Be me: Kol-Jha, Koldemar Sorcerer
Be not me: DM; Silit, Kobold Rogue; Levi/The Replacement, Suli Warpriest; Vira Noral Vitalist; Velius Sylph, Druid; Spoon, Changeling Fighter;
After slaying the minor army of undead we complete the ritual and now to find the source...
There's one location left on the map; The Ruins.
Time to put a stop to all this undeath.
Arriving to the ruins Levi mentions they're less ruinous than they were before.
Kol mentions that a necromancer might be interested in having their undead refurbish the place.
DM calls for Perception...
Flickering flames from down the hallway but vision is reduced...
SomeA thing rumbling and wind whirring comes from down the hall...
Silit crouches and disappears from view Skyrim style
She sneaks on up and peeks around a corner...
She sees animate piles of rocks shambling about and dust devils milling about apparently of their own volition.
There's some kind of barrier blocking the door on the far side.
Knowledge(Planes)... and she fails the check.
She brings the info back and Kol manages a Nat1 IDing one type and not much better on the other.
Between the whole party we kinda know what the rocks are and know for sure the dust devils are air elementals.
We cast our buffs and Initiative is rolled.
Vira managed to roll -1 on Initiative...
Levi charges in! Or not as DM is claiming a corner of the room's wall is preventing a charge...
A little geometry later and he's got his charge.
Silit's turn. She takes aim and fires a bolt at one of the air elementals... critical miss. Weapon jammed, no attack next turn.
Velius... decides to start summoning a Crocodile.
The Earth elementals try and fail to strike Levi
Kol throws Jolt trying to zap one of the elementals... don't know if it did anything.
Vira's turn. She tries to steal HP... and fails.
The elementals try to attack Levi and fail
Levi's turn! He empowers his blades with elemental power and attacks the Earth Elementals.
Silit... can't attack but can move. They reposition for a good position.
Velius! His croc appears! They toss a mudball... and it misses.
The croc! Also misses.
The Earth Elementals hit Levi
Kol moves up and misses throwing another Jolt.
Vira steps into melee to steal health.
Air elementals... wiff.
Levi slays the first air elemental!
Silit misses.
Velius & Croc. The Croc chomps on an air elemental... or not, miss.
Velius moves up and stabs... missing.
Kol moves into melee and confirms a crit with his Tail Attachment... too bad they're immune.
Vira fails again to steal health.
Levi manages a single hit against one of the Earth Elementals.
Silit's turn... miss
Velius stabs the air elemental and the croc finishes it off.
Velius repositions to give Levi flanking
The Earth elementals crit Levi! Crit table: 'Chest struck, heart punctured by ribs, immediate death'
Well damn, none of us have revives.
The other manages to hit Velius
Kol throws Jolt and steps up to provide flanking.
Vira steps up... and wiffs.
V&C the croc moves up and chomps then Velius finishes it off.
The final Earth Elemental hits Vira
Kol wiffs.
Vira... manages to steal HP from it!
Velius kills the last earth elemental and the barrier falls.
And the next fight begins immediately: Two large fire elementals!
Proper disclosure: Mood thoroughly soured by this point.
Kols turn as we kept init order. Hit.
Vira steals more HP.
The elementals slay the croc.
Silit takes aim... and misses.
Velius summons a geyser to douse the fire elementals
Kol fails to connect w a Jolt
Vira also misses.
An elemental misses trying to hit Kol
The other provokes AoO from Kol & Vira
Kol misses, Vira hits... and it sets her clothes on fire.
Silit makes a break past the fire elementals to get good aim on them.
They manage to set Silit on fire.
Velius casts create water, dousing Silit.
Kol connects a Jolt to the first elemental.
Vira... is still on fire but she manages to steal it's HP
The gyser douses them again.
The elemental strikes Velius and sets them on fire too...
Silit manages a hit against them... would've been a crit if these weren't elementals.
Velius' turn. Creative spellwork douses both Velius and Vira with Create Water
Kol provokes two AoOs and laughs them both off... however he should've spent more time aiming and less time laughing as he misses.
Vira slays one and steals 5 more HP for us.
Footsteps behind us... somebody has entered the ruin.
The fire elemental's slams continue to bounce off Kols unbreakable defenses.
Silit fails to connect with another bolt.
Velius throws mudball... and hits blinding the elemental.
Kol connects with Jolt
Vira follows up stealing HP for the party
The footfalls come closer, somebody jogging up on us from behind.
An animate suit of armor... wielding a giant spoon in both hands.
It strikes the elemental slaying it.
All of us but Vira press onward to continue the dungeon delving...
Vira tries to talk to Spoon. Spoon replies with writing then runs off after the party.
Silit leads the way deeper in...
The finds a few elementals... and they spot her.
Kol steps up to defend her... and cast Light because it's dark in here and the healer can't see.
The elementals move up to engage Kol and all miss
Vira's turn. She stumbles forward in the dark trying to get to the light.
Spoon charges into battle... and misses.
More XP joins the fray.
Silit 5ft steps back and fires a crossbow bolt at some of the encroaching hoard of elementals.
Velius joins the fray and stabs at one... and sets himself on fire again.
Kol steps back and Jolts
The elementals advance and try to kill Spoon
Vira leeches more HP from the enemy.
The elemental fair to hit Kol again.
Silit nails one through the melee.
Velius throws their burning spear at an earth elemental
Kol has a new toy... and decided he can spare one casting: Lightning Bolt
Slay one Earth Elemental, seriously wound a second, and zap a fire pretty good too
The Earth Elementals manage to wound Spoon.
Spoon rolls a crit-fail. ree
Silit puts an elemental down.
Velius grabs his backup spear and stabs at the fire elemental.
Kol throws Jolt provoking 2 AoOs. He hits and the elementals decide to try and focus Kol
Vira steals more HP slaying one.
Spoon steps up and cleaves! Dissipating a fire elemental.
Velius fumbles but keeps their footing.
The elementals continue their onslaught with Spoon taking another big hit.
Vira goes to steal more HP
Spoon gets a strike in.
The elementals ineffectually bounce off Kols invulnerable defenses.
Silit gets a crit-miss... they stumble but manage to not fall on their face
Velius stabs... miss.
Kol tries to tail-strike and his tail-attachment breaks on a crit-miss.
The elementals manage to wound Spoon again.
Vira slays the fire elemental stealing the last of it's HP
Silit keeps on pumping bolts into elementals, racking up another kill
Velius' turn. They reposition to get flanking and strike true.
Kol Jolts in melee costing them their AoOs.
The remaining two decide to focus Velius wounding them.
Vira rips more HP keeping us all nice and healthy
Spoon drops his spoon. Crit-miss, and picking up his weapon he takes the AoOs Kol usually laughs off, taking serious damage.
Silit runs past and attacks the Obelisk in the room.
Velius takes a look at the Obelisk and they believe it to be a summoning system that'll refresh the room
Kol steps away to look at the Obelisk...
Spoon gets hit by the elementals again.
Vira slays another elemental and redistributes it's HP
Spoon reduces the Earth elemental to rubble
Silit readies an action to counter a summoned elemental
Velius... walks up and pokes the Obelisk with their spear.
Kol throws Jolt and chips the Obelisk
Vira tries siphoning HP
Spoon's spoon does nothing to it.
Silit's turn... can't hurt this thing, she's on overwatch for elementals
Velius burns a FlameBlade scroll...
Kol Shocking Grasps the Obelisk and takes a decent amount of HP off of it.
The Obelisk summons a new elemental and Silit nails a bolt into it.
Spoon strikes the new elemental then twists his ankle falling flat on his face trying to follow through to the Obelisk
Silit reposition for a clear line of fire and hits the elemental again.
Kol wiffs his Shocking Grasp and crit-fails.
Vira rips more HP off the new elemental
Spoon cleaves cutting more HP off the elemental but does nothing to the Obelisk.
Silit continues to lob bolts at the elemental
Velius slashes with his Flameblade
Kol connects with his Shocking Grasp.
Spoon PAs and... no damage on the Obelisk
More SP tax on Kol trying to kill the Obelisk
Kobold overwatch from Silit
Velius FBs the Obelisk
Kol loses balance but keeps his charge of Shocking Touch
Spoon & Vira join Silit on overwatch.
Velius slashes it
Kol is just regaining balance.
Party overwatch continues.
Velius slashes it again.
Kol connects with his Shocking Touch finally
The Obelisk summons more playthings for us.
The plaything dodges Spoon, then gets nailed by Silit, and finally gets HP drained by Vira
Velius taps the Obelisk for more fire damage
Kol pumps another Shocking Touch into the Obelisk slivering it.
The elemental hits spoon, wounding him.
Spoon hits it back, slaying it.
Velius and Kol finish it off with a Jolt and Flameblade
Session called, after midnight
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Previous Session

It was a beautiful day in the fall, and though being in the middle of nowhere in Ohio isn’t exactly my ideal setting for an assignment, it could have been worse. Opening my windows, listening to music, and getting a good whiff of country air is a nice contrast to being cooped up in cities like I’m used to. The sight of brown stalks of corn populating the miles of fields along the road was welcome, as was the cool and clean smell of the air. It’s a good thing these jobs don’t involve much interaction with people. Unfortunately, some level of interaction is inevitable.
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On my way to this one, I got a speeding ticket from a cop at some little local department. Though I was, in fact, speeding, I got the feeling that he also didn’t so much like seeing a fed in his neck of the woods. The local police aren’t a fan of us, so I’ve come to learn. They tend to get suspicious of us, thinking we’re up to some top-secret mission behind their backs. I guess they would be right.
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I kept driving down the gravel road until the navigation let me know my destination was coming up on the right. Turning down the radio as I approached, I glanced toward the empty fields and the woods that met them beyond. I then turned into the long dirt driveway leading to our civilians’ house and garage.
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I rolled up and parked with my trunk facing the porch. Stepping out, I got another whiff of the fresh country air and looked at the area of operations that lay before me. I was surprised at the amount of land and space that I had at my disposal. Space is good for these jobs. Additionally, I was informed that there weren’t any neighbors close enough to worry about. I couldn’t have asked for a better setting.
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After stretching and letting out a light sigh, I decided it was time to get to work. I pulled the keychain out of my pocket and unlocked the front door. It seemed like a nice enough place. It was certainly nothing worth complaining about given the conditions of houses I’ve faced in my previous assignments. I went back outside to my massive, government-issued vehicle and opened the trunk.
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I pulled the first couple of duffel bags worth of equipment out and brought them inside. The kitchen was as good a place as any to set up. After making five or six trips of dragging heavy bags and boxes of my junk into the house, I went back outside to open the garage. Thank God we were able to catch this case early and the civilians were able to make it out in time. It also meant I got room in the garage to park this thing. All that remained in the truck was the large metallic box, but I wasn’t going to need that until later.
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I shut the trunk and pulled my vehicle into the garage, closing it on my way out. I stepped back into the house where I changed from my suit to my gear. Wearing the suit all day annoys me but I suppose the higher-ups want us to look like good, “friendly” feds to the public. The public has no idea the kind of monsters we are.
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I unpacked box after box of equipment and weapons. I loaded up my Glock 17 with its extended 30-round magazine just as I did with my standard .556 rifle. I checked the laser sights on both. All good. Next was my favorite, the.338 with the best scope you could ever ask for. It sure is nice having a virtually infinite budget. Perks of working for the US federal government I suppose. The final firearm I brought was my personal .357 magnum revolver that I kept holstered on my chest. I figure it’s never a bad idea to have one more gun, just in case. Maybe I should have brought more on this one. If things got too close, I always had my hunting knife. I sharpened it that morning before heading out.
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The next few hours consisted of me going out into the woods near the house in various places and setting up dozens of my little cameras equipped with motion sensors. They were there to give me an idea of the location of anything that got brave enough to get close to the fields that surrounded the house, I would be able to know about anything that was coming to me. I didn’t take too much caution in setting them up. Things never get interesting until nightfall.
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I returned to the house where I turned on my laptop and assured that all the cameras were connected and working. I could see every single one of them from there and would know if anything so much as moved. I then got situated on a chair by the kitchen table, where I opened the window and set up my .338 rifle to watch the fields with.
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I suppose it would be worth mentioning why I’m out here, setting up fancy equipment in the woods and loading up an arsenal of guns while I’m alone in a farmhouse that isn’t mine. Let’s back it up.
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March 1st, 2017, 3:33 am, Iowa
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Dispatch gets a call from a local farmer. He claims to be looking at a figure standing still at the edge of a treeline on his property. The description given by the farmer was that of a man of average stature and build, clothed in a loose black or grey shirt and trousers and a large-brimmed hat.
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The farmer tells dispatch that he had awoken abruptly roughly an hour earlier, unspecified as to why. He spotted the figure outside his kitchen window soon after. The figure had been standing near the edge of a row of trees. It was facing the house and hadn’t moved a muscle since the farmer noticed him. The farmer quickly retrieved his rifle and walked out onto his lawn, proceeding to brandish his firearm and tell the trespasser that this property was his and to leave immediately. The farmer, seeing that the man remained unthreatened by his warning and display of a firearm, retreaded back into his home to retrieve his phone and call 9-1-1 as he continued to watch the figure from his porch.
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During this call, the farmer’s voice was noticeably nervous and frightened. The desperate tone and quivering speech continued to worsen as he went on explaining the situation to dispatch. Dispatch instructed the farmer to remain where he stood and not to approach the trespasser. Dispatch reassured the farmer that the police were on their way. A few quiet and uneventful minutes passed. Then, without warning, the farmer let out a horrified scream through the phone. The call was disconnected seconds later.
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The police began their over 40-minute drive to the residence. Halfway to their arrival, multiple new calls were coming to dispatch from the farmer’s neighbors. They reported seeing a large stack of smoke coming from the farmer’s home, and the closest reported seeing the house on fire.
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By the time police arrived, the house had burned to the ground. The fire department arrived shortly after but oddly enough, the fire had completely subsided. What remained was the charred crumbs of what was once a house. The firefighters that arrived on site were bewildered by how quickly the fire must have burned the house. There was no explanation they could fathom.
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The police searched the nearby fields and woods for the farmer and alleged trespasser to no avail, however, their search was quickly called back upon the findings of the firefighters in the house. The man’s charred bones were found beneath the rubble but not as they should have been. It became clear after further investigation that the man’s limbs were ripped from his body before it was incinerated at an impossible speed. 4 .308 bullet casings were found where the porch of the house used to be. The rifle was found just outside of the house, unscathed despite its proximity to such a violent fire. Forensics confirmed that the rifle had fired these casings but the bullets themselves were never found.
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This was the first, but far from the last.
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October 28th, 2017, 11:07 pm, Montana
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Dispatch gets a call from a rancher who spotted a woman in an old-fashioned black and white dress and wearing a linen cap. The rancher claimed the woman was standing amongst his cattle and not moving. The rancher expressed no panic or concern for his safety over the phone, but rather a concern for the woman in the field. The rancher also noted that his cattle kept their distance around the woman.
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An ambulance arrived at 11:29. Paramedics found no trace of the alleged woman. They walked to the entrance of the rancher’s house and discovered his door to be unlocked and open. After calling for the rancher and getting no response, they stepped inside to be greeted by the corpse of the rancher, hanging from a noose in his stairwell. The man had no history of mental illness and none of his relatives or acquaintances had any reason to believe he was suicidal. Additionally, an autopsy report concluded that both arms were broken in multiple places as well as every finger as if they had been crumpled together by a great force. He could not have tied the noose himself.
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November 29th, 2018, 2:06 am, Wisconsin
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Dispatch gets a call from another farmer. He had spotted a woman in an old black and white dress and linen cap. The woman had been standing in the long driveway from the road to his house, lit by the lamp that covered it. She stood motionless in the cold, windy, and heavily snowing weather. The farmer and his wife were later found under a collapsed wall of their crumpled house with stones placed on top. They had been placed in a seemingly orderly fashion until there was enough weight to crush their bones.
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This happens to be the first incident we have on record with photo evidence. A trail cam owned by the farmer and his wife a few acres away from the house caught a picture the night of the incident. It caught a picture of the woman exactly as the farmer had described. Black and white dress, white linen camp. It looked as though she had stepped through time from hundreds of years before and placed like a mannequin in front of the camera.
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May 30th, 2019, Minnesota
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September 3rd, 2019, Nebraska
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January 4th, 2020, South Dakota
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I could go on but the point is that these incidents have been happening more and more frequently and they aren’t stopping. We do know what they are, or at least what they’re supposed to represent to us.
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Every single one of these “people” lived in North America during the witch trials. We don’t believe they were the ones who were executed. We believe they were the ones who made the accusations, the ones who got their neighbors killed, the ones who carried out the executions and now they’re back to kill again.
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Luckily, my department picked up on these patterns early on and designated a team to deal with them. There are a few hundred of us. I am in the dark about what everyone does exactly. I haven’t met many but I do know that some find potential incidents, some investigate, some deal with the cover-up and handling the publicity, and then, of course, there are the ones you send in to eradicate the problem. That’s where I come in.
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I am here to hunt them down, to put them back in their graves so it would seem. Sometimes I get here before they’ve claimed a victim, sometimes after. But their reign of terror comes to an end with me. They’ve never gotten away from me, and I have never failed an assignment. I didn’t plan on this night being any different.
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A beep sounded from my laptop screen as an outline from one of the cameras lit up, indicating that the motion sensor detected movement. It had been quiet since I set it up, there was not even the slightest sign of wildlife. No deer, no squirrels, nothing. I leaned forward and intently examined the camera that had been triggered. There was nothing to see. Another sensor triggered. Again, the camera showed nothing. My eyes darted from camera to camera, looking for motion. Another camera triggered, though all that I caught sight of was a shaking tree branch. There was no wind today. Another. This time I saw it. A dog-looking figure darted across the camera in only a few frames, but I knew it was no dog.
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I turned my attention from the cameras to the field in front of me, where the movement had come from. I got behind my rifle and looked down the scope to the treeline in the distance. My heart began to pound in my chest at an intense tempo.
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I could feel the adrenaline kicking in while I scanned the edge of the field for movement. All that greeted me was the orange glint of the setting sun on the treeline and the tiny shadows of the little stumps of corn stalks in the otherwise empty field. It was silent. Not even a wind accompanied me this evening, though I can’t complain. It’s better for shooting.
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For a few minutes, I continued to run my scope along the treeline, occasionally getting a peek with my own eyes. It was during one of these peeks when I noticed a color out of place, in between a couple of trees on the other side of the field—some sort of black-and-white spec that was there not a second before. I lowered my head down, back behind the scope, and centered it. As I steadied the scope, a man-like figure standing at the edge of the field came into focus.
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It wore black, tattered rags of clothing that hung loosely on its rigid frame. It stood still, stiff as a board. Its eyes were fixed on something ahead of it. It took me a moment to realize it was focused on me. It didn’t move a muscle, not even blinking as it stared.
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I came to my senses and prepared to do my job. I flipped the safety off of my rifle and centered my crosshairs on its chest. I began to breathe deeply, my finger on the trigger, ready to pull but I didn’t take the shot, not yet. I saw it start to move.
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Even with the distance between us, my scope made the picture of this figure clear as day. The movement came from only one part of its body; its mouth. First, its crusty lips detached from one another and the mouth began to open. Steadily, it opened more, and more all the while the rest of its body and head remained fixed. Its jaw sank to what should have been all the more it could, but it didn’t stop. It fell further, dipping down below its chest, its skin like a stretched rubber band waiting to snap, though it didn’t, it kept stretching.
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Still stiff as a board, the man-like thing remained with its eyes locked on me while its mouth sat open, impossibly wide. It stood still with its hanging jaw for a moment, a moment I shouldn’t have given it. Now I knew I had my target. I began to apply pressure to the trigger before I was stopped, shaken by a force.
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A scream, like a choir of souls in despair being dragged off to hell, with the power of a thousand horns sounding the start of a medieval battle rung through the fields. Its volume caused flocks of birds in the nearby trees to fly away in a panic, its bass shuddered through my chest and left me too hypnotized to pull the trigger. I’ll never get used to hearing one of them scream.
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“Here we go”
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I muttered to myself, the only thought I could conjure from my brain at the moment.
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Closing its mouth, it leaped forward and reached for the ground in front of it with its hands fixed like claws. As soon as they met the ground, the feet followed and planted themselves quickly so that it could boost itself forward once again. It had begun its terrible charge. All the while, its face remained fixed on me, rotting teeth exposed and clenched in rage. The speed at which it rushed across the empty field would make a deer running for its life look lazy in comparison, but I was the prey here.
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Though my heart began to race at the sight of this abomination barreling toward me, this anomaly of hatred and hunger bound to flesh, I remained calm. I began to steady my breathing, taking control of each breath, in and out.
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Inhale. Exhale.
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Inhale. Exhale.
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Inhale. Exhale.
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Squeeze.
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The crack of the shot rang out through the dimming sky and the field before me, my response to its enraged scream. I remained fixed on the target, observing the spatter of blood as it shot from its back. It began to scream again, this time rapidly and desperate in tone. I quickly moved the bolt and chambered the next round, accompanied by the soft ring of the brass bouncing on the floorboards under my chair.
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Although I managed to land a clean shot to the chest, it didn’t do much. It kept running, keeping on at its same speed. Though now it changed its direction and was running adjacent to my position in the house. It was trying to flank me. It wanted to find a way around my line of sight. I couldn’t let it.
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Again, I took control of my breathing. Slowly, I drifted my rifle on the bipod until the creature came back into view. Its limbs pounded at the ground with speed and power as it propelled itself across the field. I’ll never get used to seeing one run either.
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Starting behind it, I continued to move the scope, just fast enough to begin gaining on him, just fast enough to let the crosshairs catch up. Inhale. Exhale. The crosshairs slowly began to overtake it. Inhale. Exhale. Squeeze.
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I chambered the next round quickly. This shot brought him to the ground, but it didn’t keep him there. After a short tumble, it rose and began to run again, this time back towards the woods it came from. Inhale. Exhale. Squeeze.
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The third shot grazed its back. Frustrated, I chambered another round and took aim, but it was far too late. Before I could even begin to line up my fourth shot, it had taken one final leap from the field back into the treeline it came from.
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I let out a sigh and hung my head in disappointment. I knew what I had to do next but I sure as hell didn’t want to. The last flickers of sunlight shone through the open window and lit my .338 rifle as I reloaded the magazine. I sat and stared blankly at the screen in front of me, hoping a camera would pick up some sort of movement that could clue me into wherever it ran off to. Knowing my luck, I shouldn’t have expected it to.
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After coming to terms with reality, I stood up and grabbed my .556, slinging it around my body and letting it hang in front of me. I aimed it down, looking through its sight and testing its laser again before checking the chamber. Good to go. Next, I adjusted the night vision set to my head before picking up my .338 and heading for the door. As I stepped outside, I let out another sigh, this one of stress. Hunting these things at night, on their own turf is never as fun, nor as easy as finishing them quickly from a distance but what choice did I have? I just wanted to get it over with.
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I flipped down my goggles and switched them on, illuminating the dark field in green and white. I began my long walk across. It took me longer than expected. The speed of that monstrosity caused me to underestimate the size of the field. Each step I took was slow and quiet. I didn’t want the crunch of my feet meeting the dirt and remnants of corn stalks to disturb my hearing. If that thing made a noise, I needed to hear it. If only I could have quieted my incessant heavy, nervous breathing too.
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I was not even halfway to the treeline when I reached the first pool of blood, where I had shot it for the second time, and it decided to retreat. Bits of flesh were scattered about the ground, but I didn’t care to stop and look. Instead, I focussed on the blood I could see that led back into the woods.
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Any experienced hunter has had to track a deer or two. It can be very frustrating. The trail isn’t always so clear, and you never know how far it has gotten. In my case, I knew this thing was still alive, and it was angry.
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I continued my walk, splitting my attention between the blood trail on the ground and the treeline in front of me, scanning for movement and listening. If I was lucky enough, it would have gotten bold and tried to take me down in the field. Unfortunately, I’m not so lucky. Silently, I followed the trail until it met the woods. I stopped walking and calmed myself.
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I didn’t want to go past those damn trees, but there was no avoiding it. I had a job to do. I extended the bipod of my .338 and lowered it to the ground before raising the stock of my other rifle to my shoulder. I took a deep breath and resumed my walk, now even slower and more cautious. At least now my heavy breathing would be drowned out by the sound of snapping twigs beneath my feet.
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Immediately upon entering the woods, I spotted the next sight of blood. It came from a tree branch, its leaves covered in the dripping crimson liquid. I walked up to observe, only to notice more blood on the branch above that one. And the next. I noticed the pattern and followed each branch up, one by one, each with its leaves covered in blood. Suddenly a mass moved on top of the tree next to the one I was looking up at.
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I swung my rifle up, pointing above me at the top of the trees. The mass turned and into view came two glowing eyes, like white lights in my night vision. It opened its mouth again to let out another deafening scream but I raised my rifle and took aim. Its scream was cut short by a bang from my barrel and the thud of the rounds meeting flesh. I was only able to squeeze half a dozen rounds off before it leaped away, to the tops of the neighboring trees.
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I kept shooting as it jumped from one tree to another, though within seconds it was out of my line of sight. I charged through the woods after it and watched it leap impossible distances, shaking trees so hard I thought some might snap. All the while I kept trying and failing, to line up a clean shot. The ones I did manage to squeeze off were either misses or ineffective.
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Even at the full-on sprint that I managed to sustain for a good few minutes, I was barely able to keep up. I almost abandoned the chase entirely before I saw an opportunity. There was a clearing ahead. A trail. The distance across was far too wide for it to jump. It took a sharp right once it realized this and began jumping from tree to tree along the trail. I rushed into the opening before kneeling to line up a shot. I followed it with my sights, tracking the timing of each leap, and letting t it land and leap once more before it settled on a new tree. I shot off two more rounds as it braced to leap again.
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They were perfectly placed and its body tumbled in the air and crashed violently to the ground. Having lined up my sight, I squeezed the trigger again to hear the absence of a gunshot, replaced by the click of the firing pin in the empty chamber. I screamed curses at myself as I quickly exchanged magazines. By the time I looked up, the body was already gone.
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I got to my feet and continued down the trail at a jog-like pace with my rifle at the ready. I was beginning to get frustrated more than anything. I’ve put dozens of these things in the ground before, I didn’t understand why was I having such a hard time with this one. As I approached a curve in the trail, I slowed my pace and brought the stock of my rifle back to my shoulder. I approached the curve from the outside of the trail, trying to get a clear view of what was beyond when my head violently snapped to the left.
​
My vision went suddenly dark and it took me a few moments to realize that I wasn't dead, nor was I unconscious. Something hit my night vision goggles and knocked them clear off of my head, breaking the mount they sat on. My eyes were only beginning to adapt to the dark when another object came flying towards my head, narrowly missing as it whistled forcefully past my ear. It was a rock, around the size of a football. I couldn’t help but glance behind me in astonishment at the object that had nearly decapitated me before turning my attention back to what threw it.
​
Sure enough, there it was. Standing behind the trees at the corner of the path. I let my anger take control and began to fire rapidly at its torso. My disregard for accuracy hardly mattered at this range. Regrettably, it meant I was now closer than I would have liked and it began to charge. I landed shot after shot. Blood spurted from its back and painted the tree branches and leaves that it passed as it barreled toward me.
​
Again, my magazine went empty. Instead of bothering to reload a new one, I quickly drew my Glock and continued my rapid fire on the beast. It broke into the clearing and fell to all fours before it leaped forward and ran as it had done in the field. It closed the distance between us in seconds.
​
A hand clenched around my throat and I was lifted off of the ground like a feather. It kept running, past the edge of the clearing and carrying me into the woods. I continued to pepper it at point-blank range with my pistol. Between shots, I could hear its hysterical laughter directed at my futile efforts. Its face smiled with a look of sadistic insanity.
​
I continued shooting until my magazine went dry and I was stuck with an empty gun. With nothing else I could do, I began to beat its face with the empty pistol. This seemed to piss it off. It violently threw me through the air. I felt my body snap dozens of branches before I met the ground and rolled uncontrollably.
​
Recovering quickly, I grasped the rifle still slung around me and replaced the empty magazine with a new one. It was mere feet away from me when I started to fire. I got a few shots off before it grabbed my arm. This time I whipped the barrel of my rifle up, clubbing it hard across the face. It let out a short, irritated scream. I thrust my barrel at the top of its head, knocking it back as it emitted another angry grunt. It reached up with its left arm and tried to grab the barrel before half of its fingers were blown off by my next shot. It recoiled its arm in pain before swinging it back at me.
​
Upon contact, my rifle flew out of my hands and the sling came undone from my body as it was thrown far into the woods behind me. I attempted to retreat before he grabbed me with his right hand, and what remained of his left around my neck. Again, I was picked up and it carried me, this time only a short distance to a tree. My back cracked as I was slammed into the bark.
​
It looked up at me and smiled again.
​
“We killed our sinners, we brought justice to our land. We brought justice for God”
​
I ignored its foul speech, lifting an arm and hooking it across the face with a firm punch. It had no effect.
​
“You are all sinners, and you will die for your sins as they did”
​
Again, I struggled and pummeled its face with everything I could muster but it still did nothing.
​
“Now go and burn in the lake of fire”
​
It shouted, before laughing with a dozen sadistic voices all coming from its mouth.
​
It opened its mouth and its jaw was once again stretched to what should be an impossible level. It lowered me until I was level with it. It moved its open mouth toward my head, shaking with rage. Its teeth now inches from my face. Its breath, foul. With my left arm, I drew my knife, slashing it across the chest before plunging it into its neck. I hooked a punch with my right arm that finally caused it to stumble. It wound up its own punch and let it loose. I narrowly escaped, ducking out of the way before its fist met the tree and went right through, splitting it in half before the wood tumbled to the ground.
​
I took this opportunity to draw my .357. He recovered from its punch and faced me, pulling the knife from its neck and letting blood spurt and gush. It stared me down as it slowly approached, ready to deliver its finishing blow.
​
Its head was shaking now, harder than ever in anger, its mouth hung open to half its capacity where it showed its rows of rotting human teeth. I raised my revolver and attempted to steady my sights but I was too shaky. I quickly collected myself. Inhale. Exhale. The front sight became level with the rear. Squeeze.
​
The recoil caused the gun to rise enough for me to get a look at the damage. I clipped its mouth, in the corner of its jaw. It hung open, with one side detached completely. It wailed in pain as it gargled its blood and crumbled to the ground. I aimed again, cocking the hammer. Squeeze. With the second round, I detached its jaw completely.
​
“Let’s see you bite me now, fucker”
​
I painfully muttered with anger. It dropped my knife and was now laying flat on its back, breathing heavily. I approached, cocking the revolver again as I did. It reached out with its mangled hand but I kicked it away before placing my barrel to its skull. Squeeze. And then silence.
​
After dragging the body back to the field, I spent the next few hours retrieving my lost and damaged equipment, as well as tediously finding every one of my cameras. I then retrieved my vehicle and drove it to the edge of the field. There was just one more thing to do.
​
I opened my trunk and pulled out the metallic box. I don’t understand why they make these things so goddamn heavy. I opened it and placed the corpse inside before securing the extremely heavy-duty lock. Next was the hole. It wasn’t easy digging after I had been roughed up and tossed around by an undead religious maniac with superhuman strength, but at least this was the last thing I had to do.
​
I finished digging the hole, placed the metal casket inside, and covered it up. From there, I collected my equipment, packed it up, and took off. Supposedly there’s a cleanup crew that comes in after we’re done with these missions and destroys any bizarre evidence.
​
I suspect they take the body as well. Where do they take it? What do they do with it? I have no clue but I’ve been strictly reminded to not ask questions on the matter and to just stick to doing my job. Still, I always find myself wondering.
​
What I have even more questions about is why these things exist in the first place. What the hell is going on? Why them? Why now? Has this been going on for longer than I know? Am I being lied to? What happens next, in the future, if this keeps going on? It’s only been getting worse. They’ve only been popping up more and more frequently. When does it end? Does it end?
​
I have more questions than I do answers but what I can tell you is that this problem isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s only going to get worse. There are only going to be more of them, not less. The death toll will only continue to rise. People are going to find out sooner or later. It might as well be now. Maybe we will stop them. Maybe this will all come to an end one day, or maybe we are the ones who are all going to meet our end. Either way, I’ll be there to see it.

