Every day I think about this trip, and wish I could go back in time to prevent it. It is the worst thing that's ever happened to me, and while I understand the innate curiosity associated with such a fascinating drug, I strongly urge you don't touch it, and if you do decide to, take a much smaller dose and don't do it alone. Seriously, try finding a single report with a positive experience. You can't.
It all started in June of 1994, and my friends and I had just graduated high school. We were all massive potheads, but I had only ever used marijuana and tried mushrooms once. We also liked camping a lot, something I still do to this day. One thing we always made sure of was to camp as far from civilization as possible. I don't think camping at an established campsite is really camping. You have running water, a fire pit, and sometimes even electricity. Whats the point? You might as well just be at home. Luckily, where we lived in Oregon at the time, there was plenty of that.
The weather was perfect, sunny, warm, and despite the mosquitos everyone was having a great time. We were on a hike, and about halfway into it, one of my close friends spotted a plant growing a few yards off the path. We'll call them Belvis. I'm not sure where they got the name, but we all called them that, and even some of our teachers.
"Yo guys, check this out!" Belvis walked off the path, and came back with a handful of spiky jimsonweed seed pods. "I've heard of this stuff, it makes you trip balls! We should try some." I mentioned before that I had tried shrooms once, and it was actually on another camping trip like this one. The dose was relatively low, and all I remember was the sunlight streaming through the trees looking really pretty, so I was excited to try this new stuff since I thought it would be the same. but oh boy, it was not.
We were all clueless, and thought it would be a great idea, except for Belvis' sister, A. She thought that if anything was to go wrong, she didn't want it to go wrong out in the middle of nowhere. I wish every day that I had listened to her.
When we got back to camp, everyone took two seed pods, except for A. We broke them open and ate the little black seeds how ever we could. My buddy E tried to eat them whole, but nearly vomited at the taste. Belvis mixed them into a bottle of water, and chugged them. I mixed them into a can of soup that I had brought, and ate them, being careful to not chew them.
A while later, I don't remember how long but it couldn't have been more than an hour, I really really needed to piss, and my mouth was dry as hell. I went behind a tree, and tried to, but as with most datura trips, nothing came out.
It was at this moment a massive 100 foot tall tank passed over my head, crushing trees and leaving deep tread marks in the ground. This terrified me. Not because of the massive fucking tank, but because I remembered that there was a military draft to Yugoslavia. In reality, there was none, but in my mind there was, and I was about to be whisked away from my scholarship at PSU, my future, and my family, and placed into war.
I ran back to camp, and found that my friends were all gone, replaced with demonic versions of them. They had skin that seemed to flash between jet black and bright white at an impossibly fast speed, and gaping holes for eyes. They all stared at me, and the next moment I was laying down in my tent. I don't remember walking to my tent or laying down, the travel happened in an instant.
Then, the tent instantly transformed into my bedroom. It's strange how hallucinations manifest themselves. It's not like a sharp cut or a fade, but you simply look at something one moment, and the next moment it's simply another thing, with no change happening in between. Your brain just says "yeah that's about right" and carries on.
I got up from the bed and walked down the hall, where my dad was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a newspaper (he never reads the paper). I opened my mouth to speak, but he stood up and beat the everliving shit out of me. My father isn't abusive, and has never been violent to anyone, so I have no clue why I hallucinated this.
I ran back to my room, and found myself in Belvis' tent. He was there, and without a word passed me a blunt. I smoked it for a while, but then I dropped it, and when I tried to pick it up, it was just a seam line in the sleeping bag I was sitting on. Belvis and I talked for a while, until I found myself in the back of his truck. Belvis had taken his truck up there, and E had taken their car. Belvis was in the back with me, until he got snagged on a branch and yanked off at high speed.
For some reason, this was really funny, despite the fact that he was one of my best friends. I had no idea where I was going, and when I looked into the cab, there was nobody there. I was all alone in the back of this truck, speeding down the road. I got real scared, and started banging on the cab's window, and in an act of desperation, I jumped out.
The intense searing pain that followed was nothing I had ever experienced before or since. I had roadrash on both my legs and my left hand, but that pain was felt over every nerve and piece of skin in my whole body. I felt nothing but pain. There were no thoughts but pain. Only pain. I was in my own personal hell for what felt like an eternity. There was no time, no past, present, or future. Only pain. The world around me looked like hell, full of deep reds and blacks and a constant deafening scream was heard in my ears.
Eventually I must have fallen unconscious, because the next thing I was aware of was being rushed into the hospital on a gurney. Once they noticed I was awake, they gave me a cup of something black, and told me to drink it. I politely told the nurse no, and handed it back to her, but when I talked to A afterward, she told me that I was screaming slurs and cursing and threw the black liquid all over her.
Not sure what they did, but they probably gave me a lot of anti psychotics, and put me to sleep. Later, when I had mostly come back to reality, my parents were at the foot of the bed, and the doctor told them I would be ok as long as I didn't ingest anything like that every again. I had roadrash and a broken leg, and had to wear a crutch for a while, but I would recover.
I hadn't completely come down from my trip while my parents drove me home, as I kept seeing people in the road who weren't there, and warning my dad not to hit them, all with a mild background feeling of pain.
I recovered, but it's a wonder I didn't die, and that none of my other friends got hurt. While talking to A after the trip, she told me everything that she had seen.
Everyone else had their own story, but what she saw me do was run into the camp with my dick out screaming about Bosnia before jumping over the campfire and hiding in my tent.
Then, about an hour later, I walked out of my tent and down the trail. I stood staring at a tree for probably half an hour before screaming and running back to camp, this time hiding in Belvis' tent. Belvis wasn't in there, they were staring at the fire and mumbling to themself.
Everyone was going crazy, and several people had tried to jump into the fire or burn down the forest with burning sticks. A was getting really scared, so she corralled everyone into Belvis' truck and took us to the hospital, which I especially needed after falling out. There was no more room in the front for me, so I was put in the back. She saved my life, and I can't thank her enough.
I have since then never done anything other than weed, and will never touch anything else. The eternity in hell of sitting on the pavement fucked with my brain. I don't know if it's PTSD or something else, but I frequently get flashbacks to that moment.
If I could go back in time and stop myself from taking that damn plant, I would. The experience changed me, and not for the better. Don't take anything that can mess with your consciousness and make you do stupid shit beyond your control, it's a miracle none of us died, and if it wasn't for A saving us all, I might not even be alive. Don't take this stuff. Don't do it. No matter how curious you are, no matter how fascinating it is, DON'T DO IT. If you do decide to for some reason, only take a small dose and don't do it alone. Datura is scare stuff man.

Will be in Osaka next week. Hope I can find some cheap discs for ps5 and some accessories na wala dito sa pinas like faceplate na umiilaw.
Thanks!

Basically as the title says, I'm getting the mugen 5 rev c (But replacing the stock fans for an arctic p12 max) for my nr200p build. With the Gigabyte B550I AORUS PRO AX Mini ITX motherboard I'm also planning to get, I'm getting some mixed results when I search about it. Which orientation would be best for the Mugen 5 with this setup (Fan is going to be intake btw)? Like this or like this where the cooler is flipped 180°?
While I'm here, would it be possible to put another Arctic p12 max above the cooler?

Backstory is we are all in our 30's living in the US. My older cousin is a drug dealer and user. His whole life is basically him waking up at 6pm and he drives around dealing/buying drugs until midnight. Comes home with his girlfriend and eats cereal and plays games until 8am. They go to sleep and repeat the cycle. But now his junkie gf left him for another dealer since he was inside and now he is back. My brother tased him a few years ago to get him out of my grandmas house. Cousin came back to grandmas like a year or so later and conned her out of taking all her money out of the bank. He stole like $40k in cash and fled with his girlfriend. They got arrested for shoplifting and went to prison for theft control property charge. He plead out and now has been out a month. He is contacting me through DM's on Twitter. I think he wants revenge on me and my brother and I am being nice and saying I am too busy with working and school to hang out. I know he knows where my apartment is because his parents helped me move in there a few years back. My roommate knows to be on the lookout I showed him my cousins mugshot. But what can I do? My cousin isnt on probation anymore as far as I know he has served his time.

My fiancé (28M) and I (32F) have been together for six and a half years. Before this, I have been abused in every possible way you can think of. I've asked friends if they think our relationship is normal, and if how he treats me is normal. They all say no. I wanted to ask everyone on here because you don't know us and you're not inclined to lie and make me feel better. I get called names on a weekly basis. Things like "miserable fck. If things aren't going his way, he'll freak out and I will wince or flinch. He hates that and says that I’m overreacting and he’d never hurt me. I try to explain to him that that's not what it is at all. Another example is when he took me to my favorite place for a late birthday present, I got "too loud" because I was excited. We were outside and I saw something I thought was cool so I pointed at it and my voice did raise but it was because I was happy. He told me to calm down and lower my voice, and then I got upset he said that so he told me to "drop the fcking attitude and fix my tone." Then we went to a ba restaurant. I have seizures and cannot drink, so I asked the waiter if I could have a ginger ale and I guess I said it like a btch? I think it was because I wasn’t sure if they were going to have regular drinks. Because he walked away and my fiancé was like "wow, I would have definitely just thought you were a stuck up btch if I was him." excused myself and cried in the bathroom. We then went to my favorite store. I was so excited. It was the first time I had been there because they had just opened up a storefront where I live. I’ve been buying online for years. I wanted to take a picture with him in their mirror that is for selfies. We took a couple, I looked at them and didn’t like them, so I asked if I could try again and he said I was “being ridiculous and really annoying him.” Once again, I held back the tears. Then today, he was showing me a video on his phone. He knew I was trying to read so i wasn't that interested, and he was like "you don't get it, she's a powerful singer" and I was engrossed in my book and I said "I don't know babe" and he jumped off our bed, I heard a crack and I was like "Jeez, I think you might have just busted a board" and he said " don't give a fck, you're a miserable f*ck" and hasn't talked to me all night. I cried myself to sleep and just woke up. When he's not like this, he's very sweet and my best friend. I just want to know if this is normal relationship bickering or if I need to really talk to him about it. This is the healthiest relationship I’ve ever had so I don’t want to be acting like a child and having my feelings hurt when this is just a normal thing. He never used to do this, my friends say he’s gotten too comfortable. Thanks for listening to my rant!

