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New Terran Refugee (Pt - 20) : An NOP fanfic
Thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for letting people write fanfics.
This is just a fanfic of course.
This chapter went through several iterations, I might have let myself think I could release it 1 week late (and failed). Also, I might have gotten sidetracked with other non-writing thing, oops.
TL;DR:
“OOPS! All Rewrites! And side projects!” – Me
In any case, here’s the chapter:
Memory transcription subject: Tayla, Venlil Widow
Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136
The first thing I became aware of was that I had awoken enveloping a richly warm pillow with a soft surface from above, and that not only was it hot but that it was also soft and squishy but without too much give, in fact it was somehow firmer below the surface, I snuggled closer to the material that was emanating heat below me and drove off my mind’s attempts at waking me up, this was too blissful an experience to stop suddenly.
The second thing I became aware of was that I didn’t remember replacing my heated pillow as the cold wind season was still expected to be a good deal of time away and that I had much more important things to spend my limited budget on.
The third thing I became aware of was that I wasn’t hugging a pillow, this only happened when I noticed that it wasn’t moving because I was snuggling into it, but rather moving in a steady motion against me, like when someone breathes while asleep.
The fourth thing I became aware of, were the memories of what led me into this situation ‘Just gonna close my eyes for a moment’; Why did I lie to myself like that?
The final thing I became aware of snapped me out of my musings, it was the reason I woke up, and the reason I had crashed so hard into sleepiness.
The consequence of drinking copious amounts of [shade root] tea to keep watch over Jorge until I could call the number in the email during the schedule it had included beneath itself, this was made worse by the cans of ‘Twilight Energy’ I had drank at the end when more drastic measures had to be taken.
I couldn’t ignore it I couldn’t help but feel the pressure mounting inside my bladder as I peeled myself off from on top of Jorge. Why did I move so much while asleep?
Oh Protector, I missed his warmth already…
I made a mental note to look into repairing my heated pillow for cheap due to a sudden urge to sleep with something warm more frequently, the abrupt thought jogging loose some memories about contact information of some local repairvenlil I’d called before for one reason or another, along with the memory of the number I called before… napping with Jorge…
A great feeling of chagrin manifested along with my bloom while closing Jorge’s bathroom door behind me as I remembered the text beneath the schedule, ‘Extended working hours during emergency situations’, the aftermath of antimatter bombing definitely applied… especially since that Mrs. Bennet sounded so exhausted so soon after the supposed start of her work claw.
I decided to chalk up my lapse in judgement to have been due to how Jorge’s expression before he sealed himself in had left my thoughts racing and heart pounding in worry over him.
With my thoughts somewhat settled, I examined the strange toilet that had been installed, before throwing caution to the winds when the urgency I felt reasserted itself with force.
…
After closing the lid and washing my paws, I finally found what had to be the equivalent of the pulley and chain, a small, recessed button parted into 2 asymmetric parts on the top middle part behind the seat.
I pressed both parts at the same time just in case.
FWOOOSH
A small eep escaped me but was drowned out by the noises that were still coming from the strange toilet!
Finally, the ruckus ended, letting me calm down from the unexpected loudness. Wait, did that noise wak-
THUNK THUNK THUNK
A bigger eep escaped me as I jumped a little into the air; However this time it wasn’t drowned out by another noise.
“¿you ok in there?” I could barely make out Jorge’s voice through the door, like he was putting in the barest effort needed to speak.
“Y-yeah, j-just startled…” I opened the door as I trailed off, a sudden realization had me asking him a question, “I guess I know how It felt w-when I s-startled you h-huh?”
His normally expressive face remained still, the only reaction to my attempt at lightening the mood a brief exhale from his nose; He simply slipped past me as I left the bathroom and muttered something I didn’t quite hear just before shutting the door softly.
I went back to the bed and turned on his pad, after a few seconds of waiting for it to turn on, and a few more waiting for my translator to parse the strange [date and time] format the humans used (Honestly, who separated the [hours] and the [days/months] like that?) I felt a bit of relief as I sank a bit into the still warm bed.
According to the pad, I’d just taken a short nap, I still had plenty of time until my children came back home, hopefully I had enough time to actually have some kind of talk with Jorge.
I’d have to somehow get him to talk about last Paw’s… reaction of his, and find a way to convince him to talk about his family, It’d be good for him to recognize that pain, maybe he’d even hold onto it like me…
^FWOOOSH
That thing that the humans called a toilet interrupted my train of thought before I could do more than think of the barest of ways I could breeze into such heavy topics, the small delay between the toilet’s sound, the groaning of water travelling to the faucet, and the door opening wasn’t even enough to get back on my mind’s [zephyr].
A quick focus on Jorge’s face made my determination start to breeze away a bit, it was much easier to think of how to talk to him when I couldn’t see just how heavily everything [to wear down like a long strong gale would] on him.
Jorge deflated slightly but visibly at how I apparently froze up at the sight of him.
“well, thanks, i… feel better, you can just… leave me be for now”
Jorge stood still, averting his eyes from me until he shrugged strangely after turning to look at the barricade, he then shuffled over and started to shift it to the side a bit, evidently wishing to put it back in place after I left.
“ah” he cleared his throat, “sorry, you can leave now” he returned to averting his eyes from looking at me and awkwardly motioned towards the wide opening he had made after dragging the barricade as he stepped away morosely.
“Jorge.” I paused to breathe; I’d managed to huff out his name just as I needed to exhale.
Jorge stood still for a moment before tentatively focusing on me, a strangely vulnerable expression sat on his face.
I patted the bed (an appropriate and proper distance away from me) with my tail before curling it away from the spot, he seemed to get the message and soon he had sat down beside me, brief moment of hesitation notwithstanding.
I turned my head towards him as I’d seen him do when talking, he flinched a little when his eyes met mine, closing them and averting his face, I reached out for his nearby claw with my tail and put it down gently on top.
I waited patiently for him to start talking; Thankfully the wait was short.
“this… ¿is this about… my reaction yesterday?”
“Yes,” I squeezed down on his claw softly with my tail in a comforting gesture, “I wanted to speak with you about that sooner, but for now…” another gentle squeeze, “I’m just glad you seem to be doing a little bit better.”
Silence enveloped us as Jorge seemed to mull over what I’d just said.
A small hint of a hunch had me examining him more closely, it seemed he was anxiously waiting for me to talk some more.
I chastised myself internally, ‘Of course he wasn’t going to be feeling very talkative…’, how could someone jump straight into talking about such a topic? It’d probably be better to start with other stuff and gauge things from there; With that my mind sifted through possible topics until one stood out.
“S-so, I kind of… used up a lot of your powdered ingredients… heh…” I took in his features, he seemed halfway here and halfway far away.
Maybe… Maybe if I somehow mentioned the call to remind him that there were more humans he could try talking to? Just in case he was getting tired of my clumsy attempts at talking with him…
“I, uh, didn’t think of asking Mrs. Bennet about their availability when I called her this Paw, s-sorry about that… b-but I’m sure they’ll get some more that you can use soon, right?”
That got a reaction, a small one, out of him; His eyes widened. It… felt wrong.
“o-oh, well, i’d better get started packing then…”
An impossibly heavy weight settled deep inside my stomach as he moved his claw out from under my frozen tail tip, my throat clenched up as Jorge got up and limply started wading to his bag.
I stared in mute horror as he dumped his clean body coverings into it, trying to communicate anything to him, and failing miserably as the sheer disbelief of just how horribly I had miscommunicated kept me frozen, while the pain and betrayal I could imagine him feeling kept my mind reeling.
He stopped just as he reached his bag, his claws clenched for a moment before he unclenched them slowly and turned around to look directly at me.
He’d shed more tears, his eyes were an ugly and fresher shade of red.
“y-you were waiting down here for me to wake up again just to have this conversation as soon as possible. ¿am i right?”
Th-this wasn’t supposed to go like this!
“I… I was-”
“I!” interrupted Jorge with an elevated tone of voice, “…Earlier, I woke up and went back to sleep a few times, I could see you sitting on the stairs, sometimes you and your pad would be missing, I kept thinking that maybe you were worried about me ¿you know?”
“I-” An intense look from him kept the rest of my response in my head; ‘I was!’ I wanted to plead.
“I guess you didn’t plan for me falling asleep after crying…” He trailed off and seemed to go into deep thought for a moment, before his eyes narrowed dangerously. “¿Did you just bring me that Atole to soften the blow?” He held up one of his claws towards me while making a stabbing motion with it, his voice came out as a much lower growl than normal from him. “¿Or was putting me to sleep part of the plan?”
My face felt as if I’d been hit by an icy gale. ‘Did he just insinua-?’
“You’re fucking heartless.” That last sentence from him was punctuated by a fresh set of tears from his eyes, though no sobbing came from him as he let himself fall backwards down onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut.
My heart was beating wildly, and my eyes stung from the horrible accusations that he was making, and from how I’d probably be doing just what he had said if this had happened a few days ago…
I gave myself a moment to recollect myself, I’d thought similar enough things when I was alone in the hospital after losing my family, not nearly as extreme but… my circumstances back then and his right now weren’t comparable.
I shuddered internally at how much worse I’d have fared if it had been Venlil Prime that had been attacked; I’d probably… I’d have tried to do what he tried last night…
With a sigh I focused consciously on Jorge, who was breathing a bit more steadily now, as I picked up the bottle and moved steadily towards his alert gaze.
I sat down in front of him and opened the bottle, he narrowed his eyes even further in response, making the redness and glistening more pronounced, the patches of fur above his eyes changed position as well; I didn’t quite know what it meant, but it couldn’t possibly have been from him feeling happy or at peace.
I pushed through the sense of fear that was starting to form from being under his stare and took in the rest of his body language… I readjusted my position and observed as he flinched away from me…
I slowly raised the bottle and drank; The patches of fur over his eyes returned to their normal position, overshot and stayed raised while the intensity of his stare diminished. Finally, he tilted his head ever so slightly.
After a few gulps more I stopped drinking and offered him the bottle, he still wasn’t accepting it; I wiped my lips and prepared to speak.
“…I wouldn’t do that to you…” A small quiver at the end made me trail off until I was certain my voice wouldn’t fail me. I wouldn’t do that now. “None of those things, I mean… Even after all I did… You gave me a chance…”
“When you put it like that…” Jorge wiped his eyes. “I mean, I don’t know what came over me…” He looked to the side and deflated a little.
“I understand… I was like this too…” A small shiver traveled through my spine, thinking about it always did… I ignored the shiver by standing up and offering him the bottle again, this time he grabbed it and drank deeply.
He trailed behind me, we sat down on opposite sides of the bed, him hugging his legs as he sat against the wall, and me with one leg over the edge of the bed with the other one crossed over it.
Dozens of starting points were flurrying in my head, I couldn’t decide on one, so I cleared my throat and let myself say whatever came out first.
“I’m married.” Jorge became extremely visibly confused. “I-I’m a Widow, I meant to say…” The familiar sting of pain grounded me as his expression changed into one I could recognize even from him, pity.
“He-” died “…It happened 11 years ago, I… I lost my family at the same time…”
Jorge’s expression softened even more, no longer out of pity, but out of understanding… of the pain we shared…
“It was my dad’s idea, he’s always wanted to have a big family homestead… when the latest batch of colonies were finally cleared for habitation he bought a plot immediately, my sister and her husband went with them first, then my brother and his wife, and finally me and…”
This whole talking thing was much harder than I thought… I cleared my throat; I couldn’t go on just omitting any names in my retelling…
“Krayla, that’s my mother’s name.” I paused, waiting for his reaction, he ‘nodded’ slowly, solemnly. “Tavk’io, my dad; Talnum, my b-brother; Tahyiya, m-my sister; …a-and Glim, m-my husband…”
I buried my head in my paws, this was too much…
A moment passed, I felt something brush against my tail; Opening my eyes I saw that it was Jorge’s claw, he patted the tip gently until his eyes met mine.
“Emiliano José Cauich Ayala, t-that’s my father’s name.” He paused to breathe and wiped his eyes. “Ixchel Paola Rojas Canul, that’s my mother’s name.”
We stayed in silence for a while longer, at least in my case recovering from the emotional toll that I had just gone through.
“S-shortly after we arrived at the colony,” I began. “I l-learned I was p-pregnant, G-Glim and I celebrated it with my family, we were going to name our baby after my brother and his wife, Kiyomi. It… It was something we had all come up with [years] before, everything was going just like we had dreamed and talked so much about…”
I squeezed my tail against myself, all those nights at the colony laughing and joking with each other about increasingly outlandish names (ones that we’d never use of course), gone just like that…
“G-Glim and Talnum were busy helping the colony expand by clearing new plots for development and as buffer zones, I helped around with Taylee and Talim when needed but I helped dad with the house most of the time; There were always things that needed to be taken care of after all. Th-then one day in the colony, I f-fainted while picking up Taylee and Talim from school, a f-few [weeks] after that… I had to be sent back here since the colony’s hospital had lost their last equipment shipment to an Arxur raid.” I paused and lowered my voice. “G-Glim stayed behind to take extra assignments, t-to cover expenses, h-he… he was… he was on his last pawful of shifts b-before leave wh-when…”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“…D-dad was at home looking after the kids, he’d sprained his leg while doing some maintenance, he called me early in the morning there, Talnum and Glim were in some kind of assignment together, and my mother had taken everyone else to get stuff from the market to prepare a farewell meal f-for Glim…” And after that… “The call disconnected abruptly, it had happened before so I… I j-joked to m-myself a-and the nurse that it was p-probably j-just the signal failing because I wasn’t there to maintain things p-properly…”
Tears started forming in my eyes again, Jorge shuffled closer, put his soft claw on my shoulder and gave a light squeeze, his warmth spread throughout me.
“…A few claws later I learnt the truth, that the colony had been raided and that the shelter had been breached, shortly after that, I… I lost my…” I did my best to look him directly in his eyes. “After that… I started planning how to get to the hospital’s roof…” There, a glint of recognition and pain in his eyes. “I was just waiting for the rescue fleet to finish up there, just in case, thankfully… my dad hid Taylee and Talim in one of the [Kitchen] cabinets after taking down the family pictures, since he couldn’t take them to the shelter, he… Taylee told me that he… he begged her to keep quiet before closing the cabinet. She stayed in there with Talim for I don’t even know how long… She… She hasn’t talked about it ever again.”
Another squeeze, then silence and cold as he retracted his claw back towards him, his face turning to another side while taking on some kind of thoughtful intensity.
“S-So… What I’ve been trying to say was… I kind of understand what you’re going through… A-and if you want to talk… I-I’m here?”
A small ‘nod’, and more silence. My eyes were beginning to feel heavy again, that nap hadn’t been enough it seemed.
Jorge harrumphed, causing a bolt of wakefulness to course through me as he began speaking, filling in the silence that had fallen on the room.
“…I don’t think I’m ready yet…” His face turned towards me once more. “But… thank you, for sharing, and for worrying about me, I… If you hadn’t been there when I drifted into and out of sleep…” His eyes widened in a flash. “Wait. ¿You haven’t slept right? ¿Are you feeling OK?”
“I-I t-took a nap after you f-fell asleep…” B-beneath him… “Y-you left a lot of space…” He did, but I couldn’t get to it from under his legs…
“Good, good…” His eyes flicked between me and the door. “Well… I suppose you’ve got stuff to do now. ¿Am I right?” Somehow, the expression that sat now on his face felt forced in a way. I kept quiet as I rummaged through my memories of The Aftermath.
Of course, he was trying to get me out to wallow in peace, just as I did…
That was the last thing he needed right now.
I needed to find a way to get him out of this room…
“Actually… I’m free until my kids get back, I’m used to taking care of chores quickly.”
“Right…” Jorge seemed to slowly steel himself, if I didn’t interrupt me, he’d just ask me to leave directly…
I tried to think faster, but the drowsiness was returning in force, it was no use… Unless…
“H-Hey!” My exclamation startled him, I pressed on to keep the momentum strong. “I uh, I kind of went through my whole supply of [shade root] tea to stay awake…” I didn’t. “And… I don’t really want to drink more energy drinks this Paw, I don’t suppose you have something to stay awake with you?”
Jorge blinked, again, once more, and again one last time before responding.
“¿I… think I have some coffee I could make?” He tilted his head adorably to one side as he scratched his head with one claw.
“Sounds perfect! Would you please make me some?” I stood up before he could even answer, reached for his idle claw and tugged at it towards me; He stood up in what seemed like a daze out of reflex.
We spent the next few [minutes] browsing the intact shelf, whatever this coffee was, it wasn’t there, the tentatively positive mood that had formed cracked a little as Jorge looked at the shelf barricade before he trudged over to it, stopping beside it where he gestured at vaguely with his claw.
We stepped past the barricade, tried not to look at each other, failed, shuffled in place for a moment and began sifting through the items strewn about the floor in an unspoken agreement.
It wasn’t long until I found myself holding a container that my translator insisted was labeled ‘Instant Coffee’. “Hey,” I started while turning, “is this the ri-” Jorge was looking intensely at something on the floor, I followed his gaze and saw it, the broken remains of the flame projector.
“J-Jorge?” I extended my tail cautiously towards his arm, his claws ceased to strain against themselves following the subtle flinch he had when the tip of my tail made contact with him.
I gave him the ‘Instant Coffee’ I was holding and scooped up the remains to dispose of them properly this time; Jorge held up the container and murmured an affirmation at me, I gestured for him to lead the way and proceeded to follow him to the [kitchen].
I raced my way directly to the trash container, separated the single-use fuel cannister from the remains I was holding, and dumped the inert bits inside; I’d have to take this last part to a proper disposal collection point in town some other time. For now, I glanced at Jorge and tucked it into a discreet spot in the cabinets when he wasn’t looking. Only after that did I notice what a mess I’d made up here despite my best efforts at cleaning up…
Jorge’s eyes were scanning all over the [kitchen], taking in every splotch, every spill and every crusted over utensil I’d used, he lingered noticeably longer on the open and haphazardly arranged containers of his that I had used, finally he stared at the Vanilla Extract bottle with a soft expression, it was the only container that had remained completely spotless and didn’t have a significant amount of its contents drained.
Yet another unreadable expression had settled on his face as he took a big pot and barely put any water in it, the other more reasonably sized ones just too dirty to deal with quickly, before putting it to boil on the [stove top].
“Uh…” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other a few times. “I… never did thank you for the drink earlier ¿Didn’t I?”
“N-no but there’s no ne-”
The patches of fur above his eyes furrowed together.
“You… mentioned before that you entered the program for money…” He looked confused. “¿Why didn’t you just… ask for me to be picked up? You’d have gotten someone else in no time… Hell, I’d still understand if you did it now. You don’t have to go through all this trouble for me.” The confused expression deepened as he gestured at the messy remains around us.
“…”
He was waiting for an answer.
“I… w-well I d-did enter for the money… b-but… I don’t want to just replace you… I like being around you. I d-don’t know if we’re there yet… But I’d like to be… f-friends! W-with you someday…” Oh Protector, I couldn’t be more obvious unless I just came out and said it…
“Well for what it’s worth… Thank you Tayla, you don’t know what that means to me right now.” He was looking directly at me, with raw emotion and palpable aliveness, my face started to feel as if I was standing under sunlight…
“I-It was the l-least I could d-do…” It was worth it even though he didn’t seem to understand quite what I accidentally meant before…
I was spared from further embarrassment by the pot of water sizzling violently behind Jorge who turned around in a blur to turn the heat off, while he did that I grabbed two (clean) mugs and set them down near him, though I didn’t move my paws quite fast enough as his claw brushed against me while he moved the mugs closer to him to pour the water on them.
He let the water cool down a little as he put his sugar and ‘Instant Coffee’ containers close to the mugs; He poured the less-than-boiling water into the mugs, stirred in a measure of ‘Instant Coffee’ and a measure of sugar as well.
He passed me a mug with a cryptic warning. “If it’s not to your taste, let me know.” Then he grabbed the other one, sipped a little and waited.
The mischievous glint in his eyes left me no choice, I’d have to play along for now; I raised the mug and sipped…
SPEH
WHY WAS EVERYTHING THESE HUMANS HAD SO BITTER?
I futilely attempted to remove the grimace from my face; Strangely, the roar of laughter I expected was nowhere to be heard, I found myself looking at Jorge with some amount of concern, though the clear, if understated, smile he sported calmed me down somewhat.
Wordlessly, Jorge reached for my mug and the can of powdered coconut milk, he then proceeded to mix in a little of it in both mugs, turning the liquid from a dark oily brown to a much lighter tone. Finally he mixed in a single drop of his Vanilla Extract in each mug and gave me back mine.
I gave him the best glare I could manage as I pouted at him, he took a deep drink from his own mug and held it up for me to examine.
With a sigh I tried mine again.
Warm. Flowery. Smooth. Bitter but not too much, like a perfectly harvested root. But most importantly of all, I could feel myself waking slightly more already, whether it was just self-suggestion or the drink having an effect so soon I couldn’t tell.
Once more, the reaction I expected from Jorge was missing, this time he seemed to be lost in thought, staring at a distant point in the air.
I took a moment to examine him, whatever he was thinking, it was starting to fester. It’d be better to get him talking “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s no-” He shook his head. “It’s just… I… my dad… he liked to drink his without adding anything, no sugar, no… coconut milk…, and… me and mom used to tease him about it…” He was retreating into himself once more.
I kept drinking my coffee; There had to be something else I could talk with him about…
Jorge straightened up, something about his posture, about the way he held himself had changed.
“Say… Tayla… ¿Can I ask you for a favor?” Despite the confidence he exuded he was running one of his claws over the back of his mug repeatedly.
“W-what kind of favor?”
“There’s something I want, no, something I need to make for the end of the [month], and… I’m going to need your help getting the stuff, I’d just ask you to get it all for me, but honestly that wouldn’t be right.”
“O-ok, but you still haven’t told me what the favor is?”
“I need to buy flowers, candles, a good tablecloth, and see what dishes I can actually make here that’d be good enough.”
“W-What for?” W-Was he? My heart was beating wildly in a peculiar mix of elation, nervousness and apprehension.
“I’m going to make an Altar for Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos), it’s the least I can do for my family all the way over here.”
W-
Wh-
WHAT?