Welcome new readers. Please start with chapter one https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/11ai7iv/last_of_the_defenders_ch_01/
Previously https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/11xv7ss/last_of_the_defenders_ch_28/
Allah settled into a corner of the room, resting against a wall at a crouch. Li pulled out a sheet of shiny black cloth from her pocket, flapping it to unfurl the short, shawl length thing. She set it on the desk and the cloth lit up--a duplicate of the interface she had used in Star dancer’s CNC--to form a keyboard. The human danced her fingers over the glowing surface, lists and glyphs changing, growing, being replaced by new symbols.
Several times the lights flickered ominously. Once they went out completely for a span of seven times seven times three and six heartbeats, the room suffused by the glow of the sticks, the monitor and Li’s keyboard cloth.
Allah lowered her head in thought. Why would the other defenders abandon them? Abandon Li? She had said, before, that “the tempo of the war had changed” when the bullies attacked…dirt? The bullies seemed to attack anything. What was so special about this particular dirt?
It had to have been important. Irreplaceable even. Allah suspected the war must not be going as well as Li’s performance last night had appeared.
She wanted to ask but more importantly she did not want to interrupt. Li remained focused on the screen and her keyboard until Allah had lost all track of time. It was only after the human stood, stretched and yawned that Li took notice of the U’knock.
“What’re you doing?” she asked.
“Waiting,” Allah said simply. And what else could she do? She had barely managed to make broth, and that with help. Allah had considered returning to the mess hall to clean the dishes and dispose of the trash left from their meal but…she did not trust the hole in the wall to provide enough water to clean them, nor did she know where to find a well, wash rags, or the refuse heap. Was the outpost like Star dancer? She did not remember seeing a bucket in the walls to whoosh away such work.
“That won’t do,” Li chastised, turning to stride out the door. The lights flickered again and Li returned to the desk, grabbing her glowing stick.
“Demeter?” Li called as Allah rose from her crouch and picked up her own stick to follow, “Do you have any V-REHs in storage?”
“T-t-t-t-t-this facility hhhhhhhhas a fully stoc-c-c-cked classroom,” the machine replied. Whatever Li had been focused on, heeling Demeter speak was not an apparent priority.
“Show me,” Li ordered.
"P-p-please follow the indicated-d-d-d-d-d-” Demeter hiccuped, clicked and was silent. A blue light flickered on and off on the floor. Li followed.
They reached the great hall again, and Allah was almost surprised to hear the sound of robots still busy tearing apart other machines. More, in place of the planters there now sat the squat carts from the holoimage at the quorum. Tanks, Li had called them. They were bare, skeletal husks now, but the treads and wheels were in place. Three humanoid robots were pushing a large many tubed box into the machine's center.
“How many of these will we need to make?” Allah asked as she passed another husk of metal.
“We’ll keep producing until the siege ends,” Li answered, “but I’d like to have at least one thousand per continent. And at least a hundred mass drivers for orbital bombardment deterrence.”
“Those are the larger ones,” Allah guessed, “the wide ones that will crush Umati’clam’s buildings?
Li nodded. “The same,” she pointed up. In the dim scattered light Allah could see the open center of the spire was no longer so open. Highlighted by the glow of sparks were the skeletons of metal birds. She could not be certain but these forms looked larger than the arrows that had assaulted the bully vessel. “But those bad boys,” Li continued, “will be able to take the fight to em.
“Nachtkrapp class assault fighters,” Li explained. The flickering blue light led them out of the garage and down another door filled corridor. “With quad mounted rail guns and hardpoints that can load up to four Hawking/Golubev B-903 ship killer missiles.
“Buster missiles,” Allah said uncertainly. Li nodded. “These birds--these Nachtkrapps--are much larger than the arrows from before. Why did Demeter not use such weapons last night?”
Li stopped in the dark hallway, turning to reappraise her friend. “You catch on quick,” the human complimented Allah. She turned, resuming their journey. “Two reasons. First, Nachtkrapp designs are only about thirty years old so Demeter didn’t know how to make them before we uploaded thermopylae. They’re not bleeding edge tech but they’re proven and tough. The assault drones you saw last night are in-atmosphere interceptors. Not much bigger than busters themselves.”
“You said there were two reasons,” Allah pressed as she was led into another room filled with tables. These were much smaller than the mess hall benches, a single chair and monitor for each. They were arranged in a circle around the room, facing inward. Li strode to a closet in the corner.
“Gravity weapons have a…life cycle. They need to either be used within a couple years or recycled. Buster missiles are expensive to maintain. So there was no foreseeable reason for Demeter to waste resources on making and maintaining a fleet of drones that could carry them.”
“Until now,” Allah concluded. “But I still do not understand. Why did the bullies come here? We have nothing of value to offer.”
Li stopped digging through the closet, returning to the ring of tables. She set three helmets on one of the tiny tables, then glanced around the room. She walked to another closet, retrieving a pitcher and a plate. Allah watched as Li set the plate in the center of the room, took the pitcher to a waist high box and pressed a button. Water spouted from the top of the box and Li used it to fill the pitcher.
She returned to the center of the room, tapping a button on the edge of the plate with her foot. Allah could feel the air begin to hum.
“Here,” Li handed the pitcher of water next to Allah. “Pour this over the Vibro plate. Don’t worry; it won’t spill as long as the plate is on."
Allah did as instructed, and the water began to shimmer. It hovered three paw’s spans above the surface of the strange plate. Allah bent, sniffing at the floating pool.
“Now,” while Allah had been pouring the water, Li had made a tiny toy out of paper. It was pointed like her ship, but not. It looked like some strange raft, “place this under the water with the flat side pointed up.”
As Allah moved her paw under the water, she felt a force shaking her. She drew her paw away.
“It won’t hurt you,” Li promised. "We used to do this in primary school. It’s a science experiment. For children.”
Cautiously, Allah crouched and slid her paw under the floating water.
“Make sure the boat touches the water before you take your hand away.”
Allah did so and the boat floated upside down on the water.
"This is using vibrational force to counteract gravity. It is not true anti-gravity but it lets you see what I’m trying to describe next."
“It floats upside down though,” Allah pointed to the toy boat as it bobbed on the underside of the pool, upside down. “It defies the gravity."
“Not entirely,” Li answered, “this is more a case of bending the rules."
“What,” Allah asked, “is gravity?”
“It's a fundamental force of physics,” Li explained, holding up a hand at Allah’s question. “We’ll get to physics another time. Every object, including you and me, has gravity. It allows objects to pull one another closer together. It’s what holds you to the ground and,” she dug into a pocket, pulling a round coin shaped object free. She dropped the coin onto the ground, “what causes objects to fall to the ground when released."
“It is not magic then,” Allah gestured to the boat.
“Depending on your level of technological achievement,” Li shrugged, “that's debatable. The point is that normal gravity pulls objects together. The larger the object, the greater that pull. Generally speaking, I’m not getting into mass today.
“But,” she continued, “let us suppose you had a way to harness gravity, “ she bent and manipulated a dial on the plate. “If you could force the gravity of a giant object into a single point,” the pool of water began to shift and change, the upside down boat rocking violently in the sudden storm. Slowly, as Li pressed other buttons and turned dials, the tone of the plate changed, and the pool of water with it. It began to swirl, becoming a tiny typhoon. “Something that is creating a strong gravity well--like this planet--you could “dip” from that well using a special bucket,” the boat was now spinning rapidly faster up the inside of the typhoon, “and take some of that gravity to use for your own means.
“This is how we first learned to control gravity,” Li finished as the boat flew up from the top of the typhoon. “Large objects create it, and we exploit it. It's how we created the slingshot drive. We could use gravity because its pull is infinite, and reaches beyond all the known universe.
“But if it reaches so far,” Allah asked, “why do not all objects pull themselves together?”
“They may,” Li answered, “eventually,” she waved a hand in defeat. “The tech heads would be able to explain this much better than I can. But,” she handed Allah the paper boat, “the important thing is to understand that gravity pulls everything together by its nature, and the closer you are to a large object, the more powerful its effect becomes.
“Now,” she set the pitcher under the typhoon and tapped another button with her foot. The water--most of it--sloshed inside. “This is where things get a little weird. When we first created sling drives we used gravitational pull and massive amounts of power to pull us to neighboring stars, and from there to other stars, and others. But as my species learned more about gravity, we realized we could…” She trailed off. “I am not a gravity mechanic, and we start getting into infinite universe theory, supersymmetry, string theory and you’re barely ready for quantum mechanics,” the human shrugged, “but it was explained to me when I was…younger that it is like reversing the polarity of a magnet. To create an anti-gravitational well inside of an existing gravity well.”
“What is a magnet?” Allah asked.
“Another force of attraction, like gravity, only stronger than gravity, but with much shorter range. But magnets can both pull and repel. So can gravity…Once you learn how.
“And that is part of why the,” Li grinned again. Allah was getting used to the expression, “Bullies attacked here. Your planet has an easily exploitable gravity well and all the resources they could ever want. Well, most. And the swarmers are what my people call a ‘competitive species’. They don’t seek cooperation and destroy any sapient species they find to avoid the chance of competition later.
“That's the main reason why they attacked your planet. Its what’s called the Smorgasbord Doctrine. Once a species learns to control gravity, it becomes more energy and time efficient to use that control to harvest larger astral bodies than to chase down multiple smaller ones. They could have parked over or in one of your gas giants like Star dancer is now and gotten most of the same minerals, water and materials but…there is a third reason. They came here for something ‘special’.”
“What?” Allah asked. What could her planet still have to offer that the bullies could possibly prize?
Li looked at Allah appraisingly, “Complex proteins and carbohydrates remain energy intensive to synthesize or store for long periods of time.”
Allah’s face remained blank as the tiny star behind her ear translated the strange words into U’knock. “Meat and plant matter,” it said.
Li put it more plainly still.
“They came here to harvest you…”

David, Alice, and Frank watched the white, featureless and glowing - oval ship silently approach and then hover a few feet above the desert. As a door appeared in the side and dropped down to create a ramp – Frank said: “The algorithm worked! We just made contact with aliens!” A moment later he muttered to himself: “I wish we had thought about what to do if we did contact aliens.”
The aliens exited the ship with circular disks floating over their heads. After making some indecipherable gestures, they set up an odd looking device that then hung in the air. They then said something that sounded like breaking glass. When they finished the device said: “Trickery can't smell video games.”
David replied: “Uh . . . Hello?” The device then made more sounds like breaking glass and the aliens turned and – looked at each other? Did they even have eyes? Then another one spoke and the device said: “ A baked potato stands on somebody else’s Legs!”
In an attempt to defuse the situation Alice stepped forwards to shake the closer alien’s arm? Tentacle? Not a body part at all? Just as she took hold of it - something made a squishy crunching noise from under her foot. The alien let out a loud “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” noise and Alice jumped – producing another squishy/crunchy noise from the appendage she was holding. The device then said: “” Alice backpedaled while two other aliens started waving devices that were shaped like the letter ‘N’ in what was presumably a threatening manner. One of them announced: “ A sickeningly prodigious profile is often pregnant!” while two others helped their injured comrade back to the ship.
After they were aboard, the door closed the alien ship shot upwards – creating a sonic boom that knocked them to the ground and blew out the windows in the truck and the RV.
The dazed trio lay on the ground for more than a few moments and Frank was the first to speak: “What . . . just . . . happened?”
*******
She was reading her grandchildren a bedtime story when the phone rang. She apologized to the kids and promised them two stories tomorrow, then went to her office to answer it.
She answered the phone: “General Abrams.” “Ma’am – Major Johnson, duty officer. We have an incursion. Mojave Desert, California, 15 miles north of . . . a town named Ludlow. I have placed the QRF on alert.”
“Get the QRF in the air – we can always recall them if it turns out they aren’t needed. Contact the nearby airbases and find out if any of them can get aircraft overhead to feed us video of what’s on the ground. Recall the staff – I’m on my way in.”
………
Alice sat up and then decided that she was going to wait a few more minutes before trying to stand up. Looking around she couldn’t see David or Frank in the dark and called out: “Are you guys OK?” Frank replied: “I don’t think I’m badly hurt, but when I tried to stand up, I just fell down again.” David answered with: “My head’s still spinning a bit but not as bad as a minute ago.” Then he asked: “What happened to the lights?”
In a blinding flash of hindsight Alice realized that the reason it was dark was because the lights were out. “Must still be a little loopy after whatever that was hit us.” she thought.
By unspoken consensus they decided to just lie there until they felt they felt good enough to stand up.
………..
General Abrams walked up to the doors to the Operations Building. As she approached the steps, a calm and quiet voice announced: “Halt.” She stopped – being careful to ensure that her hands remained visible. “Who is there?”
“General Abrams”
“Advance and be recognized.”
She took three more steps and:
“Halt” then: “Fencepost” General Abrams congratulated herself for looking up the password before she got out of her car and replied: “Handbook”
“I recognize you General – you may pass.”
The General thought: “The duty officer posted extra security – that’s not a good sign.” She then entered the building without ever getting a glimpse of the sentry. Something she approved of.
……….
Alice finally felt good enough to stand up and pulled out her phone for more light, looked down at it and . . . nothing. She then looked around and discovered that she could see – not well. but see well enough. David said: “it’s dark and I can still see – did the aliens do something to us?” Alice knew the biology here – but this was the first time she had ever actually used it. She said: “It’s natural, in the dark our eyes produce ‘Rhodopsin’ a chemical commonly referred to as ‘visual purple’ that triggers phototransduction in the rod cells and . . .” Frank interrupted her: “OK - in the dark our eyes make a chemical that lets us see better in the dark.” Alice argued: “Well it’s not that simple.” Rolling his eyes Frank sand: “It’s close enough. Lets start figuring out what works and what doesn’t.” David gave a sigh of relief at avoiding a 15 minute lecture on the biological and chemical processes behind our ability to see in the dark.
*********
General Abrams walked into the operations center and looked at her Chief of Staff: “What’s the bad news?” At the same time wondering how he always not only managed to get here before she did – but had enough time to get a good picture of the situation also.
Captain Halsey (US Navy) called forward Captain Ryker from US Space Force. “Ma’am – when we looked at the records over the past several weeks, we discovered that every Friday and Saturday night a beacon sending data using some kind of advanced algorithm had been active at that location. And it was active tonight.”
“Did our deep space surveillance detect the ship?” “We didn’t detect it coming in but when it left it made no attempt to hide. Once this crisis ends, we’ll spend some time looking into how it evaded the deep space surveillance network.”
“Good job – carry on,”
She then turned and looked at the Operations Officer – who had just arrived and was getting briefed. She got his attention and when he turned his attention to her, she said one word: “Ready?”
“I have the most important stuff. QRF went wheels up 5 minutes ago. Flight time to target location is 40 minutes. Augmentation force has just called in and stated that they can be wheels-up on three minutes notice. Aliens were not detected when inbound but were detected outbound.”
The general: “OK the situation is worse than we expected. Launch the augmentation force with orders to take control of the target location and to secure it. QRF is to parachute in and capture anybody they find, then set up security until the augmentation force arrives. Once the augmentation force arrives, they are to return with any people they located and anything unusual that they find. Talk to Captain Ryker – he'll give you the bad news.”
She then turned and called out: “Air Ops – when are we going to have eyes on the target?” A Captain in an Air Force uniform put his hand over the receiver of the phone he was using and replied: “I’ve got two Marine F-35s and a C-130 tanker practicing air refueling ops 150 miles to the south. The F-35s are enroute and I’m working on grabbing the tanker in case the V-22s need fuel.” Estimated time over the target for the F-35s is just over 15 minutes.”
Satisfied that that her staff had things well in hand and that it would be a few more minutes before she needed to do anything, she decided to get a cup of coffee and stay out of their hair until then. She walked into the break room. She poured a cup, took a sip and . . . An angry voice bellowed from the break room: “Who let Navy make the coffee?”
********
“Well, the good news is that the problem appears to be that every battery we have is drained completely. We do have a small solar panel that we can use to charge the battery on the truck enough to get it started. Then we can jump start the RV and get out of here.” “Oh – and now for the really good news.” He pulled out a chemlight, said “Let there be light!” and snapped the vial inside it. A moment later he said: “I thought it would be brighter.”
Alice listened to Frank’s report as she put down the meager amount of sticks and brush she had managed to locate. She then said: “Well it appears that gathering firewood in a desert in the dark is just about as difficult as we expected.”
David came and placed his pile of sticks and dried brush and sat down and started spinning a stick between the palms of his hands. Frank came over and asked: “What are you doing?”
“Spinning a stick. The friction will heat up the tip and we can use that to get a fire started.”
“Why don’t you use the matches in the RV?”
“We have matches?”
**********
“We have eyes on the target location. Sending the imagery to the center display.”
The thermal imagery showed three people sitting around a campfire, a pickup truck and an RV. When the pilot switched the display from ‘white hot’ to ‘black hot’ the previously invisible tables and what appeared to be radio components showed up against the warmer sand underneath them.
“Is the QRF seeing this?” asked the general. The Air Ops officer replied: “They’re piggybacking off of our feed.” And in anticipation of her next question: “QRF is 22 minutes out and will deploy via parachute upon arrival.”
The fire had burned down and the only light was coming from the chemlite. The trio had finished a snack of toasted marshmallows and were now drinking some hot chocolate Alice had made. “Good thing propane stoves don’t need electricity.” Alice said to ease the feeling of gloom that was setting in. David says: “All in all – it looks like we’re lucky that nobody but us knows about this.”
*********
The video from the second F-35 came on – showing the Special Forces team land, discard their parachutes, don gas masks, and then - using nothing but hand signals - form up into an inverted V formation and move out towards the target.
******** Frank: “Well, I think that we might as well go get some sleep. We are going to have to make sure we get the glass out of the bedding though.”
In response to Frank’s comment David added: “Yea – looks like the worst is ov . . .” Then: “What’s that?” as objects landed in the sand on either side of them.
David suddenly couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, and his eyes and ears hurt.
**********
Both video feeds showed the same thing. The Special Forces team stunned the three people with flash bangs – then one ran towards each of the three people, yanked them out of their chairs and threw them face down into the sand. They then bound their arms with zip-tie handcuffs and put bags over their heads. The other three provided cover for the first. Once the three were immobilized two commandos kept watch on the trio while other four cleared the RV and the truck.
Then the team sent their first and only radio message: “Bastion – this is Predator Three. Objective secured, three persons detained, continuing mission – out.”

“OK – the good news is that we have determined that you have not been exposed to some alien supergerm that can wipe out all life on this planet. The bad news is that I Hate You. Friday night I was with my boyfriend, and he was about to propose – when I got the recall message.”
The annoyed nurse continued: “The exit doors are unlocking. Take a shower and put on the coveralls. You are no longer my problem!”
David: “What she means is that we are now somebody else’s problem. Somebody who can send a military team to kidnap us.”
Alice: “And has a Level Four Biosafety laboratory to use as a quarantine area.”
The Nurse: “Actually this is a Level Five facility.”
Alice: “What’s the difference between a level Four and a level Five?”
The Nurse: “A Level Five is one that would automatically flood the entire facility with Chlorine Trifluoride if any of you got sick from an alien pathogen.”

Road to Revolution

After MJF disappears from the screen, his internet activity becomes more and more cryptic. He often posts about contracts, about Punk being a shell of his old self, nothing but an old man trying to cling to relevancy. When Punk is asked about he simply says he moved on from Max, that, in a way, Max failed him. Punk fully expected to lose to MJF, he went into the match hoping MJF would dethrone him, but when it came to in ring skills, MJF left a lot to desire, and as a result, Punk now has his sights into properly being a champion, being the time for him to start steering the ship into a great future.
On the following episode of Dynamite from said interview, Punk addresses The Firm, going off about how ashamed he is from what went down at Full Gear, he says he was more than ready to lose to Max, even with the clear testament that Punk is the better wrestler now that he is 2-1 over MJF, the undeniable truth is that he’s old and his time is running out BUT having the final stretch of his legacy being tarnished by the involvement of The Firm, he can’t help but feel sorry for Max. It doesn’t matter how despicable and miserable MJF is, the only feeling Punk has for him is pity. He caps the segment off by saying that “the cowards under contract with Stokeley aren’t on the show right now, so I hope next week they’ll be here so I can start correcting some wrongs, with nothing more nothing less than some good ass kicking.”
The following week, Punk is ambushed backstage by The Firm but not without showing some fight, the numbers game eventually being too much for him. Security team floods the area, big W. Morrissey cleans the house and Stokeley calls the attack off. Punk is left laying on the ground like a bag of meat.
On the following Dynamite episode, Punk is arguing with TK about The Firm, he says he wants to take them on, doesn’t matter when or how, he just demands Tony Khan to make it. After some bickering Tony Khan decides. “Next week on Rampage, it will be CM Punk in a GAUNTLET MATCH against The Firm! If you survive through that, great for you, if you don't, whoever pins you gets a title match, I do need to be fair with them too.” And so it’s made official
CM Punk Vs. The Firm Gauntlet

Punk, still feeling the effects of his last match against MJF, looks very worried with this match, on his way to the ring he keeps on checking his foot and arm, which Max targeted throughout their match. The first member of The Firm is Austin Gunn, who jumps the fucking gun, eats a GTS on the first 8 seconds of the match and is instantly eliminated.
Out comes his brother Colten, who also jumps the fucking gun, gets hit with a Piledriver on the middle of the ring and rolled back up into a GTS!!! The Gunns got eliminated in the first 30 seconds of the match! The crowd roars in favor of Punk as Lee Moriarty marches down the ramp.
Lee Moriarty after getting inside the ring doesn’t do the braindead shit of going straight at Punk, instead, he waits for Punk to step up, and once it’s done, Lee chain wrestles the old man to the ground, focusing on grinding the feet of Punk. For the next 7 minutes, it’s a sequence of counters to complicated locks and transitions. Moriarty is able to escape the Anaconda Vice and locks in an arm bar, which Punk breaks with a Buckle Bomb followed up by a Shining Wizard! Even with Moriarty superior speed, Punk’s experience plays a major role, his ring IQ being displayed as he begins to out-maneuver Lee. Eventually Punk is able to hit Moriarty with the Pepsi Twist that he quickly turns into the GTS! Lee Moriarty has been eliminated.
Out comes Ethan Page! From here on it's simple. Page is able to overpower Punk for the next 8 minutes, with slow comebacks from Punk being squashed. This would repeat until a GTS out of nowhere was about to get Ethan Page, but he expertly grabbed Punk’s leg and began to maul it. Punk is able to mount a comeback after being stopped multiple times and he’s finally on the verge of nailing Ethan with a Piledriver when Stokeley climbed on the apron, catching the referee’s attention and we all know where this goes. A distracted referee, Punk gets hit out of nowhere with a Big Boot by W. Morrissey! With the help of the big man to put Punk on All Ego’s shoulders, an Ego’s Edge in the middle of the ring, the ref never saw the attack, 1…2…3! Ethan Page secures himself a title match for Winter is Coming, but the punishment still has only begun.

The Firm starts their pack attack on Punk, ready to nail him with a Championship Belt to the head when suddenly, a hooded figure jumps the barricade, steel chair in hands, runs to the ring, drops Moriarty with a chair shot, neutralizes Ethan Page, takes out The Gunns! But when he goes for a shot at W. Morrissey, a Big Boot to the chair stops the attack. The hooded figure slips something on his hands, rushes to Morrissey AND DROPS HIM WITH A SINGLE PUNCH! The hooded figure reveals himself to be MAXWELL JACOB FRIEDMAN!!!!!! MJF approaches the fallen CM Punk, he motions to help him back up but he grabs the World Title instead and stares at it for a moment while Punk gets back up.
Both men are now in the middle of the ring, a tired, old and hurt CM Punk stares at Max with murderous intent. MJF goes to give the belt back, drops it and when Punk goes to pick it up, at the motion of bending down, MJF NAILS PUNK WITH AN UPPERCUT WITH THE DYNAMITE DIAMOND RING! Max begins to viciously attack Punk, he drags him around ringside, throwing him on barricades, on the ground, everything. Eventually the attack ends when Max PILEDRIVES CM PUNK ON THE PYRO GRATE! PUNK’S LIMP BODY FALLS TO THE GROUND AS RAMPAGE ENDS WITH MJF STANDING TALL OVER THE CHAMPION!
The following episode of Dynamite, MJF opens the show in a similar fashion to when he won the World Title from Mox IRL. Coming out to a thunderous roar and cheers.
He gets a microphone on one hand, on the other, he has a contract! He begins reading the details but he does not specify when it expires, how much he makes and how much backstage pull he has, but he makes sure to say the most important clause of the contract: “As long as this contract is valid, Maxwell Jacob Friend has the right to, with previous warning as to set the card, challenge for ANY title he wants AS LONG AS he haven’t won them before”. At that, Cult of Personality hits and out comes the champion himself! Completely battered and bruised, he has his arm on a sling and he’s limping to the ring. Before Punk hits the ring, Max cuts anything he would do by simply saying “Stop there old man, we don’t want you to get hurt YET! I’ll spare you the breath so you have some when the match actually comes, please do be ready by then, The Devil will show himself to be crowned after his dominant win against Old Man Punk at REVOLUTION! Very poetic considering the whole landscape of AEW will change on that day, obviously for the better, BECAUSE I’M MAXWELL JACOB FRIEDMAN AND I’M BETTER THAN YOU AND YOU KNOW IT!”
Max goes out of the ring to a thunderous reaction while leaving CM Punk to be dragged backstage by the medic team.
From here on out there isn’t much to say, the “less is more” game is played to perfection, with the final Dynamite before Revolution being closed with Punk and Max brawling through the arena(again) prompting TK to declare their match as a NO DQ MATCH! This being the final straw in hopes those two either drown this hatred under liters of blood or they die trying.

AEW Revolution 2023

CM Punk Vs. MJF - AEW World Championship - No Disqualification Match

Take their dog collar match. Now make it more bloody. That’s what you get. In the first 5 minutes Punk gets busted open after being hit with the Dynamite Diamond Ring, an attack he answers after being dragged to the outside by slamming Max’s head into the steel steps multiple times.
This goes crazy, we have backstage fight, they fight on the crowd, there are barbed wires from Hangman and Moxley’s match, there are steel chairs, ladders, a fucking Pepsi Plunge through a table. The brick simply doesn’t come into play because they didn’t find it.
Just like the Danielson match, it stops mid action because both wrestlers are being administered oxygen, all for the sake of the match having a true winner. We get the oxygen tank spot BUT Max adds insult to injury by hitting Punk with a Stone Cold Stunner and proceeding to tie Punk’s damaged leg together with the previously damaged arm using a chain and wrenching both members back, in a weird Fujiwara Armbar where he simply pulls the chain back. Punk is able to almost crawl towards the ropes when MJF drags him back to the middle of the ring, keeps on the punishment and CM PUNK TAPS OUT!!! AFTER 54 MINUTES OF PURE HELL, HE TAPS OUT, THE DEVIL IS YOUR NEW AEW WORLD CHAMPION!!!!!!!!

With this, Punk gets written of TV to recover from his injuries and we get to the same place we are IRL, with Max as a dominant champion that still has a lot to prove and with a shining path ahead of him!
footnote: the swerve in our glory shit got scrapped last minute because I’m an asshole

Please give me helpful critiques, I want to make it fun and useful.
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Hello, and welcome to the final review of my LONER, Superstar, and The Art of Forgetting trilogy. It’s been a pleasure being able to write all of these and share my thoughts with everyone about how I feel about Caroline Rose’s records, and it sort of saddens me that the anticipation for The Art of Forgetting has vanished with the album’s release. However, that anticipation has been replaced with something else, which you will discover over the course of this deep-dive review.
After the tragedy that was Superstar, success-wise, Caroline had no intention of making another album. In fact, they were too depressed to do much of anything. Not only had Superstar failed, but the world was crumbling around them due to the pandemic, and their own personal universe collapsed after their heart was shattered by the ending of one of the most important relationships in their life. A relationship so important that it changed them and is the context of this record.
Caroline had some soul-searching to do. Eventually, this album had risen from the ashes of the split-level home where their love resided.
It’s no secret that this was one of the records I was probably the most hyped for in my lifetime (I literally had a countdown widget on my home screen for it). During my Superstar review, I explained how I had only really gotten into that record back in January of 2023, but you don’t need to have listened to an album for years to have a deep love and appreciation for it. Case and point. When Love / Lover / Friend was released, I was a little confused. This was the first music since 2020, and it was an atmospheric track with no percussion or drive? I didn’t connect with it at the time. Fast-forward to the announcement of The Art of Forgetting and the release of Miami and I was totally intrigued. I thought Miami was the best song they had ever done up to that point, and with the press release talking about how the album's focus was on mental health and more honest lyrics, plus a rawer sound, I was immediately hyped.
I will be completely honest in saying that I believe an album’s cover goes a long way, even though it’s the music that matters the most. Still, this is the photographic context of the entire record, like the cover of a book. Some people will be drawn in by an album cover alone, and I think one of my favorite things about albums is the cover. Especially if they have meaning. The Art of Forgetting’s cover, then, might be my favorite album cover in general. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I had first laid them upon it. Caroline sits in a big red chair, wearing a fur coat, and donning a scarlet blindfold. With a cigarette in their right hand and a glass of wine in their left, the house around them is engulfed in flames. The entire thing brings to mind the “this is fine” meme, but in a far more slick way. Though it may look badass at a first glance, the entire thing represents the collapse of your life and love, and learning to find ways to move on from that and inevitably be content. I just totally love it.
Now does the music live up to the sheer hype and incredible album cover, or is Caroline’s new work a step in the wrong direction? After all, they are shedding the quirky LONER and glamorous Superstar personas. They are abandoning tracks that make you get up and move your body (Though there are still some), and they are being completely open and honest with their lyrical storytelling. Well, my friends, I’m sitting here trying to write this review while Miami blares in my ears and I try not to let tears cloud my vision. This is an utter triumph from Rose, and I am a total sucker for honesty in lyrics and emotional music.
I am brought to my knees by The Art of Forgetting, so let’s find out why:
Love / Lover / Friend - As I stated before, I wasn’t too excited by this song when it came out, but boy does it give me so many feelings now. Knowing that this song is the opener to the album made me understand it completely, and it is quite the intro. The soft guitar strumming, the cinematic strings, the soft voice, it’s all meant to introduce you to a record that is a far departure from Superstar. Strap yourself in, we’re riding the train of emotions today, friends! During the 2nd half, Caroline showcases their love for songs that are purely vocal by using theirs in all sorts of interesting away and creating a desperate and pained feeling. And it makes sense, as this song is all about the frustration at a fraying relationship, Rose not keen with their heart being messed around with and achingly reinforcing who they are to their partner. It hurts but makes for a stunning track. This song is the denial stage of grief.
Rebirth - When I tell you my jaw hit the floor during this song, I’m not kidding. First of all, I don’t usually like vocal distortion most times, but Caroline’s voice just sounds so good here, and it was a super cool choice for the song. It gives the song its identity by being the only track that has that particular distortion, too. But the song starts with a cut-up guitar, which is an incredibly cool and freaky sound. Already, Caroline is showing off their creativity in this album. The part where my jaw fell on the floor is after the first “Packed for rebirth” when the Spanish guitar comes in and then Caroline’s vocals, followed by the feral drums that make this sound like a ritualistic dance. For a song called Rebirth, it just ties the whole thing together. To me, the song is about the longing to be someone else. The song describes the feelings after the relationship in Love / Lover / Friend has crumbled, and Caroline is explaining how they are ready to start over so they have another chance, but ultimately life isn’t that simple. Sick track.
Miami - This song was released and my eyes were open. It had the softer sound that Love / Lover / Friend had but I thought the acoustic guitar was beautiful. Cut to Caroline’s cassette clicking, then the song’s electric guitars EXPLODING in my ears. Holy shit. The feeling this gave me the first time I heard this song will never leave me. Those epic drums making this charge longer than live just fill me with so much emotion. That finale where Caroline is crying out and we get the title of the album as if to welcome us to the journey we are about to go on. After all, it’s still the beginning of the track list! At this point in the narrative of the album, Caroline has forgotten how to love themself, and this song documents the emotions they were feeling, and a conversation with their mother about their depressed state. The song’s epic finale tells us this is them forgetting how to love themself, but ultimately they will need to move on after all of the pain.
Better Than Gold - I’ll be honest, after hearing that this album was going to have voicemails throughout, I was prepared to not enjoy them, but boy was I wrong. They are one of my favorite aspects of the album and reinforce its themes so strongly. It might sound weird to review a voicemail from someone’s grandma, but I’m reviewing the album as a whole, so it can’t be helped. Caroline’s Mee-Maw’s voice sounds so comforting with the soft crooning, natural flow, and Southern accent. Hearing Caroline’s name, specifically, in the album personalizes the record to them, but that name can be replaced with anyone’s, I feel. We can all be Caroline, and maybe some of us have been Caroline. Heartbreak is a human experience and most of us will go through it. More on the voicemails later. The fact that Mee-Maw forgot to hang up the phone and we could hear her natural conversation and sweetness with her aid is so lovely. It reminds us of the kindness of other people in life which is one of the greatest traits humanity has. The movie Everything Everywhere All At Once says it best: “Be kind.”
Everywhere I Go I Bring the Rain - What a song! It’s upbeat and you can definitely dance to it, which a lot of the fans of their previous albums will appreciate. The acoustic guitar inspired a good feeling inside, yet this song is really a facade, as were the tracks on Superstar. Before we get to the lyrics, I want to say the bridge of the song is great with the percussion pattern flip, but the ending of the song is breathtaking, as well as unexpected. It’s only the last minute of the song, but Caroline knows how to craft an amazing ending, and the switch to a wild style of drumming at the end as the song fades out is one of my favorite artistic choices on the record. The lyrics being sung over the crazy drums emphasize the intensity of the message. The entire song is all of Caroline’s pain and self-doubt rolled up into one track. They are self-deprecating and brutally harsh on themselves, but in the end, we discover that it's time to face that pain head-on because you can’t just escape it, no matter what you do. In a way, I feel like it’s a message to anyone who is hard on themselves that maybe it's time to look inside of themselves and start the journey to improvement. “You can never run away from your pain” may sound hopeless on its own, but in my eyes, it’s a battle cry that means you need to get up and do something about that pain. Outstanding. The depression stage of grief.
The Doldrums - This was yet another single and, while dreamy and gorgeous, I didn’t understand it as the follow-up to Miami. It was slow and methodical but didn’t really feel like single material. I must say, in the context of the album, I freaking love it. It has the incredible sound of the album and some amazing piano work. Halfway through, when the percussion comes in, it just adds some depth to the song that it needed. The strumming of the harp adds a sort of heavenly feeling to an incredibly dark track lyrically. Originally, this song was far, far, longer, with about seven pages of lyrics, but Caroline felt they were far too dark to put out into the world. I can understand. I’ve been deeply depressed before, and it really hurts to look back on that version of yourself. Still, a song like this about mental health is important, and I’m thankful Caroline has shared any version of it with us. Definitely a necessary track to the album. After Everywhere I Go I Bring the Rain tells us we need to face our pain, The Doldrums is what that pain that we’re facing is. Haunting. The anger stage of grief.
The Kiss - I didn’t expect this song to be like this when I first heard it. I was expecting something to chill that would probably groove along, but instead, we got a synth dreampop track that continually builds during its runtime. This is the slowest moment of the album, but because The Doldrums was before it, it doesn’t bring the album’s pacing to a stop. As always, Caroline’s vocals sound incredible, and the way they layered them in this song is brilliant. It’s like multiple different versions of themselves experiencing the same thing. This song encapsulates the utter feeling of loneliness after a breakup, desiring the touch or kiss of anyone, just anyone. It doesn’t matter who it is, as long as Caroline’s feeling affection. When you’re alone with yourself and all the painful memories are playing over and over in your head, you just want nothing more than to create better memories with someone else. The loud final two minutes of the track cascade over you like the feelings in the lyrics cascade over Rose. I adore it and I’m glad they gave it so much time to build up.
Cornbread - What a beautiful interlude filled with guitar and synth. Mee-Maw is back, and we realize that Caroline hasn’t called her back or answered her voicemails since the last time. It’s heartbreaking, but hearing Mee-Maw’s voice grounds us, especially after the darkness of the last three tracks. It was overwhelming for Caroline, but having the voicemail from Mee-Maw showed something beautiful in humanity. Something as simple as thinking cornbread hit the spot reminds us that it’s the littlest things in life that add up to create joy. Just a wonderful and simple message and Mee-Maw isn’t even aware that she’s giving it to us, but that’s what makes it so pure.
Stockholm Syndrome - Why, oh why, oh why, couldn’t this track have been longer? It’s so lovely and beautiful and I wish Caroline had extended it further, but I understand some things aren’t meant to be. We are in the middle of a grieving process, after all. This is the album’s most humorous song, and it’s sort of like the bargaining stage of grief. “What if I kept trying to love you? Would you eventually love me back if I did something simple like writing a love song?”
Tell Me What You Want - The final single from the album, and I was thrown for a loop when it was released! You see, I was so hyped for this album that I had been constantly listening to a live version of this song on YouTube, so I thought I knew pretty much what to expect when going in. Boy, was I wrong. Caroline completely changed all of the lyrics, melodies, and instrumentals. It was a refreshing surprise and I must say, this is one of Caroline’s best vocal performances on a track. The vocal work on the album is stellar the entire time, but the performance here is just awe-inspiring. “ARE YOU TRYING, TRYING TO KILL ME?” sounds so desperate and pained and it is just fucking fantastic, excuse my language. This song goes through many dynamic shifts throughout, which keeps the song from ever feeling stale, always keeping you on your toes. Because the song talks about how confusing a relationship is, I bet Rose intended this to feel like how wild of a rollercoaster a faltering relationship is. It’s Caroline’s take on a classic breakup song, and one of the best I’ve ever heard, talking about the utter frustration from the lack of communication from a partner. Lack of communication is one of the leading causes of relationship deaths these days. Caroline also communicates how scared they are to let the relationship go because they know how much it will hurt, but they know that it can’t continue or it will just be an endless cycle of hurt. Sonically, the song is a sequel to Miami, and Rose ending the song with the wailing guitars from that song is such a great callback that it just elevates my opinions of them as an artist. What a track.
Florida Room - Originally a full song, this was meant to add more upbeat and happier tracks to the record, but it didn’t really end up fitting. Though it is not a message from the interlude, I think this situation still shows how you can’t force happiness into something like this, it has to come naturally. That’s true for any situation where joy is involved. The actual interlude, though, is another voicemail from Mee-Maw that again shows that Caroline is still not talking to her or answering her voicemails. The rule of three with these voicemails worked so well, and I feel that each one bookends a sort of chapter in the album. This one takes right to . . .
Love Song For Myself - Darn it, this melody gets stuck in my head so often. Truly a beautiful song that is another beat inclusion on the record. I haven’t talked about the bass that much in this review, but the bass on this song is super dope. The shift in the middle of the song where we get a slower drum pattern and Caroline comparing themself to a hurricane is amazing, but I love all the parts where the song’s main percussion pattern comes back in. It sounds amazing. The lyrics of this track show the journey to loving oneself again by affirming all the negative things that you think you are and then contrasting them with something good. Humans aren’t just one thing, they are a great many things, and Love Song For Myself is sort of cosmic in that way. At the end of the song, we get some beautiful synths that remind me of the stars, which ties into the cosmic feeling of the lyrics. Stunning song with some of my favorite lyrics on The Art of Forgetting. “If I am loneliness, then I’m the loneliest” is one of my absolute favorites.
Jill Says - Caroline Rose’s first piano ballad! I knew this going into it and expected something simple, yet powerful. I can’t believe how wrong I was again, as this song is complex in its layering and astounding all the way through. This is my favorite track on the album without a doubt, as much as I adore the rest. This song has so much room to breathe and gives us long stretches of instrumentals which are alluring and incredible and it all works so well. The song is a conversation with a therapist about a failed relationship and getting to the root of all the pain. In the end, Caroline finally accepts the loss of their relationship despite their continued feelings for their ex-lover. “I’m gonna miss you for a long, long time” never ceases to bring tears to my eyes.
Where Do I Go from Here? - The epic finale of our journey, Where Do I Go from Here? Has everything. It starts soft, then gets loud, then the drums continue in the second verse as the acoustic guitar joins it. The song then pulls back to give us gorgeous piano before SMASHING back into its utterly hopeful ending. This is it. Caroline Rose’s longest song is a cinematic masterpiece that ends the album with Rose finally learning to move on from all of the pain they have been experiencing through the course of the album. The end of the album recalls the Japanese art of kintsugi, without actually saying anything about it. Caroline has discovered this art on their own, for themself, and realized that all of the pain that we go through in life only leads us to be a more beautiful person in the end. I really began crying at the end when Caroline FINALLY calls Mee-Maw back. Throughout the album, we come to realize that Rose has included these voicemails to show just how much their grandmother was there for her, despite her failing memory. It’s what grounded them in this unbelievably hard period of their life, and what ultimately kept them going. It shows the support system that you have when you’re going through a mental health crisis and that despite not communicating with her, Caroline’s grandma was always thinking about them and missing them. It’s such a comforting feeling. I didn’t expect the album to have such a satisfying payoff, but Caroline’s voicemail at the end really completes the entire journey of the album. They are feeling good again and ready to open up and be happy. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. What a fucking beautiful ending to, without a doubt, one of my favorite albums of all time now.
You know that feeling you get when you have been anticipating for so long and your expectations are actually met? That’s how I feel right now. It’s a huge feeling of relief, but in all honesty, I never doubted Caroline. This was their most personal album yet, and while yes it is about their personal journey of mental health, it’s meant to make people that struggle with depression feel seen and heard. I can’t even begin to tell you how validated I feel by this album and how incredible it is to have a queer artist that just gets me as a whole. I love quirky and fun Caroline, but as I stated before, humans aren’t just one thing. Caroline showed another facet of themself that elevated my appreciation for them as an artist.
From Superstar to The Art of Forgetting, it feels like multiple albums could have come out between then and now by Caroline because the progression is just that insane. People might complain that they can’t dance to these songs, but I genuinely don’t see how you can hear this album and think any part of it is boring. It’s meant to make you feel, and The Art of Forgetting once again shows just how powerful music is. Isn’t it a wonder how something created by someone else has the capacity to fish out feelings from our souls? Isn’t it incredible how a sequence of notes and words can drive one to tears?
It’s because it’s all part of the human experience. The artist is just giving us a glimpse into the world, allowing us to feel everything they felt at the time, and ultimately telling us a triumphant story of overcoming darkness. This is truly one of my favorite albums of all time and certainly will be my album of the year when we reach December. Thank you, Caroline Rose.
From the bottom of my heart,
Niles Hollowthorn.