Was wondering what anyone up here thought about the Danny Masterson guilty verdict?? I know for a fact Tom Blink182 uses ecstasy to lure girls to have sex with him and his girlfriend. Others on reddit have stated some pretty crazy things about Tom, but I think he is actually a REALLY COOL GUY. But anyways him and his gf troll Instagram and send "form" letters out to pretty girls under the #sandiego #sandiegoyoga #sandiegogirl tags and say "I'm so and so and you can verify my account if you don't believe it. We think you are really pretty and want to buy you a drink" They then meet the girl in the gaslamp (downtown san diego), have a handful of drinks,, lure her back to their hotel (new place every night), then offer the drugs... this makes the girl more woozy, and susceptible to sex acts which they proceed to do, with consent. I don't have a HUGE problem with it, but it is a form of predatory sexual abuse, albeit not illegal. But 20 years from now who is to say a dozen of these girls might come forward (like in the Danny Masterson trial) and say Tom DeLonge raped them, and he'll get 30 years. I know because it has personally happened to my best friend (29 year old girl) and almost to another. Both in the yoga circles and on Instagram (where Tom and his girl troll for new bait). I don't want this to happen to Tom or any of the band (especially now we have them all together again!). Just curious what others think about this crazy Masterson verdict. That only happened because California got rid of the statute of limitations law last year. CRAZY.

Beginner's Guide

So you want to start growing cannabis, but have no idea where to start?

Items you will need

We also have starter shopping lists put together here that can help you pick a light & tent appropriate for your grow area & # of plants.

• Seeds or start with some from your last sack (but you never know what you're going to get with those). Here is a discussion on Autoflower vs Photoperiod.
• Growing medium- Soil (Fox Farms Growing media is popular), Rockwool, Coco, Perlite, and Clay Pellets. Avoid anything that advertises "extended" or "slow" release nutrients in the soil or claims of multiple-months of nutrients.
• Lights & a Light Timer
• Ventilation
• Nutrients - Fox Farms Trio, Advanced Nutrients, and many others. Anything that claims "extended" or "slow" release is a bad idea for cannabis.
• Pots with good drainage - Anything with holes in the bottom of it. Many people use cloth pots or 5 gallon buckets.
• pH Tester and/or PPM Tester for testing your water and nutrient mix.
• Jeweler's loupe or microscope for looking at trichomes

Grow Area

Next, you need to determine where your grow will take place. Will it be your closet, attic, basement, custom grow box, etc.? The ideal place needs to be well ventilated and large enough to grow plants to your desired height and width whilst having lighting, fans, and other equipment in there as well. Also, keep in mind that you don't want any light leaks, this is important for stealth and flowering reasons.
Once you have chosen your designated grow area, make sure you have thoroughly cleaned it, painted the walls white or hang reflective material. You do not want a dirty grow room.
Once you have prepared the room, you can now begin to install your lights and ventilation. Be sure that everything is sturdy and done properly. If you half ass this, it's possible that later on in your grow something could fall and destroy your crop. Take your time and do it right.
Keep your lights close as you can. A simple test to see if they are too close is to place your hand at the top of your plant and hold it there for 30 seconds. If your hand does not burn from the heat, neither will the plant
Types of lighting to be used and how much to use:

• Light Emitting Diode (LED) panels/bars (non-Blurple) - 30-40 watts per ft2 (real wattage, not LED advertised w) use these
• High Intensity Discharge (HID) (HPS, MH, CMH) - 50-80 watts per ft2. These were used prior to LEDs entry-level costs becoming reasonable. Still a solid choice, but harder to control the environment due to the large amount of heat from the light.
• Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) - at least 80 watts per ft2 (real wattage, not equivalent)
• T5 Fluorescent Lighting - 80-100W+ per ft2 per sq ft needed
• Incandescent and anything not listed here as something to use - do not use

Planting your first seeds

This is usually where a lot of mistakes take place, so please read this carefully.
There are several ways to germinate your seeds. Placing them inside or on top of a damp paper towel in a dark place), drop them in a shot glass. Or just simply planting them in dirt. Put them in a soaked rockwool cube.
To germinate in dirt you want to start off in a small growing container. Wet the soil first, stick your pinky about half way down then drop 1 seed in. Cover the hole lightly, don't compact the dirt too much. Now, place it under your lighting for 24 hours a day. It may take up to 10 days before it sprouts, so be patient. Seeds don't always sprout, if it's been 15 days and still no show you can probably call it quits and plant a new seed.
Once you have a sprouted seed, water as needed.

Vegetation Period

Soon, your plant will out root the small container it's in You will need to transplant it into a much larger container. Prepare your new, large, drain-able pot. Take the container your plant is in, and gently bend the sides. What this does is break off any dirt or roots that are touching the inside walls. Now that you have done this, you can carefully and slowly turn the cup upside down and the contents of the cup will slide right out. You can break off some of the dirt, but do not let any of the roots be exposed to light. They will dry out and die. Quickly, place your plant into the new pot. Give it a nice watering and place it back into the grow room under 24-on/0-off hours of lighting (or 18/6). Your plant will probably not grow for a day or so, this is normal after transplanting.
It is important that you keep your plants under a strict 24/0 or 18/6 lighting schedule during the vegetation period. If they get too long a dark period they will begin to flower.

Watering and Nutrients and pH, oh my

Water your plant when the soil is dry. This is the #1 mistake new growers make - they water too often. Overwatering is not "giving the plant too much water" it is "giving the plant water too often." There are two simple steps to watering cannabis:

1. Wait until the soil is dry a knuckle or so deep (use your finger, poke a hole, feel the dirt).
2. Add water until you see some drain out the bottom of your pot. Go to step 1.

Nutrients should be used carefully and correctly. Follow the dosing schedule provided by your nutrient line, but ramp up the amount slowly. It is not suggested you start with the full dosage right away, but something like 1/4, then 1/2, and so on. Furthermore, it is also not recommended to use nutrients with every watering. Most alternate or put two plain-water feedings in between a nutrient-water feeding.
pH testing is important as all the nutrients you are feeding your plant will only be absorbed by the roots under the proper conditions, and those proper conditions are dictated by the pH of the nutrient mix and the soil. Test your water before adding nutrients, test your nutrient mix, and test your run-off. You want the nutrient+soil mixture to be in the 6.3-6.8 range for soil. You want the nutrient mix to be in the 5.5-6.1 range for a hydroponic set up. Consult these charts for more information. You may need to obtain pH up or pH down products to regulate the water and/or nutrient mix to achieve the correct pH balance.

Training

There are many ways to train your plant to increase the yield. Use one or multiple of these techniques to create more tops/colas (budsites) or to promote stronger stalks and more vigorous nutrient uptake.

• Low Stress Training aka LST - tying your plant down to expose more of the undergrowth to direct light, and thus promote more yield
• SCReen Of Green aka SCROG - train your plant into a screen/net to provide an even canopy of buds
• Topping or Fimming - cutting the top off of a stalk to split it into two stalks
• Super Cropping - bending/breaking/snapping the stalks to promote a more vigorous nutrient uptake after the plant heals itself

It is very important that you do this during vegetation and not in flowering. Abuse them in veg, treat them like princesses in flowering.
You can keep your plant in vegetation as long as you wish. However, most people have space limitations. The key is, grow your plants to about half of your space limits (remember to add space for your light and space for cool air beneath the light). The plants tend to double (or sometimes triple) in height in the early flowering stage. After 2-3weeks of flowering most will have hit their maximum height.

Cloning

Cloning is a rather easy and faster alternative compared to planting seeds every cycle. Typically, you should cut your clones a couple weeks prior to flowering to give the mother plant a chance to heal and regrow. Here is a thorough guide on cloning.

Flowering Period

In order to activate flowering, you will need to switch your lighting schedule to a strict 12/12 schedule. This means 12 hours of light and 12 hours of pure darkness Any light leaks can cause damage, please be sure it's dark.
You will also want to start adding your blooming/flowering nutrients of your choice. Again, it might be a safe idea to start off small and work your way up to the suggested amount.
After about a week or two, you will also be able to determines its sex. It is a very easy thing to do. If you are not sure on the sex, post pictures and ask the community.
If you get any males, you will need to chop them down and get rid of it. The reason for this is, if those pollen sacks pop, the pollen will spread and the females will become covered with his pollen. To simplify this, she will then produce seeds within her bud and the bud will be less potent. Ideally, you want a non pollinated female, she will produce the strongest and best weed.
As flowering proceeds, you will notice translucent trichomes appear. This is how you will judge when your grow is ready to be harvested. This is ultimately up you depending on what type of high you are looking for. You can expect these to appear around 6-8 weeks or even 10-12 weeks on some strains. Patience is virtue.

Harvesting

Chop and then cure the buds.

