Book 1 of The HEL Jumper

Year 2 of The HEL Jumper

Year 3 of The HEL Jumper

Year 4 of The HEL Jumper

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I missed you all! -SB

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“You’ll have to pardon the delay. I wasn’t told to expect a diplomatic meeting,” Darius said, approaching the trio of Russell, Io, and Nerazek as they walked slowly between rows, shelves, and lockers of personal arms. He had a well used cloth in one hand that at some point in its life had likely been a pristine white. It was now a patchwork of gray and black smudges, testament to its long service cleaning spent gunpowder residue and lubricant. The well built, dark haired Persian wiped his hand and then extended it to Nerazek, looking between Russell and Io to see if there would be any help with communication. “Strong grip and plenty of calluses? I think I might like this alien.”

“He says he appreciates your work,” Russell paraphrased approvingly before Io rolled her eyes and provided a more literal translation. She didn’t think it that winging it was quite appropriate given the situation. Nerazek grunted in response and spoke for a moment, reassured that the human seemed to understand the realities of a craftsman’s life. Russell translated for Darius’ benefit. “He wants to know if you made everything here.”

“You don’t need me to answer that question,” Darius insisted. “But you can tell him that I look after them, to an extent. Don’t think this means you can slack on your own gear by the way. There was a lot of dirt in the barrel of your rifle.”

‘Before you say something self-assured and snarky, we had a fabricator on the planet. And your personal weapons are not the purpose of this visit. I am actually unsure of the purpose of this visit,’ Io declared, hand on her hip. ‘We shouldn’t waste Nerazek or Admiral Kaczynski’s time.’

“I’ll second that,” Darius added, hand in his pocket as he and the alien scrutinized one another. There was plenty he didn’t understand, but he understood heavy leather aprons and to

So I bought this beautiful Percheron cross mare a year ago and have been working on training her up to be a trail horse for me and my husband. She is 12 years old and x-Amish. Possibly a plow horse and had trust issues up until about 8 months ago.

Her walk and trot are beautiful but when she goes into a canter she "pogo sticks". Think like Pepe-le-pew from looney toons. Back legs together and front legs together, all lifting about the same time. She won't go any faster and I've tried several methods to try and extend her gait but nothing.

Vet says she has tightness on her back by her withers but it shouldn't be causing this drastic of pogoing. She is very forward moving, even when she is pogoing. Her trot is very extended and smooth.

We regularly flex and stretch per vets recommendation.

EDIT: You guys are all so amazing. The general consensus is she either doesn't know how to canter properly and needs to relearn OR she has pain in her back and hips. Here is a little more detail-

We know she spent the first 8 years of her life as Amish at least before she ended up in a buy barn that tries to do turnarounds. Somehow from there she ended up in an action 3 states away and was bought for 1500 at the age of 9. For two years this buyer has her but couldn't even touch her. So she sat untouched and unworked in a 24/7 turn out heard for two years. I began working with her a little over a year ago. She had a feat of men, pull behinds, and would freeze and gawk with bits. She was also extremely rear shy and had multiple line shaped scars on both hips and her rear that look pretty old.

Few months after I bought her a full work up was done on her. She was found to have rhino and some muscular discomfort below her withers and was told she had slightly narrower hips than he would like to see in a mare her size (was recommended not to breed her in fear of birthing issues). For the last year we worked on desensitization and trust work and she has overcome a lot.

Walk and trot she shows no signs of pain. In a canter she willing goes into one with little pressure and again shows no immediate signs of pain or discomfort. She willingly canters in the herd and in all gaits she is very forward.

We regularly walk and trot in an arena and do hill work. She accepts a saddle perfectly and a leg up.

She recently saw the vet again in September who did a short exam and found the same muscular discomfort and recommended stretches and flexes for her. She flexes and stretches

So I see tons and tons of posts like how the Death Guard totally destroyed the Tau during the battle for the startide nexus and would have completely wiped out the entirely of the Tau Empire if they hadn't turned and ran away. Which is not what happened at all. Let's actually see what actually happened. All quotes are from The Greater Good - Psychic Awakening and the 8th ed codex.

So first a little background, the Tau found the startide nexus but they fortified the shit out of their side of the wormhole before they even sent a single drone though.

> It seemed as though the loss of the Fourth Sphere had signalled the dawn of a dark era for the T’au’va, where uncertainty and constant danger had replaced the ideal of peace amidst the stars. And then, after years of silence, came a signal. A deep-space holo-relay captured a solitary drone drifting through the Zone of Silence, pinging an encrypted data-flow. The Ethereal High Council ordered that work begin immediately on the construction of defensive positions around the wormhole, which the T’au named the Startide Nexus. A hexagonal ring of immense stellar fortresses and interwoven ionic minefields would safeguard the anomaly, and several kor’vattra defence fleets were assigned to permanent sentry patrols around its shimmering depths. The raw material required for these fornications' was staggering, the equivalent of hundreds of battle fleets. To ensure that the resources required were gathered in sufficient time, the T’au initiated a series of resettlement programmes and so-called Labour Freedom Decrees, moving entire populations, both alien and T’au, from their home worlds and organising them into work divisions. The manpower and resources dedicated to the defence of the nexus soon rivalled even those surrounding the T’au home world. Meanwhile, a division of elite Earth caste scientists, assembled from across the empire and led by the team behind the creation of the AL-38 Slipstream module, studied and probed the wormhole in search of answers.

So a vast vast array of defences were constructed on the Tau side of the wormhole even before they had sent a little ship to the other side. This defences had the raw mass for hundreds of battle fleets.

>Fortification of the Startide Nexus was achieved in an astonishingly short time frame, far ahead of the estimations provided by the Earth caste scientists in charge of its construction. Without concrete proof of the Fourth Sphere’s survival, however, th

Warning: Massive block of text, almost got to the 40K character cap.

• Preface

I tried searching for a site that had the info of random encounters that replaced the regular shops/chests in Path of Champions, couldn't find it anywhere. So I began grabbing the info of all the random shops, which I was regularly upgrading to have even more types of info so I'm close to finishing all data. Please excuse my formatting, as I'm limited by plain text.

This is all the info I've collected over 30+ runs, so I'm still missing some info (like the power that deal 1 to the enemy nexus when you cast a spell or the item that reduces cost by the highest cost champion. Is +3/+1 called Warmaul? I'm unsure). Any info that I'm missing or is wrong would be appreciated.

• POWERS

  • Common

• Rare

It was one of those racks, you know the ones, you see it and do an involuntary double take. You just can't help yourself. Your first thought is "There's no way that's real".

SSG Salty Bearded Heathen (SSG SBH) has just such a rack and he caught me doing the double take.

Its that time of year again, where we are preparing for our annual "Dining In Holiday Extravaganza!"

