g., a causal walk) my body feels numb and clumsy, and my fingers looks significantly puffy and swollen (not just the joints, the whole finger). Other joints feel stiff and swollen, but don't look like it as much.
- Face has a slightly red, rash-like area, like a butterfly rash except it extends into the crease along my nose, and is mostly on the cheekbone area. It's red like a mild sunburn, or when someone's face gets red when they drink. I get acne in this same area frequently too.
- The right side of my face feels "weird", I don't know how to describe it. There's no difference in sensation on my skin though, it's just an internal feeling. It's also slightly harder to move the right side of my face, for example my smile is asymmetric.
- I have a lot of extreme fatigue for no reason. Some days it's hard to do anything. Other days are totally fine. Brain fog semi-frequently. The fatigue feels significantly different than "regular" fatigue. Most days I feel roughly like I have a low-level flu.
- I get lots of strange aches and pains. A lot of joint soreness and stiffness, particularly hips, knees, elbows, and fingers. Sometimes finger joints are obviously swollen when they're achy, but not usually, and cracking my knuckles usually helps. Sometimes areas of my skin will feel sore or have a burning feeling (most commonly my forearms and the top of my head). Sometimes stabbing pain in a random tooth that lasts for less than a second. I took pregabalin for a while and it was moderately helpful, but I had to stop because it made me forget words.
- Sometimes have difficulty peeing, I've been told that's probably related to the IBS.
- I am sensitive to a lot of drugs, and typically need smaller-than-normal doses. Side-effects are also worse. Opioid pain killers make me extremely nauseous and vomit and so does general anesthesia. The anti-nausea drugs drs give me when I complain help with the anesthesia but not the opioids.
- Some drugs don't seem to have much of an affect on me at all, e.g., over-the-counter pain killers do almost nothing for any pain I have, even regular cuts-and-bruises.
Probably not related to anything, but for completeness. I've also had all of these since I was a kid/teenager.
- My fingernails have vertical ridges in them and are brittle. Toenails don't have this and aren't brittle.
- Fingernails are also smaller than normal, like maybe half the height? Toenails are normal size, except for the little toe which has a ridiculously tiny nail.
- Flat feet, and sometimes when walking I feel a sharp, painful "tearing" feeling running down the center of the foot from just below the toes to just before the heel. Oddly, if this happens, running feels totally fine. The "tearing" happens on the right foot 90% of the time.
- Joints all hyperextend.
- Generally high pain threshold, except on areas of my body that are sore/achy, where I'm very sensitive, or when IBS pain is acting up, where I'm sensitive all over.
- Occasionally I wake up at night extremely thirsty. Like I'm dying of thirst. I have to guzzle water.
- Lots of cavities, and gums have slightly receded in places.
- Random muscle twitches in the thighs, sometimes upper chest or upper arms.
- Lots of stretchmarks on my sides and stomach from when I was a young teenager. Was never overweight and didn't have a sudden growth spurt or anything when they appeared, but was taking Accutane for severe acne at the time.
- Multiple hairs grow next to each other, spaced a hair's width or so apart, like there's a cluster of hair follicles instead of just one. Hairy chest, back, and butt.
- Natural sleep cycle is very late, going to bed ~4am. (Sleeping on this schedule doesn't improve anything.)
- Penis slightly curved. Not enough to cause any problems but noticeable.
- Right-handed, but am left-eye dominant.
- Nearsighted.
- Maternal grandfather -- Lupus
- Maternal aunt -- Rheumatoid arthritis, migraines
- Maternal uncle -- Chron's
- Half-sister from mother -- Psoriatic arthritis
- Father -- Hypertension, heart attack
- Paternal grandmother -- Fibromyalgia
I've had so many tests I can't think of them all. They always come back normal, with the exception of low vitamin D (19).
I had lots of tests for IBS as a teenager, including uppelower GIs, and a bunch other I don't remember.
Recently had comprehensive metabolic panel, thyroid tests, testosterone test, estradiol test, and a bunch of STD tests. All normal, but Glucose is in the high 90s (but it's always been < 99) and cholesterol is a little high.
Blood pressure is on the high end of normal, resting heart rate is in the 80s.
My Apple watch says my EEG is fine, SpO2 is fine, and sleep is fine with no interruptions and no drops in SpO2 or respiration rate.
Other daily medications
Fexofenadine, multivitamin
2024.05.28 02:13 mm112211223344 Itchy all over only at night for the last couple of weeks with no rash
27F, 130lbs. For the last maybe 2-3 weeks I have been itchy all over my body, but only at night time, with no obvious rash. I scratch so much that I get little petechiae all over my body. It’s mostly the tops of my feet (more so my right foot than my left), the palms of my hands, my chest, my shoulders and my neck.
I haven’t done anything different, I use the same laundry detergent and soap I’ve been using forever, I don’t have bed bugs, and I also don’t have hives or any rashes so it doesn’t necessarily seem like an allergy to me?
Also, I’ve questioned if it could be because the weather is getting warmer, but im not itchy when I’m exercising and sweaty or during the day when I’m out in the sun, only at night, and I have my AC on every night so I’m not hot when I’m sleeping either. I’ve also been running my AC nightly for the last 2 months even before I was itchy so I don’t think it’s because the air is dry or because of the cold either. My skin doesn’t look dry at all either.
Another thing I thought of was I’ve been tapering off of my Symbicort inhaler for the last three weeks because I was on it for well over a year after I was having breathing issues (which I think can be attributed to living in a potentially moldy home that I have since moved out of), and I doubt it because I’ve been on and off steroid inhalers my entire life but I wondered if getting off of them could cause skin issues? The reason why I even thought of this as a possibility is because I know people can get steroid withdrawal skin rashes from topical steroids so I wondered if it’s possible from steroid inhalers too? (I was tapering down from my usual 4 puffs a day to 3 puffs a day for one week, 2 puffs a day for another week and now 1 puff a day for another week.)
As a side note, earlier this week I was having a sharp pain in my upper right abdomen all day long, which eventually went away the next day. I have had this pain happen for years but not too often, maybe once every few weeks. Also, early April I went to the ER for breathing issues and they did a metabolic panel which showed my GFR was in the 90s and my creatinine was slightly higher than usual (in the 0.80s instead of 0.60-0.70s), whereas in January and throughout all of last year anytime I had blood work done, it was always >120. I know a GFR in the 90s is still normal but my GFR has never been that low in the past. I’m not sure if these things matter at all I just know that full body itching can be a sign of kidney and liver issues so that makes me nervous. I had liver panels done maybe 6 months ago and all was normal besides elevated bilirubin, which I have had elevated bilirubin for a long time but I’m not sure why.
submitted by mm112211223344 to AskDocs [link] [comments]
I haven’t done anything different, I use the same laundry detergent and soap I’ve been using forever, I don’t have bed bugs, and I also don’t have hives or any rashes so it doesn’t necessarily seem like an allergy to me?
Also, I’ve questioned if it could be because the weather is getting warmer, but im not itchy when I’m exercising and sweaty or during the day when I’m out in the sun, only at night, and I have my AC on every night so I’m not hot when I’m sleeping either. I’ve also been running my AC nightly for the last 2 months even before I was itchy so I don’t think it’s because the air is dry or because of the cold either. My skin doesn’t look dry at all either.
Another thing I thought of was I’ve been tapering off of my Symbicort inhaler for the last three weeks because I was on it for well over a year after I was having breathing issues (which I think can be attributed to living in a potentially moldy home that I have since moved out of), and I doubt it because I’ve been on and off steroid inhalers my entire life but I wondered if getting off of them could cause skin issues? The reason why I even thought of this as a possibility is because I know people can get steroid withdrawal skin rashes from topical steroids so I wondered if it’s possible from steroid inhalers too? (I was tapering down from my usual 4 puffs a day to 3 puffs a day for one week, 2 puffs a day for another week and now 1 puff a day for another week.)
As a side note, earlier this week I was having a sharp pain in my upper right abdomen all day long, which eventually went away the next day. I have had this pain happen for years but not too often, maybe once every few weeks. Also, early April I went to the ER for breathing issues and they did a metabolic panel which showed my GFR was in the 90s and my creatinine was slightly higher than usual (in the 0.80s instead of 0.60-0.70s), whereas in January and throughout all of last year anytime I had blood work done, it was always >120. I know a GFR in the 90s is still normal but my GFR has never been that low in the past. I’m not sure if these things matter at all I just know that full body itching can be a sign of kidney and liver issues so that makes me nervous. I had liver panels done maybe 6 months ago and all was normal besides elevated bilirubin, which I have had elevated bilirubin for a long time but I’m not sure why.
2024.05.28 01:52 joyousjoyness First time shingles, 43F, yay ....
Thank you so much for this subreddit! One of the photos was exactly like my rash and it clicked for me to get seen by urgent care today.
Around a week ago, I had weird hip flexor pain on my left side that was painful when I walked and it would be tingly when I brushed the skin. I figured I had injured myself exercising.
Then 6 days ago, I found a cluster of small bumps in my inner left thigh. Bug bites? Heat rash? Not very itchy, not very red. Meh, nothing to worry about.
The next day, I found another cluster of bumps at the bottom of my left thigh where it touches the seat when I sit. Slightly itchy, no pain. Weird! Maybe just heat rash?
The next day, another cluster appears up on the left butt cheek. Ok... This is weird. And then I get slight sensitivity on the bumps. Getting suspicious...
The last few days, the pain increases and parts of my left leg are sore. This entire time, I've been sleeping more, which I've chalked up to just needing it. My husband has been out of town and I've been solo parenting 2 kids, so maybe just need the extra sleep.
Today, the pain is more pronounced, not bad but definitely there. I consult Dr. Google and then this subreddit. It doesn't fit an extreme case or on the torso. It's not even red or painful, but it's on one side. I then see that photo on here that is EXACTLY my rash.
Ran to the urgent care and the doctor immediately diagnosed shingles. I'm starting a 7 day valacylovir course 3x a day. Hopefully the pain level doesn't go beyond this level!
Question: what are the best ways to help me heal fastest? I will take a break from my workout routine for the next week, try to get more sleep, and destress as much as possible.
Thanks so much!
submitted by joyousjoyness to shingles [link] [comments]
Around a week ago, I had weird hip flexor pain on my left side that was painful when I walked and it would be tingly when I brushed the skin. I figured I had injured myself exercising.
Then 6 days ago, I found a cluster of small bumps in my inner left thigh. Bug bites? Heat rash? Not very itchy, not very red. Meh, nothing to worry about.
The next day, I found another cluster of bumps at the bottom of my left thigh where it touches the seat when I sit. Slightly itchy, no pain. Weird! Maybe just heat rash?
The next day, another cluster appears up on the left butt cheek. Ok... This is weird. And then I get slight sensitivity on the bumps. Getting suspicious...
The last few days, the pain increases and parts of my left leg are sore. This entire time, I've been sleeping more, which I've chalked up to just needing it. My husband has been out of town and I've been solo parenting 2 kids, so maybe just need the extra sleep.
Today, the pain is more pronounced, not bad but definitely there. I consult Dr. Google and then this subreddit. It doesn't fit an extreme case or on the torso. It's not even red or painful, but it's on one side. I then see that photo on here that is EXACTLY my rash.
Ran to the urgent care and the doctor immediately diagnosed shingles. I'm starting a 7 day valacylovir course 3x a day. Hopefully the pain level doesn't go beyond this level!
Question: what are the best ways to help me heal fastest? I will take a break from my workout routine for the next week, try to get more sleep, and destress as much as possible.
Thanks so much!
2024.05.28 01:46 starryyoongi Is this eczema?
 | Hi! My doctor told me a few months ago when it wasn't flared that this spot on my thigh was eczema but I'm wondering if I should seek a second opinion because she also told me that by taking dupixent [I take it for my eoe but it helps with eczema too] that it should go away and it still flares up. It's really itchy and painful and I've had it for years. I'm overly paranoid about it being skin cancer. Please help. submitted by starryyoongi to skin [link] [comments] |
2024.05.28 01:30 wnxace Joint pain red bumps on knuckles.
36/male for the past couple years I've been having reoccurring pain in my lower back pain, lower stomach, perineum, my hands, knees, shoulders, elbows and hips(though I had both replaced due to avascular necrosis 7 years ago so can't be certain it's related) my mouth, tounge and lips developed sores which one doctor said was viral, but my GP and rheumatologist said could be an autoimmune reaction. Ive been very fatigued, very sensitive to heat and cold, nauseous, light headed, memory issues, trouble starting urination, leaking after, I rarely can fully empty my bladder, and troubles with getting and keeping an erection. I've been having issues with Constipation and I've noticed what looks like clear drops of oil in the toilet after pooping. I also have been getting flaky scans on my beard, hairline, and eyebrows which thr dermatologist said is most likely psoriasis. I just saw the rheumatologist last week and I'm waiting on bloodwork and xrays, but she said most of my symptoms sound like an autoimmune condition. So far the only thing that's helped with the joint pain has been nsaids and ciprofloxacin has helped in the past for some of the urinary issues but they come right back shortly after getting off of it.
My hands have been swollen and painful, especially in the morning and I forgot to mention these bumps on the knuckles of my fingers some are red, some are normal skin colored, they aren't itchy or painful, and I've got about 10 of them on different fingers but only on the top and side of my fingers none of the palm side. Any idea what they could be and if they might be related to whatever is going on with me? Also ANA and rhumatoid factor came back normal on previous testing. Here are a couple pictures it's hard to see clearly through the camera, but I did the best I could.
https://ibb.co/HB5yrmz https://ibb.co/MSD2qDx
submitted by wnxace to AskDocs [link] [comments]
My hands have been swollen and painful, especially in the morning and I forgot to mention these bumps on the knuckles of my fingers some are red, some are normal skin colored, they aren't itchy or painful, and I've got about 10 of them on different fingers but only on the top and side of my fingers none of the palm side. Any idea what they could be and if they might be related to whatever is going on with me? Also ANA and rhumatoid factor came back normal on previous testing. Here are a couple pictures it's hard to see clearly through the camera, but I did the best I could.
https://ibb.co/HB5yrmz https://ibb.co/MSD2qDx
2024.05.28 01:22 Allison1919 Rash on arms and legs
Wednesday morning I woke up and noticed raised bumps on the back of my hand and up my arm. When I scratch them they get increasingly itchy and red. They are smaller and more uniform than typical hives from allergic reactions. When I get the itching to stop from either calamine lotion or ice packs, the rash almost is invisible until something irritates the skin again. The next day up until now, it is on both arms and legs. It burns when inflamed but the burning stops when I get it to calm down. I'm wondering if it could be heat rash? Someone suggested poison ivy? Any ideas? It won't let me add photos so hopefully this info is helpful.
female 32
submitted by Allison1919 to AskDocs [link] [comments]
female 32
2024.05.28 00:44 Plastic-Guava-6941 Never let a human escape : One Shot Short Story
Never let a human escape : One Shot Short Story
Mike Samson jolted awake to a blinding light flooding his studio apartment. He shielded his eyes as crackling arcs of blue energy danced across his body, every nerve suddenly detonating in anguished fire. Paralysis gripped his muscles even as he tried to cry out.
Looming figures materialized amidst the electrical flare - grotesque bipedal reptilians with leering crimson eyes and taloned hands. Their lipless maws stretched wide, lolling forked tongues scenting the air as they surrounded Mike's prone form. Guttural alien words were hissed back and forth, the meaning opaque but dripping with malign intent.
Mike's world became a whirlwind of thrashing limbs and piercing shrieks as he was wrenched from the safety of his apartment. His fingernails raked futilely across floorboards until the reptilians pinned his flailing appendages, injecting him with an insidious inky ichor. Sedation flooded his mind in cloying chemical shockwaves, subsuming him into a lightless gulf of terrified delirium.
When consciousness sputtered back, he found himself entombed in a claustrophobic metal chamber. Tubes and cables snaked across his naked bruised body, adhering to his flesh with osculating mouthparts that pumped calibrated chemistries through his bloodstream. The chamber's curved walls throbbed with alien energies and holographic readouts scrawling reams of data in indecipherable xenolinguistics.
Mike retched in breathless cycles, his throat burning from acidic expulsions. Liquid terror coursed through his veins as unfathomable implications slowly crystallized. He'd been abducted...by aliens...for reasons his traumatized psyche refused to countenance. Test subject, lab rat, biological curiosity - none of those roles offered any shred of consolation as the chamber's atmosphere toxified with soporific aerosols and dragged him back into oblivion's void.
***********************************************************************
Has it been hours? Days? Weeks?
Mike drifted in and out of muddled consciousness, his bearings unmoored from any sense of time's passage. Periods of lucidity were fleeting islands amid an endless ocean of drugged delirium. The only constant was the steady throb of his heartbeat reminding him he still clung to life.
Alien machinery burred and chirped all around him in a maddening industrial symphony. Icy metal restraints bit into his wrists and ankles with every feeble twitch of struggle against their corrosive bite. Mike's throat was raw from bellowing until his voice gave out - hoarse howls of mutinous fury directed at his unseen jailors.
Visions flickered at the peripheries of his sedation-blurred mind. Arcane readouts and holographic displays bathing him in eldritch kaleidoscopic hues. Twisting shapes moving just outside his field of vision, forms that struck primordial chords of terror within his fraying psyche.
Where was he? What fresh abomination had he been submitted to by these...things? His memories were scorched ashes swirling in mental windstorms, cyclones of delirium peeling back each successive layer of reality until only the stark existential core remained - survive, escape, or die.
