It was around 2000, and I was doing pretty heavy manual labor with extremely long days in the cold at a Christmas tree lot.
I ordered a crunchwrap and a bean burrito today. I couldn't even finish the crunchwrap. The bean burrito is in the fridge for later.
To be a teenager again...

I’m a SFAR user. It’s a lovely weapon. My SFAR is white. Beautiful. I usually hold smokes, but occasionally treat myself to AP’s. Drum attachment. It’s feels so good to hold, nice weight to it. As I aim down-sight, sometimes I think to myself “that poor glowing soul, lighten up like a Christmas tree”, and pow, just like that, I’m dead, because I’m shit. Nevertheless it still feels wrong to use a thermal. Any thoughts and/or alternatives?

The next morning, Kokichi trudged out of his room. He heard excited talking in the living room, so he decided to see what was going on. Everyone had crowded around Himiko, telling her how different she looked. Kokichi noticed that Sonia was there, as well.

"Himiko's hair really nice!" Gonta exclaimed.
​
"Why did you decide to go with black hair again?" Maki asked.
​
"Nyeh...I liked it so much last time that I just wanted to do it again," Himiko replied. "Besides, it makes me feel more...mysteriooouuusss."
​
"You definitely look great, Himiko!" Shuichi said.
​
"Yes, perhaps you have found your new look," Sonia said with a happy smile. "I think it gives you a more...gothic appearance, which is totes awesome!"
​
"Oh, my! I never thought of it like that!" Himiko said. "Maybe we should be goth girls, Sonia!" Sonia's grin became wider with excitement.
​
"Oh, yes! We can become...queens of the night!" she said.
​
"Hee-hee...I like that!" Himiko giggled. Kokichi felt his heart drop.
​
"Let's go to the mall, already!" Tenko said impatiently. "We gotta get there before the free stuff goes away!"
​
"Right!" Himiko and Sonia said at the same time. Then, they smiled and pointed at each other. "Jinx!" they said before bursting out into giggle fits.
​
"You girls have a great time," Rantaro said, waving goodbye. Kokichi rushed back to the boys hallway and peaked from behind the wall as he watched Himiko, Sonia, and Tenko leave. His shoulders dropped with sadness.
​
"She didn't even notice me," he muttered despondently. Tears stung his eyes as he rushed to his room and quickly closed the door. He slid down the door and covered his face. "Stop crying," he growled to himself. "This is your fault! This is what you deserve!" He aggressively wiped his tears from his face. But no matter how much he wiped the tears away, they kept streaming from his eyes. Finally, he hung his head and allowed himself to cry.
​
Outside of Casa V3, Himiko, Sonia, and Tenko were walking along the sidewalk, when suddenly, Himiko realized she forgot something.
​
"What's wrong, Himiko?" Tenko asked as she and Sonia watched Himiko search her body.
​
"Nyeh...I forgot my purse," Himiko replied. "You guys go on ahead, I'll go get it."
​
"Are you sure, Himiko?" Sonia asked.
​
"Yeah, I'll be right back!" Himiko called back to them as she dashed off. She rushed back inside and up to her room. "Nyeh...where did I put it?!" she exclaimed. She opened one of her desk drawers and found her small black purse inside. "Ah! There it is!" she reached for it, but something made her stop abruptly: Kokichi's yo-yo. She picked it up and stared at it quizzically, wondering why it was still there when she had given it back to Kokichi. She also remembered the strange way he had been acting the night before after she had come back from the mall. Suddenly, she realized what day it was.

"Oh, no!" she said, standing up. She put the yo-yo in her pocket and slung her purse over her shoulder before rushing downstairs towards Kokichi and Gonta's room, but paused before knocking on the door. She sighed, thinking how much of a jerk she was for forgetting her and Kokichi's rom-com movie day. She realized that the reason why he was acting unlike his usual self was because he must have been feeling left out, but he didn't want her to know how he felt. Himiko sighed.
​
"Nyeh...poor Kokichi," she whispered softly. Then, a look of determination crossed her face. She turned and marched briskly down the hallway and exited the house. She quickened her pace to catch up with Tenko and Sonia. "Um...Sonia? Tenko?" she said. Sonia and Tenko turned to face her.
​
"What's wrong, Himiko?" Tenko asked. Himiko paused to catch her breath.
​
"Nyeh...you two should go on without me," Himiko said. Sonia and Tenko looked perplexed.
​
"Why, Himiko?" Sonia asked.
​
"I have something more important to do," Himiko responded.
​
"More important?! Like what?!" Tenko exclaimed.
​
"I can't explain, right now," Himiko said, rushing off. "Just go have fun without me!" She hurried off towards the nearest convenience store as Sonia and Tenko watched her in confusion.
​
***
​
Kokichi was lying forlornly on his bed all afternoon. His pillows were stained with his tears, and his eyes were red and puffy from sadness. He was about to drift off to sleep, when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He sighed heavily as he stood up to go open it. When he did, he felt a sudden surge of surprise and delight jolt through his body seeing Himiko. She was holding many shopping bags in her hands.
​
"Himiko!" he said before turning his head away so she wouldn't see his eyes. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Sonia?"
​
"Nyeh...aren't you and I supposed to be at the movies?" Himiko asked with a smile. Kokichi's eyes widened. He couldn't contain the small smile that made its way onto his face. But then he rubbed his arm uncomfortably.
​
"Himiko, you don't really have to-" he began.
​
"Kokichi, we need to talk," Himiko interrupted, staring him in the eye. Kokichi stared back at her for a few moments before nodding.
​
"M'kay," he said, moving aside to allow her in. Kokichi closed the door behind him. Himiko placed the shopping bags onto his bed, then patted the space next to her for him to sit down. "What did you wanna talk about?" he asked.
​
"Nyeh...you were crying just now, weren't you?" Himiko asked softly.

"Well...no, I was just-" Kokichi began, shaking his head. Himiko gently held his face.
​
"Kokichi..." she said firmly, looking him in the eye. Kokichi abashedly closed his eyes and sighed.
​
"Yeah..." he said.
​
"Because of me hanging out with Sonia, right?" Himiko continued. "And you thought I had forgotten about you, right?"
​
"Yeah..." Kokichi answered. "I'm sorry, Himiko."
​
"Kokichi, why didn't you tell me?" Himiko asked.
​
"Because...you were so happy being with Sonia," Kokichi explained. "I didn't want to ruin that for you. And, plus, I guess that's what I get for not going with you to DeepBlueSea World. It's my fault."
​
"No, that's wrong!" Himiko said. "It's not your fault, Kokichi. It's mine."
​
"How is it your fault?" Kokichi asked.
​
"Because...you and I had already planned to do things together yesterday and today, and I skipped out on it," Himiko explained.
​
"Because I told you to," Kokichi pointed out.
​
"It doesn't matter," Himiko insisted. "We made plans together, and I should have stuck with it." Kokichi gave her a skeptical look and shrugged his shoulders.
​
"Well...maybe we're both to blame," he mumbled. "I shouldn't have told you to go with Sonia if I really didn't want you to go with her." Himiko put a comforting hand on his arm.
​
"Kokichi...when something is bothering you, you need to tell me," she said in a kind, but firm voice.
​
"I just wanted you to be-" Kokichi started.
​
"Happy...I know," Himiko interrupted. "But I want you to be happy, too! Your happiness is just as important to me as mine is to you, okay?"
​
"Okay," Kokichi nodded with a small smile.
​
"Next time, you'd better tell me if something is bothering you," Himiko said in an authoritative voice. "I'm your supreme lady. And you're my supreme leader. We need to be able to configure in each other." Kokichi let out a small chuckle and rolled his eyes.
​
"Confide," he corrected.
​
"Oh...well, you know what I meant," Himiko mumbled sheepishly. Kokichi smiled at her.
​
"Yeah, I do," he said. "But...you're right. I'm sorry, Himiko." Himiko smiled and wrapped her arms around him.
​
"Nyeh...I'm sorry, too," she said. Kokichi wrapped his arms around her, as well, and smiled before giving each other a kiss. "By the way...here's your yo-yo," Himiko said, pulling out Kokichi's yo-yo from her pocket and handing it to him.
​
"Oh, thanks, Himiko," Kokichi replied with a grateful smile, taking it.
​
"You're welcome," Himiko said. "Keep it with you. You can't cause mischief without it." She gave him a flirty wink, causing Kokichi to chuckle and blush a little. She then gave him a sassy smile. "Now that all that mushy stuff is out of the way, I've got a surprise for you!"
​
"Ooo! What is it?!" Kokichi asked, coming back to his usual happy-go-lucky self. Himiko opened the shopping bags.
​
"I got us our snacks!" she said. Kokichi's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
​
"No way!!" he exclaimed. "You got more Grape Boo-Boo Bops! Ooo! And you got the little chocolate cupcake thingies! Ooo! You got Pocky, and potato chips, and chicken cracker thingies, and..." Kokichi happily sifted through the snacks as Himiko smiled adoringly at him, happy that he was happy and back to his old self. Finally, he finished going through all the snacks and smiled a large, happy smile at Himiko.
​
"When did you get all this?!" he asked.
​
"Today," Himiko replied. "I ended up not going with Sonia and Tenko after all." Kokichi's smile faltered.
​
"Oh..." he said.
​
"BUT...that's okay, because I wanted to buy our snacks," Himiko assured him, placing her hand on his arm. "I can hang out with Tenko and Sonia anytime. But you and I planned for a movie today, and that's what we're gonna do, got it? Supreme lady's orders!" Kokichi's smile grew bigger again.
​
"You got it, HimiCocoa Bean!" he said. "But...we planned to go early in the morning, since we usually like to be the first people in the world to see a movie when it comes out."
​
"Nyeh...that's okay," Himiko said with a mischievous grin. "There's another showing at night...and we get to wear our pajamas, which makes it easier for us to sneak our snacks inside." Kokichi tossed his head back and laughed evilly.
​
"Mwa-hahahahahahahaaa...great idea, Monkey Buns!" he said. Then, he pressed his forehead against Himiko's and stared lovingly into her eyes. "I love you."
​
"I love you, too," Himiko said. They gave each other a kiss before hugging and squishing their cheeks together.
​
***
​
It was around 11:30 p.m. when Kokichi and Himiko arrived at the movie theater after successfully sneaking their snacks inside, thanks to their baggy pajamas. They sat down in the back row, far from the others up front, and shared their snacks with each other. As the movie started, Kokichi wrapped his arm around Himiko. She smiled at him and leaned closer to him.
​
"Himiko?" Kokichi whispered.
​
"Yeah?"
​
"I think I prefer watching movies at night...when the day ends with just you and me," Kokichi said. "Does that sound okay, or is it too corny?" Himiko smiled and gently patted his chest.
​
"I was thinking the same thing, Panta Bear," she replied. Kokichi smiled back at her and kissed her. Together, they sighed happily as they watched the rest of the movie in silence and ate their snacks.