Closing Remarks

Growing marijuana is a fun hobby and the outcome is very rewarding. However, it is hard and you need to be dedicated before getting started.
​
This guide was originally put together by Up_High, with updates/reworking by hsi__. Many thanks the original author and everyone who contributed.

My company caters to international clients from Japan. I know some Japanese phrases and words from Japanese media I watch, and I also took a basic Japanese class in college. I know some phrases like basic greetings, nice to meet you etc but I am no where near fluent and can't hold a conversation. There are times though where we have a hard time understanding each other because of language barrier but I can manage to get my point a Is it appropriate to mix in those phrases and words in our conversations or is that considered disrespectful?

I have spent my whole working life commuting to and from work. Two years ago, I got a job two miles east of my house, but kept my son at his in-home daycare (which was en route to my old commuting job). My son starts pre-K in the fall and his school is a mile west of my house. So- my world is about to shrink considerably. I will drop my kid off at school and drive 3 miles down the road to work. The road is a main east-west thoroughfare, top speed limit is 45 mph but it’s generally 35 mph.
I say all of this because I really, really want to get a scooter of some kind. When I was a teenager I daydreamed about having a sea-foam green Vespa, but I was broke in college and it was never practical bc I always drove on the highways to work. I find myself in a situation where it’s both financially and practically to buy a scooter.
I’d like to get something that I can take my kid to school, drop him off, and head to work. I just envision parking my scooter at the corner, walking kiddo into school, and then enjoying a pleasant morning drive into my little downtown-area office. So lovely.
I have a question for the scooter community though-
Is it safe or completely stupid for me to consider taking my son to school on the scooter? Obviously he’d wear a helmet. The drive is quite literally a straight line to his school- under a 5 minute drive. He is 4. I may have to check and see if that’s even legal in my state (OK), but initially I am not having any mom-qualms about it. Someone may be reading this in abject horror, though, so I want to gauge opinion.

I want to begin saying, I've been so, so exhausted seeing so much posts in support of this musical. I'm more exhausted that the breaking point of a lot of people has been the lack of musicians, instead of the long list of problems native Filipinos have been constantly voicing out. If you want a more detailed explanation as to why, here is my post on Tumblr on my many problems with the musical, and here's a comment on Reddit that does the same.
First thing; my issue with all the support is that it comes from a lot of Americans, including Filipino-Americans, who watched the show. I've seen these posts - they are the same regurgitated "I saw the show and I didn't end up being pro-Marcos!" argument that barely scratches the surface of what makes this show terrible. This is very self-centered. All these reviews focus on how the individual experience of the person and their family who watched the show. They NEVER consider the bigger picture, which is. A Lot.
So much of these reviews come from Filipino-Americans or Filipino diaspora who think they have priority over talking about this situation. While there is a small portion of Fil-Ams who have opinions, a bigger portion of the community is ignoring the bigger picture at hand. Every time a native Filipino argues that this musical may be used as a meas of misinformation, unintentional or not, a Fil-Am always argues back that THEY didn't get misinformed. But it's not about you or the American context of disinformation. We the native Filipinos have been referring to OUR contexts.
The Reddit comment I cited above already goes into detail about this, but to summarize: Philippine politicians and their most loyal supporters are experts on the field of disinformation. Poverty rates and inaccessible high-quality education exacerbate these disinformation campaigns. Our current president won with a mix of disinformation campaigns, vote buying, and digital media manipulation. ANYTHING here can be used for a disinformation campaign. Our politicians are so good at it that it is slowly becoming the standard for disinformation campaigns around the world.
With the Marcoses alive and in power, this musical becomes dangerous. Even if they claim they are anti-Marcos, this musical can be warped into propaganda. I have to keep repeating this over and over and over again, but native Filipinos, currently, do NOT have time to find nuance in a family that has been stealing so, so much from us. While Americans can enjoy this musical in all its glory, be informed, and be entertained, we cannot, so YOU are literally profiting from our suffering.
I'm going to speedrun a couple more points about this musical I dislike:

• This musical constantly claims to dispel information, calling their musical an act of "reinformation". While this is nice, the most affected people by the Marcoses' disinformation are native Filipinos. With that in mind, aiming to reinform with a Broadway musical is the most ineffective way to do so. It's inaccessible and incredibly expensive. The only thing us native Filipinos have access to is the original recording on Spotify, which is not good. This leads me to the second point.
• While I expect the musical to have multiple rewrites, the original soundtrack is historically inaccurate and vague. Harkening back to the previous point, it is dangerous that this soundtrack is the only thing we native Filipinos can access because it barely goes into detail about what is occurring in every scene. Yes, we can understand the surface-level happenings, but ambiguity is one of the weapons of disinformation. I go more into detail about this in the Tumblr post I linked earlier, but just to echo some of their points...
• Imelda's overall characterization is watered down and way too humble for my liking. In fact, none of these characters feel Filipino to me, but I digress. This musical hitches on the idea that all Imelda does are do things for love, when there are multiple accounts of actual Imelda Marcos being awful BEFORE she got married to Ferdinand Marcos. She's not a poor, humble girl from Leyte; her family was already a rich political dynasty when she was born. Moreover, she only accepted Marcos' hand in marriage when she saw how rich he was. What's funny is, she had a fiance during the time she married Marcos! And you're telling me she's doing this for "love"?
• Imelda Marcos herself, in this article, is said to have liked the musical. She says, "I'm flattered, I can't believe it!"
• Lastly, while I appreciate people who come out of this musical disliking the Marcoses, there are people who come out of it sympathetic or neutral. That's dangerous. The fact that this musical is many Americans' first experience with Filipino history scares me.

I hope everyone can take this into account before spewing support for the musical. PLEASE STOP TALKING OVER NATIVE FILIPINOS ABOUT IT.
I am willing to change my opinion once I see how the show is potentially rewritten, or if the show would repetitively take multiple strides trying to protest against the current Marcos regime. But for now, this is not something to be celebrated.

Was wondering what anyone up here thought about the Danny Masterson guilty verdict?? I know for a fact Tom Blink182 uses ecstasy to lure girls to have sex with him and his girlfriend. Others on reddit have stated some pretty crazy things about Tom, but I think he is actually a REALLY COOL GUY. But anyways him and his gf troll Instagram and send "form" letters out to pretty girls under the #sandiego #sandiegoyoga #sandiegogirl tags and say "I'm so and so and you can verify my account if you don't believe it. We think you are really pretty and want to buy you a drink" They then meet the girl in the gaslamp (downtown san diego), have a handful of drinks,, lure her back to their hotel (new place every night), then offer the drugs... this makes the girl more woozy, and susceptible to sex acts which they proceed to do, with consent. I don't have a HUGE problem with it, but it is a form of predatory sexual abuse, albeit not illegal. But 20 years from now who is to say a dozen of these girls might come forward (like in the Danny Masterson trial) and say Tom DeLonge raped them, and he'll get 30 years. I know because it has personally happened to my best friend (29 year old girl) and almost to another. Both in the yoga circles and on Instagram (where Tom and his girl troll for new bait). I don't want this to happen to Tom or any of the band (especially now we have them all together again!). Just curious what others think about this crazy Masterson verdict. That only happened because California got rid of the statute of limitations law last year. CRAZY.

I was curious If anyone knows about wheels and tires. The wheels I have are of course discontinued and I can't find any at all not on ebay Facebook no where. I'd prefer not to have to buy a new set of wheels because $$$ the lugs were overtighened and the wheel broke off and it stretched out the lug holes is this fixable?

Was wondering what anyone up here thought about the Danny Masterson guilty verdict?? I know for a fact Tom Blink182 uses ecstasy to lure girls to have sex with him and his girlfriend. Others on reddit have stated some pretty crazy things about Tom, but I think he is actually a REALLY COOL GUY. But anyways him and his gf troll Instagram and send "form" letters out to pretty girls under the #sandiego #sandiegoyoga #sandiegogirl tags and say "I'm so and so and you can verify my account if you don't believe it. We think you are really pretty and want to buy you a drink" They then meet the girl in the gaslamp (downtown san diego), have a handful of drinks,, lure her back to their hotel (new place every night), then offer the drugs... this makes the girl more woozy, and susceptible to sex acts which they proceed to do, with consent. I don't have a HUGE problem with it, but it is a form of predatory sexual abuse, albeit not illegal. But 20 years from now who is to say a dozen of these girls might come forward (like in the Danny Masterson trial) and say Tom DeLonge raped them, and he'll get 30 years. I know because it has personally happened to my best friend (29 year old girl) and almost to another. Both in the yoga circles and on Instagram (where Tom and his girl troll for new bait). I don't want this to happen to Tom or any of the band (especially now we have them all together again!). Just curious what others think about this crazy Masterson verdict. That only happened because California got rid of the statute of limitations law last year. CRAZY.

Hey,
I've asked about these locations before. I am having intense decision paralysis.
Essentially I am stuck between staying in California and renting for eternity, or moving to Philadelphia and buying a condo, and trying to find a bit more stability in life. Seems like buying vs renting, and the difference in what each location offers by way of nature/outdoor stuff are the big decision points for me.
California pros: the weather, the nature. That's why i'm here. I love the outdoors and it's hard to beat what California has to offer. I have a sister here too.
California cons: The cost of living. I will most likely never be able to own something here. Especially in the area i'd move to if I were to stay in the state (Long Beach area). My sister, who is a lawyer, can't afford to stay here long term either. So I won't have family around here for very long. She pays $2400 for a cookie cutter 1/1 in a big apartment complex where she can hear everything her neighbors do. I'm sure my living situation would be similar.
Philadelphia pros: Much more affordable. I can afford to buy my own starter condo. I have some very good friends who moved to Philly last year and they love it. I love that it is less car dependent and more walkable as well.
Philadelphia cons: Much less immediate access to nature and fewer options for outdoor recreation. To be honest this is pretty much my only con. I can deal with all of the other big city issues. I know there is a lot of outdoor recreation nearby, and Jersey beaches in the summer. But it will be much different than the west coast.
So, with all of that said, has anyone had a similar dilemma and which avenue did you take?
Keep renting in a HCOL living area with no hope of ever owning property, but a city you really like, or move to a more affordable area where you can buy a place and settle in a bit?
Thanks yall!