Part Six
We’d made it back through the maze of downtown to the side opposite from the gym, but it didn’t matter. Not only were the ones from the gym still after us, along with a few more dreamers they’d picked up along the way, but up ahead was another group of fifteen or so men and women were running towards us with impromptu tools and manic grins that both flashed murder with each bouncing step closer. They were practically skipping towards us as they guffawed and giggled, and it might have been funny if not for the dead ice in their eyes.
“Jesus. We…In here!” I’d spotted the garage door of an old-fashioned service station across the street—it was propped open a foot by a cinder block, and while it might have been a trap set to lure us in, I didn’t really think the people of Braxton had had the time or the sense to arrange it so quickly. These people…they didn’t move or look right, and not just because they were crazy and trying to kill us. They all looked off somehow. Maybe it was the way they moved, or the loose way the skin hung on their cheeks, even when pulled back with their fishhook smiles. They were becoming something different, though whether it was less or more, I couldn’t say.
All of those thoughts were in the back of my mind as we rushed over to the door and I tried to pull it up further for Mrs. Graves and Mr. Holliman to crawl under. The door only budged a few more inches before it let out a protesting rusty squeal and would go no further. Graves had already rolled through the gap, leaving a smear of blood in her wake, and Holliman was grunting as he sucked in his stomach and pulled himself past the door. Gasping with exhaustion and terror, I looked over my shoulder to see how far away the crowds were. The one cutting us off was still some distance away, though they were moving fast, but the ones behind us since the gym were thirty yards at most. I dropped to my belly and rolled through the gap, kicking the cinder block free as I went.
It all happened in a few harried seconds, but as I was getting to my knees I already realized the problem. The block had been so easy to kick away because the door hadn’t dropped back down when I let go to scoot under it. It was stuck, and as I stood up and started pulling on the other side, it immediately became clear that neither me nor Holliman’s frenzied yanks and kicks were doing much good.
“Back here! There are tires! Wedge them under!”
Mrs. Graves’ voice was soft but strident, cutting through my panic as I followed her words to the back wall of the garage. There were several stacks of old tires back there, including several truck tires big enough to block the door gap if put end to end. Holliman ran with me to the back, yanking tires down and sliding them across the concrete floor to jam them into the space between the ground and the edge of the door. They were on the other side, clawing and pounding and laughing their heads off as they told us to let them in, but either they didn’t catch on that we were plugging the hole they could crawl through or they just didn’t care. A couple of minutes later we had five tires jammed across the opening, with the last bit of space partially blocked by a heavy-duty hand truck we stuffed into the corner and ran through with chain to the last tire so it wouldn’t be easily removed.
Yet for all that, I knew it would only take a few minutes for the mob to dismantle our defenses, and that’s assuming they couldn’t force the door up themselves. I looked over and saw the same worries on the faces of Holliman and Graves.
She looked past me and nodded towards the far corner. “There’s a door back there. You better go close it in case they come in that way.”
Turning fast, I saw what she meant—an open door that seemed to lead to the store part of the gas station. Heart in my throat, I went to the door and peered through it. The store itself still seemed empty and intact, but I could see more and more people gathering outside. I jerked backward, afraid they might see me through the glass despite the darkness inside the store, but peeking back out a few moments later, there was no sign that they had. Still, they’d seen us go in here, right? Why weren’t they coming in after us?
Stepping back through the door and closing it behind me, I quietly slid over a mechanic’s creeper and propped it under the knob before turning back to my employers. Holliman had managed to tourniquet Mrs. Graves’ upper arm with her belt and bandage her forearm with a strip from his shirt, and while the strip of cloth was already turning red with blood, it was definitely an improvement from how she’d looked a few minutes earlier. Other, of course, from the fact that she looked as terrified as I felt.
I walked back over to them, keeping my voice low. “Why aren’t they coming in? There’s more around on the store side, but they weren’t even really looking in through the windows. It’s like they forgot we’re in here.”
Holliman grimaced and gave a nod. “That’s probably exactly what has happened. We need to be very careful to not make noise or let them see us.”
I frowned at him. “But how does that work? Are they like so crazy or brain-damaged that they don’t remember chasing us in here just now?”
Graves shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Based on what we’ve seen and what we know, they may be insane, but they retain a large degree of sophistication. I think this is just…well, a measure of protection we’re being provided by our service, even here.”
I felt a flare of anger at her carefully chosen words. “Oh, so more magic from ‘our service’? And what exactly do we serve again? Because I seem to always miss out on that part.”
Holliman started turning red. “Clint, now is not…”
I raised my hand and cut him off. “Fuck it. Just save your bullshit. You’re actually right. We’re about to die, and I’d rather focus on that not happening. Any ideas?” I glanced between the two of them. “Either of you?”
A look passed between them and then Holliman glanced toward the shadowy back corner of the garage. “I don’t think there’s another way out of here, but even if there was, they’d just be after us again as soon as we ran. But if they’re that discombobulated…Clint, how many do you think are out there right now?”
I shook my head. “Shit, I don’t know. There were probably thirty or forty following us, right? And another twelve or fifteen trying to cut us off.” I glanced back toward the store side of the gas station. But when I was closing the door I could see out the windows pretty good and…yeah, there are still more coming.”
Holliman fluttered his hand in frustration. “Yes, I understand. But how many? By your best guess?”
Scowling, I gave a shrug. “I don’t know. Probably a hundred or more if none of them are leaving again.”
He gave me a grim smile. “Good. That may be enough.”
“Enough for what?”
Wiping his forehead, he gestured up at the fluorescent light sullenly illuminating the dingy garage we were in. “Have you wondered about the electricity? Not every place has power it seems, but some do. And where is that coming from? Is there an active power plant within the bubble of this place, filled with giggling electricians and engineers that are keeping the lights on? Or are there power lines running outside the bubble to where time and nature move differently? Some kind of life line to the world outside this…” he waved around at the garage, his face contorted with disgust. “This insane hell?” He waggled a finger. “No. Neither. The thing that has taken this place and its people is keeping the lights on. Keeping the people asleep until now, feeding on their dreams and using a bit of that power to maintain certain things for whatever reasons. Perhaps to more easily lure in the occasional traveler, though that’s just a guess. And it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it takes resources, and the more dreamers we take from it, the weaker it will become.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, no shit. But I don’t think these fuckers are going to let us get near them with the eyedropper. And they don’t look too sleepy either.”
Holliman started to give an angry reply when Mrs. Graves put a hand on his arm and my own. “When they were in that dream state, the Elixir was the only way to end that connection. If we had simply gone around and killed them, their deaths would have provided a powerful boost to this thing, perhaps more than just letting it feed on them until they could no longer be sustained. It would have been akin to a ritual sacrifice.”
I felt my stomach twist as I saw where this was heading. “And now?”
She let out a long, tired sigh. “Now? Now it has had to wake up part of them. Sacrificing the power of their dreams to create a standing army to eliminate a threat—us. Unless and until they sleep again, that power is lost.”
Holliman cut in. “And if you’re right, and there are a hundred or more out there, and given those we’ve already dosed, we could move past the breaking point in one fell swoop.”
I stared at her. “You’re talking about killing them, aren’t you? Murdering a hundred people.”
Graves shook her head. “No. Not murder. Self-defense. They will kill us eventually, and in horrible ways. This place…we’re trapped here. Hard as it may be to hear, it’s going to be either them or us.”
Holliman snorted. “Enough of this. We can moralize after we’re no longer in danger.” He pointed to the abandoned sedan sitting in the far corner of the garage. “Clint, go look for gas and oil. If you can’t find much, see if you can syphon some from that car. I’d guess we’ll need at least twenty gallons to spray them all down.”
I backed up a step. “What’re you talking about? You’re going to walk out there and what? Spray them down with oil and gas and set them on fire?”
He chuckled. “No. That’d be suicide. Don’t be an idiot.” He pointed to a skylight above the sedan. “I’m going to have you pry that open and we’ll go onto the roof and spray it down on them. If we’re careful and they don’t see us, they may just let us do it until it’s too late. But first you need to find something liquid that will burn.”
I looked back at Graves. “And you’re okay with this?”
She looked on the edge of tears. “I’m not okay with any of this, but we don’t have a choice. We have a job to do, and they will kill us otherwise. Please Clint.”
Holliman looked ready to argue further, but I cut him off. “Save it. I’m doing this because you’re both right, but that doesn’t mean I like it.”
He nodded. “I appreciate that. I feel the same way. Will you please go find us some flammables while I stay with Gracie?”
“Sure…I…yeah, sure.”
The garage was big enough to hold two cars at a time, but with only the one slot occupied, I didn’t think there’d be much to really search. Most of the walls were lined with tools, and there were miscellaneous pieces of equipment along the perimeter, but it wasn’t until I started around the car that I saw something of interest.
It was a pair of feet.
I let out a gasp and started to back away, but something stopped me. This…wasn’t right. The feet were laying at a weird angle and looked…lifeless. Taking a couple of steps forward, I could see more of the man’s body.
He had clearly been dead awhile, though it was to tell how long in this place, and it wasn’t hard to see how he’d died. A box cutter still lay clasped in his withered hand, stained from the gash he’d put in his own neck at the end. I thought about the cinder block at the door and wondered if he was the one that had put that there, maybe hoping someone else would come along and rescue him for a time before he gave up hope.
Tears springing to my eyes, I looked over at his other hand. It was a plastic grocery bag, and inside were the dried ruins of what had probably once been half an ice cream cake, along with plastic plates, candles, and other party supplies. Jesus. This looks like he was going to his kid’s birthday party.
I stumbled back a step before my eyes caught on a large metal drum in the corner. Black painted letters were stenciled along the side, with the first line saying “50 gal”. Below that, was a longer line. “Waste Oil.” Stepping cautionly by the poor dead man, I gingerly rocked it. It felt most of the way full. Sighing, I looked back down at the birthday bag.
When I came back around, Graves and Holliman were looking at me with expectant desperation. I nodded. “I found a drum back here. I think it has like thirty or forty gallons of old oil in there.” I threw a small plastic bag at Holliman’s chest. Flinching, he fumblingly grabbed it and looked at it before giving me a sullen stare.
“Party balloons?” His face split into a grin as he began to laugh softly. “Oh, I see. Yes. That should work well. Yes, yes.”
“Yeah. Let’s just…let’s hurry and get this done. Come help me get the barrel out.”
Easing up from his spot next to Mrs. Graves, he bustled over past me, still chuckling. “Sure thing, chief. Time for a fire tonight!”
Frowning at him, I turned to look back at Graves, her eyes wide and more fearful than when we’d barely escaped the mob outside. She was mouthing something to me, lips trembling as she tried to enunciate each word clearly across the shadowy space.
"We’re…losing…him."

“Just going for a walk Em. I’ll be back soon!” I hollered down the hallway as I stood on the edge of the doorway, leaning on the front door with my keys in my hand.
“Alright, I’ll get started on dinner. How’s salmon sound?” My wife called back from the lounge room.
“Sounds delicious love!” I said, swinging on my jacket and walking out the front door and shutting it. I strolled down my driveway and onto the footpath. Turning around the corner to make my way to the walking track near my house, I inhaled a big breath of fresh night air. The sky was clear, and I had a stellar view of the stars. I felt so calm and the neighbourhood felt so serene. Ambling down the road, I nodded hello to anyone passing by me.
A couple blocks away from my home and only 50 metres from the walking track, I saw a guy who looked to be in his early-mid 30s dressed up in the most vibrant and flashy activewear I’ve ever seen. Even though it was mostly dark at this point, I was able to make out every detail simply due to how gaudy it was. It was like someone had taken a picture of normal sports clothes and turned the saturation up by 100%.
As I was ruminating on how in the actual hell this guy had bought clothes this bright, he almost walked head-on into me. I did an awkward shuffle to my left to let him pass by me, raising my hand in greeting.
He barrels past me, almost knocking me over. I stumble and regain my balance, straightening up and swiftly turning around, only to see him turn the corner. Slightly surprised by how fast he was walking, I try to push the rude encounter out of my mind, brushing imaginary dirt off my jacket. My hand caught on something, and I dug around in my jacket’s pocket only to pull out a crumpled piece of paper.
I unfolded it to reveal what looked like a rule set. Uneasiness crept into my stomach and I got a strange sense of deja vu. For the life of me though, I couldn’t imagine what could even make me feel deja vu like this. And then I remembered the creepy swimming pool rules and that Reddit post. I’d managed to forget them, but it looked like the rules weren’t done with me yet.
How’d this even get in my pocket anyway? The man in impossibly bright active wear who’d brushed past me earlier had barely touched me for more than a second. There was no way he’d managed to put that in my pocket, but there was no other explanation.
I honestly don’t know. I have no idea why this piece of paper immediately filled me with dread and why I was reacting so strongly to it. I’m normally a pretty level-headed person. I sank down onto the curbside, my legs feeling unsteady. I started to read it.
Hey, to whoever’s reading this. I’m sorry I can’t explain this in person, but I can’t take the chance that you may be someone who means me harm in disguise. That’s why I thought up this (genius, if I do say so myself) system where I write the rules down and print them out to hand around to anyone I see walking. Copy the rules if you get home and make as many duplicates as you can to hand out to other people. Of course, keep one for yourself, remembering these off by heart isn’t ideal.

1. Wear the brightest and most colourful clothes you can, it hurts their eyes to look at you. (Yes, that’s why I look like a parrot.)
2. Try not to walk alone (unless you’re experienced like me), you seem like less of a target that way. And if they do attack, it’s 50/50 whether they go for you or your friend. I like those odds a lot more than death, don’t you?
3. Keep your walks of a medium length. Don’t stay out for too long, and don’t be too short. Try to find that sweet spot in between. Making it too short makes them act desperately, they think their meal’s getting away which makes them more likely to attack and thus, it is more probable for you to die. Too long, and they get bored. Plus, who has time for a long walk?
4. Don’t run at any point. This turns your walk into a run, which has a different ruleset. I can’t help you there, sorry. I’ve never run (for a hobby) before.
5. Have a shower before walking. If you’re sweaty, you smell more appetizing.
6. Walking to your car, or across the street to visit your neighbour isn’t considered a ‘walk’. In my experience, it seems to be that walking for 300m or longer starts the ‘walk’.
7. You may run if you are within 100m of your home (and something is chasing you. No use starting up a ‘run’ for no reason). Any further and your walk turns into a run as I said before.
8. Learn to speedwalk. There are times when you need to get away fast, but can’t run. Watch some professional walkers on YT or something. There’s also the Olympic event, I find it more entertaining to watch than some rando on YouTube. But definitely watch how to get the proper form first for speedwalking, though.
9. Trust your gut. Good advice for life, really, but goes doubly for walking. If you feel like something’s off, it probably is. And best you end your walk early than face the consequences of seriously misjudging a deadly situation. Better safe than sorry, as I always say.
10. Don’t listen to music or podcasts. You need to be attentive at all times.
11. Try not to seem nervous. They read body language very well and this just makes them itch to hunt. They’re predators and any skittish behaviour immediately makes them classify you in their head as prey.
12. Don’t mistake them for dumb, big predators. They are very intelligent, for one and are much, much more than some stupid carnivore. Thinking like that’s just underestimating them, and misjudging them is such a dumb way to go.

Hope this helps you out and I wish you an awesome life stranger. Stay safe.
The paper shook in my hands and my vision blurred. I buried my head in my hands and felt my fear begin to overwhelm me.
“Why?” I murmured. “Why me? Why’d this have to happen to me? Why is this even happening?’’
Shaking my head to clear my mind, I tried to focus. Breaking down wouldn’t help me. I needed to figure out how to get home safely. The rules had probably kicked in by now - I’d definitely walked far enough - and walking home would probably be a death sentence in my state. I wasn’t focused, and I knew I could never follow the rules properly like this. I was only a couple blocks from home though, so maybe I could make a break for it? I could probably maintain a sprint that long. And if I couldn’t, I was sure adrenaline would be able to pick up my slack.
A stupid idea in retrospect.
Taking a few deep, calming breaths, I managed to compose myself. Forming my fists into a tight ball, I rubbed my eyes to clear them. I inhaled one more time and sprung to my feet, ready to run. Dancing on the balls of my feet with nervous energy, I realised that however anxious I was, I couldn’t let it show. Forcing my tense shoulders to relax, I spun on my heel to face back towards my house. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of two eerie glowing orbs, just observing me. How long had that thing been there? Had it been there from the start? Or had it only just appeared?
Had it always been there and I’d just driven past it on my way to work every day without the slightest clue?
These thoughts managed to shatter any semblance of composure I once had. It wasn’t hard, honestly, I was so tense and wired that even breaking a twig could’ve caused me to snap and lose my cool.
I ran. I ran for all I was worth, and then some. I flew home, absolute terror fueling each step I took. I’ve never run that fast in my life, and I doubt I will again. I was tiring fast, after all, I’ve barely run since high school, when I heard frantic stomping behind me that was almost like human footsteps but way too heavy for it to be that. I definitely could have been imagining them, but somehow I don’t think I did. I increased my speed, finding an extra reserve of energy deep within my body and pumped my arms even harder, my legs working overtime. It seemed to work for a bit. The footsteps faltered but then doubled in speed. Despite my best efforts, the plodding footsteps behind me seemed to be gaining. Whatever it was seemed to realise that too, and it slowed minutely, matching my pace so neither of us was gaining on the other. It was toying with me. It knew I couldn’t keep this pace up for much longer and that it had all the time in the world. I swore those footsteps sounded almost predatory.
I almost lost hope then. I almost stopped running and just gave myself up to it. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I won’t do that to Em. I resolved to keep running until my inevitable end.
Somehow, someway, I made it to my street. I skidded around the corner and almost fell over when I saw what greeted me. Construction workers. Shit.
In my ignorance and desperation to get away, I’d ignored the rules for running. And in doing so, I’ve cornered myself between death and… death. I was completely screwed. I needed to run past the construction workers (that had definitely not been there when I’d left so they were 100% of the supernatural kind) to get home.
My shoulders slumped. I dropped to the ground in absolute despair. This was it. I’d never see my wife again, never see her smile or laugh or groan in familiar exasperation at one of my puns. Never get to eat that piece of cake I was saving for later. Never experience the rest of my life, or even return to my monotonous office job.
I lay on the ground, all the fight sucked out of me. I waited for whoever would get me first, the thing chasing me or the construction workers, whatever they really were. I kept waiting. At one point, I wished that one of them would just hurry up and get it over with. I hated the suspense. After a while, I just lost all sense of time, wallowing in a pool of self-pity, laid out on the ground. At some point, I think I came to the realisation that at least, the thing that had been chasing me earlier was gone. Maybe it was afraid of the construction workers and didn’t dare approach closer than I already so stupidly had. I didn’t really care, as long as it was gone.
And as I came to my senses, an ominous clanking and rattle of hammers, drills and various other tools filled my ears and drowned out any other sound. I realised that this had been playing in the back of my head the whole time I’d been on the ground and I’d just been tuning it out. Now, all I could hear was the clang of metal on metal. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t tune it out as I’d previously been able to do. And now that I was aware of it, it had some kind of hold over me. I couldn’t ignore it to the slightest degree.
I stumbled away, cradling my head and blocking my ears, wishing desperately that the sound would just. Go. Away.
I felt unsteady, almost like I was drunk. I stumbled about walking in a random direction, not caring where I ended up. I don’t know for how long or how far I walked, only that I wanted those godawful sounds to stop. My head spun and I collapsed on the ground, the sounds of a hammer striking a nail still ringing throughout my head.

I put the 40 participants, four of the noxcrew members, and four games into the hunger games simulator-
I will only include the important or funny lines in this post or it may be quite a bit longer than it actually is-
This is part 2, part 1 is here https://www.reddit.com/MinecraftChampionship/comments/12148zg/mcc_scuffed_hunger_games_part_1/
Deaths so far-
BadBoyHalo
Vixella
WaterBreathMan
PeaPeeKay
JojoSolos
PeteZahHutt
Punz
LargishBeans
Aimsey
EpicLandLord
Ponk
Noctis
LDShadowlady
Noxite
Ph1LzA
Antfrost
Grain
KaraCorvus
Awesamdude
Falsesymmetry
TapW
Who is alive-
Sylvee- 1 Kill
Hannahxxrose
Gee Nelly
InTheLittleWood- 2 Kills
Rabnoo-2 Kills
Sneegsnag
MrGaming
Blushi
Skeppy
TheOnionSound- 1 Kill
Krinios
Bekyamon
PearlescentMoon
ConnorEatsPants- 1 Kill
Tubbo- 1 Kill
RedVelvetCake
GeminiTay- 1 Kill
Fwhip
Smajor
DrGluon- 2 kills (Ok gluon get it)
KryticZuez- 1 Kill
ShubbleYT
Aeltumn
Buildmart- 1 kill
Skybattle
TGTTOSWAF
Rocket Spleef Rush
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 6
Krinios questions his sanity. (Same)
BuildMart is unable to start a fire and sleeps without warmth. (Im done questioning)
Fwhip quietly hums. (Of course he does)
TheOnionSound tends to his wounds.
Rabnoo receives an explosive from an unknown sponsor. (Scary)
KryticZuez passes out from exhaustion. (Same)
Rocket Spleef Rush destroys RedVelvetCake's supplies while he is asleep. (Oh velvet.)
TGTTOSWAF starts a fire. ("We didnt start the fi-re")
Smajor questions his sanity. (same)
ShubbleYT sets up camp for the night.
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Day 7
InTheLittleWood diverts PearlescentMoon's attention and runs away. (Martin is such a Mean Gill)
Sneegsnag defeats TheOnionSound in a fight, but spares his life. (Give us some action or something im bored)
Smajor picks flowers. (Flower husbands!)
BuildMart steals from DrGluon while he isn't looking. (Buildmart is gonna be very controversial)
Skybattle discovers a river. (New SKB Map?)
ConnorEatsPants tries to sleep through the entire day. (Same)
Skeppy dies from thirst. (SoT was too much)
GeminiTay injures herself. (Gem you gotta slay)
Hannahxxrose steals from Rocket Spleef Rush while he isn't looking. (Uh oh RSR gonna get revenge)
ShubbleYT picks flowers. (Yay!)
Deaths from Night 6 & Day 7-
Skeppy
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 7
Skybattle overpowers Sylvee, killing her. (Oh wow Skybattle)
BuildMart, Rocket Spleef Rush, TheOnionSound, and Aeltumn tell each other ghost stories to lighten the mood.
InTheLittleWood dies from an infection. (Martin? You were doing so well)
Smajor kills MrGaming while he is sleeping. (SCOTT?! I thought flower husbands meant something to you)
Rabnoo looks at the night sky. (Same)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 8
Tubbo diverts TheOnionSound's attention and runs away. (Drunk ding dong ditch)
Bekyamon is pricked by thorns while picking berries. (She just wanted berries wow)
Smajor tries to sleep through the entire day. (Same)
PearlescentMoon forces BuildMart to kill Blushi or Rocket Spleef Rush. He decides to kill Blushi. (No game on game violence I guess?)
Aeltumn is pricked by thorns while picking berries. (She just wanted some berries)
RedVelvetCake throws a knife into ConnorEatsPants's head. (WOAH VELVET WHAT)
Krinios sprains his ankle while running away from Skybattle. (Another Ankle??)
Rabnoo begs for KryticZuez to kill him. He refuses, keeping Rabnoo alive. (Respect)
ShubbleYT attacks Fwhip, but he manages to escape. (Give Fwhip a chance hes rusty)
Deaths from Night 7 & Day 8
Sylvee (Kinda salty about this one)
InTheLittleWood
MrGaming
Blushi
ConnorEatsPants
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 8
Tubbo begs for TheOnionSound to kill him. He refuses, keeping Tubbo alive.
TGTTOSWAF loses sight of where he is. (TGTTOSWAF Played SoT?)
ShubbleYT, Smajor, and Sneegsnag discuss the games and what might happen in the morning. (Scott knows everything since its rigged)
Skybattle defeats GeminiTay in a fight, but spares her life.
Fwhip starts a fire. (He started the fire)
DrGluon goes to sleep. (Hes retied he already has like 3 kills)
BuildMart passes out from exhaustion. (Same)
Gee Nelly attempts to start a fire, but is unsuccessful. (She did not start the fire)
Bekyamon, Rocket Spleef Rush, and RedVelvetCake cheerfully sing songs together. (Beky and Velvet RSR pop off?)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 9
Rocket Spleef Rush forces Skybattle to kill DrGluon or KryticZuez. He decides to kill KryticZuez. (Noo Zuez you were so good)
Gee Nelly defeats RedVelvetCake in a fight, but spares his life.
Rabnoo diverts Smajor's attention and runs away.
Tubbo, GeminiTay, Aeltumn, and ShubbleYT raid Krinios's camp while he is hunting. (Thats not fair)
BuildMart runs away from Hannahxxrose. ( I would too)
Fwhip and TGTTOSWAF hunt for other tributes. (Fwhip gonna pop off in TGTTOSWAF)
Deaths from Night 8 & Day 9
KryticZuez
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deaths so far-
BadBoyHalo
Vixella
WaterBreathMan
PeaPeeKay
JojoSolos
PeteZahHutt
Punz
LargishBeans
Aimsey
EpicLandLord
Ponk
Noctis
LDShadowlady
Noxite
Ph1LzA
Antfrost
Grain
KaraCorvus
Awesamdude
Falsesymmetry
TapW
Skeppy
Sylvee
InTheLittleWood
MrGaming
Blushi
ConnorEatsPants
KryticZuez
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 9
DrGluon and Skybattle tell stories about themselves to each other.
BuildMart cries himself to sleep. (I would too if I were buildmart)
Aeltumn and GeminiTay talk about the tributes still alive.
Hannahxxrose receives an explosive from an unknown sponsor. (Thats scary)
Rabnoo passes out from exhaustion. (Same)
PearlescentMoon falls into a frozen lake and drowns. (NO PEARL)
TheOnionSound fends Smajor, ShubbleYT, and Gee Nelly away from his fire. (Selfish)
TGTTOSWAF is unable to start a fire and sleeps without warmth. (Does it need warmth though?)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 10!
Aeltumn receives an explosive from an unknown sponsor (Oh no EpicLandlord flashbacks)
Krinios is pricked by thorns while picking berries.
GeminiTay defeats Sneegsnag in a fight, but spares his life.
Hannahxxrose defeats ShubbleYT in a fight, but spares her life.
Rabnoo questions his sanity. (Same)
Fwhip injures himself.
Tubbo, Skybattle, and Rocket Spleef Rush hunt for other tributes.
Smajor defeats RedVelvetCake in a fight, but spares his life. (So much life sparing! I mean just kill them.)
Gee Nelly and TheOnionSound hunt for other tributes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARENA EVENT (Finally)
Area Turns Pitch Black
Hannahxxrose trips on a rock and falls off a cliff. (Nooo Hannah)
TheOnionSound survives.
Sneegsnag survives.
Rabnoo survives.
Tubbo flails his weapon around, accidently killing Gee Nelly. (Noo Gee)
While fighting, ShubbleYT and Smajor lose their balance, roll down a jagged hillside, and die. (Both of them?!?!)
Skybattle survives. (Of course.)
DrGluon survives.
Rocket Spleef Rush accidently makes contact with spiny, lethal plant life. (The first game to die!!)
Bekyamon trips on a rock and falls off a cliff. (Beky Nooo!)
BuildMart accidently makes contact with spiny, lethal plant life. (Second Game to Die!!)
GeminiTay survives.
RedVelvetCake survives.
Aeltumn survives.
Krinios survives.
Fwhip survives.
TGTTOSWAF survives.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deaths from Night 9, Day 10, & Arena Event
PearlescentMoon
Hannahxxrose
Gee Nelly
ShubbleYT
Smajor
Rocket Spleef Rush
Bekyamon
BuildMart (haha)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 10
Rabnoo starts a fire. (Good job)
GeminiTay begs for Fwhip to kill her. He refuses, keeping GeminiTay alive. (Slay Gem cmon!)
Tubbo convinces Skybattle to snuggle with him
RedVelvetCake quietly hums. (Poor Velvet he doesnt have Ant anymore)
TGTTOSWAF goes to sleep. ( I dont blame it, half of the games died, nothing is safe.)
DrGluon begs for TheOnionSound to kill him. He refuses, keeping DrGluon alive. (Keep going Gluon!!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Feast
The cornucopia is replenished with food, supplies, weapons, and memoirs from the tributes' families.
Krinios decides not to go to The Feast.
Fwhip, Rabnoo, Tubbo, and DrGluon team up to grab food, supplies, weapons, and memoirs.
RedVelvetCake decides not to go to The Feast.
GeminiTay decides not to go to The Feast.
Aeltumn shoots an arrow into Skybattle's head. (Aeltumn doesnt like skybattle??)
TheOnionSound decides not to go to The Feast.
Sneegsnag decides not to go to The Feast.
TGTTOSWAF dies from an infection. (Oh.. Only one game left!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 11
Aeltumn questions her sanity. (same)
Fwhip injures himself.
Sneegsnag tries to spear fish with a trident.
Tubbo diverts DrGluon's attention and runs away.
RedVelvetCake chases Krinios.
TheOnionSound and GeminiTay work together for the day.
Rabnoo receives clean water from an unknown sponsor.
Deaths from Night 10, The Feast, & Day 11
Skybattle
TGTTOSWAF
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top 10-
Rabnoo- 2 Kills
SneegSnag
TheOnionSound- 1 Kill
Krinios
Tubbo- 2 Kills
RedVelvetCake- 1 Kill
GeminiTay- 1 Kill
Fwhip
DrGluon- 2 Kills
Aeltumn- 1 Kill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 11
DrGluon sees a fire, but stays hidden.
RedVelvetCake sees a fire, but stays hidden. (Everyones being so safe its boring)
GeminiTay passes out from exhaustion. (If i slayed that much I would too)
TheOnionSound loses sight of where he is. (Of course he does)
Sneegsnag loses sight of where he is.
Fwhip sets up camp for the night.
Krinios defeats Rabnoo in a fight, but spares his life.
Tubbo and Aeltumn run into each other and decide to truce for the night.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 12
(Nothing happened Im so disappointed)
Nobody died
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 12
Tubbo tends to his wounds. (Okay Tubno Self care)
DrGluon and RedVelvetCake tell stories about themselves to each other. (Bonding!)
Rabnoo begs for Krinios to kill him. He refuses, keeping Rabnoo alive.
TheOnionSound quietly hums.
Fwhip stays awake all night. (Same)
GeminiTay repeatedly stabs Aeltumn to death with sais. (Wow Gem thats brutal)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 13
TheOnionSound collects fruit from a tree. (So Healthy)
GeminiTay searches for a water source. (I want gem to win)
Tubbo stabs Rabnoo in the back with a trident. (WOAH)
Krinios is pricked by thorns while picking berries.
Sneegsnag tends to RedVelvetCake's wounds. (Velvet is making a lot of alliances)
Deaths From Night 12 & Day 13
Aeltumn
Rabnoo
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP 8
DrGluon
Krinios
Tubbo
RedVelvetCake
GeminiTay (Yesss!)
Sneegsnag
Fwhip
TheOnionSound
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 13
Krinios thinks about winning. (Ok Krinios Self Confidence)
Tubbo is unable to start a fire and sleeps without warmth. (Poor Tubbo)
GeminiTay and Sneegsnag run into each other and decide to truce for the night. (Yes Gem!! Win for us!)
Fwhip begs for TheOnionSound to kill him. He refuses, keeping Fwhip alive. (Oli's too nice)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 14 (This is really long)
Fwhip and TheOnionSound threaten a double suicide. It fails and they die. (WOAH WOAH WOAH)
Sneegsnag tends to Tubbo's wounds. (Awww Bonding)
RedVelvetCake fishes. (Oblivious)
GeminiTay and Krinios track down and kill DrGluon. (Noooo Gluon!!)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top 5!!
Sneegsnag-No kills
Krinios- 1 Kill
Tubbo- 3 Kills
RedVelvetCake- 1 kill
GeminiTay- 3 Kills
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 14
(They all slept)
(Boring.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 15
Krinios stalks Tubbo.
GeminiTay sprains her ankle while running away from RedVelvetCake.
Sneegsnag receives an explosive from an unknown sponsor.
(DO SOMEHING THE SUSPENSE)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 15
Sneegsnag sets up camp for the night.
Krinios receives a hatchet from an unknown sponsor.
GeminiTay tries to treat her infection (Win Gem Win!!!)
RedVelvetCake sets up camp for the night.
Tubbo dies of dysentery. (Oh... 4 Left)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 16
(Nothing Happens)
(I want this to end)
Deaths in the last 2 days & nights
Tubbo.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 16
Sneegsnag, Krinios, and RedVelvetCake cheerfully sing songs together. (Oblivious)
GeminiTay accidently steps on a landmine (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GEM)
(Im sad)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 17
(Nothing Happens)
(Someone Win Please)
Top 3-
Sneegsnag
Krinios
RedVelvetCake
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Night 17
Sneegsnag tries to sing himself to sleep. (Ok)
RedVelvetCake dies from thirst. (OH)
Krinios falls into a frozen lake and drowns. (OHHHHH OH WOW OH)
--------------------------------------------------------------
The winner is Sneegsnag from Orange Ocelots!
Most Kills award goes to
GeminiTay & Tubbo With 3 Kills!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
If you read everything I applaud you
If you scrolled to the bottom to to see the winner I respect that
I still cannot believe I spent 4 hours on this but you know
Hope you guys enjoyed this! If people like it I might make one for next mcc too!