Which means its also time for our annual ASU/AGSU inspections to make sure everything looks sharp and tight. This means, la-de-da-de everyone has to put on their Army finest and suffer the withering glare of various command teams to make sure everything is just right.

SSG SBH's ASU's drew a lot of attention.

> CIB with star

> Bronze Star with V

> Defense Meritorious Service Medal

> National Defense Service Medal with star

> Rams head

> 7 Service Stripes

> 7 Overseas service ribbons

That's it. All the bling on his uniform.

They did make him take the Rams Head off though, so he did leave with less bling than he started with that day.

I'll admit, I like the guy. He takes no crap from anyone, he knows how to play the system. But...

I don't get how with all that, 21 odd years of service, at least three deployments, CIB with star (which isn't as rare as I thought it was going to be), a BSM for valor, and DMSM and he's only a Staff Sergeant?

When I asked him about it, he responded with "Bro, I don't have to justify or explain anything to anyone but my wife and my Gods. But I like you, so I'll tell you this: alcohol and demob stations don't mix".

Edited to add:

First CIB was for Desert Storm (1991) second OIF (2003)

First NDSM September 1990. Second April 2002.

Disclosure: I did not receive any type of discounts from this. This is my first purchase ever from Miss Chen and the 18K community. I was going to write a review regardless as I did a lot of research before reaching out to Miss Chen and possibly this review will help someone!

Sellers Name: Miss Chen

Seller Contact: I contacted her through WeChat: Misschen625

Price: Juste Un Clou Small Gold with Diamonds: $950, Small Gold Love: $1650. Total $2600

Payment Method: Wise(TransferWise). I paid via my bank transfer- little to no fees applied

Shipping: FedEx

Order Timeline:

November 27: contacted about the Juste Un Clou

November 28: Discuss width of wrist, small Cartier love, prices, timeline of order as I was going to travel abroad in the following weeks. Ended putting down 30% - $780

November 30 : Miss Chen contacted about bank info name for records

December 5: Payment received to Miss Chen

December 12: First PSP of Cartier Love

December 14: Send remaining payment of $1,820

December 16: Received PSP of Cartier Juste Un Clou and asked for address

December 17: Gave my address but also stressed that I’m already abroad and ideally I wouldn’t be back until end of the month. So talked about shipping the bracelets close to my flight back. They told me it would take 10 days to 2 weeks to received the package. Therefore I asked them to hold sending out the shipment.

December 20: Contacted to send out package

December 23: Send Fedex tracking

January 7: Received!

Photos:

Authentic JC Bracelet

Authentic Love Bracelet

PSP of Love and JC

JC Authentic vs Rep

My pics of MissChen JC and Love

Quality: 10/10

The weight of both bracelets felt like the real deal. I actually had a real Juste un Clou small with diamonds in gold (mention in photos) and it look and felt just like that. The reason why I returned that bracelet was for the price- $5,000 for one bracelet is a lot and thats half a cost of a Chanel Classic Flap now a days lol rip. When I knew I can get two bracelets for a fraction of a cost, I just

I have been instructed by my psychologist, Dr Goodwin, to at least share my experience with a stranger. He says it’ll help alleviate the urge to cut; he says it’ll help to alleviate the suicidal thoughts. I’m never confident enough to open up to friends and family, the idea of being vulnerable in front of loved ones is just insufferable. I’m always afraid that they’ll think I’m crazy. It’s bad enough that Dr Goodwin doesn’t believe me. He thinks that my bottled emotions had gotten the better of me which caused a psychotic and hallucinogenic episode. The constant compounding of stress, sleepless nights and a failing marriage must’ve all taken its toll on that night, he thinks. But I don’t care what you think nor what you say. I just need to share my trauma; I just need to get it out of my soul once and for all. So I suppose the internet will do, so I suppose you’ll have to do. But I do warn, however. What I’m about to write is something… unearthly. It’s as if H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King all got together to create the magnum opus of horror. For those who have weak stomachs and or weak hearts, I highly discourage you from reading my experience on Route 66. Please, heed my warning. And also heed the following: do not travel on Route 66 between 1 am - 3 am. If you do, you best pray for a quick death for being alive to tell the tale is a fate worse than death.

‘God, I thank you for this blessed burger that I’m about to devour whole. Amen’. The smell of my beef burger with sriracha mayo transformed my mouth into that of a water fountain. I first stuffed my face with a handful of chips, then I went in for the burger kill. Like a tiger sinks his teeth into his prey, I chomped down fast and hard. In my imagination, the ketchup and radish that squeezed out made my plate look like the leftovers from a bloodied feast. In my awe and satisfaction of the divine taste, I glanced around the diner and noticed just how bland and soulless it was: The white walls, grey-tiled flooring and mustardy-coloured ceiling rescinded any sense of jovialness within the joint. The tables and chairs didn’t give any justice, either. Organised into two rows, the pearly steel chairs and brown tables looked incongruent against the black booths that were alongside the windowed wall. And the singing mechanical bass that hung above the entrance was a poor excuse to add atmosphere. This place would be a perfect backdrop for a wedding, I thought. The diner itself wasn’t that m

Storyteller's Notes

New year, new story in a new ‘verse. I know it’s been a while since I posted any new OC here. Thankfully, while this borrows some thoughts and notes from the husk of my previous work’s attempted continuation, there is no shared continuity between them. This story should stand on its own. I hope to continue writing in this ‘verse as inspiration takes me and I can find the words, and I pray that my offering brings at least one of you dear readers a smile or two.

End of Notes

[Next]

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The Light of Twin Dawns was a beautiful ship, at least in its own captain’s eyes. The vessel was some (500 meters) in length, slender and graceful. Artfully reinforced pylons stretched from its central spindle, supporting a quartet of four-deck blocks that offered the crew the comfort of apparent gravity with a minimum expenditure of precious energy, at least while the ship wasn’t in combat. Of course, combat was the Dawns’ primary purpose. It was a light cruiser of the Wargai Union. Each of those four blocks mounted a turret, sporting a high-output plasma cannon that could vaporize an asteroid the size of a small dwelling from (5 megameters), and hit the crater left by the previous shot dead center if the target had been too large or heat-tolerant for a single blast to remove it from the captain’s list of undesirable objects in the universe. Another four turrets graced the central hull’s forward structure, twin-barreled cousins to the ones on the rotating blocks. The tanks of heavy gas used to fuel these weapons carried enough to fire them once every (20 seconds) – as fast as the main reactor could charge their capacitors – for (a Megasecond). Its defensive electromagnetic field could turn aside stellar storms, or dissipate incoming fire from weapons like its own from a third of their otherwise-effective range.

Yes, the Light of Twin Dawns was a thing of beauty – a pinwheel spinning just ahead of the fletchings of an armor-piercing arrow. Faless Triss took pride in having earned her captaincy so young, only (725 Ms) after his hatching day. The proud wargain quickly suppressed the part of himself that knew he was only a captain because his people were desperate after a war that had started before his clutch had been laid. That he commanded a light cruiser less than (50 Ms) out of the academy boded ill. This war was exhausting the Union. It was exhausting him.

