Heaviness in the middle of your chest

Confess your secrets

2008.12.19 21:11 Confess your secrets

Get that nasty secret off your chest or simply use this as a place to vent. See the unfiltered opinions of strangers.
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2013.10.21 08:59 chupacabra_whiskey TrueOffMyChest, a place for people who need to speak their mind

A place to get personal things off your chest. Not for opinions, not for relationship advice, and not for preaching.
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2011.03.15 11:19 Ahojlaska Come and Vent About Life

A subreddit where you can share your frustrations, problems, or issues in a supportive and empathetic environment. Whether it's a minor annoyance or a major life issue, this subreddit provides a space for you to release your thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment. The goal of the community is to offer support, comfort, and a listening ear to those who need it. You can also share your experiences, give and receive advice, and provide encouragement to others.
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2024.05.29 03:13 IJistWantMyselfBack Im done

I wish I would’ve dumped you the moment I was a crutch for you and your own fucked up life. The moment you compared me to every shitty male in your life. You never “loved me” you loved the idea of having gf someone to rely on without having to support that person. “Treat others how I want to be treated”. You cant treat yourself properly and so you throw it on the other person. “Heal” you couldn’t even tell someone the first step to healing. You lie, you blame yourself. It hurts but I know I wasn’t the problem. I tried to help. Tried helping you with your family because you just refused to do anything about it and instead just allowed that shit to fuck you up. “Im always the one apologizing” and I was the one to always tell you theres nothing to apologize for. “You have trouble apologizing” for what??? Sharing an opinion on a subject wed talk about? Its not like its a death match on whose right, they are OPINIONS. You’re the one who’d read into every conversation because you’re fucking crazy. Yea we’re all a little a crazy and I was perfectly fine with it. Everything you ever did was fine because I never wanted to make you feel hated, after all I never did. You made it feel like I was in a relationship of eggshells. I couldn’t even ask you for a 3 DAY break without you breaking down but its perfectly fine to tell me Im not worth a relationship after you showed nothing in return. I unfollowed, I blocked, I changed my habits but no it was never enough. You wanted to be praised when you were absent and you wanted to be held when you were gone. This is all shit im getting off my chest because Ive never had the courage to before. I fucking hate that I cried for you. I hate that my eyes burned for days and wouldn’t stop because of YOU. I hate that I couldn’t tell how fucked up you were with how you just throw people away because you’re so used to experiencing that. My mom said I tried my best and I looked happy. I was happy. I tried to be polite in asking you to delete my pictures from your account because who THE FUCK decides to start seeing someone a month after a break up and STILL has pictures and videos of their ex up. That shows just how selfish you truly are and it doesn’t hurt me. You’re just another ex, just not as narcissistic till afterwards. Calling me up in the middle of the night because you “don’t have anyone else” so convenient I’m only available when you need me. I did open up about a lot of stuff but you cared. You only cared if it involved you. Congratulations, you admitted to hurting me and youre dead to me. This is how I piss on your grave. Dont ever visit me or even think about me. You can be fine with hurting others but im not gonna sit back and take the punches. Go fuck yourself. Im done.
submitted by IJistWantMyselfBack to Vent [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 03:11 rohan_spibo Update: Bloons TD 6 v43.0 - Update Notes!

Update: Bloons TD 6 v43.0 - Update Notes!
Available now for most platforms please restart your storefront or be patient if it does not appear for you, these updates can take some time to be rolled out to every region due to how the storefronts are set up.
Update Video: https://youtu.be/97SrSDiSNfk

Key New Features

New Awesome

Game Changes / Additions

Bug Fixes & General Changes

Event bug fixes

Map Specific Fixes

Tower Specific Fixes

Tack Shooter
Ice Monkey
Glue Gunner
Monkey Sub
Monkey Buccaneer
Heli Pilot
Super Monkey

Hero Specific Fixes

Gwendolin
Etienne
Geraldo
Corvus
Platform Specific fixes
Balance Changes

The combination of towers you are able to pass round 1 with can change quite a lot in any overall strategy, especially for more restrictive game modes, so for this update we have made an effort to open up new starter combinations with improvements to a number of initial placement towers.

Tower Balance

Dart Monkey
While we have been working to increase this niche with many new maps, Juggernaut’s functions sub-optimally for the majority of current maps in the game as the knockback doesn’t scale well without good rebound opportunities; to help with this we’re increasing their knockback force slightly with even more emphasis on the less-favored crosspath. We are slightly reducing the cost of Super Monkey Fan Club to overall improve the value of taking multiple to maintain higher uptime
Boomerang Monkey
Boomerang base price is being slightly reduced, already a decent start in many cases though this seemed enough to make slight game start changes and price it differently to other towers. The main attack for MOAB Domination has been scaled up as overall it is a good upgrade but the pierce on this main attack was previously unchanged from the T3. Glaive Lord’s main thrown attacks will now be able to bounce back again and hit the same target multiple times, this can be a very powerful effect so there is a cooldown on how frequently any single Bloon can be re-targeted.
Bomb Shooter
Bloon Crush does its job locking down all movement in an area, but we feel it could see more damage to reduce the stall time without the balance really changing much. Bomb Blitz was recently refitted to a cheaper price range while proportionally keeping a similar power level for the cost, however seeing it now in this spot we feel keeping higher damage will give it the edge it needs to feel more impactful than spamming Recursives.
Tack Shooter
Tack is a very powerful base tower technically, but it is unable to achieve high uptime of that potential power in many early rounds, so some base cost is moving into the cheaper xx1 and xx2 upgrades to make it easier for other towers to start alongside the tack. Additionally, while we’ve held out on this change as there are strong use cases in prior upgrades, Blade Maelstrom lacks the single target punch to last late in Modern Bloons. While it is designed as a high pierce cleanup of low tier Bloons we want to try shifting some pierce to single target damage to feel good for longer.
Glue Gunner
Increased duration has limited use on upgrades that completely destroy targets anyway, so a better crosspath benefit is being added onto 401 glue puddles. Bloon Solver’s pierce is being reduced as it is over-overkill for how many Bloons you realistically see at once, but this reduction should not be noticed for most players. Glue Splatter stands out as weirdly expensive for T2, and is rarely even needed so we’re significantly cutting its price to bring it down to a more affordable range with less pierce, we hope this should make it more worth considering for splatter coverage over piercing. Now that Glue Storm is extremely good for damage type & debuff support we’re removing the bonus speed reduction that should otherwise require xx2 crosspath and lowering the duration of the Glue Storm. New Relentless Glue finally offers something quite powerful so cost is slightly increasing.
Sniper Monkey
Lower tier Shrapnel crosspathing balance doesn’t feel great currently, so the damage crosspath benefits at T1 & T2 are improving. Even with the high damage per shot, Cripple MOAB still has low value outside of debuff capability, we feel that these shots pack enough of a punch now that they should do a little collateral damage - so lets do it! (we’ve also increased shrapnel pierce at this tier to not tip crosspath balance too far to one side).
Monkey Sub
Bloontonium Reactor’s unsubmerged damage is increasing to encourage unsubmerged possibilities. The bonus to Lead on Reactor currently doesn't apply to T5, so this bonus is being carried up and improved along with a small price reduction to Energizer as strategies using it have fallen somewhat in viability. Nautic Siege Core’s hero buff is being improved as currently this is an under-utilized part of the tower.
Monkey Buccaneer
While buccaneer is technically already a very good starter tower for maps that happen to have ideal spots allowing it to attack in both directions we feel this situation isn’t common enough that the tower should be priced around that expectation - this reduced cost is added back to top and bottom T3 upgrades as they do not need the buff. As the paragon has exceptionally powerful scaling mechanics as well as being a paragon that continues to produce cash the XP Unlock requirement is increasing, this increase will not affect players who have already unlocked it.
Monkey Ace
Minor catchup changes to some parts have fallen out of line slightly due to balance changes for other parts of the Ace.
Ace - Goliath Doomship
A lot of stats shuffled around here; this should keep the power level roughly similar overall but with proportionally more of that power coming from the seeking attacks, and less from micro aiming the faster firing frontal gun.
Heli Pilot
Overall Comanche cleanup and stats shuffle; with the goal of improving baseline non-buffed performance and making it less demanding of Geraldo’s Pickle for high damage.
Mortar Monkey
Artillery Battery use has really exploded (!) and over the past few updates it has been sitting fairly steady in a great spot, the current power level feels good but we don’t want to create too big of a gap from the T3 yet so only a very slight cost increase. Blooncineration’s 025 crosspath currently works so much better with external buffs so we're tweaking the 205 crosspath to feel better in some situations.
Wizard Monkey
Wizard has a weaker base tower so the base cost is going down in exchange for a small price increase to the cost to value ratio for the effective Arcane Mastery. As Fireball becomes very forgotten at higher tiers and is hard to even see at Dragon’s Breath, we’re improving the crosspath and adding even more projectiles at T3 for wider explosive coverage. As Shimmer is the slowest de-camo in the game it is important that it not miss when it does trigger, so pierce is greatly increased. Wizard Lord Phoenix’s Wall of Fire hasn’t had any meaningful upgrade progression, so its damage is being increased. Magus is one of the more in-depth Paragons to use effectively so having it as one of the cheapest to unlock didn't feel right, the unlock XP requirements for this and Ninja are being swapped around.
Super Monkey
Super Monkey projectiles already travel most the map length so that total distance is being reduced and adding back via the range-focused middle crosspath. The recent Robo/Tech Terror nerfs had a larger impact on the Anti-Bloon, so it is seeing a larger compensatory price reduction. Legend of the Night’s special passive ability is being failsafe limited to 2 activations per round, per tower.
Ninja Monkey
While a great early game option, Ninja generally struggles with dominant crosspathing choices and also has relatively poor base tower value. Without going into every single change, T3s onward remain relatively unchanged with a lot of prices below T3 being moved around from less favorable crosspaths into bettehigher tier upgrades. Ninja Paragon is very simple to use so unlock XP requirements for this and Wizard Paragon are swapping around so Ninja is the faster unlock. This increase will not affect players who have already unlocked it.
Druid
Passive life generation is being removed in favor of the active ability being the only source of life generation, this allows druid-focus strategies to no longer ‘accidentally’ heal their Vengeance buffs away. Heart of Vengeance itself has been allowed to remain overpowered for a long time since life loss is not always an option in different challenges/modes, but with newer competitive modes being added over time that do allow for this mechanic to be, overindulged, shall we say, it feels due for substantial rebalance.
Banana Farm
Monkey Wall Street’s cost is being increased, but in return its special bonuses have been improved with more life generation and much more range for Banana collection.
Spike Factory
Spike Storm is now exceptionally strong so the ability cooldown is increasing a small amount along with the T5 cost. This comes along with a crosspath rebalance granting more 042 lifespan. Long Life Spikes can start creating a nice buildup of spikes in advance but most of the time feels fairly meh as a stepping stone into Deadly Spikes, a little price here is being shifted up to improve standalone upgrade value.
Monkey Village
Primary Expertise’s own attack is unreliable due partly to low bounce distance, so this is being increased. Base level Monkeyopolis continues to over perform, so the baseline cash generation is reducing.
Engineer
While better than many options, base Engineer still takes a lot of available starting cash so the cost is reduced slightly and being moved back up into Cleansing Foam & Bloontrap; also with a reduction to Double Gun’s price to reflect the lower value of the base tower. Sentry placements are slightly changing to improve their reliability, and will now spawn closer to the track depending on how much range the sentry has. Sentry Champion, while strong with them, is lacking without high buff support so we’re trying out an increase to the sentry damage on it.
Beast Handler
In going over our large list of price changes for Beast Handler’s lower tiers in 42 this change was received very positively, however we did not realize that in making this change we killed off all chance of dual-beast handlers being used as a round 1 starting option for under $650 in hard modes – So we gotta do that math all over again and convert it for difficulty, painful 😀 All T1 beast prices changed to allow 110 & 101 beast handler combos to be placed for under $650 in hard mode, all T2 & T3 prices shifted around to keep these same cost ratios.
Orca is very strong currently but Great White doesn’t do so much outside of max merge MOAB Takedowns, so damage is increasing to improve these non-maxed situations.
Similar to Sentries, Beast spawn placement will now scale closer to the track based on how much range the beast has.
Golden Eagle has stood out more than Condor against MOABs which has felt very wrong, last update it was nerfed against MOABs and now we are playing with the pierce & penalties to improve Golden Eagle further against non-MOAB-Class targets and for Condor more help with lower MOABs.
We’re slightly reducing beast reposition cooldown as the tiny range leaves movement very tight, which is especially painful for Microraptor path given the low range.

Hero Balance

Quincy
Quincy’s Rapid Shot starts with an extremely short duration that slowly increases over levels, the difference between min and max is huge but it doesn’t feel too impactfully increased at any point through the leveling up process, so we are increasing the base duration and instead moving the buff up to max duration all into his Lv13 which currently doesn’t do much.
Gwendolin
Gwendolin’s Heat it Up was recently reworked to allow for much more frequent triggering from attacks, however the 4.5s internal cooldown still limits it from being scaled up far so that internal cooldown is now also being reduced. Additionally, Heat it Up’s bonus buff to damage against Lead targets has been improved slightly so we can get more out of that niche.
Obyn Greenfoot
Obyn isn’t necessarily the best support for every type of Druid to reach its highest DPS, but with his more easy reliable design it feels appropriate for him to solve Druid’s biggest weaknesses in a more laid back approach with:
Benjamin
Benjamin’s Cyber Security and Skimming levels have been swapped around so that the early game skimming cash snowball doesn’t come quite so soon, and Cyber Security can come in earlier where it will make a bigger impact proportionally to the lives being lost.
Admiral Brickell
We’ll probably regret this, but the nerf made people very sad, and that is not a life goal 😢
Etienne
Etienne's drones are prone to missing due to very low projectile speed, this speed is increasing a fair amount to help with this as drones already have an inability to directionally aim well.
Psi
Purple Popping is underwhelming with how late it comes online, so this is swapping around with level 11’s slightly faster pop speed.
Geraldo
Geraldo has been far too powerful for a while and all-round nerfs are coming to many outstanding aspects, however in return a little quality of life is coming with some more forgiving stock capacities and much more flexible Fertilizer; with the % benefit being reduced in return for improved replenish rate, maximum stock and the ability to now work on all Banana Farm types.
Corvus
As Corvus’s power is still considerably top-heavy the mid game performance is being improved with buffs to underused spells, but also top-end power of his 2 most powerful level 20 spells is being reduced to lessen the pressure to ‘need’ to get this far.
Relics
Minor tweaks to Heartless which feels it has no competitive edge over most other Relics & Monkey Boost which overperforms on all available tiles.
Some Relics required more functional changes. As more range is situational and sometimes detrimental Going the Distance has been merged with Durable Shots to also grant increased Lifespan, Durable Shots now instead increases the pierce of all towers. As ‘Popping White Bloons’ is also far too situational Deep Heat now also grants Frozen Bloon popping and improves the duration of Freezes.
Boss Bloons
Bloonarius
This is really just for fun, bringing increased variety of Bleed Bloons from higher tier Bloonarius
Dreadbloon
Rock Bloons in the higher tiers of Normal Dreadbloon are very outscaled, and so their health values are being increased.
Phayze
In Elite mode Phayze’s speed bonus while shielded is being reduced by 5% across the board as it felt just a little too quick.
submitted by rohan_spibo to btd6 [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 02:31 expiredlunchmeat I don't like the Star-Spangled Banner or National Anthems in general.

I'm not anti-American, I do love my country, I just don't like the song, and every tradition surrounding it. Why do I have to stand up? Why do I have to take off my hat? How is a hat disrespectful? Why do people put their hand on the upper-left part of their chest? Your heart is in the middle of your chest. Not even mentioning if you go to a game with a Canadian team you have to listen to their anthem as well. And it's only in sports. Where else do you hear it? Nowhere, that's where. I had to learn the song as a kid so I know it has 4 verses, but most people only know or hear the first verse. I just don't like it.
submitted by expiredlunchmeat to unpopularopinion [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 02:17 ack1308 [OC] Walker (Part 16: Exfiltration)

