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Saint Louis Cardinals Baseball!
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2015.04.09 01:29 istatenation CHC Farm System
2023.05.28 05:13 hdog_23 From gf, to friend
Alr so kinda a long story. I'm in high-school and we broke up 6 months ago. So basically one day, at a football game, I was with 2 buddies of mine and one of them said there was some chick who wanted to hook up. We'll call the friend who told me justin and the other one ryan. So we get up on the bleachers and justin says this girl wants to talk to me and i'm like screw that so I send ryan to go talk to her. Then a few minutes later she's calling me over to come stand with her. I was like mmkay and I was kind of ignoring her while ryan was tryna talk to her. So the entire time she's tryna talk to me and ryan starts trying to hold her. She looked really uncomfortable. We'll call this girl marie. She dms me on insta after the game. I thought that was kinda weird. This is like before homecoming week. So basically she starts dming me asking about ryan. I try helping her the best I can. One of the events was a move night. Ryan and marie were cuddling and eventually started making out. I'm thinking like W ryan yk bc that girl was hot. Yet after she still decides to dm me telling me that the kiss was all him and not her, kinda weird she'd tell me that. Ryan starts paying less and less attention to her over hoco week and she keeps dming me. I started talking to her in school. Then the day of the powderpuff game she tells him she's not gonna make it, she tells me she's going. At the game marie and I had a really good conversation. Then ryan showed up and stood between us on the bleachers, she didn't like that. Then he was leaving to get food and asked me to come, she told me to stay with her. I said i'd be back. When I was off the bleachers I noticed her staring at me from a far. When we got back she kept talking to me. Then other people around me starting warning me bc apparently she had made out with a bunch of underclassmen at previous games. Then she panicked and told me she liked me right before she left. Tbh that made me panic. Really attractive girl but she's a hoe? I didn't know what to do. Next thing you know she invited me to take pictures for hoco and go out to eat. What was I supposed to do? say no? I'm talking like bad 10/10 female who I could talk to for days. We went as "friends". We went as friends bc I thought she needed to take things slower bc she obviously had trouble doing that. Also I learned, that same week, before we ever met she had a crush on my best friend for a year. We'll call him josh. Keep that in mind for later. So we go take pictures and out to eat. We were having a lot of fun and Justin was also going with marie's friend. We were all at the dance and obviously we're all partying and having a good time. Then she asks the question "what are we" bc she obviously wanted to date. She'd been asking so much it was pissing me off. So i said fck it and asked her out. Even though I saw all the serious red flags. She was ecstatic. Here's the thing so because we were now together she decided to dance closer to me. She was putting my hands on her waist and she was grinding on me, ect. Then we get away from everyone and fcking ed sheeran perfect starts playing. So we were slow dancing and she was smiling and giggling. She got really close to my face and then souja boy started playing. I kissed her apparently and we started making out. I can't believe I'd do that in a public place. Well after the dance we were at an after party making out and cuddling. Absolutely wild. Keep in mind my dumbass got with a girl who made out with my friend a few days prior. During The Relationship This paragraph is gonna be over a longer amount of time so I won't share every detail. Tbh I never trusted her fully but I tried my hardest. So yk it was great. I loved her and gave her everything I had. She loved me too. It was amazing. I had so many intimate, loving, ect moments with that girl. It meant so much. Though I couldn't trust her because she just seemed so promiscuous. It would start arguments. We'd take breaks (her Idea) but that wouldn't solve anything. One day we were hanging out and it got really late. It was around halloween and there were a bunch of people in costumes. She'd get scared and I was there for her to jump in my arms. We danced and kissed. We looked at each other in the most amazing way. She told me she wanted to marry me one day and that I was the one for her. It meant so much in the moment but looking back on it I wish she wouldn't have said that. Well a long time after she got snapchat. She'd seem like the type to have it but her parents were strict. She got 20k snap score in a month. Then I kept hearing these stories abt all the things she's done with other ppl. Also remember Josh? My best friend who she used to have a crush on? Yeah she added him. She also added dudes who had previously flirted with her. It also doesn't help when people tell you she's flirting with other ppl. She just said she's not and thats how she is. So she added him and snap and then she starts to think he has a crush on her. She got him to second on her snap best friends list. She was his first. It was causing us problems. She asks him if he has a crush on her. Josh says "I think you're attractive but you're with ___ ". She tells me that and i'm like no shot that is what he said. I asked him and said the same thing but he added the part "I don't have a crush on her". I tell her and she gets mad. She yells at me saying "you only asked to get the answer you wanted". Marie tells me to have josh tell her that. He tells her and she cries. I wanted to leave right in the moment. She even admitted to liking him. But she then said she still loves me. I wanted to leave and she somehow convinces me to stay. I should've left right there. Well anyways the little trust I had for her was gone. The next week we're at a party and I freaked out abt sm small. We argue and go on a break. It hurt us both. Then apparently I wasn't giving her enough space and she didn't communicate that. We break up. Then we have a call to finalize some things. We both cried. She even said she thought we could possibly get back together one day bc her parents did after 4 years. She even made this statement abt the bracelet I got her, that maybe one day someone would recognize it and we'd find each other again. Also btw that was a special bracelet with her favorite shit on it. Then she said some b.s. that we could maybe get back together in a month if we still liked each other. Let's just say we didn't. So that breakup hurt her right? It did and I know it did. You know how she dealt with it? In a week she tells josh she likes him and he says it back. They got together and kissed two weeks after we broke up. I was furious. I tore up my room. I was ranting to ppl at school. Ppl already thought she was promiscuous but that made it a little worse. So then she told me I was ruining her life and to get out of her life. Blaming me entirely. It hurt so fucking bad. So so bad. Anyways I had to deal with that for months. Seeing them together. Her with him. Her laughing, cuddling, holding his hand. Her smiling the way she would smile at me. Hearing abt all the things they were doing together. It was hard. Yk I felt so bad abt making her look bad I even apologized in person. I hate that I try and be a good person. I didn't even get an apology for her shit. After the relationship + now Eventually after a few months they had problems. He didn't trust her. He broke up with her. It was funny yk, after all of my pain, all of that shit just for him to breakup with her. I heard abt it too apparently he didn't trust her. He apparently also didn't show her twice the amount of love I did. A week and a half after they broke up she texted me "you were right". This was months after not speaking to her and I was like wtf. I asked her abt what? she never told me. Later that week I heard she was talking shit abt me which was kinda random. There was this party and she was gonna be there after work so I was planning on shit talking her to her face. Well she got there and no one was talking to her. So her depressed ass went and sat on the couch. I don't have the will power to beat someone who's already down. So I asked her if she was talking shit abt me and she cried and didn't know what I was talking about. She went to the bathroom. She came back and I was like round 2. We had a genuine convo and I even got her to get up and dance. I had to go and I said sorry I couldn't talk longer. She asked if she could call me the next day. She ended up calling me later and the call lasted until 2 in the morning. She even apologized to me for that shit she did. It was a mid apology but she was never really good with words. She even asked how I got over her but in truth I didn't. She also told me the reason she texted me was because after they broke up she tried getting with a person who was tryna play her. She knew the dude was tryna play her but she loved that he called her gorgeous. She said she has a problem being lonely because she's looking for her person. Well anyways we started becoming "friends". She starts calling me more and calls it a platonic friendship. She follows me on insta and adds me on snap. She tells me she missed talking to me. Then one night she's freaking out abt something and she goes to me for help. I calm her down and then she says sm she shouldn't have said, "maybe it was right person wrong time". That's what she said when we broke up. She also said her period would be the next day. Idk y she was comfortable telling me that, I get it i'm her ex but really? Anyways she has problems down there and her period is worse than normal. She's texting me abt it and im doing my best to help her. She's in the nurse and im there for her. I said I didn't know what to do and she was crying. I asked her if she wanted a hug and she just went into me. It was so wild. She didn't leave the hug for awhile either. Then she went home. She texted me thanking me. So that happened and she's talking to this other dude. This dude is even more of a player. She knows that. She got into a fight with her friend, she was still angry abt that so in the next week decided to lash out at me bc I wasn't telling her who told me, bc I knew abt her and the dude. I got heated. She was begging for forgiveness for days. I told her to give me space. After I got over it she said she didn't want to lose me again. A few days later she lies to my face abt the dude again. I got so mad. I said i was done with her shit ect. She said she likes talking to me and didn't want me to leave but I could if i wanted to. After a few days I said I'll remain friendly. She said "i'd love that thank you". Well she wasn't talking to that dude anymore and was talking to some other dude that wasn't good for her either. I started to realize i was obsessing over who she was talking to. I was right abt all of their problems but still. Also she had called me controlling during our relationship before. Well anyways I got into a fight my dad. The next day I made a comment and the comment pissed me off. I lashed out at her saying "are you glad you left for josh when all he did was treat you like shit". yeah she cried. She though I lashed out bc I didn't approve of the dudes she was talking to. I explained to her a few days later that it was because I still hold resentment and bitterness bc of what she did to me. I've told her I still don't like her before. I also said we shouldn't talk or be friends bc it wasn't healthy, no contact. She was okay with it. Then earlier this week, a week after I said no contact, she texts me abt her new shoes and im thinking like y did you tell me this. She comes up to me in person asking if I got her text and starts tryna talk to me. Then she says sorry for breaking the no contact and walks away. Then on wednesday I was interrogated by some girls, apparently that second player had a gf. I check snap and she un added me. I check insta and she wasn't following me either. I ask her what happened and if she was okay. She said she was doing a cleansing and she deleted her insta account. I got concerned but she told me to stay out of it. She calls me the next day telling me abt how she dyed her hair black. The then says sorry for breaking the no contact. I ask her why she called me and she's like idk you freaked out abt my deleting my insta and im like thats not the same thing. Her dying her hair and her deleting her insta is not the same thing. She said she thought it kinda was. I was like okay and said bye and hung up. I haven't talked to her in a few days now. She hasn't added me back on snap or followed me with her new insta account.
I miss her so much. I know deep down I still hold hard feelings.
I miss holding her and telling her I love her. I miss the way we'd kiss until our mouths were numb. I can't sometimes.
What more do I do?
What comes next?
submitted by hdog_23 to BreakUps [link] [comments]
I miss her so much. I know deep down I still hold hard feelings.
I miss holding her and telling her I love her. I miss the way we'd kiss until our mouths were numb. I can't sometimes.
What more do I do?
What comes next?
2023.05.28 05:10 BrownTown427 Inside The Doctor's Office - Episode X: The Impurity Of Decision Making
In the last episode, we saw Dr. Logan Wright meet quite the colorful cast of individuals. From WWE superstar Logan Paul to the beautiful bird known as Logan Flight, the Symposium of the Logang was certainly a fascinating place to be. And now, with IWF superstar “Lumberjack” Logan Lawrence motivating him to stop being so passive, FBE’s Resident Doctor looks to be on the Wright path towards becoming the most focused man he can… without the distractions of his demons…
Blitz XX: Paddy Murphy vs. Dr. Logan Wright
We’ve reached the ten minute mark of this match, and after Paddy drills the Doctor with a To Cork and Back, he starts rising to his feet. However, from the outside, we hear Sensei trying to drill something into his student:
“Paddy-san… Rememberuhhh… Target the headuhhhh…”
With that last piece of advice resonating in his own head, Paddy starts getting ready for perhaps the final sequence of the match, a Give It Some Welly ready to be hit. However, Logan also happened to hear the wisdom from Sensei, dodging the big boot to the face. He gets behind Murphy, quickly dropping him with a Relax and Eat Some (German) Soup-lex. Instead of going for another move however, Wright’s gaze shifts to the outside. He exits the ring, staring a dagger through Sensei:
“Why exactly did you tell him to target my head?”
Sensei backs up a bit, but as he does so, a crumpled up piece of paper he was holding falls to the floor. He tries to pick it back up, but Wright beats him to it, revealing it to be…the stolen medical form from his office… the information regarding his head pains. Wright looks at the paper, a calm expression on his face initially, but slowly, he loses his cool. His hands ball up into fists, his face turns a bit red…and he mouths to Sensei:
“You shouldn’t have taken that.”
Wright gets back into the ring, and though Paddy has risen to his feet by this point, Logan drops him with the Whiplash sling blade. FBE’s Resident Doctor stares at his currently downed opponent, and realizes it’s time for a medical procedure…how about a Facial Reconstruction! Wright begins stomping on Paddy’s face, knocking him unconscious, before finally putting an end to the assault with the PDF Kamigoye.
Dr. Logan Wright def. Paddy Murphy via pinfall
As the ref raises Dr. Logan Wright’s hand, the crowd begins…booing? Wright looks around, confused at the negative reaction. I didn’t cheat, I just found a way to win the match. I didn’t do anything wrong… did I? As he heads into the backstage area, he’s quickly approached by a young-looking intern, a microphone in his hand:
Reporter: “Hello, my name is Ryan St. Brown, and I’m with the-”
Logan Wright: “Hang on, your last name is St. Brown? Are you related to Amon-Ra by chance?
Reporter: “No relation.”
Logan Wright: “That’s disappointing. But go ahead, ask your question.”
Reporter: “We just saw you pick up a strong victory over one of FBE’s fan favorites in Paddy Murphy. However, at the end of the match, you clearly looked more agitated than usual, and some would say you used more force than was needed to win-”
Logan Wright: “Are you one of the people saying that?”
Reporter: “Well, I…uh…”
Logan Wright: “Look, I like Paddy and Sensei. But at the same time, they took privileged medical information from me. Sure, maybe I shouldn’t have used that PDF at the end…but should I regret using one of my standard maneuvers to win a match? No, and I don’t. Next question.”
Reporter: “Ok, fair enough. You’re doing well in the Shining Light League right now, and I have to ask: if you were to win the whole thing, who would you challenge?
Logan Wright: “I don’t like dealing with hypotheticals. I much prefer diagnosing current problems with all the information at my disposal. So I’m not answering that.”
Reporter (muttering): “Man, you’re a lot more boring in person than I thought you would be. Your answers suck.”
This comment draws the ire of Wright, who moves closer towards the reporter.
Reporter: “What? Prove me wrong. Give me a message that’s actually worthwhile, and I’ll be more than happy to rescind that comment.”
Logan Wright: “I know you’re just looking for a soundbite to try and further your career, but you’ve got my attention. Ask away.”
Reporter: “Are you the best pure rules competitor in FBE?”
Logan Wright: “You’re damn right I am. They call Inferno Baba Blitz? They ought to call me Da-Da Blitz, because all these wrestlers gunning for my title… THEY’RE CHILDREN COMPARED TO ME!”
The reporter gives a sly smirk as he walks away, having gotten what he needed. Meanwhile, Wright finds a nearby chair to sit on, putting his head down. However, his moment of silence is soon interrupted by a familiar voice:
Jared Gallagher: “Weird night for you, eh?”
Wright looks up to see his once-cameraman and friend moving towards him. However, with the doctor’s tumultuous year, their relationship became more strained, not having spoken for a while…until now.
Logan Wright: “That’s one way of putting it.”
There’s a bit of an awkward silence for a few moments, as neither man initially wants to speak. Eventually though, Gallagher gains his composure:
Jared Gallagher: “Look, I know you probably don’t wanna speak to me-”
Logan Wright: “Then maybe you should stop talking.”
Jared Gallagher: “Ok fine, but let me ask you something first: what were you doing with that last remark to the reporter? It wasn’t as cool as it likely sounded in your head.”
Logan Wright: “I was doing a play on words, what’s confusing about it?”
Jared Gallagher: “Yeah, but you do realize “Baba” translates to “father” too? So instead of being clever, you were essentially just rehashing Inferno’s nickname.”
Logan Wright: “Fuck.”
Jared Gallagher: “Forget about that though, I wanted to talk to you about something else. I heard from a little birdie that you were taking advice from Logan Lawrence.”
Logan Wright: “Logan Flight ratted on me? I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”
Jared Gallagher: “That’s not the birdie I meant…you know what, forget it. I just want you to understand that being overly aggressive isn’t the key to success. You’ve already been good up to this point, don’t lose your true self by being more of a jackass.”
Logan Wright: “Yeah, being good is fine…but I don’t wanna just be “good” anymore. I wanna be great. I want to prove myself as the pillar of something, and pure rules is the best chance I have at that. But relax, I don’t wanna just be an asshole for the sake of being one either.”
Jared Gallagher: “Ok, that’s fine. But if you want to improve… What's your next move? Gonna do some training with the rest of the Ark? Maybe ask your medical colleagues for some more dieting tips?
Logan briefly thinks about the suggestions, before he remembers something that Sensei told him…
Logan Wright: “No, I have a better idea… I’m going to Nepal.”
And with that, Dr. Wright starts heading towards the exit, a smile on his face, while Jared Gallagher is just left confused. He never even said why he was going there, what in the world is he doing…
One Week Before Unbreakable V: Kathmandu, Nepal
After a long trip, Logan Wright has finally made it into the heart of the Himalayan Mountains. He gets out of the car, paying and thanking the driver who escorted him from the airport to get to this point. He reaches into his pocket, grabbing the “business” card that led him to this location. He stares at it for a few moments, glancing up and down to make sure he’s in the right place. Yep, this is the one…
In front of Dr. Wright stands a worn-down house. It's small, with what looks to be only one story, and the white color is wearing away like the wooden beams supporting it. There’s a window near the front door, but a set of blinds are covering it up. As Logan approaches the entry-way, he smells a distinct odor of soup. Taking a breath, he knocks on the door. As he does so, a crash of glass can be heard on the other side, and there’s some momentary yelling before a tired-looking individual opens the door.
???: “May I help you?”
Logan Wright: “Hello, my name is Logan Wright. I’ve been informed that an incredibly wise teacher of medicine and healing resides here…”
???: “You’re correct, but he’s not seeing anyone today. Come back another time…”
Logan Wright: “Wait, I really need this. And I think I know one of his friends, they pointed this place out to me.”
???: “What’s the name of this friend?”
Logan Wright: “He’s known as Sensei-”
“LETT HYMN INN!”
This yelling from inside the house startles Wright, and the man at the doorway sighs, motioning for Logan to come in. As the doctor does so, he glances around the house, immediately noticing the kitchen area. Sitting at a table there is an older gentleman, with a pair of glasses on and a cane at his side, Logan quickly realizing he’s blind. The man from the doorway points for Logan to sit down with him, and Wright obliges, positioning himself in the chair next to the old individual.
Logan Wright: “Hello sir, it’s a pleasure to meet-”
???: “HALLO! IHT IST VAIRY GNEISS TWO MEAT YU! MI NEIGHME IST BLOGAN BITE!”
Wright briefly cringes at the yelling of the individual, looking back with a confused look on his face to the figure near the door. He notices a nametag on the figure he hadn’t seen before, reading “Bibek”.
Bibek: “Yeah, don’t worry about that. He’s blind and almost deaf, he needs to speak loudly to make himself sure he’s actually talking. Oh, and he said, “Hello, it is very nice to meet you. My name is Blogan Bite.”
Logan Wright: “Wait, why are you translating for him? He’s speaking directly to me, I know what he’s saying.”
Bibek: “Oh, just so the readers of this episode actually have a clue as to what’s going on.”
Logan Wright: “Wait what readers… oh, we’re doing another fourth wall break, gotcha.”
Blogan Bite: “Y HOV U CUHMM HEAR?”
Bibek: (“Why have you come here?”)
Logan Wright: “I’m looking for some advice. For a while now, I’ve felt an inner conflict in my emotional state and my moral compass. I want to be more aggressive, to try and be the best…but I don’t want to abandon the roots of my existence that helped shape me into who I am. Do you have any advice?”
Blogan Bite: “HYMMMMMM…. A TUFF PRAHBLIM INN DEED!”
Bibek: (“Hmmm… A tough problem indeed.”)
Suddenly, Blogan reaches towards his side, reaching into a bag. He shakes it around for a bit, before pulling out something from inside. He triumphantly slams it onto the table, before pushing it towards Dr. Wright. Logan looks at it for a few moments, an incredulous look on his face.
Logan Wright: “Why exactly are you… what is… what do you expect me to do with a copy of Fire and Ice by Robert Frost?
Blogan Bite: “HEE IST UHHH GRATE POE EHT! TAKEUHHH INN SPUR AYE SHUN FROMM HYMM!”
Bibek: (“He is a great poet. Take inspiration from him.”)
Logan Wright: “So… let me get this straight: your solution to my problem is…writing fucking poetry?”
Blogan Bite: “WASH YUR LANGWAGEE JUNG MANN! POEHHH TREE IST UHHH BEUTUHFULL THYNG!”
Bibek: (“Watch your language young man. Poetry is a beautiful thing.”)
Logan Wright: “Yeah but…surely there’s something that’s more suitable for my situation?”
Blogan Bite: “EYE ARM UHHH FRAYED KNOT! TEH BAHG HAHS SPOKANE!”
Bibek: (“I am afraid not. The bag has spoken.”)
Logan Wright: “Wait, do you just reach in the bag and randomly pull out an object for everyone that comes in?”
Blogan Bite: “OFF COORS! WATT ELSUHHH WOOD EYE DOO?”
Bibek: (“Of course. What else would I do?”)
Logan Wright: “Ok, I think we’re done here. Thank you for this… attempt at a recommendation. You’re truly one of the people I’ve ever met.”
As Logan gets up, Blogan extends a hand. Reluctantly, Wright shakes it, before heading to the doorway, acknowledging Bibek, and leaving the worn-down house. As he heads towards the street, he’s just left to ponder what transpired. That was dumb… traveling thousands of miles instead of just doing training was rather pointless. But as he gets in the car, ready to go back to the airport, another set of thoughts come over him. You know what…maybe I can make the best out of this situation…maybe writing poetry actually can do me some good…
Day Before Unbreakable V: Dr. Wright’s Office
With just 24 hours until Unbreakable, Jared Gallagher and Charles Crandall figure Wright is busy with training, or if nothing else, his medical work. However, they’re surprised to receive an invite to his office, and though Gallagher tries to ask him what it’s about, he gets no answer. It frustrates him, but he figures it must be important, so after grabbing a quick bite with Charles, they head over to the office. By this point in time, Crandall is fairly quiet, his eyes becoming increasingly purple for longer periods of time and Wrogan slowly and quietly influencing his personality, but the time to reveal that isn’t here…yet.
When they reach the hall outside the office, they’re surprised to see Logan standing in the doorway, a smile on his face. He invites them in, even having an assortment of pastries and desserts on the table for his friends to snack on. While Jared is quick to grab a danish, he’s also quick to raise eyebrows at this behavior.
Jared Gallagher: “Logan, what is all this for? This feels…too nice…
Logan Wright: “What, a man can’t just happen to invite his friends over for some delicious treats?”
Jared Gallagher: “You’re not fooling anyone man, just tell us why we’re here.”
Logan Wright: “Ok fine, you got me. The reason you’re here today… I wanted you to be the first screenings of my first-ever poem!”
Though Crandall is wearing sunglasses, he and Gallagher are quick to shoot each other a glance of confusion.
Jared Gallagher: “What?”
Logan Wright: “That’s right, when I went to Nepal, the man I met recommended I write poetry to ease my tensions and help me become a better person. I thought he was insane, but as I started to write, I realized…he may be right!”
Jared Gallagher: “That’s…but…I’m so confused. You didn’t even get any real training or medicinal techniques? You just got…told to write? What even is your topic?”
Logan Wright: “I’m glad you asked, old chum! I’ve entitled this poem…
An Ode To Jay…
In the garden lived a bird
Who truly loved to sing
It was a beautiful mockingjay
And through the air, its voice did ring
The bird was beloved
And believed to be a Hero
But little did the world know
Of its painful little ego
This bird fought and fought
It did everything to grow
But when abandoned by friends
It was a true low blow
Once upon a time, the group was
United, and forever in-sync
But when the Jay hit the bottle
Oh, did their PROSPECTS ever so sink
And the bird has recovered
It has regained its feathers
But little does the jay know
Of the impending, harsh weathers
For the jay may spread its wings
And fly in the dark
But it doesn’t know
Of its impending, dangerous arc
This bird will fly, and
It truly wants to win
But the true challenge is here
For the Doctor is in!
As Wright finishes his last line, his theatrical reading of the lines now finished, he finally turns towards his faithful audience. He’s met with a blank look from Charles Crandall, the sunglasses still firmly covering his eyes. And Jared… his mouth is agape, trying to process what he just heard.
Logan Wright: “So… what did you think?”
Jared Gallagher: “I… what… how… why… I don’t know what to say.”
Logan Wright: “You can show your appreciation by clapping, I worked really hard on that.”
Jared Gallagher: “I could… but let me get this straight… This is how you’re handling your upcoming rematch with Jay? Making a poem that only we’ve listened to, and not trying to find a way to, I don’t know, not finish the match in a time-limit draw?”
Logan Wright: “Forget about that, tell me if I should improve the language I used and how the poem flowed together. I could probably stand to write a poem for the tag team title match as well.”
Jared Gallagher: “Logan, Logan, Logan… Ok, if you want to live in this strange world of yours, go ahead. The poem was fine, but you weren’t exactly subtle with it, especially at the end. Like I get you want to beat Jay, and I know you were mad with what he said about you in the past…but really, finishing the entire thing about the Doctor being in? That doesn’t even make sense with the vibe you established.”
Logan Wright: “Fair critique, I’ll keep that in mind when I continue writing these.”
Jared Gallagher: “Come on man, it’s cool that you have a hobby, but I know just how much you cared about wrestling. Please, just step away from the paper and train while you still have a little bit of time left before tomorrow. I know we’re not as close as we once were…but if nothing else, do it for the rest of the Ark. Do it out of spite against Wrogan. Do it to prove that you’re not completely crazy, and that you deserve to be where you are in life.”
It’s with this line that something seems to click in Logan’s head. He looks towards Jared, nodding his head, and he moves towards his desk. He stares at all the notes and rough drafts he had been working on for his writings, a frown coming over his face.
Logan Wright: “I wish I was normal… I wish I didn’t go through these personality changes every other day. You’re right Jared…You’ve always been right. Wrestling needs to come first, and I have everything I need to stay energized. I don’t want to be passive, I don’t want to be aggressive…I just want to live. And tomorrow…things are going to get fun.”
Gallagher smiles at Wright being reinvigorated, and the pair share a quick hug. Upon Jared and Charles leaving, Dr. Wright takes a quick look in his mirror, and smiles at the expression of confidence now piercing through his eyes. He grabs his coat, turns off the light, and so begins a long and tedious night at the gym…
Night of Death Before Impurity:
Pre-Match Process
The Finals are here… and Logan Wright is in them. After weeks leading-into months of this Shining Light League Tournament running center-stage on Blitz, the Doctor has gotten to where he wanted to be…where he needed to be. As he sits in the locker room, getting himself mentally prepared for the tall task that comes with facing DTJ’s Hunter Maguire, he sees in his peripheral vision someone entering the room. He glances up, smiling to see Jared coming to visit.
Jared Gallagher: “Hey champ, how we feeling about tonight?”
Logan Wright: “Whatever happens tonight…well, what I know will happen tonight… is PURE-ly destiny.”
Jared Gallagher: “Not your best joke, but glad to see you’ve been in positive spirits recently.”
Logan Wright: “Yep, tonight has to be the moment where everything pays off…it just has to…”
Jared Gallagher: “It will… I believe in you. And if you don’t mind me asking…who would you want to face at P.U.R.E. if things go your way?”
Logan Wright: “You know I can’t answer that right now, I have to get the job done first.”
Jared Gallagher: “Fair enough, fair enough. I should be heading off…go get em’, champ.”
With that, Gallagher leaves the room, and Wright rises to his feet. He looks at his arms, then his legs, then finds the mirror. He stares into his soul…Come on out Doctor…It’s operation time…
Post-Match Press Conference
Dr. Logan Wright did it.
As he’s now backstage, being greeted with a bottle of champagne that was ordered for him, Logan is still trying to ponder what just took place out there. From the match itself… to the seconds after the match realizing he won… to the return of the legend Petite Jupiter, handing him the trophy…
It’s all absolutely surreal, and Logan is at a loss for words. However, as he gets word that reporters are waiting to get a word from him, he quickly gathers his composure. He takes a big swig from the champagne bottle, before heading into the room, waving to the assortment of familiar and different faces. He moves towards the stage, taking a seat and getting the mic setup, ready to hear questions.
Reporter #1: “That was a hell of a match you had, Dr. Wright. What’s going through your head right now?”
Logan Wright: “Honestly, half of it is just my brain screaming and the other half is random gibberish. I can’t fully process either, but when I feel this way… I’m fucking pumped. But I do wanna quickly say… I respect you Hunter, I really do. You’ve been a tough opponent twice now… but that’s all the positives I can really say right now. Fuck DTJ.”
Reporter #2: “We just witnessed the return of Petite Jupiter, and the fans certainly loved it. But what did you think about it? Did you feel as though he was stealing your thunder by returning immediately after your big moment?”
Logan Wright: “Look, I know you’re looking for a soundbite, and I caved in several weeks ago to that one reporter. I’m not gonna do that here though. I faced Petite Jupiter in 2021, and I know just how good he is. He deserved to get that electric crowd reaction, and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to hand me the beautiful Shining Light League trophy.”
Reporter #3: “But now Dr. Wright, I think we all have a question on our minds. In addition to that trophy, you have the chance to pick your challenger for P.U.R.E, and that’s a lot of power. So if you can tell us…who are you gonna be facing?
Logan smiles at the question, fully expecting it to have been asked. He glances around the room, noticing Kaze Tanaka, Code Blue, Cactus Mike, and Jared Gallagher all standing at the back. He nods at them, before getting the mic, ready to make the announcement:
Logan Wright:
“In my time in FBE, there have been times where I’ve felt…insecure. Insecure about my talent, insecure about if people actually liked me or not, and insecure about my failures especially. But 2023… let’s just say it’s been a great Spring of Stethoscopes so far. You all know I’ve held the Pure Championship for about four months now, and I’ve faced my fair share of great individuals. But this second title run… it’s missing something. My past, in particular my 2021, was riddled with failures against veterans of this company. Losses to Inferno, to Nate Matthews, to Petite Jupiter… wins were hard to come by. I turned things around in 2022, but even then, my 1st Pure Title reign came to an end at the hands of FBE’s Resident Bastard. It feels like it’s just inevitable, and a running gag…
…But nowadays, I look at myself differently. Other people look at me differently. I’ve grown into what I wanted to be, what I hoped I would be… hell, I’ve even been dubbed as being somewhat of a “Final Boss.” I don’t want to get too egotistical, but not having lost since January… man, the ship I’m on, that being the Ark of course, is on a perfect path. But sometimes, it’s better to go for a different path, a path that stands out…to maybe make history…
So with that, this decision has drifted in my mind, and I’ve weighed all my options carefully. I’ve considered juniors and heavyweights. I’ve considered people from my past or completely fresh opponents. I’ve considered people who would die to win the Pure Championship, or even those who have disrespected it, to show them what it’s all about. But after a while, something finally clicked in my head. I’ve tried to forget that previously mentioned “can never beat a veteran legend” stigma, but until I get a decisive win, it’ll always float right alongside the ocean that contains my thoughts and dreams. So I will be challenging a long-time competitor of FBE, a man who has wrestled here for many years…
But the question of who was certainly a fascinating one…for about a minute. For once this name came to me, it never escaped. This man has held his share of championship gold, This man knows a thing or two about being dubbed a “Final Boss.” And this man has quite the past experience against the Ark… except with me. And to this man, I officially extend the challenge…if he's willing to accept it...
The stage is set…the main event of P.U.R.E…for the FBE Pure Championship…The match you reporters and all the worldwide fans of FBE will get to witness is…
Doctor Logan Wright vs. Apeirogone
submitted by BrownTown427 to FantasyBookingElite [link] [comments]
Blitz XX: Paddy Murphy vs. Dr. Logan Wright
We’ve reached the ten minute mark of this match, and after Paddy drills the Doctor with a To Cork and Back, he starts rising to his feet. However, from the outside, we hear Sensei trying to drill something into his student:
“Paddy-san… Rememberuhhh… Target the headuhhhh…”
With that last piece of advice resonating in his own head, Paddy starts getting ready for perhaps the final sequence of the match, a Give It Some Welly ready to be hit. However, Logan also happened to hear the wisdom from Sensei, dodging the big boot to the face. He gets behind Murphy, quickly dropping him with a Relax and Eat Some (German) Soup-lex. Instead of going for another move however, Wright’s gaze shifts to the outside. He exits the ring, staring a dagger through Sensei:
“Why exactly did you tell him to target my head?”
Sensei backs up a bit, but as he does so, a crumpled up piece of paper he was holding falls to the floor. He tries to pick it back up, but Wright beats him to it, revealing it to be…the stolen medical form from his office… the information regarding his head pains. Wright looks at the paper, a calm expression on his face initially, but slowly, he loses his cool. His hands ball up into fists, his face turns a bit red…and he mouths to Sensei:
“You shouldn’t have taken that.”
Wright gets back into the ring, and though Paddy has risen to his feet by this point, Logan drops him with the Whiplash sling blade. FBE’s Resident Doctor stares at his currently downed opponent, and realizes it’s time for a medical procedure…how about a Facial Reconstruction! Wright begins stomping on Paddy’s face, knocking him unconscious, before finally putting an end to the assault with the PDF Kamigoye.
Dr. Logan Wright def. Paddy Murphy via pinfall
As the ref raises Dr. Logan Wright’s hand, the crowd begins…booing? Wright looks around, confused at the negative reaction. I didn’t cheat, I just found a way to win the match. I didn’t do anything wrong… did I? As he heads into the backstage area, he’s quickly approached by a young-looking intern, a microphone in his hand:
Reporter: “Hello, my name is Ryan St. Brown, and I’m with the-”
Logan Wright: “Hang on, your last name is St. Brown? Are you related to Amon-Ra by chance?
Reporter: “No relation.”
Logan Wright: “That’s disappointing. But go ahead, ask your question.”
Reporter: “We just saw you pick up a strong victory over one of FBE’s fan favorites in Paddy Murphy. However, at the end of the match, you clearly looked more agitated than usual, and some would say you used more force than was needed to win-”
Logan Wright: “Are you one of the people saying that?”
Reporter: “Well, I…uh…”
Logan Wright: “Look, I like Paddy and Sensei. But at the same time, they took privileged medical information from me. Sure, maybe I shouldn’t have used that PDF at the end…but should I regret using one of my standard maneuvers to win a match? No, and I don’t. Next question.”
Reporter: “Ok, fair enough. You’re doing well in the Shining Light League right now, and I have to ask: if you were to win the whole thing, who would you challenge?
Logan Wright: “I don’t like dealing with hypotheticals. I much prefer diagnosing current problems with all the information at my disposal. So I’m not answering that.”
Reporter (muttering): “Man, you’re a lot more boring in person than I thought you would be. Your answers suck.”
This comment draws the ire of Wright, who moves closer towards the reporter.
Reporter: “What? Prove me wrong. Give me a message that’s actually worthwhile, and I’ll be more than happy to rescind that comment.”
Logan Wright: “I know you’re just looking for a soundbite to try and further your career, but you’ve got my attention. Ask away.”
Reporter: “Are you the best pure rules competitor in FBE?”
Logan Wright: “You’re damn right I am. They call Inferno Baba Blitz? They ought to call me Da-Da Blitz, because all these wrestlers gunning for my title… THEY’RE CHILDREN COMPARED TO ME!”
The reporter gives a sly smirk as he walks away, having gotten what he needed. Meanwhile, Wright finds a nearby chair to sit on, putting his head down. However, his moment of silence is soon interrupted by a familiar voice:
Jared Gallagher: “Weird night for you, eh?”
Wright looks up to see his once-cameraman and friend moving towards him. However, with the doctor’s tumultuous year, their relationship became more strained, not having spoken for a while…until now.
Logan Wright: “That’s one way of putting it.”
There’s a bit of an awkward silence for a few moments, as neither man initially wants to speak. Eventually though, Gallagher gains his composure:
Jared Gallagher: “Look, I know you probably don’t wanna speak to me-”
Logan Wright: “Then maybe you should stop talking.”
Jared Gallagher: “Ok fine, but let me ask you something first: what were you doing with that last remark to the reporter? It wasn’t as cool as it likely sounded in your head.”
Logan Wright: “I was doing a play on words, what’s confusing about it?”
Jared Gallagher: “Yeah, but you do realize “Baba” translates to “father” too? So instead of being clever, you were essentially just rehashing Inferno’s nickname.”
Logan Wright: “Fuck.”
Jared Gallagher: “Forget about that though, I wanted to talk to you about something else. I heard from a little birdie that you were taking advice from Logan Lawrence.”
Logan Wright: “Logan Flight ratted on me? I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”
Jared Gallagher: “That’s not the birdie I meant…you know what, forget it. I just want you to understand that being overly aggressive isn’t the key to success. You’ve already been good up to this point, don’t lose your true self by being more of a jackass.”
Logan Wright: “Yeah, being good is fine…but I don’t wanna just be “good” anymore. I wanna be great. I want to prove myself as the pillar of something, and pure rules is the best chance I have at that. But relax, I don’t wanna just be an asshole for the sake of being one either.”
Jared Gallagher: “Ok, that’s fine. But if you want to improve… What's your next move? Gonna do some training with the rest of the Ark? Maybe ask your medical colleagues for some more dieting tips?
Logan briefly thinks about the suggestions, before he remembers something that Sensei told him…
Logan Wright: “No, I have a better idea… I’m going to Nepal.”
And with that, Dr. Wright starts heading towards the exit, a smile on his face, while Jared Gallagher is just left confused. He never even said why he was going there, what in the world is he doing…
One Week Before Unbreakable V: Kathmandu, Nepal
After a long trip, Logan Wright has finally made it into the heart of the Himalayan Mountains. He gets out of the car, paying and thanking the driver who escorted him from the airport to get to this point. He reaches into his pocket, grabbing the “business” card that led him to this location. He stares at it for a few moments, glancing up and down to make sure he’s in the right place. Yep, this is the one…
In front of Dr. Wright stands a worn-down house. It's small, with what looks to be only one story, and the white color is wearing away like the wooden beams supporting it. There’s a window near the front door, but a set of blinds are covering it up. As Logan approaches the entry-way, he smells a distinct odor of soup. Taking a breath, he knocks on the door. As he does so, a crash of glass can be heard on the other side, and there’s some momentary yelling before a tired-looking individual opens the door.
???: “May I help you?”
Logan Wright: “Hello, my name is Logan Wright. I’ve been informed that an incredibly wise teacher of medicine and healing resides here…”
???: “You’re correct, but he’s not seeing anyone today. Come back another time…”
Logan Wright: “Wait, I really need this. And I think I know one of his friends, they pointed this place out to me.”
???: “What’s the name of this friend?”
Logan Wright: “He’s known as Sensei-”
“LETT HYMN INN!”
This yelling from inside the house startles Wright, and the man at the doorway sighs, motioning for Logan to come in. As the doctor does so, he glances around the house, immediately noticing the kitchen area. Sitting at a table there is an older gentleman, with a pair of glasses on and a cane at his side, Logan quickly realizing he’s blind. The man from the doorway points for Logan to sit down with him, and Wright obliges, positioning himself in the chair next to the old individual.
Logan Wright: “Hello sir, it’s a pleasure to meet-”
???: “HALLO! IHT IST VAIRY GNEISS TWO MEAT YU! MI NEIGHME IST BLOGAN BITE!”
Wright briefly cringes at the yelling of the individual, looking back with a confused look on his face to the figure near the door. He notices a nametag on the figure he hadn’t seen before, reading “Bibek”.
Bibek: “Yeah, don’t worry about that. He’s blind and almost deaf, he needs to speak loudly to make himself sure he’s actually talking. Oh, and he said, “Hello, it is very nice to meet you. My name is Blogan Bite.”
Logan Wright: “Wait, why are you translating for him? He’s speaking directly to me, I know what he’s saying.”
Bibek: “Oh, just so the readers of this episode actually have a clue as to what’s going on.”
Logan Wright: “Wait what readers… oh, we’re doing another fourth wall break, gotcha.”
Blogan Bite: “Y HOV U CUHMM HEAR?”
Bibek: (“Why have you come here?”)
Logan Wright: “I’m looking for some advice. For a while now, I’ve felt an inner conflict in my emotional state and my moral compass. I want to be more aggressive, to try and be the best…but I don’t want to abandon the roots of my existence that helped shape me into who I am. Do you have any advice?”
Blogan Bite: “HYMMMMMM…. A TUFF PRAHBLIM INN DEED!”
Bibek: (“Hmmm… A tough problem indeed.”)
Suddenly, Blogan reaches towards his side, reaching into a bag. He shakes it around for a bit, before pulling out something from inside. He triumphantly slams it onto the table, before pushing it towards Dr. Wright. Logan looks at it for a few moments, an incredulous look on his face.
Logan Wright: “Why exactly are you… what is… what do you expect me to do with a copy of Fire and Ice by Robert Frost?
Blogan Bite: “HEE IST UHHH GRATE POE EHT! TAKEUHHH INN SPUR AYE SHUN FROMM HYMM!”