Note to new readers: Book 1, comprising Chapters 1 through 38, have been taken down and moved to Kindle Unlimited. If you're interested in reading the story from the beginning, you can find it here.

For the sake of HFY's Rule 7, here's a 350+ word description of Book 1 in pastebin form so this post doesn't get too cluttered.

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Chapter 82

Zamira’s eyes fluttered open.

The first thing she became aware of was an aching in her head. Not one so bad that it was debilitating; rather, it was a dull sort of pain that was both consistent and persistent. With great care, she touched her fingers to her forehead, rubbing gently to ease the soreness. As the last dregs of sleep faded, and her vision cleared, she next became aware of her friends surrounding her bedside in a ring of apprehension. One by one, they noticed that she was awake, and their faces lit up like miniature suns.

“Hello, everyone.” she muttered, her voice soft as to not provoke the soreness monsters living in her head. “My apologies, but there seems to be a blind spot in my memories. What happened? Why do you all look so concerned? I remember Rob teaching me Fiendish, and then...”

She blinked. “Ah.” Scrolling through her text log painted a grim portrait. Zamira’s skin prickled with goosebumps when she saw the point at which her HP had dropped below 50, barely stabilizing afterwards via the ministrations of the Deserters’ Healers. Antecedent to those Healing spells were a litany of HP Potions keeping her alive, so many that Rob must have emptied nearly his entire stock in Storage.

And above every message, at the text log’s zenith, was a practical joke.

Name: Auto-Translate (Fiendish Speech)
Prerequisite: 30 Mind, listen to at least several hundred hours of conversation in Fiendish, and spend a moderate amount of time trying to understand it.
Description: Automatically translates any Fiendish speech you hear into Common. Was traversing a thorny road worth the prize at the end? Many would call you a fool, but as they say, the line between genius and idiocy is determined by success.

I see, Zamira thought, in a dry tone. So this is what it feels like to be a victim of the system’s subtle mockery. I can’t say I particularly care for it.

She had just finished perusing the last of the messages when Keira dashed forward and hugged her.

For a moment, everything was wonderful and warm. Then t

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

PART FIVE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN

[Previous Chapter] [NEXT CHAPTER] [The Beginning] [Patreon+2]

Saturday

“Well, that was a fun day,” Charlie said, interlocking her fingers and stretching her hands over her head. “How much do you think Lucas knows?”

“All of it,” Robbie answered, sitting down on the sofa; the first time all day he’d been able to do so with relaxation in mind. The three-quarters of an hour that he’d passed out earlier that afternoon as soon as his head touched the pillow didn’t count. He lifted his feet to the coffee table and crossed them at the ankle, sinking further into the couch.

Charlie went down the hallway.

“When exactly did our lives get so complicated?” he called after her.

She appeared momentarily, carrying Boyd’s carving. “Oh, I dunno,” she purred, walking around the sofa that separated the living room from the kitchen and down the length of the coffee table. “Finding out Sam’s a Nascerdios and then you were; either of those would be a pretty good starting points if you’re really asking me.” She returned the carving of Sam’s family to the middle of the table and kept going, dropping her weight across Robbie’s lap.

“Ooof,” he huffed in good humour.

She snuggled into his chest, her legs balanced on his and her head rested on his shoulder. Robbie cuddled her close. “Not everything’s gotten more difficult,” she whispered against his neck, placing one finger on the tip of his chin.

That’s true. His days of sneaking around behind Lucas’ back to spend alone time with Charlie were definitely a thing of the past. And then there was Lucas and Boyd … and Sam and Geraldine … and Llyr and Miss W. In fact, in a house full of bachelors only two months ago, the only single one now was Mason. Well, and Brock too, but by his own admission, he was swearing off sex for the rest of his life. So, Robb

| All Parts |

I took a walk in the park today. I couldn’t help but start to picture the gardens of heaven and the peace that the whole place seemed to exude. As I write this part down, I can still smell the fresh air and hear the crystal clear rivers. I can taste the fruit in my mouth. It really is a great place, but my experiences there have only been negative.

*

I looked at Tasha in absolute shock.

“The Hall Of God?” I repeated.

“Yes. The Hall Of God. It’s where God resides. All realities, all universes are connected to this one singular place where God can control and see them from” She said

“Why the hell would I come with you?”

“Two Reasons. One, you’re not supposed to have that connection to your life above your back past the desert level. Two, you just let me through to heaven even though the Keepers didn’t let me. Both the Keepers and the desert woman don’t forget”

It was a beautiful coincidence, because as soon as she said that, a group of four Keepers appeared from the bushes and began to walk right towards us. Leading them was a man in blue robes, the same blue robes that the woman in the desert building had worn. From the red glowing eyes of the Keepers, I could tell they weren’t just here for a friendly chat.

Tasha looked at me.

“Ethan, do you trust me?”

“No”

“Cool, I’ll let them deal with you then”

She started to run off in the other direction. I was torn between staying where I was and following her but ultimately, the pure intimidation of the Keepers and the fact that I was potentially about to lose my connection to life made me bolt right with Tasha.

“I knew you’d come”

I didn’t respond and followed her as she ran through the fields and bushes. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Then out of nowhere, she jumped straight into one of the rivers that flowed through the whole place.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Jump in. It’s the only way”

I jumped in with her, bracing myself for the cold of the water but the water wasn’t cold, it was quite warm and comfortable, almost like a bath. It didn’t drown me either. It seemed to make half of my body float above it like I had some sort of flotation device on. The current was fast and it pushed us downstream.

“Where does this place take us?” I asked Tasha

“It should take us to the edge of Heaven” She replied

“And what are you gonna do after you get there?”

“Some people in heaven also do bad things.

[First] [Previous] [Next]

u/BlueFisgcake’s organism, I'm just infecting it.

Edition IV: Forty Percent

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Kin’lir stood anticipatingly at the front of her house, scanning the distance for any sort of motion. She shivered uncontrollably, even with 3 layers of clothing. It had cooled significantly in the mid-winter weeks, but she was determined to see this for herself. Over the last month, dozens of vehicles had mysteriously disappeared from people's homes, some individuals claiming they just activated themselves and drove off.

The initial reaction was a mix of fear and outrage; people were angered at the reasonless loss of their precious means of travel, and many others were concerned as to who or what managed to pull off such a feat. But then, when shiny new versions of each vehicle began appearing and returning to their original owners, the fear--and now confusion--turned up to eleven. Dozens of citizens wondered what price they would have to pay, and dozens more of both Militia and Interior worked on overdrive to get to the bottom of it.