Each agonizing return to lucidity saw Mike renewing his struggles against the restraints with snarling desperation. He could feel his body's resistance to the sedatives gradually building, his flashes of cognizance persisting for longer intervals before the soporific tsunami dragged him back under.
He pulled at the bonds until his wrists ran with blood, snarling through clenched teeth as his muscles screamed in agony. Every iota of leverage was exploited, his frame bowing into a tortured arch as tendons and ligaments strained in rebellion against the metal's embrace.
Something had to give. He could feel the integrity of his bonds slowly compromising. A hairline fracture caulking, threads sheering apart with each explosive exertion. The acrid tang of his own sweat and desperation flooded Mike's nostrils, lending visceral momentum to his thrashings as sanity ebbed.
With a scream of cathartic ferocity, one strap's corroded links finally severed under his single-minded throes. An arm broke free, flailing wildly as it summited its shackled peak. Mike's roars achieved a galvanizing fervor as realization blossomed - his escape was now inevitable, even if it meant shredding every tendon and dislocating every bone.
He needed to escape. He needed to get back home.
The chamber reverberated with the wail of klaxons, their shrill cries cutting through the air like banshees unleashed. Warning lights pulsed in a frenzied dance, casting eerie shadows across the metallic walls.
They knew he was free.
***********************************************************************
The stench of burning insulation seared Mike's nostrils as he clawed his way free of the shattered alien wreckage. Jagged shards of metal sliced deep into his palms, warm blood streaming over his trembling fingers. He sucked in a ragged breath of toxins and smoke, instantly doubling over in a fit of rasping coughs that lasted until spots clouded his vision.
Disoriented, he dragged himself across a carpet of mangled bodies and severed limbs. The dead seemed to leer at him with glassy eyes, their jaws frozen in forever-screams of agony. He retched uncontrollably at the sight, vomiting up streams of sour bile until his abdomen clenched with painful spasms.
Get up! His mind screamed the command like a slaver's lash. Trembling, Mike rose to his feet, nearly collapsing again as his gaze fell upon the ruined wasteland surrounding him. The alien craft's hull had been torn asunder, scattering twisted wreckage across a desolate clearing. In the distance, a verdant alien jungle extended in every direction, its dense foliage seeming to pulse with threats undiscerned.
His first urges were to curl up and expire like the corpses at his feet. Let this nightmare claim him. Perhaps in oblivion's void he might find merciful respite. But a more primal drive recoiled within him - the ingrained human compulsion to persevere, no matter how hopeless or harrowing the circumstances.
Stumbling through the burning wreckage, Mike became a scavenger parsing through the leavings of carnage. A sharpened length of metal shearing became his first weapon, still streaked with the fluorescent blood of its alien former owner. Strips of insulation were wrapped around his lacerated palms as makeshift bandages.
Clutching the blade, he forged on into the unknown depths of the jungle, its shadows and stifling humidity seeming to swallow him whole as he ventured heedlessly forward with no clear destination. All that mattered was putting distance between himself and the haunting mass grave of the alien craft.
Days stretched into sole-lacerating weeks as Mike wandered the primordial arboreal maze, slowly surrendering vestiges of his former life with each agonizing step. The blood-sodden layers of his tattered clothing gradually fell away until he moved through the jungle's gloom entirely nude and feral. His fair skin was sunburnt and leathery, his once pampered hands transformed into gnarled claws.
While the sustenance of unfamiliar alien vegetation helped slake his thirst, hunger remained his constant goad and tormentor. He eyed the scurrying forms of reptilian creatures with the raptor focus of a starving animal until the will to survive eclipsed all human compunction.
Using his sharpened metal shard, he dissected and consumed his first kill like a ravening beast, slurping up morsels of glistening flesh and shredding hide with his bare teeth. The act was a sordid rebirth, irrevocably severing him from his former existence. With each hunt, each successful skirmish against the jungle's myriad lethal threats, he lost more of whatever lingering humanity still persisted.
When at last he encountered the giant bipedal alien hunters, Mike was all but unrecognizable. His filthy, emaciated form was caked in dried sweat, grime and ichors of past kills. His salt-encrusted hair hung in matted cords over eyes that no longer showed anything beyond the desperation of a starved predator.
Armed with an arsenal of bone spears and crude blades fashioned from discarded alien tech, he fell upon the hunting party with such ferocious savagery that they initially mistook him for a member of their own reptilian species. Bellowing wordless screeches of fury, Mike decapitated and eviscerated with the unreasoning violence of a rabid animal.
Only after painting his entire body in the vibrant ichor of his slaughtered adversaries did his primal frenzy begin to abate. He stood in the sanguine entrail-strewn aftermath like a feral pagan idol of warfare. Gone was any glimmer of the man he had once been before his ordeal. That identity was dead, replaced by a nameless, savage demigod whose only purpose was to endure.
As Mike submerged himself back into the jungle's leafy shadows, a mad bark of laughter escaped his cracked lips. He was no longer a prisoner to this world - the worlditself was now the shackled captive, unable to extinguish the indomitable spark of his will to survive. No depredation, anguish or madness could extinguish the raging furnace of his need to persevere at any cost.
He was the alpha and the omega of this blighted untamed hell. All else that cross his path would be subsumed by the remorseless riptide of his existence. Reason, mercy, and hope were antiquated relics he'd gladly use as tinder to stoke the inextinguishable bonfire of his will to endure unto forever. His metamorphosis was complete.
***********************************************************************
The air hung thick and fetid in the Cenmeri rainforest, a miasma of rot and desperation. Tchir's leathery nostrils flared as he scented his prey - the sweet, cloying musk of human fear. His massive tail lashed back and forth, crushing underbrush with each powerful swing. Wicked talons as long as daggers flexed, eager to rend flesh from bone.
Tchir signaled his hunting pack with a guttural hiss. Six hardened killers fanned out in formation, their bodies adorned with jagged scars and ritualistic markings. They moved with a predator's graceful menace through the gloom.
Up ahead, the mutilated remains of a previous team littered the jungle floor like obscene blossoms. Entrails painted the foliage in garish streaks of crimson. One corpse hung crucified from a tree trunk, its sightless eyes already being consumed by rapacious insects.
A low, bestial growl rumbled from Tchir's gaping maw. The human was close. He could taste its acrid stench of terror, Could hear its feeble heart hammering like a war drum. His obsidian claws dug into the loamy soil as he inhaled deeply, triangulating the fear pheromones saturating the air.
Without warning, bloody carnage erupted. One hunter pitched backwards, impaled by an impossibly long metal spike that seemed to appear from nowhere. Another's head detonated in a crimson mist as something unseen moved through the jungle with blurring speed. Tchir roared in fury, the sound shaking leaves from the canopy.
His packmates opened fire blindly into the vegetation, high-caliber rounds chewing through wood and pulping anything in their path. For a suspended moment, the forest held its breath, hunkering in dread anticipation.
Then it began anew - dismembered limbs and viscera raining from the treetops in a foul deluge. Tchir felt white-hot agony erupt across his back as he spun, jaws snapping at his invisible tormentor. A handful of razor-edged flechettes protruded from his armored hide, punched there by immense force.
One by one, the hunters fell, their anguished screams abruptly truncated. Only Tchir remained, crouched in the greasy mulch, stunned and alone. He snapped his head from side to side, searching in vain for any trace of the human.
Without warning, it was there - a blur of movement depositing itself atop Tchir's barrel chest, knees pinning his arms. The stench of its fear had transformed to a feral musk of hatred. Tchir snarled up at his attacker, hideously deformed jaws stretching wide in a futile attempt to disembowel the human.
It leaned in close, pupils glittering like polished obsidian. It smiled mirthlessly, lips pulling back to expose teeth augmented to keen points. In its hands it held a gleaming blade, its mirrored edge seeming to swallow all light.
The human's sardonic voice was a slithering whisper: "You should not have brought me here."
With a solitary, fluid motion, it drew the blade across Tchir's jugular. Boiling green ichor geysered from the gaping wound as the hunter's mighty body shuddered and fell still. The human rose, drenched in Tchir's lifeblood, yet seemed utterly apathetic to the horrific violence it had committed.
***********************************************************************
Vkralt hissed in frustration as the holographic tactical display flickered through the latest reconnaissance imagery. More of his kinsmen's corpses, strewn like butchered meat among the mangled wreckage of their insertion craft.
Around the dimly lit command pavilion, his fellow elders shifted in agitated silence, their armored tails lashing behind them. They knew the implications as well as Vkralt - another extraction team had been massacred by the human fugitive.
"This cannot continue," Vkralt finally growled, spiked tongue flicking out to taste the tension in the air. "That mammalian's vendetta has already claimed over fifty Karrthaz lives. We are hemorrhaging our finest warriors to equatorial folly."
"What choice remains to us?" One of the elders finally rasped. "We cannot allow such an abomination to range unfettered across the jungle, consumed by hatred and seeking indiscriminate vengeance."
"And we cannot solicit intervention from any of the greater civilized worlds," snapped another. "To do so admits we attempted sentient species ! We just short of confess we broke the intergalactic Rites of Observation."
"Perhaps..." a raspy voice joined the discourse, every head turning to regard the withered form of Kalrax the Ancient.
Eyes filmed with cataracts, the wizened elder nonetheless fixed the gathered throng with a stare that demanded deference. "Perhaps we have underestimated the magnitude of consequence should we fail to excise this human remnant."
Akralt lowered his head in solemn obeisance. "Enlighten us, Ancestor."
Kalrax worked his jaws slowly, every word feeling carved rather than spoken: "We have already borne witness to the damage one solitary human is capable of perpetrating. With only the basest tools and primordial wrath as weapons. Now ponder...what if this human is allowed to escape and interface with its terrestrial hive-kin? What if a unified human force, augmented by their burgeoning technologies, took offense at our violations and sought unconditional retaliation?"
A horrified susurrus passed through the assembled Karrthaz as the implications reverberated. Raising a single gnarled talon, Kalrax silenced them and continued in a voice gone deathly quiet:
"If a lone, nameless terrestrial is capable of such devastation...what horrors would befall the Karrthaz lineage should we face the combined wrath of its entire planet? We Risk Extinction..."
*************************************************************************
I dub this StoryBait.
If you liked this one shot and want a more complete story then try my Amazon Novel. Available on Kindle Unlimited You can also access Exclusive one shots and my entire ongoing novel series on Patreon
If you have a one shot story Idea you want me write, let me know and I will try my best!
submitted by Plastic-Guava-6941 to HFY [link] [comments]
Mike Samson jolted awake to a blinding light flooding his studio apartment. He shielded his eyes as crackling arcs of blue energy danced across his body, every nerve suddenly detonating in anguished fire. Paralysis gripped his muscles even as he tried to cry out.
Looming figures materialized amidst the electrical flare - grotesque bipedal reptilians with leering crimson eyes and taloned hands. Their lipless maws stretched wide, lolling forked tongues scenting the air as they surrounded Mike's prone form. Guttural alien words were hissed back and forth, the meaning opaque but dripping with malign intent.
Mike's world became a whirlwind of thrashing limbs and piercing shrieks as he was wrenched from the safety of his apartment. His fingernails raked futilely across floorboards until the reptilians pinned his flailing appendages, injecting him with an insidious inky ichor. Sedation flooded his mind in cloying chemical shockwaves, subsuming him into a lightless gulf of terrified delirium.
When consciousness sputtered back, he found himself entombed in a claustrophobic metal chamber. Tubes and cables snaked across his naked bruised body, adhering to his flesh with osculating mouthparts that pumped calibrated chemistries through his bloodstream. The chamber's curved walls throbbed with alien energies and holographic readouts scrawling reams of data in indecipherable xenolinguistics.
Mike retched in breathless cycles, his throat burning from acidic expulsions. Liquid terror coursed through his veins as unfathomable implications slowly crystallized. He'd been abducted...by aliens...for reasons his traumatized psyche refused to countenance. Test subject, lab rat, biological curiosity - none of those roles offered any shred of consolation as the chamber's atmosphere toxified with soporific aerosols and dragged him back into oblivion's void.
***********************************************************************
Has it been hours? Days? Weeks?
Mike drifted in and out of muddled consciousness, his bearings unmoored from any sense of time's passage. Periods of lucidity were fleeting islands amid an endless ocean of drugged delirium. The only constant was the steady throb of his heartbeat reminding him he still clung to life.
Alien machinery burred and chirped all around him in a maddening industrial symphony. Icy metal restraints bit into his wrists and ankles with every feeble twitch of struggle against their corrosive bite. Mike's throat was raw from bellowing until his voice gave out - hoarse howls of mutinous fury directed at his unseen jailors.
Visions flickered at the peripheries of his sedation-blurred mind. Arcane readouts and holographic displays bathing him in eldritch kaleidoscopic hues. Twisting shapes moving just outside his field of vision, forms that struck primordial chords of terror within his fraying psyche.
Where was he? What fresh abomination had he been submitted to by these...things? His memories were scorched ashes swirling in mental windstorms, cyclones of delirium peeling back each successive layer of reality until only the stark existential core remained - survive, escape, or die.
Each agonizing return to lucidity saw Mike renewing his struggles against the restraints with snarling desperation. He could feel his body's resistance to the sedatives gradually building, his flashes of cognizance persisting for longer intervals before the soporific tsunami dragged him back under.
He pulled at the bonds until his wrists ran with blood, snarling through clenched teeth as his muscles screamed in agony. Every iota of leverage was exploited, his frame bowing into a tortured arch as tendons and ligaments strained in rebellion against the metal's embrace.
Something had to give. He could feel the integrity of his bonds slowly compromising. A hairline fracture caulking, threads sheering apart with each explosive exertion. The acrid tang of his own sweat and desperation flooded Mike's nostrils, lending visceral momentum to his thrashings as sanity ebbed.
With a scream of cathartic ferocity, one strap's corroded links finally severed under his single-minded throes. An arm broke free, flailing wildly as it summited its shackled peak. Mike's roars achieved a galvanizing fervor as realization blossomed - his escape was now inevitable, even if it meant shredding every tendon and dislocating every bone.
He needed to escape. He needed to get back home.
The chamber reverberated with the wail of klaxons, their shrill cries cutting through the air like banshees unleashed. Warning lights pulsed in a frenzied dance, casting eerie shadows across the metallic walls.
They knew he was free.
***********************************************************************
The stench of burning insulation seared Mike's nostrils as he clawed his way free of the shattered alien wreckage. Jagged shards of metal sliced deep into his palms, warm blood streaming over his trembling fingers. He sucked in a ragged breath of toxins and smoke, instantly doubling over in a fit of rasping coughs that lasted until spots clouded his vision.
Disoriented, he dragged himself across a carpet of mangled bodies and severed limbs. The dead seemed to leer at him with glassy eyes, their jaws frozen in forever-screams of agony. He retched uncontrollably at the sight, vomiting up streams of sour bile until his abdomen clenched with painful spasms.
Get up! His mind screamed the command like a slaver's lash. Trembling, Mike rose to his feet, nearly collapsing again as his gaze fell upon the ruined wasteland surrounding him. The alien craft's hull had been torn asunder, scattering twisted wreckage across a desolate clearing. In the distance, a verdant alien jungle extended in every direction, its dense foliage seeming to pulse with threats undiscerned.
His first urges were to curl up and expire like the corpses at his feet. Let this nightmare claim him. Perhaps in oblivion's void he might find merciful respite. But a more primal drive recoiled within him - the ingrained human compulsion to persevere, no matter how hopeless or harrowing the circumstances.
Stumbling through the burning wreckage, Mike became a scavenger parsing through the leavings of carnage. A sharpened length of metal shearing became his first weapon, still streaked with the fluorescent blood of its alien former owner. Strips of insulation were wrapped around his lacerated palms as makeshift bandages.
Clutching the blade, he forged on into the unknown depths of the jungle, its shadows and stifling humidity seeming to swallow him whole as he ventured heedlessly forward with no clear destination. All that mattered was putting distance between himself and the haunting mass grave of the alien craft.
Days stretched into sole-lacerating weeks as Mike wandered the primordial arboreal maze, slowly surrendering vestiges of his former life with each agonizing step. The blood-sodden layers of his tattered clothing gradually fell away until he moved through the jungle's gloom entirely nude and feral. His fair skin was sunburnt and leathery, his once pampered hands transformed into gnarled claws.
While the sustenance of unfamiliar alien vegetation helped slake his thirst, hunger remained his constant goad and tormentor. He eyed the scurrying forms of reptilian creatures with the raptor focus of a starving animal until the will to survive eclipsed all human compunction.
Using his sharpened metal shard, he dissected and consumed his first kill like a ravening beast, slurping up morsels of glistening flesh and shredding hide with his bare teeth. The act was a sordid rebirth, irrevocably severing him from his former existence. With each hunt, each successful skirmish against the jungle's myriad lethal threats, he lost more of whatever lingering humanity still persisted.
When at last he encountered the giant bipedal alien hunters, Mike was all but unrecognizable. His filthy, emaciated form was caked in dried sweat, grime and ichors of past kills. His salt-encrusted hair hung in matted cords over eyes that no longer showed anything beyond the desperation of a starved predator.
Armed with an arsenal of bone spears and crude blades fashioned from discarded alien tech, he fell upon the hunting party with such ferocious savagery that they initially mistook him for a member of their own reptilian species. Bellowing wordless screeches of fury, Mike decapitated and eviscerated with the unreasoning violence of a rabid animal.