Exfiltration

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
[First] [Previous] [Next]
Mik
“Papa Juliet calling Mike Whiskey. I’m in. Guy says she’s in room one-zero-three-eight, do you copy?”
“I copy one zero three eight,” Mik replied quietly. She looked up at the room numbers and noted that she was at least on the correct floor. “Going there now, over.”
It was a good thing that even evil corporate secret facilities had their safety procedures. As she jogged along the corridor in what she thought was the right direction, she spotted an evacuation map of the facility, complete with room numbers. Studying the plan for a moment, she traced out a path, memorised it, then took off running.
Although people fresh from Earth often complained how hard it was to maintain a good running speed on Mars due to lack of traction, Mik had no such problems indoors. The floors weren’t the best for cornering on, but she saw no issue in running halfway up the wall to kick off in the direction she wanted to go. Her enhanced vestibular systems aided considerably in keeping her balance, no matter where her feet were placed at the time.
Now that she knew where she was going, she reached the corridor that she needed in less than a minute. But then she encountered something that wasn’t a barrier as such, but certainly caused her to think twice about what was going on.
At first glance, there was little to worry about. What she’d found was an airlock of a make and model ubiquitous to half the buildings on Mars. Given that the outside atmosphere of Mars could only be survived by one person currently on the surface of the planet, the presence of an airlock would normally have been easy to explain away as an essential safety precaution.
What gave Mik pause was the fact that the airlock was inside the building, and in fact was between her and the person she was here to rescue. This made her ask herself a very specific question:
Which side of this airlock is expected to be depressurised, and why?
There was only one logical answer, and it did nothing for her peace of mind. If she was reading the signs correctly, the person behind Dani’s abduction and subsequent imprisonment was willing to set up a lethal situation for their captive, as a last-ditch screw-you to Mik. They probably wouldn’t kill her immediately, but if Mik tried to get her out, it would go from zero to fatal in very little time indeed. And in fact, if the airlock was code-locked on the other side, it would also serve to lock Mik into the area, allowing Cyberon to simply walk in and scoop her up at their leisure.
If I keep going, I’ll be trapped and she dies no matter what. Cyberon security’s probably on the way, so Pete might not be able to get us both out in time. If we pull back, they might decide she’s no use as bait, and kill her anyway. Bad end, do not want.
Okay, so I’ve seen the trap. How do I turn it around?
*****
Dani
The cell was cold, the floor hard to sleep on, and the ration bars they’d been feeding her tasted like salted sawdust, but that wasn’t the worst part. Dani had been uncomfortable before; some of the places her father had worked had lacked many civilised creature comforts. But she’d had friendly company and she’d been able to keep track of what was going on in the larger world.
Here, she had neither.
She wasn’t sure if it was deliberate torture or just a total lack of caring about her wellbeing, but the lighting outside the Perspex panel that fronted her cell never varied. Neither dim nor overbright, it was just constant. They’d taken her watch at the same time as they’d sequestered the rest of her belongings and shoved her into an anonymous coverall, so she had no way of keeping track of time, except by way of her biological rhythms and the delivery of the food rations (which in itself was worryingly irregular, like they kept forgetting that she needed to eat).
Even the Suit, as she called him (she didn’t have a name for him, but she had a huge number of highly unflattering descriptors for him) hadn’t shown up in some time. At first, she’d been able to mark off the days in her mind by his visits, either gloating over how Mik was going to walk straight into his trap or attempting to interrogate her about Mik’s habits and potential actions. She’d done her best to give him no joy either way, which in hindsight was possibly a mistake, as he didn’t visit at all these days.
All she got was a guy walking past the cell every few hours and glancing in to make sure she hadn’t miraculously dismantled the lock and spirited herself out of the building. They didn’t talk to her, even when she called out and tried to open lines of communication. She knew they could hear her, but their faces just closed off and they walked on.
It had been days, maybe weeks, she was sure of that much. A month, even two? She couldn’t be sure. A couple of times she dreamed she’d been rescued, that the wall of the cell had just opened up and she’d walked out; the emotional crashes, when she woke and discovered the reality of the situation, had been devastating. Pretty soon, she figured, she’d be hallucinating even when she was awake, and it just wouldn’t matter anymore.
So, when she saw Mik herself step into view in front of the cell, wearing her usual t-shirt and jeans and heavy boots, along with a badass-looking long-coat, she didn’t even react at first. Either it was someone else and her eyes were playing tricks on her, or she was asleep and dreaming the whole thing, or her mind had finally cracked. Didn’t matter; Mik wasn’t there.
She waited for the apparition of her friend to morph into one of the guards or to evaporate altogether, or maybe rip the door off its runners, but none of that happened. Instead, Mik examined the lock and frowned. Then she pulled out a notebook and pencil—pens had a really hard time working in vacuum, so Mik always went old-school when it came to passing notes—and scribbled something.
Dani had never been able to read a damn thing in a dream. The words and letters always came jumbled up, probably because reading was a logical thing and dreams were by their nature illogical. So, she was fully prepared for whatever the note showed to be pure gibberish.
Instead, to her surprise, it was totally readable. NO AIR OUT HERE. NEED U TO PREP FOR DECOMPRESS, CLOSE EYES. WILL OPEN DOOR, GET U OUT. DO U TRUST ME?
She read it through several times, trying to make sense of it. Mik was still standing there, waiting, though she’d glanced from side to side a couple of times. The writing on the notepad was holding steady, not changing to something else.
Is this real? Is this actually happening?
Tears sprang to her eyes as she first began to allow herself to consider the concept. She tried to keep herself under control; every other time she’d believed she was getting out, her expectations had been cruelly dashed. But she could read the note. She could read the note.
Climbing painfully to her feet—there was little chance for exercise in the cell, and the nutrient bars didn’t leave her with much in the way of excess energy—she went over to the Perspex panel that served as a door. “Are you real?” she asked, putting her hand on the panel. “Are you really there?”
Mik nodded, then flipped a page and scribbled some more. IM REAL. IM GETTING U OUT OF THERE. DO U TRUST ME? Then she tore the page from the pad and dropped it.
Instead of fluttering lazily to the ground—under Martian gravity, it always took even longer than it did on Earth—it fell straight down, at the standard three point seven one metres per second per second.
Okay, that’s not something a hallucination would bring up. There’s only Martian air pressure out there. She’d had dreams of walking unprotected on the surface of Mars. The human brain couldn’t create the consequences of low air pressure out of whole cloth. That was a leap of logic that it couldn’t make.
Dani took a deep breath and nodded. “I trust you,” she said, aware that Mik was practised at reading lips. “I just don’t know how long I can go without air.” Attempting to hold one’s breath in vacuum or near-vacuum, she knew, was a recipe for ruptured lungs. “Should I hyperventilate?”
Instead of writing more notes, Mik made the hand gesture for ‘no time’, then pointed at her first note. Dani nodded, then stepped back. Closing her eyes, she opened her mouth, working her jaw to allow her ear canals to connect to her sinus cavities.
She heard it when the door began to open, the thin high screech of escaping air, deepening to a rumble as the air pressure dropped. Her ears popped, then popped again as she kept working her jaw. Air flowed out of her lungs, then an involuntary belch joined it.
Her skin prickled and her eyes were uncomfortable behind her tightly closed eyelids, but she didn’t dare open them. Micro-pressure did nasty things to exposed eyeballs; they didn’t pop (that was something even the stupidest of space dramas didn’t do anymore), but the sheen of tears on the exterior surface had been known to freeze or evaporate, neither of which was good for the eye.
Pressure was building unpleasantly in her gut, and she did her best to relax her sphincters. Another burp was followed by a small frrrt, and she silently blessed the fact that the nutrient bars were designed for vacuum workers, who didn’t want to share their EVA suits with abdominal gases.
And then a mouthpiece was pressed over her face, and air flowed into her lungs. Reaching up, she grabbed the pony bottle, amazed that she’d actually forgotten how Mik carried it everywhere. Once she had it, Mik let go and grabbed her arm, urging her forward.
Under the guidance of her friend, she stumbled out of the cell then turned left. They moved as fast as she was able, though she had to keep her eyes closed. How Mik had even gotten there, and what the plan was to get her out, she wasn’t sure, but she trusted Mik implicitly.
They went down the length of one corridor and then another one, much farther than she would’ve been able to go with her eyes closed and no air. Alone, she would’ve stumbled aimlessly until she died. Then they entered what she figured was an airlock, the supposition borne out when a door closed behind them and the air pressure started rising again.
When she felt it was safe, she opened her eyes and handed the pony bottle back to Mik. “Th-thanks,” she rasped, her voice rusty from disuse. “You came back. I didn’t know if you would.”
“It’s been a month, let me tell you,” Mik said lightly. “I had to get reinforcements, but here I am.”
Something clanked at floor level, and Dani looked down to see that Mik had just knocked over a bucket. “Okay,” she asked. “What’s a bucket doing in an airlock?”
“Holding the inner door open so nobody can remotely shut it behind me,” Mik explained. The other airlock door opened, and she stepped out. “C’mon, we’ve got places to be.”
Dani followed along. Her joints still felt creaky and stiff, but she was damned if she was going to slow Mik down now. “Where’d you go for reinforcements? Tharsis? Wouldn’t they just send stern memos to Cyberon or something?”
“Yeah, that’s why I didn’t go to them.” As Mik and Dani turned a corner, Dani saw two of the guards on the ground, along with a third one in an EVA suit, and a fourth person in an EVA suit standing over them with a metal bar in his hand. “Hey, we’re ready to suit up and go.”
The standing man flipped up his faceplate. “Good. The suit’s just outside. I’ll keep watching these clowns while you go get it.”
“On it.” Mik tipped Dani a wink, then ducked out through the airlock. A moment later, she was back, bringing a suit in Dani’s size.
“I was wondering how you were going to get me out of here.” Dani didn’t waste time, starting to haul on the suit even as she addressed Mik. She didn’t know the guy, but if Mik trusted him, she was willing to as well.
“It was either this or terraform the whole planet so you could just walk out normally, and terraforming was taking too long.” Mik eyed the guards unfavourably. “How badly were these assholes treating you?”
“They didn’t hit me or anything,” Dani said. “Just fed me and watched me. It was their boss who said all the nasty stuff about how you were gonna fall in his trap.”
“Mm.” Mik looked like she didn’t want to drop the matter, but the guy put his hand on her shoulder and she subsided. “Okay, then. Ready to go?”
“Nearly.” Dani locked her helmet in place, then triggered the oxygen flow. The telltales showed up green, so she nodded and gave the thumb-to-forefinger all-good gesture.
The guy with Mik flipped down his faceplate, and all three of them stepped into the airlock. It was a tight squeeze but Mik was skinny, and Dani didn’t take up much room even in a suit. “We’re going to have to move fast,” the guy said over her radio. “I have a feeling Cyberon security is incoming with everything they’ve got.”
“Yeah, no crap.” That was definitely Mik. “Just by the way: Pete, meet Dani; Dani, meet Pete.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Pete added. “Lieutenant Pete Janssen, Orbital Rescue, at your service.”
Even while Dani was trying to figure out what an Orbital Rescue pilot was doing on the surface of Mars, the airlock opened and they hustled out. The surrounding terrain was the very opposite of flat, and Dani had no idea which way to go. And then Mik’s eyes opened wide and she turned her head, looking up into the sky.
“Lander,” she said. “I can hear it coming in.”
Dani had very little experience with matters like this, but she had an idea what was coming next anyway. “They’ll be bringing in ground troops, won’t they? Looking for us?”
“Got it in one.” Mik started off into the rocks. “We have to get to the ’hopper before they catch up with us.”
“Copy that, princess.” Pete hooked one arm under Dani’s. “Let’s get moving.”
Dani had thought the nightmare was over but as she discovered, it was just beginning. Even with Pete and Mik helping her up and over the obstacles in their way, she quickly ran out of energy. Fear-generated adrenaline was well and good, but it had its limits, and her arms and legs were soon powerless noodles.
“Leave me,” she begged. “They’ll catch you, and this’ll all be for nothing.”
“And if we leave you, it’ll also be for nothing,” Mik told her grimly. “I had to do it once. It’s not happening a second time.”
“Take her,” Pete said. “I’ll go and draw them off. Even if they catch me—”
Mik cut him off. “If they can’t use you to get us back, they’ll kill you. You take her, you’re stronger than me. If they’ve got guns, which I’m pretty sure they do, they’re less likely to shoot at me than you. I’ll meet you at the ’hopper.”
Not giving Pete the option to argue, she let go Dani’s arm and vanished into the chaotic terrain.
“Wait—” began Pete, then swore. “Dammit! Okay fine, she’s not giving us a choice. Let’s get you to the ’hopper.”
As they moved off, Dani had to ask the question. “Why did you call her princess, earlier?”
“Well, she’d just told us her story, and I made a joke …”
*****
Mik
The security troopers were good at moving in EVA suits, and they definitely had guns. There were also a lot of them, which was going to make this tricky as hell. Still, Mik had a few advantages on her side, some of which they hopefully didn’t know about.
She peered around a rocky outcrop at a bunch of them, who were conferring over some kind of digital map. If they wanted to use that thing to make any kind of straight path through this labyrinth of Martian terrain, they had to be dreaming. The trouble was, if they just pushed forward en masse, they could comb every last hiding place, no matter how tricky she was. Which was why she had to pull them away from the ‘logical thinking’ mindset and into the ‘chase me’ mindset.
Picking up a friable-looking rock, she stepped into view, then hurled her missile directly at the faceplate of one of the troopers facing her. It burst on impact, leaving a cloud of dust behind. Before they could bring their guns to bear, she ducked out of sight again, heading down a twisting, turning alleyway of rock. Her natural agility and balance made up for the uneven footing, allowing her to move much faster than the troopers behind her.
The call would be going out now, converging every security trooper in the area on that spot. This included any of them that might’ve been on course to discover the rille where she and Pete had hidden the rock-hopper. If they were chasing her, they weren’t going after anyone else.
She paused after a minute or so of movement, listening hard and with her hands on the rocks on either side. Sound didn’t travel well in this atmosphere, though her ears were attuned to pick up what little there was. Vibrations through the ground were sometimes more useful, and she fancied she could feel the security troops coming her way, just as much as she could hear the scuffing and stumbling among the chaotically tumbled boulders.
The next time she nailed someone in the faceplate with a rock, one of the troopers shot at her. It didn’t come close enough to worry her, though the whole experience of being shot at in general was a new and unpleasant one. She got her target, though, dusting the man plus his comrades with the ever-present fines. The fewer of her pursuers who could see properly, the better.
And then Pete’s voice crackled in her mastoid earpiece. “We’re at the ’hopper. Want a pickup?”
“No, don’t,” she replied, talking quietly into the mouthpiece even though she knew the troopers couldn’t hear her. “They’ll shoot you out of the sky. Hold tight, I’m coming to you.”
A dozen troopers looked around in surprise as she jumped out of concealment almost within arm’s reach. She was holding two large rocks that she’d selected carefully, each one with the consistency of chalk. Both left her hands even before her feet hit the ground; not aimed at the troopers, they instead hit the rocks on either side. A great cloud of fines billowed over all of the troopers, but she wasn’t waiting around for it to dissipate.
There was a nice straight pathway for her to retreat down, but she didn’t take it. Instead, she ducked into the first niche she found that was barely large enough to take her, and flipped up the hood of the long-coat so that it covered her head. Thus concealed, facing the rock and holding still, she hopefully looked like part of the landscape.
She both heard and felt the rush of booted feet behind her; yelling inside their helmets so loudly that she heard that too. Thirty seconds ticked by in her head, and there were no stragglers following along. Cautiously, she peered out from behind the coat. She was alone.
By now there would be enough troopers spread through the chaotic terrain for false sightings to be happening on the regular, and in fact she heard a few random shots here and there which bore out that idea. But that wasn’t her problem, so she slipped unseen through the dragnet until she came to the rille. Jumping from foothold to foothold, she descended to where Pete and Dani were just getting settled on the rock-hopper.
“Oh, good,” Pete said. “You’re here. I was starting to worry.”
“Can we go now?” asked Dani plaintively. “I just want to get out of here.”
“We can,” Mik confirmed, scrambling up onto the rock-hopper and strapping herself into the middle seat, which had been installed by the crusty McPherson. She flicked the wake-up switch on the flight control computer (also supplied by McPherson), then activated the controls and lit off the attitude rockets. Slowly, then with more power as she fed fuel to the main rocket, the rock-hopper climbed into the air.
“Straight back up to the ship?” asked Pete hopefully.
“Not quite,” Mik said. “They’ve almost certainly got ships up there that can shoot us down if they see us coming up out of their area of interest, so we’re going to have to stay low for the moment until we get out from under their umbrella. Our best chance for doing that is to leave their turf altogether.”
Angling the rock-hopper eastward, she applied more thrust, and they shot away across the tumbled landscape.
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[A/N: And we’re coming to a head. The next chapter or two should see the end of this run of the adventures of Mik Wallace, Martian Walker. That’s not to say it’ll be the end of the story, but it’ll be the end of the origin story.]
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2024.05.29 01:59 CobaltAzurean The World, the Flesh, and the Devil Pt1, Ch4.0: The Devil Is In The Details

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil Pt1, Ch4.0: The Devil Is In The Details
Deimos - Necralisk
Deimos, home of the famed Entratri family, heirs to the legacy of Albrecht himself, was slowly being consumed . The original Orokin structure, called the Necralisk, had long since become unrecognizable from the exterior due to the overwhelming Infested growth, also known as the Grey Strain, slowly and inexorably encompassing all before it on the small planetoid that lazily orbited Mars like a frozen cephalopod. As for the Entrati themselves, they were also losing the fight against the biological contamination that threatened to absorb them body, mind and soul. In fact, that was quite literally the reason why Wukong had taken upon the task before him; a possible means to defeat, or at least overcome, the effect of the Infestation upon the organic.
Wukong told Kahl-175 to stay close as an obfuscating mist fogged the senses of those around them as they passed through the vast halls and thoroughfares, although the mercurial monkey got the nagging and suspicious sense that the main caretaker bot, a machine with dual personalities of Loid and Chip, could somehow still detect him. Archaic script of the Orokin language shimmered as it was scrawled across broad swaths of the interior walls, the golden honeycomb textures left strangely unmarred with an almost kind of reverence.
After avoiding human, Tenno, Warframe, and the other members of the Entrati family in their respective alcoves, Wukong and Kahl-175 approached Kaelli’s area in the farthest room from the entrance, not including the lower levels of the laboratories dedicated to Void research, the obscuring cloud that surrounded the pair expanding outward to envelope the daughter of the famed family. The Infested ensconcement which rooted the youngest Entrati in place had the appearance of a closed flower bulb, which splayed open to reveal the earnest biologist, small reading glasses perched on her blue-skinned nose, which she pushed up with her elongated left arm, typical of the Orokin people. She did not appear to be pleased.
“Kahl! Where have you been? You disappeared days ago after asking me where the latest Archon sighting was, so I began to assume the worst had happened!”
Kahl-175 dropped his broad shoulders, mechanicals whirring, finding sudden interest in the condition of his boots, eyes downcast. “Kahl.. sorry. Was busy.”
“...Busy? You were busy? Too busy to use your comm?”
Kahl shook his head slowly, “No.. but yes.. hard to explain.” he stammered before looking sidelong to Wukong.
“My apologies. Kahl and I were extremely busy, and he really did want to contact you, but the work was vital and very relevant to why we’re here now.”
Kaelli swiveled her angry gaze to the space simian, ambient light reflecting and flashing across the facets of her glasses, and if he had wings, he would have felt the heat on them. “You, Ayatan? So either of you could have sent a message but-”
“Kaelli,” Wukong spoke in a sharp tone and his own eyes flickered fiery for a moment, prompting Kahl-175 to uncomfortably shift weight from one boot to the other, as the mercurial monkey was unused to being severely rebuked, especially considering their reason for being here. He paused to see if she was going to continue, however she took a deep breath before nodding for him to proceed. “What would you do if you weren’t constrained by your current condition? If you were cured of the Grey Strain?”
The Entrati Daughter’s eyes widened, clearly in disbelief, quickly darting to Kahl-175 standing beside the space simian before returning to Wukong. “Impossible! There is no cure. Trust me, we have tried.. and tried… and tried with zero success. So many samples, so many trial and errors, nothing.” she said with a heavy sigh.
Wukong nodded slowly, “Perhaps that’s because you’ve been fighting in the wrong arena. Kahl, the blade.”
The grizzled warrior reached down to a side-pocket of his military fatigues and withdrew a small hilt, like that belonging to a sword or dagger, except no blade was attached. Kahl-175 flipped up U-shaped metal flanges on both sides of the hilt to form the crosspiece and reveal a slender, oblong crystalline grip. Once the crosspiece was fully extended, a quiet crackling sound like pieces of broken glass grinding together was heard as a five foot blade quite literally grew quickly upward from the hilt.
The celestial chimp’s eyes never left Kaelli’s face as she watched in rapt wonder at the swift process. Before she could ask, Wukong said, “Do you know what this is?” and she simply shook her head, short and tidy dreadlocks swaying with the motion. “This,” as Kahl firmly and confidently held the weapon tip down, “is Vitrica. It was used by Nihil, who was the Executioner of the Orokin Council of Seven, to dispense of various, shall we say, unwholesome elements of their empire. It’s quite a wonder, actually, a relic of a bygone age discovered by the Orokin in places better left undisturbed, and they used it as a tool to dispense judgment and retribution. In short, they glassed their enemies and malcontents.They were so impressed with it’s effects on cowing the population that they later emulated it with their technology.”
Kaelli blinked her eyes rapidly, finally managing to tear her eyes away from the beautiful blade, “Are you suggesting that you glass me? What kind of cure is that, exactly?” she asked in an incredulous tone.
“That’s not the cure, merely the first step, to remove you from your biological contamination. Vitrica, yes, can simply glass someone. However, it also pulls their oro, their essence or soul, into the seriglass hilt when thrust into the body, creating an oroshard. That’s how Nihil ultimately created the Cephalons, but it was an imperfect process. They used technology to digitize that energy but it wasn’t able to fully replicate it. That’s why there is always damage to the psyche, memory loss, gaps.”
“How could you possibly know all this?”
“Nihil is imprisoned on my ship, a trinket on a shelf thanks to the efforts of Nora Night, with literally no one else to talk to. We’ve discussed a great many things in fact, most of which are not remotely relevant to this conversation. His masters no longer hold any sway over him, as they are long gone, nor could he ever wish for freedom without some form of leverage to bargain with. I wanted some very specific knowledge concerning Vitrica and oroshards that I could probably discover on my own through other avenues, but it would take time, which is something that you and your family do not possess an indefinite amount of.”
Kaelli, ever the scientist, hungered for details, eyes behind her glasses boring into Wukong. “What happens after I’m glassed?”
Wukong inclined his head in pragmatic appreciation, “To the point, yes. Kahl and I have been retrofitting Tyr Regor’s cloning research facility on Uranus to provide the oroshard an organic environment to prompt the growth of a new body of Orokin origin.”
“Where did you get the Orokin sample?”
“The Unum of Cetus. The Orokin towers such as her’s use a very basic organic material that we’ve rendered down into amino. We would place your oroshard into a container full of amino, where-”
“My oro would suffuse the amino and basically instruct it to build a body.”
Another nod. “Exactly so. The spark of life, as it were.”
“A surprisingly solid theory. I’m impressed, Ayatan.” “Thank you; however it is just that, a theory. As such, there is significant risk after you’ve been glassed and contained within the oroshard that the process could fail within the amino tank and you’ll remain as is.”
Kaelli pursed her violet lips, bringing her hand up to her chin, tapping on it with her index finger. “So, my options are either that if I remain here, I will eventually succumb to the Grey Strain and become a mindless monster. Or I risk getting glassed and stuck as a crystal but I could be cured.”
“Yes. I can say even if the amino process fails, I can use the containment environment for Nihil for you instead, so you would possess some degree of existence, albeit limited. At least you would not, in your words, be stuck as a crystal.”
“And you said you visited Nihil in this place?” her blue eyes once again darting to Kahl and back to Wukong behind her gold-rimmed glasses.
“Yes.”
“And what happens to my old body, it will be glassed and stay here? What about my family?”
The celestial chimp turned his head to the left, looking over his shoulder in the direction of Kermerros, her brother and the one responsible for bringing the Grey Strain within the Necralisk and infecting the Entrati family, before turning back to face Kaelli. “That is up to you. I’m not familiar with your sleep patterns, if you sleep or hibernate for extended cycles, but I would suggest retreating within your.. encapsulation before you are glassed. It will draw less attention, at least for enough time for us to make it back to the ship and leave, as I don’t think your family is going to appreciate the risk you are considering taking.”
The youngest child of the Entrati family looked down at what Wukong had called her ‘encapsulation’, which struck her as a cold and sterile term for what it truly was: the slow and eventual consumption of not just her body, but her mind as well. And considering it tapered off at just below her collarbone, it didn’t appear to give her much time left at all. The soft glow of her blue eyes snapped up to meet Kahl-175’s and she quietly whispered, “Will it hurt?”
Wukong simply said, “Yes.”
Kaelli, eyes full of emotion that began to overflow and spill down her blue-skinned cheeks, reached up with trembling hands to remove her glasses, holding them out to the space simian, who took them into his taloned grip with surprising gentleness. “I’m ready.” and slowly retracted into the sconce after a final look at the Grineer tubeman, his own chiseled features grim and set except for the slightest of trembles about his chin.
Wukong once again swiveled his head to the left, and once he had Kermerros in his outer peripheral vision, said aloud in a subdued tone, “To the hilt, Kahl. Until the light is drawn out and into the oroshard.”
With a deep breath, Kahl-175 took a hesitant step forward and drew back, paused for the briefest of moments before powerfully thrusting forward, burying Virtrica the entirety of the blade into what Wukong had defined as Kaelli’s encapsulation. The glass effect spread hungrily, like frost on a cold surface, quickly devouring the fleshy material that ensconced the youngest Entrati, her blood-curdling scream resulting from the consumption of her body barely contained by the Infested bulb and the effects of Wukong’s dampening cloud that permeating the immediate area.
A soft cerulean glow suffused the hilt of Vitrica before Kahl-175, eyes riveted to the grip, one organic and the other cybernetic, and with a sudden twist of his wrist, snapped the hilt of the blade off before clutched it tightly to his chest and looking at Wukong.
Without another word, the mercurial monkey put a taloned hand on Kahl-175’s shoulder and hastily retreated from the Necralisk to their Skaut craft before anyone realized what they had done.
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2024.05.29 01:50 Juzabro Forge of Darkness Chapter 10 Summary

