Skin and body refinery waco tx
Fresh Falls - One Week Review
2023.05.28 04:34 Maximus_Prime_96 Fresh Falls - One Week Review
Tomorrow marks one week since I took the plunge on Dr. Squatch and bought my first bar of Fresh Falls at Walmart.
Since that time, not only does my skin feel a lot better but also, issues I had with flaking dry skin and blackheads (especially on the nose) have all but disappeared. The bar itself smells amazing too.
Worth every penny, glad I made the change from my old body wash đ
submitted by Maximus_Prime_96 to DrSquatch [link] [comments]
Since that time, not only does my skin feel a lot better but also, issues I had with flaking dry skin and blackheads (especially on the nose) have all but disappeared. The bar itself smells amazing too.
Worth every penny, glad I made the change from my old body wash đ
2023.05.28 04:34 rofyty 26 [M4F] naughty fun katipunan (F or TF)
Open to TF or F
Trying out here again but looking for anyone free today from lunch to around 5pm in Katipunan or nearby area and open to a bit of naughty fun. Hoping to meet someone who's needing a bit of release too. I can caress boobs and lick/finger fuck very very well if you are into that or if you want some hands all over your body ;) . Just wanted to make someone moan or squirm as well if you would let me đ„° we dont have to do it all the way, no penetration sex. You dont have to reciprocate too, i can just eat you out and/or finger you đ
we can exchange pics as well if you want before we meet
We can do it in my car and my car is tinted. If you are more comfortable though if you have a place of ur own then thats also fine
About me: - medium built slim chinito - fair skinned - 5'7 - clean and low count - has a tinted car
About you: - slim petite built or thicc in the right places - clean - dont really have that much preference :)
submitted by rofyty to phlgbtr4r [link] [comments]
Trying out here again but looking for anyone free today from lunch to around 5pm in Katipunan or nearby area and open to a bit of naughty fun. Hoping to meet someone who's needing a bit of release too. I can caress boobs and lick/finger fuck very very well if you are into that or if you want some hands all over your body ;) . Just wanted to make someone moan or squirm as well if you would let me đ„° we dont have to do it all the way, no penetration sex. You dont have to reciprocate too, i can just eat you out and/or finger you đ
we can exchange pics as well if you want before we meet
We can do it in my car and my car is tinted. If you are more comfortable though if you have a place of ur own then thats also fine
About me: - medium built slim chinito - fair skinned - 5'7 - clean and low count - has a tinted car
About you: - slim petite built or thicc in the right places - clean - dont really have that much preference :)
2023.05.28 04:26 lissalaura Inflamed spots
 | These randomly popped up on my biceps, my upper thigh, my stomach, and breast a few days ago. They're getting better but I have a new one to day on my arm. I have about 5 in total. The ones on my arms look worse because I keep messing with them. They aren't very raised, they're soft, don't really itch (maybe a little if I think about them too much but only the ones on my arms and not the others), there's no heat to them. If I didn't see them it's like like they wouldn't even exist. The ones on my arms are only bruised because I've been picking at them. It seems they only appear on areas where my skin is thin. Recent changes I've made is using a new body wash, and adding water to my body lotion, in my hands not directly into the bottle, to help it spread easier. I don't think it's bug bites as it doesn't itch. I'm super confused. submitted by lissalaura to DermatologyQuestions [link] [comments] |
2023.05.28 04:25 Alternative_Quote_14 My wifeâs personality has changed rapidly these past six months. Could this be a sign of a body swap, or am I overreacting?
I didn't even know body swapping was real until I found this sub. After researching the posts here, I think this might explain what I have been experiencing. You guys are the experts, so I figured you could help me figure this out.
A bit of backstory I should share. I am 35 years old and have been married to my wife Diana (32) for ten years. I know we married pretty young but we were raised Christian and in the South. It's common here.
I work in a high-up position at an electrical company and get paid enough to support our two kids (8 and 5) Diana sells homemade soap for extra money but her focus is on taking care of the kids.
We live rather conservative lives but that doesn't mean we are complete stereotypes for example, I am a big fan of heavy metal.
Which takes us to where I believe this all began.
For my 35 birthday, Diana surprised me with tickets to my favorite metal band. She was hardly a fan of that kind of music but wanted to go with me and experience it together as she is a big fan of live music and is part of our church choir.
So we left the kids under the watch of my mother-in-law and headed out to the city. It was funny how much Diana stood out, wearing a long dress that showed no skin. The rest of the women there had piercings, tattoos, and wore fishnets and all black.
It was an amazing show and a ton of fun. Diana was a little stiff at first but as the show went she loosed up and started dancing despite not being familiar with the songs.
When it was over we went to a hotel. I thanked her for the gift and kissed her. Typically after a night like this, she would be too tired for sex. I was fine with that. I didn't expect her to do anything just because it was my birthday but as soon as we were in the hotel she started taking off her clothes. I told her we didn't have to do anything but she insisted.
It was a great end to an amazing night.
In the morning we went home.
I started working same as normal with her focused on the kids at home.
But it was ever since then that she started changing. It started with me catching her listening to and singing along with metal songs. I assume that night had just given her a better application for the genre.
But then I came home one day to find out she cut her hair. Her long pretty brown hair, long since she was a child was now a short bob. It was shocking but a good look so I didn't say anything but told her it looked good.
Then she started getting tattoos, rapidly. In two months her whole left arm was inked. And her outfits were changing. She started wearing fishnets, big black boots, t-shirts of emo bands I never knew she liked, dark lipstick, and eyeliner.
She even started lifting weights. And despite almost never cursing the whole decade we were married, she became foul-mouthed even using the Lord's name in vain.
She was good at acting like her normal Christian self at church though and she still did a great job with the kids.
Despite all of this I just figured it was just her naturally changing and branching out a bit from how she was raised but the biggest changes happened just this month.
I was taking a week's break from work and Diana wanted her own break so she went on a trip with some girls I didn't know but she claimed she was friends with online? I let it go and used the time to spend time with the kids.
But when she came back I hardly recognized her. One-half of her hair was shaved the other long and dyed bleach blonde. A nose ring and her lips were subtly pumped up. Her breasts were enhanced as well with pierced nipples too.
I finally confronted her about her changes. But it had already been a while since we had sex. She wore a sleeveless shirt that showed off her new muscles.
âWhat have you become?â I asked.
She smiled. âLike it?â
I shook my head. âNo. This isn't the woman I married.â
She lowered herself to her knees and touched my thigh. âReally? This little guy seems to like it.â
She was right I was rock hard.
You might expect her new appearance to mean she was dominant in bed now. But no. She was still submissive but started taunting me now. Bent over with her ass to me. âCome on, big boy. Be a man and show your wife who's boss.â
After that, I stopped complaining. People give her weird looks. Some of my friends question it. We stick out in church events But I really do like this new side of her. I think I love her more than ever.
(Oh, and this morning she could me she was going to quit selling soap and start selling feet pics to pervs online...)
But when I found this sub I can't help but wonder. Is this really her or did her body get stolen back at the show? Who was it? The young emo boy who was behind us? The fat guy who stood beside me? One of the girls? Or was it some quick moment before the show began?
How could I find the real her? Did she try contacting me and I didn't even notice?
What do you guys think? What should I do?
submitted by Alternative_Quote_14 to BodySwapRP [link] [comments]
A bit of backstory I should share. I am 35 years old and have been married to my wife Diana (32) for ten years. I know we married pretty young but we were raised Christian and in the South. It's common here.
I work in a high-up position at an electrical company and get paid enough to support our two kids (8 and 5) Diana sells homemade soap for extra money but her focus is on taking care of the kids.
We live rather conservative lives but that doesn't mean we are complete stereotypes for example, I am a big fan of heavy metal.
Which takes us to where I believe this all began.
For my 35 birthday, Diana surprised me with tickets to my favorite metal band. She was hardly a fan of that kind of music but wanted to go with me and experience it together as she is a big fan of live music and is part of our church choir.
So we left the kids under the watch of my mother-in-law and headed out to the city. It was funny how much Diana stood out, wearing a long dress that showed no skin. The rest of the women there had piercings, tattoos, and wore fishnets and all black.
It was an amazing show and a ton of fun. Diana was a little stiff at first but as the show went she loosed up and started dancing despite not being familiar with the songs.
When it was over we went to a hotel. I thanked her for the gift and kissed her. Typically after a night like this, she would be too tired for sex. I was fine with that. I didn't expect her to do anything just because it was my birthday but as soon as we were in the hotel she started taking off her clothes. I told her we didn't have to do anything but she insisted.
It was a great end to an amazing night.
In the morning we went home.
I started working same as normal with her focused on the kids at home.
But it was ever since then that she started changing. It started with me catching her listening to and singing along with metal songs. I assume that night had just given her a better application for the genre.
But then I came home one day to find out she cut her hair. Her long pretty brown hair, long since she was a child was now a short bob. It was shocking but a good look so I didn't say anything but told her it looked good.
Then she started getting tattoos, rapidly. In two months her whole left arm was inked. And her outfits were changing. She started wearing fishnets, big black boots, t-shirts of emo bands I never knew she liked, dark lipstick, and eyeliner.
She even started lifting weights. And despite almost never cursing the whole decade we were married, she became foul-mouthed even using the Lord's name in vain.
She was good at acting like her normal Christian self at church though and she still did a great job with the kids.
Despite all of this I just figured it was just her naturally changing and branching out a bit from how she was raised but the biggest changes happened just this month.
I was taking a week's break from work and Diana wanted her own break so she went on a trip with some girls I didn't know but she claimed she was friends with online? I let it go and used the time to spend time with the kids.
But when she came back I hardly recognized her. One-half of her hair was shaved the other long and dyed bleach blonde. A nose ring and her lips were subtly pumped up. Her breasts were enhanced as well with pierced nipples too.
I finally confronted her about her changes. But it had already been a while since we had sex. She wore a sleeveless shirt that showed off her new muscles.
âWhat have you become?â I asked.
She smiled. âLike it?â
I shook my head. âNo. This isn't the woman I married.â
She lowered herself to her knees and touched my thigh. âReally? This little guy seems to like it.â
She was right I was rock hard.
You might expect her new appearance to mean she was dominant in bed now. But no. She was still submissive but started taunting me now. Bent over with her ass to me. âCome on, big boy. Be a man and show your wife who's boss.â
After that, I stopped complaining. People give her weird looks. Some of my friends question it. We stick out in church events But I really do like this new side of her. I think I love her more than ever.
(Oh, and this morning she could me she was going to quit selling soap and start selling feet pics to pervs online...)
But when I found this sub I can't help but wonder. Is this really her or did her body get stolen back at the show? Who was it? The young emo boy who was behind us? The fat guy who stood beside me? One of the girls? Or was it some quick moment before the show began?
How could I find the real her? Did she try contacting me and I didn't even notice?
What do you guys think? What should I do?
2023.05.28 04:24 Scared_Lab_7059 Why is showing genitals and dressing provocatively different
I have nothing against people dressing how they want.
It seems like in society we widely agree that showing genitals is considered bad taste and unacceptable.
When you are in a more conservative area, where showing skin is considered unacceptable , is this the same just with a shifted set of what range of body parts is acceptable? Or is there something specific about genitalia that sets it apart?
submitted by Scared_Lab_7059 to NoStupidQuestions [link] [comments]
It seems like in society we widely agree that showing genitals is considered bad taste and unacceptable.
When you are in a more conservative area, where showing skin is considered unacceptable , is this the same just with a shifted set of what range of body parts is acceptable? Or is there something specific about genitalia that sets it apart?
2023.05.28 04:24 hashtagjlove Parents' probate is taking way too long and I'm getting frustrated
I just need some confirmation or maybe some relatable anecdotes about a pretty sad situation I'm dealing with because it's causing me major anxiety and I have no idea how to approach it and idk maybe I just need to vent and idk a more appropriate place for this post. I tried the AITA subreddit but it kept deleting my post.
So to set the stage; 2021 was an awful year for my family. Shortly before the pandemic my father was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth from his lifelong dipping tobacco habit. He was going through that while the pandemic took hold and not long into it my stepmother began to lose balance a lot and would fall and not be able to get back up frequently. My dad underwent treatment and went into remission very briefly before having to go back for a skin graft while my stepmom would slowly become wheelchair bound. Then in March of 2021 my dad went to the hospital for shortness of breath. The doctors put him into a medically induced coma to run tests, and the next day my stepmom had to go to the hospital for major stomach pain (bowel obstruction from the wheelchair). I lived in FL at the time, they lived in TX. I flew out and found that my dad had a mess of chest/heart/lung complications related to his cancer and the only options were hospice or numerous surgeries for a very long shot with lots of suffering so me, my stepsister, brother in law and her children all had to go to my stepmom's room across town and first explain the situation to her which crushed us, then she and I had to sit down and make the decision to let him go into hospice peacefully and we managed to get her to his hospital to say goodbye and I flew out shortly after. I flew back into town for my dad's funeral, my mom was now starting to lose her voice and upper body strength. I fly home, a few weeks later mom is back in the hospital and I get the call from my sister who also told me one of her sons had passed shortly after she went in and I got to fly in to town to see mom and we had to tell her as a family about my nephew which was heartbreaking. Another month goes by, we finally get mom's diagnosis: ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). By this time she has to be on a respirator and I'm flying into Texas every few weeks to visit her but she eventually became unresponsive in September and we had to let her pass, too, and to cap it off it happened on my dad's birthday. I flew back shortly after to scatter her ashes on the beach (which she made sure all of us knew she wanted before she lost her voice, she didn't want us to not know like we went through with dad). So to recap, Dad passes in March, nephew passes in June, Mom passes in September. I lost my parents and a nephew inside of six months. My biological mother is still alive and I've become a little worrisome about her now but still it was the hardest year of my life.
After the worst year our family ever experienced I just wanted some time to process it all and grieve and I'm glad to say I'm at a point where I'll catch a glimpse of something that reminds me of them and I'll just think of whatever memory is attached to it for a minute and smile, though the anniversaries are still hard. Thank you for sticking with me so far. So during that time the process of probate was going on but I didn't much care about that, I just wanted to grieve and see my other nephew get married last year which was beautiful but..
It's almost two years now since mom passed away. She named my brother in law as the executor of her will. I think he was the best choice bc he would be the one to get things done and stand up to my stepbrother who was kind of the black sheep of the family (long story) but still thinks he should have been the executor. He's started a few fights over it. Anyway, about a year ago I had managed to move past the grieving process and it felt like my sister and BIL had, too. We've grown a lot closer over this time so I didn't want to ask about probate besides keeping up with how my parents' house is holding up (and retrieving a wooden chest I had made in high school that mom cherished and my dad's ring that my mom left to me) because I trust them. I also feel like asking about money after someone has passed is in poor taste.. but like I said we're almost two years past that now.
My mom left me, my stepsister and brother in law equal portions of her estate after the specific things like furniture, jewelry etc, and a small portion to my stepbrother. I haven't heard anything about that and until recently I was content to let it be bc I wasn't the only one that had a really hard time with so much loss so suddenly but the house hasn't even been listed for sale. I've tried asking what's going on with it, it seems there's a plumbing issue that needs to be addressed but the house is an hour and a half from their house so scheduling is hard. I get it but... stepsis doesn't work. She has health issues that slow her down but nothing that stops her from taking a day to go to the house to meet a plumber. Mom left her car to her so she definitely has her own transportation and she can do exactly what she does at home.. at mom and dad's house. She smokes cigarettes and does puzzles on her porch. She can bring her dogs for company. I don't understand how this plumbing issue has held things up for at least two months. I've tried suggesting ways to have someone meet the plumber and alert her so she can drive to the house (neighbor, friends, someone from the law office). The last option kind of put a little unwanted intrusive thought into my head, though. When I suggested just having someone from the law office as a throwaway bc I'm getting a little frustrated my sister told me "Oh, the lawyer's job was done a long time ago."
What does that mean? Sister had to let me go before I could ask, claiming she had to go to the doctor for a possible infection (which is was but she's fine now). I haven't called since then because I'm more than a little frustrated after that last conversation. I'm assuming it means all my parents' debts have been paid, all insurance policies have been collected, savings/retirement accounts have been consolidated etc. The only thing that appears to be left is the house. That's a monthly mortgage payment, insurance, possibly utilities and probably the car. I'm not going to lie, I have thought about what I might do with my inheritance. Nothing concrete but I've considered using it for a house or to get some training to switch careers and I'm in no immediate rush to get it but my main issue is how in the dark I feel. Stepsis and brother in law have since bought their first house and have done extensive renovations to it. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt bc BIL had been promoted at work shortly before everything happened and they were looking at houses.. but I'm not unconvinced their budget didn't get bigger? Like I don't think they're spending my portion of the inheritance... but it's a bad look isn't it? They're the only family I have left on my dad/stepmom's side and I don't want to cause tension with accusations but I don't even know how much the estate was. I'm still paying off the flights, rental car and hotel bills from all the trips to Texas. I have severe PTSD and chronic anxiety diagnoses and piling this on top has been keeping me up at night for a year now. WIBTA if I called the probate lawyer and asked to see all the statements? Is this normal?
submitted by hashtagjlove to venting [link] [comments]
So to set the stage; 2021 was an awful year for my family. Shortly before the pandemic my father was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth from his lifelong dipping tobacco habit. He was going through that while the pandemic took hold and not long into it my stepmother began to lose balance a lot and would fall and not be able to get back up frequently. My dad underwent treatment and went into remission very briefly before having to go back for a skin graft while my stepmom would slowly become wheelchair bound. Then in March of 2021 my dad went to the hospital for shortness of breath. The doctors put him into a medically induced coma to run tests, and the next day my stepmom had to go to the hospital for major stomach pain (bowel obstruction from the wheelchair). I lived in FL at the time, they lived in TX. I flew out and found that my dad had a mess of chest/heart/lung complications related to his cancer and the only options were hospice or numerous surgeries for a very long shot with lots of suffering so me, my stepsister, brother in law and her children all had to go to my stepmom's room across town and first explain the situation to her which crushed us, then she and I had to sit down and make the decision to let him go into hospice peacefully and we managed to get her to his hospital to say goodbye and I flew out shortly after. I flew back into town for my dad's funeral, my mom was now starting to lose her voice and upper body strength. I fly home, a few weeks later mom is back in the hospital and I get the call from my sister who also told me one of her sons had passed shortly after she went in and I got to fly in to town to see mom and we had to tell her as a family about my nephew which was heartbreaking. Another month goes by, we finally get mom's diagnosis: ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). By this time she has to be on a respirator and I'm flying into Texas every few weeks to visit her but she eventually became unresponsive in September and we had to let her pass, too, and to cap it off it happened on my dad's birthday. I flew back shortly after to scatter her ashes on the beach (which she made sure all of us knew she wanted before she lost her voice, she didn't want us to not know like we went through with dad). So to recap, Dad passes in March, nephew passes in June, Mom passes in September. I lost my parents and a nephew inside of six months. My biological mother is still alive and I've become a little worrisome about her now but still it was the hardest year of my life.
After the worst year our family ever experienced I just wanted some time to process it all and grieve and I'm glad to say I'm at a point where I'll catch a glimpse of something that reminds me of them and I'll just think of whatever memory is attached to it for a minute and smile, though the anniversaries are still hard. Thank you for sticking with me so far. So during that time the process of probate was going on but I didn't much care about that, I just wanted to grieve and see my other nephew get married last year which was beautiful but..
It's almost two years now since mom passed away. She named my brother in law as the executor of her will. I think he was the best choice bc he would be the one to get things done and stand up to my stepbrother who was kind of the black sheep of the family (long story) but still thinks he should have been the executor. He's started a few fights over it. Anyway, about a year ago I had managed to move past the grieving process and it felt like my sister and BIL had, too. We've grown a lot closer over this time so I didn't want to ask about probate besides keeping up with how my parents' house is holding up (and retrieving a wooden chest I had made in high school that mom cherished and my dad's ring that my mom left to me) because I trust them. I also feel like asking about money after someone has passed is in poor taste.. but like I said we're almost two years past that now.
My mom left me, my stepsister and brother in law equal portions of her estate after the specific things like furniture, jewelry etc, and a small portion to my stepbrother. I haven't heard anything about that and until recently I was content to let it be bc I wasn't the only one that had a really hard time with so much loss so suddenly but the house hasn't even been listed for sale. I've tried asking what's going on with it, it seems there's a plumbing issue that needs to be addressed but the house is an hour and a half from their house so scheduling is hard. I get it but... stepsis doesn't work. She has health issues that slow her down but nothing that stops her from taking a day to go to the house to meet a plumber. Mom left her car to her so she definitely has her own transportation and she can do exactly what she does at home.. at mom and dad's house. She smokes cigarettes and does puzzles on her porch. She can bring her dogs for company. I don't understand how this plumbing issue has held things up for at least two months. I've tried suggesting ways to have someone meet the plumber and alert her so she can drive to the house (neighbor, friends, someone from the law office). The last option kind of put a little unwanted intrusive thought into my head, though. When I suggested just having someone from the law office as a throwaway bc I'm getting a little frustrated my sister told me "Oh, the lawyer's job was done a long time ago."