Only after painting his entire body in the vibrant ichor of his slaughtered adversaries did his primal frenzy begin to abate. He stood in the sanguine entrail-strewn aftermath like a feral pagan idol of warfare. Gone was any glimmer of the man he had once been before his ordeal. That identity was dead, replaced by a nameless, savage demigod whose only purpose was to endure.
As Mike submerged himself back into the jungle's leafy shadows, a mad bark of laughter escaped his cracked lips. He was no longer a prisoner to this world - the worlditself was now the shackled captive, unable to extinguish the indomitable spark of his will to survive. No depredation, anguish or madness could extinguish the raging furnace of his need to persevere at any cost.
He was the alpha and the omega of this blighted untamed hell. All else that cross his path would be subsumed by the remorseless riptide of his existence. Reason, mercy, and hope were antiquated relics he'd gladly use as tinder to stoke the inextinguishable bonfire of his will to endure unto forever. His metamorphosis was complete.
***********************************************************************
The air hung thick and fetid in the Cenmeri rainforest, a miasma of rot and desperation. Tchir's leathery nostrils flared as he scented his prey - the sweet, cloying musk of human fear. His massive tail lashed back and forth, crushing underbrush with each powerful swing. Wicked talons as long as daggers flexed, eager to rend flesh from bone.
Tchir signaled his hunting pack with a guttural hiss. Six hardened killers fanned out in formation, their bodies adorned with jagged scars and ritualistic markings. They moved with a predator's graceful menace through the gloom.
Up ahead, the mutilated remains of a previous team littered the jungle floor like obscene blossoms. Entrails painted the foliage in garish streaks of crimson. One corpse hung crucified from a tree trunk, its sightless eyes already being consumed by rapacious insects.
A low, bestial growl rumbled from Tchir's gaping maw. The human was close. He could taste its acrid stench of terror, Could hear its feeble heart hammering like a war drum. His obsidian claws dug into the loamy soil as he inhaled deeply, triangulating the fear pheromones saturating the air.
Without warning, bloody carnage erupted. One hunter pitched backwards, impaled by an impossibly long metal spike that seemed to appear from nowhere. Another's head detonated in a crimson mist as something unseen moved through the jungle with blurring speed. Tchir roared in fury, the sound shaking leaves from the canopy.
His packmates opened fire blindly into the vegetation, high-caliber rounds chewing through wood and pulping anything in their path. For a suspended moment, the forest held its breath, hunkering in dread anticipation.
Then it began anew - dismembered limbs and viscera raining from the treetops in a foul deluge. Tchir felt white-hot agony erupt across his back as he spun, jaws snapping at his invisible tormentor. A handful of razor-edged flechettes protruded from his armored hide, punched there by immense force.
One by one, the hunters fell, their anguished screams abruptly truncated. Only Tchir remained, crouched in the greasy mulch, stunned and alone. He snapped his head from side to side, searching in vain for any trace of the human.
Without warning, it was there - a blur of movement depositing itself atop Tchir's barrel chest, knees pinning his arms. The stench of its fear had transformed to a feral musk of hatred. Tchir snarled up at his attacker, hideously deformed jaws stretching wide in a futile attempt to disembowel the human.
It leaned in close, pupils glittering like polished obsidian. It smiled mirthlessly, lips pulling back to expose teeth augmented to keen points. In its hands it held a gleaming blade, its mirrored edge seeming to swallow all light.
The human's sardonic voice was a slithering whisper: "You should not have brought me here."
With a solitary, fluid motion, it drew the blade across Tchir's jugular. Boiling green ichor geysered from the gaping wound as the hunter's mighty body shuddered and fell still. The human rose, drenched in Tchir's lifeblood, yet seemed utterly apathetic to the horrific violence it had committed.
***********************************************************************
Vkralt hissed in frustration as the holographic tactical display flickered through the latest reconnaissance imagery. More of his kinsmen's corpses, strewn like butchered meat among the mangled wreckage of their insertion craft.
Around the dimly lit command pavilion, his fellow elders shifted in agitated silence, their armored tails lashing behind them. They knew the implications as well as Vkralt - another extraction team had been massacred by the human fugitive.
"This cannot continue," Vkralt finally growled, spiked tongue flicking out to taste the tension in the air. "That mammalian's vendetta has already claimed over fifty Karrthaz lives. We are hemorrhaging our finest warriors to equatorial folly."
"What choice remains to us?" One of the elders finally rasped. "We cannot allow such an abomination to range unfettered across the jungle, consumed by hatred and seeking indiscriminate vengeance."
"And we cannot solicit intervention from any of the greater civilized worlds," snapped another. "To do so admits we attempted sentient species ! We just short of confess we broke the intergalactic Rites of Observation."
"Perhaps..." a raspy voice joined the discourse, every head turning to regard the withered form of Kalrax the Ancient.
Eyes filmed with cataracts, the wizened elder nonetheless fixed the gathered throng with a stare that demanded deference. "Perhaps we have underestimated the magnitude of consequence should we fail to excise this human remnant."
Akralt lowered his head in solemn obeisance. "Enlighten us, Ancestor."
Kalrax worked his jaws slowly, every word feeling carved rather than spoken: "We have already borne witness to the damage one solitary human is capable of perpetrating. With only the basest tools and primordial wrath as weapons. Now ponder...what if this human is allowed to escape and interface with its terrestrial hive-kin? What if a unified human force, augmented by their burgeoning technologies, took offense at our violations and sought unconditional retaliation?"
A horrified susurrus passed through the assembled Karrthaz as the implications reverberated. Raising a single gnarled talon, Kalrax silenced them and continued in a voice gone deathly quiet:
"If a lone, nameless terrestrial is capable of such devastation...what horrors would befall the Karrthaz lineage should we face the combined wrath of its entire planet? We Risk Extinction..."
*************************************************************************
I dub this StoryBait.
If you liked this one shot and want a more complete story then try my Amazon Novel. Available on Kindle Unlimited You can also access Exclusive one shots and my entire ongoing novel series on Patreon
If you have a one shot story Idea you want me write, let me know and I will try my best!
2024.05.28 00:42 Acceptable-Tea-6937 H: Gear & Plans List, W: Junk/Leaders/BWM6 Offers
WEAPONS: AA/E/15R Fixer, AA/E/15V Fixer, B/25/15V Fixer, TS/E/15R Fixer, B/E/90 Fixer, EXE/E/15R Fixer (2), JUG/25/25 Fixer, V/E/90 Fixer, TS/50/15R Fixer (2), TS/25/90 Fixer, B25/15R Fixer, B/E/250 Fixer, AA/HIT/15R Fixer, JUG/50H/25 Fixer, Q/HIT/15R Fixer, V/25/AGI Fixer, V/25/50DR Fixer, TS/25/PER Fixer, Q/50H/PER Fixer, V/E/25 Railway, TS/25/15R Railway, EXE/E/25 Railway, EXE/25/25 Railway, TS/50/25 Railway, Q/50L/15R Railway, Q/50B/15V Railway, Q/50L/90 Railway, AA/25/Dur Railway, I/25/25 Railway, J/25/15R Railway, GOUE/25 Railway, F/50/25 Railway, ARI/50/25 Railway, A/50/25 Railway, TS/E/50DR Handmade, EXE/25/25 Assault, TS/E/90 Assault, F/25/25 Plasma, B/E/90 Lever, JUG/E/25 Lever, Q/E/15R Pipe, AA/25/15V Minigun, B/E/50DR Minigun, V/25/AGI Gatlaser, AA/50/15R Lmg, B/HIT/250 50cal, JUG/E/90 Gatling, V/STE/15B Chainsaw, JUG/40P/S Drill, V/SS/90 Deathclaw, AA/SS/15B Deathclaw.
ARMOR: Hellcat Power Armor Chassis (tradable), Father Winter Helmet (tradable), BOL/END/WWR Ultracite Left Leg, BOL/1STWWR Ultracite Left Leg, BOL/RAD/SENT T-60 Right Arm, UNY/RAD/SENT Combat Left Leg.
NEW PLANS (alphabetical order): Alien Head Lamp, Alien Table (2), Assault Rifle Wraith's Wrath Paint (4), Bloody Rug (6), Chainsaw Ghostly Grinder Paint, Chainsaw Skeptikill Paint (9), Cultist Adept Hood (5), Cultist Adept Robes (4), Cultist Enlightened Hood (7), Cultist Enlightened Robes (6), Cultist Eventide Hood (9), Cultist Eventide Robes, Cultist Incarnate Helmet (3), Cultist Neophyte Hood (3), Cultist Neophyte Robes (5), Dried Wildflower Bouquet (3), Enlightened Lantern (8), Executioner Mask (2), Fluttering Moths (6), Fossilized Megalonyx Right Arm, Fossilized Megalonyx Torso, Fuzzy Enlightened Plushie (3), Fuzzy Mothman Plushie (8), Giant Red Dinosaur (2), Glowing Flatwoods Monster Lamp, Ground Meat Plushie (2), Hazmat Suit - Teal (3), Herdsman’s Bell, Honeycomb Paper Blue Mothman (8), Honeycomb Paper Brown Mothman (6), Honeycomb Paper Ghost Lantern A (4), Honeycomb Paper Ghost Lantern B (2), Honeycomb Paper Green Mothman (9), Honeycomb Paper Holiday Tree A (2), Honeycomb Paper Holiday Tree B (3), Honeycomb Paper Icy Snowflake (6), Honeycomb Paper Jack-o'Lantern A (5), Honeycomb Paper Jack-o'Lantern B (3), Honeycomb Paper Jolly Target, Honeycomb Paper Mothman Globe (8), Honeycomb Paper Red Mothman (6), Honeycomb Paper Ribbon Bell, Honeycomb Paper Snowman (2), Honeycomb Paper Spider Lantern (6), Mutant Hound Diagram, Peppino Pig Plushie, Plastiform Gingerbread (5), Plastiform Nutcracker (4), Plastiform Santa, Punty Pig Plushie (2), Rad Skull Rider Helmet (3), Rotted Rib Plushie, Sacred Mothman Tome (8), Scorchbeast Queen Beer Stein (7), Star Light (3), Steak Plushie, Super Mutant Diagram (3), Taxidermy Mutant Hound, Weenie Wagon.
OLDER PLANS (alphabetical order): Alien Blaster (2), Alien Blaster Cryo Mag (3), Alien Blaster Poison Mag (3), Alien Corpse Operating Bed (3), Alien Disintegrator (2), Alien Disintegrator Automatic Receiver (2), Alien Disintegrator Cryo Receiver (2), Alien Jack O’Lantern (3), Alien Stash Box (3), Alien Tube (5), Antique Globe of Mars (3), Asteroid (3), Bos Officer Uniform (4), Boss Soldier Uniform (2), Barbed Walking Cane (2), Barbed Wire Fences (2), Bear Arm, Bear Arm Heavy Mod (3), Bear Arm Puncturing Mod (2), Bed of Nails (2), Behemoth Boss Plushie (2), Blue Devil Curtain Door (3), Blue Devil Outfit (3), Blue Devil Pelt Hood (3), Blue Devil Statue (2), Blue Ridge Rug, Blue Ridge Scout Outfit, Bos Medallion, Bottle Bot (4), Bottle and Cappy Balloon Statue, Bottle and Cappy Hoop Jump Statue, Bottle and Cappy Painting Statue (5), Bottle and Cappy Walking Globle Statue (3), Bottle Plush, Brahmin Backpack (3), Brahmin Grill, Brahmin Plushie (2), Brahmin Skin Rug (2), Burning Sheepsquatch Club, Canopy Tent (3), Cappy & Bottle Cowboy Cutouts (2), Cappy Clapper (3), Cappy Smashed Super Sledge Pain (4), Cartography Table, Chally the Moo-Moo Backpack (2), Circus Bench (2), Circus Cage Trailer, Circus Cube (2), Circus Seesaw, Circus Stilts (3), Circus Walking Globe (5), Civil War Era Suit (2), Civil War Era Top Hat (2), Classic Jack O’Lantern (2), Condemned Notification Sign (2), Confederate Hat, Costume Witch Hat (2), Crowd Bench Seats, Cryogenic Bed (5), Cryptid Hunter Boonie Hat (3), Cryptid Mobile, Cuckoo Clock, Cultist Backpack (4), Cupid Cappy Sign (6), Deathclaw Gauntlet Extra Claw (2), Decoy Ducks (2), Deputy’s Hat (3), Electrified Assaultron Blade, Evil Jack O’Lantern (2), Electrified Sheepsquatch Club, Electrified Shepherd’s Crook, Electro Enforcer (2), Flamethrower Trap, Freezing Electro Enforcer (2), Full Pumpkin Rack (2), Getaway Wagon, Glass Covered Sheperd's Crook, Gorilla Chair, Grim Reaper Vault-Boy Cutout (4), Grocery Cart Grill, Gulper Head (5), Gulper Rug (3), Half Empty Pumpkin Rack (2), Half Full Pumpkin Rack (3), Halloween Skull Mask, Happy Jack O’Lantern (3), Hula Hoop, Human Tube 1 (5), Human Tube 2 (5), Insurgent Hat, Insurgent Outfit (3), Kids Brahmin Clock (3), Large Ultracite Shard (3), Marine Armor Helmet, Marine Tactical Helmet, Marine Wetsuit (2), Meat Cleaver, Milkman Hat (3), Milkman Outfit (2), Mirelurk King tube, Mobster Jack O’Lantern (3), Molerat Wind Chime (2), Mounted Blue Devil Head (2), Mounted Ogua Head (2), Musket Stack Monument (6), Nuka Cola Bottle Kiosk (3), Nuka Girl Area Rug (5), Nuka Launcher Model (3), Nuka Launcher Posters (2), Nuka Launcher Snow Globe (2), Nuka-Cade Poster (4), Nuka-Cola Ad Barrier (3), Nuka-Cola Balloons, Nuka-Cola Clock (4), Nuka-Cola Crate Stalls (3), Nuka-Stool, Nuka-World Cowboy Duster, Nuka-World Cowboy Hat (3), Ogua Curtain Door (3), Ogua Egg (3), Ogua Hunter Hood (2), Ogua Hunter Outfit (2), Ogua Plushie (2), Ogua Shell Backpack (3), Overcharged Electro Enforcer (4), Paddock Gate (3), Pepper Shaker, Pink Brahmin Plushie, Pioneer Scout Bowie knife Paint (3), Plasma Gun True Flamer Barrel, Plastic Fruit Bowl, Poisoned Electro Enforcer (2), Practice Jack O’Lantern, Princess Castle Pink Sleeping Bag (2), Protective Lining Raider Underarmor, Pumpkin Rack, Radioactive Barrel (3), Red Rocket Gas Pump Wall Light (3), Red Rocket Gas Station Lamp (5), Red Truck Ceiling Light (4), Replica Gronak’s Axe, Rust Eagle Banner (6), Safari Crocolossus Backpack, Safari Gorilla Backpack (2), Salty Tenderizer Mod, Sheepsquatch Staff, Shielded Lining BoS Underarmor (5), Shielded Lining Marine Underarmor, Shielded Lining Raider Underarmor (2), Sitting Gorilla (5), Skeleton Costume (2), Skiing Outfit, Small Vault Girl Statue, Spear, Spicy Tenderizer Mod (2), Spiked Electro Enforcer, Spiked Shepherd’s Crook (3), Spin the Wheel Ornament, Spin the Wheel Snow Globe, Standing Gorilla (4), Strongman’s Super Sledge Paint, Surprised Jack O’Lantern (3), Tattered Curtains (5), The Fixer (5), Titan Plushie (2), Tomb Stones, Toothed Shepherd's Crook, Treasure Hunter Outfit Hat, Truckbed Trailer with Junk (2), Tunnel of Love Poster (3), Tunnel of Love Snow Globe (6), Ultracite Emergency Protocols, Ultracite Overdrive Servos, Vault Boy Jack O’Lantern (3), Vault Door Jack O’Lantern (3), Vault-Tec Jack O’Lantern (3), Vintage Water Cooler, Wall Mounted Fan (5), Wild West, Show Posters (3), Witch Costume (2).
RECIPES (alphabetical order): Caramel Mutfruit, Cranberry Moonshine, Cutting Fluid (3), Disease Cure (Savage Divide), Fasnacht Donut, Fasnacht Sausage, Formula P, Gulper Stuffed Foot (2), Healing Salve (Mire), Lead Champagne Bellini, Nuka-Cola Dark, Pickaxe Pilsner, Stimpak Diffuser (3), White Russian.
WANT: Adhesive, Aluminum, Asbestos, Ballistic fiber, Ceramic, Coal, Concrete, Copper, Cork, Crystal, Fiber optics, Flux: Cobalt/Fluro/Yellow/Violet/Crimson, Gold, Gears, Nuclear waste, Oil, Silver, Springs, Ultracite, Leader Bobbleheads, Backwoodsman 6, Rare Apparel, Enclave Forceful Stock Mods.
CAPS VALUE PER EACH (for reference): Adhesive 5, Aluminum 3, Asbestos 2, Ballistic fiber 7, Ceramic 2, Coal 1, Concrete 1, Copper 4, Cork 1, Circuits 3, Crystal 3, Fiber optics 7, Fiberglass 1, Flux: Cobalt/Fluro/Yellow/Violet/Crimson 100, Gold 4, Gears 4, Screws 3, Nuclear waste 1, Oil 5, Silver 4, Springs 5, Anticeptic 2, Ultracite 7, Leaders 500, Backwoodsman6 500. Shoot me an offer :)
submitted by Acceptable-Tea-6937 to Market76 [link] [comments]
ARMOR: Hellcat Power Armor Chassis (tradable), Father Winter Helmet (tradable), BOL/END/WWR Ultracite Left Leg, BOL/1STWWR Ultracite Left Leg, BOL/RAD/SENT T-60 Right Arm, UNY/RAD/SENT Combat Left Leg.
