Echo dot red light stays on

Hello! If you know of practices or rituals that keep negative people away and keep your house a safe space, I would be ever grateful for some advice.
(Content warning: please skip if you're not in the headspace to hear about narcissistic abuse, domestic violence, or post-traumatic stress.)
When I have to describe my mother to a someone new, I usually say she's a cross between Mommie Dearest and Mrs. White from the original Carrie. She's violent absurdity and religious grandiosity wrapped in an uneducated, supremacist package.
Over the past year I've been trying to disconnect and establish boundaries. It hasn't been going too well to for me, and she kept finding ways to reattach those cords, such as using her missing dog to manipulate me. A dog whom I loved, and is dead now. But I'm not a slow learner, and I didn't have to learn each lesson more than twice. This all culminated into an incident this past memorial day weekend.
I had noticed each time she called me was only to ask me to do something for her, so I stopped answering. Saturday she didn't take that too well, as she wanted to exploit me for free labor on her farm. She came over to my house, screamed obscenities at me, was infuriated I didn't unlock the door for her, so she took a shovel to my front door. I know if she had gotten inside she would have physically hurt me. (And you gotta understand, she's built like Trunchbull and got like 70 lbs on me. She could have done some serious damage.) Pure, unbridled hatred from a "woman of God" towards a person she was supposed to protect. All because I had the audacity to not bend to her will in that moment.
At this point, several days later, I feel like my toughest struggle is my own anxiety. I've been in therapy on and off for years, but I've been going weekly for the past year. I've talked to several professionals, I've tried all the coping mechanisms I currently know, but my sympathetic nervous system is still all alight. The unpredictability is what's getting to me. I don't know if she's gonna come back here, how she'll act, how prepared I'll feel to handle it. What awful thing she's gonna do next. She is so incredibly spiteful and vindictive and is capable of any horrible thing you could think of. But I know the hypervigilance is so bad for me physically and mentally. I gotta finish cutting off this gangrenous limb before it poisons my blood any further.
Please advise me on ways to protect myself, my animals, and the property as an intuitive empath. I've started doing regular cord-cuttings and I've seen evidence each time they're working (she left me a threatening voicemail literally during my last one), but it's not sufficient. Visualization is a strength of mine, if that helps lead you one way or another. I know I possess some natural abilities and that my strength is in my psyche, but I don't know how to explore or make use of them. Anything that will make her want to stay away from me, and make me feel more capable of handling myself if there's a next time.
I appreciate many different cultures and am open to trying all sorts of benevolent magic or positive spiritual practices. I keep getting the message that now is the time for me to tap into my natural power, however that may come through. I just don't know where to begin. Thank you for taking the time to read this long post. Love and light to you. 💜🖤 (And happy pride month!)

Timestamps/Pics
Want: Paypal or looking to trade the below for keyboards, not looking for anything below a 65%.
Have:
AL1 Keyboard $250 shipped or keyboard trades

• Cerekoted white, however there is a slight difference in the light between the top and botom, and one or two spots that are scratched.
• Milmaxed PCB, the LEDs however do not work
• It does have issues sometimes registering the S key for me so may need some work on the PCB by someone
• Red aluminum plate

GMK Yugo $270 shipped or keyboard trades

• Base kit
• US Compatibility kit
• Spacebars
• Used for a few hours total, shipped in original box, extra keys in bags

GMK Red Samurai R1 $300 shipped or keyboard trades

• Base
• Spacebars
• Novelties
• Nishi
• Some use, no shine that I can see

JTK Night Sakura $250 shipped or keyboard trades

• Base
• Novelties
• Received 2 down arrow gray novelties instead of a down and up arrow, didnt notice till now sadly
• Pink spacebars
• Extension
• Used for 3 hours total
• Shipped in original plastic trays

EPBT Ivory (original run) $110 shipped or keyboard trades

• Base, Numpad, Spacebars, Novelties
• 5 hours of use, shipped in original box (box is a bit beat up now)

Be me, a new mercenary company, Mason's Warmonkeys.
Also me: Stacked Crates Mod
I'm Rep 4 or so, rolling on a low difficulty contract. Standard Battlefield gig, weight limit is fairly low, 145, I think.
I have my very first heavy, a Archer which I have YAML'd up with some Lostech. Two PPCs, 4 medium lasers, two LRM 10s. XL engine, endosteel. A Hunchback II with twin PPCs and a royal variant Stinger with 4 medium lasers.
Drop into the mission. Optional objective: Investigate the anomaly. Uh-oh.
For those who don't play with Stacked Crates or don't have the particular settings enabled for it, occasionally Stacked Crates will drop a very high value crate full of Lostech or even a Mech (How do you think I got the Hunchback II?) but... it also drops a lance of defenders. I have found this lance is not based on your difficulty level.
I head up to a nearby hill, and I can ping them. Atlas. Atlas. King Crab. Highlander. Fuck. My. Life.
But... there's a voice in the back of my brain. They're all slow. All my mechs do at least 20 kph higher than they do. Maybe I can take one or two out. That'd be worth doing, particularly if I can get to the crate. I can't remember if I get the contents of the crate if I abort without completing the mission but... a part of me wants to try.
First thing is first, I run to the middle of the map where the mission objective is. The assault lance will pull agro from the incoming mission mechs, so I figure that'll at least be a distraction. The first atlas comes over the hill, and I start running away, sandpapering him with LRMs. He's replying back, but there's a series of sand dunes that I can run behind to mostly avoid taking to many of his LRMs. I work backwards across the map and up into the foothills around the edge. The little mechs the mission in spawning aren't doing much, but they're at least keeping most of the big boys occupied. Slowly, I wear down the first Atlas. "I'm punching out! Kill them for me!" the pilot screams as she shoots skywards.
This is going super well so far. *cue overconfidence* Except I keep hearing this noise. It's very loud but I can't place it. It isn't quite a long tom or sniper artillery. My hunchback has no chance. He turns back, because he's an idiot, and takes an arrow 4 to the chest. No more hunchback. Oooookay. That's not great.
I play a game of cat and arrow 4, breaking LOS as soon as I have a lock with my LRMs and dodging Arrow 4s like a Canopian Catgirl on Battle Powder. Then something wonderful happens. One of the mission mechs is equipped with flamers. And shuts the Atlas with the Arrow 4 down. The other two assault mechs are busy. I charge that Atlas, chewing it apart with lasers and PPCs.
There's only two left.
The Crab is a problem. Even staying out of his AC20 range, which I can't always do, he's trading me LRMs, and I don't have nearly the armor. By the time he's down, I'm in the red on... everything, and missing a PPC. But all that's left is the poor Highlander.
I can hear the bagpipes as this madlad stands his ground, encircled by three smaller mechs, and being peppered by LRMs from my battered Archer, which somehow, despite all the damage, has only lost the one PPC. *Cue nervous glances at that XL engine that seemed like such a good idea at the time*.
In the end, I'm out of LRM ammo, and I end up wading in with my energy weapons. Luckily, he'd turned to swat a Spider that was harassing him, and I got some clean shots at his back. Down went the last of the Assault mechs. Cleanup wasn't great, I lost another laser and a leg, and the Stinger lost an arm to the highlander, but victory was ours.
And in the crate? A brand new Hunchback II identical to the one I'd lost, -AND- a Spider 7V -AND- a shiny new Wolverine. Even including the DLC campaigns, that was the single most exhilarating battle I've ever had. So close to defeat, so many 'Oh Shit' moments, but in the end, the sweet taste of victory.
Oh, and the Archer? My beloved baby? Everything was repairable except one PPC. I don't know how. I don't know what Goddess of warfare blessed this mercenary company, but it was about 3 Million C-bills to get her back up and running again. I'm never selling this mech.

With everyone from healthcare providers to influencers weighing in on the best ways to live longer, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction. Most of us know eating garden-to-table is good for our health, but to what degree? Are there certain foods scientifically proven to increase your lifespan? Enter blue zone eating — a plant-based diet rich in complex carbohydrates that researchers say can help you live to 100 years old.
This may sound like the next installment of “Avatar,” but “blue zones” refer to five identified communities on our planet where people have fewer health issues and live longer. It’s perfectly normal for a person in these regions to live past 100 years. In contrast, the average American only lives for 78 years.
The blue zone diet is mostly made up of whole grains, fruits, legumes and vegetables. Coffee, green and black teas and eggs are also in.
What’s out? Most dairy (goat and sheep milk make the cut, as do cheeses like feta and pecorino), meat (only on special occasions), sugar and — you guessed it — processed foods.
Here are five staples of the blue zone diet that science says promotes healthy aging:

2. Chickpeas

Chickpeas are so much more than the beans responsible for your favorite hummus. Packed with protein and nutrients, chickpeas are heart-healthy beans with a slightly nutty kick. To give you an idea of how they rank on the superfood scale, one cooked cup of the khaki-colored beans has 14.5 grams of protein and 12.5 grams of fiber. That fiber makes you feel full longer and aids in weight management. They are also a rich source of vitamin B9, or folic acid, which is better consumed in foods as opposed to supplements.
Try sprinkling chickpeas into a salad or an easy salad roll-up. Of course, you can always whip up your own red pepper hummus or test drive the chocolate version you’ve been eyeing at Trader Joe’s.

3. Quinoa

While there’s some debate over how to pronounce it, there’s no disputing the health benefits of quinoa. For starters, it’s a complete protein, supplying our body with essential amino acids it can’t produce on its own. Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, so natural foods high in magnesium that regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and your heartbeats per minute should be a staple. Quinoa also supports strong bones and cell functions, protecting the brain and heart.
You can swap out any recipe that calls for rice with quinoa. Beyond stir fry and side dishes, think sushi, tacos and burritos. Craving something sweet? Try this quinoa spin on peanut brittle.

4. Avocado

What can’t avocados do? (Your laundry, maybe). The popular vegetable that gave us yet another reason to love breakfast is high in protein and boasts almost 20 vitamins and minerals. They also have monounsaturated fat, the good, heart-healthy kind of fat our bodies need to stay healthy.
Elevate your average pico de gallo with avocado and corn, or add an egg on whole-grain toast with goat cheese and chives or pear and honey. Want to achieve a creamy consistency in your smoothie? Throw some of the green stuff in your blender.

5. Honey

The blue zone diet includes no more than seven teaspoons of added sugar to your daily diet and making honey your go-to sweetener. Added sugar affects our immune system, making it harder to stave off diseases, and puts us at risk for diabetes. Sugar crashes also affect our mental health. Why honey? First of all, it’s a natural sweetener , and it’s a powerful remedy against allergies when purchased locally. Honey is a slow pour, so your ability to manage your intake is much easier.
Beyond sweetening your morning coffee or tea, honey is a great alternative to white sugar in baking. Honey mint lemonade sounds perfectly refreshing as the temps heat up. For those who enjoy sweet and savory things, chile-infused honey sounds like a perfect pairing.

