Night vision camera for ghost hunting

The opening victim is Christina Carpenter (played by Ana Ortiz). She's at home when a really tense game of cat and mouse ensues between her and GF who taunts her over her failed marriage, affair with Billy and broken relationships with both daughters. GF attacks and kills Christina but manages to make it look like a suicide.
Tara and Sam are living away from Woodsboro (not a big city location but somewhere else) when they hear of their mother's 'suicide'. Sam refuses to return to Woodsboro for any reason whereas Tara refuses to become a victim in any manner and (although this is a bit of a stupid, cliche horror movie decision) agrees to return to Woodsboro accompanied by Mindy and Chad to organize the funeral/collect belongings from her old house.
When the three have returned we have another nice little cameo moment from Martha Meeks. The three return to Tara's house and we have a few 'memory moments' from the opening of Scream 5. A bit like when Sidney was walking through the Stab 3 set of her house in Scream 3.
Sam is still staying put in her new location which has caused friction again between her and Tara. GF attacks and kills Danny unbeknownst to Sam. Everyone is still at this point unaware a new GF is even operating although Sam suspects it due to her Billy visions returning.
Back in Woodsboro Tara, Chad and Mindy are spending the night together at Tara's house. Chad and Tara are full on romantic. Chad is even planning on proposing. That night GF reveals themselves and Tara finds herself alone in the house playing a classic GF game of cat and mouse. GF tells her to turn on the porch lights where she sees Chad and Mindy tied up 'Steve style' and Tara has to choose which one to save. She can't make the choice when GF reveals he was never intending on killing them...not yet anyway. He just wanted them out of the way so he could have Tara all to himself. And he wanted them to watch. Chad and Mindy's eyes widen in shock as GF appears behind Tara inside the house and brutally kills her as they're both strapped to their chairs unable to help. It's a really tragic death hammed up as much as possible.
Tara's death obviously sends Sam on a spiral of pure rage and vengeance to the point where for the rest of the movie she's almost manic/feral. The rest of the action at this point doesn't take place in Woodsboro. Chad and Mindy leave town (being given special permission to flee from Kirby under FBI authority to a safe house along with Sam).
I'd obviously have Kirby returning and Gale too as she's taken on a bit of a maternal role (but maternal in Gale Weather's style) to Sam. I'm actually okay with Sidney not being in this one at all. This needs to be the end of Sam's story.
Obviously Sam would be devastated over Tara's death but with help from Mindy and Chad by the end she accepts Tara never would've blamed her for anything and Tara would want her to live her life to the fullest. This is confirmed in a video Tara specifically recorded for Sam during the events of Scream 6 (little homage to Randy's video in Scream 3) that explains if anything were to ever happen to Tara because of a GF attack she wants Sam to know she loves her unconditionally and that she if she were ever taken down by GF that she'd want Sam to go and put that 'Loomis gene' to good use for her. Sam would finally finish her arc but accepting she isn't a monster, she isn't to blame for all the horrible events since discovering her true identity and she finally gets to rid herself of the Billy visions forever as her, Mindy and Chad walk off together while Kirby and Gale plan on working together to produce a true crime documentary on the Woodsboro murders from Scream 1, 4, 5 and parts of 7.

