Hi guy's, I guess this is what is going on with me.

1. Psychotic break that got me diagnosed with Schizotypal, PTSD, and bipolar.-13 day stay at the good ol mental hospital.
2. I wrote a story trying to explain how my psychotic break started. It is unfinished bc it brings me back. So at this point in time I have left it alone.
3. At this point I believe I am being given messages by god in an attempt to save my soul from the devil. I understand this could be delusional ideas of reference and I understand I have a long way to go before I can identify what is real and what is not.
4. You are not suffering alone, there is a light at the end of our tunnel for sure. I think if one person here can find a way then we all can. Happiness is attainable and I will relentlessly pursue it.
5. I know how wild the below story is. But as you know it was real af to me.

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I realized I was beaten when my mom gave me my 2nd dose of drugged food.
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*Note*-Last chapter-The man behind the curtain is revealed. It is me. (alternate story and endings for each Cartel, Illuminati(west coast and east coast)-One side is evil, the other good(wutang)., CIA, Then the best one imo-The church
vs the devil.
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What a way to start the new year lol. It was on Jan 1st that all of this spiraled out of control. It all started when I was working at amazon in clay NY. I woke up one day and saw a shit ton of cops. I was growing at the time, an illegal amount of cannabis that would have landed me a felony. So knowing this I shit my pants and ran down the stairs to see what was happening. Am I getting raided or is it just some regular molly whopping bullshit going on outside? We installed a large number of security cameras due to the molly whopper problem. Anything that wasn't tied down would come up missing, not after the cameras lol. I get my coffee as two cops knock on my door. I answer and 

they let me know that a crime was committed by some kids and that they would like the videos if my camera caught it. I thought to myself, some kids.....no big deal at all. SURE I said as I ran upstairs to get my laptop while trying to keep my tents out of view. I return and both I and the two cops sit in the kitchen until I can get the videos emailed to them. They leave and I think that is the end of that. WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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(insert the fact that you bought weapons, signs and didn't sleep hardly at all) 

I go to amazon about a week later and find out that the people that committed the crime in front of my house work with me. Aren't I the lucky one? Malachi(one of the assailants) was kind enough to come to the conveyor belt and leaned over and let me know that it was him and his friends. And that both he and his friends that committed the crime will be coming back to get my grow(how the hell do they know about my grow I think?). I mean mugged him and we both continued about our day. Due to me having headphones in it took me a while to put together exactly what he said. But when I did put it together, I immediately started taking all the necessary precautions to prevent a home invasion,. Such as securing all entrances and placing weapons all around the house. Identifying all routes in and out and covering them with cameras and traps if needed. Not my first rodeo(ptsd like a mfa from the first). This time was different though due to me at the time living with my sick parents. I planned on defense only and coached them on what to do in the worse case.
(RAW DATA ELABORATE on the amazon story-For example all of the people you identified and all of the tatoos that they shared. A large orginazation was identified but at the time I did not know they were after me. Later I found out they
were using the night staff at amazon warehouses to distribute their products around the globe. In 30 mins or less lol.)
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With my home secured my mind was at ease. On my next scheduled day at amazon, I learned that my manager Caroline was working with/for Malachi. I learned this by her repeatedly placing me next to Malachi and Mike(Malachi's friend). This continued for about two weeks and I saw exactly who was playing for the Malachi's team. It turned out to be a large number of people. I identified they were a group by the matching tattoos they displayed. They had people working as janitors, and in every station and position in amazon. I am talking all the way from janitors to the managers. At least a good 10+ at amazon working to make my life hell there. One time while next to Malachi and Mike at the beginning of this. I lost my temper, pretty badly. I have a mental health issue with my anger(just learned), which caused me to say a bunch of stuff in retaliation to Malachi. This caused Malachi 

to make a phone call while shaking his head in sadness. That phone call was to someone important. Because ever since Malachi made that call my life changed for the worse. Like way worse.
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After both myself and Malachi were done talking shit to each other. He(malachi) let me know how much power he could get on short notice. I woke up to smoke my normal morning joint and saw Angel(from amazon), Mike, and Malachi walking around my house(in the street). Later that day I would say about ten to 15 cars made an appearance to let me know they meant business. I just sat there and smoked my joints and cataloged all of his personnel. I knew at that point I was in over my head and made a mistake in feeding into Malachi's anger. I called everyone I knew, which was two whole people(lol) and told them to stand down and not do anything to Malachi if they saw him. I also tried my best to de-escalate to the best of my ability while working at amazon. That however just seemed to make them madder. One night Caroline came up to me and asked me to go work next to people who were trying to kill me, which at that point was normal. Once I realized this I had a realization that this was wrong and should be addressed. I was experiencing retaliation for reporting a crime and it was being perpetuated by my employer(I was thinking in my head Lawsuit lol). Then Angel started going ham on me. I let my management know that they needed to do something(they did nothing). Then I let Angel know the only reason they were mad was the video I gave to the cops, and that I was not a threat to him. I also reiterated to him that he had to touch me for me to be able to defend myself. I left that 

day and made a report to the amazon ethics board on what had happened there. I quit and called the cop I gave the video to for advice and to let him know I was prepared if it goes further. I let him know I would fight to the death for the safety of my mother and father. Which was now in danger due to Malachi and the organization he is with. He agreed with me and told me to protect my family.
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I was out of work for a couple of weeks and everything seemed to simmer down. All the cars and people that were patrolling daily seemed to stop. During my off time I was able to do a bunch of research on Malachi, Angel and Mike and I learned that they were tied to a local car dealership in fulton. I researched the car dealership and found out that they were from the Bronx and were affiliated with the Cartel. I found this out through facebook and instagram. Malachi was kind enough to throw up gang signs in his instagram posts that I was able to check on google. I battened down the hatched as much as I could. But I knew that my family was now in grave danger due to me losing my temper. They are good people and I had no intention of letting them pay the cost for my action. So I came up with an Idea. I would enter into the legal weed business by going to a multistate operator for a job. Through different research I learned that heavy cartel money has flowed into these multistate cannabis businesses. I was hopeful that I could find an ear from the cartel by applying for a job at my local out of state cannabis company called Acerage holdings. It didn't take me that much time and I landed a job for a company called acerage holdings which grows medical weed. On my first week there a co-worker named Isaiah was talking about my ethics report that I made to amazon to another employee. Lucky me, I believe I found the ear I was looking for. It turned out that he was part of Malachi's group. I worked with a small number of people at acerage holdings and I am positive that most people working there were very aware of who I was and who Malachi was. And that I was not well-liked at all, meaning malachi's influence reached there as well.I stayed to myself to the highest extent possible and just soaked up the comments like a sponge with no responses from me at all. My intent was to gather as much intel as I possibly could and identify an opportunity for a line of communication with the leadership of the Cartel. This would be hard to do. The business that I was working for was designed as part of their legal operations(It didn’t take much google to figure that out). 

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I would go into work everyday at Acerage and people would be openly talking about my situation. One guy was joking around while we were harvesting some weed that I should put in the wood chipper. I saw he had a bunch of tattoos so I figured what are the chances he has a similar tatoo. I moved over to work with him and to my surprise he has the same tattoo as Angel. I engage in conversation and maintain my cover to gather data and identify a line of communication so I could plead my case. A worker named Tony came into our area that day and he was loose enough to say don’t trust the security because they are the cartel. I think to myself, welp that guy ain't a cartel but security seems to be my point of access to the top. Later that day I was oddly issued my badge which seemed rather thick. Me being my paranoid self began to read all of the literature that i was given when I first got the job. In fine print I read that the company has the right but not the duty to monitor your phone or other device to make sure intellectual property is not stolen. That day I immediately started talking about how the FBI got a guy at my last job for the same thing. And that I planned on using their practices for a business that I wanted to start. Needless to say I believe they would be listening on my phone for more crumbs to try to start a case.
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I woke the next day and began to plead my case while in my truck alone. I apologized and claimed responsibility for my actions. And that I would accept any punishment as long as it was me and only me. I clocked into work that morning and oddly enough my coworkers that I had befriended seemed very sad. Almost like something was going to happen to me. I armed myself with trim scissors and was ready for the worst knowing that my message had most likely reached its mark. I was scared and happy at the same time. I was afraid because I thought I was about to die but I was happy because I thought I had brokered the safety of my family successfully. Stressfully I finished my day and luckily nothing happened. So I went home.
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To relieve stress I started to work on some different hobbies. One of those hobbies was music. I got to the point where I had two songs written (rough copies), and I was sampling tracks and beats to put my lyrics to. While doing this, I realized that I got hacked. There were two recurring options that kept popping up on my youtube. Two live streams with people rapping, one was the west coast rap channel and one was the east coast rap channel. I had my headset with a mic and I was putting
my lyrics to their beats when they answered me and started conversing with me. They told me they wanted my music and that I had to make a choice. I told them I was not ready to make a choice and I kept switching between the two while listening to their music and then them listening to my music(it was dope af-they were freestyling a lot-me not so much but what I did do was dope af). Then I garnered attention from both sides with a proposal. I explained how darkness and corruption have taken over and now evil sits atop the societal pyramid controlling everything and everyone. I explained how words have power, especially through music to change negative energy to positive. A good example of this is
waking up in a horrible mood and then putting on a good song and magically your mood changes from negative to positive. I proposed to use that to address issues that plague communities across the U.S. My proposal was to use 300 artists,150 from one side and 150 from the other. My song would be used as the prime example(leaders lead by example). 1 person comes up with lyrics and each of the 300 make those lyrics their own(own beats/cadence) and release a song on the same day. So with one song 300 versions will be thrown out in the local dialect to address the issue simultaneously all across the U.S. Long story short it would have a great chance of changing the current negative state of the world into a positive one. By delivering a hot beef injection of positivity into this negative landscape we have found ourselves in. Everyone agreed with me and I ended the night by DJing a few songs and then calling it a night. Before I go people from both sides start making me offers to join their side and that they would pay me and this and that. I thought this was a dream but here these dudes were offering me whatever I wanted to hop on their side. I told them no offense but That I had to think about it. I understood I was a great talent and that I did not want to make a bad deal. I thought I would sleep it over and then let everyone know my choice after work the following day. So I called it a night.
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The next day I went to work and it was a holiday so we would only be working until 11am that
day.My boss Shmalex(name changed to protect identity lol). Told me to come talk to him after we were done with work that day. I immediately put it together that not only did I gain the attention of the Cartel but I was under close watch from the FBI due to me recently buying weapons and talking about my hustling openly. I told him ok and continued with my coworker Rob to complete our task that day which consisted of picking leaves off plants. While On break I was talking with Rob after my cigarette and he was showing me his fishing gear and trying to plan a fishing trip later on. I agreed that it would be fun and then we went back into work. About an hour after we got back into work Rob dipped out to make a call. He came back in and then about ten mins later Cody came in and told us we were done for the day and that we could leave. While I was cleaning up, the robber walked up behind me and whispered I’m sorry. I didn’t even say anything because I thought he was joking. Spoiler alert he was not joking.
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I left work that day and I was super pumped knowing that I would soon be able to solve all my money problems by choosing which side to sign with. On the ride home I kept thinking how I got in the situation that I did and why I started making music. And then it hit me, Malachi, the same person who had put me in this dangerous situation was the reason why I was about to be successful and safe most of all. I thought that both sides had my back and were upset with the Cartel coming into the U.S. and just claiming territory like that. So I was no longer concerned for either My or my family's safety anymore, which was like ten tons being lifted off of my shoulders. On the ride home I started rapping and loudly yelling that I loved this shit and would take care of everyone with money. Especially Malachi and his family as a token of friendship and a hope for forgiveness.
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I get home and I see that my parents have bought pizza. I think dope af and grab some and head upstairs. So I finally made my choice to join West coast records to be in the nice weather. I let both sides know that I planned to go to the west coast and told each that I would only go if I could collaborate with both sides. Notbe limited. I told them to show up at 8 am the next morning with two million in a bag. I was communicating with them verbally through the computer and with notes written on notebooks that I was showing my mirror. They told me they had me on watch from that location, and confirmed it by giving me details that only a camera in the mirror would capture. I went to bed that night with the idea that I was going to change the world. I was able to talk to both sides and luckily they were with me in changing things for the better. I went to bed oddly knowing that I just made a work-together truce between the crips and bloods. Good night's rest would be an understatement. I slept like a fucking baby. However, I woke up mad af boy lol.
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8 am comes and goes and no one shows up lol. At this point I am unsure if I got hacked by Malachi, actually am about to start the 300, or am being trolled by the govt.... so many possibilities at this point lmao. So I don't go to the computer until the afternoon. Then things kinda get pretty crazy, but not as crazy as it will get..... I hop on the computer and hop on the west coast live stream. They start rapping about how they are going to torture me and kill my family and friends(someone on there said they were in jail and mad af at me). I see an Eminem video pop up on the screen and click on it. It is Eminem and he is rapping live about me and he kept giving me the shhhhh with the finger thing when I went to talk. He was saying that he was going to lock me up and not let me out and a whole bunch of shit. I closed my computer and just went and laid down and thought about the situation that I found myself in. I knew they had cameras on me in my house and in my truck(they told me how much gas I had!). I just laid there and thought about the situation, 1. Am I crazy...no 2. Am I hacked....yes 3. How do I save my family? idk yet 4. Am I beat beyond belief? yes. The criminal organization that Malachi was with(some cartel) was using amazon prime to deliver their product across the U.S., they knew I knew this and I know they wanted me dead so that is the opponent I was planning against it. Now looking back it could have been the FBI(I am loose so could have been watched), Cartel-the most likely, West or east coast rappers... so fucked lol. So I planned to wait it out to protect my family and engage if needed. This meant I always had to have weapons on to carry that plan out(pain in the ass(prison pocket)). 

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I hopped up from my bed and went downstairs to eat a fish dinner that my mom had picked up. They were hurting for money and I was helping them out financially for months before that. Suddenly it clicked. The night before they bought 4 pizzas. Then tonight they bought fish dinners,.....WAIT. Where did they get the money to order out twice in a week, so so out of the ordinary? I recognized this and went upstairs with the fish dinner trying to think why they would order out two days in a row. I hop on my computer and start to eat dinner. I start listening to a 90s hip-hop live track and the dude who said he was in jail starts talking. Lets me know it cost 100k to get my mom on his side and that the food I was eating was drugged, and when I go downstairs my mom will make a fake police report on me to get me to jail. I stop eating the fish and go downstairs and just try talking to my mom to disprove what I just heard. 

She looked at me and immediately started to make a scene. She told me to "calm down and go to sleep or she'll have to call someone". I deescalate, throw out the dinner and then head upstairs. My brain starts working overtime in attempting to solve the situation. My playlists keep changing on my laptop so I start clicking on the top choice every time it changes. I finally realized that another party was communicating with me that was different from the previous ones(Anonymous). They altered songs in the top choices to deliver a subliminal message. I can’t describe how the words would jump out at me but I was able to gather the message after playing about 5 songs. They wanted me to go to a mental facility for safety for both me and my family. I didn’t know why, but I had no options at that point so I had to trust them.

 It was my job to decode that message in the limited amount of time that I had. I spent about an hour listening and grabbing applicable information from the slightly changed songs. I felt myself at a loss trying to find the subliminal path laid out. A gospel live stream popped up on my laptop and there was a different group that wanted me to sing with them(The church). The song was hallelujah. About halfway through the song I had a religious epiphany. I blacked out for a couple of seconds, and came to singing the song hallelujah while holding my arms out toward my mirror in a hugging motion. The people in the gospel livestream were rejoicing loudly and I heard someone say it's him. I immediately knew they thought I was the second coming and I dropped to my knees to denounce that. 

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I took my notebook and started writing in my notebook a message. It said me for my family. I looked at the shotgun on my floor for a brief moment. But that was not an option due to my upbringing and marine background. The path became clear when I mentally snapped. They had accepted my deal, me for my family. I briefly looked at my shotgun and then headed downstairs to tell
My parents that Ineeded to go to a mental hospital to meet anonymous. I went outside to wait and my mom went and made a phone call that took about ten minutes. I don't know who she was talking to but when she came out I knew we were good because the cops didn't show up. And then off we went, I played the part quite well on the ride I remember. I told my parents I loved them and then after listening to faded with a stranger one last time, I went in to accept my fate. I asked for one last cigarette and my dad gave me a half a one that tasted quite odd.
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A lady came in once I was laying in the hospital bed to "take blood" and give me something to sleep. I thought this was the end but it was not. I woke up the next day and could have sworn my mom said the doctor wanted to see me. I told her I was still tired and rolled over and went back to bed. Then when I woke up they brought me into a room with a security guard posted up right near me. My mom told me they were going to move me to come after I eat. Then they moved me to omh. I checked in and now this is where things get crazy. However, the memories are still very blurry 

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I was given a mask, and I swear it felt like I had my memory wiped about 5 minutes after putting it on. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I was under the impression that I would die (I was very surprised I woke up). I went into the mental hospital and I went through the check-in process for entering into inpatient(explain in detail the process of checking in). It was pretty demeaning to say the least. I thought I would make contact with the resistance or whoever gave me the subliminal messages to go to the mental hospital. But that did not happen. I thought to myself, Why would the security guard drug me if I am in a safe place? I immediately knew I was in grave danger and that I had to be on guard at all times. I was shown my room and I introduced myself to my roommate bob. (I would later come to find out that bob was a former marine). My head was really really messed up from the medication that they had given me. I chilled in my room for a while and finally went out to walk up and down the hallways to attempt to identify any possible way out. I needed that information later to break out if needed. I identified a weak link in the armor. It consisted of one door that would get me access to one side and a fence that once jumped would lead me to the running part. I started walking up and down the halls and I noticed a woman that was also doing the same thing. I couldn't help but overhear what she was saying. And to my surprise, she referenced the situation that I had found myself in. She sat down and I sat down next to her. She leaned in and told me that they were going to kill me and skin 

me alive. And she just started maniacally laughing. I knew I was in a facility run by the organization after me. I sat there and then it came to me. Don't feed into it gather as much intel as possible and plot your next chess move carefully. So I fucking laughed with her and we began to laugh together. I made small talk and then I went into the cafeteria to grab some water(which I usually drank a ton of). I grabbed a glass and I shit you not it was like it had corn syrup in it. It was water but THICK. I had no choice so I drank the liquid. It was my only source of water and at this point in my information gathering, I dared not bring up any intel that I was finding out about.
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I saw a couple of people in the cafeteria and decided to make small talk. I met a female named Angel and another female named Haley. They seemed nice enough but I couldn't get it out of my head that something just seemed very very off about this place and the people that I was meeting. They told me about the groups they offer as therapy and told me I should make an appearance. I tried my best to remember but I could not for the life of me and ended up missing it and just roaming the halls. Nighttime was fast approaching so I ducked into a place that they had labeled the quiet room and I was lucky enough to meet a man named Scooba Steve. He introduced himself and made it a point to tell 

me that he was a man of god. I noted this and we continued to make some small talk which consisted of religion. I asked him to say some prayers for me that night and I left him there to read his bible. I later found out he was very devoted to and any bit of free time he had was devoted to reading the bible. They called for nighttime meds so I went to the counter to get mine. They gave me a sleeping pill and an antipsychotic and then to my surprise they gave me a nicotine lozenge. I was extremely happy about this due to fiending for some good ol' nicotine. I planned on staying up all night which I did. I needed to see exactly how many staff they had and if they were involved in this or if they were legit(spoiler alert, they were not).
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In the hallways there were nooks where you could sit down and admire the artwork. I posted up in one of those nooks near my room and just kept an eye on everyone that night. Nothing happened, but i did notice that the security guard makes one pass a night. If I needed to get out I could easily use him as a plan b so I noted that in my playbook and in my spare time fashioned me a toothbrush shank. 