Location: 6/10
It's basically as close as you can get to campus, which is nice. Safeway, HMart and a few other grocery stores are only a few blocks walk or a bus ride away. Close to the LRT too, which has its upsides, and (spoiler alert) its downsides. However, the HUB itself is a complete shitshow when it comes to food and the stores there either have a really limited selection, are super overpriced, or both.
Kitchen: 3/10
The appliances and cabinetry are all definitely nice and pretty high quality, however there are some MAJOR flaws to the layout. Firstly, there isn't enough counter space to have a microwave unless you don't use a drying rack or otherwise leave the drying rack in the sink which means you have no room to use it. Second, to even open the fridge you need to stand in the bathroom, which isn't a dealbreaker, but still pretty odd and resulted in my bathroom mat collecting a lot of dirt over time. Thirdly, there also just isn't enough counter space for anything at all, beyond even a microwave. You're forced to use the stovetop to have room for your cuttingboard/etc. or otherwise take it into the bedroom and use the tiny table.
The oven is small and has a heating coil on both the top and the bottom. I have had two Pyrex dishes explode on me in the oven, and my assumption is this is due to the fact that it's basically not possible to get far enough away from the heating coil to not explode. Also, basically every time I use the oven it sets off my smoke detector at least 30 times. These have compounded in me never using an oven, on top of not having a microwave. So I just use my stovetop, which still sets off the smoke detector every couple uses for no discernable reason.
TL;DR these units were not really designed with any kind of even remotely serious cooking in mind.
Bed/Bedroom: 4/10
Calling it a bed is pretty generous. It's basically a glorified gymnastics mat sitting on top of a metal cot. Twin/single bed sheets fit extremely loose, FYI. In terms of firmness I would say the mattress was on the firm side, but closer to the middle. Bed is squeaky, and there's also no real headboard so I had to line my bed up with a wall or else my pillow would slide off the bed 9,082,335 times every night.
There is only one light in the bedroom, and I unfortunately (spoiler alert) wasn't ever able to open my curtains. I will also say that most of the furniture in general is pretty low quality, aside from the armchair. I would genuinely consider the University's portrayal (https://www.ualberta.ca/residence/media-library/images/hub-floorplan-studio.jpg) one of the greatest catfishes of all time, and am honestly convinced that this has to be in violation of some kind of false advertising law.
Bathroom: 1/10
There isn't a fan in the bathroom and it is genuinely the stupidest idea I have ever seen executed. When I take a shower my entire kitchen gets covered in a light coating of condensation. It causes a lot of the metal in the bathroom (shower curtain, appliance covers) to rust very quickly. Not to mention, there are no drawers in the bathroom, only a cupboard under the sink. But why would you want to even put anything in the bathroom with how humid it gets there after a shower?
Cleanliness: 2/10
Dust collected in my unit at an insanely fast rate. I think it was because the heaters haven't been cleaned in a long time. I admittedly have OCD and am a bit of a neat freak but I basically had to sweep every day or every-other day. And I would sweep up a sizeable amount of dust, too. Enough to fill maybe 1/4 of a dustpan.
It was dirty enough that I threw out a lot of stuff (doormat, bath mat, etc.) when moving out because there was no way I could get it clean again.
Climate Control: 1/10
Virtually nonexistent. Through the winter my unit got below 15 C very regularly and now that Spring has hit I have been burning up to the point that I bought a box fan. I'm also on the bottom floor and can't open my window often for (spoiler alert) reasons, so that was also fun. I should also mention that apparently studio units don't even get ceiling fans?
Mailbox: 2/10
UPS, FedEx, and Amazon will deliver packages to your stairwell door and it will be stolen in less than 15 minutes. Canada Post can deliver to the boxes however I have had maybe 1 of every 4 Canada Post packages ordered get lost for no discernable reason. I had to pay $30/mo for a UPS PO Box and use the Amazon Locker to survive.
Food deliveries like DoorDash, etc. are very hit or miss because the delivery drivers do not like to deliver onto campus because they don't understand the layout. Be prepared to have to deal with really angry and confused drivers calling or texting you. Or your food delivered to the wrong unit. And lots of late deliveries.
Laundry: 4/10
Not enough machines for the sheer number of people living in the HUB. Be prepared to go at really inconvenient times if you want to do your laundry without having to wait an excessive amount of time. It's also pretty exhausting to have to carry laundry up three flights of stairs and all the way to the laundry room, as someone who lived pretty far from it.
The laundry room in general is pretty dirty. People will open your dryer or washer on accident and not restart the machine, pretty regularly. Lots of people leave their stuff in the machines for hours. It's also (spoiler alert) not 100% safe.
Privacy: 6/10\*
Pretty decent, though I have heard people living in the HUB say otherwise very adamantly. I didn't have a neighbor above or next to me so probably take this with a grain of salt. My biggest complaint is that I hear tons of people in my stairwell very late at night who are just walking through it and talking very loudly. There seems to be virtually no sound insulation whatsoever on the side of the room that has the stairwell.
Pests: 8/10\*
Outside of a few dozen fruit flies over my 6 months of living in the HUB, I didn't have to deal with any. Expect that this may not be the case for you, but pray that it is. My understanding is if you live under or even near a restaurant you are going to have mice and ants pretty badly. However, I will also note that I absolutely have seen cockroaches, ants, etc. just chilling out on the mall-level.
Safety: 1/10
OK so yeah, it's awful. I can't open my window because homeless people will come up to the window and ask me for food or money. Someone let a homeless man into the laundry room while I was alone in there and he came after me and I had to physically leave the room while leaving my stuff there for my own safety. I was approached by a human trafficker who tried stalking me for a week or two afterwards. 2-3 times I have heard people screaming (presumably on drugs or having some kind of episode) run into my stairwell to pull the fire alarm. There have been times I've been unable to enter or leave my apartment because people are literally just tripping out in the middle of the stairwell or in front of the door, etc. I've been followed home late at night from the bus stop/LRT station by people who were literally talking about mugging me.
Price: 1/10
Completely unjustified and unaffordable. The unit and the experience of living here is generously worth about 2/3 of the current price, if that. They have manipulated studios into being a monthly lease in order to squeeze every single penny out of you for rent. Not to mention I had to pay $30/mo for a mailbox from UPS to be able to get packages, so it's even more expensive.
Overall Rating: 3/10
\ = I am acknowledging that these rankings are very far outside of the norm of things I have heard about the HUB from other current and former residents.*