NEW PLANS (alphabetical order): Alien Head Lamp, Alien Table (2), Assault Rifle Wraith's Wrath Paint (4), Bloody Rug (6), Chainsaw Ghostly Grinder Paint, Chainsaw Skeptikill Paint (9), Cultist Adept Hood (5), Cultist Adept Robes (4), Cultist Enlightened Hood (7), Cultist Enlightened Robes (6), Cultist Eventide Hood (9), Cultist Eventide Robes, Cultist Incarnate Helmet (3), Cultist Neophyte Hood (3), Cultist Neophyte Robes (5), Dried Wildflower Bouquet (3), Enlightened Lantern (8), Executioner Mask (2), Fluttering Moths (6), Fossilized Megalonyx Right Arm, Fossilized Megalonyx Torso, Fuzzy Enlightened Plushie (3), Fuzzy Mothman Plushie (8), Giant Red Dinosaur (2), Glowing Flatwoods Monster Lamp, Ground Meat Plushie (2), Hazmat Suit - Teal (3), Herdsman’s Bell, Honeycomb Paper Blue Mothman (8), Honeycomb Paper Brown Mothman (6), Honeycomb Paper Ghost Lantern A (4), Honeycomb Paper Ghost Lantern B (2), Honeycomb Paper Green Mothman (9), Honeycomb Paper Holiday Tree A (2), Honeycomb Paper Holiday Tree B (3), Honeycomb Paper Icy Snowflake (6), Honeycomb Paper Jack-o'Lantern A (5), Honeycomb Paper Jack-o'Lantern B (3), Honeycomb Paper Jolly Target, Honeycomb Paper Mothman Globe (8), Honeycomb Paper Red Mothman (6), Honeycomb Paper Ribbon Bell, Honeycomb Paper Snowman (2), Honeycomb Paper Spider Lantern (6), Mutant Hound Diagram, Peppino Pig Plushie, Plastiform Gingerbread (5), Plastiform Nutcracker (4), Plastiform Santa, Punty Pig Plushie (2), Rad Skull Rider Helmet (3), Rotted Rib Plushie, Sacred Mothman Tome (8), Scorchbeast Queen Beer Stein (7), Star Light (3), Steak Plushie, Super Mutant Diagram (3), Taxidermy Mutant Hound, Weenie Wagon.
OLDER PLANS (alphabetical order): Alien Blaster (2), Alien Blaster Cryo Mag (3), Alien Blaster Poison Mag (3), Alien Corpse Operating Bed (3), Alien Disintegrator (2), Alien Disintegrator Automatic Receiver (2), Alien Disintegrator Cryo Receiver (2), Alien Jack O’Lantern (3), Alien Stash Box (3), Alien Tube (5), Antique Globe of Mars (3), Asteroid (3), Bos Officer Uniform (4), Boss Soldier Uniform (2), Barbed Walking Cane (2), Barbed Wire Fences (2), Bear Arm, Bear Arm Heavy Mod (3), Bear Arm Puncturing Mod (2), Bed of Nails (2), Behemoth Boss Plushie (2), Blue Devil Curtain Door (3), Blue Devil Outfit (3), Blue Devil Pelt Hood (3), Blue Devil Statue (2), Blue Ridge Rug, Blue Ridge Scout Outfit, Bos Medallion, Bottle Bot (4), Bottle and Cappy Balloon Statue, Bottle and Cappy Hoop Jump Statue, Bottle and Cappy Painting Statue (5), Bottle and Cappy Walking Globle Statue (3), Bottle Plush, Brahmin Backpack (3), Brahmin Grill, Brahmin Plushie (2), Brahmin Skin Rug (2), Burning Sheepsquatch Club, Canopy Tent (3), Cappy & Bottle Cowboy Cutouts (2), Cappy Clapper (3), Cappy Smashed Super Sledge Pain (4), Cartography Table, Chally the Moo-Moo Backpack (2), Circus Bench (2), Circus Cage Trailer, Circus Cube (2), Circus Seesaw, Circus Stilts (3), Circus Walking Globe (5), Civil War Era Suit (2), Civil War Era Top Hat (2), Classic Jack O’Lantern (2), Condemned Notification Sign (2), Confederate Hat, Costume Witch Hat (2), Crowd Bench Seats, Cryogenic Bed (5), Cryptid Hunter Boonie Hat (3), Cryptid Mobile, Cuckoo Clock, Cultist Backpack (4), Cupid Cappy Sign (6), Deathclaw Gauntlet Extra Claw (2), Decoy Ducks (2), Deputy’s Hat (3), Electrified Assaultron Blade, Evil Jack O’Lantern (2), Electrified Sheepsquatch Club, Electrified Shepherd’s Crook, Electro Enforcer (2), Flamethrower Trap, Freezing Electro Enforcer (2), Full Pumpkin Rack (2), Getaway Wagon, Glass Covered Sheperd's Crook, Gorilla Chair, Grim Reaper Vault-Boy Cutout (4), Grocery Cart Grill, Gulper Head (5), Gulper Rug (3), Half Empty Pumpkin Rack (2), Half Full Pumpkin Rack (3), Halloween Skull Mask, Happy Jack O’Lantern (3), Hula Hoop, Human Tube 1 (5), Human Tube 2 (5), Insurgent Hat, Insurgent Outfit (3), Kids Brahmin Clock (3), Large Ultracite Shard (3), Marine Armor Helmet, Marine Tactical Helmet, Marine Wetsuit (2), Meat Cleaver, Milkman Hat (3), Milkman Outfit (2), Mirelurk King tube, Mobster Jack O’Lantern (3), Molerat Wind Chime (2), Mounted Blue Devil Head (2), Mounted Ogua Head (2), Musket Stack Monument (6), Nuka Cola Bottle Kiosk (3), Nuka Girl Area Rug (5), Nuka Launcher Model (3), Nuka Launcher Posters (2), Nuka Launcher Snow Globe (2), Nuka-Cade Poster (4), Nuka-Cola Ad Barrier (3), Nuka-Cola Balloons, Nuka-Cola Clock (4), Nuka-Cola Crate Stalls (3), Nuka-Stool, Nuka-World Cowboy Duster, Nuka-World Cowboy Hat (3), Ogua Curtain Door (3), Ogua Egg (3), Ogua Hunter Hood (2), Ogua Hunter Outfit (2), Ogua Plushie (2), Ogua Shell Backpack (3), Overcharged Electro Enforcer (4), Paddock Gate (3), Pepper Shaker, Pink Brahmin Plushie, Pioneer Scout Bowie knife Paint (3), Plasma Gun True Flamer Barrel, Plastic Fruit Bowl, Poisoned Electro Enforcer (2), Practice Jack O’Lantern, Princess Castle Pink Sleeping Bag (2), Protective Lining Raider Underarmor, Pumpkin Rack, Radioactive Barrel (3), Red Rocket Gas Pump Wall Light (3), Red Rocket Gas Station Lamp (5), Red Truck Ceiling Light (4), Replica Gronak’s Axe, Rust Eagle Banner (6), Safari Crocolossus Backpack, Safari Gorilla Backpack (2), Salty Tenderizer Mod, Sheepsquatch Staff, Shielded Lining BoS Underarmor (5), Shielded Lining Marine Underarmor, Shielded Lining Raider Underarmor (2), Sitting Gorilla (5), Skeleton Costume (2), Skiing Outfit, Small Vault Girl Statue, Spear, Spicy Tenderizer Mod (2), Spiked Electro Enforcer, Spiked Shepherd’s Crook (3), Spin the Wheel Ornament, Spin the Wheel Snow Globe, Standing Gorilla (4), Strongman’s Super Sledge Paint, Surprised Jack O’Lantern (3), Tattered Curtains (5), The Fixer (5), Titan Plushie (2), Tomb Stones, Toothed Shepherd's Crook, Treasure Hunter Outfit Hat, Truckbed Trailer with Junk (2), Tunnel of Love Poster (3), Tunnel of Love Snow Globe (6), Ultracite Emergency Protocols, Ultracite Overdrive Servos, Vault Boy Jack O’Lantern (3), Vault Door Jack O’Lantern (3), Vault-Tec Jack O’Lantern (3), Vintage Water Cooler, Wall Mounted Fan (5), Wild West, Show Posters (3), Witch Costume (2).
RECIPES (alphabetical order): Caramel Mutfruit, Cranberry Moonshine, Cutting Fluid (3), Disease Cure (Savage Divide), Fasnacht Donut, Fasnacht Sausage, Formula P, Gulper Stuffed Foot (2), Healing Salve (Mire), Lead Champagne Bellini, Nuka-Cola Dark, Pickaxe Pilsner, Stimpak Diffuser (3), White Russian.
WANT: Adhesive, Aluminum, Asbestos, Ballistic fiber, Ceramic, Coal, Concrete, Copper, Cork, Crystal, Fiber optics, Flux: Cobalt/Fluro/Yellow/Violet/Crimson, Gold, Gears, Nuclear waste, Oil, Silver, Springs, Ultracite, Leader Bobbleheads, Backwoodsman 6, Rare Apparel, Enclave Forceful Stock Mods.
CAPS VALUE PER EACH (for reference): Adhesive 5, Aluminum 3, Asbestos 2, Ballistic fiber 7, Ceramic 2, Coal 1, Concrete 1, Copper 4, Cork 1, Circuits 3, Crystal 3, Fiber optics 7, Fiberglass 1, Flux: Cobalt/Fluro/Yellow/Violet/Crimson 100, Gold 4, Gears 4, Screws 3, Nuclear waste 1, Oil 5, Silver 4, Springs 5, Anticeptic 2, Ultracite 7, Leaders 500, Backwoodsman6 500. Shoot me an offer :)
2024.05.28 00:09 Hiviemindied I was followed by the Corpse of an Angel
When I was a little younger, (about 8-10 years ago) something completely unexplainable happened to me. I don’t tell this story to anyone, mostly because up until earlier today even I thought it wasn’t real. I’m not sure what to do about it or if there is anything I could do, so I thought to post here, maybe at least just to ease my head and hear what others think.
Around high-school time, I was a loser and complete shut-in. Most of my time during these formative teenage years I’d just spend inside, playing games or listening to music and spacing out. Though I’ve always had a fond interest with photography. Capturing life through brief screenshots is precious, plus its fun and easy to do with just the average phone.
So, occasionally, I would leave on my own to wander the woods at the end of our street. Gave me plenty of time alone to get fresh air and stretch as well as snap a bunch of pictures of mostly bugs but other animals or plants I found pretty too.
On one of these walks, I heard a very offputting sound. It vibrated very quietly along the trees and in the surrounding area. Whilst I'm normally a very paranoid person and I was certainly uneased by the presence of this noise, I thought I recognized it. From the distance I was to whatever was producing it, the sound vaguely resembled that of a pig. My thought was maybe some livestock had escaped from a nearby farm or something.
Whether I was right or not, it sounded hurt. The slow agonized rattle, piercing the odd bird chirp or rustle of a branch falling. Then, I made a decision that would scar my life forever. I approached; if it was hurt, I wasn’t just going to leave it to bleed to death or whatever. I know, circle of life and all that, but I was young and much dumber than I am now.
I made a brief trek off the path to find the source of the noise and (hopefully) save it. Wading through a bramble bush that slightly cut my legs, I began to focus on the sound. Or, rather, the sound seemingly gave me no choice but to focus on it. No birds were chirping anymore and aside from my movements, the rising repetitive groans were all I could hear. Everything from the leaves in the trees to the soft blowing winds fell still.
Something felt off and in my stomach I had a strong rising urge to turn back. But I didn’t, the sound grew closer and I hadn’t ventured too far from the path. It wasn’t deafening by any means, but the sound punched through the silence with now a twinge of desperation, like I needed to find it.
Up until this very moment, I have never forgotten what I saw.
In a ditch, just like any other, surrounded by trees and leaf litter but completely devoid of life. Something indescribable. The closest resemblance I could give you is it was similar in shape and size to whale carcasses that wash ashore. A messy pile of color and rotting substances. Except there were so many materials, so many different textures I simply couldn’t identify. There was no discernable body shape or figure, it merely looked as if you had fused together parts of every animal alive and draped a cloth overtop of the result.
It was warping constantly, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. I simply couldn’t understand what this was. What confused me the most was the smell. Or rather, lack of one. The environment smelt just fine, the leaves and earthy natural scent, as if this thing in front of me wasn’t even there.
My heart began to thump a little. I’d never seen a dead body in person, obviously, so I had no clue if I was stumbling upon something I wasn’t supposed to see. This wasn’t what I was looking for and the groaning sound was pulsating from it.
On edge, the slightest sounds began to feel like spears of anxiety cutting straight through my chest. I fell back a little, caught myself and ran back to the path. No-one was around so I didn’t care about keeping my composure and I ran until I caught sight of home again.
My mother was home and noticed me sweaty, shaky and on edge.
“Home already? Your walks normally last a while longer.” she inquired, with a very minor tone of concern.
“I... yeah. Just got a bit tired.” I explained, as I still hadn’t fully come to terms with what I’d seen and didn’t feel that anyone in my family would think anything of it other than that I was losing my mind.
She told me that food was being prepared and wouldn’t be very long, but I returned to my room swiftly and collapsed face first onto my bed. I pondered for a while over what it could have been and came to the conclusion of an art project. It had no scent so perhaps it was a sculpt with sound effects for a film? The indescribable mass being man-made brought me enough comfort to slow my heart rate for the time.
For a brief duration, nothing else happened. I refused to return to the woods for a while so I had no more encounters with whatever it was, purely so that I could continue to convince myself that it was nothing more than a creative pursuit.
That didn’t last for very long, though. Cosy and warm in bed, I was scrolling my phone absent mindedly. I hadn’t thought about the thing all day as I had spent it hanging out with friends outside of school. The slight buzz of my bedside lamp, the busyness of the kitchen downstairs. The slow, creeping ringing in my ears as everything fell silent. Then that haunting, slow rasping seeping under the crack of my door. The drawn out groan pushed its way into my room, my only safe place. I could listen to nothing else, I could think of nothing else as I watched a shadow slowly stretch along the floor invading the dim light.
My eyes grew wide and fearful. I clutched my phone as if it was my last hope and I shuffled out of bed to avoid being caught off guard. If I needed to run, I could run. The doorknob turned, muted by the great harrowing moans. The door creaked open, drowned out still by the desperate sounds of that nightmarish sight.
The doorway opened, giving way to a strange light. It flooded my room as if bright yet pervasively infected each corner of my vision with darkness. In a swift jarring movement, a mass stretched out from behind the obscurant surface. Like skin being pulled from someone’s body to create the mockery of a head. It had the same damn warping textures as the thing I found in the woods. It had no other features and was merely a protruding clump of moving substances.
Except, somewhere within the shifting motion, I could pick out a face. One with a deep haunting gaze. It was as if its eyelids had been peeled back and fused into the skin above and below its eye sockets, unprotected orbs that only stared and stared. Similarly, deep holes, where the nose had been pushed back into its head and once again fused into its undefined formless mass. It had no mouth. All it could do was emit muffled cries as it stretched and quivered in place.
I blinked.
“Hon, we’re going out for a little to get some shopping done, we’ll be back soon. Love you!” my mother called out, as I watched her slip back through the door. That vision, that thing had vanished instantly. But its presence remained.
A few days later, I had calmed down once again, thinking I must’ve hallucinated from a lack of sleep after panicking over the thing I’d seen. The bell rung for the sixth time in the day and I headed to Art class.
I sat by my friend, Alex, with a slight uneasy shiver in my body. I tried to brush it off and we joked a little in murmurs as the teacher rambled on. Toward the end of the subject, as we were doing practical work in the form of paintings, when the bell rang a little earlier than I’d expected. I turned my face to see how everyone else was responding to it.
They’d all turned to me, too. Blank, staring faces. Even Alex, even the teacher. Everyone.
In an immediate fit of panic I jolted out of my seat, slamming my knees on the desk. I winced in pain but still, their eyes followed me perfectly. I shuffled past people, wobbling a little from hurting my knees and bolted out of the classroom. Things just kept happening and I didn’t know why.
Through the hallways, that growing darkness began to appear, before I burst out into the courtyard. There, a slow rattling groan awoken in my ears again. I was becoming extremely familiar and recognized it immediately. Tears began to roll out of my eyes as I screamed, trying to drown out the sound, but it didn’t work. It grew louder and louder, deafening my surroundings.
I opened my eyes wide again to see a huge, limp mass in front of me. Shapeless and constantly contorting, it had no identifiable features beyond the shifting unknown textures and colors. Taller than it was wide, I tried to see where a head should be on a human but once again, just a repulsive slurry that I couldn’t understand.
But it was looking at me. It was looking. At me. Watching, staring, observing anywhere I moved I could not hide. The sound began to hurt, the pulsing rising groan of misery that pained me. I screamed once more, clutching my head.
Alex grabbed my arm violently.
“... Hey?” he questioned, worriedly. I let go of myself and looked up. My classmates all turned to look at me, but no longer staring. They were whispering amongst themselves. Then the bell rang and the teacher awkwardly hurried to move everyone out. I looked back down shakily. Very faint blood stains where I had clasped my ears and everything felt a little quieter.
Alex offered to take me to the medical office and I was far too exhausted to refuse. He had to return to classes after the break, but I was too shaken up to even speak, so they let me stay a little longer and I was sent home shortly after.
