Lance Archer Vs. Eddie Kingston II: Lumberjack Match
Lance Archer
No
Pac / Fenix / Mox Vs. Omega / Gallows / Anderson
Omega / Gallows / Anderson
Yes
Future Announced Matches 2/10/21
TNT Championship Match Darby Allin Vs. Joey Janela
MJF/Jericho Vs. The Acclaimed
Cody/Lee Johnson Vs. Pretty Peter Avalon & Cezar Bononi (why)
3/3/21
Cody/Red Velvet Vs. Jade/Shaq
Sometime In February
Womens Eliminator Tournament
Will be in February, exact date not announced. 16 women, one bracket in the US the other in Japan, winner faces Shida for AEW Women's Title.
Japanese side will feature: Aja Kong, Yuka Sukazaki, Veny, Emi Sakura, Ryo Mizunami, Mei Suruga, Rin Kadokura, Maki Itoh (if I fucked up the spelling of any of these, sorry, was typing fast)
US side will feature Serena Deeb, Riho, Britt Baker, Tay Conti, Nyla Rose, Anna Jey, Leyla Hersch
Revolution
Cage/Starks Vs Darby/Sting ("Streetfight")
AEW Tag Team Title Match: Young Bucks Vs. MJF/Jericho
Chaos Project lost so skip Dark this week. But still, obviously, throw 'em up. 👉🤪👉🤪👉🤪👉🤪👉🤪👉🤪👉🤪👉🤪
Ricky Starks is on The Waiting Room, which is, thank God, back on Dark . I guess the thing with Sting being on the show has just been forgotten. Ricky compliments Britts' drip, she asks him whats up. He does a promo for the Street Fight at Revolution. Britt says AEW lacked star power before Ricky-- Ricky says the future is much clearer now that he's staring at her. Ricky compliments Britts attire again and she strips off the lab coat. Tony Schiavone interrupts and makes her put her lab coat back on. Tony says the segment is over and tries to separate the burgeoning...uh..."romantic" tension between Britt and Ricky, who in one segment have had more development, chemistry, and dialogue than Kipp and Penelope have had during this entire never-ending wedding angle.
The Acclaimed released another music video promo/diss track called "Throw 'Em Out" which you can see here.
On IMPACT this Tuesday:
Welcome back to the Impact Zone.
The Good Brothers are talking about how good it feels to be the Impact champs. They promo Beach Break a little, and can't wait to beat up Moxley. They're talking about screwing Private Party before the Battle Royal tomorrow and beating them tonight. Sabin and Storm come in start a little something. They call Good Brothers the Ball-less Wonders, and decide to have a match next week.
Private Party is yelling at Matt because he doesn't seem to have their situation under control. Matt says they don't need to worry about any of this shit, Big Money Matt, the Kingmaker, always has a plan. He says they're going to beat the Bucks and the Good Brothers, and that it's definitely not a bounty on the titles, it's a bonus, it's NOT A BOUNTY, it's JUST A BONUS. Matt just needs them to show up.
Tony Khan is continuing to lose his shit in these promos. He calls Impact his personal fantasy league, and says this whole thing is causing him to make self-admittedly stupid emotional decisions like letting Moxley go to Japan. This is truly Man Vs. Himself. Tony Schiavone is wearing a great shark hat.
At Dynamite
Tony Schiavone is in the ring. He brings out Darby and Sting. Tony wants to talk about the street fight-- but next week Darby is defending the TNT belt against Joey. Taz cuts in on a video. He says they're not allowed in the building because of the merch booth incident. Taz says they'll be there watching very closely. Ricky says if he was allowed in the building he would look Sting in the eye and tell him he's not what he used to be. Sting is gonna get hurt doing this. To Darby, he says good luck. You'll need it. Sting responds. Okay Team Taz, you say you'll be here next week for the title match? I'll be here too making sure it's 1v1. To Ricky, he says, maybe you need to look closer. He drops the mic and he and Darby head out of the ring.
Tony is with Adam and Matt after the show last week. Matt is in Adams dressing room. Matt says he's a good person and Adam is his friend, they've known each other for a long time. Adam says, no dude, I'm in here to dress. I'm not signing a contract, we're not teaming, that's it. Matt says it sucks when Chaos project ruined -1's birthday... what if we teamed up one time just to kick their asses? Maybe it would make things between you and Dark Order better? Adam Page agrees.
Marvez is with MJF/Jericho who are now num. 1 contenders. MJF pushes Marvez back and they enter the Inner Circle room where everyone is pissed. Jericho says I thought we were all in this together, you guys losing is collateral damage. Sammy says everyone else is ALWAYS collateral damage and bails. Jericho leaves and MJF says it's time for us to talk to the remaining members. Wardlow kicks out the cameraman and the segment ends.
Tony is with Kip Miro and.... "Charles". Kip says Tony is so lucky to be here. Miro says everyone here is married except Chuck whose never had a girlfriend. Vickie gets Kip and the wedding is on. The officiate is James Mitchell. JR says everyone should have AT LEAST one great marriage. Penelope is walked in by Jerry Lynn. Mitchell leads the ceremony. Kip says from the moment he first saw her wearing her one piece with knee high boots and his eyes meeting her chest, it was meant to be. He says she's beautiful on the inside and hot on the out. Penelope says she loves Kip so much, and and he has the biggest-- and then Kip interrupts. Very bold move by the groom. Chuck gives them the rings. As Mitchell begins the "If there's anyone with any objections" section, Miro interrupts and says fuck off skip it, this is a wrestling wedding. Miro leads us in a toast. We hear that the alleged bachelor party was a rager TOO BAD WE DIDN'T SEE IT. Miro says he had a couple weddings a few months ago. But it's all about love. He may have fucked up the bachelor party, the present-- but really HE'S Kips present. Speaking of gifts, what's that over there he says pointing to a suspiciously large box. Miro says he's been at many weddings, he knows better. He tackles the box expecting an intruder to be within, but it's empty. The crowd begins chanting "What is love" by Haddaway and Miro joins in. Oh no! Miro finds himself shackled to the bottom rope, Penelope goes into the cake, Kip accidentally hits Miro then Kip and Penelope jump Chuck. OC emerges from the cake table and Miro is stuck being cuffed to the ropes so he's unable to stop the onslaught that comes. They knock out Kip and that's that! The wedding is ruined despite all of Miros' best efforts. Penelope is very sad and Kip is very dead. The feud goes on :(
We're with Shaq on Inside the NBA. Shaq says he's gonna wrestle Cody and beat him like he beat Charles Barkley. Shaq trash talks a little. Shaq says his special move is the Black Tornado. That's what he's gonna do to Cupcake Cody. March 3rd.
We get a video from FTR who was banned tonight due to their bullshit last week. FTR is pissed that Jurassic Express went and whined and got them banned. Tully is sick of it. All he wants is a SINGLE championship match. We're not bad men, the one with hair says, but sometimes we think... what would bad men do? And we see Marko chained up to chair.
Joey is here, he says me and you Darby, we have a long history of mangling our bodies and each other. But next week, the stakes have never been higher!! Guess what, he says, Joey is back! And the TNT Champion is gonna be a bad bad boy.
Lance Archer comes out after the match to end the streak of no post match brawls we had all night. It was so close. Mox comes to Kenny BUT THEN KENTA ARRIVES AND DROPS A GO TO SLEEP ON MOX. Kenny and Kenta share a glance as Kenny strands triumphant over Mox. Don Callis, who is on commentary, says "Isn't it funny how these things always happen when I'm here? He laughs. The show ends.
For Fucks Sake Someone Too Sweet Me
Post-Show Poll Results
1/20 Results
Overall Rating: 2.95
Best Match: Adam Page & Dark Order Vs. TH2 & Chaos Project (38.1%)
Worst Match: Cody Vs. PPA (39.5%)
Wrestler of the Week: 1st: Adam Page (28.5%), 2nd: Sammy Guevara (20.6%) 3rd: Jon Moxley (5.9%)
The Adam Page Vs. Ziggler from Wish match was winning throughout the night for worst of 1/27, but Shanna and the good doctor swooped in to save the cowboy by the morning of the 28th.
Jungle Boy won WOTW more decisively than anyone else so far.
See the full archive of post-show polls here Hacksaw Jim Duggan Buries All Elite Wrestling With a wrestling career that's lasted more than 40 years, Jim Duggan's power level is beyond comprehension. If he hasn't beaten an AEW wrestler directly, he's beaten them through a few degrees of separation. Could Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeat Orange Cassidy?
8/24/18 - Jim Duggan & Keith Youngblood defeat Anthony Battle & Brian Anthony
9/14/18 - Anthony Battle & Brian Anthony defeat David Arquette & Hurricane Helms
My original post: https://www.reddit.com/MarvelStudiosSpoilers/comments/lhj5xy/wandavision_episode_6_possible_script_leak/ Here's the archive link http://web.archive.org/web/20210211121433/https://pastebin.com/TYzjEXVA There you go! The OP also shared a screenshot with me as proof he is legit. It has been verified by the mods! WANDA: {\i1}Previously on {\i}WandaVision... You made no effort\Nto conceal your abilities. -Well, I'm tired of hiding, Vis.\N-What aren't you telling me? You have to stop her. Just make her stop! You can't control me the way you do them. Can't I? DARCY: {\i1}She has the world's{\i}\N{\i1}only vibranium synthezoid{\i} {\i1}playing Father-Knows-Best-In-Suburbia.{\i} What happens when he learns the truth? You've taken an entire town hostage. Well, I'm not the one\Nwith the guns, Director. -(GUNS COCKING)\N-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! I had a brother. His name was Pietro. GERALDINE: {\i1}He was killed by Ultron.{\i} Long lost bro get to squeeze\Nhis stinkin' sister to death or what? She recast Pietro? (OPENING THEME SONG PLAYING) {\i1}Wanda{\i}\N{\i1}Wanda Vision{\i} {\i1}Don't try to fight the chaos{\i}\N{\i1}Don't question what you've done{\i} {\i1}The game can try to play us{\i} {\i1}Don't let it stop the fun{\i} {\i1}Some days it's all confusion{\i} {\i1}Easy come and easy go{\i}\N{\i1}But if it's all illusion{\i} {\i1}Sit back, enjoy the show{\i} {\i1}Let's keep it going{\i} {\i1}Let's keep it going{\i} {\i1}Through each distorted day{\i} {\i1}Let's keep it going{\i} {\i1}Though there may be no way of knowing{\i} {\i1}Who's coming by to play{\i} Halloween's a magical holiday. All about family, friends, and the thrill\Nof getting to be someone else for a day. Wrong! Halloween's about candy. And scaring people, but mostly candy. Where's your costume, Tommy? This is my costume. I'm the cool twin. -What does that make me?\N-Hmm... (GAME MUSIC PLAYING) -Whoa!\N-(LAUGHS) A dorksaurus rex. -Not a real dinosaur.\N-(CHUCKLES) (SNORING) Man He even snores cool. -I'm gonna go wake him up.\N-(WHISPERS) Don't! You scared? He's our uncle. Why would I be scared? 'Cause it's four o'clock in the afternoon. You're secretly afraid he's a vampire. -No, I'm not.\N-Yes, you are. No, I'm not. -Blood is thicker than water! I show you!\N-(BILLY AND TOMMY SCREAMING) -(ROARING)\N-(SCREAMING) Oh! Somebody better be\Nbleeding, broken, or on fire. -Whoa, Mom. Are you old Red Riding Hood?\N-(PIETRO SNORTS) I'm a Sokovian fortune teller. Wow. That is so... -(CHUCKLING) Rad.\N-...lame. "Lame." Worse than the costumes mom\Nmade us the year we got typhus. (BOTH SPEAKING SOKOVIAN) (EXCLAIMS) (SPEAKS SOKOVIAN) (IN ENGLISH) That's not\Nexactly how I remember it. You probably\Nsuppressed a lot of the trauma. Mom has been weird\Nsince Uncle Pietro got here. I think it's because\Nshe hasn't seen him in a long time. And he's what you call, "a man child." -(SIGHS WEARILY)\N-Whoa! Sweet costume bro-ham-in-law. Let me guess. Uh, traffic light. -(SIGHS)\N-Half-shucked corn. A booger! -Yes.\N-Yes! Well, thank you for humoring me\Nand wearing this ridiculous get-up, honey. Well, there were no other\Nclothes in my closet, so... -You are incorrigible, darling.\N-(CHUCKLES) I know you have a secret\Nthing for Mexican wrestlers. {\i1}Mi gusta mucho.{\i} {\i1}Chili con carne.{\i} Ooh! (GIGGLES) What do you say, boys? Who's ready for that first hit\Nof high fructose corn syrup? -Yes! Headlock!\N-Get out of here, get out of here. Never told me much about your brother. I had no idea he'd be so... Go! -Great with kids.\N-(ALL BURPING) Yeah. He's just full of surprises. Well, you have fun tonight, darling. What? What do you mean?\NYou're all dressed and ready to go. I'm undercover. Halloween is a bacchanal\Nfor adolescent trouble-makers and the neighborhood watch\Nis the only thing that stands between the trees and the toilet paper. -No, that's not what you're supposed to--\N-What? Well... (SIGHS) You didn't tell me you had plans. Well, I am telling you now. Mom and Dad have been,\Nnot fighting, just, like, different. It's their first Halloween.\NYou have to be there. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the big dealio? Big guy has a conflict,\Ntwins need a father figure for the night. Don't sweat it, sis.\NI got the old XY chromosome. -(CHUCKLES)\N-Uncle P to the rescue, huh? There you go. Problem solved. You have a spooky time tonight, kids. -Goodnight, Dad!\N-Bye, Dad. (VIDEO GAME BEEPING) Wanda? Be good. I smell crime. (SCREAMS) Don't do that! Where do you keep your water balloons? What? We don't have water balloons. Where are we gonna\Nput all this shaving cream? Oh. -It was Billy's idea.\N-I'm Tommy. And don't you forget it! You don't even have a costume. (SCOFFS) Okay, but... (SIGHS) Just remember\Nthat this is a respectable family. If I see any funny business, I am going to magic\Nyou into a pickled herring. (INDISTINCT SHOUTING) (ELECTRICAL BUZZING) I wanna see a full work-up\Ninside the hour. -SOLDIER: Yes, sir.\N-Hayward. Hayward! You cut us off at the knees,\Nsending in that missile. Now we know who we're dealing with. Hey, there he is. The guy who almost\Ngot murdered by his own murder squad. You work for me? -I actually don't know.\N-She's with me. I see. And which one\Nof you is the sassy best friend? There is no time for you\Nto diminish your colleagues when you're about\Nto start a war you can't win. Maximoff was never\Ngonna negotiate with us. We take her out,\Nthis whole nightmare ends. MONICA: We don't know that. We actually have no idea what will happen in there\Nor out here if Wanda dies. So, what? We just surrender to that? Not happening. We can't outgun her. And clearly antagonizing her\Nis only making things worse. If Wanda is the problem,\Nshe has to be our solution. Captain Rambeau, you have become\Nan impediment to this mission. (SIGHS) Constantly advocating\Non behalf of super-powered individuals. Yes, I know\Nyour history with Carol Danvers. You know, you people who left, still have the luxury of optimism. You have no idea what it was like. What it took to keep the lights on. Don't use the last five years\Nas an excuse to be a coward. Maybe it's a good thing\Nyou weren't here when your mother died. Because clearly\Nyou don't have the stomach for this job. Get her off my base. Now. All of 'em. SOLDIER: All right. Come on. Let's go. Hayward is way overstepping\Nhis provisional authority. He was looking\Nfor a reason to sideline us. He's up to something. SOLDIER: Let's go. Everybody in! (GRUNTS) -(MONICA YELLS)\N-(SOLDIER GROANS) (PANTING) Why didn't anyone tell me the plan? -You okay?