The pelican condos new smyrna beach
The haps of Daytona Beach..
2011.09.10 02:33 se7yourselffree The haps of Daytona Beach..
For anyone in the Daytona Beach, Florida area.
2023.05.28 08:33 -Bonjour-- More Madeir
From my travel report (2014):
The second trip to Madeira we made to escape the winter. The weather was like a moody diva in winter. It changes not only from day to day, but also within a few hours. So you can never plan anything for the next day, because you should not think, today it is so nice and sunny and warm, it will be the same tomorrow. But if you are unlucky, the next morning it will be completely cloudy, only to possibly be sunny again in the afternoon.
It is always a pleasure to stroll in FUNCHAL's old town. Here times an ice cream to eat, there a coffee possibly with Nata to take. But this should be done when there are no cruise ships in the harbor. Then you see fortunately more locals than tourists in the streets.
For football fans: Christiano Ronaldo, who comes from Madeira, now has his own museum in Funchal - eagerly visited by his - mostly young - supporters...
Funchal is spreading out more and more - the slopes all around are already built on, and in the hotel zone construction continues eagerly. Although it is obvious that in the newly built apartment houses still very many apartments are empty.
The first two weeks we booked apartment at about 350 m altitude with a beautiful view of Funchal. The disadvantage was that it became - especially in the evening - but quite cool. Fortunately we had not only an electric heater but also a fireplace in the apartment.
From up here you can see how Funchal has grown in recent years. It is a huge sea of houses, which goes up to all the adjacent hills.
For the second part of our stay we had chosen an apartment house at Praia do Formosa with direct view to the sea and also to Cabo Girao.
One of the most beautiful and varied gardens of Madeira is located only about 9 km east of Funchal: the Palheiro or Blandy's Gardens. In 1801, the property was purchased by Count Carvalhal. A hunting lodge was built and the count had exotic trees imported from all over the world. The count's descendants squandered the fortune, and so in 1885 the estate became the property of the Blandy family of wine merchants. The villa above the garden is still inhabited by the Blandy family and is not accessible.
The gardens are famous not only for the variety of (often exotic) plants but also for their location on a 500 m high hill with a magnificent view of the bay of Funchal. The Count's hunting lodge was renovated in 1997 and is now the exclusive hotel "Quinta Velha do Palheiro".
The gardens are divided into the main garden, the sunken garden, the valley of hell (Inferno) with mighty fern trees, the rose garden, the ladies garden and the tea house area. There are also ponds with water lilies and beautiful flower beds.
Some of the numerous trees are 100 years old. The garden has been constantly developed. Hibiscus, bougainvilleas, jacaranda, African tulip trees, coral trees and orchid trees grow here. The Blandy family imported proteas from South Africa and had a rose garden planted and a small baroque chapel built. The gardens are also famous for their numerous camellias and magnolias.
The orchid garden, created by an Austrian, apparently has more than 5000 plants and is located below the botanical garden. At the moment the orchid garden is closed, because in the big fire of 2016 in Funchal not only many houses were destroyed, but also great damage was done to the orchid garden.
Carnival is also celebrated in Madeira and by chance we saw a children's parade. It was interesting to see with which eagerness the children were partly "there". Therefore, there will probably be no problem with carnivalistic offspring in Funchal.
The town of RIBEIRA BRAVA is located at the mouth of a wide - sometimes wild (brava) river (ribeira). From Funchal there is a highway to get there. In Ribeira Brava there is a wide pebble beach, and on the other side of the promenade there are cafes and restaurants. In the historic center there are small stores, and here is also the pink town hall from the late 18th century
The Igreja de Sao Bento was built as early as 1440, but was given a new look during the Baroque period. The spire with the white-blue tile pattern and the sphere symbol of the Portuguese explorers is striking.
We still drove to Punta do Sol. This place lies between two high rocky capes. In the old core there are only a few houses and the church, behind it already begin the terraced banana fields. There is a pebble beach and on the promenade you can have a drink in small cafes. Except for us, there were hardly any tourists in the village. But here we drank the best poncha on the island. Poncha (made of honey, lemon juice and sugar cane brandy) is a kind of national drink on Madeira.
The village of Camara de Lobos - situated between two rocky cliffs - is only 9 km away from Funchal. Camara de Lobos is still a typical fishing village with the many colorful boats (xavelhas) that you can admire in the small harbor. A small church was built at the harbor early on, this was remodeled in 1420 and the current Capella Nossa Senhora de Conceicao was built.
There is still fishing and some boat building in Camara de Lobos. However, these are no longer particularly lucrative, so tourism is now a larger source of income. The fishermen in this area mainly catch the black scabbardfish (Espada), which is offered in many restaurants - also in Funchal.
There is a promenade path from the Lido in Funchal to Camara de Lobos since 2011. The path - always with a view of Cabo Girao - is partly concreted and partly laid out on wooden walkways. If you walk in the direction of Camara de Lobos, you can see the approaching waves of the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the partly high cliffs on the right. Not far behind Praia de Formosa there are some beach bars or restaurants where you can have a drink or eat quite well.
Cabo Girao near Camara de Lobos is one of the highest cliffs in the world. More than 500 m the land here falls almost vertically into the sea. Since our last visit, things had changed here, there was now a large parking lot. Then the cafes and souvenir stores were also new for us. And surprising for us was also the glass viewing platform, which exists since the end of 2012. Here you can see that wine and vegetables are grown on the small rocky outcrops. The farmers can reach their fields on the coastal fringe with a cable car. Before the cable car was built, these fields were only accessible by boat.
From Funchal it was not far to CANICO. The original village became in the course of time one of the most important tourist places on Madeira. Large hotel complexes, apartment buildings and villas were built. However, we turned off before we reached the town in order to get to Ponta do Garajau. There on a rock cliff is the 14 m high Christo Rei statue, which was erected in 1927. From here you have a beautiful view of Funchal. Since 2007, there is a cable car nearby that goes 200 m down to the pebble beach.
CURRAL DAS FREIRAS is a small village nestled between huge almost vertical mountain slopes in the heart of Madeira. There is only one road that leads serpentine to the 633 m high valley. Originally the valley was inhabited by nomads and shepherds. Towards the end of the 15th century, the land became the property of the nuns of the Santa Clara convent.
The name Curral das Freiras means "pen of the nuns". In the 16th and 17th centuries, the island was repeatedly attacked by pirates, and the nuns retreated here to the protection of the mountains, which are up to 700 meters high. Here people still live from what they grow themselves on their fertile fields. One of the specialties of the village is chestnuts. They are used to make liqueur, cakes, bread and soups, which are also sold to tourists. On November 1 of each year, the Chestnut Festival is held here.
Not many tourists come to SANTA CRUZ, although this place is certainly worth a visit. There is quite a pretty old town with the church of San Salvador built in 1533 as well as like a large modern market hall just behind the long gray pebble beach lined with date palms.
Just north of Santa Cruz is Madeira Island's airport, renamed "Cristiano Ronaldo" Airport in 2007. Opened in 1964 and reconstructed in 2000, this airport is one of the most dangerous in the world. The 2777 m long runway is built on the rocky coast above the water and looks like a bridge with large concrete supports. A large parking lot has been built below this runway.
Before the landing approach, the mountain massif must be overcome so that the narrow runway can be approached. Unfortunately, there have been numerous accidents, but this is still one of the busiest airports in Portugal.
From Santa Cruz we drove to MACHICO, one of the larger towns of Madeira. Machico profited from sugar cane cultivation in the 15th century and is now a modern town, which is divided into two halves by the Ribeira da Machico. On the eastern bank of the river is the historic fishing quarter with the main square surrounded by tall laurel trees.
The town church of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao in the center was built in the 15th century and partially rebuilt in the 18th century. Opposite stands the town hall built in the early 20th century There are several fish restaurants here.
In the surroundings of the small village FAIAL there is still a lot of agriculture, e.g. wine and fruit growing. The village is dominated by the 600 m high Eagle Rock. Only a few tourists come here, because there is hardly anything worth seeing.
Most people come to Santana to see the famous "Casas de colmo". In total there are still about a hundred of these thatched historic wooden houses. They are very scattered throughout the municipality.
On the way back to Funchal we passed through Ribera fria. Here you can take a short hike up to the Miradouro dos Balcoes, from where you have a beautiful view of the mountains.
The peninsula PONTA DE SAO LOURENCO is 9 km long and 2 km wide. In 1982 it was declared a nature reserve, mainly to ensure the preservation of the fauna with the great variety of birds and the great occurrence of the native flora. The eastern tip of Madeira is barren and windy. One can no longer imagine that everything here was lushly forested.
Then, in spring, a carpet of flowers enlivens the bare hilltops. But also in other seasons the turquoise sea and the rocks in different shades - ocher, rust, gray and green-black - bring color to the area.
The south coast can be easily approached by boats, which is almost impossible on the drastically shaped north coast with its strong winds. There is a paved access road to the parking lot above Baia de Abra. Here you can also take the public bus.
From there there is a popular rocky hiking trail. This hike is absolutely not a walk. There are some climbs, often wooden stairs. You have no shade and are exposed to gusts of wind. To avoid being blown down somewhere, I ducked down and waited out the sometimes strong gusts - really quite extreme.
At the narrowest point with a land bridge only a few meters wide, the rock drops almost 100 m vertically - fortunately the place is secured with a fence.
The hike takes - depending on your condition - 2 to 3 hours. It also depends on whether you only walk to the plateau of Casa Sardinha - administration of the national park - or if you want to make the ascent to Pico Furado. Below the Casa there are some tables for picnics. From there there is also an entrance for swimming, which can certainly be pleasant in the summer.
On the way there are always beautiful views of the sea and the rock formations - e.g. the so-called rock gate. On the south side you can see the cages of a fish farm in the sea. In front of Sao Lourenco there are two small islands, on one of them stands the oldest (from 1870) lighthouse of Madeira.
From the cape we drove to CANICAL, the easternmost municipality of Madeira. This place is still characterized by fishing and boat building. Fishing boats are still built here and there is a large repair yard.
Over the 1000 m high Encumeada Pass we drove northeast to Sao Vicente. Unfortunately the old coastal road to Seixal and Porto Moniz was closed and we had to drive through many tunnels. A few years ago it was a special experience to drive on the narrow and winding ER 101 directly at the coast - on one side the high cliffs and on the other side the sea. But apparently the road has become too dangerous in the meantime because of constant falling rocks.
We got to Porto Moniz , and unfortunately the weather got worse, more and more clouds came up. The sea raged with huge waves to the shore. Porto Moniz is a nice little town located on the northwestern tip of Madeira, a region with high mountains and views of the endless Atlantic Ocean.
From Porto Moniz you can go hiking, for example on the coastal trail "Levada da Ribeira da Janela", one of the best hiking trails in Madeira.
Porto Moniz is known for its volcanic pools. Daytrippers mostly come for these pools filled with sea water.These pools owe their formation to a lava tongue that flowed into the sea here thousands of years ago, creating caves due to the force of wind and waves. The black basalt lava pools form swimming pools and are the attraction of Porto Moniz, because you can swim (swim) in them very well - at least in good weather...
There are two different lava pools in Porto Moniz: the completely natural pools and the western pools, which have been transformed into natural outdoor pools - there are no sharp rocks here. The surrounding rocks of the outdoor pool were built as a terrace , and here you can sunbathe. The pools are open every day - even in winter. But when we were there, there was no one in the water....
The natural pools are not safe because of the black sharp basalt rocks. It is very interesting to watch the waves as they crash against the rocks. The water is sometimes whirled into the air in such a way that it looks like a geyser.
The PICO DE ARIEIRO is the most visited mountain of Madeira, because it is the only one that has been opened up with a road, but it is only the third highest. The road was probably built primarily for the observatory and not necessarily for the tourists. Already the approach through pristine landscape with rugged rock and sparse vegetation is an experience.
If the weather is good, you have a breathtaking view all around. Equally beautiful, however, is the sight of white cushions of clouds hanging between the high mountains. In winter there can be ice and snow on the peaks. Since it had snowed on Madeira about 2 weeks before our trip there, we could still see the sparse remnants on the shaded layers.
From Pico de Arieiro you can hike up to Pico Ruivo (1861 m) if the weather is good. At the beginning, the path is quite wide and in places secured by railings. Some then walk at least to the first viewpoint - the rocky peak Niho de Mata with beautiful views. The entire hike up to Pico Ruivo is clearly difficult, even if there are partially secured stairways since the 1960s. Some of the paths are steep up to 700 m, the rock steps are high, the paths are sometimes narrow and beaten, and it also goes through unlit tunnels. So you should have a good condition and be free from giddiness and sure-footed.
submitted by -Bonjour-- to ThornTree [link] [comments]
The second trip to Madeira we made to escape the winter. The weather was like a moody diva in winter. It changes not only from day to day, but also within a few hours. So you can never plan anything for the next day, because you should not think, today it is so nice and sunny and warm, it will be the same tomorrow. But if you are unlucky, the next morning it will be completely cloudy, only to possibly be sunny again in the afternoon.
It is always a pleasure to stroll in FUNCHAL's old town. Here times an ice cream to eat, there a coffee possibly with Nata to take. But this should be done when there are no cruise ships in the harbor. Then you see fortunately more locals than tourists in the streets.
For football fans: Christiano Ronaldo, who comes from Madeira, now has his own museum in Funchal - eagerly visited by his - mostly young - supporters...
Funchal is spreading out more and more - the slopes all around are already built on, and in the hotel zone construction continues eagerly. Although it is obvious that in the newly built apartment houses still very many apartments are empty.
The first two weeks we booked apartment at about 350 m altitude with a beautiful view of Funchal. The disadvantage was that it became - especially in the evening - but quite cool. Fortunately we had not only an electric heater but also a fireplace in the apartment.
From up here you can see how Funchal has grown in recent years. It is a huge sea of houses, which goes up to all the adjacent hills.
For the second part of our stay we had chosen an apartment house at Praia do Formosa with direct view to the sea and also to Cabo Girao.
One of the most beautiful and varied gardens of Madeira is located only about 9 km east of Funchal: the Palheiro or Blandy's Gardens. In 1801, the property was purchased by Count Carvalhal. A hunting lodge was built and the count had exotic trees imported from all over the world. The count's descendants squandered the fortune, and so in 1885 the estate became the property of the Blandy family of wine merchants. The villa above the garden is still inhabited by the Blandy family and is not accessible.
The gardens are famous not only for the variety of (often exotic) plants but also for their location on a 500 m high hill with a magnificent view of the bay of Funchal. The Count's hunting lodge was renovated in 1997 and is now the exclusive hotel "Quinta Velha do Palheiro".
The gardens are divided into the main garden, the sunken garden, the valley of hell (Inferno) with mighty fern trees, the rose garden, the ladies garden and the tea house area. There are also ponds with water lilies and beautiful flower beds.
Some of the numerous trees are 100 years old. The garden has been constantly developed. Hibiscus, bougainvilleas, jacaranda, African tulip trees, coral trees and orchid trees grow here. The Blandy family imported proteas from South Africa and had a rose garden planted and a small baroque chapel built. The gardens are also famous for their numerous camellias and magnolias.
The orchid garden, created by an Austrian, apparently has more than 5000 plants and is located below the botanical garden. At the moment the orchid garden is closed, because in the big fire of 2016 in Funchal not only many houses were destroyed, but also great damage was done to the orchid garden.
Carnival is also celebrated in Madeira and by chance we saw a children's parade. It was interesting to see with which eagerness the children were partly "there". Therefore, there will probably be no problem with carnivalistic offspring in Funchal.
The town of RIBEIRA BRAVA is located at the mouth of a wide - sometimes wild (brava) river (ribeira). From Funchal there is a highway to get there. In Ribeira Brava there is a wide pebble beach, and on the other side of the promenade there are cafes and restaurants. In the historic center there are small stores, and here is also the pink town hall from the late 18th century
The Igreja de Sao Bento was built as early as 1440, but was given a new look during the Baroque period. The spire with the white-blue tile pattern and the sphere symbol of the Portuguese explorers is striking.
We still drove to Punta do Sol. This place lies between two high rocky capes. In the old core there are only a few houses and the church, behind it already begin the terraced banana fields. There is a pebble beach and on the promenade you can have a drink in small cafes. Except for us, there were hardly any tourists in the village. But here we drank the best poncha on the island. Poncha (made of honey, lemon juice and sugar cane brandy) is a kind of national drink on Madeira.
The village of Camara de Lobos - situated between two rocky cliffs - is only 9 km away from Funchal. Camara de Lobos is still a typical fishing village with the many colorful boats (xavelhas) that you can admire in the small harbor. A small church was built at the harbor early on, this was remodeled in 1420 and the current Capella Nossa Senhora de Conceicao was built.
There is still fishing and some boat building in Camara de Lobos. However, these are no longer particularly lucrative, so tourism is now a larger source of income. The fishermen in this area mainly catch the black scabbardfish (Espada), which is offered in many restaurants - also in Funchal.
There is a promenade path from the Lido in Funchal to Camara de Lobos since 2011. The path - always with a view of Cabo Girao - is partly concreted and partly laid out on wooden walkways. If you walk in the direction of Camara de Lobos, you can see the approaching waves of the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the partly high cliffs on the right. Not far behind Praia de Formosa there are some beach bars or restaurants where you can have a drink or eat quite well.
Cabo Girao near Camara de Lobos is one of the highest cliffs in the world. More than 500 m the land here falls almost vertically into the sea. Since our last visit, things had changed here, there was now a large parking lot. Then the cafes and souvenir stores were also new for us. And surprising for us was also the glass viewing platform, which exists since the end of 2012. Here you can see that wine and vegetables are grown on the small rocky outcrops. The farmers can reach their fields on the coastal fringe with a cable car. Before the cable car was built, these fields were only accessible by boat.
From Funchal it was not far to CANICO. The original village became in the course of time one of the most important tourist places on Madeira. Large hotel complexes, apartment buildings and villas were built. However, we turned off before we reached the town in order to get to Ponta do Garajau. There on a rock cliff is the 14 m high Christo Rei statue, which was erected in 1927. From here you have a beautiful view of Funchal. Since 2007, there is a cable car nearby that goes 200 m down to the pebble beach.
CURRAL DAS FREIRAS is a small village nestled between huge almost vertical mountain slopes in the heart of Madeira. There is only one road that leads serpentine to the 633 m high valley. Originally the valley was inhabited by nomads and shepherds. Towards the end of the 15th century, the land became the property of the nuns of the Santa Clara convent.
The name Curral das Freiras means "pen of the nuns". In the 16th and 17th centuries, the island was repeatedly attacked by pirates, and the nuns retreated here to the protection of the mountains, which are up to 700 meters high. Here people still live from what they grow themselves on their fertile fields. One of the specialties of the village is chestnuts. They are used to make liqueur, cakes, bread and soups, which are also sold to tourists. On November 1 of each year, the Chestnut Festival is held here.
Not many tourists come to SANTA CRUZ, although this place is certainly worth a visit. There is quite a pretty old town with the church of San Salvador built in 1533 as well as like a large modern market hall just behind the long gray pebble beach lined with date palms.
Just north of Santa Cruz is Madeira Island's airport, renamed "Cristiano Ronaldo" Airport in 2007. Opened in 1964 and reconstructed in 2000, this airport is one of the most dangerous in the world. The 2777 m long runway is built on the rocky coast above the water and looks like a bridge with large concrete supports. A large parking lot has been built below this runway.
Before the landing approach, the mountain massif must be overcome so that the narrow runway can be approached. Unfortunately, there have been numerous accidents, but this is still one of the busiest airports in Portugal.
From Santa Cruz we drove to MACHICO, one of the larger towns of Madeira. Machico profited from sugar cane cultivation in the 15th century and is now a modern town, which is divided into two halves by the Ribeira da Machico. On the eastern bank of the river is the historic fishing quarter with the main square surrounded by tall laurel trees.
The town church of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao in the center was built in the 15th century and partially rebuilt in the 18th century. Opposite stands the town hall built in the early 20th century There are several fish restaurants here.
In the surroundings of the small village FAIAL there is still a lot of agriculture, e.g. wine and fruit growing. The village is dominated by the 600 m high Eagle Rock. Only a few tourists come here, because there is hardly anything worth seeing.
Most people come to Santana to see the famous "Casas de colmo". In total there are still about a hundred of these thatched historic wooden houses. They are very scattered throughout the municipality.
On the way back to Funchal we passed through Ribera fria. Here you can take a short hike up to the Miradouro dos Balcoes, from where you have a beautiful view of the mountains.
The peninsula PONTA DE SAO LOURENCO is 9 km long and 2 km wide. In 1982 it was declared a nature reserve, mainly to ensure the preservation of the fauna with the great variety of birds and the great occurrence of the native flora. The eastern tip of Madeira is barren and windy. One can no longer imagine that everything here was lushly forested.
Then, in spring, a carpet of flowers enlivens the bare hilltops. But also in other seasons the turquoise sea and the rocks in different shades - ocher, rust, gray and green-black - bring color to the area.
The south coast can be easily approached by boats, which is almost impossible on the drastically shaped north coast with its strong winds. There is a paved access road to the parking lot above Baia de Abra. Here you can also take the public bus.
From there there is a popular rocky hiking trail. This hike is absolutely not a walk. There are some climbs, often wooden stairs. You have no shade and are exposed to gusts of wind. To avoid being blown down somewhere, I ducked down and waited out the sometimes strong gusts - really quite extreme.
At the narrowest point with a land bridge only a few meters wide, the rock drops almost 100 m vertically - fortunately the place is secured with a fence.
The hike takes - depending on your condition - 2 to 3 hours. It also depends on whether you only walk to the plateau of Casa Sardinha - administration of the national park - or if you want to make the ascent to Pico Furado. Below the Casa there are some tables for picnics. From there there is also an entrance for swimming, which can certainly be pleasant in the summer.
On the way there are always beautiful views of the sea and the rock formations - e.g. the so-called rock gate. On the south side you can see the cages of a fish farm in the sea. In front of Sao Lourenco there are two small islands, on one of them stands the oldest (from 1870) lighthouse of Madeira.
From the cape we drove to CANICAL, the easternmost municipality of Madeira. This place is still characterized by fishing and boat building. Fishing boats are still built here and there is a large repair yard.
Over the 1000 m high Encumeada Pass we drove northeast to Sao Vicente. Unfortunately the old coastal road to Seixal and Porto Moniz was closed and we had to drive through many tunnels. A few years ago it was a special experience to drive on the narrow and winding ER 101 directly at the coast - on one side the high cliffs and on the other side the sea. But apparently the road has become too dangerous in the meantime because of constant falling rocks.
We got to Porto Moniz , and unfortunately the weather got worse, more and more clouds came up. The sea raged with huge waves to the shore. Porto Moniz is a nice little town located on the northwestern tip of Madeira, a region with high mountains and views of the endless Atlantic Ocean.
From Porto Moniz you can go hiking, for example on the coastal trail "Levada da Ribeira da Janela", one of the best hiking trails in Madeira.
Porto Moniz is known for its volcanic pools. Daytrippers mostly come for these pools filled with sea water.These pools owe their formation to a lava tongue that flowed into the sea here thousands of years ago, creating caves due to the force of wind and waves. The black basalt lava pools form swimming pools and are the attraction of Porto Moniz, because you can swim (swim) in them very well - at least in good weather...
There are two different lava pools in Porto Moniz: the completely natural pools and the western pools, which have been transformed into natural outdoor pools - there are no sharp rocks here. The surrounding rocks of the outdoor pool were built as a terrace , and here you can sunbathe. The pools are open every day - even in winter. But when we were there, there was no one in the water....
The natural pools are not safe because of the black sharp basalt rocks. It is very interesting to watch the waves as they crash against the rocks. The water is sometimes whirled into the air in such a way that it looks like a geyser.
The PICO DE ARIEIRO is the most visited mountain of Madeira, because it is the only one that has been opened up with a road, but it is only the third highest. The road was probably built primarily for the observatory and not necessarily for the tourists. Already the approach through pristine landscape with rugged rock and sparse vegetation is an experience.
If the weather is good, you have a breathtaking view all around. Equally beautiful, however, is the sight of white cushions of clouds hanging between the high mountains. In winter there can be ice and snow on the peaks. Since it had snowed on Madeira about 2 weeks before our trip there, we could still see the sparse remnants on the shaded layers.
From Pico de Arieiro you can hike up to Pico Ruivo (1861 m) if the weather is good. At the beginning, the path is quite wide and in places secured by railings. Some then walk at least to the first viewpoint - the rocky peak Niho de Mata with beautiful views. The entire hike up to Pico Ruivo is clearly difficult, even if there are partially secured stairways since the 1960s. Some of the paths are steep up to 700 m, the rock steps are high, the paths are sometimes narrow and beaten, and it also goes through unlit tunnels. So you should have a good condition and be free from giddiness and sure-footed.
2023.05.28 08:28 rkiller123 Apartment in Burnaby/Brentwood vs Townhouse in Langley
Question for BC residents, I am kind of in a dilemma of choosing new place to move to & would love some inputs. we have always lived in Burnaby area so wanted to buy something around but after looking for a while we found that we can only afford Apartments/Condo & would have to move to Langley if we want a bigger space like a townhouse which would be almost the same price as the apartment at Burnaby so my question is what do you guys think would be more valuable in the future? . Also to give an idea of what we would need in terms of size we are a couple expecting our first baby soon so don't need a big space for now but ultimately would love to own a townhome in Burnaby maybe like 5 years from now. Thanks in advance.
submitted by rkiller123 to canadahousing [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 08:01 rkiller123 Apartment in Burnaby/Brentwood vs Townhouse in Langley
Question for BC residents, I am kind of in a dilemma of choosing new place to move to & would love some inputs. we have always lived in Burnaby area so wanted to buy something around but after looking for a while we found that we can only afford Apartments/Condo & would have to move to Langley if we want a bigger space like a townhouse which would be almost the same price as the apartment at Burnaby so my question is what do you guys think would be more valuable in the future? . Also to give an idea of what we would need in terms of size we are a couple expecting our first baby soon so don't need a big space for now but ultimately would love to own a townhome in Burnaby maybe like 5 years from now. Thanks in advance.
submitted by rkiller123 to PersonalFinanceCanada [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 07:29 wakeywakeyeggsbakey Parents trust need help with knowing what everything means
TLDR: need to understand my parents trust so i can help them help me. My parents have a trust fund that was either modified are created in 2020 at *Now needs to be changed again because at the time they left me out of it. I have terminal brain cancer but it’s not terminal immediately. It’s a longer term terminal. I am going to need lots of help and they have property worth millions
One property is in Florida and it is very expensive to maintain along with the 560 monthly condo fee. There are all sorts of other ridiculous Vyse I don’t even have 560 but they gave me that and they gave my brother the 2 million dollar already paid off home in an ideal beach location where you can rent it for 10,000 a week in the summer.