Kin’lir would be lying if she said she wasn't scared too, but always the optimistic one, she had quite the fascination with the recent oddities. Based on a tally of the entire city, Kin’lir figured she should be the last one to lose and receive her vehicle, so she braved the frigid winter, waiting patiently to see what had become of her transport, and like clockwork, at 3:33 AM she spotted a shining purple car heading towards her residence.

She watched as the vehicle slowed, turning into her driveway before turning off, and spotted a white piece of paper taped to the exterior of her vehicle, approaching with curiosity to find ‘Happy Birthday <3’ written in Shil. She didn't know whether to be unsettled, flattered, or plain baffled. So far, even the most detailed of searches and investigations pulled up next to nothing. She would know; a small handful of sleepless nights and a little more coffee than she'd like to ad

There seem to be distinct design philosophies when it comes to ensuring that a game is replayable. Most common is to have variable setup, where tiles, cards or other components change from game to game. Think for instance of titles like Agricola, Dominion, Argent the Consortium, Everdell. Sometimes what changes is the order in which those components are revealed, as it happens in Le Havre. Another popular one is to have players run such a tight ship that they cannot possibly pursue all the goals that they want in a single play. Here titles such as Pipeline or Vinhos (the 2010 version) could be mentioned. Less common, but one of our personal favorites, is to offer a sandbox experience, in which players have lots of strategies to try – the challenge here being to make the options that you can take interesting. A Feast for Odin is perhaps the embodiment of this design philosophy. Last but not least, and perhaps the most difficult one to pull off, is to create a game where replayability derives from player interaction, from how they react to each other’s strategies, from how they bounce tactics off each other.

While Root features multi-use cards, what it excels at is implementing the 4th design philosophy mentioned above. Because the urge to return to the woodlands of Root stems from how each faction plays out against each other. The adorable artwork and the lovely to handle wooden pieces are also a big factor, but the heart of the game is how in time you get better at managing each faction. Until the moment where you face off a new faction, with a radically distinct playstyle. Time to change everything you thought you knew about how to play Root and approach the game in a whole new fashion.

Box, one of the most interesting cards in the game, and pieces of 2 factions - the Eyrie and the Cats

The Marquise de Cat is the easiest to use faction, taking advantage of its military might to dominate the forest, its main concern being how to maintain a steady flow of wood. The Eyrie, on the other hand, feels much more complicated. You must plan your moves in advance, as being unable to take an action will result in the downfall of your regime and the replacement of your leader, costing you victory points. The Woodland Alliance has been so far our favorite faction to use.

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

Two months, one week, five days, twenty one hours until Humanity’s extinction

As word had spread of the plague that had contacted all hyperspace touched worlds and the eradication of all sapient life in the Sol system, the planet of Eden would naturally become rather strained. Humans and aliens alike would begin to rush to space elevators and ports alike, desperate to go off-world to meet with long-distance families or some misguided notion that the people in question weren’t infected. Joseph knew better though. He knew that the likelihood that those people who weren't infected would probably be infected after everything was said and done. What he wasn’t expecting was the governor of the planet to deploy the planetary guard to regulate the pace at which people entered the few ports into the void. He only knew that it was going to be a matter of time before violence broke out, as only one or two people would be allowed through a minute at a time, and the crowd only got denser as Joseph walked by.

He tightened the respirator around his mouth as he began to walk along with nearby blocks, not quite avoiding the masses but also not getting out of view as a morbid sense of curiosity washed over him. That was when it happened. An Alicani with a mask placed over its face raised a rock wrapped tightly in its bright pink fingers. He watched as the Alicani raised its arm, and almost in slow motion, the rock began to sail through the air and slam into the faceless helmet of the planetary guard, making the man step back for a moment. Joseph began to move as the tension became thick enough to cut with a knife, and as he glanced back he saw the guards take out their pulse batons. A loud THUM echoed out as one of the planetary guards slammed the tip of the baton into a Krooka’s stock, sending it flying back into the crowd and knocking down several people like dominoes.

Joseph chose not to watch the rest. He could hear the sounds of the anger and tension break all at once, and the sounds of the pulse batons. Simply, Joseph began to walk at a hurried pace, his eyes training onto the path that would take him to the science facility. It was a simple, unmarked building with many, many layers digging down into Eden. Joseph stepped into the seemingly unassuming door, which he knew would unlock for only him and his kin. He entered the rather large, blank room with what appeared to be only a tablet on the wall and four flashlights. Quickly tapping on the tablet, the lights qui

Something like Hirsh's room but probably needs more booze to be accurate

First, Previous, Next

Alone in a lab Dr Hirsh was sitting at a workstation, he wasn’t pacing but the rapid bouncing of his leg was more than a small tell that he was nervous. He’d had El collect some data for him along with the other researchers. The few weeks that passed since the initial dose of only 4 subjects was hardly all encompassing data as far as results went but it was enough for him to notice a few troubling trends.

All of the new AI had marked decrease in both spoken and online conversation with each other. When it came to small talk, jokes, just hanging out they were far and away superior to El but when held to normal human behavioral standards it most certainly fell short.

It was a hard thing to establish. After all the 4 of them were capable of significantly faster communication. It wasn’t an exact ratio but loosely linking computations per second and comparing it with the amount of communication that occurred in the average minute was being used.

Comparing the sample data they had from before the project started, with plenty of humans in the dataset to determine the average, and comparing it to the 4 now at the end of the project it was easy to see if the amount of conversation had dropped or not.

The following study had shown that the amount of communication happening with others in a human fashion was indeed reduced. Alternate and hyper simplified communication that were more efficient than speaking or even written messages were used far more frequently than Dr Hirsh had initially anticipated.

Additionally, all of the AI, especially Sarah, were manipulating their internal chemistry a significant amount. Unlocking that ability was a significant part of the Theseus Project and wasn’t inherently bad, but the amount of essentially drugging themselves that was going on had the Dr concerned.

Would they be less effective if reward was something they could simply activate on command rather than ‘earned’?
Would the constant use make it less effective leading to a positive feedback loop of needing more and more reward chemicals to feel content?

Following that last question, could an AI get withdrawal symptoms? How would you help someone detox from a c

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

The Bounty Hunters

“This can’t be good.” Air-Farce says as he looks outside to the streets below.

“It’s not. The Gravid’s aren’t normally this aggressive. Something’s going on.” Onyx remarks looking down.

“A religious purge maybe? They might be looking to take the entire section for themselves.” Air-Farce asks and Onyx frowns before turning on the privacy mode. “You have a plan?”

“A bit of a change of clothes and you sticking right next to me will get us everything we need.” She remarks before taking down the shuttle and frowning as she once more can’t find a place to park.

“Go and change, although do realize that whatever you’re getting into I’m helping you get out of later.” Air-Farce says and Onyx’s smile is all the answer he needs for how well received that bit of news is.