Part 59
Lieutenant General Marcus Stanley, United States Army
Marcus stomped into the TOC. One of the gods was already there, the naked black woman. He racked his brain for a second to remember her name.
"Vintress, right?" he asked as he approached her, leaning over a folding table with a map spread out on it. Little glowing figures moved slowly about it; fist-sized knots of tentacles, and little pinpricks with arms and legs. The red-glowing ones, including the primordials themselves, were moving forward, while the green-glowing figures moved back.
"Yes, General," Vintress said.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"The primordials have rallied. They are pushing us hard, regaining ground we had taken back. I am observing now, to see their strategy, and seek a weakness."
"Anything jumping out yet?"
"No," Vintress said, and Marcus could hear her grinding her teeth. "They have become inexplicably smarter. And tougher. We have yet to kill one today."
"Let's hope that it disorganizes them as much as usual, then," Marcus said, though he doubted that would be the case. Not for any specific reason, it was just that that was the sort of thing that often changed when plans went sideways.
"We will soon find out," Vintress said. "Look."
Marcus followed her pointing finger to a gold-glowing figure. Marcus squinted, then put on his reading glasses and leaned over the map. It was the honor god, the one who'd tried to stop the vigilante and gotten his hand chopped off for his troubles.
"Tyndale, is it?" Marcus asked.
"Tysrane," Vintress corrected. "Yes," Marcus said. "Sorry, I've always been bad with names."
"Names are both trivial and deeply personal," Vintress said. Marcus glanced at her, meeting her eyes without sweeping her nude form with practiced ease.
"My name, Vintress, it literally means 'huntress' in a long lost language of a tribe I once favored. I adopted it to reflect my position when I acquired my domain. Prior to that, my name was Clisenryr. Do you know what that means?"
"I do not," Marcus said, playing along.
"It meant 'the angry one'."
Marcus eyed her with a blank expression, wondering where she was going.
"I do so enjoy watching this," she said, turning her eyes back to the map. Marcus followed her gaze just in time to see Tysrane turn into a streak that passed through one of the primordials. The creature exploded, and a hush fell over everyone in the TOC who wasn't glued to another screen or desk. Two seconds passed, and then the sound hit them.
A muted, basso crack echoed through the air. The loose fabric of the tent fluttered and Marcus felt the table and ground shaking for just an instant.
Marcus watched as the tiny, glowing primordial rained down around the battlefield as chunks, the largest chunk still in place, deflating and tumbling away.
"Heh," he said. "Rolling away like a booger on a greased pan."
Vintress squinted at him. "Is that a common idiom among your people?" she asked. Marcus laughed out loud. "No, it's just what came to mind when I saw it."
"Good," Vintress said. "It would raise disturbing questions if it was." Marcus couldn't help but agree with that one.
"They're not faltering," he said after a moment. The red enemies were still assaulting the green positions.
"Your men are holding their own," Vintress said. Marcus nodded. "Damn straight. Those are most experienced warfighters, and each position has at least one Spec Ops boy in it. Most have half an A-team. They're going to be punching well above their weight, and that, my friend, is indeed a common idiom."
"Yes, since we left you to your own devices, you have been consistently performing well above our own expectations of you."
Her tone was off. It sounded almost worried. Marcus eyed the goddess for a moment, letting his eyes slip down from her face to take in the set of her shoulders, her pose, the tension in her chest and stomach. There was a lot going on in her head. She was afraid, and not just of this new push by the primordials.
Marcus reached into his pocket and grabbed the heavily-encrypted phone there. It was a Blackberry, based on a model more than two decades old, but full of modern guts, including a tiny transmitter with about fifteen miles of range. His thumb brushed the built in keypad, finding and pressing buttons by feel.
----
Command Sergeant Major Eric Hale, 5th Special Forces Group
Hale stomped his way from one fighting position to the next, the incoming hail of spines apparently balking at the terrifying expression on his grizzled face, and refusing to come anywhere near him.
At least, that was the impression he hoped to give the men watching him. The truth was, his butthole was puckered so goddamn tight you couldn't pound a needle in it with a jackhammer.
He got to the forward-most position, two M2HBs, one of which was crewed only by two dead bodies, their helmets shattered by the spines.
"They're shooting back, sarge!" the assistant gunner said as he crouched down and pulled the bodies away from the gun.
"Yeah, the enemy tends to do that," Hale said with practiced nonchalance. He checked the gun, made sure it was in working order, then cleared the barrel with a two-round squeeze before settling down into a shooting position. He looked at the assistant gunner's nametape.
"Martinez, you're gonna have to assist both of us, right?"
Martinez checked the ammo in Hale's gun, then in the other.
"Pace your shots to Jeff," he said, hooking a thumb at his buddy on the other gun. "You've got about twice as much ammo left in the can as him. I'll keep you reloaded."
Hale nodded and aimed down the sites. He began to return some hate back to the senders, tearing apart spider crabs and shambling zombies with every round. He didn't notice the encrypted phone in his pocket buzzing.
Both gunners concentrated on the spider crabs, who were the ones who'd learned to shoot back. They spat the spines out of their mouths in short bursts. Their aim was shit, but there was enough of them that it didn't matter.
Hale emptied his can and let Martinez fit a new one. "Only one more can, Sarge," Martinez said. "And Jeff's up next." Hale nodded and focused on killing the spider crabs.
The ammo didn't last nearly as long as he'd have liked. He ran dry and unhooked the can. "That's it," he said as he folded up the bipod and grabbed the heavy gun by the carry handle.
"As soon as you're out, I want you to fall back to the rally point and rearm. Sergeant Lewis will show you where to set up, next. Huah?"
"Huah!" Martinez shouted as Jeff ran dry. Martinez quickly got his cans swapped and Jeff resumed shooting. Hale turned and began to make his way back. The rain of spines seemed to have actually gotten worse.
He threw the notion of striking an intimidating figure to the wind and hustled back to the rally point, dropping the weapon off at the stack. First Sergeant Lewis walked up.
"Lewis," Hale said. "Send two guys up to FP Echo to pick up a couple bodies, then try to find someone to man this gun."
"I'll do what I can, Top," Lewis said. "Lot of losses today."
"Relatively," Hale pointed out. From what he'd seen, they were standing at about one and a half percent casualties, and that included the wounded, who were being treated magically and sent back within hours of coming off the line.
"Yeah, but you know that still affects morale," Lewis pointed out.
Hale nodded and reached in his pocket to check his phone. "Shit," he swore as he saw the message.
"Can I help?" Lewis asked. Hale thought about it, then turned the screen to let him read it.
Gods r scared of us, might turn. b prpred
"Shit," Lewis said.
"Spread the word," Hale told him with a sigh. "I can't imagine a worse time to get this news, so naturally, this is when it happens. Get someone down to the clinic to get our boys rushed through and get the docs out and into the MASH tents. Have word sent back to camp to get everybody out of those standing-doorway rooms and into barracks tents. I was everyone in their battle rattle and carrying their weapon, and I mean everyone. Cooks, techs, logi boys... Every fucking one."
"Right," Lewis said with a nod. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, pray this is just the General being paranoid."
"Pray to who?" Lewis asked.
"Good fucking point," Hale said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Go on, I gotta go find the Colonel."
Hale stomped off towards the HQ tent as Lewis jogged away. He found Colonel Stanislaw leaning over a radio console with headphones on.
"...that's right, Major. We're splitting out from the magic fuckers. One second, my Top's here now." The Colonel covered his mouthpiece with one hand and slipped one of the speakers off his ears.
"Did you see the General's message?" Stanislaw asked. Hale nodded. "I sent Lewis to get our people out of their facilities and get everyone armed."
"Good. I'll issue orders to the officers to let you and Lewis lead the way. But right now, I need to discuss strategy. Let me wrap this up."
"Major," he said, unhanding the mic. "Major, I've put Top and Sergeant Lewis in charge of the prep. Spread word to the officers to defer to them on this. Yes, that's right. Damn straight, they are. Good. Report back to me in, let's say, ninety minutes. Good. Stanislaw out."
He pulled the headphones off. "Walk with me, Top."
Hale fell into step beside the Colonel and they walked out of the camp. When they'd gotten far enough away, they stopped.
"What are your initial thoughts?" the Colonel asked.
Hale frowned. "Not good, sir. They can do all kinds of tricky shit with their magic that we can't counter. From what I hear, we can strike back, but it won't be easy. With over twenty of them still here, I don't think there's enough of us to stand."
"We don't really have a choice," Stanislaw said. "We can't let these primordials get past us, or the whole world is done for."
"Then I say we concentrate everything right around the FHQ, sir. We'll have the docs set up at the aid station, have the men break down a couple of the tents. Motor pool and cavalry staging is going to be a bitch to move on short notice, but we'll get it done."
"I know you will. I need to go find Major Danvers, work out placement for the cavalry if we have to fall back. Go ahead and get started prepping."
"Yes, sir," Hale said, snapping the Colonel a salute. Stanislaw saluted back, and Hale jogged off. As he approached the HQ, a humvee pulled up and two men climbed out. Hale recognized the General's bodyguards right away. Both were large, bearded men in DADPAT, with backwards-turned baseball hats and gucci-ed out M4s. They emerged and began prowling around the area before one of them clicked his radio, said something and then walked over to Hale.
"Eric," he said as he approached.
"Hey, Jim," Hale replied. "Colonel just ran off to talk to Danvers about cavalry placement in case this emergency happens."
Jim nodded. "Fucked up shit," he said. Hale nodded back. General Stanley stepped out of the vehicle, spotted Hale and walked over. Hale came to attention and saluted. Stanley saluted back casually, "As you were, Sergeant. Did you see my message?"
"I did, sir, as did the Colonel. Preparations are already under way. If you need to talk to the Colonel, he's on his way to Major Danvers as we speak."
"I'm actually here to talk to you, Top," Stanley said. "I've got a job for you."
"Whatever you need, sir. I should inform you that the Colonel has asked me to oversee the transfer of equipment and personnel from the allied facilities to our own and the consolidation of our forces here."
"I'll step in to handle that personally, Eric. You remember a fellow named Bill Martin?"
Hale nodded. Bill and he had served together. He know Bill was a solid soldier and a holy terror in close quarters.
"Well, Bill's one of the executives at the DCM Group. I want you to take Jim and Mac with you, head back earthside and get with him. Tell him about our concern here and find out what kinds of resources they can spare. I've got six million budgeted for expenses, and I'll drop every dime of it on them if they can provide enough support to help us survive a two-front war out here.
"After you're done with that, I want you to go see the man himself and explain the situation to him. You tell him I said the following, verbatim. 'Sir, if this shit goes down and we don't throw everything we have at it in one big mass, right off the bat, I do not think we will survive'. You tell him those exact words, and that I mean it. I've already called in an appointment for you at three PM local time. Don't worry about getting there on time, just make sure you get it all done."
"Sir, yes, sir," Hale said, snapping another salute. Though he could barely believe it, the pucker factor was even higher than it had been walking out to that gun position.
Stanley saluted back, far more crisply than usual. He turned to his bodyguard. "You heard me, Jim," Jim nodded and stepped over next to Hale. "Ready when you are, Top."
Nate, the General's other bodyguard, wandered over. "We set?" he asked. Hale and Jim both nodded.
"Take my transport," Stanley said. "And get back here as soon as you're done."
They climbed into the Humvee and took off.
----
Bill Martin, President of Physical Security, Divine Crisis Management Group
Bill looked up as the door opened to reveal Julie. She looked haggard and run down.
"You look amazing," he said as soon as the door closed. He made sure his voice sounded sincere. Julie smiled and walked right over to sit on his lap and lay her head on his shoulder.
"Thank you," she said. "I feel like I'm being torn in a million directions. And I just got more bad news."
"What's that?"
"Jerry's gone radio silent. I got in touch with Michelle Vasquez, and she told me he's run off to kill the goddess who took his family."
"Shit," Bill muttered. He waited a beat before adding. "I can't really blame him, though."
"Except he was supposed to be tracking down the escapees," Julie said.
"The man's lost his family. He's wild with grief, right now. And truth be told, if he manages to kill her, that's not exactly a bad thing."
Julie lifted her head to meet Bill's eyes. "Are you defending a revenge quest?" she deadpanned.
"No, just pointing out that this one is advantageous. It's liable to produce a more positive outcome than him returning the escapees."
Julie sighed. Everybody was turning on her over the issue of Jerry. And then she sighed again, because Bill was still Bill.
"I'm gonna lock that door," she said. "Because I need to unwind."
Bill frowned in confusion. "What are you going to-" he stopped as the light came on in his eyes, making Julie smirk. "Ahh, I get it. What the hell, I mean, you're the boss, right?"
Julie stood and locked the door, then turned towards Bill and began unbuttoning her shirt. "I used to never understand people who got a thrill out of risking getting caught," she said as she peeled her shirt off and reached back to unhook her bra.
"But I think I'm starting to get it. It's the relief of getting away with it," she said, dropping her bra on the floor. Bill stared in fascination, the sight of her stripping easily the most alluring thing he'd ever seen. She unzipped the side of her skirt and then peeled it off to reveal a set of garters and a hard-on.
"You uh," Bill said, the words difficult to find as his mind focused on the imagery. "You planned for this.. Uh, this morning?"
Julie smiled and walked back to him, loosening his tie. "I stopped wearing underwear when we started dating," she said as she pulled it out of his collar. Bill put his hands on her hips and leaned forward to kiss her ribs, just below the solar plexus, where it always made her gasp.
Her gasp came at the same instant that Bill recognized the sound of someone pounding on the door.
"Shit!' he cursed. He looked around for a second, shooting to his feet. "Get under the desk, quick!"
Julie crawled under the desk and Bill moved to the door, kicking her discarded clothes behind a potted plant. Right as he opened the door, he cursed himself for not kicking them to her.
Three men immediately walked in, pressing past him. Two were in DADPAT and armed, the third in a set of ACUs with a CSM's stripes. Bill blinked as he recognized the Sergeant.
"Eric? Eric Hale?" he asked.
Eric stuck out his hand. "Hey Bill, been a long time." Bill shook his hands. "Yeah, it has. Who are your friends?"
"General Stanley's bodyguards. Jim and Nate. They're solid."
Bill held out a hand to each, who shook it with a respectful nod.
"So what brings you here?" Bill asked. He stepped over to his desk and sat down behind it, careful not to trod on Julie. She immediately slid a hand up his inner thigh and he struggled to maintain his composure. Eric took a seat while the two bodyguards stood.
"I need to hire as much magical muscle as I can for six million dollars, as fast as possible."
Bill frowned. Julie let go of him. "What for?"
Eric glanced around meaningfully. Bill nodded at the door, which one of the bodyguards closed, then he pressed his fingers to the rune inscribed on the right corner of his desk.
"Total privacy," he said.
"We have reason to believe the gods may turn on us," Eric stated.
"Holy shit," Bill said.
"Hell of an understatement," one of the bodyguards rumbled. Bill thought it was Jim. "You must have been a ranger."
"I was," Bill confirmed. "Shit, we're spread pretty thin right now. Wizards are mostly out levitating ruined buildings and healing injured people. This is some serious shit, though."
"Don't ask me why, I don't know. But Stanley's behind this, and I trust the old man's judgement."
Bill nodded. He remembered Stanley back when he was a full-bird Colonel. He'd been a solid, brilliant and trustworthy officer back then.
"I'll start making calls. I've got to hold some back, but I think I can round up about a hundred or so for you. You want extra shooters?"
"With magic guns?"
"Magic guns, armor, uniforms, gear... The works."
"Yes, very much."
"I can get you eighty before you leave the office. Another hundred and sixty in a couple of hours, and two hundred more by tomorrow."
Eric nodded. "How much?" he asked.
"Not a dime!" Julie said from under the desk. The three visitors all jumped. Bill rolled his chair back as Julie stood. Despite her state of undress (and Bill was relieved to see that she wasn't aiming any anatomy around any more) and the bags under her eyes, she managed to project a regal, businesslike air.
"We'll work up a bill after the fact for expenses," Julie clarified. "And we'll present it to the feds. I know the General's budget was to be used for supplies. If the gods are turning on us, they'll need to spend that money. And before you three go, you can all head down to the armory and get geared up. There's a quartermaster who can tell you how it all works."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Eric said, standing up and carefully keeping his eyes on Julie's face.
"Thanks," Jim added.
"Awesome, sir," Nate said. The room went quiet as Bill narrowed his eyes at the bodyguard. Eric turned to glare at him as well, and Jim shook his head slowly. Nate frowned in confusion, then his eyes widened.
"My apologies, Ma'am," he said quickly. "I just... I don't... I mean, I didn't mean anything by it. I'm cool with, I mean, it's none of my business, I don't-"
"Enough," Bill snapped. "Slip of the tongue. You're good. Just go get geared up. There will be a team waiting for you in the lobby in thirty minutes."
He turned to his computer and began to type quickly, issuing the orders to assemble as many as they could. He pointedly did not meet Nate's eyes, because he didn't want to lose his temper.
Julie ushered them out.
"I'm really sorry, Ma'am, I swear I didn't mean anything..." Nate stammered as they left. Julie patted his shoulder and closed the door, turning back to Bill.
"Orders are sent," Bill said. Julie gave him a funny look, which Bill couldn't interpret. He decided to assume the worst.
"He started apologizing and making excuses before I could even figure out how best to threaten him-" Bill started to say defensively, but Julie threw her head back and laughed.
After a moment, Bill's face cracked into a smile and he joined her.
"Well, that was ironic," Julie managed to wheeze as she walked back and began to unbutton Bill's shirt. "But since we got caught anyways... Hehe, we might as well enjoy it."

