A very long post about something that happened at a gig which I just can't seem to stop worrying over - thanks for reading!
My partner and I were at a gig on Saturday night, it was a really busy gig and there was a group of girls stood near us throughout the whole evening. They were probably in their late teens, just there in a group of four. Early on, we saw a guy approach them, he was a lot taller than them and looked a lot older and he kept leaning his head into their group and shouting a comment, which they all acknowledged briefly, but werent trying to engage in conversation with him. I made eye contact with one of the girls who gave me that, eyes-widened "Oh my God, wish this guy would go away look". He stood next to them for a while, with the girls ignoring him, and then seemed to get the message and left.
About an hour or so later, he reappeared. Exactly the same, was trying to start a conversation, they were ignoring him completely or just saying a single word to him. He stood next to them, tried to involve himself and eventually disappeared. After he left, we heard all the girls saying "I'm so glad he's gone, he's so annoying".
Half way through the main act, he came back again and did the whole thing again. He was tall, so it was inconvenient having him in front of us, but also it just looked really dodgy and we'd seen the girls reaction to him twice now and he was just doing the same thing again, so my partner tapped on his shoulder and said "look mate, can you leave these girls alone, they're obviously not interested" the guy immediately started saying that he knows these girls etc etc to which me and my partner said, sure you do. He got the attention of one of the girls and said "you know me, don't you" and she nodded - i thought somewhat reluctantly. And he said "I know I look older, but I'm actually 19. I see what you're doing, I get this all the time, but it's not what you think." I said "sure, but we're just saying that these girls don't seem keen to talk to you and you'd be better going back to your other friends". My partner puts his hand on my shoulder and says - let's leave it. We've done what we can. Again, this guy stays there getting zero from these girls and eventually leaves again and we enjoy the rest of the gig, feeling a little bad that we'd misread the situation.
Saw the group again at the end of the night where two of the girls have dropped back from the rest and he's hurrying them along and one turns to the other and says "I wish he'd fuck off". So we felt a bit better after that.
I've felt a bit conflicted about it, I stand by what we did - because if he had been harassing those girls then it would have been a different situation. I hope getting confronted makes him realise that even if his intention isn't to harass, if this "happens to me all the time" then maybe you need to take a look at yourself... and also that he shouldn't be trying to hang out with a group of girls who don't want him there. I don't blame the girls - we've all been there in late teens/early 20s when there's a guy you don't want around, but you can't seem to get rid of him and it is difficult to know how to handle it properly. Still, if someone else in the crowd is confronting the guy, it would have been useful for them to have said something either in his defense or to say thank you afterwards considering we'd tried to get rid of him.
The whole thing has just sat with me trying to work out if we did the right thing or if we should have just ignored the situation completely. I've never confronted someone before, so that might be why!!
Tl/dr: confronted a guy at a gig when we thought he was harassing some girls. Turns out they knew each other, but they still obviously didn't want him around. I shouldn't be feeling conflicted about confronting him, but I've never confronted someone before so I'm feeling weird!!

I have a 2009 Chevy impala police with 96k miles
I noticed recently only after sitting overnight. Once in a while it’ll try to start. It’ll turn over and the Rpm’s will struggle and it’ll sputter and stall out. When I go to start it a second time it starts absolutely normal and fine. I only really notice this after not driving for about 15-20 hours. But when I came back from a vacation for a week it has zero issues, but I know I had a full tank. The only other thing I think is that it only happens when my gas starts to get low. I’m a little under half in the tank.
Only test I had done was a battery test where the battery failed. The cca are about 200 below what they’re suppose to be. Battery works fine and I don’t want to replace it right now if it’s not dying.
I’m kind of speculating fuel pump or injectors?

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 Like Rats 

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Part Twenty-Two
Trains and Tails... In Space!
>>> Outer Colony - Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser <<<
>>> Starport - Diwrnod heulog, Bob dydd <<<
>>> Frontier Standard Date: 21-03-104 <<<
Shore leave for the group finally rolled around and so the little gathering rode a shuttle down planetside. Seren, Eira, Scanner, Zana and the seven Bridge Bunny brothers. Claiomh fada, Sciath bhabhta, Casur cogaidh. Saighead direach, Miodog gearr, Dhorn tapaidh, and Blath dearg. Most just referred to them as the Bridge Bunnies as a running gag with the crew and because they tended to do everything together. They were one of the few survivors of a raid and had been forced to fend for themselves for a month before aid would arrive. Ever since they had been practically inseparable. For Conin they were unusually quiet and reserved, except when on the bridge or playing games. When they had learned that Seren was a raid survivor as well they had opened up to him greatly. Of all the crew it was the Bridge Bunnies that empathized the most with the Dynol's struggles to cope with the aftermath of surviving.
Seren had packed some sunscreen and a complete survival kit, much to Eira's chagrin and amusement. "I keep forgetting you Dynol burn so easy." She herself had packed a few things but was keeping them secret. "Five bottles though?"
"Right. Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser is a hotter world due to a slightly closer orbit to its star. Higher UV index than even my skin can likely handle. So does not hurt to be prepared." he explained as they prepared to disembark.
"The forests provide alot of shade though so you should be fine. Now get ready!" Eira churred in anticipation.
The disembarkation ramp lowered and the shore leave team stepped down into a very bright world.
Seren got to the bottom and nearly got run over by the others as he stood there gawking. "...the screw?" The port itself was enough to cause him to pause. The style was reminiscent of Ancient Earth and the American Wild West with a heavy dose of Victorian England. A mixture of stone, brick and wooden structures. The usually angular straight Llygoden Fawr font adorning shops and signs was more curly, almost like question marks rather than straight or angled lines.
"...the screw?" The mode of dress though was more like the styles of Sixteen-Hundred era Age of Sail. Elaborate dresses and vests, broad collars and adorned hats. Sweeping gowns, snug bodices, and even boots which were a rarity amongst any of the starfaring species other than the Dynol and Rana/Salamandra.
But the real "... the screw?" were the people. At first glance they were your average Llygoden Fawr. That is until it settled in that something was wrong with this picture. The most striking was the tail. It was a fluffy bush to put any Vulpes-Vulpes to shame in its luxurious fullness. The faces were not as long and the eyes were a bit larger than average. The ears too were different, standing up and pointed. "Giant space squirrels... the screw???"
Eira was enjoying Seren's reaction and the others were getting a chuckle from it as well. "ahhhhh! Worth keeping it a secret just to see you phased by something."
"That is an understatement." he admitted as he continued to gawk.
Eira led her companion out of the way of the other visitors and explained. "Mutation. Similar to the splits in the Vulpes. Happened about a hundred years ago and with each generation instances increased ten percent. Some radiation from the sun was the cause, again much like with the Vulpes. There were some other less pleasant birth defects, some lethal, that we had to do extensive genetic screening to cull from the populace. The people now are a stable mutation and have been designated Wiwer Fawr."
"Do not stand outside unprotected long. Got it." He took in the sight and then a huge grin spread as he saw something pulling into a station off in the distance. A train. Or more to the point. A Llygoden Fawr style mono-wheel steam train. And after a bit he saw some of the squirrel folk ride past mounted on what looked nothing so much as a four-legged sparrow head... "Ok. That is something you do not see every day either." A carriage pulled by one of these beasts passed as well not long after that.
"Coesau plu? Yeah. They are native to the homeden and we exported the hardier ones here. We used to ride them in our early civilization stages. The electromagnetic field of the planet during stormy season messes with electronics to the point it was more cost efficient to just transplant the coesau plu and use them as mounts and drays like in olden times." She pointed at the mono-wheel train pulling to the distant station. "And same for the trains. It's like stepping back in time a thousand years."
"I take it the archaic mode of dress is protective?"
"Got it in one. All of a sudden the hat business saw a boom."
Seren glanced around thoughtfully. "If the planet is that troublesome then why colonize it?"
"It is one of the few we have come across with a breathable atmosphere, tolerable environment, and isn't bathed in lethal radiation. And the asteroid belt is big and mineral rich. The land itself does wonders for plant life as you can see." Eira pointed at the tremendous looking forest off to the east from the starport. "Colonists have adapted to an arboreal city structure away from the starport. The giant trees afford extensive protection from the sun." Here the white furred rat woman gave a little shudder. "Wouldn't catch me living way up there!"
"Says the rat girl who lives in a home that is hanging from the ceiling of a cave." So teased the Dynol.
"Hey now. Stone is very safe!"
Seren noted though that the common tricorn-like hats many males wore made sense from a protective design standpoint. The forward point shaded the snout and the back points shaded the ears. He got an explanation from Eira that the clothes also served to bleed off excess heat and had a passive cooling system built into every garment. "So why the archaic dress style?" he questioned.
Eira grinned. "A chunk of the early colonists turned out to be historical re-enactment buffs and since the buildings were less high tech why not have fun with it? The idea caught on and now it's their cultural thing. There is even a recreation of a thousand year old town and surrounding farmsteads further north in the cooler zone."
The Dynol took all this in and smiled more and more. "So what is the plan then?" he asked wile pulling out his silver reflective rat mask and donning it. The mask was treated against UV so was a better choice than his usual blister goggles. "I think we are all going to need at least hats pronto, yes?" Said with a worried glance at Scanner, Zana and the Bridge Bunnies who were all shielding their eyes with a paw as the looked around. "I doubt any of us wants to be holed up in a hotel all week right?"
"Right. There's a hat shop nearby for exactly that and right next door a visor shop. Both accommodate large folk." the Security Tech informed them. But I have something for you first." Here she pulled out a hat that was like a tall sloping hill with the long point in front and just a single short back facing point. Set in it was a white feather. "One of my distant cousins gave me this last visit. Never quite suited my style. But the blue happens to match your usual taste in off duty colors."
Seren accepted the gift and tried it on. "How do I look?"
Eira churrred with pleasure. "mmmmm! With the mask on you look like the Phantom Rider!" We need to get you fully dressed up now!"
"uh-oh!"
Scanner and the others of the party were still busy gawking as they had never actually made planetfall in all the years of being on Patrol. "Well this is different." the grey Backeneko drawled in amusement at the sight of the fluffy tailed Wiwer Fawr and the peculiar architecture.
Zana was looking wide eyed in delight at everything and her fluffy tail was practically vibrating with excitement. "They are so adorable!"
"Miss Zana. Please refrain from terrorizing the countryside hugging everything." Seren deadpanned. Vulpes-Canis were a very touchy-feely people and the large curly haired dog girl was like the poster pup for her species. She liked to just pick up the Dynol and hug him to death, or on coinciding lunch breaks she would sit him in her lap and idly pet him. The other Vulpes-Canis on the Patrol Carrier would do the same. Just not as grabby as the Wraith Pilot. She at least did not handle him while he was working. But she would sit and just raptly watch him work. The big dog folk's fascination with Dynol was well documented.
"Oh come on! I let you go... eventually." was accompanied by Zana's merry barking laughter and wagging tail.
Seren had to admit that the starfighter pilot had the reflexes to back up her rampant people pouncing. She could also beat him eight times out of ten at go-cart racing. "So what's the plan then Eira? You -did- have a plan? Riiiiight?" he nudged the rat alien.
"Sure do. I pre-ordered some steam train tickets to the great northern city of Gaer Garreg Werdd yn y Goedwig. It is a recreation of a fortress city from the homeden that was a major steam hub back in the day. It's now a sort of historical re-enactment with people acting out living the way folk used to." She displayed for all a paper map and traced a claw from the starport to their intended destination. "Big tourist attraction and there's a regular re-enactment of a raid by the Crwydriaid y Mor yn Dwyn Gwaywffyn, sea going aboriginals who raided inland every few years well into our early steam age. Quite a nuisance."
"Australia gets invaded by Hawaii." quipped the Dynol.
"I have no idea what you are referencing. But I know it is something embarrassing!"
They all made haste to the hat shop and it was Seren's turn to be embarrassed at being complimented for his Phantom Rider cosplay. Eira had her own hat as well. A white tricorn with a badge pinned to one side and several short square-ish red feathers sticking out back of it. "This is my dad's hat. He used to live here for a few years before getting his hauler gig."
"What is the badge for?" Asked one of the Bridge Bunnies.
"Ah that was for rescuing some folk who got lost in the deep forests. Dad was a pretty good tracker." Eira explained while tracing a finger round the brass badge. "The feathers represent how many people he saved. Six total."
The Bridge Bunnies each purchased high topped broad rimmed black hats with a green band around the base. They looked a bit like triangular witch hats with the point removed. Zana selected bonnet and Scanner donned her own green wild west style hat with one side pinned up. All the head-ware had built in heat dissipation materials to help disperse built up UV warming.
Next they ambled over to the clothes shop and here Eira helped Seren pick out a long coat in blue that went with his hat. "Yeah! Very Phantom Rider now! Just need to get you a silver steam pistol and a white coesau plu."
"Eira... Is this a vacation? Or dress up doll?"
"Why not both?"
Scanner picked out a woman's riding outfit in green while the seven lapine brothers all selected elegant coats and pants with buckled shoes. They looked reminiscent of Spanish aristocrats dressed so. Especially with the frilly lace. Zana dressed in a gown that spread out in all directions. She blushed so much it was visible through her cheek fur when Seren teased that she could hide all of the Bridge Bunnies under her petticoats.
All done with basic shopping they stopped by to say hello to Eira's distant cousin. This fellow was a Wiwer Fawr of a light brown fur pattern and blue eyes. "Eira ar y Blodau! Been three years since saw you last! Welcome Welcome!" He looked over the masked Dynol curiously. "Why are you so cute with that mask on? I am Gwynt Drwy'r Canghennau. You must be Llygaid Llawn o Ser my cousin has written about?"
"Probably unless she has more than one Dynol wrapped up in her tail." grinned the Systems Tech.
Gwynt grinned at that. "If the rumors are true then just one of you is more than enough." The squirrel-like alien and the human exchanged the double paw clasp greeting and then everyone padded over to an shaded eatery sized for small and large folk. "You hit a good time to visit. This is the cool season. Temperature will spike for three months during the hot storm season. Warm rain and high winds. Great for the plant life. But whooo! Don't plan on traveling!"
They got to try out the local quinine including bara haen fewnol, which was akin to a calzone stuffed with cheeses, a white cream sauce, ground nuts, lettuce and carrot equivalents, and strips of coesau plu meat for the omnivores in the group. Scanner and Zana had roast coesau plu with a selection of greens the two carnivores could ingest. From the store owner Seren learned that the Cozi Mari was picking up a shipment of meat to supplement the more carnivore sided crew's diets.
Gwynt would be joining the group as their guide while planet-side. Mostly just an excuse to catch up with Eira and socialize with aliens. "Not many offworlders stay long for obvious reasons. Too bad you Dynol can not improve the conditions here like are on the other colony."
"I am no terraforming expert, but the problem here is a bit more involved. Fixing it would require moving the planet's orbit or thickening the atmosphere to increase UV shielding. Any of which might disrupt the ecology established here." suggested Seren. "That is even assuming we could alter the orbit without wrecking the planet."
"Tis what I heard last time it was discussed. The trees here are dependent on the increased solar intake and adding more cloud cover might well cause them to weaken or outright die. There's also worry that thickening the atmosphere could increase the intensity and duration of the storms we get." A flick of the squirrel's bushy tail fore-back-fore showing his reluctant acceptance of that.
"It is a planet we Dynol would have passed on during survey simply because it would be more likely to make things worse trying to make it more agreeable for habitation. As is you need alot of tech solutions to stay here right?"
"Correct. But it is not bad once you get used to it and we have adapted to the environment slowly."
"At a cost." Seren pointed out.
Gwynt nodded. "At a cost yeah."
Seren shrugged. "Maybe in time a better solution can be had. Right now the tech just has not caught up to being able to handle a situation like this. So you are to be commended for sticking it out and finding solutions outside the box."
That perked up the tan furred squirrel and after everyone had eaten and gotten a drink they set about picking up another local to join on the trip. That being Gwynt's fiance Erlid Awyr y Nos. Erlid was a solid pitch black of fur and had bright red eyes. She was a shipping clerk for the starport. She also complimented Seren on his Phantom Rider cosplay. Much to Eira's continued entertainment at the Dynol's expense.
Finally it came time to board the train and Seren got to see first hand a functional and fully restored mono-wheel steam train. The engine and tender were were Thirty meters long and the main engine consisted of four interlinked mono-wheels. The series engine was surprisingly powerful and the train could pull eight-hundred unit-tons. Eira explained a little of the history as everyone boarded. "Very early on we developed parallel wheel designs. But one experimental company pushed for the mono-wheel design and it gained popularity and quickly muscled out other designs."
Gwynt added to this. Mono-wheels have always been a design aspect of transportation and no one is exactly sure when it supplanted other styles of wheels. Part of the success was very early gear and stabilizing breakthroughs."
"Due to the stopping problems when not used in series?" guessed Seren.
"Exactly. Early mono-bikes were more than a little harrowing to stop at speed." Gwynt grinned. "But were too fun to drop for safer designs. The basis worked fine. It was the sudden stops that kept leading to accidents. Speed laws were for a good while very strict. But people were always pushing it when out away from the dencities. Eventually someone hit on a pivoting gyro system to counter the rotation problem. The trains did not suffer that problem and just needed stationary bracing legs when at a stop."
The passenger cars were luxurious with padded seats and even a dining and lounge car. The sleeping cars were just as finely crafted of metal and wood. Each car of the mono-train was accessible via two doors, one on either side of each car's center-line wheel. Some luggage and cargo was packed into the lower parts of each sphere that comprised a car. The ride was scheduled to take a twenty-two hour day to cover some one-thousand kilo-units distance.
And so plans were made as to what to do during the shore leave at the re-enactment site and surrounding tree-city.
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I love my girlfriend. I like her cat. If things keep up the way they’re going, I’ll die younger and have a much worse life. These are all facts.
I’m writing this at 5am because I can see the sun coming up and I understand that I’ve already lost another nights sleep. I’m an anxious person by nature so the fact that I’ve been awoken by things falling 3 separate times tonight means my system is already screwed; there’s no turning back down, especially with the cat clearly still roaming. It’s Monday. My week is sabotaged before it’s even begun. I cannot keep doing this.
I’ve suggested everything imaginable but my girlfriend parries everything with what I kind of feel are either non-answers, pseudoscience or just kinda lies. She won’t keep him out of the bedroom, she won’t move his climbing post, she won’t even consider doing any kind of research on this stuff. She just insist that this is how things are. I’m getting 3 hours of sleep a night and being made to feel unreasonable for being upset. I honestly feel like I’m going crazy.
I don’tunderstand the science behind cats. I don’t know why he’s doing this or how to stop him. All I know is that my friends with cats don’t have this problem. The most common “solution” I’m seeing online is to get another cat, which honestly sounds like a laughably bad idea to me but isn’t happening either way. She’s been talking about it for a year but I know my girlfriend and I can tell she’s not realizing that plan anytime soon.
Without getting into it, my girlfriend really doesn’t come and stay with me. If I want to see her, I have to come to her. She lives an hour from me so I tend to stay a few nights in a row, but that’s a few nights in a row of things crashing all night, being jumped on at 3am, and endless scratching/random running around.
My girlfriend talk as a lot about us moving in together. I don’t have the heart o tell her that as of now, there’s an actual zero percent chance of that, which is heartbreaking but what am I supposed to do?? I don’t even have a question, just please give me advice.