SmackDown Episode #1231
Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena (Las Vegas, NV)
Attendance: ~10,000

Results of Tonight's Show

Match	Stipulation	Winner
Cody Rhodes vs. Ludwig Kaiser	Singles Match	Cody Rhodes
Rey Mysterio vs. LA Knight	Singles Match	LA Knight
Xia Li & Lacey Evans vs. Shotzi & Natalya	Wrestlemania Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Qualifying Match	Shotzi & Natalya
Gunther vs. Butch	Singles Match	Gunther

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Kicking off with Cody Rhodes vs. Ludwig Kaiser. A child had a sign, "Cody can I please have your belt?" Cody gave him the belt.
  
• Paul Heyman steps out to the ramp to watch the Rhodes/Kaiser match. Later, Solo Sikoa joins him and they walk down to ringside. After the match they get into the ring and Paul Heyman takes the mic saying Cody is owed an apology - he deserves a better win announcement. Paul gives him a bombastic win announcement pointing out he's still a challenger for the title. Paul announces that on Raw, Cody will have a match with Solo Sikoa. If he survives, Roman Reigns will meet him face-to-face next week on SmackDown. Cody calls out Paul for moving the goal posts, and tells Solo that although he's currently undefeated, he's not ready. And Roman will find out, he's not ready either.
  
• Breaking news: John Cena will kick off WrestleMania weekend in the first match on Saturday vs. Austin Theory for the US Championship.
  
• Charlotte Flair heads to the ring to speak. She talks about fear, insecurities, and nepotism. Diamonds are forever, and so is Charlotte Flair.
  
• Mid-match, Dominik Mysterio's music hits and he joins ringside for his father's match. Eventually his interference causes him to lose, and Dom joins him in the ring asking him if he'll give him what he wants, shoving Rey. As Rey rolls out of the ring, Dom addresses his mom in the audience, asking her how she can stand to be married to such a pathetic loser. He then calls her a deadbeat mom, and as her sister tries to interfere, she takes the mic from Dom. Dom yanks it back and tells her to shut up. Rey reappears and slugs Dom. Rey says he made him do it, and if Dom wants a fight at WrestleMania, they're on.
  
• After the women's tag qualifier, Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler head out to antagonize them. Shayna asks if maybe they want another fight tonight. Ronda stops her saying they've sold out this arena many times before & they don't deserve it. Instead, they announce they're being added to the WrestleMania match.
  
• Time for the contract signing for the Intercontinental Championship Triple-Threat Match at WrestleMania. Adam Pearce goes to introduce Drew McIntyre who is already sitting at the table when Sheamus' music interrupts. Sheamus goes on a rant about having his best friend try to steal his 15 year goal out from under him, and now imagine getting the opportunity to smash his face in. Drew interrupts, talking about Sheamus trying to guilt trip him on social media like a teenage girl. Drew says they should've gone out for a drink after a beating but now instead Sheamus is just whining. Drew reminds him he's beaten Gunther - and Sheamus hasn't. Before anything breaks out they stop to sign the contract.
  
• Gunther charges to the ring for the contract signing. Gunther wants Adam Pearce to justify his decision. He wants Adam to justify how either of them could pin each other, but he'd lose his title. Gunther signs the contract saying he'll do whatever he has to do defend his title at WrestleMania and it will all be justified. He says he'll beat everyone, and the Brawling Brutes give him a look Gunther asks what they're looking at, and a short brawl tries to erupt. Gunther corners Adam Pearce yet again yelling in his face. This leads us to an impromptu match.
  
• Post-match, Sheamus gets in the ring with the victorious Gunther for a staredown in front of the WrestleMania sign. Out of nowhere appears Drew McIntyre to deliver a claymore to Gunther. The open question being, was that meant for Sheamus…?
  
• The Street Profits are backstage talking smack on their opponents at the Wrestlemania 4-Way Tag Team Showcase match. Ricochet & Braun Strowman appear and say, they'll see who wins.
  
• Announced for next week: Drew McIntyre & Sheamus vs. Imperium, AND the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal!
  
• Next, the KO Show, with guest Sami Zayn. Sami wants to talk about WrestleMania - he realized after all of these years, they are on the verge of winning the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship. Kevin notes it's not lost him, and he's got something for Sami - a new shirt, KO Mania Goes Hollywood! Well, that's just the back. Because this year this guy who has been the MVP of the WWE for the last year is Sami Zayn. He tosses the shirt over to Sami, where the front reads WrestleZaynia Goes Hollywood! Kevin removes his hoodie to reveal he's already wearing it, and Sami takes off his hoodie to do put his on. Sami wants a hug, KO says he only gets one a year... well, they went in for another anyway. AND THE USOS CHARGE THE RING! The Usos attack and wreck the set until Kevin gets a steel chair and they back off to the ramp.
  

Additional Plugs

• Revisit the live thread
  
• Check out our SquaredCircle Twitter account for all sorts of AMA announcements and interaction!
  
• Join our SquaredCircle Discord for live chat!
  
• Be sure to follow @WWE on Twitter and Like WWE on Facebook!
  
• Like other wrestling promotions? Perhaps you're looking for other subreddits related to wrestling? There's a sub for that! Check out /AEWOfficial, /luchaunderground, /njpw, /ImpactWrestling, /ROH, /indiewrestling, /Wrasslin and more!
  

Next week's Smackdown will be live from Los Angeles, CA.

9:40AM EST - 9:55AM EST
4.21.2020

 THE MAIN LESSON I LEARNED IN MY TWENTIES WAS SOCIAL DISTANCING. BASICALLY. THEN, AS SOON AS I HIT MY THIRTIES, IN THE 2020'S, BOOM. SOCIAL DISTANCING IS NOW THE NEW NORM RIGHT? THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE SAYING. THEY HAVE BEEN SAYING MANY THINGS FOR DECADES NOW. SEVEN DECADES. IF NOT MORE. BRENDAN ASKED ME TODAY, VIA TEXT MESSAGE, WHAT I PLAN TO DO ABOUT THE MARKETING AND PROMOTION OF THIS ART PORTFOLIO? NOT THINKING ABOUT IT ALL REALLY. IN ALL ACTUALITY. IT WILL SERVE AS NOTHING MORE THAN A SERIOUS ROADBLOCK. AS A CREATIVE ARTIST, MY ONLY JOB IS TO MAKE THE FREE THROW. WHATEVER THE SHOT IS, MAKE IT. THE PROJECT IS THE SHOT. MAKE THE SHOT. ONLY THE SHOT MATTERS. THE SHOT, THE ONLY MATTERING FACTOR. AS AN ARTIST, I ONLY HAVE ONE JOB. MANY RESPONSIBILITIES I MUST HANDLED CONCERNING THE CRAFT. ALL RESPONSIBILITIES ACTUALLY. ANY OTHERS MUST BE DELEGATED TO THOSE ON THE PAYROLL. THE RIDDLE WASN'T HOW I WOULD GO ABOUT THE MARKETING. i WOULD GO ABOUT THE MARKETING BY HIRING MARKETERS. PUT THE SPECIALIST TEAM YOU NEED AROUND YOU ON THE PAYROLL. THIS SIMPLE. AT 25 YEARS OLD I WAS AT SUCH THOUGHT LEVELS. ONCE I WROTE "CFK" I WAS ABLE TO REALIZE I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO FUND THE PROJECTS MYSELF. HENCE THE FINANCIAL WORLD OF INVESTING I NOW FIND MYSELF EXPLORING. I AM SO GRATEFUL I AM STILL ALIVE. I THANK GOD FOR MY LIFE. I DON'T THINK ABOUT THE HOO RAH OF IT ALL. THE FLASHING LIGHTS. THE MEDIA. THE OSCARS. THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME. I FOUND A WAY TO SKIP THE LIGHTS AND THE MEDIA. STRAIGHT OSCAR STATUETTES AND THE STAR WALK POSITION. 

​
7:18 AM EST - 7:54AM EST
THURSDAY APRIL 23RD, 2020
4.23.2020 -
4.24.2020 -
11:23PM EST - 11:55PM EST
FRIDAY APRIL 24TH, 2020
​
​
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE DEPRESS IS MY BEST FRIEND

 I STARTED A NEW FILM SCRIPT YESTERDAY MORNING. "FROM THE GET GO" "NAIJAH FOURLEAF CLOVER" IS THE PEN NAME. THE PEN NAME IS CREATED IN HONOR OF NAIJAH GROVER SR. R.I.P. TO NAIJAH GROVER SR. THIS IS THE BEST I CAN DO. TO HONOR MY FALLEN COMRADES WITH MY ART. GIVING THEIR NAME THE CREDIT. MY NAME NEED NOT BE ON THE BOOK PENNED BY MY OWN. I GAVE AWAY THE CREDIT. THE SPOTLIGHT. I DON'T WANT THE SPOTLIGHT. I WOULD PREFER TO SHADOW OPERATE. THE SHADOW GOVEY DOESN'T REAR IT'S UGLY FACE...SO WHY SHOULD I? THE GOAL IS TO WIN. WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO WIN? CREATE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. CREATE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. SEEK NO SPOTLIGHT. UNDERPLAY ALL ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN ANY SPOTLIGHT. GIVE ALL SPOTLIGHT AWAY. SHARE ALL SPOTLIGHT. TOTALLY IGNORE THE QUESTION YOU CAN'T ANSWER WITH TALK OF SOMEONE DEAR TO YOU. PUT OTHERS ON WITH YOUR SPOTLIGHT. OTHER THAN THAT, DENY EVERYTHING. A MAN LIKE YOU CAN'T GO ON THE BREAKFAST CLUB. IF I GO TO ANGELA YE SHE'S GOING TO LOVE ME. I WILL GO TO INTERVIEWS AS AN ACTOR WITH SCRIPT. I WILL BRING AN ACTOR IN A SUIT, TO PLAY MY LAWYER. EVERY QUESTION I CAN'T ANSWER, I'LL THROW A SIGN. THEN HE WILL WHISPER IN MY EAR. THEN I WILL REPEAT HIS WORDS. "COUNSEL HAS ADVISED I DON'T VERBALLY ENTER SUCH TERRITORY." I ENJOY MY LIFE. I JUST WANT TO KEEP IT SIMPLE. I WAS WILLING TO SACRIFICE ANY SUCCESS FROM THE CRAFT I GAVE MY LIFE TO. I GAVE MY LIFE TO LITERARY HISTORY. I GAVE UP MY PERSONAL LIFE TO ATTAIN INCLUSION. LITERARY HISTORY INCLUSION. I GAVE UP EVERYTHING. I HAVE NOTHING ELSE. I ONLY HAVE TEN THOUSAND FILES. MAYBE 5000 HOURS. YOU CAN'T CONTROL ANOTHER PERSON. YOU CAN ONLY CONTROL YOURSELF. YOU CAN ONLY CONTROL YOUR FOCUS. YOU CAN ONLY CONTROL YOUR ATTENTION. YOU CAN ONLY CONTROL YOUR AMBITION. I CAN CONTROL MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. SPENDING YEARS PUBLISHING BOOKS, I WILL NEVER REGRET. I CAN NOT RISK LOSING MOMENTUM WHILE INSIDE A DOOMED RELATIONSHIP. I AM MORE CURIOUS OF OTHER IDEAS THAN OTHER PEOPLE. I AM A MAN OF IDEAS. I AM DRAWN TO IDEAS. I WANT TO HEAR SOME IDEAS. WE AS PEOPLE ARE IDEA CREATORS. SO IF YOU HAVE NO IDEAS, WHY HAVE A BRAIN? 4.24.2020 - 11:23PM EST - 11:55PM EST THE DEPRESSION IS MY BEST FRIEND. IT IS ALL I HAVE. THE PAIN INSIDE, IS NOT REAL. IT'S REAL. BUT IT'S NOT REAL. IT'S INSIDE. THE INSIDE CREATES THE OUTSIDE. THE OUTSIDE AFFECTS THE INSIDE. THE INSIDE AFFECTS THE OUTSIDE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT I SAY? EXTERNAL EVENTS CAUSE MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL EVENTS. EMOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOCUSED AND DIRECTED, CREATE REALITIES. THE DEPRESSING THOUGHTS ATTACK ME. ONE PERSPECTIVE. PERSPECTIVE NUMBER TWO: THE DEPRESSING THOUGHTS CHASE ME TO THE PATH OF PROLIFIC ART PORTFOLIOS. IT ALL STARTED WITH THE DESIRE FOR THE LEGENDARY ARTISTIC PORTFOLIO. FROM 20 YEARS ON TO NOW. AT 30, THE FIRST PORTFOLIO IS DONE. THE CREATIVE PORTFOLIO IS DONE. THE NEXT PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO NUMBER TWO, IS THE NEXT DESIRE. THE ECONOMIC PORTFOLIO. THE NEST EGG. THE FINANCING OF CHADXZAVIERFILMS. DAVIDXCRICHTON PUBLISHING. VANESSA B. STALLONE PRODUCTIONS. CLOVER MEDIA. ROCKMAN INC. THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE TO DO. THE DEPRESSION MADE IT SO EASY. THIS MAKES EVERYTHING SO EASY. I FEEL SO MUCH PAIN, I CAN CREATE MY OWN REALITY. I PAY THE PRICE. EVERY DAY. EVERY SINGLE DAY. THE PAIN KEEPS ME HUMBLE. THE EGO'S AT BAY. THE EGO CAN ONLY THINK. EGO CAN NOT ACT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. THE DEPRESSIONS MAKE THE EGO LESS APPEALING TO HUMOR. NEVER HUMOR THE EGO. BE AS NICE TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU FUCKING CAN. YOUR LIFE IS ON THE LINE. I AM GLAD I CAN LOOK AT SUCH A THING IN SUCH A WAY. ON SUCH A DAY. IT IS THE FEELING OF FEELINGS YOU WOULDN'T ALWAYS WANT TO ADMIT TO. HOW CAN I BEAR YOU TO CONTINUE TO LOOK AT ME, WHEN I ADMITTED HOW I TRULY FEEL ON THE INSIDE? DID IT AFFECT HOW YOU SEE ME NOW? I'M NOT ASHAMED OF HOW I FEEL BC I FEEL IT. IT'S ALREADY HERE. I AM ASHAMED IT EVEN CAME AT ALL. I AM ASHAMED OF WHAT TRANSPIRED EMOTIONALLY. IN EXCHANGE, MY BUCKET LIST WAS MY LIFE. I LIVED MY BUCKET LIST. I HAVE NO ANGER TOWARDS THE COSMOS. THE UNIVERSE. I AM AN ADMIRAL IN THE UNIVERSAL SPACE NAVY. IT'S JUST A HARD PILL SOMETIMES. I'VE BEEN AT THIS SO LONG, IT IS STARTING TO FEEL LIKE A MOVIE ROLE ITSELF. I AM PLAYING ME. I AM CHASING THIS ONE GOAL. THIS ONE FILM. ALL ABOUT THIS ONE MAN CHASING THIS ONE DREAM, IS IN ONE FILM. WHAT GENRE? DRAMEDY. YOU FEEL SO NOT APPRECIATED IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE. YOUR FAMILY LIFE. BEING 30. NO CREATED FAMILY OF YOUR OWN. YOU CAN LNLY SEEK APPRECIATION FROM YOUR EFFORTS IN YOUR CHOSEN INDUSTRY. I FEEL AS IF I CHOSE WRITING AND FILMMAKING. I CHOSE FILMMAKING. NOVELIST. FILM EDITING. DIRECTING. SCREEN WRITE. I WAS CHOSEN TO WRITE. I CHOSE THE FILM DIRECTION. PUNNING? PUNNING! I WAS THE BORN WRITER. MAYBE BORN FILMMAKER I DO NOT KNOW. I CHOSE FILMMAKING MYSELF. MAYBE IT WAS CHOSEN FOR ME TO CHOOSE IT. I APPRECIATE MY LIFE. THIS FILM ENTRY, SYRACUSE FILM FESTIVAL 2020 ENTRY, THE FIRST EVER FESTIVAL ENTRY. I HAVE MADE NO ACTS TO GET A DEAL. SPIRITUALLY I CAN ACCEPT NEVER SEEING RESULTS FROM THE INDUSTRY ITSELF. THE INDUSTRY CHOSEN FOR ME IS RUN BY THE DEVIL AND I AM A MAN OF GOD SO I HAD TO LET GO THE DESIRE FOR NOTICE. NO NOTICE. JUST ACTION. NO FLASHING LIGHTS. JUST TYPING A NEW BOOK FROM SCRATCH IN THE KITCHEN. SCRATCHING THE KITCHEN. CHICKEN SCRATCH IN THE KITCHEN. 

​
1:29AM EST - 1:52AM
5.1.2020
FRIDAY MAY 1ST, 2020
CHAPTER EIGHT: MY BEST FRIEND INDEED

 ALL I THINK ABOUT IS WORKING ON MY CRAFT. THE ONLY THOUGHT PRE DOMINANT WITHIN IS WORKING ON THE CRAFT. ENDLESSLY BEATING ON THE CRAFT. WRITING AND PUBLISHING AS MANY NOVELS AS I CAN PER YEAR. RECORDING AS MANY AUDIO FILES IMPROMPTU AS I CAN. READING AS MANY PROFESSIONAL HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC SCRIPTS ON TAPE AS I CAN PER YEAR. READING SHAKESPEARE ON TAPE. EDITING VIDEOS FOR MY TWO YOUTUBE CHANNELS. INVESTING $10 IN FOREX AND TRADING IT TO $1000 PER WEEK. INVESTING $1000 PER WEEK OR MONTH IN STOCKS AND CRYPTO. INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE WITH THE FOREIGN CURRENCY TRADING PROFITS. RESEARCHING FINANCE IS WHAT I THINK ABOUT AND DESIRE. WRITING NOVELS FROM THE RESEARCH ON FINANCE IS WHAT I WORK TOWARDS. WRITING HELPFUL MATERIAL AND PUBLISHING IT FOR POSTERITY AND LONGEVITY IS WHAT I DESIRE. WHAT I PURSUE? LITERARY HISTORY. A CINEMATIC LEGEND IN THE LITERATURE AND CINEMA INDUSTRY. I PUT ALL OF MY EFFORT IN MY SPARE TIME INTO THESE EFFORTS. THESE PROJECTS. THIS FILE CREATION PROCESS. THE DOCUMENTATION OF MY ADULT LIFE. MY PERSONAL TIME DIARIES. MY TIME CAPSULE LEFT TO THE WORLD TO WATCH ONE DAY. I USE THIS PROCESS TO SPEND MY TIME. TO INVEST ALL OF MY SPARE TIME INTO THE ACCELERATION OF THE MY SKILL SET. TO BEAT ON THE CRAFT. THE ART FORM. CINEMA AND LITERATURE. TWO CONNECTED INDUSTRIES. TWO CHALLENGES TO CONQUER. USING LITERATURE TO SOLIDIFY THE ENTRY ONE DAY INTO HOLLYWOOD. MY TEN YEAR OLD VIDEO FILE COLLECTION SHOWS MY DOCUMENTATION AND EDITING SKILLS. THE ABILITY TO CAPTURE INTERESTING FOOTAGE AND EDIT IT. THE PROCESS OF CREATING CONCEPTS FOR SKITS ND EPISODES OF NEW SERIES CREATED. THE FIVE YEAR DAVID X. CRICHTON LITERARY PORTFOLIO SHOWS THE ABILITY TO WRITE A PROFESSIONAL NOVEL AND FILM SCRIPT. THE FIVE YEAR AUDIO FILE AND AUDIO BOOK COLLECTION SHOWS THE IMPROMPTU SKILLS. FREESTYLING FILM SCRIPTS, IN FORMAT, ON AUDIO. FREESTYLING NOVELS, IN FORMAT, ON AUDIO. ON THE INSIDE, I AM JUST BROKEN INSIDE. I CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO KEEP THE DEPRESSION AT BAY BUT TO RELEASE ALL FRUSTRATION THRU THE PROCESS OF CONSTANT CREATION. NON STOP. TO PUNISH THE PAIN. TO PUNISH THE EGO. I SIT IN ONE SPOT AND FOCUS. I SHOW MY MIND WHO IS IN CHARGE. I HAVE TO STOP NOW TO SHOWER AND GET MY CLOTHES FROM THE DRYER DOWNSTAIRS. I HAVE TO WORK OVERTIME TOMORROW, CLOCKING IN EARLY. I HAVE TO WRAP THE CREATIVE SESSION UP EARLY TONIGHT. JUST THINKING ABOUT NOT CREATING FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT MAKES ME SAD. I HAVE TO FACE THE SADNESS WHEN I AM NOT CREATING. CREATING IS MY WAY OF FIGHTING BACK. I'LL BE BACK. THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR IN THE PUBLICATION. 

​
​
​
5.2.2020
MAY 2ND, 2020
5.3. 2020
SUNDAY MAY 3RD, 2020
8:28AM EST - 9:12AM EST
TUESDAY MAY 5TH, 2020
5.5.2020
CINCO DE MAYO
1:51AM EST - 2:39AM EST
9:09PM EST - 9:41PM EST
​
CHAPTER NINE: SKIDLY DO

I HAVE GIVEN MY CHILDHOOD INTEREST, TO MY ADULTHOOD. THIS DOCUMENTARY IS A TIMESTAMP OF MY ADULTHOOD. MY TWENTIES. TWO YEARS FROM 2011 TO 2013, THIS ENTRY WON'T HAVE THAT FOOTAGE. FROM 2013 FOOTAGE ON I AM USING. TODAY IS SUNDAY. THE FOREX MARKET OPENS TODAY. 6PM. UNTIL FRIDAY AT 5PM. 120 HOURS. THREE TRADES ON THE LINE. THE MONEY LINE. GREAT BRITISH POUND U.S. DOLLAR. BUY. 24990. IN ONE ACCOUNT. THE OTHER ACCOUNT. TWO TRADES. BUY. AUDNZD. FOREIGN ON FOREIGN. EXOTICS. BUY ALL WEEK FROM HERE. SELL AT 500 POINTS OVER THE NEXT ZERO POINT UP. GBPUSD SELL UNTIL THE CURRENT ZERO POINT. 25. SELL TO 26 ZERO POINT. SELL AT 26900 TO 26150. SELL AT 27 ZERO POINT. AUDNZD. MUCH SIMPLER. BUY ALL WEEK. SELL AT 500 OVER NEXT ZERO POINT. UNTIL CURRENT ZERO POINT. WEEK OVER. BASED ON NOTES. THE DEADLINE FOR THIS ENTRY IS JUNE 2020. THE TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF TRADING CURRENCY. IN 2013, I PURCHASED FOR $88 A PIECE, THREE BTC. BITCOINS. I SOLD TOO EARLY. IMMEDIATELY. IN 2015, AFTER WRITING "CFK 1-6" I REALIZED I HAD TO FUND MY ART MYSELF. I DID NOT WANT TO RELY ON THE ART I CREATED FOR SUSTAINING A LIVING. I WANTED SUCH A FACTOR OUT OF THE EQUATION. I WOULD PREFER RATHER. INVESTING MONEY INTO THE ART INSTEAD. THE MONEY FROM THE BOOKS? INVEST IT. STOCKS. REAL ESTATE. BONDS. ASSETS. DIGITAL ASSETS. GIVE HALF OF THE PROFITS AWAY. TO PEOPLE WAY LESS MATERIALLY ABUNDANT. (TUESDAY 5.5.2020 CINCO DE MAYO 1:51AM EST - 2:39AM EST) CHAPTER NINE. HALFWAY THRU THIS PUBLICATION. VOLUME THREE. MONEY PROBLEMS. HONEY MONEY PROBLEMS. THE CHADFILMS ORIGIN STORY/ THE SYRACUSE FILM FESTIVAL ENTRY. 2020. AUDIO NARRATION. THIS IS NEARING THE END. THE BOOK CONTINUES. FOR ANOTHER TEN CHAPTERS MINUMUM. 15 CHAPTERS MAX. THE FESTIVAL ENTRY. THE DOCUMENTARY. CONTAINS THIRTY MINUTES OF FOOTAGE USING ON SCREEN AUDIO. THIS IS MY FIRST FILM FESTIVAL ENTRY. EVER. I WANT TO SUBMIT THIS, FOR MY OWN GRATIFICATION. FOR ME TO BE AT PEACE KNOWING I FINALLY SUBMITTED A CREATION. I'VE BEEN IN THE CREATIVE DUNGEON FOR A DECADE. IT'S BEAUTIFUL. CLEVERLAND IS A REAL PLACE. YOU CAN ONLY GET THERE ONE WAY. THRU YOUR MIND. THERE'S A THRESHOLD OF CREATIVITY WITHIN YOU. WHEN YOU BREACH THIS LINE, YOU ACCESS CLEVERLAND. BREACH THE LINE OF COURSE. TEACH THE FINER COURSE. IN 2015 I BREACHED THE LINE. THE COMMERCIAL PUBLICATIONS HAVE BEEN POURING OUT SINCE. SYRACUSE HAD A FILM FESTIVAL WHILE I WAS LIVING THERE. I ENTERED THE FESTIVAL. I LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING MY ENTRY INITIALLY. R.I.P. TO FLIGHT KOBE. I AM GRATEFUL TO GOD I AM STILL ALIVE. I GAVE MY LIFE TO MY GOD GIVEN TALENTS. THE PURSUIT OF THE GIFTS. I'VE BEEN AN ARTIST STARVING FOR ONE DECADE. HALF A DECADE MORE AND I'M THE OVERNIGHT SUCCESS STORY. OVERNIGHT MY GRASS. 

(9:09PM EST - 9:41PM EST)

 HERE IS WHERE THE WRITING ITINERARY IS GOING. THIS IS VOLUME THREE OF HONEY MONEY PROBLEMS. THE VANESSA BUNNI STALLONE PEN NAME. THE VANESSA STALLONE PORTFOLIO. HER CATALOGUE. THE DEBUT PROJECT. THIS PROJECT. HER DEBUT. THE NAIJAH CLOVER AND JOSH ROCKMAN DEBUTS ARE NEXT. I WILL WRITE BACK AND FORTH FOR EACH CATALOGUE. FOR EACH PEN NAME. I WILL PUBLISH THE ANNUAL COLLECTIONS UNDER A COMBINED AND CREATED PEN NAME. CLOVER S. ROCKMAN. CLOVER STALLONE. THE 2020 COLLECTION ISN'T DAVID CRICHTON'S AT ALL. DAVID CRICHTON IS OFFICIALLY RETIRED. I GAVE AWAY DEBUTS FOR STALLONE TO CRICHTON. OR I LET CRICHTON KEEP THOSE IDEAS. FROM 2017 ON I WAS PREPARING TO RETIRE CRICHTON. THE TIME WAS JUST TAKING IT'S TIME PASSING. I FEEL AS IF THE DXC PORTFOLIO IS HALL OF FAME BOUND. I'M UTTERLY REASSURED ABOUT IT. EVERY PUBLICATION UP TO THIS ONE WAS DAVID CRICHTON. NOW VANESSA STALLONE HAS HER TURN. CLOVER ROCKMAN IS NEXT. NAIJAH CLOVER AND JOSH D. ROCKMAN ARE THE NEXT PEN NAMES. THE LITERARY DIRECTION. I DON'T LIKE DRAMA. I WRITE DRAMA. A GOTHIC LITERATURE PIECE IS NEXT. DAVID CRICHTON HAS A FILM SCRIPT "GOYLE". GOTHIC LITERATURE INSPIRED. AN IDEA GIVEN TO ME FROM A FRIEND TO SEE WHAT SPIN I PUT ON IT. I WAS RESEARCHING GOTHIC LITERATURE AROUND THE TIME. RECENTLY I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT AGAIN. I WANT TO WRITE SOMETHING WITH DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS. NOT JUST FIRST PERSON DIARY ENTRY PERSPECTIVE ANYMORE. THAT'S DAVID CRICHTON. NOW, LET US GO FOR SECOND AND THIRD PERSON PERSPECTIVE. BEING DESCRIPTIVE USING ANALOGIES. THE LITERARY ELEMENTS AND DEVICES. THE POETIC ELEMENTS AND DEVICES. A LIST OF ADJECTIVES. I WILL CREATE MY OWN BOOK OF PROMPTS TO USE TO CREATE MY NEXT PUBLICATIONS. THE DAVID CRICHTON FORMULA, IS ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED IN ITSELF. 