Fire. So much fire.
Where am I? Hell?
It certainly looks like hell. Feel like it too. The flames are licking my bare skin, but it is soothing somehow. Like a puppy licking my face.
It swirls around me, then opens up into a pair of wings flapping in a dull rhythm. I look majestic. Like a phoenix rising from the flame.
My subjects stand before me. They chant my name and address me as their empress. Their queen. The only one destined to lead them.
And one by one they bow.
I feel honoured. I feel power. I feel a smile form on my lips.
I must speak. To thank them for their kind and loyal support. But when I open my mouth I don’t talk—I click and I clack and I chitter.
The crowd goes wild. They are jumping on each other and craning their neck to see me. I stumble backwards, eyes wide and my heart pounding in my throat. Turning around to face a mirror behind me, I let out a shrill scream.
My features are melting like candle-wax. I can’t even recognise myself anymore.
I…
…
“…”
“Skye.”
“SKYE!”
I snapped back to it to find my boyfriend, Alfie, staring at me. His face was pale, like he had just seen a ghost. He held up a blood-splattered tissue.
“Your nose is bleeding. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I just had another…”
I trailed off, staring at the sky. I never knew what to call them. Nightmare? Hallucination? Seizure? I had them since I was a child and still I couldn’t put a name to the episodes.
Alfie wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. He smelled like the old teddy bear I had when I was a child and it put my mind at ease. I snuggled up beside him.
“We can go home if you want,” he offered. “You really look like you saw a ghost.”
That was the best thing about Alfie. We’d grown up together–next-door neighbours–and we had so much in common we were practically in sync. We both grew up without a mother—his parents divorced when he was little and mine, well— I don’t know what happened to my mother. My father forbade me from talking about her.
He always slapped me in the face when I tried.
But Alfie, he was my cliff. And I was the waves crashing against it. We were inseparable in this rough and tough neighborhood where being raised by a single parent was a sin. We might not have siblings, but we had each other. Honestly, that’s all that really mattered.
“I’ll walk you home.”
“I’m fine, Alfie. Really.”
Alfie shook his head. “Skye, you look sick. I insist.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Good old Alfie. Stubborn as a lovely mule. “Fine, you big doofus.”
We walked home in silence. I didn’t want to talk about what I saw this time and Alfie knew better than to push it. Neither my dad nor my stepmom was home as usual so Alfie escorted me into bed and tucked me into it. Like I was 5 years old again.
“Thanks.”
He cracked a slight smile. “Don’t mention it.”
He sat on a chair nearby and withdrew into the shadows. It was comforting having him there watching me sleep, like a father taking watch for his family during a cold, winter night. Alfie came over and held my hand. It felt as warm as fire.
“I’ll be here whenever you need me.”
“Always.”
“You okay, Skye?”
I cracked my eyes open, hissing from the strong stream of bright sunlight. Alfie was gone, replaced by my stepmother, Emily. She sat next to me on my bed, her palm over my forehead.
“Alfie told me you’re sick. Do you need anything?”
“Not really.” My voice sounded like it had aged fifty years.
“I got some water. And Alfie, he got something for you. Said he hoped it would make you happy.”
I blinked back tears, nearly choking on my water. I felt better already.
“Chocolate,” Emily continued. She sniffed it. “Fresh. Handcrafted. What is this? Valentines’ Day?”
“Or did you two steal my credit card to buy expensive chocolate?”
“Stop!” I grinned, taking one. It melted like butter in my mouth and cascaded down my throat.
“Mm! Thanks!”
“Don’t thank me,” Emily said. “Thank him. He’s been calling all morning. Asking how you’re doing.”
“Told him you were asleep but he won’t take no for an answer. Wanted to see you himself. To check up on you.”
I got up and stretched. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so tired anymore. “I ought to go now.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, it’s okay.”
Alfie wasn’t home. The doorbell echoed thinly in the morning air. Something flickered in the upstairs window, and I caught sight of a pair of eyes. Alfie maybe?
Click
The door swung open. Alfie’s father stared grimly down at me, clawing his graying hair.
“Alfie’s upstairs,” he muttered before I could speak.
“He said he is preparing to see you.”
Preparing?
“Thanks Mr Owens.”
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. The house was thrown into complete disarray. Their possessions were scattered in every corner and covered by a film of dust. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought Alfie and his dad left in a rush and never came back.
The stairs creaked with every step.
“Alfie?”
No answer. The stairs sank under my weight and I nearly fell. I could hear flies buzzing in the distance.
“Alfie? It’s Skye!”
Creak
“Alfie?”
I trooped up the last step, hardly daring to breathe.
Thud. Thud. Creak.
The early morning light bathed Alfie’s room in gold, yet he was cloaked in shadow. Alfie sat hunched at the side of his bed, facing the window. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and he was scratching his left arm.
“Alfie…”
“Are you okay Skye?”
His words cut through the confusion and knocked me cold.
“Kind of? Why are you so itchy? Mosquitoes?”
“Come and see.”
I slid on the bed next to him and looked at his arm. A scarab with bulging eyes was carved deep into his flesh. The wound was old and the blood dry, but it was carved in exquisite detail like he paid a professional tattoo artist to do it for him.
I stared at it for a moment, and I swore something clicked in my brain. Like this scarab was a part of me, somehow. But I gritted my teeth and shook it off.
“Alfie?” I frowned. “Are you okay?”
He stared at me, his eyes bulging as big as the bug on his arm.
“Don’t you get it? It’s a sign, Skye! We are meant to be together!”
“Uh…”
Goosebumps crept up my skin and my spine tingled. Alfie was still grinning at me. But it felt unnatural, somewhat, like he was forcing it on his face.
“Do you like it, Skye? I did it for you!”
I was struggling to breathe. “Maybe?”
The morning heat shimmered between us like a protective shield. Alfie was still smiling at me.
“I’ve got to go…”
“Wait!” he cried. “Don’t you want to hear about how you…”
He shrieked his explanation to the empty room as I scrambled down the stairs and out of his house. Even on the way home I could still hear him.
“Something wrong?”
“Maybe.” I picked at my food. It was fish and chips—one of my favourite foods. Emily frequently picked them up when she was out of town and on normal days they tasted like heaven.
But not today. Today it tasted like sandpaper. All day I was thinking of Alfie and my stomach was twisted to knots.
“It’s about Alfie, isn’t it?”
Emily read me like a book as usual. It was often annoying but right now I never felt more grateful.
“Maybe…”
“Look, Skye, he’ll get over it soon. He’s just thinking about how to sort out his feelings for you.”
“Maybe…”
“Don’t worry about it. It will pass sooner or later. In fact tomorrow he might propose to you with a huge diamond ring…”
“Emily!”
“What? I’m saying that is possible!”
Creak.
“What was that?”
Emily exchanged nervous glances with my dad, who had been quiet all evening. “I don’t know.”
I stood up. “I’ll go look.”
“SKYEEEEE!”
My hair stood on end at the edge of my skin. “Alfie?”
“SKYEEEE! I LOVE YOU!”
“Alfie…” I croaked. I wanted to run but something was pinning me there.
“I LOVE YOU SKYE!”
I dared peek out the window. There was Alfie. Motionless. Waiting.
The moon shone deep on him, slowly peeling off strips of colour on his face. He stood, eyes as wide as copper coins. Yelling my name over and over. Yet it didn’t sound like a boy; it sounded like a grizzly, tired old man fighting to get a frog out of his throat.
“Alfie? What is going on?”
Silence. He was still screaming my name. Loud as the crickets.
“He’ll get over it,” Emily repeated uncomfortably, staring at the screaming boy. “Come on Skye. I’m sure it will be fine tomorrow.”
But it wasn’t fine. At first he stood a few meters away, and then with each passing day he got nearer and nearer. Once I peered down to see him so close to the wall his nose was touching it. Then he looked up, his lips puckered to the bricks like an octopus, his eyes stretching to the back of his head until you could see a morbid web of veins, and then, he grinned.
I kept on asking him about it, asking him if he was feeling okay and if he needed anything. And every time I brought up the subject, I had more questions than answers.
For he wouldn’t answer me properly. He avoided my eyes and dodged each question like James Bond. Directing answers back at me, asking how I felt or if I was sick. On and on.
But never a word about him. He smiled and told me not to worry. He would be fine.
That sentence echoed doubt over and over in my head.
I noticed he wore more long-sleeved shirts to cover up the tattoo—he said he did it because he knew it bothered me a lot—and then he immediately changed the subject.
“Hey Skye,” he said one day after another unsuccessful attempt of getting him to talk to me about it. “Have you ever paid attention to a mouse clicking?”
I frowned. “Pardon?”
“A computer mouse,” Alfie clarified. “I bought a new one yesterday and have been playing around with it a lot. And now I can copy one! Check it out!”
He made a series of clicks with his tongue and laughed. “What do you think?”
It was hauntingly familiar. For some reason cold dread washed again down my spine. Alfie clicked again, and I swore his lips were bulging and twisting out into something that looked like a short noodle.
“It’s lovely, Alfie,” I said instead. “But it’s making my head spin.”
Alfie laughed again. Ruffled my hair. A cold breeze was sweeping through the hill and soon my hair flopped onto my face.
“Nonsense Skye!” Alfie said. “I’m doing it for you! Listen!”
He got up and clicked his way home and soon my heart was as cold as the wind.
The next night he was in my room. Really.
I woke up from another nightmare in the middle of the night, something about fire cooking me alive and bugs scuttling down my skin. And then I saw a dark silhouette at the foot of my bed.
Thunder roared and the sky lit up with a brief bolt of lightning. Light beamed down, and then I could see his face.
It was Alfie. He was standing there with his arms out and his head bent to the side like a limp rag doll. His jaws were fully protruding from his face now, and he wouldn’t stop making those stupid clicks.
Flies buzzed around his head like they were proud of serving their king. Alfie leaned forward and reached out to touch me. He grinned, revealing yellowed teeth.
Click. Click. CLICK
Thunder screamed and it went dark once more. When the flash of light came back Alfie was suddenly on my bed. He clicked as he inched slowly forwards.
I was paralysed. He was hissing, swaying to the crack and boom and snap of thunder. He slithered, closer and closer and closer…
My scream was stuck in my throat.
He was so close now I could reach out and touch him and–oh god, the smell. Like he had dipped a rotting corpse in vinegar then rolled on the floor with it.
I ducked under my covers and pulled it tight above me. His shadow loomed over mine. Hands danced along the blanket, looking for an edge to pull.
Thunder cracked the sky like a whip. I mustered my courage and screamed, “GO AWAY ALFIE!”
More thunder. So loud this time I thought my eardrums shattered.
Then silence.
I dared to peek.
The moon shone bright through my window. Everything had disappeared—no thunder, no lightning, no storm.
And no Alfie.
At first I thought I was only dreaming. I pinched myself and counted how many fingers I had just to make sure.
Then I smelled it. Deep and lingering.
Like a rotten corpse dipped in vinegar.
I woke up to a ton of shouting.
I dragged myself to the window and peered down, rubbing my eyes. People were gathered outside my house, nudging and whispering and pointing at something on the wall.
The police were here too, but their faces were as white as a sheet, and their arms were stuck by their sides. One of them was holding a megaphone, but his lips were quivering. The megaphone tumbled onto the ground and let out its own screech of terror.
Finally I dared look at what the commotion was about.
It was Alfie.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
He looked up at me and I saw that his face was swelling; his eyes were swelling. In fact Alfie’s eyes were bulging more than it ever could, and it glistened like a mirror, so clearly I could see my reflection in it. He scuttled up the wall towards me, and as I watched, a pair of hairy feelers erupted from his forehead and waved.
CLICK CLICK
I couldn’t breathe. I watched as each arm and leg grabbed the bricks and hauled his body upwards. I was gripping the windows so tight my knuckles were as white as his face.
Alfie stopped mere inches from me, the hair on his new feelers tickling my face.
CLICK
He smelled even worse than last night, if it was even possible. I swore I could practically see the cloud of toxic gas on his breath. I leaned as far away as I could from him and tried not to gag.
One of the bricks tumbled away from him and landed somewhere down beneath. The house we had bought was very old and it was clear it couldn’t support his weight. Alfie’s grip slipped but still hung on tight with his other hand. He was swinging gently from side to side, like a moving pendulum, and I found I couldn’t look away.
CLICK CLICK
Another brick fell. I found myself wishing more would fall faster.
CLICK CLICK
“Alfie,” I choked. “Please…”
It was like his hands were made of butter. Alfie desperately hung onto the ledge with just two fingers. The rest were shrinking quickly and folding into his palm. His other hand was no more; it had withered and thinned and charred to a long black appendage.
CLICK CLICK
“Alfie, what is going on?” I hoped there was something in that monster before me, a piece of the Alfie I knew. Yet Alfie looked at me, unblinking.
Unknowing.
CLICK
That was when he lost the last of his grip.
It was like watching a movie in slow motion. He fell humbly, gracefully, his eyes never leaving my face. In fact, I swore I saw him smile.
Another electric jolt shivered its way up my spine.
SPLAT
Alfie lay on his back, his feelers and limbs wiggling madly, then he went still. Blood leaked out from a hole on his head, a deep cobalt blue.
The crowd was screaming. They were scrambling and stumbling against each other, pushing back like an enormous tidal wave. The cops had regained their nerves; they were calling for order and for everyone to get back to their houses.
As for me, I couldn’t think. I stared down at Alfie’s corpse for what seemed like hours. The crowd finally dispersed, then the police, then the paramedics came and took the body away in an ambulance painted with black and gold.
Then I sat down on my bed and watched the sky. The birds chirping outside, the way the clouds swam lazily across the azure ocean—everything was dead. Broken.
All I could see in my mind’s eye was Alfie: his serene smile, his fall from grace, the way his head shattered on the ground. Over and over, an eternal movie repeating in my mind.
Day turned into night. I didn’t know how much time had passed. Neither did I want to eat, drink, use the bathroom or sleep. I was too busy wandering the deep forest of my thoughts, and every tree was engraved with Alfie’s face.
“Skye?”
I turned to face Emily and my dad. When did they come home?
“I…”
Emily placed a warm hand on my shoulder. “We know. The Willows told us.”
Her eyes welled in tears.
“Skye…” she said quietly. “I am really sorry.”
I turned away. I didn’t feel like talking.
“Skye, listen.” Emily cupped my hands into her own. “What happened to Alfie isn’t entirely your fault.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I don’t want you to blame yourself, Skye.”
I raised an eyebrow. Or what was left of it.
“How do you know?”
“Because…” Emily hesitated. She nodded to my dad and he made himself scarce.
She reached in her pocket and pulled out a medallion.
My heart stood still.
Carved into the medallion was a very familiar scarab with bulging eyes. Again something clicked into my brain, like a key turning into a lock.
Then it hit me.
I saw it on Alfie’s arm!
“Because…”
A small smile stretched across her face. Like she was waiting forever to tell me the good news.
“I know your real mom.”
SK

I had a terrible experience with the actual insertion, although ironically, nothing to do with the insertion.
The night before the procedure, I went to bed at about 9.30/10pm and woke up at 12.45am, was annoyed I'd missed my "Nothing after midnight" window so went back to sleep. I woke at 7 feeling kind of hungry but that passed with electrolyte water.
By 11am, I was getting a migraine though so went back to sleep until 2pm when I needed to leave for the hospital. The migraine persisted the whole 2.5 hour drive and I was violently sick the whole car ride (which is fairly normal for me when I have migraines). Upon arriving at the hospital, I was shown to a private room and lay in darkness with wet tissue over my forehead.
A few nurses and the surgeon came in at varying times, checked me in, went over my consent and potential complications again and I fell back asleep each time until 7pm when they came to take me up to theatre.
I was given an IV with painkillers, sedation and anti-nausea meds and asked to lay on my left side. They sprayed numbing spray down my throat and put in essentially a hollow gag so I couldn't bite the surgeon then a few minutes later, started the insertion.
It was rather uneventful thought I did notice they 3 things down my throat which I wasn't expecting. The balloon tube, another thin camera and a suction tube. Apparently the camera was to check space in my stomach, ensure the balloon was the right size for me and look for existing stomach ulcers.
The whole thing only took a literal matter of minutes. I waited in recovery for about 20 minutes then was taken back to my room where I fell back asleep. I woke around 9/9.30 and started asking to go home and they said I could once I'd done a wee and had the cannula removed. I left around 10pm.
I was sick again a few times on the drive home, though largely from the lingering migraine. I was able to have a cigarette once I got home, puked a few more times then went to bed.
I fell asleep quickly and woke at 3am for another round of puking and a cigarette before falling back to sleep. I woke every hour or so after than and type this while lying in bed feeling very delicate, quite nauseous but not actually too bad.
I desperately hope this is the worst of it and I'll be on the mend again in a few days.
EDIT TO ADD: I am down 2 kilo but that's obviously all water weight and am experimenting with different temperature liquids to see what upsets my stomach least