I only changed the keyboard from disabled into enabled by any key. After I restarted my PC it didn't post and there is a red light boot showing on the motherboard. I tried taking out the cmos battery to reset the bios but it didn't work, I took out my m.2 ssd still same issue. Please I need help.

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/7KFTq2J
PLEASE READ - I can NOT accept PayPal . I got my personal PayPal banned from someone creating a gun related note. - I CAN accept Venmo, zelle, cashapp, or Apple Pay. - NO NOTES AT ALL! Use food emoji for Venmo transactions. - Prices are shipped. Might take a day or two to get to the post office.

• vortex razor gen II non-E / badger comm 1.70” mount / trijicon rmr combo. Light use. Razor just got back from a spa treatment at vortex. They replaced a lens and made sure it’s tracking properly. BDC reticle. Selling as a bundle for $1500 https://imgur.com/a/izeHLzh
  
• 16" KAC upper with KAC bcg, ch, 3 prong, and buffer. It was painted then stripped. It's not super clean, but I'm sure more stripper would tidy it up if you wanted. Low round count. Maybe ~ 700 rounds. Shoots great. $1375 or $1565 with the sights. https://imgur.com/a/zSkhP94
  
• Sig romeo 4t FDE circle dot. Box and accessories. Lightly used. $350 https://imgur.com/a/sSb6IkV
  
• Trijicon ascent 1-4 LPVO on a vortex mount. Optic is lightly used. No illumination. Vortex mount has been duracoated black. $380 for the combo https://imgur.com/a/ycGTc0u
  
• 11.5” stripped psa upper with bcm rail. No bcg or ch, but can make a deal if you need them. $230
  
• KAC iron sights. Show a little wear, especially on the flathead screw. $205
  
• Midwest industries iron sights. Small amount of wear. $105
  
• Scalarworks peak front and rear sights. Shows some wear. $195
  
• Modlite plhv2 head. FDE. Not the dual fuel model. 18650 or 18350 batteries only. some salt $167 https://imgur.com/a/FN214Ak
  
• EOTech EXPS3-2 tan. Light use. Comes in box with MISMATCHED Serial number. $550 https://imgur.com/a/0RWPMTB
  
• Unity fast riser FDE $80
  
• Troy hk style fixed front sight. Shows a fair bit of wear. Especially on the flathead screw. Fuck flathead screws. $45
  
• Toolcraft FDE DLC BCG’s. 2 available. Very light use. $110 each https://imgur.com/a/p45Irif
  
• Toolcraft nickel boron bcg. Seen a couple thousand rounds and is getting dark, but works great. Gas rings are weak and fail the standing test but pass the other gas ring test. I can add a pack of gas rings $70 https://imgur.com/a/BiweqTw
  
• Polished nitride bcg from right to bear. Light use $75 https://imgur.com/a/bTKf0id
  

Hi all,
Been playing maybe 6 weeks or so. Was mostly a healer to drag myself from 1 to 50+300cp, now I'm trying to break away from healer and do more DPS and finish out some questing. I can currently solo all overland content except world bosses and 4 man dungeons. I can solo pub dungeons no problem. Questing is pretty easy. But I can't take on a world boss yet it seems. Just don't do enough damage to even want to as they have 1.6~1.8 million HP and I'm hitting for 6k to 9k at best.
I have the base game plus Morrowind (came with it). No other DLC currently (so cannot do Julianos or Oakensoul, etc).
High Elf Sorcerer CP 300
I don't have enough CP to get into crit, damage, spell pen, etc I don't think. Just enough for two basic abilities that are mostly just +stat ones. Unless someone can advise a better way to get to things?
Currently using Mother's Sorrow & Sergeant's Plate sets. They're maybe yellow to purple in quality. I have about 43% crit chance, ~2k~3k in spell penetration, 3k spell damage. I use lightning staff for the splash/AOE. I mostly just do heavy attacks and rotate buffs (hurricane, crit surge, inner light, bound aegis) and use unstable wall (lightning) for off-balance. So I'm doing DOT with hurricane and unstable wall and splash from lightning from my heavy attacks. I can melt trash mobs in 2 or 3 heavy attacks when they're bunched up, but this is slow compared to what I see others do in one swing. I could play this way for a while, but the problem is the high HP bosses are such long battles that I lose interest because I'm doing 6~9k damage and they have 1.6~1.8 million HP.
Not sure what to focus on to get my damage up. Need advice. I'm still new to the game in general and mostly play solo. Not in a guild. I usually play support roles in MMO because I'm casual. I don't need to suddenly be doing 80k+ like in YT videos. I just don't have the CP to get there and won't for probably over a year or more lol.
Currently just from my limited knowledge, I'm trying to move towards getting Empower on my toon, either from Mage Guild passives (at level 10, I'm level 9 right now in Mage Guild) or from an item like Queen's Elegance set or is there something else I should be considering?
Thanks for any thoughts; hope I was able to play with any of yall in pub random dungeons. :)

Please let me know if you're interested in bundle deals, willing to work price down for multiples. Cash App/Venmo/Paypal (No FF unfortunately) accepted! Price firm for single codes
Prices and format are listed in the post and can be hard to view if you are viewing from the mobile app, please scroll over to view them
My Universal Rewards movies available at $3 a piece or 2 for $5, please check here for the available movies, this changes monthly.