Bibek: (“He is a great poet. Take inspiration from him.”)
Logan Wright: “So… let me get this straight: your solution to my problem is…writing fucking poetry?”
Blogan Bite: “WASH YUR LANGWAGEE JUNG MANN! POEHHH TREE IST UHHH BEUTUHFULL THYNG!”
Bibek: (“Watch your language young man. Poetry is a beautiful thing.”)
Logan Wright: “Yeah but…surely there’s something that’s more suitable for my situation?”
Blogan Bite: “EYE ARM UHHH FRAYED KNOT! TEH BAHG HAHS SPOKANE!”
Bibek: (“I am afraid not. The bag has spoken.”)
Logan Wright: “Wait, do you just reach in the bag and randomly pull out an object for everyone that comes in?”
Blogan Bite: “OFF COORS! WATT ELSUHHH WOOD EYE DOO?”
Bibek: (“Of course. What else would I do?”)
Logan Wright: “Ok, I think we’re done here. Thank you for this… attempt at a recommendation. You’re truly one of the people I’ve ever met.”
As Logan gets up, Blogan extends a hand. Reluctantly, Wright shakes it, before heading to the doorway, acknowledging Bibek, and leaving the worn-down house. As he heads towards the street, he’s just left to ponder what transpired. That was dumb… traveling thousands of miles instead of just doing training was rather pointless. But as he gets in the car, ready to go back to the airport, another set of thoughts come over him. You know what…maybe I can make the best out of this situation…maybe writing poetry actually can do me some good…
Day Before Unbreakable V: Dr. Wright’s Office
With just 24 hours until Unbreakable, Jared Gallagher and Charles Crandall figure Wright is busy with training, or if nothing else, his medical work. However, they’re surprised to receive an invite to his office, and though Gallagher tries to ask him what it’s about, he gets no answer. It frustrates him, but he figures it must be important, so after grabbing a quick bite with Charles, they head over to the office. By this point in time, Crandall is fairly quiet, his eyes becoming increasingly purple for longer periods of time and Wrogan slowly and quietly influencing his personality, but the time to reveal that isn’t here…yet.
When they reach the hall outside the office, they’re surprised to see Logan standing in the doorway, a smile on his face. He invites them in, even having an assortment of pastries and desserts on the table for his friends to snack on. While Jared is quick to grab a danish, he’s also quick to raise eyebrows at this behavior.
Jared Gallagher: “Logan, what is all this for? This feels…too nice…
Logan Wright: “What, a man can’t just happen to invite his friends over for some delicious treats?”
Jared Gallagher: “You’re not fooling anyone man, just tell us why we’re here.”
Logan Wright: “Ok fine, you got me. The reason you’re here today… I wanted you to be the first screenings of my first-ever poem!”
Though Crandall is wearing sunglasses, he and Gallagher are quick to shoot each other a glance of confusion.
Jared Gallagher: “What?”
Logan Wright: “That’s right, when I went to Nepal, the man I met recommended I write poetry to ease my tensions and help me become a better person. I thought he was insane, but as I started to write, I realized…he may be right!”
Jared Gallagher: “That’s…but…I’m so confused. You didn’t even get any real training or medicinal techniques? You just got…told to write? What even is your topic?”
Logan Wright: “I’m glad you asked, old chum! I’ve entitled this poem…
An Ode To Jay…
In the garden lived a bird
Who truly loved to sing
It was a beautiful mockingjay
And through the air, its voice did ring
The bird was beloved
And believed to be a Hero
But little did the world know
Of its painful little ego
This bird fought and fought
It did everything to grow
But when abandoned by friends
It was a true low blow
Once upon a time, the group was
United, and forever in-sync
But when the Jay hit the bottle
Oh, did their PROSPECTS ever so sink
And the bird has recovered
It has regained its feathers
But little does the jay know
Of the impending, harsh weathers
For the jay may spread its wings
And fly in the dark
But it doesn’t know
Of its impending, dangerous arc
This bird will fly, and
It truly wants to win
But the true challenge is here
For the Doctor is in!
As Wright finishes his last line, his theatrical reading of the lines now finished, he finally turns towards his faithful audience. He’s met with a blank look from Charles Crandall, the sunglasses still firmly covering his eyes. And Jared… his mouth is agape, trying to process what he just heard.
Logan Wright: “So… what did you think?”
Jared Gallagher: “I… what… how… why… I don’t know what to say.”
Logan Wright: “You can show your appreciation by clapping, I worked really hard on that.”
Jared Gallagher: “I could… but let me get this straight… This is how you’re handling your upcoming rematch with Jay? Making a poem that only we’ve listened to, and not trying to find a way to, I don’t know, not finish the match in a time-limit draw?”
Logan Wright: “Forget about that, tell me if I should improve the language I used and how the poem flowed together. I could probably stand to write a poem for the tag team title match as well.”
Jared Gallagher: “Logan, Logan, Logan… Ok, if you want to live in this strange world of yours, go ahead. The poem was fine, but you weren’t exactly subtle with it, especially at the end. Like I get you want to beat Jay, and I know you were mad with what he said about you in the past…but really, finishing the entire thing about the Doctor being in? That doesn’t even make sense with the vibe you established.”
Logan Wright: “Fair critique, I’ll keep that in mind when I continue writing these.”
Jared Gallagher: “Come on man, it’s cool that you have a hobby, but I know just how much you cared about wrestling. Please, just step away from the paper and train while you still have a little bit of time left before tomorrow. I know we’re not as close as we once were…but if nothing else, do it for the rest of the Ark. Do it out of spite against Wrogan. Do it to prove that you’re not completely crazy, and that you deserve to be where you are in life.”
It’s with this line that something seems to click in Logan’s head. He looks towards Jared, nodding his head, and he moves towards his desk. He stares at all the notes and rough drafts he had been working on for his writings, a frown coming over his face.
Logan Wright: “I wish I was normal… I wish I didn’t go through these personality changes every other day. You’re right Jared…You’ve always been right. Wrestling needs to come first, and I have everything I need to stay energized. I don’t want to be passive, I don’t want to be aggressive…I just want to live. And tomorrow…things are going to get fun.”
Gallagher smiles at Wright being reinvigorated, and the pair share a quick hug. Upon Jared and Charles leaving, Dr. Wright takes a quick look in his mirror, and smiles at the expression of confidence now piercing through his eyes. He grabs his coat, turns off the light, and so begins a long and tedious night at the gym…
Night of Death Before Impurity:
Pre-Match Process
The Finals are here… and Logan Wright is in them. After weeks leading-into months of this Shining Light League Tournament running center-stage on Blitz, the Doctor has gotten to where he wanted to be…where he needed to be. As he sits in the locker room, getting himself mentally prepared for the tall task that comes with facing DTJ’s Hunter Maguire, he sees in his peripheral vision someone entering the room. He glances up, smiling to see Jared coming to visit.
Jared Gallagher: “Hey champ, how we feeling about tonight?”
Logan Wright: “Whatever happens tonight…well, what I know will happen tonight… is PURE-ly destiny.”
Jared Gallagher: “Not your best joke, but glad to see you’ve been in positive spirits recently.”
Logan Wright: “Yep, tonight has to be the moment where everything pays off…it just has to…”
Jared Gallagher: “It will… I believe in you. And if you don’t mind me asking…who would you want to face at P.U.R.E. if things go your way?”
Logan Wright: “You know I can’t answer that right now, I have to get the job done first.”
Jared Gallagher: “Fair enough, fair enough. I should be heading off…go get em’, champ.”
With that, Gallagher leaves the room, and Wright rises to his feet. He looks at his arms, then his legs, then finds the mirror. He stares into his soul…Come on out Doctor…It’s operation time…
Post-Match Press Conference
Dr. Logan Wright did it.
As he’s now backstage, being greeted with a bottle of champagne that was ordered for him, Logan is still trying to ponder what just took place out there. From the match itself… to the seconds after the match realizing he won… to the return of the legend Petite Jupiter, handing him the trophy…
It’s all absolutely surreal, and Logan is at a loss for words. However, as he gets word that reporters are waiting to get a word from him, he quickly gathers his composure. He takes a big swig from the champagne bottle, before heading into the room, waving to the assortment of familiar and different faces. He moves towards the stage, taking a seat and getting the mic setup, ready to hear questions.
Reporter #1: “That was a hell of a match you had, Dr. Wright. What’s going through your head right now?”
Logan Wright: “Honestly, half of it is just my brain screaming and the other half is random gibberish. I can’t fully process either, but when I feel this way… I’m fucking pumped. But I do wanna quickly say… I respect you Hunter, I really do. You’ve been a tough opponent twice now… but that’s all the positives I can really say right now. Fuck DTJ.”
Reporter #2: “We just witnessed the return of Petite Jupiter, and the fans certainly loved it. But what did you think about it? Did you feel as though he was stealing your thunder by returning immediately after your big moment?”
Logan Wright: “Look, I know you’re looking for a soundbite, and I caved in several weeks ago to that one reporter. I’m not gonna do that here though. I faced Petite Jupiter in 2021, and I know just how good he is. He deserved to get that electric crowd reaction, and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to hand me the beautiful Shining Light League trophy.”
Reporter #3: “But now Dr. Wright, I think we all have a question on our minds. In addition to that trophy, you have the chance to pick your challenger for P.U.R.E, and that’s a lot of power. So if you can tell us…who are you gonna be facing?
Logan smiles at the question, fully expecting it to have been asked. He glances around the room, noticing Kaze Tanaka, Code Blue, Cactus Mike, and Jared Gallagher all standing at the back. He nods at them, before getting the mic, ready to make the announcement:
Logan Wright:
“In my time in FBE, there have been times where I’ve felt…insecure. Insecure about my talent, insecure about if people actually liked me or not, and insecure about my failures especially. But 2023… let’s just say it’s been a great Spring of Stethoscopes so far. You all know I’ve held the Pure Championship for about four months now, and I’ve faced my fair share of great individuals. But this second title run… it’s missing something. My past, in particular my 2021, was riddled with failures against veterans of this company. Losses to Inferno, to Nate Matthews, to Petite Jupiter… wins were hard to come by. I turned things around in 2022, but even then, my 1st Pure Title reign came to an end at the hands of FBE’s Resident Bastard. It feels like it’s just inevitable, and a running gag…
…But nowadays, I look at myself differently. Other people look at me differently. I’ve grown into what I wanted to be, what I hoped I would be… hell, I’ve even been dubbed as being somewhat of a “Final Boss.” I don’t want to get too egotistical, but not having lost since January… man, the ship I’m on, that being the Ark of course, is on a perfect path. But sometimes, it’s better to go for a different path, a path that stands out…to maybe make history…
So with that, this decision has drifted in my mind, and I’ve weighed all my options carefully. I’ve considered juniors and heavyweights. I’ve considered people from my past or completely fresh opponents. I’ve considered people who would die to win the Pure Championship, or even those who have disrespected it, to show them what it’s all about. But after a while, something finally clicked in my head. I’ve tried to forget that previously mentioned “can never beat a veteran legend” stigma, but until I get a decisive win, it’ll always float right alongside the ocean that contains my thoughts and dreams. So I will be challenging a long-time competitor of FBE, a man who has wrestled here for many years…
But the question of who was certainly a fascinating one…for about a minute. For once this name came to me, it never escaped. This man has held his share of championship gold, This man knows a thing or two about being dubbed a “Final Boss.” And this man has quite the past experience against the Ark… except with me. And to this man, I officially extend the challenge…if he's willing to accept it...
The stage is set…the main event of P.U.R.E…for the FBE Pure Championship…The match you reporters and all the worldwide fans of FBE will get to witness is…
Doctor Logan Wright vs. Apeirogone
2023.05.28 05:10 KirkHammettJigsaw Booking the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship From Wrestle Kingdom 17 Part I Can We Give Joshua Epps The World Title?
 | Divas Title. submitted by KirkHammettJigsaw to FantasyBookingElite [link] [comments] The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have the same lineage as the belt that came before it. It doesn’t matter that it killed the Intercontinental Championship and buried it deep into the ground to rot. It doesn’t matter that it looks like if the Divas Championship got railed by the Big Gold and spit out a little premature bastard failed abortion six excruciating months later. It’s still one of the most prestigious championships in professional wrestling. Just look at the lineage. Kota Ibushi. Will Ospreay. Shingo Takagi. Kazuchika Okada. Jay White. Kazuchika Okada again. Ignore what happened after that please, that doesn’t need to happen and it won’t happen here. It’s one of the most sought-after belts, and yet the current champion is SANADA. All of that talent vying to hold that gold, and the main event scene is SANADA and Yota “Good But Not There Yet” Tsuji. Nobody wants to see that, and it certainly doesn’t help the perception of the championship. That’s what I’m here for. A championship with a lineage like that deserves much, much better, and so that’s what I’m going to try and give it. We start back at the beginning of the year, at Wrestle Kingdom 17, with The Rainmaker and The Switchblade going to war in our main event. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 - January 4th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship We just came off of one of the best matches in pro wrestling history, Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay, and White and Okada must do battle on a canvas now stained with blood, a testament to what kind of stuff these competitors must do to attain glory. It’s a great match, very counter-heavy, as both men are some of the best reversal artists that the sport has ever seen. Jay White wrestles like his usual sneaky self, but there’s just a foreboding sense that his time in NJPW is up. His glass jaw takes one too many dropkicks and he starts to fade. King Switch attempts to reverse a Rainmaker with a Blade Runner, but Okada muscles out of the counter, hits a Discus Rainmaker, and then follows it up with the real thing to seal the deal and take the title! Kazuchika Okada def. Jay White in 33:03 to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship NJPW New Year Dash!! - January 5th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay and Aaron Henare) Before this match, Ospreay is in the ring, bandage on his head, ready to take it easy in a pedestrian tag as he casually talks to Henare. Okada steps into the ring, and then his surprise tag partner’s music hits. The moment that Devil’s Sky begins blasting through the arena speakers, the look on The Commonwealth Kingpin’s face changes immediately! Okada and Omega, members of perhaps the greatest feud in wrestling history, are teaming together tonight! Ospreay wants his revenge for the loss last night, and he gets in Kenny’s face. The Cleaner responds by putting his recently won IWGP United States Championship right in his face. The match is fun, as Okada and Ospreay, like always, have some very fun sequences. They look pretty evenly-matched, and Henare also looks pretty damn good against two of the best wrestlers of all time. Outmatched, sure, but good. Better than expected, even if he isn’t the other three men in the match. Ospreay constantly tries to go after Kenny, but the Best Bout Machine always tags out like a dickhead. He’s not letting Will get his revenge that easy. At one point, Ospreay lets his anger get the best of him and he knocks Omega off the apron, before hitting a beautiful dive, and continuing to beat on him outside! The downside of Ospreay’s reckless attack, however, is that it leaves Henare all alone in the ring with the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Aaron shows some heart, but heart don’t mean shit when you’re up against Kazuchika Okada. Okada eventually gets the better of him, and has him in position for a Rainmaker. However, Kazu shakes his head, basically saying that The Artist Formerly Known As Toa Henare isn’t even worth a Rainmaker! He transitions into The Money Clip, locking it tight right in the middle of the ring, and Henare eventually has no choice but to quit! Okada and Omega pose cockily in the ring with their respective titles, seemingly carrying a little bit of extra swagger into the new year. Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega def. United Empire in 14:36 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 In Yokohama Arena - January 21st, 2023 Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Imamura This match is pretty pedestrian at first. Of course, like in real life, shit gets crazy fast. Makabe tags out after a fun sequence with Kaito, and Kaito brings in Imamura. Imamura isn’t exactly a top level guy, and Okada gets the better of him. He starts challenging Imamura to wake up, slapping him in the face and locking him in a Chinlock, and Kiyomiya sees this as disrespect, which brings him into the ring. He kicks Okada hard in the head, which leads Okada to brawling with him on the outside! The fight devolves, and the two men kick the shit out of each other while Makabe and Imamura try to play peacekeeper. The match is called off as Okada and Kiyomiya get pulled away from each other. No Contest after 6:35 NJPW Road to The New Beginning: Night Five - January 30th, 2023 On the post-show press conference, after CHAOS, Taguchi and Tanahashi take a loss to Los Ingonerables de Japon, Kazuchika Okada speaks to the media. He gets asked about his small change in attitude as of late. The dismissiveness towards Aaron Henare, the way he threw around Yoshiki Imamura. It almost seems like he’s been giving the next generation the cold shoulder. Given this, how does he respond to young stars racking up wins on this tour, such as Ren Narita? Okada sort of shrugs it all off. He says that it feels weird that all of the names he usurped to get to the top are beginning to die off, and now HE’S the veteran. He’s been waiting for the next Okada, and nobody has come along yet. Why are we talking about Ren Narita getting a win on the undercard, when Shingo Takagi just pinned YOH to win the match tonight? He thinks that Takagi looked dangerous tonight, and Okada wants to face him at The New Beginning in Osaka. NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2023 - February 11th, 2023 Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Shingo Takagi had a good string of Road To shows leading up to the event, being responsible for every LIJ win, and it earned him this match tonight, a rematch of Wrestle Kingdom 16’s main event. This one is an incredible battle, Shingo doing his absolute best to come back from the KOPW level and get back to being at the very precipice of the company. Unfortunately for The Last Dragon, though, Kazuchika Okada is in rare form, and after suffering through a fair share of huge Lariats, Okada hits a Spinning Tombstone and follows it up with a devastating Rainmaker to close out this absolute belter of a main event. Kazuchika Okada def. Shingo Takagi in 32:07 After the match, Ren Narita comes out and confronts Okada! He says that he racked up just as many wins as Shingo leading up to tonight’s show, and yet the champion completely snubbed him and didn’t even entertain the possibility of defending against him. Why? Is it because he’s young? Okada says that it’s because he’s simply not ready, but if Narita wants to learn exactly how unready he really is, then he can face Okada at Battle In The Valley. The match is set, and the young Ren Narita will have the biggest match of his career as he tries to shock the world and take the belt off of The Rainmaker in San Jose! NJPW Battle In The Valley - February 18th, 2023 Ren Narita vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship A week after his last defense, Kazuchika Okada is back at it again, putting his IWGP World Heavyweight Title up for grabs against one of NJPW’s most promising prospects, Ren Narita. Narita has looked good as of late, but it’s a whole different ballgame when you’re standing across the ring from the greatest wrestler of a generation, the face of the company. If Narita wants to win tonight, he has to be better than he ever has been. The young member of Strong Style tries to strike from distance early on and also grapples with The Rainmaker in an MMA-like way. Given Okada’s struggle to defeat Shibata back in the day, we know that this is a bit of a weakness for him. Okada’s getting more and more frustrated as Shibata Jr. continues to pepper him with strikes, and at one point, Narita throws a Palm Strike that lands a bit more like a snap. It’s like you can see Okada’s ego getting wounded, and he snaps. He immediately decks Narita with a Forearm and begins stomping on him. From there, Okada takes most of the offense, though Ren does show flashes of fire that the Champion has to fight to weather. Kazuchika Okada is NJPW’s ace for a reason, though, and he begins to grind Narita down. Mockingly, he cracks The Son of Strong Style with a Penalty Kick, laughing. He looks right at Minoru Suzuki, Narita’s factionmate in Strong Style, at ringside, and drives Narita into the mat head-first with Suzuki’s finish, the Gotch-Style Piledriver. Finally, he mercifully decides to end things with a Rainmaker. After landing it, instead of going for the pin, he just rests contemplatively, hands on his knees. Then, he impulsively and quickly bursts to his feet, pulls Narita back up, and puts him down with a second Rainmaker! He makes the cover, not even bothering to hook the leg. One…Two…Three! Kazuchika Okada def. Ren Narita in 28:11 to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship After the match, El Desperado slides into the ring and puts a cold pack on Narita’s neck. Suzuki isn’t concerned with all that. Instead, The King walks up to Okada, hands behind his back, and stares him down. We can’t hear what he’s saying to the champion, but it must be some sort of remark about respect. The lack of respect that Okada showed Narita by hitting him with two Rainmakers. The lack of respect that he showed Shibata and Suzuki himself by ripping their moves. The lack of respect he showed the new generation by implying that they’re below him, and the lack of respect he showed the old generation by not mentioning them whatsoever. Okada doesn’t say a word, he simply raises his championship high in the air and dips out of the ring. NOAH Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling Last Love Hold Out - February 21st, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya Tonight, Kazuchika Okada is in enemy territory. Keiji Muto’s career is ending tonight, and, as NOAH’s Ace, Kaito Kiyomiya is looking to capitalize on this incredible spotlight by taking out The Rainmaker and cementing himself as the premier champion in all of Japan. The two men have a much more back-and-forth affair than in real life, and with the crowd firmly against Okada, he almost seems to be drowning towards the middle of the match. Kiyomiya gets the nearest fall of the match with a beautiful Lifting DDT from the top rope, and when Okada kicks out, the GHC Heavyweight Champion knees him HARD right to the jaw. The knee strike bloodies Okada up a little bit, mashing his lips against his teeth. He checks his mouth for blood, and when he notices some, it seems to wake him up a little bit. From there, Kaito, who expended a lot of his energy trying to put the match away earlier, seems like he’s having trouble dealing with a revitalized IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Okada puts him down with a beautiful Dropkick and smiles, waiting for Kiyomiya to get to his knees. Once he does, Okada rushes forward AND TAKES HIS HEAD OFF WITH A SHINING WIZARD! THAT’S KEIJI MUTO’S FINISH! The crowd seems shocked at this move theft, and Okada picks Kaito up, before planting him with The Rainmaker for the One…Two…Three! Kazuchika Okada def. Kaito Kiyomiya in 34:46 NJPW New Japan Cup - Overview I don’t even really want to touch SANADA’s side of the bracket, but with the crazy fucking push that New Japan is giving him, I don’t despise the idea of him making the finals, so we’ll keep that as is. Let’s talk about the other side, though. The one that David Finlay made it through in real life, though? Nah, let’s not have any of that. Instead, after taking out Yujiro Takahashi in the opening round, Minoru Suzuki also eliminates Finlay in the second. After dealing with two current Bullet Club members, Suzuki faces off with a former one in Tama Tonga. They have a back-and-forth match, but Suzuki reverses a Gun Stun and latches on a Sleeper Hold to secure victory. The semi-finals end up being a huge test for The King, though. He has to deal with perhaps the greatest member of Suzuki-Gun, his former stablemate, the Front Man of TMDK himself, Zack Sabre Jr. Despite the fact that their alliance is dead, and their character alignments don’t match up anymore, the two still shake hands before the match begins. It’s a very difficult match for both men, because they know each other so well. However, once ZSJ’s submissions get reversed, he has to fall back on his striking, and Suzuki has him beat there. Sabre goes for a PK, gets tripped up, and Minoru drops some ground and pound on him, before lining up and connecting with a PK of his own! He picks the Technical Wizard up and plants him with a Gotch Piledriver for the win! Somehow, Minoru Suzuki has made it to the finals of the New Japan Cup! In the finals, two men that have scores to settle with Kazuchika Okada have to battle it out. SANADA has tried to defeat The Rainmaker countless times, and has only succeeded once, back in 2019’s G1 Climax 29. Suzuki, on the other hand, also has history with Okada, but his beef with the champion is much more recent, dating back to Battle In The Valley, where the veteran felt that Okada had disrespected STRONG STYLE. Suzuki and SANADA are both weathered from a long, grueling tournament, and it feels like any big move could finish the match. The finish comes when SANADA goes to the top rope and tries for a Moonsault, only for The King to get his knees up and capitalize by driving his opponent into the mat head-first with a Gotch-Style Piledriver! Cover! One…Two…THREE! Against all odds, Minoru Suzuki will face Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis! NJPW Sakura Genesis - April 8th, 2023 Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Kazuchika Okada has been acting a little bit differently, and that means that he has rubbed a few people in the puro world the wrong way. One of those people is Minoru Suzuki, the oldest member of STRONG STYLE, who, after years of villainy, has dedicated himself to helping the next generation of puroresu. Okada embarrassed Ren Narita, Suzuki’s protege, and now The King is here to make The Rainmaker pay. Can he embarrass the champion in return, and collect a prize that has eluded him forever in the process, or will Kazuchika Okada do what he does best and win? The entrances have happened, the announcements have been made, the bell has been rung. None of the talking matters anymore. They meet in the middle of the ring and engage in the traditional collar-and-elbow tie-up. However, neither man is able to force the other to the ropes! They’re locked in a stalemate right in the centre of the squared circle, both competitors refusing to take a single step back! To move backwards is to concede, even just a little bit, and in a battle of iron wills like this, nobody is willing to concede! Okada tries to knock Suzuki off balance by poking at his knee with his boot, but Suzuki stands his ground and releases his left hand grip to hit the champion in the ribs a couple of times, just looking to chop the tree down slowly and methodically. They both realize that they won’t be able to push the other man to the ropes, so instead of dragging this out, they release the tie-up. They both re-centre themselves, and after circling The King, Okada goes for a single leg takedown. He almost gets it, but Suzuki remains standing. Minoru takes a couple of swings, but The Rainmaker trips him up and wrenches on the ankle! Suzuki rolls onto his stomach and gets to his feet, and Kazuchika decides to keep him low by moving into a Headlock! Headlock Takeover now, and Suzuki automatically grabs a Headscissors, which doesn’t faze Okada, who breaks and gets to his feet. Suzuki gets up too, and Okada goes for another takedown, but he eats a knee to the head! He’s stunned and pops back to his feet, and Suzuki throws a barrage of slaps! SPINNING CHOP! CHOP TO THE FACE! BIG BOOT! He makes the cover! One…and a kickout, but Okada’s still rocked despite the early kickout! Okada gets on all fours and starts crawling away, but The King won’t let him get away that easy, and he hits an Elbow Drop to the back of the head! Suzuki transitions right into a nice Bulldog Choke, reminiscent of the other man that Okada is feuding with, Jon Moxley! Okada doesn’t want to stay in this hold for too long, though, so he starts powering to his feet! Lifts Suzuki straight into the air! BACK SUPLEX! Okada gets up, and he wants to put this match away right this instant! Picks Suzuki up! Go-behind! HE’S LOOKING FOR THE RAINMAKER ALREADY! RIPCORD! BUT SUZUKI IS STILL VERY CONSCIOUS, AND HE HITS A BASEMENT DROPKICK ON THE REBOUND TO KNOCK OKADA TO THE MAT! Suzuki knows that Okada’s overzealousness is a sign that the challenger is getting to him, so he decides to toy with The Rainmaker a bit more. He grabs Okada’s wrist and positions it so that his wrist is folding his fingers into the mat, and he proceeds to grind his boot onto the wrist to attack the fingers! Okada is shrieking in pain, and he fights to a standing position! Suzuki maintains control of his digits though, bending and twisting! Okada can’t withstand the pain anymore, HE GOES FOR A CLOSED FIST PUNCH! SUZUKI DUCKS IT, KEEPS CONTROL OF THE FINGERS, GOES BEHIND, AND PERFORMS A RIPCORD! ONCE OKADA IS EXTENDED, HE SNAPS THE CHAMPION’S FINGERS! SUZUKI LAUGHS AT OKADA’S PAIN, AND THEN KNOCKS HIM DOWN WITH A HEADBUTT! COVER! ONE…TWO…AND A KICKOUT! Suzuki smells blood in the water, and he takes full mount! The King starts dropping Elbows, and he’s absolutely relentless with these! Okada is covering his head, he can’t cope with these strikes, but Minoru Suzuki doesn’t give a fuck! He stands up AND STARTS STOMPING ON HIS SKULL! OVER AND OVER! PRIDE NEVER DIES, BUT KAZUCHIKA OKADA JUST MIGHT! Blood is leaking down The Rainmaker’s nose, and it seems like that’s exactly where the challenger is aiming! Knee Drop right on the face! Okada has been knocked loopy, and Suzuki drags him to a sitting position. He tells him that he’s responsible for all of this, slaps him in the face, AND RUNS THE ROPES! PENALTY KICK! NO, OKADA KIPS UP AT THE LAST SECOND AND HITS HIS SIGNATURE DROPKICK! RIGHT ON THE BUTTON! COVER! ONE…TWO…AND SUZUKI GETS THE SHOULDER UP! Okada looks absolutely shocked that he didn’t close things out there, and he gets to his knees and checks for blood. To his horror, his palm is stained red, and he’s ANGRY. He starts laying in stomps of his own, STRAIGHT TO THE SKULL OF MINORU SUZUKI! HE’S SWEARING AS HE STOMPS! DRAGS SUZUKI TO HIS KNEES! GOES TO THE TOP! MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE BACK OF SUZUKI’S HEAD! Okada is still pissed right off, and he drags Suzuki to his feet. Goes behind, poses, RIPCORD, AND HE GOES FOR A DISCUS RAINMAKER! SUZUKI COUNTERS WITH AN INCREDIBLY HARD SLAP, AND OKADA IS STAGGERED! SUZUKI SEES HIS OPENING! KICK TO THE GUT! GOTCH-STYLE PILEDRIVER, IT’S GOOD! HOOKS THE LEG! ONE…TWO…THREE!!! HE ACTUALLY DID IT! AFTER YEARS OF GRINDING, MINORU SUZUKI CAN FINALLY CALL HIMSELF NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING’S WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION! Minoru Suzuki def. Kazuchika Okada in 29:23 to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship AEW Dynamite - April 12th, 2023 Orange Cassidy is interviewed by Renee Paquette after a successful defense of his AEW International Championship. She talks about how he’s been so busy lately, and it seems like he’s faced everybody that there is to offer. She asks him what he wants to do next. He thinks for a moment. “I don’t know, really. I’m in CHAOS and that Suzuki guy took the IWGP World Championship from my friend. I think I’ll go for that. Unless, uh, he doesn’t wanna face me. Then I’ll just go home, I guess.” The very on-brand callout by “Freshly Squeezed” is accepted before the night is out, and the match is made for NJPW Collision in Philadelphia! NJPW Capital Collision - April 15th, 2023 Tom Lawlor vs. Orange Cassidy (c) - AEW International Championship The night before challenging for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Orange Cassidy does a very Orange Cassidy thing and defends his AEW International Championship against the leader of Team Filthy himself, Tom Lawlor. Minoru Suzuki is on Japanese Commentary for the match, and Cassidy proceeds to have an absolute banger with the former UFC fighter. He eventually manages to put him away with a Beach Break from the middle rope, and Suzuki then comes down to the ring. OC and Suzuki shake hands, but Mr. Citrus can’t take his eyes off of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Orange Cassidy def. Tom Lawlor in 16:09 to retain the AEW International Championship NJPW Collision in Philadelphia - April 16th, 2023 Orange Cassidy vs. Minoru Suzuki (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship This match was supposed to happen on a GCW show before the pandemic, back when Suzuki was a cold-blooded machine and Orange Cassidy was comic relief. Now, both men are champions, and both men are cheered by the fans. They have a very fun match. Early on, Cassidy hits Suzuki with his mock kicks, and The King answers back with some of his own! Orange is younger and faster, and as the match goes on, the more it feels like he MIGHT just get the job done somehow! However, Suzuki starts going after Orange’s ribs, and with how often the International Champion has been competing, they’re already not at a hundred percent. The challenger makes a last-ditch effort and goes for an Orange Punch, but Suzuki lands a Spinebuster, a short PK followed by a Running PK, and then a Gotch-Style Piledriver to close out a banger of a contest. Minoru Suzuki def. Orange Cassidy in 21:30 to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship NJPW Hirooki Goto 20th Anniversary Event - April 22nd, 2023 STRONG STYLE (Minoru Suzuki and El Desperado) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada) Hirooki Goto is, of course, main eventing his own Anniversary Show, but before the match Suzuki asks for a microphone. He talks about the battles he’s had with Goto in the past, including their Hair vs. Hair match back in the day. As a show of respect, he wants to offer Goto a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku, should CHAOS get the win tonight. The two teams have a crowd-pleasing contest, with Suzuki and Okada barely interacting. At the end, though, Goto catches Despy with a GTR. While he pins El Desperado, Okada prevents Suzuki from getting into the ring, levelling him with a Rainmaker that might have connected just a LITTLE bit after the bell. Nevertheless, Hirooki Goto has secured himself a shot at the biggest title in the sport! It’s been a happy Anniversary for him! CHAOS def. STRONG STYLE in 12:37 NJPW Wrestling Dontaku - May 3rd, 2023 Hirooki Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Two NJPW legends do battle in tonight’s main event. Until recently, they were perhaps the greatest NJPW competitors to never win World Title gold for the promotion. Suzuki checked it off the list, and perhaps Goto will do the same tonight. They have an absolute banger of a match, including a chop battle that leaves both of them with bloody chests. Goto has a very impactful moveset, and he tries desperately to fire off moves that could probably shatter Suzuki’s neck at this point, but the champion has him scouted throughout, peppering him with strikes. Eventually, with Suzuki countering all of his shit, Goto breaks an older move out of his arsenal! He lifts Suzuki up and plants him with the Jigoku Kuruma! Cover! One…Two…AND A KICKOUT! Suzuki is still conscious, somehow, and Goto’s frustration is palpable! With YOSHI-HASHI, his Bishamon tag partner, at ringside cheering him on, Goto picks Suzuki back up and goes to the well again, trying for another Jigoku Kuruma! Suzuki knees his way out of it, landing in perfect position for a Gotch-Style Piledriver! HITS IT! COVER! ONE…TWO…THR-NO! GOTO KICKED OUT, BUT HE’S RUNNING ON FUMES! Suzuki lifts him to a sitting position and runs the ropes multiple times, HITTING A COLOSSAL PENALTY KICK! TAKES HIS BACK! SLEEPER HOLD, AND HE’S ALREADY OUT! RED SHOES HAS TO CALL IT, SUZUKI RETAINS! Minoru Suzuki def. Hirooki Goto in 25:01 to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship At the post-show press conference, Kazuchika Okada talks about how Suzuki has only faced CHAOS guys since winning the championship. Why not go for the leader! Okada has had his number countless times in the past, and even beat him on Goto’s Anniversary Show, putting him out cold with a Rainmaker. If Suzuki wants to prove himself as a champion, then Okada is the man to face at Dominion. Suzuki responds later on, saying that he already beat Okada, so he HAS proved himself as a champion. However, the reason he wanted to face Okada in the first place was to teach him to respect STRONG STYLE, and obviously that hasn’t happened yet, so he’s happy to run it back. Dominion. June 4th. Osaka-Jo Hall. Suzuki will once again stop the rain. NJPW STRONG Resurgence - May 21st, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Wheeler Yuta Wheeler Yuta, with Jon Moxley at ringside, is looking to get a statement victory against one of wrestling’s top stars and prove that he truly is the best. He puts up a hell of a fight, even out-grappling The Rainmaker! He very nearly manages to get the pinfall victory with The Seatbelt, but Okada barely manages to touch one of the ropes with his boot. Wheeler’s offense ends up dying out after he gets knocked loopy by a Dropkick, and then he takes three consecutive Rainmakers just because Okada wants to prove a point! Of course, Yuta isn’t kicking out of that. Kazuchika Okada def. Wheeler Yuta in 20:52 Following the victory, Okada poses like a conqueror, foot on the unconscious Yuta’s chest, and this seems to hurt Moxley’s ego. He hops into the ring and kicks Okada’s foot away, talking shit. Okada slaps him, and Moxley immediately takes him down! They're throwing bombs on the ground, and a bunch of officials, security guards and producers rush into the ring to separate the two former World Champions! NJPW Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-Jo Hall - June 4th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship The last time these two faced off, Minoru Suzuki pulled off the upset of the year and managed to unseat the ace of New Japan, claiming his very first IWGP World Heavyweight Championship when everybody thought that he was in his New Japan Dad phase. Kazuchika Okada’s ego didn’t appreciate the hit that it took against The King, so after two defenses, Suzuki is giving The Rainmaker another go at things. The opening of the match is void of any respect at all, both men slapping each other in lieu of allowing clean breaks. Okada is perhaps more aggressive than ever before, but in a way, that plays into the skill set of the Pancrase-hardened champion. He even hits a PK early on in the match, but Kazuchika kicks out of it. After a war that leaves both men with some battle scars, we enter the closing stretch. Suzuki seems to be suffering from the length of the match, while Okada’s cardio is intact. Minoru reverses a Rainmaker by booting Okada in the gut and going for a Gotch-Style Piledriver! Okada kicks his way out of it and throws a wild strike that Suzuki ducks. He goes behind and locks in a standing Sleeper! Okada drops down and backs through Suzuki’s legs, maintaining wrist control, before flipping the champion into Piledriver position! Spinning Tombstone! Picks him up! Ripcord! RAINMAKER! HE CONNECTS! GOES FOR THE PIN! ONE…TWO…THREE! KAZUCHIKA OKADA IS BACK AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN! Kazuchika Okada def. Minoru Suzuki in 33:38 to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship NJPW New Japan Road: Night Two - June 11th, 2023 CHAOS (YOH and Lio Rush) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) The BCC is in Japan, and they’re here to send a message to CHAOS. In our second-to-last match of the night, YOH and Lio Rush put up a hell of a fight, with Lio nearly getting the win with a beautiful Frog Splash on Claudio, but the BCC puts them through the wringer. At the end, Moxley plants YOH with a Death Rider, and he’s more than done, but The Sick Guy decides to roll through and bring YOH to his feet, before spinning him around and hitting him with a Rainmaker! He makes the cover and picks up the win, sending a HUGE message to the newly-crowned IWGP World Heavyweight Champion by doing so! Blackpool Combat Club def. CHAOS in 8:43 AEW Dynamite - June 14th, 2023 On Dynamite, Wheeler Yuta and Bryan Danielson pick up a victory over the Best Friends, and afterwards, Jon Moxley gets in the ring and grabs a microphone. He talks about how he is a man that never forgets, and he hasn’t forgotten how Kazuchika Okada tried to embarrass the BCC at Resurgence. He has now made it his mission to rip the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship away from The Rainmaker, and show him exactly why the Blackpool Combat Club is NOT the group to fuck with. He gives the microphone back and prepares to leave the ring…until the coin drops. The crowd loses their shit, Kazuchika Okada is here! Not only that, he’s not on the ramp…he’s behind the Death Rider! Okada spins Mox around and hits him with a Dropkick! Wheeler and Danielson converge on The Rainmaker, and Claudio Castagnoli runs down the ramp, but the Swiss Superman is intercepted by an Orange Punch from CHAOS member Orange Cassidy! Wheeler Yuta is attacked by Trent and his former trainer Chuck Taylor, and Bryan Danielson gets dragged out of the ring by one of his opponents at Forbidden Door, IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega (they’re in a Triple Threat with Will Ospreay)! Okada picks Moxley back up and puts him out cold with a Rainmaker! Toronto is going to be treated to one hell of a show when Forbidden Door 2 rolls into town, and Moxley vs. Okada is one of the most can’t-miss matches on the entire card! AEW Collision - June 24th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. AR Fox It’s the second edition of Collision, and the night before Forbidden Door 2. Kazuchika Okada has his first ever match on AEW television, against the talented AR Fox. Fox knows that pulling this off would make him one of the biggest stars in wrestling, and he empties the tank early, but after weathering the storm, Okada is able to take advantage of an exhausted AR and hit him with The Rainmaker. However, just to pay Moxley back for his finisher theft on New Japan Road, Okada picks Fox up and plants him with a Paradigm Shift before making the match-winning cover! Kazuchika Okada def. AR Fox in 11:54 Jon Moxley doesn’t appreciate the disrespect, and he immediately storms out! Okada meets him on the ramp, and it’s hands on the spot! The two men exchange haymakers, leveling each other, not willing to wait for tomorrow night! The crowd here in The Six is loud for this brawl, and officials flood out of the backstage area to stop this! The two men get separated, but they’re giving each other Stone Cold Salutes as they get ushered to the back, obviously from separate sides! AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door - June 25th, 2023 Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship We’ve got a certified banger in the cards here, folks, because in one of the most intense feuds of the night, Jon Moxley challenges for Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, looking to expand the Blackpool Combat Club’s trophy case even further. It’s Okada’s first defense, and there’s no love lost here, as we don’t see any clean breaks. Instead, each man slaps the other hard across the face, and the early goings of this one quickly devolve into a bit of a brawl. Moxley does his damndest to bring things to the outside, where he has a distinct advantage, and he eventually does, wrecking Okada out there. However, Okada is a tremendous counter-wrestler, and he manages to reverse a Paradigm Shift attempt into a beautiful Arm Drag, followed by a Dropkick, a German Suplex, a Tombstone Piledriver, and a Discus Rainmaker! That barrage somehow isn’t even to keep Jon Moxley down, but it does turn the tide significantly, and Okada is eventually able to hit a regular version of The Rainmaker to secure the victory, coming out of the match worse for wear, but still the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Kazuchika Okada def. Jon Moxley in 28:59 |
2023.05.28 05:08 offthepercygoop Tarot cards and stand introductions
I recently started watching Jojo and I notice that all the stands have tarot cards can anybody explain to me what the tarot cards are for or how they reference to a stand? Also I noticed when a stand and the user is introduced there is a circle below the stand name and it has letters around it it seem liked the letter are alphabet related and describes the grade of a certain thing a stand is good a for example the circle under star platinums name and next to jotaros name say A A A C A A can somebody explain these for me?
