•1•
Aniyah paused by a tree that was bigger than all the rest. It was obviously very old. The leaves of its branches were a pretty teal color and were shaped like the diamonds in a deck of playing cars. She couldn't say exactly why, but this tree gave her a slight sense of comfort. In these woods--especially with the black curtain hanging over the sky--comfort was a rare commodity. She found comfort in this tree, oddly enough, and also in her new weapon. Windchine; Blade of the Paragon. She supposed she was the Paragon of the Weaver now. Whatever that meant. She knew the words, because they kept echoing throughout her thoughts, but she had only a faint idea of their meaning. She wasn't totally clueless. She'd picked up on the fact that the Weaver was a God, or something close to it. She'd intuited that Paragon was some kind of title, bestowed by the Weaver. It meant she was sort of like a knight. Beyond these things however, she didn't have much to go on. She'd always just known things she had no way of knowing. Sometimes, she knew things she had no business knowing, as Momma would have said. She wasn't psychic. Far from it. She just got gut feelings about things, that usually turned out to be right. Like the ones underneath. She'd picked up on all of that, without any real reason to pick up on it.
She was picking up on something now. Something involving the others back at the clearing.
But she was still piecing all of that together. She didn't have enough to go on yet, to have any complete, fully formed thought.
That wouldn't come until a bit later...
What came in that moment, was the subtle soothing nature of the very old tree before her. Comfort really was a rare commodity here, but aside from the tree and the scimitar, there was one more source of comfort for her, currently. The weird little jellyfish thing. It was bobbing along in the air a few feet from the tree. It hadn't left her side since bringing her the weapon. Like the tree--like Windchime--it granted her a small degree of comfort. She didn't know where the jellyfish had got the weapon, but she had an idea that even the jellyfish didn't know where it had come from. Maybe the old man had something to do with it. The one who kept the Keys. The Custodian.
She bitterly wished she'd thought to grab Mr. Brownie when she took off running from the skinless man.
The skinless man...
Now there was something she hadn't got any gut feelings about. Except for fear, that was. She knew to be fearful of the man, but that was all. She'd dealt with monsters her whole life. They'd shown up out the blue, or she'd shown up to them. Like in that Long Room. Something about the skinless man was different though. Something about him wasn't like the other monsters. He wasn't one of her monsters, she knew that much at least. She could also tell he didn't have anything to do with the ones underneath, or the grasshopper people. He wasn't connected to The Jailer.
The only intuitive feeling Aniyah had concerning the skinless man, was that he was connected to something a whole lot worse. What that something might have a been however, she had no clue.
Aniyah didn't have a sheath, or swordbelt. The scimitar hadn't come with a scabbard. As a result, she was forced to hold the weapon in her hand, since she had nowhere to stow it. The blade was as long as her arm, and curved--almost like a banana--but was only sharp on one side. This allowed her to rest the blunt edge in the crook of her shoulder, carrying it the way she'd seen lumberjacks sometimes carry their axes in old movies; with her elbow bent, and the blade sticking out behind her as if it were a compass needle that only pointed in the opposite direction from where she was facing.
With Windchine in this position, she leaned sideways against the old tree--feeling its rough bark against her skin. A soft breeze gently blew against her face, bringing with it the scents of nature. The blackness of the sky didn't seem to match the pleasantness of the wind or the earthy smells of the woods around her. Nor did the stillness. There were a few insects buzzing someplace nearby, but mostly it was quiet. It was almost tranquil, in fact. She knew that somewhere in these same woods, chaos was happening. Hell on Earth (or, Hell on In-Between, she supposed). But all of that seemed so distant. So removed from her in that moment, in this private patch of wilderness.
Part of her wanted to go charging off toward the battle, so she could save Eddie the Gnome, and Prioress Qaya, and the others. Yet, at the same time, another part of her wanted to just lie down right here and take a nice long nap. Another part still--a deeper part--briefly broached the topic of Amy. She shattered this thought into a million little pieces and scattered them in the wind. She wouldn't... no... she couldn't deal with that right now. Not yet. Soon, she would have to. But not just yet.
These contradicting parts were really all the same part. The part that didn't want to admit she was hopelessly lost. She had no dang idea where to go.
Aniyah looked up at the weird little jellyfish thing. She whispered, "Wonder how far it is, to get back to Eddie Money and the others?"
The jellyfish couldn't understand her. Duh. It was a floating jellyfish. How could it?
Except... for a moment, Aniyah thought maybe the thing did understand. And after another few seconds, she knew for sure it did.
The jellyfish flashed a soft green color. Once, then twice. To Aniyah, it was almost like it was saying: "Beep-beep!"
"What does that mean, Jellybean?" she asked, laughing at how goofy she probably sounded.
The jellyfish strobed green again. Just once this time. Then, it slowly began to float away.
"Hold up a minute. Where you goin'?" She stopped leaning against the tree and stood up straight.
The jellyfished froze for a second, beeped green once more, then started off again.
"Ohhh, okay. I see. You leading the way? Well okay then." Aniyah smiled in spite of herself.
She followed behind the jellyfish. Together, they made their way through the darkened woods. Hopefully, to rejoin the others...
•2•
"I've never been in this part of the city before," Flower-Seed admitted. "I didn't even realize there was so much down here. I knew there were older parts of Locist Spire that were here before the Jikk, and that most of it was under the city, but I didn't expect there to be all of... this." He looked around, pausing briefly to admire the elaborate architecture around him. "I mean... Gods. There's actually streets down here. And structures. Not to mention these sculptures and platforms. It's breathtaking. It's almost like an entire settlement encased in a mausoleum. A sort of... civilization time capsule."
Quijj gave only a noncommittal grunt in response.
The two of them walked side-by-side along a wide street paved in stone. So much was stonework, or marble. The craftsmanship that went into all of it was something even modern Artisians likely couldn't replicate. Large sections of the old city were in ruins, but those that remained mostly intact made Flower-Seed feel as if he'd traveled back in time. If they'd had the sky overhead instead of a cavern roof, he could have easily imagined being in the center of a bustling metropolis.
They strode by a towering sculpture made to resemble some sort of animal Flower-Seed couldn't identify. It certainly wasn't any kind of insect, or Insectoid. It had four legs and a tail, plus a large round head. It was as intriguing as it was beautiful.
Cave crickets were softly singing in the nooks and crannies. The distant sound of dripping water played constant accompaniment to the hollow resonance of this subterranean wonderland.
They turned down what had once been a side street, with Flower-Seed leading the way. Up ahead, a cavern wall blocked their advance. There was a place where the wall had been broken, creating an opening just big enough for them to squeeze through.
On the other side, they came upon a ledge overlooking a sprawling cavern. There were more ledges--some, only narrow slabs of stone reminiscent of catwalks; others, much wider, holding half-ruined structures--high up along the cavern walls. And in the center, sitting like an island in the dark sea of darkness, was a sprawling marble platform. The platform was surrounded on all sides by crags and trenches so deep Flower-Seed couldn't see their bottom. There was a naturally formed staircase of stone leading from the platform to another opening. This was most likely the main entrance to this chamber. Flower-Seed realized now that he and Quijj had taken an alternate route to get here, than the others had.
Yes. There were others. A lot of them, from the looks of it.
On the marble platform below, rows of tents and even a makeshift gazebo had been set up. As Flower-Seed's eyes adjusted, he began to make out the robes of Advisors; the armor of Spire Knights and Spire Watch. There were excited, panicked voices echoing throughout the cave. Some sort of commotion was going on.
"I had no idea any of this was here," Flower-Seed whispered.
Quijj gave him a strange look.
"Don't ask how I knew where to go, or how to get here. I just... did."
Quijj nodded, but said nothing.
From the platform, someone yelled: "Arrest the traitor!"
"Ah, shit," Flower-Seed said. He was no longer bothering to keep his voice at a whisper. The figures gathered below had broken into something close to a frenzy. "They must be talking about the Councilor." He looked at Quijj with a serious expression. "We have to get her out of here. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of our government, but something really bad is going on down here. I got... visions. I saw Spire Knights with their minds corrupted by parasites. Whoever attacked the city... they've infected some of the officials. We have to do something. If we're ever going to rebuild... we need Jikk like Councilor Lemma. She's one of the good ones."
Quijj grunted in agreement. "Alright. Let's do it."
"What's the plan?" Flower-Seed asked, suddenly nervous. He felt a bit silly asking Quijj what the plan was, considering the elderly tavern keeper had just been following his lead up this point. Now that they were here, Flower-Seed didn't have the slightest idea what he was going to do. Or even what he could do. He couldn't fight a trained Spire Knight. Let alone an entire company of them. He'd only get himself killed!
Fortunately (and to Flower-Seed's great relief), Quijj said: "Just wait here. And get ready to run. Like you've never ran before."
"Alright. I think I can do that much, at least."
Quijj nodded. He drew his odd-looking weapon, and leapt down from the ledge; spreading his wings as he did this to glide over to the platform. Just as the old tavern keep came to a landing, Flower-Seed saw two armored Knights seize Councilor Lemma by the arms, and pull her to the ground. One of the Advisors screamed.
Shit! his mind cursed. Come on, Quijj. You gotta do something! And fast!
•3•
There was a particular knock at the hidden door to the Navigator's study. Three heavy raps, a pause, then two sets of four bangs; the coded knock he'd taught to the mercenary leader. The corners of Drokin the Navigator's mouth--little more than soft tissue on either side of his pointed beak--sagged slightly, in a parody of a frown. He shot a glance over to the wall-mounted clock above his desk. It was only Ef'tat-Half-Wane. The merc shouldn't have made it to this part of Barkstone Barony, for at least another three Shecks.
Drokin cast a suspicious eye toward the opposite end of the room. He reached beneath his desk, unfastening the blade he hid there. It was always good to have a backup weapon. The talon-like claws of his hand instinctively found the pommel of his rapier. "Enter!" he called to the door.
There was a hefty creaking sound as a considerable portion of the wall was pushed inward, revealing both the false rock of the door's opposite side, and the midday sunlight beyond the study. The light was much too bright for Drokin's eyes, after spending so much time inside the chamber under the Arcas Rune lamps. For a moment, he had to squint in order to get a decent view of his visitor. The moment Drokin saw the figure entering his study, his claws tightened on the handle of his weapon.
The one who appeared through the doorway was not the merc leader Rave the Ravager. Not by a long shot. The stranger was a Jagged Fields Nerthran, just as Rave was, but this was where their similarities ended. Rave was of slightly larger than average size for an adult male member of the mothfolk race. The Nerthran before Drokin was the antithesis of average (or "slightly" for that matter). He was enormous; much larger than seemed natural. If one of his crew mates had told Drokin about seeing a Nerthran the size of this one, Drokin would have labeled them an exaggerator at best, a boldfaced liar at worst. He certainly wouldn't have believed mothmen could grow this large, if he weren't seeing the proof of that very thing with his own two eyes.
"Where is Rave? Who are you?" Drokin demanded.
The giant mothman slowly stepped inside the study and creaked the door shut behind him. He did not answer.
"I asked you a question. Where is--"
In a baritone voice that was almost pleasing to the ear, the mothman said: "Would you Sky Pirates send your Captain on every minor mission, or simple errand? I am Master Rave's deliverer. I am called Nollo."
A peculiar name for such a hulking creature as this, the Navigator mused.
When Drokin didn't initially respond, 'Nollo' added: "I have the Relic you wanted." He held up a black rectangular case, almost like the kind a Bard might use for protecting a musical instrument.
Drokin thought this over a moment, studying the towering mothman carefully. He felt almost like he was looking up at a living statue. One of the great big ones that lined the streets of the grand cities of Roshuka, or populated the ruins of Jyyrvesk's Old Country. Even the hulk's features were oversized, as if they needed to compensate for the massive face to which they were attached. This 'Nollo' somewhat unsettled Drokin. The self-proclaimed "deliverer" had a long, slender mouth that didn't quite seem to want to close all the way. This gave the mothman an almost moronic appearance; a dimwitted face with the mouth of a drooling imbecile. Combined with his considerable size, it would have been easy to dismiss this Nerthran as a buffoon. Even the title "deliverer" played into this impression. And he seemed to have a permanent glazed over quality about his eyes. However, Drokin saw what lurked beneath the surface. When he looked beyond these things, the Navigator could detect a cold, calculating intelligence in the mothman's eyes. Upon closer inspection, the glazed over quality didn't strike the Navigator as entirely organic. It struck him as purposeful, practiced--part of a kind of disguise.
Nollo was a mothman with the soul of a spider...
As these things dawned on Drokin, the unsettled feeling he'd had since this mothman's appearance turned to something bordering on outright fear. The Navigator had been all across the Lesser and Greater Reaches. He'd seen some horrid things. Something about this stranger was different, however. There was something not quite Insectoid in his eyes; not quite Of This Pocket Realm, as the Captain was want to say. Drokin had never believed in the concept of evil. Not in the same way the Old Scrolls talked about it, as least. But now--here in his study, confronted by the figure before him--when he looked into those eyes, evil was all Drokin saw.
"You... have the Horn?" Drokin asked, trying to sound casual. His heart was beating at three times it's normal tempo. He slowly reached for the Link Orb. Calling out to Captain Heekan may have been the only chance he had left. "Let me get you the coin I promise then."
"Stop," said Nollo. "Put your hand down."
Drokin paused. The tips of his claws were just inches from the Orb. If he were quick about it, he could snatch the thing up in a microsecond. The Navigator was quick. He was a trained fighter, afterall. But... he knew intuitively he would not be quick enough.
"I beg your pardon?" Drokin said, trying and failing to keep some air of authority in his tone.
Nollo laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. "There was never going to be any coin, was there? You think Master Rave wouldn't sniff out such an obvious con? You really aren't familiar with the Stonewing Pillar Mercenaries are you? We are not some low-level ratcatchers."
Drokin said nothing for a moment. At last, he sighed. He allowed his training to replace his fear. It took quite a lot of effort, but he managed. When his heart had returned to something closer to a natural beat, he leveled his avian eyes at the mothman. He dropped his hand, but brought it down to his rapier. He drew the weapon, but made no move to strike.
Through the end of his closed beak, Drokin growled: "Alright, asshole. Just what are you after?"
Nollo laughed again. He flipped open the brass latches on the black case he held, opened it. Inside, wasn't any Relic. That had been a lie. The black velvet lined interior of the case held a single object: a large throwing knife. Nollo removed the blade and let the case fall to the floor. "I'll need every piece of coin you have here. And anything else of value."
Drokin raised his rapier. "All our treasures are on the ship." He sighed, deciding to fess up. "I don't have anything here. You were right. I planned on taking the Horn and not paying. But I am obviously not getting what I wanted. There is no coin here for you to get what you want. Why don't we just call this an impasse? We both walk away, no better off... but no worse for wear than we were before. What do you say?"
Nollo shook his massive head. It was like seeing a boulder pivot atop a living column. "You think you can plot to take out our leader, and live to tell the tale? You're even more stupid than you look."
Now, Drokin was getting angry. "Do you have any idea who you're fucking with? You can't stand against our entire crew. We're the Hawkblood Pirates. You think Captain Heekan will just sit by and let you--"
The knife was buried in Drokin's windpipe, before he ever saw the mothman throw it. For someone so massive, Rollo had a dexterity and speed that were virtually unrivaled. There was a soft clang as Drokin's rapier fell to the floor; a soft gurgling sound as he began to choke on his own blood. He gasped for air his lungs couldn't find; his hands clawing at his throat to pull free a blade that wouldn't budge.
Drokin the Navigator fell to the floor with a hollow thud, knocking his chair over in the process. The last thing his dying mind registered before he lost consciousness was the sight of Rollo the mothman standing over him, whispering: "You Sky Pirates never should have come to the Wilden Green."
Then, Drokin was fading. Fading, fading.
Fading.
Fading from the mortal world, and headed for that Great Beyond...
•4•
Eyes. So many eyes. Staring. Watching.
Abominations. Wretched perversions of nature. Black-tongued things. Slime things. Things with many, many eyes.
Many. Many. Eyes.
Vellnoth! It was awful!
Zoocher slipped through a whirlwind of swirling shadows. He sank into quicksand of blackness. His mind shattered, then reformed. Shattered, then reformed. The world became a pane of glass which broke into a million, billion, trillion little pieces. He reached out, desperately trying to pick the pieces up, to put them back together.
It was no use.
Horrors. Eyes. Looking. Looking at me. Through me. Seeing me. Seeing all.
SEEING.
Zoocher rocked himself back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. There was dirt and grass beneath him. He was curled up into a ball, hugging his knees against his chest. Yet, these things were just background details. This was just his surroundings, and his physical body. His mind was somewhere else--perhaps, in another patch of dirt, slowly turning to mud. No. Not mud. Quicksand.
Sinking. He was sinking. Sinking, and slipping away. Slipping off into that Forever Night.
White Staircase?
No. He saw no White Staircase. Perhaps, only the Black Steps awaited him after all the awful things he'd done in life.
Only... there were no Black Steps, either.
Because he wasn't dead. Not yet, at least.
He was alive, but he was not living. Not in the normal sense.
Eyes. Watching. Looking. Seeing. Viewing. Glimpsing.
STARING.
GODS. OH GODS. OH VELLNOTH PLEASE!
No mercy for him. No Gods coming to save him. Only horrors.
He'd been in that terrible place, in that terrible room for what had felt like centuries.
Now he was back in the woods. But not all of him. He'd left some essential part of himself back there, back in that terrible place.
And now, he'd never get that part back. It was lost to him. For good. Forever.
Zoocher leaned over and vomited yellow bile onto the grass. His head was swimming. He slowly stood up. As he stood, everything fell away. Everything. His entire being. His essence. His all. His whole.
Zoocher? No. There was no Zoocher anymore.
Maybe there never had been.
Certainly, there would never be a Zoocher again.
Shattered.
Zoocher was shattered and lost. Gone. Now, Zoocher was no more. Forever departed.
He felt something warm and wet run down his legs. He'd urinated on himself without realizing it. This did not bother him. This meant nothing. He took a step forward and vomited onto his vest. This too meant nothing.
He stripped off his armor, his undergarments, his weapons. He kicked off his boots. To one side of the pile he'd made with his belongings, there were a set of bootprints in the dirt. He turned in the opposite direction, and started walking. He didn't know where he was going. He only knew he needed to walk.
Visions winked in and out of his mind. He continued walking, muttering to himself all the while. He spoke of everything, of nothing. He asked questions without answer. He gave answers to questions no one had asked.
Those eyes. They were burned into his brain. No. His brain was a burn. A scorchmark, littered with eyes. Staring. Watching. Waiting?
He walked on. Walking through the woods, to nowhere. Walking. Muttering. Thinking of eyes and Slime things.
It was a long time before he stopped.
•5•
There were two astounding sights, which presented themselves consecutively before him. In over two decades serving as one of the Hawkblood's top Assault Commanders, he had never seen anything more incredible than the Black Pyramid. That was, right up until the moment he saw the entire Pyramid vanish right before his eyes. If anything could be even more incredible than seeing the Pyramid; suddenly not seeing the Pyramid would have to be it.
Commander Ramses blinked several times, as if he were unable to trust what his eyes were showing him. The airspace beyond the windshield of his Glider Pod now showed only a sea of nothing, save for the Sky Gods higher up in the atmosphere.
"What the fuck? Where did it go?" he muttered to the empty cockpit.
The Glider Pods were designed to resemble plump black ravens. Ramses's Glider was slightly larger than the others in the fleet, as his was the Pod that carried most of the Big Weapons. Currently, they were in a V formation like actual birds; twelve in Ramses's group, twelve more in Commander Paulo's group that would have been approaching the Pyramid from behind; another twelve coming in from the right, making up Commander Gichi's group. The Gyff had their own Gliders, fashioned from wooden planks and some unknown material Ramses had never seen before. The Gyff ships looked a lot like the Gyff themselves; like long slender walking sticks. Their ships cut through the air like wooden missiles, lined up in a near row.
Ramses slapped the control panel, activating the Com-Cube. "Am I seeing things? Have I lost my mind?"
"No." It was the voice of Commander Gichi. She sounded uncharacteristically shaken. "The damn thing went POOF. Just like that."
The Gyff leading the stickbug group (his name was Kloom, if Ramses's memory served him) chimed in. "What do we do now? Will it reappear, you think?"
Ramses smacked the controls again, this time out of frustration. He said, "Somebody better get the Captain on the--"
"Already here," said the voice of Captain Heekan.
"You been listening this whole time?" Gichi asked.
"No. I just came on. Now listen. Everyone. Listen very closely. The Pyramid isn't in the valley anymore, but all is not lost. We will track it down. I already know where they took it."
Ramses gaped at this. "What? Captain... how could you already know all of that? It just vanished, only a few ticks ago."
Gichi made a soft gasping sound. "Captain. No. Tell me you didn't use it."
"I had to," Captain Heekan said with remorse. "The Mirror is too valuable a tool for us not to utilize it. And if ever there were a time when we needed it, it would be now."
"How many years did it take off your life?" Gichi asked hesitantly.
After a pause, Heekan said, "It doesn't matter. We're getting sidetracked here. There is a lot more going on than we realized. There are agents of not one, but two of the 5 Pharoahs here in the Wilden Green Valley, as we speak."
"What?" it was Gichi and Kloom in unison.
Commander Paulo broke his silence. "Which other Pharoah are we talking about?"
Heekan said, "Aside from Camaria the Butcher who we already knew about (it was one of her Scarabs that took the Pyramid), there's some of the Necromancer's men here too."
"The Necromancer?" Ramses said in disbelief. "The right hand man of Dowlmad the Deathless?" Ramses felt a cold chill run up his spine. "You're not telling me he is here in this valley, are you?"
"The Necromancer himself? No. Just some of his underlings. The Skinless Men, they're called."
Gichi asked, "Are they really all after the Pyramid and the Artifacts? I can't imagine two of the 5 Pharoahs would expend resources just for the stuff we're after. Aside for the Black Pyramid. But even still... something seems off here."
"Well," said Heekan. "That's because something is off. There are bigger forces at work here than we ever realized. Sure, they were after the Pyramid and the Divine Battery. But those are more like... party favors, to them."
Ramsese shook his head. "I already don't like how this sounds." The open sky outside his Glider suddenly felt less like empty airspace, and more like an endless abyss. One glance at the Sky Gods floating higher in the heavens strengthened this feeling, causing the commander to shudder as another chill ran up his back.
Captain Heekan said, "Then you really won't like what I'm about to tell you."
As it turned out, the Captain was absolutely right. Ramses really didn't like it one bit. None of them did.
•••
And Commander Ramses was not the only one who was told things they didn't like. While he was listening to his Captain's words with growing unease, elsewhere in the Wilden Green Valley, a certain Ranger was receiving a rather ominous warning...
•••
•6•
Deep within the bowels of the Reverse Tower. In the Domain of the Being known as O'Faxx.
Ranger Lexington stood atop the large boulder, surrounded by a sea of sludge. The putrid aroma of this place once more assaulted his senses, while his boots sank into the slick, squicky growth coating the boulder. Lexington's dragonfly-like features hid his discomfort. Outwardly, he appeared as stoic--as unshakeable--as always. At least, until he spoiled the effect with a knowing smirk.
To the bubbling muck, he called out: "So, you decided to help out afterall?"
There was no response.
Lexington's smirk faded. He bowed his head slightly. "It's alright. You don't have to speak. I only wish your assistance had been enough. That way Burlap wouldn't have had to give his life the way he did."
O'Faxx did not emerge from the murky depths.
Lexington would have sighed had the air quality in here not been so abhorrent. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you. I will find a way to reward you."
Although O'Faxx remained beneath the muck, his voice echoed inside the Ranger's mind. "My actions were not on your behalf. Your ignorance betrays you, Overseer."
Lexington cocked his head to one side. "If you say so." He shrugged. "Some guys just can't accept a thank you, I guess."
"You have yet to understand. I helped you, to destroy you. None of you know yet what you are unleashing. I did not see the truth before, but the truth has now presented itself to me. The Gods wish to assemble the 12 and bring about the White Clock Consortion. Fools. They don't yet realize with the advent of the White Clock, the Black Clock follows. Those numbers shall count down their destruction. I looked into the destiny of the mortals you have placed so much faith in. I saw what they will bring about. They are one of the Four Winds that will blow upon the Door of Doom. One of them is a Paige of the Necronomicon."
"What does that mean? Quit speaking in riddles."
"There's a storm coming, Overseer. A storm that will wash away the world. This one, and all others. I haven't helped you. I've only helped the first few raindrops, so they might better form within the dark clouds hanging over this Pocket Realm. And in the wake of that rain? The thunder shall soon roll."
A storm coming. Four Winds that will blow upon the Doors of Destruction. Thunder.
These things made no sense to the Ranger. One thing was clear however; whatever O'Faxx's words meant, Lexington didn't like the sound of any of it.
•7•
There's a particular way Advisors and nobleJikk cry out when something disrupts their normal routine. It's a breathy sort of shriek, like someone emptying their lungs before they faint. Many of the High Advisors were voicing this exact variety of shriek now, as High Knight Pyx ordered his Spire Knights to arrest Lemma.
Temporary Councilor E'Shesh (to her credit) tried to block the path of the Knights. She was shoved out of the way, hard enough to cause the poor she-Jikk to tumble over onto the hard marble surface of the platform.
Then, underneath the makeshift gazebo, pandemonium set in. The stress of the attack on the city had already pushed everyone toward the brink of panic. This new development made them all leap right over the edge, falling right into the place people (Jikk, or otherwise) always fall in times like this one.
Lemma didn't run. She stood her ground, glowering at Pyx and Councilor Tholke; glaring as if she could knock some sense into them with her gaze alone. Of course, this was a futile endeavor. The Knights were upon here a moment later. Strong arms seized her, throwing her to the ground. Then, oddly enough, even stronger arms were lifting her from the floor. She stared down the Knights arresting her, but the expressions they gave her in return were not those of hardened Knights doing their duty. They were the expressions of Jikk who'd been caught completely off guard.
As she was lifted even higher, Lemma finally realized it wasn't the Knights who currently held her. It was someone else.
"What... who... what's going on?" she cried weakly.
She was being carried away by... one of the local tavern keepers?
"What's happening? What are you doing?" she demanded.
"She's getting away!" someone shouted.
"After her!" a Spire Knight ordered.
All at once, the Knights were airborne, in pursuit. The air was alive with the sound of buzzing wings, the shuffling and frantic falls of boots, and so much shouting. Lemma dangled over seemingly bottomless trenches and crumbling remnants of the City That Once Was.
The tavern keeper, in all this time, had only explained himself with a single grunt. Now, he was using his free arm to aim some kind of weapon at the Knights.
"No," Lemma pleaded. "Don't kill them. They're only doing their duty."
"Stun-shot," said the elderly tavern keeper. The words came an instant before his weapon discharged and the air behind them exploded in brilliant blue electricity. There was a loud series of crackling sounds, as the small-scale controlled lightning tore through each of the Knights. As if an invisible net had ensnared them, the Knights all froze in midair a moment, before their wings slowed to a standstill. They began to plummet down to the darkness below.
The tavern keeper voiced a soft grunt of regret.
"You can say that again," Lemma scolded. "The shot may have stunned them, but the fall will surely do a whole lot more. What's the meaning of this? Are you kidnapping me?"
The tavern keeper shook his head. "Behind you," he said. They climbed higher, closing in on the stone wall of the spacious cavern.
Lemma craned her neck to look back at the platform. What she saw horrified her. Hight Knight Pyx and Councilor Tholke. Even from this far away, she could see that their eyes appeared to have ruptured. From the vacant holes where their eyes had been, large fat yellow worms as long as sword blades were spilling out onto the platform. Each worm slapped down onto the marble, then immediately began to grow in size. Within mere seconds, each one grew to the size of a Field Roamer pup. And they only continued getting bigger.
The Advsiors and officials broke into a stampede, making for the platform's only exit; the flight of stone steps leading up to the passageway before street level.
"Gods," Lemma whispered. "We have to seal off the exit. We can't let those... those things make it up to the city."
But based on the ever-increasing size of the worms, and their ever-growing numbers, she feared it might already be too late.
"Hurry! Come on!" someone shouted, just ahead.
Lemma turned toward the sound of the voice. She saw a Jikk standing atop a stone ledge, high up on the cavern wall. She didn't recognize him.
A second later, the tavern keeper brought her down to a gentle landing on the ledge beside the unfamiliar Jikk. She eyed them both suspiciously. "Just what is going on? And who is this?"
"My name is Flower-Seed. And we've got to get the fuck out of here, Councilor."
The tavern keeper asked, "How can we seal it off?"
Lemma thought for a moment. "You came through there?" She pointed to the large gap behind Flower-Seed.
"We did," said the tavern keeper.
"Then we might be able to beat the worms to the surface. There's a secret tunnel in the cave ceiling, a little further on. Come on. We have to get to the statue of Kylo the Great, up in the Cobbler's District. There's a hidden lever inside. I know the code to turn it. It will seal off the Old City. It's our only chance."
"Then let's get moving," said Flower-Seed.
The tavern keeper only grunted his agreement.
Together, the three of them took off at a sprint. There truly wasn't a single moment to spare...
•8•
Rave spotted the figures below, standing patiently beside a gnarled, leafless gatortree. He came to a landing, just a few yards from them. Eight pairs of cold, dark eyes peered out from eight fleshless humanoid faces, considering him with an alien species of indifference.
A long black case was tucked beneath Rave's right arm. In his left hand, he clutched his Rune Stone expectantly. Any moment now, Nollo would be giving him the word that the deed was done. Any moment now. Rave had an internal clock that kept near perfect timing when it came to things like murder.
Sure enough, the Rune Stone began to grow warmer to Rave's touch.
Nollo's voice came through the Stone. "Boss?"
Rave grinned with what remained of his ruined mouth. "It's done?"
"It's done," Nollo confirmed.
"Good. I'd expect nothing less. You know where I'll be?"
"Yes, sire. I'll see you there shorly."
Rave didn't bother giving a final response. He put the Stone away and took the black case into his hands. The Skinless Men only watched him patiently.
Rave approached the figures beneath the gnarled tree. This was a remote region of Jikkellia's borderlands, where the high grasses gave way to miles of mostly barren dirt and rock. The gatortree stood out, in that it was one of the few trees on the visible landscape here. Just over the horizon, was the large mountain where a certain group of outsiders were rumored to have crashed in a small rowing vessel recently.
Rave waited for one of the skinless men to speak first. When none did, he said: "A lot of people wanted this Horn. You just so happened to be the only ones offering more than coin." This was a half-truth. The Sky Pirates had spoken of coin, but had in reality, offered only betrayal. "I've kept up my end. Now, I expect you to keep yours."
Rave's mind calculated dozens of ways he could slaughter each of these figures, should they show any sign of aggression. It was just how his brain operated. He plotted ways to thwart threats that hadn't even been presented yet. In this line of business, you had to stay twelve moves ahead.
Right on time, Rave's reinforcements arrived. He'd been doing these kinds of deals for far too long to ever go by himself. Even if he did feel confident enough in his abilities that he wasn't weary of the figures before him. Even in a 1 v. 8 duel to the death, he was certain he'd have the upper hand.
Four mothmen mercs landed just behind Rave--keeping their distance but standing at the ready. Rave didn't so much as glance at them. He casually stepped away from his foot soldiers and moved closer to the Skinless Men. "So, how about it? You said you had a way to get us out of this valley. Is that still true?"
One of the figures (there was really no way for Rave to tell the apart, as they all looked like carbon copies of each other) nodded. "We represent Pharoah Dowlmad. Pharoah Dowlmad always keeps his word. Give us the Black Horn and we shall give you freedom from this place."
Rave said nothing a moment. At last, he nodded. "Alright. I'll take you at your word." He slowly held out the case, offering it to one of the figures. The skinless man eagerly accepted the Artifact. He lifted the lid and removed the item inside, handing it to one of the others.
The Black Horn of the Olde Music looked like the hollowed-out horn of some bovine creature, like those Rave had seen sketched in old tomes. Aside from the fact it was black as obsidian, of course. There was a silver mouthpiece banded around the narrow end. That was all there was to the object. All in all, it was rather unimpressive looking by Artifact standards.
The other man examined it for several seconds, before deciding he was satisfied. He nodded back to the first man who took the Horn and returned it to its case.
"So," Rave said, taking on a tone of casual conversation while feigning ignorance. "What does that thing do, anyhow?"
The Skinless Men only regarded him coldly.
Rave nodded, flashing a half grin. "Fair enough. Now... as for your part of the bargain?"
"Yes," said the man holding the case. "You want your entire company to leave this valley? Return to us when you are all together. Some of us will remain here in this spot. We will give you three sunrises after sundown today. If you aren't here by then, we cannot wait any longer."
"We'll return long before then," Rave said.
There didn't seem to be anything more to say. He turned and motioned to the other mercs. "Let's head out. We'll regroup with the others and get everything underway."

Hey Reddit,
​
Been diving back into the scant records of my Grandfather's service as part of the 340th Engineers in the Pacific Theater from 1944-1945. I've found some incredible sources but there are some very confusing points that leave my unsatisfied when it comes to finding as close to what really happened as possible. Basically, before I bring some of these stories and photos to my grandmother and/or family in general, there are a few sticking points that leave me scratching my head.
I don't expect any of you to do additional research or help me in unreasonable ways, but I would assume there is some collective knowledge about how units were assembled, named, divided, etc during this time. I've just gotten to the point where I'm looking at literal bridges he might have built and I can't stop thinking I could be on the wrong path.
If you don't want to help or care about my search, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO check out some of the sources below! The Books from the 340th Group are absolutely amazing records.
----------------------------------------
My grandfather joined the Army Engineers after (I'm assuming) one last hurrah of an Independence Day, signing up for service 7/5/1943 in Syracuse, NY. We have notes and discharge papers, but there are a few discrepancies between the sources I've found, his separation papers, his notes, and general internet records. I'll list some of the great sources I've found before.
​
I *think* they give me most of the story, but again, raised a few more queries... examples:
​
1. His notes and discharge papers both say he was part of the 340th Engineers Construction Battalion, *however* his notes also list -
"340th ENGRS to
5251 ENGRS (1944)
596 ENGRS (1944)"
I cannot find any existence of a "5251" or "5251st" unit anywhere in WWII records. There seems to have been a "596" / "596th" Airborne Engineers Company that served in the European Theater which makes 0 sense to me. https://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/596/596.html It's possible these notes are tracking where a friend ended up, because NONE of my Grandfather's notes show any service anywhere except South Pacific. This is a sticking point to me that I cannot make sense of.
His Note - https://imgur.com/a/4jP9Tzq
​
2. Following the "340th Engineers" path led to my first positive result when I began searching, but just like Bender finding his cigar had burnt down Zoidberg's house - "That just raises further questions!" - Hermes
In the two absolutely incredible sources I have listed below that follow the 340th Engineers through the war, I finally found my grandfather's name listed.
THE PROBLEM -
Book one on the 340th (Lower Post or Freeze) follows the 340th Engineers from 1942-1943 in a 16month expedition to Alaska and BC, Canada where they constructed a highway. When this mission was completed and they were called back, they traveled to Camp Sutton, NC in 1943. THIS is where my grandfather undoubtedly joined up with the main unit, makes total sense.
What doesnt make sense is that he is in the FIRST book only, and not mentioned ANYWHERE in the second book...
This omission, coupled with the confusing notes mentioned in Point 1, are my biggest source of doubt when I want to see Book 2 - 340th Engineers In The Pacific as a definitive record of his service in the war.
In BOOK 1, my grandfather is listed under "B Company". Again, he is NOT in BOOK 2, but BOOK 2 has some absolutely breath taking documentation on, not only the 340th as a whole, but of bridges and runways built by B Company.
Take the confusion out of play and I have found a holy grail of documentation on my grandfather's service.
Leave the confusion in and I cannot allow myself to get too excited about what I have found because I just CANT know for sure. His notes include names of some commanding officers and not a single one shows up in BOOK 2.
​
----------------------------------------
CONCLUSION:
​
IN ALL FAIRNESS - I BELIEVE BOOK 2 ACCURATELY DESCRIBES MY GRANDFATHER'S SERVICE, AS THE DATES AND LOCATIONS MATCH HIS NOTES EXACTLY. FROM STARTING AT CAMP SUTTON, GOING TO DARWIN, AUS, THEN ONTO NEW GUINEA, LEYTE, AND MANILA.
​
I'm fully ready to call this search completed, but I would LOVE any sort of additional clarification before I would show this book definitively as a good record. I don't really understand how units, battalions, companies, corps are defined or used in these senses. I believe 340th was his battalion, B Company, but idk any more really.
I know this might seem like an arbitrary distinction and a single error or omission of him in BOOK 2 could explain this all, but that omission coupled with his confusing notes on unit numbers just leaves me very unsatisfied.
Hopefully you can see that I'm earnestly trying to figure this out and not just trying to have someone do the work for me. I believe my mother has tried to get records before but its possible they were lost in the massive fire that destroyed 16 MILLION records some time in the 1970s. I honestly don't know what other records there would be besides his discharge papers and notes. Nothing could possibly be more substantial than BOOK 2.
I've set up an account for my grandfather on Together We Served but obviously finding contemporary vets is not easy, and even children of these vets are beginning to pass from old age.
I lived with my grandfather from age 3 until his death in 2004 when I was around 13/14. He was like a father to me. I'm the most tech savvy person in the family who is this interested in this, so I would really love to have a definitive answer for my family members, but again, I understand that might not be possible.
REGARDLESS OF MY SEARCH - I HOPE YOU CAN ENJOY SOME OF THE AMAZING SOURCES I HAVE DISCOVERED AND LINKED BELOW!!!
​
----------------------------------------
​
From his notes, I believe his service went like this -
7/1943 - Enlists in Syracuse NY
8/1943 - ? Camp Claiborne, LA
? - 2/1944 - Camp Sutton, NC (Joined up with 340th and headed to Vancouver, WA)
1944 - Darwin, AUS (Built B29 Base for Bombing Raids)
9/1944 - Milne Bay, New Guinea
9/1944 - 10/1944 - Arrives at Tacloban, Leyte - Set Up ENGR Supply Depot - (Either before or after "largest naval battle in history" in Battle of Leyte Gulf", My Note)
1/1945 - Manila / Luzon
12/1945 - Left Manila/Luzon
1/1946 - Camp Stoneman, CA after Operation Magic Carpet
​
----------------------------------------
SOURCES:
Discharge Papers - https://imgur.com/a/nkwWey1
Separation Papers - https://imgur.com/a/muOduHa
(I have more notes if you want, they're not very descriptive)
​
"BOOK 1" - 340th Engineers - "Lower Post or Freeze: 340th Engineer Regiment on the Alaska Military Highway, 1942-1943
https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=ww_reg_his
​
"BOOK 2" - 340th Engineers - "340th Engineers In The Pacific" - 1943-1945
https://archive.org/details/340thEngineersInThePacific/page/n1/mode/2up
​
Air Force Civil Engineers History
https://media.defense.gov/2015/Ap02/2001329844/-1/-1/0/AFD-150402-022.pdf
​
Thanks for reading!
This kind of all started when I listened to Dan Carlin's "Supernova In The East" and kept hearing names and places I had seen in our records. Once I started cross referencing my grandfather's records with the actual history my interested skyrocketed. Grandpa never spoke much about the war and I don't intend on reveling in the horror he might have seen, but I would truly love to be able to "know" these stories I'm reading are somewhat accurate to his experience.

Here's options for downloading or watching Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey streaming the full Movie online for free on 123 Movies & Reddit including where to watch Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Movie at home. Is Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2022 available to stream? Is watching Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey on Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix or Amazon Prime? Yes we have found an authentic streaming option / service. Details on how you can watch Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey for free throughout the year are described below.
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Prince Joachim of Denmark has his sights set on America. On Friday, the palace announced that the second son of Queen Margrethe and his wife, Princess Marie, are moving to Washington, D.C., this summer. The 53-year-old will start a new job at the Danish Embassy under the Ministry of Defense on Sept. 1. It is … Continue reading Prince Joachim of Denmark announces move to America after his children lose their royal titles

Race Information

• Name: Shamrock Marathon
• Date: March 19, 2023
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Virginia Beach, VA
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8742643804/overview
• Time: 2:51:23

TLDR
Training with an infant is hard. Running in the wind is hard. Always stay at a hotel near the start line.
Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 2:45	No
B	PR (2:48:49)	Also no
C	Run lots of miles and don't get hurt	Yes

Training
Last spring I ran 3 marathons in 6 months (Chicago, Mesa, Boston) off fairly high (for me) mileage, peaking at 85 mpw for each based off a stitched together back-to-back-to-back Pfitz plan. Then one month later I became a dad, and one month after that moved across the country for a new job! I had tweaked my foot during Boston so ended up cutting back on mileage significantly for those first few months of parenthood but was able to build up to 60-70 mpw by the fall. I started Pfitz 18/85 in November when kiddo was 6 months old and despite having done similar plans a few times before, man was it tough to keep up the miles and workouts. I'm used to late nights and early mornings but had to be much more flexible in moving workouts around based on childcare, resorting to the treadmill in the early morning/evening/naptime, skipping a few of the doubles when I just couldn't drag myself out the door for a second run, and adjusting my pace when running with a stroller about once a week. Sleep and recovery were also tough, obviously. I managed to do all of the workout and long runs though (including 22 miles at 4am before work one Sunday 😴), and only skipped about 5 runs total (mostly the 4 mile recovery doubles). My goal was sub-2:45 to qualify for Berlin, and my workout were right around that pace: hitting 6:18 for the MP work, low 6:00s for LT work, and 5:3x for most of the VO2 stuff. I unfortunately only ran one tune up, which was a 10k disaster two weeks out, but decided to go full send for 2:45 and just see what my legs had in them.
Pre-Race
This was the first time staying at a race-suggested hotel literally overlooking the start line and, wow, I am never skimping on race lodging again. It was AMAZING doing all my pre-race routine in the comfort of my hotel room and then strolling out at 7:15, jogging a block to the start line and hopping in my corral at 7:25 for a 7:30 start. It was a perfect high 30s and partly cloudy, but there was a solid breeze that I was already worried about. I lined up towards the front of Corral 1 and tried to scope out who around me was doing the full vs. half marathon, but there wasn't much time for chatting before things kicked off.
Race
Miles 1-6: 6:21, 6:22, 6:20, 6:18, 6:23, 6:17
The race starts off heading north, right into the ~15 mph wind. My plan was to run comfortable and not push too hard, hoping for low 6:20s which I happily hit right on target. I tried to be mindful of running with a pack to help block the wind and between that and the tree-lined streets didn't notice the headwind too much on this stretch. Most of the people I was running with were doing the half marathon though, so I was already thinking of how lonely the back half of the race was going to feel. I took a gel at mile 5 and started sipping water every few miles, knowing that even though it was nice and chilly out I still needed to stay on top of hydration.
Miles 7-13: 6:19, 6:19, 6:19, 6:17, 6:19, 6:23, 6:08 (think my watch cut this mile short)
Here the race looped around and we were now closer to the shore and without the protection of trees had an intense cross wind. The race also started to get more mentally tough here because my pack split apart as the half marathoners started picking up the pace. I repeatedly reminded myself that my race was just getting started and that I need to keep it under control. I was mostly by myself by this point, but was very happy with my metronome-like splits.
Miles 14-19: 6:19, 6:27, 6:36, 6:23, 6:27, 6:29
After passing the half marathon finish the race goes south along a boardwalk, over a bridge, and then a long out-and-back. This section was again more mentally tough, and is when I realized 2:45 was probably off the table. The boardwalk had a nice tailwind, but then I crossed over the first of two hills (a bridge you cross twice), which was steeper than expected. I felt strong and in control but couldn't quite push below 6:20, and I was running alone and knew it was going to be a tough grind after the turn around, which was mile 18.5ish.
Miles 20-finish: 6:39, 6:40, 6:43, 6:53, 6:48, 7:20, 6:31, 2:50 (6:03 pace for 0.46 on Strava)
Hit the turnaround point and fuck the wind just instantly destroyed me. The closest person in front of me was probably 50 yards ahead and I thought about trying to surge to catch him so that we could draft/work together, but he was already gapping me more and I didn't think I could recover if I'd pushed that hard to catch him. There was at least a bit of tree protection on the first couple miles, but mile 23 crossed the bridge again and then 24 and 25 were along the boardwalk directly into what was at least a 20mph headwind. I was pushing with everything I had and felt like I was practically running in place. This was my 6th marathon and I've hit the wall before (poor nutrition and ambitious pacing) and gotten overheated (Chicago 2021) but had never had this feeling where my legs should've been moving fast but just...weren't. I thought maybe a PR was still on the table but had to just stop looking at my watch and run. Thankfully just before mile 26 there's another U-turn so the finishing stretch had a glorious tailwind that helped me pick it up a bit to cross the line at 2:51:23
Post-Race
Stumbled around to find my wife and son, took a picture by the ocean, then got extremely cold and had to "hustle" back to the hotel to shower and warm up. I have very mixed emotions about the race. On the one hand I know I lost a ton of time to the wind on the last 8 miles - looking at other people's Strava splits everyone struggled on that stretch. I'd like to think the wind was a bigger contributor to the positive split than having gone out too fast. Maybe 2:45 wasn't going to happen, but I'm hoping I'm closer to it than this race shows. I am at least proud of myself for making through a helluva training block, and know that all the big miles will eventually pay off.
What's Next
I got into NYC so will start training for that in July. In the meantime I'm going to take a few down weeks and then probably work on some shortefaster stuff for a bit. As a Pfitz diehard I'm thinking of changing things up and doing JD 2Q for NYC, probably peaking around 70-80 mpw this time. I think the Pfitz workouts are starting to get a bit stale, and the JD ones look crazy to me which is probably a sign that I need more of those mixed MP/Tempo/Interval workouts and not just the long steady stuff.

My cat has had a knack for stealing and hiding things for nearly as long as I have had him. He gets plenty of enrichment through toys, treats, games and playing with my older cat, but still he theif.
Usually he takes and hides his cat toys. When we moved out of my last apartment, a cat bed that neither of my cats actually laid in was full of cat toys that that had been jammed down in the crease.
I don't need help so much in getting him to stop. I dont think that is going to happen. Usually I am very good at keeping thimgs he likes to steal up and out of his access. However, sometimes I mess up and he steals his favorite of my objects - headphones.
If we leave corded headphones out, he will chew through the cords. So we went to wireless, but he takes the earbuds if they are not in the case. We have two sets that are missing one earbud each.
And NOW, after all my preventative effort, he has stolen my whole case with the earbuds inside. I am sick of buying new ones or having to go without.
How can I find his stash?? I have looked all over the house - moved the couch, looked under dressers and the bed. I'm flabbergasted. ANY ideas? ANY clue where he might have stashed stuff? I'm at my wits end.

I think I messed up pretty bad and feel like a horrible dog owner.
My 14 week old male shih poo puppy HATES any sort of crate or pen. He pretty much immediately freaks out when confined in any way, and never stops. He will cry and bark literally all night unless he is in our bed, which we only allowed because he was disturbing the neighbors. I know we’re not doing ourselves any favors by letting him sleep in our bed if we intend to crate train, so we have been doing our best to get him comfortable with the crate/pen during the day. Overall, I think I bungled this process and confused him.
Our setup is we have a crate inside of a playpen and leave all his toys and food in the playpen and blankets/t-shirts that smell like us in the crate.
We have tried to train him by putting him in the crate, leaving the room, waiting for him to get quiet, then returning with treats, but for the most part he never calms down enough for us to reward him with positive reinforcement. The rare times we’ve had to leave the house, he will bark and attempt to get out of the crate for the entire time and never get tired.
Yesterday, we made a lot of good progress with closing the pen door during the day and leaving him in there with the crate door open, so we moved the pen/crate into our bedroom and had him sleep in there (pen closed crate open) with us sleeping nearby on the bed. I thought that would be a good halfway between being in bed with us and being in his pen/crate in the living room, then we’d slowly move his pen/crate back to the living room over subsequent nights.
He barked bloody murder all night. Today, he is a wreck. He won’t leave my fiancée’s side, won’t eat, and has been vomiting. Did I just give my dog an anxiety disorder? I feel awful.
Clearly I did this wrong, so where do we go from here?

All impressions and experiences are my own and may differ from yours.
Boarding and First Impressions:
We are a very well traveled couple in our early 50s and our 16 year old daughter. It was our first time on Celebrity, having previously sailed with RCCL and Princess.
We booked two cabins, one a Concierge Class Veranda on deck 10 that we scored through Move Up for $250 total, and the other an inside cabin on deck 8. We had bid to Move Up from the inside cabin but our offer was declined. The balcony cabin was booked in my name and the inside cabin in my husband’s name.
When we got through the luggage line and passport inspection, we were escorted to the front desk where my husband was given a letter addressed to him. He was upgraded from the inside cabin to a balcony cabin also on deck 8. This was a complimentary upgrade and really made us happy. It was very classy on Celebrity’s part.
The cabins were nice and very clean and in good condition. Yes the color scheme is outdated but it didn’t bother us. The Concierge Cabin had fancier bed pillows, upgraded toiletries and we got snacks in the afternoon; otherwise there were no differences.
Both cabins had the setup where the sofa was next to the balcony instead of the bed; we would have preferred having the bed next to the balcony, but since we were upgraded for next to nothing, no complaints. The bed was smaller than a King but larger than a Queen and very comfortable…on the firm side, which I appreciate more the older I get.
Our room stewards were both excellent.
In the Concierge cabin, we had a bottle of Veuve Clicquot waiting for us, which was given to us an incentive when we booked through Celebrity. That was really wonderful.
The Ship
The ship was easy to navigate and in great condition given her age. It is very pretty and elegant.
We still prefer the Freedom class ships with their huge open atriums in the middle of the ship. Although the Solstice has a 12 (?) story atrium, it is somewhat narrow. It is a weird design because there is a lot of entertainment performed in that area and the noise overwhelms the library and the guest services desk. The only time we felt we got the sense of the whole ship was when on the pool decks.
The dining rooms felt packed. You might have your own table, but you are often sitting 6 inches away from fellow passengers.
We loved the Sky Lounge and the Solarium. Public seating was exceptional, with thickly padded chaises, swing mattress loungers, outdoor sofas, and all kinds of different upholstered chairs.
Fellow Passengers
The ship was packed, with 2900 aboard. We chose the sailing because it was our daughter’s Spring Break, but so did everyone else. There were over 450 kids under the age of 17. Packs of middle schoolers would swarm the solarium hot tubs and pool on sea days. Lots of drunk college kids too.
Many of the couples we met were very well off. One such couple we sat next to at breakfast said it was the worst Celebrity cruise they had ever been on. In the future we will avoid March cruises.
On a positive note, we met some extremely friendly and interesting people and had some great conversations.
Food and Drinks
This was probably the best food we’ve had on a cruise. We ate at Murano and it was exceptional.
The main dining room was very good. They did have prime rib. The only night I was hungry was lobster night. There was no steak to pair it with — even though I got risotto as well, it just wasn’t much food. I am a regular eater and don’t typically have huge portions. We went to the buffet to find something else to eat but there were no little munchies. The rest of the nights were plenty and all the food was good.
To compliment the wait staff, I am gluten free and they remembered that the entire week and ensured all my food was gluten free.
We ate at the spa cafe more than the regular buffet due to crowds. The chicken salad was literally the best I’ve ever had, and my daughter loved the udon noodles.
The lattes were pretty bad TBH and not worth $6. They rushed making them so it was basically hot milk dumped in espresso.
The really interesting part will be continued in the comments.

The saga is ongoing. Lots of updates. Lots of flowery language. Cheerleading.
I'll post the 32 OP posts in comments so save you all going through the whole thread if you're not MN members. Eta - couldn't add as a comment so here's the longest post ever.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4756410-he-has-run-off-with-the-kids-advice-needed-and-handhold
The saga is ongoing.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4756410-he-has-run-off-with-the-kids-advice-needed-and-handhold
He has run off with the kids, advice needed and handhold 32 replies Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 09:30
Posting for traffic. Apologies, its long.
Some might remember my previous threads. Basically I separated from my controlling ex in February. Things moved really quickly. And I managed to find a house. I moved out on Thursday. Instead of taking the kids out whilst I moved to make it less distressing for them which we had previously agreed, he stayed and made me take all my stuff out in front of them, and put it into the front garden. My friend and her children came over to help load her car up with my stuff. As awful as it was I stayed strong for the kids, they were excited about the new house, their new bedrooms and where choosing which toys to bring as well as playing with their friends in the front garden. Once my stuff was out (not much, he refused i take any furniture), he demanded my keys back, demanded the kids go inside, and literally pulled my 4 year old away from me, she was screaming and crying. He slammed the door in my face and shut the curtains. In hindsight I should have called the police then, believe me I realise that now. However i was trying to cause as least stress as possible. Due to previous advice on here I have recorded him on multiple occasions. I recorded the children Thursday morning whilst they were playing whilst I was moving my stuff out. You can see my stuff in the front garden and the kids happy and playing. When he took my daughter off me and put the other two inside and slammed the door on me, I started recording then too. You can clearly see and hear my daughter screaming behind the door , (part frosted glass door) and him pulling her as she's holding onto the front door handle from the inside. You can also hear him say you will see mummy tomorrow. Him and I had agreed that they would come to my new house on Friday morning whilst he goes to work. He has been using my past mental health against me, (see previous threads, I will try to link,) since I told him I wanted to separate, he wanted me to provide him a letter from a medical professional saying im sane 🙄. My cpn is dicharging me next week, so he will have that on paper - i know i dont have to do that but I will send him a copy because i have nothing to hide. On Thursday afternoon he phones me asking when will I be giving him half the child benefit. I tell him I am arranging mediation and we can discuss it there as he keeps ranting at me down the phone. So, Friday morning comes around. I message to double check what time he is dropping them over. I get back one message saying the kids are safe, I'm not taking any calls. He then ignores my texts and calls. I got round to his house and the car is gone, the curtains are drawn. He has done a runner with the kids! I phoned police and social services. As we have only just separated there is no child arrangements order in place. I'm absoloutely heartbroken. I've never known pain like it. They are 1, 4 and 6. They spend the majority of the time with me. Nearly 4 years ago he built and insulated a shed in the bottom of the garden. He has slept out there 99% of the time since. Leaving me to do all night time childcare since then. The girls who are 4 and 6 sleep in the bedroom next to me, the 4 year old wakes almost every night and comes and spends the rest of the night with me. My one year old has been in my bed since birth, what must my poor babies be thinking? He also works part time where I have the children on my own. The 4 and 6 year old are homeschooled. I take them to all activities and clubs and play dates etc. I know this is 100% about control, that he is using the children to try to break me so that his "she's an unstable mother" claims come true. I am 100% confident in my ability to parent my children. I am 100% confident that there is no issue with me, infact I've never felt stronger, my mh has never been better. That's why I knew I had to leave, because I knew I could be a strong single mother to my beautiful babies and I didn't want them witnessing his toxic behaviour any more. I will not have my children growing up thinking his behaviour is acceptable. I have a solicitors appointment Monday morning at 9am. All services have been informed, mediation is booked for 2 weeks time. I have phoned the police 4 times since Friday, who advise its a civil matter. I have spoken to social services who have said I'm doing everything right and have contacted every one I need to. I have even contacted universal credit. I believe part of the reason he has taken the children is because he won't receive the child element of universal credit anymore. He has Been begging for half the child benefit which thankfully is in my name. I was receiving pip due to my previous mental health issues, and he claimed carers element in universal credit. Obviously now I've moved out, and said he isn't my carer since we split, he doesn't get that anymore. He was only having to work part time because of this, despite claiming to be my carer, I was doing the vast majority of child care and household chores, whilst he slept in the shed so his sleep wasn't disturbed.
I have never felt pain like this. Being away from my children and wondering what they must be thinking, why they aren't seeing me, what he's filled their heads with is breaking my heart. I know and I will be strong and get through this short time until the courts decide on child arrangements. I'm also realistic about the fact that he could keep them until that date, in which case it could be at least a month before I see them again. Even when I had pnd 4 years ago, I went to a mbu with my daughter, they knew it was imperative that she be with me. I did end up being sectioned but my medication was adjusted and I made a rapid recovery. I was allowed to leave early from the section and even then all my children were allowed to visit me in the family room next to the unit as everyone knew how important it was they and I have regular contact. I was never a danger to my children, I just felt that I wasn't good enough to be their mother. However I've worked hard on myself, I am fully recovered. I engaged in all therapy, took the medication properly and came off it under their advice. I look after myself because I know that to be a good mother to my kids I need to be good to myself. I since have had my 1 year old and there's been no issues at all. Infact as 'my carer' he never once phoned any services or teams on me with any concerns regarding my mental health in an extremely long time, years, So there is also evidence of this.
I have my furniture being delivered today, the girls Bunk beds and sofa, tables etc. I will make this house a special and safe home for my babies, where they feel respected and loved.
I'm sorry for the huge post. Please if anyone has any more advice on what I can do, Or any questions for the solicitor appointment tomorrow I would so appreciate it. I need all the support and advice I can get. Thankyou
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Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 10:52
NEmama · 05/03/2023 09:46
Stay strong. Are his family involved? Would ex mil speak to him . Awful situation for you op x
Nope, no one is answering or responding. I have absoloutely no idea where they have gone. My guess is he's spoken to a solicitor and they've told him he is legally with in his rights to take the kids as he has parental responsibility and there is no court order in place
Go to post Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 14:48
Dartsplayer · 05/03/2023 14:43
Unfortunately, having gone through the same thing with a family member, this is correct and there is nothing the police can do.
@Iamworthit you need to download a C100 form and submit it to your local family Court for an emergency hearing to have the children returned to your care as soon as possible. This group were invaluable in guiding us through the process from the children being taken to getting a Child Arrangement Order in place. You sound like you are doing everything right
www.facebook.com/groups/488124058749486/?ref=share
Show quote history I have my solicitor appt Tomorrow. Will she do that?
Go to post Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 23:08
CalamityClam · 05/03/2023 10:19
Hold tight. My ex did the same thing. I had to leave without them. The DCs were safe with him even though I knew he was an absolute controlling TWAT - I knew they’d be upset, but I knew they’d be safe. I did everything you’re doing, determined to have it sorted legally so he couldn’t do it again, even if it meant waiting to see them. Believe me, the novelty will soon wear off for him when he realises he’s stuck with the kids and you’re as free as a bird.
It resolved for me quite quickly- within a couple of weeks. We shared care going forward. The DCs are adults now and have a very distant relationship with their dad.
So reassuring to speak to someone who has been through this and there was a positive outcome. I haven't spoken to them at all or seen them since Thursday morning, this is the longest its been. I'm assuming he has gone to his parents over an hour away. The police managed to get hold of him today and will be doing a welfare check tonight or tomorrow. They can't give me his wareabouts. Im terrified my kids are going to forget me, especially the one year old, other than a handful of nights where he agreed to have him for a night or 2 whilst I visited friends/ family, he's always been with me. And what if he turns them against me. I'm so scared they will think I've abandoned them and hate me or forget me. It could be weeks before a court hearing. Can a 1 year old Remember that long. I don't know.
Go to post Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 23:23
Sunriseinwonderland · 05/03/2023 11:27
Take a deep breath and step back OP. My ex pulled this stunt more than once and the judge awarded me full custody and him none because DS was so traumatised by him. It took a while but it was ok. Well done for recording it. Your solicitor will advise you.
How long did he keep your son away from you for? I'm so scared they will forget me x
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Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 23:29
macncheeeesey · 05/03/2023 12:34
He's trying to punish you and unfortunately you have to abide by the system.
He will likely realise how hard it is very soon and won't be able to keep up with the homeschooling and caring for three little ones - especially as you say he sleeps in a shed normally.
Use this time to make the house a home for them. You can apply for an emergency family hearing - I'm sure your solicitor has advised on that.
He's an evil man who is damaging your kids but he won't be able to keep them. You've done everything you need to and informed the right people.
Try to distract yourself and use this time to work on your plan of attack to get them back and get yourself right.
My ex took our DD and wouldn't give her back but did eventually. Police wouldn't get involved after they did one welfare check. I would call them and ask them to do a check and say he is mentally unstable and you're worried about the kids. This will be logged and hopefully will scare him a bit.
I know the feeling, my DD wanted to come back but ex wouldn't let her. When she did some back she was super clingy. She knew what her dad did was wrong.
You've got this and you'll get them back.
I'm sorry you went through this too. How old was your daughter when he did that? How long was she away from you for. I'm scared they will hate me, god knows what he's telling them about why they can't see me
Go to post Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 23:33
liveforsummer · 05/03/2023 12:47
Presumably he was taking care of them while she was sectioned so whilst he may not look after them when she’s gone he clearly can.
He looked after 1 dc then, not 3. He has become increasingly abusive since then
No, he went to work when I was in the mother and baby unit with my 2nd daughter. My mum and mil took it in turns to look after our eldest and he would look after her when not at work. Even when i went away for a couple of kights for my friends wedding my mum came to help him look after the kids
Go to post Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 23:40
Springchicken75 · 05/03/2023 19:36
Op I would also strongly advise you to contact women’s aid after your appointment with the solicitor, they will offer some much needed support and advice.
www.womensaid.org.uk I did this a few weeks ago and I just got an email back with endless other support agencies, solicitors to call.
Go to post Iamworthit · 05/03/2023 23:45
OhmygodDont · 05/03/2023 20:00
Snatches children like some mad man on the street. Or a father having his children for the weekend or maybe even being the resident parent.
With this whole women and men are equal they are aLeo equal parents 🥱. He text saying they were safe and he would not be taking her calls. Police have been called 4! Times and don’t seem to think there is any issue. Op willingly left them on the Thursday.
Im sure op will hear find out more Monday morning but nothing makes her the better or more superior parent in the eyes of the law currently.
The police got back to me today. They are doing a welfare check tonight or tomorrow. I didn't Willingly leave them on Thursday. I left them heartbroken, not wanting to cause any more distress and with a stupid idea he would do the right thing and give them to me the next day as planned.
Go to post Iamworthit · 06/03/2023 05:16
Sami561 · 05/03/2023 20:22
I am so sorry you are going through this OP. The pain is like nothing else.
I have been in the same position as you and, unfortunately, as you have probably found, The Police have no powers if the father has parental rights. They say it is a civil matters for the courts.
All I can say is that this will massively go against him in family court proceedings- it did for my estranged husband. He was banned from having our child overnight for a considerable amount of time until he could prove he was trustworthy again. The courts and professionals also named that he was using our child as a emotional weapon towards me by doing this. Your husband will be viewed in exactly the same way by all involved. He isn't thinking about the children at all, he is thinking about himself and getting one over on you.
Brilliant that you have a solicitors appointment tomorrow, they will give you the advice you need.
Stay strong and get that child arrangements order in place💐
I really hope they do the same. I'm sorry you had to go through this too. It so incredibly cruel and unfair to the children.
Go to post Iamworthit · 06/03/2023 05:46
Kinneddar · 05/03/2023 21:49
Probably because it doesn't meet the criteria. The children are with their Dad, there's nothing to suggest they're at risk. Just because their Mum doesn't know where they are doesn't mean there's anything wrong.
The other thing is the police will look at the history of the family in assessing things. They've been called out before because the OP was threatening self harm. She's still currently under a MH section & despite being told its not a Police matter has phoned numerous times today. Regardless of what anyone here thinks they'll make the assessment based on the information they have, which from the sounds of it possibly doesn't look great for the OP. AND the other thing is, we only know OPs version of events. I'm not saying they're not accurate but we have absolutely no way of knowing
Police don't do a welfare check just because someone wants them to, there has to be grounds.
If for instance they don't turn up at school tomorrow that would have things reassessed.
Even if officers did go out to the house tonight & noone was home they're not going to turn it into a misper enquiry at this stage.
Show quote history The police were never phoned with regards to my mental health. I always went through the proper channels with the perinatal team. Yes I did have the crisis team involved but that was 4 YEARS AGO. I was in a mother and baby unit and the medication they gave me to treat it was to low a dose. I was always with my daughter at the mbu. I got sectioned 4 years ago, and once there, my dd went back to the family home with her dad. My mum and mil also took it turns to stay with them for extra support. My section was supposed to last 28 days. I was released at day 14 due responding so well to the medication. I had been observed with my children by the nurses and Dr's theres (yes I still got to see my kids, and kept breastfeeding her and pumping the whole time) even during that period I have never been away from the kids for this long. Everyone in my care knew I was a brilliant mother, I have documents from being there. I struggling with pnd, and never a harm to my children. We were very much bonded, I just felt absolutely not good enough to be their mother. I have engaged with services at every single point along the way. I since had another baby - the one year old, and I was put under the perinatal mental health team again for precaution, but due to me doing really well during that pregnancy my contact with them was very little and the discharged me a year after birth with a plan to come off my medication, which I have done. Even after all this I'm still strong because I know I have to be there for my kids when I do get them back they will need me more than ever. Yes he was claiming carers allowance. However he hasn't phoned any mental health team in years with any concerns about me. He is trying to gaslight me to say that he has concerns, well than why as he only just raised concerns since I told him I was leaving ? Thankfully this is all fact and documented. My cpn has been phoned by my ex regularly since for the last few weeks since I said I'm leaving. My cpn has received calls from my ex and his family claiming I needed a welfare check. I arranged for my cpn to see me, who agreed that I'm fit and well and will be discharged this week. My cpn told me he said to the mil that they are all wasting his time and to stop calling him. My cpn visited me on Friday when I phoned him to say my ex had taken the children, he came over straight away, and is still satisfied I can be discharged. I've had a traumatic childhood, pnd was almost inevitable I've been told, however I have worked bloody hard on myself and am a credit to my children. Any one else reading this thread in the future who has to go through similar, please do not let posters like this wear you down. I have had PREVIOUS mental health issues. My mental health now is better than its ever been.
Go to post Iamworthit · 06/03/2023 08:55
Thankyou. Omg 8 months your poor baby
Go to post Iamworthit · 06/03/2023 10:28
UPDATE solicitor was great. She will apply for an urgent hearing today. Expensive, but my mum will pay this initial fee. Hopefully be seen by the court today 🙏 With a predicted respond date by Friday from him. I don't know when this means I will get them back, but at least the ball is rolling She will also put in a Prohibited Steps Order to stop him from changing their gp, Registering them for school, or taking them abroad.
Go to post Iamworthit · 06/03/2023 10:38
SchoolTripDrama · 06/03/2023 10:36
Fantastic news, I'm pleased for you.
Also, him doing this, will MASSIVELY negatively affect his chances of getting access in the future, via legal routes. Judges look extremely dimly on parents who pull this stunt
Show quote history Thankyou. I hope this can be resolved ASAP. I think she said she's going to request an urgent live with order too
Go to post Iamworthit · 06/03/2023 13:46
mucky123 · 06/03/2023 13:33
I have no actual knowledge of the Court system in these circumstances or anything helpful to say but I just wanted you to know that I have read the whole thread and I think you are incredibly brave and strong. I think lots of people would have crumpled at this and maybe gone back to him or just broken down. Well done, keep fighting, hope it is all over soon.
Thankyou. Don't get me wrong I've sobbed huge tears of grief this weekend and been full of panic and worry, one thing I will not do is let him break me. My kids need the best version of me right now, and so that's my focus x
Go to post Iamworthit · 06/03/2023 19:25
Another update Not so great. He also did a Prohibited Steps Order. So the judge received them both today. They decided to see us together but the quickest available date is on the 21st of March! I've seen a copy of his order and requests. He wants me to admit I'm unstable. He wants confirmation from mh professionals I'm OK. It looks like he says I can have Supervised contact and calls. So obviously yes I'll take anything I can get, but need solicitor to confirm this. Also made allegations about how "unstable" I am. That I'm a suicide risk, that I've done x,y,z... BUT there's no record of him phoning my gp or cpn or anything, so hopefully that can quash that! He also keeps phoning my cpn telling him he is going for custody or he is giving me the order, or he is hiding away with the kids... So obvious he wants me to crack in front of the cpn. With regards to my cpn he is telling me he is putting my case to the team for discharge tomorrow, there is a chance they won't agree, and with the luck I'm having atm I'm beginning to think that they are going to say they won't discharge me.
Thanks for all the support. I really appreciate everything you ladies have said. I will update tomorrow with any news.
Go to post Iamworthit · 07/03/2023 06:30
Nope not since Thursday morning
Go to post Iamworthit · 07/03/2023 06:46
Scalessayeek · 06/03/2023 22:00
OP I can’t believe how some people are trying to bring you down. I would have completely fallen apart in your situation. You just need someone to see your posts on here to see how centered you are at the moment.
Sending you all the strength and luck in the world!
Thankyou. My kids have never needed more. All his behaviour is doing now is showing me just how controlling he is, and that getting out of that relationship is the best thing for me and the kids long term.
Go to post Iamworthit · 07/03/2023 06:48
P3N · 06/03/2023 19:42
Stay strong OP. You are doing amazing. Have the police got back about the welfare check? Your ex is disgusting trying to use your MH against you.
Yes. They saw the children and reported they aren't in harms way.
Go to post Iamworthit · 07/03/2023 06:54
Iamworthit · 07/03/2023 06:48
Yes. They saw the children and reported they aren't in harms way.
Show quote history Physical harm that Is. I said I'm guessing they are at the grandparents then and his expression told me everything I needed to know. At least they know them. Although they are nearly 80.
Go to post Iamworthit · 08/03/2023 15:57
Whiskeypowers · 08/03/2023 15:47
Hope you are holding up ok @Iamworthit
have you had any updates from the police or your solicitor etc?
No more information from police. He came back last night to his house, was there this morning amd gone this afternoon. I was notified by my friend who lives close by. No idea if the kids are with him. Waiting to hear if I can have Supervised visits before court hearing on 21st. Tonight will be night 7..
Go to post Iamworthit · 08/03/2023 22:08
Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 08/03/2023 19:19
Just for my own understanding, why do you need supervised visits?
Show quote history I don't. He is claiming I'm mentally unstable and a flight risk because he's a controlling, pathetic excuse of a man. He vanished with the kids and put an application for a Prohibited Steps Order that I can't have the children back until he sees a letter from a medical professional to state otherwise.
Go to post Iamworthit · 08/03/2023 22:10
MaireadMcSweeney · 08/03/2023 19:54
Honestly I would probably do this too, but I don't know how that would impact on the court hearing. Remember now the process has started you can't just pull out and cancel it.
Show quote history This. I can't do anything because it's with solicitors, police and social services.
Go to post Iamworthit · 08/03/2023 22:33
Hi ladies. My cpn came over today. He isn't going to discharge me for another few weeks. This is positive, because it means he can tell the courts/judge that he is having the most recent interactions with me and there for can give an honest and open account of how I am. He phoned My solicitor personally and she agreed this would help my case. He has written a letter for this interim period to say he has no concerns. My solicitor believes if he with holds supervised visits before the court date he will be doing himself no favours at all. My cpn also told me that in his notes he has written that in his professional opinion my ex is mentally unstable (he has been pestering my cpn every few days for the past few weeks, since I told him I wanted to leave, however not once in over 3 years before I wanted to split was he concerned). Also that he is bring coercive, he is controlling, and the fact he sleeps in a shed 🤣🤣!! My cpn has Been brilliant throughout this whole thing. It's a case of playing the long game at the moment, I can't do anything to jeopardise seeing my kids. This is night 7. I last saw them a week ago tomorrow at around 11. I will not let him break me. He is using every tactic he can think of.
Go to post Iamworthit · 09/03/2023 11:33
cpphelp · 09/03/2023 08:03
The update about your CPN is fantastic. You are doing everything right. I think you're amazing, and all of this will be working in your favour. Maybe once all of this is over, they will insist on supervised visits only for him! How's the house coming along? Charity shops and the British heart foundation furniture shops are great for filling up a house xx
Thankyou. Yes my cpn has been great! Every second that goes by is another second without seeing my children, but it's also one second closer to getting them back in My arms.
Today marks a whole week since I last saw, held, played with, cuddled or even talked to my beautiful babies.
Go to post Iamworthit · 13/03/2023 20:34
UPDATE So, I got to see them this weekend!!! Supervised with my mum present at his request, but after 9 long days I finally got to see them, hold them, tell them I love them and they didn't forget me! ❤️ They loved the house, and their new bedroom 🤗 it was magic!
I'm hopeful for more contact this week which solicitor is hoping to negotiate. I'm STILL waiting for my letter from the CPN!. He was told by his manager to go through the NHS solicitors to make the letter water tight so that ex/his solicitors can't pick holes in it, so I'm actually waiting on the NHS solicitors now, its frustrating... They have had a similar case happen before, so want to do as much for me as possible.
However, ex agreed to contact this weekend, both days, due to my CPN speaking on the phone with my solicitor, and informing her I am well, capable, of sound mind, has seen me / spoken to me every few days since ex started with these mind games a month ago.
The kids were very anxious about going back to him, which was heartbreaking, but at the very least they know I'm always here, I have a safe home and I'm going to fight for their right to be with me, their mum.
Thankyou for all your support ladies. The first "urgent" hearing is next week, and then it's dealing with cafcass, social services etc for the next (and hopefully final) hearing in 2 months time where we will find out the child arrangements order.
Still a bloody long way to go till this is sorted, I don't trust that he won't do anything he can to get at me. He is already disputing the kids living with me and now my benefits may be stopped or suspended until this is sorted, which is just another form of him trying to control me.
I will never go back to him. I have lost all respect, faith, trust and any love I had for him is well and truly gone. He was able to hide behind clever words, confuse me, manipulate me and control me for far too long.
I hope the kids will forgive me for this upheaval in their lives, and I hope beyond all hope that they are back with me on a regular basis and that the judge can see him for what he is and that his actions have impacted our children's emotional well being significantly. But, until I have the judges decision, I know I won't take anything for granted. Anything could happen and now I know ex is capable of this, he could be capable of more and throw something else at me.
As always, thanks for checking in on me and your support xxx
Iamworthit · Yesterday 18:44
Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · Yesterday 10:33
@Iamworthit your court case is Tuesday I think? How are you doing? Have you seen your children again?
Hi, nice username, dd2 loves hungry caterpillar!
I saw them once in the week aswell as yesterday and today. All had to be supervised by my mum, despite his solicitor confirming she sent him the letter from my CpN on Tuesday lunchtime, and me also sending him a message to say he now has it. However this letter he so desperately said he needs for me to have unsupervised and overnight visits he hasn't even responded to. I'm presuming he is waiting till court on Tuesday.
Yesterday the girls informed me that daddy left them at a strange woman's house whilst he went to work...
The time has been wonderful and I've really treasured every moment. Yesterday my one year old was in desperate need of a nap, he snuggled up to me in our new king-size bed in our new house and he slept peacefully for well over 2 hours. I feel so blessed to be their mummy and am thrilled at how comfortable they have been when back with me for these times. If anyone reads this in the future going through something similar - they don't forget you. That was my biggest fear, but I have more faith now that the bond between a mother and her children will always be there, no matter what or who stands in the way. Love is love.
So, our new magic house (the girls named it) is empty again for now. I'm just counting down the time until Tuesday afternoon and hoping/praying/wishing/ that the judge sees him for what he is and what he has put the children through. My solicitor is hopeful, but obviously no one knows what's going to happen on the day. I never thought my ex was capable of what he has done, but here we are.
I hope everyone has had a lovely mother's day 💗
Go to post Iamworthit · Today 11:18
Thankyou for all your messages and words of support for tomorrow. The police know everything, they did their welfare check on the children whilst he was staying at his parents house in their old country farm house with the attatched holiday home for them to stay in surrounded by their 40 acres of land. Not in the home where he and I lived with his shed at the bottom of the garden and no doubt chaos in the house where for the first time he is having to do all housework, laundry and cooking. They have been back at his for almost 2 weeks now. I have found a small comfort in them choosing games on their tablets and me getting the notification to approve their choices. The fact that I left with barely anything means they have the majority of their toys there, beds, tv etc and to them it was our home where we all lived together so at least they have familiarity. Cafcass will probably be doing a Section 7 report in which case they will meet with us and the kids in both houses so can make their own assessments from that.
They love our new house and I've explained to them the benefits of two houses, bedrooms, toys, Christmas, birthdays etc. They are being so resilient and brave through it all. I'm hoping for them it's just been a bit of an adventure.
The children filled me in on their day at the 'stranger ladies' house, where there was other children, guinea pigs a cat and a dog. They watched telly and played with the other kids and the animals and they gave dd2 a dress she particularly liked. They were very animated about it. I guess at the very least they had fun, I imagine they've been pretty bored with him. We had to drive past his house and up the road next to ex's house to get to mine yesterday and dd1 proudly pointed out 'that ladies house'. Would you believe it's almost directly behind his house!! For all I know he's been seeing this woman behind my back. She could have been hopping over the fence every night and going into his shed for all I know. I can't believe this is my life right now, you couldn't make it up. But as I've come to learn the hard way I certainly can't trust him, and I won't put anything past him.
Literally just counting down till tomorrow now.
X
Go to post Iamworthit · Today 13:28
I have no idea who she is. I did however do a Facebook search of the local "Andreas" in the area and the kids pointed to who she was and pointed to the children who they recognised. It took all of about 60 seconds to find her. And the kids named the kids correctly to what she had shared publicly on her fb page. There's even a picture of her 'cheers-ing' her primary aged son both of them holding glasses of red wine. I've taken screenshots. Her name isn't on any registered childminder lists.
Go to post Iamworthit · Today 13:29
ThreeLocusts · Today 12:12
Will light a candle for you tonight. You've kept it together amazingly through all this. Here's hoping your kids will be back with you tomorrow.
Thankyou x
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Iamworthit · Today 13:41
Ilovethewild · Today 13:10
Op, stay true to yourself and your children.
don’t get caught up with what ex is doing/seeing/sleeping with. It is irrelevant! You can’t control it and the kids are ok. It will just muddy the waters. As others say it’s another twist from ex to distract you and send you off the rails.
focus on what you can do and what’s in the childrens best interest.
good luck with tomorrow, I hope the kids come home to you asap.
I genuinely don't care what he's up to relationship wise, I've been hoping he'd find someone else for a long time and leave me alone.
What I do care about is him leaving the kids with someone they don't know for whatever reason, when I'm round the corner desperate to see them, and him thinking he can do whatever he likes without any consideration for them, me or my mum who's had to drop everything (shes been brilliant in all this) without question, to supervise time for me to have my own children.
I will definitely be asking for first refusal of child care as some other posters have suggested.
Go to post Iamworthit · Today 13:42
Sunriseinwonderland · Today 13:20
My ex hid him for a month. DS was desperate to see me. My ex is a very wicked man.
Show quote history That's despicable. I'm so sorry x
Go to post Iamworthit · Today 19:19
Tomorrow is an urgent hearing to sort out the interim child arrangements before the first official hearing in May after cafcass have done their reports. It's possible there will be another 2 Hearings after that and this could take anywhere from 6 months up to a year to resolve.
Because he did a runner with the kids first, filed a Prohibited Steps Order to stop them living with me because he is saying I'm mentally unstable.
Best case scenario they return to live with me and the judge sees through his controlling behaviour and that he doesn't have the kids best interests at heart. Worst case scenario it stays as it is.
I suspect he has something else up his sleeve to throw at me tomorrow. Its clear he wants me to suffer as much as possible.

I'm a single mom, it's just me and my 7-year-old son. We love our current apartment, we just have a really bad neighbor above us. It's a bummer, but I'm out of my lease in a month and have started to look for other housing options. I currently pay $2,100/month for a two bedroom. Our building is under Rent Control (RSO), which has given me a bit of piece of mind.
I found one apartment that's close to what I pay $2,150 (and it has a dishwasher, which I'm stoked about). It's got a gated entry, which is also appealing because I don't have that currently and safety is always on my mind. This building is not RSO.
A second apartment is going for $2,295 just as nice, except it has two parking spots, more storage (also has the dishwasher) and is not gated. This building is also RSO.
So, I guess I'm trying to understand, is it that much of a benefit to me to live in an RSO building?
I'm trying to gauge what the difference would be and if it's better to try for the RSO apartment and go with the rent increase?

What if Shawn Michaels went to TNA After the Undertaker Streak vs Career Match
Story Theme: You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself as the villain.
Author’s Note: Daniel Bryan signs with TNA and doesn’t head to WWE till late 2012 to early 2013. Considering 2010 was the beginning of the end for TNA, I realistically can’t see Shawn not retiring. If the product was really good, I think HBK would’ve went in. In this universe, Paul Heyman is in charge of creative in TNA. He wants a youth-oriented promotion in TNA and to push the younger talent. The only wrestlers he wants as World Champion over 40 to make the younger talent into Bonafede stars are Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels himself. Also, Hogan, Bischoff and their friends will still be there due to Dixie Carter’s involvement but will have limited roles and won’t have the control they did irl. Also, since Heyman’s in charge, expect top names who are affiliated with him who are still young to pop throughout the story.
Introduction:
At WrestleMania 26, Shawn Michaels lost his final WWE Match against the Undertaker in a No Holds Barred Streak vs Career which was on par with it’s previous classic at Mania 25. HBK has a heartfelt goodbye speech at the next night on Raw. HBK has left the building. Shawn was no longer contracted to WWE but was involved in the next SVR game and the WWE offered him legends deal and a Hall of Fame Induction in the next year. For a few months Shawn stuck with his retirement promise as he thought nothing would top his last match and even signed the legends deal before faxing it in. But the Ric Flair syndrome hit him, and he started having the wrestling itch again. He figured he had more years left in him. He knew he couldn’t go back to WWE as him immediately returning there would ruin the purpose of his program with Taker. He then heard rumblings about TNA. He watched the show and was impressed with the talent. He knew that with TNA growing, he could help with the younger talent and put them over. Long were the days of politicking. He contacted his Kliq buddy Kevin Nash to help negotiate a deal with TNA. Nash personally wasn’t happy in his run with his heat with Heyman due to the older guys getting pushed aside for the Vanilla Midgets but would do anything for one of his best friends so he agreed. Shawn then entered secret negotiations with Dixie Carter and Paul Heyman. Heyman tasked HBK to be one of the only full time guys over 40 with the likes of Kurt Angle even though Shawn could take hiatus whatever he wanted to spend time with his family. Dixie, promised to pay him the most amount of money in the roster, can fulfill outside endeavors, and had a say over his storylines and promos but not match outcomes. It was then a done deal and Shawn signed the deal to TNA. Shawn wanted it to be top secret to the point that no one knew he was joining in and even told WWE that he was going to sign with them to avoid speculation. HBK signed a four-year iron clad contract. When HBK asked Heyman about Nash’s issues, Heyman said he wanted to chop the heads off them 40-year-olds but HBK and Angle weren’t one of them.
Part 1: Rebirth:
HBK's New Theme Since the Sexy Boy Theme is WWE Property: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Nioh8wq3w
Note. Note: Shawn’s character will initially be a babyface, but he will do heel like actions. In HBK’s mind he is the hero. This will get worse in time.
At TNA Slammiversary 2010, TNA World Champion AJ Styles defended his title against “The Icon” Sting. They had a great match with the Champion keeping up with the Icon’s experience in the ring. AJ ended up winning the match much to the dismay of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. As Sting stood up to a standing ovation, the lights went out and who stood behind him was a man in dark clothing wearing a mouth covering and a cowboy hat. Sting turned around and was hit with a Superkick. The man turned around, removed his mask and took his hat off Undertaker style. Out came the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels with a smirk. The crowd goes nuclear crazy. Bischoff comes to the ring and eats a Sweet Chin Music. Shawn then escapes through the crowd as Hulk Hogan and security chase him. The next week on Thursday Night Impact, Shawn Michaels comes to a huge pop in San Antonio, Texas with a new theme of Rebirthing by Skillet. Shawn noticeably had a clean shaven face resembling his younger days with his long now receding hair in a top knot. He high fived fans. Shawn cut a promo on how after his lost his match he was fully committed to his retirement promise, but as he saw there was no more new stars who could surpass him. He figured that new generation were screwed due to old timers like Hulk Hogan coming and going and taking spots from the future. The only reason he came out of retirement was because he wanted to save the future of wrestling and have the younger talent be better than what he was, a backstabbing backstage politician. Long where the days of burying young talent. Shawn then said he didn’t go back to WWE due to respect to Undertaker who he trusted would preserve the future there. He wanted to cleanse the wrestling world of old part timers. He wanted this so the wrestling business wouldn’t go extinct in 20-30 years, be surpassed by other forms of sports and entertainment, and go under like WCW and ECW did. He promised that he wouldn’t challenge for any titles in TNA as his championship days were up. After his Mania match, he then declared himself to be the Career Killer and promised to end the career of any old timer who stood in the future’s way. He didn’t care if it was his best friend or anything. He will save wrestling.
Later in the night, Bryan Danielson defeated Jeff Jarrett in the main event. Jarrett and his crew then attacked Bryan, but outcome HBK for the save and he took down Jarrett’s crew causing them to flee the ring. In a similar image to Darby and Sting in AEW, Shawn helped Bryan up and stared him down. He then hugged his protégé and promised to be the mentor he should’ve been back in 99. He then walked down the ramp with him. The next week, he had a confrontation with Sting over the last PPV, Shawn said it was nothing personal but wanted to let Sting know that his time in the main event was up and was willing to spare him his career if he stepped aside from the title scene. Sting hesitated but refused telling HBK that he’ll decide in his own merit if his time was up. Sting and Shawn started brawling and out came Bryan to help HBK fend Sting. HBK and Bryan then performed a running knee/superkick combo on Sting. In a backstage interview, HBK with Bryan in his side declaring he was starting the Heartbreakers Foundation (a spoof name to the Hart Foundation). He then decided to have try outs for the group. Over the course of following weeks try out matches were made to see who would fit best in the group. Bryan Danielson won his tryout match against Okada, while other protégé of HBK “The” Brian Kendrick won his tryout match against Gunner, D Angelo Dinero won his tryout match against Orlando Jordan, The Motor City Machine defeated Generation Me for the tryouts. Shawn seemed impressed with Generation Me and kept an eye out for them by making them honorary members to be the future of wrestling in 15 years. The last tryout match was between Shawn’s Kliq buddies Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman. The three men wanted in HBK’s group as they bonded well in the Kliq in the 90s. Shawn was willing to comply with their requests until they reminisced on their good old days and how they would bury the talent. Shawn then lost his cool and told them that those days were over. The four men then argued until Shawn said that only one of them would join the group if that person won the triple threat qualification match. Kevin Nash ended up winning the match. Shawn and his newfound proteges in the Heartbreakers Foundation beat Waltman and Hall down. Nash then realized Shawn was serious about his claims. HBK then forced Nash to Jackknife Hall and Waltman. Nash with tears in his eyes because he would hurt his best friends bad did so. HBK patted him on the back and said it’s for the best.
Heartbreakers Foundation Members:
The group will be a mix of the Hart Foundation and D-Generation X

1. God Leader: Shawn Michaels: The Grizzled Veteran leader of the group who wants to preserve the future of pro wrestling
   
2. Big Sexy Co Leader: Kevin Nash: The Muscle of The Group. He is a reliable tool to the younger members, but is still coming to terms that his glory days are done.
   
3. The Violent One: Bryan Danielson (2009 look). Bryan Danielson is the violent submission specialist on an undefeated streak who Shawn’s is grooming to be the next big thing. Bryan does show a goofy side of him like in Team Hell No sometimes, but he just wants to kick some fning heads in.
   
4. Kurt Cobain: The Brian Kendrick: He is the most funniest and chill back member of the group who was fired by WWE in 2009. He loves Nirvana and Weed.
   
5. The Best Tag Team in The World: The Motor City Machine Guns: One of the best tag teams in TNA today. They will be the cornerstones of the tag division.
   
6. Pope: D Angelo Dinero: He is a pope like figure in the group, who HBK personally loves due to his Christian Faith. HBK and Dinero have a similar ego problem but seems to like each other the most.
   
7. Young Guns: Generation Me: They are the rookies of the group who Shawn wants to build up. At least when they eventually join the Bullet Club as the Young Bucks, they can say Shawn Michaels himself endorsed them.
   

HBK then informed Bryan, Dinero, TMCMG, Kendrick, and even Generation Me that they could challenge for any titles they wanted and that he and Nash wouldn’t challenge for any titles. Nash who is the TNA Legends Champion looked bewildered. HBK then told Nash to hand him his title. The HBF then went to a campfire and he burned the Legends Title. HBK then grabbed a title from his bag and christened it the TNA Intercontinental Championship. The IC was something Shawn fought for in classic battles in the 90s and now wanted his proteges to continues the titles legacy. Heyman then booked a six man ladder match including the HBF members for the title. Sting then called out HBK in a promo claiming that his rebirth from his past self was a lie and Shawn was still the same person he was in the 90s. He then said Shawn wasn’t there for the business, he was there for himself. Shawn then came down and refuted his claims and that he would prove it. He then called out Sting for still wanting to be World Champion in TNA and not being a man of his word. Shawn then said they never were in the same company in the same time but they had similar demons and that he should know better. Despite all this Shawn still respects Sting. Sting then challenges Shawn to a match at Victory Road 2010. Shawn agrees on one condition, if Shawn loses, he drops his vendetta, but if Sting loses he can never challenge for any title in TNA. Shawn and Sting then have a brawl which the locker room must separate. At Victory Road 2010, Shawn had a huge entrance in his WM 26 attire but with a cowboy hat and a V for Venetta like mask. This is Shawn’s first match in months. HBK and Sting have a classic match for their age group. HBK then shockingly wins clean with a Sweet Chin Music. HBK wins the match and shakes hands with Sting who accepts it. He has earned Sting’s respect, but Sting is devasted that he can’t challenge for titles anymore.

Our girl is 9 month and has been house trained since around 4.5 months.
She has just done her first overnight at the dogsitter after building up for an hour to a half day etc over the months.
Our dog sitter also has a sausage who is a boy about 2 months younger and isn't yet house trained. Is it possible she has picked up some bad habits from him? Today out of no where she peed inside the house with no warning. She is bell trained and didnt even try to ring it to go out. And then less than 2 hours later she did it again.

When Johnny lost to Daniel at the first tournament, Kreese turned on him and potentially almost killed him. This traumatic experience happened to Johnny after he congratulated Daniel on the match, signaling a potential change of heart in the moment prior to the event. Fast-forward to now, and Johnny is revealed to have been a tragic villain all along, with a difficult past that led to him ending up under Kreese's wing, becoming a bully.
The Bully archetype is an inevitable staple in this franchise, and Cobra Kai has continued the trend with Hawk and Tory, two tragic villains whose experiences in life and lack of a helpful adult figure led them to embracing the philosophy of the titular dojo, and, on a more personally important level, turning to Kreese as their "helpful adult figure". There are other bullies in the show, but there is little denying that these two are the main ones, far worse than Johnny ever was. Unlike the trilogy bullies, however, who we don't see again until they are now full grown adults (having changed a great deal off screen), the writers went further with this by giving them redemption arcs, and Kenny assumed the rank of "main bully" in their stead during Season 5.
Hawk came before Tory, however, and although they are far from the same character, have very different personalities, and have developed differently, Tory's own arc, as of the time of this writing, parallels Hawk in a neat, formulaic way. And so far, Kenny's has as well. Maybe this is a coincidence, but intentional or not, I think the utilization of the "Hawk Blueprint" is strong storytelling that compliment's the show's messages.
Let's review Hawk's story for a moment: The source of his sad backstory is the scar on his lip. It's where his insecurity comes from, and he was a bullied nerd when he was first introduced. Inspired by Miguel to join Cobra Kai, and by Johnny to "flip the script", he rebranded himself with a mohawk; a cool physical trait to distract from his lip and give him confidence. This went to his head, however. He ended up becoming cocky and unpleasant, and due to the Cobra Kai Creed being the source of his newfound sense of self, he turned to Kreese pretty easily, and became a violent, vindictive, nasty bully. He had a wake up call, though, and eventually switched sides. His attitude did not fully change right away, however; he simply redirected it to those he viewed deserved it. He antagonized Kenny (albeit not nearly as bad as his villain days) because of this, which was one of the reasons Cobra Kai shaved his mohawk. It was his most traumatic moment, but he bounced back and became his best self because of it.
The key to this essay is that Hawk's most traumatic moment, his ultimate commeupance, happens AFTER he becomes a good guy. Not before. This is the most important detail.
This brings us to Tory, the show's other messy, teenaged, piece of work. Like Hawk, Tory is also a tragic villain but for different reasons. Her mother's sickness, being forced to be the breadwinner as a teen, and having no other adults who care about her led to her become resentful and unpleasant. Unlike Hawk, we never meet the "old" Tory; she's introduced when she's already become a bully. She's also introduced AFTER Kreese enters the picture, and by her own admission, her shitty life has caused Kreese's philosophy to resonate with her; encouraging her not to show the kindness she was denied, and, instead of feeling sorry for her actions, take it all out by channeling that frustration into her fists. She, like Hawk, goes from bully to horrible under Kreese's wing. Her wake up call is more of a slow burn, the moment she truly shifted was the end of Season 4. Despite this, she's still flawed: The non villainous Tory trusts Kreese just as much as the bad Tory did, likely due in part to Kreese supporting her at the tournament, as opposed to Terry trying to egg her into behaving in a way that she no longer wanted to. Because of this, she listens to instructions that she should not have listened to: Being a secret double agent for her true mentor at Silver's expense, instead of informing Daniel of Silver's bribery. Due to a karmic chain of events, it doesn't go her way, and she's left high and dry. Then, the moment she defies Silver openly (now with nobody on her side), he forces her to break her hand.
Tory starts out with a tragic backstory that leads to her becoming a bad person. She meets Kreese and becomes a far worse person. She has a change of heart, but remains very flawed. She is punished for her persisting flaws, and it's the worst thing we see happen to her thus far.
Does this sound familiar? Of course it does; it's very similar to how Hawk's character arc was structured. Two very different characters who share an archetype, with character development that, while telling a different story, shares a structure.
So why does this work, and why does it strengthen the messages of the show? As I said before; the crude irony of the situation is that Hawk's worst punishment happens post heel-face turn, and the same can be said for Tory. This, in my opinion, adds a lot of nuance to the two characters. The writers have always wanted you to feel bad for them both, while simultaneously hating them for what they are doing. The backstories are not an excuse, they are an explanation. The show still encourages you to root against them during their villain days. When Hawk steals Miyagi's metal, it's easy to forget who Eli was in the start of Season 1. When Tory terrorizes Sam under own roof, you probably weren't thinking about her sick mom or pedophiliac landlord. What would happen if the "shaving the mohawk" or "punching the stone" sequences happened at the height ofntheir bully phase? It'd still suck, but it would probably feel cathartic. The show denies us that satisfaction, but it does not deny the two bullies their punishment.
Hawk and Tory are part of a cycle. Troubled and traumatized, they turn dark, inflict unearned trauma on undeserving targets Demetri and Sam, only to have something horrible happen to them after they begin changing. In a show about the influences of adults over kids, and clashing ideologies, it's made clear that these two, much like Season 1 Robby, may have gotten better with the right teacher. Instead they get worse, and the show tells us it's because they have the wrong teacher; a man who worsens their flaws instead of trying to fix them. They need to learn the hard way, but as minors who have suffered in the past, the show wants us to feel for them when they are inevitably punished. This is why their worst punishments happen AFTER they begin changing, and why they happen in the way that they do. Demetri did not shave Hawk's hair; an assortment of Cobra Kai kids did. Sam didn't break Tory's hand; instead it was two evil senseis, one of whom coincidentally traumatized Sam's FATHER, for extra irony. They are being punished for their flaws and past actions that led to this point, but the story doesn't forget what led to them committing those actions in the first place. Hawk wouldn't have gotten his mohawk shaved if he had treated Kenny with less attitude, and never fell in with Kreese from the start, but his attitude is also coping mechanism for his own bullying and insecurities. Silver wouldn't have broken Tory's hand if she wasn't blindly faithful to Kreese, and had just gone to Daniel instead (which would have potentially fixed some of Daniel's problems as well) but her blind faith comes from a life of having no one to trust but herself, and Kreese coming into her life when she has no one else (Amanda was a positive influence on her, but their relationship was nowhere near as personal as a true mentor figure). Chronologically, their stories start with sympathy, and end with karma that brings everything full circle.
It's also worth noting that Demetri and Sam play vaguely similar roles in both these arcs. Demetri was the one who convinced Eli to go to Miyagi-Do after the shaving. Sam was the one who reached out to Tory after the stone punching. Two former bullies who hit rock bottom, and of all people, it's the VICTIMS who pay them a visit. It's for different reasons (Eli and Demetri were friends again by this point), but it is still a parallel, and it fits the show perfectly.
And this is where the show's themes are strengthened. In the end, you WANT Hawk to overcome the trauma of his hair, his coping mechanism, being shaved. Get his confidence back, no longer need that coping mechanism, addressing the root issue, and being stronfer than ever. Hawk is a tragic villain who learned his lesson in very hard ways, and bounced back as a hero. He is a villain who became a villain because he had the wrong teacher, and was punished for it, but with the help of the right teacher (and Demetri as well), he became his best self and was rewarded for it. That's a great story, and it works especially perfect for a show like this.
So what about Tory? This is where the discussion becomes hypothetical: Her story hasn't ended, but if she continues to follow Hawk's formula, she will likely have PTSD from Silver and Kim's physical and psychological abuse, which she will need to overcome, hopefully leading to a triumphant conclusion. This would be perfect for her: Her victim, Sam, also had to overcome PTSD, inflicted by Tory herself. This is full circle karma, giving Tory a commeupance, yet also a storyline that makes her sympathetic. And to keep with the show's themes, Tory needs the right teacher, and what better person to help with Silver induced trauma than Daniel, who just overcame his own? Alternatively, Johnny knows all about blind faith in Kreese that bites you in the ass. Chozen knows what it's like to be vindictively violent when you felt as though you had nothing else. Either of the three works.
The elephant in the room is Kenny. He is also, like Hawk and Tory, a sympathetic character who became a bully. Instead of Kreese, his main mentor was Silver. Anthony was Kenny's Demetri/Sam. His wake up call happenned at the end of Season 5. We have no idea what will happen, but if he follow's in Hawk and Tory's footsteps, is something awful going to happen to him next Season? Will Anthony be the one to reach out to him in his rock bottom moment? Will Robby the right teacher that he needs? Robby, like Johnny, went through growing pains as a mentor figure and is trying to make up for them.
Maybe Kenny WON'T follow Hawk's story structure. Maybe Tory will stop following that structure, but if they continue down this road, the story already has a perfect set up for an appropriate finish.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA...

♪ Feel Good Inc. ♪
In 1999 a greasy cartoon character from Stoke-on-Trent, England had a dream: To become the most wealthy and famous musician in the world. His method of doing so, simple: make a deal with Beelzebub for his immortal soul. Doing so would set off a series of events which result in the formation of The Gorillaz, a defining staple of British pop, British punk, alternative, scene, and the music landscape in general, their misadventures spanning just about every medium and platform you could imagine.

Group Feats

• Survive being hit by two missiles, with enough force to wreck their ATV, charred and blackened but otherwise fine.
  
• In a straight drag race, the results go 1: Murdoc, 2: 2-D, 3: Noodle, 4: Russel.
  
• The band evidently owns a device that can turn thoughts into music, "good for sampling". This is what the song in question came out as.
  
• Were once turned giant for a Times Square performance.
  

2-D

Vocals and Keyboard
♪ Skinny Ape ♪
The pretty boy singer, Stuart "Stu-Pot" Pot (original family name Tusspot) had few ambitions in life and even fewer thoughts in his head. He had a knack for music, having worked in his family's music shop, but mostly he occupied his time with zombie movies. That is, until Murdoc Niccals crashed into his life. Literally, crashed a car through the music shop's window and smacked Stu with his front fender. Stu went into a coma, and Murdoc's punishment for the crime was community service, namely taking care of Stu's comatose body until he woke up. Murdoc proceeded exactly the way he'd been before his sentencing and a second car accident knocked Stu up out of his coma. After waking up, Murdoc found out the kid could sing, and so conscripted him into the band. He got the nickname 2-D from the 2 Dents in his head that Murdoc had left, and each accident had "fractured" an eye, leaving them both completely black, giving him a very characteristic inky gaze, even if there's nothing much going on behind it.
Physicals

• Able to dodge pool balls fired from mounted guns, for a while anyways, until they start landing and ground him.
  
• Walks a significant distance through the desert while carrying Noodle on his back.
  
• Gets run over by a bumper car.
  
• A flying car hits him square in the head, he survives but is made comatose, then some time later he's sent flying through a car's windshield at 70 miles an hour, skids on his face for half a mile, and this wakes him up. The only confirmed long-term effect of either of these incidents was that it "fractured" his eyes and "pushed [them] inward", giving them the distinctive all-black look.
  
• Survives a massive explosion that launches him out of a well.
  

Other

• Turns around one part of his body at a time.
  
• It's possible that his blackened eyes inhibit his vision, or at least are some contributing factor to his perpetual clumsiness.
  

Murdoc Niccals

Bass Guitar
♪ Clint Eastwood ♪
The bass player, frontman, and self-proclaimed band leader, Murdoc is a rockstar's rockstar. A greasy, slimy, sleazy, grimy, foul-smelling, foul-tempered, hedonistic, narcissistic, hard-drinking, chain-smoking, womanizing, hip-thrusting, bass licking, Satan-worshipping dirty rag of a human being. Murdoc was the one who came up with the idea of Gorillaz, the one who sold his soul to Satan to make the band a success, and the one who got them their first headquarters, Kong Studios. Despite his near non-stop abuse (only tempered very recently by a stunt involving a demon mobster, the snowy mountains of Patagonia, and a prison break that nearly killed him), Murdoc always contributes to the band's image, their finances, their resources, their security, and sometimes he helps them make music too.
Strength

• Dislocates 2-D's jaw with a single punch.
  
• Hit a man with his bass so hard it permanently imprinted the logo into his neck.
  
• Kicks a hole in a speaker.
  
• Throws a stereo through a tour bus skylight.
  
• Slices zombies in half with a large scythe.
  
• Tosses an indestructible watch hard enough to wreck a spaceship/car.
  
• Deflects pool balls fired from mounted guns with pelvic thrusts, using nothing but some light protective padding.
  

Physicals

• Gets dick grabbed and slammed into the ground by a zombie gorilla hand capable of busting through concrete. Later it seems like one struck him to the ground too, though he's not seen getting up from that either way.
  
• Jumps some dozen feet from a standstill.
  
• Narrowly avoids a fighter plane's machine gun fire, then survives a bomb falling in after him.
  
• Deftly avoids falling fireballs and shrapnel while driving.
  

Other

• Despite any appearance to the contrary, Murdoc is actually very devious and cunning, capable of manipulating those around him to work against their best interest, all while keeping a multi-layered plan to himself.
  
• Murdoc reportedly was the one who made Cyborg Noodle, using spare amounts of the original's DNA. No contradicting story has ever come along to dispute this.
  
• Levitates, seemingly through meditation.
  
• Has a voodoo doll of 2-D, though he could presumably make ones for others.
  
• Carries his own fragrance, Essence Murdoc, which is a substance so toxic that it causes a giant to violently explode when ingested.
  
• Escaped from a Mexican prison using a paper mache dummy and a recording of himself.
  
• Summoned a host of demons and pagan spirits via Satanic ritual while on tour.
  
• Knows some cool car tricks.
  
• Knows some cool piss tricks.
  

Noodle

Guitar and Misc.
♪ DARE ♪
The girl who would come to be named Noodle was raised in a secretive Japanese military division, one which sought to use child soldiers as the perfect infiltration and assassination operatives. Noodle, while trained broadly in the ways of combat, was specialized in the use of audio warfare. Her teacher, however, upon learning that the project was to be scrapped and the trainees to be eliminated, couldn't stand to see her killed, so he wiped her memories with a codephrase so they could be reactivated later and shipped her out in a FedEx box. She wound up on the doorstep of the Kong Studio the very day the band put out an ad for a guitar player (after Murdoc shagged her in one of the studio's bathroom stalls (while she was dating 2-D)), and she immediately passed the audition with flying colors and was added to the lineup. She was named after the only English word she knew at the time, and even after regaining her memories it's stuck. Since then she's become the most compassionate, thoughtful, and consciously concerned member of the band, seeking to use their fame and platform to help better the world.
Skill

• Has been trained in every martial art, including sonic warfare, can play every instrument, and was taught English (among, presumably, other languages), lip-reading, and mechanics.
  
• Sweeps an interviewers' feet out from under them before they can react.
  
• Fights off a group of cultists.
  
• Able to battle using a samurai sword, even while blindfolded.
  
• Leaps over Russel, snatches his wig and slaps him on the back of the head, then pulls his arms out from under him to ground him.
  
  • Contextually this is meant to take place in a video game, but A) there aren't many other instances shown of Noodle's martial prowess and B) even the game characters don't act like they're game characters.
  • In-universe this skit was acted out by the real Noodle and Russel.

Physicals

• Sends a zombie gorilla flying with a jumping bicycle kick.
  
• Lopped off a man's head with one swing of a katana. Though the person in question was a shapeshifter.
  
• Jumps 20 feet into the air after a guitar solo.
  
• Deflects energy weapon fire using an indestructible watch.
  
• Falls several stories from the gigantic Del's chest, then again when a footstep launches her back into the air.
  
• Able to avoid, largely through luck but partially through movement, being shot by two helicopters' machine guns.
  
• Outpaces the multi-story tall Del with continuous forward handsprings.
  

Other

• Packs a collapsible tommy gun while being pursued by pirates, capable of bringing down an older model fighter plane.
  
• Carries some kind of custom submachine gun with a grenade lobber attachment.
  
• Briefly used a flamethrower while clearing zombies out of Kong Studios.
  
• Was able to, through undetermined means, survive this devastating crash and the follow-up bombing.
  
• An accomplished racer, also possibly ran clean through an electrified fence to make it onto the track.
  
• Surprisingly good at chess.
  

Russel Hobbs

Drummer and Mixer
♪ Saturnz Barz ♪
Russel Hobbs was a hip-hop head growing up in New York, who, by strange happenstance, has been dogged by the legions of hell for most of his life. During one particularly tragic incident, he and his friends got caught up in a drive-by shooting, one which left Russel as the only survivor. However, the spirits of his dead friends were nearly immediately sucked into his skull, allowing them to live on through him, and also giving him their combined musical knowledge to make him a veritable encyclopedia on hip-hop and musical composition. Sent to live with his uncle to try and recover from the trauma in the English countryside, Russel was found and then literally gagged and bagged by Murdoc and taken to Kong Studios. And after listening to their demos, he was impressed, and agreed to join the band.
Physicals

• Holds up an alligator while it's in the process of swallowing 2-D.
  
• Shakes and snaps the boards of a pier by walking.
  
• Scratched so hard his records caught fire and melted.
  
• Knocks a punching bag out of the ceiling (after beating on it for a while).
  
• Even while only semi-conscious, helps Noodle fight off a group of cultists.
  

Other

• Russel is a natural conduit for supernatural enemies, making him prone to possession. As a teenager he was possessed by a demon that made him double in size and gave him the strength to throw around other kids.
  
• Russel owns the highly coveted Hip Hop Machine, a tower of equipment which contains every beat known to man, most existing kinds of studio equipment, and the ghosts of several legendary drummers.
  
• Russel actually designed and handbuilt the Geep.
  

Gigantism

• Eating tons upon tons of polluted ocean life and jetsam in his journey to Plastic Beach caused his to grow gigantic. This went away after some starvation, but,
  
• Even post-gigantism, can seemingly switch between the two sizes at will.
  
  • Shown here actively size-shifting.
• Lifts a lifeboat with Noodle inside on his head, seemingly without noticing.
  
• Snacks on giant sharks.
  
• Grabs a sperm whale out of the water and throws it to bring down a fighter plane.
  
• Survived being harpooned, though just barely.
  

Del

Guest Rapper
♪ Rock the House ♪
Russel's closest friend both before and after his tragic death, Del would stick around as a spirit possessing Russel's body, summoned from inside Russel's skull and returns just as easily, his effects disappearing with him. He was used frequently in their first album as a guest rapper. You can see from these examples that Russ spaces out whenever Del is summoned, as Del seemingly can't exist physically while Russel is conscious. In between Gorillaz and Demon Days, the Grim Reaper caught up with Russel and took Del into the afterlife.

• Stomps the ground to send a massive fracture running through it. Whether this was from pure strength or an effect of the summoning of the gravestones from hell is unclear.](https://imgur.com/a/hTGK5T2)
  
• Completely deflects pool balls fired from mounted guns with a still hand.
  
• Strikes with surprising speed, even when massive.
  
• Summons a horde of zombie gorillas, which are capable of busting through concrete.
  
• Being an intangible spirit, capable of easily shifting size.
  
  • Supposedly he grew to over 100 ft.

Cyborg Noodle

Backup Guitarist and Bodyguard
♪ Stylo ♪
After Noodle went missing and was presumed dead following a conspiracy surrounding the El Mañana video, a means to off one of the band's assailants after which she disappeared, Murdoc had an idea for a new album and, short of anyone to help him write or record, created a new guitarist and songwriter to play with him, especially on tour. So, using some remaining piece of Noodle's DNA in an unspecified capacity, he created a robotic duplicate, and decked her out with guns cause that'd be cool.

• Has a shotgun, and is perhaps too eager to use it.
  
• Packs a pair of uzis that tear apart a stone statue.
  
• Has a machine gun built right inside her mouth.
  
• Just generally has enough firepower to blow out a metal door.
  
• Able to still somewhat function with a hole going through her head and a large sea creature living in her body.
  

Ace

Backup Bassist
♪ Tranz ♪
Leader of the notorious criminal organization the Gangreen Gang, Ace was brought in to play bass for the band while Murdoc was incarcerated for unpaid parking tickets and attempting to bribe a judge to get out of it.

• Stabs through a basketball with a switchblade.

Vehicles

♪ 19-2000 ♪
The band have employed and spent millions on a number of different vehicles over their long career. As each has shown to be skilled drivers, any of them can effectively utilize the following.

• The Geep, an all-terrain vehicle with a high top speed and is equipped with a pair of missiles.
  
  • Runs fast enough to drive along a loop-de-loop and jump a wide gap.
  • Reportedly 180 mph speeds were required for the loop, and the gap is described as 200ft wide.
• An armored off-road truck. Interior here.
  
  • The truck in question was stolen from the Namibia military.
• Murdoc personally owns a Winnibego, mostly used for banging chicks.
  
  • Was used to bash a hole in the Kong Studios carpark, the hole in question seen here.
• Noodle personally owns a jetpack.
  
• Murdoc has a yak, named Madge, though she died a few years later.
  
• A Soviet-era submarine.
  
• A small, floating island with a windmill on it, capable of flying well above the cloudline (all told versions of events do state the island is or at least was owned by the band, and they do still have it).
  
  • Reportedly the island is hollowed out and filled with helium, requiring strings to keep it from floating away, though the story is immediately contradicted.
• The Charon, a 220 ft. titanium-based tour bus.
  
  • Buses in a later tour, not confirmed to be the same, could reach speeds of over 200 mph.
• The Stylo Camaro, with nitro. It can evidently transform itself into a shark-like submarine.
  
• A Ford Thunderbird.
  
• A "Fonda" motorcycle, dune buggy, and golf cart.
  
• Possibly scavenged during a zombie apocalypse are a rocket-powered motorcycle, a pickup truck with a mounted machine gun, and a fighter jet.
  
• An RV rigged up for space travel, possibly Murdoc's old Winnibego, that also puts new craters on the moon's surface by doing donuts.
  
• A rocket-powered racecar designed to quickly take them to another galaxy.
  

♪ Tomorrow Comes Today ♪

I planted 8 plants (probably about 4' high at the time) in a 40' long, 2' wide and roughly 2' deep ditch last year in hopes of it growing into a privacy hedge along the back fence to block the view of my neighbor's house. I say "roughly" 2' deep because the land slopes downward toward the fence, so the ditch is deeper on one side than the other. The person we hired to dig it probably went a little shallow on one end, also. And, as expected the dirt has settled somewhat since we placed it.
Net effect, we have 6" to a foot of the barrier we installed sticking up at various places. The barrier is only 26" wide, so I'm very worried about the bamboo trying to escape underneath. We installed no bottom barrier, just a vertical sheet wrapping the perimeter.
I sent photos to the bamboo nursery and they recommended we add dirt BUT that we dig up the plants first and then re-plant them so they don't get smothered under too much dirt. I'm reluctant to do anything so invasive just as we're entering the high growth period.
Thoughts?

i fall in love easily. it doesn't take much and it happens fast. i'm crazy. my heart is huge. i'm patient.
today i am not in love. lanolin keeps my lips slick. i wake up disoriented, streaked with tears, bored to death. tomorrow will be a different story. i'll bound around the house gaily tra-la-laing, doing chores and thinking warm thoughts of you.
how long has it been since you felt like life was magic? when was the list time you had fun?
i'm too handsome to be lonely. i'm too much fun to be so bored. i'm loyal as the icing on a wedding cake.
how long am i to wait here? what's taking you so long? you're afraid of something. i'd suggest you work past that PDQ.
don't you want your brain to overheat? wouldn't you like to be flustered again? how long has it been since you were at a loss for words?
i'm not asking you for much. just the rest of your life under a sterling silver cloche to be lifted with aplomb. the big reveal would fill the dining room with mist. everyone is seeing through their dates now. they're craning their necks to get a better look at what i'm having.
did you wake up in love with the world? did you sleep alone again, curled up into a fist? you know you're beautiful. we aren't supposed to keep secrets from each other.

ULTRAKILL is a fast-paced ultraviolent old school first-person shooter developed by Arsi "Hakita" Patala and published by New Blood Interactive. You play as V1, a combat machine fueled by blood who has ventured into the depths of Hell after the extinction of humanity. Hell abounds with demons and tormented souls, sources of blood that you must rend apart in order to refuel yourself and survive. ULTRAKILL's gameplay combines features from classic shooters like Quake, modern shooters like Doom (2016) and character action games like Devil May Cry. The game places emphasis on movement, dodging attacks, and efficient gunplay in its arena-style levels. Upon completing a level, the game measures how quickly the player finish the level, whether he killed enough enemies and how much style did player accumulate. Style is gained by regularly switching between weapons and combining their features to maximize the damage output. These stats are measured via letters, with D being the worst and S being the best, however, if the player has managed to get S on time, kills and style without dying once he receives a P-rank, which is theorized to stand for "Perfect" and nothing else. In addition, the player's health can only be restored by showering in the blood of enemies, requiring the player to adopt an aggressive playstyle that regularly places them in close combat with their opponents.
The game is divided into three Acts, as well as a Prelude, which is considered to be a part of Act 1. As of now, only 2 Acts are completed, with Act 2 being finished just a few months ago. At the end of each Act is a door that can only be opened if the player got a P-rank on every level of the respective Act and upon entering player will have a secret level to beat, a Prime Sanctum. In this essay I will be describing how to complete the first of these Prime Sanctums — P-1.
But first let's look what V1 has at... his? It's? Their? disposal in Act 1:
In terms of movement, V1 can dash and slide: dash makes the player quickly travel to the direction he's moving in, additionally rendering him invincible for 0,2 seconds. V1 holds a maximum of 3 dashes and one dash recovers in 2 seconds. Dashing interrupts any momentum the player previously had. Holding the slide button shortens V1's hitbox and makes him continuously travel with a speed twice as higher than V1's walking speed in the direction he last moved in until the player releases the slide button or the slide is interrupted by other means. While holding the slide button the player can't change the direction of the slide and the dash stamina doesn't recover. And while in the air, the player can press the sliding button to quickly travel to the ground and perform a ground slam, which will deal some damage to the enemy that was right under V1's feet and will knock up all the light-weighted enemies into the air, thus paralyzing them for a short time in which the player can deal damage to them. But that's not all — to quickly gain momentum player can press dash and then immediately press space to perform a dashjump which will launch the player far in the direction of his movement, but it will also consume 2 stamina bars so it's best to use that wisely. And jumping immediately after sliding resluts in a slidejump. Though doesn't pack such momentum as dashjump, but it can be done continuously without consuming any stamina, so increase it's speed the player can first dashjump and then continue slidejumling.
As for the weapons, there are a lot of them: Every weapon slot has multiple weapon variants to switch between with only the 4th weapon slot having 3 variants to choose from and the rest having only 2, blue and green, so far. Weapon variants, which reside in their respective weapon slots can be switched between by a press of a button that switches them and weapon slots can be easily switched by scrolling a mouse wheel or pressing buttons that these weapons are assigned to. Additionally, the player can switch between 2 fists at V1's disposal: The blue "feedbacker" which itself deals low damage but can parry enemy projectiles and attacks have a yellow flash before being done and the red "knuckleblaster" which, though cannot parry, deals heavy damage on hit and, if the player holds the punch button, it deals light damage in a large area with a shockwave, which can deflect all projectiles within it's range. Parrying an enemy projectile restores all of V1's health and dash stamina, but simply deflecting them with the knuckleblaster doesn't.
Now onto the weapons. The first weapon slot is reserved for revolvers. The revolvers can shoot once every 0,5 seconds and deal little damage on their own and start to differ when you look what the can do with either clicking or holding and releasing the right mouse button. Upon holding and releasing the right mouse button, the blue "piercer" shoots a beam which can pierce three enemies and deals slightly more damage and upon clicking the right mouse button while holding the green "marksman" V1 throws a coin into the air, where it can be shot and which will make any hitscan weapon's fire, be it a bullet or a beam, ricochet into the targets weak point, dealing more damage. Additionally, for a brief moment after being thrown the coin flashes and if the player is to shoot the coin at that exact moment with a standard marksman the shot will split in two and hit 2 targets. These splitshots quite useful when you need to hit 2 targets at once. The piercer can shoot a charged shot every 3 seconds, and the marksman produces 1 coin in 4 seconds and can hold a maximum of 4 coins at max. Near the end of Limbo, Hell's first layer, player can unlock alternate revolvers — they can shoot once every 2 seconds but deal twice the damage. While alternate marksman's coins are the same as the regular one's, the alt. fire for the alternate piercer, also known as the slab revolver, shoots a piercing shot with even greater damage and a cool-down twice as long. Note that weapon variants and alternate variants are two different things: you can switch between weapon variants on the fly whenever you want to with a click of a button, while alternate weapons can only be equipped manually with a terminal at the beginning of each level. It is heavily advised to equip the regular marksman amd the slab revolver: regular marksman allow the player to rapidly shoot coins and the slab revolver deals more damage than it's regular counterpart and also allows the player to shoot a regular or a charged shot once and then focus on other weapons while it recharges. Throwing all 4 coins into the air and them shooting them with a charged slab shot before they fall to the ground can deal massive damage to the enemy unlucky enough to be it's target. The second weapon slot is reserved for the blue and green shotguns. Shotguns' left-click produces many pellets with pitiful damage when shot at long range and high damage when shot within close proximity to the enemy. The blue "core eject" reloads in 1,25 seconds and it's alt. fire makes the shotgun eject it's explosive core, dealing substantial damage, however makes the shotgun reload for 2,3 seconds. The core will fly further, depending on how long the player held the right mouse button and shooting the core while it's in the air will detonate it and the explosion will deal more damage depending on what hitscan weapon the player hit the core with. The green "pump charge" shotgun, though deals slightly less damage, has a reload lasting less than a second and it's alt. fire pumps the shotgun, thus loading more pellets in it, which in turn will deal more damage on the next shot. Pumping the shotgun once doubles it's original damage, pumping it twice, triples it and pumping it thrice overloads it and upon next shot it will result in an explosion around the player, dealing quintupled damage. The damage from the explosion can be avoided by immediately dashing away after shooting the overpumped shotgun. There are 2 very interesting techniques with shotguns that can be combined together: quick swapping and projectile boosting: quickly swapping between the blue and green variants right after shooting, ignores the need for shotguns to reload and thus maximizes their damage output and, because of how the shotgun pellets work, making a punch with the blue "feedbacker" arm immediately after making shot boosts the pellet in the center and upon reaching either an enemy or a surface the pellets will explode. Thus shooting, immediately punching the pellets exiting out of the shotgun and switching to a different variant to repeat the process allows the player to rapidly shoot explosions. Though only 3 in a row — the feedbacker can make only 3 consecutive punches before it has a cool-down. Next are nailguns, again, blue and green. The blue "attractor" nailgun is the only weapon in the game that has limited ammo - only 100 nails, even though they're being restored over time. It has 3 magnets at its disposal, which can be deployed onto a surface or onto an enemy to attract and hold a certain amount of nails for a limited time before the magnet explodes and returns to the nailgun. The green "overheat" nailgun has 2 heatsink charges, each refills 8 seconds after being used, and a meter, which can be charged by shooting for some time and pessing alt fire when the overheat meter has charge will spit out fiery nails in a rapid-fire burst, using up one of the nailgun's charges. The player can make a temporary "nail bomb" by putting down all 3 magnets and shooting all of his nails and heatsink charges onto them, so that the enemy will receive massive amounts of damage when he'll walk over the trap. But be careful: the more nails there are on the magnet, the sooner it will expire. And the last weapon the player unlocks in Act 1 is the railgun, blue, green, but this time also red! The blue "electric" railgun shoots a powerful, infinitely piercing energy beam which deals massive damage, but the recharge takes whole 16 seconds, so just like with the slab revolver the player is encouraged to shoot it once and focus on other weapons before it recharges, though the railgun deals more damage, shoots not upon holding and releasing, but simply clicking and takes forever to recharge. Since the railgun's beam is hit-scan, shooting it at a coin reflects the beam and if the coin is behind the target, the beam travels back into the target to damage it again — that's a railcoin. Moreover, since the coin inherits the player's velocity and moves in the same direction the player does, by throwing a coin when walking into the enemy, then throwing another one while walking away and then shooting the first coin with a railgun the beam can piece the enemy 3 times, dealing insane amounts of damage. The green "screwdriver" railgun shoots a drill that, upon hitting an enemy, continually deals damage for 7,5 seconds and drop huge amounts of blood and thus healing the player if he is with close proximity to the enemy at whom the drill has been shot at. This is a weapon especially useful to those who struggle to stay alive in certain situations, for example bossfights one might find rather difficult. The red "malicious" railgun immitates an attack of The Malicious Face, one of ULTRAKILL's enemies — a beam that produces an explosion upon reaching a surface. The explosion's radius and damage can be increased exponentially by shooting the the core ejected from the blue shotgun while it's in the air — this will result in the biggest explosion possible in the game called "nuke". Nuking can be very useful to near instantaneously deal damage to a large area and this aspect can be essential to clearing P-1.
Speaking of, let's finally discuss what the first Prime Sanctum has in store for the player! As soon as the player steps out of the elevator shaft, he is greeted by a torch standing on a pedestal and a long spinal staircase descending into the pitch-black darkness. V1 picks up the torch and begins to descent. An eery music starts coming out of nowhere and slowly distorts as V1 marches further down into unknown, until finally a mouth-like hatch opens and there's no other way to go than inside it. Reaching it's bottom and walking a little further there's a door and another pedestal before it. Offering the torch to the pedestal opens the door and in the arena inside lies a horrifying attrocious spinning octahedron suspended in the air by two tendrils on the ground and ceiling with eyes and a mouth on it's sides. Flesh Prison has 3 attacks, each is signaled with a colorful flash of light. When it flashes cyan it starts spinning and producing several rounds of homing projectiles around itself which can either be parried back back to it, dealing quite a chunk of damage, or avioded entirely by either moving really fast around Flesh Prison by dashjumping and slidejumping or simply getting really close to it because the projectiles won't fly into the hellish octahedron so as to not damage it, however this option is made harder by the other 2 attacks. When Flesh Prison flashes purple it emits a black hole that will slowly chase V1 around the arena and if it hits him it will leave the player with only 1 health and make him unable to heal at all for some time. This means that as soon as the black hole spawns in, the player can't afford to be too close to Flesh Prison lest they become incredible vounerable. And when the octahedron flashes white it creates a large stationary circle right under the player and after a few seconds a damaging white beam of light will appears in it's place for 3 seconds. Then another circle will appear, but this time the heavenly beam will try to predict where the player will be next and fire there after the same amount of time as the last one. Then a third one does the same.
But all of these tricks up Flesh Prison's metaphorical sleeve pale in comparison to it's most devilish mechanic — healing. A few seconds after appearing before the player Flesh Prison spawns a dozen or so floating eyeballs that periodically shoot tiny beams at the player. After about 30 seconds they stop moving, Flesh Prison starts to receive much less damage and glows green. 5 seconds later it consumes all eyeballs and for each eyeball consumed it heals 10% of it's health. Then it spawns another batch of eyeballs to consume later. Outrageous, isn't it? But that's not all, for each eyeball present on the battlefield, the damage Flesh Prison receives lowers the amount off time till the next heal, so it is in player's interest to get rid of all eyeballs to properly deal damage to the octahedron without the fear of having done all that for naught. The easiest way to do it is perform splitshots with a standard marksman, since all eyes have only 1 health point. A more effective, though harder to pull off is nuking — shooting the blue shotgun's ejected core while it's in the air with the malicious railgun will produce an explosion large enough to kill all eyeballs, though even if a few have somehow evaded the explosion they can easily be taken care of with the aforementioned splitshots. It's a cake walk after that — the player must simply run around Flesh Prison to avoid it's attacks and use any weapons at their disposal to deal damage. If done right and quick, there will be no need to worry about the second batch of eyeballs coming in to heal Flesh Prison.
After it is defeated, it's guts violently explode and the only thing left is a soul. A prime soul. Prime souls are souls so powerful they don't require a husk to manifest a physical form, only immense willpower. Such a soul is formed when a person who is strongly remembered by many and with a mighty will dies. One such person was Minos the Judge of Hell. When God suddenly disappeared, Heaven went in chaos and no power watched over Hell, Minos felt that an eternal punishment was a punishment too harsh for those who simply wanted to love. And so the king began reforming the Lust layer, leading to much prosperity, as Minos lead his subjects to built a new civilization together. But one day the Council brought stability to Heaven with an iron fist and after they saw how Minos went against God's will they deemed it heresy, and so they ordered Gabriel, Heaven's brightest angel to kill the renegade. To no avail the king tried to reason with Father's righteous hand — he had struck him down. Since Minos' will was strong enough to stand up to Heaven's will, the angels feared his soul could become a prime one and so they imprisoned it deep inside king's husk and ordered the it to destroy all he and his people worked so hard on. Suffice to say, from inside his prison Minos vowed to take revenge and V1 just gave him an opportunity to do so. However, before that, it must pay for the crimes machines have committed against humankind.
Minos Prime has 8 attacks and almost each he signals verbally. After a windup animation with an orange glow and a hissing sound, Minos launches a homing serpent-like projectile that the player can parry. Minos can teleport to the player and attempt an Uppercut, sending the player into the air, after which Minos will teleport above the player and perform an Overhead, sending the player right under him, then he will shout "Crush!" and slam the ground with incredible force and send a shockwave throughout the entire arena. If the player doesn't dodge any of these he will most definitely die. Best avoided by sliding away from an aircut or dashing away from any of these. Sometimes if the Uppercut is dodged, and V1 is still close to the ground, Minos may teleport to him and make an Overhead there, followed by the same "Crush!" if not dodged. Other times if the Uppercut is dodged and Minos is airborne, he may shout "Die!" and slam towards the player, creating a shockwave just like he makes with a "Crush!". Best avoided by either jumping into the air when Minos shouts "Die!", then dashing away to avoid Minos' groui slam and then ground slamming when the shockwave is behind or by dashing once to avoid the slam and then quickly dashing back to dash through the shockwave. "Prepare thyself!" is a three-kick combo with the serpent projectile being launched on a third kick. Each hit can send V1 into the air and if one of them connects, Minos interrupts his combo and instead goes for the aforementioned Uppercut combo. Best avoided by either sliding away or simply walking "Thy end is now!" is similar to "Prepare thyself!" with the exception that Minos performs 4 kicks that can send V1 into the air and the last kick is parryable. After the fourth kick Minos is stationary for 2 seconds, which is an excellent time to deal some damage.1,5 seconds after shouting "Judgement!" Minos will teleport to the player and perform an explosive dropkick. After teleport Minos is still airborne, so sometimes he can follow it up with an Overhead or a "Die!". Best avoided by parrying Minos as soon as he teleports in for the dropkick and then immediately dashing away. After Minos reaches 50% health he shouts "WEAK" and changes some of his attack patterns. For example, he can now summon serpent projectiles after leaping into the air to perform a "Die!" or a "Crush!" or an Overhead. Before the fight starts, the king makes a speech where he warns Gabriel that his reckoning dawns, which is an excellent time to set up a nail trap. Additionally, if the player presses the escape button to skip the cutscene, all of his ammo is restored to the point where it would have after the end of the speech, so if the player were to throw all 4 coins into the air after setting up a nail trap, then switching to a slab revolvet and holding the right click, then pressing the escape button and shooting the airborne coins the player still has 4 coins and all heatsink charges.
This should be more or less enough information on how to beat P-1, I must now attend the recently released P-2, where lies the prime soul of the warrior-king Sisyphus.

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I'm a high school student. I just got home from school and I found out that one of my ducks Daisy was attacked by a single early this morning. She's bleeding from the top of her back that is somewhat covered by her wings. She's isolating herself and doesn't seem to be eating or drinking much and seems to be very agitated from her shaking and panting.
Daisy is a female Pekin just under 2 years old.
Because I was at school all day, I haven't tried any treatment yet, and there are no vets specializing in waterfowl near by.
I acknowledge that Reddit is not a substitute for veterinary advice.