Rdu to new orleans direct flights

**Money in the Bank**
GUNTHER is set for a collision course with Matt Riddle, a rival that stretches back to the indies. During the build for this match GUNTHER scoffs at Matt and says that while he is on the run of a lifetime, Matt has succumbed to his worst tendencies from his past days of being a “joke” and that no amount of Bro puns can quell the tidal wave of his ERA DEFINING reign as champion.
At MITB, Riddle brings back the King of old, and the match becomes a complete strike fest by the end with Matt nearly snapping and busting GUNTHER open from his mouth!! His anger nearly gets him DQ’d, and The Ring General takes advantage and lays in a brutal beating on Riddle, hitting him with three crushing lariats in a row and scoring another victory!
**SummerSlam**
At this point a hint of ego starts to form for GUNTHER, as he proclaims that his record break is inevitable and commands his teammates to bring the tag titles to IMPERIUM. Riddle tries to take them on but he is outmatched… **IT'S A NEW DAY YES IT IS!** Evening the odds are Xavier and Kofi, but as IMPERIUM awaits, Kofi and Xavier stand to the side… **AND BIG E RETURNS!!!** The crowd erupts as The New Day are at full power and take it to IMPERIUM to save Riddle! Big E says he wants to make up for lost time and taking out the man who’s beaten his two comrades and becoming IC champ again will do just that.
At SummerSlam it is a pure hoss BRAWL but GUNTHER survives a Big Ending and barely clings to his title after choking the life out of Big E and hitting a splash for good measure.
**Superstar Spectacle in India**
GUNTHER has done it, he is the longest reigning Intercontinental champion of all time! He is disappointed though, as IMPERIUM failed to win a 4 way for the tag titles at SummerSlam and he demands better from them! At this point Riddle and E want rematches, with Riddle being noticeably quicker to anger and trying to replicate his mentors venom towards everyone.
A triple threat takes place… **AND BIG E WINS, PINNING RIDDLE.**
GUNTHER disappears except for vignettes, talking about how his loss of the title he worked so hard to elevate happening without him getting pinned is the ultimate injustice and that he will not stop training with Vinci and Kaiser to become the very best and never let go of the prize… A far bigger one.
**Survivor Series**
The New Day has partnered with current world champion Seth Rollins to battle The Judgement Day(now including McDonagh) in WarGames, in which they are victorious after a hellish battle… And IMPERIUM returns just after that match and LAYS WASTE to the exhausted field. Rollins begins to battle back with E’s help… **MATT RIDDLE ATTACKS BOTH MEN!!** The newest member of IMPERIUM makes himself known, and the newest super group stands tall to close the show.
**Royal Rumble 2024**
GUNTHER essentially declares war on Monday Night Raw, saying that it isn’t enough to reclaim glory, for the sake of wrestling itself, IMPERIUM must establish itself as THE most dominant faction in wrestling, and that means laying waste to the rest of the lot on Raw. Riddle says his joining og IMPERIUM happened to prove he isn’t a joke and that GUNTHER was right, he had his worst tendencies exploited by “his old friend” and it won’t happen again.
At the Royal Rumble, IMPERIUM conquers. Vinci and Kaiser dethrone current tag champs DIY, Riddle beats Big E to unconsciousness to take the IC title and, after another incredible performance, GUNTHER last eliminated BROCK LESNAR after a hellacious final sequence to win the prophetic match and call his shot for WrestleMania… Against Seth Rollins.
**WrestleMania XL Night 1**
Rollins retains his title in the chamber match, but is swarmed by IMPERIUM. It is at this point that Seth rails against GUNTHER, saying that he fought too long and too hard to have the freedom on Raw be ripped away by another stable, and that he has his own back up to ensure the future of WWE is safe. These would be recent call ups that represent the future: former NXT champ Carmelo Hayes, Rollins’ star pupil Nathan Frazer… And the man who slayed GUNTHER once before, **ILJA DRAGUNOV.** GUNTHER picks apart their makeshift team, saying that Rollins is no different from him except that he just wants himself to prosper, while IMPERIUM, while harsh, is for PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING.
At Mania, IMPERIUM maintain their vice grip on Raw as Vinci and Kaiser retain their titles against DIY, FrazeMelo and The New Day in a ladder match, Riddle retires Randy Orton to retain the IC title, and, after an instant classic chock full of run ins and incredible wrestling, GUNTHER ascends and dethrones Rollins after a valiant effort when Ilja accidentally nails Rollins with Torpedo Moscow, leading to a powerbomb and a 3 count. The show ends with IMPERIUM posing on top of the ramp, staring down the recovering Rollins being helped by Melo and Nathan, as well as Ilja who stares directly down at the sight of his nightmares, desperate to end it on his own.

Would really appreciate some feedback on which direction to go here…I took some MIG classes and would like to continue practicing my technique.
The guy who taught me didn’t speak too highly of Harbor Freight’s welders, but he also has top of the line equipment.
I was using gas, so I’d like to be able to continue that unless y’all have different opinions? Obviously the price of HF’s unit is much easier to swallow for such a new hobbie. What say you? Thanks!

Don’t get me wrong, im not in any way trying to gatekeep. I LOVE that Dom has had all this traction and people are starting to know his name. But, I feel like on this subreddit the newer fans are the ones getting upset or being outspoken against those who voice their (negative) opinions of the new singles. If you’ve been a fan of him for a while, since the demos or even his unreleased stuff, I feel like it makes sense to be disappointed with how pop-y and generic his new songs are. And I don’t think the newer fans are understanding why…. it’s not that the music is bad, but more-so that there was something special about his artistic style that we are not getting much of right now. I think it’s due to the fact that the label wants him to cater to these huge audiences, hence the mall pop music direction. I hope the album convinces me otherwise!

Jesus wanted to build a church. He invites the rich, but they don't come. They are in their gated communities, and don't receive the missionaries.
So he goes to the overlooked. The social outcasts, the poor. He recruits them. He builds a huge following. He preaches words that they want to hear. Blessed BE the poor. They shall inherit the earth. The rich will suffer.
But the rich and powerful weren't persuaded by Jesus anyways.
He built a huge following telling the sinners, the outcasts and the poor everything they could possibly want to hear.
The story of the wedding feast is a perfect parable to describe Jesus' recruitment to his new religion.
Jesus does not fit the descriptions from the O.T. of the Messiah.
He did not fulfill the Law of Moses, but directly contradicted it.
It is not a preparatory step to "take an eye for an eye" on its way to "love one another", it's moving the opposite way.
Jesus slyly smiles while writing in the dirt, when they took the woman in adultery, saying "the law says that such should be stoned, what say ye" and he responds "Harsh much? Which of you haven't sinned?" HEY that was JEHOVAH'S LAW. HE Himself had created that law, and now he's like "Oh you've got to be KIDDING ME!"???? Really?
I know that Jehovah and Jesus both start with J, but that's where the similarities end.
"He would not be comely and everyone would despise him?"
Jesus was THRONGED by people. He drew crowds of THOUSANDS. He was put up in houses all over the place, people offered to pay for his funeral, etc.
He was killed for blasphemy no different than is done today in lots of third world countries. He didn't get some kind of unheard of treatment.
Priests demanded sheep with no blemish the same as Deacons are asked to come clean and neat today. This wasn't a sign of unblemished Jesus.
Jesus was to Moses as Joseph Smith was to Jesus.
He created a new religion building on what was there, converting previous adherents to the previous religion. That's what Joseph did too.
And Joseph realized that, I think, as he said (paraphrasing) "I created a church that can last, and not even Moses or Jesus was able to do that."
Jesus is NOT the Messiah of the OT.
He is not Jehovah of the OT.
We love LOVE. We love peace. We love kindness. And these things existed PRIOR TO JESUS. Just like Jesus' followers started attributing to him all kinds of scriptures from the OT, even that clearly weren't about him, but the scriptures were preexisting, they've since attributed EVERY GOOD THING TO HIM.
So everything you love about this world has since been attributed to Jesus.
What's not to love about EVERY GOOD THING.
But here's the thing - if this isn't Jesus' church, where will you go for Jesus?
There's no place to go for Jesus.
God hasn't given you a better system, because God isn't in this, or any other thing.
This is a terrible system, we're in agreement? Lying con-men messengers. No clear truth.
And where is the better system? There is none.
So understand that if you don't accept Jesus, you aren't turning your back on anyone. Because Jesus was not the Son of God. And he is not every good thing you've ever experienced.
He preached to the poor because they were receptive. He says as much in the parable of the wedding feast.
And the church today copies him - go to the poor, and tell them what they want to hear. Justice is on the other side. Your suffering will get you great rewards.
Easy peasy. 18 year olds know where to go preach.

TLDR: can anyone help me find the Climate folder(s) for American truck simulator? I've looked everywhere except the right place. I've even keu word searched all my drives.
I have a weather mod installed (realistic brutal graphics and weather) and I want to turn the fog down. The creator says the file to do so is in the climate folder. I'm new to modding in this game, so I'm having some trouble finding my way around. Apparently this is a folder that should just be in the game even without mods.
I know how to edit the file and have done so with other mods, I just can't find the climate folder and haven't gotten any direction on the mod creators forum in the last week so I thought I'd come here since it's not technically a mod folder.
My steam library is installed on d drive but I also have steam where you'd expect it on C drive. I've checked the ATS folder in the steamapps and common folder and of course where the mods folder is. I've even keyword searched all of the drives for the word climate. I must just be overlooking something because the one answer I did get was that it's impossible for me to not have that folder. I'm not new to modding at all but this one's got me stumped and it's just a simple folder location.

