Disney star wars water bottle
StarWarsDisneyPlus
2021.04.06 00:16 Samoht99 StarWarsDisneyPlus
A sub dedicated to all the Star Wars shows on Disney+! From The Mandalorian, The Book Of Boba Fett, Andor and so much more, Talk about it all here!
2018.04.09 05:13 PMmeYOURrareCONTENT Disney Star Wars Hate - for those who hate Disney's Star Wars
Do you hate what Disney has done to the Star Wars franchise? Welcome, brother!
2018.11.08 23:33 Break-The-Walls Disney+
DisneyPlus is a subreddit for discussion of Disney's streaming service, Disney+. Disney+ is a direct-to-consumer streaming service offering movies, series, and short-form content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more.
2023.06.01 04:25 Lucid_Brain_ Jedi: Survivor
2023.06.01 04:23 Former-Manner-2941 After 45 hours I did it!
submitted by Former-Manner-2941 to FallenOrder [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:22 throw-away22334455 Hey there, Hot Stuff…
I know you’ll never see this letter, and I suppose I should be grateful for that, but I still feel so stupid for writing it. Stupid because there’s no reason my feelings should be this strong and my heart should hurt this badly. We were only talking for a few short weeks but, man, I fell HARD and I fell FAST. But now it’s all over and I’m left here to pick up the pieces. I’m sure you’re happy with her, and that’s great. I want you to be happy. But I want to be happy too. So, in an attempt to help heal my broken heart, I just wanted to write down (almost) all the things I’ll never get to say:
-When you first messaged me after we matched for the 4th time in as many years, you said “the universe just wants us to be together.” I responded by saying “and who are we to tell the universe it’s wrong?” Well, we called the universe’s bluff and now I feel like I’m the one paying the price for it. You get to move on and fall in love and I get to sit at home, too afraid to go out anywhere in case I run into you. If I need to drive through your neighborhood to get somewhere, I’ll take a longer route just to avoid the possibility of seeing you.
-I still walk the dog on that nature trail and by the park where we had our first date. I feel safe there because you didn’t know it existed before I told you about it, and there’s a very slim chance you’ll ever go back. It’s the dog’s favorite route to walk along though, so I still go every day. But it breaks my heart to be there because all I can think of is you, and our conversation, and the way my head rested perfectly on your chest when we hugged because you’re so tall, and the way your lips felt pressed against mine.
-the dog is on a diet and I hate that every time I feed him, the sound of kibble and chicken falling into his bowl is replaced with your laughter as you said: “aww no look at him, that dog ain’t missing no meals!” He was wary of you, but oddly enough I think he misses you. When we pass by someone on our walks that looks even remotely like you, his tail will wag uncontrollably and he tries to jump on them. He still growls a bit, but he just seems sad when he realizes it’s not you. I do too.
-I hate doing laundry now because doing laundry means I need to open the closet door where the washer and dryer are. The same door you pick me up and pressed me up against, my legs wrapped around your waist, when you did everything in your power to turn me into putty in your hands. I want to pull those doors off the hinges so I don’t have to look at them every day.
-You ruined chocolate chip cookies for me. They were my favorite midnight snack and now all I think about is baking late-night, post-sex cookies with you. I’ve been fortunate to live my entire life without any allergies, but now it feels like just one cookie will kill me. Even when I pass by the pre-made dough in the grocery store, I can feel my heart constrict and my throat close up.
-You ruined Star Wars for me. I thought it was so cute how you, a chemistry nerd, never saw the penultimate nerd series. I was excited for our plans to have a movie marathon and to show you to the galaxy. Now I stop the microwave before the timer hits 0:00 because it sounds like R2-D2 and it makes me lose my appetite.
-I bought new lingerie I was hoping to surprise you with. It arrived in the mail after we stopped talking. I can’t even force myself to try them on to make sure the sizes are correct. I used to feel sexy and confident in my underwear. Now I feel like a sheepish little girl, too afraid to undress in the locker room before PE class.
-I told you I didn’t want kids, and that only one man in my entire life truly made me consider starting a family, but that he hurt me so badly I was completely sworn off. That was a lie. Maybe not at first, but it became a lie. When I found out you had a kid, after the shock and hurt subsided, there was a second man I could see holding my child in his arms. You. A gorgeous little creature who would be the best parts of you and me put together. Now I fear that if I ever have children, I’ll resent them because they won’t be half of you.
-I hate that every time I see a car like yours, my heart skips a beat. I almost got into an accident the other day because I thought I passed you on my way into town. I’m afraid to drive now because all I do is look out for your car, wondering if you’re looking out for mine.
-I hate how deeply I care about you, and how I wish you nothing but the purest love and happiness. I hate that I can’t hate you. It would all be so much easier if I hated you. I wouldn’t be hurting so much. I could chalk this all up to the fact that you’re an asshole. A player. You used me and threw me away. But that’s not you. You’re kind and caring and gentle and, if I had only given us a proper chance, I could have known what it would feel like to be truly loved by you.
-I hate that I swallowed my pride and apologized, when I honestly didn’t have much to apologize for, only to be met with silence. My pride was all I had left, and now that’s gone too. And I especially I hate how pathetic and desperate this all sounds. After my last serious heartbreak, I put so much time and effort into myself, and I reminded myself that I am amazing and anyone is lucky to have me. Now I’m back to apologizing for using up oxygen.
-I hate that I believed you when you said you still wanted me, desired me, even though I could feel the distance between us growing larger. And I hate that now you’re so cold, so indifferent. I hate that you act like it was all just in my head. Even if it was, I wish you would just say that instead of leaving me with radio silence. It would be easier to understand that maybe I really am just obsessive or crazy, than to be left wondering how it all went wrong. But I know there’s nothing to wonder about. You said that if you didn’t want to talk to me, you wouldn’t. It appears you are a man of your word. I just wish I took you at your word when I still had the chance.
-You said I don’t know you or understand you, and I hate that you’re right. I hate that you don’t know or understand me either. We never gave each other the chance to. And I hate that we’ll probably never get that chance again.
-I want you to be happy, and I hope she does make you happy. But, like I said, I want to be happy too. I want to be with you. I want to hear your laugh again, see your perfect smile again, hear your heart beat as I lay on your chest again. I want to feel you in me again, holding me tightly. I want to sit on the swing with you, my legs across your lap as I listen to you tell me all your wildest stories. I want to feel your lips press against my forehead as you slip out of bed. I just want to feel like you care again. Even if it was all in my head.
I know we may never speak again, but I want you to know that I will always want you. And I hate that. But I don’t hate you. Not even a little bit.
Yours, always.
Baddie
submitted by
throw-away22334455 to
UnsentLetters [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:22 Darin-Andrews Which is your favorite version of him!!
2023.06.01 04:21 drehlersdc1 mAgA ScIeNtIsT DeLcArEs wAr oN WoKe wAtEr
2023.06.01 04:21 AccurateConsequence5 Why did I think this was Maci lmaoo😂😂😂
2023.06.01 04:20 Lucid_Brain_ When I play beautiful games like Jedi: Survivor I like to use their photo mode and pretend I work for marketing lol
submitted by Lucid_Brain_ to StarWarsJediSurvivor [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:19 GuyInAMeatGrinder What was the first starfighter in the galaxy?
I recently had been researching ancient Star Wars lore and this crossed my mind. I couldn’t seem to find a result for this on google or Reddit. I’m wondering what, when, and where was the first starfighter invented in the Star Wars Universe. If the answer isn’t specifically known than any information would still be awesome.
submitted by
GuyInAMeatGrinder to
StarWars [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:19 GoingCrazy0515 Global Mechanical Static Mixer Market Size, Future Scope, Demands and Projected Industry Growths to 2029Sulzer, Koflo Corporation, Kwerk GmbH
Today, Global Info Research, a publisher of global market research reports, released
Market 2023 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2029> .This report is a detailed and comprehensive analysis for global Mechanical Static Mixer market. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are presented by manufacturers, by region & country, by Type and by Application. As the market is constantly changing, this report explores the competition, supply and demand trends, as well as key factors that contribute to its changing demands across many markets. Company profiles and product examples of selected competitors, along with market share estimates of some of the selected leaders for the year 2023, are provided.
Our professional reports can achieve :
1.Analyze the needs of the global Mechanical Static Mixer business market
2.Answer the market level of global Mechanical Static Mixer
3.Statistics the annual growth of the global Mechanical Static Mixer production market
4.The main producers of the global Mechanical Static Mixer production market
5.Describe the growth factor that promotes market demand
Request Free Sample Copy Or buy this report at:
https://www.globalinforesearch.com/reports/1535098/mechanical-static-mixer
The following are the reported product types, applications in major companies:
Market segment by Type Intermittent Type Continuous Type
Market segment by Application Water Treatment Food Beverage Processing Pharmaceutical Processing Chemical Other
Major players covered
Sulzer Koflo Corporation Kwerk GmbH KAM CONTROLS,INC LIGHTING MIXERS PLENTY FILTRATION SAMHWA MIXING TECH CO.LTD SIIRTEC NIGI SPA PRIMIX SPG STEINER-PREMATECHNIC-GASTEC GMBH FLUIDEL SRL. GIE ST GOBAIN PONT-A-MOUSSON ARCHIVES MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES WELDERS Thurne Teknik AB Statiflo Group Stamixco AG Oxidation Technologies, LLC.
Main Contents of the Report:
Chapter 1, to describe Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe product scope, market overview, market estimation caveats and base year. Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe from 2018 to 2023. Chapter 3, the Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe competitive situation, sales quantity, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast. Chapter 4, the Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales quantity, consumption value and growth by regions, from 2018 to 2029. Chapter 5 and 6, to segment the sales by Type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2018 to 2029. Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales quantity, consumption value and market share for key countries in the world, from 2017 to 2022.and Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2024 to 2029. Chapter 12, market dynamics, drivers, restraints, trends, Porters Five Forces analysis, and Influence of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine War. Chapter 13, the key raw materials and key suppliers, and industry chain of Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe. Chapter 14 and 15, to describe Large Diameter Seamless Steel Pipe sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion.
We provide in-depth market development analysis reports for enterprises, and are a company that digs deep into global industry information to support enterprises with market strategies. Global info research provides market information consulting services in the global region to support enterprise strategic planning and official information reporting; especially in the fields of electronic semiconductors, chemicals, medical devices, etc. It is constructed to solve the niche product data that cannot be counted by official units such as statistical bureaus, customs, and associations for customers; the company focuses on customized research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, database and top industry services. The company has large basic databases (e.g. National Bureau of Statistics, Customs import/export database, industry association database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts with over 10 years of marketing or R&D experience in the energy industry, automotive, chemical, medical ICT consumer products, etc.). Trusted by more than 30,000 companies around the world, our services cover more than 365 industries, including energy, automotive, and pharmaceuticals.