My mother said they will change it . The original attorney died. I need to understand what needs to be changed as well as what everything means and I also like to know how serious it is to do because they are 80 and I feel bad, but if I don’t have this a it’s the difference between life and death because I could afford surgery out of state when need be.
Anyone would be willing to help me out with this I would appreciate it. My friend was helping me, but he just passed away, suddenly at age 79 this month.
TIA
submitted by wakeywakeyeggsbakey to legaladvice [link] [comments]
One property is in Florida and it is very expensive to maintain along with the 560 monthly condo fee. There are all sorts of other ridiculous Vyse I don’t even have 560 but they gave me that and they gave my brother the 2 million dollar already paid off home in an ideal beach location where you can rent it for 10,000 a week in the summer.
My mother said they will change it . The original attorney died. I need to understand what needs to be changed as well as what everything means and I also like to know how serious it is to do because they are 80 and I feel bad, but if I don’t have this a it’s the difference between life and death because I could afford surgery out of state when need be.
Anyone would be willing to help me out with this I would appreciate it. My friend was helping me, but he just passed away, suddenly at age 79 this month.
TIA
2023.05.28 07:11 Crazy_Act8736 Should I start a new Forest Farm over my Beach Farm?
Near the end of fall year 1, thought I'd try out the beach farm and try to get perfection for the first time. But, the more I play, the more it starts to irritate me. I didn't the think the sprinkler thing would be as big a deal as it is, and the layout seems really awkward to design around. Should I stick with it, or start a new save on a Forest map?
submitted by Crazy_Act8736 to StardewValley [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 06:43 Youngking41 I think this night solidified being forever alone for me
This evening I went to this end of the year beach bonfire for my school cohort and was introduced to some new people. There were about 10-15 people at this get together and almost everyone there already was paired up. I made some small talk with guys and this girl but for a lot of time, I just sat around awkwardly as everyone was very social. I was scared to interject myself in any conversation and even when I tried to, people just started talking among themselves again.
I think this was the night I felt the most low. I don’t think I know how to talk to people well and it’s not even my fault because of my vocal chords.
I don’t know what I’ll do now.
I have no friends. No one wants to ever hang out with me or do anything when I initiate plans. I’ve never been in a relationship. I have no one outside my immediate family.
At least some FA here have a group of friends they go out every week with. The last time I had that was when I was 12.
submitted by Youngking41 to ForeverAlone [link] [comments]
I think this was the night I felt the most low. I don’t think I know how to talk to people well and it’s not even my fault because of my vocal chords.
I don’t know what I’ll do now.
I have no friends. No one wants to ever hang out with me or do anything when I initiate plans. I’ve never been in a relationship. I have no one outside my immediate family.
At least some FA here have a group of friends they go out every week with. The last time I had that was when I was 12.
2023.05.28 06:34 bimbo_wannabe_ [I Accidentally Joined The Mafia In South Brooklyn] Chapter 5: The Dead Are Especially Nosy Down Here
![[I Accidentally Joined The Mafia In South Brooklyn] Chapter 5: The Dead Are Especially Nosy Down Here](https://preview.redd.it/zkaxtarwkj2b1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=8b33a651493fb05e79994bff658fc34e98166e4e "[I Accidentally Joined The Mafia In South Brooklyn] Chapter 5: The Dead Are Especially Nosy Down Here") | Previous Part: https://www.reddit.com/redditserials/comments/13sxdo9/i_accidentally_joined_the_mafia_in_south_brooklyn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button submitted by bimbo_wannabe_ to redditserials [link] [comments] These last few parts have taken a lot longer for me to write than I thought. A lot of shit has gone down in the last two months, and a lot of it, frankly, is kind of a blur. But I figure, if you've stuck with me this long, then you deserve to know how it all ended up so I'm going to try my best to remember every detail of what happened. Me? I've spent every free hour I've had, just lying in bed. I've got a lot of healed wounds that still hurt me pretty damned badly. Blood loss from multiple gunshot wounds and then drowning in the East River, dying and then being brought back while still human, incidentally, takes a lot out of a guy. But… I'm getting way ahead of myself. Where were we, again? Oh yeah, that's right. The funeral without caskets, inside of a Ukrainian restaurant just off the boardwalk in Brighton Beach. That's where I left off at. ()()() Antoni's corpse and I had spoken together for a while longer, about Beccs and their baby, actually, sitting there in the floor in front of the three empty bathroom stalls. The next moment, as usual, he was… just gone. It took a while to slow the bleeding, and it took even longer to try and clean myself up with just hand soap and paper towels and the water from the sink. Nobody came into the bathroom again, and as I left, I saw why. There was a sign on the door that read 'Out of Order' with something printed below it in Cyrillic that I imagined probably said the same thing as the English. My new winter coat had been left on the floor in front of the door and the Emergency Exit at the end of the hall had its alarm disabled and had been left propped open with a brick. I took that as a clear message that they didn't want me rejoining the party, so I exited into the alley and sat on a milk crate chain-smoking until 2 PM when the funeral ended. The weather app on my phone said it was 10 degrees outside, but oddly enough the cold air felt soothing on my bruised face. My eyes were nearly swollen shut, and every now and again I had to pull some of the toilet paper out that I'd stuffed in my pocket to wipe another trickle of blood from my nose when I sniffed a little too hard and moved the clots loose. At 1:57, I started to hear people exiting the restaurant, so I moved onto the sidewalk to wait for Becca. The people leaving the funeral only glanced at me for a second and then looked away with a bored expression, like I wasn't even there. Finally, only Becca and Toni's immediate family were still inside. Tatiana gave Becca a hug, Igor, a gentle handshake, and Antoni Sr. bent down, cupped his hands around Becca's face and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. I could see that his right hand was bandaged and he was holding it straighter than his left. Good. I hoped the fucker had broken it when he'd punched me in the jaw. As Becca exited, I could tell she was angry even before she stomped over to me and shoved me three times in quick succession. Like Jimmy, Becca was a lot stronger than she looked, but now I knew why. I couldn't do much but ball up and take the hits. "Where the fuck did you go? You just took off and left me there by myself. 'He wouldn't have left without saying goodbye if he had a choice.' You knew, you cocksucker, you knew, you knew he was dead!" "Yeah, I knew! Antoni was in the news. But we gotta get the fuck out of here, Beccs, you're making a scene, another one, and I gotta get outta this neighborhood before something worse happens to me." The high color of anger in her cheeks dropped away immediately into a pallid white. She'd been so pissed she'd never once registered the state of my face. "Jesus Christ, Tony, what the fuck happened to you?" "Your little Polish sausage's Daddy Dearest just beat the fuck out of me in the men's bathroom, that's what the fuck happened." "Why would he do that?" Becca asked, but I didn't answer. She looked back to Skovorodka, following my gaze. Antoni Sr. was still standing there, just inside the front door, watching me with narrowed eyes, his hands folded neatly behind his back like a soldier at ease. It reminded me a lot of how Antoni used to stand while we were waiting for the train together. "Fuck," she muttered, then "Shit," and grabbed me by the arm. "Come on." "Why would he do that?" She asked me again as we climbed the stairs to the train platform. "Antoni was Mob, Becca, Bratva. His whole goddamned family is. Him and his brothers and his father and his fucking Russian uncle, and I'd say your Mama Tatiana probably isn't in the dark about what her brother and her hubby and his sons do to make a living, either. I don't know why the Zabrowskas were on the Avenue, but suffice to say it was probably for nefarious reasons, and Jimmy found out about it and took care of business. "Only I don't think he realized exactly who he was taking out at the time he did it, or else he never would have put the body in the River for somebody to find. And then the other three showed up to avenge their brother, only two of 'em never made it past Bianchi any farther than Antoni did." "The fuck are you trying to say?" Her tone says she already understands just fine and doesn't want to. "I'm saying your dear sweet Mamma killed your boyfriend, Becca. She removed all the identifying marks from his body, ate what she wanted, then pulled all his teeth out and chewed off his hands and his feet. They dumped the body in the East River and they found him about 5 days ago, floating off of Battery Park." "Oh God. That's why. I asked Tatiana where Antoni was going to be buried and she told me in the public cemetery on Hart Island. They're not claiming the body because they don't wanna go to the cops. For the last week I been cussing him for everything he was worth, and he's been laying in the fucking morgue." She pressed her hand to her mouth, and I saw her bloodshot eyes filling with tears again. "Please don't cry, Becca, cause I'm gonna start crying again and I've cried enough for today." She sniffed back her tears and swallowed hard. "But I don't understand, Tony, what the fuck does that have to do with you?" "They knew, Beccs, they knew how the Zabrowskas died, who killed them, and they knew I helped Moretti get rid of the bodies afterwards. That's why Antoni's father went after me. The uh… the fucking Pakhan thought Jimmy sent me there to rub it in their faces that they weren't going to be able to bury any of their boys." "How the fuck would they know that?" She barked at me. "Somebody's feeding them information and not some asshole on the street, somebody from inside the Camorra." "Who would do that?" I saw her eyes darting about wildly as she tried to think of the answer to her own question. "I don't know, uh, the driver that brought Moretti, he didn't look like he was too fond of Bianchi, maybe he's a fucking option." "Frankie? I mean, him and Ma have never gotten along. He's never liked her and the feeling's mutual but… that doesn't make any sense, Frankie's always been loyal to the Camorra. Rossi always said he practically muttered the Omerta in his fucking sleep, that he was a soldato down to the bones." "I have no idea, Becca, but it gets worse," I said quietly. If it didn't hurt so goddamned bad, I would've squeezed my eyes shut. "How the fuck could it possibly get worse, Tony?" "First you gotta promise you're not gonna hit me again." Her hand balled into a fist, and I couldn't help but flinch. "I'm gonna knock you the fuck out right now if you don't stop wasting my time, Cipriani." "I sold her out, Becca. Bianchi. I told them where she lives and how to find her tonight." "You what!?" "I had to! He was gonna cut my fucking fingers off, and I don't know if he was going to take all four or just three but I wasn't about to fucking find out. I kind of need those fingers seeing as I'm a fucking southpaw!" I held my left hand out to her, curled my fingers inward, but the third finger just… stayed straight. "Ah, fuck, I didn't even notice that." "Jesus Christ, the tendon's been cut," she whispered, and when she pressed her hand to her mouth again she looked less like she was swallowing back tears and more like she was trying to swallow back vomit. I couldn't really blame her. I felt pretty nauseous myself. "You know, I'm, I'm not worried about Ma," she said, finally. "It wouldn't be the first time somebody's tried to take her out. She's harder to kill than they think." "Would, uh, would cutting her head off work? Cause if so I think they're already pretty aware of how to get the job done. They… they know Bianchi's not human, Becca." Her face got paler, if that was even possible, and her eyes were the size of saucers. "This is a goddamn nuclear disaster. Jesus fuck." We stood the last few minutes waiting for the train in silence. As the doors slid shut and we sat down, Becca began laughing wildly. "So you're in hysterics for real, huh?" I asked. "You're gonna have to forgive me, I'm a little slow on the uptake today, but I just got it, Polish sausage… only, he wasn't little, you know, he was hung like a fucking horse, and it's a goddamn tragedy for women everywhere that the man isn't on this earth anymore. And he knew how to use it, too. Best sex I ever had in my life… only sex I ever had in my life, but that's not the fucking point." A short, barking sob tore out of her. I groaned. "You know, that is way, way more information than I ever wanted to know about you and Antoni's sex life. You couldn't, uh, you couldn't let that one pass by, huh?" "I never pass up the opportunity to make a good dick joke. And he had Good Dick." I laughed and regretted it as it tightened muscles in my stomach that were still a little angry about being used as Antoni Sr's personal punching bag. "Touché, Miss Rebecca, touché." "The two-faced bastard, I gotta give the motherfucker that much, you know, it's a uniquely personal way to say Fuck You to the Underboss, getting his teenaged daughter pregnant. I am so, so goddamned tired of being a pawn in other people's games. He's lucky he's already dead or I'd kill the bitch myself," she whispered. "It wasn't a game, Becca, what happened between you and Antoni," I whispered back. I knew because Antoni's corpse had told me as much. "Don't ask me how I know, cause I don't wanna talk about it, but it wasn't a game. You didn't know about him and he didn't know about you and it was a big, fucked up coincidence. You loved him, and he really, truly loved you... he worshiped the ground you walked on." Actually, he had said he worshiped the boots she walked in, but I figured it was a translation issue. "It was a regular old Romeo and Juliet: Brooklyn Edition." She squeezed her eyes shut, snorted and at the same time choked on another sob. "Yeah, but Romeo and Juliet ended in a double suicide, not a murder and a single mother." Her tiny hand went to her mouth again, and she wasn't able to hold back the tears this time. "I miss him, Tony, I miss him so fucking much." "You know, Beccs, I miss him, too." I miss him when he was alive, not looking like a walking nightmare, and talking my goddamned ear off half the time, but I wasn't about to tell her that. "He was the first friend I made down here." "It's fucking stupid. I still remember every single thing he said to me those first few times I met him." "Odd as it is, I do too, Beccs. He was that kind of guy, I guess, he didn't have to work hard to make an impression on people. It was, uh, three days after I moved in, I think. I was in the basement, getting ready to do my laundry that morning, fighting with the stuck knob on that machine down at the end? And he walks in with his clothes basket balanced on his hip and reaches past me and just… turned the fucking thing, like it wasn't even stuck to begin with. 'It has an attitude, but it likes me,' he says, and I say, 'I can see that.' "And he, he told me his name. 'Zabrowska,' he says, 'Antoni.' And I laughed and said, 'Nice to meet you, Toni, I'm Tony.' 'Really?' he says, and I say 'Yeah. Really. Antonio Alessio Gioele Cipriani, the third, if you please.'" "Goddamn, that name is painfully Italian. No wonder you tell everybody 'Just call me Tony,'" Becca snorted. "Thank you, Miss Rebecca, I can assure you I didn't pick it myself. But, 'Ah,' Toni says and kind of taps his hand in the center of his chest, 'Junior.' And I laughed again and said 'Our parents were goddamned creative when it came to the baby naming, right?' And he laughed, too, and shook my hand. "And uh, a few days after that he showed up outside of my apartment and asked me if I wanted to go watch a game with him and his brothers at the sports bar down the street. It was Poland vs Korea. I still don't know shit about soccer, I've always been more of an American football kind of guy, but I did learn quite a few Polish swear words that day. Apparently they'd all bet money on the home team winning that game." "I bet you did. Poland kept catching red cards that whole game. I bet on Korea, of course, and altogether I won 8 grand from four extremely pissed off Polish dudes when we stomped their ass all over the pitch. I had no idea how seriously the four of them took soccer. Antoni wouldn't even talk to me for three days. Probably didn't help I made an ass of myself laughing at all of them. Course, I woulda bet more if I'd known they were good for it. Dry cleaners, my ass," Becca spat. "Well, in Antoni's defense, he probably did work at a dry cleaners like he told us, just like you work at a bodega, and Jimmy and me work at a restaurant, and Pops works at a hardware store. We all got day jobs. You know, I hate to bust your balls, Becca, but did it… never occur to you to ask Antoni if the tattoos meant something?" "No," she said weakly. "I mean, I knew they were prison tats but Jesus Christ, half the people I know have been to prison. You've been to prison, half of my cousins have been to prison, hell, Pops has been to prison. You weren't here then, but all of 2016 to 2020 I was wearing a 'Free Rossi' t-shirt everyday, a lot of people in this neighborhood did. Ma got him off on the Murder 1 charges but numbers are numbers, and she couldn't get him out of the Tax Evasion. But I figured, if Antoni didn't wanna talk about it, then it was none of my business what had happened before we met each other." She'd minded her own business a little too hard this time. "What did you and Antoni talk about, Becca?" "Everything! And anything, and nothing, all at the same time. He'd complain about living with his brothers, about Misiu always leaving hair all over the bathroom, and how Ciech always left sugar all over the kitchen counter after he made his coffee. And I'd complain about having to pick up all the empty bottles of makgeolli after my Dad in the morning. I'd help him wash all the dishes his dirty ass brothers would leave piled in the sink, and fold everybody's clothes. "We got along well, me and Antoni, we were actually very compatible, we were both neat freaks when it came to our housekeeping. We even folded our towels the same way. And he'd bitch about how Igor could never balance the register correctly at the end of the day, and I'd bitch about how my Dad never checked our invoices correctly, and I was always having to cuss out the distribution reps for shorting us on our deliveries myself. "And we'd watch TV together. He always made fun of me for the lame ass old Chuck Lorre sitcoms I loved to watch, and I'd make fun of him for all the stupid cop dramas he watched, every Law and Order known to man, and Blue Bloods and shit. We just… talked to each other, like we were two regular people, just living our lives. It was simple and it was easy, and it was enough, it was goddamned enough for me. Our relationship was the one normal thing I had going in my fucked up life." She cracked at the end, sobbing brokenly. She turned her head to the side, pressed her face into my bicep as she wrapped both arms around mine. Tears filled my eyes, as well, and now I was wiping snot out of my nose as well as blood. I felt goddamned sorry for the kid, and I felt like she had a right to cry, but I had to distract her, for my own sake. "So tell me, when was the first time you talked to Antoni? Was that the same day he asked you out?" "No, there was some time between the two. He'd been there about a week, I guess, after they moved in. They got there back in like April. I'd fucked with him the first day, you know, asked him where the hell the accent came from, and he said Poland, and I told him welcome to America cause I felt like being a dick. And he said that he'd already been in country five years and I laughed at him and told him, goddamn, I couldn't tell cause he still sounded like he was fresh off the boat. And he got this look on his face, like he was trying to decide if he needed to be offended or not, so I told him I was just fucking with him, that he was doing better than my Mom, God rest her, cause it was seven years after she got here from Seoul before she even learned a word of English and my Dad was the one that had to teach her." "Makes sense. I moved in in June, Toni mentioned he'd only been in the building about two months hisself." She nodded, I could feel the movement in the sleeve of my coat where her cheek was pressed to my arm. "Him and his brothers started coming in every day after that and you know, I kind of had my eye on him from the first time I talked to him. He was goddamn gorgeous, quite literally the walking definition of 'tall, dark, and handsome.' He had those incredibly blue eyes, and that fucking accent, man, shit put me in knots everytime he came in. I learned them all pretty quick, and Antoni was easy. He got the same thing everyday, box of Newport 100s and a pack of Russian Cream Backwoods with a large slushy. You know I gotta keep the cups behind the counter because motherfuckers'll fill it up and walk out when I get busy. I saw him when he came in, and went over to the ATM, so I had his shit sitting on the counter waiting for him." Becca had a talent for memorizing all of the regular's orders, it wasn't unusual to see a long line of cigarettes, blunts, medicine, sometimes even crack pipes and Chore Boys, and anything else she kept behind the counter, set up neatly next to the register. She also had a talent for running both registers at the same time when the line got overly long and she was there alone. Sometimes I had no idea how she kept up with it all, but that was just Becca. "And this drunk asshole came in, right after, he didn't even belong in the neighborhood, he stayed in Bed-Stuy, but he was with his cousin, and his cousin I knew and he was shooting me apologetic looks so I was already on guard. I was in a bad goddamn mood that day, anyway. And the drunk bitch, he walked over to the bathroom and tried to open it." "Key's behind the counter," I said, and she nodded. "And the key costs five dollars cause people make a fucking mess in the bathroom and I ain't cleaning that shit everyday for free. Well, drunk fuck got pissed and started talking a bunch of shit and threw his five dollars down on the counter, and you know, I can't stand that. You don't throw money at me, I ain't a goddamned stripper, you can put that shit in my hand or you can get the fuck out my store. And, I said 'Naw, son, for you it's gonna cost ten, five dollar Drunk Dick surcharge for being an asshole and cutting my line.' And the motherfucker… he called me a fucking stupid little bitch, and he told me people like me needed to be sent back to my own country." I made a sound of disapproval, already seeing where this was headed. "I hate that stupid shit. Where the fuck am I getting sent back to? The fucking hospital in Manhattan where I was born? Everybody in the store just kind of stopped and stood there, and dude's cousin? He just shook his head at me and walked right out the store and left him there." "He wasn't gonna get involved, huh?" I asked. "Fuck no. He wasn't stupid. I… uh, I was seeing red by that point so I balled up his money and I threw it across the store and told him to get the fuck out. I don't even remember half the shit I said to him, but I was yelling and he was yelling back and all of a sudden Antoni was… just there. I never even noticed him walking up. He was a big motherfucker, but goddamn he was quick and quiet when he wanted to be." Becca laced her fingers through the fingers of my right hand and I gave them a squeeze as she readjusted her head against my shoulder. I turned mine to press a kiss to her hair. She was short enough that I didn't have to worry about bumping my nose. As I turned back, I noticed that there was a puddle of water on the seat across from us, and a pit formed in my stomach immediately. My face felt cold as the blood drained from it. The puddle of water made me more than just a little nervous to see it. I had new enemies stacking up quick, and the last thing I needed was a pissed off, jealous ghost because his grieving fiancée was getting a little handsy with me. But… Antoni never showed himself, so I could only assume he approved of my offering her comfort in her time of need. Either that or he was waiting till I was alone to express his displeasure. "'Is there a problem here?' was all he asked and the drunk bitch turned around and he got even more pissed. He goes 'Man, fuck you, white boy. Mind your own goddamned business.' And Antoni kind of got in his face, and goes, 'I have made it my business. She told you to leave. Either remove yourself or I will remove you.' "And the liquor must've given him a bigger set of balls than he actually had, cause he took a swing at him. And Antoni, he just kind of… leaned back a little to avoid the swing and then leaned back in and… he knocked that bitch out cold with one punch. And then he picked him up, literally picked him up, and threw his ass out on the sidewalk, and kind of dusted his hands off afterwards." "Well, if he's anything like his father then he could throw a hell of a right cross." Becca laughed weakly. "Yeah, his Dad boxes, they all did, you know, from when they were young. Antoni told me he got in his Dad's face once when he was about 16, and Old Papa Zabrowska coldcocked him in the kitchen, and when he woke up on the couch, his Dad dragged him out back in the alley and beat him bloody. Told him if his little grown ass thought he was a man, then he was grown enough to get his ass stomped like a man." That made me feel a little better, to be honest. At least I wasn't the only one I knew who had caught an ass kicking from Antoni Sr. "I bet he didn't talk shit to his Pops again after that, huh?" "I asked him that exact question, he said 'Oh no, no, never again. I learned my lesson.' Toni and his brothers, though, were always getting in fights, even when I knew them. He told me it was hard on their Mama, back in Kraków, having four hormonal, teenaged boys with just shy of a year between each of them, you know cause… us fucking Roman Catholics ain't too fond of any method of contraception." "I didn't know you was Catholic, too, B." "Of course. Rossi is a devout Catholic, and that's how he raised me, and Nia, she's an Angel, you know, a Fallen One, that's what they call themselves, but she's even got real wings. A little more leathery and less feathery, but… same thing. She goes to Mass daily, turns out demons are actually very religious. Both of my parents were atheists, and that's how they raised me, but after some of the shit I've seen, you know, it ain't too unbelievable that there's a Big Guy upstairs." She sniffed again, wiped at her nose and I offered her a bit of toilet paper from my pocket. "That's how it all got started, the War in Heaven. God created Adam, the first living human body, and he told all the spirits in Heaven to kneel to him. And at least half of them weren't too fond of that idea, and the Morning Star stepped up as representative and said they wouldn't kneel to anyone but God. And they, uh, they lost the War, and He banished them all to Earth, to wander without bodies of their own while the other side got to come to Earth one at a time, to live their lives. "But… then there was the first murder, Abel. Cain beat him to death with a rock, and the blood on the ground, the first human blood ever shed in violence, it called to God, but He wasn't the only one it called to. The blood, it gave him a way inside of a body. Lucifer. He was the First One. He's still here, you know, I've met him. He has a particular fondness for Nia, he calls her Young One, cause according to him 1607 wasn't all that long ago." "I guess it isn't when you're that old." "But, back to what I was saying about Toni, all of them were packed into one place together like fucking sardines, the four boys sharing one bedroom in a two bedroom apartment, and all having vastly different personalities. Tatiana is little, like me, and I don't imagine she could do much to break them up when they got to fighting about everything from who ate all the leftovers to who got the top bunks on the beds." "Probably not," I answered. "I mean, I could practically smell the testosterone in their fucking apartment whenever I walked in, and it was probably even worse back then. And apparently, that had been their Dad's method of keeping them from tearing up his wife's house all the time. Whenever a problem inevitably developed, he'd just take them down to the gym and throw them in the ring without any gloves and tell them to fucking handle it, and whoever was still standing at the end was the one that won the argument. "Uh, but, uh, when Toni hit the guy, all, all I could do was stand there with my mouth hanging open like a fucking fish. I mean, I was in love, right that fucking second, standing there. The hormones were running on overdrive, my head was practically spinning with how fast all the blood rushed south, you know? Everybody was still standing there and Antoni tried to get back in line and I said, 'Uh-uh. Take your shit and go on.' And he goes," Beccs began laughing again, laughed so hard there were tears in her eyes once more. "He goes, 'Am I in trouble?''' I had to wrap my left arm tight around my stomach because I couldn't stop myself from laughing either. The makeshift bandage on my left hand that I'd wound out of paper towel had soaked through, I was going to have to change it soon. "He didn't say that, Becca." "Yes the fuck, he did. And I went, 'No, you dumbass, it's on the house, and in case I gotta translate, that means it's free. Small price to pay for a security detail.' And he just kind of blinked at me for a second, before he nodded his head and grabbed his things off the counter, went and filled his slushy up." "You probably scared the piss out of him for that second, he probably thought he'd been found out. That's what they call it, what he was, Obshchak, Security Group." "He stopped before he left, and told me thank you. And I said 'No, dziękuję', thank you. And then I winked at him and said 'Miłej nocy, piękna.'" She straightened up as the train began to slow for our stop. "And what did that mean?" "Have a good night, gorgeous." She said with a watery grin. "Smooth, B, real smooth. Nothing quite like hitting on a man in his native language. " "I mean, you know us, Tony, we got Southern Hospitality down here. As long as you're not an asshole, I do everything I can to make sure everyone feels welcome when they come inside. That's why there's a sign on the door that says 'DMZ.' They might have beef on the streets but don't nobody take that shit inside my store. And that means asking the Mexicans down the street if they need a bolsa, and making sure I ordered Farid's miswaks so he didn't have to walk all the way down to the Pakistani store, and sometimes it means learning a little bit of Polish so I could flirt with the new guy downstairs the next time he came in." We exited the train, made the switch, and stood on the platform waiting for the next to take us back to Avenue U. As I glanced to the side, I could see a puddle forming on the platform next to me, drip by drip. It was already freezing around the edges. As it turned out, I wasn't the only nosy fuck around here. "And apparently the flirting was well received by our dearly departed half-Russian friend." "Apparently, cause about a week later I was having a busy fucking Friday night and my Dad had already gone home, and I was trying to shut her down but motherfuckers kept coming inside right up until 11. I made DeAndre from downstairs stand at the door and tell people we were closed and that he was the last customer for the night and after I rung him up I told him to flip the sign on the door and I'd lock it when I finished my cigarette count… only, I forgot to ever lock it, and DeDe's traitorous ass, he fucking set me up. He knew I had a thing for Antoni, and when he saw him coming down off the platform and rushing down the sidewalk, he let him in and told him he was the last customer for the night and to flip the sign on the door." She closed her eyes for a moment. "It took me… exactly 16 minutes to notice he was there. I know, cause after I was done pissing myself when I figured out I wasn't alone, the Polish smart-ass showed me his watch. He'd set a timer when he realized I wasn't paying any attention to him, and then just stood there, waiting to see how long it would take. I had my earphones in, and it took four songs," she held up her hand and ticked them off with her fingers. "'Savage Like', 'Money, Sex, Drugs', 'Proud' and 'Only.' "I turned around and screamed like a little bitch when I saw him. And then I got pissed, cause I was embarrassed, I'd been singing along to all the songs cause I thought I was alone in the store. I started screaming at him. 'What the fuck, you can't read? The sign says Closed.' And he goes 'No, it didn't. It still said Open. I turned it myself.' I hadn't counted down my register yet, so I just went ahead and grabbed his shit and rung him up, cussing DeDe the whole time and I asked him how long he'd been standing there, and he showed me his watch. And he says, 'You shouldn't wear those, it's dangerous,' talking about my headphones, and I said, 'What are you, my fucking father?' And he got kind of a funny look on his face." I released a weak snicker, holding my stomach tight again. I couldn't resist fucking with them both a little bit. "He kinda had a point, Becca. Although, I can tell you he was probably less concerned about being your father and more concerned about becoming your Daddy." "Oh, so now you got the dirty jokes," Becca said flatly. "What can I say, B, you're a bad influence on me." "Eh," she said after a moment, "You wouldn't be the first. You know, months later he told me that he'd stood there that long because he didn't think he'd have the nerve to ask what he wanted to ask the next time if he left, which, you know, what the fuck? What am I, scary?" I couldn't help but laugh again. "Yes, Becca, you are, you're fucking terrifying half the time. You might be a short fuck but dynamite comes in small packages, you know? He was probably afraid you'd tell him to suck your dick and ban him from the store for a month like every other poor motherfucker I've seen ask you out, and he probably didn't want to go through your particular brand of ridicule in front of an audience, on top of that, with all the other customers laughing him out of the store." "It ain't my fault I'm this size," she said after a moment, shooting me a perturbed look. "No shit, Sherlock. It's genetics." "It ain't even that. It's the blood. I mean, my parents were both tall, you know, for Koreans, anyway, my Mom was 5'6. I probably would've been too if I'd had the chance, but, you know, the blood it… stops things. Why do you think Jimmy looks the way he does? I mean, Pops believes in 'aging gracefully,' as he says, but old Giacomino is a vain fuck, and he's got more of a taste for 'the Stuff' than Rocco ever had. He turned 65 this year, he's only two years younger than Pops, he was already 34 years old when he met Nia for the first time. He tells people he's got a good plastic surgeon, when they ask. And the same thing happened to me. My body wanted to stay 8 years old, forever. "Rossi had to get hormones, fucking estrogen and progesterone and HGH, off the black market to force my body to start puberty and to fucking grow. It's not like we could go to a doctor and explain why I needed the prescription. I mean, these tits aren't even mine. Ma bought 'em for my sixteenth birthday so I wouldn't feel so goddamned self-conscious. Nia's not exactly flat-chested, as you know, neither was my Mom, and it kind of gave me a fucking complex when I was growing up." "I mean, is she? I haven't really noticed," I replied, evasively. "Yes, you have, you lying fuck. There isn't a straight or bisexual man, or a lesbian or bisexual woman for that matter, that comes within fifty feet of Appolonia Bianchi that doesn't notice all of her unnatural charms. It made for some interesting 'family' trips during the summer when we'd leave the city, lemme tell you. I asked Pops once, you know, if he ever got jealous when she'd show up with some random dick she'd run across, cause I used to think it was pretty shitty of her. "I said she could've at least kept things on the downlow and not throw it in Rocco's face every few days. But he told me no, he loved her, he understood her nature very well and he'd accepted what she was years before I was even born, and that she loved him too, and more importantly, respected him. She always introduced the men to him because that was what he'd asked of her. That it was the one aspect of control he had in the situation, giving his 'permission' for her little liaisons. That it made him feel better to let them know they might be getting a piece, but she'd be ending every night lying in his bed, regardless of what they did." I nodded. "I guess I can kind of see his point." "But, the blood, that's how I ended up pregnant. I mean, I'm not a dumbass, I know how babies are made, but I wasn't worried about using condoms with Antoni, neither of us wanted to. I told him if he gave me anything I'd cut his dick off, and he knew I was serious, too, and he considered it a proportional response. I didn't even think I could get pregnant. "I stopped the birth control when I was 16 because it was making me gain weight and my cheer coach bitched me out in front of fucking everybody, and Rossi's guy said I needed to keep taking it to keep my hormone levels even. So I told Antoni I didnt want to get into my medical history, but suffice to say I was probably fucking sterile anyway, so he didn't have to worry about it, and he told me he wasn't worried about it at all. But apparently my fucking parts work better than I thought." "Or maybe he had some damned determined swimmers, who knows." "I don't know why I was even concerned about not using condoms anyway. Technically we were all excommunicated as of 2014. Pope said the mafiosi lifestyle isn't compatible with the Catholic one. You know, I wonder how Antoni would feel about all this, I wonder if he'd be pissed, think I lied to him about not being able to get pregnant." "You're just gonna have to take my word for it, B, but he's not angry in the least, he's pretty fucking proud of hisself." I'd say his chest was stuck out but he didn't have much of a chest left these days, so I just kept that part to myself. "Pretty sure he said he wasn't worried about it because he was hoping you were wrong about being sterile." Beccs gave me a strange look but the train arrived at just that moment. The people exiting did quite a bit of staring, unlike the people leaving the funeral, but I just tucked my arm around Becca and shouldered my way past them and found us a seat. The drops of water followed us into the train. "What's with the present tense, Tony? Is that some kind of cliche 'he's lookin' down on you' bullshit?" I snorted and wiped the bubble of blood from my nose, staring at the puddle of water that was starting to form in the seat next to us. I could feel the cold emanating from Antoni all along my left side. Oddly enough, it was easing the intense ache in my nearly severed ring finger. "He ain't looking down on us, B, I can tell you that much." "So it's a Hell joke?" "No, not really. But then again, I'm pretty sure we're all in Hell right this second, Miss Rebecca, so yes, yes it is." |
2023.05.28 06:13 Mysterious_School776 [THANK YOU] for a long overdue amount of appreciation!