Like many of us here, I was always planning to FIRE with no particular pause between FI and RE... I remember telling my financial advisor "I'm in it to win it, and once I've won I'm done." But I hit all my FI savings goals in 2021 at just about the same time as a nervous breakdown got me, and as I limped back toward recovery from that I (surprisingly) got a really interesting job offer within my own company that would let me take a leave of absence and then come back to work part-time. It was too perfect to pass up, in a year where I was really too exhausted to leap into reinventing a life anyway.
So I took three months off, which was an adventure of its own, and started the cycle of "eh, maybe One More Year". The economy hasn't been great anyway, so holding off a little bit on starting to pull from my capital seemed like an okay idea even if I wasn't saving anymore.
What I'm finding is that these are days of tremendous financial freedom. I still have much of my old income but now I don't need to save (I'm still saving some, maxing out my pre-tax and post-tax 401(k)). It's like holding a firehose full of money that I can now point at whatever I want, because I don't have to be filling up my own little bucket anymore. And at work, in the absence of worrying about getting laid off or whatever (meh, if it happens it happens), I can just focus on the people and on finding ways to enjoy it... not that I always succeed, but sometimes? I think I'm doing better with practice.
Here's how that's gone. The first year (2022) I mostly saved up money pretty aimlessly, until dear friends of mine suddenly had a need to buy out their neighbors in a 2-family house they were in. They weren't entirely prepared for that, and the rule of thumb seems to be that one should have 25%-40% of net worth in real estate -- which I was way, way under, at more like 10% -- so I went in halfsies with them and now we're renting the other unit out together. Rental income feels pretty great when it rolls in, and is definitely going to soften the blow of losing the big corporate income when I finally RE.
The second year (2023) I realized that I could do a philanthropy thing that, thus far, I'd only ever planned to do in my will, and pay my college back for all the grants it ever gave me. Doing it early as a scholarship fund is actually way better -- lots of the good from it will happen in my lifetime when I can hear about it. So I got them to give me the numbers, ran them through an inflation calculator -- that was the painful part -- and found I could indeed do it in a single calendar year. And I'm doing it. Tomorrow I kick off the first of two stock donations.
What next? Will I stay for 2024? I don't really have a good idea for 2024 money yet, but if this rental property thing goes well for me and my co-landlords we could definitely consider expanding to another property together. I could do a more extreme "earn to give" year, or do something nice for my aging parents. Or yes, I could just inflate my nest egg. I really only need one good idea per year, so I'm not worrying too much about it; corporate life is wild, and if my current manager leaves then this phase might be over.
It's much more fun than I expected though. So very fun. I never planned on this stage of life at all, but it suits me. Is anyone else out there in OMY and actually liking it? And what are you doing with your income if so?

Currently Looking For Two More Player's Have 3/5
(Party Consists of a Wizard/Cleric, Warlock, & Rogue/Undecided or Filling)
Over a thousand years ago the Demon Queen, Neheb'kelat, and her four dread generals ruled an empire that spanned a continent. Her tyranny was opposed by an ancient and noble order, the Eyes of Aten, who after a century of terrible conflict defeated the dread generals and cast down the Demon Queen, imprisoning her for a thousand years. Those thousand years have now passed and the ancient order of protectors who imprisoned the Demon Queen has been lost to time.
In The Demon Queen Awakens, the player characters represent the only heroes willing to assist the last surviving member of the Eyes of Aten - charged with the sacred duty of preventing Nehebkelat from escaping her prison. Upon entering the Vault of Aten, the heroes will realize this is no easy task. Dark forces have awoken to ensure that Nehebkelat will rise again and subjugate the continent beneath her abyssal rule.
Doing a test run of this Level 9 One Shot. This is not a Newbie Friendly game you are expected to know what a Level 9 Character is capable of, I don't expect you to know everything even I look at the rules all the time, but you should have a good understanding of the game. I will not be pulling punches in this game as I normally do as a DM. If you die you die. This game also has a timer attached to it, and if you don't complete it within the allotted time the game will end. Should take anywhere from 2-4 Sessions depending on timer.
Anyone is able to join, but I do prefer to have a mix of genders male, female etc... to balance out the table. LGBTQ+ friendly. We will go over session zero, backstories, character creation, rules, foundry tutorial and table manners, and any other questions you may have before play.
Requirements:

1. Have a Clear mic for voice & video via Discord with a quiet background audio while playing. Phones are not acceptable as an audio source (Video is not required, but I like to use it as I am a very social person and I like to Roleplay with the players).
2. The game is played over Foundry VTT (Virtual Tabletop) via Molten Hosting, as such it requires a good network connection & bare minimum specs of a laptop or pc that can play a game via this generation if you're using a chrome book or very weak or old laptop it will not run good and will lag out or crash constantly. The higher specs you have of a better rig the better it will run.
3. Looking for 5 players, also looking for feedback after the game if any is appreciated if you have any insight for me afterwards if something perhaps needed more context or explaining or if you think I can somehow run it smoother let me know :) always open to constructive criticism.
4. Character creation will be done on DnDBeyond, Point Buy, Standard Equipment, Sticking to traditional races and classes, No Homebrew. 4800gp to spend on items. Any more questions on character creation or anything else can be discussed during the session zero.

Feel free to message me on here or add me on Discord @: LiquidSn8ke#7350 for an interview and more information on the game.
A bit about myself I'm 34 been a forever dm for the past 6 years and I’m a big rp dm love doing voices and getting into characters. Rule of Cool DM, but I still try to follow raw (rules as written) as much as possible.

Sorry if this is a dumb questions, but I've seen some frame loom pieces where the piece is woven directly onto the frame and both the warp and weft are tied to the frame (see at this link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/183521753558941138/) Does anybody know of any tutorials on how to do this? I've only been able to find one and it's not free. Might just buy it but thought I'd ask here first.
Thank you!

Knives: -takada no hamono 210mm gyuto suiboku ginsan -takada no hamono 240mm sujihiki suiboku ginsan -takada no hamono 300mm damascus suiboku blue 1 -konosuke 240mm gyuto hd2 -konosuke 255mm gyuto tt (unreleased line) white 2 -tojiro dp 210mm kiritsuke gyuto vg10 -tsubaya takamura migaki 210mm sg2/r2 -shibata tinker tank 180mm aogami super
Story Time: So, I took a day trip to Sakai to visit some smiths, among other non-knife related things (visiting temples, for example). I take the train from Osaka and start walking towards the general direction of Konosuke. About halfway there, a little, older Japanese lady riding a bike rides over from my right.
"hi!"
"...hi."
"Where are you from?"
"California."
"I love California! What are you doing in Sakai?"
"I'm a chef and I came to look at knives."
"Oh... Konosuke?"
"That's one of them, yeah."
"That's me! I'm Konosuke!"
"...what?"
"My son... is Konosuke!"
That's the gist of the conversation (but very much shortened). Turns out this lady is the mother and husband of Konosuke's two founders, Kosuke Kawamura and his father. So she offers to walk me to the shop herself. We head over there, chatting about different things and when we get there, she brings me inside and introduces me to everyone on the staff and then proceeds to walk across the street... where she lives. Easiest commute ever. Before she leaves, I gave her a small gift for helping me.
I go into the gallery to look at what knives are available, specifically looking for a Fujiyama. While they don't have any on hand, they do have a number of other knives (GS+, YS, Sumiro), including a new knife. The language barrier makes things a bit difficult, but I find out that they're calling this line (for now, anyway) TT. I asked Natsuko (the woman helping me, also Kosuke's sister) about it and this is her exact response:
"WT GT225 was made by the blacksmith who was training in SAKAI and the new sharpener who has good skills.
I'm sorry that I'm not able to explain all about it."
So that's all I know about it specifically, but it's sharp as hell and the balance is great. Because it's pretty unique, I end up buying it as well as an HD2 to compare the carbon vs. stainless. As I go to leave, Natsuko stops me outside and asks "Can my father drive you to Takada no Hamono?"
"Wait... what? Um... yeah, that would be great."
So this old man comes out, grabs his car and I hop in. Before we drive off, the old lady from before (I completely forgot her name because she kept emphasizing her last name, so her first name got lost along the way) runs out and hands me a little plastic bag. Inside are two knitted coasters and a smaller "coaster" designed to be an ornament. I don't even know what to say at this point, so I thank everyone profusely and away we drive.
We arrive at Takada no Hamono and it's about 5 minutes before he opens back up from his lunch break, so Kawamura san says "go look at the temple; I'll wait here". I go off and do some temple-y things (praying, goshuin, etc.) and come back a little less than 10 minutes later. In the time I was gone, this man took a leaf (a LEAF!) and hand folded it into the most intricate grasshopper origami I've ever seen and gave it to me. The thing even hops. Anyway, clearly this dude is badass. He leaves and I head into Takada san's shop.
We chat for a bit and he shows me what knives he has available. 3 ginsan knives (a gyuto, suji and nakiri). Then he goes "oh, wait I have 1 more." and goes into the back of his shop and brings out the most baller damascus sujihiki. Having a bit of FOMO, I proceeded to buy three of the four (I opted out of the nakiri since I don't use them at all). He was a bit shocked I wanted all 3, and I told him I was happy to pare it down if it would affect his available stock, but he just said "I'll just have to work extra hard (to build the stock back up)". I also bought a shirt, but unfortunately in washing it, it shrunk dramatically and now it's a crop top on me. Womp womp.
So yeah... people in Japan are typically awesome. I experienced this amount of graciousness all over the country from so many different people.
As far as the other knives, I picked up the Tojiro directly from the Tojiro shop in Kappabashi and the Takamura is from Tsubaya in the same area. One of the sharpeners at Tsubaya, Tomohiro, was super helpful and we're IG friends now haha.
The Shibata... that was actually an order I put in many months ago and forgot about, and as soon as I got back from Japan, I get a notification, your Tinker Tank is ready!... So now I have that as well.
I actually haven't gotten to use all of the knives extensively yet as I've been crazy busy with work and want to really spend the time to use and observe them properly, but what I have used so far has left me with the following impressions:
-Tojiro - I got this knife purely to see what it was like. I also got a couple to give as gifts. It's... fine. It's similar to some Mercer knives that I use as house knives. My friends (who are not chefs nor knife enthusiasts) love them though, so for a starter knife, it's solid, but for my purposes it's not super useful. -Takamura - This reminds me a lot of my Shibata Koutetsu. The Shibata has been my favorite prep knife for over a year, but the Takamura might take the crown there. I find that even as a pretty large dude (6'2'', 185ish lbs), these days I tend towards the 210mm over 240 or bigger for most tasks. The Takamura is super comfortable to use and very sharp out of the box. -Konosuke HD2 - Crazy sharp. Maybe the sharpest, "best" performer out of the box I've used. I have a Kurosaki Fujin, Takeda NAS, Ashi Ginga, Yoshikane Amekiri, etc. and the HD2 is just impeccable. That said, in some ways it's almost *too* sharp. It digs into the board a little and because of how razor-y it is, I'm slightly wary using it (and I'm a 16 year kitchen veteran, so I'm no stranger to knives). Either way though, it's an amazing knife.
-Takada damascus suji - I used this to portion some "mi cuit" ocean trout (it's cooked a super low temp, so the texture is somewhere between raw and cooked and it slid through without any problems. I typically use finer sujis like Ashis for raw protein and more robust sujis like Mazakis for cooked proteins and the Takada is definitely up there in terms of performance for either. The man knows how to sharpen a knife (he worked for Ashi Hamono for 13 years and if you are familiar with Ashis, it shows).
If anyone has any questions or wants any other photos, feel free to ask. And if anyone happens to know anything at all about that "prototype" Konosuke, please let me know.