Chapter 10
Location: On the Road to the Citadel
POV: Risp
Risp observes her Captain, Esthala, berate Esthala's husband, Silann. She is pissed that they attacked the Caravan. He tries to explain that one of the guards recognized them. She says that it doesn't matter if a dozen old soldiers are on a trail. He says it mattered to the Guard, but they are all taken care of. No survivors except the boy who ran off. She tells her husband to go find the child. He says there is no point, he'll be dead soon enough. No water or food. She tells him he should be easy to find then. Silann says he doesn't want to kill a child. Risp pipes in that she will lead a troop to find him if necessary. She mentions that SIlann's troop took a lot casualties and that they shouldn't have. Silann says the guards were veterans and one was Gripp Galas. He says he fell to a spear in his back and that firing the wagons was a mistake. Risp does not like the spouses bickering and thinks it gets in the way of their mission. She asks if Hish Tulla is in her keep. If so, she will likely investigate the smoke. Esthala says no. Esthala tells her to take 6 of her own troops and find the boy. If they encounter anyone from Tulla keep to escort them to the scene.
Risp longs for the day they will be in the citadel looking nobles in their faces. She thinks her and her sisters will be the personal staff under Osserc once he takes command of the Legion. The presence of Gripp Galas was unfortunate. He was a footman to Anomander before he retired. She asks Esthala what he could have possibly been doing guarding a caravan. Esthala asks Silann if he examined Gripp's body or gear. SIlann shakes his head and says the spear unhorsed him and his corpse rolled in a crevasse. Esthala asks if he went down and checked if he was actually dead. He said there was no need, he was covered in gore and the crevasse was bottomless. Risp asks, who's gore? Stating that he was stabbed in the back. She tells Silann to get her the soldier who stabbed him. She wants to know what type of armor he was wearing. Silann says the leader of the Caravan killed that soldier. Risp demands to see the spear. Esthala grabs it first and examines it. Says it might have been chain armor and if it severed the spine he was dead, if not he was just wounded. Silann yells that he fell down a crevasse. Risp asks, fell down or rolled down? She dispatches six more of her troops.
Location: Tulla Keep
POV: Sukul Ankhadu
Sukul summons Rancept, the keeps castellan, to the top of the High Tower and asks if he knows about the smoke. "Rancept, it was said, was the offspring of a drunken woman and a sadly sober boar". His face shows that he brawled a lot and his nose was broken and pushed back giving it the appearance of a pig's snout. He is rumored to be a 1000 years old, but looks older. Rancept says that Lady Hish told them to stay put. She said there is trouble coming. Sukul says, it's here and that the burning smells like hides. Sukul fears that it's Orfantal's caravan that has been attacked and wants to investigate. If it's bandits they need to know. Rancept says they aren't bandits. Sukul says she knows and insults him. She says she wants 15 houseblades and a fist of tracking dogs. He says she'll get one houseblade and Risp. She complains that he's supposed to protect her and he says he will. The one will be him. She questions his ability by saying he barely made it up the stairs. He says he's fine except for the nose she keeps trying not to look at. She says fine let's get a horse. He says they will be on foot.
Location: On the Road to the Citadel
POV: Orfantal
Orfantal is alone with no blanket or fire. He feels nothing like a hero. He still feels that he betrayed his horse. He wishes the bandits had cut him down instead of his horse dying. He is very cold and tired. He decides he is not afraid of the dark and closes his eyes. The cold begins to fade. He is jolted awake by a footfall on gravel nearby. A voice says, "there you are". Orfantal tries to run and falls over. The voice says, "Easy! It's me, old Gripp." Gripp touches his shoulder and feels that he is chilled to the bone. He says he has a camp close. Gripp says he wouldn't have lasted the night and what he did with his horse was a smart move because they would not follow him. He picks Orfantal up and takes him to his camp. Gripp has a wrenched knee and a wounded back, so it takes longer to bring him to camp. Gripp sets him down and puts a blanket over him, then proceeds to rub his skin hard. Orfantal pushes him and curls up in the blanket. Gripp says he can't sleep now. He has to wait until he's warm. Orfantal asks if they fought them off. Gripp replies no. Orfantal says heroes always get stabbed in the back. Gripp says not just heroes, then asks if Orfantal can sew. Orfantal says he's seen the maids doing it. Gripp says he needs some sewing in the morning. He also says he may not wake up and if he doesn't to follow the road East, but to stay off of it.
Gripp says they will be hunted. He tells him to take his story to Anomander. Orfantal asks if he killed anyone. Gripp says two on accident. Orfantal doesn't understand and Gripp says it's better to wound. If they have to take care of wounded they won't be as able to track them. Gripp tells him that Haral did well and bought Orfantal some time. Gripp says it took him a long time to get out of the crevasse. He saw what they did to Haral's body. Gripp says he has burned every face into his brain.
Location: Tulla Keep
POV: Sukul Ankhadu
At the gate of the keep Sukul says that Ribs is all bones. Rancept says he has a tapeworm and that skinny dogs live longer. Ribs is 12 and cross-eyed. Rancept took the sword and spear she brought leaving her only a dagger. They open the gate and Ribs goes out scouting ahead. Sukul is skeptical of his ability. Rancept says Ribs knows what we're about. Sukul asks, How? Rancept shrugs and says he goes on occasion with the dog. He goes to speak with the Deniers in the hills. Lady Hish wants no misunderstandings with them. Sukul says they are bandits, Rancept responds that it's a hard life and to think of it as a road tax. She says it's extortion. Rancept replies, "It's only extortion when someone else is doing it". Ribs is waiting in a clearing and as soon they get there, he takes off on a side trail. Rancept says we aren't taking the main path. He also says that Lady Hish has an arrangement with the Deniers. They keep a watch on the paths not patrolled by the Tulla tax collectors. He tells her they can't talk anymore as night carries voices. Sukul complains. Rancept says they can turn around. He tells her to look at Ribs who is sitting ahead. He says Ribs is telling them that there are strangers in the hills. She follows him quietly but is upset that there isn't more grandeur in this outing.
She was sure that Orfantal was lying dead somewhere ahead. Killed only to keep him silent. Lady Hish had hinted at trouble coming and she knew there were lawless people like her sisters. Her imagination of this night is not matching up with reality and she is tired and wants to stop. Daydreaming she bumps into Rancept. Before she can fall he grabs her and pulls her close. He tells her there are riders ahead and to ask no questions. She starts to speak, but he puts his hand over her mouth and says that they wait for Ribs.
Location: Outside Tulla Keep
POV: Risp
Risp and her 12 soldier party are using hidden trails made by the bandit Deniers. Now that the Hust Forge was paying well for minerals, most Deniers had given up banditry. Mining was more lucrative. She wonders why the Hust are making more weapons. She knew civil war was coming. Hunn Raal says it will be short. They will kill all that oppose them and then Urusander will marry Mother Dark. She covets command of the Wardens once they are folded into the Legion. She thinks Calat Hustain is only commanding them because he is noble and that he is mismanaging them. They come upon an abandoned denier settlement. One of her soldiers says the hills don't feel as empty as they should, and suggest 4 scouts. Risp agrees. They come to the sight of the fired wagons. The sergeant with the feeling points out the crevasse that Gripp went into and he tells her he thinks Gripp rolled. Risp says she will climb down with lanterns to check for Gripp's body.
Location: Outside Tulla Keep
POV: Sukul Ankhadu
Ribs comes back to them and indicates that the Riders are coming from the North and that they aren't bandits. Sukul asks if he knows that from the wagging tail. Rancept says, "That and the drooping left ear." They come to an abandoned village. Sukul asks if this is how Deniers live. Rancept says they used these huts, but that the huts have been here for 5000 years at least. He says about a dozen horses went through here going towards the ambush and that they can take a different trail to go opposite of it. Rancept goes to one of the huts and says there is a passageway. Ribs is a bit scared. Roots have grown across the portal and Sukul wonders how there are roots if there are no trees. Rancept says there is a tree just not in the way you are thinking. Sukul notices that she can see all the details of this place, but that there is no light source. That bothers her. As she gets further in the tunnel, she can't see anything. She comes to an opening and Rancept tells her to stop looking with her eyes. She doesn't know what he means. Rancept says, "This is Dog-Runner magic." She says it's impossible as Dog-Runners aren't this far east. Rancept responds by saying these weren't always Tiste lands. Sukul says Tiste were always here, but that it's not Rancept's fault that he doesn't know that. It's his lack of education. Rancept says, "Dog-Runner magic is all about fire, and earth. Dog-Runner magic fears the sky. Fire and earth, and tree and root. They’re gone from here because the forests are gone."
He says that Deniers have some Dog-Runner blood in them and that they are in a Dog-Runner temple and if she opens her sense she will see that. She asks why Ribs is so scared. Rancept says he has memories of the Ay. He takes her hand and says there is a Dog-Runner witch down here with them. Sukul is alarmed. He says the witch won't bother them, she might be dead, but he thinks she's just asleep. She gives up and asks him to tell her how to see. He says close your eyes. He tells her to picture the cavern and says there are hundreds of large wolf skulls. These are the Ay and they are the reason for the Dog-Runner name. She asks him to describe the witch. He says he thinks she was very powerful. There are offerings to her in the form of jewels and animal teeth. Much of her body has transformed into roots and branches. Her skin is like bark. All the roots they have encountered have come from her. She gasps and says, you cut through them. Rancept says in his ignorance he wounded her. He is very sad about it.
He says the Dog-Runners have heavy facial features, but laugh and cry with ease. They do not understand lying and, "To speak with a Dog-Runner, milady, is to be humbled and to feel blessed". Some Tiste didn't like that. She asks if he believes that she sleeps. He says he believes yes that she is the one. She questions the one. He says Dog-Runners believe that their greatest witch, the dreamer, stayed behind when they left to keep emptiness from the world. Sukul wonders if that is in opposition to Mother Dark. Rancept says that is beyond him. Sukul asks if Rancept is a Denier. He says he doesn't stand against Mother Dark. That's not really an answer, but she knows she shouldn't have asked anyway and apologizes. Rancept asks if she can see what he described. She says yes and, "We stand inside the cavern, like errant thoughts inside a skull." He grabs her hand and says those were not her own words. Sukul says they are in the witch's dream and she is trying to make sense of us. There is danger in this and Rancept says they must leave. She pulls her hand away as she can now see with her eyes closed. She asks if the witch has a name. Rancept says, "she is named Burn. She dreams so that we may live. All of us: Tiste, Dog-Runner, Jaghut, Thel Akai, even the Forulkan. She dreams, to give us our freedom." She asks if he had brought her anything. He says he would have to be a Denier to do that. She reaches for her bag. He tells her to be careful. She takes out a stone from the Dorssan Ryl. For her brother lost in the wars. He says this gesture must not be careless. She may bind Mother Dark to the Sleeping Goddess. He says if she has faith in Mother Dark it will bind them and also the Deniers will be bound to the Tiste.
She asks him why he brought her here. She wants the Truth. He says the Truth is that Tiste schooling is rubbish. She laughs at this. Rancept tells her to put the stone away. He says that burn is a Dog-Runner still and what greater gift could you give her than laughter. She has blessed Sukul. Rancept says she has healed the Sleeping Goddess with her laughter. Rancept is grateful. He says the roots no longer bleed. He takes her hand. They both know she no longer needs guidance, but they are friends now. Sukul says the Deniers need to know of that temple. Rancept says there's no need and that he admits he is a Denier, but doesn't like that word. He says that sharing her dreams he saw a river and that she dreams of it.
Location: Outside Tulla Keep
POV: Risp
Risp is climbing down the crevasse. She knew in her gut that Gripp's corpse wasn't down here. She finds his trail and follows it out. She sees that he is bleeding and has a bad knee. Risp's sergeant tells her he went after the boy from here and says they found a chest in the wagons with the Korlas crest. He says the child was likely a hostage on the way to the Citadel. That is the reason Gripp was here. The boy was to be Anomander's hostage. This is very troubling to Risp. Her sergeant now explains the loyalty and pride of house Korlas and she wonders about his loyalty. He says they have to find Gripp and the boy and make it right. Meaning they need to hang Silann. The boy being a hostage complicates the matter and her soldiers have a healthy fear of Anomander. Risp says she must tell Esthala about this change in plans and that Esthala will have to kill her husband, because he couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut. She thinks she'll have to kill this sergeant too.
Location: Outside Tulla Keep
POV: Sukul Ankhadu
Rancept tells Sukul that 3 riders had been dispatched from the party of Legion riders. He says they weren't part of the killing, but they are all Legion and they don't want to be seen. Ribs is curled up warming Sukul's toes and she now has fondness for the dog. Rancept says they will go to the scene and maybe Ribs can tell them something. Sukul says he's just a dog. Rancept responds, "Milady, he’s my dog." Sukul asks if he is a priest of the Deniers. He says there aren't any and Dog-Runners have witches and warlocks called Bonecasters. She asks if they throw bones. He says it's more like transforming bone to wood or bone to stone. He says they gave the Jheleck the gift of Soletaken. Sukul says she hopes that Lady Hish values him. If she doesn't she will steal him and ribs away. He says that's nice, but he will serve Hish until he dies. Something tells her of a deeper love than just a Castellan to his lady. Sukul asks if Ribs is just a dog. Not a Soletaken. Rancept says just a dog. If he was a Soletaken at some point, he forgot and is now just a dog.
Rancept surveys the scene and is more sure that it isn't bandits. Sukul says, "I will never be one for war" Rancept tells Sukul that the dead are just sacks of organs. Once they die, what makes them more is gone. It's best to think this way when confronted with slaughter. Sukul doesn't like this because if you can see animals and people as just sacks then it is much easier to tear them open. She asks Rancept if there is a smaller grave. He says the boy got away at least initially. She says she thinks they need to see if Orfantal is still alive. Rancept is surprised that a hostage would only have these caravan guards. Sukul says there may have been a reason for it. She asks if his nose can be healed. He says the best way is to break it again and he's tried it 6 times.
He goes to the cairns and counts them remembering that Sukul asked him to prepare food for seven people. He says someone else got away. He says ribs can track him, but they aren't equipped for more nights. He suggests that ribs goes on and they return. Sukul says he's just a dog. She says we should not take the road back to the hold. She doesn't want to meet the rider sent there by Risp. She asks if there are any more secret temples. He responds, "Nothing we’d call such, milady."
Location: Outside Tulla Keep
POV: Corporal Renth
Corporal Renth had been given orders from Hunn Raal that no violence was to take place. All plans were on hold. Renth didn't like Raal's plans and had thought about defecting to Anomander's houseblades. He didn't because of his loyalty to Urusander. Renth wasn't bothered by the slaughter or Deniers. They weren't Tiste to him and they worshipped old gods. The highborn were different. They were Tiste. His first group to relay orders to was Esthala. On the way he sees a muddy boy in the middle of his path. Renth asks him if he wants to get run down and tells him to move. The boy says, "I am named Orfantal,’ said the boy, ‘of the House Korlas, and I claim the right of protection.' Renth doubts this and sees a glitter in Orfantal's eyes before he feels a stabbing through his chain. Gripp pulls him off the horse and twists the knife as he pulls it out. He says, for Haral. Renth is confused, but dies.
Location: Outside Tulla Keep
POV: Orfantal
Orfantal is horrified when he sees Gripp spit into the dead man's face. They had seen the rider coming and needing a horse Gripp told him the plan. Orfantal thought they would steal the horse and then pay the man back eventually. Gripp grabs the horses reins and tells Orfantal they would ride to Kharkanas. After seeing the look on Orfantal's face. Gripp gruffly tells him that we are in a civil war now and that is the enemy. Gripp wants them to know it was him who killed Renth and that he was coming for them. He takes out a knife and cuts off the head, then carves his initials into it and tosses it in the middle of the road. Orfantal thinks, "All the heroes are dead. I am lost. We are all lost."
submitted by Juzabro to Malazan [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:49 nivthefox Alyssa's Tale, Ch. 1 and 2 (2nd Draft, Critique Wanted)