I’m SO sorry it took me so long to give thanks to everyone! Life got a little hectic lmao, but here’s a long overdue post of gratitude for a GIANT stack of happy mail! <3
• u/nahboiz - I, too, find insects pretty interesting!! I have this thing where I’m sometimes able to hold wildlife like butterflies & lizards (even tho lizards aren’t an insect lol) thank you for the coloring postcard! <3
• u/Ashnetta - thank you for the botanical postcard!
• u/SherlockLady - Thank you for the art postcard!
• u/RacquiedaRt - Thank you for the national park postcard!
• u/stephkempf - 3x !! - Thank you for the German postcard!! I do speak a little bit of Vietnamese & Spanish :) • Thanks for the cruise poastcard! I’m actually quite afraid of them because of accidents as well lol ;-; • I hope you’ve been having sunny weather lately!! I hope all the snow has gone away!! :)
• u/iAlbatross - Thank you for the SF postcard! & you did a LOVELY job with the dog sticker you franskensteined xD
• u/childisheye - Thank you for the MLK postcard!
• u/wabisabi_sf - 2x !! - Thank you for the swan fun facts!! • Thank you for the celebration of RAOC’a 10th anniversary!!
• u/mostlygoodthings - I hope you had fun in Portugal if you’ve already gone!! & if it hasn’t come up yet, I hope you have THE BEST time!!
• u/GizmoDOS - All of those date ideas are absolutely AMAZING! I’ve been wanting to go to the driving ranges lately, but we haven’t had the opportunity ;-; I totally agree with your list!!
• u/2cat007 - Thank you for the Valentines card! It’s adorable!
• u/welshfancy - thank you for the DD recommendations!! I hope your crew has been treating you with kindness! <3
• u/ReggeansFeet - I finally finished PLL & let me just say it’s been such an emotional rollercoaster!! ;-; I hope you’ve had the chance to watch it again!!
• u/fightshrubb - I’ll definitely check out your little nursery!! I hope it’s been going well for you & your mom!! <3
• u/ChaLILISA - Thank you for the anime card!!
• u/DianaPenPal - Thank you for the moon phase postcard!!
• u/maiiiu - I hope it worked out with your new colleague!! The card is absolutely beautiful <3
• u/Trueloove - Thank you for the chocolate mousse recipe!! I can’t wait to try it!!
• u/mtlsmom86 - Thank you for the book & coffee recommendations!!
• u/Lucky-Strength-297 - I hope your plans if a daycare worked out!! If it has not yet happened, I hope your current company has been able to improve their conditions! :) So happy for you to have the days off to work at home!!
• u/kittcatcon - I loved all the puns! xD I haven’t heard any of them before!!
• u/Novixus1108 - I think Mucha’s art is absolutely stunning!!
• u/Bunny - Thank you for the goodies!!
• u/fingeronfire - Thank you for the goodies!!
• u/InsanityC - thank you for the comfort pasta recipe!!
• u/HAZO_MAILING - Thank you for the goose postcard!!
• u/dwrfstr - 2x !! - Thank you for the friendly reminders & encouragement !! • thank you for the ice cream postcard!! Now I’m craving ice cream!! ;-;
• u/PostalParamour - Thank you for your words of encouragement !!
• u/cookalot - Thank you for the nature postcard !!
• u/Rainbowquarts - Thank you for the postcard!!
• u/Ashnetta - 3x !! - Thank you for the beach postcard! • Thank you for the words of encouragement !! • Thank you for the friendly reminders!!
• u/FancyBeadedPlacemat - LOL did you ever go see your mushroom hunting cousin??
• u/DollieSqueak - Thank you for the quote!!
• u/Aze - Thank you for your words of encouragement !! I absolutely LOVED the puns!
• u/410bore - Thank you for your words of encouragement & for the poem recommendation!!
submitted by Mysterious_School776 to RandomActsofCards [link] [comments]
• u/nahboiz - I, too, find insects pretty interesting!! I have this thing where I’m sometimes able to hold wildlife like butterflies & lizards (even tho lizards aren’t an insect lol) thank you for the coloring postcard! <3
• u/Ashnetta - thank you for the botanical postcard!
• u/SherlockLady - Thank you for the art postcard!
• u/RacquiedaRt - Thank you for the national park postcard!
• u/stephkempf - 3x !! - Thank you for the German postcard!! I do speak a little bit of Vietnamese & Spanish :) • Thanks for the cruise poastcard! I’m actually quite afraid of them because of accidents as well lol ;-; • I hope you’ve been having sunny weather lately!! I hope all the snow has gone away!! :)
• u/iAlbatross - Thank you for the SF postcard! & you did a LOVELY job with the dog sticker you franskensteined xD
• u/childisheye - Thank you for the MLK postcard!
• u/wabisabi_sf - 2x !! - Thank you for the swan fun facts!! • Thank you for the celebration of RAOC’a 10th anniversary!!
• u/mostlygoodthings - I hope you had fun in Portugal if you’ve already gone!! & if it hasn’t come up yet, I hope you have THE BEST time!!
• u/GizmoDOS - All of those date ideas are absolutely AMAZING! I’ve been wanting to go to the driving ranges lately, but we haven’t had the opportunity ;-; I totally agree with your list!!
• u/2cat007 - Thank you for the Valentines card! It’s adorable!
• u/welshfancy - thank you for the DD recommendations!! I hope your crew has been treating you with kindness! <3
• u/ReggeansFeet - I finally finished PLL & let me just say it’s been such an emotional rollercoaster!! ;-; I hope you’ve had the chance to watch it again!!
• u/fightshrubb - I’ll definitely check out your little nursery!! I hope it’s been going well for you & your mom!! <3
• u/ChaLILISA - Thank you for the anime card!!
• u/DianaPenPal - Thank you for the moon phase postcard!!
• u/maiiiu - I hope it worked out with your new colleague!! The card is absolutely beautiful <3
• u/Trueloove - Thank you for the chocolate mousse recipe!! I can’t wait to try it!!
• u/mtlsmom86 - Thank you for the book & coffee recommendations!!
• u/Lucky-Strength-297 - I hope your plans if a daycare worked out!! If it has not yet happened, I hope your current company has been able to improve their conditions! :) So happy for you to have the days off to work at home!!
• u/kittcatcon - I loved all the puns! xD I haven’t heard any of them before!!
• u/Novixus1108 - I think Mucha’s art is absolutely stunning!!
• u/Bunny - Thank you for the goodies!!
• u/fingeronfire - Thank you for the goodies!!
• u/InsanityC - thank you for the comfort pasta recipe!!
• u/HAZO_MAILING - Thank you for the goose postcard!!
• u/dwrfstr - 2x !! - Thank you for the friendly reminders & encouragement !! • thank you for the ice cream postcard!! Now I’m craving ice cream!! ;-;
• u/PostalParamour - Thank you for your words of encouragement !!
• u/cookalot - Thank you for the nature postcard !!
• u/Rainbowquarts - Thank you for the postcard!!
• u/Ashnetta - 3x !! - Thank you for the beach postcard! • Thank you for the words of encouragement !! • Thank you for the friendly reminders!!
• u/FancyBeadedPlacemat - LOL did you ever go see your mushroom hunting cousin??
• u/DollieSqueak - Thank you for the quote!!
• u/Aze - Thank you for your words of encouragement !! I absolutely LOVED the puns!
• u/410bore - Thank you for your words of encouragement & for the poem recommendation!!
2023.05.28 06:13 IljaMaran Few clips by the beach down in Dunedin, New Zealand.
 | submitted by IljaMaran to skateboarding [link] [comments] |
2023.05.28 06:11 MugShots Deputies: Woman arrested on DUI charges after driving into water in New Smyrna Beach
 | submitted by MugShots to ArrestStories [link] [comments] |
2023.05.28 05:56 DoYouBelieveInThat My Mother Died, And She Will Do Everything To Make Sure I Won't.
I was sitting across from my mother. She has been dead for quite some time, yet she was always present when I needed her the most. Of course, no one else can see or hear her, but that would not matter anyway. She had little interest in anyone else. Her presence is soothing. A calming anchor in an all too real sea of uncertainty and danger.
I was at the back of a boat gazing into the wake that it created. I don't know much about boats, but as far as I can tell, it has seen some wear and tear. As it idles through the water, I looked back over our journey. White waves were created as we pushed through the ocean. The Sun had long abandoned us. Only silver streaks of moonlight on the peaks of the waves broke up the endless black. A wake usually means there is going to be a funeral, I thought to myself.
I turned and faced towards the front of the boat and took in my immediate surroundings. A small veteran boat with oars, a tired petrol engine, and some basic supplies. The captain held an unfriendly demeanor. I counted people, but after 20 my anxiety increased. The opposite of counting sheep. At least 20 people. 20 lives present.
Who were these strangers?
What is their life before this?
What is their life going to be?
Every question I could think of was equally important. The boat shook as we collided into a small wall composed of ocean. It spat at us as if we had interrupted it from its slumber.
An old lady cried, "اللَهُمَّ ساعِدْني"
Tears streamed down her face as she collapsed into the nearest person beside her; a thin man with a tight moustache and a furrowed brow. The thin man was just as frightened and clutched onto her as cold air whistled around their faces. The air cut into our cheeks like tiny paper cuts. I picked out faces. The old lady. The thin man. A kindly faced woman in front of me. Her shawl was protecting at least three under it. Their three sets of eyes. Like little kitten's peering out from the warmth of the shawl. Their faces were obscured. She was humming something. A soothing little note designed to create a forcefield against the harsh reality of our situation. My Mother began to hum a tune that I knew well. The little kittens braced as each wave unsettled the boat.
I continued to look around. A well-built man was barking orders. He was ranting about life jackets. My mother nudged my arm. She pointed to some lifejackets strewn underneath my seat. I shouted out. The well-built man scrambled to them. "Here, here, here". He threw them into the group. The most vulnerable were seen to first, but even then, I could see numerous people with no life jackets. I know that they could not swim; either too old or not old enough. They wouldn't be able for the mercilessness of the ocean.
The thin man who had just consoled the elderly women sat himself down beside me. He turned to me and smiled. I smiled back. He laughed. It isn't a particularly happy laugh, but something has caught his eye. He passed over a small photograph. It was composed of a large family with him proudly centred. Libyan or Algerian was my best guess, but then again, he could truly be from anywhere. My mother leaned over his back and pointed at a young woman sitting off to the left. I get it now. I resemble this woman. I glanced around. He is alone. I have a feeling his family only exists as memories or through haunting lookalikes. I felt a mixture of emotion. Perhaps they are also here, I thought to myself. Like my mother.
He doesn't speak, as I returned the photograph like it was a delicate flower. He picked himself up and squeezed to the back of the boat. Even though we didn't talk, we knew a lot about each other. I remember my mother whispering to me.
".إذا كان الكلام من فضة فالسكوت من ذه"
People were moaning in pain around me. An injured woman had been passed out for most of the journey. Her leg looked infected, and her partner, a beautiful woman, clutched her tightly. I helped put a lifejacket on the injured woman. Her partner's eyes appreciated me. I sat back down at the end of the boat. We continued into the darkness of the night. To busy myself and to keep warm, from my pocket, I took a small photo out. It was wrapped in a plastic I found on the beach.
My grandparents. The ones who raised me and cared for me. I closed my eyes and saw it vividly. In fact, I always saw it when I closed my eyes. The smoke choking their frail bodies. The heat of burning rubber, wood, and flesh. My own blood drenching the dust in the sitting room as my ears rang from the impact blast. My throat still winces when I remember the caked dust that nearly suffocated me. They appear sometimes as well. Charred and tearful. Sometimes they scream, but mostly they just smoulder. My Mother was oblivious to this, of course. I didn't have the heart to tell her. From what I gathered; they don't interact. I drifted back into my past. Stumbling out of the apartment just in time to see the foundations begin to crumble. Another jet closing in on our little town.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The noise was getting louder. I blinked my eyes and returned to reality. I was cold and alone. Everyone in this boat was. Cold and alone together. My story wasn't new. In fact, most know it. Thinking of my grandmother, I squeezed past the worried faces. I took my torn jacket and placed it around the old lady. She smiled. I smiled. I returned to my tiny area. The waves were now pelting the underneath of the boat as if some evil creature was trying to tear it apart.
A large splash destroys the shallow peace. I looked down and quickly realised someone has gone overboard. Among the trashing and screaming, people reached out in a vain effort to rescue him. The Thin man was sinking into the black. His eyes widened with fear as he came to the realisation of his situation. That is when I saw it. That is when I saw him. Pale arms wrapped silently around his body. Gently, but firmly, they pulled him towards the depths of the ocean.
His struggle lessened and lessened. The panic of the thin man's eyes slowly turn into acceptance.
I think he has chosen his new life underneath the chaos above the waters. Eventually, his body disappeared into the black. The screams on the boat became less and less. People were just gazing into the water. Perhaps they were wondering if the reasons he chose were convincing. Perhaps, they wanted to be next. He has a new family now.
The creatures had been following us since the first day. While I wouldn't say they are friendly, they seemed to keep a healthy distance from us, only interacting when we breach the sanctity of their waters. From what I gathered; the creatures were not Sirens. Sirens lure you into a false reality with their music. These creatures are different. They don't leap onto your boat. They don't pull you into their depths. The thin man wasn't forced into his fate. He merely fell overboard.
How? I don't know, but he knew the consequences of his actions. He chose out. The overwhelming reality of our human world simply became too much. Death was a viable acceptance, and it had it hands out to welcome him. The creatures embraced him. Were these creatures human at one point? I do not know. Their eyes are human like. As we drifted for hours aimlessly into the darkness, I thought about them a lot. I also saw them. Little yellow dots bouncing up and down in the water, patiently waiting for the next.
I dropped my hand overboard and allowed it to glide over the surface of the water. Very briefly my fingers interlock with another. I loosened my grip on the boat and allowed myself to sway side to side. The touch was kind and gentle. A small part of me knew the danger, but another, far more desperate part just needed to feel something. Suddenly, I felt a grip around my back. My Mother ushered me away from the water. I hugged myself for warmth and closed my eyes. As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I overheard some of the conversations around me.
"How much did you pay?"
"Can't we go back? Maybe he is still alive"
"Stop talking nonsense. He is gone"
"Move over, I am almost falling out here."
"No, my family had couldn't come, they didn't make it."
"When do we get there? He said only three days"
"Three days? He said a few hours to me."
"A few hours! You must be foolish? Two days at least."
"The water is beautiful, let's us embrace the calm"
"I am cold"
Wait, I thought, "the water is beautiful?"
I looked around to see who would say such a strange thing. The voice didn't seem to come from anyone on board. The cold was getting to me. I closed my eyes again.
"We won't make the journey"
"Keep yourself quiet and don't be foolish"
"Leave her be, she's just nervous!"
"Nervous, look around, we are all nervous! Don't start lecturing me about nervous"
"I said stop it!"
I opened my eyes. Where's the mother of three?, I thought.
I perched up on the back of the boat and looked across the faces. Ah! There she was. She was cupping water and cleaning their faces. The injured woman looked very poorly. I wondered if there was a medical professional here. The injured lady had a partner. Another woman. She was beautiful.
In an instant, the boat violently shook. Rain tore into us so badly that we crawled as far into the boat as humanly possible. 20 or more voices were helplessly crying into the ocean's indifference. I tried to reassure the people around me that it was okay. When it calmed, I lifted my head and assessed my surroundings. I had cuts from the razor rain, but I was more or less intact. Then I heard the howling. A banshee cries. I could not figure out the dilemma. Who was screaming? It was the woman of three. She was howling.
The well-built man grabbed a torch from the box where the life jackets were and pointed it to the ocean of waves. It took me a few minutes to discern the ugly truth. Tears fell down the well built man's face. The woman of three. Now the woman of two. Yellow eyes were dotted around us. Another offering to their insatiable appetite.
Our mental and physical strength was drained. Food had been scarce for some time and as the old rhyme goes, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. The injured woman looked terrible. Apart from small gulps of freshwater and a makeshift bandage, we had nothing to give her. I began scouring the boat for something, anything that might relieve her pain. Her injuries looked deep. Her partner, the beautiful woman was stoic. She knew that nothing could be done, although the closer to the shoreline the better.
I rested my head against the yellowed, damaged side of the boat. Before I could get comfortable, it hit. A wave smashed against us. The boat lifted upwards into the sky. I fell backwards into the wake as the boat pounded back down into the water. Although, I didn't know at the time. The boat had ruptured its hull. The cold stinging pain of the water jolted my lungs. For a brief moment, I was paralysed. As I bobbed up and down in the water, my face dipped below the waterline. I couldn't make out much, but those yellow eyes.
They were still there. I saw faces, hundreds of them, surrounding my body. Grabbing and pulling me towards the deep. Many of the faces were those already dead, and I was being pulled towards them. In that moment of paralysis, there was almost serenity. The physical world full of its pain and anguish seemed to melt away in the midst of this calm inevitability.
A part of me was ready to give in. Join the chorus of distraught yellow eyes. I knew I couldn't. I froze as we made brief eye contact, but it was my mother’s voice snapped me back to the moment. I pulled and swam upwards in a feeble attempt to break away. I rose above the water and tried to grasp my surroundings. The boat was sinking. People were thrashing about in the water. It was panic. I knew I couldn't. I pulled and swam upwards in a feeble attempt to break away.
I saw the old lady.
"Jump", I cried to the old lady.
"It's sinking, it's sinking!"
The boat was decompressing rapidly.
"Jump", I shouted.
Just as the moon hit her face, I saw it. I saw many emotions, but I also saw what she couldn't bear to say. She couldn't swim. Before I could swim back to try and get her a lifejacket a wave from behind lifted me forward and I crashed into the side of the boat. In a daze, I grasped onto the thick rope that surrounded the boat. Mouthfuls after mouthfuls of salted air and water began to take their toll.
People were thrashing in the water. The cold was intense. The boat was almost fully sunk, and my upper body strength was gone. Then I saw it. A beam of light over the water. The sound of an incoming ship. A sigh of relief. Men threw out water doughnuts and rope. People clambered onto the boat. Those who were left anyway. By the time everyone was on board the sun was just peering out on the horizon. I was wrapped in a dry blanket and then I went dark.
When I woke up, I was in a tent. New clothes set out before me. I assessed my wounds. Cuts reddened the skin, but I was more or less okay. I sat up in the makeshift tent and grabbed a cup of coffee to warm my hands. I was exhausted, but I had to know where I was. I wandered out of the tent. The searing heat reminded me of home. People were shouting, vehicles were ferrying food and supplies back and forth. This must be one of the biggest camps there is.
In front of me was a new war with its own special injured. I walked throughout the camp looking for anyone I could recognise. The well-built man was looking pale and shell-shocked. His eyes were red and two doctors spoke in rapid-fire to one another. He didn't understand a word they were saying.
I moved through the camp for the rest of the day. I saw many faces, and harrowingly, I didn't see many others. When I came across the woman of two, my heart ached. She was inconsolable. The woman of two. My emotions knew nothing of her plight. I pushed my mind forward as much as I could.
The woman of none.
I walked on to find an empty bench. I collapsed into it and looked out over the horizon. I had survived.
A small whisper of encouragement filled my ears. My Mother. She soothed over the anxiety I was feeling. My anger, pain, and the hatred I had for myself to feel relief when so many others only feel pain. She whipped herself around the branches of a tree causing leaves to lightly dance in front of me. I thought back to the days of the olive trees that we used to have in our back garden. She continued to flit in a frenzy of happiness.
I understood.