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2023.05.28 05:00 Kazevenikov Cryptid Chronicle - Chapter 30
A special thanks to u/bluefishcake for the wonderful original story and sandbox to play in.
A special thanks to my editors LordHenry7898, RandomTinkerer, Swimming_Good_8507, CatsInTrenchcoats, and KLiCKonthat.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired me to tell my own in this universe. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), CarCU131 (The Cook), and Rhion-618 (Just One Drop)
Hy’shq’e Ay Si’am (Thank you noble friends)
Chapter 30: A Promise Kept
Kalai stepped off the shuttle to the Vaida’s headquarters and into a running tackle-hug from Sitry. “Oh Kalai, I could kill you right now! You got to see the Great Barrier Reef in person, you bitch!” Sitry’s cheerful voice was muffled from where she was still buried in her chest. Kalai staggered backwards a pace or two, happy to be back from her whirlwind adventure around Earth with her father.
Naranjo and Papa Rhaxiid were there on the platform to welcome her back too, but their welcomes were more sedate.
“Not to mention you got out of work for half our damn trip. Ugh, it’s so not fair!” Naranjo huffed as Kalai gave him a sisterly hug.
Papa Rhaxiid reached up and chucked her chin before turning to lead the way back inside from the forested platform. “Welcome back, sweet-sprout, we’ve missed you. Come on, we’ll get you settled again and off to work. There’s quite a bit you need to catch up on if you want your credits.”
The chuckles from the twins behind her were full of sibling malice, but she knew how to shut the pair of them up. “Papa Rhaxiid? I’ve got the paper on Biodiversity in the Reef you asked for, along with the dissection report and stomach content analysis of the tuna we caught. I want to put the finishing touches on it and do a final proofread first before I send them to you.” The man turned and gave her a warm smile as they entered the building.
“Good, why don’t you go take your things back up and say hello to Andy? I’ll give you an hour and a half to get freshened up, then I want you to report to Aquarium 12 with Dr. Sor’ansa. You can put your snorkeling practice to work there.” Papa Rhaxiid walked the three of them to the residential elevator. “I’m heading back to my office. Andy’s been requested by Maetro Pae’ella to work the kitchens for something called ‘Bison burgers'. Apparently it’s a type of indigenous bovine that the eastern Bands raise. That and something from Europe called ‘French Fries’.”
Kalai couldn’t help but get excited as she and her siblings piled into the elevator back to their little shared apartment. Sure the food she’d had all over the place was good, but so far nothing had been able to compare to Andy and his Salishian cooking.
“Nerd, I can’t believe you cheated and did work on your vacation." Naranjo broke the silence of the elevator after a little bit and stuck his tongue out at her.
“Spit to windward, you vain little weed. Don’t hate me because I’m awesome.” Kalai’s riposte caused Naranjo to fold his arms and huff. Sitry simply ambushed her with an ear flick.
The elevator door opened to their floor before Kalai couldn’t bear the silence from Sitry any longer. “So, did you bag him yet, you lucky bitch?”
“No she hasn’t!” Naranjo’s singsong mockery of his sister interrupted Sitry’s response. “Papa hasn’t let Sitry even NEAR Andy without one of them around!”
“Rub it in, you snitch, besides, he did kiss me first,” Sitry preened happily as she playfully shoved Kalai’s shoulder.
Kalai pretended to stumble and almost caught Sitry’s foot, but she was just a hair too slow. “Yeah, and then you gave him a black eye, you clod.”
“Will you let it go? It was an accident!”
“It’s not even the only one he got either." Naranjo’s interjection stopped her right in front of their door.
“Wait, what? Who hurt him this time?” Kalai let her bag thunk to the floor as she turned to look accusingly between Sitry and Narny.
Sitry folded her arms and her ears twitched back as she shot a dark look at their door. “He ‘fell down’ yesterday while out at one of the Hatcheries we gave to the Hwatcoms. Mrs. Toloui nearly had a fit! She said she could smell another human on him and that he was covered in blood!”
Narny nodded primly as Kalai tried to process what they were telling her. “WHAT? Did she call out the militia? Track down whoever hurt him?”
“No, and he refused treatment and insisted that no one did it to him! When papa tried to talk to him, Andy said some stupid human macho shit about pain healing and birds liking scars. I don’t know, sometimes humans… they’re frickin’ insane!”
The door shot open and there stood Andy. His left eye was an angry puffy yellow and blue mess, and there were three points on his lips where a dark cinnabar line marked a crack. Kalai and her siblings stood in wide eyed shock at his sudden appearance and the only sound was the music emanating from the common room behind him.
Andy looked up and down at the three without saying a word. He cocked an eyebrow and snagged Kalai’s bag before any of them could react and cleared the doorway for them.
Kalai sputtered at the impropriety but Naranjo and Sitry just shrugged and walked in after Andy. “Femboys, am I right?” Narny whispered to Kalai as he passed. Kalai followed behind and was greeted by the white fluff-ball, Puck, who hopped up and down, whining for attention. She bent down and started scratching his ears and back. While Puck rubbed up against her hands, Andy settled back down at the table where his omnipad was hooked up to a keypad. Her heart started to sink a bit and Kalai shot Sitry a jealous look before the music came to a sudden halt and Andy interrupted the beginnings of her pity party.
“Ok, Kem’ira, I got the pics now and I’m telling you to declare yourself to the farmers first! I guarantee if you tell them you’re with the new DNR and you’re there to kill all the Scotch Broom in their pasture lands, they’ll stop trying to shoot you for trespassing!”
Kalai’s mood jumped up a bit. It’s not that he doesn’t care to see me, he’s in a meeting!
“No, no I’m not coming out to talk this over with them, I’ve got my own work to do! Either you start talking to folks like I showed you how, or ask the militia to give you one of their armored catsuits to wear under your uniform… Uh-huh, good luck." Andy hung up on the call and leaned back as Puck scampered over and hopped up in his lap.
Andy rubbed his temples before shaking his head. He seemed to relax a bit and Puck slid off to follow Sitry to the kitchen. Andy looked over and gave Kalai a happy smile that made her flush. “Welcome back! So how was the land down under? That tuna was fan-frickin’-tastic, if you aren’t sick of seafood I’ll do something fancy with it tomorrow to celebrate your coming back. Can’t tonight though, I got volun-told to be head chef tonight and I… Oh damnit! I’m late! Come to dinner, burgers and fries Indian style tonight. Gotta run!” With that, Andy went dashing out the door with Puck barking and scrambling along after him.
Kalai felt her heart sink back down again, as he left. “Andy I-” She started but he was gone.
“Yeah, it’s been like that for the whole week. The only time we get to hang out is dinner.” Sitry commiserated as she took Kalai’s bag into their room. “On the other hand, we might get to catch up during the family meal tonight.”
The dinner was delicious, though a bit weird. It tasted alright, but there was a certain aftertaste on the sandwich that just didn’t sit right with Kalai. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. The french fries more than made up for it though, and Mama Sakalbi had to hold a science trivia contest to see who got the last little handful.
Kalai and Narny were already silently plotting with each other for their revenge against their sister who had won and refused to share the last few matchsticks when Andy finally joined their table. He was sweaty and he smelled of woodsmoke and french fries. Kalai jumped up and offered him a seat next to her with a nervous smile. He took it gratefully and seemed to sag a bit as he gulped down a glass of water.
“Andy, I think you may be finding your calling as a culinary ambassador,” Mama Aftasia beamed. “A toast to the chef!”
Andy gave a shy smile and looked down as Kalai and the rest of the family gave a hearty ‘Here, here!”
“It’s a simple enough recipe; it’s just using bison instead of cow, that’s all, and I don’t know anyone who’d turn down hand cut fresh fries. It’s kind of hard to screw up.”
“Young man, you are speaking to a woman who found a way to take cold water and dried wumpa flakes and wind up with a Class-4 fire. Cooking has always seemed like ‘blight mysticism’ to me, and these foods? These flavors? Nothing short of a Greenwood miracle in my opinion." Mama Aftasia continued her praise of Andy, which only caused him to shrink even lower in his seat.
“To be honest, I like your salmon better,” Kalai said, and the whole table went silent. Kalai held her ground though, and was rewarded with a tired but genuine laugh from Andy that brought him back out of his shell.
“You know, I do too. My Clan were fisherpeople, not buffalo chasers.” Andy gave Kalai a cheeky grin, which she returned happily, her heart glowing. Mama Aftasia and Mama Sakalbi both blinked in bemusement at Andy’s statement while Sitry just giggled.
“Speaking of which, Andy, I received a call from Elder Alex Hwatcom.” Papa Rhaxiid’s change of subject instantly perked Andy up, and he stared silently, waiting. “He extended an invitation to our family to attend his family gathering this Friday-”
“Alex said that? He used those words?” Andy shook his head in shock as he interrupted Papa Rhaxiid. The table went quiet and everyone held their breath as they looked between the two men.
Papa Rhaxiid adopted as good an impression of the human Elder as he could. “I’d like to extend an invitation for you and your family to be guests at our family gathering this saturday up at the White… something… lodge-”
“The White Ram Lodge?” Andy sat forward, interjecting again as the color drained from his face.
“Yes, that’s the one! I asked if we could bring anything since the last time they hosted us they put on that wonderful spread. He said if we could bring a few salmon for the family, that would be wonderful.”
Andy leaned back and took another sip of ice water before holding the glass to his blackened eye. “Alex Hwatcom… just invited you… to a gathering… and he told you to ‘bring a few salmon’? Do you realize what a huge honor this is?”
Rhaxiid looked from his wives to his children with mild concern. “Um, I thought it was only dinner, but your reaction tells me there’s more significance to this than I originally thought. I was thinking about our stocks of adult Sockeye, but then I remembered in his story how important King Salmon are. Of course, I’d like to defer to you for the choice since you know these animals and the cultural expectations with this invitation better than we do.”
Andy was silent for a moment before he put the glass down. “I’d recommend a ‘hard no’ to all your clone stock!” Now it was the Vaidas’ turn to be shocked, as each of Kalai’s Erbian family’s jaws dropped in synch. Before anyone could say anything, Andy continued, “You need to bring wild-caught. Farm-raised salmon wouldn’t… well we can tell, and you can taste the difference between them. We need to go fishing!” Kalai leaned towards Andy slightly as he lowered his head and started mumbling to himself. She was just able to make out what he was saying to himself as Mama Sakalbi and Mama Aftasia began whispering to each other. “...need to get the Gillnetter out of storage, check what’s running and select the mesh. I’m gonna need a deckhand too.”
Kalai reached a hand out but stopped short of touching him. “Andy?”
He popped up and spoke for the whole table to hear. “I need a shuttle to the mainland and a waiver against the fishing ban. I’ve got to get my boat and the drum ready for sea ” Rhaxiid and Aftasia sputtered in confusion, but Mama Sakalbi had a shadow fall over her, and her ears pulled back.
“Do you mean to say you want to go out on the water? Risk the ecological balance for… dinner?”
Andy looked Sakalbi dead in the eye and gave her a firm nod. “Why don’t you come out and see how we did this before you got here. Think of it as a chance to see the way we’ve fished for the last hundred or so years, and then I can explain the way we used to fish before that.”
The offer snapped Rhaxiid out of his confusion and he brightened. “A learning experience? Wonderful, we’ll make a day of it!” His hands shot out to grab both his wives’ and Kalai could feel the vibrations in the floor from where he was excitedly tapping his feet.
“If you don’t mind hard, smelly work. Uncle Willy always called it ‘the worst desk in the prettiest office.' It’ll be a bit cramped, but I’ve got room on the boat for a few guests and observers; four I think would be ok. She’s a working boat, not a pleasure cruiser,” Andy explained. That sent the whole lot of them excitedly talking among themselves.
Kalai was about to lean in to talk to Mama Aftasia, but Andy caught her attention first. “I don’t suppose you’d want to go back out on the water, given you just got back from pleasure-boating-”
Kalai’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. “I wouldn’t miss it for my own colony planet!”
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Kalai stood on the pier, bundled in her thermal sailor’s coat. It was still dark and the wind blew from the north in a cold little morning breeze. Kalai took a deep breath and reveled in the smell of the fresh sea air. The soft chattering of Mama Sakalbi’s teeth broke the silence. “It’s a bit chillier than it said it was going to be.”
“The water always does that. It’s never as warm as the lubbers say it’ll be,” Papa spoke as he handed her back her thermos of hot chocolate.
Papa stood next to Kalai and nudged her with his elbow. Even in the dark, Kalai could see him smile up at her and jerk his head at the shivering Erbian. He was also wearing a thermal sailor’s coat, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets to keep them warm, just like Kalai’s. “Landswoman,” he whispered to her and the two of them shared a knowing smile. It was strange, but welcome when she'd told Papa about her upcoming day fishing with Andy, and he’d politely requested to join them. Papa Rhaxiid had graciously given his spot up to accommodate her birth father. Narny was all for it until Andy had explained what they were going to do, but then surrendered his challenge to the fourth guest space, not wanting to go anywhere NEAR anything that could see him come face to face with a Lion’s Mane Jelly. Sitry had done a happy little dance when she found out, but only yesterday had come down with Thistle Fever, and was bundled off to bed by her parents. It left Kalai, Mama Sakalbi, and Papa to accompany Andy on his fishing trip.
The water brushed against the shore behind them quietly. In the gloom, Kalai could just barely make out the outline of the nearest island mountain, but only because the stars had disappeared behind it. It was almost four in the morning, but Kalai had managed a catnap on the shuttle to the empty little lot that had been the boat launch. Aside from the water, the world was silent. Even the breeze made almost no noise and a sense of peace surrounded them. Everything was so calm, Kalai felt like she didn’t have a care in the world.
In the distance, a low rumbling sound of a motor rose from being almost imperceptible to a rolling drum of thunder. From around the point, two green floating lights sped through the darkness, and a spotlight turned on. The beam of light moved jerkily until it came to rest on the pier where they were standing and Kalai started waving her arms. Sakalbi’s omnipad rang, and Andy’s voice shouted over the speaker and the background noise for them to shine a light on the edge of the pier to help him park the boat.
Kalai and Papa moved closer and turned their omnipad flashlights on and waved them as the boat swung gracefully around and glided in alongside them. Kalai caught the rope that flew over the railing of the boat and she heard more than saw Andy moving around on the deck as she tied off on one of the mooring cleats. Several lights clicked on and the deck was bathed in light enough for Kalai to get a clear view of the boat they’d be spending the day on.
Andy hadn’t lied. Kalai saw that this little vessel was a working boat with no frills at all. When he’d told her they’d be going fishing, she’d envisioned something like the charter boat papa had taken her on out of Nantucket. Sporty, fast with a nod to comfort and function. This was not that at all. A giant wheel as wide as Kalai’s outstretched arms that looked like a sideways spool of thread was secured to the deck amidships and dominated the deckspace. Wrapped around it was a fluorescent green tangle with a line of oblong white and yellow corks and rope. There was a covered hatchway sitting behind the drum in front of the raised step to the enclosed cabin. Two large windows let the light out to two children’s bunks, a little table with a booth seat and a raised captain’s chair in front of the helm and engine controls. Andy shut down the engine and that peaceful stillness returned.
“Oway there!” Kalai called, “ship oway! Request permission to come aboard.” Kalai gave the traditional greeting of a Shil’vati sailor.
“Permission granted! Anyone need a stepstool?” Andy finally stepped into the light and Kalai got a look at him. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and the same bright orange coveralls she’d seen the fishmongers wearing on their date.
“I wouldn’t mind a hand, Mr. Shelokset.” Papa He’osforos braced a foot on the railing of the boat and Andy pulled him up.
“Just call me Andy, Doc, and welcome aboard. Jackie should be along any minute now with the day’s groceries, and the cabin’s out of the cold. You can get yourself set wherever you find comfortable.” Papa nodded and disappeared around the other side of the wheel moving towards the bow.
Kalai helped Mama Sakalbi into the boat next, and she quickly ducked into the cabin that took up the entire stern section save for a little ledge that ran along the outside. Andy gripped Kalai’s hand and she smiled as he pulled her deftly aboard. The boat rocked a little on its mooring, and Kalai almost fell into Andy, who wordlessly put his arms around her waist to catch her as she lost her balance. She flailed for a moment before she steadied herself against him.
“Gotcha,” Andy smiled, and Kalai could see him flush almost as much as she could feel herself doing as their noses almost touched. Those big dark brown eyes surrounded by white orbs drew her in and she felt she could lose herself in them. Kalai started as Andy danced her around him and moved her towards the cabin door.
“It might be a little cramped for you in there, but the Mary Jean wasn’t built for pleasure boating, she’s a working girl. Sit tight, I gotta check a few things in the back.” Andy patted the railing affectionately before he hopped up and scooted along the outside of the cabin towards the stern. Kalai couldn’t help the little longing groan that came out as he left her there on the little tiny quarterdeck. Her heart was hammering in her chest as half formed fantasies danced at the edges of her mind.
“I saw that, little minnow.” Papa’s voice was soft, but his tone and the sudden broken silence nearly gave her a heart attack.
Kalai could only stammer as her father stared at her with a cocked eyebrow. A thump from the cabin window behind saw an amused Mama Sakalbi daintily sipping at her thermos with her ears twitched forward in interest, staring out at her. “Papa I… he-”
Papa moved carefully around the covered hatchway to stand next to her, leaning back against the cabin window and heaved a sigh. “I must say I’m surprised. This lovely man’s got good clean lines and is very well cared for. It speaks well of his Skipper.”
It took a full minute for Kalai’s brain to process that he was talking about the boat and not Andy. “And the way Andy brought him in smooth in near complete darkness? It gives me confidence in his abilities.”
Kalai breathed a silent sigh of relief and exasperation. Although she was happy to be spending more time with her father, bringing him on what she’d hoped would be a sailing date wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind for ‘family time’. He wants me to find a nice young man and spend time with him on a boat, but the first chance I get Papa decides to clam-jam me.
From up on shore, the sound and lights of a large human vehicle screeching to a halt heralded the last of their party to arrive. Kalai heard the clomping footsteps coming down the pier and moved to the railing to lend a hand.
“Ahoy Mary Jean! Raggedy Andy, you there?” Kalai stared with wide eyed surprise to see a human female, loaded down with plastic bags and sporting two human weapons on her shoulder. The two of them locked eyes, and while Kalai didn’t understand everything the girl shouted in surprise, she had caught and understood the phrase, “What the fuck?”
“Easy now, they’re my guests, and the one inside is the boss!” Andy appeared on the pier instantly before either Kalai or the woman could react further.
“Ya didn’t tell me we were having pur-” The woman glared at Kalai and her father. She had switched to Vatikre thankfully, but her tone was hostile as she dropped everything but her weapons. “I mean, hwun’eetums, aboard. A gal could get the wrong idea pretty quick in the dark when there’s no warning.”
“Knock it off Jackie. Let’s get the grub aboard and shove off.” Andy picked up some of the bags and took the guns as Kalai offered a helping hand over the railing. “Oh, Kalai, this is Jackie. Jackie? Kalai. That’s her dad over there, Doc He’osforos. He saw and treated Kay Tee a few years back.” Andy jerked his head towards the direction of Kalai’s father as she held out a hand to the human girl. On a quick inspection, she appeared to be about the same age as her and Andy. She had a round face and was about as dark complected as Andy was. She was shorter, only a few inches taller than Papa, but when Jackie grabbed Kalai’s hand to hop up onto the rail, she could feel the strength and the compact muscle hidden by the baggy sweatshirt and pants.
“Wait a minute, did you say Mini-Me over there saw Kay Tee? You’re fuckin’ with me!” Jackie stumbled a bit as she hopped down onto the deck with a loud thunk and advanced on Papa who shrank away at her advance. “You saw li’l Kay Tee? Where the fuck is he? Is he alright? Is he still fighting the good fight?”
“Last I saw, yes, he was ‘fighting the good fight.’” Papa looked over at Andy with a slightly worried expression. Andy smacked the girl in the back of the head, causing her to flinch and she opened the door to the cabin for Andy to go inside.
Jackie rubbed the back of her head and laughed. “Well that’s a little bit of alright, innit? Maybe today’s gonna be a good day after all!”
“Jackie, get suited up and get on the bow. I need a good pair of eyes on the roller horns,” Kalai heard Andy shout from the cabin, followed by a whole lot of thumping and banging from cabinets being opened and closed.
“You got it, ol’ man. We going to your place or mine?” Jackie sidestepped in and opened a tiny little closet and pulled out a set of rain gear that was identical to what Andy was wearing. Kalai collected herself and stood in the doorway next to her father as they both leaned in.
“Mine; Chuck said the Yaw’much are running from the South. We’ll do a set nor’west of Lummi in the Rosario and see if we can get some Fraser Kings,” Andy replied as he turned the engine back on and the vessel roared to life.
“Chuck? Isn’t that one of your cousins? I didn’t know he could keep track of the movements of Salmon, may I ask how he does it?” Mama Sakalbi perked up as she pulled a set of earplugs out of a pocket and inserted them.
Andy prevaricated a bit, looking from Jackie back to Sakalbi then to Kalai and Papa. “I’d rather not answer that-”
“Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law!”
Jackie began singing a human song, and Andy threw her the dirtiest of looks as she finished getting into the orange coveralls. Mama Sakalbi sputtered as Andy shrugged apologetically.
“Make a hole!” Jackie called, and she and Andy came back out as Kalai and Papa made room for them. Andy hopped back onto the dock to cast off while Papa ducked into the cabin.
“Can I help?” Kalai offered as Andy shoved the vessel off and leapt the gap over the black water below.
“You want to be useful? Come forward! I could use an extra set of eyes!” Jackie called back, and Kalai felt a slap on her shoulder from the boisterous human woman.
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Andy stood at the helm, watching Jackie and Kalai as he leaned to get a better view of them past the Net drum. The bow was lifting up again, and the gentle little swells became like speed bumps, jostling them up and down in a predictable bouncing rhythm.
“Are you sure you couldn’t slow down, Andy? It’s a bit rough, don’t you think?” Sakalbi was hanging on to the table and her thermos with a worried expression on her face.
“I could, but we’ll miss the morning set. We want to bomb out the buoy right when the tide changes. If we’re lucky, then we’ll get around seventy or eighty by slack tide this afternoon and call it a day.”
“How do you know where to fish?” Dr. He’osforos was making a good show of standing and maintaining his balance with his hand on the booth.
“Well, there’s two ways you know. The first is you fish the spots your family’s fished since time began. Every family has about two or three different secret spots that we know there’s fish in, and we’re pretty defensive about their locations. The second is by smell. Right now it’s the tail end of the King season, and you can smell them in the water.” Andy turned and saw the incredulity etched on the faces of the two aliens.
“No, I’m serious! King Salmon slime is really pungent, and you can smell them when they’re close to the surface. We get to the fishing spot and take a deep whiff. If we smell them, we’ll set the nets.” Andy laughed at the disbelief on their faces as the GPS on his omnipad beeped and he turned to sail around the last buoy and head for the fishing ground.
“I’ve never noticed that in any of the Kings we’ve raised-”
Andy suppressed a laugh as they caught a larger swell as they left the lee of Lummi Island. Andy reveled in the feeling of weightlessness as the deck rose up and fell out from underneath their feet, leaving everyone suspended for a moment in midair before falling back down. A massive spray of water rose and washed over the deck, drenching Kalai and Jackie, who were still forward. “Cloned and farmed Kings don’t have that same smell. Wild ones smell and taste different, I’m telling you!” Andy pulled back slightly on the throttle as they climbed the next swell. “Brace!” he called as they climbed and fell once again.
There was a look of fear on Sakalbi’s face as she gripped the table for dear life, but to Andy’s surprise, the Doctor looked completely unfazed, and was handling the rise and fall of the deck like an old salt. “You look like you’ve done this before, Doc.”
“I’ve done a stint or two at sea before,” he spoke, in the same tone Andy would have used when trying not to sound too confident, and Andy smiled.
“Kalai keeps talking about loving the sea and sailing. Did you teach her to sail?”
“Yes, me and her mothers. When they were home, we would take the family yacht out in the Vaascon Straits and sail around the Occidiens. Kalai practically spent all her early childhood on a sailboat.”
“And almost every waking moment on one in Junior Academy. I swear you couldn’t dig her out with a trowel when she wanted to go sailing,” Sakalbi managed to add in a word as the boat slowed, and the dramatic rise and fall of the deck slowed with it.
“What about you, Mr. Shelokset, did your father teach you to sail too?”
“I was too young before he passed. My Great Uncle Willy taught me after I came home, and Grandma took me out to the family fishing sites when she wasn’t busy with the Council. For the first two or three years after they let us come home, fishing was the only way to feed our families, but the Militia and the Cambrians would try and sink our boats or arrest us whenever we tried to go out.”
“And that’s why you’re so good at maneuvering your vessel in the dark with no instruments?” Mrs. Vaida had folded her arms, and her voice twinged with that imperious tone she’d had when they’d first met.
Andy huffed a dry laugh. “I did what I had to for me and my people and to survive, Ma’am. I don’t like breaking the law or dodging lasers and gunfire, but there’s a lot of poor families that need to eat.”
The GPS beeped, and Andy gave Mrs. Vaida a slightly defiant look to counter her furrowed brow. “We’re here,” he said as he threw the engine in neutral and opened the cabin door.
Andy walked out and took a deep breath, but all he could smell was the net and the exhaust from the engine. “HEY JACKIE! WE SMELL MONEY?” Andy yelled out as he took stock of the sky. The first signs of sunrise were chasing all but the morning stars away and a light fog was rolling in from the north.
“FUCK YEAH I CAN SMELL ‘EM, ANDY! LET’S BOMB OUT AND GET BREAKFAST GOING!” Jackie looked slightly manic as she smiled brightly. Kalai, on the other hand, looked wet and miserable as she shivered, arms wrapped around herself. Andy gave his cousin a disgusted look as he pieced together what had happened. Every deckhand learned when to duck behind the raised bow and the roller horns that guided the nets so as not to get a faceful of spray when cutting through a swell. It was also a classic hazing trick for Senior Deckhands to let Junior Deckhands learn this the hard way.
Andy moved forward to stand in front of the two of them. Kalai was trying to squeeze her coat dry, but Andy knew it wouldn’t do much good until the sun came out. Jackie at least had the sense to look a little remorseful. “Kalai, why don’t you go sit in the cabin and get out of that wet coat. It’s cold enough out here even for us-”
“No way, Andy. Junior deckhand Kally here wants to impress you and get her dainty soft hands dirty! She’s been bragging about being a sailorwoman and wants to learn to fish ‘your way!” Jackie gave Kalai’s shoulder a wet slap as the poor alien woman went blue. Out of cold or embarrassment, Andy couldn’t tell.
All Andy could do was shake his head and huff. “Ok then! Secure the buoy and sling on my mark. I’ll get us in position!” Andy couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard Jackie start ordering Kalai about. Andy went back into the cabin and looked in the closet/bathroom to see if there was anything hanging up that he could give Kalai. There was only the one rain slicker and a few of Andy’s old sweaters from when he was a lot smaller. Well, looks like I’ll just be cold today. He quickly stripped out of his sweatshirt and grabbed the slicker before throwing a switch on the main control. Dr. He’osforos and Mrs. Vaida threw him quizzical looks as he went back outside wearing less than when he came in. He was down to a sleeveless shirt and his coveralls, and the morning breeze cut right through him and he braced his jaw to keep it from chattering.
“We’re ready to go- Andy, why are you practically naked from the waist up?” Kalai was staring wide eyed at him as he approached her and Jackie was on the bow. Jackie had everything ready; the buoy line was strung through the horns and ready to toss out. A giant orange and blue beach ball sized float hung at the end of the line to mark the end and make it easier to pick up later.
“Trade me your coat for these. If Jackie’s putting you to work, you’ll need these to keep warm.”
“I’m alright, I can-”
“I’m the Skipper of this boat, and I’m ordering you to take off that wet coat and put these on; and Jackie?” Andy gave his cousin a long and piercing look. “Give her the elbow gloves, not the halfsies.”
The scoff and the muttered Salishian profanities meant he’d read the next prank she’d had in mind right. She was planning on giving her the cloth gloves with only the palms and fingers coated in rubber. While perfectly fine for fishing, Andy knew they tended to get soaked through very quickly and did nothing to keep jellyfish stingers and fish slime off your hands. Kalai sputtered for a moment before she complied gratefully and she accepted the dry clothes and rain slicker.
Andy saw Jackie give him a strange look before looking back at Kalai, but he paid it no mind. He walked back to the controls on the drum and switched off the hydraulics, placing the mechanism in neutral. “SLING IT!” Andy called as he took the small jerry rigged steering wheel and threw the boat in reverse. Kalai jumped as the line started unspooling the net into the water at a rapid pace.
Andy set an ‘S’ bend in the quarter mile long net, zigzagging backwards until they came to the end of the line. Andy stopped the boat as Jackie tied off the other large buoy and tossed it over the side, unstringing the cork-line from the roller horns in the process. He pulled hard over and put a bit of distance from the net before shutting the engine down. The line of white and yellow corks marking the net bobbed lazily with the swells as silence settled over the water again. The waves rocked the boat gently as Andy found his sea legs again.
“Alright, I’ll get breakfast going. Jackie, Kalai? Post the watch for seals,” Andy called as he walked back into the cabin to fire up the tiny little gas stove.
Sakalbi, having found the confidence to stand at last, poked her head out of the cabin and stood on by the hatch to the fish hold. “Seals? Why would you need to watch for seals?”
Andy grit his teeth and looked over from where he was cracking open and scrambling eggs. “They’re the spawn of Satan and we hate their guts!” Andy bit out. Jackie came back and pulled the two shotguns and a pair of binoculars from the closet. Andy reached over to a side cabinet and pulled out a box of shells for them. Both his boss and the Doctor’s eyes got wide.
“Seals are the enemy of our blood. Were it not for the invasion, our unending war against these vermin would continue to this day!” Jackie growled as she loaded one for herself and rested the other on Andy’s seat at the helm.
The look of growing horror on Sakalbi’s face towards their facetious declarations caused Andy to chuckle a bit, before launching into an explanation. “We’re not fans of the species because they’ll wait until a fish gets caught in the net and then they’ll steal it, costing us a fish AND ripping a big hole in our nets that we then have to take time to repair. We use the shotguns and buckshot to give them a nice welt and convince them not to hang around, because they’ll wait up on the surface and watch the buoys, just like us. A single seal can and will take between five and ten fish. The worst is when they start getting full, they’ll just bite out the bellies of a salmon in the net. We can’t really do anything with that fish once it’s ‘seal-bit’. So yes, as fishermen, we hate them.”
“Learned opportunism in apex predators as a response to human activity… I think I’ll go see this behavior for myself!” Sakalbi practically rushed out the door towards the bow where Jackie was sitting on the roller horns explaining to Kalai how to spot the bastards, leaving Andy alone in the cabin with the Doctor while he cooked breakfast for them all.
Dr. He’osforos sat down heavily in the booth and pulled out his omnipad. “I’ve had a word with my friend in the Interior. She’s pulled the warrant for your brother, and I’ve withdrawn the charges I filed.”
Andy froze and turned around slowly. The only sound was the sizzle and pop of the eggs and chorizo that he’d added to them in the skillet. “You mean… it’s done? He can come home?” A wave of light headed euphoria swept over Andy and he swayed with the gentle rocking of the boat. “I will pay you back, Doc-”
The doctor held up his hand and stopped Andy. “We’ll call it even, but there’s something… I was able to get my hands on this,” Andy watched as the doctor swiped something towards his omnipad and it dinged. “What is it if I may-”
“Are you really asking an Indian to tell you a story? Because it’s going to be a long one if you are.” “I’m Sevastutavan, young man; we invented long stories.”
Andy froze and stared at the screen of his omnipad. The Vatikre was heavily accented, and Andy had a bit of trouble with the unfamiliar accent, but centered in the frame in a hospital room, sitting in a wheelchair, was a Salishian boy. Andy blinked in surprise as he stared at the screen. “Is that-”
“I am Ikw’is’hi’ehlah, and this bearer is… of the Orca Clan Sheloksets. I drove our Haida enemies onto the rocks and took many heads when they attacked our winter village on Orcas Island. I signed the Treaty with the Great White Father and I fought against the slavers of the south-”
Andy wanted to grab the omnipad but the smell of overcooking eggs brought his attention back to breakfast and Andy stirred and scrapped the food quickly, trying to save it.
“I asked her for any materials she could give me on your brother. Pictures, recordings, anything. This is what she gave me. It's the last known recording of your brother during an interrogation conducted by a Navy Commissar prior to his escape. It seems he made friends with a Pod of Deaths Head Commandos. Quite a bit of the recording has been redacted, but… there are portions of it where he talks about his family and his history. I thought you might like to have it.”
Andy hurriedly pulled out paper plates and a slice of bread for everyone and scooped a heaping portion of the chorizo eggs onto them. He handed the doctor his before leaning out the cabin door. “Slop’s on, come and get it!”
Andy sat down after moving the shotgun out of the way and started the video over again as the three women came back to grab their plates and lost himself watching his brother start telling his story.
“What’s that?” Andy heard Kalai ask over his shoulder, and he paused the video.
“That’s my brother! That’s Kay Tee!”
“Holy shit, what?” Jackie nearly shoved Kalai into Andy as she jammed her bread slice down her gullet and crowded in to see the screen.
Andy started the video over a second time and they watched in silence. “God, that brings back memories. Back when mom was still alive and before we broke up the warband. I can’t believe that slippery little punk ghosted a pod of Commandos for two fucking years! Holy shit, that’s badass!”
Before Andy could say anything, Sakalbi started coughing and brought the binoculars up. “Uh, Andy? Jackie? What do we do about sharks?”
Jackie looked at Andy in confusion. “Sharks? There’s nothing but Dogs around here.”
“Well those are shark fins and they’re charging the net!” Sakalbi pointed and Andy looked up to see dorsal fins charging the center of the net.
Andy looked at Jackie and spoke the same words in tandem, “Oh shit!”
First:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/yz0u3h/the_cryptid_chronicle_chapter_1/
Previous:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/13nh0oe/cryptid_chronicle_chapter_29/
Next:
To be posted 6/4/23
submitted by Kazevenikov to Sexyspacebabes [link] [comments]
A special thanks to my editors LordHenry7898, RandomTinkerer, Swimming_Good_8507, CatsInTrenchcoats, and KLiCKonthat.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired me to tell my own in this universe. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), CarCU131 (The Cook), and Rhion-618 (Just One Drop)
Hy’shq’e Ay Si’am (Thank you noble friends)
Chapter 30: A Promise Kept
Kalai stepped off the shuttle to the Vaida’s headquarters and into a running tackle-hug from Sitry. “Oh Kalai, I could kill you right now! You got to see the Great Barrier Reef in person, you bitch!” Sitry’s cheerful voice was muffled from where she was still buried in her chest. Kalai staggered backwards a pace or two, happy to be back from her whirlwind adventure around Earth with her father.
Naranjo and Papa Rhaxiid were there on the platform to welcome her back too, but their welcomes were more sedate.
“Not to mention you got out of work for half our damn trip. Ugh, it’s so not fair!” Naranjo huffed as Kalai gave him a sisterly hug.
Papa Rhaxiid reached up and chucked her chin before turning to lead the way back inside from the forested platform. “Welcome back, sweet-sprout, we’ve missed you. Come on, we’ll get you settled again and off to work. There’s quite a bit you need to catch up on if you want your credits.”
The chuckles from the twins behind her were full of sibling malice, but she knew how to shut the pair of them up. “Papa Rhaxiid? I’ve got the paper on Biodiversity in the Reef you asked for, along with the dissection report and stomach content analysis of the tuna we caught. I want to put the finishing touches on it and do a final proofread first before I send them to you.” The man turned and gave her a warm smile as they entered the building.
“Good, why don’t you go take your things back up and say hello to Andy? I’ll give you an hour and a half to get freshened up, then I want you to report to Aquarium 12 with Dr. Sor’ansa. You can put your snorkeling practice to work there.” Papa Rhaxiid walked the three of them to the residential elevator. “I’m heading back to my office. Andy’s been requested by Maetro Pae’ella to work the kitchens for something called ‘Bison burgers'. Apparently it’s a type of indigenous bovine that the eastern Bands raise. That and something from Europe called ‘French Fries’.”
Kalai couldn’t help but get excited as she and her siblings piled into the elevator back to their little shared apartment. Sure the food she’d had all over the place was good, but so far nothing had been able to compare to Andy and his Salishian cooking.
“Nerd, I can’t believe you cheated and did work on your vacation." Naranjo broke the silence of the elevator after a little bit and stuck his tongue out at her.
“Spit to windward, you vain little weed. Don’t hate me because I’m awesome.” Kalai’s riposte caused Naranjo to fold his arms and huff. Sitry simply ambushed her with an ear flick.
The elevator door opened to their floor before Kalai couldn’t bear the silence from Sitry any longer. “So, did you bag him yet, you lucky bitch?”
“No she hasn’t!” Naranjo’s singsong mockery of his sister interrupted Sitry’s response. “Papa hasn’t let Sitry even NEAR Andy without one of them around!”
“Rub it in, you snitch, besides, he did kiss me first,” Sitry preened happily as she playfully shoved Kalai’s shoulder.
Kalai pretended to stumble and almost caught Sitry’s foot, but she was just a hair too slow. “Yeah, and then you gave him a black eye, you clod.”
“Will you let it go? It was an accident!”
“It’s not even the only one he got either." Naranjo’s interjection stopped her right in front of their door.
“Wait, what? Who hurt him this time?” Kalai let her bag thunk to the floor as she turned to look accusingly between Sitry and Narny.
Sitry folded her arms and her ears twitched back as she shot a dark look at their door. “He ‘fell down’ yesterday while out at one of the Hatcheries we gave to the Hwatcoms. Mrs. Toloui nearly had a fit! She said she could smell another human on him and that he was covered in blood!”
Narny nodded primly as Kalai tried to process what they were telling her. “WHAT? Did she call out the militia? Track down whoever hurt him?”
“No, and he refused treatment and insisted that no one did it to him! When papa tried to talk to him, Andy said some stupid human macho shit about pain healing and birds liking scars. I don’t know, sometimes humans… they’re frickin’ insane!”
The door shot open and there stood Andy. His left eye was an angry puffy yellow and blue mess, and there were three points on his lips where a dark cinnabar line marked a crack. Kalai and her siblings stood in wide eyed shock at his sudden appearance and the only sound was the music emanating from the common room behind him.
Andy looked up and down at the three without saying a word. He cocked an eyebrow and snagged Kalai’s bag before any of them could react and cleared the doorway for them.
Kalai sputtered at the impropriety but Naranjo and Sitry just shrugged and walked in after Andy. “Femboys, am I right?” Narny whispered to Kalai as he passed. Kalai followed behind and was greeted by the white fluff-ball, Puck, who hopped up and down, whining for attention. She bent down and started scratching his ears and back. While Puck rubbed up against her hands, Andy settled back down at the table where his omnipad was hooked up to a keypad. Her heart started to sink a bit and Kalai shot Sitry a jealous look before the music came to a sudden halt and Andy interrupted the beginnings of her pity party.
“Ok, Kem’ira, I got the pics now and I’m telling you to declare yourself to the farmers first! I guarantee if you tell them you’re with the new DNR and you’re there to kill all the Scotch Broom in their pasture lands, they’ll stop trying to shoot you for trespassing!”
Kalai’s mood jumped up a bit. It’s not that he doesn’t care to see me, he’s in a meeting!
“No, no I’m not coming out to talk this over with them, I’ve got my own work to do! Either you start talking to folks like I showed you how, or ask the militia to give you one of their armored catsuits to wear under your uniform… Uh-huh, good luck." Andy hung up on the call and leaned back as Puck scampered over and hopped up in his lap.
Andy rubbed his temples before shaking his head. He seemed to relax a bit and Puck slid off to follow Sitry to the kitchen. Andy looked over and gave Kalai a happy smile that made her flush. “Welcome back! So how was the land down under? That tuna was fan-frickin’-tastic, if you aren’t sick of seafood I’ll do something fancy with it tomorrow to celebrate your coming back. Can’t tonight though, I got volun-told to be head chef tonight and I… Oh damnit! I’m late! Come to dinner, burgers and fries Indian style tonight. Gotta run!” With that, Andy went dashing out the door with Puck barking and scrambling along after him.
Kalai felt her heart sink back down again, as he left. “Andy I-” She started but he was gone.
“Yeah, it’s been like that for the whole week. The only time we get to hang out is dinner.” Sitry commiserated as she took Kalai’s bag into their room. “On the other hand, we might get to catch up during the family meal tonight.”