Long story “short”: I thought I was in a rough spot in life, was getting paid $10/hr ($7) after taxes, working 84 hours a week at a security job in a high crime area. The drive home would be 40-50 minutes on clear roads. Well one night I decided to spark up a blunt on my way home, after I stopped at the gas station for something to eat. I was pulling out of the driveway a patrol unit passed in front of me and I came out the driveway behind him, but I didn’t notice my headlights were off. I made a U Turn and I seen him in my rear view mirror he made a UTurn as well, he ended up pulling me over and told me the reason he pulled me over was because of my headlights being off (it was about 1:50am) before he even asked I told him I had weed in the car with me it was about 1/4 of a blunt, also I was in full duty uniform, he took me out of the car and informed me what I was doing was a felony, I told him that I knew it was and continued on about my “sob” story, he placed me in the back of the unit where he ran my license and everything came out good, I had never even had one single ticket. He searched my vehicle and also I had my dads rifle in the back, he emptied both my pistol and rifle and placed them on the hood of my truck. After that he called the DA who decided not to press any charges on me. He opened the back door and informed me of the good news, I sighed in relief, he then put all my belongings in my truck and uncuffed me, told me that I was a man now and I needed to grow up and stop doing stupid shit. I told him I know and that it wouldn’t happen again. He didn’t give me a ticket or a warning. It has been about a 18 months since that happened and I haven’t touched any drugs, that moment was a real eye opener, since then I have been doing great things in the Private sector like doing Fugitive Recovery, private investigations, and even working Federal security jobs.
Now to my real question, how would this affect my employment with that PD, I definitely learned from it and moved on to better things, I have made friends with a lot of those department’s officers and have multiple references who are willing to put in a good word for me mostly regular Officers and even LTs and CPTs, I have spoke to them about my situation and doubts and they all tell me the same thing, I wasn’t charged nor arrested and I learned from it and came out a better man on the other side so it wouldn’t hurt to try.
I will not say what Department it was but it is a huge city in desperate need of officers.
I am bilingual, and that is a huge plus in my city, I help out the officers a lot when I they need it,also in great shape, also I am 21 years old looking for a lifetime career. I am dedicated and diligent and KNOW I can outperform 99% of any qualified police cadet/candidate. (My references would say the same)

When I was nine, I found the woods.
Now, I know that doesn’t seem too impressive at first.
The thing is, I think I was the only one who could see them.
I toddled over after church on Sunday, still wearing the pink bows in my hair and carefully skipping over any patch of earth that wasn’t covered in grass so I wouldn’t stain my Sunday shoes.
There was a large field near where I lived that my mother deemed safe enough for me to play in with all the other neighborhood kids. It wasn’t a playground by any means, just a vast stretch of land that never sprouted anything worth picking. I was alone that Sunday, walking around the dead field until I could barely make out the wavering smudge of my house in the afternoon heat.
I regret it now, but at the time, I decided to slip under the barbed wire fence and run off, hoping to find something pretty. I wanted a sunflower for my hair.
That’s when I found the woods. I didn’t even realize there was anything out there; I lived in the last house on the block, and from there it just stemmed out into that empty field. No one ever mentioned the woods, not even the adults as a warning not to go in.
Obviously, I went in.
The trees were black and gnarly, with thick knobs and protruding roots so overgrown, they reminded me of bony fingers with too many knuckles. Crisp leaves in all shades of brown littered the floor, and I loved the satisfying crackle underneath my Sunday shoes as I explored.
Looking back, I don’t know what it was about the woods, but I was captivated. I was running through the trees, making tremendous leaps over streams, and just playing like the child I was. It felt like I was in another world when I looked up at the canopy of leaves and branches, sunlight glittering through the green.
It felt like minutes, no more than an hour at most, before I noticed the sky was ripe and orange. The sun was setting already.
I sucked on my teeth before sighing. Sundown meant going home. I made my way toward the direction I came in when a wispy breeze fluttered over my body, lifting the lace ends of my dress and sending my hair flying off my shoulders.
I shuddered, but kept walking.
I made it home just as my mother stepped out on to the porch to yell for me.
“Oh, there you are, Faith. Come insi—where is your bow? Little girl, I told you to change before you went playing in the field in your Sunday clothes!”
I reached into my hair and realized she was right, I was missing one of the ribbons meant to be tied around my plaits.
“I wasn’t in the field, I—“
“Hush now, I don’t care for excuses. Go on inside and I’ll run your bath.” She tsked, shoving me inside with a rough hand on my back.
The next morning, I spoke to Jeremy at the bus stop. He was my neighbor.
“Jeremy, why haven’t you ever shown me the woods?” I asked.
“What woods?”
“The woods past the field. Don’t play stupid.”
“I ain’t playing stupid. I never seen no woods, and I lived here twice as long as you. You’re stupid.”
“I am not, Jeremy! The woods are over there,” I pointed past the field. “And I’ll prove it to you after school.”
“Fine, bighead, let’s see.”
The entire day I was antsy. Finally, we sat together on the bus ride home and I knew I would be proven right.
We dumped our backpacks and lunchboxes on my porch and marched through the field. When we got to the fence, he hesitated.
“My momma says not to go past the fence because then she can’t see me.”
“Oh, you chicken, then?”
“Shut up,” he said. He looked back towards the neighborhood before rolling under the fence. I followed, ducking beneath the wire.
I led the way, the same way as I had taken yesterday.
Only this time, I couldn’t find the woods. We must have walked for ten minutes before Jeremy spoke.
“I don’t know why I believed you. You’re just a liar. I knew there wasn’t no woods.”
“There is too! You don’t know nothing.”
“Wasting my time for this… Loony, you are. I’m going home before my momma starts whining.” He turned around and I watched him until he went under the barbed wire fence again.
Where were the woods? It didn’t make sense.
I felt a cold wind wash over me, prickling at my skin. I rubbed at my arms and looked up.
My bow!
It had become undone and was just a pink ribbon gliding through the air. I chased after it, but random bursts of wind kept it out of my reach. I spun in circles and scuffed my shoes and knees as I hurried, my eyes ignoring the ground.
It finally smacked against a tree, and I realized I was at the woods once again. I grabbed my ribbon and shoved it in my skirt pocket, distrustful eyes scanning my surroundings. I could still see the edge of the field, so I hadn’t gone far, but it didn’t make sense. Why weren’t the woods this easy to find with Jeremy?
I raced inside anyway, gleefully crushing hard leaves under my feet. This time, I started kicking together piles of them in a path, jumping from stack to stack and relishing in the experience.
As I peered past the black trunks of the trees, I realized it was sunset. But that couldn’t be true, school had just ended half an hour ago. I hadn’t even had supper yet.
I backed out of the woods and when I blinked, the sun was back up, shining down brightly on me. I went back inside, examining the stark difference in the sky. When I looked to the left, outside the woods and into the open, it was sunshine. When I looked to the right, into the depths of forest, the sun cascaded yellow and orange through the dark, black trunks, just like a sunset.
I went back every day that week, and every day it was the same. It was always sunset in the woods, no matter if I went in the morning or afternoon. It was strange waking up on Saturday mornings and spending hours watching the sun frozen halfway down the horizon.
After about a month of spending nearly every day in the woods, I heard a laugh.
I think it was a laugh.
The sound was a whisper in the air and I could feel it gusting around me.
“Hello?” I called out.
Silence, just for a beat.
A round of giggles came from behind a nearby tree, but I couldn’t identify which one. It sounded like it was surrounding me. It was a guess, but I assumed it was little girl laughter. I had always wanted girl friends, so a spark of excitement shook through me.
“Hey, come on out!”
She didn’t say anything, but I heard footsteps take off and I bolted after them.
There was no path of shoes in the dirt, no overturned leaves being kicked through, nothing but the faint ghost of a breathless laugh.
“This isn’t funny,” I announced with a deep frown, clutching at my aching side.
The laughter stopped immediately.
I sucked in a deep breath.
My shadow was dark, I noticed. Much darker than it had ever been in the woods. The usually orange sky was fading fast, cold navy overtaking warm citrus colors.
“I’m going home,” I said. I don’t know why I did, I just had to let her know. “Play with me tomorrow.”
“Wait,” a girl’s voice.
I spun in a circle, unceremoniously slipping on some of those crisp leaves. I couldn’t see her.
“What?”
“Wanna see something neat?”
“Who are you,” I asked.
“A girl offering you something one last time. Wanna see something neat or not?”
I stood up and patted my skirt, dusting the dirt off.
“Show me.”
A small hand waved from behind a particularly rotten tree. I grinned and chased after the figure, darkness enveloping any discernible features; she was only a shape running ahead of me. Her voice was youthful and she was no taller than me, and I was not a large child.
We giggled in those little girl laughs as we went further and further in the deep thicket. The sunlight was nearly gone, I could barely make out my own feet as I chased after the girl.
“Where we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
I groaned.
“Hush, we’re nearly there.”
I rolled my eyes, but obeyed.
“What’s your name?”
“Nearly there now, Faith.”
I slowly stopped myself, fear ebbing its way into my chest for the first time.
As if she felt my pause, she stood as still as the trees, unwavering in the growing winds. Her dress didn’t even flutter with the breeze like my skirt did.
“Why did you stop,” she asked in a strained voice. “Don’tcha wanna see? See the surprise?”
I took a step back, nearly fumbling over a thick root.
“My mother must want me home by now.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“You don’t know my mother.”
“Oh,” she sighed, her head dipping forward, long hair covering her face. “I know a lot more than you, Faith.”
She started laughing as she turned to face me, the soft sound morphing into an unrecognizable cackle.
It was so dark now, I couldn’t see much else but her. Her skin almost glittered, but there wasn’t any moonlight.
“How do you know my name?”
“You told me. You don’t remember?”
I shook my head, and though she wasn’t looking at me, somehow she saw it.
“Faith Brown. You have a bad memory. I told you I know more than you.”
The whistle of sharp gusts of air pierced my ears, her voice barely floating through the sound. My hands were sticky, cold and sticky.
“What’s your name? You know mine.” I asked again.
“You should go on home. Your mommy is really scared right now.” She said it so matter-of-factly, faint but sure.
I hated her voice, I wanted to hit her. I wanted to reach my fists into her long, ugly hair and pull it out of her face so I could spit in it. Never in my life had I ever felt so much vile, abysmal hatred for someone. It frightened me. Most of my thoughts were on my mother, though, so I didn’t pause to reflect on these realizations for too long.
I took off running in the opposite direction, praying I was heading the right way. I was sprinting like the fastest horse on the track, but somehow her laughter was right on my shoulder, cawing loudly inside my brain.
“Bye bye, Faith! Let’s play tomorrow.”
Again, I felt that prickling feeling of disdain. I nearly turned around and chased after her again, just to pummel her.
Instead, I focused on how the clearing was approaching. I ducked my head and let out a shaky breath of relief when I found myself out in the open.
Slowly, tentatively, I peered back at the woods, fully expecting to see her standing there.
It was so dark, I couldn’t see past the first couple of trees. They guarded the entrance, standing like ghouls with long, grotesque branches like bony fingers outstretched to me.
The walk back to the field was brisk; I was on edge, a growing knot weighing in my stomach that I wouldn’t make it home.
I had never been out so late. There wasn’t a cloud above to block moonlight, but even then, the moon was absent. I had no guide home, so I continued to trek in blackness, hoping I would see the streetlights soon.
I wondered if I would see her again—
A crushing grip yanked my shoulder, spinning me around and sending dirt flying as my shoes scraped the ground.
Large, strong hands shook me, and a white light blinded me. I was gone, I was dying in that moment, my soul fled my body.
“Calm down! I need you to stop screaming, honey. Stop, tell me your name.”
I heard a click and the light was much dimmer. I hadn’t realized I screamed at all.
My eyes adjusted, and I noticed the golden glitter of a badge.
“Faith Brown.”
He sighed, genuine relief in the motion.
“Let’s get you home, sweetheart.”
The night passed in a blur. I was holding his hand as we walked through the field. He said several things into the machine on his chest. My street was flashing with red and blue. My mom was smoking a cigarette on the porch. She shouted at me, but I didn’t hear a word until her icy fingers were digging into my arms, clutching me tight against her.
I slept in her bed that night, I think. I didn’t go to school that next Monday. I don’t think I went at all that week.
The next time I felt conscious, grounded back in reality, was when I accidentally pushed the glass of lemonade off the table. Shards went skittering across the kitchen floor, bouncing until they hit the walls.
“Faith!”
“Sorry, mother!” I bent down to start picking up the pieces when my mother grabbed my wrist.
“You dense little girl, don’t touch glass!” She hissed at me before her eyes softened. “Baby girl, it’s dangerous. I’ll clean it up, you — carefully — throw the bag outside. Can you do that?”
I nodded absently.
When my mother wrapped the glass in a towel and secured it in a waste bag, she sent me to the trash cans outside. They were in the backyard.
I hopped down the steps, the feeling of being out of the house already foreign. A breeze nearly made me jump.
Despite the wind being negligible, one of the bins tipped over.
A single brown leaf fell out, gliding through the air and landing right before my feet.
I don’t know how I knew, but it was obvious to me that this lead was from the woods. It fluttered at the ground a bit, the crisp corners pointing past the field, wanting me to follow. It was enticing me, urging me to just obey. I felt a strange pull in my chest, a physical tug that made my shoes scrape against the dirt and inch towards those cursed woods.
I stomped on the leaf, my teeth grinding together as I used my heel to shred it to pieces.
For a while, things seemed to be getting better. The wind didn’t call to me and I stopped having nightmares featuring a black and white figure. The girl. Jeremy even told the older boys to stop teasing me about it all.
I thought it was over.
A month had passed, maybe two. Church had finished and all us neighborhood kids were playing tag in the field. Maybe it was all the others there that made me feel safe enough to go with them.
An older girl from the middle school was it, and I scurried away from her, but I tripped on a long, pointed stick. I skidded to the dirt without an ounce of grace, dust and pebbles digging into my clothes and skin. I picked up the wooden branch and waved it around.
It was like a magnet, zeroing in on one specific direction: directly to the woods. Again, I felt that tug in my bones, my mind blank as I was almost roped in. It felt like my feet weren’t even leaving the ground, just that some unexplainable force was luring me in.
None of the other kids saw me. Or they did and didn’t care. I would rather believe the former.
I blinked.
I was back. I was in there, alone, and the sun was setting fast behind me. Dread coursed through me and I spun around, my grip taut on the stick in my hands. I clutched it to my chest, my heartbeat rising rapidly.
It was getting so dark so fast. It felt as if the blacker it got, the harder it was to breathe. Everything was so, so loud; my ears pounded, my shaky exhales were crashing waves, the rustling trees were windstorms.
The song was excruciating.
I strained my body to focus. The song—this ominous chanting that suddenly began, a crooning chorus of voices was somehow the faintest trace of sound and the most excruciatingly powerful racket possible.
I couldn’t describe it accurately if I tried. The most I could say was that it reminded me of the choir at church, but the emotions it evoked were polar opposites. There was no unified comfort, but an unrelenting hymn, slow and mournful.
With nimble steps, I inched away from the anthem, fearful of the voices stopping at hearing my footsteps.
Bright red lights exploded like fireworks.
I saw them all.
Vaguely, but undeniable. A hoard of people, all just as ghastly white as the first girl, their sinful song louder and closer. Their faces were hidden being long strands of hideous black hair. They all looked the same, a crowd of the same kin.
She stood at the front, closer than all the rest.
The burning in my throat was agonizing, bile threatening to spill out as she lifted her head. Her face, the blankest white I had ever seen, was empty save for two black holes where her eyes should have been, and a carnivorous mouth lined with rows and rows of almost-humanlike teeth.
Her face was flat, no curves or features anywhere but those haunting eyes. They were like craters, dark and empty. Still, I knew they were boring into my soul.
I was petrified. I wanted to run off as fast as I could. I couldn’t do it backwards, but I simply couldn’t look away from the swaying mass of people in front of me. I couldn’t imagine what they would do if I turned around.
I didn’t have time to make a choice on what to do next because she launched into action. She moved like a newborn animal, gangly yet purposeful, and she was heading straight for me.
She couldn’t catch me. That was all I knew.
I bolted, adrenaline carrying me with a strength I’d never have again. I was practically flying through the trees.
They were alive, leaning in and closing the gaps, making it harder for me to dart between them. Their branches scratched and nipped at my face and arms, but I could barely feel it.
“Faith, we need you at the communion!” She screeched behind me, dangerously close.
Her voice was loud, but the song from the crowd was fading. I was getting close to freedom and she knew it.
I heard her pounce and then I was slammed to the ground. Her body was light, but cold enough that where her hands touched me, the skin felt like I was soaking in an ice bath.
I couldn’t breathe, my lungs throbbing inside me. I was beyond afraid, my body acting in autopilot because my mind was mush.
I screamed, a deep, guttural shriek that surprised her. With a swift movement, I stabbed the wooden branch I still held into one of the black craters on her face and she fell back, hissing and howling like a feral creature.
I used the brief moment of distraction to shove the stake in deeper and run. I ran with all my might, the steady pounding in my ears protecting me from whatever curses she screamed after me.
My vision was going dark at the edges, my chest aflame with pricking pain building inside me. I was going down and I knew it, but I could see it then: the edge. With a final burst of speed, I catapulted myself out of the woods and as far as I could get.
I collapsed in the field.
Sometime later, my mother was shaking me to consciousness. I couldn’t move, but I bawled in her arms, scrapes and scratches riddling my body. When they changed me at the hospital, there were deep claw marks on my back.
Within two weeks, we moved. I lost a lot of my childhood. Outside of this period, I can only remember bits and pieces of what should have been joyful times. It took a long time for me to feel safe.
And I did. For a good while, I felt safe. I didn’t think of her or anything that happened for many years, the only reminder my scars on my back and the occasional flash of nightmares.
I was okay.
Until this morning.
My daughter, my darling little girl who gave me hope and a warm feeling of peace just by being near her, was coloring beside me as I finished something on my laptop.
I glanced down to her page and was nine years old again, looking right into the black abyss of two soul-sucking eyes above a sharp, dripping mouth.
“Baby,” I croaked, “baby, who is that?”
“Oh,” my daughter hummed. So blissfully unaware. “She’s a girl I met in the forest yesterday.”
I could feel every painstakingly difficult year of therapy slipping away from me. With a trembling hand, I ripped the page out of her notebook and crumbled it, ignoring her cries of protest.
We live nowhere near a forest. I can hear that song again.

Alright, disclaimer, this is mostly focused on gameplay, so not much of story would be told, you can lay the foundations, I'm just laying my ideas that incorporate the rewrite, I will have a semi story already laid, so you can continue the laying! I'm just dumping my ideas.
I think the story should've had the stuff we had at the start, and midway throw a giant twist happens; the flood returns, then the entire world gets slowly infected, you have a 4 hour timer in real time, and if you don't do jack sh** the ring fully gets infected and basically becomes a zombie game. You can still do the campaign, but the enemies you now face are flood instead of banished. The game would basically become a horror game and new abilities unlock that are focused on the flood. Flood resistance, Flood cleansing, and flood dead shot. Flood resistance is obvious, you take less damage from flood weapons, flood cleansing does more damage against flood, and flood deadshot increasing your aim against flood units.
The outposts in the game would now be infected causing a new type of Outpost, Flood outposts, Basically the reason why you would want to defeat these is that they give you more cover, because now the air is contaminated, your character now relies upon a gas mask that is in your suit. the air time ranges from 10-20 minutes and is like the metro gas mask.
these outposts give you more air. and you can even upgrade your gasmask, the new focus in the game is for survival, master chief has to stop the infection, so the new missions are to head to areas and clean out the infection.
a new feature would also be added; outpost defense, your new outposts would be randomly attacked, depending on the infection meter which is another new thing, the infection meter shows you how bad the infection is, the higher the meter is, the harder the flood is, if the meter is around 100-70 the flood might attack your base, if you don't defend it your base is lost.
which adds more of difficulty, you no longer have ai companies either, since most who don't cover their mouths or noses get infected. which they require a gasmask. you can find gasmask to give to your ai friends. and finally, we come to my favorite part. when the player is halfway through the game and get into a fourrunner area, if your infection meter is 100, there's a chance a python appears, what's a python? it's a giant flood creature that cannot be killed and requires the player to run, or hide, the python adds a element of stealth, if it catches you. your dead. No chance to survive.
this adds a horror element and the lights also go out. so you need to turn on the flashlight, which can alert the python, especially by sound. but if it sees the light, it investigates. during the python attack, the light is your new enemy, and the dark is your friend. if you hide in the dark, the python cannot see you unless you make noise or move around. the python never disappeares and only appears where areas have multiple exits, and entrances, and if they're big enough. This part is especially inspired by amnesia. You can defend yourself against the python, although it won't do much, you can stun the python with fire/plasma weapons, but you cannot kill it.
The way you remove the python is by managing to get to the area you needed to go. Now this will be balanced depending on what difficulty you have on, easy would completely remove the python, flood infection meter would slowly go up. Outposts are incredibly easy to defend/attack. Enemies are weaker, and ai friends no longer get infected.
Normal would be the exact thing I just mentioned previously. Pythons come at 100% infection goes up within a count of 30-20 minutes.
Heroic changes a few things, enemies now use new abilities, the normal flood guys now uses the super jump from halo 3, that super jump where they jump to you and slap you? That returns. New enemies appear which these new enemies are these; the berserker, a giant flood rhino like creatures that rams you and if you aren't careful, can insta kill you. This won't happen if it's horn is not out. It has a retractable horn. Sorry if I'm rambling btw, I just want these ideas acrossed.
The racker, it is a horrific slim beast that has human, and elite, and brute heads/bodies poking out of it, just to terrify you and play mind games. It can grab you, but cannot insta kill you. It has a sweeping attack that you can jump from. Easily, and it can pick up nearby vehicle and throw it at you. You can also dodge these if you have the evade equipment.
And finally the feeder. What does this do? It spawns flood parasites endlessly until you kill it. If you attack it though the parasites will center their attention to you. Especially if your in multiplayer. It also explodes when it dies.
And finally were on legendary. This increases all damage on enemies, more enemies in total, the previous enemies I just mentioned, and the python appears at 60-50 infection meter. It also can now appear in the world, but you can actually defend yourself if your in your base. Which a nearby turrent which is made especially for the python is on the walls on the base. So you can finally defend yourself against it! Yay!
And here's a extra idea that I don't really think fits halo, but I thought it was a cool idea. Basically it's a sanity meter. (Yes I've been playing a lot of amnesia recently.) This sanity meter does not kill you, or makes you seen easily, it makes you hallucinate instead, for example if your at really low sanity, enemies would randomly appear, but they aren't real, if you damage them they turn to dust, they can't hurt you either. Weapons would also turn to dust, or just randomly appear and then turn to dust. The way to indicate that the weapon isn't real is the icon below. It would be orange. Which is a indicator that it isn't real and you should move along. I don't know a idea to bring up the sanity, or how it goes down. But I thought it was a cool idea. I don't think it should be added though.
Overall this is just some Ideas I have, I've been seeing a lot of peoples disappointment towards no flood. So I thought these ideas might satisfy those fans and have them think of a reality of the flood in infinite. I just thought these ideas up. Hope y'all liked this post if you read through all of it. I know I sounded ranty or probably didn't explain the features well, I hope you all understood them well. Have a great day!