Perhaps the afterlife is a lot simpler. I shrugged my shoulders as to say, "What do I do now?"
She cracked a wry smile. And whispered, "whatever you set your heart to."
With that, she began to move away from me. She extended her arms, and that is when I realised. She wasn't alone. Hiding behind the tree were three small individuals. Three that I recognised. The three little kittens looked at my mother and rushed towards her. She smiled at me and back at them.
She had saved me on my journey, and now it was her time to guide three little lives into a new one. A mixture of sadness and happiness crept over me. My Mother faded out. I shut my eyes and thought about dry land.
submitted by DoYouBelieveInThat to nosleep [link] [comments]
I was at the back of a boat gazing into the wake that it created. I don't know much about boats, but as far as I can tell, it has seen some wear and tear. As it idles through the water, I looked back over our journey. White waves were created as we pushed through the ocean. The Sun had long abandoned us. Only silver streaks of moonlight on the peaks of the waves broke up the endless black. A wake usually means there is going to be a funeral, I thought to myself.
I turned and faced towards the front of the boat and took in my immediate surroundings. A small veteran boat with oars, a tired petrol engine, and some basic supplies. The captain held an unfriendly demeanor. I counted people, but after 20 my anxiety increased. The opposite of counting sheep. At least 20 people. 20 lives present.
Who were these strangers?
What is their life before this?
What is their life going to be?
Every question I could think of was equally important. The boat shook as we collided into a small wall composed of ocean. It spat at us as if we had interrupted it from its slumber.
An old lady cried, "اللَهُمَّ ساعِدْني"
Tears streamed down her face as she collapsed into the nearest person beside her; a thin man with a tight moustache and a furrowed brow. The thin man was just as frightened and clutched onto her as cold air whistled around their faces. The air cut into our cheeks like tiny paper cuts. I picked out faces. The old lady. The thin man. A kindly faced woman in front of me. Her shawl was protecting at least three under it. Their three sets of eyes. Like little kitten's peering out from the warmth of the shawl. Their faces were obscured. She was humming something. A soothing little note designed to create a forcefield against the harsh reality of our situation. My Mother began to hum a tune that I knew well. The little kittens braced as each wave unsettled the boat.
I continued to look around. A well-built man was barking orders. He was ranting about life jackets. My mother nudged my arm. She pointed to some lifejackets strewn underneath my seat. I shouted out. The well-built man scrambled to them. "Here, here, here". He threw them into the group. The most vulnerable were seen to first, but even then, I could see numerous people with no life jackets. I know that they could not swim; either too old or not old enough. They wouldn't be able for the mercilessness of the ocean.
The thin man who had just consoled the elderly women sat himself down beside me. He turned to me and smiled. I smiled back. He laughed. It isn't a particularly happy laugh, but something has caught his eye. He passed over a small photograph. It was composed of a large family with him proudly centred. Libyan or Algerian was my best guess, but then again, he could truly be from anywhere. My mother leaned over his back and pointed at a young woman sitting off to the left. I get it now. I resemble this woman. I glanced around. He is alone. I have a feeling his family only exists as memories or through haunting lookalikes. I felt a mixture of emotion. Perhaps they are also here, I thought to myself. Like my mother.
He doesn't speak, as I returned the photograph like it was a delicate flower. He picked himself up and squeezed to the back of the boat. Even though we didn't talk, we knew a lot about each other. I remember my mother whispering to me.
".إذا كان الكلام من فضة فالسكوت من ذه"
People were moaning in pain around me. An injured woman had been passed out for most of the journey. Her leg looked infected, and her partner, a beautiful woman, clutched her tightly. I helped put a lifejacket on the injured woman. Her partner's eyes appreciated me. I sat back down at the end of the boat. We continued into the darkness of the night. To busy myself and to keep warm, from my pocket, I took a small photo out. It was wrapped in a plastic I found on the beach.
My grandparents. The ones who raised me and cared for me. I closed my eyes and saw it vividly. In fact, I always saw it when I closed my eyes. The smoke choking their frail bodies. The heat of burning rubber, wood, and flesh. My own blood drenching the dust in the sitting room as my ears rang from the impact blast. My throat still winces when I remember the caked dust that nearly suffocated me. They appear sometimes as well. Charred and tearful. Sometimes they scream, but mostly they just smoulder. My Mother was oblivious to this, of course. I didn't have the heart to tell her. From what I gathered; they don't interact. I drifted back into my past. Stumbling out of the apartment just in time to see the foundations begin to crumble. Another jet closing in on our little town.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The noise was getting louder. I blinked my eyes and returned to reality. I was cold and alone. Everyone in this boat was. Cold and alone together. My story wasn't new. In fact, most know it. Thinking of my grandmother, I squeezed past the worried faces. I took my torn jacket and placed it around the old lady. She smiled. I smiled. I returned to my tiny area. The waves were now pelting the underneath of the boat as if some evil creature was trying to tear it apart.
A large splash destroys the shallow peace. I looked down and quickly realised someone has gone overboard. Among the trashing and screaming, people reached out in a vain effort to rescue him. The Thin man was sinking into the black. His eyes widened with fear as he came to the realisation of his situation. That is when I saw it. That is when I saw him. Pale arms wrapped silently around his body. Gently, but firmly, they pulled him towards the depths of the ocean.
His struggle lessened and lessened. The panic of the thin man's eyes slowly turn into acceptance.
I think he has chosen his new life underneath the chaos above the waters. Eventually, his body disappeared into the black. The screams on the boat became less and less. People were just gazing into the water. Perhaps they were wondering if the reasons he chose were convincing. Perhaps, they wanted to be next. He has a new family now.
The creatures had been following us since the first day. While I wouldn't say they are friendly, they seemed to keep a healthy distance from us, only interacting when we breach the sanctity of their waters. From what I gathered; the creatures were not Sirens. Sirens lure you into a false reality with their music. These creatures are different. They don't leap onto your boat. They don't pull you into their depths. The thin man wasn't forced into his fate. He merely fell overboard.
How? I don't know, but he knew the consequences of his actions. He chose out. The overwhelming reality of our human world simply became too much. Death was a viable acceptance, and it had it hands out to welcome him. The creatures embraced him. Were these creatures human at one point? I do not know. Their eyes are human like. As we drifted for hours aimlessly into the darkness, I thought about them a lot. I also saw them. Little yellow dots bouncing up and down in the water, patiently waiting for the next.
I dropped my hand overboard and allowed it to glide over the surface of the water. Very briefly my fingers interlock with another. I loosened my grip on the boat and allowed myself to sway side to side. The touch was kind and gentle. A small part of me knew the danger, but another, far more desperate part just needed to feel something. Suddenly, I felt a grip around my back. My Mother ushered me away from the water. I hugged myself for warmth and closed my eyes. As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I overheard some of the conversations around me.
"How much did you pay?"
"Can't we go back? Maybe he is still alive"
"Stop talking nonsense. He is gone"
"Move over, I am almost falling out here."
"No, my family had couldn't come, they didn't make it."
"When do we get there? He said only three days"
"Three days? He said a few hours to me."
"A few hours! You must be foolish? Two days at least."
"The water is beautiful, let's us embrace the calm"
"I am cold"
Wait, I thought, "the water is beautiful?"
I looked around to see who would say such a strange thing. The voice didn't seem to come from anyone on board. The cold was getting to me. I closed my eyes again.
"We won't make the journey"
"Keep yourself quiet and don't be foolish"
"Leave her be, she's just nervous!"
"Nervous, look around, we are all nervous! Don't start lecturing me about nervous"
"I said stop it!"
I opened my eyes. Where's the mother of three?, I thought.
I perched up on the back of the boat and looked across the faces. Ah! There she was. She was cupping water and cleaning their faces. The injured woman looked very poorly. I wondered if there was a medical professional here. The injured lady had a partner. Another woman. She was beautiful.
In an instant, the boat violently shook. Rain tore into us so badly that we crawled as far into the boat as humanly possible. 20 or more voices were helplessly crying into the ocean's indifference. I tried to reassure the people around me that it was okay. When it calmed, I lifted my head and assessed my surroundings. I had cuts from the razor rain, but I was more or less intact. Then I heard the howling. A banshee cries. I could not figure out the dilemma. Who was screaming? It was the woman of three. She was howling.
The well-built man grabbed a torch from the box where the life jackets were and pointed it to the ocean of waves. It took me a few minutes to discern the ugly truth. Tears fell down the well built man's face. The woman of three. Now the woman of two. Yellow eyes were dotted around us. Another offering to their insatiable appetite.
Our mental and physical strength was drained. Food had been scarce for some time and as the old rhyme goes, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. The injured woman looked terrible. Apart from small gulps of freshwater and a makeshift bandage, we had nothing to give her. I began scouring the boat for something, anything that might relieve her pain. Her injuries looked deep. Her partner, the beautiful woman was stoic. She knew that nothing could be done, although the closer to the shoreline the better.
I rested my head against the yellowed, damaged side of the boat. Before I could get comfortable, it hit. A wave smashed against us. The boat lifted upwards into the sky. I fell backwards into the wake as the boat pounded back down into the water. Although, I didn't know at the time. The boat had ruptured its hull. The cold stinging pain of the water jolted my lungs. For a brief moment, I was paralysed. As I bobbed up and down in the water, my face dipped below the waterline. I couldn't make out much, but those yellow eyes.
They were still there. I saw faces, hundreds of them, surrounding my body. Grabbing and pulling me towards the deep. Many of the faces were those already dead, and I was being pulled towards them. In that moment of paralysis, there was almost serenity. The physical world full of its pain and anguish seemed to melt away in the midst of this calm inevitability.
A part of me was ready to give in. Join the chorus of distraught yellow eyes. I knew I couldn't. I froze as we made brief eye contact, but it was my mother’s voice snapped me back to the moment. I pulled and swam upwards in a feeble attempt to break away. I rose above the water and tried to grasp my surroundings. The boat was sinking. People were thrashing about in the water. It was panic. I knew I couldn't. I pulled and swam upwards in a feeble attempt to break away.
I saw the old lady.
"Jump", I cried to the old lady.
"It's sinking, it's sinking!"
The boat was decompressing rapidly.
"Jump", I shouted.
Just as the moon hit her face, I saw it. I saw many emotions, but I also saw what she couldn't bear to say. She couldn't swim. Before I could swim back to try and get her a lifejacket a wave from behind lifted me forward and I crashed into the side of the boat. In a daze, I grasped onto the thick rope that surrounded the boat. Mouthfuls after mouthfuls of salted air and water began to take their toll.
People were thrashing in the water. The cold was intense. The boat was almost fully sunk, and my upper body strength was gone. Then I saw it. A beam of light over the water. The sound of an incoming ship. A sigh of relief. Men threw out water doughnuts and rope. People clambered onto the boat. Those who were left anyway. By the time everyone was on board the sun was just peering out on the horizon. I was wrapped in a dry blanket and then I went dark.
When I woke up, I was in a tent. New clothes set out before me. I assessed my wounds. Cuts reddened the skin, but I was more or less okay. I sat up in the makeshift tent and grabbed a cup of coffee to warm my hands. I was exhausted, but I had to know where I was. I wandered out of the tent. The searing heat reminded me of home. People were shouting, vehicles were ferrying food and supplies back and forth. This must be one of the biggest camps there is.
In front of me was a new war with its own special injured. I walked throughout the camp looking for anyone I could recognise. The well-built man was looking pale and shell-shocked. His eyes were red and two doctors spoke in rapid-fire to one another. He didn't understand a word they were saying.
I moved through the camp for the rest of the day. I saw many faces, and harrowingly, I didn't see many others. When I came across the woman of two, my heart ached. She was inconsolable. The woman of two. My emotions knew nothing of her plight. I pushed my mind forward as much as I could.
The woman of none.
I walked on to find an empty bench. I collapsed into it and looked out over the horizon. I had survived.
A small whisper of encouragement filled my ears. My Mother. She soothed over the anxiety I was feeling. My anger, pain, and the hatred I had for myself to feel relief when so many others only feel pain. She whipped herself around the branches of a tree causing leaves to lightly dance in front of me. I thought back to the days of the olive trees that we used to have in our back garden. She continued to flit in a frenzy of happiness.
I understood.
Perhaps the afterlife is a lot simpler. I shrugged my shoulders as to say, "What do I do now?"
She cracked a wry smile. And whispered, "whatever you set your heart to."
With that, she began to move away from me. She extended her arms, and that is when I realised. She wasn't alone. Hiding behind the tree were three small individuals. Three that I recognised. The three little kittens looked at my mother and rushed towards her. She smiled at me and back at them.
She had saved me on my journey, and now it was her time to guide three little lives into a new one. A mixture of sadness and happiness crept over me. My Mother faded out. I shut my eyes and thought about dry land.
2023.05.28 05:40 Commissar_Carls_Jr The big problem with this update is that It feels like the game has lost its soul.
Everyone has been discussing the recent update, and arguing over thing like running speed (and inexplicably loadouts) but I think that while those may be issues, the biggest issue with this update is that the game feels like it has turn in a different direction, and is moving away from what it was.
Hell let loose, to me anyway, has always been a arcade WWII shooter that put a premium on two things. The first, and core to gameplay, is large maps and large teams, making battles that rely on teamwork and positioning as much as gunplay. The second is a degree of authenticity. You run around with historical weapons, wearing historical uniforms, fighting on historical maps. This is what I would call the games soul.
You could, and people did, find the maps that you played on in Google maps. The terrain that you play on in Utah Beach, for example, is pretty similar to what real people fought over at the time. The weapons are non customisable, but reflect what the different armies had. The US has heaps of semi auto rifles. The germans have the crazy variety. The soviets have ppsh and mosins and anti tank rifles. This authenticity took precedence over other features common in games like customization of weapons or in depth character creation because the game valued the historical background over that.
And with this update, none of the new content reflects that.
El alamein may be a fun map, but the whole thing is fake. The connection between our dumb game and the past is severed because instead of fighting on the fields that were actually fought on... we are fighting on the creation of some people in a room looking for a different setting.
The loadouts and customization though are what really ruin it for me. When you play as the Americans, you use guns that the Americans really had and used. Same with the germans, same with the soviets. But the british, with a main rifle that was basically a reserve weapon, a light machine gun from the wrong world war, and a submachine gun from the royal navy... they don't feel like the british.
So when I'm on a map called El Alamein, but I cannot find it on a map anywhere, and im using a gun noone in my friend group has ever heard of as my main rifle, ... its hard not to feel like the game no longer strives for authenticity. Like its losing its soul.
What do you think?
View Poll
submitted by Commissar_Carls_Jr to HellLetLoose [link] [comments]
Hell let loose, to me anyway, has always been a arcade WWII shooter that put a premium on two things. The first, and core to gameplay, is large maps and large teams, making battles that rely on teamwork and positioning as much as gunplay. The second is a degree of authenticity. You run around with historical weapons, wearing historical uniforms, fighting on historical maps. This is what I would call the games soul.
You could, and people did, find the maps that you played on in Google maps. The terrain that you play on in Utah Beach, for example, is pretty similar to what real people fought over at the time. The weapons are non customisable, but reflect what the different armies had. The US has heaps of semi auto rifles. The germans have the crazy variety. The soviets have ppsh and mosins and anti tank rifles. This authenticity took precedence over other features common in games like customization of weapons or in depth character creation because the game valued the historical background over that.
And with this update, none of the new content reflects that.
El alamein may be a fun map, but the whole thing is fake. The connection between our dumb game and the past is severed because instead of fighting on the fields that were actually fought on... we are fighting on the creation of some people in a room looking for a different setting.
The loadouts and customization though are what really ruin it for me. When you play as the Americans, you use guns that the Americans really had and used. Same with the germans, same with the soviets. But the british, with a main rifle that was basically a reserve weapon, a light machine gun from the wrong world war, and a submachine gun from the royal navy... they don't feel like the british.
So when I'm on a map called El Alamein, but I cannot find it on a map anywhere, and im using a gun noone in my friend group has ever heard of as my main rifle, ... its hard not to feel like the game no longer strives for authenticity. Like its losing its soul.
What do you think?
View Poll
2023.05.28 05:24 OpportunityProof4908 South Carolina will be allocating 500 million dollars of its budget for a overhaul of the Myrtle Beach And its committee Direct from the governors office of South Carolina reported by local news
South Carolina set forward a path to invest hundreds of millions into its Growing popular tourist destination. The budget will be used to build a new peer and walk way to stretch along the beach, as well as ecological restoration of natural Waccamaw National Wildlife Refugee. 6.7 million dollars in restoration will include designating parts of Myrtle beach and the Surrounding mangroves and Intercostal as the Pawsley State Park preserving its natural beauty for future generations. the bill also includes a Tax break for residents of the community who would have to live with a higher tourism population, and 167 Million in low interest small business Loans. To quote the Governor on this historic legislation “This was a fantastic addition to the wonderful state parks of our amazing state … we are incredibly lucky to have such diversity in our ecology and we must preserve that” going on to say that “ It’s the beach and it’s community that’s made Myrtle Beach so successful, anyone can have an amazing beach but an amazing community of hard working People behind it now that is harder to find and we lucked out here in South Carolina”.So far estimates belive this investment could bring in as many as 2.3 million tourists after restorations are competed in 1998.
submitted by OpportunityProof4908 to PSUS_governors [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 05:22 Superb_Buy3007 rent a Gulet in Thailand for a week
If you are looking for the perfect way to experience Thailand's stunning coastline and islands, renting a gulet with SEARADAR is the way to go. A gulet is a traditional wooden sailing vessel that is perfect for exploring the beautiful seas of Thailand. SEARADAR offers a concierge service for sailboat captains, providing personalized selections of high-quality yachts from trusted charter companies. Our support managers will be there to assist you with paperwork, route planning, and any questions or issues that may arise.
Thailand has some of the most beautiful and exotic destinations in the world for sailing. With clear blue waters and sandy beaches, sailing in Thailand is a unique experience that you will never forget. You can sail to many beautiful areas in Thailand, including the Phuket islands, Koh Samui, Krabi, and many more. Imagine cruising on a gulet, with the warm breeze in your hair and the beautiful scenery unfolding before you. With SEARADAR, you can choose the perfect gulet for your holiday needs, with various options available to suit different budgets and group sizes.
The best time to rent a gulet in Thailand is from November to March, which is the coolest and driest season in the country. During this time, you can expect temperatures of around 25°C to 30°C, with clear skies and calm seas, making it perfect for sailing. You can also experience festivals and events during this time, such as the Loy Krathong festival in November and the New Year's celebrations in December.
With SEARADAR, you can get the best prices for your gulet rental in Thailand. Our yacht reservation service is available at the cheapest and best prices, with a variety of packages to suit your budget and requirements. Our team will help you to find the perfect gulet for your needs, and assist you throughout your journey to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Book your gulet rental in Thailand with SEARADAR today via this link: https://searadar.tp.st/ysUlRFOw and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime!
submitted by Superb_Buy3007 to YachtCharterHub [link] [comments]
Thailand has some of the most beautiful and exotic destinations in the world for sailing. With clear blue waters and sandy beaches, sailing in Thailand is a unique experience that you will never forget. You can sail to many beautiful areas in Thailand, including the Phuket islands, Koh Samui, Krabi, and many more. Imagine cruising on a gulet, with the warm breeze in your hair and the beautiful scenery unfolding before you. With SEARADAR, you can choose the perfect gulet for your holiday needs, with various options available to suit different budgets and group sizes.
The best time to rent a gulet in Thailand is from November to March, which is the coolest and driest season in the country. During this time, you can expect temperatures of around 25°C to 30°C, with clear skies and calm seas, making it perfect for sailing. You can also experience festivals and events during this time, such as the Loy Krathong festival in November and the New Year's celebrations in December.
With SEARADAR, you can get the best prices for your gulet rental in Thailand. Our yacht reservation service is available at the cheapest and best prices, with a variety of packages to suit your budget and requirements. Our team will help you to find the perfect gulet for your needs, and assist you throughout your journey to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Book your gulet rental in Thailand with SEARADAR today via this link: https://searadar.tp.st/ysUlRFOw and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime!
2023.05.28 05:19 Repulsive-Hold-6575 Sometimes I feel like they won.
Nobody helped me. I had to save myself.
Years later my cousins hate me for my success, my family still tries to ruin and sabotage my reputation. And I’m alone.
My fathers wife began to dress up as me, trying to serve as my replacement.
Nobody cared for me or my well being or my brother who is now a drug addict.
They’ve all been sweeping it under the rug, and choosing to stay stuck together.
People are intimidated and always choose the weaker and more convenient person.
I ended up giving up on people, but gained a good life and many new opportunities for success.
It’s makes me sad sometimes because I’ll be torn down and not built up by people in life.
People will never choose the hard worker I feel like, it’s too much work, I’m too much work.
But so long as I will not have to care for anyone, so long as when their old and crippled and in need of a caregiver someone NOT me is there. I can live with drying my tears on a foreign beach.
I can’t live with caring for people who did everything in their power to show how little they cared for me.
submitted by Repulsive-Hold-6575 to CPTSD [link] [comments]
Years later my cousins hate me for my success, my family still tries to ruin and sabotage my reputation. And I’m alone.
My fathers wife began to dress up as me, trying to serve as my replacement.
Nobody cared for me or my well being or my brother who is now a drug addict.
They’ve all been sweeping it under the rug, and choosing to stay stuck together.
People are intimidated and always choose the weaker and more convenient person.
I ended up giving up on people, but gained a good life and many new opportunities for success.
It’s makes me sad sometimes because I’ll be torn down and not built up by people in life.
People will never choose the hard worker I feel like, it’s too much work, I’m too much work.
But so long as I will not have to care for anyone, so long as when their old and crippled and in need of a caregiver someone NOT me is there. I can live with drying my tears on a foreign beach.
I can’t live with caring for people who did everything in their power to show how little they cared for me.
2023.05.28 05:11 Playful-Stranger7435 Where are all the single 30+ year olds and what do you on your weekends/days off?
I'm 34M been in Brisbane for about 5 years and just wondering where are all the single 30+ year olds? Is everyone just staying at home cause of the rising cost of living? What do you do for fun on your days off?
I've found it quite difficult to make new friends here, most of the friends I have in Brisbane are now married and have kids, so I might only get to see them once every few months. I've tried looking for Meetup events but most don't spark my interests but I have joined a language exchange Meetup group and find most people who attend are quite transient, understandably as most are international students or on a working holiday visa. Which is fine but I've noticed there's a bit of an age gap (most are in their early 20s) and majority of attendees only attend once and don't usually return. I've also joined badminton group and most are in their 20s and there's just not much in common so we don't hangout outside of badminton. I understand it's quite difficult to make friends as you get older and some friends drift apart but how do you make new friends?
I also find there's not many things to do in Brisbane. Whenever, I meet my friends it's over food. Most common things to do in Brisbane from what I've read on these threads are hiking, bouldering, playing boardgames, go to the beach, go to Eat Street markets etc. I want to go out as the weather is quite nice today but not sure where I can go and I've already looked through Concrete playground, Weekend edition and Urbanlist.
Thanks for your suggestions in advance and sorry for the little rant.
submitted by Playful-Stranger7435 to BrisbaneSocial [link] [comments]
I've found it quite difficult to make new friends here, most of the friends I have in Brisbane are now married and have kids, so I might only get to see them once every few months. I've tried looking for Meetup events but most don't spark my interests but I have joined a language exchange Meetup group and find most people who attend are quite transient, understandably as most are international students or on a working holiday visa. Which is fine but I've noticed there's a bit of an age gap (most are in their early 20s) and majority of attendees only attend once and don't usually return. I've also joined badminton group and most are in their 20s and there's just not much in common so we don't hangout outside of badminton. I understand it's quite difficult to make friends as you get older and some friends drift apart but how do you make new friends?
I also find there's not many things to do in Brisbane. Whenever, I meet my friends it's over food. Most common things to do in Brisbane from what I've read on these threads are hiking, bouldering, playing boardgames, go to the beach, go to Eat Street markets etc. I want to go out as the weather is quite nice today but not sure where I can go and I've already looked through Concrete playground, Weekend edition and Urbanlist.
Thanks for your suggestions in advance and sorry for the little rant.
