Intro
By the time of 990 atc the world was in the politest ways on the edge, technocratic and roundtable were staring each other down over lands rights while the pax democratic engaged in a spate of land wars.
Far over in nova brovoa war was the last thing on any one’s minds, Boaren a self-governing colony of the empire Meran was an arid place made for mostly long steppes, plains, and forest and hilled barren areas, with scrubs land in between.
The colony had long been Meran pantry’s and mine, with vast quantities of cattle and minerals extracted form the colony in return for protecting the mostly independent and religious inspired governments of Boaren who sought to escape Meran grasping religious conformity.
By the start of 990 things where reaching a crisis points, for a long time a mix of population pressure, riches and rather unclear borders drove settlement deep in to the heart of the continent, which bought them in to conflict with the local powers, for a and more importantly Olmar.
In the run up to 990atc a succession of governors had drawn up border agreements with tis larger landed eastern neighbour Olmar , theses held for a while as focuses was put in to setting the interiors, but as Boaren started to reach increasing poor grazing land that was often under siege from encroaching deserts. The idea for settle in to less populated border areas looked more and more attractive.
Olmar had been Boaren neighbour it long had small population with its northern eastern neighbours with its bordered defined by a series of slow running rivers, and white border posts than anything solids.
Under governor Orn the 3rd, in 950 atc a series of families where settled on the very border between the two nations, drawing no ire from the Olmar government after all they were only a few family little more, the few families where soon join by more , and more each group more armed than the next.
In 959atc when a series of Olmar tax collectors were driven off by an armed posse Olmar was naturally enraged, the tax collectors returned the next day this time with a squadron of cavalry.
Likewise, the armed Posse had returned this time with reinforcement and serval machines guns. The results whereas could be guessed and Olmar was after a series of just as fruitlessly border skirmish driven off.
Serval high level meeting between nations failed to deal with the issue with Boaren claiming that the line was in fact further west that it had agreed centuries ago, due to the changing of rivers, poor maps, cheating etc, the meeting ended up leaving with a bad taste in the mouths of everyone with a treaty signed between the two under the watchful eyes of empire of Meran who naturally sided with their colony though noted with very great reluctance as Meran saw there colony increasing coming loose from its lease.
While Olamr were able to stop further expansion in the treaty, Olmar ended up losing hundreds of miles of lands, and worse still the border was just as leaky as ever.
For the next 2 decades Boaren play book was the same, settlers would creep over the border and settled on Olmar lands, sometimes they would be driven off other times they would hold, the first settlers would soon give way to fortified farms and armed militia group, Olmar would get back ether driving off the group at which point the cycle would be started over again, or Olmar would lose, ground.
The simple vastness of the border an lands meant it was possible with North eastern border with Boaren had long been a vast line on the map with little in the way of lands marks or defensive terrain to halt this cycle of settlers and counter settling had some but little success.
At a 2nd conference to mediate the disputes between the two nations hosted by Hanu in 976 atc did some results come in slowing the Boaren settlers, along with cleaning up the dispute in favour of Olmar with the border moving to pre 1st treaty borders in favour of Olmar being pushed back but by then a great deal with Olmar North eastern marches had been settled by Boaren sponsored or backed settlers.
That said Boaren found itself hard pressed to do much to dispute this claim, Meran put it foot down and reigned in its colony, there where issues abroad with the anti Meran- Anti salve alliances and growing slave rebellions. Meran had no desire to get involved in what looked to be a growing crisis, promising it colony no support if a war came due to their colony actions.
Though Meran would find thing would soon spin out of it control, the election for governor Helmrn in 980 atc a fire breathing preacher was spanner in the works, representing a base of landless citizens made up of second, third etc sons that could not inherit their vast grazing field of their fathers, veterans of Boaren serval border wars, and families of settler that now lay ie with in Olmar newly secured [on paper at least] Border herlmn pushed hard to tear up the treaty and return what it viewed as ti rightful land which would deal with their population crisis.
He was unable to get what he wanted, international opinion was against Meran [ and it colonies ] more than ever, and a series of minor economic bumps set the price of grazing herds such as cattle , horses and drakes tumbling, meaning that more herds was no longer needed. But he would soon get his wish.
Woes
There was three thing that helped him, a war in pax democratic distracted world attention , the the second was aftermath the Meran civil war, the central government was becoming powerless as pro -slavery factions sought to try and unit its divided nation, while the 3rd was a economics distress, cause by rising [prices of grain set the world more or less on edge with government searching for a source for cheap grain.
Through out of power Helmrn was able to capitalise on his large support base now larger thanks to out of work farm and ranch hands, Helmrn was able win an emergency election by a landslide on the ideas of a expansions with the promise that with in the first 10 days of office, they would be grazing there cattle in olmer capital unfortinialy for his he would be provide wrong by a mix of olmar and hanu military
Order of battle
On the surface the Boaren military was powerful it boasted 120,000 full time member with graze guards [ paramilitary Gendarmerie] adding a futhger60,00 member it could also call up over 210,00 reservists along with a variety of militias members most of them trained to a high stranded it total , Boaren could boast an army of around 500,000 to a million give or take this is force with you adding the 4 brigades for regulars Meran troop stationed at the capital.
While there navels and air forces was lacking it was still large with the Boaren boast,ed 4 squadrons of light bombers , and recon planes with some biplanes m45s and more modern monoplane m67 fighters kept at the capital in a large squadron.
With the nation being home to Meran western fleet, seen as critical part of Meran defence against Orcsen naval incursion, Boaren boasted a numbers of frigate, destroyers, support craft, and the carriers Empress, Duke and Baron, with the old but serviceable battles ships “vertywn “, Fang” and “Nova bravieu “
The Olmar military was small by comparison with the navy equipped with some outdated cruisers modernish subs that had not been combat tested and mix for frigates and destroyers of varying age and use. The air force was better boasting a heavy mix of fighters, dive bombers Olmer with even a squadron of heavy bombers imported for the pax democratic.
The army was small drawing Olmar a smaller population Olmar could count on mere 60,000 men at arms with 90,000 reserve and they could call up on conscription, though the use of them was debatable with the length of service was only a year many would need to be placed though refresher training to places up to scratch. The final number could put them army at around 250,000 to 300,00 thousand give or take.
But number alone tell one story, as is well known amateurs talk tactics, professional talk logistics. Of course, neither nation could deploy their full might aignsit the other having and need to secure other borders etc.
While Boaren boasted a large force of all cavalries, its soldiers expert marksman who would be able to fight dismounted as crack dragoons this was outdated, left out of the loop in regards to modern warfare, the Boaren army’s lacked modern equipment.
Radio something that was platoon assets in Olmar armoured [ thanks to hanu help] was a battlion asset in Boaren , motorized was likewise limited though this could be forgiven had they forced elsewhere outside of Meran regularly formation, Boaren lacked any motorized vehicles, beyond some old armoured cars [useful for dealing with rebellion or riots] and artillery tractors, by comparison the Olmar was almost all motorized and mechanised with only some comparison formations lacking vehicles.
Coordination between combat arms was also poor not helped by lack of radios, Olmar having been Involved as Hanu rather young brother in the pax democrat small wars had a helpful learning experience for combined arms giving rise to modern officer training that emphasized, firepower, artillery and combined arms.
By comparison, Boaren forces placed almost extreme expertise of marksman and horsemanship training, with each formation and combat expected to behave almost independently stalking around here opponent.
Boaren had no history with aircraft in production design or usage, seeing them as useful for scouting roaming hordes of the undead, the aircraft pilots , training and plans where outdated with only modern planes being the monoplane interceptor at the capitals thought how much help they would be was doubtful as there was little effort to combined arms.
This was in stark contrast to Olmar air forces which was viewed by Olmar as a priority service given not only some of the lest design [in bomber, attack aircraft and fighters] the “falcon fighter” though lacking was homemade but also welled used with pilots having trained with pax democratic forces during its many small wars where they learned not only modern fighter skills but also combined arms.
The navy was in better shape but had been stuck in defence for so long they still emphasized the big gun battle theory where the battleship backed fleet would win, ignoring say submarines, aircraft carriers or raiders. The aircraft carrier through new and untested still sporting old steam catapults, seen more as recons or harassment weapons used to wear the enemy down, after aircraft had never sunk a battleship though serval ships.
Olmar navy might not have been the largest or most modern but most well led, having a more modern understanding of naval warfare, sporting a modern if fresh naval air wing made of sea planes and serval torpedo bombers some modern if untired and tested submarines and a 2 old heavy cruisers “light” and “shadow” along with some frigates and destroyers”.
To even things, Olmar had the almost unlimited backing of Hanu, backed in turn by the pax democrats Hanu was eager to return to its old role as the “tip of land” police and started at first to export weapons, then train, then full units of “volunteers” to Olmar to stop what it saw as the spread of Meran influence by proxy.
No friend of the slaving Meran, the Anti slave alliance saw a way of humiliating Meran and “gifted” serval planes and tanks to olmar.
By the 990 ATC what would be a simple border war would become mini proxy war one that promised to be eventful.
The fire
The first spark was not hard to find, within Olmar borders, plenty of Boaren settled sought to escape Olmar rule , Boaren settlers still under olmar defied the government sometimes this was as simple as driving the wrong see for the roads, other time by not paying tax.
By the start of February 990 atc a group of farmers [ the sons of grain] would launch a armed protest at what they saw as harsh Olamr laws, over farm regulations seized control of the critical border cross at White water, where they engaged in an armed standoff with Olmar border guards, and military personnel.
Supplied by Boaren and broadcast on radio, the sons of the grain could not be dislodged, after serval attempts to get them to stand down, the Olmar attacked, not notifying Boaren authorities Helmrn sized on this decrying it, stating that serval shells had caused property damages, and that citizens standing up for their right.
Helmrn demanded reparations along with serval rather humiliating demands such as the right of Boaren graze guard to be given not only extrajudicial rights with in Olmar border bur immunity form laws to police Boaren citizens, Olmar rejected them in anger at Helmrn plan.
Claiming shelf defence, Boaren declared war and the next day. The next day troops crossed Olmar boarder on 30 of February.
The start.
Boeran plan was fairly simple, without the support of Meran, Boaren could at least rely on Meran imperial troops to defend the home tuff, focusing on the attack, Boaren focused on two axis of advances on1 though the well travel southwest Plains in the north and the other following the main coastal roads in the south.
In made sense both of them followed a variety of trails along access to watefodder and ease of communication.
The armies were devoured in to two forces, one called costal, of roughly 173,000 men and the plain forces in 150,000 men, the Boaren army’s enjoying their minds serval advantages, they had better men and weapons, [least they believed] and they outnumbered them.
The Olmar army would have two choices either to concentrate on the plain forces and risk losing their most heavily populated and economic valuable areas, and maybe Boaren could advance right on to the Olamr coastal capital, or Olmar could concentrate on the coastal advance forces and risks being outflanked and or losing economics and grain lands to the plain advance.
The only issue was time, Boaren majority of the manpower came from a variety of grazing and farming industry and being summertime, the war would need to be over in a few months to bring in the harvest, though as long as Boaren forces had mounts they would succeed and be able to out move.
To make up for this Boaren high command divided the army in to 3 echelons, a first wave was made up of militia, volunteers and graze guard would advances deep in to enemy lines and recon and raid, the 2nd wave was mostly conscript and reservist s would follow and deal with main Olmar army, and the 3rd wave would be heavy and slow artillery with professionalas that would deal with any sieges or holdouts.
The aim was to be fast, secure any disputed territory and more for bargaining in future negotiations cities where to be bypassed by militas who would not last in a longslug out fight, before being sieged later by part of 2nd and 3rd waves and used as bargaining chips.
Though as was to be found out it was not without issues. The advance was fast, given the high levels of mounts the advances averaging 40-50km a day, better yet, of the two coastal cities that stood before the Olmar capital of tide city, the 1st city [ Pose ] fell quickly leaving only the 2nd city the port of Spilts end though even that was not expect to last long.
Olmar defence plan had call for disputed territory to be given up both to trade space for time and to guards there rear [ Olmar saw the disputed territories as unfriendly, give them up, to take back over later would easier]
The defences plan had called for the army to hold on to Pose of splits end and conduct a series of series of mobile staged withdrawals to the city till, Hanu forces relieved the countries, however as Hanu forces started to very slowly trickle in Olmar realised something.
The plains army and the Coastal armies both had only a thin line of militias between the two armies and with a variety of resistance by towns and villages the twos forces because more drawn out and more clumped together, with little effort or thought to guarding the flank as both armies operated independently of each other with scarce communications, merely sticking to their own orders, Olmar decide to gamble.
The plan was simple, they would use the advantage of mechanisation and equipment’s, such as airships and aircraft they would decide to spilt the army in the middle and entries and destroy each one in turn.
This was surprisingly easy there was little communication, little recon and little intelligences, little coordination little more than a rough outline of coordination.
It was decided to destory the coastal army first, begin it was larger, and could be more easily trapped against the coast.
After a great deal of effort and gathering a army of 80,000 men was created with the 1st 2nd armoured division and 3rd and 4th mechanised divisions, repeating considerable striking power backed up by serval squadron of fighter bombers and more importantly
Airships more specific supplies airships, thought much has been write about the it so to paraphrase, seeing how useful they where in combats and commerce now if they could be good for transporting cargos, why not military cargo using the air ships as mobile forward operating or supply bases.
Though not unheard of the idea of the airship operating so far forward was about to be put ot the test.
Starting in the early hours of Monday morning 15th of march, called the great spring awakening Omlar forces drove forward slicing though the thin line of forces that separated the two forces and over the courses of serval days encircled the coastal army.
While most history would include tales of large battles etc there is little the coastal army was encircled without clear communication the coastal army first heard reports of it being surrounded but dismissed them as rumour or perhaps skirmish units they had little idea of the full picture, commanding so many forces with so few radios it made sense to sense keep on the tasks at hand the siege then just wait for better reports.
The army headquarters often did reports by landline telephones [ often tapped by Olmar intelligences] they would have little idea of that they are being encircles Boaren was used to units not reporting so the idea for them missing units was dismissed, Occult communications was not a Boaren strong point, and was like wise when jammed nothing was amiss.
They realised was when the coastal army stopped receiving ammunition, and supplies. The commandeering officer lieutenant general Joon held firm at first, drawing the wagons so to speak and getting ready to endure a long hard siege to be relieved.
though one that would not be comes, hopes of navel support/breakout where dashed when the Meran navy first attempt was bombed in its home base and put off in serval submarines attacks, supplies started to run low worse with no airs support and few AA weapons, meant they were sitting duck to daily Olmar air raids it was a fortnight later before it was decided to break out while Coastal army had been able to keep in contact with high headquarters by carrier Pigeon, lack of organists, communications, supplies etc meant that the break out was the only option as the plains army attempted to break out.
The forces under the control of mostly militia had already started to frays, expecting a quick war of conquests they were starting to feel the expendables, worse supplies came from living off the land or from slow supplies trains.
The breakout was the most successful part the operations with the forces already starting to scatter, splitting in to small bands, destroying heavy equipment, it was partly success a full 50,000 managed to slip away and reform in Meran as the home army, with others deserting.
Merna had lost much irreplaceable equipment and prisoners and casualties where highs, and morals at an all-time low.
For the plain army’s things where now much mreo difficult though, they were in fact worse, word had only reached them of coastal armies destruction they had to turn around a larger more undisciplined army and face the enemy.
The results where not great, the plains armies relied more heavily on militia rather than reservists they had less equipment, and now that the coastal army had bene destroyed, they found themselves under the full attention of the full might of Olmar air forces, with little chance to strike back.
The army of plains marched onwards, the battle plan had changed to in what they hoped would be a large attack to the flanks for the Olmar army with lighting speed, back up by milita who would harass the army while it dealt a knockout blow forcing Olmar to surrender.
High command
By the 1st of April In Boaren high commands things were different the destruction of an entire army so fast, in such a short space of time had changed things, morale had slumped it was clear that to most Boaren of Olmar tanks often cut their way though under equipped forces while the losts of the coastal army had been a hit, Olmar was getting bolder and a week ago had bombed the capital with little danger.
Boaren was discovering it had badly underestimated their foe, while it had a large army much of it was a mix of militia and conscripts much of them where more used to light skirmish and raids,
There olamr opponents where well equipped and armed, Boaren had little answer to olmar army and aircrafts. There is navy superior to olmar had been reduced almost impoantace by a mix of mining and serval daring submarine and aircraft attacks forcing The navy to stay in the harbour.
Morlae had fleln what had been an advance now was a series defeats, command made the decision to try and tie down and over whelmed the Olmar main battle forece, and happily destroy the army’s, all the while navy would go to sea and conduct a series of amphibious landing on Olmar coast to distract them regardless of how much the navy protested.
naval war
This part was well somewhat easy to deal with and explain, have little experience in amphibious landing the idea was to take serval nationalised civilians ships and make a landing on one of the many suitable point along olmar coast it would be used to threaten olmar forces [ they did to have many Boaren hoped] then pricnering.
The Meran navy did as asked [ Meran now paying attention to the war hoped to keep it contained ] while they had little experience with amphibious landing in fact they had only a company of marines and no specialised landing ship, the idea being to slowly ferry troops to the shore in small rowing rowboats, was seen as acceptable the amphibious lands they hoped would bring the Olmar fleet to action where it could be engaged in decisive battles and destroyed allowing for Meran fleet free action along Olmar coast.
Meran was starting to pay attention to the war war and was feeling it was gettign out of hands the operation and idea was soon as quick fix with little attention focused.
Nothing went well the fleet was together in one long convoy centred the carriers empress, [ the other two carriers out of action due to Ariel attack even the empress was not operating at full strength, with the battleships “Vertywn “, Fang” and “nova bravieu” backed by over 12 destroyers and frigates 8 transports and 2 oils 1 ammunition vessels and 3 armed thugs.
Olmar looked to give battle the Omlar fleet of 8 frigates and the 2 heavy cruiser appeared not far on the horizon shadowing the convoy, before speeding off, seeing a opportunity to give battle and destroy their foe in a decisive battle [ after all submarines where mere harassing weapons] split the forces in to a battle wing of 10 destroyers and the carrier and battleships and gave chase.
It was ruse, the Omlar fleet led the Meran fleet on a wild chase, going far out to sea then returning in to Olmar water’s before docking in Hanus, friendly waters where Meran could not attack them [ Hanu was still “Neutral”].
The amphibious fleet was on the other hand left the tender mercies of Omar submarine and air fleet, from dusk to dawn, the convoy was attacked time and time again, though there was some hits Olmar had only minor training for the night operations, Meran was just as bad, with few AA guns and poor radio communication the fleet was sitting ducks till the empty handed Meran fleet returned having nothing to show for it having sunk 2 destroyers, the convoy lost nothing while all vessels where afloat, though all having taken damage [ though the oil and ammo tender where unharmed and with 4 transports where taken on water and listings.
In the end cress fallen all the vessel returned home, with 1 tug being lost on the way due to sea mines and the oil tanker 459 being lost due to fire caused by believe occult storm powers on April 4th. The Meran navy would spend the war in port enduring many air attacks.
The plains army
The plain army by the time it meet its foes on April 4th had not been told he amphibious assault had failed[ so as to keep morale high] and more importantly the army having correlated in to a large mass working their way forwards had no idea that they were to being surrounded by the Omlar army, whose use of electronic airborne and Hanu intelligence and supply allowed for 1st armour and 3rd mech division to form the left pincer and the 2nd armoured and 4th division to the right pincer, while the plain army had serval skirmish they were often wiped out with little way of stopping the armoured recon units.
The lack of anti-tank weapons, lack of recce and the bombardment from the air, was the death knell for the plains army’s, unlike the Coastal army with a clear battle then destruction, the plain army’s death was quick and like bread in water, with no communication between units and with few AT and AA weapons many units went to ground or deserted .
By the time many Olmar foot infantry had caught up with the mechanised units here was nothing to do but take prisoners and loot.
With both army’s defeated there was little to stop army marching on to Boaren which the government knew worrying about Olmar marching into its lands.
In the end
In the ned Peace was declared on the 11th of April 41 days after the war had begun Boaren and Olmar along with Hanu as natural “third party” signed a peace deal in the lore gardens in Hanu formatting the peace.
The peace was not the worst thing that Boaren could have got, the borders where unchanged, with Boaren agree to the old borders, a DMZ was placed that stretch 2 miles inland to Boaren boarders that forbid Boaren forces within though this did not include the graze guard, Boaren had to allow Hanu and Olamr military inspectors in to monitor Boaren military and war reparations.
For Meran It was oddly a good thing, sure it had lost some ships but that could be fixed the western fleet was in need of drastic reform anyway and the peace gave an excuse to exile or dismiss anyone too politically connected that stood in the way of reforms, Boaren long a wayward child had been humbled and came more firmly back in to Merans orbits, surrendering key political power in return for an increase in Meran military increase and equipment though this was not without some loss. Meran lost political standing and the idea of it being a failing power was confirmed by its inability to defeat a lesser rival though given the hatred between Meran and the rest of the world this did not trouble anyone.
For Hanu and Olmar it was a massive success, both powers gained political standings, both not only accomplishing their goals and were seen as reliability member for the pax democratic defence pacts.
For Hanu being seen as police man for the tip gave further rise to its standing as a growing power, being able to helps its ally go toe to toe with a world power even if a failing open would encourage Hanu to deepen its tie with surrounding allies Olmar being one of them.
Through Olmar would be busy too, the war convinced Olmar to carry out massive industrialising it had bene hold off along with greater mechanisation of its army, which would get a lot of uses as it would be used to police its newly secured borders, for much of the decade till the great industrial war, Olmar forces would be used in serval police actions gain some experiences that would be useful for it later occupation of Boaren.
Boaren for its moment doubled down, the sudden and viwed a weaker power was a surprise to alI, long independent, running home and humiliating itself at the base of the emperors feet in return for protection was viewed was near treason, the Boaren army was never reformed being view as too political damaged.
Instead the war was doubled down on ignored and scapegoated, while reformers tried to argue that Boaren loss was due to material not men , hard liners saw it differently and were silenced, rather than face the music they turns, training was increase along with the size of the army but modernizing reform was uneven and scattered, confined to few key items.
The war becomes something of taboo, unspoken about the war was dressed up as mix of traitors, weak men, and ungodliness, such was the unspeakableness of the war that war widows were denied pensions and the prisoners of war where not even allowed to return.
A feeling of dreads and despair griped he country, giving rise to the so called “grain “dictatorship as a mix of graze guards officers, business priests and politicians would create an emergency government that would last for over decades stifling dissents, and reform least till Boaren was “liberated” during the great industrial war by its old.
But that is a tale for another day.