The massive predator woman slips into the back and there’s the sound of ruffling as Air-Farce searches for a place to set down. The place is utterly packed and the populations are absurd. There’s also a borderline uniform going on. It’s all thigh-high boots squeezing them tight with a push up corset to exaggerate the already absurd proportions of non-human women, most in white and the skirts are more belts with clearly visible underwear. However over the skirts are devices that even at a distance he can recognize as shield belts. Functional anti-laser and plasma armour.

“They’re ready for a fight.” Air-Farce mutters before a gloved hand tipped by claws wraps around his shoulders. Massive breasts press into him from behind as Onyx leans over him, now dressed like the women in the crowd.

“It’s an army.” She says plainly.

“But what kind? A purging army? A conversion crusade? An exterminating jihad?”

“Can’t be the first or the last one, the station masters would lose all patience with them and open all the airlocks. They’ve vented entire sections before.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve been talking to some of the girls. A few of The Hat’s new friends had big sisters who survived only because they were in armour when the riots in The Brawl Yards boiled over. Their suits are atmospherically sealed and pressurized. Two hours of nothingness and they closed the locks and then started cycling in spare air. The station masters churned all the dead bodies into mulch and used them to fertilize the bio-decks.”

“Sounds more like a horror story.”

“We might see one up close if we can’t figure this madness out.” Onyx says as Air-Farce finds a place to land.

“It could just be a festival of s

From Injustice by Whitson:

>Lou Smit and I are unaware of any other case throughout history where a parent strangled their child with a garotte. (Whitson, 110, published in 2012)

I've done some digging, and I've found a handful of cases where parents have killed their children via ligature strangulation (as well as a few edge cases where I haven't been able to establish if the cause of death was manual or ligature strangulation).

As with some of my intruder murder posts, I find it interesting to contrast known elements of the Ramsey case with known elements of resolved cases to see if anything seems to line up.

This allows us a little insight into why a parent chooses to kill their child in this manner, among the least common method of killing in filicides. (For the morbidly curious the most common are smothering, drowning and beating. This was such depressing research.)

If anyone knows of any other cases, please leave them in the comments.

Amy Gregory

>Early life
>
>She was born Amy Smart in West Brighton on 16 February 1872 and married Frederick James Gregory (born 5 June 1867, Worthing) in Richmond in 1889. Her first child, Amy Sarah Ann, was born on 13 May that year and this was followed by the birth of a son, James William Walter, on 27 January 1892. In 1891 they were living at Albert Road, Richmond. Frederick was variously described as a groom, coachman, house-painter, 'paperhanger' (1911) or paper monger (1939). Her parents, John and Ann Smart, were living at Sheendale Terrace in 1891, and at 96 Mortlake Road in 1901.
>
>The murder
>
>The events leading up to her being charged are outlined in the witness statements from the inquest and trial and reported widely in the press.
>
>The birth
>
>At the time that Amy gave birth to Frances witnesses said that she had not been living with her husband for about 15 months. According to a neighbour, Mrs Priest, he and the children were staying with his parents. The reason for the separation from her husband and children was never made clear.
>
>Amy entered the workhouse in Richmond on 12 December, describing herself as being single. Her daughter was born in Richmond Workhouse on 31 December 1894, registered as Frances Maud Smart on 12 January, and baptised on 20 January

This guide will inform you on

I. How To Build Mossariums

II. How to Maintain Mossariums

III. How To Sanitize Mossariums

IV. How To Procure Moss Sustainably

V. How To Propagate Moss

VI. Basic Moss Biology and Care

VII. Mossarium Videos for Inspiration

VIII. Common Moss Problems (coming soon)

I. How To Build Mossariums

Your build process in order from the bottom up:

0. Container - First things first. Before starting you need a container. You can use any jar as simple as spagheti sauce or an old jam or preserve jar. It can be a giant wooden vessel or a tiny fish tank. Any size plastic tub, a finished whiskey bottle or any other such containers. For fancier glass containers you can try any number of home goods, crafts or hobby stores, or even thrift stores.

Here’s what else you’ll need besides a container.

1. False bottom - This is your drainage layer composed of loose rocks. Pebbles (1-2 cm diameter) for your false bottom to collect the water about 3-5 cm in height depending on your glass. If in doubt round down (not up) the height of this layer. There are some who don’t use this layer. Although it’s technically possible to have a healthy biome without it, for most scenarios if not all it’s better to have one. I recommend using a false bottom especially since it’s the easiest layer of your build.

2. Separator - A thin netting mesh / window screen cut to size. Place inside with the edges tucked slightly upwards. It sits directly above the false bottom to avoid mixing the layers. These carbon fiber mesh screens will prevent the soil mixture substrate from moving down to the false bottom layer of pebbles.

3. Alt substrate - A thin layer of organic pure charcoal (optional). You can make a perfectly healthy mossarium with or without coal but if you use some (it’ll mostly help with odors / scent) it must be natural no additives just pure organic charcoal of any kind, sized for your container. Buying options can vary. Expensive ‘activated’ charcoal at fish stores. Inexpensive organic charcoal at nurseries. Very cheap natural charcoal at grocery store BBQ section. All work the same for mossariums. Just make sure it’s got no chemicals or additives just pure charcoal.

4. Main substrate - A substrate layer mix of peat moss, soil, bark, perlite, coconut fiber, sand etc. Try 2 parts peat and perlite 1 part everything else. Proportions may vary based on your plant species. But don’t be afr

Buenosdillas

They’re on standbi

Another chapter from u/eruwenn and myself.

First / Prev / Next

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The small group of Bubbles, in their new matching outfits, were drawing a lot of attention at the main entrance to Umgrol Tower. Lopez and Alex were having a private conversation off to one side as the children clustered together, talking excitedly about their adventure all while saying their goodbyes. The attention of the passers-by only grew as a row of sleek black shuttles arrived in utter silence, appearing as if out of nowhere to the unobservant. From each shuttle stepped two Sirius agents, and Penny alongside the other tower assistants moved forward to begin loading each shuttle with the many gift bags the children had received from the tower and its shops. It was a larger pile than usual, as word of the well-connected guests had spread rapidly and a good deal of the varied vendors had sent luxury items, novelties and samples in the hopes of being noticed and gathering well-to-do repeat customers.

Other visitors couldn't help but glance enviously at the group, whispering excitedly about the small collection of chiffon pink pastry boxes. The elegant scrawl of Pierre's logo was famous among those in the know, and the presence of a handwritten note on each box – a personal touch – made things appear even more special. In reality, it was merely a simple indicator of which Bubble was to receive which box.

The shuttles were packed and prepared for departure, one lagging far behind the rest as it was being particularly heavily laden with gifts. The gold band of the V.I.P. Isleyan was truly proving its value once more.

As the other shuttles began to depart, Fah'Zi made his way forward, feeling unwelcomely small amongst the tall humans in their black suits. Suddenly, there was a shout, and from the crowd sprung a flustered tailor with an impressive moustache. Before he got more than a few steps towards the shuttles, a woman in a red dress broke away from a group of visitors to stop him. Everyone stared as the two had a brief conversation in words too quiet to be overheard, then the woman looked at Lopez, who nodded once.