2023.05.28 05:10 KirkHammettJigsaw Booking the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship From Wrestle Kingdom 17 Part I Can We Give Joshua Epps The World Title?
 | Divas Title. submitted by KirkHammettJigsaw to FantasyBookingElite [link] [comments] The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have the same lineage as the belt that came before it. It doesn’t matter that it killed the Intercontinental Championship and buried it deep into the ground to rot. It doesn’t matter that it looks like if the Divas Championship got railed by the Big Gold and spit out a little premature bastard failed abortion six excruciating months later. It’s still one of the most prestigious championships in professional wrestling. Just look at the lineage. Kota Ibushi. Will Ospreay. Shingo Takagi. Kazuchika Okada. Jay White. Kazuchika Okada again. Ignore what happened after that please, that doesn’t need to happen and it won’t happen here. It’s one of the most sought-after belts, and yet the current champion is SANADA. All of that talent vying to hold that gold, and the main event scene is SANADA and Yota “Good But Not There Yet” Tsuji. Nobody wants to see that, and it certainly doesn’t help the perception of the championship. That’s what I’m here for. A championship with a lineage like that deserves much, much better, and so that’s what I’m going to try and give it. We start back at the beginning of the year, at Wrestle Kingdom 17, with The Rainmaker and The Switchblade going to war in our main event. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 - January 4th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship We just came off of one of the best matches in pro wrestling history, Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay, and White and Okada must do battle on a canvas now stained with blood, a testament to what kind of stuff these competitors must do to attain glory. It’s a great match, very counter-heavy, as both men are some of the best reversal artists that the sport has ever seen. Jay White wrestles like his usual sneaky self, but there’s just a foreboding sense that his time in NJPW is up. His glass jaw takes one too many dropkicks and he starts to fade. King Switch attempts to reverse a Rainmaker with a Blade Runner, but Okada muscles out of the counter, hits a Discus Rainmaker, and then follows it up with the real thing to seal the deal and take the title! Kazuchika Okada def. Jay White in 33:03 to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship NJPW New Year Dash!! - January 5th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay and Aaron Henare) Before this match, Ospreay is in the ring, bandage on his head, ready to take it easy in a pedestrian tag as he casually talks to Henare. Okada steps into the ring, and then his surprise tag partner’s music hits. The moment that Devil’s Sky begins blasting through the arena speakers, the look on The Commonwealth Kingpin’s face changes immediately! Okada and Omega, members of perhaps the greatest feud in wrestling history, are teaming together tonight! Ospreay wants his revenge for the loss last night, and he gets in Kenny’s face. The Cleaner responds by putting his recently won IWGP United States Championship right in his face. The match is fun, as Okada and Ospreay, like always, have some very fun sequences. They look pretty evenly-matched, and Henare also looks pretty damn good against two of the best wrestlers of all time. Outmatched, sure, but good. Better than expected, even if he isn’t the other three men in the match. Ospreay constantly tries to go after Kenny, but the Best Bout Machine always tags out like a dickhead. He’s not letting Will get his revenge that easy. At one point, Ospreay lets his anger get the best of him and he knocks Omega off the apron, before hitting a beautiful dive, and continuing to beat on him outside! The downside of Ospreay’s reckless attack, however, is that it leaves Henare all alone in the ring with the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Aaron shows some heart, but heart don’t mean shit when you’re up against Kazuchika Okada. Okada eventually gets the better of him, and has him in position for a Rainmaker. However, Kazu shakes his head, basically saying that The Artist Formerly Known As Toa Henare isn’t even worth a Rainmaker! He transitions into The Money Clip, locking it tight right in the middle of the ring, and Henare eventually has no choice but to quit! Okada and Omega pose cockily in the ring with their respective titles, seemingly carrying a little bit of extra swagger into the new year. Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega def. United Empire in 14:36 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 In Yokohama Arena - January 21st, 2023 Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Imamura This match is pretty pedestrian at first. Of course, like in real life, shit gets crazy fast. Makabe tags out after a fun sequence with Kaito, and Kaito brings in Imamura. Imamura isn’t exactly a top level guy, and Okada gets the better of him. He starts challenging Imamura to wake up, slapping him in the face and locking him in a Chinlock, and Kiyomiya sees this as disrespect, which brings him into the ring. He kicks Okada hard in the head, which leads Okada to brawling with him on the outside! The fight devolves, and the two men kick the shit out of each other while Makabe and Imamura try to play peacekeeper. The match is called off as Okada and Kiyomiya get pulled away from each other. No Contest after 6:35 NJPW Road to The New Beginning: Night Five - January 30th, 2023 On the post-show press conference, after CHAOS, Taguchi and Tanahashi take a loss to Los Ingonerables de Japon, Kazuchika Okada speaks to the media. He gets asked about his small change in attitude as of late. The dismissiveness towards Aaron Henare, the way he threw around Yoshiki Imamura. It almost seems like he’s been giving the next generation the cold shoulder. Given this, how does he respond to young stars racking up wins on this tour, such as Ren Narita? Okada sort of shrugs it all off. He says that it feels weird that all of the names he usurped to get to the top are beginning to die off, and now HE’S the veteran. He’s been waiting for the next Okada, and nobody has come along yet. Why are we talking about Ren Narita getting a win on the undercard, when Shingo Takagi just pinned YOH to win the match tonight? He thinks that Takagi looked dangerous tonight, and Okada wants to face him at The New Beginning in Osaka. NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2023 - February 11th, 2023 Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Shingo Takagi had a good string of Road To shows leading up to the event, being responsible for every LIJ win, and it earned him this match tonight, a rematch of Wrestle Kingdom 16’s main event. This one is an incredible battle, Shingo doing his absolute best to come back from the KOPW level and get back to being at the very precipice of the company. Unfortunately for The Last Dragon, though, Kazuchika Okada is in rare form, and after suffering through a fair share of huge Lariats, Okada hits a Spinning Tombstone and follows it up with a devastating Rainmaker to close out this absolute belter of a main event. Kazuchika Okada def. Shingo Takagi in 32:07 After the match, Ren Narita comes out and confronts Okada! He says that he racked up just as many wins as Shingo leading up to tonight’s show, and yet the champion completely snubbed him and didn’t even entertain the possibility of defending against him. Why? Is it because he’s young? Okada says that it’s because he’s simply not ready, but if Narita wants to learn exactly how unready he really is, then he can face Okada at Battle In The Valley. The match is set, and the young Ren Narita will have the biggest match of his career as he tries to shock the world and take the belt off of The Rainmaker in San Jose! NJPW Battle In The Valley - February 18th, 2023 Ren Narita vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship A week after his last defense, Kazuchika Okada is back at it again, putting his IWGP World Heavyweight Title up for grabs against one of NJPW’s most promising prospects, Ren Narita. Narita has looked good as of late, but it’s a whole different ballgame when you’re standing across the ring from the greatest wrestler of a generation, the face of the company. If Narita wants to win tonight, he has to be better than he ever has been. The young member of Strong Style tries to strike from distance early on and also grapples with The Rainmaker in an MMA-like way. Given Okada’s struggle to defeat Shibata back in the day, we know that this is a bit of a weakness for him. Okada’s getting more and more frustrated as Shibata Jr. continues to pepper him with strikes, and at one point, Narita throws a Palm Strike that lands a bit more like a snap. It’s like you can see Okada’s ego getting wounded, and he snaps. He immediately decks Narita with a Forearm and begins stomping on him. From there, Okada takes most of the offense, though Ren does show flashes of fire that the Champion has to fight to weather. Kazuchika Okada is NJPW’s ace for a reason, though, and he begins to grind Narita down. Mockingly, he cracks The Son of Strong Style with a Penalty Kick, laughing. He looks right at Minoru Suzuki, Narita’s factionmate in Strong Style, at ringside, and drives Narita into the mat head-first with Suzuki’s finish, the Gotch-Style Piledriver. Finally, he mercifully decides to end things with a Rainmaker. After landing it, instead of going for the pin, he just rests contemplatively, hands on his knees. Then, he impulsively and quickly bursts to his feet, pulls Narita back up, and puts him down with a second Rainmaker! He makes the cover, not even bothering to hook the leg. One…Two…Three! Kazuchika Okada def. Ren Narita in 28:11 to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship After the match, El Desperado slides into the ring and puts a cold pack on Narita’s neck. Suzuki isn’t concerned with all that. Instead, The King walks up to Okada, hands behind his back, and stares him down. We can’t hear what he’s saying to the champion, but it must be some sort of remark about respect. The lack of respect that Okada showed Narita by hitting him with two Rainmakers. The lack of respect that he showed Shibata and Suzuki himself by ripping their moves. The lack of respect he showed the new generation by implying that they’re below him, and the lack of respect he showed the old generation by not mentioning them whatsoever. Okada doesn’t say a word, he simply raises his championship high in the air and dips out of the ring. NOAH Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling Last Love Hold Out - February 21st, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya Tonight, Kazuchika Okada is in enemy territory. Keiji Muto’s career is ending tonight, and, as NOAH’s Ace, Kaito Kiyomiya is looking to capitalize on this incredible spotlight by taking out The Rainmaker and cementing himself as the premier champion in all of Japan. The two men have a much more back-and-forth affair than in real life, and with the crowd firmly against Okada, he almost seems to be drowning towards the middle of the match. Kiyomiya gets the nearest fall of the match with a beautiful Lifting DDT from the top rope, and when Okada kicks out, the GHC Heavyweight Champion knees him HARD right to the jaw. The knee strike bloodies Okada up a little bit, mashing his lips against his teeth. He checks his mouth for blood, and when he notices some, it seems to wake him up a little bit. From there, Kaito, who expended a lot of his energy trying to put the match away earlier, seems like he’s having trouble dealing with a revitalized IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Okada puts him down with a beautiful Dropkick and smiles, waiting for Kiyomiya to get to his knees. Once he does, Okada rushes forward AND TAKES HIS HEAD OFF WITH A SHINING WIZARD! THAT’S KEIJI MUTO’S FINISH! The crowd seems shocked at this move theft, and Okada picks Kaito up, before planting him with The Rainmaker for the One…Two…Three! Kazuchika Okada def. Kaito Kiyomiya in 34:46 NJPW New Japan Cup - Overview I don’t even really want to touch SANADA’s side of the bracket, but with the crazy fucking push that New Japan is giving him, I don’t despise the idea of him making the finals, so we’ll keep that as is. Let’s talk about the other side, though. The one that David Finlay made it through in real life, though? Nah, let’s not have any of that. Instead, after taking out Yujiro Takahashi in the opening round, Minoru Suzuki also eliminates Finlay in the second. After dealing with two current Bullet Club members, Suzuki faces off with a former one in Tama Tonga. They have a back-and-forth match, but Suzuki reverses a Gun Stun and latches on a Sleeper Hold to secure victory. The semi-finals end up being a huge test for The King, though. He has to deal with perhaps the greatest member of Suzuki-Gun, his former stablemate, the Front Man of TMDK himself, Zack Sabre Jr. Despite the fact that their alliance is dead, and their character alignments don’t match up anymore, the two still shake hands before the match begins. It’s a very difficult match for both men, because they know each other so well. However, once ZSJ’s submissions get reversed, he has to fall back on his striking, and Suzuki has him beat there. Sabre goes for a PK, gets tripped up, and Minoru drops some ground and pound on him, before lining up and connecting with a PK of his own! He picks the Technical Wizard up and plants him with a Gotch Piledriver for the win! Somehow, Minoru Suzuki has made it to the finals of the New Japan Cup! In the finals, two men that have scores to settle with Kazuchika Okada have to battle it out. SANADA has tried to defeat The Rainmaker countless times, and has only succeeded once, back in 2019’s G1 Climax 29. Suzuki, on the other hand, also has history with Okada, but his beef with the champion is much more recent, dating back to Battle In The Valley, where the veteran felt that Okada had disrespected STRONG STYLE. Suzuki and SANADA are both weathered from a long, grueling tournament, and it feels like any big move could finish the match. The finish comes when SANADA goes to the top rope and tries for a Moonsault, only for The King to get his knees up and capitalize by driving his opponent into the mat head-first with a Gotch-Style Piledriver! Cover! One…Two…THREE! Against all odds, Minoru Suzuki will face Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis! NJPW Sakura Genesis - April 8th, 2023 Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Kazuchika Okada has been acting a little bit differently, and that means that he has rubbed a few people in the puro world the wrong way. One of those people is Minoru Suzuki, the oldest member of STRONG STYLE, who, after years of villainy, has dedicated himself to helping the next generation of puroresu. Okada embarrassed Ren Narita, Suzuki’s protege, and now The King is here to make The Rainmaker pay. Can he embarrass the champion in return, and collect a prize that has eluded him forever in the process, or will Kazuchika Okada do what he does best and win? The entrances have happened, the announcements have been made, the bell has been rung. None of the talking matters anymore. They meet in the middle of the ring and engage in the traditional collar-and-elbow tie-up. However, neither man is able to force the other to the ropes! They’re locked in a stalemate right in the centre of the squared circle, both competitors refusing to take a single step back! To move backwards is to concede, even just a little bit, and in a battle of iron wills like this, nobody is willing to concede! Okada tries to knock Suzuki off balance by poking at his knee with his boot, but Suzuki stands his ground and releases his left hand grip to hit the champion in the ribs a couple of times, just looking to chop the tree down slowly and methodically. They both realize that they won’t be able to push the other man to the ropes, so instead of dragging this out, they release the tie-up. They both re-centre themselves, and after circling The King, Okada goes for a single leg takedown. He almost gets it, but Suzuki remains standing. Minoru takes a couple of swings, but The Rainmaker trips him up and wrenches on the ankle! Suzuki rolls onto his stomach and gets to his feet, and Kazuchika decides to keep him low by moving into a Headlock! Headlock Takeover now, and Suzuki automatically grabs a Headscissors, which doesn’t faze Okada, who breaks and gets to his feet. Suzuki gets up too, and Okada goes for another takedown, but he eats a knee to the head! He’s stunned and pops back to his feet, and Suzuki throws a barrage of slaps! SPINNING CHOP! CHOP TO THE FACE! BIG BOOT! He makes the cover! One…and a kickout, but Okada’s still rocked despite the early kickout! Okada gets on all fours and starts crawling away, but The King won’t let him get away that easy, and he hits an Elbow Drop to the back of the head! Suzuki transitions right into a nice Bulldog Choke, reminiscent of the other man that Okada is feuding with, Jon Moxley! Okada doesn’t want to stay in this hold for too long, though, so he starts powering to his feet! Lifts Suzuki straight into the air! BACK SUPLEX! Okada gets up, and he wants to put this match away right this instant! Picks Suzuki up! Go-behind! HE’S LOOKING FOR THE RAINMAKER ALREADY! RIPCORD! BUT SUZUKI IS STILL VERY CONSCIOUS, AND HE HITS A BASEMENT DROPKICK ON THE REBOUND TO KNOCK OKADA TO THE MAT! Suzuki knows that Okada’s overzealousness is a sign that the challenger is getting to him, so he decides to toy with The Rainmaker a bit more. He grabs Okada’s wrist and positions it so that his wrist is folding his fingers into the mat, and he proceeds to grind his boot onto the wrist to attack the fingers! Okada is shrieking in pain, and he fights to a standing position! Suzuki maintains control of his digits though, bending and twisting! Okada can’t withstand the pain anymore, HE GOES FOR A CLOSED FIST PUNCH! SUZUKI DUCKS IT, KEEPS CONTROL OF THE FINGERS, GOES BEHIND, AND PERFORMS A RIPCORD! ONCE OKADA IS EXTENDED, HE SNAPS THE CHAMPION’S FINGERS! SUZUKI LAUGHS AT OKADA’S PAIN, AND THEN KNOCKS HIM DOWN WITH A HEADBUTT! COVER! ONE…TWO…AND A KICKOUT! Suzuki smells blood in the water, and he takes full mount! The King starts dropping Elbows, and he’s absolutely relentless with these! Okada is covering his head, he can’t cope with these strikes, but Minoru Suzuki doesn’t give a fuck! He stands up AND STARTS STOMPING ON HIS SKULL! OVER AND OVER! PRIDE NEVER DIES, BUT KAZUCHIKA OKADA JUST MIGHT! Blood is leaking down The Rainmaker’s nose, and it seems like that’s exactly where the challenger is aiming! Knee Drop right on the face! Okada has been knocked loopy, and Suzuki drags him to a sitting position. He tells him that he’s responsible for all of this, slaps him in the face, AND RUNS THE ROPES! PENALTY KICK! NO, OKADA KIPS UP AT THE LAST SECOND AND HITS HIS SIGNATURE DROPKICK! RIGHT ON THE BUTTON! COVER! ONE…TWO…AND SUZUKI GETS THE SHOULDER UP! Okada looks absolutely shocked that he didn’t close things out there, and he gets to his knees and checks for blood. To his horror, his palm is stained red, and he’s ANGRY. He starts laying in stomps of his own, STRAIGHT TO THE SKULL OF MINORU SUZUKI! HE’S SWEARING AS HE STOMPS! DRAGS SUZUKI TO HIS KNEES! GOES TO THE TOP! MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE BACK OF SUZUKI’S HEAD! Okada is still pissed right off, and he drags Suzuki to his feet. Goes behind, poses, RIPCORD, AND HE GOES FOR A DISCUS RAINMAKER! SUZUKI COUNTERS WITH AN INCREDIBLY HARD SLAP, AND OKADA IS STAGGERED! SUZUKI SEES HIS OPENING! KICK TO THE GUT! GOTCH-STYLE PILEDRIVER, IT’S GOOD! HOOKS THE LEG! ONE…TWO…THREE!!! HE ACTUALLY DID IT! AFTER YEARS OF GRINDING, MINORU SUZUKI CAN FINALLY CALL HIMSELF NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING’S WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION! Minoru Suzuki def. Kazuchika Okada in 29:23 to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship AEW Dynamite - April 12th, 2023 Orange Cassidy is interviewed by Renee Paquette after a successful defense of his AEW International Championship. She talks about how he’s been so busy lately, and it seems like he’s faced everybody that there is to offer. She asks him what he wants to do next. He thinks for a moment. “I don’t know, really. I’m in CHAOS and that Suzuki guy took the IWGP World Championship from my friend. I think I’ll go for that. Unless, uh, he doesn’t wanna face me. Then I’ll just go home, I guess.” The very on-brand callout by “Freshly Squeezed” is accepted before the night is out, and the match is made for NJPW Collision in Philadelphia! NJPW Capital Collision - April 15th, 2023 Tom Lawlor vs. Orange Cassidy (c) - AEW International Championship The night before challenging for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Orange Cassidy does a very Orange Cassidy thing and defends his AEW International Championship against the leader of Team Filthy himself, Tom Lawlor. Minoru Suzuki is on Japanese Commentary for the match, and Cassidy proceeds to have an absolute banger with the former UFC fighter. He eventually manages to put him away with a Beach Break from the middle rope, and Suzuki then comes down to the ring. OC and Suzuki shake hands, but Mr. Citrus can’t take his eyes off of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Orange Cassidy def. Tom Lawlor in 16:09 to retain the AEW International Championship NJPW Collision in Philadelphia - April 16th, 2023 Orange Cassidy vs. Minoru Suzuki (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship This match was supposed to happen on a GCW show before the pandemic, back when Suzuki was a cold-blooded machine and Orange Cassidy was comic relief. Now, both men are champions, and both men are cheered by the fans. They have a very fun match. Early on, Cassidy hits Suzuki with his mock kicks, and The King answers back with some of his own! Orange is younger and faster, and as the match goes on, the more it feels like he MIGHT just get the job done somehow! However, Suzuki starts going after Orange’s ribs, and with how often the International Champion has been competing, they’re already not at a hundred percent. The challenger makes a last-ditch effort and goes for an Orange Punch, but Suzuki lands a Spinebuster, a short PK followed by a Running PK, and then a Gotch-Style Piledriver to close out a banger of a contest. Minoru Suzuki def. Orange Cassidy in 21:30 to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship NJPW Hirooki Goto 20th Anniversary Event - April 22nd, 2023 STRONG STYLE (Minoru Suzuki and El Desperado) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada) Hirooki Goto is, of course, main eventing his own Anniversary Show, but before the match Suzuki asks for a microphone. He talks about the battles he’s had with Goto in the past, including their Hair vs. Hair match back in the day. As a show of respect, he wants to offer Goto a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku, should CHAOS get the win tonight. The two teams have a crowd-pleasing contest, with Suzuki and Okada barely interacting. At the end, though, Goto catches Despy with a GTR. While he pins El Desperado, Okada prevents Suzuki from getting into the ring, levelling him with a Rainmaker that might have connected just a LITTLE bit after the bell. Nevertheless, Hirooki Goto has secured himself a shot at the biggest title in the sport! It’s been a happy Anniversary for him! CHAOS def. STRONG STYLE in 12:37 NJPW Wrestling Dontaku - May 3rd, 2023 Hirooki Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Two NJPW legends do battle in tonight’s main event. Until recently, they were perhaps the greatest NJPW competitors to never win World Title gold for the promotion. Suzuki checked it off the list, and perhaps Goto will do the same tonight. They have an absolute banger of a match, including a chop battle that leaves both of them with bloody chests. Goto has a very impactful moveset, and he tries desperately to fire off moves that could probably shatter Suzuki’s neck at this point, but the champion has him scouted throughout, peppering him with strikes. Eventually, with Suzuki countering all of his shit, Goto breaks an older move out of his arsenal! He lifts Suzuki up and plants him with the Jigoku Kuruma! Cover! One…Two…AND A KICKOUT! Suzuki is still conscious, somehow, and Goto’s frustration is palpable! With YOSHI-HASHI, his Bishamon tag partner, at ringside cheering him on, Goto picks Suzuki back up and goes to the well again, trying for another Jigoku Kuruma! Suzuki knees his way out of it, landing in perfect position for a Gotch-Style Piledriver! HITS IT! COVER! ONE…TWO…THR-NO! GOTO KICKED OUT, BUT HE’S RUNNING ON FUMES! Suzuki lifts him to a sitting position and runs the ropes multiple times, HITTING A COLOSSAL PENALTY KICK! TAKES HIS BACK! SLEEPER HOLD, AND HE’S ALREADY OUT! RED SHOES HAS TO CALL IT, SUZUKI RETAINS! Minoru Suzuki def. Hirooki Goto in 25:01 to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship At the post-show press conference, Kazuchika Okada talks about how Suzuki has only faced CHAOS guys since winning the championship. Why not go for the leader! Okada has had his number countless times in the past, and even beat him on Goto’s Anniversary Show, putting him out cold with a Rainmaker. If Suzuki wants to prove himself as a champion, then Okada is the man to face at Dominion. Suzuki responds later on, saying that he already beat Okada, so he HAS proved himself as a champion. However, the reason he wanted to face Okada in the first place was to teach him to respect STRONG STYLE, and obviously that hasn’t happened yet, so he’s happy to run it back. Dominion. June 4th. Osaka-Jo Hall. Suzuki will once again stop the rain. NJPW STRONG Resurgence - May 21st, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Wheeler Yuta Wheeler Yuta, with Jon Moxley at ringside, is looking to get a statement victory against one of wrestling’s top stars and prove that he truly is the best. He puts up a hell of a fight, even out-grappling The Rainmaker! He very nearly manages to get the pinfall victory with The Seatbelt, but Okada barely manages to touch one of the ropes with his boot. Wheeler’s offense ends up dying out after he gets knocked loopy by a Dropkick, and then he takes three consecutive Rainmakers just because Okada wants to prove a point! Of course, Yuta isn’t kicking out of that. Kazuchika Okada def. Wheeler Yuta in 20:52 Following the victory, Okada poses like a conqueror, foot on the unconscious Yuta’s chest, and this seems to hurt Moxley’s ego. He hops into the ring and kicks Okada’s foot away, talking shit. Okada slaps him, and Moxley immediately takes him down! They're throwing bombs on the ground, and a bunch of officials, security guards and producers rush into the ring to separate the two former World Champions! NJPW Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-Jo Hall - June 4th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship The last time these two faced off, Minoru Suzuki pulled off the upset of the year and managed to unseat the ace of New Japan, claiming his very first IWGP World Heavyweight Championship when everybody thought that he was in his New Japan Dad phase. Kazuchika Okada’s ego didn’t appreciate the hit that it took against The King, so after two defenses, Suzuki is giving The Rainmaker another go at things. The opening of the match is void of any respect at all, both men slapping each other in lieu of allowing clean breaks. Okada is perhaps more aggressive than ever before, but in a way, that plays into the skill set of the Pancrase-hardened champion. He even hits a PK early on in the match, but Kazuchika kicks out of it. After a war that leaves both men with some battle scars, we enter the closing stretch. Suzuki seems to be suffering from the length of the match, while Okada’s cardio is intact. Minoru reverses a Rainmaker by booting Okada in the gut and going for a Gotch-Style Piledriver! Okada kicks his way out of it and throws a wild strike that Suzuki ducks. He goes behind and locks in a standing Sleeper! Okada drops down and backs through Suzuki’s legs, maintaining wrist control, before flipping the champion into Piledriver position! Spinning Tombstone! Picks him up! Ripcord! RAINMAKER! HE CONNECTS! GOES FOR THE PIN! ONE…TWO…THREE! KAZUCHIKA OKADA IS BACK AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN! Kazuchika Okada def. Minoru Suzuki in 33:38 to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship NJPW New Japan Road: Night Two - June 11th, 2023 CHAOS (YOH and Lio Rush) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) The BCC is in Japan, and they’re here to send a message to CHAOS. In our second-to-last match of the night, YOH and Lio Rush put up a hell of a fight, with Lio nearly getting the win with a beautiful Frog Splash on Claudio, but the BCC puts them through the wringer. At the end, Moxley plants YOH with a Death Rider, and he’s more than done, but The Sick Guy decides to roll through and bring YOH to his feet, before spinning him around and hitting him with a Rainmaker! He makes the cover and picks up the win, sending a HUGE message to the newly-crowned IWGP World Heavyweight Champion by doing so! Blackpool Combat Club def. CHAOS in 8:43 AEW Dynamite - June 14th, 2023 On Dynamite, Wheeler Yuta and Bryan Danielson pick up a victory over the Best Friends, and afterwards, Jon Moxley gets in the ring and grabs a microphone. He talks about how he is a man that never forgets, and he hasn’t forgotten how Kazuchika Okada tried to embarrass the BCC at Resurgence. He has now made it his mission to rip the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship away from The Rainmaker, and show him exactly why the Blackpool Combat Club is NOT the group to fuck with. He gives the microphone back and prepares to leave the ring…until the coin drops. The crowd loses their shit, Kazuchika Okada is here! Not only that, he’s not on the ramp…he’s behind the Death Rider! Okada spins Mox around and hits him with a Dropkick! Wheeler and Danielson converge on The Rainmaker, and Claudio Castagnoli runs down the ramp, but the Swiss Superman is intercepted by an Orange Punch from CHAOS member Orange Cassidy! Wheeler Yuta is attacked by Trent and his former trainer Chuck Taylor, and Bryan Danielson gets dragged out of the ring by one of his opponents at Forbidden Door, IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega (they’re in a Triple Threat with Will Ospreay)! Okada picks Moxley back up and puts him out cold with a Rainmaker! Toronto is going to be treated to one hell of a show when Forbidden Door 2 rolls into town, and Moxley vs. Okada is one of the most can’t-miss matches on the entire card! AEW Collision - June 24th, 2023 Kazuchika Okada vs. AR Fox It’s the second edition of Collision, and the night before Forbidden Door 2. Kazuchika Okada has his first ever match on AEW television, against the talented AR Fox. Fox knows that pulling this off would make him one of the biggest stars in wrestling, and he empties the tank early, but after weathering the storm, Okada is able to take advantage of an exhausted AR and hit him with The Rainmaker. However, just to pay Moxley back for his finisher theft on New Japan Road, Okada picks Fox up and plants him with a Paradigm Shift before making the match-winning cover! Kazuchika Okada def. AR Fox in 11:54 Jon Moxley doesn’t appreciate the disrespect, and he immediately storms out! Okada meets him on the ramp, and it’s hands on the spot! The two men exchange haymakers, leveling each other, not willing to wait for tomorrow night! The crowd here in The Six is loud for this brawl, and officials flood out of the backstage area to stop this! The two men get separated, but they’re giving each other Stone Cold Salutes as they get ushered to the back, obviously from separate sides! AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door - June 25th, 2023 Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada (c) - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship We’ve got a certified banger in the cards here, folks, because in one of the most intense feuds of the night, Jon Moxley challenges for Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, looking to expand the Blackpool Combat Club’s trophy case even further. It’s Okada’s first defense, and there’s no love lost here, as we don’t see any clean breaks. Instead, each man slaps the other hard across the face, and the early goings of this one quickly devolve into a bit of a brawl. Moxley does his damndest to bring things to the outside, where he has a distinct advantage, and he eventually does, wrecking Okada out there. However, Okada is a tremendous counter-wrestler, and he manages to reverse a Paradigm Shift attempt into a beautiful Arm Drag, followed by a Dropkick, a German Suplex, a Tombstone Piledriver, and a Discus Rainmaker! That barrage somehow isn’t even to keep Jon Moxley down, but it does turn the tide significantly, and Okada is eventually able to hit a regular version of The Rainmaker to secure the victory, coming out of the match worse for wear, but still the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Kazuchika Okada def. Jon Moxley in 28:59 |
2023.05.28 05:05 free-range-cassava 3.5mm headphone port is broken, would the stereo adapter work?
