“There were rules, Mafia codes you had to go by. But the code is ridiculous. It's a code among sociopaths.” David Chase (creator: The Sopranos)
Chapter Three: Tiffany and The Ax

1. ANTIBES, FRANCE. Jude sat at a small table outside La Forge Restaurant on Jacques Audiberti Place. The petite square was bustling with late morning activity. He sipped an espresso and paged through his USA Today. A group of teenagers passed loudly through the square on their way to the beach from a hostel. Tiffany and her girlfriend were with the group. He had been watching her for about a week now but the right opportunity hadn't presented itself.

He told himself he wasn't delaying the operation because he was on an unlimited expense account and his target was spending the summer on the Cote d'Azur. He supposed milking a client that way would be unethical. The thought amused him. It really was because he hadn't found the perfect chance to kill her. Mostly. Mostly that was it.
He noted that the Tour de France was passing through the area and decided to find a place to watch the event. And then there was the Musee Picasso on Place Mariejol. He didn't want to miss that.
He could kill Tiffany tomorrow. Or the next day.
Finally it was the weather that forced his hand. A fierce summer storm was predicted for that week. Such an event would make Tiffany's movements unpredictable. She might stay in and weather it, as he would then have to do as well or she might catch the train to a fairer climate. He had no doubt he could find her again, but uncertainties made him uncomfortable. The night before the storm rolled in, he got his perfect opportunity.
It was late, past midnight. Jude had been watching Tiffany as she snuck away with a young man, an Australian, Jude guessed. They had been drinking on the beach, the Plage Gravette, having snuck on after it closed. The location couldn't have been more perfect if Karsen picked it himself. It was surrounded by walls on three sides and faced the ocean. It wasn't lit other than the light kicking off the surrounding apartment buildings. And with the cloud cover from the oncoming storm, it was all but impossible for anyone in the overlooking apartment buildings to see any activity on the beach that night.
Tiffany's male companion passed out after sex. Tiffany lay there, quite drunk herself. Finally she got up and staggered towards the road. Jude watched from the shadows as she came right towards him. She passed one bum, fast asleep by the wall and entered into the tunnel leading from the beach. She never saw Karsen.
She cried out for a split second. But Jude covered her mouth with gloved hands and snapped her neck. He carried her body off the beach, out the gate to the Quai Henri Rambaud and onto a waiting boat.
While Jude piloted the motorboat out into the ocean, into the face of the storm, his partner prepared the body. When they reached far enough out, they dumped the pretty, blonde teenager over the side. And started a media firestorm.
​
Tiffany Teague was an ordinary American girl. She was from the state of New York. Wynantskill, specifically. A hamlet outside of Albany. She was a junior in college, attending Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA, an all women's school. She liked Justin Timberlake and Fallout Boy and thought that Paul Walker was the perfect man.
Edward and Maggie Teague weren't rich, or even well off after several failed business ventures, but they doted on their kids and helped Tiffany save for a summer of backpacking in Europe. They were proud of the fact that while most of Tiffany's friends were sitting around getting drunk and pregnant, Tiffany would be learning about the world. They probably wouldn't have been pleased with how she spent her last hours alive.
When she vanished, they began a tireless campaign. Like all parents faced with an unsolvable mystery of this type, they played nightmare scenarios over and over in their heads. Was it worse that she was dead? Or was it worse that she was alive, perhaps living in some horrible situation? Which to hope for? How to pray?
The case caught the attention of Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren. The resulting media pressure caused France, the United States and Australia (the home of the poor drunken boy last known to be with her) to redouble their efforts on Tiffany's behalf.
But there was no trace to be found. No clue as to her disappearance. The Australian boy, somewhat of a loathsome cad, found himself now reviled as a murderer. For the life of him, he could barely remember their last hours together. He didn't even remember having slept with her on the beach. A fact attested to by the drunk who watched it, but his testimony was highly questionable.
No one would ever have tied it to a case in Federal Court from almost two years before. The prosecution of a small time thug named Paulie Azeglio. In 2002 Paulie was convicted under U.S.C. § 2315 Sale or receipt of stolen goods, securities or monies. He was sentenced to three years, but died in prison in 2003. His death was retribution in an ongoing organized crime power struggle involving his infamous father, Frank “The Ax” Azeglio. Edward Teague was a juror in the trial that convicted Paulie.
​
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK. Two and half months before Tiffany's death, Jude was in the living room of his home in Sherman Oaks. He had his laptop hooked up to his 70 inch big screen television and he was sitting on the couch watching porn when his cell phone rang with an unknown number. Normally he wouldn't have answered it, but the area code was from New York. And he got a prickly feeling at the back of his neck. So he managed to get his hands clean in time to answer the call before it kicked over to voice mail.
The speaker was abrupt. A limousine would be arriving at his home in forty-five minutes. It would take him to the airport. He would fly to New York, JFK International and be picked up from there for a meeting. After the meeting he would be taken to a hotel before being flown back to L.A. the following afternoon. The option to refuse this was not offered. And Jude, recognizing the voice, knowing the caller by reputation, never once thought of turning it down. He got up, showered and packed an over-night bag. The limo was right on time.
When he arrived in New York, it was almost 4 AM. Another limo was waiting for him and the ride from the airport took forty-five minutes. Jude slept for most of it as it was past one in the morning, California time. He woke from the sound of the limo coming to a stop. The driver opened the door and Jude stepped out, stretching as he did so.
He was in a warehouse complex. Dull orange lights hung from the corners of buildings in halos of mist. The ocean was nearby, though he couldn't see it. He could smell the salt in the air and hear the not-so-distant sound of compressed surf crunching against a wharf. This was an old complex. Rust rotted through the walls of the buildings. Some were missing whole panels.
The limo drove away, leaving him alone. For a moment, there was a tightness in his chest. Anxiety. He didn’t have a gun. He wasn’t armed but that was unavoidable. He pushed it away. Calculated the odds. It was unlikely they brought him this far just to kill him. Unlikely, but not impossible. He pushed the thought away again. You never knew for sure when dealing with the Mafia. Before anxiety consumed him, a door opened. Twenty feet away, a large man wearing a suit stepped out of the darkness and motioned him to come forward. Karsen did not feel better.
The man searched Karsen, patting him down. Karsen didn't object. When the man was satisfied, he waved Jude through the doorway. Neither of them spoke.
Karsen moved cautiously into the old warehouse. It was a huge empty place. Dim light filtered in from broken windows high above. Deep shadows hung like curtains through cavernous space. Karsen lit a cigarette and walked, kept walking towards the center of the warehouse. Finally, seeing no objective and hearing the door crash closed behind him, he stopped. In a dim pool of light drizzling in from a broken window high above.
Footsteps echoed out of the shadows. Coming towards him. Gradually a man emerged from the gloom. He stopped a few feet from Jude. The man was in his late fifties or early sixties. Obviously Italian. His hair was steel grey and his manner was one that assumed authority.
Jude stared at Frank “The Ax” Azeglio. He took a drag on his cigarette and exhaled softly. Frank spoke.
“Mr. Karsen.”
“Yeah.”
“Put out your cigarette. My sinuses...”
“Oh. Sorry.” Jude dropped the smoke and crushed it with his shoe.
“Thank you. And thank you for coming.”
“Sure.”
“I have a job for you, Mr. Karsen.” With gloved hands, Frank the Ax passed a manila envelope to Karsen.
“Family member?” asked Jude.
“No.”
“One of the bosses?”
“Is this a quiz show? Open the fucking envelope.” Azeglio pulled out a bottle of nasal spray and took a squirt up each nostril.
Karsen skimmed the information and looked at the photo. A photo of Tiffany Teague. He glanced back up at Azeglio, curiosity on his face.
“This is a teenage girl.”
Frank stared at him. Silent. Jude shot him a small, knowing smile.
“Sure. I'll do it. Any special requests?”
“Make it quick and painless. Make the body disappear.”
Jude nodded and slid the papers back into the envelope. Something was weird about this. There was a reason Frank called him in the middle of the night, flew him across the country. There was a reason they were meeting in this warehouse instead of some back room of a restaurant. Something about this contract was different.
“A mil,” said Jude. “Plus expenses.”
The Ax didn't hesitate or negotiate. “I'll have it wired to your account. Bill me the expenses through our usual contact.”
“You got a deal.” Karsen handed the envelope back to Frank.
“Don't you need this information?”
“I have what I need memorized. I don’t want to carry that file past the TSA.” Karsen turned and walked towards the door. He hadn't gone more than a couple feet before Frank spoke again.
“Mr. Karsen.”
Jude stopped and turned to the mob boss.
“I want you to know why.”
Jude shifted uncomfortably. He was itching to go and he felt the nascent urge to urinate. But it was more than that. Somehow he felt that the longer he stayed, the more...culpable he was. It was an irrational, random thought, but it nagged him. It put an urgency on him.
“That's not necessary. I prefer not to know. To know as little as possible.”
“But I want you to know.”
Jude stood there quietly. He desperately wanted a smoke. Frank “The Ax” began to speak.
“My son Paul. Francis Paul Azeglio Jr, you know I wanted a better life for him. Wanted him to go to college, maybe join the military. I didn't want this life for him. This life that you and I lead. I wanted better for my children. Wasn't that the point of fighting my way out of the gutters and back alleys of Brooklyn? And I did it. I gave my children everything. Paul was raised in luxury. He got an excellent education at a private school. He had all the opportunities of privilege at his fingertips. Opportunities I bled and made others bleed to win for him.
“All I wanted was for him to be a doctor or a stockbroker or even a musician. To have a family and give me grandchildren. I wanted my son to escape this life that I was forced into by simple economics and...certain skills I had that others lacked. You understand me, Mr. Karsen?”
“I don't have children,” Jude regretted it the moment it came out his mouth. Frank's expression clouded and his brow furrowed.
“But I get your point,” Karsen added quickly.
“Every father worth a damn wants to protect his children. Of course, to my son, it seemed like I thought he wasn't up to it, like I thought he wasn't tough enough for the job....” Frank trailed off, staring up at the shattered windows with their rusted frames. “Which, of course, was the absolute truth.”
They were silent. Jude's need to piss was growing stronger. But there was no way to leave this conversation. Not until Frank the Ax was done. Was this a confession wondered Jude? Karsen suspected Frank was probably a Catholic. How did he suddenly become this man's priest?
Frank finally broke the silence. “Did your father respect you?”
Ahh jeez, thought Jude, “I broke his jaw when I was sixteen. After that it didn't matter.”
“Bullshit. It always matters. I never even knew my father and I still wonder what he would've thought of me, to this very day. But you took respect from your dad the day you cracked his face.”
“I don't know. I didn't see him much after that.”
“Right...right,” Frank sighed. “Paul wanted my respect. He wanted to impress me, not just as a son or even as a man, he wanted my respect as a gangster. He coulda done anything and I woulda been proud of him. But he wanted to be good, be great at what I was great at. You understand?”
“I think so.”
“This kid...this right side of the tracks, white kid who never had to fight in his life, decided he was smart enough to do a major job, like it was some movie or one of these cable TV shows. He stole a container full of flatscreen TVs and tried to fence. He wanted to bring down a big score, just like the stories he'd heard his old man tell the boys, when he shoulda been in bed at night...”
“He got caught.”
“Of course he got caught. Grand Theft Auto was a video game to him. To me, it was a way of life.” Frank muttered something under his breath that Jude didn't make out.
“What?”
“Nothing. Because Paul went across state lines it was a Federal Crime. Ahh, that shouldn't have mattered. I got the best lawyers, greased the skids with the Judge and the prosecutor. They offered a decent deal, but not enough. I didn't want my boy to do a day inside. So it went to trial. Still shouldn't have been a problem. I hired one of those fancy jury consultant companies and wired the jury...but one slipped by. One man named Edward Teague. Real Dudley do-right. From my man inside, he tells me this Edward Teague bullied this jury, harassed this jury, and wore them out by dragging it on for days so they finally gave in and convicted. They didn't want to convict. But this guy...this guy...he was the foreman and he all but forced them...”
Something didn't ring true about this story, but Jude wasn't about to question a man nicked-named 'The Ax'.
“Tough break.”
“So my sweetheart baby boy, my only son...went to the Federal Pen. God, the way he acted, like it was a badge of honor, like I should be proud of him. I told him-”
Frank stopped, his voice catching as the memory overcame him. He composed himself and wiped a tear, passing it off as rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“I told him. Keep your head down. Do your time quietly and he'd be taken care of. Mob guys can be very safe inside. But he... he still had something to prove...”
Another tear slid silently down the mafia don's cheeks. Jude wanted desperately to leave. But he felt he had to say something at this point.
“He's dead.”
“I got the guys that did him. I got them already.” Frank wiped the tears from his face and his manner changed. As he spoke, a slow rage filled his voice. “Now. Now I want Edward Teague. Juror number nine. I want him to suffer like I do. To live without his precious child, his daughter that he dotes on, that he loves. I want to rip her out of his arms.” His voice seethed with hatred.
“I want him to hurt...you understand me? I want him to have this hole in his heart. This ache, this, this horrible, empty, loss torn into his soul.”
Frank stepped closer to Jude, until he was so near Jude could smell the faint medicinal scent of nasal spray on the man's breath. He was so uncomfortable that he wanted to burst out laughing, but knew that would mean his instant death. Not figuratively. Frank, in this moment, would kill him for disrespect. It was the thought of his own face being bludgeoned that drove the amusement away.
Brutality filled Azeglio's voice, “I want to take his daughter from him and I want him to live the rest of his life never knowing what happened to her.”
The cold hatred that burned out of the man was awful in its intensity. His eyes cut into Jude's with the horror of emptiness. Without another word, Frank turned and walked back into the darkness.

<
Friday, May 28, 2010

• Adnan could have filed for post conviction relief at any time during these past seven years, and did not have to wait ten years. Rabia lied about that.
  
• According to Rabia, Justin Brown has decided not to subpoena Asia, given her reaction when approached by the PI.
  
• Attoney Justin Brown files for Post Conviction Relief citing "Ineffective Assistance of Counsel" aka "IAC." This filing contains the first appearance of Asia's letters in the record.
  
• Syed asks for new trial, claiming trial counsel (Gutierrez), and appellate counsel (Warren Brown) were ineffective:
  
  • 1) Gutierrez failed to establish a timeline disproving State's case
  • 2) Gutierrez failed to investigate alibi witness (Asia)
  • 3) Gutierrez failed to move for new trial based on Asia's statements
  • 4) Gutierrez failed to cross-examine Debbie
  • 5) Gutierrez failed to pursue a plea offer
  • 6) Gutierrez failed to request a change of venue
  • 7) Gutierrez failed to investigate Jay
  • 8) In Adnan's appeal brief, Warren Brown failed to include the fact that Waranowitz strayed from his area of expertise, at trial.
  • 9) Cumulative Ineffective Assistance of counsel.
  • [Four years later, on October 18, and November 18, 2014, Rabia lied to the readers of her blog, writing that Adnan was forced to wait ten years to file for post conviction relief. The truth is the defendant has ten years from the date of conviction to file, but cannot file AFTER 10 years. In her book, Rabia wrote that she and Adnan knew all along that Adnan could file for post conviction relief the day after his appeal was denied in 2003]
  • [Rabia also lies about how a 2013 google search led her to Sarah Koenig's coverage of Gutierrez' disbarment. Adnan's May 2010 filing for post conviction relief discusses Sarah Koenig's reporting. This is how Rabia would have become aware of Koenig.]

Sunday, June 27, 2010

• Adnan has been at Cumberland / Supermax for one year.

June 27, 2010

• Justin Brown files a Supplement to Adnan's May 28, 2010 Petition for Post Conviction Relief. Cites a 10th point for PCR.
  
  • 10) Sentencing counsel, Charles Dorsey, failed to request that the motion for sentence modification be held in abeyance.

  After Syed fired Gutierrez, he was represented by a public defender, Charles Dorsey. Mr. Dorsey filed a Motion for Modification of Sentence. Mr. Syed had just received a sentence of life plus 30 years. Rather than ask the Court to hold that motion in advance and raise it after, up to ten years, which is the common practice when a defendant receives a very long sentence, Mr. Dorsey didn't do that. The court ended up ruling on the Motion for Modification a couple of days after it was filed. And, of course, the motion was denied. So that's our third, ineffective assistance of counsel claim. That he should have handled that differently. - The supplement also included further points Justin Brown wanted to make about Gutierrez's failure to ask for a pleas deal.
  

No copies of this supplement exist on the internet.
July 27, 2010

• State of Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services announces that Fewer Cell Phones Finding Their Way into State Prisons

Summer 2010

• According to transcripts, Justin Brown attempts to subpoena Asia. (This could be the reason for one of the postponements.)

Friday, October 15, 2010

• Hae Min Lee 30th birthday

November 29, 2010

• Motions Hearing. The State Requests the defense file. Transcript Excerpt.

Friday, December 20, 2010

• PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. First postponement.

February 28, 2011

• Adnan has been in jail/prison for twelve years.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

• Adnan's 30th Birthday

June, 2011

• Dale Sides's blog

Thursday, June 9, 2011

• Adnan receives Certificate of Achievement at North Branch Correctional.
  
• Adnan has been at Cumberland / Supermax for two years.
  

Monday, August 8, 2011

• PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Second postponement.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

• Adnan moves to disqualify Kathleen Murphy as counsel for the state.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

• Hae Min Lee 31st birthday

Thursday, October 20, 2011

• PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Third postponement.

November 27, 2011

• Thiru Vignarajah joins Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office

January, 2012

• Rabia founds the "Safe Nation Collaborative." Unfortunately, law enforcement has never heard of it.

Monday, February 6, 2012

• PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Fourth postponement.
  
• Adnan's motion to disqualify Kathleen Murphy is denied.
  
• Murphy says she first spoke to Urick about testifying at the PCR in February 2012
  

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

• PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Fifth postponement.

February 28, 2012

• Adnan has been in jail/prison for thirteen years.

March 21, 2012

• Supreme Court Decisions [Lafler & Frye] re; Defense Attorney's obligation to seek plea deal

Monday, May 21, 2012

• Adnan's 31st Birthday

Friday, June 15, 2012

• Michael Sye named coordinator of athletics for the Baltimore County Public Schools, the top job in running one of the nation's biggest scholastic sports programs. He oversees competitive athletics for 24 high schools.
  
• Adnan has been at Cumberland / Supermax for three years.
  

July 13, 2012

• Adnan writes Justin Brown, asking for postponement of October court dates, due to a foot injury. No mention of July and August court dates.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

• PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Sixth postponement.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

• PCR Hearing scheduled, but postponed. Seventh postponement.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

• Transcripts: for Evidentiary Hearing in Post-Conviction Appeal.
  
  • (Shamim's and Rabia's testimony filed and paid for by stop_saying_right after Rabia refused to upload anything but Urick's testimony.)
• Justin Brown opens. He will focus on (3) issues.
  
  • Gutierrez's failure to investigate Asia.
  • Gutierrez's failure to pursue a plea offer.
  • Dorsey's failure to request that the motion for sentence modification be held in abeyance.
• Kevin Urick testifies:
  
  • Gutierrez never approached him seeking a plea bargain. If he had been approached, there would have been a possibility of a negotiated disposition.
  • Asia called him because she was afraid of being forced to testify. She had already made up her mind not to testify when she called Urick. And only called him looking for a way to get out of it.
• Shamim Rahman testifies: Posted and discussed on reddit thanks to SSR.
  
• Rabia Chaudry testifies: Posted and discussed on reddit thanks to SSR.
  

Monday, October 15, 2012

• Hae Min Lee 32nd birthday

Thursday, October 25, 2012

• Transcripts: for Evidentiary Hearing in Post-Conviction Appeal.
  
  • (Adnan and Meady's testimony filed and paid for by stop_saying_right after Rabia refused to upload anything but Urick's testimony.)
• Adnan Syed testifies. Posted and discussed on reddit thanks for SSR.
  
  • Adnan testifies that he told Dorsey about Asia, but there is no mention of Asia's letters, or giving Dorsey Asia's letters.
• Margaret Meady testifies
  
• Justin Brown fails to call Andrew Davis, the Private Investigator hired by Flohr and Colbert to investigate the library/track alibi.
  

February 28, 2013

• Adnan has been in jail/prison for fourteen years.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

• Adnan's 32nd Birthday

June 11, 2013

• Adnan's Cumberland Evaluation
  
• Adnan has been at Cumberland / Supermax for four years.
  

August, 2013

• It has been ten months since the October 2012 Hearing for Post Conviction Relief.
  
• Rabia says she watched the documentary "West of Memphis," looked up reporters who covered Gutierrez's disbarment, and found Sarah Koenig. Rabia hoped that media attention could influence Welch's pending decision, ten months after the hearing.
  
  • Rabia is lying when she talks about this 2013 google search that led her to Sarah Koenig's coverage of Gutierrez' disbarment for the Baltimore Sun. The truth is that Adnan's May 2010 filing for post conviction relief discusses Sarah Koenig and the coverage in the Baltimore Sun. This is how Rabia would have become aware of Koneig. Not via an August 2013 random google search, after watching West of Memphis.

August 12, 2013

• Rabia sends a letter to Sarah Koenig, asking her to take a look at the case. Rabia claims the police and prosecutors knew Adnan was innocent, and Gutierrez threw the case for money. Note here that leading up to Serial, Rabia was convinced that Jay did it, and would have pitched the story, with the carrot of exposing Jay.

August 29, 2013

• Rabia hastily sets up an LLC in Maryland, even though she is not licensed to practice law there.
  
• In anticipation of meeting with Sarah Koenig, Rabia sets up an office at Security Plaza, across the street from Woodlawn High School.
  
• Rabia wants Sarah to think this has always been her office, and that this is where she works. The truth is Rabia lives and works in DC.
  

August 30, 2013

• Approximate: In her "office" across the street from WHS, Rabia meets with Sarah Koenig, leading Koenig to believe Rabia has had this office for a while. Note here that Jay being the killer would have been part of this conversation.
  
• Undated: Rabia tells Sarah Koenig that Gutierrez threw the case on purpose, to get more money for the appeal - Despite Gutierrez having suggested that another attorney handle the appeal.
  

Late September, 2013

• Adnan receives a letter from Justin Brown saying that a reporter named Sarah Koenig wanted to do an interview. Justin wrote that he didn't think Sarah would waste time on a story if she didn't believe Adnan was innocent. Adnan receives the first letter from Sarah Koenig, a few days later.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

• By now, Adnan has received an introductory letter from Sarah Koenig. She sent him a pad and pencil and stamps. Adnan writes Sarah Koenig a letter about his story and case. Discussion. - [will update link soon]
  
  • Adnan says he wasn't much bigger than Hae.
  • Adnan says that students weren't allowed to use the top parking lot. (several WHSers and Krista have said that students used the top parking lot.)
  • Adnan describes the route to the Best Buy but neglects to mention the back way.
  • Adnan implies that the October 31 break up was the final break up.
  • Adnan says that he and Hae would joke about two women calling him on his cell phone at the same time. (Only we know that Adnan's first, ever cell phone was activated the evening of January 12, and there are no calls on the call log that support this story.)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

• Hae Min Lee 33rd birthday

November, 2013

• Sarah Koenig meets with Chris Flohr to try to get some sense of Adnan's innocence. She tells Flohr that she won't do the story unless Adnan is innocent. Jay as the killer is context for Koenig's work on Serial.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

• Justin Brown talks about the importance of the defense investigator, despite having failed to call the defense investigator at Adnan's PCR hearing.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

• Adnan receives a reply letter from Sarah Koenig and puts her on his visitor list. Sarah has decided to report on the story.

Monday, November 25, 2013

• Adnan writes Sarah Koenig to thank her for her letter and let her know she is on his visitor list.
  
  • Adnan tells Koenig that no one but him (and the person who did it) will ever know if he did it or not. Adnan forgetting that Jay also knows the truth.
  • Adnan writes: Looking back, I always knew that Jay was jealous of my relationship with Stephanie. Stephanie had told me she was going to break up with Jay when she went off to college. Jay asked me if I knew about it. I told him that I did, and he wasn't too happy about that.
  • But on January 5, 2000, Adnan had said: Stepanie was so devoted to Jay that she talked about not going to college and possibly staying with Jay and renting an apartment.
  • Breakdown of lies in this letter that Koenig could have questioned, and/or featured in Serial.

Monday, December 30, 2013

• Post Conviction Decision written by Justice Martin P. Welch.

January 2, 2014

• Andrew Davis in a single car accident, that proves fatal.

Tuesday, January 6, 2014

• Post Conviction relief denied by Justice Martin P. Welch.

Mid January, 2014

• Koenig says that her first conversation with Adnan took place right after he received Welch's decision. Link to excerpt from first recorded interview
  
• Asia returns Sarah Koenig's call. Asia tells Sarah that when she was approached by the Defense PI, she "freaked out" and called Urick, who told her Adnan was guilty, so she dodged the attempt to produce her at the PCR.
  
• Bilal is notified of disciplinary action regarding his dental license, citing un-necessary treatments and overcharging on multiple occasions in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
  

Monday, January 27, 2014

• Defense files ALA (Applicaton for Leave to Appeal). Adnan's attorneys have to ask for permission to appeal Welch's decision, as there is no guaranteed right to appeal. Defense requests review of two issues:
  
  • 1) Whether Gutierrez was ineffective because she didn't contact/interview Asia
  • 2) Whether Gutierrez was ineffective for failing to pursue a plea deal, and telling Adnan she had.

Monday, February 17, 2014

• Adnan Defense Team PI Andrew Davis passes away. He was never asked about Asia or anything about the defense's pre-trial investigation. Drew Davis Photo Album

Late February, 2014

• Sarah has met with Deirdre Enright who has agreed to work on Adnan's case.
  
  • Two UVA law school clinics begin work on Adnan's case.
  • Rabia says that Sarah reached out to Dierdre on her own. But it's clear that Adnan told Sarah about the Justin Wolfe case and subsequently, Deirdre Enright.
  • DNA issue important to law student, Mario

February 28, 2014

• Adnan has been in jail/prison for fifteen years.

Late February/March 2014

• Justin George of the Baltimore Sun begins helping Sarah Koenig, at Rabia's urging. Rabia wanted a local reporter on the story, too.

Spring, 2014

• Approximate: Sarah emails Young Lee
  
• Approximate: Sarah interviews one of the prosecuting attorneys, Kathleen Murphy, for two hours
  
• Sarah and Dana Chivas visit Woodlawn, and surrounding areas:
  
  • Krista shows them her scrapbook, lets them read Adnan's letters, and see her photos of Hae.
  • Sarah and Dana Chivas do the drive test that Adnan asked Sarah to do. Rabia asks to go along. Sarah says no.
  • Sarah shows Rabia the Enehey Report from the MPIA file. Rabia had never seen it. Sarah has redacted the name of the author of the report. She has promised the author she wouldn't reveal her name. Later, Rabia would post the report on her blog, and tell the world the name of the woman who wrote the report.
  • Rabia says in her book that this report explained why the detectives focused in on Adnan. She leaves out that the report was not written until Adnan had been in jail for six months.
  • Rabia dates the report as August 24, 1999, without mentioning that by then, Adnan had been arrested, indicted, and awaiting trial for months. (Later, Rabia would say that Justin Brown had a copy of the report in the police file, but never showed it to her.
• Adnan sends Sarah Koenig two "Price of Tea" charts, and asks her to hold them until the next time they speak. In October, of 2014, Koenig wrote about the subsequent conversation here.
  