Kalai and Narny were already silently plotting with each other for their revenge against their sister who had won and refused to share the last few matchsticks when Andy finally joined their table. He was sweaty and he smelled of woodsmoke and french fries. Kalai jumped up and offered him a seat next to her with a nervous smile. He took it gratefully and seemed to sag a bit as he gulped down a glass of water.
“Andy, I think you may be finding your calling as a culinary ambassador,” Mama Aftasia beamed. “A toast to the chef!”
Andy gave a shy smile and looked down as Kalai and the rest of the family gave a hearty ‘Here, here!”
“It’s a simple enough recipe; it’s just using bison instead of cow, that’s all, and I don’t know anyone who’d turn down hand cut fresh fries. It’s kind of hard to screw up.”
“Young man, you are speaking to a woman who found a way to take cold water and dried wumpa flakes and wind up with a Class-4 fire. Cooking has always seemed like ‘blight mysticism’ to me, and these foods? These flavors? Nothing short of a Greenwood miracle in my opinion." Mama Aftasia continued her praise of Andy, which only caused him to shrink even lower in his seat.
“To be honest, I like your salmon better,” Kalai said, and the whole table went silent. Kalai held her ground though, and was rewarded with a tired but genuine laugh from Andy that brought him back out of his shell.
“You know, I do too. My Clan were fisherpeople, not buffalo chasers.” Andy gave Kalai a cheeky grin, which she returned happily, her heart glowing. Mama Aftasia and Mama Sakalbi both blinked in bemusement at Andy’s statement while Sitry just giggled.
“Speaking of which, Andy, I received a call from Elder Alex Hwatcom.” Papa Rhaxiid’s change of subject instantly perked Andy up, and he stared silently, waiting. “He extended an invitation to our family to attend his family gathering this Friday-”
“Alex said that? He used those words?” Andy shook his head in shock as he interrupted Papa Rhaxiid. The table went quiet and everyone held their breath as they looked between the two men.
Papa Rhaxiid adopted as good an impression of the human Elder as he could. “I’d like to extend an invitation for you and your family to be guests at our family gathering this saturday up at the White… something… lodge-”
“The White Ram Lodge?” Andy sat forward, interjecting again as the color drained from his face.
“Yes, that’s the one! I asked if we could bring anything since the last time they hosted us they put on that wonderful spread. He said if we could bring a few salmon for the family, that would be wonderful.”
Andy leaned back and took another sip of ice water before holding the glass to his blackened eye. “Alex Hwatcom… just invited you… to a gathering… and he told you to ‘bring a few salmon’? Do you realize what a huge honor this is?”
Rhaxiid looked from his wives to his children with mild concern. “Um, I thought it was only dinner, but your reaction tells me there’s more significance to this than I originally thought. I was thinking about our stocks of adult Sockeye, but then I remembered in his story how important King Salmon are. Of course, I’d like to defer to you for the choice since you know these animals and the cultural expectations with this invitation better than we do.”
Andy was silent for a moment before he put the glass down. “I’d recommend a ‘hard no’ to all your clone stock!” Now it was the Vaidas’ turn to be shocked, as each of Kalai’s Erbian family’s jaws dropped in synch. Before anyone could say anything, Andy continued, “You need to bring wild-caught. Farm-raised salmon wouldn’t… well we can tell, and you can taste the difference between them. We need to go fishing!” Kalai leaned towards Andy slightly as he lowered his head and started mumbling to himself. She was just able to make out what he was saying to himself as Mama Sakalbi and Mama Aftasia began whispering to each other. “...need to get the Gillnetter out of storage, check what’s running and select the mesh. I’m gonna need a deckhand too.”
Kalai reached a hand out but stopped short of touching him. “Andy?”
He popped up and spoke for the whole table to hear. “I need a shuttle to the mainland and a waiver against the fishing ban. I’ve got to get my boat and the drum ready for sea ” Rhaxiid and Aftasia sputtered in confusion, but Mama Sakalbi had a shadow fall over her, and her ears pulled back.
“Do you mean to say you want to go out on the water? Risk the ecological balance for… dinner?”
Andy looked Sakalbi dead in the eye and gave her a firm nod. “Why don’t you come out and see how we did this before you got here. Think of it as a chance to see the way we’ve fished for the last hundred or so years, and then I can explain the way we used to fish before that.”
The offer snapped Rhaxiid out of his confusion and he brightened. “A learning experience? Wonderful, we’ll make a day of it!” His hands shot out to grab both his wives’ and Kalai could feel the vibrations in the floor from where he was excitedly tapping his feet.
“If you don’t mind hard, smelly work. Uncle Willy always called it ‘the worst desk in the prettiest office.' It’ll be a bit cramped, but I’ve got room on the boat for a few guests and observers; four I think would be ok. She’s a working boat, not a pleasure cruiser,” Andy explained. That sent the whole lot of them excitedly talking among themselves.
Kalai was about to lean in to talk to Mama Aftasia, but Andy caught her attention first. “I don’t suppose you’d want to go back out on the water, given you just got back from pleasure-boating-”
Kalai’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. “I wouldn’t miss it for my own colony planet!”
--------------------
Kalai stood on the pier, bundled in her thermal sailor’s coat. It was still dark and the wind blew from the north in a cold little morning breeze. Kalai took a deep breath and reveled in the smell of the fresh sea air. The soft chattering of Mama Sakalbi’s teeth broke the silence. “It’s a bit chillier than it said it was going to be.”
“The water always does that. It’s never as warm as the lubbers say it’ll be,” Papa spoke as he handed her back her thermos of hot chocolate.
Papa stood next to Kalai and nudged her with his elbow. Even in the dark, Kalai could see him smile up at her and jerk his head at the shivering Erbian. He was also wearing a thermal sailor’s coat, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets to keep them warm, just like Kalai’s. “Landswoman,” he whispered to her and the two of them shared a knowing smile. It was strange, but welcome when she'd told Papa about her upcoming day fishing with Andy, and he’d politely requested to join them. Papa Rhaxiid had graciously given his spot up to accommodate her birth father. Narny was all for it until Andy had explained what they were going to do, but then surrendered his challenge to the fourth guest space, not wanting to go anywhere NEAR anything that could see him come face to face with a Lion’s Mane Jelly. Sitry had done a happy little dance when she found out, but only yesterday had come down with Thistle Fever, and was bundled off to bed by her parents. It left Kalai, Mama Sakalbi, and Papa to accompany Andy on his fishing trip.
The water brushed against the shore behind them quietly. In the gloom, Kalai could just barely make out the outline of the nearest island mountain, but only because the stars had disappeared behind it. It was almost four in the morning, but Kalai had managed a catnap on the shuttle to the empty little lot that had been the boat launch. Aside from the water, the world was silent. Even the breeze made almost no noise and a sense of peace surrounded them. Everything was so calm, Kalai felt like she didn’t have a care in the world.
In the distance, a low rumbling sound of a motor rose from being almost imperceptible to a rolling drum of thunder. From around the point, two green floating lights sped through the darkness, and a spotlight turned on. The beam of light moved jerkily until it came to rest on the pier where they were standing and Kalai started waving her arms. Sakalbi’s omnipad rang, and Andy’s voice shouted over the speaker and the background noise for them to shine a light on the edge of the pier to help him park the boat.
Kalai and Papa moved closer and turned their omnipad flashlights on and waved them as the boat swung gracefully around and glided in alongside them. Kalai caught the rope that flew over the railing of the boat and she heard more than saw Andy moving around on the deck as she tied off on one of the mooring cleats. Several lights clicked on and the deck was bathed in light enough for Kalai to get a clear view of the boat they’d be spending the day on.
Andy hadn’t lied. Kalai saw that this little vessel was a working boat with no frills at all. When he’d told her they’d be going fishing, she’d envisioned something like the charter boat papa had taken her on out of Nantucket. Sporty, fast with a nod to comfort and function. This was not that at all. A giant wheel as wide as Kalai’s outstretched arms that looked like a sideways spool of thread was secured to the deck amidships and dominated the deckspace. Wrapped around it was a fluorescent green tangle with a line of oblong white and yellow corks and rope. There was a covered hatchway sitting behind the drum in front of the raised step to the enclosed cabin. Two large windows let the light out to two children’s bunks, a little table with a booth seat and a raised captain’s chair in front of the helm and engine controls. Andy shut down the engine and that peaceful stillness returned.
“Oway there!” Kalai called, “ship oway! Request permission to come aboard.” Kalai gave the traditional greeting of a Shil’vati sailor.
“Permission granted! Anyone need a stepstool?” Andy finally stepped into the light and Kalai got a look at him. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and the same bright orange coveralls she’d seen the fishmongers wearing on their date.
“I wouldn’t mind a hand, Mr. Shelokset.” Papa He’osforos braced a foot on the railing of the boat and Andy pulled him up.
“Just call me Andy, Doc, and welcome aboard. Jackie should be along any minute now with the day’s groceries, and the cabin’s out of the cold. You can get yourself set wherever you find comfortable.” Papa nodded and disappeared around the other side of the wheel moving towards the bow.
Kalai helped Mama Sakalbi into the boat next, and she quickly ducked into the cabin that took up the entire stern section save for a little ledge that ran along the outside. Andy gripped Kalai’s hand and she smiled as he pulled her deftly aboard. The boat rocked a little on its mooring, and Kalai almost fell into Andy, who wordlessly put his arms around her waist to catch her as she lost her balance. She flailed for a moment before she steadied herself against him.
“Gotcha,” Andy smiled, and Kalai could see him flush almost as much as she could feel herself doing as their noses almost touched. Those big dark brown eyes surrounded by white orbs drew her in and she felt she could lose herself in them. Kalai started as Andy danced her around him and moved her towards the cabin door.
“It might be a little cramped for you in there, but the Mary Jean wasn’t built for pleasure boating, she’s a working girl. Sit tight, I gotta check a few things in the back.” Andy patted the railing affectionately before he hopped up and scooted along the outside of the cabin towards the stern. Kalai couldn’t help the little longing groan that came out as he left her there on the little tiny quarterdeck. Her heart was hammering in her chest as half formed fantasies danced at the edges of her mind.
“I saw that, little minnow.” Papa’s voice was soft, but his tone and the sudden broken silence nearly gave her a heart attack.
Kalai could only stammer as her father stared at her with a cocked eyebrow. A thump from the cabin window behind saw an amused Mama Sakalbi daintily sipping at her thermos with her ears twitched forward in interest, staring out at her. “Papa I… he-”
Papa moved carefully around the covered hatchway to stand next to her, leaning back against the cabin window and heaved a sigh. “I must say I’m surprised. This lovely man’s got good clean lines and is very well cared for. It speaks well of his Skipper.”
It took a full minute for Kalai’s brain to process that he was talking about the boat and not Andy. “And the way Andy brought him in smooth in near complete darkness? It gives me confidence in his abilities.”
Kalai breathed a silent sigh of relief and exasperation. Although she was happy to be spending more time with her father, bringing him on what she’d hoped would be a sailing date wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind for ‘family time’. He wants me to find a nice young man and spend time with him on a boat, but the first chance I get Papa decides to clam-jam me.
From up on shore, the sound and lights of a large human vehicle screeching to a halt heralded the last of their party to arrive. Kalai heard the clomping footsteps coming down the pier and moved to the railing to lend a hand.
“Ahoy Mary Jean! Raggedy Andy, you there?” Kalai stared with wide eyed surprise to see a human female, loaded down with plastic bags and sporting two human weapons on her shoulder. The two of them locked eyes, and while Kalai didn’t understand everything the girl shouted in surprise, she had caught and understood the phrase, “What the fuck?”
“Easy now, they’re my guests, and the one inside is the boss!” Andy appeared on the pier instantly before either Kalai or the woman could react further.
“Ya didn’t tell me we were having pur-” The woman glared at Kalai and her father. She had switched to Vatikre thankfully, but her tone was hostile as she dropped everything but her weapons. “I mean, hwun’eetums, aboard. A gal could get the wrong idea pretty quick in the dark when there’s no warning.”
“Knock it off Jackie. Let’s get the grub aboard and shove off.” Andy picked up some of the bags and took the guns as Kalai offered a helping hand over the railing. “Oh, Kalai, this is Jackie. Jackie? Kalai. That’s her dad over there, Doc He’osforos. He saw and treated Kay Tee a few years back.” Andy jerked his head towards the direction of Kalai’s father as she held out a hand to the human girl. On a quick inspection, she appeared to be about the same age as her and Andy. She had a round face and was about as dark complected as Andy was. She was shorter, only a few inches taller than Papa, but when Jackie grabbed Kalai’s hand to hop up onto the rail, she could feel the strength and the compact muscle hidden by the baggy sweatshirt and pants.
“Wait a minute, did you say Mini-Me over there saw Kay Tee? You’re fuckin’ with me!” Jackie stumbled a bit as she hopped down onto the deck with a loud thunk and advanced on Papa who shrank away at her advance. “You saw li’l Kay Tee? Where the fuck is he? Is he alright? Is he still fighting the good fight?”
“Last I saw, yes, he was ‘fighting the good fight.’” Papa looked over at Andy with a slightly worried expression. Andy smacked the girl in the back of the head, causing her to flinch and she opened the door to the cabin for Andy to go inside.
Jackie rubbed the back of her head and laughed. “Well that’s a little bit of alright, innit? Maybe today’s gonna be a good day after all!”
“Jackie, get suited up and get on the bow. I need a good pair of eyes on the roller horns,” Kalai heard Andy shout from the cabin, followed by a whole lot of thumping and banging from cabinets being opened and closed.
“You got it, ol’ man. We going to your place or mine?” Jackie sidestepped in and opened a tiny little closet and pulled out a set of rain gear that was identical to what Andy was wearing. Kalai collected herself and stood in the doorway next to her father as they both leaned in.
“Mine; Chuck said the Yaw’much are running from the South. We’ll do a set nor’west of Lummi in the Rosario and see if we can get some Fraser Kings,” Andy replied as he turned the engine back on and the vessel roared to life.
“Chuck? Isn’t that one of your cousins? I didn’t know he could keep track of the movements of Salmon, may I ask how he does it?” Mama Sakalbi perked up as she pulled a set of earplugs out of a pocket and inserted them.
Andy prevaricated a bit, looking from Jackie back to Sakalbi then to Kalai and Papa. “I’d rather not answer that-”
“Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law!”
Jackie began singing a human song, and Andy threw her the dirtiest of looks as she finished getting into the orange coveralls. Mama Sakalbi sputtered as Andy shrugged apologetically.
“Make a hole!” Jackie called, and she and Andy came back out as Kalai and Papa made room for them. Andy hopped back onto the dock to cast off while Papa ducked into the cabin.
“Can I help?” Kalai offered as Andy shoved the vessel off and leapt the gap over the black water below.
“You want to be useful? Come forward! I could use an extra set of eyes!” Jackie called back, and Kalai felt a slap on her shoulder from the boisterous human woman.
------------------
Andy stood at the helm, watching Jackie and Kalai as he leaned to get a better view of them past the Net drum. The bow was lifting up again, and the gentle little swells became like speed bumps, jostling them up and down in a predictable bouncing rhythm.
“Are you sure you couldn’t slow down, Andy? It’s a bit rough, don’t you think?” Sakalbi was hanging on to the table and her thermos with a worried expression on her face.
“I could, but we’ll miss the morning set. We want to bomb out the buoy right when the tide changes. If we’re lucky, then we’ll get around seventy or eighty by slack tide this afternoon and call it a day.”
“How do you know where to fish?” Dr. He’osforos was making a good show of standing and maintaining his balance with his hand on the booth.
“Well, there’s two ways you know. The first is you fish the spots your family’s fished since time began. Every family has about two or three different secret spots that we know there’s fish in, and we’re pretty defensive about their locations. The second is by smell. Right now it’s the tail end of the King season, and you can smell them in the water.” Andy turned and saw the incredulity etched on the faces of the two aliens.
“No, I’m serious! King Salmon slime is really pungent, and you can smell them when they’re close to the surface. We get to the fishing spot and take a deep whiff. If we smell them, we’ll set the nets.” Andy laughed at the disbelief on their faces as the GPS on his omnipad beeped and he turned to sail around the last buoy and head for the fishing ground.
“I’ve never noticed that in any of the Kings we’ve raised-”
Andy suppressed a laugh as they caught a larger swell as they left the lee of Lummi Island. Andy reveled in the feeling of weightlessness as the deck rose up and fell out from underneath their feet, leaving everyone suspended for a moment in midair before falling back down. A massive spray of water rose and washed over the deck, drenching Kalai and Jackie, who were still forward. “Cloned and farmed Kings don’t have that same smell. Wild ones smell and taste different, I’m telling you!” Andy pulled back slightly on the throttle as they climbed the next swell. “Brace!” he called as they climbed and fell once again.
There was a look of fear on Sakalbi’s face as she gripped the table for dear life, but to Andy’s surprise, the Doctor looked completely unfazed, and was handling the rise and fall of the deck like an old salt. “You look like you’ve done this before, Doc.”
“I’ve done a stint or two at sea before,” he spoke, in the same tone Andy would have used when trying not to sound too confident, and Andy smiled.
“Kalai keeps talking about loving the sea and sailing. Did you teach her to sail?”
“Yes, me and her mothers. When they were home, we would take the family yacht out in the Vaascon Straits and sail around the Occidiens. Kalai practically spent all her early childhood on a sailboat.”
“And almost every waking moment on one in Junior Academy. I swear you couldn’t dig her out with a trowel when she wanted to go sailing,” Sakalbi managed to add in a word as the boat slowed, and the dramatic rise and fall of the deck slowed with it.
“What about you, Mr. Shelokset, did your father teach you to sail too?”
“I was too young before he passed. My Great Uncle Willy taught me after I came home, and Grandma took me out to the family fishing sites when she wasn’t busy with the Council. For the first two or three years after they let us come home, fishing was the only way to feed our families, but the Militia and the Cambrians would try and sink our boats or arrest us whenever we tried to go out.”
“And that’s why you’re so good at maneuvering your vessel in the dark with no instruments?” Mrs. Vaida had folded her arms, and her voice twinged with that imperious tone she’d had when they’d first met.
Andy huffed a dry laugh. “I did what I had to for me and my people and to survive, Ma’am. I don’t like breaking the law or dodging lasers and gunfire, but there’s a lot of poor families that need to eat.”
The GPS beeped, and Andy gave Mrs. Vaida a slightly defiant look to counter her furrowed brow. “We’re here,” he said as he threw the engine in neutral and opened the cabin door.
Andy walked out and took a deep breath, but all he could smell was the net and the exhaust from the engine. “HEY JACKIE! WE SMELL MONEY?” Andy yelled out as he took stock of the sky. The first signs of sunrise were chasing all but the morning stars away and a light fog was rolling in from the north.
“FUCK YEAH I CAN SMELL ‘EM, ANDY! LET’S BOMB OUT AND GET BREAKFAST GOING!” Jackie looked slightly manic as she smiled brightly. Kalai, on the other hand, looked wet and miserable as she shivered, arms wrapped around herself. Andy gave his cousin a disgusted look as he pieced together what had happened. Every deckhand learned when to duck behind the raised bow and the roller horns that guided the nets so as not to get a faceful of spray when cutting through a swell. It was also a classic hazing trick for Senior Deckhands to let Junior Deckhands learn this the hard way.
Andy moved forward to stand in front of the two of them. Kalai was trying to squeeze her coat dry, but Andy knew it wouldn’t do much good until the sun came out. Jackie at least had the sense to look a little remorseful. “Kalai, why don’t you go sit in the cabin and get out of that wet coat. It’s cold enough out here even for us-”
“No way, Andy. Junior deckhand Kally here wants to impress you and get her dainty soft hands dirty! She’s been bragging about being a sailorwoman and wants to learn to fish ‘your way!” Jackie gave Kalai’s shoulder a wet slap as the poor alien woman went blue. Out of cold or embarrassment, Andy couldn’t tell.
All Andy could do was shake his head and huff. “Ok then! Secure the buoy and sling on my mark. I’ll get us in position!” Andy couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard Jackie start ordering Kalai about. Andy went back into the cabin and looked in the closet/bathroom to see if there was anything hanging up that he could give Kalai. There was only the one rain slicker and a few of Andy’s old sweaters from when he was a lot smaller. Well, looks like I’ll just be cold today. He quickly stripped out of his sweatshirt and grabbed the slicker before throwing a switch on the main control. Dr. He’osforos and Mrs. Vaida threw him quizzical looks as he went back outside wearing less than when he came in. He was down to a sleeveless shirt and his coveralls, and the morning breeze cut right through him and he braced his jaw to keep it from chattering.
“We’re ready to go- Andy, why are you practically naked from the waist up?” Kalai was staring wide eyed at him as he approached her and Jackie was on the bow. Jackie had everything ready; the buoy line was strung through the horns and ready to toss out. A giant orange and blue beach ball sized float hung at the end of the line to mark the end and make it easier to pick up later.
“Trade me your coat for these. If Jackie’s putting you to work, you’ll need these to keep warm.”
“I’m alright, I can-”
“I’m the Skipper of this boat, and I’m ordering you to take off that wet coat and put these on; and Jackie?” Andy gave his cousin a long and piercing look. “Give her the elbow gloves, not the halfsies.”
The scoff and the muttered Salishian profanities meant he’d read the next prank she’d had in mind right. She was planning on giving her the cloth gloves with only the palms and fingers coated in rubber. While perfectly fine for fishing, Andy knew they tended to get soaked through very quickly and did nothing to keep jellyfish stingers and fish slime off your hands. Kalai sputtered for a moment before she complied gratefully and she accepted the dry clothes and rain slicker.
Andy saw Jackie give him a strange look before looking back at Kalai, but he paid it no mind. He walked back to the controls on the drum and switched off the hydraulics, placing the mechanism in neutral. “SLING IT!” Andy called as he took the small jerry rigged steering wheel and threw the boat in reverse. Kalai jumped as the line started unspooling the net into the water at a rapid pace.
Andy set an ‘S’ bend in the quarter mile long net, zigzagging backwards until they came to the end of the line. Andy stopped the boat as Jackie tied off the other large buoy and tossed it over the side, unstringing the cork-line from the roller horns in the process. He pulled hard over and put a bit of distance from the net before shutting the engine down. The line of white and yellow corks marking the net bobbed lazily with the swells as silence settled over the water again. The waves rocked the boat gently as Andy found his sea legs again.
“Alright, I’ll get breakfast going. Jackie, Kalai? Post the watch for seals,” Andy called as he walked back into the cabin to fire up the tiny little gas stove.
Sakalbi, having found the confidence to stand at last, poked her head out of the cabin and stood on by the hatch to the fish hold. “Seals? Why would you need to watch for seals?”
Andy grit his teeth and looked over from where he was cracking open and scrambling eggs. “They’re the spawn of Satan and we hate their guts!” Andy bit out. Jackie came back and pulled the two shotguns and a pair of binoculars from the closet. Andy reached over to a side cabinet and pulled out a box of shells for them. Both his boss and the Doctor’s eyes got wide.
“Seals are the enemy of our blood. Were it not for the invasion, our unending war against these vermin would continue to this day!” Jackie growled as she loaded one for herself and rested the other on Andy’s seat at the helm.
The look of growing horror on Sakalbi’s face towards their facetious declarations caused Andy to chuckle a bit, before launching into an explanation. “We’re not fans of the species because they’ll wait until a fish gets caught in the net and then they’ll steal it, costing us a fish AND ripping a big hole in our nets that we then have to take time to repair. We use the shotguns and buckshot to give them a nice welt and convince them not to hang around, because they’ll wait up on the surface and watch the buoys, just like us. A single seal can and will take between five and ten fish. The worst is when they start getting full, they’ll just bite out the bellies of a salmon in the net. We can’t really do anything with that fish once it’s ‘seal-bit’. So yes, as fishermen, we hate them.”
“Learned opportunism in apex predators as a response to human activity… I think I’ll go see this behavior for myself!” Sakalbi practically rushed out the door towards the bow where Jackie was sitting on the roller horns explaining to Kalai how to spot the bastards, leaving Andy alone in the cabin with the Doctor while he cooked breakfast for them all.
Dr. He’osforos sat down heavily in the booth and pulled out his omnipad. “I’ve had a word with my friend in the Interior. She’s pulled the warrant for your brother, and I’ve withdrawn the charges I filed.”
Andy froze and turned around slowly. The only sound was the sizzle and pop of the eggs and chorizo that he’d added to them in the skillet. “You mean… it’s done? He can come home?” A wave of light headed euphoria swept over Andy and he swayed with the gentle rocking of the boat. “I will pay you back, Doc-”
The doctor held up his hand and stopped Andy. “We’ll call it even, but there’s something… I was able to get my hands on this,” Andy watched as the doctor swiped something towards his omnipad and it dinged. “What is it if I may-”
“Are you really asking an Indian to tell you a story? Because it’s going to be a long one if you are.” “I’m Sevastutavan, young man; we invented long stories.”
Andy froze and stared at the screen of his omnipad. The Vatikre was heavily accented, and Andy had a bit of trouble with the unfamiliar accent, but centered in the frame in a hospital room, sitting in a wheelchair, was a Salishian boy. Andy blinked in surprise as he stared at the screen. “Is that-”
“I am Ikw’is’hi’ehlah, and this bearer is… of the Orca Clan Sheloksets. I drove our Haida enemies onto the rocks and took many heads when they attacked our winter village on Orcas Island. I signed the Treaty with the Great White Father and I fought against the slavers of the south-”
Andy wanted to grab the omnipad but the smell of overcooking eggs brought his attention back to breakfast and Andy stirred and scrapped the food quickly, trying to save it.
“I asked her for any materials she could give me on your brother. Pictures, recordings, anything. This is what she gave me. It's the last known recording of your brother during an interrogation conducted by a Navy Commissar prior to his escape. It seems he made friends with a Pod of Deaths Head Commandos. Quite a bit of the recording has been redacted, but… there are portions of it where he talks about his family and his history. I thought you might like to have it.”
Andy hurriedly pulled out paper plates and a slice of bread for everyone and scooped a heaping portion of the chorizo eggs onto them. He handed the doctor his before leaning out the cabin door. “Slop’s on, come and get it!”
Andy sat down after moving the shotgun out of the way and started the video over again as the three women came back to grab their plates and lost himself watching his brother start telling his story.
“What’s that?” Andy heard Kalai ask over his shoulder, and he paused the video.
“That’s my brother! That’s Kay Tee!”
“Holy shit, what?” Jackie nearly shoved Kalai into Andy as she jammed her bread slice down her gullet and crowded in to see the screen.
Andy started the video over a second time and they watched in silence. “God, that brings back memories. Back when mom was still alive and before we broke up the warband. I can’t believe that slippery little punk ghosted a pod of Commandos for two fucking years! Holy shit, that’s badass!”
Before Andy could say anything, Sakalbi started coughing and brought the binoculars up. “Uh, Andy? Jackie? What do we do about sharks?”
Jackie looked at Andy in confusion. “Sharks? There’s nothing but Dogs around here.”
“Well those are shark fins and they’re charging the net!” Sakalbi pointed and Andy looked up to see dorsal fins charging the center of the net.
Andy looked at Jackie and spoke the same words in tandem, “Oh shit!”
First:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/yz0u3h/the_cryptid_chronicle_chapter_1/
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https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/13nh0oe/cryptid_chronicle_chapter_29/
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To be posted 6/4/23
2023.05.28 04:59 fridaydec24 Helpful tip for all types
Though I think this will be particularly helpful for Manifestors, I think this can also be applied for the other types.
Over the years I have made many notes, tried many different things and come to various esoteric conclusions in my life. I have a running list of things that has helped me and things that have stood the test of time.
As of late, I've been researching and learning a lot about Human Design and there was a major overlap with something I had discovered years ago.
It's fairly simple but I actually did some tests out in the field (real life experiences)
For lack of a better term, this technique can be called 'energetic flow navigation'
The premise is very simple:
A real life example of how to apply this (true story):
I was in kind of a shit mood and went to this large party on a Saturday. I went by myself and the whole time I felt off and didn't want to engage and couldn't find anyone I knew etc. Overall not a great experience.
I decided to leave so I walked back to my car feeling down. Here was this great party with all this stuff and I was unable to enjoy it. So as I got back into my car, I sat with my hands on the steering wheel for about 5 minutes just thinking.. I remembered times in years past when I'd had so much fun and was in such a flow state, how great things would just happen out of nowhere.
It got my curiosity flowing. I thought hmmm.. let's try and experiment..
I got back out of the car and walked back into the same party I had just left but this time I was committing myself to staying positive and trying to follow the flow of positive/good energy meaning if someone was rude or giving me a bad vibe I would immediately leave that situation. What happened was really wild. The whole night changed, I met a bunch of amazing new people, got a girls phone #, ran into 4 or 5 friends that appeared at the same party (this was a huge party 1000 people), made some great connections, a famous band randomly played a secret show. Essentially it was as if I had gone to 2 different parties.
Following the "good" flow has resulting in MANY amazing things and I think perhaps combining this philosophy with informing for me personally will result in ever more desired things appearing and coming to fruition.
Hoped this helps and curious to hear everyone's thoughts
submitted by fridaydec24 to humandesign [link] [comments]
Over the years I have made many notes, tried many different things and come to various esoteric conclusions in my life. I have a running list of things that has helped me and things that have stood the test of time.
As of late, I've been researching and learning a lot about Human Design and there was a major overlap with something I had discovered years ago.
It's fairly simple but I actually did some tests out in the field (real life experiences)
For lack of a better term, this technique can be called 'energetic flow navigation'
The premise is very simple:
- Our whole world around us is energy. I imagine it like a massive body of energetic water with currents. Some help you to go where you want to go, some restrict your movements.
- The key is to STOP trying to push through resistance and to find an alternate route. Imagine banging your head against a door for months when there is another door 3 feet away that is wide open waiting for you to walk through it.
- I think this is particularly relevant and helpful for the Manifestor type given they are prone to resistance in general.
A real life example of how to apply this (true story):
I was in kind of a shit mood and went to this large party on a Saturday. I went by myself and the whole time I felt off and didn't want to engage and couldn't find anyone I knew etc. Overall not a great experience.
I decided to leave so I walked back to my car feeling down. Here was this great party with all this stuff and I was unable to enjoy it. So as I got back into my car, I sat with my hands on the steering wheel for about 5 minutes just thinking.. I remembered times in years past when I'd had so much fun and was in such a flow state, how great things would just happen out of nowhere.
It got my curiosity flowing. I thought hmmm.. let's try and experiment..
I got back out of the car and walked back into the same party I had just left but this time I was committing myself to staying positive and trying to follow the flow of positive/good energy meaning if someone was rude or giving me a bad vibe I would immediately leave that situation. What happened was really wild. The whole night changed, I met a bunch of amazing new people, got a girls phone #, ran into 4 or 5 friends that appeared at the same party (this was a huge party 1000 people), made some great connections, a famous band randomly played a secret show. Essentially it was as if I had gone to 2 different parties.
Following the "good" flow has resulting in MANY amazing things and I think perhaps combining this philosophy with informing for me personally will result in ever more desired things appearing and coming to fruition.
Hoped this helps and curious to hear everyone's thoughts
2023.05.28 04:55 dontlookdonttell In this case I actually am selfish for wanting to give up
mostly just a vent, advice if you have any? not expecting any though, I just need to vent also not proofread, sorry
the following is very long, tldr I am incredibly lucky and well off and have every reason to be happy but I'm a shitty selfish person who wants easy instant gratification more than to improve and I can't get myself to care about anything enough to try hard enough
I have grown up in an upper middle class family, my parents are cheap because they grew up poorer then dirt but I have never felt insecure about money or that my needs and wants weren't met financially. my parents have some issues, products of traumatizing childhoods they treated with alcohol when they were younger and now they try and ignore, but they are certainly not awful. My dad can irrationally angry and yell, my mom will flip from being the most loving adoring person to seemingly despising me over the exact same thing, but I have in no way ever been physically abused and at worst maybe got a couple overly harsh words... well paragraphs (she does not know when to stop talking even when she's just digging a deeper hole for herself) from my mom. their worst attribute is probably just the gaslighting that fights never happened or went differently then I remembered but it's not that big of a deal and to be fair I have god awful recall so maybe they are right???
I have a wonderful boyfriend, he lives across the US from me right now because his dad is in the coast guard but we spent a very nice couple months together and are still going very strong. he is the most kind, loving, and supportive person in the world, I love him more than I knew I could love anything.
I don't have many friends because I either pushed them away directly or indirectly because I am a shut-in online college student and will forget to respond to text messages for weeks sometimes, but I have a couple who still try even despite how god awful of a friend I am.
I am not doing the greatest in college, but I am not doing terrible either, my state has the Running Start program where you can take partially school-funded college classes from the local community college to count as high school credits junior and senior year, I've been doing that the last 2 years. I am graduating from highschool next month and from college with a business associates next year in March hopefully. I also skipped kindergarten, meaning I am very far ahead in things.
I am in discussion with a local CPA accounting firm about a part-time junior accountant position which is an incredible opportunity in the accounting field as is regardless of how young and relatively inexperienced I am to be having these conversations. It's one of the few things I'm actually good at (at least so far) that I don't despise AND makes good money, I am very excited for it.
I am a trans guy, took me a while to realize it because I tried so hard to convince myself I just needed to "be a girl better" and that's why I hated myself, literally made my own "girl-bootcamp" where I tried to teach myself to be a girl in the most toxic feminity misogynistic way possible like a fool. I'm out of it now though! I am dressing the way I want, I go by a preferred name now, I was out in my highschool's theatre program and everyone was chill with it, I am not working right now so I'm not stuck getting dead named and misgendered all day anymore, and I just had my first appointment with the best gender clinic in my state and I'm supposed to start testosterone in a month. I should be happier then I've ever been.
but in the last month I almost killed myself 3 times, I had only gotten that close to an attempt once before. I've gained this sickening awareness, now that I've met all the imaginary conditions for happiness and success, that I am not getting any better, and it's because I don't want to.
As a kid I daydreamed so hard about the future, so sure the future would make everything better for me, that I became a maladaptive daydreamer and I am still no better about that to this day. eventually I stopped being able to imagine having a future at all, any event planned to happen past this afternoon doesn't feel real until it's occuring. I got out of toxic friendgroups, got in a relationship, got out of it, did therapy, got ADHD meds, did more therapy, got antidepressants, did virtual intensive outpatient therapy, did more therapy after that. I got good grades, I discovered myself, I got a job, I dropped the job to focus on school and myself, I fell in love, I make planner after planner after planner trying to organize my life, I try everything I can to find things I enjoy doing that make my happy and might give me motivation, I have did everything I was supposed to and I am the same trash I was at the start.
I take a shower maybe once a month I brush my teeth maybe once every couple months I eat average 2 meals a day, often just one I stay up late into the night, sleep long into the morning, or fall asleep a 6pm and wake up at 6am, I fall asleep all the time randomly and fatigue clings to me like plastic film I pace for hours and hours daydreaming, or ranting out loud to myself when I'm home alone I doomscroll until my eye sockets feel hollow I play stupid games I know are wasting my time when there are urgent things to be done I rot. I lay in my bed in rot. I sit on the couch and rot. I pace in the kitchen and rot. I sit on my phone and rot.
I can not control myself, I only care about self-fulfilling instant gratification and nothing else. eating is hard and I don't like it, won't do it. showering is hard and I don't feel like it, won't do it. brushing my teeth is hard and I am tired, won't do it. going outside is hard and I know secretly they can't help but judge my stupid girly voice the moment I open my stupid fucking mouth, won't do it studying is hard and I am too stupid for this shit anyways, won't do it
I am not getting better, I am only getting worse. I am at the highest dose of ADHD meds I can comfortably take before the side effects start to bug me, I take a pretty high dose of anti depressants. I know I am chemically better than before, it's not raw exhaustion and disinterest and misery, I get very happy and excited and energetic, but only if does something for me NOW. I get excited about dandelions and weird bugs and Hank green tiktoks and playing Stardew valley and city bus rides and zoos, but only in the moment and once it is gone I am hollow. if something is at all out of reach, no matter how good it is, how much ecstatic euphoric joy it brings me in the moment, I will not fight for it. no matter how miserable I am, if improving the situation is perceived as even slightly more uncomfortable for the tiniest moment, I won't do it. I sometimes have... bladder control issues, absolutely not fucking fun. I used to be so ashamed and proactive about it, and I still feel awful and disgusting and ashamed, but if it's the usual small amount where I can convince myself "it'll dry", I'll literally rot in my own filth for a week or so. it's disgusting, I am disgusting. I have been trying so hard to do better but it's never enough because I can't put my full heart in it, I just want my simple easy pleasure and then die. I am still trying to keep up with things, but I am continuing to worsen. the same cycle happened to me with both jobs I worked, I'd start out a star employee, learning really fast, showing up early, being very responsible, then I'd progressively show up a little later, just barely on time, a minute or two late, 5 minutes late, 10, 20, I call out "sick" an hour before my shift, I do this a couple times, I put in my two weeks/quit. I make up some excuse, usually some mysteriously serious and private family matters, and rot in bed because I fell behind on work or just couldn't find the energy to go and then I realized I'm a shitty employee and leave. I am at the "realizing I'm a shitty employee and leaving" stage in my life as a whole, but that's not allowed. Giving up is a terrible sad tragedy, but the only cure to sadness is to want to be happy. The only way to get better is to want to improve and push through the hard times and work hard and someday things will be easy and good. There's no cure to being the selfish asshole who cares more about not having to brush my teeth then living for my loved ones. I don't want to fight anymore, I am tired, the fighting isn't making me better, my ADHD and depression and arfid all keep from doing the things to fight my ADHD and depression and arfid enough as is, simply not having the will to fight is the final nail. I'm so tired, I want to take off from school and ignore the job opportunity and ignore any needs or responsibilities or meals and just play games and watch science videos and walk around town solely just to walk and look at things in stores I'll never buy and make weird clothes and pick flowers and impulse buy that Amtrak ticket to Monterey so I can visit the aquarium and sleep outside because I'm too young to book and stay in a hotel room alone and catch a bus going somewhere I don't know just to see where I end up and walk through the woods behind my house and try to find animal bones or a snake or something, I want to scream and cry and tear myself to shreds and laugh until I can't breath and spend every second and those awful unproductive dangerous stupid expensive waste-of-time wonderful perfect soul-filling tiny tiny little moments and then just drop dead. no more responsibility to anyone, certainly not myself, just ecstasy and permanent sleep.
it's not fair, I don't deserve that at all, it's selfish to want it when every person in my life has been through so much worse and are doing a thousand times better, I'll hurt people, life isn't that hard, ADHD and depression and common and executive dysfunction happens to people all the time and they do incredible amazing things and all I'm asked is to eat my dinner, take my 2 online college classes, and not fucking kill myself and I am failing at all 3 and I don't deserve to be getting away with this, even if I live but keep up tis behavior I will hurt people and ruin myself, but I just don't care enough to try because at night when I'm standing in front of the bathroom door, more than enough energy to brush my teeth for two minutes, knowing I should, knowing it's easy and fine and good for me and I need to I really need to, I still turn my head and walk into my room. I yell at the people trying to help me, I shove everyone away, and ruin my own life again and again and again and I'm never going to stop because I don't want to. I am shitty selfish person and I don't fucking care and I want to care but I just can't fucking care.
submitted by dontlookdonttell to MentalHealthPH [link] [comments]
the following is very long, tldr I am incredibly lucky and well off and have every reason to be happy but I'm a shitty selfish person who wants easy instant gratification more than to improve and I can't get myself to care about anything enough to try hard enough
I have grown up in an upper middle class family, my parents are cheap because they grew up poorer then dirt but I have never felt insecure about money or that my needs and wants weren't met financially. my parents have some issues, products of traumatizing childhoods they treated with alcohol when they were younger and now they try and ignore, but they are certainly not awful. My dad can irrationally angry and yell, my mom will flip from being the most loving adoring person to seemingly despising me over the exact same thing, but I have in no way ever been physically abused and at worst maybe got a couple overly harsh words... well paragraphs (she does not know when to stop talking even when she's just digging a deeper hole for herself) from my mom. their worst attribute is probably just the gaslighting that fights never happened or went differently then I remembered but it's not that big of a deal and to be fair I have god awful recall so maybe they are right???
I have a wonderful boyfriend, he lives across the US from me right now because his dad is in the coast guard but we spent a very nice couple months together and are still going very strong. he is the most kind, loving, and supportive person in the world, I love him more than I knew I could love anything.
I don't have many friends because I either pushed them away directly or indirectly because I am a shut-in online college student and will forget to respond to text messages for weeks sometimes, but I have a couple who still try even despite how god awful of a friend I am.
I am not doing the greatest in college, but I am not doing terrible either, my state has the Running Start program where you can take partially school-funded college classes from the local community college to count as high school credits junior and senior year, I've been doing that the last 2 years. I am graduating from highschool next month and from college with a business associates next year in March hopefully. I also skipped kindergarten, meaning I am very far ahead in things.