I won the chance to meet with my favorite Author. By no means was he an equal in comparison to the popularity of Stephen King or Dean Koontz but there was something special about his works. If you happened to stumble across one of his stories they had a habit of sticking around and festering like little rotten delicacies within your mind.
For years as a growing adult I sat down and studied every word of his. I tried to mimic the way he wrote and every time I’d fall short. There was something inside of me that just couldn’t match the integrity of his tales. Every story he wove sounded drastic, real, as if the main characters were screaming out for their stories to be heard in hopes they didn’t fade away into eternity.
He didn’t just make the characters come alive, he made them tangible. The reader felt as though the characters themselves were only a pages flip away.
Maybe that’s what made his horror so powerful. It wasn’t just the people you felt you could turn too, but also the creatures, the villains, the things that couldn’t be described by anyone else except by Vincent Valentine himself.
I ended up writing a brief paper and submitting it to a contest wrapped around the idea of ‘who inspired you to write?’ I can’t say I won by any means but every paper was openly displayed on the internet for anyone to read and comment.
Imagine my surprise when I received a comment from one 'Vincent Valentine' exclaiming only a few words;
‘You’ve warmed my heart. Keep a lookout in your inbox.
With much appreciation,
Vincent Valentine.’
I remember the sinking feeling in my heart as I read his comment. I felt blessed by a man so above my stature that it made me feel spotlighted in oddest, best and worst type of way. Nearly every hour on the hour I’d do a quick log in and hope to see the little message icon highlighted in the upper right hand corner of my screen.
This went on for a week. Precisely 7 days later on the hour of his comment I got a notification that someone had sent me a message.
‘109 Woodcrest Rd. Portland, ME? I feel confident in my sources. Expect a package soon.
With elation,
Vincent Valentine. ’
He had found my address.
To say I was surprised wouldn’t sum up my feelings in the least. I felt no hostility or fear however, it was almost Wonka-esque. I felt like I was getting a golden ticket and that feeling wasn’t misplaced. Another 7 days later I woke up to find a package waiting at my door.
I stared down at it for a minute, a black fabric shroud was tightly wound around a wooden box. My address was stamped in red lettering over the thick velvety veil. Next to it lay the words ‘From: Vincent Valentine.’
I reached down letting my hands grasp around the extravagant box. With a gentle tug I raised it off of the ground. The concrete seemed so boring and mundane compared to the package. I almost felt ashamed that I had let it sit there even for just a moment.
With a quick spin I turned around, slammed my door shut and proceeded over to my kitchen table. I tried to find the seams of the dark fabric, tugging along the edges but to my surprise found none.
From here it took me a moment to comprehend how I was going to open it without damaging the pristine void like cover. With some trepidation I wandered over to my storage closet and pulled out a box cutter. I hated the fact I had to ruin such an interesting presentation but I knew there was no other way.
I pressed the tip of the blade to the fabric and slowly slid it down. As the fabric retreated it split open revealing a red swirly underside clearly influenced by the colors of flowing blood.
My lips twitched upward before a small laugh left my lips. I stared at the display in front of me. I had cut the fabric from one corner to the other and it had perfectly spread and curled back like a body under autopsy. The wooden box itself lay under the skin ready to dissected from its body.
I set my box cutters aside and pulled out the wooden chest. Intricate designs were carved into the paneling and I instantly recognized them from how Vincent described them in his books. I was looking at Avestan text. They were so beautifully drastic from our modern characters and alphabets.
A chill ran up my spine as I thought back to the horrors Vincent had described in his tales. His greatest theme was studying the dangers of the oldest knowledge available in the world. The spreading of unnatural knowledge was ever present in his works. Granted I couldn’t read the carvings I still appreciated the showmanship.
I had never in my life thought I’d ever be brought a gift like this from someone I admired as much as Mr. Valentine.
I felt the indents of the box as my fingers trailed up to the lid. The wood seemed cold as if it had been left in some winters cavern overnight yet it was a midsummer's day and the sun was blazing outside of my front door. With a quick flick upwards I removed the casing and peered at the contents inside.
The innards of the box contained a black leather bound journal and next to it an envelope stamped with the symbol that appeared in every one of Valentines stories, the mark of Aka Manah. The forgotten God of magic and suffering.
I pulled the envelope out first, letting it rest in one hand while my other hand blindly felt around the table for the box cutters. With a quick nudge I felt a light sting. My eyes tore away from the folded letter and to the razor on my table. With blind stupidity I had skimmed my skin across the blade slicing my fingertip open. I let out a huff of disappointment in myself before gripping the handle and pulling it upwards towards the stamp.
Very gingerly I rocked the razors edge around the bottom of the wax seal, hoping to keep it in one piece. Oddly enough the wax seemed incredibly durable. Even after a couple of flawed jabs it held up nicely. The lip of the envelope separated exposing parchment inside.
I could feel the shivers creep up my spine and crossing over to my neck. Something was so foreboding about this whole situation and I loved every second of it. At the time I felt like I was in the definition of a horror novel.
I carefully pulled the parchment out from its resting place and began reading the handwritten note.
‘I hope you’ve enjoyed the extravagant show I’ve so far prepared for you. There is so much more to come. Inside this very special case that I’ve provided you resides a bound journal. I couldn’t help but notice the limitations to your short stories. Though I loved every single one, I must say, I found something missing. I wouldn’t worry though. I want to help.
Further in this envelope are plane tickets. I want you to visit my home for seven simple nights. By the time you leave I can promise you that little black book will be filled with your first ever living, breathing tale.
All you have to do is make the plane journey and I’ll take care of the rest. Make sure to sign the front cover of your new book. It’s special after all and it’s all yours.
With respects,
Vincent Valentine.’
I slowly lowered the letter on the table, careful to avoid spilling any droplets of blood onto the page. I could feel the indent of the tickets still in the envelope. I couldn’t believe my luck. I’d say my heart sang but once again something crept its way in me, something dark. It felt like I was being invited to a gala that I didn’t belong at.
I was simply a dwarf standing amongst giants.
I shook the feeling off and reached into the box to retrieve my new journal.
Each page was blank and crisp, hundreds of pages ready to be filled. When the flickering of pages reached the front cover I noticed something. A simple black line. A perfect place for my signature.
With a tepid sense of giddiness I raced back to my storage area and retrieved a pen. I quickly returned to my book and spread it open wide. With one hand I held the pages spread and with the other I held the pen. I swept my signature boldly across the line, and just as my pen tip left the page, a single droplet of blood pierced down on top of the paper.
A final period at the end of my name.
The irony of this wasn’t lost to me. I laughed trying to offset the feeling of unease. Signing that book shifted something in my life that I wouldn't be prepared for. I no longer felt like I didn’t just belong near the giants. I felt like they now were aware of me. They were watching me, judging me.
The tickets that lay inside the newly opened envelope were scheduled for 7 months out. I knew these dates weren’t by coincidence. Vincent wanted these sevens to appear, for what reason? I couldn’t say. I figured more of his showmanship would explain it to me in due time.
So I cleared my schedule for a while and prepped for my departure.
When the date came I took a taxi from my home towards the airport. The sky was darkened and cloudy. I watched as lightning flashed in the distance within the heavy gray clouds.
The sky seemed so high up that day. A true monolith of creations might. I could almost feel something immensely powerful looking down upon me from within that storm. It's eyes were assuredly turned down upon me and the journey that lay ahead.
In contrast, the airport itself felt as clinical as always. The typical smell of coffee mixed in with the incoming rain blended together into a mesmerizing fragrance. I grabbed a cup for myself and pressed it against my lips. I let the aroma fill my nostrils as I took in the sights of the planes docking and departing.
When the time came for me to board, lightning struck the tarmac. A mix of asphalt and gravel exploded near our plane. Several passengers screamed out in fear. The explosion sent pellets of rocks into the metallic frame of our sanctuary.
Of course the plane was decommissioned for the day. All planes in the area were tarmacked until further notice. I felt my shoulders give way to disappointment. Vincent said all I had to do was board the plane and he’d take care of the rest. Due to the fates I couldn’t even manage that much.
I took a seat over at the departure area and began my wait. It took the storm 7 hours to depart the area and free up the skies for travel. I had nearly given up on the trip when I heard the intercom sound from overhead.
“All flights are now boarding.”
I looked around me and noticed only a handful of us had survived the stay. The rest had all left. No doubt distraught over their failed plans. Us few who remained had boarded with ease. Almost like a miracle, the rest of the journey went smoothly. We traveled hours before the sun began setting and we arrived at our destination briskly at dusk.
Upon exiting the plane we all headed towards the luggage area. Much to my surprise I was intercepted just meters away by a handsome clean cut man dressed up in an all black suit and wearing a chauffeur’s cap.
“Excuse me Madam, I believe I’m here for you.” The Gentleman said, his dark brown eyes squinting at me with remarkable elegance.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” I politely questioned. I couldn’t have imagined that my ride would have waited for me after a seven hour delay. I was already prepared to gouge my own pockets to hire a taxi service to Mr. Valentine’s home.
“I’m in service to Mr. Vincent Valentine. I believe that I’m to take you to his residence.” His voice was so soothing and smooth. He seemed like more of an actor playing in a role than a real services employee.
“In that case, I’m sorry I made you wait.” I turned my eyes to the bags next to him. He had already procured my luggage.
“Oh, don't worry about that Madam. I haven’t been waiting long. This is the precise time I was told to arrive and so I did. Now if you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Valentine would like to see you as soon as possible.” He flashed me a smile, his pearly teeth were perfectly aligned and accentuated his chiseled jaw.
Without much more conversing he led me to the back of the small parking garage. With a slight nod he guided me over to a black 1964 Dodge 330. It looked ravishingly untouched despite its old age.
My personable Valet walked over to the passenger’s side door and opened it for me. I went to collect my belongings from him but he stopped me. He let me know he’d take care of my bags. I thanked him and took my seat. The interior of the vehicle reflected much of the same feel that it had projected on the exterior. That this was somehow a brand new classic.
When my Chauffeur returned to his side of the vehicle and shut his door I felt myself jump. I was once more jostled into feeling out of place. I had wished that I could have brought some company with me. Someone to be within my same social class. Instead I was resorted to simply just being a fish out of water in the lap of dark luxury.
Without another word and only a glimpse of a quick smile from my companion, we headed off.
I was surprised by the terrain we had found ourselves in just minutes after leaving the airport. The businesses and shopping centers had given away to grasslands and forests. The trees at first came one by one, then by clusters and then finally they tunneled us in. There was merely a thin road with a wall of lumber on either end of us.
Yet still, I was immersed in the landscape. My eyes jumped from one thing to another. The hoot of an owl, the chirping of crickets, it all amazed me. It was as if I was a new born baby entering the world for the first time. The face of my traveling partner remained nonetheless unimpressed. His demeanor made it clear that this journey was nothing special to him. And I suppose it wasn't.
As the darkness outside had peaked, refraining me from any sort of sightseeing, the man next to me spoke up.
“We’re here, Madam.” He spun the wheel of the car instinctively and circled into a large rounded driveway. I looked out my window and saw a large stone manor cropped up in chiseled Gothic architecture. Gray brickwork textured and meshed brilliantly with darkened oaken doors and rich window frames.
“I’ll get your bags. Please, head up to the door. Mr. Valentine is waiting for you.”
I nodded and thanked my driver who waved away my thanks in a polite manner.
“Oh, don’t thank me. I’m just doing what my contract outlines.” With one final charming smile he exited the vehicle. I soon followed
The size of the manor astounded me. Vincent was an amazingly talented author but I knew most readers had no idea who he was. How he could afford to live in a Victorian palace like this was unexplainable to me.
With heavy lead lining my heels I made my ascent up the stone patio steps towards the large wooden door. Hidden amongst the frame of the giant gate was a wicket door. As my feet reached the final step I felt myself freeze up. The way the manor had towered over me made me feel inexplicably small and meaningless. It had left me intimidated beyond movement.
“Well, go on Madam. You've made it this far.” The driver called out to me in a gingerly tone. He was preparing my luggage for travel. With trembling hands I knocked on the thick oaken door. A muffled impact sounded with every strike. A few moments passed by before the wicket creaked open. Inside was a beautiful young woman dressed in a black service outfit, much like the driver wore behind me.
With nothing more than a glance from her piercing eyes she spoke up.
“Welcome to the Wordsmith Manor Ms. Williams. Please come in.” The fair skinned lady reflected the same charm all of Vincent’s employees seemed to have. Though her tone was much sharper and direct. I admired her long black hair that had been pulled back into a tight bun. The dark color resonated brilliantly with her freckles and icy blue eyes.
“Thank you.” I quietly muttered. I kept my eyes low to the ground. I was scared of further intimidation from this home or its perfect occupants. I felt a finger lightly tap the underside of my chin and I looked up to see the Maid smiling at me with an unexpectedly soft smile.
“Don’t be scared to look around. Mr. Valentine specifically asked us to allow you to get a grasp of all you could on your way up to him.” After a quick meeting of our eyes I finally let my gaze roam. Inside was just as immaculate as the outside. Stone lined the walls with finely finished wooden flooring.
The dim lighting that flickered around us seemed to emanate on its own. I saw no signs of lights or cords connecting to any outlet, nor any outlets in general. I felt as though I had stepped back in time. Endlessly long hallways stretched out in every direction from the foyer. It struck my imagination immediately as it quite literally looked like an intricate spiders web.
As I was taking in the sights of the Wordsmith Manor, the male servant scooted past my back in a hurry. He was carrying my luggage up a nearby staircase.
“Your room will be located just upstairs in the main guest room. Your bags will be there for you to unpack. Though you'll find everything you need already located in the room should you search for it. For now Mr. Valentine would like to meet with you.” With a light footed twirl she began walking in front of me. I toed just behind her.
We went through a nicely ornamented hallway of different paintings. Each art piece seemed to be of different creatures and characters that could only be found in the multitude of books Vincent had written. They were painted just as vividly as the author had described them as. They felt like windows into another world rather than paint on parchment.
As I gawked upwards at the portraits of all of the characters that had enraptured my mind over the years, I had scarcely noticed the change in lighting. A rose coloring had begun filling the hallway spilling outwards from a nearby threshold. It lent the way to warmth and a calming sensation. With a few more steps towards the wave of soothing light we entered Mr. Valentine’s Den.
Many books and tomes lined the walls of this area in a neat fashion. Not a singly speck of dust prevented the shimmering of polished wood from glowing in the light. A large red rug swirled with golds and blacks. It lay at the center of the room. Sitting right next to a large stone fireplace
was the man I had only seen on the back covers of my favorite books, Mr. Vincent Valentine. Above him a large portrait of a hellish landscape. The placard read 'The Face of Aka Manah.'
“She’s ready for you Sir.” The woman chirped up. Vincent’s eyes fluttered to life as he looked to her than over to me.
“Thank you my dear. And also, of course, thank you Ms. Williams for coming.” His eyes shined unnaturally well with an endless depth of knowledge and experience. The red tint of the room had darkened his irises to a near pitch black coloring.