What does that mean? Sister had to let me go before I could ask, claiming she had to go to the doctor for a possible infection (which is was but she's fine now). I haven't called since then because I'm more than a little frustrated after that last conversation. I'm assuming it means all my parents' debts have been paid, all insurance policies have been collected, savings/retirement accounts have been consolidated etc. The only thing that appears to be left is the house. That's a monthly mortgage payment, insurance, possibly utilities and probably the car. I'm not going to lie, I have thought about what I might do with my inheritance. Nothing concrete but I've considered using it for a house or to get some training to switch careers and I'm in no immediate rush to get it but my main issue is how in the dark I feel. Stepsis and brother in law have since bought their first house and have done extensive renovations to it. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt bc BIL had been promoted at work shortly before everything happened and they were looking at houses.. but I'm not unconvinced their budget didn't get bigger? Like I don't think they're spending my portion of the inheritance... but it's a bad look isn't it? They're the only family I have left on my dad/stepmom's side and I don't want to cause tension with accusations but I don't even know how much the estate was. I'm still paying off the flights, rental car and hotel bills from all the trips to Texas. I have severe PTSD and chronic anxiety diagnoses and piling this on top has been keeping me up at night for a year now. WIBTA if I called the probate lawyer and asked to see all the statements? Is this normal?
2023.05.28 04:10 FitCardiologist3003 Execution ideas
Leatherface executions The Split: Leatherface saws the victim up their crotch through their head, slicing them in half
The Execution: Leatherface grabs the victim by their head and saws it off, holding it in the air and releasing a gladiator pig squeal
Killed Kirk: Leatherface repeatedly hits the victims head with a sledgehammer causing them to have a seizure
Faceless: Leatherface pulls a meat cleaver from under his apron and cuts the skin off of a victims face
Rev Raise: Leatherface chainsaws the victim through their stomach and hoists them into the air on the saw
Tisâ But A Scratch: Leatherface cuts the limbs off the victim one by one and starts repeatedly kicking their limbless stumpy body as its squirming around to finish them off.
Hitchhiker executions
Nasty Noose: Hitchhiker cuts the victims stomach open and strangles them with their intestines
Ravenous: Hitchhiker spontaneously slashes and maims the victim into a long and painful death
Selfie: Hitchhiker beats the victims head in with his camera and takes a selfie with their corpse
By By Fingy: Hitchhiker cuts 4 fingers off of the victims hand and forces the fingers down their throat suffocating them.
The Cook Executions
Bad Boy: The Cook takes his belt and whips the victims then he tightens it around their neck to kill them
Apple Of Eye: The Cook stabs the victims eye with his wood pole and pulls it out of the socket
Shut Up: The Cook stuffs his wood rod into the victims gullet and makes them choke to death
Sissy Execution
She force feeds the victim her poison causing an overdose
submitted by FitCardiologist3003 to TXChainSawGame [link] [comments]
The Execution: Leatherface grabs the victim by their head and saws it off, holding it in the air and releasing a gladiator pig squeal
Killed Kirk: Leatherface repeatedly hits the victims head with a sledgehammer causing them to have a seizure
Faceless: Leatherface pulls a meat cleaver from under his apron and cuts the skin off of a victims face
Rev Raise: Leatherface chainsaws the victim through their stomach and hoists them into the air on the saw
Tisâ But A Scratch: Leatherface cuts the limbs off the victim one by one and starts repeatedly kicking their limbless stumpy body as its squirming around to finish them off.
Hitchhiker executions
Nasty Noose: Hitchhiker cuts the victims stomach open and strangles them with their intestines
Ravenous: Hitchhiker spontaneously slashes and maims the victim into a long and painful death
Selfie: Hitchhiker beats the victims head in with his camera and takes a selfie with their corpse
By By Fingy: Hitchhiker cuts 4 fingers off of the victims hand and forces the fingers down their throat suffocating them.
The Cook Executions
Bad Boy: The Cook takes his belt and whips the victims then he tightens it around their neck to kill them
Apple Of Eye: The Cook stabs the victims eye with his wood pole and pulls it out of the socket
Shut Up: The Cook stuffs his wood rod into the victims gullet and makes them choke to death
Sissy Execution
She force feeds the victim her poison causing an overdose
2023.05.28 04:03 micronesiarain Episode 4- "Design Gone Galactic" âïžđȘ
 | the queens return to the workroom after Yuka's elimination submitted by micronesiarain to XtinasDragRace [link] [comments] Wren: Awww, Yuka! đWren CF: Seeing Yuka leave is bittersweet. I had gotten really close with her. But when you're in the bottom two, you can only focus on it not being your name on that lipstick. One of us had to go, better her than me! Fleur: I'd say I can't believe she's gone this early, but I'm afraid I saw it coming. Sue: Really? Fleur: If there's one thing about me and Yuka being in a competition together, it's that I'll make it farther. Bring out the tiny violins, bye bitch! đFleur CF: Did Yuka do anything to me? Hmm, that's a dumb question. But I do know that she was in the competition, and now she's not! Morgs: Blondie and Zodya, congratulations. I'll admit, I was hoping this would be our week. But you did a nice job. Blondie: Thank you. Sharris: Let's hope that there aren't any more pity wins this season. That would be great. Zodya: There's a difference between a pity win and being the best team to follow the rules. Sharris: And I don't think you were either! Zodya: Sharris, I don't need you making this a miserable experience. đZodya CF: I feel like Sharris brings a dark cloud over the competition. I trust Morgs and Steph, and I know that they trust Sharris. For now, I can play nice. But when it comes down to the inner group of the alliance, she'll have to go. Kami: Blondie, how are you feeling after being in the top? Blondie: It felt right, it felt correct! Fleur: Oh shut up. Blondie: Alright, that came out of nowhere, but work. Wren: I'm sure my lipstick is in your bra right now, but it really was nice to see you get celebrated like that. Blondie: I actually chose Yuka. Wren: Girl, you don't need to lie. It's fine, really. Blondie pulls her lipstick out to reveal she truly did choose Yuka Blondie: Not lying. Wren: What the hell, I'm at a loss right now. đBlondie CF: Saving Wren was not an easy decision. I know people want her gone. And after what went down between the two of us, I had a million reasons to get her out of here. But this is the new version of Blondie, and I've made the decision to fight for this friendship. And that can only happen once one of us decides to be the bigger person. And that's usually not me, but there's a first for everything! Blondie: What you did, it hurt me. But things I did on Season Six, that hurt you. If we keep going after each other, we can't move forward. the camera slowly pans over to Sue who is hysterically crying Steph: Sue? Sue: I just...I just love seeing the birth of a friendship! đSteph CF: If any of you question why I love this bitch, now you know. The sweetest soul I know. Wren: Blondie, that means a lot to me. Thank you. Now, I still don't know if it should've been me in the bottom, but thank you. Fleur: Here we go again. Anthyy: Who do you think should've been in the bottom? Wren: Our challenge was to show up at a certain time and perform. Most of us did that. But two of us didn't. Sharris squints her eyes and takes off her earrings, handing them over to Morgs Sharris: Wren, you're a joke. Not just a joke, an embarrassment. Why the fuck are you even here? Wren: Excuse me? Sharris: You take this so seriously, and it makes me physically uncomfortable. It's a game, calm down. Wren: I'm not apologizing for showing up to a competition and wanting to compete. Sharris: You need to apologize for a lot more than that. Starting with that face. Fleur: And then work your way down. Zodya: Are we really doing this right now? You're all taking this too far, and it needs to stop. I'm serious. Sharris: Oh bug off, you don't need to play mediator. Zodya: Sharris, stop. I'm not letting you attack my friend. Sharris: If that's the kind of freak you're friends with, that says everything about you. đSharris CF: I won't rest until Wren is out of the competition. I don't like her, I haven't liked her, and I will never like her. It's not even about winning anymore. It's about breaking this bitch from the inside. The Next Day the queens enter the workroom, laughing and ignoring the drama from the previous night đAnthyy CF: It's a new day in the workroom, and the stress of the competition is clearly getting to these girls! I feel good, staying out of the drama, and ready to slay. You won't see me safe again, that's not a cute look! Sue: Seeing how many people are still here just shows how big this season is going to be. Three girls down, and we can still barely fit around the table. Sharris: Some of you can skip some meals, and that'll change! đSue CF: I'm afraid that I'm fading into the background, and it's about time that I step forward. On Season Four, I never got to a win, even though I was close. I know that these girls think my attitude is more fun and relaxed, but I won't let them underestimate me. the workroom door swings open as Micro steps in, wearing a sliver puffer track suit with futuristic silver sunglasses Micro: Greetings Earth queens! When I invited each of you back, I did so because you are the best and brightest in the galaxy. And to prove that, it's time to take things out of this world. Behind me, there's a table full of celestial inspired materials. Each of you will design a high fashion look that takes us to infinity and beyond. Now, some of you may not love the idea of producing your own look. Which is why you have options! If you'd like, you are able to use a pre-existing look. The only catch is that you need to modify it enough so that it reads as your own unique creation. Good luck, and I can't wait to see what you come up with! Micro leaves the workroom, and the queens rush over to the table of materials, grabbing everything they can find đWhorechata CF: This is what I've been waiting for! From the start of this competition, these queens have questioned whether or not I belong here. And I knew they were wrong. Because...duh, look at the material. But this is the challenge where I know I can outdo everyone else. Yeah, I feel pretty good about my chances. the queens spread throughout the workroom in different groupings Fleur, Morgs, and Sharris discuss the challenge and what their ideas are Sharris: I've decided to not make my own look. I know my limits, and there's more I can do with little embellishments than with a sewing machine. đMorgs CF: Sharris is the person I'm the closest to here. I do trust that she can make this challenge work. But when she says she's not even taking out a sewing machine, I'm starting to worry. Fleur: I've taken my sewing classes after Season Four, and I didn't really have that much to improve on. Morgs: You had a design challenge on your season, right? Fleur: We did. We got these horrible boxes of trash and had to make it into something. đFleur CF: I felt great about my look on Season Four. Truly, how can you describe it without using the word beautiful? Some people said I should've been in the bottom, but "some people" got sent home two episodes ago. Hi Lectro, thanks for watching! Morgs: From what I can see of other people, I don't think we have anything to worry about this week. Sharris: Just say Wren... the camera cuts over to Wren on the floor, sculpting multiple arms and cutting out fabric đWren CF: I've always had a strong sense of what I want when it comes to the designs I wear. But it's taken some time to polish up the level of execution. This is my chance to show how much I've grown, even in the short time since Season Six. Zodya: Wren, you doing good? Wren: Can't talk, too busy serving cunt. đZodya CF: If you can't love yourself, then you must not be Wren! But hey, I can't knock the confidence. Zodya: Chata, what are you bringing with your look? Whorechata: I'm trying to embrace the materials as much as possible. I don't want to use any patterns I brought, any base garments, nothing. If it's not from that table, I'm not using it. Zodya: It's definitely a bold color choice. Whorechata: I need to stand out. Whatever it takes. đWhorechata CF: Being able to create looks like this, that's why I applied for Season Five. And finally, I got a challenge where I can shine. Anthyy, Steph, and Sue chat by the mirrors as they sketch out look ideas đAnthyy CF: I've come back to judge fashion challenges on MDR a million times. If I don't slay this, I need to apologize to everyone I ever critiqued! I need to bring a new silhouette, new materials, everything. You won't be able to clock a single detail. Steph: Last time I had a challenge like this, it caused me to spiral. Sue: You know you've gotten better since then. Steph: I think I have. Being back in these four walls, and feeling like I'm just starting to get the momentum going, it's hauntingly familiar to how I felt on Season Three. Anthyy: You have to believe in yourself! Let the infection take over. Well, not like that. But the fashion infection. Steph: Please, I need to catch the fashion infection first! đSteph CF: Ever since my elimination on Season Three, I've felt like had I just made it through the design challenge, I could've won the whole thing. This is my chance to show that I can not just make it through this challenge, but I can come out unharmed, and ready to give this competition what I have. Call me dramatic, but you all saw the look, it was traumatizing! Sue plugs in her headphones and turns on Kylie Minogue, unlocking her full powers. She turns on the sewing machine and gets to work đSue CF: When it comes to sewing, I may not be Sue Essence Hall. But I have the drive and heart to win this thing. Nobody wants this more than me, and that's gotta count for something. Runway the lights flicker and an electric magenta light floods the runway as Micro struts down the center Micro Episode 4 Look Micro: Welcome back to the runway of Micro's Drag Race: All Stars! This week, the queens were asked to design a high fashion look utilizing or inspired by celestial materials. And joining me on the judging panel is a very special guest. Usually, we keep it in the family and have past queens return to judge. But this season, I've invited some legendary queens that I admire to help me out. And tonight, we have the amazing Hex! Hex Guest Judging Look Micro: Hex, thank you for being here! Hex: Honored to be here. Micro: You've been a legendary designer in the drag world for years. What do you think makes a good design? Hex: Finding a concept, and immersing yourself in that world. If you want to be an alien, become that alien and think about how they'd wear the look. You have to commit! Micro: That is fabulous advice. You ready to get started? Hex: I'm ready to feel inspired! Micro: Without further ado, let's see if these looks are truly out of this world! "Bad Juju" by Jujubee plays Anthyy: Coming down this runway I feel amazing! Itâs a design challenge and you just know that miss Anthyy will deliver in those! Tonight the category was space at first I got a bit scared cause the home eis super broad if you look at it but then my. Mind went straight to my sister she is OBSSESED with space, so I called her and asked her what is her favorite planet! She said Uranus⊠and the rest is history! So tonight for my look I am channeling you the Uranus fantasy, my dress is a net made out of 27 of the Uranusâs moons and being me you can see a stunning set of itâs rings, not many people know that Uranus is one of the 3 planets with rings! Yup not only Saturn so tonight I wanted to make sure we donât forget about those rings! Uranus is also one of the coldest planets that exsist so i made sure my alien puss is frozen the haus down boots! The parts holding together the moons on her dress are all coveed in galaxy dust and you can see my stunning 3 pairs of hands all going in diffrent directions! As for the look itself, it is a pretty gown (which you know i only do for special occasions!) with an amazing backpiece and stunning hair artistry! I would say this is soemthing that isnt often seen and its one of it's kind so im suoer happy to bring it to you on the design challenge! Lets hope this alien lands me my 3rd win! Finding out that this week's guest judge is my amazing friend Hex, she also is included in this look honey did you notice how my alien has 3 nostrills??? YUPPPPP thats what i call referencing Anthyy Look Blondie: You better beware, you're in for a scare! Run in fear when Captain Blondatrix arrives on your planet and goes for a pure femme pink fem-pire! For this look, I did use a pre-existing outfit but dyed the colours to a nice ballet slipper pink & a rose gold pink to add to colour theory. I did paint the mask and got a dazzling matching wig... I mean, styled my hair into a gorgeous blonde to meet my branding. Next, I got rid of some pesky details that weren't needed and created more of a space priestess vibe, and kept the alien incubator, as I'm here to spread my seed any way I can. Finally, I created a new banner and an amazing bi-sexual planet to create awareness. So beam me up, cuz I'm here to take y'all down~ Blondie Look Fleur: I love the Earth. The Earth just gives cunt 24/7 for the past billion years. She always finds some way to absolute slayyyyyy. For example when she decided that she wanted a desert, we were all like "yas girl sand is so sexy". Her brain is just so innovative and she is truly a lovely person. I love the Earth. It is just so calm, and peaceful and sweet. Everyday is amazing on Earth because the Earth is just amazing. It has not one bad quality. That is why I love it. This look resemblances the cuntiness Mother Earth is but also how serene it can be. She's so quirky. But sometimes... just sometimes... the Galaxy is jealous of Earth's cuntiness. Like for example, when the Galaxy decided to shoot a meteor onto it and kill all those leather wearing, katy perry roaring carnivores. Like that was bullying! But sometimes... just sometimes... the Galaxy is in a bad mood and it wants to recreate the devastation of the first meteor. Fuck the galaxy honestly. FUCK YOU. And when the Earth goes BOOM, so does the runway Fleur is modelling and strutting on. This gives her enough times to take of her jumpsuit and reveal her bare naked skin which is just coincidentally painted in a molten galaxy pattern. Science lesson: This is because the Earth has plates. The crust, the mantle and the core. The core is filled with molten lava and I think lava is so that bitch. Like it can burn a hoe like that! So obviously when the earth explodes, lava will ooze into the milkyway making the milkyway turn orange. Kind of like food colouring. And obviously, when the world does explode into the galaxy, you would probably be blinded by the light so you will always need some funky Lady Gaga looking sun glasses. And that's on period. Fleur Look Fleur Reveal Fleur Reveal Kami: Kami steps out onto the stage, and she is ready for space! She is serving you astronaut realness with her helmet in hand, and her bedazzled star space bodysuit when suddenly she trips - her belt unravels and suddenly you can see a fake face laying on the ground Oh my god! She's really an alien?? She's kind of serving though... Her alien wings held back by the belt that was previously cinching her waist (?) in, has revealed who she truly is. The wig seems to have melted down, and a bunch of the accessories are now falling off as well. The stars on the alien skin slowly falling off as the bodysuit from before is now revealed to have been her skin all along. how is she hiding humongous wings underneath a tiny belt ? these are questions that are unnecessary! Kami Look Kami Reveal Morgs: BLAM! for my intergalactic runway itâs getting hot in here, why? because iâm a star, litterally. i wanted to be the sun, the most important thing for life. i've got a warm dress on, glasses to protect me from the UV rays, and a backpiece that are supposed to be sunbeams. iâm slaying this runway and even though i hate designing my own stuff, i managed to make myself a whole outfit and sunbeams that shoot out! Morgs Look Sharris: For my Space Age Couture runway, my inspiration comes directly from the galaxy and the beautiful sky we see at nighttime. I didnât want to go with an astronaut, or an alien, I wanted to go with the sheer beauty that the natural world holds. Itâs couture, and just so so extravagant. This runway represents an entire celestial body. If a lady from the Capitol moved to space- this is what sheâd be wearing. Upon walking onto the runway, the lights dim, and iâm SHINING. Practically radiating with beauty. I have never been in more awe than I have with what Iâve produced tonight Sharris Look Steph: for my runway look tonight i wanted to be a FIERCE celestial goddess. my entire body is painted in that same sparkling purple color as the mug which reminds me of Nebula one of my fav guardians of the galaxy. and honestly my look tonight IS THE SPACE AGE AND THE UNIVERSE MAMA. she is a space goddess and she has kidnapped the stars and the color purple to make this look. thx a bunch:) My vision is filled with this collage and i hope u enjoy her:) Steph Look Sue: So for my look tonight I am serving you intergalactic space pop star. She has her Ariana ponytail on and her microphone that she totally didnât get inspired by from Fever by Kylie Minogue. Sue Look Whorechata: Tonight is my day to shine. Chata is living in the year 3000 and failed her astronaut astronomy space class exam thing and canât use her spacesuit to go to the plant Whore anymore. So what does she do⊠she takes it apart MAWMA. This outfit is using a deconstructed padded astronaut suit. Some green tubing and inflatable thingys to create this futuristic Lewk. Tonight I hope to show these girls why micro let me in the doors. Whorechata Look Wren: Kneel. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3UhSk0Tk48k Zodya: Tonight on the runway, I am giving you space duchess to the extreme! I am the most fabulous diva at the annual Galatica Ball, and honey, you canât outshine me! Get out of my way, girls, because none of yâall can be as glamorous as me! Zodya Look Critiques Micro: Thank you ladies! Based on your performances tonight, I've made some decisions. When I call your name, please step forward. Micro: Kami, Steph, Whorechata. The three of you...are safe. Steph: Oh thank lord. Whew! Kami and Steph thank the judges as Whorechata's face is drained of all life. Her legs begin to quiver, and her eyes lose emotion as they twitch đWhorechata CF: Safe. Safe. Oh wow. Whorechata steps forward and walks towards the judging panel. She hunches over and grabs the base of the panel, as Micro and Hex look at her in confusion. Whorechata lifts with all of her might, and flips the panel. Her eyes turn bright red and she storms around the studio, throwing punches and kicks at everyone in sight đWhorechata CF: Well, that's what I wanted to do at least... the scene snaps back into reality where Whorechata is standing on stage and faking a smile Micro: The three of you may leave the stage. Whorechata: Safe girls, woohoo! Micro: The rest of you represent the tops and bottoms of the week. It's time for your critiques. Micro: First up, Anthyy! Hex: Hello Anthyy! This look is fun, i know that this isn't really your style but i think that you did the theme's justice tonight. You decided to be inspired by one of the planets which is a really safe choice to do on a theme like that, but you went with one of the most interesting ones so its ok, We can see that the inspo was there from the color palette and the rings. The look is just a basic gown let's be real but you still make it interesting with the transparent parts and overall its giving me very Brooke Candy/slutish vibe which i am personally a fan of. What i am not a fan of is the makeup here, i like that you decided to pay homage to your drag sister - me, but idk i am not really feeling the eyes, they kinda look weird but i guess it fits the whole alien aesthetic so maybe i'm just quirky and nitpicking. The headpiece is really fun and playful. Overall it's a really strong look from you tonight, good job! Micro: Anthyy! I think this week was a great chance for you to show off a new style with your looks. Getting more into the alienesque and untraditional glamour. And you really nailed that in my opinion! I love when a look is simple, but has dynamic silhouettes and added bits. This strappy dress on its own would maybe be too simple, but the back piece and extra arms, it elevates it to an incredible level. I think the color palette of blue and gray was unexpected but worked well. And usually Iâm begging for rhinestones, but I wouldnât add any rhinestones to this look, I donât know how you managed that! Great work. Micro: Next, Blondie! Hex: Blondie! Hi, i love how both you and Anthyy decided to go with 3 eyed aliens! I see what you tried to do with the theme, but i lowkey don't see space in it, your color palette is giving me just a normal person, maybe if you changed the hair and face to be pinkish too maybe it would help to sell the theme more? I also don't think that you edited your look enough to be that different from the original one which is a shame because i see some potential. Overall you were in the middle tonight, not the worst but not the best one either. Micro: Hi Blondie!! I think this base look was a great choice for this challenge, since it does lend itself to that outer space vibe. And you definitely put the work in to make this your own. I do think though that the new color palette makes the level of detail come down a bit. Thereâs a lot about this that I like, but I have to nitpick! Micro: Next up, Fleur Tation! Hex: Fleur! Hello girl, let me start with the positives first, well, so i liked that you decided to be inspired by earth which is an original choice for a theme like that not gonna lie, everyone would do something quirky but you decided to not look too far for your inspiration. You have a + for that from me. Now for your look, hmm i think that you could do way more with it, its just a simple bodysuit with a print on it, the reveal version is better, but still could've been more elevated. I just wish that you did something more with the hair and makeup in both of these, because even though your inspiration was really good for me, it just looks like you did not know what to do with it. Overall its not a good look from you tonight, I appreciate that you drew it and your description was fun to read. Micro: Let me start off by saying your runway commentary and how you sold this look was my absolute favorite. I love the effort you put into that. Now onto the looks. I think they told a great story. But the actual design elements, Iâm not getting much from it if Iâm being totally honest. If there was some sleeve action, some interesting cut to the pants, something to bring more to it. Micro: The always fabulous, Morgs! Hex: Hello Morgs! This is very safe for me, i like the inspiration because without the sun there wouldn't be us so good for you to appreciate that. There's nothing much to say here really, maybe other than i don't really see cosmos here but it's just not the worst look tonight so, at least you tried and drew it. Micro: Hi Morgs! I love the energy and vibe that this look conveys. Itâs modern and has a cool look to it. I will say, I think the back piece really saves you here. It adds a unique element, and I think the look needed it. The rest of the look is a bit too simple to me. Maybe some stoning, a different neckline on the dress, some little adjustments couldâve amped this up. But as is, this doesnât totally work for me, Iâm sorry! Micro: Next, Sharris! Hex: Hello Sharris! Your look is good but i don't think you did enough for me to call it as 'your' look. Micro gave you all an option to edit one of many existing looks and while you picked a really good one, you barely did anything to edit it as yours, it just looks like you put a filter over it and called it a day, not even bothering to change the colors really. While Blondie did the same thing, she at least i don't know tried to make things a bit interesting by changing the whole color palette. That's all. Micro: Hi Sharris! With the option to take a pre-existing look and edit it, I think the potential to make something your own and really special was there. And while I think you look amazing right now, it is so similar to the original look. Small things like changing the hair, adding new jewelry, maybe a metal corset piece, those couldâve really worked to make this more of an original piece. Not a bad look by any means, but I have to look at how different it is from the original, and Iâm not seeing much. Micro: Shining bright, it's Sue Pernova! Hex: Sue! This look is very adorable, i really like the color palette, it looks like some video game character thats a singer and has some cosmic related superpowers. Your inspiration here clearly shows because i can see each thing you mentioned in your description. I love how we can't really see her face because it also adds to the mystic element that the cosmos has because we still don't really know much stuff about it. Overall a really good job tonight, congrats! Micro: Sue, this look is adorable!! I love the outer space popstar vibe you went for, and the vibrancy of these colors work really well with that. The different textures and materials as well add some visual interest and keep it from being too simple. I maybe wouldâve liked to see some lengthening to the legs and a tighter cinch on the corset, but this is a stand out look for me, you really impressed me here! Micro: Next up, Wren Wyvern! Hex: Wren, uhh hello? This was a letdown for me, you kinda did a similar look to Steph but i guess her's more elevated and just more interesting to look at. I don't think your look really sells the theme since it's barely cosmos related other than the cosmic print. I like what you tried to do with the arms but it reads more as angelic to me rather than some alien creature. I'm sorry but i don't like this. Micro: Hi Wren! Iâm gonna have to disagree with Hex on this one. I really enjoyed this look. Itâs very cosmic deity, and you stand out from the group tonight. I think a really big collar piece that had some height and sharp edges to it wouldâve taken this look to an even stronger level, but I see where you were going with it! Some minor little edits Iâd make, but solid look from you! Micro: Last but not least, Zodya Killer. Hex: Hello Zodya! This is one of my favorite looks tonight, you had a clear vision and presented it really well. I really like the color palette and how vibrant it is, i love the accessories and the overall shape of it. The backpiece with your blonde hair in front of it kinda reminds me of the sun which is also a really fun detail. The way that you drew this also is a big plus for me + the props? I am a prop queen so i like the use of them in this look. Overall a really good moment for you tonight. Micro: Zodya, you look like a goddess tonight. You found a way to take this sort of galaxy pattern and print and make it look regal and expensive. I love the way this look sparkles, and the golden accents against that deep blue and purple, it adds to that royalty look. If I had to nitpick, I wish there was a big necklace or set of earrings, but I can appreciate the simplicity in not going heavy with accessories. Great work! Micro: Thank you ladies. I've made some decisions. Micro: Blondie, Morgs, and Wren. The three of you are safe. You may step to the back of the stage. đWren CF: At this point, I'm not sure what else I could do. I gave you a full goddess, and then Micro has the nerve to put me in the same group as Blondie and Morgs? It's stupid, it really is. Micro: Anthyy. Tonight, your E.T. was a T-O-P. Micro: Sue Pernova. You took us all on a trip to Chromatica, and we didn't want to leave. Micro: Zodya Killer. Category is...MET Gala on Mars. Micro: Anthyy, Zodya. Congratulations, you are the top two queens of the week! đAnthyy CF: Ah, screaming!! I put so much of my heart and soul into my designs, and the hard work paid off. đZodya CF: I didn't think I'd be the type of queen who looks forward to a design challenge. But I really believe in my skills, and having that validated by the judges, that means the world. Micro: Sue, you are safe. Great work this week. Sue: Thank you Miss Micro. đSue CF: This week was all about wanting to prove myself as a real competitor here. I have what it takes to win the crown, and this moved things in the right direction. I feel amazing! Micro: Fleur, Sharris. I'm sorry my dears, but that means you are the bottom queens of the week. đFleur CF: I don't have words. To be in a room full of people who look...like that, and be told I'm in the bottom? When I'm wearing custom couture? They're out to get me. đSharris CF: I'm fine being in the bottom. It doesn't bother me. I'd never throw a tantrum over a placement, unlike some people in this competition who shall not be named...but it's Wren. Micro: Anthyy, Zodya. In a moment, the two of you will lipsync for your legacy, and the power to chop one of the bottom queens. Head backstage to Untucked, and make your decision. Untucked the safe queens enter Untucked Kami: Redemption! Steph: And it feels oh so good! I'm so proud of us. Whorechata, are you happy to be safe? đWhorechata CF: wHoReChAtA, aRe yOu hApPy tO Be sAfE? No bitch, I'm not! Whorechata: I'm thrilled. Steph: No you're not. Whorechata: Oh really, what gave it away? Kami: Let it out, let it out. Whorechata: The girls up on stage right now, you can see the stringy little bits of hot glue. The seams are jankier than Wren's book in the first episode. Not to sound arrogant, but this belongs in a museum. đWhorechata CF: Whorechata shows off her look and letting the camera zoom in on the hems Kami: If it makes you feel better, I thought you should've been up on stage tonight. Whorechata: If you change your name to Micro and tan a good twelve shades darker, it would mean more. But still, thanks Kami. đKami CF: You can't argue with crazy. You just can't. the top and bottom queens enter Untucked Wren: The attempt to break my spirit continues. đWren CF: Heading back to Untucked, it really does sting that I didn't win. I thought I had the best look, and I love the way I presented it. I wouldn't change a thing, but clearly the judges would. Kami: I've heard the word "safe" enough times in the last hour to last me a lifetime, so can one of you fill us in on what happened on stage? Anthyy: I'm in the top with Zodya! Steph: Whyyyyyyy. Oop, not like that. Just you know, the Sue stan in me. Sue: I'm torn with my emotions right now. Getting praised on this look felt amazing. But then it almost gave me a false sense of hope. I thought maybe I could win. Zodya: And you could've. I'm so proud of your work here. It's amazing. đZodya CF: I know how much Sue wanted to win this challenge, but I'm also freaking out a little inside that I just won my third challenge! I mean really, what could go wrong now? Wren: Regardless of what the judges said, I'm proud of this look. Sharris: So why do you keep bringing it up? Wren: With the runway last week, it was a more masculine approach than what I'm used to. And this week, I wanted to give full cunty goddess. đWren CF: Exploring gender identity and expression through fashion is important to me. Like, really important. I won't apologize for that. Blondie: And just so I know, you use all the pronouns, right? I'm not trying to get cancelled again. Wren: After saving me, you can call me whatever. But yes, anything works. He, she, they, it's all okay to me. But it doesn't take away from my trans-ness. Sharris: Wren, what the fuck does that even mean? Wren: What does what means? Sharris: How are you a he, she, and they. Make up your mind. Wren: I don't think I need to make up my mind. It's my personal journey, and I don't need to conform to what you want. Sharris: You just represent everything that's wrong with the world to me. Blondie: Okay, that's a bit much. Fleur: Blondie, stay out of it. Blondie: No! Why can't I say anything without you all jumping to make me look like the bad person? Fleur: If people always think you're a bad person, maybe you just are. Morgs: Woop, there it is. đFleur CF: Blondie swears she's an angel on Earth. But she's not. She's nasty, she's an input ho, and I don't fuck with her. Screw any alliances, I want her gone. Sharris: The more I learn about you, Blondie, the more I understand why you and Wren are friends. The only upside to that is it means none of us have to be bothered by either of you. You can annoy each other instead. Wren: Talk that talk in your bottom outfit. You could never give what I give! Sharris: And thank god for that. Man, man, man. I see a MAN. Anthyy: Girl... đAnthyy CF: Sharris took a low blow with that one. Wren has been so open about her identity, and really advocated for trans representation! I considered Sharris a friend, but that changes everything. Wren: Are you really going there? For real? Sharris: I am, care to continue? Wren: You know who I am and I've been nothing but transparent with how I feel in my identity. And for someone in this community to be the one coming after me, it's so gross. Sharris: Let's get one thing straight, we're not in the same community. Wren: Right, cause I'm some freak. Sharris: Wren, shut up and go play in traffic. Kami: Stop, don't go there. What's that even supposed to mean. Sharris: As in, go die. Go die, for the sake of humanity, please. the queens all clasp their hands over their mouths as they realize what Sharris said Wren: You want me to go kill myself? Sharris: Yes please, look at how easy that was! Wren: Give me a few years, and I'm sure I'll get there. Blondie: Wren, don't even say that. Don't give that bitch another moment of your time. Sharris: Blondie, you too. Blondie: You are a miserable and hateful little bitch. You're disgusting. You better be so ashamed of yourself. Fleur: You're the moral compass now? Why do you keep putting yourself in things?! Blondie: Sharris brought me into it, and I'm done sitting down and taking it. You both are vile. đFleur CF: Blondie spews the most venomous things out of that over-plumped mouth. Why are people surprised that it caused someone to snap? If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. Blondie and Wren, there's the door, dumb bitches. the queens return to the runway Micro: Welcome back ladies. It has been brought to my attention that there was an altercation in Untucked. Sharris rolls her eyes, as Blondie comforts Wren at the back of the stage Micro: If this behavior continues, I won't hesitate to start this whole thing over. From the top, new cast and everything. the queens snicker at Micro's comment, causing her to stand up and lean over the judging panel Micro: I am NOT joking! Don't make me name names. But if you think you're one of the girls I'd replace, you're probably right. the scene cuts to Lectro and Yuka standing outside of the studio and forming a prayer circle for the season to restart đKami CF: The behavior during Untucked shifted everything. I mean, it's really not that deep, and to stoop to that level? It's...it's just not acceptable. Micro: Now, as much as I'm sure you'd love to keep attacking each other, we have more important things to get to: a fake lipsync. Will the top two queens please step forward. Anthyy Lipsync Look Zodya Lipsync Look Micro: Anthyy, Zodya. Prior to tonight, you were asked to prepare a lipsync performance of "Supernova" by Kylie Minogue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcTHJ05R2bQ Sue: Please say jk. đSue CF: I'm fine! I'm so fine, don't even worry about me. cries in Kylie Minogue Micro: This is your chance to impress me, and secure the right to give one of the bottom queens...the chop. đAnthyy CF: I really felt like I was in a tough spot with these queens in the bottom. But after that moment in Untucked, I know what needs to be done. It was taken way too far! đZodya CF: I don't have a connection to either of the bottom queens this week. But I am ready to channel my inner Sue, and give this song what it deserves. Micro: Good luck, and don't fuck it up! Read lipsync here! Micro: Oh wow! the queens clap for Sue as she shrouds herself in a cloud of glitter before remembering that Anthyy and Zodya are on stage Micro: I think it's safe to say Sue was the real winner of that one. Sue: Kylie, that was for you, baby!! Micro: Ladies, I've made my decision. ... Micro: Zodya Killer, you're a winner baby! Zodya: Ah, thank you! Kylie, I am so sorry. Micro: Anthyy, you are safe to slay another day. Anthyy: I'm sorry mama, my feet were tired after doing three of these! Zodya giggles and raises her eyebrows Micro: Will the bottom two queens please step forward. Fleur and Sharris walk to the front of the stage as the safe queens glare at them đFleur CF: I don't think I should be in the bottom this week, and I shouldn't have been near the bottom last week either! If they send me home, it's just putting me out of my misery. But if I stay, I'll make this hell for each and every one of them. đSharris CF: I don't regret a thing. It went far, but there's only so much I could take from that...person doesn't feel appropriate. I think pathetic troglodyte fits Wren better. Whether they like it or not, I'd say it again! Micro: Zodya. With great power comes great responsibility. Which queen have you chosen...to get the chop? Zodya: I'm going to be honest, I don't have any strong connections to either of you. I think you both deserve to be here and can be able to bring something fun to the rest of the competition, but tonight, I'm going to have to go with the person I felt really took on the challenge to heart. My decision...is... ... ... Zodya: Sharris. Zodya's Lipstick Choice Sharris laughs as Morgs begins to tear up Micro: So it is written, so it shall be done. Sharris, I know that you have everything it takes to thrive in a competition like this. But now is not your time. Sharris: Womp womp. Micro: Now, sashay away. Sharris goes to the back of the stage to hug Morgs before walking off Micro: Moving forward, I hope we can treat each other with some more kindness, and enjoy this for what it is. Now, let the music play! "Banjo" by Bebe Zahara Benet plays Next Time on Micro's Drag Race Blondie: There is a killer on the loose, and nobody is safe. đWhorechata CF: If this means I make a few enemies, oh well! Micro: I'm so sorry, I need to excuse myself. Micro steps away from the judging panel as her eyes fill with tears Track Record Cast Shot w/ Placements |
2023.05.28 03:55 Drakolf The Test:
[This is an aftermath sequel to Sanctuary. Please read it for context.]
Humans could get used to anything, given enough time and patience.
Intellectually, I am aware that I used to be Human, that prior to my exit from the dungeon, I'd had an entirely different life, that everything I knew from my past was a convenient lie to keep me trapped and servile.
There are many fanciful tales of Humans being taken, and through sheer willpower recalling their past lives and successfully destroying a dungeon's Core.
I know better, and I tell that to every would-be Adventurer who walks in through those doors.
When we were safely out of danger, John, Jimmy, and myself had come to an impasse on how to proceed. My entire life was gone, I was a monster, pure and simple, and even standing benignly in town got me more than a few terrified looks.
Dungeon Withdrawal is not unlike recovering from an addiction, I had to be locked up in a cell because every now and again, I got violent, demanding a Human to take me to the nearest dungeon.
The irony was not lost on me as I was indeed brought to a dungeon.
They kept me fed on a ration of meat and milk, both of which tasted horrible to me, because a dungeon sustains its monsters through mana, it's why several vicious monsters could coexist without killing each other.
But as it ran its course, the food began to taste better, and though they kept me for a week longer than necessary, once I was fully removed from the dungeon's influence, I was free to go.
John and Jimmy couldn't stay, they still had their own lives to live, and returning home victorious with both their manhoods intact was certainly going to make their lives easier.
They took one fourth of the loot each, at my direction, during one of my more lucid moments, and they ensured the Adventurer's Guild kept my half safe for me.
When I went to the Guild for my loot, it was given to me, coinage exchanged for viable currency, offers made on magic items that I staunchly refused to sell until I knew what I was going to do with my life.
Plus, that dagger is mine, I killed for it.
Because I didn't have any life to return to, the only clue being a letter that meant nothing to me taken from the body of a brother whose memory was utterly gone, save for the fact that my first and only look at him was a split skull and the look of fear in his eyes.
I didn't mention the funerary cannibalism to anyone, even if I didn't have any issue with it, the Humans certainly did and dragged me away from the body before I could even begin to explain.
It was the least I could do for someone who had once meant something to me.
The Guild also offered me a job, Monstrous Adventurers were valuable, they couldn't be taken by a dungeon with the right protections- and I had those protections tattooed beneath my scales- and their innate understanding of how a dungeon worked gave most adventuring parties an edge.
Plus, dungeon Cores were pretty, and could do practically anything if you removed it and bound it to you. Which I did. More on that later.
They had a Grandmaster Wizard try to recall my memories, he couldn't, the letter only indicated an empty house with very little of note or value to me, but since it was mine, I sold it for a modest sum.
It was a pair of brothers who entered the Guild, the sight of them joking and laughing dredging up unpleasantly sad emotions that had nothing attached to them except whatever remained of love for a brother that I had.
"We're here to register." The older of the two called out, completely missing the fact that I was there.
"Do you have an entry fee?" I asked as I climbed the step-ladder to address them. They screamed, I yelled, they screamed even louder. It was good fun, I liked scaring Humans.
"Now that you've sufficiently hurt my ears, do you have an entry fee?"
"It's a little lizard thing!"
"Kobold!" I snapped. "I am a Kobold, and you will stop acting like a bloody arse or I will have you thrown out so you can calm down!" Latent hatred for Humanity aside, I didn't have a particularly good temper, and when stabbing was a more efficient way to get your point across, I wasn't allowed my dagger.
They elected to calm down. Progress. They approached cautiously, as all newcomers do, and said, in a hesitant voice. "We're here to register?"
"Congratulations, you've echoed something I've already heard twice. Allow me to echo something a third time. Do. You. Have. An. Entry. Fee?"
"Entry fee?" He asked.
"Yes. An entry fee guarantees you basic armor and weaponry properly assigned for your roles. Without one, you will have to provide your own. The entry fee is fifty silvers."
"We, uh, we don't have enough for that." The younger said.
"We, uh, also don't have any weapons." The elder added.
"Bloody brilliant. You Humans cease to amaze me. Come this way, I can give you a quick job to earn enough to pay. You're going to need this."
I led the duo to a door, this was my door, because before I got a job here, it did not exist.
"Are either of you familiar with dungeon Cores?" I asked.
"They're really powerful." The eldest said with a nod.
"They create dungeons?" The younger asked uncertainly.
I sighed. I really did not have the patience for this. "Beyond this door is a dungeon. It is my dungeon. I aided a party in destroying a dungeon and claimed the core after giving them free rein on the loot."
I opened the door, which led into a recreation of the dungeon I had once called home. That was largely due to the fact that the same dungeon Core that dwelt in this one had come from that one. "Dungeons are graded based on what they create. This is a Grade 1 Dungeon. It is the safest and easiest of dungeons to survive in, and because it is under my command, this one is even safer."
I paused, making sure they understood.
"This dungeon does not have many monsters in it. This makes it the kind where, if you stay too long inside, you become a monster. This is something I cannot change, and I keep it this way because there are people who simply want a completely fresh start. There are ten Kobolds in this dungeon, they are the ones who did not get out in time, even with my help."
"Why are you showing this to us?" The older brother asked.
"Because it is the most expedient way for you to earn enough to pay for the fee, or to find enough armor and weapons to kit yourself out. The Kobolds in this dungeon are passive, but become hostile if you start taking things. Killing them is allowed, I can resurrect them without issue. But do bear in mind they used to be Humans."
I paused again, they nodded.
"You will experience the beginnings of the dungeon claiming you after one hour inside, this will manifest in growing scaly patches, your limbs becoming non-Human..." I explained the process of being claimed, which I described in exact detail. "After twelve hours, if you fail to return, you will be claimed, your memories utterly destroyed, and your will belonging to the dungeon Core."
I looked at both of them. "Now, would you like to opt for a cleaning job instead?"
"Once you lose your memories, you cannot retrieve them." I warned as I led them through the dungeon. I had given them both a dagger to defend themselves, once they staunchly insisted on doing things the expedient way.
They were going to run this dungeon regardless, but under easier terms.
"I was minutes away from being claimed, and I only got out because I had given a pair of Humans a bag of loot that I was damned and determined to retrieve."
I stopped at the first intersection and turned around. I stomped one of my feet. "Now, unless you want to become Kobolds- which I will happily oblige- you will navigate this dungeon by yourselves. I will be observing you, ensuring you don't die, but I won't prevent you from being injured."
I teleported to the Core, its glossy blue surface growing translucent as I observed the Humans running through the hallways.
I raised the floor a step, causing them both to stumble and fall to the floor. "You have triggered a trap." I said. "You are dead now."
They pushed themselves up and kept going. I set a few traps ahead, non-lethal ones, ones designed to capture and hold. The elder brother fell into a small pit, just high enough that he couldn't climb out on his own. The younger brother immediately helped him out.
"Excellent instinct." I said. "Your survival in a dungeon depends on your capacity to cooperate and protect one another."