Chapter 1

Alyssa awoke with saltwater in her mouth and nose. She hacked and sputtered, only to realize she was sinking deeper into a pitch dark pool. She closed her eyes against the water's sting, and as her panic rose she flailed with arms and legs. She was desperate to regain bouyancy, even as she choked out the brine from her burning lungs. Determined, she broke to the surface again, gulping in air between ragged coughs as she fought to stay afloat.
Treading water, she opened her eyes and nothing changed. The darkness in the echoing chamber was complete, and she had to fight down another surge of panic as she took in the precariousness of her situation. The cold water sapped her strength, and her heart raced as a sudden scream of terror welled up from within.
Alyssa winced as her own scream echoed in her ears. She choked out the last of the salty water, then took a deep breath, trying to force herself to calm. "Okay, okay," she soothed herself, voice trembling slightly despite her efforts, "we're okay."
After another steadying breath, Alyssa began building a mental catalog of her situation. Her clothes were soaked through, but she wasn't finding treading water to be too difficult, yet; a future problem. Other than her lungs, nothing hurt, and those were recovering. She could still feel her toes and fingers on both hands, meaning no paralysis, that she could find. Nothing seemed to be seriously wrong, except that she had no idea how she'd come to be in a pitch dark echoing chamber filled with water.
Calmer, now, Alyssa tried to recall what she had been doing. The last thing she remembered was walking along the shoreline, feeling immensely lonely. The sound of the waves coming in, closer and closer, was still vivid in her mind. She could still remember the coarse feeling of the sand between her toes. The saltwater air had filled her lungs as she wondered how she could be in such a beautiful place, and still feel so sorry for herself. With a bitter laugh, Alyssa lolled her head back in the water and stared into the endless void. Well she certainly had reason to feel sorry for herself, now. Still, the memory of how she came to be here was distressingly absent.
Drip … Drip … Drop.
As her adrenaline faded, Alyssa could hear the slow, steady fall of water into the pool. Was the water level rising? She couldn't tell without knowing more about the chamber she was in. Determined to push back against her growing despair, Alyssa decided to explore her environment more thoroughly. A shiver coursed through her spine as she felt out to either side as far as her arms would go and couldn't find a wall, nor did she find purchase beneath her feet. After a moment of hesitation, Alyssa expanded her search. She swam forward, keeping her hands ahead of herself.
She didn't have to go far before she bumped into an uneven stone surface. Alyssa wasn't sure in the dark, but judging by the smoothness of the rock she guessed it was some kind of river stone. She followed the stone wall around for a ways before deciding it was curved inward. Pushing off, Alyssa turned and reached for the other side, then followed along the wall and repeated the crossing a few more times. She decided that the cavern was roughly circular, perhaps half again as wide as her armspan at its widest stretch, though without light she couldn't be certain she had ever crossed it straight. She considered her options as she clung to the side of the chamber.
Drip … Drip … Drop.
The steady sound was maddening in its repetition, and Alyssa let out a huff of annoyance. Thinking on it, though, she was sure the water had been steadily falling into the chamber the entire time she was here, and she didn't think the water level had risen. Not that she had any way to really know for certain, but if she was right, it implied there was some way for the water to get back out. Could she get out the same way? Taking a deep breath, Alyssa ducked beneath the surface and swam down. Her kicks were hindered by her sodden skirt, but following along the cavern wall as she descended, Alyssa felt the cavern floor after a depth of maybe twice her height. Ten feet wasn't even as deep as most home swimming pools.
Alyssa gulped down air as she returned to the surface, thinking hard about what she'd found. Another shiver coursed through her veins just before she dove down to explore the bottom further. Like the walls, it was uneven but smooth. She could feel some small cracks, and feel the water rushing past her fingers near one or two of these. That, then, was where the water was escaping to. Frustrated, she resurfaced one more and banged her fist against the stone wall. "Damnit." She knew she wouldn't be swimming her way out of here.
For the third time, Alyssa shivered, and she realised that she was starting to lose feeling in her toes. The water temperature wasn't frigid, but she could feel it sapping her strength. Was it ninety-six degrees for hypothermia? Ninety-five? She couldn't recall, but it wasn't important, without a thermometer. She was going to die, here, if she didn't find a way out, and soon.
Drip … Drip … Drop.
Straining, she tried to focus on the sounds around her once more. The incessant dripping of the cave was her only remaining hope of finding a way out, and she had no idea how to reach the ceiling. Alyssa squeezed her toes in an attempt to restore some feeling, while she thought about the problem. After a moment, she began exploring the cavern walls again, this time searching for something to stand on rather than just learning about her environment. After a few turns about the chamber, she found a small shelf just a few feet beneath the surface, large enough for her to put a single foot on.
She pushed herself up, trying to go slowly as she felt along the wall for anything to grip onto. She couldn't find purchase before her momentum carried her too far from the wall, but she did feel roughly how high the ceiling was just before she splashed back into the pool. "Yes!" she celebrated the small victory as she surfaced, fueling her hopes of an escape with that realization that she could probably wedge herself between the ceiling and the shelf if she was purposeful about it.
Returning to the wall, she tamped down on the urge to shiver again, then surged straight up, putting her hands above her to try and catch the ceiling. Water cascaded around her in a torrent, her water-logged clothing threatening to drag her back to the depths, but she held on until she was steady. Alyssa allowed herself a small smile for her success, though some part of her thought it felt more like a grimace, before she began feeling along the cavern ceiling with her hands. Like the rest of the chamber, the stone was smooth and uneven, but it had sharper protrusions here and there that might serve as handholds. Alyssa was reminded of the wall climb at the local mall. She'd never been great at it, despite her friends dragging her to try it every other weekend during high school.
As she continued exploring the ceiling, another involuntary shiver wracked her body, and she set her teeth against the growing chill. "I'm going to get out," she promised herself, just as her hand found open air where she'd expected stone. She nearly fell, but she caught herself and explored the edges of the hole. She couldn't even reach the entire thing from her perch! The ledge was rugged and sharp, and just barely far enough from the wall that she had to strain to reach it. She explored as far around the hole as she could, certain it was large enough for her to fit through. Excited, Alyssa grabbed onto the ledge with both hands and tried to pull herself up, but her grip wasn't solid enough. She immediately slipped back into the water with another splash.
Alyssa surfaced with a growl, feeling a surge of determination and stubbornness. Reclaiming her perch on the shelf, she pushed up to the roof of the chamber once more. This time she knew her target, so rather than wasting time and grip with exploration, she just focused on steadying herself, there. After a few breaths, she reached up to grab the ledge again, trying to find solid hand-holds.
As she swung out from the wall, her sodden skirt trailed through the water, weighing her down. She held on for longer this time, uttering a harsh noise as she strained to pull herself up. She managed to get her chin to her fingers before her grip failed her again, and the feeling of freefall sent her heart thrilling before she splashed into the cool water once more.
When she surfaced, Alyssa let out a frustrated growl. "I had it!" she admonished herself, before finding the ledge once more. A third time, her efforts were fouled and she fell into the water. In frustration, she peeled her skirt off her legs and abandoned it to the murky brine. With the drag gone, she had an easier time holding onto the ledge, and on her fourth attempt she nearly managed to pull herself all the way up before her arms gave out and she slipped back into the water with yet another scream of frustration.
She knew she was close, but she obviously wasn't going to make progress while her muscles were burning with fatigue. Floating on her back, Alyssa glared up into the darkness as her emotions swirled around her, threatening to drag her into despair. Hope and frustration warred within her, each trying to gain the upper hand. She clung onto the determination that she had almost made it, but as she dwelled on the problem above her, doubts began to surface. What if she couldn’t pull herself out? What if there wasn’t a way out above?
Anger surged through her at that thought, hot and fierce. She refused to accept that fate. Closing her eyes, she focused on the anger and used it as fuel for her resolve. She just needed a moment to catch her breath, relax her muscles, and try again. She was going to get out.
When she swung out for the fifth time, Alyssa’s fingers gripped tightly to the rock above. She pulled herself up into the black with a roar of determination and frustration. She got her chest over the lip, then reached one arm forward hastily in search of a better hold. She found purchase, then pulled a leg up and got one foot on the ledge. With a scream of exultation, she pushed herself the rest of the way out of the chamber and into the tunnels above.
With a feral noise of triumph, Alyssa slid onto the cool, damp stone of the tunnel, then rolled onto her back and lay gasping for air. Her muscles were twitching, and she was still cold, but she was no longer in the water, and that was a massive improvement, even if the dark and damp of the unknown was around her.
Alyssa wasn’t sure how long she lay there on the stone, but as her panting and muscle spasms gave way to shivering and goosebumps, she admitted to herself, “I have to move.” But it was hard to keep going; her body felt heavy and drained from the exertion of just climbing out of the chamber below, and she wasn’t even sure where to go next. With a groan, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, fighting the exhaustion and mounting sense of dread that threatened to claim her.
Carefully, she crawled forward on hands and knees, every movement an effort. She could feel the edge of the hole she’d just emerged from, but that was obviously a deadend. Instead, she pressed on, hunting for an alternative. The rough stone scraped against her palms and knees as she inched along, her progress painfully slow.
The cavern descended, and Alyssa's heart sank when her hand plunged into another pool of water. She pulled back, relieved that the bank was shallow enough she could easily get back out of this pool. Nevertheless, she paused to consider her options, then turned to explore in the opposite direction. After several minutes of fruitless searching, she realized that the water-filled passage was her only way forward.
Alyssa let out a heavy sigh of frustration as she lowered herself into the tepid water. She gritted her teeth as the cold crept back into her bones, but willed herself to keep moving. The tunnel continued its descent, and soon the ceiling plunged into the pool, forcing her to submerge if she wanted to continue. Alyssa hesitated, barely holding back her desperate tears. Swimming blindly through the flooded passage seemed like madness, but what choice did she have?
Taking a deep, gasping breath, Alyssa plunged beneath the surface and swam forward with powerful kicks of her legs. She kept one hand on the stone above and the other stretched out in front of her, searching for obstacles. As her lungs began to burn with the need for oxygen, panic threatened to overwhelm her. What if the tunnel never resurfaced? If she went much further, she was certain she would not be able to make it back. Still, she had no alternatives; no other way to proceed. So she swam forward into the unknown, gambling her life on an exit while desperately ignoring the growing panic in the back of her mind.
A subtle glow in the murky water caught Alyssa’s attention, and the tunnel veered sharply upward. Desperate for air, she kicked towards the light, discarding caution as she propelled herself forward and up with both arms and legs. Hope surged through her as she swam towards the surface.
When she emerged from the water, gasping and sputtering for air, Alyssa let out a cry of relief. Mushrooms! Glowing mushrooms filled the room, their glow dim but omnipresent. She marveled, letting out a delighted laugh at the sight of the water’s reflection erupting into a cascade of colors on the cavern ceiling. Alyssa took a deep breath, and although the air was musty and stale, it had a sharpness and movement to it that the previous chamber hadn’t. Where there were mushrooms there was life, and where there was wind there was an exit. For the first time in hours, Alyssa smiled, as she pulled herself out of the pool onto the bank.

Chapter 2

For the second time in several hours, Alyssa lay on the ground catching her breath and allowing her muscles to relax. The swim through the watery airlock–she couldn’t think of any other way to describe that tunnel–had been far more mentally taxing than the physical exertion of pulling herself up out of the first chamber. Nevertheless, it required a great deal of effort and she was exhausted.
As she lay on her back, Alyssa tried again to remember how she got here. She remembered vividly her walk on the beach, and then … water. There was nothing in between. She wasn't even sure how much time had passed, but judging by the way her stomach was starting to groan in protest, and by the fullness of her bladder, she was fairly sure it had been several hours. On the other hand, she could account for at least two of those since she found herself in the chamber, unless her estimate of time was very off.
Her deliberations were cut short by a small squeaking noise, not far away. Alyssa eased herself up and turned towards the noise. There in the field of mushrooms was a small white and brown mouse, cast in an eerie glow by the mushroom's bioluminescence. Alyssa watched in awe as the mouse nibbled on the mushrooms, waiting to see what would happen. She didn't know enough about mushrooms to judge their safety for herself, but if the mouse could eat them, she figured they were probably safe for her to try, as well. After all, weren't mice used for drug testing all the time?
The mouse seemed oblivious to Alyssa’s presence, and she held her breath as best she could while she counted the seconds, trying to decide how long she should wait before trusting the results. Hours, probably, if she was honest with herself. Just when she was about to give up on the idea, a sudden movement caught her eye. Beyond the mouse, swift as could be, a slithering figure stole towards the unsuspecting rodent. “No!” she called, and her hand found a rock. Hastily, she threw it towards the onrushing creature. The rock went wide, but the serpent’s stealth was spoiled, and the mouse quickly darted away from its assailant, deeper into the mushrooms.
The snake let out a hiss of annoyance, and Alyssa was briefly overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of immense displeasure. She wasn’t surprised the snake was annoyed, but the sheer vehemence she felt was almost as if sensing her own emotions. Its lunch foiled, the serpent turned and slithered away, leaving Alyssa and the mouse alone in the chamber once again.
Alyssa waited, still and quiet, as the chamber settled back into silence. She wondered whether the little mouse had escaped the field of mushrooms entirely, or if it was still here. But something told her to wait; a sense of hesitance and uncertainty that felt sourceless and yet compelling.
Eventually, her patience paid off, and the little mouse poked its head back out of the mushrooms, staring after the snake. It emitted a soft, hesitant noise, then furtively darted out of the field into the open. There, it paused to stare up at Alyssa, studying her with a raw curiosity that nearly overwhelmed Alyssa as much as the snake’s displeasure had. She also sensed gratitude from the little mouse, though how she knew that’s what it was feeling she could not say.
“Are you hurt?” she hazarded, as she leaned in towards the mouse. The little creature took a quick step back, and the curiosity was immediately replaced by uncertainty.
Alyssa straightened up to give the mouse space. The feeling of uncertainty slowly faded, and she tilted her head in curiosity. “Why can I sense what you're feeling?” she asked the mouse, though of course she knew it would not reply.
The mouse watched her for several more moments before taking a single daring step forward. Alyssa sat very still, and after another moment it took a few more steps towards her. Soon, it was near to her knee, its little nose twitching incessantly as it sniffed at her dampened skin.
“I’m afraid I don’t have any food on me,” Alyssa said, still not moving but to talk. The mouse sat back and stood up on its hind legs to peer up at her. Alyssa could sense its curiosity turn to acceptance, and then, before she could protest, the little mouse leapt up onto her leg. She gasped in startlement, surprised at the feel of its soft fur and the tickle of its little claws brushing against her bare skin.
When it reached her hip, the mouse scurried under her tee shirt, and Alyssa made a choking noise of displeasure as it crawled, with quick movements, up her back and out of the tattered collar. When it came to rest on her shoulder, Alyssa held her breath, not daring to move. She watched the mouse out of the side of her eye, and a sense of appreciation flooded into her perception. Slowly, she turned her head to see the mouse staring at her. With a twitch of its whiskers, the little creature poked its nose against her cheek, cool and damp, before turning to look at the mushrooms.
“You think they will be safe for me?” she asked quietly, as she turned to follow the mouse’s gaze. “But raw mushrooms …” she complained, with some disdain. The mouse touched its nose to her cheek once more, and Alyssa sensed insistence. With a sigh, she mumbled, “Why am I trusting a mouse?” before ever so slowly–so as not to dislodge her guest–she leaned forward to collect a handful of the morsels.
Alyssa straightened and studied her collection of mushrooms thoughtfully. Arranging them by size, she selected the smallest and glanced at the mouse out of the corner of her eye once more. "You're sure about this?" she asked, her voice echoing in the damp cavern. The mouse couldn't speak, of course, but Alyssa felt a strong sense of certainty from her tiny companion. Or maybe that was just the discomfort of hypothermia, exhaustion and her painfully full bladder talking.
Hesitantly, Alyssa popped the smallest mushroom into her mouth. It had a surprisingly rich, earthy flavor, reminiscent of the forest after a rainstorm. As she chewed, the spongy texture yielded, releasing a burst of liquid that filled her mouth with a strange, electric tingle. The sensation was not unpleasant, but definitely unfamiliar. She swallowed, marveling at how easily it went down despite her reservations.
Emboldened by the lack of immediate ill effects, Alyssa quickly consumed the other mushrooms. With each one, the tingling sensation spread, until her whole body hummed with a kind of vibrant, restless energy.
Cupping her hands together, Alyssa scooped up some of the cool water and drank deeply. The liquid soothed her throat, but did nothing to quell the building sense of excitement and unease. She leaned back against the rock, trying to steady herself as the mushrooms’ effects took hold.
It wasn't hallucinations, but a profound shift in Alyssa's perception. The cave seemed to come alive around her; the rocks and water pulsed with a subtle, resonant energy. She felt a surge of confidence and clarity, as if a veil had been lifted from her eyes. With trembling hands, she tore a strip from the bottom of her t-shirt and fashioned it into a makeshift pouch. She wasn't sure what lay ahead, but having a source of food could prove useful. She filled the pouch to the brim with the glowing caps, marveling at their strangeness, before tying it securely to her hip.
"Okay," Alyssa whispered, her voice sounding strangely amplified to her own ears. "I guess we follow the snake." The thought of the serpent sent a ripple of fear through her companion, but she reassured him, "Don't worry, I won't let it get you." The little mouse was still afraid, but it seemed to understand her meaning, and nestled up against her neck, soft fur gentle on her skin.
With a deep breath, Alyssa rolled to her knees and stood, her legs trembling slightly. The mouse clung to her, its small heartbeat echoing her own. Alyssa could feel its mix of curiosity and trepidation, mirroring her own complex emotions. "Come on," she muttered, "let's go." She started forward into the gloom, following the serpent's path and the promise of fresh air. Using the glowing bundle on her hip as a makeshift light, Alyssa navigated the narrow tunnels with confidence. Her bare feet found easy purchase on the cool, damp stone. She progressed at a much more comfortable pace than the slow, exploratory crawl she'd been limited to in the submerged chamber. As she followed the winding tunnel, it sloped gradually upwards, and a light fog crept in, curling around her ankles. Alyssa's heart quickened. She dared to believe she was nearing open air, and a potential end to this nightmare.
Yet even as hope blossomed in her chest, each step brought a growing unease from the small, furry companion on Alyssa's shoulder. The mouse huddled closer to her neck, its nose twitching incessantly. As they rounded a corner, a new scent filled Alyssa's nostrils: earthy mud and a hint of ozone, in stark contrast to the mineral-rich dampness of the caverns. The tunnel widened sharply ahead, seeming to fall away into a murky expanse. Through the haze, the silhouette of a massive tree trunk promised an escape from what she had almost believed might be her tomb.
"We made it," Alyssa breathed, a swell of triumph surging through her. The mushrooms' influence still thrummed in her veins, confidence mingling with her own burgeoning anticipation. She quickened her pace, emerging from the cave mouth into the cool, damp air. Alyssa paused there, one hand on the stone wall, as she breathed in the scent of her freedom.
A twilit forest stretched out before her, dotted with towering trees that reached for an unfamiliar sky. Alyssa tilted her head back, marveling at the stars glimmering above. Their patterns were strange, yet mesmerizing; their strangeness only matched by the comfort they brought her. Alyssa knew the constellations were wrong; that they matched nothing she'd ever seen before, but right now all that mattered was the comfort in knowing that she would not die in that cave.
A squeak of pure terror from the mouse jolted Alyssa from her reverie. The force of her companion's fear nearly knocked the wind from her. Alyssa swiftly sought the source of the mouse's fear. There, beside the nearest tree, stood a tall, gaunt figure, a serpent slithering up its leg. The figure's cold blue eyes glared at Alyssa with a chilling intensity.
As the snake continued its ascent, the figure lifted a hand, guiding the snake to wrap about its too-long neck. Subtle, thorny protrusions emerged from the figure's chin, and the snake rubbed itself against them, hissing as it impressed its displeasure upon the figure, no doubt casting Alyssa as the villain in its tale.
"H-hello," Alyssa stammered, suddenly acutely aware of her vulnerability. She took a guarded step back and brought her hands up defensively. The figure's presence was oppressive, suffocating. Even in her desperation, Alyssa knew she wanted no part of any help they might offer. Still, she needed time to think. She had to find a way past them without provoking their ire, and an attempt at being polite was all she could come up with in the moment.
The figure spoke, its voice a grating rattle. "You have violated the ancient agreement, and trespassed beyond the barrier." Alyssa was sure she didn't know what any of that meant, but before she could say so, the figure continued, "There are consequences for your meddling, child, and I am come to deliver them."
submitted by nivthefox to writers [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:45 Scarlet_Despair1 This is the least excited I've ever been in the 10yrs I've been playing Destiny

I'm not a 'support warlock' and never have been. Only people that enjoy that passive type of playstyle will ever use that helmet. I play the class because the power fantasy has always been to use my paracausal powers to fuck shit up and these gameplay leaks and full exotic armor descriptions have confirmed that warlock won't be devastating powerhouse house it was all those years ago. Mindspun invocation already exists so who at bungie thought that chest piece was a good idea, especially when you're constantly fighting your teammates for kills for your own build synergy.
Nova bomb has been and will remain trash. The lack of a 2nd void melee is still bullshit. Arc will remain weak and underwhelming. Solar will be another underwhelming mess with the watered down Radiance from D1 with a slow and weak 'solar buddy'. Dawnblade will still be trash. Stasis will still be meh...why freeze when you can kill outright? Winter's wrath is useless outside of emergency chain res since your teammates will likely kill anything you freeze long before that slow ass pulse reaches targets. Glacial harvest and icarus dash needs a 3rd fragment slot at least. Warlocks do not have a single aspect with 3 slots. Strand is our only means of a semblance of decent damage and that's if the super wants to cooperate and hit the intended target. Weavewalk needs a 2nd fragment slot.
The weapons also look like a hot ass mess especially the first ever kinetic, heavy trace rifle. It barely does more than Ager's Scepter and a triple trace rifle build is nothing but a meme especially since trace rifles use their entire ammo to deal with a single orange bar as it is. But that's another rant for another day. If you're a support type of player, more power to you. If you like causing massive description across the battlefield and against powerful bosses in content outside of patrols, strikes, basic season content, warlock won't be the class for you.
submitted by Scarlet_Despair1 to DestinyTheGame [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:28 Resident-Belt1441 why do people need to say things that don't need to be said