Hello
Here's a thought experiment. Imagine that, in 2017, Activision did not publish Call of Duty: WWII but instead Call of Duty: Eternal. This is a story which is very much the same as what Call of Duty: WWII transpired as but with a couple of significant differences. For a start, it's not set during World War Two - it's set in a fantasy world with a 1940s/50s level of technology. A global war is raging between mankind and Orks, with the Orks having conquered great tracts of the world, and the story opening with the efforts by humanity to retake "Albion" from Ork occupation. I like to imagine the faces of Call of Duty fans when the first trailer came out and, seeing what looked like D-Day, got excited that at last the franchise was going back to its roots - only to see that the enemies are Orks and the main character is a Lenape woman.
To help with this imagining - below you'll find the full script for the first mission of Call of Duty: Eternal, based on the first mission of Call of Duty: WWII. The rest will gradually follow.
You might find it useful to follow along using this video - a walkthrough (no commentary, thank God) of the actual first mission in Call of Duty: WWII to help with visualising it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7y1bDQBEhA
Call of Duty: Eternal Mission 1 X-Day
Text slowly appears on-screen:
The world is bathed in flames.
The Ork clans, united for the first time in centuries, are on the march.
Man faces extermination.
A human skull is shown before an Ork boot comes down on it, shattering it.
Radio broadcast: With unmatched ferocity, the Ork war machine has launched its onslaught against the world… mankind faces the abyss.
The camera pans up on the Ork boot to show an Ork soldier as, behind him, Ork soldiers and tanks move through a devastated city.
Radio broadcast: As we brace for our darkest hour, we must summon our strength to be the bulwark against oppression.
Ork bombers are shown bombing London, recognisable for the Thames if not for the architecture. They are four-engine bombers, like B-17s, and the camera closes in on a propeller which shifts to a ceiling fan.
Radio broadcast: The Ork onslaught will be the greatest test we'll ever face.
The camera pans down from the ceiling fan Mona Kanti, a young Lenape woman and the protagonist, is shown joining the Imperial Armed Forces. She stands in a line in a recruitment office as a recruitment officer stamps her papers.
Radio broadcast: But face it and defeat it… we must.
To punctuate the “we must,” a sudden cut to black with the sound cut out. Then, we hear the voice of the Ork Primarch. A speech plays, meant to mirror FDR’s D-Day Prayer, with shots of the Ork war machine we’ve been hearing so much about.
Primarch: With this war we set upon a mighty endeavour.
Fade from black to show huge lines of Ork soldiers in formation, like big Nazi rallies, are shown.
Primarch: A struggle to restore our civilization…
Ork soldiers on one knee in this rally are shown, closer up, dressed in battle gear and their faces daubed in war paint.
Primarch: …and to set free a suffering people.
A view from the rear of the rally, with the vast architecture of the Primarch’s palace shown looming over it all, resembling the Palace of the Soviets.
Primarch: Our Sons. Pride of our Clans.
Another panning shot of the assembled Orks, this time from the side.
Primarch: May the Mother lead them straight and true.
An Ork mystic, on the balcony overlooking the assembly, blesses the troops with hands raised to the sky.
Primarch: The road will be glorious. Men's souls will be broken with the beauty of war.
A shot from behind the mystic, seeing the assembled troops stretching towards the horizon.
Primarch: In this time of fire and blood…
The face of one Ork soldier is shown up close.
Primarch: …we shall prevail.
With the slightest of grimaces, the Ork uses a knife – and, in the background, we see the others doing the same – to ritualistically slice his forehead and let blood trickle down.
The cutscene then shifts to the Imperial Navy ships, including battleships of a scale similar to the Super Yamato, that are heading for the beaches of Albion. Mona Kanti is writing a letter to her sister, Luna Kanti, and we hear her voice-over as we view shots of the fleet.
Kanti (narrating): Luna. Oh, I wish you could see this, sister. An armada from one horizon to the next. I turned sixteen too late to help free Ériu. But not Albion – and it’s gonna be tougher. Much tougher. You know, I think I could bear the blood, and the misery… and the Orks. But the waiting… well, that’s a whole other battle.
Inside the troopship living quarters. We are now in first-person as Kanti. Kanti is sat at a table, hanging out and talking with her squad-mates Kinsi Rei (female Somali; shaved head), Thea Adlai, (female Swedish; ginger, freckles, glasses) and Ren Tao (male Chinese). Ren Tao is eighteen – the others are all sixteen. Bunks are stretched out behind them and other soldiers, of all ethnicities and sexes, walk by throughout. Rei is holding court while playing with a knife, every now and then jabbing between her fingers.
Rei: So she asks me for my watch and I'm thinking, "what in the Nether do you want my watch for; your parents make like fifty times mine!" But I turn around, and I felt this punch. And it's cold like ice.
Some of the dialogue is drowned out by Kanti’s narration. Every now and then, Kanti glances down at her fingers as she snaps them, but whatever she’s trying to do with that isn’t happening.
Kanti (narrating): Believe it or not, I managed to make some half-decent friends in Basic. All scared as can be. But nobody’s letting on.
Rei keeps playing her knife game as she talks.
Kanti (narrating): I hated Rei when I met her – and now she's my best friend. Funny how that works. She's always looking for trouble. If there wasn't already a war on she'd be off trying to start one.
Rei offers her knife to Thea Adlai and, though we can’t hear her given the narration, seems to be asking her if she wants to try the knife game. Adlai refuses.
Adlai: Besides, I gotta keep all my fingers if I'm gonna take photo of the year.
Kanti (narrating): Adlai says she's gonna be a photographer for a fashion magazine. She’s got a good eye. Except when she takes off her glasses – then she can’t see shit.
Rei offers her knife to Kanti and Kanti turns to Ren Tao.
Kanti (narrating): Tao's the vet but, if I’m honest, he's what kokomi would call “a bit of a bumpkin.”
Ren Tao is tempted to play Rei’s knife game.
Tao: Okay, okay. Let's make this interesting.
Rei: It’s not interesting? Kanti – what’re you doing?
She says this in reference to Kanti’s finger-snapping.
Kanti (narrating): I swear I used to be able to do this…
Tao: So you keep saying.
Tao take off his talisman and dangles it in front of Rei.
Tao: Xu Yaling. Spirit of war.
Adlai: And sex, right?
Tao: Sssh. (Rei and Adlai laugh) He's had my back since Sabha. And, yeah, that’s real gold. (drops the talisman down on the table) Rei, three times in ten seconds, and he's all yours. (Sits back down)
Rei: I don't know.
Tao: Oh, you could always wimp out. That’s a choice, too.
Kanti: My money's on Rei.
Rei: Okay. Okay, I'm in.
Adlai: I can't watch.
Tao: I can.
Rei looks to Adlai.
Rei: Just time me when I tell you. Back to my story – me and my girls, we muscled our way into this chess game that the wrestling team had going. We had a bona-fide genius among us – but it was me playing. We worked out a system where she can signal to me what moves to make. You should have seen the Head Girl’s face when I took that pot. (To Adlai) You ready? That's what happens when you try to hustle a hustler. Now…
Rei plays the knife game while Adlai times her and wins the bet in a few impressive seconds.
Rei: Checkmate!
Tao: There ain’t no way!
Kanti (narrating): Tao had enough fight in him for two men.
Rei: Much obliged.
Rei offers to shake hands with Tao.
Tao: My mother told me never touch a Nube.
Rei doesn’t flinch but you can tell she’s ready to throw hands. Instead…
Rei: That's not what she said last night.
Rei winks and Tao shakes her hand.
Kanti (narrating): And enough bigotry for six.
Tao: Meh, who needs a stupid talisman anyway.
Rei: Apparently, you did. Here, have it back.
Tao: You won it.
Rei: It’s fake gold.
Tao: What? No, no, no, that’s as real as you or I.
Rei: A hustler always knows.
Tao: Ah, whatever, if it’s fake I don’t want it. I'm gonna get something better. A real trophy. You'll see.
Rei: Good luck with that.
Kanti snaps her fingers and finally produces what she wanted – a finger of flame, like a lighter, appears.
Kanti: I did it! Look, look, I did it!
Rei: Well, by Baphometh, isn’t that something?
Tao: That’s very pretty, Kanti. You’re ready to take on the Primarch, I should think.
Rei: She was always ready. Right Kanti?
Tao: You got any healing spells we could use or is it all evil magic with you?
Kanti: Well-
Rei: Oh, go on, tell him, Kanti! Tell him about that thing you can do!
Adlai: What thing?
Rei: And there’s no such thing as good and evil magic. Just good and evil people.
Kanti: It’s not that I can do it; it’s just that it happens sometimes. When someone’s dead I can kinda, you know, see into their past. But they have to of died recently. And I can’t do it with most people.
Tao: Well, we’re invading Fortress Albion, my friend. Good time to find yourself some corpses.
Rei: Maybe even your own.
Adlai: Hey, Kanti, do that spell again for the camera.
Adlai raises her camera then, seeing her watch, realizes that they are late for the mission briefing.
Adlai: Oh! Never mind, briefing’s at 18:00; we're gonna be late!
Adlai jumps up and runs from the room. The others also stand.
Tao: Run, little mouse.
Rei: I got us covered Kanti; don't worry about it (Showing the pendant to Kanti and winking). It is real gold.
As Kanti and Rei leave the living quarters, they encounter Khand, their turban-wearing sergeant, and in terms of personality very much a cranky sergeant stereotype.
Khand: Briefing's about to start; what in the Nether are you idiots doing?
Kanti (narrating): Then there's Sergeant Khand. He’s a sweetheart.
Khand: Oh, you think you're special, huh? The Orks are gonna eat you alive.
Rei: No, not me, sergeant. I’m high in salt.
Khand: Watch your lip, Rei. On me.
Khand leaves. The other two move to follow.
Rei: Since I'm obviously on a lucky streak, whatever happens, stay close. First Albion, then the Great Pale, then home in time for tea and medals. We got this, Kanti.
Scene fades out.
All of the 66th Infantry Division troops are on the deck of the ship as the rain pours down and Colonel Kitwana, a Swahili man, gives his pre-battle speech. As he does, we see the soldiers assembled watching him.
Kitwana: Today… we embark on an operation of unparalleled importance. To establish a beachhead in Albion… and roll back the Ork horde... that has terrorized the world since before many of you were born. We are all that separates the world from darkness. This is so much more than a chance to be heroes in our own lifetimes. If we prevail… our triumphs will be etched into the hearts and minds of a grateful world for untold generations. I'm talking about glory. True glory.
Kanti narrates her letter to Luna and soldiers begin to climb down the cargo net on the side of the ship into landing craft. These craft start making for the Albion coast.
Kanti (narrating): Colonel Kitwana can give a nice speech. His pep talk reminded me of the one Coach Pakwa gave us on our Mother’s Night game against Susquehanna. I'm sure you remember we lost by 67 points. (Focuses on Sokolov and Khand) Always looking over Khand’s shoulders is Lieutenant Sokolov. He's got him on a tight leash. But if Khand breaks free, we'll all get bit. Ever since I found my gift, I wanted to be like you, Luna. You've always been a tough act to follow. But I'll do my best.
Gameplay
We are now in first-person again as Kanti.
Kanti (narrating): It's now or never.
Kanti is writing in her notebook, the photo of Luna pinned to a page, as their landing craft drives for the Albion shore. Kanti is interrupted by Rei.
Rei: Hey! I wish I was coming home to her!
Kanti: That’s my sister! Just wait ‘til we hit Lutetia. Enough girls for the rest of your long life.
Rei: I’m starting to realise how far away it is.
Kanti take a quick glance at her notebook and closes it before tucking it into her pack.
Sokolov: Remember. No digging in at the shore. You advance. You need to stay low and do not bunch up. Stick to your training and you're gonna make it through.
Khand: Most of you, anyway.
Medium bombers pass by overhead, resembling the Junkers Ju 88 (in this universe known as Dragons) on a heading towards Albion.
Tao: Alright! Give em hell, boys.
Text appears across the screen.
X-DAY Lùnastal 17th, 397 NE Rheged, Northern Albion
Rei: The beaches are meant to be flattened, right?
Khand: You sound scared, Private.
Rei: No, sir.
Khand: You should be.
Driver: Hey, you! You!
Kanti turns to look at the landing craft’s driver behind her.
Driver: Got a light?
Kanti: Sure thing.
Kanti snaps her fingers a couple times and produces the flame again.
Driver: Oh – you’re one of them.
Soldier: Never trust a witch.
As the driver lights his cigarette on her finger, a bullet hits the boat’s machine gunner in the throat; he falls, flailing, with blood spurting out of his neck like in a Tarantino film. Shells start to fall.
Driver: Bastards!
Sokolov: Everyone down!
Rei: This is it!
Ork artillery lands in the grey ocean all around, spraying the craft with water. Kanti crouches with the rest of the troops.
Soldier: Watch out!
Bullets bounce off the landing craft’s armour.
Soldier: This isn’t fun!
Driver: Five hundred yards!
Another shell lands nearby and sprays the craft with water. Kanti trips but is held up by Khand grabbing her arm.
Driver: We’re gonna have to pull off!
Sokolov: No, we stay on mission! You're taking us in!
Driver: We must have drifted! I can't see the landmark!
Khand: You heard the lieutenant. Full speed!
Sokolov: Incoming!
An artillery shells blows up the neighbouring landing craft.
Soldier: By the Gods!
Sokolov: Hold tight!
An artillery shell, again, lands near the boat.
Kanti: Damn it!
Driver: Two hundred yards!
Looking up, a Dragon bomber is visible coming down with an engine on fire.
Driver: Twenty seconds!
Sokolov: Remember the plan! Get to the seawall!
Khand: Ceres! Aradove! Get the bangalore to the wire, fast! Everyone ready? Here we go!
Sokolov: Drop the ramp!
Driver: There's no cover!
Khand: That was an order, damn you! Drop it!
The ramp drops just as a landing craft consumed with flames comes crashing into theirs.
Rei: Oh, shit!
Kanti is knocked off her feet by the impact. Looking up, she watches as machine gun fire from the clifftops chops down a number of soldiers on the boat now that the ramp has been dropped. One has his head blown off and his neck is left spouting blood over Kanti as others are also cut down.
Sokolov: Over the sides! Now! Now!
Kanti follows as the survivors climb over the boat’s side. She stays underwater for a few seconds before being helped to her feet by Sokolov, spluttering.
Sokolov: I got you, child!
Just behind him, the beach is consumed by fighting and the noise of war is deafening.
Sokolov: Get your head down and keep moving!
Sokolov leads Kanti out of the surf, a burning soldier falls screaming from another landing craft and into the water, while carnage reigns all around. Bodies are floating all about and the water is red with blood.
Sokolov: Kanti; on me!
Running through the sand as explosions go off all around, artillery can be seen curling from the Ork lines towards the beach. Sokolov and Kanti hit the deck in front of some Ork tank traps.
Sokolov: Demolition team is dead! Take the bangalore and get to the seawall! We need to clear a path to the bunkers!
Kanti temporarily looks away, back to the water, and witnesses the bloodshed of soldiers dying, and a number running out of a landing craft on fire, while a warship close to shore opens fire on the coastal defences. Sokolov gets Kanti’s attention.
Sokolov: Kanti!
An explosion goes off nearby, half-soaking Sokolov’s face with gore. Someone just blew up.
Sokolov: This is your job! You got that?! Now pick up the banger!
Kanti moves the severed arm of a dead soldier to retrieve the bangalore. She looks upon the dead soldier’s corpse and, suddenly, her vision fades away and she sees his memories. This is the first of the Internal Vortex collectibles which can be found throughout the game, whereby additional lore is provided through Kanti’s ability to tap into the memories of certain corpses (human and Ork). In this case, the accessed memory tells a brief story of the soldier (Private Omid Afshani) and how he was part of a traditional military family and all his brothers have already fallen, told he would be a general someday, how he was born on a ship evacuating Persia (which goes some way to explaining why the Imperial military is so multiethnic – the whole world evacuated to the Americas) and how his last letter home from the ship told of how “I can’t wait to hear the birdsong again.”
Afterwards, she returns to lucidity.
Sokolov: Kanti! Kanti! You with me?!
Kanti: Yes!
Sokolov: You can do this!
Sokolov stands and starts running up the beach. Kanti watches after him.
Kanti: I hope so, sir!
Kanti looks at the dead soldier that was carrying the torpedo bangalore, and with one hand closes his eyes.
Kanti: Sorry.
Kanti takes the body’s R7 Remi rifle (comparable to the M1 Garand) and proceeds up the beachhead, trying not to get killed. The machine gun nests in the clifftop fortifications will open fire on the soldiers then wait for a few seconds to reload. This will be the player's chance to move up to avoid taking damage. The player moves from cover to cover – tank traps, the wreckage of vehicles such as half-tracks and light tanks, and shell craters, mostly.
Khand: Hurry before they reload! Move it!
Sokolov: Kanti! This way! Hurry! Stop and you’re dread!
Tao: Shit!
Sokolov: Those MGs are killing us! Get off the beach!
Khand: Private Kanti – get to the seawall!
Rei: Get to the seawall! I’ll meet you there!
A couple of armoured vehicles – light tanks resembling Soviet BT-7s, here called LT-5 Termites – are now also moving up the beach and providing fire support. One blows up.
Sokolov: Keep low. When there’s a break in the fire, run for it!
There’s a break in the fire – you run for it.
Sokolov: Kanti, get the bangalore!
When Kanti reaches the seawall, which is made up of a big mound of sand lined at its top by barbed fire and burning gasoline, she falls against it. Her fellow soldiers fall in alongside her or are already there. A lot of wounded are also there, being treated by medics as machine gun fire flies over their heads. Rei falls next to Kanti, her face covered in dirt and blood.
Rei: Kanti! Use the banger; I'll cover you! After we breach, keep pushing toward the bunker!
Kanti: You’re covered in blood.
Rei: It’s not mine. Focus!
Kanti sets up the torpedo bangalore, made up of two cylindrical rods, with the second able to fit inside the first. Her handling is shaky and she drops one rod. Rei picks it up for her and gives it back.
Rei: We're nearly there!
Kanti pushes the torpedo bangalore into the seawall.
Rei: Pull it! Pull it!
Kanti: Fire in the hole!
Kanti scrambles backwards and the bangalore explodes, tearing a hole in the seawall for the soldiers to pour through, dirt pouring down like rain.
Sokolov: Weapons ready! Fix bayonets!
Kanti fumbles for her bayonet and fixes it to her rifle. You can now use this as a melee weapon against enemy infantry.
Rei: Ready to see your first Ork?
Sokolov: Attack!
Sokolov leads the troops through the hole – and many, though not Sokolov, are cut down.
Rei: Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!
Sokolov: Push forward!
After passing through the hole, you are faced with a clearing sprinkled with tank traps and barbed wire. After that, trenches, and then the bluffs with fortifications spitting machine gun fire.
Rei: Into the trench! Hurry!
Soldier: Orks!
You now face your first Ork drones as you push towards the trenches. Once you get into the trench, you slowly clear it and a mortar position, presumably losing Health as you do. Once done, you turn a corner deeper into the trenches where Rei is located.
Rei: That wound looks bad! Here, take this!
Rei throws a health pack to Kanti. The player can now call on Rei, when the squad meter fills, to add a pack for a total of four.
Kanti: Many thanks!
The player moves through the trenches, clearing out Ork drones. Friendly troops leap across the trenches. The player then gets to the end of the trenches and reaches the bluffs covered by Ork fortifications. A slope goes uphill between the bluffs but machine gun fire pins the friendly troops down and makes it impassable.
Khand: We can't advance with those MGs firing on our position!
Sokolov: Hold tight. Fire support incoming!
Khand: Kanti, mark the target!
Khand throws a canister to Kanti. Kanti catches it and throws it uphill towards the Ork bunkers. Red smoke emanates. Sokolov is shouting into a radio.
Sokolov: Kestrel, target is lit up! Hit it now and hit it hard!
Radio: Roger, we have your smoke visual. Attack run inbound.
Explosions hit the MG bunker as rockets from a trio of dive-bombing jets which resemble de Havilland Vampires (in this universe called Banshees) come in and obliterate the fortifications. The jets pass by close overhead.
Tao: That's it! Let 'em have it!
Adlai: MGs are dead!
Kanti: (laughs) They tore them to shreds!
Sokolov: Get to the top!
You and your squad move up the hill – a wounded Ork, both arms missing, stumbles from the smoke and still tries to fight by biting at Sokolov. Sokolov shoots it down.
Sokolov: Crazy bastards.
More Ork infantry advance.
Ork: I shall wear your hide as a coat!
After defeating these Orks, the player advances to the top of the hill through which additional trenches burrow.
Sokolov: Kanti; I need you and Rei to take point and clear those bunkers! Go!
Rei: Had to be us!
You move in with your squad. There are five bunkers to clear. The first has a clearing full of mortar positions, where Ork infantry defend, and there’s more firing at you from inside the bunker itself.
Sokolov: Orks are dug in. Kanti, get a grenade in that bunker!
You break into the bunker and clear it out, including the machine gun post covering the beach.
Rei: First one’s down!
Sokolov: Bunker’s clear – everyone out.
You move on. Taking the adjoining trenches, you come across an Ork Officer – larger and more heavily armoured than the Drones you’ve been fighting so far – holding a human soldier by the neck. Assuming you shoot him in the head, the only non-armoured part, he’ll go down and the soldier is saved.
Soldier: Thanks! I owe you!
If not, and your bullets bounce off the Officer’s armour, he crushes the man’s neck in his hand and comes for you.
After that, you drive on through the trenches, killing a few more Orks, before turning and entering an underground bunker. Inside, the entry is covered by a machine gun post.
Khand: MG's pinning us! Someone toss a smoke!
You can do that, or you can perhaps kill the machine gunner. Up to you. Afterwards, you drive on through the underground bunker. It’s a bit of a catacomb full of dormitories and a radio room. Eventually, you clear it.
Khand: Bunker's clear. Let's go!
Sokolov: Everybody out, bunker's clear!
You head back outside, 2 of 5 bunkers complete. You continue through the trenches, meeting fresh Orks.
Rei: There’s artillery hitting the beach! The next assault wave won’t make it!
Khand: Keep pushing! That artillery is hammering our ships!
Kanti: On it, sir! Yeah, I can do this, I can do this…
You carry on through the trench. Some Banshee jet fighters screech overhead. Reaching the entrance to the next bunker, you see a friendly – Corporal Lieu – with an F3 Inferno – a backpack flamethrower. He fires it down the bunker at unseen enemy troops before being gunned down.
Kanti: I'm going in!
Rei: Careful!
You enter the bunker – you can pick up the F3 Inferno as you do, which doesn’t last long but which is fun to use.
Ork: Come, little men!
You clear the bunker. As you reach the machine gun post, you enter into a quicktime moment. Kanti gets ambushed around a corner by an Ork soldier, who grabs her by the throat and pins her to the wall, but she jams her combat knife into his neck. Falling from his grasp, she sees the machine gunner just as a shell from a ship offshore hits the bunker dead-on and blows it, and him, to smithereens. Rei appears from the dust and helps Kanti to her feet.
Rei: Shit! Fucking Navy. Don’t they believe in us?
Returning from the machine gun nest, some Orks have shown up to try and retake the bunker. Take them out and then the bunker’s cleared.
The next bunker is just a hop from this one – you enter, at first finding nobody, before discovering an Ork pinning an Imperial soldier to the wall.
Soldier: Somebody help!
You, I should hope, kill the Ork.
Soldier: Thanks! Oh, hey, a girl…
Kanti: You wish.
You drive into the bunker, in the heart of which is a mortar position, and take out the Ork defenders. With that, the bunker is cleared.
Khand: Move up, move up!
Everyone rallies at the big steel door at the end of the bunker.
Khand: Adlai. Tao. With me. Kanti, you and Rei clear the next bunker. Rally at the top of the bluff, and for fuck’s sake try not to get yourselves killed.
You interact with the big steel door and open it, before going with Rei down some more trenches.
Kanti: Alright, Rei. One more!
Rei: We got this!
You turn a corner into a clearing before the bunker. There’s Orks both defending it on the ground and a sniper on top of the bunker itself. After dealing with this, you head inside, Rei behind you.
As you enter the bunker, Kanti is ambushed by an Ork Major – she is thrown to the floor and the Ork stands over her, pulling out a knife.
Ork: Never did fear smell so sweet.
Rei jumps onto its back and holds onto him around the neck. The Ork manages to throw Rei onto the ground before stabbing her through the belly.
Kanti: Rei! Oh, shit, no!
The Ork soldier leaves the wounded Rei, knife still sticking from her stomach, and approaches Kanti.
Ork: Stand and face me, woman. Show some honour.
Kanti stands and fights the Ork, which through its superior strength easily ends up on top of her, taking away her knife and now pushing it down towards her with both hands. Then, Kanti’s hands light up and the flames return – her whole hands are on fire. The Ork roars in pain and surprise and backs away, looking at its burned hands, before Kanti runs at him as the flames go out and tackles him to the ground. The Ork is still stronger and goes back to throttling her – but they’ve fallen near Rei, who yanks the knife out of her belly and jams it into the Ork’s chest.
Ork: The glory…
The Ork dies. Kanti climbs off and approaches Rei, who suddenly brandishes a pistol.
Kanti: Whoa, Rei…
Rei: Duck!
Kanti does so and Rei shoots the unseen Ork which was behind her. Kanti looks back to Rei, who is dealing with quite a lot of pain.
Kanti: Come on, you’re okay, you’re okay.
Rei: I can't walk.
Kanti pulls up Rei’s uniform to see her stomach – the wound is gushing blood.
Kanti: Oh, shit…
Rei: That bad?
Kanti: It’s not great.
Rei: Would you mind getting me out of here?
An explosion, presumably artillery – Kanti looks down the bunker to see it shudder, rubble falling from the ceiling.
Kanti: Yeah, course, no problem Kinsi, just stay with me, okay? Can you do that?
Rei: I’m gonna have to try. Pulling that knife out was pretty fucking stupid, huh?
Kanti: No comment. Come on.
The player starts dragging Rei out of the bunker and outside. Across a pretty dangerous clearing are friendly lines.
Kanti: We've gotta get back to friendly lines!
Kanti starts dragging Rei across the grass
Rei: On your left!
Kanti shoots the Orks which appear from the left with her pistol and keeps going.
Rei: You’re gonna… have to tell me… how you did that fire thing.
Kanti: I will when I figure it out myself!
They keep going.
Kanti: Not much further. Just keep pressure on that wound.
Rei: I’m trying!
Kanti drags Rei to a wall of sandbags and clambers over them.
Kanti: We gotta take cover!
Rei, in what is pretty clearly a painful endeavour, follows suit and lays in the mud. With her pistol, Kanti faces the Orks now coming for them.
Ork: Tasty, salty man-flesh!
Rei: How many?
Kanti: Too many!
Once the Orks are dispatched, Kanti looks back down at Rei.
Kanti: We're clear! Come on!
Kanti starts dragging Rei through the mud.
Rei: You call that fuckin' clear?
They skirt the edge of the trenches – an Imperial soldier with a flamethrower is dousing a group of Orks in fire. They continue along the edge of the trench, which is lined with barbed wire and so inaccessible, at least for Rei.
Rei: I'm losing too much blood. I think. You need more than half, right?
Kanti: Just hang in there! I gotta find a clearing to get in the trench!
Kanti places Rei down as smoke canisters pop, obscuring the next Ork wave to come their way.
Ork (from somewhere in the smoke): The clan will feast on you!
Kanti: Keep your head down!
Rei: Did you get 'em?
Kanti: They keep coming! How many of these fuckers are there?!
After taking out four or five, Kanti turns back to Rei.
Rei: Watch out!
Rei, with her sidearm, shoots down an Ork drone running at them from behind.
Rei: Still got it.
Kanti: Now’s our chance!
Kanti keep dragging Rei along the edge of the trench, smoke from the Ork canisters obscuring everything. As she goes, an Ork grenade lands at her feet.
Kanti: Fuck!
Kanti throws grabs it and throws it away. She sees an open area in the trench.
Kanti: Bingo!
Kanti jumps down into the trench, up to her ankles in mud, then turns back to Rei.
Kanti: I got you!
Rei rolls off the edge of the trench and lands in the mud at Kanti’s feet. A few more Orks appear from the smoke and Kanti shoots them down. She then looks down at Rei, who’s on the edge of losing consciousness, and then looks down the trench where more Ork infantry are coming at them.
Kanti: Oh, give us a break!
Kanti takes them out. Then, she turns back to Rei and starts dragging her down the trench.
Rei: Oh, wow, I'm actually bleeding out.
Kanti: Just keep pressure on it!
Rei: I’m trying! I’m trying!
Kanti: Almost there!
They reach some concrete steps – a friendly soldier is at the top.
Soldier: Come on up here! Move, move!
Kanti starts dragging Rei up the stairs – the soldier runs down and helps.
Soldier: I got you!
Two Orks come around the corner – someone on the top of the stairs shoots them both down. They reach the top of the stairs and find themselves in the middle of a friendly improvised triage centre. Kanti lays Rei down, whose face is very dazed, as she flicks off her helmet, blood trickling from her mouth.
Kanti: Okay. Stay with me. Healer!
Nobody comes – everyone’s busy.
Rei: I need morphine. All the morphine.
Kanti takes out a syringe of morphine, pulls off the cap with her teeth, and injects Rei in the thigh. Rei’s breathing is strained and painful. Kanti puts a hand under her head as a pillow.
Kanti: You gotta hang on. Those girls in Lutetia are waiting for you.
Rei: Really?
Kanti: Of course.
Rei: I… uh… how about another look at your sister?
Rei manages a smile, sniggering through the pain, and Kanti laughs, too.
Kanti: You’re infuriating.
Rei: It's okay. I can't see shit. I'm just gonna rest right here.
Rei’s eyes close.
Kanti: No, no, no, you need to stay awake. Hey.
Kanti puts her hand against Rei’s face, slapping her awake, and Rei’s eyes open.
Rei: Mona…
Kanti: I'm here.
Rei makes eye contact.
Rei: Help me.
Kanti: I need a fucking Healer!
A Healer finishes treating a wounded soldier and rushes over, taking over from Kanti in trying to stop the bleeding.
Healer: I got this! Go!
Kanti looks back down at Rei.
Kanti: But… but I…
Sokolov appears, standing over them.
Sokolov: Kanti! He'll take care of her. I need you with me. (to others) Listen up! There's an Ork cannon just a little up the road. It's tearing up the beach – we’re gonna stop it. Let's roll!
Kanti looks back down at Rei, who’s reaching out to her. Kanti takes her hand for a moment.
Kanti: Just stay alive, okay?
For a moment, with Rei on the very edge of death, little flickers of her memories flash before Kanti’s eyes. We see her mother telling her she’s a disappointment, Rei sitting in a prison cell, and then being told by a recruiting officer that “the Army’s running out of men – we need some ladies ready to be heroes.” Then Kanti returns to lucidity and Rei’s face.
Rei: I promise.
Their hands part and Kanti stands, grabbing a rifle, and joins the rest of the squad.
Sokolov: Check your ammo and grenades!
Khand: You heard him! Up the road, now!
Kanti and the rest of the squad move out of the top of the bunker, along a field pock-marked with craters, then go onto a dirt road leading towards a farm.
Kanti: Moving up!
Khand: Let's move!
Sokolov: Be ready – these Orks don’t look like the surrendering type!
You keep moving up the road, finding some dead cows as you go.
Khand: Move fast! They're shelling the beach to shit!
You reach the target – a machine-gun nest is set up in a half-destroyed farmhouse and starts shooting at you as you appear.
Sokolov: MG in the hay loft! Take cover and take it out!
After taking out the machine gun, you keep moving up to fight Orks among the farmhouses and hay bales. A large artillery cannon is in the centre and you move to clear it and secure the area, moving in a couple of the farmhouses to do so.
Adlai: Where’s all the civilians?
Khand: In the Ork’s stomachs, probably!
Once you’ve cleared everything, silence seems to fall.
Soldier: Orks coming in from the south! A lot of them!
Sokolov: They’re gonna try to retake the cannon! We gotta hold this position!
Khand: Not a step backwards!
The squad defends the position as a couple waves of Orks swarm towards them. You can use the machine gun posts in the upper floors of the farmhouses to help fight them off.
Adlai: There’s too many of them!
Khand: Hold! Have courage!
Still the Orks swarm the field to the south – until explosions start to blow them away. Termite tanks appear from the left, their 45mm guns tearing through the Orks, which are either slaughtered or flee.
Tao: Our boys are coming in!
Adlai: Look at them scatter!
Sokolov: Alright, everyone. We mopped them up good. I don’t think they’ll be back.
Khand: Clear! Destroy that cannon!
Kanti goes to the cannon and crouches down behind it. An Imperial soldier appears next to her.
Soldier: Thermite!
The soldier carries a number of thermite charges inside his helmet like a bucket and empties them out in front of Kanti. Kanti lights one of them.
Kanti: Fire in the hole!
Everyone backs away – you probably should too – and the thermite explodes. The cannon is destroyed.
Sokolov: Excellent work, Kanti. Alright, everyone, rally on me to the assembly point. Khand, I'll need a casualty report. We lost so many.
Khand: But we took the beach.
Sokolov: What a price.
At the rally point, Rei is on a stretcher on the ground, a cigarette in her mouth as Tao is knelt next to her.
Rei: Kanti...
Rei tries to sit up and Tao puts out a hand to encourage her to lay back down. Given the pain on Rei’s face, that’s probably a good idea.
Tao: Man, I thought I'd seen everything…
Kanti: She gonna be okay?
Tao: Yeah. They taped her up pretty good.
Rei: I should’ve stayed on the boat.
Tao: Oh, now she tells us.
Kanti: Hey, what you did back there… I owe you. Big time.
Rei: I’d say we're even.
Kanti: We'll see this through.
Rei smiles.
Rei: To the end. I guess.
Kanti: Whenever that may be.
Sokolov and Khand walk by behind Rei; Sokolov addresses everyone. Kanti glances up at them, then back at Rei, who just gives her a knowing nod, then stands as she looks back at their superiors.
Sokolov: Beachhead's secured. We'll bivouac at the second hedgerow after the ridge. It’s not over, everyone.
Behind them, a couple of dead Orks are being examined. Adlai is taking photos of one while a soldier gently kicks the head of another.
Soldier: Stop kicking it.
Soldier #2: I don’t wanna.
Khand regards Kanti. There’s blood in his beard.
Khand: Welcome to the Smiling Sixty Sixth. You're a long way from home, farm girl.
Khand walks off. Sokolov watches Kanti, then approaches when Khand is out of earshot.
Sokolov: That’s his way of saying he’s grateful. You did well. Not bad for your first day.
Kanti: Thanks, sir. I, uh…
Sokolov puts a hand on Kanti’s shoulder.
Sokolov: You'll be alright, child.
Kanti: Yes, sir.
Sokolov pats her shoulder, nods, then walks off. Kanti looks down at her hands, covered in dirt and blood, which hold each other before slowly separating.
Kanti: Course I will.
The level ends.