Name	Price	Format	Redemption Site
1917	$3	HD	MA
3:10 to Yuma	$5	4K	Vudu
31	$3	HD
The 355	$4	HD	MA
65	$9	HD	MA
A24 Horror 5 Film Collection (Hereditary/ X/ The Witch/ Green Room/ It Comes At Night)	$15	HD	Vudu
Addams Family 2	$3	HD	iTunes
Aladdin (2019)	$5	4K	MA
Aladdin (1992)	$4	HD	MA
Alien	$3	HD	MA
Aliens	$3	HD	MA
Alien 3	$3	HD	MA
Alien Resurrection	$3	HD	MA
Alien: Covenant	$3	HD	MA
Prometheus (Alien)	$3	HD	MA
Amsterdam	$6	HD	MA
Anchorman 2	$3	HD	MA
Ant Man Quantumani	$11	4K	MA
Ant Man Quantumania	$9	HD	MA
Apocalypse Now	$3	HD
Aqua Teen Forever Plantasm	$5	HD	MA
Avengers Age of Ultron	$3	HD	MA
Avengers Infinity War	$3	HD	MA
Avengers Endgame	$6	4K	MA
Back to the Future Trilogy	$9	HD	MA
Bad Boys	$3	HD	MA
Bad Boys for Life	$3	HD	MA
Bad Grandpa	$3	HD
Banshees of Inisherin	$6	HD	MA
The Batman	$4	HD	MA
Batman and Superman Battle of the Super Sons	$4	HD	MA
Beast	$5	HD	MA
Belly	$5	4K	Vudu
Black Adam	$5	HD	MA
Black Panther Wakanda Forever	$7	4K	MA
Black Panther Wakanda Forever	$5	HD	MA
Blacklight	$5	HD
Blues Brothers	$5	4K	MA
Bob's Burgers Movie	$4	HD	MA
Bohemian Rhapsody	$6	4K	MA
Boss Baby	$3	HD	MA
Boss Baby 2 Pack	$6	HD	MA
Boss Baby Family Business	$3	HD	MA
Bullet Train	$4	HD	MA
Casablanca	$5	4K	MA
Call Jane	$4	HD	MA
Captain Marvel	$3	HD	MA
Captain Marvel	$5	4K	MA
Cars 3	$5	4K
Clerks 3	$5	HD
A Clockwork Orange	$5	4K	MA
Coco	$4	HD
The Commuter	$4	HD
Creed 3	$9	HD	Vudu
Cruella	$5	4K
Cruella	$4	HD
Daddy's Home 2	$3	HD
Day After Tomorrow	$3	HD	MA
DC League of Superpets	$4	HD
Deadpool	$3	HD
Deadpool 2	$3	HD
The Dentist (1996) & The Dentist 2 Brace Yourself (1998)	$6	HD
Devotion	$5	HD	MA
Die Hard With A Vengeance	$3	HD	MA
A Good Day to Die Hard	$3	HD	MA
Divergent	$3	HD
Django Unchained	$3	HD	MA
Doctor Strange	$3	HD	MA
Doctor Strange Multiverse Of Madness	$6	4K	MA
Doctor Strange Multiverse Of Madness	$4	HD	MA
Dolittle	$3	HD	MA
Downtown Abbey A New Era	$4	HD	MA
Dreamwork 10 Movie Collection	$20	HD	MA
Dumbo (2019)	$5	4K	MA
Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves	$9	HD	iTunes/Vudu
8-Mile	$4	4K	MA
80 for Brady	$7	HD	iTunes/Vudu
Elvis	$4	HD	MA
Empire of Light	$5	HD
The Fabelmans	$6	HD	MA
Fast & Furious 8 Film Collection	$15	HD	MA
Fast and the Furious	$5	4K	MA
Fate of the Furious	$3	HD	MA
Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy	$6	HD	MA
Flashdance	$5	4K	Vudu
The Forever Purge	$6	4K	MA
Free Guy	$4	HD	MA
Friday the 13th (1980)	$4	HD
Frozen	$3	HD	MA
Frozen II	$3	HD	MA
Game of Thrones House of the Dragon Season 1	$6	HD	Vudu
Gentlemen	$3	HD	iTunes
Ghosts Season 1	$6	HD
Ghostbusters	$3	HD
Ghostbusters II	$3	HD
Ghostbusters Afterlife	$4	HD
The Good Dinosaur	$4	HD
Guardians of the Galaxy	$3	HD	MA
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2	$3	HD	MA
Halloween (2018)	$4	HD	MA
Halloween Kills	$4	HD	MA
Halloween Ends	$5	HD	MA
Hitman's Bodyguard	$3	HD	MA
Hitman's Wife Bodyguard	$3	HD	MA
Hunger Games 4 Movie Collection	$10	HD	MA
Incredibles 2	$3	HD	MA
Independence Day Resurgence	$3	HD	MA
Jesus Revolution	$5	HD	iTunes/Vudu
John Wick 1 & 2 Combo Pack	$5	HD	MA
John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum	$3	HD	MA
Jumanji 2 Pack (2017/2019)	$6	HD	MA
Jumanji Trilogy (1995-2019)	$4	SD	MA
Jungle Cruise	$5	4K	MA
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom	$4	4K	MA
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom	$3	HD	MA
Jurassic World 6 Movie Collection	$12	HD	MA
Justice League x RWBY Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One	$8	4K	MA
Justice League x RWBY Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One	$6	HD	MA
Justice Society World War II	$4	4K	MA
The Kid (2019)	$4	HD	iTunes/Vudu
Kin	$5	4K
Knock at the Cabin	$8	HD	MA
Knives Out	$3	HD	MA
Legion of Super Heroes	$5	HD	MA
Leon the Professional	$3	HD	MA
Lightyear	$6	4K	MA
Lion King (2019)	$5	4K	MA
Lion King (2019)	$3	HD	MA
Lion King (1994)	$3	HD	MA
The Little Mermaid	$3	HD	MA
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow	$3	HD
The Lost City	$4	HD
The Lost City	$6	4K
Luca	$5	4K
Mad Max	$6	4K	Vudu
Mad Max 2/ Mad Max 3/ Mad Max Fury Road	$15	4K	MA
Magic Mike Last Dance	$7	HD	MA
Mary Queen of Scots	$5	4K	MA
Man on the Moon	$4	HD
Matrix Resurrections	$6	4K	MA
Memory	$4	HD	MA
Men	$5	HD
Minions The Rise of Gru	$4	HD	MA
Minions 2 Movie Collection	$6	HD	MA
Miss You Already	$3	HD	Vudu
Morbius	$3	HD
Mortal Kombat Legends Snow Blind	$4	HD
Mulan	$3	HD
Mulan 2	$3	HD
Mulan (2020)	$5	4K
Mummy	$3	HD
Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor	$3	HD
News of the World	$3	HD	MA
007 No Time to Die (iTunes only)	$5	4K	iTunes
NOPE	$5	HD	MA
The Northman	$4	HD
The Old Way	$6	HD
Onward	$6	4K	MA
Operation Fortune Ruse De Guerre	$8	4K	Vudu
Pitch Perfect	$3	HD	MA
Pitch Perfect 2	$3	HD	MA
The Pirate Fairy	$3	HD	MA
Plane	$8	4K	Vudu/iTunes
Plane	$6	HD	Vudu/iTunes
Dawn for the Planet of the Apes	$3	HD	MA
Rise of the Planet of the Apes	$3	HD	MA
War for the Planet of the Apes	$3	HD	MA
Pocahontas 2	$3	HD	MA
Predator 4-Pack	$12	HD	MA
Prey for the Devil	$5	HD	MA
Queen and Slim	$4	HD	MA
A Quiet Place	$3	HD
Rambo 5 Film Collection	$15	HD
Raya and the Last Dragon	$6	4K	MA
Raya and the Last Dragon	$4	HD	MA
Reservoir Dogs	$6	4K	iTunes/Vudu
Rock Dog 3 Battle the Beat	$2	HD
Rocky 4 Film Collection	$20	4K	MA
Ron Gone Wrong	$4	HD
Scream (1996)	$6	4K	iTunes/Vudu
Scream (1996)	$3	HD	iTunes/Vudu
Scream (2022)	$4	HD	iTunes/Vudu
The Scorpion King	$3	HD	MA
Secret Headquarters	$4	HD	iTunes/Vudu
Secret Life of Pets	$3	HD	MA
Shazam Fury of the Gods	$8	HD	MA
Shivers	$4	HD	Vudu
Silent Night, Deadly Night Collection	$10	HD
Smile	$7	4K	iTunes/Vudu
Smile	$5	HD	iTunes/Vudu
Sonic the Hedgehog	$4	HD	iTunes/Vudu
Sonic the Hedgehog 2	$6	4K	iTunes/Vudu
Sonic the Hedgehog 2	$4	HD	iTunes/Vudu
Soul	$6	4K	MA
Snake Eyes GI Joe Origins	$6	4K
Snow White & The Huntsman	$4	4K
Space Jam A New Legacy	$4	4K	MA
Spider-Man	$3	HD	MA
Spider-Man 2	$3	HD	MA
Spider-Man 3	$3	HD	MA
Amazing Spider-Man	$3	HD	MA
Amazing Spider-Man 2	$3	HD	MA
Spider-Man Homecoming	$4	HD	MA
Spider-Man Far From Home	$4	HD	MA
Spirit Untamed	$4	HD	MA
Spider-Man No Way Home	$4	HD	MA
Star Trek Into Darkness	$3	HD
Star Trek Beyond	$3	HD
Star Trek The Motion Picture	$6	4K
Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan	$6	4K
Star Trek III The Search For Spock	$6	4K
Star Trek IV The Voyage Home	$6	4K
Star Wars The Last Jedi	$4	4K	MA
Strange World	$4	HD	MA
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)	$3	HD
Thor Ragnarok	$3	HD	MA
Thor Love and Thunder	$6	4K	MA
Thor Love and Thunder	$4	HD	MA
Ticket To Paradise	$6	HD
Till (iTunes Only)	$5	HD
To Kill A Mockingbird	$3	HD
Top Gun	$3	HD
Top Gun Maverick	$6	4K
Top Gun Maverick	$4	HD
Toy Story 4	$6	4k	MA
Toy Story 4	$4	HD	MA
Training Day	$6	4K	MA
Transformers	$6	4K	Vudu/iTunes
Transformers Age of Extinction	$6	4K	Vudu/iTunes
Transformers Dark of the Moon	$6	4K	Vudu/iTunes
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen	$6	4K	Vudu/iTunes
Transformers The Last Knight	$6	4K	Vudu/iTunes
Trolls	$3	HD	MA
Trolls 2 Movie Collection	$6	HD	MA
The Turning	$4	HD	MA
Turning Red	$6	4K	MA
Turning Red	$4	HD	MA
Uncharted	$6	4K	MA
Uncut Gems	$4	HD	Vudu/GP
Underwold Rise of the Lycans	$3	HD
Venom	$3	HD	MA
Voyagers	$5	4K
The Walking Dead Season 11	$6	HD
Wayne's World	$6	4K
West Side Story (2021)	$3	HD	MA
West Side Story (2021)	$5	4K	MA
The Witch	$4	HD
Wolf of Wall Street	$3	HD	MA
The Woman King	$7	4K	MA
The Woman King	$5	HD	MA
Wreck It Ralph: Ralph Breaks the Internet	$6	4K	MA
X-Men Trilogy (First Class/DOFP/Apocalypse)	$9	HD	MA

The following movies are the current Universal Rewards and are $3 each or 2 for $5
May 2023 Rewards 8 LEFT

Assault on Precinct 13	HD	MA
Being John Malkovich	HD	MA
The Black Dahlia (2006)	HD	MA
Fifty Shades of Grey	4K	MA
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	HD	MA
Larry Crowne	HD	MA
Snow White and the Huntsman	4K	MA
This is 40	HD	MA
12 Monkeys	4K	MA
Welcome to Marwen	4K	MA

​
June 2023 Rewards
​

9	HD	MA
About Time	HD	MA
American Pie	HD	MA
The Boy Next Door	HD	MA
Definitely,Maybe	HD	MA
Eastern Promises	HD	MA
Empire	HD	MA
Fifty Shades Darker	4K	MA
The Great Wall	4K	MA
Jarhead 2	HD	MA
Josie and the Pussycats	HD	MA
Reservation Road	HD	MA

​

When I go eepy I usually don’t like wear a shirt or whatever, but I’m gonna be staying at the bfs house for a little while what should I put on for a top? Is it ok to sleep in a sports bra or something or should I just get like some light tank tops or something

thought id write it down while I still remember it so clearly. (This is a true story)
I was doing something, I believe it was driving in a parking lot with my friends and then something happened and I ended up in liminal spaces (like the backrooms) I encountered many strange places for one, these white hallways with very dim flickering lights very little doors meant for the small young girls or entities(?) That resided there. While exploring one of the rooms I hear a loud creaking/scratching and feel my stomach sink, then a distorted voice say something along the lines of “ila, I told you I’d be back” (my name is not ila so I was more concerned I’d take someone else’s beating lol)
And something rang in my head to sit on the floor with my knees up and head on my knees and DO. NOT. MOVE. so I did just that but managed to look through one of my eyes eyelashes, what I saw was horrifying. Rotted flesh and a very elongated neck and hair that looks like seaweed or just straight up garbage as it moved closer and then snapped back out and left, I had a long nightgown on like the rest of the girls there and suddenly everyone started running into a hallway that brought us to a second room.
It was almost like a competition to where we’d see who was “worthy” or something like that I ended up getting out in this blue/white foggy mirror almost and then I was inside of a gigantic movie theatre but only 5 seats were taken up, the first few were people holding babies with abnormalities and the last one was someone I never wanted to see especially not in a dream/nightmare. Someone who hurt me very badly while I was still just a young girl if you understand what I mean by that.
I hit him in the side of the head and ended up in a physical altercation where I took a lot of blows but still landed mine. Afterward he starts crying in his seat and I start yelling about how he doesn’t get to be sad or angry, i did. I’m the one that he hurt, he doesn’t get to be happy or live normally after what he did to me.
A girl with a baby stood up and looked at me smiling, i realized I had just been yelling and damn near crying infront of a baby so I apologized multiple times and she told me it was okay and to come with her (just wanna throw in there her baby had like cube shapes in it’s head that protruded out) she took me to a very dark area with nothing but a small kitchenette and a small lantern I think, there was an entity that looked very close to a cat/ocelot but something was off about it, I instinctively went to offer the animal some food but the woman stopped me and told me he was very dangerous. I then helped her prepare some food but the ocelot looking cat ripped a piece of meat off of the stove and dragged it to a corner with him, I wonder what kind of meat it was now,
before I could eat or anything I fell into a wall where I appeared in a pool level almost, it was just one large square room with a thick rim where the water is only about your thighs/knees deep whereas off of the rim it looks maybe 30 feet deep there was this little ramp almost think on one side of the room for people to get higher up and there seemed to be a cave near it but there were other people in there in yellow suits and one was being chased by this monster fish entity and ended up watching one of the yellow guys drown and another get torn apart. while the entity was still distracted I swam in this very narrow, pitch black cave (this part of my dream was not in a first person POV the whole time so we’re good because I’m scared of the dark and tight spaces) when I got out I ended up seeing one of those gross furless backrooms entity dogs, I ended up tussling with it and not getting torn to shreds by some miracle.
And finally I was in this room that just had a massive red slide with beige or yellow walls and black holes on the walls behind me as of there were other slides that cut off or got removed. and I remember sitting on it and seeing a bunch of entities far away on the ground as I went by and then I woke up, realized I was back in my bed, but instantly the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life had kicked in, I couldn’t sit up or move very well from how bad the abdominal pain was, I thought I had ruptured my appendix kind of pain, it was excruciating.
I would like to see if I can go back to it again. For research purposes it was quite interesting, there’s one or two more places I was at but for some reason I just physically can’t talk about them but they’re in my head.