“Mr. Valentine, thank you so much for doing all of this.” I nearly stumbled over my words but managed to choke them out. Vincent merely gave me a half smile and shook his head dismissively.
“Nonsense. I saw that article you wrote about how my stories. About how they had inspired you to take up the pen and try your hand at crafting your own tales. I was beyond flattered.” He motioned his slender finger over to a blood red leather wingback chair that sat next to him. With a nod I followed his directions. With a short walk closer to the Author I had taken my seat in the form fitted throne next to my life long hero.
“It really is a shame how many people don’t know about you.” I offered as a sincere sentiment. His half smile spread slightly more across his aged and wizened face.
“My work finds precisely the people I want it too. You can’t share true horror with just anyone you know. I think some Authors found that out the hard way.” With a soft chuckle he resumed, “but this isn’t just a pleasant trip, as you must’ve gathered from my letter. This is a gift. I want to tutor you for for however long it takes until you can find your voice. I can promise, no matter how heavy and large that black book you hold feels, it’ll fill as easily as any ink to paper with the right motivation.”
With one of his ancient hands he pointed over to my jacket pocket, exactly where I had kept my little black book. How he knew where it was still remains a mystery to me.
“I would love to learn from you if I could get the chance.” I held back a yearning look. I didn’t want to make this man think lowly of me.
With a quick check of his watch his face had grown long and disappointed.
“The nights fading well past dawn and I fear our time tonight must be cut short. That being said I want you to understand one thing before bed. Each and every story you tell is as real as flesh and blood. Maybe not to you but to someone, something, somewhere. The cosmos is large and beyond that even larger. Science is just starting to scratch into what philosophers have known from the beginning of time. Sadly humanity's science will never catch up to their freedom of thought. The human understanding will always be a blip of the whole until it’s wiped out completely.”
The way he was staring into my eyes told me so much about who this man was. Whether or not he was sane may have been up to a debate to everyone but himself. He knew he lived in a reality so much more vivid than our own.
“Excuse me sir, the guest bedroom has been prepared. We have seven minutes.” A feminine voice behind me had broken me from my trance. Mr. Valentine's gaze left my own and looked towards his servant.
“And so ends my lesson for the night. Dream about what I taught you and I can promise by the morning you’ll already be one step closer to a new well of horror. Possibly by tomorrow night you'll be completely submerged.”
Before I could respond, the Maid had ushered me out of the den. We had arrived back in the hallway of portraits. The faces amongst them had seemingly changed their gazes to match my mood. Their eyes now were cast down upon me, judging me for who I was and who I wanted to be. Once again I felt that feeling of foreboding darkness. This time however I looked the Demons back in their countless eyes. I was trying to see them as real entities just as Mr. Valentine had requested that I do. Their terrible gazes seemed to soften with every step I took. Their lips seemingly upturning at the edges of their mouths in just the slightest of manners.
Once we hit the staircase in the main foyer I chanced a glance down an adjacent hallway to see the elegant servant carrying thick iron chains from one room to the next. After quickly shutting the doors behind him he used the irons to bar them from the outside. He glanced over towards me and our eyes met. He nodded at me in acknowledgment. His face seemed paled and worn.
My guide nudged my arm to grab my attention away from the man. "Hurry now, we need to get you in bed soon." With a hurried but dignified saunter she had led me up the wooden staircase and into the abyss above. Just as the den had tinted the air red, the second floor cast shadows of darkness around every corner. I felt a cold breath of wind run through me that seemed to emanate from the Manor's stone brick walls themselves.
“My apologies for any drafts up here. It’s been a very long time since anyone has been a guest in the Wordsmith.” Her voice reflected an apologetic tone but also that of stoicism, as if she was repeating an archaic sentiment from her memories but still a sentiment nonetheless.
“It’s fine, I enjoy cold air as long as there's a nice warm blanket to accompany it.” I forced a smile and looked at the side of the servants face. She seemed to have a coy expression on her lips at my fleeting justification for a drafty home.
“And here it is, right at the top of the staircase. I hope you find everything to your liking. If not we’ll do our best to please you in the morning.” She turned to face me. Her eyes emanated light in the darkened corridor. They were submissive but penetrative, an odd combination but one gained from countless years of servitude.
“I’m sure I will. Thank you.” With a nod she stepped beside the door, allowing me entry past her. I walked in front of the Maid and pressed my small hand on the brass handle of the guestroom door. A quick tug and a push allowed me entry.
I gaped at my room.
A large queen sized bed lay mid-way between the doorway and the far wall. A veiled rose colored canopy adorned the edges of the bed mimicking Victorian royalty. The posh blankets seemed soft enough to resemble that of ruby red a cloud. I had never seen anything like it with my own eyes before.
An expansive window lay on the farthest wall, moonlight pooled into the room and coated my resting place with a beam of heavenly light. Just below the window resided a writing desk and a chair, neatly tucked in. No signs of dust or unkempt follies showed any sort of face in this pristine room.
With hushed footsteps I approached my bed. The door latching shut behind me. I allowed my hands to slowly draw back the drapes, the silk nearly slipping through my fingertips. I took a deep breath and laid down. The bed gave way underneath my body and devoured me into its encasing folds. I let out an exhausted breath as I smiled and stared up at the ceiling. I couldn’t possibly have felt more excitement and desire for the future. My heart had swelled up inside of my chest at that moment.
With little more notice my eyes pushed themselves shut and filled my mind with an empty darkness. Neither dream nor thought seemed to come to me that night. My weary brain needed a rest perhaps more than I knew.
I woke up hours later to the brilliant shine of the morning’s sun. Even through my wispy half taut curtains the sunlight had managed to breach into my room. The large window had fully replaced the moonlight from the night prior. I looked down at myself and sighed. I had fallen asleep with all my clothes on including my shoes. I felt as though I had somehow once again proven that I didn’t belong within the halls of the manor.
I pushed that negative thought out of my mind. Quickly followed by physically pushing myself out of my resting place. With all the clarity of an early bird, I let my eyes travel around the naturally well-lit room. I saw a small door on the wall nearest the foot of my bed.
Shortly after I saw my luggage neatly placed near a hardy looking writing desk. After a quick post slumber stretch I allowed myself to start the process of unpacking my belongings. I quickly discovered that the door nearest to the bed led to a bathroom. With travel pack in hand I entered.
Marble countertops and glistening silver accessories lined the bathroom. A smile broke through my face as I saw how disheveled I looked in the mirror in comparison to the pristine nature of the room I was in. I walked to the counter and unzipped my baggie.
To my surprise everything I could need was already placed neatly in a row. Toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant and even other more personal items. Strangely enough they were all my favorite brands.
I shook it off and convinced myself that I just had good tastes in products.
I took some extra time with getting myself cleaned up and presentable. I was fully prepared to make a good impression on my host. Hell, at that point in time, I just wanted to keep pace with his Servants.
Once I was freshened up I put my used clothes into a linen hamper and headed out towards the bedroom door. With a quick flick of my wrist I felt unexpected resistance. I tried again to meet the same result.
It was latched shut.
I kept trying but sure enough the door was locked up tight from the outside of the room. A slight panic began to fill my chest. A panic set in by the fast realization I had allowed myself to enter a strangers home without proper precautions.
I felt my heartbeat begin to race.
With a heavy fist I pounded on the thick wooden frame of the door. Not too long after I heard heavy footsteps glide up the staircase to the other side of my room. With the sound of a lock turning the door opened. Standing on the other side was the Butler, my former Chauffeur.
"My apologies Madam. It's been so long since we've had a guest I suppose it slipped our mind that this door would need unlocking." He tried to give me a charming smile but I wasn't going for it this time. I quickly spat a retort back towards him.
"Why was my door locked in the first place?" I questioned, my eyes shooting directly into the brown depths of his.
"It's mostly to keep the night staff out. They don't like to be bothered much and can be a bit of a handful if they bump into anyone they don't know." In retaliation to my stare his eyes had softened and melted down some of my guard.
"Well I don't care about that. I don't want my door locked. Don't do that in the future." The man grimaced and nodded.
"As you wish." He stated flatly. "Now If you wouldn’t mind breakfast is about to be prepared. If you head to the dining room I’m sure Mr. Valentine will meet you there.” With that the man headed back down the steps towards the foyer. I stood still. I was at a loss as to where to venture. I decided to follow him and venture down the steps. By the time I reached the bottom the man was gone.
"You can head straight down towards the Den but make the first right in the hallway." I jumped as the female voice spoke up right behind my back. I turned around to see the maid behind me. She gave a calm nod and waved out her hand, pointing down the direction of the hall.
“I’m sorry, thank you.” I whispered. It was slowly becoming clear to me that there was something lurking just below the surface of this manor, like it was all a part of some type of show.
With that in the back of my mind I headed off down the hallway. The stone began to lighten up towards the back as a large windowpane took over an entire wall. I entered the windowed room and saw a rather extravagant dining set. Two chairs presented themselves at the foot of either end of the table.
I chose the chair that seemed reserved for a guest, the one less commanding of the dining room. Before long a sensual smell filled the room. Freshly baked bread, bacon and eggs were all seemingly being made from scratch. I stared outside the window as I waited and saw a large clearing in the woods. A bench lay outside facing the yard while several rocky outcroppings lay at the far end, just out of my sight.
“It’s a beautiful day isn’t it?” A smooth voice trailed off. I had glanced at the doorway to see the tall slender figure of Mr. Vincent Valentine. A new blazer was draped over his body accentuating his strong but thin shoulders.
“Very beautiful Sir.” I said, smiling at him. He put out his hand and waved my pleasantries away.
“No need for that. I need you independent for teaching, otherwise you’ll just end up like me.” His tone was like silk. He knew how to speak. Without another word he took his seat at the other end of the table. Fresh plates of food were brought out by the servants and placed in front of us. Just as I had imagined they had prepared fresh biscuits, bacon and eggs along with finely toasted bread.
I raised some food to my mouth and took a bite, nothing but purity of flavor could explain the taste. It was so very refined. It was prepared in such a way that I had to believe that the chauffeur didn’t just have a knack for driving under his belt but was a perfected chef as well.
Mr. Valentine gazed out of the window as I ate, not touching a bite of the spread that lay in front of him.
“Are you willing to go beyond your personal comfort to write?” He asked out loud. The surprising nature of his question made me put my food back down on my plate.
“As long as I’m being taught by you, I don’t think we could go wrong.” I offered while I eyed up the strange teacher.
At my words his sharp gaze shifted to my eyes, penetrating my very soul.
“I want you to leave here a creator, an author of the highest ability. That takes a great deal of sacrifice. Would you be willing to do that?”
I felt stunned at his question. I didn’t understand his meaning nor his goal.
“I believe I am.” I replied. I looked on his face for any type of signal that I had said the right thing. To my surprise a smile came across the old man’s face.
“Good to hear. Tonight will be a fine night for horror.” With that Mr. Valentine stood up from his chair and walked out of the dining room, leaving myself and the feast before me, to our own devices.
I took my time to fill my stomach and then excused myself silently from the table. I wandered the halls of the Wordsmith endlessly. The layout seemingly to continuously shift with every loop. I couldn't explain it but my thought's seemed to refuse to be collected.
I had based by two equivalent foyers, three libraries and countless halls. Eventually becoming lost in the maze of the manor. I felt a cold sweat begin to hit me as I was quickly realizing I wouldn't be able to get back to where I started.
Somehow every long hour only lasted a short minute. The windows began to shift from morning light, to brilliant afternoon beams to a rose colored sunset in just moments.
I spent all day lost and didn't speak with Mr. Valentine a single time after breakfast. No doubt frustrating the man that I was wasting his time.
I quickened my pace down the stone hallways. Left, Right, Left, Forward. Somehow I looped around. I began to jog. Night was approaching. The layout was impossible. Where were the servants?
I heard whispers coming from doors that had long since been chained shut. The same chains I had seen the Butler the night prior carrying. Could this be some ploy just to scare me? If so how were they commanding these stone spaces to loop and twirl so easily around me.
It didn't matter eventually. Night had fully fallen by the time I found myself at the Foyer near my bedroom. Even though hours supposedly had past my stomach was still full from breakfast.
I felt like crying. I wasted an entire day of my trip running around a manor by myself. Not a single page written in the journal Mr. Valentine had bought for me. And to make it worse a quick glance around the hallways showed no signs of life. Just cold drafts of dry air. I had no option but to go back up to my room and try to start anew tomorrow.
I traced my steps back up from the night prior and making it back up to my room. Inside was dark, clouds had covered the moonlight letting nothing break through the thick ink that had pooled inside. I kicked off my shoes and fell back onto the bed. Tears in my eyes.
With every huff of air I took I could hear an echo coming from the blackened corner of the room.
I turned my head and stared into the void.
I couldn't make out anything at first. I wiped the water from my eyes and kept focusing. Eventually a figure formed in my mind. Something just taller than myself. Masculine, dapper.
The Male Servant.
I sat up and called out to the shadow. "What are you doing in my room? How long have you been there?"
The mans outline just continued to watch me. My senses suddenly kicked in. Some sort of instinct was telling me to get as far away from this man as possible. I slowly stood up to my feet, my eyes not leaving his shape.
I slowly began to step towards the door. His frame just stood in the darkness like a drape, his face watching me as I walked further away.
Once I was near the door I felt my shoulder bump into something. I turned and stared at the Maid. Or rather the Maid that was not a maid.
Her outfit clung to her like loose fitting rags. Her face gaunt and mouth opened exposing a pit of darkness outlined by a row of pearly white teeth. Her lower jaw jiggled with my shoulders light touch.
I heard a voice in the back of my head call out to me. 'Run.' And so I did.
I immediately ran down the stairs towards the front foyer. The skittering of feet following closely behind me. I reached the front door and pulled. It tugged but refused to budge. It was locked. I turned to face my pursuers but through my squinted gaze I was met with nothing more than an empty room.
I started to breath heavily trying to control myself. Off down a distant hallway I heard a door open and close. It sounded like it came from Mr. Valentine's Den. I turned back to the front door and tried opening it again, looking for the latch.
Footsteps began to walk down the hallway towards me.
I pulled and pulled, tears welling up in my eyes again. I made a mistake. Coming to here, meeting a stranger, I was being dumb. I never should have taken the offer.
Eventually I screamed out at the front door and heard a soothing voice come from behind me.
"What a terrible night you seem to be having." It was Mr. Valentine. I turned to face him. His back was turned towards me and face obscured.
"Mr. Valentine, please, I don't want to do this anymore. Something's wrong with this place. I'm sorry, I just-" I froze as Mr. Valentine walked closer to me. His knees protruded backwards, facing the wrong way underneath his fine silk slacks.
"My dear, you have 5 days left here." With that all the light faded in the Foyer. I was cast in darkness.
It wasn't until sunlight hit my face the next morning that I felt some sort of relief. I looked around me, I was in the guest bedroom. Precisely where I was the night before. I shot back up and looked around. Nothing was out of place. I heard a knocking at the door. It was the Maid.
"Madam, we've prepared breakfast for you. You wont want to miss your first lesson with Mr. Valentine. He's waiting for you.
I didn't know if I could make it much longer there. Nothing made any sense.
When I came to think of it, I couldn't even remember a single title Mr. Valentine had ever wrote.

