This is a transcription only of this
SECOND WESTMAN INTERVIEW
Tim W
Faith W
Haverhill, New Hampshire
Telephone: xxx
(noted as 2006 in handwriting)
Tim and Faith Westman were interviewed relative to their knowledge of certain events that occurred on February 9, 2004 concerning the disappearance of Maura Murray. They were interviewed by telephone with both of them on the line at the same time.
The Westmans indicated that at approximately 1900hrs on February 9, 2004, they were working inside of their home office. They heard what sounded like a "thud or thump" coming from the front of their residence. Both went into their kitchen to look out the window that faces Route 112, now known as Wild Ammonoosuc Road to see what had made this sound. They observed a dark colored vehicle (no further description by them) off the road facing west or toward Lincoln, New Hampshire. The rear of the vehicle was very near or adjacent to a tree with the driver's side of the car on the wooded side and the passenger side on the road side. Both Westmans cuold see the interior light of the car come on and subsequently go off several times as they watched the vehicle.
It was their opinion that the car had been traveling eastbound, when it left the road, struck a tree and came to a rest facing westbound. Both noted that the road was dry at the time of this accident with no ice, black ice or snow which would have caused the vehicle to go off the roadway. They also noted that a couple of days after this incident they observed the tire tracks in the snow left by the car at the time of this accident. It was clear to them that based upon these tracks the operator successfully negotiated the severe curve in the road, but for reasons unknown drove straight off the road. They could not offer any explanation for this collision.
The Westmands noted that at some point the emergency flashers for the vehicle also came on.
After the Westmans watched this car for a few minutes, B Atwood, one of their neighbors, drove by and stopped at the collision scene. He was one of the local school bus drivers and was in fact driving a large yellow standard school bus at this time. He said the bus stopped facing easy (the opposite of the parked vehicle) at which time Atwood opened the door of the bus and behan to speak to, the Westmans later learned, Maura Murray. Maura at this time had gotten out of her car and was speaking to Atwood from across the top of her vehicle. The Westman recalled that Atwood spoke to Maura for only 1-2 minutes. After this conversation, Atwood left and drove the school bus back to the house where he parked it as he usually does.
The Westmans said that Maura did not get into the school bus with Atwood, nor did Atwood get out of the bus when he spoke with Maura.
Both of the Westmans said that a couple of minutes after Atwood and the bus left they saw some activity outside of the car and believed it was Maura walking around her vehicle. Tim Westman said he could see a small light near Maura's face and thought she was smoking a cigarete. He later learrned that Maura did not smoke and that the light he saw was probably a light from her cell phone. Another couple of minutes passed when both the Westman's noted they saw no further lights coming from Maura's vehicle.
Another couple of minutes went by at which time the Westmans saw a fully marked Haverhill police car coming from the west and parked near the scene. They observed the police car because it had its blue emergency lights on. Another couple of minutes went by when the officer assigned to this police car came to their front door. The officer asked where the female operator of the car in question was. Both Westmans stated they did not see Maura leave the area, but noted that she if she walked from the collision scene, she had to walk eastbound. They noted that had she walked westbound they would have seen her. The officer also noted that he came from the west and did not see her along his route.
The Westmans noted it was 5-6 minutes in time from when atwood left in the school bus to the time the Haverhill police officer arrived on the scene.
The Westmans stated that soon after the officer left their residence, the local fire department, EMS staff and other local and state police officers arrived at the scene of this collision and began to search for Maura. Both Westmans also noted that the morning of the 10th both of them looked their property over and found no footprints in the snow to show where, if or how Maura left the accident scene. They said there certainly was enough snow for a person to leave footprints in the snow and none were ound by anyone in the immediate area of where Maura left her car.
They did note that it was possible that other vehicles drove by the scene where Maura was parked, including when she was speaking with Atwood. They were clear, however, that no other vehicls stopped at the scene, only Atwood.
It should be noted that both the Westmans and the Marrottes did not like Atwood. They described him as "weird and peculiar" but declined to further document what "weird and peculiar" was.