Hi guys, I'm looking to build a new system from ground up. It has to be portable first of all.
It will be used in an electric car while I'm on the road and and we use at home for power hungry applications.
Application would include, light gaming at times. I will be installing VMware and other virtualization systems to explore for learning purposes. I will be looking into some Cisco emulation program for learning purposes. I will be using it for day trading so it will have to be able to compute charts. I want to do some video editing for YouTube and I want to do some music editing and possibly running a MIDI controller into it for piano playing. I will do some light live streaming using a webcam.
So I'm thinking of separating the GPU into external one and connecting the EGPU enclosure to the main PC with thunderbolt. So I'm thinking that this will be two units with two power supplies.
The main unit to be carried around more often and the GPU encclosure might just stay at home to be used when needed.
I will customize the cases with wood. Will try to find a way to fireproof the wood. So I'm imagined that the main unit is pretty flat without the GPU. Imagining maybe the CPU cooler with stick up to the outside using a hole on the top piece of wood.
So my question would be following:
1/ so I heard AMD will not draw as much power. Thinking of 7950x3D. But does AMD platform handle thunderbolt graphic output well? Or do I have to stick with Intel for this purpose like a 13900K?
2/ Intel suffer from power drawn but I can save some money using DDR4. Is that true?
3/ I wanted to use an ATX motherboard for flexibility. Plus, the VRM on ATX boards are a bit higher and I believe it helps with stability. Any thoughts?
3/ motherboard would require high-end audio chips. Any recommendation?
3/ what brand should I use for memory?
4/ what should I use for hard drive? SSD?
5/ I am thinking of maybe some smaller 500w PSU for main unit and eGPU unit. Is that adequate?
6/Air cooling is adequate? If so, what's best to use.
Thank you all.

First Previous Next
Chapter 26 - Rest for the Righteous
Last Time: Aiden, Laran, Leor, and Oriwyn - under the employ of Arcadia - executed a daring plan to rescue Oxcard from the clutches of the crime boss Daisy. They managed to get to his room without trouble, but leaving proved to be much more difficult. Laran was cornered and forced to fight several thugs after being seen while skulking around Daisy’s compound. The rest of the party found him and made sure he won the fight but were unable to prevent one of the thugs from alerting the entire building to their presence. What followed was a harrowing flight from Daisy’s forces and Daisy herself. With Leor’s assistance, everyone was able to clear the building and run off into the night, but not without sustaining several injuries. The party made good their getaway however with their client and target in tow and, determined to stay ahead of Daisy’s reprisal, left the city of Tripit behind.
Daisy clutched my throat, the slashes across her face leaking crimson blood that pooled in her snarled teeth. She looked like a wild thing and had me both lifted and pinned to a wall as if I weighed almost nothing. I struggled to breath, kicking my legs feebly, until I suddenly woke up.
Laran was staring down at me. He looked very concerned and more than a little frightened. It took my brain another few seconds to adjust to our surroundings and fully shake off the nightmare.
All of us were arrayed around a clearing underneath hastily constructed tents. I could see Oriwyn crouched beside Ox, who was laying out in the middle of the clearing. Oriwyn’s nose was swollen and her green skin was mottled purple around it - her face looked a little crooked in general, but she seemed to be moving fine enough. Arcadia stood next to the pair, holding a fan and waving it at Oxcard’s face. Groaning, I sat up. Leor sat on a tree stump and glanced at me with a tired grin. Brams lay curled up by her feet, and every once in a while I noticed she would reach down and scratch his head while Oriwyn busied herself with Oxcard.
As I sat up, Laran’s concerned expression broke into a relieved smile so genuine that it made my heart hurt. I wasn’t even injured, yet here he was acting like I’d just gotten up off my death bed. My head still felt fuzzy, so when he held a canteen out to me I took it gladly and took a big drink of water. I granted myself a few moments of silence before getting down to the business of trying to lead again.
“Where exactly are we again? I remember slumping down on the road when Arcadia’s golem gave out, but I don’t really remember anything after that.”
Laran smiled and nodded. The sun shone down on his jade-green skin and helped burn away the remaining damp from the night before. Laran sat back and seemed to finally properly relax. As he did, I couldn’t stop my attention from being wholly drawn to him.
In that moment he was really, really good to look at. And listen to. And be around.
“Ain’t surprised you don’t remember much - we had a time a’ things for sure. Last night - g’morning by the way - a teamster named Alex found us and dragged our sorry hides to this clearin’ off the road. They didn’t ask much about us, though they seemed to get the impression we were in need a’ help something fierce. Right now they’re headed back to Tripit to get our stuff from the Sable Sky - I worked out a price to make it worth their time and delay, then they only accepted half o’ it - and we’re patching everyone up.”
I nodded thoughtfully and took another swig of water. As I swished it in my mouth I realized my throat felt raw as if I’d been yelling or screaming - I hoped I hadn’t been and that the raw feeling in my throat had been solely caused by stress. My mind flicked through a few things to say - I figured I was the Commander, and as bad as we all looked and felt we had still won - before I landed on a sardonic tone. It was time to celebrate with the troops.
“Well everyone, good work. Sorry for sleeping in - I need my beauty sleep much more than the rest of you!” I grinned in what I hoped was a confident way. Oriwyn laughed a bit - it sounded like it hurt her a little to laugh unfortunately - while Leor just snorted. My tone and face shifted to sincerity as I continued.
“More seriously everyone, I think we did it. I think we won despite the odds. How is Oxcard doing?”
I glanced at Arcadia. Tears welled in her eyes and I could tell she was furiously blinking them back.
“Ox is okay, or stable at least. He keeps on breathing and Ori thinks she’s finally managed to fully stem the bleeding.” Arcadia looked down, worried, at her brother. Oriwyn smiled up at her and stood, wiping her slightly bloody hands on a cloth she had on her person. The goblin-mouse reached over and patted the taller woman’s shoulder.
“He’ll be right as rain, especially when he wakes up I think. He’s really quite deft with a needle - I’ve seen sloppier stitch work on people’s pants than he managed to do to himself.”
The ghost of a smile touched Arcadia’s lips as she gazed down at the sleeping Oxcard.
“Yes, he’s always been good with needle and thread. He was the one who kept our clothes in good repair when we were growing up, and unfortunately this isn’t his first improvised surgery. Ox is a survivor. He’ll pull through.”
I noticed, but obviously chose not to comment on, the quiver in her voice when she said that her brother would pull through. I looked him over myself - he seemed to be breathing evenly, and there were some bandages tied around his whole torso that were yet to be spotted with blood, so that seemed like a good sign at least. Satisfied, I turned back to address the group as a whole.
“Can I get a status report from everyone? How are we all doing?”
Laran immediately answered.
“I thought you might want to know! For injuries, I’ve received a small cut on my torso. Arcadia has some pretty bad gashes on her left palm and right forearm. Oriwyn is bruised and her nose was broken - Leor snapped it back in place a few hours ago when Ori started having some trouble breathing, so it looks pretty nasty. Speaking of Leor, she has some burns on her hands from her stunt with the lightning, but Ori managed to find some weird plant I’d never heard of that’s been helping with the pain. Finally, Brams got something of a cut, but it isn’t very deep. It is on his wing though, so as it is healing he will need to be careful about moving too much.”
I nodded and thanked Laran for his report. He looked pleased with himself, and I resolved to thank him privately later for helping me lead the team. All in all, we had gotten off relatively okay. All of us were alive and we had managed to achieve our objective. I took a moment to savor the victory before my mind stumbled into the next inevitable question.
What now?
I sighed as I began to contemplate the question. We likely couldn’t go back to Tripit since Daisy knew what we looked like. Leor might be able to chance it since she’d been outside the whole time, but even then I didn’t think any of us were in a hurry to test that theory out. As another consideration, Arcadia had been through a lot with us, and I felt like I needed to address that fact before too awful long.
“Arcadia, what’s your plan? Or what was your plan? Because I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we don’t want to go back to Tripit any time soon.” I said it with a laugh, but Arcadia looked anxious. I suddenly realized what I said could come across as accusatory. “Hey, it’s not your fault. We knew what we were signing up for and we all did it willingly.”
“You shouldn’t have. Glad you did though.”
The voice was scratchy and strained, husky and rough. We all whipped around to see Ox’s head slightly raised. He had a hand up to shade his eyes from the sun. As we stared at the newly awakened orc, Arcadia sank to her knees and started crying what I could only assume were happy tears. Oxcard grinned thinly and shuffled back, bracing himself against the pillow that had been jammed under his head in an attempt to sit up a little straighter.
