TW: Mention of Termination. Pregnant with third child. Note that I am and always will be pro-choice. I am pro-family and I believe that included the whole family, not just the one in utero. I apologize deeply to anyone that is emotionally effected by the above. Please don’t feel the need to read if you are.
I am currently 4 weeks pregnant. I struggled with infertility and was never able to get pregnant on my own. My first child (6) was conceived with the help of clomid and timed intercourse. My second (1) was with a trigger shot and IUI. My pregnancies were easy breezy. I loved being pregnant. My first birth went unexpected but I was able to go through a c-section and heal quite alright.
My second pregnancy, was also okay but the birth process was so extremely traumatic. During the pregnancy I had to deal with vision impairments, painful sciatica, carpal tunnel. I felt immense guilt preparing my oldest to share my love and attention. He loves being big brother though.
That birth was awful. My spinal tap didn’t work. I was aware and awake for 45 minutes as they crunched various spaces in my spine. It was excruciating. Finally they said I had to go under to get baby out safely. The team was wonderful, and it’s not a common thing that happens so they were so supportive. Within 1 minute, a catheter was pushed in me, I went under and went though a second c-section. My second is healthy and so so cute.
Post birth, I had a screaming headache but my blood pressure was fine. The nurses kept checking on me giving me ice packs etc. I thought the headache was because I was nursing for the first time. She randomly does a CBC and finds out my blood count was deathly low, about 5 away from heart failure. I immediately get 2 transfusions and I felt like a new person. I am so very grateful to her. She noticed I had no color in my face, she noticed my pain, and she noticed my demeanor. Without her running the test I would’ve died.
After that I had a hematoma bust through my incision. 3 days after birth I was bleeding out. I went to the ER, praying I wouldn’t get stitched back up. Since it was a hematoma and not a blood clot they said we just have to wait till it all comes out. 9 weeks of changing dressings, treating an infection, and my scar finally healing (but with a horrible crater), I made it through. My whole maternity leave was spoiled. I had to take care of my newborn, go to farmers markets, continue making memories with my kids, breastfeed all while bleeding out of my incision for 9 weeks. Without my husband I wouldn’t have made it post partum.
I developed severe PPA, and moderate depression. Eventually I was treated with medication and therapy. It helped keep me normal. What hasn’t left me is the fear of what I went though, the damage my body went through and the fact that I feel a heaviness in my chest when I think about it. The fact I almost died and left behind two children.
We decided since I have fertility issues we won’t try to prevent, but if within the next two years we get pregnant we can make it work. If not we have such a beautiful wonderful life with our two children. For 12 months we did not get pregnant and we finally accepted we will be living a great life with our kids.
Month 13 I find out I’m pregnant. It’s a literal miracle. I was never able to do this. We were happy but the fear crept in quickly. I would like to let it be known that we kept the option open for a third, and that means if we felt a third wouldn’t work at the time we are okay with terminating. But truly in my heart of hearts I didn’t think I was going to get pregnant because no matter how hard we tried I wouldn’t. A vasectomy was going to be scheduled within the year.
Now we are at a standpoint. We have weight the pros and cons of a third, and honestly 2 seems to have more pros than 3. We are financially set, but emotionally I’m not sure how we would adjust as a family of three. From logistics, from being spread out thin, from not being able to do many things together as a family like we could easily with 2. These are all lifestyle fears, not even medical fears which I am panicking just thinking about. We have a few weeks to make a decision and my OB is supportive either way. I have a scan setup for Monday. And in 2 weeks we make our decision.
I’m afraid and I’m sad. I feel like terminating is a slap in the face to my body and soul because I fought for so much for my body to conceive. From shots, to pills, follicle studies, previous losses etc. This miracle happens. Why not accept it? I love the idea of 3 children. I want them to pile up on me and laugh, tell stories. I want to help them with their problems, make them feel validated and strong. I want to watch children grow and become healthy adults. I am so so proud of my kids now, and I know I will be proud of any that come forward. But I also know that wanting that feeling, and all the ideal family “look” isn’t enough. Love isn’t enough. It’s time, finances, being able to live a healthy lifestyle all around.
Then I also feel the following: I have a family. I have to do not only what’s best for me, but for my family. How will our dynamics change, how will our finances change? Will our children be able to live AS comfortably as before? Are we ready to adjust our lifestyle? Will be be able to push through the hardest years and make it to the 3 kids coming over for dinner in college, and having a movie night? We could live a much better life with two in terms of time, career, money, emotions, being dedicated parents to 2 instead of making it work for 3. There are so many benefits to having 2.
I guess what I’m saying is, I’m afraid and I’m sad. I know I will have grief either way - one short term one long term. The benefit now is that I’m in therapy, I’m medicated, my doctors have a game plan for me in terms of treatment because they know what to expect. I just don’t know how people make these big decisions when money is not a factor.

About Davidscloud: Davidscloud is a long-standing gaming community that believes in creating a place for all gamers to get together and enjoy playing various games together without worry of pay-to-win spoiling the enjoyment. Our community is friendly and works together to achieve a place everyone can find something to enjoy. Cloud City is a community of mature roleplayers who are looking to recruit other like-minded adults for some drama-free, action/comedy-rich roleplay. We have a special place in our hearts for people that are brand new to GTA RP. We’ve all been there ourselves, and know it can be hard to take that leap. We could be your first home, or your new one! Here, you’ll find a fully developed city with all the bells and whistles, with more on the way. Come join us, and see what all the fun is about!
Features: Something for everyone! -Fleshed out discord for members to hang out and communicate outside of roleplay. -QBCore framework -Actual custom content/scripts (written and actively worked on by our team). -Active Development with daily updates and planned DLCs -18+ populated city with men and women, at all hours of the day and night. Members from multiple continents. Drama and Greifer free, no shit lording tolerated. -200+ Imported Cars, 1500+ imported clothing items (Non-Esl) -Buy and customize your own house -Own/Stock/Price items at your own store -Available activities include restaurants, paintball, hunting, gambling, fishing, trucking, and more for civilian RP. Many more activities are coming in planned DLC's! -Hiring citizens for Local PD, State PD, Judges, Lawyers, Car Dealer, the highest paying jobs in the city -Unlimited business potentials! -Criminals can rob convenience stores, NPC's, Jewelry Stores and Banks. They can also start their own Gangs/Criminal Organizations -You can find and craft items and weapons at locations all across the State -You can find, cultivate, process and sell Weed, Coke, Meth, Heroin, Vicodin, LSD! -You can chop cars for useful and valuable parts! -A 30-day daily rewards system that rewards money, weapons, and vehicles -Free Casino spins every 24 hours for a chance to win casino chips, money, and vehicles, if you're lucky
How to get started: Join the fun! 1.) FiveM Server Address: Search “Cloud City RP” in FiveM and connect. No whitelist application needed. 2.) Join us on Discord at: https://discord.gg/wDPY5yr​

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/the_first_twid_06_08_2023
This Week in Destiny... yeah, you read that right. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we are fully leaning into this becoming a Destiny-centric space going forward. More on that in a bit! Before we jump into it, let's recap the contents of the previous week:

• Ghosts of the Deep rundown.
• Bungie Rewards got new dungeon-themed merch.
• Did you get your Marathon emblem?
• You got new Prime Gaming loot.

And here's what we have for the first TWID ever:

• A new name for the TWAB.
• Ready for a new Community Fashion Contest?
• Grandmasters will be back on June 13.
• And Supremacy, too.
• You all owe Kalli an apology.
• Preview of some 7.1.0.2 fixes.
• Collaboration art!
• The usual Player Support Report, and our AOTW and MOTW picks. ##Rebranding the TWAB

For as long as anyone can remember, there has been a weekly check-in between Bungie and our community. Back in February of 2016, we rebranded the “Bungie Weekly Update” to “This Week At Bungie.” This was done primarily because, at the time, there was a lot of confusion when a live game put something out with the name “Update” and there weren’t patch notes to read.
Fast forward to today, and it’s time once again to evolve the name of our weekly ritual. Don’t fret, our weekly check in for Destiny news and community highlights will continue! The main change here is that we will be keeping things Destiny-specific, so we need a name that reflects that since Bungie has now publicly announced a new game.
Starting today, the weekly Destiny blog will be named This Week in Destiny. As you may have noticed already, each week’s blog post will be announced on official Destiny social channels rather than on Bungie’s channels, and we’ll continue to drop the occasional standalone blog with in-depth details and insights from the dev team. Now that you know the new name and the reasoning behind it, you can do what you do best, Destiny Community: Meme away! But first, please join us in bidding farewell to the TWAB and welcoming the TWID.

Put On Your Best Dress

Fashion is the ultimate, true endgame. Matching the perfect textures, forms, and colors to express the right idea is not easy, so we want to reward those who succeed in such endeavors.
Given that Season of the Deep is all about how the scariest floors of the sea can also be the most beautiful, how Guardians are good at killing gods, but better at catching exotic fishes, and how even the most dangerous warmonger can break down a bit when recalling simpler times... Well, why not celebrate all that complexity with a good Community Fashion Contest?
We know you can express what Season of the Deep is all about with just five pieces of armor, . Don your drippiest designs and try out the most combinations, and of course, let us know with the #DrownInTheDrip hashtag for a chance to earn our very new and exclusive Prêt-à-porter fashion emblem. You have until June 15, so get to work, fashionistas!.
Image Link^imgur

Ready for Some Early Grandmaster Nightfalls?

As we mentioned in our ”Reflecting on Lightfall” article, Grandmaster Nightfalls will be available a bit earlier than usual during Season of the Deep. The reason for this is simple: without the seasonal Power climb, and with the requirement level changes we added during Season 19, we believe we can successfully launch them earlier. Grandmasters are coming on Week 4, and that means you'll have a chance to earn Exotic materials and Adept weapons starting next Tuesday, June 13.
Note that this is only for the Weekly Grandmasters. The Conqueror gilding node is still planned to open in Week 7. So, get ready to face The Lightblade if you are aiming to get the Adept version of the Wendigo GL3 Heavy Grenade Launcher next week. And in case you are wondering, The Loaded Question Fusion Rifle and the Braytech Osprey Rocket Launcher will be featured in the following two weeks.

Supremacy Enters the Relentless Rotator

For those of you who got a taste of Supremacy during Guardian Games and wanted more, congratulations! Supremacy will be added to the Relentless rotator in the Crucible starting next week.
This Crucible game mode requires you to collect the crests dropped by the enemies you take down to score for your team, while you also deny the enemy their points by picking up crests from fallen allies. Show everyone who’s in charge here and secure each kill. While you earn ranks, you might even get that renewed Randy's Throwing Knife Kinetic Scout Rifle that Shaxx has brought back into the loot pool. Keep an eye on Cascade Point or Box Breathing for this one... Trust me.

You Owe Kalli an Apology

People, we need to talk. Why? What did she ever do to you? What's your problem with murderous, Taken Techeuns? We know The Supremacy got Rewind Rounds, that Techeun Force has a sick PvP roll and that Reconstruction and Bait and Switch make Apex Predator a top-tier option for DPS, but that's no reason to put Kalli into such a situation!
A lot of you stepped into every plate to get double rewards, while others just cursed their aim over how many Golden Gun or Sleeper Simulant shots they missed... Either way, the outcome would be the same: a lot of good loot.
We hope you consider it time well spent. Because I do.

Some Fixes Coming Next Week

The Destiny 2 Update 7.1.0.2 will be deployed on June 13. Although we'll have our usual patch notes available the moment it's available, we wanted to give you a preview of some of the implemented fixes.
First, a reminder that the extra reward awarded by the weekly Last Wish quest, the one handed by Hawthorne, was not intentional, so it's going away. Starting Tuesday, you'll get one Deepsight weapon from it, since that was always the plan. You'll still earn at least another one every week, because the final chest after dumping Riven's heart gives one per week and account. But you still have a few days until the fix is implemented, so if you want that extra reward, go for it.
Now, for a few Exotics' fixes. This update will reenable the Vesper of Radius, since it won't have such explosive behavior with certain weapons anymore. Sunbracers will have their increased duration of Solar grenades restored. And after Saladin had a very long conversation with Kephri's Horn, the strange interactions that this Titan Exotic Helmet allowed have been fixed, so it will also be reenabled.
Finally, to name a few other fixes coming: we also have one for the issue that allowed certain grenades to go through Barricades and Wards of Dawn, we are toning down the new Collective Obligation perk in PvP (10% damage buff instead of a 20%), and we are giving the new Mercurial Overreach Competitive Sniper Rifle a bigger reticle when scoping so it's easier to use.
The rest of the patch notes for the 7.1.0.2 updates will be available on June 13.

Keep That Art Coming

Remember two weeks ago when we announced a small art and cosplay contest to celebrate the collaboration between Destiny 2 and PlayStation? Well, we have some amazing submissions already, like these two below:

"Death can have me... When it earns me"
image if some characters from PlayStation games became characters in Destiny. Who would you love to see?#Destiny2AOTW #Destiny2 #Destiny2Art #DestinyTheGame #GOW pic.twitter.com/frim0WlEEC
— BO (@BO_7aSSan597) May 30, 2023
To go with the Titan Kratos armor I made a matching Atreus Set #Destiny2 #Dresstiny#GodofWar #Destiny2Fashion @Destiny2Team @DestinyTheGame pic.twitter.com/3pwJLFj8Sw
— Amanda TheBeebo (@TheLadyBeebo) May 26, 2023

We love to see your creations, so please keep them coming. You have until the end of June and each winner will earn the Art of the Week emblem and all the bragging rights in the world, of course.