\N-Yeah. Let's move. This is it. Game time. It's not a competition, Tommy. -It is if you're a winner.\N-Tommy. (SHOUTS) Unleash hell, demon spawn. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) Do you remember when we were\Nat the orphanage after mom and dad died? What was the name of that kid\Nwho was always trying to steal your boots? You know, he was the one...\NHe had the... He had the skin thing. You're testing me. No, I'm not. Hey, it's cool. I know I look different. Why do you... look different? You tell me.\NI mean, if I found Shangri-La, I wouldn't wanna be\Nreminded of the past either. (LAUGHS) Next house, Mom. Junior entrepreneur, over here. How about you let Uncle P help you\Nmaximize your candy acquisition, huh? (CHUCKLING) Yeah. Kick-ass! "I feel the need..." -"For speed."\N-(BOTH YELP) Kick-ass. (INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO) -Oh, hey, Herb.\N-Oh, hey! How's patrol going? Eh, quiet, so far. Hold up, will you? -(MAN TALKING OVER RADIO)\N-Say again. -(MAN TALKING OVER RADIO)\N-All the candy has disappeared? What? Who took my candy? And now all\Nthe jack-o'-lanterns have been smashed. (PIETRO, BILLY AND TOMMY CHEERING) And now everyone's\Ncovered in silly string? PIETRO: Whoo! Sorry, Wanda, I gotta bounce. Well, maybe Vision\Ncan help you out. (CHUCKLES) Vision? Oh, he's not on duty. Oh! I... I thought he... Is there something\NI can do for you, Wanda? Do you want something changed? (CHUCKLING) No. It's fine. Never mind. (CHUCKLES) All right. Peace. WOMAN: Hey! How's it going? Happy Halloween. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) I'm so hungry, I'd eat anything. Hungry? I remember hungry. I used to be like that all the time. What did you do? Snacked on Yo-Magic, bro. Now I have time to hang fin. Can I have some? Here you go, little dude. (GRUNTS) (GASPS WEAKLY) SHARK: {\i1}Yo-Magic! The snack for survivors!{\i} This is so lame. I can't believe\Nyou're making them return all the candy. I can't believe\Nwhat a bad influence you are. Who beefed in your borscht? I'm just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly,\Ncreate tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the rugrats,\Nand ultimately give you grief. I mean, that's what you wanted, isn't it? What happened to your accent? What happened to yours? Details are fuzzy, man. I got shot like a chump\Non the street for no reason at all and the next thing I know,\NI heard you calling me. I knew you needed me. Uncle P, guess what?\N(CHUCKLES) They've got full-size candy bars\Na few blocks up. Mom, can we go? Next stop, Cavity Town. Right on, little dude. Chip off the old Maximoff block. You've got super speed! -I do?\N-Yeah! WANDA: It's okay, baby. You can take it slow, and you can-- (CHEERING) If you're gonna break the sound barrier,\Nplease just take your brother with you. -Really?\N-Really? Really. Yeah.\NAnd please just remember to-- BOTH: Don't go past Ellis Avenue. We know, Mom. We know. Hey! Be careful. PIETRO: {\i1}I'm just trying{\i}\N{\i1}to do my part, okay?{\i} {\i1}Come to town unexpectedly,{\i}\N{\i1}create tension with the brother-in-law...{\i} MONICA: Who is that? Wanda's brother came to town. He brought the wrong face. AGENT WOO: Over here. {\i1}-What happened to your accent?{\i}\N{\i1}-What happened to yours?{\i} (DARCY SIGHS) MONICA: We shouldn't\Nhang out here too long. DARCY: Uh, give me two seconds. I just need to hack into\Nthe secure network on the base. Donezo. Now, should be able to access\Nthe data on Hayward's devices. Oh. That's interesting. Guys, Hayward figured out\Na way to look through the boundary. And he didn't share it with the group. AGENT WOO: Is this Wanda, right here? No. The program is tracking\Nthe decay signature of vibranium. Vision. Wait. Why is Hayward tracking Vision? I don't know.\NThis is all I can access so far. These other dots,\Nthose are Westview residents? The ones in Vision's\Nimmediate vicinity, yeah. Hayward must have\Nan accurate headcount by now. MONICA: Hmm. AGENT WOO: And some sense\Nof their well-being. Huh... These people,\Nnear the edge of town... They're barely moving. Are they alive? (MONITOR BEEPING) (DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE) VISION: Say, excuse me. Ma'am? Are those your children? Are you waiting for something? (INDISTINCT CHATTER) WOMAN: Happy Halloween! Trick-or-treat? Agnes? What are you doing here? Town Square Scare. Where is it? Oh, well, the Town Square.\N(CHUCKLES SOFTLY) I expect. (CHUCKLES EMOTIONLESSLY) Took a wrong turn. Got lost. In the town you grew up in? (GASPS) -It's all right.\N-(GASPS) (SOFTLY) You... You're one of the Avengers. You're Vision. Are you here to help us? I am Vision. I do want to help. But what's an Avenger? What? Why don't you know? (BREATH TREMBLING) Am I dead? No, no. Why would you think that? Because you are. 'Cause I'm what? Dead. Dead. (SHOUTS) Dead! Dead! Agnes, it is my intention\Nto reach those outside of Westview and make sense of our situation. (SOFTLY) How? No one leaves. Wanda won't even let us think about it. (CHUCKLING) All is lost. -Agnes...\N-(LAUGHING MANIACALLY) Agnes, please calm down. -Agnes! Please...\N-(CONTINUES LAUGHING MANIACALLY) (LAUGHING STOPS) I will fix this, Agnes. I promise. Okey-dokey, neighbor. (TIRES SCREECH) Happy Halloweenie! {\an8}(CELL PHONE RINGING) That's it. My way back into the Hex\Nwill be here in an hour. Just gotta meet my guy over the ridge. Let's roll. You can't do that. Sure we can.\NI'm a whiz at hot-wiring cars. You can't go back into the Hex. Worst case scenario, Wanda removes my free will\Nand puts me in ultra-low-rise jeans. Hayward has your blood work. You've gone through\Nthe boundary twice already, Monica. The energy inside has re-written\Nyour cells on a molecular level twice. It's changing you. Seen enough lab results\Nto last me a lifetime. Cells metastasizing, cells in remission. I know what Wanda's feeling\Nand I won't stop until I help her. Okay. Okay. But I'm staying here. -Wait, you can't stay here. It's not safe.\N-What? Darcy, what are you talkin' about? I haven't made it through\NHayward's last firewall. There's something big here.\NSomething that can help us. I know it. Fine. Fine. I'll drop you the location,\Nyou meet us out there as soon as you can. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) -PIETRO: Holy shmacaroni.\N-(WANDA CHUCKLES) PIETRO: Wow!\NWANDA: Isn't it great? PIETRO: Damn it, if Westview, New Jersey\Nisn't charming as hell. Now, I know that you think\Nthat I've have gone full soccer mom. -Yeah.\N-But it really is nice, right? Yeah. (SIGHS HEAVILY) I think Mom and Dad would've loved it. Yeah. I think they would have. (CHILDREN LAUGHING) Where were you hiding\Nthese kids up till now? -What?\N-I assume they were sleeping\Npeacefully in their beds. No need to traumatize beyond the\Noccasional holiday episode cameo, right? -No...\N-You were always the empathetic twin. -I don't... I didn't...\N-Don't get me wrong. You've handled the ethical considerations\Nof this scenario as best you could. Families and couples stay together, most personalities aren't far off from\Nwhat's underneath, people got better jobs, better haircuts, for sure. -You don't think it's wrong?\N-What, are you kidding? I'm impressed! Seriously. It's a big leap\Nfrom giving people nightmares and shooting red wiggly-woos\Nout of your hands. How'd you even do all this? Hey, I'm not some stranger\Nand I'm not your husband. You can talk to me. I don't know how I did it. I... I only remember\Nfeeling completely alone. Empty. I just... Endless nothingness. (SNIFFLES) (GASPS) Are you okay? I'm fine. Uh-huh. (ELECTRONIC BEEPING) Hayward, you sneaky bastard. Move out. Vision. What's he doing? (VISION GRUNTING) He really does want out, doesn't he? (GRUNTING) (GRUNTS) Oh, no. Why aren't you helping him? -Stop! He's coming apart!\N-Hey! (GRUNTING LOUDLY) HAYWARD: {\i1}He really does want out{\i}\N{\i1}doesn't he?{\i} -Whoa, Billy!\N-Shh! Are you okay? (VISION SCREAMING) Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! What? What is it, Billy? (PANTING) I hear Dad in my head.\NHe's in trouble. (GRUNTING) DARCY: Let me go! What are you doing? Help him! Let me go! Help! (SHUDDERS) The people need help.\N(GRUNTS) (GASPS) (WHIMPERS) (GROANS) I don't understand.\NWhat's happening to me? Where is he? Where's your dad? Hey, don't sweat it, sis. It's not like\Nyour dead husband can die twice. -(GRUNTS)\N-(YELPS) Billy, I need you to focus. (SHUDDERING) I can't tell. I see these... -(GRUNTS)\N-...soldiers. (SCREAMING) They think he's dying. (CHATTER STOPS) Jimmy. Jimmy, do you see that?\NSomething's happening! It's moving! Go, go! (RUMBLING) Go, go, go! Move, move, move! Are you serious right now? SOLDIER: Hey! Stop! (GRUNTS) Oh, fudge. (SOLDIERS SCREAMING) (CLOWNS CHUCKLING) (ALL SCREAMING) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Push it! Faster! (ENGINE ROARING) (TIRES SCREECHING) Come in. Anyone read me? Anyone hear my voice? Does anyone read me? Anyone read me? Over.
AITA for directly calling out a woman’s snobbish behavior, causing several people to leave our knitting group?
So one thing I can’t stand is snobby people who act like the only way to do things is their way. It’s a huge thing in crafting groups. People act high and mighty because of how they learned, the yarn they use, knitting being better than crocheting, etc etc. I hated the energy in a lot of existing groups, so I started my own. We switched to virtual stuff since Covid started, and I have rules that you have to agree to follow before you can join. One of the rules is to be kind to others, and absolutely NO “snob” behavior. Everything has been going great, except this pre-existing group of friends joined, and they really push the boundaries of the aforementioned rule. They started dipping their toe with comments about acrylic yarn and how they would NEVER use it, with dramatic “icky!” faces. Well, they did this again when a new girl joined the group. She was using an acrylic yarn in her project, one of the women asked her what she was using, and then the little clique acted like they weren’t directly remarking while obviously doing it? (This is kind of hard to explain but if you’ve EVER had to deal with mean girls, you know what I’m talking about) It was like “I just don’t understand how people are STILL using acrylic yarn these days, I mean there are SO many other options… unless you’re still shopping at big box stores instead of indies.” In the middle of that rant I was just like ‘Hey guys, let’s remember that we’re not here to judge anyone for what they’re using or how they’re using it, okay?” Well this pissed off the group, because they started arguing with me about how “Nobody was judging anyone” and “Oh so I can’t even have an opinion now?” and “Why are you trying to censor us? We’re having a conversation. If someone doesn’t like it, they can leave.” I muted everyone and said something like “The rules for this group are very clear, and you have to acknowledge them before you join the call. If there’s an issue, we can talk about it after.” The women all ended up leaving the group, and I got a bunch of nasty emails and tags on a few social media posts “calling me out” for being “pro-censorship” and “a tyrant” and saying how I shouldn’t be in charge of anything because of how “obviously biased” I am. I don’t think I’m in the wrong for this. My rules exist to make things welcoming for others. Sitting around putting down other people does NOT feel like it’s very welcoming, especially for snobby crap like they were doing. AITA?
Had to message a woman letting her know her BF was messaging me inappropriately and I’m filled with anxiety waiting for her to see it.
I went on a handful of dates with this guy like 18 months ago, we lived too far away and it didn’t work out. Ended on friendly terms, we followed each other on IG but other that occasionally reacting to each other’s stories we didn’t really talk. He posts very infrequently and It’s only pics from nature hikes. His last post was 3 almost 4 months ago. Cut to a few days ago, out of the blue, he messages me late at night and we catch up/chat. He mentions he thinks of me often, wishes he could see me (quote “the only person I want to see is you, I hope we can do that soon” and “you’re the strongest and smartest person I’ve ever talked to. I miss talking to you more” and more like that), I don’t really engage too much with it because it’s late and he’s obviously a lil tipsy. He started implying for wanting nudes, talking about my body in a pic i had posted a few months back, he reminisces about old hook ups we had implying he wants to do more and I “accidentally” fall asleep mid convo. Next morning he messages me about how he was turned on the night before and will be masturbating to me (it’s 10am, way too early for that fuckery) I ignore him, intended fo block but I was on a run and legitimately forgot. Cut to today.... I open IG and the first post is him and another woman. I commented on it and then immediately messaging him saying she was cute and asked if it was new Him “it’s not so new” Me “oh so not newer when you hit me up the other night” Him “no, I know that’s bad” Me “question is... does she know?” Him “no and I’d like to keep it that way” I tell him how nasty he is, that it’s disgusting he’s not telling her then he proceeded to change his story 3 different times from “no she doesn’t and I want to keep it that way” to “well I told her about other transgressions but not this one” to “well okay I told her about you but not that it’s you or the details; just that I was seeking attention” to “I did tell her” Then he tried to guilt trip me into staying silent saying “it’s a crucial period of time in us progressing” like if I say something it’s my fault I’m blowing it up. He kept whining that he was ashamed and that it was so horrible having to relive it when I sent him contradicting screen shots of his own words and how gross he was. I reminded him that he doesn’t matter rn it’s about her. He kept pushing for me not to say anything, and wants to talk this out with me. Thing is I already messaged her. He had her tagged in the pic, and I wrote to her expressing I knew him, how, and a run down of what happened. I sent her screen recordings of the full convo (including showing me open the IG app and going to his profile and then to the messages so he can’t claim anything) Her profile is private which means it’s in her message requests and while I know I did the right thing telling her I’m legit sick to my stomach about this. ): I feel so so so bad he’s doing this and I’m even tangentially involved against my will. I just needed to vomit this all out. ): ughhhhhhh this sucks so bad.
Village Farms (Aka $VFF aka $🍅) DD; One of the best Cannabis 2021 plays available.