Contact information of GlobaI Info Research
E-mail:[email protected]
Add:FLAT/RM A 9/F SILVERCORP INTERNATIONAL TOWER 707-713 NATHAN ROAD MONGKOK KL HONG KONG
TELL:+86-176 6505 2062
Website:http://www.globalinforesearch.com
submitted by
GoingCrazy0515 to
u/GoingCrazy0515 [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:17 Friendly-Arm2952 Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Empire preview (One-Shot)
2023.06.01 04:17 montygraves New haul. Are these pretty good sets?
submitted by montygraves to legostarwars [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:17 Sdc1011 Please help, I’ve never built a Pc before
Please help 1st time builder but honestly my budget is $3000
What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.
Strictly gaming and maybe streaming while playing way down the road so I’m not worried about anything I need to stream just yet. My games of choice would have to be RTS games like Total war warhammer 3, FPS like MW2, warzone 2.0, Warhammer dark tide, overwatch and games like that, RPG’s Cyberpunk, star citizen and when it comes out, Star field.
What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?
$3500 but I plan on going to a closest Microcenter
When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.
1 week for example purposes, I’m just using this as a template and I’m going to look at different recommendations learn more about different components so by the time I do build one, I’ll be more knowledgeable.
What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)
*I need the Tower, OS, monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?
- I do have a microcenter near me in VA
If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.
Not reusing anything
Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?
- I’m not exactly sure what over clocking does how how it works but if there is a chance to damage the PC, then no, if it’s beneficial I’ll learn more about it
Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)
- I don’t know what RAID setup is but I would like large storage and a solid SSD
Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?
I least want a standard sized motherboard and a mid or full tower, whichever would have better airflow.
Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?
- Yes I would need windows 11
Extra info or particulars:
I don’t want the top of the line equipment just yet, because I know that’s not in the budget but if I could get a build recommendation that could play the games I have listed above at at least 1440p and at least 80 FPS (because I’m used to console at 60 fps) I would be totally cool with that. Thank you everyone
submitted by
Sdc1011 to
buildmeapc [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:16 fozrok The Digital Hypno Human vs Robot Challenge
The Digital Hypno Human vs Robot Challenge
Do you think you can tell which Hypnosis Script intro was written by ChatGPT and which was written by a Professional Hypnotherapist?
Are you willing to risk being right or wrong by making a decision?
For just a little bit of fun, I'll post 5 x different Hypnosis/Guided Meditation Script intros, and comment as to whether you think it was written by a human or AI.
-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-Intro #1 - Journey of Mindfulness:
Welcome. This session is designed to guide you to a place of peace and present-mindedness. Begin by adjusting your breathing, finding a slow and controlled rhythm. With each inhale, imagine drawing in the fresh, clean air, and with each exhale, let go of tension and stress, as if it were a puff of grey smoke dispersing into the ether. This is your time, your space.
Imagine now that you are in a deep, lush forest, surrounded by towering trees that have stood the test of time. As you breathe in, feel the cool forest breeze that carries with it the rustling whispers of the leaves, a delicate earthy scent, and the nurturing essence of nature. Each breath you take makes you feel more and more a part of this vibrant forest scene.
Now, let's embark on a journey of mindfulness, a journey that anchors us in the present moment. As you traverse the forest in your mind, notice the rough texture of the bark as you gently run your fingers along a tree, the sound of a distant stream bubbling, and the way the forest floor feels beneath your feet. This journey isn't about reaching a destination, it's about being here, now. Every sensation you experience, every breath you take, is a gentle reminder to stay present.
Remember, this journey is for you. Encourage yourself, for each step taken in mindfulness brings you closer to inner peace and tranquility. Breathe in the forest, breathe in the present moment, and when you're ready, take one last deep breath, hold it, and release it slowly, letting the serene calmness wash over you.
-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-Intro #2 - Universal Silver Light:
Close your eyes and take in a deep breath. Let the breath go all the way down to your abdomen, then breathe all the way back up. Allow yourself to continue breathing in and out, up and down, as you sink deeper into the chair, feeling more comfortable.
Now, as you start to focus on your breath and all the other pleasant feelings it creates, recognize that with each breath, your body is becoming more relaxed and comfortable. It's almost as though there is a white silver light washing over your body as your breath travels up towards the top of your head. It explodes out into the universe like a shower of energy, and then just as quickly, it travels back down over your entire body as you breathe in and down to your toes, grounding you back into the center of the earth.
By doing this you are giving yourself the gift of deeper connection and oneness with everything around you, bringing a greater sense of peace & harmony, as a foundation for creating long-lasting, positive changes, by harnessing the infinite power of the universe and earth.
-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-Intro #3 - Landscape of Your Life:
Sit back, relax & close your eyes and allow this journey to help restore equilibrium in your mind, body, and spirit. To start, focus on the pattern of your breath, a simple yet powerful tool. Take a deep, full breath in, filling your lungs completely. Hold this breath for a moment, allowing the oxygen to fully saturate your system. Now, slowly let it out, taking twice as long to exhale as you did to inhale. This slow release helps signal your nervous system to switch into a state of rest and relaxation, quieting the chatter of the mind.
Visualize yourself standing on top of a majestic mountain. From here, you can see the world sprawled out below you, its chaos and noise merely a whisper carried away by the wind. The air is clear and cool, tinged with the crisp scent of mountain trees. As you breathe in this pure air, feel it cleanse your body and spirit, wiping away stress and negativity. Each exhalation is a step further into tranquility, your breath echoing the gentle breeze that sweeps across the mountain top.
Embark on a journey of rejuvenation. With every slowing breath, imagine yourself tapping into an unlimited source of energy deep within you. This journey is about revitalization, not just physically, but also emotionally and psychologically. As you look out from your mountain top, consider each element of the landscape as a part of your life. Perhaps the river in the distance represents your emotions, the forest your relationships, the open sky your dreams. Breathe in the healing air, knowing that with each breath, you are nurturing these aspects of your life.
This practice is a gift you're giving to yourself, a testament to your innate ability to regulate and balance your body and mind. Each slow, intentional breath is a step towards a better you. As you continue to breathe deeply and slowly, feel the calming effects washing over you, enhancing your capability to create positive change now.
-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-Intro #4 - Quantum Healing:
Sit back, relax, and close your eyes. Now, just imagine that with each breath, a radiant, healing light infuses every cell and atom of your body, energizing and harmonizing them. This light represents the powerful quantum field that underpins all of reality, capable of manifesting profound transformation. You're floating amongst fluffy clouds, surrounded by the tranquil hum of the cosmos, a testament to the vibrational nature of existence.
This journey you're on is one of quantum healing and epigenetic change. Feel the energy and vibration within you, aligning with the frequency of wellness, balance, and positivity. Visualize this light, drawn in with your breath, influencing your genes on a profound level, turning on codes of health, resilience, and vitality.
You're harnessing the vibrational essence of your being, focusing it on manifesting positive changes in your life. Continue this process of mindful quantum change, aware that each breath you take, each vibrational shift you make, brings you closer to your optimal self.
-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-🌀-Intro #5 - Your Inner Jedi - Star Wars
Close your eyes and allow yourself to go on a journey across the galaxies, to bring balance to your mind, body, and spirit - much like the balance sought by the Jedi and Sith in the Star Wars universe. Focus on your breath, the natural Force within you, as powerful and tranquil as the Jedi Masters themselves. Inhale deeply, filling your lungs with life-sustaining oxygen, then hold, allowing the breath to saturate every cell in your body. Exhale slowly and notice as this rhythm mimics the gentle pulse of the Force, signaling to enter a deeper state of peace and relaxation.
Now, let your mind drift even more now to the shifting sand dunes of Tatooine. This harsh, yet strangely beautiful landscape symbolizes the shifting nature of life. Each grain of sand is like a moment in time, insignificant on its own yet contributing to the vast oceans of sand, just as each moment contributes to the vastness of your life. The undulating dunes remind you of life's duality, the rise and fall, the constant flux and flow. Feel the warm sand underfoot, the dry wind in your hair, the intense sun on your skin. Let these sensations ground you in the present moment, reminding you of your resilience and adaptability.
Using the inherent Force within you, this voyage is about revitalizing your inner self; physically, emotionally and psychologically. Picture the vast cosmos before you, each celestial body representing an aspect of your life. The tranquil moons symbolize your emotions, the vibrant stars your dreams & ambitions, the infinite galaxies your limitless potential. Breathe in the cosmic energy, trusting that with each breath, you're nurturing and balancing these elements of your existence.
This a testament to your innate ability to control and harmonize your inner galaxy. Every slow, purposeful breath brings you closer to the Jedi-like tranquility and strength within you. As you continue to breathe in rhythm with the Force, feel the calming effects washing over you, getting stronger and stronger with each breath, increasing your ability to create positive change in your own universe.
---- So which of these are written by a human and which are written by AI (ChatGPT with some detailed prompting)?
submitted by
fozrok to
hypnosis [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:16 The_T113 Anti-Slip Pad for Tatacon?
Maybe the issue is the material the table I use is made of, but it'd be easier to get an anti-slip pad than a new table.
The water bottles don't help weigh it down and keep it from sliding.
So anyone have any trouble with the controller constantly sliding around? Any suggestions or has anyone found an anti-slip pad works?
submitted by
The_T113 to
taikonotatsujin [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:15 Quackadilla [Discussion] Bonus Book - Nona the Ninth, Day 2 through Chapter 11
Welcome to the second discussion for Tamsyn Muir's
Nona the Ninth.
This section covers all of Day 2 through Day 3 Chapter 11.
***
Day 2 Chapter 7 Nona is awakened by something hitting her face. Camilla wants her to recount her dreams, where someone is holding Nona's hands and she is holding theirs, but both pairs of hands are hers.
Nona gets ready for the day and puts on a shirt that has a hamburger with legs on it. They discuss the escalating hostilities between the common folk. People are killing each other and bodies are pilling up in the street.
Palamedes takes control of the body shared with Camilla. Pyrrha is concerned with the risks it poses to their shared brain. Camilla drops Nona off at school.
When entering the classroom, Nona finds Honesty nursing a black eye. Turns out she ran into a streetlight. Honesty was working a job and after realizing she was being followed, ran away and into a light.
