Jurassic park little caesars
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2022.06.06 05:20 Thy-arkoos JurassicWorldToys
Just a nice little place to talk about the Jurassic park/world toys
2023.06.02 20:23 missy_meg My thoughts on the Beard/ Jane debate
Strap in folks: it’s a long one. TLDR; I think they got it wrong with Beard and Jane but that didn’t take away from it being an incredible show.
Like many here, I felt really disappointed with Hunt’s response re Jane’s abusive behaviour. I think he gave some awesome answers and it was so amazing of him to give up his time to do an AMA. However, dismissing the many fans’ view of Jane’s actions as abusive as “a bridge too far” felt a little off tone to me.
My ADHD-ass all-or-nothing brain had a mini meltdown last night because I felt that I couldn’t love this incredible show any more because something so important wasn’t handled well. But that’s not the case - it’s possible to love and appreciate the incredible things TL has done and recognise there was a blind spot at the same time.
Here are the reasons why I (and many others) felt a little disappointed:
b) In the 90s it was a common comedic trope to have a man get a girl drunk so he can have sex with her. Those characters were rarely considered heroic and often were unpleasant (just as Hunt conceded that Beard and Jane’s relationship could be considered unhealthy and even toxic). However, the writers at the time weren’t intending to present these characters as r*pists. We know now that getting someone drunk to have sex with them is premeditated r*pe. You are putting someone in a position where they don’t have the capacity to consent. But the writers in these 90s comedies weren’t trying to tackle the complex theme of r*pe.
In the same way, Brendan Hunt saying that the writers didn’t intend to present Jane as abusive does not mean that her character is not abusive. It simply exposes a social and political blind spot on their part.
c) I’ve seen a lot of people saying that Jane is not abusive because Beard loves her and he’s happy. This is concerning as it perpetuates a really unhealthy myth about survivors of abuse. I volunteer on a helpline for survivors of sexual assault and it’s very common for women to tell me that they miss their abuser (particularly if they were in a relationship with them for a long time) even after everything they went through. They often ask if that’s ok, because they struggle to navigate it with their friends who cannot understand how you can miss and still love your abuser. In fact, it’s even used by defence lawyers to suggest that abuse can’t have taken place if the victim still loves and misses the perpetrator. They can and often do. It’s why many people stay in abusive relationships or return to them. Beard can be in love with Jane. He can even be happy with her (though through much of their relationship, he does seem in considerable pain) and it doesn’t mean that her behaviour is not abusive.
For example, they could have shown the couple growing together: that as she became more secure with Beard, she is less controlling. But ending the show with what is easily the most abusive controlling behaviour of all - the passport shredding, it seems her controlling behaviour hasn’t changed at all.
It would even be possible to show their relationship as dysfunctional and have her being difficult and passionate and intense, but without textbook controlling behaviour.
Alternatively, the show could argue that this relationship is right for Beard right now - he was addicted to meth. Now he is addicted to something else that gives him intense happiness but also intense pain but this addiction is less dangerous. It’s ok to show that this relationship works for him for now, but to brush off Jane’s behaviour as funny and quirky is quite dangerous as it promotes the idea that controlling and abusive behaviour is just passionate and different.
I think the show could have handled this more reliably without necessarily making it a central theme or even explicitly about abuse. 3. This is a show that creates a space for men to be vulnerable in a way that society doesn’t allow them to be. The “male victim/ survivor” issue is such a huge part of that. When it comes to women, this is spot on. When Keeley is sexually harassed by having nudes leaked, the show addresses victim blaming really well. Keeley doesn’t present as the traditional “victim” because she is fierce and powerful and has posed naked for professional photos. The show handles this beautifully - that she is still a victim despite those things and she is not responsible for what happened to her.
And yet, I’ve seen so many people say that Beard can stand up for himself and can handle Jane etc. so she’s not abusing him. That’s irrelevant. You can be strong and fierce and powerful and be a victim. You can fight back and be a victim. You can hold your own and be a victim.
*You can be man and be a victim.*
I think what disappointed me most about this is that it’s something the show has focused on elsewhere: men being able to have “girl talk”; men being able to open about mental health; men having healthy and close platonic relationships with other men. And yet a stigma that still pervades our society so fiercely: men as victims, was broached (albeit unintentionally) but not fully addressed. How I’ve managed to rationalise this:
Ted Lasso, to me, is a snapshot of this complex journey that is life. It wasn’t supposed to tie up loose ends in the finale because that’s not how life works. It’s not about a happy ending. It’s about what we learn about ourselves and how we continue to learn about ourselves.
It’s ok for Beard and Jane to stay together at the end because his progression in the show is letting go of his dependency on Ted and carving his own path. He may leave her later when he learns that this isn’t healthy. She may learn and grow with them. Having a baby could mean they grow up and parent the hell out of that kid. Or maybe it all goes terribly wrong a few years down the line. We don’t know. Because in life you just don’t know.
Do I wish they had maybe left it with him simply returning to her and not done the happily ever after wedding shot? Yeah probably - I think it frames it in the wrong light.
Do I wish Brendan Hunt hadn’t been so dismissive of the suggestion Jane was abusive and thus perpetuating controlling behaviour as a comedy bit? Hell yeah (still have a huge amount of respect for him as an incredible writer and actor.)
However, I think that it’s ok to say that Beard did what he wanted and needed in this moment. And he didn’t need to have this epiphany and leave her to make the show make sense. Human beings navigate our relationships in our own way and while I wish Jane’s behaviour was less textbook abusive, I think there’s no “right” way to be in love.
I am not writing this for a fight - I just want to explain clearly to those who don’t get it, why so many people were upset by it. And for those who were upset by it, to remind you that one blind spot doesn’t undo an amazing and incredible show! And because I don’t have many friends who are up to date on the show and I need a place to articulate how I feel so can draw a line under it and move on.
If you read to get end, thank you for letting me share! Love you all you Lasso Legends!
submitted by missy_meg to TedLasso [link] [comments]
Like many here, I felt really disappointed with Hunt’s response re Jane’s abusive behaviour. I think he gave some awesome answers and it was so amazing of him to give up his time to do an AMA. However, dismissing the many fans’ view of Jane’s actions as abusive as “a bridge too far” felt a little off tone to me.
My ADHD-ass all-or-nothing brain had a mini meltdown last night because I felt that I couldn’t love this incredible show any more because something so important wasn’t handled well. But that’s not the case - it’s possible to love and appreciate the incredible things TL has done and recognise there was a blind spot at the same time.
Here are the reasons why I (and many others) felt a little disappointed:
- Jane *does* display abusive behaviour regardless of what the writers “intended.” This is because a) if you break the law, it’s not a matter of “opinion” it’s the law; b) writers are a product of their society - they can have a blind spot; c) the way a victim feels about their abuser does not make a difference to whether or not it is abuse.
b) In the 90s it was a common comedic trope to have a man get a girl drunk so he can have sex with her. Those characters were rarely considered heroic and often were unpleasant (just as Hunt conceded that Beard and Jane’s relationship could be considered unhealthy and even toxic). However, the writers at the time weren’t intending to present these characters as r*pists. We know now that getting someone drunk to have sex with them is premeditated r*pe. You are putting someone in a position where they don’t have the capacity to consent. But the writers in these 90s comedies weren’t trying to tackle the complex theme of r*pe.
In the same way, Brendan Hunt saying that the writers didn’t intend to present Jane as abusive does not mean that her character is not abusive. It simply exposes a social and political blind spot on their part.
c) I’ve seen a lot of people saying that Jane is not abusive because Beard loves her and he’s happy. This is concerning as it perpetuates a really unhealthy myth about survivors of abuse. I volunteer on a helpline for survivors of sexual assault and it’s very common for women to tell me that they miss their abuser (particularly if they were in a relationship with them for a long time) even after everything they went through. They often ask if that’s ok, because they struggle to navigate it with their friends who cannot understand how you can miss and still love your abuser. In fact, it’s even used by defence lawyers to suggest that abuse can’t have taken place if the victim still loves and misses the perpetrator. They can and often do. It’s why many people stay in abusive relationships or return to them. Beard can be in love with Jane. He can even be happy with her (though through much of their relationship, he does seem in considerable pain) and it doesn’t mean that her behaviour is not abusive.
- It could have been handled in so many other ways and still have ended with them together if that’s what the writers felt was right.
For example, they could have shown the couple growing together: that as she became more secure with Beard, she is less controlling. But ending the show with what is easily the most abusive controlling behaviour of all - the passport shredding, it seems her controlling behaviour hasn’t changed at all.
It would even be possible to show their relationship as dysfunctional and have her being difficult and passionate and intense, but without textbook controlling behaviour.
Alternatively, the show could argue that this relationship is right for Beard right now - he was addicted to meth. Now he is addicted to something else that gives him intense happiness but also intense pain but this addiction is less dangerous. It’s ok to show that this relationship works for him for now, but to brush off Jane’s behaviour as funny and quirky is quite dangerous as it promotes the idea that controlling and abusive behaviour is just passionate and different.
I think the show could have handled this more reliably without necessarily making it a central theme or even explicitly about abuse. 3. This is a show that creates a space for men to be vulnerable in a way that society doesn’t allow them to be. The “male victim/ survivor” issue is such a huge part of that. When it comes to women, this is spot on. When Keeley is sexually harassed by having nudes leaked, the show addresses victim blaming really well. Keeley doesn’t present as the traditional “victim” because she is fierce and powerful and has posed naked for professional photos. The show handles this beautifully - that she is still a victim despite those things and she is not responsible for what happened to her.
And yet, I’ve seen so many people say that Beard can stand up for himself and can handle Jane etc. so she’s not abusing him. That’s irrelevant. You can be strong and fierce and powerful and be a victim. You can fight back and be a victim. You can hold your own and be a victim.
*You can be man and be a victim.*
I think what disappointed me most about this is that it’s something the show has focused on elsewhere: men being able to have “girl talk”; men being able to open about mental health; men having healthy and close platonic relationships with other men. And yet a stigma that still pervades our society so fiercely: men as victims, was broached (albeit unintentionally) but not fully addressed. How I’ve managed to rationalise this:
Ted Lasso, to me, is a snapshot of this complex journey that is life. It wasn’t supposed to tie up loose ends in the finale because that’s not how life works. It’s not about a happy ending. It’s about what we learn about ourselves and how we continue to learn about ourselves.
It’s ok for Beard and Jane to stay together at the end because his progression in the show is letting go of his dependency on Ted and carving his own path. He may leave her later when he learns that this isn’t healthy. She may learn and grow with them. Having a baby could mean they grow up and parent the hell out of that kid. Or maybe it all goes terribly wrong a few years down the line. We don’t know. Because in life you just don’t know.
Do I wish they had maybe left it with him simply returning to her and not done the happily ever after wedding shot? Yeah probably - I think it frames it in the wrong light.
Do I wish Brendan Hunt hadn’t been so dismissive of the suggestion Jane was abusive and thus perpetuating controlling behaviour as a comedy bit? Hell yeah (still have a huge amount of respect for him as an incredible writer and actor.)
However, I think that it’s ok to say that Beard did what he wanted and needed in this moment. And he didn’t need to have this epiphany and leave her to make the show make sense. Human beings navigate our relationships in our own way and while I wish Jane’s behaviour was less textbook abusive, I think there’s no “right” way to be in love.
I am not writing this for a fight - I just want to explain clearly to those who don’t get it, why so many people were upset by it. And for those who were upset by it, to remind you that one blind spot doesn’t undo an amazing and incredible show! And because I don’t have many friends who are up to date on the show and I need a place to articulate how I feel so can draw a line under it and move on.
If you read to get end, thank you for letting me share! Love you all you Lasso Legends!
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Nikita Cruze Nina Kayy Nnnnekochan Nonsalemwitch Norafawn Nymphet Angel Oakleyraeee Ocicat Officialzoerenea Oliviamaebae gas3 Okichloeo Olivia Eden Orphicbunny Paigeuncaged Paige Woolen Pantynectar Patricia Lopez Pengali Princess Phia Pixei Praewasian Prosexx Puppiwi P7oh7 Queen Needy hsdf 1 Queenqawan Quinnfinite Quqco Railey Diesel Rainey James Razorbaby Realprettyangel RealSkyBri Redheadwinter Renata Riww RileyFans Romi Rain Rori Rain Rose Monroe Roxysdream SaabSilvi Saleemamansur Samantona Saucekaybaby Savana Sky Scarlett Johansson Scarlet Silva Senya Marin Shania Perrett Shinratensei98h te134 Shycutie Siegex Sierra Cabot Skyexxxsummers Skyiiah Snaxychann Sienna Mae Gomez Skylar Blue Sofiallia Fiaax2 Safiyaax Sofia Mariana Sofia Silk Sophielaurenxxo Soogsx and Puppiwii Stella Barey Steffy Moreno Stefanie Gurzanski Steph Murves Summer Brookes Sweetie Fox Sydneymay Tahlia Hall Tanababyxo Tantot Twins Tayathegoddess TayTatted gasd1 Tayylavie TheBaeBreanna Theesammyjo TheGorillaGrip Theprivateavocado Tiffanynhoe Tiny Texie Talia Mar Triplex Celeste Trippie Bri Trishyland Tru Kait Urfavbellabby Ur69baby Uwucatxoxo Valeria Vidal Vanessa.rhd Vanessa Sierra Vega Thompson Vero Gold gsrf3 Veronica Zolotova Vismara Martina Vyvan Le Wettmelons Whoahannahjo Whosbonnieandclyde Xailormoon Xenon Xlucy Yasmine Lopez Yololary YourSuggerBaby Yoya Grey Yummy Kimmy Yur Aular Zayla Skye Zipoz Zusje Addison Rae Faith Ordway fsad121 Emily Ratajkowsk Emma Chamberlain Dixie D'Amelio Madison Beer Erin Gilfoy danielle bregoli2023.06.02 20:06 -_bruh-_-moment_- help with what might be chronic pain?
Essentially, my entire life my feet have started hurting while walking way before anyone else's, and way worse than everyone else's. Many times it's gotten so bad that I will start crying or walking extremely unusually to try and alleviate at least a little bit of the pain until I get to a point to where I can sit down. I'm only 16. The pain feels like it is in the bottom of my foot, in the arch mainly, and also on the ball of my foot, in both feet. The feeling kind of feels dull and really sore. Recently, my dad was visiting with me over the weekend and we were walking at the park and we were talking about my foot pain (thankfully it wasnt that bad yet) and he just kind of casually mentioned that that happened to him too. I never knew this. I talked to my mom about it (who knows about my foot thing, I've been living with her my entire life) and she said he had never mentioned it either. But now it seems like it might have something to do with genetics? I tried looking it up but I'm honestly lost. We've never gone to the doctor for it because the entire family (including me) has adhd and we all just end up forgetting and it never happens. If anyone knows what it could be, I would really appreciate some guesses or advice. I would also like to know if this would be considered chronic pain? I've never really been sure.
submitted by -_bruh-_-moment_- to helpme [link] [comments]
2023.06.02 20:02 WebsterFilmSeries The Innocent - Now Showing at Webster Film Series 6/2(FRI)–6/4(SUN), at 7:30PM
 | Happy 1st weekend of June! Tonight, and through the weekend, 6/2(FRI)–6/4(SUN), at 7:30PM, we bring to you–The Innocent, a delightful confection of a genre hybrid French heist film, directed and starring Louis Garrel. A perfect summer movie for everyone, bring your friends and family to enjoy it on our gorgeous big screen! submitted by WebsterFilmSeries to StLouis [link] [comments] The Innocent - Trailer https://preview.redd.it/lt2xx81b8n3b1.jpg?width=3300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddd32e54ecf7c5bb14384e23b7ae8a5997cfc5fb 39-year-old Louis Garrel has quietly been making a name for himself for decades. Perhaps best known in America for his costarring role in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 2003 film The Dreamers, Louis has long been in the public eye in his native France for being the son of famous filmmakers Phillippe Garrel (many of whose films Louis has starred in) and Brigitte Sy. Louis, as it happens, is apparently good at everything—he’s a charming actor (as witnessed in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, in which he plays Jo’s professor Friedrich Bhaer), he writes compelling screenplays, and he directs breezy genre exercises that end long before you want them to. In The Innocent, his acclaimed newest, Louis plays Abel, whose mother Sylvie (Anouk Grinberg) marries Michel (Roschdy Zem), a student in her drama class at a local penitentiary. Worried for his mother’s safety and the trustworthiness of her hastily-married beau, Abel engages in some amateur sleuthing and soon finds himself in more trouble than what he was afraid Michel himself might be getting into. Costarring Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s Noémie Merlant as Abel’s too-eager-to-help friend Clémence, The Innocent has the necessary chemistry amongst cast members and combination of modes (thriller, suspense, family drama, slapstick comedy, romance, you name it) to please all comers. In French with English subtitles. The Innocent (Louis Garrel, 2022, France, 99 minutes) For more info Showtimes: THREE NIGHTS ONLY, 6/2(FRI)–6/4(SUN) at 7:30PM Location: Winifred Moore Auditorium, 470 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, MO 63119 (Webster U. campus parking in front of and behind Winifred Moore Auditorium is free to patrons during nights we are showing movies!) Admission: $8 for General Admission, $7 for seniors(60+), Webster alumni & students from other schools Sign up for our weekly eNewsletter to stay informed of our upcoming screenings! |
2023.06.02 19:58 Techn9cian Background Check. Petty Theft Infraction. [Los Angeles, CA]
Hi everyone,
I will be offered a job pretty soon and will have to go through a background check. A little over 6 years ago I got caught with theft under $50. Nothing happened initally, I gave the item back and was on my way. 8 months later a detective calls me saying the retail store is filing a case and they got my info through my license number. I parked in the parking lot.
When I went to court a public defender told me that since I had no priors, all I had to do was pay and leave. I didn't talk to the judge. I also asked her if this will come up on employee background checks and she said no.
I got a job about a month after paying and I just got a copy of the background check report done in 2018. Everything is fine.
My question is, will it come up on my new job's background check? I was charged for an infraction.
submitted by Techn9cian to legaladvice [link] [comments]
I will be offered a job pretty soon and will have to go through a background check. A little over 6 years ago I got caught with theft under $50. Nothing happened initally, I gave the item back and was on my way. 8 months later a detective calls me saying the retail store is filing a case and they got my info through my license number. I parked in the parking lot.
When I went to court a public defender told me that since I had no priors, all I had to do was pay and leave. I didn't talk to the judge. I also asked her if this will come up on employee background checks and she said no.
I got a job about a month after paying and I just got a copy of the background check report done in 2018. Everything is fine.
My question is, will it come up on my new job's background check? I was charged for an infraction.
2023.06.02 19:57 MatgamarraAlt3 Lunar Transient Phenomena
///11th of June, 2006
“Dad, the moon!” I shouted as I entered the garage. My father was on the floor, under his Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, obsessively removing and re-installing pieces of the car like he always did. He quickly got up, a smile on his grease-stained face.
“Finally!” He said with his beer-breath, grabbing a towel and cleaning most of his face, before running outside as fast as he could. I followed him. I don’t know why I always liked these moments. Any child would find them terribly boring. But I always reveled on them. Maybe it’s because they were the only moments he smiled. He positioned his telescope on our front yard, adjusted the lens, drank a beer can and started looking at the full moon above us.
“Do you see it?” I asked, sitting on the grass next to him.
“Shut up.” He said, still looking. After half an hour of waiting, he started laughing. I opened my mouth to ask if he was seeing it, but I held my voice. Didn’t want to anger him.
“It’s blinking! It’s blinking Johnathan!” He laughed. I smiled. That wasn’t my name, though he called me that. Only several years later I would learn that was the name of his deceased younger brother. Every full moon, we would come look at it with the telescope. And he’d always call me Johnathan. Probably because he was always so drunk. But from always avoiding me or calling me “Brat”, Johnathan was a nice shift.
“Can I see?” I asked, and he lowered the tripod so I could see the moon. There was a small light blinking on it’s surface. It was truly beautiful.
“Fine, my turn again.” My father shoved me back, adjusted the tripod back, and started looking at it again. “It’s blinking so much tonight… Maybe… Brat, get my camera!” He shouted at me. I quickly went inside the house, and looked around for the camera in the living room. There it was, on a little pile of beer cans and empty rythmol boxes in the corner of the room. I hurried back outside, as fast as I could, as I did not want to anger my father.
I stopped on my tracks as soon as I was out of the house. There was a strange being involving my father. It looked like a snake, but I knew it was anything but a snake. There were not snakes that big where I lived. And certainly not with human faces. My father seemed oblivious to it, looking through his telescope, but the thing was all around him, from the bottom of his legs all the way to the top of his head.
“It’s blinking so much…” He said, in awe. The creature looked at me, locking eyes with me, and smiled, revealing several sets of sharp fangs. And then, it disappeared. My father looked at me, he was sweating. “I think… I need to lay down for a bit…” He muttered, before falling on the grass. I spent the entire night trying to wake him up, before my mother found me there crying the following day.
///09th of November 2021
“And that’s why you decided to study astronomy? Really?” Melissa laughed.
“Oh, come on, babe… Don’t make fun of my tragic past.” I said, finishing my waffles. She went to the fridges, grabbed the orange juice, and poured some in our cups.
“Shall we toast?” She asked.
“With orange juice? And what for?”
“Your impending graduation. What else?”