Three years ago before getting into university, my life in high school was all perfect. Perfect in education and unimaginably, in society as well. I had never ever thought of support from anyone except myself, literally accepting no one to interfere with my life at that time. This was because my background from my former school where I had been being raised since I was in kindergarten by some ill-mental teachers, like being mocked of my feminine voice in front of my classmates, despite the fact singing is my self-admitted hobby, until for a period of my life, I had forced myself to sound low as a boy should, detaining me alone every day because my handwriting was not as beautiful as the standard one, and teaching me that all kinds of love except love for family are ought not to have the beginning of them, and its unreasonable strict rules, like not talking in the class (literally) if you don't want to be hit by any wooden or sometimes mental rulers roughly in the end of the day (some of my classmates were hit so often that they didn't even feel painful and laughed instead, no exaggeration) and not bringing any electronic devices to the class, which seemed agreeable but made me never have idea of having conversation with friends outside the class (this results in lack of attaching importance to friendship and also having no friends). All media just exposed the school and some of its other affiliated ones 3 years ago, and some other student cases that were harmed by teachers there either mentally or physically began to be reported since then. The schools are still now available, but they really are not a choice of most parents for their child education anymore. Before all of the truth was revealed, at first my parents, whom I love so much that I have pretended to be insensitive and independent all the time for fear of worrying them, wanted me to have life in high school there, but my one and only favourite English teacher, the one who first expands my vision of a language, especially English, told my parents not to let me stay there because she already knew that the entire school itself was hell in both education and management and took pity on my being and English skill if I had had to study there. On the strength of her advice, they encouraged me to enrol at a new school after that, and here was a start of a sense of perfection in my life.
I decided to enrol for the French-English programme, and it was the best decision in my life. I met two mesdames (French teachers, but we usually call each of them madame despite the fact we speak Thai). They really saw that I had a problem socialising with others, mindset one, although my French skill was top. At that time, I was unaware that all I had been through was unconventional because no one told me that the former school did wrong to me, and I just thought that it was its duty to "rectify" and "perfect" me in their way. Madame, instead of persuading me to focus on study, several times told me to hang out with others. I was so lucky that there were five classmates who first asked me to tutor them English and also French, and they began to reach out to me to socialise with them. It was the first time that I was given a birthday present, homemade cookies, from one of them and had someone, not my own family, say "Happy birthday" to me. It was the first time that I had my own mobile phone to play social media and share Youtube videos with someone. It was the first time that I was able to feel myself letting my guard down and dare to sing a little together with someone in spite of this feminine voice. Last but not least, it was the first time that I hung out with someone.
Somehow, two of them seemed to go out with someone, and another one had a crush on our classmate real hard. All of a sudden, I desired to know what love was. Admittedly, I was great at English because of chatting with online people on one application, and by chance, there was one online person who I had often had conversation with and who came to me and confessed me. I didn't reciprocate his feelings at all but was just curious about love. Of course, it lasted like three months, and the conflict was that I tended to express low self-esteem and repeat that I felt not so valuable as others. In the end, he was perhaps depressed by me and was gone. I admitted that it was the first time for me to feel a little heartbroken very briefly, but in a nutshell, all was well with me.
Personally, it was true for me to spend time on online conversation most because it was the only place where I could perhaps be valuable and feel helpful. And, I did observe that the application I was on had many online people who had a tendency to escape from their reality to there perhaps due to such problems in real life as dysphoria, financial problems, familial ones, and etc. It was certain and knowing that I was as runaway as those, but never had I had bad attitudes towards them.
As if to look at the mirror, someone then burst through the dark there. He appeared to be a boy and talked about stuff that I wasn't used to at all, but all I knew was that he had some secrets and covered his background, very enigmatic. It wasn't love at first sight at all. In the beginning, I urged to make him happy and also copied his vocabulary and speech style to practise my English. He then introduced me to asexuality, and I was so positive that I was in this term. Until... staying up late together with him echoed my reverie. I realised that something unusual grew within me. I imagined more. I talked more. I overthought more. I linked all to him. I felt connected... Then I confessed to him casually for the first time. It ended up with his exemplifying the situation where he used to get confessed by others and rejected them. By nature, I was so stubborn and thought that perhaps both of us might not be that deep at the time. Well, I began to plan to "make something happen." I had long wished that I would have had someone countdown with me on the 31st of December. I knew that he was the one I needed to cling onto that day, so I swayed him into doing it for me or perhaps dragged him into it. I admitted that it was pretty exhausting to prepare to materialise everything in my mind to show him, like the written lyrics at my own website and the painting of him despite the fact that I don't like painting because I'm not good at it. The second confession went on, and the response seemed the same, but he gave me his details on love more. Platonic love. "What is it?" I had no idea of it at all and still have not comprehended its definition up until now.
For those who can explain me what platonic love is and how it works, please read my questions on this subreddit:
https://www.reddit.com/aromantic/comments/13z1sjh/platonic_love_what_criteria_do_you_conside?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
All I knew was that he had impacted my life so much that I felt impressed and lost in his aspect. When I was in the French storytelling pair competition at the national level, I had to go and describe a random picture in French to French judges, and I luckily got a picture of a cosy fireplace with an ornate Christmas tree. So, I imagined to myself what I would want to tell him if we both sit next to each other at the fireplace at Chirstmastime. I taled all the judges about the warmth when with him and somehow made them laugh in a positive way. Abracadabra! I got a gold medal in French storytelling pair competition at the national level.
The feelings for him connected me more to all five friends of mine in a way that I almost dared open up to, most R&B and love songs in a way that I had no doubts anymore why a songwriter loves to write a love song most, and those Facebook posts about love in a way that a teenager seems to press the like button. I understood and visualised life full of colours, not only interested in spending all hours reading dictionaries or academic textbooks at home. Perfection, never had I imagined or been told before. My mother always noticed my smile and wondered why it appeared in my sleep every day. And, I saw only him in my vision, refusing those who confessed to me without hesitation or fear of depressing anyone, which I really did break a group of my online friends for this reason.
Perfection. It was like a drug. I was addicted to it and realised that it brought me back to life. When I was at the former school, I only hoped to survive each day. Study was never in my sight, nor did I homework. I left behind my class, and it seemed that I had no right to grab anyone's attention at all. This led me to think if I had had enough wisdom to impress him and also five friends of mine, they would have given me more attention. So, I made up my mind to live up to him. And the result was the worst decision. I was under pressure to impress him with my knowledge of everything; however, he was always ahead of me no matter how much I did research into various topics. I was really moody every time I saw him, his paintings and writings. Envious of his skill, I misbehaved towards him, and somehow he turned into my rival. Expecting myself more than anyone, I felt disappointed at myself and felt no values for anyone to love or take care of me. Then it was the first time that I... had an urge to criticise and judge him. Plus it was time for university admissions, and I admitted that I wasn't in a state of determination at all.
Eventually we were drifting apart, and he slipped away without farewell while I was still competing with him for perfection. Realising that I was all alone then and we were growing apart, I felt dead inside, a heavy heart to zone out for about 4 lockdown months without talking to any people around me. I blamed myself for all so much that I began to feel myself unable to differentiate between a dream and reality and oftentimes vomited when something about languages including alphabets and vocabularies reminded me of him. I hated myself more and more that I leaned on interpersonal relationships although I had never depended on such a thing at the former school. I never told all of these to my parents because I believed that no one wanted to be seen weak, did they? So, I pretended all the way although my mother did see something different from my usual traits such as a pitch change in my voice, insomnia, loss of appetite, and a lack of interest in reading. It was that time I tried to find his background on the Internet to somehow threaten him? It did seem possible for me, but this contrasted with my personal values, disgusting myself more and more. I ended up with myself, the root cause. I didn't think of self-harm, but with having nummular eczema for 8 years, I always woke up in the morning, covered in blood from scratching all severely inflamed skin subconsciously. This is from stress and allergy to my own immune system. For some reason, I couldn't stand it anymore and messaged one of my five friends and pretended that I just conflicted with one online friend. She did accompany me and really did remind me of my childhood memories influenced by my elder sister whom I haven't talked to since she got into university many years ago, like listening to Vocaloid and Kagerou Project songs, old Japanese songs, especially Utada Hikaru, anime (Cardcaptor Sakura, Kamichama Karin), and immaturity (RPG Maker horror games). I felt that I didn't have to be in a hurry to be an adult. Perfection does not have to lie in only wisdom but also liveliness? It was the first time that I got to play online games with my five friends and understood that it was okay to consult someone and call for help. I kept in mind that when Covid-19 was completely gone, they all had to grow apart as well as him to start their university lives. I wished that I could have frozen the time right here and rested in the moments of immaturity a little longer.
It was hard to control myself not to write and think of him. There were only fragments of memory, but didn’t memory of someone make them themselves? The linguistic exams, the last part was to explain relationships of phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax, and I wrote answers with examples of pandas and names. I topped in linguistics. I should have forgotten. Him. But, the memories weren’t gone at all. Even in academic writings, there were several times when I made an intention on a connoted meaning. December, it was a month that I’ve loved less since then, while a choir teacher seemed to love it most because of the Christmas spirit to carol at the mall. It was the first time I felt that a dream about touching snow in December would be more possible than before.
Until...

His finale is just so good. The music especially. There's something so interesting about seeing Magnificus refuse to die. To not accept the deletion and trying to get through to Luke as his entire world melts away.
It's just awesome.

Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for allowing fanfiction and giving us Tilfish.
[First] [Prior] [Next]
.*~*.
Memory Transcription Subject: ? , run run run run run run.
Date: December 2, 2136
.~*~.
I'm tired. I'm so unbearably tired. I don't remember the fall or when my legs quit working, but I'm still denied the sweet release of sleep by the fires radiating from my muscles. It's sick and twisted, but I don't think I can move any more. I'm stuck here face down in the soil, unable or unwilling to do anything but wonder if a harvesting drone will roll over me and turn me into mist on the crops I'm lost in. My mouth itches. Some loose soil in my nose makes me hack, but there's nothing I can do but wheeze and pant. There's not a drop of moisture left in me. I'm all shriveled up. Everything's a haze.
I should've stopped for water. There was time. A few ponds that didn't look filmed over with vile algae blooms. The last town had a fountain on the outskirts. There were a few distant outbuildings that could've had a sink or a hose. Really, a few mouthfuls would've been enough to keep me from cramping up. Now I feel like I'm all dried out, like a stick of fruit jerky.
I should've taken a break. I've not been able to run in so long. I knew it was getting bad, but I ignored it. I'm paying for it now. I pushed way too far. Run until I black out. Wake up. Repeat. For days and days, or however long I've been free. I don't know. Every time I wake I can't tell if minutes have passed or days. I would push myself back to my feet and run. Because distance is all that matters. I made the right call avoiding the roads. The cameras. The soles of my feet are battered and wail in pain, but for every step I took was a minute longer I got to feel the sun kiss my scales and the gentle caress of the wind upon my neck. The cool soil seeping into my burning side. Fresh air in my lungs. Faint mist on my back.
I should've calmed down. I'm wasting what little time I have left stuck here in misery. I missed my chance to escape. My saviors were predators, but it would've been a better fate. And they're everywhere. Monsters and Predators alike. The whole planet is getting what it deserves. I made my choice, but now I'm squandering it. At least the soil is nice. Even as broken as I feel, it is only temporary. I know this is heaven. I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Even if my tongue is dried and bleeding.
I.
Just.
Need.
To.
Get.
Up.
no no no no no. Hurts. Hurts hurts hurts.
UP.
My body rebels. I settle on crawling. Dragging my tainted digits through the soil and forcing myself through the mud.
Puddle. Puddle Puddle Puddle.
I'm glad to be alive. I'm glad for this puddle. It's my whole world. I crawl to it as quickly as my body allows and beyond, but I'm too dehydrated to cry at the lancing pain in my joints. I slip and tumble into it face first, a cold shock making me freeze up. I don't even try to drink at first, my eyes closed as I lay partially submerged in this brackish water. It makes me feel slightly better as the cold gently eases my neck muscles, and I feel the rest of my body cramping up again.
Imagine drowning in a claw of water. I'm suddenly terrified that it's possible. I throw an arm out and dig it deep into the mud, clawing silt as I awkwardly pull myself in sideways. I roll, splashing the rest of the way in and feeling my poorly treated scales weep as the cold bleeds into them. I lay my head sideways and drink, gagging at the taste but unable to stop myself. I still can't cry, but my face is still trying to produce tears anyways.
In delirium, I notice the corner of a structure well above me. It's a pole, made of metal and towering well above me. Morning dew drips off of it and into my eye not currently submerged, and I blink it away.
Thank you pole. You're a life saver.
I don't plan on moving for a while, so I don't. The dew drips onto my snout several times, and my body rejoices at the cool water I've partially submerged myself in. The silt in my mouth is a necessary and tolerable evil from my desperate dive, and I angle my snout so that I can catch the fresh dew dripping from above instead. It tastes far better than the puddle, and for the first time in ever, I feel a smile creeping on my face.
.*~*.
I blink lazily, one eyelid operating a few seconds behind the other. I feel better. This blackout felt more natural, less forced. Like a gentle wave over my mind than the harsh crack of a baton. My mouth is still full of silt that I spit out, and a moment later I realize I can spit again. The bitter taste of blood in my mouth is faint now, and the joy of having a wet palate can't be described.
ow.
It hurts to move. I try again, but my flesh feels like it's been filled with concrete. My muscles are too tight on my bones. Stiffly, I try again, making little progress, but still progress. I edge out a claw at a time, barely getting my neck out of the pool before collapsing, the chilly waters leaving me shivering.
Where am I?
A very good question, I ask myself. I don't know. That's the cost of running without direction for so long. I think I'm in a field, judging by the crops looking over me and encompassing my wide vision of the vibrant sky overhead.
Yeah... that's it. I'm in a field. Brilliant observation skills.
I try again, but nothing new comes up. For the first time since I fled, I think about what I'm going to do. I'm free. I'm free. What am I going to do now that I'm free? How long do I have? I know the answer to that already. I have a long time. Everybody that knew me is dead and gone. I just need to be careful and not ruin this chance. I should try and find a town. Cities are too big, too many problems could come up. Too many exterminators. I could start over off the beaten path. Somewhere I can hide in plain sight.
This is Sillis. Being me shouldn't be an issue. I... I can get a labor job somewhere. Change my name. What can I do?
...
What can I do?
What is my name?
"Oh dear." I whispered quietly to myself, brows furrowing. Odd. How odd. I can move on from that. Makes starting a new life easier. Something that isn't four walls and a paper thin mattress. Something outside. I just... need to get... out of this darn puddle. No, still not happening. Ouch.
I splash my paw into the puddle in frustration, using about the full range of motion I seem capable of in a mild fit. I want to stay on the move, but the consequences of my poor decision making have come back to bite me right on the rear. At least I have some time to think.
I could try the lumber industry. That's usually away from people. I think I can figure out how to knock down trees, or at least fix up the machines that can. Maybe I can join a farm around here once I'm cleaned up. There's always something to do on a farm. Like counting shipments, or unloading shipments, or loading them. Maybe I can fix things around the property. Golly, I hope I know how to fix the automated machinery. That would really be nice.
Ooh! I could try and be a tram service maintenance operator. Wait, no no no. That requires background checks, I think. Darn it. Uuuh, road utility services? No, that'll take me into cities one way or another. There's a ton of work with drainage systems and water run off here. I could get good money for that since it's risky. Pollutants, constant thundering streams of water. I think I can go with that. There would be a lot of rural investigations that I could apply for. If not, I'm certain the underground construction projects would bear fruit. I'll miss the sun but nobody would bother me too much... no, still too many people. Drainage systems it is!
A faint whistle catches my ear and I freeze, tilting my head as something green flies just overhead. It clips several stalks and leaves as it passes, but seems unbothered as the severed branches fall to the ground and leaves gently cascade after. I follow its path with an eye and it vanishes between some tall plants, leaving me alone just as quickly as-
Nope, the same thing floats by again, darting between crops once more directly above me. It's odd, I can't hear wing beats or buzzing, or see anything keeping it airborne as it passed, and I wait with baited breath to see if it shows itself again. I don't know what I feel, but it isn't terror. It's... something. Curiosity? This time I hear a chirrup, but it's close. I don't see it float by, and painfully I crane my neck and look at the other side of the puddle.
It's an insectoid of some kind, strangely wide and flat. It looks pretty similar to the leaves on the many trees that I've seen since I got out, with uneven, tapered sides. It has a few pairs of legs, and it scuttles to the puddle and dips the front of its body towards the surface. It really does look like a large leaf, but my observation is cut short when the bug abruptly stops moving within barely a claw of the water, a pair of forward facing compound eyes snug against the stem near the tip of its body. It chirps again, and I see narrow maw under the front of this creature, a slim set of fangs briefly glinting in the sun before its mandibles hide them.
"Oh dear." I manage to whisper.
With remarkable dexterity it hops across the body of water and splashes down on top of me, and several legs grip my ribs and arms. My tail flicks under the water's surface, but I don't move as the thing's maw looms over my snout. A smaller set of feelers touch my scales and let it guide where it can't see, and it pecks at my nostril once. I smell ozone and feel a different fire burn in my core, and relax.
This isn't ideal. It really isn't. But it's still better that what once was. You won't hurt me for too long. You're better than they ever were.
Trading my cell for this... it's not that scary. Somehow, despite this predator straddling me and chewing on my snout, I'm not scared of it. I have alarms shrieking in my ears and ozone burning my nostrils and wrists. Bubbly poison twisting my insides and making me gag. I'm terrified of that, but that's long gone. That broken visage cuts deep, but it leaves me feeling empty. I'm alone with this thing pecking at my skull, occasionally chirping or hissing softly as it chews over my scales.
It's little mandibles flutter over my cheek and squish it, the fangs behind it pricking at my scales but never really puncturing. It's odd, almost exploratory. I hear a faint plip as some dew from the pole overhead drips onto the creature, and it leans back slightly to presumably look up. It lowers back down on me, and I wince as it gets a little rougher. It halts for a moment, mandibles still dancing over my scales, before I feel a set of legs slip past my arms and latch onto my back.
I grit my teeth, expecting it to finally lunge down and bite into my flesh as the rest of it's body tenses, but with a start it lifts me up with strength I didn't think it had. My back scrapes along the mud as it lifts me and drags me partially out of the muck. It lowers me down just as quickly as it started, leaving a bit of my upper body out of the water and in the warm air. I blink as it lowers its body down onto my own, legs tightening its grip on me as it presses itself against me. It chirrups again and resumes nibbling on my neck, and my mind absently puzzles over this change of events.
It's roosting on me. Is it my body heat? I feel cold, but maybe it's colder. I wish I knew what you were. I'm glad you're not really biting me. It tickles, stop!
I couldn't help but squeak out a laugh, despite the very present danger I was in. The bug tensed for a moment but didn't sink its fangs into my neck, and after a moment it resumed licking at me. Slowly, it's legs tightened on my body and it pressed itself against me further, and it hissed softly. I closed my eyes when it's maw pressed against me, but once again no bite split me open and drained my lifeblood. It's mandibles tickled my scales some more as the creature flattened out, the ridges of its body laying in the mud as it settled down. I was all but buried under the thing that was almost as big as me, and my tail swished lightly in the water.
Once again, I find myself stuck. I wasn't going anywhere anyways, but now I'm very stuck. Hopefully it doesn't get peckish. This thing could definitely eat me if it wanted to. It's funny that I'm supposed to fear it. All those training exercises failed. Every test and experiment. Maybe it enforced the wrong behavior. I think I might've been respectfully afraid of this creature once, but that part of me is all burned up. If it existed at all.
.~*~.
I've missed the novelty of clouds. Sillis has an overabundance of them, but so far I've been lucky that none of the ones passing overhead were angry. It's almost odd that no rain has come, but I'm glad. I faintly remember that the rains could become acidic if there's too long a pause between storms. Too much smoke or warp residue building up in the atmosphere.
So far I've counted two absolutely towering thunderheads and small storm systems roll by in all their stunning glory, and dozens of smaller offsets in their wake. Hundreds of individual clouds dot the skies, not quite blanketing it yet. It's pleasant, even within the grasp of a large, sleeping predator that's fully enveloped me. I can feel it's diaphragm shifting ever so slightly on my chest, and it twitches occasionally.
I don't mind. For now, things are peaceful. I'm enjoying that. At least, until something crunched a few rows over.
That sounds a lot bigger than this predator.
The creature shifts slightly but doesn't wake as whatever else is out there stalks through the crops. It has to be a predator, from how quiet it moves. Every little rustle and faint step happen far from each other, and my mind immediately jumps to an ambush hunter. Carefully, I move my head to catch a glimpse of the thing, trying not to disturb the slumbering creature that is currently resting it's mouth on my neck. My scales fade into a dirty black that matches the soil, and I squint to hide my eyes from whatever is out there.
There's movement on my left, something tall shifting between the crops a few rows down. I hear a rumbling noise- a deep based growl, and the back of my skull itches.
"...D-1?"
No no no no no. I don't want to go back. I want to be free.
I know what the thing is. It's a new predator. A sapient one. The same ones that freed me. The same ones that wanted to herd me onto a ship. I can't do this. Sapient predators are cruel, far crueler than the average ones. A normal predator wasn't personal about the kill. It could be reasoned with. Where did that come from? A sapient predator was ruthless for entertainment.