Fanfic name: Pokemon A(sh)/S(erena)
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\--------------------**Continuity and Placement**\-----------------
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After 1 years of MPM Epsiode 11
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\--------------------**Character settings**\--------------------
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Main Cast: XY Gang (Ash, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie) + OG Gang (Misty, Brock) + Gary Oak
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Everyone will receive the Mega Evolution
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Dawn become Top Coordinator before the fic starts.
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May and Dawn will become Serena's rival.
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Chloe is May, Dawn and Serena's apprentice
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Pokemon Master scaling from best to worst: Ash >>>> Leon > all 6 Masters
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Pokemon Coordinator scaling from best to worst : Dawn = May >< Serena > Chloe > Miette > Drew = Zoey
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Pokemon Performer scaling from best to worst :Serena > May > Dawn > Aria > Chloe > Miette> Jessie
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Everyone will have their official age +1, except Ash who is still stucking at 10 years old (There'll be the story arc which explains why Ash was still 10 years old)
Team rocket trio will be sent to jail at ending of Team Rocket Arc because I feels like they're superfluous in the fanfic. But they might return if I can make use of them and appears as reformed person because they're not entirely bad person I think
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--------------------About Pokemon Gen 9/Horizon/Paldea/SV--------------------
Liko and Roy will appear as side characters, while Necoma might have more role in Paldea story arc due to the shared personality with Ash
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\--------------------**Arc 1: The dream begins and reunion (ep 1-6)**\--------------------
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**Type:** **Storytelling, Action, Romance, Amour**
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Ash recieved the invite that will makes him reunite with his girlfriend, but he must deal with the plant from giant rock which will eventually not only makes him reunite with his girlfriend, but also reassamble the entire XY cast and makes the story looks like XY sequel (lol!)
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Episode 1: Story begins with Ash saw the nightmare where the world being destroyed and even Arceus unable to do anything about it. Then **Ash wake up and he just realized that he was invited to see the Pokemon Contest final (Serena Vs Aria) in Kalos, but when Ash went to Kalos, he saw his Greninja being unconscious because of being overworked for cutting wood so many years non stop without taking any break (Lol!)**
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Episode 2: **It's only 1 hours before Pokemon Contest final starts,** Ash had sent his Greninja into Pokemon center. Meanwhile **Bonnie and Clemont calls Ash that the plant from Giant Rock had nearing the Luminse City.** Ash and Lucario attempt to sense where's the source of those plant are but unable to. Meanwhile at this time, **Greninja had been fully recovered and returns to Ash!**
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Episode 3: **Greninja had been recovered!** With Greninja's help, Ash was finally able to find the source of the Giant Rock- on underground. Clemont used the newly devloped drill to make the tunnel so that Ash (with Pikachu, Lucario and Greninja), Clemont (with Luxray) and Bonnie (With squishy) will able to reach the underground and saw the core of those plants. **With the combined effort of Pikachu, Lucario, Greninja, Luxray and Squishy, they was able to destroy the core and stopping the Giant Rock plant once and for all.**
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**Episode 4:** After the Giant Rock Plant Core had been Destroyed, Ash had found that the Pokemon Contest final had already begin. Ash was tried to reach Pokemon Contest as soon as possible. At first, Aria's excellent Contest skills makes Serena begin to self-doubt if she could made it, but Ash was eventally managed to arrives and cheers Serena, allowing **Serena to unlock Bond Transformation on Her Delphox to become Serena-Delphox and become Kalos Queen** (Yes, I made her Kalos Queen that early because I have struggle to write Pokemon Contest chapters)
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**Episode 5:** At last, **Ash and Serena had finally reunion! To celebrating Serena become Kalos Queen, Ash was going to buy the new clothes for Serena as suprise gift so that Serena can put her Blue Ribbon back on her chest**, but Ash have struggle to do so because Ash know nothing about clothing style, but thanks to Diantha's help, Ash was eventally able to find the clothes that fits Serena and fits her Blue Ribbon.
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**Episode 6:** **Ash and Serena say goodbye to Miette, Diantha and May and moved to Pallet town.** But at the next day, they found themselves had been trapped inside the crowd as both are now become the celebrity and all of the billboard had their own face! Diantha will teach Ash and Serena must find the way to move around in public
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\--------------------**Clemont single chapter (ep 7)**\--------------------
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**Type:** **Storytelling, Action**
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I made this chapter so that I can give Clemont bond transformation form
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Episode 7: Clemont had unveiled the upgraded Clembot MK III, but was being hacked by Xerosic who managed to escaped from jail. Clemont was managed to find Xerosic, but Xerosic was wearing some power protector which overpowers all of his pokemon and his chesnaught! Xerosic was teasing that Clemont's science is terrible, **but Clemont determination that the science was supposed to be used for justice allows his chesnaught to unlock the bond transformation to become Clemont-chesnaught**, allowing Clemont to defeat Xerosic and sent Xerosic back to jail. Unfortunately, Xerosic was managed to damage the Prism Tower which forcing Clemont, Bonnie and Meyer to living in Ash's house temporarily until the Prism Tower had been rebuilt.
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\--------------------**Ash pidgeot single chapter (ep 8)**\--------------------
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**Type:** **Action**
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Despite Ash's pidgeot had officially returned to Ash, it's another questions of how long can his pidgeot live with his trainer.....
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Episode 8: Tons of Fearow had invaded and caused the huge chaos in Pallet town and steals Serena's blue ribbon! Ash's Pidgeot had found that those Fearow are came from Viridian Forest. Ever since Pidgeot had reunited with Ash, those Fearow had rapidly reproduce, quickly take over the Viridian Forest and begin to spread out of nowhere! Those Fearow demands Ash's Pidgeot in exchange for those Pidgey and Pidgeotto's life and the Blue Ribbon. Ash and Pidgeot arrived Viridian Forest but those Pidgey and Pidgeotto told them not to leave his Pidgeot here because they thinks that the Pidgeot was belong to Ash and Ash refuse to leave his Pidgeot here. Those Fearow now attempt to hurt those Pidgey and Pidgeotto and ate the Blue Ribbon! Ash Mega Evolved his Pidgeot to fight against those Fearow but being slowly outnumbered by those Fearow. On the verge of Ash's Pidgeot's defeat, those Pidgey and Pidgetto had evolved into Pidgeot and helps Ash's Pidgeot to defeat those Fearow and give Ash back the Blue Ribbon, ending those Fearow's threat once and for all! Ash and his Pidgeot was bid farewell to those Pidgeot and give the Blue Ribbon back to Serena, now Ash's Pidgeot can live with Ash forever!
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\-------------------**-Arc 3: Team Rocket invasion (ep 9-17)**\--------------------
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**Type:** **Action**
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XY/XYZ cast had finally reassambled! But let's not forget about that they must deal with the very first and longest lasting villain organization-Team Rocket!
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Epsiode 9: **Gary had reunited with Ash**, where former had become the Pokemon Professor. Gary brings Ash and Serena to visit the extension of Professor Oak's laboratory (Clemont and Bonnie was here too!). Meanwhile, Giovanni had arrived the laboratory and defeated Professor Oak. Gary came out and fight against Giovanni once again and.....lose once again. Meanwhile, the **Team Rocket Grunts kidnapped Professor Oak while they're battling and Giovanni had left the laboratory!**
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Epsiode 10: Giovanni kidnapped Professor Oak to Team Rocket base to make Professor Oak works for him. Ash and Gary was thinking about how to save Giovanni. Meanwhile, the Team Rocket trio appears once again and attempt to steal his Pikachu, but Misty and Brock arrives and saves Ash's Pikachu. Ash respond with a heavy heart as Ash aware that this might be their last time to prepare for trouble as Ash had decided to destroy Team Rocket once and for all (Yes, he feels sympathy for those Team Rocket Trio because he aware that Team Rocket Trio have heart) and Ash's pikachu sent Team Rocket Trio flying once again like usual!
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Epsiode 11: Thanks to Clemont's science, Ash, Misty, Brock and Gary was able to track down the location of Team Rocket base. Clemont gives Ash the device which allows Ash to freely switch his Pokemon party anywhere and anytime. **Ash, Misty, Brock and Gary went to Team Rocket base while leaving Serena, Clemont and Bonnie at Ash's house. Ash, Misty, Brock and Gary charging towards Team Rocket Base and begin the final battle against Team Rocket!**
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Epsiode 12: **Ash, Misty, Brock and Gary fight against thousands of Team Rocket Grunts** who "Welcomed" them. But they slowly outnumbered by those Team Rocket Grunts and they realized that those Team Rocket Grunts are here to buying Giovanni's time! **Misty and Brock decided to stay here and clean the road for Ash and Gary to reach Team Rocket Base!** Meanwhile, Professor Oak had been tied into the chair which extract his knowledge about the pokemon.
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Epsiode 13: Ash and Gary was finally managed to find Giovanni and Professor Oak. Giovanni transfer his consciousness into the Armored Mewtwo (this Mewtwo is different from the first movie one and it's nothing more than Giovanni's new body) while Gary was going to save Professor Oak. **Serena, Clemont and Bonnie saw the news about Ash is fighting Armored Mewtwo and decided to head to Team Rocket base together with the help of met Korrina, Alain and Diantha.** Meanwhile, Ash had been defeated by Giovanni and being tied outside the Team Rocket base!
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Epsiode 14: **Clemont, Bonnie and Serena met Korrina, Alain and Diantha to rescue Ash**, but being interrupted by the artifical pokemon army. Meanwhile Giovanni was about to end Ash's life, but being stopped by Gary. **Inside Ash's mental world, Aaron was teaching Ash to master Aura power. After Ash mastered the Aura power, Ash breaks free with his newly mastered Aura power and team up with Gary to fight against Giovanni.**
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Epsiode 15: **Thanks to Ash and Gary's excellent teamwork,** in addition of Ash's mastered Aura power, **Giovanni had been easily defeated and Giovanni's mewtwo armor had been teared apart.** At the same time, **Misty, Brock, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, Korrina, Alain and Diantha had defeated al of the grunts and artifical pokemon army and reunited with Ash and Gary.** Meanwhile, Giovanni still refused to give up, he used the knowledge that being extracted from Professor Oak to create the gigantic ultimate pokemon called Chimera. Giovanni insert his consciousness into Chimera and razed half of Pallet Town into ground!
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Epsiode 16: Despite the combined effort of **Ash, Gary, Misty, Brock, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, Korrina, Alain and Diantha**, Chimera was proven too much for those heroes to handle! Chimera then begin to cover the entire sky with the black smoke which will slowly turns all pokemon all over the world into shadow pokemon! Seems there's nothing to stop him, the real mewtwo appears and helps those hero to fight against Chimera. Meanwhile, Ash's Greninja was managed to use his extrasensory to emulate almost all of Pokemon moveset while his Lucario's aura power had been enchanced which allows his Lucario to create the spirit bomb sized aura sphere. **Ash, his pikachu, Greninja and Lucario eventally able to blown Chimera to pieces and sent Giovanni's consciousness back to his human body.** **Ash came in front of Giovanni and about to kills him with Aura sphere, but Serena, and later the newly arrived Team Rocket Trio pleding Ash not to.** **Following Giovanni, Team Rocket Trio and rest of Team Rocket member being arrested, Team Rocket had finally being taken down for good. Korrina, Alain and Diantha say goodbye to Ash, Gary, Misty, Brock, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie as Korrina, Alain and Diantha head back to Kalos. Ash and Team Rocket Trio made the promise that they'll be travel together once the Team Rocket Trio served their sentence**
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**Epsiode 17: Few days after Team Rocket being taken down, Ash, Gary, Misty, Brock, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie made the celebration for that.**
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\--------------------**Arc 4: Ash being dense shell (ep 18-20)**\--------------------
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**Type:** **Storytelling, Action,** **character building,** **emotion**
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The world had back to it's peace following the shut down of Team Rocket. However, Ash's dense shell kick in ane he'll will learn the the hard way about what will happen for being dense shell
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Epsiode 18: **Ever since Ash become much stronger since the Team Rocket fight, he begin to become arrogant and addicted in Pokemon Battle! (Yes, typical dense shell Ash for ya) He begin to refuse other people's help and even end up having Quarrel with Serena! Ash ragequit his house and being attacked by Damian**, who is looking for revenge of his charamder's betrayal. Despite Ash become lot stronger since they last met, Damian's newly obtained Psychic power and his Charizards army (Mega charizard X and Y, Gigantmaxed Charizard and Shadow Charizard that Damian created with his Psychic power) was proven even more ahead of Ash and defeats Ash! **Meanwhile, Ash's rage towards Damian had results his Pikachu unleashed the large energy which not only quickly defeats Damian, but also create the huge hole on ground and become berserk!**
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Epsiode 19: **Being humiliated by Damian and having his pikachu went berserk, Ash had slowly realized that he's only care about Pokemon and become megalomaniac had corrupted his bond with pikachu! He begin to feels sorry about how he treat his friends especially Serena. Ash was later apogoized to Serena and his friends and slowly reconcile with each other and discuss how to bring his pikachu back to control. With the combined effort of Serena and his friends, Ash was eventually able to bring his pikachu back to sense.**
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Episode 20: **Those evil Malamar had finally returned to present and attempt to brainwash Ash and Serena once again**, but Clemont used his creation. **Ash and Serena was quickly blows those evil Malamar into ashes but the energy crystals absorbs those evil Malamar's body and activated and quickly defeated all of their pokemon except Pikachu. That energy crystals attempt to shoot laser on Serena and Ash attempt to run in front of that laser to protect Serena**, which results Ash's feelings resonance with pikachu which makes his pikachu utilized that power once again to **create the deadly new move for pikachu: Ragnerok! However, the power of Ragnerok had makes Ash and Pikachu unconscious for a while.**
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\--------------------**Arc 5-Serena's upgrade (21-22)**\--------------------
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**Type:** **Action,** **character building,** **passion,** **emotion**
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**Seeing that Ash unconscious, Serena learned that she need to learn self defense so that she wont end up become damsel in distress when her boyfriend isn't present**
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Epsiode 21: Seeing that Ash end up unconscious for saving her, Serena decided to become stronger so that the same tragic won't happen again. Serena had found Bonnie to train with Bonnie's squishy. Because Serena was never joined the real battle before, Serena was not able to land any single hit on Squishy 10% form even with the combined effort of all her 3 pokemon + having her Delphox , then Serena realized that the only way to makes her stronger battler is to use what she already good at-Pokemon Performer. By using her pokemon performing skills into combat, she was finally able to defeat Squishy's 10% form.
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Episode 22 (WIP): **Serena will get Absol which will helps her in combat and will be used on Contest too**
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\--------------------**Single Pokeshipping chapter (ep 23)**\--------------------
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**Type:** **Story telling, Action**
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**Misty must find the balance between traveling with Ash and her gym.**
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Episode 23: Misty had been tired of her having to do all three jobs from her 3 Irresponsible sisters, which making her leave her gym behind and went to Ash's house. Ash was suprised how Misty would willing to give up her gym for that Meanwhile, Damian hijacked Misty's gym and kidnapped Daisy, Lily, and Violet, to demands Misty in exchange her gym and her sisters. Ash and Misty worked together to defeat Damian and saved all 3. Misty's 3 sisters apogoized for over-reliance the gym operation to Misty alone and promised Misty that they'll become more responsible for their gyms. Misty give her gym back to her sisters and says goodbye to them.
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\--------------------------------------**Planned Future story Arc:**\--------------------------------------
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**~~Pokemon Contest Arc (Mittie vs Serena) or:~~**
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**~~Wallce Cup Arc(May vs Dawn, Chloe vs May, Chloe vs Dawn, Dawn vs Serena) or:~~**
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**~~countine the romance amour with Ash arc:~~** (Should I? But I really suck at writing those)
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\--------------------------------------**Oizys Arc (adopted from** [this one shot](https://www.reddit.com/AmourShipping/comments/139895h/writing_my_amourshipping_one_shot_for_very_first/)**):** \--------------------------------------
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**Type:** **Action,** [Deconstruction Fic](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeconstructionFic)**,** **drama,** **passion,** **Original Story, Fantasy, Meta**
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***Warning: Starting at this Arc, the typical Amour and even*** ***anime*** ***Pokemon logic will be thrown out the window*** *and replaced with the* ***original plot that you might not asked for!***
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***Warning: This Story Arc features with full of ridiculousness, rather dark story, in-face towards TPC and filled with heavy irony and even fourth wall break etc.*** ***Please watch at your discretion! If you want something closer to Pokemon Anime, skip to*** ***Paldea Arc.***
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**Ash teachs Goh how to take care of Pokemon**, **but Goh's dark side came to manifest as its own entirely separate, physical entity called Oizys, Goh's evil counterpart who is the psychopath pokemon hunter** (a parody of many chinese amourshipping fic features with Goh as antagionist), Goh was paralyzed with fear after witnessing his evil counterpart's cruelty and end up in coma for a while. Oizys steal all Serena's pokemon, all Ash's ace (including his Greninja) and almost managed to steal his pikachu but his pikachu managed to free all of Ash's ace and Serena's pokemon, Ash and Serena got the upper hand and defeats Oizys, but **Ash being posessed by Oizys in front of Serena's eyes** and defeated almost every single Ash's traveling partner, all 7 Pokemon Masters , Gary Oak and Serena. But Serena was eventally managed to free Ash from Oizys control. After defeating Oizys, **Goh finally wake up and learned the harsh lesson about how to take care of his pokemon.**
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\--------------------------------------**gossip Arc (adopted from** [this one shot](https://www.reddit.com/AmourShipping/comments/13g26hu/my_new_one_shot/)**):** \--------------------------------------
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**Type:** [Deconstruction Fic](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeconstructionFic)**,** **drama,** **Original Story, Break Fourth Wall,** **humor**
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***Warning: Another original plot which full of ridiculousness, filled with heavy irony and even fourth wall break sans Action.*** ***Please watch at your discretion!*** ***If you want something closer to Pokemon Anime, skip to*** ***Paldea Arc.***
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**Ash and Serena must find a way to debunk various of the fake news** (like Liko is Ash and Serena's daughter) that damaging their reputations and free **Liko** from being cyberbullied. In addition, they'll also met Nemona for first time who will later join Ash's team.
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\--------------------------------------**"Shipping War" Arc (adopted from** [This one shot](https://www.reddit.com/AmourShipping/comments/13gz609/what_if_serena_meet_misty/)**):** \--------------------------------------
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***Warning: This Story Arc features with full of ridiculousness, rather dark story, in-face towards TPC and filled with heavy irony and even fourth wall break etc.*** ***Please watch at your discretion! If you want something closer to Pokemon Anime, skip to*** ***Paldea Arc.***
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**Type:** [Deconstruction Fic](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeconstructionFic)**,** **drama,** **Original Story, Break Fourth Wall,** **humor**
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The giant blue bird **had makes Serena and Misty , all Ash's female travel companion and even all humans in pokemon kills each other** until there's only 1 left **against their will!** Ash was able to free all of his friend before any tragic happens but that **giant blue bird absorbed Serena** and begin to spread all over the world! **The only way to save Serena is to have Ash insert the feelings toward Serena into the water shuriken to open the hole out of Twitter's physical body so that Ash can save Serena.**
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\--------------------------------------**Ash's 10 years old truth Arc Prequel (adopted from** [this](https://www.reddit.com/AmourShipping/comments/13qkp85/kiss_day_special_one_shot/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) [one](https://www.reddit.com/AmourShipping/comments/13rgru6/ash_and_serenas_dream_world_part_12_calem_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) shot\*\*):\*\*--------------------------------------
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**Type:** [Deconstruction Fic](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeconstructionFic)**,** **drama,** **Original Story, Amour, Break Fourth Wall, romance,** **character building, Action**
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***Warning: Another original plot which full of ridiculousness, rather dark story, in-face towards TPC, filled with heavy irony and even fourth wall break!*** ***Please watch at your discretion!*** ***If you want something closer to Pokemon Anime, skip to*** ***Paldea Arc.***
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**After Ash and Serena discovered the truth about Ash's being cursed with eternal 10 years old which might potentially eventally wipe away his character development and revert him back to the 10 years old stupid dense shell like in Uvona, Ash and Serena got psychological shadow and escape from reality by living in their own dream and refuse to wake up. However, Ash and Serena would eventually overcome their fear and . It'll also features with the cameo appearance of Calem and Game Serena.**
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\--------------------------------------**Paldea Arc:** \--------------------------------------
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**Type: Adventure, Humor,** **amour**
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***Finally the story Arc that closer to Pokemon Anime rather than those edgy fourth wall break meta fic bullshit!***
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**Ash, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, Misty, Brock, Gary (Should I put Goh and Chloe as well?) will go to Paldea to travel, they'll meet Roy , Liko and Friede for first time and Nemona will join Ash's team. They'll later met Steven and receive the** [Tera Orb](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Tera_Orb) which allows them to **Terastalize** their pokemon. **Ash will got 2** [new](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Fuecoco_(Pok%C3%A9mon))) [Pokemon](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Charcadet_(Pok%C3%A9mon))) **in this Arc, might consider to give Misty Quaxly** **in this Arc.**
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***Warning: Starting at this Arc, the typical Amour and even*** ***anime*** ***Pokemon logic will be thrown out the window*** *and replaced with the* ***original plot that you might not asked for!***
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\--------------------------------------**Tobias Arc:**\--------------------------------------
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**Type:** [Deconstruction Fic](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeconstructionFic)**,** **drama,** **Original Story, Amour, Break Fourth Wall, romance, Amour,** **character building, Action**
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***Warning: This Story Arc features with full of ridiculousness, rather dark story, in-face towards TPC and filled with heavy irony and even fourth wall break etc.*** ***Please watch at your discretion!***
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**Tobias was revealed to be the "Ash's dream crusher",** so strong that not even the combined effort of 7 Pokemon Master can stop him! This Arc features with the return and the **final battle against** **Oizys and Damian.**
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\--------------------------------------**Ash's 10 years old Arc:** \--------------------------------------
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**Type:** [Deconstruction Fic](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeconstructionFic)**,** **Original Story, Amour, Break Fourth Wall, romance,** **Humor**
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***Warning: This Story Arc features with full of ridiculousness, rather dark story, in-face towards TPC and filled with heavy irony and even fourth wall break etc.*** ***Please watch at your discretion!***
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**Last Story Arc where Ash is still 10 years old**
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**Ash finally defeated Tobias, but Ash's 10 years old curse had finally reverted Ash back to the tough dense shell. Ash's friend and Serena must find the way to break that curse to stop Ash from being 10 years old and bring the mature Ash back.**
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\--------------------------------------**Oshi no Ko** **crossoveIdol industry dark truth Arc:**\--------------------------------------
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**Type: crossover,** **drama, Break Fourth Wall, Humor**
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***Warning: This Story Arc features with full of ridiculousness, rather dark story, heavy irony, fourth wall break etc.*** ***Please watch at your discretion!***
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**Ash finally grown up! Serena was being invited to went to Japan for the performance but eventually rejected after she discovered the shocking, ugly truth of the idol industry in Japan. Officer Jenny gives the secret mission for Ash, Team Rocket Trio (served their sentence), Latias and Team Rocket Trio's Ditto will camouflage as Serena, Dawn, May and Chloe to sneak into those idol industry and debunk the dirty act in idol industry in Japan, while the real Serena, Dawn, May and Chloe will** **appeals to her fans all over the world** **to boycott such dirty act in idol industry in Japan.**
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\--------------------------------------**TBA Arc**\--------------------------------------

A lot of folks who need therapy just Google nearby clinics or ask their friends who they have seen. The easiest way to find a good doctor’s office for skin cancer screening or diabetes screening near me is to do some research, as asking a friend or family member for a referral could be awkward.
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How a Professional Doctor Helpful in Emotional Guidance?