“Impending? Ha! I didn’t even start my capstone thesis.”
“So, what will it be about? Venus, right? Or was it Mars?”
“Nope. Too many people I know will already be working on planets like Venus and Mars. I thought about Neptune, but it’s too far away. So I figured, why not the Moon?”
“Please, don’t tell me this is about your father.”
“Mel, he wasn’t the best dad in the world. But he did left me his collection of vintage cars. This is what paid for my education.”
“He didn’t left it to you, it was divided between you and your mother.”
“Regardless, I feel like I owe him this. Apart from the cars, the moon was the only thing he loved.”
“You owe him nothing, Ezra.”
“I need to know what the blinking lights are! Lunar transient phenomena, it’s how they call them. There’s no scientific explanation to what they are.”
“Just because there’s no known scientific explanation, it doesn’t mean one does not exist. And if there’s one, it’s certainly not creepy snake-man” She laughed.
///04th of September, 2022
The first thing you feel when you start seriously investigating the moon is how mysterious it is. We only went there a handful of times, and then never again. All reasons are given for this, but it never really felt right to me. Maybe what happened to my father always made me feel paranoid about the subject, but I somehow felt there were things about the moon that were hiding on plain sight.
The focus of my research, the lunar transient phenomena, is incredibly unknown. Few studies were done about it, and most of them were never published or were abandoned. The few that were made available were either from little-known universities in third-world countries, in languages that I couldn’t understand and without English translation, or mere compilations of recorded occurrences. I found some theories. The lights were caused by magnetism, or by gasses, or by asteroids, perspective…
But mere hypothesis were not enough for me. I needed to know. I needed to understand. I needed… I needed to confirm it weren’t those lights who killed my father that day.
So, I delved deep into the research. I spent weeks in my bedroom, reading books and more books, entering all sorts of websites, sending emails to experts, looking for anything that could give me more information. But through all my effort, the only thing I could find were theories or hypothesis, all of them with little to no evidence. In my search for answers, I started straying further away from modern science, entering strange websites and reading books that talked about blatant pseudoscience, like astrology or the paranormal.
///17th of February, 2022
“So, what books will you be basing your capstone on?” My orienting professor asked. I could not see his face properly, we were talking through a videocall and he was not very tech savvy, so his eyes and nose were out of the frame.
“Chris, I can only see your mouth!” I laughed.
“Sorry…” He said, adjusting his camera. The framing was not perfect yet, but it was better. "Have you read the books I sent you?"
"They... They were not what I was looking for."
"What were you looking for, Ezra?"
"I told you. Answers. I have been looking for answers, yet I only find questions."
"We will only be able to find real answers when we actually set a lab on the moon. Until then, we will have to live with merely hypothesizing."
"I know, but..."
"Have you tried reading Kulikovsky?Or Hakan Kayal? Non-american studies in general."
"Yes, professor Chris. But... All studies seem to contradict themselves. Some point to studies that I can’t find anywhere, like they don’t exist anymore. Like they were erased by someone…”
“Some texts were never made digital or registered. It’s very unfortunate.”
“Everyone tries to find a logical explanation... What if there isn't one?"
"What is this truly about?"
"What?"
"It's just... You do know you can change your capstone thesis theme, right? Maybe an analysis of something more well-known could work better with your methodology."
"Chris, I will not change my mind. We have discussed this before."
"Well, well... I talked to one of my former colleagues, he is retired now, who also studied the moon, but his research was more focused on gravity. He told me there's a book called "A Study of the Moon with a New Lens" or something like that. Written by one Dr. Karl Hollfern in 1935."
"That is way before LTP was even catalogued."
"Catalogued, yes. Recorded? No. Hollfern studied extensevely the lunar mysteries. Unfortunately, he was executed by the Nazis because he opposed them. But his research lived on. My friend told me they have one of his books in the library. But it's in German."
///18th of February, 2022
I entered the library carrying a bag full of German grammar books and a dictionary. I would not let a little language barrier stop me from getting to the truth.
“Hello, how can I help you?” The librarian asked, barely averting her eyes from her cellphone.
“I’m actually looking for a book that could either be in the astronomy section or in the foreign titles section… Can you help me?”
“Which book?” She was still looking at her phone, seemingly playing one of those generic casual mobile games.
“It’s in German. Old, from the 1930s. Talks about studies of the moon made at the time.”
“Unusual request, but ok…” She put her phone on the counter, and started typing on the computer. “Can’t find it. Do you have the author’s name?”
“Karl Hollfern.”
“Uncanny. It’s unlisted.”
“What?”
“We have it in the library, but it’s not available. We usually do this when books are being cleaned. Usually takes a couple of days… It says it won’t be listed until… Until 2100?
“What? How does this makes sense?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been working here for sixteen years, and have never seen something like this. Regardless, I can’t lend you the book. I can’t even let you access it in library grounds.”
///23rd of February, 2022
I was drinking my Starbucks cappuccino while trying to make myself comfortable on the shopping mall bench, to no avail. I was tense. I had never involved myself with something like this. If my mother or girlfriend knew, they would kill me. An older man made his way out of the crowd and patiently sat down next to me.
“You were supposed to be sitting on the bench next to Nike. But no problem.” He laughed.
“Sorry. I got confused…” I facepalmed.
“I got the book you asked me too. But the price is going to be different in your case.”
“As in more expensive?”
“No. Normally, I charge twenty five grand, or double If the job is hard. In your case, the job was ridiculously easy. I will be charging five grand only.”
“Thanks! I’m transferring to your account right now…” I said as I typed on my phone.
“The book is in your car.”
“How did you… Oh, of course.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” He got up and left. I immediately went to my car. There it was, Eine Untersuchung des Mondes mit einer neuen Linse.
///28th of February, 2022
“Honey, are you still awake?” Melissa asked me. I was sitting on a pillow in the corner of the room, aggressively doing more and more Duolingo lessons.
“I’m busy, Mel.” I said, without averting my eyes from the green owl.
“Is this about that German book you have been taking everywhere?”
“No…” I blatantly lied.
“Honey, you’ve been up all night. It’s ten to six.”
“What?”
“You are obsessed with this shit, Ezra! Look at you! This is the third time I find you here studying German instead of sleeping!”
“I’m sorry, but you do know I have a capstone thesis to finish, don’t you?!” I screamed back at her.
“Oh. So this is what’s all about, right?”
“Babe, it’s not like that…” Before I could say anything, she stormed out of the apartment. I stood there, frozen, for a minute or two, before I went back to my Duolingo.
///3rd of March, 2022
“Hello Ezra” Chris said, as I adjusted my camera. As usual, I couldn’t see his face properly.
“Good evening, professor Chris.”
“Ezra, are you okay? You look tired.”
“I’m fine.” I said vehemently.
“Ezra… I… I have bad news for you.” When he said that, I felt like a hand was smashing my heart. “The university has rejected your intended theme.”
“W-what?”
“You’ll have to pick something else. I’m sorry.”
“What? Why?!”
“Apparently there’s information about Lunar Transient Phenomena that is undisclosed to the general public. The feds were here yesterday, talked with the dean about it. Said that researching the LTP was considered meddling in national security affairs, and that all projects focusing on it were to be halted.”
“Bullshit!”
“I’m sorry. I know how much time you have already invested in this. But we’ll find something else, Ezra. There are more lunar mys…” I interrupted him.
“Why is it so hard to research a simple lunar phenomena?! Every time I advance, everyone tries to block me! They will not stop me from uncovering what happened to my father!” I slammed the table.
“What?”
“This will not stop me.” I muttered, while ending the videocall.
///8th of March, 2022
After some turbulent days, I was finally making progress again. My knowledge of German wasn’t great, but knowing basic grammar, using online dictionaries, and with a little help from online German studying communities, I was making my way through the book.
The book was almost a century old, yet I felt like I was finally making progress. The research by Hollfern was fascinating, but disturbing. He described how the “blinking moonlights” if watched carefully, could be interpreted as having meaning. My German was advancing but far from perfect, so I didn’t have the exact translation, but it said something about the moon speaking in some sort of secret code using the lights.
It also referenced some books, most of which seemed to not exist anymore, but some of them not only existed, I also managed to download their scanned PDFs. It was pretty unorthodox for a scientific study. There was a book on symbols and sigils of different religions, a compilation of theological texts about Gnosticism, a book compiling works by Schopenhauer, and a Hindi scroll explaining Chakras.
I didn’t understood yet how everything connected. Seemed like a strange collection of unrelated weirdness.
///10th of March, 2022
I stumbled upon something I had previously overlooked. There’s an work by Schopenhauer where he discuss reading the Upanishads, which are old Hindi texts. The Hindi text I had downloaded was translated to English, but what if I looked for the original? Maybe there was something I wasn’t shown.
The original had a section that was censored in the English version that talked about a Devas that was corrupted by an evil unknown entity called that attached on it’s solar plexus and made it miserable with overwhelming sadness and pain. A thing described as a floating jester.
///13th of March, 2022
The phone in the living room started ringing. I left it there, unwilling to stop reading the book and trying to translate the contents. The call went to voicemail, and then I heard the caller recording it:
“Hey Ezra, I know you’re going through a bad time, but as your orienting professor, I care for you. You didn't show up for any of your tests. I know you seem to be focused on your research, but this isn't the-" I unplugged the damn thing.
///16th of March, 2022
I got evicted after not paying my rent. Or I was supposed to be at least. I picked up my research stuff and rented a cheap motel room on the outskirts of my town. I could not pay for the rent, and least not for now, I spent most of my money buying books and old magazines during the last weeks. I don’t need a place to call mine for now. I just need to find the truth.
I know the government will come after me. I’m coming too close. But if they want me to stop, they will have to kill me. I’ve already lost everything. This investigation is all I have left.
///18th of March, 2022
There's an old website that I found while researching. A true relic, seems to be from the early 90s. It contains old conspiracies theories, like stuff about the Illuminati and New Age, Satanic Panic, how Ronald Reagan was actually replaced, among other things. But there was something among the insanity that I felt was the last thing missing in my investigation. The true reason why we never returned to the Moon and why the Soviets never even attempted landing on it.
According to that website, during the last moon expedition, in December of 1972, the astronauts were secretly instructed to find out what was causing the Lunar Transient Phenomena, and spent three days on the Taurus-Littrow Valley, the region where the phenomena was more frequent on the previous five years. They were carrying a seismometer, as the most influential theory at the time was that the LTP was being caused by moonquakes cracking the surface of the natural satellite and releasing gasses.
But what the seismometer detected was that there were no such thing as moonquakes. Their equipments revealed humongous structures, seemingly biological or mechanical, moving under the moon surface.
One day before they left, NASA detected an instance of LTP a few kilometers near where they were stationed, so the astronauts went there to check. What they found there was never disclosed, but some theorize they met one of the beings responsible for causing the blinking lights. And that was the reason humanity abandoned all expeditions to the moon. After five missions in three years, we never returned there.
///20th of March, 2022
I woke up feeling like my head was spinning. I was lying on the sofa of my motel room. Once again, I had spent the entire previous night and day reading texts cited by Dr. Hollfern. My tablet was out of battery, so I got up, feeling pain all over my body, and went looking for my charger. It took me a couple of minutes to notice the two men wearing dark suits, black ties and dark sunglasses sitting on my sofa. One of them had a silenced pistol on his hand.
“Good afternoon, Ezra Thornbridge.” The one holding the firearm said, with a voice so ordinary it was scary.
“W-what?!” I blurted, still trying to overcome the pain.
“Oh, don’t mind us. We are just here to recover something.” The other man said, smiling.
“Something that isn’t yours, yet you’re in possession of.” The man with the gun complemented.
“I… Who are you?” I asked.
“Right now, I’m the man pointing the gun at you.” The man with the weapon said, while his partner just shrugged.
“Fine, I’ll return your damn book. But I already know about it. I already put the pieces together."
"Oh, interesting. What do you think you know, Thornbridge?" One of them mocked.
"The Solar Plexus Clown Glider. I have studied them in depth. Or do you prefer to call them like the Gnostic theologians called them back in the day? Archons…”
“Look what we have here, Spencer. Like father like son.” The guy with the gun scoffed.
“I told you we should have just doped him and looked for the damn book while he slept. He is totally gone.” Spencer said.
“I’m not crazy! The Archons are real! They killed my father! They kill people! And you, instead of trying to protect the people, just hide their existence, just lie, just lie and lie and lie!”
“How can you be so smart yet so stupid?” The guy with the gun said.
“The Archons don’t kill people, Ezra. They just make you miserable and drown you in fear and pain.” Spencer said.
“But I saw one kill my father.”
“Your father died of chronic ventricular arrhythmia coupled with excessive alcohol ingestion. The thing you saw was merely an emotional parasite, feeding off his negative emotions and influencing him to indulge on them.” Spencer said.
“Does this mean…”
“Yes. It also infected you that day. That’s why you saw it. It’s been with you ever since. The more you learn about it, the more you dread, the more you obsess, the more you lose… You were feeding it all along.” Spencer explained.
“And why do you think we tried to protect you, dumbass? If the knowledge was harmless, we wouldn’t be around breaking the law and breaking people’s necks to prevent it from spreading.” The guy with the weapon said.
“It’s not too late, Ezra. When your father was alive, there wasn’t much we could do, but now we have technology to make them go away. But it has a cost.” Spencer explained.
“What cost?”
“You will forget your father. You will forget most about the moon and astronomy. Probably the entirety of the last few months. And there are probable side effects, like sporadic short-term amnesia.” Spencer said.
“Or we can just fucking shoot you in the forehead right now to prevent the thing from infecting more people. Your choice.” The guy with the gun said. I just turned around and ran as fast as I can towards the window behind me. I jumped out of it, shattering the glass, and fell on the hard cold concrete of the parking lot. I tried to get up, my body was all cut from the glass, and I felt something warm on my back, even though it was raining.
“Are you stupid?!” I heard the guy with the gun shouting while he and the other agent descended the staircase that led to the parking lot. I finally got up, feeling cold from the rain, and tried to run, but could only limp. Yeah, jumping out of the window like I was in an 80s action movie wasn’t the best idea. I heard another click behind me, and fell to the floor. I could see the agents running towards me, smoke coming out of the gun. There seemed to be snakes around both of them, smiling witch their human faces and several sets of sharp fangs.
I looked towards the sky. Among the raining clouds, I could see the moon above me, full and blooming. Blinking. Blinking so much.
submitted by MatgamarraAlt3 to Matgamarra [link] [comments]
“Dad, the moon!” I shouted as I entered the garage. My father was on the floor, under his Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, obsessively removing and re-installing pieces of the car like he always did. He quickly got up, a smile on his grease-stained face.
“Finally!” He said with his beer-breath, grabbing a towel and cleaning most of his face, before running outside as fast as he could. I followed him. I don’t know why I always liked these moments. Any child would find them terribly boring. But I always reveled on them. Maybe it’s because they were the only moments he smiled. He positioned his telescope on our front yard, adjusted the lens, drank a beer can and started looking at the full moon above us.
“Do you see it?” I asked, sitting on the grass next to him.
“Shut up.” He said, still looking. After half an hour of waiting, he started laughing. I opened my mouth to ask if he was seeing it, but I held my voice. Didn’t want to anger him.
“It’s blinking! It’s blinking Johnathan!” He laughed. I smiled. That wasn’t my name, though he called me that. Only several years later I would learn that was the name of his deceased younger brother. Every full moon, we would come look at it with the telescope. And he’d always call me Johnathan. Probably because he was always so drunk. But from always avoiding me or calling me “Brat”, Johnathan was a nice shift.
“Can I see?” I asked, and he lowered the tripod so I could see the moon. There was a small light blinking on it’s surface. It was truly beautiful.
“Fine, my turn again.” My father shoved me back, adjusted the tripod back, and started looking at it again. “It’s blinking so much tonight… Maybe… Brat, get my camera!” He shouted at me. I quickly went inside the house, and looked around for the camera in the living room. There it was, on a little pile of beer cans and empty rythmol boxes in the corner of the room. I hurried back outside, as fast as I could, as I did not want to anger my father.
I stopped on my tracks as soon as I was out of the house. There was a strange being involving my father. It looked like a snake, but I knew it was anything but a snake. There were not snakes that big where I lived. And certainly not with human faces. My father seemed oblivious to it, looking through his telescope, but the thing was all around him, from the bottom of his legs all the way to the top of his head.
“It’s blinking so much…” He said, in awe. The creature looked at me, locking eyes with me, and smiled, revealing several sets of sharp fangs. And then, it disappeared. My father looked at me, he was sweating. “I think… I need to lay down for a bit…” He muttered, before falling on the grass. I spent the entire night trying to wake him up, before my mother found me there crying the following day.
///09th of November 2021
“And that’s why you decided to study astronomy? Really?” Melissa laughed.
“Oh, come on, babe… Don’t make fun of my tragic past.” I said, finishing my waffles. She went to the fridges, grabbed the orange juice, and poured some in our cups.
“Shall we toast?” She asked.
“With orange juice? And what for?”
“Your impending graduation. What else?”
“Impending? Ha! I didn’t even start my capstone thesis.”
“So, what will it be about? Venus, right? Or was it Mars?”
“Nope. Too many people I know will already be working on planets like Venus and Mars. I thought about Neptune, but it’s too far away. So I figured, why not the Moon?”
“Please, don’t tell me this is about your father.”
“Mel, he wasn’t the best dad in the world. But he did left me his collection of vintage cars. This is what paid for my education.”
“He didn’t left it to you, it was divided between you and your mother.”
“Regardless, I feel like I owe him this. Apart from the cars, the moon was the only thing he loved.”
“You owe him nothing, Ezra.”
“I need to know what the blinking lights are! Lunar transient phenomena, it’s how they call them. There’s no scientific explanation to what they are.”
“Just because there’s no known scientific explanation, it doesn’t mean one does not exist. And if there’s one, it’s certainly not creepy snake-man” She laughed.
///04th of September, 2022
The first thing you feel when you start seriously investigating the moon is how mysterious it is. We only went there a handful of times, and then never again. All reasons are given for this, but it never really felt right to me. Maybe what happened to my father always made me feel paranoid about the subject, but I somehow felt there were things about the moon that were hiding on plain sight.
The focus of my research, the lunar transient phenomena, is incredibly unknown. Few studies were done about it, and most of them were never published or were abandoned. The few that were made available were either from little-known universities in third-world countries, in languages that I couldn’t understand and without English translation, or mere compilations of recorded occurrences. I found some theories. The lights were caused by magnetism, or by gasses, or by asteroids, perspective…
But mere hypothesis were not enough for me. I needed to know. I needed to understand. I needed… I needed to confirm it weren’t those lights who killed my father that day.
So, I delved deep into the research. I spent weeks in my bedroom, reading books and more books, entering all sorts of websites, sending emails to experts, looking for anything that could give me more information. But through all my effort, the only thing I could find were theories or hypothesis, all of them with little to no evidence. In my search for answers, I started straying further away from modern science, entering strange websites and reading books that talked about blatant pseudoscience, like astrology or the paranormal.
///17th of February, 2022
“So, what books will you be basing your capstone on?” My orienting professor asked. I could not see his face properly, we were talking through a videocall and he was not very tech savvy, so his eyes and nose were out of the frame.
“Chris, I can only see your mouth!” I laughed.
“Sorry…” He said, adjusting his camera. The framing was not perfect yet, but it was better. "Have you read the books I sent you?"
"They... They were not what I was looking for."
"What were you looking for, Ezra?"
"I told you. Answers. I have been looking for answers, yet I only find questions."
"We will only be able to find real answers when we actually set a lab on the moon. Until then, we will have to live with merely hypothesizing."
"I know, but..."
"Have you tried reading Kulikovsky?Or Hakan Kayal? Non-american studies in general."
"Yes, professor Chris. But... All studies seem to contradict themselves. Some point to studies that I can’t find anywhere, like they don’t exist anymore. Like they were erased by someone…”
“Some texts were never made digital or registered. It’s very unfortunate.”
“Everyone tries to find a logical explanation... What if there isn't one?"
"What is this truly about?"
"What?"
"It's just... You do know you can change your capstone thesis theme, right? Maybe an analysis of something more well-known could work better with your methodology."
"Chris, I will not change my mind. We have discussed this before."
"Well, well... I talked to one of my former colleagues, he is retired now, who also studied the moon, but his research was more focused on gravity. He told me there's a book called "A Study of the Moon with a New Lens" or something like that. Written by one Dr. Karl Hollfern in 1935."
"That is way before LTP was even catalogued."
"Catalogued, yes. Recorded? No. Hollfern studied extensevely the lunar mysteries. Unfortunately, he was executed by the Nazis because he opposed them. But his research lived on. My friend told me they have one of his books in the library. But it's in German."
///18th of February, 2022
I entered the library carrying a bag full of German grammar books and a dictionary. I would not let a little language barrier stop me from getting to the truth.
“Hello, how can I help you?” The librarian asked, barely averting her eyes from her cellphone.
“I’m actually looking for a book that could either be in the astronomy section or in the foreign titles section… Can you help me?”
“Which book?” She was still looking at her phone, seemingly playing one of those generic casual mobile games.
“It’s in German. Old, from the 1930s. Talks about studies of the moon made at the time.”
“Unusual request, but ok…” She put her phone on the counter, and started typing on the computer. “Can’t find it. Do you have the author’s name?”