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

Previous.
Captain Vohr’Doe walked along the hall of the crew quarters, hoping that Kyle wasn’t in his ‘living’ room; there was something he'd had delivered to his equipment room that she really wanted to see, but didn’t think it would be prudent to simply ask to see it. As Captain, she had - of course - been given an inventory of the items he had delivered, and while a lot of it seemed to be a bit much - like the meat smoking pit, along with the filters to keep his room safe - there was one thing that she couldn’t quite put in that same category, regardless of how much upkeep it would need.
She very well could have put in a call to security to find his location, but she knew he would be either in his ‘room’, or in his ‘equipment room’, and it was good to take a walk among your crew from time to time; let them know that you don’t think of yourself as better than them. So it was that she greeted the members of her crew that she passed, taking the time to speak to them, and make sure they were doing well. And so it was that she finally made it to his room, and pushed the call button. After waiting a few moments, she pressed it again. Finally, she decided he wasn’t in his room, and turned to head towards the elevator to take her down. However, she had barely taken three steps when he turned the corner, prompting the slightest twinge of disappointment.
He was dressed in a black silk shirt, with a pair of pants that were made to have lots of room in the legs. The waist obviously fit him, and yet, the legs themselves seemed to be made for someone much larger than himself, as his legs had plenty of space to move around inside the pants. They also had a peculiar color scheme, as the left half was all black, and the right half was a deep, vibrant red. There were pockets about halfway down the legs, with metal chains hanging on them. She could also see that he was barefoot, and while there was no rule saying he had to, she was aware that his people usually wore shoes when out in public. But, he wasn’t hurting anyone - namely himself, in this instance - so she didn’t bother about it. He was also still wearing the sun-shades that he had on before, and she had to wonder as to why seeing as she had read that Sol was just as bright on Earth as the lights on the ship. Perhaps the mahn’ewe operate under dimmer lighting? Two years would be time enough to shift someone’s vision.
He had in his left hand his tablet, his face pointed entirely at the screen, and in his right was a plastic container, that was square-shaped, with rounded corners, the base of which was the size of his whole palm, and which flared out about an inch along its length upwards. It was mostly full with what appeared to be tiny, tan-gray seeds, and even as she watched, Kyle lifted it to his mouth and simply stuck his tongue out, using his saliva to adhere the seeds to his tongue. He was just lowering his hand - having retracted his tseed-covered tongue back into his mouth - when he stopped, and she got the feeling that he’d finally looked up, and saw her; which was solidified when he said,
“Hey, Cap’n; fancy seeing you down here.” She didn’t miss the note of trepidation in his voice.
“Well,” she began, “I actually came down to see you. Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Of course,” he replied, “Here, or…?”
She smiled, and said,
“Your room should do fine, unless you wish to go somewhere else?”
“Oh,” he replied, somewhat flustered, “No, my room’s fine; just a second…” and he made his way over to his door, opening it for her.
And upon the door opening, she was at first confused, as she was confronted by a wood-paneled wall about six feet from the door. Then she realized that these were the crates his things had been shipped in. He must have had more things in them than she’d originally thought, as he had yet to unpack it all even after three Standard days aboard this ship. However, when she stepped in, and walked around the corner around ten feet to her left, she saw an entirely different sight.
To her right was a 7’-tall entertainment center, about 5’-wide, and a monitor inside that took up the entire space from left to right, though it was only about 4’-tall. The top of the monitor was about level with the top of her chest, with a shelf above it that was filled with various personal effects. Most all of these were variations of a winged lizard that looked remarkably like the reptile aspects of the drahk’mihn, not least of all because they were all different colors.
There were what looked like egg-shaped geodes, the upper ‘faces’ missing about a quarter of the ‘shell’ the insides each dyed one of the six primary and secondary colors, with a miniature lizard curled protectively around its corresponding color. There was a timer-glass - the bottom bulb containing red sand - with the side ‘pillars’ that connected the ‘cage’ holding the glass center steady being one of these creatures on each side, mirrored by identical creatures on the ‘bottom’, relative to whichever was on the top at any given turning. There was a large figurine that was of a multi headed example of these creatures, one red body, with multiple other colored heads, one being red, but the others being blue, green, black, and white. Everywhere she looked, there were figurines, pictures, and posters - held to the wall with magnets, it looked like - all of them containing these creatures in some setting or another. Just as she was about to comment on them, a light turned on on a nearby table, and she looked in over to see a white orb made of plastic. In certain parts, there was obviously more plastic layered than in others, creating ‘shadows’ across its surface. As she studied it, the ‘shadows’ seemed to look almost like craters.
“Earth’s moon?” she asked, turning to look at Kyle, who - she just noticed - wasn’t looking at her. In fact, he seemed to be looking for something. As she watched, he scanned his room, looking over every surface, and even under chairs, and in the space under his desk in the corner where his legs would go. He didn’t seem to notice she said anything, taking several seconds before he turned, looking at her with a slightly surprised look on his face, saying,
“Hmm?” distractedly, until his mind seemed to catch up to what she’d said, as he followed that up with, “Oh, right; yeah, that’s Luna. It was only ‘illustrated’ to show the light side, so the other side isn’t ‘stenciled’ to show the cities on the dark side.”
“Oh,” she replied, “I didn’t realize that Earth’s moon was tidally locked... Well, I can certainly understand the sentiment: no matter how much I enjoy being out among the stars, surveying new plants, my home planet will always hold a special place in my heart.”
“Pur’Rosse?” he asked politely.
She gave a small laugh, and replied,
“No, I was born on one of our colony planets: Clash’Rept. It’s not very large, or particularly important, but it’s home… If I’m interrupting your search for something…?” she finished, gesturing for him to continue. She saw him go a little red, as he sheepishly chuckled, and it was at that moment that she noticed something else: while he was still wearing his glasses, the lenses were now completely clear, with no tint at all. It seemed that he noticed what she was looking at, as he went slightly cross-eyed, then gave another small laugh.
“Just a second.” he replied with a slight smile, as he finished giving his room a quick sweep, then entered his connected bathroom. After about a minute in there, he stepped out, took off the glasses, and set them down on his bedside table. “A week was more than enough time for the A.I. studying the things I sent back to be able to reverse-engineer their cloaking devices, and then upgrade it. With that, comes the tech to detect them, if they happen to try sneaking up on me again.”
The fact that the mahn’ewe had access to invisibility technology wasn’t lost on her, however, she chose a more… intelligent question to ask.
“And you expect them to come here?” she asked with a slight smile.
He looked a bit ‘on-the-spot’, and gave a smile of his own.
“Well,” he replied, “Not exactly ‘expect’, but let’s just say I’m acutely aware of the possibility.”
She nodded, conceding the point, and decided that was a good enough explanation, so she changed the topic.
“And what are these?” she asked with a slight smile, “They look vaguely familiar.”
Kyle smiled at this, and he replied in a genuinely happy tone,
“Dragons; they can be found in the mythos of just about every human culture in history. They can range from benevolence, to malicious, and everything in between. They usually have control over some element, from fire, to ice, to lightning. Some legends have them controlling every element, or just being all-powerful… Plus, they just look cool.” he finished excitedly.
“Well,” she replied in a slightly amused voice, “I have to agree with you, there.” finishing with a light chuckle.
The conversation seemed to stall there, and Kyle was the one to broach the subject.
“So, you wanted to talk to me?” he inquired, with a note of trepidation creeping back into his voice.
“I did.” she replied, with a gentle firmness; she didn’t want him to feel more threatened than he already - obviously - was, “It’s come to my attention that you haven’t been interacting with the ship beyond your two rooms, and that you give the most minimalist of replies when addressed by your fellow crew members. And while there’s no rule that you have to interact with the crew, I’ve been informed that you haven’t even been to the cafeteria to eat. Obviously, I have no problem with you having your own food and cookware,” here she gestured to the air filter hanging over a stovetop/oven in the corner, “But it’s starting to unnerve the crew a bit. You must understand how it looks to someone on the outside: all anyone is aware of is that you’re a Class 12 aggressor. No one knows why you’re classified as such, and I know you don’t want to tell the story to anyone else; hells, I doubt you would want me telling the story on your behalf.
“So the only thing they have to judge you off of is the official Federal rating on you, and your behavior you exhibit in front of them. Now, I’m not asking you to spend all of your free time fraternizing with everyone you see. However, if you could just start by going to eat with everyone else - perhaps go down to the gun range? - I’m sure that you can meet new people, who simply want to know you… I read your psych report: I know what you went through as a child. And while I can’t guarantee that no one on this ship will bring back memories of the tormentors of your childhood, I can guarantee that the majority will leave you pleasantly surprised,”
If what she’d learned from her interactions with the suun’mahs, and the kanfi’doe - not to mention Kah’Ri - was anything to judge by, then he was very clearly expressing guilt, with his head dropped, and him seeming to be unable to make eye contact. Finally he broke the silence, looking at her sheepishly, saying,
“How far d'you think I can push the ‘unpacking my massive amount of personal items’?” with a shy smile on his face.
That drew out a genuine laugh from her, and she smilingly replied with,
“I think you’ve pretty much used up that time. I’m sure we could pass it off as the only reason you’ve been so reclusive, but it won’t work for very much longer.”
Kyle gave a resigned sigh, and in a matching voice said,
“Alright, I’ll go out more besides, you’re right about the gun range: I’ve only ever shot any guns once, when a… an acquaintance brought his pistol and rifle on a camping trip. I was invited to go to this National Park by some people at work, and I didn’t have a really good reason to refuse… Anyway, I really do have a few more things to do in my equipment room, though; so, would tomorrow be okay?”
She smiled at this, and said,
“That would be acceptable, thank you.” she didn’t want to end on this note, however, so she cast her mind around for anything to talk about, and her mind latched onto something,
“What was that that you were eating when you were in the hallway?” she asked, gesturing to the plastic container he’d set down on his desk.
He smiled at this, and brightly replied,
“Oh, those’re sunflower seeds; well, sunflower kernels seeing as they’ve already been shelled.” and here, he walked over to a cabinet that was used for storing utility items, which did have a few cleaning supplies in the bottom, but the shelves were filled with snack foods. From one shelf at about his shoulder, he pulled an unopened, identical container, and tossed it to her. Having removed the plastic film around the edge of the lid, she opened it, and - mimicking Kyle - she stuck her tongue into the mass of kernels.
The kernels - themselves - had a light, almost bland taste to them, but in a good way. There was a definite taste to them, and not so little that she actually needed so many at a time, but also not so strong as to be overpowering. It was very much something that she could eat if she was feeling ill, and having trouble keeping down more rich flavored food. Plus, the salt was applied in such amount as to enhance the flavor, and not to overpower it. She couldn’t find anything wrong with it. However, one thing occurred to her, somewhat belatedly.