I went home and stayed quiet. I was drained. I lay there, appreciating the precious silence of my room. School had just finished and I received a text from my friends. We shortly arranged to go on a walk together through the woods to help me feel better. I wanted to show them what I’d been seeing.
Though my parents were hesitant, they allowed it since my friends, Alex and May, would be there. They arrived and we set off toward the woods, but I directed them to the specific section I had ran out from, I didn’t want to be out here longer than I needed to be.
We arrived at the spot, but the sounds weren’t there anymore. Maybe it was because of my slightly dulled hearing, but there was nothing. Desperate to convince myself I was still sane, I hurried them off the path.
“No, there’s something here you need to see.” I began, immediately turning and stumbling in the direction of where I’d seen it. Alex was less hesitant than May, but both eventually followed.
“If you say so. What is it anyway?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know.” is all I could respond with. He turned to May with confusion, who anxiously shrugged back.
I stepped over the bramble bush again, making sure not to cut myself on it like before. Still, nothing. The ditch was there, there was a clear indication that something had filled this space due to the unnatural scatter of leaves around it. But it just wasn’t there.
“It... it was here before!” I cried out. As much as it freaked me out, I was hoping for any sign that I was overreacting.
“The leaves? The trees? What, what are we looking at here.” Alex chipped in. I turned to him with a dreary hopelessness. His expression fell a little.
“I... there was...”
“Why don’t we just head back onto the trail for now?” May called.
I gave in, slowly returning to the path. Since it wasn’t there, maybe I had nothing to fear travelling through the woods again. But there it was. The distant, faint sound of a hurt animal groaning in slow, painful misery.
“You guys hear that?-” Alex commented. Immediately, I snapped with fear.
“YES.”
I didn’t know what to do, my legs began to shake again and my vision was blurring as the sound grew closer. But we weren’t moving this time. It was. I ran, I couldn’t help myself. I think Alex or May called out to me just before I did but I couldn’t stop.
The further I ran, the sound never faded, but it never grew. Only when I reached my home did it disappear. I ripped open the door, slammed it shut and ran straight up to my room. I didn’t wait to take my shoes off or hear what my mother had to say, I buried myself in my pillow and cried.
Later that night, they both texted in our group chat, frustrated that I pulled a weird prank like that, expressing how worried and concerned they were.
I stopped going to school for the rest of the week as my ears had both become infected and hard to hear out of. It was irritating as hell so I was more than happy to lay in bed all day.
This last part is a little hazy to me due to the actions I took at the end. Most of this is missing details, but this night specifically I have desperately tried to block out of my memory. It wasn’t until recently it came back to me in pieces.
I remember my whole family was out for various reasons. My parents were both working late shifts and my sister was having a sleepover at her friend’s. I was especially anxious already because of my situation, so I crawled out of bed and clumsily headed downstairs. I poured a very shallow bowl of cereal, when that familiar sound kicked up again. I was taking absolutely no chances, dropping the bowl on the counter and rushing to lock everything I could. Every single door, every single window, up until the very last one. I turned, jittery and terrified.
Something was there. The front room’s secondary window, a smaller more ornate patterned window compared to the large glass pane in the center of the wall. Through the textured glass I saw it.
I was face to face with an angel.
A stretched, warping face, with the familiar peeled eyes and nose. We locked eyes and it immediately slipped away unnaturally. I could hear nothing, but I locked the window as fast as possible and nearly tripped skidding back to the stairs. The sound grew louder yet again, louder than it had been, making my ears burn with searing agony.
Nowhere was safe. I hadn’t locked this thing out, I had caged myself in for it. My panic grew as my heart beat faster, I rushed into the bathroom as I heard the door downstairs very slowly creaking open without the slightest resistance from the locks. I ripped open the medicine cabinet and darted back to my room with sleeping pills in hand.
I knew this was it for me. I had an unexplainable feeling, just as indescribable as the formless carcass that was coming for me. I didn’t want to be there when it happened.
Last I remember, I finally smelt it approaching, a hideous mesh of ash and rotten meat. The smell permeated my room as my eyes began to shudder. I could feel the physical pain of them kicking in. I was already exhausted and I don’t know if I fell asleep quickly or if I just blocked out most of before I did.
I awoke a week later. My parents were in tears, wondering why I’d ever try to take my own life and wishing that I’d spoken to them.
For 10 long years, my story has ended there. A crazy drug trip from trying to take my own life.
Just yesterday, I checked my phone’s old storage to see what was on there and I saw a video I didn’t recognize. It was dark blue and grainy. A few minutes in however, a door in the background opens. Light flickers in, illuminating... me. Asleep. Twenty long minutes follow.
Twenty long minutes of raspy, death rattles and the cold, lifeless stare of the corpse of an Angel, watching over me.
submitted by Hiviemindied to nosleep [link] [comments]
Around high-school time, I was a loser and complete shut-in. Most of my time during these formative teenage years I’d just spend inside, playing games or listening to music and spacing out. Though I’ve always had a fond interest with photography. Capturing life through brief screenshots is precious, plus its fun and easy to do with just the average phone.
So, occasionally, I would leave on my own to wander the woods at the end of our street. Gave me plenty of time alone to get fresh air and stretch as well as snap a bunch of pictures of mostly bugs but other animals or plants I found pretty too.
On one of these walks, I heard a very offputting sound. It vibrated very quietly along the trees and in the surrounding area. Whilst I'm normally a very paranoid person and I was certainly uneased by the presence of this noise, I thought I recognized it. From the distance I was to whatever was producing it, the sound vaguely resembled that of a pig. My thought was maybe some livestock had escaped from a nearby farm or something.
Whether I was right or not, it sounded hurt. The slow agonized rattle, piercing the odd bird chirp or rustle of a branch falling. Then, I made a decision that would scar my life forever. I approached; if it was hurt, I wasn’t just going to leave it to bleed to death or whatever. I know, circle of life and all that, but I was young and much dumber than I am now.
I made a brief trek off the path to find the source of the noise and (hopefully) save it. Wading through a bramble bush that slightly cut my legs, I began to focus on the sound. Or, rather, the sound seemingly gave me no choice but to focus on it. No birds were chirping anymore and aside from my movements, the rising repetitive groans were all I could hear. Everything from the leaves in the trees to the soft blowing winds fell still.
Something felt off and in my stomach I had a strong rising urge to turn back. But I didn’t, the sound grew closer and I hadn’t ventured too far from the path. It wasn’t deafening by any means, but the sound punched through the silence with now a twinge of desperation, like I needed to find it.
Up until this very moment, I have never forgotten what I saw.
In a ditch, just like any other, surrounded by trees and leaf litter but completely devoid of life. Something indescribable. The closest resemblance I could give you is it was similar in shape and size to whale carcasses that wash ashore. A messy pile of color and rotting substances. Except there were so many materials, so many different textures I simply couldn’t identify. There was no discernable body shape or figure, it merely looked as if you had fused together parts of every animal alive and draped a cloth overtop of the result.
It was warping constantly, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. I simply couldn’t understand what this was. What confused me the most was the smell. Or rather, lack of one. The environment smelt just fine, the leaves and earthy natural scent, as if this thing in front of me wasn’t even there.
My heart began to thump a little. I’d never seen a dead body in person, obviously, so I had no clue if I was stumbling upon something I wasn’t supposed to see. This wasn’t what I was looking for and the groaning sound was pulsating from it.
On edge, the slightest sounds began to feel like spears of anxiety cutting straight through my chest. I fell back a little, caught myself and ran back to the path. No-one was around so I didn’t care about keeping my composure and I ran until I caught sight of home again.
My mother was home and noticed me sweaty, shaky and on edge.
“Home already? Your walks normally last a while longer.” she inquired, with a very minor tone of concern.
“I... yeah. Just got a bit tired.” I explained, as I still hadn’t fully come to terms with what I’d seen and didn’t feel that anyone in my family would think anything of it other than that I was losing my mind.
She told me that food was being prepared and wouldn’t be very long, but I returned to my room swiftly and collapsed face first onto my bed. I pondered for a while over what it could have been and came to the conclusion of an art project. It had no scent so perhaps it was a sculpt with sound effects for a film? The indescribable mass being man-made brought me enough comfort to slow my heart rate for the time.
For a brief duration, nothing else happened. I refused to return to the woods for a while so I had no more encounters with whatever it was, purely so that I could continue to convince myself that it was nothing more than a creative pursuit.
That didn’t last for very long, though. Cosy and warm in bed, I was scrolling my phone absent mindedly. I hadn’t thought about the thing all day as I had spent it hanging out with friends outside of school. The slight buzz of my bedside lamp, the busyness of the kitchen downstairs. The slow, creeping ringing in my ears as everything fell silent. Then that haunting, slow rasping seeping under the crack of my door. The drawn out groan pushed its way into my room, my only safe place. I could listen to nothing else, I could think of nothing else as I watched a shadow slowly stretch along the floor invading the dim light.
My eyes grew wide and fearful. I clutched my phone as if it was my last hope and I shuffled out of bed to avoid being caught off guard. If I needed to run, I could run. The doorknob turned, muted by the great harrowing moans. The door creaked open, drowned out still by the desperate sounds of that nightmarish sight.
The doorway opened, giving way to a strange light. It flooded my room as if bright yet pervasively infected each corner of my vision with darkness. In a swift jarring movement, a mass stretched out from behind the obscurant surface. Like skin being pulled from someone’s body to create the mockery of a head. It had the same damn warping textures as the thing I found in the woods. It had no other features and was merely a protruding clump of moving substances.
Except, somewhere within the shifting motion, I could pick out a face. One with a deep haunting gaze. It was as if its eyelids had been peeled back and fused into the skin above and below its eye sockets, unprotected orbs that only stared and stared. Similarly, deep holes, where the nose had been pushed back into its head and once again fused into its undefined formless mass. It had no mouth. All it could do was emit muffled cries as it stretched and quivered in place.
I blinked.
“Hon, we’re going out for a little to get some shopping done, we’ll be back soon. Love you!” my mother called out, as I watched her slip back through the door. That vision, that thing had vanished instantly. But its presence remained.
A few days later, I had calmed down once again, thinking I must’ve hallucinated from a lack of sleep after panicking over the thing I’d seen. The bell rung for the sixth time in the day and I headed to Art class.
I sat by my friend, Alex, with a slight uneasy shiver in my body. I tried to brush it off and we joked a little in murmurs as the teacher rambled on. Toward the end of the subject, as we were doing practical work in the form of paintings, when the bell rang a little earlier than I’d expected. I turned my face to see how everyone else was responding to it.
They’d all turned to me, too. Blank, staring faces. Even Alex, even the teacher. Everyone.
In an immediate fit of panic I jolted out of my seat, slamming my knees on the desk. I winced in pain but still, their eyes followed me perfectly. I shuffled past people, wobbling a little from hurting my knees and bolted out of the classroom. Things just kept happening and I didn’t know why.
Through the hallways, that growing darkness began to appear, before I burst out into the courtyard. There, a slow rattling groan awoken in my ears again. I was becoming extremely familiar and recognized it immediately. Tears began to roll out of my eyes as I screamed, trying to drown out the sound, but it didn’t work. It grew louder and louder, deafening my surroundings.
I opened my eyes wide again to see a huge, limp mass in front of me. Shapeless and constantly contorting, it had no identifiable features beyond the shifting unknown textures and colors. Taller than it was wide, I tried to see where a head should be on a human but once again, just a repulsive slurry that I couldn’t understand.
But it was looking at me. It was looking. At me. Watching, staring, observing anywhere I moved I could not hide. The sound began to hurt, the pulsing rising groan of misery that pained me. I screamed once more, clutching my head.
Alex grabbed my arm violently.
“... Hey?” he questioned, worriedly. I let go of myself and looked up. My classmates all turned to look at me, but no longer staring. They were whispering amongst themselves. Then the bell rang and the teacher awkwardly hurried to move everyone out. I looked back down shakily. Very faint blood stains where I had clasped my ears and everything felt a little quieter.
Alex offered to take me to the medical office and I was far too exhausted to refuse. He had to return to classes after the break, but I was too shaken up to even speak, so they let me stay a little longer and I was sent home shortly after.
I went home and stayed quiet. I was drained. I lay there, appreciating the precious silence of my room. School had just finished and I received a text from my friends. We shortly arranged to go on a walk together through the woods to help me feel better. I wanted to show them what I’d been seeing.
Though my parents were hesitant, they allowed it since my friends, Alex and May, would be there. They arrived and we set off toward the woods, but I directed them to the specific section I had ran out from, I didn’t want to be out here longer than I needed to be.
We arrived at the spot, but the sounds weren’t there anymore. Maybe it was because of my slightly dulled hearing, but there was nothing. Desperate to convince myself I was still sane, I hurried them off the path.
“No, there’s something here you need to see.” I began, immediately turning and stumbling in the direction of where I’d seen it. Alex was less hesitant than May, but both eventually followed.
“If you say so. What is it anyway?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know.” is all I could respond with. He turned to May with confusion, who anxiously shrugged back.
I stepped over the bramble bush again, making sure not to cut myself on it like before. Still, nothing. The ditch was there, there was a clear indication that something had filled this space due to the unnatural scatter of leaves around it. But it just wasn’t there.
“It... it was here before!” I cried out. As much as it freaked me out, I was hoping for any sign that I was overreacting.
“The leaves? The trees? What, what are we looking at here.” Alex chipped in. I turned to him with a dreary hopelessness. His expression fell a little.
“I... there was...”
“Why don’t we just head back onto the trail for now?” May called.
I gave in, slowly returning to the path. Since it wasn’t there, maybe I had nothing to fear travelling through the woods again. But there it was. The distant, faint sound of a hurt animal groaning in slow, painful misery.
“You guys hear that?-” Alex commented. Immediately, I snapped with fear.
“YES.”
I didn’t know what to do, my legs began to shake again and my vision was blurring as the sound grew closer. But we weren’t moving this time. It was. I ran, I couldn’t help myself. I think Alex or May called out to me just before I did but I couldn’t stop.
The further I ran, the sound never faded, but it never grew. Only when I reached my home did it disappear. I ripped open the door, slammed it shut and ran straight up to my room. I didn’t wait to take my shoes off or hear what my mother had to say, I buried myself in my pillow and cried.
Later that night, they both texted in our group chat, frustrated that I pulled a weird prank like that, expressing how worried and concerned they were.
I stopped going to school for the rest of the week as my ears had both become infected and hard to hear out of. It was irritating as hell so I was more than happy to lay in bed all day.
This last part is a little hazy to me due to the actions I took at the end. Most of this is missing details, but this night specifically I have desperately tried to block out of my memory. It wasn’t until recently it came back to me in pieces.
I remember my whole family was out for various reasons. My parents were both working late shifts and my sister was having a sleepover at her friend’s. I was especially anxious already because of my situation, so I crawled out of bed and clumsily headed downstairs. I poured a very shallow bowl of cereal, when that familiar sound kicked up again. I was taking absolutely no chances, dropping the bowl on the counter and rushing to lock everything I could. Every single door, every single window, up until the very last one. I turned, jittery and terrified.
Something was there. The front room’s secondary window, a smaller more ornate patterned window compared to the large glass pane in the center of the wall. Through the textured glass I saw it.
I was face to face with an angel.
A stretched, warping face, with the familiar peeled eyes and nose. We locked eyes and it immediately slipped away unnaturally. I could hear nothing, but I locked the window as fast as possible and nearly tripped skidding back to the stairs. The sound grew louder yet again, louder than it had been, making my ears burn with searing agony.
Nowhere was safe. I hadn’t locked this thing out, I had caged myself in for it. My panic grew as my heart beat faster, I rushed into the bathroom as I heard the door downstairs very slowly creaking open without the slightest resistance from the locks. I ripped open the medicine cabinet and darted back to my room with sleeping pills in hand.
I knew this was it for me. I had an unexplainable feeling, just as indescribable as the formless carcass that was coming for me. I didn’t want to be there when it happened.
Last I remember, I finally smelt it approaching, a hideous mesh of ash and rotten meat. The smell permeated my room as my eyes began to shudder. I could feel the physical pain of them kicking in. I was already exhausted and I don’t know if I fell asleep quickly or if I just blocked out most of before I did.
I awoke a week later. My parents were in tears, wondering why I’d ever try to take my own life and wishing that I’d spoken to them.
For 10 long years, my story has ended there. A crazy drug trip from trying to take my own life.
Just yesterday, I checked my phone’s old storage to see what was on there and I saw a video I didn’t recognize. It was dark blue and grainy. A few minutes in however, a door in the background opens. Light flickers in, illuminating... me. Asleep. Twenty long minutes follow.
Twenty long minutes of raspy, death rattles and the cold, lifeless stare of the corpse of an Angel, watching over me.
2024.05.28 00:04 saturnneptune Skincare routine advice
Hi. So i discovered K-Beauty the past few months and kinda becoming obsessed, so many great products 🥲🥰 I would love to get advice on my routine because i will be adding more products. I love them but of course i’m scared of breakouts.
My skin type : Oily
Routine (Products i have, not necessarily that i use all of them at the same time) :
submitted by saturnneptune to KoreanBeauty [link] [comments]
My skin type : Oily
Routine (Products i have, not necessarily that i use all of them at the same time) :
- Klairs Gentle Black Oil Cleanser (white one)
- Skin1004 Centella Light Oil Cleanser (new, wanted to try it because i liked oil cleansing, is this one good and good replacement to Klairs one?)