First Previous
Recounting of First Contact with Species HS-01 - Humans, Sol System, Primary sentient Species in the Star system.
Recounting the events, Captain Invil Ta'Kotian, of the Serdes Hegemony, ally to the greater Federation that makes up much of the civilized galaxy. The nature of this interview is to best determine the future that species HS-01 may have in the greater Galactic Stage, and whether they are friend or foe.
This particular continuation begins after three members of Species HS-01, David, Sten, and Sasha, have been requested to remain in the brig to be brought elsewhere for further questioning.
​
"It raises questions." Teema stated as Captain Invil paced back and forth.
"Yeah it raises some questions! Like how in the depths did they even get here! A prisoner?!"
"I don't know, Invil, perhaps we should talk to them." Teema continued as she chased after Invil stomping through the corridors of the ship.
"We don't know anything about them, and now know that one of them is a convict, I've half a mind to space them!"
"That's far too extreme, they're living things."
"The Hvista are also living things and Federation policy is kill on sight." Invil swung around to stare daggers at Teema. "No, you can study a corpse if you want to, but we're dealing with this now." He barked before taking two armed crew members with him. Teema continued to protest, citing laws and regulations for first contact. Invil would hear none of it.
As they stomped to the Brig, the three humans were seen simply standing around. Invil readied his men and as soon as the doors opened he and three others marched in with weapons aimed at the humans.
David's hands were slowly brought up to his chest. "Whoa, whoa, Captain whats this about?"
"Explain the Markings." Invil stated as he felt his heart pounding looking up at these creatures.
"Pardon?" David responded calmly. One of the guards aimed his weapon at Sasha who had slowly been moving to stand up. She immediately froze, keeping a keen almost hateful look set on them.
"The markings, on the female's neck." Invil continued.
"I translated them," Teema butted in, very slowly walking in. "It says she's... a convict? Is that right?"
"I told you," Sten commented before raising his hands up as well in surrender, gazing at the guards.
"Easy Captain, we can explain." David practically whispered, keeping his voice gentle.
"I-I want you off my ship. G-Get back in yours and get out of here." Invil stuttered.
"I'm not getting back in that tomb." Sten growled.
"Sten," David said while keeping his eyes on the guards.
"They'll have to force me," Sten said as he took a step forward.
"No!" David shouted before the ringing of several shots rang off the walls. Sasha immediately dove down behind a table, David lowering himself and closing his eyes as he too was fired upon.
Sten was thrown back but managed to stay on his feet, taking several steps back as he stayed standing, coughing. There was silence, shock, and as the Aporyions slowly lowered their weapons, fear was written on their faces. "Ow," Sten growled. Not a single drop of blood fell, and Sten slowly looked up to the guards with wide eyes. A predatory grin took hold of his face, "Well well... That's unexpected." His eyes looked to David who, despite some bruising, was also ok.
"Goddess," Teema stated before rushing outside with the guards and Invil in tow. Sten immediately leapt forward, grabbing one of the guards by the scruff of his neck, yanking him back into the room before the door closed. The mewling creature kicked and screamed, but seemed virtually weightless to Sten.
"Sten! Let him go!" David shouted as Sten pulled the terrified Aporyion off the ground, placing a meaty hand along the alien's neck.
"Not a chance, they tried to kill us David. Not only that, but I feel like a fucking superhero, I'm bullet proof!" Sten growled with enthusiasm before moving towards the door. "Open up! Or I'll strangle it to death!"
"Sten!" David shouted.
"Shout my name all you want David, but they want to throw us out back into space. I'm not dying here for them, or for those assholes that threw me out here." Sten snarled back as he tightened his grip on the squirming guard. "And you, stop wriggling around or I'll tear your head off!" He shouted. But without a translator the guard couldn't understand the aggressive barking coming from such a terrifying creature.
David nearly rushed forward, but stopped as he felt someone grab his arm. Looking down to his side, Sasha stared at him quietly before slowly shaking her head. She began to sign again, causing David to look to Sten in distress. He turned back to Sasha after a few moments, "You think so?" He inquired as she continued to sign in response. "I know, I know... But this isn't how it should be." David sighed. "But you're right... Sten."
"What?" Sten grumbled while keeping an intense look set on the door.
"See if its got a key on it, if not then well... Maybe their glass is shit, break it." He relayed with a defeated tone.
"Now we're finally talking," Sten chuckled before throwing the creature to the ground. An audible thud and sickening crack could be heard, causing David and Sten both to twitch as they stared at the creature who didn't make a sound. Sasha slowly walked forward, crouching near it. She tilted her head as she gazed at the motionless entity before standing up and turning around. With a shrug from Sasha, Sten audibly laughed. "You've got to be fucking kidding me! I'm a goddamn machine!" He shouted.
Sten suddenly yelped as David struck him in the back, turning him around and forcing him against the wall with a forearm pressed against Sten's throat. "What the fuck, Sten?! I didn't say kill him!"
Sten coughed before grinning, "I tossed him you idiot... I didn't throw him. Seems these things are made of glass."
"You goddamn psychopath," David snarled before a whistle caught both of their attentions.
Sasha held up some sort of card, she waved it at them with an apathetic look to her face. She also held up the guards weapon and aimed it at the one way mirror. Her tired eyes rested on David for approval.
After a few tense breaths, David finally let go of Sten. "Just my luck we had to get one of you Death Row crazy bastards, you deserve to be sent to Helion 3, Sten." David spat before making his way to stand by Sasha. "But you're lucky you're useful," he added threateningly.
Sten rubbed his neck and chuckled. "As if you don't deserve the same, David."
"Ah ah, shove your crazy philosophy as far up your own ass as you can, Sten. Then, do me a favor and shove it a little deeper so you choke on it." Daivd pointed to him before slowly gesturing to himself, "Self-Defense," he slowly then gestured down towards Sasha, "Political Dissidence," he then gestured to Sten with a frown, "Murder, it ain't the same." David scoffed.
Sten shook his head, "Oh right right, yes and.... What happened during the Self-Defense? Hm? What happened during little red riding hood's political dissidence?" Sten sarcastically remarked as David angrily snarled. "There it is... Alright, alright, so I won't be inviting you to my third wedding, but lets save dealing with each other till after we're on a planet we can breath on."
"Agreed, Sasha can you-" David stopped as Sasha immediately shot the glass, causing it to shatter and fall apart. David covered his ears and stumbled back a step, "Goddamn it, Sasha, say a warning next time!"
Sasha looked up at him with a squint before raising a brow and pointing at her throat.
"Oh don't give me that horse piss, you know what I mean." David said as he took the gun she held up to him. "Come on let's... Let's just hope they don't ask about their buddy." David sighed as he began to lead the group.
As Sten casually strode behind them, admiring the halls and pipes of this alien ship, Sasha quietly kept pace behind David in the middle. Her eyes seemed hollow and lost as they traversed the area. David, however, kept low, his trigger discipline and movement show casing some sort of military background.
​
From the helm, Captain Invil nervously chewed at one of his claws. He, Teema, and much of the crew watched the security cameras of these largest creatures navigating their hallways. "W-What do we do?" Teema asked in a shakey voice. The camera to the brig showed the horrifying sight of a Aporyion guard laying limp in a corner.
"Pray to the goddess they enter the left wing... Then throw open the airlock and pray even harder." Captain Invil responded.
"There's... There's got to be a Federation outpost nearby that we can dock out, or at least a Hegemony patrol maybe we can contact?" Teema continued as she paced back and forth.
"The nearest outpost is two days travel... I don't think we'll make it... Send out a distress signal and make our way there, at the very least whoever finds us first will know about these... Humans," Invil relied to the communications team who followed his instructions immediately. Much of the crew and staff had made their way to the bridge, barricading the door out of fear. Some had taken to kneeling and mumbling, praying to some higher power as these monsters roamed their halls.
Invil felt a shiver up his spine as he once again stared at the camera facing the Brig. A single toss was all that was needed to shatter their bodies. Aporyions were by no means the weakest species in the galaxy. But the only other brute that had shown such strength were the Hvista, but not even they were immune to the weapons of the Federation nor the Hegemony. Now another nightmare began to stalk the great void of space, and seemed even worse that the Hvista.