Chapter 8 Nona attempts to get shoes on Noodle - a dog with six feet. While doing so she mentions that she would rather be attempting the weird bone things that Camilla / Palamedes try to get her to do. She walks outside and talks into her hand to someone called "Crown".
John 15:23 John recounts the first days after something important happened. After three days people began to believe what he claims to have happened to him. His eyes have changed. They say he looks like Edward from Twilight with the body of a high school history teacher.
The bodies everywhere were not decomposing. They tried heating them, but their temperatures weren't changing. Their corpses were perfect. John feels a connection with their bodies - he feels their presence and that he was touching them without touching them.
John is recounting this information to Harrow.
Chapter 9 Hot Sauce asks Nona what she said at the end of Chapter 8. Nona felt silly talking to herself and didn't say much. Hot Sauce says the Watcher took off after she spoke into the radio. Nona practices with swords despite her lack of interest.
Nona recounts when she went swimming. She wanted to lay at the bottom and drowse, but didn't want to die. Camilla is suddenly surrounded by what appears to Nona as police. Nona lunges forward in an effort to help Camilla, only to hear words muffled by water and to be shot. She hears the name Unjust Hope. When Nona reemerges from the water, she finds Camilla surrounded by bodies on the ground.
They return to Pyrrha, where Camilla is tended to. Pyrrha tells Camilla never to try Synthesis again.
Chapter 10 Pyrrha and Camilla / Palamedes discuss the on going violence. People are rioting against police and protesting the acceptance of zombie money.
Nona eavesdrops on Pyrrha and Palamedes. They discuss Pyrrha burning people and Camilla / Palamedes overextending their necromantic powers. Pyrrha points out that they are only a fraction of a Lyctor.
Nona heads out to a secret room where she sees the blue orb in the sky through a window. She knows that it is causing all of the chaos, but she likes to look at it. She loves it and is the only one who can hear it sing. She calls it Varun.
John 5:18 John and presumably Harrow lie looking at the stars. John recounts his first experiences with necromancy and his follower's reactions to it. He talks of the tests they did on his abilities and he refers to the corpses as his batteries.
They were worried about getting caught and disappeared, so they decide to broadcast his abilities and see if there is anyone else like him.
Day 3 Chapter 11 Nona recounts a dream where a girl with a painted face is floating under the water. In the dream they are embracing, but the body parts are mixing up.
Pyrrha asks Nona to be careful with her friend Hot Sauce. Pyrrha saw her burn cages the previous night and noticed the company she kept.
Nona wants to know what everyone thinks is sexy. Nona doesn't think red heads are sexy and Palamedes finds that to be important.
People with guns break down their door.
***
We'll see how the plot congeals in next's weeks discussion to be run by
u/Unnecessary_Eagle!
submitted by
Quackadilla to
bookclub [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:14 Betty-Adams Flying Sparks Volume 1 - A Novel of a boy, a dragon, and an alien. Avaliable for preorder on Indiegogo Now.
| https://i.redd.it/vvxa5zxkfb3b1.gif Chapter 2 “Hazardous? I’ll show that manipulative, misanthropic, anti-establishment cretin just what hazardous means if he thinks I’m going to fold on this!” The sound of vigorous guitar riffs made a fitting accompaniment to the angry tirade despite originating on opposite sides of the communal area. Ama was glaring at a laptop that sat on a stained oak desk shoved against the large table near the kitchen. She tapped a fingernail on the wood as she read through the alert. “And what violation of basic human dignity has her royal prudishness’s undies in a bunch?” Em demanded with an affected sneer without looking up from his guitar scales. “Oh you’ll agree with this one tree-hugger,” Drake muttered from where he sat oiling his work boots. “Yeah,” Donny piped up, “Finney is trying to kill a perfectly healthy fir.” “What!” Em demanded, carefully placing his battered old acoustic guitar down in its case and darting over to look at the computer screen. “You mean apark tree?” Despite her simmering frustration Ama allowed a small smile to flicker across her face as she continued to type. “Get out of your pajamas and I’ll tell you,” Drake ordered pointing towards the bathroom door with a stained rag. “School starts in forty-five minutes and you still have breakfast and chores. That goes for you too Pip-squirt.” “I hope you washed your hands before you touched our food,” Em said with a frown. “Boot grease makes a great source of fatty acids.” Drake retorted. “Now go!” The two smaller boys muttered in annoyance but stumbled off to follow orders. “So what is up?” the youth asked as he bent his head back over the smooth leather of his boots. “Mrs. Finney wants that tree down that’s blocking her perfect view of Crescent Lake.” Ama replied in a dry tone. “One that’s clearly on park property?” Drake asked. “Indeedy-do.” Ama replied giving the paper in front of her a glare. “So how’s she justifying it?” Drake asked. “As a safety hazard to her house.” Ama replied. “And?” The biologist groaned and rubbed her face. “As far as I can tell the trunk is perfectly healthy. There is an old trash can lid grown into the trunk and a little discolored sap is leaking out there.” “Frass?” “Watch your language!” Donny interjected as he darted up to the table. “Frass is not a bad word,” Drake stated. “Have you let the chickens out?” “Yes, what does frass mean?” Donny asked as he started piling stir-fry onto his plate. “Look it up.” Drake ordered him. “Emerald! Breakfast ends in ten minutes! Get your tukus down here!” “It’s bad health to rush meals,” Em snapped out as he came down a narrow stairway with deliberate slowness. “It’s even worse for your health to skip meals altogether,” Drake growled threateningly. “Shut it and give me some eggs.” Em snapped back. “Emerald Waters Undersun,” Drake hissed out through gritted teeth. “You are going to get your own eggs.” The boy threw himself into a chair and glared at Drake with challenge in every line of his body. “Emerald,” Ama said in a calm tone. “I think you should apologize to your cousin now.” “Sorry I disturbed you Ama,” he offered without breaking eye contact with Drake. “Not me, him,” Ama said. “Sorry you had to hear that Donny.” Em said. Ama heaved a sigh and closed her computer. “Emerald,” Ama said. “Do you want to eat or go hungry?” Drake demanded. Ama glanced at him with a familiar uneasy look in her eyes and Drake fought down a wince. “Now, Em.” she said in a patient tone. “I’ll go hungry,” Em snapped, jumping up and stalking over to the couch. Donny kept his eyes fixed on his plate. Ama heaved a sigh before turning back to her computer. Em wriggled on the couch for several minutes before skulking back to the table. Drake moved to intercept him but Ama stopped him with a look and he let Em serve himself. Drake cast irritated glances at the wall clock as the time crept more and more into school time. Ama closed her computer and stood, then sighed, sat and opened it again. “I need to pick out their report topics,” Ama muttered. “I could do it,” Drake offered. “You do quite enough,” Ama replied briskly, as she scanned the news. “Here you go. For Donny, malfunctions at the Lewis- McChord Air Force Base air show.” A frown creased her face. “Wow, this is pretty serious. It looks like the F-16 demonstration team nearly got killed.” Drake whistled and leaned over her shoulder. “Multiple system failures,” he read out loud. “I am pretty sure that isn’t supposed to happen.” “Nope,” Ama agreed. “Here is a topic on big game management for Em.” “Reports due by next week?” Drake asked as the old printer on the desk began to squeal and grumble as it powered up. “Same as usual,” Ama confirmed. Drake put the printouts on top of the homework pile and moved to wash up the breakfast dishes. “I need to get to work early today so you two be good for Drake,” she called out placing a quick kiss on top of the smaller boys’ heads and giving Drake’s shoulder a friendly squeeze. “Good luck with Mrs. Finney, and stay safe.” Drake called out as she went into her room. The table was cleaned off and wiped down and the clink of forks gave way to the steady scratch of pencils on paper. They broke for a recess after religion and then lunch after history and math, and by the time the Grandfather clock in the corner struck two the younger boys twitching with energy. Drake made certain the internet was disconnected at the router, and chased Donny and Em out into the garden. “And don’t come in until dark,” he ordered tossing two snack bags out after them. Donny as usual snatched his food and disappeared into the small orachard. Low grumbles about troglodytes and the Amish wandered out into the high corn following Em and Drake shook his head in exasperation wondering, not for the first time how the dark haired princeling came from the same gene pool as his little brother. The kitchen being mostly ordered Drake was turning to put the last random dirty sock in the hamper when a gnarled hand clutching a cane head appeared in the corner of his eye, causing his heart to make a valiant attempt to bolt out of his throat. “Abuelita!” he gasped forcing his hands down from the guard position. “Where did you come from?” Smoldering black eyes ran searchingly over the tall youth. An impossibly long mane of streaked silver and black hair was barely contained in a thick braid. A sharply pointed nose perched over a small wrinkled mouth. A vibrant red horse-hair serape hung over her shoulders concealing everything except her brown and gnarled hands which currently clutched the old tree branch she used as a cane. Drake had been more than a little comforted by the fact that both Em and Donny had admitted to having the thought ‘witch’ every time time they saw her as well. “From the hand of God by the bodies of my sainted mother and father,” she replied after a long, uncomfortable silence. She always spoke in a low husky voice that suggested years of smoking, though Drake had never smelled even stale smoke on her. “Right,” Drake blinked and grinned at the response; the one she always gave. “So you are here for their Spanish lesson? I have their grammar books ready and-” The narrow end of the tree branch rapped against the concrete of the floor causing Drake to jump. Abuelita glared at him, locking his gaze and holding him in place with it for a moment. “I am here for their lessons,” she finally stated, “and you are there for my payment.” Drake thought longingly of the repair and maintenance manuals in the cab of the truck and the new tool he was itching to try, but he forced a grin on his face. “Yes ma’am,” he said. “What can I get you today?” Abuelita pulled out a bag of woven grass from under her serape causing the indistinct patterns on the cloth to shift and change. “Take this,” she ordered him, “and collect me the cobalt blue berries that grow on a single stalk close to the ground. They must come from the mountain to the south east of here by the crystal brook.” Drake nodded, and took the little bag, he didn’t quite manage to infused his gestures with enthusiasm he supposed. The old woman, probably wouldn’t have noted it anyway. She turned and moved towards the garden door without waiting for any other reply. However she called out over her shoulder as he turned to find his own way out of the rambling structure. “Don’t dawdle little one. A storm brews in the distance.” He tried not to roll his eyes at that, the weather forecast was clear and eighties for the next week according to the morning fire report Ama had printed. The youth only nodded and slipped around the corner. He circled the barn and pulled a set of loose tan pants and tunic out of the cubby. The soft worn leather almost perfectly matched the forest floor for color as did the moccasins he pulled on after them. His morning running clothes were modern stuff that wicked the sweat away from him and let him speed through the forest. These were his free day clothes. The ones that let him disappear into the forest and wander. Abuelita, for all of her demands, would tend Em and Donny until he returned no matter how late that was, and with the Park’s yearly budget talks still under way it was highly unlikely Ama would be home until long after the sun had set. Despite still hearing the call of the half restored truck he felt something lossening in him already. The soft cotton and smooth leather rested easily against his skin and Drake