I'll start from the beginning with as much detail as I can provide because I was absolutely drunk beyond belief.
So I had an ex from high school over at my house who I was still friends with. The goal was to watch sports and talk about our issues and catch up since we took a similar path (both former military, big sports fans, .etc). Inevitably, we drank a little too much and one thing led to another (which, I should've known better regardless) and we took activities to the bedroom. Of the few things I can remember, I went reaching for the big box of condoms that sit next to my nightstand and she told me not to. I complied, I'm not sure why, I'm not sure what I even said in response. I have maybe had sex without a condom one other time in my entire life so this response from me is baffling.
Anyways, after what I believe was consensual acts despite not putting on a condom, at some point she's on top of me and I'm on the bed. I'm fading in and out of consciousness at this point, trying to perform, and right before I ejaculate I begin to pull out. She grabs my penis mid-ejaculation and says something along the lines of "Nuh uh, you're cumming in this pussy" and forces it back inside of her. I had my hand on my penis, to prevent her from doing this, but blacked out shortly after, and she absolutely did push it back in.
The next morning, I haven't processed what had happened, so we're cordial. She then tells me I came inside her and if "I didn't want a baby, I should've thought of that before I did it". I didn't want to start an argument so I remained calm and I went to buy a morning after pill the same morning. She tells me she's not "putting that stuff in her body" and leaves after breakfast.
I may be missing a few details, but I also understand I am at fault for even engaging in the act without protection and am responsible for my own actions, sober or intoxicated. I haven't had contact with her since. I don't even know what my question is anymore, but I appreciate anyone who has any advice on where to go from here.