“Come on Arcay, get over here.”
Arcadia shuffled over to Ox, nearly crawling. She wrapped him in a gentle hug, careful not to disturb his wounds. He raised his arms and wrapped the human-shadeling in a hug. Her head nestled against his shoulder and she whispered something. The rest of us tried to give them what space we could. When Arcadia broke off the hug and sat back on her haunches, the white spots of skin on her face near her eyes were splotched red with tears. She turned to the rest of us.
“I cannot thank you enough. You all did what no one else was willing to.” It looked like she was searching for more words, but was having a hard time coming up with them. “We cannot thank you enough.”
Ox nodded low in an approximation of a bow.
“Assuming we’ve put enough distance between ourselves and the city, I think we’re safe for the moment. I should be ready to move on by nightfall.”
Oriwyn made a sound like someone lightly stepping on a chicken, a sort of strangled squawk with a burbling undercurrent thanks to her nose.
“Nightfall? As in nightfall tonight?!? As in you’re going to get up and walk tonight?” Her tone was incredulous, and I inclined to agree with her. Oxcard was clearly still not okay, and even if he could walk I didn’t think it would do his stitching any favors. Arcadia just smiled and stood up.
“Okay, we can get moving tonight if everyone else is okay to move. I’ve got a few golems here, and this time someone will be awake enough they won’t rip themselves open trying to get away from someone who is trying to help them.”
It was amazing how quickly her tone changed. She had just been tearfully hugging him, and now she sounded wry and sarcastic at her brother’s antics like he was a six year old who had brought her a mud pie or something. I shook my head in wonder - none of the rest of us in the party had siblings as we all were only children. Obviously Arcadia and Oxcard had not been born to the same mother - my rudimentary knowledge of how the birds and bees worked with the ancestries in Tala indicated as much - but still, they acted like how I thought siblings acted, and they obviously shared a deep bond. It felt good to have that dynamic around, as if it were something the rest of us might have been missing as a group. Shaking myself out of my reverie, I decided to make an announcement.
“I’ve been thinking, and I wanted to offer the two of you a chance to join our group.” I looked around at the existing members of the party, and they all nodded happily. Oriwyn nodded so aggressively she winced as the movement jostled her injured nose. Arcadia and Oxcard looked at each other. I hastened on to add more.
“You don’t need to decide now of course. Actually, if you’ll have us, I was going to ask if we could accompany you to wherever you planned to go Arcadia. We should be safer in a group if any part of the road is likely to be treacherous, plus new company is always a good thing.”
Oxcard said a few quiet things to Arcadia, who said a few quiet things back. I tried not to listen in despite my burning curiosity. Oxcard shrugged and said something else, and then Arcadia turned back to us all.
“My plan was to go to Diareen. It’s a trade city out towards the northern edge of the province. It’s not as big as Tripit, but I figured it would be big enough that we could find something to do.” Arcadia’s face fell a bit as she continued. “Also, I figured that having the river boats as well as the roads would make it easier to escape if Daisy caught up with us.”
The mood in the clearing soured as Daisy’s name was uttered, but after a few seconds Leor did her best to break the tension.
“Diareen, huh? Can’t say I’ve heard of it before, but it sounds like as good a plan as any. I vote that we follow along with Arcadia.”
There was a quick chorus of agreement as the rest of the party also expressed their support of the plan. We hadn’t spent long in Tripit, but we hoped this would also work well for us - we figured we could look for work as guards for a river boat or something. The only thing I was certain of was that it would be a long time before I accepted another rescue mission unless I absolutely couldn’t avoid it. I still felt a little nervous and jittery from the night before, and despite feeling mostly better the memory of the nightmare hung around in the back of my mind like the aftertaste of a bitter plant.
With our path being decided, I perked up and pushed down the previous night’s terrors. I felt a trickle of energy flow into my limbs and looked around the campground properly.
“Okay! With that being said, let’s make preparations for travel. How long is it to Diareen, Arcadia?”
Arcadia stayed kneeled next to Ox. As she spoke I noticed that she looked very tired - this whole ordeal had taken a huge toll on her, and it was beginning to show. I hoped I could convince her to take it easy for a bit. Regardless, she thought for a moment before giving me an estimate.
“About three weeks unfortunately, unless we get very lucky and the teamster is headed that way. Also at some point the road will go by the river so we could try and catch a river boat - they aren’t fast, especially since they’d be headed upstream instead of down, and we would need to pay our way, but we wouldn’t need to walk!”
I nodded, not particularly relishing the idea of that long spent traveling but resolved to its necessity. Leor spoke up with a question.
“Are there towns on the way? I don’t know how we’re doing with money exactly, but three weeks is a long time. We will definitely want lodging and we may even need to stop to take on work.”
Ox answered as Arcadia was trying to remember the route.
“Though Arcadia and I haven’t left Tripit much, I’m aware of some of the routes and where they lead. By my reckoning we have four or five small villages and two places big enough I’d call ‘em towns. Could be worse.”
I nodded, relieved. If the places that Ox had mentioned were spread out relatively evenly, that would be a village every few days - that felt a lot better than the ten day trek from Eightside to Tripit. With a grin, I stood and stretched.
“Well, I’ve been asleep too long today as it stands. Let’s get things prepared around here so we can head out tonight!”
There was a flurry of activity afterwards. With much protest, we managed to convince Arcadia to lay down for some rest. Despite her repeated insistence that she wasn’t tired, she was asleep within a minute of laying down and slept almost until nightfall. Oxcard also lounged, drifting into fitful bouts of sleep. As they rested, the rest of us tried to get things shifted around and packed as best we could. Most of our stuff had been at the Sable Sky since stealth had been so paramount to our mission, so we would need to wait for the teamster - Alex - to get back to actually be fully ready to go.
In addition to packing and resting, Oxcard, Oriwyn, and Laran took another go at closing Oxcard’s wound. I made the mistake of watching them remove the old stitching and had to stumble away to get sick in a bush. Eventually, I got the all-clear from Laran and came back into the clearing. Oriwyn had a bucket full of bloody rags that she was going to take to a river and wash. Leor volunteered to go with her, and the two of them left. Meanwhile Oxcard was sitting propped up fully after some time to recover and looked a little better, though redoing the stitches had obviously caused him pain. By the time Alex returned, Oxcard looked like he might actually be healthy enough to walk.
We still didn’t let him of course.
I talked with Alex a bit, thanking them for their help and making good on the price that they had haggled down from Laran the night previous. They offered to give us a ride, which we gladly accepted, and helped us pack our bags up as well. In return for their kindness I offered whatever services we could render to make their journey more comfortable. They accepted, though both of us knew there wasn’t much we could do to help. We learned that Alex would be able to take us as far as Squat’s Hollow - about a third of the total journey - before needing to attend to their own business, which was about as lucky as we could reasonably hope to be. As night began to fall, we had everything loaded on the teamster’s wagon, including Oxcard. Just in case, Oriwyn went ahead of the impromptu caravan to check for any of Daisy’s goons, but seeing no one, we made our way out to the road and started on the next stage of our journey.
Elsewhere: The large man was on his tiptoes trying to reach the top of a shelf, straining to get the can of beans down. Frustrated, he rocked his weight back down onto his heels and glared at the beans disdainfully. With a sigh, he called for his wife to help him out, hoping she wasn’t busy with customers. As his wife opened the door, he reflected on how lucky he had been to find her - she was kind, warm, smart, had a great way when dealing with people, and was taller than him by at least half a head. The man didn’t know why he liked tall women, but he knew he certainly did and fate had seen fit to imbue this lovely giantess with everything else he had been looking for in a partner. She immediately saw the offending can and got it down for him, taking a quick moment to give the man a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. A goofy smile spread across his face as she turned back and closed the storeroom door, returning to the desk at the front of the building. After all, Yada’s combination inn, bath-house, and general store was the only thing in the woods for miles, and someone would always show up eventually.
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First Previous Next