  • C-Mart Chart 7-11 Chart

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

• Adnan's 33rd Birthday
  
• Bilal sexually assaults patients.
  

May 31, 2014

• Adnan's Cumberland Evaluation

June 4, 2014

• Adnan has been at Cumberland / Supermax for five years: Prison Evaluation

July 25, 2014

• Original SERIAL podcast air date

Thursday, August 7, 2014

• Sarah and Julie fly to California, two weeks after the original air date for the podcast. Jay wouldn't talk to them on the phone, so they delayed the podcast, and flew to California to blind-side Jay.

Friday, August 8, 2014

• Sarah and Julie arrive at Jay's house. No one is home. They go away, then come back, for the second time, to walk across his lawn, unannounced.
  
  • Jay said this upset his children.
  • During the conversation, Jay refers to himself as a "scoundrel with scruples." Jay wisely doesn't see any upside to letting them record an interview.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

• Sarah Koenig emails Jay, apologizes for blind-siding him and causing upheaval, suggests they have a drink or coffee, and refers to the project she's working on as a documentary, not a podcast. Sarah tells Jay that the upside to doing a taped interview is that he can tell his version. Her message: "I'm going to do a story and talk about you, whether you like it or not."

August 2014

• Adnan completes Home Study Programs > 8/22: Substance Abuse 8/22: Anger Management 8/25: Offender Corrections 8/29: Contentious Relationships

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

• Maryland Court of Special Appeals orders the State of Maryland to file a response to the defense's January 27, 2014 "ALA" (Application for Leave to Appeal). Court asks for State's response to the defense's assertion that Adnan asked for a plea, and Gutierrez failed to seek one. Court sets deadline of November 14, 2014 for State's response

September 2014

• Adnan completes Home Study Programs > 9/8: Parenting 9/8: Cognitive Awareness 9/12: Theft & Shoplifting 9/12: Domestic Violence 9/12: DUI 9/12: Employment 9/22: Offender Responsibility

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

• Sarah writes to Rabia that the story will be presented in podcast form, over 12 episodes.

Friday, October 3, 2014

• Serial Episode 1 and 2:
  
  • "The Alibi" Transcript
  • "The Breakup" Transcript

Saturday, October 4. 2014

• /serialpodcast is created - [will update link soon]

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

• Rabia's first blog post on Serial; undermining Koenig. Jakeprops says its must-read
  
  • Rabia lies to her readers, writing that Adnan had no choice but to wait for ten years to file for Post Conviction Relief.
  • The truth is that the defendant can file any time during those ten years, but not after ten years has lapsed.
  • The truth is that in a 2004 letter to Rabia, Adnan articulated his strategy to wait out the years, until the deadline was upon them, and then file for PCR.
• Rabia begins to advertise her version of the story on reddit - [will update link soon]
  

Saturday, October 11, 2014

• Baltimore Sun: Relatives of Convicted Killer Suffer in Silence

Friday, October 14, 2014

• Serial Episode 3: "Leakin Park" Transcript
  
• Rabia promoted her blog on reddit.
  

Wedneday, October 15, 2014

• Hae Min Lee 34th birthday

Thursday, October 16, 2014

• Serial Episode 4: "Inconsistencies" Transcript
  
• Rabia tweets Jay's last name, and it is picked up on reddit. Pictures of Jay's house are posted on reddit as a result.
  
• Rabia texts Sarah and says that Redditers "figured out" Jay's last name and posted his Facebook.
  

Friday, October 17, 2014

• Rabia's blog post #2 on Serial. Response to "Inconsistencies"... Rabia reshapes Koenig's narrative. Posted on reddit.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

• Saad's Reddit AMA

Thursday, October 23, 2014

• Serial Episode 5: "Route Talk" Transcript
  
• Hae's classmate "Summer" listens, and reaches out to Sarah Koenig. In a later episode, "Summer" sounds an awful lot like "K." Summer has never been heard from again.
  
• Adnan is a Psychopath thread posted
  
• Yusuf's response to the Psychopath thread. Yusuf thinks the author is Bilal.
  

Friday, October 24, 2014

• Rabia's blog post #3 on Serial. Addresses "Route Talk." Reshaping the narrative for her own ends.
  
• Rabia writes that after her first few blog posts, she received an uncomfortable call from Koenig who rightly felt that Rabia was interfering with the storytelling. Rabia writes that she wasn't going to let this moment pass, but she agreed not to trump Sarah's show.
  

Saturday, October 25, 2014

• Saad names names and let's people know they will be bullied and harassed if they come forward.

Monday, October 27, 2014

• Rabia's blog post #4. She is offended at having been called "loosey-goosey"
  
• Rabia appears on a "google chat" with Pete Rorabaugh.
  

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

• Rabia's blog post #5 on Serial. Rabia announces that she will be appearing in a "google chat" every Monday with Pete Rorabaugh. and directs her readers to view the "chats."

Thursday, October 30, 2014

• Serial Episode 6: "The Case Against Adnan Syed" Transcript

Friday, October 31, 2014

• Rabia's sixth blog post on Serial. Addresses Serial's latest episode as "The worst of it."

Monday, November 3, 2014

• Google Chat #2 with Pete Rorabaugh
  
• Bilal signs Department of Health order suspending his license to practice dentistry.
  

Thursday, November 6, 2014

• Serial Episode 7: "The Opposite of the Prosecution" Transcript

Friday, November 7, 2014

• Rabia's seventh Serial blog post promoted on reddit.. Reframes "The Opposite of the Prosecution."
  
• Asia's classmate sends her a message about Serial via Facebook messenger
  
  • Affiant's version
  • Asia's version

Monday, November 10, 2014

• Google Chat #3 with Pete Rorabaugh

Thursday, November 13, 2014

• Serial Episode 8: "The Deal with Jay" Transcript

Friday, November 14, 2014

• Rabia's 8th blog post about Serial. She writes about the West Memphis Three, and promotes her blog on reddit
  
• State misses deadline to respond to defense's January 27, 2014 "ALA."
  
• Pictures of Jay's house are posted on reddit
  

Monday, November 17, 2014

• Google Chat #4 with Pete Rorabaugh
  
• Bilal begins defrauding Medicaid. He will eventually accrue 1.2 million from November 2014 to February 2016
  

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

• Hae's brother posts on reddit.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

• Rabia blogs about her first Facebook post on Adnan's case.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

• Serial Episode 9: "To Be Suspected" Transcript
  
  • Rabia tweets that they are poised to file to get the DNA tested
  • Items UVA IP seeks to get tested.

Friday, November 21, 2014

• Rabia blogs about "To Be Suspected," and promotes her blog on reddit.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

• Susan Simpson begins writing about Adnan, and posting her blog on reddit. - will update link soon.
  
• Baltimore Sun: City's Crime Image Based on Truth
  

Thursday, November 25, 2014

• Google Chat #5 with Pete Rorabaugh

Friday, November 26, 2014

• Rabia blogs re; Thanksgiving and letters of support she's received.

Saturday, November 27, 2014

• Rabia uploads Jay's first interview and Jen's interview. They are terrible copies she found in the defense file. Rabia still doesn't have the police investigation MPIA file, that Sarah Koenig has.

Monday, December 1, 2014

• Google Chat #6 with Pete Rorabaugh

Thursday, December 4, 2014

• Serial Episode 10: "The Best Defense is a Good Defense" Transcript
  
• Judge Heard posts on Facebook that Adnan is guilty
  

Friday, December 5, 2014

• Rabia blogs about how Gutierrez swindled them; posts a video of Shamim.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

• Approximate: Dierdre Enright and her students from the UVA IP travel to meet Adnan in prison.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

• Jon Ronson's piece in the Guardian written from an "innocent" perspective, appears to have been placed by a PR firm. Ronson includes Adnan's childhood drawings as originals. A redditor later found that these drawings were copied from a children's book. Not a big deal other than that they were presented as originals, for sympathy.

Monday, December 8, 2014

• Rabia blogs about Serial Episode 10; how Muslim kids in the USA hide things like dating from their parents.
  
• Google Chat #7 with Pete Rorabaugh
  

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

• Rabia posts interviews with Chris Flohr and Justin Brown

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

• City Paper: Where the Bodies Aren't Buried

Thursday, December 11, 2014

• Serial Episode 11: "Rumors" Transcript

Friday, December 12, 2014

• Rabia blogs about how the "Rumors" episode is "Much Ado About Nothing." She has organized a video chat of Adnan's friends to rebut every single one of the rumors.
  
• Krista creates a FreeAdnan Facebook page.
  

Saturday, December 13, 2014

• Deirdre and Justin Brown have been giving Adnan conflicting advice about how best to proceed, what to push for and when. On Saturday Adnan finally gave Deirdre the go ahead to file the motion to test DNA. It was an emotional decision for him.
  
  • Adnan Syed: It’s just anything about my case, I want to know it. I don’t want anyone to be able to say “well he didn’t want to know so boom, we went and found out.” No, I want to know. So I called Miss Deirdre and said “Look Miss Deirdre, I wanted you to test things. I’m the one that asked for this. You guys had it sitting for sixteen years and you never tested it. It’s impossible for it to be sitting there for sixteen years and you guys never tested it. So that’s fine, I want it tested... I want to see what it says. There’s nothing about my case that I’m afraid of.

Monday, December 15, 2014

• Asia contacts Adnan's defense team, after listening to the podcast
  
• Baltimore Sun: Serial Brings Healing to Syed Family
  

Thursday, December 18, 2014

• Final Serial Episode (12): "What We Know" Transcript
  
• Baltimore Sun: Rabia Chaudry Fights for Muslims - and Syed; Firebrand for Muslim Women inspired Serial
  

Friday, December 19, 2014

• Rabia launches the Adnan Syed Legal Trust on Launchgood.com: Dennis Robinson named Trustee - [Will update link soon]
  
• Rabia's responds to the final episode of Serial, in her blog and points to Don.
  
• Deirdre promotes the UVA IP via Time Magazine
  
• Asia:
  
  • At the 2016 Hearing for Post Conviction Relief, Asia testified that she binge listened to all the episodes at one time.
  • At the 2016 Hearing for Post Conviction Relief, Asia testified that she reached out to Justin Brown in "Mid-December 2014."
  • At the 2016 Hearing for Post Conviction Relief, Asia testified that Sarah Koenig recommended the attorney that Asia hired, Gary Proctor.

Undated between December 20, 2014 and January 2, 2015

• Rabia asks Sarah Koenig when she can have back all her hard copies and tapes.
  
• In the same email, Rabia asks if she can have the full police file from Sarah's MPIA request.
  
• Sarah doesn't realize that Rabia will sell/use documents from Sarah's MPIA request and research to raise money for Adnan's defense fund, and start her own podcast.
  

Monday, December 22, 2014

• Google Chat #8 with Pete Rorabaugh
  
• Rabia tweets that she will be selling transcripts. For every $10,000 raised for Adnan, she will release more documents.
  
• Tanveer characterizes Rabia's activities as a "campaign."
  

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

• Jay says that he is looking for an interview in which he can control the conditions. He is looking to expose Sarah Koenig for "who she really is."

December 28, 2014

• Rabia posts transcripts in keeping with her "transcripts for donations" advertisement.

Saturday, December 28, 2014

• Asia responds to her classmate's Facebook message

Sunday, December 29, 2014

• Susan Simpson posts the "previously unpublished" 2003 COSA Denial of Adnan's appeal, and says she filed to obtain this document, but it got water-stained in her mail box while she was out of town. However, this looks "obtained" from Rabia's water damaged documents.
  
• The Intercept publishes Part I of an Interview with Jay.
  
  • Reddit thread re; this interview: Addressing the Conspiracy Theory - will update link soon

December 30, 2014

• After receiving more money for Adnan, Rabia posts more transcripts, per her commitment to sell them for donations.
  
• Thiru Vignarajah named Deputy Attorney General
  
• The Intercept publishes Part II of an Interview with Jay.
  

Friday, January 3, 2015

• Sarah Koenig emails Rabia back about returning the documents and tapes. Sarah doesn't respond to Rabia asking for the MPIA documents. Sarah says they never identified Hae's pager.

Saturday, January 4, 2015

• ISB member calls for members to do the right thing.

Monday, January 6, 2015

• Rabia writes in her blog about Jay's lies.
  
• Rabia posts Sarah's January 3 email in her blog, saying Sarah tried to trick Adnan into thinking she had Hae's pager number when, she didn't.
  
  • Either this day or the next, Sarah calls Rabia, and is super angry: Sarah said she was mistaken, and that they did have Hae's number.
  • Sarah said Rabia's posting a private email made Serial look incompetent.
  • According to Rabia's book, Sarah and Rabia engage in a a full on shouting match re: "The Best Defense is a Good Defense."
  • Rabia is angry that Sarah only aired the part about Adnan being happy with Gutierrez, when he clearly isn't happy, and has a pending IAC claim against her.
  • Rabia told Sarah that what she used in Serial could affect Adnan's case. Sarah replied that the IAC wasn't her problem, and [Serial] used what parts of the interviews they wanted due to "editorial discretion."
  • [Note: According to Krista, Hae did have a pager.
• After receiving another $10,000 for Adnan's legal fund, Rabia posts two days of trial testimony.
  
• Jemima Khan asks her twitter followers to support Adnan's legal fund
  

Tuesday, January 7, 2015

• Kevin Urick Intercept Interview

Saturday, January 10, 2015

• Susan Simpson begins posting snippets of police files obtained via Sarah Koenig's MPIA request. She got them from Rabia who got them from Sarah.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

• Baltimore Sun: 'Serial' Prosecutor Speaks Out

Monday, January 12, 2015

• Rabia speaks at Stanford Law School
  
• At the 2016 PCR Hearing, Asia testified that she wrote her 2015 affidavit, but asked Gary Proctor and his office to look it over for grammar.
  

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

• 16th anniversary of Hae Min Lee's death
  
• Asia signs 2nd affidavit, but it is not yet released to the public.
  

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

• Part 2 of Kevin Urick's Intercept Interview

[Post Conviction III>>]()

• Defend the Ahmaud Arbery killing, including with the lie that he had to be up to no good because he was wearing boots (he wasn't), that he drove 26 miles from his house (it was 1.8, on foot), and that the chase driver was innocent (he hit Arbery with his vehicle)
• Defend the Ralph Yarl shooting
• Defend a guy who drove into a crowd of BLM protesters and shot a guy four times
• Defend Officer Chauvin for killing an unarmed, subdued, and later unconscious man, but condemning Officer Byrd for killing an armed rioter breaking into a protected government area
• Incoherently defend the killing of a disorderly homeless man - tried to compare his yelling on the subway to a home invasion, donating $20k to Daniel Penny's legal defense in order to fight the "culture war.", before - on the same day - condemning the killing of a disorderly person who said the n-word
• Claim to be an advocate of public healthcare, then opposing its proposal
• Oppose Roe v. Wade and its prospective codification by Congress and stating that if the abortion debate came down to banning abortion entire versus allowing it up to 9 months, he'd ban it completely to protect the unborn children, before the Uvalde shooting happened a week later, and he stated that 'it doesn't matter how many children are harmed, because you can't take away rights from people'
• Suggest that it'd be self-defense to kill an abortion doctor
• Encourage “liberals to abort and sterilize their kids” to ensure a more conservative future
• Assert that the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim was a hoax - until it was determined to be committed by an illegal immigrant
• Claim Lizzo will trigger communist famine that will wipe out liberals, while implicitly admitting he’s “on the right” again

• Called someone a Nazi for sharing a photo of him with WNs
• Refer to "a certain World War Two-era hero"
• Deflect from a mass shooting by a neo-nazi fan of Tim Pool - baselessly claiming his SNS was faked to impugn him because ‘they’re losing the culture war’, despite Tim himself posting phony information, before declaring multiculturalism was the real cause
• Claim "Biden colluded with big tech to steal 2020 Confirmed" while willfully ignoring the actual government entity who made similar requests
• Implicitly admit he’s right-wing and rejecting meta-studies, wants to see the Daily Wire grow because it "shares our values", works for TPUSA to talk about how totally segregated Occupy was
• Lie about Shake Shack poisoning police
• Defend Andrew Tate and Harvey Weinstein
• Lie that “Per capita, trans people commit more acts of terrorism than any other demographic.” and that Democrats cause mass shootings
• Lie that a hospital is supposedly performing secret "trans surgeries"
• Lie that a research article supposedly encouraged SA
• Suggest Target and LGBT people are pedophiles based on colors
• Call people supporting pride celebrations in school “pedophiles”
• State: “if you drink bud light and shop at target youre gay”
• Advocate people start suing schools for displaying pride flags, because the rainbow is a Christian symbol which "they are using to represent sin".
• Justify anti-LGBT vandalism
• Suggest an "illegal end" to the "problem" of LGBTQ people
• Rationalize the shooting of LGBT people and advocating their imprisonment, call for any Miami cops listening to him to go rogue and start arresting people for hosting drag shows, call for DeSantis to pursue criminal charges against parents of trans children, and forcibly detransition them
• State there isn't a "classical liberal solution" to the problem of trans people existing: Trans people are creating a "crooked and corrupt society", and we need "some kind of system that says here are the lines, do not cross them"
• Say that trans people should be prohibited from owning guns
• Argue that "cancel culture" is only unacceptable for thee, while endorsing the boycott of Hershey's, and advocating boycotts of Anheuser Busch while demanding they apologize for having the temerity to include a transgender person on an Instagram post, fall for a satirical post of them apologizing
• Blame Anheuser Busch for conservatives assaulting its consumers
• Crybully LGBT people
• Oppose no-fault divorce

• Call for a dictator to "take the reigns of power" and "cleanse the system" by mass arresting Democratic politicians
• Employ and feature white nationalists like Cassandra Fairbanks and Hannah Brimelow
• Preface Fuentes' appearance by suggesting he couldn't be a white supremacist because of his association with Kanye - who Pool endorsed
• Assert that seizing classified documents is like Kristallnacht, calling for war if Trump is arrested
• Condemn your own website for using the legally accurate term "asylum seekers".
• Mock the idea that immigrants being separated from their families and kept in cages in squalid conditions amounted to concentration camps, before later asserting that covid quarantine facilities are concentration camps
• Express vaccine skepticism after condemning the left for supposedly being skeptical of a rushed vaccine in 2020
• Believe the Damar Hamlin "body double" conspiracy theory
• Suggest Bieber’s facial paralysis was due to the vaccine (chickenpox actually), ditto with Jamie Foxx, implying that a kid had a heart attack due to the vaccine, before being informed that his own linked article states there was no heart attack, which he ignores in lieu of doubling down and insulting leftists
• Defend Stein's harassment of AOC, championing Steven Crowder, defend Crowder’s spousal abuse
• Argue with his conservative friends that they’re wrong about Mario not being woke
• Assert Fox News is “too woke”
• General hypocrisy
• Declare Democrats “low info voters” because they voted for a dead candidate, before changing tack after the article also reveals Republicans did so as well
• Assert Trump will end the war in Ukraine in 10 minutes, by using the genius strategy of... asking everyone to stop fighting
• Claim that there was a "soft coup" against Trump
• The "49 state landslide", another "landslide" if Trump is arrested, his repeated predictions of a 2022 "red wave" - which he insisted came to fruition even after the results were known, prompting Milo Yiannopoulos to reel him in
• Declare “Trump is likely going to win in 2024”
• Repeatedly declare AOC is going to lose
• Misrepresent polarization data
• Claim that "If Trump gets reelected, you're gonna have all your dreams come true."
• Advocate Trump endorse Kari Lake as VP
• Suggest Kari Lake lost due to fraud, but turning on Mike Lindell as soon as he alleged fraud by Republicans
• Launder debunked claims of voter fraud - which he used to encourage January 6th attendance, but after which, alleging that antifa was really responsible, before switching tack again and threatening that if "backed into a corner Trump supporters will snap harder than they did on the 6th"
• Proclaim that "Q Shaman IS INNOCENT"

• Insist that Democrats are evil, assert that people who criticize the police are to blame for the murder of Tyre Nichols via new policing standards - of which he ignores that they were hired prior to
• Speculate that the Ohio train Derailment, as well as the recent attacks on power substations in North Carolina, weren't at all accidental and may have been coordinated by leftists
• Assert that people only vote Democratic because they’re “NPCs”
• Suggest young people and mentally ill people shouldn’t be allowed to vote, coming around to the position that women shouldn't be allowed to vote, because he keeps hearing conservative women say the 19th amendment should be repealed
• Propose a "solution" to the problem of women in the workforce: "The only result that is possible is that we become a much more traditional country"
• Claim it's actually bad to provide food to people in need. Instead, society should "create some degree of hardship where they're forced to actually work for their food".
• Approve of a new type of school, where kids are placed on tiny farms so that they can "engage in some commerce" and receive "military tactics training".
• Complain that you can't use the n-word, defend Scott Adams for saying black people are a "hate group" that white people need to "get the hell away from" by claiming he was really talking about the racism in hiring practices
• Go from lambasting the 'giant breasted teacher' as deranged leftism - to supporting it after it was revealed they're a right-wing troll
• Think leaked Tucker Carlson videos will be revealed as ‘deep fake’ trap for Media Matters
• Assert that liberals are insincerely praising TLOU show - based on its homosexual couple
• Claim the shooting of a NJ GOP councilwoman was politically motivated - without evidence, but ignoring the NM GOP candidate who explicitly targeted Democrats just weeks earlier,
• Say that if he were on the jury, he'd vote to acquit Paul Pelosi's attacker
• Do this conspicuous shit