I just received a Gen 3 typewriter as a gift and was super excited to get started with it — until I realized that it wouldn’t work with my WiFi (I have Starry). On the initial setup, it kept saying that it was connected to my WiFi network, but then would fail when trying to connect to Postbox. I contacted support and they were zero help. I was finally able to connect and create my Postbox account using the public wifi in my apartment building’s lobby. When I got back to my apartment, it still said it was connected to my home WiFi, but syncing and sending emails wasn’t working. Still no connection to Postbox.
Many hours of frustration and googling later, I realized that my wifi network switches between 2.4ghz and 5ghz automatically, and there is no obvious way to turn off the 5ghz connection. There is a toggle to enable or disable a dedicated 5ghz network, but even with that disabled, devices will still connect to the 5ghz if they are close enough. My apartment is tiny, so getting far enough away to force the 2.4ghz connection (which is what several YouTube videos suggested) was very difficult.
I finally discovered that Starry has the option to enable a guest network that is 2.4ghz only. Once I enabled that and connected my Gen 3 to it—voila, problem solved. This also fixed two other “smart” devices I was having issues with (a light switch and a toaster oven). I’m so relieved as I really like the feel of writing on the typewriter, but was thinking of returning it if backing up my work was going to be such an issue, especially given the price.
Tl;dr: Gotta find a way to isolate the 2.4ghz connection on your WiFi, which may not be as simple as you’d hope 😭

[M]/Doing retro coz reddit has apparently locked my account before 2024 expired, and I just realised this hasn't been published /[M]

Canadian Federal Elections 101

Canada has inherited its political system from the United Kingdom, sticking to Westminster parliamentary system ever since. This means, that unlike in the United States, the outcome of Canadian elections are won by whichever party manages to elect the greatest number on Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of Canada, allowing the leader of this party to assume the office of Prime Minister.

The Senate of Canada provides for a stark contrast, since despite being originally designed to ensure provincial representation, the upper house remains unelected and is largely subjected to the politics in the House of Commons.

When no party is able to secure more than 50 per cent of seats in the House, a leader of a political party that is able to command more than 50 per cent of MPs, for example through singing supply and confidence or coalition agreements with other parties, becomes Prime Minister instead. Historically, however, the largest party in the House of Commons tends to form a monitory government, when it commands a plurality of MPs, rather than an outright majority. This allows the largest party to remain in power, but it has to rely on MPs from other political factions to pass crucial pieces of legislation, especially when it comes to votes that indicate parliamentary confidence, such as federal budgets. Losing those votes, would effectively mean that the current government has to either be completely re-staffed with new Cabinet Ministers, or call a snap election.
However, minority governments remained fairly uncommon in Canada, since the current voting system, called First-Past-the-Post (FPTP), allows for individual MPs to win their respective ridings - also known as constituencies - to be elected into the House of Commons with a simple plurality of votes. Thus, a political party can win most seats in the House of Commons through strategically placing their bets on ridings with very tight margins, where just one extra vote may allow their nominee to win a permanently seat, effectively making all votes for the opposition candidate in that riding meaningless.

General Backgrounder

For example, the Liberal Party of Canada has won the last two federal elections with a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, despite coming only 2nd to the Conservative Party of Canada during popular vote. The Liberals, despite becoming the largest party in the House still fell short of winning the majority of seats, being forced to rely on the New Democratic Party, that represented are more progressive social democratic part of the electorate, for crucial votes. Later, the Government has called a snap election aiming to get their desired majority, but failed, and had to sign a formal Supply and Confidence Agreement with the NDP, that included a massive package of social programmes, such as the recently implemented national dental care and prescription drug insurance.
However, while enjoying a steady lead in polls vis-a-vis, the federal Conservatives during the pandemic, the Liberals had experienced persistent slump as post-pandemic recovered coupled with sticky inflation and rapidly deteriorating housing crisis. As the Federal Conservatives have moved to the right following the election of a new leader, they have utilised concurrent economic challenges and liberal economic policy, blaming the current government's pandemic related emergency spending coupled with expansion of social programs as the root cause for inflation into collapsing housing affordability.
As Canada had to respond to America's Inflation Reduction Act with a new public investment into green transition, conservative criticism of the Trudeau government has become ever more vocal, with fiscal deficits presumably exacerbating, concurrent inflationary pressures.
Liberal policies, especially introducing the federal backstop mechanism for carbon pricing, has also spurred, vicious opposition, among Conservatives, especially those living in the Western Canada, that culminated in the razor-thin re-election of the United Conservatives in the oil-producing province of Alberta. The federal response to the freedom, convoy protest, as well as the general push, forever wider collective community during the pandemic, has created some fertile soil for the opposition, Conservatives to capitalise on, especially as the more moderate leader of the party had been ousted shortly after the convoy protest.
After more than eight years in government, the liberal party has also been embroiled in several corruption and ethics candles, including the SNC-Lavallin affair, the pandemic-era ArriveCan App scandal, and, most recently, the accusations of Chinese electoral interference, and Chinese police stations operating in Canada.
In fact, the situation for the current government has become so dire. It's a point, but more than 80% of forecasters projected a Conservative minority government has the most probable outcome for the next election. According to some polls, the Liberals would be unable to form a government, even with the support of the New Democratic Party. The liberal convention in late spring 2023, didn't provide much of a relief either, how's the party continued to lack a comprehensive platform to combat the issue of housing and affordability - something that steadily climbed the rate of priorities for many Canadians, to become the most pressing issue, when deciding who to vote for. If anything, the Conservative party has become the most popular political force, among younger Canadians, with their laser, sharp focus on the issue of inflation and housing affordability.
The issue of housing affordability has become central to the Conservative Convention, where the Party has committed to "restoring" home ownership across the country, through planning laws deregulation and "removing resections on the supply of housing". This would see the federal government to tie federal spending on housing to municipalities shortening approval times, waive HST/GST for housing, as well as allow landlords to re-invest their profits into new housing tax-free. The Conservative convention also proposed federal infrastructure funding to be linked to higher-density housing construction.
What did, however, play in favour of the current government, what is the time. Within Canadian Parliamentary system, the Prime Minister can call an election effectively anytime, so long their term doesn't exceed the four year threshold, that was approaching at Fall 2025, supported by the Supply and Confidence Agreement with New Democrats.
As inflation in North America has started slowly subsiding toreturn to the 2% target in early fall 2024, Trudeau has managed to re-gain some the economic credibility his government has seemingly lost. The Liberals have also continued their tilt to make some inroads into the NDP camp, with the Federal Budget 2024 going heavily on Net Zero and Green Transition.
However, the Liberals also had to deal with a political deadline, whether to call and election before or after the Budget 2025 would've been published. The former might allow the LPC to avoid the criticism of "buying up votes" that the party received after calling the snap election shortly after introducing their Federal Budget in 2021. However, Trudeau also had a stake at deferring the election for long as possible, hoping that waiving inflationary pressure might open up more space for the Liberals to re-gain the economic ground over the Conservatives.