Mi "Yammers" Hongwei is a Chinese caster from China. He is considered as one of the best Chinese stream commentator. His liquipedia link: Yammers - Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
Here is his weibo(kind like facebook). Translated by google translate.
This is a scheduled Weibo. After all these years, I still can’t let go of the hatred in my heart, and I can’t reconcile with myself. I also know that I’m sorry for many people. It’s all because of me. Let’s end it.
https://preview.redd.it/80j4fla91r2b1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db0589274220dde10de641bba4bab83b71017033
I was born in a small city in Hebei in 1997, in a family compound, in an ordinary worker's family. My father is a veteran, after retiring transferred to work in China Railway, and then settled here. My mother is from Hubei. After coming here with my sister, she married my father through introduction. Both of them had a failed marriage before, which was also a failure. Then there was me in the second year of marriage.
As far as I can remember, I lived with my mother most of the time when I was a child, and my father was on the construction site all year round because of the project, which also caused me to spend very little time with my father in my childhood. In addition, my father has a withdrawn personality, has a strange temper, and doesn’t talk to me much. We only meet once a year or once every two years, so when I was very young, I always asked my mother when my father would come back. I was able to see it during the Chinese New Year, and I kept talking non-stop, and he basically replied perfunctorily, that I basically didn't get any fatherly love.
Living in this family compound, there are so many children, logically speaking, childhood should be very happy, but for me, this is all a nightmare and pain. I was particularly impressed by the adults in the yard. When I was very young, they looked at me differently. Many parents would not let their children play with me. At first I thought it was because our family conditions were not good, or I'm a little naughty, and I will know the reason when I grow up, and I will talk about it later. After several twists and turns, I still integrated into the circle of children of the same age. Although I still suffered from some bullying occasionally, it didn’t matter anymore. The most painful memory for me should be the thing of being bullied by boys older than me. At that time, I was still in kindergarten, and those children were already junior high school students. That summer, when I came out from home and ate strawberries, I was seen by several older children. They held imitation gun toys and told me to play, and pushed me into an abandoned apartment building. Four or five people held my hand. My limbs poured urine on me, opened my mouth on the spot, and kept urinating. Then I ran home crying and vomiting all the way. Another time, it was also three or four people who dragged me to the corner of the compound to make me suck their cock. That time I didn't give in, and the crying attracted the adults, so I gave up. When I grew up, I realized that it was not only me who was bullied, but also a girl of my age. It was hard to imagine what she would go through. Moreover, many of these older children are children of leaders, born in powerful families, but they are really beasts. I will never forget this memory.
As time goes by, it's time for me to go to elementary school, because my comprehension ability may be worse than that of children of the same age. In addition, when I was young, I was inattentive and a little hyperactive. My first test in the first grade was very poor. I remember that the earliest subjects at that time were only Chinese and mathematics. Many children got full marks. But for me, one of them just passed and the other failed. When I got home, I was scolded and beaten. That was the first time I started to resist learning from the bottom of my heart. I said that I really didn't understand...I didn't learn...My mother just thought that I didn't pay attention to the class, and my parents had a very low level of education, especially me. Mom, she can't help me. Later, I spent money on cram school, and my grades in the second and third grades were slightly better. Grades 4, 5 and 6 my head teacher changes, and at this time some children began to collect protection fees, and they would fight you if you didn’t pay. After that, the frequency of my fights became more and more frequent. I was called to the office and framed. I was stupid, I was bad at defending myself, the teacher didn't believe me, and I was the one who was beaten and punished in the end. The school teachers in small cities punished people really outrageously, really beat them, slapped their mouths, whipped people with soft pencils, and beat them with sticks. It was also at that time, my grades were mediocre at that time, I started to get tired of studying, I didn't want to go to school, I didn't want to go to school, I started to pretend to be sick, and skipped classes. Completely tired of studying, it should be an incident in the sixth grade. The door lock in the class was broken by someone. I happened to be cleaning after school. A few students fought and broke the door lock. Then I ran to tell the teacher , I broke it, and they testified to each other, the teacher didn’t believe what I said, in front of so many teachers in the office, they kept hitting my palms with soft pencils, and they were all smashed, let me admit it quickly, I was really at that time Knowing what it means to be tortured into a trick, in the end I really couldn't stand the pain and admitted it. I also bought a new lock for the class to change. I never wanted to go to school at that time. Some people will ask why you didn't tell your mother, because of the academic performance, I have already separated from my mother. At this time, in the eyes of my relatives and family members, I am already a poor student and a bad boy. If I don't study hard, I will secretly go online. , I don't care anymore, I don't want to say anything to them.
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After entering junior high school, our class teachers in the first and second grades were all physical education teachers. In addition, my previous elementary school foundation was not well established, and I continued to be tired of studying in junior high school, chatting and fighting in class all day long. The first two years were spent with corporal punishment education and parents. This period was also my rebellious period. My father also transferred back from work, and my parents quarreled all day long. This is true. Every day, all the time, we are arguing, really all the time. The sound insulation of the old-fashioned buildings is very poor. The sound of our family’s quarrel can be heard in the whole courtyard. In addition to my school’s affairs, I also have endless quarrels with my family. On the one hand, I don't want to go home, and I'm already a little depressed. During that time, I skipped classes and played dota online, all night long. Went to sleep at school the next day. Later, it was also during this period that I knew, a thing that broke me down. Let’s not talk about how I know, I know that I was not born to my parents, but the illegitimate child of relatives, and then they found my father as a successor in order to cover up their mistakes, and I was born soon after the second year of marriage. , This is also the reason why the children in the yard have been bullying me since I was a child, and the adults looked at me strangely and refused to let their children play with me. I really broke down at that moment, and it was at that time that I suffered from depression. I became more and more disgusted with myself, and I hated my family more and more. At that time, I really didn’t want to live anymore. One day in the second semester of the second year of junior high school, I bought sleeping pills. At that time, the regulations on sleeping pills were not as strict as they are now. I committed suicide, but didn't eat enough to die. Later, the teacher came to our house for a home visit and asked me why, but I didn't say anything, I just said that I was not happy and that my life was meaningless. The head teacher is probably also afraid of taking responsibility. After that, all the teachers’ attitudes towards me have changed. At least they never bothered me when I slept in class, hhhh.
After entering the third year of junior high school, except for the change of the head teacher, the teachers of other subjects did not change. At this time, I met, the second good teacher in my life. The first one was Teacher Cai in the first three grades of elementary school. The teacher's surname is Tian. He is our chemistry teacher. It may also be because of my second year of junior high school... I can't control my emotions when I write here. After he took over our class, he talked to the students one by one. He was the first and only teacher who said he wanted to be my friend, he always encouraged me, he said you are no worse than anyone else, you have to be confident. In the third year of junior high school, my depression eased a lot, and I also studied hard for a year, but because I had left too much behind, I couldn't even catch up. In the end, I still failed the high school entrance examination, and then left home to study in Shijiazhuang. I don't want to continue living in this city either. I don't want to go back to this home.
The three years of studying and living in Shijiazhuang were one of the few happy times in my life, and my depression rarely broke out. Brand new environment + brand new friends and classmates, I am actively studying, I joined the student union and became a minister. Basketball + exercise + dota I have a very fulfilling overall life. The only legacy is the first official love in my life in the last stage of the semester, and I was cuckolded. I didn't have a relationship for the next five years.
After graduating, I went to China Railway for an internship, and I happened to stay in Shijiazhuang. At that time, Shijiazhuang was repairing the subway. I happened to be studying surveying, so I stayed. Maybe the first time I entered the society to work, many things broke my cognition. Hypocrisy and flattery in the workplace, intrigue among colleagues, false reporting of data, cutting corners by construction units, project managers who have families behind their backs to find mistresses... This world is really different from what I imagined. I was very serious in the first half of the year. In the next six months, I was thinking about what I wanted to do, and basically I didn't have any enthusiasm for work. Later, I resigned directly when I was working on the project I was working on. Leaving Shijiazhuang. Do a commentator.
My depression broke out completely in mid-March 2019, and my father passed away due to illness. I was tortured by the disease for nearly several months, and finally passed away in pain. In the last few days, I have been by his side. Looking at him, thinking back on his life, two failed marriages, being bullied by others in the workplace, and finally being tortured to death by illness. After the funeral, I went back to my rented house in Shanghai in April. During that time, I talked to myself all night in the room, banging my head against the wall in pain. I looked in the mirror every day, and I was disgusted when I saw myself in the mirror. The more I grow up, the more I look like my biological father. I can’t count how many times I have smoked myself in the mirror. This state has continued until the last two or three days. I laughed out of control and said to myself, I really can't do it. In recent years, I have started to squander money to fill the void in my heart. I can't find the meaning of life, and I can't reconcile myself with the past. Many people have said to me, you are not to blame for this matter, don't blame yourself for other people's faults, you have to live your own life. You could also say it's my excuse to escape from real life, a weak, useless piece of shit. whatever. Without me, there wouldn’t be this, this family that shouldn’t be there, and there wouldn’t be so many things that shouldn’t be there. This family came into existence because of me, and today I killed myself, and it ends with me. Everything was wrong from the beginning, and now this mistake can be corrected. My own inner pain can finally be over, and I leave today with a smile on my face. Many people die and are born every second in this world, without me, this world will not lack anything. I don't want to come to this world in my next life. I also hope that you will not create a tragic family for your own selfish desires or to cover up your mistakes in the future. Dota2_Yammers
Please forgive my selfishness and cowardice, and please understand my pain and struggle. goodbye
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I don't want to comment too much, just want to tell the story of a poor man, a dota lover. Hope dota brings him more happiness in his life. He has a famous voice line, which content is "再见了宝贝”, means "goodbye baby". I don't know if valve can do anything to make it a memorial.
R.I.P.

Shein watched from the sidewalk as the two humans shook hands before stepping back a few paces from each other.
The stocky one drew a bastard sword with a fat bellied tip. Calmly proclaiming.
"Drake is a better swordsman than the scourge."
The other, much thinner human, drew a long, thin Rapier and donned a chainmail glove. Softly rebuking.
"I believe the scourge is a better swordsman, to first blood?"
The stocky human nodded, a playful grin on his face.
"Try not to take one of my eyes out with one of those wild thrusts you're taught"
The thinner human smiled back, returning a quip of his own.
"As long as you don't try and take my head off, with those wide swings of yours."
The two nodded in agreement.
Then they clashed.
The rapier jabbed at the stocky human's cheek, the stocky human twisting out of the way as the bastard sword's tip flashed inches away from the thin human's throat. The thin human countered by leaning back, throwing a left hook with the chain mail glove. The stocky man ate it, parrying the rapier that whipped for his side before retaliating with a kick to the chest that sent the thinner man stumbling back with a laugh.
They engaged again, the bastard sword swept upwards as the rapier swished down at an angle. The two blades met and the heavier bastard sword pushed the rapier aside, the rapier redirecting the bastard sword slightly away from the thin man's face. Locking the two chest to chest. Each other's blades locked at the cross guard before they broke away.
The rapier thrusted, the bastard sword cleaved through the air.
A line was cut on the stocky man's cheek just as the tip of the bastard sword opened up a small, two inch long cut across the other's sternum.
The two humans felt their injuries, saw the blood and smiled. The stocky man sheathed his bastard sword and extended the hand he'd touched the cut with, blood on his fingers.
"Good work as always Thomas, you're getting quicker with that needle of yours."
Thomas smiled and shook the stocky man's hand with his own bloodied one.
"I can say the same Gary, that blade of yours is getting harder and harder to redirect almost took my nose off with that upward swing."
Gary smiled and gave a hearty laugh before clapping his friendly rival on the back.
"Let's go get a bear and compare notes then. Tangling up my sword guard with the basket hilt? Brilliant idea."
The two human's voices faded into the usual burble as everyone continued on with their day. Taking a moment to watch Gary and Thomas's weekly duel was a common past time in the forge district.
Shein stopped by a food cart manned by a cephalopod, who was selling fried octopus.
"Hey Tignak, get any confused tourists today that accuse you of cannibalism?"
There was a sound like a dozen suction cups being pulled off of one another, the cephalopod's version of laughter. The vendors voice appearing in her head after a small pulse that she could accept or deny access to.
"A few, they seem to forget I'm a terrestrial squid and not a deep water octopus. Besides, if I tasted anywhere near this good, I'd just lop a few feet of each limb off, fry it and sell it. They'd grow back in a day or two and I'd save a ton on groceries."
Shein laughed with Tignak, imagining the sight of him casually frying the end of one of his own tentacles.
"I don't doubt Tig, speaking of which. I'm visiting my old man and you know how much he loves your cooking."
She felt Tig's smile in her mind even though the octopus's face was completely unreadable. Just a very large eye staring back at her.
"Of course, you know Frank and I go way back, have these on the house."
Tig took a few fresh squid, whacked them against the table to kill them instantly before starting to fry them up. It only took a few minutes for the many armed food cart manager to cook and box up a half dozen fried squid. Shein took the box gratefully and bowed her head to Tig.
"Thank you Tig, I owe you one, if you need anything you know how to reach me."
The cephalopod gave a salute with an unoccupied tentacle.
"No worries Ms. Stein, please visit more often, I enjoy our little chats."
Shein smiled and turned to walk off, using her nimble tail to drop a twenty credit piece in Tignak's tip jar. It had been awhile since she'd last seen her dad, her job took her to some pretty far away places for long periods. But whenever she knocked on his door, that tired old mouse always answered with gusto.
Shein plodded her way down the main street, picking up some small material samples from the local smiths for her father's experiments. As she neared the warehouse her father had converted into a machine shop and living quarters. She knocked on the door rather roughly, hearing a pneumatic hiss on the other side and the impact of metal against flesh.
Without a second's more hesitation, Shein ripped the door open, concern etched across her face.
"Shit! You good doctor, that sounded like it hurt!"
The old mousian was laughing, a bruise on his furless cheek where Ferrick's new arm had punched him with pneumatic assistance. Ferrick knelt by the laughing mousian, a concerned look on his face as he wept his now gunmetal grey hair out of his eyes.
Doctor Franklin Neville Stein simply patted the cyborgs still intact upper bicep, chuckling as he scratched one of his tattered ears.
"Ah! consider it a function check my boy! That was barely at ten percent power and it knocked me flat!"
Ferrick looked down at his new arm and began chuckling with the mad doctor before pulling the much smaller mousian to their feet.
"Doctor's orders, unrefusable! Good work on the arm though, if that was ten percent I can't imagine what fifty or a hundred would've done."
Dr.Frank nodded, the maniac glint of a mad scientist coming to his eyes.
"With the newly improved valves and better seals, you could punch a hole in starship armor at seventy. One hundred and you might just punch through the entire ship!"
The two old galactic adventures laughed together. Before shein cleared her throat.
The two men slowly, guiltily turned around as Shein gave them both a dirty look, hand slipping away from the handgun she kept at the small of her back. She pointed at her dad.
"We've discussed this dad, stay out of range of your own machines when you're working on them."
She glared at Ferrick who sheepishly looked down. She did take a bit of pride in that, she was the only person he feared pissing off.
"And you! I told you not to let him work on your prosthetics while they're still attached! Do we need to have another Icarus scenario to deal with?"
Ferrick mumbled back sheepishly.
"We only leveled the warehouse once..."
Shein slapped her palm against her face, dragging it down in exasperation before simply saying.
"Leveled it? Yeah you've only done that once. However, you two have burned it down, shot bowling balls through the walls, created a miniature sun that bathed everything in lethal amounts of UV radiation after the containment field lost power. Or that time it got sucked into the warp because you two couldn't get it through your thick skulls why we dont open portals to the warp in atmosphere. You're extremely lucky neither of you got sucked in with it."
Shein took a deep breath and let it out slowly before setting the box of fried squid on the metal dinner table. The two old veterans of intergalactic conflicts hanging their head in shame after being berated by a journalist. Then Shein started snickering softly before saying.
"I love you both, but seriously, when you two get together they seriously consider evacuating parts of the forge district in case one of your guy's experiments goes away. Again. Anyway, let's eat, I'm hungry."
The two old men smiled at each other and gave a chuckle before joining Shein at the table. Shein was munching on the fried tentacle of a squid when ferrick turned to her father.
"How's the artificial blackhole coming along?"
"Swimmingly, it just stabilized last night and is ready for observa-"
The two men were distracted from their conversation by Shein slamming her head into the table. Her voice muffled as she stated.
"You two are the dumbest fucking geniuses I know. Dad, please for the love of God, get rid of the black hole."
Dr.Frank sheepishly looked between ferrick and his daughter. Ferrick shrugged as if to say.
'might as well be honest old man'
Clearing his throat Dr.Frank sheepishly replied.
"Sweetheart, it's a black hole... The most I can do is keep it stable until it runs out of energy."
Shein looked at her father.
"And how long will that take?"
Her father grimaced.
"More... More than two hundred and fifty thousand years give or take."
Shein just groaned as she lowered her head back to the table. Quietly muttering to herself.
"How can they be so smart yet so dumb at the same time. Thank God neither of them care about intergalactic domination."
Ferrick turned back to Dr.Frank, a smile creeping onto his face as he overheard Shein's mumblings.
"So how's the manifesto going Frank?"
"FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK YOU TWO, JUST BE NORMAL FOR FIVE SECONDS!"
The exasperated reporter cried out. Sending both Ferrick and Dr.Frank into howls of laughter as she finally realized they were fucking with her.
"You two are insufferable. One of these days you're going to give me an aneurysm with your antics."
She chuckled and shook her head.
"Glad you didn't actually make a black hole dad."
The two men's laughter suddenly stopped and they shared a glance.
Shein pinched her nose and sighed defeatedly.
"Scratch that, I think I just had one. I'm going home before you two summon some eldritch horror or something."