Player Support Report

20,000 Screebs Under the Sea
Image Link^imgur
Known Issues List Help Forums Bungie Help Twitter

TRIALS OF OSIRIS EMBLEM

The Dazzling Iridescence Trials emblem was meant to be rewarded to the best of the best, those who could go Flawless while earning a Flight of the Pigeon medal (lead in score for the entire game) in every win along the way. Ultimately, an issue caused this emblem to be awarded to anyone who made it to the Lighthouse at all which, while still a challenging endeavor, made seeing the emblem a little more common than we had hoped. In this upcoming patch, we will have a fix for this which is two-fold:

• Starting with Week 4’s Trials (June 16) the emblem will no longer drop from the Flawless chest for those who have not achieved the requirements on their way to the Lighthouse.
• Those who already have the emblem (meaning those players who went Flawless in Week 1 or who go Flawless in this upcoming weekend) will be able to retain the emblem in their collections but will not be able to equip the emblem unless they complete the requirements AFTER the patch has gone live.

We understand in some cases this will mean that people who rightfully earned the emblem must re-earn it a second time if they want to equip it, but we felt that this was a necessary step to retain the original intent of the emblem.

ADVANCED FOCUSING

Due to an issue causing Exotic focusing to not grant intended rewards, we have temporarily disabled Advanced Decryption focusing. Precision Decryption focusing will continue to be available as we investigate.

EVERVERSE INTERFACE

Some UI pricing elements in Eververse will be disabled with the release of 7.1.0.2. Note that the displayed price is the correct one.

KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:

• Due to an issue the Kephri’s Horn exotic Titan helmet has been temporarily disabled.
• The Helm of Saint-14 Exotic Titan helmet is not functioning as expected.
• Players can get stuck outside of the final boss arena after self-reviving in the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon.
• Spending Salvage Keys after a Salvage activity is not providing progress toward the "Spend Salvage Keys" Triumph and is instead progressing the "Spend Deep Dive Keys" Triumph.
• The Bump in the Night Weapon Pattern Triumph requires the Season 17 Season Pass.
• The Standard Fare bounty does not gain progress on Kinetic weapon kills.
• The Warlock Courtier Longcoat chest ornament has a gap beneath the right arm.
• The Verity’s Brow perk “The Fourth Magic” is not functioning correctly in PvP.
• The New Pacific Epitaph Grenade Launcher is doing less damage than intended to Stasis crystals.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

You Gotta Work For It, Guardian

Image Link^imgur
Hippy: An artist with synesthesia, a phenomenon that allows a blending of senses like the ability to hear color and feel sounds, took their unique lens of the world and turned it into art for fellow Guardians to enjoy. Titled The Fear of Dreams, here’s a really cool opportunity to see the world in a way that someone else does and how truly beautiful that really is.
Movie of the Week: The Fear of Dreams

🌙ONEIROPHOBIA // THE FEAR OF DREAMS.🌟
(I have synesthesia. I paint music. This time, I used Tilt Brush and an Oculus Rift to sculpt/paint the song to get a closer facsimile of what I perceive.) #Destiny2Art #AOTW #MOTW pic.twitter.com/kaMhoSelHB
— Runesael L. de la Peña Flynn (@Runesael) May 29, 2023

Sam: Sometimes you want to be the very best, but it helps when you put in the extra work. Take these Guardians for example; couldn’t jump, couldn’t fight, and after... nope, not going to spoil it. Go check it out.
Movie of the Week: Guardians try the Cloud Strider workout
Video Link

That's One Big Bonk

Image Link^imgur
Ivan: Looks like a solid battle just finished and this Titan came out as victorious. As with many great paintings, you first spot the brightest object — the Titan's hammer — and then find more and more details. Amazing #Destiny2AOTW. Well done!
Art of the Week: The last Sunbreaker

The last Sunbreaker#Destiny2 #Destiny2Art #Destiny2AOTW pic.twitter.com/YKzM3f6zBP
— Max Vick (@MaksymPotselui1) May 31, 2023

Timon: Look at this amazing fishing art! When I see this I just wanna drop everything and go out there grinding those Exotic fishies! Always remember: Less working, more fishing.
Art of the Week: Go fish

Made this birthday present for my sister @MajaroniArt who had her birthday yesterday 🥳🩷💜
Had a lot of fun making this 😁👍#Destiny2Art #Destiny2AOTW #Destiny2 #DestinyTheGame #Destiny2Fishing #DigitalArtist #DigitalArt pic.twitter.com/6ObwQLcXsq
— Pickles ✨Comms open!✨ (@xPickles77x) May 29, 2023

Bonus AOTW: MY BROTHER, DEAD!!??

BLASPHEMY. BLASPHEMY #Destiny2Art #Destiny2AOTW #Destiny #DestinyTheGame @Bungie @DestinyTheGame pic.twitter.com/vYKcSGfFLs
— AliveWake (@AliveWake) May 29, 2023

Another week that goes by, and it's almost summer around here. Or winter, for those of you in the southern hemisphere. We are deep into Season of the Deep and there's still much to uncover from under the methane seas.
Methane, what a thing, by the way. I checked the other day and liquid methane has a temperature range between 91 and 112 kelvins, which makes me think those new Guardian armor sets not only look amazing, but also have some pretty insane heating systems. And speaking of heat, how can Solar grenades scorch stuff under such extreme circumstances, or Stasis crystals even hold their structure under such pressure? Anyway, transmat firing!
‘Hasta Luego’
Br1

I do a lot of astrophotography and often sit in the back of my Mazda CX5 while I shoot. This goes on for a few hours every time and I can turn off all of the lights inside so it doesn't mess up my night vision and also keeps bugs from getting in the car.
Is there a way on the MY to turn off every light+screen while the hatch is open?
Still waiting on my vin so I can't easily go test this but when I borrowed my brother's MS for a few weeks, I couldn't find a way to turn off the lights if the hatch/trunk was open.

https://www.timestelegram.com/story/news/history/2023/06/08/mohawk-valley-history-lafayette-owed-life-to-augustas-amos-parke70299078007/
​
​
1825, 198 years ago
A tearful reunion
You can't miss Amos Parker. He is well over six feet tall. Some say closer to seven. Many say he was the tallest soldier in the American army during the Revolutionary War.
​
This week, the now 63-year-old Parker enters Shepard's Hotel on Bagg's Square in Utica (really the Bagg's Hotel, but the name was changed while Abraham Shepard owned it from 1825 to 1828). Parker is determined to meet the hotel's distinguished guest, the Marquis de Lafayette.
​
In 1777, while the Revolutionary War was raging, the then 19-year-old, tall, red-haired Lafayette left his home in France and joined the American army in its fight to win for the American colonies their independence from Great Britain. He fought in many battles and, in 1781, commanded troops in Yorktown, Virginia, when British Gen. Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to Gen. George Washington, just about ensuring an end to the war and an American victory.
​
On the night of January 30, 1948, Utica firefighters fought one of the most spectacular fires in the city’s history. Flames roared through “The Long Block” on the west side of Lower Genesee Street, between Oriskany and Whitesboro streets. The 3-alarm blaze was fought in temperatures 30 below zero. Seventeen firefighters were injured and 11 businesses damaged. Losses were estimated at $400,000.
Now, 44 years later, the 68-year-old Lafayette is back in America, touring the country as a guest of its grateful citizens. This week, after visits in Rome, Oriskany and Whitesboro, he enters Utica triumphantly via the Rome Road (today Lafayette Street). After a big celebration, he is in his hotel room, resting before continuing his journey east.
​
Suddenly, there is a knock on the door and in walks the very tall Amos Parker. At first, Lafayette is puzzled, but then Parker begins to relate an incident that occurred at the Battle of Yorktown.
​
As the fighting there raged, Lafayette ordered 25 of his men — including Parker — to remove a fence so that Lafayette could lead his soldiers through the breach. "Once you remove the fence," Lafayette shouted, "allow me and my men to ride through the opening. Do not fire your weapons!"
​
More:Utica's Conkling leading figure at 1880 Republican convention: Mohawk Valley history
​
More:Utica Independent Infantry Company prepares for war: This week in Mohawk Valley history
​
More:Later known for illustrations, Saturday Globe began without: Mohawk Valley history
​
The fence was removed and Lafayette and his men began to ride through. Suddenly, Parker spotted a British sniper aiming his rifle at Lafayette. Before the sniper could fire, though, Parker raised his musket and shot him.
​
Unbelievingly, an aide to Lafayette had Parker court-martialed for disobeying Lafayette's "don't fire your weapon" order. He, of course, was acquitted when it was learned that by disobeying the order, he had saved Lafayette's life.
​
Now, in a hotel room 44 years later, Parker and Lafayette relive the incident. They embrace and (a historian later wrote) enjoy "a heart-tugging event and weep" in each other's arms. (After the war, Parker settled in the town of Augusta in southwestern Oneida County and died there in 1842 at age 80. He was buried at the Parker (Augusta) Cemetery at the intersection of Augusta-Solsville Road and Anderson Road. A blue and yellow state marker there reads: AMOS PARKER, TALLEST MAN IN AMERICAN ARMY. SAVED GEN. LAFAYETTE'S LIFE. PRESENT AT THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS. BURIED HERE.
​
1923, 100 years ago
Record at UFA
A class of 210 students receive diplomas at Utica Free Academy (UFA), the largest class ever graduated in the school's more than 100-year history. The Right Reverend Charles Fiske, bishop coadjutor of the Central New York Episcopal Diocese, addresses the students: "Why has the city of Utica paid for your education? … It expects to receive from you a return for its investment. You owe the community repayment for this debt. Not in money, but in service. You are expected to exercise a high standard of living, put forth an honest effort to make your neighborhood a better place to live and accept public calls of duty to serve your community with its charities and efforts to improve the public well-being."
​
1948, 75 years ago
Utica in novel
Carl Sandburg, noted poet and historian, completes a novel that contains a chapter on Utica and the Erie Canal. He was in Utica a year ago to collect material for the novel: "Remembrance Rock."
​
1973, 50 years ago
GE contract
The General Electric Aircraft Equipment Division in Utica is awarded a $1.3 million contract for a computer system for the Viking Orbiter, which will explore Mars in 1975.
​
1998, 25 years ago
Morrisville celebrates
The village of Morrisville celebrates its 150th anniversary. It was incorporated in 1848 and named for its founder, Thomas Morris. He settled in the area in 1797 and built a house on the corner of today's Main and Cedar streets. His father, Robert, was a Founding Father from Pennsylvania, who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
​
Civita M. Allard, a registered nurse and an associate professor in the Health Services Department at Mohawk Valley Community College, receives the college's "alumna of merit" award.
​
In American Legion baseball, Utica Post defeats Parkhurst Post, 13 to 3, behind the pitching of Chris Donalty (a four hitter) and the hitting of Eric Miller (3 hits, 2 RBIs). Meanwhile, Whitestown beats Lee, 6 to 4, behind the hitting of Jason Englehart, Mike Antanavige, Bernie Martin, Brent Wengert and Matt Maine. Steve Rice has two hits for Lee.
​
The Genetaska Club of New Hartford elects Ellen Boerger as its president. Other officers include: Peg Mullin, vice president; Barbara Reinshagen, recording secretary; Sue Maher, corresponding secretary; Joyce Ebensperger, treasurer; and directors Joyce Goggin, Ada Ruhm, Ellie Lampert and Barbara Weaver.
​
2013, 10 years ago
Pro hockey returns
Utica, after many years without a professional hockey team, has one again. The Utica Comets are in the American Hockey League, a minor league affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks in the National Hockey League. They will play in the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Robert Esche, a former goalie in the National Hockey League and president of the Mohawk Valley Garden, will operate the team. Mayor Robert Palmieri says the move fits in with his vision for a revitalized Bagg's Square and Harbor Point development. "What a great day for the city!" he says. "The emotion is overwhelming."
​
The Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame inducts Stan "Buddy" Evans, longtime baseball coach at Rome Free Academy and college football official; Bill Holowaty, originally from Mohawk, longtime baseball coach at Eastern Connecticut State University; Ed Wadas, a "super" supporter of local athletics and called the "candy man" for giving out candy at local games, especially in Whitesboro, Oriskany and New York Mills; and Tom Wells, multi-sport coach at New Hartford schools, especially known for his highly successful swim teams.
​
Bobbi Jo Kahl is approved by the town board in Remsen as as the town justice.
​
In American Legion baseball, Roberts Post defeats Whitestown, 3 to 1. Nate Palmer, a senior at Holland Patent High, strikes out 18 and gets the win. He is supported by the hitting of Kinsey Williams, Nico Ramos and Austin Mann. Whitestown's Jared Muraca pitches well, allowing only five hits.
​
Trivia quiz
Next Sunday is Father's Day. Let's celebrate with a tough question. Name the man who was the son of a U.S. president and also the father of a U.S. president. If you can't name him, at least name the two presidents. (Answer will appear here next week.)
​
Answer to last week's question: Richard Nixon was president when, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin first walked on the surface of the moon after landing in the Apollo 11 lunar module.
​
This Week in History is researched and written by Frank Tomaino. E-mail him at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).