Federal Election 2025

After long deliberation, the federal Cabinet has opened to hold an election in late March 2025, right at the time when a government would have normally tabled their budget. The election that both the Liberals and the Conservatives have approached after almost a year or neck-and-neck perforce in the polls, with Trudeau having a minuscule advantage in personal ratings.
The economy, especially housing affordability, have become two main issues during this election, closely followed by healthcare - namely access to family physicians and waiting times for selected procedures - and the issue of inflation still lingering at the back of the public debate.
Trudeau himself because a matter for the debate, with the Liberals banking on his personal likability, while Federal Conservatives continuously pressed with corruption and ethical scandals and corruption allegations, combined with the Liberal campaign continuously bringing up the "electability issue" of their opponents.

Housing

With the Tories enjoying slight lead on the matter of economic competence, the Liberals opted to treat the housing crisis as a matter of social policy, while banking heavily on personal popularity of Trudeau himself. From the policy-standpoint, LPC Election Platform has effectively copied the proposal originally voiced during the Conservative Convention. Namely, waiving GST/HST for housing construction, allowing landlords to re-invest their profits into constructing more units tax-free, as well as linking federal spending to new housing development and liberalising permitting process. The difference with the Conservatives was the focusing on new federal spending to combat housing affordability.
Liberal election promises involved the commitment for new federal housing construction to exceed population growth by the end of the first term, through the government directly contracting private developers to build more affordable housing, and task the Canada Infrastructure Development Corporation to provide funding to non-market housing in numbers meeting or exceeding population growth in larger metropolitan areas on Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and across Atlantic Canada.
Unlike the Tories, Trudeau also went further, promising the government would cover development charges for projects that included affordable housing. The Liberals have also committed to conducting of affordable rental housing, aimed at younger Canadians and those who are yet to start cloning the property ladder. Conservatives on the other hand emphasised Trudeau's poor track on housing affordability, combined focusing on making home ownership more affable through market-driven construction of new units for sale.
Both Team Blue and Team Red have committed to expediting the arrival of new skilled trades professionals, especially those working in the housing sector, including interest-free loans to have their qualifications recognised or to up-skill their existing credentials. Liberals however, took a step further, promising automatic Permanent Residency who has worked in residential construction after 1 year, as well issuing Open Work Permits - exempt from the Labour Market Impact Assessment - to anyone with construction work experience willing to come to Canada, so long they continue working in the construction sector for the majority of their time before obtaining permanent residency. The Tories on their part suggested granting PR automatically after they've worked in construction for at least 5 years.
On the matter of banning foreign buyers, both parties have committed to banning home purchases in Canada for those who do not hold Canadian citizenship or are not Permanent Residents of Canada, with Liberals maintaining existing exemptions, so long the person buying has invested an equivalent amount in affordable housing construction.
Rhetorically, the Liberals have echoed the National Housing Act 1938, suggesting their government would run fiscal deficits to finance nation-wide home construction, especially affordable rental units. CPC has openly accused Trudeau of "policy stealing" choosing to emphasis permitting deregulation, subsidies for new units, and investing more construction professionals.

Healthcare & Social Care

Federal Conservatives have focused their attack in increasing waiting times, as well as increasing shortage of medical professionals across the country. Liberals, however, aimed to conservative proposals to introduce more private providers into the system, while emphasising their expansion of public health insurance that now covers both dental care and prescription drugs. Both parties suggested increasing the immigration intake for doctors, nurses, medical researches, providing financial support to have their credentials recognised in Canada as well as to update their skills.
The Liberals have however suggested lowering tuition rates international students who come to study health, social care, and eduction, granted them access to domestic rates of tuition, as well as a designated pathway to Permanent Residency for health, eduction, and social care who have obtained at least 1560 hours of Canadian work experience, and received at least part of their eduction in Canada. This would come as a supplementary measure, with domestic students becoming eligible for federal student loan write off if they have accumulated at least 1 year of post-graduation work experience in health, social care, or education - so long their degree is in the same field.
The Liberals have also committed to covering a Royal Commission to introduce a national social care insurance programme for seniors and people with disabilities.

The Economy

The Conservatives suggest introducing "full expensing" allowing companies to deduct up 120 per cent of their expenses on machinery, equipment, and non-residential property, akin to UK's Super Deduction, to combat Canada's low investment levels. They also propose to introduce tax credits for Canadian companies to up-skill their workers, as well as increased federal funding to provinces to support job training and second career programmes and labour market integration.
The Liberals suggest increasing the minimum wage in federally-regulated institutions, linking as a proportion of executive pay. LPC also pledged to introduce at least 4 weeks of paid vacation after 1 year on employment, with additional increases in line with employee tenure, as outlined in their Convention 2023, while brining paid leave of up to 6 weeks a year, allowing recipients to tradition onto disability payments after that.
Both parties have committed to supporting Employee Ownership Trusts, as well as introduction of worker representation on corporate boards in federally-regulated industries. Team Red however to it a step further, suggesting they will employee ownership mandatory for large corporations , with the only exemption provided for profit-sharing schemes.
Both parties have also supported reforming Canada's Employment Insurance Program:
The Conservatives suggest introducing Individual EI Savings Accounts that any Canadian can access whenever they are let go of their job or decide to quit. The proposed accounts would be funded through mandatory employer and employee contributions and could also be used to pay for labour training and re-skilling, with means-tested federal assistance available for those who's exhausted their accounts. Tories also suggest expanding current marginal earnings projection to apply to both individual and household income. The party also suggests waiving EI Premiums and provide rebates for C/QPP Contribution rebates to those not paying federal income tax, to guarantee every Canadian can earn at least $1000 a month free of payroll deductions.
Trudeau on the other hand suggested making EI coverage universal, and providing up to 90 per cent wage replacement in the first month of claim, while also introducing EI Benefit Floor, where every Canadian would be entitled to a minimum benefit equal to federal minimum wage regardless of their original earnings, for as long as they have enough insurable hours. The Liberal plan also introduces expands "working while on claim" provision, allowing people collecting EI benefits to have their wages supplemented through the program so their total paycheque reaches at least 90 per cent of their average 5-year earnings at all times, regardless whether the claimant is eligible for EI Regular Benefits. EI Parental Benefits are set to be fixed at at least 60 per cent of the family's income, subject o the benefit floor. Liberals suggest paying for the programme through waiving maximum insurable earnings to levy EI Premiums on all income of an individual, while introducing cap on benefits linked to median regional wages. However, the basic exemption shall be aligned to the federal income tax minimum threshold. Surpluses generated should be used to pay for expanded WWoC provisions and putting EI Operating Account back into surplus.
Both parties also committed to brining in a Canada Savers' Creditthat mirrors both the amounts and eligibly criteria of the GST/HST tax credit, but is instead deposited in people's Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) and automatically invested into corporate equity. Tories and Liberals also support introducing automatic enrolment for Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Registered Eduction Savings Plans (RESPs), Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP), First Homebuyer Savings Accounts (FHSAs) and TFSAs upon either birth of obtaining Canadian tax residency for eligible non-Canadians. While the Conservative proposal would new accounts automatically linked to existing financial institutions the individual already has an account in, the Liberals instant new accounts should be automatically assigned to a new independent crown corporation, so long the primary account holder haven't decided to the move their registered accounts to an eligible financial institution.
Both parties pitch the policy as a potential interim solution to address Canada's sky-high household debt, through increased asset ownership and participation in stock markets.
When it comes to fiscal policy, the Liberal Government suggests they'll keep their "structural deficit" - as defined by tax revenues versus programme expedites - bellow the rate of economic growth over the 10 year period. LPC however is open they'll not restrain their spending on new housing construction, Ottawa set to absorb almost all the costs of housing under the liberal plan. The Conservatives on the other hand suggest introducing the $1 for $1 rule for federal expenditure, where every dollar of new spending has to be offset by a dollar in spending cuts or increased taxes, suggesting to balance the budget in their first 5 years in the office.
Somewhat comically, the Liberals seem to be attacking Conservative proposals on the grounds it may bring back the pain on the nighties - referring to the Chretien austerity era - especially in Atlantic Canada and the Regions of Quebec where benefit dependency ratios have traditionally been elevated.
The Liberals have also committed to expand existing childcare agreements, to make childcare services and spare available to anyone, and drastically reduce wait times for subsidised spots.

Energy & Environment

The issue has surprisingly played a somewhat muted role during this election, as CPC has contained to opposed federal price on carbon, pressuring the idea of turning Canada into a "natural resource superpower". Liberals on the other hand boasted about their massive investment into Net Zero Transition, while also attacking the Tories one potential fiscal penalties that the government would assume after cancelling the carbon tax. Team Red had also opened to cling to previous commitments of the Conserve Leader to ban overseas oil, which Ontario, and Quebec, as well as Atlantic Canada remain fairly dependent on, due to lack of oil transportation infrastructure from western oil production facilities. Considering the fact Quebec has remained one of Liberal strongholds even at the lowest, as well as the party's perceived electability in the province, CPC would've had even harder to fight for the votes in Quebec.

Tipping the Scales

However, what truly decided this election, was something that may in the future divide the country even more, namely the issue of the French language. Something that has been present in Canadian politics for generations, but something that this time brought a party over the finish line, while completely tanking their opponents.
While both leaders fluent in French, having French Canadian roots, combined with an almost unchallenged dominance of the local Bloc Québécois, it seemed quite unlikely either party would be able to gain any meaningful advantage in Quebec, until both parties have revealed their election manifestos.
Here was the moment the Liberals played their cards best. Namely, the party has committed to supplying French language both within and outside Quebec, through drastically bolstering access to Francophone eduction across the country. The Liberals has committed to introducing a brand-new federal agency tasked with facilitating access to French eduction and integration services - Francisation Canada.
The agency was set to provide free-at-use eduction in French, while also providing up to $1000 a month in finical assistance to immigrants who were willing to learn French. On top of that, the Liberals have committed to make existing Explore and Odyssey Programmes more universal, integrating them into school curriculums across the country. The Party has also committed to negotiating bilateral agreements with all provinces to provide additional funding and guarantee access to services, including eduction in French across Canada, while making French a mandatory subject for Early Learning & Childcare, as well as in secondary education. LPC would also waive tuition fees for post-secondary eduction in French, and negotiate agreements with other francophone countries, to facilitate French-speaking immigration into Canada and Quebec.

Conclusion

Thus, on the night of the election, the sudden realisation waived through the country. The Liberal Party managed to protect their urban ridings, even in West, as their pledge to "spend whether it takes to make houses and rents affordable for everyone" managed to persuade swing urban voters across the country, combined with their massive investment in green transition. The Tories has also lost their lead in Atlantic Canada, where an idea of a massive EI expansion has resonated with voters much more than the concept of individual accounts. Massive subsidies in battery production have also helped the Liberals to protect their seats across Ontario, especially in former industrial towns. However, what actually brought Trudeau over the finish line, was Quebec. The Combination of absolutely massive investments into green tech, coupled with new social programs, and proposed childcare expansion, on top of the Liberal pledge to "protect and promote the French language from Coast to Coast to Coast" allowed the party to make some significant inroads across the province, despite loosing some suburban ridings, Central Canada gave Trudeau yet another chance to form yet another minority Liberal government.

Party Name	Popular Vote	Number of Seats
Liberal Party of Canada (LPC_	33.8%	158
Conservative Party of Canada (CPC)	35.8%	140
New Democratic Party (NDP)	19%	20

Bloc Québécois (BQ)6.2%21 People's Party of Canada1,5%0
​

Acknowledgements

• https://energynow.ca/2022/04/energy-east-will-not-live-again-heres-why-jean-francois-thibault/
• https://2023.liberal.ca/policy/
• https://macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/erin-otoole-socialist-crusade
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-election-results-1.5330105
• https://tnc.news/2022/03/25/pierre-poilievre-proposes-ban-on-foreign-oil-within-five-years/
• https://nationalpost.com/news/why-does-pierre-poilievre-appeal-to-young-canadians-its-all-about-economics-2
• https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-conservatives-more-trusted-than-liberals-to-manage-federal-finances/
• https://centre.irpp.org/research-studies/amending-the-official-languages-act-a-new-vision-of-bilingualism/
• https://energynow.ca/2022/04/energy-east-will-not-live-again-heres-why-jean-francois-thibault/
• https://tnc.news/2022/06/22/poilievre-pay-as-you-go/
• https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/where-the-six-conservative-leadership-candidates-stand-on-key-policy-issues-1.5888530
• https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/federal/2021/party-platforms/
• https://338canada.com/sim.htm

Your boss trapped you in a room, claiming that to get a promotion, you need to EARN it.
The bomb has nine layers:
Layer 1: A series of algebra questions dealing with variables that man does not yet know, having to solve for number sets so large that they defy math in general. A common math problem is 99857+81724=4. 4-?=81932
Layer 2: The physics involved will burn you to a crisp, freeze you solid, then turn you inside out. Only a master of physics (Or gordan freeman) can survive the trip. You have a switchboard and have to turn all switches green. beware, after you turn six, the rest will reset. switches 3,8,2 and 1 need to be flipped but like the one far below, 3 will close 8,8 will close 2,2 will open 3 and 3 will reset the bunch.
Layers 3 through 9 have locks that will trip if you fail
Layer 3: You must roll a ball through a maze of corroded gears, jammed engines and a malfunctioning press system. If the ball is destroyed or you take too long, the lock trips and its by by body.
Layer 4: Multi-variable calculus sheets that must be done within ten seconds. Each sheet time gets progressively longer in length and shorter in time. final paper is 48x48 with .5 seconds per question. grace period is 2 seconds.
Layers 5 through 9 require knowledge of Programming
Layer 5: Plot the shortest path between two points using only the Z80 processor and one JSR loop. The path is to be exactly 16 byte total. You cannot call from ROM routines or use BCC
Layer 6: A KIM 1 controls the gate for the TTL chips. Using 6502, bridge the gap using only one RTS instruction. For mercy's sake, Zero page starts at $3FFF. Code must be again 16 bytes long. Bridge is gapped when the Kim powers down. You have ten minutes for each layer. You cannot use BCC, ADC nor can you call ROM routines from the kernal.
Layer 7-9 (- means through)
Using 4k BASIC on the original Chiclet PET (Yes, I am being evil here), close every circuit except two. The circuits are outlined here:
Circuit one closes circuit seven. Circuit seven closes circuit three. Circuit three closes all of them. Circuit eight resets the grid. You need to close circuits 7,1,8 and 3 without causing the grid to reset or fail. BASIC memory for the bomb begins at 7680 and the circuits are 582,217,327 and 481 respectively. 1 is on, 0 is off. Three tries. You are limited to the TIM monitor.
Once all layers are secure, get behind the door. the blast will take out the room, the locked door and the area around it so you can escape.
You have one hour. Success means you get promoted at work, you now work in retail

330 then 210 now
Congratulations Everyone!

1. Knew I had to do this when my older brother died at 43, 425#. I was 40-325. Younger bro 38-300.
   
2. Fought the insurance battle, obtained policy covering RNY, started process.
   
3. 8-month pre-op was not an option, and that’s a good thing. Saw people sabotage themselves in pre-op, and they were dismissed. Others flunked the psych tests, demonstrated things pointing to high risk of post-op sabotage. Dismissed.
   
4. Procedure was as described. Comedian/anesthesiologist asked me, right before I entered never, never land, if I was aware that I would be lifted above surgical table, and turned upside-down during procedure! What???…never saw that joker again. Doc confirmed this detail later.
   
5. Weight loss was rapid and thrilling. Below 220 in 7 months or so. Learned important lessons for this first stage. Like (a) don’t eat raw carrots or celery, as these can conspire against you, weave themselves into a “mat,” and jam your hole. Rice can do this too—see funny anecdote below. Upward Eviction ensues. (b) [for the lucky people] don’t eat sweet, sugary stuff like ice cream, shakes, pie etc. Immediate downward eviction occurs [turbo-charged food dumping] it’s a race to the bathroom (c) Sushi and an ice-cold Ichiban. Sounds fab. Maybe not. Rice is starchy and clingy, beer is loaded with malt. Hmmmm. Imagine belching up (and out) an impossible quantity of rice-infused foam for an hour. Yup!Hint: Ditch the rice..eat sashimi. Maybe the beer too. If you are not lucky with auto-rejection of sweet/fatty stuff, look out! Stat away from it. Milkshakes are particularly troublesome. They liquify on contact with mouth, and there are no limits on quantity.
   

By the time you graduate from this stage, you will have your own set of rules.
At any and all stages, even 20 years down the road, BEWARE OF ALCOHOL. This was not discussed in my pre-op process. I’m guessing it is now. Alcohol can DESTROY you and your weight loss. Know this now. People who have never had an issue with alcohol can become dependent on it post-op. It’s a transferred addiction. Sugar in a different form. No one is immune. You, like me, may be physically unable to overeat, but there are no limits on liquids. I lost a lot of ground on this issue, but managed to gain control. Zero is my magic number when it comes to alcohol.

1. My brother. Same path, same successes and failures. Developed same alcohol problem. It killed him at 58.
   
2. Later stages. You’ll lose the “easy pounds” in stage 1. Going lower gets back to food choices and exercise. Gaining weight is common, so stay in front of it. If alcohol use sneaks upward, get in front if it. Maintenance is the drill forever thereafter.
   
3. Hope some of this helpful. Ask me anything.
   

Congratulations and Good Luck!!

The Campto is absolute garbage now. The bite does literally ZERO damage (that’s if it even lands). Trying to bite anything puts you in danger 1. Youre a Campto, you lose every trade. 2. On top of that your head getting hit gets you killed even faster! your hop ability is quite detrimental if spammed 4-5 times (you don’t need to spam it unless traveling) it’s a great tool for running away but you don’t even need to hop because you’re faster than every other dinosaur except struthi but struthi isn’t a threat because it’s just as bad as the Campto (Atleast it has bleed… if your willing to risk using it.) now possibly the most idiotic part of the new Campto… the useless out of combat one attack damage buff… on a Campto. The buff call is great! Unfortunately it’s quite pointless on a Campto because why group with a Campto when you could group with literally any other dinosaur that can help you in combat more than once every seven minutes (7 minutes is the call cooldown) and as stated above, the Campto dies instantly so going into combat is death. with that being said. I don’t know why the devs said “let’s take the worst dinosaur and make it worse.” But it’s quite depressing seeing as I am a Campto main and was really excited for the update because of the hopping. But unfortunately it was quite the let down about an hour after the update when I found out hoping is quite literally all the Campto can do now. (Side note, the Campto stam regain could be better seeing as running is all it has going for it) long rant short, they turned a reliable Dino that could safely distract and keep Dino’s in combat to… what ever the Campto is now. (I can’t even defend babies anymore because the babies are literally more useful in combat and I’d just add a trophy to the kos’ers slaughter) the Campto is quite literally a spectator dinosaur because the most you can do is WATCH other people play. Is there a current dinosaur that a solo player can use that’s similar to the old Campto? I’m upset but I’m probably gonna drop the Campto till they fix it. ;w; the glorious Campto has been slaughtered and I wanna actually play the game again instead of spectating.