I directed a Kobold toward their direction. They weren't mindless, certainly intelligent, but utterly incapable of being removed from the dungeon, even if I tried. Severing them simply killed them, returning their mind and soul to the core.
I told him there were intruders who were after our shinies, he immediately attacked.
They were cognizant of what this dungeon was meant to be, a home for myself, and a place to train Adventurers. They understood this intellectually, but they were fanatical when it came to protecting what the dungeon produced.
Even I still got a little grumpy, seeing Humans grabbing my treasures. Generally, the angrier I was by the end of the run, the better their grade.
The Kobold attacked with a dagger. Their duty was to incapacitate and imprison Humans so that they became Kobolds. I let the Humans out, of course, unless they were too far gone by that point, at which point I simply gave them the choice of staying or leaving.
Most people were surprised they elected to leave, though they always came back after they were severed.
The elder brother kicked the Kobold, knocking him down and making him drop the dagger. I watched, and shook my head when they ran.
The Kobold pushed himself up, scooped up his dagger, and went into a side tunnel, moving through the walls and catching up to them. He ambushed them, leaping from the inside of a wall and tackling the younger brother, dagger already jabbing into his side.
The elder brother immediately moved to protect his sibling, and this time, he didn't hesitate to kill.
"The Kobold you just killed is the same one you left alive." I said, the elder brother tensed, horrified. "Understand, you cannot assume you will outrun an enemy, your brother's blood is on your hands, he has paid for your choice."
It was brutal, but it was an important lesson.
I moved a chest and a mimic near them. The mimic was a mindless construct, set to devour or entrap.
The elder brother helped his sibling stand, removing the dagger.
"Congratulations, you have now ensured his stab wound is bleeding freely, in any other dungeon, without any form of healing, this would be a death sentence. Do not remove daggers until you can treat the wound."
He began to panic, looking for anything that would save his brother, likely forgetting I wasn't going to kill them. He spotted the chest and the mimic and rushed over to them. I set up some non-lethal traps, to remind him not to hurry. I even had one resemble a mimic opening up to capture him.
He triggered them all, but managed to avoid getting hit. He hesitated at the chest and mimic.
Good.
He took off one of his boots, letting out a sharp cry of shock as he saw his little toe had transformed. He gingerly touched it, the dungeon Core fed him pleasant sensations to make him want to stay.
Particularly weak-willed Humans would find themselves enjoying the sensations, not realizing that they were becoming monsters, until it was too late.
He pulled his hand back, still unsettled, and threw the boot.
The mimic triggered instantly, grasping at the air in front of it before resetting, taking the boot with it. He took the other boot off, letting out a cry of distress as he saw all of the toes on that foot had already transformed. He threw the boot at the other chest, determined it was safe, and opened it.
The trap struck him in the torso, flinging him backward.
"Remember, your brother is currently sitting on the floor, bleeding, an easy target for the Kobold who's heading in your direction." I said. That was a flat-out lie, but it got him moving. He checked the chest, took out a red potion, and ran for his brother.
He gave the potion to him, the wound sealed shut.
"I'm not evil." I said. "I ensured you would have a means of healing your brother. At the same time, never drink a potion you cannot identify. That could have just as easily been a potion of transformation, or even poison."
"What's a potion of transformation do?" He asked.
"Costs you an hour." I replied. "Outside of a dungeon, it just flat out turns you into a monster. One with memories intact, mind you, but a monster nonetheless."
His brother healed, he led him carefully to the chest and they grabbed the armor within. It was piecemeal, a single pauldron, a breastplate, and a ring.
The younger brother got the breastplate, which shrunk to fit him, the brother wore the pauldron, and picked up the ring. This was a Ring of Binding, it accelerated the process of transformation, it is a cursed item.
I sensed someone entering my dungeon, it was the Guild Master. I teleported him to me. An old man, he was one of the strongest men in the Guild, and that was only because old age had worn him down.
"Prospective members?" He asked.
"Yes, sir." I replied. The older brother stowed the ring in his pocket. "Good instinct, never wear unidentified magic items." They continued, the elder brother removing his ruined socks and going barefoot. They slowed down, started paying attention to their surroundings.
"Do you expect them to survive this?" He asked.
"I do not interfere, Guild Master." I said. "Unless I absolutely have to or it's necessary to teach them a lesson." I looked at him. "The younger brother will absolutely make it out fine, the elder brother might, if he doesn't put on that ring. The moment he puts it on, he would have to run and avoid every threat between him and the exit."
The Guild Master nodded. "I expect-"
That was when the younger brother collapsed.
Dungeonrunning is extremely dangerous, even in this 'tame' one, death was possible.
The younger brother was still alive, but he had certainly fallen unconscious.
"No! Not now!" The elder brother shouted.
"What condition is the younger in?" The Guild Master asked, concerned. I reached out and felt his energy, his soul.
"He has a condition that causes him to faint." I replied. "One that is treatable with medicine, and expensive magic." I shook my head. "He should not have brought his brother with him, now he has dead weight he has to protect.
"Hey! Kobold! Can you help me?" The elder brother asked.
"No." I said. "Interference is not permitted by Guild regulation unless absolutely necessary. Your brother is not dying, he is not in any present danger of death. However, he is along the same level of change as you."
The brother looked desperate. "If I have to rescue him, he will be considered unfit for the job. Indeed, his condition may be serious enough that we could not- in good conscience- put him in anything but a clerical position."
Now, the question remained if the brother was sensible, or stupid.
Given that he almost immediately chose to lift him up and carry him on his back, stupid was the answer.
"A shame." The Guild Master remarked.
I moved some Kobolds in their path, the Guild Master raised his brow. "Are you intentionally sabotaging his progress?" He asked in mock offense.
"It's only sabotage if you intend for them not to succeed." I said. "If he's willing to risk his brother's safety instead of forfeiting his brother's chances of joining the Guild, then he will have to live with the consequences of his actions."
The Kobolds set up an ambush, creating a noticeable fake trap that the elder brother would have to walk around to avoid. To their utter shock, as well as mine, he just ran across it.
"Did he intuit the trap was fake, or was he just that bullheaded?" I asked as the Kobolds moved to intercept. They got ahead of him, prepared an ambush, and the moment he was close, they jumped out, punching and kicking him and cackling with glee.
"I still find it disturbing how monsters delight in Human suffering." The Guild Master remarked.
"Quiet, this is the best part." I said. They tied the elder brother up and dragged the unconscious younger brother into a panel. He screamed out a name. "Daniel!"
"I'm giving him half an hour before I fail him." I said. "That should be enough time to determine his competence."
The elder brother, legs bound together, arms behind his back, began to desperately inch away from where he'd been put, toward the dagger that he had dropped. I nodded approvingly, that was a sensible plan. But then he inched past it and deliberately triggered a trap.
I gaped in absolute shock as the trap sliced cleanly through the ropes, barely missing his wrists. He then got up, grabbed the dagger, and freed himself.
"Resourceful lad." The Guild Master remarked. "Yet his brother has been abducted."
The brother went toward the wall they'd taken Daniel, who was already halfway across the dungeon and heading straight for the holding cells. One of them requested to grab a Transformation Potion to speed things up.
"Reserve that for later." I said. "I want to see how the elder brother handles this."
The brother in question gave up, and began searching around desperately for something. There was a chest nearby with a proper sword and more armor, even a non-cursed magic item and a scroll. He kept searching, keeping his hand along the right wall, until he found it.
"He has an uncanny sense of what he's doing." The Guild Master remarked. "He might be an untrained time mage."
"That would explain the bravado with the fake trap and the willingness to push forward. He might not even be aware of why he's doing what he's doing." I remarked. He threw one of his ruined socks at the chest- "He still had those!?" I yapped- and proceeded to dig through its contents.
By now, his feet were fully Kobold, with his legs beginning to accommodate. He would be off balance for a while.
"Greaves, bracers, a standard short-sword, a werewolf's skin, and a scroll." The Guild Master remarked. "Not a bad find for a dungeon of this caliber."
Werewolf skin was a fun item that turned the wearer into a monster. The effect was effectively the same as being in a newly formed dungeon, and was meant to bring about some diversity to to the monster population.
It was also one of the few ways a monster could return to Human form, if it merged with them.
"Ragnar is a Werewolf, isn't he?" I asked.
"Aye, he is. He's been looking for one of those for his wife."
The brother seemed to know what it was, or at least, what its properties were, and tossed it back into the chest, that's when he pulled out the cursed ring.
"He's going to be sorely disappointed." The Guild Master remarked. "That's a Ring of Binding if I've ever seen one."
The scroll burst into flames, and he looked at the ring, wincing as his mind was filled with knowledge he didn't have before. He stared at the ring in his hand, clearly disappointed by the fact that it was utterly-
"Did he just put it on!?" The Guild Master sputtered. He was right, the brother had put the ring on and was beginning to transform faster. He then opened the wall panel and began following along the path the Kobolds had gone.
"Pull him out." The Guild Master commanded. "You've engineered a desperate situation, and we can clearly see he's not capable of rational thought in such instances."
"No." I said. "Look." The brother was stepping out of the walls, grabbing gear and other items, before going back in. "Kobolds are innately good at dungeoneering. Even in a foreign dungeon, we can figure out where we are in relation to everything else. But in your native one, especially one that's actively claiming you..."
"He's deliberately doing what he can to salvage the situation." The Guild Master remarked. "How much time does he have left?"
"Approximately one hour before the transformation is irreversible, so thirty minutes with the Ring of Binding on." I ran the time in my head. "Even if he manages to rescue his brother in time and gather enough gear for the both of them, by the time we could remove the ring, he would already be a Kobold."
The brother got as much armor on as he could, continued making his way to the holding cells, where Daniel was already bound, the transformation proceeding just as slowly as normal.
His eyes opened, he shifted around on the table, unable to get out.
That's when he began to grow fur.
"He's a Werewolf." I said numbly.
"If his brother doesn't get him out, he'll be a Kobold Werewolf." The Guild Master remarked. "Those are technically among the more powerful of the moderately dangerous monsters, all of the strengths of a Werewolf, plus the innate understanding of a dungeon? Terrifying creatures."
"Don't give me ideas." I said. "Ragnar needs a gift for his wife still, right?"
I moved the chest with the Werewolf Skin over to me and, wincing at the idea of taking it out and removing it from the dungeon, put it into my bag.
The brother was almost there, and Daniel was undergoing a transformation.
"Going unconscious suddenly is a commonality with natural born Werewolves," The Guild Master remarked. "He's still in danger of being claimed by the Dungeon, but this is something he is naturally."
The younger brother broke his restraints, and with a feral growl lunged at the Kobolds, tearing them to shreds and beginning to eat them.
"Ferality, not a good sign." I remarked. "Go get Ragnar ready, I'm on retrieval."
I teleported the Guild Master out, then the elder brother, who looked around in confusion.
"Out. Now. There is an emergency." I said. He ran out of the dungeon, and then I teleported Daniel to the entrance, where he bolted out into the Guild Hall.
I teleported over and saw Ragnar wrestling with Daniel, keeping him pinned to the ground while the older brother stared in confused horror.
"You have ten minutes before your transformation becomes irreversible." I said. He looked at me, "Nine, if you keep staring at me like that."
"What's wrong with my brother? Why is he like that?" He asked.
"Congratulations, you and your brother are natural-born Werewolves, which explains why you had such good flashes of intuition in there, and why you refused to abandon him. Eight minutes."
He held his hand out, but then brought it in, holding it against his chest.
"I don't particularly care if you want to be a Kobold- in fact, I welcome it, we need more Kobolds in this city- but if you do, and you don't want to be, then let me take the ring off."
"I... don't really want to." He said. "All I could think of when I saw the first changes was, I wanted it to go faster."
"Ah." I said. "Well, then. You were doomed from the start. Lovely. Once you're finished with that ring, we'll have it on your brother so he can finish transforming and calm down. Since you're out of the dungeon, you should be relatively safe, but for both of your sakes, we'll need to hold you for a while.
He nodded.
Ragnar finally got Daniel to calm down, he was whimpering, clearly experiencing pain.
"Aye, pup, let it all out." Ragnar said, gently petting his fur. "There's a good pup, inner peace, lad." Daniel started thrashing about again. "Inner peace, not outer squirm!"
"Also, yes, this does count as failing." I said to the elder brother. "However, due to the circumstances- and the fact that your brother would have doubtlessly been a mindless beast if left in there- the Guild Master will talk to you about your options after your holding period."
He nodded. His transformation finished, I clapped him on the back, took the ring, and- with Ragnar's help, got it on the Werewolf pup's finger so he could get it over with faster.
Once the two were in holding, I walked over to Ragnar, pulled out the Werewolf Skin from my bag, and held it out to him.
"You know what to do with this." I said.
He looked surprised, then nodded, taking it. "Aye, lad. I do."
I thought about what other things I needed to do. "Oh, right. I need to resurrect the Kobolds." I said, before walking into my dungeon.
It did take about a week for Daniel to finally calm down.
At first, there was some concern that the nature of his transformation had left him potentially feral, but the morning he was meant to be let out, he was in Human form
I was the one who went in, covered him with a blanket, and put some spare clothes out for him.
"Where am I?"
"A holding cell." I said.
I heard him shoot up, accompanied by a sound I was familiar with, in that his fur suddenly floofed up. "W-what happened to me!?" He howled in fear.
"You are a Werewolf." I said matter-of-factly. I looked at him, he was looking at his claws with a mixture of horror, fear, and joy. I had vague feelings of that same mixture of emotions. "More specifically, at least one of your parents was a Werewolf."
"Wait, then is Jason-?"
"He became a Kobold." I replied. "He used an item to speed up the transformation so he could rescue you. If you had maintained your sanity in that moment, I would not have interfered. But you didn't, and you are going to need training to keep yourself in check whenever you're scared or angry."
"I- see." He said.
"For what it's worth, you won't pass out anymore, so your reason for coming has ultimately resolved itself."
"What's going to happen to Jason?" He asked.
"The same thing that happened to me. He will live." I replied. "He has retained his memories, due to accepting that he was likely going to be lost, just to save you. Even though he could have forfeited at any point like I told him."
"Aye, Kobold, is he safe?"
"Yes." I said.
The door opened, Jason stepped inside, then ran over to his brother and hugged him. "Little big brother, meet big little brother." I snarked.
They both looked at me, and then they laughed. I let them have some time together, to talk and acclimate.
After their reunion, I brought them with me to the Guild Master.
"So." He said. "You have a few options. One, we tattoo dungeon protections on you and have you sign on to helping clearing out dungeons, or two, we let you go, except you return every week so Ragnar can train you to keep yourself under control."
"Dungeon protections?" Jason asked.
I nodded. "We are monsters." I said. "Without the proper protections, a new dungeon can claim you, making you a part of its system." I looked at them both. "I don't think it need said why you should refrain from going inside dungeons without it."
"What happens to those who do?" Daniel asked.
"The dungeon claims them." I said. "They lose their memories of their past life, becoming convinced they always lived in it. They become trapped inside, forever."
They both looked at each other, then looked at us. "We, uh..." Daniel started.
"We actually wanted to go back." Jason replied.
"You want to be claimed by the dungeon." The Guild Master said.
"When I was looking for my brother, all I could think of was how much I liked being there." Jason replied. "That's honestly why I put on the ring."
"And I'm not leaving my brother alone." Daniel said. "We've only had each other our entire lives."
I nodded. "As the master of the dungeon, I will approve this." I said. "Any arguments against, Guild Master?"
He sighed. "Just go." He said.
With the brothers close behind me, I led them to the dungeon entrance. "Understand, by doing this, you are consigning yourself to protecting what is effectively a practice dungeon." I said. "You will be killed and brought back."
Jason nodded. "I know."
He opened the door, and they walked in.
submitted by Drakolf to DrakolfsWritings [link] [comments]
Humans could get used to anything, given enough time and patience.
Intellectually, I am aware that I used to be Human, that prior to my exit from the dungeon, I'd had an entirely different life, that everything I knew from my past was a convenient lie to keep me trapped and servile.
There are many fanciful tales of Humans being taken, and through sheer willpower recalling their past lives and successfully destroying a dungeon's Core.
I know better, and I tell that to every would-be Adventurer who walks in through those doors.
When we were safely out of danger, John, Jimmy, and myself had come to an impasse on how to proceed. My entire life was gone, I was a monster, pure and simple, and even standing benignly in town got me more than a few terrified looks.
Dungeon Withdrawal is not unlike recovering from an addiction, I had to be locked up in a cell because every now and again, I got violent, demanding a Human to take me to the nearest dungeon.
The irony was not lost on me as I was indeed brought to a dungeon.
They kept me fed on a ration of meat and milk, both of which tasted horrible to me, because a dungeon sustains its monsters through mana, it's why several vicious monsters could coexist without killing each other.
But as it ran its course, the food began to taste better, and though they kept me for a week longer than necessary, once I was fully removed from the dungeon's influence, I was free to go.
John and Jimmy couldn't stay, they still had their own lives to live, and returning home victorious with both their manhoods intact was certainly going to make their lives easier.
They took one fourth of the loot each, at my direction, during one of my more lucid moments, and they ensured the Adventurer's Guild kept my half safe for me.
When I went to the Guild for my loot, it was given to me, coinage exchanged for viable currency, offers made on magic items that I staunchly refused to sell until I knew what I was going to do with my life.
Plus, that dagger is mine, I killed for it.
Because I didn't have any life to return to, the only clue being a letter that meant nothing to me taken from the body of a brother whose memory was utterly gone, save for the fact that my first and only look at him was a split skull and the look of fear in his eyes.
I didn't mention the funerary cannibalism to anyone, even if I didn't have any issue with it, the Humans certainly did and dragged me away from the body before I could even begin to explain.
It was the least I could do for someone who had once meant something to me.
The Guild also offered me a job, Monstrous Adventurers were valuable, they couldn't be taken by a dungeon with the right protections- and I had those protections tattooed beneath my scales- and their innate understanding of how a dungeon worked gave most adventuring parties an edge.
Plus, dungeon Cores were pretty, and could do practically anything if you removed it and bound it to you. Which I did. More on that later.
They had a Grandmaster Wizard try to recall my memories, he couldn't, the letter only indicated an empty house with very little of note or value to me, but since it was mine, I sold it for a modest sum.
It was a pair of brothers who entered the Guild, the sight of them joking and laughing dredging up unpleasantly sad emotions that had nothing attached to them except whatever remained of love for a brother that I had.
"We're here to register." The older of the two called out, completely missing the fact that I was there.
"Do you have an entry fee?" I asked as I climbed the step-ladder to address them. They screamed, I yelled, they screamed even louder. It was good fun, I liked scaring Humans.
"Now that you've sufficiently hurt my ears, do you have an entry fee?"
"It's a little lizard thing!"
"Kobold!" I snapped. "I am a Kobold, and you will stop acting like a bloody arse or I will have you thrown out so you can calm down!" Latent hatred for Humanity aside, I didn't have a particularly good temper, and when stabbing was a more efficient way to get your point across, I wasn't allowed my dagger.
They elected to calm down. Progress. They approached cautiously, as all newcomers do, and said, in a hesitant voice. "We're here to register?"
"Congratulations, you've echoed something I've already heard twice. Allow me to echo something a third time. Do. You. Have. An. Entry. Fee?"
"Entry fee?" He asked.
"Yes. An entry fee guarantees you basic armor and weaponry properly assigned for your roles. Without one, you will have to provide your own. The entry fee is fifty silvers."
"We, uh, we don't have enough for that." The younger said.
"We, uh, also don't have any weapons." The elder added.
"Bloody brilliant. You Humans cease to amaze me. Come this way, I can give you a quick job to earn enough to pay. You're going to need this."
I led the duo to a door, this was my door, because before I got a job here, it did not exist.
"Are either of you familiar with dungeon Cores?" I asked.
"They're really powerful." The eldest said with a nod.
"They create dungeons?" The younger asked uncertainly.
I sighed. I really did not have the patience for this. "Beyond this door is a dungeon. It is my dungeon. I aided a party in destroying a dungeon and claimed the core after giving them free rein on the loot."
I opened the door, which led into a recreation of the dungeon I had once called home. That was largely due to the fact that the same dungeon Core that dwelt in this one had come from that one. "Dungeons are graded based on what they create. This is a Grade 1 Dungeon. It is the safest and easiest of dungeons to survive in, and because it is under my command, this one is even safer."
I paused, making sure they understood.
"This dungeon does not have many monsters in it. This makes it the kind where, if you stay too long inside, you become a monster. This is something I cannot change, and I keep it this way because there are people who simply want a completely fresh start. There are ten Kobolds in this dungeon, they are the ones who did not get out in time, even with my help."
"Why are you showing this to us?" The older brother asked.
"Because it is the most expedient way for you to earn enough to pay for the fee, or to find enough armor and weapons to kit yourself out. The Kobolds in this dungeon are passive, but become hostile if you start taking things. Killing them is allowed, I can resurrect them without issue. But do bear in mind they used to be Humans."
I paused again, they nodded.
"You will experience the beginnings of the dungeon claiming you after one hour inside, this will manifest in growing scaly patches, your limbs becoming non-Human..." I explained the process of being claimed, which I described in exact detail. "After twelve hours, if you fail to return, you will be claimed, your memories utterly destroyed, and your will belonging to the dungeon Core."
I looked at both of them. "Now, would you like to opt for a cleaning job instead?"
"Once you lose your memories, you cannot retrieve them." I warned as I led them through the dungeon. I had given them both a dagger to defend themselves, once they staunchly insisted on doing things the expedient way.
They were going to run this dungeon regardless, but under easier terms.
"I was minutes away from being claimed, and I only got out because I had given a pair of Humans a bag of loot that I was damned and determined to retrieve."