I am in discussion with a local CPA accounting firm about a part-time junior accountant position which is an incredible opportunity in the accounting field as is regardless of how young and relatively inexperienced I am to be having these conversations. It's one of the few things I'm actually good at (at least so far) that I don't despise AND makes good money, I am very excited for it.
I am a trans guy, took me a while to realize it because I tried so hard to convince myself I just needed to "be a girl better" and that's why I hated myself, literally made my own "girl-bootcamp" where I tried to teach myself to be a girl in the most toxic feminity misogynistic way possible like a fool. I'm out of it now though! I am dressing the way I want, I go by a preferred name now, I was out in my highschool's theatre program and everyone was chill with it, I am not working right now so I'm not stuck getting dead named and misgendered all day anymore, and I just had my first appointment with the best gender clinic in my state and I'm supposed to start testosterone in a month. I should be happier then I've ever been.
but in the last month I almost killed myself 3 times, I had only gotten that close to an attempt once before. I've gained this sickening awareness, now that I've met all the imaginary conditions for happiness and success, that I am not getting any better, and it's because I don't want to.
As a kid I daydreamed so hard about the future, so sure the future would make everything better for me, that I became a maladaptive daydreamer and I am still no better about that to this day. eventually I stopped being able to imagine having a future at all, any event planned to happen past this afternoon doesn't feel real until it's occuring. I got out of toxic friendgroups, got in a relationship, got out of it, did therapy, got ADHD meds, did more therapy, got antidepressants, did virtual intensive outpatient therapy, did more therapy after that. I got good grades, I discovered myself, I got a job, I dropped the job to focus on school and myself, I fell in love, I make planner after planner after planner trying to organize my life, I try everything I can to find things I enjoy doing that make my happy and might give me motivation, I have did everything I was supposed to and I am the same trash I was at the start.
I take a shower maybe once a month I brush my teeth maybe once every couple months I eat average 2 meals a day, often just one I stay up late into the night, sleep long into the morning, or fall asleep a 6pm and wake up at 6am, I fall asleep all the time randomly and fatigue clings to me like plastic film I pace for hours and hours daydreaming, or ranting out loud to myself when I'm home alone I doomscroll until my eye sockets feel hollow I play stupid games I know are wasting my time when there are urgent things to be done I rot. I lay in my bed in rot. I sit on the couch and rot. I pace in the kitchen and rot. I sit on my phone and rot.
I can not control myself, I only care about self-fulfilling instant gratification and nothing else. eating is hard and I don't like it, won't do it. showering is hard and I don't feel like it, won't do it. brushing my teeth is hard and I am tired, won't do it. going outside is hard and I know secretly they can't help but judge my stupid girly voice the moment I open my stupid fucking mouth, won't do it studying is hard and I am too stupid for this shit anyways, won't do it
I am not getting better, I am only getting worse. I am at the highest dose of ADHD meds I can comfortably take before the side effects start to bug me, I take a pretty high dose of anti depressants. I know I am chemically better than before, it's not raw exhaustion and disinterest and misery, I get very happy and excited and energetic, but only if does something for me NOW. I get excited about dandelions and weird bugs and Hank green tiktoks and playing Stardew valley and city bus rides and zoos, but only in the moment and once it is gone I am hollow. if something is at all out of reach, no matter how good it is, how much ecstatic euphoric joy it brings me in the moment, I will not fight for it. no matter how miserable I am, if improving the situation is perceived as even slightly more uncomfortable for the tiniest moment, I won't do it. I sometimes have... bladder control issues, absolutely not fucking fun. I used to be so ashamed and proactive about it, and I still feel awful and disgusting and ashamed, but if it's the usual small amount where I can convince myself "it'll dry", I'll literally rot in my own filth for a week or so. it's disgusting, I am disgusting. I have been trying so hard to do better but it's never enough because I can't put my full heart in it, I just want my simple easy pleasure and then die. I am still trying to keep up with things, but I am continuing to worsen. the same cycle happened to me with both jobs I worked, I'd start out a star employee, learning really fast, showing up early, being very responsible, then I'd progressively show up a little later, just barely on time, a minute or two late, 5 minutes late, 10, 20, I call out "sick" an hour before my shift, I do this a couple times, I put in my two weeks/quit. I make up some excuse, usually some mysteriously serious and private family matters, and rot in bed because I fell behind on work or just couldn't find the energy to go and then I realized I'm a shitty employee and leave. I am at the "realizing I'm a shitty employee and leaving" stage in my life as a whole, but that's not allowed. Giving up is a terrible sad tragedy, but the only cure to sadness is to want to be happy. The only way to get better is to want to improve and push through the hard times and work hard and someday things will be easy and good. There's no cure to being the selfish asshole who cares more about not having to brush my teeth then living for my loved ones. I don't want to fight anymore, I am tired, the fighting isn't making me better, my ADHD and depression and arfid all keep from doing the things to fight my ADHD and depression and arfid enough as is, simply not having the will to fight is the final nail. I'm so tired, I want to take off from school and ignore the job opportunity and ignore any needs or responsibilities or meals and just play games and watch science videos and walk around town solely just to walk and look at things in stores I'll never buy and make weird clothes and pick flowers and impulse buy that Amtrak ticket to Monterey so I can visit the aquarium and sleep outside because I'm too young to book and stay in a hotel room alone and catch a bus going somewhere I don't know just to see where I end up and walk through the woods behind my house and try to find animal bones or a snake or something, I want to scream and cry and tear myself to shreds and laugh until I can't breath and spend every second and those awful unproductive dangerous stupid expensive waste-of-time wonderful perfect soul-filling tiny tiny little moments and then just drop dead. no more responsibility to anyone, certainly not myself, just ecstasy and permanent sleep.
it's not fair, I don't deserve that at all, it's selfish to want it when every person in my life has been through so much worse and are doing a thousand times better, I'll hurt people, life isn't that hard, ADHD and depression and common and executive dysfunction happens to people all the time and they do incredible amazing things and all I'm asked is to eat my dinner, take my 2 online college classes, and not fucking kill myself and I am failing at all 3 and I don't deserve to be getting away with this, even if I live but keep up tis behavior I will hurt people and ruin myself, but I just don't care enough to try because at night when I'm standing in front of the bathroom door, more than enough energy to brush my teeth for two minutes, knowing I should, knowing it's easy and fine and good for me and I need to I really need to, I still turn my head and walk into my room. I yell at the people trying to help me, I shove everyone away, and ruin my own life again and again and again and I'm never going to stop because I don't want to. I am shitty selfish person and I don't fucking care and I want to care but I just can't fucking care.
2023.05.28 04:53 raebear21 Meet new friends?
I (36 f) moved to the area some time ago and haven't met many people (pandemic, etc, etc). I am now trying to get involved with things, but it's slow going. I really enjoy board games, card games, and have enjoyed dnd, though I've only played once.
I am wondering if there are others who actively game or are game curious who would like to meet more folks/make friends. I could set up a meet up somewhere to chat/get to know ppl irl. If there isn't interest, I'll keep up with slower methods. Just putting out feelers to see if there might be a faster way to meet folks with similar interests. Thanks!
submitted by raebear21 to tuscaloosa [link] [comments]
I am wondering if there are others who actively game or are game curious who would like to meet more folks/make friends. I could set up a meet up somewhere to chat/get to know ppl irl. If there isn't interest, I'll keep up with slower methods. Just putting out feelers to see if there might be a faster way to meet folks with similar interests. Thanks!
2023.05.28 04:51 GetTherapyBham Nothing Gold Can Stay: A thought experiment about money, wealth, power and the psychology of economy.
It is important to note that this article is only a thought experiment for the purposes of reconsidering our implicit assumptions and societal conceptions of the necessities for civilization and what is “normal” behavior for humans. In the article about mysticism I pointed out that I was a psychotherapist not a theologian. Here I need to point out that I am not an economist either. This thought experiment is not advocating for any kind of specific new political or economic reality. Instead it is a way to reconsider the things we take for granted and meditate on new ideas that might allow us to conceive of a healthier and more stable society.
If we didn’t have gold what would money look like?
If we didnt have nonperishable precious metals like gold and silver, what would money look like. There are not many other goods we can make hold value in such a small and convenient package like gold, platinum, and silver to a lesser extent do. All the noble metals have a high luster, malleability, and do not spoil with age. How would society store value without them?
Well there are a couple examples of how money developed in places without gold. My favorite is an island called Yap where there was little to no money. Instead native Yapese used 20ft tall limestone disks that weighed hundreds of pounds. So how did this money work? How do you put a 200 lb stone in a vending machine or slide it across a bar?
The Yapese never moved the stones they used as money. Instead they kept an oral and collective ledger of who owned what stones. Money that can’t fit in your wallet might seem like a crazy idea, but think of how your debit card works. There is a collective ledger somewhere out there that changes every time you slide your card even though no physical money is moved.
How did Yap money work?
On the island of Yap, the acquisition and distribution of rai stones were closely tied to prestige and social merit. The process of awarding rai stones was based on various factors that reflected an individual’s status, achievements, and contributions to the community.
The primary means of acquiring rai stones was through social recognition and acknowledgment of an individual’s accomplishments. These accomplishments could include successful leadership, acts of bravery, or notable achievements in various fields such as agriculture, craftsmanship, or diplomacy. The more esteemed and respected an individual was within the community, the higher the likelihood of receiving rai stones.
The recognition and awarding of rai stones were often carried out through public ceremonies and gatherings. These events provided a platform for the community to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of an individual. The stones were typically presented by influential community leaders or elders who acted as the arbiters of social merit.
It’s important to note that the awarding of rai stones was not a purely individualistic pursuit but rather a collective decision that reflected the consensus of the community. The opinions and judgments of community members, particularly those in positions of authority or with significant influence, played a crucial role in determining the social merit of an individual and their eligibility to receive rai stones.
The rai stones bestowed upon an individual were not meant to be hoarded or accumulated solely for personal wealth. Instead, they served as symbols of prestige and social standing. The possession of rai stones demonstrated an individual’s contributions to the community and their ability to garner respect and admiration.
The Yapese monetary system served as tangible representations of honor and status, reinforcing the social fabric and common good of Yapese society.
So in answer to the original question “How could society store value without gold?” We would store it through a reputation system rewarding benevolence, generosity and innovation. The people who gave back to society the most would be awarded the most value in the form of reputation, not by how many precious metals they owned.
How did gold change our conceptions of society and culture?
Gold has long fascinated humanity with its allure and intrinsic non-perishable value. The presence of gold on Earth almost did not happen at all. If there were a few changes to astrophysical geometry you may not have been able to buy gold jewelry in the store. So, why is there gold on earth?
The symbolism of gold in mythology usually relates to to the concept of the Self, a central archetype in Jungian psychology representing the totality of the psyche. Because the ancients associated gold with being so rare and so precious, it came to represent knowledge of the authentic and hiddens self. Fair tales that have to do with reclaiming a lost treasure are metaphors for self discovery and reclaiming lost parts of our identity. In fairy tales, gold often appears in the form of a golden key, a golden crown, or a golden apple, serving as a powerful symbol of the transformative potential of self-knowledge. These objects are typically guarded by mythical creatures or hidden in remote locations, emphasizing the arduous nature of the journey towards self-understanding.
The origins of gold as an element on planet earth trace back to the formation of the universe itself. In the earliest moments following the Big Bang, only light elements such as hydrogen and helium were present. It was within the cores of massive stars, through the process of stellar nucleosynthesis, that heavier elements like gold began to take shape. These elements were forged through the fusion of lighter nuclei in the intense heat and pressure of stellar environments.
As these massive stars reached the end of their lives, they supernovae explosions. These scattered their noble metal enriched contents into space. The remnants of these supernovae, containing elements like gold, spread across the cosmos in the form of dust and gas. This dust and gas later condensed into rocky masses of meteors that had high concentrations of gold.
The earth itself almost had no gold. While the primordial Earth held minuscule amounts of gold, it was not until later stages of our planet’s evolution that the precious metal became concentrated enough for us to mine or value them. The late heavy bombardment period, around 4 billion years ago, witnessed a barrage of meteoritic impacts bombarding the Earth’s surface. These meteorites, originating from various sources within the solar system, carried with them a wealth of elements, including gold.
If it was not for this coincidental bombardment of asteroids there never would have been enough gold on earth for you to wear gold jewelry. There certainly would not have been enough for us to use as money, let alone build a monetary system around. So what would have happened if we never associated gold with money, power, or value?
Why is gold associated with money and currency
Gold is durable, divisible, and portable, making it an ideal medium of exchange. Additionally, gold has intrinsic value due to its luster malleability and non reactivity to other elements, which further contributed to its use as a form of currency.
The use of metal coins as a form of money emerged around 600 BCE in ancient Lydia (present-day Turkey). These coins were made from precious metals like gold, silver, and bronze, and their value was determined by their weight and purity. Gold, due to its scarcity and durability, became a preferred choice for coinage.
Over time, gold became widely accepted as a standard for money. Its scarcity, divisibility, portability, and resistance to corrosion made it an ideal medium of exchange. Gold coins became a trusted and standardized unit of value in many ancient civilizations, including the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Persians.
In medieval Europe, goldsmiths played a crucial role in the evolution of money and debt. People entrusted their gold and other valuable assets to goldsmiths for safekeeping. In return, the goldsmiths issued receipts, which could be used as a claim to the deposited gold. These receipts gradually started circulating as a form of paper money or representative money. This practice laid the foundation for early banking systems and the issuance of paper-based instruments representing value.
The concept of the gold standard gained prominence during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Under the gold standard, the value of a country’s currency was tied to a fixed amount of gold. Governments held gold reserves to back their currency, and individuals could exchange paper money for gold at a predetermined rate. The gold standard provided stability and confidence in the currency, as the money supply was limited by the availability of gold.
The gold standard era began to decline during the 20th century, particularly after World War I. The need for increased flexibility in monetary policy, and the costs associated with maintaining gold reserves led many countries to move away from the gold standard. Gradually, most countries shifted to fiat money, where the value of the currency is not backed by a physical commodity but rather by the trust and confidence in the government issuing it. This meant that even though there was scarcity and competition for money like there had been for gold, money was no longer backed by anything real.
Put simply, even though we do not use gold as currency or the basis for the economy any more, gold still informs our ideas about money and power. Even new forms of money like crypto currencies and NFTs are based on these old notions of scarcity that come from our ancient relationship to gold. Our ideas about money, debt scarcity and our relationship to power are informed greatly by the function that gold has played in our economy.
What does money without gold look like?
In isolated or preindustrial societies, without gold, people had an understanding that resources were meant to be shared and distributed evenly. When a need arose in society others met the need with gifts or loans. The understanding in these cultures was that safety was found in generosity and compassion not hoarded material goods. They took care of others because when they need help others will take care of them. Social merit functioned like a kind of insurance.
In these barter, communal, and gift economies power does not become the most precious resource. Instead reputation and social merit become the most precious resources. Because wealth and value cannot be hoarded materially then society allows for individuals to accrue value by being useful, inventive and generous. These systems reward people who innovate and live compassionately because societal regard becomes the most important resource, not electronic debt or precious metals.
This is because things like food, clothing and tools often degrade and lose value over time. There is no way to horde wealth because all things that contain value slowly lose that value if they are hoarded. When there is no way to horde wealth with precious metals or an electronic debt ledger, then everything is depreciating all the time. In these cultures money and value are always trending back to equality because everything is losing value all the time.
People are incentivized to share and live communally in gift economies because clout and reputation become more valuable than any good or service. These systems are empowering because when needs arise society is naturally incentivized to meet those needs not ignore them. Material wealth is always decreasing in value so social wealth has more value. Value is stored in the social ledger of reputation not a material ledger of debt.
In debt and precious metal based systems value is disempowering because wealth tends to snowball. The people with more money have access to more power and likely use that power to get even more money ad infinitum. In these systems society is incentivized to ignore others’ problems because the endless competition is for non-perishable money that increases in value, not reputation for being a benefit to society. Actually, in this system other people’s problems are a GOOD thing for me because they mean others have less power and are less likely to get the money we are all in competition for.
Why does the non-perishable nature of precious metals like gold lead to scarcity, competition and inequality?
The scarcity of precious metals allowed individuals and institutions to accumulate and hoard wealth, creating disparities in the distribution of resources. The accumulation of gold and other precious metals became a means of showcasing one’s economic power and social status. This concentration of wealth in the hands of a few individuals or entities often led to economic inequality, with limited access to resources for the majority of the population. It also led to imperial wars and conflict. This happens when the purpose of a society becomes hoarding power instead of building sustainable or equitable systems.
Is there an alternative system?
What did non industrial societies do before there was gold?
Barter and gift economies operate on different principles that can have positive psychological and environmental effects. In a barter economy, individuals engage in direct exchange, which fosters social interaction and builds relationships within communities. The act of bartering requires individuals to negotiate and understand each other’s needs, creating a sense of cooperation and interdependence.
Gift economies, where goods and services are given without the expectation of an immediate return, promote social cohesion and reinforce communal bonds. By focusing on reciprocity and sharing, gift economies prioritize the well-being of the community as a whole rather than individual accumulation of wealth. This can contribute to a sense of psychological well-being and social harmony.
Moreover, both barter and gift economies can be more environmentally sustainable compared to the hoarding of precious metals or debt based systems. These systems rely on the utilization of resources within the community, promoting local production and reducing the environmental impact of long-distance trade. In debt based systems production is outsourced to the cheapest place where the workers have the least power.
While the nonperishable nature of precious metals like gold has shaped a scarcity-based money system conducive to wealth hoarding, alternative economic systems such as barter and gift economies offer psychological and environmental advantages. These systems promote social cohesion, reduce economic disparities, and foster sustainable resource utilization.
Key Characteristics of a Gift Economy:
Gift Circulation:
The primary mode of exchange in a gift economy is the circulation of gifts. People give goods, services, or resources to others without an explicit agreement for immediate return or compensation. The act of giving is motivated by social bonds, altruism, and the desire to contribute to the well-being of others.
Social Relationships and Trust:
Gift economies are deeply rooted in social relationships. Trust and reciprocity play a vital role in sustaining the system. Gifts are not seen as isolated transactions but rather as a way to build and maintain social connections within a community or group.
Non-Monetary Transactions:
Unlike traditional market economies where goods and services are exchanged for money, a gift economy operates outside the realm of formalized monetary transactions. The value of gifts is not determined by their market price or exchange value but rather by the relationships and meaning attached to them.
Abundance Mindset:
A gift economy often operates on the assumption of abundance rather than scarcity. It is based on the belief that there are enough resources and goods to meet the needs of individuals and the community as a whole. The act of giving is seen as a way to create and reinforce a sense of abundance and well-being.
Social Obligations and Prestige:
In gift economies, there are social obligations and expectations associated with giving and receiving. Individuals are motivated to contribute and give back to the community, as failing to do so can lead to reputational consequences. The act of giving and generosity often brings prestige, respect, and social recognition within the community.
Reciprocity and Sharing:
While direct reciprocity is not expected or demanded in a gift economy, there is a general understanding of the importance of reciprocity over time. Recipients of gifts may feel an obligation to reciprocate or share their own gifts with others in the future, creating a cycle of giving and receiving.
In Conclusion:
Economic systems that prioritize collaboration, generosity, and a departure from the notions of individuality, competition, ego, and scarcity can indeed contribute to mental well-being and foster a more harmonious society. One such alternative economic concept is the idea of gift economies, which emphasizes the practice of generosity and the exchange of resources without the expectation of immediate reciprocation.
What’s the point?
We assume that ways that our culture and systems works are the only ways it can work. This can limit our intuition, creativity, and stifle our ability to imagine a better world. What if those asteroids had missed our planet billions of years ago and dumped that gold into the black void of space? Would our culture or monetary system look anything like it does now? Again the point of this article is not to change the monetary system. Instead it is to reflect about how and why we assign value and purpose in our lives and culture. It is a reflection on what money means to a society and the way those implicit assumptions affect our psychology and well being.
Many people misquote the bible that “money is the root of all evil” however that is not what it says. The quote is that the “love” of money is the root of all evil. We all interact with money daily but rarely think about what it is and that the way we think about money changes the role it plays in our lives and how we behave.
We often talk about values in an abstract and hollow way in politics, religion and identity. We seldom talk or think about what value itself actually is. How do we decide what has worth to us and what doesn’t. These assumptions about what is valuable and good and what the point of our societies should be is often based on outdated and unhealthy assumptions it does not occur to us to reconsider. By moving away from a mindset that prioritizes individual accumulation, gift economies encourage a sense of collective responsibility and interconnectedness. This shift in perspective can have positive effects on mental health, promoting a sense of belonging, trust, and reduced feelings of isolation, paranoia or competition.
Most of the patients that I see suffer from a profound sense of separation and disconnection. Our civilization would benefit from assuming the intrinsic value of all beings and the importance of meeting collective needs rather than amassing individual wealth. Not just in economics but in our lives we should prioritize collaboration, generosity, and move away from the emphasis on individuality, competition, ego, and scarcity. What a person or society values is one of the best indicators of who they are. Reflect on where you unconsciously place value and what that says about you. We have limited time on earth and it is important to stay in touch with what we want the purpose of our life to be. Where does your worth lie?
Read more articles like this one @ GetTherapyBirmingham.com
submitted by GetTherapyBham to Jung [link] [comments]
If we didn’t have gold what would money look like?
If we didnt have nonperishable precious metals like gold and silver, what would money look like. There are not many other goods we can make hold value in such a small and convenient package like gold, platinum, and silver to a lesser extent do. All the noble metals have a high luster, malleability, and do not spoil with age. How would society store value without them?
Well there are a couple examples of how money developed in places without gold. My favorite is an island called Yap where there was little to no money. Instead native Yapese used 20ft tall limestone disks that weighed hundreds of pounds. So how did this money work? How do you put a 200 lb stone in a vending machine or slide it across a bar?
The Yapese never moved the stones they used as money. Instead they kept an oral and collective ledger of who owned what stones. Money that can’t fit in your wallet might seem like a crazy idea, but think of how your debit card works. There is a collective ledger somewhere out there that changes every time you slide your card even though no physical money is moved.
How did Yap money work?
On the island of Yap, the acquisition and distribution of rai stones were closely tied to prestige and social merit. The process of awarding rai stones was based on various factors that reflected an individual’s status, achievements, and contributions to the community.
The primary means of acquiring rai stones was through social recognition and acknowledgment of an individual’s accomplishments. These accomplishments could include successful leadership, acts of bravery, or notable achievements in various fields such as agriculture, craftsmanship, or diplomacy. The more esteemed and respected an individual was within the community, the higher the likelihood of receiving rai stones.
The recognition and awarding of rai stones were often carried out through public ceremonies and gatherings. These events provided a platform for the community to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of an individual. The stones were typically presented by influential community leaders or elders who acted as the arbiters of social merit.
It’s important to note that the awarding of rai stones was not a purely individualistic pursuit but rather a collective decision that reflected the consensus of the community. The opinions and judgments of community members, particularly those in positions of authority or with significant influence, played a crucial role in determining the social merit of an individual and their eligibility to receive rai stones.
The rai stones bestowed upon an individual were not meant to be hoarded or accumulated solely for personal wealth. Instead, they served as symbols of prestige and social standing. The possession of rai stones demonstrated an individual’s contributions to the community and their ability to garner respect and admiration.
The Yapese monetary system served as tangible representations of honor and status, reinforcing the social fabric and common good of Yapese society.
So in answer to the original question “How could society store value without gold?” We would store it through a reputation system rewarding benevolence, generosity and innovation. The people who gave back to society the most would be awarded the most value in the form of reputation, not by how many precious metals they owned.
How did gold change our conceptions of society and culture?
Gold has long fascinated humanity with its allure and intrinsic non-perishable value. The presence of gold on Earth almost did not happen at all. If there were a few changes to astrophysical geometry you may not have been able to buy gold jewelry in the store. So, why is there gold on earth?
The symbolism of gold in mythology usually relates to to the concept of the Self, a central archetype in Jungian psychology representing the totality of the psyche. Because the ancients associated gold with being so rare and so precious, it came to represent knowledge of the authentic and hiddens self. Fair tales that have to do with reclaiming a lost treasure are metaphors for self discovery and reclaiming lost parts of our identity. In fairy tales, gold often appears in the form of a golden key, a golden crown, or a golden apple, serving as a powerful symbol of the transformative potential of self-knowledge. These objects are typically guarded by mythical creatures or hidden in remote locations, emphasizing the arduous nature of the journey towards self-understanding.
The origins of gold as an element on planet earth trace back to the formation of the universe itself. In the earliest moments following the Big Bang, only light elements such as hydrogen and helium were present. It was within the cores of massive stars, through the process of stellar nucleosynthesis, that heavier elements like gold began to take shape. These elements were forged through the fusion of lighter nuclei in the intense heat and pressure of stellar environments.
As these massive stars reached the end of their lives, they supernovae explosions. These scattered their noble metal enriched contents into space. The remnants of these supernovae, containing elements like gold, spread across the cosmos in the form of dust and gas. This dust and gas later condensed into rocky masses of meteors that had high concentrations of gold.
The earth itself almost had no gold. While the primordial Earth held minuscule amounts of gold, it was not until later stages of our planet’s evolution that the precious metal became concentrated enough for us to mine or value them. The late heavy bombardment period, around 4 billion years ago, witnessed a barrage of meteoritic impacts bombarding the Earth’s surface. These meteorites, originating from various sources within the solar system, carried with them a wealth of elements, including gold.
If it was not for this coincidental bombardment of asteroids there never would have been enough gold on earth for you to wear gold jewelry. There certainly would not have been enough for us to use as money, let alone build a monetary system around. So what would have happened if we never associated gold with money, power, or value?
Why is gold associated with money and currency
Gold is durable, divisible, and portable, making it an ideal medium of exchange. Additionally, gold has intrinsic value due to its luster malleability and non reactivity to other elements, which further contributed to its use as a form of currency.
The use of metal coins as a form of money emerged around 600 BCE in ancient Lydia (present-day Turkey). These coins were made from precious metals like gold, silver, and bronze, and their value was determined by their weight and purity. Gold, due to its scarcity and durability, became a preferred choice for coinage.
Over time, gold became widely accepted as a standard for money. Its scarcity, divisibility, portability, and resistance to corrosion made it an ideal medium of exchange. Gold coins became a trusted and standardized unit of value in many ancient civilizations, including the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Persians.
In medieval Europe, goldsmiths played a crucial role in the evolution of money and debt. People entrusted their gold and other valuable assets to goldsmiths for safekeeping. In return, the goldsmiths issued receipts, which could be used as a claim to the deposited gold. These receipts gradually started circulating as a form of paper money or representative money. This practice laid the foundation for early banking systems and the issuance of paper-based instruments representing value.
The concept of the gold standard gained prominence during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Under the gold standard, the value of a country’s currency was tied to a fixed amount of gold. Governments held gold reserves to back their currency, and individuals could exchange paper money for gold at a predetermined rate. The gold standard provided stability and confidence in the currency, as the money supply was limited by the availability of gold.
The gold standard era began to decline during the 20th century, particularly after World War I. The need for increased flexibility in monetary policy, and the costs associated with maintaining gold reserves led many countries to move away from the gold standard. Gradually, most countries shifted to fiat money, where the value of the currency is not backed by a physical commodity but rather by the trust and confidence in the government issuing it. This meant that even though there was scarcity and competition for money like there had been for gold, money was no longer backed by anything real.
Put simply, even though we do not use gold as currency or the basis for the economy any more, gold still informs our ideas about money and power. Even new forms of money like crypto currencies and NFTs are based on these old notions of scarcity that come from our ancient relationship to gold. Our ideas about money, debt scarcity and our relationship to power are informed greatly by the function that gold has played in our economy.
What does money without gold look like?
In isolated or preindustrial societies, without gold, people had an understanding that resources were meant to be shared and distributed evenly. When a need arose in society others met the need with gifts or loans. The understanding in these cultures was that safety was found in generosity and compassion not hoarded material goods. They took care of others because when they need help others will take care of them. Social merit functioned like a kind of insurance.
In these barter, communal, and gift economies power does not become the most precious resource. Instead reputation and social merit become the most precious resources. Because wealth and value cannot be hoarded materially then society allows for individuals to accrue value by being useful, inventive and generous. These systems reward people who innovate and live compassionately because societal regard becomes the most important resource, not electronic debt or precious metals.
This is because things like food, clothing and tools often degrade and lose value over time. There is no way to horde wealth because all things that contain value slowly lose that value if they are hoarded. When there is no way to horde wealth with precious metals or an electronic debt ledger, then everything is depreciating all the time. In these cultures money and value are always trending back to equality because everything is losing value all the time.
People are incentivized to share and live communally in gift economies because clout and reputation become more valuable than any good or service. These systems are empowering because when needs arise society is naturally incentivized to meet those needs not ignore them. Material wealth is always decreasing in value so social wealth has more value. Value is stored in the social ledger of reputation not a material ledger of debt.
In debt and precious metal based systems value is disempowering because wealth tends to snowball. The people with more money have access to more power and likely use that power to get even more money ad infinitum. In these systems society is incentivized to ignore others’ problems because the endless competition is for non-perishable money that increases in value, not reputation for being a benefit to society. Actually, in this system other people’s problems are a GOOD thing for me because they mean others have less power and are less likely to get the money we are all in competition for.
Why does the non-perishable nature of precious metals like gold lead to scarcity, competition and inequality?
The scarcity of precious metals allowed individuals and institutions to accumulate and hoard wealth, creating disparities in the distribution of resources. The accumulation of gold and other precious metals became a means of showcasing one’s economic power and social status. This concentration of wealth in the hands of a few individuals or entities often led to economic inequality, with limited access to resources for the majority of the population. It also led to imperial wars and conflict. This happens when the purpose of a society becomes hoarding power instead of building sustainable or equitable systems.
Is there an alternative system?
What did non industrial societies do before there was gold?
Barter and gift economies operate on different principles that can have positive psychological and environmental effects. In a barter economy, individuals engage in direct exchange, which fosters social interaction and builds relationships within communities. The act of bartering requires individuals to negotiate and understand each other’s needs, creating a sense of cooperation and interdependence.
Gift economies, where goods and services are given without the expectation of an immediate return, promote social cohesion and reinforce communal bonds. By focusing on reciprocity and sharing, gift economies prioritize the well-being of the community as a whole rather than individual accumulation of wealth. This can contribute to a sense of psychological well-being and social harmony.
Moreover, both barter and gift economies can be more environmentally sustainable compared to the hoarding of precious metals or debt based systems. These systems rely on the utilization of resources within the community, promoting local production and reducing the environmental impact of long-distance trade. In debt based systems production is outsourced to the cheapest place where the workers have the least power.
While the nonperishable nature of precious metals like gold has shaped a scarcity-based money system conducive to wealth hoarding, alternative economic systems such as barter and gift economies offer psychological and environmental advantages. These systems promote social cohesion, reduce economic disparities, and foster sustainable resource utilization.
Key Characteristics of a Gift Economy:
Gift Circulation:
The primary mode of exchange in a gift economy is the circulation of gifts. People give goods, services, or resources to others without an explicit agreement for immediate return or compensation. The act of giving is motivated by social bonds, altruism, and the desire to contribute to the well-being of others.
Social Relationships and Trust:
Gift economies are deeply rooted in social relationships. Trust and reciprocity play a vital role in sustaining the system. Gifts are not seen as isolated transactions but rather as a way to build and maintain social connections within a community or group.
Non-Monetary Transactions:
Unlike traditional market economies where goods and services are exchanged for money, a gift economy operates outside the realm of formalized monetary transactions. The value of gifts is not determined by their market price or exchange value but rather by the relationships and meaning attached to them.
Abundance Mindset:
A gift economy often operates on the assumption of abundance rather than scarcity. It is based on the belief that there are enough resources and goods to meet the needs of individuals and the community as a whole. The act of giving is seen as a way to create and reinforce a sense of abundance and well-being.
Social Obligations and Prestige:
In gift economies, there are social obligations and expectations associated with giving and receiving. Individuals are motivated to contribute and give back to the community, as failing to do so can lead to reputational consequences. The act of giving and generosity often brings prestige, respect, and social recognition within the community.
Reciprocity and Sharing:
While direct reciprocity is not expected or demanded in a gift economy, there is a general understanding of the importance of reciprocity over time. Recipients of gifts may feel an obligation to reciprocate or share their own gifts with others in the future, creating a cycle of giving and receiving.
In Conclusion:
Economic systems that prioritize collaboration, generosity, and a departure from the notions of individuality, competition, ego, and scarcity can indeed contribute to mental well-being and foster a more harmonious society. One such alternative economic concept is the idea of gift economies, which emphasizes the practice of generosity and the exchange of resources without the expectation of immediate reciprocation.
What’s the point?
We assume that ways that our culture and systems works are the only ways it can work. This can limit our intuition, creativity, and stifle our ability to imagine a better world. What if those asteroids had missed our planet billions of years ago and dumped that gold into the black void of space? Would our culture or monetary system look anything like it does now? Again the point of this article is not to change the monetary system. Instead it is to reflect about how and why we assign value and purpose in our lives and culture. It is a reflection on what money means to a society and the way those implicit assumptions affect our psychology and well being.
Many people misquote the bible that “money is the root of all evil” however that is not what it says. The quote is that the “love” of money is the root of all evil. We all interact with money daily but rarely think about what it is and that the way we think about money changes the role it plays in our lives and how we behave.
We often talk about values in an abstract and hollow way in politics, religion and identity. We seldom talk or think about what value itself actually is. How do we decide what has worth to us and what doesn’t. These assumptions about what is valuable and good and what the point of our societies should be is often based on outdated and unhealthy assumptions it does not occur to us to reconsider. By moving away from a mindset that prioritizes individual accumulation, gift economies encourage a sense of collective responsibility and interconnectedness. This shift in perspective can have positive effects on mental health, promoting a sense of belonging, trust, and reduced feelings of isolation, paranoia or competition.
Most of the patients that I see suffer from a profound sense of separation and disconnection. Our civilization would benefit from assuming the intrinsic value of all beings and the importance of meeting collective needs rather than amassing individual wealth. Not just in economics but in our lives we should prioritize collaboration, generosity, and move away from the emphasis on individuality, competition, ego, and scarcity. What a person or society values is one of the best indicators of who they are. Reflect on where you unconsciously place value and what that says about you. We have limited time on earth and it is important to stay in touch with what we want the purpose of our life to be. Where does your worth lie?
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2023.05.28 04:49 moe_master The world longest joke (Pt 2)
I told you that you'd heal quickly now."
"Yeah, well, still," said Jack, "it's the principle of the thing. And nobody likes being bitten in the butt! Couldn't you have gotten my calf or something instead?"
"More meat in the typical human butt," replied Nate. "And less chance you accidentally kick me or move at the last second."
"Yeah, right. So, tell me all of these wonderful secrets that I now qualify to hear," answered Jack.
"Ok," said Nate. "Do you want to ask questions first, or do you want me to just start talking?"
"Just talk," said Jack. "I'll sit here and try to not think about food."
"We could go try to rustle up some food for you first, if you like," answered Nate.
"Hey! You didn't tell me you had food around here, Nate!" Jack jumped up. "What do we have? Am I in walking distance to town? Or can you magically whip up food along with your other powers?" Jack was almost shouting with excitement. His stomach had been growling for hours.
"I was thinking more like I could flush something out of its hole and bite it for you, and you could skin it and eat it. Assuming you have a knife, that is," replied Nate, with the grin that Jack was starting to get used to.
"Ugh," said Jack, sitting back down. "I think I'll pass. I can last a little longer before I get desperate enough to eat desert rat, or whatever else it is you find out here. And there's nothing to burn - I'd have to eat it raw. No thanks. Just talk."
"Ok," replied Nate, still grinning. "But I'd better hurry, before you start looking at me as food.
Nate reared back a little, looked around for a second, and then continued. "You, Jack, are sitting in the middle of the Garden of Eden."
Jack looked around at the sand and dunes and then looked back at Nate sceptically.
"Well, that's the best I can figure it, anyway, Jack," said Nate. "Stand up and look at the symbol on the rock here." Nate gestured around the dark stone they were both sitting on with his nose.
Jack stood up and looked. Carved into the stone in a bas-relief was a representation of a large tree. The angled-pole that Nate was wrapped around was coming out of the trunk of the tree, right below where the main branches left the trunk to reach out across the stone. It was very well done - it looked more like a tree had been reduced to almost two dimensions and embedded in the stone than it did like a carving.
Jack walked around and looked at the details in the fading light of the setting sun. He wished he'd looked at it while the sun was higher in the sky.
Wait! The sun was setting! That meant he was going to have to spend another night out here! Arrrgh!
Jack looked out across the desert for a little bit, and then came back and stood next to Nate. "In all the excitement, I almost forgot, Nate," said Jack. "Which way is it back to town? And how far? I'm eventually going to have to head back - I'm not sure I'll be able to survive by eating raw desert critters for long. And even if I can, I'm not sure I'll want to."
"It's about 30 miles that way." Nate pointed, with the rattle on his tail this time. As far as Jack could tell, it was a direction at right angles to the way he'd been going when he was crawling here. "But that's 30 miles by the way the crow flies. It's about 40 by the way a man walks. You should be able to do it in about half a day with your improved endurance, if you head out early tomorrow, Jack."
Jack looked out the way the snake had pointed for a few seconds more, and then sat back down. It was getting dark. Not much he could do about heading out right now. And besides, Nate was just about to get to the interesting stuff. "Garden of Eden? As best as you can figure it?"
"Well, yeah, as best as I and Samuel could figure it anyway," said Nate. "He figured that the story just got a little mixed up. You know, snake, in a 'tree', offering 'temptations', making bargains. That kind stuff. But he could never quite figure out how the Hebrews found out about this spot from across the ocean. He worried about that for a while."
"Garden of Eden, hunh?" said Jack. "How long have you been here, Nate?"
"No idea, really," replied Nate. "A long time. It never occurred to me to count years, until recently, and by then, of course, it was too late. But I do remember when this whole place was green, so I figure it's been thousands of years, at least."
"So, are you the snake that tempted Eve?" said Jack.
"Beats me," said Nate. "Maybe. I can't remember if the first one of your kind that I talked to was female or not, and I never got a name, but it could have been. And I suppose she could have considered my offer to grant requests a 'temptation', though I've rarely had refusals."
"Well, umm, how did you get here then? And why is that white pole stuck out of the stone there?" asked Jack.
"Dad left me here. Or, I assume it was my dad. It was another snake - much bigger than I was back then. I remember talking to him, but I don't remember if it was in a language, or just kind of understanding what he wanted. But one day, he brought me to this stone, told me about it, and asked me to do something for him. I talked it over with him for a while, then agreed. I've been here ever since.
"What is this place?" said Jack. "And what did he ask you to do?"
"Well, you see this pole here, sticking out of the stone?" Nate loosened his coils around the tilted white pole and showed Jack where it descended into the stone. The pole was tilted at about a 45 degree angle and seemed to enter the stone in an eighteen inch slot cut into the stone. Jack leaned over and looked. The slot was dark and the pole went down into it as far as Jack could see in the dim light. Jack reached out to touch the pole, but Nate was suddenly there in the way.
"You can't touch that yet, Jack," said Nate.
"Why not?" asked Jack.
"I haven't explained it to you yet," replied Nate.
"Well, it kinda looks like a lever or something," said Jack. "You'd push it that way, and it would move in the slot."
"Yep, that's what it is," replied Nate.
"What does it do?" asked Jack. "End the world?"
"Oh, no," said Nate. "Nothing that drastic. It just ends humanity. I call it 'The Lever of Doom'." For the last few words Nate had used a deeper, ringing voice. He tried to look serious for a few seconds, and then gave up and grinned.
Jack was initially startled by Nate's pronouncement, but when Nate grinned Jack laughed. "Ha! You almost had me fooled for a second there. What does it really do?"
"Oh, it really ends humanity, like I said," smirked Nate. "I just thought the voice I used was funny, didn't you?"
Nate continued to grin.
"A lever to end humanity?" asked Jack. "What in the world is that for? Why would anyone need to end humanity?"
"Well," replied Nate, "I get the idea that maybe humanity was an experiment. Or maybe the Big Guy just thought, that if humanity started going really bad, there should be a way to end it. I'm not really sure. All I know are the rules, and the guesses that Samuel and I had about why it's here. I didn't think to ask back when I started here."
"Rules? What rules?" asked Jack.
"The rules are that I can't tell anybody about it or let them touch it unless they agree to be bound to secrecy by a bite. And that only one human can be bound in that way at a time. That's it." explained Nate.
Jack looked somewhat shocked. "You mean that I could pull the lever now? You'd let me end humanity?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "if you want to." Nate looked at Jack carefully. "Do you want to, Jack?"
"Umm, no." said Jack, stepping a little further back from the lever. "Why in the world would anyone want to end humanity? It'd take a psychotic to want that! Or worse, a suicidal psychotic, because it would kill him too, wouldn't it?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "being as he'd be human too."