Based on a Dream
FDF Resolute, Sanctum Class Battlecruiser, en route to NT-2125 deep Fringe.
Mary had been rather intrigued by the concept of an observation deck on a ship. Curator ship designs didn’t even have windows let alone a whole deck. Yet, deck seemed a bit of a grand exaggeration now that she was standing in the room with the large window dominating one wall. The room was empty aside from herself. Though there were tables and chairs enough to fit a few dozen people easily. No doubt it was more in use if the ship should be hosting dignitaries over some important planet, or picturesque astronomical feature. En route to NT-2125 however they were instead enveloped in the Ink, a sight no one seemed keen on viewing.
Her education had of course touched on the existence of the Ink, but that was about it. She had no idea how it really was used to facilitate FTL travel. What she did know, now that she was looking at it, was that it was rather unpleasant to look at. She had seen purest black. The concept of looking at entirely nothing but a void was fine with her.
The Ink however… While she watched it slowly move around before her eyes it was like a vast ocean of some kind. An ocean of… incredible depth. When she had first stepped into the room and seen it dominating the large window she had thought it to be a mixture of blues, purples, and blacks. But the longer she watched the bubbles and lines slowly moving around she wasn’t sure if she were seeing color at all. Maybe she was seeing not the absence of light, but something opposite to it. As if the Ink gave off… anti-light.
She had no basis for this thought of course. No training, education, or experience to make her believe it was a real thing. Yet, if matter had anti-matter why couldn’t light have anti-light? After all the longer she looked the more if felt like she wasn’t really seeing anything. Nothing real anyway. More like… if she closed her eyes and rubbed against the eyelids and saw the attempts of her brain understand the shadows. Then there was the thought maybe she really was seeing something. Something just under the waves of its vast deep ocean of anti-light. After all, what was causing it to move? Were the waves, ripples, and bubbles purely random? Or was there something making it move?
As unpleasant as her line of thinking was, at least watching it gave her some small alone time on the otherwise crowded vessel. It also gave her an excuse to keep her headset muted. She would much rather deal with staring out at a vast ocean of anti-light than listen to the ship around her at this point. Yet, the moment she began to consider that she saw a flash in the bottom of her vision. Door opening. With a flick she started the program to let her headset gradually increase volume as her ears began to work again.
First sound, click of hard heel on metallic decking. Second sound, sharp intake of breath likely indicating surprise, anxiety, unease, or combination. Third sound, a tongue flicking against teeth before making a disapproving sucking sound. Fourth sound, fabric on fabric rubbing was very low and soft indicating luxury stitching and material. “Hello Director Obli.”
“Translator.” Came the curt reply, though said at a perfectly reasonable volume for normal speaking Mary winced a bit. Going from total silence to even the muted sounds she was getting now was rough at times. Especially as more just kept building. Even at this low level the sound of the ships began to return to her. The groan of metal, the hum of electricity, the distant murmur of people going about their tasks. She had no idea what she’d do without the headset to at least partially mute the world around her.
“Your bodyguards aren’t joining us?” Mary glanced over at the Huul’Rav in his custom suit. She couldn’t see his guards, but she could hear them just outside. She recognized Hrue from his breathing pattern, as smoking had done a number on his lungs. Based on the jingle of grenade tabs the other was Juul.
“If the Curators wanted me dead I highly doubt they’d create you just for the task. They’re more than powerful enough to have no need for subtlety or subterfuge.” Even though the director was talking to her he was looking out the window at the Ink. She could see the disdain on his face rather obviously. A hand moving up to nervously brush his furry chin, even as he tilted his horns side to side.
While he seemed focused on the Ink her mind returned to his curious comment. Did the Curators need to employ subterfuge? Of course they were powerful, but surely there was also use in subterfuge. Regardless, she had not been sent to kill the Director. Or anyone for that matter. She had no training in combat or related topics. He seemed to also be thinking about this though as he looked at her. “You aren’t here to kill me right?”
“No. I’m not here to kill you or anyone else.” She assured him. “I’m just here to facilitate communications during the negotiations.”
“It is curious though. Why the Custodians sent anyone at all…” He trailed off and while she was about to answer he turned and spoke first. “Actually do you mind if we talk somewhere else?” At the end his eyes darted to the window and the swirl of the Ink beyond.
“Certainly.” She nodded, and gestured to the door letting him go first.
“I appreciate it.” He commented and even as he stepped through the door Hrue stepped in front of him to lead, while Juul stepped up behind Mary to follow. “I will admit it spoils my plans a bit. I wanted to talk with you in private a little. But uh… I do not particularly enjoy looking at the Ink.” She could hear his breathing pattern change just being in the hallway, out of sight of the swirling anti-light.
“I’m sure we can find privacy elsewhere. Though I am unsure what kind of private chat you would like. I’m here strictly as a neutral party to facilitate negotiations.” She reminded him.
“As you’ve said many times.” Obli waved off her remark. “Anyway, since you’re new to this sort of thing I just want to introduce you to my underling since you’ll be working for him during the start of the talks.”
Mary frowned at this sudden revelation. “First, I don’t work for you, or your subordinate. I-”
“Are a neutral translator provided by the Curators.” He waved her off again as they walked. All around her she could hear the ship and its crew going about keeping the ship alive as it were. It was an older vessel and every creak and groan of stressed metal, or electrical spark continued to heighten her anxiety. She could not wait to get off this vessel and onto a planet. “I meant work for him in a more metaphorical sense. I know you likely expected to work with me throughout these talks but it’s just not how labor talks to management. They don’t get to start by talking to a Director. They’ll start with someone just important enough to garner attention but with no real power. If he fails, I swoop in and save things. If he succeeds I get to take credit in the end and talk about how I knew he was the man for the job.”
The further they walked from the observation deck and the Ink the more confident and in fact arrogant Obli got. She wasn’t particularly keen on his behavior but she had at least grown accustomed to it on the trip so far. “Why then did you spend most of this trip testing my abilities as a translator?”
“Because I was trying to figure out your angle.” He replied with a glance back over his shoulder as they reached a lift. The four of them filtered into it before Juul hit the button for the hangar deck.
“I don’t have an angle. I was instructed to come here and facilitate-” She began but he yet again waved her off.
“Neutral yes yes. But why? We’ve never needed nor requested Curator assistance for anything like this. We have a proven history of successfully ending labor disputes and organization efforts. So why have the curators bothered to send you? Shouldn’t you be trying to help keep the FDF from falling apart? Or spreading the word of the Curators to the masses or something? That is something they do right? Proselytize?” Mary was fairly confident Obli tried to be dismissive about the Curators just to make himself more comfortable. It was a minor enough annoyance to overlook. Though she wondered if it actually helped ease his fragile ego.
“The Curators do not proselytize no. They have no need. They exist. They act. They do not need the approval of others, nor belief in their correctness. I am here because I have been ordered to be here. I was told I must assist in negotiating between the belligerent parties on NT-2125 and observe the outcome. That is all. If the Curators have a deeper reason for sending me here I do not know it.” While she spoke she could already hear Obli clicking his tongue in disapproval. Hrue was trying, and failing, to breathe quietly. Juul was running her hand over a smooth metallic object in her right pocket, slowly turning it over.
“I know you are flesh and blood, but you’re more like your creators than I find comforting.” Obli very bluntly commented.
“I do not exist for your comfort.” Mary pointedly replied, which made Obli click his tongue in disapproval once more. By that point the lift stopped and the doors opened. The rush of sound from the hangar deck made her wince a moment as she had to deal with the sudden volume as she lowered her headset sensitivity.
“I don’t think you exist for your own comfort either.” Obli remarked, now smirking a little at her obvious discomfort. There was little she could do but cast a glare in his direction as the pain subsided and the sounds took on a more muted level. Looking out across the hangar she could see dozens of people moving around and working on the ship’s complement of shuttles, and fighters. No one was expecting combat, but that didn’t stop the captain from preparing anyway. While she was told most of the machinery operated at frequencies most species couldn’t hear it always gave her a headache to be around so many buzzing, grinding, churning machines.
“Regardless.” Obli continued. “I want to make it clear I have been authorized to extend to the Curators our most sincere intent to be friends. If there is anything we can do to make your job more comfortable let me know. And if you see fit to pass on anything you hear from the labor organizers direct compensation is on offer.”
“I am here as a neutral party.” She reminded him yet again. But he just spread his hands and smiled.
“We’re willing to pay for even what you would consider banter and gossip. Anything you hear. My subordinate is also authorized to compensate you but I’d prefer a direct copy.” He held out an encryption cylinder. While she had no intention of passing along anything she did take it. It might be useful for other reasons.
“I don’t have a bank account, you know. Or any credits.” When she told him this he looked entirely confused. “I am not paid for my efforts. Curators do not use currency of any kind. Resources are simply provided as needed.”
Director Obli’s look of pure disgust was even more obvious than when he’d been in the observation deck. “And here I thought they were civilized… But it’s then all the more important for you to start building up your own nest egg!” He began to pull a credit chip from his pocket but she waved him off.
“I’m not chipped nor do I have a slate.” This time he scoffed and looked confused even as he held it out.
“You can take the whole thing. How do you expect to pay for anything on the planet without credits?” He seemed genuinely baffled.
“I don’t expect to pay for anything on the planet. Your company has extended their most sincere intent to be friends after all.” As she tilted her head a little while looking at him Obli just snorted.
“Ah… This is why my assistant was babbling about an expense waiver. Yes… There are limits to it, you know. Food, drink, necessities only.” Mary just stared at him until he finally sighed and tucked the credit chip back into his pocket. “Fine. It’s best for you to go change now then, the shuttle will be leaving as soon as we hit real space.”
She was wondering why he’d brought her here directly. “And why am I changing?”
“Well, you can go as you are if you like. But this isn’t a Curator ship. The Resolute has to drop further away from the planet so the shuttle will be in space to close the gap to the planet. And, I mean clearly Curator tech never breaks or has any accidents but our poor mortal hands make poor mortal vessels.” Obli spread his hands as if to highlight his own soft, well manicured hands.
“Fine.” While her suit wasn’t as comfortable as her normal clothes she didn’t intend on being the only one killed by some sort of accident on the way to the planet. It would set a terrible precedent. So she walked away from Obli and his guards then towards the hangar’s locker room.
As she strode across the deck, stepping over fuel and coolant lines she tried to make some sense of the mass of sound around her. Obli no doubt thought she was beyond earshot when he spoke to his guards. “Strange bird. Easy on the eyes though.”
Hrue cleared his throat a moment to reply in a gravely, raspy voice. “Think the Curators made her to be attractive to most species somehow? Robot magic or something?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I still don’t know why they sent anyone at all. I don’t trust those damned machines.” Obli replied. She had expected this sort of reaction. It was in line with their comments during the trip.