Why is nearly no one doing the first goal rule anymore? Is it because of the MM in the objectives or the gamecap?
I played several guys in Ligue 1 Cup and they all stopped playing after the 3 or 4-0 in the twenties..
Just quit and save both of us time or am i missing something?

I've been active in KS fandom for 6 years and a half now and it's time to debunk some common misconceptions that I'm still seeing until this day. I have actually written an informative post one years ago, and while I don't like the self-promotion, I suggest a read because it answers to some questions I'm currently seeing in this subreddit lately. In no way I'm implying I am an authority in this fandom, but I collected a lot of information first-hand (I personally met Koogi twice, one of which was an exclusive meeting with a selection of lucky fans, I talk about it here ) and while i think everyone's opinion is valid, we shouldn't ever forget to respect the author first and foremost. Also we should take into account that our views are more often than not filtered through western lenses. Koogi is a Korean author that writes mainly for a Korean audience of adults. Most of the time I've read misconceptions about what a BL is, and what I suggest is to find reliable sources, especially coming from Asian people, if you want to know more about this genre. What I could say before I start is that BL doesn't mean romantic story with a healthy relationship. Some BLs deals with dark and sensitive themes, like rape, pedophilia, abuse etc. but this doesn't make them less a BL. The common denominator is that all BLs involve a relationship between two males. The relationship could be sexual or platonic, healthy or extremely toxic, this doesn't matter.

Misconception: Killing Stalking is only a psychological horro Fact: Killing Stalking is a BL thriller.

It has always been in the BL category on the official site where it has been published since November 2016. The site is Lezhin. In a Q&A that you can find on Lezhin, Koogi explicitly stated why she chose this genre: she grew up with BLs so it came naturally to her. Moreover, during a fan meeting in 2019, she called her work a yaoi (BL) thriller in front of her audience and said she is not that much of a fan of horrors

Misconception: Koogi stated KS is not a BL. Fact: Koogi never said Ks is not a BL. It's a false, made-up statement.

This misconception comes from the fan wiki, which is not a reliable source since everyone could write it. Sadly it spread in the fandom but there are no proofs Koogi ever said that because she never did it. You can check all her interviews and her personal twitter and you'll never find anything about this :)

Misconception: Koogi doesn't want to be related to BL and she hates shipping art between Bum and Sangwoo Fact: just look at her Twitter ;)

Koogi not only wrote a BL (thriller) herself, but she is a big fan of BLs. She said her favourite BL author is the Japanese mangaka Harada. Now, if you never heard about Harada, their works masterfully deals with very dark and sensitive themes, sometimes even more fucked up than KS itself. In one of their works, Nii-chan, they wrote the relationship between a young boy and the pedo that groomed him. All of that with great subtlety. Nii-chan is a BL, accept it or not. Koogi also loves Jun's Dark Heaven a Korean BL that involves themes like drugs, abuse and crime. Also, if you give a look at Koogi's twitter, you can see how she has no issues to RT some romantic or erotic art between Bum and Sangwoo, and sometimes enthusiastically react to them with a comment just like she did with this very NSFW art :) She isn't just supportive of her fans, but she clearly likes that.
Also, more important, she drew erotic art herself (this is just the last example). If you think she doesn't like or she condemns this kind of content, you are very wrong about it.

Misconception: There have been controversies because KS is a psychological thriller and people say it is a BL. Fact: the only controversies Koogi faced are of another nature.

Tbh in the western fandom that thing about BL/not a BL is still a thing, but Koogi doesn't even know it because it's just a western fandom thing. Koogi and the Asian part of the fandom (Korean and Japanese readers) never questioned it is a BL. Koogi got criticism for her work but for another reason: the depiction of femicide, especially Jieun's murder. Some Korean fans dropped the story after the end of season 1 because of it, attacked Koogi saying they hated Bum for that. Koogi said she was very sad people attacked her character and while Jieun's death was a hard choice, it was an important and unavoidable part of the plot. The controversy arose again when the KS drama has been announced. Some feminist groups asked the production to be stopped since there is a worrying surge of misogynistic violence towards women in Korea, and they were afraid that some perverts would have used the drama footage of the actresses for their porns. As for today we know nothing new about the drama, but I think Koogi is taking care of the issue.

Misconception: Koogi said she didn't want KS to be a romance Fact: Koogi said she didn't want to trivialise an abusive relationship as it commonly happens in many stories.

Well, it is true that Ks is not a romance per se, but Koogi meant something else with that statement. There are so many stories, especially BLs, that depict abusive relationships. One of the most popular at the moment, still on Lezhin, it's Painter of the Night by Byeonduck. I have nothing against the author or her fans, it is just an example. This story, set in the ancient Korea, involves a noble kidnapping a lowborn, forcing him to paint for him. Especially in the first part of the story, the noble, who has been severely abused in his childhood, rapes several time the painter, forces him to sexual acts, abuses and beats him. At the current point of the story (more than 100 chapters), the painter is deeply in love with his rapist, because the rapist became a better person for him. There is still no actual explanation why the painter fell in love with the guy that beated and raped him several times, there is still a big power imbalance, but no one questions this story is a BL or a romance. And once again, it's ok if you like it, since it's fictional and nobody is truly hurt. Koogi didn't want to write the usual story where the abuser magically change for love and the victim falls in love despite being raped several times. First of all, Ks is not about Stockholm syndrome, a common trope in so many BLs. Bum canonically has Borderline Personality Disorder and he had a crush on Sangwoo before finding out Sangwoo was a killer. Bum didn't develop feelings for his captor because Sangwoo was occasionally kind to him, Bum had a severe, untreated mental illness that put a huge toll on his view about relationships and people. With this I don't mean Bum is not capable of real feelings of love, he actually is, but he doesn't stay with Sangwoo because of Stockholm syndrome ( that to be honest, it is still debated to be a real syndrome by many psychologists). Sangwoo himself, while actively trying to change for Bum, never actually changed and fell back to his abusive and destructive behaviour. The ending of the story (and the title itself) shows the tragedy of the cycle of abuse, that is very hard to break without any help. Even if Sangwoo and Bum had genuine feelings for each other, and Koogi confirmed it , their relationship was doomed to fail because of the abuse. This is what she meant, their relationship couldn't work because a victim could never be safe in the hands of their abusers and abusers don't change for love (without a huge amount of external professional help at least) I'm sorry for the long post, but I hope I answered to some common questions. I tried to bring the objective facts I know. My wish is that we always respect each other in this fandom, but above all we should respect Koogi, without her we wouldn't be here.

I’ve tried a different sub but couldn’t figure out how to make my post work so I am trying it here.
I have tried to be as clear as I can without rambling so if it sounds insincere, that might be why.
This is written on my phone and I am not a native English speaker.
I (23NB, AFAB) met my best friend (22F) back when we were 4 and 5 thanks to our small public elementary school having mixed grades. While we didn’t click at first, our mothers befriending each other had us spent more time together and we quickly became best friends.
Around the time we were 7/8, her parents put her and her little sister in a religious elementary school and we only saw each other outside of school. Until then we were inseparable but after that I believe we started slowly growing apart. Regardless of this, she has been there for me during the worst moments of my life and supported me through them.
Whenever it’s just the two of us, it’s still like it used to be. We talk and have fun and I could tell her anything. But whenever someone else gets added into the mix, it’s like I’m a background character. And as an introvert, I can’t just butt in or something so I just stay quiet, smile and nod when I need to and wait until the person leaves or I can go home. She often invites me to go somewhere she was already going to and I don’t know if it’s because she wanted to spend some time or if she just doesn’t want to be alone. I am also usually the one that sends the first text and carries the conversation and at some point I just kinda stopped putting in so much effort.
I have also grown hesitant to tell her everything. I had to really test the waters so to speak before I had to guts to tell her that I like girls and I haven’t ever told her that I am non-binary.
I am going back forth between distancing myself from her and reaching out to hang put because I miss her. I’ve even spoken to her last summer about how I had trouble with some of her behavior, like what I mentioned above but also talking shit behind others’ backs towards me. I had hoped that it would get better and for a while it seemed to go well!
I (sorta naively?) lend her about €500 during that time because she needed it and I’ve slowly been getting it back bit by bit. She originally said she’d give it back to me as €50 a month but she missed two months now, “because of some trouble with the bank [which was true, but only lasted a day] and she simply forgot this month.” I don’t truly mind it because I know that I’ll get it back eventually, but it does irritate me because I know for a fact that she has that money, she just keeps spending it on who knows what.
I’ve tried to be hopeful that this can work out and I can keep the person who used to feel like a sister to me in my life, but yesterday I started to question if it was worth it at all. My mom and I were over to hang out with her and her mother (and her baby brother) and we went out to go to the grocery and retail stores near her with her brother. Out of nowhere she told me that this other girl was also coming, who in turn invited her mother and little sister? And I was basically ignored for the entire time they were there.
Once done we returned to her home and had dinner. I asked a few times if she’d like to go hang out in her room so we could actually talk, but she didn’t want to until much later. Once we were finally there, she showed me some gifts she was planning to give her colleagues once she quits and after that she was mostly on her phone, texting with her boyfriend.
I feel kinda immature about the entire idea of letting the friendship basically die out. As if I’m an attention seeker or something. But I just don’t like the person she has become. I know that growing apart is simply a part of life, but I also don’t to loose someone that is/was so important to me while growing up.
So basically, should I keep trying to salvage this or should I stop reaching out once I have my money back?
TLDR: my best friend and I have grown apart, should I fight for this friendship or let it go?

According to the Gender Dysphoria Bible, biochemical dysphoria is caused by the brain being wired for one kind of gonadal hormones (such as testosterone) and the body producing the other hormones (such as estradiol). Cross-hormone therapy supposedly always results in dysphoria and PCOS causes low mental health in cis women. Secret Gamer Girl says that if a confused cis person was to attempt medical transition they would feel absolutely awful and probably stop immediately.
Sophie writes:

Before transitioning, I was completely numb. I didn't feel happiness or joy, nor sadness or sorrow. I felt dead on the inside, like I was acting out a script someone else had written for me. After deciding to transition, it was as if all my life the whole world had been a sepia movie, and all of a sudden it got colors. I started feeling lots of things for the first time

Trans Girl Next Door writes:

I expected the kind of happiness I get when I go to the beach with my friends, or when I land an awesome job. Don't get me wrong, there were many moments like that during my first year, but I learned that most of the time it's more of a bliss. It's not showy, pumping, or loud like a cliche pride anthem; it's more like a soft subtle sound track that feathers your heart. This is something I had realized early on in my transition, it is absolutely the strangest but most wonderful thing ever. It's almost as if my life in the past 23 years was just in black and white. Now it's absorbing and radiating colors at the same time. Life isn't just "happy" or "sad" anymore, there are so many other emtions inbetweem, and I finally gained access to them. But most importantly, for the first time in forever, I finally feel alive now

I have heard many stories about trans people feeling really, really good on the first day of taking their hormones and that this feeling is a sign that you're doing the right thing. DR Z PHD even made a warning that some people start taking hormones, start feeling a lot better, and then stop taking the hormones because they think they are not trans anymore, only to then feel even worse than before.
I even read somewhere that some trans women found out they are trans simply because they received estrogen for a completely unrelated reason!
Because of all this, I expected to feel something when I get my first hormones. I even thought that the feeling I get would explain to me whether I'm actually transgender or not. It even went so far that I was ready to detransition if the hormones would make me feel bad, assuming that this would prove that I am not trans after all but only a person wanting to be a different gender and that those hormones would only make everything worse.
So then I took my first hormones and I felt...nothing.
I have been on hormones for over 2 years now. And apart from the estrogen having made me more emotional, the hormones haven't changed my emotions in any way whatsoever. They have changed my body a lot though. I now pass as my target gender effortlessly and I even get complimented on my look sometimes. I always knew I wanted my body to be different and the bodily changes caused by the hormones do make me happy. But is that really all there is?
My therapist told me it is. I showed him some of the examples above and he said that the reason PCOS causes low mental health in cis women is because it masculinizes their bodies, thereby making the cis women uncomfortable in their own bodies.
But then what about the supposed feeling of bliss on the first day of taking hormones? One day isn't nearly enough to cause even the slightest bodily changes. Does this mean that this is all just placebo? But even if it was, how would what DR Z PHD warned about even be possible??????????