"Has anyone ever seriously considered it?" asked Jack. "Any of those bound to secrecy, that is?"
"Well, of course, I think they've all seriously considered it at one time or another. Being given that kind of responsibility makes you sit down and think, or so I'm told. Samuel considered it several times. He'd often get disgusted with humanity, come out here, and just hold the lever for a while. But he never pulled it. Or you wouldn't be here." Nate grinned some more.
Jack sat down, well back from the lever. He looked thoughtful and puzzled at the same time. After a bit, he said, "So this makes me the Judge of humanity? I get to decide whether they keep going or just end? Me?"
"That seems to be it," agreed Nate.
"What kind of criteria do I use to decide?" said Jack. "How do I make this decision? Am I supposed to decide if they're good? Or too many of them are bad? Or that they're going the wrong way? Is there a set of rules for that?"
"Nope," replied Nate. "You pretty much just have to decide on your own. It's up to you, however you want to decide it. I guess that you're just supposed to know."
"But what if I get mad at someone? Or some girl dumps me and I feel horrible? Couldn't I make a mistake? How do I know that I won't screw up?" protested Jack.
Nate gave his kind of snake-like shrug again. "You don't. You just have to try your best, Jack."
Jack sat there for a while, staring off into the desert that was rapidly getting dark, chewing on a fingernail.
Suddenly, Jack turned around and looked at the snake. "Nate, was Samuel the one bound to this before me?"
"Yep," replied Nate. "He was a good guy. Talked to me a lot. Taught me to read and brought me books. I think I still have a good pile of them buried in the sand around here somewhere. I still miss him. He died a few months ago."
"Sounds like a good guy," agreed Jack. "How did he handle this, when you first told him. What did he do?"
"Well," said Nate, "he sat down for a while, thought about it for a bit, and then asked me some questions, much like you're doing."
"What did he ask you, if you're allowed to tell me?" asked Jack.
"He asked me about the third request," replied Nate.
"Aha!" It was Jack's turn to grin. "And what did you tell him?"
"I told him the rules for the third request. That to get the third request you have to agree to this whole thing. That if it ever comes to the point that you really think that humanity should be ended, that you'll come here and end it. You won't avoid it, and you won't wimp out." Nate looked serious again. "And you'll be bound to do it too, Jack."
"Hmmm." Jack looked back out into the darkness for a while.
Nate watched him, waiting.
"Nate," continued Jack, quietly, eventually. "What did Samuel ask for with his third request?"
Nate sounded like he was grinning again as he replied, also quietly, "Wisdom, Jack. He asked for wisdom. As much as I could give him."
"Ok," said Jack, suddenly, standing up and facing away from Nate, "give it to me.
Nate looked at Jack's backside. "Give you what, Jack?"
"Give me that wisdom. The same stuff that Samuel asked for. If it helped him, maybe it'll help me too." Jack turned his head to look back over his shoulder at Nate. "It did help him, right?"
"He said it did," replied Nate. "But he seemed a little quieter afterward. Like he had a lot to think about."
"Well, yeah, I can see that," said Jack. "So, give it to me." Jack turned to face away from Nate again, bent over slightly and tensed up.
Nate watched Jack tense up with a little exasperation. If he bit Jack now, Jack would likely jump out of his skin and maybe hurt them both.
"You remember that you'll be bound to destroy humanity if it ever looks like it needs it, right Jack?" asked Nate, shifting position.
"Yeah, yeah, I got that," replied Jack, eyes squeezed tightly shut and body tense, not noticing the change in direction of Nate's voice.
"And," continued Nate, from his new position, "do you remember that you'll turn bright purple, and grow big horns and extra eyes?"
"Yeah, yeah...Hey, wait a minute!" said Jack, opening his eyes, straightening up and turning around. "Purple?!" He didn't see Nate there. With the moonlight Jack could see that the lever extended up from its slot in the rock without the snake wrapped around it.
Jack heard, from behind him, Nate's "Just Kidding!" right before he felt the now familiar piercing pain, this time in the other buttock.
Jack sat on the edge of the dark stone in the rapidly cooling air, his feet extending out into the sand. He stared out into the darkness, listening to the wind stir the sand, occasionally rubbing his butt where he'd been recently bitten.
Nate had left for a little while, had come back with a desert-rodent-shaped bulge somewhere in his middle, and was now wrapped back around the lever, his tongue flicking out into the desert night's air the only sign that he was still awake.
Occasionally Jack, with his toes absentmindedly digging in the sand while he thought, would ask Nate a question without turning around.
"Nate, do accidents count?"
Nate lifted his head a little bit. "What do you mean, Jack?"
Jack tilted his head back like he was looking at the stars. "You know, accidents. If I accidentally fall on the lever, without meaning to, does that still wipe out humanity?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does, Jack. I'd suggest you be careful about that if you start feeling wobbly," said Nate with some amusement.
A little later - "Does it have to be me that pulls the lever?" asked Jack.
"That's the rule, Jack. Nobody else can pull it," answered Nate.
"No," Jack shook his head, "I meant does it have to be my hand? Could I pull the lever with a rope tied around it? Or push it with a stick? Or throw a rock?"
"Yes, those should work," replied Nate. "Though I'm not sure how complicated you could get. Samuel thought about trying to build some kind of remote control for it once, but gave it up. Everything he'd build would be gone by the next sunrise, if it was touching the stone, or over it. I told him that in the past others that had been bound had tried to bury the lever so they wouldn't be tempted to pull it, but every time the stones or sand or whatever had disappeared."
"Wow," said Jack, "Cool." Jack leaned back until only his elbows kept him off of the stone and looked up into the sky.
"Nate, how long did Samuel live? One of his wishes was for health too, right?" asked Jack.
"Yes," replied Nate, "it was. He lived 167 years, Jack."
"Wow, 167 years. That's almost 140 more years I'll live if I live as long. Do you know what he died of, Nate?"
"He died of getting tired of living, Jack," Nate said, sounding somewhat sad.
Jack turned his head to look at Nate in the starlight.
Nate looked back. "Samuel knew he wasn't going to be able to stay in society. He figured that they'd eventually see him still alive and start questioning it, so he decided that he'd have to disappear after a while. He faked his death once, but changed his mind - he decided it was too early and he could stay for a little longer. He wasn't very fond of mankind, but he liked the attention. Most of the time, anyway.
"His daughter and then his wife dying almost did him in though. He didn't stay in society much longer after that. He eventually came out here to spend time talking to me and thinking about pulling the lever. A few months ago he told me he'd had enough. It was his time."
"And then he just died?" asked Jack.
Nate shook his head a little. "He made his fourth request, Jack. There's only one thing you can ask for the fourth request. The last bite.
After a bit Nate continued, "He told me that he was tired, that it was his time. He reassured me that someone new would show up soon, like they always had.
After another pause, Nate finished, "Samuel's body disappeared off the stone with the sunrise."
Jack lay back down and looked at the sky, leaving Nate alone with his memories. It was a long time until Jack's breathing evened out into sleep.
Jack woke with the sunrise the next morning. He was a little chilled with the morning desert air, but overall was feeling pretty good. Well, except that his stomach was grumbling and he wasn't willing to eat raw desert rat.
So, after getting directions to town from Nate, making sure he knew how to get back, and reassuring Nate that he'd be back soon, Jack started the long walk back to town. With his new health and Nate's good directions, he made it back easily.
Jack caught a bus back to the city, and showed up for work the next day, little worse for the wear and with a story about getting lost in the desert and walking back out. Within a couple of days Jack had talked a friend with a tow truck into going back out into the desert with him to fetch the SUV. They found it after a couple of hours of searching and towed it back without incident. Jack was careful not to even look in the direction of Nate's lever, though their path back didn't come within sight of it.
Before the next weekend, Jack had gone to a couple of stores, including a book store, and had gotten his SUV back from the mechanic, with a warning to avoid any more joyriding in the desert. On Saturday, Jack headed back to see Nate.
Jack parked a little way out of the small town near Nate, loaded up his new backpack with camping gear and the things he was bringing for Nate, and then started walking. He figured that walking would leave the least trail, and he knew that while not many people camped in the desert, it wasn't unheard of, and shouldn't really raise suspicions.
Jack had brought more books for Nate - recent books, magazines, newspapers. Some things that would catch Nate up with what was happening in the world, others that were just good books to read. He spent the weekend with Nate, and then headed out again, telling Nate that he'd be back again soon, but that he had things to do first.
Over four months later Jack was back to see Nate again. This time he brought a laptop with him - a specially modified laptop. It had a solar recharger, special filters and seals to keep out the sand, a satellite link-up, and a special keyboard and joystick that Jack hoped that a fifteen-foot rattlesnake would be able to use. And, it had been hacked to not give out its location to the satellite.
After that Jack could e-mail Nate to keep in touch, but still visited him fairly regularly - at least once or twice a year.
After the first year, Jack quit his job. For some reason, with the wisdom he'd been given, and the knowledge that he could live for over 150 years, working in a nine to five job for someone else didn't seem that worthwhile any more. Jack went back to school.
Eventually, Jack started writing. Perhaps because of the wisdom, or perhaps because of his new perspective, he wrote well. People liked what he wrote, and he became well known for it. After a time, Jack bought an RV and started traveling around the country for book signings and readings.
But, he still remembered to drop by and visit Nate occasionally.
On one of the visits Nate seemed quieter than usual. Not that Nate had been a fountain of joy lately. Jack's best guess was that Nate was still missing Samuel, and though Jack had tried, he still hadn't been able to replace Samuel in Nate's eyes. Nate had been getting quieter each visit. But on this visit Nate didn't even speak when Jack walked up to the lever. He nodded at Jack, and then went back to staring into the desert. Jack, respecting Nate's silence, sat down and waited.
After a few minutes, Nate spoke. "Jack, I have someone to introduce you to."
Jack looked surprised. "Someone to introduce me to?" Jack looked around, and then looked carefully back at Nate. "This something to do with the Big Guy?
"No, no," replied Nate. "This is more personal. I want you to meet my son." Nate looked over at the nearest sand dune. "Sammy!"
Jack watched as a four foot long desert rattlesnake crawled from behind the dune and up to the stone base of the lever.
"Yo, Jack," said the new, much smaller snake.
"Yo, Sammy" replied Jack. Jack looked at Nate. "Named after Samuel, I assume?"
Nate nodded. "Jack, I've got a favor to ask you. Could you show Sammy around for me?" Nate unwrapped himself from the lever and slithered over to the edge of the stone and looked across the sands. "When Samuel first told me about the world, and brought me books and pictures, I wished that I could go see it. I wanted to see the great forests, the canyons, the cities, even the other deserts, to see if they felt and smelled the same. I want my son to have that chance - to see the world. Before he becomes bound here like I have been.
"He's seen it in pictures, over the computer that you brought me. But I hear that it's not the same. That being there is different. I want him to have that. Think you can do that for me, Jack?"
Jack nodded. This was obviously very important to Nate, so Jack didn't even joke about taking a talking rattlesnake out to see the world. "Yeah, I can do that for you, Nate. Is that all you need?" Jack could sense that was something more.
Nate looked at Sammy. Sammy looked back at Nate for a second and then said, "Oh, yeah. Ummm, I've gotta go pack. Back in a little bit Jack. Nice to meet ya!" Sammy slithered back over the dune and out of sight.
Nate watched Sammy disappear and then looked back at Jack. "Jack, this is my first son. My first offspring through all the years. You don't even want to know what it took for me to find a mate." Nate grinned to himself. "But anyway, I had a son for a reason. I'm tired. I'm ready for it to be over. I needed a replacement."
Jack considered this for a minute. "So, you're ready to come see the world, and you wanted him to watch the lever while you were gone?"
Nate shook his head. "No, Jack - you're a better guesser than that. You've already figured out - I'm bound here - there's only one way for me to leave here. And I'm ready. It's my time to die."
Jack looked more closely at Nate. He could tell Nate had thought about this - probably for quite a while. Jack had trouble imagining what it would be like to be as old as Nate, but Jack could already tell that in another hundred or two hundred years, he might be getting tired of life himself. Jack could understand Samuel's decision, and now Nate's. So, all Jack said was, "What do you want me to do?"
Nate nodded. "Thanks, Jack. I only want two things. One - show Sammy around the world - let him get his fill of it, until he's ready to come back here and take over. Two - give me the fourth request.
"I can't just decide to die, not any more than you can. I won't even die of old age like you eventually will, even though it'll be a long time from now. I need to be killed. Once Sammy is back here, ready to take over, I'll be able to die. And I need you to kill me.
"I've even thought about how. Poisons and other drugs won't work on me. And I've seen pictures of snakes that were shot - some of them live for days, so that's out too. So, I want you to bring back a sword.
Nate turned away to look back to the dune that Sammy had gone behind. "I'd say an axe, but that's somewhat undignified - putting my head on the ground or a chopping block like that. No, I like a sword. A time-honored way of going out. A dignified way to die. And, most importantly, it should work, even on me.
"You willing to do that for me, Jack?" Nate turned back to look at Jack.
"Yeah, Nate," replied Jack solemnly, "I think I can handle that."
Nate nodded. "Good!" He turned back toward the dune and shouted, "Sammy! Jack's about ready to leave!" Then quietly, "Thanks, Jack."
Jack didn't have anything to say to that, so he waited for Sammy to make it back to the lever, nodded to him, nodded a final time to Nate, and then headed into the desert with Sammy following.
Over the next several years Sammy and Jack kept in touch with Nate through e-mail as they went about their adventures. They made a goal of visiting every country in the world, and did a respectable job of it. Sammy had a natural gift for languages, as Jack expected he would, and even ended up acting as a translator for Jack in a few of the countries. Jack managed to keep the talking rattlesnake hidden, even so, and by the time they were nearing the end of their tour of countries, Sammy had only been spotted a few times. While there were several people that had seen enough to startle them greatly, nobody had enough evidence to prove anything, and while a few wild rumors and stories followed Jack and Sammy around, nothing ever hit the newspapers or the public in general.
When they finished the tour of countries, Jack suggested that they try some undersea diving. They did. And spelunking. They did that too. Sammy finally drew the line at visiting Antarctica. He'd come to realize that Jack was stalling. After talking to his Dad about it over e-mail, he figured out that Jack probably didn't want to have to kill Nate. Nate told Sammy that humans could be squeamish about killing friends and acquaintances.
So, Sammy eventually put his tail down (as he didn't have a foot) and told Jack that it was time - he was ready to go back and take up his duties from his dad. Jack, delayed it a little more by insisting that they go back to Japan and buy an appropriate sword. He even stretched it a little more by getting lessons in how to use the sword. But, eventually, he'd learned as much as he was likely to without dedicating his life to it, and was definitely competent enough to take the head off of a snake. It was time to head back and see Nate.
When they got back to the US, Jack got the old RV out of storage where he and Sammy had left it after their tour of the fifty states, he loaded up Sammy and the sword, and they headed for the desert.
When they got to the small town that Jack had been trying to find those years ago when he'd met Nate, Jack was in a funk. He didn't really feel like walking all of the way out there. Not only that, but he'd forgotten to figure the travel time correctly, and it was late afternoon. They'd either have to spend the night in town and walk out tomorrow, or walk in the dark.
As Jack was afraid that if he waited one more night he might lose his resolve, he decided that he'd go ahead and drive the RV out there. It was only going to be this once, and Jack would go back and cover the tracks afterward. They ought to be able to make it out there by nightfall if they drove, and then they could get it over tonight.
Jack told Sammy to e-mail Nate that they were coming as he drove out of sight of the town on the road. They then pulled off the road and headed out into the desert.
Everything went well, until they got to the sand dunes. Jack had been nursing the RV along the whole time, over the rocks, through the creek beds, revving the engine the few times they almost got stuck. When they came to the dunes, Jack didn't really think about it, he just downshifted and headed up the first one. By the third dune, Jack started to regret that he'd decided to try driving on the sand. The RV was fishtailling and losing traction. Jack was having to work it up each dune slowly and was trying to keep from losing control each time they came over the top and slid down the other side. Sammy had come up to sit in the passenger seat, coiled up and laughing at Jack's driving.
As they came over the top of the fourth dune, the biggest one yet, Jack saw that this was the final dune - the stone, the lever, and somewhere Nate, waited below. Jack put on the brakes, but he'd gone a little too far. The RV started slipping down the other side.
Jack tried turning the wheel, but he didn't have enough traction. He pumped the brakes - no response. They started sliding down the hill, faster and faster.
Jack felt a shock go through him as he suddenly realized that they were heading for the lever. He looked down - the RV was directly on course for it. If Jack didn't do something, the RV would hit it. He was about to end humanity.
Jack steered more frantically, trying to get traction. It still wasn't working. The dune was too steep, and the sand too loose. In a split second, Jack realized that his only chance would be once he hit the stone around the lever - he should have traction on the stone for just a second before he hit the lever - he wouldn't have time to stop, but he should be able to steer away.
Jack took a better grip on the steering wheel and tried to turn the RV a little bit - every little bit would help. He'd have to time his turn just right.
The RV got to the bottom of the dune, sliding at an amazing speed in the sand. Just before they reached the stone Jack looked across it to check that they were still heading for the lever. They were. But Jack noticed something else that he hadn't seen from the top of the dune. Nate wasn't wrapped around the lever. He was off to the side of the lever, but still on the stone, waiting for them. The problem was, he was waiting on the same side of the lever that Jack had picked to steer towards to avoid the lever. The RV was already starting to drift that way a little in its mad rush across the sand and there was no way that Jack was going to be able to go around the lever to the other side.
Jack had an instant of realization. He was either going to have to hit the lever, or run over Nate. He glanced over at Sammy and saw that Sammy realized the same thing.
Jack took a firmer grip on the steering wheel as the RV ran up on the stone. Shouting to Sammy as he pulled the steering wheel, "Better Nate than lever!", he ran over the snake.
THE END
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"Yeah, well, still," said Jack, "it's the principle of the thing. And nobody likes being bitten in the butt! Couldn't you have gotten my calf or something instead?"
"More meat in the typical human butt," replied Nate. "And less chance you accidentally kick me or move at the last second."
"Yeah, right. So, tell me all of these wonderful secrets that I now qualify to hear," answered Jack.
"Ok," said Nate. "Do you want to ask questions first, or do you want me to just start talking?"
"Just talk," said Jack. "I'll sit here and try to not think about food."
"We could go try to rustle up some food for you first, if you like," answered Nate.
"Hey! You didn't tell me you had food around here, Nate!" Jack jumped up. "What do we have? Am I in walking distance to town? Or can you magically whip up food along with your other powers?" Jack was almost shouting with excitement. His stomach had been growling for hours.
"I was thinking more like I could flush something out of its hole and bite it for you, and you could skin it and eat it. Assuming you have a knife, that is," replied Nate, with the grin that Jack was starting to get used to.
"Ugh," said Jack, sitting back down. "I think I'll pass. I can last a little longer before I get desperate enough to eat desert rat, or whatever else it is you find out here. And there's nothing to burn - I'd have to eat it raw. No thanks. Just talk."
"Ok," replied Nate, still grinning. "But I'd better hurry, before you start looking at me as food.
Nate reared back a little, looked around for a second, and then continued. "You, Jack, are sitting in the middle of the Garden of Eden."
Jack looked around at the sand and dunes and then looked back at Nate sceptically.
"Well, that's the best I can figure it, anyway, Jack," said Nate. "Stand up and look at the symbol on the rock here." Nate gestured around the dark stone they were both sitting on with his nose.
Jack stood up and looked. Carved into the stone in a bas-relief was a representation of a large tree. The angled-pole that Nate was wrapped around was coming out of the trunk of the tree, right below where the main branches left the trunk to reach out across the stone. It was very well done - it looked more like a tree had been reduced to almost two dimensions and embedded in the stone than it did like a carving.
Jack walked around and looked at the details in the fading light of the setting sun. He wished he'd looked at it while the sun was higher in the sky.
Wait! The sun was setting! That meant he was going to have to spend another night out here! Arrrgh!
Jack looked out across the desert for a little bit, and then came back and stood next to Nate. "In all the excitement, I almost forgot, Nate," said Jack. "Which way is it back to town? And how far? I'm eventually going to have to head back - I'm not sure I'll be able to survive by eating raw desert critters for long. And even if I can, I'm not sure I'll want to."
"It's about 30 miles that way." Nate pointed, with the rattle on his tail this time. As far as Jack could tell, it was a direction at right angles to the way he'd been going when he was crawling here. "But that's 30 miles by the way the crow flies. It's about 40 by the way a man walks. You should be able to do it in about half a day with your improved endurance, if you head out early tomorrow, Jack."
Jack looked out the way the snake had pointed for a few seconds more, and then sat back down. It was getting dark. Not much he could do about heading out right now. And besides, Nate was just about to get to the interesting stuff. "Garden of Eden? As best as you can figure it?"
"Well, yeah, as best as I and Samuel could figure it anyway," said Nate. "He figured that the story just got a little mixed up. You know, snake, in a 'tree', offering 'temptations', making bargains. That kind stuff. But he could never quite figure out how the Hebrews found out about this spot from across the ocean. He worried about that for a while."
"Garden of Eden, hunh?" said Jack. "How long have you been here, Nate?"
"No idea, really," replied Nate. "A long time. It never occurred to me to count years, until recently, and by then, of course, it was too late. But I do remember when this whole place was green, so I figure it's been thousands of years, at least."
"So, are you the snake that tempted Eve?" said Jack.
"Beats me," said Nate. "Maybe. I can't remember if the first one of your kind that I talked to was female or not, and I never got a name, but it could have been. And I suppose she could have considered my offer to grant requests a 'temptation', though I've rarely had refusals."
"Well, umm, how did you get here then? And why is that white pole stuck out of the stone there?" asked Jack.
"Dad left me here. Or, I assume it was my dad. It was another snake - much bigger than I was back then. I remember talking to him, but I don't remember if it was in a language, or just kind of understanding what he wanted. But one day, he brought me to this stone, told me about it, and asked me to do something for him. I talked it over with him for a while, then agreed. I've been here ever since.
"What is this place?" said Jack. "And what did he ask you to do?"
"Well, you see this pole here, sticking out of the stone?" Nate loosened his coils around the tilted white pole and showed Jack where it descended into the stone. The pole was tilted at about a 45 degree angle and seemed to enter the stone in an eighteen inch slot cut into the stone. Jack leaned over and looked. The slot was dark and the pole went down into it as far as Jack could see in the dim light. Jack reached out to touch the pole, but Nate was suddenly there in the way.
"You can't touch that yet, Jack," said Nate.
"Why not?" asked Jack.
"I haven't explained it to you yet," replied Nate.
"Well, it kinda looks like a lever or something," said Jack. "You'd push it that way, and it would move in the slot."
"Yep, that's what it is," replied Nate.
"What does it do?" asked Jack. "End the world?"
"Oh, no," said Nate. "Nothing that drastic. It just ends humanity. I call it 'The Lever of Doom'." For the last few words Nate had used a deeper, ringing voice. He tried to look serious for a few seconds, and then gave up and grinned.
Jack was initially startled by Nate's pronouncement, but when Nate grinned Jack laughed. "Ha! You almost had me fooled for a second there. What does it really do?"
"Oh, it really ends humanity, like I said," smirked Nate. "I just thought the voice I used was funny, didn't you?"
Nate continued to grin.
"A lever to end humanity?" asked Jack. "What in the world is that for? Why would anyone need to end humanity?"
"Well," replied Nate, "I get the idea that maybe humanity was an experiment. Or maybe the Big Guy just thought, that if humanity started going really bad, there should be a way to end it. I'm not really sure. All I know are the rules, and the guesses that Samuel and I had about why it's here. I didn't think to ask back when I started here."
"Rules? What rules?" asked Jack.
"The rules are that I can't tell anybody about it or let them touch it unless they agree to be bound to secrecy by a bite. And that only one human can be bound in that way at a time. That's it." explained Nate.
Jack looked somewhat shocked. "You mean that I could pull the lever now? You'd let me end humanity?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "if you want to." Nate looked at Jack carefully. "Do you want to, Jack?"
"Umm, no." said Jack, stepping a little further back from the lever. "Why in the world would anyone want to end humanity? It'd take a psychotic to want that! Or worse, a suicidal psychotic, because it would kill him too, wouldn't it?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "being as he'd be human too."
"Has anyone ever seriously considered it?" asked Jack. "Any of those bound to secrecy, that is?"
"Well, of course, I think they've all seriously considered it at one time or another. Being given that kind of responsibility makes you sit down and think, or so I'm told. Samuel considered it several times. He'd often get disgusted with humanity, come out here, and just hold the lever for a while. But he never pulled it. Or you wouldn't be here." Nate grinned some more.
Jack sat down, well back from the lever. He looked thoughtful and puzzled at the same time. After a bit, he said, "So this makes me the Judge of humanity? I get to decide whether they keep going or just end? Me?"
"That seems to be it," agreed Nate.
"What kind of criteria do I use to decide?" said Jack. "How do I make this decision? Am I supposed to decide if they're good? Or too many of them are bad? Or that they're going the wrong way? Is there a set of rules for that?"
"Nope," replied Nate. "You pretty much just have to decide on your own. It's up to you, however you want to decide it. I guess that you're just supposed to know."
"But what if I get mad at someone? Or some girl dumps me and I feel horrible? Couldn't I make a mistake? How do I know that I won't screw up?" protested Jack.
Nate gave his kind of snake-like shrug again. "You don't. You just have to try your best, Jack."
Jack sat there for a while, staring off into the desert that was rapidly getting dark, chewing on a fingernail.
Suddenly, Jack turned around and looked at the snake. "Nate, was Samuel the one bound to this before me?"
"Yep," replied Nate. "He was a good guy. Talked to me a lot. Taught me to read and brought me books. I think I still have a good pile of them buried in the sand around here somewhere. I still miss him. He died a few months ago."
"Sounds like a good guy," agreed Jack. "How did he handle this, when you first told him. What did he do?"
"Well," said Nate, "he sat down for a while, thought about it for a bit, and then asked me some questions, much like you're doing."
"What did he ask you, if you're allowed to tell me?" asked Jack.
"He asked me about the third request," replied Nate.
"Aha!" It was Jack's turn to grin. "And what did you tell him?"
"I told him the rules for the third request. That to get the third request you have to agree to this whole thing. That if it ever comes to the point that you really think that humanity should be ended, that you'll come here and end it. You won't avoid it, and you won't wimp out." Nate looked serious again. "And you'll be bound to do it too, Jack."
"Hmmm." Jack looked back out into the darkness for a while.
Nate watched him, waiting.
"Nate," continued Jack, quietly, eventually. "What did Samuel ask for with his third request?"
Nate sounded like he was grinning again as he replied, also quietly, "Wisdom, Jack. He asked for wisdom. As much as I could give him."
"Ok," said Jack, suddenly, standing up and facing away from Nate, "give it to me.
Nate looked at Jack's backside. "Give you what, Jack?"
"Give me that wisdom. The same stuff that Samuel asked for. If it helped him, maybe it'll help me too." Jack turned his head to look back over his shoulder at Nate. "It did help him, right?"
"He said it did," replied Nate. "But he seemed a little quieter afterward. Like he had a lot to think about."
"Well, yeah, I can see that," said Jack. "So, give it to me." Jack turned to face away from Nate again, bent over slightly and tensed up.
Nate watched Jack tense up with a little exasperation. If he bit Jack now, Jack would likely jump out of his skin and maybe hurt them both.
"You remember that you'll be bound to destroy humanity if it ever looks like it needs it, right Jack?" asked Nate, shifting position.
"Yeah, yeah, I got that," replied Jack, eyes squeezed tightly shut and body tense, not noticing the change in direction of Nate's voice.
"And," continued Nate, from his new position, "do you remember that you'll turn bright purple, and grow big horns and extra eyes?"
"Yeah, yeah...Hey, wait a minute!" said Jack, opening his eyes, straightening up and turning around. "Purple?!" He didn't see Nate there. With the moonlight Jack could see that the lever extended up from its slot in the rock without the snake wrapped around it.
Jack heard, from behind him, Nate's "Just Kidding!" right before he felt the now familiar piercing pain, this time in the other buttock.
Jack sat on the edge of the dark stone in the rapidly cooling air, his feet extending out into the sand. He stared out into the darkness, listening to the wind stir the sand, occasionally rubbing his butt where he'd been recently bitten.
Nate had left for a little while, had come back with a desert-rodent-shaped bulge somewhere in his middle, and was now wrapped back around the lever, his tongue flicking out into the desert night's air the only sign that he was still awake.
Occasionally Jack, with his toes absentmindedly digging in the sand while he thought, would ask Nate a question without turning around.
"Nate, do accidents count?"
Nate lifted his head a little bit. "What do you mean, Jack?"
Jack tilted his head back like he was looking at the stars. "You know, accidents. If I accidentally fall on the lever, without meaning to, does that still wipe out humanity?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does, Jack. I'd suggest you be careful about that if you start feeling wobbly," said Nate with some amusement.
A little later - "Does it have to be me that pulls the lever?" asked Jack.
"That's the rule, Jack. Nobody else can pull it," answered Nate.
"No," Jack shook his head, "I meant does it have to be my hand? Could I pull the lever with a rope tied around it? Or push it with a stick? Or throw a rock?"
"Yes, those should work," replied Nate. "Though I'm not sure how complicated you could get. Samuel thought about trying to build some kind of remote control for it once, but gave it up. Everything he'd build would be gone by the next sunrise, if it was touching the stone, or over it. I told him that in the past others that had been bound had tried to bury the lever so they wouldn't be tempted to pull it, but every time the stones or sand or whatever had disappeared."
"Wow," said Jack, "Cool." Jack leaned back until only his elbows kept him off of the stone and looked up into the sky.
"Nate, how long did Samuel live? One of his wishes was for health too, right?" asked Jack.
"Yes," replied Nate, "it was. He lived 167 years, Jack."
"Wow, 167 years. That's almost 140 more years I'll live if I live as long. Do you know what he died of, Nate?"
"He died of getting tired of living, Jack," Nate said, sounding somewhat sad.
Jack turned his head to look at Nate in the starlight.
Nate looked back. "Samuel knew he wasn't going to be able to stay in society. He figured that they'd eventually see him still alive and start questioning it, so he decided that he'd have to disappear after a while. He faked his death once, but changed his mind - he decided it was too early and he could stay for a little longer. He wasn't very fond of mankind, but he liked the attention. Most of the time, anyway.
"His daughter and then his wife dying almost did him in though. He didn't stay in society much longer after that. He eventually came out here to spend time talking to me and thinking about pulling the lever. A few months ago he told me he'd had enough. It was his time."
"And then he just died?" asked Jack.
Nate shook his head a little. "He made his fourth request, Jack. There's only one thing you can ask for the fourth request. The last bite.
After a bit Nate continued, "He told me that he was tired, that it was his time. He reassured me that someone new would show up soon, like they always had.
After another pause, Nate finished, "Samuel's body disappeared off the stone with the sunrise."
Jack lay back down and looked at the sky, leaving Nate alone with his memories. It was a long time until Jack's breathing evened out into sleep.
Jack woke with the sunrise the next morning. He was a little chilled with the morning desert air, but overall was feeling pretty good. Well, except that his stomach was grumbling and he wasn't willing to eat raw desert rat.
So, after getting directions to town from Nate, making sure he knew how to get back, and reassuring Nate that he'd be back soon, Jack started the long walk back to town. With his new health and Nate's good directions, he made it back easily.
Jack caught a bus back to the city, and showed up for work the next day, little worse for the wear and with a story about getting lost in the desert and walking back out. Within a couple of days Jack had talked a friend with a tow truck into going back out into the desert with him to fetch the SUV. They found it after a couple of hours of searching and towed it back without incident. Jack was careful not to even look in the direction of Nate's lever, though their path back didn't come within sight of it.
Before the next weekend, Jack had gone to a couple of stores, including a book store, and had gotten his SUV back from the mechanic, with a warning to avoid any more joyriding in the desert. On Saturday, Jack headed back to see Nate.
Jack parked a little way out of the small town near Nate, loaded up his new backpack with camping gear and the things he was bringing for Nate, and then started walking. He figured that walking would leave the least trail, and he knew that while not many people camped in the desert, it wasn't unheard of, and shouldn't really raise suspicions.
Jack had brought more books for Nate - recent books, magazines, newspapers. Some things that would catch Nate up with what was happening in the world, others that were just good books to read. He spent the weekend with Nate, and then headed out again, telling Nate that he'd be back again soon, but that he had things to do first.
Over four months later Jack was back to see Nate again. This time he brought a laptop with him - a specially modified laptop. It had a solar recharger, special filters and seals to keep out the sand, a satellite link-up, and a special keyboard and joystick that Jack hoped that a fifteen-foot rattlesnake would be able to use. And, it had been hacked to not give out its location to the satellite.
After that Jack could e-mail Nate to keep in touch, but still visited him fairly regularly - at least once or twice a year.
After the first year, Jack quit his job. For some reason, with the wisdom he'd been given, and the knowledge that he could live for over 150 years, working in a nine to five job for someone else didn't seem that worthwhile any more. Jack went back to school.
Eventually, Jack started writing. Perhaps because of the wisdom, or perhaps because of his new perspective, he wrote well. People liked what he wrote, and he became well known for it. After a time, Jack bought an RV and started traveling around the country for book signings and readings.
But, he still remembered to drop by and visit Nate occasionally.
On one of the visits Nate seemed quieter than usual. Not that Nate had been a fountain of joy lately. Jack's best guess was that Nate was still missing Samuel, and though Jack had tried, he still hadn't been able to replace Samuel in Nate's eyes. Nate had been getting quieter each visit. But on this visit Nate didn't even speak when Jack walked up to the lever. He nodded at Jack, and then went back to staring into the desert. Jack, respecting Nate's silence, sat down and waited.
After a few minutes, Nate spoke. "Jack, I have someone to introduce you to."
Jack looked surprised. "Someone to introduce me to?" Jack looked around, and then looked carefully back at Nate. "This something to do with the Big Guy?
"No, no," replied Nate. "This is more personal. I want you to meet my son." Nate looked over at the nearest sand dune. "Sammy!"
Jack watched as a four foot long desert rattlesnake crawled from behind the dune and up to the stone base of the lever.
"Yo, Jack," said the new, much smaller snake.
"Yo, Sammy" replied Jack. Jack looked at Nate. "Named after Samuel, I assume?"
Nate nodded. "Jack, I've got a favor to ask you. Could you show Sammy around for me?" Nate unwrapped himself from the lever and slithered over to the edge of the stone and looked across the sands. "When Samuel first told me about the world, and brought me books and pictures, I wished that I could go see it. I wanted to see the great forests, the canyons, the cities, even the other deserts, to see if they felt and smelled the same. I want my son to have that chance - to see the world. Before he becomes bound here like I have been.
"He's seen it in pictures, over the computer that you brought me. But I hear that it's not the same. That being there is different. I want him to have that. Think you can do that for me, Jack?"
Jack nodded. This was obviously very important to Nate, so Jack didn't even joke about taking a talking rattlesnake out to see the world. "Yeah, I can do that for you, Nate. Is that all you need?" Jack could sense that was something more.
Nate looked at Sammy. Sammy looked back at Nate for a second and then said, "Oh, yeah. Ummm, I've gotta go pack. Back in a little bit Jack. Nice to meet ya!" Sammy slithered back over the dune and out of sight.
Nate watched Sammy disappear and then looked back at Jack. "Jack, this is my first son. My first offspring through all the years. You don't even want to know what it took for me to find a mate." Nate grinned to himself. "But anyway, I had a son for a reason. I'm tired. I'm ready for it to be over. I needed a replacement."
Jack considered this for a minute. "So, you're ready to come see the world, and you wanted him to watch the lever while you were gone?"
Nate shook his head. "No, Jack - you're a better guesser than that. You've already figured out - I'm bound here - there's only one way for me to leave here. And I'm ready. It's my time to die."
Jack looked more closely at Nate. He could tell Nate had thought about this - probably for quite a while. Jack had trouble imagining what it would be like to be as old as Nate, but Jack could already tell that in another hundred or two hundred years, he might be getting tired of life himself. Jack could understand Samuel's decision, and now Nate's. So, all Jack said was, "What do you want me to do?"
Nate nodded. "Thanks, Jack. I only want two things. One - show Sammy around the world - let him get his fill of it, until he's ready to come back here and take over. Two - give me the fourth request.
"I can't just decide to die, not any more than you can. I won't even die of old age like you eventually will, even though it'll be a long time from now. I need to be killed. Once Sammy is back here, ready to take over, I'll be able to die. And I need you to kill me.
"I've even thought about how. Poisons and other drugs won't work on me. And I've seen pictures of snakes that were shot - some of them live for days, so that's out too. So, I want you to bring back a sword.
Nate turned away to look back to the dune that Sammy had gone behind. "I'd say an axe, but that's somewhat undignified - putting my head on the ground or a chopping block like that. No, I like a sword. A time-honored way of going out. A dignified way to die. And, most importantly, it should work, even on me.
"You willing to do that for me, Jack?" Nate turned back to look at Jack.
"Yeah, Nate," replied Jack solemnly, "I think I can handle that."
Nate nodded. "Good!" He turned back toward the dune and shouted, "Sammy! Jack's about ready to leave!" Then quietly, "Thanks, Jack."
Jack didn't have anything to say to that, so he waited for Sammy to make it back to the lever, nodded to him, nodded a final time to Nate, and then headed into the desert with Sammy following.
Over the next several years Sammy and Jack kept in touch with Nate through e-mail as they went about their adventures. They made a goal of visiting every country in the world, and did a respectable job of it. Sammy had a natural gift for languages, as Jack expected he would, and even ended up acting as a translator for Jack in a few of the countries. Jack managed to keep the talking rattlesnake hidden, even so, and by the time they were nearing the end of their tour of countries, Sammy had only been spotted a few times. While there were several people that had seen enough to startle them greatly, nobody had enough evidence to prove anything, and while a few wild rumors and stories followed Jack and Sammy around, nothing ever hit the newspapers or the public in general.
When they finished the tour of countries, Jack suggested that they try some undersea diving. They did. And spelunking. They did that too. Sammy finally drew the line at visiting Antarctica. He'd come to realize that Jack was stalling. After talking to his Dad about it over e-mail, he figured out that Jack probably didn't want to have to kill Nate. Nate told Sammy that humans could be squeamish about killing friends and acquaintances.
So, Sammy eventually put his tail down (as he didn't have a foot) and told Jack that it was time - he was ready to go back and take up his duties from his dad. Jack, delayed it a little more by insisting that they go back to Japan and buy an appropriate sword. He even stretched it a little more by getting lessons in how to use the sword. But, eventually, he'd learned as much as he was likely to without dedicating his life to it, and was definitely competent enough to take the head off of a snake. It was time to head back and see Nate.
When they got back to the US, Jack got the old RV out of storage where he and Sammy had left it after their tour of the fifty states, he loaded up Sammy and the sword, and they headed for the desert.
When they got to the small town that Jack had been trying to find those years ago when he'd met Nate, Jack was in a funk. He didn't really feel like walking all of the way out there. Not only that, but he'd forgotten to figure the travel time correctly, and it was late afternoon. They'd either have to spend the night in town and walk out tomorrow, or walk in the dark.
As Jack was afraid that if he waited one more night he might lose his resolve, he decided that he'd go ahead and drive the RV out there. It was only going to be this once, and Jack would go back and cover the tracks afterward. They ought to be able to make it out there by nightfall if they drove, and then they could get it over tonight.
Jack told Sammy to e-mail Nate that they were coming as he drove out of sight of the town on the road. They then pulled off the road and headed out into the desert.
Everything went well, until they got to the sand dunes. Jack had been nursing the RV along the whole time, over the rocks, through the creek beds, revving the engine the few times they almost got stuck. When they came to the dunes, Jack didn't really think about it, he just downshifted and headed up the first one. By the third dune, Jack started to regret that he'd decided to try driving on the sand. The RV was fishtailling and losing traction. Jack was having to work it up each dune slowly and was trying to keep from losing control each time they came over the top and slid down the other side. Sammy had come up to sit in the passenger seat, coiled up and laughing at Jack's driving.
As they came over the top of the fourth dune, the biggest one yet, Jack saw that this was the final dune - the stone, the lever, and somewhere Nate, waited below. Jack put on the brakes, but he'd gone a little too far. The RV started slipping down the other side.
Jack tried turning the wheel, but he didn't have enough traction. He pumped the brakes - no response. They started sliding down the hill, faster and faster.
Jack felt a shock go through him as he suddenly realized that they were heading for the lever. He looked down - the RV was directly on course for it. If Jack didn't do something, the RV would hit it. He was about to end humanity.
Jack steered more frantically, trying to get traction. It still wasn't working. The dune was too steep, and the sand too loose. In a split second, Jack realized that his only chance would be once he hit the stone around the lever - he should have traction on the stone for just a second before he hit the lever - he wouldn't have time to stop, but he should be able to steer away.
Jack took a better grip on the steering wheel and tried to turn the RV a little bit - every little bit would help. He'd have to time his turn just right.