Other than that most of the technicians, mechanics, and pilots moving around the hangar seemed much more focused on their work than anything else. Grumblings about the captain’s standards, and an apparent lack of spare parts. Based on the overall comments it seemed to be more about not wanting to do so much work rather than serious concerns over abilities to keep ships functional. Or so she hoped.
Once in the locker room she made her way to the back where a special case had been installed for her suit. While she would have preferred to travel on a Curator vessel she was glad to at least get a Curator suit. They didn’t have many organics, but the suits they made for her and the other Lifted were absolutely the best in terms of survivability, durability, and protection. Just not… comfort.
Since the locker room seemed to be empty she quickly stripped down, setting aside the encryption cylinder Obli had given her. For a moment she examined herself, along the deep red feathers of her head and neck, gradually turning to a sunburst yellow down her torso, and finally a rich deep blue along her legs and tail. Did species find her attractive? If the Curators had intended for this they likely would have included it in her training surely. Must just be Obli and his guards.
Stepping up to the Curator case she hit the activation button and then held perfectly still as the case opened, arms moving out to begin affixing the suit to her body. First she felt the snap of metal rings around her ankles, wrists, neck, hips, and ribs before the rest of the exoskeleton was built up around it. Then came the cool mesh of the inner suit pulled up underneath it and against her feathers. Next was the composites slotted into the outside, layered and overlapped for maximum coverage. Finally she prepared herself for the final step as two hoses connected to the metal collar around her neck. She hated this part.
When the liquid began to pump into the lining between the mesh and the composite layer it was ice cold and caused her to gasp and shudder as it filled in. It took a few minutes while she tried to carefully control her breathing and push past the cold. Once it was finally full the suit activated and the liquid turned solid, controlled by the sophisticated Curator chip in her skull. Her temperature quickly began to return to normal now and she took a slow deep breath in relief before taking the helmet the case offered last.
She refrained from putting the helmet on yet though, it wasn’t quite big enough for her taste and always rubbed her eartips. Walking back out into the hangar she could feel the suit somewhat flowing around her movements. It would turn liquid to move, then solid when it didn’t need to. She was also told it would go selectively rigid to deflect projectiles. A feature she hoped to never test.
Looking around a moment she saw Obli near the closest shuttle, speaking to someone wearing an executive pattern suit. Luxurious and comfortable, but she’d prefer the Curator suit in an emergency. Next to him was a human in a deep blue armored suit with steel accents. As she watched he draped a travel cloak over the shoulders of the suit. An interesting touch. Walking towards them she had to stop a moment to let a rumbling hangar tug pass. Several technicians rode in the back, carried to their next task.
Judging on the whine of the back left wheel she figured their next task might be to fix the tug itself. Either way she continued on up to Director Obli. “Translator. I’d like you to meet Kingus.” Obli gestured to the figure in the executive suit. Up close she could see through his helmet’s faceplate and examine the Nikvic inside. Rather stubby bone ridges. Rather young then for an executive.
“Translator.” He nodded to her.
“Kingus, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Mary, though translator is just fine as well.” She took an amicable approach for now.
“Yes. This is my bodyguard, Eli.” He gestured to the human next to him, who made for an imposing figure in his armor. With his helmet in place the steel visor reflected a distorted reflection of herself back at her.
“Ma’am.” He nodded and extended a hand out from under his cloak. Shifting her helmet to her left hand she carefully reached out to shake his hand in return.
“Eli, it’s nice to meet you.” The first human she’d found in the employ of the company. Though she knew most of the problems on the planet were related to their human miners. Allegedly at least.
“Nice to meet you as well ma’am.” His shake was firm but not aggressive. “We should be ready shortly. They’re loading the last of some food supplies and then we’re waiting on the marines.”
“Food supplies… I don’t even know what we’re taking down there. Argyle is a full fledged city. The problems its facing are related to labor terrorists. Not famine.” Kingus mentioned with a huff.
“It’s likely my food.” Mary answered. “The Curators were unsure how long I would be here and sent me with a full complement of prepared meals.”
“Oh.” Kingus coughed lightly. “Well… that’s fine then. I wasn’t aware you had special dietary needs. But the marines at least should be here. What’s taking them so long?” He tried to deflect a little and looked around.
As if summoned by his complaint she saw a group of human soldiers approaching the shuttle. The few times she had seen soldiers so far they’d been in smart uniforms and moving with purpose and sharp specific gestures. These… did not look nearly so impressive. Or poised. Instead the group just walked casually towards them, in a mixture of armor sets. Most had a haphazard drab olive green coat of paint but much of it was chipped and worn. Not to mention much of it was also covered in writing, drawings, and decals that she doubted were officially sanctioned.
Only the man in the lead looked to be in a truly official uniform set of armor. “I’m Lieutenant Barrow. I assume this is the shuttle we want?”
“Barrow, this is Kingus our Executive Labor Liason.” Director Obli introduced them. “This is our translator Mary.”
“Never seen one of you before. What species are you?” Mary turned to look at the soldier who’d spoken to her. He was just next to the officer, and his armor looked particularly beat up. She also noticed signs of scorch marks in several places. Unlike the single smooth faceplate of Eli’s armor his helmet looked more like a scowling face with golden lenses in the eyes.
“I am not an official species. I was Lifted by the Curators to act as a translator.” She informed him directly.
“Interesting. So you’re a bird. But you’ve got ears. What’s with the headset?” He gestured up at it as she reflexively reached up with her free hand to touch the side.
“There was a slight miscalculation in my creation and I find most settings to be… uncomfortably loud. The headset is to regulate the volume of my surroundings to prevent damage and discomfort.” She explained.
“What… wait. The Curators made a translator who gets hurt by sound? Am I understanding that right?” Mary frowned at his comment.
“That’s somewhat reductive.” She tried to deflect.
“Is it wrong?” He pressed.
“It’s not entirely inaccurate.” Disparaging on the work of the Curators wasn’t something she was comfortable with.
“That’s a fancy way of saying I’m right. So your job, which is listening to things, actively hurts you. Man… sucks to be you.” A few of the other marines snickered and giggled behind him as Mary frowned.
“Gunny, that’s enough.” Barrow finally waved off the other marine.
“Where’s the rest of your company? And the Major?” Obli asked now, thankfully moving things along.
“Elsewhere. He said if you’re not going to the planet yet he doesn’t see a reason to go either. My platoon and I are sufficient at this time. Once you’re ready to head down then the rest of the company will deploy.” Barrow shrugged. “You send your flunkey first he sends his flunkey too.”
“We have concerns about possible terrorist strikes on civilians during the labor talks. Are you sure a platoon is really sufficient?” Kingus asked.
The officer sucked in a breath, likely about to answer but Gunny cut him off. “Isn’t it interesting. All across the fringe you corporate types like to talk about how safe and secure your mining colonies are. Biding everyone to bring their families and get to work. Yet, the moment a union starts to form you start screaming about terrorists and how you need the military to keep order.”
“Gunny.” The officer hissed at him. Gunny waved it off a moment as the officer cleared his throat. “Your own reports suggest corporate security is robust enough to secure the city. We have no intel to suggest any threats of terrorist strikes by the miners are really valid. A platoon will suffice for now. If the situation changes the rest of the company can deploy very quickly I assure you.”
“Fine. But remember just because the miners in question are human doesn’t mean you can give them free reign. The FDF and by extension the marines rely on our funding to keep functioning.” Kingus replied.
“You never let us fucking forget.” Gunny muttered that barely under his breath. Neither Kingus or Obli seemed to pick up on this but Mary did.
“Many species across the Fringe have been generous enough to accept many human refugees. We obviously seek a future of cooperation and mutual success. This is not about humans being singled out. They have been given the same rights and contracts as all other species who join our corporate family.” Director Obli smiled and spread his hands in a friendly gesture. “We ask only that you protect the talks because they’re so important to our continued wellbeing as united front here on the Fringe. The Tide comes for us all and we must be ready. Together.”
“Well said Director.” Kingus nodded in support.
“Fucking please…” Gunny muttered and made some sort of gesture with his fist making a pumping motion in front of his hips. From the reports the Curators had given her, really what it seemed like was the humans massively increased their productivity, but in exchange wanted better treatment from the various industrial consortiums. The executives like Obli enjoyed the productivity but felt treating them better would set a bad precedent.
Across the fringe however humans had been getting their way more often than not. NT-2125 was by far the biggest, most high profile case, but she didn’t imagine it would be anything special. “Yes, well, we are here to keep you safe and make sure no one kills anyone. On either side.” The officer assured them and then gestured at the shuttle. “Shall we?”
“Have a nice flight Translator. Remember to call me.” Obli smiled and nodded at her.
“I’m sure we’ll be in touch, Director.” She finally pulled her helmet up and on, feeling it settle into place with a click and a soft hiss at it pressurized. The very tips of her ears were lightly pressed in by the sides which was why she’d waited this long to put it on. The marines began to board the shuttle first, shuffling along rows in the center to get into seats with metal shoulder restraints that would help hold them in place.
“Hey, so you’re a Lifted? What do the Curators want you here for? What’s the deal?” Gunny asked as he waited near the back for the others to shuffle in.
“I am not at liberty at this time to discuss the Curators or their work.” Mary’s forehead felt slightly warm as she answered him.
“Oh come on. There’s got to be something special the Curators want you here for.” Gunny insisted.
“I am not at liberty at this time to discuss the Curators or their work.” Mary’s forehead felt a bit warmer still.
“Gunny leave her alone.” Barrow instructed.
“C’mon why a translator at all? We’ve got earpieces! I’ve never seen a translator before, let alone a Curator one!” By now the other marines were seated and Mary began to shuffle up the row looking for a free seat.
“Ma’am you’ll need to take one of the jumpseats up front. These harnesses aren’t made for your Curator suit.” Barrow tapped one of the set of shoulder restraints. So she kept shuffling past the row of marines towards the front.
“I don’t rely on machine translation. I am fluent in over six hundred languages and forms of communication. I listen to all parties and ensure nothing is lost in translation.” She assured them.
“Only six hundred? I knew of a guy who was fluent in over six million forms of communication.” Gunny’s voice had a slightly different tone to it. Was he joking?
“Six million seems excessive. I assure you I am well trained for my job.” Now at the front of the shuttle she found the jumpseat in question. Yet, when she went to pull the seat down the dangerous whine and groan of the metal hinged did not inspire her with confidence. Still it was her mission so she settled into the seat and went about trying to figure out the harness.
Barrow approached her and pointed to the straps in order to help her out. “You’ll be fine. This is really just a precaution.” The Lieutenant nodded and gave her shoulder a pat. She smiled up at him then, her faceplate clear unlike their armor. It was thought to be better for non-verbal communication cues if people she spoke to could see her face. Kingus and Eli were the last to settle in seats nearby.
“Hey! Corpse!” Gunny called out as Eli settled into his seat and set the shoulder restraints with practiced ease.