slipped into the forest. Freedom; for the moment at least, blissful freedom. Pushing aside the guilt that accompanied the thought as well as any lingering worries about his charges the youth let his legs carry him through the trees. He shunned the man made paths, following the faint animal trails. This close to the barn they were as clear to him as if they were named city streets. Being animal trails, they invariably led him to water. Today he stopped at a trickling stream, took off his moccasins, and rolled up his pants legs. The youth turned and followed the thin flow of icy water upstream, letting it steal the heat from his body through his feet. Some distance upstream, the stream widened and pooled under a boulder. There Drake paused and pulled an old black compass out of his pocket. Behind him he knew every trail and tree. Ahead was a broad swath of National Wilderness he would have to cross, or possibly Bureau of Land Management or even state managed forests where he more rarely wandered. It was hard to tell where the boundaries were from the ground. The clearing he wanted for the berries was solidly in BLM land and he still had quite a ways to go to get there. The stand of timber that stood between him and his goal was dense with young tree and branches that frequently formed impenetrable hedges he had to track around and he checked his compass regularly as he climbed in elevation. Even so the youth found he had wandered too far off his route and had to correct when he spotted the boundary fence. However he was in no hurry and he reached the clearing long before the sun told him it was time to turn around. Sometime in the past some unknown force had carved a shallow trench across the side of one of the small mountains that that dotted the wilderness. It had puzzled Drake at first. The scour was at the wrong angle to be an old rock slide, and terminated in a near perfectly circular clearing at the lower end. Centuries old Douglas Firs abruptly gave way to a second ring only a few decades old. Those were in turn beginning to produce cones and a smattering of knee high saplings. The rest of the space was completely given over to wildflowers. No matter what season Drake visited it he found a riot of life. There had been an early spring and many herbs that normally would have waited a month or more were already in full bloom in the mountain meadow. A white wave of foamflower washed in from the deep forest surrounding the clearing, sending up knee high stalks covered in the delicate white blooms. Late trillium hid close to the roots of the great firs, many having shed their white corollas and begun to put forth their bulbous seed heads. Fuzzy white baneberry blossoms nodded gently in the breeze. A riot of yellow and purple spread across the ground as vetch and buttercups and a host of clovers competed for space in the open sun. Great stalks of lupine as high as his head thrust up their purple and blue proudly from thick clusters of palm shaped leaves. Pink shooting stars and violet harebells crouched under the protection of the larger plants. Indian paintbrush lit the scene with flames of red and orange. Where a spring seeped into the meadow elephant’s head flared neon pink and corydalis bushes put forth blushing blooms. Pale green wild orchids stood along the wet spot and the swarms of bees danced from them to the glacier lilies. Sometimes, as he bent over a tiny blossom and traced the intricate network of veins in the petals, drank in the scent, and felt the smooth surface of the leaves an otherworldly feeling would come over him. It was as if there was another world just out of range of his senses. If he could only really look, the thin illusion that was blocking him would slip away and reveal the real world underneath it. “ Look Awiegwa,” his father would whisper, pointing at a deer mouse perched on a fallen log. “What does it see?” Awiegwa would screw up his face and squint. Trying to find the answer to the question. Awiegwa had often wondered how so many flowers had come to be in the relatively small area. He had identified dozens of species and there were more he had yet to determine. The clearing was always the first place to bloom and the last to go dormant. Many of the flowers seemed to utterly defy their usual blooming patterns. However, as time passed he had simply come to accept it. It was one of the small good things that brought back the memories of his father. If it didn’t quite follow the rules Ama had taught him, well an impossible clearing in the mountains wasn’t a place for rules. The particular bloom that Abuelita had requested had taken full advantage of the early sun and had already put forth a few cobalt blue berries; easily spotted at the edge of the clearing in the delicate sea of white flowers. However before he left the shade of the forest for the meadow the youth paused and closed his eyes. Bole wasn’t always here, but he was often enough that Awiegwa always checked for him. Carefully he reconstructed the clearing in his mind; marking every tree and boulder on the edge. Three years he had been coming here and each time it was easier to recreate the clearing. Breathing evenly he opened his eyes, letting the mental image merge with the actual. There was a brief moment of confusion as details like the play of light through branches and the trembling of small clusters of flowers fixed themselves but there was only one truly jarring note. Awiegwa didn’t let his eyes focus on the disparity; he never did anymore, but a warm smile spread across his features as he slipped silently into the meadow. He was here. As the youth moved in a low crouch, gathering the first fruits of the Queen’s Cup, he let his peripheral vision linger on a particular snag. There was nothing obviously interesting about it, other than the fact that it had not been there the last time Awiegwa was here. He had named the wanderer Bole, because it most often appeared as a thick tree trunk; sometimes living, sometimes dead. Occasionally it would be a boulder or simply a mound in the dirt. Often it wasn’t in the clearing at all. If the youth moved forward and tried to closely examine it he could never find anything to suggest it was something other than a tree or rock. He had thought about taking a sample occasionally, had taken his knife out to do just that more than once, but something always held him back. Bole was a part of this place. Dissecting him would be too much like attempting to dissect his sense of his father’s presence here. The youth had never told anyone about this place, not even Ama with who could get most things out of him easily enough. Down at the house, in town, when he was Drake; solid, reliable, first up in the morning, two grades ahead in school with a penchant for science Drake, a productive member of modern society with a promising future and his mother smiling at him. Here he could be Awiegwa. Here he could believe in the ancient medicines his father had dug out of dusty old tomes and brought to life from the forest litter. Every time Awiegwa left the clearing and headed back towards home reality would reassert itself. Bole would resolve back into a figment of his imagination, created from pride in a somewhat better than average memory and what the social workers had called an “intriguing imagination”. When he reached the house and become solidly Drake again flickers of embarrassment would begin eating at him for letting his senses trick him like that, but as long as the blooms nodded around him in this garden Bole could exist even on a Thursday. The little woven grass bag filled up with the berries fairly quickly and Awiegwa soon stretched out of his crouch and let his gaze wander contentedly over the clearing. As it always did, the warm space was working its special magic. Worries about Em getting out of his schoolwork, of not paying enough attention to the quiet Donny, of letting Ama see his petty resentments: it had all melted away from his muscles, thoughts of college costs and abandoning his duties dissolved into an acute sense of the now. The leaves rustled softly in a barely-there breeze, the heavy scent of some unidentified blossom filled his lungs, a dozen shades of green framed the rainbow of flowers, and over and above it all the creaking of the firs as the wind played over them. It was at times like these that he felth he could almost see into heaven; that something wonderful that existed just beyond his senses, and all he had to do was reach out and claim it. The youth took a deep breath and let himself fall backwards onto a handy rise in the forest floor. His path had taken him to the foot of the snag and he shifted slightly to align himself with the gnarled roots. One hand gripped a time smoothed root. “Ama trusted me enough to go out of state,” he murmured. “That’s the first time she’s done that. Usually she has Abulita stay with us to fend off the Harsh, but she said it’s long past legal now.” It was his imagination of course that made him think the root vibrated in his hand in response. Many a long hour he had spent in this clearing with the wanderer. He had poured out his frustrations and anguishes over life’s injustices, had shared his secrets as he grew, and had shouted his triumphs. Sometimes he felt closer to Bole than to any of his human friends. However, something that sounded like his mother’s voice warned him that there was something odd about this and that awareness was the main reason he had kept this place secret from Ama. Their mother hadn’t exactly liked stuff like that. She had never objected to his father’s digging up the old stories of her people. Making cross generational connections between elders, who more often than not lived isolated lives, and the next generation, was an admirable goal in of itself in her eyes; objectively a social good. Storytelling was only the natural course for these relationships to take, but subtle looks had warned even a very young Drake that it was best to cautious what he shared with his mother. At least of those things that couldn’t be placed on a microscope slide. So this was Awigewa’s place, and while his father’s spirit wanders the flowers with he had never felt his mother here. He let his focus drift up, and up. Dark blue Lupine nodded over his head framing the faint crisscross of jet contrails that threw a light haze over an otherwise cloudless sky. His clothed grew deliciously hot from the spring sun. The ground too had eagerly accepted the energy and now it conducted the heat into the muscles of his back. Bole’s wood beneath him was warmer even than the surrounding ground and an idle thought traced across Awiegwa’s awareness; something about it being odd for the light colored wood and relatively dry wood to retain more heat than the darker soil surrounding it. His mind was filled with the impression of a goal. He had been meaning to do, something. Something fun, yes, exploring, he’d meant to see if whatever had dug that den by the second boulder was cubing this year. He would just get up and do that in a minute. His back was so warm and comfortable. “Flying Sparks” Another foray into the lives of Drake McCarty, Ama Love, and the rest of their siblings as they discover that something alien is out in the forest around their home. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flying-sparks-a-novel-of-dragon-bear-and-boy/coming_soon #FlyingSparks #ScienceFiction #Scifi #Story #novel #book #DrakeMcCarty #AmaLove #Donny #Em #Bard #Bole #Aliens #Spaceships #Crystals #fireflies #NPS #NationalPark #Doctor #Sever #family #storm #writing #reading #drama #literature #author #BettyAdams #DyingEmbers #Dragons #ThingsThatGoBoomp #Indiegogo #CrowdFunding submitted by Betty-Adams to ChristianAuthors [link] [comments] |
2023.06.01 04:14 MuffinPowder_ [24F] anyone want a friend? 🌟❤️
Hello to everyone! Trying to find new friends and make new memories together!
I am 24 year old girl searching for a friend. I am not the best at talking or most interesting person but I try my best!
I am into certain things such as anime, video games, comics, reading, talking, sleeping and I like to take long walks and just think
Some anime I like are: I like some classics such as Cowboy Bebop, Ranma, Death Note, Code Geass, Berserk, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakasho, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Samurai X and also newer ones like AoT, One Punch Man, Cyberpunk, Vinland Saga and so on. I also enjoy slice of life type of anime like My Dress Up Darling, Bocchi and Konosuba to name a few
I'm into comics and have read a decent amount of Marvel and DC. I gave read some Star Wars Legends as well! Read a good amount of Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, Avengers, Superman, and so on!