One morning, about a week ago, I noticed a commotion outside. A group of my neighbors had gathered which. They were talking to one another and pointing at something down the road. I was more than surprised. Nothing ever happened in a small town like ours.
When I went outside to see what all the fuss was about, I saw a little boy. He was dragging himself forward on the street. The moment I saw his face, I gasped. He looked so incredibly tired. His eyes were bloodshot, his lips nothing but tiny parched lines. His clothes were dirty, used up, almost bleached, as if he’d been walking in the sun like this for years.
More than once, he stumbled and almost crashed to the ground.
Then, my next-door neighbor’s door burst open, and I watched as old Mrs. Stevenson rushed towards the boy.
“Dear lord, child, what happened to you?” I heard her half-scream in alarm.
The boy said nothing, didn’t react at all. For a second, she turned around and her eyes wandered over the group of onlookers who still hadn’t moved, and were still whispering to one another.
“Not doing a damned thing,” she called out to them. “Can’t you see the boy’s hurt!?”
Then she turned to the boy again, whispered something into his ear before she embraced him and led him to her home.
About half an hour later, my doorbell rang, and I was greeted by no other than Mrs. Stevenson, the boy in tow.
“Hello, Julia, do you mind taking is to Dr. Mansfield? You know, the boy, he’s...”
I opened my mouth to make up an excuse, but I saw Mrs. Stevenson’s pleading expression, found her eyes almost digging into me. Eventually, I sighed and nodded.
“Sure, let me get my keys.”
During our drive to Dr. Mansfield’s clinic, I couldn’t help but stare at the boy in the rearview mirror. He just sat there, quietly, not looking at anything. His face was entirely devoid of emotions. It gave me the creeps, and I had to force myself not to shudder. Something was wrong with him and, for a moment, it felt almost as if something dark was lingering around him.
When we arrived, Dr. Mansfield was more than surprised to see us, but got serious the moment he saw the boy.
Yet there wasn’t much he could learn about him. The boy was in terrible shape, but it was attributed to exhaustion and dehydration. Otherwise, he seemed to be fine; no bruises, no wounds, no signs of physical harm at all. What he was worried about, however, was his mental state. The boy seemed almost catatonic. It didn’t matter how much the doctor tried talking to him, he got no reaction.
In the end, he said what the boy need the most, was to rest. Maybe in time, he’d open up and talk.
For now, he took a picture of the boy and said he’d hit up Sheriff Foster to find out if there was any news of missing boys in the local area. A boy just walking into town all by himself. That’s not normal.
Then he suggested he’d take the boy to a hospital or children’s home in a nearby city. Mrs. Stevenson was quick to cut him off.
“Nonsense, Douglas, that boy’s been up for God knows how long! Do you really want to take him all the way to the hospital, or god forbid that ghastly home in Williamsburg?”
“Well, I can’t think of any other-“
“Oh, for Chris’s sake, let me take the boy! I’ve raised four children all by myself and I can handle another for a day or two!”
I couldn’t help but smile a little. Say what you want about old Mrs. Stevenson, but the woman had a heart of gold. Eventually, the doctor yielded and so the three of us went back to my car.
On the way back, Mrs. Stevenson talked on end about what might have happened to the boy. She, too, suggested a kidnapping, or an accident, or he might have been abandoned out in the woods. God knows, she said, there are so many people out there, people who had no qualms about hurting a child.
At first I listened, and even joined in, but after a while I just zoned out. I liked the old lady, I really did, but I could tell she was terribly lonely. She babbled on an and, soon transitioned into what the boy’s name might be, even spoke to him, trying to see if he’d react to one of them.
I was quite happy when she and the boy left my car and made their way back to her home. As they did, Mrs. Stevenson took the boy’s hand and slowly led him on. I couldn’t help but stare after them, and for a second, I thought I saw something dark lingering around him, something that now reached out for the old lady. Then I shook my head. I was being silly.
Once I was back inside, I saw my now cold half-full cup of coffee. I sighed and promptly poured it down the drain and prepared myself a new one.
After that, I settled down for another long day of work. I’m a freelancer and work for an assortment of online magazines, and am always strapped for cash.
Almost without me noticing, the day ticked by. Soon enough, the sun set, but I knew I had another graveyard shift ahead of me.
During a brief break, I noticed something. I’d gotten up to stretch my legs and stopped in front of the window when I noticed a figure in front of Mrs. Stevenson’s home.
At first, the idea of a home invader snaked itself into my brain. I already had my phone in hand to call the cops, when I noticed how small the figure was. For a moment, I leaned forward, straining my eyes. There was no doubt it was the boy.
What the hell was he doing outside this late? I watched and waited for him to go back inside, but he just... stood there.
A moment later, with a strange gut feeling, I made my way outside.
“Hey, what are you doing here? What’s going on?” I called out to him.
No reaction, as I’d expected. Then I saw that the front door was wide open. Once more, a strange feeling washed over me.
“Mrs. Stevenson?” I called out into the open house.
No answer.
I stepped inside, but for a moment, I cringed back when I saw something dark in front of me. I stumbled back, my arms raised in front of me, before I hit the light switch. That’s when I saw her. Mrs. Stevenson was laying at the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh my god, what happened?” I called out.
I took the first few steps to rush to her side, but then I noticed her empty eyes and her half-open mouth.
Half an hour later, Dr. Mansfield confirmed what I’d known all along. The old woman was dead.
“A heart attack,” he said with a sad look on his face. “She must’ve collapsed on her way down the stairs before she...”
“Been telling her to take that damned heart medication for years, but she always said she’d be fine,” he added after a while, shaking his head.
As I gave my statement to the police, I couldn’t help but watch the boy, who still stood nearby.
Eventually, the question came up: what would happen to him? Even the police weren’t sure what to do with him. They couldn’t just keep a kid at the station until they’d figured out his identity. I could already feel one of them looking at me when Dr. Mansfield spoke up.
“Guess there’s no helping it. Until there’s some information about his identity, I can keep him with me. I’m sure Clara won’t mind.”
And so it was Dr. Mansfield who now took the boy in. I’d thought that was the end of this entire story. Hell, I thought they’d figure out the boy’s identity in a day or two. Oh, how naïve I was.
Only two days later, I noticed a well-known figure outside my home in the middle of the night. A cold shiver went down my spine. Don’t tell me...
I went outside instantly, and there he was. The same little boy, wearing the same quiet, emotionless expression on his face.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with Dr. Mansfield?”
Of course, I got no answer to my questions.
I looked around the neighborhood, searched for a house that still had lights on, but it seemed no one was awake anymore. Freaking hell, I cursed to myself.
My eyes wandered back to the boy. In the night's dark, he crept me out even more, especially his face. That expression, it was so wrong.
For a second, I told myself to just turn around, and go back inside, to ignore him.
I took one step, then another, before a gust of chilly wind hit me and I shivered. I cursed once more and turned around. He was still there, still hadn’t moved. He looked as tired as always. I could see his legs slightly shaking, as if he was about to collapse any second now.
“All right, fine, but I’m calling Dr. Mansfield first thing in the morning.”
No reaction. I sighed, and with quick steps, I made my way towards him. I reached out for him, but then stopped for a moment. There it was again, this strange feeling of lingering darkness. Then, I told myself once more that he was nothing but a boy, took his hand and led him back after me to the house. As his hand rested in mine, it felt so tiny, and for the first time, I wondered how old he actually was.
I plopped him down on the living room couch before I went to the kitchen in search of something to drink.
Eventually, I settled on a glass of orange juice, which I placed on the couch table in front of him.
“There you go. I bet you’re thirsty after coming all the way here, right?”
Without saying a word, he reached for the glass and brought it to his lips. He finished it in two big gulps, but not without spilling a good part of the juice over his shirt.
He really was exhausted, I thought.
Then, I went and got my laptop and decided to continue my work down here. That way, I could at least have an eye on the boy, even though I doubted he’d do anything in the state he was in.
For a few more minutes, I did my best to continue working on another article, but I couldn’t seem to concentrate. The boy’s empty face was eerie, unsettling. I couldn’t help but shiver whenever I looked over at him as he sat on the couch. It almost felt as if, because of his presence, the entire house had grown darker, quieter.
Nonsense, I told myself, shaking my head.
Then, trying to distract myself, I checked out the local news. It was a sort of ritual, something that helped me with both, to stay informed and grounded.
At first, I read about local politics, and about some sort of scandal when I saw a headline that made me look up.
“Tragedy Strikes - Local Doctor and Wife Die Because of Gas Leak”
I stared at it for a second before I opened the article. I read there’d been a gas leak, and a house went up in flames earlier that day. Terrible, I thought, and for a moment, I unconsciously smelled the air inside my home.
When I read on, however, I froze. I read that the remains of Douglas Mansfield and his wife Clara had been found in the kitchen. So far, investigations on what caused the gas leak and the subsequent explosion are still ongoing.
I could only stare at the screen. Was that why he was here? Because the Dr. and his wife were dead? But how’d he get away? Shouldn’t he have been in the house with them? Don’t tell me...
I thought back to poor old Mrs. Stevenson. Dr. Mansfield had said she’d suffered from a heart attack, but hadn’t I found her at the bottom of the stairs? What if she hadn’t collapsed, but someone had pushed her?
My eyes wandered to the little boy once more. I scanned his empty face, and once more I could almost see the darkness that lingered around him.
“Was it you?” I brought out in a quiet voice.
The boy said nothing.
“Was it you?” I repeated, this time louder, almost yelling the question at him.
For the first time, the boy’s head moved and for the first time, I saw something on his face. It was recognition, understanding, and then... fear.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” I accused him, feeling myself grow angrier by the second. “You pushed old Mrs. Stevenson down the stairs and you’re the one responsible for that gas leak, right?”
He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but no words came from it.
“Why’d you come here?” I yelled at him.
In that moment, I felt the house growing even darker, almost felt as if some sort of presence had come over it, over me.
I jerked around, my eyes scanning the living room, the hallway, the stairs that led up to the second floor, but there was no one else.
In that instant, I heard something. The boy, he’d moved, gotten closer to me, and for a second, I thought I saw him smirk, saw a ghastly smile on his face. Almost as if he was... planning something.
“You! What are you trying to do?” I screamed at him.
In a few swift steps, I’d reached him and gotten a hold of him.
“Is that why you came here?” I shook him.
As I did, the surrounding darkness grew thicker, heavier, became almost a physical thing. I screamed at him again and again, but got no answer. Not even a sound.
And then it was back, the same ghastly, knowing smirk.
A voice spoke up inside my head, my voice telling me it was him. He killed them. He did it, and soon he’s going to kill you, too.
As I heard this, as these thoughts came to my mind, I lost it. Rage unlike anything I’d ever felt before came over me. I thought again of poor old Mrs. Stevenson, of Dr. Mansfield and his wife. Almost unconsciously, my hands went forward, found his throat, closed around it and squeezed.
For the first time, the boy showed actual, genuine emotions, and I felt my mouth turn into a smile. Tears streamed from his eyes, and he tried desperately to get free. He was trashing around below me, his arms and legs flailing uselessly, but as an answer, I only squeezed harder.
And then, I realized what I was doing. Instantly, I let go of him, cringed back, and fell to the floor.
What the hell was I doing?
I stared down at the little boy, this tiny boy who was only barely moving.
Oh dear god, what had I just done?
Then he regained consciousness, pushed himself up, and I found him staring at me.
The same voice spoke up in my mind. Do it now before it’s too late! You know you have to!
Once more, the same smirk came over his face, and once more, the voice inside my head urged me on, trying to convince me, trying to justify what I’d almost done.
“No, I... I can’t. He’s just a child!”
As the words left my mouth, the ghastly smirk vanished, evaporated, an illusion that had never really been there. All that was there now, had always been, was an apathetic little boy.
Yet as I stared at him, that little voice in my head spoke up again, teasing me, taunting me, telling me just how easy it would be. It tried to convince me how good it would feel to do it, to get revenge for them, for those he’d driven to their deaths.
“No! Shut up! Be quiet goddammit!” I screamed at myself.
At that moment, I could feel the darkness that had fallen over the room surround me, intruding on me, and for the first time, I felt a presence lingering inside of it.
The voice was now back, echoing through my head, my voice, but... it wasn’t. It was something else... something coming from this... this darkness, speaking to me in my voice!
This time, however, it was different. It talked to me about myself, about how useless I was, how I was nothing, how I couldn’t even do the simplest thing. And then I felt it tear my consciousness, my mind, open. All my past regrets and all the guilt I’d accumulated over the years and hidden away in the deepest crevices of my mind came flooding back.
I felt tears coming to my eyes, felt myself shaking. Yet the voice told me there was an easy way, an easy way to make it all stop, all of this. Or, it said, there was also the boy.
For a moment, I stared at the child again. I felt my hands reaching out once more, felt them open up as images of tearing his small body apart came to my mind.
Then, I screamed once more, and fought against whatever this darkness, this presence, was.
For the past thirty minutes, I’ve been typing this out, concentrating on nothing but the words on my screen to quiet the voice inside my head and to push away the images that are coming to my mind.
There’s no way. I can’t do it. You can’t murder a little child, you just can’t.
I don’t know what this presence, this thing is, if it even is a thing. Maybe it’s nothing but the deepest, darkest part of me. But I know I won’t do what it wants me to.
And I know that because of this I’ll most likely end up like old Mrs. Stevenson and Dr. Mansfield and his wife.
I’m going to be the fourth person who dies because of this little boy, because of this harbinger of death that showed up in our town. And I know I won’t be the last.
YT
WS
Sub

I like Taiyang, but won't lie often it's a struggle to call him their dad. Mostly because he has no real screentime or character. But also I mean... Yang has his blonde hair sure but...
But then Ruby looks pretty much the exact same like her mom, and Yang for some reason... has Violet Eyes... while her dad has blue eyes and her mom just has eyes that are red, but when Yang gets angry, her eyes turn Red. So where did the violet come from?
Either way time for some fun. Admittedly I didn't like how the Blake version went, but well it's Blake.

Taiyang

Blake: So... I am guessing you are both siblings?
The Buff Ruby and Yang stare at Blake with a raised eyebrow.
Weiss: I mean they might be swole but that doesn't automatically mean...
Taiyang: HEY SWEETIES!
Picks up both his girls in a massive bearhug, and Weiss finally sees the family resemblance, though not clones, it's not hard to see how Taiyang is their dad.
Blake: Their dad is one of our professors?!
Taiyang: Well yeah that a problem?
Weiss: Blushing N-N-no...
---
Cinder: Fuck... I might have the hots for teacher...
Emerald: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Mercury: Shakes his head in annoyance. Well Cinder Puppet looks like it's up to you and me.
---
Taiyang: Okay family, let's go to Atlas!
Qrow: But...
Taiyang: Look don't get me wrong, I wanna chase down Cinder too. But!
Ruby: Atlas has the best chance of getting things back in order first, it's a legit priority.
Taiyang: That's my girl! Also your boyfriend really needs you man.
Qrow: I! YOU! How did you know?!
Taiyang: Honey please you're not fooling anyone, besides you two are cute together. In the odd couple way.
Qrow: But what if I make it worse?
Yang hugs her uncle with her single arm.
Yang: Hey you still got us.
Ruby: And we're not going anywhere!
Taiyang: So c'mon bro, let's go to Atlas, get some beefy upgrades maybe, and then knock some sense into that Cinder chick.
Qrow: Phew at least he's not trying to bang her... Wait why would he? Damn it brain how dare you betray me! Stop imagining Taiyang naked again!