Part 1
"You're right," I said. "I hate it."
"You got a better idea?" Inanna asked. I shook my head. "No, and no time, either, let's go."
"Dude, you need like, a sergeant or something. I got you," the man said as he and his girlfriend or wife followed us back to the lounge.
"What kind of leadership experience do you have?" Inanna asked him.
"Uh, nothing like your husband," he admitted. I couldn't help but smirk. "Good, you've got the job," I said.
"What?" he asked.
"I know how the show portrays things, but in reality, Jerry's less of a leader and more a guy who's just kinda good at planning and really well liked. He's actually more of a lone wolf, really."
He looked at his girlfriend, who looked back. Both of them looked worried. I didn't blame them one bit.
"Okay," Inanna said as we reached the door. "This is on you, babe. Maybe turn your aura on a bit, and give your voice some extra volume."
I felt my cheeks burning. This was even worse than going on stage a few hours ago. At least then, there was some structure, and I had Inanna with me to take some of the attention.
I opened the lounge door and stepped in, the others hot on my heels. I stared at the crowd and felt my heart begin to flutter. Everyone here could die if I failed. So no pressure.
I followed Inanna's advice and let my natural aura slip a little loose. I could feel the weight of the woman's gaze change as it reached her. A second later, a few people, mostly women, nearest to us turned to eye me.
Inanna took my arm in her hand. "Remember, you want to be a little bit arrogant, babe. You don't have to be a dick about it, you just have to be straightforward. Acknowledge who you are and what you've done. Speak straight to them, and above all, act as confident as you can. Maybe work up a little righteous indignation. You're always a lot more confident when you're angry."
I nodded, accepting her advice. I put a little magic into my voice and cleared my throat. The sound was loud, but only a few people noticed in the din inside. People continued to talk and speculate and cry all over the room.
"Excuse me," I said. Nobody really paid me any mind. "Can I have your attention, please?" I asked. Still, nobody noticed. I glanced at Inanna, who shook her heard slightly. I decided to take a different approach and channeled Gary.
"EVERYBODY LISTEN UP!" I shouted, goosing the magic on my voice a bit. My words carried through the large room and a silence fell as all eyes turned to me.
"Okay, that's better," I said. I began to pace back and forth, hands on my hips, trying to strike a confident-looking figure. I was probably failing.
"Most of you probably recognize me from the talk just now. For anyone who doesn't, my name is Jerry Williams. I'm the man whom the character of Jimmy Waters in the television show The Legend of Jimmy is based on. Not everything in the show is accurate, but the broad strokes are.
"I killed Astoram. I led the takedown of the Cult of Blood. I led the way in the fight against the primordials, and I was the one who killed Sarisa and saved the Sixteenth World. Those parts are all true."
A ragged cheer went up from the crowd, which made me blush again. This was not an appropriate time to cheer.
"As you all know," I continued once I thought they'd be able to make out my words again. "This ship is under attack. For those who didn't see it, it's a kraken. As it turns out, they're much bigger in real life than Hollywood ever prepared us for. The kraken is hunting, and it plans to eat us-" A collective gasp rose from the crowd, but I pushed on.
"It plans to. But it's an animal, and I'm a human being, so I'll put my plans against its, any day. But to make my plan work, I need everybody who can to help. As many people as possible. I can't kill or drive this thing off myself, at least not without sinking the ship in the process. But with your help, we can fight this thing off.
"My wife here is going to be producing some weapons. What I need is for everyone who can swing a sword or shoot a rifle to make an orderly line right here and get your weapon. We don't have a lot of time, folks, so it's important that you remain calm and orderly. An old maxim of combat is 'Slow is smooth, smooth is fast,'. We'll finish much faster by remaining orderly than by rushing. So please, start lining up now. Together, we can fight this thing. We can drive it back into the depths, and go home with a story to tell our families."
This time, the cheer was overwhelming. It startled me with its ferocity. Despite my admonition, almost every young man and quite a few middle-aged men, along with a surprising number of women of all ages surged forward, eager to be the first volunteers.
Inanna rushed over to push a couple of square tables together, along with the couple from outside. They got them laid out and got behind them just in time. I had never understood why Inanna kept an entire arsenal of weapons in hammerspace until then. I'd told her many times that there was no way she could use hundreds of slightly-enchanted swords or almost a thousand gen-1 through gen-3 assault rifles and a similar number of handguns she regularly collected from the DCM group in lieu of retiring them (depending on the exact sub-generation, they couldn't always be upgraded to the latest standards of enchantment). But now I understood. She'd been preparing for a day like today.
I wondered idly why it was that people felt the need to look to me as the hero, when really, Inanna was the one they wanted. She was smarter, more experienced, and a better leader than me, no doubt. But she seemed content to be an intimidating figure standing at my side.
I was jealous.
Inanna began producing weapons and handing them out. She didn't let the volunteers choose their weapon, but assigned them as she saw fit. She had quite the variety of weapons, too. Shorter folks got polearms, mostly large Dane axes with six-foot hafts. Larger folks got swords, either knightly sword or viking swords, but the largest folks got longswords and -in the case of a six-foot three woman with broad shoulders- a zweihander, not unlike Inanna's own blade.
The guns were also distributed to anyone who professed any military or other shooting experience. These, she passed out purely by request, asking if they'd prefer a rifle or handgun. I was initially surprised at the number who chose a handgun, until I remembered that a lot of people would have experience shooting those at gun ranges and in large, rural back yards. She quickly got the couple involved, so they could serve three people at a time. With each interaction taking only four or five seconds, we were arming several dozen people a minute to start with. Inanna was even smarter than I originally thought, though, and she began hauling out weapons by the armful and dumping them off, grabbing the occasional newly-armed volunteer and pulling them behind their impromptu counter to help assign weapons.
Soon, she was off the line entirely, letting the others do the assigning as she continued to add to a pile of swords and a pile of guns. A dozen people stood behind the table two minutes in, each one assigning a dozen weapons a minute.
The ship shook three more times as we passed everything out. I had each person join me outside after they'd retrieved their weapon. A few of the people with guns took potshots at the giant tentacles, but I had them lower their weapons. For this to work, we all had to attack at once. We needed to surprise the beast with pain.
Finally, Inanna joined me outside, letting me know she was there by slipping a hand between my legs to fondle me. I turned to face her and planted a kiss on her forehead. "You ready?" I asked.
"To be the first to ever fight off a kraken?" she asked with a laugh. "Fuck yeah."
I nodded and added more magic to my voice.
"Okay, listen up! I need to group you up into units! I need a hundred people per unit, that's about one for each of the eight tentacles-" I was interrupted by one of the ship's massive smoke stacks being ripped free by one of the tightening tentacles. As soon as it finished collapsing, I continued.
"Start grouping up now! We don't have a lot of time!"
The man -I still hadn't caught his name- from the couple who'd been helping us rushed forward and began grabbing people, assigning them the task of leading units. Huh, that was quite inspired. Maybe he should be leading.... I glanced over to see Inanna giving me a slight shake of the head, having figured out what I was just thinking. I shrugged and looked back to the crowd, which was now showing some divisions as people clumped up. I waited a few more seconds for the scattered people still not in a group to get into one before I continued.
"Okay, You guys are team one," I said. "Head all the way aft, to the very last tentacle. Start attacking as soon as you hear the rest of us shooting. The folks with swords will chop the bottoms of the tentacles, the folks with guns will shoot the tops. Try to get your people into the best positions to do the most damage possible. Go."
The group turned and began to jog aft.
"Okay," I said, gesturing to another group. "You're team two. Same instructions, just pick the next tentacle up. Go."
The other teams began to follow, not needing any more instruction.
"How much time do we give them?" I asked Inanna.
"Three minutes," she said without hesitation. I nodded, as that sounded about right. Still, it was going to be a long three minutes. The ship continued to creak and groan from the strain of the tightening tentacles.
"This is gonna be close," the woman said. I took my chance. "Hey, what's your name?" I asked.
"I'm Charlize, and my brother is Jason," she said.
"Your brother? Oh, I thought you two were, uh..." I stammered. She flashed me a grin. "We're from Alabama, but not that part of the state."
"I uh, just didn't expect a... A brother and sister to take a cruise... I mean... Ugh. Sorry. It's fine, apologies if I offended you."
The woman looked at Inanna, an eyebrow quirked. Inanna nodded. "Always. It's a part of his charm."
I watched the last team get into position near the closest tentacle. "Okay," I said. "Let's join them."
We all ran over. I decided to use my sword, summoning Godslayer from hammerspace. As the blade appeared in my hand, the magic caused everyone around me to turn and look. The shimmering air around the blade raised a lot of eyebrows.
"Wow, I can feel that thing," one woman muttered.
"I've been layering enchantments on it for years," I explained.
"Did you name it? All cool swords need a name," a younger guy who looked to be a fellow after my own (nerdy) heart asked. I pursed my lips and balked at the ridiculous question.
"Of course," I said. "This is Godslayer."
"Holy shit!" he said, his eyes widening. A few others turned to check it out.
"Yes, this is the sword I killed Sarisa with. I also took Tysrane's hand with it, but that's... I'm not exactly proud of that," I said.
"Bet Tysrane isn't, either," the nerdy guy said. The woman who'd first spoken looked at him and said, "Bet Tysrane makes a point of not pissing off Jim- er, Jerry."
"Fuck yeah," the nerdy guy mumbled. I blushed.
"Is everyone ready?" I asked loudly. A ragged chorus of agreements greeted me. I realized I should be more inspiring, so I tried again, adding the magic back to my voice.
"Are we all ready to show this thing what happens when it messes with us?!" I shouted. A harsh cheer erupted.
"Lets go, then!" I yelled at the top of my lungs and rushed forward to the giant mass of glistening flesh before me. Gunfire erupted behind me as me and dozens of others began slashing into the tentacle.
As the assault picked up in pace, a new sound emerged. It started as the crackle of broken parts of the ship's superstructure, the tentacles writhing in response to the sudden pain. But it changed into a gurgling roar that grew louder and louder.
Suddenly, the roar grew more hoarse and I glanced aside to see a massive shape rising behind the structure to my left. Using a bit of magic, I jumped onto the roof and rushed to the edge.
The kraken's body had broken the surface. I could see where the tentacles joined the body, and in between them, the beast's mouth. It didn't have a beak like an octopus or a squid, but a massive, gaping maw full of sharp, pointy teeth. As the mouth rose above the water, the sound grew deafening, drowning out even the gunfire.
I stared at the thing as the mouth closed and sort of drew back into the body, the roar dying out. With a sudden loud hissing sound, the mouth shot back out, almost like a goblin shark's jaws, opening wide and releasing an enormous spray of a steaming black liquid.
The fluid splashed over the ship, smoking and bubbling where it landed. A few people were splattered with it, and each and every one of them screamed and began to try to wipe the sticky substance off themselves.
"Get them to the pools!" I shouted. "Get the injured to the pools!" A few people heard me and I watched as one burly older gentleman grabbed a flailing young lady, tossed her over his shoulder, and rushed to the pool. He splattered himself with the fluid, which bubbled and smoked as it struck him, but he paid it no mind. When he reached the pool, he jumped in with the woman, and I saw him drag her under and start stripping her clothes. More bodies splashed into the pool, and I nodded in approval. Taking off whatever clothing was soaked in the stuff was a good idea.
I turned back to see the beast sucking its jaw back in again. This was no good. It had already knocked about one in ten people off the line, either suffering from whatever kind of acid this was, or helping those so afflicted. If it kept this up, it would stop us.
That's when I realized that my first plan was viable now. Its body was out of the water. I could target it, right now, and end this.
I rose into the air, charging my strike. I dismissed Godslayer and, having learned from my efforts against the primordials, dismissed my clothes as well. I really liked that T-shirt.
I flew up and away from the beast, reaching a point about two hundred yards away from the ship. I could see the ends of tentacles in the water below me, really speaking to the size of the creature, as those tentacles were currently still wrapped around the ship.
I closed my eyes and prayed. "Please let go, please let go." I opened my eyes back up and waited.
The beast spat more acid onto the deck, but it had already splattered the people nearest to its mouth, and those near to them had helped. Only a few people caught some of the acid, and a few more stopped to help them get in the water.
The beast was thrashing now. I could see the ship rocking back and forth, and the tentacles were coming loose and tightening down. I watched, waiting for my chance.
Finally, blessedly, it happened. Six of the tentacles lifted up, the ends slipping out of the water. They were no longer grasping the ship, having pulled back to end the pain our ragtag army was inflicting.
I drew in as much power as I could manage and shot forward, my shield forming a shell around me.
----
Charlize Mayberry, Totally Not Fucking Her Brother, Jesus Christ, They're Just Best Friends, I Mean, it's Her Brother For Crying Out Loud
Charlize watched as Jerry made the inhuman jump to the structure to her left to survey the battle. She could see the kraken's body, and she could see Jerry's shoulders and head as he regarded it.
He looked even more impressive than his counterpart in the show. Magic that she could see and feel surrounded him, making him crackle with strange colors she couldn't give name to. His sword shimmered, the blade a thing of immense gravity, drawing the eye to it. His shoulders were firmly set, and even from behind, she could sense the grim determination. She remembered a scene from the show, where Karen had watched him and whispered "Angel of Death," and she decided right then and there that that scene had actually happened.
When the kraken spat some kind of burning black bile over everyone, she heard him shouting, as if he'd been prepared for this. She found a man screaming to her right, trying to get the stuff off his face. "Come on!" she yelled, grabbing one of his hands and rushing him to the pool. By the time she got there, the water was gray and muddy, and partially or entirely naked people with serious-looking burns were climbing back out. She shoved the guy in, watching him go under. A few seconds later, he emerged, scrubbing at his face.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god... Thank you," he said, his eyes still squeezed shut. She could see the wound on his cheek where the acid had eaten into the skin, but he had managed to rinse most of it away.
"Come on," she called, "Get out." He blinked his eyes open, then swam to the edge. More people were coming in, and she worried that the pool water might get saturated with enough of the acid to become acidic, itself.
Charlize helped the man out of the pool, then turned to look back down the ship. The tentacles were rising, one after another, trying to escape the pain of gripping the vessel. Those armed with guns continued to fire, pouring lead into the savaged appendages as those with melee weapons caught their breaths.
She watched as all but two of the tentacle lifted off the ship. Hope swelled in her breast and she glanced over at a burly, older man with no shirt on, leaning on his knees and catching his breath, next to a younger woman in nothing but a pair of panties, laying on the deck with burns all over her legs and torso.
The man caught her gaze and flashed her a grim smile. "Almost," he said. Charlize nodded and raised her rifle, shooting at the distant tentacles that remained attached to the ship.
She had only fired once or twice when the entire ship shuddered and a deafening crack caused her to look up. She saw a golden streak flash into and through the beast's body, which was more clearly seen from her current position on the pool deck.
The kraken simply exploded.
Chunks of wet, slippery flesh flew outward with enough force to bowl over anyone they struck and leave dents in the metal sides of the ship. The two remaining tentacles on the ship let go, pulling back under the water as the six in the air flopped down, sending a cleansing wave of seawater over the deck.
The water ran red with the kraken's blood as it swept over the sides, carrying chunks of monster and a few people who'd been caught off guard with it. Charlize grabbed one guy and helped him catch his footing before the flow subsides.
She straightened up and looked over to where the dead beast was sinking beneath the surface. A gold-glowing figure emerged from the water, and Charlize recognized Jerry.
He was naked. His body was hard and tightly muscled, but lean and agile-looking. His skin glowed with a golden light, and she could see red lightning playing about his skin as he rose into the air and then glided over to the ship and sat back down.
The crowd, who had begun cheering at the beast's death, fell into a hush of awe as the all turned to the glowing figure. He exuded power, commanding every eye to look at him. His feet settled down on the deck and he walked forward.
With a sudden rush of heat in her cheeks, Charlize realized that he was rocking an enormous hard-on. Like, impressively big. If she'd seen one like that in a porno, she'd have assumed it was CGI or a prosthetic. If she'd been able to think straight, she'd probably have found it a little ridiculous.
He walked past her, turning his head and clasping her shoulder. "Thank you," he said with a smile. Her knees went weak as his touch and she began to reflect upon the fact that, at least in the show, Ishtar loved to bring women home for herself and Jimmy.
She watched him thank everyone he passed, until he finally found his wife. They embraced, and then a few seconds later, they vanished.
Charlize caught her breath and let her heartbeat slow down. A woman approached her, and she recognized her as the last person whose question Jerry had declined to answer during the talk.
"Do you know where there cabin is?" she asked. Charlize shook her head. Another woman approached, holding hands with an effeminate-looking man carrying a handgun. "They're in the Princess Suite, it's in the big stack up fore," she said with a gesture.
"I'm gonna go see if they're there," the first woman said breathlessly. The couple nodded, and all three of them took off. Jason put his hand on her shoulder and she looked at him.
"I'm, uh..." Charlize said, making up her mind right then and there. "I'm gonna go do something. I'll be around in a bit."
She hurried inside, found an elevator to ride to the top floor and the hurried down until she saw the door labeled "Princess Suite". She knocked on it.
A second later, the door was opened by a naked woman that Charlize didn't recognize. Looking past her, she could see a tangle of limbs. Moans and gasps already filled the air.
The woman stepped aside as Charlize stepped in and immediately began tugging at her shirt.
----
Jerry Williams, Just Wants a Quiet Vacation For Once In His Life
The next morning, I sat on a deck chair on the upper observation deck as the ship pulled into port for repairs. We'd all been given vouchers for a new cruise, as compensation for the one cut short by the attack. The captain of the ship had come to personally thank me for rallying the defense. Unfortunately, she'd done this during the orgy Inanna had organized right after the attack, and it had taken the bridge crew over an hour to locate her when she failed to return.
I winced, thinking about that.
Inanna had turned her chair to face mine and had her legs on my lap. A few other people were also laid out with us. Mostly women, but a few men as well. All of us had come up here from my cabin. All of us were naked, and though this wasn't a nudist cruise, nobody seemed inclined to complain. The staff had recognized Inanna and I, and we were being waited on hand and foot.
I took a sip of my champagne and rubbed Inanna's shin.
"See?" she said. I glanced over to see the sun glistening off the light sheen of sweat coating her dusky skin. God, she was so beautiful.
"It wasn't so hard, was it?"
"I'm still not so sure I'm cut out to be a leader. And I'm still not convinced that the risk of me turning in the asshole from my visions is past," I said.
"Bah," she replied dismissively. "You are a leader, whether you like it or not. You're a hero, like it or not. I know you wouldn't have chosen this position, but it's been chosen for you, and the best thing you could do is be the best damn hero you can be."
I thought about that for a minute, and honestly, I couldn't argue the point. Maybe she was right, and I should do a bit more in terms of being a good hero, instead of just keeping my head down and trying to help where I could.
"Besides," she continued a moment later. "Emperor Gerald had sixty years of Sarisa whispering in his ear to get that way. You've got me. I'll keep you on the straight and girthy."
I laughed. "Straight and narrow," I corrected.
"It's anything but narrow," she replied mildly. "Although, now that I think about it, I prefer when I'm the one on the straight and girthy." She reached down to grab my hand and pull it up to her pubic hair. I gave it a little tug, then ran my fingers along the stretch marks at the base of her belly. Those were possibly the sexiest part of her whole body, and even the least sexy part of her was jaw-dropping. She opened an eye to frown at me, until her gaze roamed down and noticed the effect that touching them was having on a different part of me. Her feet shifted over to that part and I felt that old familiar thrill as she touched me. It was just as intense this time as it had been the first time.
"Ready for another?" she asked.
"I think we should relax for a bit," I said. Inanna smirked and her eyes focused past me. "They don't," she said. I glanced behind to see two of the women from the orgy walking over.
"You forgot to turn your aura off, love," she said as she set up and moved to sit on my lap.
"Here we go again," I groaned as hands and lips began to touch me.
Don't tell anyone, but in all candor, this was the part of being a hero I enjoyed the most.