So I'm 22 M, i have ADHD, and ODD. (Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Basically i argue with authoritative figures all the time.) and people say a lot of things that piss me off, especially when its pertaining to me, or something i already know. and i get that they don't know what i know. but every time someone says something about me, or something about i habit i need to stop, or a specific thing that i did, and then question me on it, it just PISSES me off to the point that i cant help but lash out in anger. nothing physically aggressive. just flailing of the arms and raising my voice, cursing and all this other shit. i just cant take it sometimes. like i don't need to be reminded of something that i do that i know i need to stop, like eating junk food, or something. like sometimes people will say "oh you need to stop eating all that junk" or "I'm surprised you're hungry, didn't you just have X?" or "why did you leave this here?" or "come clean this mess" i just forget a lot of things and my ADHD is so strong that i often get distracted by other things that i might be doing at the time. it just PISSES me the FUCK off and i cant control it. this has always been an issue since my younger teenage and adolescent years. and my ADHD also causes me to do things without thinking about them. sometimes when i lash out in anger, i feel immediate remorse. so i know that my rational and compassionate side still exists. but more often than not, whenever some one is questioning me about things that i did, or about me i get really upset really fast and it doesn't take long before i get pissed off and say something that i didn't think through before i said it. it doesn't even matter how its said to me, it just irritates my soul to the point where i feel like I'm about to boil out of my skin. at the end of it all, this weighs heavy on my mind. and i feel like I'm starting to develop other mental problems.
anyway, i just had to get that off of my chest because i was shouting while in another room after something that just happened a few minutes ago. and it made me think.
submitted by Resident-Belt1441 to ADHD [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:24 Resident-Belt1441 why do people need to say things that don't need to be said

So I'm 22 M, i have ADHD, and ODD. (Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Basically i argue with authoritative figures all the time.) and people say a lot of things that piss me off, especially when its pertaining to me, or something i already know. and i get that they don't know what i know. but every time someone says something about me, or something about i habit i need to stop, or a specific thing that i did, and then question me on it, it just PISSES me off to the point that i cant help but lash out in anger. nothing physically aggressive. just flailing of the arms and raising my voice, cursing and all this other shit. i just cant take it sometimes. like i don't need to be reminded of something that i do that i know i need to stop, like eating junk food, or something. like sometimes people will say "oh you need to stop eating all that junk" or "I'm surprised you're hungry, didn't you just have X?" or "why did you leave this here?" or "come clean this mess" i just forget a lot of things and my ADHD is so strong that i often get distracted by other things that i might be doing at the time. it just PISSES me the FUCK off and i cant control it. this has always been an issue since my younger teenage and adolescent years. and my ADHD also causes me to do things without thinking about them. (ill get into that on a different post from this one.) sometimes when i lash out in anger, i feel immediate remorse. so i know that my rational and compassionate side still exists. but more often than not, whenever some one is questioning me about things that i did, or about me i get really upset really fast and it doesn't take long before i get pissed off and say something that i didn't think through before i said it. it doesn't even matter how its said to me, it just irritates my soul to the point where i feel like I'm about to boil out of my skin. at the end of it all, this weighs heavy on my mind. and i feel like I'm starting to develop other mental problems.
anyway, i just had to get that off of my chest because i was shouting while in another room after something that just happened a few minutes ago. and it made me think.
submitted by Resident-Belt1441 to offmychest [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:18 1toughneighbour Boomer uncle threatened neighborhood kids for standing too close to my house

So the first thing to know is that my house is right in front of the bus stop. So a lot of people stand in front of it during the day. Our dogs go out to the front yard to play and the kids love to pet them and play with them too.
We're on a first name basis with most of the people that wait for the bus.
Anyways, so last week my mom decided to host a party and she requested to use my house since there's more space. I'm in a house in the suburbs.
The party was from 5 till whenever. But Uncle dumbfuck and his wife decided to show up at around 3, said he wanted to beat the traffic.
(We don't live in a busy city like LA or something so wtf was he even talking about? Probably had nothing better to do I guess. 🤷‍♂️)
So as you can imagine everyone was getting ready for the party. Wife and mom were in the kitchen getting the food ready. I had to run a few errands and grab a bunch of stuff from outside.
We sent Uncle Dumbo to the TV but I guess he got bored so he just walked around and eventually he was just standing in the middle of the kitchen getting in everyone's way. At one point he stood in front of a frying pan and put his face real close asking my wife "what are you making in there smells real good" the oil almost splattered onto his face but this dummy was oblivious.
Mom told him to get out of the kitchen and he said "let me help" so we sent him to the front yard to clean up some of the toys and bags and bring them to the garage. Nothing heavy.
I checked on him and he was taking two bags with him. I thought that was going to keep him busy for like 20 minutes at least and went inside to help set up the table or whatever.
Not 5 minutes in we heard loud screaming noises. I ran out to see Uncle dumbfuck going "get tha fuck outta heeya" to teenagers and their grandma who they were probably taking to the city. I knew them.
I went up and asked what's happening. Uncle dumbfuck was livid talking about how they stepped on the grass. They should have stayed on the sidewalk. What a fucking moron. Mom pulled this moron inside and I apologized to the kids, I told them moron has mental issues from old age.
When I go inside, he's still huffing and puffing. I asked him what happened. He starts shouting "if you don't deal with these slurs they'll move in to your yard and take over your house!" He was literally having a full on tantrum.
"Because they stepped on the grass?" 🤔
He erupted into an even more unhinged incohered rant. "You don't know these kind of people! They come here to steal!" He ended it with: "We used to just shoot them!" He was talking about 2 teenagers and their grandma. What a fucking imbecile.
Even the dogs were getting anxious now because this moron wouldn't stop screaming.
Wife went and brought him an ice cold diet coke so he can chill out. This man was literally sweating now because he was so worked up by this.
Ruined the whole vibe honestly. I tried my best to avoid him the rest of the day as did everyone else. He actually tried to bring it up again during the party with a couple of boomer chucklefuck buddies. I just smiled and nodded along then pretended I had to go to the bathroom. No point discussing things with these guys honestly.
One thing for sure: that asshole is never getting invited here ever again. Told my family to cut him off too but I don't know if they will.
Fuck that guy.
submitted by 1toughneighbour to BoomersBeingFools [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:18 Good_Permission_1479 The teacher I am a leave replacement for died this morning.

TLDR; the title.
I am a teacher with just about two years of experience (long term leave replacement) in a new district. I took on an unexpected leave last month (April 9). I sort of just walked into the job (I am finishing grad schooling and decided to be a perm sub in a new district) and covered her class until I was asked to grade and teach new content. The person I am in for worked hard to maintain privacy regarding her circumstances, and I respected this; for this reason, I did not know how serious this leave was to her.
I feel so so badly for her, her close coworkers, and her family- the air was heavy and I was moved to tears a couple of times today. I also am worried about my kids (8th graders). My district has been supportive today and has arranged for counselors to be available for teachers and staff. They will be here all week and I know standard crisis protocol (send anyone to the psych no matter what).
This is not about me, and I keep telling myself this; however, I was wondering how anyone else would proceed with the givens:
ugh. I’d love to hear any thoughts or advice. Please hug your children or parents tonight if you are able to. F*** Cancer.
submitted by Good_Permission_1479 to Teachers [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:17 kayenano The Villainess Is An SS+ Rank Adventurer: Chapter 245

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Synopsis:
Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.
Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.
Chapter 245: A Clockwork Wish
The quiet streets of Hartzwiese stood in contrast to the lights of the many inns, bars and taverns.
Despite its modest size, the town boasted as many drinking establishments as there were adventurers somehow drunk enough to be booted from the guild hall. And yet for all the bright lanterns singing from the windows, they paled in comparison to the moonlight as it graced the steps before me. A white carpet ushering me towards a tavern Apple was now using as a stables, and where I could enjoy a complementary room, courtesy of the fact I now owned it.
But before I could put my day’s labours behind me, there was still an important task I had to do.
The most important.
Rewarding my loyal handmaiden, who throughout these arduous days had remained firm and true as much as the sword by my side.
Indeed, no ill deed went unpunished, and no good service went unrewarded.
Why … she even knew the same.
Stopping before a large fountain in the centre of the town square, Coppelia held her palm out towards me as she eyed the faintly glittering surface.
“Gimme change,” she said brightly.
“Change?”
“I want to toss a coin into the fountain~”
My mouth opened wide.
“E-Excuse me! I know very well you possess coins of your own! Furthermore, I’ll not give you money from our hard earned hazelnut croissant fund merely to quite literally toss it away!”
“It’s not throwing it away. It’s making a wish.”
“A wish?”
“Mmh~ drop a coin into a fountain. Get a wish. An absolute bargain. Haven’t you tried it before?”
“Coppelia, I’ve no need to drop coins into fountains. I ring a bell. That’s how my wishes come true.”
“Well, do you have the bell with you?”
I paused.
“... No.”
“There you go, then! Until you get your bell back, you’ll need to toss away coins for your wishes.”
She beamed with childish expectation, palm still outstretched, fully expecting me to humour her request.
Well, sadly for Coppelia, I was not so easily moved!
Our personal finances went into maintaining a minimal standard of living! And that meant every coin we had to spare went into purchasing premium apples and cinnamon rolls! It would be unconscionable of me to allow it to be spent so frivolously!
“Staaaaaaaaaaaare~”
I rolled my eyes.
“... Fine, one copper crown,” I said, rummaging through my bottomless pouch. “Really now, this is hardly a djinn you’re bribing. I’m surprised you wish to add to the fountain and not merely scoop up what’s there.”
“Hey! I have standards! … I don’t like copper, it’s less shiny than silver and gold and gets in the way when I rummage through my ill-gotten gains.”
I offered Coppelia a sigh along with the small coin.
She accepted it with a giggle. As she turned to the fountain, the stars twinkled from her eyes more than the surface of the clear water.
Plop.
It vanished into the depths.
A small proof of our hardship, now given to the fountain to judge and a magpie to steal come the morning.
“And what wish do you hope to acquire through a less shiny copper crown?”
Coppelia merely smiled.
No word left her lips as her turquoise eyes gazed at the fountain’s disturbed surface. She herself was motionless but for the soft wind tugging at the ends of her fluffy golden hair.
And then–she twirled on the spot.
Arms spinning around, she raised them out and stopped like a melodramatic ballerina.
“World domination! I shall subjugate all squishy life under my cute, clockwork heel!”
“Please pick a different wish,” I replied, waving her declaration away as I would a plain chouquette. “World domination has already been chosen by half the world’s rulers. There’s not enough wishes in any fountain to accommodate them all.”
“... Got it! I’ll take an apple strudel!”
“You can wish for something that isn’t already in our possession.”
“In that case, I’ll take an apple strudel from every bakery in the world!”
I nodded. Better. Especially as I was far more dependable than any wishing fountain.
Indeed, as soon as I returned to the Royal Villa, I’d order a squire to go fetch an apple strudel from every bakery in the world as part of some inane quest!
“But what about you?” she asked, never knowing the suffering and hardship her casual request had just caused somebody not me. “Don’t you have any wishes for the totally legitimate wishing fountain?”
I held a hand to my chest, scoffing with a princess’s dignity.
“Ohohoho … for the fountain? No. I’ve no need for a fountain to make my wishes come true, for I have my own strength of purpose. And that is enough to grant all I desire. The prosperity of my kingdom. The health of my family. And the loyalty of my subjects.”
Coppelia leaned towards me, her smile appraising my own.
“Reeaaaally?”
I reacted with the indignation such scepticism deserved … and also a quick glance around me as I eyed for witnesses.
“... W-Well, if I could maybe have one thing, it would be an opportunity to finish reading my current novels. I have been stuck on the same pages for far too long.”
“That really annoys you, huh?”
“I-It’s terrible, Coppelia! At this rate, I’ll need to re-read some of them … and frankly, it’s enough of a strike against my fragile heart to do so once! There is only so much research a princess can take!”
My loyal handmaiden giggled. She wouldn’t if she knew the dangers that overexposure to the world of bestselling adventure romances could cause. I’d seen noblewomen collapsing at court more often with a copy of Scandals Of The Incorrigible Viscount in hand than any knife to the back.
A moment later–
Plop.
A second copper crown was casually tossed into the fountain.
“Done~” said Coppelia with a satisfied clap. “I’ve made your wish for you!”
My mouth widened as I stared between the fresh ripples and her mischievous smile.
“E-Excuse me! Didn’t you say you had no copper crowns?”
“I only said I didn’t like them. I never said I didn’t have just the one lying around. Isn’t that great? Now it means we both get our wishes! Apple strudels and scandalous books galore!”
“C-Coppelia! That is an entirely unnecessary waste of a copper crown … and more besides, I could have wished for a dragon’s hoard!”
“I mean, you could. But if you thought people were a problem before, wait until they know you’re even richer than a normal princess. You’d have burglars breaking into your vault even while you’re still busy swimming around in the pile of gold.”
“Please. That happens regardless of whether or not a dragon’s hoard is involved. And if it ever became a true issue, well … I’d simply solve it by hiring a dragon.”
“You’d hire a dragon to guard a dragon’s hoard?”
“Why not? There’s clearly no better proven warden.”
“Yep, that’s true. They’d even guard it against you. How would you get the treasure back?”
“I wouldn’t. It’d simply exist to slowly erase the population of burglars from my kingdom. That would be its true value.”
Coppelia looked up in thought.
“Huh. That sounds suspiciously like something which could work.”
I smiled with quiet pride. But not too quiet. I had my pride, after all.
“Ohohoh … naturally, I’m not only a princess. I’m a genius … but since I’m mostly a princess, this also means ensuring my retainers are rewarded for their service, and bribed concerning any slovenly faces I may have made.”
“Now that’s the level of subtlety I like. Negative numbers.”
“Well, negative numbers is also how I value most fae trinkets. But perhaps you can find worth in it.”
Coppelia clapped her hands together and beamed.
“Ooooh~! I smell souvenirs! Did you steal toiletries on the way out of the Fae Realm?”
“I did not steal toiletries! … although if I’d seen any, I possibly may have!”
“So you stole something else? Like cutlery?”
“Coppelia! I do not steal things whenever I visit a different plane of existence!”
“Why not? Everyone else does.”
“I am not ‘everyone’. Even when abducted, I’m still required to display the regal bearing of my station, representing always my kingdom and my family … and there was no cutlery, either.”
“Wow. You must have had an awful time.”
I gave a grim nod.
No toiletries. No cutlery. Not even a branded napkin.
The next time I was indiscriminately abducted to the Fae Realm, I’d ensure I would wander lost until a stack of towels accidentally fell into my arms.
“It was dire. But while I didn’t return empty handed, it was with nothing drawn from a dragon’s hoard or edible like a mound of apple strudels. Regardless, here is a gift acquired from the Spring Queen to add to your collection of trinkets and doodads I have no wish to know about.”
Thus, I reached into my bottomless bag, sweated as I fished for a slender object, and then retrieved a small ring of jade.
Unlike the crystal ring gifted to me by the Winter Queen and now embellished by her sister, the jade ring was adorned only with a pattern of crystalline vines upon the band, lacking any jewel set upon it.
Even so, Coppelia’s eyes lit up like a twin pair of moons.
She pointed at herself.
“Wait, is that for me?”
“Indeed, it is. You may have it.”
“Eh … ehhh?! It actually looks expensive, though! I was expecting something like a postcard!”
I raised a brow.
“If you’d prefer a postcard, I’m sure I could ask for one instead.”
Coppelia appeared speechless. Something so impossible not even a fountain could grant it.
Blinking in disbelief, she reached out and accepted the ring. Without putting it on, she held it against the moonlight, studying its finish.
“Ooooh~ it’s so shiny! … Will I blow up if I wear it?”
“No.” I paused. “At least, I don’t think so.”
Coppelia stopped as the ring met her finger.
“There’s no need to fear,” I added as I took a step away. “It’s a ring gifted by the Spring Queen, and so is imbued also by her magic.”
“I’m not hearing anything which says I won’t blow up.”
“You won’t blow up. Probably. After all, this thing is still little more than a child’s trinket. It contains a single favoured plaything from her court of dreams. The very swing she sat upon during our meeting.”
“The swing?”
“The swing. I believe it functions similarly to the bed. Why not try summoning it in the same manner?”
Deciding she’d paid enough tribute to caution, Coppelia popped the ring on.
She studied herself to ensure she hadn’t melted, before raising her hand in curiosity.
“Sooooo … do I just need to say [Summon Swing] and–woooaahh!!”
Poof.
The moment the words left her lips, she was lifted from the ground as a swing of crystalline leaves and vines appeared where she stood, seating her automatically in the process. Against the dour backdrop of Hartzwiese’s decidedly human streets, it shone with as much vividness as the Spring Queen’s mirror-like wings.
Coppelia blinked, her eyes wide as she wrapped her hands around the ropes of crystallised vines.
And then–
She began to swing.
With only the rustling of her clothes and the fluttering of her hair to disturb the quiet scenery, she proceeded to test the Spring Queen’s plaything, wasting little time before she began to swing like a pendulum, backwards and forwards at greater speeds.
She did not say a word, nor voice any thoughts, and although she wore a smile upon her face, it was no different to one she regularly affixed upon herself.
A moment of doubt struck me.
“N-Naturally, it’s rather unorthodox as a gift. It is no great heirloom or weapon, and rather impractical so far as useful function is concerned. But I imagine the ring itself is worth some value. If you do not want it, I’m certain some curio collector would pay for its novelty value. Regardless, please consider it as a bonus.”
Suddenly, Coppelia leapt off the swing in mid-flight. She skipped a few steps owing to the momentum, yet still pirouetted effortlessly on one foot as she twisted around to face me.
Her widening smile was the only warning I received.
“–Hiieeee?!”
Because the next moment …
I experienced the sensation of being hoisted off my feet.
Oh no.
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”
Wrapping her arms around my waist, she easily lifted me up.
A feeling I’d experienced once before. And one I had not forgotten. Terror mixed with only the tiniest drop of excitement met me as I was promptly swung like an errant pillow.
“C-Coooppeeeliaaaa!! M-My priiiinnceess imaaggee!!”
With a girlish smile, Coppelia paid no heed to my meek and delicate cry as she twirled on the spot.
Around and around, my hair billowed behind me as all the town became a blur which helped to hide the many holes and cracks in the walls and windows, until somehow, the other side of my hair became known to the opposite side of my face.
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~”
Just as I felt the world beginning to take on entirely new colours, she came to a stop.
She placed me down, continuing to smile as I waved away her supporting hands. I stumbled as I chased equilibrium, all the while blowing the many strands of my dark hair away from my mouth. My fingers instinctively went into emergency combing mode.
“I-It seems … uughh … you enjoy … the gift … uuuh … I’m … I’m pleased …”
Coppelia stepped back, arms behind her back as she gave another twirl, this time mercifully without me attached. Like a maiden in a meadow, she lightly skipped around her new magically summoned fae swing, examining its fine spring motifs and crystalline details, before finally turning to me once again.
I leaned away, not least because there were now several versions of her before me.
“Thankies~” she said brightly. “I like this a lot!”
I held my tummy, making sure nothing terrible was about to happen before I replied.
“You’re … uugh … you’re welcome …”
She gave a giggle of amusement at my expense, then seated herself on her new swing once again.
For my part, I rather desperately eyed the direction of my kingdom’s latest acquisition. A tavern which possessed very helpful walls. Even if I had no intention on using the beds within them.
After all–
It wasn’t only Coppelia who had reason to smile tonight.
Indeed … I also had a new and improved bed to enjoy!
Now that my minor detour to this corner of my countryside was complete, my only remaining task was to thoroughly and objectively test the Spring Queen’s magic for myself.
Yes … it was time to indulge my face in the Winter Queen’s pillow once again! To hug a silken duvet now gifted with the scent of an eternal meadow! A moment to thoroughly reward myself as I purposefully shoved any and all dangerous thoughts of tomorrow to the wayside!
And nothing, I knew, could disturb me from my slumber!
That ominous feeling I’d forgotten something important?
Why … I barely even felt it!
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submitted by kayenano to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:12 Ok_Conversation_9737 Tired of the corporate toxicity