“Are you sure this is safe for me?” she asked with a small smile.
“Yeah,” he answered, smiling, “Kay’Eighty’s already gone through the medical records of the different species, at least, what’s available to the wider public. There’s not really much that we can eat that other species can’t, and there’s not really much that you couldn’t eat, anyways.”
“Well,” she began with a slight laugh, “That’s good to know… Speaking of Kay’Eighty, may I meet her?”
“Of course.” he replied, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small blue box, that soon morphed into a foot-tall, human-shaped ‘robot’; though, ‘android’ would probably be a more fitting descriptor, at this point.
“Hello Captain Vohr’Doe,” she said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Captain Vohr’Doe smiled down at the tiny person, and replied,
“And you, as well. How are you enjoying your stay here; is there anything I can do to make your time here more…” She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say here: ‘inclusive’? ‘Enjoyable’? Whatever she wanted to say, it seemed that Kay’Eighty understood, as she responded with a polite smile, and to say,
“Thank you, Captain, but I have everything I need, supplied to me by the humans. All I need - really - is material to feed my nano-forge in the off chance that I were to lose any bots, for whatever reason, and - again - I have more than enough in storage.”
Not wanting to overstay her welcome, she decided to leave them to whatever they needed to do. So with farewells all around, she took her leave, carrying the container of sunflower kernels that Kyle gave her.
================
Ah’Sheen hated being so small, at times. At only a foot tall - or two feet long on all fours, and counting their tails - the miu’alfar were the smallest sapient species in the known galaxy. Though, it wasn’t the Federation - in and of itself - that made it a problem, as there were all sorts of workarounds that the Federation went out of its way to implement that were to the benefit of the smaller species. But in every civilization, there were always the extremists. People who thought themselves superior to others for whatever reason, and thought that gave them the right to bully others. And that led to ‘trickle-down’ bullying, which led to her current situation.
The three rahv’oyeck that had been harassing her had been content to hurl insults at her, mocking her for being so small, even though the rahv’oyeck didn’t grow taller than two feet, themselves. But when she’d turned the corner into the connecting path - on a street it would be referred to as an ‘alley’, and in this case, wasn’t covered by the security cameras - her vision went completely dark, as one - or all - of them manipulated the light from her eyes. Unfortunately for her, she had been close to the edge when this happened, and her momentum couldn’t be stopped so suddenly, as she’d sped up to try to get away from them. This led to her falling the ten feet to the floor below. Luckily, her people could survive greater falls with minimal injury; it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, though, as she rolled into a sitting position, a bit winded from the impact.
Of course, this led to a cacophony of laughter above her, which quickly came down to her level, accompanied by the flapping of their wings. She heard the female of the group talking, first.
“Wow” she said in amused awe, “You made her eyes into mirrors! How’d you do that?”
The one to her left - a male - replied in a smug voice,
“Yeah, my dad taught me about that: basically, you just have to reflect all the light from a surface, and it makes a mirror; takes a lot of focus, though.”
“So,” said the one in front of her, a male, “Where were you heading, rodent?”
“Please,” she replied, “Leave me alone; I won’t tell anyone, just let me go.”
“I don’t know,” the one who was apparently blocking her vision said with vindictive pleasure, “We were on our way to lunch, and I’m thinking you might just make a tasty meal.”
There was laughter, then the female said,
“She may be small, but I don’t think you could finish her by yourself.”
“Oh, didn’t you know?” he asked, “Rodents have collapsible spines; I bet I could swallow her whol-rgck!”
His voice cut off into a choking sound, as at the same time, her vision came back. The first thing she saw was the two rahv’oyeck who were directly in front of her, and to her right; both of whom were staring - with their beaks wide open - at something above them all, and to her left. Looking in that direction, she saw Kyle, and an instinct to run and hide flashed up inside of her at the sight of him.
The first thing she noticed was his face, which was twisted into a pained-looking rictus, a bastardization of the smile he gave to Kah’Ri at lunch the other day. Firstly, there were too many teeth visible; as well as his gums. And though she couldn’t see his eyes, she was instinctively sure that there was zero amusement behind that ‘smile’. Backing this up was his right arm extended all the way out to his side, who’s hand was currently wrapped around the throat of the rahv’oyeck who had used his Gift on her. The fingers on the end of his wings were scrabbling at Kyle’s hand, trying to free himself, but Kyle’s fingers might as well have been made of steel, for all the good it was doing him; he finally settled on hanging on to Kyle’s hand to relieve the pressure on his throat, which Kyle didn’t seem to be squeezing enough to entirely cut off his air, though his hand was visibly shaking from the obvious restraint. His voice reflected that almost-painful restraint of rage as he - in the icy voice of a psychotic murderer trying to sound innocent - said,
“You know, I thought I heard the squawking of a bunch of seagulls, but turns out it was actually laughter. And so I thought to myself, ‘Hey, I like to laugh; maybe these seagulls’ve got some jokes.' So I decided to come and find out: What’s so funny?”
The other two just stood there, beaks still open, and a tremble now running through their bodies as they stared on in obvious terror; here was the Class 12 ‘beast’ Kor’Rah was referencing the other day. After a few seconds of silence, Kyle gave a casual flick of his wrist, sending the bird in his hand fluttering behind him, and showing a supreme lack of concern for the life he was literally holding in his hand just moments before. At the same time, he bent forward, reaching out towards them. The other two obviously - along with her, she had to admit - thought that he was reaching for one of them, as they both fell over themselves trying to scramble away from his outstretched hand. However, he surprised them all by grabbing Ah’Sheen around her waist in an unexpectedly gentle - while expectedly firm - grip, and lifting her up, placing her on his left shoulder as he straightened up. Looking down at the two in front of them, he said in soft growl,
“You know, humans have two rules -” here, he looked to the side, and his voice momentarily took on a bit of a distracted tone, “Actually, humans have a lot of rules - but two main ones that you’re dangerously close to breaking unforgivably. First and foremost being: don’t mess with my friends.” and here, he walked past them, leaving them staring up at him. She didn’t want to seem like she was making fun of him, but she felt he was leaving himself open to it from the other three there, so she sent a tendril of thought to his mind, which he accepted, and through it she said,
‘You said there were two, but you only told them one.’
She felt the smirk he was suppressing, and he said back,
‘I know, but there’s always one who has to be Billy Badass.’
Almost as if on cue, they heard a rather hoarse voice behind them say,
“Yeah, and what’s number two?”
Kyle stopped dead, and slowly turned, as she felt him let the rage bubble back up to the surface. She felt vindictive smile crack his face, and he practically growled through clenched teeth,
“Fuck around, and find out.” and with that, he took a quick, hard step forward, causing all three of them to scramble around, and take to the air, flying in the complete opposite direction. Kyle gave a snort of laughter, and continued on the way he was going, which turned out to be to the elevator. He was about to push one of the buttons, when he froze, seeming to think of something.
“Um,” he began, “Where were you going, by the way?”
She gave a slight laugh, and said,
“Well, I was going to lunch; why, where are you going.”
“Oh,” he replied, “I was heading to my equipment room, but I can drop you off on my way.”
“Oh,” she said, “Well, if you’re not going, then I can wait for a while: they mentioned that they were heading to lunch, as well, and I don’t want to deal with that. You can set me down here: I’m sure they won’t try anything, again.”
But Kyle was still for a few seconds, before he pushed the button to take them to the equipment rooms.
“I got something that can hold you over till dinner.” he said as the doors began to close.
She wanted to decline - not because she was afraid of him, but because she didn’t want him to go through any undue effort on her part - but she thought better of it; if for no other reason, than to ‘force’ him to put her down would be to take another fall similar to the one she just took earlier, and she didn’t want to go through that again. Soon enough, they were in front of his equipment room, and he motioned for it to open, and she was confronted with a wall of wooden crates. Kyle didn’t seem to be bothered by it, as he turned to his left, and walked around the corner, revealing a mostly clear room. He had obviously put his stuff away, seeing as the room was mostly clear, with the only thing out of the ordinary was a big rectangular metal box in the far corner, and a bunch of large canvases on the walls. The canvases were all of various things, from a dark forest, to nebulae, to a ‘cartoon’ tree, with a large gray trunk, and purple leaves, with golden light shining through the cracks.
Kyle walked over to the box, setting her - along with his sunglasses - down on the desk that came with the room beside the box, he opened said box, pulling out two cylindrical plants with long, green leaves. Each was individually wrapped in plastic, and were quite obviously frozen. As he walked over to one of the closets that lined the walls, he opened it to reveal a large cooking pit. He walked a bit further in, and picked up a smaller pit, one that was just barely taller than herself. He set this one beside the larger one, filled it with lumps of what appeared to be coal, and set it alight. He reached up, and turned on what she took to be an air filter, judging by the sound of an air-intake. As he stepped back, her eyes moved past him, to the spot that was hidden from her view before, as this was on the other side of the box ‘wall’ he seemed to have purposely constructed, and she couldn’t help but gasp when she saw it.
There, to the right of his door - though you wouldn’t know that walking in, obviously - was a 10’-tall tree, and as unexpected as a tree on a ship would be, it was what the tree bore that was the real shocker. For all over it, from the highest branches, growing from vines that wrapped their ways around the trunk, to other, thicker vines that grew around the base, sprouting large green fruits, some of them even bigger than she was, as well as a yellow-tan plant that had almost sharp-looking leaves sprouting out of the top. Kyle followed her gaze, and in a smiling voice, said,
“Oh, yeah; that’s my fruit tree.” he said, as he walked over and picked her up, taking her over to the tree, “Those are apples: ‘red crisp’, there, and those are called ‘granny smith’. The red ones are sweeter, while the green ones have a more tangy bite to ‘em. Those’re ‘oranges’, and the larger ones are called ‘grapefruits’; ‘mangoes’, ‘pomegranates’, ‘peaches’, and ‘bananas’. On the trunk are red and green ‘grapes’, ‘strawberries’, ‘blackberries’, ‘raspberries’, ‘blueberries’, ‘passionfruit’, and ‘dragonfruit’. Down there are ‘watermelons’, and ‘pineapples’. Just a small sample of the fruits from Earth, but the ones I’m most familiar with.”
She was stuck staring in awe, and finally found her voice enough to ask,
“How are there so many different fruits on one tree?”
“Well, before the scientists moved on to manipulating the human genome, they started with plants. Besides making actual hybrids - like, mixing the qualities of multiple fruits together - they made hybrid plants wherein they grow multiple different instances of fruits, or vegetables, like this one.” and with this, he reached out, and pulled a large bunch of the ‘strawberries’ from the vines, using his shirt as a makeshift ‘basket’.