TWBS Previous Next First
-
---Simone’s perspective---
---Sunday, 24th of December, 2682 Terran Calendar---
---Southern England---
“You wanted to see me, Ma’am?” says the pretty redhead in her melodic, Scottish accented English, as she pokes her head around the door to my office.
“Yes… come in and sit down, Reid.” I answer, looking up from my work.
She walks across the room and takes a seat in front of my desk.
Fixing her with both my natural and bionic eyes, I plant my elbows in front of me and tent my fingers before saying “It’s about your survival excursion, Reid…”
“What about it, Ma’am?”
“In light of the recent incident, I’m willin’ to reverse my decision and send you to the Amazon with Pvt Everard, if you want.”
She gives a wry smile “You going soft on me now, Ma’am?”
“I’m bein’ considerate, Private… Don’t throw it back in my face!” I say, allowing a little danger into my voice.
Her back stiffens as she says “No, Ma’am… I… err… I just don’t really understand the reason, Ma’am.”
Normally, I’d say that it isn’t my job to explain myself to Privates but, in this case “What happened to you was a terrible injustice… A man like that shoulda been weeded out in the psych eval stage and deemed unfit for service… I apologise on the Military’s behalf that that was allowed to happen… I don’t want to tell you how to feel but… it would be understandable if you were a bit apprehensive about bein’ secluded for five days with a tall, muscular man… I know it weren’t Taylor who attacked you, I know that he was the one that saved you… but phobias ain’t necessarily rational. It would be needlessly cruel to send a newfound androphobe on a five day survival mission with a man. Addition’ly, since the incident, you’ve been workin’ better with Taylor… you obviously still don’t actually like the guy… but you’ve at least been able to tolerate him. I’ve not seen or heard about anything worse than a little bickering between you two, since then… So, your choice, go with Pvt Taylor to Interior Sahul… or go to the Amazon with Private Everard?… Neither of ’em have to know that I ever made you this offer, Reid…”
Her mouth twists as she stares at the ceiling, considering my proposal.
“I appreciate it, Ma’am… but I think I’d like to refuse.”
Surprised, I say “Oh, really?… Why’s that, Reid?”
“I think it might cause a little strife in my dorm if Private Bailey found out I was paired with her girlfriend for the survival excursion. Don’t want to get myself in the middle of a jealous lovers’ spat, Ma’am(!)”
“OK, what about pairing you with another female Private? Smith? Willoughby? LeClerc?”
She smiles and shakes her head “I really appreciate it, Ma’am… but it’s fine! I’ve got no apprehension about Taylor’s intentions and, to be honest, I think it’d feel like giving up to back out now! Like I’d lost to him… Also, I don’t like the guy but even I can see that being paired with him is good for my training… I’m trying harder than I would otherwise, learning things that I wouldn’t otherwise… I think I want to stick with Taylor for the excursion, Ma’am.”
Really shocked by the girl’s refusal (though not quite so shocked at the part that stubbornness seems to have played in her reasoning) I say “Well… Alright then, noted! You’re free to go, Private.” waving to the door and turning my head back to my desk.
She gets up and begins to leave.
She stops at the door and says “Ma’am…?”
“Yes, Private?”
A broad grin breaks over her face as she wishes me “Merry Christmas, Ma’am!”
Mirthfully, I say “Get outta here, Private!”
She disappears, shutting my door behind her.
---Oskar’s perspective---
---Sunday, 31st of December, 2682 Terran Calendar---
---Interior Sahul---
Just where I always wanted to spend a New Years Eve, Day and 18th birthday: Scorching, in one of Earth’s few remaining desert ecoreserves with a girl who hates me for no reason(!)
She’s not been as bad since what happened on our watch night… but still takes almost every opportunity to needle me and get under my skin!
I’m honestly a little shocked that Sands didn’t offer her the opportunity to do this excursion with a girl after what happened…
Making Reid spend the best part of a week with a man she recently watched beat her attempted rapist more than half to death seems a little harsh!
I guess that’s an Army Drill Sergeant, for you… Can’t get soft on us or we might lose our respect for her!
The capsule comes down on a patch of land, fairly indistinguishable from that that we’ve flown over for the past five minutes, since it past from the agricultural zone into the Great Sandy Desert Reserve, hot and scrubby.
The two of us step out of the cool, airconditioned capsule, through a billowing wall of heat and onto the coarse, red sand.
Between us, we’re carrying only eight objects, other than the clothes on our backs and the tracking devices sewn into them: a knife each, an empty canteen each, a compass each, a single plastic sheet for water purification and a single emergency recall beacon to be used in case of life-threatening emergency.
Activating the beacon is an automatic failure of the survival training.
I allowed Reid to be the one to take it, I didn’t say anything… just took a knife, a canteen and a compass and left it on the table for her to pick up.
I would never try anything on anyone (least of all her) but, after what happened with Forest, I thought it was best not to put myself in the position where I might be able to hold the ability for her to call for help hostage!
The military capsule takes off and begins accelerating far faster than it would if it were anywhere near a city.
I see a vapour cone form in its wake and, a few seconds later, hear the boom of it exceeding Mach 1.
Not really having the time to spare to watch it disappear over the horizon, I turn to Reid and placidly say “Let’s find somewhere to take shelter. It will be midday in a few hours and we’ll get sunburned if we’re out of the shade.”
She gives no answer but a curt nod before walking off.
---Esme’s perspective---
I’m walking along behind the tall, dark haired boy… really trying to find something to look at or think about besides his broad shoulders, thick arms and shapely arse.
He is a pompous ass but damn if he doesn’t have a rockin’ bod(!)
“You know, dude… we could, I don’t know, chat…?” I say, looking out to the landscape to my left, so as not to have to look forward.
“What would we talk about, Reid?” he asks, flatly, without turning to look at me.
“Well… I don’t know… we’re gonna be alone together until the morning of the 4th… Gonna be mighty awkward if we don’t say a word to eachother the whole time…!”
“We can talk when we need to communicate regarding matters of survival… I don’t know why you would want to talk to me otherwise…”
“Oh, nooooo… Wouldn’t want to distract yourself from becoming the perfect little soldier(!)”
He doesn’t respond to that except to say “There’s a pool over there… we should collect some water…”
He steers us in the direction he just pointed where, I presume, the water is, as I can’t see over the brush like he can.
“Be careful at the water’s edge… there may be crocodiles in it…” he says, as we come out onto the shore of a small lake.
I roll my eyes as I feel it’d be so easy to spot crocs in the crystal clear water that there’s no need to say it!
He scans the water as we approach.
Crouching down, he dips a finger in and brings it to his mouth.
“Tastes fine… but we should purify it in a solar still anyway, just to be sure.”
“Oh, lord forbid we deviate from the book even slightly(!)” I say, sarcastically, bending down to fill up my flask.
Ignoring me, he caps off his own flask before clipping it back to his belt.
We walk on for some time.
“There’s a cliff up there which might be a good place to find a cave to hide in… you know, if sheltering in caves is acceptable to you and not forbidden by some obscure part of the survival manual that only you’ve read…(?)”
Taylor stops dead…
I might have walked into him if I weren’t cutting him such a wide berth.
He turns to look at me, his normally placid face frighteningly angry.
“What is your problem with me, Reid!?… As far as I’m aware, all I’ve done is exist near you?!… Were we sworn rivals in a past life and you’re the only one that remembers it(?!)… Am I the last descendant of a Christian witchhunter who tried to burn you alive in the 16th Century(?!)… I struggle to believe that this could possibly be explained just by you being jealous of how much better I am at soldiery than you! Especially because you don’t exactly make a secret of your contempt for all things military!… So?… Let’s have it!… Why!?”
Utterly taken aback by the outburst, I’m stunned into silence for a few moments as my mouth flaps open and closed, failing to find any words.
“You… you showed up early…” I manage, eventually, having just realised, the moment before I said it, how feeble a reason it sounds.
Looking utterly confused he answers “That’s IT?! You hate me for being here when you think I don’t have to be?! Just for that!?!?!?”
“It’s what my mam and dad did, alright!!!” I shout, angrily and defensively “They dumped me off at an orphanage and fucked off down the recruitment office to volunteer to serve before they’d been drafted! They were both dead within months of when they finished their training because the UTC had deemed them little more than fodder for the meatgrinder that was holding the Cordon at bay!… When I got the news, I swore that I was going to live every second of my life that I could!… Not like you! You waltzed into the military like you’ve been preparing for it since the War started! Like you’ve been living in bootcamp since before you hit puberty!… Posh, little pretentious Englishboy who acted like he had no greater aspiration than being cannonfodder! ‘I didn’t believe I would make a good Officer, Ma’am!’…” I imitate his accent and wobble my head pompously “…Looking down on the rest of us who aren’t here by choice! You just got right under my skin!… Did you not have any friends, any family who might’ve wanted to spend the last months before you got drafted with you?!”
He clenches his jaw, his lips pursed above his sharp chin.
“My mother died last Summer…” he says, flatly “…two months later, my father hanged himself… I was the one who discovered his body… I had nothing to stay in Bankland for after that… so I enlisted.”
Guilt punches me in the stomach as he points out what should have been obvious… he had his reasons and they were none of my business…
“I’m sorry, Taylor… I…”
“I’m also not English… I’m a Doggerlander… my father was a Frisian, my mother was Scottish, same as you…” he says, sternly.
Dogger island is, in my view, basically just an extension of England… but I don’t say that, instead answering “You… uhm… you sound quite English…?” lamely.
“Aye! An whin Ah speik Scots, Ah sound Scots!” he answers in flawless Lallans with a Fifer accent that, presumably, matches his mum’s.
“I’m… sorry… Taylor…” I say, my face hot with shame.
“Words are fairly cheap, Reid… I don’t want your apologies… I want you to lay off!”
I nod, not meeting his eyes and quietly answer “Aye… I’ll lay off, Taylor…”
“Good…” he says, turning to resume walking “…Now, as you said, I think we should look for caves in the base of that cl-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
His agonised scream terrifies me more than the long, thin tube of scaley, brown flesh that just lunged from the bush, sinking its teeth into his ankle.
---
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Aery Broken Memories	$11.39	$18.99	40% off	Lowest price $10.44 on 2021-12-22
Aery Calm Mind 3	$8.09	$13.49	40% off	Matches low
Aery Last Day Of Earth	$9.59	$15.99	40% off	Matches low
Aery Little Bird Adventure	$8.09	$13.49	40% off	Lowest price $7.41 on 2021-12-22
Aery Sky Castle	$8.09	$13.49	40% off	Lowest price $7.41 on 2021-12-22
Aeternoblade	$5.99	$19.99	70% off	Matches low
Aeternoblade Ii	$5.99	$39.99	85% off	Matches low
Agatha Knife	$6.39	$15.99	60% off	Lowest price $4.79 on 2023-3-29
Agent A A Puzzle In Disguise	$5.39	$19.99	73% off	Lowest price $1.34 on 2023-2-8
Agent Intercept Ps4 Ps5	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	New Lowest
Ages Of Mages The Last Keeper	$6.39	$15.99	60% off	New Lowest
Aground	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	Lowest price $9.99 on 2022-6-8
Air Conflicts Double Pack	$29.99	$53.49	43% off	Lowest price $8.02 on 2020-2-19
Air Conflicts Pacific Carriers	$20.24	$26.99	25% off	Lowest price $5.39 on 2019-6-25
Air Conflicts Secret Wars	$5.49	$39.99	86% off	New Lowest
Air Hockey	$2.69	$13.49	80% off	Matches low
Air Missions Hind	$13.99	$53.49	73% off	Matches low
Aircraft Evolution	$5.39	$13.49	60% off	Matches low
Airheart	$8.39	$23.99	65% off	Lowest price $7.19 on 2023-4-12
Alchemists Castle	$1.59	$3.99	60% off	Lowest price $1.19 on 2023-2-1
Alien Shooter	$4.39	$10.99	60% off	Lowest price $1.64 on 2021-10-20
Alienzix	$1.99	$3.99	50% off	Matches low
Almost My Floor	$5.39	$13.49	60% off	Matches low
Almost My Floor	$5.39	$13.49	60% off	Matches low
Almost There The Platformer	$2.02	$13.49	85% off	Lowest price $1.34 on 2020-4-29
Alphadia Neo	$13.99	$19.99	30% off	New Lowest
Alteric	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Matches low
Alterity Experience	$6.74	$13.49	50% off	Matches low
Alveole	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Alveole	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Alwas Awakening	$8.09	$13.49	40% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2021-12-22
Alwas Legacy	$14.39	$23.99	40% off	Matches low
Always Sometimes Monsters	$3.37	$13.49	75% off	Lowest price $2.69 on 2023-2-1
Amaze	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	New Lowest
Amazing Princess Sarah	$2.84	$9.49	70% off	Lowest price $1.89 on 2023-3-29
Amazing Superhero Squad	$4.74	$9.49	50% off	Matches low
Amazing Superhero Squad	$4.74	$9.49	50% off	Matches low
American Hero	$12.99	$19.99	35% off	Matches low
Among The Sleep Enhanced Edition	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Lowest price $5.99 on 2022-10-19
An Evil Existence	$9.49	$18.99	50% off	Lowest price $4.74 on 2021-10-20
Angry Video Game Nerd I And Ii Deluxe	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Matches low
Animal Shelter	$14.69	$20.99	30% off	Matches low
Annas Quest	$2.69	$26.99	90% off	Matches low
Annihilation	$2.44	$6.99	65% off	Lowest price $1.74 on 2022-3-9
Anno 1800 Console Edition Standard	$43.99	$49.99	12% off	New Lowest
Another Dawn	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Lowest price $13.49 on 2021-8-18
Antigraviator	$6.74	$26.99	75% off	Matches low
Antigravity Racing	$5.74	$11.49	50% off	Lowest price $5.17 on 2023-4-12
Antigravity Racing	$5.74	$11.49	50% off	New Lowest
Ape Escape	$9.44	$13.49	30% off	New Lowest
Ape Escape 2	$4.99	$9.99	50% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2020-3-18
Apocalipsis The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Matches low
Apocalypse Rider	$4.89	$6.99	30% off	Lowest price $2.09 on 2019-6-25
Aquadine Ps4 Ps5	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Matches low
Ara Fell Enhanced Edition	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Lowest price $4.99 on 2022-1-5
Archaica The Path Of Light	$3.99	$19.99	80% off	Matches low
Arietta Of Spirits	$8.09	$26.99	70% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2023-3-29
Arkan The Dog Adventurer	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Arkan The Dog Adventurer	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Arkham Horror Mothers Embrace	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2023-3-29
Armed Emeth	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	New Lowest
Armikrog	$2.69	$13.49	80% off	Matches low
Arsonist Heaven Ps4 Ps5	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	New Lowest
As Far As The Eye	$21.76	$33.49	35% off	Matches low
Asdivine Cross	$13.99	$19.99	30% off	Lowest price $11.99 on 2022-11-28
Asdivine Saga	$10.99	$19.99	45% off	New Lowest
Ashigaru The Last Shogun	$8.76	$13.49	35% off	Matches low
Assassins Creed Valhalla	$50.39	$79.99	37% off	Lowest price $19.99 on 2023-4-26
Assault On Metaltron	$0.94	$9.49	90% off	Matches low
Astalon Tears Of The Earth	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Lowest price $13.49 on 2022-12-21
Astronite	$13.99	$19.99	30% off	Matches low
Atech Cybernetic Vr	$16.19	$26.99	40% off	Lowest price $13.49 on 2021-8-25
Audiobeats	$2.69	$13.49	80% off	Matches low
Auto World Tycoon	$10.11	$13.49	25% off	Lowest price $9.44 on 2023-1-4
Avenging Spirit Ps4 Ps5	$5.59	$7.99	30% off	Matches low
Awakening Of Cthulhu	$0.79	$7.99	90% off	Lowest price $0.59 on 2023-2-1
Away The Survival Series	$11.99	$39.99	70% off	New Lowest
Awesome Pea	$3.19	$7.99	60% off	Matches low
Awesome Pea 2	$2.79	$6.99	60% off	Matches low
Axes	$4.19	$6.99	40% off	Matches low
Axiom Verge	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Lowest price $8.09 on 2022-3-9
Axis Football 2020	$10.11	$39.99	74% off	Matches low
Axis Football 2021	$14.99	$39.99	62% off	Lowest price $1.49 on 2022-4-24
Axis Football 2023	$20.24	$26.99	25% off	Matches low
Back Again Ps4 Ps5	$2.39	$3.99	40% off	New Lowest
Backpack Twins	$12.79	$15.99	20% off	Matches low
Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja	$1.74	$6.99	75% off	Matches low
Balancelot	$2.19	$10.99	80% off	Matches low
Ball Lab Ps4 Ps5	$2.79	$6.99	60% off	Matches low
Banner Of The Maid	$9.19	$22.99	60% off	New Lowest
Baobabs Mausoleum Grindhouse Edition Country Of Woods And Creepy Tales	$8.09	$26.99	70% off	Lowest price $2.69 on 2022-9-28
Batbarian Testament Of The Primordials	$13.99	$26.99	48% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2022-12-21
Batman Arkham Vr	$16.19	$26.99	40% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2023-4-26
Batora Lost Haven	$21.76	$33.49	35% off	New Lowest
Battle Axe	$17.99	$39.99	55% off	New Lowest
Battle Axe	$17.99	$39.99	55% off	Lowest price $13.59 on 2023-2-1
Battle Brothers	$19.99	$39.99	50% off	Matches low
Battle Chasers Nightwar	$7.99	$39.99	80% off	Lowest price $5.99 on 2021-8-18
Battle Planet Judgement Day	$8.09	$19.99	59% off	Lowest price $5.39 on 2022-6-29
Battlefield Hardline	$18.89	$25.99	27% off	Lowest price $5.19 on 2020-3-4
Battlefield V	$32.75	$79.99	59% off	Lowest price $5.19 on 2021-6-25
Battleworldskronos	$5.39	$19.99	73% off	Lowest price $2.99 on 2019-9-24
Beastie Bay Dx	$9.49	$18.99	50% off	New Lowest
Beats Fever	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2021-8-25
Behind Closed Doors A Developers Tale	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Behind Closed Doors A Developers Tale	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Below	$18.41	$33.49	45% off	Lowest price $6.69 on 2022-5-25
Ben 10	$16.74	$26.99	37% off	Lowest price $8.09 on 2020-9-16
Beyond Blue	$17.54	$26.99	35% off	Lowest price $16.19 on 2022-3-9
Big Crown Showdown	$3.49	$17.49	80% off	Matches low
Big Pharma	$9.99	$39.99	75% off	Lowest price $5.99 on 2021-6-4
Binaries	$2.69	$13.49	80% off	Matches low
Binarystar Infinity	$0.69	$6.99	90% off	Matches low
Biolab Wars	$0.74	$2.99	75% off	New Lowest
Bioshock 2 Remastered	$16.73	$26.99	38% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2023-4-26
Bioshock Infinite The Complete Edition	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2023-4-26
Bioshock Remastered	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Lowest price $10.79 on 2023-4-26
Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic	$3.19	$7.99	60% off	New Lowest
Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic	$3.19	$7.99	60% off	New Lowest
Black Death A Tragic Dirge	$0.99	$1.99	50% off	Matches low
Black Legend	$13.49	$39.99	66% off	Matches low
Black Mirror	$10.69	$53.49	80% off	Lowest price $8.02 on 2022-2-16
Blackhole Complete Edition	$4.99	$19.99	75% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2023-1-4
Blackjack Waifu Tour	$4.79	$5.99	20% off	New Lowest
Blacktail	$31.99	$39.99	20% off	Lowest price $25.99 on 2023-4-26
Blair Witch	$25.19	$39.99	37% off	Lowest price $9.99 on 2023-4-26
Blastful	$1.64	$5.49	70% off	Lowest price $1.37 on 2022-3-9
Blaze And The Monster Machines Axle City Racers	$34.76	$53.49	35% off	Lowest price $18.72 on 2023-4-26
Blazing Beaks	$4.99	$19.99	75% off	Matches low
Bleak Dystopia	$1.49	$2.99	50% off	Matches low
Bleep Bloop	$1.64	$5.49	70% off	Matches low
Blind Men	$0.69	$6.99	90% off	Matches low
Blitz Breaker Ps4 Ps5	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Matches low
Blood Bowl 3	$42.79	$53.49	20% off	Lowest price $40.11 on 2023-4-26
Blood Waves	$6.74	$13.49	50% off	Lowest price $5.39 on 2022-3-9
Blood Waves	$6.74	$13.49	50% off	Matches low
Bloodrayne 2 Revamped	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Matches low
Bloodrayne Betrayal Fresh Bites	$17.54	$26.99	35% off	Lowest price $16.19 on 2023-1-4
Bloodrayne Betrayal Fresh Bites	$17.54	$26.99	35% off	Lowest price $16.19 on 2023-1-4
Bloodrayne Revamped	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Matches low
Bloodrayne Revamped	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Matches low
Bloodroots	$12.14	$26.99	55% off	Matches low
Bloodroots	$12.14	$26.99	55% off	Matches low
Bloodwash	$10.11	$13.49	25% off	New Lowest
Bloons Td 5	$12.99	$19.99	35% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2023-2-8
Blow Fly Ps4 Ps5	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	New Lowest
Bombfest	$5.24	$17.49	70% off	Lowest price $3.49 on 2023-4-12
Bone Marrow Ps4 Ps5	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Matches low
Bones Of Halloween Ps4 Ps5	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Bonfire Peaks	$16.19	$26.99	40% off	Matches low
Book Quest Ps4 Ps5	$4.74	$9.49	50% off	New Lowest
Boomerang Fu	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	Lowest price $7.99 on 2022-9-7
Borderlands 2 Vr	$41.53	$66.99	38% off	Lowest price $16.74 on 2023-4-26
Borderlands The Handsome Collection	$33.16	$69.99	52% off	Lowest price $13.37 on 2020-8-19
Box Align	$2.39	$2.99	20% off	Matches low
Boxed In	$5.59	$7.99	30% off	Lowest price $5.19 on 2023-3-29
Boxer	$2.69	$13.49	80% off	New Lowest
Brain Beats	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	Lowest price $9.99 on 2023-4-26
Braveland Trilogy	$3.99	$19.99	80% off	Matches low
Bravematch	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Lowest price $1.74 on 2022-3-9
Bravery And Greed	$18.08	$26.99	33% off	New Lowest
Breakers Collection	$20.24	$26.99	25% off	Matches low
Breakneck City Ps4 Ps5	$8.76	$13.49	35% off	Lowest price $4.04 on 2023-3-8
Breeder Homegrown Directors Cut	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Matches low
Brief Battles	$7.99	$19.99	60% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2023-4-12
Bring To Light	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2022-5-25
Bucket Knight	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Lowest price $2.44 on 2022-3-9
Bud Spencer And Terence Hill Slaps And Beans	$2.29	$26.99	91% off	New Lowest
Bug Fables The Everlasting Sapling	$20.09	$33.49	40% off	Lowest price $13.39 on 2022-12-21
Bullet Beat	$1.74	$6.99	75% off	New Lowest
Bullet Roulette	$4.79	$11.99	60% off	Lowest price $3.59 on 2022-12-21
Bullet Roulette	$4.79	$11.99	60% off	New Lowest
Bully	$15.99	$19.99	20% off	Lowest price $11.99 on 2022-7-20
Bumballon	$4.89	$6.99	30% off	New Lowest
Button City	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Matches low
Can You Escape	$4.74	$9.49	50% off	Lowest price $2.37 on 2022-12-21
Can You Escape	$4.74	$9.49	50% off	Lowest price $2.37 on 2022-12-21
Cant Drive This	$23.44	$33.49	30% off	Matches low
Cant Drive This	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Matches low
Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle	$20.24	$26.99	25% off	Lowest price $13.49 on 2022-8-31
Capcom Fighting Collection	$37.49	$49.99	25% off	Lowest price $24.99 on 2023-3-8
Captain Cat	$3.49	$9.49	63% off	Lowest price $2.09 on 2023-4-12
Cardpocalypse	$8.37	$33.49	75% off	Matches low
Cards Of The Dead	$5.49	$10.99	50% off	Matches low
Caretaker	$4.39	$10.99	60% off	Lowest price $3.29 on 2023-2-1
Carl	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Matches low
Carly And The Reaperman	$5.39	$26.99	80% off	Matches low
Carmageddon Max Damage	$5.39	$26.99	80% off	Matches low
Carnivores Dinosaur Hunt	$14.99	$19.99	25% off	Matches low
Carnivores Dinosaur Hunt	$14.99	$19.99	25% off	New Lowest
Cars 3 Driven To Win	$29.41	$59.99	50% off	Lowest price $5.34 on 2023-4-26
Case Animatronics	$8.09	$13.49	40% off	Lowest price $6.74 on 2022-10-19
Casino Roulette Royal	$4.39	$5.49	20% off	New Lowest
Castle Of No Escape	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Castle Of No Escape 2	$4.74	$6.99	32% off	Lowest price $3.22 on 2022-4-27
Cat Slide Tiles	$2.74	$5.49	50% off	New Lowest
Cathedral	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	Matches low
Catlateral Damage	$5.39	$13.49	60% off	Lowest price $4.72 on 2020-3-18
Catlateral Damage Remeowstered	$7.99	$19.99	60% off	New Lowest
Catty Batty The Spirit Guide	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Catty Batty The Spirit Guide	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Cave Bad	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Matches low
Cave Bad	$2.09	$6.99	70% off	Matches low
Caveman Warriors	$4.99	$19.99	75% off	Lowest price $1.99 on 2023-1-18
Chambara	$4.74	$9.49	50% off	Matches low
Chameneon	$2.74	$5.49	50% off	Lowest price $1.64 on 2022-10-26
Chaos On Deponia	$1.74	$26.99	93% off	Matches low
Chaoschild	$7.04	$79.99	91% off	Matches low
Chasing Static Ps4 Ps5	$13.99	$19.99	30% off	Matches low
Chasm	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Lowest price $8.09 on 2021-9-1
Chess Gambit	$8.09	$13.49	40% off	Matches low
Chess Gambit	$8.09	$13.49	40% off	Matches low
Chess Knights Viking Lands	$2.74	$5.49	50% off	Lowest price $0.54 on 2021-6-4
Chess Ultra	$6.12	$17.49	65% off	Lowest price $4.37 on 2021-10-27
Children Of Silentown	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Matches low
Chime Sharp	$6.74	$13.49	50% off	Lowest price $5.39 on 2021-8-18
Chop Is Dish	$4.19	$6.99	40% off	Lowest price $3.49 on 2022-3-9
Chromagun	$13.49	$26.99	50% off	Matches low
Chromagun	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Matches low
Circuits	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Lowest price $2.09 on 2023-4-12
Circus Electrique	$10.79	$26.99	60% off	New Lowest
Citadel Forged With Fire	$26.74	$53.49	50% off	Lowest price $13.37 on 2022-5-11
Claire Extended Cut	$4.99	$19.99	75% off	Matches low
Clash Artifacts Of Chaos	$42.79	$53.49	20% off	Lowest price $40.11 on 2023-4-26
Classic Snake Adventures	$9.59	$11.99	20% off	Lowest price $7.19 on 2022-6-8
Clea	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	New Lowest
Clea 2	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	New Lowest
Clunky Hero	$11.99	$19.99	40% off	New Lowest
Cobra Kai 2 Dojos Rising	$43.54	$66.99	35% off	Lowest price $26.79 on 2022-12-21
Coffee Crisis	$4.04	$13.49	70% off	Lowest price $1.34 on 2022-11-9
Cold Iron	$6.64	$18.99	65% off	Lowest price $5.69 on 2019-1-29
Cold Silence	$3.49	$6.99	50% off	Matches low
Colossus Down	$9.59	$23.99	60% off	Lowest price $7.19 on 2023-3-29
Commandos 3 Hd Remaster	$31.99	$39.99	20% off	Matches low
Conarium	$6.74	$26.99	75% off	Matches low
Conga Master	$3.37	$13.49	75% off	Lowest price $2.02 on 2022-9-7
Conglomerate 451 Overloaded	$6.07	$13.49	55% off	New Lowest
Conglomerate 451 Overloaded	$6.07	$13.49	55% off	New Lowest
Connectank	$19.99	$39.99	50% off	Lowest price $15.99 on 2022-12-21
Construction Simulator	$53.59	$66.99	20% off	Lowest price $50.24 on 2023-2-8
Construction Simulator Extended Edition	$55.11	$66.99	17% off	Matches low
Contagion Vr Outbreak	$9.99	$33.49	70% off	Matches low
Corpse Party	$18.89	$26.99	30% off	Matches low
Cosmonious High	$27.99	$39.99	30% off	New Lowest
Cosplay Love Enchanted Princess	$11.19	$15.99	30% off	New Lowest
Counterspy	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Lowest price $6.59 on 2020-11-4
Cozy Grove	$12.99	$19.99	35% off	Lowest price $11.99 on 2023-2-8
Crashbots	$3.37	$13.49	75% off	Lowest price $2.69 on 2021-11-17
Crawl	$6.59	$19.99	67% off	Lowest price $3.99 on 2021-8-18
Crazy Athletics Summer Sports Games	$17.19	$21.49	20% off	Lowest price $12.89 on 2022-6-8
Creaks	$8.09	$26.99	70% off	Matches low
Creed Rise To Glory	$9.99	$39.99	75% off	Lowest price $7.99 on 2020-9-9
Crisis Vrigade	$5.99	$11.99	50% off	Lowest price $5.39 on 2021-11-17
Crisis Vrigade 2	$16.19	$26.99	40% off	Lowest price $13.49 on 2020-11-4
Cross The Moon Ps4 Ps5	$1.39	$6.99	80% off	Matches low
Crosscode	$16.19	$26.99	40% off	Lowest price $13.49 on 2022-9-7
Crosscode	$16.19	$26.99	40% off	Lowest price $13.49 on 2021-11-17
Crosskrush Ps4 And Ps5	$1.39	$6.99	80% off	Matches low
Crosskrush Ps4 And Ps5	$1.39	$6.99	80% off	New Lowest
Crypt Of The Serpent King	$1.49	$3.99	62% off	Matches low
Crysis 2 Remastered	$27.99	$39.99	30% off	Lowest price $19.99 on 2023-4-26
Crysis 3 Remastered	$27.99	$39.99	30% off	Lowest price $19.99 on 2023-4-26
Crysis Remastered	$25.99	$39.99	35% off	Lowest price $13.19 on 2023-3-8
Crystal Rift	$8.74	$17.49	50% off	Lowest price $5.24 on 2022-5-25
Cube Raiders	$2.37	$9.49	75% off	Matches low
Cuccchi	$3.29	$10.99	70% off	New Lowest
Cult Of The Lamb	$21.76	$33.49	35% off	Matches low
Curious Cases	$5.59	$6.99	20% off	Lowest price $5.24 on 2023-3-29
Curse Of The Dead Gods	$18.08	$26.99	33% off	Lowest price $9.17 on 2023-3-29
Curse Of The Dead Gods	$18.08	$26.99	33% off	New Lowest
Cybarian The Time Travelling Warrior	$1.39	$6.99	80% off	Matches low
Cyber Pool	$1.74	$6.99	75% off	Matches low
Dakar Desert Rally	$40.11	$53.49	25% off	Lowest price $37.44 on 2022-11-18
Dance Collider	$3.37	$26.99	87% off	Lowest price $2.69 on 2023-2-1
Danger Scavenger	$1.34	$13.49	90% off	Matches low
Dark Quest 2	$9.99	$19.99	50% off	Lowest price $5.99 on 2022-7-20
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In the summer of 2002, my friends and I had just seen Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, and we were entranced by it. It was all we could talk about for the rest of the week, wishing we could have his amazing superpowers.
It wasn't long before Carson suggested the Spider Cave. Carson was the oldest of us, with him being eleven, he knew the most about the legend, if you could call it that. The Spider Cave is a cave that's about a ten-minute walk from our small town. It was aptly named, as everyone avoided it for one reason. The sheer amount and size of the spiders inside.
Near the entrance, which most people around here have passed, but never set foot in, is covered with small ones scurrying around the ground or hanging from the roof. They're all pretty shy, retreating deeper into the cave if anyone got too close, but then again, most people didn't.
Chuck told us that his uncle, Rick went into the cave when he was our age with a couple of his friends. They got pretty far into it too, but they claim to have found an old bicycle covered in spider webs, which spooked them enough to send them running.
So, with all of this stigma around the cave, none of us wanted to follow Carson inside. Excluding myself, none of us were afraid of spiders, but we were either told by our parents to avoid the cave, or just aware that we wouldn't find a radioactive spider in there.
We all went home, but Carson was determined to get superpowers. And after being sick for two days, he showed up on the last day of school, and it looked like he got them. Quickly, he showed us his right hand, and the big, ugly spider bite on top of it. We were all disgusted by it, but changed our tune when he flipped his hand over.
You know that scene in the movie, where it zooms in on Peter's hand and you see the barbs sticking out of it that he uses for wall-crawling? Carson had those barbs all over his palm and fingertips. His arm also looked larger, a far cry from Peter Parker getting buff overnight, but it was enough to convince us to go to the cave and get spider-powers of our own.
After school, Carson led us deep into the cave, and I was trembling all the while. I was the oldest, behind Carson, but I was deathly afraid of spiders. The only thing that kept me going was fear of humiliation and my desire to get superpowers. Still, I had to stare at the floor, I couldn't handle looking up at the countless spiders dangling from the ceiling.
Eventually, we were led into an open area of the cave, with a beam of sunlight shining in from a hole above us. I remember Carson saying something about this being the spot, and then I saw them. In the corner, there was a dozen or so spiders, except these were big, really big, with gleaming white fangs and hungry eyes. Carson said they were the ones that gave him the superpowers though, so Chuck and Tyler tentatively stepped forward.
Then, two of the spiders, each about the side of one of our hands, crawled forwards. Chuck was giving instructions to Chuck and Tyler, but I didn't hear them. I was sweating like a pig, and my breathing was growing rapid. Then, Chuck extended his right hand and a spider crawled onto it.
The spider on Chuck's hand bit into it, and stayed there with its fangs pulsating for what must've been ten seconds, until the fangs had turned from white to black. Then, it scurried back into the corner. Tyler asked if it hurt, and after Chuck, now grinning like an idiot, told him that he felt nothing, Tyler extended his hand and the second spider repeated the process.
A third spider had began to make its way towards me, and it was at that moment, I got sick, and as my friends went to ask if I was alright, I bolted out of the cave. I sat outside the cave entrance for a while, until my friends stepped outside. Carson began trying to convince me to go back in, saying something about how lame it would be to be the only one without powers, when I noticed something strange.
The barbs on his palm were now on both side of his hand, but not just there. They had spread all the way up to his elbow, and it almost looked like they were twitching. I was going to point this out to him, but then Tyler and Chuck begin bombarding him with questions.
"How long did it take for you to start feeling sick? For how long did it last?"
"You've were bitten over two days ago, what powers can you use now?"
Chuck pointed out that Carson had spider webs dangling from his wrist, but after a minute of Carson waving his arm, the web just fell to the ground, causing them to shrug and pass it off as taking more time to develop.
I'll never forget what I saw after that.
Carson muttered "My arm feels kinda heavy."
"That's because you have super strength, I think. Now show us some wall-crawling." Chuck replied eagerly.
Carson put his left hand on the cave wall, but it wouldn't stick. Then he tried it with his right hand, but the wall of the cave was rough, and suddenly a large piece of skin on his right palm ripped away like it was paper. Carson didn't scream, or show any signs of pain though, he just stumbled backwards a bit, then looked at his palm. Then he screamed.
It wasn't barbs for wall-crawling that were sticking out of his palm. It was legs. It looked like the spiders had eaten all of the meat off of his bones, to make room for their webs, eggs, and the spiders themselves. The spiders immediately began to swarm out of the hole in his hand, while he shrieked and waved it in the air.
As soon as the spiders touched the ground, they scurried into the cave. Carson's entire right arm looked deflated, and as the Chuck and Tyler realized what awaited them, they began to panic too. We all ran home, and my friends were promptly taken to the doctor soon after.
Carson was hospitalized, of course, and after Chuck's parents saw what had happened to Carson, they made the decision that their son's arm had to be amputated. And allegedly, as the arm was severed, there was very little blood, but a horde of spiders that scurried out of the window and, wouldn't you know it, in the direction of the cave.
Tyler's parents were going to have the same done to him, but after it was discovered that Tyler had as many as five more bites, two on his left leg, three on his right, his parents became indecisive. By the end of the week, the "barbs" had spread to most parts of his body. He didn't make it.
Nothing really was done about the cave. People said there was no point blocking it off as it had more entrances than they could count, and nobody wanted to go near it. The older generations wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole, and everyone our age knew not to go near it after what happened to my friends.
So, why am I talking about it? I decided to visit my hometown this week, and decided to pass by the Spider Cave. Near the largest entrance, I saw one of those big spiders, looking like it had been stomped repeatedly. Its fangs were black.
I heard a new Spider-Man movie came out recently. I hope there aren't any dumb kids who got the same idea that we did.