This isn't post about some shitty ass character combo-ing your lack of skill ass to oblivion. No, if you honestly rage at that, you're a fucking spineless prick who don't know what fucking matters in life. No this is a post dedicated to this MILQUETOAST COCKSUCKING COMMUNITY WHICH SEEM TO FUCKING FIND ANOTHER THING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERY OTHER WEEK ABOUT THIS GAME THAT DOESN'T JUST INVOLVE GETTING ZERO TO DEATHED BY MIDDLE AGED PLUMBER OR A FUCKING CHILD WITH PSYCHIC ABILITIES.
When these bathless man children aren't fucking get soy about some little Timmy with shitty wifi playing their stupid blue hedgehog, they're complaining about shit such as tournament legal stages and items on. MOTHER FUCKER, HALF OF THIS SHIT SHOULD HONESTLY BE TOURNAMENT LEGAL, BECAUSE YOUR SORRY ASSES CANNOT BEAR THE FACT OF LEARNING YOUR MAIN WITH THE FUCKING COMBINATION OF STAGE HAZARDS AND ITEMS BECAUSE YOUR BRAINCELLS ARE SO LOW THAT YOU CAN'T COMPREHEND ANYTHING BEYOND FUCKING 3 BREAD AND BUTTER COMBOS FOR YOUR MAIN THAT YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING SWITCH AFTER 2 HOURS OF PLAYING IT BECAUSE STEVE BEATS YOUR ASS IN ELITE. YOU PEOPLE ARE SO FUCKING SCARED OF RNG (which isn't even that that fucking much RNG btw, if anything, it's more of just more tech that the community could learn to have fights be even MORE EPIC and chaotic. It's really no different than other characters that involve RNG) THAT YOU FUCKING PROBABLY GET A SEIZURE EVERY TIME YOU FLIP A FUCKING A COIN BECAUSE IT'S SO COMPLICATED FOR YOUR PANSY LITTLE UNERECT COCKS TO COMPREHEND. NO YOU NEED THE FUCKING SAME NORMIE RULE SYSTEMS YOU'VE BEEN DOING SINCE 64 BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY VIAGRA IN EXISTENCE THAT CAN MAKE YOUR CROTCH FEEL SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOUR PEPRETURAL CASTRATION.
This isn't even the worst of it, these fucking imbeciles have the fucking AUDACITY to shit on Sakurai and the entire development team that even made this game possible. Sakurai must feel like those wojakbroken faces seeing his creation that he and his staff worked tirelessly on for YEARS just get shit on by these found on reddit adults who have never felt the touch of an SO in their life because they prefer to jerk off Nintendo titties or Nintendo micro penis', usually the same characters they get fucking outraged with to begin with because they're fucking submissive little bottoms. Seriously, I LOST ALL FUCKING RESPECT FOR THIS COMMUNITY WHEN I SAW JACKASSES SAYING SHIT LIKE "FUCK SAKURAI FOR MAKING THIS A PARTY GAME" OR "FUCK SAKURAI FOR NOT ADDING MY FUCKING FAVORITE CHARACTER." MOTHER FUCKER YOU DESERVE YOUR FUCKING FIGHTING GAME BEING TURNED INTO THIS BIRTHDAY PARTY "EVERYONES A WINNER WITH THEIR CONSOLATION TROPHY" COMPETITION OR YOUR FUCKING CHARACTER SLOT BEING FILLED WITH ANOTHER COOKIE CUTTER FIRE EMBLEM ONE. YOU DESERVE YOUR FUCKING LITTLE TOURNAMENTS GETTING SHUT DOWN BY NINTENDO WHEN YOU ARE SHIT TALKING THE VERY MAN WHO FUCKING FEEDS YOU FROM THE PALM OF HIS HAND. WITHOUT SAKURAI, YOU WOULDN'T EVEN HAVE A FUCKING GAME TO COMPLAIN ABOUT. I CAN'T HONESTLY THINK OF ALL THE POTENTIAL REVENUE HE AND THE REST OF HIS STAFF ARE MISSING OUT ON BECAUSE OF THE DEALS THAT HAD TO MADE WITH OTHER COMPANIES. SERIOUSLY, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF FUCKING DISNEY GETS 50% OF ALL SALES NOW JUST BECAUSE MICKEY FUCKING MOUSE APPEARS AS A 2 PIXEL CHARM ON SORA'S KEY BLADE. ALL TO SATISFY YOUR PANSY ASSES WHO FORGET ABOUT IT WITHIN 2 WEEKS.
I don't fucking blame other fighting game communities viewing us as a fucking joke. When Nintendo inevitably makes another Smash games, (Because guess what mother fuckers, it's going to happen WITH OR WITHOUT SAKURAI. WITH OR WITHOUT THE WHOLE ROSTER. You jackasses eat the series up so much that Nintendo knows you're going to fucking buy a new installment even if the only fucking character in it is fucking master hand. Just like they know you buy their scummy practices games like the Mario trilogy.) I actually hope Sakurai DOESN'T come back to help develop it. I hope Nintendo milks this franchise to the very end until it becomes a shell of it's former self. I hope they even add stupid shit like microtransactions or auto-combos or hazards that can't be disabled just to spite this terrible fucking community and appeal to the NPCs. Just to give the middle finger to every person who cares more about the bra size of Pythra more than they do their own limp dick hygiene.
Fuck you, the Smash Community.

The day seemed like it would be ordinary until the aeronautical community’s most sought after document showed up on my doorstep.
It came wrapped in brown kraft paper tied off with twine, and the exterior packaging had no return address nor any indication of a postage stamp. It was as though it had been simply bundled up and dropped into my wall-mounted mailbox by a random passerby.
No part of me was willing to surrender the strange parcel without opening it first. Regardless of who its contents truly belonged to, my eyes would be the first to see it. I removed the twine and then dug a thumb under a fold in the packaging paper before clawing it away to expose a brown tan notebook circa 1900. It was full grain buffalo leather with a crisscross of cord for the spine and a thick hand cut string keeping it sealed shut.
When I undid the string, the pages that had been gripped tight by the leather fanned out gently then returned to their original position, my eyes landing on the front page. It was without a printer’s mark and read in big handwritten type: “THE DIARY AND RECORD OF HENRY H. HELGELAND.”
I knew in that instant the package was in the hands of who it was rightfully sent out for. Not just because I’d recently lost my job as an associate at our city’s art museum but because of a separate, much deeper connection to the diary’s author.
Perhaps it’s in my best interests to turn it over to the National Archives, or the US Arctic Research Commission, or maybe even the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, but at the risk of seeing it blue-penciled to death, I’ve elected to instead share it here and now.
The world needs to know what happened.
---
Henry H. Helgeland — my great grandfather — was a severe looking man with a walrus mustache and a bone to pick with anyone who ever doubted him. He was born in Oakland, California in 1871 and was, by all available accounts relayed to me, well-behaved and well-liked. His father worked a lucrative job in the shipping industry, transporting timber between San Francisco and the Central Valley. Two years into Henry’s life, his mother would contract a fatal case of diphtheria and die shortly thereafter; when he was old enough to understand what had happened, Henry “yearn[ed] fervently for a reunion to mend [his] great anguish and sorrow.”
Near the turn of the 20th century, Henry attended Stanford University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he learned everything from thermodynamics to machine design. But it was a lecture about polar transportation that would ultimately kindle his interest in a separate enterprise: arctic exploration. Indeed, the race to the North Pole was well underway, with naval officers, geologists, and aeronauts around the globe vying for the chance to make history. My great grandfather, like many of his peers, propounded the theory that he, and he alone, would be the first to reach the Great White North.
In 1895, Henry graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and sought to expand the member list of the so called Ascension Society, a student organization he’d assembled to aid engineering graduates with materials science. Many of its constituents had engaged in research projects and experimental setups to hone their craft of mechanical systems, but in time, however, the venture would instead prove a hotspot for investors and philanthropists. Donations averaging up to $5,000 helped fund and promote the fantastic ambitions of my great grandfather. So long as the Ascension Society was gracing him with their support, he’d be the first to reach the North Pole.
In early 1898, armed with enough capital, Henry used the proceeds to purchase the materials required for the balloon.
---
A notable circus at the forefront of traveling attractions in the early twentieth century was The Fielding Troupe. With its impressive lineup of talent — from fire eaters and aerialists to equestrians and strongmen — the ensemble drew crowds from nearly every town in western America during its historic run. Its wide reach would ultimately reel in many notable faces, including my great grandfather.
Prior to a performance in Oakland, the Fielding Troupe led a procession through the town around Stanford University, announcing their arrival with a parade of wagons, floats, and animals. The strategy, as it were, was to drum up as much publicity and fanfare as possible. Evidently it worked, as a healthy fraction of the faculty and student body at Stanford made the trip over to Oakland in order to see the troupe in action.
Surrounding their arena with two hundred feet of heavy duty tent canvas, the troupe put on a show for the ages the night Henry was in attendance, with extravagant acrobatics, trained animal performances, and a special appearance from Curtis the Clown. Following a skillful display of juggling and good natured audience ribbing, Curtis’s master stroke was an intricate stunt involving balloons and wire flying. Firstly, he would inflate several multi-colored balloons and tie them off with string, securing them firmly in his grip. They served as a flashy distraction from the piece of flexible metal snaking out from the harness he had concealed under his equally flashy costume. Then, with a whisper of strength, a couple stagehands hoisted the balloon-carrying clown thirty feet into the air to make it appear as though he was levitating by virtue of the balloons alone. A separate performer — a marksman — showed off his sharpshooting skills with a Winchester model rifle and gunned down the balloons, exploding each one as the stagehands loosened their hold on Curtis’s harness until he was eased to the ground.
Henry watched the routine with eager delight. Seeing Curtis the Clown float above a hundred or so onlookers helped stir within him a plan. The ceiling of the Big Top Tent where Curtis had concluded his ascent represented more than the centerpiece of a traveling circus.
“Ascendancy,” Henry muttered to his wife Ruth. “This is how we get to the top of the world.”
---
The spherical vessel measured sixty-five feet in diameter, with a capacity of over 200,000 cubic feet. Its construction was overseen by Henry and a couple french engineers who installed in its gondola three berths and ample ballast to keep it stable. The gondola, a carefully constructed assemblage of wicker and chestnut wood, was built as such to bar any interference to the magnetic instruments of the explorers. Keeping it shielded against severe weather conditions was a varnished silk calotte and a vaselined net composed of over four-hundred hemp cords. A bamboo pole was attached bellow the carrying ring to attach the side sails and, perhaps most notably, the balloon was fitted with hemp and cocoa nut fiber guide ropes to help steer and maintain a consistent altitude.
After two years of exhaustive construction, work on the balloon was completed in 1900. Henry named it Ascension, after the society that funded its creation.
---
What follows are several selected passages lifted directly from Henry’s memorandum, transcribed by me. The first entry reads:
“At nine o'clock on the forenoon, May 5, 1900, under the auspices of the Ascension Society, we embarked from the 71st parallel on our quest of the Pole. Our great journey sets off from Point Barrow, Alaska following a grueling adventure aboard the steamer Sursum. I, Henry Helgeland, travel forth, accompanied by Charles Ringvold, esteemed navigator, and Edward Meyer, long celebrated physician, into the arctic wilderness. Together, our efforts will generate a most formidable team and an unwavering spirit. We will ascend.”
Indeed, the SS Sursum disembarked from a port in San Francisco in mid May of that year; it offered easy access to the Pacific Ocean and sailed through the Bering Strait, covering over 3,000 nautical miles before reaching Point Barrow on July 2.
When the balloon took off, carried by a fierce north east wind, it was to a thunderous applause from those that had come to bear witness to the bold endeavor. Among them were crew members of the SS Sursum, high ranking associates of the Ascension Society, and carpenters tasked with helping the balloon reach its initial phase of liftoff.
As it elevated to 300 hundred feet and passed around an onlooking whaler, Henry was reported to have shouted: “To the top of the world, hurrah!”
---
36 hours would elapse before a second entry was made.
“July 4, 1900, Lat. 77° 48' N, Long. 143° 4' W. We are soaring at a height of 600 feet above the Earth's surface, traveling at a speed of approximately seven kilometers per hour. Our morale remains similarly aloft. Charles relayed to me that, God willing, we anticipate reaching the pole in roughly 800 miles. Beyond the drag ropes lending their ballast to our journey, optimism is our guiding force. We will ascend.”
Turbulent air currents had a different plan in mind, however.
“July 5, 1900, Lat. 80° 8' N, Long. 138° 37' W. Alas! Our aerial journey came to an abrupt halt yestereve on the 80th parallel. We voyaged as many as 500 miles before a forceful downdraft spun our vehicle on its vertical axle and compelled it into a sharp descent; we had lost what we estimate to be just over 100 cubic feet of gas.
“Edward suffered severe injuries during the initial impact and claims his vertebrae have been shattered, leaving him immobile. We’re at the mercy of the floe on which we now rest, at the mercy of the Polar Sea. Should we face the specter of death, we shall meet it with unwavering honor. We will ascend.”
---
“July 6, 1900. We find ourselves solitary in the barren expanse, accompanied only by bergs, ice-fields, and majestic glaciers. Our rations encompass a container’s worth of hardtack, enough salted beef for approximately one week, canned stew, dried apricots, some chocolate bars, and seven bottles of ale.
“Edward’s outlook remains grim; he suspects he’ll never walk again. In witness of his current state, I’m beginning to share in such apprehensions. Edward, whom we have reposed on on of our sledges, fears that the opportunity to make known the great love he holds for his mistress Rebecca is one he’ll never be granted. ‘You shall be reunited at once,’ I assured him. ‘Our journey to triumph will not be thwarted by minor inconveniences.’
“We’ve plotted the course to our next destination: that being Herschel Island, located off the coast of Canada in the Beaufort Sea. Charles — who shares in Edward’s dismay — estimates a three month footslog spanning just under one thousand miles is in store for us, perhaps more given Edward’s ailment. I am determined to see this mission to its completion, yet survival remains a paramount desire. Who’s to recount our extraordinary journey should we fail?
“While establishing our encampment and scouting the local flora of the area for additional sources of sustenance, I happened upon a plant of an unknown species. Half a meter tall, bulbous tubers, and thin roots terminating in clusters of white flowers; intuition suggests this is a water hemlock, which precludes it from edibility. Nevertheless, I shall regard this finding as one of great fortune. A portent of divine value. We will ascend.”
---
Two days later, gold prospectors off the Alaskan coast at Nome beach were in the process of emptying their sluice boxes when from the sky flew a carrier pigeon directly to their mining site. It bore a label with the inscription “Helgeland” and contained the following dispatch:
“July 7, 1900. First dog watch. Three southerly traveling carrier-pigeons were sent off at approximately 7 h. 40 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the following among them. This is Rear Admiral Charles Ringvold of the United States Navy and the Helgeland Balloon Expedition of 1900. Our hopes of reaching the pole have been reduced to naught. Assistance urgently needed. Our destinies have hitherto been unknown, and now my fears have been actualized. GO IN TERROR OF HENRY HELGELAND. He is not who he proclaims to be. I volunteered for a man of honorable stature and venturesome drive. The man before me betrays neither.”
The remainder of the message was a hasty scrawl, decrypted only by the best in linguistics and modern codebreaking.
“UNASSISTED WE WILL PERISH HELPED WE WILL PERSEVERE PLEASE GOD HELP US HENRY WILL KILL US ALL DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT HE PROCLAIMS.”
The communication was immediately passed off to the Smithsonian Institution, where word fell within the earshot of Ascension Society proponents and additional members of the US Navy. A follow-up expedition — a rescue team led by Captain S. P. Matthews — was put together at once with the authorization of the Secretary of War.
Months later, after a congressional bill introduced to secure grant funding for arctic exploration — and thereby a rescue mission for Helgeland’s lost expedition — was successfully passed, the USS Greenwich departed from the San Francisco Naval Shipyard with a crew of thirty boatswains, medics, and deck officers among others.
What they would ultimately uncover puzzled them all.
---
“July 7, 1900. The team has fractured. We are without our provisions and without the morale that has served us thusly.
“Charles and I set upon the pursuit and capture of a walrus, a most strenuous task in the Arctic Circle. Furnished with a Winchester model .40-82, the sport skews in our favor but we are in no short supply of peril. These are one ton beasts with the strength of a hundred strongmen as they stave the ice, and yet it is not them I should have feared.
“’I can’t allow you to proceed further.’ I heard the click clack racket of the Winchester as Charles chambered a round and raised the rifle, training its twenty inch barrel toward my back after I had volunteered — quite ignorantly — to take the vanguard.
“’Charles?’ I managed between clattering teeth.
“’You’re a man of bold stature. An honorable man at that. But not honorable enough to die for. And that’s it, Henry. I will not die for you.’
“’You speak out of distress, not rationality.’
“’I’m as rational as one permits when I say we won’t all make it to Canada. You can’t expect us to sledge Edward for the next month and retain our strength. Our sanities.” I could hear him gulp, ‘our lives.’
“’You’re not who you say you are.’ I realized in that moment. ‘Not even an ensign would renounce his own crew. Who are you really, Charles?’
“His credentials were a farce; a clever scheme to scrape through the expedition’s vetting process. He was no navy-man nor expert nor navigator and if you piled his life’s accomplishments on top of one another, they’d be equal to that of a cretin.
“’Doesn’t matter any more, Henry.’
“’Then why haven’t you shot me?’
“I sensed beyond his terror a hint of reluctance and felt within him the trepidation of an amateur. The man had never wielded a firearm in his life and wouldn’t start hence.
“’In Your infinite mercy, hear my prayer. In Your boundless grace, grant me Your forgiveness,’ he muttered below his breath. I could’ve believed he’d have squeezed the trigger if not for the unexpected convulsion that suddenly brought him to his knees. Befallen by the strange attack, Charles unhanded the Winchester and collapsed to the ice in the midst of a crippling seizure. And in a matter of moments, he had succumbed to death.
“With some activated charcoal or perhaps an emetic, he could have eluded such a painful demise. I stepped over to look upon his body, his pupils dilated to the size of dimes. Reviewing the immediate symptoms, intuition tells me he’s become the latest victim of hemlock poisoning, the kind of amateur mistake I’d expect from someone such as Charles. Ideal timing, if I may speak candidly.
“Hope remains alive. I will ascend.”
---
Investigators with the crew of S. P. Matthews found everything except answers.
It took them all of three months to zero in on the campsite left behind by Helgeland’s expedition. Any prospect of finding the balloon itself was dropped by the wayside to preserve manpower and time.
The camp was discovered on the 79th parallel, not in any particular state of disarray but with enough evidence to suggest conflict had broken out between the members. Edward was discovered in a tent with the rest of the rations and a bullet hole stamped in the side of his head. There was no telling how long he’d been dead for.
Forty-five meters away from the camp, buried under a stalagmitic gathering of ice and snow, was the body of Charles Ringvold. A followup inquiry would prove my great grandfather’s claims that he was a fraud, but like Charles himself, the truth is buried deep under the surface. Edward and Charles are commemorated for their failed — albeit honorable — efforts in the face of great opposition.
The body of my great grandfather, however, was never found. Theories thus abound in the saga of Henry H. Helgeland and we are no more the wiser now than we were a century ago. He is remembered for murdering his men in cold blood, deserting them, and then yielding to the elements somewhere in the frozen hell of the arctic. The carrier-pigeon message sent by Charles corroborated the apparent facts.
But I know the truth. Because only I have the answers.
“July 8, 1900. All that remains is me, for everyone else has vanished. Edward and I regaled each other with stories of our mistresses as night fell upon our place in the arctic wasteland. Rebecca, Edward’s beloved, works as an expert seamstress in San Francisco and will no doubt be devastated when news of his fate reaches her. But the great memories they shared together, I assured him, will serve her well in the years to come.
“‘You shall be reunited at once,’ I whispered to him once more before executing the dying man with the Winchester. It is my turn to face whatever awaits me on the ice.
“My great anguish and sorrow have been mended.
“Ruth is calling to me now. Our son promptly requires our presence.
“I shall go to them."
The fruitless search for my great grandfather peaked at last with the unearthing of a path of footprints snaking away from the tent where Edward’s body lay. Investigators followed them for approximately ten meters before they abruptly ceased. Captain Matthews is quoted as saying: “it was as though the walker had simply floated away.”
And indeed, it was our family that won in the end, for my great grandfather received exactly what he wanted. The final, undated entry of his diary is comprised of but three simple words:
“I have ascended.”