“Karl Hollfern.”
“Uncanny. It’s unlisted.”
“What?”
“We have it in the library, but it’s not available. We usually do this when books are being cleaned. Usually takes a couple of days… It says it won’t be listed until… Until 2100?
“What? How does this makes sense?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been working here for sixteen years, and have never seen something like this. Regardless, I can’t lend you the book. I can’t even let you access it in library grounds.”
///23rd of February, 2022
I was drinking my Starbucks cappuccino while trying to make myself comfortable on the shopping mall bench, to no avail. I was tense. I had never involved myself with something like this. If my mother or girlfriend knew, they would kill me. An older man made his way out of the crowd and patiently sat down next to me.
“You were supposed to be sitting on the bench next to Nike. But no problem.” He laughed.
“Sorry. I got confused…” I facepalmed.
“I got the book you asked me too. But the price is going to be different in your case.”
“As in more expensive?”
“No. Normally, I charge twenty five grand, or double If the job is hard. In your case, the job was ridiculously easy. I will be charging five grand only.”
“Thanks! I’m transferring to your account right now…” I said as I typed on my phone.
“The book is in your car.”
“How did you… Oh, of course.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” He got up and left. I immediately went to my car. There it was, Eine Untersuchung des Mondes mit einer neuen Linse.
///28th of February, 2022
“Honey, are you still awake?” Melissa asked me. I was sitting on a pillow in the corner of the room, aggressively doing more and more Duolingo lessons.
“I’m busy, Mel.” I said, without averting my eyes from the green owl.
“Is this about that German book you have been taking everywhere?”
“No…” I blatantly lied.
“Honey, you’ve been up all night. It’s ten to six.”
“What?”
“You are obsessed with this shit, Ezra! Look at you! This is the third time I find you here studying German instead of sleeping!”
“I’m sorry, but you do know I have a capstone thesis to finish, don’t you?!” I screamed back at her.
“Oh. So this is what’s all about, right?”
“Babe, it’s not like that…” Before I could say anything, she stormed out of the apartment. I stood there, frozen, for a minute or two, before I went back to my Duolingo.
///3rd of March, 2022
“Hello Ezra” Chris said, as I adjusted my camera. As usual, I couldn’t see his face properly.
“Good evening, professor Chris.”
“Ezra, are you okay? You look tired.”
“I’m fine.” I said vehemently.
“Ezra… I… I have bad news for you.” When he said that, I felt like a hand was smashing my heart. “The university has rejected your intended theme.”
“W-what?”
“You’ll have to pick something else. I’m sorry.”
“What? Why?!”
“Apparently there’s information about Lunar Transient Phenomena that is undisclosed to the general public. The feds were here yesterday, talked with the dean about it. Said that researching the LTP was considered meddling in national security affairs, and that all projects focusing on it were to be halted.”
“Bullshit!”
“I’m sorry. I know how much time you have already invested in this. But we’ll find something else, Ezra. There are more lunar mys…” I interrupted him.
“Why is it so hard to research a simple lunar phenomena?! Every time I advance, everyone tries to block me! They will not stop me from uncovering what happened to my father!” I slammed the table.
“What?”
“This will not stop me.” I muttered, while ending the videocall.
///8th of March, 2022
After some turbulent days, I was finally making progress again. My knowledge of German wasn’t great, but knowing basic grammar, using online dictionaries, and with a little help from online German studying communities, I was making my way through the book.
The book was almost a century old, yet I felt like I was finally making progress. The research by Hollfern was fascinating, but disturbing. He described how the “blinking moonlights” if watched carefully, could be interpreted as having meaning. My German was advancing but far from perfect, so I didn’t have the exact translation, but it said something about the moon speaking in some sort of secret code using the lights.
It also referenced some books, most of which seemed to not exist anymore, but some of them not only existed, I also managed to download their scanned PDFs. It was pretty unorthodox for a scientific study. There was a book on symbols and sigils of different religions, a compilation of theological texts about Gnosticism, a book compiling works by Schopenhauer, and a Hindi scroll explaining Chakras.
I didn’t understood yet how everything connected. Seemed like a strange collection of unrelated weirdness.
///10th of March, 2022
I stumbled upon something I had previously overlooked. There’s an work by Schopenhauer where he discuss reading the Upanishads, which are old Hindi texts. The Hindi text I had downloaded was translated to English, but what if I looked for the original? Maybe there was something I wasn’t shown.
The original had a section that was censored in the English version that talked about a Devas that was corrupted by an evil unknown entity called that attached on it’s solar plexus and made it miserable with overwhelming sadness and pain. A thing described as a floating jester.
///13th of March, 2022
The phone in the living room started ringing. I left it there, unwilling to stop reading the book and trying to translate the contents. The call went to voicemail, and then I heard the caller recording it:
“Hey Ezra, I know you’re going through a bad time, but as your orienting professor, I care for you. You didn't show up for any of your tests. I know you seem to be focused on your research, but this isn't the-" I unplugged the damn thing.
///16th of March, 2022
I got evicted after not paying my rent. Or I was supposed to be at least. I picked up my research stuff and rented a cheap motel room on the outskirts of my town. I could not pay for the rent, and least not for now, I spent most of my money buying books and old magazines during the last weeks. I don’t need a place to call mine for now. I just need to find the truth.
I know the government will come after me. I’m coming too close. But if they want me to stop, they will have to kill me. I’ve already lost everything. This investigation is all I have left.
///18th of March, 2022
There's an old website that I found while researching. A true relic, seems to be from the early 90s. It contains old conspiracies theories, like stuff about the Illuminati and New Age, Satanic Panic, how Ronald Reagan was actually replaced, among other things. But there was something among the insanity that I felt was the last thing missing in my investigation. The true reason why we never returned to the Moon and why the Soviets never even attempted landing on it.
According to that website, during the last moon expedition, in December of 1972, the astronauts were secretly instructed to find out what was causing the Lunar Transient Phenomena, and spent three days on the Taurus-Littrow Valley, the region where the phenomena was more frequent on the previous five years. They were carrying a seismometer, as the most influential theory at the time was that the LTP was being caused by moonquakes cracking the surface of the natural satellite and releasing gasses.
But what the seismometer detected was that there were no such thing as moonquakes. Their equipments revealed humongous structures, seemingly biological or mechanical, moving under the moon surface.
One day before they left, NASA detected an instance of LTP a few kilometers near where they were stationed, so the astronauts went there to check. What they found there was never disclosed, but some theorize they met one of the beings responsible for causing the blinking lights. And that was the reason humanity abandoned all expeditions to the moon. After five missions in three years, we never returned there.
///20th of March, 2022
I woke up feeling like my head was spinning. I was lying on the sofa of my motel room. Once again, I had spent the entire previous night and day reading texts cited by Dr. Hollfern. My tablet was out of battery, so I got up, feeling pain all over my body, and went looking for my charger. It took me a couple of minutes to notice the two men wearing dark suits, black ties and dark sunglasses sitting on my sofa. One of them had a silenced pistol on his hand.
“Good afternoon, Ezra Thornbridge.” The one holding the firearm said, with a voice so ordinary it was scary.
“W-what?!” I blurted, still trying to overcome the pain.
“Oh, don’t mind us. We are just here to recover something.” The other man said, smiling.
“Something that isn’t yours, yet you’re in possession of.” The man with the gun complemented.
“I… Who are you?” I asked.
“Right now, I’m the man pointing the gun at you.” The man with the weapon said, while his partner just shrugged.
“Fine, I’ll return your damn book. But I already know about it. I already put the pieces together."
"Oh, interesting. What do you think you know, Thornbridge?" One of them mocked.
"The Solar Plexus Clown Glider. I have studied them in depth. Or do you prefer to call them like the Gnostic theologians called them back in the day? Archons…”
“Look what we have here, Spencer. Like father like son.” The guy with the gun scoffed.
“I told you we should have just doped him and looked for the damn book while he slept. He is totally gone.” Spencer said.
“I’m not crazy! The Archons are real! They killed my father! They kill people! And you, instead of trying to protect the people, just hide their existence, just lie, just lie and lie and lie!”
“How can you be so smart yet so stupid?” The guy with the gun said.
“The Archons don’t kill people, Ezra. They just make you miserable and drown you in fear and pain.” Spencer said.
“But I saw one kill my father.”
“Your father died of chronic ventricular arrhythmia coupled with excessive alcohol ingestion. The thing you saw was merely an emotional parasite, feeding off his negative emotions and influencing him to indulge on them.” Spencer said.
“Does this mean…”
“Yes. It also infected you that day. That’s why you saw it. It’s been with you ever since. The more you learn about it, the more you dread, the more you obsess, the more you lose… You were feeding it all along.” Spencer explained.
“And why do you think we tried to protect you, dumbass? If the knowledge was harmless, we wouldn’t be around breaking the law and breaking people’s necks to prevent it from spreading.” The guy with the weapon said.
“It’s not too late, Ezra. When your father was alive, there wasn’t much we could do, but now we have technology to make them go away. But it has a cost.” Spencer explained.
“What cost?”
“You will forget your father. You will forget most about the moon and astronomy. Probably the entirety of the last few months. And there are probable side effects, like sporadic short-term amnesia.” Spencer said.
“Or we can just fucking shoot you in the forehead right now to prevent the thing from infecting more people. Your choice.” The guy with the gun said. I just turned around and ran as fast as I can towards the window behind me. I jumped out of it, shattering the glass, and fell on the hard cold concrete of the parking lot. I tried to get up, my body was all cut from the glass, and I felt something warm on my back, even though it was raining.
“Are you stupid?!” I heard the guy with the gun shouting while he and the other agent descended the staircase that led to the parking lot. I finally got up, feeling cold from the rain, and tried to run, but could only limp. Yeah, jumping out of the window like I was in an 80s action movie wasn’t the best idea. I heard another click behind me, and fell to the floor. I could see the agents running towards me, smoke coming out of the gun. There seemed to be snakes around both of them, smiling witch their human faces and several sets of sharp fangs.
I looked towards the sky. Among the raining clouds, I could see the moon above me, full and blooming. Blinking. Blinking so much.
2023.06.02 19:55 MatgamarraAlt3 Lunar Transient Phenomena
///11th of June, 2006 “Dad, the moon!” I shouted as I entered the garage. My father was on the floor, under his Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, obsessively removing and re-installing pieces of the car like he always did. He quickly got up, a smile on his grease-stained face. “Finally!” He said with his beer-breath, grabbing a towel and cleaning most of his face, before running outside as fast as he could. I followed him. I don’t know why I always liked these moments. Any child would find them terribly boring. But I always reveled on them. Maybe it’s because they were the only moments he smiled. He positioned his telescope on our front yard, adjusted the lens, drank a beer can and started looking at the full moon above us. “Do you see it?” I asked, sitting on the grass next to him. “Shut up.” He said, still looking. After half an hour of waiting, he started laughing. I opened my mouth to ask if he was seeing it, but I held my voice. Didn’t want to anger him. “It’s blinking! It’s blinking Johnathan!” He laughed. I smiled. That wasn’t my name, though he called me that. Only several years later I would learn that was the name of his deceased younger brother. Every full moon, we would come look at it with the telescope. And he’d always call me Johnathan. Probably because he was always so drunk. But from always avoiding me or calling me “Brat”, Johnathan was a nice shift. “Can I see?” I asked, and he lowered the tripod so I could see the moon. There was a small light blinking on it’s surface. It was truly beautiful. “Fine, my turn again.” My father shoved me back, adjusted the tripod back, and started looking at it again. “It’s blinking so much tonight… Maybe… Brat, get my camera!” He shouted at me. I quickly went inside the house, and looked around for the camera in the living room. There it was, on a little pile of beer cans and empty rythmol boxes in the corner of the room. I hurried back outside, as fast as I could, as I did not want to anger my father. I stopped on my tracks as soon as I was out of the house. There was a strange being involving my father. It looked like a snake, but I knew it was anything but a snake. There were not snakes that big where I lived. And certainly not with human faces. My father seemed oblivious to it, looking through his telescope, but the thing was all around him, from the bottom of his legs all the way to the top of his head. “It’s blinking so much…” He said, in awe. The creature looked at me, locking eyes with me, and smiled, revealing several sets of sharp fangs. And then, it disappeared. My father looked at me, he was sweating. “I think… I need to lay down for a bit…” He muttered, before falling on the grass. I spent the entire night trying to wake him up, before my mother found me there crying the following day. ///09th of November 2021 “And that’s why you decided to study astronomy? Really?” Melissa laughed. “Oh, come on, babe… Don’t make fun of my tragic past.” I said, finishing my waffles. She went to the fridges, grabbed the orange juice, and poured some in our cups. “Shall we toast?” She asked. “With orange juice? And what for?” “Your impending graduation. What else?” “Impending? Ha! I didn’t even start my capstone thesis.” “So, what will it be about? Venus, right? Or was it Mars?” “Nope. Too many people I know will already be working on planets like Venus and Mars. I thought about Neptune, but it’s too far away. So I figured, why not the Moon?” “Please, don’t tell me this is about your father.” “Mel, he wasn’t the best dad in the world. But he did left me his collection of vintage cars. This is what paid for my education.” “He didn’t left it to you, it was divided between you and your mother.” “Regardless, I feel like I owe him this. Apart from the cars, the moon was the only thing he loved.” “You owe him nothing, Ezra.” “I need to know what the blinking lights are! Lunar transient phenomena, it’s how they call them. There’s no scientific explanation to what they are.” “Just because there’s no known scientific explanation, it doesn’t mean one does not exist. And if there’s one, it’s certainly not creepy snake-man” She laughed. ///04th of September, 2022 The first thing you feel when you start seriously investigating the moon is how mysterious it is. We only went there a handful of times, and then never again. All reasons are given for this, but it never really felt right to me. Maybe what happened to my father always made me feel paranoid about the subject, but I somehow felt there were things about the moon that were hiding on plain sight. The focus of my research, the lunar transient phenomena, is incredibly unknown. Few studies were done about it, and most of them were never published or were abandoned. The few that were made available were either from little-known universities in third-world countries, in languages that I couldn’t understand and without English translation, or mere compilations of recorded occurrences. I found some theories. The lights were caused by magnetism, or by gasses, or by asteroids, perspective… But mere hypothesis were not enough for me. I needed to know. I needed to understand. I needed… I needed to confirm it weren’t those lights who killed my father that day. So, I delved deep into the research. I spent weeks in my bedroom, reading books and more books, entering all sorts of websites, sending emails to experts, looking for anything that could give me more information. But through all my effort, the only thing I could find were theories or hypothesis, all of them with little to no evidence. In my search for answers, I started straying further away from modern science, entering strange websites and reading books that talked about blatant pseudoscience, like astrology or the paranormal. ///17th of February, 2022 “So, what books will you be basing your capstone on?” My orienting professor asked. I could not see his face properly, we were talking through a videocall and he was not very tech savvy, so his eyes and nose were out of the frame. “Chris, I can only see your mouth!” I laughed. “Sorry…” He said, adjusting his camera. The framing was not perfect yet, but it was better. "Have you read the books I sent you?" "They... They were not what I was looking for." "What were you looking for, Ezra?" "I told you. Answers. I have been looking for answers, yet I only find questions." "We will only be able to find real answers when we actually set a lab on the moon. Until then, we will have to live with merely hypothesizing." "I know, but..." "Have you tried reading Kulikovsky?Or Hakan Kayal? Non-american studies in general." "Yes, professor Chris. But... All studies seem to contradict themselves. Some point to studies that I can’t find anywhere, like they don’t exist anymore. Like they were erased by someone…” “Some texts were never made digital or registered. It’s very unfortunate.” “Everyone tries to find a logical explanation... What if there isn't one?" "What is this truly about?" "What?" "It's just... You do know you can change your capstone thesis theme, right? Maybe an analysis of something more well-known could work better with your methodology." "Chris, I will not change my mind. We have discussed this before." "Well, well... I talked to one of my former colleagues, he is retired now, who also studied the moon, but his research was more focused on gravity. He told me there's a book called "A Study of the Moon with a New Lens" or something like that. Written by one Dr. Karl Hollfern in 1935." "That is way before LTP was even catalogued." "Catalogued, yes. Recorded? No. Hollfern studied extensevely the lunar mysteries. Unfortunately, he was executed by the Nazis because he opposed them. But his research lived on. My friend told me they have one of his books in the library. But it's in German." ///18th of February, 2022 I entered the library carrying a bag full of German grammar books and a dictionary. I would not let a little language barrier stop me from getting to the truth. “Hello, how can I help you?” The librarian asked, barely averting her eyes from her cellphone. “I’m actually looking for a book that could either be in the astronomy section or in the foreign titles section… Can you help me?” “Which book?” She was still looking at her phone, seemingly playing one of those generic casual mobile games. “It’s in German. Old, from the 1930s. Talks about studies of the moon made at the time.” “Unusual request, but ok…” She put her phone on the counter, and started typing on the computer. “Can’t find it. Do you have the author’s name?” “Karl Hollfern.” “Uncanny. It’s unlisted.” “What?” “We have it in the library, but it’s not available. We usually do this when books are being cleaned. Usually takes a couple of days… It says it won’t be listed until… Until 2100? “What? How does this makes sense?” “I don’t know. I’ve been working here for sixteen years, and have never seen something like this. Regardless, I can’t lend you the book. I can’t even let you access it in library grounds.” ///23rd of February, 2022 I was drinking my Starbucks cappuccino while trying to make myself comfortable on the shopping mall bench, to no avail. I was tense. I had never involved myself with something like this. If my mother or girlfriend knew, they would kill me. An older man made his way out of the crowd and patiently sat down next to me. “You were supposed to be sitting on the bench next to Nike. But no problem.” He laughed. “Sorry. I got confused…” I facepalmed. “I got the book you asked me too. But the price is going to be different in your case.” “As in more expensive?” “No. Normally, I charge twenty five grand, or double If the job is hard. In your case, the job was ridiculously easy. I will be charging five grand only.” “Thanks! I’m transferring to your account right now…” I said as I typed on my phone. “The book is in your car.” “How did you… Oh, of course.” “Pleasure doing business with you.” He got up and left. I immediately went to my car. There it was, Eine Untersuchung des Mondes mit einer neuen Linse. ///28th of February, 2022 “Honey, are you still awake?” Melissa asked me. I was sitting on a pillow in the corner of the room, aggressively doing more and more Duolingo lessons. “I’m busy, Mel.” I said, without averting my eyes from the green owl. “Is this about that German book you have been taking everywhere?” “No…” I blatantly lied. “Honey, you’ve been up all night. It’s ten to six.” “What?” “You are obsessed with this shit, Ezra! Look at you! This is the third time I find you here studying German instead of sleeping!” “I’m sorry, but you do know I have a capstone thesis to finish, don’t you?!” I screamed back at her. “Oh. So this is what’s all about, right?” “Babe, it’s not like that…” Before I could say anything, she stormed out of the apartment. I stood there, frozen, for a minute or two, before I went back to my Duolingo. ///3rd of March, 2022 “Hello Ezra” Chris said, as I adjusted my camera. As usual, I couldn’t see his face properly. “Good evening, professor Chris.” “Ezra, are you okay? You look tired.” “I’m fine.” I said vehemently. “Ezra… I… I have bad news for you.” When he said that, I felt like a hand was smashing my heart. “The university has rejected your intended theme.” “W-what?” “You’ll have to pick something else. I’m sorry.” “What? Why?!” “Apparently there’s information about Lunar Transient Phenomena that is undisclosed to the general public. The feds were here yesterday, talked with the dean about it. Said that researching the LTP was considered meddling in national security affairs, and that all projects focusing on it were to be halted.” “Bullshit!” “I’m sorry. I know how much time you have already invested in this. But we’ll find something else, Ezra. There are more lunar mys…” I interrupted him. “Why is it so hard to research a simple lunar phenomena?! Every time I advance, everyone tries to block me! They will not stop me from uncovering what happened to my father!” I slammed the table. “What?” “This will not stop me.” I muttered, while ending the videocall. ///8th of March, 2022 After some turbulent days, I was finally making progress again. My knowledge of German wasn’t great, but knowing basic grammar, using online dictionaries, and with a little help from online German studying communities, I was making my way through the book. The book was almost a century old, yet I felt like I was finally making progress. The research by Hollfern was fascinating, but disturbing. He described how the “blinking moonlights” if watched carefully, could be interpreted as having meaning. My German was advancing but far from perfect, so I didn’t have the exact translation, but it said something about the moon speaking in some sort of secret code using the lights. It also referenced some books, most of which seemed to not exist anymore, but some of them not only existed, I also managed to download their scanned PDFs. It was pretty unorthodox for a scientific study. There was a book on symbols and sigils of different religions, a compilation of theological texts about Gnosticism, a book compiling works by Schopenhauer, and a Hindi scroll explaining Chakras. I didn’t understood yet how everything connected. Seemed like a strange collection of unrelated weirdness. ///10th of March, 2022 I stumbled upon something I had previously overlooked. There’s an work by Schopenhauer where he discuss reading the Upanishads, which are old Hindi texts. The Hindi text I had downloaded was translated to English, but what if I looked for the original? Maybe there was something I wasn’t shown. The original had a section that was censored in the English version that talked about a Devas that was corrupted by an evil unknown entity called that attached on it’s solar plexus and made it miserable with overwhelming sadness and pain. A thing described as a floating jester. ///13th of March, 2022 The phone in the living room started ringing. I left it there, unwilling