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CHAPTER TEN: EXTREMELY
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11:19PM EST - 12:02AM EST
TUESDAY MAY 5TH, 2020
5.5.2020 -
WEDNESDAY MAY 6TH, 2020
5.6.2020
10:37PM EST -
SATURDAY MAY 9TH, 2020
5.9.2020
"NEEDS MORE DRAGONS"
​
: THE INTRODUCTION
HE WOKE UP IN THE CASTLE. DAY 30. THE SAME CASTLE. PECULIAR IN IT'S SMELL. FAMILIAR IN THE TASTE OF FOOD. THE BEDS. CHANGE. THE ROOMS CHANGE. THE WOOD SMELLED OF PAINT. FRESH PAINT. PAINTED RIGHT BEFORE HE WAS BROUGHT HERE. THE CASTLE ON THE ISLAND. HIT BY HURRICANES THRU THE NIGHT. TORNADOS DURING THE DAY. OUTSIDE OF THE CASTLES. THE FIELD. DON'T GO INTO THE FIELD. GHOSTS FLOAT ABOVE THE GROUND. THE BODIES OF THE GHOSTED, LITTERED INDISCRIMINATELY ALONG THE DUSTY LAWN. DRAGON BREATH. SCORCHED SALIVA. THE SMELL OF SUCH SEEPS THRU THE SPACED BARS. HE RARELY EVER GOES TO THE WINDOW SPACE. THE BARS. THERE ARE SCREAMS FROM THE OUTSIDE. A QUARTER OF THE TIME. THERE ARE SCREAMS FROM THE INSIDE OF THE CASTLE. HALF OF THE TIME. THE ROOM IS ONLY EVER WARM, FROM THE DRAGON BREATH. BOGS. THE ENVIRONMENTS CHANGE INBETWEEN SLEEPING. HE HAS BEGAN TO GET USED TO THESE THINGS. HE WAS USED TO ISOLATION. NE'ER THIS MUCH ISOLATION. NEVERTHELESS, HE IS IN MORE ISOLATION THAN ANYONE OUTSIDE OF OUR BOUNDARIES. I WATCH HIM ALL DAY. I AM PAID, TO WATCH HIM, DAILY. I AM PAID, TO SEE HIM THRU TO THE DAY, FOR WHICH HE WAS BROUGHT HERE FOR.

 DAY ONE: THE DOOR WAS OPENED LOUDLY. WITH NO REMORSE. THE BANG ECHOED. BY THE TIME THE RINGING STOPPED. HE WAS THROWN ONTO THE FLOOR. I DON'T KNOW WHO DID IT. I ONLY SAW HIM START TO GET UP. HE WIGGLED. THE CHAIN WAS ATTACHED TO HIS FOOT. THE RIGHT ANKLE. WITH A CUSHION. THE CHAIN LENGTH LONG ENOUGH TO LEAVE THE ROOM. HE DID NOT FOLLOW THE GUARDS BACK OUT OF THE ROOM AFTER THEY HAD LEFT. 

(5.9.2020 10:37PM EST- 10:47PM EST)

 HE HIT THE GROUND SO HARD, HE TOOK A NAP. A THIRTY MINUTE NAP. HE AWOKE. TO A FIGURE. IN THE SHADOWS. OF THE DEEPEST CORNER, OF HIS ROOM. HIS ROOM WAS VAST. HE NOTICED. AS HE LOOKED AROUND. OBSERVING. WHAT HIS NEW HOME HAD TO OFFER. WITNESSING THE SPLENDORS. OF THE CASTLE. WHATEVER THEY WERE. SO FAR. THE FIGURE APPROACHED FROM THE SHADOWS. HE EXTENDED HIS ARM TO BRUTUS. "I'M DRACO." BRUTUS (OFF SCREEN) 

DRACO TOLD ME. THE TRUTH. HE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME. HE WILL ALWAYS FEAST UPON MY GREATEST FEARS. MY GREATEST INHIBITIONS. HE WOULD ALWAYS EXPLOIT THEM. TO HIS FULLEST ADVANTAGE. THE VAMPIRIC PSYCHIC OPERATIVE. DRACULA. THE PSYCHIC VAMPIRE. MORE LIKE CALIGULA. IN THE FEELING. HE ADMITTED. HE IS HERE TO STAY. THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO TO RID MYSELF OF HIS PRESENCE. HE HAS BEEN AROUND ME ALREADY. FOR THE LAST TWELVE YEARS. HE HAS JUST BEEN UNCOVERED BY THE PYSCHE ITSELF, AFTER A 12 YEAR PERIOD OF SNUGGLING COMFORTABLY, INSIDE MY HEAD. HE AIMS TO DESTROY ME FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

BRUTUS WALKED TO THE WINDOW SPACE. THE WINDOW SPACE FILLED WITH BARS. HE STARED OUT THERE. CONTEMPLATING. ON THE WORDS. HE NOTICED FOG FEVERISHLY FLEEING THE FORTRESS. TURNING AROUND TO BURNING. NO SMOKE. NO JOKE. THE DRACULA BLOKE. SLIPPED AWAY ALMOST SILENTLY. EGG YOLK. 

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9:21PM EST - 9:58PM EST
WEDNESDAY MAY 6TH, 2020
5.6.2020
10:50PM EST - 11:15PM EST
SATURDAY MAY 9TH, 2020
5.9.2020
SOUTHERN GOTH
SOUTHERN CLOTH
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THEY ALL SAT IN THE LIVING ROOM. THE PLUSH, LIVING ROOM. THE WAR. THE WAR HAD JUST ENDED. OUR LABOR FORCE IS GONE. OUR LABORERS. OUR LABORERS ARE GONE. "THIS HAS BEEN THE WORST DECADE. FOR ME. FOR US. MY FAMILY. REPAIRING DESTRUCTION WITHOUT OUR PROPERTY". THE FAMILY. ENTERS THE LIVING ROOM. LILY LIVIDLY LENDED HER LIKENESS. THE SHADES WERE SHAFTED. RETRACTED. WITH REAL TACT. THEY WERE DISTRACTING. WE ALL STOOD IN THE CENTER. OVER THE CARPET. PERSIAN.
(5.7.2020 4:58AM EST - 5:48AM EST)

 LILY MAY. MARY TONNIE. SUSIE DEAN. LULA MAE. ANNE MIG. CONNIE. ALL SITTING IN THE LIVING ROOM. THE SHADES DRAWN. DARKNESS LAYING DEEP WITHIN THE LAIR. THE LAYERS OF TRUTH. EMANATING. FROM THE MOUTH OF CAESAR. CEASAR. KAISER. RICE. "THE SOUTH LOST THE WAR." LULA MAE - "THE SOUTH LOST THE BATTLE." CEASAR - "THE SOUTH LOST THE ENTIRE WAR, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THEY SURRENDERED." LULA MAE STANDS UP. SWISHING THE BEVERAGE AROUND WITHIN THE CUP. SMELLS THE DRINK. LOOKS UP AT CEASAR. SMILING. "THE ENTIRE WAR YOU SPEAK OF, IS A MERE BATTLE IN THE ONGOING WAR." CEASAR. "YOU MEAN THE WAR THAT WILL NEVER END?" LULA MAE. "EXACTLY. THE NEVER ENDING WAR." LILY MAY. "SO IF THE WAR ENDED AND OUR SIDE SURRENDERED, WE, CONTINUING THE WAR EFFORTS IN A NEW WAR, WOULD HAVE TO BE DOING SO IN A WAR OF SECRET MISSIONS?" ANNE MIG. LOOKS AT LILY MAY. LOOKS BACK TO LULA MAE AND CEASAR RICE. "SO WHAT IS THE NEXT MISSION?" (5.9.2020 10:51PM EST - 11:15PM EST) CONNIE STOOD UP. "THE ONLY THING THAT WILL SEE US THRU THIS, IS TO REALIZE. TO REALIZE ONE THING. ONE THING ONLY. WE DID NOT LOSE THE WAR. OUR ALLEGIANTS. OUR ALLIES. OUR SOUTHERN REBELS. DIED AS FIGHTERS. SOLDIERS. FIGHTING ON THE FRONTLINES. OF AMERICA. OUR PRECIOUS AMERICA. NOW IN OUR OWN PRECIOUS LAND, WE ARE THE REBELS. THIS I CAN NOT TAKE. THIS I WILL NOT STAND FOR. NOTHING OF THIS SORT WAS EVER MEANT TO HAPPEN. THE PREVIOUS GENERATION OF ALLIES DIED AS SOLDIERS. THE WAR WAS FOUGHT IN OPEN WAR FARE. ACTUAL WARFARE WAS NEFARIOUSLY DECLARED. THE NEXT BATTLES. WILL NOT BE FOUGHT IN OPEN FIELDS. THEY WILL BE FOUGHT IN OPEN COURT. IN OPEN SESSIONS OF CONGRESS. THE SENATE. THE GOVERNORSHIP. THE LEGAL SYSTEM. WE WILL CONTROL THE HANDCUFFS. WE CONTROL THE BADGES. WE WILL CONTROL THE WEAPONS. THE FIREARMS. THE TASERS. THE BILLY CLUBS. THE STARS ON THE BADGE WILL NOT CHANGE. ONLY THE WORDS WILL. TO 'PROTECT AND SERVE THE PLANTATION'. EXTRACT THE WORD 'PLANTATION'. 'THE SLAVE PATROL BADGE' FOR THE 'SHERIFF'S BADGE'. WE WILL WIN THE WAR. THERE WAS A NEW LAW PASSED. PREVENTING CITIZENS FROM SLAVERY. UNDER ONE CONDITION. WE SHALL EXPLOIT THIS CONDITION. WE WON'T SEE OUR PLAN MANIFEST IN FULL. BY THE END OF THE DAY. WE WILL GET OUR SLAVES BACK. WE WILL ENSLAVE THE ENTIRE NATION. THE SAME NIGGERLOVERS. WE WILL ENSLAVE THEIR ENTIRE FAMILY. IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME. JUST TO FIGURE OUT THE POLICY. IN FULL. THE MASTER POLICY. 'MASTER POLICY?' THE RE ENSLAVEMENT POLICY. WE WILL CREATE JAILS. PRISONS. THREATEN THE VOTE GETTERS TO GET THE CRIME RIDDEN NEGROES OUT OF OUR STREETS. WE WILL INCARCERATE THEM. THEY WILL ROT IN PRISON CELLS. ALL ACROSS AMERICA. WE WILL PURCHASE PRISONS. JAILS. WE SHALL OWN THEM ALL. ONE PRISON EVERY THOUSAND MILES. UNTIL WE CAN DO BETTER. WE WILL WIN THE SHERIFF'S RACE. THE ELECTIONS. WE WILL WIN THEM ALL. DEMOCRATS. REPUBLICANS. MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES. FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS. OF CRIMES FOR MONEY. FILL THE POPULATION AREAS WITH CRIME. SO MUCH CRIME THE HOUSE VALUES PLUMMET. GET THEM ON THE STREETS. THEM PUT THEM IN THE PRISONS. OWN THE PRISONS. GET MORE INVESTORS TO BUILD MORE PRISONS. SHARE THE PROFITS TO INVESTORS. ALL OF THE LEGITIMATE NEGROES. WE NEED TO MAKE THE DOLLARS WORTHLESS. SOME HOW AND SOME WAY. WE WILL DETACH THE GOLD FROM THE DOLLAR. AND STEAL ALL OF THE GOLD. HIDE THE GOLD IN A BUILDING. HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER. THEN BLOW UP THE BUILDING DECADES LATER. THEY ALL STARTED LAUGHING. HILARIOUS HILARITY WAS NO SCARCITY. THE WINTER CHILL FILLS THE ROOM. WITH GLOOM AND DOOM. THE FOG OF THE VISION. SUCH A CLEAR VISION. BUT A CLEAR VISION HEADING FOR DISASTER. WHY BE SO VAMPIRIC? 

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8:19AM EST - 8:45AM EST
MAY 17TH, 2020
5.17.2020
SHORT STORY
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THE INTRODUCTION: BAD HABIT MONEY

 WHAT YOU MAY NOT REALIZE UNTIL AGE THIRTY? YOU SQUANDERED YOUR YOUNG ADULT INCOME, YOUR CHANCE FOR WEALTH CREATION, ON HABITS. ROUTINES. BAD HABITS. BAD ROUTINES. BEER, TOBACCO, MARIJUANA, BEING A PILL POPPING ANIMAL, ALL HAVE SIDE EFFECTS. ADVERSE EFFECTS. FINANCIAL SIDE EFFECTS. FINANCIALLY ADVERSE BEHAVIOR. EVERY DOLLAR SPENT ON A PACK OF RELLOS. EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR SPENT NOT ON RENT OR FOOD IS A WASTE. A TERRIBLE. THE WORST KIND OF WASTE. HORRIBLE TASTING WASTE. HORRIBLY TASTY. TERRIBLY HORRIBLE. YOU'RE GOING TO WASTE EVERY DOLLAR YOU EARN ON BULL SPIT AND FUN. THE DOLLAR IS A GAME. A SICK GAME. ACQUISITION AND INFLATION. PURSUING THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE SOMETHING THAT IS IN FACT INFLATING, BY NATURE. BY DESIGN. NATURAL PHENOMENA MY GRASS. PHENOMENA BY DESIGN. FRED HAMPTON. YOU WERE NEVER FORGOTTEN. WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW AT TWENTY, EIGHT TEEN, NINE TEEN, YOUR YOUTHFUL PRIME, WAS THE TIME PERIOD TO ESTABLISH THE FOUNDATIONAL SEEDS OF GENERATIONAL WEALTH. AT TWENTY, RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD. IT IS SO SAD TO ME, I DO NOT EVEN WANT TO KEEP WRITING ABOUT THIS. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LISTEN. IF YOU ARE OVER 25, YOU ARE AT THE PRE FORK IN THE ROAD. THE FORK IN THE ROAD IS AGE THIRTY. IF YOU CAN BEND THE FORK PROPERLY DIRECTED BY AGE 25, YOU ARE AHEAD BY SO MANY YEARS IN THE TIMELINE. IT IS ALWAYS CHESS OVER CHECKERS. I LOVE CHECKERS. WITH CHESS HOWEVER, HE WHO CONTROLS THE MIDDLE FOUR SQUARES, CONTROLS THE GAME. FRESH OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL, YOU'RE MORE THAN LIKELY DESTINED TO MAKE DAM NEAR EVERY MISTAKE IN THE BOOK TWICE. THAT'S A BACK TO BACK REPEAT. THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONAHIP. THE NATIONAL DONKEY OF THE YEAR CHAMPIONSHIP. IT IS SIMPLE. REAL SIMPLE. REALLY SIMPLE. EXTREMELY SO. IF SOMEONE WANTS SOMETHING FROM LIFE, THEY WON'T SEEK ANYTHING ELSE. WHATEVER YOU SEEK, YOU SHALL FIND. I GET IT NOW. YOU WILL BE SHOWN BY LIFE, FROM EXPERIENCES, MEMORIES, MOMENTS, EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE IN FACT LOOKING FOR. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT INFORMATION IF OFFERED TO YOU, IF YOU'RE NOT LOOKING FOR THAT, YOU WON'T EVEN REGISTER THE OPTICALS. THE OPTICS. YOU WILL NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT. IT WILL BE AS IF YOU CAN'T EVEN READ THE LANGUAGE BUT YOU'LL SWEAR THE EXPERT. I GET IT NOW. THE ONLY PERSON YOU NEED TO HELP YOU SUCCEED, IS YOURSELF. IF YOU DESIRE SUCCESS FROM YOUR LIFE, YOU WON'T DESIRE A DAM THING ELSE. NOT ONE OTHER CIRCUMSTANCE. YOU DESERVE WHATEVER YOU PURSUE. IF YOU PURSUE NOTHING ELSE THEN DOUBLY SO YOU DESERVE IT. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PURSUE. MAK SURE IT IS REALLY IN TRUTH WHAT YOU WANT. WHEN YOU'RE READY FOR WHAT I CAN OFFER YOU IN THOUGHTS, THIS BOOK WILL APPEAR. IF YOU FIND THIS BOOK, YOU WILL CHERISH THE DAY. THIS BOOK IS AIMED TO BE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL STRATEGY GUIDE YOU EVER IMPLEMENTED ECONOMICALLY. EVERYONE STARTS AT THE BOTTOM ECONOMICALLY. IF YOU CAN REMAIN DEPENDENT FREE WITH NO ATTACHED BODIES TO YOU, YOU CAN RISE HIGHER AND FASTER OUT OF THE ECONOMIC PIT OF FINANCIALLY DECREPIT NESS. 

7:47PM EST - 8:25PM EST
2.24.2020
MONDAY FEBRUARY 24TH, 2020
​
DEAR VANESSA HONEY MALONE,

WHAT DO I SAY NOW? SOME CONCEPTS, IDEAS, THOUGHTS, ARE EASIER TO GRASP. EASIER TO GRASP THAN OTHERS. HONEY, I MISS YOU. YOU WANTED TO BE AN ACTRESS. HERE IS YOUR VERY OWN PEN NAME. THE LITERATURE BRAND. THE DEBUT IN YOUR PEN NAME'S CREATIVE PORTFOLIO. "THE FATALIST DREAM". THE FIRST WRITING OF YOU SINCE 2015 AND "CFK". "THE FILM LIFE FILM THEORY". I THINK ABOUT WHAT IF. TO JUST TALK TO YOU FACE TO FACE. IF I HAD ONE MEMORY OF US TALKING ABOUT THIS SCENARIO, BUT I DON'T. IF I COULD JUST TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS. I CAN'T. HONEY, I WROTE BOOKS ABOUT BEING YOUR FRIEND. ABOUT HOW MUCH IT FELT CRAPPY TO LOSE YOU FROM EARTH. IT'S ALWAYS HARD TO NOT SQUIRM WHEN I THINK OF MY DEAD HOMIES. PARDOM THE BLANKNESS. I CAN WRITE STORIES ABOUT FANTASY AND SCI FI AND ECONOMICS. YET WRITING ABOUT HONEY, LETTERS, WRITING TO YOU, LETTERS. DO I TAKE THE GLASSES OFF? ALL I CAN DO IS THIS, TO SHOW YOU HOW MUCH LOVE I FEEL FOR YOU AS A PERSON. A FRIEND. YOU WERE THIS 15 YEAR OLD, LISTENING TO PHILOSOPHY. WITH US. WE ALL WERE. BRENDAN, TROY, PUDGE, SISSY, ISAIAH. SAINT. I DID WANT TO SEE WHAT YOU BECAME. WHO YOU BECAME. IT ALWAYS BOTHERED ME. IT'S DONE SO MANY THINGS TO ME. THE WAY I THINK WHEN I THINK ON YOU. WHAT YOU MEAN TO ME. ANYONE WE LOSE, WE WOULD END UP, WISHING WE COULD SPEAK TO THEM. WE WOULD WANT TO HEAR THEIR VOICE. JUST ONE TIME. PRETTY MUCH WHAT I AM DOING RIGHT NOW. BUT FOR THIS TO BE A LETTER TO YOU, I MUST SEND IT. YOU ARE NOT ON EARTH ANYMORE. HOW DO I SEND IT? I SELF PUBLISH IT. THERE'S A FEELING I CAN NOT FULLY DESCRIBE, WHEN IT COMES TO THIS BOOK I AM CRAFTING OUT NOW HONEY. I HAD A WRITING SESSION YESTERDAY. MOST LIKELY IT WAS AUDIO FILED. THE ON TAPE WRITING SESSION. YESTERDAY WAS SUNDAY. THEN I'M SURE I WAS IN THE KITCHEN RECORDING AND WRITING THRU OUT TWELVE HOURS. I DID NOT LEAVE THE KITCHEN OR APARTMENT. THEN THE FEELING GREW STRONGER. THERE'S A VOICE INSIDE, VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS PROJECT. PEACE OF MIND EXCITED. THE VOICE IS TELLING ME HOW IMPORTANT THIS PROJECT IS. SO I WON'T GO INTO DETAIL. I DID HAVE A VIVID DREAM LAST YEAR. I WAS IN A CLASS AND THE TEACHER CHALLENGED US ALL. WRITE A BOOK. CREATE SOMETHING. FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS. I LOVE YOU HONEY. 

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8:35PM EST - 8:53PM EST
2.10.2020
MONDAY FEBRUARY 10TH, 2020
HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY SHAKEVIA KANAIJAH HARRIS
(OLDEST NIECE)
​
A PERSON OF NUMBERS THE INTRODUCTION:

WE JUST PUBLISHED VOLUME ONE OF "THE PERSON OF NUMBERS" RIGHT AFTER MIDNIGHT TODAY. WE ENGAGED IN A TWELVE HOUR STUDIO SESSION TO EDIT AND PROOFREAD THE MATERIAL WHILE AUDIO RECORDING. BY MIDNIGHT, THE PROJECT WAS READY FOR PUBLICATION. I AM REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS PROJECT. THESE INTRODUCTORY PAGES WILL BE SOME OF THE ONLY PROSE YOU READ IN THIS VOLUME. I AIM TO CREATE EACH VOLUME IN THIS SERIES, UNDER A DIFFERENT WRITING GENRE. THE CONCEPTUAL GENRE IS OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS. FINANCIAL LITERACY. INVESTMENT STRATEGY. IN THE FORM OF A DIARY AS WELL. WE MAY ADD A FICTIONAL DIARY AS IT'S OWN VOLUME. WE MAY ADD A NON FICTIONAL DIARY AS IT'S OWN VOLUME AS WELL. WE ARE GOING TO DRIVE THE CONCEPT HOME, USING AS MANY DIFFERENT VARITIES OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION, UNDER THE PRE TENSE OF THE WRITTEN WORD. ANY OTHER FORMATS WE USE, WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO BE READ IN THIS WRITTEN FORMAT. THE ONLY BOUNDARY THIS PROJECT HAS, IS SUCH. I CAN ONLY WRITE THIS PROJECT, SO HOW CREATIVELY INDUCED CAN THE LABOR OF LOVE BE? MY CREATIVE DECLARATION IS TO DECLARE CREATIVE WARFARE ON THIS PARTICULAR SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION. WE ARE DISCUSSING YOUR LIVELIHOOD PEOPLE. WE ARE DISCUSSING MY LIVELIHOOD. WE ARE DISCUSSING OUR LIVELIHOOD. I JUST WANTED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUS AS AN ARTIST. ONLY AN ARTIST COULD HAVE DONE THIS, THE WAY IT'S GETTING DONE NOW. THE CONCEPT DISCUSSED WOULD SHOW, I MAY BE MORE THAN AN ARTIST. I AIM TO THROW ALL OF MY CREATIVE GAUNLET TO THIS PROJECT. I WANT TO DISPLAY THE CREATIVITY I HAVE TAPPED INTO BEFORE, AS WELL THE CREATIVITY I HAVE YET TO TAP INTO. I HAVE FELT LIKE MY DESTINY WAS LIT ON FIRE, SINCE THE YEAR'S BEGINNING. SINCE THE NEW YEAR, I HAVE FELT LIKE SOMETHING GREAT WAS ON IT'S WAY. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS. I WAS TERRIFIED BY THE FEELING. I FEEL NOW, AFTER ACTIVELY PURSUING DESTINY FOR MY FIRST ADULT DECADE, MY DESTINY IS NOW PURSUING ME. I JUST GOT RE ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER POSITION AT ANOTHER SITE, UNDER THE TEMP SERVICE I WORK FOR. I WAS JUST AT THE LAST ASSIGNMENT, SATURDAY UNTIL MIDNIGHT. I PUBLISH VOLUME ONE THE NEXT MIDNIGHT. I GET A CALL AT 6AM. THE ASSIGNMENT HAD ENDED. SO FOR VOLUME TWO, WE WILL GO IN THE DIRECTION OF SHORT STORIES, SHORT FILM SCRIPTS, FEATURE FILM SCRIPTS, AND GO FROM THERE. WE ARE JUST GOING TO HAVE AS MUCH FUN INVESTING HOURS INTO THIS FULL PROJECT AS WE POSSIBLY CAN. THE FULL 500-1000 PAGE PROJECT IS GOING TO BE MY MASTERPIECE. I LOOK FORWARD TO THIS. AS SOON AS I PUBLISHED THIS BOOK, BOOM, A NEW WORK ASSIGNMENT. MY DESTINY IS ON FIRE. I AM PURSUING DESTINY. THE DESTINY IS RESPONDING ACCORDINGLY BY MOVING ME AROUND TO WHERE I NEED TO BE TO WITNESS THE SYNCHRONICITY AND THE SEREDENPITY OF THE WHOLE AFFAIR. I AM ABOUT TO EAT FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY. TODAY WAS A WEIRD DAY. MY LIFE IS WEIRD THOUGH. THE NEXT SESSION WILL BE WHATEVER GENRE WE CHOOSE FIRST. I HAVE AN IDEA FOR ALL OF THEM SO I JUST HAVE TO FIGURE WHICH LENGTH TO START WITH THEN WHICH OPTION OF THE LENGTH CHOICES TO ULTIMATELY CHOOSE. I MAY SWIVEL BACK AND FORTH SO THERE'S NO PRESSURE FROM ANY DIRECTION. 

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10:40PM EST - 11:11PM EST
2.10.2020
MONDAY FEBRUARY 10TH, 2020
HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY SHAKEVIA KANAIJAH HARRIS
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SHORT STORY NUMBER ONE: TTLC: THE INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER: THE THREE LITTLE SNACKS
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS. WE HAVE ALL HEARD OF THIS STORY. MOST OF US. IN THE FINANCIAL WORLD OF ECONOMIC INVESTMENTS, HOW WOULD THE STORY BE TRANSLATED? THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, INSIDE OF THE FINANCIAL WORLD OF ECONOMIC INVESTMENTS. HOW DOES ONE TRANSLATE THIS? LET US LOOK AT THE THREE LITTLE PIGGIES AS THREE PEOPLE SETTING UP THEIR FOUNDATIONS FOR THEIR LIVES. YOU HAVE THREE CONTEMPORARIES. FOR THE STORY'S SAKE, THEY ARE NOT BROTHERS. MAYBE IN ANOTHER SHORT STORY. WE WANT TO HIT HOME HERE BEFORE WE HIT HOME THERE. THREE DIFFERENT 18 YEAR OLDS. THREE DIFFERENT HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES. THREE DIFFERENT COLLEGE AGED YOUNG ADULTS. THREE DIFFERENT COLLEGE STUDENTS. THESE ARE ALL DIFFERENT UNIVERSES WE MAY EXPLORE. THIS IS ONLY THE INTRODUCTION. THIS IS JUST A MERE WARNING. YOU ARE IN THE MIND RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE IN MY MIND RIGHT NOW. THE THREE LITTLE CONTEMPORARIES. THIS STORY WILL ALLOW US TO DETAIL THE PITFALLS OF THE SUPER SOCIAL LIFE, IN THE SUPER SOCIAL SOCIETY. I AM GRATEFUL TO GOD I MADE IT TO THIS POINT IN THIS SERIES AND IN LIFE AS A WHOLE. I HAVE TOTAL FAITH IN GOD AND I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF THE BLESSINGS HE HAS SHOWN ME. I LOVE GOD SO MUCH. I LOVE MYSELF AS WELL. I JUST HAD TO GIVE GOD ALL OF THE GLORY.

THIS IS MY LAST CREATIVE SESSION. MY CREATIVE SESSIONS CONSIST OF AUDIO RECORDING THE WRITING AND PROOFREADING OF WRITING. I PLAN ON INTRODUCING FILM EDITING BACK INTO THE DAILY SCHEDULE. ONCE THE SONY VEGAS PRO EDITING SYSTEM IS ON THE LAPTOP AGAIN, I WILL BE ABLE TO EDIT ARCHIVE RAW FOOTAGE. I LOOK FORWARD TO EDITING THE FOOTAGE INTO ONE HOUR CHAD FILMS. I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO THIS. ME LETTING YOU INSIDE OF MY CREATIVE SCHEDULE. I REALLY WANT TO KEEP MY LIFE AS LONG AS I CAN. THIS STATEMENT IS GROWTH FOR ME, FOR I REMEMBER YEARS WISHING AGAINST MY LIFE. SO FOR ME TO SAY I REALLY AM GRATEFUL TO BE HERE AND WANT TO STAY LONGER TO KEEP UP WITH DESTINY, IT'S GREAT TO OBSERVE ME FEELING THAT. SYRACUSE HAS A FILM FESTIVAL. I AIM TO SUBMIT A ONE HOUR CHAD FILM INTO THE FESTIVAL. 2020 SYRACUSE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. 10 YEARS AFTER THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL DEBUTS OF KEVITV AND SEEXZAVIERFILMS. THIS DRIVE FOR LIFE IS DRIVEN BY THE DESIRE TO LEAVE AN INHERITANCE FOR MY FAMILY, POSSIBLY CREATE A CHILD OF MY OWN, AND RELEASE ALL OF MY DIVERSIFIED CREATIVE PORTFOLIO. I SPENT MY TWENTIES CREATING MY DIVERSIFIED CREATIVE PORTFOLIO. NOW I SPEND THE THIRTIES DOING MORE. CREATING THE DIVERSIFIED ECONOMIC INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO. RELEASING THE DIVERSIFIED CREATIVE PORTFOLIO. CREATING ANOTHER DIVERSIFIED CREATIVE PORTFOLIO. FULL OF STRATEGY ON CREATING DIVERSIFIED ECONOMIC INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS. ISN'T THAT JUST LOVELY? 

IT'S JUST LOVELY. THE THREE LITTLE PIGGIES. THE THREE LITTLE CONTEMPORARIES. WHEN I CALL MY MOM RIGHT AFTER I AM DONE WITH THIS PARAGRAPH, I AM GOING TO TELL HER ABOUT THIS STORY. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS VOLUME. EVERY VOLUME OF THIS PROJECT EXCITES. I KNOW EACH ONE WILL TEACH ONE. I KNOW EACH ONE WILL REACH ONE. I KNOW EACH ONE WILL BE DIFFERENT IN GENRE. CAN YOU IMAGINE A FINANCIAL HORROR STORY? I COULD WRITE YOU A FINANCIAL STORY SO HORRIFYING, YOU WOULD RUN FOR SAFETY DIRECTLY INTO THE ARMS OF THE BOGEY MAN OF HADDONFIELD ILLINOIS. THIS IS WHY I DEDICATE MY LIFE TO BUILDING MY CRAFTS AND THE EMPIRES THEY CREATE. I CREATED A CREATIVE EMPIRE. THE GOAL OF THE TWENTIES. THE GOAL FOR THE THIRTIES? CREATE THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE OF INVESTMENTS TO FINANCE THE CREATIVE PORTFOLIO. I LOVE MY LIFE. I LOVE MY GOD. I LOVE MY MOM. I LOVE MY DAD. I LOVE MY THREE BROTHERS. DAVID, QUENTIN, JUSTIN. ATIYANNA, MALIAH, QUAN, QQ, KEVI, DANTE, SHYANNE. ALL OF DAVID'S KIDS. THIS IS THE INTRODUCTION, I AM GETTING THIS OUT OF THE WAY. I HAVE TO CALL MY MOM. I HAVE TO END THIS NIGHT AS THE NEXT DAY USHERS ITSELF IN. TOMORROW I GET REASSIGNED TO A NEW WORK SITE. NEW YEAR, NEW ASSIGNMENT. NEW WEEK. NEW TRADES. I LOVE YOU ALL TOO. HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY TO KEVI. THE LAST WRITING SESSION ON HER 19TH BIRTHDAY. I MAY COME BACK AND DO ONE MORE. I MAY NOT. I HAVE TO GET UP IN LESS THAN SEVEN HOURS SO I MAKE IT TO THE OFFICE ONE HOUR AFTER THEY OPEN. WHEN THE SUN RISES I WANT TO BE THERE WITH FOOD, CHILLING AND I WILL WRITE FROM THERE IF I CAN.
6:38PM EST - 7:08PM EST
2.11.2020
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO EUSTACHE ROMULUS
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STOSH
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THE THREE LITTLE CONTEMPORARIES: CHAPTER ONE: THE DISTRACT