I stopped at the first intersection and turned around. I stomped one of my feet. "Now, unless you want to become Kobolds- which I will happily oblige- you will navigate this dungeon by yourselves. I will be observing you, ensuring you don't die, but I won't prevent you from being injured."
I teleported to the Core, its glossy blue surface growing translucent as I observed the Humans running through the hallways.
I raised the floor a step, causing them both to stumble and fall to the floor. "You have triggered a trap." I said. "You are dead now."
They pushed themselves up and kept going. I set a few traps ahead, non-lethal ones, ones designed to capture and hold. The elder brother fell into a small pit, just high enough that he couldn't climb out on his own. The younger brother immediately helped him out.
"Excellent instinct." I said. "Your survival in a dungeon depends on your capacity to cooperate and protect one another."
I directed a Kobold toward their direction. They weren't mindless, certainly intelligent, but utterly incapable of being removed from the dungeon, even if I tried. Severing them simply killed them, returning their mind and soul to the core.
I told him there were intruders who were after our shinies, he immediately attacked.
They were cognizant of what this dungeon was meant to be, a home for myself, and a place to train Adventurers. They understood this intellectually, but they were fanatical when it came to protecting what the dungeon produced.
Even I still got a little grumpy, seeing Humans grabbing my treasures. Generally, the angrier I was by the end of the run, the better their grade.
The Kobold attacked with a dagger. Their duty was to incapacitate and imprison Humans so that they became Kobolds. I let the Humans out, of course, unless they were too far gone by that point, at which point I simply gave them the choice of staying or leaving.
Most people were surprised they elected to leave, though they always came back after they were severed.
The elder brother kicked the Kobold, knocking him down and making him drop the dagger. I watched, and shook my head when they ran.
The Kobold pushed himself up, scooped up his dagger, and went into a side tunnel, moving through the walls and catching up to them. He ambushed them, leaping from the inside of a wall and tackling the younger brother, dagger already jabbing into his side.
The elder brother immediately moved to protect his sibling, and this time, he didn't hesitate to kill.
"The Kobold you just killed is the same one you left alive." I said, the elder brother tensed, horrified. "Understand, you cannot assume you will outrun an enemy, your brother's blood is on your hands, he has paid for your choice."
It was brutal, but it was an important lesson.
I moved a chest and a mimic near them. The mimic was a mindless construct, set to devour or entrap.
The elder brother helped his sibling stand, removing the dagger.
"Congratulations, you have now ensured his stab wound is bleeding freely, in any other dungeon, without any form of healing, this would be a death sentence. Do not remove daggers until you can treat the wound."
He began to panic, looking for anything that would save his brother, likely forgetting I wasn't going to kill them. He spotted the chest and the mimic and rushed over to them. I set up some non-lethal traps, to remind him not to hurry. I even had one resemble a mimic opening up to capture him.
He triggered them all, but managed to avoid getting hit. He hesitated at the chest and mimic.
Good.
He took off one of his boots, letting out a sharp cry of shock as he saw his little toe had transformed. He gingerly touched it, the dungeon Core fed him pleasant sensations to make him want to stay.
Particularly weak-willed Humans would find themselves enjoying the sensations, not realizing that they were becoming monsters, until it was too late.
He pulled his hand back, still unsettled, and threw the boot.
The mimic triggered instantly, grasping at the air in front of it before resetting, taking the boot with it. He took the other boot off, letting out a cry of distress as he saw all of the toes on that foot had already transformed. He threw the boot at the other chest, determined it was safe, and opened it.
The trap struck him in the torso, flinging him backward.
"Remember, your brother is currently sitting on the floor, bleeding, an easy target for the Kobold who's heading in your direction." I said. That was a flat-out lie, but it got him moving. He checked the chest, took out a red potion, and ran for his brother.
He gave the potion to him, the wound sealed shut.
"I'm not evil." I said. "I ensured you would have a means of healing your brother. At the same time, never drink a potion you cannot identify. That could have just as easily been a potion of transformation, or even poison."
"What's a potion of transformation do?" He asked.
"Costs you an hour." I replied. "Outside of a dungeon, it just flat out turns you into a monster. One with memories intact, mind you, but a monster nonetheless."
His brother healed, he led him carefully to the chest and they grabbed the armor within. It was piecemeal, a single pauldron, a breastplate, and a ring.
The younger brother got the breastplate, which shrunk to fit him, the brother wore the pauldron, and picked up the ring. This was a Ring of Binding, it accelerated the process of transformation, it is a cursed item.
I sensed someone entering my dungeon, it was the Guild Master. I teleported him to me. An old man, he was one of the strongest men in the Guild, and that was only because old age had worn him down.
"Prospective members?" He asked.
"Yes, sir." I replied. The older brother stowed the ring in his pocket. "Good instinct, never wear unidentified magic items." They continued, the elder brother removing his ruined socks and going barefoot. They slowed down, started paying attention to their surroundings.
"Do you expect them to survive this?" He asked.
"I do not interfere, Guild Master." I said. "Unless I absolutely have to or it's necessary to teach them a lesson." I looked at him. "The younger brother will absolutely make it out fine, the elder brother might, if he doesn't put on that ring. The moment he puts it on, he would have to run and avoid every threat between him and the exit."
The Guild Master nodded. "I expect-"
That was when the younger brother collapsed.
Dungeonrunning is extremely dangerous, even in this 'tame' one, death was possible.
The younger brother was still alive, but he had certainly fallen unconscious.
"No! Not now!" The elder brother shouted.
"What condition is the younger in?" The Guild Master asked, concerned. I reached out and felt his energy, his soul.
"He has a condition that causes him to faint." I replied. "One that is treatable with medicine, and expensive magic." I shook my head. "He should not have brought his brother with him, now he has dead weight he has to protect.
"Hey! Kobold! Can you help me?" The elder brother asked.
"No." I said. "Interference is not permitted by Guild regulation unless absolutely necessary. Your brother is not dying, he is not in any present danger of death. However, he is along the same level of change as you."
The brother looked desperate. "If I have to rescue him, he will be considered unfit for the job. Indeed, his condition may be serious enough that we could not- in good conscience- put him in anything but a clerical position."
Now, the question remained if the brother was sensible, or stupid.
Given that he almost immediately chose to lift him up and carry him on his back, stupid was the answer.
"A shame." The Guild Master remarked.
I moved some Kobolds in their path, the Guild Master raised his brow. "Are you intentionally sabotaging his progress?" He asked in mock offense.
"It's only sabotage if you intend for them not to succeed." I said. "If he's willing to risk his brother's safety instead of forfeiting his brother's chances of joining the Guild, then he will have to live with the consequences of his actions."
The Kobolds set up an ambush, creating a noticeable fake trap that the elder brother would have to walk around to avoid. To their utter shock, as well as mine, he just ran across it.
"Did he intuit the trap was fake, or was he just that bullheaded?" I asked as the Kobolds moved to intercept. They got ahead of him, prepared an ambush, and the moment he was close, they jumped out, punching and kicking him and cackling with glee.
"I still find it disturbing how monsters delight in Human suffering." The Guild Master remarked.
"Quiet, this is the best part." I said. They tied the elder brother up and dragged the unconscious younger brother into a panel. He screamed out a name. "Daniel!"
"I'm giving him half an hour before I fail him." I said. "That should be enough time to determine his competence."
The elder brother, legs bound together, arms behind his back, began to desperately inch away from where he'd been put, toward the dagger that he had dropped. I nodded approvingly, that was a sensible plan. But then he inched past it and deliberately triggered a trap.
I gaped in absolute shock as the trap sliced cleanly through the ropes, barely missing his wrists. He then got up, grabbed the dagger, and freed himself.
"Resourceful lad." The Guild Master remarked. "Yet his brother has been abducted."
The brother went toward the wall they'd taken Daniel, who was already halfway across the dungeon and heading straight for the holding cells. One of them requested to grab a Transformation Potion to speed things up.
"Reserve that for later." I said. "I want to see how the elder brother handles this."
The brother in question gave up, and began searching around desperately for something. There was a chest nearby with a proper sword and more armor, even a non-cursed magic item and a scroll. He kept searching, keeping his hand along the right wall, until he found it.
"He has an uncanny sense of what he's doing." The Guild Master remarked. "He might be an untrained time mage."
"That would explain the bravado with the fake trap and the willingness to push forward. He might not even be aware of why he's doing what he's doing." I remarked. He threw one of his ruined socks at the chest- "He still had those!?" I yapped- and proceeded to dig through its contents.
By now, his feet were fully Kobold, with his legs beginning to accommodate. He would be off balance for a while.
"Greaves, bracers, a standard short-sword, a werewolf's skin, and a scroll." The Guild Master remarked. "Not a bad find for a dungeon of this caliber."
Werewolf skin was a fun item that turned the wearer into a monster. The effect was effectively the same as being in a newly formed dungeon, and was meant to bring about some diversity to to the monster population.
It was also one of the few ways a monster could return to Human form, if it merged with them.
"Ragnar is a Werewolf, isn't he?" I asked.
"Aye, he is. He's been looking for one of those for his wife."
The brother seemed to know what it was, or at least, what its properties were, and tossed it back into the chest, that's when he pulled out the cursed ring.
"He's going to be sorely disappointed." The Guild Master remarked. "That's a Ring of Binding if I've ever seen one."
The scroll burst into flames, and he looked at the ring, wincing as his mind was filled with knowledge he didn't have before. He stared at the ring in his hand, clearly disappointed by the fact that it was utterly-
"Did he just put it on!?" The Guild Master sputtered. He was right, the brother had put the ring on and was beginning to transform faster. He then opened the wall panel and began following along the path the Kobolds had gone.
"Pull him out." The Guild Master commanded. "You've engineered a desperate situation, and we can clearly see he's not capable of rational thought in such instances."
"No." I said. "Look." The brother was stepping out of the walls, grabbing gear and other items, before going back in. "Kobolds are innately good at dungeoneering. Even in a foreign dungeon, we can figure out where we are in relation to everything else. But in your native one, especially one that's actively claiming you..."
"He's deliberately doing what he can to salvage the situation." The Guild Master remarked. "How much time does he have left?"
"Approximately one hour before the transformation is irreversible, so thirty minutes with the Ring of Binding on." I ran the time in my head. "Even if he manages to rescue his brother in time and gather enough gear for the both of them, by the time we could remove the ring, he would already be a Kobold."
The brother got as much armor on as he could, continued making his way to the holding cells, where Daniel was already bound, the transformation proceeding just as slowly as normal.
His eyes opened, he shifted around on the table, unable to get out.
That's when he began to grow fur.
"He's a Werewolf." I said numbly.
"If his brother doesn't get him out, he'll be a Kobold Werewolf." The Guild Master remarked. "Those are technically among the more powerful of the moderately dangerous monsters, all of the strengths of a Werewolf, plus the innate understanding of a dungeon? Terrifying creatures."
"Don't give me ideas." I said. "Ragnar needs a gift for his wife still, right?"
I moved the chest with the Werewolf Skin over to me and, wincing at the idea of taking it out and removing it from the dungeon, put it into my bag.
The brother was almost there, and Daniel was undergoing a transformation.
"Going unconscious suddenly is a commonality with natural born Werewolves," The Guild Master remarked. "He's still in danger of being claimed by the Dungeon, but this is something he is naturally."
The younger brother broke his restraints, and with a feral growl lunged at the Kobolds, tearing them to shreds and beginning to eat them.
"Ferality, not a good sign." I remarked. "Go get Ragnar ready, I'm on retrieval."
I teleported the Guild Master out, then the elder brother, who looked around in confusion.
"Out. Now. There is an emergency." I said. He ran out of the dungeon, and then I teleported Daniel to the entrance, where he bolted out into the Guild Hall.
I teleported over and saw Ragnar wrestling with Daniel, keeping him pinned to the ground while the older brother stared in confused horror.
"You have ten minutes before your transformation becomes irreversible." I said. He looked at me, "Nine, if you keep staring at me like that."
"What's wrong with my brother? Why is he like that?" He asked.
"Congratulations, you and your brother are natural-born Werewolves, which explains why you had such good flashes of intuition in there, and why you refused to abandon him. Eight minutes."
He held his hand out, but then brought it in, holding it against his chest.
"I don't particularly care if you want to be a Kobold- in fact, I welcome it, we need more Kobolds in this city- but if you do, and you don't want to be, then let me take the ring off."
"I... don't really want to." He said. "All I could think of when I saw the first changes was, I wanted it to go faster."
"Ah." I said. "Well, then. You were doomed from the start. Lovely. Once you're finished with that ring, we'll have it on your brother so he can finish transforming and calm down. Since you're out of the dungeon, you should be relatively safe, but for both of your sakes, we'll need to hold you for a while.
He nodded.
Ragnar finally got Daniel to calm down, he was whimpering, clearly experiencing pain.
"Aye, pup, let it all out." Ragnar said, gently petting his fur. "There's a good pup, inner peace, lad." Daniel started thrashing about again. "Inner peace, not outer squirm!"
"Also, yes, this does count as failing." I said to the elder brother. "However, due to the circumstances- and the fact that your brother would have doubtlessly been a mindless beast if left in there- the Guild Master will talk to you about your options after your holding period."
He nodded. His transformation finished, I clapped him on the back, took the ring, and- with Ragnar's help, got it on the Werewolf pup's finger so he could get it over with faster.
Once the two were in holding, I walked over to Ragnar, pulled out the Werewolf Skin from my bag, and held it out to him.
"You know what to do with this." I said.
He looked surprised, then nodded, taking it. "Aye, lad. I do."
I thought about what other things I needed to do. "Oh, right. I need to resurrect the Kobolds." I said, before walking into my dungeon.
It did take about a week for Daniel to finally calm down.
At first, there was some concern that the nature of his transformation had left him potentially feral, but the morning he was meant to be let out, he was in Human form
I was the one who went in, covered him with a blanket, and put some spare clothes out for him.
"Where am I?"
"A holding cell." I said.
I heard him shoot up, accompanied by a sound I was familiar with, in that his fur suddenly floofed up. "W-what happened to me!?" He howled in fear.
"You are a Werewolf." I said matter-of-factly. I looked at him, he was looking at his claws with a mixture of horror, fear, and joy. I had vague feelings of that same mixture of emotions. "More specifically, at least one of your parents was a Werewolf."
"Wait, then is Jason-?"
"He became a Kobold." I replied. "He used an item to speed up the transformation so he could rescue you. If you had maintained your sanity in that moment, I would not have interfered. But you didn't, and you are going to need training to keep yourself in check whenever you're scared or angry."
"I- see." He said.
"For what it's worth, you won't pass out anymore, so your reason for coming has ultimately resolved itself."
"What's going to happen to Jason?" He asked.
"The same thing that happened to me. He will live." I replied. "He has retained his memories, due to accepting that he was likely going to be lost, just to save you. Even though he could have forfeited at any point like I told him."
"Aye, Kobold, is he safe?"
"Yes." I said.
The door opened, Jason stepped inside, then ran over to his brother and hugged him. "Little big brother, meet big little brother." I snarked.
They both looked at me, and then they laughed. I let them have some time together, to talk and acclimate.
After their reunion, I brought them with me to the Guild Master.
"So." He said. "You have a few options. One, we tattoo dungeon protections on you and have you sign on to helping clearing out dungeons, or two, we let you go, except you return every week so Ragnar can train you to keep yourself under control."
"Dungeon protections?" Jason asked.
I nodded. "We are monsters." I said. "Without the proper protections, a new dungeon can claim you, making you a part of its system." I looked at them both. "I don't think it need said why you should refrain from going inside dungeons without it."
"What happens to those who do?" Daniel asked.
"The dungeon claims them." I said. "They lose their memories of their past life, becoming convinced they always lived in it. They become trapped inside, forever."
They both looked at each other, then looked at us. "We, uh..." Daniel started.
"We actually wanted to go back." Jason replied.
"You want to be claimed by the dungeon." The Guild Master said.
"When I was looking for my brother, all I could think of was how much I liked being there." Jason replied. "That's honestly why I put on the ring."
"And I'm not leaving my brother alone." Daniel said. "We've only had each other our entire lives."
I nodded. "As the master of the dungeon, I will approve this." I said. "Any arguments against, Guild Master?"
He sighed. "Just go." He said.
With the brothers close behind me, I led them to the dungeon entrance. "Understand, by doing this, you are consigning yourself to protecting what is effectively a practice dungeon." I said. "You will be killed and brought back."
Jason nodded. "I know."
He opened the door, and they walked in.
2023.05.28 03:52 jlebo RFK Jr. - Disinformation About Bill Gates - No Plan to Implant Technology To Control the World Population
Another scare piece for his followers about Bill Gates that distorts the concepts behind some technology and make it seem like Gates must be in cahoots with the global cabal to track and chip the world - thank goodness for RFK Jr. to expose this evil plot - now give CHD some money!
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defendeyes-bill-gates-said-that/
Here are a few points from that post:
RFK Jr. Claim: "Gatesâ company, Microsoft, has patented a sinister technology that uses implanted chips with sensors that will monitor body and brain activity. It promises to reward compliant humans with crypto currency payments when they perform assigned activities."
In reality - https://web.archive.org/web/20201219004629/https://traqq.com/blog/microsoft-patent-wo2020060606-will-this-cryptocurrency-mining-system-involve-microchip-implants/
Weâll mention this outrightlyâthe patent does not say anything about microchips. If you review the diagrams, the only distinct items are the âperson,â âuser device,â and âsensor.â Now, if you study the accompanying description, youâll see that the âuser deviceâ may only include items that cannot be implanted into humans. The device involved can be a smartphone, smartwatch, tablet, or laptop.
If you go through the patent, you will not find any content about a sensor in the form of a microchip implant.
RFK Jr. Claim: "In 2019, according to a not-yet-purged Scientific American article, Gates commissioned the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to build an injectable quantum dot dye system to tattoo stored medical info beneath childrenâs skin. The tattoo was designed to be readable by an iPhone app."
In reality - https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/ap09/instagram-posts/post-about-bill-gates-work-vaccine-tracking-disto
"The idea behind the research is that the dye would be visible under near-infrared light for up to five years and provide a quick, affordable way of helping health providers keep track of a childâs vaccinations, even when paperwork gets lost or parents forget whether their child is up to date.
The dye wouldnât monitor peopleâs habits or movements, as the Instagram post implies. It would essentially be a marker to see if someone received a vaccine upon inspection by a medical official.
Researchers say accurate vaccine record-keeping remains a major challenge in low-resource areas around the world, where "well-maintained centralized databases do not exist," which "contributes to 1.5 million vaccine-preventable deaths annually." Scientists hope an invisible, embeddable medical record that could accompany vaccines could help solve that problem."
submitted by jlebo to RFK_Jr_is_a_Stooge [link] [comments]
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defendeyes-bill-gates-said-that/
Here are a few points from that post:
RFK Jr. Claim: "Gatesâ company, Microsoft, has patented a sinister technology that uses implanted chips with sensors that will monitor body and brain activity. It promises to reward compliant humans with crypto currency payments when they perform assigned activities."
In reality - https://web.archive.org/web/20201219004629/https://traqq.com/blog/microsoft-patent-wo2020060606-will-this-cryptocurrency-mining-system-involve-microchip-implants/
Weâll mention this outrightlyâthe patent does not say anything about microchips. If you review the diagrams, the only distinct items are the âperson,â âuser device,â and âsensor.â Now, if you study the accompanying description, youâll see that the âuser deviceâ may only include items that cannot be implanted into humans. The device involved can be a smartphone, smartwatch, tablet, or laptop.
If you go through the patent, you will not find any content about a sensor in the form of a microchip implant.
RFK Jr. Claim: "In 2019, according to a not-yet-purged Scientific American article, Gates commissioned the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to build an injectable quantum dot dye system to tattoo stored medical info beneath childrenâs skin. The tattoo was designed to be readable by an iPhone app."
In reality - https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/ap09/instagram-posts/post-about-bill-gates-work-vaccine-tracking-disto
"The idea behind the research is that the dye would be visible under near-infrared light for up to five years and provide a quick, affordable way of helping health providers keep track of a childâs vaccinations, even when paperwork gets lost or parents forget whether their child is up to date.
The dye wouldnât monitor peopleâs habits or movements, as the Instagram post implies. It would essentially be a marker to see if someone received a vaccine upon inspection by a medical official.
Researchers say accurate vaccine record-keeping remains a major challenge in low-resource areas around the world, where "well-maintained centralized databases do not exist," which "contributes to 1.5 million vaccine-preventable deaths annually." Scientists hope an invisible, embeddable medical record that could accompany vaccines could help solve that problem."
2023.05.28 03:51 Narrow_Muscle9572 [The Lawn Killer] - Part Nine: Death Stalks In The Everglades
The story so far...
The person who owned the makeshift runway greeted us with the sign of the Wren (crossing both wrists and placing the palms on the chest with the fingers together and the thumbs touching each other). What his connection to the Order was a mystery to me, but I didn't ask who he was because my job was to document everything I deemed important so future members could learn from us. After that, he gave us the nicest car he had: A brand new (at the time) black â95 Crown Victoria.
In the trunk there were things that every member of the Order might need, including a few things that wouldn't be able to get past customs even with our back channel ways of getting around.
Not two hours after arriving in Florida I saw a gator, a group of children beating a truck with branches, a pipe and a skateboard, the owner of the truck chasing the kids away and one store being robbed.
And that was all before we arrived at our motel.
The motel was south of Miami and it was called Sundowners. Why would they choose this name considering that Florida is known for its elderly and sundowners is a real condition for old people, I have no idea and didn't bother asking.