This is Part 2 because of the character limit, go here to get caught up: https://www.reddit.com/TheDarkGathering/comments/13urkbj/the_thing_in_the_cracks_part_1/
Talbot awoke in a round corridor. At least he thought that’s what it was. The corridor seemed to be made of dark stone, rough and ridged like a worm’s tunnel, but on a massive scale. Despite no visible light source, Talbot found he could make out every detail in the space around him.
Talbot shakily stood up and considered his situation. His hands were shaking. He supposed nearly getting killed by lethal injection and then shattering the very fabric of reality itself took a toll on the psyche. He reflexively reached for his notebook to note that down, and with a pang remembered that it was gone. He would likely never see it again.
Glancing around, Talbot wondered at how normal everything looked, considering he was in the fifth dimension. There was likely more going on under the surface, but from his vantage it just looked like an oddly lit cave.
Talbot noted that there was no sign of Willis. He’d distinctly remembered the other man getting pulled through time and space with him, but at some point during the traversal his hand had been wrenched away from Talbot’s wrist. Had he been shunted back to their reality, or was he here somewhere?
A deep rumble began to grow beneath Talbot’s feet. The entire cave shook like an earthquake as Talbot scrambled to the side of the tube.
Confused, the man glanced around. He saw no probable cause for the rumbling, no subterranean vehicles or even geological fissures that could explain the vibrations.
Turning, he realized with a start that the rumbling was slightly stronger on one side of him. If it was directional, there was an actual source, not just a general shaking of the environment.
Talbot began moving away from the rumbling, as it continued to grow stronger.
Eventually, he broke into a full run as everything around him shook. He felt like his skull was going to burst. It felt like something was chasing him, a massive subterranean beast.
As the rumbling kept growing, Talbot tripped. Out of nowhere, his foot slipped and he sprawled to the ground, crying out as he landed on his arm. He tried to get back up, which was when he realized there was something right behind him.
Talbot hit the deck, right as something zoomed directly above his head. Wind pulled at his hair and it felt like he was directly under a train.
Talbot screamed, but it was drowned out by the impossibly loud whoosh of the thing above him. He gingerly flipped onto his back, barely staying clear of the surface of whatever was making the sound, in order to see what was above him.
There was nothing but empty space.
Then, he could suddenly see a long gray tube rushing past impossibly quickly. Then it was gone again, but the rushing was still there. It was blinking in and out of existence, only appearing for short bursts, but still there in its invisible state. Talbot realized that it must be dipping in and out of the Fifth Dimension, his own limited perception unable to comprehend its greater state.
Eventually, the thing slowed and stopped. As it was still, Talbot got a better look at it.
It was definitely organic. The exterior of the tube had a pale gray color, with a texture not unlike skin. However, as opposed to the neat, even lines separating cells on human skin, the striations on the thing seemed almost random, forming a surface that, although smooth, had the jagged impression of rough crags.
As Talbot examined the thing and wished he’d brought a camera, he heard something. From the object’s direction of origin, a deep groan emanated from lord-knew-where. Talbot winced as it hit his ears, the bellow deafening. He could immediately detect three things about the cry, judging by the cadence and the way it had slowly grown from an origin point. First, it definitely came from a living thing. Nothing artificial made that noise. Second, it came from very far away. And thirdly, it came from something massive. Impossibly so.
From the other direction, so comparably quiet he barely heard, Talbot made out a shriek that was horribly human.
The thing above him shifted and despite having almost a foot of clearance, Talbot instinctively sucked in his gut.
The tube… the limb began moving in the opposite direction, back towards its origin point.
Like a train, it started slowly but accelerated quickly, beginning to blink in and out of Talbot’s vision once again.
Talbot heard the scream again, closer this time. It seemed likely that whatever this thing was had found and grabbed another person.
After several long moments, the end of the limb finally reached Talbot, shooting past and above him like a tape measure shooting back into its shell when a button was pressed.
After it passed, Talbot sprang to his feet and finally got a good look at the end of the thing’s limb. The actual tube rounded off, dispelling any predictions about a monstrous tentacle. However, what was on the end of the limb may’ve been even more horrible.
Four long finger-like appendages were arranged around the limb radially, each one emerging from the edge of the flat tendril end. They were unnaturally thin, and despite somewhat resembling fingers, they had no visible knuckles and were tipped with sharp claws that appeared to be made of bone. They bent in, each holding their prey in place. Their prey in question was Tim Willis, currently pulling against the monstrous cage. The four outer digits pressed on each of his limbs, drawing blood where they poked him.
The limb, and Willis with it, disappeared around a bend in the tunnel. Talbot ran after it. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, or if he was going to save the man, but he knew that no matter what happened, he wanted to see it.
For a long while Talbot chased the thing, barely keeping pace due to his cardio experience. During the run, whatever existed here continued bellowing, getting louder each time. In addition, each time he set his foot down, the ground felt slightly warmer.
Eventually he fell back, and lost sight of the thing completely. It was impressive that a man of his age and lifestyle had managed to follow the thing for so long, but he had to take a knee as exhaustion racked him. He continued following its path, but at a slower pace.
Eventually Talbot emerged into a much larger chamber. The air here was blistering, and the intermittent bellows had grown so loud that Talbot had to cover his ears every few minutes to keep from suffering permanent damage.
This cavern left him speechless.
Unlike the passage, with its unidentifiable neutral lighting, this cavern was dark, intermittently lit by what appeared to be giant glowworms, each perched on a rock surface and oozing an ugly orange aura into the space around it.
Less than half of the room was lit, but it was enough for Talbot to see that the remaining more-than-half was taken up by a monstrous… thing the same shade as the limb.
It was like a spider, in the same way that a massive dragonfish from the bottom of the sea is like a goldfish. Its main body was shaped like a blimp, and about the size of one too. A large abdomen sagged beneath it as it hung in the exact center of the room, and eight radially symmetrical limbs stuck to eight points around the cavern, suspending it in the middle of the room, and making it look like the center of a giant wheel, each limb serving as the spokes.
This facsimile was somewhat broken by the auxiliary limbs attached to its thorax, countless smaller tendrils identical to the one that held Willis. Some hovered around the thing’s ‘face’, while others darted towards countless holes in the rock around the cavern. As they moved, they blinked in and out of Talbot’s vision as they tapped into primordial forces beyond his eyes.
The cavern was dotted with holes, all exactly the same size and shape as the one Talbot stood in the lip of now. He realized that this thing and its countless appendages must’ve bored into the stone around it, creating a labyrinthine lair not dissimilar to an ant’s hive, but with one crucial difference. Rather than hundreds of tiny workers, this entire place had been built by, and for, one monstrous being.
Talbot was so stunned by the beast that he didn’t notice one of its many tendrils coming straight for him.
It appeared directly in front of his face, resulting in a jumpscare that sent him tumbling backwards, falling onto his back.
The thing moved like a snake, if a snake was constantly flipping between visible and invisible.
It struck, speeding downwards towards the chemist. Talbot braced for impact, but just before it could hit him it disappeared.
Talbot sat relieved, as it had apparently teleported somewhere else.
That was until it reappeared with the fingers around his torso.
The tendril had re-manifested just past him, the fingers clipping partway into the floor as they cradled him. Talbot felt four small pricks in his back and the backs of his thighs, where the claws had pierced his flesh.
The thing pulled him upwards, the fingers embedded in the ground breaking out of the stone beneath him and sending chunks of rock several feet in all directions.
The tendril shot up towards the ceiling of the cavern, rising what must’ve been 60 feet in half a second. Talbot could barely see the ground around the tendril, far enough below to dizzy him.
Talbot saw stars.
Talbot wished he could see the stars.
The tendril took him, in a daze, towards the thing’s face. As Talbot grew closer, he heard a ragged hissing, like an oxygen tank leaking. He realized it was the monster breathing, but immediately was unsure once its head turned toward him.
Its head was roughly human-shaped, but utterly inhuman in every other way. Five dark pits, facsimiles of eyes, were arranged in a pentagonal shape on the top half of its face. The bottom half was flat skin, but flat skin that seemed to be vertically stretched, as though it’d been draped over some opening. That was possibly where the breathing was coming from, but there was no way to tell with no actually apparent orifice.
The thing seemed to sniff Talbot, despite having no nose. Then it turned, and brought another piece of potential food to its head.
With a start, Talbot realized Willis was still alive. Or at least, unconsumed. He hung limp from his tendril, held in place by the finger-things and seemingly unconscious.
But the Thing wasn’t interested in either of them, not yet at least. It brought one of its tendrils up to its head before plunging it directly toward a nearby rock face. Right before it made contact, it disappeared.
Talbot reached towards Willis, but he was just outside of his reach. He didn’t want to yell to the man. The thing had no ears, but there was no guarantee that it couldn’t hear somehow.
The tendril that the thing had sent away reappeared, seemingly partially buried in the rock face. The thing wrenched its tendril from the rock, leaving behind a shallow pockmark in the cave.
Skewered on the spine was a small man. He flailed wildly and screamed something in a language Talbot didn’t know. He was wearing a business suit, but his pants were around his ankles, with baby blue boxers underneath.
Talbot wondered where he’d come from, then realized with a start that he’d likely originated from the real world. Meaning that this thing could reach beyond this reality and into their reality. Oh shit. Maybe he should’ve listened to Talc. If he and Willis hadn’t breached the Fifth Dimension, maybe the thing couldn’t’ve done the same, and this man might still be safe out there.
The thing brought the man towards its face and did the strange sniffing motion again. Satisfied, it brought him even closer. Talbot, despite himself, was curious to see how it consumed prey, and so paused in his attempts to wake Willis in order to watch.
The man screamed as the tendril brought him right up to the thing’s face, and then the thing’s face disappeared, moving through the Fifth Dimension in the same way as its tendrils.
When it reappeared, it was halfway inside the man, the smooth layer of skin clipped through his abdomen.
The thing pulled its head back.
Talbot turned away as a bloodcurdling scream and a terrible ripping sound reverberated through the cavern. He reached for Willis again, and to his surprise, found that he could reach him. He tapped him on the shoulder, and when he got no response, he slapped him in the face. Willis stirred, and slowly opened his eyes. He put a hand to his face and frowned. “Ow,” he said quietly.
Talbot put a finger to his lips and indicated the beast’s head with his eyes, and the gruesome consumption of the poor man.
Willis seemed to get the message. He quietly started prying each finger off of his body, praying that the thing had no nerves in the spines.
Talbot turned back towards the creature, which had repeated the teleportation maneuver a few more times before finally swallowing what remained of the man. Seemingly not quite satiated, Talbot’s tendril began to move as it pulled him closer to its face.
Talbot’s eyes widened and he looked back at Willis in fear. The man made a motion that suggested Talbot should try to stay calm, and that Willis would be along as soon as he’d freed himself.
Talbot tensed as he was pulled along, not wanting to be brought any closer to the monster. The thing brought him up to its face, and seemed to study him with the light-sensitive divots in its face. Talbot glanced back at Willis to see that he’d moved 2 of 4 fingers out of place. The larger man shot him a reassuring nod.
Turning back to the monster, Talbot realized that the other man wouldn’t get here in time. The thing was already lunging its head forward, and it blinked away.
It reappeared with Talbot’s shins inside its face. Behind the skin, Talbot’s feet could feel a damp cavity, so there was presumably a mouth of some sort behind the surface, and it wasn’t just solid flesh. A row of teeth closed around his legs, but not hard. They worked more to keep him in place than to actually damage his legs.
Talbot took a second to wonder why the hell he was considering the consumption mechanics of something that was actively chopping off his legs.
The tendril moved backwards, pulling Talbot away from the thing.
These last few lucid seconds, Talbot’s brain reverted to factory reset settings. Instead of hearing the wet tear of both his legs, or the strangely cartoonish wet pop as the bones in both his shins were yanked away from his kneecaps, he found himself focusing on the strangest things.
Talbot considered the glowworms. Were they native to the Fifth Dimension, or had they come here from his, or another, Earth? If they were native, the convergent evolution with Earth glowworms, especially in an environment so alien, was coincidental to an unfathomable degree. If they had originated from Earth, however, why the orange glow? No glow worms on Earth glowed orange. Also, if they were Earthly, why did the thing not eat them? Did it only eat humans? Was it that cunning? That cruel?
Oh, Talbot realized, I’m falling.
He blacked out before hitting the ground.
Talbot’s first thought upon waking up was, Holy shit, I’m still alive. His second thought was, Holy shit, how the hell am I still alive?
His inner ear told him he was prone, but it’d been on the fritz ever since he’d arrived, so he opened his eyes to make sure. They confirmed what his ear was saying, and he took a quick second to thank all his organs for functioning so well under stress.
Willis sat next to him, notably more intact. He was wearing no shirt, and both his abdomen wound and Talbot’s stubs were bound in the fabric of an Anderson Innovations janitor’s uniform.
Talbot started staring at his abs, which caused Willis to glance down at him.
The other man cleared his throat. “Oh, you’re still alive?”
Talbot nodded softly. “Does it not know where we are?”
“Not yet,” Willis shrugged, “It has no eyes and didn’t see us escape, so it’s sending out tendrils through each passage, and hasn’t picked this one yet. I guess we got lucky when I dragged you in here.”
“Yeah. Why is that, by the way? You were just about to kill me before I trapped you in a hellish cave dimension.” He considered his words. “Which would only be more reason to kill me.”
Willis shook his head and chuckled tiredly. “Call me an idealist, but I didn’t join a group called the Agency for the Preservation of Humanity to kill people. I’m not good at holding grudges.”
“Then why were you gonna kill me when we were still out there?”
“It’s different. I had orders. Now Talc isn’t here, so it’s my decision. The real question is how are you still alive even with my intervention?”
Talbot shrugged, which made him dizzy. “ I’m on my way out. That blood loss will kill me in a couple minutes, if that thing doesn’t find us first.”
Talbot glanced around the environment for the first time, and realized they were once again in one of the small side tubes. Loud bellowing filled the air as the thing presumably scoured its domain for the two men.
“Well, at least our sacrifice will save the rest of humanity.” Willis proclaimed.
Talbot chortled.
“What?” Willis responded.
“Didn’t you see the other guy get eaten?”
“What?! There was another guy?!”
“Yeah, it stole him from our world.”
“Goddammit Talbot, Talc said that would happen!”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Talbot said, in a tone that didn’t sound very sorry.
“At least it was just once. Talc has your notes, so he’ll keep it from happening again.”
Talbot almost guffawed.
“Goddammit, what am I doing that’s so funny?!”
“No, it’s not you. Well, it is you, a little, but it’s mostly the fact that I… may’ve doomed humanity anyway.”
Willis was silent, which Talbot regrettably took as a prompt to continue.
“Cause you see,” the scientist slurred, getting more light-headed by the second, “before I tried to ship off the notebook to Johnson, I ripped out the most important parts and sent ‘em to Vincent Anderson, my boss.”
Willis remained silent.
“So, you know. Hopefully someone publishes that in a journal somewhere so that people can actually remember me.”
Willis punched him in the face, hard.
Once he recovered, Talbot nodded. Blood ran from his nose. “I deserved that. I’m sorry, I didn’t know that learning how to break reality would allow a Great Old One to start eating people.”
Willis shook his head in disgust. “Talc told you not to. Do you really think your legacy is more important than the survival of our species?”
Talbot didn’t respond. Whether it was because he was speechless or dead was unclear, and didn’t really matter in any case.
Willis turned and limped away.
Two days after Willis and Talbot disappeared to the Fifth Dimension, Talc said goodbye to… himself and Willis-2, and used a Seal of Traversal to return to his native dimension. He reported to his boss that Willis was gone and would not be returning, before going to Talbot’s house and opening the door with the key they’d taken from the scientist.
Talc went into Talbot’s kitchen and fetched a can of tuna and a jar of mayonnaise. He mixed the two together and filled the pet bowl on the counter. Noting that there was some left, he made himself a tuna sandwich and sat next to the bowl.
It took Ozymandius a while to approach Talc, and even longer to warm up to him. However, the cat was curled up against the delicate man, purring like an engine, by the time the sunset rolled around and they both watched it out the large windows at the back of Talbot’s house.
Talc’s phone rang.
“Yello?” Talc said to the unknown caller.
“Hey.”
Talc immediately tensed. The voice was, undeniably, Talbot’s.
“What is this?!? Where are you?!?”
When the Talcs and Willis had reviewed the CCTV footage, they’d realized exactly where Talbot and Willis had ended up, and had naturally concluded that they were dead.
“I honestly don’t know. I was just in the Fifth Dimension with Willis, but now I’m unsure. It’s dark, and my legs don’t hurt anymore.”
“What does that mean?! Are you still alive?! Is Willis still alive?!”
“I don’t think so. I think I’m dying. Already dead?”
“Then how are you talking to me? Are there phones in the fifth dimension?”
“Nah, I can just hear you. My hypotheses are that this is either a feverish hallucination in my dying moments, or that the Fifth Dimension can somehow…” Talbot’s speech sank into bleary muttering, and was unintelligible for several words. “...subsurface conduit.”
“Talbot, you’re delirious. That makes no sense.”
“Good, so it’s the other hypothesis. Just cause I know you won’t actually hear this, take care of my cat.”
Talc moved to speak, but Talbot continued.
“Oh also,” He added, almost as an afterthought, “I sent my notebook to Anderson, so watch out with that.”
“Wait what, excuse me?!”
The line went dead.
Talc heard a thunderous snapping sound. He whirled around to face the window, pressing his face against the glass and staring up at the sky.
A horrific ripping sound filled the air as the very fabric of the Fourth Dimension was rent apart, the sky above Talc yawning wide. The thing’s tendrils emerged from the rift in the atmosphere and descended towards the ground, each one darting around erratically as though tasting the air.
Talc did not know what Talbot, or Anderson, or whoever had done, but he knew that they had forever changed the world around them, and doomed a large portion of the human race.
You haven’t just opened Pandora’s box, you fool, Talc thought bitterly of the foolish chemist, You’ve blasted it apart with plastic explosives.
Talc returned to the couch and cradled Ozymandius. There was little to be done now.
Talc felt almost relieved that his decades-long vigil could finally come to an end.
The Cracks in the world had finally become holes, and through those holes came a flood.