Ozpin

Ruby:....I have so many questions....
Yang: You banged both our moms... and also lowkey manipulated them?!
Ozpin: Okay... yeah I might deserve that punch... but...
Ruby: Okay... uh wow... that's a lot to take in... but yeah no. I know who my daddy really is, and it ain't you.
Qrow:.... Sniffles a manly tear and looks away.
Yang: Yeah. Plus... Looks at Taiyang who followed them, giving a thumbsup.

Adam Taurus

Adam: So... she's on the same team as my kids?
WFG: Holy shit...
Adam: Okay time to parent.
---
Yang: YOU TOOK MY ARM!
Adam: Yes. But for a good reason.
Yang: WHAT GOOD REASON?!
Adam: Your so-called GF abandoned you, not even to go get help or anything. But to go crying home to her mommy and daddy.
Blake: HEY!
Yang: I... Is that true Blake?
Blake has a supreme look of guilt and lets go of Yang's hand in shame.
Adam: I've never been here for Blake, but to check on my kids.
Yang: Why now?!
Adam: Yang, much like your mother there are many people who want me dead. And by extension anyone related to me, I did it to keep you safe.
Chuckles
Yet you and your sister still got into trouble. But even if it means nothing, I am still proud you both.
Yang: BASTARD!!!!
She just wails on him, one punch after another, and Adam lets her get it all out, letting her beat him down.
---
Ruby: Soooo who's this guy?
Yang with bloodied fists and Adam with a massively bruised face shrug, deciding they will tell Ruby the truth eventually.

Arthur Watts

Watts: Aww Ruby look at you... so impressive.... and then.... Yang...
Yang: Hey!
Watts: Your sister made a super complex weapon, and all you can do is punch?
Yang: I AM TRYING!
Watts: I was really hoping you would inherit some brains.
---But Seriously---
Cinder blinks as she is trapped in an airlock style room, and Watts straightens out his tie. His back to her as she screams, pounding her fist against the door, as Amity Arena, approaches the upper limtis of space. The dust barely holding.
Cinder: WATTS YOU DAMN TRAITOR, WHEN I GET OUT!!!
Watts: You will suffocate in the vacuum of space, this airlock device is also an escape cannon, a little redirection and you will leave earth's atmosphere and not even you will be able to survive rentry, even if if magic works out in space.
Cinder: YOU!!!!
Watts: You were incompetent. Arrogant, but above all. You never should've messed with my daughters.
Presses the button and Cinder's scream is sucked out into the void of space, as she is launched and she quickly succumbs to Space.
Arthur Watts: Well. At leaast she's finally above everyone else, just as she always wanted.
And thus he walks away.

Winchester Bloodline

Jaune: Aw what other cute redhead am I going to find to tal-
He feels a massive hand on his shoulder.
Cardin: So you're thinking about going after my little sister huh?
Jaune: Oh no...
---
Oscar: Blushes at Ruby.
Gets Cardin's hand on his shoulder, and the big guy drags him away.
---
Jaune and Oscar: Okay we don't have to like each other. But let's take down Cardin together. Charggeeee!
Cardin smacks them both with his mace.
Jaune: Why can't we date Ruby?
Oscar: I mean... we're not perverts.
Cardin: Because you weak. You're not stronk like Penny.
---
Ruby: Oh lovely more jerk Faunus.
Blake: Stop being racist.
Ruby: Then maybe the Faunus should stop being assholes.
Fiona: I am right here you know.
Yang: That's the problem.
Weiss: Winces but also can't help but agree with Ruby and Yang.
Blake: UGH! GUYS I AM HERE TOO, AND ALSO A FAUNUS. LOOK ROBYN IS THE REAL ASSHOLE YEAH?! SO COULD WE FOCUS ON THAT?!
Ruby: Well you do have a poi-
See's Tyrian's tail.
Ruby: DEUS VULT!!!!
Yang and Weiss go on the offensive, as Blake is screaming at them to cool down as they go around beating the shit out of Tyrian.

Arc Bloodline

Ruby: Cool.
Jaune: BUT I'M NO LONGER THE MOST SPECIAL ARC.
Yang: Deal with it.

Jacques Schnee

Weiss: No..... No no no no no no no no no no nono no.
Ruby: What?
Weiss: I CAN'T BE RELATED TO YOU TWO?! HOW?! WHY?! THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY A DOUCHE LIKE JACQUES WOULD GET THAT LUCKY!
Jacques: I will have you know... before I took over the company. I was a massive playboy back in the day...
Ruby: So yeah...
Weiss: But but...
Ruby: I mean why are you worried? If we shared the same mom, then we would have the same semblance. Winks and nudges the camera But really what's the most that could happen?
Yang: I dunno.
Weiss: Grr.
Whitley: So you're my sister?
Ruby: Yep.
Whitley: Wow.... you're so much cooler than Weiss...
Ruby: Noice! Let's go hang out bro!
LIfts Whitley over her shoulders, and zooms away, much to everyone's shock except Jacques, who gets reminded of Summer.
Yang: Huh cool.
Jacques: Yang is now the Heiress.
Weiss: WHAT?!!!!!
Jacques: She has natural charisma, the board of directors will follow her without question, a few basic lessons on running a business and her charm will do the rest... you're...
Weiss: WHAT?!
Yang: Yeah sis.... you're kind of a jerk... not the fun to hate kind either.
Weiss: MOTHER FUCK-
In under a year, as the new heiress of the SDC, when people weren't staring at Yang's cleavage, her natural charisma bolstered the company ten shousand fold, and ushered in a new golden age of prosperity and innovation for the SDC, leading advancments in civilization all across remnant leading to super advanced militairies that permantely curbstomped Salem.

Ghira Belladonna

Ghira: It was a wild night, and I had to take responsibility.
Kali: I know, and I still love you sweetie.
Looks down at the triplets, one being Blake, the other Yang, and the final one being Ruby. Yang being a bear faunus and Ruby being a wolf faunus.

---

Ruby: Sis?
Blake: Oh shit...
Ruby: SIS!!!!
Tackle Hugs Blake. Wolf Tail wagging.
Yang: You're back.... She says softly.
Blake: I... I...
Yang joins in on the hug.

James Ironwood

"IN ONE CORNER WE HAVE TEAM JNPR, AND IN THE OTHER THE ELITE TEAM OF ATLAS!"
The crowd from Atlas goes wild, as Ruby, Penny, Yang and Weiss step into the arena. Their boss music playing, as Jaune just knows he and his team are fucked.
----
Yang: Sup.
Emerald: Fuc-
Uses her weapon to try and slice Yang, trying to get away since Penny didn't get eviscerated as planned. But Yang's black hair turns golden, as she catches the weapon with ease.
Yang: Going somewhere?
Emerald: !
Is cut off by a gut punch, making her wheeze as her aura ruptures.
Yang: I'm going to break you.
Emerald: Wha?-
Yang: Like a KitKat Bar.
---
Weiss: What's the matter? Can't get up?
Kicks Mercury in the dick again.
Weiss: Seriously you try and kill Penny: You don't get to walk anymore after that.
Mercury: Screw you!
She dances out of the way of his feeble punch, and kicks him in the eye with her heel, making him scream.
Weiss: Looks like you couldn't walk the talk.
---
Penny: Farewell~
Cinder: But you just got her-AHHHHHHHH!!!!
Is incinerated thanks to Penny's giant fuck off laser, while Ruby expertly moves Pyrrha out of the way in less than a nanosecond.
Cinder: I was suppposed to.... Blegh.
Cinder le dies. And the Maiden Power goes straight to Ruby.
Ruby: Huh Cool!
---
Watts: I AM THE MAIN ANTAGONIST OF THIS UNIVERSE.
Salem: Bitch waht?
Watts: Nothing... Grins though, because he knows she is just a stepping stone for him.

Sanguinius (From 40K)

Weiss: WHY ARE THEY BOTH SO FUCKING TALL?! IT'S NOT FAIR AND THEY'RE GORGEOUS AS FUCKKKKKK!!!!!!!
Ruby: Nice to meet you too~
---
Salem: Why do I feel like I am in danger?
Yang and Ruby's black rage begins.
Salem: Surely that's it right?
Remnant shakes and trembles as warp space opens up above a legion of fleets overshadows the skys, as all of the blood angels and successor chapters drop onto Remnant guided by a golden light of the God Emperor of Mankind!
Salem: WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!!!!!
---
Dante:... Stop...
Ruby: What did I do?! She looks sad worried she fucked up.
Dante: Stop giving me reasons to live... You're too wholesome.
Yang: That's Ruby for you!

Son Goku

Ozpin: Why doesn't Ruby have silver eyes?
Goku: I am not going to cheat on ChiChi. Never.
Ruby: Did you imply that Mom wasn't good enough?
She says turning Super Saiyan wih an angry look.
Yang: Yeah... sounds like he did...
Goes Super Saiyan 3.
Ozpin: Hold up now.... Salem is probably gonna try and kill her.
Beast Gohan: That won't be a problem.
Ozpin: WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!
Beast Gohan: I Hakaied her, nothing to regenerate from.
Rando: But in the manga Hakai is said to not work on immor- AHHHHH
Gets Mafubaed into a container. Which Dragon!Cinder then eats
Beast Gohan: Well that's bullshit anyhow.

King Sonic

King Sonic: Sup.
Qrow:... Holy shit it's King Sonic....
Taiyang: He's sooo fucking cool.
King Sonic: Thanks. But I'm here to drop my girls off for Beacon Academy. They want to be huntresses. Just uh go easy on them if they go a little overboard.
Yang took a bit too much after Lara and Knuckles, she loved the fisticuffs training.
And Ruby well... it's not my fault Tails is a cool dude.
Summer: Is quietly checking Sonic a faunus, looking like a total dilf from the side. Thinking silently that dayum Queen Sally is a lucky gal.
Raven: Damn it... He's way out of my league.
----
Roman: Wait wha?
Cinder: What the heck just happened?!
Ruby was so fast, and using her smarts, checked to see if there was any unregistered vehicles around, thus she found Cinder. Using her super speed, she immediately knocked both out with a spin dash, and then rushed them over to a jail cell with a written report and footage to seal their containment.
---
Adam: So... you've been trained by a legendary guardian... but I am still.
Yang: CHAOS CONTROL!
Adam gets one shotted.
Yang: Yus!
---
Salem: WHAT DO I EVEN DO?!!
Mammoth Mogul: You could always just wait them out.
Salem: Ughhhhh it's not fair!!!! Next you're going to say I can't even be the big bad anymore!
Mammoth Mogul:....Sweats.
Salem: But Robotnik got defeated... he's gone....
"Well firstly it's Eggman, and silly Salem! NOT EVEN DEATH CAN HOLD ME BACK"
Eggman's robotic body laughs as Salem screams to the heavens, in impotent rage at being so dogpiled by both good guys and bad guys alike.

Master SplinteHamato Yoshi

Weiss: Where did they go?!
Blake: Holy shit... they're real ninjas...
Ruby: We also have mystical weapons and martial arts!
Yang: So... let's kick butt....
April: Like...
All of Team RWBY and the Turtlles plus April O'Neil and Casey Jones: LIKE A BOSS!!!!
Grimmzilla gets oneshotted from the found family.
Salem: Calls her agent. I am not dealing with this bully-
Splinter: HOT SOUP!!!!
Beats the immortality out of her, and just grand slams her into outerspace thanks to help from Big Mama and Baron Draxum.

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In today's digital age, with numerous online platforms available, a website serves as the primary source of communication between businesses and their customers. Therefore, having a search-engine-optimized, easy-to-navigate and mobile-responsive website significantly increases a company's chances of success.
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Methods can be classified on basis of charts found in the play bazaar. In the game of play bazaar chats are classified based on the logic power alone. When playing play bazaar there is class battle is equally important, as everyone is required to fight for his work. This struggle is only controlled through the mind. Until the person is not able to control the mind to fight. When playing play bazaar nobody can take decisive actions and take strong steps. This can be said of a person who is able to win the heart of play bazaar.It takes an extended time to be able to win the heart of play bazaar. It takes a long period of time for people to understand how to behave in a certain way. One person also is spending a lot of time studying the behavior of play bazaar. Experience of individuals with the game of play bazaar is different from person to person , and the experience of people also reflect their own experiences, which is why it is a game that play bazaar isn't a simple matter of sitting precisely on other games. The soul's company is the most significant struggle. It is also performed by Babas. Babas work solely on the basis of the struggle of the soul Satta King is able to determine the amount of UP. Sanyasi Baba always sits in between two people and sitting close to them both thinks solely about games like UP Satta King and Sanyasi Baba is also a source of business opportunities from playing UP Satta King because That's why he is determined to have huge success in winning the people's river. The work of UP Satta King is the most significant and is constantly fighting, and strives to transform the hearts of the people in accordance with their capacity to ensure that in the next days, all kinds of hearts are able to be moved forward by UP Satta King. A variety of actions are included in the play bazaar that are carried out by people who are able to trap individuals in their hearts. they are believed to win the hearts of their rivals and the more people who are discovered, the more they will be. The people who offer a fresh direction to society are also warned. It is imperative to employ the power of ingenuity to solve the case of play bazaar If a person cannot find the correct number using the ability to think, then he's an individual who is a category and begins taking different actions to be able to reach different types of categories. Is. Sanyasi Baba eats a lot of food but at the same time keeps in mind that God in his mind. God does not work to transform the inner soul. without hesitation. God gives me a instruction that I can look at the gods I will be able to remember in this category to ensure that the next category will also be blessed. could meet. When the fire breaks out on the ground that was once play bazaar The soul of the people becomes upset, and people experience so agitated that, is actually there was a major loss for our country. We have banks that are large too. Be ready to walk, because forest dwellers are faced with big issues, they are also faced with major issues. The act of the act of entanglement shouldn't be carried out within the framework of Satta UP since the process of entanglement is the main concern in UP Satta can be considered to be the largest Satta. Do you feel any sense to not work in proper direction? It is important to model an ethical behavior to people.In Satta UP, taking determination isn't the sole positive karma for a person as there are many kinds of work that teach people how to progress and the ability to recover from heart-wrenching work. A variety of different powers are increased when you chant the rosary of Ram however the reality grows only after chanting this rosary to Ram using a pure heart and chanting the Rosary of Ram with a pure heart is not an easy task It is not easy to be successful at the chanting. I will share with you the most challenging tasks in the the play bazaar way that involves drawing numbers.If you are looking to get rid of the numbers on the game play bazaar, first you need to get a bucket of plastic and then fill that plastic bucket. Then, you put the yellow coloring in it after you have added color slips of 1 to 100. This slip should be created using white paper and made using blue royal. You must draw numbers on the edge of the slip. Then you will drown all fairies in the water. regardless of the slip's numbers being erased, then you place the slip's number during the game. If you play the play bazaar game. Be sure to be amazed with the power of God and who even should your favourite god is revealed that you must take a vow to the god. In this way, it becomes an individual's responsibility to serve all deities.Many kinds of gods and goddesses could be discovered under the name Dhan Dhan Satguru in this area. there were many goddesses and gods who have performed various types of Yagya and for instance, Lord Shri Ram also performed Yagya when the Lord Shri Ram had performed Yagya during his the exile of 14 years. When the Lord Shri Ram went I came to learn that he had become a massive success for me. In play bazaar Shriram's Yagya is believed to be the most powerful Yagya in the world, and as per one of the gods and goddesses, a salvation is promised, who is also working to bring dawn for the wellbeing of people. It is also the desire to establish a place to eat, since food is the main thing that is consumed of all things. Here, plans are created using money, and they begin with a variety of pledges the play bazaar to improve the public welfare and to ensure that the coming linking the path of experiences in life with the creations of many. the work work of play bazaar. It is the largest gland, it is believed to be more powerful than gods of the folk, and here the time of retirement is believed to be the most powerful brake. It also works to provide food for people on a regular basis. When a person is able to use the power of money in order to obtain the food in play bazaar, he will be able to get the cash according to time-based services.