As for gaming, I like JRPGs, shooters, some open worlds, fighting games, platformers and RTS. I like Pokemon, Final Fantasy, anime games, GTA, Mario Bros, Halo, The Arkham games, Persona, Metal Gear, Dragon Quest and so on
Send me a chat request or DM and let's talk! Just be at least 18 or older and I'm down to talk! Give me your age, gender and a small intro please!
Have a good week! ❤️❤️
submitted by
MuffinPowder_ to
MakeNewFriendsHere [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:13 Betty-Adams Flying Sparks Volume 1 - A Novel of a boy, a dragon, and an alien. Avaliable for preorder on Indiegogo Now.
https://i.redd.it/vub83em8fb3b1.gif Chapter 2
“Hazardous? I’ll show that manipulative, misanthropic, anti-establishment cretin just what hazardous means if he thinks I’m going to fold on this!”
The sound of vigorous guitar riffs made a fitting accompaniment to the angry tirade despite originating on opposite sides of the communal area. Ama was glaring at a laptop that sat on a stained oak desk shoved against the large table near the kitchen. She tapped a fingernail on the wood as she read through the alert.
“And what violation of basic human dignity has her royal prudishness’s undies in a bunch?” Em demanded with an affected sneer without looking up from his guitar scales.
“Oh you’ll agree with this one tree-hugger,” Drake muttered from where he sat oiling his work boots.
“Yeah,” Donny piped up, “Finney is trying to kill a perfectly healthy fir.”
“What!” Em demanded, carefully placing his battered old acoustic guitar down in its case and darting over to look at the computer screen. “You mean apark tree?”
Despite her simmering frustration Ama allowed a small smile to flicker across her face as she continued to type.
“Get out of your pajamas and I’ll tell you,” Drake ordered pointing towards the bathroom door with a stained rag. “School starts in forty-five minutes and you still have breakfast and chores. That goes for you too Pip-squirt.”
“I hope you washed your hands before you touched our food,” Em said with a frown.
“Boot grease makes a great source of fatty acids.” Drake retorted. “Now go!”
The two smaller boys muttered in annoyance but stumbled off to follow orders.
“So what is up?” the youth asked as he bent his head back over the smooth leather of his boots.
“Mrs. Finney wants that tree down that’s blocking her perfect view of Crescent Lake.” Ama replied in a dry tone.
“One that’s clearly on park property?” Drake asked.
“Indeedy-do.” Ama replied giving the paper in front of her a glare.
“So how’s she justifying it?” Drake asked.
“As a safety hazard to her house.” Ama replied.
“And?”
The biologist groaned and rubbed her face.
“As far as I can tell the trunk is perfectly healthy. There is an old trash can lid grown into the trunk and a little discolored sap is leaking out there.”
“Frass?”
“Watch your language!” Donny interjected as he darted up to the table.
“Frass is not a bad word,” Drake stated. “Have you let the chickens out?”
“Yes, what does frass mean?” Donny asked as he started piling stir-fry onto his plate.
“Look it up.” Drake ordered him. “Emerald! Breakfast ends in ten minutes! Get your tukus down here!”
“It’s bad health to rush meals,” Em snapped out as he came down a narrow stairway with deliberate slowness.
“It’s even worse for your health to skip meals altogether,” Drake growled threateningly.
“Shut it and give me some eggs.” Em snapped back.
“Emerald Waters Undersun,” Drake hissed out through gritted teeth. “You are going to get your own eggs.”
The boy threw himself into a chair and glared at Drake with challenge in every line of his body.
“Emerald,” Ama said in a calm tone. “I think you should apologize to your cousin now.”
“Sorry I disturbed you Ama,” he offered without breaking eye contact with Drake.
“Not me, him,” Ama said.
“Sorry you had to hear that Donny.” Em said.
Ama heaved a sigh and closed her computer.
“Emerald,” Ama said.
“Do you want to eat or go hungry?” Drake demanded.
Ama glanced at him with a familiar uneasy look in her eyes and Drake fought down a wince.
“Now, Em.” she said in a patient tone.
“I’ll go hungry,” Em snapped, jumping up and stalking over to the couch.
Donny kept his eyes fixed on his plate. Ama heaved a sigh before turning back to her computer. Em wriggled on the couch for several minutes before skulking back to the table. Drake moved to intercept him but Ama stopped him with a look and he let Em serve himself. Drake cast irritated glances at the wall clock as the time crept more and more into school time.
Ama closed her computer and stood, then sighed, sat and opened it again.
“I need to pick out their report topics,” Ama muttered.
“I could do it,” Drake offered.
“You do quite enough,” Ama replied briskly, as she scanned the news. “Here you go. For Donny, malfunctions at the Lewis- McChord Air Force Base air show.” A frown creased her face. “Wow, this is pretty serious. It looks like the F-16 demonstration team nearly got killed.”
Drake whistled and leaned over her shoulder.
“Multiple system failures,” he read out loud. “I am pretty sure that isn’t supposed to happen.”
“Nope,” Ama agreed. “Here is a topic on big game management for Em.”
“Reports due by next week?” Drake asked as the old printer on the desk began to squeal and grumble as it powered up.
“Same as usual,” Ama confirmed.
Drake put the printouts on top of the homework pile and moved to wash up the breakfast dishes.
“I need to get to work early today so you two be good for Drake,” she called out placing a quick kiss on top of the smaller boys’ heads and giving Drake’s shoulder a friendly squeeze.
“Good luck with Mrs. Finney, and stay safe.” Drake called out as she went into her room.
The table was cleaned off and wiped down and the clink of forks gave way to the steady scratch of pencils on paper. They broke for a recess after religion and then lunch after history and math, and by the time the Grandfather clock in the corner struck two the younger boys twitching with energy. Drake made certain the internet was disconnected at the router, and chased Donny and Em out into the garden.
“And don’t come in until dark,” he ordered tossing two snack bags out after them.
Donny as usual snatched his food and disappeared into the small orachard. Low grumbles about troglodytes and the Amish wandered out into the high corn following Em and Drake shook his head in exasperation wondering, not for the first time how the dark haired princeling came from the same gene pool as his little brother. The kitchen being mostly ordered Drake was turning to put the last random dirty sock in the hamper when a gnarled hand clutching a cane head appeared in the corner of his eye, causing his heart to make a valiant attempt to bolt out of his throat.
“Abuelita!” he gasped forcing his hands down from the guard position. “Where did you come from?”
Smoldering black eyes ran searchingly over the tall youth. An impossibly long mane of streaked silver and black hair was barely contained in a thick braid. A sharply pointed nose perched over a small wrinkled mouth. A vibrant red horse-hair serape hung over her shoulders concealing everything except her brown and gnarled hands which currently clutched the old tree branch she used as a cane. Drake had been more than a little comforted by the fact that both Em and Donny had admitted to having the thought ‘witch’ every time time they saw her as well.
“From the hand of God by the bodies of my sainted mother and father,” she replied after a long, uncomfortable silence.
She always spoke in a low husky voice that suggested years of smoking, though Drake had never smelled even stale smoke on her.
“Right,” Drake blinked and grinned at the response; the one she always gave. “So you are here for their Spanish lesson? I have their grammar books ready and-”
The narrow end of the tree branch rapped against the concrete of the floor causing Drake to jump. Abuelita glared at him, locking his gaze and holding him in place with it for a moment.
“I am here for their lessons,” she finally stated, “and you are there for my payment.”
Drake thought longingly of the repair and maintenance manuals in the cab of the truck and the new tool he was itching to try, but he forced a grin on his face.
“Yes ma’am,” he said. “What can I get you today?”
Abuelita pulled out a bag of woven grass from under her serape causing the indistinct patterns on the cloth to shift and change.
“Take this,” she ordered him, “and collect me the cobalt blue berries that grow on a single stalk close to the ground. They must come from the mountain to the south east of here by the crystal brook.”
Drake nodded, and took the little bag, he didn’t quite manage to infused his gestures with enthusiasm he supposed. The old woman, probably wouldn’t have noted it anyway. She turned and moved towards the garden door without waiting for any other reply. However she called out over her shoulder as he turned to find his own way out of the rambling structure.
“Don’t dawdle little one. A storm brews in the distance.”
He tried not to roll his eyes at that, the weather forecast was clear and eighties for the next week according to the morning fire report Ama had printed. The youth only nodded and slipped around the corner. He circled the barn and pulled a set of loose tan pants and tunic out of the cubby. The soft worn leather almost perfectly matched the forest floor for color as did the moccasins he pulled on after them. His morning running clothes were modern stuff that wicked the sweat away from him and let him speed through the forest. These were his free day clothes. The ones that let him disappear into the forest and wander. Abuelita, for all of her demands, would tend Em and Donny until he returned no matter how late that was, and with the Park’s yearly budget talks still under way it was highly unlikely Ama would be home until long after the sun had set. Despite still hearing the call of the half restored truck he felt something lossening in him already. The soft cotton and smooth leather rested easily against his skin and Drake slipped into the forest.
Freedom; for the moment at least, blissful freedom. Pushing aside the guilt that accompanied the thought as well as any lingering worries about his charges the youth let his legs carry him through the trees. He shunned the man made paths, following the faint animal trails. This close to the barn they were as clear to him as if they were named city streets. Being animal trails, they invariably led him to water. Today he stopped at a trickling stream, took off his moccasins, and rolled up his pants legs. The youth turned and followed the thin flow of icy water upstream, letting it steal the heat from his body through his feet.
Some distance upstream, the stream widened and pooled under a boulder. There Drake paused and pulled an old black compass out of his pocket. Behind him he knew every trail and tree. Ahead was a broad swath of National Wilderness he would have to cross, or possibly Bureau of Land Management or even state managed forests where he more rarely wandered. It was hard to tell where the boundaries were from the ground. The clearing he wanted for the berries was solidly in BLM land and he still had quite a ways to go to get there. The stand of timber that stood between him and his goal was dense with young tree and branches that frequently formed impenetrable hedges he had to track around and he checked his compass regularly as he climbed in elevation. Even so the youth found he had wandered too far off his route and had to correct when he spotted the boundary fence. However he was in no hurry and he reached the clearing long before the sun told him it was time to turn around.