to stop reading the book and trying to translate the contents. The call went to voicemail, and then I heard the caller recording it: “Hey Ezra, I know you’re going through a bad time, but as your orienting professor, I care for you. You didn't show up for any of your tests. I know you seem to be focused on your research, but this isn't the-" I unplugged the damn thing. ///16th of March, 2022 I got evicted after not paying my rent. Or I was supposed to be at least. I picked up my research stuff and rented a cheap motel room on the outskirts of my town. I could not pay for the rent, and least not for now, I spent most of my money buying books and old magazines during the last weeks. I don’t need a place to call mine for now. I just need to find the truth. I know the government will come after me. I’m coming too close. But if they want me to stop, they will have to kill me. I’ve already lost everything. This investigation is all I have left. ///18th of March, 2022 There's an old website that I found while researching. A true relic, seems to be from the early 90s. It contains old conspiracies theories, like stuff about the Illuminati and New Age, Satanic Panic, how Ronald Reagan was actually replaced, among other things. But there was something among the insanity that I felt was the last thing missing in my investigation. The true reason why we never returned to the Moon and why the Soviets never even attempted landing on it. According to that website, during the last moon expedition, in December of 1972, the astronauts were secretly instructed to find out what was causing the Lunar Transient Phenomena, and spent three days on the Taurus-Littrow Valley, the region where the phenomena was more frequent on the previous five years. They were carrying a seismometer, as the most influential theory at the time was that the LTP was being caused by moonquakes cracking the surface of the natural satellite and releasing gasses. But what the seismometer detected was that there were no such thing as moonquakes. Their equipments revealed humongous structures, seemingly biological or mechanical, moving under the moon surface. One day before they left, NASA detected an instance of LTP a few kilometers near where they were stationed, so the astronauts went there to check. What they found there was never disclosed, but some theorize they met one of the beings responsible for causing the blinking lights. And that was the reason humanity abandoned all expeditions to the moon. After five missions in three years, we never returned there. ///20th of March, 2022 I woke up feeling like my head was spinning. I was lying on the sofa of my motel room. Once again, I had spent the entire previous night and day reading texts cited by Dr. Hollfern. My tablet was out of battery, so I got up, feeling pain all over my body, and went looking for my charger. It took me a couple of minutes to notice the two men wearing dark suits, black ties and dark sunglasses sitting on my sofa. One of them had a silenced pistol on his hand. “Good afternoon, Ezra Thornbridge.” The one holding the firearm said, with a voice so ordinary it was scary. “W-what?!” I blurted, still trying to overcome the pain. “Oh, don’t mind us. We are just here to recover something.” The other man said, smiling. “Something that isn’t yours, yet you’re in possession of.” The man with the gun complemented. “I… Who are you?” I asked. “Right now, I’m the man pointing the gun at you.” The man with the weapon said, while his partner just shrugged. “Fine, I’ll return your damn book. But I already know about it. I already put the pieces together." "Oh, interesting. What do you think you know, Thornbridge?" One of them mocked. "The Solar Plexus Clown Glider. I have studied them in depth. Or do you prefer to call them like the Gnostic theologians called them back in the day? Archons…” “Look what we have here, Spencer. Like father like son.” The guy with the gun scoffed. “I told you we should have just doped him and looked for the damn book while he slept. He is totally gone.” Spencer said. “I’m not crazy! The Archons are real! They killed my father! They kill people! And you, instead of trying to protect the people, just hide their existence, just lie, just lie and lie and lie!” “How can you be so smart yet so stupid?” The guy with the gun said. “The Archons don’t kill people, Ezra. They just make you miserable and drown you in fear and pain.” Spencer said. “But I saw one kill my father.” “Your father died of chronic ventricular arrhythmia coupled with excessive alcohol ingestion. The thing you saw was merely an emotional parasite, feeding off his negative emotions and influencing him to indulge on them.” Spencer said. “Does this mean…” “Yes. It also infected you that day. That’s why you saw it. It’s been with you ever since. The more you learn about it, the more you dread, the more you obsess, the more you lose… You were feeding it all along.” Spencer explained. “And why do you think we tried to protect you, dumbass? If the knowledge was harmless, we wouldn’t be around breaking the law and breaking people’s necks to prevent it from spreading.” The guy with the weapon said. “It’s not too late, Ezra. When your father was alive, there wasn’t much we could do, but now we have technology to make them go away. But it has a cost.” Spencer explained. “What cost?” “You will forget your father. You will forget most about the moon and astronomy. Probably the entirety of the last few months. And there are probable side effects, like sporadic short-term amnesia.” Spencer said. “Or we can just fucking shoot you in the forehead right now to prevent the thing from infecting more people. Your choice.” The guy with the gun said. I just turned around and ran as fast as I can towards the window behind me. I jumped out of it, shattering the glass, and fell on the hard cold concrete of the parking lot. I tried to get up, my body was all cut from the glass, and I felt something warm on my back, even though it was raining. “Are you stupid?!” I heard the guy with the gun shouting while he and the other agent descended the staircase that led to the parking lot. I finally got up, feeling cold from the rain, and tried to run, but could only limp. Yeah, jumping out of the window like I was in an 80s action movie wasn’t the best idea. I heard another click behind me, and fell to the floor. I could see the agents running towards me, smoke coming out of the gun. There seemed to be snakes around both of them, smiling witch their human faces and several sets of sharp fangs. I looked towards the sky. Among the raining clouds, I could see the moon above me, full and blooming. Blinking. Blinking so much…
submitted by MatgamarraAlt3 to nosleep [link] [comments]
2023.06.02 19:53 BadWolfMC BadWolfMC [Network]{18+}{Greylist}{Crossplay}{1.19.4}{SMP}{SkyBlock}{Magic}{Minigames}{Prison}{Creative}
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2023.06.02 19:47 AndersIsHorny The Secret - Part Two
 | Here is part two of a story that I wrote AGES ago. My writing style was pretty rough back then, so be kind. Love you all and hope that you enjoy! submitted by AndersIsHorny to GayShortStories [link] [comments] Jasper Dmitri Erin It was almost 9 o’clock by the time I pulled up to her house. Her parents were fairly wealthy and they owned a large Tudor style home on the outskirts of town. I recognized Erin’s blue Jetta in the driveway. I parked behind her car and got out. There weren’t any outside lights on so I stumbled a bit on my way up to the front door. Erin met me at the door and ushered me inside. She gave me a quick tour of the downstairs area before we made our way out back to the pool. It was a large lagoon style pool that was lined with natural rock. Music was playing softly from all around the pool. I was slightly disappointed that it was trashy pop music. She coyly shed her shirt and shorts to reveal a small yellow bikini and slipped into the water. Always one to plan ahead, I’d put my trunks on at my house when I stopped by after work. I told my parents that I was going to a friend’s house for a swim and that I might be out pretty late. They didn’t even bother asking where I was going. I didn’t get out much so they almost surely assumed that I was at Dmitri’s house. The water felt great. It was just cool enough to be refreshing without being so cold that you needed to get out after a few minutes. We were talking about school and jokingly splashing each other. I was glad that Dmitri had told me to come. Before long the conversation began to dwindle a bit. “We can go inside if you’re getting cold.” She offered. “Nah it’s ok, I’m enjoying the water.” The light on the back patio suddenly clicked on and the sliding glass door to the house slid open. “Who do you have out there with you sis?” Erin’s older brother walked out onto the patio. He had his hands on his hips in his best ‘disapproving parent’ pose. I knew him from high school. He had graduated last year and had decided to go to Texas A&M, which was only an hour away. Based on the look on her face, Erin had not expected him to be home this weekend. “Mike, what the hell are you doing here?” she sounded quite annoyed. “Mom and dad asked me to swing by to make sure that you were behaving yourself.” He stared at me for a moment. “Good thing I did.” She flipped him off and he went back inside. “Sorry about this. I had no clue he was coming home.” I wasn’t sure why she was so bent out of shape about him showing up. Mike emerged from the house with a bottle of alcohol in each hand. Another guy and a girl followed him out. “Oh good… you brought friends.” Now Erin seemed really pissed off. “Why so mad little sis? Did you have something special planned for tonight?” he looked from her over to me. I shook my head ‘no’. My response caused him to crack a smile. “What’s your name dude?” “Jasper.” “Nice to meet you Jasper. I’m Mike, this is my girlfriend Brit and my roommate Riley.” “Pleasure to meet you.” “I’m going to go get dressed.” Erin climbed out of the pool and went inside in a huff. “Better watch yourself Jasper. I think my sis might have wanted to get her claws into you tonight.” He could tell by the look on my face that I hadn’t been planning on doing anything with his sister. “So are you going to go inside with the Ice Queen or stay out here and drink with us?” “I’ve never really drank before…” “Oh shit… well you get your ass up here and have a drink with us.” It was a solid 30 minutes before Erin came back outside. By that time, I was feeling the effects of the alcohol pretty solidly. I smiled and waved her over. “Hey Erin, come on and hang with us out over here.” The words didn’t exit my mouth the way I had planned but I didn’t really mind. Riley began to laugh at me. “Sorry sis, I got your boy toy a little hammered.” “You are such an asshole. I’m going to bed. Don’t you dare let him drive home like that.” She stormed off. “Oh shit, now she’s really pissed off.” He whispered conspiratorially to me. “I hope you weren’t trying to get with her tonight because I’ve royally ruined any chance you had.” “Nah man, this is fun. I just came over here to go swimming anyways.” Mike shot Riley a sly grin and earned himself a smack from his girlfriend. “Brit and I are going to go skinny dipping so why don’t you two go entertain yourselves inside.” |
2023.06.02 19:47 Ser-Bearington Can anyone recommend me some *good* Jurassic Park fan fictions?
Are there any good Jurassic Park fan fics?
I love the original books but I've got an itch for more. Any fan fics which aren't weird, you know, terrible/rminter species romance?
Ideally set in the 90s/book canon.
I've toyed with the idea of writing some myself but I alway have a whole backlog of my own stuff to work on.
Anyway, happy Jurassic June to everyone.
Hopefully this is long enough now.
submitted by Ser-Bearington to JurassicPark [link] [comments]
I love the original books but I've got an itch for more. Any fan fics which aren't weird, you know, terrible/rminter species romance?
Ideally set in the 90s/book canon.
I've toyed with the idea of writing some myself but I alway have a whole backlog of my own stuff to work on.
Anyway, happy Jurassic June to everyone.
Hopefully this is long enough now.
2023.06.02 19:47 potpourripolice TIFU by being rude to someone
Today I pulled up to UPS. The lot was mostly full. I was happy to find a spot right in front of the door, but as it turned out, the next car was hanging over the line. There was actually another spot in the next row that I could easily have backed into, once I realized the issue. But I was like "Fuck that car; let them lament their shitty parking." And I squeezed my truck in there in a 3 point operation (properly centered in my space). I went in and started taping up my packages (I had to use an open window to get them out of the truck). Then I heard "Excuse me is that your white truck?" "Yes." "Can you move it?" "Well I don't really wanna lose my place in line here." I didn't realize she stayed standing there, waiting, but I noticed once I finished taping my packages. "Do you need to go right now?" "I would like to" "Well I'm sorry; I didn't park your car like that" (my spot in line was already slipping due to the distraction). I was all done within about 5 minutes, but she was already gone. She must've crawled into her seat from the wrong side. Now, there's probably plenty of subs where I could post this story and have my position supported. But I actually felt remorseful. I could've just parked in that other spot. Why did I seek to give someone a hard time? I could've taken a moment to move. Why did I actually give that person a hard time? I wish I could apologize, but it's too late.
Of course, your average TIFU is a little spicier. Sorry to waste your time. But I needed to share this for my own sake, as I endeavor to be a better person (I do plenty of shit that's worse than this).
TL;DR I was rude to someone today, and I'll just have to live with the remorse
submitted by potpourripolice to tifu [link] [comments]
Of course, your average TIFU is a little spicier. Sorry to waste your time. But I needed to share this for my own sake, as I endeavor to be a better person (I do plenty of shit that's worse than this).
TL;DR I was rude to someone today, and I'll just have to live with the remorse
2023.06.02 19:37 Thecardinal74 You stole from my girl? I won't be petty with my revenge...
This took place late 90's, when cell phones still charged calls by the minute so the use of pagers was still pretty common.
My GF at the time had a pager, and she would keep it clipped to her sun visor in her car when driving, so if it went off she could glance at it to see who was sending the page without really taking eyes off road, and see if it's worth pulling over. Being early summer and we were about 20, 21, life was all about social time those days.
At this time, well before the internet took hold, the popular hangout was the Shopping Mall. 200 stores, something for everyone, and it's where the masses of teenagers would spend their free time. Largest mall in the region so always a chance to meet new people or find people you hadn't seen in a while.
So as she pulled in on a Friday night to meet up with her friends, she saw an old friend from her neighborhood, someone she hadn't seen since middle school years. (he went down the pothead route, she didn't, they drifted but no hard feelings) So she stopped next to him, chatted for a few minutes, exchanged pleasantries, then moved on to find a parking space.
It was there, as she went to get out of the car, that she noticed the pager was missing. She instantly remembered he had leaned in to rest his arms on the window frame to chat, and remembered when he asked her about something that prompted her to reach for her glovebox, and he must've swiped it then. Feeling stupid, and knowing who took it wasn't hard to figure out, but good luck finding him again amongst the crowds.
She went home, and tried to deal with it herself. She knew where he lived, as during the conversation he had mentioned he was "staying with so-and-so" and she knew where that guy lived. She borrowed her older brother's cell phone, called me and told me where she was going, gave me the address. I headed there.
So she went to the townhouse complex, parked right outside their unit, walked up and rang the doorbell. She talked to the mutual friend's mother. Explained what happened. Lady seemed annoyed at the kid, said he was a deadbeat, and agreed to help. She paged her son, he called back, and she said they were on their way home right now.
So she sat outside and waited. 15 minutes, 30 minutes... I show up and park far away, but within a line of site. I wanted to back her up in case things for fucky but if she wanted to handle this the nice way, I'll let her do that first. (I think she thought she would confront him, he's say something like "it was worth a try" and hand it back?) An hour. By now it was getting late, was after 12 midnight. We waited until 12:30 when she calls me and says she needs to get some sleep, "let's just write it off."
But I had a feeling. So I told her to leave, to pull out of the complex, circle around, then pull back into the complex and park over where I was parked, then turn off her car.
She does, then comes join me in my car and we have a bit of a stakeout.
Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed when not 5 minutes later the guys arrive. Her mother told them she was waiting, then told them once she left and it was clear to come home.
I asked her if that was the asshole's car, or the friends. We saw them get out and realized it was the asshole's car.
My plan quickly fell into shape. I told her to go home, get some sleep, I'll take care of this.
See, the car stood out. It was a beater car. It was blue with a silver back fender and back passenger door, replaced from an accident but never painted to match. It was heavily tinted, which is illegal but not really enforced unless police wanted a reason to pull you over. It had a loud system. Every square foot had a dent or a ding. There was a shitty add-on spoiler that was 3 sizes too large, and there were Jamaica flag bumper stickers on it even though he was white as snow. And he had these obnoxiously bright neon license plate frames.
You know the type, instead of buying a decent car wastes tons of money blinging out a piece of shit that constantly breaks down.
So I sit and I wait. 1 am, 2am rolls around. Most house lights in the area have gone out by now, including theirs. Not quite time.
3 am rolls around, 3:30... almost.
3:45, there was not a lick of movement anywhere. Now's the time!
I get out of my car, hunch down (just in case) and slowly work my way to his car. Pull out my screwdriver and quietly remove both the back and the front license plates, replace the frames, head back to my car, and drive home.
You see, the way the parking lot was, walking out of his front door you are looking at the driver side of his car, not the front or the back. And who, honestly, looks to see if there are license plates on your car when you go to get in it?
So it's now late Saturday afternoon, and a posse shows up at my GF's house, including a very large woman threatening to beat the crap out of her. She played it cool, said she had NO idea what they were talking about. They screamed that she stole his license plates because he had stolen her pager, and he even took out the pager and smashed it on the sidewalk as some sort of "revenge"
She laughed and said "I honestly have NO idea what you are talking about.. I don't really care about the pager, we already had the account moved to a new pager, that was was old and ugly anyway", yeah I came by to ask for it back, but it got late so I just got a different one. I don't care enough to make an issue out of it"
They continued to scream at her. Apparently he went out, the cops pulled him over for not having plates on his car, and he had to go to the police station and file a police/theft report in order to get out of a ticket.
She just repeated "I had nothing to do with that, so unless you have proof, you're about to be seeing the police again"
They knew they had nothing, grumbled and weren't sure how to react, so they gave a few more empty threats threats and left.
I let it sit. I gave it about 6-7 weeks, nothing more came of it, and everyone but me apparently moved on with our lives.
I guess they thought that was the end of it.
But I saw that visit and those threats as an escalation, so I reacted in kind.
Late summer I Again went back to his place. Again I found the car (it was really easy to spot), and Again I waited until about 3:45am, and Again I stole his (new) license plates.
Only this time I put his original plates back on.
And because the non-repaired side of the back of his car left a gaping hole in the wheel well, I was able to get my arm up in there and pop out the bulb socket for his left blinker, then I went on my way.
So even if he DID get into the habit of making sure there were plates on the car.. there were. And unless he was paying attention, the numbers would seem natural because he had them for years. But I'm not sure he even looked.
If the internet was a thing back then, hell if SCANNERS were a popular thing back then, I would still have the hard evidence which to this day I'd probably use as my phone's lock screen picture.
A little blurb in the local paper a few days later. A blurb that was proudly cut out and shared amongst friends, but sadly lost to the ages in 25+ years and countless apartment and house moves since then.
A little blurb the "police blotter" section.
About the arrest of a particular young man, who was pulled over for a malfunctioning blinker, on a car that was operating on stolen plates. He was charged with fraudulently filing a false police report, (claiming plates clearly in his possession were stolen) defrauding the Motor Vehicle Commission (a crime in this state) for fraudulently obtaining new plates, possession of controlled substances, and possession of drug paraphernalia, along with a host of traffic violations for having tinted window, failure to maintain vehicle, and a few other tickets. He was remanded pending bail and issued a court date.
Never found out if he posted bail, I'm sure his friend's mother didn't, and he had already been on the outs with his own family.
It was a good 5 months later when we were at the mall again, and she sees the large woman and a couple of the other people that came to her house that day walking towards us. We all noticed each other at the same time, I felt my GF tense up a little bit, but without a word those three just paused a second, turned, and went in a different direction.
Never saw or heard from any of them ever again. I guess my message was received loud and clear.
submitted by Thecardinal74 to ProRevenge [link] [comments]
My GF at the time had a pager, and she would keep it clipped to her sun visor in her car when driving, so if it went off she could glance at it to see who was sending the page without really taking eyes off road, and see if it's worth pulling over. Being early summer and we were about 20, 21, life was all about social time those days.
At this time, well before the internet took hold, the popular hangout was the Shopping Mall. 200 stores, something for everyone, and it's where the masses of teenagers would spend their free time. Largest mall in the region so always a chance to meet new people or find people you hadn't seen in a while.
So as she pulled in on a Friday night to meet up with her friends, she saw an old friend from her neighborhood, someone she hadn't seen since middle school years. (he went down the pothead route, she didn't, they drifted but no hard feelings) So she stopped next to him, chatted for a few minutes, exchanged pleasantries, then moved on to find a parking space.
It was there, as she went to get out of the car, that she noticed the pager was missing. She instantly remembered he had leaned in to rest his arms on the window frame to chat, and remembered when he asked her about something that prompted her to reach for her glovebox, and he must've swiped it then. Feeling stupid, and knowing who took it wasn't hard to figure out, but good luck finding him again amongst the crowds.
She went home, and tried to deal with it herself. She knew where he lived, as during the conversation he had mentioned he was "staying with so-and-so" and she knew where that guy lived. She borrowed her older brother's cell phone, called me and told me where she was going, gave me the address. I headed there.
So she went to the townhouse complex, parked right outside their unit, walked up and rang the doorbell. She talked to the mutual friend's mother. Explained what happened. Lady seemed annoyed at the kid, said he was a deadbeat, and agreed to help. She paged her son, he called back, and she said they were on their way home right now.
So she sat outside and waited. 15 minutes, 30 minutes... I show up and park far away, but within a line of site. I wanted to back her up in case things for fucky but if she wanted to handle this the nice way, I'll let her do that first. (I think she thought she would confront him, he's say something like "it was worth a try" and hand it back?) An hour. By now it was getting late, was after 12 midnight. We waited until 12:30 when she calls me and says she needs to get some sleep, "let's just write it off."
But I had a feeling. So I told her to leave, to pull out of the complex, circle around, then pull back into the complex and park over where I was parked, then turn off her car.
She does, then comes join me in my car and we have a bit of a stakeout.
Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed when not 5 minutes later the guys arrive. Her mother told them she was waiting, then told them once she left and it was clear to come home.
I asked her if that was the asshole's car, or the friends. We saw them get out and realized it was the asshole's car.
My plan quickly fell into shape. I told her to go home, get some sleep, I'll take care of this.