I work at a restaurant currently, it sucks. I have a master's degree in Human Resource Management and I'm desperately trying to get out of the restaurant business but for now I need whatever job will pay at least most of my bills while I continue to look.
We had a great general manager. She was kind and listened to us and took feedback. She was positive and would work with us on schedules and would always boost us up and acknowledge everything we did that was good and she would compliment our hard work. Our assistant manager was just like her and it made a shitty job a lot better.
Corporate fired our GM because she was too positive and it was "toxic". They wanted her to basically constantly harp on any small mistake we ever made, harshly discipline us using draconian rules and policies, and to rule with a heavy fist. Our assistant manager quit immediately after finding out, and this is after our opening manager was fired a week before. She was also a delight to work with.
Morale is awful. Corporate is there every day now and nitpicking everything. They have racist uniform policies, (edit to add, people with long hair are only allowed to wear it one specific way which is not possible for people with long dreadlocks or other protective styles) nobody is brave enough to challenge them, they nitpick everything. Women's makeup is scrutinized, our jewelry, (not for food safety reasons either, it's for conservative reasons) they even check our socks to make sure they are black even if nobody can see them under our pants legs. They have even sent notices about how we need to wear certain undergarments so they are staring at the women's chests and crotchs and butts. This is a freaking fast casual place similar to chipotle.
They make policies that are NOT workable in a restaurant and then complain and berate us when they don't work. We can do $12,000 in business in one day, have 10 customers rave about how amazing the service was in our online surveys and 1 customer complains they were missing a 35 cent sauce cup and the ONLY focus is how we screwed up horribly because of the sauce cup. Only 5 star reviews count, anything under 5 is counted as a 0.
Now they are cracking down on the attendence policy and it's ridiculous.
2-15 minutes late is 2 points
Over 5 minutes late is 5 points
Proper call offs with excused absences are 5 points
Improper call offs are 10 points
A "proper" call off means you offer up your shift on the app, and calling the store at LEAST 4 hours before your shift starts. So if you have an emergency and call off 3 hours before or you wake up sick and are an opener so you can only call off 2 hours before your shift, it's 10 points.
If you're sick and have a doctor's note and call of properly it's 5 points.
15 points is a verbal warning
20 points is a coaching and write up
Anything over 20 points you're fired.
So if you're sick with the flu and have a doctor's note too bad you're fired if you take 4 days off.
You can knock points off however! If you pick up someone else's shift, that knocks off 2 points. If you come in early or stay late at the request of a manager (not on your own!) it takes off 1 point. Heavy eye roll.
Every 12 weeks the points are reset. But any verbal warnings or write ups stay on your record.
And they encourage everyone to come to work sick with signs everywhere saying if you are sick with (any contagious symptom including vomiting and diarrhea) to come in and speak with your manager that day so you can be placed in a position where you're not directly handling food such as register or dish.
I hate it here. Good ol USA where it's normal to give no sick leave and then punish people and even fire them if they do get sick.
submitted by Ok_Conversation_9737 to antiwork [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:11 Pinkprint2001 I ate too much of an edible and had a panic attack

I had to call 911 and go to the hospital, I was tweaking. I frequently used weed, but lately it’s doing the opposite effect of what it used to. It used to helps soothe my crippling anxiety and depression. But I just kept using it because it gave me some sort of numbness. But this time last night was different. And I’ve greened out plenty of times before, I’ve thugged it out most times. But my chest started feeling heavier, and breathing became hard. I felt a lot of tension in my nose/middle face area. I was extremely fried as well, getting very paranoid and not being sure what I was looking at. I had to step out my apartment and walk back and forth the streets.
They asked me if I wanted to go to hospital, I said yea. I was so fried, they had to help me out those arm pressure things, as well as the ones for your finger, because I was super dizzy /nauseous and could barely move, I actually wanted to fall off my chair. The staff were def irritated. I apologized to the man in the ambulance, but he just rolled his eyes and didn’t say anything. Also I felt I was getting stares, some of them were talking most likely about me, and finding it a little funny. But I’m so high(still and it’s the end of the day), it felt like a blur.
So we go in there room after I beg for a quiet one and not just the public hallway. And this is when I start really losing my calm. The nurse lady asks me if I use edibles because I’m going through something, and I admitted I did it because of my anxiety and stress as well as some unresolved issues. Saying it out loud made me start bawling, and my body starts heating up. They were putting the chest straps on my chest. I’ve always had this weird phobia for slight chest discomfort, or pain. And for some reason it was making me feel more stressed, and I didn’t want to trigger my lifelong asthma, since I’m having a heavy chest. I’m begging/pleading the nurse lady to take them off. Because I felt like my heart couldn’t take it. She gives in eventually but leaves some on. I start sweating buckets, feeling weak, nauseous, and super hot. And the doctors were confused because they said the hospital was definitely ventilated with AC. After 15/20 mins, it starts to cool down. So they let me sleep it off for 2-3 hours(I could barely do that), before discharging me. I walk out the hospital, still very high and feeling weak. Like CHS weak. That definitely had to play a part, but the nurse didn’t know what that meant.
The reports said my blood pressure 140/81. But I recall me asking in there, and them telling me it was at 170(and should apparently be at 120). So idk if the written report being 140 is the average, or if it’s the longest running number, or if it was never 170. I’m still a lil scared that I might have another panic attack, and I feel like absolute shit rn. I know it’s nobodies fault but my own. I had nobody else to call but the hospital. It’s just been a lot with my mental health, and physical exhastion from work, as well as some things I’ve been dealing with inside my head.
Edit: I learned my lesson. I just wanted to stop feeling suicidal all the time. Ironically.
submitted by Pinkprint2001 to PanicAttack [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 01:02 Bridgette_writes [QCrit] Adult Fantasy Romance - LIKE MOONLIGHT (80k)

Hi folks,
I'll appreciate any feedback on the query letter. Have also included the first 300 words - thoughts?
Dear [agent name],
LIKE MOONLIGHT is a queer (m/m) adult fantasy romance novel. It is 80,000 words and stands alone with series potential. Fans of the cosy worldbuilding in Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes and the fluttering queer romance and remote forest setting in Emma Denny’s One Night in Hartswood will enjoy this book.
After centuries of fighting, witches and werewolves call a ceasefire to negotiate a peace treaty. Paxton – an ambitious witch as arrogant as he is talented – and Callum – a renowned though reluctant werewolf warrior – are given an important job: traverse the wolf pack’s territory borders to create an enchanted map to bind the treaty.
Though thrilled to be trusted, Paxton is dismayed: beastly werewolves might enjoy weeks in the wild, but Paxton is only comfortable with metaphorically dirty hands. Conversely, Callum is eager to leave pack politics behind and enjoy an assignment in the tranquillity of nature… until he meets pampered Paxton, whose misconceptions about the barbarity of werewolves and endless whining about his blisters threaten Callum’s famous cool.
Under the leaves of the enchanted forest, Paxton and Callum save an injured unicorn, confront vampires, battle a wyvern, and – hardest of all – learn to work together. As they move past old prejudices and hasty first-impressions, their feelings for each other blossom into a magic of its own. But while steamy nights and soft hearts might flourish in the wild, away from prying eyes, out of the forest things won’t be so simple. With a tenuous ceasefire hanging in the balance as the peace negotiations progress, a cross-species romance might be the thing to sink the treaty… or save it.
I live in [country] with my wife and two very cute, very round cats, and spend my spare time powerlifting competitively, though mediocrely. I have a PhD in [discipline] and regularly publish academic research on [field] in scholarly journals.
Thank you for your consideration,
[name] (she/her)
First 300 words of manuscript:
Paxton strode up the wide, stone steps leading to Raedeon City Hall. It was the middle of the night, but the city was bright as always. One moon hung low in the sky and the other sat high. Both were full and radiant. The flickering torchlight lining the stairs reflected off his polished dragon-leather boots, and his heels clacked commandingly with every step. With his purple cloak and puff sleeved blouse, he cut exactly the kind of figure necessary to accomplish his mission: respectable, debonair, and, most crucially, handsome.
There was no room for error. He’d schemed and sleuthed for an entire week and devised a fool-proof plan, all by himself. What he was doing was risky, and he hadn’t been promised a reward. He’d likely get a little something if he succeeded, a small boon or a paltry sum of gold, maybe even favourable assignments for the next decade. While a material reward would be nice, that wasn’t why he was taking the risk. Succeeding in this mission would do immeasurable good for his reputation. He’d stand head and shoulders above his peers and be the obvious choice for promotion, and he wanted the recognition of his greatness like air.
They’d all realize what he was capable of soon. He could hardly wait.
He pushed open the heavy wooden doors and stepped inside. The foyer was brightly lit by a mixture of flaming sconces and magical glow stones purchased from the local witch coven some centuries ago, casting the entryway in warm tones of flickering yellow and green. Paxton scanned the room until his eyes alit on his first target. She was hard to miss. Her glowing pink wings fluttered idly behind where she sat at an ornate wooden desk. Fixing a charming smile onto his face, Paxton patted down the non-existent wrinkles on his tunic, flicked the lock of hair resting over his forehead so that it lay at a more rakish angle, and sauntered over.
submitted by Bridgette_writes to PubTips [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 00:47 No-Diet-1771 Nicotine drug testing - will I pass it?

Hello folks. I have to take a drug test for my new big girl job in exactly 1 week. The drug test includes nicotine, which really fucking sucks because I love vaping nicotine. I've been vaping pretty regularly for months. Pretty regularly looks like a 5-7 hits in the morning, go to work (7hrs) with no hits, come home hit it probably every 5-10 minutes. Every day. I smoke a Breeze - the middle size one - and I share it with my boyfriend. We probably go through one every 4-5 days. He smokes it most of the time because he keeps it with him. I stopped smoking officially this past Friday and I hit it twice (small hits - no lightheadedness) yesterday. So I'm either 5 days in or 1 day in. I realize I'm a pretty heavy smoker after writing all this lmao. Since I saw metabolism and overall health mentioned as a part of excretion process, I have a pretty fast metabolism (I've stayed the same weight for years) and I'm a healthy 20 something year old.
I'm writing this post because every time I googled how long it takes for nicotine to leave your body the answer was unclear. Some said 1 week, some said 1 month, some say drinks lots of water and dilute your pee, yadda yadda. I looked on Reddit for stories but I mostly just got people saying how much it sucks to be tested for nicotine and regurgitating Google info. So now you will see firsthand here. I hope it helps someone.
I bought nicotine drug tests from Amazon. They were $8 for like 10. I'm going to test my urine from now on every 2-3 days to see when I stop testing positive. I tested positive today. If I'm not negative by Monday, I'll push back my drug testing. Sky daddy I hope I am, so I can get it over with and start vaping again. I will update by Monday to let you guys know what it is.
Wish me luck!
submitted by No-Diet-1771 to Adulting [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 00:45 FreudianSlipEnjoyer Does this opening set up a tone well? If so, what kind of tone?

(This is the intro/setup to a script for a game I’m working on right now. It’ll eventually involve the main character (you) trying to get in contact with rescue units to get saved.)
Altitude critical. Pull up.
Altitude critical. Pull up.
Altitude critical. Pull up.
Oxygen critical. Deploy mask.
Altitude critical. Pull up.
Oxygen critical. Deploy mask.
Heat critical. Activate coolant.
Heat critical. Activate coolant.
Heat critical. Activate coolant.
Altitude critical. Pull up.
Altitude critical. Pull up.
Altitude critical. Pull up.
The once sturdy cockpit precipitates on your head as shards of glass. Every dial and node on the control panel folded in on itself all with a maxed out reading. Your hands tremor in a fixed clasped position. Whatever you were holding onto must’ve been very important. You can feel every heartbeat like a concussive in your temple. Your breathing feels thin and fleeting; whatever air you’re getting is simply not enough. Your neck gives way, and you collapse forward onto the control panel. You pass out.
Hours pass.
You come to. Bewildered that you survived your breathing goes from frequent and thin to slow and heavy. Your body needs repairs, and fast. You reach for your knife and sever your harnesses. Your abdomen free, you reach for the radio at your feet. It hums with no signal. You mess with the antenna and dial, praying for a signal. You are only meant with the hisses of broken signals. You are alone.
Yowu heave yourself out of the rubble with great exertion. It was a risky move, it nearly killed you. Exhausted, you stumble through a desolate desert of ice and snow. Completely devoid of form, it’s an infinite white expanse. Without any options you equip your visor and begin a scan.
Result = [NULL] Result = [NULL] Result = [NULL]
Result = [MATCH] Heat Detected. Life Classification: Unidentified
You see a faint outline of a rectangle highlighted on the scan. With no other scan, you begin your trek towards it. Walking takes your mind off of the crash. Your mind can finally exit its adrenal state. The questions begin.
“Where the hell am I?” “What did they hit me with?” “Why am I alive?”
After an hour of limping you come across a small abode, a middle ground between a shack and an outhouse. Its patchy carpentry sticks out like a sore thumb in the vast whiteness, the festering mold on the walls turn your crash site into a stellar two-tone piece. The door made of some wisened material is about as strong as driftwood. However even with such a weak material, you are weaker and you struggle to make it inside. Knock after knock the door begins to give and bulge, more and more splinters flying everywhere. Your heavy breathing becomes panting and coughing, the thick air filled with dust, mold, and dried petrol. Finally your shoulder overcomes the door and you fall through the hole in the door onto the floor of the hut. Your coughing fit escalates into near-choking. Your heart begins to pound through your ribs, your stomach begins to tumble within your abdomen. All of your insides are writhing and screaming.
YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE
submitted by FreudianSlipEnjoyer to writers [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 00:38 Jumpy-South-1337 GF left me for Pentacostalism

I rarely post but I have barely any remaining living family to talk to and hopefully this will hit on a Google search one day to help someone else so here goes and will try to make it short
I met my girlfriend 5 years ago, she came from a poor background, divorced parents, lived with her father in a mobile home. I grew up upper middle class, nice home, etc. Her parents loved me and thought I was the best thing ever since she only went out with trashy guys, drug dealers, etc before me. She was open that she didn't understand why I loved her, but she was genuinely sweet and a good person and I was open that I date for personality and not money etc. She moved in with me after a few months and everything was perfect for 4 years, we both got better jobs and she always said she hopes I never leave her and I genuinely never had doubts with her. I've had 3 longterm partners before her and all of them at the 3 year mark things got a rough patch, but this one I only fell more in love with. I was raised Catholic but my family never practised it or went to church except once when I was super young and was open to my parents its not my thing and they never took me again and she wasn't religious in her adult life at all. Mental health issues also run heavy on her moms side of the family. She also states she is terrified of pregnancy and never wants kids except adoption, I want kids and agree we can just adopt.
Fast forward to November 2023 (4.5 year mark of being together) she has minimal friends that haven't moved away yet and no hobbies, she volunteers and takes a 2nd job at a Christian horse camp for kids which is whatever, and is open that she wants to get married so I go looking for an engagement ring. She also wants to experience "living alone" and buys a condo which she says will be a 1-2 year thing then she will move back in with me and we get married, whatever. She is open that there is Christian elements in this church and she doesn't know religion at all and is worried, I told her she can figure it out im sure and im sure its more horse based and not religious. Later, she meets a friend there same age as her who is Pentecostal Christian and invites her to the Pentecostal church. I took religious studies way back in HS and am aware Pentecostalism is basically a cult, preys on the mentally weak, and focuses on believing everything is a "miracle if you pray for it to happen" and relies on recruiting people to follow. My parents, parents friends, her father, and myself are open to her this new friend seems like bad news and so is this church but she says we're paranoid. By January 2024, her entire house is FILLED with religious pictures, quotes, etc, she goes to church 2x per week, spends 1-2 hours a night studying the bible, and non-stop talks about religion. She was never into physical intimacy really but at least slept naked, we had sex 2-3 times a month, and showered together often which was enough for me. January 2024-March 24 is 0 sex, wearing a hoodie and all covered up to bed, wont even let me see her in underwear, etc ontop of CONSTANTLY hounding me to go to church with her, I repeat that church is not my thing and I don't believe religion and politics should be kept anywhere but internally in your mind and heart. Huge red flag of changes within months just due to this friends influence. We almost break up March 2024 and I say this religious stuff needs to cool off and I can't live without SOME physical intimacy and sex. She apologizes, cries for 2 days straight, says the religion will cool off and sex will come back and begs me to not break up with her. I was open that if things do get better we can work this out. She still continues to be off and believes everything is a "miracle" due to prayer etc and myself, her father and my mom are all thinking wtf. I thought her dad wasn't THAT concerned and just let it be. We later watched videos of the pastor at this church that speaks to her, and he's fullblown nutjob screaming into a headset preacher crazy. She also denies Pentacostalism is different than any other religion, yet a simple Google search confirms it's extreme and ironically this church tries to hide it's Pentacostal and tries to reiterate it's a "community church"
Fast forward to last week (May 21), still 0 sex, let me shower with her once while being super apprehensive about it, still wildly religious, and she gets baptized in this Pentecostal church. Her and her friends/church members are around a tank that says "New Life" on it while praying in a circle around her in the tub, her father and me stay seated in the back checked out and mortified. 3 days ago (May 25), I tell her i'm concerned she's getting more deeply religious and our relationship is still struggling and I can't live without physical intimacy as I was open with in March, even if it's 1-2 times a month. She cries, apologizes and says it will get better. Saturday May 25, I stay overnight with her at her condo, she promises sex May 27 and says she wants it, starts crying she is having a "crisis of faith" and doesn't know if god is real. She then states she will be going to church Sunday, May 26 still and right before church says she loves me and is glad we are working through our issues and we should go on a trip the next week, and also states she now wants 2 biological children (after wanting none for 4.5 years, wtf). Right after church, boom she says the pastor "said something that is too coincidental to be one off, has helped her make her decision, we're now breaking up permanently". I reply it's her choice but this Pentacostal church is a fucked cult IMO, her friend that got her into this is bad news, and I think she is having a mental health crisis and that she needs help. She just keeps reiterating that everyone is irrational that Pentacostalism is a cult, she's happy now, and this is it but wants to be friends. I tell her im cutting contact and won't remain friends and need to move on with my life. I reach out to her dad who is completely shocked, says he fully agrees she needs medication and not religion, says her friend that got her into this is bad news and tells me to not chase her, i'm a good man, cut my losses and run because she has lost it, and said at least this happened before I proposed this year.
Is Pentacostalism really that bad and will it affect someone to this degree? She literally was normal for 4.5 years, fully loved me, said she would die if i ever break up with her, etc until her friend got her into this Pentacostal crap and suddenly she goes from begging me to not leave to kicking me to the curb after a 1 hour church session with this pastor. I was open to her father that this is a mental health crisis being fed into by her friend and church and he fully agrees, I notified him I worry she will be suicidal when she wakes up from this brainwashing and realize I won't be willing to take her back at this point and he notified he will keep in contact with her to keep her safe even though they are on bad terms now from all this. I've been through my share of breakups over the decades and will be okay getting through this especially with it being her choice, but the degree this church mindwarped her has me baffled.
submitted by Jumpy-South-1337 to exchristian [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 00:31 yaseralansarey A Wacky idea I had for a collab