TLDR poem; 🚀's are red 🍅's are red 🚀🍅🚀 🍅's 🌈🐻's soon to be 💀 (Real TLDR's at bottom) ”Why the !@&? would I want that 🍅 growing stock?" Yo, brother, calm down that anger. I'm not providing investment advice so stop right here if you like. We're just having a casual conversation about a bunch of things on a stock I'm personally YOLOing 65k on. (Aka my positions, no ban!) If you're unaware though, this 30 year produce (🍅) growing company has been utilizing their decades of experience to grow Cannabis with stellar results so far and with 2021 looking to be really good for them. Specifically, this will be on show these first two quarters of the year. An important side note is that as of November 2nd, they now privately own the full 100% of Pure Sunfarms, their Cannabis subsidiary. "Oh I should get in NOW, huh? I see that $🍅 ran recently, why would it keep running?" Great question brother! Of course, that's up to you! But... $🍅 actually has multiple aspects as to why this has a very likely chance to run, then stay at a price that is probably higher than you would think "reasonable," and then still have more runs throughout the year. First way to try and back this up, is pointing out that this low float stock of only 77,820,000 shares has a CEO that owns 12% of the stock himself, and a total of 13.6% owned by the Management and Board. On top of that, another +12% of the float is held by institutional holders for an immediate 25% of this already low float stock off the table. More on the float in a moment, but with that quick knowledge we next just need to take a quick peek at how $🍅's main competition's Share Price (SP), Share Count and Market Caps (MC) compare. AFTER EACH COMPANIES MARKET CAP (MC) IS HOW MUCH EACH COMPANIES SHARE PRICE (SP) CAN GROW PER MARKET CAP GAIN OF $1 BILLION. As of close on February 5th: Canopy Growth: SP - $42.93 - 373,730,000 Shares
$16,044,228,000 Market Cap with SP growth of $2.68 per $1B MC
Cronos Group: SP - $12.01 - 356,190.000 Shares
$4,277,842,000 Market Cap with SP growth of $2.81 per $1B MC
Aphria: SP - $16.67 - 312,570,000 Shares
$5,210,542,000 Market Cap with SP growth of $3.20 per $1B MC
Tilray: SP - $25.72 - 148,260,000 Shares
$4,070,447,000 Market Cap with SP growth of $6.32 per $1B MC
Aurora: SP - $12.88 - "183,660,000 Shares"
$2,365,541,000 Market Cap with SP growth of $5.44 per $1B MC
$🍅/Village Farms: SP - $15.09 - 77,820,000
$1,174,304,000 Market Cap with SP growth of $12.85 per $1B MC
So, not only are they way behind in Market Cap, even to Aurora, but the amount that $🍅 can gain in Share Price to get there is unmatched. I'm not saying the other companies should go down... I'm just sayin... look at this... VFF - $2,000,000,000 Market Cap? $🍅 - $25.70 VFF - $3,000,000,000 Market Cap? $🍅 - $38.55 VFF - $4,000,000,000 Market Cap? $🍅 - $51.40 VFF - $16,000,000,000 Market Cap? $🍅 - $205.60 ”So what? They are THAT much behind the competition." Hey, I get it brother, we've only talked only about superficial stock related info so far. Just setting the base in understanding it's growth potential based on their industry competitiors. We're getting there, I promise! Just one more thing about $🍅's current positioning though, which factors in a bit of a short squeeze. Now, don't get it twisted, this is not a post about some one-time short squeeze, just a brief mention. Just, in this moment, it so happens the timing could cause a little extra pop for this incoming next fundamental and technical run that will establish $🍅's new base level. Check it out, from 1/22 - 2/2 an average of 50% of the daily volume was short. Averaging about 25% of volume going short daily on either side of it as well. This heavy shorting came at the heals of a recent company action that caused quick downward pressure on the Share Price and in turn gave greedy 🍅🌈🐻's ability to try and push it down unreasonably. Did you notice the most recent closing price is $15.09 on Feb 5th? You might not have noticed though, that on January 14th, $🍅 had a mini run and peaked at $15.05. The next day, on January 15th, $🍅 dropped for a close of $12.65. Closing above that previous mile stone means every short since the raise is now underwater. Just sayin'. ”What happened that caused that drop?" Good things happened, brother. Good things. And... they got shorted for it...? $🍅 announced a direct share offering that injected US$135Million cash to the bank @ $12.60, giving shorters a bit of strength over the last two weeks of January. This semi large difference between the offering and Share Price at the time is indicative of something very important about this raise. This was a planned raise that had nothing to do with the run $🍅 was going on IMO. IMO, don't mistake this raise, that closed on U.S. Inauguration Day, as anything other than preparation for growth and expansion. They are already executing profitably, they in no way needed this for normal functions. You have to understand, our ol' 🍅 is extremely diligent and resourceful in their approach to Cannabis so far, and will continue to going forward. Their lack of splash is probably why you likely haven't heard or considered them yet, but the precise and profitable execution is why you should do DD on them. Oh, by the way... $🍅 has some of the best positioning and assets for the now inevitable U.S. legalization of Cannabis. ”How is this Canadian LP, $🍅 , any better set for the U.S. market than their competition?" Again, stellar question's brother. And, again, multiple factors to this. Our first factor is a direct shout out to that $135M raise. Quoting the 🍅 CEO from their most recent earnings report conference call and in reference to potential U.S. strategies, "...we're prepared to look at, if we have to do acquisitions or strategic partnerships and other locations..." That $135M putting them +$200M in bank is taking a certain type of vision, to me. ”What, I'm suppose to believe your opinion that they have U.S. potential from a quote and your speculation?" Naw brother, you're suppose to understand that fact because they already have 5.7 Million SqFt of "Hemp" grow space ready to go in Texas. Speculation and understanding how this company functions is part of my YOLO call strikes though. A heads up, Cannabis uses the same growing system and could "be rapidly converted to cannabis production" the moment ready. - 🍅 CEO Even beside the U.S. Blue Wave that will have some type of effect on Cannabis, Texas has put forth multiple pieces of legislation up for up for debate on it's own. With, or without my personal speculation on their raise, their Texas assets are shaping up to be extremely valuable for them in the likely near-term future. Icing on the cake of it all is simply that they are in no rush at all for when it happens. They're currently profitable, and growing from their Canadian and other international positions as well, so U.S. legalization is simply a massive bonus whenever it happens, not a necessity. Like for some unnamed others... ”Yeah, so what? That still doesn't say WHY $🍅 would keep running outside of hype." Hey, absolutely that's fact. So far. Now that we understand their comparative surroundings and asset ready U.S potential, let's bring in some internal 🍅 Cannabis biz facts. Here are a couple of the most recent earnings, Q3's, Cannabis specific highlights: 75% increase in Net Sales 81% increase in Gross Profits Impressive as that is, it's important to understand this is not some one-off fluke, but the first point in the provable continuation of their launching point for growth, which was Q3's the prior quarter, Quarter 2 2020. I say launching point because of the execution of strategy over the last year and they have a lot of factors on why they will continue to see growth in their numbers. The key to understanding the earnings and $🍅 share price growth potential is in the timeline details of their release approach for new strains, products, product segments, and accessibility. ”What, a few random new products is you're point?" Well, it's a part of the main reason on timing of the moments before earnings, yes. Because brother, it's not just any new products, but specific new segments of products that are brand new pies of profitability to eat from for extra growth potential generally... ...and also how they set up their earnings reports for "surprise" growth effects with a specific style of WHEN they release their new products. This upcoming Quarter 4 Year End 2020 report with be the first quarter to have their 2.0 products available for a FULL quarter. Our feature earnings growth products for Q4 are Vapes and Oils. Being released mid-September, the very end of Q3, that Q3 report got a nice C$1Million boost in Net Sales from the roll out and because of the timing of release Q4 will see an exponential effect of growth from that segment due to that timeline of release. Similarly, Quarter 1 2021, aka right now, will have TWO additional new segment effects! On December 21st, just before the end of Q4, they started offering their products for Medical for the first time through a deal with Shoppers Drug Mart. An important key to this Medical deal is this is their first entry into Quebec, the last 30% of Canada they need. 🍅's brand was also the first brand to offer anything in the Ounce size for the Shoppers consumers. Seeing the ~1 week effect medical might be interesting!... to me.... Our other brand new segment that is now fully rolled out is edibles! Earlier in January, 🍅 announced a deal with White Rabbit, an edible company with a vegan, gluten-free craft gummy company with a manufacturing process call EAT ME. With this, 🍅 has started offering White Rabbit products as of about mid January. By establishing this parternship, 🍅 now has access to that process and as of February 5th now released their own branded edibles as well. Pretty forward thinking and sustainable to ensure to grab a good tasting vegan and gluten-free craft gummy. This win-win situation means no messing with growing pains, straight to the bottom line move. Love it. ”Again, so what? Wha.." Don't mean to be rude, but I wasn't done yet... Both the upcoming Q4 and Q1 have additional bonus growth factors! For Quarter 4, first week of October, aka first week of Quarter 4, saw the release of their newest higher THC and higher priced Pink Kush and D.Bubba strains were release in their large 14g and 28g formats. When these strains released for the 7g and less formats on a similar timeline fashion, the small format sizes saw an increase of 33% on Net Sales over the Volume sold. Like I said, simply bonus growth factors from the decades old 🍅 company that understands the importance of showing growth Quarter over Quarter in a flooded industry with such tremendous potential. For Quarter 1, early January also saw the release of their High THC vapes in addition to their current offerings. **”Bro, are you done yet?"* Okay okay jeez, I get it. There's still just like one-ish more things though... On a very quick view of some Marco-level elements, many provinces had extra legal red tape on providing licenses with Ontario being one of them. Ontario also just so happens to be 🍅's biggest customer, and had also been known for being a province with the least amount of stores for the amount of population they have. In August 2020, they upped the number of store licenses they were issuing from 20 to 40 per month, just in time for Q4... In December 2020, they doubled it again to 80 licenses a month, just in time for Q1... To put a little perspective on that, by the end of the most recently reported quarter, Q3 2020, about 190 licenses were issued. By Q3 2021, approximately 1,070 licenses will have been issued. Generally, about ~90% of the licensees have their stores up and running each time Ontario reports its updates. That's a lot more stores brother. This matters because we also know the 🍅's brand is increasing in popularity for Ontario as well. After being +13% of the OCS's volume from October 2019 to October 2020, October 2020 specificallywas 15% of the dried flower volume going 🍅 brand. Aka increasing in popularity. On top of that, we were also told their brand new segment, vapes, was about top ~3 ish for Quarter 4 in the OCS as of November. ”This still doesn't really explain why they will grow... does it?" Look brother, it's a Reddit post that's already too long but I believe I've shown a lot of 🍅 positive factors to add on top of what was already going to see growth by itself. The Cannabis industry is hot right now you guys. Beyond retail, their Wholesale segment experienced a +140% surge in volume and sales in Q3 as well, with indicators that Q4 will continue steady growth in that cornerstone of additional revenue. Being the cheapest producer in the game will continue to have it's benefits. If you think it's Aphria, you are incorrect. Aphria is solid, but the 🍅 beats them out pretty easily. Aphria Market Cap is also $5B to 🍅's $1B... When it comes down to it, this Quarter 4 earnings report needs to speak for itself. I have my own personal opinion on what it might look like. Do your own research for your own opinion, brother. Finally, just so you're in-the-know, my last notes are some recent analyst price targets for $🍅 Global Alliance - $20 Roth Capital - $22 Raymond James - $26 Beacon 1-year target - $35 Some supposedly big German Stock magazine - $30 Random people on Twitter - $+20 Well, fun conversation brother! Don't forget, this was in zero ways financial advice, but if you wanted more not intended to be the basis of any investment decision $🍅 related information, or wanted to try and argue some point you think I jumped to,I wrote a very deep dive VFF analysis with Q4 predictionpotentially worth checking out first (+40% Gross Sales and +60% Gross Profit conservatively predicted). TLDR; 1 ) Comparatively, Village Farms (🍅)'s Market Cap is 1/16 of Canopy, 1/4 of Cronos, 1/5 of Aphria, 1/4 of Tilray, and 1/2 of Auroras. 2 ) Being a low float stock with 25% institutional holders and massive recent shorting that is now underwater will likely cause an extra short squeeze on top of the incoming technical/fundamental run. 3 ) 5.7 Million Sq Ft of grow space in Texas ready for quick and immediate Hemp to Cannabis conversation at the drop of any U.S. Legislation. Also, $🍅 cashed up for acquisition potential. 4 ) Release time line for Vapes, Oils, High THC Large Format Offerings, Medical (with Quebec), High THC Vapes, 3rd Party Gummies and 1st Party Gummies will all have debut showings on these upcoming Quarter 4 2020, Quarter 1 2021 and Quarter 2 2021 earnings reports. 5 ) Massively increasing store number from 🍅's best consumer, continued best-in-industry grow process for continued Wholesale strength, increasing quality and popularity of their products show positive trends of growth from their current segments as well as all the new ones. 6 ) Scroll up a smidge to check some analyst price targets. Still TLDR; $VFF = $🍅 = a stock that I like = 🚀🍅🚀 = opinion = 🌙 PS: In case you didn't check my positions link near the top, I have 3k shares and 85 call contracts. I'm likely near to never going to sell my 3k shares @ $6.21, but I will be flipping my Feb and March calls at the end of this next run. Doubt I'll touch my June or 2022 calls.