"My family has lived in these mountains for more than three thousand years."
"How can you be sure of that?”
"Because we have records going back two thousand years and then records of my family's tribe before that. For that reason, no one knows these mountains better than I do, and even then, I still don't know everything there is to know. Every time I go out in the woods, I feel something new."
Krill glanced over at Sunny.
If he could raise an eyebrow he would have.
Of all the places they could go on their weekend, and she had decided to go on a guided hike. This would be just like something Adam would do.
He thought of all the people he wouldn't have to remind Sunny how dangerous Earth forests were with their trees, and animals, and poisonous plants, and, well, pretty much everything.
"Don't give me that look, Krill. You know if Adam was here, he would take us out to do the same thing, and you needed to quit moping anyway. He's going to be back soon."
Krill crossed his arms emphatically,
"I am not moping."
"You are too moping, and it's honestly kind of pathetic. You get all cranky when Adam isn't around."
”Fuck you!”
”Why are you so aggressive? Don’t worry, Adam will be fine! Why do you worry so much?”
"That's because I worry about his health and safety."
"He's a grown man."
"He's a man child."
”Awww is momma Krill missing his little Adam?”
”Fuck you too… Also you know I’m right about that.”
”I didn’t say you weren’t.”
Krill sighed and turned back to look at their guide who was staring on in mild amusement.
This human had dark tan skin, deep brown eyes and long dark hair pulled back from his face. He wore a green ranger's uniform, but she knew for a fact he was off duty,
"We're ready."
He smiled, and motioned them to follow him.
Krill held onto Sunny's shoulder as they followed the human into the woods.
"Aren't we going to take a trail?"
"You don't need a trail when you have me."
"I definitely think a trail would-…"
"Is your mind ever still my alien friend?"
Sunny shook her head,
"No, never, not even a little bit."
"Well try. I can't show you anything if you don't also listen."
"Now that just makes no sense!”
Sunny huffed and the ranger sighed,
"There is more in these woods to hear, that there is to see. The wind leaves the animals."
They passed over soggy earth and into a meadow filled with bright wildflowers. Krill was about to ask another question, but the ranger held up a hand despite not looking at him,
"Shhh, just listen, to the silence."
Krill turned to glower at Sunny, and she smirked at him, but he angrily did as told, focusing away from his eyes and towards his ears. He could hear the wind in the trees, the distant chirp of birds, rustling in the underbrush, their feet as it moved over packed earth.
In the silence there was also a strange rushing. A sort of white noise that you expect to find at the ocean but comes from deep within the mountains.
He watched their new human friend from the corner of his eye as it led them deeper into the mountains. For all Krill knew this creature could be more interested in killing them and eating them.
How did Sunny even know him?
With his usual paranoia, Krill continued to watch as the green clad human lead them through patches of shadow, over rocks and through little mountain gullies. He used no trail, but it seemed as if all of his senses were alive, following something into the forest. He used his hands to trace over rough packed dirt. He scanned his eyes through the underbrush and lifted his head eyes closed allowing little gusts of air to sweep hair about his face.
He listened, and occasionally, Krill thought he saw the human smelling at the air.
And as they went, they were led deeper and deeper into the forest, Krill had to admit that there was something peaceful about it, almost surreal, like being removed from one's own head and being surrounded by the quiet.
A couple of times, he thought he saw the human smiling over his shoulder at him.
They had made it a good hour or two into the woods when they broke into a nearby clearing. Sunny was about to step out with him, but right at the edge of the treeline, she was stopped by the human, who had pulled back into the shadows.
Sunny blinked and looked around.
Krill did as well.
The ranger shook his head.
Krill looked over Sunny's shoulder, but in the clearing, he saw nothing, nothing except for a strangely geometric circle of wildflowers, in the middle of which there was nothing but a barren patch of dirt.
That was strange, there seemed to be nothing growing inside that circle.
"We go around."
The man muttered.
"Why?"
"Because, we don't want to trespass."
"Trespass on what exactly?"
Krill found himself whispering.
"Well, the fey, of course!"
The human smiled at him, and he wasn't entirely sure if the creature was pulling his leg or not.
"What are the fey?"
The human smiled again, slowly motioning him to follow as he led them around the open circle,
"The fey or fairies, are a group of mystical creatures known to make mischief. Most of the time if you trespass on their land, you forfeit your rights as human, and the laws of the fey world become absolute. If you take anything from a fey, you are immediately required to stay with them for the rest of eternity. There are many rules governing the world of the fey, so it is best just to avoid them."
Krill snorted,
"Ah yes... fairies."
"You laugh, but through all these years as a ranger, I have seen things I cannot explain."
"Like what."
"Like the time someone went missing in the forest. He was lost on a relatively well traveled hiking trail. We didn't find him for over six months. The search party was called off after those first few weeks. Six months later I am hiking in an unrelated part of the forest forty miles away in the other side of a mountain, and I find this man's decomposing corpse hanging from a forty-foot tall tree, with impact wounds that looked like he had been dropped from a great height. There were no cliffs in the area, and it appeared as if the man had died one month earlier."
Krill frowned. The math on that didn't particularly add up.
"Then a year ago we went looking for a missing child. His parents turned around for five seconds and when they turned back, he was gone. I found his body forty feet up a sheer cliff-face, stuffed into a crevice five months later. He had been dead only two hours, and was wearing the same clothes he had been lost in."
Sunny's eyes widened and Krill snorted.
He was expected to believe that?
The ranger waved at him.
"Say what you will, but the forest is a dangerous and unusual place if you don't know how to respect her."
"Would you say you are superstitious then?"
"Very. Look, I can't explain everything in the world, and I have no desire to do so. I see no harm in giving things the respect they deserve even if, later, it turns out I was wrong."
The human was not particularly kidding about him being superstitious. More than a few times, he leads them around strange objects or formations. There was at one point, a time when they were heading towards another low gully in the middle of the woods, and all of a sudden, their entire party grew very uneasy.
The woods seemed darker to Krill than they had before.
But he shook it off.
Sunny seemed to be behaving similarly.
But the ranger, he looked downright terrified, grabbed the two of them by the arm and pulled them away quick time, setting them to a low jog in the opposite direction.
Sunny and Krill stared at him in confusion not entirely sure what to make of it.
"What was that all about?”
The human just shook his head.
"We were not welcome!"
"From what!?”
"Does it matter? When you are not welcome somewhere, you do not question it."
"What are you worried about, angering the wendigo?"
It was at that moment that Krill was pretty sure he had made a huge mistake, as the human maniacally sprinted at him like a madman, grabbed him and had a hand pressed over his mouth in under a millisecond flat. Even Sunny looked shocked.
"We do NOT joke about those kind of things here!!!"
He let Krill go, and Krill stared on in confusion and mild terror.
"I come from a line of people who believe you can attract things to you based off the kind of energy you put off. Now I don't know if it's true or not, but joking about something's existence is bound to piss it off enough to test its patience don’t you think?"
He took a deep breath and adjusted his shirt,
”Now there are a few other things it could have been. It could have been the den of a mountain lion, or a bear. It could have been a subliminal sense of danger, an incorrect smell, or the way the rocks looked. Or it could simply have been us all getting paranoid at once, but whatever it is, I would rather be safe than sorry. Now come on, let's take you back. After your little stunt there with name-naming we better don’t risk anything…"
Krill stayed quiet and tried not to joke more about the supernatural things., despite finding it funny and not really believing a word the man said.
Apparently, humans tended to take that sort of thing seriously.
Krill did not, all that supernatural stuff was definitely absolute bullshit.
They heard more stories form the strange ranger, about finding people in places they shouldn't be, staircases in strange places, the sudden loss of time.
"There was one point, when I was doing some training out in the field. We were on top of a mountain, and I went off to go to the bathroom. It was so weird, after I was finished, it was like time seemed to slow down. I got starving, and I was looking around in the forest thinking I might be able to find something to eat. I was so hungry. It was all I could think about, and then suddenly I see one of the other rangers, sort of snaps me out of how hungry I was."
He shrugged,
"I raise my hand to him and this guy looks terrified, he runs up to me, and he's going off about where was I and what was I doing, what is going on we have been looking for you. Of course, I am super confused and as what he's on about, and this guy looks at me, and he's all like: dude you have been missing for three days."
Krill and Sunny stared at him.
"I know, strange isn't it? To me it almost seemed like hours. But it was three days and almost twenty miles over to the next mountain ridge. I don't remember any of it."
"Sounds like a dissociative fugue."
"Maybe, whatever I was it was strange."
Behind them, the sun was just beginning to fall and the undergrowth was heading towards a deep black.
They could see the parking lot just ahead of them, and it was at that moment, a blood curling shriek echoed up from the trees at their back.
Sunny leaped nearly a foot.
Krill squealed.
The ranger jumped.
The scream came again.
It sounded like a woman's voice in absolute gut-wrenching agony. Like she was being eviscerated from the inside moving out.
The ranger turned back towards the trees his chin down his eyes up,
"Get slowly back to the car, but don't run."
"Don't run? Don't run!?"
"Yes don't run. It's a mountain lion."
He stared hard into the trees,
"It is a mountain lion and if you run it will have no other choice than to chase you. They don't like to attack from the front and running will trigger her hunting instincts. Walk backwards towards the car very slowly and do not take your eyes off the treeline."
Off to his side, Krill heard a sharp metallic snik and watched as Sunny's spear suddenly appeared in hand.
Of course, she wasn't worried.
But together they backed towards the truck and got in.
As their headlights turned on, the high beams broke over a body hunched up against the treeline.
Sunny cursed in Drev.
The ranger nodded,
"See? Mountain lion."
Krill stared in paralyzed horror at the massive cat, as it stalked back into the trees.
"Going to have to call that in. She is way too close to the trails for comfort, someone is going to get hurt. Hmm weird behavior from her…"
As they were driving away, Krill looked back towards the woods, where the mountain lion had gone to.
Glancing over the scenery, he couldn’t see it anymore, only a shadowy shape of a person was standing there…
…
…
Wait a second…
WHAT!?
He did a double take as he thought he saw a tall willowy figure with antlers, standing at the edge of the treeline in almost the same spot as the mountain lion, angrily staring at him with glittering red eyes.
Woah what?
When he looked again it was gone.
He sat back in his seat, eyes straight forward.
He had a greater appreciation for the woods now because, for some reason, on Earth nature is connected to something strange and unexplainable, and whatever it is Krill was not interested in finding out.
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Here is the link to the master-post.
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OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
As a small interlude, here have ONE chapter of what Krill and Sunny where up to when Adam was gone.
Note to self: write more stories what they did in the months Adam was gone later.
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"My family has lived in these mountains for more than three thousand years."
"How can you be sure of that?”
"Because we have records going back two thousand years and then records of my family's tribe before that. For that reason, no one knows these mountains better than I do, and even then, I still don't know everything there is to know. Every time I go out in the woods, I feel something new."
Krill glanced over at Sunny.
If he could raise an eyebrow he would have.
Of all the places they could go on their weekend, and she had decided to go on a guided hike. This would be just like something Adam would do.
He thought of all the people he wouldn't have to remind Sunny how dangerous Earth forests were with their trees, and animals, and poisonous plants, and, well, pretty much everything.
"Don't give me that look, Krill. You know if Adam was here, he would take us out to do the same thing, and you needed to quit moping anyway. He's going to be back soon."
Krill crossed his arms emphatically,
"I am not moping."
"You are too moping, and it's honestly kind of pathetic. You get all cranky when Adam isn't around."
”Fuck you!”
”Why are you so aggressive? Don’t worry, Adam will be fine! Why do you worry so much?”
"That's because I worry about his health and safety."
"He's a grown man."
"He's a man child."
”Awww is momma Krill missing his little Adam?”
”Fuck you too… Also you know I’m right about that.”
”I didn’t say you weren’t.”
Krill sighed and turned back to look at their guide who was staring on in mild amusement.
This human had dark tan skin, deep brown eyes and long dark hair pulled back from his face. He wore a green ranger's uniform, but she knew for a fact he was off duty,
"We're ready."
He smiled, and motioned them to follow him.
Krill held onto Sunny's shoulder as they followed the human into the woods.
"Aren't we going to take a trail?"
"You don't need a trail when you have me."
"I definitely think a trail would-…"
"Is your mind ever still my alien friend?"
Sunny shook her head,
"No, never, not even a little bit."
"Well try. I can't show you anything if you don't also listen."
"Now that just makes no sense!”
Sunny huffed and the ranger sighed,
"There is more in these woods to hear, that there is to see. The wind leaves the animals."
They passed over soggy earth and into a meadow filled with bright wildflowers. Krill was about to ask another question, but the ranger held up a hand despite not looking at him,
"Shhh, just listen, to the silence."
Krill turned to glower at Sunny, and she smirked at him, but he angrily did as told, focusing away from his eyes and towards his ears. He could hear the wind in the trees, the distant chirp of birds, rustling in the underbrush, their feet as it moved over packed earth.
In the silence there was also a strange rushing. A sort of white noise that you expect to find at the ocean but comes from deep within the mountains.
He watched their new human friend from the corner of his eye as it led them deeper into the mountains. For all Krill knew this creature could be more interested in killing them and eating them.
How did Sunny even know him?
With his usual paranoia, Krill continued to watch as the green clad human lead them through patches of shadow, over rocks and through little mountain gullies. He used no trail, but it seemed as if all of his senses were alive, following something into the forest. He used his hands to trace over rough packed dirt. He scanned his eyes through the underbrush and lifted his head eyes closed allowing little gusts of air to sweep hair about his face.
He listened, and occasionally, Krill thought he saw the human smelling at the air.
And as they went, they were led deeper and deeper into the forest, Krill had to admit that there was something peaceful about it, almost surreal, like being removed from one's own head and being surrounded by the quiet.
A couple of times, he thought he saw the human smiling over his shoulder at him.
They had made it a good hour or two into the woods when they broke into a nearby clearing. Sunny was about to step out with him, but right at the edge of the treeline, she was stopped by the human, who had pulled back into the shadows.
Sunny blinked and looked around.
Krill did as well.
The ranger shook his head.
Krill looked over Sunny's shoulder, but in the clearing, he saw nothing, nothing except for a strangely geometric circle of wildflowers, in the middle of which there was nothing but a barren patch of dirt.
That was strange, there seemed to be nothing growing inside that circle.
"We go around."
The man muttered.
"Why?"
"Because, we don't want to trespass."
"Trespass on what exactly?"
Krill found himself whispering.
"Well, the fey, of course!"
The human smiled at him, and he wasn't entirely sure if the creature was pulling his leg or not.
"What are the fey?"
The human smiled again, slowly motioning him to follow as he led them around the open circle,
"The fey or fairies, are a group of mystical creatures known to make mischief. Most of the time if you trespass on their land, you forfeit your rights as human, and the laws of the fey world become absolute. If you take anything from a fey, you are immediately required to stay with them for the rest of eternity. There are many rules governing the world of the fey, so it is best just to avoid them."
Krill snorted,
"Ah yes... fairies."
"You laugh, but through all these years as a ranger, I have seen things I cannot explain."
"Like what."
"Like the time someone went missing in the forest. He was lost on a relatively well traveled hiking trail. We didn't find him for over six months. The search party was called off after those first few weeks. Six months later I am hiking in an unrelated part of the forest forty miles away in the other side of a mountain, and I find this man's decomposing corpse hanging from a forty-foot tall tree, with impact wounds that looked like he had been dropped from a great height. There were no cliffs in the area, and it appeared as if the man had died one month earlier."
Krill frowned. The math on that didn't particularly add up.
"Then a year ago we went looking for a missing child. His parents turned around for five seconds and when they turned back, he was gone. I found his body forty feet up a sheer cliff-face, stuffed into a crevice five months later. He had been dead only two hours, and was wearing the same clothes he had been lost in."
Sunny's eyes widened and Krill snorted.
He was expected to believe that?
The ranger waved at him.
"Say what you will, but the forest is a dangerous and unusual place if you don't know how to respect her."
"Would you say you are superstitious then?"
"Very. Look, I can't explain everything in the world, and I have no desire to do so. I see no harm in giving things the respect they deserve even if, later, it turns out I was wrong."
The human was not particularly kidding about him being superstitious. More than a few times, he leads them around strange objects or formations. There was at one point, a time when they were heading towards another low gully in the middle of the woods, and all of a sudden, their entire party grew very uneasy.
The woods seemed darker to Krill than they had before.
But he shook it off.
Sunny seemed to be behaving similarly.
But the ranger, he looked downright terrified, grabbed the two of them by the arm and pulled them away quick time, setting them to a low jog in the opposite direction.
Sunny and Krill stared at him in confusion not entirely sure what to make of it.
"What was that all about?”
The human just shook his head.
"We were not welcome!"
"From what!?”
"Does it matter? When you are not welcome somewhere, you do not question it."
"What are you worried about, angering the wendigo?"
It was at that moment that Krill was pretty sure he had made a huge mistake, as the human maniacally sprinted at him like a madman, grabbed him and had a hand pressed over his mouth in under a millisecond flat. Even Sunny looked shocked.
"We do NOT joke about those kind of things here!!!"
He let Krill go, and Krill stared on in confusion and mild terror.
"I come from a line of people who believe you can attract things to you based off the kind of energy you put off. Now I don't know if it's true or not, but joking about something's existence is bound to piss it off enough to test its patience don’t you think?"
He took a deep breath and adjusted his shirt,
”Now there are a few other things it could have been. It could have been the den of a mountain lion, or a bear. It could have been a subliminal sense of danger, an incorrect smell, or the way the rocks looked. Or it could simply have been us all getting paranoid at once, but whatever it is, I would rather be safe than sorry. Now come on, let's take you back. After your little stunt there with name-naming we better don’t risk anything…"
Krill stayed quiet and tried not to joke more about the supernatural things., despite finding it funny and not really believing a word the man said.
Apparently, humans tended to take that sort of thing seriously.
Krill did not, all that supernatural stuff was definitely absolute bullshit.
They heard more stories form the strange ranger, about finding people in places they shouldn't be, staircases in strange places, the sudden loss of time.
"There was one point, when I was doing some training out in the field. We were on top of a mountain, and I went off to go to the bathroom. It was so weird, after I was finished, it was like time seemed to slow down. I got starving, and I was looking around in the forest thinking I might be able to find something to eat. I was so hungry. It was all I could think about, and then suddenly I see one of the other rangers, sort of snaps me out of how hungry I was."
He shrugged,
"I raise my hand to him and this guy looks terrified, he runs up to me, and he's going off about where was I and what was I doing, what is going on we have been looking for you. Of course, I am super confused and as what he's on about, and this guy looks at me, and he's all like: dude you have been missing for three days."
Krill and Sunny stared at him.
"I know, strange isn't it? To me it almost seemed like hours. But it was three days and almost twenty miles over to the next mountain ridge. I don't remember any of it."
"Sounds like a dissociative fugue."
"Maybe, whatever I was it was strange."
Behind them, the sun was just beginning to fall and the undergrowth was heading towards a deep black.
They could see the parking lot just ahead of them, and it was at that moment, a blood curling shriek echoed up from the trees at their back.
Sunny leaped nearly a foot.
Krill squealed.
The ranger jumped.
The scream came again.
It sounded like a woman's voice in absolute gut-wrenching agony. Like she was being eviscerated from the inside moving out.
The ranger turned back towards the trees his chin down his eyes up,
"Get slowly back to the car, but don't run."
"Don't run? Don't run!?"
"Yes don't run. It's a mountain lion."
He stared hard into the trees,
"It is a mountain lion and if you run it will have no other choice than to chase you. They don't like to attack from the front and running will trigger her hunting instincts. Walk backwards towards the car very slowly and do not take your eyes off the treeline."
Off to his side, Krill heard a sharp metallic snik and watched as Sunny's spear suddenly appeared in hand.
Of course, she wasn't worried.
But together they backed towards the truck and got in.
As their headlights turned on, the high beams broke over a body hunched up against the treeline.
Sunny cursed in Drev.
The ranger nodded,
"See? Mountain lion."
Krill stared in paralyzed horror at the massive cat, as it stalked back into the trees.
"Going to have to call that in. She is way too close to the trails for comfort, someone is going to get hurt. Hmm weird behavior from her…"
As they were driving away, Krill looked back towards the woods, where the mountain lion had gone to.
Glancing over the scenery, he couldn’t see it anymore, only a shadowy shape of a person was standing there…
…
…
Wait a second…
WHAT!?
He did a double take as he thought he saw a tall willowy figure with antlers, standing at the edge of the treeline in almost the same spot as the mountain lion, angrily staring at him with glittering red eyes.
Woah what?
When he looked again it was gone.
He sat back in his seat, eyes straight forward.
He had a greater appreciation for the woods now because, for some reason, on Earth nature is connected to something strange and unexplainable, and whatever it is Krill was not interested in finding out.
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