Like always, the Order made our motel reservation under the name Hill. This was one of the few consistencies members of the Order had while on the road.
The woman who sat behind the registration desk handed us the keys to our room and King asked her if there was a package waiting for us. The woman groaned because that would mean that she would have to get off the stool, but she went to look and found a large envelope. She was clearly annoyed at the minor inconvenience of getting up and gave us a spiteful look when she handed it over. This look was lost on the other hunters and King thanked her before leaving.
After unpacking, getting situated and claiming where we were going to sleep, King opened the envelope and let the contents fall on the bed. The items included a roll of hundred dollar bills, newspaper clippings about the missing people, a map of the area and a folded piece of paper with the name and number of someone in the area who we could get ahold of for any supplies we might need.
King spread the map out on the bed and started to circle the last known locations each of the missing people were seen at.
âSo? Learn anything?â I asked after five minutes of watching King and Williams stare at the map in silence.
Williams shook his head. âAll of them were headed out to the evergladesâ he answered, pointing to that part of the map.
âI hate the everglades,â King complained. âIf the crocs don't eat you, the mosquitos will.â
Less than two hours later I would discover just how right he was about the mosquitos because after we booked a boat, we went searching. My job was to hold onto the HSD (Handheld supernatural detector) but I never got as much as a beep.
In my opinion all the trees looked the exact same, so it felt like we were going around in circles. This feeling was made worse because none of us spoke when we were out there. I, like the other two more experienced hunters, learned back at the compound that distractions can kill, so instead of talking we kept our eyes open.
By nighttime both Williams and King decided to return to the motel. Since we didn't know what we were dealing with, staying out after dark would be a bad idea.
The next morning we got up extra early so we could search for the whole day. I really didn't like that because at the time I was sixteen and sleeping was one of my favorite activities. While getting supplies for the day I made sure to grab some bug repellant while King and Williams grabbed the snacks.
I was bored out of my mind for most of the day, but in the years since I learned to appreciate the boredom. Boredom doesn't kill and in the Order, no one ever reaches retirement age.
It was about five in the afternoon when something interesting happened; Williams stopped the boat.
âWhat's going on?â King asked. âSee something?â
âI doâ Williams answered. âBaby Panda. Do you see it?â
I looked around but couldnât see anything in the water. âNo.â
âIt isn't in the waterâ Williams hinted. âLook again.â
A few moments later I heard King say âoh.â
âWhat?â I asked.
âYou tell usâ King laughed.
As much as I tried seeing past the trees that surrounded us, there was nothing else. âAll I see are trees.â
King patted my shoulder. âThat's okay. We don't see it much either.â
âWhen's the last time we saw them you wager?â asked Williams.
As King answered he scratched the hair on his neck. âMaybe seven, ten years ago?â
âWhat?â I asked, irritated. âWhat is it?â
Williams pointed and I turned my head to look. At first I thought I was looking at a dozen pale white, branchless trees that reached towards the sky like accusing fingers but then realization set in.
âDeath Stalks,â King answered.
Lessons from the Orders bestiary came back to me. Death Stalks were not only carnivorous mushrooms that killed all plant life that surrounded them, but they would also bend and impale anything that got too close. After sucking all the fluids from their kill, they would then toss the victim as far as they could. The body would then grow more Death Stalks.
âHow do we kill them?â asked Williams, testing me.
âFireâ I answered quickly.
Williams nodded. âGood.â
âDo we have anything?â King asked, looking at the supplies we brought with us, but the only thing that could help us was a bottle of liquor and one wasn't going to do it.
âWe have to go back and resupply,â Williams said. âOh wellâ he added as he turned the engine over.
When we got back to the dock, King told me and Williams to wait with the boat while he went to the local supplier. I complained about that because the bugs were getting worse as the sun was going down, however when King said if I did it without complaining I would get to pick where we ate, I did as I was ordered.
While waiting for King to return, Williams and I passed the time playing cards. He liked cards so we played some Texas Hold Em. We would bet with pennies so the stakes were never high. Being on the road for as long as I was with these two, I was getting really good at the game.
We were playing for about two hours before King returned. By then I was up about sixty cents and night was quickly approaching.
âItâs almost dark. Should we wait until the morning?â I asked, thinking about the danger of going out after dusk.
âDeath Stalks don't move around muchâ Williams answered with a laugh. âWeâll be fine.â
âThat's right,â King agreed as he grabbed something that looked like a gas pump from the trunk. âCome grab the rest, Baby Pandaâ he ordered as he walked to the boat.
When I got to the car, I saw a canister that read âinflamableâ on its side. A smile grew over my face at the sight of it because it reminded me of my time at Miss Luthers.
âWhat are you smiling about?â Williams asked with a strange smile of his own.
âHmm?â I asked. âOh, nothing.â
âNoâ Williams said. âWhat was it?â
I smiled again and remembered what Thirty Seven told me the day I used a similar tool in Miss Luther's vivarium. âThat flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.â
Williams gave another weird smile, but had the sense not to follow up with any more questions.
âYou know what that is?â King asked as I hauled the silver canister over my shoulder with ease.
âA flamethrowerâ I answered.
âYeahâ King answered, surprised I knew.
âI used one beforeâ I said as I set the thing in the boat.
âReally?â King and Williams asked at the same time.
âWhen?â Williams asked.
âYears ago. Thirty Seven had me use it at Miss Luthers.â
There was a shared look between King and Williams.
âWhat?â I asked.
âWho had you use one?â King asked.
âThirty Sevenâ I answered. âShe wore a jersey with thirty seven on it. Her and One came over and they had me use one.â
âYou weren't even in the Order back thenâ Williams said, amazed.
âHe isn't in the Order now,â King added.
âYeah, that's right,â Williams agreed. âHow did you meet two members of Farsight? I only ever met one of them.â
âThey were Farsight?â
King and Williams shared another look before bursting out in laughter.
âThat's right,â Williams said, getting in the boat to operate the engine. âNow come on. While we still got the sun on our side.â
As Williams operated the boat, getting us closer to the Death Stalks, King was getting the flamethrower ready to use. After he got it set up to his liking, he looked at me and said âSince you already got experience with flamethrowers, do you want to use it?â
âNo thanksâ I answered. âYou can though.â
âWhy?â King asked.
I recalled what Thirty Seven said to me that day in the garage. âBecause they don't give the best soldiers on the field the flamethrowers.â
Williams' laughter was an explosion and King's face turned red with anger and embarrassment. It wasn't long however before the anger simmered and he too started laughing.
âThat was pretty good,â King admitted. âYou got me good.â
As we approached the cluster of Death Stalks, Williams slowed the boat down. When we got as close as he dared, he set the anchor.
King stood up in the boat and without warning let loose a stream of fire towards the mushroom stalks.
The Death Stalks did not shrivel up and die instantly like I expected because their skin was thick and hard to set aflame. However once the fire got through that outer layer, the sensitive insides made the whole stalk move around violently. It reminded me of a whip or the inflatable people you see at car lots.
By the time the Death Stalks were gone and would no longer be a problem for the locals, it was dark and we headed back. First to the dock, then to return the boat and then the motel where Williams called Farsight and let them know of a job well done.
When he was done with that call, I ordered us all a pizza.
WAE
submitted by Narrow_Muscle9572 to redditserials [link] [comments]
- Lawn Killer
- Lawn Killer: Birth of a Baby Panda
- Lawn Killer: Catching Lunch
- Lawn Killer: The Order Of The Wren
- Lawn Killer: The end of summer
- Lawn Killer: Merry Christmas, Baby Panda
- Lawn Killer - The Island
- Lawn Killer - Leaving the island
The person who owned the makeshift runway greeted us with the sign of the Wren (crossing both wrists and placing the palms on the chest with the fingers together and the thumbs touching each other). What his connection to the Order was a mystery to me, but I didn't ask who he was because my job was to document everything I deemed important so future members could learn from us. After that, he gave us the nicest car he had: A brand new (at the time) black â95 Crown Victoria.
In the trunk there were things that every member of the Order might need, including a few things that wouldn't be able to get past customs even with our back channel ways of getting around.
Not two hours after arriving in Florida I saw a gator, a group of children beating a truck with branches, a pipe and a skateboard, the owner of the truck chasing the kids away and one store being robbed.
And that was all before we arrived at our motel.
The motel was south of Miami and it was called Sundowners. Why would they choose this name considering that Florida is known for its elderly and sundowners is a real condition for old people, I have no idea and didn't bother asking.
Like always, the Order made our motel reservation under the name Hill. This was one of the few consistencies members of the Order had while on the road.
The woman who sat behind the registration desk handed us the keys to our room and King asked her if there was a package waiting for us. The woman groaned because that would mean that she would have to get off the stool, but she went to look and found a large envelope. She was clearly annoyed at the minor inconvenience of getting up and gave us a spiteful look when she handed it over. This look was lost on the other hunters and King thanked her before leaving.
After unpacking, getting situated and claiming where we were going to sleep, King opened the envelope and let the contents fall on the bed. The items included a roll of hundred dollar bills, newspaper clippings about the missing people, a map of the area and a folded piece of paper with the name and number of someone in the area who we could get ahold of for any supplies we might need.
King spread the map out on the bed and started to circle the last known locations each of the missing people were seen at.
âSo? Learn anything?â I asked after five minutes of watching King and Williams stare at the map in silence.
Williams shook his head. âAll of them were headed out to the evergladesâ he answered, pointing to that part of the map.
âI hate the everglades,â King complained. âIf the crocs don't eat you, the mosquitos will.â
Less than two hours later I would discover just how right he was about the mosquitos because after we booked a boat, we went searching. My job was to hold onto the HSD (Handheld supernatural detector) but I never got as much as a beep.
In my opinion all the trees looked the exact same, so it felt like we were going around in circles. This feeling was made worse because none of us spoke when we were out there. I, like the other two more experienced hunters, learned back at the compound that distractions can kill, so instead of talking we kept our eyes open.
By nighttime both Williams and King decided to return to the motel. Since we didn't know what we were dealing with, staying out after dark would be a bad idea.
The next morning we got up extra early so we could search for the whole day. I really didn't like that because at the time I was sixteen and sleeping was one of my favorite activities. While getting supplies for the day I made sure to grab some bug repellant while King and Williams grabbed the snacks.
I was bored out of my mind for most of the day, but in the years since I learned to appreciate the boredom. Boredom doesn't kill and in the Order, no one ever reaches retirement age.
It was about five in the afternoon when something interesting happened; Williams stopped the boat.
âWhat's going on?â King asked. âSee something?â
âI doâ Williams answered. âBaby Panda. Do you see it?â
I looked around but couldnât see anything in the water. âNo.â
âIt isn't in the waterâ Williams hinted. âLook again.â
A few moments later I heard King say âoh.â
âWhat?â I asked.
âYou tell usâ King laughed.
As much as I tried seeing past the trees that surrounded us, there was nothing else. âAll I see are trees.â
King patted my shoulder. âThat's okay. We don't see it much either.â
âWhen's the last time we saw them you wager?â asked Williams.
As King answered he scratched the hair on his neck. âMaybe seven, ten years ago?â
âWhat?â I asked, irritated. âWhat is it?â
Williams pointed and I turned my head to look. At first I thought I was looking at a dozen pale white, branchless trees that reached towards the sky like accusing fingers but then realization set in.
âDeath Stalks,â King answered.
Lessons from the Orders bestiary came back to me. Death Stalks were not only carnivorous mushrooms that killed all plant life that surrounded them, but they would also bend and impale anything that got too close. After sucking all the fluids from their kill, they would then toss the victim as far as they could. The body would then grow more Death Stalks.
âHow do we kill them?â asked Williams, testing me.
âFireâ I answered quickly.
Williams nodded. âGood.â
âDo we have anything?â King asked, looking at the supplies we brought with us, but the only thing that could help us was a bottle of liquor and one wasn't going to do it.
âWe have to go back and resupply,â Williams said. âOh wellâ he added as he turned the engine over.
When we got back to the dock, King told me and Williams to wait with the boat while he went to the local supplier. I complained about that because the bugs were getting worse as the sun was going down, however when King said if I did it without complaining I would get to pick where we ate, I did as I was ordered.
While waiting for King to return, Williams and I passed the time playing cards. He liked cards so we played some Texas Hold Em. We would bet with pennies so the stakes were never high. Being on the road for as long as I was with these two, I was getting really good at the game.
We were playing for about two hours before King returned. By then I was up about sixty cents and night was quickly approaching.
âItâs almost dark. Should we wait until the morning?â I asked, thinking about the danger of going out after dusk.
âDeath Stalks don't move around muchâ Williams answered with a laugh. âWeâll be fine.â
âThat's right,â King agreed as he grabbed something that looked like a gas pump from the trunk. âCome grab the rest, Baby Pandaâ he ordered as he walked to the boat.
When I got to the car, I saw a canister that read âinflamableâ on its side. A smile grew over my face at the sight of it because it reminded me of my time at Miss Luthers.
âWhat are you smiling about?â Williams asked with a strange smile of his own.
âHmm?â I asked. âOh, nothing.â
âNoâ Williams said. âWhat was it?â
I smiled again and remembered what Thirty Seven told me the day I used a similar tool in Miss Luther's vivarium. âThat flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.â
Williams gave another weird smile, but had the sense not to follow up with any more questions.
âYou know what that is?â King asked as I hauled the silver canister over my shoulder with ease.
âA flamethrowerâ I answered.
âYeahâ King answered, surprised I knew.
âI used one beforeâ I said as I set the thing in the boat.
âReally?â King and Williams asked at the same time.
âWhen?â Williams asked.
âYears ago. Thirty Seven had me use it at Miss Luthers.â
There was a shared look between King and Williams.
âWhat?â I asked.
âWho had you use one?â King asked.
âThirty Sevenâ I answered. âShe wore a jersey with thirty seven on it. Her and One came over and they had me use one.â
âYou weren't even in the Order back thenâ Williams said, amazed.
âHe isn't in the Order now,â King added.
âYeah, that's right,â Williams agreed. âHow did you meet two members of Farsight? I only ever met one of them.â
âThey were Farsight?â
King and Williams shared another look before bursting out in laughter.
âThat's right,â Williams said, getting in the boat to operate the engine. âNow come on. While we still got the sun on our side.â
As Williams operated the boat, getting us closer to the Death Stalks, King was getting the flamethrower ready to use. After he got it set up to his liking, he looked at me and said âSince you already got experience with flamethrowers, do you want to use it?â
âNo thanksâ I answered. âYou can though.â
âWhy?â King asked.
I recalled what Thirty Seven said to me that day in the garage. âBecause they don't give the best soldiers on the field the flamethrowers.â
Williams' laughter was an explosion and King's face turned red with anger and embarrassment. It wasn't long however before the anger simmered and he too started laughing.
âThat was pretty good,â King admitted. âYou got me good.â
As we approached the cluster of Death Stalks, Williams slowed the boat down. When we got as close as he dared, he set the anchor.
King stood up in the boat and without warning let loose a stream of fire towards the mushroom stalks.
The Death Stalks did not shrivel up and die instantly like I expected because their skin was thick and hard to set aflame. However once the fire got through that outer layer, the sensitive insides made the whole stalk move around violently. It reminded me of a whip or the inflatable people you see at car lots.
By the time the Death Stalks were gone and would no longer be a problem for the locals, it was dark and we headed back. First to the dock, then to return the boat and then the motel where Williams called Farsight and let them know of a job well done.
When he was done with that call, I ordered us all a pizza.
WAE
2023.05.28 03:41 bakedasbread_wife [UPDATE] Please share success stories on vaginally delivering your large baby
Original post: https://www.reddit.com/NewParents/comments/12fddrc/please_share_success_stories_on_vaginally/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
My LO is 1 month today! I remembered that I never posted an update on what happened on this subreddit. Here is my birth story! (Copy and pasted from the private subreddit I posted it in) This is a LONG post - I felt that I wanted to include as much as possible. TL;DR at the bottom for those who'd rather skip the novel
TW: I talk about blood
It all started Wednesday 4/26. I was 40+3 and my Dr was going to schedule an induction for Monday 5/1 if I didn't go into labor over the weekend. I was very passionate about letting my body decide when it was time to go into labor, so I was very anxious about a possible induction. I was 2cm dilated, 50% effaced, and baby was -3 station. I was like this from my 38w appointment. It's worth mentioning that I was measuring ahead and my OB expected a big baby.
My fiancé and I did the deed around 5:45pm on Wednesday, in hopes of getting things started, and boy did it work. I went to the bathroom immediately after we were done, and I had bloody discharge for the first time in my entire pregnancy. I was so excited but also trying not to get my hopes up.
We went downstairs and almost immediately I started complaining about achey hips. It seemed to come and go, and wasn't very intense. I couldn't figure out if it was gas, or just hip pain, or something else. It got more and more noticeable very quickly. By 6:45pm I was using a contractions app just for shiggles. I had no idea what contractions were supposed to feel like, but I wasn't getting any tightening in my belly (that I ever noticed anyways). I very quickly started to yell each time I felt this hip pain. It was a squeezing sensation and I couldn't get into any position at all to get comfortable. The app told me to "get ready to go to the hospital soon" after only recording 5 contractions. I was shocked. It kept saying the same thing for a few hours. I was eventually upstairs, in bed, bawling, yelling, and shaking. I was still getting bloody discharge with every pee and I started to worry that it was too much.
At 10:45pm, I finally said let's go to the hospital. My contractions (that I still didn't know were actually contractions) were averaging 3-4 mins apart and 30-40s long. We grabbed our hospital bag and left the house.
The hospital is a 10 min drive, and I had 2 contractions in the car. Once we got to L&D, they checked us into triage to take a look. It's a little after 11pm at this point. A Dr checked my cervix and I was 5cm and 80%. Holy shit was I shocked to hear that. She then told me my water was broken. When the hell did that happen?! I had NO idea, and we all assume that it happened because of the sex. So the guesstimated time stamp for water breaking was 6:00pm. They told us we were being checked into a room. I was still shocked because I was convinced that we'd get there and they'd send us home. But now this was real!!
The problem now was that my contractions died down a LOT. I knew that wasn't good, so we started walking, doing deep squats, and I did a little nipple stimulating. Nothing. I think from the time we checked in, to about 7am, I had less than 10 contractions. I slept on and off from 2 to 5, and woke up with 2 strong contractions in that window.
The night shift Dr came in before she left to do another cervical check, and I was only at 6cm. Day shift Drs and nurses got in at 7, and the Drs began talking about my biggest fear. Pitocin. Now it's worth mentioning that I was dead set on an unmedicated birth. After some talking to, I agreed to pitocin. I got really emotional because I was hooked up to all this stuff, and I really wanted freedom of movement for labor. I was having a really hard time emotionally with the way things were going so far. But I tried to stay positive and think about meeting my baby soon. They started me on 2 with the pitocin and bumped me up by 2 every 30 mins or so. My contractions didn't come back/intensify until I was at 8. They really started to get intense and regular at 12. Baby's heartrate did pretty good with the contractions, but one of the Drs seemed unsure and wanted to place a contraction measuring thing inside my uterus to measure the strength of my contractions. After a while with that in, he decided they were good and strong.
The timeline of my cervical checks is kind of foggy, but I know I went from 5cm to 8cm over the course of 12 hours. The Drs were concerned because of how slowly I was dilating. I don't think it would have been as much of an issue if my water hadn't been broken. They didn't want to let me go over 24hrs with it broken.
They started talking about my next biggest fear. An epidural. I was absolutely against it and wanted to feel everything. But here I was, not progressing, and in shit-tons of pain. I had received advice, from a mama in our community here, to relax into the contractions, and I remembered that and tried SO HARD to do that each time but damn my body wouldn't let me. I was practically convulsing with each contraction and yelling in pain. The Drs encouraged me to get the epidural in hopes of my body relaxing and therefore dilating more. I finally agreed to it, because I started to realize that if I didn't get it, and I still didn't progress, that I'd need it anyways for a cesarean. But if I did get it, it may be my only chance at vaginally birthing my daughter.
The anesthesiologist was awesome and made me feel very safe and comfortable. It was quick and easy (minus me freaking out over the weird electrical tingles and sensations in my leg, which he said was normal). I started to feel relief after about 15 minutes, and I hate to admit how glad I was. My pushy Dr came in, not even 30 mins after the epidural, and said we should do a cesarean now because I wasn't progressing. I got kind of mad and felt like it was unfair. I had JUST gotten the epidural. I told her no and that I wanted to wait to let my body try for a while longer. (At this point, it was only about 11:45am, and I still had about 6 hours until my 24hr mark). She was pissy with me but agreed to let me try longer. Very shortly after that, my nurse came in with another nurse to help move me around in different positions to try to help baby move down.
After trying for a few more hours, I got a cervical check, and I was holding my breath in anticipation. But I had ZERO change. I was devastated.
The time came for the cesarean talk again. I had to agree at this point, because baby girl clearly wasn't going anywhere and I didn't want to risk infection for either of us. They did all their prep, wheeled me down, and here I was in a bright cold room with a lot of people. A different anesthesiologist was taking care of me now and he was also awesome like the previous one! My epidural wasn't working anymore so he gave me a spinal. That worked, so my fiancé was escorted in and they started the process. I just want to say how much I hated the cesarean. I hated the way it felt. The tugging, the pressure, the burning. It was so intense and nauseating.
9:48pm on April 27th, we finally heard our baby girl cry, and we cried. My Dr yelled my name (in a playful/shocked way) and they all talked about how big she was. 9lbs 8oz, 21 inches long! Holy crap lol I was not expecting that! I know I was measuring big, but I was convinced that the measurements were just bigger than she was actually going to be. Turns out those measurements were SMALLER than how big she was lol they cleaned her up, handed her to my fiancé, and we got to meet our baby girl. I was absolutely devastated that I was not able to do the golden hour of skin to skin. I only got to look at her for about 5 minutes before they escorted her and my fiancé to the nursery.