I got a first DUI and hit-and-run/minor property damage about a week before Christmas in Tennessee. I drank several beers that afternoon at home, went out about 7 for dinner, drank more at two different bars, and clipped about ten bricks off of a retaining wall at the adjacent condo complex, and not knowing who to contact, came home and went to bed.
The police show up about an hour later, but I was already asleep, so didn't hear them knocking. I suspect it was someone's Ring camera, but I have no idea who/what detected me. Somehow, they found out my mother's cell phone number (I live about twenty minutes away), called her repeatedly, and wanted to see if she knew my whereabouts. They were threatening to "kick the door down" under the auspices of a "welfare check" saying "I tore down a wall and that they were concerned about my safety."
The wall was not "torn down," some bricks were dislodged off the top of it where I clipped it with one side of the car. The damage to the car was superficial. The police said the damage occurred to the rear of the car - the damage was actually on the front. There was no reason to think that I was in any danger, or that a crime was being actively committed in the home to warrant "kicking the door down." Everything they were saying was either heavily embellished or an outright lie.
Eventually, my mom calls me enough times to wake me up. I go down to the door, talk to the police, perform poorly on FSTs, get arrested for DUI, despite (as far as I still know) the police having no proof that I was actually driving the vehicle at the time of the hit, or on my way home.
I talked to about five attorneys, and finally settled on one, though DUI specialists in this rural area are limited. He seemed to think the unique circumstances of the case offered avenues to defense. He was fairly reasonable - about $2,000. He had over 150 Google five star reviews, and a similar number on a legal review site. That was all I knew to do.
The first court date was in the middle of February. BAC wasn't back yet - to be expected. He said he'd contact me when it comes in - continuance was until near the end of April. About a week before the second appearance, I hadn't heard anything back, and asked him to follow up with the DA office. It came back at .23, over the .20 threshold in TN for seven consecutive day jail sentence, but the lab report was dated three days after the original court date in February. I asked him why he didn't put a reminder on his Outlook a month after the original court date to follow up - he said "he forgot."
Had I not pressed him on the BAC, it's unlikely I would have known anything prior to court and gotten a "surprise."
I offered numerous defense strategies. Maybe someone else drove my car, hit the wall, took me home, left my car, and took their own car home. That's plausible. Maybe I drank more at home, raising my BAC (at this point - I don't remember if I did or not). Maybe there could be Fourth Amendment issues in how the police obtained my mother's number within an hour, and issues with them threatening to break the down door when all they knew for certain at the time they came to my home was that there was minor damage to community property. I'm guessing now police are allowed to kick doors down for minor damage like this?
We go in on the second court date and get another continuance until about mid-May.
He wanted an additional $10,000 retainer to take it to trial. I talked to a couple more attorneys in the couple weeks I had, but decided there wasn't enough time, didn't want to bring another attorney in from square one, and I didn't want to drag this out for another year or more.
With the weird circumstances and potential weaknesses in the prosecution's case, I figured I might get at least the seven days knocked down to two. Wrong. Here's what I ended up getting. I report to jail tomorrow.
1) Seven consecutive days jail - no option for multiple weekends. Because I work from home, work release is also not an option. I started a new job shortly after the arrest (the prior job was the biggest contributor to all the stress-induced drinking at the time), and basically every bit of time off for my first six months has gone to either the jail sentence or court dates.
2) A year of supervised probation, though the PO is saying once a month call ins would be fine once everything else is satisfied. Hopefully all this will be done late summeearly fall.
3) A year IID and a restricted license.
4) 24 hours community service. This is usually three, eight hour trash pickups, probably done on Saturdays.
5) 12 hour DUI school (Monday/Tuesday evenings, two weeks in a row). Drug and alcohol assessment. Victim impact panel.
Costs.
1) Attorney $2,000
2) Fines and court costs $1,166.50
3) Probation and classes ~$840
4) Fee to get restricted license - $67, plus whatever the reinstatement fee is next year.
5) IID - ~$1,500 that I've calculated so far.
6) Insurance increased from $325/six months to $750/six months. Agent since I turned 18 when I lived in the area dropped me. Still, that's better than it was when I moved back to TN about six years ago with no DMV issues. This is probably fairly reasonable.
None of the classes, trash pickup, etc., can be done while in jail, AFAIK. It would have been nice to get those out of the way this week.
IMO, this is a hard hit for a first with minor damage. Yes, I had been risking one with reckless behavior for the last few months of last year as stress went out of control, but this would be life-ruining for people that don't have the work flexibility I have.
People say to get an attorney, but the attorney was absolutely worthless. He didn't contact the DA on the BAC. I asked him about work release, and told him to explain that I WFH to the work release officer. He didn't mention that - I called the work release officer myself, and he mentioned the WFH issue, the attorney never did. After the plea, I got a ten day court order to get the restricted license, but the interlock place couldn't get to it until day #9. Day #10 was a Saturday. He said he'd normally get the second court order when he was in court, but since he was out of town on vacation (and he obviously knew this prior to the plea), that I'd need to get on the docket and wait. I ended up calling the judge's secretary, the judge signed it, and I picked it up at the clerk's office. I'm amazed one of his staffers couldn't just pick it up on his behalf.
The attorney offered nothing but platitudes, caused delays and other issues for administrative things that likely wouldn't have happened if I handled things myself. He didn't get me a better deal - technically, while I got state minimums, I probably would have gotten the same deal anyway.
The responding officer that night could have easily cited me for the hit-and-run and left. Clearly I wasn't going anywhere. The fact that the police will "kick the door down" for minor property damage on a retaining wall at night in a community property condo complex is terrifying to me. I've been wanting out of this area for quite awhile for various reasons, but this was the last straw. Once the post-sentence stuff is taken care of, the PO doesn't mind if I move as long as I remain in touch until it rolls off next year.
Does anyone else think they got completely railroaded?

diagnosed seropositive rheumatoid arthritis last june after a horrible battle with long haul covid. it accelerated quite a few auto immune things.
i’ve had liver disease (NASH) since 2015 but during my lupus testing (they said i don’t have it, i just had a positive ana), i found out that i actually have autoimmune hepatitis. i have also have hashimotos, since 2015.
i have pharmacophobia. i put off starting hcq for just under a year because i was so worried about the side effects. i recently got a new rheumy who made me feel better about everything and took the time to explain things. i got my eye exam and to my surprise, they found some scarring in the back of my left eye, they think it’s an old blood clot? i actually go for a follow up monday. despite that and my new aih dx, i got the okay to start hcq.
i started 6/1 and i was told to stop it today 6/8.
during this time i had vivid night terrors every single night (which isn’t common for me), derealization and depersonalization (the scariest side effects), massive migraines, hand tremors, weird back of eye pain and blurred vision, but the worst side effect was the palpitations. i do have PMDD and get depressed and have vivid dreams in my luteal phase (which is now) so i’m stuck deciding on if it’s the med or a bad pmdd flare up. either way, they told me to stop it and i have an appointment today to figure out what the next step is.
i know we discussed the fact that i’ll have to skip MTX because of my aih, so i think i’m going straight to biologics. and i’m terrified!!!
i’m worried about my liver now (i’m actively trying to lose weight, doing low carb), and i’m worried about getting sick because it’s inevitable with my 9 year old being in public school. we got sick so much this last year and i stay sick each time for at least 2 weeks. i’m worried biologics will kill me 😭
anyways. i guess i don’t have a question 😂 just venting to people who might understand what my fears are 😭

Timestamp: https://i.imgur.com/4uUzzJJ.jpg
Recently got into night vision and since I didn’t win the lottery to do so, something has to go to make room for an optic that’s going to be night vision compatible. On that note, will trade for a Holosun AEMS with red illumination in similar condition.
This is the BDC reticle and green illumination model. Scope is very clean as it has been used fairly minimally by me. The screws on the mount don’t look great but are still fully functional. The mount is the Swampfox Independence Mount.
More pictures: https://imgur.com/a/2RhiJKg
If you have any questions or need additional pictures let me know. I’m still relatively new here so be aware that PayPal Goods and Services must be used for this transaction.
Price is $375 or, as stated above, or trade for a comparable Holosun AEMS with red illumination.
Thanks for looking. And yes, the Timestamp is written on toilet paper.

My doctor has pointed out to me a couple of times that most of my issues with sleep apnea come when I sleep on my back. I've told him twice now that I do not and never sleep on my back and his response both times has been "well you don't know what you're doing when you're asleep"
While that's obviously true, common sense tells me that if I'm falling asleep on my side and waking up on my side with the pillow and sheets situated as they were, I'm not changing positions. Also, I bought a camera to record myself sleeping. I've only had it for 1 night but after reviewing the footage from last night, I did not spend any time on my back.
So anyways, I told him that while I can't remember specifically, I'm pretty sure the only reason I slept on my back during the sleep study is because the sleep tech asked me to try. The reason I can't remember is probably a combination of being half asleep and under the influence of Ambien.
Seems he would know if trying to get data from sleeping on your back is part of a sleep study and he acts like it isn't something the techs are instructed to do.
Anyone remember whether or not you were told to try sleeping on your back at some point during your sleep study?