He then took her back to the desk, and set her down, then returned to the opened closet and retrieved a machine that looked like some kind of food processor: it was a large pitcher that sat in a smaller machine-base, with four small blades at the bottom of the pitcher. After he set that down on the desk, and plugged it in, he took the remaining leaves off of the strawberries, and dumped them - one by one as he finished with them - into the processor. Reopening the freezer, he scooped out some ice with a metal scoop, and filled the pitcher almost to the top. He then went over to another closet, and this one was more shallow - mostly a closet to hold coats - that had been converted into a liquor cabinet, stocked floor to ceiling with many different spirits of many different colors. He selected a clear bottle, and closed the closet, returning to the desk.
After he poured a measured amount into the pitcher, he put the lid on the top and - while holding it down, one finger hovering over one of the buttons, he looked over at her and said,
“This’s gonna be kinda loud.”
She covered her ears, and he pushed the button, activating the blades to begin pulverizing the contents of the pitcher. After almost a minute, the harsh crushing, grinding sound fell away, replaced by the loud wiring of mechanical parts. Kyle shut the machine off, and reached into a cabinet over the desk, pulling out two glasses, one several inches taller than the other. After he poured the delicious-smelling drink into the glasses, he handed her the smaller one, and she took an experimental sip: it was delicious., and she told him so.
After he had taken his own drink of the mix - and nodded his thanks to her - he reopened the box, this time reaching into the furthest-most left side, on the other side of the partition, where items that needed to be kept cold - but obviously not frozen - were kept, and pulled out a bowl with a lid on it. Looking over at her, he asked,
“How are you with… ‘jhode’yuus’, the drahk’mihn would call it; we call it ‘butter’ - at least, in English, we do.”
“That’s not a problem,” she replied, “Being a mammal, milk - and milk by-products - are easily digestible by herbivores; it’s the actual meat that we can’t process.”
“Cool.” was all he said, and proceeded to open the bowl, taking a plastic seal off the top. Out of the cabinet to the right of the one containing his glasses, he pulled a small rectangular box, from which he extracted two long sheets of some thin metallic material. He folded them in half long-ways, and cinched the ends together, the metal being extremely pliable. Taking a spoon out of one of the desk drawers, he then scooped a large dollop of the ‘butter’ into each ‘trough’ that he’d made, and opened the two containers, pulling out the vegetables inside, stripping the outer leaves from the seemingly now-thawed vegetables, revealing the yellow-white kernels that were hidden beneath.
“This’s called ‘corn’,” he stated, “More specifically, ‘corn-on-the-cob’. There are several ways to prepare corn, but by far the best way to do it is like this. You can boil it in a pot - sure - but I prefer to boil it in butter, on the grill.” and with that, he set each ‘cob’ of ‘corn’ on the bed of butter, closing the metal over the tops of each. He then took the metal-wrapped vegetables over to the pit, and set them on it, placing the lid back on the pit.
He came back, and sat down at the desk, taking a large - for her, anyway - drink from his glass, and she was suddenly struck by the silence. It occurred to her that asking ‘how have you been’ would be both hollow, and a bit invasive, seeing as they’d only met once. She looked up at him, wanting to say something, but still not knowing what to say, her mouth left slightly open. However, when she looked at him, she saw a strange smirk on his face, and before she could think of anything to say, he took the initiative, answering as if she’d asked a question.
“I’ve been good - well,” he said in a slightly distracted voice, “As good as can be expected, anyways. I’ve been mostly just unpacking; been doing that for the past three days. I haven’t encountered anyone tryin’ to mess with me, but I’m guessing that’s ‘cause they don’t wanna be killed - or eaten - by the ‘Class 12 monster’.” he finished with a smirk.
“Well,” she began in an almost flustered voice, “I’m sure that’s not…” she then thought better of her response, “Yeah, that’s probably it. There’s never been a Class 12 sapient species make it very long before driving themselves to extinction. People fear what they don’t know.”
“Yeah,” he replied easily, “I’m used to that. But we’re not really a ‘Class 12’ under most circumstances. I mean I’m sure you - as an expeditionist - know that a species isn’t rated on their everyday behavior, so much as their most extremes. And actually - for the most part - you’ll have to worry about humans trying to pet the various sapient races, as they’ll see them as just ‘too cute’.” he finished in an amused voice.
She hesitated for a moment, and found the courage to ask - albeit, in a timid voice -
“What… What made them classify you as a ‘12’, then?”
The look he gave her, it wasn’t anger; actually, it wasn’t anything. If she had to name the expression on his face, it would be ‘neutral’. However, there was a deepness to his eyes when he looked into hers, a dark pit of emotions that she felt could swallow her whole if she gazed too long into the abyss of his pupils. Then he blinked slowly, and that was replaced by a gentle sadness as he replied,
“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.” and though his voice had a note of that gentle sadness his eyes held, there was no anger, or offense; something happened on that ship that he knew would damage her. A notion crossed her mind then, of a temporarily insane example of the creature who wanted so badly to crush the life from the rahv’oyeck he held in his hand, with no filter, no control. A slight shiver went down her spine, and she gave a small nod of agreement. He gave her a gentle smile, and changed the subject.
For the next six Standard minutes, or so, they talked about their homes. He had given her his native language, stating it would be easier for them to speak in their own languages; he already had her’s, of course.
He told her about going camping back on Earth, the animals he saw, the wild apple tree he found, and even showed her photos on his personal communication device from Earth. And she was in awe at the beautiful landscapes he showed her, from green clearings in the middle of a vibrant forest, to a lake with a horizon of hills behind it, and even some animals, a lot of which looked unfamiliar, though she did see a black animal version of a galan’zhee. It was about as tall as the grass around it, and she was amazed when he told her that the grass was level with his own head. She wondered how he could take that picture with such a large apex predator looking at him - as it was in the picture - and she was shocked when he told her that all you have to do with 'black bears' is to make a lot of noise, and make yourself look big; that for all the damage they could do, they’re really just big balls of fear.
From there, he inquired about her home life, and so she told him about the colony planet she was born on. It was not really much different than the pictures on his device, with the notable exception that there were no predators larger than an adolescent miu’alfar, and those are very skittish as it is, avoiding any life forms bigger than themselves. There was also the notable difference - from Moor’Ess - of there being a definite day/night cycle, and how they didn’t need sunglasses to operate in brighter lights. He informed her that he wore them to protect his eyes, and that at home, he would block all windows from allowing natural light in.
It was during this that something from before occurred to her.
“Say, Kyle: did you really mean what you said to them, back there?” she asked a bit timidly.
Kyle scowled at the walled-off door, as if they were waiting outside.
“Damn straight.” he practically growled, then his expression cleared into one of slight confusion, and he looked over at her, saying, “Wh- um… Just so we’re like, on the same page here: what-uhh, what part did you mean?”
She laughed a little at this, and with a bit more confidence said,
“The part where you called me your friend.”
Kyle’s eyes opened a bit wider at that, and she got the distinct impression that he’d been caught off guard with that, but instead of trying to backtrack on it, he simply asked,
“Well, shouldn’t I?” with a funny little smile on his face.
“Well, no-” she replied, slightly flustered, “I mean, yes, I just… I mean, we just met; I didn’t want to assume… I mean…” she trailed off, not really knowing what to say. But to her relief, Kyle’s laugh that followed was one of polite amusement.
“It’s okay, I understand… Nah, humans are a social species, even introverts like myself. If there’s no reason *not* to be friends with someone, we can usually ‘buddy up’ fairly quickly. Add in the fact that we’ve been dreaming of ‘aliens’ since before we had radio waves, and most people out here’ll be hard pressed to find an enemy in humans. Not to mention that you all look like some kind of animal from back home, and yall’ll be havin’ to beat humans off with a stick; metaphorically speaking, of course…. Mostly, anyways…” to which they both had a good laugh.
Finally - though she barely noticed the time go by - he went to the pit and took the corn from the heat, and put the lid back on, closing the door behind him.
“I’ll deal with it all later,” he said with a small laugh, the metal-wrapped corn being held in his shirt, like the strawberries had been.
She chuckled, herself, as he pulled plates from one of the cabinets over the desk. After setting each ‘cob’ of corn down, he took the handle of the spoon, and used it to tear open the metal wrapping, spilling out the corn ,as well as the ‘butter’ it was cooked in; and the smell was absolutely divine. After he had poured out the contents of each wrap, and they had allowed it a couple minutes to cool, they dug in, with Kyle providing another large dollop of butter on each plate, instructing her that the best way to eat it is to slather it with butter, which was easiest done by simple rolling the corn in the butter.
It was delicious; better than the smell, even. For several minutes, they were both silent, each enjoying the crisp, rich taste of the Earth food. Finally, they had cleared the cobs of all the edible kernels, and had also each taken a bit of time to gnaw on the film that surrounded said kernels, that had stayed stuck to the cob. Kyle then went over to the tree and collected a large bunch of fruit, consisting of a couple peaches, a bunch of red grapes, a bunch of blackberries, and a few strawberries. He took them over to the desk, collected a bowl from another cabinet, and after retrieving a knife from the desk, began cutting up the bigger fruits into smaller pieces, depositing them in the bowl. After he was done, he shook the bowl around, effectively stirring the fruit without any utensils. He then set the bowl down, and retrieved two forks from the desk. He set one down in front of her and - with a slight smile -asked,
“You okay with sharin’ a bowl with me, or would you prefer your own?”
She picked up the fork and - without a word - began spearing pieces of fruit. He gave a small smile at that, and she could have sworn she saw a bit of relief in that smile, but she was focused on eating her dessert. And it was delicious, as well.
Not that any of the fruit she was eating was necessarily better than any she’d eaten before, but it was all entirely new, and all delicious. She particularly liked the peaches, though calling them the ‘best’ was only possible by a small margin.
They wound up spending all day in his room, talking about their lives back home, their likes and dislikes, and generally just becoming friends. She was a bit surprised at how easy it was to talk to him, and the more she got to know him, the more she believed that she didn’t want to know why his race was a Class 12.
She also met the A.I. that had volunteered to work with him - she was not assigned to him, as the humans accepted their A.I. as equals, and didn’t treat them as simple computer programs. And she had to admit, Kay’Eighty was a very personable being, being just as emotive as any biological person she’d ever met.
They had a nice dinner in his equipment room, him grilling a steak on the smaller pit in his closet, along with some of the salad he’d made for her, consisting of what he called ‘lettuce’, ‘tomatoes’, ‘cucumbers’, slivers of ‘carrots’, and ‘croutons’, which were little squares of re-baked bread, which left them more crunchy than if it had simply been toasted. Once again, everything was delicious.
Finally, she began to feel the effects of having been drinking and talking all day, and began to feel drowsy. Upon noticing this, Kyle began cleaning up, then - more gently than before - lifted her to his shoulder, again, and as such, they left his equipment room. From there, he escorted her directly to her ‘living’ room, where he bid her goodnight, waiting to leave until the door closed behind her.
[Next]