This took place late 90's, when cell phones still charged calls by the minute so the use of pagers was still pretty common.
My GF at the time had a pager, and she would keep it clipped to her sun visor in her car when driving, so if it went off she could glance at it to see who was sending the page without really taking eyes off road, and see if it's worth pulling over. Being early summer and we were about 20, 21, life was all about social time those days.
At this time, well before the internet took hold, the popular hangout was the Shopping Mall. 200 stores, something for everyone, and it's where the masses of teenagers would spend their free time. Largest mall in the region so always a chance to meet new people or find people you hadn't seen in a while.
So as she pulled in on a Friday night to meet up with her friends, she saw an old friend from her neighborhood, someone she hadn't seen since middle school years. (he went down the pothead route, she didn't, they drifted but no hard feelings) So she stopped next to him, chatted for a few minutes, exchanged pleasantries, then moved on to find a parking space.
It was there, as she went to get out of the car, that she noticed the pager was missing. She instantly remembered he had leaned in to rest his arms on the window frame to chat, and remembered when he asked her about something that prompted her to reach for her glovebox, and he must've swiped it then. Feeling stupid, and knowing who took it wasn't hard to figure out, but good luck finding him again amongst the crowds.
She went home, and tried to deal with it herself. She knew where he lived, as during the conversation he had mentioned he was "staying with so-and-so" and she knew where that guy lived. She borrowed her older brother's cell phone, called me and told me where she was going, gave me the address. I headed there.
So she went to the townhouse complex, parked right outside their unit, walked up and rang the doorbell. She talked to the mutual friend's mother. Explained what happened. Lady seemed annoyed at the kid, said he was a deadbeat, and agreed to help. She paged her son, he called back, and she said they were on their way home right now.
So she sat outside and waited. 15 minutes, 30 minutes... I show up and park far away, but within a line of site. I wanted to back her up in case things for fucky but if she wanted to handle this the nice way, I'll let her do that first. (I think she thought she would confront him, he's say something like "it was worth a try" and hand it back?) An hour. By now it was getting late, was after 12 midnight. We waited until 12:30 when she calls me and says she needs to get some sleep, "let's just write it off."
But I had a feeling. So I told her to leave, to pull out of the complex, circle around, then pull back into the complex and park over where I was parked, then turn off her car.
She does, then comes join me in my car and we have a bit of a stakeout.
Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed when not 5 minutes later the guys arrive. Her mother told them she was waiting, then told them once she left and it was clear to come home.
I asked her if that was the asshole's car, or the friends. We saw them get out and realized it was the asshole's car.
My plan quickly fell into shape. I told her to go home, get some sleep, I'll take care of this.
See, the car stood out. It was a beater car. It was blue with a silver back fender and back passenger door, replaced from an accident but never painted to match. It was heavily tinted, which is illegal but not really enforced unless police wanted a reason to pull you over. It had a loud system. Every square foot had a dent or a ding. There was a shitty add-on spoiler that was 3 sizes too large, and there were Jamaica flag bumper stickers on it even though he was white as snow. And he had these obnoxiously bright neon license plate frames.
You know the type, instead of buying a decent car wastes tons of money blinging out a piece of shit that constantly breaks down.
So I sit and I wait. 1 am, 2am rolls around. Most house lights in the area have gone out by now, including theirs. Not quite time.
3 am rolls around, 3:30... almost.
3:45, there was not a lick of movement anywhere. Now's the time!
I get out of my car, hunch down (just in case) and slowly work my way to his car. Pull out my screwdriver and quietly remove both the back and the front license plates, replace the frames, head back to my car, and drive home.
You see, the way the parking lot was, walking out of his front door you are looking at the driver side of his car, not the front or the back. And who, honestly, looks to see if there are license plates on your car when you go to get in it?
So it's now late Saturday afternoon, and a posse shows up at my GF's house, including a very large woman threatening to beat the crap out of her. She played it cool, said she had NO idea what they were talking about. They screamed that she stole his license plates because he had stolen her pager, and he even took out the pager and smashed it on the sidewalk as some sort of "revenge"
She laughed and said "I honestly have NO idea what you are talking about.. I don't really care about the pager, we already had the account moved to a new pager, that was was old and ugly anyway", yeah I came by to ask for it back, but it got late so I just got a different one. I don't care enough to make an issue out of it"
They continued to scream at her. Apparently he went out, the cops pulled him over for not having plates on his car, and he had to go to the police station and file a police/theft report in order to get out of a ticket.
She just repeated "I had nothing to do with that, so unless you have proof, you're about to be seeing the police again"
They knew they had nothing, grumbled and weren't sure how to react, so they gave a few more empty threats threats and left.
I let it sit. I gave it about 6-7 weeks, nothing more came of it, and everyone but me apparently moved on with our lives.
I guess they thought that was the end of it.
But I saw that visit and those threats as an escalation, so I reacted in kind.
Late summer I Again went back to his place. Again I found the car (it was really easy to spot), and Again I waited until about 3:45am, and Again I stole his (new) license plates.
Only this time I put his original plates back on.
And because the non-repaired side of the back of his car left a gaping hole in the wheel well, I was able to get my arm up in there and pop out the bulb socket for his left blinker, then I went on my way.
So even if he DID get into the habit of making sure there were plates on the car.. there were. And unless he was paying attention, the numbers would seem natural because he had them for years. But I'm not sure he even looked.
If the internet was a thing back then, hell if SCANNERS were a popular thing back then, I would still have the hard evidence which to this day I'd probably use as my phone's lock screen picture.
A little blurb in the local paper a few days later. A blurb that was proudly cut out and shared amongst friends, but sadly lost to the ages in 25+ years and countless apartment and house moves since then.
A little blurb the "police blotter" section.
About the arrest of a particular young man, who was pulled over for a malfunctioning blinker, on a car that was operating on stolen plates. He was charged with fraudulently filing a false police report, (claiming plates clearly in his possession were stolen) defrauding the Motor Vehicle Commission (a crime in this state) for fraudulently obtaining new plates, possession of controlled substances, and possession of drug paraphernalia, along with a host of traffic violations for having tinted window, failure to maintain vehicle, and a few other tickets. He was remanded pending bail and issued a court date.
Never found out if he posted bail, I'm sure his friend's mother didn't, and he had already been on the outs with his own family.
It was a good 5 months later when we were at the mall again, and she sees the large woman and a couple of the other people that came to her house that day walking towards us. We all noticed each other at the same time, I felt my GF tense up a little bit, but without a word those three just paused a second, turned, and went in a different direction.
Never saw or heard from any of them ever again. I guess my message was received loud and clear.