I (31 F) have been married to husband (40 M) for 4 years now and have a 4 month old together. My husband had 6 kids (ages 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15) from a previous marriage which I had no problem with when I met him. Within the 4 years there have been many problems with his kids and his meddling ex wife. They come to stay with us during the holidays which is nice. We do fun things together or just hang out at the house but sometimes can get a bit much. They don't tidy up after themselves. Leaving clothes and rubbish around the house and cause a fuss when asked to clean up. My husband has told me not to ask them to clean them after themselves because they are not here to do housework. I am the one that always cooks and cleans up after them while he sits around doing nothing. The last time they came I asked them all what they wanted to eat twice and I got no respond so I told them there's food in the fridge and to warm it if they want, I asked the 6 year old what she would like. As I went into the kitchen to prepares her food, my husband comes storming at me telling me how horrible I am to tell them to warm up their own food. As I was trying to explain to him that they ignored me he continued to shout at me telling me to leave him alone. Naturally I left him alone and went to check on my 4 month old and stayed in my room for the rest of the day. The next day the oldest children are up cooking eggs for their siblings. They are clearly capable of caring for themselves. There is always a fuss whenever they come over and I've reached my limit. I am exhausted from doing all the housework all the time with no help and now I have a baby to care for also, the pressure is just too much. My husband and I have now not spoken for several days as I refuse to apologise for what happened because I believe I have no reason to. I have stayed out of their way and focused on my baby only. I no longer want to be here when they come as its so exhausting and really affects my marriage. I have not voiced this to my husband yet as I know he will be annoyed by this and not understand. Am I the asshole?