Hello, this is my first actual post in this subreddit and I'm not that good at writing so I would appreciate any feedback :)
Also this post is kinda long so I made the topics start with bold text so it becomes easier to navigate.
First things first: The collab idea is about the Battle Cats, However unlike what is the more possible to occur (Limbus/Project Moon stuff in Battle Cats) I had the idea of a Battle Cats in Limbus Collab, So I guess I have to also explain what the Battle Cats is to anyone here who doesn't know about it
Battle Cats Short Explanation (B.C.S.E):
If you already know about Battle Cats then I guess you can skip this part :)
The Battle Cats (I'll call it BC btw) is a Japanese Gacha game that might be one of the oldest ones around and still kicking (iirc over ten years old) the game itself is a strategy "Tower Defense" game where you need to defend your tower by spawning Cat Units from it that go from your tower to the Enemies' tower and reduce its HP to 0, note that there is only one lane, so the gameplay generally consists of: put needed Units when needed, and use the Tower's laser when needed.
The gameplay, while it starts kind of slow, gets more difficult the more you go in the game, and the grinding, while it can get tedious, is tolerable when you know what you're doing (upgrading and evolving Units is permanent, so if you upgraded something for a purpose, it will most likely be used again depending on the levels and be the reason you win said levels).
The game also has a lot of collabs with other stuff, some notable examles: Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Ranma1/2, Street Fighter, PPAP and a lot more ( link to collabs list in case you wanted to see them: Them Collabs , some of them even have good music) This is also the reason why I thought of this collab.
While it is a Gacha game, and playing it daily to get all rewards is generally advisable, the game isn't that punishing when you don't collect said rewards, considering most events are on a Cycle so you can just wait until it returns (other than collabs and anniversary events, which generally give very good rewards).
You can watch videos if you want to know more, considering this was supposed to be short.
Now onto next topic:
How does it fit in Limbus?
We still don't know the full capabilities of the mirror tech, so let's just say anything is possible for the sake of my sanity :)
Unlike anyone here's ideas for collabs (Arknights and co) Battle Cats is quite... Silly, so it would be kind of difficult to make anything for it in Limbus, HOWEVER the game, while Silly, also has one thing that can fit well in Limbus (if we exclude collabs and Gacha events):
The Cyclones.
Here is the wiki page for Them Cyclones in case you wanted to know more about them :)
While there are many other enemies and Units, I find the Cyclones' design to be perfect for a collab between Battle cats and Limbus.
The Cyclones are Bosses mainly fought in two ways: their main stage, and their Revenge stages.
The Revenge stages are harder versions that get unlocked after beating the main stage with the first having limitations and the second having different and stronger Enemies to support the Cyclones.
Now before introducing the Cyclones and how they would work here in Limbus:
How would the stages be integrated to the game?
The stages would have two difficulties, similarly to most events, so in total it would have 22 stages ( two for each Cyclone), The difficulties would be Normal; the normal battle, gives an E.G.O after it is won, E.G.O grade is different depending on the Cyclone's "Fighting stage" (aka when it is advised to fight the Cyclones, TETH for Early, HE for Mid-Game and WAW for Late-Game Cyclones) E.G.O Drop rate isn't 100% however, it starts lower, let's say 25%, You can increase the chance to get the E.G.O by either replaying the Normal stage of the Cyclone, or beating the Revenge stage to instantly get the E.G.O (so 25% for Normal first victory, increases by 20% for every Normal victory on the same level, and 100% on Revenge stages if you don't want to grind the Normal ones).
The E.G.Os' skills would all have the same name; "Eye Of The Storm", and their passives would have the names of the stages (for example; Crimson Catastrophe for the Red Cyclone, I'm sure there are better ideas out there though).
I'm bad at drawing so I can't give artistic representations for the E.G.Os, but I feel like they would look cool if they had the Eye in the middle of their body in the awakening skills but the Eye becomes in the middle of their head in the Corrosion skills, again if you have better ideas comment them or draw them I'd love to see them :)
Also yes that would mean only 11 sinners out of 12 get the E.G.Os and honestly I don't know a good way to fix this problem, if you have an idea please comment it, maybe a single E.G.O Gacha event or something like that?
And now, finally, onto the most tiring of the topics (I don't post a lot, I mainly comment):
The Cyclones, Their Boss Fights, And Obtainable E.G.Os:
I will provide an Image of the Cyclones as I talk about them so you get an image of how they look :)
1. The Red Cyclone (Early):
Yes the Red enemies in BC are kinda orange sometimes
The first Cyclone, its mechanics consist of Bleed and increasing abilities/damage/coins depending on said Bleed, it doesn't really have much to it in BC other than its Damage, so I gave it Bleed because haha Red.
The one to get the E.G.O is Ryoshu, mainly because the Cyclone is known for its high damage, and Ryoshu is also known for her highly damaging attacks, similarly to the Cyclone the E.G.O would have a Bleed kit.
2. The White Cyclone (Early):
Every BC veteran knows this bozo is floating
The Second Cyclone (at least in the wiki), its mechanics consist of good clashing and buffing itself depending on the skill used, it also doesn't have much going for it in BC, but from my experience with it, it got some good pushing power, mainly due to it only having one trait (Floating) and being quite early in the game so you don't have many things good against it, the buffing comes from it having annoying support in BC.
The one to get the E.G.O here is Yi sang, mainly because he reminds me of this Cyclone, yeah that's it, his kit would be good clashing power and buffs to allies and himself.
3. The Black Cyclone (Early):
This and the Red one were the easiest imo
The Third Cyclone, its mechanics consist of Bind and Tremor, the Bind is because it has the ability to Knock Back your Units in BC with a 20% chance so it effectively makes them slower, though it wouldn't be that big, and I feel like Tremor fits it for some reason.
The one to get its E.G.O is Sinclair, Maybe because he sometimes feels he's a burden on the gang (or used to feel, he gettin better, mama Ryoshu is teaching him well) so he "Knocks them Back", his kit is, just like the Cyclone, is Bind and Tremor.
4. The Metal Cyclone (Mid-Game):
Finally, the interesting ones start
The Fourth Cyclone, its Mechanics would be kinda hellish and PTSD inducing to RR2 veterans, you see, in BC metal enemies only get 1 damage, unless it's a critical attack, in which case the metal entity receives 100% of the attack (including the critical modifier), so this boss in Limbus would have high resistance to all types of attacks, other than Critical attacks, which it would be fatal to, and to make it more possible to win the fight with any team the boss would have a passive that gives 1 poise count for every clash win and 1 potency for every non-Critical attack the sinner lands on it, it would be a chore but very possible, also the boss also gains 1 poise count for every clash it wins and 1 potency for every attack it lands, also it gains poise count and potency from its skills.
If you don't have any poise IDs then you can use a support ID to get the job done, again the attacks become FATAL to it on Crits, so even one ID that can constantly Crit is fine.
Of course, Meursault gets the metal E.G.O, its kit is basically gives him high aggro, 10 protections, and some poise, however it has downsides, mainly that it slows him down a lot and, just like the boss, his passive makes Critical attacks Fatal against him.
5. The Divine Cyclone (Mid-Game):
Sanzo carry :)
The Fifth Cyclone, its mechanics would be similar to The White Cyclone (above-average clashing power and small buffs), but also has a multitude of Debuffs it inflicts on the sinners, specially attack and defense Debuffs.
Don gets its E.G.O, mainly because Angels are supposed to be good and all that, also kinda yellow, its kit would be Decent clashing, Sanity gain, attack and defense Debuffs.
6. The Cosmic Cyclone (Mid-Game):
Yes, Alien is a trait in BC, cool design though
The Sixth Cyclone, its mechanics consist of generally higher speed than other Cyclones (it has higher reach in BC so Higher speed in Limbus allows it to hit sinners more freely) and a permanent buff it gains after a percentage of HP is lost.
Hong Lu gets its E.G.O, mainly because he is "alien" to our group in the way of him originating from a rich family (actual family not adopted) so he kinda says things our sinners don't really understand, his kit is gaining Haste and dealing very high damage, deals even more damage if he lost a percentage of HP.
7. The Perfect Cyclone (Mid-Game):
Yes I also thought that a \"perfect\" Cyclone would be a fusion of the others, maybe later
The Seventh Cyclone, its Mechanics would be having Unclashable skills (mainly because it has really high range, but a blindspot that can be used to attack it) that deal generally low damage but can be devastating if left unchecked, its clashable skills deal higher damage and can bind Units though.
Of course, Faust gets its E.G.O because of how she can think of herself (or the Faust network) to be perfect, the Awakening skill has high coin power and can bind, the Corrosion skill on the other hand, is Unclashable but can inflict paralyze this and next turn, while also dealing high damage.
8. Zyclone (Late Mid-Game, so it can be a WAW):
Probably my favorite design, the moving eye I guess
The Eighth Cyclone, his mechanics would consist of simply Rupture, and always reviving when dying.
Explanation: in BC most Zombie enemies have the ability to revive, this guy is one of the few that can infinitely revive, unless you use a Unit with Zombie Killer which would not allow it to revive, note that Zombies become in a Corpse state after dying which in BC can not be normally hit unless with another special ability (you can visit the wiki for more info).
The reviving in Limbus would be similar, but after dying, it becomes a corpse that you need to kill in the same turn (turn after first killing him) and after a turn, if the corpse was not destroyed it revives, basically a DPS check, but the corpse's HP would be set to only 500, and it would be Weak to all attack types (Slash, Pierce and Blunt) so having at least 5 of your sinners hit it with a skill2 or an E.G.O that can deal 100 damage (which is common) is enough, and even then, unlike in BC where it revives with 100% HP after a while from becoming a corpse, it only revives with 40% HP here to minimize the suffering and each revive reduces it by 10% until it starts reviving with only 1% HP, in which case you can probably kill him by breathing in his general direction.
The one to get his E.G.O is Heathcliff, mainly because purple, and Zombies in BC have a thing with returning (Burrowing under ground and returning up after moving a while, and returning from the dead) and Heath also has a thing with returning (returning to Cathy, and now returning Cathy) its kit would be Rupture support and the passive would be related to reviving, basically making Heath staggered and gain 50 HP when he gets hit with a killing blow, Enemies would still murder him if they deal about 50 damage to him here though.
Also while this guy doesn't burrow in BC, it would be cool if he did here, because he isn't limited to the game's rules in Limbus.
9. Super Cosmic Cyclone (Late-Game):
Quite the difficult fella if you're not ready
The Ninth Cyclone, its mechanics would consist of heavy Rupture and some Sinking, also gives itself Charge, with his special ability being that it immobilizes targets (yes, immobilize usage) that it hits, but it does not hit immobilized targets, and if every Sinner is immobilized it does a very strong AoE attack, this here is to mimic its ability from BC, which is warp, basically teleporting the Unit away (it won't attack, but also not be attacked until it teleports back to the field).
The sinner to get its E.G.O is Gregor, because he feels he is even more "Alien" than any one around him, barely thinking of himself as even human so I think the "Super Alien" fits him, its kit would be Charge, heavy Rupture applying, and some Sinking support, his Corrosion skill allows him to immobilize the targets he hits, but also staggers him next turn, making him useless for a turn.
10. Relic (Primeval) Cyclone (Late-Game):
You can probably guess the sinner just by its name :)
The Tenth Cyclone, its mechanics would be a special debuff only it (and its E.G.O) can inflict, Curse (or Relic Curse if there is already a debuff here called curse, I forget), similarly to BC, it would basically make the affected Entity unable to inflict any effect, mostly debuffs like Burn, Rupture, Tremor etc. also it would get a permanent buff after missing a percentage of HP.
The Curse can last for multiple turns depending on the count, and the Boss would have attacks that deal 0 damage but inflict Curse on targets.
The one to get its E.G.O is, of course, Outis, Because old, also because I feel like it fits, her earrings maybe? she just has its menacing aura I guess, its kit would be Curse, which works similarly to the Boss' Curse, Also dealing more damage based on missing HP.
11. Aku Cyclone (Late-Game):
Aku means Demon btw
The (Currently) Eleventh and Final Cyclone, its mechanics would consist of heavy Sinking application, and a special Shield that regenerates every amount of HP lost, the Shield HP would be its current HP to minimize the suffering that exists for it in BC (its Shield HP is always its max HP iirc), it would also have a check were, when passed can instantly break the Shield, simplifying the Boss.
The one to get its E.G.O is Ishmael, mainly because of her "Great Evil" stuff (its stage's name is "The Great Diablo" meaning the great demon, and demon can = evil I guess), its kit would be Sinking and giving Ishmael and some other allies a shield.
Final Words and Notes :
If you're reading this, thanks for reading this long post, I apologize for its large size but I had this Idea bottled in my cranium for a while now and the things to talk about just kept increasing.
If you have any feedback please comment it, I enjoy reading comments and if you have your own ideas, also comment them, I'd like to know what you think.
Some notes:
Apologies if the formatting is weird or bad, this is my first actual Text post in Reddit, I mostly just comment, also I'm thinking of making a post about how the sinners would translate into BC as Units but currently I have exams coming in the next weeks so at a later time hopefully.
:)
submitted by yaseralansarey to limbuscompany [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 00:12 Lanzen_Jars A job for a deathworlder [Chapter 169]