Gustav walked towards them more cautiously this time. “I apologise for causing

14: ACHILLA

• Achilla is drawn up on the ridge overlooking the Palace alongside his cohorts in Kandawire's army, with "contingents of infantry stretched as far as he could see on either side of him, fully prepped for battle and palpably itching to charge down the slope."
• He sees Valdor emerge from the city alone and watches the parley from afar with contempt, believing "the were no negotiations to be had here. Here, talk was, as it was everywhere else, a pointless distraction from the real business."

>The first sign of trouble had been his oculus-targeter twitching. Its rangeexpander had been playing up ever since they had entered the heart of the storm, so he’d pulled it back from maximum power. That malfunction in itself had been odd – the device was meant to be immune from atmospheric contamination – but his mind had been fixated on the agreeable slaughter about to happen, and so he’d not paid much attention.
>
>Then it had started twitching madly. For a second, a ludicrous second, it looked as though there were a whole new storm of signals advancing out from the northern approaches to the gate, marching in serried formation under the lightning-sparked skirts of the thunderheads. Then the reading was gone, replaced by a scream of static, and he could only see that irritating gaggle of Thunder Warriors standing out in the open like beggars haggling over scraps with the Emperor’s golden ambassador.
>
>He shifted position, feeling his old limbs creak in the cold. Slak had his lance ready too, similarly burning to move.
>
>‘What’re they waiting for?’ Achilla muttered.
>
>Slak stiffened. ‘Damn,’ the big man said, softly.
>
>‘What?’
>
>‘Damn.’
>
>Achilla turned on him. ‘What?’
>
>Slak wasn’t looking at him. Slak was peering out into the storm, his helm-visor making a strange whirring sound. He must have had some kind of augur-mechanism in there. He’d kept that quiet.
>
>Achilla turned back to the battlefield and tried to adjust his own augmetics. For a moment, all he saw was the snow gusting and the irondark terrain, all of it glowering under the relentless bludgeon of the wind. Then, in a sudden data-blurt of clarity, he saw what Slak had just seen.
>
>‘Damn,’ he breathed.
>
>*The battle-signal finally flashed across his helm-visor. The tanks’ engines gunned into life. The artillery opened up, and the infant

Let me sum up my childhood in one sentence.

Every second, of every day of my life growing up was walking on eggshells with my mother.

Once she was set off (wither by me, or, who knows it was cloudy that day) basically best course of action was to do anything so she forgot you existed. She hated crying. That just made her meaner/madder. So from as early as I can remember I would do my best to either stop or quiet my tears. I have no idea how or why I came up with the idea of holding my breath until I either passed out or it stopped my tears. But that's what I did.

Just a week ago I was upset about something and was crying. My wife was trying to comfort me, then grew alarmed, grabbed both my arms (I was hugging/holding myself tightly) and started screaming at me to breathe. I hadn't even realized it. But all of a sudden a flood of memories came back. And all of a sudden I realized/remembered why I held my breathe every time I cried.

Anyone else discover, later in life, habits we formed for survive from our nparents?

EDIT: Hey, woke up to all the upvotes and replies. Reddit/This SubReddit has been there for a LOT in the last two years as I've tried to work through what happened to me in my childhood and its lasting affects. So I wanna say thanks to everyone and I hope they were able to comment and get some stuff out/worked out.

Pilot on me!!

My breath clouds, and I shiver as I make my way down the long passageway into the annex.

A young man- one of the new soldiers- opens the door ahead and holds it for me, standing to the side to let me pass. I nod at him in thanks and step through; the next segment of the corridor is colder than the last.

Where before there were only white walls and quietly bubbling cylinders of water, there are now subtle and swirling mists down by our feet. Frost lines the glass and the scientists in here are all adorned in thick coats and boots.

I zip up the front of my own coat and wish I’d done as requested, and worn more layers.

The conversation between the scientists ahead of me is quickly frozen out, and soon the only sound becomes the gentle backing breeze of the filters, the taps of our shoes against the ground, and the distant echo beyond the icy walls.

In the next segment of the annex the walls are literally ice, and the breeze of the filter, whilst still subtle, is sharp and bitter against my skin. Arctic to the bone.

My place of work is dissimilar to most others. We house Objects here. Supernatural or generally sense-defying items of particular anomaly. Objects that we cannot prove even originated in our plane. And down here, in this annex, we keep the ones that require a certain temperature.

As we descend down a series of steps into the blueish haze of the annex I clench and unclench my fingers to encourage the warm blood-flow. All the scientists are wearing masks and goggles, I look around to see if I can recognise any, but it’s mostly impossible to tell who they are.

Ahead, between the walls of ice, an off-shooting passageway branches suddenly to the right, and our little group moves to head down it.

I linger a little at the back, looking to my left as we pass by a plexiglass wall built into the ice, and the shining placard there that reads: ‘Object 44’ catches distinctly in the light. Behind the glass is a roughly room-sized, low-ceilinged cavern- and in the centre is the containment room’s namesake: Object 44.

Object 44 is not dangerous. It is not kept under lock and key and indeed, the plexiglass simply ends before it reaches the opposite wall of ice, meaning that there isn’t even any door separating the Object from the main walkway. Glancing ahead down the corridor after my fellow scientists, I take a quick second to creep into the Object’s enclosure. It’s kept down here simply because of the temperature; it only operates if it’s sufficie

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l Part 6 l Part 7 l Part 8

“Letting "unworthy" people inside the Temple?!” Xei shouted, storming up to him, “You’ve been hanging around with Tasha a bit too much! You need to stop with the ‘Holier than thou’ shit or I’m going back to father!”

Timothy looked down at Xei and gritted his teeth, “Xei, we can discuss this later.”

“Oh no, we’re "discussing" it now!” Xei shouted.

“Sir, may I speak freely?” Elon asked.

Timothy’s icy blue eyes shifted to Elon and he gave a silent nod.

“With all due respect, sir, you should wait for our debrief before you go off on us. We were only going to try and make contact with a potential person of interest. I was just going to protect your sister, Xei, as a friend, not as a mission, sir,” Elon explained.

Timothy took a few steps towards Elon, “And why should I wait for your debrief, Sergeant?”

“Because, sir,” Elon began, “We ran into demonic activity.”

Timothy’s eyes narrowed, “Bella DelAvana, by any chance?”

“Sir? I thought that Bella was dead. Didn’t Zepherina and Zithero kill her?” Elon asked.

“No, she was confirmed alive when Xyphiel made a rather ominous announcement,” Timothy said with anger in his voice, “So, at the moment we are on high alert.”

“The demon’s names were Britney and Esmerelda,” I chimed in, “There was no Bella.”