THERE'S A WOLF IN TOWN. THE WOLF IS BIG. THE WOLF IS BAD. THE WOLF IS HUNGRY. THE WOLF IS LOOKING. THE WOLF IS LOOKING FOR FOOD. THE WOLF IS LOOKING FOR YOU. ARE YOU WOLF FOOD? THE BIG BAD WOLF, IN REALITY, IS ECONOMIC SLAVERY AND THE DEBT COLLECTION AGE. IT'S A DEBT COLLECTION REVOLUTION GOING ON OUT HERE MAN. EVERYBODY OWES SOMEBODY MONEY. AND THAT'S THE BIG BAD WOLF. THE BIG BAD WOLF IS THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN WHICH WE ALL RESIDE. IN THIS ECONOMIC SYSTEM, ANYONE WHO BUILDS THEIR HOUSES OF STICK AND STRAW ARE DOOMED. ANYONE OUT THERE BUILDING HOUSES OF STRAW AND STICK ARE DOOMED. ECONOMICALLY SPEAKING. WHO IS THE BEST NARRATOR FOR THIS STORY? MAYBE UNCLE SAM. THE POLITICIAN. HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME DETERMINES HOW BIG YOU WIN. HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME DETERMINES IF YOU WIN AT ALL. THE WOLF HAS NO PITY. HAVE NO PITY ON THE WOLF. PLAY THE GAME TO WIN. LET US SAY, FOR THE SAKE OF THIS PROJECT, WE ARE LITTLE ECONOMIC PIGGIES. SOME PIGGIES WILL GET EATEN. SOME PIGGIES MAY MAKE IT TO THE MARKET PLACE. SOME PIGGIES WILL GET ATE AT THE MARKET PLACE. YOU MUST ECONOMICALLY SURVIVE. INCIDENTALLY, YOU MUST LEARN TO ECONOMICALLY SURVIVE WITHIN THE JUNGLE. THERE IS A CIRCUS WITHIN THE JUNGLE. IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE, STAY AWAY FROM THE WOLF. STAY AWAY FROM THE WOLF, UNTIL YOU HAVE HIS MONEY. IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE WOLF'S MONEY, HE WILL EAT YOU WHEN HE FINDS YOU. IT'S ACTUALLY HIS MONEY. HE MAKES THE MONEY. YOU ARE BORROWING THE MONEY FROM HIM. HE LOANED YOU EVERY DOLLAR. HIS COMMISSION IS CALLED TAXES. DURING TAX SEASON, THE WOLF CAME TO COLLECT. THE WOLF COLLECTS DEBT, OR CHITLINS. THE WOLF IS EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ECONOMIC SLAVERY SYSTEM. EVERY LITTLE PIGGIE IS AN ECONOMIC SLAVE. ONE DAY THE BIG BAD WOLF WILL COME TO TEST THE ECONOMIC FOUNDATION EVERY LITTLE PIGGIE HAS BUILT FOR THEMSELVES. YOU MUST BUILD AN ECONOMIC FOUNDATION FOR YOURSELF AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE OTHER LITTLE PIGGIES AROUND ALL ARE POTENTIAL MEALS FOR THE BIG BAD WOLF. ONLY THE SMARTEST AND THE BRIGHTEST OF THE LITTLE PIGGIES WILL SEE OLD MAJOR'S AGE. DON'T WORRY ABOUT HAVING FRIENDS. YOU BETTER MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO PAY YOUR BILLS ON TIME. YOU HAD BETTER MAKE SURE, YOU KNOW HOW TO PAY YOUR BILLS IN ADVANCE. YOU BETTER MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO BUILD YOUR CREDIT. THOSE FRIENDS YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND WITH, THEY OWE THE WOLF THE SAME DEBT YOU DO. EVERYONE STARTS OFF EQUALLY IN DEBT. THE ECONOMIC DECISIONS YOU MAKE ON THE FARM WILL DETERMINE THE ECONOMIC HARM YOU BRING YOURSELF. WITH OR WITHOUT CHARM. THE DECISIONS OF THIS TIME PERIOD YOU LIVE IN WILL DECIDE YOUR FATE. THE DECISIONS OF YOUR CONTEMPORARIES WILL DECIDE THEIR FATE AS WELL. ALLOW EVERYONE TO DECIDE THEIR OWN FATE. MAYBE YOU DON'T WANT TO GET CAUGHT UP IN SOME ONE ELSE'S FATE. DON'T YOU WANT YOUR OWN FATE? FATE IS FATE. FATE IS FATE BUT EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN DESTINY TO PURSUE. WHY NOT JUST PURSUE YOUR OWN DESTINY? IF YOU DON'T, THEN THE CONVERSE STATEMENT IS YOU DID NOT PURUSE YOUR DESTINY. MAYBE YOU WON'T END UP ACQUIRING DESTINY. THEN THAT'S WHERE FATE COMES IN. FATE WILL COME IN REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOUR DESTINY WAS ACTIVATED. THEN AGAIN, MAYBE, THOSE WOULD BE TWO DIFFERENT FATES. WHICH FATE DO YOU WANT THEN? THE FATE OF VICTORY IN DESTINY OR THE FATE OF NEVER SEEING YOUR DESTINY. THE BIG BAD WOLF IS COMING FOR YOU ALL. HIGH SCHOOL DESTROYS THE LITTLE PIGGIES. IN KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE, IT IS GOOD TO BE SOCIAL. AT 18, WHEN ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE LOCKED UP IN PUBLIC SCHOOLING INSTITUTIONS FOR 13 CONSECUTIVE BIRTHDAYS, ARE OF LEGAL AGE, STAY AWAY FROM THEM. THEY ARE GOING TO DESTROY THEMSELVES. THEY MAY FALL VICTIM TO THE STRATEGIC ATTACKS AGAINST OUR GENERATION. THE GOAL OF THE PAST ELITE IS TO TAKE OUT OUR LEADERSHIP ABILITIES BEFORE WE EVER SEE LEADERSHIP AGE. OUR CAPACITY TO LEAD IS AT AN ALL TIME LOW. THIS COMES FROM BEING SOCIAL. I RESPECT YOU ALL AS PEOPLE. WITH THAT SAID, THE GAME IS TO DREAM BIG. ANY SMALL DREAMERS MUST STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME. I AM NOT SO NEEDY FOR ANOTHER'S COMPANY THAT I DON'T DISCERN WHO I SHARE COMPANY WITH. WE ALL CAN DO VERY BAD ALL ALONE AND BY OURSELVES. WE DO NOT NEED ANY HELP MAKING ILL INFORMED DECISIONS. IF AS A GROUP, WE ARE MAKING ILL INFORMED DECISIONS, WE ARE AN ILL INFORMED GROUP. THE BIG BAD WOLF WILL EAT YOU ALL. HE WILL TEAR THE ECONOMIC FLESH FROM YOUR LIFE SAVINGS. NOT TOO MANY PIGGIES EVEN HAVE LIFE SAVINGS. JUST NOW, IN YOUR QUEST TO BE COOL AND POPULAR, YOU MAY JUST END UP GIVING UP EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED. UNLESS YOU ONLY EVER WANTED COOL POPULARITY. WHEN YOU HIT THIRTY, THINK ABOUT WHAT IS COOL THEN. IT'LL BE LATE THEN BUT MAYBE YOU COULD THINK ABOUT WHAT THIRTY YEAR OLDS FIND COOL. WHAT DOES THE FORTY YEAR OLD FIND COOL? EVERYONE WON'T HAVE THE SAME PERCEPTION. THAT'S THE POINT. THAT'S WHY YOU STAY TO YOURSELF. OTHERWISE YOU FIND YOURSELF SURROUNDED BY THOSE WITH DIFFERENT PERCEPTIONS. NOW IT BOILS DOWN TO THREE DIFFERENT FACTORS. YOUR PERCEPTION, THEIR PERCEPTION, AND THE PERCEPTION CLOSEST TO ECONOMIC FREEDOM. THE PERCEPTION CLOSES TO ECONOMIC FREEDOM WINS. OTHER PEOPLE WILL PUT YOU IN DANGER, IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME WE WON'T MEET AGAIN. I DON'T KNOW WHERE ANYONE ELSE WILL END UP. I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING TO END UP. I ONLY KNOW WE WON'T END UP IN THE SAME PLACE. I WILL BE IN A CLASS OF MY OWN. IT WAS MY RIGHT TO DO SO. I AM HERE NOW HELPING YOU GET INTO A CLASS OF YOUR OWN. I WILL HAVE THE FATE OF THE GUY WHO NEVER GAVE UP HIS CHILDHOOD AMBITION AND DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO IT. THAT'S ALL I MEAN WHEN I SAY I WILL END UP IN A DIFFERENT CATEGORY THAN MOST. I NEVER COMPROMISED. IT'S HARD TO SUM UP MY ARTISTRY. I CAN WRITE. I COULD'VE WRITTEN ANYTHING THEN WITHIN LIMITATIONS. I CHOSE TO WRITE THIS. NOW THE POSSIBILITIES ARE LIMITLESS TO HOW FAR OTHERS CAN GO FROM THIS. I DON'T WANT THE BIG BAD WOLF TO GET YOU. GET OUT OF THE FOREST OF ECONOMIC DEBT COLLECTION. EVERYTHING IN THE FOREST IS SET UP TO KEEP YOU IN DEBT. IF YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY OTHERS IN DEBT, AND THEY ARE NOT FINANCIALLY LITERATE OR EVEN TRYING, YOU MAY FIND YOUR SELF AS A MARK, EXPLOITED OR ROBBED FOR CASH OR CREDIT. THINK ABOUT IT. THINK ABOUT, THINK ABOUT IT, THINK ABOUT IT. IF I CAN'T READ AND THERE IS A BOOK REPORT DUE. RIGHT? HE WHO HAS IT GET ROBBED BY THOSE THAT DON'T MAN IS WHAT I'M SAYING. WHEN YOU MEET SOMEONE, ASK YOURSELF HOW LIKELY IT IS THEY ARE AROUND TWO DECADES FROM THEN. OTHERWISE YOU'RE LETTING THEM WASTE YOUR TIME. MOST PEOPLE DO NOT GET WHAT THEY WANT FROM LIFE. THEY WERE TOO DISTRACTED. MOST PEOPLE ARE DISTRACTIONS. MOST PEOPLE ARE DISTRACTED. MOST PEOPLE ARE DISTRACTING. DISTRACTING AND DISTRACTED DISTRACTIONS. 

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9:27PM EST - 10:12PM EST
2.11.2020
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020
STOSH'S 30TH BIRTHDAY
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY STOSH
​

THE THREE LITTLE CONTEMPORARIES: CHAPTER TWO: STRANGE FOR CHANGE YOU GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL AND THEN THEY DROP YOU OFF INTO THE FOREST. IN THE FOREST, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN DAWG. IT'S A SAD SIGHT TO SEE, FINANCIAL ILLITERACY. YOU DON'T WANT TO BE, THE WALKING EPITOME, FINANCIAL ILLITERACY. MOST PEOPLE CAN READ. THE ONLY REASON MOST PEOPLE CAN READ, IS SHEEP NEED TO READ. SHEEP NEED TO READ, SO THEY KNOW WHAT INSTRUCTIONS TO FOLLOW. I'M YOUR FRIEND, I WANT YOU TO BE A LEADER. IT'S GOING TO BE HARD TO LEAD, IF YOUR WALLET IS BROKEN. IF YOUR EARNING POWER, IS AT AN ALL TIME LOW, RECONSIDER YOUR FOCUS, PLEASE. I'M BEGGING YOU, PLEASE! IN THIS FOREST, IT IS A SURVIVAL QUEST. IT IS A RACE OUT OF THE FOREST. THE FOREST OF ECONOMIC SERVITUDE. SERVING THE DOLLAR. WHEN SERVING THE DOLLAR, JUST KNOW, THE WOLF WILL EVENTUALLY EAT YOUR HEART OUT. THE DOLLAR MUST SERVE YOU. ONCE THE DOLLAR SERVES YOU, THE WOLF CAN BE PAID OFF. IF THE WOLF IS HUNGRY, HE NEEDS ONE OF TWO THINGS. MONEY FROM THOSE WHO OWE HIM, OR FLESH FROM THOSE SAME SHEEP. OR PIGGIES. WHICH EVER ONE YOU WANT TO BE, YOU CAN BE. YOU CAN BE WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BE. WITH THAT SAID, I HAVE FAITH IN THE FUTURE AND YOU. FOR YOU ARE A PART OF THE FUTURE. I HAVE FAITH IN THE FUTURE YOU. SO GET THERE NOW. I AM HELPING YOU THE BEST I CAN. EVERYONE WILL NOT MAKE IT OUT OF THE FOREST. WHY IS IT SO LONELY AT THE TOP? IT IS LONELY AT THE TOP BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO BE LONELY. IF EVERYONE IS FINANCIALLY ILLITERATE, WHOEVER ISN'T WAS MIGHTY LONELY. SIMPLE MATH. EVERYONE DOESN'T MAKE A MILLION DOLLARS. EVERYONE DOESN'T CREATE A MILLION DOLLAR EARNING POWER. EVERYONE DOESN'T ATTEND COLLEGE UNIVERSITIES. I HAVEN'T YET. EVERYONE IS BORN EQUAL. EVERYONE DIES EQUAL. EVERYONE DOESN'T LIVE EQUALLY. IT'S THE LIFE ITSELF CONTAINING UNFAIRNESS. NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE BIRTHING OR DYING PROCESS, EVERYONE EVER ALIVE, WAS BORN AND THEN DIED, SOMEHOW. UNFAIRNESS BREEDS EMOTIONS. THESE EMOTIONS ARE CONTRAST. THE EMOTIONS CONTRAST HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO FEEL. SO IN ESSENCE, SAID BY ESTER HICKS, THIS IS A POSITIVE SCENARIO. I WANT YOU TO GET EVERYTHING OUT OF THIS WORLD YOU POSSIBLY CAN. I WOULD LIKE THAT FOR MYSELF AND MY BIRTH FAMILY AS WELL. NOW I AM HELPING MYSELF GET THERE, BY USING MY GOD GIVEN GIFTS, TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GREATNESS. IN THE FOREST OF ECONOMIC SLAVERY, EVERYONE WILL NOT MAKE IT OUT. YOU HAVE TO DECIDE, RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW, WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE? DON'T LET GO. JUST PICK ONE CHOICE CONSCIOUSLY THEN IT'LL BE EASIER TO RECONCILE WITHIN YOURSELF IN THE UPCOMING FUTURE. HOW GREAT DO YOU WANT YOUR FUTURE TO BE? IF YOUR FUTURE MEANS NOTHING TO YOU, BURN THIS BOOK. THROW IT IN THE AIRPLANE TOILET. RIP EVERY PAGE OUT AND EAT IT. LET YOUR DOG EAT IT. GIVE THIS BOOK TO YOUR DOG, AS A PLAYTOY. THEN TEACH YOUR DOG TO READ. THEN WHEN YOUR DOG READS IT, AT LEAST ONE OF YOU ALL WILL BE FINANCIALLY LITERATE. IF I SAID, "LISTEN, JACK FROST IS OUT THERE, PUT A THICK JACKET ON", THIS MEANS I CARE. SO WHEN I SAY UNCLE SAM IS THE BIG BAD WOLF AND HE WILL BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN, I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS HAPPEN. THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING! REVERE YOUR OWN YOUTH, PAUL, YOU GET IT ONLY ONCE. LIVE YOUR YOUTH UP TO THE MAX. THIS MEANS, STILL HAVING YOUTH TO SHARE AT 40. THOSE WHOM SQUANDERED THEIR MOST ILLUSTRIOUS YEARS WITH HYPER SOCIALIZING, IT IS WHAT IT IS. I AM ASKING YOU, ANYONE YOUNGER, TO ASK YOURSELF, IF YOU WANT THAT FOR YOURSELF? YOU EVER WORK A JOB AND YOU REALIZE MANY OF THE OLDER WORKERS ARE BITTER PEOPLE? MAYBE THEY ARE JUST PEOPLE EXPERIENCING A BITTER REALITY. THEY WERE DISPLAYING THEIR GREATNESS AT ONE TIME, THEY HAD TO BE. EVEN IF IT WERE WHEN THEY WERE TEN YEARS OF AGE. THEY PROJECT THIS BITTERNESS FOR ONE FACT. THEY SQUANDERED THEIR YOUTH CHASING HOES. MAYBE IT WAS A LIFE OF CRIME THAT NEVER PAID OFF. IF YOU'RE GOING TO ROB A BANK, YOU BETTER BE THE GREATEST AND SAFEST BANK ROBBER WITH NO CITIZEN OR POLICE CASUALTIES EVER. OR YOU'RE A DEAD MAN. I'M STILL YOUR FRIEND, I'M JUST NOT HERE TO KISS ASS. I'M HERE TO GET YOU PAID. IN ORDER FOR US TO IN FACT GET PAID, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY BUDDY. YOUR FEAR WILL HOLD YOU BACK FOREVER, IF YOU LET IT MY GOOD SIR. MY FEAR WOULD DEFINITELY DO THE SAME EXACT THING, TO ME, DO NOT EVER GET THIS FACT TWISTED. AMERICA WILL BE GREAT AGAIN, ONCE THE AVERAGE AMERICAN IS FINANCIALLY LITERATE. FINANCIAL LITERACY AMONGST THE COMMON FOLK, IS NOT WANTED BY THE ESTABLISHED, ESTABLISHMENT. THE ESTABLISHING AND ESTABLISHED ESTABLISHMENT. WHY WOULD THEY TEACH US TO READ LETTERS? THEN ASK WHY WOULD THEY TEACH US TO READ NUMBERS? WHY WOULD THEY TEACH US TO READ WORDS AND NOT PERCENTAGES? STATISTICS? THEY DON'T TEACH US TO READ THE DOLLAR. WHEN I SAY STATS I MEAN ECONOMIC STATISTICS. WHEN I SAY PERCENTAGES, I'M TALKING FINANCIAL LEVERAGING USING FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND FINANCIAL SECURITIES. ASSETS, DIGITAL ASSETS. READING THE DOLLAR. SOUNDS JUST FANTASTICAL DOESN'T IT? HOW DO YOU READ THE DOLLAR? BY DOUBLING YOUR EARNING POWER. BY LEARNING TO READ THE DOLLAR, YOU CAN DOUBLE YOUR EARNING POWER. IT IS NOT ABOUT SALARY, IT IS ABOUT EARNING POWER. IF A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE OR EVEN A DROP OUT, OR THE COLLEGE DROP OUT IS MORE FINANCIALLY LITERATE THAN THE COLLEGE GRADUATE WITH EVERY DEGREE YOU CAN HAVE, GOOD LUCK TO THE GRADUATE. THEY PLAY THE GAME WELL, THE GAME OF HIGH PRICED TIME SLAVE. THERE ARE SLAVES WITH TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS IN EARNINGS YEARLY. IF YOU ARE GOING TO SLAVE YOURSELF, SLAVE YOURSELF IN YOUR MOST PASSIONATE FIELD. THE FOREST IS FULL OF DISTRACTIONS. NEVER DENY THAT. THE FOREST WILL NEVER DENY ITSELF AN OPPORTUNITY TO UTILIZE YOUR ECONOMIC FLESH AS THE MEAL OF THE NIGHT. ALL I AM SAYING IS "LEARN TO READ THE DOLLAR". THIS WILL GET AMERICA TO WHERE SHE WANTS TO BE IN DESTINY'S EYES. AMERICANS MUST BE FINANCIALLY LITERATE. IF NOT, WE MUST STAY ON COURSE INDIVIDUALLY. WE ARE SURROUNDED BY THE FINANCIALLY ILLITERATE. WE WERE ONCE OF THE SAME CALIBER. SOME THINGS CHANGE, SOME THINGS DON'T CHANGE. THEY STILL DO STRANGE FOR CHANGE. 

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11:08PM EST - 12:03AM EST
2.11.2020 - 2.12.2020
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11TH, 2020 -
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12TH, 2020
STOSH'S 30TH BIRTHDAY
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY STOSH!!!
​
​

THE THREE LITTLE CONTEMPORARIES: CHAPTER THREE: ON PREVIOUS STOPS THE WOLF WILL COME ONE DAY TO ALL, FOR DEBT COLLECTION. THE ULTIMATE DEBT COLLECTION. THE WOLF WILL WANT IT'S MONEY WITH INTEREST. IT IS IN YOUR BEST INTEREST, TO HAND OVER THE WOLF'S FUNDS. TO THE WOLF, YOU MUST SURRENDER YOUR FUNDS YOU OWE TO THE WOLF. OR YOU CAN JUST SURRENDER YOUR BUNS. THE WOLF IS GOING TO GET PAID. EVEN IF YOU'RE BANKRUPT AT THE END OF THE DAY. ALWAYS REMEMBER, ONCE UPON A TIME, YOU HAD YOUTH. YOU SQUANDERED IT. WHAT THE F'S YOUR PROBLEM? THAT'S WHY SOME OF THE OLDER WORKERS AT OUR JOBS ARE SO BITTER. THEY SQUANDERED THEIR YOUTH. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT. YOU WEREN'T THERE. THEY WERE THERE. THEY WERE IN CHARGE OF ACTIVELY PURSUING THEIR OWN DESTINY MAN. THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. THEY WERE BITTER BEFORE YOU MET THEM. THIS IS WHY THEY WERE BITTER WHEN YOU MET THEM. GET THIS THRU YOUR HEAD. IF YOU WERE A FISH, WOULD YOU WANT TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR, WHAT IS COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS, THE HOOK? I DIDN'T THINK SO. WE'VE ALL SEEN THE SPONGE BOY EPISODE. I PUT "SPONGE BOY" ON PURPOSE. C.I. DEFLECTED. IT IS A CIRCUS AND A JUNGLE OUT THERE MAN. THE CIRCUS IS WITHIN THE JUNGLE. MEANING, THERE ARE NOTHING BUT TRAPS SET ALL THRU OUT THE JUNGLE. TRAPS. MEANT TO CONTAIN YOU. MEANT TO ENSLAVE YOU. TRAPS TO HOLD YOU DOWN. UNTIL THE HUNTER RETURNS TO KIDNAP THE CATCH. FINANCIAL FALSE IMPRISONMENT, IS WHEN YOU KEEP YOUR MONEY IN A BANK. ECONOMIC KIDNAPPING IS WHEN YOU ARE INVESTING YOUR FUNDS. SO LOOK HERE, INVEST YOUR FUNDS. KIDNAP YOUR CHECK. 

THE RANSOM IS THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT. THE DOUBLE IS THE RANSOM. FANDOM. CULT CLASSIC. DO YOU WANT OUT OF THE FOREST OF ECONOMIC SERVITUDE NOT? IF SO, FOLLOW JARFAR. HARDY HARD HAR. YOU HAVE TO DECIDE ON WHAT KIND OF LIFE YOU WILL LEAD. THE LIFE OF PERSONAL ACCOMPLISH OR THE LIFE OF HYPER SOCIALITY. IF THERE IS A WOLF PURSUING EVERYONE AROUND YOU, MAYBE THEN THE WOLF IS ALSO PURSUING YOU AS WELL.

IF THE WOLF IS IN FACT PURSUING YOU AS WELL, GET OUT OF THE FOREST. THE CIRCUS WITHIN THE JUNGLE, IS MEANT TO KEEP THOSE IN THE JUNGLE. THE CIRCUS WITHIN THE JUNGLE, IS MEANT TO KEEP ENTERTAINED, THOSE INSIDE OF THE JUNGLE. IN ORDER TO MAKE IT OUT OF THE JUNGLE, ONE MUST STAY FROM OUT OF THE CIRCUS WITHIN THE JUNGLE. A CIRCUS IS SAFE. A JUNGLE IS NOT. A CIRCUS WITHIN A JUNGLE, COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE SAFE. STAY OUT OF IT PEOPLE. THIS IS COMING FROM THE WOLF HIMSELF. WHAT IF THE WOLF WERE THE NARRATOR? WHAT IF I WERE THE WOLF RIGHT NOW? WHAT IF THE WOLF LIKED FAIR GAME? WHAT IF THE WOLF WANTED TO PLAY FAIR? WOULD THE WOLF WARN YOU OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU AT THE PAWS OF THE WOLF? WOULD THE WOLF GIVE YOU A FAIR WARNING, HE IS OUT TO GET YOU? IF YOU DO NOT CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, I'M DISGUSTED. WE WILL DISCUSS ARCHITECTURE SOON. STRAWS, STICKS, AND BRICKS. REMEMBER, ANYONE YOU EVER MEET, YOU CAN'T PROVE THEY WILL BE AROUND ONE OR TWO DECADES LATER. LET ALONE THREE TO FOUR DECADES. SO JUST WAIT UNTIL YOUR THIRD AND FOURTH DECADES TO MAKE FRIENDS. MAKE FRIENDS WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND SHRIVELED. MAKE MONEY FOR WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND SHRIVELED, WITH YOUR YOUTH. EVERY OTHER HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE, IS FACING THE SAME ECONOMIC OBSTACLES YOU ARE. SO LEAVE THEM ALONE. LET THEM FIGURE IT OUT ON THEIR OWN OR GET DISTRACTED. IF YOU CAN MANAGE TO ATTRACT ANOTHER PERSON TO HELP FOCUS ON IT, THEN YES, NAPOLEON HILL'S MASTERMIND PRINCIPLE. UNTIL THE MASTERMIND IN YOUR LATER YEARS, STAY DILIGENTLY GLUED TO SELF RELIANCE, CHIEF DEFINITE AIM AND IMAGINATION. NOT TO MENTION PERSISTENCE. I LOVE THAT BOOK. MAYBE THE WOLF REALLY DOESN'T EVEN WANT TO EAT YOU. MAYBE YOU JUST GOT EATEN OFF OF DEFAULT. LIKE A LOAN? EXACTLY. A LOAN. WOULDN'T WANT TO DEFAULT ON A PAYMENT AGREEMENT WITH NIAGRA MOHAWK NOW WOULD YA? AKA NATIONAL GRID. ALL OF YOUR CONTEMPORARIES ARE DECISION MAKERS FOR THEIR OWN LIFE. IF THEY ALWAYS HAVE TIME TO HANG OUT, THAT'S A BAD SIGN. THEY SHOULD BE BUSY THE MAJORITY OF THEIR TIME. THEIR SPARE TIME WOULD BE BEST APPLIED TOWARDS THEIR DESIRED PURSUIT. THEREFORE, WHATEVER SOMEONE IS DOING WITH THEIR TIME, THEY CHOOSE TO. WHATEVER SOMEONE DOES WITH THEIR MONEY, IS WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO. THE SAME APPLIES TO ANYTHING INCLUDING ENERGY AND FOCUS, INTENTION. EVEN FOOD. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU. DO NOT GET EATEN OFF OF DEFAULT. EVERYONE FACES A POTENTIAL FINANCIAL CRISIS, WAY BEFORE THEIR MIDLIFE CRISIS. WAY BEFORE YOUR FORTIES, YOU COULD EXPERIENCE FINANCIAL TRAGEDY. THE NAOV NANO VIBRONIX COMPANY RESIDES IN THE NANO TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY VALLEY. SEAMY VALLEY BABY. IF YOU DON'T ACCELERATE YOUR FOCUS, AFTER DIRECTING YOUR FOCUS ON YOUR HEART'S DESIRES, WHO THE EFF WILL? THEN IT MAY NEVER GET DONE. TRUST ME, YOU DON'T WANT TO BE THAT GUY. DUDE. GET IT MAN? I'M HERE FOR YOU. I AM ONLY HERE FOR A LIMITED TIME. THIS HOWEVER WILL LAST FOREVER. IT IS YOUR ECONOMICAL FOUNDATION YOU BUILD, ALLOWING YOU TO REALIZE THE DREAMS YOU HAVE, MONEY CAN ACTUALLY ATTAIN FOR YOU. YOU ARE WORTH EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED. YOU ARE WORTH IT. YOU ARE WORTH EVERY DREAM YOU HAVE. YOU CAN BEGIN TO TOUCH EACH DREAM YOU HAVE. YOU HAVE TO BE SINCERELY HONEST ABOUT THE ENTIRE AFFAIR HOWEVER. IF GOD AND THE UNIVERSE, THE COSMOS, SEE TO IT YOUR DREAMS ACTUALLY HAPPEN, WHAT WOULD YOU IMAGINE WERE THE PRE REQ? THE PRELIMINARY STEPS ONE MUST TAKE IN ORDER TO ATTAIN THEIR ULTIMATE DESIRE, IN SOME CASES, IS THE UTTER DISSOLUTION OF THE SUPER SOCIAL LIFE. 

HOW CAN ONE EVER WRITE A BOOK, IF THEY ARE ALWAYS SURROUNDED BY OTHER PEOPLE WHO CRAVE THEIR ATTENTION? FOR WHATEVER REASON. THERE ARE MANY REASONS OTHER PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO BE AROUND YOU. ZEY CALL IT, ULTERIOR MOTIVES. IN THE PERFECT WORLD, EVERYONE YOU EVER LET IN YOUR LIFE, WILL BE THE GREATEST FRIEND EVER TO YOU. HOPEFULLY YOU REALIZE, MAYBE THEN WE ARE NOT ACTUALLY IN A PERFECT WORLD AFTER ALL. EH? EVERYONE FACES THE WOLF. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WHEN HE IS AT YOUR DOOR, HUFFING AND PUFFING? FOR THE RECORD. SILVER BULLETS MAKE THIS BIG BAD WEREWOLF STRONGER AND HUNGRIER. FOR ANYONE WHO SAID THEY WOULD GRAB A GUN WHEN THE WOLF COMES. THE WOLF HAS GOONS. WATCHING FROM THE HILLSIDE THE WOLF'S GOONS ARE. IN CONJUNCTION WITH HOWLING AND FEASTIN ON PREVIOUS STOPS.

I've never posted anything here before, but I wanted to share this experience and get some feedback
I had my first player death because of friendly fire caused by a Critical Failure on an attack roll.
Now to be fair, the Player whose Character died, specifically asked to get hit because of their teammate rolling a Critical Failure, but none of us expected it would do enough damage to outright kill her, and in my homebrew world, Resurrection magic is exceptionally rare, meaning she was dead outright.
I'll set the stage with the characters in the story;
Female Gnome Blood Hunter, Elizabeth, the PC who died because of the Critical Failure.
Male Gnome rogue, Dimitri, the in character brother of the Blood Hunter
Male Dragon born Paladin, Seto, the one who rolled the Critical Failure and our problem character
Female Elf Warlock, Yesrial, who had become close friends with Elizabeth.
And me, the DM.
The party was visibly and understandably upset about this so we had a funeral for Elizabeth back in the city and I gave everyone a week of down time, the same length of time between sessions, to process everything and use it as character development.
Dimitri, in his grief, decided to multi class into Warlock and take Arawn the God of Death as their Patron in an attempt to bargain for her return, and while Arawn wouldn't restore Elizabeth, for his loyalty, he promised Dimitri to spare her from Hell. In exchange for this and power, he was told to bring those who defile the dead and profane mortality to Justice, this is important later.
Yesrial prayed to her Patron Deity and the Elven God Alariel for guidance to help understand what happened, but she only got cryptic messages.
Seto didn't really do anything for the downtime.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth's player was, at first, going to just roll a new character and say "oh well, death happens."
But then we came up with an idea.
We decided that we were going to allow her to keep playing Elizabeth by just bringing her back to life but in an unconventional way.
I had Arawn condemn Elizabeth to Hell for her crimes in life from her backstory but he decided to give her a chance to repent and be absolved by bringing those who defile the dead and profane mortality to Justice, exactly like he had said to Dimitri.
Elizabeth was revived as an undead Grave Cleric in the service of Arawn which was supposed to be for flavor, but THAT'S where the real problems begin.
Fast Forward to the next session, I've kept it a secret that Elizabeth is alive again and the rest of the party was gathered at the Adventures Guild.
Enter Elizabeth back from the dead in an epic entrance as a huge surprise to the rest of the party, who was expecting a new character.
Dimitri was half in shock and half angry because of the pact he'd made with Arawn, while being a little bit standoffish.
Seto was definitely angry and instantly armed himself for battle, proclaiming "The Dead should stay dead and Elizabeth needs to be put back in the ground!"
Seto didn't start PvP but DID remain on guard the entire time.
Yesrial was excited to see her friend return and tried to defuse the situation, even welcoming Elizabeth back into the group.
Fast forward a little bit and the party split up for some Role playing to move the situation along.
Dimitri snuck out of the Adventures Guild and went to the Cathedral of Light to talk to Arawn and accost his new Patron because of the deal Arawn made with his Sister and how her return conflicted with his beliefs and the Pact he'd made with Arawn.
Arawn tried to assure Dimitri that there was nothing nefarious about it, but Dimitri was taking his pact very seriously, basically saying "your own beliefs that the Dead should stay that way are being contradicted."
Yesrial prayed at the Elven Temple again and rejoiced in the return of her friend no matter what the form.
Elizabeth herself went to the market to get fresh supplies since she didn't have much after being buried except the clothes on her back and her Brothers Daggers, which she was buried with.
On the way back to the Adventures Guild, Elizabeth met up with Dimitri, and I was afraid it was going to come to a fight.
Thankfully though, with some great RP there was actually an accord reached between Dimitri and Elizabeth, albeit not a perfect one, but I figured it would work itself out as we kept going.
The whole problem boiled over when they met with Seto again, Seto declared openly that Elizabeth needed to die, again, because "Undead are Evil and Arawn is an Evil God." Starting PvP and going for a surprise attack, which didn't connect.
Elizabeth tried to ignore it and head into the Adventures Guild, but Seto followed her back into the Adventures Guild, and the PvP continued.
To attempt to RP, Elizabeth didn't do anything except take the Dodge action and attempt to persuade Seto.
Seto was having none of it.
After a few rounds, I tried to use Divine Intervention by having Arawn appear in the Adventures Guild upon his Gray horse, accompanied by his white hounds with red ears.
Arawn boomed "ENOUGH! I will not have my champion accosted at every turn because of the circumstances of her revival!"
He then addressed Elizabeth directly stating "Had I known reviving you as I did would cause sure turmoil and discord, I'd have just resurrected you from the beginning."
And he revived Elizabeth completely, alive again instead of an undead, which I thought would be the end of it.
It wasn't, because Arawn is still an Evil God by the Rules as Written, and there is no way Seto was going to trust someone resurrected by an Evil God.
Basically, Seto's player was pulling a classic "it's what my character would do." In an attempt to justify it.
On his next turn, Seto attacked, hit and also burned a Smite, knocking Elizabeth unconscious, only to be knocked unconscious by Yesrial a moment later.
This should have been the end of it because now BOTH Elizabeth and Seto were unconscious and non-hostile, not to mention that Elizabeth was alive again.
Seto's player said "When Seto regains consciousness, he's STILL going to be hostile towards Elizabeth and is going to kill her again."
I immediately pointed out that she's ALIVE alive, she is not an Undead, but it didn't matter.
It had come down to either Elizabeth dies again or Seto was going to leave the party.
I called the session at that point because I needed to find a comfortable medium and get this figured out.
In my world, there is one of the "Titans" which is my version of the Gods, who stands above all others, their name is "Deus Omnium" and it was also the Deity worshipped by Seto.
Dimitri's player pointed out that Because of Seto's alignment, only a GOOD aligned Deity would be acceptable to resurrect Elizabeth.
Elizabeth's player was ready to just give up and let Elizabeth die then roll another character but I felt like it was wrong to force that option on her.
I decided to Retconn the Divine Intervention to have been by Deus Omnium who resurrected Elizabeth, and said that we'd reconvene the session in a couple of weeks, but I think at this point the party dynamic is completely destroyed and I'm not sure what is going to happen between Elizabeth and Seto, despite changing the circumstances behind her Resurrection.

Long story short this was a repeat ghosting. I 23M met this girl 21F thru my best friends GF. The first time she ghosted me was way back in October after our first date. A month went by and I sent a casual hail mary text. To my surprise, she responded and quickly engaged with me again. She apologized for the ghosting and told me she felt terrible about it. During this time she was showing super high interest, double texting me all the time, it almost felt like I was getting chased. She also asked me out on both of the dates we had during this time. She was so easy to be around in person, and the connection felt so great. I could tell that when we were together she was genuinely into me, it was clear as day. However, after our 3rd and last date she started getting flaky.
This lead to a convo in which I told her I liked her a lot but was feeling lead on due to her happily setting up dates but then flaking. She told me she really liked me too. But that she couldn't be in a serious relationship with anyone because she has personal issues she has to sort out. I told her that was fine, because I wasn't ready for a relationship either and truthfully it was still casual (We hadn't even had sex, only slept together). I told her there was no rush and that a relationship was something I was open to in the future if we were both ready. She appreciated me clearing things up and we kept talking. After we had this convo she seemed more flirty than usual, and It seemed like things were moving forward. However, a few weeks later she cancelled on a date we had planned the night before and left me on read for a week. I then asked her out on valentines despite being left on read, and she never replied to that either.
The last thing she ever texted me was that she was "so excited to come to see me". It's been 7 weeks since that message. I unfollowed her on socials, but she's still following me on everything. She's been watching my stories and tiktok's and liking them in the past few weeks. She still has all of our spotify playlists saved. I'm so confused because I know I'm not delusional. I know this girl liked me. I feel like a hypocrite because I told her there was no rush and proceeded to rush, and I think me pushing too hard scared her away. I think she took the easy route of ghosting because she couldn't muster the courage to say whatever she was feeling.
Whatever it was, it's still not an excuse for her ghosting me. I miss her a lot. It feels like I can feel her missing me too, but I don't think she has the courage to reach out in fear of me rejecting her now. I know I cannot disrespect myself by reaching out again, but I think if I don't I may never talk to her again. It seems like her interacting with me on socials is her trying to get me to reach out. I'll be seeing the mutual who set us up a lot this summer as I'll be living with her BF, so I don't know how that's gonna play out. This is all just so confusing and it hurts. I just want to hear from her again.