So then 92 coming up. Let's see what was in that warehouse, shall we? Not to mention whether Jarix might be put down with sheer embarrassment ;D the editing duo have been at work with their usual vigor. Though chapter 1 has actually also received a bit of an overhaul. It's not the full rewrite that it needs but it should help. If everything goes to plan we will slowly be working our way through the early chapters up to a certain point. we will have to see how far we end up going. We have some big news for this one too. after 87 chapters of service, my original piece of sapphire is finally getting replaced with a proper cover for the story. I do hope you like it. I most certainly do. it was done by the very talented Uwnycorn over on Deviantart and I do encourage you to take a look. If I ever get around to getting more pieces commissioned I know where I'm going that's for sure. But with the formalities out of the way let's get on with the story. ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned. Sapphire cover art by Uwnycorn WikiDiscord FirstPrevious __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 92: Hands Up “Yeah, she tore open the wound on her back, there’s a little blood in her lungs again. and she's suffering from some fairly extreme heat fatigue,” Quin stated as the healer finished going over Jacky. Unkai had refused, stating he had other patients to care about. Looking around at the full infirmary, that was probably true actually. Tom was still fairly sure it was for another reason. “And your side didn't fare too well either. I’m not gonna bother fixing that though, hopefully the pain will keep you under control and a fresh bandage will keep it from getting infected.” Tom felt a bit like a kid on house arrest, though he didn’t really have a comeback to that. He also felt rather shitty as the healer set about fixing the damage done to Jacky. Spending energy that was probably better utilized elsewhere right now, But no Tom and Jacky it was. When they were done Tom had carried Jacky back up to their room, even if all the stretches and the quick check-up likely meant she could have walked up the stairs just fine. She even let him tuck her in with a kiss to the side on the snout as she laid there smiling at him, even if it turned a little strained as he turned to leave. She would rest for the day to try and recover. So as much as he wanted to stay with her, she would have to be alone for a bit. It was high time he got some work done, hence he had gone looking for Luke. The guard captain had been delighted to have another set of able hands, as there was clearly plenty to do. The day’s itinerary was mainly cleaning work, both inside and out. The dragonettes had been more than happy to let Tom try to deal with the soot and dirt from the explosion in the lower levels. He guessed they preferred blood and gore to the black soot, which suited him just fine. “Just don’t kill me when I’m done, okay?” Tom joked as he grabbed a bucket of water. “Good one. Like we would survive trying, hehe,” Luke responded, sounding a tad nervous. “I reckon you could right now. I’m unarmed and unarmored and don’t worry about offending me if that’s the problem. I can take a joke,” Tom tried in a friendly tone. They were all friends here after all. “Yeah, I somehow doubt that,” Luke responded, loosening up a bit. “You feeling okay? She looked a little… rough,” Luke continued, clearly searching for the right word. “My head is not doing so hot and I’m a little sick from drinking, but other than that I’m fine, I think.” “If you get worse just let us know. We won’t be working you to exhaustion after what you did… can you even get exhausted?” “Oh yeah, I can, it just takes a bit more. Now, where were the brushes?” “Kalix has a few down there already. Send him up in a bit would you? He needs to have his bandages checked midday.” “Sure thing,” Tom replied, hefting the bucket and making his way down. Luckily for Tom, all the bodies and larger bits had been dragged outside by now, but there was still a lot of blood in addition to all the soot, and it was starting to stink too. Chatting with Kalix as they worked, Tom learned that the darklings were going to be burned on a pyre, or more likely several. The bat things were too large to be moved nor would they be allowed to be burned, hence they would be cut to pieces and taken away to be discarded. Tom thanked his lucky stars he had avoided that particular duty. Prying further, they apparently planned to simply throw the pieces in a rocky gorge a ways away that they used for refuse and other nasty stuff. Burying things wasn’t really a practical option when you lived on a cliffside. They didn’t want to just dump it off the edge either since they got their water from the bottom of the gorge. As he brushed away, pouring on more water, he had to admit he was struggling a bit to keep focus and his headache was getting worse too. Short of last night, he had been nursing a headache since the battle pretty much constantly, but it was definitely getting worse. His vision was also continuing to fuck with him, often going out of focus or going double. He didn't feel that tired, nor should he be; he had gotten plenty of sleep, even if some drinking had preceded it after all. If it was the painkillers acting up he couldn’t do much except tough it out anyway. Actually doing some work might even help burn it off, so he kept at it, making sure to drink plenty of water. __________________________________________________________________________________ “I said kick in the door. Honestly,” Victoria scolded the uncomfortable looking young dragon as he sat on his haunches inside the warehouse. He was now decidedly more gray from all the dust he had managed to kick up, the shine was gone too. There hadn’t been a soul here. So either they were too late or it was the wrong place. Which really didn’t help with the general mood in the room. “We will figure out damages later. At least the place is still standing, but you will be paying for some of this.” “I’m sorry,” Tiguan answered, sounding genuinely sad. “I just thought it would be cool.” “I know, we’ll figure it out. Right now we need to figure out what to do next. Any bright ideas?” Victoria questioned, looking to Dakota and Sapphire. Balethon was already at work sniffing out the perimeter for anything familiar. “Well, there was the one who got away. Or the man they apparently worked for. What was his name…” Sapphire answered. Truth be told she didn't fancy their chances of finding a lone coward likely in hiding. The big boss dude though, that might be possible. “Gyros. Do we know where to find him? He would definitely know?” Dakota finished. “Found someone! They're in there!” Balethon shouted out from behind a stack of crates. That got the attention of everyone present. They quickly surrounded the tower of crates, in case whoever was in there made a run for it Balethon fairly quickly managed to sniff out the entrance, and with some help they pried off a lid, revealing a small passage. Two of the Hashaw guards went inside, a considerable commotion echoing out from within as a woman screamed in terror. Weapons were readied as, kicking and screaming, a decrepit looking female dragonette was dragged out by her feet. “NO! Leave me alone, please! I didn't do anything. Please let me go, I won’t come back! I swear please just let me go!” She pleaded, tears running down her panicked face. She was clad in some kind of patchy sack-like material, forming a kind of crude dress which poorly hid just how thin she was. “That is no Flaxen,” Sapphire stated, lowering her bow. “No, it is not,” Dakota agreed, looking at the sad spectacle with a distraught expression. The two guards dragged her to her feet, revealing a set of ruined wings that, judging by the faded scarring, had been like that for a while. “Hello miss, you may call me Colonel Hashaw. We are investigating a kidnapping. If you cooperate we will not harm you in any way. What is your name?” The panicked woman seemingly calmed down, at least a little, as she stood hunched down before the colonel. Sapphire couldn’t guess her age under all the muck, but she didn’t look that old. Perhaps around Dakota’s age, and she was shaking with fear. “I’m Ray… that's it…I’m sorry.” “No, it's fine Ray. I don’t want to hurt you. Now we were told some bad people were supposed to be here before sunrise. Would you happen to have seen anyone in here before us this morning?” “I just tell you and you don’t beat me?” “I won’t hurt you, even if you didn’t see anyone. I just want the truth.” “I'm sorry for asking… but would you not tell anyone I’m here too… please I beg of you,” the woman went, damn near kneeling before Victoria. “I can do that for you, don't you worry. Now did you see anyone?” Victoria responded, clearly doing her best to put on a welcoming face. Still, Ray’s eyes were wide with fear as she alternated between looking at the Colonel and glancing at the imposing dragon Tiguan was doing his best to look friendly, Sapphire noted, as he sat smiling, clearly being careful not to show his teeth. “There have been a few people in the last days… I don't know any of them, I swear. I mean it, I swear!” the woman went, holding her arms in front of her face as she said so. One of the guards tried to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Ray flinched, knocking it away defensively before realizing what she just did. “I’m so sorry sir, I didn’t mean it,” she pleaded, bowing to the guard too, who just stood there not quite sure what to do. “Uhm, I’m sorry miss, didn't mean to scare you,” he went, sounding as bewildered as she looked. Ray looked up at him still very much on edge, though clearly easing up a bit more. “These people you spoke of, did you get a good look at them?” “Yes, ma'am. I can look out the cracks. There was a lady, I couldn't stop looking at her. She had such a pretty dress and gold jewelry. Never seen a dress with a hood before either.” Victoria looked to Yldtiz who was already noting things down. “Okay… Were there others?” “There were some nasty looking people too. I thought they were here to kick me out. They were here yesterday talking about something with the lady. This morning only the pretty lady came. Oh, the lady also had some guards with her. They looked very pretty too.” Sapphire could see a slight smile beginning to form on Victoria's face. This all lined up beautifully with what they wanted to hear. “Did these guards or the pretty lady have anything that was easy to recognize?” Victoria asked very pointedly. “Uhm… I mean they had cloaks on, but the lady had some very pretty rings." "Oh, and she lowered her hood this morning. Her horns had silver bands on them, I've always wanted something like that,” Ray answered, her tone turning wistful, the fear seemingly gone for now as she described the lady. “You have been a massive help. Would you mind coming with us? We might need you to tell others what you saw. We will clean you up and give you a proper meal for the trouble,” Victoria offered, extending a hand to Ray. Ray’s expression turned suspicious as she stared at Victoria. “You won’t put me in jail, right? I don't want to leave my house, they will take my things,” she answered, still sounding very submissive. “Wait, you live here?” Tiguan questioned, looking at the woman with an incredulous expression and lowering his head down. Ray flinched, quickly hiding behind the guard who had tried to pat her on the back. Tiguan getting a rather sad look on his face as he raised his head again, taking a step back before sitting down again. “I’m sorry. Didn’t want to scare you… can I see your house? I’m sure it’s very nice,” the dragon tried, clearly doing his very best so sound unintimidating. Ray peeked out from behind her impromptu shield before looking back at the pile of boxes. “Not sure your head can get in the door… I’m sorry,” she replied, seeming rather ashamed. “Pssst, Ylditz, can I talk to you for a second?” Tiguan went. The lieutenant nodded and jogged over as the dragon backed into a corner. “Don't mind him. He's just trying to be friendly,” Victoria continued, as Ray was staring at the dragon. “Try not to be scared, he is trying his hardest.” “I’ll try… goodness he is big though. Haven't seen a dragon that close in a long time,” Ray answered with a clear nervousness to her voice. “I can have someone keep your thing safe if you want to?” Victoria offered. “But we need to get moving. The ones we are chasing might be getting away.” “You would do that for me? I mean thank you so much, ma’am... Not to be annoying but... I am truly sorry,” Ray went, looking over her shoulder and trying to fold out what was left of one of her wings. Ylditz came jogging back over. “Victoria, aren’t we going to have to send some people here to fix that?” he questioned, pointing at the hole in the roof, still dripping acid onto the stone floor. “Well it’s not gonna fix itself.” One of the other family members went, looking up at the hole. “No, of course it won’t. We will just have to pay the bill from the owner. Tiguan did it so that’s your responsibility, Ylditz. I’ll grease some hands for you though, don’t worry” “It’s not that,” Tiguan let out, looking at the pile of boxes. “I don’t want them to take her home” Victoria grew a rather strained expression at that, looking towards Ray. She looked back at her home with a desperate expression. “Oh gods no,” she let out, dropping to her knees sobbing. The same guard gave her a pat on the back again, this time getting away with it. Sapphire just stood there not sure what the fuck to do in this kind of situation. She had lived here for a while, so this was hardly news to her. Hell, she had been pretty close to being without a roof over her head at some point, even if it never actually got that far. Tiguan was looking around, shifting his weight from one leg to the others, clearly not happy either, Ylditz trying to calm the dragon down. “Dakota, can we do something?” Sapphire questioned, leaning in to whisper. “What do you want me to do?” She can’t help at the keep and we are stuck here for a while yet, you want her to stay with us at the tavern? There are thousands like her in the city, we can’t save them all.” “I know but… never mind,” Sapphire conceded, pulling back, not sure what else to do. “Can't she sleep in my stables for a bit?” Tiguan pleaded, looking down at Ylditz. “No,” Yldtiz responded with a shake of the head. “We can't bring a homeless woman off the street into the training fields.” “But I broke her home,” the dragon pleaded. “I’m not homeless!” Ray protested, sounding distraught, looking to the tower of boxes. “It's just not as good as others.” “We are gonna have to figure out compensation later. For now, you two stay here and guard her… house,” Victoria interrupted, pointing at two guards who nodded politely despite clearly not being very pleased with that assignment. “We need to get moving. Have you ever ridden on dragon-back before?” Victoria asked, looking at Ray, who looked back up at the colonel, eyes slightly wet. “No?” “Well, you are going to. Tiguan, we need to get moving. I promise we will find a good solution to this.” “Can I grab something?” Ray asked cautiously, looking to Victoria. “Sure, just be quick about it.” “Thank you,” Ray replied, doing a small bow before going over to the entrance and crawling inside on her hands and knees. Sapphire shuddered at the thought of living like that. She could hardly handle crawling through a narrow tunnel, actually living in one was beyond her. “We could just give her a bit of money, couldn't we?” one of the other family members questioned, gesturing at the pile. “Surely that can’t be expensive to replace.” “We will figure it out, but we need to move,” Victoria replied. It didn’t take long before Ray came back out, wearing a battered helmet that looked like it had been rather nice once. It was even engraved by the looks of it, and she was hefting a light crossbow. Sapphire didn’t think Ray had the strength left to cock it, but she had a few bolts for it hanging from a patched up belt. “It looks crap but it works, I swear,” Ray let out, trying to straighten her back. Sapphire stared dumbfounded for a second, ‘Where the hell did she get that and why?’ “Very good, now let’s get moving,” Victoria went, after staring a bit herself. Tiguan moved over to the wide double doors as the bars were removed, swinging them open. “Come along now, Ray.” Ray’s brief show of confidence quickly melted away as she looked up at Tiguan. “I haven't flown in years.” “I promise he won't bite. If he does I will have him demoted to cadet, okay?” “Okay,” Ray sniffed in reply. “Thank you.” “Hang on a second,” Balethon interrupted. “There were three people here this morning, right?” “Yup,” Dakota answered him. “You found something?” “Yeah, she didn’t like her mask.” “Oh, what a fucking idiot,” Victoria let out, sounding delighted. “She did look rather angry this morning,” Ray added in, seemingly happy enough they weren’t leaving just yet. Balethon came back with a white handkerchief. “Shame they didn't put their name on it,” he went, holding up his prize. “It stinks of her though, if it’s hers of course. Could be a guard’s I guess.” “That’s silk, you don't just throw that away unless you are remarkably poor at managing money,” Dakota responded with a smile. “Store it somewhere safe. We might be able to get a city guard to verify whether it’s hers." “Can do,” Balethon let out with a grin as he packed it away. __________________________________________________________________________________ “Dude, I’m not feeling brilliant to be honest,” Tom went, as the two of them worked. They hadn’t even been at it for an hour, so Tom felt rather pathetic right now as the heavily wounded dragonette scrubbed away. Tom hadn't been getting any better though; his head hurt and he was growing more and more nauseous. His vision definitely wasn't getting better either. “Take a break if you need it. I’ll stay a bit longer if you want,” Kalix responded, not sounding too annoyed. “Thanks dude,” Tom replied trying to sound appreciative as he sat down on a half-ruined bench. He felt like shit in fact. Grabbing the bucket of water, he emptied it out onto the floor before puking in it. “Bloody hell dude, you are sick,” Kalix let out, as Tom vomited again, now feeling proper sorry for himself. Tom looked up again, finding a worried-looking Kalix staring at him. He could barely make out the details on the dragonette's face. He tried wiping his eyes to see if it was tears, but his hand came away dry. “This isn't good,” Tom let out in realization. “I think I’m going fucking blind.” He tried to get up, stumbling to his feet as he felt Kalix grab his shoulder. “I got you, bro. What’s happening?” “Something's very wrong. Sight's going blurry,” Tom answered, trying not to lose his balance. “Uhm… is that normal?” Kalix questioned, cautiously. “No, it’s not fucking normal!” Tom snapped at the dragonette. “Sorry.” “Come on, let’s get you upstairs.” The two of them hobbled up the stairs, Kalix letting out some grunts of pain when Tom touched a wound while fumbling around. “Sorry.” “No worries man, we're nearly at the top of the stairs, can you see the stairs?” “What’s going on here?” The young woman who had washed his clothes asked from somewhere in front of him. “Something is very wrong with him.” “I’ll go get Quin,” she replied as Tom heard hurried footsteps running off. “This just turned into a shit day,” Tom tried to jest. “That’s the spirit. Now, we go right here,” Kalex replied, guiding Tom onto the next floor. It was an annoying process, but they made steady progress. by the time they made it to the grand hall there had gathered a few people around them, including Quin. Tom couldn’t even recognize her face, but the voice fit. “What the hell did you do?” “Nothing, I was scrubbing the wall, my vision was a little fucky and then it just started getting worse.” “He puked too,” Kalix added. “Is that normal for your kind?” the healer questioned. “No, it is really not!” Tom answered, trying and failing a bit to keep calm. “I asked that already,” Kalix tried to clarify. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude,” Tom tried, apologizing. He was fairly agitated right now though. “He needs to lie down, put him on that table, the infirmary is full. Do you have any idea why this might happen?” Quin questioned. “Don’t know, I mean I took a painkiller yesterday. That’s not supposed to be mixed with alcohol, never heard of it doing this though. I took it in the morning though… Fuck Jacky got one too. Someone go check on her now!” “Shit” Tom heard Unkai answer, followed by rapid footsteps. ‘She better be fine. She better be fucking fine. Why didn’t I just stay with her? We were fine at breakfast too? At least mostly.’ “Can you see anything or is it just black?” Quin questioned as they entered what Tom guessed was the infirmary. “It’s just blurry as hell,” Tom replied truthfully as he was laid down on a table. He felt Quin clearly do something as she touched his face. “What’s wrong with him!?” He then heard Jackalope shout out from across the room. ‘Oh thank god,’ Tom thought to himself with a sigh of relief. “He’s going blind. No idea why,” Kalix stated, as the one he guessed was Quin carried on touching his face. “She's deaf, numbskull. Write it down for her,” Quin let out, sounding like she was concentrating. “What, blind… why!?” Jacky let out after a bit, not receiving an audible reply. “You’re fine right Jacky?… someone write down and ask her if she is fine. Especially her eyes. No blurriness or double vision.” It took a bit before the reply came. “My eyes are fine. Just about the only thing that is, but they are fine.” “What the fuck?!” Tom let out, thinking that one over thoroughly. ‘Right. I’m feeling sick and something is wrong with my vision. Possible cause; painkillers, alcohol, blood loss, fun time with Jacky, and... stress... possibly?’ He couldn’t do shit about the painkillers, but they should have worn off by now. And Jacky had drunk more than him last night. Bloodloss didn’t do this though, even if it might make something worse, and he had been thoroughly de-stressed yesterday. “Do you guys know what... oh god I don’t even know your word for that... Bad alcohol that makes you blind?” There was silence for a bit, no one answering. “You haven't even heard of that happening… ever?” Tom tried again. “No, why would that make you blind?” someone asked in reply. “Wait… Oh fuck, you don’t get hangovers either… Unkai! I need the little flask!” “On it!” Came the reply as he heard the healer speed off. “What is in that? Did we give you something you are allergic to?” the Lady questioned from somewhere, sounding very worried. “Possibly. I don’t know. Fuck it, humans and drinking 101. There is alcohol and methanol, our two words for what you likely just call alcohol. Methanol happens when you distill wrong or use the wrong yeast I think or just leave it in the open. We go blind and get sick from methanol; it’s basically slow-acting poison.” “By the gods, we are so sorry!” the old Lady let out. “Our ale is not that bad,” someone protested, sounding slightly offended, followed by a painful sound coming from the same person. “You don’t get hangovers. You don’t… shit don’t know that word either… convert alcohol as I do. I get a headache and have a bad day for a bit after drinking a lot. Methanol might not hurt you at all, but it can kill me.” “The mighty killing monster brought low by Jokun’s brewing,” someone let out in disbelief, from a by now was a fairly sizable crowd. “Someone tell me what he’s saying! What’s going on?!” Jacky demanded, desperation creeping into her voice. “Tell her I’m sick. It’s gonna be fine,” Tom ordered “Oh, and some water and a bucket just in case, please. And I need to sit up.” “Right here,” came the immediate reply as Tom felt a metal canteen being pushed into his hand, while other hands sat him up on the table. “You better be fine. Else I’ll… You're gonna be fine!” Jacky nearly shouted at him, bumping her snout against his face hard enough that it hurt. “Found it!” Unkai shouted as he came sprinting over, Tom looking at the blurry shape approaching. Unkai undid the lid, giving Tom the small flask. ‘Thank god I didn’t down this yesterday,’ Tom thought to himself, looking up. “Do you have something that can keep me from vomiting? This needs to stay down.” “I can do that, It really won’t be pleasant though,” Quin retorted, apprehension clear in her voice. “Whatever you have to do,” Tom replied, going bottoms up. He had to break a few times, coughing and spluttering as he washed it down with water. Of all the ways to drink whiskey, this had to be the worst. Today though it was medicine. Finishing the flask, he handed it off to someone. He went back to racking his brain, for what else to do. He knew he was supposed to drink proper alcohol to stop the process. He couldn’t flush his blood of the stuff nor did he have proper antidotes. He had heard someone claiming baking soda helped. Would they have anything like that though? Thinking back, they used sourdough for their bread, so probably not. “Can you clean blood in any way?” Tom asked. “As in, take something out of it?” “What… no,” Quin responded, sounding a tad confused. Right, okay, that made sense. They would have done that with Esmeralda if they could. ‘This is not a brilliant situation.’ “I have no idea what else to do. I’m gonna need more proper alcohol. I don’t think this will last long. An IV drip would not be bad either I think.” “We have plenty of ale and some wine left,” The lady answered in the kind of false optimism far too common around hospital beds. “And one of them gave me this to start with… Please tell me you have a fast flyer left?” __________________________________________________________________________________ So then Sapphire got to see the opposite of a brash and bold Jarix even if Tiguan did get a little carried away and Tom might be in deep shit once again... It's almost like a pattern or something. As always do let me know what you thought of today's chapter as well as the awesome new cover art we got. I must say I'm absolutely chuffed with it! with that, you may all have an awesome day ;D ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned. Sapphire cover art by Uwnycorn WikiDiscord FirstPrevious
My Dad and I live in a really weird hospital. My body doesn't look normal on the inside.
Hey, it's Maggie again. You guys were really nice to me last time! But I'm doing a lot worse than yesterday. Something happened and I don't know how to say this but I guess I'll just start at the beginning. First off though, some of you asked me a few things that I wanna answer real quick. I wanted to talk about them anyways so it's good you brought those up. Yes, there are mirrors here but only in the bathrooms. My room doesn't have one so I have to use the one accessible to everyone from the hallway. Dad says never to look at my reflection too long though. He says girls worry too much about their looks and that I shouldn't be like that, and I always do what Dad tells me. As for my age, I don't want to say how old I am exactly because it's the internet and it scares me. Also, I've always been living here at the hospital. I don't know if we've ever lived anywhere else, but I can't remember. I also don't know anything about my mother and I've never wondered about her. Dad's here for me, I'm not missing anything. So anyways, I had to talk to Dr Ellie for two entire hours this morning. She was being really nice about the whole picture thing but I kind of hated telling her about it. It made me think of that person again and I just wanted to forget about them. At the end of our session, Dr Ellie asked me something very strange though. "Have you ever heard of something called Operation Magpie?" I frowned. Something about these two words resonated with me but I had no idea what they meant. "It sounds familiar but I don't know what it is." "Alright. Well, I just thought… maybe." She sighed and buried her face in her hands for a split second. "What is Operation Magpie then?" "Please, forget I ever said anything," she muttered. With that, she sent me off. Dad wasn't outside the office where he had dropped me off. I felt incredibly lonely after last night so I went to look for the next best person to keep me company I could think of. Jonah was in his room, sitting on his bed and staring up at the TV. His room is very much like mine, the same bed, closet, small table and television. I came in without knocking, a bad habit of mine, but he didn't tell me off for it. Even though he usually does. "Hey, Maggie," he said quietly. "A buddy of mine told me what happened. How are you?" "Better," I said, climbing up to sit next to him on top of his pillow. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you. I wasn't sure if you wanted to talk to anybody." "I do, just not about the picture." "Oh. Alright then." He fell silent and we watched TV for a little while. There was a rugby match on. I didn't really care for it. "Jonah, what's Operation Magpie mean?" My friend flinched. He flinched so hard he dropped the remote onto the floor beside the bed. "You remember Operation Magpie?" he stammered, in his eyes a mix of joy and disbelief I couldn't place. "No, but Dr Ellie mentioned it earlier." Jonah deflated. "Oh… well, um. I'm not supposed to say." He sounded disappointed. "Why not, who's keeping you?" "That would be your Dad." "What?" Jonah shrugged. "This is not easy to explain. I could try to talk around it now but… okay. Let's say Operation Magpie had to do with my job. And by extension your Dad's. But that's all I can tell you." "You're not making any sense. At all." "I'm sorry but how am I supposed to say this? I want to tell you, I do, but I can't." Jonah's voice was low and empty. I still had no idea what he was saying but there was a feeling of dread rising within me that I simply couldn't shake. "Maggs, your father is a genius. My leg is his doing and he's made so much more like it, so much more complicated stuff. You should know that this kind of technology, the way we can replace parts of the body here, hardly anybody outside these walls has access to that sort of thing. And we have your Dad to thank for it. I mean, not only him of course, there's the other doctors and nurses and they're all doing amazing work here but the prosthetics… they're mostly Jack's thing." My jaw must have dropped. Jonah went on. "He drafts them, he oversees their development, he does a lot of the engineering that goes into it and he made it possible to cover them up with realistic-looking skin. He's the most intelligent man I've ever met." "Then why do you hate him?" "Because he's also the craziest. He's messed up in the head." "And why does he hate you?" Jonah sighed. "Look, Jack and I have something of an ongoing feud. He's done something I don't agree with, something really bad. There's hardly anyone who confronts him about it but I do. He knows that he's wrong but he keeps trying to justify it. I give him the truth but he doesn't want to hear it and… that's why." "Yeah, but what did he do?" "I said I can't tell you, okay?" Jonah groaned, wiping his forehead. "I'm sorry. You're gonna have to leave me alone about this." I hated giving in like that but I didn't want to argue with him either. I stayed in my friend's room for another hour, trying to make small talk and watching the game with him. Eventually I fell asleep and Jonah had to poke me in the arm until I woke up again. "You should go to your room if you want to sleep," he told me. "It's bad enough you come in here without knocking, I'm not gonna let you take over my entire room." I told him I was sorry and he just laughed and said I was acting a little bit like a cat. I made my way out into the hallway and back to my room. I wasn't sleepy anymore though for some reason. I hadn't seen Dad all day and I couldn't stop wondering why he hadn't showed up to look after me at least once. I was starting to get a little worried. After further futile attempts to try and occupy myself, I gave up and got on my way to start looking for Dad in his office. Walking down the corridor, I noticed it was oddly quiet that day. That was why I jumped when I heard a door slam and the loud clacking of heels approaching. I saw Dr Ellie walk towards me from the very back of the hallway–where Dad's office was located. As she came closer, I realized she was sobbing quietly. Her shoulders were trembling and she was wiping her eyes. I stopped in my tracks. "What's wrong?" I asked her. "Maggie!" She sounded like she hadn't noticed me standing there until I'd spoken up. "What were you going to my Dad for?" "I… we had a pretty big fight, your Dad and I. You won't be seeing me around here anymore." "Why not? Did Daddy make you cry?" She sniffed, stifling a chuckle. "A little bit." "What did you fight about?" I took a step towards her and searched my pockets for a handkerchief for her but couldn't find anything. "I don't get it, everyone's got some kinda problem with Dad." "Your Dad does a lot of stuff that makes a lot of people very upset. Me too. I've tried to talk sense into him but… well. He's finally made good on his threat. He always told me he'll have my job if I don't stop pestering him and now, now he's actually having me fired." "No way I'm telling anyone about my nightmares but you! I'm gonna talk to him." "That's sweet but… I doubt it'll help." I shrugged. "I'm just gonna try, okay? No harm in trying." I went past her and into Dad's office. I came in without knocking again. He was sitting at his desk and at first, he didn't seem to notice me at all. He was staring at something that was lying in front of him. I couldn't see it since it was obscured behind all the other stuff cluttering the workspace, but he was moving one of his arms over the thing, almost like he was petting a kitten. His eyes were so fixated on the object that it felt like he wasn't present at all–his mind was miles away. It almost looked a bit creepy. "What do you have there?" I asked. Dad flinched as his head jerked up and he let out a tiny gasp. In a matter of seconds, he'd torn open the upper drawer of his desk and dropped whatever he'd been stroking inside. He slammed it shut. I was confused; why was he in such a hurry to hide this thing from me? "Nothing," he said. "You really need to learn to knock at a door before coming in. It's rude and you know, one day you might see something you don't like." "Like what?" He threw his head back and sighed. "You're killing me. So what is it?" "You didn't come to see me all day. Were you busy?" "Yes. Sorry. You didn't get lonely, did you?" He waved me over to him and patted his leg. I'm a little big for sitting on his lap but he says that's okay. He says he dreads the day I outgrow him. So I sat down and hugged him and he asked how I was feeling and all that. We talked but I was staring at the drawer the whole time. Dad noticed. "We should go. Let's grab a snack or something." Just as we were getting up, one of the nurses came rushing in. He looked panicked and seemed to be in a hurry. "Jack, you've got to come over to the B-station, there's been an emergency and we need an extra hand." The B-station is another wing of the hospital, one where I'm not allowed to go on my own. Dad immediately followed the nurse out the door, dragging me along with him and apologizing over and over for having to leave me to myself again. He dropped me off in the mess hall and told me to get something to eat myself. All I could think of though was that he hadn't locked his office door on the way out. Once he was out of sight, I turned around and walked all the way back into the section with the researchers' workplaces. I was all alone in the hallway, but knowing I wasn't supposed to be there still made me feel watched somehow. I quietly pressed down the handle of my father's office door and slipped inside. Without Dad in it, the room was kind of oppressive. The walls seemed high yet way too close at the same time. I sneaked over to the desk and opened the top drawer. When I laid eyes on what was inside, my heart sank. It was a bone. It was smooth and white and almost slender in its shape, one end broken off and splintered. I slammed the drawer shut and stormed outside, closing the door behind me–and colliding full force with someone right behind me. I whimpered and spun around to find myself face to face with Jonah. His jaw dropped when he saw the look on my face and he immediately rested his hand on my shoulder, awkwardly trying to comfort me. "What's wrong?" he asked softly. "What happened?" I took deep breaths, but they came too fast. It was hard squeezing words out in between. "There's… a bone. In Dad's office. It can't be from any kind of food, it's too big and too clean." Jonah's face fell but he said nothing. "Why is it in there?" I panted. "Jonah, what's going on?" "How'd you find it?" "I saw him… like, play with it earlier but when I came in he put it away." "Okay, calm down. We should leave here." He reached for my hand and I let him pull me along back into the section of the station intended for us patients. "I don't really wanna be seen running around back there. Jack's always looking for an excuse to give me hell, I don't wanna serve it to him myself. I just saw you walk back there and thought I should check on you." My breathing slowed and I nodded at him. "Thanks. Hey, you don't have your crutches anymore," I remarked but he ignored it. "Look, there's something I need to talk to you about. I can't really keep it in any longer and I don't want to, so… I can't just bust out a whole story here but I'm not the only one who tried to give your memory a little shove in the right direction." "My memory?" I was puzzled. Jonah groaned. "Nevermind. But there's one thing I want you to think about. You've seen my leg, yes? Notice how I didn't have a single hair there?" I nodded wordlessly. "Apart from your eyebrows and lashes and that on your head, do you have hair anywhere on your body?" "Rude," I said. Jonah let out a forced laugh. "You don't get it, do you?" He grabbed me by the arm and without even giving me the chance to protest, he dragged me down the hallway and into one of the bathrooms. It was the ladies' room, but there was no one else around who saw us so it didn't matter. Inside, Jonah ushered me over to one of the sinks. "Give me your hand," he ordered. I hesitantly reached out and let him position my arm over the edge of the sink. Then, he pulled something small and shiny out of his pocket. It was one of those tiny knives surgeons cut you up with. My stomach sank and I immediately tried to turn around and make for the door, but Jonah's other hand was wrapped around my wrist before I knew it and he pulled me back. I opened my mouth to scream, but Jonah shushed me. "Quiet! This isn't gonna hurt, I promise. I really need to show you something." I was trembling and already feeling tears in my eyes, but I obeyed. I didn't want to risk him taking that scalpel to my throat. Jonah slowly brought the tip of the tiny blade down on my lower arm. He'd been wrong, it did hurt, but oddly enough not nearly as much as I'd expected it would. It was almost unnoticeable. Still, I squirmed in his grip and whimpered like a crying puppy, but it was more due to fear than actual pain. I turned to look away, I couldn't bear to watch. Finally, he sat the knife aside and I risked a quick glance–there was no blood on it. Frowning in confusion, I looked down at my injured arm. Jonah had cut out an unfinished square. I could see the three lines the scalpel had left, but without the anticipated red drops protruding from them. Jonah carefully shoved the tip of his finger underneath my skin. I gagged when I watched him lift it up, press his thumb against it on the other side and then cautiously peel it back. I thought I had been horrified when I'd seen the picture of that mangled body in my room, but when I laid eyes on what was underneath my skin, a new kind of shock took a hold of me. The inside of my arm wasn't red, veiny and meaty as I'd always thought. It was black, smeared with some sort of slimy, transparent glue, but still shiny. Almost exactly like Jonah's leg before it had gotten its coating. I had never questioned the workings of my body. This was me, this was my shell, these were the legs that carried me and the arms I used to carry food to my mouth. I had always felt like myself, unrestricted by any bodily ailments, free to move however I wanted. How would I have known there was metal inside me, or plastic or whatever this was? I think I fainted because I can't remember anything after that sight. I woke up in my bedroom though. Jonah had probably brought me back. My head was reeling and I only got up to grab my trash can because I needed to hurl a little. When I was starting to feel better, I sneaked off into the computer room and that's where I am now. I don't know what to make of this yet. Dad has to have known about my arm. But I keep wondering if my arm's where it stops. What if I'm all plastic underneath this? What Jonah said really made me think. I actually don't have hair, like... anywhere? I searched the web and as it turns out, kids my age normally have body hair, even if it's still really thin and almost invisible. I don't have any of that. Nowhere. It's just smooth, hairless skin. What scares me even more is that I searched my face for it as well and apart from my brows and eyelashes, there was absolutely nothing. But that's not even all. Something else doesn't add up here. Dr Ellie found me in the computer room a little while ago. Our exchange was short but it weirded me out nonetheless. "There you are. I've been looking for you. Is everything alright?" I didn't want to tell her about my arm at first but she knew already, seeing as she went on with, "Jonah and I talked. I know what he… showed you. I have to be frank with you, I've known for a long time." She took a few steps towards me and then leaned in close to speak into my ear. "Don't tell your Daddy what you found out just yet, okay?" I felt her slide something cold and smooth into my hand. "This is the key to my office. They won't clean it out until tomorrow night but I won't be in ever again. So tomorrow, it's all yours; there's a lot for you to see in there. Be careful though. Jonah will help you if he can, you can trust him." "Where are you going?" I asked quietly. Dr Ellie drew back. "I'm gonna look for somewhere else to work, I guess." "But I can still try and talk to my Dad! I'll get him to–" "Sweetie, it's okay. I'll be fine. Now, you're about to find out some stuff if you go in there tomorrow, and you may not like it. But please, don't resist. Just let it come back to you." She gave me a sad smile. "I'm sorry for what you're about to see and I'm sorry for the role I've played in it. I hope you'll forgive me." I hugged her. I'm not supposed to hug her but I didn't care. Now that she was leaving, it wouldn't matter anyways. I don't know what she has waiting in her room for me or what her conspiring with Jonah means but I'll find out. Tomorrow, I'm going in. X Update—Part 3 Update–Part 4
Meowdy to y'all, it's ya gingersnap himbo again, my post yesterday went way better than I expected, and a good amount of you wanted an update. and I only put a quick one on my last post. This one is both late and longer sorry, but its mainly to clear my head. It was suggested I try calling her, I did not long later, and she picked up right away, saying she'd like me to come over in a bit. Went over, her mom told me not to break her heart and sent me upstairs (her mom actually does like me generally, btw, also married a white guy, so I assume she won't have a problem with us dating, like some previous partners' families did). She was on her bed, clearly had been crying a lot, she got up and I hugged her--6' 1" and pretty beefy, so it was a pretty strong hug, thought it might feel nicer--and asked if she was okay, she said she didn't know, so I told her I loved her a lot, threw on a forehead kiss for good measure, which made her smile. She said she was sorry for kissing me and understood if I wanted to stop being friends, that she didn't think and she's "just always really wanted to", I was honest and said I loved it, I just didn't expect it, promising that she'll always be my best friend and I thought it was brave of her to take the risk, considering the possibilities. First I asked if she had feelings for me which I was really afraid she'd say no, but she laughed and said "oh my god yes, yes you beefcake, in case you didn't notice". Then I asked for how long: always had a thing for me since we met two year ago, actually, but there's been a crush since we started hanging out, but she knew how serious it was when she came out as trans in march (I notice nothing tbh, just assumed she was cis fem til then but other people noticed, she is a drama student so voice and presentation skills are on pointe) and she liked how I treated her. This is where it got kinda emotional: she said at first she teared up bc she never had a kiss like that with a guy, then remembered that she was a "fake girl, that guys shouldn't want". I held her face and insisted she was a real girl, she was beautiful, and that if a straight guy doesn't want her then he's a dickweed and she should forget him. She asked where that leaves me, and I asked if I could kiss her. I wish it was cool bc I spent a while trying to think of cool lines on my way over but I'm pretty sure what I said was (frantically) "Can I kiss you? Please? I need you" and uh it worked. This is gonna sound lame but this one kiss with her? It was perfect, I don't think I've ever felt so much with one kiss. I've never been super big on relationships--never really got emotionally attached to any of my girlfriends before so yeah they don't last, and I already just feel a lot about her, this feels like what I've been missing. Apparently reddit is my diary now, yikes. I told her I loved her, a lot, like that. She laughed and said this feels like a dream, then she started some light crying (sensing a theme here), She said I make her feel beautiful and that she loves me too. Guess she could tell I wanted to kiss again already bc she said I don't need to ask to kiss her, "just go for it". For a bit after this it was just kissing and cuddling on the bed, it stayed pg-13 (not for lack of flirting, she can get REALLY thirsty and I didn't see that coming but I am excited), I kicked off my Doc's and skinny jeans and we got under the covers for small talk, which culminated in me goin "Hey there's this girl I really like, and I want her to be my girlfriend but she has terrible taste in men", which led to her doing that kind of, big sad adoring eyes face (there's an emoji look it up). she asked if I was "okay with people knowing you're- " I finished for her " -in love with the perfect girl? Yes I am, maybe some humblebragging involved". Yeah she was very content, kept finding excuses to refer to me as her boyfriend so I reciprocated. We affirmed we're still best friends and us being together will only make that stronger, not ruin it. There's a lot I'm leaving out honestly, just got the main stuff in because I don't know how boring I am to others. We do have a date sometime soon I might update for if people haven't lost interest. feel free to ask or comment or whatevs. She thought it was super cute when I said I asked this subreddit for help and I always need advice anyway. TL;DR- dumb beefy boi now has a wonderful girlfriend ALSO only one person has acknowledged my dope username here and one has asked if it means something Unrelated: buds, the model I prided myself in looking like has turned out to be a fucking idiot, press f to pay respect
I wanted to clear the air a little bit, especially with Mike leaving the channel he created. First off, this is the real Justin. I know there's been a lot of fake Screenwave people on here over the years, but... I think you'll tell from my post that it's me. It's going to be too inside-baseball to be faked. Plus, mod GreatBowser confirmed it in Twitter DM. I also wanted to do an AMA for a while, was going to do one on Facebook in that Assposting group... but they started contacting family members on my Facebook profile and stuff. So... I left all Cinemassacre fan groups I was in and locked my profile down. I feel that this subreddit is probably the best place for the AMA... since you guys clearly care about the channel a lot and wouldn't hold back any punches. I was on here a few years ago. But, I jumped ship pretty quickly and didn't really engage after that, or even lurk. I would get sent threads from time to time. Yet, over the years I noticed the Truth went from heavy trolling and hyperbole, to more shitposting and constructive criticism. That's something I can get behind. Plus, you guys aren't going away... and Screenwave isn't going away. So, I wanted to meet in the middle. I wanted to step out in front of a lot of your questions. Answer them for you. I am going to use the Megathread and newer top posts to pull questions from. (But, feel free to ask stuff below. I'll only be monitoring this thread the next week or so, if that's alright.) Lastly, I do not speak for James, Mike, Ryan, Screenwave Media, or the other guys... it's just how I see things, or what I know personally. Who owns Cinemassacre now? Screenwave Media? James owns it. I don't know the specifics after that or with the AVGN movie, but I know Screenwave Media owns 0% of any of it. We only have a stake in the AVGN games we produce. Yes, we take a percentage of monthly revenue, like we do other partners on the network... but we don't have any control of the Cinemassacre company... OR have any creative control. James can do whatever he wants with both. He decides to work with us, and we like working for him. So, do the Screenwave guys work for Cinemassacre or what? "The Slobs," as we are called (thanks for that) don't have any creative control or financial stake, as said before. We are just employees of Screenwave Media. Hell, Cinemassacre isn't even my full time thing here. I do a lot of producing of our games and social media content, plus direction for the company kinda stuff. Tony and Kieran are the only full-time employees at Screenwave working for Cinemassacre... and that is mostly writing, filming, and editing. Why wasn't there a better way to introduce "The Slobs"? That's the last time I'll call us the slobs, haha. Honestly, we probably should've introduced ourselves better. Mind you, we were working on the channel for a while at that point... and, when you're James or whatever, you're already really acquainted with us... so, when Tony slips into that Halloween 6 review or we start doing Rental Reviews, it doesn't really come to your mind to roll out the red carpet and send out flyers to everyone, because you assume people follow his socials where we're mentioned or at conventions or whatever... you just kinda do it... which, I don't think people would have cared too much about... if it wasn't for the departure of Kyle and Bootsy still stinging. What about Kyle and Bootsy then??? I started working for Screenwave in 2015... and on Cinemassacre in late 2017... so, I wasn't really there for the behind the scenes of Kyle and Bootsy. I met the guys a bunch beforehand though. I like the guys now too. You also know I did the stupid AVGN Roast in 2013... and I think I gave them that cake/award thing at TooManyGames the year before too... so, I knew Kyle and Bootsy well enough and we'd talk at after parties and whatever. Only saying that because I just want to put it out there that I don't harbor any animosity for them. None of us do. I'd like to work with them in the future if it's ever possible. Oh, and if you watch the Silvermania 2016 MAGfest video you'll see Bootsy. Really surprised none of you saw that yet... anyway... yeah, no idea why there was a falling out 100%. I know Kyle wanted to get more involved with his contracting company... and Mike and Bootsy had a falling out. Friends sometimes do, especially when they start working together and being in business together. All I know is what Mike posted publicly a while ago. Be cool to see them again one day regardless. Why did Mike leave? I think he was pretty clear about it in his reddit post. We were planning 2021 and I guess Mike was feeling disconnected for a while... and honestly, loves to stream on Twitch. So, it just made sense for him to bounce. All the old stuff he made is still there, and I guess there's some burnout mixed with enjoying his new thing. I don't blame him. Yes, James barely talked about it in the update video... but, Mike specifically didn't want a huge send off or too much said about it. So, James said as much as Mike wanted him too. That simple. What about all the Mike drama over the years? Same with the Kyle/Bootsy stuff. I wasn't around for it. I know as much as you know, maybe less. I think Mike has apologized for all of it... so, I am going to leave it there. I have no problems with Mike, he's always been good to me. Hoping to stream with him eventually from time to time or just hang out. Why doesn't James write the AVGN episodes anymore? Well, he does... and he doesn't. It's collaborative. Sometimes we play all the games together, sometimes just he does. Sometimes we'll come up with an outline for a script and he fills it in, sometimes it's the reverse. Sometimes he comes up with ideas for games, sometimes we do. It's so back and forth that I can't really separate it at this point... I understand they don't feel like stuff from back in the day... but, not much you can do about that. He's older, back in the GameTrailers day he had something to prove. I think the movie burned him out... plus his family life and side projects. It takes its toll, I think we were moving in a good direction but Covid kinda fucked stuff up, for all of us. Our goal is to make 2021 a great Nerd year. We have been working on the plan for a while now with more time to focus on writing, acting, all that. I think 2020 had us flying by the seat of our pants. I was editing stuff 24 hours straight sometime. Sorry if it doesn't seem that way, haha. We put a lot of time and effort into making what we can, but we want to improve and we want the content to improve. What's with all the brand deals and lack of cursing? As you know, YouTube is a minefield of demonetization, limited ads, and de-platforming. We're trying our best to make the channel money and keep views up. The brand deals really help, because a lot of our content gets limited ads, especially the older stuff. As you know, our backlog is huge. Cursing in the first minute is an instant limited ads. Which hurt money, sure, BUT it also makes the algorithm push you less. So, if a YKWBS gets limited ads it'll get half the views it would normally get, or less... so, we had to make these changes to stay afloat. Even the AVGN theme gets pinged... that's why a lot of AVGN episodes did worst this year (aside from whatever quality issues you have)... Bad Final Fight Games got limited ads because the Nerd said "blue balls," and that's too sexual. See what I mean? If we get hit, it kills views. So... we do brand deals, we put the theme after a minute, we changed it to BS in the front... if not, views would suffer, and future stuff would be pushed less and less. It's weird. Sure, we could do a Patreon and all that, but views would still suffer. And, we never want to just take your money... if skipping forward in a video is all you have to do, whatever. If you want to support us, merch is the best way to do that. And yes, James gets most of the profit from merch. It's not us running some scam. Why are the Screenwave guys such SLOBS?? (Oops, used it again.) I don't want to talk about how Ryan, Kieran, or Tony (from Hack the Movies) feel... but, I know Kieran really took a lot of the stuff here to heart. Especially after the years of fat jokes, caveman jokes, and people pretending to be his dead father. He went off the edge a few times. I think he's in a way better place now, and I think he's really been taking good care of himself. Shit, I lost 80 pounds this year but gained a lot of it back when the world started opening back up... that's the thing about being fat your whole life. It's hard to dig yourself out, it's easy to diet and exercise if you're already thinner. I was fat in like kindergarten, those habits and addictions just continue on with you. Plus, food has always been a comfort for me. Not to go into a sob story, but my Mom died in '99 because of drugs and stuff... and I grew up with 3 sisters across multiple states in a poor family... and, being teased your entire life just goes on and on. Honestly, if you're 20 pounds overweight or 200... it feels the same when you're ridiculed, so, what's the difference, just get bigger, you'll never be small enough to not catch shit. I mean, not to go into my psychology or whatever, sorry... BUT, my goal is to get healthy in 2021... it's a "rebuilding year" for me... that's a sports term. I mean, I doubt it'll affect my personality much... so, if that's your problem, then shit... but, clearly us slobs don't want to be slobs. Even Tony (from hack the movies) and Ryan have been working on themselves too... plus, I always put others before me... from work, to family, to my girlfriend... I'm usually the last stop. Any advice or whatever you guys wanna give, please do. My Twitter DMs are always open. Coat-tail riding MUCH?? I mean? Not really? Not sure how much fame we can get out of this. It's just our job, and we like helping James and shooting the shit on the internet. Plus, I had two failed YouTube shows before working with Cinemassacre (why the fuck did they hire me??) so, I don't really care about the clout. It's cool when people high-five us at conventions and other content creators give us the nod... but, we're just trying to make videos, build up Screenwave more, and keep James making the content he wants to make. That's it. I mean, hasn't really helped Hack the Movies much (LOL). What do you think of the AVGN movie? It's alright. I think it could be better here and there, but it's really hard to make a movie. Anyway, back when it was being planned... I was trying to get James to do it locally, with the Underbelly guys and people I knew into film. Do it cheap. But, I also understand wanting to make a big movie in Hollywood. That's a dream. Anyway, at the end of the day, I hope James gets to make another movie one day. I really liked his horror script, but clearly that's on the backburner if not cancelled... but, my goal is to get something to happen one day for him. Now I wanted to dive a bit into my past... Why do you defend Bob and still talk to him to this day? So, as you might know, Bob (who used to be on my old YouTube show Silvermania) was busted for having child porn several years ago, after we stopped working together anyway. He went to jail for a year and has since been off the grid. I don't talk to him anymore and I completely cut ties. I've talked about the matter before, saying he "did his time" and stuff. Which, I meant like... I don't want to dogpile on a guy whose life is completely ruined... and who already fucked up a ton. I wanted him to get the help he needs and never work with him again. But, as I said before, I haven't talked to him in years and I don't plan to. Why did you make fun of Total Biscuit's cancer? I regret everything that happened between Silvermania and TB. The short version, is we were invited on his podcast accidentally. They thought we were another show... my original show Underbelly, I think... which was a really different thing, and we were frustrated our YouTube network at the time (MakeTGS) didn't know the difference. Silvermania was me and my old roommate, who posted on here a few times as you know. They wouldn't let us on together and kept asking questions before the show about Underbelly and stuff that didn't pertain to us, but whatever. Watch it, it even says UnderbellyShow under my face. Things went south really quick... and honestly, I shouldn't have been a dickbag on the call... but, as I said, it was weird from the get-go. The energy was really off between all of us on the call, and I just played into being the bad guy. Anyway, we got kicked off the podcast halfway through and a wave of TB fans started attacking us for months. Now, there were like 5 people with access to the Silvermania YouTube at the time... plus I think mods and stuff. So, I'm not sure who did it. Hell, it could've been me under the influence. I drank way too much back then... anyway, someone made fun of TB's cancer down the road and it's been screen-grabbed and passed around. I mean, there's not too much context to it... aside from just being a shitty thing to say because we felt burned by the guy and his fans. Anyway, after that I met with him at a convention and we put it past us. He never actually saw the insult. I was really upset when I heard he passed, I always liked him and his content. Especially all the PC gaming stuff. Why did you post "I'm a pedo, watch out" on Twitter? AH, right. I know that sounds like foreshadowing about the Bob stuff, but it wasn't. Back then, I think it was 2013... I didn't really use Twitter much. We had the SilvermaniaShow handle... which connected directly to our Facebook fan page. So, if we posted on Facebook, it would auto-post to Twitter. Also back then, we would have huge parties at our apartment and stuff, like 50 people would show up once a month... a lot of friends and fans of the show too. Anyway, someone "hacked" our Facebook account... as in, went on the computer that was playing music, typed that in as a joke, and hit send. We immediately deleted it... but, we forgot it auto-posts to Twitter and forgot about it. Anyway, when the show ended... I changed the handle from SilvermaniaShow to JustySilverman, the one I am using now, making it my personal account. But, the wayback machine or whatever, just makes it look like my current profile said he's a pedo. That's the story. Someone was playing a joke, it went to Twitter, and we didn't realize it. I am not a pedo, but sadly, I worked with one for a while... well, kinda, Bob was kinda a guest on the show more than a member. Why did you make such shitty/troll content anyway back then? Man, it's been a real rollercoaster... if I knew back then what I know now... I think Underbelly or Silvermania would have made it... I let too many cooks in the kitchen, let friends have business control or creative whatever... I should've just been a solo act and just made fun shit... I mean, I think we did a lot of good stuff too... like, Underbelly was partnered with ScrewAttack and Normal Boots for a time... we were with the first ever YouTube network... but, all that pivoting fucked the channel up because of release schedules or what they wanted us to make... the production has always been good... Underbelly was the first YouTube channel with every video being in full 1080p back in 2010... but then we deleted every video and reuploaed them because our network needed us to for whatever reason... just a ton of issues... from back-end stuff to it not being fun anymore... to seeing others soar with similar content... it made me bitter. Which led to Silvermania becoming a weapon of trolling. I always skimmed the surface of making YouTube successful for me... hell, we pissed a LOT of content creators off too... I am STILL rebuilding those bridges even with being on Cinemassacre. I was just pissed off at the world and thought I knew better... when, we should've been focused on making fun stuff consistently and less toxic. That simple. Trying to do that now I guess. Why did you say the N-word? I really regret this. I mean, even without cancel culture and all that. It was just stupid. The one time was back in 2012, on YouTube, and was part of a skit where I was saying the N-word was actually "Nerd," because of the Big Bang Theory or some point I was making about Nerds being taken advantage of or whatever by Hollywood... it was a really dumb comparison. I even had my black roommate in the video with me to sell the joke... it was dumb, but edgy humor was cool at the time. I have since removed the video and apologized. The other time was just being a drunk-comedian with my friends trying to say the most fucked up stuff possible, same year. Kinda like when Kramer from Seinfeld did that dumb stand-up routine when he said it. But, I guess my ex-roommate decided to record it and post it this year for clout. That said... I am not a racist, I've never said anything remotely racist after the fact, and never from a place of hate. I'm a pretty liberal guy, not that it matters. But, I apologize, clearly won't ever happen again... and hasn't in 8 years. Why are you dressed as a Klansman next to Nazi and confederate flag? Whoops! Okay, this is a bad look. I can see this coupled with the N-word thing looking really bad... or being a Jewish guy next to a swastica. Clearly, this was a skit. The flags were from a WW2 and Civil War reenactment troop I knew, someone has to play the bad guys and their gear was really authentic. I don't own racist or facist flags. (Though, I kinda want a Mobile Infantry flag from Starship Troopers.) People share the photo around, but never notice the game collection behind me or the minture Hitler on my shoulder... it was a skit we filmed, but never fully released, and has since been taken down... it was part of our Lost Episodes clip-show. The joke was that I'm the "Racist Video Game Nerd," because everyone else on YouTube already picked all the names to sound more like AVGN. Like the Sad Video Game Nerd or whatever. So, the "RVGN" was going to review a game, then get thwarted by a group of racially diverse characters... so... just a stupid skit... that was never fully finished because we knew it was bad. Plus, the RVGN is the bad guy... he's shown in a negative light. Okay, I think that'll answer a bunch of questions you may have... so, yeah. AMA. Oh, and sorry if I blocked you on Twitter or whatever. I'll add you back if you want. [EDIT] I will get to EVERYONE'S QUESTIONS, there are just a ton and I like to work and sleep and eat and shit.
So then Time to see how our two lovebirds got on. Don't worry to those that didn't read 90.1 reminiscing will be kept as light as I felt I could get away with. Once again the editing duo of UnvavoringGray and Twoflower68 need a shout out for their amazing work, in helping me get this out to you guys. Those two fucking rock. Aside from that, I don't have much to say, so let's get on with the story ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned. Sapphire WikiDiscord FirstPreviousNext __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 91: You Will Tell Us There was a knock on the door, a voice Tom didn't recognize yelling from outside, “Breakfast is on, if you want any.” “Coming,” Tom replied, stretching out lazily. His head didn’t feel too bad though it was definitely throbbing slightly, he felt a little sick too and he was quite thirsty. So nothing out of the ordinary. Noting the absence of snoring from his right, he poked at Jacky a bit, to try and see if she was awake. “Tom?” the long drawn out reply came. “I feel like shit.” Short on ways to articulate ‘breakfast time,’ he just patted her on the side as he got up, hoping she would follow along eventually. He only got on the essentials, leaving the armor off for the time being. He had to admit, he too felt rather stiff and sore. As he was doing up his boots he blinked a few times, his eyes messing with him and refusing to focus. All in all though, he was doing fairly okay. It was pretty clear the same couldn’t be said for Jacky, as she still laid sprawled across the mattress, buck nude and unmoving. “I don’t want to go, everything hurts,” she protested, reaching for the blanket lazily, not even managing to grab it. “Oh come on you lazy sod, can't be that bad,” Tom went as he grabbed her by the shoulder, rolling her over. She just flopped onto her back like a ragdoll whining loudly. “Please don’t dude, that hurt.” He picked up her arm, also not receiving any resistance, dangling it around a bit. He let go, watching it bounce off the mattress as she let out a distressed groan. “You are a fucking mess arent you?” he questioned, giving her a light smack on the butt, as he started gathering up her clothes and laying them in the bed for her. He picked up her crown, putting it on without much success. It was sort of on there but it was more laying on top of his head. Looking to Jacky she was at least looking at him now as he struck a pose for her, doing his best to look like a girly idiot. It did land him a chuckle from her as she slowly began moving. She winced as she sat up and began stretching everything that could be stretched right down to her toes. Getting up, she scooped up his helmet and placed it on her head, even if the horns did kinda ruin the experiment. The tip of the helmet fell down in front of her eyes and made her look like an absolute idiot. “Look I’m the crazed killing machine. YAHHH, bang, bang, bang,” she went, doing the finger guns, pretending to be firing around the room, though she was still rather lacking in the enthusiasm department. Tom really wanted to reply, shoulders sagging a bit at the thought that he couldn't. Jacky took off the helmet and continued doing stretches even if it was clear from all the wincing and slow movements that she was not enjoying it. “How can a night with you leave me in worse shape than the most insane battle I have ever taken part in?” She went with some annoyance in her tone. Tom scratched the back of his neck, trying to look innocent, as he went about inspecting a very interesting wooden figurine on the window. “Screw it, that was so worth it, it’s ridiculous. Now small steps Jacky,” she continued as she started to walk over to the washbasin. She looked truly ridiculous as she inched forwards bow legged. Tom eventually grew sorry for her, going over to lend a shoulder. “And of course you're completely fine. I don't like not being the awesome one you know that… and that’s mine,” she playfully protested, taking the crown and putting it on. “You are just a copper, remember?” ‘If only you knew how awesome you are, miss silvered huntress,’ Tom thought to himself with a smile as he helped her freshen up a bit and get into her clothes. After she had gotten ready and he got everything he didn't need sorted and stowed away they set off, making it just shy of the stairs. “Oh this is gonna suck,” Jacky let out, stopping. Tom pondered the situation for a second before picking her up in a bride carry, going down the stairs with her as she slung her arms around his neck. “...Just for today I will allow this,” she went, sounding more than a little sarcastic as they made it to the hall. Most of the people were well into their breakfast, though nearly all eyes turned to the two of them as they entered. “Morning,” Tom let out, staring back at the mixed collection of faces. Some looked curious, others uncomfortable, one guy gave them a thumbs up and a smirking nod, and Jarix looked like he wanted to be somewhere else while also having several questions. ‘Oookay,’ Tom thought, screaming internally. He had guessed someone would have heard them. This was a lot worse than even he had thought; this was catastrophic. Looking around, Zarko had her face buried in her food, sitting at the table closest to Jarix. Unkai looked away when Tom caught him staring. Going over, he deposited Jacky next to Zarko before getting some food for the two of them. He came back with a plate of mostly smoked and salted meats with bread and some fairly nice smelling cheese. Jacky dug in with a voracious appetite, Tom joining her and trying to ignore the people who were staring. Silence reigned at the table until Zarko elected to open the conversation, for once. “So, feeling well-rested?” she questioned. Her expression perfectly plain as she continued eating. “Yup, feeling much better. Weren't you supposed to be on the wing by now?” Tom replied, trying to seem nonchalant about it. “Yes, but the lady overruled me, apparently her precious little huntresses need a good meal before such a flight,” she replied, seeming none too pleased as she scowled at the kind old lady before turning to Tom. "She still can’t hear us, right?” “Nope. Deaf as can be sadly.” “Excellent, let me give you a bit of advice: whatever you did to her, you might want to consider telling her to quiet down a bit… somehow,” Zarko continued, getting eye contact with him then looking Jackalope over, clearly thinking. “I wanna ask a favor.” ‘I do not like where this is going,’ Tom concluded, rather desperately looking around for a way out of this. Zarko clearly figured out where his mind had gone at that, her expression turning to one of disgust. “No, you idiot. I want the most dangerous person I know to owe me a favor… In exchange for not letting a certain someone know what happened here, and embellishing some details.” ‘Godfucking dammit,’ Tom cursed to himself, looking at the now grinning second lieutenant. He did not like the prospect of what would happen if Zarko just started telling stories back at the keep. “What kind of favor are we talking?” “Oh, I don’t know, I’ll think of something… eventually” Zarko replied, seeming very pleased with herself. ‘Oh god damn you,’ Tom cursed. “Fine, don’t keep the deafness a secret though that’s just too obvious.” “I won’t don’t you worry, but I gotta ask. What the hell did you do to her? More out of morbid curiosity than anything else.” “And why would I tell you that?” Tom replied in an annoyed tone. “Well I might be persuaded to keep those two from blabbing too loudly as well,” she replied, pointing at the two huntresses Tom suspected were gonna be joining her. Looking around, it was clear the battle of this not being a topic was lost in advance. ‘Screw it, might as well have fun with it, Shiva is gonna try and kill me anyway,’ Tom mused to himself, looking to Zarko. “Well, there is not much too it, I just rode her for all she was worth” Unkai nearly choked on his food at that. “I think they heard us last night,” Jackalope tried to whisper as she leaned over to Tom, of course doing so loud enough that it wasn’t hard to hear for anyone at the table. Tom cracked a smile at that, trying to not laugh, nodding slowly while looking down. “Dammit, I even tried screaming into the pillow and everything,” she continued, looking around at the people staring. Tom wasn’t sure if she believed she was talking to herself or what. He gave her a little poke to the side, earning him a wince in response, “Please don’t, that still hurts.” Tom patted her on the back a bit to say sorry. “I will try to keep her more quiet next time,” Tom promised as he looked to Unkai, who was sitting across from them. The healer damn near had his head below the edge of the table, looking extremely uncomfortable. “For the record, I think whatever you two did was counter to my medical advice,” he peeped out after Tom stared at him for a bit. “I was fairly gentle with her, I didn’t want to open up the wound on her back… You might need to take a look at that actually… She got a little... carried away.” If the dragonettes could blush, he was damn sure Unkai would be competing with Jarix for most blue individual right now, his ears completely flat against his neck. “Sure thing.” “That was gentle?!” Jarix finally broke out, looking at Tom with disbelief. “Do you know how you two sounded? I could hear everything godsdammit!” The dragon shuddering as he said that. Well, the few faces who hadn’t been giving them weird looks before sure as fuck were now. Tom had to give it to the dragon, he hadn’t thought of that. “Sorry not sorry, I can try to make you some earplugs if you want, we can’t be the first ones you have heard,” he tried with a shrug. Jarix opened his mouth to speak thinking better of it. “I would like that actually,” the dragon replied eventually, his expression rather ashamed as he looked away. Looking back to Unkai, Tom asked the healer. “In your experience how bad it is when you people get hot… like you know, too hot?” “I mean hot enough will kill you eventually, you faint long before that though.” “Just checking. Getting that hot a few times in a row, is that bad?” Unkai gulped, as he stared at Tom. “I don’t think I would recommend it,” he finally went, sounding ready to bolt. “Noted,” Tom replied, putting an arm around Jacky’s waist. “How did you manage that? I mean you were going at it for a while, but you held breaks, we could hear that much. How did she get so hot so fast?” Zarko questioned. 'Were you standing outside the door or something?’ Tom cursed, debating whether the comeback to that was worth the possible fall out with Jacky. ‘Yeah sure, this ship has sailed,’ he concluded. “Oh, those were when she fainted, or you know just locked up completely. Then she needed a bit of a cool down.” That finally got a reaction from the normally stoic Zarko, as she turned to look at him wide-eyed. Jarix’s jaw hung open looking like he just witnessed his parents having sex, and Unkai froze in place as if something just broken inside him. “What did you just say?” Jackalope questioned looking to Tom, clearly picking up on all that. She did not sound entirely pleased either. ‘Right, that’s fair,’ Tom concluded to himself, getting out the notebook, pondering how to spin this. He couldn’t outright lie, and she definitely knew what the subject was currently. “That you are the most awesome thing both in the sky and the bedroom,” Tom wrote down, feeling proud of himself, doing his best Fengi impersonation as he showed her, trying to look cute. Jackalope looked at the notebook slightly skeptical for a second or two, eyes flicking between it and him. “I’m on to you,” she finally replied, going back to her food, Tom letting out a slight sigh of relief. “More like on top of you,” he retorted, chuckling at his own joke. “Oh god, Tom please,” Jarix protested, sounding more than done with this conversation. “Come on, you’re eighty and a combat vet now. Deal with it,” Jarix just stared at him, looking distinctly unimpressed as Tom just leaned on Jacky with a shit-eating grin on his face and went about his food. Ironically enough though he was struggling a bit with his appetite, having stacked up a sizable plate. Jacky eventually nicked a few things from his plate, much to her delight. __________________________________________________________________________________ The questioning of both the man and woman they had captured had proved fruitless. They hadn’t even gotten a name out of them. Eventually they had just given up, leaving the city guard to it. Sapphire and Dakota had been given bunks to sleep in at the Stockade on account of Sergeant Lanok having grown a lot more confident since Victoria departed. He refused to let them leave. Even if they weren't really locked up, it was still pretty damn annoying, not to mention belittling. It was a fine enough place to get a few hours of sleep though. Maiko had woken them up a while later, Sapphire blinking the sleep from her eyes. This was not enough sleep for a night. Judging by the sun outside the window it was very early morning. “That was quick,” Sapphire noted, rubbing her eyes. “Well we have a job to do, and possibly people trying to outrun us. So let’s go, chop-chop,” Maiko replied, yanking the blanket of Sapphire. “Seriously?” Sapphire protested, looking up at the bemused corporal who just moved to Dakota and repeated the maneuver. They got up, donning their armor, and collecting their things. “Do you think she found some village crazy woman?” Sapphire questioned, glancing at the equally sleepy-looking Dakota. “No idea, we better not be late though. Let’s get down there,” Dakota answered, getting to her feet. Sapphire noticed a slight smile on Maiko’s face as they made their way to the interrogation room. Both of the kidnappers had been brought in there, the city guard sergeant joining them shortly after they arrived. He was suddenly looking very nervous not saying a word as they waited. It took a few minutes before a tall slim woman, clad in the Hashaw family uniform, stepped into the room. Victoria followed behind her flanked by a captain of the city guard. “Meet Inquisitor Joelina Hashaw. She has agreed to assist us moving forward,” The Colonel went in a distinctly smug tone as Sergeant Lanok stared in awe. “I agreed to interrogate your prisoner, Victoria, nothing more, I have work to do” the tall woman replied in an ice-cold tone. “And only because the Lady required it. Tie them down tight, suicide is not acceptable.” “Oh fuck me,” the female kidnapper let out as they began strapping the two of them to their chairs with leather straps and rope. Sapphire had no clue how many inquisitors there were, but they were rare as could be, she knew that much. 'Yup, they're fucked,’ she concluded, not sure if she wanted to watch this. “Before we start you should know, I will learn what I want to know, so you might as well make this easy. If you don’t I won’t be able to guarantee your safety. I’m sure you don’t want to end up a drooling mess. Of course, you could just tell us right away.” “She’s joking, don’t tell her anything.. ahrg!” the male let out, thrashing at his restraints. As the inquisitor dug her claws into his skull and squeezed, the guy’s head snapped back to look her in the eyes, pupils wide. She was clearly concentrating, her eyes burning vivid green as she stared into the guy’s eyes and began speaking. “Let’s see here. Oh stop thinking about your crush that won't help you, she’s not even pretty… Who sent you?... Hello. You look familiar, so you worked for Gyros then? Noted… You didn't question someone willing to pay that much for a kidnapping job? Good god, you’re an idiot. Yes, yes, you lost three friends. I don’t care. Where were you supposed to deliver him?... I see.” The inquisitor let him go with a dejected sigh, the guy’s head slumping over to the side, a distant expression on his eyes as he twitched a bit. “Well that was disappointing, so little discipline,” she went, taking out a notebook. “His name is Hinato, he was contracted through a gentleman named Gyros, whom I know rather well, by an anonymous beneficiary. Their destination was an abandoned warehouse where they would hand off the target to said beneficiary. Here it is, they met there yesterday day to discuss things you're looking for a woman in a hooded dress, her face was covered” She continued, tearing out a page from her notebook and handing it to Victoria. “I say you hurry up and pray they are waiting confused that their shit mercenaries haven't shown up yet, and remember Victoria: favor for favor.” “This is on my mother's orders, take it up with her,” Victoria responded, inspecting the piece of paper. “You know this would have been so much easier if you had woken up when I told you to.” “I still have a day of work ahead of me, speaking of which, let's see what she knows.” “No need, I’m fine to talk!” the woman let out, looking terrifiedly at the guy strapped down next to her. “I’m Thalrex. I have been with this company for 2 years. I was paid 63 silver for my share, which is the most I have ever been paid for a one night job. We were waiting outside the window for half the night, we were supposed to be back by sunrise and the guy who got away is called Hjortun, he’s a coward, I have a flying lizard named Skitters and I swear I don’t know anything else!” Sapphire was wondering whether a fresh set of undergarments would be necessary for the mercenary, but she certainly put on a convincing performance if she wasn't actually scared shitless. “Were you the ones who tried to scare the shit out of us at the tavern a few nights ago?” There was a bit of a pause before Thalrex answered. “No… We just had to kidnap a dude for ransom” She sounded genuinely confused at that so she might actually be telling the truth. “Ransom?” Dakota questioned, thinking for a bit. “Never mind I get it, drop the charges and we get him back” She continued, nodding to herself The inquisitor looked back at them, looking very smug. “Anything else I can do for you?” “No, I think we have places to be. I do owe you for this.” “I’ll be sure to cash in when I need a place burnt to the ground... Toodeloo,” she went as she waltzed out the room. The City Guard captain followed her out, asking questions about if she could be persuaded to help with some of his other prisoners. “Thanks for your cooperation,” Victoria went, looking at Thalrex. “They’re all yours Sergeant.” “Wait, you promised to pay for my jail time. I don't want to be a slave!” Thalrex protested, fighting her restraints. “And I didn’t want to be indebted to the inquisition, we can't all get what we want,” Victoria replied, turning to leave. Thalrex continued to protest loudly, sounding ready to break down completely as the door was shut behind them. Victoria turned to Sapphire and Dakota, her expression turning worried from her previous stone-cold professionalism. “You two okay?” “We're fine. Balethon is a bit worse for wear. He's being looked after though,” Sapphire replied, trying to hide the shock of what she had just seen. “Actually he should be up and about by now. The poison should not last more than a few hours,” Dakota interjected. “We might need his nose for this. That snout of his is good for more than helping with cooking after all.” “Let’s go pick him up then, we have transport on the roof. Don’t worry he doesn't stain. He’s just the sweetest in fact, so try to be nice,” Victoria replied, before making for the infirmary. The rather bewildered Balethon was indeed up and about, even if he still looked a little stiff in his movements. The mercs had actually been very professional with the poison, only giving him a shallow cut to the base of the neck where it would act quickly but heal easily. Making it to the roof, it was indeed Tiguan who was sitting perched on the landing platform. Sapphire knew he was on their team, but the sight of a jet black dragon sent shivers running down her spine. She stopped in her tracks for a second before forcing herself to move forward. Even if he shone like obsidian, clearly freshly polished, everything in her was screaming ‘RUN!’ at the sight of him. “Yilditz, we have a warehouse that needs a visit, double time. The bastards we need might still be there,” Victoria shouted out as they made it out onto the roof. “Roger that. See, I promised we didn’t just have to sit around and look scary,” Ylditz went in an encouraging tone, clearly directed at the dragon. “Yeah yeah, that’s me, look scary and run errands.” “Oh come now, you were the one who wanted some actual work,” Ylditz replied. “I’m sure you will get the chance to do some good today. Right, Victoria?” “Well, we are chasing kidnappers. It doesn’t get much more pure-hearted than that” “I thought you caught them?” Tiguan questioned, sounding more interested as Victoria helped Balethon aboard, the guard clearly struggling with what he was climbing upon. Tiguan seemed too distracted to notice though. “We did, and now we are after the ones who hired the mercs, a proper bad guy just like you wanted.” “I see... Well, let’s go then!” The dragon let out, jumping off the roof, suddenly in a big hurry, his crew plus Balethon and Victoria aboard. The rest of the dragonettes on the roof took to the sky under their own power. “This day is getting strange real quick!” Sapphire shouted to Dakota. “Just go with it. Not like we are gonna be attacked in this formation.” “True, people tend to steer clear of me, now let’s go see about fucking up some bad guys!” Tiguan shouted back to them. “Hear, hear!” Echoed out from a fair few of the other people in the formation. Not counting Tiguan and his now 5 person crew, they had half a dozen dragonettes here, seemingly all members of the family or guards from the estate. The sun was still low in the sky as they soared over a not so desirable part of town. The skies were still quiet, most people weren’t gonna be up for at least a few more hours. They eventually found a building that matched the description, A large squat wooden warehouse, the number 6 marked on the roof, even if the paint had started to fade. Tiguan had started relaying orders from Victoria so all could hear. “Victoria is running interception with all loose flyers, in case someone runs. I will smash in the front door and give them a bad day. All good?” the dragon questioned, looking about the formation, receiving thumbs up all around. “Good, let’s go be heroes!” Tiguan let out with considerable enthusiasm as he went into a dive. Victoria had disembarked, taking the lead of the dragonette formation, leading them down over the warehouse. The black dragon went into a steep dive with his wings tucked in, pulling away from the formation. Sapphire could just about make out someone shouting on Tiguan's back as he sped off; it sounded almost like Ylditz. “No, we can’t do that!” Sapphire had expected him to land and then perhaps knock in the doors, but he didn’t do that. He was apparently very confident that this was the right building as he let loose a stream of acid aimed at the roof, covering it in the sickly gray gooey substance that quickly began eating away at the wooden structure. He spread his wings to slow down before landing on the roof, smashing through it with a resounding crunch of snapping wooden support beams. “Well that is one way to do it,” Sapphire let out, staring in disbelief at the sight of the ruined building. “Godsdammit Tiguan!” Victoria shouted out from ahead loud enough that it carried. “Hands where I can see them and wings folded!” the dragon roared out from inside the warehouse, Sapphire not able to see anything through the hole except a cloud of dust slowly rising. Victoria ordered the formation broken up into three wings and placed Dakota in charge of the third. Victoria taking the first wing inside with two and three holding the perimeter. “Uhm… No one here,” Tiguan eventually bellowed out from inside, sounding more than a little disappointed. “I am not paying for this,” Dakota stated disheartedly. “What does a warehouse even cost?” “More than a few dencils I’m guessing,” Sapphire replied, shaking her head. __________________________________________________________________________________ Okay then. Tom and Jacky appear to have survived the night not some better than others. Sapphire and Dakota are thoroughly on the offensive even if they have ended up mostly just coming along for the moment. As always do let me know what you thought down below, as we maintain course heading for number 100. that's is gonna be quite the occasion. Until next time, have an awesome day. ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned. 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okay I talk to this guy a lot by text and I kinda like him...i don't talk to him much in person because I ain't in many of his class's...we talk every 2-3 days and I mostly start the convo but he sometimes does...anyway sometimes when I send a really long text he just says "haha okay;)" and it ... Instead, this guy will always take care of you and your needs, even prioritizing them before his own. He will surprise you out of nowhere with the things you love. For example, he’ll take you out for a spontaneous lunch at your favorite place, or surprise you with little gifts. This guy will make sure you are always okay and not missing anything. I know it could mean alot of different things, but my guy friend has been doing this lately. Like I made a joke about a movie he was watching and he just replied with "Oh" and one time where I was kinda angry we were texting but then I said "Maybe some girls will find that kind of behavior cute and funny, but i'm not like other girls" and he replied 5 hours later saying "Oh" and that's all he ... oh okay. words commonly used when you say " hi " or " hello " to someone and they either didn't see or hear you or just ignored you. This is used when around large groups of people and you feel awkward that the person either ignored you or didnt see you. Get the oh okay neck gaiter and mug. Men are, by and large, very simple creatures. Lying d-bags and manipulative a-holes aside, there tends to be very little distance between what we say and we mean. It’s that “linear thinking” you’ve heard about — according to science, men take the simplest, most direct route to accomplish what they’re trying to accomplish (A plus B equals C) whereas women ... “Oh okay” can be expressed by a person to suggest that a change in plans has annoyed them. If John wants to go to the cinema to watch his favourite film and wants his friends to come but Alice suggests that they go out to play bowling instead John can use “oh okay” which expresses that he would have preferred to do something else but is okay to do the activity. Some things a man says only mean something if the woman he’s speaking to loves him. Even if HE truly does love HER, the words may still lack true meaning for her. They will fail to move her. He says: I'll call you. He means: I really mean to ... day and all my interrelationships with my colleagues and boss and the guy who drives my ... more important what he does than what he says. When a guy says he’ll call you later, don’t expect to get a call within twenty-four hours, or even in the next few days. A guy will call you when he gets the time or even just when he remembers. What he says: I’ve been busy. What he means: I’m not interested. If a guy is truly interested in you, nothing will stop him.
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MY LATEST SONG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFoUU_8Qg_A&index=2&list=PLNydYuxG-zp3yJ8Xau-ua1F6sFZ9e3Gt7&t=0sLEARN INSTA GAME http://bit.ly/Instagame1LIMI... Alan Watts was a well-known British philosopher, writer and speaker, best known for his interpretation of Eastern philosophy for Western audiences. Born to Christian parents in England, he ... Our Community Guidelines and policies apply to all YouTube content and define what you can and cannot do on YouTube. In which Andrew goes through things guys say, and what they actually means. MY TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/andrewquoMY SNAPCHAT: andrewquoLeave a comment... Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. "What A Beautiful Name" from the album 'let there be light'' recorded live at Hillsong Conference in Sydney, 2016.** Scriptural Inspiration Behind the Lyric... In September 1977, NASA launched Voyager I from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The craft carried a golden record that contained a message to aliens from the people... See more from Britain's Got Talent at http://itv.com/talentDon't buzz too soon! Here are some of the best acts with a little surprise up their sleeves, that ... What should you say to a man you actually like? Download your free chapter of my Secret Scripts here...http://www.GetTheFreeChapter.comGet more of Anna Ak... In dating, what does it mean when someone says, “No drama?” I’m Dr. Liz from Sex-Positive Psych. And today, we’re talking more dating pitfalls. One thing tha...
![Alan Watts - The Balance Of Life [26min]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CTwp5MdwVr4/default.jpg "In September 1977, NASA launched Voyager I from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The craft carried a golden record that contained a message to aliens from the people...")