After remaining invincible and impregnable for centuries, the mighty Pir Panchal is witnessing enormous developmental activity for a new expressway, a challenging railway line and most of the dam-fed hydropower projects involving an investment of tens of thousands of crores. At places, this is triggering the fragile range to cave in at the cost of homes and livelihoods of age-old villages, a situation that experts believe could have been avoided with better pre-feasibility studies and sophisticated project implementation, reports Masood Hussain
Anticipated for years, finally, the increased incidence of land subsidence and sinking in the Pir Panchal Mountains is Jammu and Kashmir’s new normal. The young fragile and unstable mountain range separating Kashmir from the rest of the world is in news frequently as the slopes housing small habitations for centuries are caving in.
On February 19, 2023, around 16 structures of Duksar Dalwa (Duksar Dal), a hamlet almost 45 km uphill from Ramban, suffered serious damage as the land caved in. It crippled road connectivity between Gool and Ramban where almost 500 meters developed cracks, tripped the electric supply and snapped the water supply. Three homes developed cracks forcing authorities to shift the impacted population to safer areas.
Officials said while they are working overtime to resume power and water supplies, they are also improving the Dharam-Salballa road to make it an alternative supply route to the “literally disconnected” area. In the sinking village, the official encouraged the residents to move swiftly to safer spots. For residents, however, the gradual 3-day sinking was a painful watch of their life earnings slowly cracking up and becoming black holes over hills.
It started with a crater that widened to almost 500 meters during two nights, making almost everything around unsafe, unstable and life-threatening. A mosque, Darsgah, the village seminary and the village graveyard were destroyed. Residents quickly exhumed a recently buried body and laid it to rest at a “safe” place.
Officials who visited the spot said the village’s agriculture fields were rendered useless, pushing residents into poverty. They lost homes and their livelihoods too.
The Duksar erasing came less than a fortnight after Doda lost a cluster of houses to a similar instance on February 3, 2023. Located on the foothills on the road to Kishtwar near Thathri, nearly 35 km from Doda, the volunteers, residents and government officials had to quickly shift 117 members of 19 families as the patch of slope housing the Nai Basti cluster gave in within three days. A total of 21 structures cracked and became unsafe.
Horrific Tunnel Collapse
The last horrific tragedy took place on May 19, 2022, when the workers were digging into an adit (minor access to the T3 tunnel) near Khooni Nalla at Ramsu’s Makerkot area. It collapsed over them killing ten workers including two local residents and eight Nepalese labourers. The tragedy struck during the day amid incessant rain but still, only two persons could be rescued alive.
The workers were on the challenging stretch of the national highway between Digdole and Khooni Nallah, which is otherwise notorious for frequent landslides and shooting stones due to fragile geology. It was part of the twin-tube tunnel that would connect Digdole to Panthyal and was implemented by Ceigall India Limited in a JV with Patel Engineering Limited. (The contractor has been imposed a heavy fine.)
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) that has taken over the Jammu Srinagar national highway from Border Roads Organisation (BRO), a few years back, is constructing at least five tunnels to bypass the highway’s 3-km “killer’’ stretch from Panthyal to Makerkote. Tunnel T3 is part of this intervention.
Unlike the rest of the highway, the 36-km Banihal Ramban stretch has been the most challenging one and that is why it is still under implementation. On this stretch are six “killer spots” located on a 14-km road stretch and NHAI intends to spend Rs 2000 crore to manage this. Implementation of this would offer some safety from frequent halts owing to shooting stones at Marog, Panthial, Digdol and Battery Chashma.
Triggering Instability
Implementation of these projects is triggering crises for the localities living around them. As many as 13 houses in Sujmatana village near Ramsu were literally devastated. The round-the-clock blasting for the tunnel projects and cutting work made these houses inhospitable after they developed cracks. Most of them have left their unsafe homes and migrated elsewhere. Though officials are looking into the crisis since 2017, it is yet to be settled.
On August 4, 2022, 36 families had a providential escape when their Bassan village in Reasi became the casualty of sinking and erosion at the same time. Without any notice, landslides carried down boulders and muck that crashed the houses and put the agriculture fields out of sight. It was so abrupt, villages said, that they had no time to take their belongings along.
Officials admitted that almost 60 kanals of land sank as another 400 kanals patch was rendered useless. Almost all the fruit trees, mostly walnut and apricot, were engulfed in mud. Almost 200 meters of a PMGSY road was also downthrown by around 25 meters from its actual alignment.
The earlier worst case was reported from Dalwas when on March 28, 2020, the residents fled when their homes and fields were literally buried by landslides. Almost 40 households were impacted.
The village has been there for ages and never experienced any such threat. Then one day it literally disappeared. Residents alleged that being away from Srinagar and Jammu, deep into the mountains they hardly were reported. At one point in time when they wanted to protest, authorities invoked Covid19 concerns to prevent it.
Response Protocol
Over the years, the government response has remained unchanged. Once the reports land that spots are sinking, they as the first quick reaction, send cops, paramilitary, SDRF and revenue officials to oversee and, in most cases, extend help in quick evacuations. In stage two, the respective Deputy Commissioner writes to geologists and the Department of Geology and Mining and, off late, to the Geological Survey of India, who rush their experts to these spots. In the subsequent few days, they study the local rock formations and submit reports, part of which goes to newspapers and by and large the files get closed.
At the same time, files start rolling about relief and rehabilitation. It takes its own time. In many cases, people who lose their homes and livelihoods are yet to be properly rehabilitated.
Invariably, the policymakers and the administrators avoid two vital ingredients of the story – the assessments that the local populations make about the crisis they land in and the wider angle that remains unchanged across the Pir Panchal range.
Resident Assessments
Affected populations are unwilling to accept that these crises are natural. They see them as man-made disasters. Raqeeb Wani, a former Sarpanch of Daskar Dalwa told The Telegraph that his village’s erasing is directly linked to the construction of two railway tunnels downhill, that would link a 3km rail track between Sangaldan and Chaddi. He attributed it to the “continuous blasting” that loosens the soil and adds to the instability of the mountain.
“A few years ago, we had a similar disaster in Sangaldan a few years ago when an entire market caved in,” Wani was quoted as saying. “That also was owing to the railway project.”
In the case of Dalwas, for instance, a former lawmaker from Ramban Ashok Kumar Dogra said the “unscientific planning” of the widening of the national highway is responsible. “The highway authorities started excavation of the road from beneath the village without raising any wall on the side of the village. As no concrete measures were taken by the NHAI to protect the village and debris was also disposed of at the same place, the tragedy was bound to happen and the houses collapsed and the village sank,” Dogra told Outlook. “I will not call it a natural disaster. It was the unplanned construction that destabilised the soil of the whole area, leading to its sinking.”
Right to A Road
Pir Panchal mountain range has remained literally invincible and technically impregnable for centuries. It took decades of thought process and a lot of resources to lay a foot track between Jammu and Srinagar, to have an alternative to Mughal Road. Known to history as the Banihal Cart Road, it was difficult and always retained by Dogra despots as a private route. It remained inaccessible to people till 1922. Till the Jawahar Tunnel was inaugurated, the road would pass over the Banihal pass, the abandoned remnants of which still exist.
This made Kashmir rely on the Jhelum Valley Road (JVR) as the main highway.
Almost 225 residents from 48 households who somehow survived the tragedy moved to another village and are still struggling to pick the threads of their lives. Though life has returned to the village, they are still fighting for an electric supply line and the rebuilding of the school building.
An Upcoming Railway
The road is just not the only thing that is happening deep inside the Pir Panchal mountain range. While the road is being upgraded, there is a railway project in an advanced stage of implementation.
Unlike the road that is being laid over the foothills not far away from the old alignment that also followed a foot track of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the railway track is passing through a virgin area, part of which has not seen even a bus. For making rail reach Baramulla from Udhampur, the 272-km project is going to cost a whopping Rs 37012 crore of which more than ninety per cent has already been spent.
Work on JVR started in 1880 and was formally thrown open in September 1890, when Maharaja Partap Singh was driven through from Baramulla to Kohala. The construction of this gigantic road project was implemented by a major British Indian contractor M/S Spedding, Mitchell & Co and was overseen by different British engineers at different stretches. While General de Bourbel oversaw everything as the Chief Engineer Kashmir, it was Alexander Atkinsonmanagedmost of the road up to Chakoti (on the other side of LoC now) and a few parts on the Kashmir side; Farrant was in charge of construction between Chakotiand Baramulla; as EG Hebbert supervised its completion in November 1889. Resources apart, it cost too many lives. Between Chakoti and Baramulla, 54 Pathans were killed in four years. Besides, 20 lives were lost to snake bites.
Post-partition, the Banihal Road became arterial and pressure built with a surge in population and demand in Kashmir. For seven decades, this road bore the brunt of all the pressures of travel, demand and consumerism and gave in. The rise of the Kashmir apple added another pressure factor so did the security requirements.
Finally, a stage reached that the health of the national highway was directly linked to the economic well-being of Kashmir. This paved the way for the decision by the Government of India that distances need to be reduced and the highway must be improved so that commuters do not end up spending a day on a 300-km highway.
More than a decade after the first spadework, it is emerging as one of the best roads. There are three major tunnels that have skipped dangerous patches while reducing distance and uphill driving: a set of four small tunnels near Nandni with a combined length of 1.4 km; 9.2 km Chenani-Nashri tunnel has bypassed a gruelling uphill drive and 8.5 km Banihal-Qazigund tunnel is going to tame dangerous Banihal Pass forever.
Distance has dropped from 300 to 270 km and the travel time from 12 to around 5 hours. But the Banihal-Ramban stretch remains a challenge. Earlier, it was merely a technological crisis, now it is a serious ecological issue.
These villagers were fortunate in comparison to the Sadal hamlet of Udhampur which was buried under a massive mudslide at noon on September 6, 2014. Following incessant rains for many days, it triggered massive floods in Kashmir and the rest of the erstwhile state. As many as 41 residents from 65 households were killed by the wee hour mountain collapse that brought an almost 30-foot-thick blanket of rafted rock fragments mud, sludge and rubble.
The rail is already chugging between Udhampur and Katra (25 km) since July 2014, Baramulla to Qazigund (118 km) since October 2009; and Qazigund to Baramulla (18 km) since June 2013. This leaves the most challenging stretch of 111 km between Banihal and Katra to be implemented.
However, the cost of the track does not define the project. It is the work that details the challenge. Nearly 119 km of the entire track will pass through 38 tunnels, the longest of which is 12.77 km long.
What is interesting is that in the 111-km Banihal – Katra track, 97.42 km are tunnels and most of the rest are bridges. Railway officials have to do 163.82 km of tunnelling in total – 66.4 km are escape tunnels – to make the track possible. For making these tunnel spots accessible to men and machines, there is a network of 205 km of roads, which remain busy round the clock.
This track will have 37 bridges – totalling 7 km in length, including the iconic Chenab Bridge, which is tipped to be the highest railway bridge on earth. While this bridge is ready, the current focus is on the first cable-stayed railway bridge on Anji Khad.
With thousands of people working deep inside the mountains with basic cutting and blasting machinery a lot of activity is generated.
There were dozens of instances in which the portions of various tunnels collapsed resulting in either changing the alignment or repairing the damage and restoring the tunnel. In July 2006, an almost 3 km long tunnel on the Udhampur-Katra track gradually started sinking after massive soil swelling on the two ends making it unusable and thus delaying the project. Northern Railways later hired an Austrian consultant, Geo Consult International (GCI), to salvage the project after many years of delay. The causes of the damage were visible to even the then Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who said he saw “a river flowing under the tunnel”.
A number of tunnels between Katra and Sangaldan witnessed “abnormal” water discharge making construction a challenging task. In Sangladan, the managers were shocked when they saw a 500-meter track between two tunnels actually missing one fine morning. Reported in 2006, it destroyed a vast stretch of land on a slope housing as many as 100 structures besides over 400 meters of the road connecting Mahore and Gulabgarh.
In 2016 summer of 2016, authorities shifted 124 families – almost the entire village of Dharam, after the vast patch of land that housed the hamlet caved in within three months. Though the officials attributed it to natural reasons, the residents linked the unprecedented situation to the ongoing work on the railway line passing close to the village.
Oceans In Gorges
Piercing the Pir Panchal mountains for smooth, faster and better communication is just not the only thing happening in the region. Owing to the mighty Chenab, the region is Jammu and Kashmir’s powerhouse. More than 90 per cent of the hydropower potential is restricted to the region owing to the availability of water and enough space to construct dams within the mountain gorges. This has led to a situation where the region holds a massive amount of water in its dams.
The region’s tryst with power generation started late last century with the implementation of the 900-MW Salal power project in Reasi in 1978. The project’s 1.45 million cubic meter dam has created the Salal lake which has the capacity to retain more than 28 million cubic meters of water.
Then came the 390-MW Dul-Hasti Power Project near Kishtwar. It was followed by the 900-MW Baglihar power with 1.8 cubic meters of the dam and an additional reservoir capacity of 39.5 cubic meters – a facility that has created a huge water body in the mountain gorges between Chanderkote belt and Thathri to the extent that certain localities and infrastructures had to be relocated. Quite a few people still live in the highway town of Pul Doda.
The region has many other power projects at different stages of implementation. These include 850-MW Rattle, 100-MW Pakal Dul, 624-MW Kiru, 540-MW Kwar, 800-MW Bursar, and 930-MW Kirthai-II. This is an investment of tens of thousands of crore in mountain gorges on a single river within a river length of fewer than 100 km.
Baglihar is the only project that Jammu and Kashmir’s fully-owned JKSPDC owns. Chenab Valley Power Projects Ltd, a joint venture between JKSPDC and NHPC, India’s hydropower giant, is implementing four power projects – Pakal Dul, Kiru, Kwar and Karthia-II. Salal and Dul Hasti owned fully by NHPC and Ratle is being executed under a fresh JV with JKSPDC in which the latter holds 49 per cent stakes.
Stakes apart, hydropower stations are gigantic projects. These need huge spaces for water storage – even in the case of run-of-the-river schemes, and a lot of tunnelling. All projects have main tunnels, both head race and tail race, and then there are a lot of additional adits and small tunnels for servicing. Even though most of the tunnels and the dams are concrete structures, having such critical infrastructure usually triggers soil erosion and soil swellings too often. The 110-km Batote Kishtwar road has been ailing for all these years. Never in a year could it operate for all 365 days.
Cause versus Consequence?
Science has fundamentally opposed the idea of correlating causes with consequences especially when there is no plausible explanation. In the case of the Pir Panchal region, however, there are striking correlations. For most of recent history, land sliding has been happening around the national highway only. However, in the last decade, land subsidence is a routine and it is happening at all places where developmental activities are going on.
Bhaderwah town and its surroundings are witnessing “region-exclusive” tremors almost every year. In August 2022, there were 21 tremors, reaching up to 3.9 on the Richter scale. Such summer tremors have been there in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018. In fact, 2013 was harrowing as the earthquakes touched 5.8 on the Richter scale.
Land patches are caving in at spots closer to some kind of major developmental activity. This is as true with railway projects as it is in road widening projects. Certain spots caved in because works were implemented without a detailed study.
In Sangaldan, for instance, when the railway track collapsed, it was pointed out by geologist Prof GM Bhat that it had been built “on a fossil slide”, which failed to withstand the weight and crumbled down. “We knew it for decades but we were never consulted,” Bhat said. “In this part of the Himalayas, rock types change after every half a kilometre.”
A respected geologist, Bhat insists that developmental activities can take place in any space that is as fragile as Pir Panchal but it needs adequate pre-implementation study and proper implementation mechanism.
“In the four-laning of the highway, the crisis would have been manageable had there been least vertical cuts,” Bhat said. “Impounding so much of water (in power projects dams) within a small patch has the potential of inducing earthquakes.” He insists that the managers of the water projects must ensure better maintenance of the tunnels or these could become a serious crisis in future.
Bhat, however, sees society also going unruly. “In Banihal near the Mahu Mangat side, a hillock is a completely populated town now,” he said. “Has anybody tried to verify where the waste goes? Are we expecting a major crisis in the coming days when the hill will cave in because of seepage?”
The region is a risky belt given its fragile geology. The upcoming railway line is built over three major active geological fault lines: the Main Boundary Thrust (between Udhampur and Katra), the Muree Thrust (between Baglihar and Sangaldan) and the Panjal Thrust (between Digdol and Mahu Mangat). “I never say railway tracks cannot cross fault lines but I believe that had local expertise been involved, extensive fieldwork would have reduced the costs and perfected the alignment”. Entire Jammu and Kashmir is classified as seismic zone-V, the highest earthquake-prone area. CAG has already done a thick report on the resources that were wasted because of the geological surprises that erupted after various rail projects were implemented. Parts of the alignment were changed and completed works were abandoned.
A fault line actually passes through the centre of the Baghlihar dam and most other reservoirs are very close to the fault lines underneath. “A dam burst will be worse than the earthquake itself,” Bhat, who retired recently after heading the University of Jammu’s Geology Department for a long time, said. Interestingly, the area is reporting an increased incidence of cloudbursts, seen as an indicator of climate change. “One major cloudburst near a dam can trigger unprecedented devastation.”
One such cloudburst on July 28, 2021, almost decimated Honzer, a hamlet concealed within inaccessible mountains of remote Dacchan, killing 26 residents. The bodies of almost 18 of the victims were never found.
Many geologists who studied Dalwa fall attributed the land subsidence to water seepage, and extensive cutting of steep slopes. They have suggested a robust urban land use plan, a prerequisite for any activity, especially in hilly areas.
https://kashmirlife.net/o-pir-panchal-vol-14-issue-49-311779/

This sub has been an incredible source of information and inspiration, so I gave myself an hour to write down and share some insights from the recent three-week road trip I’ve had with my partner.
General remarks:
- Our main goal was to enjoy nature, so we were okay with spending absolutely no time on the golden circle or in Reykjavik. Due to the weather, we ended up doing both anyway; but these would be the parts of the trip I would skip first. Coming from continental Europe, we had almost no jetlag and could safely start directly with our journey. With more jet lag, some more time to adapt is definitely a good idea.
- We rented a 2WD campervan from Star Car Rental and spent all but the final night on campsites. Our experience with Star Car was very good. The price was competitive and included unlimited mileage, additional driver and all necessary utensils (chairs, table, cooking stuff). We got picked up from the airport and were ready to go within 15’. When giving back the car, we got driven to our hotel without any inspection (we did have zero excess insurance).
- Mid-May to beginning of June was a very nice time to travel. The days are long (I’ve seen no darkness), almost all camping places are open, but the crowds at the highlights are small – except for the big boys in the south.
- We started our days quite early and therefore typically arrived during the afternoon at the campsites. The kitchen area, showers and laundry spaces were often free to use. Be prepared to go to campsites that have only 2 stoves and 1 shower. During prime time, expect some waiting times.
- We picked up around 100 € worth of cash – two campsites were cash-only, everything else was absolutely card-first / cash-free.
Useful ressources:
- Vedur and Safetravel: This sub is absolutely right. Learn how to read and anticipate the weather before you get there. We were there during two yellow warnings and these things are really no joke. It helps to have plenty of time to spontaneously adapt the schedule. And we’ve seen it all: blizzard in the West, hail up North, storm in the East and sun in the South.
- Google reviews & park4night: These were pretty accurate for the campsites. 4+ stars are no-brainers, 3+ depend on your needs (kitchen, shower, electricity) and less than 3 should be avoided. Also, remember to rate them yourself during/after your trip to increase the statistical significance ;)
- Google Maps/MyMaps: MyMaps was useful during our planning to fill with random highlights (waterfalls, hotpots, hikes, campsites) and to set up a rough itinerary. Google Maps is accurate on paved roads. On gravel roads, expect some significant delays. Maps calculates with 80 km/h, while you will probably never exceed 50 km/h. In the Westfjords, we guess-timated our times with 2 minutes per kilometer on the gravel roads. The Happy Campers Campsite Map as well as the Hot Pot Iceland Map were nice to have in the back-pocket to check with some time to spare whether something is close by.
- Polarsteps: This was a cute little App, which we used to keep family and friends informed. You can add pictures and some text to your highlights. This way, you don’t send the same picture into various chats and there is a location- and time-dependent context.
Cost: This is the per-person cost breakdown for our 21-day trip (20-day camper rental, 1 hotel stay, total 3’500€).
- Rental (zero excess insurance, additional driver): 1’135 €
- Flight (from continental Europe): 700 €
- Activities (Pools, Spas, Horse-riding, Kayak): 300 €
- Camping (pretty consistent 2’000 +- 500 ISK p.P.): 275 €
- Groceries (Bonus, Kronan, Netto): 255 €
- Coffee, Beers, Food in Restaurants: 260 €
- Petrol (420 € in total for roughly 3’600 km): 210 €
- Souvenirs: 180 €
- Ferries (into Westfjords and to Westman Islands): 95 €
- Hotel: 75 €
Highlights:
- Sundlaug and Spas: When camping in small towns, very often there will be a swimming pool close by. They are not expensive (around 1000 ISK pP) and a great way to relax after a long day. Also, it feels nice to take longer, hot showers without knowing people are waiting in line. We decided to go for some smaller premium spas and were very happy with all of them: Krauma was one of our first stops, the Forest Lagoon was incredible during evening hours and GeoSea was also fantastic. Re: nudity. It takes a bit to get used to, but its very refreshing to see this very open approach to nudity in the pools. No one cares, no one watches – just do your thing. It’s cool to see groups of friends at all age groups be so open about it. Certainly very different compared to continental Europe.
- As we had to skip the Eastfjords a bit due to storm, we had some time left at the end. We spent the last 3 nights on the Westman Islands. It was great to leave the car for a longer while and do everything by foot. There are plenty of things to do and the swimming pool is fantastic.
- Mulagljufur: Use Google Maps to find the exact location, as of now, there is no sign along the road. The canyon is very beautiful and we ended up hiking for almost three hours. Couldn’t get enough of the views.
- Glymur: The infamous log wasn’t placed when we were there, but the short hike to the cave and towards the canyon was absolutely worth it.
- Camping highlights: Melanes campsite at Raudasandur beach (Westfjords): incredible scenery, wild drive to get there; Thingeyri campsite (Westfjords): directly at the fjord, fantastic infrastructure (probably the best kitchen we’ve had) and IMHO a great alternative to the Tungudalur campsite in Isafjordur; 66.12 N campsite (near Husavik): insane ocean view, good infrastructure, one of the best sites along the diamond circle; Glamping&Camping (Westmann Islands): beautiful setting, good infrastructure.
Itinerary (Highlights: *, ** or ***)
Day 1: Arrival at KEF during the afternoon in pouring rain, set up campervan, first grocery stops at Bonus and Kronan, Dinner at Issi’s Fish&Chips*, Camp at Hjalli Kjos
Day 2: Glymur hike** (up to river, no log), Krauma Spa**, scenic drive into Snaefellsnes, Camp at Freezer Hostel
Day 3: Check out Snaefellsnes highlights, get to Stykkisholmur in the afternoon, Ferry Baldur to Brjanslaekur, Hellulaug hotpot*, drive to Melanes campsite*** on Raudasandur beach
Day 4: full day at Raudasandur, great hikes, another night at Melanes campsite.
Day 5: Long drive through westfjords. Highlights included the self-service fish station in Talknafjordur (amazing fisk bollur**), Dynjandi waterfall and Sandfell hike. Camping at Thingeyri*, relax in local swimming pool
Day 6: drive to Isafjordur, check out city (kind of underwhelming, but it was a national holiday; the brewery is nice), do some small hikes in the area. Camp at Tungudalur.
Day 7: very long drive out of westfjords towards Varmahlid. Hot dog stop in Holmavik and arrive at Lambeyri campsite (cash only)
Day 8: woke up with dead battery, but got jump start by campsite owner. Horseriding tour at Lytingsstadir* was very nice, drive to Akureyri, visit Forest Lagoon**. It was Saturday night when we visited, upon leaving we had police checking every driver for alcohol – so better hold off the pool-side bar ;) wanted to camp at Vaglaskogur but campsite wasn’t open. Went up until the CJA campsite in Laugar with a late-night stop at Godafoss (around 10pm, were the only people there)
Day 9: check out Myvatn area: Dimmuborgir hike, Hverir, Leirhnjukur hike**. Then continue to Dettifoss and camp at Asbyrgi. Late night hike to Asbyrgi ‘island’*.
Day 10: Hike in Asbyrgi canyon, continue to Husavik, visit GeoSea**, camp at 66.12N***
Day 11: long drive with very strong winds. We had to go back to Akureyri (optician to fix broken glasses), so went through Myvatn again with a quick stop at Grjotagja. Beautiful drive, weather was too bad for Studlagil canyon, so we continued all the way to Borgarfjordur eystri. Crazy winds during the night and we were happy that our car didn’t get blown away.
Day 12: unfortunately, no hikes in this beautiful area. Waited for storm to pass until lunchtime, visited harbor with puffins**, drive to Egilsstadir (hot dog stop), continue to Seydisfjordur (kind of underwhelming town, the drive is gorgeous though) and, due to weather forecast, continue all the way to Djupivogur campsite.
Day 13: Incredible drive from Djupivogur to Höfn, stops at Hvalnes and Jökulsarlon. Hike at Mulagljufur***, camp at Svenifell.
Day 14: early-morning hike in Skaftafell**, continue to Kirjubaersklausur for campsite. Had to skip Fjardrargljufur due to weather, visited local swimming pool.
Day 15: yellow warning again. Continued to Vik for Skool Beans Coffee*, quick stop at Reynisfjara beach (red alert was on, so we didn’t go further than the sign), continue to Skogarfoss and hike part of Fimmvorduhals*, camp in Selfoss – swimming pool was closed unfortunately.
Day 16: Weather forecast was very bad, so we spent the day in Reykjavik. Walked around town, grabbed some coffees and visiting the local Sundhöll*. Camp at Mosskogar** (cash-only)
Day 17: Golden circle: hike at Thingvellir, look at Geysir, skipped Delfoss. Camp in Selfoss again.
Day 18: quick stop at Seljalandsfoss, ferry to Westman islands. Set up camp at Glamping&Camping** for the next 3 nights. Visited Brothers Brewery*.
Day 19: Kayak tour with Kayak-and-Puffins-company***. Visited local swimming pool* (trampoline slide was very nice) and watched a local handball game.
Day 20: Hike along volcanoes and coast**, visit brewery again, go to puffin bay**
Day 21: Ferry back to mainland. Drive back towards KEF. Drop-off campervan and spent night in Konvin Hotel. Early morning shuttle to airport (we arrived about 2h early for our 7 am flight and had plenty of time).
Of course, I’m very happy to answer any questions you might have!
Hope this is helpful to some of you :)

As the title mentions I'm an advanced-novella RPer looking for GMs or offering myself as a GM for various text-based RPs. I've provided a sample down below and will ask the same of anybody that reaches out. Outside of writing I tend to spend most of my time on games like Knights of the Old Republic 2, New Vegas, and, indeed, the Hobocop Game. I'm an Associate at Amazon with an otherwise unimpressive social life, occasionally leaving the house to play WH40K Tabletop.
Discord is more-or-less required for me to be interested; sample incoming.
​

The boar is not dead, though to all the other hunters’ senses it is. It lays motionless on its side within the sled, tied down by rope with two arrows sticking discordantly out of its hide like seams of broken bone. Frozen blood pools in the cracked stomach of the sled, collecting rather than leaking now that red ice has sealed the wood. Poison leaching out of the arrowheads keeps the boar docile, and its breathing so light that only Trapper can see. An ovate in too-thin robes shivers as she ties a garland of rosemary around the beast’s neck, murmuring prayers to the ancestors that they might find the kill worthy.
Winter has seized the land in its vise, its unending waves of cold and snow having transformed the Barony of Marlas into a crueler scape, one Trapper doesn’t quite recognize. Tranquility abounds along the driven snow, all through the clearing, hiding the buried world and the woes of man but unable to snuff them out. Trapper knows well what a mirage it is, the oppressive winters of his homeland no less savage than the bloodletting summers. The numbing cold does not soothe his aches, for he knows they’ll be worse come morning, come the thaw. Too soon this clearing will melt, its river gone from white to red, the whole Septima Line thrust back to war.
Baron Orys refuses to yield to midnight season, to accept its peace, and so from his great warhorse’s saddle he brazenly belts out a mixture of drunken lyrics and commands, determined to master this hunt even if he does not partake. An entourage on horseback spreads out in his orbit, ranging from eager young footmen to grizzled junkers, all in varying states of inebriation at his command. Their braying is nearly louder than the hounds’, who hungrily stalk between the sled and the hole they pulled the boar out from. Teased by the hunt but yet unrewarded, they’re too unruly to be kept in check by the kennel master.
On foot slog the unfortunates who actually have to take part in the hunt, Trapper among them. They huddle into their hemp canvas cloaks, glancing up at the moody afternoon sky threatening to crack open with another snowstorm. Dark clouds sweep in low from the south like a riptide, a single vast current swept in from the mountains already menacing the Oldwoods. Its furthest gales reach them as tongues of vengeful cold, flecks of whipped-up snow biting into Trapper’s exposed skin.
By the boar’s nest leans a typical Mallean, one of Trapper’s two erstwhile comrades. Sigorn is tall, pale, broad, with the close-set, wide-boned features of a commoner, and a shock of red hair grown out to protect against the elements. Beneath his cloak he proudly bears his blood-flecked armor, each dent a Darkman put into it a point of dear pride. He’s not the only one, either, the clearing filled with dozens of youths whose first blooding ended in victory amid a blizzard. Baron Orys, deep into his cups after six days of nonstop celebration, saw a break in the storms and gladly called a hunt. When informed he could not go on account of his shattered knee - he simply grinned, and ordered himself tied to his saddle.
Trapper remembers the moment his lord fell from the saddle, burned into his nerves. The screaming of horses, skidding hooves catching on the frozen ground. On the edges of his vision a rider smashes into a branch in the din, others don’t move at all for fear of the blizzard. His spurs dig, his borrowed steed whines, and he races for his lord - only for another to reach him first.
“What a woman.” Sigorn sighs beside Trapper, craning his neck to look at one of their lord’s companions of honor. Susannah Oye, junker unlike the others, a pretty, willowy noblewoman well into motherhood, with the lean, ruthless look of a ranger. Her two poisoned arrows are what struck the boar down, and her pride curls off her body like steam. Sigorn’s face cracks into exaggerated appreciation, and then he turns to their lord’s other honored companion. Another woman, this one as young as they are, haughtily-built and leering with none of Susannah’s refinement. Many of those looks are reserved for Trapper, forced to slog on foot as just another hunter. “Anya too. I think she fancies you, eh?”