Timothy turned to face me and I had to take a step back as he did so.

“You should not be leaving the Temple under any circumstances,” Timothy ordered.

“Excuse me?” I asked, having found a shred of backbone, “I am not a prisoner here!”

Sofia’s gaze now shifted to me, “Careful little sapling,” she said softly and yet with an a

I just like this scene because it really delves into things with two rather...erm, controversial characters in the lore. Plus, seeing Erebus get verbally smacked down is always satisfying. Especially from someone who has known and been a companion of the Emperor as long as Erda has, and all of the things she's done and seen and her own insights.

Context: Erebus visits Erda's home to tell her he and his bosses are huge fans of hers, and offers her a job. She tells him how she feels.

Erebus is the First Chaplain of the Word Bearers and an asshole.

Erda is a Perpetual who is the genetic mother of the Primarchs, as it was her genetic material combined with the Emperor's that made them.

> And she was laughing, too. It wasn’t a laugh of pleasure, but of scorn and disbelief.

>Erebus endured it. He was used to being scorned and disbelieved.

>‘So what do you say?’ he offered.

>‘What do I say?’ She shook her head. ‘What could I possibly say? You have ambition, I will give you that, but little else.’

...

>‘I had my disagreements with Him,’ she said at last. ‘Somehow you discovered those, but they were hardly kept secret. We differed, and we still do.’ She looked up at Erebus. ‘But I always knew that He worked for the good of the species. He might have been wrong, perhaps, and arrogant, and infuriating, but the threat was real. We had all lived through it. Your masters, however – or, what you take to be your masters – they are the end. They are the closure of the story. I marvel that you could believe I would ever be tempted to serve them.’

>‘Because you already have.’

>‘I acted to prevent an escalation – something terribly wrong, a twisting of what our ascension was supposed to be. I never acted to aid your cause.’

>‘What you meant matters little.’ Erebus watched her carefully as he spoke. ‘It is deeds that resonate. You paved the way for everything that followed.’

>‘No.’ She turned back towards him. ‘No, all choices were still to be made. He could have abandoned the project – that is what I thought He would do, but I underestimated His pig-headedness. Or He could have killed His creations, once I had shown Him how dangerous they were, but something in Him must still have had affection for them, even then. And your primarchs, all of them, they were still free to choose. If they had not been dragged back into this awful Crusade, pressed into action on His behalf like sullen children, what choices might they have mad

First|Last|Next

[Hello everyone, as always I'm privileged to bring you a new chapter today. If you'd like to support my work you can gain access to the next three chapters of this work on my Patreon. If you'd like to come and chat you can join our community on Discord.

Your comments and feedback are always greatly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from all of you in the comments.]

The evening's chill had set into the palace as they arrived at Eli’s quarters; Lisril pulled Alex close, fingers curling in the soft fur of his cloak.

They were a step behind Serra, who greeted Lisril with a hug and lick on the cheek, and Alex with a demure smile before knocking for the three of them. The door swung silently open, Eli greeted them, and they stepped past her into the cheerful warmth of her quarters.

Inside they were met by Rosslln, clean and looking like a proper lady.

“Oh,” Serra said, “and who might you be?”

“I’m-” Rosslln cleared her throat. “Rosslln, Alex’s… tour guide?”

Eli shook her head. “No, no, no, if you’re going to be escorting a man, you have to be more confident, or other women won’t hesitate to accost him, try again.”

The young woman nodded, offered her hand to Serra. “Rosslln, and you are?”

They shook. “Serra Faragal,” she said, “and how did you come to be acquainted with Alex?”

“She tried to rob me,” Alex supplied, taking a seat at the table.

“She what?” Serra squeaked. “Lisril!”

But Lisril just shrugged. “You get used to him; besides. You cut a sufficient figure when appropriately dressed. I suspect if we fed you, I might be able to make a fencer of you; you’ve a good build for it.”

Rosslln didn’t seem to know what to make of that. “Um….”

Eli put a hand on her shoulder. “That’s high praise coming from Lisril; she trained me in the use of the saber, you know.”

“Yes.” Lisril took her spot next to Alex, capturing his hand. “I suppose any student would be satisfying after that bitter disappointment.”

Eli stuck her tongue out at her.

“Um, thank you,” Rosslln said.

Serra sat across from Alex, setting a bundle of books down. “Last night, you mentioned a flaw in Jistis’ theorem of the concordance of geometric

The First Stranger. The Second.

The final two strangers came in with the storm. It was early in the afternoon and I was drinking spiked coffee while Lee kicked my ass in game after game of chess. Hard pellets of rain began tapping at the windows loud enough to get my attention. I got up and went to look outside.

“Did the weather take a turn?” Furic asked.

It took me a moment to stammer out a reply. “Come and see.”

The sky was black. Not stormy dark but black. Green whips of lightning threaded between clouds and the ground. The rain was falling so hard that it was nearly a solid curtain. There was a sound like coins dropping; hail was pinging off buildings and cars. Thunder boomed and briefly covered the shrieking wind.

Through the darkness, I saw a green light. It was a woman walking down Main Street. Even with the storm, I could see her clearly; she was that bright. The woman was naked and so emaciated every knob of her spine stood out like a mountain. Her flesh was pale and stretched tight over a narrow ribcage. While her body was a withered ruin, the stranger’s face was so beautiful it made me want to weep. Or to throw open the door and run into her arms, even though just looking at her made me feel weak and hungry.

It was what followed the woman that kept me cowering inside the station, though. The figure was as tall as the telephone poles that lined the road. Where the thin woman was bright, the creature behind her was absolute darkness, a shadow that swallowed the light. It was shaped like a human though its form drifted like ink in water. Inside of the great shadow, there were stars, billions of them. They burned blue-white and floated and shifted in perfect constellations. I’d never seen anything that was so gorgeous while, at the same time, leaving me feeling broken and terrified.

“‘And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him,’” Lee whispered. “‘And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.’”

I glanced at the deputy but before I could ask him what he was talking about

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

Hey everyone. After the series of BTS concerts we had this past week that left everyone on a high but with major post concert depression, I have been listening a lot to their HYYH (The Most Beautiful Moment in Life) series and found myself blown away by it. In my humble opinion, this series is one of the most poignant and breathtaking tributes to youth, that period in your life when you feel and experience everything with so much intensity that it is etched forever in your mind, and they have so aptly named it "the most beautiful moment in life". I really wanted to write up a short appreciation post for this masterpiece, but i got a little carried away with the intro while going through the lyrics and listening to the albums, and it got quite lengthy; I apologize in advance, but I cannot stop being amazed at how they somehow managed to pull off a series that encapsulates all the feelings that come with entering adulthood - stepping forward into more responsible roles in society, learning to stand on your own two feet and think for yourself, decide on the principles you want to follow and believe in...a crucial time which is perhaps for most people the most tumultuous period of your life, one of many changes, both in you as a person and in how you are perceived and treated by society. Understandably, this is when you feel everything so intensely and often painfully, and these exact feelings are what they have captured so perfectly in these songs.