[Chapter 1] ; [Previous Chapter] ; [Discord + Wiki] ; [Patreon]
Chapter 169 – A moment of truth. A moment to lie.
Shida exhaled slowly as she flew in a parallel line along the massive, slowly rotating hull of the Sun. The near true-black surface of the enormous ship loomed ominously next to her, tricking her brain into the impression that it was somehow trying to pull her tiny little hunter into it like a black hole or some shadowy portal. Though obviously, that was just a literal trick of the light.
Activating her frontal thrusters yet again to slow the momentum of her flight, she just barely noticed the movement on the hull next to her as something adjusted to the now slowing movement of her cargo. A moment later, a harpoon much like the one she herself had fired into the lump of molten material that had solidified around the still dutifully pinging black box shot against the precious debris, latching onto it and connecting it to the larger ship.
With the press of a button, Shida's own harpoon then automatically shot off its tip before her hunter reeled in the connecting cable as well as the remaining rod. Almost as soon as she was detached, the Sun's harpoon already began to reel the black box lump in as well.
It admittedly took a bit of time and finesse, but this process was still much easier than trying to somehow land with the barely controllable lump of hull-slag still attached to her ship.
Rubbing a hand over one of her hears, Shida released a mild huff before then firing her engines up again as she adjusted her course to fly around the ship and find her way into the dock.
Once the slightly precarious maneuver of flying through the relatively narrow, rotating tunnel that was her entrance was overcome, the feline turned her hunter onto 'life support' mode as she sat back, since she would have to wait for the atmosphere in the dock to be reinstated before she could even think about getting out.
Suddenly, a comm came in for her, making her ears twitch as she listened up.
“Please move your ship to the corner of the dock and stand by, Lieutenant-Commander,” the voice from her radio informed her briefly. “The dock will be needed for the landing of an urgent shuttle. Atmosphere cannot be reinstated before it has landed.”
Blinking slightly, Shida stared at her console for a moment. Shuttle? Why was there shuttle flying around in a situation like this?
Luckily, it didn't even take a full second before her brain fired up again and she quickly reached for the button to activate her own microphone.
“Copy that,” she said before quickly starting her ship up again, just enough so that she could slowly roll it into the dock's corner. Once there, she activated her microphone again. “Standing by,” she announced before leaning back once again.
She released a long exhale as she stared at the wall that was now right in front of her. And as she sat there with nothing to do but to think while she was surrounded by an airless room, she slowly began to feel that something was wrong.
Not with the situation, no. Even if she still wondered why the hell a shuttle was dicking around out there just after an active combat situation, that wasn't what was irking her. Though, admittedly, she also didn't really know what was. Was it something about herself? Not really. She felt fine.
Though, after a few more moments of being alone with her thoughts, it slowly began to hit her. Why did she feel so fine?
Not that she had expected to be totally broken up by a combat situation, even if it was sudden. She was trained for that much, she sure would hope that she wouldn't let it get to her too much. However, while not being too stressed out was one thing...why wasn't she angrier?
The last few times she had so much as heard about an attack, she had been absolutely livid. Blood-boilingly so. And that didn't even come close to how she had felt when she saw the victims of the attack on the detention center...
But now? She was calm. They had just been attacked out of nowhere. She had been dragged into a sudden battle. So many people, both foe and friend, had died today. And she was sad about that. She felt the remorse about the people who had been killed here. She even felt the aftereffects of pulling the trigger herself down in her stomach. But apart from that? Nothing.
What was different now? Where was that fire? And more importantly...was it good or bad that it was so suddenly gone?
Prooobably something to bring up with Dr. Nasution once she got an opportunity to attend her next session, which would probably be quite soon given current circumstances. It had been a while with everything that was going on, but she figured there was at least a good chance that their 'pleasure cruise' would not be continuing after everything that had occurred.
It seemed that the coreworlds were even more hostile ground than they had imagined.
About a quarter of an hour later, the announced shuttle had finally settled down and all hatches were sealed shut while air was slowly funneled back into the room. It took maybe a minute or two more before a specialized sensor in her ship informed her with a glowing light on her console that the surroundings were once again breathable, meaning she could safely open her hatch.
Pressing the corresponding button, the hatch of her ship sprang open, releasing a slight hiss as the seal was broken and air-exchange with the outside took place for the first time since she had closed it.
Once it was open, Shida could already hear some commotion as a large group of people came immediately flooding into the room as soon as it was safe to do so, and once she had climbed out onto the wing of her ship, she could see that they had come bearing large bags as they hurried towards the shuttle, which was currently in the process of lowering its ramp.
Resisting her urge to stand and stare to see what was going on, Shida climbed off the wing in order to go and properly announce her return.
However, almost as soon as her feet made contact with the dock's floor, she suddenly felt how she was almost taken off her feet by another body crashing into hers, startling her so much that her claws were already coming out as her arms raised to meet her sudden tackler – though a combination of a familiar scent and breathing luckily soothed her nerves long before her aware mind could catch up to who had run into her there.
Instead of sinking their claws in, her hand laid flatly down on James' broad back as her arms wrapped around him to return his sudden hug. As she held him, she could feel that he was quite unsteady on his feet, and she subtly supported him to not loose his footing as they embraced for a long moment.
A bit of a purr started up in her chest as she leaned her head against his. She didn't say anything, worrying that it may come off as mockery if she did, but she could feel that he had been worried about her. And although she obviously didn't like making him worry – especially since she knew how much that stung after having to worry about him way too often recently - she still couldn't deny that she always appreciated getting to feel just how much he cared about her so directly, and a warm feeling spread throughout her as her purr intensified.
Though admittedly, she could've done without the firm kiss he pressed onto her cheek after a moment. Still, she knew that it was an important expression of his care to him, and so she simply closed her eye on the kissed side and endured it for a moment before he finally pulled away.
Looking at his reddened face, she could read right off it that he wanted to say something like 'Don't ever do that again' or anything in that vein, but obviously he also knew that she was just doing her duty, and so he held his tongue.
His mouth opened a bit, presumably to say something else, however the chaotic and from this distance slightly incoherent shouting of the group that had rushed in earlier now meeting with the crew of the shuttle interrupted him, catching both of their attentions as they looked over.
As they did, Shida's eyes widened slightly once she realized what the chaotic scene she was looking at there really was. A stretcher carrying Admiral Krieger was wheeled down the shuttle's ramp, surrounded by medics and doctors working on her on all sides.
Her skin was a ghostly white, far more so than even her usual pale complexion, and fully on display as the remains of her uniform were under her in tattered, cut-open rags, leaving her almost entirely exposed except for her most private area and her right leg, which had been covered with a white sheet. Every other inch of her skin seemingly had to remain free as the medical personnel worked on it from all angles; sticking her with needles or attaching cables, tubes and electrodes to her as she was rolled along. Two blood bags were already dripping fresh life into her at that point, and by the look of things, a third one was soon to follow.
Still, the almost body-horror-esque sight of the doctors trying to preserve her life was by far not the most gruesome one the scene offered. That honor belonged to her uncovered left leg. Or at least...what was left of it...
Shida's ear twitched as her concentration on the scene was briefly interrupted by a soft voice speaking right next to her.
“Mama...” James mumbled aghast, causing Shida's eyes to widen slightly.
It was one of the few words from his native language that the feline actually knew. “Mom”. And hearing it out of James' mouth was an almost bizarre experience. James never called his mother mom or any similar term of endearment. In fact he made it a point not to.
Granted, in this case, it was unlikely that he had consciously made the choice to do it in this case, however the sheer fact that it would slip out of him like this spoke volumes of just how deeply the shock of seeing her in that state reached.
Not that Shida didn't understand, of course. Familial bonds or not, the Admiral was...well, of course they both knew that she wasn't untouchable by any measure. Far from it. She was just a person like anybody else in the end.
However, knowing that she could get hurt and actually seeing it were two very different things, apparently.
In the corner of her vision, she noticed how James suddenly began to move in the direction of the ongoing rescue, and she quickly jolted forwards to stop him, wrapping her arm around him firmly as she held him back from getting in the way of anything.
Luckily, apart from a brief push that only lasted for as long as it took him to realize that he had been stopped, he didn't resist her as she restrained him from approaching any further, and so the both of them just watched as the stretcher was rolled along and ultimately out of the dock.
“That was meant for me...” James mumbled, clearly thinking aloud as he kept staring at the door even after it had closed again.
Immediately, Shida pulled him in firmer, side-hugging him as she pressed her body up to his.
“She wouldn't have traded places with you if you tried to force her,” she assured him while pushing her face against his shoulder. She knew that the relationship of those two was rocky to say the least, however she still knew that much to be true. Whether she was the motherly type or not, if anything, the Admiral was just as stubborn as James was, especially when it came to duty.
James stood frozen for a bit, seemingly not exactly knowing what to do with his feelings in his current state. Shida could only imagine how much ethanol was still flowing through his veins at that time, mixed with a cocktail of all kinds of different hormones and endorphins. With all of this added back-and-forth stress, she couldn't blame him for struggling to hold onto a single thought at that time.
“Oh, James!” a new voice suddenly joined the fray, whipping both of their attentions around yet again as even more bodies emerged from the shuttle, having presumably stood back to make room while the rescue efforts were ongoing.
But now that the coast was clear, so to speak, two familiar large forms came lumbering down the shuttle's ramp.
Moar and Congloarch looked...rattled...to say the least. With Moar, it was understandable. She probably didn't have all too much experience of standing right next to a dying person as every thinkable thing was done to them to keep them alive, so Shida wouldn't have thought twice about it had it just been her.
However, the tonamstrosite was a...different story. His four eyes didn't scan the room or focus on different things at all. All four of them were pointed straight ahead with only very loose seeming focus on the people he was approaching as he walked.
His mouth hung slightly open, and he seemed to push his tongue out just a little bit while the fleshy muscle twitched up in place before settling down again, over and over, making it appear almost as if he was subtly retching.
James' stormy mind seemed to immediately latch onto the the possibility to focus on anything and went right along with a wave of his usual compassion as his eyes fell onto the to giants. This time, Shida didn't hold him back as he hurried in their direction.
“What in chaos' name happened?” he asked once he was just a few steps away from them, though even in his now focused and concerned state you could clearly tell from his gait that he wasn't quite all there.
“Oh James...” Moar repeated, struggling to speak as she shuddered in place where she stood, both of her clawed hands firmly hooked into her long fur as if clinging on for dear life.
Releasing a deep groan, Congloarch shook himself so heavily that a grinding sound came from some of the plates along his body.
“There was an attack,” the large reptile then said the quite obvious before shaking again. “There was...an invasion-” he kept describing before pausing abruptly, turning his head away as his tongue pushed itself up again, causing him to clearly struggle to suppress whatever urge overcame him at that moment.
Shida's ears and tail sank deeply as she watched those two. She could only imagine what could've occurred to have even Congloarch so broken up. And she could see it on James' face that his heart sank just as much, even if less outwards signs clearly showed it.
Slowly, Shida began to walk up to Moar at an even pace. As she did so, she gently nudged James in the direction of the other giant while passing him, knowing that he had the better relationship to the tonamstrosite out of the two of them.
Taking the hint without issue, James walked up to the enormous reptile and placed his hand on the highest part of the man he could reach while Shida leaned up against Moar's plushy leg comfortingly.
“It's alright,” James then said softly, patting his hand against Congloarch's armored skin gently while also leaning his face against the side of the giant's body. “You don't have to talk about it right now. You can take some time.”
The reactions of the two giants were very different, but at the same time equally appreciative of the soothing contact.
Moar leaned down as one of her hands unclenched from her fur to reach for Shida, reciprocating the gentle touch through an innate social drive. Seemingly on instinct, her hand went right for Shida's hair, seemingly seeking the contact with fur since that is what another rafulite would provide, and so the old lady simply petted through Shida's hair in gentle strokes while the feline pressed up against her.
Meanwhile, Congloarch seemed to simply relax in place as James leaned against him, making no effort to initiate any form of contact himself as his eyes slowly closed.
It even went so far that it seemed like he needed to put in a conscious effort to not lay down right then and there, which would've probably been inappropriate in the middle of a dock. In fact, all of this was probably inappropriate for this place, but sometimes what had to be done had to be done.
Still, with James being only somewhat in-commission right now, Shida eventually felt it to be her duty to coax everyone out of the dock once she felt that things had calmed down enough to move so they could continue this at a calmer, more private location, where the two giants could truly focus on processing everything that had happened.
–
A gentle humming filled the air, stirring her awake as light uncomfortably shone through her twitching lids while she struggled back and forth between a conscious and unconscious state.
Though once she finally pushed herself far enough into awareness to gain control over the motion and slowly forced her eyes fully open, even if she still had to squint heavily against the light from above, she glanced around through her blurry vision, instinctively searching for the source of the increasingly familiar sound of the hummed song.
She recognized the melody. It was the 'Ode to strange suns', a very old and very famous song that first emerged back in the early days of Earth's interstellar travel, when traversing light-years to reach another star-system was still a daunting endeavor. It was often sung by those in the primitive ships, often called 'tubes', to give them hope during their bleak journey. A melancholic song about giving up your life just to see what's out there – and one day push your people so far beyond what they had once been.
So far, they hadn't quite reached the lofty goal that the song set for humanity, since it spoke of mapping every star and finding eternity too short and infinity too small for their ambitions. According to the song, the day would come when 'no more strange suns rise'. What an idea that was...
Still, even more so than the song itself, she recognized the soft voice that was humming it, and her heart lifted at the implications of hearing it. She felt soft sheets rustling underneath her head as she slowly turned her face towards the sound, and the corners of her lips slowly lifted into a smile as her eyes, which were gently tearing from the harsh light biting into them so suddenly, fell onto the scene before her.
Nia sat slightly leaned against the headrest of her bed with her eyes closed, the room's white light gently playing over her dark yet soft features as she turned her face in the Admiral's direction while softly swaying her head to the rhythm of her humming, not moving it more than a centimeter with each tilt so her gentle dance wouldn't interfere too much with the work of James' hands. He sat behind her with both hands behind her back, gently holding her hair as he weaved it into long braids with practiced motions. There was a clear 'weakness' to Nia's movements, and the way she sat strongly indicated that she likely lacked the strength to completely hold herself up on her own.
And yet despite that, her humming was cheerful and content as she had her hair braided by her brother. She seemed...at peace.
After simply observing the scene for a few long moments, feeling like she could get lost in the sight if she wasn't careful, Admiral Krieger then tried to push herself up a bit, however the attempt was short-lived as a searing pain shot through her right shoulder as soon as she put any pressure onto that side of her body, forcing her to flop back down almost immediately. And as soon as she did, the pain quickly dissipated into a mellow numbness that was all too familiar to her.
She was on some strong painkillers, she could tell. Therefore, if it still hurt like that when she attempted to move, moving was probably a bad idea. Not that she couldn't have borne the pain if it was necessary, however the sight of her children like that told her that it very clearly wasn't. Whatever other challenges and battles the future may have had in store for them, this was a moment of peace, and she should use it for her recovery while she still could.
Meanwhile, her movement and brief hiss of pain had naturally not gone unnoticed. Once her eyes were no longer closed from the brief jolt of pain, she saw that Nia's eyes had now also opened. Her humming had stopped as the sweet girl's face lit up upon noticing that the Admiral was truly awake and had not just shifted around in her sleep.
“James!” she exclaimed, trying to move so suddenly that she accidentally pulled on her own hair that was still firmly in her brother's grasp, before he could react and adjust to her movements. Uncaring about the brief discomfort that surely caused, Nia excitedly lifted her hand to point at the Admiral, however James already had a knowing look on his face.
“I saw,” he replied, clearly far less focused on the braiding process than his demeanor would indicate from the outside. He quickly finished up the in-process braid between his fingers and fixated it with a small, golden, tube-shaped clasp before letting go of Nia's hair, thus allowing her to freely move her head around again.
Nia then looked over at her while James slowly stood up and moved to the corner of the room.
“How are you feeling, Sophia?” Nia asked in a gentle tone that did nothing to hide her happiness, her eyes gleaming slightly in the light as tears began to well up within them.
The Admiral released a long exhale as she settled into the sheets, though her eyes never left Nia's face – apart from a very brief moment of them following James to see where he was going. Nia looked slightly messy with her hair half-braided and the light-blue gown she wore all crumpled up, however just like her earlier humming, that messiness had a certain peace to it that allowed the Admiral to relax.
“Just how I look, I suspect,” she replied, the smile on her face returning. “I'm glad to see you awake again.”
“Hey, that's my line!” Nia jokingly complained with a mild chuckle that audibly got very close to shifting into a soft sob at one point.
At this point, James had returned from the corner of the room, walking up to the side of Nia's bed opposite to the one he had been sitting at previously. And with him, he had brought a large wheelchair.
Briefly, he turned his head towards his mother, the look on his face rather unreadable. For a moment, his mouth twitched, and it seemed like he wanted to say something. However ultimately, he pulled his gaze away again before anything was said.
Without complaint, Nia allowed her brother to lift her out of the bed and into the wheelchair, before he slowly pushed her over to the side of the Admiral's bed.
Almost immediately once she was within reach, Nia's hand found hers, holding it gently while James was once again on the move, this time towards a bedside-drawer that stood in between both of their beds.
Opening it, he briefly rummaged through it before pulling out an arrangement of small items, with which he then sat down next to the Admiral as well.
Leaning down, he gently reached for her face in a gesture that could've been mistaken for tenderness, had his fingers not reached to pull her lids open a bit with gentle force right before he shone a bright light directly into her eyes. Despite the uncomfortable nature of the action, Admiral Krieger didn't resist it in any way, physically or otherwise.
After he had ensured her pupils worked properly, James then gently grabbed her by her chin and moved her face around so that she looked straight 'ahead', which in this case meant right up to the ceiling while he got up a bit to loom over her.
“Aaaaaah,” he then ordered while holding a clear, plastic tongue-suppressor close to her mouth.
Following the order without hesitation, the Admiral opened her mouth widely, though she forewent the actual saying of 'aaah' in the process. Soon enough, her tongue was uncomfortably pushed down by the plastic item while she could see some light leaking out of her mouth in the corner of her vision.
After a brief moment of inspection, the pressure was already relieved and she could close her mouth again as James moved away from her, checking some of the monitors of devices that were attached to his mother in various ways.
The Admiral couldn't help but gently chuckle at the professionalism he clearly very deliberately employed as he dealt with her waking up. It was a nice act, however, she was smart enough to know that, since he didn't call anyone in to do it, he likely had asked to conduct these precautionary examinations himself instead of calling a doctor in for it, likely promising to call in someone more professional than himself should he find anything actually worrying.
But, based on his reactions, it seemed like everything was in working order. At least the vitals she could see on the monitors herself certainly were. Not exactly 'healthy', of course, but also not directly concerning for someone who had just gone through the wringer like she had.
Or, well...she didn't quite know how 'just' it had been. She was admittedly a bit too groggy to fully remember the exact date and time during which the attack leaving her injured had taken place, which meant even the clock on the wall was of very little help with determining just how long she had been out for.
“Do you feel anything strange?” James asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Any pain? Nausea? Discomfort?”
Krieger shook her head.
“Nothing, apart from being high as a kite,” she replied before briefly glancing down at herself. Her body was almost completely covered by a white sheet, so she couldn't exactly see anything. However, she knew what was underneath. “Though I'm sure my leg would be in a lot of pain if I could actually feel it.”
In the corner of her vision, she both saw and felt Nia flinch as she was still holding her hand, her face darkening a little.
James' expression also seemed to turn more serious after her jokingly said words, betraying his usually not horrible pokerface.
Slowly, she released a long breath.
“It's gone, isn't it?” she suspected immediately. Not surprising after the state her leg had been in when she last saw it.
Nia's face just turned even more glum at that, however James sighed and nodded.
“Most of it, yes,” he replied honestly, knowing her well enough to cut any sort of bullshit. “Though you will be glad to hear that your usual 'precautions' worked without a hitch. Your body accepted the prosthesis and you should be able to walk again almost immediately.”
She smiled.
“I always told you, it pays to be prepared,” she said, lifting her unoccupied arm with a finger playfully raised in lecture. Though then, she moved her gaze over to Nia, reaching her already raised arm over to Nia's head and pulling her in a bit closer before gently caressing her cheek. “Come on, why the frown?” she asked, giving a gentle smile. “You heard what he said, I'll be good as new.”
A returning smile fought itself through Nia's tears at the caress, and she nodded meekly – before then suddenly throwing herself forwards, out of the wheelchair and onto the Admiral in a brazen embrace.
A sharp pain once again shot through the Admiral's shoulder as another body suddenly pressed down onto hers, however this time she did not care a single bit as she moved her arms around her daughter and gently petted along her back while Nia clearly did her absolute best to suppress the quiet sobs leaving her. Meanwhile James stood next to it all with a stoic expression, only his eyes betraying the obvious compassion he felt for his sister's happiness.
Once the embrace was enjoyed and a few soft words were exchanged, he aided Nia in getting back into the wheelchair wordlessly.
And the Admiral didn't need him to say anything. The mere fact that he had decided to be here told her more than enough – even if he would likely say that he was here to visit Nia when he would be asked about it.
A few moments later, the door to the room opened, with two new people entering in a visible hurry. Though, despite their haste, both Tuya and Shida froze when they fully processed the scene they had barged into, with neither of them seemingly knowing if they wanted to proceed or not.
Taking the decision off them, the Admiral lifted her hand and waved them closer.
“Come in,” she said invitingly, not at all opposed to their presence here. Not for nothing, she was more than happy with the partners that her children had found for themselves. She could hardly have wished for better ones.
Still seeming a bit hesitant, the First-Lieutenant and Lieutenant-Commander then continued their motion, even if much slower now.
James and Nia both had pretty unreadable expressions on their faces at this point as they watched their respective partners approach. They all exchanged a long gaze with each other, which clearly told her children something that she wasn't quite privy to yet.
James was finally the one to break the silence.
“What brilliant timing,” he sighed a bit as he turned around, quickly grabbing a remote from a nearby nightstand. With it, he turned up the volume of a running but up until now muted screen that the Admiral had only been tangentially aware of so far.
Though now that everyone's attention seemed to be pulled towards it, she didn't need to be a genius to realize that something important was being broadcast there. And so she got quiet and listened, her professional seriousness returning as he fought through her slightly hazy state to not miss a detail, especially so as she saw just who the cameras were pointed towards.
Leaving her enormous head to hang slightly, Apojinorana Audoxya Tua, High-Matriarch of the zodiatos and current Acting-Leader-Supreme of the G.C.S. had taken the stage behind what had to be a house-sized podium, even if it didn't appear like it on screen.
The Admiral suppressed any feelings she had towards that vile woman as she concentrated on listening to her words.
They had seemingly missed the beginning of the conference they were not tuning into, so hopefully they hadn't missed anything important.
“...firm the attack. One of the current Nahfmir-Durrehefren, previously known as Melvolhorron, used his command over several of our ships and the loyalty of crews that had been radicalized by the ongoing galactic tensions -both zodiatos and coluyvoree- to mount the attack. No outside influence on his actions from any third-party outside of the zodiatos territories has been indicated during the investigations. The black box that was discovered by the human forces and handed over to galactic investigations in full accordance to communal law and without any resistance brought some additional light to his motivations. Among the usual logs and data you would expect to find, it also contained a seemingly deliberately saved...letter of devotion to...none other than my own person. It seems that this...tragic event turned heinous crime was something that he saw as his best chance to advance his position to that of the true Durrehefren. He seemed to believe that my devotion and favor could be gained through a decisive strike against the humans, whom he believed I hated deeply – along with all other deathworlders, it appears. It also appears that he believed this hate would go far enough that I would approve of any methods to achieve this strike against them – even an attack on not only another coreworld, but one of our oldest and most loyal allies. It's-” she cut of briefly, releasing a distressed trumpeting sound before reaching her trunk up to run its ends over her many dark eyes. “It is, of course, hard for me. Not only to have such a crime committed ostensibly in my name, but also that this seems to be an image that I have imprinted onto my people. An image of hate and discord that has radicalized them to the point that they would stoop to such levels simply to see the 'opposition' suffer. And while it is no secret that the humans have been at odds with me, I would never approve of such a heinous attack, not only because...friends of mine...were lost in it, too. And I am not free of blame. I see now that I was so focused on sternly defending us from the accusations posed against us, that I entirely forgot to also show the compassion that is so necessary at a time like this. And I want to apologize for this. Deeply. Even as the attack was committed by a blinded individual, the zodiatos will take full responsibility for it. We are willing to pay any required reparations to each of the injured parties involved, and we deeply wish that our ties we have to those harmed can be mended, be they old or new, strong or tattered. We will gladly welcome any diplomatic outreach from the injured parties as well as all others who are concerned in hopes to not only aid in the recovery of our alliances, but also in the healing of our very own souls as we will take any effort we can to move away from the hate that has caused this tragedy. Our people will not become one of violence and terror, that I swear by all three of my names. And I hope that all others follow that example, so that this tragic event may become a part of our history that will never be repeated. Now more than ever, we need to remind ourselves of the values that this galaxy was built upon. I thank each and every one of you for your attention. Success to you. Prosperity for all. Unity in the community.”
submitted by Lanzen_Jars to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.05.29 00:01 TvManiac5 To trans women: What were your first experiences reading women's literature?

So I (25, still questioning likely mtf) recently took the first dip into women's literature. It was.. interesting to say the least. One especially interesting part, is that I didn't even do it on purpose. I went to a book store a while ago, looking for a book I saw on an online article, gave the description to the clerk not remeberring the name. The book I was looking for, was a thriller. What she gave me was Kristen Hannah's Night Road. As I said, I was looking for a thriller, as I usually do read thrillers or mystery novels. Agatha Christie, Harlan Coben, Patricia Highsmith, Ian Flemming, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Patterson. Those are the kind of authors that you'll find on my library. Kristen Hannah writes women's literature.
Normally, I would have politely told her this wasn't the right book and left. But this book had an effect on me from the start. Just by reading the description of the story, I started empathizing with the protagonist, feeling her struggles, and wanting to see her ok. I found myself constantly thinking about it, wanting to learn more, looking at summaries to get details, and impulsively abandoning my original search and buying it a couple days later. This is important because I hate spoilers and I always think through what I buy. But this book was different in ways I couldn't even describe myself.
So these last few weeks and especially within the last couple days I've read it. What I expected was a coming of age story, with some drama in the middle. I got that at first. But then what followed was an emotional gutpunch, a huge drama, that caused emotions I didn't even know I had in me.
I even had to use tissues, and I haven't even teared up with another book before. The books I've read had emotional moments, but they did mostly appeal to the mind. This one went straight for the heart. And it is the kind of book that breaks it and then puts it back together. I finished it Sunday night, and I was emotionally devastated and so drained, that I'm just now two days later starting to get back to doing other things and stop constantly thinking about it.
On the one hand, reading a women's literature book and it having this kind of effect on me is affirming. But it's also terrifying. I feel like I opened a door I wasn't ready for. I was always emotionally repressed, and feeling such strong emotions all at once, feeling for the characters, crying with them, etc was overwhelming. I've been emotionally repressed most my life (basically since puberty started) and though I often felt envious for people who felt stronger emotions, it was also simpler.
So how did you feel when first reading women's literature? Did you have similar experiences and how did you deal with it if you did? Also is this kind of thing different on E? Because right now, while I did cry many times, I never felt this kind of cathartic cry that lifts the weight of your chest, that I've seen many women describe.
submitted by TvManiac5 to trans [link] [comments]

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