First, Previous
Memory transcription subject: Michael Smith, Human extermination officer
Date [standardized human time]: November 4, 2136
Once we realized that the Nixas were pack predators and probably social enough to hold a grudge, we made sure to get the hell out of there and raced multiple miles downstream, before slowing down again. Our mission forced us to actually explore the ecosystem, instead of just driving past it, after all.
We were all rational enough to agree on that, but none of us liked it. For the entire rest of the day we were constantly checking our backs, waiting for an angry pack of Nixas to attack us. Not that any animal would be able to hurt us inside of the Truck, but something about Vartek almost bleeding out stripped us bare of any sense of safety or security. Vartek was still almost completely incapacitated by his wound - unsurprisingly, if you considered how lucky he even was to even be alive after that bite almost severed one of his biggest blood vessels. We could have called in a medical aircraft to fly him home, but he refused to go and leave us alone, so we decided to nurse him back to health on the inside of Bob.
We still didn’t know why the Nixa attacked us so recklessly, but we had some theories. Steven supposed it was a territorial creature and saw us as competitors over the already limited food supply, so it had no choice but to attack us, if it wanted to live. Lim believed that the lack of food forced it to attack any possible prey, no matter how difficult to kill, because it could not afford to be picky.
It’s almost entirely empty stomach - as the surgery showed - appeared to support the second theory, whilst multiple traces of this exact Nixa we found nearby supported the idea of it being territorial. Either way, any other Nixas we encountered could be equally, if not more, deadly and we did not intend to find out the hard way.
We did find multiple traces of other Nixas nearby - including multiple tiny bones, chewed apart and sucked dry of bone marrow, with not a single ounce of flesh left on them, as well as footsteps of Nixas traveling in small groups. We also found some creatures gall bladder, carefully ripped out of the body by a Nixa before the rest was eaten. We rarely left the safety Bob provided, and when we did to take a sample, we staid in a small radius and made sure everyone was equipped with guns and flamethrowers and plasmaweapons - we were taking no chances anymore.
Since we had found no traces of Nixas before and suddenly there were hundreds of signs of Nixa activity now, we assumed we had stumbled right into their hunting grounds. This meant that, once we left this area, they would likely leave us alone. But until then, we had to be very careful.
The good news was, that the Nixas filled the gaping hole in the food chain we had noticed. The bad news was, that we probably placed lower than them on that chain, and that they knew that very well.
The team was in shambles. Almost loosing Vartek hurt, but maybe being hunted by an entire pack of predators? And not even knowing how many they were, where they could be lurking or whether they actually were hunting us? Now that fucked with our nerves. Mirva was sobbing again, and I really didn’t know how to help her or calm her down. Farlent had not let go of her weapons since Vartek fell asleep again, David and Lim had stayed up all night, Steven had not spoken a single word since and Ortsa began making many mistakes, which was very unusual for her. Not only did she open the wrong door last hour, the hour before that she pressed the buttons to start in the wrong order and almost broke Bobs engine.
None of us blamed her for those tiny mistakes, since the nerves made all of us less competent, but she clearly blamed herself plenty.
Usually, I knew how to calm them down, how to keep the team happy, but right now? I couldn’t even calm myself.
I was so deep in thought, so focused on our shitty situation, that I didn’t even notice Mirva was talking, until she repeated herself:
“Mike? Hey, Mike? Please, Mike, listen to me… Mike?“
“Huh? Sorry Mirva, I was… stuck in some mental loop… how are you?“
“Scared… terrified really. Are you really sure those monsters can’t get to us here? I mean, they were smart enough to wait for the moment we were all distracted before attacking Vartek!“
I was not sure, but I didn’t have the heart to tell here that. Not that I wanted to lie to her, either, but the truth would just be cruel at this point.
“Don’t worry. They can’t harm us. Because they aren’t monsters, just animals. Smart, dangerous animals sure, but animals nonetheless. They want to live and they want to avoid being hurt and thus they would never be insane enough to attack us. Not while we are all armed, together and sitting inside a moving fortress with rocket launchers, energy weapons and grenade proof armor. And even if they tried, Bob would protect us. He is a good truck and he got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. And even if all else fails, you don’t have to worry. Because I am here and I will protect you!“
Mirva took a deep breath, my words seemed to work, but she wasn’t quite convinced yet.
“Because that is your job?“
I chuckled and hugged her.
“No. Because you are my friend!“
Mirva smiled nervously - she actually smiled like a human, oh my god that is so cute - and her horizontal pupils got a little smaller, as she slightly calmed down. But then she shot the sleeping Vartek a sad glance.
“I am sorry I couldn’t save Vartek. I was out there and I should have stopped that Nixa, but I was too weak, too scared.“
I grabbed her by the shoulders.
“No, you are not weak. I saw you out there, standing in front of Jane, making sure that the Nixa didn’t kill her as well. Without you, we could have lost her, you hear me? That wasn’t weak, that was brave!“
I thought that were the right words to make her feel good, but something went wrong. As I said brave she suddenly recoiled and for a split second she was looking of into the distance as if she wasn’t even aware I existed anymore. I had no clue what just happened, but it probably wasn’t good. Therefore I quickly rephrased:
“Err… I meant to say you did a really good job there. Thank you for saving Jane!“
Mirva shook her head as if she had just woken up, than she gave me a proud wave with her tail.
“You’re welcome! It always feels good to do what’s right. Even though I still wish I could have helped Vartek… anyways, thanks for this talk, Mike. It really helped!“
She hugged me again and walked of.
Well, that was weird.
I looked around and saw that, since the last time I checked about an hour ago, most of the team had fallen asleep now. Including Farlent, which meant no one had had their eyes on the road for the last few minutes. Fuck.
I wipped my head around just in time to see three Nixas, with their eyes locked right on me, jumping away immediately after seeing me snap around.
And whoosh, they were gone. Hiding behind some rocks, presumably.
Or was I getting so tired I had started hallucinating?

Life, for most, was a series of ups and downs. You fail your test but then your mom makes your favorite dish for dinner. You lose the big game for your team, but then you make a major breakthrough in the spell you've been practicing for weeks. You drop your ice cream, but find some cash in your pocket you didn't remember leaving there.
The girl you've been fawning over for weeks tickles your tonsils with her tongue, but then you're cut in half and enslaved by your nation's mortal enemy.
Yeah, my life was different, there was no doubt about that at all. But the lowest lows made even the slightest highs feel so much higher. Something as simple as eating a hot meal was the height of life when you had been living on crackers, stale bread, and nearly century-old dried meat.
We failed to notice that everyone in the restaurant was staring at us as we wolfed down plate after plate. The juices; the flavors; the tenderness of the meat; the softness of the hot bread smothered in butter. I couldn't stop smiling as I ate.
"You gotta try this," Tovin said breathlessly between bites as he passed me a bowl containing what looked like some kind of wet, shredded, colorful salad. I swallowed the big bite of steak I had been chewing and quickly put a spoonful of the mystery dish in my mouth. It was heaven on earth.
"Holy smokes, what is this?" I asked.
"I think it's the coleslaw, give it back," he said, pulling the bowl right out of my hand. I turned and looked at the dumbfounded waiter standing next to our table, and smiled. "More coleslaw, please! And ribs, I'm outta ribs! And a refill on... what was this called?"
He stared wide-eyed at my plate and then shook his head as though clearing his mind. "Uhh, I believe you were having the peach lemonade, sir."
"That!" I pointed my fork at him before turning back to the assortment of delicacies splayed out before me. I wasn't sure if it was because I hadn't had a proper meal in weeks, or if it was just that the empire knew how to eat, but it was the best food I had ever tasted in my life.
"So good," Tovin said in such a way that I had to check and make sure he wasn't crying.
After eating all that we wanted and all that we could, the two of us just sat slouched in our chairs with bulging stomachs. I lifted my hand shakily toward the last rib on my plate, but let it fall to my side as I closed my eyes and accepted defeat. The will was there but the room in my stomach wasn't.
"My goodness, sirs," said the waiter. "You hunters sure can eat."
I looked up at him with a satisfied grin, "Hard work always makes a meal so much better. Know what I'm saying?"
"Can't argue with that," said the waiter as he folded his hands. "But... if I may, could I politely ask you to pay your bill? I mean no offense, but you and your friend have a..." he cleared his throat. "Musk about you."
I looked at Tovin and then at myself, and then at all the empty tables around us. We were still covered in the calraven's dried wing gunk. I had to have gone completely nose-blind to it. Now the faces everyone had been making at us made a lot more sense. I looked down to see that it had been flaking off of us and onto the restaurant floor.
"Oh man, I'm so sorry," I apologized.
"No!" said the man, holding his hands out. "It was an honor to serve the hunters keeping our cities safe, don't take me the wrong way. It would be our pleasure to serve you again, but it's about to be 5'o clock and our dinner rush will be starting soon."
I suddenly remembered something I had completely forgotten. I looked up at the man, "Excuse me, do you have a pencil?"
"Certainly," he answered, pulling one from his apron and setting it down on the checkered tablecloth. "Your bill will be 22 octims."
"That's so much," Tovin groaned, not bothering to lift his head or open his eyes. He wasn't wrong, but we had ordered almost everything on the menu. I wasn't completely certain I could walk correctly when it was time to leave. I pulled out the envelope and handed him 25 octims.
"Keep the change," I said, Tovin groaning quietly in tacit disapproval.
"Th-thank you!" said the waiter with a wide grin.
"In return, I'm keeping the pencil," I added, smiling back.
x - - x - - x - - ★ - - x - - x - - x
It didn't take long for us to find an inn. Bronzegirder was full of them, as it was apparently a booming industrial hub rife with people traveling on business. We decided to book one room with two separate bedrooms to save a bit of money. It came out to 9 octims a night, which when you factored in food, meant we only had a little over a week's worth of cash if we spent conservatively. I didn't know how long it was going to take me to find Atlas and Axle, but I couldn't see it happening that soon. We would likely have to hunt again; that or find a steady job that paid the bills.
It was a humble inn compared to some of the others we had seen. I really wanted to stay in one of the nicer ones, but Tovin wasn't having it. He said the less we had to go out and make money, the better, and I couldn't come up with a good enough argument to push back. While Tovin took a shower, I took an eraser to everything Fena had written to me in the notebook. I left a little bit of her message so as to avoid suspicion, and decided I'd write back later tonight before bed.
After his shower, he realized that he only had dirty clothes to change into and we were reminded that we needed to go shopping. I rinsed off and the two of us made our way back down to the lobby and out into town. It had gotten considerably darker since we had checked in, and the chill winds blew against my cold hair, sending shivers down my spine. We pulled our hoods up and hit the market.
The first shop we landed at was a big success. We bought a warm hat for Tovin's head, which was only just now growing back a thin layer of hair. We found some sheepskin flight jackets with wool collars that rode high against the back of our necks. Tovin begrudgingly accepted them as the best option both for warmth and for hiding our slave tattoos, but for me, I also thought they looked really, really cool.
We bought some leather gloves that matched the jackets, along with new undergarments and sleep attire. We bagged some Diesillian snacks and drinks, as well as a refill of cigarettes for Tovin before heading back to the room. We were both exhausted, and I was more excited about a bed than I ever had been. Back in the room, we sat on the floor and tried the different candies and snacks as we discussed our next plan of action.
"Let's stay here for a little while," Tovin advised, sitting under the open window with his cigarette in hand. "This place is huge. The odds of them finding us here quickly are slim."
"I agree," I said as I popped one of the candies in my mouth. "I'm not going to say I like it here, but it sure beats being on the run."
"We're still on the run," he warned. "Don't misunderstand that. We should also probably pick new aliases. DuPonte has the wrong ones, but Gilliam is pretty similar to William."
"Yeah, but we're not on the run, run. Y'know, being chased through the night, sleeping in abandoned shacks, and stowing away in train cars. I know they're still looking for us, but how are they ever gonna catch us now?"
He folded his arms and dropped his eyes. Smoke billowed from his mouth as he sat in quiet contemplation. "It would be a mistake to underestimate our enemy," he said finally. "We need to start going by new names. I'm Wallace, and you're Geoffrey, got that?"
"I don't want to be Geoffrey, you be Geoffrey," I said playfully as I passed him a bag of candies. "Here, try these. They're called jelly beans, they're pretty good."
He dug his hand into the bag, fished one out, and popped it into his mouth. "Fine," he said. "You can be Wallace then, and I'll be Geoffrey. You need to help me remember that, you understand?"
"Yeah, I got it," I assured him.
"Gill."
"I said I heard you, Jeez," I said dismissively as I picked up the dark beverage I had been eyeing. It was labeled Root Beer and it generated a golden fizz at the top when disturbed. I couldn't wait to taste it. Tovin reached over and gently lowered my hand. I looked up to find him staring at me intensely.
"Gill," he repeated. "Stop. Just stop it, alright? I know what you're doing. I might be slipping, but I'm not dumb, deaf, and blind just yet. While I appreciate the act, or at least where it's coming from, I know you're just as scared as I am. I'm not a child; and while I may not be able to preserve what remains of my dignity for very much longer, I would ask for your respect until that time comes."
I had somehow underestimated the smartest man I had ever known– again. I didn't know the extent of his condition. Based on our interactions, I figured that he had no memory of the times when he regressed. I assumed that he didn't fully understand how bad his lapses had gotten, but it seemed he did. Worse yet, I knew how he felt about sympathy. The way I was acting had to have felt like the biggest insult to him, and even so, he wasn't reacting with anger.
He just wanted to be heard.
"Earlier today in the woods," he said, lifting his arm and tapping his cigarette against the window sill. "I can't remember the details. I don't know how you did that monster in, how I ended up unconscious, or anything about how we got back to the city. But I do remember how I felt."
He traced the floorboards with his eyes and placed his arms on his knees as he looked for the words. "... I felt useless; helpless like a terrified child. At one point, I felt like I didn't deserve to be alive." He looked up at me. "It was like I was swimming in a dream; like I was watching my own actions from over my shoulder. I came back to consciousness for a brief moment and contemplated shoving that rifle in my mouth."
"Tovin–"
"Shut up," he waved at me dismissively, drawing tendrils of smoke in the air with the end of his cigarette. "I don't need your pep talk," he huffed. "I'm past it." He rested his head against the wall behind him. "I just want you to know that this whole thing is getting harder for me. It's like there are two people fighting for control of the wheel, and when I'm not steering, I'm in a sleeplike state. My thoughts play out in front of me like I'm having some kind of fever dream. They smear and melt like watercolor giving me brief glimpses of reality through a window I can't reach or jump through."
I stared at him with concern. We shared a brief moment of eye contact before he closed his eyes and exhaled smoke. "It's not looking good for me, Gill. I just wanted you to know before I went to bed," he said, getting to his feet. "That if I go to sleep tonight for the last time..."
"Hang on," I interrupted. "There's something you should know. I reached out to that friend of mine back home. He's already working on a way to fix you."
His face brightened. "Y-yeah?" he smiled. "Gill, why didn't you say anything?"
I picked up the bottle and used the opener we had purchased with it to pry the lid off. "There was never a good time," I shrugged. "It's been a long, long day."
"Well, what else did he say?" he asked, taking a step forward.
"... Just, y'know," I trailed off. "Hang in there."
He sucked his lips in and looked down at the floor. He knew I was holding back. I was more worried about putting him through information overload than anything else. There was a lot he didn't know; too much, in fact.
"Tovin, just trust me. You'll know everything soon," I assured him. "All of it. As soon as you get your memories back."
"You really think your friend is that incredible?" he asked without looking up.
I smiled knowingly. "I do."
I took a swig of the beverage and spat it back out all of my legs. It almost splashed his legs and he quickly scrambled away. He looked at me with apparent disgust.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he yelled.
"It's like medicine," I grimaced. "I don't think this is even a drink!"
x - - x - - x - - ☾ - - x - - x - - x
That night, as Tovin slept, I wrote down the events of the day. As I jotted it all down, I began having new revelations. Tovin seemed to be at his best after resting. In the morning when we got off the train, he seemed alright. However, as the day drew on, he became less and less like himself. I should have known something was up the moment he wandered off without me. Then he was acting like a literal child up to our confrontation with the calraven. He had even mistakenly called me dad, perhaps reliving a buried memory of a hunt with his father.
But when his rifle exploded and he lost consciousness, he was back to himself when he woke up. He seemed to hold strong through dinner up until he went to bed. I wondered what it was about sleeping that restored at least a portion of his working mind.
Then there was the stranger, referred to only once as "Deac." There was no mistaking the magic that glowed in his body, but what was that other energy? I couldn't see it, but for the fact that it danced with and often overtook his magic essence. There were two energies tangled up together inside of him, and they seemed to be at odds with one another. And then there was the Diesel Devil sitting at the back of the cave.
The two of them definitely knew one another on a familiar level. They had been sent together to investigate Eluviel, but why, and from where? She definitely didn't seem happy to see them, but could that have been because she felt I was threatened by them? A splinter-sprite, he called her. A piece of her consciousness that she had shed just before she was subdued.
I wondered why she'd chosen me. Was it because I could see her while others couldn't? Or maybe I was just secretly really, really awesome, like a main character in a novel. I sat under the electric light and smiled at the idea of being someone worthy of tales. Someone like Tovin or Atlas with a bright destiny. But was revenge really such a noble pursuit? The yearning to return home and lift some heads off of shoulders didn't seem like any sort of heroic journey. After I penned the events of the day as best as I could, I got to work answering everyone individually.
Tovin. Be nice to Gill. He's doing his best with what he's got. Instead of being pissed at him, be pissed at the headmasters in question for what they've done to him. I hope everything I wrote above helps in some way, but I'm still running around out here with a lot of questions. Any luck with the spell for your counterpart? As you;ve read, he's getting worse. I need that miracle cure sooner than later. Thanks for your help.
I could already hear him in my head. "I'm working as fast I can you ingrate," or something like that. I laughed under my breath as I thought about what a dick he was. It was pressure, pride, and maintaining appearances that warped his personality so much. Out here in the Diesel as a nobody with nothing to prove, he was so much more agreeable. His inner-Tovin showed through now and again, but I wondered what would happen if he suddenly got all his memories back. Would he be a more chilled-out version of his ENU counterpart, or would he be even more high-strung?
Gill. I hope you read the annotation I scribbled in the margins about not reading the whole journal entry. I forgot you had asked me not to talk about the Galgalim before I had already written it all down. If you skipped right to this response as I hoped, then don't go back and read any of that. There were major revelations about what she is and why she's here.
I knew he wouldn't be able to resist after reading that. I needed his curiosity to overpower his fear. It was possible, I figured, that I could undo some of the damage Vega had done. I just needed to remind Gill of who he was.
I know it's weird putting your trust in me, but if there's anyone you can trust, it's yourself. I'm 99% sure Tovin would back me up on that, haha. And yeah, I remember Fena boasting about the importance of keeping a diary. We love that girl, but we hate to write, am I write?
I hoped he would find my pun funny. He was me, so he would at least smile at it, I was sure.
Even now my hand is aching something fierce, I want to go to bed more than anything. You know how long its been since I've slept in a bed? This mattress feels like heaven under me right now, you got no idea. And is Tovin still threatening to kill you? I thought we had gotten a little closer than that. I can't believe Axle was expelled. You're right, that means you're probably next. Keep your head down, man. Thanks for cooperating with me. If you had changed the summoning signature for the tome, I would have died today... and yesterday too, actually. I'm getting actual combat experience out here. It's wild knowing you can die at any moment. My hand is kinda cramping and I still have to write Fena back so I'll end it here. Thanks again for hearing me out and staying open-minded about this whole thing.
I set the pencil down and massaged the muscle between my thumb and forefinger. I had a lot to tell. But I wasn't about to roll over and drift off without writing to Fena. I picked the pencil up and readjusted myself before putting my words down.
I'm sorry I asked Gill not to tell you, but something deep down inside of me told me he would do it anyway. I just wanted to touch base with him first before I reached out to the rest of you. And technically, I was the one who showed you the message in the tome, so I didn't actually ever keep a secret from you.
I doodled a little smiley face with his tongue sticking out and then quickly erased it only to find that I couldn't fully get it off the page. There was a big smudge there that made it evident that I'd written and then erased something. I let out a frustrated sigh and drew it again, but somehow worse.
That's a solid theory on Tovin there. Same for Atlas. That could end up coming back to bite Vega in the ass. I promise I'll be safe, but do me a favor and help Tovin with whatever it is he needs. He's working on that spell to untether blocked memories from the mind, and the Tovin with me is getting worse by the day it seems. I don't want to see him get caught and sent back to the camp. He won't cooperate with them and they'll definitely kill him.
Thanks for everything, hun. I miss you more than you could ever know. Promise me you'll stay safe too. I know Vega is trying to find a way to get to you. If he got to Tovin... look just take every precaution you can. I love you. Goodnight.
I closed the book and set it down on my bedside table. I pulled the chain on the light, snuffing it out, then turned over and sank my head into the pillow. It wasn't that late yet– I could hear the hum of Diesel vehicles and even the chatter of the populace outside. I pulled the blankets over myself and closed my eyes. I let the warmth of the bed cradle me as I counted my many blessings, and thanked Hahnahkordia that I had somewhere warm and dry to lay my head.
The room was dimly lit when I opened my eyes again. It was just bright enough that I could read the clock on the wall. It was about 7am. It felt like I had blinked. I thought about getting up, but the blankets were so warm, and the room was cold– I had left the window open all night by accident. What reason did I have to get out of bed anyways? I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep again and repeated this several times until the clock read noon and I started to get hungry.
I rolled out of bed and quickly closed the window. I hurried into the hot embrace of my morning shower and got dressed before knocking on Tovin's door. "Hey, you up? I was thinking of breakfast."
There was no answer. I carefully opened his door to find his bed empty and neatly made. I entered the room fully to find that his backpack was also missing. I figured he had to have gotten hungry first and left without me. That theory fell on its face when I ventured back to my room and found a note placed on the side table.
You can sleep all day if you want. I'm going down to the gun range at the hunters' office. I won't be shown up by you again.
I set the note down and began to worry. I didn't like the idea of him going out by himself. What if he were to suddenly backslide mentally while out in Diesel territory alone? I could see a scenario where he'd forget his alias or that he has an incriminating mark on the back of his neck. I got dressed in a hurry and grabbed my backpack before heading out the door. I hurried down the steps and out into the cold wet streets of Bronzegirder.
I made my way north of the crowded city streets and found Alloy street. The bitter winds blew against me as I made my way up the empty road toward the hunters' office. I was starting to regret not buying a warm hat for myself when I bought one for Tovin. I skipped every second step on my way up to the front door and made my way past the reception desk and into the firing range. I heaved a sigh of relief when I found Tovin shooting at targets downrange.
I walked up next to him as he turned his rifle over and grabbed a handful of ammunition from the box sitting on the counter. "Busy morning, Geoffrey?"
"Did you just wake up?" he asked as he began feeding bullets into the tube.
"I figured I didn't have anywhere to be," I shrugged. "I assumed you didn't either. I thought the plan was to get our bonus and ditch this place."
"Yeah, well, I kind of like shooting," he admitted. "Also, we're out of money."
I felt my knees turn to jelly underneath me. "What?" I yelled. "How?"
"Turns out these guns are expensive," he said as he pulled the hammer back and lifted the rifle to his shoulder. "You left ours out in the woods. They charged us for them."
I stammered for entirely too long before wiping both hands over my face and collecting myself. "... How much we got left?"
"We owe," he answered, firing his gun. "They charged us for the uniforms, and then a fee to clean the gunk off of them. Also, I bought us a pair of rain ponchos, they're cheaper here." He motioned to a couple of folded-up ponchos hanging over the wooden divider.
I stammered for a little longer. This was becoming more expensive than it was worth. We would have to hunt another monster today. I was hoping to never have to hoof it out there again, and it was even colder today than it was yesterday.
"Calm down," he said, not taking his eyes off the target. "Get your poncho on. I've got a plan."
"A plan?" I asked.
x - - x - - x - - ★ - - x - - x - - x
"The circus?" I said with a hint of anger in my voice as we stood in front of the many tents and attractions. They had set up east of town on the perimeter of the city. Families wandered the fairgrounds. Vendors had set up games and stands with delicious food we couldn't pay for, and I had just remembered I hadn't eaten breakfast.
"I came this way first when I smelled the food," Tovin said, taking a few steps in front of me and turning around. "Then I explored a little bit. And wouldn't you know it– I found an attraction that was offering a cash prize. It just wasn't open yet."
I sighed and hung my head. "You just wanted to come to the carnival," I grumbled.
"100 octims," he said flatly.
I looked up at him and he smiled faintly. "Thought that would get your attention." He reached into his pocket and produced a single red ticket. "This will get us one round."
"One round?" I asked, taking the ticket and inspecting it. It read, "Single Admission ~ 1 Minute."
"There's a stage toward the back with a guy in a cape that you can challenge in hand-to-hand combat," he said, beckoning me to follow as he turned and started into the fair. I hurried after him as he explained. "Here's the kicker though. You don't have to beat him. All you've got to do is hit him."
"Just hit him?" I asked.
"That's what they said. He's supposed to be some kind of master. You strike him just once and we're set for the next several days, and that's after settling our debt."
This plan was a little better than I had given him credit for. Here I had thought he'd gone bananas again, but this could really work.
"You think I can do it?" I asked. "It can't be easy if they're throwing around a hundred octims."
"Here's what I'm thinking," he said, lowering his voice and slowing down to walk next to me. "You use a little bit of that magic– the kind you isolate in your feet to move quickly."
"Are you nuts?" I cast him an incredulous glance. "Did you forget we'd be on stage in Diesel territory?"
"Just use it once quickly to make your swing a little faster," he reasoned. "It's been drizzling all morning. The stage is wet already. If you're quick about it, it won't stand out."
"I don't know," I shook my head. "It's not the worst plan, but it's so risky."
"Riskier than hunting monsters?" he asked.
That was a fair point. Still, the idea of casting in front of everyone made me uneasy. It wasn't like Jetstream was a super common spell, though. Furthermore, the odds were slim that anyone in the crowd had ever even witnessed magic before. The more I thought about it, the more I started to think we could actually pull this off.
"This is the place," said Tovin as we approached a crowd. There was a wooden sign in front that read, The Slippery Salamander! One hit gets you 100 octims! The two of us pushed through the crowd until we came to the stage where a mustached man was swinging like crazy at the aptly named Salamander. He bobbed and weaved effortlessly around every attempted strike until a man in a red and white striped outfit hurried out onto the stage and blew a whistle.
"Time's up!" he called out.
The crowd cheered and applauded as the Salamander turned and took a bow. The world fell out from underneath me. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Writing Prompt Submitted by u/My-Last-Hope