- Cerave Foaming Cleanser (Recently bought Round Lab Birch Juice Foaming Cleanser, is it good for oily textured skin?)
- BOJ Green Plum AHA BHA Toner (was seeing great results on skin, but not much lately :( )
- Isnstree Green Tea Toner (supposedly good for oily skin and i like it but i dont see that much of an effect with it, maybe my skin is less oilier yes)
- Anua Heartleaf Toner(i suppose it broke me out but not sure actually, is it good and how to use it?)
- BOJ Ginseng Essence Toner (Dont use it that much because i cant see where to use it on my routine)
- New BOJ Milk Toner ( started using it today, feels nice)
- BOJ Glow Serum (i kinda see it calming breakouts and beeing good to my skin)
- BOJ all the serums, which ones are the best for you and could i use one on different days
- Skin1004 Centella Ampoule (new, where should i add it in my routine to calm redness and being soothing)
- Mixsoon Bean Essence (new, where to add it my routine ? Is it good?)
- Needly Toner Pads ( want to improve skin texture, should it replace the BOJ Aha Bha Toner?)
- BOJ Retinal eye serum (love it; showed results on dark under eyes)
- BOJ Red Bean Gel (great one for oily skin, has great ingredients
- La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume (calms my skin sometimes use it at night to seal everything in and calm shaving irritations, i’m a man )
- Round Lab Birch Juice Sunscreen or BOJ Rice Sunscreen (love both so much, i use one each day, is it ok?)
2024.05.27 23:57 karenvideoeditor The Zoo [Part 8]
First / Previous
Suzanne thought it was absolutely brilliant of me to put books on a flash drive for Sun. She explained that Sun wasn’t as sophant (her word, not mine) as she might seem, more of a repository of information, but she was fairly intelligent. It was how she was able to connect Andrew being in pain to the fact that I was friends with Andrew, and that I would want to know that he was in trouble. Apparently some of Sun’s species had given some ‘wisdom’ to others in the past and it had made its way into mythology.
The key fact was that she was not smart enough to protect herself and her kind from the clever, organized poachers. With that information in mind, it was fascinating for me to think of how Sun took in and organized what she learned. It was almost as if she was a walking, talking library.
On the topic of tours, my first one went wonderfully, and I’m almost hoping Suzanne lets me do more of them. I know not all the tourists are going to be as awesome as these people were, but Suzanne gave me a lot of slack when it comes to dealing with them. She actually said that being a smartass is not grounds for dismissal, and that if I’m sarcastic or facetious to guests who are being ‘daft’ and they complain, she really doesn’t care. Is this the perfect job for me or what?
There were four guests in this party, two adults who were sisters and two children of one of the women, brothers aged thirteen and seventeen. The tour was a birthday gift for the older of the boys from his aunt, since apparently he was passionate about animal protection and conservation.
When they arrived at the front gate, I was sitting at Andrew’s desk, going over the booklet of information one last time. When the visitors pressed the button that sounded the alert buzzer, I tucked away in a drawer and let them in. I did have a cheat sheet with information about the animals on my phone just in case, a brief notation of each of them and which enclosure they were in, but I really didn’t need to use it.
Exiting through the front door, I saw them walk up the path toward me. “Hi, I’m Ripley,” I said, holding out a hand toward the woman closest to me.
She shook it firmly. “I’m Denise. This is my sister Carla and my nephews, Wesley and Jason,” she said, motioning to each of them in turn.
“I heard it’s your birthday,” I said to Wesley, giving him a smile. “You’re interested in animal conversation?”
“Back where we live, yeah,” he said, nodding. “The animals that you’ve got here are incredible. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Well, I can’t wait to show them to you,” I said. “Right this way.”
I led them on the path around the building, toward enclosure one. Despite the horrific memories of the animal killing Stanley’s friends, I knew it was just an animal, and I had to push past my feelings on what had happened. Keeping a small smile on my face, I motioned to the enclosure. “Fiercely territorial and amazing hunters, despite their large size, they’re arboreal and known to dart from tree to tree with barely a sound. This is one of only about two thousand left in existence.”
“Two thousand, three hundred and fifty six at last count,” spoke Wesley, his eyes on the trees.
I blinked, surprised and impressed. “Well that was fantastic. Do you plan on stealing my job when you graduate?”
Wesley looked at me with a grin. “Nah, everyone knows Suzanne only offers humans this gig. And I want to help animals like this one get off the endangered species list. The zoos are great for awareness and fundraising, but then the money has to go somewhere. I want to be doing the real work.”
“That’s really great,” I told him. “I wish you all the best in that career path.” At that, we saw the animal climb down from the tree, wandering a few yards from the tree line. This was because 90% of the time, when humans were at their enclosure and making noise, whether it was speaking to each other or calling out to the animal, it was someone bringing them prey to eat. Or, in my case, enrichment toys to play with.
“Whoa,” Wesley whispered.
“How close can we get?” spoke up Jason.
“The warding starts at the fence,” I told him with a small gesture. “So, just there.”
Both boys wandered closer and I glanced at their parents. It seemed that Suzanne’s zoo had a serious reputation for high quality invisible walls, because they didn’t look worried in the slightest about the boys being hurt or killed.
“They prefer dense forest as their home and have been known to make their nests in trees up to twenty meter in the air,” I continued. “And when hunting, they’ve been seen dropping eight meters straight down. They have incredibly dense yet flexible musculature, which allows them to tackle their prey without injuring themselves.”
There was more information about the animal that I continued to rattle off, though Wesley chimed in at certain points with the info I was about to convey. That was highly entertaining and very cool. When I’d been in school, I’d never met anyone who had my level of passion about endangered animals. I wondered if things were better where these folks came from, but realized that considering there were so few of these animals left, I guessed not.
The animal paced a little bit, seemingly waiting to see if we were the kind of humans that came bearing food, before deciding we weren’t and climbing back up into the trees as easily as I would climb some stairs.
As we moved onto enclosure two, Jason spoke up. “Are there any animals here we can touch or feed or something?”
I sighed inwardly before slowing to a stop. “Well, can you show me your hands?” Jason looked bemused, holding out his hands. “I mean…they both look like they’re in great shape. You can stand to lose one.”
The two women chuckled and Wesley smirked as Jason shoved his hands into his pockets. “Very funny.”
Grinning, I started walking again. “The animals here are all carnivores and all predators. You get to see them, but that’s it.”
“Alright.”
When we reached enclosure two, I started on my next spiel. “We’ve got three reanimated dead in this enclosure,” I spoke. They were just coming out from the trees as we arrived, presumably having heard our approach. “Marissa, Connor, and Bradley. They were donated by families who knew where they would be exhibited. Their next of kin, whoever they are, can’t stand the idea of putting them down. But we need to make sure they don’t have access to corpses, because one of them plus one corpse equals two of them.”
“They eat flesh though, don’t they?” Wesley asked.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but it’s from bodies that have already been dismembered. There’s no chance of them being affected by the transformation because it’s all parts.”
“Oh, got it.”
The creatures with blueish-white skin had superhuman strength, which is why they qualified for the security of Suzanne’s zoo. They also were likely the source of any Earth tales of people being brought back to life as zombies, specifically draugr, according to my research. They smelled like rotting flesh, so even as I kept talking about them and giving a background to the people they used to be, we were quick to move on once Wesley had gotten a good, long look at them.
“Enclosure four’s animal is a vampiric spirit. He’s a small, hairy humanoid creature with pointed ears. He wears a hat, and if he somehow loses it, he freaks out,” I said.
“They eat horses,” Wesley noted. “Also anything that gives them the chance to sit on it, usually catching them by surprise while they’re sleeping.”
The creature came out from the brush, giving us a suspicious look. He wasn’t in his humanoid form though; for some reason, he’d chosen to shapeshift to a dog.
I nodded. “Yep, indeed. Once the prey is dead, then he’ll eat it, and he has a voracious appetite. We have two wolves and two bears in the forest, which is one of the reasons I’ve got some self-defense items,” I said, patting my belt where my pepper spray (rated for bear) and my taser. “But the wards keep them out of this area of the zoo, so it’s really not much of a worry. It’s also a known shapeshifter, preferring the form of a dog, as you can see, as well as a cat, a snake, or even white butterflies, though the last one is rare.”
“The white butterflies are supposed to be a sign of good luck,” Wesley said, glancing to me. “Too bad we got the dog.”
“Yeah, otherwise you might be able to talk your mom into getting scratch-offs on your way home, huh?”
Wesley smirked at me.
The next enclosure was Spike, and he was waiting for us, dripping wet from having just emerged from the lake. I gave the introductory information about him, which included his propensity for eating animal eyes, nails, and teeth. “Recently, I’ve given him some enrichment activities, and I learned he likes artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts,” I said, taking a bag out from my cargo shorts. “Wesley, do you want to toss this bag into the enclosure?”
The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. He took a look into the paper bag before wrapping down the top to make sure nothing would fly out. Then he chucked it underhand past the fence. It landed a few yards from Spike, who waddled over to it quickly and tearing the bag open, spilling out the prizes inside. As the animal ate the pecans and hazelnuts, Wesley asked, “How’d you figure out he likes those?”
“It’s not all about taste,” I told him. “It’s mainly the difficulty of getting them out of the shells. He’s used to having to work for the parts of his prey he likes the most, so this mimics that activity, and he enjoys the process. I tried a bunch of different foods to find a few he liked.”
“Cool,” Wesley murmured, staring at him.
We watched Spike eat until he’d finished and then he went back into the woods, leaving us to move onto enclosure five. Japanese camellia were plentiful here, a type of pink flower, and that was because they grew anywhere near one of his species made their den. “This girl spends most of her time in the lake also,” I said, as the creature made its way toward the fence separating us from it. “But as you can see, she’s just as curious as the rest about what we’re doing here and whether we have food for her. She eats fish mostly, but she also regularly gets live prey.”
This creature was a spider-like monster, having six legs with long claws on each, and the head of an ox with two sharp horns. She was capable of shapeshifting to look like a human, but I guessed that she wasn’t fond of it, since I hadn’t yet seen her in that form.
“She prefers the easy way of catching prey, so to speak, by hiding in the lake and pouncing when something comes for a drink of water,” I explained. “Apparently humans are some of her favorite prey. She has an advantage of being able to spit poison, which often hits her prey in the eyes. But it’s usually used in defense rather than offense, since it secretes a limited amount.”
“What kind of animal would even go after something like this?” Jason asked, staring at her.
“Never discount one of its own species when you’re thinking about what might attack an animal,” I replied. “There are places that are breeding all of the animals here, but competition for mates is common. That means an advantage in a fight, like poison or venom, can make or break who the winner is.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“It can’t spit past the warding, right?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Oh, no,” I assured her. “We’re fine. The wards wouldn’t let anything cross over.” She nodded, appeased.
The animal in enclosure six was the ginormous seal-hippo, Fiona, and she was looking at us as if she was imagining sprinkling us with herbs and spices and stuffing us in an oven. “This girl is one animal I’m going to work on enrichment activities for next,” I told them. “She prefers to feed on crayfish, though she’s happy to eat any humans that wander into her territory. She’ll even make a sound like a baby crying to reel us in. I’ve heard it a bunch of times.”
“Can you get her to make the sound?” Jason asked, perking up.
I grinned. “Not on command, sorry.”
“What enrichment are you thinking of trying?” Wesley asked.
“Possibly food placed in puzzle feeders,” I told him, “since she has claws that are pretty dexterous. Maybe a piñata made out of newspaper with flour inside, or a scarecrow that mimics a human.”
“Awesome,” he muttered.
After a little more educational tidbits, we moved onto Yui’s enclosure. “What is that?” Wesley asked, smiling.
“I got Yui the closest thing I could to a ping-pong ball,” I replied. “She quite likes it.”
“That’s so funny,” he said as she came out of the trees in her spider form. “I mean, the idea of her being a bloodthirsty hunter who seduces men to their deaths and eats them alive, but then on the other hand, she likes playing with something like this.”
“It is a little funny,” I agreed. “But when it comes down to it, all the animals here enjoy activities besides hunting.”
“She can shapeshift to look human, right?” asked Jason, trying to be casual about knowing something factual like his nerdy brother.
I nodded. “She looks like a woman from a region of Earth called Japan. And she’ll use strategies like holding out a hand to shake to get you closer. She tried that on me when I first got here but, as you can see,” I said, holding up my hands and waving them, “I didn’t fall for it.”
The boys both laughed as they got closer to the fence, watching her slowly pace near the trees.
Next was Sun, but she didn’t make an appearance as I spoke about her species. “Well…unfortunately we can’t guarantee that every animal comes out to say hi,” I sighed. “But…oh wait, here she is.”
The green lion with several horns and many eyes along her flank came out from the forest. “Hello,” she spoke.
“Hi, Sun,” I replied. “We have visitors.”
“What’s that?” Wesley asked suddenly, pointing at the small plastic bag that was still where I’d left it.
“Oh! That is Sun’s enrichment,” I said with a smile. “I put dozens of books on a flash drive and found that she can read them just like she’d read a shelf of books.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve read about anyone trying that before. That’s really cool.”
“The books are new and interesting,” Sun spoke, drawing our attention. “I’m grateful for them.”
I nodded to her. “You’re quite welcome.”
The next animal, unfortunately, wasn’t there, and we waited around for ten minutes as we discussed him. He was large and reptile-like with red eyes, with its hind legs and tail making him look vaguely like a kangaroo. Then, enclosure ten was a terrifyingly disturbing creature, the not-a-centaur with no skin, that I’d only seen a few times while walking my route. It gave a good demonstration of its ferocity, showing its sharp teeth and snapping at us a few times.
“I’m thinking of trying salt licks and other horse enrichment like a big bouncy ball,” I told Wesley, whose eyebrows went up at that. “Maybe give him more things to forage like scattered grains or a box filled with pinecones and seeds. Foraging is a huge part of a horse’s life in the wild, and humans have to do a lot of activities like that to keep pet horses busy. Of course, he also loves the little salt-water lake that was built for him.”
We spent some time looking at the animal before moving past our last stop, the empty enclosure of the animal was stolen. Carla glanced at me with a sad smile, knowing what had happened, it seemed. I gave her a nod as we continued on our way, walking into the office. “So, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!” I said with a smile.
“That was the coolest birthday present I’ve ever gotten,” Wesley said, looking to Denise. “Thanks so much, seriously.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said with a nod. “I’d never been here before, and knew I’d find it fascinating. Thank you for the educational aspect,” Denise said, glancing at me. “I learned quite a lot.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said, returning the nod.
As I escorted the guests out of the zoo and locked the door behind them, I reflected on how much I’d changed. The first time I’d seen Yui’s tarantula form, I’d nearly passed out from fear. Now here I was, walking tourists around like it was no big deal. Humans really can adapt to anything, it seems.
That afternoon, Suzanne had texted me that she was coming by after my shift, and I met her in Andrew’s office, shutting the door to the security room behind me. “How’s Andrew?” I asked first thing.
“He’s doing well,” she said with a wide smile. “Back on non-hospital food. He’s allowed to order food on his phone, and to hear it from him, that’s the best news he’d received in a long time.”
I chuckled. “I guess some clichés are true for a reason.”
“Indeed.” She took a breath. “All right. Ripley…I would like to discuss something with you.”
My face went slack at the serious tone in her voice. “I’m not… Am I being fired?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed. Then she chuckled softly. “No, it’s nothing like that. Just, here, let’s have a seat.” Suzanne walked over to the couch and sat at one end, and I took the other. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve kept from you, that I wanted to keep from you until you found your sea legs here.”
“Well…I have,” I said with a nod. “So, what is it?”
Suzanne took a breath. “I knew your mother.”
The words hung in the air for a moment before making their way to my ears. It was a perfectly logical sentence, and yet it didn’t make any sense. “What?” I finally managed.
“When you graduated college, I decided to move the zoo from Italy to within driving distance of your home,” she said softly. “Near enough to your town that you’d see the advert. We ignored any other applicants and I hoped you’d apply. Actually, I expected you’d apply. Not just for the money, but considering the field you wanted to go into. As soon as I’d found out your major, I knew.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How do you know Patricia?”
“She owned the zoo before I did,” Susan explained. “Fourteen years ago…she was working to track an injured animal that we could bring into the zoo and she was killed by poachers.”
My heart calcified in my chest and a lump lodged in my throat. As my breaths became shaky, I stared at her in shock. “She…she’s really dead?”
“You suspected?” she asked softly.
“It…” I swallowed hard. “We had her declared legally dead after…I don’t know, seven years I think. My dad wanted to go after her for child support, but the police said…they said they couldn’t find…” Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them back before I met Suzanne’s gaze. “She owned the zoo?”
Suzanne nodded. “It was her baby, you’d say. When Patricia passed, I inherited it, which we’d discussed beforehand, a legal just-in-case that I never expected her to need. I’m under the impression that you were told she went to Africa for her photography career, but she was in fact going to remote areas back in my home world almost every time.”
“But I-I saw the photos,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me she put on a show of getting pictures that someone else took for us to see every time she visited? Did my dad even know?”
“I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, putting on a show. And no, your father was never told. It’s not the way of things to tell humans unless it’s necessary. I won’t bore you with the details, but us and humans, we’re distant relatives, so we can still have children. But it wasn’t planned. Your mother fell in love with your father despite herself; she hadn’t meant to find love. Then she became pregnant with you and…well, the rest is history.”