See, the car stood out. It was a beater car. It was blue with a silver back fender and back passenger door, replaced from an accident but never painted to match. It was heavily tinted, which is illegal but not really enforced unless police wanted a reason to pull you over. It had a loud system. Every square foot had a dent or a ding. There was a shitty add-on spoiler that was 3 sizes too large, and there were Jamaica flag bumper stickers on it even though he was white as snow. And he had these obnoxiously bright neon license plate frames.
You know the type, instead of buying a decent car wastes tons of money blinging out a piece of shit that constantly breaks down.
So I sit and I wait. 1 am, 2am rolls around. Most house lights in the area have gone out by now, including theirs. Not quite time.
3 am rolls around, 3:30... almost.
3:45, there was not a lick of movement anywhere. Now's the time!
I get out of my car, hunch down (just in case) and slowly work my way to his car. Pull out my screwdriver and quietly remove both the back and the front license plates, replace the frames, head back to my car, and drive home.
You see, the way the parking lot was, walking out of his front door you are looking at the driver side of his car, not the front or the back. And who, honestly, looks to see if there are license plates on your car when you go to get in it?
So it's now late Saturday afternoon, and a posse shows up at my GF's house, including a very large woman threatening to beat the crap out of her. She played it cool, said she had NO idea what they were talking about. They screamed that she stole his license plates because he had stolen her pager, and he even took out the pager and smashed it on the sidewalk as some sort of "revenge"
She laughed and said "I honestly have NO idea what you are talking about.. I don't really care about the pager, we already had the account moved to a new pager, that was was old and ugly anyway", yeah I came by to ask for it back, but it got late so I just got a different one. I don't care enough to make an issue out of it"
They continued to scream at her. Apparently he went out, the cops pulled him over for not having plates on his car, and he had to go to the police station and file a police/theft report in order to get out of a ticket.
She just repeated "I had nothing to do with that, so unless you have proof, you're about to be seeing the police again"
They knew they had nothing, grumbled and weren't sure how to react, so they gave a few more empty threats threats and left.
I let it sit. I gave it about 6-7 weeks, nothing more came of it, and everyone but me apparently moved on with our lives.
I guess they thought that was the end of it.
But I saw that visit and those threats as an escalation, so I reacted in kind.
Late summer I Again went back to his place. Again I found the car (it was really easy to spot), and Again I waited until about 3:45am, and Again I stole his (new) license plates.
Only this time I put his original plates back on.
And because the non-repaired side of the back of his car left a gaping hole in the wheel well, I was able to get my arm up in there and pop out the bulb socket for his left blinker, then I went on my way.
So even if he DID get into the habit of making sure there were plates on the car.. there were. And unless he was paying attention, the numbers would seem natural because he had them for years. But I'm not sure he even looked.
If the internet was a thing back then, hell if SCANNERS were a popular thing back then, I would still have the hard evidence which to this day I'd probably use as my phone's lock screen picture.
A little blurb in the local paper a few days later. A blurb that was proudly cut out and shared amongst friends, but sadly lost to the ages in 25+ years and countless apartment and house moves since then.
A little blurb the "police blotter" section.
About the arrest of a particular young man, who was pulled over for a malfunctioning blinker, on a car that was operating on stolen plates. He was charged with fraudulently filing a false police report, (claiming plates clearly in his possession were stolen) defrauding the Motor Vehicle Commission (a crime in this state) for fraudulently obtaining new plates, possession of controlled substances, and possession of drug paraphernalia, along with a host of traffic violations for having tinted window, failure to maintain vehicle, and a few other tickets. He was remanded pending bail and issued a court date.
Never found out if he posted bail, I'm sure his friend's mother didn't, and he had already been on the outs with his own family.
It was a good 5 months later when we were at the mall again, and she sees the large woman and a couple of the other people that came to her house that day walking towards us. We all noticed each other at the same time, I felt my GF tense up a little bit, but without a word those three just paused a second, turned, and went in a different direction.
Never saw or heard from any of them ever again. I guess my message was received loud and clear.
2023.06.02 19:36 4ShotBot My Roommate is Slenderman Part 25: (Revised)
Part 24: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/13taoss/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_24_revised/
(Terry)
It had been a day or so and I hadn’t gotten a response from Megami. There are spurts where we don’t talk, she tends to be pretty accident-prone with electronics. Sometimes the frequency she’s singing goes haywire and fries it. But it had been a good five months or so since we last spoke. Taking a shot in the dark, I called Rachel.
“What is it, Terry?” She grunted, “I’m a little busy.”
“I need to talk to Megami, but she’s been MIA since the whole ‘Maerod’ situation.” My mind shot back to what Jones had told me, to watch out for “her,” momentarily questioning whether or not Dexter’s team had been dumb enough to keep her alive.
There was a pause, the line was silent. Then, a sigh, “Actually, I’ve had the same problem. I figured she just broke another phone, or was pissed at me for… Well, I’ll keep an ear out and let you know if I hear anything. What do you need her for?” She grunted again.
“Small mission.”
“Joseph?”
“Yeah.”
The line went silent again, then an exasperated sigh, “Good luck, be sure to bring The Doctor with you. You know how you can get.”
A flush of anger pulsed through me, but I took a deep breath, “Sure.”
She shrieked, “Oh shit!” The call ended.
I thought over the list of everyone, wondering what I was gonna do. I had actually intended to have Doc and Megami be the last two after Smudge, no one else would really work. Chad wasn’t right for the type of incognito mission we were doing, Abraham wasn’t available, Rachel and Sepratine just didn’t quite mesh with what we were doing, Megami was supposed to be the last one to fill out the party. I mulled it over, but I still owed David, the huuldefolk, a favor from the Maerod raid. I would’ve called Jacob, but he was in another country doing who knows what.
My phone rang as I stood, leaning against the couch, “Jones, something wrong?”
He chuckled, “Not in the least. You got your group together?”
“We’re one short.”
“No problem, bring everyone by tonight, we need to prepare on our end, and Dexter sent us a bit of backup.” He hung up.
I called up Doc and Smudge, telling them to be at my place and ready by the time dusk rolled around. Heading to the bathroom I downed my meds, trying to shake off a weird feeling that slowly crept up on me. As if something was going to happen when we got there. It was more than just a bad feeling, but a conviction, I knew something would happen, and it made me uncomfortable. One of the pills I took was supposed to ease it, but when it got that bad, it meant my brain had already determined some kind of outcome. It’s not a superpower or anything, more like enhanced intuition. It only happens when my brain has the information to go off of. But there’s a disconnect between my conscious and subconscious, so whenever something like that happens, I just have to wait for it to come to fruition.
-----------------------------------------
Stepping into the office, I looked around, “Where’s the new guy?”
Xavier looked up, baffled at the sight. Then Jones stood, walking over to greet us, the bags under his eyes less defined, “He’s in the back getting himself something to eat. Smudge, nice to see you again, you haven’t aged a day.” Smudge chuckled at that, “You must be The famous Doctor, I want to thank you for coming. I’m sure you’re a busy man.” He outstretched his hand, but Doc just gestured between Jones and me.
“You see, that’s how you should greet me. You really ought to get a notepad out, you might learn a thing or two about how to respect your elders.”
“If I remember correctly, I’m about 2,000 years your senior. When did you start your… questionable medical practices again? 16th, 17th century?”
Doc ignored me, angrily shaking Jones’s hand, “Nice to meet you, lad! Glad to hear somebody thinks highly of me, even if it is a meager thinskin.”
“Me and my dislocated fingers thank you for that.” As he brought his hand back, Jones uncomfortably pushed his fingers back into their sockets one by one. “So, who were you planning on bringing? You said there was going to be another?”
“Right, had my sights set on a Siren, she’s pretty skilled and can be silent when the occasion arises. But I couldn’t get ahold of her.” I paused, “Actually, you’ve got your ear to the ground, you heard anything about someone named Megami? It’s been a few months since we talked, I’m kinda worried.”
Jones was a mannequin, despite trying to seem calm, his eyes flicked to Xavier before shooting back to us. He leaned against his desk, reaching for his coffee mug several times, not looking away from us, before finally grabbing it, and raising it to his mouth.
I stared hard at Xavier, a few moments later, he cracked, “Look it was a life or death sit–”
My legs tightened, I could feel the meds pushing to the side as I grew, stepping over to him in two long strides. He threw out his hearing aid, grasping his one intact ear as he held himself up with his free hand on the desk, “You killed Megami! Tell me why I shouldn’t give you the same treatment!” Something grasped my waist, then each of my legs. They were trying to push me back. When I released a tentacle to shoot Xavier through the head, I felt a prick stab into it. I fell limp, shrinking back down instantaneously.
Much calmer, I looked at my surroundings, Doc stood over me, making sure I was fine, Smudge looked between Xavier and me, wondering how he should react. Then I saw Xavier, Jones standing beside him, and on the other side of the desk, just across from us, stood the blonde buzzcut, and scarred musculature, of a Texan soldier. “Fucking Tucker.” I chuckled with disdain, “Of course.”
“Wish I had my H.O.P.S. but unfortunately it was destroyed along with the U.S.P.M. You’re one terrifying son of a bitch when I’m not in a full suit of armor, I’ll tell you what.” Looking close, I noticed he was wearing one of the older exosuits they used to wear. It was clean, but there were scuffs in the black paint job here and there.
“The U.S.P.M is just a bad fucking omen at this point.”
“Hey, we didn’t kill Jeff, and we didn’t kill Megami. So why don’tcha chill the fuck out.” Tucker crossed his arms, staring at me.
Smudge let out a jittery sigh, “You know, Jane’s death wasn’t necessarily the fault of Jeff.”
I looked at him, “Are you really going to side with the thinskins on this one?”
“Terry, behave yourself. We’re only here for Joseph’s sake. After we’re done you can go wipe out the US government. But we’re here for a reason. Doctor back me up here.”
“I’m neutral in this, I don’t care much for anyone.”
“And yet you’re here to help save Joseph.”
He sighed, “Joseph is okay I suppose. But I’m here because Terry gave me a deal on a pixie a month or so back.”
Smudge and Doc continued their back and forth as I stared at Xavier, he stood upright again, fixing the aid back into his ear, “I don’t blame you, Terry, I’d kill me too. I even did. But at least wait till this is over, yeah? I wanna slip in one last good deed if I can.” He blinked tears back as he put on a ski mask.
“When we’re done, I’ll thank you, but you better hope we never cross paths again.”
“I could say the same to you… I could.”
The air was still for a minute or so, even Doc and Smudge had stopped their bickering. “Well then.” Tucker smacked his hands together, making a metal clink, “Y’all ready to kick some shit in?”
“How long is the drive? I’ll need at least an hour to recover.”
Jones answered, “Hour and a half to two, you’ll be fine. We’ve got guns in the van, all suppressed. I had a mutual acquaintance of ours send us a care package yesterday. Regardless, I say we should all keep our blood inside our bodies.”
Tucker joined in, “Speaking of, I managed to scrounge the materials to make up some of those SIOM rounds. I left them in the van, along with the last resort.” He winked at me.
Jones nodded, “We should be good to go then, you guys oughtta join us in the van, less conspicuous.”
I nodded, “Yeah, that’d make the most sense. I’ll be taking the lead when we get there though. Which reminds me, you never sent me the schematics.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll send them over. Are you gonna have enough time to put a plan together?”
“Yeah, I already know how we’ll follow into the building. I was thinking Tucker at first, but without his suit, he’s basically just a liability.”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, we’ll see about that one.”
-----------------------------
As the van slowed, Tucker pulled on his combat gloves. He was decked out in full gear that I hadn’t really noticed till we got in the van. A flexible vest that was essentially a skin-tight long-sleeve shirt, meeting his wrists. His pants were tight and were made of the same fabric as his shirt.
We came to a complete stop as he slung his rifle around, clicking off the safety on his Bizon. Doc clapped his book shut, and Smudge stood.
“Alright, everyone up, we need to get to the gun cases.” Jones had come back through a door-sized hole connecting the back of the van to the front. He’d already pulled his mask over his face, the only color that came from him was his remaining eye and parts of his lips, only revealed by small, cut strips in the fabric.
We stood, sidestepping so he could get to the guns behind the seats. One by one we filed out the back.
Xavier hopped out the back, followed by Jones who stared at Tucker for a moment, “Did you uh… Did you put a new scope on this?” He raised his PS90 which held an ACOG and a suppressor.
“Oh yeah, it’s kinda like a thermal scope. But instead of heat it picks up… well I don’t actually know. But you should be able to see anything invisible or not.” Xavier inspected his own gun, “Sorry guy, I only had enough for Jones and me. You should be fine, but just cause you don’t got a fancy scope don’t mean you can go missing your shots. Them rounds’re expensive as hell.”
“Well, let’s get going, I’ve got the map down, I know how to get there. Second floor of their basement has the data. Unfortunately, we have no idea what security looks like, so we have to be cautious if we intend to stay hidden.”
Tucker spoke, “Just to be clear, you’re upfront, Jones is behind you, then the Doctor, then Xavier with me covering our asses.”
“Smudge is behind Doc, and while I’d like to have Xavier in the back–”
Xavier rolled his eyes, “Well I’d like to have you in back.”
Tucker sighed, “Anyhow, guess it works. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll have a huuldefolk I can put some rounds through. Release some of this tension.” He shot his gaze between Xavier and me.
“Well let’s head out. Smudge, you’ll be able to keep the cameras down right?”
“Based on what you said about their layout I should be able to, but I won’t be able to keep us hidden from the perception of the guards once we’re inside. There are far too many electronics I need to keep down so if we run into anyone inside the building, we need to kill them and hide their bodies to avoid being caught. I can’t keep the entire building down, so I can’t stop them from setting off an alarm if we miss anyone.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Tucker lifted his gun.
“Let’s hope those sights are as powerful as you say.”
Before long, we were on our way. We’d parked some distance out so as to not draw any attention. Taking the lead, the only noise I could hear was the occasional snapping of twigs as we walked through a forested area. Despite having come in contact with the exoskeleton previously, it still surprised me how stealthy Tucker could be wearing it.
Breaching the treeline, I held up my hand. Surrounded by a gravel driveway stood a three-story tall modern office-style building. Men patrolled around the lot, all wearing tactical gear. Focusing on the shadows, I could tell there were hidden guards as well, those ones were wearing light, flexible clothing and minimal if any weapons.
“Smudge,” I whispered, waving him up with two fingers.
“Yes.” As he looked out, he seemed to understand, “This will be a tough one if they aren’t all humans. Seems like there are about 30 guards that may see us. If even one of them is around a five, I won’t be able to blind all of them from our presence. If Rachel were here we’d be able to determine such a thing, unfortunately, we don’t have her spiritual sense.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Tucker whispered from behind us.
“What kind of bullshit caused you to break formation without my asking.”
“As I said, these scopes can sense alternative forms of energy. I have a few frames of reference, I know what civies look like through this thing. Smudge, if you can point out all the hidden ones, I’ll be able to tell you what we’re dealing with.”
Smudge looked at me, then shrugged, “Alright, if you’re certain.”
---------------------------
“We’re good to go then? That was the last one?”
“So it would seem, that scope of yours ought to be reliable.”
“If we don’t get by, you have my full permission to do whatever you want to Xavier.”
Jones butted in, “I believe that’s up for me to decide. I still need him around.”
Smudge whispered at a frequency that’d set dogs off, “Enough bickering, you’re worse than when I have to babysit Chad and Rachel. Everyone get in formation, it’s easiest on me if we go in single file.” Getting back into position, he spoke up, “Sorry Terry, I know you’re leading, but, well you get it.”
I nodded back to him, “Everyone ready? No piss breaks past this point. If you have cold feet, just head back to the van.” I looked back to Xavier, to which he flipped me off, signaling me to start.
I wasn’t worried about the situation until we got about ten feet from the door. One of the two guards standing beside it looked over at us. I signaled everyone to stop, and the guy continued to stare. A few moments later, he shrugged, facing forward again, and we continued on through the door.
There was no one in the immediate vicinity, though there were several cameras pointed toward us, blinking.
Smudge said one word as he took a deep breath, “Break.”
Nodding, I signaled for the three of us up front to take the right wall, and the other three to take the left.
------------------------------
Once Smudge caught his breath, he stood back up, and we all got back into formation, right as a guard turned the corner. I shot a tentacle out, grabbing him by the throat and snapping his neck, all while bringing him closer so we could hide the body.
That was when an alarm went off, “FUCK! Keep the humans hidden, Doc and I can handle ourselves.” My brain froze time, trying to figure out what happened. Eventually, it clicked, heart monitors, a precaution not even Maerod took.
“Leave me out of it Smudge, I can handle myself too. You need all the focus you can get.” Tucker stepped up, aiming down sights.
The door bashed open before I could get my tentacles out. Turning, Tucker already faced the door, dropping people in one to two rounds a piece.
Turning back toward the dead body, I headed on, alarms blaring overhead. Bodies came and went. Despite how badly we’d apparently messed up the plan, I knew where the database was, and I refused to let anyone stand between me and it.
Each step I took was further than the last, “KEEP YOURSELVES SAFE, I’M GOING FURTHER IN!”
“Not without me you’re not!” Metal clattering rang out, “IMBECILE!” Doc caught up to me as I flung several bodies out of the way.
“Watch where you’re throwin’ em!” Tucker yelled out, “We shouldn’t split up!”
I was already at the staircase making my way down when something smacked across my face. Turning to my right, I saw a lanky man with his hands in his pockets. He was slouched as if bored.
“FINE, GO DOWN, I’LL MEET YOU THERE!” Swinging a tentacle at him, he made a popping motion with his mouth, the limb slammed into a wall. Shooting them all at him, he blew air out in a circle, then at me directly, lunging at me as he threw me off balance. He kicked me in the chin, then down on my head, knocking me to a knee. A second later I was thrown into the air, then to the ground.
“Damn man, you look like you could use a hand.” The strange man stood over me, offering me his right.
I took it, spinning him around, snapping his arm, and flinging him against the wall, where lay motionless. I stabbed him in the head, then the heart just to be safe. Scoffing at his arrogance, I headed down the stairway.
When I got down to the second basement floor, there were already several dead bodies strewn about. Everyone was hiding behind metal tables. Tucker injected Doc with something, sitting beside them was a heaving Smudge.
I put my tentacles away, and a sudden burst of gunfire came from the back of the wide-open office room. A few bullets hit me, but I was already too tall, they crumpled on impact.
“THEY GET AHOLD OF YOUR FORMULA!?”
“Fuck that’s loud, yeah, there was a leak a few months back! Doc ain’t doin’ so hot!”
“That’s, The Doctor, to, you.” He spoke each word with individual breaths.
Walking toward the guards, they panicked. With a thud hitting my chest, one of the men screamed, “We need you up here!” Looking down I found a pinless grenade, which I kicked, knocking one of the men unconscious. Bodies tumbled over one another as it exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. A few pieces stuck in my face, but I headed straight for the room.
“YOU’LL WANT TO GET BACK! SOMEONE IS COMING FROM DOW–” The ground gave out from under me, falling a few floors, I was kicked into a wall in a dark room, aside from the hole. Landing on my feet, I looked around, rubbing my side. I felt something wet, where I’d been hit. Then I saw who it was. A scaly humanoid, each scale tipped with a tinted blue, serrated prong. His shadow fluctuated, then its eyes sprung open, and a black mist shot me. I blocked with my tentacles, but they were cheese to a grater.
“Kenet himself breaking in here? Must think you’re hot shit!”
I grunted, springing off the wall, using a shredded tentacle to slam the scaly man with a table. Sure enough, the mist formed into a shadow-walker, same as Jacob. I slammed my fist into his face before he could react.
“I NEED SOME LIGHT DOWN HERE!”
But the scaled man already rebounded, swinging his pronged fist at my face. I managed to block with my arm, but it was getting stiff.
“DOC, I NEED YOU!”
I heard Tucker to my left, “He’s still recovering, close your eyes!”
Before I could tell him I couldn’t close my face, a clinking sounded, and I saw a small metal canister roll into view. A blinding light took over, banging nine times, each followed by a flash. Then several gunshots.
Accepting the pain to come, I grabbed the scaled man, flinging him into the ceiling, dazing him. The shadow-walker was already dead on the ground, three bullet holes planted in his skull.
“NICELY DONE!”
“Got any weaknesses on the other one? Never seen anything like him.”
“SKIN TRANSFORMATION, WE MUST WEAR HIM DOWN!”
“Lovely.”
The prongs tipping his scales had already shrunk considerably. Stumbling to his feet, he glanced down at the motionless skinwalker, “Goddamn.” His scales evaporated, leaving behind a hollow man, standing still, “Ju–”
Tucker put a bullet right between his eyes, “Didn’t have to ask buddy.”
As we turned to head back up the stairs, a thud reverberated from behind us. Turning back, Smudge lay, face first, and uncovered. He wore a full-body outfit ensuring no skin was revealed, but my concern was on whatever had dropped him down. Aside from the alarms, it was eerily silent. They landed on Smudge, hopping off, and kicking him into the wall.
The black suit was almost a fabric, but it was certainly mechanical. Parts at joints stuck out slightly, giving him mobility along with full body protection. At his neck, the material fluctuated, phase shifting at the slightest movement. The entire front of his helmet was a velvet red visor, the changed to a light blue when the light reflected just right. He had several weapons littering his body, including two hook swords, an unknown kind of pistol, a pump action shotgun, and a few others; all of which were as black as his armor.