Check out our full Durham events calendar. If you'd like to add an event to our calendar, submit an event here. Please check with the event owners to see if events change due to weather. Have a great weekend!
Also, for whatever reason, Reddit will not let us edit posts. So if we need to make any changes, you can find them on our Tumblr account.

March Featured Event

The Hunt for the Golden Bulls with Bull City Burger and Brewery

• The 13th annual “Hunt for the Golden Bulls”: a scavenger hunt inspired by the golden tickets from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Throughout the month, clues and puzzles will be revealed on social media and at bullcityburgerandbrewery.com. The clues, once deciphered, lead participants to public spaces around Durham where a golden bull has been carefully hidden.
• Golden Bulls #1, #2, #3, and #4 have been found.

Multi-Day Events

The Durham Savoyards presents Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeomen of The Guard at The Carolina Theatre

• Do you need a comic operetta fix? In their 60th year, the Durham Savoyards are performing Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard. The show promises a live orchestra, a travelling jester and his lovely lady, an assistant jailer interested in torture and comedy, a deviously flirtatious woman, a vanishing prisoner, sweetheart stealing, a blindfolded bride, a shot in the dark, a cock-and-bull story, and enough lies and connivances to make your head spin, if the headsman doesn’t get it first.
• Fri, Mar 31 at 8:00 p.m.
• Sat, Apr 1 at 7:00 p.m.
• Sun, Apr 2 at 3:00 p.m.
• $40

Events at The Pinhook

• Thu, Mar 30 at 8:00 p.m. - Yolo Karaoke!
• Fri, Mar 31 at 8:00 p.m. - ¡Tumbao! / Akita / Mami’s and the Papis!
• Sat, Apr 1 at 7:00 p.m. - Horizontal Hold / Neill Wyeman / Osowa Tome
• Sat, Apr 1 at 10:00 p.m. - The House Of Coxx Presents: Drag Divinity
• Sat, Apr 1 at 11:55 p.m. - Rent Due Dance Party!!!
• Sun, Apr 2 at 7:00 p.m. - Matty Frank / Debbie The Artist / Jr – LGBTQ Center Benefit!

Improv Comedy at Mettlesome

• Thu-Sat at 8:00 p.m. Romance is Dead: A Sketch Comedy Show About the Darker Side of Romance
• Fri, Mar 31 at 7:00 p.m. The Racket - See indie improv teams from around the Triangle show off their stuff.
• Fri, Mar 31 at 9:00 p.m. Hush Hush - Improv inspired by anonymous secrets from the audience.
• Sat, Apr 1 at 9:00 p.m. House Party - A mix of short-form (similar to Who's Line is it Anyway?) and long-form inspired by an audience interview.
• All shows $8

Events at Motorco Music Hall

• Thu, Mar 30 at 8:00 p.m. - Ryan Montbleau with Bryan Elijah Smith
• Fri, Mar 31 at 8:00 p.m. - The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band with The Hooten Hallers

Live Music at Blue Note Grill

• Thur, Mar 30 at 7:30 p.m. - Blood Brothers: Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia
• Fri, Mar 31 at 6:00 p.m. - The Duke Street Dogs
• Fri, Mar 31 at 9:15 p.m. - Wiley Fosters Play Foster Wiley
• Sat, Apr 1 at 7:30 p.m. - Armand & Bluesology featuring Carter Minor

Events at Moon Dog Meadery

• Thu, Mar 30 at 6:30 p.m. - 90's Trivia Night with The Durham Library
• Sun, Apr 2 at 7:00 p.m. - Moon Dog Open Mic

Live Music at Sharp 9 Gallery

• Fri, Mar 31 at 8:00 p.m. - Peter Bernstein/Joey Calderazzo Quartet
• Sat, Apr 1 at 2:00 p.m. - Peter Bernstein Masterclass
• Sat, Apr 1 at 8:00 p.m. - Peter Bernstein/Joey Calderazzo Quartet

Events at Arcana

• Thu, Mar 30 - Matt Southern & Kit McKay and Tarot with Virginia
• Fri, Mar 31 (bar opens at 8 p.m.) - Andrew Kasab and Tarot with Virginia
• Sat, Apr 1 - Bardo Bloom Tarot with Rene
• Sun, Apr 2 - Slow Teeth w/Robert Chamberlain and Tarot with Emily

Events at Rubies on Five Points

• Thu, Mar 30 at 8:00 p.m. - Piedmont with Scivic Rivers
• Fri, Mar 31 at 10:00 p.m. - DJ Bagaceiro Presents: Still Rising – A Tribute To De La Soul
• Sat, Apr 1 at 10:00 p.m. - Renaissance Disko V with DJ Vsprtn Brings You The Fifth Edition Of Disko

Events at The Fruit

• Thu, Mar 30 at 8:00 p.m. - Below Decks: Isabel Essence / Acfx 969 / K Ward / Miss Ashley
• Thu, Mar 30 at 8:00 p.m. - Rabbit Foot Puppetry Presents: The Clown Car Rolls On
• Sat, Apr 1 at 9:30 p.m. - Ignition Featuring: Popov (Form Music)
• Sun, Apr 2 at 12 p.m. - The Fruit Flea: Monthly Flea Market

Ira Knight Presents From Myth To Man: Martin Luther King, An Interpretation at Walltown Children's Theatre

• An audience talkback with actor and playwright will follow each performance. This original one-man play is currently touring colleges and universities in the United States.
• Fri, Mar 31 at 7:00 p.m. and Sat, Apr 1 at 2 p.m.
• $22

NCCU Dance Repertory Spring Concert at NCCU University Theatre

• The Department of Theatre will present its annual Spring Dance Concert.
• Sat, Apr 1 at 8:00 p.m.
• Sun, Apr 2 at 3:00 p.m.
• $10

Thursday, Mar 30

Relay Relay at Boxyard RTP

• Relay Relay is the feel good, free-spirited indie pop group led by the husband and wife songwriting team of Hannah and Jamie Rowen. Their music blends retro soundscapes into a uniquely modern sound with powerful vocal melodies, vibey guitar riffs, dreamy synth tones and rich harmonies woven together with a strong pop sensibility.
• 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Vinyl Night with DJ Deckades at Gizmo Brew Works

• Enjoy fresh vibes on the patio with DJ Deckades. Bring your own vinyl to share or just listen to what the DJ is spinning.
• 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Boulders & Brews Meetup at Triangle Rock Club - Durham

• Show up and climb at TRC Durham, then head over to Hi-Wire for some brews. Don't worry if it's your first time or haven't bouldered before; everyone's welcome.
• Your first visit to the gym with the Meetup includes free admission and gear rental, and subsequent visits with the meetup are $15 and include harness rental (outside of meetups, day pass rates of $19 apply and do not include rentals).
• 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Al Strong Presents Jazz on the Roof at The Durham Hotel

• The Durham is excited to bring back “Al Strong Presents.” A favorite rooftop event, it’s back by popular demand! Join us for live jazz music on the Roof overlooking downtown Durham.
• 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
• Free admission, but space is limited

Live Music in the Taproom at The Glass Jug Beer Lab - Downtown Durham

• Glass Jug offers local live music EVERY Thursday in their Downtown Durham taproom.
• 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Trivia Night w/Big Slow Tom at Clouds Brewing Brightleaf Square

• Join Clouds Durham for Big Slow Tom's Trivia Night, every Thursday. Win some prizes, drink some beer, and show your smarts.
• Enjoy $4 select draft and $5 rotating bartender's choice all night.
• 7:30 p.m.
• Free admission

Friday, Mar 31

Tasting at Ten at Counter Culture Coffee

• Every Friday morning at 10 am, Counter Culture Coffee opens their Training Centers to coffee lovers who want to learn more about Counter Culture Coffee’s high-quality, sustainably sourced menu.
• 10:00 a.m.
• Free, but donations accepted

Carolina BBQ Fest (Dreamville Pop-Up/ Flea Market) at Studio Motif Durham

• The Carolina BBQ Music Festival is an indoooutdoor event curated to highlight North and South Carolina's emerging talent, such as performing and visual artists, brands, small businesses and content creators. Prepare for an action packed performance and networking with over 100's of creatives and like-minded music lovers from all over the Carolina's and the USA.
• 2:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
• $20