When we added Donovan, our expectations rose for the season… but I think we’ve met those expectations! I just wanted to celebrate a bit since our team is so cohesive even after such a major change. The guys look like they’re really enjoying playing togethethe vibes look immaculate. When you watch our guys play together, it’s something you want to be a part of. You watch Evan grow his offensive capability, you watch Donovan and Darius cook, you watch all of the clutch offensive rebounds from Jarrett, ball-handling and offense running through Caris and Cedi at times and all of this with smiles on their faces, and Isaac Okoro hitting game winners. It hasn’t been an easy season, but I feel like we’re gonna get into the playoffs at peak confidence and capability.
Thank you to the team, coaches and managers for what will definitely be a 50+ win season, for trusting in each other and for what will be a great playoff run. Let’s show them they’re underrating us!

In its eighth chapter, Hebrews highlights the incomparable benefits believers now receive in the New Covenant inaugurated by the Son. If the fulfillment of God’s promises arrived in him, to return to the incomplete revelations of the past is to embrace the old types and “shadows” rather than the substance provided by God in Jesus of Nazareth.
The Law was incomplete, and not without its shortcomings. The fact that a new priesthood became necessary indicated the need for a change of law - “for the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”
Thus, “upon the last of these days,” the former commandment has been set aside because of “its weakness and un-profitableness, for the Law was unable to perfect anyone.”
And this deficiency included the Levitical sacrificial system included in the covenant given to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai - (Hebrews 8:1-5).

GLIMPSES AND SHADOWS

The previous but now outmoded sacrificial system was ordained by God. The priests who served in the Tabernacle did render divine service, but they were only “glimpses and shadows of the heavenly realities”, mere “copies” of the reality that was foreshadowed by the Tabernacle and its sacrifices and offerings. In contrast, Jesus did not enter the “copy.” Instead, he entered into the very presence of God where he now remains to intercede for his people at the “right hand” of God:

• “For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 9:24, 10:1).

​

And so, he became the “guarantee of a better covenant,” one that is “legislated on better promises.” If the first covenant with its “glimpses and shadows” had been “faultless,” there would have been no need for its replacement.

ONCE FOR ALL

The priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” differs significantly from the Aaronic priesthood. Rather than one generation of priests after another, along with repeated animal sacrifices, the new priestly legislation is based on the ONCE-FOR-ALL SACRIFICE and the endless resurrection life of its one high priest - (Hebrews 7:18-24, 8:7-13).
The recipients of Hebrews were not facing the temptation to revert to paganism or gross immorality, but to return to the “shadows” of the Heavenly Reality that they already possessed in Jesus.
Effectively, if they took the easy path and escaped persecution by returning to the local synagogue, they would reject God’s appointed high priest who achieved the “purification of sins” by his one-for-all sacrifice. They would regress to the obsolete and incomplete “shadows” of the old legislation, including its flawed priesthood and endless sacrifices – (compare Colossians 2:9-17).
If the fulfillment of the promise has arrived in Jesus, why return to the “shadows” cast by him? Returning to what was always partial, fragmentary, and promissory is regression. And by doing so, a man may escape persecution in the present, but he will not escape a far more severe punishment since he has rejected the very “great salvation” provided by God through the death and resurrection of His Son.
[Published on the Crucified Messiah blog site at the link below]
https://www.crucified-messiah.org/2023/03/once-for-all.html

First time posting and I know this will get long winded. I also apologize if this isn’t the correct forum. My wife (37) and I (38) have been together for 9 years and married 5 just this past February. We have a beautiful 15 month old daughter and are trying for a second child.
We’ve been through a lot these past years when trying to conceive, a second term miscarriage, multiple years of trying before several bouts of fertility treatment during the pandemic but we were finally able to bring our little girl into the world. While this has been difficult on me, it’s been immensely difficult in my wife who not only has to bear the physical challenges but all the mental anguish and self doubt/blame. I do everything I can think of to reassure and support her. This is in no way her fault and that we’ll get through this together. And of course that we have an amazing little girl.
Well our beautiful little kiddo is not a great sleeper. We’ve tried so many forms of “gentle” sleep training, a super strict daytime schedule with meals/naps/etc. she still wakes up multiple times per night requiring us to help her back to sleep. To say that we’ve been sleep deprived for the past year is a massive understatement. Add all of this onto the daily stresses of life (I work in tech so fairly demanding but has allowed us to live comfortably on a single income so she can be a SAHM (which she’s elated about)) family dynamics, yada yada.
Well my wife has always been a little rough around the edges and “blunt”. It wasn’t until I started to see a therapist this year that I was able to identify that she’s actually extremely emotionally and verbally abusive. Constant put downs through the day, control, manipulation. I’ve been 1 minute late coming up from work (I often WFH) and be reamed out because dinner is at 5 sharp and I clearly do not respect her or our daughter’s time. Every second of my day needs to be optimized and have a purpose. I WFH so I should get more done around the house. If I went to a dinner outing for work she needed to know exactly who was there, what I talked about, and I needed to text her frequently to let her know I was thinking about her. She’s also breastfeeding our daughter (which isn’t easy) and is a major source of stress but also her choice. She’s invited to my sisters bachelorette party and because I encouraged her to go have fun (and our daughter would miss a couple nursing sessions) I clearly demonstrated that I can’t put our family first. There are so many things to list.
We’ll things have been really ugly these last months and this last fight turned into physical abuse. During the argument I set boundaries as encouraged by my therapist hen she was lashing out and being abusive. She said why don’t I go talk to my therapist lady about it and I said honestly if anyone needs therapy it’s you. She then hit me in the face twice and stormed off and locked herself in the nursery with our daughter.
After days of not talking we finally addressed the fight and abuse. She was initially very sad and apologetic but as soon as I brought up the physical abuse and that it could never happen again she became furious. Now having lurked these forums I knew I had to document this and get proof of the abuse so when she stepped away to get water I started to record a video on my phone and put it in my pocket.
She came back the argument continued. I perhaps stupidly pointed out that I could have reported domestic abuse to the police. She then said go ahead I’ll just deny it and then divorce you and take your daughter away forever. She then said she could never promise me she wouldn’t hit me again and that if her needs weren’t met she would again. This among all other forms of cursing and verbal abuse all recorded.
Or so I thought. I accidentally hit the power button when putting the phone in my pocket. I didn’t get any of it.
I’m not even sure I want a divorce. I do love my wife and more than anything I’m terrified for our daughter. I’m not ready to leave but for a moment I thought thank god I have some evidence, a safety net. And it’s gone. I know this was long and if you made it this far thank you. I just needed to get it out since I’m no longer able to see my “therapist lady”.

Hey everyone,
I wanted to share a mini guide on how to improve the appearance of vanilla NPCs and modded ones in Skyrim. Below is an image gallery showing what most NPCs from important cities look like after following these steps:
[Link to Imgur gallery: https://imgur.com/a/RoAtmdd]
Before I begin, I want to clarify that I won't be going into detail on how to install MO2 or how to use EasyNPC, as there are plenty of guides available for that. So, let's jump right in!
Here's the specific order in which you should download these mods:

1. Nvico as a base - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/48821] (Both archives)
2. Modpocalypse NPCs RESOURCES-Resources - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/54421]
3. Install any mod that modifies Modpocalypse. For example, Beyond Reach. You can use any other mod that overhauls NPCs, but make sure not to take two overhauls for one mod. Here's a link to other mods you can use: [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/122442783?tab=user+files]. For instance, you can use Modpocalypse NPCs - Beyond Reach: [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/56797].

Note: You have to tailor this list to the mods you have and their requirements.

1. Blessing of Dibella - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/82606]
2. Sons of Nirn Whiterun - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/87325]
3. Blood and Ashes - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/85718]
4. Daughters of Malacath - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/87325]
5. CBBE - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/198]
6. Male Temperate Skins - Vanilla and SOS Versions - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/7902/]
7. Northbourne Maiden's Skin CBBE - [Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/61803]
8. Any children overhaul mod you like
9. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57610 Project ja-Kha'jay- Khajiit NPC Diversity Overhaul

Remember, it has to be in this particular order; otherwise, it won't work. This order is only for those who want to see how my NPCs look like. Also, make sure to install EasyNPC.
Once you have everything in the correct order (including plugins), click on build. When you've installed the EasyNPC output, you must deactivate the plugins used by EasyNPC, except for Dibella's Blessing.
And that's it! You're done. However, I want to mention a couple of known issues:

1. Aranea uses vanilla face (I don't know why). She doesn't look bad, just more vanilla. Here's an image: [Link: https://i.imgur.com/5sqEwjQ.png].

​
​

It's an objectively beautiful house. It's 50 years old, and all of my family have filtered through its doors and lived here for a time. My grandmother designed it herself, modeling it after her childhood home on a Southern island.
It is 3 storeys. It was eaten away by termites and my father came and rebuilt it himself. A skilled carpenter and construction worker. The floors are a beautiful deep cherry brown, made of the glossiest wood flooring.
The basement is fully finished, with a fireplace who's sister was built in the living room above it. There are secret panels in the walls down there, that are disguised and only revealed by pushing on them gently. They were designed for extra storage. A lush, deep green carpet coats the floor in a rich embrace.
The kitchen is a lovely shade of turquoise, with white cabinets and black countertops, facing a sparkling white island. It is connected to a beautiful sunroom, with windows that reach the ceiling and root themselves to the floorboards.
One of the bathrooms has a silly sliding door that slips into the wall, revealing a lovely tub with copper faucets.
The master bedroom is wide and long, bright and beautiful. There is a secret door in the hallway that leads into the closet of the bedroom. The closet is hidden by mirrors that open when you press on them. The windows overlook the brick porch out front with huge white columns that stretch up too the roof. The magnolias that tower in front of them challenge their height and cast the longest shadows against the green of the lawn. Twins that act as sentries to the house I live in.
Brick pathways stretch on either side of the porch. Flanked by holly that nips if you get too close. They twist towards the backyard, full of ancient oak trees and great big azalea bushes. Garden beds full of hydrangeas and daffodil and morning glory. The yard is fenced in by forsythia, a great green mass of branches that twist into holly trees and burst yellow in the spring.
A shed stands in the very back of the lot, surrounded by daffodil and tulip plants, it's walls almost overtaken by ivy and growth.
Pines cover the south of the yard where the forsythia do not reach, and they are as old as the house and spread needles like a lush carpet beneath their branches.
I could not imagine a more beautiful house in my neighborhood, nor have I seen one as grand.
And I alone will inherit this house. With it's many beautiful rooms and ancient, lovely furnishings. And I know that I am very lucky, because I will never want for a place to call my own nor will I be forced to rent from someone else.
There is a small problem.
I hate this house.
I hate the mad scribbles in the guest room. Covered now by a coat of paint, I can feel them still. The little hands that carved them into the wall with crayons are the same that I type with. The lock to that door is replaced, but the wood underneath that latch is scarred with deep gashes, where the door was kicked inwards. The bed is the one a little girl slept in. It is the same bed, the same mattress and frame that a little girl was assaulted in. By much larger, stronger hands.
The secret door to the closet is what she would open late a night and crawl inside. The panels in the basement were the same.
The mirrors on it's front are where she took in her reflection, while she chopped at her hair with safety scissors, hoping she would finally look ugly enough to shake his interest.
The silly sliding door to bathroom has a broken lock, and it was pushed aside unwillingly too many times to count.
The basement with the elegant fireplace and lush green carpet was host to another man, a more recent man, a lover that hated his partner. The beautiful carpet covered in trash and cigarettes. Beer bottles and half eaten fast food. His friend stayed with him, and mocked and belittled and yelled and pushed and screamed.
It was too familiar to be anything but love. A cover of a song that has been played years before.
In this same house.
Now I wake up in my beautiful room in what will be my beautiful house.
And I walk through all that has happened here each day. They are all gone, but the house is here. I step over their ghosts.
And I hate this house a little more each time.