Three days ago, my housemates were alive.
And I wasn't losing my fucking mind.
Three days ago, I awoke to my housemate, Misty, shaking me.
“Get up!!”
Misty was usually the last to roll out of bed out of all of us, so I figured it was something important. My housemate wouldn’t get out of bed for nothing. She valued her sleep—often comparing her bed to a safe haven. Her place of solitude. I was right there with her, until she startled me out of slumber. I opened my eyes to find her face roughly three inches from mine, her expression lit up with excitement I couldn’t justify this early in the morning.
She smelled of toothpaste breath and her raspberry scented body wash. Her thick black curls framing her face were still damp from what I presumed was a shower, hanging in tangled knots in front of wide, almost unseeing eyes. When I first met her, Misty Kang had been my crush for a while. With a Korean father and a Texan mother, she definitely caught eyes when we hung out. We had a thing in freshman year, which quickly fizzled out once we started living together. Never date your housemates.
I will just say that.
Over the last few years, Misty has become one of my closest friends.
When she knew I was at least conscious, my housemate was grabbing my arm and yanking me out of bed. “Get up!”
I was barely awake, and those were the only words I could fully distinguish.
I shooed her away for a moment and swung my legs out of bed, taking a minute to blink sunlight out of my eyes coming through the blinds. “Sam.” Misty was in front of me again.
I don’t think she understood the concept of being half asleep.
She wouldn’t leave me alone, waving her arms wildly. Her shadow under the soft morning light almost reminded me of one of those inflatable tube guys.
“Huh?” My voice was a low croak, and her smile widened.
“Guess who’s just scored tickets for an actual screening of the first five minutes of gameplay for the most anticipated game of the decade?”
“What?” Her string of words wasn’t making sense in my caffeine deprived mind. It just sounded like gibberish to me, initially.
Like we were in some cheesy commercial, she was the lead, and I was the confused NPC with the WTF expression. But when I went over it in my head, words started to slide together like a jigsaw puzzle. Misty didn’t get excited about video games. Well, she did. Though, my housemate was one to get excited on behalf of someone else. After living with her for a while now, I had concluded she was a follower.
By that, I mean whatever others thought or did or said, she copied it. If her Twitter followers were mad at bad takes, she would drop all of her own opinions on said follower and focus on what other people said. We had Korean barbecue for takeout the other day, and Misty clearly did not like it from the creased look on her face, and her very obviously spitting it politely into a napkin.
Jay, my other housemate, liked it.
And so did I. So, naturally, Misty announced she wanted more.
I had to watch her suffer through two more portions before she excused herself—presumably to throw up. Blinking at my housemate who was clearly excited for Jay, I resisted the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes.
“Slow down. What game? What are you talking about?”
I got out of bed and threw on my robe, half aware of the mess from last night on my desk. Another attempt to finish an essay which just wasn’t happening. The monster energy cans and takeout Chinese wrappers were embarrassing. I got a basic run-through as I headed downstairs with Misty right behind me, practically breathing down my neck. From what I understood, there was a Reddit post.
That was all I got from Misty’s squealing. She leapt down the stairs after me with a spring in her step. The clock above the front door told me it wasn’t even 9am. The smell of bacon, however, was quick to arise me from the dead.
Jay was in the kitchen making breakfast. I noticed his laptop was open on the table, and every so often he’d peer at it with wide, almost disbelieving eyes. Jay and Misty were complete opposites, which made them great people to live with. Jay was a quiet book who was slightly on the pretentious side, routinely quoting something philosophical to piss me off.
He had rich parents on the other side of the world, but the guy himself was fairly humble and had mostly detached himself from said family.
My housemate was usually well put together. In fact, I barely saw him in his pajamas, excluding game nights. That morning, however, he was a disheveled mess, still in yesterday’s clothes.
He offered me a grin. I glimpsed sauce from last night’s dinner still staining his chin. Jay hadn’t brushed his hair or even put on deodorant.
I caught a whiff of BO when he ducked in front of me, his gaze glued to his MacBook. It was rare when Jay ignored basic hygiene, so yeah, I was going to guess this was a pretty huge thing. “I did tell her not to wake you up, y’know.”
His slight aussie accent was always refreshing on a morning. Born in Australia and moving to the states when he was ten years old, Jay still had a slight tinge in his accent. I had seen pictures of his family, and the guy had definitely gotten most of his dad’s genes, thick brown hair, and freckles. While his dad was built like a pro wrestler however, Jay was leaner like his mom.
I shrugged. “I was already awake.”
“Liar.” He didn’t look away from his laptop.
Looking closer, I glimpsed the Reddit homepage.
“So, you have won something.”
Jay didn’t answer. I could tell he was excited by the way he could barely keep still, bustling around the kitchen, barefoot. “Coffee?”
His voice was more of a Misty-like squeak, and I half wondered for a moment if they had switched bodies, or he had at least become one with my other housemate through a chemical explosion. In our kitchen, which was yet to be cleaned after a cooking disaster several nights ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if something was living on the countertop. I nodded, slumping into a chair. “What’s going on? Why is Misty freaking out?” I nodded at his laptop. “She said you’ve won something?”
As if my housemate couldn’t hold it in anymore, he nodded, turning his screen towards me. “You know____, right?”
“Yes.” I sipped my coffee, eyeing a toaster strudel sitting on the countertop. "You mean the game which has been coming out for a decade."
He ignored that. “Well, what if I told you one of the developer’s posted on the official sub this morning?”
“For _____?"
He nodded with a grin, and I wondered it this was one of those rare times when Jay was blindly looking through a red flag to see what he wanted. I had heard of these types of scams, and Reddit was a breeding ground for them.
Gamers were pretty intense. I didn’t realize I was pulling a face until I caught his lips curving into a smile. Jay was usually the skeptical one.
“You don’t believe me.”
I downed my coffee to avoid replying. When I had drained the cup, he was still staring at me with amused eyes.
“What?”
“You think it’s bullshit.”
I shrugged. “You said it,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that game isn’t even partway through development. Didn’t Twitter leak a still last year? Also, they’ll be bringing out a new console before that game comes out.”
I leaned back in my chair. “It’s more of a pipe dream, at this point.”
“The leaks were fake,” Even he didn’t look sure. “Anyway, that’s not the point. One of the dev’s posted on the official sub this morning. He asked if we were all excited for the new game, asked if we could post some of our favorite NPC dialogue, and he’ll DM winners.”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded at the screen. I had already checked my phone for an internet meltdown concerning this post, but there was nothing. “And where is that post now?”
Jay didn’t look at me. “It was deleted. So it only reached a certain number of people.”
“Oh, it was deleted?” I couldn’t resist a smile. “What a coincidence.”
When I laughed, Jay scowled, showing me his screen—navigating his trackpad to his Reddit DM’s.
To my surprise, there was actually a message from what I guessed was a throw-away account.
While I was skim reading the DM, Misty hurried in, all dressed and ready for the day. I peeked at her outfit from Jay's laptop. Cute.
Extravagant, but cute. My housemate cranked the radio up before bouncing between us, a toaster strudel hanging out of her mouth.
Misty was a living animated character. Ignoring her wide smile, I turned back to the screen. “Congratulation!!” The DM started with capitals.
It took me reading it twice to realize there was a clear spelling mistake. I sent Jay a pointed look, but he was too busy practically vibrating with excitement. If the guy had any more caffeine, he was going to explode. “Since when did winning DM’s start with a typo?”
“I knew you were going to say that.” Jay curled his lip. “They were clearly excited when typing the message.”
“But this is supposedly an official,” I said. “Surely they would make sure it’s professional?”
My housemate didn’t reply, shooting a look at Misty, who rolled her eyes.
“Wow.” I squinted at the screen. “I am so sorry for caring about your safety. You do realize these types of scam’s usually end up with you being sold on the black market, right?”
I shuddered. “I’ve heard horror stories about underground markets specializing in illegal organ harvesting.”
“Or…” Jay’s eyes were glued to the screen. “You could be happy for me?”
I frowned at the rest of the message, which was just a capitalized freak-out about the upcoming release of the game, before inviting Jay (and a friend!) to a five-minute preview of gameplay, as well as a Q&A. There was a location and a time, which was brow-raising. “10 at night.” I said. “Who hosts a gaming convention at 10pm?” I leaned my chin on my fist. “Unless they wanted to lure as many gullible people as possible, and ship them to some organ harvesting factory on the other side of the world.”
Jay scoffed. “That’s dark.”
“You’re actually considering going to a 10pm gaming convention in the middle of nowhere. I’m trying to wake you up.”
Jay nudged me that time. “It’s real. Relax.”
“And.” I pointed to the screen. “No phones? Why would they ask you not to bring your phones?”
“To stop us filming content,” Misty sang. “Duh.”
I groaned, leaning back in my chair. “You’re on his side? This is clearly shady!” I didn’t get mad unless something was seriously pissing me off, and this was one of those times. Jay was a smart guy. There was no way he was falling for this bullshit. I thought he was joking around when he spent the day tracking the location on Google Maps. I went to class like normal and got updates through text. At lunch, Jay agreed with me and said it was in fact shady, and he wasn’t going. By afternoon classes, he was texting me in paragraphs explaining his own skepticism but had found several “friends” on an online forum who were also going and had changed his mind once again. The guy couldn’t make up his mind. He was driving me crazy.
Misty sent me several videos of Jay pacing the kitchen with his MacBook in his hands. She was broadcasting his mental breakdown via Instagram stories. But then she started to send me pictures of herself in different outfits, asking me for my opinion on each one. At that point, I turned my phone off. My housemates had lost their fucking minds. I did my own research though, just to make sure I wasn’t actually going to lose them to a shady cult.
I searched for the game itself, but just as I thought, it was shown as still in development. Every “update” was just fan speculation.
There were YouTube videos and TikTok’s of fake leaks, but nothing was real. It was either AI generated, or badly edited. By the time my classes had ended and I had turned my phone on, I had a barrage of missed calls and texts.
Most of them were from Misty with her outfit changes, and Jay changing his mind again.
This time he was convinced it was all a scam, his texts full of typos and crying emoji's which he never used. Before it hit me that Misty was most likely using his phone to text me.
I was right. When I walked through the door, I was greeted by both of them sitting on the stairs. Misty was scrolling through Jay’s phone, while the boy had his head in his hands. According to Misty’s last text, he was back to being excited to go.
From the look on his face, eyes shadowed with sleep circles, light brown curls slipping from under his hood, I wasn’t sure what Misty meant by “excited”. The guy looked the complete opposite. His mind had been consumed by the game, and the idea of seeing new content.
When I dropped my bag and folded my arms, fixing the two of them with my best disapproving parent look, Misty jumped to her feet. “Sam!” she waved Jay’s phone at me. “Did you get my texts? We’re actually going now!”
The 100+ texts on both messenger and iMessage said otherwise.
I nodded, my gaze on Jay. “Both of you do realize it’s a scam, right?” I softened my tone despite growing progressively more irritated. We were grown adults, not kids. I could understand a group of teenagers falling for it, but two twenty-three-year-olds?
This time, I ducked in front of Jay. “Hey.” I pulled down his hood, and he groaned, burying his head in his knees. “I don’t want to freak you out, so listen to me, okay?”
I exhaled out a breath. “I’m not saying something bad is going to happen to you, because it most likely won’t—and yes, I admit I’m being paranoid.” When he lifted his head, blinking through bedraggled curls, there was a faint smile on his lips. “But.” I said. “You are most likely going to end up disappointed. Which I don’t want, because you won't shut up about it for weeks."
I was only partly joking.
For a moment, I thought my housemate was going to wake up, and nod, laughing at how crazy it was.
Before shook his head and jumped up.
“I’m going to take a shower, alright? I should start getting ready."
I admit, I exploded at him.
We argued while he was in the shower, and I paced up and down the hallway, coming up with multiple reasons why he was definitely going to die, and only two positives if it was in fact real. In the end, I gave up worrying all together. I didn’t say anything when the two of them were hurrying around looking for shoes and missing car keys. I didn’t realize they were gone until the door was clanging shut, and a text was coming through. I didn’t look at it until an hour later, and I had calmed down.
Jay: 1h ago: Stop worrying, lmao. We’re good! I’ll keep my phone just in case. I’ll make sure to avoid the organ harvesting 😉
Another from Misty a few minutes later: “Love you! Chillll, kay? 😭😭 It’s going to be fun! I’ll take pics!”
…
Followed by: “Oh shit, we can’t. I’ll try to sneak some!"
Attached to the text was a photo of the two of them. Misty with a wide smile and a peace sign, and Jay who looked like he was mid-shout, his eyes on the road.
Those texts were… at least comforting, I guessed. Maybe they were right. I figured I was paranoid, and they in fact would really be okay.
But that didn’t stop the anxious coil in my gut when I tried to force down takeout pizza. I attempted to focus on my essay to distract myself, but I couldn’t stop glancing at my phone, and checking Twitter. There was a hashtag on the DM, which was just “PlayStationGO.” When I searched for it, however, nothing came up.
Sure, it was a private convention and only a select few knew about it, but nothing could escape Twitter.
Somewhere, someone must be talking about it. After scrolling through endless tweets though, I realized I was wrong. There was nothing.
That put a bad taste in my mouth.
10pm came, and I held my breath all the way through a Netflix TV show I was forcing myself to watch, half asleep, slumped at my desk.
I could barely distinguish the plot.
I just had a vague idea of the character names, and some of their motivations.
Midnight passed, and I was struggling to stay awake.
I glanced at my phone.
No messages, just a notification from Spotify reminding me my favorite band was playing nearby.
1am.
Still nothing. I fell back to sleep.
2:48am.
This time, I stayed awake for a few minutes glaring at my phone before my eyes grew heavy.
3:16: am.
My phone buzzed with a text from Jay, but I could barely desipher it: "can't feel help my head hurts Canshdhsn727272_6798mi/!! _&go home please. (Sent from: PlayStationGo™️ BETA)."
3:27: am.
3:54: am. I was wide awake, blinking at a notification which had popped up from an unknown number. I was trying to figure out what number it was, when my phone vibrated again and I almost jumped out of my skin.
After a moment of hesitation, I answered it.
I was trying so hard not to think of the possibility of it being the emergency room, or even worse, the cops.
All of my worst nightmares had come true in a single second.
“Hello?” I whispered in a croak.
“Are they in the house with you?” The stranger’s voice came through in a hiss of interference.
His words sent my mediocre dinner lurching back up my throat. “What?” I managed to get out. “Who?”
“Your friends.” He said, and I leapt to unsteady feet, my gut twisting and turning.
“No.” I found myself taking slow strides toward the window, brushing back the curtain and peering out into the night. “Why? Did something happen to them?” I paused.
“How did you get my number?”
“That does not matter.” His voice rattled in my ear as I rushed downstairs, almost stumbling down the bottom two. “I need you to get out of that house. Now. Get as far away as possible.”
I could hear his rapid breaths.
He was driving. I could hear the rumble of the engine. With my phone pressed to my ear, I obeyed his instructions, pulling open the door and stepping out into the cool night, a brisk breeze grazing my bare arms was just enough to stop my thoughts spiraling.
I was barefoot, in nothing but a robe, staggering down the driveway. The night was calm and silent; our neighborhood was asleep, each window drowned in darkness. I couldn’t breathe, my clammy fingers wrapped around my phone, as this stranger broke down over the phone. “Whatever you do,” he gasped out.
“Do not, I repeat DO NOT remove the PlayStationGo—shit!! He hissed out, static rattling the call. The guy seemingly got ahold of himself, and the wheel, and continued. I started to walk—where I was going, I had no idea.
The stranger lit a cigarette. I heard the click of a lighter and his exhalation of breath. “It was a BETA version, but we had to rush it. This was not my idea. My boss is a greedy man. He wanted to release the game last year, which would have meant widespread infection. Luckily, that did not happen. We did manage to delay it, but only by a year.” His words barely made sense to me as I struggled to get a word in, peering in the dark. “It was supposed to be a virtual experience of the game—a whole new angle of gameplay. But testing was difficult. First, on monkey’s, we lost multiple subjects. Tonight was supposed to be a…well, I guess you could call it out first attempt on human subjects,” his laugh was bitter. “I knew the tech wasn’t finished. And I tried. Believe me, I fucking tried. I tried to blow the whistle, but these bastards know where my parents live."
Something squirmed its way down my spine.
“So my friends were lab rats?” I said stiffly. “You used them?”
I fucking knew it.
I knew it was too good to be true.
“Yes and no. Listen to me, the people I work for are hunting them down. Trust me, I don’t want my bosses to find them because a life of experimentation will await them. Torture. Do you hear me? It does not matter if subjects fail. They don’t care. As long as there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel for them, they will see it as a win, and bring the publication date closer. They will not be treated as humans. Your friends signed a contract before trying out the tech, where the small print stated that, under section 3, player engagement, all subjects must agree to offer themselves as participants in later updates. I silently cursed Jay for always skipping the terms and conditions when buying games." The man stopped to breathe.
“I have told you multiple times, and I won’t say it again. Get as far away from that house as possible. I will take care of them. I will make sure of it." The sound of squealing engines, and I stopped power walking, coming to an abrupt stop. The silence of the night around me, compared to the sound of the highway he was on, traffic horns and the wind rushing through the window was an eerie contrast, a disturbance to the heavenly bubble we were trapped in.
“What do you mean ‘take care of them?” I had to swallow a yell. “Hey! What are you talking about?
“I’m sorry.” Was all he replied with. “I’m afraid it is too late. There was once an opportunity to save the mind during the initial level of the demonstration. However, once the PlaystationGo has been fully attached to the base of the subject, we no longer have control of it. Once integrating itself into the cerebral cortex, the PlayStationGo can only be removed by signing out of the player’s account,” his breath was heavy. “On this unfortunate occasion, however, your friends are unable to navigate the system due to a malfunction which scrambled their brains,” He trailed off. “Which has left them stranded in the game."
I let out a breath. “Right.” I said. “That’s.. bad. I mean, it’s a fucked-up piece of technology, but they’re just playing a game, right?”
There was a pause, before the man laughed.
“Young man, I don’t think you understand,” he said. “The PlayStationGo was created to give the player a full virtual experience of our game. The PlayStationGo is not a physical object. Created with nanotechnology, it attaches itself to the subject’s brain and is supposed to create a personal gaming experience for each player. As I said, however, it is not finished. It is yet to be released to the public, and of course, we are expecting certain ethical arguments due to the controversial—”
I pulled the phone away from my ear, shaking my head. I didn’t need to hear his attempts at trying to save his own skin.
“You need to help them,” I whispered. “Do you hear me? Can you do that? Can you help them?!”
“That is what I am trying to tell you,” He said.
“I know you are upset and confused, and believe me, I offer my apologies. But you need to listen to facts. During initial testing, our subjects were conscious enough to know where their home was. We are unsure why this happens, though we have linked it to territory, as well as the main character of the game heavily influencing their actions. I have been tracking them from the testing facility, and they are incredibly close. Please get as far away from there as possible. If you are no longer in the vicinity of the house, I can end this quickly and quietly before we gain attention.”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. Maybe start fucking screaming at him, because he was talking about getting “rid” of my friends, after their mistake.
“Do you understand me?” He said, when I couldn’t reply. “Your friends are lost causes!”
Before I could answer, though, headlights were suddenly coming around the corner, and I found myself paralysed to the spot. The car which swerved twice, crashed into several trash cans, before reversing and coming straight towards me, was not Jay’s car. Jay’s car was an old hunk of junk he’d gotten from a scrapyard. Jay’s car had doors which were practically hanging off, and a stereo which exclusively played either static gibberish, or old tapes I had no idea how to use. This car was bright yellow, and definitely had an option to drive itself. When the car came to a stop, inches from careening into me, I lost all control of myself.
I was vaguely aware of my phone slipping from my fingers and hitting the sidewalk. But I was too busy staring at the two shadows in the front of the car. The driver, and the passenger.
And the muffled screaming coming from the trunk.
When the door swung open, a figure stepping out, I did not recognise my housemate.
The stranger told me I wouldn't, but I didn't believe him.
Jay had left the house in casual jeans and a sweater, bearing the game's logo.
Now, I found myself face to face with a man with my housemate's face and features, his smile and eyes-- but something had been severed in his eyes and twisted in his expression. For one, Jay was wearing a suit I knew he couldn't afford, the sleeves torn, collar pulled open, smears of red staining the front.
His pants had cufflinks, and the Rolex on his wrist had definitely been pulled off someone's corpse.
The silver was stained a revealing scarlet. Drinking in his face, he looked like Jay. His curls hung in front of his eyes, freckles speckling his cheeks, but everything else wasn't. It wasn't until I was glimpsing what was moulded into the flesh of his hand, did I remember how to move. But then I was taking all of him in, everything my mind had intentionally skipped, because I didn't want to believe the stranger on the phone. Nanotechnology, the man had said in a hiss.
Fiction, I had thought.
Before I saw the reality of it, a writhing metallic like substance glued to the guy's temple, and slowly, very slowly, inching down his cheek, already forming around the bridge of his ear, a very faint blue light flickering.
Something must have alerted him. His cavernous eyes left mine, and he twisted his head—and I heard the sound of his neck snapping, his head lolling to the left slightly, his eyes flickering. I watched his whole body seem to sway back and forth, ready to fall forwards.
Before the newly formed device on his ear turned red, then green.
It was almost like he was… rebooting. As if coming back to life, Jay lifted his head at an awkward angle, before looking straight through me. The blood vessels in his eyes had popped, rivulets of red beading down his face. He should have been dead, I thought. No. No, he was dead. That… that thing was keeping him alive. “Well, shiiiittt,” he said. I could sense the game dialogue which had taken over him, forming on his mangled tongue.
“I’m a man on a mission.”
In jerking movements, he turned and marched back towards the car, opening the door, and sliding into the front seat.
I remembered how to move, ducking to grab my phone, before something slammed into the back of my head—and I saw stars.
I didn’t remember hitting the floor, only the soft sound of her voice, a seductive murmur repeating NPC dialogue, and her kitten heel sticking into my spine, forcing me onto my face.
Misty. I was expecting her to get it over with. But when she dragged me to my feet, sticking the barrel of a gun into the flesh of my neck—I figured she was still playing the game.
Twisting around to meet her eyes, lifeless and empty, only filled with light from the device which had taken over half of her face, I felt sick to my stomach. This thing wasn’t a games console or a virtual reality headset.
It was an attempt at coercing and programming something you already don’t understand, to do something impossible.
I could see that in the way the things had visibly chewed and eaten through her flesh, devouring her from the inside and out. I could see what was left of the dress she had worn earlier, but something must have gone wrong with her too. Because Misty had thrown on another outfit over the top, a diamond necklace hanging from her neck.
I caught a thin river of red pooling down her right temple, trying to ignore the twitchy way she moved, just like a character. From the way Misty walked, stumbling, I already knew she was gone. My housemate had newly acquired strength, throwing me in the trunk of the car where three other hostages were, and slamming it shut on my attempts to reason with her. She didn’t tie me up or restrain me.
In the dim light I could just make out though passing streetlights, I could see the trunk opened from the inside. Which was too easy.
Still though, Jay was driving recklessly, and every time I tried to throw the damn thing open, I was knocked backwards, rolling into a screaming girl, who was bound by her hands and feet. It took me multiple attempts before I had the trunk open, freezing cold air blasting me in the face. I untied the other hostages, but when I told them to come with me, they just stared blankly at me, and continued begging for their lives—and it only took me glimpsing what was attached to their temples, a familiar writhing metal plate, for me to understand. They too were playing the game. This time, as NPC hostages.
I found myself gingerly touching the trembling metallic flesh of the girl's fingers bound in rope. It had a slimy consistency, and I swore, I felt something bite into me.
No way, I thought.
This thing was sentient, yes. But it wasn't living.
Listen, I wish I could tell you what it was like to jump out of a moving car, but I can’t.
I remember it as lunging out of the trunk, hitting the freezing cold air, before hitting the ground head first, neutron star collisions exploding in the backs of my eyes.
What I do remember is waking up on the side of the road. Hours later. The sky was bright blue, a scorching sun blinding me when I managed to force my eyes open.
The early morning rush hour flew by as normal, and I wondered how ignorant American people had to be to ignore someone knocked out on the side of the road.
It’s not like I was nowhere near civilization. There was a fucking Subway right next to me.
When I had gathered myself, I remembered I had no phone. I couldn’t go home in fear of running into my rogue housemates playing their own fucked up version of _____ in their head. My plan was to try and find my phone, get in contact with the stranger who blew the whistle on my friends being dangerous, and find them. They couldn’t be far., right? And even if they weren’t themselves… someone would be able to save them.
If someone could do this to them, surely they could reverse it.
I felt sick, tired, and I was starving.
So, with some loose cash I’d found in my pocket, I bought a Subway and a Coke.
The woman at the counter smiled widely at me. She leaned forward, with a wink. “Nice cosplay!”
Cosplay?
I didn’t understand what she meant until I swore I felt something… move its way up my pant leg. I ignored it, and it happened again, this time it felt like something was… biting.
A bug, maybe? I had been laying on the side of the road for around six hours.
When I went to the bathroom, though, I found myself staring at an all too familiar glint of silver creeping its way across my temple. Like it was sentient, parts of it sider webbed towards my ear while the rest writhed into my hairline.
I pulled up my pant leg again, and there it was, a fungus-like metal substance which had already formed in two solid metal masses on my knees. I remember grazing two fingers across the thing beginning its slow feast of my flesh. I remember trying to pull it off, hissing in pain when I risked ripping off my own skin with it. I remember shaking my head and being in denial, even when the lights dimmed above me, and the bathroom door in front of me became more of a shadow. When I strode back through the Subway store, I began to see slight flickers of light above each person, highlighting something not quite there yet.
I could see it already starting, beginning to take over my thoughts. Cars which sped past were suddenly highlighted, and at the corner of my eye, if I concentrated, the outline of a map was starting to appear. Even now, when the room is almost completely taken over by shadow, and my thoughts are half my own, and half not—when a metallic device is beginning to form over my eyes—I know if I hold on, this thing won’t take me. I have considered killing myself, but that wouldn’t… be right.
How could I kill myself when there is so much left to do?
This developer was right. I don’t even know where I can sign out. There’s what looks like the beginning of some kind of index when I look up, but it’s not… finished. I can still see entangled pieces of code struggling to load what I’m guessing was log out. Whatever this thing is, it’s taking over me. Fast. Like a fungus, like a virus, it will not stop until it’s dragged me into the game, until it's leeched itself onto me.
I can feel it happening right now. It's been slow.
Almost painfully slow.
But maybe that is the point. Maybe part of the game is to feel my own thoughts beginning to unravel in favor of something else entirely.
Fuck.
Time is going by…. Fast.
Five minutes ago… I was trying to get home. But I can’t remember where I live.
I can’t concentrate.
I can’t think straight.
I have a phone—but I don’t know how I got it. Did I steal it?
Every time I move, the slowly emerging map comes to life at the corner of my eye jerks with my movement. There is a car parked nearby.
I know it belongs to the man with a child.
But a confusing blur of light is highlighting it to be something of importance. Reality is crashing in front of me, replaced with contorting shapes and bursts of color I have to blink through.
I keep hearing... sirens.
Jay is messaging me.
On what, I'm not sure.
But I need to find him.
I’m sure one mission won’t hurt, right?