Durham Bulls Kickoff Party at CCB Plaza

• Join us at CCB Plaza on game day starting at 3:30 p.m. for music from DJ Piddipat, free popcorn provided by Self Help and cornhole. You also won’t want to miss the special guest appearance from Wool E. Bull himself!
• 3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Swing into Spring at the Durham Art Council Truist Gallery

• Join the Durham Art Guild for a night celebrating the arts. It’s their first in-person event since 2019! Enjoy local entertainment, Art experiences, food and drink, and place your bids on fabulous art pieces and items celebrating the best of the Bull City!
• 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Open Mic Stand-Up Comedy at Durty Bull Brewing Company

• This weekly event takes place indoors in the Barrel Room, with seating available for nearly 100 people. There's no better way to unwind after a long week than a night of laughter with Ashley & Ebony. Interested in performing? Please contact Ashley and Ebony.
• 8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
• 21+
• Free admission

Pub Karaoke at West 94th St Pub

• Hosted by All King Entertainment.
• 10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
• Free admission

Saturday, Apr 1

parkrun Durham at Southern Boundaries Park

• A free, fun, and friendly weekly 5k community event. Walk, jog, run, volunteer, or spectate. It's up to you!
• 8:00 a.m.
• Free admission

Durham Farmers’ Market at Durham Central Park

• The Durham Farmers’ Market offers locally grown fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, cut flowers, artisanal cheeses and breads, home-baked pies, honey, handmade chocolates, preserves, local wines, handmade soaps, fresh pasta, and artwork of all sorts!
• 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
• Free admission

South Durham Farmers' Market at Greenwood Commons Shopping Center

• The market strives to support new and growing farms and vendors in the greater Durham area, and they are also home to some of the most iconic Durham brands around.
• 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Durham Master Gardener Volunteers Plant Festival at Durham County Cooperative Extension

• Join Durham County Cooperative Extension and other community partners for a fun and educational day. Learn about native plants, composting, beekeeping, bird-friendly habitats, the Durham Library seed library, local community gardens, patio gardening, and MORE. There will be kid-friendly, hands-on exhibits and a story time. While you’re there, learn about the Plant Sale the following week and the first 200 get a free plant.
• 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Art-n-Soul Market at Mystic Farm & Distillery

• Come shop handmade in this special setting. Mystic Farm & Distillery in Durham offers a unique place to gather and enjoy local spirits. The Art-n-Soul Market brings the best local artisans, food trucks and live music out to the farm for bourbon tastings, craft cocktails, food trucks and distinctive gifts you won't find anywhere else. Bring your friends and meet us at the bourbon farm! Dogs welcome.
• 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Crafternoons at Gizmo Brew Works

• Free pint with purchase of craft box. Choose from a variety of craft packages available for all ages.
• 12:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Sunday, Apr 2

Public Tour at Duke University Chapel

• Learn about the history, architecture, and life of Duke Chapel in this tour. The tour begins at 12:15 p.m., or immediately following the conclusion of the Sunday morning service, and lasts approximately 45 minutes. No reservation is required but if you plan to bring a large group please contact [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). Meet the docent on the front steps of the Chapel.
• 12:15 p.m.
• Free admission

Trivia at Navigator Beverage Co.

• Hosted by the Triangle’s Trivia team, Hammered Trivia, gather your team and post up to compete for prizes and enjoy an afternoon of great drinks, great friends, and great games.
• 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Running Art Exhibits

Art Exhibition: 'Marc Chagall and the Bible' at Duke Chapel

• In partnership with Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts (DITA), the Chapel is presenting an exhibition of prints of works by the distinguished, modernist artist Marc Chagall. Curated by the art collector Sandra Bowden, the exhibition, Marc Chagall and the Bible, features etchings and lithographs with biblical themes.
• The Chapel is open daily from 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. but is sometimes closed to the public for private ceremonies
• Runs through March 30
• No tickets or reservations required.

The Textile Art of Debbie Secan in the Great Hall of the Golden Belt Campus

• Debbie Secan fell in love with weaving as a teenager and has worked with woven structures ever since, in the textile industry and as a fine artist. The materials in her work are repurposed for environmental reasons and to exploit the breadth of resources we discard.
• Runs through Mar 31
• Mon-Sat from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sun from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Free admission

The Art of Nicholas Edward at the Building 2 Gallery at Golden Belt Campus

• Derrick Nicholas is the artist behind Nicholas Edward. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, he moved to Raleigh in 1995 and has been a Triangle resident ever since. A North Carolina A&T University class of 2008 graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design, art has been Nicholas’ passion since the age of 6. He loves to express and create through various mediums including pencil, digital, and paint, and finds that each provides a unique and therapeutic satisfaction.
• Runs through Mar 31
• Mon-Sat from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sun from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Free admission

Mi Casa, Your Casa Experience at The Streets at Southpoint

• Designed to look and feel like an inviting home, Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0 encourages visitors to come together and feel a sense of warmth and community as they step in, swing, and relax in one of the glowing red houses.
• Runs through Apr 2

The Mind’s Eye: Gallery Members Exhibition at 5 Points Gallery

• 5 Points Gallery celebrates cleverness in the Year of the Rabbit with their new exhibit called “The Mind’s Eye”.
• Runs through Apr 15
• Free admission

Damian Stamer Collaborations: New Paintings at Craven Allen Gallery

• Collaborations features both new paintings from Stamer’s continued exploration of home, memory, and place as well as a new body of work created in collaboration with Artificial Intelligence. Instead of his traditional process of using photographs as source material, Stamer used an AI text-to-image generator to compile reference imagery. The resulting oil paintings are visually striking and raise timely questions about our relationship with the digital world.
• Runs through May 6
• Free admission

Beyond the Surface: Collage, Mixed Media and Textile Works from the Collection at the Nasher

• This exhibition includes approximately 40 works, primarily from the Nasher Museum’s collection. With a focus on collage, mixed media and textile works, Beyond the Surface explores how artists bring together disparate materials and ideas to create artworks that engage with all audiences.
• Tue-Fri from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sun from 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Runs through May 14
• Free admission

Patrimonio Heritage at John Hope Franklin Center Gallery

• A series of drawing interventions on “Llanchama” (Amazonian tree bark) by Peruvian/American artist Renzo Ortega.
• Mon-Fri from 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
• Runs through May 18
• Free admission

Exhibits at 21c Museum Hotel

• Whitney Stanley: We Just Be in the Vault Gallery
• This We Believe in the Main Gallery
• Runs through May 31
• Open 24 hours
• Free admission

Spirit in the Land at the Nasher

• Spirit in the Land is a contemporary art exhibition that examines today’s urgent ecological concerns from a cultural perspective, demonstrating how intricately our identities and natural environments are intertwined. Through their artwork, 30 artists show us how rooted in the earth our most cherished cultural traditions are, how our relationship to land and water shapes us as individuals and communities
• Tue-Fri from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sun from 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Runs through Jul 9
• Free admission

Art of Peru at the Nasher

• This gallery features ceramics, textiles, metalwork and carvings produced by ancient cultures across what is known as present-day Peru.
• Tue-Fri from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sun from 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Runs through Dec 2
• Free admission

Hello everyone,
I have no great outlets for help, and I've been swirling around with emotions the last four days after my wife asked if we could have a general open relationship. She was asking if we could date other people while keeping each other as the Primary family/relationship. My wife is 27 and I'm 32 years old. We have two boys 3 and 1 that we love with all our hearts. We have always loved being around each other and we fun every chance we get. We seldom get to go out on dates without the kids (Once every 3 months). I spend a lot of time at work during the week and she's in nursing school. We have about 3-4 hours during the week together with the kids and the weekends. We live in Florida with no other family in the state and we rely heavily on each other to make sure we and the kids have everything we need.
Day 1, 3/28/23 My wife would have liked a better setting to present this information, but I pushed her to tell me what was on her mind. I could tell she needed to share something with me. I had no clue what she was about to say. She let me know that for two years she has been desiring to have the feeling of going on a first date and having a new emotional connection with someone new (New butterfly feeling when you first date someone). Something I cannot provide her. She has battled with this for a while and prayed for the feeling to leave her. The day before she told me our very close friend (For clarity he is gay, and we are all close friends since before my wife and I met. He introduced us) was in town and she shared with him her feels. He's very emotionally entuned with himself and his feels and was concerned why she didn't feel safe sharing this information with me first. Later she told me that she didn't what kind of affect this would cause our relationship. She loves her life but is also young and desires the feeling of a new emotional connection and that excitement. She has stated that she's 100% in love with me and doesn't want to lose what we have. (It's hard to explain to most but my wife and I have had several moments in our lives where we should have died but God has saved us) We fully trust one another and when she tells me she wants to keep the life we have but add in another layer of short term excitement. I must trust that is what she's asking for. We've never needed to lie, and I can tell she is being honest (It's still unclear the extent of excitement she's needing, and I feel that can be a slippery slope from dating to sex). She's informed me this is something she wants to experience while she is still young and very desirable. We get pregnant quickly and she was only 23, and now she wants to have that fresh feeling of dating (That's my understanding).
Initially, I took several breaths to fully understand what I was hearing my head started to pound as my blood pressure increase. I looked at the women that I married, the love of my life, mother of my beautiful boys, and the person I trusted above all others. I deeply felt the pain in my bones. What had I done to trigger this request. Was I inadequate to meet my wife's desire, what did I do to cause my wife to need someone else in her life. - The emotions alone could fill the pages. Primarily it was a feeling of sadness that I was not the man my wife thought I would be and that I could never be what she needed to be filled all the way up with happiness/desire.
After taking some time and learning more about what she was asking it was time for bed.
Day 2 - I didn't sleep well and woke up using all my might to get the boys ready for school and to head to work at 6:20AM. I felt as though I was an empty shell of a man walking around work. I spend the next three hours reading articles on understanding open/poly relationships to help me better understand how we could compromise and what I could do to save my marriage. I was having troubling finding if this was something I could allow myself to handle. I was imagining my wife out on a date with someone else while I was at home with the kids. We rarely get to spend time together without the kids and now some lucky man is out with my wife hearing her beautiful laugh and seeing her smile. Taking in the beauty she shares. I ended up leaving work early sick to my stomach and having trouble functioning. I went straight to the gym to help combating the heavy weight of anxiety for the future and depression tempting my memories of our relationships. The gym helped but I found myself spending time looking at perfect pictures of our family and the doom that was to come in the next few weeks or months.
That night we talked about ground rules and specifically what she was looking for. One major obstacle was that she thought she could get what she needs without having sex with someone else. This gave me immediate relief and made me feel better about my insecurities and fears. She told me maybe two dates ever six months would satisfy what she was needing. This would be equal to the number of dates we get to have with one another.
Day 3, 3/29/23- Another night with little sleep, but after a few hours I was down after taking some helpful sleeping medication to aid my racing thoughts. Again, waking up thinking I was in someone's life and this couldn't be happening to me and my family. I went to work and spilled the beans to the only person I could trust at work. A highly educated 30-year-old male that has a mother and sister doctors OBGYN and physiatrist. I couldn't hold in the pain any longer and had to talk. He looked me strait in the face and said, "I'm so sorry man". He knew for most people wife asking for an open relationship that the end was right around the corner. I took his statements in stride he didn't know what my wife and I had been through. We'd both lived lives that were filled with risks and near death experiences. We were previous IV drug users and should have died many times before (Many of our friend had). Our cornerstone of 5+ years in recovery was honest. We knew without that we were surely not going to stay sober. He later came back into my office mentioning he spoke with his mother and sister and let me know in most cases like these the partner has already cheated. This challenged all the work I put into understanding my wife request the last two days. This was a minor setback and I let him know right away I 100% trust my wife and when she told me she has not acted on the urges it's the truth no further explanation was needed. I did greatly appreciate him checking in on my and letting me know several people were praying for us. (I do not recommend talking with strangers this early. It clouded my thinking and understanding of my wife's communication. It also added doubt into the mix that did not need to be there)
I got ahold of our mutual friend who my wife originally opened up to. He was very understanding in my feeling and let me know the shock will wear off and to give myself time to process these emotions (He too told us he was in a working poly relationship and he would try to keep his insight as unbiased as possible). I let him know by trying to set up parameters/ground rules and making this possible was severally impacting my soul. I believe now this was a little catastrophizing of a statement as I'm working towards finding a way to keep our family together. God sent me two much needed signs this day.
The first one a gentleman who had been terminated from work this day was walking by saying farewell he didn't mention to me at that time it was his last day but he looked at me and asked what was wrong. Apparently, I was noticeably hurting. I didn't tell him the specifics but that I was having trouble at home. "He said trust in God always." That had a lot of meaning for me. It helped me to keep pushing on and to trust in God always.
The second sigh when I went to get my medication the pharmacist provided me a Narcan inhaler. This of course helps bring you back once you're overdosing from opiates. I have recently had a shoulder surgery and knew the most peaceful way to go would be to overdose. This was only a fleeting thought among millions I was wrestling with over the last three days, but it was a profound sign for me to keep fighting. Believe me I have so much to live for. This was just a short-lived fleeting thought but God still extinguished it right away. "Trust in God always."
My wife and I didn't have much time to talk today her father was in town and I wanted to mix things up. We got the small mini pool and slide out for the kids and set it up in the back yard spraying water on the kids and watching them play. It was fun and my wife and I made fajitas. Later that night just before bed I had a few questions I wanted to ask her and I let me emotions and fear get the best of me. I let her know that in this moment If she feels as though she should be dating someone else then she should, but that we will no longer be in a relationship. I shouldn't be so direct in a situation that's extremely volatile. My wife is wanting to communicate with me and assured me we have nothing we need to do right now and multiple times now she's mentioned "everything will be okay. We will be okay." I felt bad for telling her this, but it was how I truly felt in that moment.
That night I felt like I had done something wrong by telling my wife how I felt. I don't know how to navigate these emotions nor do I have experience with taking through delicate situations like this. This is the first big ticket item my wife and I have not been able to tackle together in a day or two.
Day 4, 3/30/23 - I'm looking for advice to help me understand the benefits of poly and how I can train myself to accept my wife's request and to find happiness in her happiness with someone else. I feel as though neither of us have the best delivery on information and I don't want to make her feel bad for coming out and sharing with me.
I know for myself I will have trouble dating other people. I get all I need from my wife. I do have fantasies about others, but I could never actually see myself doing anything sexually. Emotionally I would not be interested in an emotional connection I do not long for those feeling.
Thank you for reading I want the best for my family we truly love one another.
This is the first time I've shared online, and I think there is therapy in writing down my feeling and concerns. I hope this helps other to see that they're not alone and these things happen. I will fight for my wife and our children and do my best to find a way to make it work. If it doesn't work out, I will do my best to copartner with my wife and take care of our little ones. Life is short and my wife deserves to have the things she desires as do I.

Old version: https://www.reddit.com/ffxiv/comments/ikdjr7/a_list_wlinks_of_every_song_in_final_fantasy_xiv/
Whew, it's been a good while since I last updated this! Includes the latter additions to Shadowbringers (primarily Eden and Bozja) as well as everything in Endwalker so far up until 6.35. A few previously missed tracks were also added!
Naturally, there are no holds barred on this list and spoilers aplenty! Anything bold is newly added since my last list.
I'm very aware a lot of the links for music used in the past are very much dead now, so I'll be going over everything as soon as I've a bit of time and replacing as much as I can.
If there's anything missing or any mistakes, let me know!