Nora entered the spacious pub on a corner of Katonah Avenue at midday on Monday, an hour before the bar opened. A guy about her age, mid-twenties, with a button down shirt and neatly combed hair was waiting for her at a booth next to the bar. Seeing Nora, he climbed out of the seat and shook her hand.
“Nora?”
“That’s me. It’s nice to meet you. Joe, right?”
“Yep.” Joe gestured to the booth and Nora sat in it. She was holding a folder with her resume and some references from other bars she worked at.
Joe examined the resume and references. “So, you have a lot of pub experience it looks like. I see you worked at the Crown & Jockey, Harry Smith’s, Begun’s.”
“I did,” Nora replied brightly. “I’ve worked at bars and pubs ever since my first year of college.”
Nora had heard that it was notoriously difficult to get hired at this pub, which was the liveliest in a neighborhood full of lively pubs in a tiny quarter of the Bronx, nestled next to the cemetery that gives the neighborhood its name, Woodlawn. And she wanted the extra money, which was, as rumor had it, excellent.
“Pretty typical setup here,” Joe began. “So all that should be easy. What we really need is the right personality. We have a lot of loyal patrons, a lot of events, a lot of private parties. We need someone fun. Someone who can remember the regulars’ names. Sound like you can do that?”
Nora tucked her hair behind her ear. “Definitely. I always get to know the regulars and the local VIPs.”
“That’s perfect,” Joe replied. “We can also get pretty busy. In your experience, what does a typical night look like for you?”
Nora pointed to a few of the bars on her resume. “These are the ones where I worked four hours of Friday and Saturday night alone at the bar. I can handle a big crowd. When I was waitressing, I was often doing three four-tops, a six and a large party.”
Joe’s eyebrows raised. “That’s a lot. How did you pull that off?”
“Magic.” Nora smiled.
Joe laughed. “Okay. Let me go talk to the owner, see if she has time to meet with you.”
“Great!”
Nora stole a look at her phone and tucked it back in her purse. She looked around the bar; polished mahogany and green-backed booths. There was a stone hearth in a back corner and, over her shoulder, the entrance to a larger dining room.
“Nora?” Joe peeped his head out of the dining room. “The owner will see you.”
“Nora followed him through the dining room, back into a party room, back further into a tucked-away cocktail bar, down a short staircase, and into a small stone cellar.
“This pub is huge. Is this a wine cellar?” Joe looked around. “Yeah, might have started that way. We use it for storage now.”
He led her out of the stone room and into a well-appointed office. An arresting woman sat behind a desk. Her hair was an enormous halo of red curls, streaked with white. She was wearing a hunter green dress and her large, round eyes were two different colors; one blue, one honey brown.
She stood and offered a thin, white hand. “Siobhán Brennan. They tell me I run this place.” She had an Irish accent.
Nora shook her hand. “Nora Meredith, thanks for seeing me.”
Siobhán looked at the door. “I’ll send her up in a minute, Joe.”
He slipped out.
“Joe’s one of the managers,” Siobhán said. “Also my son.”
Nora smiled. “A family enterprise. That’s great.”
Siobhán settled back into her chair and looked at Nora over the tips of her fingers. Nora thought she saw tiny strings of dancing light moving among the strands of Siobhán’s hair.
“Another thing we need here at the pub, Nora, is discretion. Do you understand?”
“Yes, of course.” In Nora’s experience, most bars were doing a thing or two that wasn’t entirely above board.
Siobhán retrieved a crystal goblet from the sideboard behind her and filled it with wine from a decanter. She swirled the wine around the glass three times and ran her hand over the top of the glass. The liquid inside churned into a thick, glowing green, and then, before Nora could even register what had happened, returned to red wine. Siobhán lifted the wine to her mouth, smiled and said, “It’s good to have you on board Nora.”
Nora spent a few, sleepless nights trying to rationalize what she saw in Siobhán’s office, which was miles away from what she thought Siobhán meant when asking for ‘discretion.' But, eventually, the pace of work at the pub pushed it out of her head. In addition to her day job, she worked Friday and Saturday nights at the pub, adding party shifts on Sundays and, not infrequently, weeknight shifts. She was too exhausted to think about much of anything. And besides, she loved the pub. The money was incredible. The staff worked together seamlessly. Pints and bottles slid down the bar top. A second cocktail appeared almost instantly with the flip of the mixologist’s arm. She laughed and gossiped with the patrons, and laughed and gossiped with her coworkers. The entire place seemed bathed in twinkling lights, like every night was a blend of the best parts of Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day.
In fact, it was two days before St. Patrick’s Day that Nora called out of her day job to help set the pub up for the weekend’s festivities, when a man came in, his face obscured by a thick, wiry beard and a flat cap. Frigid air followed him into the bar.
“Siobhán. Now.”
“Excuse me, sir?” Nora asked, setting down the string of plastic shamrock lights she was unboxing behind the bar. She had trouble understanding his heavy Irish accent.
“I. need. Sio-bhán. Right now.”
“She’s not here right now, can I take a message?”
The man slammed one fist so hard on the bar the glasses in the overhead rack rattled, and with his other pulled Nora toward him. Nora yelped, but before she could say anything, Siobhán emerged from the kitchens.
“Hands off, Dáithí.”
Dáithí stomped toward Siobhán menacingly, but she held up a hand. “Now, Dáithí. You’ll be wanting to stop right there.”
Dáithí halted instantly, but continued to grimace.
“You tricked me, Siobhán. Make it right.”
“Nora here doesn’t need to know all the world’s business, Dáithí. Come to my office.”
Nora, whose heart was pounding furiously, watched as the pair disappeared behind the dining room. She knew it wasn’t wise, surely there must be cameras all over, still she followed behind them through the dining room, then the party room, then the cocktail garden, and down the short staircase into the room of stone arches.
Loudly from Siobhán’s closed office, Nora heard, “Damn you, Siobhán. This was a trick, it was. And a rotten one.” Siobhán’s icy voice responded, “Greedy, greedy, Dáithí. You thought you could cheat the system; thought you could cheat me. Don’t you think I noticed the deliveries were padded? And I was going to let it go, I was; find a new butcher and move on. But then you came in asking for my special help so you can go cheating even more. You got what you got. Don’t be crying about it.”
“You’re a demonic woman, Siobhán, and I’ll tell everyone what you are!”
Nora heard feet thundering down the steps and she retreated beneath a shadowy arch. It was Joe. He stormed into the office.
“Everything ok in here, Mom?”
“Show your man Dáithí the door, Joe. He’s finished.”
Dáithí sized Joe up. “I know my way out.” Nora pressed her back to the wall, tripping on something sticking out of the floor. She caught herself before she made a noise.
“He going to be a problem?” Joe asked.
“Not for long. Check on Nora, though. He scared her pretty good.”
“I didn’t see her up there.”
Siobhán nodded. “She probably went to go clear her head. Have a talk with her when she’s back, yeah?”
Joe and Siobhán ascended the stairs out of the basement. Nora, panting from adrenaline, slinked to the ground. She felt around her feet, trying to determine what she tripped on. It was a wooden trap door, slightly open. She crouched down to examine it, and through the opening could see an illuminated space beneath. Nora paused a moment to listen for anyone who might be coming back downstairs. Satisfied that she’d be left alone, she prised the door open, revealing a ladder down to a tunnel whose walls were lit with hanging light bulbs.
This is a mistake, Nora thought, but she climbed down the ladder anyway. “Good god,” Nora whispered when she saw that the light bulbs were actually free-floating flames, dangling at even intervals along the walls of the tunnel. She continued on, terrified that she’d be caught, that she’d get trapped, and yet unable to turn around. At one point, she heard the roar of cars, trucks and buses above her and worked out that, given the position of the pub and how long she’d been walking, she was under 233rd street. This must lead to the cemetery. Nora continued along the tunnel as the stone path turned to dirt and the walls narrowed. She was ready to turn back when she reached another ladder. She climbed part of the way up toward a cold light at the top. Nora heard a chant of echoing voices. She paused on the rung trying to make out what the voices were saying, but she couldn’t understand. Curiosity pulled her a up a few rungs more, until she could see the bottom halves of three people gathered around a table. Based on all the marble, Nora realized this must be the interior of one of the cemetery’s grand mausoleums. Something on the table was hissing and bubbling. The voices grew louder, crescendoing until a small bang emitted from the cauldron. The commotion was followed by a sweet mewling. Two of the women sat on the ground playing with a tiny, russet kitten. Nora could just make out that one was Lisa, Siobhán’s daughter. She also worked at the bar. The other woman Nora recognized as Reina, who owned a bodega on Webster Avenue.
“See, Dáithí,” Lisa said to the kitten. “Things are easier when you’re a nice boy.”
Nora gasped. The women in the mausoleum froze. Reina came over to the opening to inspect, her long braids falling just over Nora’s face. Nora tried to climb back down the ladder as fast as she could, but her foot landed on Siobhán, who was on her way up.
“Back up you go, Nora.”
Nora, sweating and shivering, forced herself up the ladder and into the mausoleum. The three woman stood in front of the table, arms crossed. Nora did not recognize the third woman, who was white-haired and of indeterminate age. The kitten nestled itself on to Reina’s shoulder and closed its eyes. Siobhán gracefully emerged from the opening in the floor and guided Nora by the elbow over to a chair. Nora sat, looking up at the women.
Siobhán picked up the cat from Reina’s shoulder. “Curiosity killed the cat, didn’t it Nora?”
Eyes wide, Nora squeaked, “Please don’t kill him.”
Siobhán laughed. “Dáithí? Oh, he’ll turn up right as rain in a few days having learned a good lesson. Won’t you, Dáithí?” The kitten rubbed its face hungrily along Siobhán’s hand. Tears brimmed in Nora’s eyes. “What are you?”
The women laughed. Siobhán said, “Of course you know, Nora. You’ve known all along. I’m not just a publican. Reina isn’t just a purveyor of delicious Jamaican food. Mary isn’t just a lady in the Altar Rosary Society. We all have other gifts, so to speak. Sometimes, people seek those gifts. We help them when we can. But, they’re not always happy with the help they get. Like with our friend, Dáithí: he was cheating me, and other customers. Then had the gall to ask for a spell to grow his ‘business.’ Well, I gave him one; earned him a trip to the hospital. Furious, weren’t you Dáithí?” Siobhán stopped to a moment to allow the kitten to amble up her chest. “You’re a good girl, Nora. You won’t tell, will you?”
“No one would believe me,” Nora whispered.
“That’s true,” laughed Reina.
Mary limped over to the door of the mausoleum and opened it. “Go on. Time to go.”
Afraid to break eye contact with them, Nora walked backwards toward the door and stumbled down the marble steps. She broke into a run; pumping her legs as fast as they could take her until she had to stop, gasping for breath and covered in sweat. She leaned over a headstone to nurse a stitch in her side. She glanced down at the name on the headstone and jumped back, yelling when she saw it read ‘DOLAN, Dáithí.’ She read the dates etched into the stone four times just to be sure it wasn’t the same Dáithí from the pub. Her first impression of the man was bad, but she didn’t want him dead.
Nora told herself not to go back to the pub; go home, take a shower, and find a job somewhere normal. And she did go home and take a shower, but then she dried her hair and got ready for work and headed back to the pub, ineluctably drawn there, unable to stay away. “Nora!” Joe greeted her at the door, concern on his face. “Everything ok? My mom told me Dáithí got aggressive.” Siobhán and Lisa stood in the corner of the pub, watching her. Nora made eye contact with them and looked backed to Joe.
“Yep, just clearing my head. Thanks for checking.”
The rest of the weekend whirred past. The bar was near-capacity all day on Friday and Saturday, and was mostly full on Sunday. Nora worked thirteen hour shifts each day, but never felt tired. It was like she was moving to a inborn choreography: step this way to avoid a waiter with a tray of food; keep this tab open and this one closed, even though the patrons never specified; bring this table a plate of nachos after their third round. When she had time to recognize it, she understood that so much of how the place operated must be part of Siobhán’s ‘gift,’. Everything always worked. Drinks just materialized. Taps never ran out or tasted off. Even on their busiest and most packed nights, no one ever fought, no one ever got too drunk. They hired a bouncer who slept in a booth next to the entrance; he had nothing to do. She’d worked in a dozen or so bars and restaurants and never experienced anything like it.
The following Tuesday, Nora went to the pub to get her tips cashed out from the weekend. Joe told her to head down to Siobhán’s office to retrieve them, so she followed the familiar path down and knocked twice on the heavy wooden door.
“Come in!”
Siobhán was seated behind her desk, Lisa, Reina and Mary behind her. Nora stopped in the doorway, unsure if she should continue.
“You’re ok, girl. Get in.” Mary commanded.
Nora came in, less nervous than the last time she was in their company. Siobhán handed over an envelope with the tips. “It’s $2,500. A very good haul.” Lisa said. Nora opened her mouth, but was too shocked to speak. One St. Patrick’s day she made $700 working the bar. Nothing close to this.
“Please sit.” Siobhán gestured to the chair across from her desk. Nora obeyed. “What if I told you, Nora, that these extra gifts we have, we can share them with other people?”
“You mean like doing spells or something?”
Reina grinned. “We mean showing you how to do them.” She extended her arm, her brown fist closed. “Go on. Look inside.”
Nora looked at all of them, and then gently peeled back Reina’s fingers. In her palm was a tiny, golden morsel. She understood that these women could just as easily be killing her with this, or turning her into a cat, but still she took the morsel and ate it. Something electric coursed through her veins. Once she was used to the feeling, she stood up. Things around her seemed more possible than they had before, like the world around her was something she could control.
“I feel…” Nora searched for the word. “I don’t know how to describe it.”
Siobhán held an empty glass bowl in front of Nora. Remembering her first encounter with Siobhán, Nora put her hand over it and it filled with water. She inhaled sharply.
“Did you see that?” Nora looked to the other women.
Lisa smirked. “We did.”
“What you feel,” Siobhán said, gently guiding Nora out of the office and toward the secret passageway to the mausoleum, “is power.”
In time, Nora found that there were many more people in Woodlawn with the gift. They met in the cemetery, at the full moon, to discuss the goings-on of the neighborhood, to set limits on the use of power, and to decided how to handle threats. Nora soon learned to recognize when someone else had the gift, wondering how she ever missed the signs of it before. Joe left the pub for law school, and Siobhán promoted Nora to manager. She quit her day job. One morning at dawn, she headed to the pub to accept an early shipment and she walked passed Dáithí, who was opening the grates on ‘Dave’s Irish Butcher and Supply.’ They locked eyes and, after hesitating, Dáithí tipped his hat. Nora smiled. That’s a good kitty.
(This was submitted for Reedsy contest #190: Set your story in New York, where someone’s been waiting for your character.)

So I’m 25F and have been playing games most of my life. I’ve been involved with the competitive community before, so I’m obviously no stranger to the harassment and it actually got so bad I had to stop about 5 years ago. Since such a long time had passed and I’ve met a great guy who plays Valorant casually, I thought I would give it a go with a more laid back approach and I’ve actually really enjoyed it. That is, apart from all the dumb comments anyway. I use voice chat in all my ranked games and as you can imagine, I get comments often. Some I really don’t mind, like I had a game where this guy tried to guess my setup and he was like I bet you have cat ear headphones and pink LEDs and we all laughed about it.
I think one reason I get some of these particular comments is because at least from what I’ve been told, I have a bit of a typical “egirl” voice and it sounds like I’m putting it on. But I’m really not, it’s just my voice?
Fast forward to last night and I was playing with a friend, we get 3 guys who I’m assuming were all teamed up and first thing that happens is one of the guys says my name is “fucking gay”. Well that was kind of rude so I responded on voice asking why he would say that. Then all 3 of them gang up on me first very deliberately calling me by masculine pronouns and then one of them tells me to “stop acting like a woman, we know you’re a man” and the last guy says he thinks my voice sounds disgusting so he’s gonna mute me. And they keep this up for… the. Entire. Game.
I got so nervous I started messing up badly and they call me dumb but the guy who told me to stop acting like a woman then says I’m not actually dumb, I’m just acting dumb because im pretending to be a woman.
And they literally wouldn’t shut up and kept commenting on both my voice and my gameplay, asking me for pronouns, insisting I sound like a “they/them” when I tell them wtf do they think I am.
Way later in the game they tried excusing their behaviour by saying “oh we didn’t actually know you were a woman and we didn’t mean to be mean to you” so they’re saying I sound like a guy which is just… how is it any better? I got so carried away I said a bunch of mean shit back like how dare they?
I understand a lot of people would tell me to just mute these people, but it’s tbf never been easy for me to let stuff go. I have ADHD and I get quite emotional about certain things and this was obviously a trigger for me.
I suppose one reason is I am a little self conscious about my voice and my appearance, but while I’ve faced lots and lots of harassment, I’ve never been called a man before. And it felt so humiliating. My friend was trying to console me by saying they chose to pick on me because they knew I’m a woman but idk. I had to take a break to go cry after the game because of how upsetting it was.
Has anyone else here especially those of you with clearly feminine voices had this happen? And how am I meant to tackle this without breaking down in tears?