Part 24: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/13taoss/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_24_revised/
(Terry)
It had been a day or so and I hadn’t gotten a response from Megami. There are spurts where we don’t talk, she tends to be pretty accident-prone with electronics. Sometimes the frequency she’s singing goes haywire and fries it. But it had been a good five months or so since we last spoke. Taking a shot in the dark, I called Rachel.
“What is it, Terry?” She grunted, “I’m a little busy.”
“I need to talk to Megami, but she’s been MIA since the whole ‘Maerod’ situation.” My mind shot back to what Jones had told me, to watch out for “her,” momentarily questioning whether or not Dexter’s team had been dumb enough to keep her alive.
There was a pause, the line was silent. Then, a sigh, “Actually, I’ve had the same problem. I figured she just broke another phone, or was pissed at me for… Well, I’ll keep an ear out and let you know if I hear anything. What do you need her for?” She grunted again.
“Small mission.”
“Joseph?”
“Yeah.”
The line went silent again, then an exasperated sigh, “Good luck, be sure to bring The Doctor with you. You know how you can get.”
A flush of anger pulsed through me, but I took a deep breath, “Sure.”
She shrieked, “Oh shit!” The call ended.
I thought over the list of everyone, wondering what I was gonna do. I had actually intended to have Doc and Megami be the last two after Smudge, no one else would really work. Chad wasn’t right for the type of incognito mission we were doing, Abraham wasn’t available, Rachel and Sepratine just didn’t quite mesh with what we were doing, Megami was supposed to be the last one to fill out the party. I mulled it over, but I still owed David, the huuldefolk, a favor from the Maerod raid. I would’ve called Jacob, but he was in another country doing who knows what.
My phone rang as I stood, leaning against the couch, “Jones, something wrong?”
He chuckled, “Not in the least. You got your group together?”
“We’re one short.”
“No problem, bring everyone by tonight, we need to prepare on our end, and Dexter sent us a bit of backup.” He hung up.
I called up Doc and Smudge, telling them to be at my place and ready by the time dusk rolled around. Heading to the bathroom I downed my meds, trying to shake off a weird feeling that slowly crept up on me. As if something was going to happen when we got there. It was more than just a bad feeling, but a conviction, I knew something would happen, and it made me uncomfortable. One of the pills I took was supposed to ease it, but when it got that bad, it meant my brain had already determined some kind of outcome. It’s not a superpower or anything, more like enhanced intuition. It only happens when my brain has the information to go off of. But there’s a disconnect between my conscious and subconscious, so whenever something like that happens, I just have to wait for it to come to fruition.
-----------------------------------------
Stepping into the office, I looked around, “Where’s the new guy?”
Xavier looked up, baffled at the sight. Then Jones stood, walking over to greet us, the bags under his eyes less defined, “He’s in the back getting himself something to eat. Smudge, nice to see you again, you haven’t aged a day.” Smudge chuckled at that, “You must be The famous Doctor, I want to thank you for coming. I’m sure you’re a busy man.” He outstretched his hand, but Doc just gestured between Jones and me.
“You see, that’s how you should greet me. You really ought to get a notepad out, you might learn a thing or two about how to respect your elders.”
“If I remember correctly, I’m about 2,000 years your senior. When did you start your… questionable medical practices again? 16th, 17th century?”
Doc ignored me, angrily shaking Jones’s hand, “Nice to meet you, lad! Glad to hear somebody thinks highly of me, even if it is a meager thinskin.”
“Me and my dislocated fingers thank you for that.” As he brought his hand back, Jones uncomfortably pushed his fingers back into their sockets one by one. “So, who were you planning on bringing? You said there was going to be another?”
“Right, had my sights set on a Siren, she’s pretty skilled and can be silent when the occasion arises. But I couldn’t get ahold of her.” I paused, “Actually, you’ve got your ear to the ground, you heard anything about someone named Megami? It’s been a few months since we talked, I’m kinda worried.”
Jones was a mannequin, despite trying to seem calm, his eyes flicked to Xavier before shooting back to us. He leaned against his desk, reaching for his coffee mug several times, not looking away from us, before finally grabbing it, and raising it to his mouth.
I stared hard at Xavier, a few moments later, he cracked, “Look it was a life or death sit–”
My legs tightened, I could feel the meds pushing to the side as I grew, stepping over to him in two long strides. He threw out his hearing aid, grasping his one intact ear as he held himself up with his free hand on the desk, “You killed Megami! Tell me why I shouldn’t give you the same treatment!” Something grasped my waist, then each of my legs. They were trying to push me back. When I released a tentacle to shoot Xavier through the head, I felt a prick stab into it. I fell limp, shrinking back down instantaneously.
Much calmer, I looked at my surroundings, Doc stood over me, making sure I was fine, Smudge looked between Xavier and me, wondering how he should react. Then I saw Xavier, Jones standing beside him, and on the other side of the desk, just across from us, stood the blonde buzzcut, and scarred musculature, of a Texan soldier. “Fucking Tucker.” I chuckled with disdain, “Of course.”
“Wish I had my H.O.P.S. but unfortunately it was destroyed along with the U.S.P.M. You’re one terrifying son of a bitch when I’m not in a full suit of armor, I’ll tell you what.” Looking close, I noticed he was wearing one of the older exosuits they used to wear. It was clean, but there were scuffs in the black paint job here and there.
“The U.S.P.M is just a bad fucking omen at this point.”
“Hey, we didn’t kill Jeff, and we didn’t kill Megami. So why don’tcha chill the fuck out.” Tucker crossed his arms, staring at me.
Smudge let out a jittery sigh, “You know, Jane’s death wasn’t necessarily the fault of Jeff.”
I looked at him, “Are you really going to side with the thinskins on this one?”
“Terry, behave yourself. We’re only here for Joseph’s sake. After we’re done you can go wipe out the US government. But we’re here for a reason. Doctor back me up here.”
“I’m neutral in this, I don’t care much for anyone.”
“And yet you’re here to help save Joseph.”
He sighed, “Joseph is okay I suppose. But I’m here because Terry gave me a deal on a pixie a month or so back.”
Smudge and Doc continued their back and forth as I stared at Xavier, he stood upright again, fixing the aid back into his ear, “I don’t blame you, Terry, I’d kill me too. I even did. But at least wait till this is over, yeah? I wanna slip in one last good deed if I can.” He blinked tears back as he put on a ski mask.
“When we’re done, I’ll thank you, but you better hope we never cross paths again.”
“I could say the same to you… I could.”
The air was still for a minute or so, even Doc and Smudge had stopped their bickering. “Well then.” Tucker smacked his hands together, making a metal clink, “Y’all ready to kick some shit in?”
“How long is the drive? I’ll need at least an hour to recover.”
Jones answered, “Hour and a half to two, you’ll be fine. We’ve got guns in the van, all suppressed. I had a mutual acquaintance of ours send us a care package yesterday. Regardless, I say we should all keep our blood inside our bodies.”
Tucker joined in, “Speaking of, I managed to scrounge the materials to make up some of those SIOM rounds. I left them in the van, along with the last resort.” He winked at me.
Jones nodded, “We should be good to go then, you guys oughtta join us in the van, less conspicuous.”
I nodded, “Yeah, that’d make the most sense. I’ll be taking the lead when we get there though. Which reminds me, you never sent me the schematics.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll send them over. Are you gonna have enough time to put a plan together?”
“Yeah, I already know how we’ll follow into the building. I was thinking Tucker at first, but without his suit, he’s basically just a liability.”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, we’ll see about that one.”
-----------------------------
As the van slowed, Tucker pulled on his combat gloves. He was decked out in full gear that I hadn’t really noticed till we got in the van. A flexible vest that was essentially a skin-tight long-sleeve shirt, meeting his wrists. His pants were tight and were made of the same fabric as his shirt.
We came to a complete stop as he slung his rifle around, clicking off the safety on his Bizon. Doc clapped his book shut, and Smudge stood.
“Alright, everyone up, we need to get to the gun cases.” Jones had come back through a door-sized hole connecting the back of the van to the front. He’d already pulled his mask over his face, the only color that came from him was his remaining eye and parts of his lips, only revealed by small, cut strips in the fabric.
We stood, sidestepping so he could get to the guns behind the seats. One by one we filed out the back.
Xavier hopped out the back, followed by Jones who stared at Tucker for a moment, “Did you uh… Did you put a new scope on this?” He raised his PS90 which held an ACOG and a suppressor.
“Oh yeah, it’s kinda like a thermal scope. But instead of heat it picks up… well I don’t actually know. But you should be able to see anything invisible or not.” Xavier inspected his own gun, “Sorry guy, I only had enough for Jones and me. You should be fine, but just cause you don’t got a fancy scope don’t mean you can go missing your shots. Them rounds’re expensive as hell.”
“Well, let’s get going, I’ve got the map down, I know how to get there. Second floor of their basement has the data. Unfortunately, we have no idea what security looks like, so we have to be cautious if we intend to stay hidden.”
Tucker spoke, “Just to be clear, you’re upfront, Jones is behind you, then the Doctor, then Xavier with me covering our asses.”
“Smudge is behind Doc, and while I’d like to have Xavier in the back–”
Xavier rolled his eyes, “Well I’d like to have you in back.”
Tucker sighed, “Anyhow, guess it works. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll have a huuldefolk I can put some rounds through. Release some of this tension.” He shot his gaze between Xavier and me.
“Well let’s head out. Smudge, you’ll be able to keep the cameras down right?”
“Based on what you said about their layout I should be able to, but I won’t be able to keep us hidden from the perception of the guards once we’re inside. There are far too many electronics I need to keep down so if we run into anyone inside the building, we need to kill them and hide their bodies to avoid being caught. I can’t keep the entire building down, so I can’t stop them from setting off an alarm if we miss anyone.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Tucker lifted his gun.
“Let’s hope those sights are as powerful as you say.”
Before long, we were on our way. We’d parked some distance out so as to not draw any attention. Taking the lead, the only noise I could hear was the occasional snapping of twigs as we walked through a forested area. Despite having come in contact with the exoskeleton previously, it still surprised me how stealthy Tucker could be wearing it.
Breaching the treeline, I held up my hand. Surrounded by a gravel driveway stood a three-story tall modern office-style building. Men patrolled around the lot, all wearing tactical gear. Focusing on the shadows, I could tell there were hidden guards as well, those ones were wearing light, flexible clothing and minimal if any weapons.
“Smudge,” I whispered, waving him up with two fingers.
“Yes.” As he looked out, he seemed to understand, “This will be a tough one if they aren’t all humans. Seems like there are about 30 guards that may see us. If even one of them is around a five, I won’t be able to blind all of them from our presence. If Rachel were here we’d be able to determine such a thing, unfortunately, we don’t have her spiritual sense.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Tucker whispered from behind us.
“What kind of bullshit caused you to break formation without my asking.”
“As I said, these scopes can sense alternative forms of energy. I have a few frames of reference, I know what civies look like through this thing. Smudge, if you can point out all the hidden ones, I’ll be able to tell you what we’re dealing with.”
Smudge looked at me, then shrugged, “Alright, if you’re certain.”
---------------------------
“We’re good to go then? That was the last one?”
“So it would seem, that scope of yours ought to be reliable.”
“If we don’t get by, you have my full permission to do whatever you want to Xavier.”
Jones butted in, “I believe that’s up for me to decide. I still need him around.”
Smudge whispered at a frequency that’d set dogs off, “Enough bickering, you’re worse than when I have to babysit Chad and Rachel. Everyone get in formation, it’s easiest on me if we go in single file.” Getting back into position, he spoke up, “Sorry Terry, I know you’re leading, but, well you get it.”
I nodded back to him, “Everyone ready? No piss breaks past this point. If you have cold feet, just head back to the van.” I looked back to Xavier, to which he flipped me off, signaling me to start.
I wasn’t worried about the situation until we got about ten feet from the door. One of the two guards standing beside it looked over at us. I signaled everyone to stop, and the guy continued to stare. A few moments later, he shrugged, facing forward again, and we continued on through the door.
There was no one in the immediate vicinity, though there were several cameras pointed toward us, blinking.
Smudge said one word as he took a deep breath, “Break.”
Nodding, I signaled for the three of us up front to take the right wall, and the other three to take the left.
------------------------------
Once Smudge caught his breath, he stood back up, and we all got back into formation, right as a guard turned the corner. I shot a tentacle out, grabbing him by the throat and snapping his neck, all while bringing him closer so we could hide the body.
That was when an alarm went off, “FUCK! Keep the humans hidden, Doc and I can handle ourselves.” My brain froze time, trying to figure out what happened. Eventually, it clicked, heart monitors, a precaution not even Maerod took.
“Leave me out of it Smudge, I can handle myself too. You need all the focus you can get.” Tucker stepped up, aiming down sights.
The door bashed open before I could get my tentacles out. Turning, Tucker already faced the door, dropping people in one to two rounds a piece.
Turning back toward the dead body, I headed on, alarms blaring overhead. Bodies came and went. Despite how badly we’d apparently messed up the plan, I knew where the database was, and I refused to let anyone stand between me and it.
Each step I took was further than the last, “KEEP YOURSELVES SAFE, I’M GOING FURTHER IN!”
“Not without me you’re not!” Metal clattering rang out, “IMBECILE!” Doc caught up to me as I flung several bodies out of the way.
“Watch where you’re throwin’ em!” Tucker yelled out, “We shouldn’t split up!”
I was already at the staircase making my way down when something smacked across my face. Turning to my right, I saw a lanky man with his hands in his pockets. He was slouched as if bored.
“FINE, GO DOWN, I’LL MEET YOU THERE!” Swinging a tentacle at him, he made a popping motion with his mouth, the limb slammed into a wall. Shooting them all at him, he blew air out in a circle, then at me directly, lunging at me as he threw me off balance. He kicked me in the chin, then down on my head, knocking me to a knee. A second later I was thrown into the air, then to the ground.
“Damn man, you look like you could use a hand.” The strange man stood over me, offering me his right.