The RV got to the bottom of the dune, sliding at an amazing speed in the sand. Just before they reached the stone Jack looked across it to check that they were still heading for the lever. They were. But Jack noticed something else that he hadn't seen from the top of the dune. Nate wasn't wrapped around the lever. He was off to the side of the lever, but still on the stone, waiting for them. The problem was, he was waiting on the same side of the lever that Jack had picked to steer towards to avoid the lever. The RV was already starting to drift that way a little in its mad rush across the sand and there was no way that Jack was going to be able to go around the lever to the other side.
Jack had an instant of realization. He was either going to have to hit the lever, or run over Nate. He glanced over at Sammy and saw that Sammy realized the same thing.
Jack took a firmer grip on the steering wheel as the RV ran up on the stone. Shouting to Sammy as he pulled the steering wheel, "Better Nate than lever!", he ran over the snake.
THE END
2023.05.28 04:48 travvypattycactus 5G mobile data inconsistent
(T-Mobile 5G UC. Full bars constantly. WIFI choppy regardless.)
Hello.
Have had the S21 for 2 years, since a couple months after its initial release. For the first year up until last week, I used the S8 sim card and received adequate 5G network capabilities for a month or so.
(FYI. The phone did come with a sim card, I for some reason didn't think to use it.)
Eventually, the 5G capability shrunk to just being able to access a few websites, a majority being met with a "Your Connection is Not Private." when on mobile data. Messages came in slow, and social media apps were rendered useless.
Two days ago, I made the decision to swap to the SIM that the phone came with, under the impression that my 5G would be restored. For the first second I made the swap, the connection was flawless. I could access any websites, enjoy social medias. A minute later, it returned to the same network problems I had with the initial SIM.
Restarting the phone and airplane mode have been fleeting solutions, but I have yet to find any long-term answers.
submitted by travvypattycactus to GalaxyS21 [link] [comments]
Hello.
Have had the S21 for 2 years, since a couple months after its initial release. For the first year up until last week, I used the S8 sim card and received adequate 5G network capabilities for a month or so.
(FYI. The phone did come with a sim card, I for some reason didn't think to use it.)
Eventually, the 5G capability shrunk to just being able to access a few websites, a majority being met with a "Your Connection is Not Private." when on mobile data. Messages came in slow, and social media apps were rendered useless.
Two days ago, I made the decision to swap to the SIM that the phone came with, under the impression that my 5G would be restored. For the first second I made the swap, the connection was flawless. I could access any websites, enjoy social medias. A minute later, it returned to the same network problems I had with the initial SIM.
Restarting the phone and airplane mode have been fleeting solutions, but I have yet to find any long-term answers.
2023.05.28 04:48 WritingSweetroll Our Troubled Youths - Part 1 (Official Remake)
[AN]- This is the official remake of my series, "Our Troubled Youths". I was young and kind of a virgin when it came to writing lol. But, I've grown a lot in my writing, and I wanted to truly give this series a better story, and the better characters it deserves. So please enjoy!
“Slow down-” AJ huffed, chasing after Willow. She ran fast through the thick woods of Virginia, one goal in mind. It was very early in the morning- but Willow was determined that she would bring some food back home, and not just some small rabbit– but a deer. Ruby told her that deer were active at dusk and dawn, so she’d have to choose one of those times for the best results. In order for her to get around Clementine knowing, she’d have to sneak out at dawn. Willow ignored AJ, she had made a shot at a big, juicy deer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a clean shot so the deer immediately fled. But that didn’t stop the fire in her veins, she was determined to feed her family, but mainly, she was determined to prove herself.
AJ huffed in irritation. He mentally cursed at himself, realizing this was his karma for acting this exact way when he was Willow’s age. AJ stopped running, walking instead now. She was in good vision, and it seemed she’d slow down as well. Besides, he needed to catch his breath.
Willow stopped, looking around for the deer. The blood trail confused her as it ran in circles. She calmed herself down. Tracing the trail closely, she was slowly gathering a possibility to where the deer had gone. Her vision was so focused on the floor that she didn’t realize where she was walking– and then all of a sudden she had felt herself slipping. “Ah!” She yelped, rolling down a steep hill with rocks and stumps- the pain caused her to shout in agony.
AJ was quick to action, “Willow!” He called out, running on pure adrenaline.
Willow finally fell onto the floor, deeper into the forest. Everything was blurry, but she could see she fell from a pretty high ledge. She shook her head trying to regain consciousness, everything hurt. After about a second, she tried to get up- “A-ah-” She stumbled, sitting back onto the floor. “Shit.” She whimpered from the pain of her ankle, it was definitely sprained, hopefully only sprained. But that seemed like the least of her issues. Her heart dropped as she heard the all familiar groaning. She looked up to see dozens of walkers coming over to her. It seems the commotion of her screams had gathered a lot of unwanted attention. “N-no.. no!” She tried to force herself up, she only successfully made it halfway before she fell down again.
AJ made it to the cliff's edge, looking down at Willow. “Shit! Willow!” He started to slowly make his way onto the steep ledge, he planned on sliding down gradually. “I’m coming!” he shouted.
Willow had a brief relief as she heard AJ’s call. So, her mind cleared for a moment, and she went into defense mode. “Damnit!” She complained, seeing that her bow was nowhere to be found, so she slid as far back as she could. With her back against an oak tree, she pulled out her knife and held it near her chest. “AJ…Please hurry!” She shouted, the walkers were getting closer and closer…to now where she was realizing how immobile and defenseless she really was. Panic rushed in quickly, and her mind went straight to insulting herself. If only she’d listen to her mothers warnings, if only she wasn’t so stubborn–
Her thoughts cut short as a walker fell onto the floor, grasping at her shoes, inching closer to bite her. “Ah!” She shouted, taken aback. She’d never been this close to a walker before, and she’d never feared for her life this badly.
“Willow!” AJ screamed with a fury. He held up his own bow and arrow- and shot the walker before it could hurt her. He quickened his pace down the hill, he was close to the bottom already so it wasn’t a safety issue to do so. He finally got to her, and immediately scooped her up in his arms. Willow kept her defensive stance, even in the safety of his arms. It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when she held her knife in front of her face. The knife was clean. No blood on it at all. She let the knife rest against her chest. She cried, and threw her hands over her face to cover said tears. Her knife being clean meant she didn’t even try to kill the walker on her, she would’ve died if it wasn’t for AJ.
—
Willow sat silent in the medical room. It used to be a dorm for some kids years ago- back when people actually were alive before the apocalypse. Sometimes she’d wonder what it was like for them. Must’ve been a lot better. She focused on some ripped medical pages that were hung on the wall. Ruby really wanted it to feel like a ‘real doctors office.’
The silence was then interrupted by Ruby coming into the office. She held fresh bandages in her hand, and some saline. It was homemade saline ofcourse, just salt and clean water. In the other hand, she held a hot drink.
“Hey there.” She said softly, she placed the items on the desk. “This is some ginger tea.” Ruby gave her the hot tea, “Ain’t as good as tylenol, but it's something.” She then went onto her knees, lifting up Willow's ankle gently. Willow sucked in her breath as the pain stung her. “I know..I know.”
Willow sighed, placing the cup in her lap. She held it tightly, letting the warmth surround her finger tips. “So. How bad is it?”
Ruby gently wrapped her foot in the gauze, “Well. It’s not broken so that's good. You just need to not move on it so much- let it heal. You had a pretty nasty fall.”
Willow nodded. “I mean, how bad is it?” Willow bit her lip, “With mom?”
“Well….” Ruby grunted getting up, dusting her hands. “I mean, I'm not gonna sugar coat it. Even Louis is mad. And you know it takes a storm to upset that goofball.”
Willow gulped. If her dad was mad, her mom was furious.
“AJ’s taking the brunt of it. She’s letting him have it.” She sighed, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head. “But that doesn't mean you're safe.”
Willow started to bounce her leg anxiously. There was no doubt that she would be getting her ear chewed out. “Ok.” She said, accepting her fate.
“I’ll let her know you’re ready to be seen.” Ruby started walking away, but turned around half-way. “It’ll be alright. As scary as Clementine is sometimes, she still loves you to death. It's the reason why she’s so passionate.” She then exited the room, leaving Willow to soak in her thoughts.
Willow allowed the silence to engulf her. This was the only peace she’ll be getting before a fighting match of emotions. She grumbled to herself, thinking, ‘Why didn’t you just pay more attention? If only then we could have been feasting on a deer.’ She sighed heavily, and fell back onto the springy mattress. Interestingly enough, she felt a brief happiness along her chest. Memories from when she was a toddler had come up. There isn’t much entertainment in the apocalypse- but her dad sure found out ways. Example being, he would throw her onto the spring mattress and she’d fly into the air. He would catch her again and repeat the process. Willow being 15 couldn’t experience that again, she was just too big. But still, the memories were always welcome to come back.
Suddenly, those feelings of joy were quickly swept away as the door was heard being open. She sucked in her breath as she braced herself. Louis and Clementine walked in- obviously not happy. Clementine leaned against the pole on the other bunk bed across from her. Louis just sat down, looking more disappointed than angry.
“Get up.”
Shivers. Her voice was stern and harsh. It could even scare a walker. Willow sat up, met with the eyes of a very upset mother. But to Willow's surprise, her eyes were glistening and wet. She was holding back tears with all her strength. It made Willow feel even more guilty.
“Willow, what are the rules?”
“I know. I get it, but–”
Clementine chuckled, “Apparently you don't get them. Repeat them. Now.”
Willow sighed, looking at the floor. With an attitude, she replied, “Which ones?”
Clementine replied with a judgy expression, “Excuse me?”
“You have a rule for everything I want to do–”
“The rules we follow when going into new places, or new experiences.” She emphasized her last two words, biting back at her daughter's sass.
Willow swallowed, her mothers tone wasn’t lighting up. She decided to cut the bullshit and truly answer. “We listen for monsters–” Only the first rule, and it bit at her ego; She didn’t even think about the walkers stupidly enough. It seemed her shock was shown through her expression– because Clementine looked at her with a small relief. A relief that she actually learned from her mistake- rather than being stubborn about it. “-and..we always find a way out.” Willow finished in almost a shamed whisper.
The room was silent now. Surprisingly, Louis was the one to break the silence. He clapped and whispered in an awkward tone, “Hooray! You figured it out!” Obviously trying to lighten up the mood, something he always tried to do.
Clementine turned around slowly, looking at her partner of 23 years, with the disgust of a stranger. She sighed and placed a palm on her forehead. Willow couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Her chuckles only started a domino effect of chuckles. And just like that, the family came together again. Regardless of how much fear she had of her mothers anger– she never felt unsafe or unloved.
The laughs ended, and it was serious again. Clementine sighed, coming over to Willows bed, and sitting on it. Louis followed, sitting next to her as well. “Willow.” She spoke softly. “I don’t make all these rules to dim your light or passion. I just want you to be safe.”
“But you went through so many different eras of yourself.” Willow looked down at her hands, interlocking them. “What if I never get to see the other sides of me?”
Clementine sighed. “We went over this Willow. I can’t let you experience even a fraction of what I went through. Times are different, we got food, water– hell even generators!”
“I know mom. I do. I’m grateful- I really am. But it's still not perfect. You can’t shelter me forever. Things…don’t always go to plan.”
Clementine stared at the floor for a bit. “I know.” She finally responded. “--And I know experience is what you need. Just, don't be looking up to younger me as no role model. She was of the past, this is the present.”
“But you were badass-”
“No. I was surviving. You can’t look at my past and think that way, okay?” It got silent again. “There’s nothing badass about the nightmares you wake up to every morning.” She whispered.
Louis got up and then decided to squeeze himself in between the two. He widened his arms and hugged both of them. He gave Clementine a tighter hug, knowing that her mind was probably racing at the thought of her nightmares. She hadn’t had them in so long. He kissed both his lover's head, and his daughter's head. “Listen. Just promise us that you’ll tell us when you want to go hunting or scavenging. And…” He looked at Clementine and said, “And, maybe we’ll think about letting you go out on your own.” Clementine raised her brows at this, but decided to let it go for right now. She was exhausted mentally.
Willows eyes lit, she smiled. “Alright then.” She replied with glee.
“Alright let's get out of here, hospitals give me the heebie jeebies.” Louis stood up, ushering Clementine to stand up as well. Willow followed, only to immediately shout a scream of pain. Louis sucked in his breath. “That’ll teach ya for sure heh.” He then swooped Willow up, carrying her out of the room, with his lover by his side.
submitted by WritingSweetroll to TWDGFanFic [link] [comments]
“Slow down-” AJ huffed, chasing after Willow. She ran fast through the thick woods of Virginia, one goal in mind. It was very early in the morning- but Willow was determined that she would bring some food back home, and not just some small rabbit– but a deer. Ruby told her that deer were active at dusk and dawn, so she’d have to choose one of those times for the best results. In order for her to get around Clementine knowing, she’d have to sneak out at dawn. Willow ignored AJ, she had made a shot at a big, juicy deer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a clean shot so the deer immediately fled. But that didn’t stop the fire in her veins, she was determined to feed her family, but mainly, she was determined to prove herself.
AJ huffed in irritation. He mentally cursed at himself, realizing this was his karma for acting this exact way when he was Willow’s age. AJ stopped running, walking instead now. She was in good vision, and it seemed she’d slow down as well. Besides, he needed to catch his breath.
Willow stopped, looking around for the deer. The blood trail confused her as it ran in circles. She calmed herself down. Tracing the trail closely, she was slowly gathering a possibility to where the deer had gone. Her vision was so focused on the floor that she didn’t realize where she was walking– and then all of a sudden she had felt herself slipping. “Ah!” She yelped, rolling down a steep hill with rocks and stumps- the pain caused her to shout in agony.
AJ was quick to action, “Willow!” He called out, running on pure adrenaline.
Willow finally fell onto the floor, deeper into the forest. Everything was blurry, but she could see she fell from a pretty high ledge. She shook her head trying to regain consciousness, everything hurt. After about a second, she tried to get up- “A-ah-” She stumbled, sitting back onto the floor. “Shit.” She whimpered from the pain of her ankle, it was definitely sprained, hopefully only sprained. But that seemed like the least of her issues. Her heart dropped as she heard the all familiar groaning. She looked up to see dozens of walkers coming over to her. It seems the commotion of her screams had gathered a lot of unwanted attention. “N-no.. no!” She tried to force herself up, she only successfully made it halfway before she fell down again.
AJ made it to the cliff's edge, looking down at Willow. “Shit! Willow!” He started to slowly make his way onto the steep ledge, he planned on sliding down gradually. “I’m coming!” he shouted.
Willow had a brief relief as she heard AJ’s call. So, her mind cleared for a moment, and she went into defense mode. “Damnit!” She complained, seeing that her bow was nowhere to be found, so she slid as far back as she could. With her back against an oak tree, she pulled out her knife and held it near her chest. “AJ…Please hurry!” She shouted, the walkers were getting closer and closer…to now where she was realizing how immobile and defenseless she really was. Panic rushed in quickly, and her mind went straight to insulting herself. If only she’d listen to her mothers warnings, if only she wasn’t so stubborn–
Her thoughts cut short as a walker fell onto the floor, grasping at her shoes, inching closer to bite her. “Ah!” She shouted, taken aback. She’d never been this close to a walker before, and she’d never feared for her life this badly.
“Willow!” AJ screamed with a fury. He held up his own bow and arrow- and shot the walker before it could hurt her. He quickened his pace down the hill, he was close to the bottom already so it wasn’t a safety issue to do so. He finally got to her, and immediately scooped her up in his arms. Willow kept her defensive stance, even in the safety of his arms. It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when she held her knife in front of her face. The knife was clean. No blood on it at all. She let the knife rest against her chest. She cried, and threw her hands over her face to cover said tears. Her knife being clean meant she didn’t even try to kill the walker on her, she would’ve died if it wasn’t for AJ.
—
Willow sat silent in the medical room. It used to be a dorm for some kids years ago- back when people actually were alive before the apocalypse. Sometimes she’d wonder what it was like for them. Must’ve been a lot better. She focused on some ripped medical pages that were hung on the wall. Ruby really wanted it to feel like a ‘real doctors office.’
The silence was then interrupted by Ruby coming into the office. She held fresh bandages in her hand, and some saline. It was homemade saline ofcourse, just salt and clean water. In the other hand, she held a hot drink.
“Hey there.” She said softly, she placed the items on the desk. “This is some ginger tea.” Ruby gave her the hot tea, “Ain’t as good as tylenol, but it's something.” She then went onto her knees, lifting up Willow's ankle gently. Willow sucked in her breath as the pain stung her. “I know..I know.”
Willow sighed, placing the cup in her lap. She held it tightly, letting the warmth surround her finger tips. “So. How bad is it?”
Ruby gently wrapped her foot in the gauze, “Well. It’s not broken so that's good. You just need to not move on it so much- let it heal. You had a pretty nasty fall.”
Willow nodded. “I mean, how bad is it?” Willow bit her lip, “With mom?”
“Well….” Ruby grunted getting up, dusting her hands. “I mean, I'm not gonna sugar coat it. Even Louis is mad. And you know it takes a storm to upset that goofball.”
Willow gulped. If her dad was mad, her mom was furious.
“AJ’s taking the brunt of it. She’s letting him have it.” She sighed, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head. “But that doesn't mean you're safe.”
Willow started to bounce her leg anxiously. There was no doubt that she would be getting her ear chewed out. “Ok.” She said, accepting her fate.
“I’ll let her know you’re ready to be seen.” Ruby started walking away, but turned around half-way. “It’ll be alright. As scary as Clementine is sometimes, she still loves you to death. It's the reason why she’s so passionate.” She then exited the room, leaving Willow to soak in her thoughts.
Willow allowed the silence to engulf her. This was the only peace she’ll be getting before a fighting match of emotions. She grumbled to herself, thinking, ‘Why didn’t you just pay more attention? If only then we could have been feasting on a deer.’ She sighed heavily, and fell back onto the springy mattress. Interestingly enough, she felt a brief happiness along her chest. Memories from when she was a toddler had come up. There isn’t much entertainment in the apocalypse- but her dad sure found out ways. Example being, he would throw her onto the spring mattress and she’d fly into the air. He would catch her again and repeat the process. Willow being 15 couldn’t experience that again, she was just too big. But still, the memories were always welcome to come back.
Suddenly, those feelings of joy were quickly swept away as the door was heard being open. She sucked in her breath as she braced herself. Louis and Clementine walked in- obviously not happy. Clementine leaned against the pole on the other bunk bed across from her. Louis just sat down, looking more disappointed than angry.
“Get up.”
Shivers. Her voice was stern and harsh. It could even scare a walker. Willow sat up, met with the eyes of a very upset mother. But to Willow's surprise, her eyes were glistening and wet. She was holding back tears with all her strength. It made Willow feel even more guilty.
“Willow, what are the rules?”
“I know. I get it, but–”
Clementine chuckled, “Apparently you don't get them. Repeat them. Now.”
Willow sighed, looking at the floor. With an attitude, she replied, “Which ones?”
Clementine replied with a judgy expression, “Excuse me?”
“You have a rule for everything I want to do–”
“The rules we follow when going into new places, or new experiences.” She emphasized her last two words, biting back at her daughter's sass.
Willow swallowed, her mothers tone wasn’t lighting up. She decided to cut the bullshit and truly answer. “We listen for monsters–” Only the first rule, and it bit at her ego; She didn’t even think about the walkers stupidly enough. It seemed her shock was shown through her expression– because Clementine looked at her with a small relief. A relief that she actually learned from her mistake- rather than being stubborn about it. “-and..we always find a way out.” Willow finished in almost a shamed whisper.
The room was silent now. Surprisingly, Louis was the one to break the silence. He clapped and whispered in an awkward tone, “Hooray! You figured it out!” Obviously trying to lighten up the mood, something he always tried to do.
Clementine turned around slowly, looking at her partner of 23 years, with the disgust of a stranger. She sighed and placed a palm on her forehead. Willow couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Her chuckles only started a domino effect of chuckles. And just like that, the family came together again. Regardless of how much fear she had of her mothers anger– she never felt unsafe or unloved.
The laughs ended, and it was serious again. Clementine sighed, coming over to Willows bed, and sitting on it. Louis followed, sitting next to her as well. “Willow.” She spoke softly. “I don’t make all these rules to dim your light or passion. I just want you to be safe.”
“But you went through so many different eras of yourself.” Willow looked down at her hands, interlocking them. “What if I never get to see the other sides of me?”
Clementine sighed. “We went over this Willow. I can’t let you experience even a fraction of what I went through. Times are different, we got food, water– hell even generators!”
“I know mom. I do. I’m grateful- I really am. But it's still not perfect. You can’t shelter me forever. Things…don’t always go to plan.”
Clementine stared at the floor for a bit. “I know.” She finally responded. “--And I know experience is what you need. Just, don't be looking up to younger me as no role model. She was of the past, this is the present.”
“But you were badass-”
“No. I was surviving. You can’t look at my past and think that way, okay?” It got silent again. “There’s nothing badass about the nightmares you wake up to every morning.” She whispered.
Louis got up and then decided to squeeze himself in between the two. He widened his arms and hugged both of them. He gave Clementine a tighter hug, knowing that her mind was probably racing at the thought of her nightmares. She hadn’t had them in so long. He kissed both his lover's head, and his daughter's head. “Listen. Just promise us that you’ll tell us when you want to go hunting or scavenging. And…” He looked at Clementine and said, “And, maybe we’ll think about letting you go out on your own.” Clementine raised her brows at this, but decided to let it go for right now. She was exhausted mentally.
Willows eyes lit, she smiled. “Alright then.” She replied with glee.
“Alright let's get out of here, hospitals give me the heebie jeebies.” Louis stood up, ushering Clementine to stand up as well. Willow followed, only to immediately shout a scream of pain. Louis sucked in his breath. “That’ll teach ya for sure heh.” He then swooped Willow up, carrying her out of the room, with his lover by his side.
2023.05.28 04:46 InsertGreatBandName Odd Number of Ties
 | Not sure how this happened but if you add up the ties, there’s 5 of them when there should always be an even number of ties? Am I crazy? submitted by InsertGreatBandName to RetroBowl [link] [comments] |
2023.05.28 04:41 robototron217 "I guess you guys don't need this job done that badly then"
A couple years ago i was a part time supervisor at UPS for their housekeeping side of things at world port. It started out as an unbelievably easy position, basically i came in, handled employee vacations and time cards, and made sure they had whatever supplies they needed. I was only ever supposed to work with 9 people across 2 wings, but over the course of 7-8 months, 3 of the other supervisors in my office quit, and the only other person was showing up every other day. So instead of 9 people, i frequently had to work with 40-60 full time employees. Still, even though this sucked it was a pretty easy time. Then covid hit. They wanted daily and weekly audits of every employee and every bathroom and breakroom, with pictures of before and after of every bathroom. There's at least 70 sets of male and female bathrooms and about as many break rooms/areas, not even mentioning the employees.
To be clear, we were well supplied with materials, and we were able to clean the facility just fine because my guys were incredible. But having me complete over a thousand audits a week and taking gigabytes of pictures was a step too far for me and one other person. Not even that it wasn't the correct protocol for covid, it's just too much legwork and paperwork for us. It was a huge stress and i literally could not do it. After making up a weeks worth of audits to try and keep up I confronted my boss and basically said: "do you have any plans to hire help with this, or at least get the other people to replace the ones who left?" "We are not planning on filling those positions for the foreseeable future " "I guess you guys don't need this job done that badly then"
I didn't quit on the spot but that conversation was effectively my two week notice. It was a shame, the people i met and the friends i made in that position were really fun and i really didn't wanna leave my guys but i was at an impasse and i chose my own sanity.
It's 3 years later and i texted the poor guy who i left to catch everything and apparently they hired someone to replace me but not the other positions. He said something about eventually it being just our supervisor directly supervising the housekeeping staff and cutting the part time sups out of that part of it entirely, but I'm pretty sure that was speculation. Either way I'm glad i left because I'm way happier driving a forklift lol
submitted by robototron217 to antiwork [link] [comments]
To be clear, we were well supplied with materials, and we were able to clean the facility just fine because my guys were incredible. But having me complete over a thousand audits a week and taking gigabytes of pictures was a step too far for me and one other person. Not even that it wasn't the correct protocol for covid, it's just too much legwork and paperwork for us. It was a huge stress and i literally could not do it. After making up a weeks worth of audits to try and keep up I confronted my boss and basically said: "do you have any plans to hire help with this, or at least get the other people to replace the ones who left?" "We are not planning on filling those positions for the foreseeable future " "I guess you guys don't need this job done that badly then"
I didn't quit on the spot but that conversation was effectively my two week notice. It was a shame, the people i met and the friends i made in that position were really fun and i really didn't wanna leave my guys but i was at an impasse and i chose my own sanity.
It's 3 years later and i texted the poor guy who i left to catch everything and apparently they hired someone to replace me but not the other positions. He said something about eventually it being just our supervisor directly supervising the housekeeping staff and cutting the part time sups out of that part of it entirely, but I'm pretty sure that was speculation. Either way I'm glad i left because I'm way happier driving a forklift lol
2023.05.28 04:39 Galacticmocx Suggestions for deck?
 | submitted by Galacticmocx to cuecardgameAvid [link] [comments] |
2023.05.28 04:39 Assturbation Ranking all phase 4 Marvel movies (correcting for recency and other biases)? [Spoilers maybe]
So even though I watched Guardians 3 last night, I'm going to try and be as objective about the parameters i'm setting up for how to rank and rate these movies. Here they are: Rank and rate all. phase 4 movies as if you split into many alternate timelines and all 8ish of you watch each movie at the same time, write it on a piece of paper, and merge all realities into one and read what was written. Here it is:
IN CONCLUSION: Whatever formula and style that went into Guardians 3, the entire time I was like, this doesn't even feel like some addendum to the MCU stack.. this feels like it's own entire separate entity that stands on it's own legs and knows how to really humanize or anthropromorphize so many touching themes and interesting dynamics. It was a GUARDIANS franchize film that happened to contain MCU characters. Not the other way around. And that's how it should be in most cases.
Guardians are the most real for having flaws on full display. Guardians wasn't trying to be overtly political, while also offering a message that is paletable by the masses. It hit the pocket of what movies the fans truly seem to want to see. It hopefully can be a testament to how MCU can still be a powerhouse if they make a movie that is truly good for the fans rather than for the executives or to appease the activists or to have the broadest appeal.
!!!SPOILER MOMENT: My only issue was the blatant deus ex machina trope where Adam saves Quill in such a preditably boring way. Golden Adam could've had a more interesting arc other than being a dimwit who hates being under the thumb of his mother and is a bumbling fuck up. Also the rainbow suits they wore were a bit tacky (not for any anti-flag reasons.. I just happen to thing loud primary colors used for the sake of making things colorfgul look corny in contrast to a serious movie or when attached to a serious plot device or a functional situation) its just a kid-ified contrivance, but not too bad. Also the Spy Kids thumb skin suits that were worn in the organic headquarters was a bit over-the-top, but again, i can forgive those elements as everything else was on point. The aesthetic choices were so wild and otherworldly, the concept of an alter-earth was super refreshing. The reason that the villain decided to make an earth seem slightly contrived as he explained in a single sentence that he loved earth music and the spirit of humans and for that reason alone he wants to make an entire planet look and feel like Earth but with Earth-animal hybrids? I think there could've been a more convincing or deeeply personal reason why this guy spent quadrillions of dollars to create this alter-earth, but perhaps thats what the comics stated.
Edit: Also, this movie had some of the coolest and most engaging shots, angles, lighting, and attention to detail. In alter-earth down to the sodas, the picture frames, the kids toys, the clothing, etc. It's an approximation of Earth-like stuff which makes it feel uncanny and strange. They killed the alter-Earth stuff. So intriguing.
submitted by Assturbation to FavoriteMedia [link] [comments]
- Guardians of the Galaxy 3: Attack of the Clones - 93% (First 4/5ths were 97%)
- Spider-man: No Way Home - 90% (Some lulls and predictable or overly choreographed aspects)
- Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness - 84% (Despite serious clunky story aspects, the cinematography and unique visuals and Wanda as a villain was awesome)
- Ant-man Quantumania - 83% (This is controversial. Too much of it was disney/kid-ified. Would've like some more consistenty serious elements. Still very fun concepts and visuals (i'm a sucker for tastefully thought out and complex, detailed set-design and vfx, except for the city Khan designed was a little too busy and overwrought)
- Shang-Chi/Wakanda- 80% (Story was interesting, certain chracters were lifeless and un-interesting, was ok)
- The Eternals - 73% (Too many charcters with not enough fleshing out of characters, some aspects were grandiose and epic but couldn't quite pay off in a satisfying way, had a ton of potential and q unique approach)
- Black Widow - 66% (Holy boring.. this would've fit a lot better in phase 2 of Marvel somewhere, it's just way too subdued and absent of action and stakes, too bland for being in phase 4)
- Thor: Love & Thunder - 55% (They really dropped the ball on this one. I don't even know where to begin. They made so many situations so silly that it becomes a shell of itself. There's no badassery in this. At least not well-earned badassery. It's got mixed themes. The Zeuss was overly douchey and not that funny. Just ridiculous. Still some elements like the god killer that could've been awesome.)
IN CONCLUSION: Whatever formula and style that went into Guardians 3, the entire time I was like, this doesn't even feel like some addendum to the MCU stack.. this feels like it's own entire separate entity that stands on it's own legs and knows how to really humanize or anthropromorphize so many touching themes and interesting dynamics. It was a GUARDIANS franchize film that happened to contain MCU characters. Not the other way around. And that's how it should be in most cases.
Guardians are the most real for having flaws on full display. Guardians wasn't trying to be overtly political, while also offering a message that is paletable by the masses. It hit the pocket of what movies the fans truly seem to want to see. It hopefully can be a testament to how MCU can still be a powerhouse if they make a movie that is truly good for the fans rather than for the executives or to appease the activists or to have the broadest appeal.
!!!SPOILER MOMENT: My only issue was the blatant deus ex machina trope where Adam saves Quill in such a preditably boring way. Golden Adam could've had a more interesting arc other than being a dimwit who hates being under the thumb of his mother and is a bumbling fuck up. Also the rainbow suits they wore were a bit tacky (not for any anti-flag reasons.. I just happen to thing loud primary colors used for the sake of making things colorfgul look corny in contrast to a serious movie or when attached to a serious plot device or a functional situation) its just a kid-ified contrivance, but not too bad. Also the Spy Kids thumb skin suits that were worn in the organic headquarters was a bit over-the-top, but again, i can forgive those elements as everything else was on point. The aesthetic choices were so wild and otherworldly, the concept of an alter-earth was super refreshing. The reason that the villain decided to make an earth seem slightly contrived as he explained in a single sentence that he loved earth music and the spirit of humans and for that reason alone he wants to make an entire planet look and feel like Earth but with Earth-animal hybrids? I think there could've been a more convincing or deeeply personal reason why this guy spent quadrillions of dollars to create this alter-earth, but perhaps thats what the comics stated.
Edit: Also, this movie had some of the coolest and most engaging shots, angles, lighting, and attention to detail. In alter-earth down to the sodas, the picture frames, the kids toys, the clothing, etc. It's an approximation of Earth-like stuff which makes it feel uncanny and strange. They killed the alter-Earth stuff. So intriguing.
2023.05.28 04:37 Raunchey Pre-S30 gossip that might give context during rewatches?
Found myself doing a Real World/The Challenge binge on Paramount+ and have been looking up discussions on the sub, and the little pieces of gossip here and there have been wild!
A lot of it seems to have been buried with time/distance from the original season, and I was wondering if anyone had some BTS info/gossip/hearsay that might have been lost recently. Especially from vevmo.
Some examples of gossip I found from posts from 7-8 years ago. Some of it was completely new to me, and some I’m just sharing in case others haven’t heard of it. Some are confirmed, some are to be taken with a grain of salt:
• During S23, Battle of the Seasons 2, Team San Diego cheated at sudoku during the final. This isn’t even necessarily gossip, they showed it on screen. They just flipped their rocks and went on their way. However, I never would have noticed it if someone hadn’t brought it up in an old post.
• Part of the reason Zach and Jonna broke up between BOTS2 and Rivals was that Zach’s parents found out that Jonna was half-Black.
• The reason Bananas and Cara Maria had a rivalry from Rivals 2 to Final Reckoning was because Cara let it leak on an MTV special that Johnny took Camila’s virginity.
• After Coral and Evan got sent home on Fresh Meat, they slept together.
• The reason the Gauntlet 2 final was so lame was because the Veterans were walking around outside the house and saw production setting it up. They didn’t want them to have the advantage of seeing it before everyone else, so they changed it last minute.
• Nany and Adam R (from RW Back to Vegas) we’re supposed to be partners on Exes, but he didn’t pass the psych test
• No matter what card Wes pulled for his elimination against Derrick on The Duel, it was going to be Pole Wrestle. Production made sure that was the only option by having it be on every card.
• Robin was 3 months pregnant during The Duel 2
• On the "Push Me" Duel on Duel 1 there really was no "you lose if you rip the flag rule." The producers just made it up because they liked Svetlana and because they wanted to get a reaction out of Beth. The producers debated for several minutes before declaring Svetlana the winner.
• Ryan and Davis were supposed to be the same sex team that balanced out Aneesa and Rachel on Exes but one of them declined.
• Shane Landrum supposedly gave CT a blowjob back in the day.
• Apparently cast members used to sneak cell phones and other forbidden items into the house in their luggage and would cut their mattresses and hide things in there.
• Frank Sweeney said on a podcast that Bananas would steal duster from the crew and huff it out of boredom. Others did too, it was sort of a rite of passage.
• Bananas was cheating on his girlfriend Hannah (the Olympic snowboarder) with a producer for several seasons
• For the Fresh Meat draft production gave Danny’s ball some sort of a tell so he would get the first pick because they wanted to set him up to be the new star of the show.
• The Ruins elimination between Casey and Susie was rigged. Casey had to lose because production did NOT want an all guys team in the final after how horrible they were to the women. There was one stick that was literally impossible to get down.
• Production knew that Jordan was going to flip all the cards on Free Agents so set up wrecking wall to try and dissuade him from going though with it due to him being at an obvious disadvantage, but underestimated just how confident Jordan is.
Feel free to contribute anything, no matter how obvious or scandalous! 🥴
submitted by Raunchey to MtvChallenge [link] [comments]
A lot of it seems to have been buried with time/distance from the original season, and I was wondering if anyone had some BTS info/gossip/hearsay that might have been lost recently. Especially from vevmo.
Some examples of gossip I found from posts from 7-8 years ago. Some of it was completely new to me, and some I’m just sharing in case others haven’t heard of it. Some are confirmed, some are to be taken with a grain of salt:
• During S23, Battle of the Seasons 2, Team San Diego cheated at sudoku during the final. This isn’t even necessarily gossip, they showed it on screen. They just flipped their rocks and went on their way. However, I never would have noticed it if someone hadn’t brought it up in an old post.
• Part of the reason Zach and Jonna broke up between BOTS2 and Rivals was that Zach’s parents found out that Jonna was half-Black.
• The reason Bananas and Cara Maria had a rivalry from Rivals 2 to Final Reckoning was because Cara let it leak on an MTV special that Johnny took Camila’s virginity.
• After Coral and Evan got sent home on Fresh Meat, they slept together.
• The reason the Gauntlet 2 final was so lame was because the Veterans were walking around outside the house and saw production setting it up. They didn’t want them to have the advantage of seeing it before everyone else, so they changed it last minute.
• Nany and Adam R (from RW Back to Vegas) we’re supposed to be partners on Exes, but he didn’t pass the psych test
• No matter what card Wes pulled for his elimination against Derrick on The Duel, it was going to be Pole Wrestle. Production made sure that was the only option by having it be on every card.
• Robin was 3 months pregnant during The Duel 2
• On the "Push Me" Duel on Duel 1 there really was no "you lose if you rip the flag rule." The producers just made it up because they liked Svetlana and because they wanted to get a reaction out of Beth. The producers debated for several minutes before declaring Svetlana the winner.
• Ryan and Davis were supposed to be the same sex team that balanced out Aneesa and Rachel on Exes but one of them declined.
• Shane Landrum supposedly gave CT a blowjob back in the day.
• Apparently cast members used to sneak cell phones and other forbidden items into the house in their luggage and would cut their mattresses and hide things in there.
• Frank Sweeney said on a podcast that Bananas would steal duster from the crew and huff it out of boredom. Others did too, it was sort of a rite of passage.
• Bananas was cheating on his girlfriend Hannah (the Olympic snowboarder) with a producer for several seasons
• For the Fresh Meat draft production gave Danny’s ball some sort of a tell so he would get the first pick because they wanted to set him up to be the new star of the show.
• The Ruins elimination between Casey and Susie was rigged. Casey had to lose because production did NOT want an all guys team in the final after how horrible they were to the women. There was one stick that was literally impossible to get down.
• Production knew that Jordan was going to flip all the cards on Free Agents so set up wrecking wall to try and dissuade him from going though with it due to him being at an obvious disadvantage, but underestimated just how confident Jordan is.
Feel free to contribute anything, no matter how obvious or scandalous! 🥴
2023.05.28 04:29 Luvlymonster Dumpster Fire Day. Husband is 24M I'm 24F.
This wouldn't fit on AITA but tbh I just need to rant.
TL;DR: I've had a dumpster fire of a day with my family and husband, and really don't know where to post this.
My grandmother (81) is blind.
I'm (24) trying to move her into a new apartment in my complex.
I transfer all her bills and internet. I arrange all her paperwork and payments.
The whole beurocratic process takes almost a month.
She wants lunch? I take her. She needs groceries? I get them. She needs anything at all? I'll take care of it nana.
I have been her eyes and her right hand ever since I became an adult.
Even though my brother (18) lives with her and my dad (50's) lived with her up until yesterday, I've always been the one taking care of her. However I live 30 minutes away by tollway and car, and only have a bike, so my physical visits are limited. Hence why I'm helping her move closer.
My brother and dad refuse to clean anything so there's stains and roaches everywhere when i visit She even does her own laundry.
Today should've been the last day for anything major and then it would've been smooth sailing. I just had to pick up a uhaul, and meet my little brother and his friend he said was helping him at the old apartment to pick up furniture, then we'd stop and get gas, get some lunch, unload at the new apartment, and everything would be happy ever after. My brother has had a month to pack after all.
I get upstairs and my brother has everything stuffed randomly into boxes. The bottoms look like they might fall out, the beds haven't been taken apart, not everything is packed yet, and I'm starting to feel a little stress.
Apparently my brother's friend didn't show up so I told nana it would be okay, my brother and I would load the uhaul. So I ask my brother to help me with the washer and dryer and he says "Ummm.... how about nah." I tell him we should load those first because the heavier stuff needs to be behind the cab. He says I have no idea what I'm talking about, that he worked for a moving company for four months (when??) and he's in charge here.
I feel a bit of a panick attack coming on so I grab some water and pain meds for my nana since she's been having back problems all day. The door is wide open and the dog runs out so I grab him and help him in the uhaul (he's suuuper old and has lots of leg and joint problems)
I get back in the uhaul and call my husband (24, married for 2 or 3 years, it's common law so idk) and he doesn't pick up so I call four more times and at this point the panick attack is in full gear so I admit I was impatient when I picked up the phone. My husband asks to speak to my family so I give my nana the phone and my brother sees and says that I'm just like our mother. (Our mom used to call her sisters when I was having a panick attack or any sort of breakdown and complain about how much of a burden I was and straight up lie to them for sympathy making up things I did that never happened. She also pitted my brother and I against each other a lot.)
My nana hands the phone to my brother who just hangs up on my husband.
I called my husband back, still needing help with my panick attack, and at this point I'm yelling at my brother because he won't leave me alone. My brother is sitting there cooing at our nana telling her not to worry about me as if she's a dog and he's trying to soothe her from my behavior. He smirks and twiddles his fingers at me.
I almost screamed.
He proceeds to tell my grandmother that I'm mad at him because I didn't get my way and that I'm refusing to help him and that I'm pretending to be a know it all.
I start shouting at him.
My husband tells me I'm being petulant and at that point I hang up on him myself, go for a walk somewhere in the complex and ask my therapist if she can do an emergency session.
I vaguely explain my feelings at the moment and she just tries to reassure me that they all love me even if today is hard, and to send her an email about it we can discuss in session.
I'm bawling my eyes out and consider calling the suicide hotline instead but they suck so I just sit there and sob for a while.
When I've calmed back down I go back to the truck and just tell my brother I'll help him and we'll just do it his way.
He looks at me disgusted and asks me why it looks like I've been crying. I said because he was very mean and he says hes been nothing but pleasant and he didn't mean to make me cry. I said "well you did"
He says cool and starts to whistle and hum as we walk back to the apt, cheerily says "lady's first" at the stairs.
We get up there and I ask him what he needs help with. He says he plans on loading the washer and dryer last and he doesn't need my help until then. And that he's still in charge.