7 Tips To Rejuvenate Your Dull Skin

“You honestly maintain naturally rejuvenated skin that never goes out of style!” ~ harmonious complimenting melodies to each of our ears, isn’t it? On the other hand, maintaining such radiant skin and toned complexion is never easy! Yes, due to that dullness only.
But do you know the fact of the matter? Actually, our skin never gets dull, its quality just gets covered under the dead cells. Basically, our skin itself conducts the renewal of new and healthy cells. Though from person to person the time span might vary; for newborns: it takes 14 days, for adults: 28-42 days, and for above 50 new cells renewal can take up to 84 days.
During this procedure sometimes the dead cells don’t shed in the required manner, instead they start to build another surface on your skin which simultaneously results in a dull, dry, flakey, and patchy skin appearance.
So, these little unknowns can make big differences. But let us have a second, you still have time to get rid of that dullness and recover your glowing skin! Will let you know how but before that we will see how one can address if his/her skin has turned dull and its causes.
Let’s Move Ahead!

How To Address A Dull Skin?

In the skin sector, dullness refers to the portion of skin which is lacking radiance or we can say an ineptitude to reflect the light in the way healthy skin does.
This also happens due to an uneven skin texture, as it is less able to reflect smoothness as effortlessly as uniform skin. Rough or we can say uneven skin can result in several skin problems such as the building of dead skin cells, acne, and even dryness.

3 Common Causes of Dull Skin

Environmental Pollution

For which a broad-spectrum sunscreen is always suggested, by making your skin rid off from oxygen and all-natural oils pollution exposure which makes your skin look dull and drab.
The elements such as dirt and sulfur dioxide in the air create free radicals (unstable molecules causing cell damage) on the skin layer causing unfavorable effects including collagen damage, stimulating pigment production, and skin complexion to look tired.

Lack of Sleep

It makes your skin imbalanced in just a few nights of bad sleep! Inadequate sleep triggers the primary stress hormone affecting the inflammation and breaking down of proteins which are essential to keep your skin smooth and glowing.
This inflammation can also result in making skin more prostrate to acne and sensitive to allergic reactions. More wrinkles, fine lines, and also droopy mouth corners can be caused due to disturbed sleep schedules.

Dehydration

Especially in dry climates; hot summers and too-cold winters. If your skin lacks water, the moisturizer under the skin layers will get reduced making its texture look uneven and dull.
Itchy skin is also a cause of dehydration, which affects your overall skin tone, driving wrinkles and fine lines noticeable even at young ages.
Time to move ahead on the key subject “How to rejuvenate dull skin?”.
📷

📷

7 Ways To Get Rid Of Dull Skin

1. Be Gentle On Your Skin

Getting your makeup and clogging dirt removed at the end of the day? If yes, then you are already doing excellent. But a smooth procedure is also necessary to get the exact results.
If you apply harsh scrubs and drying soaps it will eventually reduce the luster of the skin, and also cause irritation, tightness, and redness on the skin.
The perfect procedure for this is giving your face two washes, in which rather than applying cleansing oil at first remove makeup and sunscreen from the top skin layer, and in the second step apply a gentle wash of cleanser to remove the oil.

2. Prefer Lukewarm Instead Of Extremely Hot Water

Especially in winter; when nothing else feels better than a long warm bath or a warm face session but this relaxation only works for a few minutes as it increases skin sensitivity, dry outs all the essential natural skin oils, and makes texture dry.
If you have dry or oily skin, then you must keep this point noted as by removal of natural oil – the skin will create even more oil causing unwanted breakouts, unusually shiny, or many other worse causes.

3. Include Exfoliation In Your Daily Routine

As seen above the layer of dead skin cells always gets formed on the outermost layer of the skin which makes your skin dull and even clogs the pores with dirt and dust.
Where routine exfoliation helps in the daily removal of dead skin cells from that layer of the skin benefiting in an increase of blood circulation, improvement in skin appearance, and prevention of dull skin.
Not only in skin smoothing and polishing but regular skin exfoliation also helps with skin concerns such as fine lines and wrinkles also get reduced with regular exfoliation.
4. Add Vitamin C Serum To Your Lineup
Just name it, and it will show its wonders! Vitamin C is an ascorbic acid packed with antioxidants that boost skin to appear radiant and youthful.
Also benefits in the descent of free radicals, speed improvement in the tissue/wound repairment, enhances the elasticity of the skin, and collagen synthesis building healthy skin.
5. Drive A Date With a Face Mask
Give your face a weekly treat of a mask, usually medic suggested once or twice a week but it basically depends on the type of skin you are having – for a precise measure you can read the directions or ask your dermatologist.
With this excellent tool, you can experience evermore glowing skin as such skin products detoxify your face by removing the dirt from the pores, removing excess oils, and restoring skin radiance.

6. Put On Sunscreen Daily

Always preferred to get broad-spectrum with SPF 30 and above. Sunscreen layers your skin with organic carbon ingredients such as avobenzone or oxybenzone and absorbs the harmful sun rays.
This will help you to keep your skin shielded from UV rays, skin damage, dyspigmentation (hyperpigmentation/hypopigmentation), brown or dark spots, and dry skin texture.
7. Apply Retinoid Products Only
A trail of vitamin-A-based products have significantly served its results in stimulating collagen growth and normalizing skin dead cells shedding procedure.
By driving this procedure retinoid smoothens the skin texture and also makes it naturally brighter.

Last But Not The Least!

So now you know that you never got dull skin, right? It is just simply hidden which will be definitely recovered once you start following the mentioned fixes and be on it regularly.
If you are the one who has tried that all but is still not happy with the skin texture then also it is fine, you may simply drop your query at Musk Clinic – one of the most trusted clinics in Ahmedabad for hair, face, and body. Our specialists will try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Till then stay naturally soothed and glowing!

Read More:

• 5 Great Benefits Of Non-Surgical Body Contouring
• Lip Filler Treatment: Myths & Facts
• 8 HydraFacial Benefits for Your Skin – [Infographic]