I took it, spinning him around, snapping his arm, and flinging him against the wall, where lay motionless. I stabbed him in the head, then the heart just to be safe. Scoffing at his arrogance, I headed down the stairway.
When I got down to the second basement floor, there were already several dead bodies strewn about. Everyone was hiding behind metal tables. Tucker injected Doc with something, sitting beside them was a heaving Smudge.
I put my tentacles away, and a sudden burst of gunfire came from the back of the wide-open office room. A few bullets hit me, but I was already too tall, they crumpled on impact.
“THEY GET AHOLD OF YOUR FORMULA!?”
“Fuck that’s loud, yeah, there was a leak a few months back! Doc ain’t doin’ so hot!”
“That’s, The Doctor, to, you.” He spoke each word with individual breaths.
Walking toward the guards, they panicked. With a thud hitting my chest, one of the men screamed, “We need you up here!” Looking down I found a pinless grenade, which I kicked, knocking one of the men unconscious. Bodies tumbled over one another as it exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. A few pieces stuck in my face, but I headed straight for the room.
“YOU’LL WANT TO GET BACK! SOMEONE IS COMING FROM DOW–” The ground gave out from under me, falling a few floors, I was kicked into a wall in a dark room, aside from the hole. Landing on my feet, I looked around, rubbing my side. I felt something wet, where I’d been hit. Then I saw who it was. A scaly humanoid, each scale tipped with a tinted blue, serrated prong. His shadow fluctuated, then its eyes sprung open, and a black mist shot me. I blocked with my tentacles, but they were cheese to a grater.
“Kenet himself breaking in here? Must think you’re hot shit!”
I grunted, springing off the wall, using a shredded tentacle to slam the scaly man with a table. Sure enough, the mist formed into a shadow-walker, same as Jacob. I slammed my fist into his face before he could react.
“I NEED SOME LIGHT DOWN HERE!”
But the scaled man already rebounded, swinging his pronged fist at my face. I managed to block with my arm, but it was getting stiff.
“DOC, I NEED YOU!”
I heard Tucker to my left, “He’s still recovering, close your eyes!”
Before I could tell him I couldn’t close my face, a clinking sounded, and I saw a small metal canister roll into view. A blinding light took over, banging nine times, each followed by a flash. Then several gunshots.
Accepting the pain to come, I grabbed the scaled man, flinging him into the ceiling, dazing him. The shadow-walker was already dead on the ground, three bullet holes planted in his skull.
“NICELY DONE!”
“Got any weaknesses on the other one? Never seen anything like him.”
“SKIN TRANSFORMATION, WE MUST WEAR HIM DOWN!”
“Lovely.”
The prongs tipping his scales had already shrunk considerably. Stumbling to his feet, he glanced down at the motionless skinwalker, “Goddamn.” His scales evaporated, leaving behind a hollow man, standing still, “Ju–”
Tucker put a bullet right between his eyes, “Didn’t have to ask buddy.”
As we turned to head back up the stairs, a thud reverberated from behind us. Turning back, Smudge lay, face first, and uncovered. He wore a full-body outfit ensuring no skin was revealed, but my concern was on whatever had dropped him down. Aside from the alarms, it was eerily silent. They landed on Smudge, hopping off, and kicking him into the wall.
The black suit was almost a fabric, but it was certainly mechanical. Parts at joints stuck out slightly, giving him mobility along with full body protection. At his neck, the material fluctuated, phase shifting at the slightest movement. The entire front of his helmet was a velvet red visor, the changed to a light blue when the light reflected just right. He had several weapons littering his body, including two hook swords, an unknown kind of pistol, a pump action shotgun, and a few others; all of which were as black as his armor.
I had to lean my head and chest down to avoid hitting the ceiling. I couldn’t move anymore, and Tucker looked a little nervous, “DOC! YOU ALIVE!?”
A German accent replied with a chuckle, “He was already dead.”
“Yeah, right.” Tucker said, “What’re you waitin’ for big guy?”
Shooting out my back, I held the odd man at tentacle point, Tucker readied his carbine, and the man retrieved his hook blades.
“Come, let me get this over with.”
Tucker stammered, “B-be careful.” He swapped magazines, “This guy is radiating like a human.” He fired a round, I felt it slide between two tentacles, and as it hit the man in the visor, an explosion errupted. I engaged, picking the man up by the leg, but before I could fling him, pain shot through it, the tip was sliced off. Tucker fired two more rounds, both exploding as they met their target, filling the room with a cloudy haze. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to move, but I felt like a turtle.
Suddenly, my leg ripped up, I held in place, stabilizing with a few tentacles, then smashed where a crack had formed on his visor, but he swung his other blade down, cutting it in half. A rapid succession of explosions slowly knocked the man back, and for the first time, he looked at Tucker, throwing one of the hookblades at him, it was angled for his face, but he snatched it mid air, then lunged at the man. He slammed the blade down on his shoulder, spinning it around and hooking the back of his arm, yanking him in, Tucker punched full force. In an instant, Tucker was against the wall, falling face first into the tile floor, leaving ceramic to crack the area around him.
The man chopped the last of my tentacles down as he approached me. When they were practically useless, he put the remaining blade away, pulling out the pump action shotgun. He shot me in the face six times before throwing the gun to his side. A small stream of black ooze dripped down my chin, and I had a hard time seeing anything in front of me.
“Damn, you’re one tough fucker, I’ll give that much.”
Pulling out his pistol, he proceeded to unload every round into my forehead, despite being ordinary metal, something about them kicked like a mule. When that gun was out, he dropped it, looking to his right, seeing where Tucker had dropped his gun.
“I wonder, how will you hold against explosive rounds? Not well?”
As he picked it up, I felt something prick my back, a familiar sensation made its way toward my heart, like organic WD-4D.
“You’re awfully quiet over there. Lost will to fight?”
“You’re an asshole!”
“Please, stop, I’ll shit myself.” He let out an antagonizing laugh, “You’re strong, but you’ve too much a stiffy going on there.” He let off a round into my face, nearly knocking me down, but I staggered just enough to stay in place.
“Wow, this has some nice kick to it, perhaps I’ll join the military after this.” He shot three more into my face, with each explosion, my skin peeled away just that much more, my brain rattled, but my limbs loosened.
By the fourth round, I regained some mobility, walking toward him. He stepped back, switching the gun to burst fire. I maneuvered around three bursts, only getting hit three times, each one in my torso. Those explosions seemed to boost the Doc’s serum, and I was able to grab the man by the head, crushing his visor with the palm of my hand. “You rely too much on your gadgets and luck. Neither will get you out of this.”
The helmet cracked, and blades shot out, slicing my fingers off. He pulled his remaining hook blade and slid under me. A sharp pain hit the back of my skull, then a cracking reverberated through my head. A metal clattering followed, and when I turned, the man stood there, shocked. He lunged back, throwing several kunai at my face, but I ducked them. With my full range of motion returned, I slung one of the tables at him, flinging him into a wall front-first.
Walking over to where he’d dropped Tucker’s rifle, I snagged it, and walked over to the man. He staggered back to his feet, a broken nose and a shard of ceramic sticking out of his eye. I held the gun to his forehead and fired, his head bursting like a pipe bomb.
I stumbled over to Tucker, dropping his gun beside him, and dropping to one knee. I smacked him in the face a few times, “You still alive?”
He rolled onto his side, “Kinda wish I wasn’t.” His face was covered in small cuts from the ceramic tiles, “Wish I’d had my Odyr suit, couldda kicked his ass. Fuckin hell what a dick.”
I sat beside him, “Hopefully he was their last line of defense, I think your gun gave me a concussion or something.” The room spun, my stomach on a Ferris wheel.
“Wow, the Doctor was right.”
I turned to the stairway, Xavier held Jones’s arm around his neck, helping him stand, “What happened, is Doc really dead?”
Tucker staggered his way to a standing position, “Nah, that stuff I gave him slows heart rate. He was too stupid to check for a full minute. He should still be alive, don’t worry.”
“And you two?”
Jones cleared his throat, “Smudge hid us, but he was worn down.”
Hearing that, I turned back to see Smudge, still laying flat. I stood, stumbling over to him, checking his pulse. It took a bit, but eventually, I felt a weak heartbeat. “DOC, YOU ALIVE UP THERE!?”
“I suppose!” He groaned.
“WE NEED YOU DOWN HERE! SMUDGE IS IN BAD SHAPE!”
A faint hint of a sigh made its way down the hole. I picked Smudge up, and moments later, Doc landed on the ground, a leg giving out from under him.
------------------------------------------
Some time passed, and we patched ourselves up as best we could before heading back up to the proper floor. Jones was able to walk on his own, but his right leg was in bad shape. I carried Smudge on my back, and despite Tucker’s several broken bones, he was walking just fine, occasionally stumbling from a torn tendon. As far as Doc went, the only sign he showed he was injured was his panting. Fortunately, we never ran into anyone else aside from the odd straggler, and we managed to grab the data we needed.
With the stressors passed, we laughed and joked, trying to bring ourselves back down from the adrenaline high. Exiting the building, I spoke up, “Xavier, I’m not going to forgive you, but I will thank you.”
He looked over at me, “To be fair, it was the Doctor’s idea.”
“That’s why I’m not forgiving you, anyone could’ve done it.”
“Oh, fair enough. Guess you could’ve done it too aye Doc?”
“That’s Doctor.” He let out an exhausted sigh, “In theory, but by the time I got around to it, who knows if Terry would still be alive. For a thin-skin, you did well.”
That’s when a limo pulled up through the gravel headed right for us, stopping just in time to not hit us, “Doc, wake Smudge, have him get you guys out of here. NOW!” I set him on the ground behind me.
“Well, I certainly hope he’s feeling up to it.”
“If not, you guys need to run.”
The back door opened, and a man in a suit stepped out. Pulling off his glasses, he tossed them in the back seat before closing the door and signaling the driver to leave. They couldn’t get away fast enough.
“Terry, son of Charles, I was under the impression you wouldn’t get involved with us. But after the Maerod incident, we decided we should implement additional security measures. Seems we should’ve invested more heavily into that. What was your intent here? If you had just called on Charles and told him about us, I’m certain he could’ve turned the entire building to mist.”
“If you know that, why’d you come to see for yourself, you can’t kill him. Or are you really that arrogant?”
The man laughed, “Because the alarm is still going off. If he had come, there would be no signal sending the alarm. You’re strong sure, but even three assassins managed to do this to you. Hence the difference between you mortals and us gods.”
“Didn’t realize living for 3000 years classified me as mortal.”
“You know, it’s interesting. Even after thousands of years, some still feel the need to attach themselves to this world. It’s as if they’re unaware of the insignificance of this world, this solar system, galaxy, supercluster, hell this universe! If you will live to see it all end, then what’s this part of it matter? They get animals to give themselves more meaning, call them pets. They feed the animal, water them, domesticate them, protect them. But they also prevent them from living in their natural habitat. Pulling the animal from where it belongs to give themselves a sense of purpose, it’s selfish wouldn’t you say?”
“Sure, I guess in a nihilistic sense.”
“So why are you here? To retrieve your pet? As I’ve said, there’s a transmitter in there, I saw what you pulled. Data on where your pet is. Why not just let him live in his terrarium?”
“He’s one of us now.”
“Due to your interference.”
“What are you really doing here!?”
“That’s the question of the day is it not? Quite frankly, I think Maerod was right to kill her. You’re far too attached to this world, though I suppose you are still a mere child. You could be so much more wise, and yet you refuse to allow it, you latch onto what’s been lost when you could focus on what you could have.”
“Sounds to me like you’re not quite past your own insignificance.”
He sneered, “Are you certain that’s your final answer?”
“I guess so.”
“Gods, the apple really does fall right to the roots.” The grass around him shriveled to dust when he charged me. Time stopped as the gleam in his eyes froze me, each fist pummeling me to the dirt, creating a deeper crater with each fist.
Then I was back in place, so was he. I’d never felt it so strong before, but I couldn’t deny the reality, he would kill me. Unlike Maerod, that man had absolute control over his soul, a feat all my attempts couldn’t achieve. All I could do was hold him off until I had an opportunity to slip out of his perception.
The grass around him slowly disintegrated, ready for his lunge, I leaped into the air, grabbing him mid-air with my tentacles and throwing him full force into the building. I sprung myself to the forest, latching onto a branch and engrossing myself in the tree, doing what I could to suck as much energy out. It wasn’t long before I was forced out. The tree crumbled to dust and I lept from it, charging the man with what little extra energy I had. He stood still, tanking four punches to his face. He kicked me back, nothing but a streak of blood running down his nose.
I lunged back searching for another tree. I found one a ways back, flinging myself at it, I fell into it and absorbed the tree’s power. I forced myself and found I could suck it out of other nearby trees. Until I was once again forced out, the trees crumbling in decayed mass, “You’ve gotten a bit stronger, Charles must be so proud.”
“What are you trying to achieve? Is losing your HQ really that important?”
He stepped toward me casually, “The same thing Maerod was trying to achieve, and really all the other gods in this disoriented country. However, no, killing you isn’t punishment for the damages, it’s for the audacity it took for you to do it. Entering my domain and destroying my primary facility? That takes balls, unfortunately, the rest was only a few inches.”
I tried to leap back again to gain a foothold, but all nearby trees crumpled to dust. Seeing no other way, I charged him again, but just as I came face to face, I spun and sidestepped, launching a single tentacle for the back of his heart, but on impact, it turned to dust.
“Unfortunately, the rest of you won’t be so easy to get rid of.” He turned, jumping, and once again, I met his bloodthirsty gaze. My skull cracked on impact, and when my head hit the dirt, a crater was left behind. He stood over me, “I’m gonna be on his shitlist for this one, but really, it’ll be worth it.” He pointed a finger gun at my head, and as the darkness closed in, three gunshots followed by a familiar light filled my senses, and when I could see again, his head was missing, the body still standing up-right, three bullet holes oozing blood at different angles...
I staggered to my feet, adrenaline keeping me awake. I looked around, seeing everyone but Smudge scattered around, “RUN! HE’S GONNA BLOW JUST FUCKING RUN!” I used my tentacles to move, sticking them in the ground and launching myself, then staggering to my feet. I headed in the direction the van was in, and a few seconds later, an intense blue light erupted from behind me, the shockwave hitting immediately after.
Part 26: Coming Soon!