I had to lean my head and chest down to avoid hitting the ceiling. I couldn’t move anymore, and Tucker looked a little nervous, “DOC! YOU ALIVE!?”
A German accent replied with a chuckle, “He was already dead.”
“Yeah, right.” Tucker said, “What’re you waitin’ for big guy?”
Shooting out my back, I held the odd man at tentacle point, Tucker readied his carbine, and the man retrieved his hook blades.
“Come, let me get this over with.”
Tucker stammered, “B-be careful.” He swapped magazines, “This guy is radiating like a human.” He fired a round, I felt it slide between two tentacles, and as it hit the man in the visor, an explosion errupted. I engaged, picking the man up by the leg, but before I could fling him, pain shot through it, the tip was sliced off. Tucker fired two more rounds, both exploding as they met their target, filling the room with a cloudy haze. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to move, but I felt like a turtle.
Suddenly, my leg ripped up, I held in place, stabilizing with a few tentacles, then smashed where a crack had formed on his visor, but he swung his other blade down, cutting it in half. A rapid succession of explosions slowly knocked the man back, and for the first time, he looked at Tucker, throwing one of the hookblades at him, it was angled for his face, but he snatched it mid air, then lunged at the man. He slammed the blade down on his shoulder, spinning it around and hooking the back of his arm, yanking him in, Tucker punched full force. In an instant, Tucker was against the wall, falling face first into the tile floor, leaving ceramic to crack the area around him.
The man chopped the last of my tentacles down as he approached me. When they were practically useless, he put the remaining blade away, pulling out the pump action shotgun. He shot me in the face six times before throwing the gun to his side. A small stream of black ooze dripped down my chin, and I had a hard time seeing anything in front of me.
“Damn, you’re one tough fucker, I’ll give that much.”
Pulling out his pistol, he proceeded to unload every round into my forehead, despite being ordinary metal, something about them kicked like a mule. When that gun was out, he dropped it, looking to his right, seeing where Tucker had dropped his gun.
“I wonder, how will you hold against explosive rounds? Not well?”
As he picked it up, I felt something prick my back, a familiar sensation made its way toward my heart, like organic WD-4D.
“You’re awfully quiet over there. Lost will to fight?”
“You’re an asshole!”
“Please, stop, I’ll shit myself.” He let out an antagonizing laugh, “You’re strong, but you’ve too much a stiffy going on there.” He let off a round into my face, nearly knocking me down, but I staggered just enough to stay in place.
“Wow, this has some nice kick to it, perhaps I’ll join the military after this.” He shot three more into my face, with each explosion, my skin peeled away just that much more, my brain rattled, but my limbs loosened.
By the fourth round, I regained some mobility, walking toward him. He stepped back, switching the gun to burst fire. I maneuvered around three bursts, only getting hit three times, each one in my torso. Those explosions seemed to boost the Doc’s serum, and I was able to grab the man by the head, crushing his visor with the palm of my hand. “You rely too much on your gadgets and luck. Neither will get you out of this.”
The helmet cracked, and blades shot out, slicing my fingers off. He pulled his remaining hook blade and slid under me. A sharp pain hit the back of my skull, then a cracking reverberated through my head. A metal clattering followed, and when I turned, the man stood there, shocked. He lunged back, throwing several kunai at my face, but I ducked them. With my full range of motion returned, I slung one of the tables at him, flinging him into a wall front-first.
Walking over to where he’d dropped Tucker’s rifle, I snagged it, and walked over to the man. He staggered back to his feet, a broken nose and a shard of ceramic sticking out of his eye. I held the gun to his forehead and fired, his head bursting like a pipe bomb.
I stumbled over to Tucker, dropping his gun beside him, and dropping to one knee. I smacked him in the face a few times, “You still alive?”
He rolled onto his side, “Kinda wish I wasn’t.” His face was covered in small cuts from the ceramic tiles, “Wish I’d had my Odyr suit, couldda kicked his ass. Fuckin hell what a dick.”
I sat beside him, “Hopefully he was their last line of defense, I think your gun gave me a concussion or something.” The room spun, my stomach on a Ferris wheel.
“Wow, the Doctor was right.”
I turned to the stairway, Xavier held Jones’s arm around his neck, helping him stand, “What happened, is Doc really dead?”
Tucker staggered his way to a standing position, “Nah, that stuff I gave him slows heart rate. He was too stupid to check for a full minute. He should still be alive, don’t worry.”
“And you two?”
Jones cleared his throat, “Smudge hid us, but he was worn down.”
Hearing that, I turned back to see Smudge, still laying flat. I stood, stumbling over to him, checking his pulse. It took a bit, but eventually, I felt a weak heartbeat. “DOC, YOU ALIVE UP THERE!?”
“I suppose!” He groaned.
“WE NEED YOU DOWN HERE! SMUDGE IS IN BAD SHAPE!”
A faint hint of a sigh made its way down the hole. I picked Smudge up, and moments later, Doc landed on the ground, a leg giving out from under him.
------------------------------------------
Some time passed, and we patched ourselves up as best we could before heading back up to the proper floor. Jones was able to walk on his own, but his right leg was in bad shape. I carried Smudge on my back, and despite Tucker’s several broken bones, he was walking just fine, occasionally stumbling from a torn tendon. As far as Doc went, the only sign he showed he was injured was his panting. Fortunately, we never ran into anyone else aside from the odd straggler, and we managed to grab the data we needed.
With the stressors passed, we laughed and joked, trying to bring ourselves back down from the adrenaline high. Exiting the building, I spoke up, “Xavier, I’m not going to forgive you, but I will thank you.”
He looked over at me, “To be fair, it was the Doctor’s idea.”
“That’s why I’m not forgiving you, anyone could’ve done it.”
“Oh, fair enough. Guess you could’ve done it too aye Doc?”
“That’s Doctor.” He let out an exhausted sigh, “In theory, but by the time I got around to it, who knows if Terry would still be alive. For a thin-skin, you did well.”
That’s when a limo pulled up through the gravel headed right for us, stopping just in time to not hit us, “Doc, wake Smudge, have him get you guys out of here. NOW!” I set him on the ground behind me.
“Well, I certainly hope he’s feeling up to it.”
“If not, you guys need to run.”
The back door opened, and a man in a suit stepped out. Pulling off his glasses, he tossed them in the back seat before closing the door and signaling the driver to leave. They couldn’t get away fast enough.
“Terry, son of Charles, I was under the impression you wouldn’t get involved with us. But after the Maerod incident, we decided we should implement additional security measures. Seems we should’ve invested more heavily into that. What was your intent here? If you had just called on Charles and told him about us, I’m certain he could’ve turned the entire building to mist.”
“If you know that, why’d you come to see for yourself, you can’t kill him. Or are you really that arrogant?”
The man laughed, “Because the alarm is still going off. If he had come, there would be no signal sending the alarm. You’re strong sure, but even three assassins managed to do this to you. Hence the difference between you mortals and us gods.”
“Didn’t realize living for 3000 years classified me as mortal.”
“You know, it’s interesting. Even after thousands of years, some still feel the need to attach themselves to this world. It’s as if they’re unaware of the insignificance of this world, this solar system, galaxy, supercluster, hell this universe! If you will live to see it all end, then what’s this part of it matter? They get animals to give themselves more meaning, call them pets. They feed the animal, water them, domesticate them, protect them. But they also prevent them from living in their natural habitat. Pulling the animal from where it belongs to give themselves a sense of purpose, it’s selfish wouldn’t you say?”
“Sure, I guess in a nihilistic sense.”
“So why are you here? To retrieve your pet? As I’ve said, there’s a transmitter in there, I saw what you pulled. Data on where your pet is. Why not just let him live in his terrarium?”
“He’s one of us now.”
“Due to your interference.”
“What are you really doing here!?”
“That’s the question of the day is it not? Quite frankly, I think Maerod was right to kill her. You’re far too attached to this world, though I suppose you are still a mere child. You could be so much more wise, and yet you refuse to allow it, you latch onto what’s been lost when you could focus on what you could have.”
“Sounds to me like you’re not quite past your own insignificance.”
He sneered, “Are you certain that’s your final answer?”
“I guess so.”
“Gods, the apple really does fall right to the roots.” The grass around him shriveled to dust when he charged me. Time stopped as the gleam in his eyes froze me, each fist pummeling me to the dirt, creating a deeper crater with each fist.
Then I was back in place, so was he. I’d never felt it so strong before, but I couldn’t deny the reality, he would kill me. Unlike Maerod, that man had absolute control over his soul, a feat all my attempts couldn’t achieve. All I could do was hold him off until I had an opportunity to slip out of his perception.
The grass around him slowly disintegrated, ready for his lunge, I leaped into the air, grabbing him mid-air with my tentacles and throwing him full force into the building. I sprung myself to the forest, latching onto a branch and engrossing myself in the tree, doing what I could to suck as much energy out. It wasn’t long before I was forced out. The tree crumbled to dust and I lept from it, charging the man with what little extra energy I had. He stood still, tanking four punches to his face. He kicked me back, nothing but a streak of blood running down his nose.
I lunged back searching for another tree. I found one a ways back, flinging myself at it, I fell into it and absorbed the tree’s power. I forced myself and found I could suck it out of other nearby trees. Until I was once again forced out, the trees crumbling in decayed mass, “You’ve gotten a bit stronger, Charles must be so proud.”
“What are you trying to achieve? Is losing your HQ really that important?”
He stepped toward me casually, “The same thing Maerod was trying to achieve, and really all the other gods in this disoriented country. However, no, killing you isn’t punishment for the damages, it’s for the audacity it took for you to do it. Entering my domain and destroying my primary facility? That takes balls, unfortunately, the rest was only a few inches.”
I tried to leap back again to gain a foothold, but all nearby trees crumpled to dust. Seeing no other way, I charged him again, but just as I came face to face, I spun and sidestepped, launching a single tentacle for the back of his heart, but on impact, it turned to dust.
“Unfortunately, the rest of you won’t be so easy to get rid of.” He turned, jumping, and once again, I met his bloodthirsty gaze. My skull cracked on impact, and when my head hit the dirt, a crater was left behind. He stood over me, “I’m gonna be on his shitlist for this one, but really, it’ll be worth it.” He pointed a finger gun at my head, and as the darkness closed in, three gunshots followed by a familiar light filled my senses, and when I could see again, his head was missing, the body still standing up-right, three bullet holes oozing blood at different angles...
I staggered to my feet, adrenaline keeping me awake. I looked around, seeing everyone but Smudge scattered around, “RUN! HE’S GONNA BLOW JUST FUCKING RUN!” I used my tentacles to move, sticking them in the ground and launching myself, then staggering to my feet. I headed in the direction the van was in, and a few seconds later, an intense blue light erupted from behind me, the shockwave hitting immediately after.
Part 26: Coming Soon!
submitted by 4ShotBot to Viidith22 [link] [comments]
(Terry)
It had been a day or so and I hadn’t gotten a response from Megami. There are spurts where we don’t talk, she tends to be pretty accident-prone with electronics. Sometimes the frequency she’s singing goes haywire and fries it. But it had been a good five months or so since we last spoke. Taking a shot in the dark, I called Rachel.
“What is it, Terry?” She grunted, “I’m a little busy.”
“I need to talk to Megami, but she’s been MIA since the whole ‘Maerod’ situation.” My mind shot back to what Jones had told me, to watch out for “her,” momentarily questioning whether or not Dexter’s team had been dumb enough to keep her alive.
There was a pause, the line was silent. Then, a sigh, “Actually, I’ve had the same problem. I figured she just broke another phone, or was pissed at me for… Well, I’ll keep an ear out and let you know if I hear anything. What do you need her for?” She grunted again.
“Small mission.”
“Joseph?”
“Yeah.”
The line went silent again, then an exasperated sigh, “Good luck, be sure to bring The Doctor with you. You know how you can get.”
A flush of anger pulsed through me, but I took a deep breath, “Sure.”
She shrieked, “Oh shit!” The call ended.
I thought over the list of everyone, wondering what I was gonna do. I had actually intended to have Doc and Megami be the last two after Smudge, no one else would really work. Chad wasn’t right for the type of incognito mission we were doing, Abraham wasn’t available, Rachel and Sepratine just didn’t quite mesh with what we were doing, Megami was supposed to be the last one to fill out the party. I mulled it over, but I still owed David, the huuldefolk, a favor from the Maerod raid. I would’ve called Jacob, but he was in another country doing who knows what.
My phone rang as I stood, leaning against the couch, “Jones, something wrong?”
He chuckled, “Not in the least. You got your group together?”
“We’re one short.”
“No problem, bring everyone by tonight, we need to prepare on our end, and Dexter sent us a bit of backup.” He hung up.
I called up Doc and Smudge, telling them to be at my place and ready by the time dusk rolled around. Heading to the bathroom I downed my meds, trying to shake off a weird feeling that slowly crept up on me. As if something was going to happen when we got there. It was more than just a bad feeling, but a conviction, I knew something would happen, and it made me uncomfortable. One of the pills I took was supposed to ease it, but when it got that bad, it meant my brain had already determined some kind of outcome. It’s not a superpower or anything, more like enhanced intuition. It only happens when my brain has the information to go off of. But there’s a disconnect between my conscious and subconscious, so whenever something like that happens, I just have to wait for it to come to fruition.
-----------------------------------------
Stepping into the office, I looked around, “Where’s the new guy?”
Xavier looked up, baffled at the sight. Then Jones stood, walking over to greet us, the bags under his eyes less defined, “He’s in the back getting himself something to eat. Smudge, nice to see you again, you haven’t aged a day.” Smudge chuckled at that, “You must be The famous Doctor, I want to thank you for coming. I’m sure you’re a busy man.” He outstretched his hand, but Doc just gestured between Jones and me.
“You see, that’s how you should greet me. You really ought to get a notepad out, you might learn a thing or two about how to respect your elders.”
“If I remember correctly, I’m about 2,000 years your senior. When did you start your… questionable medical practices again? 16th, 17th century?”
Doc ignored me, angrily shaking Jones’s hand, “Nice to meet you, lad! Glad to hear somebody thinks highly of me, even if it is a meager thinskin.”
“Me and my dislocated fingers thank you for that.” As he brought his hand back, Jones uncomfortably pushed his fingers back into their sockets one by one. “So, who were you planning on bringing? You said there was going to be another?”
“Right, had my sights set on a Siren, she’s pretty skilled and can be silent when the occasion arises. But I couldn’t get ahold of her.” I paused, “Actually, you’ve got your ear to the ground, you heard anything about someone named Megami? It’s been a few months since we talked, I’m kinda worried.”
Jones was a mannequin, despite trying to seem calm, his eyes flicked to Xavier before shooting back to us. He leaned against his desk, reaching for his coffee mug several times, not looking away from us, before finally grabbing it, and raising it to his mouth.
I stared hard at Xavier, a few moments later, he cracked, “Look it was a life or death sit–”
My legs tightened, I could feel the meds pushing to the side as I grew, stepping over to him in two long strides. He threw out his hearing aid, grasping his one intact ear as he held himself up with his free hand on the desk, “You killed Megami! Tell me why I shouldn’t give you the same treatment!” Something grasped my waist, then each of my legs. They were trying to push me back. When I released a tentacle to shoot Xavier through the head, I felt a prick stab into it. I fell limp, shrinking back down instantaneously.
Much calmer, I looked at my surroundings, Doc stood over me, making sure I was fine, Smudge looked between Xavier and me, wondering how he should react. Then I saw Xavier, Jones standing beside him, and on the other side of the desk, just across from us, stood the blonde buzzcut, and scarred musculature, of a Texan soldier. “Fucking Tucker.” I chuckled with disdain, “Of course.”
“Wish I had my H.O.P.S. but unfortunately it was destroyed along with the U.S.P.M. You’re one terrifying son of a bitch when I’m not in a full suit of armor, I’ll tell you what.” Looking close, I noticed he was wearing one of the older exosuits they used to wear. It was clean, but there were scuffs in the black paint job here and there.
“The U.S.P.M is just a bad fucking omen at this point.”
“Hey, we didn’t kill Jeff, and we didn’t kill Megami. So why don’tcha chill the fuck out.” Tucker crossed his arms, staring at me.
Smudge let out a jittery sigh, “You know, Jane’s death wasn’t necessarily the fault of Jeff.”
I looked at him, “Are you really going to side with the thinskins on this one?”
“Terry, behave yourself. We’re only here for Joseph’s sake. After we’re done you can go wipe out the US government. But we’re here for a reason. Doctor back me up here.”
“I’m neutral in this, I don’t care much for anyone.”
“And yet you’re here to help save Joseph.”
He sighed, “Joseph is okay I suppose. But I’m here because Terry gave me a deal on a pixie a month or so back.”
Smudge and Doc continued their back and forth as I stared at Xavier, he stood upright again, fixing the aid back into his ear, “I don’t blame you, Terry, I’d kill me too. I even did. But at least wait till this is over, yeah? I wanna slip in one last good deed if I can.” He blinked tears back as he put on a ski mask.
“When we’re done, I’ll thank you, but you better hope we never cross paths again.”
“I could say the same to you… I could.”
The air was still for a minute or so, even Doc and Smudge had stopped their bickering. “Well then.” Tucker smacked his hands together, making a metal clink, “Y’all ready to kick some shit in?”
“How long is the drive? I’ll need at least an hour to recover.”
Jones answered, “Hour and a half to two, you’ll be fine. We’ve got guns in the van, all suppressed. I had a mutual acquaintance of ours send us a care package yesterday. Regardless, I say we should all keep our blood inside our bodies.”
Tucker joined in, “Speaking of, I managed to scrounge the materials to make up some of those SIOM rounds. I left them in the van, along with the last resort.” He winked at me.
Jones nodded, “We should be good to go then, you guys oughtta join us in the van, less conspicuous.”
I nodded, “Yeah, that’d make the most sense. I’ll be taking the lead when we get there though. Which reminds me, you never sent me the schematics.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll send them over. Are you gonna have enough time to put a plan together?”
“Yeah, I already know how we’ll follow into the building. I was thinking Tucker at first, but without his suit, he’s basically just a liability.”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, we’ll see about that one.”
-----------------------------
As the van slowed, Tucker pulled on his combat gloves. He was decked out in full gear that I hadn’t really noticed till we got in the van. A flexible vest that was essentially a skin-tight long-sleeve shirt, meeting his wrists. His pants were tight and were made of the same fabric as his shirt.
We came to a complete stop as he slung his rifle around, clicking off the safety on his Bizon. Doc clapped his book shut, and Smudge stood.
“Alright, everyone up, we need to get to the gun cases.” Jones had come back through a door-sized hole connecting the back of the van to the front. He’d already pulled his mask over his face, the only color that came from him was his remaining eye and parts of his lips, only revealed by small, cut strips in the fabric.
We stood, sidestepping so he could get to the guns behind the seats. One by one we filed out the back.
Xavier hopped out the back, followed by Jones who stared at Tucker for a moment, “Did you uh… Did you put a new scope on this?” He raised his PS90 which held an ACOG and a suppressor.
“Oh yeah, it’s kinda like a thermal scope. But instead of heat it picks up… well I don’t actually know. But you should be able to see anything invisible or not.” Xavier inspected his own gun, “Sorry guy, I only had enough for Jones and me. You should be fine, but just cause you don’t got a fancy scope don’t mean you can go missing your shots. Them rounds’re expensive as hell.”
“Well, let’s get going, I’ve got the map down, I know how to get there. Second floor of their basement has the data. Unfortunately, we have no idea what security looks like, so we have to be cautious if we intend to stay hidden.”
Tucker spoke, “Just to be clear, you’re upfront, Jones is behind you, then the Doctor, then Xavier with me covering our asses.”
“Smudge is behind Doc, and while I’d like to have Xavier in the back–”
Xavier rolled his eyes, “Well I’d like to have you in back.”
Tucker sighed, “Anyhow, guess it works. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll have a huuldefolk I can put some rounds through. Release some of this tension.” He shot his gaze between Xavier and me.
“Well let’s head out. Smudge, you’ll be able to keep the cameras down right?”
“Based on what you said about their layout I should be able to, but I won’t be able to keep us hidden from the perception of the guards once we’re inside. There are far too many electronics I need to keep down so if we run into anyone inside the building, we need to kill them and hide their bodies to avoid being caught. I can’t keep the entire building down, so I can’t stop them from setting off an alarm if we miss anyone.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Tucker lifted his gun.
“Let’s hope those sights are as powerful as you say.”
Before long, we were on our way. We’d parked some distance out so as to not draw any attention. Taking the lead, the only noise I could hear was the occasional snapping of twigs as we walked through a forested area. Despite having come in contact with the exoskeleton previously, it still surprised me how stealthy Tucker could be wearing it.
Breaching the treeline, I held up my hand. Surrounded by a gravel driveway stood a three-story tall modern office-style building. Men patrolled around the lot, all wearing tactical gear. Focusing on the shadows, I could tell there were hidden guards as well, those ones were wearing light, flexible clothing and minimal if any weapons.
“Smudge,” I whispered, waving him up with two fingers.
“Yes.” As he looked out, he seemed to understand, “This will be a tough one if they aren’t all humans. Seems like there are about 30 guards that may see us. If even one of them is around a five, I won’t be able to blind all of them from our presence. If Rachel were here we’d be able to determine such a thing, unfortunately, we don’t have her spiritual sense.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Tucker whispered from behind us.