“Excuse me?” Eli looked across the aisle at Gunny.
“You’re corporate security right? Corp-sec.” Gunny more carefully pronounced. But Mary was positive he hadn’t made a mistake earlier.
“I’m a private bodyguard. I work on contract.” Eli corrected him.
“Oh well anyway the fuck is with the cloak?” Gunny gestured at the deep blue cloak draped over Eli’s shoulders and body. “You’re in a suit right? Kind of the point of a space suit to be waterproof and somewhat heat proof and shit yeah? Kind of defeats the point of a cloak right? So what gives?”
“It’s about looking stylish. Something you clearly have no concept of Gunnery Sergeant.” Eli’s response seemed to take Gunny by surprise. The Gunny? Was Gunny a nickname or a title? Either way the marines around snickered and chuckled a bit though she could hear Gunny snort.
Barrow took the jumpseat next to her instead of one of the more secure seats. Possibly to help set her at ease. Which she appreciated. “So, Lieutenant. Do you expect this mission to be dangerous?”
“What? Protecting the talks? No. We’ve done this a few times so far. It’s pretty boring. No one has actually done anything. Usually there are some protests. Corp-sec shove people around. Both sides are upset. But no one dies. The talks advance. The miners get a bit more pay and benefits. Both sides are mutually annoyed with the other. And I’m sure in a few years it’ll all happen again.” Barrow shrugged and seemed entirely unconcerned.
“Don’t be so flippant.” Kingus said even as Barrow seemed to dismiss any concerns. “We’ve had some communications troubles from NT-2125. The work of labor agitators no doubt.”
“Communications troubles? Why are you telling us that now?” Barrow asked, showing some concern.
“I thought it was common knowledge?” Kingus sounded genuinely confused that Barrow was unaware of this. “Is it not? Executives on the ground have spoken of damaged communications systems, and delayed reports from outlying facilities.”
“Have there been delays in ore shipments? Or minerals or whatever?” Barrow asked.
“No. In fact due to our exemplary corporate structure we’re seeing increases across the board.” Kingus nodded, clearly proud of this fact.
“So… in your mind the labor agitators are breaking lines of communication. But not… the ore shipments which you find significantly more valuable?” Barrow asked, clearly not buying the idea.
“Don’t be complacent! Just because labor organizers have been rarely violent in the past doesn’t mean it will always be the case! I want your men on their highest alertness lieutenant!” Kingus stressed.
“Yes sir, I’ll be sure to pass that along.” Barrow assured him, even though Mary could tell by his tone that he had no intention of doing anything.
“What’s the planet like?” She asked next.
“The locals have called it Argyle.” Kingus answered. “It’s our largest mining operation and a highlight of our terraforming technology. A dozen zones have been established across the surface and ten of them are already fully habitable without a suit. We expect work to be done on six zones within the solar cycle, and shall open up another dozen to be finished within the next three solar cycles. Mineral and ore outputs are quadruple expectations. Mostly thanks to our unequaled refinery efficiency.”
“Or maybe cause you’re exploiting the shit out of your workers.” Again Gunny muttered this quietly enough to be missed by the others. Mary was settling into her seat as best she could when she heard the engines spool up. Inside the armored cockpit behind her she could hear the pilots flipping switches.
“Systems check complete. Echo shuttle requesting clearance for departure.” She wasn’t sure if that was the pilot or co-pilot. Deeper, possibly male.
“We got a flight plan?” Lighter possible female. Maybe that was the pilot?
“Yeah.” Navigator. Younger, more youthful. Not clear if male or female. “Not much to it. Follow the automated beacons. Their spaceport is big enough for Tagmax freighters so it should be easy peasy lemon squeezy.” Human definitely.
“We’re clear.” Co-pilot.
“Okay.” There was a moment where Mary’s hearing seemed to echo as she heard both the pilot in the cockpit and over the speakers in the hold at the same time. “We’re in real space and disembarking now. Remember to keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times until we come to a full and complete stop. We know you’ve got no choice in airlines today so suck it up because we’re all you got.” Also definitely human.
Gunny seemed to wiggle and settle in his seat, as if to take a nap. In general the marine chatter in the hold seemed very relaxed and calm. A good sign. The most nervous person was likely Kingus whose breathing she could tell was getting a bit quicker and more nervous. After another few seconds she heard the engine spooling get more intense and the shuttle picked up off the deck. Kingus tensed at this as his hands gripped the seat’s armrests more tightly.
While Mary wished she was in a superior Curator craft she was relatively relaxed. She’d flown many times, especially in her training to make sure she could translate even in stressful situations. Part of her wanted to mute her headset for now, to free herself of the need to listen to every jostle of the shuttle and the people within it, but she knew it was more important to maintain her ability to listen to the flight crew.
For several minutes however she mostly had to fight her growing desire to take a nap. Gunny’s breathing shifted into a soft and consistent snore so he already fell asleep. The gentle rumble of the ship around her and her secure nature also lent itself to a desire to nap… “Hey did we check the sensor calibration before we left?” Navigator.
“Yeah, total systems check. Everything cleared. I’m not seeing any problems.” Pilot.
“Uuuhhh… Okay.” Their tone implied things were not okay. She turned her head a little, and began to dial up her headset, ignoring the other sounds and focusing on the cockpit. Another minute went by as she just had the hum of the engines and marine chatter around her. “We’re sure the sensors were checked?”
“Yeah. Why what’s wrong?” Pilot.
“It’s just… uh… doesn’t make sense. I’m reading like… aaa lot of different atmospheres?” Navigator.
“Yeah. They’re terraforming it. So, a lot of different atmospheric readings.” Co-pilot.
“Sure but… some of these are… bizarre.. Like a… nitrogen? Maybe? And uh… ammonia.” She frowned as the Navigator said this.
“Maybe those are the natural planetary atmosphere. Listen, everything else I’ve got is reading fine.” Pilot.
“Ask ground maybe? Terraforming… accidents?” Navigator.
“Resolute this is Echo Two. Do we have any direct communication with Ground? Over.” Co-pilot. Pause. “No direct comms at this time. But the nav beacons are loud and clear.”
“Probably just some interference. I mean if they’ve had a terraforming accident it’s probably hell on comms.” Pilot.
“Yeah… probably.” Navigator, entirely unconvinced. As she listened she realized Barrow was staring straight at her. Did he suspect something? Was he on their channel?
“Something up?” He asked.
“The navigator thinks there might have been a terraforming accident on the planet.” She explained.
“What? How do you know that?” Barrows looked from her towards the armored door between them.
“I can hear them.” She explained simply.
“Did you say a terraforming accident?” Kinugs looked her way now.
“They say there’s strange atmospherics on the planet.” She revealed.
“I knew it! Labor agitators!” He huffed. “Tell your men to be ready for all manner of terrorism Lieutenant!”
“Mmhh…” Barrow's answer was noncommittal but seemed worried as he focused on Mary. She was still focused on the cockpit however.
“Was there a cruiser in orbit somewhere?” Co-pilot.
“The uh… Tartar or something. At least on the mission brief. We tracking it anywhere?” Pilot.
“I… no. I’ve got us, the orbital refinery platform, and the Resolute.” Navigator.
“Freighters? Shuttles? Corporate Yachts? Anything?” Pilot.
“Nnnnno.” Navigator.
“They aren’t seeing any other traffic in orbit.” She relayed to Barrow.
Barrow cleared his throat and seemed to trigger a mic in his helmet. “Guys, shut the fuck up. Gunny wake up.” A marine besides gunny slapped the man’s shoulder causing him to jerk in his seat and a knife seemed to appear in his hand.
“Wah?” He looked around.
“Something’s up.” Barrow mentioned. “No traffic, planetary comms are down, and terraformers are fucked up.”
Mary expected some smart comment but Gunny tucked his knife away and just listened. “Wait. A… freighter is taking off.” Navigator. “And I’ve got one leaving the orbital platform.”
“Ping them?” Co-pilot. Pilot must have nodded because he continued. “Pinging.” Pause. “Both are automated. Both report… systems are fine. No issues.”
“Nothing from ground? Emergency beacons? Distress? Nothing?” Pilot.
“Nothing.” Co-pilot confirmed.
“I mean… they’d be loath to stop shipping ore. Maybe it’s just really comms trouble and they aren’t flying anything right now. Cruiser might be on the far side assisting with some kind of… recovery effort? I don’t know.” Pilot.
“That might be the case…” The co-pilot did not in fact think that was the case. “Resolute, this is Echo two. Uh… do we have any further… mission details? Are we still go on landing? Over.” He sounded nervous. “We’re still go… they think it’s just comms trouble. But they’re prepping more shuttles now for possible rescue or support efforts.”
“I mean everything I’m seeing is clear. Not even rain clouds.” Pilot.
“They’re saying there’s comms failure on the planet. They’ve found automated traffic only. No distress calls.” Mary relayed. A moment later the pilot keyed in a direct channel and she heard the voice through Barrow’s helmet comm.
“Hey eltea. Just a heads up. We think there’s some kind of comms failure on the planet. And maybe a terraforming accident. No signs of hostile action though. Still prepped to land shortly. But uh giving you a heads up.” So they could talk to him but hadn’t.
“Appreciated. I’ll relay.” He acknowledged. Then she had to try and focus a bit harder as Barrow began to speak to his marines about the situation but the flight crew was still chatting.
“Entering atmo now. Any change in sensor reading?” Pilot.
“No. Area around Argyle looks… okay. Wait, that's the city right?” Navigator.
“Yeah. Uh. Maybe.” Pilot. The shuttle began to shake a bit harder though from what she had experienced before this was just normal for entering atmosphere. They were quiet as the shuttle rumbled. But after another minute the rumbling seemed to get worse instead of better. She was much more acutely aware of the groaning of the metal and just shuddering of everything around her. Kingus’ teeth were rattling and clicking especially. “Okay what the fuck.”
“Yeah… Yeah… Uh… fuck.” Co-pilot. What were they seeing? Just describe it outloud!
“I can’t turn it off. Ground has us locked into our corridor.” Navigator.
“Override!” Pilot.
“I can’t! I’m trying!” Navigator. The shuddering of the shuttle intensified further as it seemed to be moving around, like the pilot was trying to shake them out of whatever their path was and kept getting pulled in. “It’s not using any normal code! I’ve got no fucking clue what this is!”
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!” Mary winced at how loudly the Co-pilot yelled that. So far their voices had been full of stress and anxiety, but not fear, nor had they been loud.
“Jesus!” Pilot. What? What was it? “Look at it fucking move! Chaff! Flares! Dump everything!”
“Brace!” Mary cried out as she clutched her harness. She could hear the deployment of flares and chaff in a rapid series of bops and clanks. Then she could hear something hit the shuttle… But it wasn’t an explosion? Just a meaty metal crunch. Her body jerked hard in the harness as the shuttle around her began to spin, or jerk, or she had no idea but it was twisting violently!
“Fuck!” Pilot
“Watch it!” Co-pilot. Red lights immediately came on in the hold of the shuttle, she could hear as well as feel the violent collision as the port wing slammed into something. For a brief instant she could hear the shattering of glass before her hearing was just overwhelmed by the rest of the crash and the screaming around her. The force yanked her hard against the harness as she heard the terrifying screech of metal being pried apart as the hold and the cockpit sections of the shuttle seemed to detach.
Strapped to the jumpseat she could only watch in horror as the marines before her were suddenly spun in a different direction while Barrow and her were tumbling on the now suddenly exposed outside of the cockpit section. She was screaming as loud as her lungs could bear, but he was oddly quiet. As if resigned to their fate. She could see the city spinning around her, and the straps holding her began to give way as they were never intended for this. Barrow reached out and for a moment she reached towards him but then they hit something hard and her body was sent flying free of the seat.
[Continued in Comments]

Does anyone know where to buy Rise by Excision and Jessica Audiffred? I clicked all the links and I literally cannot find where to buy it and I am not going to bootleg it
https://preview.redd.it/uwmfcb5ppb3b1.png?width=325&format=png&auto=webp&s=7f2ffee4e74cd434995702669565488bb5d53147