Soundtrack name	Location	Origin Game	Title
Prelude	Many Locations	Final Fantasy	Prelude
A Victory Fanfare Reborn	Victory Fanfare	Final Fantasy	Victory Fanfare
The Seventh Sun	Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy	Final Fantasy
The Mushroomery	Matoya's Cave	Final Fantasy	Matoya's Cave
Battle	Chaos Battle Theme	Final Fantasy	Battle Scene
Eorzea de Chocobo	Chocobo Theme	Final Fantasy II	Chocobo Theme
Battle Theme 1.x	Certain Instances Battle Music	Final Fantasy II	Battle Theme
Hubris/Ever Upwards	Labyrinth of the Ancients	Final Fantasy III	Altar Cave
Tumbling Down	Labyrinth of the Ancients/Syrcus Tower Boss Theme	Final Fantasy III	Boss Theme
Now I Know the Truth	Doga and Unei's Theme	Final Fantasy III	Dorga Theme
Out of the Labyrinth/Shattered	Syrcus Tower Theme	Final Fantasy III	Crystal Tower
Blind to the Dark	World of Darkness Theme	Final Fantasy III	The Dark Crystals
Hunger	Cloud of Darkness Theme Part 1	Final Fantasy III	Dark Cloud Appears
The Reach of Darkness	Cloud of Darkness Theme Part 2	Final Fantasy III	Dark Cloud Battle
Eternal Wind	Crystal Tower Ending Theme	Final Fantasy III	Eternal Wind
Forbidden Land (Endwalker)	Eureka Orthos Theme	Final Fantasy III	The Forbidden Land
Dancing Calcabrina	Calcabrina Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Dancing Calcobrena
Big-boned	Fat Chocobo Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Fat Chocobo Makes an Appearance
Lunar Whale (Shadowbringers)	Lunar Whale Mount Theme	Final Fantasy IV	The Big Whale
Tower of Zot (Endwalker)	Tower of Zot Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Tower of Zot
Welcome to Our Town (Endwalker)	Mare Lamentorum Inside Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Welcome to Our Town
Battle 1 from FINAL FANTASY IV	Mare Lamentorum Inside Battle Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Battle 1
Somewhere In The World (Ambitions Writhe)	Golbez Cutscene Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Somewhere In The World
Troian Beauty (Endwalker)	The Fell Court of Troia Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Troian Beauty
FINAL FANTASY IV: Battle 2 (Endwalker)	Dungeon Archfiend Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Battle 2
Sorrow and Loss (Endwalker)	Thirteenth Cutscene Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Sorrow and Loss
Battle with the Four Fiend (Buried Memory)	Barbariccia Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Battle With the Four Fiends
Forged in Crimson	Rubicante Theme	Final Fantasy IV	Battle With the Four Fiends
The Seven Jesters/Good King Moggle Mog XII	Moggle Mog's Theme	Final Fantasy V	Moogles' Theme
Battle on the Big Bridge Reborn	Gilgamesh Trials	Final Fantasy V	Clash on the Big Bridge
The Interdimensional Rift	Interdimensional Rift Theme	Final Fantasy V	Interdimensional Rift
Omega²	Deltascape Boss Theme	Final Fantasy V	Boss Theme
Decisions	Exdeath Theme	Final Fantasy V	The Decisive Battle
Final, Not Final	Neo Exdeath's Theme	Final Fantasy V	The Final Battle
The Day Will Come (Endwalker)	Sharlayan Cutscene Theme	Final Fantasy V	The Day Will Come
Magiteknickal Difficulties	Magitek Armor Mount Theme	Final Fantasy VI	Terra's Theme
The Decisive Battle	Ultros and Typhon Trial	Final Fantasy VI	The Decisive Battle
The Phantom Train to Sigmascape	Sigmascape V1 Intro Cutscene	Final Fantasy VI	Phantom Train Theme
A Battle Decisively	Sigmascape Boss Theme	Final Fantasy VI	The Decisive Battle
Dancing Mad	Kefka's Theme	Final Fantasy VI	Dancing Mad
Battle to the Death - Heavensward	Warring Triad Battle Theme	Final Fantasy VI	Battle to the Death
Cyan's Theme	Doman Theme	Final Fantasy VI	Cyan's Theme
Gogo's Theme	Gogo Blue Mage Battle Theme	Final Fantasy VI	Gogo's Theme
Four-Sided Circle	Gold Saucer Theme	Final Fantasy VII	Gold Saucer
Sport of Kings	Chocobo Racing Theme	Final Fantasy VII	Fiddle de Chocobo
Crazy Motorcycle	SDS Fenrir Mount Theme	Final Fantasy VII	Crazy Motorcycle
Shuffle or Boogie	Triple Triad Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	Shuffle or Boogie
Blue Fields	The Empty Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	Blue Fields
Force Your Way	Eden Battle Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	Force Your Way
Ami	Eden Cutscene Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	Ami
Don't Be Afraid	Eden Battle Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	Don't be Afraid
The Legendary Beast	Eden Fatebreaker Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	The Legendary Beast
The Extreme	Oracle of Darkness Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	The Extreme
Shuffle or Boogie (Shadowbringers)	Triple Triad Tournament Theme	Final Fantasy VIII	Shuffle or Boogie
Vamo' alla Flamenco	Dancer Theme	Final Fantasy IX	Vamo Alla Flamenco
Festival of the Hunt (Endwalker)	Crystalline Conflict Theme	Final Fantasy IX	Hunter's Chance
Run! (Endwalker)	Crystalline Conflict Overtime Theme	Final Fantasy IX	Run!
Battle Theme	FFXI Event Battle Theme	Final Fantasy XI	Battle Theme
Iroha	Reisen Temple Theme	Final Fantasy XI	Iroha
Gates of Paradise - The Garden of Ru'Hmet**	Baldesion Arsenal Theme	Final Fantasy XI	Gates of Paradise - The Garden of Ru'Hmet
Onslaught	Baldesion Arsenal Boss Theme	Final Fantasy XI	Onslaught
Turmoil	Baldesion Arsenal Ozma Theme	Final Fantasy XI	Turmoil
Ascent	Ridorana Lighthouse Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Ascent
Boss Battle	Ridorana Lighthouse Boss Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Clash of Swords
The Mystery of Giruvegan	Ridorana Lighthouse Upper Level Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Giruvegan's Mystery
Flash of Steel	Yiazmat Battle Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Clash of Swords
Victory Fanfare (FFXII Version)	Ridorana Victory Fanfare	Final Fantasy XII	Victory Fanfare
Unrest (ZAV)	Bozja FATE Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Unrest
Discord: Imperial (ZAV)	Bozja FATE Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Discord: Imperial
Into the Fortress (ZAV)	Castrum Lacus Litore Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Into the Fortress
Battle with an Esper (ZAV)	Esper Battle Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Battle with an Esper
Life and Death (ZAV)	Lyon Battle Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Life and Death
The Sochen Cave Palace (ZAV)	Delubrum Reginae Theme	Final Fantasy XII	The Sochen Cave Palace
Giving Chase (ZAV)	Delubrum Regiane Battle Theme	Final Fantasy XII	Giving Chase
Blinded by Light	FFXIII Event Battle Theme	Final Fantasy XIII	Blinded by Light
Saber's Edge	FFXIII Event Battle Theme	Final Fantasy XIII	Saber's Edge
Hammerhead	FFXV Event Theme	Final Fantasy XV	Hammerhead
Valse di Fantastica	FFXV Event Theme	Final Fantasy XV	Valse di Fantastica
Relax and Reflect	FFXV Event Theme	Final Fantasy XV	Relax and Reflect
Veiled in Black	FFXV Event Theme	Final Fantasy XV	Veiled in Black
Apocalypsis Noctis	FFXV Event Theme	Final Fantasy XV	Apocalypsis Noctis
A Quick Pit Stop	Regalia Type-G Mount Theme	Final Fantasy XV	A Quick Pit Stop
Character Creation	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Character Making
Save/Load Screen	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Data Screen
Protagonist's Theme	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Hero's Theme
Background Story	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Backborn Story
Trisection	Rabanastre Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Trisection0
Precipitous Combat	Rabanastre Boss Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Battle on the Bridge
The Enemy Approaches	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Enemy Attack
Ultima's Transformation	Rabanastre Final Boss Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Ultima
Victory	Rabanastre Victory Fanfare	Final Fantasy Tactics	Battle's End - Victory Theme
World Map	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	World Map
A Chapel	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	A Chapel
Apoplexy	Construct 7 Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Apoplexy
Under The Stars	Orbonne Monastery Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Under The Stars
Pressure (No. 1)	Orbonne Monastery Mustadio Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Tension 1
Antipyretic	Orbonne Monastery Agrias Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Antipyretic
B.E.	Orbonne Monastery Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Bloody Excrement
St. Ajora's Theme	Orbonne Monastery Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	St. Ajora's Theme
Descent	Orbonne Monastery Ultima Mid-Battle Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Descent
Ultima's Perfection	Orbonne Monastery Ultima Boss Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Ultima, The Perfect Body!
Final Struggle	Orbonne Monastery Victory Theme	Final Fantasy Tactics	Fanfare
Hall of Worship	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Pray
Brave Story	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Brave Story
Alma's Theme	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Alma's Theme
Poachers' Den	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Fur, Meat, and Bones Store
Epilogue	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Epilogue Movie
Credits	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Staff Credits
Intrigue	Ivalice Cutscene Music	Final Fantasy Tactics	Unknown
Siren Song	Little Ladies Day Theme/Beehive Theme	Nanashi No Game Me	True Ending Song
A Man Consumed	Orbonne Monastery Thunder God Theme	Vagrant Story	Grotesque Person
Fog of Phantom	Palace of the Dead Music	Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together	Fog of Phantom
Notice of Death	Palace of the Dead Music	Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together	Notice of Death
Blasphemous Experiment	Nybeth Obdilord Theme	Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together	Blasphemous Experiment
Proof of a Hero - Monster Hunter: World Version	The Great Hunt (Rathalos) P2 Theme	Monster Hunter: World	Proof of a Hero - Monster Hunter: World Version
Savage of the Ancient Forest	The Great Hunt (Rathalos) P1 Theme	Monster Hunter: World	Savage of the Ancient Forest
Cornerstone of the New World - Astera	Monster Hunter World Cutscene Theme	Monster Hunter: World	Cornerstone of the New World - Astera
Significance	YoRHa Dark Apocalypse Cutscene Theme	NieR:Automata	Significance
City Ruins (Rays of Light)	YoRHa Dark Apocalypse Cutscene Theme	NieR:Automata	City Ruins (Rays of Light)
Voice of No Return	YoRHa Dark Apocalypse Cutscene Theme	NieR:Automata	Voice of No Return
Alien Manifestation	Copied Factory Theme	NieR:Automata	Alien Manifestation
Song of the Ancients (Atonement)	Copied Factory Hobbes Boss Theme	NieR:Automata	Song of the Ancients (Atonement)
Bipolar Nightmare	Copied Factory Engels Boss Theme	NieR:Automata	Bipolar Nightmare
Weight of the World (Prelude Version)	Copied Factory 9S Boss Theme	NieR:Automata	Weight of the World
Crumbling Lies - Front	Copied Factory Cutscene Theme	NieR:Automata	Crumbling Lies - Front
Vague Hope - Cold Rain	Copied Factory Cutscene Theme	NieR:Automata	Vague Hope - Cold Rain
Amusement Park	Puppets' Bunker Cutscene Theme	NieR:Automata	Amusement Park
Broken Heart	Puppets' Bunker Cutscene Theme	NieR:Automata	Broken Heart
Fortress of Lies	Puppets' Bunker Theme	NieR:Automata	Fortress of Lies
Grandma - Destruction	Puppets' Bunker 813P-operated Aegis Unit Boss Theme	NieR: Automata	Grandma - Destruction
End of the Unknown	Puppets' Bunker 905P-operated Heavey Artillery Unit Boss Theme	NieR:Automata	End of the Unknown
Torn from the Heavens/The Dark Colossus Destroys All (Medley)	Puppets' Bunker The Compound Boss Theme	NieR Replicant/Gestalt	The Dark Colossus Destroys All
The Color of Depression	Tower at Paradigm's Breech Cutscene Theme	NieR: Automata	The Color of Depression
Widespread Illness	Tower at Paradigm's Breech Cutscene Theme	NieR: Automata	Widespread Illness
Emil - Despair	TaPB Knave of Hearts Battle Theme	NieR: Automata	Emil - Despair
Mourning	TaPB Theme	NieR: Automata	Mourning
The Sound of the End	TaPB Red Girl Theme	NieR: Automata	The sound of the End
The Sound of the End: 8bit	TaPB Red Girl Hacking Theme	NieR: Automata	The sound of the End: 8bit
Posessed By Disease	TaPB Her Influorescence P1 Theme	NieR: Automata	Posessed By Disease
Kainé - Final Fantasy Main Theme Version	TaPB Her Influorescence P2 Theme	NieR: Replicant/Final Fantasy I	Kainé
Weight of the World - Instrumental Version	TaPB Ending Theme	NieR: Automata	Weight of the World

So Goku and Vegeta have god ki which allows them to go SSJG and SSJB.
Did god ki become their only type of ki or do they now have essentially two “pools” of ki in them, normal and god?
Because my memory of the movies (BoG and Res F) imply that god ki replaced Goku’s regular ki, with SSJG becoming his new base form…even though he still needs to turn into it. Then Super kinda goes “yes, but also no”.
Like if it’s two pools, technically speaking Goku and Vegeta shouldn’t have anything to worry about with running low on energy, since if they’re running out of one just swap to the other reserve.

Last Updated List: 30/03/2023
I have quite a few games up for trade or willing to sell.
Primarily looking for games from my wishlist. Not a reseller, so please do not offer any games which I already have, not interested. Other than that feel free to offer your list of Steam games and something I may not have and fulfills my criteria I could/would be willing to trade for it/them.
If you're either trading or buying please state the game(s) you are interested in and your offer (game(s)/list/money).
 
Few things to note:

• To make a trade you must respond to this thread first, I will not respond or accept anyone outside of this thread.
• Some titles I have more than one copy of, is also listed as such, same for any DLC and non-steam games.
• Not interested in any keys from an unofficial retailesource (aka grey market), curatoreviewer keys (aka beta/reviewebeta-testing), and not interested in anything other than Steam games.
• Also not interested in; abandonware, keys for games that are already free on Steam itself, Steam profile-limited keys, and only slight interest in VR-titles and/or de-listed games.
• When buying, I only accept payments in Euro's. Fees are on buyer.

 
Info:

• Region (and keys region): Europe
  
• IGS Rep Page
  
• SteamTrades
  
• SteamRep
  

 
I kindly ask of you is to be reasonable when making offers to make it a fair trade for both of us.
Let's have a good exchange/trade!
 
NEWLY ADDED:

• Forgive Me Father
• Impaler
• Propnight
• The Citadel
• Viscerafest
• Wrath: Aeon of Ruin

 
List of games:

• 16bit Trader
• 4089: Ghost Within
• 911 Operator
• Airport CEO
• Afterparty
• Alien Breed 2: Assault
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Ampersat
• Anomaly II
• Anomaly: Warzone Earth
• Arcade Spirits
• As Far As The Eye
• Asterix & Obelix XXL 2
• Autonauts vs PirateBots
• AVICII Invector
• Batora: Lost Haven (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Beholder 2
• Bighead Runner
• Bionic Commando
• Blackguards
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Calico
• Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
• Call of the Sea
• CastleStorm
• Cats in Time
• Caveblazers
• Chicago 1930 : The Prohibition
• Children of Morta
• Close to the Sun
• Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues
• Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
• Company of Heroes 2
• Company of Heroes 2 - Ardennes Assault
• Company of Heroes 2 - The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West
• Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
• Cook Serve Delicious
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
• Crash Drive 2
• Crazy Machines 3
• CryoFall
• Curse: The Eye of Isis
• Cybercube
• Danger Scavenger
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Death Squared
• DOOM 3
• Drawful 2
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Dungeons
• Dungeons 2
• Dungeons 3
• Eternal Edge +
• Eternal Threads (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Euro Truck Simulator 2
• Evoland Legendary Edition
• Fallout 1: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Farming Simulator 17
• Feel-A-Maze
• Fight'N Rage
• First Class Trouble
• Flynn: Son of Crimson
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Frederic: Evil Strikes Back
• Fury Unleashed
• Garfield Kart
• Garfield Kart
• Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
• Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
• Going Under
• Going Under
• Gotham Knights (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Gray Dawn
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
• Guts and Glory
• Haegemonia: Legions of Iron
• Hamilton's Great Adventure
• Hellbound
• Hidden Shapes Old West - Jigsaw Puzzle Game
• Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?!
• Home Sweet Home
• Homeworld Remastered Collection
• Horizon Chase Turbo
• Hue
• Iconoclasts
• Iron Fisticle
• ITORAH (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Jack Move (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Jurassic World Evolution 2 (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth
• Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth
• King Arthur Collection (Sub ID 25825)
• King of Dragon Pass
• Kingdom Wars 2: Definitive Edition
• Kingdom Wars 4
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail
• Lucius III
• Mafia III: Definitive Edition (Region Lock: Sub ID) (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Main Assembly
• MARSUPILAMI - HOOBADVENTURE
• Medieval Kingdom Wars
• Men of War
• Metamorphosis
• MirrorMoon EP
• Monaco
• Monorail Stories (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Moon Hunters
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes
• Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster
• Necronator: Dead Wrong
• NecroWorm
• NUTS
• One Finger Death Punch 2
• One Finger Death Punch 2
• Orbital Racer
• Out of Space
• Out of Space
• Papo & Yo
• Party Hard 2
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition (Region Lock: EU-only: Sub ID)
• PAYDAY 2
• PAYDAY 2
• PC Building Simulator
• Pizza Connection 3
• Planes, Bullets and Vodka
• Police Stories
• POSTAL 2
• POSTAL 2: Paradise Lost (DLC)
• QUAKE II
• RAD
• Radio Commander
• Railway Empire
• Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered
• Red Faction: Armageddon
• Red Solstice 2: Survivors
• Remnants of Naezith
• Resident Evil 4 (2005)
• Ring Runner Flight of the Sages
• River City Ransom: Underground
• Rock ‘N’ Roll Defense
• Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
• Rustler
• S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster
• Serious Sam Classics: Revolution
• Serious Sam Double D XXL
• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
• Shadows: Awakening
• Shadows: Awakening
• Shape of the World
• Shapeshooter
• Shift Happens
• Shing!
• Shut Up And Dig
• Sid Meier's Ace Patrol
• Sifu Deluxe Edition Upgrade Bundle EGS Key
• Sigma Theory: Global Cold War
• Sinking Island
• Small World
• Small World - Cursed! (DLC)
• SONG OF HORROR COMPLETE EDITION
• Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (DLC)
• Soul Axiom Rebooted
• Soul Grabber
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Sparkle 2 Evo
• Spirit of the Island (wishlist or Paypal only)
• STAR WARS Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
• STAR WARS Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast
• Stacking
• Starpoint Gemini Warlords
• STASIS
• Steel Rats
• Stick Fight: The Game
• Strange Brigade
• Streets of Fury EX
• Streets of Fury EX
• Strider
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• SuchArt: Genius Artist Simulator (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Sunlight
• Super Magbot
• Super Meat Boy
• Surfingers
• Swag and Sorcery
• Switchball HD
• Syberia
• Syberia II
• The Amazing American Circus
• The Beast Inside
• The Citadel
• The Dark Eye: Memoria
• The Dream Machine: Chapter 1 & 2
• The eXceed Collection: Aural Brutality Edition
• The Falconeer
• The Inner World
• Ticket to Ride
• The Invisible Hours
• The Quarry – Horror History Visual Filter Pack (DLC)
• The Sexy Brutale
• The Smurfs - Mission Vileaf
• The Town of Light
• This War of Mine
• Those Who Remain
• Those Who Remain
• Timberman
• Time Lock VR
• Titan Quest Anniversary Edition
• Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove
• Totally Reliable Delivery Service
• Tower 57
• Tower of Time
• Train Simulator Classic + 2 DLCs
• Tropico 3 Gold Edition
• Tropico 4 Collector's Bundle
• Unshaded
• Verdun
• Violett Remastered
• Wargroove
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide
• Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
• Windosill
• Within the blade
• Worms Rumble
• Yoku's Island Express
• XCOM 2
• XEL
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
• Youtubers Life
• Zombie Driver HD

 
Steam gifts list:

• Crash Drive 2
• FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage
• Frozen Synapse Prime
• Gods Will Be Watching
• ibb & obb
• Killing Floor (includes Defence Alliance 2)
• Marine Sharpshooter II: Jungle Warfare
• Onikira - Demon Killer
• Spacebase DF-9
• Takedown: Red Sabre
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
• TRISTOY

Last Updated List: 30/03/2023
I have quite a few games up for trade or willing to sell.
Primarily looking for games from my wishlist. Not a reseller, so please do not offer any games which I already have, not interested. Other than that feel free to offer your list of Steam games and something I may not have and fulfills my criteria I could/would be willing to trade for it/them.
If you're either trading or buying please state the game(s) you are interested in and your offer (game(s)/list/money).
 