First Previous Next
Chapter 26 - Rest for the Righteous
Last Time: Aiden, Laran, Leor, and Oriwyn - under the employ of Arcadia - executed a daring plan to rescue Oxcard from the clutches of the crime boss Daisy. They managed to get to his room without trouble, but leaving proved to be much more difficult. Laran was cornered and forced to fight several thugs after being seen while skulking around Daisy’s compound. The rest of the party found him and made sure he won the fight but were unable to prevent one of the thugs from alerting the entire building to their presence. What followed was a harrowing flight from Daisy’s forces and Daisy herself. With Leor’s assistance, everyone was able to clear the building and run off into the night, but not without sustaining several injuries. The party made good their getaway however with their client and target in tow and, determined to stay ahead of Daisy’s reprisal, left the city of Tripit behind.
Daisy clutched my throat, the slashes across her face leaking crimson blood that pooled in her snarled teeth. She looked like a wild thing and had me both lifted and pinned to a wall as if I weighed almost nothing. I struggled to breath, kicking my legs feebly, until I suddenly woke up.
Laran was staring down at me. He looked very concerned and more than a little frightened. It took my brain another few seconds to adjust to our surroundings and fully shake off the nightmare.
All of us were arrayed around a clearing underneath hastily constructed tents. I could see Oriwyn crouched beside Ox, who was laying out in the middle of the clearing. Oriwyn’s nose was swollen and her green skin was mottled purple around it - her face looked a little crooked in general, but she seemed to be moving fine enough. Arcadia stood next to the pair, holding a fan and waving it at Oxcard’s face. Groaning, I sat up. Leor sat on a tree stump and glanced at me with a tired grin. Brams lay curled up by her feet, and every once in a while I noticed she would reach down and scratch his head while Oriwyn busied herself with Oxcard.
As I sat up, Laran’s concerned expression broke into a relieved smile so genuine that it made my heart hurt. I wasn’t even injured, yet here he was acting like I’d just gotten up off my death bed. My head still felt fuzzy, so when he held a canteen out to me I took it gladly and took a big drink of water. I granted myself a few moments of silence before getting down to the business of trying to lead again.
“Where exactly are we again? I remember slumping down on the road when Arcadia’s golem gave out, but I don’t really remember anything after that.”
Laran smiled and nodded. The sun shone down on his jade-green skin and helped burn away the remaining damp from the night before. Laran sat back and seemed to finally properly relax. As he did, I couldn’t stop my attention from being wholly drawn to him.
In that moment he was really, really good to look at. And listen to. And be around.
“Ain’t surprised you don’t remember much - we had a time a’ things for sure. Last night - g’morning by the way - a teamster named Alex found us and dragged our sorry hides to this clearin’ off the road. They didn’t ask much about us, though they seemed to get the impression we were in need a’ help something fierce. Right now they’re headed back to Tripit to get our stuff from the Sable Sky - I worked out a price to make it worth their time and delay, then they only accepted half o’ it - and we’re patching everyone up.”
I nodded thoughtfully and took another swig of water. As I swished it in my mouth I realized my throat felt raw as if I’d been yelling or screaming - I hoped I hadn’t been and that the raw feeling in my throat had been solely caused by stress. My mind flicked through a few things to say - I figured I was the Commander, and as bad as we all looked and felt we had still won - before I landed on a sardonic tone. It was time to celebrate with the troops.
“Well everyone, good work. Sorry for sleeping in - I need my beauty sleep much more than the rest of you!” I grinned in what I hoped was a confident way. Oriwyn laughed a bit - it sounded like it hurt her a little to laugh unfortunately - while Leor just snorted. My tone and face shifted to sincerity as I continued.
“More seriously everyone, I think we did it. I think we won despite the odds. How is Oxcard doing?”
I glanced at Arcadia. Tears welled in her eyes and I could tell she was furiously blinking them back.
“Ox is okay, or stable at least. He keeps on breathing and Ori thinks she’s finally managed to fully stem the bleeding.” Arcadia looked down, worried, at her brother. Oriwyn smiled up at her and stood, wiping her slightly bloody hands on a cloth she had on her person. The goblin-mouse reached over and patted the taller woman’s shoulder.
“He’ll be right as rain, especially when he wakes up I think. He’s really quite deft with a needle - I’ve seen sloppier stitch work on people’s pants than he managed to do to himself.”
The ghost of a smile touched Arcadia’s lips as she gazed down at the sleeping Oxcard.
“Yes, he’s always been good with needle and thread. He was the one who kept our clothes in good repair when we were growing up, and unfortunately this isn’t his first improvised surgery. Ox is a survivor. He’ll pull through.”
I noticed, but obviously chose not to comment on, the quiver in her voice when she said that her brother would pull through. I looked him over myself - he seemed to be breathing evenly, and there were some bandages tied around his whole torso that were yet to be spotted with blood, so that seemed like a good sign at least. Satisfied, I turned back to address the group as a whole.
“Can I get a status report from everyone? How are we all doing?”
Laran immediately answered.
“I thought you might want to know! For injuries, I’ve received a small cut on my torso. Arcadia has some pretty bad gashes on her left palm and right forearm. Oriwyn is bruised and her nose was broken - Leor snapped it back in place a few hours ago when Ori started having some trouble breathing, so it looks pretty nasty. Speaking of Leor, she has some burns on her hands from her stunt with the lightning, but Ori managed to find some weird plant I’d never heard of that’s been helping with the pain. Finally, Brams got something of a cut, but it isn’t very deep. It is on his wing though, so as it is healing he will need to be careful about moving too much.”
I nodded and thanked Laran for his report. He looked pleased with himself, and I resolved to thank him privately later for helping me lead the team. All in all, we had gotten off relatively okay. All of us were alive and we had managed to achieve our objective. I took a moment to savor the victory before my mind stumbled into the next inevitable question.
What now?
I sighed as I began to contemplate the question. We likely couldn’t go back to Tripit since Daisy knew what we looked like. Leor might be able to chance it since she’d been outside the whole time, but even then I didn’t think any of us were in a hurry to test that theory out. As another consideration, Arcadia had been through a lot with us, and I felt like I needed to address that fact before too awful long.
“Arcadia, what’s your plan? Or what was your plan? Because I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we don’t want to go back to Tripit any time soon.” I said it with a laugh, but Arcadia looked anxious. I suddenly realized what I said could come across as accusatory. “Hey, it’s not your fault. We knew what we were signing up for and we all did it willingly.”
“You shouldn’t have. Glad you did though.”
The voice was scratchy and strained, husky and rough. We all whipped around to see Ox’s head slightly raised. He had a hand up to shade his eyes from the sun. As we stared at the newly awakened orc, Arcadia sank to her knees and started crying what I could only assume were happy tears. Oxcard grinned thinly and shuffled back, bracing himself against the pillow that had been jammed under his head in an attempt to sit up a little straighter.
“Come on Arcay, get over here.”
Arcadia shuffled over to Ox, nearly crawling. She wrapped him in a gentle hug, careful not to disturb his wounds. He raised his arms and wrapped the human-shadeling in a hug. Her head nestled against his shoulder and she whispered something. The rest of us tried to give them what space we could. When Arcadia broke off the hug and sat back on her haunches, the white spots of skin on her face near her eyes were splotched red with tears. She turned to the rest of us.
“I cannot thank you enough. You all did what no one else was willing to.” It looked like she was searching for more words, but was having a hard time coming up with them. “We cannot thank you enough.”
Ox nodded low in an approximation of a bow.
“Assuming we’ve put enough distance between ourselves and the city, I think we’re safe for the moment. I should be ready to move on by nightfall.”
Oriwyn made a sound like someone lightly stepping on a chicken, a sort of strangled squawk with a burbling undercurrent thanks to her nose.
“Nightfall? As in nightfall tonight?!? As in you’re going to get up and walk tonight?” Her tone was incredulous, and I inclined to agree with her. Oxcard was clearly still not okay, and even if he could walk I didn’t think it would do his stitching any favors. Arcadia just smiled and stood up.
“Okay, we can get moving tonight if everyone else is okay to move. I’ve got a few golems here, and this time someone will be awake enough they won’t rip themselves open trying to get away from someone who is trying to help them.”
It was amazing how quickly her tone changed. She had just been tearfully hugging him, and now she sounded wry and sarcastic at her brother’s antics like he was a six year old who had brought her a mud pie or something. I shook my head in wonder - none of the rest of us in the party had siblings as we all were only children. Obviously Arcadia and Oxcard had not been born to the same mother - my rudimentary knowledge of how the birds and bees worked with the ancestries in Tala indicated as much - but still, they acted like how I thought siblings acted, and they obviously shared a deep bond. It felt good to have that dynamic around, as if it were something the rest of us might have been missing as a group. Shaking myself out of my reverie, I decided to make an announcement.
“I’ve been thinking, and I wanted to offer the two of you a chance to join our group.” I looked around at the existing members of the party, and they all nodded happily. Oriwyn nodded so aggressively she winced as the movement jostled her injured nose. Arcadia and Oxcard looked at each other. I hastened on to add more.
“You don’t need to decide now of course. Actually, if you’ll have us, I was going to ask if we could accompany you to wherever you planned to go Arcadia. We should be safer in a group if any part of the road is likely to be treacherous, plus new company is always a good thing.”
Oxcard said a few quiet things to Arcadia, who said a few quiet things back. I tried not to listen in despite my burning curiosity. Oxcard shrugged and said something else, and then Arcadia turned back to us all.
“My plan was to go to Diareen. It’s a trade city out towards the northern edge of the province. It’s not as big as Tripit, but I figured it would be big enough that we could find something to do.” Arcadia’s face fell a bit as she continued. “Also, I figured that having the river boats as well as the roads would make it easier to escape if Daisy caught up with us.”
The mood in the clearing soured as Daisy’s name was uttered, but after a few seconds Leor did her best to break the tension.
“Diareen, huh? Can’t say I’ve heard of it before, but it sounds like as good a plan as any. I vote that we follow along with Arcadia.”
There was a quick chorus of agreement as the rest of the party also expressed their support of the plan. We hadn’t spent long in Tripit, but we hoped this would also work well for us - we figured we could look for work as guards for a river boat or something. The only thing I was certain of was that it would be a long time before I accepted another rescue mission unless I absolutely couldn’t avoid it. I still felt a little nervous and jittery from the night before, and despite feeling mostly better the memory of the nightmare hung around in the back of my mind like the aftertaste of a bitter plant.
With our path being decided, I perked up and pushed down the previous night’s terrors. I felt a trickle of energy flow into my limbs and looked around the campground properly.
“Okay! With that being said, let’s make preparations for travel. How long is it to Diareen, Arcadia?”
Arcadia stayed kneeled next to Ox. As she spoke I noticed that she looked very tired - this whole ordeal had taken a huge toll on her, and it was beginning to show. I hoped I could convince her to take it easy for a bit. Regardless, she thought for a moment before giving me an estimate.
“About three weeks unfortunately, unless we get very lucky and the teamster is headed that way. Also at some point the road will go by the river so we could try and catch a river boat - they aren’t fast, especially since they’d be headed upstream instead of down, and we would need to pay our way, but we wouldn’t need to walk!”
I nodded, not particularly relishing the idea of that long spent traveling but resolved to its necessity. Leor spoke up with a question.
“Are there towns on the way? I don’t know how we’re doing with money exactly, but three weeks is a long time. We will definitely want lodging and we may even need to stop to take on work.”
Ox answered as Arcadia was trying to remember the route.
“Though Arcadia and I haven’t left Tripit much, I’m aware of some of the routes and where they lead. By my reckoning we have four or five small villages and two places big enough I’d call ‘em towns. Could be worse.”
I nodded, relieved. If the places that Ox had mentioned were spread out relatively evenly, that would be a village every few days - that felt a lot better than the ten day trek from Eightside to Tripit. With a grin, I stood and stretched.
“Well, I’ve been asleep too long today as it stands. Let’s get things prepared around here so we can head out tonight!”
There was a flurry of activity afterwards. With much protest, we managed to convince Arcadia to lay down for some rest. Despite her repeated insistence that she wasn’t tired, she was asleep within a minute of laying down and slept almost until nightfall. Oxcard also lounged, drifting into fitful bouts of sleep. As they rested, the rest of us tried to get things shifted around and packed as best we could. Most of our stuff had been at the Sable Sky since stealth had been so paramount to our mission, so we would need to wait for the teamster - Alex - to get back to actually be fully ready to go.
In addition to packing and resting, Oxcard, Oriwyn, and Laran took another go at closing Oxcard’s wound. I made the mistake of watching them remove the old stitching and had to stumble away to get sick in a bush. Eventually, I got the all-clear from Laran and came back into the clearing. Oriwyn had a bucket full of bloody rags that she was going to take to a river and wash. Leor volunteered to go with her, and the two of them left. Meanwhile Oxcard was sitting propped up fully after some time to recover and looked a little better, though redoing the stitches had obviously caused him pain. By the time Alex returned, Oxcard looked like he might actually be healthy enough to walk.
We still didn’t let him of course.
I talked with Alex a bit, thanking them for their help and making good on the price that they had haggled down from Laran the night previous. They offered to give us a ride, which we gladly accepted, and helped us pack our bags up as well. In return for their kindness I offered whatever services we could render to make their journey more comfortable. They accepted, though both of us knew there wasn’t much we could do to help. We learned that Alex would be able to take us as far as Squat’s Hollow - about a third of the total journey - before needing to attend to their own business, which was about as lucky as we could reasonably hope to be. As night began to fall, we had everything loaded on the teamster’s wagon, including Oxcard. Just in case, Oriwyn went ahead of the impromptu caravan to check for any of Daisy’s goons, but seeing no one, we made our way out to the road and started on the next stage of our journey.
Elsewhere: The large man was on his tiptoes trying to reach the top of a shelf, straining to get the can of beans down. Frustrated, he rocked his weight back down onto his heels and glared at the beans disdainfully. With a sigh, he called for his wife to help him out, hoping she wasn’t busy with customers. As his wife opened the door, he reflected on how lucky he had been to find her - she was kind, warm, smart, had a great way when dealing with people, and was taller than him by at least half a head. The man didn’t know why he liked tall women, but he knew he certainly did and fate had seen fit to imbue this lovely giantess with everything else he had been looking for in a partner. She immediately saw the offending can and got it down for him, taking a quick moment to give the man a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. A goofy smile spread across his face as she turned back and closed the storeroom door, returning to the desk at the front of the building. After all, Yada’s combination inn, bath-house, and general store was the only thing in the woods for miles, and someone would always show up eventually.
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Ok so last night I was falling asleep and went into sleep paralysis and then false awakenings. I haven’t felt panicked during these things in a long time but this time was different.
I thought I was awake so I went to try to reach for my phone- then my room filled with red light and I heard a deep gritty voice tell me “you are now more human than you will ever be”.
I “woke up” again- knew I still wasn’t really awake and then I forced myself awake.
The thing is I wasn’t scared of whatever this was- it was more like it startled me and I didn’t know what to do so I sort of panicked and just wanted to wake up.
I’ve had many false awakening loop situations but this is the first time I’ve heard anything or felt like I was being spoken to directly.
Any ideas on meanings would be cool but I also just wanted to share. (I’m currently working w Thoth and Anpu who ik aren’t Demons, but I’ve been thinking of working with Ipos, Sitri or Asmodeus)