I want to know what kind of spider’s my family saw but have very limited info. My family went camping in Tucson, Arizona. While they were around the camp fire, they could see little spider eyes shining at them from around their camp site. They said they could see multiple and it was very clear it was little spider eyes. They said some spiders actually approached their campsite. They described them as large with spindly legs and smooth bodied, not hairy or chubby like a tarantula. They apparently looked almost silver in color. I’m still waiting to hear back about the size. They didn’t take pictures because they don’t love spiders like I do. Are there any spiders in AZ that reflect a silver shine and will approach campsites/resources even when humans are around? I am so curious. I have exhausted avenues on Google and figured this might be a better place to ask.

tl;dr
My lazy wife expects me to do nearly everything and I'm really missing any affection and companionship.
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So, I've been married for about 10 years and we have 2 wonderful kids. Over the last few years, my relationship with my wife has changed for the worse. About a year ago, she basically just decided that we can no longer sleep in the same bed due to my snoring. So, now I kind of just live out of the guest room/office. We never really spend time together. I've been mostly just focusing on spending time with the kids and taking care of the house.
My wife is a stay-at-home mom but spends most of her time laying in bed. Lately, she has only been able to do the kids home schooling and some laundry once a week. Although, she is able to use the riding mower every other week. For context, I work a full-time job 8 hours a day and every day I'm expected to make/get dinner, clean up the kitchen, and take care of the kids until bedtime. It's just exhausting to come home every day and feel like I have to do everything.
For more context, my wife has been dealing with some back problems, anxiety, and I think a thyroid condition that seems to sap your energy. But at this point, I think she's just really lazy and tries to use this stuff as an excuse for not taking care of her responsibilities. I've tried to be patient and hope that she starts doing stuff more. Nothing will change if she's just laying in bed all day.
I've been really missing the companionship and affection of my partner. I feel like a single Dad with a terrible roommate most of the time. I've started thinking about looking for someone new, but that just seems really selfish. Leaving the relationship has so many negative consequences and I wouldn't be able to afford it right now anyway.
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Thanks for letting me vent!

Just curious. I'm pretty much responsible for everything beer related at a 3.5 bbl brewery with a small kitchen. I make beer, order raw materials, do all the recipes, maintain cellar stuff, clean draft lines, run my spent grain to the farm. For the most part, if something isn't done by me, it doesn't get done. I don't have an assistant brewer or anything. The owners handle taxes and paper work which is good and I feel like I'm compensated rather fairly.
I just feel like it's easy to get burnt out in this scenario. Usually I keep myself busy by going to the gym, Some weeks t's just easier to say fuck it and go home and crush beers when I'm exhausted, which doesn't help. I take a lot of pride in my work and I honestly want the place to be have a bunch of different offerings. We always have 12 beers on tap and I feel guilty about the handful of times when there weren't.
I dunno, just venting since I work alone. Cheers.

He called me last night, it was only like 11:30 but I was struggling to wake up properly for the call which I feel guilty about. He wanted reassurance and I was so sleepy I don’t think I helped very much. His friends wee bubba fell and knocked his head on the table or something and Andy felt like it was his fault? It absolutely was NOT his fault and I feel bad that he thinks it was. Then again I would feel responsible and guilty too if I was in his shoes so I totally get it. It’s a bit unfair that his friends make him feel a bit as though it’s his responsibility too, like yes Andy will look out for the lil one and if someone leaves the room then sure, he’ll keep a more watchful eye but in a room with two of his parents? Andy should be free to relax? But I always hear about how parents get super relaxed after awhile, but even still. But like their baby is taking his first steps and waddling around, wouldn’t you want to baby proof that room a bit? I would? But I know I can also be a bit overly cautious, but if I had a coffee table I’d be covering the corners and putting some kind of covers on electrical outlets and whatnot, things they need to learn about and be careful about but not when they’re still a baby yknow. Let the wee one just toddle around and explore their surroundings and all that yknow. It’s frustrating how things kick into overdrive when Andy talks about the lil baby, it makes me wanna get knocked up ten thousand times by him, like I do NOT need or want those sorts of thoughts and feelings and yet I start picturing me outside on some sunny day wearing a pretty little floral dress all pregnant up and glowy and Andy with his arm around me and idk, it’s so nice? Maybe at some kind of family lunch somewhere idk. I know I’m being ridiculous even giving that any thought but the idea just leaps into my mind whenever I get all clucky/broody/chickeny. And I bet Andy would be the best partner when giving birth, like he’d learn ALL about it ahead of time (which I would obviously do too because you best believe I want to know every tip and trick in the book beforehand) and anyway, I bet he would hold my hand and breathe with me and all of that. He’d be so wonderful, I just know he would. I really really really need to shush. This is not good thinking. One thing at a time!!! It’s just I’ve never had feelings for a guy that I’ve genuinely seen a future with, he’s the first who I truly love and want to build a life with, and so these thoughts are so exciting. Also important to note: I still don’t even know if a baby is what I want. A puppy? YES. A home? YES. A life filled with nice things and travel? YES. A child? Hmmm. Anyway he called me and I think I was just deep in sleep when he did which is why I wasn’t adjusting to waking up that time? Often I can wake up quite easily when he rings, maybe it depends on how I’m sleeping when he does? Hmm. Anyway I feel bad for not being as present as I should have been. I hope he isn’t feeling guilty or like he did anything wrong, he really didn’t. I get it though, babies being hurt in your general vicinity always brings about some level of guilt. It’s also not fair for them to just plop that responsibility in his lap, especially when I’m sure they know he’s not overly comfy with babies and that sort of responsibility and things - I’m not either, I don’t like being left alone with a kid, it makes me so anxy that they’ll be abducted or killed on my watch and idk. Anyway.
I slept in lots today. I was awake from 6/7am ish but it was so warm and comfy and cosy so I just dozed and daydreamed and read my book for a few hours and I got up around 10. It was very nice. The bed here is so comfortable, it’s far too soft and squishy for me to have but my godddddddd it’s comfy. I watched a very relaxing video of a man mowing a lawn, it was so satisfying. So many people watch them and I can see why. I especially liked when he would slice into the dirt alongside the footpath and whatnot and the weed whacker and things. It was all just quite satisfying, even though lawns are so meh. I looooove lush grass, I know lawns aren’t the best for the environment/eco systems and what not, but anyway. Like meadow and hilly field grass, so lovely.
I tried to tell mum more about how I feel and my mental health etc in the car today and to her credit she tries but idk. It’s hard when I’m comparing against an actual therapist and Andy. No one seems to listen to me or understand me the way they do? Especially him. Not always, sometimes he misses but most of the time he just seems to get it? She doesn’t really seem to accept the depression side of things, she just talks about anxiety. I think maybe it’s what she feels comfier discussing which is fine. I also think maybe she doesn’t realise that I don’t have depression in that obvious sense? Like yes I have had it like that and genuinely wanted to die and would think about how and when to do it etc, but it’s usually just that PDD? Persistent depressive disorder? Or dysthymia? Whatever it is. Where I can function but it’s difficult for me to do so most of the time and just a usual day will take a lot out of me and I just find it hard to sustain a good mood or whatever. Anyway.
This afternoon I ran some errands with mum, I returned some parcels, bought some dog toys and went to a couple of supermarkets. I looove MW, I’d say the name but it’s only in my city/region and hello stranger danger so I won’t say the name. But so they have all this wholesale stuff and so many interesting products and I LOVE it there. The packaging of everything is always so nice. They have these massive cans as they stock hospo places and anyway I just love anything huge or mini of an every day item. For example these were big 3kg size cans of regular Watties spaghetti and then they had the usual 420g on the shelf above and idk there’s something about that that makes my eyes so happy. I just love big versions of normal things or mini versions, it takes me back to when I was a little girl and if always make me and whichever parent I was with at the time go to the cheese aisle so that I could hold and cradle the babybel cheeses as I thought they were so beyond cute and I just had to touch them and hold them and see them. And sometimes I’d ask to have one and I’d get one and I didn’t ever eat them I’d just play with it til I had to throw it out. They’re just so CUTE. Anyway so we did that. Then spend the afternoon on the sofa with pup reading/chatting/watching random YT videos with dad as he watches them on the TV a lot. Like we came home and he was watching how to make some kind of pork belly dish. I showed him the lawn mower videos. He showed me these videos on 3D printed homes or 3D made homes? We watched a really interesting one on ones made from dirt, they looked so cool, like wee ant hills or wasp nests? And some made from concrete and so on too. We also watched one on Gorbachev who was a decent guy and therefore Russians hate him? Go figure. And he was also in a Pizza Hut commercial. And we watched one about the queen mother and some comedy skit from the 60s which I don’t usually find funny but this one I did. Pete and Dud? Something like that. And then I made dinner for us all and cleaned the kitchen again and then again after dinner.