Yo glue. You don't use this place so you'll never hear this but I got to tell someone and I'm not going to send it to you and sound even crazier I don't want you thinking I'm some kind of psychopathic stalker and I want you to feel comfortable and respected with your boundaries. So let's get down to brass tacks.
Girl when I think about you and all this s*** that went on and I think about me. It reminds me of when in pulp fiction Bruce Willis is popping Marcellus Wallace (Ving rhames) in the face saying "you feel that?" That's your pride f****** with you or some s*** like that.
Man glue how the hell are my feelings going to be hurt and how can I be so selfish as to even think that I deserve to be respected or put any expectations on you I'm not going to go into huge detail. Reason being is because the rest of the world will hear it but you probably won't but at least out there in the void I'm going to make it to where the respect you deserve this voiced from me and that you're honored for the things that you've done selflessly. Being thet our sister birthday was yesterday and she's no longer with us I think she would smile from above knowing that I finally said something like this.
Hey let me say thank you for real. Thank you for shutting my ass down and thank you for this list I'm about to go through which I will go into detail at a later time.
I'm going to write a story about our lives. I'm telling you it's going to happen. I started three separate writings and I'm ready to scrap them all to tell our story. I'm going to focus on that in my writings anyways on to the summary of what glue means to me or what I acknowledge about glue.
What you were up against.
When we met. You a teenage girl. Abandoned by one parent in a very vile way. The other parent was raising you. We were running around, you got sick, and you were in the hospital for weeks with some very serious troubles. Towards the end of the hospital stay cuz I was in there with you the whole time. The other parent came said that they won't going to deal with you and for you to figure it out a young girl in the hospital. The crazy part is you had done nothing wrong. That was my first real dose of surrealism in people next to some childhood stuff from one of my mother's boyfriends. And shortly after you were told you didn't have a home to come back to as a teenage girl in the hospital the doctors came in and said you would never be able to get pregnant or bare children. You moved in with us me my mom and my sister. And after all that you have been through you would think that you'll be nervous or anxious or things will be awkward. No. You stepped into the home and you immediately brought light into it that it was missing. You immediately were a part of the family and you were a part that was missing the whole time that no one ever knew about. You became a daughter to my mother a sister to my sister and more important things than my words can express right now to me. You kept a strong mentality and glue you were always the caretaker. You dealt with me a young pig-headed man very much in love with you with the drug addiction you catered to me. But not like a slave you catered to my soul there is never someone that I can ever dream of to treat me the way you did. You were loyal man you were my everything. I was yours. None of this is going to be an order but I've traveled with you across the country. We moved to Louisiana. I got a job on the tugboats. You were in the middle of a new scary town. And here I was gone 30 days at a time. But you held on. That was a really stressful time when I look back and that was a time when even though it was an experience I regret that decision because being gone that long from you at that young seemed okay then but even though my buddy's family was around I should have been there. But we did it the best we could. Eventually that didn't work out I'll never forget two cats in a 1984 Ford escort and all our s*** driving all the way to the East Coast. That escort could do some runs now. Anyways we moved to the beach. Being close to home my drug addiction was still an active Factor at all times you held on every time you could. When we move to the beach we decided we were going to do other things we came back to the city. That's what my sister move to the beach with her friend and we were in the city and got to call she had been in a car wreck.
We fly down to the beach before that even cut my sister out of the car we made a 2-hour drive in about 45 minutes. They will my sister in you were right by her side by my side you were there fam you were going through it with me, with her, with the parents. The wheel her in she said she couldn't feel her legs. Boom paralyzed never going to walk again. Thank God she lived and thank God she has such an amazing sister beside her during it all.
After rehabilitation the situation that it happened put my mom into a absolute mental tailspin. So we stuck around as my mother could barely function to tend to my sister.. to your sister. So you a young young woman who had been s*** on by her family. Took over my mother's role and began caretaking for my sister, all the while taking care of my mom with her mental episodes and and down time, and taking care of a loving man with an addiction that had selfish tendencies and you filled the role of all three caretakers and still manage to love me and show me affection with a smile on your face. You took care of the whole house. You took care of the animals. I'm not talking about any of the good really that I did or anybody else did I just want you to be recognized here.
We decided to move to Florida after a long time of you taking care of my paralyzed sister and helping her acclimate until she started lighting it up. What she took off and became president the Honor society went back to school started doing fundraisers was in the Miss wheelchair state runnings eyeballing Ms wheelchair America..once she got in her groove... We went on to Florida.
In Florida you dealt with a man that had just found the purest cocaine he had done in a long time for dirt cheap prices. Through pretty much the whole stay we were there the years we were there. But I wasn't completely a lost cause so in Florida you became a business partner, an entrepreneur, an inventor, a teammate, a valuable asset, Chief cornerstone that all things business relied on between us and my buddy that we went into business with. Your pragmatic approach and abilities dominated with mine. The things I fell short in you could put into place... I don't want to say my inventiveness and idealism was the exact complimentary opposite to that where you lacked. But I'm going to be straight up with you you were just as inventive, sellable, full of ideas, practical enough to make it happen, and able to execute. So you were still at a young age early twenties the most amazing business partner I could ever ask for. Not to mention the fun in the sun the palm trees the tacky gold the new cars living on the beach man I was built for that s*** and I know you were. Eventually when the big collapse of the towers came, and us with our lack of savings which was a big part my fault. After September 11th the market just crashed and we didn't do business and s*** started going backwards and we sold our debt for what a couple thousand bucks? To watch my friend hold on to that business and buy us out of all that debt until it finally bankrupted was insane he really held on to that dream.
Anyways by the time we get back to our hometown not only is my sister been in a wheelchair now my sister develops a tumor on her pituitary gland Cushing's disease. My drug addiction is full force when we pull back into town. You jump right into action taking care of her everyone and by this time your family had got back in your life your parents. And you forgave them and let them in boy I'll never forget to work it took for you to get over that I remember the days that I sit with you and helped you work through that stuff. But you forgave you opened your heart and you opened your arms and embrace family. And you took care of everyone.
We get married. I get you pregnant the first child. I'm so far in addiction now that we're back home ground zero for those old habits. You're neglected, I'm high, selfish,I'm ashamed so basically I either don't come home because I've been up all night High s*** spending all of our money. And I mean all of it taking right out of my pregnant wife's and the baby's mouth to serve my f****** addiction. and you just held on. Remainder Rock still taking care of my sister. Still being there for my mom. And absolutely the polar opposite of what the doctor said when we first met about not being able to have kids. So after neglecting you constantly pawning off tons of responsibilities on you and spending every penny we had and expecting you to take care of the kids and never being home and being unavailable because I had a disgusting ratchet ass bottom of the barrel love affair that started with cocaine but once I tried to sling and learn how to cook cocaine became Crack to be exact. I traded you, businesses, vehicles, Mom Dad the kids, stability love, God, futures, anything everything I traded for that nasty b**** crack. Mind body Spirit trade it at all.
And what did you do you kept managing with what you we had you kept trying to hold it together and you held on for dear life.
Now you had already become a daughter to my mother and you were a sister to my sister so my part to play in that has nothing to do with y'all's relationship at this point. There's a very painful thing that I'm even scared to talk about maybe one day. Anyways finally you said you couldn't do it anymore I had driven us in the dirt I had literally turned us into basically homeless people with kids and I just could not stop when I would get to the bottom I'd bring a jackhammer and I'd find a new bottom. And you finally took your eyes off of me and you looked at what was the most important our child and you said it's time to separate you had to do it. Our separation you still tried to work with me as I got off the drug short-term and you came back and that's when I got you pregnant. That's what I want to talk to you about one day when we have time. But that has nothing to do with the honor you deserve because you are always were and not a doubt my mind always will be a loyal honorable commendable Royal woman a true virtuous woman.
Anyways when we started talking again during the separation I got you pregnant again. We got back together to try to make it work for both our kids now. But I wasn't going to give up crack for you all the families all the religion all the money and all the happiness in the world. I was that f****** stupid. God is good because I didn't 12 step my s*** out of there with that God come down and put a disgust and a chill in my bones about that s*** and made it disappear overnight. Maybe another time because it was way too late when it happened. Anyways I got you to raise two kids stole all of our money stole all of our food stole everything we didn't even have gas half the time. You hold on. You held one. I still have the claw marks in my soul from where you didn't want to let me go because you were that committed and that good of a woman. That in tune with family.
You went on to raise the kids by yourself you hooked up with another dude he got you pregnant then you dealt with him abusing you physically. Torturing that household. I know he's changed but I know some of this s*** that he did to my kids because I could see it in their eyes every time I would drop a fork. Thank God they healed from that. Whether they healed fully especially one of them I don't know. But then the question would have to be raised does the pain in the issues they go through revolve around him or revolve around the traumas from me. Cuz a dad supposed to be there. You basically dealt with him terrorizing y'all raising hell you've told me some of the things that he used to do to you I don't see how you can still talk to me like he needs you and you've got to be there for him but that's on you and I respect it but the way that you explain some of the things that he did to you to me it makes me sick to my stomach because I could just never see myself like harming you physically over and over and over again and doing things to you in other forms of physical abuse and getting pleasure or control out of it. But I can see taking you everything you ever owned and never given our kids a chance or anybody else and giving it all to crack can I so I don't know there. I just know it blows my mind. But I think it comes a lot from the fact I left us so bottom of the barrel out back from my addiction that as long as somebody was providing you felt some form of security over top of what I left you with which was complete insecurity. Maybe that's why you stuck around for the abuse and still justifiy it over top of the things I've done to this day.
You raised his kid, you raised my kids, you were the one true parent you were two dads you were one mom. You were a counselor, a provider a mediator a caretaker a teacher a protector a shelter a guide a mentor a motivator a problem solver you were a parent and you played the role of three parents. Plus you worked plus you were there for my family whenever they needed you. You were there for my sister all through her Cushing's disease. And there's so much more because you were building towards the future on your own establishing financial security vision for yourself holding the fort down getting damn near no financial help from me none 00.
I incurred 135,000 child support debt with you. How's that for deadbeat dead? See this isn't about the arrogant narcissistic guy you think I am this is about who you are. Let's just fast forward so we getting locked up for child support even though you had already told me you weren't working on getting all of that got rid of. And yes you may not believe this but my whole f****** inheritance is going to you not one red cent goes to me because you earned that. Yo you earned like 50,000 times that times a hundred times 50. All of the money in the world in my opinion is still not enough compensation if it was given all to you for the things you've done.
Now fast forward to my sister dying she's on her deathbed she's checking out. you stay and active part of her life and you check on her and you stay by her side and you are there with her as a friend you coming you become her caretaker in the end you help my mother you stand by my family side we see my sister into the Afterlife and we live the lives we live.
I come to the city out of the blue I'll come to find out there was a warrant out I get arrested. With some help from another family member if y'all bond me out with $13,000 cash. A week later I'm called by the courts they said we didn't have to show the decision could be made without us there and when we pop up they walk out and they say here here's your piece of paper sir. You owe $14.75. I'll look at the piece of paper it says Mr so and so your debt with child support enforcement has been cleared in full please pay us these $14 processing fees and your case is closed. You smiled me a smile at you.
And you said the most horrific thing I've ever heard in my life from someone. I'm being cynical here because it was really the most amazing thing but I hate the term because I'm a basket case. You looked at me and said be better do better.
Fast forward after that I started trying to get my s*** together started trying to help you with vehicles and stuff around the house and somehow... Some f****** way... I had the audacity to get offended by the way you were treating me. And I had a nervous breakdown. And I begin saying things to you the absolutely weren't true that I absolutely didn't mean and I f****** flaked.
You with no contact to protect yourself.
Look at what you have done how could I have done that?
Anyways I've seen my mom turn on you with her words. I've seen your parents turn on you, I've turned on you, seen your friends turn on you, I've seen a world I've seen your ex's turn on you, but you know what I've never seen you turn on the people that you give your ability and your honor to and your bonds to I've never seen you turn on them ever.
You didn't turn on me you were protecting yourself.
Glue you were the strongest f****** woman I've ever met and you are worthy of an award that his world renowned and recognized because there are so many things that I haven't said here.
You are The Rock, you are the glue, you are the ties that bind... You are the virtuous woman. Proverbs 31 versus 10 to 31 is the description of who You are. Even to the point of where our kids were raised by you to place the dwelling now that you're at. You have taken in so many other people's kids you're like a parent to everyone. You excel at every job that you do. Vital asset to every team that you join. Highly efficient highly intelligent. Insanely gorgeous. Smart funny. God your sense of humor is so f****** awesome.
I'll see things in pictures my brain sees things in pictures and I just see pictures of you sometimes where always if we were around somebody that was down you would do the goofiest s*** you had to do to get them to smile because that's what you do. Just like sis did and this is her birthday gift from me because she told me several times to think about how hard you have worked. And she begged me to draw that picture before she died I got it toward the day before she died it was so important to her that picture is me holding her hand and her grabbing a star and her feet rooted to the ground and the roots coming into my feet and it says my brother taught me to reach for the stars my sister taught me to remain grounded.
And it's weird because I look at that and I think about how much of a icon and how much of a aura and presence glue was see y'all were glue one and two. And I'll go get that picture that she had me draw and it brings these overwhelming senses of things because I miss her so much but it brings you into the picture too because you always kept me grounded and I could envision anything anything on vision and you could take it for what it was and you could be like okay it's not that practical but it can be done and you would make the systems that made it happen no matter what it was I could create anything with you. You are after all Earth. I'm air. Reach for the Stars grounded etc.
Do you have so many amazing qualities and you have done so many honorable things. And for my sister's birthday I honor you her sister because the things that she said really ring true now. If you never talk to me again I respect it, if you want us to try to have some kind of working amicable relation I respect it but I have to have communication, you are so much of everything good and honestly I still love you so much thatI fall apart in your presence. But forget me man for real f*** me. Glue I want you to be happy you deserve happiness and if I take away from that then I need to shut my f****** mouth and I need to take that s*** so I went down and I need to smile because I know that you're happier. I truly know what it's like to want something so bad because I have for years but I never got healthy I'm just now getting around to taking care of myself. But I have for years wanted you and when I couldn't have you that's when you became Bruce Willis and you was popping my ass in the face saying you feel that boy that's your pride f****** with you.
Will glue I'm swallowing my pride. I want you to be happy no matter what I want you to be honored. If you ever do decide you want me in your life in any form please give me the communication I need to approach it healthily if not I'll f*** it up. I'm not even going to ask you what you want I'm not going to bug you but if by some chance in hell you ever find this letter just know at any point anytime you can reach out to me and ask for anything. I have taken and taken and taken and you have given and given and given it's time for me to sit the f*** down shut the f****** and love you the way you're supposed to be loved. And that means unconditionally loving you for who you are not loving you for me loving you because I absolutely adore who You are and I want to see the best life you can have happen.
You probably can't see your value and priceless coming out of my mouth or anyone else still does not do it justice.
Going to write a story about us glue.
And I promise to never promise again and just show you by allowing you the power dynamic you deserve to make your own choices and get the happiest healthiest life you can without me interjecting you've done it well this far better than me. Have made myself look like a total helpless loser in this but we both know what I'm capable of and what I'm about. If you need a roll for me just communicate it. I'll give it my all even if giving it my all means standing outside the box looking in but never burdening you with the fact that I am anymore.
And I'm not going to bring it up. Man I hope one day you get all the things you deserve.
You're admired appreciated loved and honored. By many. You are the Chief cornerstone woman. You are woman all woman.
I love you always will. Have my power dynamics take what you need and should you ever need me to flex my power because we both know all you got to do is make the call and I'll flex on whatever the hell you need me to as hard as you need me to and I'll scoop my ass right on out the way if that's what you need after it's done
Thank you glue
Buy some odd chance should you ever want me to be the one to try to love you communicate with me and point me in the direction I'm so f***** up out here I need direction and I know that they could be poisonous to you so you being The logical thinker that you are take that for what you will.
I've never been able to fully give myself to anyone else because I truly feel that to this day I will take my love for you to the grave.
You're that special.
Should I ever get a chance to love you and stand by your side of your man again you're going to have to let me die and and come out of the death of at least once because I'll die of happiness and wake up I just I wouldn't know how to handle it.
To me it's like imagine somebody said hey here's this egg but it doesn't have a shell that's just made of the rubber stuff that holds the shell together and you've got to run this egg 3 MI of mountain terrain in 20 minutes or the whole world ends.
Well I would just take the f****** egg and throw it on the ground. That's how I've been treating things. That's what I'm relearning everything.
It could be a detriment to you you know the sign of this always protect yourself and do what's best for your happiness but if I could love you again and be your man the things I would do I can't tell you because that would be the same old same old and honestly I just don't know.
I just know I love you you've always been everything to me and there will never be anyone that compares and there never has been.
Thank you for who you are

TLDR: Modern is NOT good. I am have been playing almost 18 hours in training mode and 3 in battle hub. Don’t waste your time with them new or old players unless you just play for fun on weekends.
Disclaimer: I am maining Manon so this whole opinion may only apply to her
Moveset:
Damage is not good and her tools to get in like the heavy kick, the leaping jump kick and the drive rush low punch you see all the pros using as their combo starter like Justin Wong and IDOM is gone. Yes. You new street fighter player who want’s to get better… YOU can’t use the most essential buttons for your main that will help you compete.
You cant do low punch or heavy kick from neutral.… NO LOW punch your best frame move. The leaping kick move you see justin using all the time, basically missing all the moves Justin is constantly using. The main combo Idom and Justin use starts with the drive rush into low punch. I imagine they are using all of those moves because they are the best for either gettin in or controlling space or have better frames like the low punch.
Auto Combos:
I barely use the auto combo because it burns your meter and is not that optimal for damage I rather do a command grab to get medals. None of the auto combos give medals and two of them are do easy to do by yourself literally just like 3 buttons there is no point to the auto combo.
Auto combo three is the only decent one it leads into level 3 super art which is a decent finisher combo if you can get a hit confirm. It’s true that two button command grabs are really good because it’s not just easy but fast nit the problem is Manon barely has tools to get in and use these buttons because her best footsie and rush in tools are gone.
You have to strictly rely on opponent whiffing or suicide jump, or suicide drive rush with a non optimal like a heavy punch, feint or medium punch… but trust me against all good players will mash you and stuff you right away.
The only time I get in really is when I am already decently close and I condition all match with a medium punch after a drive rush but it pushes you back… thats not what you want. Eventually you can mix up the rush into a command grab. I have to heavily rely on the drive attack in order to get in and that is not good you are doing random drive impact attacks and you get punished 80% of the time.
I am not good by any means this is my first street fighter game I have been playing it for only 3 days. So everyone I played against in battle hub were platinum players. I lost like 50 matches straight and every player was using a 10 yearold character with the same move-set and probably played the beta for 2 months and who knows how many years. No one daring to use someone new I find that funny. Stay in comfort zone in a non ranked match?
I am using a brand new character and yes I am a brand new player but I clearly realize she is missing so many great tools its like half the manon it’s a horrible start for any new street fighter player.
Conclusion:
I don’t recommend modern for anyone who is going to play for a while… maybe modern is good on some characters like luke probably that’s who it was built for. If you are an experienced player you have zero reason to be using modern controls her classic moves are not that hard except her specials and maybe the manage dore command grab kind of tore my thumb up on classic its a backwards half circle. On a stick it’s probably nothing.
The specials on a stick might be easy too I have no idea but double backwards half circle after a combo is so inconsistent for me I decided to go with modern just so I have a consistent finisher. I am pretty disappointed over all I had no idea I would lose so many key moves.
If you think “oh you are bad” that’s why it’s not helping you then why would modern controls help a good player? I played 5 matches against iron players and absolutely smoked them. I checked their profile and they played mostly world tour and ranked… NO TRAINING ROOM. I am losing against experienced players these people have already mastered every single combo and move of their character on day 2. It’s not normal at all. Either the characters have the same move sets as older games or these people have been playing the beta.
I Digress, anyway There is literally NO reason to use modern for anyone but a casual who is just passing through or plays on weekends with buds.
You get some easier buttons on subpar moves and a free lvl 3 special… for 20% less damage and losing 6 major critical moves some that are basics that really complete her moveset. I am a new player but I atleast understand this most basic principle. You have no excuse to play modern Manon and don’t do what I did and gimp yourself.
I wish I could go back in time and go to classic for manon but my muscle memory is shot after 20 hours in training but I am worried im in too deep. To throw away all that training to re train my brain to classic feels bad I don’t think I have it in me.
Sucks.