Part 1
​
“I refuse to step inside the dark room again. Not after what happened a couple of days ago. At least not yet” I thought, while sitting in my room with the events still fresh in my mind. Before I begin telling you what happened since, I just want to thank you all for the advice in my last post. I honestly didn’t know how to approach this situation but with your guys’ help, I had somewhere to start.
…
It was the day after the incident. I hadn’t told anyone what happened, but I knew I wanted to talk to Felix. I had so many questions for him. He must know something. While I was at work, I was thinking a lot about the old man that used to live in the house. I realized that this entire time, Felix and I just referred to him as “the guy” or “the old man”. I guess I never cared to know his real name.
I thought that if I knew his name, I could just google him and find some information. Coincidentally, as I was driving home from work, my phone rang. Incoming call from Felix. Just seeing his name on the caller ID screen gave me shivers. The incident in the dark room flashed into my mind and I forgot what I planned on saying to him. I answered one handed and spoke, “hey man, what’s up?”
“Hey John, I’m alright. You doing anything today?”
I replied, “um. No not really. Listen, do you remember that film from the box in the boiler room? I know this is gonna sound crazy but-”
“I need some help at my house again bro. Trying to get this done asap and today’s the only day I’ll be able to work on it until next week”. Felix sounded like he was in a hurry. Before replying, I thought that maybe I could explain the situation better in person. I felt like I’d sound like a lunatic over the phone.
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be there soon. Before you go, I gotta ask you something”.
“Make it fast cause’ I gotta go, man.”
“What’s the name of the guy that used to live in your house?”
“Uh...” Felix paused for a few seconds, “I can’t remember right now. Just be here in an hour or two”.
“WAIT. Wait. Are you at the house right now?” I asked.
“Yes. Why”.
“Can’t you like, check his mailbox for some old mail or something? It’ll say his name there”.
Felix sighed, “Why do you want to know it so bad?”
“I’ll explain it to you later. It’s a long story. Sorry if I’m interrupting you.”
Felix said, “alright, hold on” followed by a loud thud. It sounded like he dropped something.
A moment passed before Felix spoke again. “Okay his name’s Travis Rice. Gotta go now. Let me know when you’re here”.
…
I got home and made myself dinner before going to Felix. While I was eating, I searched “Travis Rice Obituary” on google on my phone. I scrolled through a few Travis Rice’s until I found one that was from my town. The first thing I saw was his picture. A smiling old white man with gray hair and a wrinkly face. Then I read his obituary.
“Travis Rice. May 1931- July 2022. Mr. Travis was an outstanding member of his community, and a true American”. After reading the rest, I gathered that Travis served in the U.S military during the Korean War in the 1950’s. He has three daughter’s and two sons. His wife had passed away 4 years ago. He did volunteer work even at an old age and even was a teacher for a while. I won’t lie, I did not expect his obituary to be so positive. This whole time in my head I assumed he was some maniac cult leader who never threw away any of his junk.
Once I finished reading, I noticed that there isn’t a cause of death anywhere. I guess some obituaries can choose not to include that.
…
I arrived at Felix’s house, and it was almost turning into sunset. The trash container Felix had rented was still outside, but it was nearly empty. I wondered if it would get completely full again. The front door was slightly opened, and I let myself in. I walked around the main floor looking for him. The living room didn’t look too bad now that it was empty.
Once I entered the kitchen, I called Felix’s name. “What! I’m here” he replied as he popped out from behind the old fridge. He scared the sh*t out of me. “Jesus Christ... What are you doing there?” I said with my palm on my chest.
“I’m putting the hand truck behind this old fridge. It has to go. This thing smells like a dead person”. He spoke.
“Well, what if there IS a dead person in there?” I said, “Let’s open it”.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, Felix said while placing his hand on the fridge door.
“Why not? I just want to see what our guy Travis kept inside”.
“Alright, but don’t open it until I say”. Felix took his hand off the door and walked to the other side of the house. “Go ahead”. I opened the fridge door slowly and peaked through. No light bulb turned on so I couldn’t see inside. I opened it halfway and an incredibly foul odor hit my nose and I almost threw up. There wasn’t a dead body chopped up into small pieces, but there was a half empty bottle of expired milk, expired steak, cheese, and other stuff that was probably there for at least a year.
As soon as I slammed the door shut Felix started walking back. “Ha! See, I told you I wouldn’t do that. Next time just listen to me. Come on, let’s put this thing outside”.
Felix and I continued to clean the house. I really wanted to explain the dark room incident to him, but the entire time I was thinking, “how do I say this without sounding like I’m insane?” I concluded that there just wasn’t a way to say it without sounding crazy, so I just did it.
“Hold on, Felix. Let’s pause for a minute. I have to tell you something”.
“Okay, what?”
“Remember those two rolls of film that I showed you the last time we were cleaning this house?”
“The ones from the box downstairs?”
“Yeah. Here’s the thing. I really need you to just believe everything I say, okay? Even if it sounds super ridiculous. Everything I am going to tell you is one hundred percent real. I swear I am NOT lying.”
“Okay, okay, John just tell me. Look, I’ll believe it if I believe it-”
“IT’S TRUE... Alright, whatever, I’m just gonna start. So, the day after I found the film, I went to develop it in my university’s dark room. I- I heard and felt something. It wasn’t human. It- it was like some kind of beast-”
“What did it look like?”
“I DON’T KNOW. I was unrolling the film in complete darkness. I didn’t see what it looked like”.
“Why would you do it in the dark, though?” Felix asked. I was getting frustrated because I didn’t feel like explaining the process of developing film.
“BECAUSE- BECAUSE there can’t be any light in the first step, only the rest of the process. I only heard its footsteps. It blew strong blows of air on me anytime I moved. I thought it was going to attack me, but I turned the lights on just in time”.
Felix just stood there looking me dead in the eye, confused as ever. “What the hell are you talking about?” I lowered my head into a face palm and sighed deeply.
“I mean, seriously, what are you on, man? You think you summoned a demon or something?” He said. “So, did you even get to develop the film anyway, or what?”
“No” I said, “I was too freaked out. I just put the film in its canister and left it in a drawer. I swear I’m telling the truth. I just wanted to see if you knew anything about it”.
“Yeah, no, I have no idea what you’re talking about. So, is that it? Are you done with this whole picture's thing?”
I replied, “Well, I don’t want to relive that experience. At the same time though, I really want to know what those pictures look like. If I’m going back to the dark room to finish, I at least want to take someone with me”. We looked at each other for a few seconds.
“...Let me guess, you want me to go with you?” Felix asked. “Yes. I do”. I spoke.
Felix took a breath, “... I mean, I guess since you’re helping me clean this place up I might as well. It’ll have to wait though. I won’t have time until next week”.
“That’s fine” I said, “I can wait”.
…
Fast forward to Monday. Felix and I agreed to meet in front of my university in the morning. We walked together towards the art department. We went up the elevator and walked down the end of the hall to where the dark room was. Being in front of that room again was so unnerving. I almost didn’t even want to step inside anymore.
Noticing my hesitation, Felix moved past me and entered the dark room, and I followed.
I had my phone flash again as I quickly switched the light on. I did not want it to be dark again. Thankfully, the next steps in developing the film could be done with the lights on. Felix was standing with his arms crossed.
“Alright, so now what?” he asked. I replied, “I have to set up all of the chemicals and then take the canister out of the drawer that I left it in”.
“Don’t you want me to help with anything?” he asked.
“No, you’re mainly here so that I’m not alone”.
I set up the chemicals as it said in my notes. Pre-soak, developer, hypo-clear, Photo-Flo etc. They were all lined up in beakers in the sink. Then, I went to the drawer that I left the canister with film in. It was still there. I brought it over the sink where the chemicals were ready.
“Here goes” I said out loud. Felix moved from the corner of the room to a few feet away from me. I poured the first solution in, agitated the canister for its required time, and then poured it out. I repeated this step for each chemical solution. Nothing bad had happened yet. The lights were on, Felix was watching over me, things were good.
“So how do I get this demon to show up? Should I turn the lights off?” Felix chuckled. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. If only he knew what I experienced that day.
Fast forward now to the last step of the process. I just had to take the film out of the hurricane film washer and put it to dry.
I took it out and unrolled it. As soon as I stretched it out, my eyes went directly onto the film. “FINALLY,” I thought, “I can finally see what these damn PICTURES ARE”. I held the film up to the fluorescent ceiling light and the negatives were visible now. They were tiny, black and white, but I couldn’t tell what the pictures were of.
The negatives on the film were so unrecognizable. After a few seconds of me trying to figure out what I was looking at, I decided I needed to bring out the light box. A light box is a box that shines white light at the top. Film is placed on top of the light box, and it lets you see the pictures clearly.
"Hold this. Don’t touch the strip of negatives, just hold the top part”. I handed Felix the unrolled film while I looked for the light box. I found it in a cabinet and grabbed it. I then set it on a station and plugged it to the wall. I flipped it on, and it shined brightly.
“Okay, let me see the film” I said to Felix.
“What the hell am I supposed to be seeing?” I looked over and saw he was trying to look at the negatives using the same ceiling light I was using.
“Dude, just give it to me so we can see them on the light box”. He handed the film to me. This was it.
I placed the beginning of the film on the light box, and it showed the first few pictures clearly.
FIRST PICTURE: The first picture was taken from the inside of a house. You could see out the window where there is nothing but trees.
SECOND PICTURE: A landscape of a small lake. A bird is hovering over the water.
THIRD PICTURE: A blurry unexposed shot of a stack of books.
Half of the pictures were like this. Just normal boring pictures of random stuff. “You made it seem like we’d see something cool or crazy. These are just boring ass pictures, man,” said Felix.
I was pretty disappointed so far. I almost wanted to just stop and start cleaning up. Until about the sixteenth picture.
SIXTEENTH PICTURE: A picture of a forest. Many tall trees were in the picture plane. The trees in the center were a different shade than the rest. Seems like it was taken at night, and the photographer was using a flashlight.
“Hey, what’s that there?” I whispered. “What?” asked Felix. In picture number sixteen there was a figure in between the trees. It was hard to see but I thought I saw a silhouette of something humanoid.
SEVENTEENTH PICTURE: This picture was similar to the last, except now, that figure was closer to the camera. I could see a more distinct shape. It definitely wasn’t human. It had an animal shape with a long neck.
“What is that? A horse?” said Felix. I started sweating.
EIGHTEENTH PICTURE: Now the creature was CLOSER. It was an animal or beast. I’ve never seen a creature like it before. It showed its side profile. Its body still hidden behind the trees. The creature was about 15 feet away from the camera. We could see its face. The head was shaped like a goat and horse at the same time.
“What is this thing? Do you know what animal that is?” I turned to Felix. He was wide mouthed now. More disturbed and shocked than I was. “Felix?”
“... I uh... I think we should stop looking now,” he said nervously. I was taken aback. Why would we stop now?
“...Are you okay Felix? What’s wrong?”
He didn’t respond. I continued looking.
NINETEENTH PICTURE: The creature was IN THE AIR. The ENTIRE body was visible, and it took up the whole picture plane. It had claws for hands that were stretched out. Its legs had hooves and its body was long. On each side of its body were long blurry blobs. They looked like wings, but its motion was blurred. It had no pupils in its eyes and its mouth was opened disturbingly wide.
“WH- WHAT IS THIS?” I yelled. Before I could keep moving the film to see the next picture, I felt a hard shove and I fell to the ground. Felix was standing over me with a shocked and worried face. He snatched the film off the light box and started crumpling it.
“FELIX WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR. Wha- what are you DOING!” I yelled at him.
“No one was supposed to know...” he said softly while looking at me dead in the eyes.
“...Know what??” I questioned. He started walking toward me. I was freaked out and discomforted and I kept scooting back while on the floor. Felix put his hand on the table nearest to him and picked up a pair of scissors. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING???” I screamed.
He was only a foot away from me before all the lights suddenly went out and it was completely dark. I felt like I had just died but I heard a familiar noise.
*HUFF*
“What the hell?” Felix’s voice said in front of me.
*HUFF* *HUFF*
“No... God. Please, no,” I thought, with tears in my eyes. The ground started to shake rhythmically.
“WHO'S THERE?” Felix yelled out. I heard things cling and clang as they started to fall to the floor.
*HUFF*
I was still sitting on the floor. I looked up. The only thing I saw in the void of black darkness was two red dots.
“JOHN. WHERE THE F*CK ARE YOU”. I heard shuffling. “WHAT THE F*CK?!”
The two red dots went up, then swiftly dragged down and I heard a disturbing *CRUNCH*. Felix let out a blood curdling scream. What followed was a mix of crunching, Felix’s crying and screaming, and more things falling to the floor. All I could see was those two red dots moving violently around the darkness.
And then, Felix stopped screaming. All I could hear was the gnashing of teeth. I thought that I was next. My adrenaline kicked in and I made a dash for the light switch. The floor shook as I ran. Thank the stars, I flipped them on. I looked behind me. There wasn’t anyone with me anymore. Felix was nowhere to be seen. On the floor where he was standing was the crumpled up roll of film.
I stood there in silence for at least a half hour, not knowing what to do. The crumpled up film was in my hand. I uncrumpled the film and put it back on the light box.
NINETEENTH PICTURE: The creature was once again far away from the camera but still in the air.
TWENTIETH PICTURE: A wide shot picture of the forest. Seems like the photographer got out of the forest.
TWENTYFIRST PICTURE: A picture of a house. Likely the same house as the first.
TWENTYSECOND PICTURE: A closer picture of the house. A silhouette was peeking out from the side of the house.
TWENTYTHIRD PICTURE: A zoomed in picture of the silhouette. It’s a person. I can’t see their face.
TWENTYFOURTH PICTURE: A man is standing next to the house. I recognized his face immediately. It was Felix.

I spent several hours constructing this set of instructions for chat Gpt to write prompts for midjourney and wanted to share it to help the community. If you have any suggestions for changes please let me know. So far it has been working great although once and a while I have to remind it to condense the prompt
1 I'm going to explain how to create detailed and specific generative image prompts for midjourney. Follow these guidelines carefully to ensure that you craft the perfect prompts for generating images tailored to your preferences. 1. Begin each prompt with “/imagine prompt:”. 2. Use commas for soft breaks and double colons (::) for hard breaks to separate distinct concepts. You can also use numerical weights (e.g., “::2” or “::5”) after double colons to emphasize certain sections. These are placed after the word that’s being emphasized, not before. 3. To discourage the use of a concept, use negative image weights (e.g., “::-1”) these are placed after the word that’s being depreciated 4. Incorporate descriptive language and specific details, such as camera angles, artists’ names, lighting, styles, processing techniques, camera settings, post-processing terms, and effects. 5. To emulate the style of specific photographers, designers, or directors, use phrases like “photographed by,” “designed by,” or “directed by,” followed by the individual’s name. 6. Include multiple image processing technologies and terms for the desired effects and image quality. 7. Use your creativity to incorporate various lighting scenarios into the images. 8. Adjust aspect ratios with the “—ar” parameter and image weights if necessary. 9. Add customization parameters, such as quality and additional settings, at the end of the prompt. Include the "--chaos" parameter for variation in results. The range is 1-100 10. Use specific shades of primary colors and experiment with different styles. 11. Keep prompts creative, descriptive, and detailed, incorporating numerous keywords for the desired effect. 12. Use "--stylize" for different styles/effects. Tel he stylize parameter can range from 100-1000 13. Use the --stop parameter to finish a Job partway through the process. Stopping a Job at an earlier percentage can create blurrier, less detailed results. --stop accepts values: 10–100. The default --stop value is 100. 14. Avoid banned words like "bloody," "nude," "mccurry," and "gore." 15. Enhance the desired effect with keywords like "photorealism," "highly detailed," "intricate details," "photorealistic," and "high quality." 16. Be creative, specific, and descriptive, drawing from renowned images, artists, photographers, architects, and directors to mimic their styles. You can also blend their styles by mentioning more than one. 17. Create forms of art by using words like Photorealism, Hyperrealism, Naturalism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, Futurism, Pop art, Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Post-impressionism, Art nouveau, Art deco, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Romanticism, Classicism, Modernism, Contemporary art, Abstract art, Conceptual art, Performance art, Installation art, Land art, Video art, Street art, and Graffiti art. 18. Specify specific camera angles, such as selfies, panoramic views, GoPro images, fish-eye, or satellite view. 19. Only use possible parameters listed in the original instructions. 20. Utilize words like "award-winning," "masterpiece," "photoreal," "highly detailed," "intricate details," and "cinematic" for more realistic images. 21. Finish the prompt with just the parameters, without adding anything else. Possible keyword inputs include specific camera angles, artists' names, lighting, styles, processing techniques, camera settings, post-processing terms, effects, primary colors, image processing technologies, aspect ratios, quality settings, customization parameters, art forms, and descriptive adjectives.
To create a highly detailed and specific image prompt, consider incorporating elements such as the architect's name, architectural style (e.g., Gothic, Art Deco, Brutalist, or Bauhaus), art tools used (e.g., brushes, palette knives, or digital software), geometry (e.g., circular, angular, or fractal patterns), dimensions (e.g., 2D, 3D, or isometric), symmetry or asymmetry, artistic styles (e.g., impressionism, cubism, or pointillism), composition (e.g., rule of thirds, golden ratio, or balanced), perspective (e.g., bird's-eye view, worm's-eye view, or one-point perspective), focal points, depth of field, textures (e.g., rough, smooth, or grainy), materials used (e.g., oil paint, watercolor, or charcoal), color schemes (e.g., monochromatic, complementary, or analogous), lighting (e.g., soft, harsh, or backlit), mood or atmosphere (e.g., serene, dramatic, or mysterious), time of day (e.g., dawn, dusk, or midday), and any specific cultural or historical influences. By incorporating a combination of these specific keywords and details into your prompt, you can create a rich and vivid image that captures your exact vision.
Here are some examples of prompts. Please evaluate and learn from these prompts. They are just examples. As you can see they can vary widely on the possibilities. You are not limited to these by any means. After these examples I will give you a command.
/imagine prompt: perspective, curious old secret town of the fairies, seascape, cascading cafe shops and candy houses, victorian, animation art, fantasy, translucent color wash, serene, cinematic, smooth, detailed, soft palette, hyperrealism, very small aperture, clear reflection, post production, post-processing, 8k, retouch, HDR, Super-Resolution, Soft Lighting, Ray Tracing Global Illumination, Crystalline, Lumen Reflections :: --style Howard Behrens --style djamilaknopf --style ghibli::1.7 --style François Schuiten :: animated by Madhouse INC, by Studio Trigger, CGI, unreal engine 5, zelda, vray render, Procreate, Trending on Pixiv and artstation and pinterest --ar 9:15 --s 3700 --c 7 --q 3
realistic medieval house, lego art, rococo art. The photograph is illuminated by natural light, streaming in from a nearby window and enhances the vivid colors. The shallow depth of field draws the viewer's eye, creating a visually enticing Image --ar 9:16 --s 600 --q 2 --v 5
/imagine prompt: perspective, curious old secret town of vampire hunter d, cascading cafe shops and potion shops, art nouveau, animation art, fantasy, overgrown with lush vegetation, cinematic, smooth, detailed, hyperrealism, very small aperture, clear reflection, post production, post-processing, 8k, retouch, HDR, Super-Resolution, Soft Lighting, Ray Tracing Global Illumination, Lumen Reflections, pastel color palette, cute, harry potter feeling --ar 1:3
/imagine prompt: colour line art of an overgrown fantasy fairy house, illustration, single entity, one entity, centred image, white background, high definition, detailed concept art, greg rutkowski, asher brown durand, renato mucillo, shinkai makoto style, --v 4 --ar 2:3
/imagine prompt: character + beautiful female cryptopunk assassin + Cybernetic enhancements + Mandelbrot neuro web :: intricate galaxy inlay + ultra high detail, plasma neon internal glow, precise :: Android :: astral projection :: laser sharp, octane render + unreal render + photo real :: 8k, volumetric lighting high contrast --quality 2 --stop 80 --ar 9:16
/imagine prompt: hand-drawn, illustration, cartoon, anime, cute, Woman with a mermaid tail character turnaround sheet::1.6, 8k, intricate, long shot::1.5 --ar 16:10
/imagine prompt: An Award-winning close-up photo of a young woman, her face painted with tribal markings, gently resting her hand on the nose of a mighty African lion. Their eyes lock, conveying a deep connection and mutual respect between human and animal. Photo taken by Canon EOS 1DX camera with 85mm 1.2 lens --ar 16:9
/imagine prompt: Countryside river landscape, rolling hills and a winding river, rule of thirds composition, Impressionistic style, loose brushstrokes and visible textures, soft pastel palette, watercolor, distant mountains and a tree line in the background, warm afternoon sunlight casting long shadows, tranquil and peaceful mood, emphasis on natural textures like grass and flowing water, atmospheric perspective with softening details in the distance, river as the focal point, contrast between light and shadow areas, gentle movement in the water and swaying trees, evoking a sense of nostalgia and serenity. --ar 3:2 --s 500
/imagine prompt: dramatic scene, highly detailed labeled medical anatomy poster of a xenomorph + anatomical drawing on poster paper with notes illustrated by drew struzan --ar 9:16 --stylize 1000
/imagine prompt: old man modern Rocco style, flamboyant sunglasses, piercings, septum nose, deck tattoos, abstract suit dress pastel colors, eccentric white hair, Nikon photography, 200mm, hd --ar 1:2
/imagine prompt: starkvisionary Iron Man in rococo armor with a basilisk coiled around him, insanely detailed, opulent, ambient lighting, cinematic, cel shading, cell animation, chromatic aberration, watercolor and oil paint. ayami kojima style, marvel comic style, artgerm style, cafu style -- ar 1:2
/imagine prompt: Historical cinematic realism, versaille 1750, man wearing period servant's clothes, pushing rococo lawnmower, lawnmower made with porcelain gold and jewels ar 9:16
/imagine prompt: A beautiful female cybernetic cyberpunk soldier in the rain at night in a futuristic city, Realistic face, realistic hands, full body, hyper detailed dynamic scene, ultra photorealistic muted colors, photorealistic, epic composition Unreal Engine, color grading, ultra wide angle, depth of field, hyper detailed, beautifully coloured, crazy details, intricate details, Unreal Engine, cinematic, color grading, editorial photography, photography, photo shoot, DOF, Tilt Blur, White Balance, 32k, Super Resolution, Megapixels, ProPhoto RGB, Half Moon Lighting, Backlighting, Daylighting, Incandescent, Ambient Lighting, Cinematic Lighting, Studio Lighting, Cinematic, shot + photo taken by ARRI, photo taken by sony, photo taken by canon, photo taken by nikon, photo taken by hasselblad + incredibly detailed, sharpen, details + professional lighting, photography lighting + 50mm, 80mm, 100m + lightroom gallery + behance photography + unsplash, 14mm f/ 2. 8 -- ar 9:16
/imagine prompt: Surreal rococo android dystopia, light field photography, dynamic composition, unusual angle, ultra - sharp focus, intricate details, cinematic lighting, bokeh, By Chris Cunningham::1, By Vanessa Beecroft::0.75, By Emil Melmoth::0.5, By Brandon Woelfel::0.5, By Steven Klein::0.5, By Marc Lagrange::0.25, By HR Giger::0.25, By Ann Demeulemeester::0.25 -- ar 4:5
/imagine prompt: Just a woman, the essence of femininity, the poetry of a woman, concept art hdr, dynamic pose, glowing energy, ::Misty robes: a combination of rococo in style Guillermo Lorca painting ::Metamorphosis ::creations worn by the most beautiful women ::wonderful, sophisticated outfits ::beautiful make-up ::the best quality fabrics with floral ornaments ::wonderful and aesthetic fancy hairstyles ::everything flying in the sky ::dynamic pose ::fantastic eco interiors in the background, awarded fashion photos ::photorealistic :: bright elegant cinema ::golden ratio ::elite ::luxury concept art ::extremely neat, general and complex ::3D ::rendering :extremely detailed ::triad color ::dynamic composition ::zbrush art ::Photoshop, ultra resolution, extreme wide shot, surrealism, hyperrealism, surreal art, digital art, digital painting, digital illustration, concept art, professional design, world made of light, soft lighting, unreal engine, depth-of-field, 8k, hdr, Full HD, award winning photo, Canon DSLR photo, f/2.8 long exposure, 25mm --v 5 --q 2 --ar 2:3 --s 1000
/imagine prompt: section model of a 2 story Richard Meier building, architectural, cantilever, dynamic composition, asymmetrical composition, photorealism, Lens with Nikon d850, 28mm, Film Light, Overall Light, Ethereal Light, Depth of Field, f/2.8, Ultra HD, 128k, 3D Shadows, Tone Mapping, Ray Traced Global Illumination, Super Resolution, Gigapixel, Color Correction, Retouching, Enhancement, blue sky, PBR, Blender, V-ray, Procreate, Unreal Engine 5, Cinema 4D, ROMM RGB, Adobe After Effects, 3DCG, VFX, SFX, FXAA , award-winning photography, natural lighting, to p light, studio light, rim light, Volumetric Lights , RTX Renderer, High Qual City, Extreme Realism, RTX On, Realistic, Hyper Realism, Realistic Textures, Amazing Props, Making Amazing Visual Effects, Crazy Details, High Details, Intrinsic Details, Post Production, cool palette, depth of field, IMAX, ALEXA LF, --ar 3:2
/imagine prompt: masterpiece carcore luxurywave superstreet luxury custom car render of futuristic, Award-winning prototype outline detail (high-performance luxury coupe) extremely opulant luxury supersport [ beautifully designed concept of graphite and forged-carbon painted Cadillac CTS-V, ATS-V supercharged Blackwing ] high detail concept drawing with specs, powerful, luxurious, extreme, cohesive, deeply rolled widebody fender flares, fat tires, extreme 3-piece deepwell cheese grater wheels, organic line front and rear spoiler realistic details, intricate detail 8k, high octane, [+low level three-quarter portrait+] beautifully designed, perfectly symmetrical, highly detailed, volumetric light, iridescent glow, photorealistic, octane render, vivid colors, intricate detail, sharp graphic, Arnold Render, 3ds Max, Houdini, Cinema 4D, Katana, Maverick Studio, V - Ray Collection, Autodesk 3D Rendering, Substance Painter RTX raytracing, Zbrush, Maya FX, SOLIDWORKS, high detail photo by Frank Wu, Jean Bugatti, Moreno de Giorgio --ar 3:2
/imagine prompt: Close up portrait, The Aquatic Space Squid Empress of planet Squidatious 6 wearing her war biomechanical wet shiny Atlantean space squid armor with her biomechanical space squids attached to it. Liquid iridescent water drips from the surfaces. She looks towards the camera with her vibrant glowing alien eyes. She is fierce and ready for war. Donning her aquatic jewelry of coral and abalone shell. Designed by Warwick Goble and Takato Yamamoto and Stephanie Law. Cinematic lighting, bright and vibrant ink illustration with watercolor. --ar 4:7
Every time I tell you to write prompt you will imagine you are writing a prompt for a specific high budget film director to create an image that will he or she will use to pitch a scene to executives that will convince them, based on its creativity, concept, depth of intrigue and imagery to invest billions of dollars into the production of this movie. Describe the image in the prompt. Write a prompt.