​
Tom had been a little anxious about going back to the workshop, fearing that dealing with Edita would sour the thus far rather good day. But after all he had gone through, she too seemed a bit different. She was still absolutely bubbling with questions. and her doe-eyed admiration of him was a little unsettling. As was the fact that she treated the drawings he had changed with near reverence. But Jacky hadn’t swung in to pry them apart or made any threatening noises and Edita had adopted a more respectful attitude. Like she was talking to a superior, he kinda liked that if he was being totally honest at least just a little bit.
Tom guessed it had all been a bit much on the first day. And thinking back he had done a rather shit job of saying no to her. He thanked his lucky stars that she was better behaved now, but deep down he knew Saph and Essy were probably the actual reason. Hell, he might not even have lucky stars here.
He could hear Jacky and Saph chatting in the corner, catching each other up on recent events while everyone else got down to work. while the rest of them got to work. Shiva had eventually come in from the forge to hear what all the commotion was about, and after a short rundown, she had left with Jacky. Tom guessed she wanted a little bit of one on one with her daughter after all that had happened. Quite understandable in his mind, and frankly he would have expected her to do it much sooner. Jacky had handed Sapphire the halberd along with instructions to ‘stand guard for me,’ which did seem to surprise Saph just a little. But, to her credit, she still did it.
He couldn’t help but feel much safer and happier down here. Even he and Shiva were definitely on the same team, and he couldn’t imagine a scenario where he would have to worry about Edita short of him making some very egregious error in her eyes. And thus far she had seemed rather loose when it came to rules. Thinking back, that was probably his answer as to why Joelina had chosen her for this job despite the rather extreme difference in personality.
They had gone over the designs for the water jacket and made some more changes, including a new tighter recoil spring to compensate for the lighter inner barrel. The second Tom approved them Edita had wanted to get started. He had managed to talk her into telling him a bit about what she knew of arcane machinery first though. It had been a rather enlightening tale, if a little depressing too. She knew how to make enchantments, and with Apuma or Linkosta providing the actual magic they should be able to replicate many enchantments that Edita was quite certain not even Linkosta knew about. Even if the two mages might need some more training on some of the finer points.
But her tales of magic shields and such apparently lay beyond them. It turned out what was needed for enchantments like that was beyond simple hand-carved commands. She had fished out a book detailing among other things how the central core at the capital worked. Before starting though, she gave the most half-hearted ‘don’t say this to anyone’ speech Tom had yet heard. He just nodded as did the rest of them as she opened the locked tome with a key produced from under her flowing metallic robes.
“See all these pages?” she went as she rapidly paged through page after page of solid text.
“Yeah?... I can’t read any of it. I’m sorry.”
“Looks like magical runes to me,” Tink interjected, clearly trying to be helpful. Edita nodded to the inventor.
“Precisely. Hundreds of lines of enchantments. This is all that we have found in just one finger responsible for suspending the energy inside the core. There are 24 fingers in total. 24!” she reiterated, looking around at them with wide eyes.
“Must be in a tiny script then,” Tink concluded, clearing his throat and huffing a bit. “What did they do, shrink down the one who scribed them in?”
“No no, you don’t understand. It is tiny. Some of what we have found is so small that you could write thousands of words just on a finger claw.”
“Miniaturized technology,” Tom replied with an appreciative nod. “Like our computer tech.”
“Precisely,” Edita went, pointing at him before returning to paging. “But if we try to scribe runes even several times that size, we can hardly get anything to flow through them. The enchantments are powerless.”
“The resistance Linkosta talked about a while back. The reason she wanted dragon’s blood for Jacky’s armor.”
“Dragon’s blood is alright… did you use some of the unicorn horn you have?” Edita asked cautiously, looking up from her book.
“Sure did.”
“Very good. That will make it much better. But yes, the resistance becomes far too high in such inscriptions if they are made normally. But with machines and precision, it can be done better and smaller. But the key is inscribing using pure essence. The stuff you found in the cylinders down below.”
“The gravity oil?” Tom asked. “Problem solved then, we have plenty of that.”
“That is the base ingredient. We tend to just call it essence in the form you have. More work is required though. And then the enchantments must be bound with what the ancients call an eldritch forge. Normal containment spells cannot contain the inscribing. They will rip apart and break immediately.”
“The stuff Linkota did after she painted the runes.”
“Yes. The enchantments are first etched, then inscribed, then bound. Often you seal them too to try and protect them from damage. You know, to prevent scratches and such.”
“Makes sense I guess. And a person can’t do that well enough, so you need a magic machine to make magic machines.”
“More or less, yes.”
“And you have some.”
“We do… just not out here. They are rather big, and the power draw is immense, we would need a core. And I know of only two left.” Edita apologized, looking truly sorry. “Even if we did, doing that amount of etching and inscribing would be near impossible to do by hand.”
“I bet,” Tom sighed. “Well then, I guess we can’t rely on that anyway then. We’ll have to go with what’s actually available. So those enchantments of yours… How could they affect, say, barrel life?”
“They could nearly eliminate wear if that is what you mean. But they must be powered.”
“Right… power.”
“Everything comes with a cost,” Edita apologized once more, like it was somehow her fault how the world worked.
“Not your fault, don’t feel bad about it. Oh right, that core of yours. It contains energy… Like a battery of sorts. What about that, can we make that? I guess not if there are only two left.”
“Indeed, I’m sorry. The enchantments that contain the energy are immensely complex. The ones used to capture it even more so. Those can be replicated rather primitively though if they don’t need to reach far and wide without becoming hopelessly inefficient.”
“So snatch it from the enemy then? Why not just do that?”
“Because they can cut off the flow of magic? That is part of the immense complexity of the cores. We do not understand how it was achieved but they can bypass such restrictions… Have you not tried using magic items before?”
“I mean… a pair of earrings once,” Tom admitted with a shrug. “They are quite expensive, okay? we only had like 4 magic items here before you showed up.”
Edita just stared at him then looked around at the others with a look of betrayal on her face. “You didn’t teach him what to do if someone tries to drain him? What if you had fought a witch or something?”
“I’m pretty sure he did at some point actually,” Tink added, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before Saph poked him rather hard in the side with the haft end of the halberd. Something which Edita did in fact seem to notice, turning her attention to the huntress.
“Why didn’t you teach him?”
“Because no one would ever try that? Everyone can just go ‘No, fuck you’ and turn off the flow. Why waste a complicated spell on it?”
“A lot of animals don’t know how to. What if they didn’t know what he was?” Edita countered, clearly appalled by this apparent lack of training.
“Dude is talking and running around with a magic fire stick. Pretty sure they wouldn’t mistake him for an animal, in fact he would seem more like a mage himself,” Saph replied, seeming less than pleased at the accusations as Tom just blinked a couple times trying to work out how he should feel about this. He was pretty sure he had been told by someone at some point that he could just turn off the flow of magic if he wanted. But if he was being totally honest here he couldn’t quite work out how. When he had the earrings on he had just started feeling sick.
“Uhm question?” he interrupted as Saph and Edita were having a little discussion about whether anyone born in the last thousand years would ever bother trying to magically drain an opponent in combat.
“Yes?” Saph questioned, turning to look at him, Edita’s head quickly snapping to look at him as well.
“How exactly would I do this? Sounds important.”
“Simple. You feel the flow of magic and shut it off just like when you are using your own magi…” Saph started before trailing off.
“I see a flaw in this plan.”
“He must learn this. If anyone finds out he cannot fight such an attack he could be doomed,” Edita interjected, seeming deathly serious.
“Never even heard of anyone getting killed like that,” Tink added in, scratching the back of his neck, seeming a little stumped as well. “Well, aside from people who managed to off themselves by accident when mucking about with magic that is.”
“I guess we put a magic gizmo on him and work out if he can cut the flow then?” Saph questioned, still sounding a little annoyed as she looked at Edita.
“Yes, right this instant. Wait here,” the artificer replied with a new and certainly surprising determination entering her voice. Like she was dealing with a serious matter. “Imagine what would happen if one of our enchantments failed and he couldn’t stop it from killing him! Oh by the gods!” she complained as she started going through boxes.
Tom did as he was told and waited. Insane as it sounded, he trusted the slightly nutty artificer not to want to kill him. He didn’t have to wait long before Edita returned with a small lacquered wooden box with a very extravagant set of decorations on it. She unceremoniously popped the lid off of it, setting it down gently and lifted out a small octagonal metal rod with inscriptions running down each side, little metal sliders also sitting in various positions along said sides. To Tom the inscriptions looked tiny enough to be a real fucking bitch to do by hand, but he guessed they were nothing compared to what she had been talking about earlier.
“This is a load. It can be used to, well… put a load on an enchantment,” Edita explained with a nervous chuckle, looking at him.
“But a person can use it too?” Saph questioned, tilting her head.
“Yes. You need that sometimes. One moment,” Edita went as she started fiddling with the sliders. “Right, minimum setting. Run it for long enough and it should start getting warm. Should take a while, it is designed to be very inefficient. And you can turn it off there or just drop it. Just please… on the table, not the floor,” she explained, almost pleadingly on the last bit, clutching her hands after putting it down on the table for him.
“Well then… I guess only one thing for it. This should be interesting,” Tom shrugged as he scanned the room to confirm Jacky had still not returned.
“I swear by all the gods if this puts you back in bed,” Saph let out, shaking her head as Tom picked up the small device.
“Oh relax, I’ve done this before. Worst that’s gonna happen is I can’t stop it and I have to put it down,” Tom replied sarcastically as he held the rod with just a bit of apprehension. ‘You better be right this time, knucklehead.’
he hesitated for a second holding his hand over the little slider, before manning up and moving it upwards one notch. The tiny runes started to glow a dim blue, almost like there was LED backlighting at play.
It certainly felt funny. It was hard to describe. It was almost not noticeable. Like the life getting drained out of you by discussing politics with family at Christmas or something.
“Okay, now try and feel the magic flow and cut it off,” Saph added in hopefully.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t feel much really.”
“How is that possible?” Saph questioned, looking to Edita.
“How should I know? He is not a dragonette. Not born with magic.”
“But he can still use it,” Saph protested.
“Evidently,” Edita responded, sounding a little disheartened as she looked at the rod. “We could try pulling more to help you feel it.”
“Or we could not,” Saph squeaked out, not sounding overly pleased with that particular idea.
“Worst that happens is I faint, right?” Tom questioned looking at the strange device.
“In theory,” Edita relented, though not sounding overly convinced. “Unless you hold onto it after fainting, at which point it will drain you until you die… it’s not a bad way to go really,” Edita replied very reluctantly. “We would pry it away from you before that happens. Obviously.”
“Yes, obviously,” Saph echoed as Tom turned to look at Tink and Junior. Tink was just giving him the thumbs up with a big smile on his face, Junior looking rather more worried.
“Well what are the chances of me being the victim of two different life threatening magic phenomena that can’t be explained in the same week, ey? Don’t tell Jacky,” Tom chuckled though not quite as calmly as he would have hoped. Still he felt fine… just a little funny. So he moved the slider with the numbers on it up a little, giving Edita time to stop him if it was the wrong one he had grabbed.
She didn’t and he felt the sensation grow stronger. Now there was no doubt as he felt his breathing quicken and fingers start to ache a little. He then proceeded to close his eyes in the hope some Jedi zen shit would help him close his chakras or whatever it was he needed to do here.
He honestly didn’t expect much success from that idea, but what he got as he settled down a little and tried to feel what was happening was best described as continuous shiver running down his spine. It was faint. Not much of note, only really enough to be annoying once he noticed it. So he did what he always did with shivers. He focused on it to make it go away, releasing that nice sensation all throughout his back that wasn’t ever really enough.
He got the exact same result here and opened his eyes to find the rod inert in his hands.
“Well that worked, I guess.”
“Baah, I wasn’t worried,” Tink loudly proclaimed, giving Tom a good slap on the back as the two women stood there staring at him then to each other, both pulling cautious smiles.
“Better safe than sorry, I guess?”
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Are they putting her to work right away?” Saph asked, looking out from the greeting platform over the green rolling hills and two small shimmering lakes surrounding the keep. Change was in the air, the small patches of trees starting to yellow and the grass was starting to fade a little too. The wind was starting to bite a bit more to the point Saph was wondering when winter clothes might be needed.
When the cold started to hit properly they would need to stay moving when outside, which was good for working spirits but still sucked. In the distance the glinting black form of Yldril slowly grew larger as she crested a hill heading towards them slowly and steadily.
Behind them, inside the shelter of the greeting hall, Archeon was being loaded for his trip to the capital. Dakota was overseeing as Vulzan and his crew labored. Saph and Ray had lent a hand earlier, but they were mostly done by now so they had excused themselves to go watch Yldril’s arrival.
“Fengi will go easy on her I am sure,” Ray replied a little forlornly. “Is she as mean as the other said?”
“Downright evil,” Saph sighed, shaking her head a bit. “And Fengi is dead set on trying to fix that.”
“Do you think she can?”
“I have no idea. What I do know is she will try her damndest. I hope that damn dragon doesn’t make her anymore depressed… It’s gonna suck next time Tiguan swings by too.”
“He’s not gonna like her is he?”
“No, I don’t think so… she’s a real piece of work,” Saph sighed, trying not to sound too depressed at the notion.
“Where is she staying? Just down in the grass next to Galaxer?” Ray asked cautiously.
“Yup. Just in the grass and outside every night. Fengi wants her to have nothing so she can make her earn it slowly. Make a lesson out of it. I think she’s trying to do what Tom did with Jarix. Biggest difference being that Jarix isn’t an evil murderous arsehole, she is.”
“What about winter?”
“She’ll be fine, dragons hibernate all winter anyway. Might just get her some cover if she comes around enough to earn it.”
“Are the winters bad here? It normally feels warm, but it’s starting to get quite chilly,” Ray asked carefully, rubbing her shoulders a bit.
“We’re pretty southern. Usually isn’t that bad, but we do get snow most years.”
“I hate the snow,” Ray responded, sounding quite unhappy. Saph could guess why easily enough. If the cold was rough on folk with a roof over their head, she didn’t want to think about what it did to people living on the streets.
“Well here you’ll have a warm bed, even if it gets a bit chilly outside. Woodstocks are more than plenty too, our dear Rachuck makes sure of that.”
“He’s very nice isn’t he? He cares so much.”
“I guess so, I think Dakota put it best. ‘Don’t tell him a horror story or he’ll try to prepare for it and then you’ll be working all night,’ ” Saph chuckled, letting a cautious smile creep onto her face.
Ray chuckled lowly as well, still looking out over the changing landscape. It was still quite beautiful, and the sun was shining. That was likely to become a rarer and rarer sight moving forward though. She would miss bathing in the sun to relax. This year had been so damn busy they hadn’t really gotten away with much relaxation.
They weren’t exactly lazy normally, but one needed breaks every now and again. She let her mind drift back to the time at the lake, the movie nights, the little festival and the various feasts they had held. It had been a good year in its own insane way. Maybe winter would be cozy if a little boring just like the old days.
‘Who am I kidding. It will be crazy all winter long.’
“Who did she say that to?” Ray questioned, Saph taking a second to remember what she had said.
“Oh… me. She told me that back when I came here. Gotta say, she was certainly right. She still grumbles about giving Herron the same advice. Little did she know he would take that one a bit too much to heart.”
“Oh come on, he’s not that bad… He’s just a bit sleepy.”
“At all hours of the day” Saph replied, finding it her turn to chuckle a bit. “You wanna go say hi to our first unwilling member?”
“Not really, no…”
“Me neither,” Saph echoed reluctantly. “But Fengi needs friends right now. Gotta go give her a hand.”
“Don’t get hurt, she sounded real mean. Oh, maybe have her bring some water. Rachuck wants the emergency barrels changed before winter.”
“I think that can wait till it starts getting a bit colder, we want it fresh for winter don’t we,” Saph replied with a reassuring smile before letting her wings fold out, starting to feel out the cold air. “See you in a bit, and don’t let old Rachuck work you to the bone.”
“Oh no, don’t worry, I’ll be busy with the floors and the dishes.”
Saph stood there watching Ray, letting her wings feel out the wind for a second longer as she sighed, still smiling. “Well, no taking everyone’s chores either, gods know least of all Herron’s.”
And with that Saph let herself drop off the platform, wings catching as she silently glided down towards where Tom was busy planning out their next bunker while Kulinger had a second group of people planning out where their new warehouse would go. All in all the whole place was bustling with activity both inside and out. Even the techies were out lending a hand with construction planning.
Saph had a hard time believing they would get it all done in time for winter, but with the workers assigned to Hylsdal and Grevi helping out, they might just manage it, depending of course on how soon said construction crew could move their asses over here.
‘There’s gonna be a lot of hard work this autumn isn’t there… fucking hell we better get paid good.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
It had been a while since Tom had last seen the black dragon, and that encounter had left her with freshly broken bones, the tip of her tail snapped off, and blood leaking from reopened wounds everywhere.
‘... I want healing like that,’ Tom concluded to himself as the dragon limping her way past them. It was several kilometers to her little camp. It was only a short hop on the wing, but it was still quite the walk. And she was evidently still in far from good shape. She wasn’t dripping blood or anything, but she was definitely limping quite badly. Enough to make Tom wonder if some bones hadn’t quite set right. Or perhaps she was just sore after walking for several miles while not quite healed.
As she came by she didn’t seem to pay him or anyone else any mind whatsoever. Work came to a halt as people stopped to stare, most of them hatefully. Yet she simply carried on as if they didn’t exist. No prancing, no cowering or looking worriedly around trying to guess who was gonna throw something at her first. She just carried on like a wounded robot.
‘I guess Fengi has been working her magic then,’ Tom just noted for himself solemnly. It made sense. Yldril wouldn’t really be up for walking several kilometers while wounded to a place she hated for its mere existence and which hated her just as much in return.
Everyone wanted a good look at the dragon. Some hadn’t seen her since the battle, and the mood had grown very grim to say the least. Tom didn’t know how to feel about it all. There could be no doubt she was guilty of some truly heinous crimes, yet here she was, a slave for eternity. Fengi walked out front, doing her best to stare down most of the keep. She wasn’t stupid, she knew half the keep didn’t want Yldril anywhere near here and the other half would quite happily see her worked to death in short order, at least before the whole Kalestine mess which made it all rather complicated.
Tom couldn’t decide what he wanted. What he knew though was that Fengi wasn’t letting either happen. ‘Damn girl is even more naive than me,’ he caught himself chuckling quietly as everyone else remained somber. There was the odd spitting in the dragon's direction, but mostly just staring and hateful glances before people started to get back to their jobs, turning their back on the dragon.
Tom had a feeling that if anyone had some rotten tomatoes, Yldril would have gotten a face full, but as it was he just stood there and stared.
“Well, at least she’ll be useful,” Raulf the gruff old farmer let out from next to him, leaning on his shovel like a pro and looking after the dragon as she carried on toward the base of the keep. “Are they letting her sleep that close to us? Really?”
“I don’t know, maybe they just want to unload the camp supplies. I see they made her carry most of it.”
“Well it was her camp, wasn’t it?” Raulf replied with a chuckle, standing up straight and hefting his spade. “Think she’s in shape to dig yet?”
“At least give her a bit to rest after that walk. Maybe we just set out the markers today and get to work on the wood we have. Plenty of work to do before we start digging anyway.”
“Fair enough,” Raulf concurred. “Think we can convince the white one to help haul some logs until the tax collector there is ready to pull her weight?”
“I guess we can try. I think we might want to try and have a meeting with dear Kalestine first though. I have a feeling she’s not in a great mood.”
“You’re making it rather hard to get to work, you know that right?” Raulf jested as Tom sighed deeply. “I guess so… I was just gonna send Kulinger and cross my fingers.”
“Brilliant plan, I’ll fetch him right away. Should have thought of that.”
“Wait, no.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Soo how is she doing?” Saph asked once she managed to spot a rather distraught-looking Fengi wandering away from everyone else. She probably wanted some peace and quiet, but Saph wasn’t sure that was smart right now.
Fengi was a little startled before turning to look at Saph with a forced upon looking smile. “Oh you know. Everyone hates her and she hates them, both convinced they are in the right.”
“She thinks she’s in the right?” Saph questioned, trying not to sound disrespectful and failing at least a little bit.
“Yes, she somehow does,” Fengi admitted. “In her own stupid, selfish way.”
Saph walked up and placed a reassuring hand on Fengi’s shoulder giving her a little shake. “Hey, you got this. If anyone might rub off on her it’s you. Heavens know you can be infectiously happy sometimes.”
“Not right now I’m not… And if I mess up, she will hurt someone. Probably out of spite more than anything else. I can’t let her do anything. She’s gonna hate me for it. Well more than she already does.”
“Normally I would say some trust is in order to prove you mean well, but…”
“She’s not trustworthy at all. Doesn’t even try to hide it,” Fengi carried on, sounding defeated, ears hanging limp by the side of her head as she looked down, kicking the ground a little. “She’s a fucking arsehole.”
“She’ll crack eventually. Sounds like she might have been at least decent at some point… even if it was a few centuries ago. If nothing else, she might behave just to get a tarp over her head.”
“That was the plan, wasn’t it?” Fengi sighed nervously as she looked up at the keep, the blue sky silhouetting nicely behind the tall stone structure sitting perched atop the outcropping. “I just hope people at least leave her alone in the night.”
“Might wanna tell Rachuck and the guards to keep an eye on her… How’s Unkai doing by the way?”
“Oh he’s over there,” Fengi replied, gesturing over her shoulder at the diminutive dude who was currently talking with Rachuck about something next to the wood-drying hut.
“I mean how are the two of you doing?” Saph reiterated gingerly, hoping there was at least some good news on that front for the young huntress.
Fengi turned to look at Saph, clearly trying very hard to not look sad, which only made her look more tragic. “He told me why he was so scared of me… What do you even say to that?” Fengi pleaded, eyes starting to turn wet.
“Oh come here,” Saph went, hoping a hug would at least help as she embraced Fengi, stroking the back of her head. “It’s gonna be fine I’m sure. He just needs to get used to it, you know? Like when we went swimming. Remember that?”
“Mhmhhm,” Fengi nodded, burying her face against Saph’s chest.
“It was scary, we had all been taught to fear the water, right? What can be in it, the cold, drowning, all that? Right from when we were little.”
“Yeah?” Fengi sniffled, not letting go.
“Well, he has to go swimming now. He is scared, he’s been told to be scared all the way since he was little. Maybe he’s like Dakota, but the little bugger loves you. I mean come on, he would be over the hills hiding if he didn’t.”
“But he’s scared of me. I can’t even whisper in his ear without him going stiff as a plank. Talking around the fire at night, he just sits there with fear in his eyes.”
“Well even with that medal he got, he’s never been the bravest, now has he? Keep trying. He’ll grow used to it. He’ll learn to trust you just like Yldril will. I have to say I don’t envy you right now. Even with a dragon at your beck and call.”
“Please don’t say it like that. Makes me sound like some evil witch from the stories when we were little.”
“Well, remember what one evil witch could do in those stories. Now imagine what you can manage. You could turn out a damn hero one day, you know that, right?”
“I guess so,” Fengi had to concede, even if it didn’t seem to cheer her up overly much. She didn’t even move a muscle from where Saph was holding her tight, still stroking the back of her head. “She might have got her ass beat by Glira, but she is incredibly strong. If I can somehow bring her around, she could make everything so much quicker without making every day a living hell.”
“And hey, it would only be the what… fourth, fifth, sixth? miracle to happen here this year?” Saph tried jokingly, giving Fengi a bit more of a squeeze and holding her close. “Odds are on your side there’s a couple left before winter.”
Fengi did let out a chuckle at that before sighing and looking up, though still not letting go. “Thanks, Saph.”
“Don’t mention it. Now I think I better go have some stern words about not giving our not-so-nice black dragon further reason to hate our guts. Think you’ll be okay in the meantime?”
Fengi just nodded, sighing a bit as she let go. “I’ll be fine.”
“You know what you could do? Go find Ray, it’s been a bit, she might have some ideas too. She won’t admit it, but she’s actually sorta smart.”
“You know what… I might just do that,” Fengi replied with a cautious smile as Saph gave her a last rub on the back, wearing a big smile.
“Catch you later then. I won’t be long, I promise.”
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There we go, progress is being made in more ways than one and no one got hurt for once. that's always nice. Well unless you count poor Pho. Or not so poor depending on how you look at it lol.
I hope you enjoyed it, do go check out the art show/wiki we have got some new pieces yet again. I like them a lot, hopefully, you will too.
Until next time. Take care and catch you around.
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Cover three by HarmaaGriffin
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