I owe them my life.
They'll just take it.
There's a rustle from a different direction, and a behemoth steps out of the crops far closer to me than I would prefer. It is armored like the many I've seen before, but I realize instead of a firearm it wields a bulky tool of some kind tightly in its paws. It dawns on me that it's colors are different, green and blue instead of solid blue, and there's a colorful flag of some kind pressed on the garments of its arm.
"Copy." It rumbled quietly.
"Crikey, you spooked me there!" the other predator whispered, changing course. Thankfully the closest one broke off to meet it, and they stopped one row over. It was best I stay still. Their hearing was better than they let on. "Okay, did you get it done?"
I can't see them clearly, but some non verbal communication must have occurred because the one predator continues speaking.
"Good. Look, trouble is coming. A fellow seppo noticed the ordinance went missing. He's suspicious. There'll be heat soon. Have you made any progress with the other front?" A pause. "Same. I've dealt with several of his goons, but none knew anything good."
"I'll have him tonight."
"...D-1?"
"An exterminator account and reversed polarity on some switches works wonders."
"...you seppos are terrifying."
"We're a world power for a reason."
"...yeah. Do you have the drive? Nice. You keep this up and we'll have everything we need from this planet before Christmas. We're going to make things right." There's an odd grunt, and one of them starts rumbling quietly in what translates as amusement. "Involved in peace. What do they really think this accomplishes?"
"Don't care. We find our whales and move on."
"Come on, we can have some more fun if we're careful! Don't act like that doesn't entertain you after that bomber plot of yours!"
"S-4," there's an undertone in that growl that makes my scales shrink, "remember the prize."
"...God, you're a hard ass. Fine. I'm certain you're carrying that giant wrench for peaceful reasons and not to crack open any skulls out here. I'll check the smuggling routes. Rig up something to keep these bugs under our thumb. You keep being you. I need to move before they notice I'm gone."
Faint footsteps leading away, and I sighed. While brief, just being around them made my scales crawl-
The crops right beside me parted, and the other predator stepped out. It's covered foot splashed into the puddle, and stirred the predator enveloping me. Much to my horror the thing chirruped and hissed, releasing me and spinning around. The apex predator looked down at the smaller thing and regarded it.
:)
The drawing on the mask was comical, and not at all what I was expecting. Most humans didn't wear masks, so blinding terror didn't sweep me away. I almost laughed at the absurdity of concealing one's face, only to make a lazy drawing of a face overtop of it.
The smaller predator didn't find it nearly as confusing or entertaining as I did, and hissed. The apex didn't falter, but surprisingly held its ground despite being threatened by a lesser predator.
Most predators would make a threat back and assert itself. Or lash out. What is this one up too? It's not acting submissive so it isn't backing down. But it isn't retaliating either. Does it need to? It's using it's own size as a deterrent.
My thoughts are interrupted when my toothy cover abruptly spins and flees, gaining air under its body and become airborne. It slashes through a row of crops and is gone, just like how it arrived. The apex still hasn't moved. It takes a few steps forward, nearing me. I can't tell if it's looking at me or not so I close my eyes tight, hoping that my eyes hadn't given me away. There's a thump right beside me and I flinch. I can feel it's presence. It has stopped walking.
It knows. Somehow it sees me. It knows it knows it knows.
Something warm grazes my neck and I flinch again, despite myself. I can't do it. I don't want to die with my eyes closed. I want to see the sun and the clouds and the crops, not this faux darkness.
I open my eyes and it's right there, crouched over me. I can't bother with wasting my energy by screaming. It saw through my camouflage and had a paw to my neck. I wished it to be merciful and just strike me down with the wrench it brought, but it doesn't. Instead it plunges its paw into the water, under my rump. It rips me out of the water and I gasp as its other paw slips down under my shoulders and lifts, but my mind catches up a moment later when it pressed me against it's chest instead of its mouth, forsaking my exposed stomach. It's grip loosens slightly and it adjusts, an arm under my shoulder blades and legs. I can feel the muscles rippling in it's grip, and how easily it could fold me over backwards and squish me. I've seen it first hand.
But it's so gently. So unbelievably gentle. I don't remember the last time I was touched like this. Something in a dark recess of my mind wavered, and I realized I'd curled my tail around the creature's arm without meaning to. It holds me a little closer, nowhere near enough to hurt, and my scales start to change to match the colors it wears. It's not looking at me, the mask is angled too far up. We're moving at a blinding pace suddenly, the rows of crops blurring in my vision. It doesn't stop. This apex runs like a machine, each breath consistent and calculated to a rhythm I notice. Its breathing labors but it keeps going, warm jets of air spitting out the bottom of its mask and onto my soggy, damp form.
It's so warm. I didn't realize the chill of the water until now but I'm shivering. My body takes over for my confused mind and curls into the predator's grasp, trying to get as much warmth from the human's rough garments as I can. I don't know what's come over me. I don't know where it's taking me. I don't care. I can't escape it, and if this thing kills me it was at least kind enough to be gentle.
The skies are so beautiful. I try and focus on them but all I can really see is the predator's mask. I can see the bottom of it's jaw, the taught muscles there. I dread what its face looks like in this moment under that mask. Its digits tighten on my shoulder and side in response to me curling into it, and absently I wonder how this predator is the same as the ones from days ago with their thundering bellows and ruthless firepower.
The apex thunders out of the field and I'm assaulted by new sights. There's a few dozen of them roving around a clearing by several vehicles.
I also spot an Exterminator's van, and my claws unsheathe. The predator winces and I realize I've nailed him with them, but he doesn't throw me down or bark at me. He sprints by the van without stopping, but I see several Tilfish locked inside and doomed to a terrible fate worse than being eaten.
"Ambulance!?" It barks sharply, out of breath. It skids to a stop beside one of the transports, clutching me firmly.
"Just left with the patient. Where the hell did this one come from?" An unmasked predator growled, eyes beady and looking over me. Mine made an odd jerking motion and continued.
"Get Doc."
"I will. What hospital are we calling?" The thought of a clinical space makes me flinch. White walls. White floors. Cold tiles. Needles. Beeping. Humming. Frying.
"None. Operational security."
The other predator screwed its face up and departed, and abruptly mine was sitting down on the back of one of the trucks. Gently I was plopped down on its lap, and I watched transfixed as it peeled its armor off, then its outer garment. There's an image of a veiled human on the back with its eyes closed, head craned down. Its hands are clasped together in thought, and the meaning of it goes over my head.
The predator is a lot smaller than I thought it was. It gently lifts me and set me in the garment, before it starts wiping me down with it. I'm too sore to fight it, and the cloth is exceptionally warm from the creature's body heat. It pulls me closer and holds me in a way that makes my chest hurt, and it looks out at an approaching predator. It rumbles softly.
"You're going to be okay."
My body relaxes despite my mind's warnings. I'm wrapped up in this garment it wore. I can't escape it. But it's warm. The material soaks up the water on my skin, and wipes away the grime and muck I've accumulated over the days. Slowly, my scales begin to shift again, bleeding back to my normal tan coloration.
"Did something finally bite you Sunshine? I haven't seen you run like that in- oh-kay." The approaching predator flinched when it got close and tensed up.
It wants to eat me. This one- Sunshine- it won't let it without a fight. Are they going to eat me? Sunshine won't. Right?
"I thought there was only one victim." The predator rumbled after a moment, creeping closer. I shrank into the material and took on it's color, only for a warm paw to settle on my arm.
"You're fine." Sunshine whispered. It looked up at the approaching predator and jerked its head awkwardly. "There is. Look at it. Do you see it too?"
Gently, it lifted my arm. I was too stiff to pull it back, not that I could've against its powerful grip. I was completely exposed to this other predator.
"Relax. Please." Sunshine whispered once more. The growl was soft, and I looked up at the mask above me. The grip on my arm was careful, I realized. I could pull away right now. Slowly, my scales lightened. The other predator leaned in closer and I flashed white and yellow briefly, but Sunshine propped me up a bit and started gently poking at sore parts of my body. My ribs. My neck. "Here. And... and here."
The other predator's eyes seemed to get bigger. Something deeper changed in its face. "Holy shit." It made to move forward and I reeled back, pressing myself further into Sunshine. The predator immediately froze and slunk back.
"He can help." Sunshine rumbled softly.
Oh dear. Oh dear.
It touched me. It's diminutive nails didn't rend into my scales as it touched my ribs, prodding them softly. Sunshine adjusted how it sat so that the other predator could have better access to me, and I couldn't help but focus on the skies again as it assessed what part of me it wanted.
Sunshine won't let it eat me.
I don't know where the thought came from, but it was firm. I believed it entirely. Even though Sunshine was a sapient predator, it wouldn't let it happen. Maybe it claimed me as its own already. I... I had doubts I would be eaten. The thoughts were there, but Sunshine had a perfect chance already. Unless it wanted to flaunt its catch first, which the Arxur did- but it was gentle. Sunshine was better than an Arxur.
"Malnourished, deep sores. Ulcers. There's bruising up and down the rib cage. Jesus- sorry."
"They're old. Persistent. Its feet."
"What about..." The predator got quiet. I felt my scales shift in worry as it gingerly lifted one of my legs. It remained quiet, but its face stretched further. "What happened?"
It was looking at me. Asking me. I shrank further into the fabric, but there was nowhere to go. The silence was unbearable, and I started trembling.
The silence continued.
"A runaway." Sunshine rumbled after forever. I didn't understand what that meant. My translator didn't pick it up quite right. Run-away? Like fleeing? Was that what these predators called their prey? No... no that didn't seem right. It was possible, but...
"Could have been kidnapped." Another word I didn't understand, but my translator worked on the other predator. Stealing a person by force? Using fear outside of the law? How did predators have such a word? "We need to get it to the hospital. Figure out what happened and how it ended up in this field."
NO NO NO NO NO
Sunshine's arms draped over me before I could escape, my attempt no better than a drunk Mazic trying to fit through a Venlil sized door. I couldn't stop the whine in my throat, but its soft digits down my back froze me. A subtle noise filtered out behind the mask, and it settled me back down in its garment. It picked up an edge lined with little metal teeth and draped it over me, blocking my sight from the other predator. I felt safe, suddenly. Sunshine's firm grip on my body didn't feel threatening. It felt like a promise, as it carefully pulled me against it's bulk. I was warm, despite my terror.
"Zuda will handle it. No hospitals. This stays with us."
"Sunshine," the other predator protested, "we need to figure out what happened!"
"Think, Doc." Sunshine growled, and this was no doubt a warning. I felt relief that the difference between the two growls was so obvious.
"What?"
"Think. Use your head."
There was a period of silence. "You don't... that can't be right." I didn't understand what conclusion it made.
"The injuries are uniform. Too clean to be anything else."
They can't know. How can they know?
"We need confirmation!"
"We already have it." Sunshine stated, and slowly the fabric was lifted off of my head. I blinked, and noticed that the other predator had changed a different shade.
That's odd. Are you predators like me?
That's terrifying. I'm not a threat. I'm me.
"It reacted to the van and mention of a hospital, Doc. Nobody outside the UN hears of this. Operational security."
It... does Sunshine know? How do they know?
"What the fuck is this planet, Sunshine?" The other predator lamented.
Sunshine didn't respond. He looked around at the surrounding encampment, and I realized it was shrinking. They were leaving. A few other predators were subtly watching as they worked, but I doubted they could hear the conversation with how quiet it was. I realize there's a few Venlil in their ranks, unbothered by their presence and even wearing garments similar to the predators around them.
A digit tapped the end of my snout and I flinched, looking up at Sunshine. It's paw retracted as the other predator withdrew a medical kit with a paw print on it and began to unclasp it. "You're safe. We're... we're going to help."
You know. You know what I am. And you're helping me anyway. Why are you helping me? I'm weak. I'm dangerous. But not to you. You're an apex. Is that why? Does your species stick together, unlike the Arxur? Do you uplift those around you, no matter if they're prey or dangerous? The Venlil are not afraid of you. You must not eat them. What do you eat? It has to be meat. But, it must be something that they can handle. Does what makes me dangerous fall away under your hierarchy? I hope it does. It doesn't seem real. I guess to you, what makes me a threat is meaningless.
I believe Sunshine. I really do. When the other predator comes forward with a healing gel, I surrender.
I am safe.