Previous
Captain Vohr’Doe was waiting in the hangar as Kahv’Hosh set the shuttle down, a slew of emotions raging inside her, all vying to be the leading sentiment. Though, she - of course - would probably have to lean more towards 'gratitude’, if made to pick a single one. She was more than grateful that her crew were no longer in danger - and yes, that even included him - and that those pirates were no longer a threat to anyone else, either.
And then there was the obvious awe at the humans had weaponized gravity; she had heard the horror stories of what could happen if a gravity plate malfunctioned - she had to have electrical replace the ones in the gym just a few days ago, as Kyle had pushed them up to 15G in his training - but to actually use it as a weapon?...
And, of course, there was an overwhelming amount of anger. Well, maybe not anger, per se; but there wasn’t really a word for the feeling between extreme frustration, and anger. What kept her from completely registering it as anger was her wholehearted belief that he had good intentions for having something so destructive on board her ship. But that only just tempered the vexation she felt at him having smuggled a gravity bomb onto her ship! Not only that, but there were two crates that had been marked as ‘gravity generators’, which she had initially assumed were for his comfort, to put his room - or possibly his campsite - to a more comfortable gravity. But she could see now how very wrong she was.
As the door to the shuttle opened, she watched first Admiral Shane, then Kahv’Hosh exit the craft. Kyle exited after a delay of a few seconds, and after sweeping the hangar with his gaze, he lowered it when it met her’s, looking for all intents like her nephew when he gets caught doing something he shouldn’t, and - not for the first time - an almost motherly feeling came over her. Which wasn’t so far out of the question, seeing as - according to the data provided on them - humans were by far the shortest-lived people in Galactic Records, where the shortest-lived species after them - the rahv’oyeck - averaged around 500 years, give or take a few decades.
Not to mention the fact that - for however short a time, he was a part of her crew, and as such, she instinctively felt protective of him, the fact that - as his captain - she was responsible for him notwithstanding. Plus, he really did seem to be almost ‘childlike’ at times, with a simple - almost naive - attitude towards the goings on around him. Not that he was clueless when it came to interacting with others; as many of the crew had come to find out, apparently.
But it was his obvious contrition that tempered her attitude, so that when they had made their way over to her, it had simmered down to intense irritation. Once they were standing before her, Kyle finally looked up to meet her gaze, and she felt her heart soften further at the expression on his face; not that she would let him know that, of course.
“Would you care to explain yourself, Mr. Redding?” she asked, being sure to keep the edge to her voice; she couldn't be seen as ‘soft’.
“I didn't know that they were sending it,” he began quickly, ”I only found out about it after I got to my equipment room, the first time.”
“Them,” she replied, and at his confused look, continued,
“Them; plural: there were two crates listed under ‘gravity generators’, and they were both the same size. I don't believe that the other one actually contains gravity plates stacked up; not this time.”
Kyle gave a look of understanding, and she believed that he really did momentarily forget about the other one.
“Right,” he said, “Two. Yeah, I didn't know they were gonna send them…”
“And afterward, it never occurred to you to tell me that you had two bombs on board that could make this entire ship - and everyone on board - become one dense atom?!” A little more edge crept into her voice than she would have liked at that moment. It was Admiral Shane, however, who answered; taking a step forward, he cleared his throat.
“Captain, if I may?...” It was the respect - the deference - in his voice that gave her pause, and helped to calm her thoughts a bit. She nodded in affirmation, and he continued,
“What would happen to us - in the immediate sense - if this ship were to lose all power right now; primary, and emergency backup power?”
The question seemed so random, that her mind basically blanked out, and she found herself saying the first thing that came to her mind.
“We would all begin floating, seeing as the artificial gravity would be out, as well.”
“Precisely,” he continued, “And short of directly supplying power to the artificial gravity, how could we get the plates to work?”
She began to understand his point.
“I see where this is going, Admiral, but unless I’m very much mistaken, there were no ports on that box that would accept any power crystals with the required energy to fuel that miniature black hole. Which means that it had power the whole time.”
“That's true,” he said in a mollifying tone, “But the power to the core was disconnected, and needed a code that would cause even an A.I. trouble hacking it, as it's a 300,000-page code, randomly coded in every written language known to humankind. There are even symbols in the code that don't show up on the screen, if someone were to try to hack it manually; an A.I. is needed to even crack the code within a year. And only Kay’Eighty has the codes for those two programmed into her memory.
“So,” he concluded, “While I agree entirely with you that he should have let you know about them, I can give you my word - on behalf of the honor of all humans - that no amount of damage could cause an accidental activation. While I won't say that the other one is harmless, I can assure you that there is no chance of it going off by accident. However, I won’t hesitate to take it off of your ship, if you so desire.”
She took a moment to digest everything that Admiral Shane said, and eventually came to a conclusion.
“No, I’ll allow him to keep it on the ship; I would say that there's likely never going to be a reason that we would need it, but I would have said the same thing this morning, and we can all see how wrong that was.”
“If you like,” Kyle offered, “We could attach it to like, a missile, or something, and Kay’Eighty could give you a data chip with the code for it.”
She thought for a few seconds, then nodded.
“That sounds acceptable; but what if we need it detached?”
“She can attach it to the outside on a molecular level with her nanobots, and detach it the same way.”
She nodded her head, and then sighed.
“Well, I won't pretend that I’m not happy about the way this all played out; still, I’m just glad their cargo holds and brigs showed no signs of life. At least we didn't send any innocents to their doom with that ploy. You could have at least told me what it was when I asked you why you needed the scan of the pirate ships in the first place.”
“Yeah,” he replied in that casual tone of voice that she would tolerate from few others, further enforcing that matronly feeling over him, “But we didn't have time for you to be pissed off at me, then… But - for the record - I am sorry for not telling you; I should have let you know a lot sooner.”
She gave him the sternest look she could muster in that moment, and replied,
“I’ll accept your apology if - and only if - you let me examine this fruit tree of yours.”
Kyle's face brightened, and a wide smile appeared as he said,
“Of course; you could've come seen it any time.”
She smiled at him, and turned to leave, passing Kah’Ri, who had held back - as per her request - while she talked to Kyle about the heavy ordnance he had on her ship. She heard the impact of the two, and the sound of them kissing, that was immediately mixed with the sound of hurried footsteps as Kahv’Hosh and Admiral Shane gave the two their privacy.
The meeting with the Council went smoother than she could have expected, with them simply stating that - as a interstellar ambassador - Kyle was authorized for a higher level of weaponry utilized in his protection, and as his current ship of transport, the Golden Egg had the authorization to use such weapons, if need be. They did - however - require any and all recordings of the interaction to be sent to the Council, for analysis of their capabilities.
There was also the matter of Grol’Rosh, the suul’mahr representative who had watched the probe’s descent into the dark of the planet below. The doctors felt that it was best to keep him in a medically induced coma, as when he was conscious - and heavily restrained - he was moaning and whimpering, rambling incoherently about the ‘darkness that sees, hiding the sea of flesh’, of ‘clawed feet on chitinous arms, too-long hands reaching from fanged tentacles’; and the sound, which he mentioned as the ‘screams of the damned from so many mouths, they know all, 'THEY ARE THE HOLES LIKE EYES!!!’
She noted the looks that ranged form disquiet, to disgust, but it was between the humans that she saw a look of understanding horror pass.
“But…” Kyle began weakly, looking at Admiral Shane, “That was just a movie. Wha-…?”
“Well,” the Admiral replied in a slightly dazed voice, “I think it’s safe to say that blowing the planet up is out of the question.”
“Or what?” Kyle began in amused incredulity, “A piece of it’s gonna hit a wormhole, and go back in time to Alaska sometime before the 1980’s?” The laugh he ended this with was close to hysterical, to which the Admiral shrugged.
“At this point, I wouldn’t rule anything out. However, the more likely scenario would be that it lands on a different planet, wreaksand havoc from there. Even worse would be for it to hit a previously uncontacted, sapient species’ home world. The results of a single cell of this… thing’s biomass were to make it to a planet with living creatures on it would be beyond catastrophic. There’s no amount of destruction - short of throwing it into a star, or a black hole - that I would trust the safety of the galaxy to, when it comes to the lifeform that calls this planet its home.”
Chairwoman Hahss’Chom spoke up at this.
“While I obviously have no knowledge of this movie the two of you reference, I must say that your assessments of this seem to be at least plausible. I don’t know so much about the time travel aspect, but it would seem that this would be the best summary of the events, here. It would appear that a sapient race evolved on this planet, and that their Gift was that of assimilation. At some point, it would seem they began assimilating each other, until they reached a critical mass, and ‘they’ became ‘it’. And from Grol’Rosh’s description, it doesn’t sound as if this is a pleasant experience for whatever they… it has become. I believe that it is not only a matter of protection for the wider galaxy - universe, even - but also as an act of mercy that we should put this… thing out of its misery.” There was a general murmur of agreement around the council chambers as no one seemed to want to disagree with that sentiment.
They moved the Golden Egg to the other side of the system from the planet, keeping the sun between it and them. Upon hearing about the ‘darkness that sees’, Kyle had exclaimed that that was what had bothered him so much about the planet; the darkness was watching them. They didn’t want to find out if the life form on the planet may be able to ‘stack’ itself ‘up’, away from the planet, and reach out to the ship were they to get over the dark side, but at the same time, no one wanted to be under the gaze of such a massive predator.
They were parked in that system for almost an entire Standard week, though, it should have been longer; however, with their A.I. able to make the calculations for them, they were able to drop further into subspace, where not only do the ‘shadows’ become larger - therefore reducing the ‘space’ needed to travel - but the speed of your craft rose exponentially, so it was extremely easy to overshoot one’s target, going a ‘shorter’ distance at a greatly multiplied speed.
The moon/ship was amazing to behold. It had - originally - had an outer layer of ice, with an inner ocean, and a deeper ice layer, followed by a rocky mantle, and heavy iron core. The humans - but really, the A.I. - had mined out the iron core, and used it in building the outer shell of the craft. The water was harvested - according to their records - and support columns on the inside were used to maintain integrity of the craft. It now appeared for all intents and purposes as a giant metal moon, with engines on one end, and millions of lights that dotted its surface, obviously viewports. A close-up scan showed that it was blanketed in guns, but those were obviously only big enough to serve as defense; it was apparent that this ship wasn’t built as a gunner.
Once it had come into the system - keeping out of ‘view’ from its dark side - they enveloped the planet with the craft’s tractor beam, the space around the planet lighting up to an almost gray aura, as the beam took hold. Once they had reported a full grip of the planet, the Europa Contingency dropped back into subspace, the planet ‘disappearing’ with them, only to ‘reappear’ around an hour later, the ship’s massive engines working more efficiently in subspace to move the much larger planet. Once they reappeared, the light around the planet went out as the Europa Contingency released it from the tractor beam, dropping back into subspace for an easier retreat from the sun.
No one wanted to go to look at what was happening to the planet, which would entail either getting into its range of ‘vision’, and also the possibility of seeing whatever it was that drove the suul’mahr representative insane. Readings showed the loss of mass, as the planet was burnt up in the corona of the star, and everyone watched on as the sun continued to consume its wayward planet. With the planet also having been thrown - not simply having 'fallen' - into the sun, it wasn’t long before it had been fully encased in the cleansing fires of the star.
She was also relieved to see that the humans had appropriately somber expressions, obviously taking no joy in the destruction - the mass loss of… ‘life’ - that they were responsible for. They watched the reading coming in with the seriousness of attending a loved one’s funeral, and never spoke a word, not in praise, or even the acknowledgement of what was happening. She was glad to see that they weren’t entirely aggressive, that while they had the capacity to not only think of these types of weapons, but to also create them, that they weren’t the type of people who would use them so willingly. She could see in their faces the regret they had in destroying this planet, even as it was done to save countless others; for someone would eventually break quarantine, either to try to exploit the resources ‘available’, or to use the ‘lifeform’ on the planet for their own twisted ploys. And so this was a necessary evil; though they were empathetic enough to realize it for the evil that it was.
After they had witnessed the destruction of the planet, the Admirals insisted on escorting the Golden Egg to Captala’Ellats, the space station that was the next stop on their itinerary. Not having any reason to refuse a military escort, Captain Vohr’Doe graciously accepted, and they were soon on their way; this had certainly earned a bit of a reprieve for her crew, and she wouldn’t say no to a bit of shore leave, herself.