“What kind of bullshit caused you to break formation without my asking.”
“As I said, these scopes can sense alternative forms of energy. I have a few frames of reference, I know what civies look like through this thing. Smudge, if you can point out all the hidden ones, I’ll be able to tell you what we’re dealing with.”
Smudge looked at me, then shrugged, “Alright, if you’re certain.”
---------------------------
“We’re good to go then? That was the last one?”
“So it would seem, that scope of yours ought to be reliable.”
“If we don’t get by, you have my full permission to do whatever you want to Xavier.”
Jones butted in, “I believe that’s up for me to decide. I still need him around.”
Smudge whispered at a frequency that’d set dogs off, “Enough bickering, you’re worse than when I have to babysit Chad and Rachel. Everyone get in formation, it’s easiest on me if we go in single file.” Getting back into position, he spoke up, “Sorry Terry, I know you’re leading, but, well you get it.”
I nodded back to him, “Everyone ready? No piss breaks past this point. If you have cold feet, just head back to the van.” I looked back to Xavier, to which he flipped me off, signaling me to start.
I wasn’t worried about the situation until we got about ten feet from the door. One of the two guards standing beside it looked over at us. I signaled everyone to stop, and the guy continued to stare. A few moments later, he shrugged, facing forward again, and we continued on through the door.
There was no one in the immediate vicinity, though there were several cameras pointed toward us, blinking.
Smudge said one word as he took a deep breath, “Break.”
Nodding, I signaled for the three of us up front to take the right wall, and the other three to take the left.
------------------------------
Once Smudge caught his breath, he stood back up, and we all got back into formation, right as a guard turned the corner. I shot a tentacle out, grabbing him by the throat and snapping his neck, all while bringing him closer so we could hide the body.
That was when an alarm went off, “FUCK! Keep the humans hidden, Doc and I can handle ourselves.” My brain froze time, trying to figure out what happened. Eventually, it clicked, heart monitors, a precaution not even Maerod took.
“Leave me out of it Smudge, I can handle myself too. You need all the focus you can get.” Tucker stepped up, aiming down sights.
The door bashed open before I could get my tentacles out. Turning, Tucker already faced the door, dropping people in one to two rounds a piece.
Turning back toward the dead body, I headed on, alarms blaring overhead. Bodies came and went. Despite how badly we’d apparently messed up the plan, I knew where the database was, and I refused to let anyone stand between me and it.
Each step I took was further than the last, “KEEP YOURSELVES SAFE, I’M GOING FURTHER IN!”
“Not without me you’re not!” Metal clattering rang out, “IMBECILE!” Doc caught up to me as I flung several bodies out of the way.
“Watch where you’re throwin’ em!” Tucker yelled out, “We shouldn’t split up!”
I was already at the staircase making my way down when something smacked across my face. Turning to my right, I saw a lanky man with his hands in his pockets. He was slouched as if bored.
“FINE, GO DOWN, I’LL MEET YOU THERE!” Swinging a tentacle at him, he made a popping motion with his mouth, the limb slammed into a wall. Shooting them all at him, he blew air out in a circle, then at me directly, lunging at me as he threw me off balance. He kicked me in the chin, then down on my head, knocking me to a knee. A second later I was thrown into the air, then to the ground.
“Damn man, you look like you could use a hand.” The strange man stood over me, offering me his right.
I took it, spinning him around, snapping his arm, and flinging him against the wall, where lay motionless. I stabbed him in the head, then the heart just to be safe. Scoffing at his arrogance, I headed down the stairway.
When I got down to the second basement floor, there were already several dead bodies strewn about. Everyone was hiding behind metal tables. Tucker injected Doc with something, sitting beside them was a heaving Smudge.
I put my tentacles away, and a sudden burst of gunfire came from the back of the wide-open office room. A few bullets hit me, but I was already too tall, they crumpled on impact.
“THEY GET AHOLD OF YOUR FORMULA!?”
“Fuck that’s loud, yeah, there was a leak a few months back! Doc ain’t doin’ so hot!”
“That’s, The Doctor, to, you.” He spoke each word with individual breaths.
Walking toward the guards, they panicked. With a thud hitting my chest, one of the men screamed, “We need you up here!” Looking down I found a pinless grenade, which I kicked, knocking one of the men unconscious. Bodies tumbled over one another as it exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. A few pieces stuck in my face, but I headed straight for the room.
“YOU’LL WANT TO GET BACK! SOMEONE IS COMING FROM DOW–” The ground gave out from under me, falling a few floors, I was kicked into a wall in a dark room, aside from the hole. Landing on my feet, I looked around, rubbing my side. I felt something wet, where I’d been hit. Then I saw who it was. A scaly humanoid, each scale tipped with a tinted blue, serrated prong. His shadow fluctuated, then its eyes sprung open, and a black mist shot me. I blocked with my tentacles, but they were cheese to a grater.
“Kenet himself breaking in here? Must think you’re hot shit!”
I grunted, springing off the wall, using a shredded tentacle to slam the scaly man with a table. Sure enough, the mist formed into a shadow-walker, same as Jacob. I slammed my fist into his face before he could react.
“I NEED SOME LIGHT DOWN HERE!”
But the scaled man already rebounded, swinging his pronged fist at my face. I managed to block with my arm, but it was getting stiff.
“DOC, I NEED YOU!”
I heard Tucker to my left, “He’s still recovering, close your eyes!”
Before I could tell him I couldn’t close my face, a clinking sounded, and I saw a small metal canister roll into view. A blinding light took over, banging nine times, each followed by a flash. Then several gunshots.
Accepting the pain to come, I grabbed the scaled man, flinging him into the ceiling, dazing him. The shadow-walker was already dead on the ground, three bullet holes planted in his skull.
“NICELY DONE!”
“Got any weaknesses on the other one? Never seen anything like him.”
“SKIN TRANSFORMATION, WE MUST WEAR HIM DOWN!”
“Lovely.”
The prongs tipping his scales had already shrunk considerably. Stumbling to his feet, he glanced down at the motionless skinwalker, “Goddamn.” His scales evaporated, leaving behind a hollow man, standing still, “Ju–”
Tucker put a bullet right between his eyes, “Didn’t have to ask buddy.”
As we turned to head back up the stairs, a thud reverberated from behind us. Turning back, Smudge lay, face first, and uncovered. He wore a full-body outfit ensuring no skin was revealed, but my concern was on whatever had dropped him down. Aside from the alarms, it was eerily silent. They landed on Smudge, hopping off, and kicking him into the wall.
The black suit was almost a fabric, but it was certainly mechanical. Parts at joints stuck out slightly, giving him mobility along with full body protection. At his neck, the material fluctuated, phase shifting at the slightest movement. The entire front of his helmet was a velvet red visor, the changed to a light blue when the light reflected just right. He had several weapons littering his body, including two hook swords, an unknown kind of pistol, a pump action shotgun, and a few others; all of which were as black as his armor.
I had to lean my head and chest down to avoid hitting the ceiling. I couldn’t move anymore, and Tucker looked a little nervous, “DOC! YOU ALIVE!?”
A German accent replied with a chuckle, “He was already dead.”
“Yeah, right.” Tucker said, “What’re you waitin’ for big guy?”
Shooting out my back, I held the odd man at tentacle point, Tucker readied his carbine, and the man retrieved his hook blades.
“Come, let me get this over with.”
Tucker stammered, “B-be careful.” He swapped magazines, “This guy is radiating like a human.” He fired a round, I felt it slide between two tentacles, and as it hit the man in the visor, an explosion errupted. I engaged, picking the man up by the leg, but before I could fling him, pain shot through it, the tip was sliced off. Tucker fired two more rounds, both exploding as they met their target, filling the room with a cloudy haze. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to move, but I felt like a turtle.
Suddenly, my leg ripped up, I held in place, stabilizing with a few tentacles, then smashed where a crack had formed on his visor, but he swung his other blade down, cutting it in half. A rapid succession of explosions slowly knocked the man back, and for the first time, he looked at Tucker, throwing one of the hookblades at him, it was angled for his face, but he snatched it mid air, then lunged at the man. He slammed the blade down on his shoulder, spinning it around and hooking the back of his arm, yanking him in, Tucker punched full force. In an instant, Tucker was against the wall, falling face first into the tile floor, leaving ceramic to crack the area around him.
The man chopped the last of my tentacles down as he approached me. When they were practically useless, he put the remaining blade away, pulling out the pump action shotgun. He shot me in the face six times before throwing the gun to his side. A small stream of black ooze dripped down my chin, and I had a hard time seeing anything in front of me.
“Damn, you’re one tough fucker, I’ll give that much.”
Pulling out his pistol, he proceeded to unload every round into my forehead, despite being ordinary metal, something about them kicked like a mule. When that gun was out, he dropped it, looking to his right, seeing where Tucker had dropped his gun.
“I wonder, how will you hold against explosive rounds? Not well?”
As he picked it up, I felt something prick my back, a familiar sensation made its way toward my heart, like organic WD-4D.
“You’re awfully quiet over there. Lost will to fight?”
“You’re an asshole!”
“Please, stop, I’ll shit myself.” He let out an antagonizing laugh, “You’re strong, but you’ve too much a stiffy going on there.” He let off a round into my face, nearly knocking me down, but I staggered just enough to stay in place.
“Wow, this has some nice kick to it, perhaps I’ll join the military after this.” He shot three more into my face, with each explosion, my skin peeled away just that much more, my brain rattled, but my limbs loosened.
By the fourth round, I regained some mobility, walking toward him. He stepped back, switching the gun to burst fire. I maneuvered around three bursts, only getting hit three times, each one in my torso. Those explosions seemed to boost the Doc’s serum, and I was able to grab the man by the head, crushing his visor with the palm of my hand. “You rely too much on your gadgets and luck. Neither will get you out of this.”
The helmet cracked, and blades shot out, slicing my fingers off. He pulled his remaining hook blade and slid under me. A sharp pain hit the back of my skull, then a cracking reverberated through my head. A metal clattering followed, and when I turned, the man stood there, shocked. He lunged back, throwing several kunai at my face, but I ducked them. With my full range of motion returned, I slung one of the tables at him, flinging him into a wall front-first.
Walking over to where he’d dropped Tucker’s rifle, I snagged it, and walked over to the man. He staggered back to his feet, a broken nose and a shard of ceramic sticking out of his eye. I held the gun to his forehead and fired, his head bursting like a pipe bomb.
I stumbled over to Tucker, dropping his gun beside him, and dropping to one knee. I smacked him in the face a few times, “You still alive?”
He rolled onto his side, “Kinda wish I wasn’t.” His face was covered in small cuts from the ceramic tiles, “Wish I’d had my Odyr suit, couldda kicked his ass. Fuckin hell what a dick.”
I sat beside him, “Hopefully he was their last line of defense, I think your gun gave me a concussion or something.” The room spun, my stomach on a Ferris wheel.
“Wow, the Doctor was right.”
I turned to the stairway, Xavier held Jones’s arm around his neck, helping him stand, “What happened, is Doc really dead?”
Tucker staggered his way to a standing position, “Nah, that stuff I gave him slows heart rate. He was too stupid to check for a full minute. He should still be alive, don’t worry.”
“And you two?”
Jones cleared his throat, “Smudge hid us, but he was worn down.”
Hearing that, I turned back to see Smudge, still laying flat. I stood, stumbling over to him, checking his pulse. It took a bit, but eventually, I felt a weak heartbeat. “DOC, YOU ALIVE UP THERE!?”
“I suppose!” He groaned.
“WE NEED YOU DOWN HERE! SMUDGE IS IN BAD SHAPE!”
A faint hint of a sigh made its way down the hole. I picked Smudge up, and moments later, Doc landed on the ground, a leg giving out from under him.
------------------------------------------
Some time passed, and we patched ourselves up as best we could before heading back up to the proper floor. Jones was able to walk on his own, but his right leg was in bad shape. I carried Smudge on my back, and despite Tucker’s several broken bones, he was walking just fine, occasionally stumbling from a torn tendon. As far as Doc went, the only sign he showed he was injured was his panting. Fortunately, we never ran into anyone else aside from the odd straggler, and we managed to grab the data we needed.
With the stressors passed, we laughed and joked, trying to bring ourselves back down from the adrenaline high. Exiting the building, I spoke up, “Xavier, I’m not going to forgive you, but I will thank you.”
He looked over at me, “To be fair, it was the Doctor’s idea.”
“That’s why I’m not forgiving you, anyone could’ve done it.”
“Oh, fair enough. Guess you could’ve done it too aye Doc?”
“That’s Doctor.” He let out an exhausted sigh, “In theory, but by the time I got around to it, who knows if Terry would still be alive. For a thin-skin, you did well.”
That’s when a limo pulled up through the gravel headed right for us, stopping just in time to not hit us, “Doc, wake Smudge, have him get you guys out of here. NOW!” I set him on the ground behind me.
“Well, I certainly hope he’s feeling up to it.”
“If not, you guys need to run.”
The back door opened, and a man in a suit stepped out. Pulling off his glasses, he tossed them in the back seat before closing the door and signaling the driver to leave. They couldn’t get away fast enough.
“Terry, son of Charles, I was under the impression you wouldn’t get involved with us. But after the Maerod incident, we decided we should implement additional security measures. Seems we should’ve invested more heavily into that. What was your intent here? If you had just called on Charles and told him about us, I’m certain he could’ve turned the entire building to mist.”
“If you know that, why’d you come to see for yourself, you can’t kill him. Or are you really that arrogant?”
The man laughed, “Because the alarm is still going off. If he had come, there would be no signal sending the alarm. You’re strong sure, but even three assassins managed to do this to you. Hence the difference between you mortals and us gods.”
“Didn’t realize living for 3000 years classified me as mortal.”
“You know, it’s interesting. Even after thousands of years, some still feel the need to attach themselves to this world. It’s as if they’re unaware of the insignificance of this world, this solar system, galaxy, supercluster, hell this universe! If you will live to see it all end, then what’s this part of it matter? They get animals to give themselves more meaning, call them pets. They feed the animal, water them, domesticate them, protect them. But they also prevent them from living in their natural habitat. Pulling the animal from where it belongs to give themselves a sense of purpose, it’s selfish wouldn’t you say?”
“Sure, I guess in a nihilistic sense.”
“So why are you here? To retrieve your pet? As I’ve said, there’s a transmitter in there, I saw what you pulled. Data on where your pet is. Why not just let him live in his terrarium?”
“He’s one of us now.”
“Due to your interference.”
“What are you really doing here!?”
“That’s the question of the day is it not? Quite frankly, I think Maerod was right to kill her. You’re far too attached to this world, though I suppose you are still a mere child. You could be so much more wise, and yet you refuse to allow it, you latch onto what’s been lost when you could focus on what you could have.”
“Sounds to me like you’re not quite past your own insignificance.”
He sneered, “Are you certain that’s your final answer?”
“I guess so.”
“Gods, the apple really does fall right to the roots.” The grass around him shriveled to dust when he charged me. Time stopped as the gleam in his eyes froze me, each fist pummeling me to the dirt, creating a deeper crater with each fist.
Then I was back in place, so was he. I’d never felt it so strong before, but I couldn’t deny the reality, he would kill me. Unlike Maerod, that man had absolute control over his soul, a feat all my attempts couldn’t achieve. All I could do was hold him off until I had an opportunity to slip out of his perception.
The grass around him slowly disintegrated, ready for his lunge, I leaped into the air, grabbing him mid-air with my tentacles and throwing him full force into the building. I sprung myself to the forest, latching onto a branch and engrossing myself in the tree, doing what I could to suck as much energy out. It wasn’t long before I was forced out. The tree crumbled to dust and I lept from it, charging the man with what little extra energy I had. He stood still, tanking four punches to his face. He kicked me back, nothing but a streak of blood running down his nose.
I lunged back searching for another tree. I found one a ways back, flinging myself at it, I fell into it and absorbed the tree’s power. I forced myself and found I could suck it out of other nearby trees. Until I was once again forced out, the trees crumbling in decayed mass, “You’ve gotten a bit stronger, Charles must be so proud.”
“What are you trying to achieve? Is losing your HQ really that important?”
He stepped toward me casually, “The same thing Maerod was trying to achieve, and really all the other gods in this disoriented country. However, no, killing you isn’t punishment for the damages, it’s for the audacity it took for you to do it. Entering my domain and destroying my primary facility? That takes balls, unfortunately, the rest was only a few inches.”
I tried to leap back again to gain a foothold, but all nearby trees crumpled to dust. Seeing no other way, I charged him again, but just as I came face to face, I spun and sidestepped, launching a single tentacle for the back of his heart, but on impact, it turned to dust.
“Unfortunately, the rest of you won’t be so easy to get rid of.” He turned, jumping, and once again, I met his bloodthirsty gaze. My skull cracked on impact, and when my head hit the dirt, a crater was left behind. He stood over me, “I’m gonna be on his shitlist for this one, but really, it’ll be worth it.” He pointed a finger gun at my head, and as the darkness closed in, three gunshots followed by a familiar light filled my senses, and when I could see again, his head was missing, the body still standing up-right, three bullet holes oozing blood at different angles...
I staggered to my feet, adrenaline keeping me awake. I looked around, seeing everyone but Smudge scattered around, “RUN! HE’S GONNA BLOW JUST FUCKING RUN!” I used my tentacles to move, sticking them in the ground and launching myself, then staggering to my feet. I headed in the direction the van was in, and a few seconds later, an intense blue light erupted from behind me, the shockwave hitting immediately after.
Part 26: Coming Soon!
2023.06.02 19:32 aabb12321ba Sunny rooms in downtown Manhattan
 | Room A - $1300 - The one with Full size bed with built in closet. submitted by aabb12321ba to NYCroommates [link] [comments] Room B - $1400 - The one with Twin size bed ***Room may be unfurnished or furnished (additional fees apply) at the time of your move-in date. Two sunny bedrooms for rent on the 5th floor next to the F train subway station ( 1 minute away) in Manhattan Chinatown LES. Also a few minutes away from the B, D, M, J, Z, N, R, Q, W and 6 train. Citi bike, M22, M15 and M9 buses nearby. The environment is quiet and suitable for students or singles. Come with a large window, furniture and bed frame per the pic. Rooftop with great views and laundromat around the corner! 3 blocks away from the South Street Seaport which provides beautiful views of the two bridges and is perfect for a sunset jog or stroll. Also steps away from tons of art galleries, parks and overall amazing vibes the people and the neighborhood have to offer! AMAZING location. Less than 5 minute walk from TRADER JOES, TARGET, Fine Fare Supermarkets, libraries and the new Regal Cinema. Located near the popular 169 Bar, JaJaJa Kiki's, Clandestino, Mission Chinese, Scarr's Pizza, Forgtmenot, Clockwork Bar, Beverly's and much much more! Require no smoking, clean, quiet and responsible person! This apartment is a typical old walk-up apartment in Chinatown. Air conditioning, electricity and gas are not included. Proof of income is requested. Please tell me a little about yourself. I would need your ID and references. When replying please include a small bio describing your work/personal schedule and include social/ linkedin links. Prefer long term with 2 months notice (60 days, first of the month) if you decide to move out. 1 month deposit required. Email for more photos. If this post is still up then the room is still available. Thank You. |
2023.06.02 19:29 Valtorix28 Having landscapes in parking lots is dumb and a waste of space.
I'm a transportation driver and I drive A LOT, and sometimes I go to hospitals and they always have these "little islands' with trees and such in the butt fuck middle of the parking lot and I'm like "this is stupid, you can easily fit like 3/4 more vehicles in this area".
And everytime a new building gets built that requires parking, they always have to put a island or tree or something in the middle to make it look nice.
I'm going there to park my car, not to have a nice little scenery as I leave.
submitted by Valtorix28 to unpopularopinion [link] [comments]
And everytime a new building gets built that requires parking, they always have to put a island or tree or something in the middle to make it look nice.
I'm going there to park my car, not to have a nice little scenery as I leave.
2023.06.02 19:27 More-Entertainment7 Penjamin Franklin 💨✒️
Ran into this customer coming out his crib going back to the van and asked if I wanted to hit his dab pen I put the van in park no hesitation 💀 Was waiting for this to happen after seeing so many people on my route smoking and me wanting to bring my own bud but I don’t risk it. It was probably also because his dog ran away from his leash that was tied to a little chair and i ended up grabbing it and putting it back I would’ve felt bad if it just watched his dog run away lmao
submitted by More-Entertainment7 to AmazonDSPDrivers [link] [comments]
2023.06.02 19:25 Bri_Guy88 Nice parks or scenic places to go for a little walk or adventure in the North end of Calgary?
Just bought my very first car and I am looking forward to being able to explore more areas of the city. Give me some good ideas of places to go. Preferably NW, but feel free to suggest anything!
submitted by Bri_Guy88 to Calgary [link] [comments]
2023.06.02 19:25 SufficientTable1840 Dodge ram 1500 problem
 | So I got a 2007 dodge ram 1500 5.7 hemi And the other day I drive it down the the street parked it for about 2 mins and went back to go leave and it wouldn’t start and then after about 40 mins it started starting just fine except for it has a kinda rough idle and the engine sounds a little bit weaker than normal. I’ll put the video on what was happening but I’m replacing the coil packs and spark plugs cause I’m not sure if that would cause it but my other guess is the fuel pump and it also has to engine codes on it a small evap leak code po456 and a egr control circuit code p0404. Any ideas on what could be the problem? submitted by SufficientTable1840 to MechanicAdvice [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 19:22 BZHarding Looking for Lease Takeover June 15th to August 31st this year or next, Nice Apartment at Stateside (2 BR out of 4 BR 2 BA Available)
Hi, my roommate and I are moving out of our 4 BR 2 BA.