First Chapter
Chapter Fifteen
“Thank you, Ms. President, and Mr. Secretary-General. It’s my privilege to come and speak to everyone present during such a momentous time in human history. One which, I hope, will lead to a brighter future for us all…”
US President Correa’s boilerplate beginning flowed out as she scanned the room. Behind her rostrum sat a larger dais tiled with green marble, behind which sat the UN President, Secretary-General, and Under-Secretary-General. Two huge screens flanked the dais, and those screens now showed Correa’s face as she continued.
“…and we are committed to our country’s pledge to finding a peaceful and just way for Coalition technology to be incorporated worldwide, and to not attempt any reverse-engineering of our own. Make no mistake; we do not do this out of any sense of altruism or fairness, as pleasant as that may sound. We will hold this pledge sacred for the simple reason that, if the United States were to attempt such efforts the rest of the world would, without a doubt, find out. That, of course, would lead to a great instability.”
‘Great instability’ was diplomatic-speak for ‘the rest of the world then gangs up on the USA and then everything goes to hell’.
“I know there has already been a great deal of debate in this august hall as to the best way to proceed forward, in a fair and impartial manner. We believe that we have found what one might call a ‘trial run’ which will allow us to work out such matters.”
The general murmuring from the many semi-circular rows of desks in front of her increased.
“To begin with, during the first weeks after first contact we wanted to make sure our guests from the Coalition would not starve to death. Much like humanity’s own ships during the Age of Sail, Coalition exploration vessels store enough provisions for years…but such provisions never last. They have very advanced recycling, but mostly for water and even that is only a stop-gap measure. It is unknown even at this time as to how long it will take to repair the Exultant Finger of Rithro, and we did not want to risk the crew running out of food.
“Therefore, we undertook an emergency effort to have their ship’s medic examine various Earth foods to determine their compatibility with our guests’ varied biochemistries. I am pleased to report that there are quite a few Earth foodstuffs which are indeed compatible, although there are some specific items which act as allergens amongst some of the Coalition species. During these efforts, we did learn a bit about how their alien biochemistries work…information which has been duly published and is now openly available. We also began to get glimpses of something wonderful, and asked the Coalition crew for more details. They supplied us with some general ideas of what their medical technology can accomplish; I must emphasize that we do not possess any knowledge of how they can perform such miracles.”
Now the murmuring got quite a bit higher, but not quite to the point where they’d have to call for order.
“Yes, I use the word ‘miracles’ advisedly. For example, take Captain Sadaf. You have all seen her, and how she moves like a person in the prime of their life. Now. What if I told you that she is a little over four hundred years old?”
The murmuring died down into a shocked silence.
“Her species, the auhn, is no more long-lived than we are…but they are able to regenerate and remove the effects of aging. I hope the esteemed ambassadors can see what I am driving at. I propose that we set up a research institute, international in scope, to be placed at a neutral location which is still to be determined. The purpose of that institute will be to study and adapt Coalition medical technology for use in humans.”
Now the murmuring started again; she hoped they were actually listening instead of hatching side-deals with each other.
“You all have families and friends. I’m sure you have at least one family member, one good friend, who died of some horrible and unnecessary affliction. Think of what this means to the world, to us. It is also an excellent way to determine the inevitable issues and frictions which will arise from such a concerted international effort, and that, in turn, will inform our efforts in mutual reverse-engineering of other Coalition technology.
“I know this is, in many ways, a frightening time. Change can be frightening. But I am convinced that you will all know the right way forward, and that you will all see the need for us to unite in this matter, even if others may not be so clear-cut. I thank you for the opportunity to speak.”
As she stepped away from the rostrum, the UN President cleared his throat.
“We will now begin the debate on Madame President Correa’s proposal. Paper copies, with specifics of the proposal, are now being distributed to you all. We’ll now begin the debate period…yes, the gentleman from Portugal…?”
__________
Correa’s Chief of Staff was a shorter, tubby man with an olive complexion by the name of Pablo Rosas. He and Correa sat in a White House conference room, staring at a big screen which now showed the results of the UN vote. “Well, I suppose that went about as well as we could expect,” said Rosas.
“Yep. I was surprised they even agreed with our asking them to kick in some money.”
Rosas chuckled. “Keep in mind that all of this new medical tech will be available for anyone patent-free. Should be air-tight legally, since nobody here on Earth invented it; we’re merely adapting it. I think that was the sweetener we needed to get it passed.”
The president gave a brief nod, then tapped a few keys on the controls in front of her. The screen now showed a world map. “Now we just have to figure out where to put the damn thing without everyone getting butt-mad about it.”
“Hmm.” Rosas laced his fingers over his substantial gut as he regarded the map. “Someplace not ‘the usual’, then.”
Correa growled in frustration. “I keep thinking Switzerland, but I know there’s gonna be a lot of shit flung about that it’s too European-centric. Taiwan would be great; they’ve got both a good tech base and excellent transport infrastructure.”
“But way too controversial, for obvious reasons,” replied Rosas. “Japan?”
“China will, again, kick up a fuss. Huh. New Zealand?”
“That might work. They tend to be more neutral…but then again some might say they’re in too close with Australia, and that this whole effort is too Western-centric.” His eyes flicked back to north on the map. He was about to move his gaze elsewhere, but then he paused. “What about Iceland?”
“Iceland?” Correa almost scoffed, then looked more thoughtfully at the map. “Okay, they’re a NATO member which is a minus. But they tend to remain mostly neutral, which is a plus. Decent transportation infrastructure…don’t we have a naval air base there?”
“I think so, let me check…” Rosas tapped at his phone. “Hey, Jack? What can you tell me about any US naval air bases in Iceland? Just the highlights.” After a couple of minutes, he responded with a curt, “Okay, that’s enough, thanks.”
He put his phone away. “We kinda-sorta have one, at a place called Keflavik. The base there used to be a lot bigger during the Cold War. Then we shut it down after the Soviets were no longer a going concern. Iceland uses it now, and they allow us to fly submarine-search aircraft out of there, but a few years ago they nixed the DOD’s request to rebuild it into a more permanent base.”
“That does work in their favor. It makes for better optics if they’re known for keeping NATO at arm’s length.”
Rosas sat up. “Think the UN will go for it?”
“We can only try. I’ll have our ambassador in Reykjavik make some discreet inquiries, let’s see if they’d be okay with our proposing them as a candidate.”
The Chief of Staff smiled. “If it goes through, this institute will be pumping well north of a billion dollars per year into their economy. That should make it more than ‘okay’.
__________
Agent Cécile Savoie sat in a secure-location breakroom, silently grumbling as she held an as-yet un-drunk mug of coffee in her hands. As the agent-in-charge of the security detail during the Camp David incident, she’d been put on administrative leave, right alongside every other agent who’d been there. But it wasn’t like she had much down time; the inquiry board into that incident now summoned her damn near every other day for yet another round of tedious questioning.
“Hey,” said Hanson as he strolled in, looking just as sour as she felt.
She looked up in surprise. “Hey yourself. I thought you were assigned to the alien detail.”
“I was,” he said as he seated himself across the circular table from her. “Guess being in Alabama when the shitshow went down wasn’t far enough away to be completely out of suspicion. I just finished running my own gauntlet. But the rumor is, I’m getting it easy compared to everyone who was at Camp David, including the special forces people. Especially you.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much a colonoscopy every day,” she muttered. “Going over the timeline, where I was at which times, who I had direct line of sight on, who I was in radio contact with.” She finally sipped her coffee.
Hanson’s sour expression deepened. “Do you really think it was one of us?”
She sighed. “It has to be. My gut tells me that there’s more than one mole and I told the inquiry board as much. The fuckers who got in knew too much about our patrol patterns, where everyone was, when they’d have a clear shot at an infil. That means someone with access to our methods and comms, and as to the latter we don’t use CB radios.”
The other agent leaned back. “Fuck. I wish I knew why any of us would do that. We’re supposed to be quiet professionals, not frothing radicals.”
Savoie turned the mug in her hands. “Not to tell tales out of school but, through the whisper network, they’ve been leaning hard on the captured dudes from the attack. Apparently one of their main ‘objections’,” and here she made some one-handed air quotes, “is that they think the whole Breaker thing is a ruse. It’s all smoke and mirrors, so that we’ll beg the Coalition to come and save us. And then…well, it gets vague after that but I guess they claim that at best we’ll get turned into the galactic equivalent of a Native American reservation. Worst case, we all get harvested for our precious bodily fluids.”
Hanson stared at her for a moment in disbelief. “That is, if you will forgive the uncouth term, utterly retarded. For chrissake, the Hubble got some beautiful shots of their ship once they’d spun that shield around to reveal it to us. I mean, I’m no spacecraft expert but even I could tell it had gotten the shit pounded out of it.”
She responded with a shrug. “Hey, Flat Earthers are still a thing.”
“Flat Earthers don’t stage FUCKING mortar attacks in our nation’s capital,” snapped Hanson. Then he subsided and spoke more softly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be so on edge. This whole thing just pisses me off.”
“Join the club,” said Savoie as she sipped more coffee. “I just don’t get it, though.”
Hanson made a gentle ‘continue’ wave of his hand.
She leaned forward. “Okay. Our comrades in the CIA managed to identify the four who made it into the compound. They were all mercenaries, each with at least ten or fifteen years of experience in kicking ass around some of the worst hot spots in the world. Syria, Burma, bunch of places in Africa. One of ‘em even turned out to be ex-Wagner group.”
“Okay?” It was a leading single-word question, but not an unkind one.
“So why was the rest of the attack made up of nothing but a bunch of goddamn shit-kickers? And that includes the aborted attempt in Decatur. I’ve seen the files of those we rounded up in the Camp David attack. They were all low-life idiots just banging around, maybe they might have once held a gun in their lives. Hell, from what I’ve heard, the shootings that triggered the alarm at Camp David were an accident; those intruders were supposed to sneak around that patrol, not kill them. They all had the same top-of-the-line kit, so we know whoever is behind this has deep pockets. Why not hire an entire bunch of competent people instead of doing it onesy-twoseys?”
“It is a puzzle.” Hanson got up and set a styrofoam cup of water into the nearby microwave. As the cup turned within its electromagnetic prison, he leaned against the nearby counter and pondered her question. “Maybe the team in the woods was intended just as a distraction?”
“That’s what I thought at first, but then I reconsidered. I mean, what if the four who went in failed? You’d still need a proper backup plan. Same thing with the Decatur bunch. By the way, did they ever catch them?”
Hanson let out a dark chuckle. “Decatur PD found a pile of vests and rifles, hastily wiped down. They were able to pull a few partial prints off of ‘em. My guess is they’ve fled to the proverbial four winds, hoping to lay low for the rest of their lives. We’ll nab ‘em eventually.”
The microwave dinged and he retrieved his hot water, then pulled a tea bag out of his jacket pocket as he re-seated himself.
Savoie smiled. “I never figured you for a tea guy.”
He unwrapped the bag and with a bit of ceremony dunked it into his cup. “Well, I used to be a coffee guy, but my gut doesn’t agree with the acidity.”
“We do have tea here, you know.” She pointed to the storage bins behind him.
“Yeah, but it’s cheap-ass stuff. The brand I like is expensive, but worth it…” Hanson’s eyes widened as he trailed off.
She raised an eyebrow. “Hanson? Do you smell burnt toast?”
“They couldn’t afford it,” he said in a near-whisper.
Savoie was about to tell him to stop being overly dramatic, then she realized he might be on to something and that she didn’t dare distract him. “Keep talking.”
He leaned forward, his forearms on the table. “Okay. Imagine you’re a hard-bitten mercenary. You’ve been in the literal shit, in every nasty conflict anyone cares to name. Somehow, someone finds you and comes to you. They say ‘hey, these aliens are bad news, do you want to kill them?’ Even if you, as the hypothetical mercenary, are down with the cause…”
“From what the intruders were yelling, they were,” said Savoie.
“Yeah but even then, our mystery financier is asking you to infil and exfil out of one of the most heavily guarded pieces of real estate on the planet. Oh, and kill a bunch of special-forces-maybe and aliens-definitely in between. What do you do then?”
She replied with a grim smile. “If I’m that mercenary, then I ask for a metric fuck-ton of money. And there were four of them, they would have all done the same. Hell, they must have been doing collective bargaining.”
Hanson dunked his tea bag as he thought it through. “Okay, so our mystery mastermind has a lot of money, but not billions on hand to hire a literal army of hard cases. Huh. So those other dipshits might indeed have been a distraction.”
“Maybe. They must have also spent quite a bit on the mortar attack. That wasn’t made by some hobbyist in their bedroom, they knew what they were doing. Given that nobody saw them set up the launcher or leave, they were more pro.” Savoie hoped that the FBI’s efforts to track the various mortar components turned up something soon. Thus far, those efforts were bogged down; as it turned out, quite a few companies had ordered the identified components, and tracking the subsequent second-hand purchases was time-consuming.
“And those mortar-making pros would be more expensive.” Hanson sipped a bit of tea. “Did they ever get anything off of the launcher itself?”
“Sadly, no. Turns out the whole damned thing was homemade, constructed out of tubing and other off-the-shelf components. It was also wiped down thoroughly, no prints. Like I said, pros.”
“But limited in resources,” said Hanson. “Which explains one of the things that’s bugged me. Namely, that our OPFOR didn’t use some proper artillery. If they have a couple of moles in the Secret Service, then it should be easy to recruit and pay some military dudes to slip ‘em some gear and alter the logs. They could stow a howitzer inside a semi-tractor-trailer. You could park that thing anywhere up to 25 miles away. Use a single 155mm Excalibur GPS-guided munition, boom. That would have pretty much obliterated the stage and everyone on it. Then you just re-stow the howitzer and toodle off all innocent-like, right when everyone is freaking the hell out.”
“So they couldn’t afford that type of arty strike,” she said. “Or they simply didn’t have the contacts to pull that off. Hmm. I wonder if our moles are getting paid at all?”
Hanson resumed his thousand-yard stare. “The mortar attack must have been planned first. The other two attacks feel much more like rush jobs.”
“Eh? Oh, I get it. Sadaf’s speech was known well in advance. It was going to be one of her first big public appearances since the initial presidential speech. They were broadcasting it online to the world. Having her get turned into chunky red salsa, in real time, would be one helluva statement. So that’s what they focused on.” She drank a bit more coffee, and now it was time for her eyes to widen. “Our mole or moles didn’t arrive at Camp David until after Sadaf’s speech was announced.”