​

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Cover Art <<Previous Start Next >>
Early the next morning, as the sun was just cresting the horizon, Bellona was putting the last of her gear onto a merchant wagon. With the change in plans for several routes that came with the news of the new dungeon came an opportunity to start the first part of her route with some company. For the first leg, she’d be accompanying a caravan, then going by horse alone for the second leg, before going on foot for the last leg. It made her logistics easier, she didn’t have to worry about feed for the horse for most of it.
The champion of Amirume went over her mental checklist one more time as she adjusted the position of her stuff, making everything as neat as possible. All her heavy armor was in the chest, until she was setting out on the last leg there was little reason to wear more than a chain shirt. There was little chance of danger on the main roads, so her axe she’d keep at her side and her shield on the horse. Even when traveling solo, it would be easier on the beast to distribute the weight of her armor rather than have her entire armored mass centered on its back.
For the last leg, when the horse would be left behind, she’d wear her full kit. If you were going to be carrying the weight anyway, there was no better distribution than to wear it. That would also be the section where she’d be traveling up mountain paths, and she didn’t look forward to it. She’d worn her armor for days while moving and fighting across relatively flat land before, but days of going up a mountain in armor were going to be quite different. Fortunately, it was early summer, so the mountains wouldn’t be too cold on her way up.
.
After Moriko had reached the monastery, Mordecai and Kazue had turned their attention back inward, for it was time to build. As usual, Kazue went first. With her plans finalized, the walls of the cavern on the fifth floor shifted and formed tiers, enabling ever-higher placement of mushroom buildings, and larger structures that could spread their weight on supports of multiple heights.
This was a large village of artisans, crafters, farmers, athletes, entertainers, writers, philosophers, and similar professions. She expanded on her tokens idea, to pass through the gate required five tokens, but the laganthros were free to hand tokens to one, some, all, or none of a party’s members as they saw fit, and the tokens would attune themselves to those who they were presented to. She also borrowed from Mordecai’s double-door concept: the first door could be opened by anyone who had five tokens, the second door would open only if the first door was closed and everyone inside the corridor had five tokens, and the first door also can’t be opened unless the second door is closed.
In addition to the more straightforward challenges she’d been thinking of previously, she had developed some slightly more complicated quests. Many professions use heat, so a challenge could start with “My fire drake wandered off and I can’t find him!”, leading to tracking down the drake, then figuring out the sub-challenge (it might be somewhere hard to access, or be distracted by a love interest, or maybe it found a shiny to large for it to carry but won’t let it go and hisses at any one who gets close, etc), solving the issue, and then they might still need to persuade the drake to come home.
There were many variations of ‘I need a thing’ that could be made into challenges, and the first obstacle was unstated: The inhabitants could pick the challenge, and could make it harder. If they didn’t like you, it would probably be long and involved, and wind up getting dirty, wet, and cold. So being at least reasonably polite made everything much easier. It wasn’t terribly likely that this would be an issue by the time someone got this far, but Kazue had decided that she was going to include variability in all her future challenges that made things easier for people who were being nice.
Now, people needed proper settings for them to venture into, so she spun off side caves of differing layouts and environments; some were jagged rifts that required navigating a lot of vertical terrain, some were wide with one or more streams or small ponds, others saw a return of crystal outcroppings, and a few were mildly caustic with acidic, alkaline, or salty environments. Nothing too dangerous of course, unless one was exceptionally foolish.
With many of the available challenges being at least partly physical, she started arranging for appropriate rewards as well. Mordecai had made sure she now knew how to craft some of the common physical enchantment items and how to alter their form and fine-tune their secondary abilities. A belt that could let someone carry more weight, boots that made you a little faster or made your steps quieter, a cape that could keep you warm or could help you blend into the background, and many other possibilities.
Not that she neglected the mental side either: glasses that could help decipher an unknown language, a pen that always wrote smoothly and without smearing and with unlimited ink of your choice, crafting tools that enhanced the product you made, and several other items of specialized use were all available rewards. She wanted the rewards here to be more focused on helping people better their skills, rather than rewarding them with direct knowledge as the library did.
Of course, sometimes people would be coming through who knew more than anyone in the dungeon did on a topic. Their challenge would be to teach, and rewards would generally be in raw materials unless there was other information they wanted.
She did have to be careful just how generous she was though. From dawn to dawn, there was a limit to how much the dungeon could create that could be claimed as loot, and they could only ‘stockpile’ for values that had already been won or that they already owed as part of a trade agreement. Their inhabitants were not so limited, but only if they worked with ‘real’ materials rather than ones created directly through dungeon mana, and it took a fair amount of time and effort to craft even a minor enchanted item the proper way. So unless there was a good cause, the items the inhabitants crafted were their own to use or to trade as they saw fit.
When Kazue was done she looked over the town to make sure she was satisfied with her work. There were towering mushroom spires, thick-walled squat mushroom buildings, long buildings made from many mushrooms grown together, and every other combination that had been asked for that she could make work. A lot of them were ‘dummies’ at the moment with no roads to reach them or doors to enter them, but she’d change that as the population grew. She even had a few unoccupied buildings growing from the ceiling, which were left available to be claimed by any inhabitants that could make their way to them. A little challenge and reward set up for her own people, figuring out how to make flying magic items or systems.
Creating the lighting had been one of her favorite parts. There had been a few concepts she’d considered, such as just making every mushroom and fungal surface glow slightly to create a very even and ‘sourceless’ lighting, but in the end, she went for something a bit more flavorful. The underside of the mushroom caps glowed to illuminate the area around their base while large glowing ‘spores’ floated overhead to cast a dimmer radiance to the general area, and all the paths were marked with tiny little puffballs that would collapse in a sudden burst of glowing dust spores if disturbed, most likely coating whoever messed with them and leaving a glowing residue that would smear the more you tried to rub it off.
All of the fungal-based light was in a soft blue/green color, but in addition to the ‘natural’ lighting, the inhabitants had access to fire and normal light spells, making the interior of the buildings look warm and inviting against the backdrop of perpetual twilight outside. Overall she rather enjoyed the contrast of slightly spooky exterior lighting and warm, inviting interior lighting.
.
They’d had plenty of time to build up lots of energy since Kazue’s mother had come through, so technically Mordecai could have built up his side at the same time. But he felt it was best to wait until she finished in case there were any surprises. The upside-down houses on the ceiling had not been in their original ideas for example, though in this case, they didn’t cost a significant amount more. They did, however, give him an idea to add later.
For now he focused on his original plan. At the entrance to the fifth floor, visitors would find themselves entering a wide campsite. There was no equipment, but the space was obviously cleared with a small, 2-foot tall ‘fence’ of piled stones and a fire pit in the center. There was also a plaque that read:

This area is neutral territory for the two warring factions beyond, but animals and monsters do not know such distinctions. Proceed at your own time and in your own way, there is no one path or one method to success. 

Combat challenges were fun and straightforward, but even the library was only a warm-up. Beyond the cleared campsite stretched a dimly lit mushroom and fungus forest that gave away nothing of what lay in wait for brave adventurers to face. Or at least would, when he was done.
Mordecai started with the terrain. The campsite was going to be slightly disadvantageous in that it was at the bottom of a shallow depression. All ways out were uphill, making it impossible to see most of the cavern from here even without the addition of a forest. From there he varied the terrain, creating twisting valleys, solo and clumped hills, the occasional small ravine, and very few areas of simple, flat land. If one tried hard enough, one could even find thin trails running along the walls of the cavern, but those were carefully placed and angled to be difficult to spot from below. Once done with the layout, he created a few springs to become the heads of several streams that eventually combined into a river that flowed into the boss chamber at the end of the cavern.
Back toward the entrance, he also introduced a small, natural ‘alcove’ with three waterfalls coming down along the inner curve of the wall into a small pool, which in turn started its own stream. These three waterfalls were connected back to the warren’s water network, making them part of the ecology of the dungeon. It was also time to add a layer of complexity: rather than just having exclusive pathways for different water uses, he started using nature’s filters of rock, soil, and sand to keep most of the impurities flowing into the sewers, and then let water seepage work its way into various underground ponds, which in turn became the sources for further streams. He made sure the paths alternated going into airless pockets and into caverns that were half-air and had light sources embedded in the ceiling to let photosynthesis take place. All natural purification. This was the source of the water for these three waterfalls and introduced the preexisting biome into this floor.
Now he looked at his entire catalog of available mosses, lichens, and fungi to select the best ground cover options, then he carpeted the entire floor in a mixture of this ‘grass’. Not entirely unaltered, Mordecai did fortify them to make them more resistant to being walked on and generally tougher, but for the most part he left them alone in their design. He was also doing a wild-seeding mix, to let them all compete and find their preferred environments. And there were plenty available, every single visitor had brought in various spores and tiny seeds that most humanoids never realized were clinging to them and shedding from their skin at all times.
He’d also been very considerate of Kazue’s origins. While she knew how to zoom in on material structures, he’d carefully avoided showing her how that technique could be used to examine all the tiny critters that lived on people all the time. Mordecai had found out a long time ago that most people did not want to know about them. It did however provide a source for the next layer of this floor’s ecology, filling all the undergrowth with tiny creatures invisible to most people. Once Mordecai was satisfied that everything had reached a self-sustaining state, it was time for the ‘trees’ of this forest.
<<Previous Start Next >>
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Lightning crashed onto the now empty no-man's land.
Candorick peeked above the trenches. Nobody in sight.
The battle in this area was approaching its fiftieth day, and the space inbetween fortifications made that clear. Craters filled the destroyed land, burned out remains of Leman Russes were scattered throughout, and the corpses of dead heretics and loyalists almost formed another layer of ground. The land was dark and gray, and the pouring rain didn't help the aesthetic.
Being Whiteshields, the gun he was handed was a hand-me-down standard pattern lasgun, probably belonging to someone whose corpse was scavenged for anything useful. His still had a little bit of human on it when it was handed to him.
Candorick felt a sense of impending doom. Suppose being in the trenches always gave you a feeling of death, but this felt different than before.
Candorick’s Whiteshield company had been placed in the frontlines after a failed push resulted in the death of a majority of the regiment assigned to the trench.
Most of the other Whiteshields were younger than him, some were as young as twelve, who had just been given a gun and told to fight. Candorick was one of the older ones of the group, being sixteen. The only other sixteen year old was Merok, who helped man the squad’s lascannon.
Candorick looked above the trenches one more time. He just couldn’t shake the feeling something was coming.
“Everything ok there Candorick?” Merok asked.
“Yeah… yeah, I just can't shake this feeling that something is going to happen.” Candorick replied.
Rain poured into the trenches, creating a layer of water up to Candorick’s knees.
“I’m sure we’re fine.” Merok said.
“If anything does attack, that’s why I’ve got this lascannon right?” Merok slapped the barrel of the gun.
Merok turned to the other Whiteshield, a 14 year old kid, manning the lascannon.
“Stocks doing good?” Merok asked.
“Yep, everything is in order, charge packs match up with how many we had yesterday, and all parts are in top shape.” The kid responded, saluting to Merok.
“Good. Listen, Candorick, we’ll be fine, they would be foolish to attack in this rai…” Merok stopped as the sound of a massive amount of footsteps echoed from the no-man’s land.
“BATTLE STATIONS EVERYONE!” the squad leader said as everyone along the trench prepared their guns to fire.
Candorick looked down the lenses of his recon binoculars. A massive charge of heretics was coming at them rapidly.
“KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!” The squad leader said as every soldier began to fire their lasguns at the heretics. Merok began to fire his lascannon repeatedly at the few armored targets coming with the charge, ending them almost immediately. When no vehicles were around, they fired at the charging infantry, killing multiple with each individual shot.
Candorick fired upon the approaching enemy as well. Eventually, one of them struck one of the incoming heretics. That was the first time Candorick had killed someone. He watched as they clutched their chest and fell to the ground, letting out a scream as they hit the muddy land. They clutched their chest for a bit, before going limp.
Before then, he had never really thought about his first kill. It was just seen as something minimal, a stepping stone of sorts on his way to becoming a veteran guardsmen. But to see it with his own eyes, it was different. He thought of all the things that person must have lived through. They grew up, they loved, they suffered.
And all of that ended when Candorick put that laser into their chest. In training, he had always been told that the heretics “weren’t human” and “they deserve the emperor’s mercy”, but what else would react like that? He looked along the line of charging heretics. He could almost see the look in their eyes. Fear, anger, sadness, he could see every emotion in every one of them. If they weren’t human, why did they act so much like them?
But Candorick didn’t have time to think about that right now. This was not a battle of morals. It was a battle of life or death, and he had to live. For his family, for his homeland, for the Imperium.
Bullets and lasgun fire flew by him. The heretics had hid in some of the craters, and had begun to fire at the trenches. Candorick ducked down. A Whiteshield beside him didn’t duck down fast enough, and a bullet had gone straight into his head. He fell to the ground, dying instantly. He looked at the other Whiteshields. They were scared, and you they had begun to tremble at the thought of death. Candorick peaked his gun above the trench, and fired his lasgun at one of the heretics that had peaked from cover, hitting him right in the eye, sending him falling back onto the land. Merok was still firing the Lascannon from the relative safety of the sandbags surrounding him, and many heretics had fallen to his lascannon fire.
The kid who had been helping Merok load charge packs into the cannon suddenly got his foot stuck in the mud below the cannon and fell backwards, leaving him out in the open. A heretic fired a single shot at the now not in cover soldier, causing his head to explode into tiny pieces of gore. Merok got down, crouching firmly below the sandbags, as to get closer into cover. He waved his hands at Candorick.
“GET OVER HERE I NEED YOU MANNING THE CANNON!” Merok yelled over the sounds of bullets firing and other screaming from loyalist and heretic forces. “I KNOW YOU’VE THE BEST AIM HERE, AND I AM THE ONLY ONE LEFT HE KNOWS HOW TO LOAD THIS THING, JUST GET OVER HERE!” Merok gestured to Candorick to get onto the lascannon.
Candorick ran over the lascannon protected by a plethora of sandbags in the trench, which until recently, had been firing on the heretics.
“GET ON THE CANNON AND START FIRING AT THEM, I’LL LOAD THE CHARGE PACKS WHILE YOU FIRE AT THE HERETICS!”
Candorick took aim onto the cannon, aiming it at a large group of heretics hiding behind a burned out Leman Russ. He pulled the trigger, and a bright white ray of light sped out. It pierced right through the damaged armor and struck one of the heretics, sending him flying back. With Candorick pinning the heretics down, the other Whiteshields got out from cover and began to fire onto the heretics, killing even more. Eventually, the heretics' morale broke, and they began to retreat back away from the battle.
Why would they do that? Sending an army of heretics with little armored support into a fully prepared and mostly organized defense is suicide! Candorick pulled his recon binoculars and looked back out at the lines. The pouring rain made it hard to see, but eventually, he saw several massive black figures charging towards them. Candorick zoomed in. Massive men fully clad in twisted, black armor were charging at them.
Space Marines.
Candorick looked at the supply of charge packs for the lascannon. Only one remained.
That’s why they charged. They knew the soldiers here weren’t as well trained as those on other spots, and that they would use all their ammunition with reckless abandon at the approaching heretics. And now, they had no weapons strong enough to pierce through the space marines armor. They had this all planned from the beginning. Candorick pulled out his binoculars again and looked at the incoming space marines. Four of them were charging at the line. He had only two shots left, one still loaded in the cannon, and the other still waiting to be used. He could only hope that the other lascannons along the line had more ammo then he did, because if not, it would be a massacre.
Candorick looked at the other lascannon fortifications. None of them had any left besides one on the far edge of the defensive fortifications. He pulled out his binoculars again and looked at them.
“RUNNNN!” A voice screamed from behind him. A Whiteshield behind him holding binoculars turned around and began to sprint away. This sent panic throughout the entire line. Whiteshields began to sprint away from various parts as the commissars assigned to the regiment began to fire their lasguns into the retreating soldiers to no avail. The entire line was dissolving as the marines were getting closer and closer to the trenches. Candorick looked back at the lascannon that still had ammo left. The soldiers overseeing it had begun to run away.
“MEROK STAY HERE I AM GOING TO GET MORE CHARGE PACKS!” Candorick yelled over all the screams of fear to Merok.
Candorick knew to stand a chance they needed to use the lascannons. The only way he could save this battle is if he grabbed the excess ammo left at the far-away lascannon and distributed the others.
So he ran. He ran as fast as he could to the other edge of the line. He heard the sounds of the last few shots from the lascannons that still had ammo left, before the sound of the cannons firing stopped.
As the Space Marines got closer, more and more of the Whiteshields began to retreat. Candorick looked at the lascannon teams as he passed by their fortifications. Around half of them had left; the other half was looking everywhere for any ammunition they could find, digging around through the mud, looking to see if any ammo had sunk below, away from view. Candorick reached the abandoned lascannon.
He pulled out some rope from his pack and started to tie as many charge packs as he could to himself. 5 on his back, 2 on both sides of his body, another 5 on the front of his body to counterbalance.
Candorick tried to start running, but his knees buckled under the weight of the large cartridges. He was starting to hear the sounds of power armor as he struggled to stand.
“Come on, just stand…” Candorick put all of his power into standing up. A brave Whiteshield stood on top of the trenches and tried to fire onto the approaching marines, but before he could even aim through his scopes, a bolter round came rocketing through the air, turning the top half of the man into a splash of blood, covering Candorick. He had to stand, he had to. Candorick felt a surge of adrenaline as he was able to stand up. He started to run. He just needed to make it to the next lascannon to drop off the ammunition. The sound of the hydraulics of the marines power armor was getting closer. Heavy bolter sounds rang through the trenches as soldier after soldier was turned into piles of gore. His legs weakened as they pushed through mud and water and blood. He was so close, he could just taste it. He pulled himself onto the closest lascannon platform.
“Ammunition…” Candorick cried, collapsing to the ground, fainting from exhaustion.
He awoke to the screams of a soldier. Candorick looked up. One of the space marines held the screaming soldier up in the air. He grabbed the soldier with one hand around his head and the other along his legs. The space marine began to pull on the man. His legs began to stretch and contort as he neck skin stretched until he tore himself down the middle, the space marine, now holding two separate halves of a man, discarded his remains to the side. Candorick looked around. A dead space marine perched himself on top of the lascannon he had delivered the ammunition to. He appeared to have died from a point blank shot into his chest, vaporizing his armor and leaving a massive hole to the other side. Candorick dragged himself up to look into the no-man’s land. Another space marine laid dead out in the field, his head blown clean off by the lascannon. Candorick looked down the line. Another dead space marine laid in the trenches. He appeared to have fallen to hundreds of lasgun shots all over his body.
Only one space marine remained alive. Although he looked wounded. He too had taken many lasgun shots, and what appears to be a missed lascannon cracked open his helmet, leaving a clear view of his twisted, warped face.
“STAY AWAY!” a 13 year-old Whiteshield screamed. He appeared to have been spotted by the space marine. He stood behind a corner of the trench, firing his lasgun at the marine. The space marine slowly walked towards him. He intended to make every one of the soldiers that killed his brothers pay.
Candorick wouldn’t let them take another life. He wouldn’t. Candorick looked out into the sea of corpses and mud of no man’s land. A bright blue light glowed in the center of a crater. It wasn’t far. Candorick tried to stand up, but his legs failed him. He began to crawl towards the light, putting all of his might. One final time. He was almost there. The space marine approached the soldier, firing bolter rounds at the trench he was using for cover, piercing through the ground and wooden walls of the fortification, just barely missing him. Candorick reached the center of the crater. It was a plasma gun. Candorick picked it up with two hands, placing it on his chest, and aiming it at the space marine.
Candorick took a deep breath.
“One shot, One kill.”
Keating stood in front of the infirmary.
Candorick had not woken up in two days.
Bogra stood right next to him.
“Is boss gonna be ok?”
Keating turned to Bogra.
“I don’t know."

InvestorPlace technology expert Luke Lango has held an important live event. Let’s go ahead and view the video:
2023 Tech Melt + Readers questions - 1Hr 15 Mins long (Presentation & Offer for Early Stage Investor)
Our world will exit this decade appearing dramatically different than how we entered it, all because of artificial intelligence (AI).
This technology presents an enormous “before-and-after” paradigm shift that will disrupt/revolutionize nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives.
From a business perspective, the tidal wave of capital that will flood into AI over the next 10 years will be like nothing our economy has ever seen.
As a result, from an investor perspective, today’s well-placed investments in the AI-leaders of tomorrow will turn into multi-million-dollar windfalls.
Luke’s event focused on helping investors understand the sheer size of this societal change, the enormity of the investment opportunity, and the right action steps to take today.
Here’s Luke:
I truly believe that, thanks to the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), we face one of the most seminal moments for the economy ever.
And investors who recognize the importance of this moment – and seize the opportunities it presents – will make fortunes over the next few years…
Let me abundantly clear: AI is the biggest technological paradigm shift we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes.

Wrapping your head around what’s coming with AI

Chances are, you’ve used ChatGPT. If so, you know how incredible it is.
But for some mindboggling perspective, remember that this is the worst version of the technology that will ever exist. In a couple of years, today’s version will seem stupid – even inept – compared to the enhanced model we’ll be using.
To understand why, we must grasp the basics of AI.
AI consists of incredibly powerful algorithms that gather, sift, sort, and contextualize data to generate insights, draw conclusions, and make predictions.
If there were no data, then these AI models couldn’t do anything. As such, data is the lifeblood of AI. Or as Luke calls it, the “fuel.”
Here’s Luke with more:
What happens when you give a car 10X more fuel? It drives 10X farther.
What happens when you give an AI model 10X more data? It becomes 10X better.
And over the next few years, AI models will have more than 10X more data than they have access to today.
That’s not an exaggeration. That’s a fact.
In 2020, the total volume of data created worldwide was 47 zettabytes. By 2030, that volume will exceed 600 zettabytes.
That’s a 13X increase – and, by extension, a potential 13X increase in AI capability.
Folks, these AI models are only going to get way better over the next five to 10 years.
You think it’s impressive that law firms are already using AI to write briefs or that hospitals are using AI to diagnose diseases?
We’re just getting started.

Similar to the internet explosion in the 1990s, AI will create a stark divide separating the businesses and investors who benefit from the technology from those who get left behind

One of our biggest weaknesses as investors is that we’re not great at envisioning the future.
Think back to the 1990s…
As you drove to your local Blockbuster to rent a videocassette for the evening, could you have imagined the company going bankrupt because of a technology that would enable you to “stream” a movie straight to your home television, without driving anywhere or renting a physical product of any kind?
As you stood in line at your local Borders Books (remember that one?) to buy the latest James Patterson mystery, could you envision the company being driven out of existence by online book stores and e-readers?
Or what about your family summer road trip? Do you remember using a physical map?
No Millennial will ever understand the particular pain of trying to fold a map with one hand while speeding along some back road, totally lost, all because you missed a turn. As I look back now, spoiled by GPS, a 1990s road-trip seems downright barbaric.
Well, the future that’s coming with AI will bring its own jaw-dropping advancements. As investors, we must do our best to envision this and place our money ahead of these advancements. After all, this time around, it’s not just a wave of new innovation, but a 1,000-foot tsunami.
Back to Luke:
AI will be used to power a whole all sorts of technologies – robotic landscapers, delivery drivers, pilots, waiters, and more.
AI will be used to diagnose, prescribe, and treat patients for all sorts of ailments.
It will trade stocks, create music and movies, write articles, code, concoct new recipes, and make fabulous drinks. It will clean, repair, and restore cars, homes, and just about every object you can think of.
This is an “Everything Revolution.”
AI will permeate every industry of the economy. This revolution will leave no stone unturned. By 2030, every company in every sector of every country will use AI.
If you need convincing of this, just track the money flow.
Luke highlights a brand-new Bloomberg Intelligence research report concluding that just one portion of the AI economy – generative AI – will grow by more than 40% per year, reaching $1.3 trillion by 2032.
And here we are today, at the 1-yard-line, able to align our wealth with this avalanche of growth.

Luke sees investors falling into one of two camps

Here in 2023, it’s been a tale of two markets…
You’ve either been in tech/AI and made big returns, or you’ve been in anything else and more than likely made next-to-nothing or even lost money.
To illustrate, we need look no further than the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 is up 33% while the Dow is up 1%.
Luke sees this as just the beginning. But for every bit as exciting as the enormous return potential of top AI stocks is, the risk of anemic returns from “old economy” stocks is concerning.
Here’s how Luke sizes up this divide:
Invest in the right AI stocks, and you’ll find yourself on the winning side of this massive technological paradigm shift.
Invest in the stocks that artificial intelligence will kill, and you may never recover.
It’s really that simple. And urgency is required because just as AI is already here, this stock market divide is, too.
Luke highlights the same night-and-day difference in 2023 market returns we just noted above, then says that this divide will only become larger in the years to come.