The time it took to travel between that system, and the station went by fairly quickly for Kyle. He’d been alone most of his life, with little to no friends, so to have a group of friends now - who actually wanted to spend time with him, who would seek him out to do so - brought him to a new high that he had never acquired in his memory. But having acquired a girlfriend - one who came from a people whose culture emphasized affection - brought him to a level of bliss that he didn’t think was possible. Kah’Ri had taken to spending her nights in his room, as the only real difference between general, and officer’s quarters was a bigger gym, that also served as a bit of a lounge for the officers.
He had - of course - applied for shore leave, and it had been immediately approved. Kah’Ri had also applied, and likewise was approved immediately; she had apparently never really gone on shore leave that much, only ever going at certain spots that were closer to any drahk’mihn colonies they happened to go near, or similar space stations. They had opted to get a hotel separate from the one that the Captain would be hiring to room the crew, as staying in the same hotel as the rest of the crew on the same space station would be little different than being on the ship. Zeck’Tish had recommended her cousin’s hotel, stating that he could use the business. Not that he was failing - Captala’Ellats was a major space station along the trading lanes - but with the divide between insectoid, and vertebrate species, he didn’t get as much business as others might. Of course the insectoid races all patronized his hotel, but with the insectoid species making up only about a third of all known species in the Federation, that wasn’t as much business as one might like.
And so he was currently on a call with Kohr’Sahr and Kahs’Hahn, having invited them to meet up a few days prior.
“... and so we’ll have to stop by the Council Headquarters to give our testimony of our time spent with you,” Kahs’Hahn was saying through Kohr’Sahr, “But we should be able to meet up tomorrow; we’ll send you a message when we arrive on-station, and we’ll go from there.”
“Sounds good,” Kyle said, just as he heard the door open; he’d given Kah’Ri the authorization to unlock his bedroom door without her security card, and she’d authorized him for her’s, in turn, “We’ll see you, then.”
“We?” Kohr’Sahr asked - he had long since learned to tell the difference between their slight accents when talking.
Kyle turned to Kah’Ri, smiling as he put his arm around her waist, and she slipped her tail around his, while wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He noticed her eyes widen slightly as she saw who was on screen, and he looked in time to see Kohr’Sahr’s eyes also widen in shock. He opened his mouth slightly, and Kyle noticed the barely perceptible shake of Kah’Ri’s head. Kohr’Sahr then cleared his throat, and said,
“Well… it seems as if we made quite the impact on you, eh Kyle?” ending in an awkward chuckle.
“Well,” he continued, “I don’t want to keep you from packing; Kyle, we’ll talk later. It was nice meeting you,” he added to Kah’Ri, and before either of them could reply, he cut the call short. Kah’Ri gave a soft sigh, then turned to walk to the bag she’d left on the floor by the ‘wall’ in front of the door.
“Come on,” she said, “We’ve docked with the station, and it’s time for us to go.”
Grabbing his own bag from the bed, he followed after her, locking his door behind them, and slipping his arm back around her waist.
“Did you know him?” he asked as they made their way to the elevators; she sighed lightly, but answered with a simple,
“No.”
“Well,” he pressed gently, “He seemed to know you… What are you, like, a runaway princess, or something?” While he finished with a light chuckle, Kah’Ri gave another slight sigh, and stopped walking. Kyle looked at her, feeling a growing sense of unease.
“Holy shit,” he said as she remained silent, “Are you?!”
She closed her eyes for a second, then turned to look into his eyes.
“I promise,” she said, and he was absorbed by the genuine care in her gaze, “I’ll tell you everything; but not right now. Later, when it’s just you and me, I promise I’ll tell you the truth.”
He looked into her eyes for a second, seeing the tears that wanted to come, and simply reached out, putting his hand on her cheek, and drawing her in for a kiss. As they separated, he gave her a small wink, and said,
“C’mon, let’s go see this station.” She gave him a shy smile, and they set off again.
After they’d been checked out by one of the other security chiefs, they were met by a crowd of their crew mates, all of whom were milling about outside the ship. They were soon informed why, as the Captain came up to them and informed them that the Federation Council was conducting interviews with a number of the crew, most notably those who’d had contact with Kyle; they would be conducted by the Council Representative for their people. Kyle also had an interview scheduled, though his would be with the suun’mahs Representative, in a mirror reason for the interviews of the rest of the crew: where the crew was obviously being interviewed to see how the newest species fit in from their point of view, he would be interviewed to see how other humans might react to the Federation, along with a chance to voice any grievances of his own.
Soon enough, they had all been contacted by their respective Representatives, and led off into separate rooms. Kyle was glad to see that this wasn’t an interrogation room, again, looking more like a general conference room. The suun’mahs who was to be interviewing him was male, and hadn’t seemed taken aback by the presence of Cheshire, indicating that while he may - or may not - have known about Cheshire himself, the human drive to turn predators into traveling companions was nothing new to him.
“Well, Ambassador Redding, this shouldn’t take too long; a few questions about your time in the Federation, so far, and then we can have you out of here, and enjoying your time off.”
“Thank you,” he replied, “And please, call me Kyle.”
Representative Ran’Teek smiled as he put what Kyle recognized as a holocamera on the table.
“Of course,” he stated, “You don’t mind if I record this, do you?”
“Of course not,” Kyle responded.
The questioning indeed didn’t take very long, barely even ten minutes worth of explanation, while other parts he was able to supply with a simple transfer of video data. Kay’Eighty made her appearance for that, and Representative Ran’Teek had a few questions for her, as well. Mostly about what she may need for the A.I. to be properly accommodated in the Federation, though he was obviously in untrodden ground, on that topic. Soon enough, they were done, and had exited the room.
“Well, Kyle,” Representative Ran’Teek stated as they made their way to the ‘streets’ of the station, “I guess this is where we part ways; unless you’d like for me to show you around? I still have quite a bit of time before our ship leaves, and it would be my pleasure to show you a few sights.”
Kyle checked the time on his wrist, and seeing that he also had no message from Kah’Ri telling him she was done, he could see no reason to refuse.
“Sure,” he replied, smiling, “That would be great.”
[Next] Patreon