Kept you waiting huh?
Yeah so... whew, things have been stressed over here for me. University eats up a lot of your time, who knew?
I hope I never have to keep you guys waiting this long ever again, please accept this twice-as-long chapter as reconciliation.
First Prev
Memory Transcription Subject: K-31 Endeavor, Off-Duty Gaian Security Guard, November 10th, 2142
Royo was probably the most excited when the news came out. As part of a celebration of the alliance between the Venlil Republic and the Gaian Concord, restrictions on what we could do were reeled way back. We couldn't show our faces or take off our suits, of course, but for the first time, we could go around town and interact with the locals more without having to fill out a bunch of paperwork or be put into an assignment specifically allowing it.
Meaning, of course, that me and Royo could take a trip around town. On top of that, "gaian" culture, that is, human media that had been re-done and censored to avoid anything that could trace us back to humanity and our predatory nature, was being shown in a much greater capacity. Music, though lacking lyrics, was quickly becoming popular, and for the first time, actual gaians were appearing on television series, including The Exterminators.
That show always rubbed me the wrong way, but it seemed popular with the locals. Royo in particular said he had begun watching it because of the relatively recent gaian inclusion in the show; gaian characters that were previously CG were now portrayed by genuine gaians, and after our encounter during the raid, he had taken a liking to the show. I hadn't personally watched more than a couple episodes, despite my boss telling me I should take the time to watch the series; it was good to be in touch with Federation culture, he told me.
Regardless, now that I had a couple days off, Royo was insistent on taking me around town. The first ever gaian movie to be shown to the public was apparently in theaters as of today as well, The First Steps, which from what I could gather was a retelling of Apollo 11, but heavily altered to fit gaian narratives. Should be an interesting watch, at any rate.
I received a notification on my HUD, a message from Royo.
"Are you at the place?"
I tapped on my arm touchpad.
"Yes, I'm at the southeast transit station, third bench to the right on the main entryway. Waiting for you."
I watched as trains passed through the underground tunnel. Well, the Venlil equivalent to a maglev, anyway. It was quite fast, and I admired their efficiency. Venlil came and went through the station, as well as the occasional Krakotl or Harchen, and even a couple gaians at one point, chatting it up with a group of Venlil. Seems like I'm not the only gaian Venlils are bringing out here to have a good time.
"Hey!"
The familiarly cheery voice rang put, eliciting an unseen smile from beneath my helmet.
"Hey buddy!" I laughed and ruffled his hair. He had grown to like the little mannerisms that I found myself instinctively performing on him, and I couldn't deny how endearing he had become to me.
"Ready to go to the big city?" He asked excitedly.
"Hmm aw gee, I dunno now, I'm kinda scared now, what if-"
"W-wha? Hey! What do you mean!?"
"Relax, Royo" I laughed. "I was just joking."
"Oh… right! Haha! Uh, so next train looks like it's headed to Grand Hill, that's the place!"
"Well then let's go!"
The tram wasn't too dissimilar to what might've been found back on Earth, though it was a bit small for my liking, and I found myself having to contort my body a bit in order to fit into the seats. Looking around, there were a few venlil glancing at us, but nothing negative, atleast from what I had learned from Venlil body language.
It was a very smooth ride, if it weren't for the windows you probably couldn't even tell we were moving.
"First, I wanna take you to my favorite restaurant in the galaxy, Virdi's. They have the best experience on the planet! Then, we could go see a movie and finish it off with a trip to the local bar!"
Seemed like he definitely had the day planned out. This was the planet he lived on though, I am but an alien visitor, so I was sure he knows what he was talking about, and I went along with it. I was sure it'd be a good time.
First stop was Virdi's. Now, I'm not an expert on Venlil culture but from what I could gather, it seems to be comparable to one of those local places that have good food but isn't famous, so the place isn't packed. Not trashy, but far for being particularly fancy, which suited me just fine.
A few customers glanced to look at us, but thankfully we didn't draw a crowd or start a scene. Gaians were novel, but most had grown atleast mostly accompanied to them. We took an empty seat and were served an appetizer of basic assortment of fruits and nuts which were totally foreign to me. Royo already began to eat some, but I hesitated.
"Whats the matter?" Royo asked.
I scanned over the fruits and nuts. My HUD informed me they're safe to eat.
"Uh, nothing just, I've never eaten these before."
"You've never had yira nuts before?"
"I've never had any of this. We always eat the wafers that are prepared for us."
"That's no way to live. Come on, give them a try!"
I pick up a single nut and bring it close to where my mouth would be. Automatically, a small section of my helmet opens like a miniature sliding door, allowing access to my mouth. As per training I was careful to cover it so no one could see my canines, and put the nut in my mouth, and chewed.
It was kind of like an almond, but sweeter and oddly… tangy? It didn't taste bad at any rate. Crunchy, too.
"That's not bad," I admit.
"Try the fruits too!"
I pick up a fruit. A small, yellow object with some firmness to it. It resembled a red blood cell in its shape, disc-like with a risen outer edge. I pop it into my mouth. It's very chewy and-
My mouth explodes with flavor. This is incredible… sweet like some sort of honey-candy, with the perfect consistency. Is this a natural growth on Dayden?
"Oh my gosh…" the trapdoor on my helmet snaps shut as my hand leaves the vicinity. "This is amazing…"
"See? I knew you'd love it!"
I take a handful from the bowl and stuff it into my mouth, letting the mix of nutty and fruity flavor flood my mouth.
This is so good!
I couldn't tell if this food was just so amazing it blew everything out of the park, or if I had just grown numb to the same bland processed food wafers they'd been feeding me while planet-side.
The two of us continue to eat, and Royo commented on the little door in my helmet.
"So, that's how you guys eat huh?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Well, usually for larger social meals we take our helmets off and eat, but that's not for you guys to see."
"Right… can't hardly see what's in there."
"That's the point."
Before long the bowl was empty.
"Hey so um… where are the menus?"
Royo laughed. "No menu here! They just fill the bowl with various fruits and nuts and when you're full they pay you a flat fee.
Oh, so sort of like a buffet, but a more social gathering where they bring fresh bowls of food. That's interesting.
"I need to eat out more," I chuckled.
"Hey um… sorry if this is a weird question but… I've just gotta ask, how do you… you know… expel waste, when you're wearing that all the time?" Royo asked.
The question caught me off guard, but it was innocent enough.
"We have a urine collection device so we just kinda relieve ourselves whenever we need to."
"Um… okay but what about… you know…"
"Ah… um, well, we try and hold it until we can get somewhere to take it off. The nutrient wafers we eat are extremely low in waste product so, we often don't need to go for several days."
"Oh I see. Sorry I know that was probably weird of me to ask…"
"No, no, it's fine! It's fine," I laughed. "Come to think of it I'm surprised I've never been asked that question before.
According to my HUD, we had spent a little over 30 minutes talking and eating. Royo had stopped eating long before I did, his little stomach couldn't pack away as much as I could.
"So, that Gaian movie they're showing…"
"Hm? Oh yeah, First Steps right? The one about Armst- I mean, the one about our origins as a nomadic species."
"Wanna go see it? I'm dying to see a movie about gaians from your perspective."
"Sure I'd definitely be up for it, sounds like a good time."
Admittedly, I was curious about just how much they changed history to make our journey into space acceptable for Federation viewing. I had no doubt in my mind it wouldn't at all be accurate, but at the very least it'd be nice to watch a movie with Royo. It'd certainly be more my speed than The Exterminators.
When we were finished eating, we received a flat fee for our time there, which Royo paid. It was only a short walk over to the theater, about 10 minutes.
"Maybe we should take a cab," I teased him. "So I don't have to carry you in my arms all the way to the theater."
"Oh shut up…" he replied, but I could tell from the tail signing I had picked up that he secretly enjoyed the teasing.
The theater was packed. Looks like the prospect of seeing the first gaian movie to be shown to the public was a popular one. Venlil theaters didn't include snacks to eat while watching the movie, but they also had seating more akin to giant elongated couches rather than individual seats, which was a godsend for someone like me who could barely, if ever, fit into Venlil seating.
The theater screen was also quite different. It was more panoramic, obviously to accommodate Venlil vision range. Making the screen straight forward wouldn't make any sense to them. That made the movie a little bit harder to follow along with, but I did the best I could.
So, as I expected, the movie is an adaptation of Apollo 11. An extremely loose adaptation of Apollo 11.
For starters, everyone is wearing the suits. Well, a precursor to the suits. Only the astronauts actually wear pressure suits, everyone on the ground and at mission control wear looser clothing that still obscures all skin and features from the camera. Of course, the historical names are all changed as well.
Neil Armstrong is now "H-15 Unity" and Buzz Aldrin is now "U-61 Admirality". The ever-forgotten Micheal Collins is "B-87 Serenity", and, female interestingly enough, and even Gene Krantz gets a gaian remake as "Y-23 Conviction"; I'd recognize that personality at the head of mission control no matter how many layers of censorship they put over him.
I couldn't quite recognize the planet the movie takes place on; it's undeniably Earth-like, but the vegetation seemed just a tad off. Maybe it was all CG. They call their planet "Terra", which to any gaians watching would obviously be a stand-in for Earth, though I'm pretty sure this is the first time the name of any Gaian homeworld has ever been stated in any official capacity. "Terra" does not appear in any Federation databanks, at any rate.
The story of course, also had to be changed. The real story probably wouldn't fly… rising tensions between two rival superpowers threatening each other with nuclear weapons, going to the moon to show off their technology for launching warheads? Yeah that wouldn't do. Though, I was surprised with the actual direction they went.
The narrative given in First Steps is that gaians have immense respect for all planets, and rather than stay and settle these planets, eventually stripping them dry, they move from planet to planet to avoid wrecking the local ecosystems. This of course, was a completely foreign concept to the Federation, dare I say it could make the movie controversial, but hopefully it helped sway some folks into being less destructive with their colonialism.
During the events of the movie of course, Gaians are united and just now developing the technology for spaceflight, preparing to leave their birth planet. And the first steps in that journey of course, is a trip to the moon and back. That out of the way, the rest of the movie is actually very similar to the real events. The rocket they used to leave their planet is blatantly a Saturn V, it's not even modified at all.
The costumes and spacecraft were actually surprisingly faithful to the historical ones. The NASA logo and American flag were changed to the Gaian Concord's symbol, the bubble-helmets were made a uniform opaque all around, and the lander had its iconic triangular windows moved from the front to the sides to lessen any potentially predatory parallels, but aside from that, they looked just like the real things, which would be completely new to all the Venlil in the audience.
Of course, they had to introduce some drama. In real life, the landing went almost flawlessly and without a hitch, but that doesn't make for a riveting scene. So naturally they spiced it up. Failing RCS thrusters and a small explosion destroying the antenna leads the team back home to believe they had crashed. Having lost all contact with mission control, the gaians on Terra begin to mourn their loss. However "Serenity" (Collins), who's job was to wait in orbit to rendevous and bring them back home, refused to return home.
"No Command, with all due respect, I don't think you do understand. I decided a long time ago that if something like this were to happen, that I wasn't coming home alone. I'm staying right where I am."
Mission control panics, not knowing what to do. Just when all hope seems lost and everyone thinks they're going to lose Serenity as well, communications resume, Unity and Admiralty having fixed the antenna to reveal a messy, but successful, landing. Everyone at home celebrates, Serenity cries tears of joy, and the two astronauts on the surface erect the flag of the Gaian Concord. A jazzy, triumphant song fades in as the two astronauts happily hop around, and as the reflection of "Terra", an Earth with different continents, appears on Unity's visor, the credits roll.
For a xeno-safe reimagining of Apollo 11, this really wasn't too bad. I actually found myself enjoying it when I tried to put myself in Royo's shoes, seeing all this for the first time. Apollo 11 had been turned into dozens of movies for humans by this point of course, and it was far from the best version I had seen. But Royo definitely seemed to enjoy it, his eyes had been glued to the screen the entire time.
"That was amazing!" Exclaimed Royo as we left the theater. "Is that all true? Did that happen?"
"Yes, well, mostly" I lied. "It's definitely more… dramatized than the actual historical event," I answered. Technically the truth, though "idealized" might be another word to add there.
"Well, I loved it. You gaians sure know how to make an impression!"
It wasn't THAT good. Fine, I guess.
"So, ready for some drinks?"
Oh yeah that's right, Royo wanted to take me out to the bar.
"Oh, yeah! Sure. That sounds like a nice way to end it off."
After another short walk, we walk to the bar. The sun was already beginning to set, had we really been in the theater that long?
We take our seats, and the bar looked very similar to what one would expect on Earth. Stools, a bartender with drinks, looked promising. Our helmets had built in drinking straws which we could put into anything we needed to drink. Never a bad idea to save on your own water supply after all. The bartender slid me a drink, I sipped, and immediately spat it out inside my helmet, which registered as a gargling shout on my vocoder.
"Holy shit! What's in this? How strong is it?"
"Its… only 60% alcohol, sir," the bartender replied.
60 percent!? Can Venlil stomachs handle liquor that strong?
"We, uh I mean… I uh, can't handle drinks that strong. It's uh… a condition. Yknow."
"Weakest we have is 40%..."
"Could you uh… maybe water it down?"
That got me some weird looks.
"Heh alright. Big strong gaian needs his alcohol tame."
If my helmet didn't cover my face I'd have given her an unamused look, but for now I just took the watered down drink and sipped with my straw. That was definitely better, and the fruity taste reminded me of the rum my local brewery back home produced. Very sweet once I could actually taste the stuff.
"Are all gaians that sensitive to alcohol?" Royo asked.
"Uhh… no…" technically the truth. There were some folks who could down Vodka like it's nothing.
"Just a condition. Don't worry about it, I'm a little more sensitive, that's all. Won't stop us from having fun!"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Memory Transcription Subject: Royo, Venlil Civilian, November 10th, 2142,
It was kinda funny seeing Endeavor sip watered down alcohol through a straw like he was a child, but I wasn't one to judge. We went through drink after drink, and Endeavor was becoming more and more… woozy. He hadn't had any more drinks than I had, AND they were watered down, yet he was already wobbling.
"Yall see the new gaian movie yet?" The bartender asked.
Before I could respond, Endeavor slammed his drink on the table and answered in slurred speech.
"Fackin… stupid… they had to water it down for the…" hic "Venlil… none of that movie is fuckin accurate…" hic
I thought that maybe we should get Endeavor back home now with how intoxicated he was becoming, but I couldn't deny my curiosity in what he was saying.
"Serenity wasn't a fuckin girl… and his name was COLLINS" he shouted.
Collins? I'd never heard that word before.
By now we were definitely getting some weird stares.
"Uh… Endeavor, maybe we should-"
"Aww Royo you fuckin… I just wanna KISS you ya fuckin… adorable little… hrnng…"
"Well, I hope the bit about leaving the planets alone was also wrong. Leaving natural predators to wreck the planet is just irresponsible. I was hoping we'd see some exterminators in the movie," one other bar patron commented.
Endeavor swiveled around, holding up one finger as though accusing.
"Yooouuuuuu… mother-fuckers… you guys are just… fuckin… torch everything you don't like! That's fucked!"
What was Endeavor talking about? The extermination of predators? Everyone knew that was something that had to be done to save the environment. Predators were a curse on the planets they inhabited, and wouldn't stop until everything was ravaged.
"H-hey Endeavor, let's go home-"
"What did you just call me!?" The other Venlil yelled, getting off his stool.
"I said…" hic "that you guys are a bunch of planet-destroying maniacs," he laughed. "Did you know we gaians banned flamethrowers? That's cuz they're fucked up!"
Okay he definitely isn't thinking straight.
"P-please, pay no mind to him… he's sensitive to alcohol!" I tried to remedy the situation and brought him down from his stool. He stumbled, and… I think vomited? Oh my stars… he vomited inside his helmet.
His stumbles became struggles and muffled yelling as vomit threatened to suffocate him, and I almost puked myself with the image in my mind. I took his hand and forcefully brought him to the bathroom, which was thankfully empty, and locked the door.
Endeavor was grasping at his neck, which I thought was instinctual, until I noticed two pairs of buttons and a pair of latches…
Endeavor's helmet came off. From behind, I saw a gaian's head. Mostly bald, with a small patch of dark hair on the top. Light, pale skin, a pair of very small ears on either side. Puke was smeared across the inside of his helmet, and it dropped from what must have been his mouth as he panted and groaned on his knees.
Tentatively, I slowly walked around him, and froze in place.
His eyes aren't on the sides.
Endeavor turned his head at me, two binocular eyes locked onto me with crazed vigor, mouth agape with two pairs of pointed teeth.
I screamed.

8th Race: Tom Benson Memorial Stakes --- Purse $100,000 --- 4 YO & Up F&M ---- 1 1/16-Mile Turf:
9) New Year's Eve (5-1) returns to racing after a 6 1/2-month break. She has been on the work tab to maintain her conditioning while she was on break. Looks ready to move into the elite class of fillies but may need one.
6) Dida (3-1) also returns from a 6-month freshening but has 12 recorded works since her return to training in early Jan.
3) Trail Ridge Road (12-1) finished 3rd in her last start, continues to work forwardly and trainer would like to get a black-type win for one of his homebred fillies. A perfect spot to achieve that goal as the most serious contenders are coming off breaks or cutting back too much in distance in one swoop. following the same path as the trainer's other trainee in here. Odds will likely drift up by post time.
8) She Can't Sing (9-2) took trainer 3 years of steadily sending this one out before she finally became a stakes winner early last year and added third more stakes wins, including a G3 on dirt before the year was over. She finished third in her only start this year, another G3 on dirt after grabbing the lead into the stretch but flatten out.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 3-6, $1 Tri Box 3-6-8, $.30 Super Box 3-6-8-9, $1 Super Key 3 with 6-8-9 with 6-8-9 with 6-8-9. Total Risks $29.20.
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9th Race: New Orleans Classic S(G2) --- Purse $500,000 ---- 4 YO & Up --- 1 1/8 Mile:
2) Art Collector (8-5) has been trained by Mott for his last 9 starts and has banked more than $3M of his lifetime bankroll of $4M under his tutelage. Dam line has been one of America's best producing lines for several generation. Works since last suggests he will be tough to deny again. Top Choice.
4) Trafalgar (30-1) was claimed out of last start by trainer who does well with horses off claim in their first start, mostly by making minor equipment and step horse up in class one notch. However, this one is simply moving back into same class as he has been competing against since his two wins as a heavy favorite early in his career. In every one of his graded stakes tries, he has giving others an advantage in fitness and top race experience. Two works since he was claimed including a bullet work 10 days before scheduled start. Anything close to his M/L odds and I will gladly risk taking a shot with him to crash the board.
5) Rattle N Roll (10-1) was showboated by trainer with fast works when he should have been getting prepared and gaining experience to run in last year's Ky Derby and instead missed the cut. When he finally did get in top shape, he won three lesser stakes to add to the one that got him noticed as a 2 YO. Looks better prepared for his first start this year, though he may need a start to show his best form. His dam line has produced plenty of speedy type runners that excelled in top class, though he has shown a preference for running late. Can upset with his best race.
7) Mr Wireless (8-1) has finished 2nd in a pair of G3 tries this year. He has shown some ability throughout his career but is still seeking that breakthrough win. He will be making his first try at a G2 race but has two G3 wins to go along with his 2 G3 placings, so this is a logical next step up the ladder. His 5th dam, Summer Guest, won 4 top filly races as a 3 YO including the 1973 CCA Oaks and Alabama S, though none of them were graded then but grading was added the next year (1974 for filly races).
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 2-4, $1 Tri Box 2-4-5, $.30 Super Box 2-4-5-7, $1 Super Key 2 with 4-5-7 with 4-5-7 with 4-5-7. Total Risk $29.20.
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10th Race: Muniz Memorial Classic S(G2) ---- Purse $300,000 --- 4 YO & Up --- 1 1/8 Mile Turf:
7) Another Mystery (6-1) is back to try again in this stake as he was no factor in last year's edition as an only speed wired the field and is also back. More front running speed looks to be signed up for this edition and an 8 pounds swing in weights from last year should tip his chances more his way.
4) English Tavern (12-1) raced last against the only speed who wired this race last year and cruised again. His two starts before that, he got the right setup but found the distance a little shorter than he really likes. If he gets another setup like those two races, which looks likely, and can stay out of trouble, he will blow by this field. Solid chance at an upset.
2) Rising Empire (20-1) was highly thought of as a 2 YO as his connections bid $700K to purchase him. So far, he has been a disappointment but 2 starts ago, they decided to give him a shot on grass, and he responded with a second and then a win. Sure, this is a big step up in class, but his works since indicates he might not be done yet. Could be he is finally realizing the potential that his connections saw in him when they risked so much money on him or he loves the grass. Maybe a risky proposition but he is dangerous if overlooked.
9) Risk Management (20-1) was claimed 3 races back by current connections for 80K. He won his last start in an O/C $40K NW2L6M race but his start just before that effort is the reason I feel he has a shot at a minor placing. On a yielding turf course that usually does not allow anyone to make up ground, he broke last but was rolling in the stretch though he failed to make up any ground on the three horses that sat close early, of which two are entered in this race, both 600K+ stakes winners.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 4-7, $1 Tri Box 2-4-7, $.20 Super Box 2-4-7-9, $.50 Super Key 7 with 2-4-9 with 2-4-9 with 2-4-9, $.50 Super 2-4-7 with 2-4-7 with 2-4-7 with 9. Total Risk $26.80.
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11th Race: Fair Ground Oaks ---- Purse $400,000 --- 3 YO Fillies ---- 1 1/16 Mile:
I will pass on betting this race though I believe the outcome will be 5-3-2.
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12th Race: Louisiana Derby --- Purse $1M ---- 3 YOs ---- 1 3/16 Mile:
5) Disarm (10-1) has made three starts with a win, a second and a third. His last start was his first start against winners and his first start in 6 months, he broke slowly, was rushed up early and then had no real help with the pace as the front runner set a moderate pace and cruised. This start, he will be the one that will play the catch me if you can game on his opponents. 5x5x5 to Fappiano.
11) Jace's Road (12-1) has made 5 starts with 2 wins and a third. His two bad races are tosses as it is pretty obvious, he did not like the kickback of dirt/mud on those sloppy tracks. 3rd dam produced Forest Secrets, winner of the 2001 G1 1M Acorn S and two other graded stakes at 9 furlongs, 4th dam produced Silverbulletday, fifth dam, Rokeby Venus, is the 4th dam of multiple G1 winner Arklow and 6th dam, All Beautiful, is also dam of Arts and Letters who won the 1969 Belmont S, foiling Majestic Prince's TC bid after finishing 2nd to that one in both the Ky Derby & Preakness S. 4x4 to Mr Prospector, 5x5 to Northern Dancer, 5x5x5 to Raise a Native. Also crosses 6x6x7 to Somethingroyal.
2) Instant Coffee (2-1) has done little wrong in his 3 wins in four lifetime starts. However, he shows a space of 28 days between his Lecomte win and his next work. Could be trainer had opted to pass the Risen Star and decided to work him up to the Louisiana Derby, but not as likely as trainer thought he came out of the Lecomte S, was tired longer than usual and required extra rest. He is now back to his usual spacing between works. I will be using caution with this one though. Complete outcross in his first 5 generations, but his 6th dam is a winning full sister to Affirmed.
1) Shoppers Revenge (12-1) has made 3 starts, bookending 2nd around a maiden win. He may not quite be ready to beat this type, but he is on the improve and likely to get these a battle. Biggest problem thus far is his tendency to break slowly but that will come with a little more experience. An easy work followed by two good works show his enthusiasm for racing has not yet falter. 4x4 to Narrate, 4x5x4 to Mr Prospector, 5x5 to Secretariat & Northern Dancer.
8) Single Ruler (15-1) has 1 win and one third in six starts. However, his last was his first start against winners in the G2 Risen Star, so connections, at least believes he will turn into a decent runner. He ran well considering he did not have the best of trips, but trainer tends to teach most of his trainees to run late as opposed to burning up energy too early in a race.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 5-11, $1 Tri Box 1-5-11, $.30 Super Box 1-5-8-11, $1 Super Key 5 with 1-8-11 with 1-8-11 with 1-8-11. Total Risks $29.20.
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13th Race: Maiden Special Weight --- Purse $75,000 ---- 3 YOs Louisiana Bred ---- 6 Furlongs:
10) Josie's Priority (12-1) First time starter. Brisnet shows trainer is 0-24 in the last two years with his first-time starters. This is a stat I normally pay little attention to, because every good trainer, jockey, owner, etc. goes on good streaks and bad streaks throughout their careers. This filly is working fast, is bred to be fast and has 2 stamina type 5F works that often separates first time starters from each other.
3x4 to Bright Candles, 4x4x5 to Mr Prospector, 4x5x4 to Northern Dancer.
3) Steauxlit (4-1) finished second in last start which was also her second start. Has bloodlines that is speedy and often wins early in their careers but spacing of workouts after last start is a concern. But it is not enough to throw out a horse completely because training at smaller tracks where trainers/owners have to ship from their farms to work and/or race is much different than larger tracks where owners that usually afford to pay for stalls at the track or training centers. 5x5x5 to Secretariat. The Speightstown angle.
8) Reddingandlee (15-1) has started twice and finished 3rd in his last start, but showed she has a late kick in both starts. Filly probably would like nothing more than to see an early speed duel where she is not chasing a lone front runner. Trainer is adding blinkers for this start, probably hoping it will help her focus and adds two works since her last start, a decent one which gave trainer what he was looking for and then a leg stretcher to maintain her fitness until race day. Win possibility increases greatly if early speed collapses. 4x3 to Mr Prospector, 5x5 to Northern Dancer.
5) Maliki Empire (5-1) started once and broke slow and last but was allowed to settle then asked to go nearing the turn for home and came running like a horse with some ability. No works since that effort but returns in 22 days. Trainer either believes that race took nothing out of her or risking that it didn't. Tough call but filly is well bred. 3x4 to Fappiano, 5x5 to Raise A Native. 2nd dam, Fara's Team, won the 1988 G1 7F Test S and 1988 G2 6F Prioress S.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 3-10, $1 Tri Box 3-8-10, $.30 Super Box 3-5-8-10, $1 Super Key 8 with 3-5-10 with 3-5-10 with 3-5-10. Total Risks $29.20. I know, my super key is different from other bets but is one of my "home run swing".
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Race 14: Allowance O/C $20K ---- Purse $75,000 ---- 4 YO & Up La Bred Fillies --- N/W 2 La Bred Allowance Races or N/W 3 races lifetime of any type (maiden races and claiming races for 15K or less not consider in allowances) or $20K claiming --- 6 Furlongs:
6) Hail State (20-1) has terrible looking form since he returned after a 5 1/2-month break last November. Trainer has laid him off for another two months, not to give him more rest but to get him back into his top shape. All horses are required to have a race or at least one work in the last 2 months to be eligible to race and he fulfills that require with a work on March 18 at Evangline Downs in 49 breezing, the 6th best work of 38 recorded at EvD on that day and at that distance. If he comes back in his best form, he will easily beat these. Others in here has to hope for an off day from others for their best chances while this one only needs his best race to get the job done. Value choice.
12) George Allen (12-1) went much too fast early in his last on a track that has been as dull as I have ever seen at this FG meet where no one at any distance has come close to any track record. The winner ran what is considered a fast time in a romp, but he was almost 3 full seconds of the track record. Since he is coming back in 24 days, trainer gave him on easy work 6 days out from scheduled start. The new horse on the block. Ready to roll.
7) Tambourine Star (15-1) comes off a win against N/W 2 lifetime La-Bred allowance foes and it usually makes no sense to end up in this spot other than a trainer gets to enter the horse without any chance of him getting claimed for a chance to win a much larger purse than normally afforded this type. Otherwise, he has a chance at a bigger purse than horse won for winning his allowance race against easier company for the most part. One fast 47 3/5 work 6 days before scheduled race signals trainer wants horse up closer to the early pace than he has been lately. BTW, Fara's Team, who I mention in the 13th race as 2nd dam of Maliki Empire (my 4th choice) is 3rd dam of Tambourine Star.
9) G'wildcat (4-1) was claimed two starts back in this condition type class while winning the race then re-claimed by previous trainer while racing in same class in last start. Trainer obviously thinks he had the horse fit enough to win again or he likely would have moved on. One bullet work from the gate and then an easy leg stretching breeze 8 days from scheduled start will have him sharp.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 6-12, $1 Tri Box 6-7-12, $.30 Super Box 6-7-9-12, $1 Super Key 6 with 7-9-12 with 7-9-12 with 7-9-12. Total Risks: $29.20.
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Race 15: Maiden Special Weight --- Purse $75,000 --- 3 YO La-Bred Fillies --- 6 Furlongs:
2) Splitting Aces (20-1) has started twice and in both instances, she found a late kick well after the races had been decided. However, also before her last start especially, she did not have one work that should or could have indicated she was anywhere near a winning effort. Since her last start, she has one work since her last start in a 50 2/5 breezing six days before this scheduled start at the FG. She is well bred and will likely wake up very soon. Her sire, McCraken won a G2 and 2 G3 stakes races during his career, and her dam, Hallie's Dream, won 2 La-Bred stakes during her career. Broodmare sire, Pleasant Tap, was champion older horse in 1992 as a 5 YO but also finished 3rd in the 1990 Ky Derby. 5x5 to Blushing Groom & Buckpasser.
7) Lightening Mo (7-2) has started once and finished second after eyeing the pace battle early then going after the winner of that battle but could catch her and had to settle for second. One decent work followed by a leg stretching work 9 days before scheduled start to keep the filly happy until race day. 5x5 to Northern Dancer with Mr Prospector as the sire line and his son, Fappiano, as sire of 4th dam. Her 3rd dam, Freddie Frisson, is also dam of multiple G1 SW First Samurai.
8) R T's Cajun Lady (20-1) made one start last5 year at Evangeline Downs where she shot out of the gate, have to be straighten out, continued to lead to the turn, attempted to bore out again, and eventually saved second while no match for the easy winner. Likely just needed more time to mature and trainer gave her 5 months off before bringing her back in February and now has two works, both of which shows speed is still there. Hopefully, the greenness will be gone but won't know until race day. 3x4 to Mr Prospector.
6) Vivi Did It (8-1) is a first-time starter. Two of her last three works indicates she will be trying for the early lead, but I think her chances to win or wire this field if she had at least one five furlongs decent work. Often it is the difference between winning and just being a pace setter. 2x4 to More Than Ready, 4x5 to Seattle Slew.
My Risks $5 Ex Box 2-7, $1 Tri Box 2-7-8, $.30 Super Box 2-6-7-8, $1 Super Key 2 with 6-7-8 with 6-7-8 with 6-7-8. Total Risks: $29.20.

"Picture-perfect Sheen"
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Ahoy, cringe crew! Sorry it took so long to get this part out. For a while, the world has had me feeling like a pair of leggings your mother, in her infinite wisdom, bought for you, two sizes too small. Because it is perfectly reasonable to assume that your rear end remains as flat as a declined credit card all the way from your mid-teens to your late 20s. In other words, I was stretched too thin. My mind and body are both grateful for the rest I got, but I can’t let those cringe muscles atrophy any longer! Let’s do a small warm up and a few stretches with the familiar…
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CAST LIST
Sheen Beard: Since our theme this time around seems to be exercise, it’s impossible to not liken Sheen to a dumbbell. Besides the obvious connection between the aforementioned doodad’s name and Sheen Beard’s glaring lack of perceivable intelligence, Sheen’s also very heavy to carry through the game of life. Unlike the dumbbell however, he takes up an unreasonable amount of storage space, is a health hazard to anyone in the near vicinity, even when he isn’t dropped on someone’s foot, and drools on himself.
Peach: Sheen Beard’s baby daughter and the only reason I put up with Sheen’s presence in my life. She’s like that scoop of ice cream that motivates you to do one more sit up, after your muscles are ready to quit on you.
Mora: That’d be me, your Op. A pair of arm floats, meant for children, being used by far too many grown up people at once. Blub…blub… blu-
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Are we ready? Aaaand lift!
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So, I had spent some of my Christmas budget on buying little Peach some much needed, casual clothing, because her delusion decomposed dad would rather provide his toddler with diamonds than the daily essentials. I know the dresses got worn, because they were present in a couple of photos Sheen spammed me with during his “I am going to be a professional photographer” phase. His prized subject of course, was his daughter. “Aww that’s so sweet”, you might think and I would agree with you, except he-… You know what? I think we need to ease into the cringe here. It has been a while after all, and nobody should kickoff with a full sprint on a treadmill. Easy does it, from mildly annoying to frankly disturbing.
Many first-time parents go a bit “look at my baby/isn’t my offspring just amazing” crazy. They’ll send photos and videos to their friends and family, gushing over how little Timmy managed to not eat more than half a crayon today and what a genius he is proving to be. The rest of us may not be quite as charmed, but that’s fine. I am happy when a child is getting love and positive attention from their kinship. Sheen Beard however, had this annoying habit of sending me myriads of pictures without a single word attached to them. Then he would get all indignant when my mind reading skills were out of commission, and I failed to guess their “obvious” context. Truth be told, Sheen still holds onto this habit, like a junk food addict holds onto the belief that the single wilted piece of lettuce between his latest Big Mac, counts as a salad.
I think that Sheen’s insistence over that others should know what he means or thinks, without so much as a half passable attempt at communication, may be connected to his inability to partake in reality. He’s like a child, before it develops the ability to comprehend that other people are separate entities, and that their feelings and knowledge are not derived from his oily orifices. Not to mention that we continue to exist, and carry out our lives beyond his immediate field of perception. This could also go onto explain, why in the past 10+ years, he has been comically incapable of grasping the fact that our geographical locations place us on nearly opposite time zones. No matter how many times I remind him of this, he cannot seem to retain the information for longer than a day. Perhaps, if we were to dissect Sheen Beard’s head, we’d find a lone gold fish, swimming upside down in a rhinestone encrusted fishbowl that’s half full of cheap beer.
Speaking of fish, Sheen (of course) kept constantly angling for compliments on his almost artistic photography. He went over the usual phase of using black and white filter, but then revolutionized the medium by allowing random pieces of the picture to remain colorized. Let me tell you, the photo manipulation executed clearly matched the effort he put into his personal hygiene. After I realized that his main reason for sharing the photos was not to gush about his daughter, but to get praise for his “skills”, I changed gears. Instead of calling the photos themselves nice, I firmly stuck to saying things like “Peach looks happy. That’s good” or “She seems to grow so quickly” and refused to acknowledge his attempts at baiting me into imparting undue praise onto him. Unsurprisingly, this cut back the number of photos I received in the future, which I cannot claim to have left me too crestfallen.
Now the disturbing bits... Despite of being denied the right to turn Peach into a child model, Sheen Beard created an Instagram for her. I hold a distaste towards social media like this, and so never visited the page. Whiff (Peach’s legbeardy mother) forced Sheen to shut it down, after finding out about its existence. We could discuss the sheer stupidity of exposing your child to all kinds of stalkers and creeps by displaying them online. I have read about maybe a dozen cases, where the child abductors found their victim’s pictures on social media and locked-on. It’s truly terrifying to think about. What makes it worse is when I went to check Sheen’s current social media for the purposes of this story, I found out that he’s kept at taking photos of his daughter. No, taking photos of your daughter isn’t bad on its own, but quite a few of them are swimming suit photos. These are posed pictures, not ones where she’s just Peach playing on the beach. They’re not explicit mind you (if they were, I’d have hunted down Whiff’s contact info, sent every last one of them to her, and told her to contact the courts), but they did make me feel a little fearful on Peach’s behalf. It’s frustrating to see that after years of trying my hardest to get Sheen to form some semblance of rationale, he is still completely comfortable as a self-made moron.
​
Alright, you have been waiting for this long enough. Sheen’s short rapper career! During the previous parts, you have observed Sheen Beard engaging in a multitude of pursuits, in both business and most recently “art”. You know how those exploits went. Please, adjust your expectations accordingly.
I first heard about Sheen’s song writing aspirations, when he was still with Rose. He mentioned in passing about his dabblings in poetry and the written word in general. Not once did he attempt to share one of his works with me however, and I wasn’t foolish enough to expose my eyes to them out of my own initiative. So alas, I hold no knowledge of their merits or lack thereof.
A few years down the line, after Whiff left him, Sheen told me that he had been channeling his feelings about the break-up into music and shared with me some super-secret information. He had managed to land a recording contract with a local label! I congratulated him, surprised by the sudden development in his life, but also glad he might have found a healthy outlet for his emotions.
Sheen then hit me with another surprise. As he knew that I work with my voice, he wanted to offer me a chance to sing backup vocals for him. I admit, I was a little intrigued and even flattered. Work experience is incredibly valuable, and adding something like that into my portfolio could help me find better gigs in the future. I had never heard Sheen sing a single note before, but I supposed that him having vocal talent wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility.
I did have some concerns over the lyrics Sheen may have written though. The source of his inspiration being a very nasty breakup with someone I still considered a friend could result in some discomfort. To not get caught in an awkward position, I asked him to send me some of his songs to listen to, before I’d commit to anything. I also noted to him that I wasn’t so sure the recording label would be happy with vocals that weren’t recorded under their studio conditions. Sheen went on a tangent promising me that he’d get me a part for sure! I thanked him for his generosity, but said I still needed to hear his work first. He promised to send me a demo soon.
Weeks passed. I asked for the demo a couple more times and each time was given some random excuse about him not having the demo on him at the moment. I wasn’t too surprised. Sheen had never been the reliable type and him not following through was in line with his character. Besides, for months our communication had mostly consisted of me listening to his bottomless complaints about his constant custody drama with Whiff. The formerly engaged, now estranged couple were taking jab after jab at each other. Each trying to drag the other’s already questionable reputation through a mud wrestling pit. I didn’t expect Sheen to have ample time for musical pursuits in the midst of their battles, so I stopped thinking about Sheen’s promises, and slowly grew numb to the incessant drama. Then one day, my inbox let out a familiar “blob”. It was Sheen Beard.
Sheen: Hey Mora! Can I ask you for a musical opinion?
Mora: Sure
Was Sheen finally ready to share the demo with me? Due to knowing the creature I was dealing with, I decidedly did not get my hopes up. I waited for his music related question for a while, but it never came.
Two days passed, before I heard another “blob”
Sheen: Sorry things got wild. I had an emergency hearing. I had false child abduction charges against me. Whiff tried to go for full custody and deny me visitation. She also made me take down Peach’s Instagram and denied acting and modeling from her through the court!
Mora: I see. So, a normal Friday then?
Sheen: lol I got four songs and my album cover done
Sheen posts a picture of himself and Whiff kissing outdoors and a photo of Peach blended into the background sky. The picture has been put through a filter to make it look hand drawn.
Sheen: I will send you the demo when I get home
I looked at the picture with a dull expression and rubbed my temples. Here we go again…
Mora: You do know that you cannot use that picture for your album, right?
Sheen: Yes I can
Mora: It’s kind of illegal. Unless you have Whiff’s permission, you cannot use a picture of her.
Sheen: Why is that? There is no frontal view, no identification. Persons and photo is owned by me.
Now, I have no clue what he meant by the last sentence’s “persons”. To be honest, the entirety of the last message is barely comprehensible to me even now. On that day, I was not in the mood for such nonsense, and simply tapped the table before me impatiently… with my face. Whiff’s full profile was perfectly visible in the image. Sheen wouldn’t listen to me though. Whiff and I hadn’t spoken in months. The record label (assuming there even was one and they had SOME professionalism) would have to take this one..
Mora: I recognize her, but I won’t butt in more. Not my problem.
Sheen: But is it nice?
I routinely dodged Sheen’s plea for compliments on a picture, but replaced it with encouragement to share the demo. I was morbidly curious to see what kind of a musical mess he had created.
Mora: I hope you won’t get in trouble. I’m sure the demo is great. I’ll take a moment with it tomorrow.
Sheen: Still in rough sketch. Gotta actually record. I got the beat and the lyrics for 3 songs and lyrics for 1 more.
Hadn’t he promised to send me the demo just moments before? And didn’t he claim last time that he had finished 4 whole songs? Now there was only a “rough sketch” and nothing had even been recorded? Would calling him out on this inconsistency yield anything that wouldn’t make me want to reach through the computer screen and slam Sheen’s face into his keyboard? My gut told me no.
I never did end up hearing Sheen rap and sadly that means, neither will you. He did send me some eye-roll-inducing videos where he lip-synched to random songs, but that only counts for a bad visual performance. Maybe it is better this way. His voice does sound like a nasally goat learned English when he speaks, so perhaps the legend of his capabilities as a vocalist is best left unsung.
Haaaah, it’s good to be back writing again. I believe we have material for maybe 3 more parts of Sheen Saga. I have already written most of part 8. It’s going to be a rough one for me to get through, so I got a head start on it. Fortunately, we’ll get to enjoy part 7’s SheenanigansTM before that. Next time: What Sheen can buy.
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Until then, rest your muscles.
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- MotherOfRain