I have an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller and the headphone port is no longer working. I have Astro A10 headphones and I have confirmed that they are not broken and that the controller’s port is the issue. Would the Turtle Beach or Xbox adapter fix my issues? If so which do you recommend? These are a lot cheaper than a new controller or wireless headphones, and I would probably use them on future controllers anyway to prevent the port from breaking. This has happed on almost all of my controllers so far and would really like to prevent it or have away around it.
submitted by free-range-cassava to XboxSupport [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 05:00 Kazevenikov Cryptid Chronicle - Chapter 30
A special thanks to u/bluefishcake for the wonderful original story and sandbox to play in.
A special thanks to my editors LordHenry7898, RandomTinkerer, Swimming_Good_8507, CatsInTrenchcoats, and KLiCKonthat.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired me to tell my own in this universe. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), CarCU131 (The Cook), and Rhion-618 (Just One Drop)
Hy’shq’e Ay Si’am (Thank you noble friends)
Chapter 30: A Promise Kept
Kalai stepped off the shuttle to the Vaida’s headquarters and into a running tackle-hug from Sitry. “Oh Kalai, I could kill you right now! You got to see the Great Barrier Reef in person, you bitch!” Sitry’s cheerful voice was muffled from where she was still buried in her chest. Kalai staggered backwards a pace or two, happy to be back from her whirlwind adventure around Earth with her father.
Naranjo and Papa Rhaxiid were there on the platform to welcome her back too, but their welcomes were more sedate.
“Not to mention you got out of work for half our damn trip. Ugh, it’s so not fair!” Naranjo huffed as Kalai gave him a sisterly hug.
Papa Rhaxiid reached up and chucked her chin before turning to lead the way back inside from the forested platform. “Welcome back, sweet-sprout, we’ve missed you. Come on, we’ll get you settled again and off to work. There’s quite a bit you need to catch up on if you want your credits.”
The chuckles from the twins behind her were full of sibling malice, but she knew how to shut the pair of them up. “Papa Rhaxiid? I’ve got the paper on Biodiversity in the Reef you asked for, along with the dissection report and stomach content analysis of the tuna we caught. I want to put the finishing touches on it and do a final proofread first before I send them to you.” The man turned and gave her a warm smile as they entered the building.
“Good, why don’t you go take your things back up and say hello to Andy? I’ll give you an hour and a half to get freshened up, then I want you to report to Aquarium 12 with Dr. Sor’ansa. You can put your snorkeling practice to work there.” Papa Rhaxiid walked the three of them to the residential elevator. “I’m heading back to my office. Andy’s been requested by Maetro Pae’ella to work the kitchens for something called ‘Bison burgers'. Apparently it’s a type of indigenous bovine that the eastern Bands raise. That and something from Europe called ‘French Fries’.”
Kalai couldn’t help but get excited as she and her siblings piled into the elevator back to their little shared apartment. Sure the food she’d had all over the place was good, but so far nothing had been able to compare to Andy and his Salishian cooking.
“Nerd, I can’t believe you cheated and did work on your vacation." Naranjo broke the silence of the elevator after a little bit and stuck his tongue out at her.
“Spit to windward, you vain little weed. Don’t hate me because I’m awesome.” Kalai’s riposte caused Naranjo to fold his arms and huff. Sitry simply ambushed her with an ear flick.
The elevator door opened to their floor before Kalai couldn’t bear the silence from Sitry any longer. “So, did you bag him yet, you lucky bitch?”
“No she hasn’t!” Naranjo’s singsong mockery of his sister interrupted Sitry’s response. “Papa hasn’t let Sitry even NEAR Andy without one of them around!”
“Rub it in, you snitch, besides, he did kiss me first,” Sitry preened happily as she playfully shoved Kalai’s shoulder.
Kalai pretended to stumble and almost caught Sitry’s foot, but she was just a hair too slow. “Yeah, and then you gave him a black eye, you clod.”
“Will you let it go? It was an accident!”
“It’s not even the only one he got either." Naranjo’s interjection stopped her right in front of their door.
“Wait, what? Who hurt him this time?” Kalai let her bag thunk to the floor as she turned to look accusingly between Sitry and Narny.
Sitry folded her arms and her ears twitched back as she shot a dark look at their door. “He ‘fell down’ yesterday while out at one of the Hatcheries we gave to the Hwatcoms. Mrs. Toloui nearly had a fit! She said she could smell another human on him and that he was covered in blood!”
Narny nodded primly as Kalai tried to process what they were telling her. “WHAT? Did she call out the militia? Track down whoever hurt him?”
“No, and he refused treatment and insisted that no one did it to him! When papa tried to talk to him, Andy said some stupid human macho shit about pain healing and birds liking scars. I don’t know, sometimes humans… they’re frickin’ insane!”
The door shot open and there stood Andy. His left eye was an angry puffy yellow and blue mess, and there were three points on his lips where a dark cinnabar line marked a crack. Kalai and her siblings stood in wide eyed shock at his sudden appearance and the only sound was the music emanating from the common room behind him.
Andy looked up and down at the three without saying a word. He cocked an eyebrow and snagged Kalai’s bag before any of them could react and cleared the doorway for them.
Kalai sputtered at the impropriety but Naranjo and Sitry just shrugged and walked in after Andy. “Femboys, am I right?” Narny whispered to Kalai as he passed. Kalai followed behind and was greeted by the white fluff-ball, Puck, who hopped up and down, whining for attention. She bent down and started scratching his ears and back. While Puck rubbed up against her hands, Andy settled back down at the table where his omnipad was hooked up to a keypad. Her heart started to sink a bit and Kalai shot Sitry a jealous look before the music came to a sudden halt and Andy interrupted the beginnings of her pity party.
“Ok, Kem’ira, I got the pics now and I’m telling you to declare yourself to the farmers first! I guarantee if you tell them you’re with the new DNR and you’re there to kill all the Scotch Broom in their pasture lands, they’ll stop trying to shoot you for trespassing!”
Kalai’s mood jumped up a bit. It’s not that he doesn’t care to see me, he’s in a meeting!
“No, no I’m not coming out to talk this over with them, I’ve got my own work to do! Either you start talking to folks like I showed you how, or ask the militia to give you one of their armored catsuits to wear under your uniform… Uh-huh, good luck." Andy hung up on the call and leaned back as Puck scampered over and hopped up in his lap.
Andy rubbed his temples before shaking his head. He seemed to relax a bit and Puck slid off to follow Sitry to the kitchen. Andy looked over and gave Kalai a happy smile that made her flush. “Welcome back! So how was the land down under? That tuna was fan-frickin’-tastic, if you aren’t sick of seafood I’ll do something fancy with it tomorrow to celebrate your coming back. Can’t tonight though, I got volun-told to be head chef tonight and I… Oh damnit! I’m late! Come to dinner, burgers and fries Indian style tonight. Gotta run!” With that, Andy went dashing out the door with Puck barking and scrambling along after him.
Kalai felt her heart sink back down again, as he left. “Andy I-” She started but he was gone.
“Yeah, it’s been like that for the whole week. The only time we get to hang out is dinner.” Sitry commiserated as she took Kalai’s bag into their room. “On the other hand, we might get to catch up during the family meal tonight.”
The dinner was delicious, though a bit weird. It tasted alright, but there was a certain aftertaste on the sandwich that just didn’t sit right with Kalai. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. The french fries more than made up for it though, and Mama Sakalbi had to hold a science trivia contest to see who got the last little handful.
Kalai and Narny were already silently plotting with each other for their revenge against their sister who had won and refused to share the last few matchsticks when Andy finally joined their table. He was sweaty and he smelled of woodsmoke and french fries. Kalai jumped up and offered him a seat next to her with a nervous smile. He took it gratefully and seemed to sag a bit as he gulped down a glass of water.
“Andy, I think you may be finding your calling as a culinary ambassador,” Mama Aftasia beamed. “A toast to the chef!”
Andy gave a shy smile and looked down as Kalai and the rest of the family gave a hearty ‘Here, here!”
“It’s a simple enough recipe; it’s just using bison instead of cow, that’s all, and I don’t know anyone who’d turn down hand cut fresh fries. It’s kind of hard to screw up.”
“Young man, you are speaking to a woman who found a way to take cold water and dried wumpa flakes and wind up with a Class-4 fire. Cooking has always seemed like ‘blight mysticism’ to me, and these foods? These flavors? Nothing short of a Greenwood miracle in my opinion." Mama Aftasia continued her praise of Andy, which only caused him to shrink even lower in his seat.
“To be honest, I like your salmon better,” Kalai said, and the whole table went silent. Kalai held her ground though, and was rewarded with a tired but genuine laugh from Andy that brought him back out of his shell.
“You know, I do too. My Clan were fisherpeople, not buffalo chasers.” Andy gave Kalai a cheeky grin, which she returned happily, her heart glowing. Mama Aftasia and Mama Sakalbi both blinked in bemusement at Andy’s statement while Sitry just giggled.
“Speaking of which, Andy, I received a call from Elder Alex Hwatcom.” Papa Rhaxiid’s change of subject instantly perked Andy up, and he stared silently, waiting. “He extended an invitation to our family to attend his family gathering this Friday-”
“Alex said that? He used those words?” Andy shook his head in shock as he interrupted Papa Rhaxiid. The table went quiet and everyone held their breath as they looked between the two men.
Papa Rhaxiid adopted as good an impression of the human Elder as he could. “I’d like to extend an invitation for you and your family to be guests at our family gathering this saturday up at the White… something… lodge-”
“The White Ram Lodge?” Andy sat forward, interjecting again as the color drained from his face.
“Yes, that’s the one! I asked if we could bring anything since the last time they hosted us they put on that wonderful spread. He said if we could bring a few salmon for the family, that would be wonderful.”
Andy leaned back and took another sip of ice water before holding the glass to his blackened eye. “Alex Hwatcom… just invited you… to a gathering… and he told you to ‘bring a few salmon’? Do you realize what a huge honor this is?”
Rhaxiid looked from his wives to his children with mild concern. “Um, I thought it was only dinner, but your reaction tells me there’s more significance to this than I originally thought. I was thinking about our stocks of adult Sockeye, but then I remembered in his story how important King Salmon are. Of course, I’d like to defer to you for the choice since you know these animals and the cultural expectations with this invitation better than we do.”
Andy was silent for a moment before he put the glass down. “I’d recommend a ‘hard no’ to all your clone stock!” Now it was the Vaidas’ turn to be shocked, as each of Kalai’s Erbian family’s jaws dropped in synch. Before anyone could say anything, Andy continued, “You need to bring wild-caught. Farm-raised salmon wouldn’t… well we can tell, and you can taste the difference between them. We need to go fishing!” Kalai leaned towards Andy slightly as he lowered his head and started mumbling to himself. She was just able to make out what he was saying to himself as Mama Sakalbi and Mama Aftasia began whispering to each other. “...need to get the Gillnetter out of storage, check what’s running and select the mesh. I’m gonna need a deckhand too.”
Kalai reached a hand out but stopped short of touching him. “Andy?”
He popped up and spoke for the whole table to hear. “I need a shuttle to the mainland and a waiver against the fishing ban. I’ve got to get my boat and the drum ready for sea ” Rhaxiid and Aftasia sputtered in confusion, but Mama Sakalbi had a shadow fall over her, and her ears pulled back.
“Do you mean to say you want to go out on the water? Risk the ecological balance for… dinner?”
Andy looked Sakalbi dead in the eye and gave her a firm nod. “Why don’t you come out and see how we did this before you got here. Think of it as a chance to see the way we’ve fished for the last hundred or so years, and then I can explain the way we used to fish before that.”
The offer snapped Rhaxiid out of his confusion and he brightened. “A learning experience? Wonderful, we’ll make a day of it!” His hands shot out to grab both his wives’ and Kalai could feel the vibrations in the floor from where he was excitedly tapping his feet.
“If you don’t mind hard, smelly work. Uncle Willy always called it ‘the worst desk in the prettiest office.' It’ll be a bit cramped, but I’ve got room on the boat for a few guests and observers; four I think would be ok. She’s a working boat, not a pleasure cruiser,” Andy explained. That sent the whole lot of them excitedly talking among themselves.
Kalai was about to lean in to talk to Mama Aftasia, but Andy caught her attention first. “I don’t suppose you’d want to go back out on the water, given you just got back from pleasure-boating-”
Kalai’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. “I wouldn’t miss it for my own colony planet!”
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Kalai stood on the pier, bundled in her thermal sailor’s coat. It was still dark and the wind blew from the north in a cold little morning breeze. Kalai took a deep breath and reveled in the smell of the fresh sea air. The soft chattering of Mama Sakalbi’s teeth broke the silence. “It’s a bit chillier than it said it was going to be.”
“The water always does that. It’s never as warm as the lubbers say it’ll be,” Papa spoke as he handed her back her thermos of hot chocolate.
Papa stood next to Kalai and nudged her with his elbow. Even in the dark, Kalai could see him smile up at her and jerk his head at the shivering Erbian. He was also wearing a thermal sailor’s coat, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets to keep them warm, just like Kalai’s. “Landswoman,” he whispered to her and the two of them shared a knowing smile. It was strange, but welcome when she'd told Papa about her upcoming day fishing with Andy, and he’d politely requested to join them. Papa Rhaxiid had graciously given his spot up to accommodate her birth father. Narny was all for it until Andy had explained what they were going to do, but then surrendered his challenge to the fourth guest space, not wanting to go anywhere NEAR anything that could see him come face to face with a Lion’s Mane Jelly. Sitry had done a happy little dance when she found out, but only yesterday had come down with Thistle Fever, and was bundled off to bed by her parents. It left Kalai, Mama Sakalbi, and Papa to accompany Andy on his fishing trip.
The water brushed against the shore behind them quietly. In the gloom, Kalai could just barely make out the outline of the nearest island mountain, but only because the stars had disappeared behind it. It was almost four in the morning, but Kalai had managed a catnap on the shuttle to the empty little lot that had been the boat launch. Aside from the water, the world was silent. Even the breeze made almost no noise and a sense of peace surrounded them. Everything was so calm, Kalai felt like she didn’t have a care in the world.
In the distance, a low rumbling sound of a motor rose from being almost imperceptible to a rolling drum of thunder. From around the point, two green floating lights sped through the darkness, and a spotlight turned on. The beam of light moved jerkily until it came to rest on the pier where they were standing and Kalai started waving her arms. Sakalbi’s omnipad rang, and Andy’s voice shouted over the speaker and the background noise for them to shine a light on the edge of the pier to help him park the boat.
Kalai and Papa moved closer and turned their omnipad flashlights on and waved them as the boat swung gracefully around and glided in alongside them. Kalai caught the rope that flew over the railing of the boat and she heard more than saw Andy moving around on the deck as she tied off on one of the mooring cleats. Several lights clicked on and the deck was bathed in light enough for Kalai to get a clear view of the boat they’d be spending the day on.
Andy hadn’t lied. Kalai saw that this little vessel was a working boat with no frills at all. When he’d told her they’d be going fishing, she’d envisioned something like the charter boat papa had taken her on out of Nantucket. Sporty, fast with a nod to comfort and function. This was not that at all. A giant wheel as wide as Kalai’s outstretched arms that looked like a sideways spool of thread was secured to the deck amidships and dominated the deckspace. Wrapped around it was a fluorescent green tangle with a line of oblong white and yellow corks and rope. There was a covered hatchway sitting behind the drum in front of the raised step to the enclosed cabin. Two large windows let the light out to two children’s bunks, a little table with a booth seat and a raised captain’s chair in front of the helm and engine controls. Andy shut down the engine and that peaceful stillness returned.
“Oway there!” Kalai called, “ship oway! Request permission to come aboard.” Kalai gave the traditional greeting of a Shil’vati sailor.
“Permission granted! Anyone need a stepstool?” Andy finally stepped into the light and Kalai got a look at him. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and the same bright orange coveralls she’d seen the fishmongers wearing on their date.
“I wouldn’t mind a hand, Mr. Shelokset.” Papa He’osforos braced a foot on the railing of the boat and Andy pulled him up.
“Just call me Andy, Doc, and welcome aboard. Jackie should be along any minute now with the day’s groceries, and the cabin’s out of the cold. You can get yourself set wherever you find comfortable.” Papa nodded and disappeared around the other side of the wheel moving towards the bow.
Kalai helped Mama Sakalbi into the boat next, and she quickly ducked into the cabin that took up the entire stern section save for a little ledge that ran along the outside. Andy gripped Kalai’s hand and she smiled as he pulled her deftly aboard. The boat rocked a little on its mooring, and Kalai almost fell into Andy, who wordlessly put his arms around her waist to catch her as she lost her balance. She flailed for a moment before she steadied herself against him.
“Gotcha,” Andy smiled, and Kalai could see him flush almost as much as she could feel herself doing as their noses almost touched. Those big dark brown eyes surrounded by white orbs drew her in and she felt she could lose herself in them. Kalai started as Andy danced her around him and moved her towards the cabin door.
“It might be a little cramped for you in there, but the Mary Jean wasn’t built for pleasure boating, she’s a working girl. Sit tight, I gotta check a few things in the back.” Andy patted the railing affectionately before he hopped up and scooted along the outside of the cabin towards the stern. Kalai couldn’t help the little longing groan that came out as he left her there on the little tiny quarterdeck. Her heart was hammering in her chest as half formed fantasies danced at the edges of her mind.
“I saw that, little minnow.” Papa’s voice was soft, but his tone and the sudden broken silence nearly gave her a heart attack.
Kalai could only stammer as her father stared at her with a cocked eyebrow. A thump from the cabin window behind saw an amused Mama Sakalbi daintily sipping at her thermos with her ears twitched forward in interest, staring out at her. “Papa I… he-”
Papa moved carefully around the covered hatchway to stand next to her, leaning back against the cabin window and heaved a sigh. “I must say I’m surprised. This lovely man’s got good clean lines and is very well cared for. It speaks well of his Skipper.”
It took a full minute for Kalai’s brain to process that he was talking about the boat and not Andy. “And the way Andy brought him in smooth in near complete darkness? It gives me confidence in his abilities.”
Kalai breathed a silent sigh of relief and exasperation. Although she was happy to be spending more time with her father, bringing him on what she’d hoped would be a sailing date wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind for ‘family time’. He wants me to find a nice young man and spend time with him on a boat, but the first chance I get Papa decides to clam-jam me.
From up on shore, the sound and lights of a large human vehicle screeching to a halt heralded the last of their party to arrive. Kalai heard the clomping footsteps coming down the pier and moved to the railing to lend a hand.
“Ahoy Mary Jean! Raggedy Andy, you there?” Kalai stared with wide eyed surprise to see a human female, loaded down with plastic bags and sporting two human weapons on her shoulder. The two of them locked eyes, and while Kalai didn’t understand everything the girl shouted in surprise, she had caught and understood the phrase, “What the fuck?”
“Easy now, they’re my guests, and the one inside is the boss!” Andy appeared on the pier instantly before either Kalai or the woman could react further.
“Ya didn’t tell me we were having pur-” The woman glared at Kalai and her father. She had switched to Vatikre thankfully, but her tone was hostile as she dropped everything but her weapons. “I mean, hwun’eetums, aboard. A gal could get the wrong idea pretty quick in the dark when there’s no warning.”
“Knock it off Jackie. Let’s get the grub aboard and shove off.” Andy picked up some of the bags and took the guns as Kalai offered a helping hand over the railing. “Oh, Kalai, this is Jackie. Jackie? Kalai. That’s her dad over there, Doc He’osforos. He saw and treated Kay Tee a few years back.” Andy jerked his head towards the direction of Kalai’s father as she held out a hand to the human girl. On a quick inspection, she appeared to be about the same age as her and Andy. She had a round face and was about as dark complected as Andy was. She was shorter, only a few inches taller than Papa, but when Jackie grabbed Kalai’s hand to hop up onto the rail, she could feel the strength and the compact muscle hidden by the baggy sweatshirt and pants.
“Wait a minute, did you say Mini-Me over there saw Kay Tee? You’re fuckin’ with me!” Jackie stumbled a bit as she hopped down onto the deck with a loud thunk and advanced on Papa who shrank away at her advance. “You saw li’l Kay Tee? Where the fuck is he? Is he alright? Is he still fighting the good fight?”
“Last I saw, yes, he was ‘fighting the good fight.’” Papa looked over at Andy with a slightly worried expression. Andy smacked the girl in the back of the head, causing her to flinch and she opened the door to the cabin for Andy to go inside.
Jackie rubbed the back of her head and laughed. “Well that’s a little bit of alright, innit? Maybe today’s gonna be a good day after all!”
“Jackie, get suited up and get on the bow. I need a good pair of eyes on the roller horns,” Kalai heard Andy shout from the cabin, followed by a whole lot of thumping and banging from cabinets being opened and closed.
“You got it, ol’ man. We going to your place or mine?” Jackie sidestepped in and opened a tiny little closet and pulled out a set of rain gear that was identical to what Andy was wearing. Kalai collected herself and stood in the doorway next to her father as they both leaned in.
“Mine; Chuck said the Yaw’much are running from the South. We’ll do a set nor’west of Lummi in the Rosario and see if we can get some Fraser Kings,” Andy replied as he turned the engine back on and the vessel roared to life.
“Chuck? Isn’t that one of your cousins? I didn’t know he could keep track of the movements of Salmon, may I ask how he does it?” Mama Sakalbi perked up as she pulled a set of earplugs out of a pocket and inserted them.
Andy prevaricated a bit, looking from Jackie back to Sakalbi then to Kalai and Papa. “I’d rather not answer that-”
“Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law!”
Jackie began singing a human song, and Andy threw her the dirtiest of looks as she finished getting into the orange coveralls. Mama Sakalbi sputtered as Andy shrugged apologetically.
“Make a hole!” Jackie called, and she and Andy came back out as Kalai and Papa made room for them. Andy hopped back onto the dock to cast off while Papa ducked into the cabin.
“Can I help?” Kalai offered as Andy shoved the vessel off and leapt the gap over the black water below.
“You want to be useful? Come forward! I could use an extra set of eyes!” Jackie called back, and Kalai felt a slap on her shoulder from the boisterous human woman.
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Andy stood at the helm, watching Jackie and Kalai as he leaned to get a better view of them past the Net drum. The bow was lifting up again, and the gentle little swells became like speed bumps, jostling them up and down in a predictable bouncing rhythm.
“Are you sure you couldn’t slow down, Andy? It’s a bit rough, don’t you think?” Sakalbi was hanging on to the table and her thermos with a worried expression on her face.
“I could, but we’ll miss the morning set. We want to bomb out the buoy right when the tide changes. If we’re lucky, then we’ll get around seventy or eighty by slack tide this afternoon and call it a day.”
“How do you know where to fish?” Dr. He’osforos was making a good show of standing and maintaining his balance with his hand on the booth.
“Well, there’s two ways you know. The first is you fish the spots your family’s fished since time began. Every family has about two or three different secret spots that we know there’s fish in, and we’re pretty defensive about their locations. The second is by smell. Right now it’s the tail end of the King season, and you can smell them in the water.” Andy turned and saw the incredulity etched on the faces of the two aliens.
“No, I’m serious! King Salmon slime is really pungent, and you can smell them when they’re close to the surface. We get to the fishing spot and take a deep whiff. If we smell them, we’ll set the nets.” Andy laughed at the disbelief on their faces as the GPS on his omnipad beeped and he turned to sail around the last buoy and head for the fishing ground.
“I’ve never noticed that in any of the Kings we’ve raised-”
Andy suppressed a laugh as they caught a larger swell as they left the lee of Lummi Island. Andy reveled in the feeling of weightlessness as the deck rose up and fell out from underneath their feet, leaving everyone suspended for a moment in midair before falling back down. A massive spray of water rose and washed over the deck, drenching Kalai and Jackie, who were still forward. “Cloned and farmed Kings don’t have that same smell. Wild ones smell and taste different, I’m telling you!” Andy pulled back slightly on the throttle as they climbed the next swell. “Brace!” he called as they climbed and fell once again.
There was a look of fear on Sakalbi’s face as she gripped the table for dear life, but to Andy’s surprise, the Doctor looked completely unfazed, and was handling the rise and fall of the deck like an old salt. “You look like you’ve done this before, Doc.”
“I’ve done a stint or two at sea before,” he spoke, in the same tone Andy would have used when trying not to sound too confident, and Andy smiled.
“Kalai keeps talking about loving the sea and sailing. Did you teach her to sail?”
“Yes, me and her mothers. When they were home, we would take the family yacht out in the Vaascon Straits and sail around the Occidiens. Kalai practically spent all her early childhood on a sailboat.”
“And almost every waking moment on one in Junior Academy. I swear you couldn’t dig her out with a trowel when she wanted to go sailing,” Sakalbi managed to add in a word as the boat slowed, and the dramatic rise and fall of the deck slowed with it.
“What about you, Mr. Shelokset, did your father teach you to sail too?”
“I was too young before he passed. My Great Uncle Willy taught me after I came home, and Grandma took me out to the family fishing sites when she wasn’t busy with the Council. For the first two or three years after they let us come home, fishing was the only way to feed our families, but the Militia and the Cambrians would try and sink our boats or arrest us whenever we tried to go out.”
“And that’s why you’re so good at maneuvering your vessel in the dark with no instruments?” Mrs. Vaida had folded her arms, and her voice twinged with that imperious tone she’d had when they’d first met.
Andy huffed a dry laugh. “I did what I had to for me and my people and to survive, Ma’am. I don’t like breaking the law or dodging lasers and gunfire, but there’s a lot of poor families that need to eat.”
The GPS beeped, and Andy gave Mrs. Vaida a slightly defiant look to counter her furrowed brow. “We’re here,” he said as he threw the engine in neutral and opened the cabin door.
Andy walked out and took a deep breath, but all he could smell was the net and the exhaust from the engine. “HEY JACKIE! WE SMELL MONEY?” Andy yelled out as he took stock of the sky. The first signs of sunrise were chasing all but the morning stars away and a light fog was rolling in from the north.
“FUCK YEAH I CAN SMELL ‘EM, ANDY! LET’S BOMB OUT AND GET BREAKFAST GOING!” Jackie looked slightly manic as she smiled brightly. Kalai, on the other hand, looked wet and miserable as she shivered, arms wrapped around herself. Andy gave his cousin a disgusted look as he pieced together what had happened. Every deckhand learned when to duck behind the raised bow and the roller horns that guided the nets so as not to get a faceful of spray when cutting through a swell. It was also a classic hazing trick for Senior Deckhands to let Junior Deckhands learn this the hard way.