Hello ouitards, hope everything is going all right! Without further ado.
What happened last week?

• Non farm payroll: +339k jobs vs 195k estimates. the labor market don’t seem to slowdown
• This put the fed in hot water in regard to rates, the pause that was anticipated after the regional banks meltdown, might not be as priced in anymore.
• US gov came to a deal for the debt ceiling, obviously…

What to watch for next week?

• Apple dev international conference on Monday
• Trade deficit update on Wednesday
• Fed rates future should pick a side this week as we get closer to next FOMC (14th june), 25 bps hikes or pause?

​
hopefully the trend don't reverse
pause seems priced in for now
https://preview.redd.it/s004n8mjj64b1.png?width=406&format=png&auto=webp&s=2c2fdc78f78f105b7d4f4818f544c219169f4108

Canadian news For Week #31, May 29 2023

Monday

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Tuesday

Kinaxis RapidResponse Available on Google Cloud Marketplace - KXS.to

announced that the market’s leading supply chain management solution, Kinaxis RapidResponse® is available on Google Cloud and in the Marketplace.
RapidResponse supports key business processes such as demand and supply planning, integrated business planning, sales and operations planning (S&OP) and inventory management, and delivers end-to-end transparency with its control tower capabilities. Concurrent planning breaks down organizational silos, unifies disparate data under a single all-inclusive data model, and codifies business-wide trust through the continuous alignment of everyone and everything across a company’s end-to-end supply chain.

Magellan Aerospace Signs Agreement With the Boeing Company for Exhaust Systems - MAL.to

announced today the signing of a contract extension with The Boeing Company (“Boeing”), to manufacture large and complex nacelle exhaust systems for the 767 program. The fabricated metallic assemblies will be produced and delivered from Magellan’s facility in Middletown, Ohio.
The continuation of this agreement with Boeing will ensure the supply of Magellan’s acoustic plug and nozzle exhaust assemblies for the 767 program. Magellan utilizes internally manufactured metallic honeycomb in the production process. The metallic honeycomb is manufactured utilizing materials suitable for higher temperatures and offers advantages in weight savings and acoustic attenuation.

CAE awarded US$455M subcontract for U.S. Army Flight School Training Support Services- CAE.to

announced that CAE Defense & Security has been awarded a contract from General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) to support Flight School Training Support Services (FSTSS) at Fort Novosel (formerly Fort Rucker), Alabama.
The contract, valued at US$455M, supports the recent US$1.7B award to GDIT by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) for simulation capabilities and training support services to prepare initial entry-level and graduate-level rotary wing flight training at Fort Novosel.
Under the terms of the 12-year contract, CAE will build and deliver new full-flight simulators for the CH-47F and UH-60M platforms to meet the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence's rotary–wing simulation services requirements. In addition to owning and operating the new training devices, CAE will also implement CH-47F and UH–60M software configurations for reconfigurable collective training devices.

CyberCatch Announces Sales Distribution Partnership with Lanetco, Leading Canadian Managed Services Provider, for AI-Enabled Continuous Cybersecurity Solution - CYBE.v

nnounce a sales distribution partnership with Lanetco, a leading Canadian Managed Services Provider (MSP).
Lanetco specializes in serving small and medium businesses, not for profit organizations and trade associations and provides a full suite of IT services as a MSP.
Lanetco first signed up with CyberCatch to attain full compliance with Canada's national cybersecurity standard and for continuous cyber risk mitigation. Then it decided to introduce and distribute CyberCatch's AI enabled solution to its customers and prospective customers.

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Wednesday

Kraken Robotics Announces $9.5 Million Contract with the Navy of a Large Asia Pacific Country- PNG.v

announces a $9.5 million contract to supply high-resolution seabed mapping sonar equipment to a navy in Asia-Pacific. The customer cannot be named at this time. Under the scope of the contract, Kraken will deliver its KATFISH™ high-speed minehunting solution. The contract also includes a variety of support and sustainment options, including training, spares and operational support.
Under the acquisition contract, Kraken will deliver its KATFISH towed Synthetic Aperture Sonar, Tentacle® Winch and Autonomous Launch and Recovery System (ALARS) in Q2, 2023. Kraken’s equipment will be integrated onboard a vessel of opportunity selected by the customer. Continuing to build off successful KATFISH deliveries with various NATO navies, this represents Kraken’s first KATFISH system sale in the Asia-Pacific region.

Solar Alliance signs contract for $1.47 million solar project in Tennessee - SOLR.v

announce it has signed a contract for the design, engineering, and construction of a 565-kilowatt (“kW”) commercial solar project for a manufacturing client in Tennessee.
The project, with a $1.47 million capital cost, is scheduled to begin construction in Q3 2023 and is currently targeted for completion by the end of 2023.
The project contributes to a backlog of contracted projects that now totals $4.6 million. All of the projects in the backlog are scheduled to be completed this year, including the following previously announced contracts:

Danavation Technologies Announces Multi-Location Contract to Install Digital Smart Labels(TM) into Pitou Minou and Compagnons (Global Pet Foods) Stores Across Quebec - DVN.cse

announced a multi-store contract to install Danavation's Digital Smart Labels™ into eight franchised Pitou Minou & Compagnons ("PMC") locations in Quebec that offer Global Pet Foods' products, the largest Canadian-owned pet specialty retailer. Completion of these eight installations represents an opportunity for Danavation to recognize up to a total estimated C$500,000 in revenue. With nearly 40 storefronts currently operating under the PMC (Global Pet Foods) banner in Quebec, and more locations opening up every year, Danavation is afforded the potential for future growth with this brand moving forward. The first installation is expected to be completed by early August, with the remaining seven locations to be outfitted at a rate of one to two per week thereafter.

A2Z Receives Smart Cart Order from New York-based Food Retailer Morton Williams- AZ.v

announce that it has entered into an agreement with Morton Williams, a well-established retailer in the New York metropolitan area, for the order of 100 specially designed 75-liter smart carts, tailored for deployment in urban supermarkets. The order is to encompass an upfront payment and monthly subscription payments. This collaboration showcases the potential of A2Z's smart cart platform solution, empowering retailers like Morton Williams to optimize their operations, enhance customer experiences, and generate additional revenue.

MDA AND THOTH TECHNOLOGY CREATE NEW CANADIAN SPACE DOMAIN AWARENESS CAPABILITY - MDA.to

Announced it is working with Thoth Technology Inc. (Thoth) to create a made-in-Canada deep space radar surveillance and space domain awareness (SDA) capability. As part of a strategic cooperation agreement, MDA commercial data services will be integrated with Thoth's ground-based radar technology to provide unprecedented levels of sovereign monitoring in deep space over Canada, providing both detection and characterization of space objects.

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Thursday

GreenPower Delivers All-Electric School Buses and Prepares For Additional Orders from California Dealer - GPV.v

announced that three BEAST all-electric school buses were delivered to its exclusive dealer Creative Bus Sales ("CBS") last month. In addition, CBS has more than 40 Type D BEAST and Type A Nano BEAST school buses for which HVIP (California's Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project) voucher funding is either approved or are in the approval proces
In May, GreenPower delivered three BEAST school buses to CBS for deployment with Escalon Unified School District and Hayward Unified School District. GreenPower has six additional BEASTs on order from CBS and is in the process of delivering three by the end of June to Grossmont Unified School District. Additionally, GreenPower is preparing two Nano BEAST school buses for delivery to CBS by the end of the month for the Anaheim Elementary School District. The Nano BEASTs will add to the school district's existing fleet of four BEASTs in operation.
Creative Bus Sales currently has 17 approved HVIP vouchers for GreenPower's Type D BEAST school buses for five different school districts. "Creative Bus Sales is now able to order 13 BEAST school buses against their 17 approved vouchers for four of these five school districts," Perez continued. "We can immediately pull BEASTs from our existing inventory, which are compliant with the California school bus specifications."

Quantum eMotion Introduces Advanced Entropy as a Service System, Powered by Its High Performance Quantum Random Number Generator - QNC.v

announce its Entropy as a Service system, code named QxEAAS.
Entropy as a Service (EaaS) is a ground-breaking concept that involves a service provider offering on-demand entropy by means of a cloud network. Entropy, which in this context refers to the degree of randomness or uncertainty in a system, plays a vital role in cryptography where random numbers are used to generate cryptographic keys. To achieve high quality, QeM's random number generator (QRNG2) utilizes the principles of the quantum electron tunnel effect, to produce truly random numbers that are inherently unpredictable and uncorrelated. By seamlessly incorporating this technology into the QxEaaS system, QeM fully leverages the advantages of QRNG2. This integration guarantees that QeM's Sentry-Q cryptography platform benefits from the maximum levels of entropy, thereby bolstering its resistance against increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyberattacks.

Ballard & First Mode sign order for 60 additional hydrogen fuel cell modules for zero-emission mining trucks - BLDP.to

announced a purchase order for Ballard to supply First Mode with 60 hydrogen fuel cell modules – totaling 6 megawatts – for delivery in 2024. The order represents an expansion of the relationship, following the order of 35 modules year-to-date in 2023, to power hybrid hydrogen and battery ultra-class mining haul trucks.
First Mode is working to scale production for the next generation of the nuGen™ solution, including fuel cell and battery powerplant and related infrastructure. First Mode has begun integrating Ballard's fuel cells from the previously announced orders and will continue to bring an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles to the field with the order announced today. The next several engines will be demonstrated at First Mode's Proving Grounds in Centralia, Washington, USA starting in 2024.

Innergex and MMBC SIgn a 30-year power purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec - INE.to

Announce the signature of a 30-year "take-or-pay" power purchase agreement indexed to 30% inflation with Hydro-Québec for the electricity to be produced by Mesgi'g Ugju's'n 2 ("MU2").
Mesgi'g Ugju's'n 2 is a 102 MW wind project to be located in the MRC d'Avignon and an extension to the existing 150 MW Mesgi'g Ugju's'n wind facility commissioned in 2016. MU2 is the result of a 50-50 renewed partnership between Innergex and the three Mi'gmaq communities in Quebec – Gesgapegiag, Gespeg and Listuguj – represented by MMBC. Its commissioning is scheduled in 2026.

Westbridge Renewable Reaches Definitive Agreements with MYTILINEOS to Monetize 1.4 GW Alberta Solar PV Portfolio - WEB.v

announce that it has entered into definitive agreements entered into on June 1st 2023 in connection with the purchase by Metka-EGN Ltd. ) of a portfolio of 5 solar projects located in Alberta, Canada, from Westbridge, with anticipated aggregate capacity of 1,410 MWdc (1.4 GW) upon commercial operation.
The Transaction is to be completed by way of a share purchase by Metka of all of the issued and outstanding shares of the following subsidiaries of Westbridge: Georgetown Solar Inc., Sunnynook Solar Energy Inc. , Dolcy Solar Inc. , Eastervale Solar Inc. , and Red Willow Solar Inc.. Westbridge will retain ownership of the SPVs and continue to lead the development of the Projects until closing, which is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals.