“That…oh, yeah, that makes sense. Originally the mortar attack is the OPFORs’ only focus, but yet somehow they’ve suborned one or two Secret Service agents and they have ‘em in their back pocket. Then one, or better yet both, of the moles gets assigned to the Camp David detail, and they realize that now that they have a golden opportunity to get at the other aliens as well. So they go off and hire four pros for the actual attack inside, plus a bunch of chucklefucks to act as a distraction, because that’s all they can afford since the four pros are asking for some serious money.”
Savoie leaned forward. “When did Chao and Grakosh leave Camp David?”
“It was, ah, three? No, four days after we got everyone settled, both the aliens and the special forces types.”
“Okay, so then the OPFOR gets word, courtesy of our moles, that one of the aliens is now heading to Alabama. But now they’re stretched so thin that they can’t afford anything other than to hire another bunch of dipshits to make a run at them and hope for the best.”
“And then the second bunch lets the FNG drive.”
They both laughed, but that humor settled down as they both thought through the chain of inference.
“It is pretty thin,” said Savoie at last. “There’s a lot of assumptions in there.”
“Yeah. But I do like the idea of our moles getting assigned at the last minute.”
She rubbed her forehead. “We had a bunch of new people come in when they decided to stow the Rithro crew there. Seven, no eight in all.”
“It’s a place to start,” said Hanson. He finished his tea. “C’mon, let’s see if we can get a meeting with the inquiry board.”
__________
A little while later and not very far away, three people sat in a well-lit but otherwise deadly dull room. At least the chairs were somewhat comfortable. Matt and Martinez sat at two chairs against one wall, while across from them McCoy sat sprawled sideways on another with a foul look on her face. She glowered at the far beige-painted wall. “This completely sucks. Why can’t we have our phones? I could at least play some mahjong.”
“This is a secure location, Corporal,” replied Matt. “Ixnay on the onephays.”
Martinez’s leg jittered. “How long are we gonna sit here? They said they’d call us in, like, an hour ago!”
“Dunno, it’s some kind of last-minute interview thing,” replied Matt with Zen-like calm.
The corporal looked over at Matt. “I don’t get you, man.”
Matt grinned. “Nobody gets me. I’m like the wind, baby!”
“That’s not…I mean, I watched you open up a dude like he was a bag of fuckin’ Doritos using nothing but a fuckin’ knife. Now you’re being all Caine from ‘Kung Fu’.”
“It’s good to know that the classics are still appreciated,” said Matt.
Martinez pointed at him. “If you start calling me ‘Grasshopper’ I will shoot you.”
McCoy turned her glare to the ceiling. “Maybe it’s a psychological test. They want to see if we crack under pressure and start yakking secrets.”
“I mean, I’m sure they’re recording us right now,” replied Matt. “But it’s merely as a precaution. I am also five-nines certain that none of us are suspects. We weren’t integrated into the compound’s overall security, and thus it would be unlikely that we could have let our four attackers in.”
“Not to mention, we were the ones to kill ‘em,” added Martinez. “Well, except for the one that Takh took care of.”
“Yep. This is…I won’t call it a formality, but the board just wants to know where you were and what you saw. Walk them through your personal timelines, understand? Tell them only what you know. If you don’t know something, then say so.”
McCoy turned herself around so that she now sprawled the other way. “This whole bullshit just bugs me. Takh and the others are off with a bunch of strangers and I…I mean, we aren't there to help protect them.”
Matt and Martinez shared a meaningful glance. “From what I heard, Takh is quite capable of taking care of himself,” said the latter with a grin. “You told me he pitched that one dude across the room like he was throwing a softball.”
For once, the petite corporal looked a bit flustered. “Yeah, but, I mean, what if some other potential bad guy gets the drop on him with a gun? I don’t like not being there. I just wanna know that he’s okay. I should be there, just to make sure.”
The smaller man snapped his fingers in the face of the taller, who sighed and took out his wallet. With great ceremony, Matt pulled out a five-dollar bill and placed it upon the now-upraised palm of Martinez.
“Told ya,” said Martinez with a grin.
She sat up and glared at them both. “That doesn’t mean anything! Takh is a good guy!”
“Nobody said he wasn’t,” replied Matt as he stowed his wallet. “He is indeed a good guy.”
“Yeah, seriously, we’re glad you two hooked up,” added Martinez. “Takh’s solid. Hell, I’d let him date my sister.”
“I. Am. Not. Hooked Up. With ANYONE.” McCoy now looked furious enough to chew nails.
Martinez stroked his chin. “Kissing might be a problem, though.”
Matt performed a similar chin-stroking action. “Hmm, indeed, Corporal, I do believe it might be a serious issue. One has all of those mandibles to contend with.” He hooked his fingers next to his mouth in an approximation of an udhyr’s face. “Still, I think that, with enough will and effort, one could figure it out. Like the man said, life finds a way.”
“But how much tongue is he packing?” posed Martinez. “You know what the man also says. Big dude, big tongue. Could make things more interesting, all around.”
The woman did not look amused. “Martinez, Toke? You are now both officially gigantic flatulating assholes.”
“C’mon, McCoy!” protested Martinez. “Think of it this way. A few years from now, let’s say we filthy humans are now part of the Coalition and I’m at some meet ‘n greet, and I just so happen to spy me an oh-so-very-fiiine udhyr mamacita from across the room. Now, I wanna do my bit for my species and approach her, and get some good old inter-species cultural interaction going on. But there’s all sorts of questions. How do I compliment her without insulting her culture? How am I supposed to get in good with her? How do the mechanics work? How do the various bits line up? We need details! You’re at the tip of the spear, we all need good intel!”
McCoy slumped back into her seat. “Over seven hundred billion Dimmadollars of defense spending, and yet somehow I wind up stuck in a room with you two fuckos…oh, by the way, Toke,” she added, pointing a finger at Matt, “why the hell can you and Sarge never go back to Okinawa?”
“Nice distraction, McCoy,” said Martinez. “My guess is some sort of wet-work shit.”
Matt just smiled. “Oh for fuck’s sake, I don’t kill everyone I meet. I was a Second LT at the time, managed to somehow leapfrog my way into officer ranks all the way from enlisted. Anyways, the Okinawa affair was merely a case of, well, one particular case of rye whiskey. The good sergeant…was he a sergeant then? Oh yeah, we had done some other stuff I can’t tell you about in someplace I can’t tell you where, and we were celebrating Shaw getting his third stripe. We’d got ahold of the previously-mentioned case of whiskey and then we began toasting to each other’s good health. We did a lot of toasting. Quite a lot of toasting. As you can imagine, the toasting went on and on until we, um, well we did some unwise things. It started out with us sparring-for-fun with each other in public and escalated from there. No locals were harmed, and nothing we did was hella illegal, or I would’ve never made Captain. Buuut the local government would definitely throw a shitfit if me or, God forbid, both of us set foot back on the island.” He chuckled. “Hell, the Okinawan customs people probably still have both of our pictures taped up inside their booths with a big old sign saying ‘DO NOT ADMIT THIS PERSON, YOU FOOL’ written above them.”
“What did you do?” asked Martinez. His eyes were big and soulful, like a kid asking for yet one more story before bedtime.
Matt shrugged. “I mean, I don’t remember much for obvious reasons. I’m almost sure we didn’t piss on any monuments, that would have definitely been cause for a serious demotion. We did do a number on some shrubbery, that I do remember. We decided it needed to be trimmed back, and so we did so. Using our bare hands. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
A fearsome light came into McCoy’s eyes. “Martinez, do you know what this means?”
He looked at her all uncertain. “Um, Toke and Sarge have cast-iron livers?”
“No, you fool. Blackmail material.”
Matt pointed back at her. “Hey, now, I told you that in confidence. Besides, Shaw has a lot more to contend with right now.”
The reminder of the sergeant’s current crippled state brought the elevated atmosphere of the room back down. McCoy nodded as her smile faded. “Right. Hey, did you see the Prez’s speech at the UN?”
“Yep,” said Matt. “From what I’ve read, the political wrangling after it seems pretty tame compared to the usual.”
Martinez snorted. “No shit. Did either of you see the laundry list of shit that we might be able to do? Anti-aging, limb regrowth, cancer treatments which work well and which don’t half-kill the patient…hell, maybe even Alzheimer’s could be in our rear-view mirror. The grand high muckity-mucks are falling all over themselves to get that out into the world, for themselves if nobody else.”
“You’re way too cynical, Martinez,” said Matt.
“Oh fuck off. What if…okay, I know this sounds like a cheesy sci-fi concept, but what if they hoard all of the good shit for themselves and we peons get just the crumbs?”
Matt lapsed back into his meditative demeanor. “In that case, my dear corporal, you or I or McCoy or someone like us will show those hypothetical elites that, while they are indeed long-lived, they are not in fact immortal.”
The trio fell into silence for a few minutes. Then Martinez leaned over towards Matt. “Ah, a little birdie told me you were involved in questioning the prisoners we nabbed at Camp David.”
“I merely facilitated certain conversations,” replied Matt.
Martinez sighed. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies…Corporal.”
McCoy let out a growl. “Well, I heard these terrorist assholes are saying that the Breakers aren’t real, that it’s all fake videos from the Coalition.”
“Just to play devil’s advocate,” said Matt, “our AI image and video generation is already getting to the point where, soon, we puny humans could manufacture such evidence.”
“What?” Martinez looked as if he was about to launch himself at Matt.
Matt held up a calming hand. “I’m not saying it is fake. The Hubble pics are damned convincing.”
Martinez hiked up one foot to place it on his seat, then rested his chin on his knee. “Fuck. I guess it didn’t convince everyone.” He mused for a few moments. “Wait. What if we made it even more convincing?”
“How?” asked Matt.
“We send some humans up to the Rithro. Two or three at least. The boats can still make it up to the ship, right?”
For once Matt looked uncertain. “I think so? Dunno how many times they can come and go without recharging, we’ll have to ask ‘em.”
“Right, so we set up an even better publicity stunt than the Hubble pics. Choose a few people, from all over the world. We have ‘em travel up to the Rithro, take pics and video up close showing the damage. Even take ‘em inside the ship and get a full tour, maybe…if the crew is okay with that, of course.”
“Huh.” Matt sat back and pondered the idea. “That’s a really good idea, Martinez. I guess you aren’t as dumb as you look.”
The corporal responded with a slight smile at the verbal jab. “We’d need to choose the right people, though.”
“They’d have to be trustworthy…or at least someone that the entire world will consider trustworthy,” said Matt.
“Well known,” added McCoy. She no longer looked vengeful. “With recognizable faces and voices, and then they can go on all the talk shows after and say that, yes indeed, I got a tour of the ship and it is indeed quite banged up.”
Martinez stared at the far wall. “Some kind of celebrity? Heh. You think Tom Cruise would be up for it?”
Matt laughed. “That beautiful maniac? Hell, he’d insist on shooting an entire movie up there, with at least one action scene where he’s hanging off of the outside of the ship.”
They all smiled at the resulting mental image.
“Chao could work,” said McCoy into the silence. “She’s kind of a celebrity now. After all, she was the first human to come into contact with aliens, eh?” She gave Matt a big and very un-subtle wink.
To skirt the rather…unconventional methods used to achieve a positive First Contact, Matt’s role had been very much demoted in the official story. Now every recounting of the tale included a bit of ‘…oh, and there was also another person who stumbled across our brave woman in the midst of her attempts at informational exchange with the aliens…” His exact identity was also not published, under the screen of ‘he wishes to remain anonymous’.
“Oh bite me, McCoy, it’s fun,” replied Matt. He waggled his eyebrows. “Besides, I work better in the shadows!” He threw his forearm across his face like a half-assed Count Dracula trying to hide behind his cape.
Then he dropped his arm. “Yeah, Chao would be good as a current social-media darling. Of course, she might not want that. She strikes me as more of the wallflower type, for the most part.”
“We need more people,” said Martinez, as he stared at the floor. “Chao might be good on her own, but she’s got that motor-mouth talking thing when you get her going. It’s one or the other. Either she’s trying to shrink into a corner and take up as little space as possible, or suddenly you’re getting pulled into another corner for a doctoral dissertation on how minimal-energy transfer-orbits work.”
Matt pondered for a moment. “Wait, when did she do that? I never sat through one of those lectures.”
Martinez looked away and…well, Matt hoped that their supposed overlords were indeed recording this particular moment in time because the hard-bitten Hispanic special-forces corporal actually blushed.
McCoy, of course, realized a golden opportunity for payback and immediately pounced. “Why, Corporal Martinez,” she purred. “Doooo tell us. When did Chao Me Chu, heh, pull you into a corner? Hmmm?”
“She’s…she’s just real nice, that’s all,” replied Martinez. “I asked her a couple of questions, and she answered them. That’s all. We both love classic sci-fi, like Asimov and shit. I guess we bonded over that.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Aaaaand may I remind you two and everyone listening in that we have all been cooped up nuts-to-butts for awhile? Don’t mistake familiarity for romantic bullshit.” He pointed over at Martinez. “But you. If you can follow at least half of what she talks about, then you are absolutely without-a-single-fucking-doubt wasted as a corporal, even if you’re in a low-drag high-speed outfit like this. You hear me?”
“Um, yes sir.” It was the first time in McCoy’s memory that anyone had addressed Matt as befitting his perhaps-former rank.
“Good. You get your ass into college, somehow. You’re a smart guy, you’ll figure all that shit out. And as for Chao? Just give it room to breathe. Let her know you’re interested, but don’t press the matter.”
“Let her know?” For once Martinez looked completely lost. “How do I…” he trailed off. “I mean, I like her…and yeah, I mean I like her in that way, but she’s so damn smart and pretty and I’m just some dipshit meathead.”
“Hey, don’t sell yourself short,” said Matt. “You’re our dipshit meathead.”
McCoy’s vengeful smile faded. “Martinez…no, Luca.”
Martinez looked up in surprise at her use of his first name.
She continued. “Just talk to her. Neither of you have any clue as to what ‘normal’ social interactions look like. In your case, it’s because you’ve been a soldier for all of your adult life. In her case, it’s because she’s, well, because she’s Chao. So just walk up to her and be straightforward. Trust me, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air for her to not have to navigate social cues. Just say something like ‘Hey, I really like you, do you like me and do you want to go get a coffee sometime’? Start with that. Chao’s good people, the worst thing she’ll do is say no. She won’t yell at you or talk shit about you online. Buuuut, some sixth sense is telling me she won’t say no to getting some coffee with ya.”
Matt smiled. “McCoy, I think you might have a calling after you leave the military.”
She snorted. “Oh yeah, I’ll hang up my match-making shingle on the internet and start raking in the big bucks. Martinez is right, though. If we try to do a publicity stunt up at the Rithro, then we’ll need somebody alongside Chao to win the world over. Somebody well-known, but preferably someone not in the traditional Western pop-culture sphere. That’ll make it more palatable…”
Her voice trailed off and she stared into space. The two men now looked at each other in genuine concern until she spoke again a few moments later.
“Guys? I think I just had the best idea ever.”