Hello I have a question about S pen. What app I need to download to make S pen make red dot on sceeen, like laser for show something when doing presentations on my tablet?

Hello! I'm looking for some advice that I feel would be better answered by professionals with experience rather than a simple calculator.
I am looking to buy a window ac unit to install in my room. We currently have a portable ac unit that is absolutely HORRIBLE. The reason why we went with this was because we have a side opening window, so we thought going the "easy" portable route was our best bet.. sooo wrong. It runs practically 24/7 and barely makes a dent in cooling.
​
Anywho, heres the following measurements in sq ft/in:

• Closet: 5.42x4.92 / 65x59 (closet is always open to give our cat access)
• Room: 15.63x9.92 / 187.5x119
• Ceiling: 8 / 96

Additional information:

• People: 2 humans, 1 cat
• Heat sources: mini fridge, 2 monitors, 1 PC ( pc & 1 monitor are on most of day since I work from home)
• Sunlight: Black out curtains (open off & on), 3 light bulbs (burns hot enough for me to notice)
• Other: Window leaks enough to collect water during heavy rain, the rest of the house is very poorly temp regulated.

​
Look, I'm 24f and have hormone issues which cause me to have hot flashes, which also causes other medical conditions to worsen. I NEED a better ac unit. We live with my fiancés parents because hard times, and basically live in this one room because the rest of the house is too overbearing to stay in. That being said, our room is uncomfortably crowded which means there's a lot of stuff to cool off as well.
I am planning to get a windowed ac and build a frame over the opened top half of our side opening window, as well as hopefully figure out where the window leak is coming from and try to fix it. I would like to know what BTU you guys would recommend considering all of the above. If you also have any suggestions and links on a good specific ac unit or brand, I am all ears and would REALLY appreciate it!!

Order of the Phoenix was Harry's real growing book, but Half-Blood Prince was the book where Harry really came into his own as a young adult.
Even though Harry is the most popular kid in school, he doesn't let it go to his head:

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane," she said loudly and confidently. "Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," she added in a stage whisper, indicating Neville's bottom, which was sticking out from under the seat again as he groped around for Trevor, and Luna, who was now wearing her free Spectrespecs, which gave her the look of a demented, multicolored owl.
"They're friends of mine," said Harry coldly.
"Oh," said the girl, looking very surprised. "Oh. Okay. "
And she withdrew, sliding the door closed behind her.
"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," said Luna, once again displaying her knack for embarrassing honesty.
"You are cool," said Harry shortly. "None of them was at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."

Also, out of the golden trio, Harry was the only one who behaved appropriately when it came to romance. Hermione and Ron were being snippy at each other because of their shared attraction -- but Harry dealt with his burgeoning feelings for Ginny the right way: he was a supportive friend to Ginny. He wasn't passive-aggressive with her, and he didn't make his feelings known about Ginny and Dean being together until after they'd broken up. Even though he wanted to:

When Harry pushed open the tapestry to take their usual shortcut up to Gryffindor Tower, however, they found themselves looking at Dean and Ginny, who were locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as though glued together.
It was as though something large and scaly erupted into life in Harry's stomach, clawing at his insides: hot blood seemed to flood his brain, so that all thought was extinguished, replaced by a savage urge to jinx Dean into a jelly. Wrestling with this sudden madness, he heard Ron's voice as though from a great distance away.
...
"Yeah, it is!" said Ron, just as angrily. "D' you think I want people saying my sister's a --"
"A what?" shouted Ginny, drawing her wand. "A what, exactly?"
"He doesn't mean anything, Ginny --" said Harry automatically, though the monster was roaring its approval of Ron's words.

Yeah, it's not great that he's agreeing with Ron. But it's nice that he's acting like a mature person, rather than letting those thoughts rule his actions. And it was also interesting to me that he actually physically stopped Ron from taking things too far when Ron cast a spell at Ginny.

A streak of orange light flew under Harry's left arm and missed Ginny by inches; Harry pushed Ron up against the wall.
"Don't be stupid --"

Actually, Harry stood up to Ron a few times. As Dumbledore said, it takes a lot of courage to stand up to your friends.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Harry, who had seen Ginny glowering in Ron's direction and, remembering her reputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat-Bogey Hex, soared over to intervene before things got out of hand. "Peakes, go and pack up the Bludgers. Demelza, pull yourself together, you played really well today. Ron. . . " he waited until the rest of the team were out of earshot before saying it, "you're my best mate, but carry on treating the rest of them like this and I'm going to kick you off the team."

But the big shining Harry moment for me is after Hermione and Ron had their fight, Harry ended up being the mature peacemaker who kept his nose out of shit talking either one.

"She can't complain," [Ron] told Harry. "She snogged Krum. So she's found out someone wants to snog me too. Well, it's a free country. I haven't done anything wrong. "
Harry did not answer, but pretended to be absorbed in the book they were supposed to have read before Charms next morning (Quintessence: A Quest). Determined as he was to remain friends with both Ron and Hermione, he was spending a lot of time with his mouth shut tight.
...
"He's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes," said Hermione, while the librarian, Madam Pince, prowled the shelves behind them. "I really couldn't care less."
She raised her quill and dotted an 'i' so ferociously that she punctured a hole in her parchment. Harry said nothing. He thought his voice might soon vanish from the lack of use.

And we get this sad, but sweet scene where Harry goes to comfort Hermione:

Hermione laughed unkindly at Ron's disastrous first attempt, during which he somehow managed to give himself a spectacular handlebar mustache; Ron retaliated by doing a cruel but accurate impression of Hermione jumping up and down in her seat every time Professor McGonagall asked a question, which Lavender and Parvati found deeply amusing and which reduced Hermione to the verge of tears again. She raced out of the classroom on the bell, leaving half her things behind; Harry, deciding that her need was greater than Ron's just now, scooped up her remaining possessions and followed her.
He finally tracked her down as she emerged from a girl's bathroom on the floor below.

Then Harry calls Ron out on it later:

"You could say sorry," suggested Harry bluntly.
"What, and get attacked by another flock of canaries?" muttered Ron.
"What did you have to imitate her for?"
"She laughed at my mustache!"
"So did I, it was the stupidest thing I've ever seen. "