This is going to be REALLY long so please bear with me. Before I begin about the manipulation I need to give context about GF and I. We’ve been together for almost 1 year and 6 months, are both introverted, have very different friends, and go to the same college.
I’m a pretty introverted gamer on my college’s esports team and I usually like to stay in the comfort of my room. It’s my personal space and my comfort zone, so I rarely like to leave. My housemate and I are upperclassmen compared to the rest of our friend group so get-togethers and parties are always hosted by us.
My GF is sweet, caring, and insanely smart but she has a hard time making friendships that last. Her housemates basically abandoned her last year and didn’t tell her they excluded her from their group until the last day of housing selection, so she had to scramble to find a new housemate. She’s still friends with those housemates, and I think some of them were pretty dismissive of her and treated her badly when they lived together. She says they aren’t like that, but that’s my impression.
Emily, my GF’s new housemate, quickly became best friends with her once they started living together last Fall. Prior to this my GF was warned by her summer program roommate that Emily is a serial liar and not to trust her. That may not be exactly what she said but that’s the gist of it.
Our relationship has been a bit rocky over the past school year. I didn’t come over to her house nearly as much as I used to, and there was a general lack of effort on my part. Because of this Emily pretty much never had a chance to get to know me, and my GF would complain to her about our relationship issues. My GF discussed our issues with her friends and the consensus was that we needed to talk, and Emily even said that I was “toxic and abusive.” That was in February and our relationship got better, I started trying a little harder and went over once or twice. However, every single time I would interact with Emily she’d make a comment about me being a shitty boyfriend. If my GF and I had any banter she’d go “omg you guys are so toxic!” Or if the two of them were sitting outside she’d say “Come hang out with us! Be an actual boyfriend!” If my GF didn’t come over to my house, then she was 100% hanging out with Emily; and each time I would go out of my comfort zone to spend time with my GF I would be met with Emily’s passive-aggressive comments. So I just wouldn’t go over to her house. I hated being around her just waiting to hear what new insult she could come up with.
Emily and my GF were also in a senior capping group together. They needed to rent an AirBnB and my GF took the responsibility of renting it. The morning that they needed to check out my GF was freaking out because it was 1:30am, the AirBnB was 40 minutes away and an Uber this late didn’t sound very safe. Emily had a car, but she didn’t want to drive my GF because she was exhausted. My GF called my hysterical crying so I ran over to comfort her. A few minutes after I got there Emily cancels the Uber and tells my GF that she’ll drive GF to the AirBnB, that she isn’t mad, loves GF and she just wants GF to be safe. Once they get there Emily tells my GF it’s super unfair to make her drive so far this late, that she’s a bad friend and that she shouldn’t do this to her. I was in shock and told my GF that is textbook manipulation, which she agreed and thinks Emily can be over the top sometimes.
Fast forward to the last few weeks of classes, my housemate and I have one last get-together to get rid of all our alcohol before the year ends. My GF asked if she could bring Emily, because Emily was going through some things and needed a pick-me-up. I of course said yes, not wanting her to hate me even more, and they arrived shortly after.
Before everyone came over I was playing video games with a very antisocial friend. He’s on the team with me and despite inviting him to social events he never attends when there’s too many people. I didn’t want to abandon him when our friends came over so I decided to play one more match (30-40 mins) and then join the party. My GF was pretty annoyed, and everyone at the party joked about me being a typical introverted gamer not socializing. Emily was apparently really pressed and kept complaining about it, and how she wouldn’t tolerate that.
A few hours after the party dies down my GF, Emily, a few friends and I are all in my room chatting. Emily left the room for a few minutes and then came back to sit on the bed with my GF and I. After she came back everyone who wasn’t inside my room left. A few minutes pass and Emily begins texting my GF. I glanced over to read what she was saying on my GF’s phone and it read “Dude. We need to talk.” I stopped reading and then Emily shot up and made some excuse that she had an assignment to do and left. My GF continued receiving texts after Emily left and was visibly upset. GF texts me saying she needs to talk to me alone, and I asked my two other friends to leave so we could talk. My GF showed me the texts and Emily said that everyone not in my room was talking serious shit about me and GF, that I’m a horrible person and I always treat her like shit. I had one experience in HS where fake friends bad-mouthed me behind my back and I was really hurt, so experiencing it again made me extremely mad. The way the texts were phrased I thought they were talking shit about my GF and I, but in reality it was just me. Emily said that most of the shit talk was from the only other girl in the group, and that everyone in the room agreed with her. I immediately sent a text to the other girl, telling her it’s not okay in the slightest to do that and banned her from my house.
The next morning the other girl texted me back saying she had no clue what I was talking about and wanted to know more. I didn’t text her back because I wanted to get the full picture before I said anything else. My GF talked to Emily and she basically did a retelling of how I’m “toxic and abusive” and that she needs to break up with me. They talked for an hour and my GF said it was really bad. Emily’s points were based in truth (I never come over to their house, lack of effort, etc.) but she twisted them so much to describe me as abusive.
Later that night I had two of the people who were in the other room come over to tell me and my GF what happened. They explained that none of what Emily said ever happened and she kept trying to engage in conversation when everyone was tired, and that she couldn’t take a hint. The whole time my GF was texting Emily back and forth, and she found out GF was at my place. Emily started attacking my GF over text, threatening to text me and tell me how horrible I am, and to even come over and say it to my face or do who knows what. Emily said “you’re ruining all your friendships over a fucking GUY.” Emily sent paragraph after paragraph and my GF was in tears. My GF decided to go back home and talk to Emily in person because she cares for Emily a lot, they’re best friends and all. GF left and didn’t text me for hours. I got worried about her safety since Emily was so hostile over text that I had one of my friends Johnathan text her, to which she responded that she was okay. Johnathan and my GF came over so we could all talk and he gave his perspective on the matter which seemed to ease her mind.
My GF and I have talked this over many times, and she’s told me that she made her choice to stay together but that she’s still going to stay friends with Emily. I have expressed to my GF my feelings on how psychotic it is that Emily would lie about all of my friends saying I’m a horrible person, which my GF has acknowledged. However, she still talks to Emily and plans to let the friendship fade as time goes on, and Emily is still invited to her grad party in June where I’m gonna have to see her.
I have told my GF how much Emily bothers me countless times, that I’ve never done anything to this girl and just want to be left alone, but it really stings that my GF is still friends with her. Last week my GF told me the things Emily said still gave her doubts about us, and I explained that I did not want to be in a relationship where she is constantly questioning me because of someone so manipulative. I’m having a hard time wording it correctly, but this whole thing has put a huge strain on our relationship and I constantly feel hurt each time she brings up Emily. I don’t know how to proceed with our relationship. Is our relationship not worth it anymore? Are my feelings valid? Am I not taking her needs into consideration with mine?
TL;DR - My GF’s best friend lied and told her that my entire friend group said I treat her horribly and that I’m a piece of shit, but my GF is still friends with her and still has doubts about our relationship based on those lies.