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

Just Looking For Gamer And Internet Friends
(Please actually read the whole post!)
Hi yall! Myself and some friends are looking for new gamer friends and people who like to hang out in Voice Chats and chill! We also like to watch movies/shows and listen to music together.
Our age ranges from 18-40 years old and we would really like friends who are 18+. Especially since we are all well into our adult years and like to drink/smoke some times. There's few older teens who come around once and awhile ages 16 and 17, but other than that all adults.
I myself am usually on from like 3pm-8pm Pacific Standard Time during the week, but on Friday and Saturdays I'm up all night long! Some of our friends stay up well into the night on week days! We have some friends who would some late night peeps to play games with and hang out in VCs!
We primarily live in the USA, but we do have several friends in Europe and a few in Asia and Australia/New Zealand!
We are a diverse bunch! Some of us are LGBTQ+ and of different backgrounds! Please be open minded and chill.
Here are some games we play: -VRChat -Dead By Daylight -Left 4 Dead -Valorant -Apex Legends -Among Us -Overwatch -Hunt Showdown -Cycle Frontier -Minecraft (We have a modded world) -Jackbox Party Pack -Raft -Project Playtime (Poppys Playtime) -Different Horror Games
If you would like to talk further please DM me!

1981- March 25 : Motown releases the album & the single “One Day In Your Life”. It consists of both solo and Jackson 5 tracks recorded with Motown. It was the first Jackson album released in the 1980s. Most of the tracks are from Jackson's fourth studio album, Forever, Michael (1975). The other songs were taken from Jackson 5 releases to pad the album's running time. Motown later admitted that the album was just a quick cash grab generated from the success of Jackson's Off the Wall. (1979). Michael does not promote the album in any way
https://imgur.com/a/R7KFIz6
1983- Michael debuted the Moonwalk at the recording of Motown 25:Yesterday,Today, Forever at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. This night also, symbolically, the night he finally and definitively separated himself from the Jackson 5.
The brothers reunited for the Motown 25 event on this day in 1983 to perform together, as Jermaine had left the group and Michael was already the biggest pop star in the world. Despite his meteoric rise, however, Michael still had one foot back in the Jackson 5
When you watch the performance of the Jackson 5 at the event, you can see Michael having to hold himself back as to only overshadow his brothers by about 10,000% and not 100,000%. He handles pretty much all of the singing and the camera almost never leaves him.
And then, after the Jackson 5 performance is done and Michael gets the solo spotlight to perform Billie Jean, he moonwalks for the first time.
The crowd erupts. The symbolism of him gliding away backwards . . . across the stage and, really, away from his original family band . . . was unmistakable.
This wasn’t the last time the Jackson 5 would ever perform together, but it was clear they were done. They’d have one more album and tour together, mixing their songs and Michael’s solo stuff . . . really, it was a Michael Jackson tour with the Jackson 5 along for the ride.
After that, Michael left the group for good. The show aired two months later on May 16th
https://youtu.be/g3t9-kf7ZNA
1985-Michael attends the futuristic musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Starlight Express” in London and meets the cast backstage
https://imgur.com/a/l3pyiBw
1991- Michael escorts Madonna to the 63rd Annual Academy Awards Ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, where she performs "Sooner Or Later (I Always Get My Man)" by Stephen Sondheim from the film Dick Tracy. Afterwards, they attend the after party at Spago
Speaking about the date later on, Madonna explained how it all came about.
“Michael was like, ‘Well who are you gonna go with?’ I looked at him and said, ‘I don’t know. You wanna go?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, that’d be great.’”
She added: “And then, yes, he took me home. You wanna know what happened after that? I’m not gonna tell you.”
"I mean, baby, I’ve been around,” she joked, saying that a glass of chardonnay helped the King of Pop to “loosen up,” transforming him into a “willing accomplice” and leading to “tongue and mouth kissing.”
Writing on Instagram, Madonna also looked back on the night, describing it as the “Best Date Ever
https://imgur.com/a/X4CnO41
https://youtu.be/vrMricxqXnA
1991 - The title of Michael’s new album is revealed to be Dangerous
1997-British magazine OK gets a world exclusive by publishing the first ever official pictures of Michael & Debbie with their son Prince (at Neverland) accompanied by a candid interview of the couple.
https://imgur.com/a/U4cY9h1
2001 -Michael goes to Newark, New Jersey, with Frank Cascio & Rabbi Schmuley to distribute books to children for a Heal The Kids event to promote literacy. The event launched the Michael Jackson International Book Club, which aims to promote childhood reading and parental reading to kids
https://imgur.com/a/Jtati9m
2004 - Grand Jury selection begins in Santa Barbara
2005 - Trial day 20
Michael goes to court with Katherine & Joe. Friday proved to be a difficult day for jurors in the Michael Jackson trial as prosecutors pored over relatively uninteresting fingerprint evidence.
A central part of the prosecution's case hinges on the singer allegedly showing his accuser adult material while at Neverland. Jurors appeared bored through most of the day as they listened to often specialist and seemingly irrelevant material. One alternate juror even fell asleep.
This has been a difficult point for prosecutors to prove, as only one magazine actually contained prints from both Michael and his accuser - and those prints were not even on the same page. An October 2000 edition of Hustler Barely Legal Hardcore was found to contain only Michael's left thumb print on page 54, while three fingerprints from the accuser were found on page 92.
Other fingerprints from the boy were found in one other magazine and also in a calendar, while his younger brother's prints were also found in one magazine. All the boys' fingerprints were found on magazines contained in a briefcase found in a bathroom adjoining Michael's bedroom. Twelve fingerprints belonging to the pop superstar were found on various other magazines.
Lawyers for the singer attacked the evidence, pointing out that the fingerprint analysis was only done months, and even up to a year, after the items had been found. The defense claims that fingerprints from the boy were placed on the magazine when he was asked to identify it during a grand jury hearing
Alicia Romero, who supervises court exhibits, testified that she and a colleague had handled the items without wearing gloves. She said she was only told to use gloves later on but added that everyone else who viewed the evidence had worn gloves.
The defense added further doubt to the evidence when Timothy Sutcliffe, a sheriff's forensics expert, conceded that labels on two fingerprints had been switched. Fingerprint technician Nancy Torres also testified that she was in training when she analyzed the prints. She said that had been the first time she had ever used a special device to process the fingerprints.
Speaking to reporters after the proceedings, Michael appeared to be in good spirits. "I'd like to say hello to the people of Santa Maria, my friends and neighbors," he said. When asked how he felt having many of his family attending the trial, the singer replied, "It's great love, great bonding"
https://imgur.com/a/fMFOCWT
2009 - Concert Promoter Leonard Rowe says that Michael had him prepare a letter (dated March 25, 2009) addressed to Randy Phillips, in which Michael advised that effective this day, "Leonard Rowe is my authorized representative" and Rowe also says that MJ wrote on the letter that he wanted Rowe to oversee all his finances. Rowe concludes that Phillips resented that he couldn't control Rowe, so Phillips brought back DiLeo and forces him on MJ--and that if MJ didn't accept it, that he would pull the plug on everything.
Three months to the day before Michael Jackson died - Randy Phillips, CEO of AEG Live, wrote an email to another company executive, Paul Gongaware, saying, "We need to pull the plug now. I will explain."
Gongaware denied that the email was a reference to calling off Jackson's "This Is It" concerts in London but instead was pointed at "pulling the plug on Karen Faye," the singer's hairstylist, makeup artist and longtime friend who had expressed fears about Jackson's poor health.
The email raises questions about how early people began sending out warnings about Jackson's health.
2010 - A lawyer for Michael's father, Joe, said that he intends to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the late singer's doctor within 90 days, claiming that the physician’s actions amounted to murder.
Brian Oxman, who represents Joe Jackson, said the amount of the powerful anesthetic propofol given Jackson by Dr. Conrad Murray before his death “was reckless, and it amounts to second-degree murder.”