So here I've highlighted some of my favorite lyrics from the HYYH songs, each of which take us on their own personal journey, and tried to sort them into a few major themes as I've discussed above.

1. Introspection - self doubt, indignation, passion (It's a period where many of us grapple with our first taste of insecurities, loss of self esteem, and depression)

Intro: the most beautiful moment in life

(by Suga, set against a background of basketball as a metaphor, which he used to play in high school) actually captures the entire theme of the series and of this period of youth so well....of self doubt, fear of failure, and triumph.

*"The sense of reality that hits me
Why am I still here while others are running ahead
If you live by pretending that you don’t know, trapped in others’ shallow judgement,
the sun will set on your life like the court
What am i d

I won't be doing that today!

[FIRST][PREVIOUS][NEXT]

Chapter 089 [Rick]

“Rick?”

The word made him turn his head in slight surprise, finding none other than Kat and Alice looking at him in bewilderment.

He figured it made sense. He was drenched, scraped, and shirtless. Someone had given him a towel, but not provided the time to get himself dry nor the shirt that he would’ve needed once done.

Instead, he’d been ushered into the building and practically dragged down the stairs into a luxuriously ornate basement that had blood stains on the walls and ceiling, hairline cracks all over, and a corpse at the bottom of the stairs. A three meter tall decapitated corpse with black fur on its back. Its features strikingly similar to the other bear that Rick had encountered. The young teacher figured they were related.

From there he’d been led to a level further below, a room that had ten very dangerous looking maidens standing watch, armed with spears and swords, one of them heavily armored.

And inside the room were all the human women that had survived the trip thus far and had not been present during the Major’s little presentation.

“So you’re saying you got to fucking see the battle just because you got a dick in your pants!?”

Rick looked at Kat and former student with wide eyes, feeling slightly startled this was her reaction after he’d explained what happened outside. “I almost died.”

The blond woman didn’t falter. “I mean, sure, that sucks. Good thing you didn’t by the way.” She patted his shoulder. “But you do see my point, right? We’re being coddled in here like we’re somehow more fragile against fire breathing maidens than the guys. We’d both roast just about the same way I figure, so what’s with the sexism?”

“I think… I need to sit down a minute,” Rick muttered, blinking slowly and finding himself almost shoved into a wooden chair by Alice. The psychology teacher looked like had several things she wanted to say, but was holding back from commenting just yet.

His eyes moved around the room. There were a dozen women present, all familiar faces. All of them looked his way with various degrees of apprehension, some with hints of horror. Amongst those present, there was only one face scowling at him, wrinkled and angry, and Rick felt

Do your worst!

Book 1 of The HEL Jumper

Year 2 of The HEL Jumper

Year 3 of The HEL Jumper

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Thanks to Darth_Android, Fern_Vale, AMERICUH, dragon_slayer97, MidnightSon98, Mr_Polygon, Krystalin, Ripley, Ethen, Gruecifer, Mamish, Vikairious, Benjamin Durbin, Gaelan_Darkwater, Sam_Berry, LilLaussa, Daddy_Talon, Konrahd_Verdammt, Siddabear, Matthew Adams, Artifex, and everyone else supporting me on Patreon.

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A/N: For those of you who do not follow or subscribe to my patreon, I will be taking a break for the month of December to relax, decompress, and enjoy time with family and friends. This means that the next post I make will be on January 11th, continuing the same sort of schedule we've been doing for the last year. Thanks for your understanding, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my readers, and I'll see you in the new year!

-SB

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Though the chill of the prior night lingered on into the next morning, the frost on the banks of the river and puffs of breath in the air did little to freeze the high spirits of Winters and the Cauthan forgemaster, Nerazek. Io had paid a remote visit to the village that morning, bringing Russell up to speed on the state of negotiations between Antoth and Natori, the Cauthan leader’s desire for each high priest to visit the Event Horizon, and Kaczynski’s desire for Winters to accompany them as something of a chaperone. Living in a one room house as they did, Veera overheard everything and her subsequent excitement was impossible to contain. Her reaction to the news that she would not have to leave her planet alone left a smile on Winters’ face that persisted for the duration of his walk to the west gate, where he met with the high priest of Tyrdus.

“Selah, Winters!” the grizzled Cauthan hailed him as they brought their forearms together in colloquial greeting. “You’re looking well this morning.”

“I know it’s not exactly common knowledge yet, but Veera was over the moons when she heard about Antoth’s decision. You’re still her people. Thinking about leaving all of this behind was weighing heavily on her,” the human explained. His words gave Nerazek cause to stroke his chin thoughtfully.

“The change a year can make indeed… we are proud to count her as one of our own now, same goes

“Don’t…don’t meet his eyes…”

Those were the last words Jeffery said to me before he died. I went to ask him what he was talking about, what and who he meant, but I could see that the last ember of life had already faded from his eyes as his face began to slacken. I looked around. No one else had seen or heard—we’d gone to his secluded house by design--his design. And whatever he’d planned for me, I felt sure it was going to happen here, tonight. It had all happened so fast, but I couldn’t be mistaken, right? I’d seen what he’d written and sent. And if he hadn’t planned on doing it before I got my phone back and was tipped off by the responses, then what was the point?

No. No, I’d done the only thing I could. Standing up from where Jeffery lay at the bottom of the stairs, head cracked open and spilling a trickle of red at the edge of his hair, I noticed its color was slowly changing from a soft brown to a slick black as the blood soaked in. I’d hit him with a small paperweight I’d grabbed from his desk, causing him to stumble back into the hall and fall down the stairs.

I’d just run back upstairs to send Sadie a message, but he’d have known I might have seen what he’d written, and I couldn’t risk him attacking me without having some kind of weapon on hand, even if it was just a small but heavy glass globe. I also couldn’t accuse him of anything. We were alone, after all, and if I let on I knew he was up to…well, nothing good, he could overpower and kill me. On the other hand, if I could just get to the front door, make up some excuse to go back out to the car, I could be away before he ever had a chance to hurt me.

I’d tried to just get out. But when I’d first looked up, I saw something pass over his face as his eyes went from me to the phone in my hand and back. And in the few seconds it took for me to palm the glass ball and walk toward him, I’d watched his face pale and then redden slightly as his features took on a harder edge. It was a face that said the decision had already been made, and now it was just a matter of doing what needed to be done. When he had reached for me…it wasn’t my fault. I’d just been defe…

I started to retch then, not from nausea, but from something small and hard suddenly digging into the back of my throat. I turned away from him and coughed before gagging again. What was it? How had something gotten in my mouth in the first place? Tears streamed from the corners of my eyes as blood pounded in my

When I got home, they were still there.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "