In today's ever-changing and unpredictable financial landscape, it's crucial to explore investment opportunities that offer stability and resilience. One such asset that has stood the test of time is gold. For centuries, gold has captivated civilizations across the globe with its beauty, rarity, and intrinsic value. Its unique characteristics make it an intriguing addition to any diversified portfolio. Some of the advantages of investing in gold include:

1. Store of value and wealth preservation: Gold has proven its ability to preserve wealth over time. Throughout history, it has been a symbol of wealth and power, maintaining its allure even in the face of economic uncertainty and market volatility. Unlike fiat currencies that can be subject to inflationary pressures, gold's scarcity and physical properties contribute to its value as a reliable store of value. It has acted as a hedge against inflation, offering stability and security during turbulent times.
2. Portfolio diversification: Achieving a well-diversified portfolio is a fundamental strategy for managing risk and maximizing returns. Including gold in your investment mix can significantly enhance diversification. Gold often exhibits a lower correlation with traditional financial assets such as stocks and bonds. When other investments may experience downturns, gold has the potential to perform differently, providing a buffer against market fluctuations and reducing overall portfolio risk.
3. Global demand and market liquidity: Gold maintains a robust and highly liquid global market. Its universal appeal makes it accessible to investors worldwide. Whether you prefer to invest in physical gold in the form of bars or coins, or through investment vehicles like gold ETFs or gold mining stocks, there are numerous avenues to participate in this market. The liquidity of gold ensures that you can easily buy or sell your gold holdings as needed, offering flexibility and agility in managing your investment portfolio.
4. Economic and geopolitical considerations: Gold's value can be influenced by various economic and geopolitical factors. It often serves as a barometer for market sentiment, and its price can respond to shifts in the global economic landscape. During times of economic crisis or geopolitical tensions, gold has historically acted as a safe haven asset, attracting investors seeking stability and a store of value. By monitoring these factors and their potential impact on gold prices, investors can gain valuable insights for making informed investment decisions.

One company I’d recommend checking out is CopAur Minerals (TSXV: CPAU). $CPAU is a junior mining company focused on exploring and developing their portfolio of assets. They have one gold/copper asset in BC, Canada, along with 3 high grade gold assets in Nevada. This is where their flagship asset, The Kinsley Mountain Gold Project, is located. Kinsley is a significantly advanced project with a 500,000+ ounce deposit currently and historical production of 138,000 ounces of high grade oxide gold from 1995-1999. They recently announced a drill program at Kinsley where they plan to increase the size and grade of the resource through in-fill drilling, along with testing new targets that have near-mine discovery potential.
Note: this is not financial advice please do your own research before investing

Hi 🌻
TW: grafic discharge description
Has anyone experienced something similar but yet ended up with a healthy pregnancy?
First day of last menstruation was april 29th. I tested positive on three different strip test (taken every other day from the day before I should have menstruated) On Saturday I saw pink on toilet paper. Not much. I called in the emergency line to ask them what to expect. I was told that if it's a miscarriage I will loose more blood. No more blood came. Today I saw again pink on toilet paper. Today it was more than on Saturday, but still little. I put on a pad and after a couple of hours what once was pink discharge turned yellow. I got again pink on toilet paper tonight.
Am I miscarrying? The emergency line that I called again today said that it's not easy to say if these discharges are "normal". They told me that the only thing to do is to wait and to take it easy.
Has anyone experienced something similar but yet ended up with a healthy pregnancy?
If this is a miscarriage it'd be my second. I had a medicament abortion for a missed miscarriage three months ago. The uncertainty of not knowing what's happening is taking a lot of concentration, of course. I have my first doctor appointment booked on Monday, but I'd appreciate if you have some stories to share with me 🌱

Hello! Haven't cruised before, but interested for years. Can't convince friends/family to come so solo it is. I'm pretty social and in mid-30's. Looking for a 5-7 day cruise with lots of younger solo travelers on a bigger ship traveling in the Caribbean.
Huge ships fascinate me but Oasis class doesn't seem to be the best choice for hanging out with fellow solo travelers. I've looked at the Carnival solo cruises but they seem geared more towards 20 somethings on Spring Break. I like to go out but I'm not spry enough for that kind of chaos anymore.
Starlink would be great so I can work on sea-days and use less vacation.
What cruises y'all think I should look at?

Trying to help a buddy build a pc so thought to ask here for help. I will be sending through another post in a few weeks for my own PC. Thanks in advance!

1. What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games (ex: resolution, FPS, settings) or programs you will be using.

• Streaming ps5 gameplay on twitch, youtube, facebook or other platforms and play some games. I use my PS5 for most of my gaming so gaming on the PC is not a need for me.

2. What is your maximum PRE-TAX budget before rebates and shipping?

• Under $1000 CAD

3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

• As soon as possible

4. What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ex: toweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

• Tower

5. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? How old are they? Brands and models are appreciated.

• Monitors, Keyboard, and Mouse. I will upgrade myself as needed.

6. Will you be overclocking (ex: CPU/GPU/RAM)? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line?

• No

7. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSDs, mass HDDs, Wi-Fi / Bluetooth, VR, VirtualLink, tensor cores, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc.)

• At least 1TB SSD. Wi-Fi/Bluetooth,

8. Do you have any specific case preferences (ex: mITX/mATX/mid-towefull-tower sizes, styles, colours, window or not, LED lighting, etc.), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

• None

9. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? Note: some post-secondary students can get Windows 10 for free at OnTheHub or through their school's IT software distribution department.

• No

10. Will you be upgrading this PC in the future (ie: will you swap out better parts later on or will you build an entirely new tower later)? If so, when?

• I would like to upgrade this PC to one where I can game and stream on primarily in the next 3-4 years.

11. Do you have a brand preference? (ex: AMD/Intel for CPUs, AMD/NVIDIA for video cards, etc.)

• No preference

12. What are the specs of your old PC / laptop? Do you want to see if it can be upgraded instead? If so, paste its build from PCPartPicker here.

• No current PC right now

13. Extra info or particulars:

• None

Car: Manual 2015 GT Twin Turbo (Hellion Sleeper) E-85 tuned with all supporting mods. Stock / unopened engine.
From the start after turbos went on, car ran hotter with AC on, but ran great without it for years on this exact set up.
Last year some sort of heat soak came about. It's not really "overheating" but running noticibly hotter.
During Temps it used to run 180-190° in, it's running 205-215. The only consistency is that heat gradually accumulates. Doing a wide open throttle pull doesn't increase temp as much as cruising around for extended period of time does.
Recently replaced water pump. Upgraded radiator. New 170° Thermostat. And changed the temp sensor.
I'm out of ideas at this point besides maybe the fans malfunctioning.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I’m 18+ and all characters and participants must be 18+
Even backstage, the roaring sound of the audience is almost deafening. With the shouting and jeering, it's hard not to feel the adrenaline pumping through my body while i await the fate of the contestant ahead of you. Collectively, they start counting down the clock, the dramatic music rising in intensity as they approach the end of the clock. In a dramatic twist, however, the clock stops, the crowd starting to boo and jeer loudly, clearly disappointed. She failed. A production assistant walks up to me, adding a bit of final make-up. She smiles, almost reassuringly. "You're up after the break. Just relax, don't let the audience intimidate you, just do your best."
As the crowd settles down, the commercial break currently airing, i see the previous contestant walk down the corridor. She's naked, her face and body covered in cum, shivering, make-up running down her cheeks. I met her briefly in the green room, earlier. Ashley, 21 years old, running the gauntlet to pay off her student debt. She had a pretty face, long straight copper hair brushing her shoulders, wider hips and a bigger rack than you imagined when the two of you shook hands earlier. Now, you see she avoids you entirely, still sobbing, while she's ushered away to another room. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but seeing her in that state made you even more nervous. With a deep sigh, i look up at the countdown clock, while the assistant counts down with it.
3,2,1. Go.
Down the catwalk i go, lights flashing in my face, while i hear the "Next Contestant!" announcement ring through the studio. A busty woman in a suit is standing center stage, inviting me to stand next to her, while the audience claps politely upon my entry. The music ends, the lights focused on me and the presenter of this wicked show. She smiles, before turning to camera 4. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Gauntlet. Ashley didn't make the cut, but don't worry, we've got a fresh contestant lined up for you." She turns towards me. points towards camera 3. "Please, tell the audience who you are and why you're running the Gauntlet today?"
---
Thanks for reading this far! Reality TV is taking on a new frontier, with girls doing depraved things for money. It might be an attempt to pay off their student debt, save up to purchase a house or just responding to a deep rooted desire to be used. Running the gauntlet seems easy; it can be quite lighthearted and quirky if you want, or dark if that's what you prefer. The idea of the gauntlet is that my character will be pushed to her limits.
Kinks: cum, cum eating, cum food, cum play,bukkake,cream pie,bdsm, bondage, forced, body writing, spanking, cuddling, degradation, rough partners, sizeplay, dominant partners, toys, multiple partners, spit roasting, mating press, full Nelson,frenching,rimming,body oil,bestiality,water sports,wax play,sex machines,being filmed,cosplay,NTR,petplay,exhibitionism,biting and pretty much anything that isn’t my limits
Limits:
Scat,gore,vore,hyper sizes,necro and vomit
If that's of interest to you, please get in touch at Demondork on Kik and come with any questions you have, clarifications you need and ideas you'd like to share. Just please do more than just tell me you're interested. Don't worry about responding slowly/late, I still want to hear from you. Finally, please no chat requests, I will simply ignore them.

Okay I literally finished the book a few minutes ago after spending 2 days binge reading it. I am going to mis a hilarous amount of details and important story bits, but I gotta stick with the vibe.
Here is the Dreadgod one Reddit - Dive into anything
You ready? No? Neither am I!
**SPACE ADVENTURES PART ONE**
Okay so we start in space again, and suriel and ozriel are like "yep we are def gonna die" and then eithan is like "Okay but hear me out...what if only one of us dies?" And suriel is like "You better not be up to some main character bullshit" and eithan then proceeds to pull a gandalf and fight the main baddy on his own while suriel goes back and goes to pick up something from Makiel, who would really like eithan to die please.
Makiel is looking for the ultimate killing tool everywhere and hopes to get it to kill ozriel, the mad king, and basically anyone who would fuck up the system. Suriel comes and is like "YOUR VIBES ARE ATROCIOUS AND YOU ARE UNDER ARREST" and makiel, having been a villian for a VERY long time, is like "bet. That makes sense."
Suriel, being the goodest girl, and not a hound, is super confused. Makiel explains, "Look I've seen like a billion villian stories. I knew after my final villianous act, I have to die to the hero or get diposed or something so I Was just gonna give up after I murdered your friend." Suriel who likes having friends, decides thats not okay and activates her trap card: Reaper's Gift!!!
By activating reapers gift, she can tap infinite black lands so long as she has the artifact equip. She then is like "Look...you've been a villian for a while." She then transfers the item to HIS character sheet "Wouldn't you rather go out like an anti-hero????" Makiel wasn't expecting someone to be nice to him, which might be a huge theme in this book.
So he says "fuck it we ball" and they go back to find eithan, SOMEHOW NOT DEAD YET, even though he has no super weapon, lost his mantle of ultimate protagonist power, and is literally fighting the solo boss with no equipment besides his pajamas. Makiel is like "Fuck dude I hate you." and ozriel is like "Feelings mutual buddy~" and the mad king tries to kill them both.
And then they realise that they both hate the same thing: Losing. Suddenly, united by the pettiness icon, Makiel and Ozriel trade weapons, and start wombo combing the Mad king like they are bros. They are both upset about the fact that they are actually doing really well. That said, its still a lot, and they are basically in a stalemate until eithan realises how to break it in a way that only he can.
By taunting the enemy in his final moments of life with a meme attack. He bops him on the head with the GOD SWORD OF AIM HAX and is like "Lmao get rektd" and then mcfucking dies, and then makiel super crits the mad king with the +100 sycthe of ultimate murder, and suriel jsut deletes him for good measure.
Then suriel is like "We gotta fix him, but he got mcfucking murdered, which is way worst than normal murder. What can we do?" And then makiel gives her his magic jacket and is like "One life...for another..." and suriel is like "WAIT YOU HATE HIM??? WHY WOULD YOU-"
"Because...nothing would piss him off more...than me going out like a hero...." and then he mcfucking dies to undo eithands death who comes back smiling, but on the inside, is morning the loss of his bro, the most petty man in existence. Truly and honor. Also everything has gone to shit.
**BABY BOX ADVENTURES** Back on baby box, Lindon and co go into the definitely not hyberbolic time chamber to super not go to super saiyan. Lindon is like 1/4 dreadgod and is ridiclously buff, and after having stolen everyones shit, makes sure to set up super training plans for everyone. But first, we gotta fix mercy, who got her ass kicked by her mom, because she's toxic. This will also be a theme for the book.
Mercy gets revived and is like "Fuck my mom IS the worst" and everyone side eyes because yeah, but shes having her time. After that, its time to get used to the weird training everyone has to do.
Orthos has to do cannibalism but not get feral or racist about it. He is very old, so its kinda hard to stop both of those things from happening, but he manages. Mostly. Drops a H slurr in there once.
Little Blue has to become a person. She makes a great mascot, but she has to get more substance to become a full fledged character with autonomy and shit.
Mercy has to deal with her mommy issues. No for real. Not a joke. She just has to deal with her mommy issues and get her own personality, outside of her mommy issues. This is a legitmate struggle for her, due to being the princess of the gaslight/gatekeep/girlboss empire.
Ziel needs to learn that he both has depression, and also, is a very angry person. Also to maybe not be so bloodthirsty. Also how to do time math. Also how to deal with the insanity caused by experiencing eternity....he has to deal with a lot.
Yerin is supposed to learn how to sword from her ghost dad, which lindon summons from a definitely not engagement ring box. Yerin pouts about this. Sword ghost dad says that she could probably get the sword icon if she just vibed correctly, and red faith agrees. She doesn't know WHAT vibe she is supposed to have though, until she thinks about eithan, and beating the shit out of red faith, and realises she REALLY wants to kill people. Like really bad. This is somehow ALSO a theme in this book.
Lindon...has to kill more dreadgods, each being a CR40 encounter. Also every time he does he has to make a will save or jsut straight up stop being a PC. This is fine he says. At least he still has the loot from the last one, right?
No one agrees with him.
Outside, Reigan shen decides to annoy lindon. Lindon responds by firing a **Death** arrow at reigan shen. He then runs the fuck a way because HOLY SHIT THE MAIN CHARACTER HAS A PROTAGONIST WEAPON NOW???? WTF GUYS WE GOTTA GET THEM!!!!
Malice + northsider agree, and decide to also annoy lindon. The more they annoy him, the less time he can spend digivolving his friends, and also prepping for the WEEPING DRAGON who is COMING TO FUCK EVERYONE UP. It is QUITE CROSS that SOMEHONE (hi lindon) MCFUCKING KILLED THEIR BRO!
Lindon uses his ghost dad jutsu to summon everyone has a ghost to fight...3 monarchs, 2 sages, a bunch of annoyances, and potentialyl a dreadgod. It is not a good day for him. Its not going to get better. Still, he has his protagonist weapon! And thats scary! Unforunately, being a protagonist weapon, he can only use as many times as the story allows...
Which is still enough to scare the shit out of reigan shin who just wants to end this all. So instead of using his usually gilgamesh bullshit, he instead uses his fusion ultimate doom attack of enkuidu + Enuma Ellish + Tiberian's Super Storm Beam of Triple Death. He is absolutely sure this combination of super attacks will wipe the protagonist off the face of the earth!
Unforunately, in his rage, he forgot that he was a villian that had just pulled out an ultimate weapon, which meant the hero HAD to pull out a hax option for the plot to continue. Said hax option, is literally just ghost eithan, who is like "bro, you sweep like this? Lemme show you how to clean house." He then proceeds to beat up all 3 monarchs in one attack and a dodge just to be a dick and is like "Oh btw that wasn't even like half my power, summon me when you have more juice homie."
Lindon, being tired of this bs, was like "Okay hear me out. How about 1v1s? You win, I stop being an asshole. I win, you fuck off." The monarchs, who had a lot more experience being assholes, accept this, and northstrider then proceeds to kick lindons ass. So much. So hard. His oracle codex is like "*He is weak. And dumb. And smelly. And he doesn't even sacred arts bro.*" and nothstrider is fine with that for a bit but then squints and reads the script again, and notices most of the lines were written over with sharpie.
Getting a copy of the ACTUAL script, he see's that lindon is drinking him, like a LOT and even stealing his icon and then slams him into the ground and points at Malice like "You want next?" malice, not giving a shit about men, says "Uhh nah im good." and fucks off back to her goth milf castle. Lindon then sighs because damn that was a long day. It'd be nice if he could get 5 minutes of-
Oh look shen found your hyperbolic time chamber, and is really mad that he's gotten his ass kicked twice today is going to take it out on all of your friends! Go lindon go! He does and shen is like "even if I am erased from the plot I am going to get ONE W IN THIS GOD DAMNED STORY!!!!" and lindon is like "Pls stop" and then shen does...but only after blowing up the door to the time chamber. Lindon is surprised that he was being so nice until he looked behind him and saw the weeping dragon charging up his forward smash.
Shen, being an asshole, decided that would have to due, and he'd have to rely on plan Q. He was...running low on plans. But at least he had more of them! Surely they couldnt all fail.
Back inside of the hyperbolic time chamber, yerin and co realise the door broke. Yerin is like "okay I...cut it open?" Breaking the fourth wall, and then, a door opened. Unforunately, she hadn't been specific when she wrote that and walked all the way to the rosegold continent. OOps.
Ziel and mercy also want to help, but are kinda weak. Ziel digivolves by learning how to harness the power of time, tbe universe, and everything, and mercy digivolves be realising that she honestly just wants to be a nice person and do nice things. She realises this by having a pity party about how she sucks and ziel being like "STFU you are a fucking main character. Act like it." and she realises, sHE IS!!!
So they go out to help lindon and he says "Okay uh no **GTFO**" because they will absolutely get stomped if they help. And they land...in the rosegold continent! How convient! Hey is that yerin using the death murder kill technique????
Anyway house eithan is fighting house shen and house shen is busted, with a herald who is a pixie, and a sage who is crazy, on team weeping dragon, and can regenerate from nothing. Which is absurd. Team eithan just has cladia, who is the best, but also an old lady. She has a thousand eyes, but could use more hands. Oh look, youths!
Mercy, being a nice young lady, helps her elder cross the battle field and annihilate threats. Cladia was sceptical about the girl until it slowly dawns on her that this girl is DEFINITELY a main character. In the super fight, yerin is learning how to murder death kill more effectively, but still doesn't have it down perfect. Ziel is trying to also murder death kill but it just isnt working, and instead, he's getting trolled by the calling storm sage, who seems to just like to see people suffer.
Ziel see's all his friends getting their asses kicked and decides "fuck man...that isnt cool" and unlocks the shield icon, as it turns out, he ALSO wants to be a protagonist, he just forgot. Together with mercy being nice, cladia being the best, and yerin using the art of murder death kill, they defeat house shen with style....but are also v tired. Cladia thanks the newly minted main characters and gives them the coveted mid story power up they will need to face the next boss: Weeping Dragon!
What is this powerup? Well a HUD of course! Turns out, very helpful to have. Also some of the weeping dragons stats. Turns out, its very good at lying and its dragons breath is *reads notes* THE MOST POWERFUL STRIKER TECHNIQUE ON THE PLANET. JUST. THE STRONGEST ONE. EVER. IT **CANNOT** Be blocked. In fact, as they get back to lindons side, the attack misses them entirely, firing mostly into the air....AND STILL NEARLY KILLS THEM. BY PROXIMITY!
luckily lindon kept them from being hyper murdered. Unforunately, as per the rules of cradle, in exchange he had to be hyper murded. So he just kinda falls over. Team main character take exception to this, and decide to beat the shit out of the dragon. The eight man empire is here and are trying to help, potentially in exchange for that SWEET SWEET LOOT...but also to not fucking die.
Also Orthos and Little blue got out of the time chamber and are now archlords! They go to find lindon to help him after super dying, and he says "Hey...you guys...are main characters...now..." And boom instantly, orthos becomes the black dragon sage, and little blue becomes a herald because, yeah he got that move from eithan in book 2. So now they can help fight! Also now everyone has a dross in them because reasons!
So they arent doing GREAT on that front because most of them are like broken and half and relying solely on hax to keep fighting. Few more than Laran, who got to use the protagonist bow for a little while!!! It felt good...like being significant....
ANYWAY, now its mercys turn to use it and WOOF that was scary...but oops that used up her protag powers.
Yerin, time to attack with the murder death kill move...which is great! But OOF that used up all of HER protag powers.
And so ziel is left with the s trongest monster who has like one bar of health left but hits for all of your HP. Can he do it? Its kick or carry time and...whats this? Is that ziel getting on the top ropes? With the DEATH ARROW? AND LOADING IT INTO HIS ALAPHABET ARRAY? AND INFUSING IT WITH TIME MAGIC! YO WATCH OUT **WATCH OUT**
And then THE MAN HIMSELF smites THE ULTIAMTE SUPER DRAGON with the INSTANT DEATH NO SCOPE HEADSHOT AIMBOT attack that kills god. Or almost kills god. He's got like...3 anime seconds to live.
Seeing that the fight was over, malice returns to be toxic and player kill all the exhausted PCs. She seems really eager about the idea for some reason and then right as she is about to kill lindon, she hears the weeping dragons timer about to run out. Quickly, she erases her own attack, because she is VERY genre savvy when it comes to romance, and if she kills yerin, the main male protagonist will DEFINITELY kill her.
Which he almost does anyway, because as soon as weeping dragon dies, lindon digivolveS AGAIN and nearly nukes her. She escapes, but FUCK man that was close. PHew. Live to gatekeep another day.
lindon and co return to their training fortress, and everyone is tired and sad. Lindon tries to cheer them up in the way he knows how: Advancement and new toys! They all groan.
lindon tries to cheer ziel up most of all, because he got the killing blow, and ziel is like "Bro I JUST got the chill icon, please no." and lindon smiles because that meant moRE LOOT FOR HIMSELF. Woo!
Mercy is fighting more of her mommy issues and is terrified that when she levels up to herald, itll kick her ass , because her mom's remnant was SUPER toxic and just started pking people to fuck with her. mercy prepares for the fight of her life...only to see that her spirit is a sweet bean and literally just wants to give hugs and encouragement. Mercy is very surprised that its being nice to her and everything goes perfectly fine because mercy is actually a very helpful and kind person. This is a small moment of celebration.
Taht is until he is YOINKED! GASP????? By what???Only reigan shen of course! He had taken sleeping ghosts binding and used it to summon lindon. Turns out, each time the dreadgods die, the rest of them get stronger...and smarter...and get more personalities. Like the bleeding phoniex deciding to be a she/they waifu apparently just to fuck with shen. Shen tries to convince her that he is a very important antagonist, and she responds with "You were." And this frightens him, given the page count. He tells her that she should get revenge on lindon and she is like "I dunno...I think I have a better plan for my otouto. ISn't that right Onii-chan?" She says to the wandering titan who was listening in over space discord. He agrees and shen realises that he has caught YET ANOTHER L.
Also where is emiriss? Wasn't she supposed to be helping??? Well she would be she got captured by northstrider who wanted to make sure that the protagonists had NO MORE ELDER MENTOR FIGURES! THEY HAD TO MANY! He is convinced that he can handle anything that happens...Which is why he is totally chill when lindon++ shows up and tells him to calm the fuck down and gives back tree grandma. Northstrider says fuck off, and lindon says "okay, but we are going to talk about this."
Northstrider thinks this is a threat. It was actually a promise, as he is pulled into lindons house and lindon is like "...So...I've been reading your character sheet...and it says you were...neutral good? And wanted to like...be a hero?" And northstrider squints because no one is supposed to read his cringe backstory. He tries to destroy it but lindon says "Ah ah ah...read it first." And then he relents because fuck this guy was a main character. What was the worst that could happen?
So he reads his character sheet and realises that he's been playing the character all wrong the whole time and was like "Fuck...I am kinda a dick now I...ya know what, I'ma drop before I get worse." And lindon is relieved that at least SOMEONE cared about being a dick. He also tells them how to get emiriss, who was happy to see that she only had to wait 5 dragon ballz minutes to get rescued. That was pretty short for an arc in her opinion.
Now back in the present lindon is dealing with 2 dreadgods, and regan shen at the time. Bleeding Waifu says, "Hey bro, we could just SHARE the planet and its fine!" and lindon says "mmm no sorry, kinda would be a shit ending to just change plot motivations here." The dreadgods nod and then try to kick his ass. Luckily he used the loot from his last 2 wins to summon his new god weapon Wavesplitter++, whose power is to fucking command super god lightning swords, and its companion Silent King.exe, that let dross be a pain in the ass, letting lindon temporarily digivolve to Dreadgod++
Which was JUST enough to survive a fight with 2 dreadgods...for a while....like about.....5 dragon ball z minutes.
So elsewhere, team friendship to go talk to malice, hoping she will be chill, Mercy, having realised the power of being nice, tries to be nice to malice. She is straight up like "Mom I know you are trying to be a protagonist but you are straight up Lawful evil rn. It's really fucked."
This goes very poorly. MAlice figures that being nice is a trap and only idiots are nice and if she has to kill her favorite person in the whole world, who is literally the embodiment of a good bean, she would rather be THE ABSOLUTE WORST. So she tries to kill all of the other people with hax abilities, constructs, powers, you name it, she has it.
Everyone is on the verge of death when dross is like "hey yerin, uh...if we want to live this, you are going to have to game out of control." And she is like "eh what else is new?" and is then overloaded with strats from every single sword artist in the entire series. In seconds, she almost manifests the sword icon, but then that would mean being a monarch. That was bad right? Thats what they were trying to get rid of.
And then Malice calls her a bitch, and yerin remembers that she REALLY wants to kill something. Like super bad. And then remembers wait...she wAS the fighty character...and she DID have a sword...and she DID love killing bad guys. Holy shit she could be the queen of killing. And so she does.
and then malice is like "Wait no what-" and then mcfucking dies to Yerin, monarch of murder death kill, apprentice of Eithan murder death kill. Charity, and mercy are very sad about this.
Back on the ship. Everyone is freaking out become lindon got yoinked and decide, alright we should all probably digivolve. Yerin points to ziel, "Okay time to fight your depression." He asks, "With like...meditation?" and then is immediately mauled by himself. He eventually realises he has a lot of self destructive tendencies and decides to keep the scars as a reminder to work on that. Dealing with his depression, for real this time, lets him be a monarch
Emriss then points to mercy and is like "You are a good person even if you are sad, and everyone actually likes you a lot." and she realises that omg, she doesnt have to be a gatekeeping,gaslighting,girlboss in order to succeed in the world. She could just be like...a good person. That revelation gives her so much relief that she actually becomes a monarch.
That said, this all took a while...like....4 dragon ball z minutes and 59 seconds.
Which is just enough time to save lindon! Hurray! The team works together and defeats wandering titan with a team attack, beat the shit out of the tiger boi, get sha miara on their side, and blow the fuck out of the bleeding waifu. Here's the problem. The second they do, lindon is going to go 100% Dreadgod x5 and...well thats less than ideal. Also means he can't finish the story....not yet.
So the crew all say their goodbyes really quick and decide OKAY WE CANNOT STAY ON BABYBOX! And so the like 7 monarchs leave and go to space.
**Space Adventures Part 2**
All of team babybox goes to space, including the rainbow baby monarch, and tree grandma. They decide they are done being characters and would like to leave the plot peacefully. The story allows that. The main characters ask where eithan is. Eithan, being a protagonist, appears and is very excited to see his squad. He is also excited to immediately get them back into trouble.
The Abidan is in DIRE need of protagonists. Actual DIRE NEED. If they don't get some more protagonists out there RIGHT NOW so many settings are going to collapse. But unforunately, they dont have a protagonist division, because every time they tried to make one, they kept getting ANTAGONISTS out of it. Something about raging against systemic injustice??? Anyway the new team become team protagonist and go do protagonist things which are so funny, I'll just list them out.
Yerin defeats an evil lich king in like 5 minutes and then leaves but not before becoming a legend...with the wrong name.
Mercy solves an ages old racism dispute by saying "I have fixed both of your systemic issues and if you do any more hate crimes, I am sorry, but I will have to kill you, please do not do any more hate crimes...or like any big obviously villianous plans like making an infiinite army of evil or making another sun to set everyone on fire. Okay? Again I fixed everything so just...be nice. Or you die."
Ziel writes a tax code and bill of rights for a planet likely destroyed by elon musk.
**Baby Box: Lindon Saga**
Lindon wakes up on baby box and is very upset that he couldn't go with his friends. So he does what anyone would do and bides his time until he can get everything back together. Has to take it easy ya know? he's on the path to recovery from his hunger addiction. So in order to chill out he-
Bribes the eight man empire with god weapons
Creates more god weapons
Establishes his sect more
Gets another icon
eats Reigan Shen's ghost and takes back his inheritence
meets li maruth, the wind god who killed him in book 1, who has all of the powers of every protagonist system, and smites the fuck out of him for daring to appear in the post credits scene
and generally just preps to leave baby box. Which is very hard considering everything has gone to fuck in space due to...a lot of people dying and being replaced.
**Space adventures part 3!**
So lindon finally gets to space! Woo! Orthos and Little blue are hyped! But oops...he landed on the bad guy side. And OOPS he had to fight a super bad guy like 5 minutes in. If only he had friends!
Akura fury, being trained to be a protagonist, could sense a good entry like a wolf, and thus came in as soon as there was a fight scene he could join in space. He was so happy. He then escorts lindon back to team protag, where lindon gives lindon 3 things she thinks she deserves.
A god killing sword of unspeakable power.
A wedding ring made out of one of the most powerful artifacts on their planet
And a mom...she's probably needed one of those for a while.
And then lindon and eithan hug. Its so pure.

I'm not going to talk about the epilogue but FUCK I LOVE CRADLE! This is easily my favorite magic system and series and OMG ITS SO GOOD AGGGGGHHHHHH

TW: Child Abduction
​
If you grew up near Tevam Sound back in the 1970s, you might have fond memories of Splashtown. If you didn’t and don't know what that is, then I'll clue you in.
​
Splashtown was a small water park that opened just outside of Tevam Sound back in the late 1960s and it was a riot! I used to love going there when I was a kid, and back then my favorite ride was the Electric Blue.
​
I guess compared to other water slides in fancier water parks, the Electric Blue wasn't anything that special. It was the biggest and most impressive slide at Splashtown, but that probably wasn't saying much. It stood about two storeys tall (pretty big for a small town waterslide) and was (as the name implied) electric blue in color. The climb up wasn't too long, but the slide down was intense! The slide spiraled around for at least 3 or 4 loops on its way down to the pool, and you always felt like you were going Mach 1 as you descended! When you rocketed out of the slide and into the pool, it felt like being shot out of a canon and it was awesome!
​
I always figured that the intensity of coming down the Electric Blue is part of what originally earned it the nickname of ‘The Electric Blue Death Slide’. Although the disappearances probably contributed to it too.
​
If you were to ask the police, they’d say that someone had abducted the kids from the water park itself, and that the slide had nothing to do with it. But for some reason, people started equating the slide with the disappearances and eventually, the rumor became that if you went down the Electric Blue Death Slide, you might not come out. Supposedly, if you went down at the wrong time, or slid down the wrong way, or even went down this secret part of the slide by accident, you’d wind up someplace else. Nobody exactly knew where. Only that you couldn’t get home once you were there, no matter how hard you tried.
​
The rumors really didn’t do much to keep people away from the slide. Nobody put that much stock into them and the allure of a sick ass waterslide beat out most kids quiet superstitions. The disappearances weren’t super common either. A few of them even got resolved within the day, when it turned out that some kid had just gotten separated from their parents.
​
Nobody, save for a few grieving parents who’d never found their kids were that worried about it, and since neither ten year old me nor anyone I knew were one of those grieving parents, we fell into the ‘not that worried about it’ camp.
​
With the benefit of hindsight all these years later, I can safely say that ten year old me might have been a fucking idiot.
​
***
​
I remember that the last time I went to Splashtown, I was pumped to tackle the Electric Blue Death Slide again. I was a bold, brave, tough man and I was going to face death head on by going down that water slide! Okay… not really, but that’s what if felt like!
​
I remember my heart racing as I climbed up the stairs slide. It wasn’t my first time riding by myself. I’d done it before, and I knew that my Mom was waiting for me by the pool at the bottom.
​
As I reached the top, I was almost bouncing up and down in excitement. One by one, the people in line before me went down and when it was finally my turn, an attendant helped me get settled before sending me down the slide after them.
​
For a few moments, my world turned blue as I raced through the electric blue tube, screaming with joy all the while. I could feel the blood rushing to my head with every loop, as I spiraled down toward the pool and when I finally reached the bottom and was launched into the pool, I was screaming with laughter.
​
The water surrounded me, and I kicked my way up to the surface before swimming toward the side of the pool, near where I’d seen my Mom not too long ago.
“Mom, did you see?” I asked, although she didn’t respond.
​
Her chair was empty. Her stuff was still there, but she was gone.
“Mom?”
I looked around for her, but she was nowhere in sight.
​
“Excuse me, are you Ezra?” A voice asked, and I looked over to see a man approaching me. He was wearing an employee's uniform and had a long face with messy dark hair. It was hard to guess at his age, but looking back I’d say that he was somewhere in his mid thirties. I didn’t answer him at first, not until he spoke again.
​
“I’m supposed to go and bring you to your Mom, she fell sprained her ankle. We’ve got her over in the infirmary right now.”
​
Mom was hurt?
​
The man offered me a hand, and I took it. He smiled at me, as he helped me out of the pool.
“Come on,” He said. “She’s just over here.”
He led me away from the pool and I followed him without question. There was a small fenced off area that he led me toward with a sign that read ‘Employees Only’ on it.
​
“Just in here!” He said. “This will take us right to the infirmary!”
I could see the pump for the pool nearby, although there wasn’t much else in that area. The man seemed to know where he was going though, and as he led me toward a wooden shed, I followed.
“Just getting the key for the gate on the other side,” He said as he ducked into the shed and gestured for me to follow him inside. I did.
​
The door closed behind me, and I watched as the man rifled around on a nearby counter.
“Should be right here,” He assured me. I saw him opening up a toolbox, and noticed him taking out a hammer, although didn’t think too much of it at the time.
“She’s not hurt badly, is she?” I asked, more worried about my Mom than the stranger.
​
“No, she’ll pull through. She just wanted to make sure you knew where she was, that’s all!” He said. I noticed him wrapping the hammer in a towel, before turning toward me again. He smiled, and before I even knew what was happening he cracked the hammer across my face, sending me to the ground with a pained scream. I felt my jaw dislocate from the impact and I could taste blood.
​
The man walked over to the door of the shed and quietly slid a bolt in place to lock it, before going back to his toolbox. I saw him taking out a pair of gloves, before letting out a contented sigh. He was still smiling, as he stood over me.
“Just relax, kiddo…” He said, “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
​
I tried to crawl away from him, only for him to grab me and pull me toward him. He was still smiling at me… he had his hands all over me and he was smiling at me, like all of this was normal to him. Like he’d done this a thousand times before.
​
I didn’t know what he was going to do to me.
​
I didn’t want to know.
​
I tried to scream, but I knew that nobody heard me between my busted jaw and the screams from the nearby pool. I was all alone with him, and somehow in my gut I knew that he was going to kill me. He was going to kill me, and nobody was going to know.
​
Then I heard it.
​
A knocking on the shed door.
“Ezra?”
The voice belonged to my mother.
​
The man's eyes widened as his head jerked toward the door, eyes wide. I seized my opportunity. I was ten, but I knew where to kick a man so that it would really hurt, and when I heard him scream, I screamed too. I crawled for the door, scrambling to my feet as i reached for the bolt that would unlock the door, before the man grabbed me from behind.
​
He was too late.
​
He caught me, but the door burst open and my Mom charged in. She only needed to look at the man who was holding me, and I could see rage filling her eyes as her every fear became manifested.
​
The man could only stare helplessly as my Mom lunged for him, acting on pure instinct. She tried to rip me out of his grasp, slapping and kicking him as she did. I sank my teeth into his arm, forcing him to let me go and scrambled out of the shed as my Mom fought the stranger off. It didn’t take me that long to run into an actual employee and from there… well… everything is a blur.
​
***
​
I found out later that the same ‘employee’ who’d taken me had told my Mom that I’d fallen and gotten hurt on my way up the slide a few minutes earlier. She’d only noticed the man leading me away by chance when she’d spotted me out of the corner of her eye and gone to see what was going on.
​
I thank God every day that she did.
​
The ‘employee’ who’d taken me wasn’t actually employed at Splashtown. He was a man from Sudbury by the name of Paul Young, although some of the people who worked at Splashtown swore they’d seen him ‘working’ there several times before, and when the police searched Young’s house, they found ‘trophies’ he’d taken from some of the other kids who’d disappeared at Splashtown and once they found those trophies, it wasn’t too long before they found the bodies.
​
Three of them, all buried in shallow graves a short distance away from the shed that Young had taken me to, just on the edge of the property.
​
People finally knew the truth about the kids who’d disappeared after riding the Electric Blue… and the truth was far more horrifying than any of them could have imagined.
​
Paul Young died in prison about three months after he was sentenced, but that wasn’t really surprising. I don’t think they ever figured out who killed him, and I don’t think they looked that hard either.
​
Splashtown closed about a week after my kidnapping, and it never reopened. The water park sat vacant through the 1980s before eventually getting demolished. Now all that’s left is the memory.
​
I wish I could say that every memory I have of Splashtown was a happy one, like some people. But every time I pass the spot where it used to be, all I can think about is that last trip. It’s a strip mall now, with some condos behind it. I don’t think there’s anything left of the old Splashtown.
​
I’m of two minds about that. On one hand, there’s a small nostalgic part of me that misses it. On the other, I think I can do without the reminder of what almost happened to me that day.

Howdy swappers! Got a spicy little fixie today for this awesome Humpday. No trades at this time please, price includes USPS priority shipping within CONUS, PayPal F&F for payment.
Yolo is king!!
BP Wasp SV: 180
Brandon Parks has been making waves as a new up and coming maker in the fixie world. This is an earlier custom - not one of his batch/runs. Full flat grind in 1/8" stock CPM-154. About 8 thou behind the edge. Gray G10. I'm the second owner with it seeing minimal use. Still crazy sharp and in beautiful shape. An absolutely amazing piece that I’m only letting go of to make up for a couple of his smaller pieces I just snagged! Thank y’all for looking and have a great day!!
Timestamp and Noods: https://imgur.com/a/chTeSy6

Hit 10k today with the recent gains. Hoping to be at 20k next year. (Yes I know I need to switch from Robinhood😅)

I just sold an old but functional computer to someone on anibis today. We turn the laptop on and all works as expected. Later in the day the buyer calls to tell me he cleaned up the screen and now sees some artifacts lines and therefor wants to return the computer and get his money back. He pursues by saying that if I don’t agree he’ll go to penal court…. (And claims to be a lawyer - which is a little bullshit signal IMO) Nonetheless, what are my obligations as a seller of a second hand 10 year old laptop?

I’m currently an iPhone user (I have an iPhone SE 2nd Gen, before that I had the 1st Gen SE) and I always wanted to try Android (for things like sideloading, full file system access from a PC via USB etc.) – at least on the side, I’m not sure if I want to replace my current phone yet.
I did buy a Samsung Galaxy A21s a while ago but I’m kind of regretting it a lot. It’s painfully sluggish to load apps or browse the web or do anything with even with all other apps closed and after me factory resetting the phone several times. As a side note I also bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 (2018) several years ago and it’s also painfully sluggish to use in comparison to an iPad which basically makes it unusable for me.
Obviously, I should emphasise that it’s my fault for buying low-end Samsung devices (I just went by the brand name but I see now it’s hard to expect performance at that price range obviously) so I thought I would be more careful this time around and try and aim for something higher. I’m looking for a general-purpose Android phone with the following features:

• The most critical thing is that it should not feel sluggish at all (although I don’t need the latest flagship or something considerably expensive given I may not use it as my main phone i.e. like how I’m content with an SE on the iPhone side rather than higher iPhone models)
• Something that’s the easiest to root and also easy to unlock the bootloader
• Something that’s more likely to support custom ROMs/postmarketOS (which I’ll probably use once the default ROM has stopped being supported) – I know it’s not guaranteed because it relies on community support but maybe something closer to vanilla/mainline/stock Android. Partly so there’s some hope it doesn’t completely become a paperweight like my older iPhones did when Apple stopped supporting them but also I wanted to try and de-google or self-contain the Google account the phone as well (obviously it’s Android so I’m not entirely committing to completely removing Google but maybe using something like Shelter or LineageOS/GrapheneOS/some other ROM)
• Preferably a device with only one ecosystem/account – I know I can just ignore the Samsung apps for instance but I’d rather have a device that doesn’t have two different accounts baked into it that kind of clash with each other (which probably means I’ll shy away from Samsung this time around).
• No or little bloatware. My A21s came pre-installed with TikTok as an “essential” app (seriously).
• Not sure if I want anything specific in terms of tech specs, maybe 4GB RAM or higher and NFC. Perhaps something equivalent to the iPhone SE, but I'm willing to compromise if it would be too expensive to find something on par as long as it isn't sluggish. Half have the urge to find one with an IR blaster for fun, but that'll probably limit my choices drastically so I might just leave that (or buy a separate dongle instead or something).

My gut instinct seems to be leaning towards the Google Pixels, I’m not sure whether either the cheaper A-series or the main line would be better.
I had a brief look at brands in general:

• Google Pixels seem pretty solid (close to stock Android, little bloat, easy to unlock bootloader using just ADB, nice camera which is a bonus), although I’ve heard of hardware defects in certain models, apparently some reports of being buggy (although I could just flash a custom ROM) and the A-series obviously cuts down on features slightly (but it might be sufficient for me).
• Apparently newer OnePlus models are bootloader locked and apparently worse than the previous ones, I’m not sure if I should attempt to find an older model and flash a custom ROM on it (if I go with a OnePlus that is).
• Xiaomi phones are apparently cheap, but unlocking the bootloader seems a hassle (custom “Mi Unlock” utility required, you have to wait a week etc.), custom ROM support seems to vary depending on the model.
• Motorola I’ve seen receive some praise, although again it seems custom ROM support/bootloader unlock availability is variable.

Or maybe something else entirely?

I am not sad about what has happened to your company stock price. Constantly acting as if you set the rules that the world must abide by, simply because your lobbyists made deals with the devil.
As a consumer having all of this forced on me in almost every major retailer has done nothing but pushed me back to small business that is what the heart of America is about. Local community and support with the freedom to not conform to the woke agenda of the world.
I hope all members of the DEI cult take notice that you can try what you want, however we as consumers will not give money to entities that go against what is in our hearts and minds. I should not have to say this part however, when you attempt to poison the minds of our youth you will be held accountable, weather it be in court or the unemployment line when you inevitably fall off of your woke, poorly constructed stage you stand on. Good Day!

BudLightFailure

Anheuser-BuschFailure

TargetFailure

NikeFailure

PepsiFailure

coca-colaFailure

WokeCapitalismDoesNotWork

Day 1:
Few of the tributes got much sleep that night. The parties all throughout the Capitol did not end until dawn, and the noise could be heard in the accommodation building. Vannery and Carton ate breakfast slowly, like zombies. They were subsequently taken to the holding rooms. Organza wished Carton good luck before accompanying Vannery in her cell. She kept trying to reassure her as she put on her beige shorts and t-shirt. The young girl attached her hair with a purple ribbon that had been provided and climbed into the glass tube. Organza hugged her one last time, feeling her tears soaking her shoulder.
It was Platonia Travers who accompanied Carton. She muttered to herself about the outfit choice for this year. She tried to be cold to the boy, but she accepted to help him tie the purple ribbon to his wrist. He gave her a sad smile : “I probably won’t come back, but it’s nice to know that everyone in the Capitol isn’t heartless.” Platonia stood, mute, as the boy’s platform started to rise. She couldn’t keep the tears in this time.
A few cells over, the atmosphere was as morose. Alexandra had finally deigned to discuss their strategy with Delta. She accepted his plan of staying on the sidelines while he ran to the cornucopia. Still, he looked at her suspiciously and hounded her about working together for the whole breakfast. Halifax gave Delta one last pill to combat the morphling withdrawal, assuring him that the only symptoms he would experience were a mild headache and maybe some stiffness. He subsequently accompanied him to his holding room while Sean Callahan went with Alexandra.
Halifax took advantage of being alone with his mentee : “You shouldn’t trust her. I know these kinds of girls. They look harmless, but they’ll stab you in the back as soon as you let down your guard.”
“But-but…”
“You like her, huh ? Too bad, she doesn’t. So, man up and move on !”
Delta did not know what else to say. He climbed into the glass tube in silence, his brows forming a single black line over his dark eyes.
In the next holding room, another conversation was happening. “You don’t plan on allying with Delta, do you ?” asked Sean Callahan. Alexandra looked away coyly. “ I have other plans… With Angelo, we have an agreement.”
The mentor sighed, but he did not criticize the girl. He just told her to be prudent. You couldn’t trust careers. Alexandra nodded then flinched as the glass tube started descending from the ceiling.
The first thing she noticed as she rose into the arena was the noise. She hadn’t even emerged that she could hear a cacophony of bird songs. It was almost deafening, and she covered her ears before protecting her eyes from the sunlight.
The racket made Delta’s headache intensify. He first looked to his sides ; Hattie (3) cowered on the left while Angelo (2), on the right, was focusing on the cornucopia. This year, it had been made out of a thin weave of golden metal, almost like a very shiny basket. After this zoom on the cornucopia, the cameras started moving around to show off the arena. The tributes stood in the clearing of a dense rainforest. The terrain was relatively flat, with a few creeks and an explosion of colorful flowers. The main attraction of it was the birds, however, as thousands of them fluttered about, sang, and screamed.
As Carton looked around for his allies, Head Gamemaker Vishwa welcomed the tributes and wished the odds to be ever in their favor before starting the 30 seconds countdown. With Borea (5) and the girl from 10 to his sides, he didn’t feel safe. He finally found what he was looking for, but he didn’t like that his allies were so spread out. He made eye contact with Rivage and Vannery but was unable to see Sardine, who stood on the opposite side of the cornucopia.
Vannery caught sight of her district partner, as well as Sardine. She gave them a small wave, but made the mistake of looking to her left, where Perfecto (1) was sneering at her. Georges (N), on the other side, was just as intimidating. Instead, she looked straight ahead. As the countdown reached ten, she spotted a coil of rope on the outside of the cornucopia.
Delta had been pondering, unsure if it was worth entering the bloodbath. Alexandra, who happened to be just two podiums over, winked at him. She then pointed to the cornucopia. He understood. At that moment, the countdown reached zero. He sprinted to the center of the clearing, expecting her to follow, but she stayed on her podium.
On later replays, it was shown that Alexandra was winking at Angelo and not her district partner. As the boy from 2 sprinted forth to the cornucopia, the girl waited for a few seconds. She moved only when most of the other tributes were too occupied and grabbed a knife as well as a small bag of food. Angelo acted like he helped the other career tributes in order to pick up weapons and supplies, but as soon as they were occupied, he joined Alexandra. The pair was actually one of the first to leave the clearing, not counting Circuit (3) and the pair from 10 who had run away immediately.
When Vannery realized that she was running side to side with Perfecto (1), she immediately changed course and ran to Carton. She had to give up on the rope but managed to pick a water bottle off of the corpse of the boy from 9, who had just been stabbed by Glare (9).
If the career pack didn’t notice the disappearance of one of theirs, it wasn’t the case for Delta. When he saw his district partner escape with Angelo, he became enraged. He tried to exit the cornucopia. Fraxen then attacked him to try and steal his backpack. Delta threw him to the ground and punched him so hard it broke his neck. Now he had lost trace of Alexandra. As the fighting started to die down, he ran in a random direction.
Carton had dodged one of Glare’s knives and grabbed a bag of food and an unwieldy lance before Vannery and Rivage joined him. The trio heard Sardine scream from the other side of the cornucopia. Carton wanted to go and help her, but a second gargled wail convinced him that they couldn’t do anything else, especially since Proserpina (2) had now retrieved her axe from Sardine’s chest. As they left, they could hear the crunching of Ora’s neck (12) at the hands of Georges (N).
Meanwhile, Alexandra and Angelo were already far away, giggling at each other. It was only after Perfecto had stabbed Hattie (3) to death that the career pack noticed Angelo’s absence, but they didn’t seem bothered by it.
Delta was halfway to the perimeter when the five bloodbath cannons sounded. He was still seething, and the running helped him calm down. Eventually, he collapsed on the side of and old mossy tree, out of breath. Once he was a little better, he explored his surroundings. The big tree had a hole in his roots where Delta could fit, although it was a squeeze. He decided to stay there for now and used moss to hide himself. He also put some in his ears, which helped with his headache.
Carton, Rivage and Vannery had been running in the opposite direction. They wanted to put the most distance between themselves and the other tributes. They stopped long after the bloodbath cannons had sounded. They set up camp a few hundred feet away from the Northern part of the perimeter, next to a creek. Carton helped Rivage to take inventory. He had the lance, Rivage had gotten a trident, and between the three of them they had enough food to last two days at most. The bottle Vannery had taken was only half full, but the water of the creek was clear and drinkable.
The trio decided to stay put. Vannery and Carton would work on a shelter while Rivage fished for their dinner, as they had agreed to during training. In the early afternoon, they heard hurried footsteps coming their way. The boys readied their weapon, protecting Vannery between the two of us. Circuit (3) came running into their little encampment, which took him by surprise. He skidded to a halt and turned around as quickly as he’d arrived, leaving the trio dumbfounded.
Angelo and Alexandra had quite enough supplies to last a while. He held a sword in his hand and an “emergency axe” strapped to his back, while Alexandra held two knives. At first, they wanted to get away from the careers, but Alexandra eventually convinced Angelo to follow them from afar. They weren’t really hard to track, their bickering could be heard over the constant chatter of the birds. The noise also covered them. Proserpina, Glare and Perfecto were circling around the central clearing, slowly moving away from it. In the late afternoon, they discovered Forger (12) who was lying unconscious. He had received a deep wound during the bloodbath and was now at the mercy of the other tributes. Proserpina killed him.
The subsequent cannon surprised Vannery. She had climbed on top of a tree to get a view of the arena, and the sudden sound almost made her loose her grip. She didn’t fall, but while reaching her hand for a hold, she grabbed something warm and spherical. It crumbled and a viscous liquid dripped onto her finger. She looked up. She had inadvertently grabbed an egg from a nest. She was silent a moment, and a bright purple starling looked at her. “Oh no !” she whispered to herself. The bird screamed louder than she thought possible. Then it attacked.
All the birds in a radius of 50 feet coalesced into a multicolored tornado. Vannery fell to the ground, fortunately not hurting herself on the way down, and a feathery mass started clawing and pecking at her. They also attacked Carton and Rivage, who had been chilling at a distance. They batted the volatiles away, trying not to get scratched. Vannery managed to get up and run to the makeshift tent they had built. She picked up Carton’s lance and swung it, hitting some of the birds. She swung a second time and hit the metallic water bottle with a resounding CLANG! It seemed to stun the birds, but Vannery was too busy keeping them out of her face. Carton, however, noticed their reaction to the noise. He shouted loudly and flailed his arms : “Make noise ! They don’t like noise !”. Just his screaming was enough though. Eventually, the three tributes managed to drive the mutts out by hitting their weapons against rocks and the water bottle and screaming as loud as they could.
Delta also had an encounter with some angry birds. Those were red, with a long curvy beak and fearsome talons, but he managed to kill them all with a big branch he used as a bat. He then ate them, cooked over a small fire. Argus berated him for building a fire that could alert the other tributes to his location. However, the “Aviary Jungle” as it had been baptized by Urania Whimsiwick herself, was way too dense for anyone to see the smoke.
As the sun started to set, Delta squeezed himself back into his root hole, being careful to camouflage himself with moss. He held his branch in front of him just in case. An hour later, two cannons sounded in quick succession. They belonged to the pair from 10, who had had the great idea of making an omelet. The flock did not appreciate that…
When the sun started to set, Angelo suggested he and Alexandra find a place to sleep, preferably away from the career pack. She agreed, so they stopped following. They looked for a safe spot in the light of the dusk, eventually settling on the middle of a tight thicket. It was complicated to get inside, but the small space was comfortable, and the pair even had a view of the darkening sky. They ate some food then laid down, hand in hand. “Your district partner doesn’t seem to mind that you ditched her” joked Alexandra.
“I don’t think she cares. Maybe they believe I’m dead. But they’re not looking for us at least.”
“I think Delta is, though. You should have seen his face when he saw us. I almost feel bad about leading him on.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get rid of him if he isn’t dead yet.”
“I’m sure he’s feeling the same thing”, responded Alexandra before going to sleep. Angelo kept the first watch.
In another section of the arena, Carton took the first watch. He had spent the remaining hours of daylight cleaning his wounds, along with Rivage and Vannery. The two of them slept, hoping to feel better the next day.
A little before midnight, Rivage awoke. He came to sit next to Carton, and the boys talked about their families, their school. Suddenly, a cannon sounded. It belonged to Ulma (7), who had stumbled upon Quinoa’s (9) camp by accident. The younger girl had not hesitated to stab a pointy branch in Ulma’s throat. This cannon prompted Carton to go to sleep, Rivage taking second watch.
At midnight, the hymn of Panem resounded in the arena and the portraits of the 9 fallen appeared in the sky : Hattie (3), Sardine (4), Fraxen and Ulma (7), the boy (9), both (10), Ora and Forger (12). This left 17 tributes after an eventful and interesting day.
Day 2:
Delta didn’t sleep much that night. The uncomfortable position coupled with a strong headache meant that he was up before the sunrise. As the first hints of blue appeared to the east, Delta got up. He needed to occupy his mind. The moss had stuck to his clothes, and he decided to take advantage of it. He caked his face and hands in mud and used it to stick more moss to his clothes. Urania commented that he looked like a green Orang-utang, which prompted laughter in the Capitol. Once he was fully camouflaged, he started roaming the arena. Stealthily at first, but as the sun rose and the birds started their cacophony as well, he allowed himself to move a little faster.
Alexandra and her district partner had spent a restful night. As she awoke, she was surprised to be cuddling with Angelo. Her rousing awakened him, and he turned around to look at her, puzzled. “I guess you’re the little spoon”, she joked. They ate cereal bars in awkward silence. Soon, the voices of the career pack walking in their direction prompted the pair to hide. Proserpina and Perfecto were loudly arguing about someone stealing their water bottles. Unbeknownst to them, it had been Glare who had hidden them in her own bag.
As they moved away from her, Alexandra suggested they follow the trio like the day before. Angelo thought it was a safe strategy as long as they kept their distances. They made their way out of the thorny thicket and followed. A few minutes later, a scream warned them that something was going on. It was Glare (1). She’d walked into a trap laid by Georges the day before and was now hanging upside down from a rope. Perfecto started to help her, but the stolen bottles fell from her bag, along with a few hidden knives and more food. Instead of killing her, as Perfecto wanted to do, Proserpina convinced him to leave her there. She screamed and screamed. Proserpina and Perfecto left her there wiggling. Before Alexandra and Angelo could arrive, the thin rope holding up Glare by the ankle snapped. She fell headfirst on the ground and her cannon sounded. Alexandra winced, but Angelo told her that it was better this way, since you could survive for many hours hanging this way. Then another cannon sounded.
Delta had been unsuccessful for a few hours. He had avoided a couple of poorly made traps and fought off a flock of tiny yellow canaries but had been unable to find another tribute. Eventually, he decided to change tactics. He found a path that clearly looked like it was in use and hid in proximity. His ambush eventually worked. Lavandine (11) walked past him, clutching a meagre stick in her pale hands. She didn’t even notice him getting up and following her, his branch raised. Many viewers thought it looked cartoonish, the tiny girl, followed by a big man with a club, not noticing anything. Glare’s cannon gave him the signal he expected, and he swung at her head. Lavandine flew and crashed into a patch of ferns. Her head was bloody, but she was still alive. Delta walked up to her in order to finish what he had started. The cameras cut to another group of tributes.
For the whole morning, Vannery, Rivage and Carton had been staying put. They foraged, fished, and built rudimentary spears just in case. Vannery climbed trees, very carefully in order not to disturb any more birds, so she could spot any tributes. Eventually she did, a little after midday. The pair from district 5 was heading their way. They were armed.
Vannery transmitted the information to the boys, who debated leaving or fighting. “Let’s fight !” said Vannery. There were 3 of them against 2, and they had weapons. Carton had his lance, Rivage his trident, and her… a spear and a rock would do the trick. So, they waited for what felt like a century. As soon as Borea and Zapp entered their field of vision, they attacked. The pair was surprised, but not enough to let themselves be killed that easily. Borea shouted at Zapp to run while she fended of Rivage’s trident with her sword. She had wrapped metal coil all around her arms, as she had seen on one of the older games. They clashed for an instant, enough time for her to disarm him, and then she ran too. On the way, she threw an egg she’d hidden in her pocket to the group. A flock of angry sparrows was the distraction the pair from 5 needed to escape.
Proserpina and Perfecto seemed to have made up a little and were now actively hunting. Still, they weren’t aware of the couple _ the “double A couple” as they were now called in the Capitol _ following them from afar. They dared not speak, but the looks they shared meant a lot more. They say love makes you blind, and maybe that’s why Alexandra didn’t see the orange and turquoise pheasant she walked on. It screamed and ran away, catching the attention of Proserpina. She turned around and shouted, “I knew it !” before charging at Angelo and her ally. Her first axe hit a tree a few inches above Alexandra’s head. She was hesitant to fight a career, but Angelo had already jumped into the fray and was now battling his district partner. So, she ran at Perfecto, who was lagging behind. He quickly turned around and sprinted when Proserpina’s cannon sounded. Angelo had managed to stab her in the gut. The look of betrayal was still printed on her face as the hovercraft claw took her away.
The pair was unsure if they needed to pursue the boy from 1, as Angelo assured that he was an “ego-inflated wimp” . Instead, they rifled through the bag Proserpina had dropped and decided to rest a little. They could have stayed there longer if it hadn’t been for the fire…
After getting rid of the birds, the trio decided to keep following Zapp and Borea (5) in order to get their supplies. Vannery managed to track them thanks to their footprints and the trail of broken branches. They found them quite quickly. Indeed, the gamemakers had decided to trigger a forest fire in order to move the tributes around a little. This explained why they had seen so many birds flying away. The pair from 5, however, had found themselves cornered on three sides by the flames, and the last side was where Carton and his allies arrived from.
Rivage thrusted his trident straight into Borea’s back, sounding her cannon. Carton’s lance, however, flew past Zapp and into the fiery inferno. The boy from 4 barely had the time to pick up his trident before a tree fell, smashing into the boy from 5 and sounding his cannon. As other trees started to creak and groan, Vannery led the boys back to the creek, where she believed the water would keep them safe.
Delta ran as soon as he smelled smoke. He ended up in a small clearing in the Southern part of the arena. As the grass quickly burned, he jumped into the flames. Many viewers gasped, thinking he had just killed himself, but he just ran a few seconds then stopped. Argus explained that the fire had been controlled in a way that it burned quickly and extinguished itself just as fast. From his spot of scorched earth, Delta was safe for now. From the sky descended a small silver parachute bearing the number 6. It contained a water bottle and some aspirin. Delta was the only one to use this strategy successfully. A few minutes after him, Circuit (3), who was shorter and weaker, tried. He fell face first into the fire and did not get up, his cannon sounding a few moments later.
Angelo and Alexandra were some of the closest to the central clearing, so it was after the three cannons that the fire reached them. They ran. Angelo was practically flying but the fire was catching up to Alexandra. Another tree cracked. It crashed onto the girl, pinning her legs to the ground. Thankfully, it was a much younger tree, and it did not cause her much more damage. For an instant, Alexandra thought the boy from 2 would just keep running. That he would be glad to get rid of yet another opponent. But he turned around. He used his axe as a lever, bending it in the process, to get the girl free. Then he picked her up onto his back and ran again. Angelo was not a very muscular tribute, but he proved to be quite a strong one.
Neither Carton, nor his allies had suffered any injury thanks to Vannery’s quick thinking. The creek was wide enough to protect them from the flames, and they avoided any falling branch. Quinoa (9) had had the same idea. She internally debated reaching the small group, but eventually decided not to. In the late afternoon, it started to rain, revealing that many of the trees and plants of the forest were actually fireproof. It was much sparser now, but the rain cleaned off the soot and, soon enough, the forest was green again.
Rivage, Vannery and Carton huddled together. They stayed that way for the whole evening, until Carton took the first watch while the other two went to sleep.
Delta was almost unharmed too, apart from a few minor burns on his ankles. The aspirin had taken effect, and for once in a long time, he felt totally clear headed. He hoped his district partner had died today.
The fire had changed the landscape quite a lot. What used to be a lush jungle was now less green. The ground was visible in most places, and the humidity levels had gone down. The sky was more visible. It also meant that the traps set by Georges and Odette (N) on the first day were either destroyed or very conspicuous. The boy from 6 avoided them all.
Delta found a pond where he cleaned himself from the soot and the half-charred moss. The fresh water also soothed his burns. He ended up settling close by, between two fallen trees.
Angelo and Alexandra, however, had suffered many burns. Fortunately, as they were setting camp and trying to remove their singed clothes, a silver parachute descended over them. It contained two containers of oil, as well as a blanket and a note from Angelo’s mentors, which he did not show to Alexandra. It would later be revealed that it scolded him for keeping his plan of betraying the career pack secret. The oil was perfumed and designed to almost instantly heal burns. It worked a charm. As the massaging continued, the two tributes started to get more and more steamy. They were intimate that night.
While they were busy, the portraits of the fallen appeared in the sky. The second day of the games had seen the loss of Glare (1), Proserpina (2), Circuit (3), Borea and Zapp (5), and Lavandine (11). This left only 11 tributes for the third day, with better odds now that a few strong tributes were gone.
Day 3:
On the morning of the third day, an announcement was made by Head Gamemaker Vishwa. She informed the tributes that a feast would be held at noon, three hours from now. The 11 surviving boys and girls would find supplies they desperately needed there. She then wished everyone a glorious day and the dampened sound of the birdsongs came back in full force.
The announcement awoke Delta, but he decided not to go to the Feast. He still had food and a source of water nearby, as well as his heavy branch. A real weapon would have been nice, but he didn’t feel safe going to the central clearing. Instead, he decided to just sleep more. He only woke up again when the first cannon sounded.
As for the couple, they were lost in bliss. Their show from the previous night had to be censored, although it was available for those who had enough “connections”. Let’s just say that it was quite memorable, and cemented Angelo and Alexandra’s place as favorites. They got ready after a long cuddling session, grabbing their bags and their weapons and heading to the cornucopia. They arrived with minutes to spare. Actually, they were the last tributes to arrive.
Vannery had been the first on site, scouting for other tributes. Once she had been sure the coast was clear, she had signaled to Rivage and Carton that they could come. They hid in the bushes nearby; this area having been spared from the fires. Little by little, other tributes started to arrive. Kumquat (11) hid behind a tree, Perfecto (1) stood in the open, Odette and Georges (N) huddled together.
As Quinoa (9) and the “Double A couple” finally arrived, the cornucopia started receding into the ground. It reappeared at once, and a bell rang.
Vannery stayed behind. She watched all the tributes run to the center where laid 8 numbered bags, including Carton and Rivage. The fighting raged in the cornucopia. Her allies attacked Alexandra and Angelo, as Kumquat escaped with his bag. Quinoa (9) almost got out, but Perfecto (1) caught her by the ponytail and stabbed her in the throat, sounding her cannon. He then picked up her bag in addition to his.
Alexandra and Angelo fought side to side, covering each other. She scared Odette (N) away, while he pushed back against Rivage. The boy from 4 tried to hit Alexandra again, but her ally caught the trident and almost tore it out of Rivage’s hands. Instead of trying again, he attacked Georges. The trident hit him in the back and sounded his cannon a few seconds later. Angelo took advantage of this distraction to slash at Carton with his sword, causing the boy from 8 to bleed out.
Vannery screamed and ran out of her hiding place, almost colliding with Odette (N) on the way. Rivage grabbed the district 4 and district 8 bags in one hand, and Vannery’s arm in the other, and they ran away together. The young girl cried and struggled to keep up the pace. She wanted to go back, but Carton’s cannon sounded, ruining her hopes.
Angelo and Alexandra were the last tributes to get their bags. One of Perfecto’s knives punctured Alexandra’s. The pair turned back, giving Kumquat (11) enough time to flee. They chased Perfecto into the woods. He was quick, however, and they had a hard time gaining on him.
The following hours were very quiet, boring, even, so Urania and Argus invited a few guests to discuss the bloodbath and the tributes’ different strategies. It was only in the late afternoon that Delta deigned getting up. He was well rested. He ate what remained of his food and started camouflaging himself once again in order to hunt. The tributes were now very spread out, however, and it appeared that Delta was in an area devoid of them. He walked until it got too dark to continue, before letting out a scream of rage. His sudden outburst scared some resting birds. They flew away and hit Kumquat (11) square in the face as he was in the process of climbing up one of the taller trees. The surprise caused him to lose his grip and he fell to his death a few feet away from Delta, his Feast bag laying next to him. Suddenly, Delta laughed and thanked the birds. He emptied the contents of the bag, glad to find some fresh food and water. He settled right there for the night.
Angelo and Alexandra eventually gave up on hunting Perfecto. Every time they thought they heard him; it turned out to be another bird. He was nowhere to be found. The pair settled down near a creek, right where Carton and his allies had camped earlier, in order to clean themselves. It was another spectacle to behold. The couple played in the fresh water, wearing only their underwear, and at one point, Alexandra winked at one of the cameras. This resulted in the appearance of a sponsor gift a few seconds later. She caught it and opened it discreetly once she was dressed again. She checked that Angelo was busy with the campfire before peeking inside. There was a water bottle and a tiny, sheathed stiletto knife, about two inches long. There was also a note that said : “You will only get one chance” – S. She acted nonchalant, thanked her sponsor for the water, and hid the knife in her sock. She took the first watch, jumping when a cannon sounded.
Since they had come back from the Feast, Vannery felt that Rivage was acting strange. He kept pacing and muttering to himself and seemed unhappy even though they had received enough supplies to last five more days in the arena at least. They found another place to sleep, Vannery built a new shelter. As she was about to go to sleep, Rivage approached her, trident in hand. He didn’t speak, so she asked him what he wanted. “I’m sorr-“ he started. Vannery interrupted him : “Behind you !”.
He spun around and threw his trident. It caught Perfecto in the head, sounding his cannon before he had hit the ground. He had been sneaking up behind Rivage with a knife in both hands, but Vannery had a keen eye. Rivage seemed to deflate. He cleaned up his weapon and went to sleep. Vannery tried to ask him what he wanted to tell her, but he didn’t answer. Instead, she took the first watch.
At midnight, five portraits appeared in the sky : Perfecto (1), Carton (8), Quinoa (9), Kumquat (11) and Georges (N). The six remaining tributes were spread out around the arena : Rivage and Vannery to the East, Angelo and Alexandra to the North, Odette (N) in the South and Delta to the West.
Day 4:
The sound of a cannon startled Delta out of his slumber. He was feeling well rested and decided to head to the cornucopia with just his branch and a knife he had taken from Kumquat. With only 5 remaining tributes, he knew that the showdown was about to take place and was about as excited as the viewers in the Capitol for it to happen. On the way, he stumbled upon a suspicious mound of leaves. He almost let it be, until he saw two feet poking out of it. As he bent down to look at it, a sharp pain entered his shoulder blade. By pure reflex, he swung his club backwards, hitting a barefoot Odette (N) in the forehead. She stumbled backwards, clutching her knife, and tripped on a rock. Delta jumped onto her, planting his knee in her stomach, and stabbed her with her own knife. He added it to his “collection”.
The atmosphere between Alexandra and Angelo had been quite tense since they’d woken up. They hadn’t slept so well. When the first cannon sounded, they set out to get to the cornucopia, and by the time the second cannon echoed throughout the arena, they were in position. “We’ll fight together, right ?” asked Alexandra. Angelo nodded solemnly : “Until there’s no one else. I’m so glad I got to meet you.”
“Me too… Too bad one of us will have to die.”
As she said those words, a twig cracked in a nearby bush.
The first cannon had shocked the viewers quite a bit. As Rivage finished his watch, he looked at Vannery, asleep next to him. He murmured “I’m sorry”, so low that it had to be subtitled. Then he plunged his trident in her throat. Before leaving, Rivage let out the longest sigh of relief.
Alexandra climbed onto the cornucopia, hiding herself, a length of rope held tight between her hands. She waited as Rivage entered the clearing. He was focused on Angelo. Delta appeared a few seconds later, on the other side of the cornucopia. He walked under it, oblivious to the girl awaiting him. As Angelo charged Rivage with his sword, Alexandra lowered the rope. Delta let out a choked growl as she pulled. He was much stronger, however. With one labored step, he yanked her off the roof. The rope was still around his neck, but his hands were now around Alexandra’s. Nevertheless, she held on to the rope, using it to hold him at bay. Just before she fell unconscious, she kicked him in the groin. She let out a few coughs, before grabbing the two ends of the rope again and pulling Delta against one of the steel columns of the cornucopia. Delta tried to stab her, but she was behind him, and he was quickly loosing consciousness. With one last brutal pull, the rope crushed his windpipe.
Alexandra watched Angelo dispose of Rivage with one final feint of his sword, and his cannon sounded at the same time as Delta’s.
Silence fell on the clearing. Even the birds had shut up. The couple was breathing heavily. They hugged tight. Something glinted in Alexandra’s hand. She almost reached Angelo’s neck when he gripped her wrist. He smiled, but his eyes were full of sorrow. “I had to try at least !” she half-laughed, half-whimpered. He sat her down and hugged her once again. She told him that he deserved to win. That he was a good man. He took his swords and gently stabbed Alexandra in the heart. She barely cried as he looked into her eyes. A cannon sounded. The last one. Jahani Vishwa announced Angelo Clearfell, of district 2, as the victor of the 119th Hunger Games. He had to be forcefully removed form Alexandra’s corpse in order to be retrieved.
Aftermath:
The games took an immense toll on Angelo, who was unable to speak for more than a month. Even when he had gotten the use of his words back, he fell into a lengthy depression. His interview with Urania Whimsiwick and Argus Brown had to be cut short as soon as they mentioned Alexandra.
After that, he remained alone in his home of the Victor’s village. He received no guests and did not act as a mentor the following years. The other victors of his district described him as “disillusioned” and “a killjoy”. The situation stayed the same until his disappearance two years later.