I woke up with a loud gasp as I heard loud booming noise coming from outside, deciding it was thunder I turned around to see a dark silhouette of a man standing outside of my door. I quickly covered myself with the blanket accepting the childhood belief if the monster can't see you, you're safe. I heard clicking noises as the silhouette moved from one end of my bedroom to the other. The loud clicking it made as one of its hands reached over to me but stopped halfway. Time stood still as my heart was thumping in my chest threatening to explode at any moment. That's when I heard in a deep and grave tone. 'It is not your time young one.''
I sighed in relief as it hasn't had chosen to come for me. A deep chill ran down the back of my spine I had a sudden realization if the creature is not coming for me then it must be coming for my sick and dying mother. happen I want her to live. Another bolt of lightning flashed and followed by a loud clap a few seconds later the figure was gone from my room. The thunder clapped from the darkness and through the lightning strike I saw a retched figure with fingers of decade flesh and bugs crawling in between the joints of the creature's standing over my mother. I gasped at the vile creature looming over my mother's poor defenseless body. Covering my mouth, I didn't want to grab the attention of the horrifying beast, but I couldn't let it feast upon my mother's frail and youthful body I screamed for it to get away from her, but the figure just continued its feast on her. I looked around the room and saw a small book perched on the table stand next to me. This should grab its attention I thought to myself. I threw the book with great force at the lumbering creature to grab its attention. It worked I got its attention as it swayed and staggered from the impact of the small book as it hits it squared in the face. Now realizing I got its attention with fury blazed from its shrieks, with no plan on what to do I thought of the thing that came into my mind and ran straight out of the room. Without looking back, I glanced in the corner of my eyes seeing a toothy and strained smile coming from the creature smiled at me and bent unnaturally on all fours arching its stomach toward the air. In one massive leap like a goat towards the ceiling sticking its claws in causing holes to form as it moved its head in a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, with its black and voidless eyes moving towards me with frightening speed. I ran out of the room with the entity close behind me, panicking I ran straight towards my living room hopefully to lose it, and backtrack towards my mother's room. I dodged one of its strikes narrowly missing my legs. The creature skidded towards the table crashing and knocking itself out giving me the chance to run and lock myself in my mother's room. Out of breath and wheezing as tho, I just ran a marathon is slammed the door shut. Hearing a screech that sounded like the cries of an animal that was in pain I looked down to see that I caught the creature's hand in the door and was violently wailing its hand around the hand caught my face leaving a massive gash across my uppermost right eye down towards my lower lips. I stumbled back and hollered in pain as I felt warm blood trickling down my face and the taste of iron penetrating my split lips and seeping down my mouth. Running towards my mother and stood by her side as I heard the door come crashing down and splinters of wood flying into my legs. winching at the pain I stood my ground with an iron glare I stared at the creature, not wanting it to take my mother. it stopped and stood up like a normal human would do with all its joints cracking and popping. It lifted one of its arms and brought it back towards its back in an impossible manner that would surely break a normal human's arms, it brought out a long, massive scythe that glistened in the moonlight reflecting my bloody face in it. At that moment I knew that I was facing the embodiment of alt that ends, the reaper of souls, the grim reaper. The grim reaper raised its boney arms along with the massive scythe I barely had enough time to doge as the massive scythe scrapped across my back leaving a nasty scar. I landed on my back on the dresser whining in pain as the nerves on my body were shot like I just walked through fire butt naked. I looked up toward the creature and closed my eyes when a bright light surrounded us and I heard a giggle and then blackness.
It felt like I was falling into the inky darkness for eons nothing to see in either direction. Just me alone for all eternity to reflect on my past. I smiled at the thought of my past. Never really did anything to carter any attention to myself except that I was born into a rich family on a very big farm. We inherited it when my father died protection my mother from the local rival gangs when they caught a whiff that the drug lord is having a child. They planned their attack three days after I was born. My mother told me that the night they broke was a wet and muddy night with low visibility the guards never knew what was coming until it was too late, they were shot dead without hearing or seeing them. They broke down the front gate by ramming their cars into it. Once they broke through my mother and father woke up and ran towards the window.
My father yelled towards my mother to run and hide she did as she was told. There were gunshots as my father fought valiantly as the rivals kept pouring in like vultures on a dead body. They slaughtered my father and began ransacking the house looking for me and my mother they eventually found us hiding in the bathroom, my mother trying to silence a crying me as the intruders pointed our guns towards us. As if the gods were looking down on my mother that day the men in the bathroom were shot dead blood dripping from the bullet wounds from the head. As they collapsed down onto the floor my mother saw one of the guards limping towards her. He let out one of his injured hands towards mother and she took it with much hesitation.' What's your name?
The guard looked at her and gave a small smirk. 'Madam Avila if we survived this, I'll tell you' 'As they ran down the hallways past piles of rival gang members. one of them grabbed mothers' foot and tripped her knocking over an oil lamp that caught fire on the curtains. She screamed and kicked him as hard as she can cracking his neck and killing him. The guard looked shocked but didn't say anything. As they were about to exit from the burning building towards the back gates shouting can be heard and five men converged on mother and her protector all drawing their guns toward the last two. weapons were drawn the guard managed to shoot down four of the attacking before being fatally wounded. Seeing the surviving guard fall to the ground something snapped within mother that day. Was it the loss of her husband the guard or the loss of the hacienda maybe a combination? whatever caused mother to pick up his gun and shot the last man in the head. A faint gasp can be heard coming from the guard she knelt beside him. He smiled.
'Looks like you're going to make it miss Avila''.
Through weeping tears mother could only sniffle ''please don't die on me''.
''Miss it's all right I did my job your safe''.
she burst out in tears as he said those words. He leaned toward mother and whispered something into mother's ears before taking his final breath and collapsing to the ground. Mother let out a scream of agony and sadness for the loss of everything. And vowed revenge on those who had wronged her. As she was walking away, she looked back at the guard. Whispering that he will be remembered, and his name will live on in her son.
Nineteen years later I learned that mother went on a rampage killing all the rival gangs and their leaders in brutal and quick ways that not even the gods could stomach. Throughout town, she became known as lady death the scourge of the desert plains. The vengeful ghost of the night. After losing everything that night she built back up her empire and slaughtered any rival gang that dares to oppose her or gives a hint of betrayal. She became so feared in my town that everyone knew to never cross her and tend to stay well clear of me whenever I went to the markets, but she was well respected as she was also known as the protector.

This is a follow up to my last posts here, but this happened last night. So, my former narcissist was spreading lies about me to her friends, which her friend approached me about, only for me to offer to disprove all of those lies - and I did - with evidence. However, pledging to be honest, I think I overdid it… I mentioned my narcissist was sexually abused as a kid, and she apparently didn’t tell him that either.
She then broke down crying, and chatted with me in private via call telling me how her “life is perfect, with a 4.7 GPA, great friends, therapy, medication, her dream college”, and getting up close to the camera to scream at me in a demeaning tone, telling me I was “A LITTLE SQUEAK- HAMSTER IN THE SQUEAKY WHEEL” for not being able to move on. She also told me her new guy knows her “better than anyone”, and that he’s not an asshole like me, because he didn’t do this shit I did, as he would never say something like that to break her trust. She also said she doesn’t “use people anymore”, and that she didn’t “discard” anyone except for me, although she did unfriend two close friends because /they/ wanted to cut contact, but idk what to believe… I feel like she’s right, and that she’s actually changed, and that /I/ was the only asshole, but - at the same time - why would she continue to spread lies about me if she did? I kind of felt good being able to defend myself, and spilling her secrets, to be honest… It felt cathartic, and like I was - after a year and a half of smear campaigns and damage - finally putting her in her place.