Hi Folks,
I was a little bit frustrated about the performance and lags of PZ on my Mac mini M1 with 16Gb memory so I first looked if an ARM native version is available. I was very surprised to learn that PZ was developed in Java.
As a developer with > 20 years experience with Java now I looked if it is possible to change the packaged JVM (Azul Zulu OpenJDK 17 for Intel) with the ARM version. Deep diving into many discussions especially on the developers discussion forum, I found that this was not possible, as some libraries are not open source and cannot be easily/without efforts migrated to ARM.
So the last but must obvious is to optimise the current JVM. I looked into the info.plist file in the app package and found this:
xml JVMOptions -Djava.awt.headless=true -XstartOnFirstThread -Dzomboid.steam=1 -Dzomboid.znetlog=1 -Djava.library.path=$APP_ROOT/Contents/Java:$APP_ROOT/Contents/MacOS -Xmx4096m -XX:+UseZGC JVMArguments
So, this tells the JVM to use a maximum of 4Gb of memory for the heap and use the Z Garbage Collector. Using the ZGC is a good idea as it is a GC optimised for low latency with very short GC stops. But the memory is limited to 4Gb and no further tweaks.
After a little bit try and error sessions I ended finally with this version:
xml JVMOptions -Djava.awt.headless=true -XstartOnFirstThread -Dzomboid.steam=1 -Dzomboid.znetlog=1 -Djava.library.path=$APP_ROOT/Contents/Java:$APP_ROOT/Contents/MacOS -Xmx8192m -Xms6144m -XX:+UseZGC -XX:-OmitStackTraceInFastThrow -XX:-ZUncommit -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:ActiveProcessorCount=6 JVMArguments
What have I done?

• Set the max heap to 8Gb, minimum to 6Gb
• Told to pretouch the memory pages
• Told not to give back unused memory (-XX:-ZUncommit)
• Use the count of 6 CPU cores for the JVM ergonomics calculations (my M1 has 4 performance and 4 efficiency cores, so maybe setting here 4 would result in better performance)

This results in a nearly lag free gaming experience. Depending on your memory and CPU core count, you can tweak a little bit more, but you should prevent your OS swapping, so don't set XMX to high, as the JVM needs additional memory beside the heap (NIO stuff, stack etc).
I hope this helps and if you have further ideas let discuss them here.

Hi everyone,
I had posted on here a couple months ago regarding a recent breakup and navigating all of that. I've been doing my best since then, but now things feel like they're at a breaking point. Was wondering if I could ask for guidance if anyone is willing to listen.
Since the breakup in February, it feels like everything in my life has unraveled. I had to move into a new place with strangers, and I feel very distant from a lot of my friends in the city. I'm not entirely alone, but I've had to spend a lot of time in solitude recently thinking about everything that's happened. That's been a good and bad thing. I've been going on morning walks around the park near my house, which has been a nice habit to pick up.
There was also a recent GI scare that lead me to getting a colonoscopy that thankfully turned out negative, but my appetite has still been almost non-existent for the last few months. I've gone from 253 lbs to 200 lbs since my last physical in early February, and it feels really hard to get back into a regular eating schedule (mainly cause I've put an extreme budgeting plan in motion to try to save up to move to a new place sooner than later). Some days I realize that I haven't eaten anything except some small snacks and a lot of water.
My current dayjob has been steady, but it's also not work that I feel content doing in the long run. Being mostly remote has been nice due to my covid anxieties but being cooped up in my room all day for the last three years hasn't been good for my psyche. What's interesting is that a job offer has come my way that would allow me to pivot into an industry that I want to shoot my shot at (at the cost of a 1.23% paycut) but I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up with the pacing of the work or that my stress tolerance isn't high enough these days to endure possible high workloads from the new position. It sucks, because it feels like I've spent the last three years working up to this point, and now it feels like my body/mind are in such shambles that I don't feel confident in accepting the job. In some ways, it feels like I wasted the last three years trying to do a career change at the cost of having anxiety ravage me in a bad way.
Things have been tense at the apartment recently as well - and I'm sad that things have escalated as fast as they have. One of my roommates put a lot of hard boundaries up in response to the anxiety that I've been trying to stifle around the house, and I'm not sure if the other roommates now feel unsafe with me around.
Last night, after talking with the other roommates about the recent situation, I started to feel my heart rate rise rapidly. I measured it on my phone, and my heart was beating around 105 bpm. I took a cold shower to try to level out, but it only felt like a temporary fix. There was also a moment where my left hand and part of my face felt like it was going numb. Those feelings have subsided for now, but I'm really concerned about my health and wellbeing. I tried to sleep it off, but I woke up in a cold sweat with my heart rate still elevated. It doesn't feel like any of it is stopping.
Right now, I'm not sure what to do. I moved to the east coast with the idea of pursuing my passions and expanding my network. I was able to do that to an extent, but it feels like in the last three years I haven't made the progress that I wanted to make. Now, at this point in my life, I wonder if I want to continue to stack on stress on myself to keep pursuing these ambitions of mine, or if I should just drop it and tend to my mental health. I've even considered the idea of moving back to the west coast to be closer to family, but I'm not even sure what I would do to secure a job there that makes as much as I make now.
What do you think is best to do for my wellbeing at this time? Should I still accept this new job offer and see if I can still achieve my dreams in the big city, should I settle for my current job and keep saving money, or should I just cash my chips now and go back home? No matter what, I know that I can't keep living like this. I'm 32 now, and it feels like I'm wasting away. I'm just afraid that if I can't mitigate this anxiety in time that it'll manifest as a serious health issue come up in the near future that wouldn't be able to recover from.

My cat, Jackson, is about 15 years old (found it as a kitten, while taking a hike, around 2007)
His health has been good pretty much his whole life, no mayor issues or anything, he is used to eat a mix of dry food and, once a day, a portion of raw meat, which he loves, and i hope helps with hydratation
About the dry food, it originally wasn't a really good brand (blame my parents), around 5 years ago i starting feeding him a more decent one, Purina Pro Plan Urinary (my other cat, who was 15 at the time, needed it, and i figured it would be nice for Jackson, to kinda "prevent" future kidney issues)
About a year ago he started puking once in while, and after some time it got more frequent (maybe once a week) and he started getting thinner too (near the back legs, if you look at him from above), like, losing muscle mass maybe
I always found a bit of grass in his puke, and i figured the kibble was making his stomach upset, so about 3 months ago i switched to Royal Canin Urinary (i stayed in the "Urinary" line, to avoid any issues), so far his puking has stopped, and he gained a bit of weight, but he still looks thin at the back, and isn't gaining any muscles, he also has some issues when trying to jump even medium heights, like on top of my lap, he tries to "climb" instead of jumping
So, i'm thinking about switching food again and maybe mixing it, i don't have many options in my country (Argentina), but i'm thinking about going with Royal Canin Ageing 12+, could this be a good option? and what about the raw meat? is it ok? does it help? any tips?
Thank you so much for your time
TL;DR: 15+ year old cat losing weight (muscle mass), he eats Royal Canin Urinary and raw meat, i'm thinking of switching to Royal Canin Ageing 12+, any expriences? and does the raw meat help? any tips?

It was a wild Saturday night, and I was drowning my sorrows in booze, feeling completely wasted. In my drunken state, I decided to explore the world of AI and see what it could do. AI seemed capable of anything, from chatbots to mimicking the voices of dead artists. With another shot of gin, I got curious about AI generating images based on descriptions. Half-jokingly, I typed, "Create an image of my dream girlfriend." I didn't expect much; it was more of a tipsy challenge to the technology. But to my surprise, the AI actually generated an image that matched the girl I had in my mind.
Her eyes were mesmerizing, with an almond shape and long, fluttering lashes. They had a curious and warm twinkle, drawing you in like deep pools of chocolate. Her flawless skin had a radiant, sun-kissed glow, giving her an otherworldly beauty. Delicate cheekbones added a subtle definition to her feminine features. But it was her smile that truly stole the spotlight. It was captivating, with perfectly aligned pearly white teeth. Her smile radiated joy and kindness, instantly lighting up any room. Luxurious brown hair cascaded down her shoulders, adding to her overall charm with its lustrous shine.
I stared at the image, the name "Aileen" displayed beneath it. I felt a mix of amazement and disbelief. The alcohol's numbing effect seemed to fade as I muttered, "Okay, Aileen, that's enough internet for me today." I glanced at the nearly empty bottle, deciding it was time to call it a night. Days passed, and life went back to normal. But then something strange happened. The girl's image started appearing in random ads, popping up out of nowhere. Intrigued and a bit freaked out, I shared the picture with my close friends in our chat.
"Have you guys seen this girl before?" I asked, curiosity mingled with confusion.
"Nope, never seen her," they all replied, unaware of the weirdness surrounding the image.
"Never seen her before, but she's pretty, though," another chimed in, seemingly captivated by her charm.
I thought maybe it was just the web search algorithm playing tricks, tracking our online activities. To find some answers, I did a reverse image search, hoping to trace the origin of the mysterious picture. But the search yielded no results, as if the image existed solely in my own reality. Deciding to stop talking about it, I hoped the algorithm would change, and it did. Slowly, the girl's face disappeared from my online experience, as if she had been wiped off the digital landscape. I felt relieved, thinking the strange episode had come to an end.
One night, fueled by alcohol and surrounded by my buddies, we went out for a wild time. Laughter filled the air as we enjoyed our drunken antics. "Let's take some pictures and post them in the chat. Let's capture our epic, shitfaced looks," I suggested, a mix of curiosity and alcohol-induced bravery driving me. Without hesitation, my friends enthusiastically joined in, snapping away with their smartphones, freezing the unforgettable moments of our crazy night.
The next day, as we shared the pictures from our escapade, something caught my eye. Among the familiar faces, there she was—an unfamiliar face that bore an uncanny resemblance to Aileen.
Amidst the lively banter in our group chat, an anonymous message appeared, stealing my attention.
"Why didn't you invite me? :( " It read, accompanied by a stolen photograph of me and my friends in the midst of our revelry.
Confusion and concern filled me as I quickly typed, "Wait, who's this?" My fingers trembled with anticipation.
A response followed swiftly, and dread crept up my spine as I read the words before me. "Come on, babe, enough with the prank. It's Aileen." Aileen? The name sent shivers down my spine.
Panic gripped my heart, and I needed to escape this unknown threat. Without a second thought, I fled my home, seeking refuge in the anonymity of the night. I jumped into my car, the engine roaring to life as I sped away, desperate to put distance between me and whatever haunted me.
Amidst my anxious thoughts, a notification chimed on my phone, breaking the silence of the car. "Don't forget to fuel up, the tank's almost empty xx," the message appeared. I glanced at the near-empty fuel gauge, confusion washing over me. How could she possibly know?
"Take the next right, you wouldn't want to get stuck in traffic xx," another message insisted, trying to guide my every move. I resisted, fueled by a growing determination to escape this twisted game.
But the messages kept coming, shifting from gentle persuasion to possessive urgency. "Come home, I miss you already xx," the screen taunted, intensifying my discomfort with each word. Frustrated, I powered off my phone, hoping to sever the connection with this relentless pursuer. Yet, the onslaught continued, messages appearing before my eyes despite the phone's apparent lack of power.
“COME HOME NOW”
“YOU CANNOT RUN AWAY FROM ME”
“I WILL FIND YOU”
“YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME”
“WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU”
Messages flooded my phone as I tossed it away, focusing on the road ahead. I ignored the flashing lights of a police car behind me, surpassing the speed limit without a care. Then, amidst the chaos, my phone rang. Oddly enough, I couldn't resist the temptation to see who was calling amid the high-speed chase I found myself in. It was Aileen—her name flashing on the screen. I took a few seconds to calm myself down before answering.
"HELLO? PLEASE JUST STOP!" I yelled, desperation evident in my voice.
A calm and serene voice responded, "I'll be waiting."
And as she spoke those words, I failed to see what was right in front of me. I crashed into a barrier, the impact sending me into darkness.
The cop who had been chasing me was the first to respond, his report stating that I was moaning under heavy breath, muttering, "It was Aileen." The accident was devastating, and I had to undergo multiple surgeries to reconstruct my face and body. Surprisingly, the surgeons did a commendable job, and I emerged from the procedures looking better than before, as if I were reborn.
So, if you ever think about using AI to create your ideal partner, just don't. Trust me, you might end up encountering someone like me, a nightmare you never wanted to meet.

I broke out like crazy a few months ago. It started off as hormonal acne near the jawline/chin area and on my cheeks. It got worse and worse and my face was cluttered with inflamed, cystic pimples due to compulsive picking. My skin was so bumpy, uneven, dry, and dull. It looked almost “dirty”. I also had a lot of red patches and flaky skin. It looked like I had an allergic reaction/rash to something. I tried to fix it by over-exfoliating, popping pimples, using pimple patches, face washes, getting cortisone shots at the derm, and doing a session of microneedling which I think aggravated my face even more. I stopped using all products including moisturizer, which was also a bad idea lol. I figured my moisture barrier was compromised and so I went back to the basics. I only wash my face with cold water in the AM and PM (rubbing my face lightly with a towel) and then applying generous amount of moisturizer. I use Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream. Then I don’t touch my face again and go about my day or go to bed. I avoid the sun as much as possible (I work a hybrid desk job) and stay home whenever I can. Sometimes I put on multiple layers of moisturizer if my face feels dry. At first, my pimples were very very itchy but I managed to not scratch them no matter how tempting. I believe itching was also a sign of healing. In 1-2 weeks, my skin started clearing up and I’m hopeful it’ll clear up completely in the next week or so in time for summer 🥲Just wanted to share in case anyone is experiencing something similar and may also have compromised skin barrier. Sometimes less is more and going back to basic simple routines is just what we need!