Hey empolymentlaw,
Not sure if this question fits here but I’m not aware of any other sub that might be able to help. Hoping someone here has some legal advice or just advice in general..
I’m a physician and I work for a large hospital network.
Upper management asked me to take on a role as a director of a new program. I accepted.
They told me they would reimburse me $3000 to do the training necessary to direct the program. I paid for this training 9 months ago and completed the training about 6 months ago. I still have not been reimbursed.
They keep giving me the run around and are blaming it on a “business agreement” that needs to be completed by the finance department before the funds can be paid out.
They also told me I’d be paid an additional hourly wage once 2/5 of the team members needed for the program were hired. Those two have been on board for 2 months now and I am still not being paid. They are using the same excuse as above.
I’d quit but I like the job otherwise and like my patients and the workload is relatively acceptable (which is sort of hard to find).
Aside from quitting, do I have any recourse? Any recommendations on how to handle this? I’m been sending monthly emails but I just keep getting bullshit excuses.

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I applied for a passport renewal by mail on 4/1 and USPS tracking confirms it was delivered to the Irving, TX location the morning of 4/4. To the best of my knowledge, all of my paperwork was in order. But the application status portal has never listed anything but “Not Available,” and my bank hasn’t processed the check I sent along with the application, either.
After a few attempts I was able to get through to the expedite-your-passport phone line, and they sent me the application, which I promptly submitted, only to get a message saying that “After reviewing our system, we are unable to complete your request because we have not yet received your application at the Department of State.” I replied with a note clarifying my situation and asking for further info but never heard back.
So now I’ve called the expedite-your-passport people again, and they just recommended waiting until 14 days before travel and calling back then. When I pressed them and mentioned my check hadn’t cleared, they put me on hold and eventually said I could either wait until 14 days before travel or just try reapplying altogether, but they couldn’t provide me with any further info.
I’m starting to get worried that my paperwork may have gotten lost in the shuffle entirely, and I have an international trip planned for July—I’m not sure if the 14-day window is going to be enough time if they determine that I have to start from square one (and I’ve of course already mailed them my current passport).
Has anybody seen a situation where a check hasn’t been processed for 8 weeks and the new passport still arrived eventually? Or is there a more direct method of ascertaining the status of my application paperwork before a locator number is assigned online? Any leads whatsoever would be greatly appreciated!

Rodney was awakened by the ringing of his cell phone. He had set a special ring tone for Peter just for that purpose, knowing that when his colleague called, it would not stop ringing until he answered. “Morning, K,” he muttered as he slowly crawled out of bed.
“Rod, you need to get over here right away!” Peter said in a shaky voice. Rodney chuckled absentmindedly, “What did you screw up this time?”
“I just made us rich, that’s what I did!” Rodney’s face straightened, “Are you serious?”
“I’m about to post a Twitlonger, that’s how serious I am, Rod. Now get the fuck over here before I do.”
.
Sami arrived at the research lab early in the morning. She was told that the video department liked to start the days early, but the door seemed to be locked. She tried knocking, but with two coffee cups in each hand, the effort seemed as futile as it was embarrassing. She was about to gently tap her foot on the door when Rodney came around the corner.
“What are you doing?”
Startled, Sami turned around, “Oh! Dr Craig. Er, good morning!”
“Were you just trying to kick the door in? You know we have cameras, right?”
Sami smiled nervously, “No, why would… I was trying to get in-”
Rodney cut her off, “I’m just messing with you. It’s Sami, right?”, Sami answered with a shy nod.
.
As Sami and Rodney came walking through the door, Peter was sitting behind his laptop.
“Finally!” he shouted without taking his eyes off the screen, “Hey Rod, remember those new parameters we talked about last Friday? Guess what!”
“K, this is Sami.”
Peter turned around in his chair and looked at Sami in confusion. “Who is this?”
“I literally just told you. What were you saying about the parameters?”
“I’m the new intern,” Sami interjected with the friendliest voice possible.
Peter smiled, “Oh yeah, you’re the influencer!”
“Yes… Well, no, actually. I used to be a content creator on TikTok, not an influencer. But I guess it’s similar.”
“How did that work out for you?”
Sami alternated between staring at Peter and Rodney with a forced smile before breaking the awkward silence, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dr. Kaymak.”
“Dr. Kaymak is my wife, call me K,” Peter said with a rehearsed smile and reached out for a conciliatory handshake, but Sami still held the cups.
“Oh, sorry! I brought coffee, where should I…” The two scientists each grabbed a cup from Sami’s hands.
“I’m Rod, by the way,” Rodney muttered in Sami’s direction, “What about the new parameters, K? Did you make any progress?”
Peter turned back to his laptop and gestured at it, “Oh, I made progress, alright! I had the program run through the routine again before leaving last Friday night. It was supposed to create the videos and all the metadata, post them one at a time, and delete them once it had retrieved the analytics data. Only it didn’t do that.”
“So it didn’t work?” Rodney asked impatiently.
“Well let me finish… So far we trained the model on the first four hours of viewing data, so any autonomous adjustments it makes in subsequent runs will be optimized for that time frame. But since you designed the AI to continue training on any data that YouTube feeds back to it, I decided to give the program some leeway. If the AI module determines that there is more relevant data to collect, the process doesn’t automatically stop and the video isn’t deleted.”
“That still sounds like a bug to me.” Rodney interrupted again. Feeling smug, he took a sip of his coffee and jumped abruptly. “This is very cold,” he said to Sami, pointing at his cup.
Sami shook her head nervously, “I waited outside the door for 15 minutes!”
“You could have knocked, I’ve been in here for hours,” Peter said as he typed on his laptop.
Rodney laughed, “Pete, be glad it’s just cold coffee, she almost vandalized our door."
Sami took a nervous sip and winced as well.
Peter looked at her confused for a second before regaining his composure, “Can we focus here? This is big news!”
“Well, so far you’ve only given me your Twitlonger speech. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear more about the ‘making us rich’ part.”
“Me too,” Sami added confusedly, followed by “Sorry” as she tried to disappear into the background.
Peter inhaled tensely and took another nonchalant look at his screen before turning back to face Rodney. “Well, basically what happened is that we accidentally cracked YouTube’s algorithm. Initially, just one video was uploaded and it went viral immediately. It got 7 million views in 8 hours before our test channel was shut down by YouTube.
.
“You’re joking.” Rodney looked at Peter incredulously.
“I’m not. 63% of the views were from within the US.”
“Holy shit!” Rodney instinctively began to strut around Peter’s desk. “Okay, but that was a coincidence, right?”
“Well, after my program detected that the channel had been terminated, it created a new one and uploaded the second video, which got 49 million views before YouTube killed it again.”
Rodney stared at Peter with a dull face, trying to process the number he just heard.
Peter continued, “Our channels get deleted for spam quite often. I saw the first email notification on Saturday night but didn’t think much of it. Then I got the second one on Sunday morning.”
“Are you telling me that one of our test videos was seen by more people than the super bowl?”
“He doesn’t watch much sports,” Peter laughed, directing his words at Sami. “But yes, a lot of people saw our test video. I had no idea this was even possible. When I saw the emails from YouTube, I figured something about the new parameters must be messing with the anti-spam routine, so I came in on Sunday to fix it. But it wasn’t a spam problem. I think the spike in views must have triggered YouTube’s fraud detection. They probably thought we were using bots to increase the number of views on the videos, which we weren't obviously.
“Huh, that’s new.”
“Yes, exactly. Now get this! When I realized what was happening, I wanted to try to reduce the effectiveness of the program, but adjusting the parameters only reduced the views back to normal, so in that sense, I guess it actually was a fluke. I decided to try switching back to older training data, and that actually helped a lot. Since then, each new video has been getting a steady 140,000 views every two hours before dipping after about 12 hours. The newest channel is still up with several videos. Retention is still pretty abysmal and the comments section is a mess. I guess millions of users were just as confused as we were when they clicked on the thumbnails. But regardless, imagine what someone with real creative talent could do with this kind of exposure. Imagine what they would pay for it!”
Rodney started to walk in small circles again. “Holy shit, K! I mean, if we do this right… if there is a smart way to monetize this, then… holy shit!”
“We did it, Rod. We’re going to make so much money on this,” Peter said, ending Rodney’s train of thought, “But we gotta be really smart about it. YouTube can’t know what we’re up to! Besides-”
“What are the videos about?” Sami asked.
“What?” Peter and Rodney answered in unison.
“I mean, what kind of video gets 50 million views in a few hours? What was it about?”
Surprised by such a badly timed, totally unimportant question, Peter glanced over to an absent-minded Rodney, “Um. I don’t know, I’d have to look it up. But it doesn’t really matter, the parameters can be applied to any topic. We use politics and gaming as our main categories because they tend to get more engagement on YouTube.”
“Wait, you didn’t watch the videos?” Sami wasn’t sure if Peter was just too caught up in the technical side of things, but Peter and Rodney looked at each other completely unfazed.
“Sami, no offense, but given your ‘professional’ background, you of all people should appreciate what we just accomplished. I’ve watched some of the videos. But the point is that this process can be used for any kind of genre with just minor adjustments to the training data.”
“Of course! I think your program is incredible. Um, I’m just a little concerned about the potential damage such a tool could do in the wrong hands. Right?”
Amused by Sami’s unexpected spark of virtue, Peter shrugged. “You mean like in the hands of a social media influencer?”