Sometime in the past some unknown force had carved a shallow trench across the side of one of the small mountains that that dotted the wilderness. It had puzzled Drake at first. The scour was at the wrong angle to be an old rock slide, and terminated in a near perfectly circular clearing at the lower end. Centuries old Douglas Firs abruptly gave way to a second ring only a few decades old. Those were in turn beginning to produce cones and a smattering of knee high saplings. The rest of the space was completely given over to wildflowers. No matter what season Drake visited it he found a riot of life.
There had been an early spring and many herbs that normally would have waited a month or more were already in full bloom in the mountain meadow. A white wave of foamflower washed in from the deep forest surrounding the clearing, sending up knee high stalks covered in the delicate white blooms. Late trillium hid close to the roots of the great firs, many having shed their white corollas and begun to put forth their bulbous seed heads. Fuzzy white baneberry blossoms nodded gently in the breeze. A riot of yellow and purple spread across the ground as vetch and buttercups and a host of clovers competed for space in the open sun. Great stalks of lupine as high as his head thrust up their purple and blue proudly from thick clusters of palm shaped leaves. Pink shooting stars and violet harebells crouched under the protection of the larger plants. Indian paintbrush lit the scene with flames of red and orange. Where a spring seeped into the meadow elephant’s head flared neon pink and corydalis bushes put forth blushing blooms. Pale green wild orchids stood along the wet spot and the swarms of bees danced from them to the glacier lilies.
Sometimes, as he bent over a tiny blossom and traced the intricate network of veins in the petals, drank in the scent, and felt the smooth surface of the leaves an otherworldly feeling would come over him. It was as if there was another world just out of range of his senses. If he could only really
look, the thin illusion that was blocking him would slip away and reveal the real world underneath it.
“
Look Awiegwa,” his father would whisper, pointing at a deer mouse perched on a fallen log. “What does it see?” Awiegwa would screw up his face and squint. Trying to find the answer to the question. Awiegwa had often wondered how so many flowers had come to be in the relatively small area. He had identified dozens of species and there were more he had yet to determine. The clearing was always the first place to bloom and the last to go dormant. Many of the flowers seemed to utterly defy their usual blooming patterns. However, as time passed he had simply come to accept it. It was one of the small good things that brought back the memories of his father. If it didn’t quite follow the rules Ama had taught him, well an impossible clearing in the mountains wasn’t a place for rules.
The particular bloom that Abuelita had requested had taken full advantage of the early sun and had already put forth a few cobalt blue berries; easily spotted at the edge of the clearing in the delicate sea of white flowers.
However before he left the shade of the forest for the meadow the youth paused and closed his eyes. Bole wasn’t always here, but he was often enough that Awiegwa always checked for him. Carefully he reconstructed the clearing in his mind; marking every tree and boulder on the edge. Three years he had been coming here and each time it was easier to recreate the clearing. Breathing evenly he opened his eyes, letting the mental image merge with the actual. There was a brief moment of confusion as details like the play of light through branches and the trembling of small clusters of flowers fixed themselves but there was only one truly jarring note. Awiegwa didn’t let his eyes focus on the disparity; he never did anymore, but a warm smile spread across his features as he slipped silently into the meadow.
He was here. As the youth moved in a low crouch, gathering the first fruits of the Queen’s Cup, he let his peripheral vision linger on a particular snag. There was nothing obviously interesting about it, other than the fact that it had not been there the last time Awiegwa was here. He had named the wanderer Bole, because it most often appeared as a thick tree trunk; sometimes living, sometimes dead. Occasionally it would be a boulder or simply a mound in the dirt. Often it wasn’t in the clearing at all. If the youth moved forward and tried to closely examine it he could never find anything to suggest it was something other than a tree or rock.
He had thought about taking a sample occasionally, had taken his knife out to do just that more than once, but something always held him back. Bole was a part of this place. Dissecting him would be too much like attempting to dissect his sense of his father’s presence here. The youth had never told anyone about this place, not even Ama with who could get most things out of him easily enough. Down at the house, in town, when he was Drake; solid, reliable, first up in the morning, two grades ahead in school with a penchant for science Drake, a productive member of modern society with a promising future and his mother smiling at him. Here he could be Awiegwa. Here he could believe in the ancient medicines his father had dug out of dusty old tomes and brought to life from the forest litter. Every time Awiegwa left the clearing and headed back towards home reality would reassert itself. Bole would resolve back into a figment of his imagination, created from pride in a somewhat better than average memory and what the social workers had called an “intriguing imagination”. When he reached the house and become solidly Drake again flickers of embarrassment would begin eating at him for letting his senses trick him like that, but as long as the blooms nodded around him in this garden Bole could exist even on a Thursday.
The little woven grass bag filled up with the berries fairly quickly and Awiegwa soon stretched out of his crouch and let his gaze wander contentedly over the clearing. As it always did, the warm space was working its special magic. Worries about Em getting out of his schoolwork, of not paying enough attention to the quiet Donny, of letting Ama see his petty resentments: it had all melted away from his muscles, thoughts of college costs and abandoning his duties dissolved into an acute sense of the now. The leaves rustled softly in a barely-there breeze, the heavy scent of some unidentified blossom filled his lungs, a dozen shades of green framed the rainbow of flowers, and over and above it all the creaking of the firs as the wind played over them. It was at times like these that he felth he could almost see into heaven; that something wonderful that existed just beyond his senses, and all he had to do was reach out and claim it.
The youth took a deep breath and let himself fall backwards onto a handy rise in the forest floor. His path had taken him to the foot of the snag and he shifted slightly to align himself with the gnarled roots. One hand gripped a time smoothed root.
“Ama trusted me enough to go out of state,” he murmured. “That’s the first time she’s done that. Usually she has Abulita stay with us to fend off the Harsh, but she said it’s long past legal now.”
It was his imagination of course that made him think the root vibrated in his hand in response. Many a long hour he had spent in this clearing with the wanderer. He had poured out his frustrations and anguishes over life’s injustices, had shared his secrets as he grew, and had shouted his triumphs. Sometimes he felt closer to Bole than to any of his human friends. However, something that sounded like his mother’s voice warned him that there was something odd about this and that awareness was the main reason he had kept this place secret from Ama. Their mother hadn’t exactly liked stuff like that. She had never objected to his father’s digging up the old stories of her people. Making cross generational connections between elders, who more often than not lived isolated lives, and the next generation, was an admirable goal in of itself in her eyes; objectively a social good. Storytelling was only the natural course for these relationships to take, but subtle looks had warned even a very young Drake that it was best to cautious what he shared with his mother. At least of those things that couldn’t be placed on a microscope slide. So this was Awigewa’s place, and while his father’s spirit wanders the flowers with he had never felt his mother here.
He let his focus drift up, and up. Dark blue Lupine nodded over his head framing the faint crisscross of jet contrails that threw a light haze over an otherwise cloudless sky. His clothed grew deliciously hot from the spring sun. The ground too had eagerly accepted the energy and now it conducted the heat into the muscles of his back. Bole’s wood beneath him was warmer even than the surrounding ground and an idle thought traced across Awiegwa’s awareness; something about it being odd for the light colored wood and relatively dry wood to retain more heat than the darker soil surrounding it. His mind was filled with the impression of a goal. He had been meaning to do, something. Something fun, yes, exploring, he’d meant to see if whatever had dug that den by the second boulder was cubing this year. He would just get up and do that in a minute. His back was so warm and comfortable.
https://i.redd.it/9sde27n9fb3b1.gif “Flying Sparks” Another foray into the lives of Drake McCarty, Ama Love, and the rest of their siblings as they discover that something alien is out in the forest around their home. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flying-sparks-a-novel-of-dragon-bear-and-boy/coming_soon #FlyingSparks #ScienceFiction #Scifi #Story #novel #book #DrakeMcCarty #AmaLove #Donny #Em #Bard #Bole #Aliens #Spaceships #Crystals #fireflies #NPS #NationalPark #Doctor #Sever #family #storm #writing #reading #drama #literature #author #BettyAdams #DyingEmbers #Dragons #ThingsThatGoBoomp #Indiegogo #CrowdFunding
submitted by
Betty-Adams to
AspiringAuthors [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:13 Betty-Adams Flying Sparks Volume 1 - A Novel of a boy, a dragon, and an alien. Avaliable for preorder on Indiegogo Now.