Good morning/evening/night/eternal darkness to whomever may be reading this! I come to you from the mythical land of checks notes England. Okay, not very mythical. All the dragons are in Wales, Excalibur's been melted down for scrap, and all the unicorns were hunted to extinction.
But hello regardless. I'm a 26M, and I work a very exciting office job. That's right, I get to do all the fun stuff, like nagging clients who refuse to reply to me, filling in forms, and praying for a 300% pay rise. All the fun stuff like that.
Oh, and I'm plus sized. Which I should have mentioned right away, but then you wouldn't have heard about the extinction of the unicorns.
I speak German, Italian, passable French, and I'm learning Spanish. Oh, and I speak English, which would be an odd skill to be lacking. Quite something to be able to fluently write English but not be able to speak it.
I'm a big History fan, which some people have mistaken for me being an expert. Trust me, I'm not. It was one of my worst GCSE grades. But I'm fascinated by how life was a long time ago, the older the better. Anything post-Hastings starts to get a bit too modern, I like the really old stuff. Stuff like Ancient Egypt, or even older. I'd love to get in a time machine and see all this history for myself.
Currently buying my first house! Got my mortgage, just gotta wait for all the paperwork to go through. Woo!
People usually message me to ask what I'm looking for, so let me answer it: I don't know. A cure for loneliness I guess? So come and be that cure!
In terms of pop culture, I'm a big Assassin's Creed, Doctor Who and Star Wars fan. Believe it or not, I've never read/watched Harry Potter or any of the MCU movies. I'll get around to them one day, I swear. I mostly game on the PS5/PC, although I do have a Switch and Xbox. Other than what I mentioned, I play stuff like Hitman and Red Dead a lot.

All prices are Canadian Dollers, shipped CONUS, PP G&S, F&F or Interac E-transfer (Canadian buyers only)
$100 Hugo Boss Oud Saffron - $80 Maison Margiela Music Festival - $80 Mancera Hindu Kush - $40 Bentley Black Edition -
https://imgur.com/gallery/GgFNi0b

Just a little rant about my current work/life balance… Im currently working night shifts in a customer service environment. The pay for the job is pretty great considering that a degree isn’t required and my managecoworkers are very friendly. However after working a year of overnights, I just feel completely drained/ a bit depressed because I feel like I’m stagnating… I’m currently job hunting for an entry level help desk position because I’m studying cyber security however the pay for entry level help desk position isn’t even close to the pay at my current job …. So now I’m debating if I should accept a help desk position for nearly $9 less an hour just so I can get the experience…thank you for reading my little rant..

Food: From empanadas, tamarind BBQ chicken wings, to a donut milkshake with popcorn, there’s new food at Citi Field!

New Food - Citi Field - 1
New Food - Citi Field - 2

Also, the Nourish Spot, a small business from Jamaica, Queens serving up natural smoothies.

The Nourish Spot

The Speakeasy Club - Dedicated to the original Mets owner, Joan Payson, the Cadillac Club will be a members only club-space with seats starting at $19,000. From a private bar, soft drinks, soda and water, members will be able to invite guests and enjoy the luxury dining options, flat screen tv-monitors, complimentary parking, all in style.

Cadillac Club

Parking is now $40.00. Remember when parking was $25?

Citi Field Parking

New club space: Hijole Tequila Porch - This will take over section 339 on the Left Field landing. When booked, it will be a private club space. However, when available for the night, the space will be opened to ballpark fans. Section will feature drink rails, a living wall, a lounge area, and a bar.

Hijole Tequila Porch, Section 339

2023 Promotions - Yep…. Bobble heads. And the Kodai Senga glow-in-the-dark ghost fork ball.

Mets 2023 Promotions
ProMotion Schedule

Just additional news, but Casino talks….
The Casino - While this isn’t near approval, it’s now one step closer to being reality: an introduction in Albany.

Casino at Citi Field
Bill To Transform Mets’ Citi Field Parking Lot Into Casino

And on Tuesday, March 28, FREE MLB TV by TMobile will be released.

MLB TV - T-Mobile Tuesday

That’s all.

I'm just thinking back on my teenage years ghost hunting was my main hobby at one point. Well it was more like driving around late at night around places that were supposedly haunted. Places like cemetaries and native american battlefields, I went to a couple haunted houses too.
I don't recall ever finding anything interesting but I asked some people about their experiences around the city and I've had one of my own. One coworker told me she went to the native american battlegrounds at night with a friend, and walked away from her truck. She saw a farmer walk up to her truck so she went up to him but by the time she got there he was gone. He didn't have a vehicle and the closest building or road was a 5-10 minute walk and there's not much to obstruct your line of sight since its mostly just dirt and a tree or two.
One time staying over at a friends house the chairs started moving around in the kitchen in the middle of the night for about 10 minutes. I was to scared to go check it. There were other people in the house that could have done it. My friend and his sisters told me that its been happening for a while now, and my friend said he looked into the kitchen when it was happening one time.He said it was dark but he didn't see anyone. They also let no pets inside. Maybe it could have been the pipes making sounds, or someone playing a prank, or maybe it really was a ghost.

I just want to rant because I am in a very frustrated mood....
2-3 months ago I started talking to this 30yo man, C, on a dating app (i am 27f). I clearly stated in my profile that i am poly/non-monogamous (because a lot of people over here in the Netherlands don't know what polyamory is). We texted every now and then, he said he is fine with me being poly but avoided questions about his preferred relationship structure. That should have been a red flag, but both of us aren't the best texters, the topic got lost over time. We eventually met up IRL. I brought up the polyamory topic again, turns out he thought that 'Poly' is my nickname and 'non-monogamous' means I just want to have casual sex and no commitment with EVERYBODY????? I kindly explained to him what polyamory is and what I am looking for. He shared that he has never loved someone except his mom... He has had some girlfriends but never felt love towards any of these women (mind you, he is 30!!!)
I told him that I did not want to date him. However, we had some common interests, we are both relatively new to this town without many friends, and he wants to learn Dutch while I want to learn Spanish (his native language). We agreed to stay in touch and see if we can stay friends. We met a few times after that, practised our languages, generally had fun.
Earlier this week I played board games with my ex, with a girl that i just started dating and her boyfriend. We had a great evening. C texted me asking how my evening had been so I told him about the board game evening. He wanted to know who was there, I explained. He said 'that's so weird that you are still friends with your ex'. I got annoyed, we had a tiny discussion with him saying it's a red flag if you're still friends with an ex and me saying it's a red flag if you're friends with none of your exes. Also, why would it matter to him because C and I agreed to only be friends anyway.
I felt frustrated about that for the rest of the week but we had already agreed to go to our town's food hall yesterday. I thought it would probably be good to see him IRL after the 'arguing' over text. However, we ended up in 3 other arguments:
- He told me that he had been on a date with this girl. The next day, she invited him to watch a movie at his place, while immediately giving a disclaimer 'this is not a hookup'. He went over, they watched a movie, smooked weed, and then she said 'when i smoke weed I enjoy cuddling, would you cuddle with me?'. He cuddled with her and then tried to kiss her. She rejected his kiss and he told her that he is not gonna cuddle with someone who won't kiss him. He left. She (obviously!) does not want to see him again. He ranted to me how cuddling is more intimate than kissing or having sex and how she gave off mixed signals. I told him that i thought her communication had been very clear: she wanted cuddles, no sex. Also i pointed out that sex to most people is a lot more intimate than cuddling. He disagreed saying that sex can be without emotions but cuddling is something that leads to commitment. Seriously, what is wrong with some cis heterosexual men?!?!
- Then he told me that after dinner him and I were going out. I told him no, he asked me to go out for dinner only, I had had a rough week at work and wasn't planning on going clubbing/partying, I wanted to be in bed by 11 at the latest. He said I had agreed to going out. I said: Yes I agreed to coming to this food hall that closes at 10.30. He said that going out after that was implied. I said no and I don't want to. He said that I am 'so typically dutch' and 'no fun' and 'if I want to move to spain i have to learn to live a little'. Then he said we will go out tomorrow. I told him "no, i am going out with my close friend tomorrow and want to have some quality time with her alone". He insisted, I kept saying no. Ten he said we should go out on Tuesday. I also have plans with other people on Tuesday, he said he could just come along too, I told him "no, I am going with two friends, ...." and here again he kept insisting... I told him "I want to leave now because you are not respecting my 'no' and I am starting to feel frustrated"
He said he would stop and that I was exaggarating. I thought back to a conversation I had with someone else earlier this week that years ago I tended to have some avoidant attachement style characteristics where I would leave/ghost people after a conflict and how lately that behaviour has been coming back a little. I decided to give him another chance and stay for desert. C asked me where I usually go out and said he loves this bar P. I told him I don't like P because it's full of predatory men and that I get groped there every time when I leave my group of friends to go to the bathroom or to the bar. He said: "Well at least you're not getting groped when you are with your group of friends". I asked him: "what do you mean with that?". He said: "It's normal to get groped in every club in every part of the world, I would never do that myself but it happens everywhere, and if it's just when you are walking around the club it's not that bad" I told him that groping is assault and he said "Maybe, but the reality is that it will just happen everywhere so you better accept it instead of letting it ruin your evening"
At that point i felt this huge rage but more than anything I felt like I could cry and I did not want him to see me in a vulnerable position like that. I told him I wanted to leave and I went home. I woke up many times during the night because I was just so angry and disgusted. I know this guy is a walking red flag and still it angers me so much that people like him exist, especially since he was super nice in the beginning and I thought he would be a nice friend. I honestly cannot believe that people like this exist. I will text him today that I don't want to see him anymore. I don't know to what extent I should give him an explanation for that since he will probably think I am crazy anyway. Advice on that topic is welcome! Lesson I learned for myself: having a baadddddd feeling about someone doesn't always relate to having had avoidant attachment issues in the past, sometimes it's completely fine to ban someone from your life after some arguments about topics (consent, communication, boundaries) that are so important to me.

Hi guys, soon I’ll be in Thailand and I need a portable tripod like gorilla ( that can be bent or twisted around things ) to stabilize my camera for night pictures, a relative “good” one that can hold about 3/4 kg. How expensive are this kind of equipment there ? Is better to buy it here ( England atm) or I’ll find some good ones ? What about mobile phones gimbal? Thanks for yours answers !