It has a beautiful view of the bay and is probably the nicest apartment in the building on the top floor in the corner facing the bay. The lease is currently available for renewal going through next year until August 31st of 2024. It has a small charge for living on the top floor of like $30.
It's the 4x2 D2 here https://statesidebellingham.com/floor-plans/
Please contact Stateside and mention you're looking for a takeover of Unit 619.
360-255-0864
Thanks! It's really an amazing place to live, just a little expensive.
More info:
The lease ends August 31, 2023 (you can determine a good move-in day for the person subletting from you between yourselves as long as it is a weekday and not a holiday)
The space is renewable to 8/31/24 if requested
All utilities are included, apart from electricity
All apartments are fully furnished
Amenities include an on-site bagel café , 24-hour fitness center, social and study lounges, sky lounge, bike stations, community kitchen, free espresso bar, off-site parking options, etc.
submitted by BZHarding to WWU [link] [comments]
It has a beautiful view of the bay and is probably the nicest apartment in the building on the top floor in the corner facing the bay. The lease is currently available for renewal going through next year until August 31st of 2024. It has a small charge for living on the top floor of like $30.
It's the 4x2 D2 here https://statesidebellingham.com/floor-plans/
Please contact Stateside and mention you're looking for a takeover of Unit 619.
360-255-0864
Thanks! It's really an amazing place to live, just a little expensive.
More info:
The lease ends August 31, 2023 (you can determine a good move-in day for the person subletting from you between yourselves as long as it is a weekday and not a holiday)
The space is renewable to 8/31/24 if requested
All utilities are included, apart from electricity
All apartments are fully furnished
Amenities include an on-site bagel café , 24-hour fitness center, social and study lounges, sky lounge, bike stations, community kitchen, free espresso bar, off-site parking options, etc.
2023.06.02 19:21 ChaotixSux (Selling)Creed 3, 65, Ant Man Quantumania, Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves, Knock at the Cabin, 80 For Brady, Justice League X RWBY, Magic Mike Last Dance, Batman Doom That Came to Gotham, Devotion, Plane, The Fabelmans, MAY AND JUNE Universal Rewards and many more, HD/4K Available
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.
The following movies are the current Universal Rewards and are $3 each or 2 for $5
May 2023 Rewards 8 LEFT
June 2023 Rewards
submitted by ChaotixSux to DigitalCodeSELL [link] [comments]
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 |
| 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 |
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 |
2023.06.02 19:19 Colossalbeansoup My terrifying backrooms dream (was it actually a dream?)
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.
submitted by Colossalbeansoup to backrooms [link] [comments]
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.
2023.06.02 19:09 Due-Honey4650 For anyone who needs to hear this today... things can and will change. But in my experience, just not all at once.
My sobriety date is January 10th, 2016. I was 35 years old. I'd been in and out of the rooms since I was 18, and finally, I had reached the point where I could neither run nor hide from the reality that this disease had me, had stripped away from me everything I cherished.
I suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child that had been mistaken for a number of mental illnesses and so I was bouncing off the walls for several decades experiencing sensory processing disorders, social and emotional dysregulation, dyscalculia, executive dysfunction, and impaired impulse control. Every psychiatrist I was dragged to by my parents gave me a new diagnosis based on so many traits I displayed, but since these were but traits stimming from an unrecognized brain injury, nothing helped. I was institutionalized three times by the age of 21. I'd had an additional hospitalization at 31, where they finally figured out the neuro component and were able to treat the traits for what they were. The medicine enabled me to be stable in a way I'd never before experienced, but they didn't cure me. I was still in full blown relapse, driven by scorching self-pity, and unwilling for several more years to follow to face what the real problem was: I was an alcoholic. And my unchecked alcoholism had destroyed what had otherwise been a beautiful life, but up until that day in January, I was sure the fault for what had taken place was that of someone else.
I was unhappily married to someone I met in the rooms, but we shared two daughters, one and three. We had a beautiful home, I was a stay-at-home mother, and other than my then-husband's inability to be faithful, I was happier than I'd ever been raising my little girls. I used his continued infidelities as an excuse to start drinking again. I proceeded to completely fall apart, becoming a volatile and unpredictable person, no longer keeping our home, no longer caring for our children. Our marriage ended in disaster, and I fell apart so badly that I ended up hospitalized and he took my girls. The courts declared me unfit. I wasn't even allowed visitation at that time I was so bad off. My friends and family had seen me relapse before and so they had no sympathy for me, threw their support behind him for the sake of the children. And I was outraged. I was burned up. I hated them all, and especially hated my husband. I couldn't see that I was the problem. That no matter what it was that he'd done wrong, I was even more greatly in the wrong because I went back to alcohol. No one would accept my emphatic declaration that it was his fault I relapsed. I cut myself off from everyone. I gave up on ever seeing my girls again. I crawled into a shabby apartment with my bottle and parked myself there for three years, my only comfort being a job I'd taken as an adjunct professor.
I was hopeless. I contemplated bringing it all to an end, as I could see no way out. After a time, I had no choice but to face what a problem alcohol was for me and I was haunted by this unaccepted but persistent truth that it was alcohol that had destroyed my life. But to imagine a life without alcohol? This was worse than the misery of continuing on with it. For the first time in several years, I finally called out to a God I was sure I no longer believed in, a God whom I also blamed for the trainwreck my life had become, and said if He had any use for me, to please send help, because I was at the jumping off point, one way or another.
Shortly thereafter, someone came into my life who was at once a steadfast friend who somehow saw through the hard shell I'd built around myself into the part of me that was once who I was, someone who was loving, nurturing, a devoted mother, someone who was kind and compassionate. He stuck around even though to this day it's still impossible for me to understand how or why. He came to love me, and as much as I was able, I came to love him. Having someone who cared for me, for whom I cared, started to thaw me out. But I was still heavily drinking. And in these bouts of drinking, I would viciously turn on him and vent all my anger and pain I felt for the loss of my children on him. He took it for as long as he could, finally telling me that enough was enough. He'd started going to Al-Anon I later found out, and he set a hard boundary... I had a problem with alcohol, I was unbearable, I was abusive, and unless and until I made the decision to get some help, he was choosing to no longer be in my life.
This was finally enough of a motivation for me. Not just to appease someone. Not because the love of someone else was enough to cure me. It was a wake-up call for one reason alone: I'd already lost every connection I'd had with those who loved me, including my kids. This person was my only friend. I'd been operating on this belief that it didn't matter how much I drank, because I didn't have anything left to lose. After this confrontation, I started to really rethink this: I didn't want to lose my only friend. And furthermore, I was beginning to get into a terrible habit of going out driving drunk. I hadn't yet faced criminal charges, but it was only a matter of time before I would, at this rate. I still had my job as a professor, and if I ended up with criminal charges, I would lose that job. And my apartment. And who knew what then?
So it was I found my way into the rooms on that cold January day. it was filled with so many friendly faces of those who'd been so patient with me coming in and out for more than a decade, never getting it. There was no judgment, only a sincere joy expressed in hugs and smiles and declarations that they were so glad I was back. And I was indeed back. Not because I had any hope that things would ever get any better, but because I didn't want them to get any worse.
I finally shared this sentiment at a table a few days later, and everyone sitting there could relate to having felt this way when they were coming back after a number of their own failed attempts. Each of them told me their own story of how they felt just as hopeless, but they did what they were told they needed to do, and how over time, they were able to have their lives not only restored, but with such abundance what they had in the end was greater than what they had lost.
A woman sitting next to me laid her hand on my arm, and the words she shared with me have always stuck with me: God is going to restore to you everything that you've lost. And maybe even sooner than you think. You just have to do what you need to do, one day at a time, and trust the process.
Up until that moment, I had ceased believing in anything. Especially God. But right then, I discovered that I believed her. I believed all those drunks around the table. And if this was true for them, then it was surely going to be true for me.
So I found a sponsor. And for the first time, I worked my steps all the way through, over the course of a year. The medicine helped me to have the stability I needed to follow through, so there sobriety and the meds were working together to enable me to reach for what I needed. Once I finished that 12th step, I felt something like roots going down. I began to sponsor others and carry my own message.
But this was anything but a "happily ever after." My first year of sobriety, I was more miserable than I had ever been drinking, because I was a drunk without alcohol who was growing through the process of learning how to live. I ended up being fired from my job, struggling with underemployment, finding myself laid off unexpectedly when my school closed, facing challenges greater than anything that'd been thrown at me in years. But I didn't drink. I continued to go to meetings. I kept working my steps. I had a wonderful sponsor who let me spend many nights sleeping on her couch, encouraging me in helping her care for her young daughters, smiling as she said this act was reconnecting me with who I once was, a really good mother who was going to be a really good mother again in due time.
Between 2016 and 2017, I had to face an extensive court battle with my ex to regain custody of my daughters. At first, it was only one day a week. And then weekends. I was frustrated because I wanted it all, and I wanted it now. But my sponsor was thorough in working me through my 4th and 5th step inventory, supporting me as I confronted my resentments and leading me into the freedom of forgiveness of others and myself as I finally took responsibility for my part and released my need to blame anyone else. I began to heal. I began to recover. And by 2018, I had earned 50/50 custody with my ex. And by the spring of 2019, I had regained full custody; he now has weekends. God had indeed restored to me what I had lost.
I continued to move into better and better apartments from the slum where I'd once landed. I went back to school and finished my Master's degree in education and student teaching, becoming a licensed teacher, finally able to earn a stable income for my daughters.
And in 2019, my loving, patient friend who stuck by me through it all asked me to marry him. So we married, and my daughters and I moved to his city and all of a sudden... I have a gainful career where I am thriving, able to work from home, so my daughters can go to school online. I have a marriage happier than I could have ever dreamed, to my best friend who loved me at my worst and celebrates me at my best. I am a teacher, a housewife, a homeschooling mom, and someone who is today a good enough partner, as I learned through my inventory, even though my ex-husband indeed did wrong by cheating, that there was plenty of room for me to grow into a less selfish and hateful person. I can never change him... I don't know if he ever learned from his mistakes, but that's between him and God. He's still sober, still working his program, and is presently in a relationship with a woman who's the best thing that ever happened to him. And I am so, so happy for him, I pray for him now where I once cursed him, and I wish him the best. We have a great co-parenting relationship, and my daughters have not only him as their papa, but their stepdad that they call dad, who has taken them to love and help me bring up as if they are his own. Our marriage isn't perfect... but we know how to communicate and work things out. Al-Anon has taught him as AA has taught me, take your own inventory, work on yourself, focus on what you can put into the marriage instead of what you can get out, and things fall into place.
The words of that woman at the table on that cold afternoon in January more than seven years ago have proven true in my life, over and over. But it didn't happen overnight. It happened one day at a time between 2016 and 2019 before I finally worked myself back into the place I wanted to be. What I can share from my experience is don't expect a happily ever after. Expect that this is going to be challenging, some days are going to be better than others, but regardless of whether it is the best day or the worst day, I made it to where I finally am by doing the simple things I was told to do: Get to a meeting. Call my sponsor. Work my steps. Spend time with other alcoholics. And learn who God is to you and start building that relationships. Because what I learned above all: I followed through in doing the work, but it was God who met me halfway. I had to learn to be patient with myself, to appreciate how I was growing and how things were changing, and also with my mind on how I needed to continue to grow, what goals to pursue. And so as the days became weeks that became months and years, small changes happened which eventually cultivated into big changes. It was difficult to let go of my alcoholic need for instant gratification, to get give in to frustration that could become a tantrum and push me back into drinking when I didn't get my way... but I always dealt with this by calling my sponsor and, as she put it, having my fit in a safe place, getting it out, then getting busy doing the next right thing.
All in all... I don't know who might need to hear this today, but it does get better. Maybe not all at once, but once I put together one day at a time after another, things did change, and now just as that woman assured me, as did all those drunks around that table that day.... God has indeed restored to me everything that I lost. And moreover, he's given me threefold in every way what I ever had.
Thank God for AA.
submitted by Due-Honey4650 to alcoholicsanonymous [link] [comments]
I suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child that had been mistaken for a number of mental illnesses and so I was bouncing off the walls for several decades experiencing sensory processing disorders, social and emotional dysregulation, dyscalculia, executive dysfunction, and impaired impulse control. Every psychiatrist I was dragged to by my parents gave me a new diagnosis based on so many traits I displayed, but since these were but traits stimming from an unrecognized brain injury, nothing helped. I was institutionalized three times by the age of 21. I'd had an additional hospitalization at 31, where they finally figured out the neuro component and were able to treat the traits for what they were. The medicine enabled me to be stable in a way I'd never before experienced, but they didn't cure me. I was still in full blown relapse, driven by scorching self-pity, and unwilling for several more years to follow to face what the real problem was: I was an alcoholic. And my unchecked alcoholism had destroyed what had otherwise been a beautiful life, but up until that day in January, I was sure the fault for what had taken place was that of someone else.
I was unhappily married to someone I met in the rooms, but we shared two daughters, one and three. We had a beautiful home, I was a stay-at-home mother, and other than my then-husband's inability to be faithful, I was happier than I'd ever been raising my little girls. I used his continued infidelities as an excuse to start drinking again. I proceeded to completely fall apart, becoming a volatile and unpredictable person, no longer keeping our home, no longer caring for our children. Our marriage ended in disaster, and I fell apart so badly that I ended up hospitalized and he took my girls. The courts declared me unfit. I wasn't even allowed visitation at that time I was so bad off. My friends and family had seen me relapse before and so they had no sympathy for me, threw their support behind him for the sake of the children. And I was outraged. I was burned up. I hated them all, and especially hated my husband. I couldn't see that I was the problem. That no matter what it was that he'd done wrong, I was even more greatly in the wrong because I went back to alcohol. No one would accept my emphatic declaration that it was his fault I relapsed. I cut myself off from everyone. I gave up on ever seeing my girls again. I crawled into a shabby apartment with my bottle and parked myself there for three years, my only comfort being a job I'd taken as an adjunct professor.
I was hopeless. I contemplated bringing it all to an end, as I could see no way out. After a time, I had no choice but to face what a problem alcohol was for me and I was haunted by this unaccepted but persistent truth that it was alcohol that had destroyed my life. But to imagine a life without alcohol? This was worse than the misery of continuing on with it. For the first time in several years, I finally called out to a God I was sure I no longer believed in, a God whom I also blamed for the trainwreck my life had become, and said if He had any use for me, to please send help, because I was at the jumping off point, one way or another.
Shortly thereafter, someone came into my life who was at once a steadfast friend who somehow saw through the hard shell I'd built around myself into the part of me that was once who I was, someone who was loving, nurturing, a devoted mother, someone who was kind and compassionate. He stuck around even though to this day it's still impossible for me to understand how or why. He came to love me, and as much as I was able, I came to love him. Having someone who cared for me, for whom I cared, started to thaw me out. But I was still heavily drinking. And in these bouts of drinking, I would viciously turn on him and vent all my anger and pain I felt for the loss of my children on him. He took it for as long as he could, finally telling me that enough was enough. He'd started going to Al-Anon I later found out, and he set a hard boundary... I had a problem with alcohol, I was unbearable, I was abusive, and unless and until I made the decision to get some help, he was choosing to no longer be in my life.
This was finally enough of a motivation for me. Not just to appease someone. Not because the love of someone else was enough to cure me. It was a wake-up call for one reason alone: I'd already lost every connection I'd had with those who loved me, including my kids. This person was my only friend. I'd been operating on this belief that it didn't matter how much I drank, because I didn't have anything left to lose. After this confrontation, I started to really rethink this: I didn't want to lose my only friend. And furthermore, I was beginning to get into a terrible habit of going out driving drunk. I hadn't yet faced criminal charges, but it was only a matter of time before I would, at this rate. I still had my job as a professor, and if I ended up with criminal charges, I would lose that job. And my apartment. And who knew what then?
So it was I found my way into the rooms on that cold January day. it was filled with so many friendly faces of those who'd been so patient with me coming in and out for more than a decade, never getting it. There was no judgment, only a sincere joy expressed in hugs and smiles and declarations that they were so glad I was back. And I was indeed back. Not because I had any hope that things would ever get any better, but because I didn't want them to get any worse.
I finally shared this sentiment at a table a few days later, and everyone sitting there could relate to having felt this way when they were coming back after a number of their own failed attempts. Each of them told me their own story of how they felt just as hopeless, but they did what they were told they needed to do, and how over time, they were able to have their lives not only restored, but with such abundance what they had in the end was greater than what they had lost.
A woman sitting next to me laid her hand on my arm, and the words she shared with me have always stuck with me: God is going to restore to you everything that you've lost. And maybe even sooner than you think. You just have to do what you need to do, one day at a time, and trust the process.
Up until that moment, I had ceased believing in anything. Especially God. But right then, I discovered that I believed her. I believed all those drunks around the table. And if this was true for them, then it was surely going to be true for me.
So I found a sponsor. And for the first time, I worked my steps all the way through, over the course of a year. The medicine helped me to have the stability I needed to follow through, so there sobriety and the meds were working together to enable me to reach for what I needed. Once I finished that 12th step, I felt something like roots going down. I began to sponsor others and carry my own message.
But this was anything but a "happily ever after." My first year of sobriety, I was more miserable than I had ever been drinking, because I was a drunk without alcohol who was growing through the process of learning how to live. I ended up being fired from my job, struggling with underemployment, finding myself laid off unexpectedly when my school closed, facing challenges greater than anything that'd been thrown at me in years. But I didn't drink. I continued to go to meetings. I kept working my steps. I had a wonderful sponsor who let me spend many nights sleeping on her couch, encouraging me in helping her care for her young daughters, smiling as she said this act was reconnecting me with who I once was, a really good mother who was going to be a really good mother again in due time.
Between 2016 and 2017, I had to face an extensive court battle with my ex to regain custody of my daughters. At first, it was only one day a week. And then weekends. I was frustrated because I wanted it all, and I wanted it now. But my sponsor was thorough in working me through my 4th and 5th step inventory, supporting me as I confronted my resentments and leading me into the freedom of forgiveness of others and myself as I finally took responsibility for my part and released my need to blame anyone else. I began to heal. I began to recover. And by 2018, I had earned 50/50 custody with my ex. And by the spring of 2019, I had regained full custody; he now has weekends. God had indeed restored to me what I had lost.
I continued to move into better and better apartments from the slum where I'd once landed. I went back to school and finished my Master's degree in education and student teaching, becoming a licensed teacher, finally able to earn a stable income for my daughters.
And in 2019, my loving, patient friend who stuck by me through it all asked me to marry him. So we married, and my daughters and I moved to his city and all of a sudden... I have a gainful career where I am thriving, able to work from home, so my daughters can go to school online. I have a marriage happier than I could have ever dreamed, to my best friend who loved me at my worst and celebrates me at my best. I am a teacher, a housewife, a homeschooling mom, and someone who is today a good enough partner, as I learned through my inventory, even though my ex-husband indeed did wrong by cheating, that there was plenty of room for me to grow into a less selfish and hateful person. I can never change him... I don't know if he ever learned from his mistakes, but that's between him and God. He's still sober, still working his program, and is presently in a relationship with a woman who's the best thing that ever happened to him. And I am so, so happy for him, I pray for him now where I once cursed him, and I wish him the best. We have a great co-parenting relationship, and my daughters have not only him as their papa, but their stepdad that they call dad, who has taken them to love and help me bring up as if they are his own. Our marriage isn't perfect... but we know how to communicate and work things out. Al-Anon has taught him as AA has taught me, take your own inventory, work on yourself, focus on what you can put into the marriage instead of what you can get out, and things fall into place.
The words of that woman at the table on that cold afternoon in January more than seven years ago have proven true in my life, over and over. But it didn't happen overnight. It happened one day at a time between 2016 and 2019 before I finally worked myself back into the place I wanted to be. What I can share from my experience is don't expect a happily ever after. Expect that this is going to be challenging, some days are going to be better than others, but regardless of whether it is the best day or the worst day, I made it to where I finally am by doing the simple things I was told to do: Get to a meeting. Call my sponsor. Work my steps. Spend time with other alcoholics. And learn who God is to you and start building that relationships. Because what I learned above all: I followed through in doing the work, but it was God who met me halfway. I had to learn to be patient with myself, to appreciate how I was growing and how things were changing, and also with my mind on how I needed to continue to grow, what goals to pursue. And so as the days became weeks that became months and years, small changes happened which eventually cultivated into big changes. It was difficult to let go of my alcoholic need for instant gratification, to get give in to frustration that could become a tantrum and push me back into drinking when I didn't get my way... but I always dealt with this by calling my sponsor and, as she put it, having my fit in a safe place, getting it out, then getting busy doing the next right thing.
All in all... I don't know who might need to hear this today, but it does get better. Maybe not all at once, but once I put together one day at a time after another, things did change, and now just as that woman assured me, as did all those drunks around that table that day.... God has indeed restored to me everything that I lost. And moreover, he's given me threefold in every way what I ever had.
Thank God for AA.