Few things to note:

• To make a trade you must respond to this thread first, I will not respond or accept anyone outside of this thread.
• Some titles I have more than one copy of, is also listed as such, same for any DLC and non-steam games.
• Not interested in any keys from an unofficial retailesource (aka grey market), curatoreviewer keys (aka beta/reviewebeta-testing), and not interested in anything other than Steam games.
• Also not interested in; abandonware, keys for games that are already free on Steam itself, Steam profile-limited keys, and only slight interest in VR-titles and/or de-listed games.
• When buying, I only accept payments in Euro's. Fees are on buyer.

 
Info:

• Region (and keys region): Europe
  
• IGS Rep Page
  
• SteamTrades
  
• SteamRep
  

 
I kindly ask of you is to be reasonable when making offers to make it a fair trade for both of us.
Let's have a good exchange/trade!
 
NEWLY ADDED:

• Forgive Me Father
• Impaler
• Propnight
• The Citadel
• Viscerafest
• Wrath: Aeon of Ruin

 
List of games:

• 16bit Trader
• 4089: Ghost Within
• 911 Operator
• Airport CEO
• Afterparty
• Alien Breed 2: Assault
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Ampersat
• Anomaly II
• Anomaly: Warzone Earth
• Arcade Spirits
• As Far As The Eye
• Asterix & Obelix XXL 2
• Autonauts vs PirateBots
• AVICII Invector
• Batora: Lost Haven (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Beholder 2
• Bighead Runner
• Bionic Commando
• Blackguards
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Calico
• Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
• Call of the Sea
• CastleStorm
• Cats in Time
• Caveblazers
• Chicago 1930 : The Prohibition
• Children of Morta
• Close to the Sun
• Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues
• Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
• Company of Heroes 2
• Company of Heroes 2 - Ardennes Assault
• Company of Heroes 2 - The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West
• Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
• Cook Serve Delicious
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
• Crash Drive 2
• Crazy Machines 3
• CryoFall
• Curse: The Eye of Isis
• Cybercube
• Danger Scavenger
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Death Squared
• DOOM 3
• Drawful 2
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Dungeons
• Dungeons 2
• Dungeons 3
• Eternal Edge +
• Eternal Threads (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Euro Truck Simulator 2
• Evoland Legendary Edition
• Fallout 1: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Farming Simulator 17
• Feel-A-Maze
• Fight'N Rage
• First Class Trouble
• Flynn: Son of Crimson
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Frederic: Evil Strikes Back
• Fury Unleashed
• Garfield Kart
• Garfield Kart
• Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
• Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
• Going Under
• Going Under
• Gotham Knights (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Gray Dawn
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
• Guts and Glory
• Haegemonia: Legions of Iron
• Hamilton's Great Adventure
• Hellbound
• Hidden Shapes Old West - Jigsaw Puzzle Game
• Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?!
• Home Sweet Home
• Homeworld Remastered Collection
• Horizon Chase Turbo
• Hue
• Iconoclasts
• Iron Fisticle
• ITORAH (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Jack Move (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Jurassic World Evolution 2 (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth
• Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth
• King Arthur Collection (Sub ID 25825)
• King of Dragon Pass
• Kingdom Wars 2: Definitive Edition
• Kingdom Wars 4
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail
• Lucius III
• Mafia III: Definitive Edition (Region Lock: Sub ID) (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Main Assembly
• MARSUPILAMI - HOOBADVENTURE
• Medieval Kingdom Wars
• Men of War
• Metamorphosis
• MirrorMoon EP
• Monaco
• Monorail Stories (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Moon Hunters
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes
• Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster
• Necronator: Dead Wrong
• NecroWorm
• NUTS
• One Finger Death Punch 2
• One Finger Death Punch 2
• Orbital Racer
• Out of Space
• Out of Space
• Papo & Yo
• Party Hard 2
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition (Region Lock: EU-only: Sub ID)
• PAYDAY 2
• PAYDAY 2
• PC Building Simulator
• Pizza Connection 3
• Planes, Bullets and Vodka
• Police Stories
• POSTAL 2
• POSTAL 2: Paradise Lost (DLC)
• QUAKE II
• RAD
• Radio Commander
• Railway Empire
• Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered
• Red Faction: Armageddon
• Red Solstice 2: Survivors
• Remnants of Naezith
• Resident Evil 4 (2005)
• Ring Runner Flight of the Sages
• River City Ransom: Underground
• Rock ‘N’ Roll Defense
• Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
• Rustler
• S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster
• Serious Sam Classics: Revolution
• Serious Sam Double D XXL
• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
• Shadows: Awakening
• Shadows: Awakening
• Shape of the World
• Shapeshooter
• Shift Happens
• Shing!
• Shut Up And Dig
• Sid Meier's Ace Patrol
• Sifu Deluxe Edition Upgrade Bundle EGS Key
• Sigma Theory: Global Cold War
• Sinking Island
• Small World
• Small World - Cursed! (DLC)
• SONG OF HORROR COMPLETE EDITION
• Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (DLC)
• Soul Axiom Rebooted
• Soul Grabber
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Sparkle 2 Evo
• Spirit of the Island (wishlist or Paypal only)
• STAR WARS Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
• STAR WARS Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast
• Stacking
• Starpoint Gemini Warlords
• STASIS
• Steel Rats
• Stick Fight: The Game
• Strange Brigade
• Streets of Fury EX
• Streets of Fury EX
• Strider
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• SuchArt: Genius Artist Simulator (wishlist or Paypal only)
• Sunlight
• Super Magbot
• Super Meat Boy
• Surfingers
• Swag and Sorcery
• Switchball HD
• Syberia
• Syberia II
• The Amazing American Circus
• The Beast Inside
• The Citadel
• The Dark Eye: Memoria
• The Dream Machine: Chapter 1 & 2
• The eXceed Collection: Aural Brutality Edition
• The Falconeer
• The Inner World
• Ticket to Ride
• The Invisible Hours
• The Quarry – Horror History Visual Filter Pack (DLC)
• The Sexy Brutale
• The Smurfs - Mission Vileaf
• The Town of Light
• This War of Mine
• Those Who Remain
• Those Who Remain
• Timberman
• Time Lock VR
• Titan Quest Anniversary Edition
• Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove
• Totally Reliable Delivery Service
• Tower 57
• Tower of Time
• Train Simulator Classic + 2 DLCs
• Tropico 3 Gold Edition
• Tropico 4 Collector's Bundle
• Unshaded
• Verdun
• Violett Remastered
• Wargroove
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide
• Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
• Windosill
• Within the blade
• Worms Rumble
• Yoku's Island Express
• XCOM 2
• XEL
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
• Youtubers Life
• Zombie Driver HD

 
Steam gifts list:

• Crash Drive 2
• FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage
• Frozen Synapse Prime
• Gods Will Be Watching
• ibb & obb
• Killing Floor (includes Defence Alliance 2)
• Marine Sharpshooter II: Jungle Warfare
• Onikira - Demon Killer
• Spacebase DF-9
• Takedown: Red Sabre
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
• TRISTOY

A screw top corona. Not my first choice, but handed to me cold, so I wasn’t going to decline. An apartment party is not somewhere that I ventured too often, but I had just gotten back in town after a 4-month bender abroad, an annoying sentence, I know. Being apart from my friends, I was willing to oblige to their desired evening of fun. Drinking was not atop my priority list, but I was happy to be back with the crew.
It was summer in a sleepy college town. Not a lot to do and not a lot of places to find trouble, so to the apartment party we went, my half empty corona in hand.
Peter and I had met on Halloween 6 months prior to this evening. There was an instant connection. I have never cry laughed more or felt more myself than when I’m with him. Everyone loved Peter. What’s not to love? He made everyone feel like a friend, funny and witty, welcoming, and kind. Once I got to know him on a deeper level, I quickly realized that there was a sad part of him, and I think that is why we connected so well. We were the life of the party, but sad inside to no one’s wiser. We never talked about it, but I know one another’s company made us both feel at home. I quickly knew that I wanted this friendship to last forever. A week after we met, I knew I would have to let him know that I was not romantically interested in him so we could get on with being friends. At 22, a boy doesn’t want to hear that. Now, some 10 years later, he is thankful for the decision I made for us all those years ago. My older brother, my safe space.
Peter liked to party. It was not odd to go to a party with one another and end the night, separated (and by separated, I mean, Peter getting too drunk and leaving a party with out telling anyone or getting kicked out of a bar). We always found our way back to each other the next morning. Breakfast and a gossip session over the events of the night before.
You can hear the music and the beer pong from the ground floor. Peter and I enter the buzzing apartment. I immediately see an old friend that I have not seen since I’ve returned. I am elated. I run over to Thomas and smoother him in the biggest hug imaginable. His face lights up, shocked to see me. We hold up in a corner, laughing and swapping stories from the semester. Thomas and I have had every single class together since freshman year. Our classroom friendship, turned study buddies, turned into a real-life friendship outside of the hallways and the late-night papers. One of the most genuine people I had during college. I was so happy to be reunited. We had so much to catch up on.
Thomas was shy. He never had a ton to say, which is why we got along so well, I can’t shut up, and he’s a great listener. I think he liked how I just forced my friendship onto him, he didn’t really have a say in the matter. We were spending so much of our academic hours together, which made me want to be friends all of the time. He didn’t seem opposed, and we’ve been friends ever since. The extrovert adopts the introvert, a true match made.
I feel a tap on my shoulder. It’s a familiar face from freshman year. Matt. He was friends with some of my older friends. Nice guy, weird he was at this party. Hasn’t he graduated? I thought to myself.
“Sadie, how to hell are you girl”? he screamed into my ear as he embraced me. Matt was an enthusiastic guy. Happy about everything, until he got too drunk, and enthusiasm turned into extremely annoying, very quickly. We exchanged small talk, until we were approached by another figure.
“Chad, what the fuck is up man, come here. Do you know Sadie? Greatest girl on earth, you have to meet her”?! Matt yelled as he embraced Chad. I knew Chad. He had messaged me while I was away for the semester. A random message, considering I had been at my university for 3.5 years and never heard of him until his Instagram DM. I chalked it up to him hearing about my recent break up. It’s a small town, the dating pool is subpar, and we ran in different circles. I put two and two together, Thomas and Matt are in the same frat, and I’m now learning that that is how Chad fits into this circle. We spoke a couple times while I was away, nothing serious, and left it at “see ya around”. I guess “around” was happening right now.
“I am hopping to get to know her a lot more” Chad smirked. Matt turned to me and continued to tell me about awesome Chas is and how crazy it was that our paths have never crossed.
Everyone knew the answer to that. I had dated the same guy all of college, and up until a few months ago, I didn’t know who the cute, single guys were on campus. I quickly learned that Chad, was one of them. Maybe this was my chance to have a little fun as I entered my senior year. I was going to have an easy year and after a very bad break up, no strings attached fun was exactly what I needed.
“Let me get you a drink” Chad suggested. That’s right, my corona. I had finished it on the ride over here and was too busy talking with Thomas to get another. Chad appeared with a red solo cup of what he called “the house drink”. I took the half-filled cup and took a sip. It tasted like every other party juice that college kids make. Likely an entire bottle of cheap brunettes’ vodka and whatever juice they had in the fridge. I now find myself in another corner, completely enchanted with Chad.
I don’t know how much time has passed; I tell him I need to use the restroom. I push past the crowd of strangers and dodge flying ping pong balls. I find myself in a bathroom. I look at myself in the mirror. Am I having a good time? I ask myself with a smile. It’s been almost 4 years of college and the bad times have unfortunately clouded my memories of the fun times. At 21 years old, I find myself struggling with dark, overwhelming emotions that I have absolutely no idea how to navigate. It’s refreshing to be sober and having fun, especially with a cute boy. I kind of want to go home with Chad? If that’s what this leads to, I think as I wash my hands and reapply my lip gloss. He’s a 22 year old guy, of course he wants me to come home with him. I’ve never done that before. Gone home with someone I barley know? It’s college, I’m single, this is exactly what I can and want to do I think to myself as I place the lip gloss back into my bag.
Anyway, I need to get back out there. I toss the gross rag back onto the counter. Give my hair a fluff and open the door. Thomas is standing right outside the door as I open it. “Stop talking to him” he whispers to me. “What”? I screamed over the blaring music. Thomas mumbles when he’s been drinking so I have no idea what he’s getting on about. “That guy is bad news, just warning you” he says looking at me with the coldest stare he’s ever given. Thomas has never had an opinion on my dating or social life, ever. That’s the best thing about our friendship. It’s just a fun, healthy, no bad energy kind of flow. We don’t talk boys or girls and we can just be ourselves with each other. Hearing him say something about Chad is odd. “He’s nice, we’re just talking” I assure him and prance back to my corner.
I always wonder how different my life would be if Thomas was a girl. If a girlfriend told me to be worried about a guy and not talk to them, I would listen. I would have never gone back over to that guy. I trust my girlfriends with my life. In that moment, I thought Thomas was drunk and crushing on me and didn’t like seeing me with a guy that he deemed to be a “douche bag”. I always wonder if Matt didn’t see me that night, would Chad have even approached us talking. I always wonder if Peter didn’t want to go out that night, I would have never ended up in the apartment. I always wonder if I didn’t take a drink of that juice and vodka, the events of that night would have played out differently. I can’t ask myself those questions these days. I don’t handle “what ifs” very well.
I get back to my corner. I’m feeling flushed. It’s probably the juice in the drink, I’ve never liked a sweet drink. Makes my head hurt. Chad is almost as charming as I think I am. My charm comes in the form of sarcasm and dancing around the line of just being mean. Boys love that.
“I’m having a great time, I don’t even care that we’re at this party, do you want to maybe come back to my place and keep talking? I just live down the street” Chad leans into me closer as he asks with the most soft but confident tone. I don’t even think before I answer, an excited “Yes” slips from my glossed lips.
“My roommate is here actually; he doesn’t drink so he can drive us”. His roommate appears out of thin air, like he was a fly on the wall, waiting for his cue. It's like he had it planned.
I don’t tell Peter and Thomas I’m leaving. The last thing I want to hear from them is all the reasons I shouldn’t. I scan the room; Peter isn’t even in the apartment. Classic. Thomas must be in the room I left him in, I don’t say bye. I take Chad’s hand and we’re getting in his roommates’ car. He sits in the back with me, even though there isn’t a 4th person coming with us. I think it’s odd, making your roommate be your driver? I don’t think about it again. I’m dizzy. It’s probably the car, I do get car sick.
The roommate jumps out of the car before the head lights even turn off and heads inside, it’s like he was trying to run away from us. Again, odd. Maybe he’s just an awkward guy. We get up to his second-floor apartment. It’s a typical boy apartment. The TV to couch ratio is off and there are empty whiskey bottles lining the top of the kitchen counters. I roll my eyes.
Why am I here? My heart is racing out of my chest. I feel like I could run a marathon but, I can barely keep my eyes open. I’ve never felt like this before. I don’t even remember the car ride over here? Which is strange, considering I had 1 corona 2 hours ago and half a class of juicy vodka over the last hour. I keep doing “drink math” in head as it spins in circles. Trying to understand why this blanket of fog and discomfit comes over so quickly. I don’t want to get sick, how embarrassing would that be? Especially in front of this cute guy that I’ve just met.
He walks me into his room. We’re kissing. That’s fine. I sit down on the bed, his palms grabbing either side of my face. I’m good with that. I pull back, “I don’t want to have sex” I said nervously. I’m up front, I wanted him to know that that’s not why I came back here. I just wanted to see how things were, just the two of us. “Then we don’t have to” he smiled as he went back to kissing me.
Darkness. I can’t see anything. I know things are happening, I couldn’t tell you exactly what. Are my eyes even open? I’m trying to open them. I’m trying to talk. I can’t hear myself. It’s like all motor functions just slipped away without me knowing. Like I’m a baby that wants to communicate but can only make a few sounds. I can’t get my point across. It’s extremely frustrating. I can’t even tell if I can move my arms. Panic sets in. I hear an exhausted “NO” escape my lips. I think? I hope.
Darkness. I don’t know how much time has passed. Am I coming in and out of consciousness? I don’t even know what that feeling is like, I’ve never experienced what’s happening to me before. I’m in a bathroom? Why? I look up and see myself in the mirror. I’m naked. I tilt my head up a little further and I see him, behind me, naked as well.
He’s Inside of me. I realize what is happening.
Why are we in the bathroom? Did you need to watch me in the mirror? Did I run in here and you followed me to continue what you had started in the darkness.
“NO, get off me” finally. I heard that. It was loud. Good. I run back into the room. Why are my clothes off? Where is my purse? God why do I always wear so much jewelry, it’s everywhere. I can buy new stuff. No, this is new stuff, get it off the floor. I toss myself together, shoes and bag in hand. I run.
Darkness.
I’m on the phone.
Darkness.
Now, I’m in a car.
Darkness.
Now, I’m swallowing a pill, eating a taco, drinking water out of a glass, and laying in Monica’s bed. She seems very stressed out. How did I get here? I asked myself as I examine my familiar surroundings.
The next morning, we treated it like a normal morning.
Monica was my best friend. Looking back at our friendship, she was more like a mother. A mother with attachment issues. She was in and out of relationships or flings, always obsessing over the ex she dumped. She was an only child, selfishness came natural to her. She was only a couple years older than me. I thought she hung the moon. I had never had a friendship like this before. We were rarely apart. After my break up, I basically lived with Monica. I would have done anything for her, and to be honest, at that moment in time, she would have done anything for me. it’s the only time I had ever felt like she truly cared about me.
Peter and Jake met Monica and I at breakfast. Over the past 6 months, the 4 of us did everything together. We were the life of every party. They were the ying to our yang. This breakfast however, was not like our normal Sunday hungover gossip sessions.
“Are you going to tell them or should I”? Monica blurted out once we all got our drinks. I felt the redness flush over my cheeks. I couldn’t say that word. I couldn’t tell Peter what happened. I couldn’t look him in the eyes. I didn’t even want to tell Monica what happened. She told me she found me in a parking lot of an apartment building that we had never even been to before. She knew. I didn’t have to say anything. I wanted it to vanish out of my memory. I could barley remember anything so if I continued to push it out of my brain, it would be gone like a dream sooner rather than later.
I don’t remember the rest of that breakfast. I don’t remember the rest of that summer. If we’re being honest, looking back, I don’t remember most of college. It’s like that one night triggered something so dark inside of me that it erased everything from my memory. They call it trauma in therapy, but I call it protection.
Of course, I remember things here and there. Funny stories, my walks to class. But conversations, nights out with friends, the day-to-day life of what was supposed to be the greatest 4 years of your life was magically gone.
Not only did it trigger something dark inside of me, but it altered every cell in my body. The extrovert became an introvert. I couldn’t speak with a man with out a chip on my shoulder. I was moody and tired and completely unamused with everything. It’s like a was making poor decisions in my life on purpose because I was addicted to the pain and suffering. Sadness and shame were my new normal. I didn’t want to be happy, that felt like way too much work. I was good at being miserable.
I stayed like this for almost 3 years. I graduated, moved to a new city, made new friends, continued to make awful choices, got into another toxic relationship that wasn’t even a relationship and pushed away a lot of people. Monica and I had our inevitable break up. Thomas was still back in our college town, I didn’t see him often. Peter moved to the west coast the month before I moved to the east coast. An entire country apart. He still came to visit me. He checked on me. We missed each other so much, I know it hurt us both, but we would never tell each other. A simple “miss you” even though I knew it was more than that. I needed him. I needed someone there that loved me like I used to love myself.