“I think she had a different definition of love than the one I have,” I said tightly. “You’d think she’d have put her survival as more of a priority. Put being with the man she ‘loved’ as a priority. Her kids needed her. I needed her. She signed up when she became a mom. She could’ve screwed up all the time but she couldn’t even manage that one job: be there. When I was in the hospital, I kept thinking, ‘Where is she?’ and now you’re telling me that she put these animals above being there for her kids, and this whole time she’s been dead.”
“The hospital?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Never mind,” I said tersely, averting my gaze.
Suzanne hesitated before she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss, and not just for her death, Ripley,” she told me. “Patricia was…well, a ‘free spirit’ would be putting it gently. She always assumed the world would be there for her whenever she needed it.”
Staring at her for a long moment, I shook my head. “Why? Why come here and hire me?”
“I thought that would be obvious,” she said, smiling. “Your mother was so passionate about this place and once I found out your college major, I figured you would be as well.”
“Did you know that I hate her?” At that, Suzanne’s expression froze on the edge of shock. “She…she left us,” I whispered. “Didn’t tell us who she was or what she really did for a living and gave us no closure. And even when she was here, it was just visiting. Her real home was her work. She could give me all the presents she wanted, but even when she was here, half the time she was still on her computer doing work. It’s not like that stereotype of never making it to my tennis practice or something; it’s that it always felt like she was only partially here, even when I was sitting next to her. I don’t even know if I appreciate her turning me into a wildlife fanatic because it…it…makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way that’s just infuriating. She loved the animals more than she loved us.”
“Oh, Ripley-”
“Don’t,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said quietly. I pursed my lips. “I was going to say that I’m sorry that was the case. Your mother was…flawed, just like any other person. She had two loves in this world: her family and her work. And often, her work overcame her, her zeal for environmentalism getting in the way of being a good mum. She left your father trying to fill the role of two parents, holding your family together. You and your brother and your father, you all deserved better than that.”
My lower lip quivered but I bit down on it hard. It would’ve been a lot easier for me if she’d been speaking from a place of clueless reassurance about all this. But everything she said was making sense and that meant I didn’t have someone in front of me to be angry with.
“Why didn’t you tell me when Andrew hired me?” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Well, like I said, I wanted you to find your sea legs,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want the truth affecting whether or not you wanted to work here, whether you wanted to stay here after finding out about what the animals are. It would’ve complicated things, the emotions you’ll have to work through now that you know the truth. Whether or not you decide to give another tour, you also know what they’re like. That’s the benchmark I wanted you to reach before you found out about who you are.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who I-” My face went slack. “Wait.”
Suzanne nodded slowly. “You’re only half human. Your brother too.”
The room seemed to tilt on an axis for a moment. “That means I’m also half…what?”
“We call ourselves Eldritch, these days,” she replied.
My eyes bugged out. “What?” I exclaimed. “So you’re all, like, gods or something?”
Suzanne burst out laughing. “Oh no, goodness, no,” she chuckled. “It’s just a word. We live in a very different world from this one, and a few generations ago we discovered the word and it made its way into our lexicon. But it does mean you can see all the animals. Indeed you did, on the tour you gave.”
“Wait, no, I had the glasses that…” I stopped. “Did those glasses do anything?”
She gave a sly smile and shook her head. “Not a thing. You made incredibly quick progress, and then when it came time for the tour, all you needed was to expect to see the animals, and you did.”
Genetics. That’s what Andrew had said during our interview, that part of how many animals you could see was determined by genetics. I guess having a mother who was originally from the other dimension gave me all the genes I needed to see everything here. “Could I…visit your world?” I asked tentatively. “You said that my mom took photos of the animals there. Could I…” My voice trailed off, not even sure if or how I wanted to finish that sentence.
“Those who are half human, especially those who are raised on Earth, don’t come visit,” she said gently. “I could show you some photos of other animals, and I could loan you as many books as you’d like, but it’s simply not a place where you’d be safe.”
“Oh,” I said, leaning into the couch cushion as I pictured the animals in the zoo. “Yeah, actually that…makes sense.” I paused. “So, what now?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I wanted to wait until I was sure you were comfortable with your position here, and then put the ball in your court. And so it is. What do you want to do now?”
What did I want to do? It wasn’t that difficult a question, just a deep, serious one.
I wanted to thrive, as the animals did. This is my enrichment now, working at an incredible, wonderful, terrifying zoo. The experience so far hasn’t been perfect, and I know there are risks, but life isn’t about staying safe. It’s about learning new things and making a difference in the world. And, if you’re lucky, having a job that’s something really special.
THE END
First / Previous
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Suzanne thought it was absolutely brilliant of me to put books on a flash drive for Sun. She explained that Sun wasn’t as sophant (her word, not mine) as she might seem, more of a repository of information, but she was fairly intelligent. It was how she was able to connect Andrew being in pain to the fact that I was friends with Andrew, and that I would want to know that he was in trouble. Apparently some of Sun’s species had given some ‘wisdom’ to others in the past and it had made its way into mythology.
The key fact was that she was not smart enough to protect herself and her kind from the clever, organized poachers. With that information in mind, it was fascinating for me to think of how Sun took in and organized what she learned. It was almost as if she was a walking, talking library.
On the topic of tours, my first one went wonderfully, and I’m almost hoping Suzanne lets me do more of them. I know not all the tourists are going to be as awesome as these people were, but Suzanne gave me a lot of slack when it comes to dealing with them. She actually said that being a smartass is not grounds for dismissal, and that if I’m sarcastic or facetious to guests who are being ‘daft’ and they complain, she really doesn’t care. Is this the perfect job for me or what?
There were four guests in this party, two adults who were sisters and two children of one of the women, brothers aged thirteen and seventeen. The tour was a birthday gift for the older of the boys from his aunt, since apparently he was passionate about animal protection and conservation.
When they arrived at the front gate, I was sitting at Andrew’s desk, going over the booklet of information one last time. When the visitors pressed the button that sounded the alert buzzer, I tucked away in a drawer and let them in. I did have a cheat sheet with information about the animals on my phone just in case, a brief notation of each of them and which enclosure they were in, but I really didn’t need to use it.
Exiting through the front door, I saw them walk up the path toward me. “Hi, I’m Ripley,” I said, holding out a hand toward the woman closest to me.
She shook it firmly. “I’m Denise. This is my sister Carla and my nephews, Wesley and Jason,” she said, motioning to each of them in turn.
“I heard it’s your birthday,” I said to Wesley, giving him a smile. “You’re interested in animal conversation?”
“Back where we live, yeah,” he said, nodding. “The animals that you’ve got here are incredible. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Well, I can’t wait to show them to you,” I said. “Right this way.”
I led them on the path around the building, toward enclosure one. Despite the horrific memories of the animal killing Stanley’s friends, I knew it was just an animal, and I had to push past my feelings on what had happened. Keeping a small smile on my face, I motioned to the enclosure. “Fiercely territorial and amazing hunters, despite their large size, they’re arboreal and known to dart from tree to tree with barely a sound. This is one of only about two thousand left in existence.”
“Two thousand, three hundred and fifty six at last count,” spoke Wesley, his eyes on the trees.
I blinked, surprised and impressed. “Well that was fantastic. Do you plan on stealing my job when you graduate?”
Wesley looked at me with a grin. “Nah, everyone knows Suzanne only offers humans this gig. And I want to help animals like this one get off the endangered species list. The zoos are great for awareness and fundraising, but then the money has to go somewhere. I want to be doing the real work.”
“That’s really great,” I told him. “I wish you all the best in that career path.” At that, we saw the animal climb down from the tree, wandering a few yards from the tree line. This was because 90% of the time, when humans were at their enclosure and making noise, whether it was speaking to each other or calling out to the animal, it was someone bringing them prey to eat. Or, in my case, enrichment toys to play with.
“Whoa,” Wesley whispered.
“How close can we get?” spoke up Jason.
“The warding starts at the fence,” I told him with a small gesture. “So, just there.”
Both boys wandered closer and I glanced at their parents. It seemed that Suzanne’s zoo had a serious reputation for high quality invisible walls, because they didn’t look worried in the slightest about the boys being hurt or killed.
“They prefer dense forest as their home and have been known to make their nests in trees up to twenty meter in the air,” I continued. “And when hunting, they’ve been seen dropping eight meters straight down. They have incredibly dense yet flexible musculature, which allows them to tackle their prey without injuring themselves.”
There was more information about the animal that I continued to rattle off, though Wesley chimed in at certain points with the info I was about to convey. That was highly entertaining and very cool. When I’d been in school, I’d never met anyone who had my level of passion about endangered animals. I wondered if things were better where these folks came from, but realized that considering there were so few of these animals left, I guessed not.
The animal paced a little bit, seemingly waiting to see if we were the kind of humans that came bearing food, before deciding we weren’t and climbing back up into the trees as easily as I would climb some stairs.
As we moved onto enclosure two, Jason spoke up. “Are there any animals here we can touch or feed or something?”
I sighed inwardly before slowing to a stop. “Well, can you show me your hands?” Jason looked bemused, holding out his hands. “I mean…they both look like they’re in great shape. You can stand to lose one.”
The two women chuckled and Wesley smirked as Jason shoved his hands into his pockets. “Very funny.”
Grinning, I started walking again. “The animals here are all carnivores and all predators. You get to see them, but that’s it.”
“Alright.”
When we reached enclosure two, I started on my next spiel. “We’ve got three reanimated dead in this enclosure,” I spoke. They were just coming out from the trees as we arrived, presumably having heard our approach. “Marissa, Connor, and Bradley. They were donated by families who knew where they would be exhibited. Their next of kin, whoever they are, can’t stand the idea of putting them down. But we need to make sure they don’t have access to corpses, because one of them plus one corpse equals two of them.”
“They eat flesh though, don’t they?” Wesley asked.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but it’s from bodies that have already been dismembered. There’s no chance of them being affected by the transformation because it’s all parts.”
“Oh, got it.”
The creatures with blueish-white skin had superhuman strength, which is why they qualified for the security of Suzanne’s zoo. They also were likely the source of any Earth tales of people being brought back to life as zombies, specifically draugr, according to my research. They smelled like rotting flesh, so even as I kept talking about them and giving a background to the people they used to be, we were quick to move on once Wesley had gotten a good, long look at them.
“Enclosure four’s animal is a vampiric spirit. He’s a small, hairy humanoid creature with pointed ears. He wears a hat, and if he somehow loses it, he freaks out,” I said.
“They eat horses,” Wesley noted. “Also anything that gives them the chance to sit on it, usually catching them by surprise while they’re sleeping.”
The creature came out from the brush, giving us a suspicious look. He wasn’t in his humanoid form though; for some reason, he’d chosen to shapeshift to a dog.
I nodded. “Yep, indeed. Once the prey is dead, then he’ll eat it, and he has a voracious appetite. We have two wolves and two bears in the forest, which is one of the reasons I’ve got some self-defense items,” I said, patting my belt where my pepper spray (rated for bear) and my taser. “But the wards keep them out of this area of the zoo, so it’s really not much of a worry. It’s also a known shapeshifter, preferring the form of a dog, as you can see, as well as a cat, a snake, or even white butterflies, though the last one is rare.”
“The white butterflies are supposed to be a sign of good luck,” Wesley said, glancing to me. “Too bad we got the dog.”
“Yeah, otherwise you might be able to talk your mom into getting scratch-offs on your way home, huh?”
Wesley smirked at me.
The next enclosure was Spike, and he was waiting for us, dripping wet from having just emerged from the lake. I gave the introductory information about him, which included his propensity for eating animal eyes, nails, and teeth. “Recently, I’ve given him some enrichment activities, and I learned he likes artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts,” I said, taking a bag out from my cargo shorts. “Wesley, do you want to toss this bag into the enclosure?”
The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. He took a look into the paper bag before wrapping down the top to make sure nothing would fly out. Then he chucked it underhand past the fence. It landed a few yards from Spike, who waddled over to it quickly and tearing the bag open, spilling out the prizes inside. As the animal ate the pecans and hazelnuts, Wesley asked, “How’d you figure out he likes those?”
“It’s not all about taste,” I told him. “It’s mainly the difficulty of getting them out of the shells. He’s used to having to work for the parts of his prey he likes the most, so this mimics that activity, and he enjoys the process. I tried a bunch of different foods to find a few he liked.”
“Cool,” Wesley murmured, staring at him.
We watched Spike eat until he’d finished and then he went back into the woods, leaving us to move onto enclosure five. Japanese camellia were plentiful here, a type of pink flower, and that was because they grew anywhere near one of his species made their den. “This girl spends most of her time in the lake also,” I said, as the creature made its way toward the fence separating us from it. “But as you can see, she’s just as curious as the rest about what we’re doing here and whether we have food for her. She eats fish mostly, but she also regularly gets live prey.”
This creature was a spider-like monster, having six legs with long claws on each, and the head of an ox with two sharp horns. She was capable of shapeshifting to look like a human, but I guessed that she wasn’t fond of it, since I hadn’t yet seen her in that form.
“She prefers the easy way of catching prey, so to speak, by hiding in the lake and pouncing when something comes for a drink of water,” I explained. “Apparently humans are some of her favorite prey. She has an advantage of being able to spit poison, which often hits her prey in the eyes. But it’s usually used in defense rather than offense, since it secretes a limited amount.”
“What kind of animal would even go after something like this?” Jason asked, staring at her.
“Never discount one of its own species when you’re thinking about what might attack an animal,” I replied. “There are places that are breeding all of the animals here, but competition for mates is common. That means an advantage in a fight, like poison or venom, can make or break who the winner is.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“It can’t spit past the warding, right?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Oh, no,” I assured her. “We’re fine. The wards wouldn’t let anything cross over.” She nodded, appeased.
The animal in enclosure six was the ginormous seal-hippo, Fiona, and she was looking at us as if she was imagining sprinkling us with herbs and spices and stuffing us in an oven. “This girl is one animal I’m going to work on enrichment activities for next,” I told them. “She prefers to feed on crayfish, though she’s happy to eat any humans that wander into her territory. She’ll even make a sound like a baby crying to reel us in. I’ve heard it a bunch of times.”
“Can you get her to make the sound?” Jason asked, perking up.
I grinned. “Not on command, sorry.”
“What enrichment are you thinking of trying?” Wesley asked.
“Possibly food placed in puzzle feeders,” I told him, “since she has claws that are pretty dexterous. Maybe a piñata made out of newspaper with flour inside, or a scarecrow that mimics a human.”
“Awesome,” he muttered.
After a little more educational tidbits, we moved onto Yui’s enclosure. “What is that?” Wesley asked, smiling.
“I got Yui the closest thing I could to a ping-pong ball,” I replied. “She quite likes it.”
“That’s so funny,” he said as she came out of the trees in her spider form. “I mean, the idea of her being a bloodthirsty hunter who seduces men to their deaths and eats them alive, but then on the other hand, she likes playing with something like this.”
“It is a little funny,” I agreed. “But when it comes down to it, all the animals here enjoy activities besides hunting.”
“She can shapeshift to look human, right?” asked Jason, trying to be casual about knowing something factual like his nerdy brother.
I nodded. “She looks like a woman from a region of Earth called Japan. And she’ll use strategies like holding out a hand to shake to get you closer. She tried that on me when I first got here but, as you can see,” I said, holding up my hands and waving them, “I didn’t fall for it.”
The boys both laughed as they got closer to the fence, watching her slowly pace near the trees.
Next was Sun, but she didn’t make an appearance as I spoke about her species. “Well…unfortunately we can’t guarantee that every animal comes out to say hi,” I sighed. “But…oh wait, here she is.”
The green lion with several horns and many eyes along her flank came out from the forest. “Hello,” she spoke.
“Hi, Sun,” I replied. “We have visitors.”
“What’s that?” Wesley asked suddenly, pointing at the small plastic bag that was still where I’d left it.
“Oh! That is Sun’s enrichment,” I said with a smile. “I put dozens of books on a flash drive and found that she can read them just like she’d read a shelf of books.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve read about anyone trying that before. That’s really cool.”
“The books are new and interesting,” Sun spoke, drawing our attention. “I’m grateful for them.”
I nodded to her. “You’re quite welcome.”
The next animal, unfortunately, wasn’t there, and we waited around for ten minutes as we discussed him. He was large and reptile-like with red eyes, with its hind legs and tail making him look vaguely like a kangaroo. Then, enclosure ten was a terrifyingly disturbing creature, the not-a-centaur with no skin, that I’d only seen a few times while walking my route. It gave a good demonstration of its ferocity, showing its sharp teeth and snapping at us a few times.
“I’m thinking of trying salt licks and other horse enrichment like a big bouncy ball,” I told Wesley, whose eyebrows went up at that. “Maybe give him more things to forage like scattered grains or a box filled with pinecones and seeds. Foraging is a huge part of a horse’s life in the wild, and humans have to do a lot of activities like that to keep pet horses busy. Of course, he also loves the little salt-water lake that was built for him.”
We spent some time looking at the animal before moving past our last stop, the empty enclosure of the animal was stolen. Carla glanced at me with a sad smile, knowing what had happened, it seemed. I gave her a nod as we continued on our way, walking into the office. “So, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!” I said with a smile.
“That was the coolest birthday present I’ve ever gotten,” Wesley said, looking to Denise. “Thanks so much, seriously.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said with a nod. “I’d never been here before, and knew I’d find it fascinating. Thank you for the educational aspect,” Denise said, glancing at me. “I learned quite a lot.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said, returning the nod.
As I escorted the guests out of the zoo and locked the door behind them, I reflected on how much I’d changed. The first time I’d seen Yui’s tarantula form, I’d nearly passed out from fear. Now here I was, walking tourists around like it was no big deal. Humans really can adapt to anything, it seems.