So I say "fine" and leave to go have some space for a while.
He texts me again. This is copied and pasted:
"I changed my mind come help me with these boxes so we can return the truck at 7 " (we don't need to return it at 7, just before tomorrow)
I told him no, I didn't feel like being treated like he was treating me, and he already said he didn't need help.
He proceeded to taunt me saying I was a whining little girl throwing a temper tantrum and I needed to grow up, not sic my husband on him (my husband asked to speak to him, I just wanted my husband to comfort me during my panick attack), and what the fuck was wrong with me? It must be that im on my period (I'm not for the record...)
He then texts me that he's ordered me a lyft to go home, that i'm useless, worthless, a waste of space, and HE'LL drive the truck to the new place (He just got his license a week ago and has never driven a truck like a uhaul before)
I of course don't get in the lyft and berate him for wasting our nanas money on getting one (I'm about to get a new card for her in the mail that I know for a fact only she will be able to use so this won't be a problem soon)
Now here's where things become a dumpster fire. My nana stops being able to move becauze her back pain is so bad and says she needs to go to the hospital. My brother informs me of this and then locks himself in his room.
I call 911 for my nana, tell her I'll take care of everything.
She goes to a hospital in an ambulance (fuck...... this is America btw) and I organize the back of the uhaul with what my brother has loaded (he has a glass lamp sitting up on a table in the back, standing stuff has not been laid flat, just.... so shitty, glassware sitting in high places) and ask my brother if he wants me to take the dog for the night. I get back to my complex, my husband helps me unload her stuff into her new apartment (some stuff broke anyways), we let the dog go to the bathroom, and I return the uhaul. She has until the 31st to leave the previous apartment. I don't know what to do but I've done all I can today.
I get home and start a bath and my husband sits in the bathroom with me explaining WHY he said what he said on the phone (calling me petulent)
I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to tell me and he said no.
So I said I wanted to be alone and he started crying and left.
I don't know what I need right now.
Maybe just to have said all of this to someone before I implode. I don't even expect anyone to read all this. I'm just not in a good state right now.
I haven't eaten all day so I'm probably just gonna leave this here and go eat something and go to bed before I hurt myself, so sorry if I don't respond.
submitted by Luvlymonster to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
TL;DR: I've had a dumpster fire of a day with my family and husband, and really don't know where to post this.
My grandmother (81) is blind.
I'm (24) trying to move her into a new apartment in my complex.
I transfer all her bills and internet. I arrange all her paperwork and payments.
The whole beurocratic process takes almost a month.
She wants lunch? I take her. She needs groceries? I get them. She needs anything at all? I'll take care of it nana.
I have been her eyes and her right hand ever since I became an adult.
Even though my brother (18) lives with her and my dad (50's) lived with her up until yesterday, I've always been the one taking care of her. However I live 30 minutes away by tollway and car, and only have a bike, so my physical visits are limited. Hence why I'm helping her move closer.
My brother and dad refuse to clean anything so there's stains and roaches everywhere when i visit She even does her own laundry.
Today should've been the last day for anything major and then it would've been smooth sailing. I just had to pick up a uhaul, and meet my little brother and his friend he said was helping him at the old apartment to pick up furniture, then we'd stop and get gas, get some lunch, unload at the new apartment, and everything would be happy ever after. My brother has had a month to pack after all.
I get upstairs and my brother has everything stuffed randomly into boxes. The bottoms look like they might fall out, the beds haven't been taken apart, not everything is packed yet, and I'm starting to feel a little stress.
Apparently my brother's friend didn't show up so I told nana it would be okay, my brother and I would load the uhaul. So I ask my brother to help me with the washer and dryer and he says "Ummm.... how about nah." I tell him we should load those first because the heavier stuff needs to be behind the cab. He says I have no idea what I'm talking about, that he worked for a moving company for four months (when??) and he's in charge here.
I feel a bit of a panick attack coming on so I grab some water and pain meds for my nana since she's been having back problems all day. The door is wide open and the dog runs out so I grab him and help him in the uhaul (he's suuuper old and has lots of leg and joint problems)
I get back in the uhaul and call my husband (24, married for 2 or 3 years, it's common law so idk) and he doesn't pick up so I call four more times and at this point the panick attack is in full gear so I admit I was impatient when I picked up the phone. My husband asks to speak to my family so I give my nana the phone and my brother sees and says that I'm just like our mother. (Our mom used to call her sisters when I was having a panick attack or any sort of breakdown and complain about how much of a burden I was and straight up lie to them for sympathy making up things I did that never happened. She also pitted my brother and I against each other a lot.)
My nana hands the phone to my brother who just hangs up on my husband.
I called my husband back, still needing help with my panick attack, and at this point I'm yelling at my brother because he won't leave me alone. My brother is sitting there cooing at our nana telling her not to worry about me as if she's a dog and he's trying to soothe her from my behavior. He smirks and twiddles his fingers at me.
I almost screamed.
He proceeds to tell my grandmother that I'm mad at him because I didn't get my way and that I'm refusing to help him and that I'm pretending to be a know it all.
I start shouting at him.
My husband tells me I'm being petulant and at that point I hang up on him myself, go for a walk somewhere in the complex and ask my therapist if she can do an emergency session.
I vaguely explain my feelings at the moment and she just tries to reassure me that they all love me even if today is hard, and to send her an email about it we can discuss in session.
I'm bawling my eyes out and consider calling the suicide hotline instead but they suck so I just sit there and sob for a while.
When I've calmed back down I go back to the truck and just tell my brother I'll help him and we'll just do it his way.
He looks at me disgusted and asks me why it looks like I've been crying. I said because he was very mean and he says hes been nothing but pleasant and he didn't mean to make me cry. I said "well you did"
He says cool and starts to whistle and hum as we walk back to the apt, cheerily says "lady's first" at the stairs.
We get up there and I ask him what he needs help with. He says he plans on loading the washer and dryer last and he doesn't need my help until then. And that he's still in charge.
So I say "fine" and leave to go have some space for a while.
He texts me again. This is copied and pasted:
"I changed my mind come help me with these boxes so we can return the truck at 7 " (we don't need to return it at 7, just before tomorrow)
I told him no, I didn't feel like being treated like he was treating me, and he already said he didn't need help.
He proceeded to taunt me saying I was a whining little girl throwing a temper tantrum and I needed to grow up, not sic my husband on him (my husband asked to speak to him, I just wanted my husband to comfort me during my panick attack), and what the fuck was wrong with me? It must be that im on my period (I'm not for the record...)
He then texts me that he's ordered me a lyft to go home, that i'm useless, worthless, a waste of space, and HE'LL drive the truck to the new place (He just got his license a week ago and has never driven a truck like a uhaul before)
I of course don't get in the lyft and berate him for wasting our nanas money on getting one (I'm about to get a new card for her in the mail that I know for a fact only she will be able to use so this won't be a problem soon)
Now here's where things become a dumpster fire. My nana stops being able to move becauze her back pain is so bad and says she needs to go to the hospital. My brother informs me of this and then locks himself in his room.
I call 911 for my nana, tell her I'll take care of everything.
She goes to a hospital in an ambulance (fuck...... this is America btw) and I organize the back of the uhaul with what my brother has loaded (he has a glass lamp sitting up on a table in the back, standing stuff has not been laid flat, just.... so shitty, glassware sitting in high places) and ask my brother if he wants me to take the dog for the night. I get back to my complex, my husband helps me unload her stuff into her new apartment (some stuff broke anyways), we let the dog go to the bathroom, and I return the uhaul. She has until the 31st to leave the previous apartment. I don't know what to do but I've done all I can today.
I get home and start a bath and my husband sits in the bathroom with me explaining WHY he said what he said on the phone (calling me petulent)
I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to tell me and he said no.
So I said I wanted to be alone and he started crying and left.
I don't know what I need right now.
Maybe just to have said all of this to someone before I implode. I don't even expect anyone to read all this. I'm just not in a good state right now.
I haven't eaten all day so I'm probably just gonna leave this here and go eat something and go to bed before I hurt myself, so sorry if I don't respond.
2023.05.28 04:27 Vaya419 Side hustles, anyone can suggest an easy way to get quick money, I need to leave.
So I’ve established I have a narcissist husband a very long time ago, however I was in a crappy situation. I moved to US from UK for him and only found out during them stages when I had no exit plan. The money I was relying on to get me out never materialized, and the only option I had was to marry him. I didn’t want a green card I didn’t want anything from him, I just had nothing to return to, I’d given everything. I’m not a failure, my main reasoning in this was thinking this was my fairytale ever after. But it’s far from it and there’s a disproportionate power imbalance considering he’s 53 and I am 27 and we met when I was only 19 and in another crappy relationship and at a very vulnerable stage of my life. I have made the mindset that I’m leaving. It’s been hell on earth this last few months, mainly a year but is getting worse by the days, as he seems to think I will be stuck here for the rest of my life, serving and catering to him otherwise, I would be homeless. I’ve had situations in my past, where I nearly have been, but have been self efficient and mentally sturdy to bypass those situations. However, as you can expect my brain is near or less fried and I’m running on a speck of the strength and confidence I formally had. I haven’t got a degree but I always made good. After events with his ex wife, which solidified my reasoning and suspicions he is a narcissist and she is one in the same and like attracts like and the emotional pressure they are laying on me. I have finally made a decision to leave, however I can’t leave soon enough. Would anyone be able to suggest any extra ways to make quick money to expedite my departure? I can’t drive, I’m stuck under the control of him. I’m working remotely at the moment but it’s not enough and solely based on the job I’m doing currently I’m looking at 6 months, however considering his ex wife knows all my personal details and is threatening to destroy me, and the arsehole decided to throw a baklava at my head today. I need out as soon as. Any help would be appreciated, no scams I can smell them from a mile away.
submitted by Vaya419 to NarcissisticSpouses [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 04:14 Thehtownacguy Any advice? HVAC Sales ig?
Employer asked me to train my coworkers I don’t know what I’m doing right.
I’m an HVAC technician and I recently moved to a new company about 3 months ago. 4 years experience prior to moving, all with one company. The last company was just me, an office lady and the owner and I ran majority of jobs and service. At this new company there’s 5 techs including me, a service manager, two office ladies and the owner.
After finishing up on a job I was on the phone with the owner and he was giving me praise about my performance saying I was crushing it with sales/service. Nice to hear. Then he mentions my upcoming sign on bonus, and raise opportunity we mentioned during the hiring process. All making me feel appreciated and I’m loving it.
Then the dynamic changed and he said he wants me to train the other techs, ride with them and basically also have a “sales training meeting” on where to improve and help close, with me running the meeting. Just for reference the owner is not a slimey owner. He’s honestly the least smiley owner I’ve ever met in this field and I’ve met a lot, from pricing all the way to fixing things for free at times. But as we all know he’s a business owner so sales are a desire.
The issue I have is I’m the youngest person at the company, with the least experience outside of one tech who just got out of school 6 months ago who’s still older than me. I’m 23. I never took sales training or anything like that. I just am a very personable person, know how to educate, inform and give options to the customer. I don’t know what training or advice to give. There’s a few things I’d recommend in total that would prob help with their sales like just being friendly and having conversations with customers. Not because you want a sale but because they’re human and you’re genuinely interested. I build relationships with my customers and I’ve noticed that’s not the mission for everyone.
Long story short I feel like Michael from the office when David asked him what he’s doing right. I feel like I’m going to ramble a ton of nonsense that doesn’t help.
This is a big opportunity for me in terms of pay increase, position, standings with the owner etc. I really love working here so any advice on where to look for the answers to give to the other techs would be helpful.
The other thing is I hate salesman. It’s a part of my job but I’m no where near the pushy or here’s what you don’t need buy it type. So I feel like anything I say may come off wrong and turn my coworkers into douchebag salesman mentality driven a-holes.
Help please
submitted by Thehtownacguy to HVAC [link] [comments]
I’m an HVAC technician and I recently moved to a new company about 3 months ago. 4 years experience prior to moving, all with one company. The last company was just me, an office lady and the owner and I ran majority of jobs and service. At this new company there’s 5 techs including me, a service manager, two office ladies and the owner.
After finishing up on a job I was on the phone with the owner and he was giving me praise about my performance saying I was crushing it with sales/service. Nice to hear. Then he mentions my upcoming sign on bonus, and raise opportunity we mentioned during the hiring process. All making me feel appreciated and I’m loving it.
Then the dynamic changed and he said he wants me to train the other techs, ride with them and basically also have a “sales training meeting” on where to improve and help close, with me running the meeting. Just for reference the owner is not a slimey owner. He’s honestly the least smiley owner I’ve ever met in this field and I’ve met a lot, from pricing all the way to fixing things for free at times. But as we all know he’s a business owner so sales are a desire.
The issue I have is I’m the youngest person at the company, with the least experience outside of one tech who just got out of school 6 months ago who’s still older than me. I’m 23. I never took sales training or anything like that. I just am a very personable person, know how to educate, inform and give options to the customer. I don’t know what training or advice to give. There’s a few things I’d recommend in total that would prob help with their sales like just being friendly and having conversations with customers. Not because you want a sale but because they’re human and you’re genuinely interested. I build relationships with my customers and I’ve noticed that’s not the mission for everyone.
Long story short I feel like Michael from the office when David asked him what he’s doing right. I feel like I’m going to ramble a ton of nonsense that doesn’t help.
This is a big opportunity for me in terms of pay increase, position, standings with the owner etc. I really love working here so any advice on where to look for the answers to give to the other techs would be helpful.
The other thing is I hate salesman. It’s a part of my job but I’m no where near the pushy or here’s what you don’t need buy it type. So I feel like anything I say may come off wrong and turn my coworkers into douchebag salesman mentality driven a-holes.
Help please
2023.05.28 04:14 SubstantialBite788 Am I A Worm?
Last weekend my daughter Kayla came over to stay for her court-appointed visit. Ever since the divorce, I’ve been a lot more lenient than when I was married. I let her do whatever she wants and give her anything she requests. ‘No’ is not an option and she knows that. Let mom be the bad guy. She’s the one that wanted all this, not me.
That Sunday, as I was shaving, my daughter commanded me to stop and hold still, as if posing for a portrait. She climbed up on the bathroom sink- with a little help from myself- and begun to draw a rudimentary third eye on my reflection in the middle of my forehead. I watched her clumsily lean against the mirror and trace out a large cartoonish eye. She leaned back to admire her work and kissed her little fingers. “A masterpiece,” she proclaimed. I’ve had a good chuckle everyday this week, brushing my teeth, getting ready for work, and having a little of Kayla’s art work staring at me, reminding me how lucky I am that she’s still in my life. Still, I worry. There’s a new man in my ex-wife’s life, a possible new daddy, maybe even a better daddy than me.
Next Friday, I had come home early from work. My head was pounding, one of the many migraines I get. I was just going to wet a rag with cool water, put it on my forehead, and lay in the dark. No partying this Friday, just a date with darkness and some strong medication. I was soaking a rag when I heard an explosion outside, a thunderous crack that shook the house.
I opened the front door, but I couldn’t see much past the wall of water that was falling from my gutter. It was a downpour, one that I hadn’t expected. I didn’t remember seeing anything on the weather report this morning about a storm. Go figure, the weatherman was wrong again. Suddenly, the hair on my arms stood straight up. I heard another explosion, but this one was much louder. Th screen door shook, and I felt a thump in my chest. There was an immediate flash of light and then the rain ceased. The clouds quickly dispersed, and the sun appeared, glaring light reflecting from the scattered pools all along the road.
Although the rain had stopped, I could still hear falling water, or at least what I thought was water. I looked all around to see if there was rain still falling somewhere in the vicinity. Maybe I had caught the tail end of the storm and it was still raining close by as the clouds methodically moved through the neighborhood, but that wasn’t the case. The clouds were moving quick and to the west, far from the neighborhood where I live. I could see a little rain in the distance, but the sound was coming from the east, at the top of the cul-de-sac.
I live in a modest neighborhood on a cul -de-sac. My house is near the end of the street, three houses down from the top of the street. There at the end of the cul-de-sac is an abandoned property, with no grass, and one large Magnolia tree. Nothing grows there but that massive tree. It’s as if it sucks the life out of everything else nearby. The property is a barren, rocky, Martian landscape.
The white flowers on the tree had increased and opened wide. The tree looked infested with a patchwork swarm of ravenous white aliens. Some flowers were depositing a heavy stream of objects to the ground, like a busted pinata. Others were moving side-to-side, attempting to begin their reproductive dance, and new ones were blooming in rapid succession. Soon every flower on the tree was depositing its contents to the ground, the sound of which reminded me of hail falling onto a tin roof, but with the volume magnified ten times than normal, causing curious neighbors to gather in the street.
I met one of the neighbors, Jared, in the street. He approached me and was talking but I couldn’t hear him over the falling tree debris.
“I can’t hear you,” I mouthed.
He walked up and spoke into my ear, “What in the world is happening?”
I shrugged my shoulders and was about to yell something in response when the noise suddenly stopped. The flowers on the tree had ended their little escapade and were folding back into themselves. Lying all around the tree was a hill of debris, but debris that looked to be squirming. Some of the hill collapsed and cascaded into the street.
“What came out of those flowers?” I heard another neighbor, Mrs. C ask. We called her Mrs. C because no matter how hard she tried, no one knew how to pronounce her name.
“I don’t know, but whatever it was, it seems to be alive.” I answered.
There was a buzz of conversation in the street as everyone had gathered around to see what was happening. No one was approaching though, so I took it upon myself to investigate. Seeing me approach the pile, motivated Charles to follow behind.
I approached the moving mound of living biomass. It was a slow creeping glacier of pinkish two-inch grub worms, with bulbous veins running throughout, and dark green heads. They were fighting and the victors were consuming the losers whole. As they consumed, the bigger they got.
“Holy Shit. I’ve never seen anything like this. I mean, Cicadas, yeah, but this is sick.”
“Maybe they’ll eat each other up, or at least until a few are left and then we can get rid of those,” I reasoned.
The rest of the neighborhood had found enough courage to approach. There was talk of calling the police, but what could they do. Randy, my neighbor, who was crazy anyway, wanted to pour gas on the pile and light it up. I admit, I kind of thought that would be fun myself, but Mrs. C stated that the smell would be awful, and the fire might get out of control.
“No,” I said, “It’ll work itself out. Just let it be. It’s confined to this yard and the top of the street. Let’s see what it looks like tomorrow.”
People mulled around for a while, taking photos with their phones and talking to one another about this being something that probably only happens once-in-a lifetime. Over the next few hours, people got bored and headed back inside their homes.
At around six in the morning there my doorbell rang. I picked up my phone. It was Randy, looking nervous and pounding his hand against his thigh.
“Man, come on out. I told you we should have lit them damn things on fire. Hey man, you awake.”
I got out of bed and put on some clothes. I went downstairs and opened the front door, but Randy didn’t need to say anything. I saw over his shoulders what was left of the massive pile of grub worms. It had been reduced to six, but they were as large as men, clumsily writhing in place, smashing their large heads against the road. They were trying, with little success to move back towards the grass. Most had utterly failed except for one. It had made its way into Mrs. C’s yard.
Their appearance had grown more grotesque. They had become segmented and the green in their head was now matched by green spots in various places on their pink bodies. With the larger size, some of their other features became more noticeable. The veins heaved up and down with laborious effort. They had numerous small jagged teeth with large flat black tongues that incessantly fell out their mouths. Strangest of all though, was the eyes. They weren’t monstruous, but human, perfectly human, and perfectly out of place.
“Get this thing out of my yard!” Mrs. C yelled out of her window.
“I’ve got an axe,” said Randy.
“Go get it. Jared has a chainsaw. I’ll get him up,”
Randy ran back home. I made my way to Jared’s house. His house was adjacent to the empty lot, so I was surprised he wasn’t already up cleaning up the leftovers. He was meticulous about his yard; he had one of those golf green yards. He would even sweep the driveway.
I rang his doorbell but there was no answer. I walked around back and saw that his garage door was open. I yelled for him but no answer. I did hear a moan. I immediately thought that Jared was hurt, but I didn’t anticipate the kind of hurt he was experiencing. Jared was lying on the floor, face down and not moving. Next to him was one the grub worms, but the upper part of its body looked just like Jared. The lower half of its body still looked like a worm. It was a fat, clumsy version of Medusa, a merman flopping its tail in exasperation. It was the worm moaning, not Jared. To see Jared’s face and his expression rudely attached to a body of a warm made me sick. There was an appendage from the worm’s body connected to Jared’s gut.
Although the worm’s Jared-like face manifested fear, apparently its hunger was not satiated. I hadn’t noticed before, but Jared’s arm was severed and lying next to the worm. The worm picked up the arm and started to eat it. I realized at that point that this I how they blend in. They clone their human hosts and then eat the body to get rid of any evidence.
“Holy horseshit. What the hell?” Randy said as he ran up beside me.
“I don’t know. Just be careful. They can attach to you.” I was going to mention something else but before I could Randy had walked over there and put his ax in the beast’s neck. There was a high pitch screech and thick green blood exuded from its wound. The tail start flapping in pain.
“Move!” I grabbed Jared’s chainsaw and finished the job, chopping off the cloned head, the torso falling back against the garage floor. The tail moved sporadically and finally stopped.
We were silent for a moment, standing in awe at the unbelievable once-in-a lifetime scene we were staring at.
We heard Mrs. C screaming frantically. We both ran to the front yard. Next door we could see that the worm in her yard had sprouted its lethal appendage and was trying to work it through her open window. Randy ran over and swung his axe down through the appendage, easily breaking it from the worm’s body. With the chainsaw still running, I ran and plunged it into the side. I pushed in deeper and I could hear Randy cussing and grunting as he worked vigilantly on the head. Soon, with green blood all over my face and shoulder, I shoved the chainsaw even further in the side of the creature. With that last effort, the creature stopped moving.
Mrs. C came out of her house and even though I was covered in blood, she gave me a hug.
“Oh, thank you. Thank you. I love you guys. What about all the rest?”
“We’ll take care of them. Just stay in your house.” Something felt odd about the hug. Mrs. C was a hugger. When I first met her, she hugged me. It was a little unusual at first but I got used to it. Whenever she hugged me, she always put her head over the top of my shoulder, since she was about the same height as me. This time she hugged me and rested her head on my chest. I watched her walk back inside her house. She seemed to be a little shorter.
Randy and I didn’t want to chance it, so we called the police and explained the story at the beginning of the cul-de-sac. They didn’t believe us at first, but when they saw the scene, they called the National Guard, then they called the FBI. The entire street was quarantined. We were asked to stay inside until we were instructed that we could leave.
After explaining everything to the authorities, I went home. I was beat and filthy. I took a shower and when I got out to brush my teeth, I noticed Kayla’s eye was no longer on my forehead, but moved over the center of my nose. I ran through the house looking for clues. Those things were too clumsy and with their burdensome bodies, how could they ever get up the stairs? There was nothing to suggest that one had gotten in the house, but when I looked out my bedroom window, I saw one of those appendages, lying loose and bloody in the backyard. I don’t feel different, but I can’t help to wonder, if Kayla will ever notice the difference.
submitted by SubstantialBite788 to nosleep [link] [comments]
That Sunday, as I was shaving, my daughter commanded me to stop and hold still, as if posing for a portrait. She climbed up on the bathroom sink- with a little help from myself- and begun to draw a rudimentary third eye on my reflection in the middle of my forehead. I watched her clumsily lean against the mirror and trace out a large cartoonish eye. She leaned back to admire her work and kissed her little fingers. “A masterpiece,” she proclaimed. I’ve had a good chuckle everyday this week, brushing my teeth, getting ready for work, and having a little of Kayla’s art work staring at me, reminding me how lucky I am that she’s still in my life. Still, I worry. There’s a new man in my ex-wife’s life, a possible new daddy, maybe even a better daddy than me.
Next Friday, I had come home early from work. My head was pounding, one of the many migraines I get. I was just going to wet a rag with cool water, put it on my forehead, and lay in the dark. No partying this Friday, just a date with darkness and some strong medication. I was soaking a rag when I heard an explosion outside, a thunderous crack that shook the house.
I opened the front door, but I couldn’t see much past the wall of water that was falling from my gutter. It was a downpour, one that I hadn’t expected. I didn’t remember seeing anything on the weather report this morning about a storm. Go figure, the weatherman was wrong again. Suddenly, the hair on my arms stood straight up. I heard another explosion, but this one was much louder. Th screen door shook, and I felt a thump in my chest. There was an immediate flash of light and then the rain ceased. The clouds quickly dispersed, and the sun appeared, glaring light reflecting from the scattered pools all along the road.
Although the rain had stopped, I could still hear falling water, or at least what I thought was water. I looked all around to see if there was rain still falling somewhere in the vicinity. Maybe I had caught the tail end of the storm and it was still raining close by as the clouds methodically moved through the neighborhood, but that wasn’t the case. The clouds were moving quick and to the west, far from the neighborhood where I live. I could see a little rain in the distance, but the sound was coming from the east, at the top of the cul-de-sac.
I live in a modest neighborhood on a cul -de-sac. My house is near the end of the street, three houses down from the top of the street. There at the end of the cul-de-sac is an abandoned property, with no grass, and one large Magnolia tree. Nothing grows there but that massive tree. It’s as if it sucks the life out of everything else nearby. The property is a barren, rocky, Martian landscape.
The white flowers on the tree had increased and opened wide. The tree looked infested with a patchwork swarm of ravenous white aliens. Some flowers were depositing a heavy stream of objects to the ground, like a busted pinata. Others were moving side-to-side, attempting to begin their reproductive dance, and new ones were blooming in rapid succession. Soon every flower on the tree was depositing its contents to the ground, the sound of which reminded me of hail falling onto a tin roof, but with the volume magnified ten times than normal, causing curious neighbors to gather in the street.
I met one of the neighbors, Jared, in the street. He approached me and was talking but I couldn’t hear him over the falling tree debris.
“I can’t hear you,” I mouthed.
He walked up and spoke into my ear, “What in the world is happening?”
I shrugged my shoulders and was about to yell something in response when the noise suddenly stopped. The flowers on the tree had ended their little escapade and were folding back into themselves. Lying all around the tree was a hill of debris, but debris that looked to be squirming. Some of the hill collapsed and cascaded into the street.
“What came out of those flowers?” I heard another neighbor, Mrs. C ask. We called her Mrs. C because no matter how hard she tried, no one knew how to pronounce her name.
“I don’t know, but whatever it was, it seems to be alive.” I answered.
There was a buzz of conversation in the street as everyone had gathered around to see what was happening. No one was approaching though, so I took it upon myself to investigate. Seeing me approach the pile, motivated Charles to follow behind.
I approached the moving mound of living biomass. It was a slow creeping glacier of pinkish two-inch grub worms, with bulbous veins running throughout, and dark green heads. They were fighting and the victors were consuming the losers whole. As they consumed, the bigger they got.
“Holy Shit. I’ve never seen anything like this. I mean, Cicadas, yeah, but this is sick.”
“Maybe they’ll eat each other up, or at least until a few are left and then we can get rid of those,” I reasoned.
The rest of the neighborhood had found enough courage to approach. There was talk of calling the police, but what could they do. Randy, my neighbor, who was crazy anyway, wanted to pour gas on the pile and light it up. I admit, I kind of thought that would be fun myself, but Mrs. C stated that the smell would be awful, and the fire might get out of control.
“No,” I said, “It’ll work itself out. Just let it be. It’s confined to this yard and the top of the street. Let’s see what it looks like tomorrow.”
People mulled around for a while, taking photos with their phones and talking to one another about this being something that probably only happens once-in-a lifetime. Over the next few hours, people got bored and headed back inside their homes.
At around six in the morning there my doorbell rang. I picked up my phone. It was Randy, looking nervous and pounding his hand against his thigh.
“Man, come on out. I told you we should have lit them damn things on fire. Hey man, you awake.”
I got out of bed and put on some clothes. I went downstairs and opened the front door, but Randy didn’t need to say anything. I saw over his shoulders what was left of the massive pile of grub worms. It had been reduced to six, but they were as large as men, clumsily writhing in place, smashing their large heads against the road. They were trying, with little success to move back towards the grass. Most had utterly failed except for one. It had made its way into Mrs. C’s yard.
Their appearance had grown more grotesque. They had become segmented and the green in their head was now matched by green spots in various places on their pink bodies. With the larger size, some of their other features became more noticeable. The veins heaved up and down with laborious effort. They had numerous small jagged teeth with large flat black tongues that incessantly fell out their mouths. Strangest of all though, was the eyes. They weren’t monstruous, but human, perfectly human, and perfectly out of place.
“Get this thing out of my yard!” Mrs. C yelled out of her window.
“I’ve got an axe,” said Randy.
“Go get it. Jared has a chainsaw. I’ll get him up,”
Randy ran back home. I made my way to Jared’s house. His house was adjacent to the empty lot, so I was surprised he wasn’t already up cleaning up the leftovers. He was meticulous about his yard; he had one of those golf green yards. He would even sweep the driveway.
I rang his doorbell but there was no answer. I walked around back and saw that his garage door was open. I yelled for him but no answer. I did hear a moan. I immediately thought that Jared was hurt, but I didn’t anticipate the kind of hurt he was experiencing. Jared was lying on the floor, face down and not moving. Next to him was one the grub worms, but the upper part of its body looked just like Jared. The lower half of its body still looked like a worm. It was a fat, clumsy version of Medusa, a merman flopping its tail in exasperation. It was the worm moaning, not Jared. To see Jared’s face and his expression rudely attached to a body of a warm made me sick. There was an appendage from the worm’s body connected to Jared’s gut.
Although the worm’s Jared-like face manifested fear, apparently its hunger was not satiated. I hadn’t noticed before, but Jared’s arm was severed and lying next to the worm. The worm picked up the arm and started to eat it. I realized at that point that this I how they blend in. They clone their human hosts and then eat the body to get rid of any evidence.
“Holy horseshit. What the hell?” Randy said as he ran up beside me.
“I don’t know. Just be careful. They can attach to you.” I was going to mention something else but before I could Randy had walked over there and put his ax in the beast’s neck. There was a high pitch screech and thick green blood exuded from its wound. The tail start flapping in pain.
“Move!” I grabbed Jared’s chainsaw and finished the job, chopping off the cloned head, the torso falling back against the garage floor. The tail moved sporadically and finally stopped.
We were silent for a moment, standing in awe at the unbelievable once-in-a lifetime scene we were staring at.
We heard Mrs. C screaming frantically. We both ran to the front yard. Next door we could see that the worm in her yard had sprouted its lethal appendage and was trying to work it through her open window. Randy ran over and swung his axe down through the appendage, easily breaking it from the worm’s body. With the chainsaw still running, I ran and plunged it into the side. I pushed in deeper and I could hear Randy cussing and grunting as he worked vigilantly on the head. Soon, with green blood all over my face and shoulder, I shoved the chainsaw even further in the side of the creature. With that last effort, the creature stopped moving.
Mrs. C came out of her house and even though I was covered in blood, she gave me a hug.
“Oh, thank you. Thank you. I love you guys. What about all the rest?”
“We’ll take care of them. Just stay in your house.” Something felt odd about the hug. Mrs. C was a hugger. When I first met her, she hugged me. It was a little unusual at first but I got used to it. Whenever she hugged me, she always put her head over the top of my shoulder, since she was about the same height as me. This time she hugged me and rested her head on my chest. I watched her walk back inside her house. She seemed to be a little shorter.
Randy and I didn’t want to chance it, so we called the police and explained the story at the beginning of the cul-de-sac. They didn’t believe us at first, but when they saw the scene, they called the National Guard, then they called the FBI. The entire street was quarantined. We were asked to stay inside until we were instructed that we could leave.
After explaining everything to the authorities, I went home. I was beat and filthy. I took a shower and when I got out to brush my teeth, I noticed Kayla’s eye was no longer on my forehead, but moved over the center of my nose. I ran through the house looking for clues. Those things were too clumsy and with their burdensome bodies, how could they ever get up the stairs? There was nothing to suggest that one had gotten in the house, but when I looked out my bedroom window, I saw one of those appendages, lying loose and bloody in the backyard. I don’t feel different, but I can’t help to wonder, if Kayla will ever notice the difference.
2023.05.28 04:07 SuspectNo7031 He pretended to forget my name?
I'm very confused and honestly pretty hurt. This is a very long vent post mostly because I don't have anyone to talk to about all this, advice is welcome though.
I've know this guy for a little over a year now, he's the drummer in my best friend's/coworkers band. The first night we met we hit it off really well smiling/joking the whole time and we even hugged which I never do when I first meet someone.
The next day my bestie talked a bunch of shit about him. That he said something like "she's going to ruin someone's life" about me and that he's actually a misogynist and a player and blah blah blah
A week after that my bestie confesses that she has feeling for me. I always knew we'd be better as friends plus I would never date someone I work with and told them that.
I would see my crush around town but wouldn't pay him any mind because of all the things my friend said plus I didn't want to hurt her by pursuing him.
6 months later we're all going to a party together with another guy in their band in two cars. Before we leave my friend makes a joke when they ask who wants to ride with me and I made a joke about how I've been told I'm pretty scary. My crush then said that he thinks I'm scary, I get a bit flustered and knowing my friend still had feeling for me at the time I just say "oh".
I rode with the other bandmate which was fine as he's very polite and happily married. It ended up being a weird night where I got hit on a lot by other people, got very anxious, and we didn't get to say much else to each other. On the way back we all stopped at a rest stop where he decided to practice his jujitsu moves conveniently right in front of me. I thought it was sweet watching him show of like that.
The week after that my friend was having a Halloween party with a costume contest and I was super excited and worked really hard on my costume. Two days before she tells me that I'm exempt from the costume contest because she already gave me a CD which was the prize.
I was sad but went anyways, never got the opportunity to talk to my crush but he spent the whole night glancing/staring at me. While I was walking home that night I saw him standing out of the window of his friends car as they drove right past me. He didn't like yell anything or even really look at me, it was more like he wanted ME to look at him?
A while after the party I confronted my friend about some things including the party. She said that I would've had an unfair advantage in the contest because my crush thinks I'm hot. I got mad and told her that's not fair to me, that if I wanted to ask him out that I had the right to do so as her and I are only friends/coworkers. She called my bluff and gave me his number but then proceeded to talk me out of it. Mentioning all the differences we have(making me feel like I'm not good enough for him) and saying that he just started seeing someone anyways(she's done that before).
Low and behold I chicken out and delete his number to avoid embarrassing myself incase I felt impulsive later. The next time she asked me about it I said it was stupid and she said something along the lines of "he wouldn't be interested in girls like US anyhow".
Since then my friend has gotten a really wonderful partner, they go perfect together and I am genuinely happy for her. Our previously rocky friendship has gotten really strong and she's even now my upstairs neighbor.
My crush lives across the street from the bakery my friend and I work at. I literally can't ignore him as I see him or his car everyday. There have been several times I've been walking and see him drive past checking me out which would be creepy except he pretty much can't leave his apartment without me checking him out either.
It's like we're constantly orbiting each other, but rarely do we ever get a chance to actually talk. The last time we "interacted" was a couple months ago my friend and him were standing on the porch of my apartment and he looked in my window at me and waved. I was so caught off guard I got flustered and looked away.
FINALLY THE MAIN POINT: Last week I went to a house show with my bestie's roommate to see their band. It was another costume party but I found out last minute and ended up wearing this stupid fucking pickle costume.
As we're checking out the place my crush comes through the back door of the steps we're on again catching me off guard. I go down to the basement to look at the set up while everyone follows behind. My crush asks the third bandmate if he wants to jam. I ask my friend if she wants to check out the balcony.
We go up to the balcony and start chatting and a couple minutes later the guys come into the balcony and my crush stops right infront of me and just stands there. After a minute I gather my courage and greet them.
This is word for fucking word: "Oh don't tell me, ugh I forgot your name, it was something really unique, like uh uhhh..."
His bandmate flatly said my name and mentioned that my bestie talks about me all the time. It was so obvious in his behavior that he was bullshiting but I still felt so small and stupid in that goddamn pickle suit.
I tried my best not to react and try to carry on a casual conversation with the group but it was probably pretty clear I was uncomfortable. He was nice again after that and then spent the rest of the night glancing and staring like usual. I left immediately after their set and now we're back to our usual orbit.
At first I was really pissed that he would act so childish towards me. Now I kinda feel like it was a reaction to me being so standoffish to him before and I feel bad that I hurt his feelings. From what I've heard and observed he's actually a very sweet guy who normally wouldn't act like that.
Thank you if anyone's actually read this far, feels good to finally get all this off my chest. I guess I'm just wondering if this is a hopeless situation? Would there be any way to detoxify things between us or am I truely delusional? Help.
submitted by SuspectNo7031 to Crushes [link] [comments]
I've know this guy for a little over a year now, he's the drummer in my best friend's/coworkers band. The first night we met we hit it off really well smiling/joking the whole time and we even hugged which I never do when I first meet someone.
The next day my bestie talked a bunch of shit about him. That he said something like "she's going to ruin someone's life" about me and that he's actually a misogynist and a player and blah blah blah
A week after that my bestie confesses that she has feeling for me. I always knew we'd be better as friends plus I would never date someone I work with and told them that.
I would see my crush around town but wouldn't pay him any mind because of all the things my friend said plus I didn't want to hurt her by pursuing him.
6 months later we're all going to a party together with another guy in their band in two cars. Before we leave my friend makes a joke when they ask who wants to ride with me and I made a joke about how I've been told I'm pretty scary. My crush then said that he thinks I'm scary, I get a bit flustered and knowing my friend still had feeling for me at the time I just say "oh".
I rode with the other bandmate which was fine as he's very polite and happily married. It ended up being a weird night where I got hit on a lot by other people, got very anxious, and we didn't get to say much else to each other. On the way back we all stopped at a rest stop where he decided to practice his jujitsu moves conveniently right in front of me. I thought it was sweet watching him show of like that.
The week after that my friend was having a Halloween party with a costume contest and I was super excited and worked really hard on my costume. Two days before she tells me that I'm exempt from the costume contest because she already gave me a CD which was the prize.
I was sad but went anyways, never got the opportunity to talk to my crush but he spent the whole night glancing/staring at me. While I was walking home that night I saw him standing out of the window of his friends car as they drove right past me. He didn't like yell anything or even really look at me, it was more like he wanted ME to look at him?
A while after the party I confronted my friend about some things including the party. She said that I would've had an unfair advantage in the contest because my crush thinks I'm hot. I got mad and told her that's not fair to me, that if I wanted to ask him out that I had the right to do so as her and I are only friends/coworkers. She called my bluff and gave me his number but then proceeded to talk me out of it. Mentioning all the differences we have(making me feel like I'm not good enough for him) and saying that he just started seeing someone anyways(she's done that before).
Low and behold I chicken out and delete his number to avoid embarrassing myself incase I felt impulsive later. The next time she asked me about it I said it was stupid and she said something along the lines of "he wouldn't be interested in girls like US anyhow".
Since then my friend has gotten a really wonderful partner, they go perfect together and I am genuinely happy for her. Our previously rocky friendship has gotten really strong and she's even now my upstairs neighbor.
My crush lives across the street from the bakery my friend and I work at. I literally can't ignore him as I see him or his car everyday. There have been several times I've been walking and see him drive past checking me out which would be creepy except he pretty much can't leave his apartment without me checking him out either.
It's like we're constantly orbiting each other, but rarely do we ever get a chance to actually talk. The last time we "interacted" was a couple months ago my friend and him were standing on the porch of my apartment and he looked in my window at me and waved. I was so caught off guard I got flustered and looked away.
FINALLY THE MAIN POINT: Last week I went to a house show with my bestie's roommate to see their band. It was another costume party but I found out last minute and ended up wearing this stupid fucking pickle costume.
As we're checking out the place my crush comes through the back door of the steps we're on again catching me off guard. I go down to the basement to look at the set up while everyone follows behind. My crush asks the third bandmate if he wants to jam. I ask my friend if she wants to check out the balcony.
We go up to the balcony and start chatting and a couple minutes later the guys come into the balcony and my crush stops right infront of me and just stands there. After a minute I gather my courage and greet them.
This is word for fucking word: "Oh don't tell me, ugh I forgot your name, it was something really unique, like uh uhhh..."
His bandmate flatly said my name and mentioned that my bestie talks about me all the time. It was so obvious in his behavior that he was bullshiting but I still felt so small and stupid in that goddamn pickle suit.
I tried my best not to react and try to carry on a casual conversation with the group but it was probably pretty clear I was uncomfortable. He was nice again after that and then spent the rest of the night glancing and staring like usual. I left immediately after their set and now we're back to our usual orbit.
At first I was really pissed that he would act so childish towards me. Now I kinda feel like it was a reaction to me being so standoffish to him before and I feel bad that I hurt his feelings. From what I've heard and observed he's actually a very sweet guy who normally wouldn't act like that.
Thank you if anyone's actually read this far, feels good to finally get all this off my chest. I guess I'm just wondering if this is a hopeless situation? Would there be any way to detoxify things between us or am I truely delusional? Help.