New grower but haven't really found much information on this... but has anyone tried this or have experience with this? Would def like to hear some opinions on it!
If one was to do

• no HST, maybe minor LST, but christmas tree build is still apparent
• slight pruning
• just do the basics of watering/feeding the plants

then harvesting it

• progressive fashion
• chop what's ready
• allowing the lower buds to catch up and harvest when ready

Would this be viable and still produce decent/acceptable yields as a tradeoff for the time spent training/maintaining the plant? Would this would be better with photoperiods than autoflowers?
Thanks!

I know I'm barking up the wrong tree here but I am a simple Dawnguard enjoyer with a fun idea and no knowledge on modding. I've tried my hat posting this on other Skyrim communities but to no avail.
The Dawnguard talk a lot about the Old Dawnguard, but there's not much to show for it. I've recently played about with the Crypt of the Old Guard mod and had the idea of making a band of vampire hunters who themselves are vampires. Like a renegade splinter of the Old Dawnguard. A rogue group that bridges the gap between the blatant 'good' or 'evil' that the vanilla game shoehorns you into. Why can't I be a good vampire who kills vampires?
I've therefore thought about an armour mod idea, still iconically Dawnguard but nothing you'd find the current vampire hunters of Skyrim wearing. Quite simply, the idea is that the armour looks like regular Dawnguard armour but with a longer skirt piece, down to the player's ankles. Think like the Ursine Gear from Witcher 3.
That's all I have to go on so far, but if anyone is on board with the idea please do drop a comment or dm :)

https://ticotimes.net/2023/05/28/costa-rica-expat-living-i-bombed-in-manuel-antonio

I had a set of jokes about life in Costa Rica, and told a story about the most dangerous barrio in Costa Rica where the ‘’muertos” are actual dead bodies. Muerto, besides the dictionary meaning, is also Costa Rican slang for a speed bump.
But the only dead body that night was mine– I was dying with a mike in my hand. I was actually laughing softly at the silence when I finished by dedicating my bit to a (made up) couple who had fallen on hard times. “They aren’t the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree”, I said. “He is in jail right now–he was busted trying to smuggle cocaine into Colombia”. Pause for the laughter that did not come. “And she is here hoping to get work.

My neighbor, let call her Karen, is an absolute nightmare. I’ve lived in my neighborhood for 12 years, she’s been here for 3. I purchased a sizable piece of land in the neighborhood for my organic farm (not public) and shortly after, she emailed my business to put in her two cents about what I should and shouldn’t do to my property. I began by asking her how she got my personal information, and she said it was public record after I purchased the property. I let her know that I thought it was a little strange and I was uncomfortable that she essentially hunted me down until she found my work email to bother me about this. But then I politely let her know my plans for Regenerative and organic farming and she didn’t like it. She wanted it to stay completely as it was minus a mindful home build. I told her I heard her concerns but that isn’t what will happen. After this, she found me on Facebook, in a Facebook group, and on Nextdoor, continuing communication. I tried to ignore her, however, she showed up at my door one day and began asking me about my current property, the orchard I was planting, and whether or not all of the plants were native. Clearly, they were not, we live in an area where not many fruit trees are native. then she wanted to know my watering system and commented that they had better be on a drip line. I walked past her and towards the end of my driveway so that she would follow me and talk and then I turned, told her to have a nice day, walked back to my house and went inside. About 10 minutes later I got a text from her, I asked who it was she let me know, and at this point, I was not aware how she would’ve gotten my phone number. I blocked her number and tried to continue to ignore it, but she emailed me again. At this point, I was firm and said that I had heard her opinion several times over several months and let her know plans, which I was not obligated to do. She wanted me to hold a meeting with her and one other neighbor that was “upset” about what I was trying to do, and I refused to do so, as I am not obligated with the zoning that I have on my land. I knew that it would be more of the same, and I was not interested in putting myself in a position of her trying to bully me into doing what she wants. So in the email I informed her that she needed to stop with the harassment and that what I do with my land was my business. I had heard her concerns, and to rest, assured that I would be mindful when developing my land. She did not take kindly to that and responded that she understood, but that if I was nicer to my neighbors, I would have less trouble. The very next day I received a phone call from the environmental control zoning department in my city stating that there has been complaints that I had too many farm animals on my smaller property. She had taken the time to look up my home address zoning, then go on my farm website and count the number of dairy goats that I have and determined that it was too many for my zoning and filed a complaint. Over the last several months, this has turned into her calling, almost on a weekly basis to complain about anything from a sign on my fence, to my Christmas lights, to information on my website about future development that she considers advertising. She went door-to-door to try and get other neighbors on her side, most of which came and let me know what she was doing, and most of which told her that they don’t care what I do with the property it’s my business. Most of my other neighbors are excited at the prospect of having organic food grown in their neighborhood available to them, especially with rising food costs and concerns. The zoning officer that has come out on multiple occasions, and that I am working with informed me that the neighbor was “out for blood” and demanding that I be given a citation, even though the zoning department refuses to do so because I am fully cooperative. It’s just never ending at this point, she’s forced development to speed up exponentially, which is causing financial strain and emotional strain on me, and she’s wasting a lot of time and resources from the city, which is very frustrating. I intended to develop my property slowly over two years so that I could make sure everything was properly in place, from rainwater harvesting to native plant preservation and beyond. I am only one person and I’m developing over 10 acres and this is a huge job to try and squeeze into such a short amount of time at this point because of her actions. I’ve considered trying to get a harassment injunction or something like that, I don’t really know if there’s anything I can legally do, but I’m at my wits end with this woman. She has nothing better to do and it’s very frustrating.

TARDIS

The TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions in Space) is a Type 40 time capsule the Doctor nicked many years and regenerations ago. It travels throughout space and time by passing through a space-time vortex and is dimensionally-transcendental (bigger on the inside than the outside).
Space Travel

• Lands underground.
• Smashes Graham's wooden chair when she lands in his living room.
• Crosses the Judoon's enforcement field surrounding Gloucester by syncing the TARDIS within its refresh rate and slipping in unnoticed.
• Lands inside a plastic trash structure that's located deep in the Indian Ocean .
• Rescues a man trapped in a deteriorating space shuttle by materializing around him the moment before its total destruction then dematerializing away.
• Lands inside the Passenger-form, a pocket universe concealed in a humanoid which the TARDIS doesn't like being inside.
• Dematerializes away in time to avoid the pull of a magnetically-charged implosion.
• Lands safely inside a volcano.
• Saves Ace from falling to her death by materializing side-up to catch her.
• Travel is not always instantaneous as it takes 4 minutes to get to Japan from the UK.
• Cannot access the alternate dimensions.
• The temporal residue covering Karvanista's ship makes it difficult but not impossible for the TARDIS to materialize inside it.
• The strength of the Flux's pull prevents the TARDIS from landing inside a Sontaran spaceship about to be consumed by it.
• The CyberMasters use a blocking field to keep the TARDIS from materializing inside the space train their hijacking.

Time Travel & Manipulation

• After separating from the Doctor, TARDIS starts phasing in and out of time in the exact same location which made it a legend to the settlers of Desolation because it only appears every thousand rotations in a ghostly form.
• Returns her companions to Sheffield only half an hour after they left Earth.
• Takes her companions to 19 News Years Eve displays in a row, across different centuries and planets.
• Not all points in history are fixed. After visiting an undesirable future for Earth and the human race, the Doctor assures her companions that it's just one of several possible futures that can be averted.
• Inadvertently creates a time loop at a storage facility when put into reset-mode.
• Travels two centuries in the future in the exact same spot.
• Brings Dan from the future back in time for his date.
• Has a tendency to land earlier or farther than the intended time, ranging from a matter of minutes, hours, months, decades and even centuries
• The Doctor cannot prevent a man's death in the past because it led to Yaz's birth who brought them there in the first place. On the other hand, it's imperative to keep a historical figure from prematurely dying as it would have great ramifications for the human race.
• The Doctor warns her companions not to interfere with the fabric of history before doing exactly that.
• Can't get too close to a past version of itself because it might cause a temporal feedback loop.
• A geo-magnetic disturbance pulls the TARDIS off course by several centuries.

Security & Defenses

• The cloister bells signal events of an extreme nature, such as the the Flux's approach and the Doctor's upcoming regeneration.
• A protective air bubble surrounds the TARDIS so the Doctor and her companions can safely peer outside with the doors open into space or underwater. The Doctor and Yaz could even safely sit on top of the TARDIS while eating ice cream. The Doctor once opened a "vacuum corridor" small enough that only a Kaled mutant would be affected by a supernova without harming anyone else onboard (that is until the corridor started expanding so they had to hurry things up).
• The Doctor implies the TARDIS has an intruder alert that sounds similar to a doorbell.
• All TARDISes can blend in with their surroundings through a Chameleon Circuit. The Doctor's TARDIS is permanently stuck as a 1960's police box after its circuit malfunctioned long ago.
• Has a net and mattress catch the Doctor and Yaz when they fall inside.
• The Doctor reboots the TARDIS to expel a Weeping Angel from it.
• UNIT are unable to open it.
• Several entities have managed to breach the TARDIS in different ways:
  • A Kerblam! teleport pulse enters the TARDIS without the Doctor's approval.
  • A Kasaavin nearly breaches the TARDIS before the Doctor sends it into flight.
  • The Eternal Zellin teleports inside the TARDIS.
  • The Judoon not only transport themselves into the TARDIS but also transport her into a prison cell.
  • A Weeping Angel enters the TARDIS and seizes control of it.
  • A Dalek traitor managed to bypass the TARDIS firewall to communicate with the Doctor via hologram.
• The instability of time due to the Mouri's weakened condition causes adverse effects on the TARDIS such as navigational issues, leakage, webbing, and structural irregularities in its interior and on its exterior. All these issues were cleared up when the Doctor set the TARDIS to self-reset.
• The Ravagers psychically hijack the TARDIS and force it to land in the Temple of Atropos.

Navigation

• The TARDIS' telepathic circuits can locate destinations of psychic and psychological relevance.
  • Connects with an old wristwatch to pinpoint the time and place it broke.
  • Gets the coordinates of several displaced planets from the Ux, reading their minds as well as harnessing their psychic abilities.
  • Finds the source of psychic power that's been communicating with Graham in his dreams.
  • The Doctor intends on using it to check her mind.
• Answers the call of the Doctor's sonic.
• Links Yaz's phone to the TARDIS to locate a woman whose number is on it.
• After the Recon Scout Dalek blocks her navigation system, the Doctor establishes a biofix on it using its DNA sample and forces it to communicate with her through a hologram (though the Dalek ends up blocking that too).
• Accesses CCTV, GPS and number plate tracking to keep up with the Recon Scout Dalek. When those methods fail, she switches to satellite monitoring which brings her to its eventual destination.
• Tracks the Recon Scout Dalek from the huge heat signature resulting from its massacre of an army.
• Locks onto Yaz's commdot signal to land at her location.
• Traces Dalek DNA to a facility in Japan.
• Locates Karvanista's spaceship.
• Locates Vinder through his phone signal.
• Locates the planet where a "child" was teleported to.
• Finds where the Master is keeping the Doctor through his transmission signal.
• Can't track the Sea Devils' vessel because they masked their route.

Durability

• Has a forcefield capable of blocking a shot from a temporal displacer. and a Dalek's blast. This shield can also be extended to protect a larger structure, like Wardenclyffe tower.
• Stands beside a supernova long enough for it to disintegrate a Dalek mutant.
• Gets pulled into the heart of the Flux - a massive space hurricane that can disintegrate entire planets in its path - which merely displaces the TARDIS to the past. The collision also disrupted the Flux and impeded its path of destruction.
• Withstands the destruction of a multi-story building without any visible damage.
• Ends up inbetween the jaws of a giant sea monster.
• The Master threatens to trap the TARDIS in a blackhole for eternity, implying it would not be destroyed by one.
• The Twelfth Doctor's explosive regeneration energy causes significant damage to the TARDIS interior, which forcibly ejects the Thirteenth Doctor in response.