Flying Sparks Pre Order Now Chapter 2 “Hazardous? I’ll show that manipulative, misanthropic, anti-establishment cretin just what hazardous means if he thinks I’m going to fold on this!” The sound of vigorous guitar riffs made a fitting accompaniment to the angry tirade despite originating on opposite sides of the communal area. Ama was glaring at a laptop that sat on a stained oak desk shoved against the large table near the kitchen. She tapped a fingernail on the wood as she read through the alert. “And what violation of basic human dignity has her royal prudishness’s undies in a bunch?” Em demanded with an affected sneer without looking up from his guitar scales. “Oh you’ll agree with this one tree-hugger,” Drake muttered from where he sat oiling his work boots. “Yeah,” Donny piped up, “Finney is trying to kill a perfectly healthy fir.” “What!” Em demanded, carefully placing his battered old acoustic guitar down in its case and darting over to look at the computer screen. “You mean apark tree?” Despite her simmering frustration Ama allowed a small smile to flicker across her face as she continued to type. “Get out of your pajamas and I’ll tell you,” Drake ordered pointing towards the bathroom door with a stained rag. “School starts in forty-five minutes and you still have breakfast and chores. That goes for you too Pip-squirt.” “I hope you washed your hands before you touched our food,” Em said with a frown. “Boot grease makes a great source of fatty acids.” Drake retorted. “Now go!” The two smaller boys muttered in annoyance but stumbled off to follow orders. “So what is up?” the youth asked as he bent his head back over the smooth leather of his boots. “Mrs. Finney wants that tree down that’s blocking her perfect view of Crescent Lake.” Ama replied in a dry tone. “One that’s clearly on park property?” Drake asked. “Indeedy-do.” Ama replied giving the paper in front of her a glare. “So how’s she justifying it?” Drake asked. “As a safety hazard to her house.” Ama replied. “And?” The biologist groaned and rubbed her face. “As far as I can tell the trunk is perfectly healthy. There is an old trash can lid grown into the trunk and a little discolored sap is leaking out there.” “Frass?” “Watch your language!” Donny interjected as he darted up to the table. “Frass is not a bad word,” Drake stated. “Have you let the chickens out?” “Yes, what does frass mean?” Donny asked as he started piling stir-fry onto his plate. “Look it up.” Drake ordered him. “Emerald! Breakfast ends in ten minutes! Get your tukus down here!” “It’s bad health to rush meals,” Em snapped out as he came down a narrow stairway with deliberate slowness. “It’s even worse for your health to skip meals altogether,” Drake growled threateningly. “Shut it and give me some eggs.” Em snapped back. “Emerald Waters Undersun,” Drake hissed out through gritted teeth. “You are going to get your own eggs.” The boy threw himself into a chair and glared at Drake with challenge in every line of his body. “Emerald,” Ama said in a calm tone. “I think you should apologize to your cousin now.” “Sorry I disturbed you Ama,” he offered without breaking eye contact with Drake. “Not me, him,” Ama said. “Sorry you had to hear that Donny.” Em said. Ama heaved a sigh and closed her computer. “Emerald,” Ama said. “Do you want to eat or go hungry?” Drake demanded. Ama glanced at him with a familiar uneasy look in her eyes and Drake fought down a wince. “Now, Em.” she said in a patient tone. “I’ll go hungry,” Em snapped, jumping up and stalking over to the couch. Donny kept his eyes fixed on his plate. Ama heaved a sigh before turning back to her computer. Em wriggled on the couch for several minutes before skulking back to the table. Drake moved to intercept him but Ama stopped him with a look and he let Em serve himself. Drake cast irritated glances at the wall clock as the time crept more and more into school time. Ama closed her computer and stood, then sighed, sat and opened it again. “I need to pick out their report topics,” Ama muttered. “I could do it,” Drake offered. “You do quite enough,” Ama replied briskly, as she scanned the news. “Here you go. For Donny, malfunctions at the Lewis- McChord Air Force Base air show.” A frown creased her face. “Wow, this is pretty serious. It looks like the F-16 demonstration team nearly got killed.” Drake whistled and leaned over her shoulder. “Multiple system failures,” he read out loud. “I am pretty sure that isn’t supposed to happen.” “Nope,” Ama agreed. “Here is a topic on big game management for Em.” “Reports due by next week?” Drake asked as the old printer on the desk began to squeal and grumble as it powered up. “Same as usual,” Ama confirmed. Drake put the printouts on top of the homework pile and moved to wash up the breakfast dishes. “I need to get to work early today so you two be good for Drake,” she called out placing a quick kiss on top of the smaller boys’ heads and giving Drake’s shoulder a friendly squeeze. “Good luck with Mrs. Finney, and stay safe.” Drake called out as she went into her room. The table was cleaned off and wiped down and the clink of forks gave way to the steady scratch of pencils on paper. They broke for a recess after religion and then lunch after history and math, and by the time the Grandfather clock in the corner struck two the younger boys twitching with energy. Drake made certain the internet was disconnected at the router, and chased Donny and Em out into the garden. “And don’t come in until dark,” he ordered tossing two snack bags out after them. Donny as usual snatched his food and disappeared into the small orachard. Low grumbles about troglodytes and the Amish wandered out into the high corn following Em and Drake shook his head in exasperation wondering, not for the first time how the dark haired princeling came from the same gene pool as his little brother. The kitchen being mostly ordered Drake was turning to put the last random dirty sock in the hamper when a gnarled hand clutching a cane head appeared in the corner of his eye, causing his heart to make a valiant attempt to bolt out of his throat. “Abuelita!” he gasped forcing his hands down from the guard position. “Where did you come from?” Smoldering black eyes ran searchingly over the tall youth. An impossibly long mane of streaked silver and black hair was barely contained in a thick braid. A sharply pointed nose perched over a small wrinkled mouth. A vibrant red horse-hair serape hung over her shoulders concealing everything except her brown and gnarled hands which currently clutched the old tree branch she used as a cane. Drake had been more than a little comforted by the fact that both Em and Donny had admitted to having the thought ‘witch’ every time time they saw her as well. “From the hand of God by the bodies of my sainted mother and father,” she replied after a long, uncomfortable silence. She always spoke in a low husky voice that suggested years of smoking, though Drake had never smelled even stale smoke on her. “Right,” Drake blinked and grinned at the response; the one she always gave. “So you are here for their Spanish lesson? I have their grammar books ready and-” The narrow end of the tree branch rapped against the concrete of the floor causing Drake to jump. Abuelita glared at him, locking his gaze and holding him in place with it for a moment. “I am here for their lessons,” she finally stated, “and you are there for my payment.” Drake thought longingly of the repair and maintenance manuals in the cab of the truck and the new tool he was itching to try, but he forced a grin on his face. “Yes ma’am,” he said. “What can I get you today?” Abuelita pulled out a bag of woven grass from under her serape causing the indistinct patterns on the cloth to shift and change. “Take this,” she ordered him, “and collect me the cobalt blue berries that grow on a single stalk close to the ground. They must come from the mountain to the south east of here by the crystal brook.” Drake nodded, and took the little bag, he didn’t quite manage to infused his gestures with enthusiasm he supposed. The old woman, probably wouldn’t have noted it anyway. She turned and moved towards the garden door without waiting for any other reply. However she called out over her shoulder as he turned to find his own way out of the rambling structure. “Don’t dawdle little one. A storm brews in the distance.” He tried not to roll his eyes at that, the weather forecast was clear and eighties for the next week according to the morning fire report Ama had printed. The youth only nodded and slipped around the corner. He circled the barn and pulled a set of loose tan pants and tunic out of the cubby. The soft worn leather almost perfectly matched the forest floor for color as did the moccasins he pulled on after them. His morning running clothes were modern stuff that wicked the sweat away from him and let him speed through the forest. These were his free day clothes. The ones that let him disappear into the forest and wander. Abuelita, for all of her demands, would tend Em and Donny until he returned no matter how late that was, and with the Park’s yearly budget talks still under way it was highly unlikely Ama would be home until long after the sun had set. Despite still hearing the call of the half restored truck he felt something lossening in him already. The soft cotton and smooth leather rested easily against his skin and Drake slipped into the forest. Freedom; for the moment at least, blissful freedom. Pushing aside the guilt that accompanied the thought as well as any lingering worries about his charges the youth let his legs carry him through the trees. He shunned the man made paths, following the faint animal trails. This close to the barn they were as clear to him as if they were named city streets. Being animal trails, they invariably led him to water. Today he stopped at a trickling stream, took off his moccasins, and rolled up his pants legs. The youth turned and followed the thin flow of icy water upstream, letting it steal the heat from his body through his feet. Some distance upstream, the stream widened and pooled under a boulder. There Drake paused and pulled an old black compass out of his pocket. Behind him he knew every trail and tree. Ahead was a broad swath of National Wilderness he would have to cross, or possibly Bureau of Land Management or even state managed forests where he more rarely wandered. It was hard to tell where the boundaries were from the ground. The clearing he wanted for the berries was solidly in BLM land and he still had quite a ways to go to get there. The stand of timber that stood between him and his goal was dense with young tree and branches that frequently formed impenetrable hedges he had to track around and he checked his compass regularly as he climbed in elevation. Even so the youth found he had wandered too far off his route and had to correct when he spotted the boundary fence. However he was in no hurry and he reached the clearing long before the sun told him it was time to turn around. Sometime in the past some unknown force had carved a shallow trench across the side of one of the small mountains that that dotted the wilderness. It had puzzled Drake at first. The scour was at the wrong angle to be an old rock slide, and terminated in a near perfectly circular clearing at the lower end. Centuries old Douglas Firs abruptly gave way to a second ring only a few decades old. Those were in turn beginning to produce cones and a smattering of knee high saplings. The rest of the space was completely given over to wildflowers. No matter what season Drake visited it he found a riot of life. There had been an early spring and many herbs that normally would have waited a month or more were already in full bloom in the mountain meadow. A white wave of foamflower washed in from the deep forest surrounding the clearing, sending up knee high stalks covered in the delicate white blooms. Late trillium hid close to the roots of the great firs, many having shed their white corollas and begun to put forth their bulbous seed heads. Fuzzy white baneberry blossoms nodded gently in the breeze. A riot of yellow and purple spread across the ground as vetch and buttercups and a host of clovers competed for space in the open sun. Great stalks of lupine as high as his head thrust up their purple and blue proudly from thick clusters of palm shaped leaves. Pink shooting stars and violet harebells crouched under the protection of the larger plants. Indian paintbrush lit the scene with flames of red and orange. Where a spring seeped into the meadow elephant’s head flared neon pink and corydalis bushes put forth blushing blooms. Pale green wild orchids stood along the wet spot and the swarms of bees danced from them to the glacier lilies. Sometimes, as he bent over a tiny blossom and traced the intricate network of veins in the petals, drank in the scent, and felt the smooth surface of the leaves an otherworldly feeling would come over him. It was as if there was another world just out of range of his senses. If he could only really look, the thin illusion that was blocking him would slip away and reveal the real world underneath it. “Look Awiegwa,” his father would whisper, pointing at a deer mouse perched on a fallen log. “What does it see?” Awiegwa would screw up his face and squint. Trying to find the answer to the question. Awiegwa had often wondered how so many flowers had come to be in the relatively small area. He