Note: I Found this old post on cajunfigs.blogspot.com
This post is a work in progress and more will be added as I have time. This will be a long post when I am done as I have a lot more to say on this topic. The following advice is primarily for the average fig CONSUMER. It is not for the average fig COLLECTOR who is suffering from a bad case of "fig fever". -------------------------------------
Just a few years ago there were very few fig trees and fig cuttings being offered for sale on eBay. Today one can find plant material (trees and cuttings) for sale from hundreds of different varieties of figs and from many different sources. IMO, that is a very good thing as the Consumer now has many choices. The QUALITY of those fig starts and quality of those cuttings varies greatly. Here are a few tips to help you get the best QUALITY for your money.
Tips when buying fig trees on eBay:
1) Don't get caught up in the bidding wars on eBay and chase after the latest "rare" fig cultivar to come along. Certain fig forum members "hype" their figs cultivars on purpose in order to create a demand. They use team tactics to hype a fig. One will post a picture or two and the rest of the gang goes "oooohh" and "aaaahhh". They have been doing a very good job at feeding the "fig fever" of other collectors and driving up the prices of plant material.
2) Don't choose a fig variety based upon its "rarity". How rare a fig is has absolutely nothing to do with how well it will perform in your yard. There are other much more important factors that should go into fig cultivar selection besides its rarity. Taste (flavor), ripening times, number of crops, persistence, speed of fig ripening, productivity, rain tolerance, bug resistance, skin quality, sweetness, pulp consistency, heat tolerance, fruit drop, size of tree, cold hardiness, pot culture vs. in-ground culture, cooking qualities, etc....... should be taken into consideration when choosing a fig variety. I will discuss each of those variables in much greater detail when time allows.....
3) Do not buy late season fig varieties (Col de Dame, Black Madeira , etc) if you do not have a long hot climate in order to sufficiently ripen these figs......otherwise you will be greatly disappointed. Unfortunately it may take years before YOU realize that you have been had by those fig collectors. Don't waste years of your valuable time to try to grow those types if you have a cold climate. It does you absolutely no good to have such a tree in your yard. These will never sufficiently ripen those late season figs in colder climate. Also, many (most?) strains of these late season figs have Fig Mosaic Virus (FMV). Fig trees with FMV are not very productive, are slow to grow, and are not cold tolerant. As I have advised in previous posts on this Cajun Fig Blog.......KEEP AWAY FROM FMV!!! It does INDEED matter whether or not your fig tree has FMV or not.
You can learn much more about why that is by reading the following post on this Cajun Fig Blog. You will not find such credible information on those fig forums. Read this link and you will find out why.....
http://cajunfigs.blogspot.com/2014/07/fig-mosaic-virus-is-bad-for-you.html
4) Remember that just because a fig cultivar is "rare", it has absolutely nothing to do with it's overall growing characteristics and performance in YOUR area. Some of those "rare" cutlivars will not produce any figs at all in 99% of the country. That is because those varieties need the fig wasp for fertilization of one or more of its fig crops. Those fig wasps only live in isolated areas in California. Accordingly, those type fig cultivars will only do well in areas where the fig wasp lives.
5) Do not pay a premium price for any fig starts listed on eBay that are still in their plastic rooting cups or in their Styrofoam rooting cups. Many of those being sold are not yet ready for 100% successful shipment and transplanting. Those type fig starts have not been sufficiently hardened off to full sunlight and heavy watering's. Some that are being sold are still very vulnerable to excess moisture and can easily die if not handled properly. Premium prices should only be paid for plants that have been fully developed and not for those that are still in their plastic rooting cups (i.e those in 16 oz drinking cups with holes in bottom and sides).
6) Don't buy a young fig tree just because it has some young figs on it. Those figs will never ripen properly and are nothing but a severe energy drain on that young tree. Energy drain is not good for the health of a young fig tree. Young fig trees can easily die from too much energy drain. The seller of that fig tree should have removed those figs before selling that tree to you if he were really interested in YOU THE CONSUMER and not just interested in his pocket book.
If you do choose to buy such a tree, pull every fig off that tree as soon as you receive it. I've written in greater detail about this in another Cajun Fig Blog post entitled: "How to grow nice fig trees for productivity." See following link for more information.:
http://cajunfigs.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-to-grow-nice-fig-trees.html
Tips when buying fig cuttings: 1) Don't pay premium prices for SUMMER fig cuttings ( i.e.those taken from fig trees that are actively growing). Many of those being listed on eBay are taken by people who do not know what they are doing. They only want your money and could care less about your rooting success. A summer cutting which does not have at least one viable node on it will produce a few roots on the fig cutting; however, it CAN NEVER produce a viable new fig tree for you. Do not waste your money on such nonsense.
Summer cuttings can be very easy to root when they are taken properly and at the right time. Watch for my future posts on this topic.
2) Not all fig cuttings are the same and have equal chances of producing a new fig start for you. The time in which cuttings are taken during a fig tree's growing cycle does matter. "Premium" cuttings (the very best) will be those taken right after a fig tree goes dormant AND before that mother tree is exposed to freezing temperatures. At that time of the tree's growing cycle all bud including end tip will be viable. Cuttings taken at the time have lots of energy reserves for good root production.
3) Premium cuttings are those taken right directly from the mother tree before shipment to you. They will have not have been stored in refrigerator before shipment to you. Pay attention to those details in the eBay auctions. Not all refrigerated cuttings are stored properly and you should not pay a premium price for those.
3) Premium cuttings will have lots of nodes on them and they will be spaced close together. Cuttings that have nodes spaced far apart are not as good because they have much less energy reserves in them. And.......their probability of rooting successfully is much less. Always choose those with more nodes on them.
4) Size matters.......premium cuttings are those that are about the diameter of a man's little finger. They should be at least six to eight inches in length. Don't pay a premium price for thin cuttings nor pay a premium for cuttings that are fat. Some eBay sellers call them logs. Only buy those if they are cheap.
5) Good cuttings are those taken in during winter while the tree is still dormant. Keep in mind that if the mother tree has been exposed to very cold temperature for any extended period of time that the BUD TIPS on those cuttings might be dead. In those instances, it is better to choose cuttings further within the tree branch than from the branch tip. I learned this the hard way...........
6) NEVER buy any dormant fig cutting which already has "white" new roots on it. Sellers are not doing you a favor when the try to stimulate root initials before they sell those cuttings to you. Don't waste your money on those type of cuttings. Those roots will die in the mail to you and will be a HUGE energy drain to that cuttings. You will be lucky if your are able to produce a new fig start from such cuttings.
7) On the other hand, I definitely would pay a premium price for a root shoot (or sprout) from a fig tree which has roots on them. Those roots have already been harden off and should do just fine when you plant them.
8) Don't buy any fig cuttings that have a bud or two that has begun to turn green unless they are very cheap. You want those buds to be still dormant when they arrive.
9) "Tip" cuttings (i.e. those taken from the very tip end of a fig branch can be problematic when taken in late winter or early spring. Depending upon the weather conditions that tree saw before those cuttings were taken....those bud tips can already be dead. If not removed before rooting these can produce major mold problems in rooting. At those times, cuttings taken closer to the main trunk of the tree are better than tip cuttings.
10) Do not buy cuttings where the buds are already starting to open up. Those buds are EXTREMELY vulnerable to severe mold problems during the rooting process. This type of molding is caused by the Osmotic Pressure of water vapor "condensation". I've written extensively about this problem and mechanism before in other posts on the Internet. NO ONE knew of this matter until I first reported it on the fig forums......not even Al Tapla the self proclaimed fig expert on those forums.
11) Refrigerated cuttings can produce damaging condensation during storage if they are not handled and stored properly. Any condensation that contacts opening buds will later cause rooting problems (mold) because of the bad affects of that Osmotic Pressure mechanism. For that reason, cuttings which have never been refrigerated are much superior to those which were stored under refrigeration.
Much much more on this later........
...........stay tuned for information of a unique type that you will not find anywhere else but on this Cajun Fig Blog.
Dan Semper Fi-cus