Andy moved forward to stand in front of the two of them. Kalai was trying to squeeze her coat dry, but Andy knew it wouldn’t do much good until the sun came out. Jackie at least had the sense to look a little remorseful. “Kalai, why don’t you go sit in the cabin and get out of that wet coat. It’s cold enough out here even for us-”
“No way, Andy. Junior deckhand Kally here wants to impress you and get her dainty soft hands dirty! She’s been bragging about being a sailorwoman and wants to learn to fish ‘your way!” Jackie gave Kalai’s shoulder a wet slap as the poor alien woman went blue. Out of cold or embarrassment, Andy couldn’t tell.
All Andy could do was shake his head and huff. “Ok then! Secure the buoy and sling on my mark. I’ll get us in position!” Andy couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard Jackie start ordering Kalai about. Andy went back into the cabin and looked in the closet/bathroom to see if there was anything hanging up that he could give Kalai. There was only the one rain slicker and a few of Andy’s old sweaters from when he was a lot smaller. Well, looks like I’ll just be cold today. He quickly stripped out of his sweatshirt and grabbed the slicker before throwing a switch on the main control. Dr. He’osforos and Mrs. Vaida threw him quizzical looks as he went back outside wearing less than when he came in. He was down to a sleeveless shirt and his coveralls, and the morning breeze cut right through him and he braced his jaw to keep it from chattering.
“We’re ready to go- Andy, why are you practically naked from the waist up?” Kalai was staring wide eyed at him as he approached her and Jackie was on the bow. Jackie had everything ready; the buoy line was strung through the horns and ready to toss out. A giant orange and blue beach ball sized float hung at the end of the line to mark the end and make it easier to pick up later.
“Trade me your coat for these. If Jackie’s putting you to work, you’ll need these to keep warm.”
“I’m alright, I can-”
“I’m the Skipper of this boat, and I’m ordering you to take off that wet coat and put these on; and Jackie?” Andy gave his cousin a long and piercing look. “Give her the elbow gloves, not the halfsies.”
The scoff and the muttered Salishian profanities meant he’d read the next prank she’d had in mind right. She was planning on giving her the cloth gloves with only the palms and fingers coated in rubber. While perfectly fine for fishing, Andy knew they tended to get soaked through very quickly and did nothing to keep jellyfish stingers and fish slime off your hands. Kalai sputtered for a moment before she complied gratefully and she accepted the dry clothes and rain slicker.
Andy saw Jackie give him a strange look before looking back at Kalai, but he paid it no mind. He walked back to the controls on the drum and switched off the hydraulics, placing the mechanism in neutral. “SLING IT!” Andy called as he took the small jerry rigged steering wheel and threw the boat in reverse. Kalai jumped as the line started unspooling the net into the water at a rapid pace.
Andy set an ‘S’ bend in the quarter mile long net, zigzagging backwards until they came to the end of the line. Andy stopped the boat as Jackie tied off the other large buoy and tossed it over the side, unstringing the cork-line from the roller horns in the process. He pulled hard over and put a bit of distance from the net before shutting the engine down. The line of white and yellow corks marking the net bobbed lazily with the swells as silence settled over the water again. The waves rocked the boat gently as Andy found his sea legs again.
“Alright, I’ll get breakfast going. Jackie, Kalai? Post the watch for seals,” Andy called as he walked back into the cabin to fire up the tiny little gas stove.
Sakalbi, having found the confidence to stand at last, poked her head out of the cabin and stood on by the hatch to the fish hold. “Seals? Why would you need to watch for seals?”
Andy grit his teeth and looked over from where he was cracking open and scrambling eggs. “They’re the spawn of Satan and we hate their guts!” Andy bit out. Jackie came back and pulled the two shotguns and a pair of binoculars from the closet. Andy reached over to a side cabinet and pulled out a box of shells for them. Both his boss and the Doctor’s eyes got wide.
“Seals are the enemy of our blood. Were it not for the invasion, our unending war against these vermin would continue to this day!” Jackie growled as she loaded one for herself and rested the other on Andy’s seat at the helm.
The look of growing horror on Sakalbi’s face towards their facetious declarations caused Andy to chuckle a bit, before launching into an explanation. “We’re not fans of the species because they’ll wait until a fish gets caught in the net and then they’ll steal it, costing us a fish AND ripping a big hole in our nets that we then have to take time to repair. We use the shotguns and buckshot to give them a nice welt and convince them not to hang around, because they’ll wait up on the surface and watch the buoys, just like us. A single seal can and will take between five and ten fish. The worst is when they start getting full, they’ll just bite out the bellies of a salmon in the net. We can’t really do anything with that fish once it’s ‘seal-bit’. So yes, as fishermen, we hate them.”
“Learned opportunism in apex predators as a response to human activity… I think I’ll go see this behavior for myself!” Sakalbi practically rushed out the door towards the bow where Jackie was sitting on the roller horns explaining to Kalai how to spot the bastards, leaving Andy alone in the cabin with the Doctor while he cooked breakfast for them all.
Dr. He’osforos sat down heavily in the booth and pulled out his omnipad. “I’ve had a word with my friend in the Interior. She’s pulled the warrant for your brother, and I’ve withdrawn the charges I filed.”
Andy froze and turned around slowly. The only sound was the sizzle and pop of the eggs and chorizo that he’d added to them in the skillet. “You mean… it’s done? He can come home?” A wave of light headed euphoria swept over Andy and he swayed with the gentle rocking of the boat. “I will pay you back, Doc-”
The doctor held up his hand and stopped Andy. “We’ll call it even, but there’s something… I was able to get my hands on this,” Andy watched as the doctor swiped something towards his omnipad and it dinged. “What is it if I may-”
“Are you really asking an Indian to tell you a story? Because it’s going to be a long one if you are.” “I’m Sevastutavan, young man; we invented long stories.”
Andy froze and stared at the screen of his omnipad. The Vatikre was heavily accented, and Andy had a bit of trouble with the unfamiliar accent, but centered in the frame in a hospital room, sitting in a wheelchair, was a Salishian boy. Andy blinked in surprise as he stared at the screen. “Is that-”
“I am Ikw’is’hi’ehlah, and this bearer is… of the Orca Clan Sheloksets. I drove our Haida enemies onto the rocks and took many heads when they attacked our winter village on Orcas Island. I signed the Treaty with the Great White Father and I fought against the slavers of the south-”
Andy wanted to grab the omnipad but the smell of overcooking eggs brought his attention back to breakfast and Andy stirred and scrapped the food quickly, trying to save it.
“I asked her for any materials she could give me on your brother. Pictures, recordings, anything. This is what she gave me. It's the last known recording of your brother during an interrogation conducted by a Navy Commissar prior to his escape. It seems he made friends with a Pod of Deaths Head Commandos. Quite a bit of the recording has been redacted, but… there are portions of it where he talks about his family and his history. I thought you might like to have it.”
Andy hurriedly pulled out paper plates and a slice of bread for everyone and scooped a heaping portion of the chorizo eggs onto them. He handed the doctor his before leaning out the cabin door. “Slop’s on, come and get it!”
Andy sat down after moving the shotgun out of the way and started the video over again as the three women came back to grab their plates and lost himself watching his brother start telling his story.
“What’s that?” Andy heard Kalai ask over his shoulder, and he paused the video.
“That’s my brother! That’s Kay Tee!”
“Holy shit, what?” Jackie nearly shoved Kalai into Andy as she jammed her bread slice down her gullet and crowded in to see the screen.
Andy started the video over a second time and they watched in silence. “God, that brings back memories. Back when mom was still alive and before we broke up the warband. I can’t believe that slippery little punk ghosted a pod of Commandos for two fucking years! Holy shit, that’s badass!”
Before Andy could say anything, Sakalbi started coughing and brought the binoculars up. “Uh, Andy? Jackie? What do we do about sharks?”
Jackie looked at Andy in confusion. “Sharks? There’s nothing but Dogs around here.”
“Well those are shark fins and they’re charging the net!” Sakalbi pointed and Andy looked up to see dorsal fins charging the center of the net.
Andy looked at Jackie and spoke the same words in tandem, “Oh shit!”
First:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/yz0u3h/the_cryptid_chronicle_chapter_1/
Previous:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/13nh0oe/cryptid_chronicle_chapter_29/
Next:
To be posted 6/4/23
submitted by Kazevenikov to Sexyspacebabes [link] [comments]
A special thanks to my editors LordHenry7898, RandomTinkerer, Swimming_Good_8507, CatsInTrenchcoats, and KLiCKonthat.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired me to tell my own in this universe. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), CarCU131 (The Cook), and Rhion-618 (Just One Drop)
Hy’shq’e Ay Si’am (Thank you noble friends)
Chapter 30: A Promise Kept
Kalai stepped off the shuttle to the Vaida’s headquarters and into a running tackle-hug from Sitry. “Oh Kalai, I could kill you right now! You got to see the Great Barrier Reef in person, you bitch!” Sitry’s cheerful voice was muffled from where she was still buried in her chest. Kalai staggered backwards a pace or two, happy to be back from her whirlwind adventure around Earth with her father.
Naranjo and Papa Rhaxiid were there on the platform to welcome her back too, but their welcomes were more sedate.
“Not to mention you got out of work for half our damn trip. Ugh, it’s so not fair!” Naranjo huffed as Kalai gave him a sisterly hug.
Papa Rhaxiid reached up and chucked her chin before turning to lead the way back inside from the forested platform. “Welcome back, sweet-sprout, we’ve missed you. Come on, we’ll get you settled again and off to work. There’s quite a bit you need to catch up on if you want your credits.”
The chuckles from the twins behind her were full of sibling malice, but she knew how to shut the pair of them up. “Papa Rhaxiid? I’ve got the paper on Biodiversity in the Reef you asked for, along with the dissection report and stomach content analysis of the tuna we caught. I want to put the finishing touches on it and do a final proofread first before I send them to you.” The man turned and gave her a warm smile as they entered the building.
“Good, why don’t you go take your things back up and say hello to Andy? I’ll give you an hour and a half to get freshened up, then I want you to report to Aquarium 12 with Dr. Sor’ansa. You can put your snorkeling practice to work there.” Papa Rhaxiid walked the three of them to the residential elevator. “I’m heading back to my office. Andy’s been requested by Maetro Pae’ella to work the kitchens for something called ‘Bison burgers'. Apparently it’s a type of indigenous bovine that the eastern Bands raise. That and something from Europe called ‘French Fries’.”
Kalai couldn’t help but get excited as she and her siblings piled into the elevator back to their little shared apartment. Sure the food she’d had all over the place was good, but so far nothing had been able to compare to Andy and his Salishian cooking.
“Nerd, I can’t believe you cheated and did work on your vacation." Naranjo broke the silence of the elevator after a little bit and stuck his tongue out at her.
“Spit to windward, you vain little weed. Don’t hate me because I’m awesome.” Kalai’s riposte caused Naranjo to fold his arms and huff. Sitry simply ambushed her with an ear flick.
The elevator door opened to their floor before Kalai couldn’t bear the silence from Sitry any longer. “So, did you bag him yet, you lucky bitch?”
“No she hasn’t!” Naranjo’s singsong mockery of his sister interrupted Sitry’s response. “Papa hasn’t let Sitry even NEAR Andy without one of them around!”
“Rub it in, you snitch, besides, he did kiss me first,” Sitry preened happily as she playfully shoved Kalai’s shoulder.
Kalai pretended to stumble and almost caught Sitry’s foot, but she was just a hair too slow. “Yeah, and then you gave him a black eye, you clod.”
“Will you let it go? It was an accident!”
“It’s not even the only one he got either." Naranjo’s interjection stopped her right in front of their door.
“Wait, what? Who hurt him this time?” Kalai let her bag thunk to the floor as she turned to look accusingly between Sitry and Narny.
Sitry folded her arms and her ears twitched back as she shot a dark look at their door. “He ‘fell down’ yesterday while out at one of the Hatcheries we gave to the Hwatcoms. Mrs. Toloui nearly had a fit! She said she could smell another human on him and that he was covered in blood!”
Narny nodded primly as Kalai tried to process what they were telling her. “WHAT? Did she call out the militia? Track down whoever hurt him?”
“No, and he refused treatment and insisted that no one did it to him! When papa tried to talk to him, Andy said some stupid human macho shit about pain healing and birds liking scars. I don’t know, sometimes humans… they’re frickin’ insane!”
The door shot open and there stood Andy. His left eye was an angry puffy yellow and blue mess, and there were three points on his lips where a dark cinnabar line marked a crack. Kalai and her siblings stood in wide eyed shock at his sudden appearance and the only sound was the music emanating from the common room behind him.
Andy looked up and down at the three without saying a word. He cocked an eyebrow and snagged Kalai’s bag before any of them could react and cleared the doorway for them.
Kalai sputtered at the impropriety but Naranjo and Sitry just shrugged and walked in after Andy. “Femboys, am I right?” Narny whispered to Kalai as he passed. Kalai followed behind and was greeted by the white fluff-ball, Puck, who hopped up and down, whining for attention. She bent down and started scratching his ears and back. While Puck rubbed up against her hands, Andy settled back down at the table where his omnipad was hooked up to a keypad. Her heart started to sink a bit and Kalai shot Sitry a jealous look before the music came to a sudden halt and Andy interrupted the beginnings of her pity party.
“Ok, Kem’ira, I got the pics now and I’m telling you to declare yourself to the farmers first! I guarantee if you tell them you’re with the new DNR and you’re there to kill all the Scotch Broom in their pasture lands, they’ll stop trying to shoot you for trespassing!”
Kalai’s mood jumped up a bit. It’s not that he doesn’t care to see me, he’s in a meeting!
“No, no I’m not coming out to talk this over with them, I’ve got my own work to do! Either you start talking to folks like I showed you how, or ask the militia to give you one of their armored catsuits to wear under your uniform… Uh-huh, good luck." Andy hung up on the call and leaned back as Puck scampered over and hopped up in his lap.
Andy rubbed his temples before shaking his head. He seemed to relax a bit and Puck slid off to follow Sitry to the kitchen. Andy looked over and gave Kalai a happy smile that made her flush. “Welcome back! So how was the land down under? That tuna was fan-frickin’-tastic, if you aren’t sick of seafood I’ll do something fancy with it tomorrow to celebrate your coming back. Can’t tonight though, I got volun-told to be head chef tonight and I… Oh damnit! I’m late! Come to dinner, burgers and fries Indian style tonight. Gotta run!” With that, Andy went dashing out the door with Puck barking and scrambling along after him.
Kalai felt her heart sink back down again, as he left. “Andy I-” She started but he was gone.
“Yeah, it’s been like that for the whole week. The only time we get to hang out is dinner.” Sitry commiserated as she took Kalai’s bag into their room. “On the other hand, we might get to catch up during the family meal tonight.”
Kalai and Narny were already silently plotting with each other for their revenge against their sister who had won and refused to share the last few matchsticks when Andy finally joined their table. He was sweaty and he smelled of woodsmoke and french fries. Kalai jumped up and offered him a seat next to her with a nervous smile. He took it gratefully and seemed to sag a bit as he gulped down a glass of water.
“Andy, I think you may be finding your calling as a culinary ambassador,” Mama Aftasia beamed. “A toast to the chef!”
Andy gave a shy smile and looked down as Kalai and the rest of the family gave a hearty ‘Here, here!”
“It’s a simple enough recipe; it’s just using bison instead of cow, that’s all, and I don’t know anyone who’d turn down hand cut fresh fries. It’s kind of hard to screw up.”
“Young man, you are speaking to a woman who found a way to take cold water and dried wumpa flakes and wind up with a Class-4 fire. Cooking has always seemed like ‘blight mysticism’ to me, and these foods? These flavors? Nothing short of a Greenwood miracle in my opinion." Mama Aftasia continued her praise of Andy, which only caused him to shrink even lower in his seat.
“To be honest, I like your salmon better,” Kalai said, and the whole table went silent. Kalai held her ground though, and was rewarded with a tired but genuine laugh from Andy that brought him back out of his shell.
“You know, I do too. My Clan were fisherpeople, not buffalo chasers.” Andy gave Kalai a cheeky grin, which she returned happily, her heart glowing. Mama Aftasia and Mama Sakalbi both blinked in bemusement at Andy’s statement while Sitry just giggled.
“Speaking of which, Andy, I received a call from Elder Alex Hwatcom.” Papa Rhaxiid’s change of subject instantly perked Andy up, and he stared silently, waiting. “He extended an invitation to our family to attend his family gathering this Friday-”
“Alex said that? He used those words?” Andy shook his head in shock as he interrupted Papa Rhaxiid. The table went quiet and everyone held their breath as they looked between the two men.
Papa Rhaxiid adopted as good an impression of the human Elder as he could. “I’d like to extend an invitation for you and your family to be guests at our family gathering this saturday up at the White… something… lodge-”
“The White Ram Lodge?” Andy sat forward, interjecting again as the color drained from his face.
“Yes, that’s the one! I asked if we could bring anything since the last time they hosted us they put on that wonderful spread. He said if we could bring a few salmon for the family, that would be wonderful.”
Andy leaned back and took another sip of ice water before holding the glass to his blackened eye. “Alex Hwatcom… just invited you… to a gathering… and he told you to ‘bring a few salmon’? Do you realize what a huge honor this is?”
Rhaxiid looked from his wives to his children with mild concern. “Um, I thought it was only dinner, but your reaction tells me there’s more significance to this than I originally thought. I was thinking about our stocks of adult Sockeye, but then I remembered in his story how important King Salmon are. Of course, I’d like to defer to you for the choice since you know these animals and the cultural expectations with this invitation better than we do.”
Andy was silent for a moment before he put the glass down. “I’d recommend a ‘hard no’ to all your clone stock!” Now it was the Vaidas’ turn to be shocked, as each of Kalai’s Erbian family’s jaws dropped in synch. Before anyone could say anything, Andy continued, “You need to bring wild-caught. Farm-raised salmon wouldn’t… well we can tell, and you can taste the difference between them. We need to go fishing!” Kalai leaned towards Andy slightly as he lowered his head and started mumbling to himself. She was just able to make out what he was saying to himself as Mama Sakalbi and Mama Aftasia began whispering to each other. “...need to get the Gillnetter out of storage, check what’s running and select the mesh. I’m gonna need a deckhand too.”
Kalai reached a hand out but stopped short of touching him. “Andy?”
He popped up and spoke for the whole table to hear. “I need a shuttle to the mainland and a waiver against the fishing ban. I’ve got to get my boat and the drum ready for sea ” Rhaxiid and Aftasia sputtered in confusion, but Mama Sakalbi had a shadow fall over her, and her ears pulled back.
“Do you mean to say you want to go out on the water? Risk the ecological balance for… dinner?”
Andy looked Sakalbi dead in the eye and gave her a firm nod. “Why don’t you come out and see how we did this before you got here. Think of it as a chance to see the way we’ve fished for the last hundred or so years, and then I can explain the way we used to fish before that.”
The offer snapped Rhaxiid out of his confusion and he brightened. “A learning experience? Wonderful, we’ll make a day of it!” His hands shot out to grab both his wives’ and Kalai could feel the vibrations in the floor from where he was excitedly tapping his feet.
“If you don’t mind hard, smelly work. Uncle Willy always called it ‘the worst desk in the prettiest office.' It’ll be a bit cramped, but I’ve got room on the boat for a few guests and observers; four I think would be ok. She’s a working boat, not a pleasure cruiser,” Andy explained. That sent the whole lot of them excitedly talking among themselves.
Kalai was about to lean in to talk to Mama Aftasia, but Andy caught her attention first. “I don’t suppose you’d want to go back out on the water, given you just got back from pleasure-boating-”
Kalai’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. “I wouldn’t miss it for my own colony planet!”
--------------------
Kalai stood on the pier, bundled in her thermal sailor’s coat. It was still dark and the wind blew from the north in a cold little morning breeze. Kalai took a deep breath and reveled in the smell of the fresh sea air. The soft chattering of Mama Sakalbi’s teeth broke the silence. “It’s a bit chillier than it said it was going to be.”
“The water always does that. It’s never as warm as the lubbers say it’ll be,” Papa spoke as he handed her back her thermos of hot chocolate.
Papa stood next to Kalai and nudged her with his elbow. Even in the dark, Kalai could see him smile up at her and jerk his head at the shivering Erbian. He was also wearing a thermal sailor’s coat, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets to keep them warm, just like Kalai’s. “Landswoman,” he whispered to her and the two of them shared a knowing smile. It was strange, but welcome when she'd told Papa about her upcoming day fishing with Andy, and he’d politely requested to join them. Papa Rhaxiid had graciously given his spot up to accommodate her birth father. Narny was all for it until Andy had explained what they were going to do, but then surrendered his challenge to the fourth guest space, not wanting to go anywhere NEAR anything that could see him come face to face with a Lion’s Mane Jelly. Sitry had done a happy little dance when she found out, but only yesterday had come down with Thistle Fever, and was bundled off to bed by her parents. It left Kalai, Mama Sakalbi, and Papa to accompany Andy on his fishing trip.
The water brushed against the shore behind them quietly. In the gloom, Kalai could just barely make out the outline of the nearest island mountain, but only because the stars had disappeared behind it. It was almost four in the morning, but Kalai had managed a catnap on the shuttle to the empty little lot that had been the boat launch. Aside from the water, the world was silent. Even the breeze made almost no noise and a sense of peace surrounded them. Everything was so calm, Kalai felt like she didn’t have a care in the world.
In the distance, a low rumbling sound of a motor rose from being almost imperceptible to a rolling drum of thunder. From around the point, two green floating lights sped through the darkness, and a spotlight turned on. The beam of light moved jerkily until it came to rest on the pier where they were standing and Kalai started waving her arms. Sakalbi’s omnipad rang, and Andy’s voice shouted over the speaker and the background noise for them to shine a light on the edge of the pier to help him park the boat.
Kalai and Papa moved closer and turned their omnipad flashlights on and waved them as the boat swung gracefully around and glided in alongside them. Kalai caught the rope that flew over the railing of the boat and she heard more than saw Andy moving around on the deck as she tied off on one of the mooring cleats. Several lights clicked on and the deck was bathed in light enough for Kalai to get a clear view of the boat they’d be spending the day on.
Andy hadn’t lied. Kalai saw that this little vessel was a working boat with no frills at all. When he’d told her they’d be going fishing, she’d envisioned something like the charter boat papa had taken her on out of Nantucket. Sporty, fast with a nod to comfort and function. This was not that at all. A giant wheel as wide as Kalai’s outstretched arms that looked like a sideways spool of thread was secured to the deck amidships and dominated the deckspace. Wrapped around it was a fluorescent green tangle with a line of oblong white and yellow corks and rope. There was a covered hatchway sitting behind the drum in front of the raised step to the enclosed cabin. Two large windows let the light out to two children’s bunks, a little table with a booth seat and a raised captain’s chair in front of the helm and engine controls. Andy shut down the engine and that peaceful stillness returned.
“Oway there!” Kalai called, “ship oway! Request permission to come aboard.” Kalai gave the traditional greeting of a Shil’vati sailor.
“Permission granted! Anyone need a stepstool?” Andy finally stepped into the light and Kalai got a look at him. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and the same bright orange coveralls she’d seen the fishmongers wearing on their date.
“I wouldn’t mind a hand, Mr. Shelokset.” Papa He’osforos braced a foot on the railing of the boat and Andy pulled him up.
“Just call me Andy, Doc, and welcome aboard. Jackie should be along any minute now with the day’s groceries, and the cabin’s out of the cold. You can get yourself set wherever you find comfortable.” Papa nodded and disappeared around the other side of the wheel moving towards the bow.
Kalai helped Mama Sakalbi into the boat next, and she quickly ducked into the cabin that took up the entire stern section save for a little ledge that ran along the outside. Andy gripped Kalai’s hand and she smiled as he pulled her deftly aboard. The boat rocked a little on its mooring, and Kalai almost fell into Andy, who wordlessly put his arms around her waist to catch her as she lost her balance. She flailed for a moment before she steadied herself against him.
“Gotcha,” Andy smiled, and Kalai could see him flush almost as much as she could feel herself doing as their noses almost touched. Those big dark brown eyes surrounded by white orbs drew her in and she felt she could lose herself in them. Kalai started as Andy danced her around him and moved her towards the cabin door.
“It might be a little cramped for you in there, but the Mary Jean wasn’t built for pleasure boating, she’s a working girl. Sit tight, I gotta check a few things in the back.” Andy patted the railing affectionately before he hopped up and scooted along the outside of the cabin towards the stern. Kalai couldn’t help the little longing groan that came out as he left her there on the little tiny quarterdeck. Her heart was hammering in her chest as half formed fantasies danced at the edges of her mind.
“I saw that, little minnow.” Papa’s voice was soft, but his tone and the sudden broken silence nearly gave her a heart attack.
Kalai could only stammer as her father stared at her with a cocked eyebrow. A thump from the cabin window behind saw an amused Mama Sakalbi daintily sipping at her thermos with her ears twitched forward in interest, staring out at her. “Papa I… he-”
Papa moved carefully around the covered hatchway to stand next to her, leaning back against the cabin window and heaved a sigh. “I must say I’m surprised. This lovely man’s got good clean lines and is very well cared for. It speaks well of his Skipper.”
It took a full minute for Kalai’s brain to process that he was talking about the boat and not Andy. “And the way Andy brought him in smooth in near complete darkness? It gives me confidence in his abilities.”
Kalai breathed a silent sigh of relief and exasperation. Although she was happy to be spending more time with her father, bringing him on what she’d hoped would be a sailing date wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind for ‘family time’. He wants me to find a nice young man and spend time with him on a boat, but the first chance I get Papa decides to clam-jam me.
From up on shore, the sound and lights of a large human vehicle screeching to a halt heralded the last of their party to arrive. Kalai heard the clomping footsteps coming down the pier and moved to the railing to lend a hand.
“Ahoy Mary Jean! Raggedy Andy, you there?” Kalai stared with wide eyed surprise to see a human female, loaded down with plastic bags and sporting two human weapons on her shoulder. The two of them locked eyes, and while Kalai didn’t understand everything the girl shouted in surprise, she had caught and understood the phrase, “What the fuck?”
“Easy now, they’re my guests, and the one inside is the boss!” Andy appeared on the pier instantly before either Kalai or the woman could react further.
“Ya didn’t tell me we were having pur-” The woman glared at Kalai and her father. She had switched to Vatikre thankfully, but her tone was hostile as she dropped everything but her weapons. “I mean, hwun’eetums, aboard. A gal could get the wrong idea pretty quick in the dark when there’s no warning.”