Communication

• Contains a microphone that has connected with a Dalek out of its casing, Captain Jack's vortex manipulator and Vinder's emergency communicator.
• A holographic interface receives calls from other spaceships and places like Madagascar and UNIT HQ.

Observation

• Can view outside activity through a wall screen.
• Views Earth's outer atmosphere through a sort of periscope.

Scanning

• Reveals that a sample of alien residue is from a Kaled mutant.
• Scans a sewer for non-terrestrial life.
• Deciphers an image containing Agent O's location and sets the coordinates.
• Scans a building for life signals to make sure its safe, but didn't register a hostile hazmat alien.
• Claims that a strand of hair doesn't exist, because it belongs to a creature brought to life from a woman's nightmares.

Detection

• Senses traces of altron energy in 1955 Alabama.
• Receives multiple distress signals and senses psychotrophic waves from the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos.
• Keeps an alarm ready for incidents happening on Earth.
• Detects the heat of an explosion caused by the Recon Scout Dalek and the alien itself flying away from it.
• Reports a Dalek absorbing the UK's power and shutting off everyone's internet connection.
• Receives alerts across three continents on Earth.
• Senses the Flux approaching which it signals with the Cloister Bell.

Interfering with Technology

• Blocks the phone lines to prevent Robertson from calling security.
• Jams Karvanista's radio.

Remote Transportation

• Sends a group of displaced planets back to their original position by extending and splitting the TARDIS' dematerialization field.
• Teleports the Passenger-form in front of the TARDIS to absorb the rest of the Flux.

Addtional Console Functions

• Provides a visual aid for the Doctor's presentation on Rosa Parks.
• Has a custard cream dispenser.
• Synthesizes an antidote to Praxeus without the Doctor's supervision.
• Contains a recess where the Doctor stores her biomodule deep in the TARDIS.
• Rolls out a high-tech ladder that straightens itself so they can climb down onto a high speed space train.

Intelligence & Sentience

• Argues with the Doctor.
• Decodes a Quantum Flux Lock that goes through a hundred billion combinations per millisecond.
• Tends to bring the Doctor not where she wants but where she's needed.
• Deciphers a psychic transmission of data.
• Contains a databank with historical records which the Doctor can get a destination from based on an input of citeria.
• Protests when the Master tries to fly it.

Other

• The TARDIS exploding could mean the end of the world.
• Changes its outer and inner appearance after the Doctor's regeneration damaged it.
• Translates local languages for TARDIS inhabitants wherever or whenever they land.
• Has clap-activated lights.
• Houses a wardrobe hall in case Team TARDIS need to blend in.
• In a last ditch effort to stop the Flux, the Doctor sics a beam of Time Vortex energy at it to no avail.
• Uses her TARDIS's power to jump start the Master's TARDIS.

Sonic Screwdriver

The Doctor's version of a Swiss Army knife but without the knives or Swiss Army. The trusty Sonic Screwdriver functions as a scanner, door opener, machine operator and whatever ridiculous need arises.
Scanning
Temporal-Spatial

• Scans the recall circuit of Tzim-Sha's transport device to map the distance it traveled the universe.
• Determines the year.
• Tells the Doctor that they have not entered another world, which is correct because they're in the zone between worlds.
• Reveals that an ornate box is not from Earth.
• Finds a worrying lack of spacial-temporal readings at the Temple of Atropos.
• Detects retro-temporal manifestations in a tunnel system caused by the Flux and determines that a particular door is a safe passage out.
• Tells the city, year and time of the place the TARDIS wasn't meant to land on.
• Confirms that an empty seafloor is the exact coordinates of a pirate ship they intended to land on.

Classifying

• Reveals the function and biomechanic nature of the Gathering Coil.
• Confirms the Doctor's suspicion that Ilin is just a hologram being projected from far away.
• Reveals that armed guards are robots instead of organic lifeforms and what kind of robot they are.
• Shows the components of an alien dust as a combination of various, densely-compacted chemicals and billions of DNA fragments.
• Shows that an alien in human form is, in fact, not human.
• Explains the meaning of a Judoon alarm.
• Shows that Commander Gatt is Gallifreyan.
• Determines that an underwater structure of plastic trash is an alien construct, but not an alien colony.
• Shows the composition of bone powder.
• Reveals that a mist cloud is not natural mist.

Technology

• Shows the number of seconds before a mine detonates.
• Scans a decapitated Kerb!am man head then a computer to learn that the company's system directed all its control into that one robot.
• Scans a room to find teleportation hardware that's been building up huge amounts of power for one big transmat.
• Confirms that the Recon Scout Dalek's transmission didn't send.
• Discovers that an Orb of Thassor has been repurposed but can't determine what for.
• Learns that a spaceship is powered by organic fuel cells.
• Reveals the type of malfunction affecting an unstable spaceship.
• Finds the power source of a spaceship and that it's secured by a quantum fluctuation lock.
• Gets contradictory information from a super-dense container.

Microscopic

• Discovers flesh-eating microbes living in the waters of Desolation.
• Reveals Krasko's neural restrictor in his brain.
• Reveals microscopic bombs within sheets of bubble wraps.
• Scans the Lone Cyberman's compressed corpse to find the Death Particle still active within it.

Life Forms

• Can detect for life forms in an area.
• Shows the exact number of living humans in an area.

Energy

• Finds traces of altron energy on Rosa Parks.
• Finds a psychic signal being emanated from a bunch of detached fingers towards an orb.
• Scans the Flux from a distance to find that it disobeys every law of time and space.
• Finds alien pulse fields in 17th century China.

Other

• Gets nothing unusual from scanning the residue of hostile alien mud.
• Scans a girl suspected of witchcraft to find nothing unusual.
• Can reveal how somebody was killed and the type of weapon used.

Limits

• Gets a disorganized series of readings from scanning a ruin on Desolation.
• A dense compound overloads the sonic with too many inputs when she tries to scan it.
• Doesn't get a reading from a Thasaavin.
• Fails to decrypt the bioshield the Fugitive Doctor used to appear human.
• The cloaking technology used to hide Percy Shelley is so large it interferes with the sonic's readings while at Villa Diodati.
• The Cybermen use a jamming signal to prevent her from getting intel on them.

Manipulating Technology
Activation

• Opens up a holographic projection of Tzim-Sha's next victim through his Gathering Coil.
• Activates her homemade transporter.
• Unlocks the Thijarian's infobank.
• Activates the Thijarians' transmat technology to leave their base and to send them away.
• Takes Twirly the Robot off sleep mode.
• Readies grenades to explode if she's threatened.
• Turns her neck communicator on and off.
• Turns on the Ux prisoners' neural balancers.
• Inadvertently beams herself and her team up into an alien temple.
• Triggers the Silver Lady to draw the Kasaavin's attention.
• Activates her Braxium Bouncer.
• Inadvertently reveals the power source of Zellin's ship.
• Unintentionally triggers Karvanista's trap.
• Turns on the Mouri's pedestal.
• Switches on her makeshift CCTV with an added slap.
• Plays a Sontaran transmission recorded on Bel's baby monitor.
• Turns on the Sea Devil's base to set sail.
• Activates her companions' nano-implants.

Manipulation

• Removes the DNA bombs from her friends and herself then puts them back in the Gathering Coil that implanted them in the first place, causing Tzim-Sha to detonate them on his own body when he absorbs the Coil's data.
• Stabilizes the TARDIS when it's stuck phasing in and out of time and space.
• Syncs the digital map on a handheld device to a building's computer.
• Accesses the Tsuranga's computer systems that patients are restricted from.
• Sets the timer of a bomb.
• Edits an electronic clipboard so her arrival to Kerblam appears scheduled.
• Swaps the settings on her and Graham's ankle braces designating their jobs.
• Hijacks a delivery bot's teleportation circuit and later does the same with the company's prototype robot.
• Modifies a piece of the Morax's tree so she can reactivate their prison.
• Summons the TARDIS using power from Tzim-Sha's technology.
• Accelerates the decoding process on the Vor website.
• Accesses the databanks on the Master's TARDIS.
• Accelerates the charge time of a teleporter from 1 minute to 10 seconds.
• Turns the Orb of Thassor into a communicator between her and the Skithra Queen.
• Transfers the readings from a blood sample onto a laptop.
• Merges three different phone calls into one so she can address all her companions at once.
• Projects a laptop's display onto a TV and controls it.
• Accesses the data from Dan's phone not only threw computer screens but also across a different century.
• Keeps a flashlight shining on Weeping Angel when they start draining its power.
• Reverses the polarity of the neutron flower of a brain scan device to stun some Weeping Angels.
• Disengages Karvanista's ship from the rest of the Lupari fleet.
• Sonics a Sea Devil's high-tech sword out of his hand.
• Steadies a space train.

Deactivation

• Removes the perception filter cloaking Krasko's gear.
• Temporarily jams a Dalek's gunstick. She attempted this a second time, but it failed because the Daleks adapted.
• Deactivates the TARDIS' shield.
• Turns off the alarm sensors on Barton's plane.
• Removes the Master's perception filter making him appear Aryan to the Nazis.
• Partially shuts down Karvinsta's ship and deactivates his weapon then reactivates the former.
• Remotely damages a building's circuit box to kill the lights.
• Removes the consciousness shield disguising the Qurunx as a human child.
• Fails to prevent a sonic mine from detonating.
• Seemingly unable to stop the Kerblam man from assaulting Charlie.
• Fails to stop a hostile Sat Nav.
• The Master sonic-proofed his bomb to keep her from disabling it.

Detection & Tracking

• Tracks the source of altron energy over miles.
• Tracks the Thijarians after they teleported away and where their base is.
• Follows an unusual energy reading that leads her to Nikola Tesla.
• Points to the Fugitive Doctor's buried TARDIS when scanned cover a large area.
• Detects two nearby Cybershuttles landing in the area.
• Finds traces of non-terrestrial weapon dispersals at Dan's flat.
• Senses the Lupari fleet approaching.
• Reacts to nearby psychic readings and leads her to them.
• Detects a temporal disturbance on another floor.
• Detects a second Dalek in the building.

Locks

• Manipulates doors from the past, present and future.
• Opens a "big lock door".
• Turns the wheel of a hatch.
• Opens and closes electronic sliding doors.
• Unlocks a row of padlocks.
• Fries an electronic keypad to access a restricted section.
• Unlocks a filing cabinet.
• Releases Twirly from his exhibit.
• Unbolts a door.
• Opens the doors of an airplane hangar.
• Opens and closes an airplane's cargo hatch.
• Forces an auto-locked door open.
• Unlocks an electronic cage and locks it when the Alpha Dreg is contained.
• Locks a hatch door.
• Frees herself from futuristic cuffs.
• Opens up a Cyberfighter from a distance.
• Opens an unmanned TARDIS.
• Unshackles a Sontaran.
• Opens the hatch on a train.

Physical Manipulation

• Unties a piece of rope.
• Freezes the mirror gateway to the Anti-zone during a movement, seals it to stop its inhabitants from pursuing them further, opens it up again by reversing the polarity of the neutron flow and finally blocks it for good by smashing the mirror.
• Lowers a glass cage on a Kasaavin.
• Drops a grate on a Skithra.
• Puppeteers Zellin's fingers to use them against him and Rakaya.
• Removes a circuit panel.
• Incapacitates the Grand Serpent.
• Stabilizes her earring when its pulled by a strong geomagnetic force.
• Doesn't affect the Remnants.

Unveiling

• Hides the notes she wrote in marker pen and reveals it when the coast is clear.
• Reveals the mechanical inner workings of an alien tree.
• Reveals an invisible forcefield.

Other

• Capable of automatic self-repair, a feature which surprised even the Doctor.
• Audio records the Master's planned double-crossing of the Thasaavins.
• Sounds an alarm that can be heard over great distances.
• Doubles as a flashlight.
• Messes with her and some humans' life signals the Daleks use to track them in order to mislead them.