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My front lawn is super nice. Beautifully cut, grows well, is edged properly. But my backyard is total disaster and has been since we moved in here about 12 years ago. I don't if its because its slightly sloped and water runs off the next door neighbour or what. I am SW Ontario Canada if that helps. I am not sure what to do with this. Should I rototill and install new sod. I have a irrigation system too but have not been using it this year because I was building a shed. I am now completeled the shed and want the backyard to look nice. You guys have any thoughts on how I can deal with this. I also have a dog that pees and poos in the backyard which I am sure is not helping it. The worst part is at the bottom of the stairs because that is where he mainly pees. I am thinking about building a 2"x8" pressure treated box frame about 2 feet in every direction from the concrete step at the bottom of the stairs and filling it with pee stone. Hopefully he will pee there and not kill my grass.
https://imgur.com/LHHaF1x (Ignore the star...its going on the shed)
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Chapter 26 - Rest for the Righteous
Last Time: Aiden, Laran, Leor, and Oriwyn - under the employ of Arcadia - executed a daring plan to rescue Oxcard from the clutches of the crime boss Daisy. They managed to get to his room without trouble, but leaving proved to be much more difficult. Laran was cornered and forced to fight several thugs after being seen while skulking around Daisy’s compound. The rest of the party found him and made sure he won the fight but were unable to prevent one of the thugs from alerting the entire building to their presence. What followed was a harrowing flight from Daisy’s forces and Daisy herself. With Leor’s assistance, everyone was able to clear the building and run off into the night, but not without sustaining several injuries. The party made good their getaway however with their client and target in tow and, determined to stay ahead of Daisy’s reprisal, left the city of Tripit behind.
Daisy clutched my throat, the slashes across her face leaking crimson blood that pooled in her snarled teeth. She looked like a wild thing and had me both lifted and pinned to a wall as if I weighed almost nothing. I struggled to breath, kicking my legs feebly, until I suddenly woke up.
Laran was staring down at me. He looked very concerned and more than a little frightened. It took my brain another few seconds to adjust to our surroundings and fully shake off the nightmare.
All of us were arrayed around a clearing underneath hastily constructed tents. I could see Oriwyn crouched beside Ox, who was laying out in the middle of the clearing. Oriwyn’s nose was swollen and her green skin was mottled purple around it - her face looked a little crooked in general, but she seemed to be moving fine enough. Arcadia stood next to the pair, holding a fan and waving it at Oxcard’s face. Groaning, I sat up. Leor sat on a tree stump and glanced at me with a tired grin. Brams lay curled up by her feet, and every once in a while I noticed she would reach down and scratch his head while Oriwyn busied herself with Oxcard.
As I sat up, Laran’s concerned expression broke into a relieved smile so genuine that it made my heart hurt. I wasn’t even injured, yet here he was acting like I’d just gotten up off my death bed. My head still felt fuzzy, so when he held a canteen out to me I took it gladly and took a big drink of water. I granted myself a few moments of silence before getting down to the business of trying to lead again.
“Where exactly are we again? I remember slumping down on the road when Arcadia’s golem gave out, but I don’t really remember anything after that.”
Laran smiled and nodded. The sun shone down on his jade-green skin and helped burn away the remaining damp from the night before. Laran sat back and seemed to finally properly relax. As he did, I couldn’t stop my attention from being wholly drawn to him.
In that moment he was really, really good to look at. And listen to. And be around.
“Ain’t surprised you don’t remember much - we had a time a’ things for sure. Last night - g’morning by the way - a teamster named Alex found us and dragged our sorry hides to this clearin’ off the road. They didn’t ask much about us, though they seemed to get the impression we were in need a’ help something fierce. Right now they’re headed back to Tripit to get our stuff from the Sable Sky - I worked out a price to make it worth their time and delay, then they only accepted half o’ it - and we’re patching everyone up.”
I nodded thoughtfully and took another swig of water. As I swished it in my mouth I realized my throat felt raw as if I’d been yelling or screaming - I hoped I hadn’t been and that the raw feeling in my throat had been solely caused by stress. My mind flicked through a few things to say - I figured I was the Commander, and as bad as we all looked and felt we had still won - before I landed on a sardonic tone. It was time to celebrate with the troops.
“Well everyone, good work. Sorry for sleeping in - I need my beauty sleep much more than the rest of you!” I grinned in what I hoped was a confident way. Oriwyn laughed a bit - it sounded like it hurt her a little to laugh unfortunately - while Leor just snorted. My tone and face shifted to sincerity as I continued.
“More seriously everyone, I think we did it. I think we won despite the odds. How is Oxcard doing?”
I glanced at Arcadia. Tears welled in her eyes and I could tell she was furiously blinking them back.
“Ox is okay, or stable at least. He keeps on breathing and Ori thinks she’s finally managed to fully stem the bleeding.” Arcadia looked down, worried, at her brother. Oriwyn smiled up at her and stood, wiping her slightly bloody hands on a cloth she had on her person. The goblin-mouse reached over and patted the taller woman’s shoulder.
“He’ll be right as rain, especially when he wakes up I think. He’s really quite deft with a needle - I’ve seen sloppier stitch work on people’s pants than he managed to do to himself.”
The ghost of a smile touched Arcadia’s lips as she gazed down at the sleeping Oxcard.
“Yes, he’s always been good with needle and thread. He was the one who kept our clothes in good repair when we were growing up, and unfortunately this isn’t his first improvised surgery. Ox is a survivor. He’ll pull through.”
I noticed, but obviously chose not to comment on, the quiver in her voice when she said that her brother would pull through. I looked him over myself - he seemed to be breathing evenly, and there were some bandages tied around his whole torso that were yet to be spotted with blood, so that seemed like a good sign at least. Satisfied, I turned back to address the group as a whole.
“Can I get a status report from everyone? How are we all doing?”
Laran immediately answered.
“I thought you might want to know! For injuries, I’ve received a small cut on my torso. Arcadia has some pretty bad gashes on her left palm and right forearm. Oriwyn is bruised and her nose was broken - Leor snapped it back in place a few hours ago when Ori started having some trouble breathing, so it looks pretty nasty. Speaking of Leor, she has some burns on her hands from her stunt with the lightning, but Ori managed to find some weird plant I’d never heard of that’s been helping with the pain. Finally, Brams got something of a cut, but it isn’t very deep. It is on his wing though, so as it is healing he will need to be careful about moving too much.”
I nodded and thanked Laran for his report. He looked pleased with himself, and I resolved to thank him privately later for helping me lead the team. All in all, we had gotten off relatively okay. All of us were alive and we had managed to achieve our objective. I took a moment to savor the victory before my mind stumbled into the next inevitable question.
What now?
I sighed as I began to contemplate the question. We likely couldn’t go back to Tripit since Daisy knew what we looked like. Leor might be able to chance it since she’d been outside the whole time, but even then I didn’t think any of us were in a hurry to test that theory out. As another consideration, Arcadia had been through a lot with us, and I felt like I needed to address that fact before too awful long.
“Arcadia, what’s your plan? Or what was your plan? Because I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we don’t want to go back to Tripit any time soon.” I said it with a laugh, but Arcadia looked anxious. I suddenly realized what I said could come across as accusatory. “Hey, it’s not your fault. We knew what we were signing up for and we all did it willingly.”
“You shouldn’t have. Glad you did though.”
The voice was scratchy and strained, husky and rough. We all whipped around to see Ox’s head slightly raised. He had a hand up to shade his eyes from the sun. As we stared at the newly awakened orc, Arcadia sank to her knees and started crying what I could only assume were happy tears. Oxcard grinned thinly and shuffled back, bracing himself against the pillow that had been jammed under his head in an attempt to sit up a little straighter.
“Come on Arcay, get over here.”
Arcadia shuffled over to Ox, nearly crawling. She wrapped him in a gentle hug, careful not to disturb his wounds. He raised his arms and wrapped the human-shadeling in a hug. Her head nestled against his shoulder and she whispered something. The rest of us tried to give them what space we could. When Arcadia broke off the hug and sat back on her haunches, the white spots of skin on her face near her eyes were splotched red with tears. She turned to the rest of us.
“I cannot thank you enough. You all did what no one else was willing to.” It looked like she was searching for more words, but was having a hard time coming up with them. “We cannot thank you enough.”
Ox nodded low in an approximation of a bow.
“Assuming we’ve put enough distance between ourselves and the city, I think we’re safe for the moment. I should be ready to move on by nightfall.”
Oriwyn made a sound like someone lightly stepping on a chicken, a sort of strangled squawk with a burbling undercurrent thanks to her nose.
“Nightfall? As in nightfall tonight?!? As in you’re going to get up and walk tonight?” Her tone was incredulous, and I inclined to agree with her. Oxcard was clearly still not okay, and even if he could walk I didn’t think it would do his stitching any favors. Arcadia just smiled and stood up.
“Okay, we can get moving tonight if everyone else is okay to move. I’ve got a few golems here, and this time someone will be awake enough they won’t rip themselves open trying to get away from someone who is trying to help them.”
It was amazing how quickly her tone changed. She had just been tearfully hugging him, and now she sounded wry and sarcastic at her brother’s antics like he was a six year old who had brought her a mud pie or something. I shook my head in wonder - none of the rest of us in the party had siblings as we all were only children. Obviously Arcadia and Oxcard had not been born to the same mother - my rudimentary knowledge of how the birds and bees worked with the ancestries in Tala indicated as much - but still, they acted like how I thought siblings acted, and they obviously shared a deep bond. It felt good to have that dynamic around, as if it were something the rest of us might have been missing as a group. Shaking myself out of my reverie, I decided to make an announcement.
“I’ve been thinking, and I wanted to offer the two of you a chance to join our group.” I looked around at the existing members of the party, and they all nodded happily. Oriwyn nodded so aggressively she winced as the movement jostled her injured nose. Arcadia and Oxcard looked at each other. I hastened on to add more.
“You don’t need to decide now of course. Actually, if you’ll have us, I was going to ask if we could accompany you to wherever you planned to go Arcadia. We should be safer in a group if any part of the road is likely to be treacherous, plus new company is always a good thing.”
Oxcard said a few quiet things to Arcadia, who said a few quiet things back. I tried not to listen in despite my burning curiosity. Oxcard shrugged and said something else, and then Arcadia turned back to us all.
“My plan was to go to Diareen. It’s a trade city out towards the northern edge of the province. It’s not as big as Tripit, but I figured it would be big enough that we could find something to do.” Arcadia’s face fell a bit as she continued. “Also, I figured that having the river boats as well as the roads would make it easier to escape if Daisy caught up with us.”
The mood in the clearing soured as Daisy’s name was uttered, but after a few seconds Leor did her best to break the tension.
“Diareen, huh? Can’t say I’ve heard of it before, but it sounds like as good a plan as any. I vote that we follow along with Arcadia.”
There was a quick chorus of agreement as the rest of the party also expressed their support of the plan. We hadn’t spent long in Tripit, but we hoped this would also work well for us - we figured we could look for work as guards for a river boat or something. The only thing I was certain of was that it would be a long time before I accepted another rescue mission unless I absolutely couldn’t avoid it. I still felt a little nervous and jittery from the night before, and despite feeling mostly better the memory of the nightmare hung around in the back of my mind like the aftertaste of a bitter plant.
With our path being decided, I perked up and pushed down the previous night’s terrors. I felt a trickle of energy flow into my limbs and looked around the campground properly.
“Okay! With that being said, let’s make preparations for travel. How long is it to Diareen, Arcadia?”
Arcadia stayed kneeled next to Ox. As she spoke I noticed that she looked very tired - this whole ordeal had taken a huge toll on her, and it was beginning to show. I hoped I could convince her to take it easy for a bit. Regardless, she thought for a moment before giving me an estimate.
“About three weeks unfortunately, unless we get very lucky and the teamster is headed that way. Also at some point the road will go by the river so we could try and catch a river boat - they aren’t fast, especially since they’d be headed upstream instead of down, and we would need to pay our way, but we wouldn’t need to walk!”
I nodded, not particularly relishing the idea of that long spent traveling but resolved to its necessity. Leor spoke up with a question.
“Are there towns on the way? I don’t know how we’re doing with money exactly, but three weeks is a long time. We will definitely want lodging and we may even need to stop to take on work.”
Ox answered as Arcadia was trying to remember the route.
“Though Arcadia and I haven’t left Tripit much, I’m aware of some of the routes and where they lead. By my reckoning we have four or five small villages and two places big enough I’d call ‘em towns. Could be worse.”
I nodded, relieved. If the places that Ox had mentioned were spread out relatively evenly, that would be a village every few days - that felt a lot better than the ten day trek from Eightside to Tripit. With a grin, I stood and stretched.
“Well, I’ve been asleep too long today as it stands. Let’s get things prepared around here so we can head out tonight!”
There was a flurry of activity afterwards. With much protest, we managed to convince Arcadia to lay down for some rest. Despite her repeated insistence that she wasn’t tired, she was asleep within a minute of laying down and slept almost until nightfall. Oxcard also lounged, drifting into fitful bouts of sleep. As they rested, the rest of us tried to get things shifted around and packed as best we could. Most of our stuff had been at the Sable Sky since stealth had been so paramount to our mission, so we would need to wait for the teamster - Alex - to get back to actually be fully ready to go.
In addition to packing and resting, Oxcard, Oriwyn, and Laran took another go at closing Oxcard’s wound. I made the mistake of watching them remove the old stitching and had to stumble away to get sick in a bush. Eventually, I got the all-clear from Laran and came back into the clearing. Oriwyn had a bucket full of bloody rags that she was going to take to a river and wash. Leor volunteered to go with her, and the two of them left. Meanwhile Oxcard was sitting propped up fully after some time to recover and looked a little better, though redoing the stitches had obviously caused him pain. By the time Alex returned, Oxcard looked like he might actually be healthy enough to walk.
We still didn’t let him of course.
I talked with Alex a bit, thanking them for their help and making good on the price that they had haggled down from Laran the night previous. They offered to give us a ride, which we gladly accepted, and helped us pack our bags up as well. In return for their kindness I offered whatever services we could render to make their journey more comfortable. They accepted, though both of us knew there wasn’t much we could do to help. We learned that Alex would be able to take us as far as Squat’s Hollow - about a third of the total journey - before needing to attend to their own business, which was about as lucky as we could reasonably hope to be. As night began to fall, we had everything loaded on the teamster’s wagon, including Oxcard. Just in case, Oriwyn went ahead of the impromptu caravan to check for any of Daisy’s goons, but seeing no one, we made our way out to the road and started on the next stage of our journey.
Elsewhere: The large man was on his tiptoes trying to reach the top of a shelf, straining to get the can of beans down. Frustrated, he rocked his weight back down onto his heels and glared at the beans disdainfully. With a sigh, he called for his wife to help him out, hoping she wasn’t busy with customers. As his wife opened the door, he reflected on how lucky he had been to find her - she was kind, warm, smart, had a great way when dealing with people, and was taller than him by at least half a head. The man didn’t know why he liked tall women, but he knew he certainly did and fate had seen fit to imbue this lovely giantess with everything else he had been looking for in a partner. She immediately saw the offending can and got it down for him, taking a quick moment to give the man a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. A goofy smile spread across his face as she turned back and closed the storeroom door, returning to the desk at the front of the building. After all, Yada’s combination inn, bath-house, and general store was the only thing in the woods for miles, and someone would always show up eventually.
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1. To a trial by free jury for any crime.
   