“Knock it off Jackie. Let’s get the grub aboard and shove off.” Andy picked up some of the bags and took the guns as Kalai offered a helping hand over the railing. “Oh, Kalai, this is Jackie. Jackie? Kalai. That’s her dad over there, Doc He’osforos. He saw and treated Kay Tee a few years back.” Andy jerked his head towards the direction of Kalai’s father as she held out a hand to the human girl. On a quick inspection, she appeared to be about the same age as her and Andy. She had a round face and was about as dark complected as Andy was. She was shorter, only a few inches taller than Papa, but when Jackie grabbed Kalai’s hand to hop up onto the rail, she could feel the strength and the compact muscle hidden by the baggy sweatshirt and pants.
“Wait a minute, did you say Mini-Me over there saw Kay Tee? You’re fuckin’ with me!” Jackie stumbled a bit as she hopped down onto the deck with a loud thunk and advanced on Papa who shrank away at her advance. “You saw li’l Kay Tee? Where the fuck is he? Is he alright? Is he still fighting the good fight?”
“Last I saw, yes, he was ‘fighting the good fight.’” Papa looked over at Andy with a slightly worried expression. Andy smacked the girl in the back of the head, causing her to flinch and she opened the door to the cabin for Andy to go inside.
Jackie rubbed the back of her head and laughed. “Well that’s a little bit of alright, innit? Maybe today’s gonna be a good day after all!”
“Jackie, get suited up and get on the bow. I need a good pair of eyes on the roller horns,” Kalai heard Andy shout from the cabin, followed by a whole lot of thumping and banging from cabinets being opened and closed.
“You got it, ol’ man. We going to your place or mine?” Jackie sidestepped in and opened a tiny little closet and pulled out a set of rain gear that was identical to what Andy was wearing. Kalai collected herself and stood in the doorway next to her father as they both leaned in.
“Mine; Chuck said the Yaw’much are running from the South. We’ll do a set nor’west of Lummi in the Rosario and see if we can get some Fraser Kings,” Andy replied as he turned the engine back on and the vessel roared to life.
“Chuck? Isn’t that one of your cousins? I didn’t know he could keep track of the movements of Salmon, may I ask how he does it?” Mama Sakalbi perked up as she pulled a set of earplugs out of a pocket and inserted them.
Andy prevaricated a bit, looking from Jackie back to Sakalbi then to Kalai and Papa. “I’d rather not answer that-”
“Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law!”
Jackie began singing a human song, and Andy threw her the dirtiest of looks as she finished getting into the orange coveralls. Mama Sakalbi sputtered as Andy shrugged apologetically.
“Make a hole!” Jackie called, and she and Andy came back out as Kalai and Papa made room for them. Andy hopped back onto the dock to cast off while Papa ducked into the cabin.
“Can I help?” Kalai offered as Andy shoved the vessel off and leapt the gap over the black water below.
“You want to be useful? Come forward! I could use an extra set of eyes!” Jackie called back, and Kalai felt a slap on her shoulder from the boisterous human woman.
------------------
Andy stood at the helm, watching Jackie and Kalai as he leaned to get a better view of them past the Net drum. The bow was lifting up again, and the gentle little swells became like speed bumps, jostling them up and down in a predictable bouncing rhythm.
“Are you sure you couldn’t slow down, Andy? It’s a bit rough, don’t you think?” Sakalbi was hanging on to the table and her thermos with a worried expression on her face.
“I could, but we’ll miss the morning set. We want to bomb out the buoy right when the tide changes. If we’re lucky, then we’ll get around seventy or eighty by slack tide this afternoon and call it a day.”
“How do you know where to fish?” Dr. He’osforos was making a good show of standing and maintaining his balance with his hand on the booth.
“Well, there’s two ways you know. The first is you fish the spots your family’s fished since time began. Every family has about two or three different secret spots that we know there’s fish in, and we’re pretty defensive about their locations. The second is by smell. Right now it’s the tail end of the King season, and you can smell them in the water.” Andy turned and saw the incredulity etched on the faces of the two aliens.
“No, I’m serious! King Salmon slime is really pungent, and you can smell them when they’re close to the surface. We get to the fishing spot and take a deep whiff. If we smell them, we’ll set the nets.” Andy laughed at the disbelief on their faces as the GPS on his omnipad beeped and he turned to sail around the last buoy and head for the fishing ground.
“I’ve never noticed that in any of the Kings we’ve raised-”
Andy suppressed a laugh as they caught a larger swell as they left the lee of Lummi Island. Andy reveled in the feeling of weightlessness as the deck rose up and fell out from underneath their feet, leaving everyone suspended for a moment in midair before falling back down. A massive spray of water rose and washed over the deck, drenching Kalai and Jackie, who were still forward. “Cloned and farmed Kings don’t have that same smell. Wild ones smell and taste different, I’m telling you!” Andy pulled back slightly on the throttle as they climbed the next swell. “Brace!” he called as they climbed and fell once again.
There was a look of fear on Sakalbi’s face as she gripped the table for dear life, but to Andy’s surprise, the Doctor looked completely unfazed, and was handling the rise and fall of the deck like an old salt. “You look like you’ve done this before, Doc.”
“I’ve done a stint or two at sea before,” he spoke, in the same tone Andy would have used when trying not to sound too confident, and Andy smiled.
“Kalai keeps talking about loving the sea and sailing. Did you teach her to sail?”
“Yes, me and her mothers. When they were home, we would take the family yacht out in the Vaascon Straits and sail around the Occidiens. Kalai practically spent all her early childhood on a sailboat.”
“And almost every waking moment on one in Junior Academy. I swear you couldn’t dig her out with a trowel when she wanted to go sailing,” Sakalbi managed to add in a word as the boat slowed, and the dramatic rise and fall of the deck slowed with it.
“What about you, Mr. Shelokset, did your father teach you to sail too?”
“I was too young before he passed. My Great Uncle Willy taught me after I came home, and Grandma took me out to the family fishing sites when she wasn’t busy with the Council. For the first two or three years after they let us come home, fishing was the only way to feed our families, but the Militia and the Cambrians would try and sink our boats or arrest us whenever we tried to go out.”
“And that’s why you’re so good at maneuvering your vessel in the dark with no instruments?” Mrs. Vaida had folded her arms, and her voice twinged with that imperious tone she’d had when they’d first met.
Andy huffed a dry laugh. “I did what I had to for me and my people and to survive, Ma’am. I don’t like breaking the law or dodging lasers and gunfire, but there’s a lot of poor families that need to eat.”
The GPS beeped, and Andy gave Mrs. Vaida a slightly defiant look to counter her furrowed brow. “We’re here,” he said as he threw the engine in neutral and opened the cabin door.
Andy walked out and took a deep breath, but all he could smell was the net and the exhaust from the engine. “HEY JACKIE! WE SMELL MONEY?” Andy yelled out as he took stock of the sky. The first signs of sunrise were chasing all but the morning stars away and a light fog was rolling in from the north.
“FUCK YEAH I CAN SMELL ‘EM, ANDY! LET’S BOMB OUT AND GET BREAKFAST GOING!” Jackie looked slightly manic as she smiled brightly. Kalai, on the other hand, looked wet and miserable as she shivered, arms wrapped around herself. Andy gave his cousin a disgusted look as he pieced together what had happened. Every deckhand learned when to duck behind the raised bow and the roller horns that guided the nets so as not to get a faceful of spray when cutting through a swell. It was also a classic hazing trick for Senior Deckhands to let Junior Deckhands learn this the hard way.
Andy moved forward to stand in front of the two of them. Kalai was trying to squeeze her coat dry, but Andy knew it wouldn’t do much good until the sun came out. Jackie at least had the sense to look a little remorseful. “Kalai, why don’t you go sit in the cabin and get out of that wet coat. It’s cold enough out here even for us-”
“No way, Andy. Junior deckhand Kally here wants to impress you and get her dainty soft hands dirty! She’s been bragging about being a sailorwoman and wants to learn to fish ‘your way!” Jackie gave Kalai’s shoulder a wet slap as the poor alien woman went blue. Out of cold or embarrassment, Andy couldn’t tell.
All Andy could do was shake his head and huff. “Ok then! Secure the buoy and sling on my mark. I’ll get us in position!” Andy couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard Jackie start ordering Kalai about. Andy went back into the cabin and looked in the closet/bathroom to see if there was anything hanging up that he could give Kalai. There was only the one rain slicker and a few of Andy’s old sweaters from when he was a lot smaller. Well, looks like I’ll just be cold today. He quickly stripped out of his sweatshirt and grabbed the slicker before throwing a switch on the main control. Dr. He’osforos and Mrs. Vaida threw him quizzical looks as he went back outside wearing less than when he came in. He was down to a sleeveless shirt and his coveralls, and the morning breeze cut right through him and he braced his jaw to keep it from chattering.
“We’re ready to go- Andy, why are you practically naked from the waist up?” Kalai was staring wide eyed at him as he approached her and Jackie was on the bow. Jackie had everything ready; the buoy line was strung through the horns and ready to toss out. A giant orange and blue beach ball sized float hung at the end of the line to mark the end and make it easier to pick up later.
“Trade me your coat for these. If Jackie’s putting you to work, you’ll need these to keep warm.”
“I’m alright, I can-”
“I’m the Skipper of this boat, and I’m ordering you to take off that wet coat and put these on; and Jackie?” Andy gave his cousin a long and piercing look. “Give her the elbow gloves, not the halfsies.”
The scoff and the muttered Salishian profanities meant he’d read the next prank she’d had in mind right. She was planning on giving her the cloth gloves with only the palms and fingers coated in rubber. While perfectly fine for fishing, Andy knew they tended to get soaked through very quickly and did nothing to keep jellyfish stingers and fish slime off your hands. Kalai sputtered for a moment before she complied gratefully and she accepted the dry clothes and rain slicker.
Andy saw Jackie give him a strange look before looking back at Kalai, but he paid it no mind. He walked back to the controls on the drum and switched off the hydraulics, placing the mechanism in neutral. “SLING IT!” Andy called as he took the small jerry rigged steering wheel and threw the boat in reverse. Kalai jumped as the line started unspooling the net into the water at a rapid pace.
Andy set an ‘S’ bend in the quarter mile long net, zigzagging backwards until they came to the end of the line. Andy stopped the boat as Jackie tied off the other large buoy and tossed it over the side, unstringing the cork-line from the roller horns in the process. He pulled hard over and put a bit of distance from the net before shutting the engine down. The line of white and yellow corks marking the net bobbed lazily with the swells as silence settled over the water again. The waves rocked the boat gently as Andy found his sea legs again.
“Alright, I’ll get breakfast going. Jackie, Kalai? Post the watch for seals,” Andy called as he walked back into the cabin to fire up the tiny little gas stove.
Sakalbi, having found the confidence to stand at last, poked her head out of the cabin and stood on by the hatch to the fish hold. “Seals? Why would you need to watch for seals?”
Andy grit his teeth and looked over from where he was cracking open and scrambling eggs. “They’re the spawn of Satan and we hate their guts!” Andy bit out. Jackie came back and pulled the two shotguns and a pair of binoculars from the closet. Andy reached over to a side cabinet and pulled out a box of shells for them. Both his boss and the Doctor’s eyes got wide.
“Seals are the enemy of our blood. Were it not for the invasion, our unending war against these vermin would continue to this day!” Jackie growled as she loaded one for herself and rested the other on Andy’s seat at the helm.
The look of growing horror on Sakalbi’s face towards their facetious declarations caused Andy to chuckle a bit, before launching into an explanation. “We’re not fans of the species because they’ll wait until a fish gets caught in the net and then they’ll steal it, costing us a fish AND ripping a big hole in our nets that we then have to take time to repair. We use the shotguns and buckshot to give them a nice welt and convince them not to hang around, because they’ll wait up on the surface and watch the buoys, just like us. A single seal can and will take between five and ten fish. The worst is when they start getting full, they’ll just bite out the bellies of a salmon in the net. We can’t really do anything with that fish once it’s ‘seal-bit’. So yes, as fishermen, we hate them.”
“Learned opportunism in apex predators as a response to human activity… I think I’ll go see this behavior for myself!” Sakalbi practically rushed out the door towards the bow where Jackie was sitting on the roller horns explaining to Kalai how to spot the bastards, leaving Andy alone in the cabin with the Doctor while he cooked breakfast for them all.
Dr. He’osforos sat down heavily in the booth and pulled out his omnipad. “I’ve had a word with my friend in the Interior. She’s pulled the warrant for your brother, and I’ve withdrawn the charges I filed.”
Andy froze and turned around slowly. The only sound was the sizzle and pop of the eggs and chorizo that he’d added to them in the skillet. “You mean… it’s done? He can come home?” A wave of light headed euphoria swept over Andy and he swayed with the gentle rocking of the boat. “I will pay you back, Doc-”
The doctor held up his hand and stopped Andy. “We’ll call it even, but there’s something… I was able to get my hands on this,” Andy watched as the doctor swiped something towards his omnipad and it dinged. “What is it if I may-”
“Are you really asking an Indian to tell you a story? Because it’s going to be a long one if you are.” “I’m Sevastutavan, young man; we invented long stories.”
Andy froze and stared at the screen of his omnipad. The Vatikre was heavily accented, and Andy had a bit of trouble with the unfamiliar accent, but centered in the frame in a hospital room, sitting in a wheelchair, was a Salishian boy. Andy blinked in surprise as he stared at the screen. “Is that-”
“I am Ikw’is’hi’ehlah, and this bearer is… of the Orca Clan Sheloksets. I drove our Haida enemies onto the rocks and took many heads when they attacked our winter village on Orcas Island. I signed the Treaty with the Great White Father and I fought against the slavers of the south-”
Andy wanted to grab the omnipad but the smell of overcooking eggs brought his attention back to breakfast and Andy stirred and scrapped the food quickly, trying to save it.
“I asked her for any materials she could give me on your brother. Pictures, recordings, anything. This is what she gave me. It's the last known recording of your brother during an interrogation conducted by a Navy Commissar prior to his escape. It seems he made friends with a Pod of Deaths Head Commandos. Quite a bit of the recording has been redacted, but… there are portions of it where he talks about his family and his history. I thought you might like to have it.”
Andy hurriedly pulled out paper plates and a slice of bread for everyone and scooped a heaping portion of the chorizo eggs onto them. He handed the doctor his before leaning out the cabin door. “Slop’s on, come and get it!”
Andy sat down after moving the shotgun out of the way and started the video over again as the three women came back to grab their plates and lost himself watching his brother start telling his story.
“What’s that?” Andy heard Kalai ask over his shoulder, and he paused the video.
“That’s my brother! That’s Kay Tee!”
“Holy shit, what?” Jackie nearly shoved Kalai into Andy as she jammed her bread slice down her gullet and crowded in to see the screen.
Andy started the video over a second time and they watched in silence. “God, that brings back memories. Back when mom was still alive and before we broke up the warband. I can’t believe that slippery little punk ghosted a pod of Commandos for two fucking years! Holy shit, that’s badass!”
Before Andy could say anything, Sakalbi started coughing and brought the binoculars up. “Uh, Andy? Jackie? What do we do about sharks?”
Jackie looked at Andy in confusion. “Sharks? There’s nothing but Dogs around here.”
“Well those are shark fins and they’re charging the net!” Sakalbi pointed and Andy looked up to see dorsal fins charging the center of the net.
Andy looked at Jackie and spoke the same words in tandem, “Oh shit!”
First:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/yz0u3h/the_cryptid_chronicle_chapter_1/
Previous:
https://www.reddit.com/Sexyspacebabes/comments/13nh0oe/cryptid_chronicle_chapter_29/
Next:
To be posted 6/4/23
2023.05.28 04:44 GrungyAltyBoy10 I'm back once more.
This is easily my favorite listening experience out the now 3 post I've done on this sub. Some of my favorite songs so far throughout the discography land on this post. You can probably guess most of them, but I found some very interesting tracks that I never heard of. From the very first listen to the first album I'll review here on the post, I've seen a big spark of creativity the band has never shown until that point. Sadly, this is by most fans and critics opinions their highest point of their careers. I'm not disrespecting any futures releases and already putting them down before I even listen to them but that's what it seems to be like. But I'm still genuinely excited for the next to come. Now, it's time to hear my takes from these 4 albums. Just remember that I only gave one listen per album so my ratings will definitely change overtime.
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!): 8.3/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Girl Don’t Tell Me (9/10), California Girls (9/10), Then I Kissed Her (8.5/10), Help Me, Rhonda (8.5/10), You’re So Good to Me (8/10)
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS: Summer Means New Love (5.5/10), Amusement Parks U.S.A (6/10), And Your Dreams Come True (6.5/10)
Beach Boys' Party!: 5.5/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Barbara Ann (8.5/10), You’ve Got to Hide Away Your Love (7/10), Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow, Hully Gully
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS: Medley: I Get Around/Little Deuce Coupe (4/10), Mountain of Love (4/10), I Should Have Known Better (4/10)
Pet Sounds: 9.4/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Wouldn’t It Be Nice (10/10), I Know There’s an Answer (10/10), God Only Knows (10/10), Sloop John B (9.5/10), Caroline, No (9/10)
LEAST FAVORITE SONG: That’s Not Me (7.5/10)
Smiley Smile: 8.4/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Good Vibrations (10/10), Vegetables (9/10), Wind Chimes (9/10), With Me Tonight (9/10)
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS: Wonderful (5/10), Whistle In (5.5/10), She’s Goin’ Bald (5.5/10), Gettin’ Hungry (6/10)
If you have anything to say, I would love to know!
I know there's been a single released during this time and a couple of bonus tracks off of Smiley Smile and I've reviewed them so if you wanna know the scores just ask.
I've also made a playlist and starting tomorrow I'll be listening to it almost daily. It’s going to be hard though, I’ve been in love with my Radiohead playlist and I can’t stop listening to it lol.
Thanks to the people who has been giving their time to say their opinions as well. I thought these posts wouldn't be well liked by this community. Y'all are genuinely one of the friendliest music subs I've ever came across and I'm thankful for that!
submitted by GrungyAltyBoy10 to thebeachboys [link] [comments]
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!): 8.3/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Girl Don’t Tell Me (9/10), California Girls (9/10), Then I Kissed Her (8.5/10), Help Me, Rhonda (8.5/10), You’re So Good to Me (8/10)
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS: Summer Means New Love (5.5/10), Amusement Parks U.S.A (6/10), And Your Dreams Come True (6.5/10)
Beach Boys' Party!: 5.5/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Barbara Ann (8.5/10), You’ve Got to Hide Away Your Love (7/10), Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow, Hully Gully
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS: Medley: I Get Around/Little Deuce Coupe (4/10), Mountain of Love (4/10), I Should Have Known Better (4/10)
Pet Sounds: 9.4/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Wouldn’t It Be Nice (10/10), I Know There’s an Answer (10/10), God Only Knows (10/10), Sloop John B (9.5/10), Caroline, No (9/10)
LEAST FAVORITE SONG: That’s Not Me (7.5/10)
Smiley Smile: 8.4/10
FAVORITE SONGS: Good Vibrations (10/10), Vegetables (9/10), Wind Chimes (9/10), With Me Tonight (9/10)
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS: Wonderful (5/10), Whistle In (5.5/10), She’s Goin’ Bald (5.5/10), Gettin’ Hungry (6/10)
If you have anything to say, I would love to know!
I know there's been a single released during this time and a couple of bonus tracks off of Smiley Smile and I've reviewed them so if you wanna know the scores just ask.
I've also made a playlist and starting tomorrow I'll be listening to it almost daily. It’s going to be hard though, I’ve been in love with my Radiohead playlist and I can’t stop listening to it lol.
Thanks to the people who has been giving their time to say their opinions as well. I thought these posts wouldn't be well liked by this community. Y'all are genuinely one of the friendliest music subs I've ever came across and I'm thankful for that!
2023.05.28 04:33 LemonadeArcade I'm between two options...
 | submitted by LemonadeArcade to hvacadvice [link] [comments] I live in a split level condo in Iowa, which is 1600 sqft. I am looking into replacing the original, now 25 year old, AC and furnace. Current AC is a York H2DB024206B unit. Furnace is a York Diamond 80. Both have been reliable units in the 10 years I have been here with minimal service required. The AC has a small leak, I just had 1 lb Freon replaced last week, that is after it's last fill 8 years ago. So far this season it seems like it hasn't quite been cooling as fast as it could so I got a couple estimates for new units. This is what I'm between (prices in pics if interested)... Option 1: • Bryant 800SA36070E14 Furnace • Bryant 115SAN02400W Condenser • Bryant CVPVA2414XMC Coil • Reuse NEST Thermostat Option 2: • Bryant 820TA36070V14 Furnace • Bryant 115SAN02400W Condenser • Bryant CVPVA2414XMC Coil • Reuse NEST Thermostat The AC is the same in both options, Bryant 115SAN02400W. The difference being the furnace. Either a Bryant Legacy 80% Single Stage ECM Motor 70,000 BTU or a Bryant Preferred 80% 2 Stage Variable Speed 70,000 BTU. I plan to keep my Nest Learning Thermostat (Third Gen) unit as I have really enjoyed over the past 5 years. My question is, do you think I would benefit at all going with the 2 Stage Variable Speed furnace over the single stage which is similar to what I have now? Will my 3rd gen Nest Learning Thermostat be able to take advantage of it? The comfort consultant stated that that fan could run at low speeds 24/7 if I wanted to to help move air and improve comfort. In the winters I prefer to keep it on the cooler side (65 degrees) and in the summers I keep it around 74. Looking for any insight or opinions on this that could sway me in the right direction. I'm open to give any other information if it would be beneficial. Thank you so much to all who can help. I really do appreciate it. Option 1 Option 2 |
2023.05.28 04:26 artfart Condominium Conversion: Is this a good/decent deal?
First time purchase and I am considering purchasing a condo in College Park, Georgia. Im a single mid 30's person with a cat so a condo seems fitting for my lifestyle. These condos are part of a preschool (built in 1947) conversion project that developing an artist community. I work in education and I am an artist so I feel this is a good place for me. The preschool being converted is attached to a church that is now full of art studios and are occupied with artists currently. There are other projects like this across the US so i know this isn't just some hair-brained idea.
Here is a link to the project: https://ioncollegepark.community/
Some details:
$156k purchase price, I would putting down around 65k for a deposit. Im not in underwriting, but I do have earnest money (1%) in is already, I understand I would loose this if I walk away.
~550 Sq.ft, basically a rectangle. All brand new kitchen appliances (except a combo washer dryer), tile backsplash, quartz countertops ,all new bathroom (sink, toilet, shower). Building has all new pluming, electrical, HVAC Ductwork, ect). Ive read over all the paper work, building has been inspected by a registered architect and building is in adequate condition for its age. There are plans for reoccurring maintenance schedules for exterior of the building.
HOA: ~$300 month (Covers HVAC, Water, Community fees, trash, sewage). I would only pay for electric and Internet.
The units are almost ready to move in and Ive seen the model unit and they look nice!
My concerns:
#1. The windows in the building are old (not sure if original) but are definitely single pane windows. All the glass is being replaced and resealed. Since there is no HOA reps, I could potentially be part of the board and help direct the HOA to maybe replace these down the line. I dont have any health issues so I dont feel like these single pane windows would be an issue.
#2. The unit I'm interested in is a top floor, corner unit (three windows yay). They have confirmed the ceiling does not have insulation installed, even though they have installed drywall/new HVAC systems. I've asked them to get a quote and see if we can roll it into the total purchase price. This seems like a weird thing to not do since any walls they added they also put in insulation according to the purchase agreement. The builder has already given me a quote for blow in insulation but hasn't confirmed if he can roll it into the purchase price since my unit is an 'affordable unit' compared to the other units. The fact he is working to see if we can make it work makes me feel good about this.
My family is helping with the down payment so I have to consider their input on all this. They seem confused and concerned about this 'art community', but they are late 60s/early 70's boomer who bought a standard house for 50k in 1994. There is a bit of co-dependency in my family dynamic so their worries become my anxieties so Im turning to strangers on the internet for help/validation.
Does this seem like a decent deal given the current real estate market? I am a first time buyer so I am just trying my best to consider everything.
If possible, can someone point out the PROS and CONS of this in terms of Real Estate ownership, NOT lifestyle adjustment/community engagement.
I feel like I have given all the necessary details, feel free to ask me anything.
Thanks
submitted by artfart to RealEstate [link] [comments]
Here is a link to the project: https://ioncollegepark.community/
Some details:
$156k purchase price, I would putting down around 65k for a deposit. Im not in underwriting, but I do have earnest money (1%) in is already, I understand I would loose this if I walk away.
~550 Sq.ft, basically a rectangle. All brand new kitchen appliances (except a combo washer dryer), tile backsplash, quartz countertops ,all new bathroom (sink, toilet, shower). Building has all new pluming, electrical, HVAC Ductwork, ect). Ive read over all the paper work, building has been inspected by a registered architect and building is in adequate condition for its age. There are plans for reoccurring maintenance schedules for exterior of the building.
HOA: ~$300 month (Covers HVAC, Water, Community fees, trash, sewage). I would only pay for electric and Internet.
The units are almost ready to move in and Ive seen the model unit and they look nice!
My concerns:
#1. The windows in the building are old (not sure if original) but are definitely single pane windows. All the glass is being replaced and resealed. Since there is no HOA reps, I could potentially be part of the board and help direct the HOA to maybe replace these down the line. I dont have any health issues so I dont feel like these single pane windows would be an issue.
#2. The unit I'm interested in is a top floor, corner unit (three windows yay). They have confirmed the ceiling does not have insulation installed, even though they have installed drywall/new HVAC systems. I've asked them to get a quote and see if we can roll it into the total purchase price. This seems like a weird thing to not do since any walls they added they also put in insulation according to the purchase agreement. The builder has already given me a quote for blow in insulation but hasn't confirmed if he can roll it into the purchase price since my unit is an 'affordable unit' compared to the other units. The fact he is working to see if we can make it work makes me feel good about this.
My family is helping with the down payment so I have to consider their input on all this. They seem confused and concerned about this 'art community', but they are late 60s/early 70's boomer who bought a standard house for 50k in 1994. There is a bit of co-dependency in my family dynamic so their worries become my anxieties so Im turning to strangers on the internet for help/validation.
Does this seem like a decent deal given the current real estate market? I am a first time buyer so I am just trying my best to consider everything.
If possible, can someone point out the PROS and CONS of this in terms of Real Estate ownership, NOT lifestyle adjustment/community engagement.
I feel like I have given all the necessary details, feel free to ask me anything.
Thanks