The episode resumed on a shot of two totem poles hanging from tree branches. The one on the left was a green-marked rat sitting on a toxic waste barrel; and the one on the right was a red-marked three-eyed maggot with a hazard sign on its base and a hatchet stuck in the bottom.
"Those, are your team totems," Chris explained, the shot panning down to show each team standing below their respective totem with the host roughly between them, the entire group standing in front of a river. "You need to cut 'em down, and get 'em in the river, and ride 'em back to the campgrounds," he explained. "First team there gets their pick of the cabins. But hurry! The totems are rigged with bombs that will explode if you don't plant 'em in front of your cabin in seven minutes or less," the shot zoomed in on the timer on the Rats' totem. "Starting now," Chris quickly added, and the timer began counting down from 7:00.
"Ooh, I wanna go first!" Katie replied enthusiastically, jumping onto the trampoline that had been set-up under the Maggots' totem. However, rather than go straight up she bounced off to the right with a startled cry and landed with a painful crash just past a nearby shrub.
\
"I'll give this a try!" Geoff announced as the focus moved to the other team, grabbing the hacksaw and jumping onto the trunk of the tree the Rats' totem was hanging from. Sierra and Sammy watched him climb in wary silence, then took a shocked step back when he slid back down almost immediately. "Don't worry. I got this!" Geoff brushed off his pain.
"I don't think that's going to work," Sierra said while B was thinking of what to do. "We need a plan!"
\
Scarlett examined the trampoline as the camera cut to the Maggots. "Here's what's going to happen. DJ will hit the center of the trampoline-"
Anne Maria walked past Scarlett. "Back off. I want a crack at this."
"I did not calculate your weight!" Scarlett tried to tell her.
Standing on a rock, Anne Maria jumped onto the trampoline. She slammed right up into the base of the totem face first and nowhere near the ax. She fell down to the trampoline, which bounced her back up, and caused her to slam into it with her back before falling again. The team watched in growing discomfort as Anne Maria repeatedly hit the trampoline and the totem back and forth. After a few more collisions, DJ pulled the trampoline out from under Anne Maria before she could hit it again. Instead of bouncing on the trampoline once more, Anne Maria's body crashed on the ground.
Confessional: Anne Maria
"Sure, I want to win a million dollars, but not at the expense of my looks," Anne Maria gestured to herself. "I mean, check me out. Perfect hair, perfect tan… all this is worth a billion, easy."
Confessional Ends
The footage cut back to another shot of the Rats' totem, Geoff still climbing up the tree.
"Well, if he can't climb it," Sammy said, the camera cutting back down to the forest floor where she and her teammates were looking up, "then I doubt any of us are gonna be able to."
"We have to do something," Sierra countered. "The Maggots are taking the lead!"
B then grabbed Leshawna's hand and led her to a log being balanced by a large rock. "Oh okay. You want me on this thing?" Leshawna asked while being positioned.
"Whoa there," Sierra said when B took her near the tree. "You want me to stand here?"
B ran and did a front flip onto the log, resulting in Leshawna landing on Sierra's shoulders. They all voiced their support, until Geoff fell on the ground in pain.
Confessional: Sierra
"OMG! This is my first confessional ever! I am so excited!" Sierra gushed. "I never thought I would be on Total Drama, my favorite show in the world! Now I will finally put to rest all those blog questions, like "Who will be our next villain?" or "Who's going to get eliminated first?""
Confessional Ends
A close-up showed Scarlett giving the trampoline's position a few minor adjustments, then smiling and standing back up. "Okay, you should be good to go!" she told Dave, who was now standing on the large rock that was behind their team.
"Right," Dave nodded. A tense challenge tune began as he jumped down onto the trampoline, then straight up to the totem pole. He grabbed onto the hatchet buried in the wooden carving and tried to pull it free, but it didn't budge. "How is this stuck in here so deep?" he grunted, swinging his legs up so he could brace them against the bottom of the totem pole.
"Well guys," Molly said, the camera panning down to her and the rest of the Maggots looking up. "I don't think this is gonna be enough."
Confessional: Molly
"Okay, so I don't really like working with people," Molly admitted to the outhouse camera. "I've been raised to work by myself and without help. My parents made me audition just so I can learn how to, uh, what's the word that starts with c?"
Confessional Ends
B launched Sammy up onto Scott's shoulders, who already went before her. "I'm good."
\
The challenge music resumed as the shot cut back to Dave hanging from the hatchet, still trying to pull it out. "Almost...got it!" he said, finally freeing the ax then grabbing a short branch below the totem as he started to fall back down.
"Nice job, Dave!" Trent cheered down below.
"Watch out!" Katie said suddenly, pointing up at the branch Dave was hanging by one arm from as a hairless squirrel emerged from a hole in the trunk with an annoyed chitter. "It's one of those weird rat things!"
The squirrel seemed to take offense to that, and its eyes began to glow red. It suddenly shot eye-lasers down at the phone addict, who jumped away. The squirrel did not let up, however, and kept sweeping its laser-gaze across the panicking Maggots below.
"Are these animals even tested?" Trent panicked.
\
B cartwheeled before jumping onto the log in order to get Geoff standing over Sammy.
"We just need one more person!" Leshawna reminded B. "Max, get your butt over here!"
The camera cut to the supervillain, who was writing on his notebook. "What evil nickname should I give myself? Professor Abomination? Too soft. Doctor Repugnance. Too smelly. Little Mister Dreadulocks. Me likey."
Max put his notebook away and went back to his team.
\
The hairless squirrel was still attempting to zap the six grounded Maggots, forcing them to run about in terror.
"I thought animals were our friends!" DJ shrieked.
"Oh no," Dave said as the shot cut back to him hanging from the branch the squirrel was on, which soon turned its attention to him. "Why are you zapping me?!" He quickly threw the hatchet in front of his face as the squirrel fired its laser, and the beam bounced off the tool and directed at the higher branch the totem was hanging from – the blast snapped through it, sending the Maggots' totem pole crashing to the ground. The team cheered and Dave got off the branch.
"Now to get this totem into the water!" Scarlett said after.
\
"Release me this instant!" Max yelled because of B dragging his body onto the log.
With a mighty leap B launched the small, screaming boy into the air, and the dramatic music peaked as he sailed through the air. Max was able to land on top of Geoff.
"Quick!" Geoff told him, the shot zooming out to show him giving Max the rickshaw. "Cut the rope, little dude!"
"I don't like being told what to do normally," Max brattily whined, turning around and sawing through the rope holding up their totem. A few seconds later, the totem landed on the ground earning a cheer from the seven Rats.
"Nice job, B. We might just win this!" Sierra congratulated the burly man.
Confessional: B
B blew into his fist and rubbed it off in accomplishment.
Confessional: Scott
Scott was throwing a rock against the wall and catching it when it bounced back to him. "B thinks he's so smart. But once my plan goes into action, he won't know what hit him!" In the middle of his sentence, he stopped throwing his rock. He went back to his activity once more, but failed to catch the rock as it hit his eye, making him react painfully.
Confessionals End
The challenge music resumed over a shot of the rocky river, whoops and shouts of excitement coming from upstream. The camera panned up just as the Toxic Rats floated by on their totem – B at the head followed by Geoff, Scott, Max, Leshawna, Sierra, and Sammy on the end. The Mutant Maggots floated by soon after, Scarlett in front, followed by Molly, Katie, Anne Maria, Trent, Dave, and DJ in back.
"They're gaining on us, dudes!" Geoff shouted in alarm after looking back.
"I think we have bigger problems," Scott said, pointing forward. "Look!"
The perspective briefly switched to reveal that the river they were on was heading over a cliff, and the Rats gasped. "Weaklings," Max scoffed, "it's just a little waterfall!"
"It's more than just a little waterfall!" Sierra corrected in rising panic.
The shot zoomed out to show the top of the waterfall, the seven screaming teenagers shooting over it on their totem pole and falling into the forest below. Unseen branches snapped as they plummeted, but the camera cut to the ground just in time to show them landing on the shore of the waterfall's basin on the broadside of the totem pole, and after a bounce that jostled Sammy from her seat they began to slide down a hill.
Sammy screamed, hanging on to the back of the fast-moving pole with only her hands.
"Hold on, I've got you!" Sierra told her, quickly turning around and grabbing her arms. She easily pulled her back onto the totem, and the cheerleader instantly stopped screaming. "Hang on to the totem pole tightly if you don't want that to happen again."
"Uh, sure!" Sammy hesitantly promised.
Back at the top of the waterfall, the Mutant Maggots shot out into the air with screams of their own. As with their rivals, the sound of crashing branches preceded the thud of their landing, and they whooped and cheered as the camera cut to them sliding down the hill.
"Lean forward!" Scarlett commanded.
"You want us to do what?" Anne Maria spluttered.
"She's right. Lean!" Trent said, and the others promptly did so. The shot zoomed back out to show the Maggots passing the Rats.
"Now they're in front of us!" Leshawna shouted.
"B wants us to lean forward!" Geoff advised everyone, and they leaned forward as well.
"FASTER!" Max barked, to the annoyance of his teammates. "We must go faster or else-"
"We get it!" The Toxic Rats stopped Max's ranting.
\
The music stopped abruptly as the scene moved to Chris and Chef, lounging in short white deck chairs outside of the cabins – the one on the right looked just as it had in season one, but the one on the left had been replaced by what looked like a larger and much fancier two-and-a-half-story house.
"Ahh, feels good to be back," Chris said, leaning back in his chair while Chef read a book.
The sound of panting prompted the camera to pan to the right, and none other than Owen ran up. "Hey, Chris," he said, "the boat wouldn't stop for some reason!"
"Oh look, it's former player Owen," Chris told the camera, "who's not competing this year!"
Owen continued. "So I swam back over here to-" He paused, blinked, then widened his eyes in realization. "What?! Not competing?!"
"I'm afraid you and the other 'classic players' have outlived your usefulness," Chris explained. He briefly looked at the camera, then added "Chef?"
The hulking man stepped forward and planted a bomb similar to the ones on the totem poles on Owen's chest. Owen screamed in growing horror as the light on the bomb began to blink. He turned and fled, but the host smiled impishly and eyed the button on his remote.
The scene cut to a long-distance view of the thousand-foot-high cliff as Owen's screams were followed by an explosion that launched him into the air, visible even from afar.
Chris and Chef were laughing hysterically as the shot cut back to them, but they stopped as soon as they heard the laughs and cheers of a team approaching from the forest. The camera cut to the foot of a hill on the edge of the woods as the totem bearing the Mutant Maggots slid down, and came to a stop just before the host and cook as a victorious tune played.
"Yes! We arrived first!" Katie cheered in celebration.
"Tick tock," Chris told them. The bomb's timer was shown counting down from 0:15 to 0:14.
"Quick, grab the better cabin!" Dave commanded, and the shot cut to the two cabins – a flat stump occupying the area between them – as the seven teens carried their massive totem over their heads, grunting with the effort.
They managed to place it upright on the stump, and the timer stopped at 0:05 seconds. As it flashed and beeped the Maggots cheered for their victory...that is, until the sound of approaching screams caught their attention.
The music turned tense again as the Rats finally arrived at the bottom of the hill, hitting a small bump in just the right way to send their totem flying into the air. All seven fell off it, and to the mute shock of Chris and Chef it crashed into the second story of the better cabin. The timer on it counted down from 0:03, to 0:02, to 0:01.
The explosion that followed blew the entire two-and-a-half-story building apart, leaving behind nothing but smoke and splintered boards.
"Too bad," Chris told the Mutant Maggots as the camera panned right to the seven shocked teens standing around their totem pole, "it had an eight-person hot tub and air conditioning!" They all groaned in disappointment.
"That just makes it worse!" Molly grumbled.
Chris gave her a look of amusement and smiled. "Look on the bright side," he told the indie chick. "As the first team to arrive, you guys win the first challenge!" They cheered and celebrated their victory.
"So where are we gonna sleep?" DJ asked the host after they finished celebrating.
"No worries," Chris told him as the sound of a helicopter rose up nearby. "We've got a back-up cabin for you. It's every bit as nice as the one you lost." As he spoke, the show's red helicopter was shown bringing in the cabin in question and lowering it into the scattered rubble of the old one...revealing that the new one was basically identical to the older model the Rats had gotten stuck with.
The Maggots groaned again as it landed on the ground and one of its doors fell off its hinges.
"Team Rat," Chris told them as the camera panned back to them, "I'll see you at the campfire for the first elimination ceremony of the season." He laughed, then high-fived Chef.
The seven losers grudgingly made their way to their new abode, and the camera focused in on Max near the back of the group as he sniffed. "Such incompetence. Are all of you good for nothing?"
"Excuse me? It ain't our fault we lost," Leshawna said, angry with Max. "The other team was faster than all of us even when we busted our butts out there!"
"Hmph! My point still stands," Max ignored the sista. "Now nobody bother me! I'm going to rest for a while because I deserve it after what we've been through today."
As Max sniffed once more while walking to his cabin with even more disdain than the last, he was completely oblivious to the glares he was receiving from his teammates.
The shot zoomed on to Scott, who was mad at first but then knew who to vote off. "I think I know who'll be on the chopping block tonight."
\
The footage skipped ahead with a dramatic beat, a full moon now shining over Camp Wawanakwa.
"The votes are cast," Chris said as the camera panned down to the campfire pit, the seven members of the Toxic Rats sitting among the eleven stump seats – Max and Leshawna in the front row on the far right; and Sammy, Scott, Sierra, Geoff, and B taking up the entire back – and Chris in position at the oil drum podium. "Those who receive a regular marshmallow can stay. But this season," the shot cut in closer to the host as the faintest beginnings of the series' deep and tense elimination music played, "one player will receive a very special marshmallow. A marshmallow you do not wanna eat." He motioned to the side as Chef walked up, wearing a hazmat suit and carrying a thick metal box marked with a hazard symbol.
Chef flipped open the lid of the box, revealing a single marshmallow with a bright but sickly green glow to it. "Whoever gets the Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom," the host explained, "is out of the contest. Which means, you can't come back! Ev-er." He paused for a brief moment, then smiled and picked up the first normal marshmallow from the tray resting in front of him.
"The following players are safe," he announced. "Sierra," he tossed the first bit of white to the obsessive uberfan, who caught it eagerly.
"Scott." The second was thrown to the devious, who caught it in his hand with a smirk.
"B." The mute claimed his marshmallow with open hands.
"Sammy." The nervous caught her prize while frowning.
"And Geoff." The party guy got his next, catching it with his hat.
"And the Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom goes to," Chris announced as the music began to rise. The camera cut to the back-right corner as Leshawna and Max stiffened up. As the tension in the music continued to build, close-ups of each contestant were shown – first Leshawna, then Max – as they began to tremble and sweat. The Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom was shown glowing in a pair of tongs held by Chef, and finally the camera cut back to Chris as the music peaked and he said...
"Max."
"BLAST!" Max shouted in outrage. "You shall regret ever having met me, Chris McLean!" The glowing marshmallow was tossed at him, but he caught it and threw it back, though he winced at the pain; a few dark notes played as the toxic sweet burned a hole into the ground.
"If it makes you feel any better," Chris told him, "we came up with something new this season! You'll looove it."
\
The screen rotated around itself, the scene cutting to the torch-lit dock where, of all things, a large catapult had been set up. Max was sitting warily in its bowl while Chris watched nearby.
A short but grandiose fanfare played. "Say hello to the 'Hurl of Shame'!" Chris introduced excitedly, the series' sombre farewell tune beginning in the background. "Patent pending."
"I shall have my REVENGE!!" Max declared before he was catapulted into the air and hurled off into the distance over the lake.
"One down, thirteen to go," Chris told the camera with a grin, the series' capstone theme starting up. "Who's next in line? Find out next time, right here," he pointed downward, "on Total! Drama! Revenge of the Island!"
The camera jumped outward with each part of the title as usual, ending with a long-distance shot of Wawanakwa with the moon's broken reflection shimmering on the surface of the lake.
(Roll the Credits)