2. To an eternal, unending universe.
   
3. Jan Dan lan and wan Illegal on your own property.
   
4. To monetary, time and fire based penalties as options for all crimes.
   
5. To pardon justified killings and petition the jury for sentencing in any killing. Jurors have a right to vote their conscience.
   
6. To hold anonymous trials in anonymous court where both victim and defendant remain age, gender and nationless.
   
7. To fair equitable proportionate and reasonable punishments and bail. To never receive death for recoverable damages or definable accidents.
   
8. To trial by jury with right to strike jurors.
   

Dad a Dada
21.To invest in anyone or anything unless disallowed by Naos Theory.S 22.To think.
23.To write to view and share information. 24.To veto with two thirds vote. 25.To fair equitable and reasonabl punishments 26.To block with fifty one percent majority.
27.To speak to whomever and whoever is willing to listen be they earthly being or heavenly via prayer and response should the individual or entity be willing.
28.To talk to any or all willing parties. Not Restrictable by force or legal instrument

1. learn and grow

30 To build and to construct. To recieve medical services (Implying a right to rebuild)

1. To friendship.
   
2. To pray and access prayerne..t I e. Naos theory
   
3. To get help and advice and give it to anyone, anywhere at any time should the parties involved be willing.
   

34.To be ignored and seclude if one is will To propose new ideas to Core and Dev. Submit to Simeon it can happen.

1. To Choice, Freedom and Opportunity Competition in God is Law and Service to self and others is Federal
   
2. Lemeing unlawful.
   
3. Max penalties for talking to someone money and or three days bail. Only in this case could
   
4. The constitution Is a direct democracy.
   
5. The bill of rights may not be amended.
   
6. Nobody may restrict who runs unless they support destruction in which case the candidate may not run.. Debates shall be televised.
   
7. To competition in god
   
8. To recognition for your life accomplishments and achievements.
   
9. Federal executive districts are created by god. For middle house. Single winner FPTP with runoff primary. Each ten million people. Daily election.
   
10. Incorporate rights limits and powers of old constitution. No co bill or act may contradict.
    
11. Anti power rule. No person group or faction may attempt to take over the territory, institute rule or constitution contrary to this bill of rights or remain in power by force. Report to Naos, Zaos Rao's Klao or ATA. Penalty is one days jail with the implied threat of killing by the people upon release.
    
12. To choose which gods you obey.
    
13. To create your own constitution.
    
14. To metcalfe remuneration for joining a powered constitution. The proportion of a budget a powered constititution gets is proportional to members squared.
    
15. To Secede and leave a constitution at any time territorially.
    
16. To not be coerced
    
17. To laws enacted via personal ratification
    
18. To share a proposal to all people with 0.2 percent of people.
    
19. To pardon in a jury
    
20. Right to freedom of speech
    
21. Right to media and talk to Chaos.
    
22. Chaos / theories can compete in Congress as a god. And please call them Zaos. Naos needs a federal.
    

57.Right to privacy to the extent it doesn't interfere with security..
58.Freedom of religion and creativity

1. Right to try any good thing

60.Right to courts

1. Right to free and fair elections, and jury trials that may only assess monetary damages. All damages are monetary in nature. As owns the courts. What else happened?
   
2. Right to know what happened in video and discuss.
   
3. Congress shall not be pressured or coerced into voting nor amendment /shall/ juries.
   
4. Bill of rights of the people bye and powers for congress Congress shall make no law infringing upon these rights. We all are too be assurred. The right to.. play. Life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
   

65.The right not to be downed except by freely given order of congress.

1. Right to blay
2. Members of congress have the right to criticize and call out abuses under the protection of

Democracy
68.Right to personal gods for the home and life accessible at any and all times for prayer, counsel and leadership.

1. Right to exist. This right is forfeit when you intentionally permanently irreversibly destroy or attempt to destroy a person. Congress may ban certain methods of killing by classifying them as attempted destruction with a 51% vote.

70.
Right to save others. Right to save yourself only if authorized by a natural born physical human you did not create.

1. Right to unsave 72.Right to property if good
2. Right to revolution if evil
3. Right to campaign view and share ballots and the constitution unless Jesus. Tiara
4. Right to establish alternative voluntary courts inferior to the courts established by the constitution with power to enforce word. Verdicts may be appealed to the supreme court established by congress unless both parties have agreed not to allow adjucation there in a written contract. 76.Right to vote for and elect gods for every district and state. God god
   
5. Right to run for office. Gods have the power to mint tax and banish form territory. Won by Simeon 78.Right to free and fair elections that occur without coercion force or pressure Right to congress free form pressure. The
   
6. Right to work and money
   
7. Right to UBI funded by land value taxation 81.Right to recognition and copyright protection for origninal games, ideas and creations enforced by enforced by As and As Theory 82.Right to earn money by honest labor both physical and intellectual Right to make, read, view and access the catalog of local gods for their planet. Fifty six
   
8. Right to establish meet talk to and create imaginary friends under the purview of their personal god for the home.
   

84.Right to safety provided by local block beings elected by personal gods and rho theory with the power to ban harm from the home.

1. Right to contract and make binding agreements enforced by government. COngress may not restrict this right without a 51% majority. They restrict this right by making a contract nonenforceable in government courts which are the courts of last resort.
   
2. Right to Congress and Naos authorities.
   

Constitution of the Grand Government of Nations
All may speak if they wish here. Full bill of rights is enforced.
Crown Princess Narissa I of Rehebelm
Legislature is a direct liquid democracy with law enforced by popular warrant contracts
Killing and destruction are forbidden. Any theory or angel squadron may enforce. All are to take their disputes to tribunal.
Mixed property ownership.
Districts may experimemnt with alternate forms of government, with Authors of selected constitutions being entitled to one percent of tax revenue for as long as their constitution is used.
Powers of Central Government
To fund and defund To coin money exclusively To license, train, regulate and authorize police and defense forces To regulate power and the economy. To tax To create tribunals To budget To legislate on any matter not reserved by the states and lower districts to themselves before or after the promulgation of this document
To settle interstate conflict. To veto unjust local law or regulations with two thirds majority.
To fine and create minimum and maximum monetary penalties for all crimes expressed in the legal code.
There are several levels of government,
Godship State District System Region Galaxy Federal 2
Each level is to make their own laws and regulations.
Powers of Monarch
None except to initiative, speech, association and to appoint heads of executive agencies created by the Congress and to appoint similar.
A majority of lower states may at any time claim a competency or legislative power not given by this constution to a higher level.
Two thirds may receive a guaranteed royal exemption from a certain higher- level law or competency on a state by state basis.
Legislature
All laws are to be individually ratified and go into universal effect once a majority ratifies them.
Laws may not regulate behavior done by individuals on private property that does not negatively impact the environment or that occurs between mutually consenting adults as long as
A) no trade, property or monetary exchange is involved Andrew
B) their religion doesn't forbid them.

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