Gwzuc complained to his father for what felt like the 10th time about being pulled out of school for an entire week to travel to Demila, a backwater planet just so they could visit on a specific date . His father unrelentingly told him once again “This is an important date for myself and the humans, they call it Memorial Day, a day to celebrate and mourn those lost in the line of duty. Of which the humans have lost plenty in the War of Imperial Aggression. Hopefully you will understand once our day has concluded.”
Krlinn Vol'jin was a former Captain in the Federation Armed Forces, being medically discharged after the slaughter of Demilia which saw Federation ground forces being reduced to a mere 20% of what was sent to the planet in an effort to stop the Tuvili Empire from gaining a valuable stronghold in the fight for the Federations survival.
Krlinn and his son Gwzuc arrived at the memorials entrance and proceeded to a hallway immediately to their left, Krlinn already knew exactly where to go, having been here countless times before. Gwzuc on the other hand only got a quick glance around, the wings of the memorial seemingly dedicated species by species with Humanity’s being the largest.
On the way over Krlinn started to speak to his son using a tone Gwzuc was all too familiar with, it meant that his father was about to start one of his famous lectors and not even a charging Curbat could stop him, with nothing better to do Gwzuc listened while walking, his father choosing to not take the speed assist walkways in an effort to have more time to make his point before reaching their destination.
“Now son I know that you have heard all of this throughout your lifetime but I feel the need to reiterate it due to what you will see shortly. Humans arrived on the galactic scene a couple of centuries ago and ever since then have been an average species in our great federation, not the strongest, nor the most intelligent, no, Humanity simply exists in most aspects of life.” At this point they reach around the midway point where banners from Terra, the Humans homeworld are flown along with a statue, Krlinn stops them both and walks to the statue before looking his son in the eye. “But Son, do not be mistaken when you look a Human in the eye and see nothing but steely resolve looking back at you. Know in your deepest hearts that something somewhere should be terrified.” At this point Gwzuc looks confused at the statue, it appears to be a human male wearing firefighting gear he looks at the plaque in front of the statue which reads
“Dedicated to the brave men and woman, firefighters, police, and EMT’s who lost their lives while helping the citizens of Demila during the war, costing many of their own lives but saving countless others in the process.”
“But I don’t get it. Why die for others instead of saving themselves?” Gwzuc said quite frankly while looking at his father.
Krlinn sighed, the question being poised one he was expecting but was still hoping to all together avoid. “That question is what we are here to answer today. Humans are unique in the federation, most species have an instinct for self preservation, our many cultures only serve to reinforce that instinct. For that matter the human’s have that same instinct, the difference being they can turn it off. That steely eyed look I mentioned earlier? That’s how you know if the “switch” has been flipped in a human’s head.” Krlinn brought his son up to start the walk back down to get to the exhibit that was their goal. In the meantime he could see Gwzuc’s coils phasing in his head as he was slowly starting to understand why his father never talked about his experiences in the war.
“You know son, the humans almost never made it to front line combat units” Krlinn said to his son. His son looked at him surprised and asked “How? They make up almost half the Federation’s forces!” Krlinn replied “That came about partially because of the event’s here. For all the Federation’s upsides it’s bureaucracy is not one, most saw the humans lack of specialization and failure to excel at any one thing to mean that they were useless. While most humans in the Forces were relegated to backline support and logistics, or medical staff there were always a few every infantry company did see at least a few. Hell, one of the member’s on my headquarter’s staff was human.”
There was a long minute of silence following this, Gwzuc looked at his father who had the eyes of a person looking into the past remembering something Gwzuc knew better than to interrupt him when he got like this, after a minute they were at the front of the exhibit.
They had walked into a large hall with statues every 20 yards or so, while they hadn’t encountered anybody on the way to the hall due to them taking the non speed assisted path the hall was filled with people, while all species appeared to be represented it stood out to Gwzuc that the majority was of Humans which he thought odd, until he remembered what his father had told him. That this was a Holiday for the human’s one a day to remember and mourn those who had fallen.
“We could spend all day here looking at every memorial, but instead I want to focus on the Men and Women I personally knew and served with who helped me and others survive.” Krlinn said to his son, bringing him to the first statue, again without needing more than a second to gather his surroundings.
The first statue they came upon was of a woman saluting, the almost bronze statue was so detailed he could see the wrinkles around her eyes, evidently the picture this was molded after was taken of her facing that system's star. Krlinn tells Gwzuc “I will let the plaques do the talking, I didn't know the private well enough to add more information.” Gwzuc walked forward and saw two plaques starting with the one on the left having more and larger writing
“Here lies a remembrance to Private Livia Morrison, a medic who in the battle of Demilia at great risk to her own life ran across a battlefield in an effort to save two marines who were severely injured by an artillery shell. She ran over 300 meters while being actively engaged by combatants to reach the marines. At which point she provided life saving assistance and stabilized them. However after finishing her duties she heard cries coming from a short distance and while moving to provide them care she was hit by an artillery shell. Her bio-metric suit and helmet recorded her last words as “Get those Marines home” before shortly passing away from blood loss.” Gwzuc’s hearts were beating slightly just reading that, not imaging he could ever do something so dangerous. The second plaque seemed to be for information “Private Morrision received a battalion commendation for her heroic efforts. We thank her family for allowing her likeness to be used. It should be noted Morrision had only been stationed on Demila for two weeks when the attack began, it was her first posting out of training and her only.”
Krlinn quickly brought his son to another statue giving him barely enough time to absorb what he read before his father began to speak “This is Sergeant Rhett Dunlap, while I would not have considered us friends due to a myriad of reasons he was a good man, from what I hear those whose lives he saved donated the cost to get this statue built.” Gwzuc took a good look at the statue. It showed a short human male who one would call diminutive if not for the fact that his muscles made him look extremely stocky. The statue showed him in a kneeling position with a light machine gun in one hand, the other arm missing below the elbow, his uniform tattered and shrapnel sticking in all parts of him. Gwzuc started to read the quite long plaque
“Here lies Sergeant Dunlap depicted by request of his brothers in arms to show his final moments. The Sergeant was severely injured in an artillery blast resulting in his arm being blown off. It is noted when asked about it he told his superiors “Just a flesh wound” before laughing, A few moments later the imperials began another push and the Federation had to fall back or be enveloped. The Sergeant then picked up a machine gun and hoisted it onto a nearby wall before telling his platoon leader that he would cover the retreat. His platoon leader accepted, seeing no alternative. The Sergeant proceeded to hold off imperial forces single handedly for over 4 minutes resolution in his platoon making a full retreat with no casualties. For this Sergeant Dunlap was awarded a Titanium Novastar”
Krlinn put a hand on his son’s shoulder after seeing Gwzuc finish reading, startling his boy. His father spoke in an uncharacteristically quiet voice “I saw it you know. His final stand, we had a drone in the area to make sure the retreat went as smoothly as possible. He wouldn’t, couldn’t stop. Even when he ran out of ammo he pulled his knife out and used it. When we finally took that sector back his corpse was surrounded by imperial bodies. I shudder to imagine what he could have achieved without already being injured.” Come son there’s one more statue you need to see.
With that Krlinn brings his son to the final statue, which was also the largest and in place of honor in the middle of the room, it was a simple statue similar to the first one they went to showing a tall but skinny human male saluting, due to others in the room they must wait for a handful of minutes before being able to read this statue's plaque. This appears to be the only statue with an accompanying piece on display, it appears to be a name tag ripped off a military uniform that says “Saunders”. The entire wait, Gwzuc noticed his father had not said a word and appeared to be in his own world. Gwzuc read the plaque
“Here Lies lieutenant Caleb Saunders dubbed by many as “The Savior of Demila” whose actions caused a total rout of the Imperial forces on the planet during the Battle of Demila. While Federation forces were in a near collapse the lieutenant grabbed a targeting sensor and spent 12 hours sneaking into an Imperial Ammo facility in an effort to place the sensor in a way to be able to bring artillery accurately onto imperial lines from far off batteries. Helmet footage that was being transmitted to base showed that in the process of activating the sensors a patrol of Imperials found him. Instead of engaging the sensor and retreating he valiantly activated it while receiving multiple injuries, allowing said artillery to destroy the facility and cause a chain reaction destroying a large number of Imperial Assets at the cost of the Lieutenant’s life.”
Gwzuc quickly moved onto the second plaque his two hearts racing, a thought forming in his mind. “This statue was paid for and commissioned by the Federal Armed Forces. For them we thank the ability to remember Lieutenant Saunders. For his actions Saunders was awarded a Federation Star of the People, The federation’s highest military honor. We also thank Captain Krlinn Vol'jin for donating Saunders name tag. It is said he ripped it off before allowing Saunders to attempt the mission in an effort to ensure his sacrifice would not be forgotten.”
After reading the last sentence everything fell into place for Gwzuc who turned to his father, however before he could get a word out his father said “Some of the human’s have a term for this type of thing you know? That’s how damn common it is for them. They call it “Broken Arrow.”” His father motions his son to step away so others could read the plaque Gwzuc witnesses a sight so rare he forgot it possible his father was in tears. Full blown tears “Caleb was a damn good man you know. Had a wife and daughter, he was going to engineering school on the side, he had every reason to live. That’s how I learned about the human’s now famous look. That was the first time I saw it, you know? We were trying to set up a final line of defense, something, anything to slow the imperials down, buy time for civilians to evacuate, reinforcements to show, hell just praying anything would happen other than our deaths. All looked hopeless, we were in a staff planning meeting. When someone pointed out how close the ammo dump was to their motor pool. A glaring oversight but one an overconfident enemy makes. Saunders had made a comment that was true, if we could get one of our Targeting sensors on the building we could call in a strike to blow it up. The atmosphere and jamming made anything but direct positional targeting impossible, the device had to physically be at a location to be used. It made bombing near impossible for us and they knew it. Sadly we had no explosives to make use of.” Krlinn at this point took a minute to compose himself and finish his story. “We all agreed it would work, but no one would risk their lives like that, it just wasn’t done. Caleb finally said he would do it, I didn’t believe him however seeing the other human’s heorices I should have, and said ok to the plan thinking it was just bravado and he would back out. He just prepared his pack and sensor so I saw him off. When I saw that look in his eye, that look that meant he already knew he was dead and just waiting for it to happen, I thought for just a minute, maybe just maybe he would go through with it, so I took his nametag and sent him on his way. Not putting much stock into it succeeding goddess not even watching his helmet cam, that was until he broke comm discipline and his comm burst with the sound of gunshots and screams, until finally all he said with a grunt was “Standy for target acquisition”. Following that was one giant fireball a few minutes later…” Krlinn looked at his son after giving his son a minute to understand and absorb all of the information he was given. He felt guilty about being annoyed at his dad for taking out of school. After a while all he said was “I’m sorry” before they began to walk back down the hall, Gwzuc looking at every human present through a new lens, partially in awe, partially in fear of what they are capable of.
On the treadmill-like walkway back he heard his father say to himself a poem, but for the first time listening to the words and truly taking their meaning in.

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

His father finished his almost mechanical repeating of the poem before saying to his son “Human’s won’t throw their lives away, but they will sacrifice them if needed”
A/N This is my first time writing a short story like this since school, so I’m happy with any criticism. I do hope however you enjoy it! The end poem is not my own work as I hope you all know. All credit for that goes to Dylan Thomas the Poet.

Thanks for checking out my post! I am selling a good part of my collection and backup products. I am a reliable and trustedseller on reddit with lot of history. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE POOR FORMATTING - REDDIT IS BEING CHALLENGING
Some rules:

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• BLUSH / BRONZERS: https://imgur.com/a/wpgYiPt
• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Beautiful Skin Sun-Kissed Glow Cream Bronzer , Medium BNIB $32
• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Blush Sex on Fire BN $25 now $22
• CHANEL Blush Comete, Coral Etoile BNIB $48
• CLINIQUE Cheek Pop Trio, Warm Up. Swatched. $30
• DANESSA MYRIKS Colorfix Mattes, Latte, Swatched $8
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• BOBBI BROWN Skin Full Cover Concealer, Warm Ivory. Swatched. $10
• BY TERRY Brightening CC Serum Apricot, New. $35
• BITE Changemaker Foundation. L15. Swatched. $7
• COVERFX Concealer, Shade G1. Maybe 50% left? FREE
• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Flawless Filter Shade 2 Swatched $25
• ESTEE LAUDER Double Wear 1N1 ivory nude BNIB $25
• FENTY Matchstix Mini. Sinamon. Used 3x. $5
• GLOWISH Bright Light Concealer Fair Light Swatched $10
• IT COSMETICS Bye Bye Undereye. Light Golden. Light Use. $8
• KULFI Concealer, Rose Rush. New. $15
• MAKEUP FOREVER Mist and Fix BN $20
• MILK Future Fluid Concealer 3N. Swatched. $15 $10
• OLE HENRIKSEN Banana Bright Stick Pumpkin BN $15
• PATMCGRATH Skin Fetish Concealer L6 BNIB $17
• PAT MCGRATH Skin Fetish Under Eye Powder Light $15
• PIXI mind your own glow palette. $5
• REM BEAUTY Sweetner Concealer. Fair 6n. Swatched. $10
• 0REM BEAUTY Sweetner Concealer Light 2n. Swatched. $10
• SURRATT Concealer Shade 3 Swatched. $28
• SURRATT Surreal Skin Foundation Wand Shade 4. Used Once. $35

COMPLEXION ALBUM 3 https://imgur.com/a/8eSagXH

• ANASTASIA Pro Pencil Shade 1. Used 3x. $10
• BOBBI BROWN Skin Long-Wear W-026 Warm Ivory. BNIB. $20
• ESTEE LAUDER Futurist Hydra Rescue 1W1 Bone. Swatched. $15
• PETER THOMAS ROTH Instant Firm Primer 30ml New $25
• RARE BEAUTY Positive Light Tinted Moisturizer 20W swatched $18 $15
• GIVENCHY Prism Libre Matte W245 Used 4x, pump is finicky but works fine $20
• GUCCI Luminous Matte 5ml Mini. Shade 220W. $8
• GUCCI Luminous Matte Foundation 160N BNIB $45
• HOURGLASS Veil Powder FS BN. $30
• ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint Shade 4. Exp 5/24. $30
• ROSE INC Softlight Concealer LX030 Swatched $15 $10
• ROSE INC Softlight Concealer LX040 Swatched $15 $10
• ROSE INC Skin Luminious Tinted Serum 040 used 3x $25
• ROSE INC Sunscreen Mini. 5.
• SHISEIDO Synchro Skin Radiant Lifting Foundation 160 Lace. Swatched. $22
• SUPERGOOP Glow Setting Powder. BNIB $20
• ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LIPS; https://imgur.com/a/Ir0bAoy

• JONES ROAD Golden Shimmer Cool Gloss $10
• KAJA Balmy Bento 01. $10
• RMS BEAUTY Flirtation of Color Lip Palette New $20

LIPS ALBUM 2: https://imgur.com/a/5MdNdDY

• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Collagen Lip Bath BNIB Refresh Rose. $20
• GXVE Mini Lipstick, Original. $5
• GXVE Lightweight Longwear Matte Lipstick, Tomboy. BN $10
• MILK Lipstick, CREAM. Light use. FREE
• RARE Beauty Lip Liner, Fun, Used once. $9

​
VARIOUS: Brushes / Hair / Body Care https://imgur.com/a/Ti3AHAP

• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Eye Blender Brush $10
• NECESSAIRE The Body Cream BN $20 (heavy)
• PAT MCGRATH Concealer Brush. New. $15
• SEPHORA PRO #45 brush $10
• SURRATT Sculpting Brush, new. $65 now $55
• SURRATT Artistique Foundation Brush, New. $60 now $50
• SURRATT Artistique Concealer Brush Grande New $35 now $30
• ST TROPEZ Luxe Tan Tonic Drops $25
• ST TROPEZ Luxe Body Serum $20 (heavy)

HAIR ALBUM 2: https://imgur.com/a/XOUqehv

• AMIKA Water Sign Hydrating Hair Oil $17 $15
• DAE Monsoon Moisture Shampoo $10 heavy
• GISOU Honey Infused Hair Mask 75ml BN $15
• VEGAMOUR Hydr-8 Deep Moisture Repair Mask BN $30 heavy
• VEGAMOUR GRO Serum BN $35

FRAGRANCE ETC https://imgur.com/a/PqiIhwF

• DIPTYQUE Dancing Ovals LE Roses Candle. NEW $100
• DIPTYQUE Kyoto EDT - Sprayed 3x. LE. $250
• DIPTYQUE Do Son Eau de Parfum 100ml - 95% left $150
• DIPTYQUE Do Son EDT 3.4 oz LE blue Bottle. $110
• HENRY ROSE Queens and Monsters. BN. $75
• NEST Grapefruit Mini Candle $5

​
-SKINCARE ALBUM 1 https://imgur.com/a/UT4JTZE*AVENE

• Cleanance SPF 50 (bought in France) New exp 2025 $20
• CAUDALIE Premier Cru Serum BN $60
• CLARINS Total Eye Lift New. $40
• DRUNK ELEPHANT Protini Cream BN $40
• DR ZENOVIA Benzoyl Peroxide 5%. New. $5
• FARMACY Waterless Vitamin C used 2x $10
• FRESH Black Tea Advanced Age Renewal Cream BN $40
• HYLAMIDE Pore Flush 95%+ Left $10
• OLE HENRIKSEN Strength Trainer Cream BN $20
• PIXI Nutri Eye BN $10
• PEACE OUT Repairing Moisturizer BN $15
• PETER THOMAS ROTH Max Vitamin D Fense SPF 50 BN $20
• SUPERGOOP Glow Setting Powder BN $20
• WISHFUL Yo Glow BN $15
• YENSA pink Lotus peptide cream. New. $10

SKINCARE ALBUM 2 https://imgur.com/a/doHPaep

• DRUNK ELEPHANT Baby Facial Used once $30
• DRUNK ELEPHANT Protini Powerpeptide Serum 5ml $8
• FRESH Kombucha Facial Essence BN full sz $50 (heavy)
• ISLE OF PARADISE Mini Self Tanning Drops FREE (1 each)
• LANEIGE Retinol Firming Cream BN $25 $20
• NEOGEN Cranberry Foam Cleanser $10
• DR ZENOVIA Advanced Retinol Night Repair $20 $15
• REN Limited Edition AHA Tonic. Used Once. $10
• THE OUTSET Caffeine Micro Polish BN $20
• SUNDAY RILEY CEO BN $45
• ​

SKINCARE ALBUM 3: https://imgur.com/a/ATUTAKv

• KATE SOMMERVILLE Hydrat Kate Recharging Serum BN $35
• KIEHLS Ultra Facial Cream SPF 30 BN $10
• KLAIRS Freshly Juiced Vitamin Drop BN $10 exp 1/2025
• KOPARI Face shield spf 30 BN $15
• PEACE OUT Dark Spots Serum BN $15
• THE INKEY LIST Succinic Acid Treatment BN $5
• STRIVECTIN Multi Action Super C Retinol, 75% left $15
• SUNDAY RILEY B Nice $40
• TATA HARPER Regenerating Cleanser Mini 15ml $8
• YOUTH TO THE PEOPLE Superberry Dream mask BN $30 $25 (heavy)
• ​

SKINCARE ALBUM 5 https://imgur.com/a/T1Xt9AT

• CHANTECAILLE Eau de Rose 90% left. $30
• DR DENNIS GROSS Vitamin C BN $55
• FRESH Black Tea Overnight Mask 30ml. New. $20
• FRESH Rose Mask 1 oz. New. $12
• FRESH Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask. 1 oz. new. $20
• INNIS FREE Green Tea Seed Cream BN. $15 (heavy)
• KORA ORGANICS Plant Stem Cell Serum $35
• MARIO BADESCU Facial Spray - $5
• MARIO BADESCU Brightening Eye Serum. $10
• PIXI Rose essence oil - FREE
• - PAULA CHOICE C5 Super Boost Cream. $20
• PAULAS CHOICE Hyaluronic Acid Booster BN $20
• PAULAS CHOICE 1% BHA Sensitive SKin. $25
• PAULAS CHOICE Healthy Glow Invisible Sunscreen Oil. 20.
• THE ORDINARY HA 60ml bottle used once. $5
• ​

SKINCARE ALBUM 6 https://imgur.com/a/viZEcDb
ALPHA H Balancing Cleanser, NEW. $20 $10

• PAULAS CHOICE C5 Super Boost Eye Cream. $22
• BANILA Clean it Zero BN $10
• JOSIE MARAN Pineapple Enzyme Cleanser BN $15 heavy
• THE ORDINARY Salicylic Acid 60ml BN $6
• THE ORDINARY Multi Peptide HA Serum BN $15
• SUMMER FRIDAYS Midnight Ritual Retinol BN $35
• NECESSAIRE The Body Retinol BN $25 heavy
• SUPERGOOP Unseen Body Sunscreen BN $25

SKINCARE ALBUM 7 https://imgur.com/a/ZmLaI8N

• ALGENIST Liquid Collagen Gift Set - 10 day results kit $88 at sephora - BN $30 (heavy)
• BELIF Aqua Bomb 25ml LE design. $15
• CLARINS Beauty Flash Peel $20
• DR DENNIS GROSS Fill and Repair Serum $45
• DERMALOGICA Circular Hydration Serum MIni FREE $10
• PIXI Volume Infusion Sheet Mask BN FREE
• PIXI Collagen Tonic FREE (heavy)
• ST TROPEZ Self Tan Whipped Mousse and mitt, new $20
• JLO Booty Balm BN $20 heavy
• MURAD Correct and Protect SPF 45 exp 5/24 BN $28
• ​