After stitching me back up and wheeling me to recovery, I finally got to hold my baby. She fed and it was an amazing experience. But this time was also the beginning of a lot of pain for me. They had to push on my belly to get my uterus to contract down but wow I hated that. SO painful. They did it every 15 mins for 2 hours. I was able to go back to my room after that, where even more of a nightmare began. I was losing a lot of blood and my uterus wasn't going down like they wanted. 2 Drs came in and said they needed to check inside my vagina for clots. That was pretty painful. They found a lot. Then they found more. And more. They needed to go into my uterus through my vagina to get more. They said this is why my uterus wasn't going down, because I was clotting really bad. They told me it was going to hurt really badly and asked if I wanted anything for the pain before they did it. I said no, and they went ahead with it. Can I just say how traumatized I am from that experience. Wow. I screamed louder than I ever thought possible, and was in the worst amount of pain in my life. I think I traumatized the resident Dr who did the procedure because of the way I was screaming. She had to do it AGAIN too. They found a lot of clots and pieces of placenta. The 2nd time, when they were done, I felt it all spill out of me and it felt like 2 gallons of warm guts. It was like a horror movie. I never want to experience that ever again.
That was pretty much the end of it all besides me staying another day or so in the hospital. I want to say how important I feel it is that I let my expectations go at a certain point. I had the perfect birth in my head, and I did not get to experience that perfect birth. I don't know what it feels like to push my baby out, I didn't get to have my golden hour, I didn't get to have an unmedicated birth. But my baby is here and healthy, and so am I. That's all that truly matters in the end.
Thank you all for being such a great support system on this journey. And thank you for reading, if you did. It was quite therapeutic to type this up.
What a wild ride this was. Pregnancy I would do all over again, but I'm not so sure anymore after my birth experience. My baby girl may be my only child after going through this.
TL;DR: I was in 27 hours of active labor with my water broken, which ended with a cesarean because my 9# 8oz baby girl wasn't moving down (she never went lower than -2 station).
submitted by bakedasbread_wife to NewParents [link] [comments]
My LO is 1 month today! I remembered that I never posted an update on what happened on this subreddit. Here is my birth story! (Copy and pasted from the private subreddit I posted it in) This is a LONG post - I felt that I wanted to include as much as possible. TL;DR at the bottom for those who'd rather skip the novel
TW: I talk about blood
It all started Wednesday 4/26. I was 40+3 and my Dr was going to schedule an induction for Monday 5/1 if I didn't go into labor over the weekend. I was very passionate about letting my body decide when it was time to go into labor, so I was very anxious about a possible induction. I was 2cm dilated, 50% effaced, and baby was -3 station. I was like this from my 38w appointment. It's worth mentioning that I was measuring ahead and my OB expected a big baby.
My fiancé and I did the deed around 5:45pm on Wednesday, in hopes of getting things started, and boy did it work. I went to the bathroom immediately after we were done, and I had bloody discharge for the first time in my entire pregnancy. I was so excited but also trying not to get my hopes up.
We went downstairs and almost immediately I started complaining about achey hips. It seemed to come and go, and wasn't very intense. I couldn't figure out if it was gas, or just hip pain, or something else. It got more and more noticeable very quickly. By 6:45pm I was using a contractions app just for shiggles. I had no idea what contractions were supposed to feel like, but I wasn't getting any tightening in my belly (that I ever noticed anyways). I very quickly started to yell each time I felt this hip pain. It was a squeezing sensation and I couldn't get into any position at all to get comfortable. The app told me to "get ready to go to the hospital soon" after only recording 5 contractions. I was shocked. It kept saying the same thing for a few hours. I was eventually upstairs, in bed, bawling, yelling, and shaking. I was still getting bloody discharge with every pee and I started to worry that it was too much.
At 10:45pm, I finally said let's go to the hospital. My contractions (that I still didn't know were actually contractions) were averaging 3-4 mins apart and 30-40s long. We grabbed our hospital bag and left the house.
The hospital is a 10 min drive, and I had 2 contractions in the car. Once we got to L&D, they checked us into triage to take a look. It's a little after 11pm at this point. A Dr checked my cervix and I was 5cm and 80%. Holy shit was I shocked to hear that. She then told me my water was broken. When the hell did that happen?! I had NO idea, and we all assume that it happened because of the sex. So the guesstimated time stamp for water breaking was 6:00pm. They told us we were being checked into a room. I was still shocked because I was convinced that we'd get there and they'd send us home. But now this was real!!
The problem now was that my contractions died down a LOT. I knew that wasn't good, so we started walking, doing deep squats, and I did a little nipple stimulating. Nothing. I think from the time we checked in, to about 7am, I had less than 10 contractions. I slept on and off from 2 to 5, and woke up with 2 strong contractions in that window.
The night shift Dr came in before she left to do another cervical check, and I was only at 6cm. Day shift Drs and nurses got in at 7, and the Drs began talking about my biggest fear. Pitocin. Now it's worth mentioning that I was dead set on an unmedicated birth. After some talking to, I agreed to pitocin. I got really emotional because I was hooked up to all this stuff, and I really wanted freedom of movement for labor. I was having a really hard time emotionally with the way things were going so far. But I tried to stay positive and think about meeting my baby soon. They started me on 2 with the pitocin and bumped me up by 2 every 30 mins or so. My contractions didn't come back/intensify until I was at 8. They really started to get intense and regular at 12. Baby's heartrate did pretty good with the contractions, but one of the Drs seemed unsure and wanted to place a contraction measuring thing inside my uterus to measure the strength of my contractions. After a while with that in, he decided they were good and strong.
The timeline of my cervical checks is kind of foggy, but I know I went from 5cm to 8cm over the course of 12 hours. The Drs were concerned because of how slowly I was dilating. I don't think it would have been as much of an issue if my water hadn't been broken. They didn't want to let me go over 24hrs with it broken.
They started talking about my next biggest fear. An epidural. I was absolutely against it and wanted to feel everything. But here I was, not progressing, and in shit-tons of pain. I had received advice, from a mama in our community here, to relax into the contractions, and I remembered that and tried SO HARD to do that each time but damn my body wouldn't let me. I was practically convulsing with each contraction and yelling in pain. The Drs encouraged me to get the epidural in hopes of my body relaxing and therefore dilating more. I finally agreed to it, because I started to realize that if I didn't get it, and I still didn't progress, that I'd need it anyways for a cesarean. But if I did get it, it may be my only chance at vaginally birthing my daughter.
The anesthesiologist was awesome and made me feel very safe and comfortable. It was quick and easy (minus me freaking out over the weird electrical tingles and sensations in my leg, which he said was normal). I started to feel relief after about 15 minutes, and I hate to admit how glad I was. My pushy Dr came in, not even 30 mins after the epidural, and said we should do a cesarean now because I wasn't progressing. I got kind of mad and felt like it was unfair. I had JUST gotten the epidural. I told her no and that I wanted to wait to let my body try for a while longer. (At this point, it was only about 11:45am, and I still had about 6 hours until my 24hr mark). She was pissy with me but agreed to let me try longer. Very shortly after that, my nurse came in with another nurse to help move me around in different positions to try to help baby move down.
After trying for a few more hours, I got a cervical check, and I was holding my breath in anticipation. But I had ZERO change. I was devastated.
The time came for the cesarean talk again. I had to agree at this point, because baby girl clearly wasn't going anywhere and I didn't want to risk infection for either of us. They did all their prep, wheeled me down, and here I was in a bright cold room with a lot of people. A different anesthesiologist was taking care of me now and he was also awesome like the previous one! My epidural wasn't working anymore so he gave me a spinal. That worked, so my fiancé was escorted in and they started the process. I just want to say how much I hated the cesarean. I hated the way it felt. The tugging, the pressure, the burning. It was so intense and nauseating.
9:48pm on April 27th, we finally heard our baby girl cry, and we cried. My Dr yelled my name (in a playful/shocked way) and they all talked about how big she was. 9lbs 8oz, 21 inches long! Holy crap lol I was not expecting that! I know I was measuring big, but I was convinced that the measurements were just bigger than she was actually going to be. Turns out those measurements were SMALLER than how big she was lol they cleaned her up, handed her to my fiancé, and we got to meet our baby girl. I was absolutely devastated that I was not able to do the golden hour of skin to skin. I only got to look at her for about 5 minutes before they escorted her and my fiancé to the nursery.
After stitching me back up and wheeling me to recovery, I finally got to hold my baby. She fed and it was an amazing experience. But this time was also the beginning of a lot of pain for me. They had to push on my belly to get my uterus to contract down but wow I hated that. SO painful. They did it every 15 mins for 2 hours. I was able to go back to my room after that, where even more of a nightmare began. I was losing a lot of blood and my uterus wasn't going down like they wanted. 2 Drs came in and said they needed to check inside my vagina for clots. That was pretty painful. They found a lot. Then they found more. And more. They needed to go into my uterus through my vagina to get more. They said this is why my uterus wasn't going down, because I was clotting really bad. They told me it was going to hurt really badly and asked if I wanted anything for the pain before they did it. I said no, and they went ahead with it. Can I just say how traumatized I am from that experience. Wow. I screamed louder than I ever thought possible, and was in the worst amount of pain in my life. I think I traumatized the resident Dr who did the procedure because of the way I was screaming. She had to do it AGAIN too. They found a lot of clots and pieces of placenta. The 2nd time, when they were done, I felt it all spill out of me and it felt like 2 gallons of warm guts. It was like a horror movie. I never want to experience that ever again.
That was pretty much the end of it all besides me staying another day or so in the hospital. I want to say how important I feel it is that I let my expectations go at a certain point. I had the perfect birth in my head, and I did not get to experience that perfect birth. I don't know what it feels like to push my baby out, I didn't get to have my golden hour, I didn't get to have an unmedicated birth. But my baby is here and healthy, and so am I. That's all that truly matters in the end.
Thank you all for being such a great support system on this journey. And thank you for reading, if you did. It was quite therapeutic to type this up.
What a wild ride this was. Pregnancy I would do all over again, but I'm not so sure anymore after my birth experience. My baby girl may be my only child after going through this.
TL;DR: I was in 27 hours of active labor with my water broken, which ended with a cesarean because my 9# 8oz baby girl wasn't moving down (she never went lower than -2 station).
2023.05.28 03:39 bobgooober Hell is real.
Hell is real. Iâve known this since the accident. I just didnât know it would turn out to be this literal.
I was driving home on the interstate around two on Sunday morning. I was coming back from a short vacation, and had to report to my parole officer at 8:00 A.M. on Monday. I probably should have left earlier, but it had been over two years since Iâd seen my family. Iâd had letters and a few phone calls, and they visited me when they went to the funeral. Other than that though, visiting their son in prison hadnât been a good enough reason to drive down from Wisconsin. I didnât blame them. I wouldnât have visited me. Nonetheless, Iâd waited as long as I could to start back to Colorado. Being home with my parents, I could almost pretend my life wasnât empty anymore. It was with a bleak heart that I started the twenty hour drive home. I had just gone through some podunk little town near the border of Nebraska when I saw him.
The stranger was walking on the right side of the road, with his back to traffic. I remember having a hard time making out his shape in the darkness, until he walked into the pool of light cast from my car. He made a striking silhouette. His coat was the color of coal and fell to just above his knees, and he wore a matching fedora. He carried a briefcase, also black, and strode along through the dust and weeds with the air of a man who had important business to attend to. He looked like he would have been perfectly at home on a city sidewalk during the morning bustle. His presence on that lonely stretch of dark road was discordantly incongruous, like seeing a small child doing shots in a bar. As my car approached he turned his head until I could see his face in profile, and grinned as he stuck out his thumb.
I canât explain what compelled me to pull over. I have never in my life picked up a hitchhiker, but in that moment I didnât hesitate for a second. It never even occurred to me to do anything different, as though picking up a strange man 5 miles out from the nearest town in the middle of the night was a completely reasonable and rational thing to do. He never stopped smiling at me as I pulled up alongside him.
âDo you need a ride?â I asked through the window, then felt a little stupid. People don't stick out their thumbs for strange cars to have a beer. He nodded, seeming not to notice my slip. Still smiling at me, he reached to open the door. Again, I acted without thinking about it, and hit the unlock button. A distant voice in my mind reacted with alarm but the feeling was quickly snuffed out as the stranger took a seat beside me. The crunch of gravel being crushed beneath my tires was the only sound as I pulled back onto the road.
As we drove, I studied him out of the corner of my eye. His salt and pepper hair was cut close to his head above his tanned and weathered face. He stared straight ahead, still smiling, his fingers drumming on his suitcase. There was an arrogant tilt to his head, and his whole body thrummed with a predatory tension, as though he might explode into action at any second. The alarmed voice in my head piped up again, louder this time, but I forcibly shoved it back down. Lord knows I needed to do everything I could to balance out my karma, and I think the Bible says something about helping travelers. My slate wouldnât so easily be wiped clean, but every little bit counts.
âSo where are you headed? Did your car break down around here or something?â I looked back over at the man and flinched as my gaze met his leering smile less than six inches from my face. I slammed on the brakes as my body convulsed in shock and the car screeched to a stop. My heart thundered, beating a staccato rhythm against my ribs. I caught my breath and gave the man a sheepish grin. âSorry, sir. You startled me.â
He didnât appear to hear me. I realized he hadn't moved at all through my sudden braking. The only difference was his face. He wasnât smiling anymore. In fact, he wore no expression whatsoever as he paused for a beat and then slowly shook his head. It was eerie as all hell. I laughed nervously.
As I prepared to get moving again I flicked my eyes back and forth between him and the road. Nothing. No expression. No movement. I couldnât even see him breathing. He was absolutely still, not like a person, but like the emptiness of a silent tomb. His eyes were unreadable as he stared, not at my face, I realized, but out my window. I licked my lips as the skin on the back of my neck tried to crawl up and over my scalp. I had a sudden, intense feeling that I did not want to see what he was seeing.
âWh-what are you looking at?â My voice came out shaky as my earlier sense of unease bloomed into full grown fear. As I turned my gaze back to his face, a feeling of suffocating wrongness swept over me. It was like suddenly being plunged into the lightless depths of the ocean. Vast darkness, empty except for monsters knowing neither the touch of the sun nor anything even remotely like mercy or compassion, engulfed my soul. He met my eyes, and a grin began to stretch across his face once again. As it widened, I realized with dawning horror that his teeth had lengthened and become serrated like a sharkâs. His smile kept widening, the corners of his mouth splitting until that hideous grin stretched all the way up to his temples. His eyes darkened to midnight black, and reflected oranges, reds, and yellows in disconcerting incandescence. When he spoke, his voice was cold and hollow.
âI am looking at your future, Child of Adam. I am watching your fate. You are unclean, and the blood cannot be washed from your hands. Your reckoning is coming. Behold, the end.â
His words echoed weirdly through the small car and rang with terrible certainty. As I clutched my ears against that booming voice and felt blood trickle between my fingers, I knew that the words he spoke were Truth.
A vast roaring sound came from my left, and my head snapped around on instinct. The empty plains of Nebraska had transformed into an inferno. Roiling seas of fire and lava splashed against jagged obsidian cliffs. Creatures crawled on all fours over the surface of the sea, alien things made of ash and charcoal with long, knobby limbs, like skeletons warped into something hellish by intense heat. Where there should have been eyes in their skulls there was only inky oblivion.
I recoiled in horror as my brain tried to make sense of what I was seeing. As I watched, one of the monsters seemed to notice me and scuttled forward, blindingly fast, reaching claw tipped fingers through my window. I screamed hoarsely as it wrapped its inhuman hands around my neck in a vice, before its grip cut off my air. I bucked wildly, trying desperately to pull away, but it was insanely strong. My head began to pound as the blood in my brain tried to flow back to my heart and was blocked by the creatureâs grip. My lungs begged for oxygen they had no way of getting. My desperation became stronger as I realized I was dying, but my movements became more and more sluggish. As my vision began to darken and finally fade out, the last thing I saw was that demonic grin.
The sound of a blaring car horn slowly came to me out of the blackness. I became aware of my body only as pain lit through my nerve endings. I groaned, disoriented, as I slowly understood my predicament. I was upside down in my car, being prevented from falling onto the roof only by my seat belt. Something was illuminating the wreckage that had been my car, and I heard movement outside. I feebly tried to get away from the source of the sound, sure that the man or his creatures were back, but the effort was too much and I sagged back against the restraints.
Rustling from my right caught my attention again, and I reluctantly turned my eyes to the passenger seat to see what fresh horror awaited me. I was not prepared to see my wife, dangling from the ceiling all over again, blood pooling underneath her pale body. The tremendous injuries to her face and chest hid the woman I had loved beneath a hideous mask. Her skull was misshapen from where her head had broken the window as the car rolled. In real life, I knew she had died instantly, but the monstrosity beside me stirred and turned to look at me with midnight eyes.
âYour fault,â it whispered. It was my wifeâs voice, but it had been corrupted somehow, like the rotting carcass of an animal lying on the side of the road. I couldnât take my eyes from the gory injury to her skull, and the creature wearing my wifeâs face seemed to take some sort of perverse pleasure in that.
âYour fault,â it said again, its face lighting up with malice. It took a hand and purposefully pressed a finger into the break in its skull. I stared in nauseated fascination as it pulled away bits of hair and bloody scalp, revealing bone crushed into tiny pieces. "We paid for your mistakes, your arrogance with our lives," it hissed. "Our blood is on your hands." The demon's voice pressed painfully against my skull, and I thought that my head might fly apart. Worse, her words tugged on a memory, and I tried desperately to bury it before I could start remembering.
Our blood. Dear God, please no.
Our blood. The memory stirred and writhed some more, a nearly physical presence in my brain.
Our blood. And then, amidst the demon's slithering voice and the sickening dripping and splatting noises as my wife pulled herself apart in front of my eyes, I heard the rustling from outside again. Terrified squalling started coming from a small throat and the memory finally broke free.
Some small corner of my brain noted that she couldnât possibly be crying, because her lungs and basically everything else had been crushed after she was thrown from the vehicle and caught in its rolling path. If I'd installed her car seat correctly, maybe she would have made it. If I hadn't been drinking that night, maybe I never would have crashed the car in the first place. I would never know, because I had done those things, and the two people I loved most had paid the price.
I couldnât bring myself to look for my daughterâs mangled corpse, to see what I had done to her again. Something inside me cracked. I broke into hysterical sobs, my voice joining my dead infantâs and the evil laughter coming from her motherâs body as waves of anguish and regret crashed over me.
The man appeared suddenly, leaning through my broken windshield, again looking totally out of place in the wreckage of my life. He grinned, then blew in my face. I succumbed to blackness, my family's cries ringing in my ears.
When I woke up again, I was in a hospital bed. The nurses told me Iâd been in an accident, but that I would be ok. They kept telling me how lucky I was to have survived, but I know it isnât luck. Out of the corner of my eye, I see them prowling, eyeless nightmares with twisted bodies. Sometimes itâs my wife, her accusatory eyes black, her body broken. She holds a weakly stirring bundle and weeps, singing lullabies to a child who no longer sleeps.
The stranger visits me in my dreams. He always greets me with that terrible grin and those hellfire eyes and tells me, âThe reckoning is coming. Behold, the end.â
Hell is real. I knew that the night I killed my wife and infant daughter. But now I know there is no hope for redemption. My reckoning is coming, and no amount of good deeds will wash the blood from my hands. Iâm so sorry Jen. Iâm sorry Elena. Daddy will see you soon.
submitted by bobgooober to nosleep [link] [comments]
I was driving home on the interstate around two on Sunday morning. I was coming back from a short vacation, and had to report to my parole officer at 8:00 A.M. on Monday. I probably should have left earlier, but it had been over two years since Iâd seen my family. Iâd had letters and a few phone calls, and they visited me when they went to the funeral. Other than that though, visiting their son in prison hadnât been a good enough reason to drive down from Wisconsin. I didnât blame them. I wouldnât have visited me. Nonetheless, Iâd waited as long as I could to start back to Colorado. Being home with my parents, I could almost pretend my life wasnât empty anymore. It was with a bleak heart that I started the twenty hour drive home. I had just gone through some podunk little town near the border of Nebraska when I saw him.
The stranger was walking on the right side of the road, with his back to traffic. I remember having a hard time making out his shape in the darkness, until he walked into the pool of light cast from my car. He made a striking silhouette. His coat was the color of coal and fell to just above his knees, and he wore a matching fedora. He carried a briefcase, also black, and strode along through the dust and weeds with the air of a man who had important business to attend to. He looked like he would have been perfectly at home on a city sidewalk during the morning bustle. His presence on that lonely stretch of dark road was discordantly incongruous, like seeing a small child doing shots in a bar. As my car approached he turned his head until I could see his face in profile, and grinned as he stuck out his thumb.
I canât explain what compelled me to pull over. I have never in my life picked up a hitchhiker, but in that moment I didnât hesitate for a second. It never even occurred to me to do anything different, as though picking up a strange man 5 miles out from the nearest town in the middle of the night was a completely reasonable and rational thing to do. He never stopped smiling at me as I pulled up alongside him.
âDo you need a ride?â I asked through the window, then felt a little stupid. People don't stick out their thumbs for strange cars to have a beer. He nodded, seeming not to notice my slip. Still smiling at me, he reached to open the door. Again, I acted without thinking about it, and hit the unlock button. A distant voice in my mind reacted with alarm but the feeling was quickly snuffed out as the stranger took a seat beside me. The crunch of gravel being crushed beneath my tires was the only sound as I pulled back onto the road.