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $2500

★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $822

★ Butterfly Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $616

⎯

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $1300

★ Bayonet Autotronic FN, B/O: $1050

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW, B/O: $629

★ Bayonet Bright Water FT, B/O: $326

★ Bayonet Safari Mesh BS, B/O: $233

⎯

★ Karambit Lore FT, B/O: $1110

★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $840

★ Karambit Freehand MW, B/O: $784

★ Karambit Bright Water MW, B/O: $759

⎯

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $751

⎯

★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1156

★ Nomad Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $544

★ Nomad Knife Blue Steel WW, B/O: $318

⎯

★ Flip Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $646

★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $574

★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $552

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $257

★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $255

★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $287

⎯

★ Huntsman Knife Lore FN, B/O: $461

★ Huntsman Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $436

★ Huntsman Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $353

★ Huntsman Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $212

★ Huntsman Knife Bright Water FT, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT MW, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT BS, B/O: $123

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $375

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $363

★ Bowie Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $269

★ Bowie Knife Crimson Web WW, B/O: $192

★ Bowie Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $159

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $126

⎯

★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $616

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $412

★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe FT, B/O: $227

⎯

★ Falchion Knife Lore FT, B/O: $214

★ Falchion Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $192

★ Falchion Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $105

⎯

★ Survival Knife Crimson Web BS, B/O: $216

★ Survival Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $198

★ Survival Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $368

★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $228

★ Shadow Daggers, B/O: $201

★ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $108

★ Shadow Daggers Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $105

★ Shadow Daggers Black Laminate FT, B/O: $99

★ Shadow Daggers Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $85

⎯

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $1700

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $223

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $203

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $191

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $138

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Classic Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $146

★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $168

⎯

★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $476

★ Ursus Knife, B/O: $375

⎯

★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $1137

★ Talon Knife, B/O: $608

★ Paracord Knife, B/O: $305

★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97

GLOVES

★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $204

★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $142

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

⎯

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1215

★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $672

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $305

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander BS, B/O: $140

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web BS, B/O: $137

★ Specialist Gloves Buckshot FT, B/O: $75

⎯

★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $359

★ Driver Gloves Imperial Plaid BS, B/O: $229

★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $77

★ Driver Gloves Racing Green FT, B/O: $48

⎯

★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $739

★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $733

★ Sport Gloves Arid BS, B/O: $292

⎯

★ Hand Wraps Giraffe MW, B/O: $212

★ Hand Wraps Leather FT, B/O: $160

★ Hand Wraps Desert Shamagh MW, B/O: $101

⎯

★ Broken Fang Gloves Yellow-banded MW, B/O: $185

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point FT, B/O: $67

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point WW, B/O: $59

⎯

★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened BS, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald FT, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald BS, B/O: $62

WEAPONS

AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130

AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70

AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge FT, B/O: $72

⎯

AWP Fade FN, B/O: $1039

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Wildfire MW, B/O: $95

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP Duality FN, B/O: $81

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Electric Hive FT, B/O: $55

⎯

Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $623

Desert Eagle Emerald Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $241

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Printstream FT, B/O: $54

⎯

M4A1-S Blue Phosphor FN, B/O: $434

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Bright Water MW, B/O: $55

⎯

M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1465

M4A4 Asiimov BS, B/O: $55

M4A4 Hellfire MW, B/O: $50

⎯

USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $72

USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69

StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $139

⎯

AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $234

P90 Run and Hide FT, B/O: $147

Five-SeveN Candy Apple FN, B/O: $61

Trade Offer Link - Steam Profile Link - My Inventory

Knives - Bowie Knife, Butterfly Knife, Falchion Knife, Flip Knife, Gut Knife, Huntsman Knife, M9 Bayonet, Bayonet, Karambit, Shadow Daggers, Stiletto Knife, Ursus Knife, Navaja Knife, Talon Knife, Classic Knife, Paracord Knife, Survival Knife, Nomad Knife, Skeleton Knife, Patterns - Gamma Doppler, Doppler (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Black Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald), Crimson Web, Lore, Fade, Ultraviolet, Night, Marble Fade (Fire & Ice, Fake FI), Case Hardened (Blue Gem), Autotronic, Slaughter, Black Laminate, Tiger Tooth, Boreal Forest, Scorched, Blue Steel, Vanilla, Damascus Steel, Forest DDPAT, Urban Masked, Freehand, Stained, Bright Water, Safari Mesh, Rust Coat, Gloves - Bloodhound Gloves (Charred, Snakebite, Guerrilla, Bronzed), Driver Gloves (Snow Leopard, King Snake, Crimson Weave, Imperial Plaid, Black Tie, Lunar Weave, Diamondback, Rezan the Red, Overtake, Queen Jaguar, Convoy, Racing Green), Hand Wraps (Cobalt Skulls, CAUTION!, Overprint, Slaughter, Leather, Giraffe, Badlands, Spruce DDPAT, Arboreal, Constrictor, Desert Shamagh, Duct Tape), Moto Gloves (Spearmint, POW!, Cool Mint, Smoke Out, Finish Line, Polygon, Blood Pressure, Turtle, Boom!, Eclipse, 3rd Commando Company, Transport), Specialist Gloves (Crimson Kimono, Tiger Strike, Emerald Web, Field Agent, Marble Fade, Fade, Foundation, Lt. Commander, Crimson Web, Mogul, Forest DDPAT, Buckshot), Sport Gloves (Pandora's Box, Superconductor, Hedge Maze, Vice, Amphibious, Slingshot, Omega, Arid, Big Game, Nocts, Scarlet Shamagh, Bronze Morph), Hydra Gloves (Case Hardened, Emerald, Rattler, Mangrove), Broken Fang Gloves (Jade, Yellow-banded, Unhinged, Needle Point), Pistols - P2000 (Wicked Sick, Ocean Foam, Fire Element, Amber Fade, Corticera, Chainmail, Imperial Dragon, Obsidian, Scorpion, Handgun, Acid Etched), USP-S (Printstream, Kill Confirmed, Whiteout, Road Rash, Owergrowth, The Traitor, Neo-Noir, Dark Water, Orion, Blueprint, Stainless, Caiman, Serum, Monster Mashup, Royal Blue, Ancient Visions, Cortex, Orange Anolis, Ticket To Hell, Black Lotus, Cyrex, Check Engine, Guardian, Purple DDPAT, Torque, Blood Tiger, Flashback, Business Class, Pathfinder, Para Green), Lead Conduit, Glock-18 (Umbral Rabbit, Fade, Candy Apple, Bullet Queen, Synth Leaf, Neo-Noir, Nuclear Garden, Dragon Tatto, Reactor, Pink DDPAT, Twilight Galaxy, Sand Dune, Groundwater, Blue Fissure, Snack Attack, Water Elemental, Brass, Wasteland Rebel, Vogue, Franklin, Royal Legion, Gamma Doppler, Weasel, Steel Disruption, Ironwork, Grinder, High Beam, Moonrise, Oxide Blaze, Bunsen Burner, Clear Polymer, Bunsen Burner, Night), P250 (Re.built, Nuclear Threat, Modern Hunter, Splash, Whiteout, Vino Primo, Mehndi, Asiimov, Visions, Undertow, Cartel, See Ya Later, Gunsmoke, Splash, Digital Architect, Muertos, Red Rock, Bengal Tiger, Crimson Kimono, Wingshot, Metallic DDPAT, Hive, Dark Filigree, Mint Kimono), Five-Seven (Neon Kimono, Berries And Cherries, Fall Hazard, Crimson Blossom, Hyper Beast, Nitro, Fairy Tale, Case Hardened, Copper Galaxy, Angry Mob, Monkey Business, Fowl Play, Anodized Gunmetal, Hot Shot, Retrobution, Boost Protocol), CZ75-Auto (Chalice, Crimson Web, Emerald Quartz, The Fuschia is Now, Nitro, Xiangliu, Yellow Jacket, Victoria, Poison Dart, Syndicate, Eco, Hexane, Pole, Tigris), Tec-9 (Rebel, Terrace, Nuclear Threat, Hades, Rust Leaf, Decimator, Blast From, Orange Murano, Toxic, Fuel Injector, Remote Control, Bamboo Forest, Isaac, Avalanche, Brother, Re-Entry, Blue Titanium, Bamboozle), R8 Revolver (Banana Cannon, Fade, Blaze, Crimson Web, Liama Cannon, Crazy 8, Reboot, Canal Spray, Night, Amber Fade), Desert Eagle (Blaze, Hand Cannon, Fennec Fox, Sunset Storm, Emerald Jörmungandr, Pilot, Hypnotic, Golden Koi, Printstream, Cobalt Disruption, Code Red, Ocean Drive, Midnight Storm, Kumicho Dragon, Crimson Web, Heirloom, Night Heist, Mecha Industries, Night, Conspiracy, Trigger Discipline, Naga, Directive, Light Rail), Dual Berettas (Flora Carnivora, Duelist, Cobra Strike, Black Limba, Emerald, Hemoglobin, Twin Turbo, Marina, Melondrama, Pyre, Retribution, Briar, Dezastre, Royal Consorts, Urban Shock, Dualing Dragons, Panther, Balance), Rifles - Galil (Aqua Terrace, Winter Forest, Chatterbox, Sugar Rush, Pheonix Blacklight, CAUTION!, Orange DDPAT, Cerberus, Dusk Ruins, Eco, Chromatic Aberration, Stone Cold, Tuxedo, Sandstorm, Shattered, Urban Rubble, Rocket Pop, Kami, Crimson Tsunami, Connexion), SCAR-20 (Fragments, Brass, Cyrex, Palm, Splash Jam, Cardiac, Emerald, Crimson Web, Magna Carta, Stone Mosaico, Bloodsport, Enforcer), AWP (Duality, Gungnir, Dragon Lore, Prince, Medusa, Desert Hydra, Fade, Lightning Strike, Oni Taiji, Silk Tiger, Graphite, Chromatic Aberration, Asiimov, Snake Camo, Boom, Containment Breach, Wildfire, Redline, Electric Hive, Hyper Beast, Neo-Noir, Man-o'-war, Pink DDPAT, Corticera, Sun in Leo, Elite Build, Fever Dream, Atheris, Mortis, PAW, Exoskeleton, Worm God, POP AWP, Phobos, Acheron, Pit Viper, Capillary, Safari Mesh), AK-47 (Head Shot, Wild Lotus, Gold Arabesque, X-Ray, Fire Serpent, Hydroponic, Panthera Onca, Case Hardened, Vulcan, Jet Set, Fuel Injector, Bloodsport, Nightwish, First Class, Neon Rider, Asiimov, Red Laminate, Aquamarine Revenge, The Empress, Wasteland Rebel, Jaguar, Black Laminate, Leet Museo, Neon Revolution, Redline, Frontside Misty, Predator, Legion of Anubis, Point Disarray, Orbit Mk01, Blue Laminate, Green Laminate, Emerald Pinstripe, Cartel, Phantom Disruptor, Jungle Spray, Safety Net, Rat Rod, Baroque Purple, Slate, Elite Build, Uncharted, Safari Mesh), FAMAS (Sundown, Prime Conspiracy, Afterimage, Commemoration, Dark Water, Spitfire, Pulse, Eye of Athena, Meltdown, Rapid Eye Move, Roll Cage, Styx, Mecha Industrie, Djinn, ZX Spectron, Valence, Neural Net, Night Borre, Hexne), M4A4 (Temukau, Howl, Poseidon, Asiimov, Daybreak, Hellfire, Zirka, Red DDPAT, Radiation Hazard, Modern Hunter, The Emperor, The Coalition, Bullet Rain, Cyber Security, X-Ray, Dark Blossom, Buzz Kill, In Living Color, Neo-Noir, Desolate Space, 龍王 (Dragon King), Royal Paladin, The Battlestar, Global Offensive, Tooth Fairy, Desert-Strike, Griffin, Evil Daimyo, Spider Lily, Converter), M4A1-S (Emphorosaur-S, Welcome to the Jungle, Imminent Danger, Knight, Hot Rod, Icarus Fell, Blue Phosphor, Printstream, Master Piece, Dark Water, Golden Coil, Bright Water, Player Two, Atomic Alloy, Guardian, Chantico's Fire, Hyper Beast, Mecha Industries, Cyrex, Control Panel, Moss Quartz, Nightmare, Decimator, Leaded Glass, Basilisk, Blood Tiger, Briefing, Night Terror, Nitro, VariCamo, Flashback), SG 553 (Cyberforce, Hazard Pay, Bulldozer, Integrale, Dragon Tech, Ultraviolet, Colony IV, Hypnotic, Cyrex, Candy Apple, Barricade, Pulse), SSG 08 (Death Strike, Sea Calico, Blood in the Water, Orange Filigree, Dragonfire, Big Iron, Bloodshot, Detour, Turbo Peek, Red Stone), AUG (Akihabara Accept, Flame Jörmungandr, Hot Rod, Midnight Lily, Sand Storm, Carved Jade, Wings, Anodized Navy, Death by Puppy, Torque, Bengal Tiger, Chameleon, Fleet Flock, Random Access, Momentum, Syd Mead, Stymphalian, Arctic Wolf, Aristocrat, Navy Murano), G3SG1 (Chronos, Violet Murano, Flux, Demeter, Orange Kimono, The Executioner, Green Apple, Arctic Polar Camo, Contractor), SMGs - P90 (Neoqueen, Astral Jörmungandr, Run and Hide, Emerald Dragon, Cold Blooded, Death by Kitty, Baroque Red, Vent Rush, Blind Spot, Asiimov, Trigon, Sunset Lily, Death Grip, Leather, Nostalgia, Fallout Warning, Tiger Pit, Schermatic, Virus, Shapewood, Glacier Mesh, Shallow Grave, Chopper, Desert Warfare), MAC-10 (Sakkaku, Hot Snakes, Copper Borre, Red Filigree, Gold Brick, Graven, Case Hardened, Stalker, Amber Fade, Neon Rider, Tatter, Curse, Propaganda, Nuclear Garden, Disco Tech, Toybox, Heat, Indigo), UMP-45 (Wild Child, Fade, Blaze, Day Lily, Minotaur's Labyrinth, Crime Scene, Caramel, Bone Pile, Momentum, Primal Saber), MP7 (Teal Blossom, Fade, Nemesis, Whiteout, Asterion, Bloosport, Abyssal Apparition, Full Stop, Special Delivery, Neon Ply, Asterion, Ocean Foam, Powercore, Scorched, Impire), PP-Bizon (Modern Hunter, Rust Coat, Forest Leaves, Antique, High Roller, Blue Streak, Seabird, Judgement of Anubis, Bamboo Print, Embargo, Chemical Green, Coblat Halftone, Fuel Rod, Photic Zone, Irradiated Alert, Carbon Fiber), MP9 (Featherweight, Wild Lily, Pandora's Box, Stained Glass, Bulldozer, Dark Age, Hot Rod, Hypnotic, Hydra, Rose Iron, Music Box, Setting Sun, Food Chain, Airlock, Mount Fuji, Starlight Protector, Ruby Poison Dart, Deadly Poison), MP5-SD (Liquidation, Oxide Oasis, Phosphor, Nitro, Agent, Autumn Twilly), Shotguns, Machineguns - Sawed-Off (Kiss♥Love, First Class, Orange DDPAT, Rust Coat, The Kraken, Devourer, Mosaico, Wasteland Princess, Bamboo Shadow, Copper, Serenity, Limelight, Apocalypto), XM1014 (Frost Borre, Ancient Lore, Red Leather, Elegant Vines, Banana Leaf, Jungle, Urban Perforated, Grassland, Blaze Orange, Heaven Guard, VariCamo Blue, Entombed, XOXO, Seasons, Tranquility, Bone Machine, Incinegator, Teclu Burner, Black Tie, Zombie Offensive, Watchdog), Nova (Baroque Orange, Hyper Beast, Green Apple, Antique, Modern Hunter, Walnut, Forest Leaves, Graphite, Blaze Orange, Rising Skull, Tempest, Bloomstick, Interlock, Quick Sand, Moon in Libra, Clean Polymer, Red Quartz, Toy Soldier), MAG-7 (Insomnia, Cinqueda, Counter Terrace, Prism Terrace, Memento, Chainmail, Hazard, Justice, Bulldozer, Silver, Core Breach, Firestarter, Praetorian, Heat, Hard Water, Monster Call, BI83 Spectrum, SWAG-7), M249 (Humidor, Shipping Forecast, Blizzard Marbleized, Downtown, Jungle DDPAT, Nebula Crusader, Impact Drill, Emerald Poison Dart), Negev (Mjölnir, Anodized Navy, Palm, Power Loader, Bratatat, CaliCamo, Phoenix Stencil, Infrastructure, Boroque Sand), Wear - Factory New (FN), Minimal Wear (MW), Field-Tested (FT), Well-Worn (WW), Battle-Scarred (BS), Stickers Holo/Foil/Gold - Katowice 2014, Krakow 2017, Howling Dawn, Katowice 2015, Crown, London 2018, Cologne 2014, Boston 2018, Atlanta 2017, Cluj-Napoca 2015, DreamHack 2014, King on the Field, Harp of War, Winged Difuser, Cologne 2016, Cologne 2015, MLG Columbus 2016, Katowice 2019, Berlin 2019, RMR 2020, Stockholm 2021, Antwerp 2022, Swag Foil, Flammable foil, Others - Souvenirs, Agents, Pins, Passes, Gifts, Music Kits, Cases, Keys, Capsules, Packages, Patches