Watch Luke's presentation for all the details of this paradigm shift, as well as how to position your portfolio today

This isn’t the same as the computer… or the internet… or smartphones.
It’s bigger – for both good and bad.
AI will end certain diseases… destroy entire sections of our labor force…transform certain day-to-day tasks that are just normal parts of our lives today…
And for investors who invest in this trend early, it will generate mind-boggling investment wealth.
I’ll give him the final word:
AI is the biggest technological paradigm shift we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes.
Over the next several years, AI will sweep across society and will change everything about everything. For some, this will present a huge opportunity. For others, it will create a huge threat.
I wouldn’t be surprised if, in five years, AI stocks are up 400% or 500% while every other stock is pretty much flat, if not down.

As the title mentions I'm an advanced-novella RPer looking for GMs or offering myself as a GM for various text-based RPs. I've provided a sample down below and will ask the same of anybody that reaches out. Outside of writing I tend to spend most of my time on games like Knights of the Old Republic 2, New Vegas, and, indeed, the Hobocop Game. I'm an Associate at Amazon with an otherwise unimpressive social life, occasionally leaving the house to play WH40K Tabletop.
Discord is more-or-less required for me to be interested; sample incoming.
​

The boar is not dead, though to all the other hunters’ senses it is. It lays motionless on its side within the sled, tied down by rope with two arrows sticking discordantly out of its hide like seams of broken bone. Frozen blood pools in the cracked stomach of the sled, collecting rather than leaking now that red ice has sealed the wood. Poison leaching out of the arrowheads keeps the boar docile, and its breathing so light that only Trapper can see. An ovate in too-thin robes shivers as she ties a garland of rosemary around the beast’s neck, murmuring prayers to the ancestors that they might find the kill worthy.
Winter has seized the land in its vise, its unending waves of cold and snow having transformed the Barony of Marlas into a crueler scape, one Trapper doesn’t quite recognize. Tranquility abounds along the driven snow, all through the clearing, hiding the buried world and the woes of man but unable to snuff them out. Trapper knows well what a mirage it is, the oppressive winters of his homeland no less savage than the bloodletting summers. The numbing cold does not soothe his aches, for he knows they’ll be worse come morning, come the thaw. Too soon this clearing will melt, its river gone from white to red, the whole Septima Line thrust back to war.
Baron Orys refuses to yield to midnight season, to accept its peace, and so from his great warhorse’s saddle he brazenly belts out a mixture of drunken lyrics and commands, determined to master this hunt even if he does not partake. An entourage on horseback spreads out in his orbit, ranging from eager young footmen to grizzled junkers, all in varying states of inebriation at his command. Their braying is nearly louder than the hounds’, who hungrily stalk between the sled and the hole they pulled the boar out from. Teased by the hunt but yet unrewarded, they’re too unruly to be kept in check by the kennel master.
On foot slog the unfortunates who actually have to take part in the hunt, Trapper among them. They huddle into their hemp canvas cloaks, glancing up at the moody afternoon sky threatening to crack open with another snowstorm. Dark clouds sweep in low from the south like a riptide, a single vast current swept in from the mountains already menacing the Oldwoods. Its furthest gales reach them as tongues of vengeful cold, flecks of whipped-up snow biting into Trapper’s exposed skin.
By the boar’s nest leans a typical Mallean, one of Trapper’s two erstwhile comrades. Sigorn is tall, pale, broad, with the close-set, wide-boned features of a commoner, and a shock of red hair grown out to protect against the elements. Beneath his cloak he proudly bears his blood-flecked armor, each dent a Darkman put into it a point of dear pride. He’s not the only one, either, the clearing filled with dozens of youths whose first blooding ended in victory amid a blizzard. Baron Orys, deep into his cups after six days of nonstop celebration, saw a break in the storms and gladly called a hunt. When informed he could not go on account of his shattered knee - he simply grinned, and ordered himself tied to his saddle.
Trapper remembers the moment his lord fell from the saddle, burned into his nerves. The screaming of horses, skidding hooves catching on the frozen ground. On the edges of his vision a rider smashes into a branch in the din, others don’t move at all for fear of the blizzard. His spurs dig, his borrowed steed whines, and he races for his lord - only for another to reach him first.
“What a woman.” Sigorn sighs beside Trapper, craning his neck to look at one of their lord’s companions of honor. Susannah Oye, junker unlike the others, a pretty, willowy noblewoman well into motherhood, with the lean, ruthless look of a ranger. Her two poisoned arrows are what struck the boar down, and her pride curls off her body like steam. Sigorn’s face cracks into exaggerated appreciation, and then he turns to their lord’s other honored companion. Another woman, this one as young as they are, haughtily-built and leering with none of Susannah’s refinement. Many of those looks are reserved for Trapper, forced to slog on foot as just another hunter. “Anya too. I think she fancies you, eh?”

​

Hello again!
Payment via PayPal G&S. Shipping starts at $4.50 for a small item depending on zip and increases with weight (USPS). Shipping from the East Coast. $10 min before shipping preferred. All item conditions are noted and pictured best as I can. Most are brand new.
Please don't ghost. It's okay if you change your mind. NIL based on timestamps. Note that I have some of these items listed on other platforms as well and will adjust the availability accordingly.
BN = Brand New; BNIB = Brand New In Box; BNIP = Brand New in Packaging; FS = full size; DS = deluxe size/travel size/mini; FWP = free with purchase
I'm very careful to keep my makeup clean and protected, keeping original packaging where I can. Smoke- and pet-free home. Always masking. See this wonderful feedback from previous buyer 1, 2 and 3 as references 😊
  Please comment below before sending a Reddit chat since I can't see those on mobile.  
Swaplist:
New only: Dior beige mitzah, Rose Montaigne or Pink Corolle mono eyeshadows. Trestique Summer Glow & Go set from Boxy. Try me on Sephora Lipstories balms (I already have shades 07 and 08 and a couple others), must be sealed.
 
Eyes
Mascara - $12 for all  

• Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Lashes Vol 2. travel size, BNIP - $4
• Dior Diorshow Volume Mascara, 1.5ml travel size, BNIB - $5
• MAC Stack Superstack Micro Brush mascara mini, BN - $4
• Tarte Lights Camera Lashes mascara deluxe size, BN, 1 available - $3

Eyeshadow  

• Tarte Chrome Paint Shadow Pot in Martini (bronzed olive) 3g, BNIB - $12
• Tarte Chrome Paint Shadow Pot in Wild at Heart (pink with blue duochrome) 3g, BNIB - $12
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha, swatched - $2
• Colourpop Colour Stix eyeshadow stick in Devotion, swatched & sharpened - $3
• Colourpop Colour Stix eyeshadow stick in Hyde, swatched - $3
• Nudestix Magnetic Eye Color in Smoke, FS, BN/sealed - $12
• Revlon So Fierce! Prismatic Shadow Palette, Slight Flex, swatched/light use - $3
• Sephora Collection colorful metal effect eyeshadow in 07 Volcano Land (metallic brown), arrived broken, pushed back into the pan - FWP
• Sephora Collection colorful shimmer eyeshadow in 254 Diving In (blue), very delicately swatched - $3
• Elf Bite Size Mini eyeshadow palette in Rose Water, light usage - $1 or FWP $20+
• Elf Bite Size Mini eyeshadow palette in Mint to Be, light usage - $1
• Elf No Budge Eyeshadow Stick in Champagne Crystal, used & sharpened 1x - $1
• ArtDeco eyeshadow refill, 218 - soft brown mauve, swatched - FWP
• Phase Zero shimmer eyeshadow in Nude Newbie, usage shown - FWP

 
Face

• bareMinerals Original loose powder foundation SPF 15 in Golden Fair 04, full size, ~80% remaining - $12
• Colourpop Flexitarian Super Shock Cheek highlighter, gentle use shown - $4
• Dior Forever Skin Glow Foundation sampler - FWP
• Westman Atelier Vital Skincare Complexion Drops sampler - FWP

 
Lips - New

• Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color in Ruby, travel size, BNIB - $8
• Bobbi Brown Luxe Lip Color in Parisian red, travel size, BN - $8
• Clinique Pop Plush Creamy Lip Gloss in 01 Black Honey, BNIB - $16
• Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love in Cherry, FS, BNIB - $14
• Becca Glow Gloss in Rose Gold, mini, BN - $6
• Pat McGrath Labs Lust Lip Gloss in Flesh 6, travel size, BN - $5
• Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Lipstick, Cherries in the Snow 004, BN/sealed (discontinued shade) - $10
• Catrice Plumping Lip Liner in 080 Press the Hot Button, BN - $1
• L'Oreal Infallible 8hr Pro Gloss, full size, shade Suede (peachy-pink gold duochrome), full size, BN - $4
• L'Oreal Infallible 8hr Pro Gloss, full size, shade Blush (pink shimmer), full size, BN - $4

 
Lips - Swatched or Gentle Use

• Hourglass Confession lipstick in "I Can't Wait" (refill only, will ship with no cap), swatched - $16
• Hourglass Confession lipstick in "If I Could" (refill only, will ship with no cap), used 1x - $12
• Hourglass Confession lipstick in "When I'm With You" (refill only, will ship with no cap), used 1x - $12
• Or take all 3 Hourglass refills for $35
• Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color in Ruby, travel size, gentle use - $4
• NYX Limited Edition Avatar Luminescent Lip Gloss, shade 01 Shimmering Waters, swatched - $5
• Too Faced Sex on the Peach mini lipstick, light usage shown - $1
• BareMinerals BarePro longwear lipstick deluxe mini, Petal, usage shown - FWP
• Tarte travel size busy gal gloss in Run This Town (watermelon with gold shimmer), swatched - $2
• Lipstick Queen Sinner lipstick in Peachy Nude Sinner, FS, very light usage shown - $10
• Urban Decay Vice Lipstick, Limited Edition Born to Run, Shade 66 (Rich Mauve-Nude), Comfort Matte finish, usage shown - $4
• Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love in Maroon, FS, very light usage shown - $5
• Catrice Loves PETA Limited Edition Demi Matt lipstick (similar to MAC powder kiss formula) in C01 Spread Empathy, gentle usage shown- $2
• Catrice Demi Matt Lipstick in 040 Exotic Nude, very light usage shown - $2
• Catrice Demi Matt Lipstick in 140 Breathless Berry, swatched only - $4

 
Brushes - Take all for $22

• Real Techniques Brush Crush Vol 2 Limited Edition 301 Foundation Brush in Galaxy; new, washed in unscented cleanser - $15 + free Sigma brush cleanser sample
• Luxie 231 Small Tapered Blender eyeshadow brush, washed once in unscented cleanser - $4
• Ebelin "Sommerblütentraum" Limited Edition dried flower clear handle eye blending brush, BN - $4
• Wet n Wild Pro Line Tapered Highlighting Brush P75, BN - $2
• Wet n Wild Pro Line Fluffly Blending Brush P20, BN - $2
• Wet n Wild Pro Line Dome Pencil Eye Brush, used once, washed in unscented cleanser - $1

 
Skincare - $50 shipped for all

• La Mer The Moisturizing Soft Cream mini/deluxe sample, BN - $11
• Well People Plant Powderfoliant Renewing Charcoal Exfoliating Powder, travel size 16g - $6
• Farmacy Honey Potion Plus Ceramide Hydration Mask mini, 9g, BN - $5
• Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm mini, 20 mL, BN - $5
• COSRX Hydrium Watery Tonery, 50mL, Exp. 09/21/2023, BNIB - $5
• MAC Hyper Real Serumizer, 4mL, BN - $3
• Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex II, 7ml, BNIB - $9 (one remaining)
• Proactiv Deep Cleansing Face Wash, 2 oz, swatched - $3
• Awake Balance Shot antioxidant concentrate mini, BN - $1
• Tarte Sugar Rush Don't Hate Hydrate oil-free moisturizer, 5mL - $1
• Essence Coffee To Glow undereye treatment with caffeine, new - $2

 
Skincare Tools

• FOREO Luna Play Plus in Aquamarine, New w/ Box - $26
• Revolution Skincare Cooling Eye Roller Ball, BNIB - $7

 
Fragrance, Hair & Body

• Fragrance sampler bundle: Miss Dior, Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia, Dior J'Adore, Dior Sauvage, all BN. $2 or FWP $25+
• AVEDA Nutriplenish leave-in conditioner spray, travel size 30mL - $8
• Hair ties bundle: Essence limited edition Pink & Proud scrunchie (EU exclusive); Ebelin hair claw; 6 x Esmara spiral hair ties - crystal (clear); 3 x Invisibobble hair rings (burgundy); 4 x Kitsch hair spirals (no box); 4 x Ebelin micro hair spirals, all BN - $6
• Devacurl Curl Bond Re-Coiling treatment mask, 30ml x 2 = 60ml (~$11 value) - $2 or FWP $20+
• Or take all of the above for $12
• Sanex Dermo Invisible Deodorant, 50mL, BN (EU item) - $4.25 each (3 listed, 6 total available)

 
SOLD
 

• Hourglass Confession Lipstick in "At Dusk" from the Limited Edition Sculpture Collection. Comes with the Limited Edition refillable holder and At Dusk refill (both never used). Holder fits any Confession lipstick refill BN

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​
Synopsis:
Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.
Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.
​
Chapter 91: Matters Of Etiquette
The Duchy of Aquina's treasury was as scandalous as I imagined.
It was less a treasury room and more a dragon's cavern.
Ornate chests vomited gold and silver crowns, unlocked strongboxes proudly revealed glittering gemstones and breathtaking jewellery, and open armoires boasted suits of armour decorated with gilded crystals and weapons which shimmered with the opulence of the finest pearls.
Everywhere I looked, illegally undeclared taxable income spilled from every orifice as the accumulated wealth of Aquina filled my vision.
Piles of coins lay scattered with little attention to detail or proper bookkeeping, ensuring that no tax inspector would be seeing the light of day for many weeks once this veritable hoard was presented to the Royal Treasury for counting.
And yet it all paled in comparison to the wealth exhibited by the second most beautiful being in this room.
Sitting on her makeshift throne of snow and coins, a woman whose likeness was that of a young elven maiden wore a dress of purest snow as she basked in moonlight streaming from corners where no window to the sky existed. Her dress was unembellished and unadorned, and yet the overwhelming delicateness of its material put the richest velvet to shame.
She was the Winter Queen. And when she moved, her garment didn't simply move with her. It fluttered like a silken curtain. As did her wings.
Hers possessed no colour. It was a shimmering mirror, a waterfall of images and lights reflecting all the treasures around her. Within those butterfly-like wings, I saw all the crowns and treasures of Aquina glimmering back at me, waiting to be retrieved.
And I would.
But like all things, there was an order to things. And I was no Snow Dancer. Etiquette had to be entertained.
Thus, I walked up to the Winter Queen–and then began to sweep snow and coins onto the spot just opposite her.
“Coppelia, help me make a chair.”
“Got it!~”
Before the raised eyebrow of the Winter Queen, my future handmaiden and I wasted no time. Rolling up our sleeves, we piled snow and coins onto the point I designated with professional workmanship.
A few moments later, an extremely unfashionable chair was now raised before the Winter Queen.
It was something which couldn't even be exhibited in a contemporary art museum, the graveyard where all talentless hacks sent their works to die these days. But appearance was secondary.
Height was all that mattered.
I hopped before clutching the edge of the seat. My foot failed to find purchase in the chair's uneven slope as coins rained down. Coppelia skipped up and offered her hand. I accepted, allowing her to pull me atop the freshly made chair.
I carefully turned and sat, crossing one leg over the other as I officially bested my opponent in inches from the ground.
Then, I offered a frown to the fae whose appearance belied the years swirling in her arctic eyes.
“Winter Queen,” I said, now able to converse appropriately. “It's unseemly for me to present myself to a monarch sat on a throne within the lands of my own kingdom.”
She sipped at her teacup. A liquid so clear shimmied that for a moment, I'd believed it to be empty.
“Princess of Tirea. It's also unseemly to kidnap the monarchs of other kingdoms.”
I considered her argument. Then nodded. As did she.
“How is the chair?” she asked, placing her teacup atop her head.
“Extremely comfortable,” I replied, as my derrière burned from the cold. “My future handmaiden's skill in carpentry is as famed as her tact and discretion.”
Coppelia was stood right beside the Winter Queen, leaning in while taking in everything from the fae's tall figure to the mirror wings and the teapot atop her head.
She waved at her reflection in the Winter Queen's wings as her eyes brimmed with curiosity. Then, she breathed a puff of warm air at the mirror sheen, watching as the condensation slowly evaporated.
But not before drawing a smiley face first.
“That's … That's so cool!” she said, her own expression matching the one she'd just drawn. “You have mirrors on your back! That's … well, it's totally useless! Unless you want to accidentally blind someone when the sun catches you! You're literally a walking health hazard! Amazing!”
The Winter Queen glanced at Coppelia.
“My wings do not simply reflect light, clockwork doll. They amplify it. When I soar beneath the mortal sun, every eye to bear witness to my splendour winces in uncontrollable discomfort as colour spots plague their vision for months.”
Already, Coppelia's eyes were lit up with sparkles. She was already affected. The poor thing.
“That's soooooo pointless! I wish I had wings like that!”
“That wish cannot be made reality, even were you created in the land of the duskless dawn. I regret to say that the wings you see are mine alone. They are unique amongst the fae. Even my sisters who–”
“Also, why do you have a teacup on your head?”
The Winter Queen pursed her lips.
Clearly, she wasn't used to being interrupted while speaking. A terrible bout of impoliteness by Coppelia. And wonderfully, immaculately timed.
That's right! Do not allow this queen who wishes to appear stately any opportunity to control the flow of this conversation!
“I wear a teacup because I wish to,” she explained simply. “As Winter Queen, whether I choose to wear a teacup or a cat atop my head is my royal prerogative.”
Coppelia hummed as she peered this way and that as she took in the new headpiece.
“Want me to make you a hat? Because I can make you a hat.”
The Winter Queen paused.
“What kind of hat?”
“How about a beret?” Coppelia clapped her hands together, the force causing several coins to shimmy in movement. “They're always fashionable!”
“... Then that will do, thank you.”
“Decorations?”
“A tapestry of the 1172 Battle of Remansille, featuring the fall of King Reorick the Wolfenheart as he is betrayed by the lance of Sir Jorund the Gladiator, and his subsequent avengement by the first Reisenritter of Sophista.”
I nodded.
A fine choice. The Royal Villa had a copy of the very same 104 metre long tapestry. It'd spawned more narrative poems and epic ballads than any other cultural work of the 12th century. And uniquely, also didn't include any tasteless nudity.
Coppelia blinked.
In that moment, I could hear a thousand cogs and gears whirring away as she put every morsel of thinking power into dreaming the Winter Queen's request into reality.
Eventually, she nodded, raising her fists in a vow of commitment before she went to work. The sound of snow being padded together soon filled the air.
“An excellent handmaiden,” said the Winter Queen, balancing the teacup atop her head with practised precision. “Alas, my own handmaidens are more keen to frolic in the snow than rush to my aid.”
I smiled as the first compliment concerning my hiring processes reached me. Many more would come.
“Coppelia has much to learn, particularly concerning the ability to throw herself in harm's way for me. However, nothing concerning her spirit or loyalty can be faulted.”
“Then I'm free to offer my envy. It's been some days now since I was cruelly snatched away from my abode, and yet the only ones steadfast enough to reach me are my own snow ducks.”
She pointed at the fluffy white duck by the foot of her chair, its crystalline beak pecking at the only copper crown in the treasury.
A worthy pet. Should a copper crown fall before me, I'd also expect Coppelia to do away with it. Preferably by paying it towards the cost of an apple.
Even so, a protest needed to be lodged.
“Do your minions have the authority to trespass upon the Kingdom of Tirea, Winter Queen?”
She shrugged.
“No more than yours have the authority to kidnap the ruler of the Winter Court, befouling the Frozen Palace and slaying dozens of my subjects in the process.”
I considered her point. Again, I nodded. As did she.
“It's been, my, at least two centuries?” she mused, taking down her teacup to enjoy a sip of the clear liquid. “How nostalgic. I've almost missed being stolen for use in some predictably unimaginative scheme. I suppose I was long overdue.”
The Winter Queen looked around at the sight of a cavern filled with wealth. Not a single item impressed her by the size of her yawn. She sat back in her chair, her wings fluttering as her arctic eyes took in my poise. Just as I did hers.
“So you say. But perhaps you'd be harder to steal if you didn't take the guise of a crown. Quite the ruse. I take it that being placed on the head of fair maidens is related to your lack of blemishes?”
The Winter Queen made no denial. She lifted her hand to her lips, mouthing a silent giggle.
“A worthwhile exchange. I bequeath unimaginable power onto those of great will and a highly unattainable standard of youth and beauty, then allow them to build wrinkles in my place. Wonderful, no?”
I nodded my head.
If I were in her place, I'd do the same. Especially after seeing how her skin remained smoother than the snow despite the untold years she had lived.
“And how often do you permit yourself to be stolen, say, by an elven sword saint whose appearance is wasted on her rather bizarre personality?”
The Winter Queen smiled.
“Less than I'd like. It's been far too long since my last host found itself wanting against the Summer Queen's flames. And there's only so long one can remain a crown without the need to stretch their wings.”
I glanced tellingly at the dark ceiling.
“And yet I see that the sky remains closed to you.”
“Not all things go to plan.” The Winter Queen took another sip from her teacup before raising it atop her head. “The Snow Dancer's lack of ambition being one of them. The way she tossed me between her hands was particularly inglorious. But even that paled in comparison to the way she punted me away without a second thought. The humiliation will take another century to recover from.”
“I imagine it could be worse. What if someone puts you on whose wrinkled appearance you have no wish to take? An old hag in a hut? A peasant in a field? Or any man, for that matter?”
“Oh, then I just consume their soul.”
“Ah.”
The Winter Queen adjusted her teacup, then crossed one leg over the other.
“Now, to the drudgery of business?”
I offered her my most stately frown. Her response would determine whether it became a scowl.
“To recompense, actually. You permitted yourself to be stolen. And now your Winter Court sits in the Wovencoille, sealing off our rightful ability to cut down the ancient trees you planted for use in our bed frames. This is unacceptable.”
“Whether I permitted it is irrelevant. Crime is a crime and to steal a sovereign is quite the mark of disrespect. But you needn't fear. It is simple theatrics. Or was. I expect that your kingdom will be razed in ice should I not return in good time. And yet here I am, neither used nor worn. And so I ask you, what is the shallow boon that is pleaded of me? The witless wish for which I was stolen? The bargain for which I will never acquiesce? Is it the gleam of treasures greater than a dragon's heart that is desired? A weapon to break all shields? A vial to twist love and hatred?”
I opted to maintain my frown. For now.
“I cannot answer that, Winter Queen. I was not the one who stole you.”
“I know. Which is why I'm asking him.”
The Winter Queen indicated with her chin behind me.
I leaned out from my chair, peering back towards the treasury entrance.
There, standing alone in the arched doorway, was the treasonous ruler of the Duchy of Aquina.
Greying, and yet boasting more colour on his clothing than all the banners in his castle combined, Duke Valence wore a flowing cloak upon a wide suit of armour fit to carry both the size of his waistline and his ambitions.
My, such regal attire.
Were anyone to witness him in such fine uniform, they would be mistaken in their belief that he was someone of importance. Someone of royalty.
A wish, I knew, which would never be realised. Not least by the hands of the fae.
No matter how he begged or threatened, the Winter Queen would not grant whatever request this bumbling oaf wished to see fulfilled. Just as this man held no power over the Kingdom of Tirea, he held no power over the Winter Court.
Because the Winter Queen, now here in her true form, saw no interest in him.
She did not even bother to assume the guise she used to invite those foolish enough to test her unbreakable willpower. And so she merely looked on as I did, bored and unconcerned as the errant Duke of Aquina strode forwards.
He stopped before the Winter Queen's throne, without once pausing to look at the princess he served. Of all his crimes, that was the greatest.
At the end of his tenure, pettiness was all this man could achieve … even as he drew a glimmering sword from the sheath by his side.
It was no practised manoeuvre. No unfurling of a weapon by a knight.
Even so, both I and the Winter Queen eyed it, waiting to see how this man would choose to meet his end.
Lifting it–he slammed the tip down into the treasury floor, bending a knee as a crack appeared in the ground.
“Winter Queen,” said the Duke, not yet daring to look up at the face of the bemused fae. “The shallow boon I ask is your rule. The witless wish your protection. And the bargain I offer is Aquina. I swear to the Winter Court the fealty, devotion and vassalage of all my subjects and myself, and ask for nothing but your grace in return.”
The Duke lifted his head.
And to this–
The Winter Queen smiled.
​
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Mainly for others who are just starting out or thinking about starting out on an EUC, but also for anyone who's interested, I wanted to share a personal milestone and some things I've learned along the way.
After about a month of riding almost daily (a few off days here and there mainly due to schedule and weather), I finally got out on a regional bike path today and used up the whole battery on my V8 and hit the tiltback speed, around 21 mph I think, for the first time.
Could I have hit that speed sooner? Absolutely, but I have been what I think most people would consider "super cautious". I have two young kids, and I'm just not at a point in life to be a big risk taker right now (besides riding an EUC in the first place!).
My main takeaways after one month of riding are:

• You will get it faster than you think. You'll start off thinking there's just no way the EUC is going to do what you see other people doing on it. It'll just feel so foreign and weird when you start, your expectations from watching YouTube videos will not line up with what you're experiencing in real life. There will be cognitive dissonance. You'll know, logically, that it's possible, and may even have faith that you'll get there, but part of your body and mind will just think, it can't be done. It can, and it will, all it takes is practice. If I can learn it - trust me - anyone can. My only prior experience with this kind of activity is as a bicyclist and motorcyclist, and while helpful, there isn't a whole lot that translates other than the overall sense of horizontal balance and being comfortable having your body exposed at high speeds. I think if you were a skateboarder or a snowboarder, you might pick it up a little easier, but it's going to be a weird feeling no matter who you are when you first step on an EUC. Just hang in there.
• If you can, learn from someone else who already knows how to ride. If you can't (like me), watch every YouTube video. There are two main schools of thought about learning:
  • One approach is to start with assisted mounting (a wall or railing) until you know how to ride at speed (i.e. 5+ mph), even if that is a week or more. This is what Monocat (Wrong Way's girlfriend) did, and she rode something like 100km before ever learning to free mount, which seemed crazy to me when I first heard it. This approach is much more feasible if you're learning with someone else who has their own EUC, because they can help you mount anywhere.
  • The other - which is what I did - is to get off the wall/rail ASAP and learn to free mount in an open space (and, by necessity, to learn to maneuver at low speed) before you learn to go faster. This is the approach you will see in a lot of the "learn to ride an EUC" videos you're likely to find on YouTube.
  • Both approaches are viable, but ultimately if I had it to do over again I would probably go with option 1 because of a few main reasons:
    • It took me longer to gain the confidence to go faster, which slowed my overall learning curve.
    • Learning to free mount before you feel comfortable on the wheel is extremely tiring, because you're stepping on and off so often, and maneuvering at low speed for a long time is also tiring. Learning these skills "up front" probably takes longer than waiting until you are forced to - i.e. when you encounter a group of pedestrians, or you have to mount somewhere without assistance. But, it's probably less stressful and embarrassing to learn these skills in your driveway than on a crowded sidewalk.
    • If you lack patience, this approach is much more likely to cause you to give up altogether.
    • From what I've heard, learning to free mount is easier after you've kind of worked your way "down" in speed rather than working "up" - as a result you spend less energy learning to ride overall.
  • There were some pros to learning to free mount first however:
    • Knowing how to free-mount dramatically expands the areas you can go on your own, because you don't need to walk your EUC to a railing or a wall every time you step off. (If you're learning with a friend, like Monocat was, this is much less of an issue.) I was able to keep my EUC in my trunk and just pull over and practice on any good looking parking lot or big grass field that I saw, which was nice.
    • I gained the confidence to get on the wheel and maneuver at low speeds first, which helped me build the fine motor control needed to safely control the wheel at both low and high speeds, before ever going fast.
    • Ultimately I think this approach may be a bit safer than the first approach for that very reason - going 10-20 mph on an EUC without knowing how to free mount or maneuver at <5mph, do tight turns, figure eights, etc., is inherently more dangerous and could result in a crash, at worst, or possibly ingrain poor riding habits (such as poor foot placement, riding without carving and shifting your weight, etc.), because you don't have full confidence in your ability to control the wheel.
• Get a good starter wheel. This could be different things to different people, but I personally found a $400 used V8, and like I said, I only just today (one month later) reached the limits of its potential. I expect it to be sufficient for me to help me build my skills and take me as far and as fast as I need to go for at least a few weeks more, and it'll be a great wheel to keep in my car or at work, and also to teach other people on. I do want to get a bigger, faster, longer-range wheel soon, but I am glad that I learned to ride on a smaller and lighter wheel. I have not yet ridden the 16X, but from everything I've seen, it appears to be the sweet spot in terms of a wheel that's small enough to learn to ride on and be nimble at low speed (and thus less tiring when you are developing the necessary muscle groups and muscle memory), but also has a lot more headroom in terms of speed and range. There are probably other wheels in this same category, like the V8F or the V10F (and some of the other King-Song 14-16 inch wheels), but I would recommend getting a used wheel first if you can because you're going to drop it and beat the shit out of it A LOT when you're starting out. A 16X with a case on it would probably stand up to the abuse of learning just fine, but you have to be willing to grind your new toy on the pavement. Starting with a big, heavy, top of the line wheel just seems like a bad idea to me, but I know that some people do it. I wouldn't learn to ride a motorcycle on an R1, and I wouldn't try to learn how to drive a stick shift in a Ferrari.
• The riding surface matters - a lot. Practice on grass or turf early on if you can. Not only will you be able to go faster with less risk if (and when) you fall off, but riding on a slightly irregular surface helps you build fine motor control much more quickly which translates into better riding skills both on and off-road. Also, riding around a big grass field with a few bumps is just a lot of fun, and it's a totally different experience than riding on pavement. As a new rider, this experience is great. It engages your upper body a lot more and is generally a nice departure from cruising on the road. It also helps you realize that the EUC is capable of handling a lot crazier terrain than you will initially expect, which helps you build confidence and trust in the wheel. Once you've graduated to being able to reliably keep your wheel where you want it to be on a trail/sidewalk/road - which for me was after about two weeks - find the best quality surface you can. You'll be shocked how much of a difference it makes. Poor road surfaces diminish your confidence and limit your growth potential when you're first learning. You might think your local street or bike path is good enough, but if it has a rough surface with lots of bumps, gravel, and potholes, the first time you get on a proper bike path or a freshly paved parking lot, you'll suddenly be able to go much faster with more confidence. Then you'll get back on those shittier surfaces and think, oh, this isn't so bad - mainly because you'll feel comfortable going faster. Don't avoid poor surfaces entirely, because you need to learn how to handle them eventually and you don't want to handicap yourself - just find a good place where you don't have to worry about that and put it in your rotation of places to practice early on.
• Learning is both physical and mental. There are, and are not, shortcuts. I've heard it said that the speed at which you learn EUC is directly proportional to your willingness to overcome fear. There is some truth to that. If I were completely fearless, I probably could've hopped on the wheel with some help from a wall and dashed 20 yards at full-lean until I wiped out into the grass. I'd have hurt myself and my pride a little bit, but I'd have found the limit and might have been able to shorten the overall learning curve by a couple of weeks. Some people learn this way, and more power to them. Becoming a truly competent rider, however, is something that simply requires experience, no matter who you are. This experience has both physical and mental components. Riding an EUC takes strength in muscles that you don't often use, especially your feet. Building this strength and the fine motor control to be a safe and competent rider at any speed takes time, and there is no shortcut to developing it. Mentally, learning how the wheel responds to input in all directions, learning which movements of your upper body will and will-not impact the movement of the wheel, learning how and when to bend your knees to absorb impact, learning how much distance you need to stop, learning which riding surfaces will make your wheel lose traction, learning how to take a sharp turn onto a curb ramp, learning how to ride on and off a curb confidently - and so much more - all of these things are skills that can only be developed with time and practice. There is NO SHORTCUT to becoming a truly competent EUC pilot. To truly master it, like any other skill, will probably take you 10,000 hours! If true mastery of EUC is even possible. I don't care if you're already an expert snowboarder or skateboarder, although I have no doubt that those skills would shorten your initial learning curve, as well as give you more "willingness to overcome fear" (or just less fear to begin with).
• Dress for the slide, not the ride. There are countless threads of new riders asking about gear on this subreddit. I'll share my loadout, and my opinions. Take them as you will.
  • Triple Eight Hired Hands Gloves
    • Wrist guards are considered essential equipment for riding EUC, since pretty much any fall is going to impact your wrists, even at low speeds. I tried these wrist guards first, but they did not fit me well (too small on the wrist, even at XL), and didn't like how they left my whole hand exposed. The Triple Eight Hired Hands Gloves are much more robust, with hard armor on the front and the back, and only slightly more difficult to take off (and actually easier to put on). Some people recommend full finger gloves, like the Hillbilly Wrist Guard Gloves - Full Finger, and I'm sure these are great, although I like being able to easily use my phone and also prefer having the brace on both sides of my wrist.
  • Triple Eight Bumsaver Men's Padded Shorts
    • Most people probably don't wear padded shorts when riding, and I don't always either - it's actually the one piece of gear that for whatever reason (probably inconvenience) that I consider "optional". That said, the one place that I have fallen and significantly hurt myself thus far is on my tailbone, and I was wearing (a different set, Bohn body armor) padded underwear at the time. I was still in pain on my tailbone for probably two weeks. Also, most people say that when you fall at speed you almost always take some impact or at least road rash on your hip. Therefore hip padding and tailbone padding is highly recommended, especially if you're going to be traveling at speed, but I can attest to it being useful even when you're going very slow (you can always fall backwards).
  • Triple Eight EP 55 Elbow Pads
    • I usually don't wear these because my motorcycle jacket (see below) has integrated elbow pads. But when I'm not wearing my jacket, I wear these.
  • Giro Switchblade MIPS Adult Mountain Cycling Helmet
    • A full face helmet is essential equipment for EUC - that's my opinion, take it or leave it. This is what I wear for head protection most of the time, since my current wheel doesn't go any faster than 20 mph, and I ride primarily on bike trails and sidewalks and within my neighborhood. When I get a faster wheel and ride on bike lanes or larger roads, I will use my Scorpion helmet (see below). I love this helmet because it is super comfortable and lightweight, and it's also modular so you can easily take off the chin bar to drink some water or blow your nose or whatever without having to take off the helmet. You can also use it as a bicycle helmet if you wanted to, with or without the chin bar. Airflow is great (I am yet to break a sweat in it, which is saying a lot for me), MIPS is a great feature, and the visor has an integrated camera mount. Plus the color options are good.
  • SHIMA SX-2 EVO Motorcycle Shoes for Men
    • I've tried a lot when it comes to shoes for the EUC. I have tried full on hard calf motorcycle boots, which I know some people use, but I don't recommend. They give you basically no feeling for the road or the pedals, and I'm convinced they led to my fall where I bruised my tailbone. I've also tried regular height sneakers, which feel good, but leave your ankles totally exposed, and I've already hit my ankle hard with the pedal when losing control of the wheel on grass. I happened to be wearing high-top sneakers at the time, which were an improvement, but still not enough to prevent ankle impact injury or to stand up to being dragged along pavement. I eventually found these casual style motorcycle shoes which look great and can be worn all day comfortably but also provide hard armoring at the ankle, toe, and heel. They are soft enough on the bottom to feel the pedals - although probably not enough for some people - and they should stand up to any threat of road rash. Any other similar style boots from Dainese or others should work equally well, but I have found these have a wide fit, which is good for my feet (unlike Dainese which is a more narrow fit). Alpinestars makes some good ones too I hear.
  • O'Neal 0256-206 Unisex Pumpgun Knee Guard Carbon Look
    • Knee pads are essential equipment for riding EUC. If you fall, you're going to land on your knees (and your wrists), watch any crash video. I wear these knee pads all the time, they are comfortable and flexible, but they will make your legs a little sweaty (although not obnoxiously so). I have started crossing the top two straps behind my knee at the recommendation of people who say these kind of guards will slide down in the event of a crash. I have ordered some Revit Airwave 3 Pants which can fit over your regular pants and include both knee and hip protection. If I like these, I expect to wear them in lieu of the knee guards and the Bumsaver shorts in most instances.
  • Scorpion EXO-AT950 Ellwood Helmet
    • Some people will say an ADV or street motorcycle helmet is overkill for an EUC. I have been a motorcyclist for many years, and I've tried and own all kinds of top of the line motorcycle helmets (Arai, Shoei, HJC etc.). All of the ones I have that are focused on sport riding I find to be too hot and too narrow field-of-view for riding EUC. I saw She Rides an EUC on YouTube recommend this Scorpion helmet, or one very similar to it. It's an ADV helmet, so it has a removable visor and a front vent in the DH MTB style, except it can be closed. It's also modular, so you can flip up the chin guard super easily. It has other great features like a flip down sun visor, and obviously a full face shield. It is extremely comfortable and has a much wider field of view than my sportbike helmets. When I ride faster and/or ride next to traffic, this will be the helmet I wear, and it is an appropriate level of protection and comfort for my purposes.
  • Dainese VR46 Air-Tex Jacket
    • This jacket is discontinued, but I linked a similar style of jacket from Dainese. Any textile mesh summer motorcycle jacket will do the job. Mine has CE 1 elbow and shoulder protection, and I added a CE 2 back protector (this was my summer motorcycle jacket). I might upgrade to CE 1 elbows and shoulders at some point. I have yet to find it to be too hot in any situation when I'm able to maintain a constant speed above 5 mph. In the absolute heat of summer, I might need to just use my Triple Eight elbow guards and my Boblebee backpack in lieu of the jacket, but I haven't had to do that yet. I also have a Fox Baseframe Pro D30 Chest Guard Jacket which is meant for dirt track riding and intended to be worn under a jersey, but I doubt I will use this often unless I know for sure that I won't be riding on the street at all, because it offers basically no abrasion resistance. Anyone who has crashed and slid on the road (or on gravel) knows that abrasion resistance is as or more important than impact resistance, especially on the kinds of crashes I have seen involving EUC. Only purpose-built gear like a motorcycle jacket or Lazy Rolling Kevlar-reinforced outer layer will provide this. From what I can tell, even the Lazy Rolling Performance Hoodie is hotter than a mesh motorcycle jacket, so unless you really prefer the casual style of the Lazy Rolling, I would recommend a summer mesh moto jacket.
  • Boblbee GTX 25L Hardshell Backpack (Hi-Viz Yellow)
    • First, all my gear is black/hi-viz yellow, so I had no choice but to get this. Some will say back protection is not essential gear for EUC, and as long as they never crash and impact their spine, they're right. As long as I prefer not being paraplegic to some slight inconvenience, I will wear a back protector when riding at speed. If I'm not wearing my jacket with a back protector, and/or when I want to carry gear (even if it's just water and a camera, or whatever), I'll wear the Boblbee. Yes, it makes you stick out like a sore thumb when you're riding, but A) that's the point of the hi-viz yellow version, and B) you already stick out like a sore thumb when you're riding an EUC. Might as well take it to the next level. And it is the best back protector in the world, so it's kind of a no-brainer for me when it comes to EUC equipment.
• Trust the wheel (to an extent). This is probably the biggest takeaway overall. Most of your hesitation when learning will come from just not believing, or understanding, that the wheel is capable of seemingly magical things. As long as it's working as intended, and you are standing on it properly, grabbing it firmly but not aggressively with your legs, and not flailing yourself around, it will just roll on straight across things that will initially surprise you, at speeds that you will initially think are totally insane for something so small and squirrely. You'll be able to turn in an incredibly tight circle at such a low speed that you'll think to yourself, "How the HELL am I not falling over right now?" You'll be able to glide over scary gaps in the pavement and absorb them with your knees to the point that you barely notice them, even at 20 mph. You'll be able to make long gliding turns and wave your arms around like you're a bird flying through the air and little kids will laugh at you. All of these things will seem incomprehensible when you first step up on the wheel, and maybe even for a few weeks after. Some of these magical feats are thanks to the EUC technology - being able to lean or sit down at comical angles while keeping your feet balanced, for instance, thanks to the gyroscope - but mostly it's just due to the basic physics of a wheel in motion. Simply put, it's more stable than you think it is, and you have to learn to trust both the wheel itself as well as the technology that supports it. That said, and paradoxically, EUCs and unicycles generally are also inherently unstable. The main thing that will throw the EUC out of balance is not itself, nor something in the road, but YOU. Your unintended or unplanned movements of your body are the most likely culprit of something that throws you off the wheel, in whatever axis it may be. You have to learn to relax your body overall and move only in ways that don't upset the balance of the wheel, and this is something that takes time and practice. The technology of EUCs is also, ironically, both stable and fragile at the same time. As PEVs go, they are very simple, with relatively few failure points and a low-maintenance design that means they can function for a long time in adverse conditions with relatively little trouble. However, unlike 2+ wheeled vehicles, you are COMPLETELY at the mercy of the hardware and software to keep you from crashing. This is just a fact. On a bike, scooter, or car of any kind, if everything failed at once, you'd still have the opportunity to just roll to a stop. On an EUC, if ONE THING FAILS, you are immediately and without any warning put directly onto your face.
• You don't have any mechanical means of stopping. This is something that's very important to understand, especially if you are used to riding basically any other vehicle. You're completely dependent on the motor and battery to decelerate, along with your own physical and mental skill at applying rearward pressure on the pedals, which is harder to learn than leaning forward. Even when applying full braking pressure, your stopping distance is MUCH GREATER than on any mechanically braked device. This is something that you need to be constantly aware of when you are choosing how fast to go and what situations to put yourself in. No matter how good of a rider you are, if someone cuts you off, you're much more likely to run into them on an EUC than on any other vehicle at the same speed. Your risk of this is exponentially greater when you are first learning, so just don't put yourself into those situations until you have absolute confidence in your ability to apply maximum braking power, and even then - be conservative about where and how you ride. This is a fundamental limitation of the device, and something that - like it or not - you have to accept and understand.

So, if you've made it this far, you're probably a real geek and super into the prospect or reality of learning how to ride an EUC. Do it! You're never too old or too scared to suck at something new! :-p And you will suck at it at first, most likely. But you won't suck forever, and in fact, if you are diligent about it (which again, if you've read all of this, you probably are), you will get better at it sooner than you expected.
And then you'll be able to literally glide through time and space on the most whimsical and remarkable vehicle that mankind has ever come up with. You'll make a spectacle of yourself wherever you go, so lean into it - literally. Imagine yourself leaving a trail of rainbow dust behind you that lifts the spirits of everyone you see.
In many ways, learning to ride an EUC is a metaphor for life. You start off completely overwhelmed and thinking that you don't have control over anything. Eventually, gradually, and with a fair share of mistakes and sudden breakthroughs, you learn that you're actually a superhero and you can do anything. But you also never stop learning and improving and finding more ways to have fun.
Welcome to the ride of your life!

This post is for anybody else out there who might be dealing with achilles tendonitis or bursitis in your ankle. I’ve had a 2.5 year journey dealing with this, and recently completed my first 50 miler (Mohican 50 in Ohio) in 11:08, after only running trails 3 days/week (more on my plan later). I thought I’d share my training adaptations and lessons-learned for anybody else struggling with these issues too. Note: I’m \not* a doctor, though I’ve spent a ton of time seeing doctors, sports chiro’s, massage therapists, physical therapists, etc over the years for this issue. Take this like a conversation with a crazy trail runner friend over of a nice cup of coffee, or better yet, a nice cold beer. I hope it’s helpful!*
Context
I started trail running in summer 2020 after about 18 years of casual road running. I was never competitive, but I did complete two marathons in college. I started running trails for fun with my ‘crazy’ ultra-running friends in fall 2020 and heard countless stories of their races, learned their training tips, and signed up for my first 50k in May, 2021.
Late fall 2020 my rapid switch to trails caught up with me, and I started experiencing a burning pain in the back of my ankle, near the heel. After a few doctor visits and an ultrasound of my achilles (this is important, please do this if you suspect achilles issues!). I found out that I had bursitis from insertional achilles tendonitis. I was assured by multiple doctors that my achilles itself was fine, but the tension in my weak-a$$ calves was pulling on everything downstream and causing the inflammation. I ran through that pain and somewhat ignored the PT exercises I was given, also half-a$$ing my training for the 50k. I did finish that 50k (it was a spicy one to boot, with over 5,000ft of gain on technical trails), but finished thoroughly broken with an average pace of 14:30. Woof.
I took 2022 ‘off’ from racing and was feeling good enough in November 2022 to sign up for my first 50M. But I still had bursitis, along with some other issues like high hamstring pain and pain in my right hip. Here’s where the changes started. I was going to do this right this time.
Changes I made First, I got a solid PT and orthopedic doctor based on the recommendation of a local trail-runner friend - a doctor that understood runners and wasn’t just going to tell me to stop running. In January 2023 I hit the PT exercises hard. Hundreds of calf eccentrics (heel lowers to ground-level only) each week, hamstring eccentrics to help with high-hamstring pain I developed, and lots of single-leg work with the leg press. I also worked on my hips using a band doing clamshells, monster walks, etc. I continued every single exercise throughout training up to the week before my race, which was June 3rd, 2023.
Second, I decided this time I wasn’t going to wing it: I was going to follow *a plan* (gasp), but adapt it so I spent less time running, more time cross training to take stress off my ankle. I got a Trail Runner Mag. subscription and gobbled up every article I could find: Training plans. Nutrition. Speed work. Hill work. Weight lifting. Nutrition. Hydration. The list went on, and I read it all. I eventually landed on a few training plans I liked (linked after this), and paid close attention to them both while allowing myself some flexibility for my bursitis. I officially started training 22 weeks out from race day, January 7th, 2023.
Key Training Adjustments for Bursitis/Achilles Tendonitis
When I started training in January the burning pain post long-runs was real. My ankle would “stiffen up” after the long runs, so any prolonged sitting or sleeping made it much worse post-run. I used the following techniques to help with this and today have nearly zero pain while running and very minimal to no pain post-run (even after 18-20 miles!). Now, mind you, my ankle was angry for about 3 days after the 50M, but I expected that. These tactics got me a good 80% better. I still have work to do, but I’m close, and I hope this helps you too!

1. Run less (but maintain time on feet): Every single 50M training plan you’ll find has you running 5-6 days/week. I knew my ankle couldn’t handle that, so I adapted my plan such that I was only on trails 3 days a week - the long run on Saturday, the back-to-back Sunday, and one mid-week run on Wednesdays, when I also did my hill workouts. I found that book-ending the long weekend runs with two days “off my feet” allowed my ankle time to recover and inflammation to go down. But I wasn’t idle Tuesdays and Thursdays! These days I’d use a combination of elliptical, stairmaster, and treadmill hiking to get in the equivalent miles and time-on-feet necessary, while also ensuring I kept my HR in the equivalent zone to what I’d see on a run. As you’ll see in my race results - THIS APPROACH WORKS! A summary of my weekly plan follows this list.
2. Calf eccentrics: I’d suggest Googling this (or better, talk to a knowledgeable sports doc), but the basic idea is you rise up onto your toes with both feet then stand on the affected leg and slowly (3-5 seconds) lower your heel down to floor-level. The floor-level part is important based on *which* part of your achilles is damaged (please see a doctor about this!). For insertional achilles issues, I learned you don’t want to lower your heel below ground-level (e.g. on a stair), which is suggested for other achilles issues. I did 2-3 sets of 15 once or twice per day the entire training cycle, except days I was running on trails. I would also leave one day (Mondays) completely off for rest and recovery.
3. High-drop shoes: I’ve always run in a higher-drop shoes (I wear the La Sportiva Jackal II, which has a 7mm drop). The higher drop takes some load off your achilles.
4. Heel lifts/shoe inserts: Towards the latter end of my training my sports doc suggested I try a ¼” heel lift in my shoes to help with the bursitis, and it made a huge difference (put one in each shoe to prevent other issues, of course 🙂 ). The idea is: the heel lift takes additional load off your achilles - I wish I had done this sooner. There’s lots of research online about how effective this can be. The only downside is that it changed the dynamics of my shoes, so I had to start heel-lock lacing to prevent my foot from sliding forwards in my shoes. I’d say this was a major contributing factor to why my ankle started feeling a lot better, even in the peak training period.
5. Apply Voltaren and Arnica Cream to affected area: Voltaren is a topical NSAID and Arnica cream is also an all-natural pain reliever. I’d apply these to my ankle at night and wrap it in Saran wrap (I know, sounds crazy), but the wrap helps both absorb into the skin. I’d wake up feeling much better
6. Vibrants Pain Relief Patches: now this is a little “out there” but these biofrequency patches also worked great for relieving pain and inflammation on my ankle. I’d put them on post-run and my pain would melt away. I’m not sure I’m 100% bought-in to the science behind them (or pseudo-science), but they worked for me, placebo effect or not.
7. Similar to the above, the KT Tape Wave also was great for pain-relief: a little more pseudoscience that I’m skeptical about, but it works. My sports chiropractor recommended this to me and it absolutely works. It’s also great for relieving muscle pain and speeding recovery overall.
8. Massages and dry needling: I also got regular massages and dry needling and have a collection of foam rollers, balls, etc to release my muscles at home too. Keeping your calves loose is key to relieving the strain on your ankle.
9. A note on ibuprofen: overall, ibuprofen never seemed to do much for me. Ibuprofen is known to be a bad idea before/during/after runs because of how it affects your kidneys, so I avoided it altogether.

My training plan
My training plan was a combination of pure trail runs (I never wasted time running on roads or treadmills), cross training on ellipticals, stairmaster, bike, yoga (almost daily) and weight lifting. I believe the lifting, specifically addressing my weak areas, was key to my race-day success, and I broke it up into pieces throughout the week so my “off” running days focused on upper body and abs. I also believe the mobility work in yoga was incredibly important.

• Saturday long run on trail

1. The longest run I did was a 50k 4 weeks out, and by then my ankle was handling that distance quite well. I did about 3 other 20 miles runs and a few 18 mile runs

• Sunday back-to-back run on trail

1. I used a time-on-feet model for Sundays, usually between 1-2.5 hours

• Monday active recovery/upper body weights and abs + yoga
• Tuesday cross training on elliptical//stairmastetreadmill hiking + leg day (focused on hips) + yoga
• Wednesday speed day on elliptical or hill work on trail + yoga
• Thursday medium length trail run (if it was a speed week) or cross training as above with a bigger leg day (working hamstring, quads, doing mountain legs, all the big ones) + yoga
• Friday active recovery/upper body weights and abs + yoga

Note: I integrated calf eccentrics whenever I could, except for the weekends. I did around 450 calf-lowers every week (done on both legs to keep things even)
Race Results
The big day was June 3rd, 2023. The race was the Mohican 50 miler in Ohio. This wasn’t what you’d call an “easy” first 50 miler. The course was nearly 100% single-track on MBT with around 6-7,000 ft of gain, depending who’s watch you’re reading. The day-of was also above-average hot (upper 80’s), so I was very happy I spent 6 week prior heat acclimating in the sauna at my gym (link to the heat acclimation plan I used follows).
The race started at 6am and I felt good in the cool morning air. I noticed around mile 10, after we had apparently completed the first big climb that I didn't feel the climb was all that bad - all that hiking and stairmaster work was paying off! As the day went on the temps rose, but dumping ice water on my head at aid stations and taking s-caps every 30 minutes like it was my job kept me from feeling nauseated and good to keep eating both solid + liquid calories (I used tailwind). I had no issues with fuel - whoo-hoo!
But there's always something... The only major issue I had in this race ended up being my shoe-lacing (classic!). I had loosened my heel-lock lacing prior to the race because that lacing was rubbing on the tops of my ankle, causing some discomfort. Well, when your shoes are too loose you cause other issues, and my feet were sliding forward in my shoes the entire race, leading to some major big-toe pain and blisters.
Nonetheless, I finished with a smile in 11:08, just about 50 minutes ahead of my goal time. I snagged 1st place woman in my age group, and 9th woman overall, 39th runner out of the pack. My ankle didn't’ bother me at all during the race - only when I stopped (of course!). It took about three days for my ankle to recover, but at this point I know how to treat it and keep the pain manageable. I’ll continue to monitor my achilles with my doctor, continue all the exercises I’ve been doing, and get back to running after a few good weeks of recovery!
In Summary
If you’re dealing with achilles tendonitis, I sure do hope this is helpful! I’ve heard from many that this is an issue that may never fully go away. I’m also convinced (again, not a doctor, but based on my experience) that rest is not the answer, because if you aren’t strengthening your calves and your legs, you will never take the strain off your achilles or get blood-flow to the area to promote healing. My ankle felt better and better the more I got into my training plan - wild! Training your body to adapt and grow stronger, while not overloading the ankle is key. Take an off-day if you have pain, and see a doctor regularly to make sure you aren’t doing further damage. I hope you have the same success!
My training plan links:
Training Plan 1: https://relentlessforwardcommotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Free-50-mile-ultramarathon-training-plan-outline.png
More Specific Training Plan with Hill and Speed Work: https://www.trailrunnermag.com/training/training-plans-training/an-advanced-50-mile-training-plan/
Heat Acclimation Plan: https://trainright.com/ultrarunners-heat-acclimation-cheat-sheet/
Taper Week Plan: https://www.trailrunnermag.com/training/trail-tips-training/a-day-by-day-training-guide-for-race-weeks-and-tapers/