That afternoon, Suzanne had texted me that she was coming by after my shift, and I met her in Andrew’s office, shutting the door to the security room behind me. “How’s Andrew?” I asked first thing.
“He’s doing well,” she said with a wide smile. “Back on non-hospital food. He’s allowed to order food on his phone, and to hear it from him, that’s the best news he’d received in a long time.”
I chuckled. “I guess some clichés are true for a reason.”
“Indeed.” She took a breath. “All right. Ripley…I would like to discuss something with you.”
My face went slack at the serious tone in her voice. “I’m not… Am I being fired?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed. Then she chuckled softly. “No, it’s nothing like that. Just, here, let’s have a seat.” Suzanne walked over to the couch and sat at one end, and I took the other. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve kept from you, that I wanted to keep from you until you found your sea legs here.”
“Well…I have,” I said with a nod. “So, what is it?”
Suzanne took a breath. “I knew your mother.”
The words hung in the air for a moment before making their way to my ears. It was a perfectly logical sentence, and yet it didn’t make any sense. “What?” I finally managed.
“When you graduated college, I decided to move the zoo from Italy to within driving distance of your home,” she said softly. “Near enough to your town that you’d see the advert. We ignored any other applicants and I hoped you’d apply. Actually, I expected you’d apply. Not just for the money, but considering the field you wanted to go into. As soon as I’d found out your major, I knew.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How do you know Patricia?”
“She owned the zoo before I did,” Susan explained. “Fourteen years ago…she was working to track an injured animal that we could bring into the zoo and she was killed by poachers.”
My heart calcified in my chest and a lump lodged in my throat. As my breaths became shaky, I stared at her in shock. “She…she’s really dead?”
“You suspected?” she asked softly.
“It…” I swallowed hard. “We had her declared legally dead after…I don’t know, seven years I think. My dad wanted to go after her for child support, but the police said…they said they couldn’t find…” Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them back before I met Suzanne’s gaze. “She owned the zoo?”
Suzanne nodded. “It was her baby, you’d say. When Patricia passed, I inherited it, which we’d discussed beforehand, a legal just-in-case that I never expected her to need. I’m under the impression that you were told she went to Africa for her photography career, but she was in fact going to remote areas back in my home world almost every time.”
“But I-I saw the photos,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me she put on a show of getting pictures that someone else took for us to see every time she visited? Did my dad even know?”
“I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, putting on a show. And no, your father was never told. It’s not the way of things to tell humans unless it’s necessary. I won’t bore you with the details, but us and humans, we’re distant relatives, so we can still have children. But it wasn’t planned. Your mother fell in love with your father despite herself; she hadn’t meant to find love. Then she became pregnant with you and…well, the rest is history.”
“I think she had a different definition of love than the one I have,” I said tightly. “You’d think she’d have put her survival as more of a priority. Put being with the man she ‘loved’ as a priority. Her kids needed her. I needed her. She signed up when she became a mom. She could’ve screwed up all the time but she couldn’t even manage that one job: be there. When I was in the hospital, I kept thinking, ‘Where is she?’ and now you’re telling me that she put these animals above being there for her kids, and this whole time she’s been dead.”
“The hospital?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Never mind,” I said tersely, averting my gaze.
Suzanne hesitated before she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss, and not just for her death, Ripley,” she told me. “Patricia was…well, a ‘free spirit’ would be putting it gently. She always assumed the world would be there for her whenever she needed it.”
Staring at her for a long moment, I shook my head. “Why? Why come here and hire me?”
“I thought that would be obvious,” she said, smiling. “Your mother was so passionate about this place and once I found out your college major, I figured you would be as well.”
“Did you know that I hate her?” At that, Suzanne’s expression froze on the edge of shock. “She…she left us,” I whispered. “Didn’t tell us who she was or what she really did for a living and gave us no closure. And even when she was here, it was just visiting. Her real home was her work. She could give me all the presents she wanted, but even when she was here, half the time she was still on her computer doing work. It’s not like that stereotype of never making it to my tennis practice or something; it’s that it always felt like she was only partially here, even when I was sitting next to her. I don’t even know if I appreciate her turning me into a wildlife fanatic because it…it…makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way that’s just infuriating. She loved the animals more than she loved us.”
“Oh, Ripley-”
“Don’t,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said quietly. I pursed my lips. “I was going to say that I’m sorry that was the case. Your mother was…flawed, just like any other person. She had two loves in this world: her family and her work. And often, her work overcame her, her zeal for environmentalism getting in the way of being a good mum. She left your father trying to fill the role of two parents, holding your family together. You and your brother and your father, you all deserved better than that.”
My lower lip quivered but I bit down on it hard. It would’ve been a lot easier for me if she’d been speaking from a place of clueless reassurance about all this. But everything she said was making sense and that meant I didn’t have someone in front of me to be angry with.
“Why didn’t you tell me when Andrew hired me?” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Well, like I said, I wanted you to find your sea legs,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want the truth affecting whether or not you wanted to work here, whether you wanted to stay here after finding out about what the animals are. It would’ve complicated things, the emotions you’ll have to work through now that you know the truth. Whether or not you decide to give another tour, you also know what they’re like. That’s the benchmark I wanted you to reach before you found out about who you are.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who I-” My face went slack. “Wait.”
Suzanne nodded slowly. “You’re only half human. Your brother too.”
The room seemed to tilt on an axis for a moment. “That means I’m also half…what?”
“We call ourselves Eldritch, these days,” she replied.
My eyes bugged out. “What?” I exclaimed. “So you’re all, like, gods or something?”
Suzanne burst out laughing. “Oh no, goodness, no,” she chuckled. “It’s just a word. We live in a very different world from this one, and a few generations ago we discovered the word and it made its way into our lexicon. But it does mean you can see all the animals. Indeed you did, on the tour you gave.”
“Wait, no, I had the glasses that…” I stopped. “Did those glasses do anything?”
She gave a sly smile and shook her head. “Not a thing. You made incredibly quick progress, and then when it came time for the tour, all you needed was to expect to see the animals, and you did.”
Genetics. That’s what Andrew had said during our interview, that part of how many animals you could see was determined by genetics. I guess having a mother who was originally from the other dimension gave me all the genes I needed to see everything here. “Could I…visit your world?” I asked tentatively. “You said that my mom took photos of the animals there. Could I…” My voice trailed off, not even sure if or how I wanted to finish that sentence.
“Those who are half human, especially those who are raised on Earth, don’t come visit,” she said gently. “I could show you some photos of other animals, and I could loan you as many books as you’d like, but it’s simply not a place where you’d be safe.”
“Oh,” I said, leaning into the couch cushion as I pictured the animals in the zoo. “Yeah, actually that…makes sense.” I paused. “So, what now?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I wanted to wait until I was sure you were comfortable with your position here, and then put the ball in your court. And so it is. What do you want to do now?”
What did I want to do? It wasn’t that difficult a question, just a deep, serious one.
I wanted to thrive, as the animals did. This is my enrichment now, working at an incredible, wonderful, terrifying zoo. The experience so far hasn’t been perfect, and I know there are risks, but life isn’t about staying safe. It’s about learning new things and making a difference in the world. And, if you’re lucky, having a job that’s something really special.
THE END
First / Previous
2024.05.27 23:56 Bromageddon Diagnosed with hiatal hernia couple times, not sure if these symptoms are related. Trying to narrow down a cause, because I am MISERABLE.
Good morning folks. I might be in the wrong subreddit but as my docs have diagnosed me with GERD and a hiatal hernia as an actual medical condition, I figured I would try here and the GERD subreddit.
I am experiencing the following symptoms/feelings on an empty stomach:
I am currently down to a fodmap diet, essentially eating white rice, chicken, beef, a few types of vegetables (green beans, peas, broccoli), and potato based bread.
I am fairly sedentary. Walking is my main exercise and I only do about 20km of that a week on average.
These sensations are especially intense in the morning, even occurring within an hour after eating.
I do not snack while sleeping at night.
I've determined through the fodmap diet that it's not food causing this, and highly doubt it could be since the sensations in the morning are happening some 12 hours after my last meal.
I've quit smoking weed entirely and do not do any other recreational drugs (I don't even drink alcohol) so that also is not a cause.
I drink plenty of water and rarely eat sugar.
This has been going on for several years and current medications are not a factor.
I am miserable. This is taking over my life. I have a terrible relationship with food due some intolerances, and this situation happening every morning and an hour or so after every meal is making that food relationship even worse. I crave eating and snacking to kill the pain/cramps/squelching but I can't just mindlessly eat snacks every day.
I've been to several doctors over the past couple years, gotten a couple of endoscopy and colonoscopies, trace tests, allergy and diabetes tests. So far nothing can point out what's causing this highly specific sensation.
If anyone has taken the time to read this and has any experience or knowledge of this situation, please DM me or reply to this post. Anything I can take to my doctors or do for relief will be welcome information.
Thank you for reading, have a nice day.
submitted by Bromageddon to HiatalHernia [link] [comments]
I am experiencing the following symptoms/feelings on an empty stomach:
- Some sort of intensely uncomfortable movement every few minutes, it FEELS like gas moving through my actual upper stomach area but rarely does it turn into a burp. Imagine a xenomorph baby moving through your stomach areas. I can force this movement by flexing my diaphragm, and it will occur when moving/twisting the abdominal region of my body.
- An internal squelching/gurgle sound and sensation when the movement in #3 occurs. This triggers immediate mental irritation and intense feelings of disgust.
- Symptoms/sensations return an hour or two after eating a medium to full size meal. After which I have to tolerate it or snack until my next full meal.
I am currently down to a fodmap diet, essentially eating white rice, chicken, beef, a few types of vegetables (green beans, peas, broccoli), and potato based bread.
I am fairly sedentary. Walking is my main exercise and I only do about 20km of that a week on average.
These sensations are especially intense in the morning, even occurring within an hour after eating.
I do not snack while sleeping at night.
I've determined through the fodmap diet that it's not food causing this, and highly doubt it could be since the sensations in the morning are happening some 12 hours after my last meal.
I've quit smoking weed entirely and do not do any other recreational drugs (I don't even drink alcohol) so that also is not a cause.
I drink plenty of water and rarely eat sugar.
This has been going on for several years and current medications are not a factor.
I am miserable. This is taking over my life. I have a terrible relationship with food due some intolerances, and this situation happening every morning and an hour or so after every meal is making that food relationship even worse. I crave eating and snacking to kill the pain/cramps/squelching but I can't just mindlessly eat snacks every day.
I've been to several doctors over the past couple years, gotten a couple of endoscopy and colonoscopies, trace tests, allergy and diabetes tests. So far nothing can point out what's causing this highly specific sensation.
If anyone has taken the time to read this and has any experience or knowledge of this situation, please DM me or reply to this post. Anything I can take to my doctors or do for relief will be welcome information.
Thank you for reading, have a nice day.
2024.05.27 23:39 droppout165 Oral roflumilast (daxas) + phototherapy
Before, I used zoryve but it keeps spreading (which worked really well on my genital area, but not so on ohter parts of my body).
My derm recently prescribed me oral roflumilast (daxas) combined with phototherapy. I only use a small piece of cloth to cover my genital area. Att first it felt great, after every session of 1min my skin felt comfortable without itching or pain. Maybe daxas are working as well. I got several of these white peeling ring around the smaller ones. Not sure if it's a sign of healing or worsening. See pictures.
But a few days ago my butt cheek felt really itchy, covered full of small goosebumps. I thought it was burned from UV light, but can't be sure. After I sit for long the itching becomes unbearable. I used 0.5% hydrocortisone cream with aloe over the counter to relieve the itching but it didn't really help. And it's only on my buttcheek.
submitted by droppout165 to Psoriasis [link] [comments]
My derm recently prescribed me oral roflumilast (daxas) combined with phototherapy. I only use a small piece of cloth to cover my genital area. Att first it felt great, after every session of 1min my skin felt comfortable without itching or pain. Maybe daxas are working as well. I got several of these white peeling ring around the smaller ones. Not sure if it's a sign of healing or worsening. See pictures.
But a few days ago my butt cheek felt really itchy, covered full of small goosebumps. I thought it was burned from UV light, but can't be sure. After I sit for long the itching becomes unbearable. I used 0.5% hydrocortisone cream with aloe over the counter to relieve the itching but it didn't really help. And it's only on my buttcheek.
2024.05.27 23:34 beccshi My acne was not bad...
I've always had acne, but it disspeared when I went 3 months on accutane. The following years my skin was fine (some whiteheads, some pimples when my period arrived... that stuff).
Last summer I thought of using a retinol to improve my texture and achieve glass skin. At that time I started using Differin. My skin was great for 2 months, but on October everything went down.
I started having massive irritation. On February i cut the Differin (it was giving me an awfull reactive acne, so red, itchy, dehydrated). For a month my skin was fine, with some whiteheads again. On April I decided to give it another try, slowly.
It's not been that bad, and sometimes my skin gets really beautiful for one or two weeks, but then, eventually, I get this angry red whiteheads again. It's not as bad as what happened between October-February when i had to cut down.
The thing is... is it even worth it? Maybe my skin is too sensitive to Differin. I've been using it for almost 2 months, and I think I'm past the purge stage, but I keep getting irritation. I only wanted to use a retinol (ended up using a strong retinoid) to have glass skin...
Should I give up and focus on geeting back to my old skincare routine (i had to switch from oily routine to dry routine because of Differin), hope that it works and then try with a soft retinol if i feel like it?
I appreciate every advice! Thank u for reading
submitted by beccshi to tretinoin [link] [comments]
Last summer I thought of using a retinol to improve my texture and achieve glass skin. At that time I started using Differin. My skin was great for 2 months, but on October everything went down.
I started having massive irritation. On February i cut the Differin (it was giving me an awfull reactive acne, so red, itchy, dehydrated). For a month my skin was fine, with some whiteheads again. On April I decided to give it another try, slowly.
It's not been that bad, and sometimes my skin gets really beautiful for one or two weeks, but then, eventually, I get this angry red whiteheads again. It's not as bad as what happened between October-February when i had to cut down.
The thing is... is it even worth it? Maybe my skin is too sensitive to Differin. I've been using it for almost 2 months, and I think I'm past the purge stage, but I keep getting irritation. I only wanted to use a retinol (ended up using a strong retinoid) to have glass skin...
Should I give up and focus on geeting back to my old skincare routine (i had to switch from oily routine to dry routine because of Differin), hope that it works and then try with a soft retinol if i feel like it?
I appreciate every advice! Thank u for reading
2024.05.27 23:24 Then-Passage7112 Should I cancel my hydra facial?
 | I got my period two days ago and my skin is flipping out per usual. I have a hydra facial scheduled for tomorrow and it’s my first one so I’m not sure what exactly to expect. Should I reschedule? Would it be too irritating? submitted by Then-Passage7112 to 30PlusSkinCare [link] [comments] I don’t mind my skin purging more from the exfoliating, I just don’t want to damage it. My acne is not painful, there’s just more redness because I picked at it :/ it’s scheduled with a cosmetic dermatologist at a hospital. |
2024.05.27 23:22 Reasonable-Ad-4419 Uti-vagina sores(small) macrobid nitrofurantoin
Two weeks ago I finally went to the hospital because I had been having bad back pain for quite some time which later changed to some pelvic pain and I began peeing like crazy. I have a busy life and I worry about my husband my child and everyone else’s needs and shrug my issues off to the side quite often. They did urine blood and a ct scan as I have a past of kidney stones 10yrs ago. They eventually told me I had a severe bladder infection which they saw in urine sample and also ct scan. They prescribed me nitrofurantoin (macrobid) yellow and black pill. I tolerated the pill okay for the most past but about four days later I noticed I started getting itchy down below and also my Anus (tmi) The itch became more prevalent but I ignored it however sometimes in the night I know I woke up and itched because both areas were so itchy. Not around the anus just the actual but hole and the left side of my vagina (not the hole). The pain in my back came back fiercely and the urge to frequently urinate came back again once I finished the 7 day antibiotic and I went back to the hospital, this time they did tons of blood work urine and another ct scan. This time they told me I have kidney stones, one in each kidney gave me some type of antibiotic through iv not sure which type and referred me to a urologist. Still dying with back pain but the itch persisted one day I inserted a boric acid pill but I know they help some but also irritate others so I didn’t do it again. I kick myself in the ass because I know better than to take antibiotics without a probiotic along with it. To end my miserable story last week I still felt irritated not unbearable but I asked my husband to look and on my labia minora the outer side of it if that makes sense(not the side that faces inside the opening) he found 4 small skin lesions I guess you can call them. They were small red open marks . They never burned, I never had flu symptoms never a fever never tingling just this itch that began after antibiotics and I also thought maybe from peeing and wiping so often. Now I have lost ten pounds I haven’t been able to eat or sleep because I have scoured the internet and although some people get vagina lesions or small ulcers or whatever you can call them from a yeast infection or uti every single forum or photo only talks about herpes. Before this scenario I have never once had any type of vaginal bumps or sores. So basically I would like to know if anyone else has ever taken an antibiotic and later gotten any type of sore or lesion on their vagina anywhere. I never noticed a blister I never felt bumps we just found the four marks down there same area but not clustered together and not large. I did read some forums of people having vaginal sores that ended up not herpes but the internet has made me want to die and crawl into a ball. Has anyone gotten sores after antibiotics I also see such horrible reactions with this medication online
submitted by Reasonable-Ad-4419 to Healthyhooha [link] [comments]