While in a graveyard trying to use an ouija board because we thought we’d get better readings in a land filled of dead.
I decided to take a walk with a friend. While walking and talking about the authenticity of the ouija board she asked me “what is your religion”, I told her as of now I’m a nihilist and asked the same question to her.
She told me she is Wiccan and strayed from Christianity because it and religions like it are heavily patriarchal. I mean I rolled my eyes but then I thought.
Is patriarchy and matriarchy inherently a bad or good thing? I assume that with communism, libertarianism, capitalism all the isms it is based on how it is used.
But when I asked her she told me that it is because of what each side represents. That women and femininity is a loving, nurturing and caring side and to giving life. And that made me think, is it really.
Most are familiar with the trinity, but unless you’re into Wicca, Greek mythology, or obscure topics like me, not many have heard of the mother, maiden, and the crown.
3 women that come together to form a single monothilic deity. In Greek mythology it’s Clotho who threads life, Lachesis who measures it, and Atropes who cuts it. Despite not being as known as the trinity it’s seen a lot in pop culture
Depicted a lot from Sanderson sisters from hocus pocus to Ty Lee, Azula and Mai from avatar the last air bender and my favorite portrayal is Wednesday, morticia, and grandmama in the addams family.
The triple goddess, is another name and that is what Wicca focuses on in its belief system. From Karma hitting you 3 times over to worshiping all 3 sides.
The idea of taking aspects of a identity and having them be represented as different people is easy to digest and interesting.
Men too with hunter, lord, sage. But it takes me back to my original thoughts of mother maiden and crown. It’s funny that a lot of women in Wicca that use this as a symbol in feminism do not know that the term and the idea of such from mother, maiden and crown came from a dude named Robert Graves in his book the white goddess.
He states in his book that all religions come from different triple goddesses and they come from a over arching eternal muse. He refers to this goddess as the white goddess, queen of Druid’s, Mothebride/layer out, Maiden/nymph/hag, and the most popular Mothemaiden/crown
But he looses me with his interpretation of this one entity. Because Richard Graves is not a historian but a love poet, and his interpretation of femininity with most other interpretations puts femininity in a box. Because he sees it as birth, love, regeneration. So did the two women before him that had his same philosophy years before Richard Graves was even born.
And here is where I feel everything is based on interpretation. When you look at life most assume nothing but positivity, but who ever said either life or death is only positive or negative. Life can be, new memories, happy beginnings, love, and friendships. But on a flip side it can be cancer, overpopulation, infestations, because a big threat to other lives is another life. War, genocide, rape, and chaos is not started by the dead. Which may seem like why some would crawl toward darkness.
I always say, I do not see a lot of happy people working customer service but I do not know any depressed morticians. So why does this connect with femininity, well I feel just like life and death it’s put in a box. I feel it’s a ignorant perspective to only see one side, because like the triple goddess idea and people like Robert Graves, he to me is thinking in a generalized way. The more people try to bind together these 3 and also choke femininity up as good as they say, the more confused I get. Because what about other female icons in both religion and history that do the complete opposite of all the femininity is supposed to be.
Like the furies in Greek mythology, the graeae, hecate, kali from Hindi mythology , izanami from Japanese mythology, midnight washerwomen in Celtic mythology and the banshee and the morrigan, another triple goddess that is all about death and war.
So when you put things into one box you are labeling it under one type of characteristic. I feel from birth to death nothing is only good or bad. And the same goes with femininity and masculinity, patriarchy and matriarchy, some can see a icon of power and life. But others will see only despair and death. Perception is everyone’s reality and I myself and not immune to bias or such as this comes from a nihilistic view.

Most people who scale DS characters either low ball them too much and underestimate the characters or wank them to the heavens so I'm gonna start doing my scaling and share my opinion on this. - I'll be very strict and low-ball a little because I hate wanking characters - we'll be starting with the upper moon 6 our second favorite pair of siblings gyutaro and daki and make our way up to muzan. - I started with them because they're the most characters that are chaotic in scaling some people put them at low as building level ahem vsbw and some lunatic put them at outer since gyutaro said he could kill Buddha. - let's start with gyutaro : he's the elder sibling and the stronger of the two he's also the true holder of the rank upper 6 so he's the more relevant of the two

• powers and abilities : Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Acrobatics, Self-Sustenance (Type 3), Extrasensory Perception, Enhanced Senses, Telepathy, Genius Intelligence, Weapon Mastery (Of his sickles), Immortality (Type 1, 2, 3 and 8; Is one with Daki, and they must be defeated simultaneously in order for them to die, allowing him to regenerate from even decapitation as long as she's alive as well), Regeneration (High-Mid; Can quickly regenerate from decapitation, his head being crushed, and losing limbs), Absorption & Statistics Amplification (Can grow stronger by eating humans), Reactive Evolution (Kokushibo states that both humans and demons alike can grow and surpass their limits through battle), Body Control, Biological Manipulation (Can turn people into demons with his blood), Aura & Fear Manipulation (Has a vastly superior aura to the Lower Kizuki Demons, which can cause shuddering and a feeling of lacking air. Even Daki could inflict fear upon Tanjiro, which Gyutaro should scale to. His scent made Tanjiro feel as if his throat was going numb and his presence inflicted fear upon him), Blood Manipulation, Poison Manipulation (Can inject deadly poison into people with his sickles), Forcefield Creation (Can form a dome with his slashes), Homing Attack & Explosion Manipulation (Can manipulate his sickles to target his foes until it explodes), Resistance to: Regeneration Negation (High-Mid; As long as Daki's alive, he can regenerate from nichirin blades, which normally negate demons' regeneration by decapitating them), Disease Manipulation (Demons are unable to get sick), Pain Manipulation (Demons are shown to be capable of handling intense pain, as they can shrug off their limbs and heads being sliced off or crushed), Poison Manipulation (Can quickly recover from the poisonous effects of wisteria flowers, which can paralyse demons for half a day), Paralysis Inducement, Fear Manipulation (Should easily resist the Lower Kizuki Demons' aura), biokenises ( fused with and healed his sister gave her his eye and can manipulate his cells on a stronger level that the normal demons who can split themselves and control thier hair and mutate to gain extra abilities like the hand demon and the mantis demon)
  
• DESTRUCTIVE CAPACITY : obliterated most if not all of the red light district with this attack and it's implyed that he did destroy it since the red light district did infact was destroyed almost completely in a great earthquake in the taicho period (the same time of the show and the show is based on the real Japan so it's like the demon slayers made it look as a natural disasters after the fight) he literally turned this to this so what is the red light district? And how do we scale this feat? Well the red light district was a large city named yoshiwara in that period had more than 90k people living in it before 1940 and by the definition of Japan a city is a statement that has more than 50k people living in it here's the requirements for city in japan and yoshiwara fullfil all the requirements and after WW2 the city was made into smaller districts and then some merged with Tokyo and some with Fuji
  
• then is it a city level feat? Not so fat he preformed this feat in his last attack that can be argued that it's a self distraction and also the buildings are old style and are easier to destroy if would need much more force to destroy modern cities and he destroyed most of the district not all of it all of this combined make me scale him a tier lower
  
• drum roll please.... GYUTARO IS : LARGE TOWN LEVEL
  
• his attack potency could be higher with the use of poison and explosive attacks
  
• now stamina : infinite (demons don't have a consept of fatigue and can go at full power forever)
  
• speed : massively hypersonic+ (much faster than tengen) casually blitzed tengen who blitzed daki without effort and low diffed her who is much faster than tanjiro and can move faster than he can react and he moved a dozen meters climbing the gates before his head connected and before he even moved from his position in the air and early tanjiro himself is able to easily evade attacks that are as fast as sound and no mark tanjiro can casually dodge lightning while pushing genya out of the way
  
• lifting strength : unknown, presumedly greater than class k (much stronger physically than tanjiro who can push a giant Boulder and kyojuro who lifted a whole 8 cart train with just a dash)
  
• durability : a demon durability isn't consistent with thier DC and ap and can be harmed by characters weaker than them multi-city block level and
  
• thier necks are thier toughest spot and are consistent with thier AP and DC : large town level (it took tanjirou a 100x strength boost to kill him)
  
  • daki DC & AP : multi-cityblock+ to small town- level chopped up a large part of the district with one casually attack took the effort of tanjirou and zenitsu and inoske to defeat her but got one shot by tengen
• speed : hight hypersonic+ to barely massively hypersonic (scales a much lower than gyutaro) and is faster than tanjiro
  
• stamina : infinite
  
• durability : city block level in her body (could parry attacks from dance of the fire god tanjiro easily) Multi-city block level at her neck (very difficult to kill when it's soft and it took all the strength of inoske and zenitsu to kill her)
  

I figured out how to deal with the memories of the video!!!! Basically i pictured it as a jellyfish, lingering and floating around in my thoughts...but then the jellyfish turns to stone and shatters. So i pick of the pieces (details), roll it into a boulder, and push it downhill. Now the lingering memory is replaced with the image of a boulder rolling down a hill!!!

Only doing Steam keys, no gift links.
Willing to add in a current bundle for RE4 Remake

WISHLIST

March 2020 Humble Choice

• 198X
  
• Death's Gambit
  
• Niffelheim
  
• Turok
  

April 2020 Humble Choice

• Capitalism 2
  
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
  
• MOLEK-SYNTEZ
  
• Raiden V: Director's Cut
  
• Shoppe Keep 2
  
• The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut
  
• This Is the Police 2
  
• Truberbrook / Trüberbrook
  
• Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
  

September 2020 Humble Choice

• Evoland Legendary Edition
  
• Fun with Ragdolls: The Game
  
• The Occupation
  
• The Shapeshifting Detective
  
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York
  

November 2020 Humble Choice

• Little Misfortune
  
• Rover Mechanic Simulator
  
• Smile For Me
  
• TSIOQUE
  

February 2021 Humble Choice

• Boomerang Fu
  
• Iris and the Giant
  
• Lovecraft's Untold Stories
  
• The Wild Eight
  
• Valfaris
  
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest
  

March 2021 Humble Choice

• Cyber Hook
  
• Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
  
• Pesterquest
  
• WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS
  

August 2021 Humble Choice

• Blue Fire
  
• Carto
  
• Cepheus Protocol
  
• Drake Hollow
  
• ENCODYA
  
• Nowhere Prophet
  
• Out of Space
  
• We Need To Go Deeper
  

August 2021 Humble Choice

• Fling to the Finish
  
• Greak: Memories of Azur
  
• MORDHAU
  
• Partisans 1941
  
• The Survivalists
  

Humble Best of Stealth Bundle

• Aragami
  
• Heat Signature
  
• Styx: Shards of Darkness
  

2k Megahits Bundle

• Army Men RTS
  
• CivCity: Rome
  
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack
  
• Hidden & Dangerous 2: Courage Under Fire
  
• PGA 2K21
  
• Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
  
• Railroad Tycoon 3
  
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
  
• Sid Meier's Railroads!
  
• The Golf Club™ 2019 featuring PGA TOUR
  

The rest:

• 911 Operator
  
• Almost There: The Platformer
  
• Anuchard
  
• Armello
  
• Bigfoot
  
• Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
  
• Chasm
  
• Cities in Motion 2
  
• Crusader Kings II
  
• Darkwood
  
• Deliver Us The Moon
  
• Fallout 1
  
• Fluffy Horde
  
• God's Trigger
  
• Gremlins, Inc.
  
• Guacamelee! 2
  
• Highway Blossoms
  
• Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi
  
• I am not a monster
  
• Interstellar Space: Genesis
  
• Killing Floor
  
• Love is Dead
  
• Magicka 2
  
• Miscreated
  
• NAIRI: Tower of Shirin
  
• Odallus: The Dark Call
  
• Punch Club
  
• Prey (2017)
  
• Regular Human Basketball
  
• Reigns
  
• Reigns: Her Majesty
  
• Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition
  
• Shadow Complex Remastered (Epic Launcher key)
  
• Shadowrun Returns
  
• She Remembered Caterpillars
  
• State of Mind
  
• Steel Rats
  
• Sunrider: Liberation Day - Captain's Edition
  
• Swords and Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
  
• Sword Legacy Omen
  
• Tannenberg
  
• The Adventure Pals
  
• The Journey Down: Chapter Three
  
• The Long Dark: Survival Edition
  
• Train Valley 2
  
• Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy
  
• Yoku's Island Express
  

I asked the dealers if I could get a picture of the chips while they were coloring up, but the pit boss said no. I was too excited to remember to snap a pic of the chips once my girlfriend picked them up.
I just want to say how much I appreciate the people who post their stories, strategies, and information on things like where the good tables are and how to engage with the dealers. I’ve been wanting to learn craps for years, but could never gather the nerve to try it. Every time I stood near a table and watched the game, it just didn’t make sense to me. I played for the first time last month when a friend hit the table and convinced me to throw down $200 and copy his bets. He wasn’t very good and ended up losing his money, but I started to grasp some basic concepts and stopped copying him. I was up and down across 2 sessions, but ended up leaving Vegas up about $380 after I got lucky on my ATS bet and hit the small and the hard 4 at the same time and then lost some more before walking away. I started watching this sub, watching Color Up on YouTube, and researching on some other sites. I still don’t fully understand the basics, and I’ve got a long way to go on the rest of the table.
This trip:
My girlfriend and I hit Vegas and I was eager to get her to a table. I hit up MGM Grand and ignorantly threw down $500 on a $50 table without thinking. I decided to stick with it, and was quickly up a couple hundred, and then down about $80 before the other players left the table and I decided to walk away. We walked over to Park MGM and found a $15 table. Spent about an hour there and I just took some time to show my girlfriend some basics and explain the various things that were happening. She still didn’t want to play, but she was enjoying the social aspect. They changed the table to $25 and I decided to color up and walk away $200 up. We walked around through Aria and Cosmo and couldn’t find a $15 table at 1:00-2:00am.
We got some food and eventually walked back through Park MGM on our way to the car and my girlfriend spotted a $15 table. Nobody was playing the table, so my GF wasn’t interested. I convinced her it was a good time to just casually play and learn some things. I put down $200 for her and $500 for me, and we started playing. I told her copy my bets until she gets the hang of it. I can’t even tell you if my strategy matches anything in particular, because I still couldn’t tell you the difference between triple lux and a squeeze play…or whatever. My plan is to bet the minimum on the pass line and then match that with odds on the pass and $18 on 6 and 8 once the point is established. If the point hits 6 or 8, I’ll move my bet to 5 or 9 arbitrarily. Just do a little collect, press, collect, press…then start adding bets across the board. I’ll collect a bit more and then start pressing every time one hits. We didn’t get that far on the first several rolls between us. My GF started making arbitrary decisions like, “I like 5 more than 9,” when the point was on 6 or 8 and the dealer was asking if we wanted to move or take the bets down. She was out pretty quickly. I was up and down for a while, and it was looking grim. My GF asked if she could roll for me on my last $50. I asked if she could and the pit boss said yes.
Followed the same plan and it was working. I started putting down $10 bets on pass line odds for the dealers and they started giving us advice, like how high we can bet on pass line odds. Thank god for that, because I had no idea…and I ended up moving up to $25 on the PL and $125 on the PL odds. I also started throwing down $25 and $50 bets on PL odds for the dealers every time the point was established. My GF was repeatedly hitting the point. I have no idea how long that run lasted, but I was up to $100 on the 9 and similar on the others by the time I was done pressing. Probably made the dealers $600+ and they were just having a good time with us and teaching us along the way.
I’ve only played about 5 times over the last month. I’m pretty ignorant about the game, and sort of bet by feel, but I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes in this explanation. I’d appreciate any feedback/corrections on this. Again, thanks to everyone who posts and comments here. It helps a lot.

“I’ve spent all night long trying to figure out, what I’ve lost and what I’ve failed”
One of my favorite moment and memory of us was the night we went to a concert. We didn’t end up staying for the whole concert because you got a call from one of your family members saying there’s a situation back home.
Halfway through the concert, we went outside so you can talk on the phone and the whole time you were mouthing out telling me that you’re sorry for ruining the concert.
But when you were just standing there in the phone, I just looked at you and thought to myself “god, she’s so beautiful”. I whispered saying it’s okay, I’m just happy that I’m with you right now.
That night was the first time we got time to be just the two of us. I cant believe that was almost 7 years ago.
I’ll never forget that night.
-C