Some items on the list may no longer be available or are still locked, visit My Inventory for more details.

Send a Trade Offer for fastest response. I consider all offers.

Add me for discuss if there is a serious offer that needs to be discussed.

Alright.
So I shot a client using the same softbox set up I normally do for basic headshots.
She was quite pale and I adjusted the exposure, temp and added some more contrast to make her look less ghostly. I probably should have powered down the flash a bit in hindsight.
She said the exposure was off and didn't like the results.
I mean I showed her all the shots in camera and she also had access to the gallery to select her edits and didn't mention anything til she got them back.
Kind of an Ego hit.
Anything else I should do in post to fix this? Keeping in mind I think they look good.

Today I'm going to tell you the story of my chair
I'm going to start this story with... We'll call this person Stacy.
Stacy is a tech saleswoman in the department store I worked at. Despite Stacy being a sales woman she is also a supervisor which in a technical sense doesn't really have any managerial connotations and is a very loose title where I work but Stacy has a problem with authority both giving and taking orders. Giving in a sense where she believes she is on the same level as the store manager and orders people around expecting them to follow her orders and taking in the sense that whenever one of the managers tells her to do or not to do something she just decides to not follow their orders and does what she wants anyway.
Now on top of Stacy's blatant insubordination, she is also a very unethical saleswoman where as she will lie to customers, lacks an extreme amount of knowledge regarding the things she is selling, steals sales from part time staff and is also very manipulative and manages to sell a lot of things which, because she makes a lot of sales means she brings in a lot of money for the store which in turn makes my store manager look good so he tends to look the other way when she is insubordinate and/or unethical.
Some background about myself for the story. I've been working with this company for about 3-4 years. I've been transferred to other locations as we have about 4 or 5 in my area, I've worked closely with a lot of the managers in the stores training as a potential stand in, but officially my positions in this company are in this order, computer repair technician, tech sales support, customer service support, I was permanently transferred to the store Stacy is at to fill the open tech repair position and assist with supervising the sales and service staff when needed, keep in mind that I am not a supervisor but I do have access to some of the same things management does and I report directly to the sales manager over anyone else, this is important for later.
Recently the store manager had to take medical leave for something serious which has caused him to not be able to work forcing our sales manager to become the acting store manager for the time. now our sales manager has only been with us for a couple months and Stacy believes that seniority actually hold some Authority, and because she's been with the store for over 10 years she thinks she has more Authority than the acting manager of the store. that being said our acting manager isn't very knowledgeable on all of the things a manager has to do although I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done and he usually consults me because I've worked closely with the managers of others stores. Because the manager is out Stacy has taken it upon herself to sort of act as the new store manager despite the fact that we already have an acting manager
Now in regards to my chair, as a support staff I do a lot of monitoring of software and type up a lot of retorts, and as the technician of the store I do a lot of sitting while repairing and working on computers mainly because my desk is below waist height and trying to work at a desk that low while standing can cause a serious back issue. the problem with me having a chair is that sometimes the part-timers will go into my office and sit and play on their phones when I'm not there and the manager has warned them a few times about it but they continue to do it, his deterrent was he would lock my chair in his office when I wasn't working. because the Manager is out for a while, Stacy took it upon herself to deal with the situation as she felt was the best way and that way was by dismantling the chair and hiding the pieces all around the store. Now Not only was that an extremely childish thing to do to handle a situation but the situation itself was completely out of Nancy's Authority was a complete waste of company time. I want to preface that this isn't some dopey office chair, it's a fairly high end chair that I built and I can tell you that taking it apart is twice as hard as putting it together. dismantling the chair and hiding all the pieces had to have taken at least an hour or two for a woman in her 50s and the place is she hid all of the pieces were unbelievable and turned out to be an extreme safety hazard.
So for about a week and a half me and a few of my co-workers who were aware of the situation basically went on a small scavenger hunt to find all of the pieces of the chair and within that week and a half is when I concocted my plan..
I discussed the situation with the managers. We have 4 managers.. A general manager, sales Manager, service manager, and merchandise manager. I spoke to each manager separately for their opinions on the situation (with the exception of he general manager because hes on leave).
The sales manages wasn't interested in the situation because he was the acting manager and had more pressing matter to attend to considering it was back to school season, out busiest time of the year he basically told me to deal without it however I wanted to.
The service manager was for the most part on my side but also didn't want to get involved because well... He's a bit of a pussy and it's terrified of confrontation.
The merch manager thought it would be fun to hunt for all the pieces since she knew the store top to bottom and would most likely be able to find all the pieces. She was also was okay with me handling the situation however I wanted to and offered any support she could provide in the matter.
Initially Stacy denied knowing where my chair was but everyone was suspicious she had something to do with it and after finding all of the chair pieces I then confronted Stacy about the situation, she admitted to taking apart the chair and hiding it and I respectfully requested that she rebuild my chair so that this situation can be done with and things can be normal,to which she respectfully declined. I wasn't having that.
In my store, things are pretty out of wack, and there are a lot of internal problems that need to be dealt with, but no one knows how to deal with them... Stacy takes advantage of that by using the disarray of the store to take advantage of the other employees.. And she thought she could do the same with me, but Stacy didn't know me very well, Stacy didn't know I have a lot of experience with this company, and Stacy didn't know I am friends with the HR manager, So I had an idea of how things worked when it came to dealing with employee issues that the managers avoided.. I told Stacy that if my chair wasn't build by the time I show up for my next shift I was going to give head office HR a call and tell them about all the Shit she's been doing and how much time she wasted dealing with managers issues and causing a slew of safety hazards and a hostile work environment.. She was trying to play it cool but that was enough to make her panic.. And believe it or not, she tried to pull the seniority card on me. Didn't work, then she tried the "you can't go over my head with this stuff, I'm your direct superior and you have to report to me first" which, for one, never have I ever directly reported to her, she supervises the sales staff, alongside me and two, this would be an HR issue which is beyond store management. Stacy panicked because she knew I was right and she couldn't do a single thing to stop me. So she begged one of the managers to build my chair and it was build that same night.
As satisfied as I am with the outcome and seeing her panic, I am dissatisfied with my dumb ass service manager who gave in and built the chair for her. It was fun watching her beg tho.
This happened a few years ago and I have since quit my job there. The toxicity that was being created because of Stacy literally has damaged my mental health. This story is one of very many outrageous things this person has done. I had to leave because she has had HR called on her many times, unfortunately HR has to report to the district manager, who also looked the other way from the amount of reports against her because it makes his district look better than the others when she gets high numbers. While I was there the part time employees had a higher turn over. When I voiced my concern to the district manager his response prompted almost the entire full time staff to quit.

I have a straight up perplexing experience at my AirBnB. There’s a lot of stuff, so I’m just gonna list it out:

• The day I booked my rental she called me and proposed that we take the rental off of AirBnB, and she’d charge me $100 less if I did it. I didn’t because I wanted the protections that AirBnB ensure each guest. She begrudgingly accepted that.
• The day I was about to move in that Saturday she informed me that her entire extended family would be staying in the rental until Tuesday. Even though she already told me that I’d “have the house to myself.”
• Her family was disgusting, and left dirty dishes, cups of food, and didn’t clean up after themselves at all.
• The night before they left, she informed me that she’d clean the house up. She did not do this. In fact I cleaned her disgusting kitchen myself because she’d be gone on vacation for the next two weeks. When I brought this up to her she got very snippy and blamed it on the other guest, who clearly did not make that mess.
• She informed me the day I arrived that I can only use the washer once per week, and that I have to leave all the lights off when i I’m not in the house. None of this was mentioned in the listing or house rules.
• She texted me again just now to remind me to leave the lights off. Which makes me wonder how she knows I left them on…cameras?

What do I do?

The camera can be discreetly hidden in a light bulb and attached to its fixture. From the outside, it looks like a regular light bulb, but it tracks everyone’s movements. These lightbulbs come with 360-degree fisheye lenses that can provide you with a panoramic view of the room.
https://zafyn.com/collections/new-products/products/360-degree-panoramic-camera-light-bulb
​
https://reddit.com/link/144f845/video/19ycpoavzl261/player
If you want to be able to monitor your own home and protect it from intruders, there’s a no better option than this 360 Degree Panoramic Fisheye IP Spycam Light Bulb. This makes it the perfect security gadget that can be used to protect your property.
Why Buy This 360 Degree Panoramic Camera Light Bulb? - Records 960p videos with a 360-degree complete view of the room. This light bulb camera provides a wide-angle 360-degree fisheye view of the entire room. As such, you can see what’s happening in the entire room all the time, no blind spots. - The inbuilt ultra-responsive 2-way microphone allows you to communicate with the people in the room with the camera. - The app gives you 7 different viewing modes such as Zooming, Playback, etc. When motion is detected, an alert is sent to your phone along with some snapshots. Loop Recording is available so if the SD card runs out of space, the latest footage is written over the oldest one. - Better yet, using fisheye home security cameras can also reduce your cost on security camera accessories such as protective skins, wirings, power cables, etc., and save you the installation time as well as follow-up maintenance. - Can accommodate up to a 128GB micro SD card. Loop Recording is available so new footage is written over old ones. - The infrared night vision lens allows you a 49 feet field of vision in the dark. - Can be used to detect activities in a large area, like a crossroad, a house front yard, a home back yard, a dining room, a living room, an office, a retail store, warehouses, parking lots, stadiums, museums, concert halls, and ports. - As a single outdoor panoramic surveillance camera can do effective monitoring of large areas, you don’t need to pay more money installing multiple IP cameras.
https://zafyn.com/collections/new-products/products/360-degree-panoramic-camera-light-bulb