As we drove, I studied him out of the corner of my eye. His salt and pepper hair was cut close to his head above his tanned and weathered face. He stared straight ahead, still smiling, his fingers drumming on his suitcase. There was an arrogant tilt to his head, and his whole body thrummed with a predatory tension, as though he might explode into action at any second. The alarmed voice in my head piped up again, louder this time, but I forcibly shoved it back down. Lord knows I needed to do everything I could to balance out my karma, and I think the Bible says something about helping travelers. My slate wouldnât so easily be wiped clean, but every little bit counts.
âSo where are you headed? Did your car break down around here or something?â I looked back over at the man and flinched as my gaze met his leering smile less than six inches from my face. I slammed on the brakes as my body convulsed in shock and the car screeched to a stop. My heart thundered, beating a staccato rhythm against my ribs. I caught my breath and gave the man a sheepish grin. âSorry, sir. You startled me.â
He didnât appear to hear me. I realized he hadn't moved at all through my sudden braking. The only difference was his face. He wasnât smiling anymore. In fact, he wore no expression whatsoever as he paused for a beat and then slowly shook his head. It was eerie as all hell. I laughed nervously.
As I prepared to get moving again I flicked my eyes back and forth between him and the road. Nothing. No expression. No movement. I couldnât even see him breathing. He was absolutely still, not like a person, but like the emptiness of a silent tomb. His eyes were unreadable as he stared, not at my face, I realized, but out my window. I licked my lips as the skin on the back of my neck tried to crawl up and over my scalp. I had a sudden, intense feeling that I did not want to see what he was seeing.
âWh-what are you looking at?â My voice came out shaky as my earlier sense of unease bloomed into full grown fear. As I turned my gaze back to his face, a feeling of suffocating wrongness swept over me. It was like suddenly being plunged into the lightless depths of the ocean. Vast darkness, empty except for monsters knowing neither the touch of the sun nor anything even remotely like mercy or compassion, engulfed my soul. He met my eyes, and a grin began to stretch across his face once again. As it widened, I realized with dawning horror that his teeth had lengthened and become serrated like a sharkâs. His smile kept widening, the corners of his mouth splitting until that hideous grin stretched all the way up to his temples. His eyes darkened to midnight black, and reflected oranges, reds, and yellows in disconcerting incandescence. When he spoke, his voice was cold and hollow.
âI am looking at your future, Child of Adam. I am watching your fate. You are unclean, and the blood cannot be washed from your hands. Your reckoning is coming. Behold, the end.â
His words echoed weirdly through the small car and rang with terrible certainty. As I clutched my ears against that booming voice and felt blood trickle between my fingers, I knew that the words he spoke were Truth.
A vast roaring sound came from my left, and my head snapped around on instinct. The empty plains of Nebraska had transformed into an inferno. Roiling seas of fire and lava splashed against jagged obsidian cliffs. Creatures crawled on all fours over the surface of the sea, alien things made of ash and charcoal with long, knobby limbs, like skeletons warped into something hellish by intense heat. Where there should have been eyes in their skulls there was only inky oblivion.
I recoiled in horror as my brain tried to make sense of what I was seeing. As I watched, one of the monsters seemed to notice me and scuttled forward, blindingly fast, reaching claw tipped fingers through my window. I screamed hoarsely as it wrapped its inhuman hands around my neck in a vice, before its grip cut off my air. I bucked wildly, trying desperately to pull away, but it was insanely strong. My head began to pound as the blood in my brain tried to flow back to my heart and was blocked by the creatureâs grip. My lungs begged for oxygen they had no way of getting. My desperation became stronger as I realized I was dying, but my movements became more and more sluggish. As my vision began to darken and finally fade out, the last thing I saw was that demonic grin.
The sound of a blaring car horn slowly came to me out of the blackness. I became aware of my body only as pain lit through my nerve endings. I groaned, disoriented, as I slowly understood my predicament. I was upside down in my car, being prevented from falling onto the roof only by my seat belt. Something was illuminating the wreckage that had been my car, and I heard movement outside. I feebly tried to get away from the source of the sound, sure that the man or his creatures were back, but the effort was too much and I sagged back against the restraints.
Rustling from my right caught my attention again, and I reluctantly turned my eyes to the passenger seat to see what fresh horror awaited me. I was not prepared to see my wife, dangling from the ceiling all over again, blood pooling underneath her pale body. The tremendous injuries to her face and chest hid the woman I had loved beneath a hideous mask. Her skull was misshapen from where her head had broken the window as the car rolled. In real life, I knew she had died instantly, but the monstrosity beside me stirred and turned to look at me with midnight eyes.
âYour fault,â it whispered. It was my wifeâs voice, but it had been corrupted somehow, like the rotting carcass of an animal lying on the side of the road. I couldnât take my eyes from the gory injury to her skull, and the creature wearing my wifeâs face seemed to take some sort of perverse pleasure in that.
âYour fault,â it said again, its face lighting up with malice. It took a hand and purposefully pressed a finger into the break in its skull. I stared in nauseated fascination as it pulled away bits of hair and bloody scalp, revealing bone crushed into tiny pieces. "We paid for your mistakes, your arrogance with our lives," it hissed. "Our blood is on your hands." The demon's voice pressed painfully against my skull, and I thought that my head might fly apart. Worse, her words tugged on a memory, and I tried desperately to bury it before I could start remembering.
Our blood. Dear God, please no.
Our blood. The memory stirred and writhed some more, a nearly physical presence in my brain.
Our blood. And then, amidst the demon's slithering voice and the sickening dripping and splatting noises as my wife pulled herself apart in front of my eyes, I heard the rustling from outside again. Terrified squalling started coming from a small throat and the memory finally broke free.
Some small corner of my brain noted that she couldnât possibly be crying, because her lungs and basically everything else had been crushed after she was thrown from the vehicle and caught in its rolling path. If I'd installed her car seat correctly, maybe she would have made it. If I hadn't been drinking that night, maybe I never would have crashed the car in the first place. I would never know, because I had done those things, and the two people I loved most had paid the price.
I couldnât bring myself to look for my daughterâs mangled corpse, to see what I had done to her again. Something inside me cracked. I broke into hysterical sobs, my voice joining my dead infantâs and the evil laughter coming from her motherâs body as waves of anguish and regret crashed over me.
The man appeared suddenly, leaning through my broken windshield, again looking totally out of place in the wreckage of my life. He grinned, then blew in my face. I succumbed to blackness, my family's cries ringing in my ears.
When I woke up again, I was in a hospital bed. The nurses told me Iâd been in an accident, but that I would be ok. They kept telling me how lucky I was to have survived, but I know it isnât luck. Out of the corner of my eye, I see them prowling, eyeless nightmares with twisted bodies. Sometimes itâs my wife, her accusatory eyes black, her body broken. She holds a weakly stirring bundle and weeps, singing lullabies to a child who no longer sleeps.
The stranger visits me in my dreams. He always greets me with that terrible grin and those hellfire eyes and tells me, âThe reckoning is coming. Behold, the end.â
Hell is real. I knew that the night I killed my wife and infant daughter. But now I know there is no hope for redemption. My reckoning is coming, and no amount of good deeds will wash the blood from my hands. Iâm so sorry Jen. Iâm sorry Elena. Daddy will see you soon.
2023.05.28 03:36 happypiggo SkincareAddicts of desert climates: how to you stay moisturized?!
Iâm currently vacationing with my husband in southern Utah, and my skin is SO DRY. Like, dry enough that a pair of jeans shorts chaffed my thighs after a 10 minute walk. Iâm using my LRP Cicaplast Baume B5 on my entire body at this point just to survive, and Iâve already exhausted a tube of chapstick!
So to the desert dwellers on this sub, please enlighten this east-coast-humidity gal how you keep your skin hydrated?!
submitted by happypiggo to SkincareAddicts [link] [comments]
So to the desert dwellers on this sub, please enlighten this east-coast-humidity gal how you keep your skin hydrated?!
2023.05.28 03:34 Adam-best Electrical Hip Muscle Stimulator
Want to feel confident again in your favorite dress? Ever feel like no matter how hard you train, your booty just doesn't seem to show results? The Electrical Hip Muscle Stimulator solves this problem for you instantly!
https://zafyn.com/collections/new-products/products/electrical-hip-muscle-stimulator
https://reddit.com/link/13to377/video/ogac0jaool261/player
This allows you to train your booty and lower bodyeffectively from the comfort of your own home. It uses electrical muscle stimulation to promote muscle movement, scientifically proven to tighten your musclesto help achieve that perfect figure.
submitted by Adam-best to McrOne [link] [comments]
https://zafyn.com/collections/new-products/products/electrical-hip-muscle-stimulator
https://reddit.com/link/13to377/video/ogac0jaool261/player
This allows you to train your booty and lower bodyeffectively from the comfort of your own home. It uses electrical muscle stimulation to promote muscle movement, scientifically proven to tighten your musclesto help achieve that perfect figure.
Highlights:
- Electronic muscle stimulation: stimulate the hip and gluteal muscles and help to tone, tighten and firm your hips and buttocks to achieve the body that youâve always wanted
- Exercise anytime: provide endless possibilities in training your booty like in front of the TV, when doing the dishes, or even when cooking
- U-shaped design: ergonomic pads cover targeted regions in the buttocks to stimulate nerves where they are most concentrated
- Cost-effective: save time and money on expensive gym subscriptions and allow you the convenience of getting amazing results without tiring workouts
- You only need to train for 15-20 minutes/day to get that noticeable improvement in just 4 weeks
- Easy to use push-button operation with 6 modes and 10 intensity levels
- With a push of a button, you can adjust the intensity of the stimulation and go about with your daily activities
- 100% skin-friendly and pain-free
Specifications:
- Material: PU
- Power Source: 2 x AAA batteries (not included)
- Certificate: CE/EMC, ROHS-certified
- Color: Black & Orange
- Size: Approximately 260mm x 188mm x 12.8mm
Package Includes:
- 1 x Electrical Hip Muscle Stimulator with Reuseable Gel Pads
- 1 Set of Reusable Gel Pad Replacement
2023.05.28 03:24 Own_Nectarine3497 What things all involve self care for apperance?
I want to look the best I can basically. So far I have hair, skin, makeup, lashes, brows, body haifacial hair, nails and toenails. Also, obviously the things like outfits, jewelry, hygiene, etc. Am I missing anything?
submitted by Own_Nectarine3497 to beauty [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 03:24 MERGING- Atom-Mech (3)
Chapter 3: What Are You Crying For?/ Is This What You Want?
Mai sobs. She holds onto the jar tighter before she pushes herself up from the floor. Her legs wobble as she stands. Her body still trembles as tears stream down her face as she takes a step forward- Her vision blurred by the tears, her feet hitting all that was before her, guiding her, for her tears continuously flow out of her eyes like a waterfall; the dim lighting the moon shared wasn't enough to allow Mai to make up anything before her.Her stomach churned with pain and disgust, her body trembled at the gruesome sight in her hands, and with her heartbeat that she felt thumping inside her chest-with every step she took, her heart seemed to break more and more, piece by piece from the drumming of her heart; Beating so loud and painfully inside her chest as if it were to shatter glass that made up her heart.
Mai whined again, her lip quivering as she took a step forward, away from the living room where she once lay. Taking a step forward, away from the door . Taking a step forward, away from the box. Walking into the hallway, the carpet floor that Mai walked on was changed to cold wood floors as she walked past the threshold.
The creaking of the wood floors were the only sounds to be heard besides Mai's soft sobbing. She ambles slowly, careful not to bump into anything to cause her to drop the jar. But- the small hallway only had so much room as she bumped into the small console table- the collision with it caused a glass object to fall. Flinching at the sound, Mai took a second to register it. The fallen glass shattered, piercing her bare foot, Mai felt her cold blood fall down the surface of her skin and trickle down her foot as many shards of glass pierce her foot, breaking the surface of her skin. Mai yelped in pain, moving her bleeding foot away from the glass and throwing her head back, unable to do much more with her hands full. She stands with her right foot on its heel, preventing the glass from going any deeper into her skin as she stands still.
Cold air blows on the back of Mai's neck- Mai stops breathing, as her hairs stand up. She was outside of Adam's room . She could feel the air in Adam's room flowing around her body, making her feel as if time itself was standing still.
Her body shook from both pain and shock. A feeling of grief began to creep it's way around her heart.
"Adam, I.." she spoke softly, but her lips and voice were shakyâŠ
She couldn't see, but she felt the cold air from his room flow out of his open door. Goosebumps arise on Mai's skin, and she slams her foot down, the glass In her foot throbbing in pain.
Mai's foot hurt- she felt the blood running out of the cut, and she winced as she took another step. The air from Adam's room felt as if it was his breath, as if he was trying to say something to her. It was a cold and eerie breath that made Mai's skin quiver. The cold air dried the tears running down Maiâs face, and the cold air hit her eyes.
She held the jar in her arms, her palms too sweaty to hold them for her- then Mai took another step. She was walking forward, walking to the end of the hallway, past Adam's bedroom.
Mai walked, ignoring the pain in her foot.
She walked.
She walked past Adamâs room,
Then her room.
She leaned on the wall as she limped forward, her eyes unable to aid her as she walked down the hall.
Her arms were locked together tightly to hold the jar
Her legs walked to the room- the room next to hers.
Slowly, she pushed the door open
And stepped into the room.
Mai let out her last sob as a burst of cold air hit her, causing her skin to tremble.
Then, Maiâs tears came to an end, but her sad expression did not falter.
She had already cried all the tears she had left,
She had nothing else to cry, she had nothing else in her body other than the blood that dripped from her foot, and the air she gasped for.
But then the pain from her foot filled her, and it ached- a sudden pain as the reality of the situation she was in washed over her. She couldn't take another step, with the pain of the glass pieces piercing her foot. Her body trembled and shook, filled with coldness, and fear. As Mai tried to continue to walk, she dropped to the floor, clasping the jar to her chest while she fell back-first as she dropped herself to the dusty cold wooden floor.
Her body hit the floor with an âuhffâ sound and a grunt. Her body continued to tremble violently. With her falling to the floor, the pieces of broken glass still stuck in the skin of her foot got thrust in deeper.
She winced in pain, and her foot began to tremble even more. Fear creeping into her, gripping her heart with no intention of letting go of her.
Her heart began to beat faster, and she tried to breathe, but she felt like she couldn't...
She was frozen. she was laying on the floor, her body trembling and shaking. Tears dared to escape her eyes as her lips trembled and her body was filled with coldness, pain and fear.
Mai let out a small whimper. She felt the cold breath of death as she heard the breathing from inside the room that was next to her own.
Mai clamped her eyes shut, then let out a weak groan, throwing her head back as she bit her lip the same way she had previously done before; her teeth sinking into her lip, making her lip bleed again. She was in pure pain and it all felt too overwhelming. The pain filled her mind and body. The emotional pain making her hurt more than anything else.
She was on the floor; too shaken to and winced at the pain, she felt weak.
Mai took a deep breath, she was on the cold floor, and the pulsing from her foot made her even more aware of her situationâŠMai gasped from the pain and gently placed the jar down next to her- moving to sit on her knees to reach for the light switch. Before reaching the light switch, Mai suddenly froze. She heard something, someone was breathing from behind. And it was coming closer.
Mai looked behind her to see what was breathing- And there... She saw a shadow of a face... Just standing there, a few feet behind her and away from the door. The shadow did not move, it just stood there... staring down at Mai laying on the floor, bleeding, unresponsive. It was terrifying.
It smelt vile
It smelt like blood.
Out of instinct, Mai swiftly moved her hand to the light switch
The yellow light filled the room in an instant, Maiâs eyes squinted from the bright light
Then opened her eyes quickly.
No one was there
The room was filled with an eerie silence.
Mai let out a soft gasp as she realised that the shadow was not there, and that the breathing was gone.
The shadow had vanished into the darkness. Mai looked through the room and didnât see a sign of another person. It was like it was never there in the first place. Mai blinked her eyes, feeling a wave of relief after seeing that there was no one in the room, nor in the hallway.
The smell of blood remains in the air
Mai looked down at her bloody foot, and she felt a wave of pain as she saw the glass still stuck in her foot...
Mai was left alone, bleeding, and slowly closing into a shock... She was... Completely aloneâŠ
"A-ahh...", Mai winced in pain as she stood up, limping on her foot as she placed her hand on the wall, balancing herself.
The room around her was completely filled
Filled with robotic parts,
Mechanical parts,
Glass,
Plastics,
Tools,
Mai picked up the jar, looking at adamâs brain and eyes,
determined.
Mai already decided
She already knew what she was going to do
âŠ
Mai were you crying because adam died
Or because you knew he wouldn't?
2023.05.28 03:13 gothiestbbwchick 26F4A Northeast TN - Goth BBW looking for a partner
Hey, all!
I'm a 26yo goth BBW in Johnson City, TN. I have a buzzcut, lots of piercings and tattoos, freckles, and deathly pale skin.
I'm into music (especially metal), dancing, concerts, travel, animals, gaming, reading, needlework, and morbid things. I'm essentially an old lady metalhead in a young woman's body. I'm super introverted and shy, so fair warning.
I'm primarily into nerdy, goth, or athletic people, but anyone who loves animals is welcome to shoot their shot. I'm also most attracted to muscular, thin, and athletic body types on men and BBW body types on women. I'm also childfree, so I'm not looking for parents.
So, if you want to date a shy animal-loving goth, feel free to send me a message!
Locals or close people are preferred, but I'm open to long distance as well.
As a note, I do not actually smoke. The photo on my profile is of a mint inhaler to curb hunger and cravings. No nicotine, nothing but minty water vapor, and just for temporary use.
submitted by gothiestbbwchick to DatingOlder [link] [comments]
I'm a 26yo goth BBW in Johnson City, TN. I have a buzzcut, lots of piercings and tattoos, freckles, and deathly pale skin.
I'm into music (especially metal), dancing, concerts, travel, animals, gaming, reading, needlework, and morbid things. I'm essentially an old lady metalhead in a young woman's body. I'm super introverted and shy, so fair warning.
I'm primarily into nerdy, goth, or athletic people, but anyone who loves animals is welcome to shoot their shot. I'm also most attracted to muscular, thin, and athletic body types on men and BBW body types on women. I'm also childfree, so I'm not looking for parents.
So, if you want to date a shy animal-loving goth, feel free to send me a message!
Locals or close people are preferred, but I'm open to long distance as well.
As a note, I do not actually smoke. The photo on my profile is of a mint inhaler to curb hunger and cravings. No nicotine, nothing but minty water vapor, and just for temporary use.
2023.05.28 03:13 TheOneMidGuy [Hiring] Looking for artists for a full body piece with background
Looking for artists to put my character into a card portrait. The first picture will be the character whose name is Lorelei. The third picture will be the card card format sheâll be in. Loreleiâs feather are brown,black and white with her skin color being a nice tan. The tan reference will be the second picture.
For this piece my budget will go up to around the $200 range with the apps I use being PayPal and Cashapp
Sheâll be in the piece laying down in what seems to be water reflecting a starry night. The water would be black with countless stars and ripples here and there surrounding her body. Her hp will be 13,000 and her atk will be 13,500 with her class being assassin.
submitted by TheOneMidGuy to HungryArtists [link] [comments]
For this piece my budget will go up to around the $200 range with the apps I use being PayPal and Cashapp
Sheâll be in the piece laying down in what seems to be water reflecting a starry night. The water would be black with countless stars and ripples here and there surrounding her body. Her hp will be 13,000 and her atk will be 13,500 with her class being assassin.
2023.05.28 03:08 itsRavenQuinn Here's my take on young Yoruichi for all the Bleach fans
 | submitted by itsRavenQuinn to SF6Avatars [link] [comments] |
2023.05.28 03:08 Ghost_Webs I missed this week's hormone dosage, will I be okay?
I normally get my weekly E injections every Friday at my clinic cause I can't give myself shots. Yesterday I was too sick to go in and they don't open up again until Monday. I have major anxiety and I'm terrified that the next week is gonna be hell. I don't want to feel the way I did before I started estrogen ever again, it genuinely terrifies me. My skin, the lack of facial hair, my body fat distribution, have helped me feel significantly more comfortable in my body and even if it's just one week the thought of losing that terrifies me. I know I'm probably overreacting but is it possible for anything to become reversed within only a week? I just really need reassurance, if any of you have been through a similar thing and can help me calm my anxiety it would mean a whole lot đ«¶
submitted by Ghost_Webs to trans [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 03:04 Extreme-Goose My highly anxious dog recently started whining when being pet by people sometimes
- Breed: pitbull mix (spayed female)
- Age: 6
- Weight: 50 lbs
- History: very sensitive stomach, skin prone to allergies, suffers from high anxiety and fear from loud noises, large objects falling, other dogs (usually afraid of confident logs that get in her space), resource guards from dogs, can snap/lunge at other dogs when afraid or resource guarding, has had benign tumor growth in her paws and body (removed by vet).
- Clinical signs: She started whining / crying when she gets pet by myself or others every now and then as if she had a mini panic attack. Happens more with strangers. No aggressive response, just a little whining / squealing and usually moves away but then slowly realizes itâs safe and comes back for more pets. She actually approaches the people excitedly at first and then squeals when pet. This is new, only started happening in the last few days with me (owner) and other people she is familiar with.
- Duration: a few seconds
- Location: Santa Cruz, California
- meds: currently on Gabapentin for anxiety / fear (600 mg every 12 hours). Has been taking it for several months.