had identified dozens of species and there were more he had yet to determine. The clearing was always the first place to bloom and the last to go dormant. Many of the flowers seemed to utterly defy their usual blooming patterns. However, as time passed he had simply come to accept it. It was one of the small good things that brought back the memories of his father. If it didn’t quite follow the rules Ama had taught him, well an impossible clearing in the mountains wasn’t a place for rules. The particular bloom that Abuelita had requested had taken full advantage of the early sun and had already put forth a few cobalt blue berries; easily spotted at the edge of the clearing in the delicate sea of white flowers. However before he left the shade of the forest for the meadow the youth paused and closed his eyes. Bole wasn’t always here, but he was often enough that Awiegwa always checked for him. Carefully he reconstructed the clearing in his mind; marking every tree and boulder on the edge. Three years he had been coming here and each time it was easier to recreate the clearing. Breathing evenly he opened his eyes, letting the mental image merge with the actual. There was a brief moment of confusion as details like the play of light through branches and the trembling of small clusters of flowers fixed themselves but there was only one truly jarring note. Awiegwa didn’t let his eyes focus on the disparity; he never did anymore, but a warm smile spread across his features as he slipped silently into the meadow. He was here. As the youth moved in a low crouch, gathering the first fruits of the Queen’s Cup, he let his peripheral vision linger on a particular snag. There was nothing obviously interesting about it, other than the fact that it had not been there the last time Awiegwa was here. He had named the wanderer Bole, because it most often appeared as a thick tree trunk; sometimes living, sometimes dead. Occasionally it would be a boulder or simply a mound in the dirt. Often it wasn’t in the clearing at all. If the youth moved forward and tried to closely examine it he could never find anything to suggest it was something other than a tree or rock. He had thought about taking a sample occasionally, had taken his knife out to do just that more than once, but something always held him back. Bole was a part of this place. Dissecting him would be too much like attempting to dissect his sense of his father’s presence here. The youth had never told anyone about this place, not even Ama with who could get most things out of him easily enough. Down at the house, in town, when he was Drake; solid, reliable, first up in the morning, two grades ahead in school with a penchant for science Drake, a productive member of modern society with a promising future and his mother smiling at him. Here he could be Awiegwa. Here he could believe in the ancient medicines his father had dug out of dusty old tomes and brought to life from the forest litter. Every time Awiegwa left the clearing and headed back towards home reality would reassert itself. Bole would resolve back into a figment of his imagination, created from pride in a somewhat better than average memory and what the social workers had called an “intriguing imagination”. When he reached the house and become solidly Drake again flickers of embarrassment would begin eating at him for letting his senses trick him like that, but as long as the blooms nodded around him in this garden Bole could exist even on a Thursday. The little woven grass bag filled up with the berries fairly quickly and Awiegwa soon stretched out of his crouch and let his gaze wander contentedly over the clearing. As it always did, the warm space was working its special magic. Worries about Em getting out of his schoolwork, of not paying enough attention to the quiet Donny, of letting Ama see his petty resentments: it had all melted away from his muscles, thoughts of college costs and abandoning his duties dissolved into an acute sense of the now. The leaves rustled softly in a barely-there breeze, the heavy scent of some unidentified blossom filled his lungs, a dozen shades of green framed the rainbow of flowers, and over and above it all the creaking of the firs as the wind played over them. It was at times like these that he felth he could almost see into heaven; that something wonderful that existed just beyond his senses, and all he had to do was reach out and claim it. The youth took a deep breath and let himself fall backwards onto a handy rise in the forest floor. His path had taken him to the foot of the snag and he shifted slightly to align himself with the gnarled roots. One hand gripped a time smoothed root. “Ama trusted me enough to go out of state,” he murmured. “That’s the first time she’s done that. Usually she has Abulita stay with us to fend off the Harsh, but she said it’s long past legal now.” It was his imagination of course that made him think the root vibrated in his hand in response. Many a long hour he had spent in this clearing with the wanderer. He had poured out his frustrations and anguishes over life’s injustices, had shared his secrets as he grew, and had shouted his triumphs. Sometimes he felt closer to Bole than to any of his human friends. However, something that sounded like his mother’s voice warned him that there was something odd about this and that awareness was the main reason he had kept this place secret from Ama. Their mother hadn’t exactly liked stuff like that. She had never objected to his father’s digging up the old stories of her people. Making cross generational connections between elders, who more often than not lived isolated lives, and the next generation, was an admirable goal in of itself in her eyes; objectively a social good. Storytelling was only the natural course for these relationships to take, but subtle looks had warned even a very young Drake that it was best to cautious what he shared with his mother. At least of those things that couldn’t be placed on a microscope slide. So this was Awigewa’s place, and while his father’s spirit wanders the flowers with he had never felt his mother here. He let his focus drift up, and up. Dark blue Lupine nodded over his head framing the faint crisscross of jet contrails that threw a light haze over an otherwise cloudless sky. His clothed grew deliciously hot from the spring sun. The ground too had eagerly accepted the energy and now it conducted the heat into the muscles of his back. Bole’s wood beneath him was warmer even than the surrounding ground and an idle thought traced across Awiegwa’s awareness; something about it being odd for the light colored wood and relatively dry wood to retain more heat than the darker soil surrounding it. His mind was filled with the impression of a goal. He had been meaning to do, something. Something fun, yes, exploring, he’d meant to see if whatever had dug that den by the second boulder was cubing this year. He would just get up and do that in a minute. His back was so warm and comfortable. “Flying Sparks” Another foray into the lives of Drake McCarty, Ama Love, and the rest of their siblings as they discover that something alien is out in the forest around their home.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flying-sparks-a-novel-of-dragon-bear-and-boy/coming_soon #FlyingSparks #ScienceFiction #Scifi #Story #novel #book #DrakeMcCarty #AmaLove #Donny #Em #Bard #Bole #Aliens #Spaceships #Crystals #fireflies #NPS #NationalPark #Doctor #Sever #family #storm #writing #reading #drama #literature #author #BettyAdams #DyingEmbers #Dragons #ThingsThatGoBoomp #Indiegogo #CrowdFunding
submitted by
Betty-Adams to
IndieAuthors [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:13 Elffairy_45 my makeup looks nasty no matter what ):
| hi there, ive always has this issue w my make up not lasting more than 5-6 hrs w out looking like this dry but oily at the same time. my chin and around my mouth always separate and get oily even if i powder (i try not too cus then it looks too cakey) & my undereyes & cheeks tend to look dryer. i do have textured skin but it emphasizes more throughout the day when my make up starts looking like this when i first do my make up it looks smooth. ive tried about everything silicone based water based matching products to make sure theyre both silicone or water based ive tried exfoliating ive tried shaving including changing up my skin care, i have a trip coming up to disney where I will need to make my makeup last all day but i dont know how can anyone give me any tips or tricks? i think i have dehydrated skin & i make sure to use ha, & hydrating stuff. this is honestly one of my biggest insecurities as i love doing make up but it makes me feel like i look so dirty when it starts doing this ): help pls submitted by Elffairy_45 to makeuptips [link] [comments] |
2023.06.01 04:12 OldRoleplayer Star Wars: Dark Rebellion continues to be awesome!
I figured I'd post again, just to let people know that if anyone is interested in serious heavy RP, that the Dark Rebellion server is DEFINITELY the best choice. I started out as a player, but now I actually act as one of the DMs for the server.
The premise of the server is that the rebellion lost at the Battle of Endor, and the Death Star started turning on both the rebel and imperial fleet alike, before jumping into hyperspace for some unknown mysterious reason!
From that point on, players have been able to forge their own path. Doing whatever they like. I myself chose to create a secret rebel group that acted as a successor to the rebel alliance, and worked to unite the fractured rebel groups to fight together.
Some players are working to rebuild the Jedi Order.
While other players are creating their own unique Force Orders altogether.
Anything can happen on the server, but as a result there is a HIGH RISK HIGH REWARD ruleset. Where you can play a character that RISKS EVERYTHING to try and attain power or influence. For example, in theory you could become the Emperor of the Galaxy. One character has managed to elevate himself to become the Chief of COMPNOR and ISB through cutthroat politics and intrigue.
The High Risk means that players can be permakilled if they take actions that are too risky. But again, with the high risk comes the reward. DMs will warn you before you're about to take an action that could have extreme consequences.
Some players have created crime syndicates. Running their own gangs, and dominating the spice trade. Competing against one another for dominance!
As time goes on, and with the RP being driven organically by the decisions of the players. The servers entire situation can look totally alien to how it may have looked a few months ago, all because of players decisions.
It's RP with the ultimate freedom, because the decisions your characters make actually matter and change how things go!
That being said - the server is definitely not a common SWG server, if you are looking for classic SWG gameplay, then DR is probably not for you, it is niche and has been converted entirely from regular gameplay into a dice-rolling system. This also means that the economy itself is driven through actions taken through RP. So if you are looking to make money in-game, it has to be RPed out. Perhaps you work for the Empire, or perhaps you are a bounty hunter searching for marks. These are the ways you gain credits.
https://darkrebellionrp.wordpress.com/ submitted by
OldRoleplayer to
swg [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 04:10 bsoccer019 [US-CO] [H] Star Wars, DC, Marvel, LOTR, Ninjago, Powerminers Minifigs [W] Paypal
https://imgur.com/a/tdQ3mbH All of these figs have been checked for damage and are in fantastic condition. I can be flexible if you buy a lot of figs at once so please DM me about any that you're interested in. Thanks!!
STAR WARS FIGS:
mace (sw0417) $10
hera (sw0576) $35
R7-A7 (sw0231) $45
clone wars dooku (sw0224) $20 each
inquisitor (sw0622) $45
satele shan (sw0389) SOLD
bib fortuna (sw0404) $25
vader (wrong head) $10
saesee tiin (sw0420) $35
kit fisto (sw0163) SOLD
chrome vader - no cape (sw0218) $350 - cheapest in U.S.
arc trooper (sw0377) SOLD
OG Obi-Wan (sw0135) $13
CW Obi-Wan (sw0449) $8
CW Yoda (sw0219) $4
OG C3po (sw0010) $5
jabba (sw0071) $23
Hoth Leia (sw0113) $5
tan geonosian (sw0381) $6
Prototype Boba (sw0631) $45
silver protocol droid (sw0789) $4
Commander Cody (sw0341) SOLD
paploo (sw0067) $4
OG Qui-Gon (sw0027) $5
boushh Leia (sw0407) $85
pilot Luke (sw0019) $5
Jar Jar (sw0017) $4
OG clone pilot (0118) $4
Brown uniform imperial (sw0623) $8
4x scout troopers: $20
3x stormtroopers: $15
2x shadow troopers: $16
2x sand troopers: $18
DC FIGS:
darkseid (sh152) $30
beast boy (sh198) $10
bane (sh062) $10
robin (sh200) $14
starfire (sh197) $15
dark knight joker (sh133) $80
two face (sh007) $15
grodd (sh147) $20
hawkman (sh154) $10
Dark Knight Batman (Sh132) $40
General Zod (Sh078) $2
MARVEL FIGS:
dr doom (sh052) $30
space iron man (sh229) $53
ronan the accuser (sh126) $48
yellow jacket (sh189) $13
ant-man (sh201) $13
deadpool (sh032) $32
cyclops (sh117) $19
iron spider (sh193) $14
magneto (sh031) $9
nova (sh051) $12
quicksilver (sh180) $50
LORD OF THE RINGS FIGS:
boromir (lor014) $33
haldir (lor020) $32
legolas (lor015) $15
meriadoc brandybuck (lor016) $47
peregrin took (lor012) $36
king theoden (lor021) $62
MISCELLANEOUS FIGS:
eruptorr (pm029) $40
Fangtom (njo049) $25
skales (njo040) $12
submitted by
bsoccer019 to
Legomarket [link] [comments]