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Friday

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Godspeed regards, don't FAFO

Pest management is critical to ensuring a healthy and comfortable living environment. While bugs may appear to be an irritation, they may pose serious threats to our health, property, and general well-being. In this post, we will look at the multiple advantages of pest management and how they affect our life.
Protection from Health Hazards:

1. Pests such as rats, cockroaches, and mosquitoes spread a variety of illnesses and infections. They may contaminate food, distribute allergies, and spread infections such as salmonella, dengue fever, and Lyme disease. Effective pest management procedures serve to limit these health concerns by eradicating pests and blocking their entrance into our living environments. By maintaining a pest-free environment, we protect our health and the health of our loved ones.

Preservation of Property:

1. Pests may do enormous damage to our homes, buildings, and valuables. Termites, for example, can silently eat timber structures, resulting in costly repairs and structural instability. Rats and mice may eat through electrical wires, providing a fire hazard. Furthermore, pests such as bed bugs and carpet beetles can cause damage to furniture, upholstery, and fabrics. Regular pest control treatments assist in identifying and eliminating these damaging pests, keeping our property and saving us from costly repairs.

Improved Quality of Sleep and Living:

1. Bed bugs and mosquitos are well-known for disrupting our sleep and creating pain. Itching, allergies, and sleep difficulties can result from their bites. We can remove these evening pests using comprehensive pest control procedures, guaranteeing a quiet and undisturbed sleep. Furthermore, a pest-free house is more comfortable and pleasurable to live in, improving our overall quality of life.

Prevention of Allergies and Asthma:

1. Cockroaches, dust mites, and rodents are frequent allergens and asthma triggers. Their droppings, lost skin, and saliva contain allergenic proteins that can aggravate respiratory disorders and trigger allergic responses. Proper pest management techniques, including as frequent cleaning, sealing gaps, and eliminating moisture sources, can lower these allergens and promote a healthier indoor environment for allergy and asthma patients.

Preservation of Food Safety:

1. Pests can contaminate our food supplies, leading to foodborne illnesses and food spoilage. Flies, ants, and rodents are known to contaminate food surfaces, leaving behind bacteria and pathogens. Implementing pest control measures in food storage areas, kitchens, and dining spaces helps prevent food contamination, ensuring the safety and integrity of our meals. This is especially important in commercial food establishments where strict hygiene standards are crucial.

Peace of Mind:

1. It can be highly distressing and irritating to live in a pest-infested environment. Constantly dealing with bugs, worrying about their presence, and attempting useless DIY techniques can harm our mental health. Professional pest control services provide peace of mind by delivering dependable and long-lasting pest control solutions. Knowing that your house or business is being safeguarded by skilled professionals provides you peace of mind that your pest problems are being managed successfully.

Conclusion:
Pest treatment has various advantages that go beyond the immediate removal of pests. Pest control plays an important part in boosting our total well-being by safeguarding our health, conserving our property, ensuring a comfortable living environment, and reducing the spread of diseases. Investing in expert pest control services not only protects us from potential health risks and property damage but also gives us the piece of mind that comes with living in a pest-free environment. Let us make pest control a priority and realize the many benefits it provides to our life.

Hi everyone - I am looking to sign a 'retail premises not located in retail shopping centre' lease (it's an office as part of a body corporate). It comes with a decked out kitchen with oven, dishwasher and range hood, split systems and in the disclosure statement "important facts for tenants" that among many things landlords need to "repair and maintain the premises, structure, appliances, fittings and fixtures provided under the lease" but and it also says that "These requirements automatically form part of your lease and can't be overridden, even if your lease states otherwise". However in the lease (which real estate agent said is a standard REIV lease) it says " the tenant responsible for the expense of cleaning, inspecting, maintaining, repairing and/or servicing the premises and the landlord's fixtures, fittings, plant or equipment in or serving the premises; "
Now I questioned this and the agent said that the landlord wasn't going to send someone to clean the oven and my response was I am happy to maintain the plant equipment but in the event an oven fuse goes or the dishwasher has to be repaired or replaced then I shouldn't be liable. These chattels come with the lease, I can't leave with them and I have no idea of the working order, how old they are etc...
Interestingly the agent never said "oh that clause in the disclosure statement is wrong" just said he would have to go back to the landlord but it might be 'tricky'. Interested to hear off anyone else has had experience with this? I know commercial leases favour the landlord but it seems that its quite clearly stated in the rules and regulations under the retails tenancy act... I'm in Melbourne btw.
Thanks

hey everyone, hope you're doing well. Last month or so, i was feeling overwhelmed and made a post about possibly taking a break from RS, and there seemed to be a lot of support from other addicts/daily players/returning players/casual/new players, etc... it was really eye opening and has increased the quality of my life two-fold. i appreciate anyone who took the time to comment and share their story or give advice.
flash forward a month or two unto this very moment, i've decided that i'll be officially leaving (dailyscape) june 12th. with more immediate changes like playtime reduction and physical activity happening today monday june 5th.
i really really love this game, and all of my online friends. it's practically all i live for, and while it's been a good 3-4ish years, i really need to stop sitting down for like 8-18/+ hrs daily. it's draining, and i'm sleepless most days. my arms, back, knees, very weak. whats crazy is that doesnt even include my time spent on the cellphone scrolling reddit/twitteinstagram/youtube all day.
My diet has been daily 2-4litres of coca cola/pepsi soda and tens of thousands of dollars in delivery orders. which at times has put me in the negatives/debt and neapenniless several times. even wasnt able to pay my rent one time because of it and that was a bad month playing catch up. all while still playing the same amount. and it's crazy cuz there was a solid year or two where i only survived because i stumbled into a situation with an abusive but somewhat caring partner who kept me fed and would help me with housework. enabling me to play more. and instead of caring about my situation and doing something about it, i didn't tell anyone until it was too late for me. i was afraid of losing food and extra rs playtime comfort, and they used it against me in the worst ways. but thats on me. nobody else. not the point of the post, but just saying that focusing solely on Runescape can really prevent you from 'running and escaping' your real problems. in the real world. it's like putting blinders on a horse... all fine and dandy because it can carry a few hundred extra pounds, but eventually some miles down the road it will possibly have some sort of fracture/injury/death.
im now fully aware that i hid/e behind my addiction and it's not helping long-term. no matter what i tell myself, and what my 'friends' and commenters have said.. it's not cool.... and its not healthy to play hours on end every single day, unless you;re already maybe housebound or chronically ill. but the exception does'nt make the rule.
in recent months it seems like everyone wants to throw around the word 'fomo' (fear of missing out) and it can be a real thing forsure, but only if you let it be.
i/we need to be accountable instead of something like chuckling at our 'time played' on steam overlay. it's really not funny bros.
same with "just logging for dailies" it's never just that most times, and doing every reaper + daily + dnd x2/4 back to back within a small timeframe certainly does'nt help either. the xp and gp rates are some of the best for the time played... i can agree, forsure. but is it really fun in comparison to a full life outside of runescape? really think about that.. it took me lots of notetaking and comparison/research/conversations just to even start thinking. i was sold the illusion that i can do whatever i want because it's my life. which is true!!! and hey i definitley loved playing 12=18 hours some days, forsure, but i couldnt begin to tell you how many times ive played for days and weeks on end with not a glimmer of hope.. just because i wanted to force prgoression. it's scary to think back on it sometimes because whenever i look at my window from outside on the way home now one of the first thoughts is "wow i cant believe i've sat behind that curatin for 250+ days playtime".... almost literally can't unsee the imaginary shadow of depression that lurks in my window.
when people say "do whatever you want" they almost will never lay out the consequences for you.. because it's your situation to deal with... and that's fair. figuring stuff out on your own is oftentimes a really large part of life, i mean heck me and my buddies would joke about touching grass and opening the curtains for sun these past years.. like i mean yeah it's an mmorpg, but it should'nt be the end of our lives. confined to a chair. i literally didnt realize the damage i was doing.
funny story, so two weeks ago i bought an $80 mop and spin bucket instead of ordering takeout food for the day. when it arrived i realized i couldnt even sweep or mop because i had hundreds of soda cans, delivery food bags, and random stuff all over the floor. after spending 12 hours cleaning it up, i mopped the floor for the first time in........ 16 months? maybe longer? was probably like near xmas 2021 last time i swiffered/reusable mop, and wow bros i mean wow.... i know i forgot and i knew it was dirty all the time.. but like.. not that dirty.. it literally took me x4 buckets on each section of my apartment, a whole bottle of floor cleaner, and lots and lots and lots of moving around.. even passed out from exhaustion at one point. it was embarassing.... i felt like asmongold when he went to build his ikea bedframe with pinksparkles, but couldnt because he was too lightheaded. if anyone knows what im talking about you know thats not a good thing lol.
after i woke up to nice clean floors, but messy everything else, i revisted the old post i made about contemplating a break, and it was like i had a sudden realization that mopping my floors is only 1/100th of the responsibility and accountability i should be holding in my daily life. fr. since those past few weeks i have now swept and mopped every other day with the windows and curtains open. it has literally been changing my life. going barefoot ona nice clean floor with a fresh scent really makes the place feel like 'home' and brightened up. i dont know how to explain it bros but i promise if theres one small step thats worth making.. its having a clean floor, clean kitchen, clean bathroom, and clean bed. feels like a 5-star hotel or some kind of exspensive airb&b rental. which is crazy.
so odd to think with the money ive spent to be a degen on rs3, i could've been pursuing my dreams of nationwide, and worldwide travelling - literally could've even bought a small piece of land, fixed up an old vehicle, and camper trailer aswell. all of my major life goals would've been met... odd.
starting to realize it's really weird how i have many accounts, billions of xp, gold, rares, etc... but truly not very much to show in the real world other than my awesome personality and smile. which means a lot to a select few, sure, but probably means nothing to the majority.
nobody except my rs friends and readers of this post know that i sometimes stay inside for 1-12 months at a time (zero sunlight) playing 12 hour days the majority of the week. it's always been my little secret that i sweep under the rug. like a dirty little cave goblin.
i really don't know any helpline phone numbers anyone can call if there in the same position as me, because i've never had any assistance or anybody to talk to except the people i play with everyday, and honestly while playing does help in the moment, it's not ideal. not saying you cant do it like i did or keep doing it or whatever.. your call homies, but like this post is specifically for the bros wanting to pursue recovery and make positive change.. not quit.. just fix things to a healthy playstyle.
it's not impossible bros, please don't give up and relapse if there's something you want to achieve in the real world. we're all gonna make it brah. i promise you.
someone said it a few months ago on here and i cant remember who, but "RS will always be there for us. always. and the real homies will keep your discord and rsn on their list." and with max cash + necromancy being released soon, i just know for my sake that it's time to slow things down. i can't/won't play catch up with re-maxing my acc/s and finshing trim. i just cant do it for my health sake and at this point im finally OK with it taking years.
irdk if this post is even allowed, but i just really wanted to share my experience of addiction and my journey to a healthy recovery and healthy playtime.
i really love everyone in this subreddit and lots of people on the rs official discord server. except the trolls of course! lol! but yeah RS family.. it's time i start being a more casual player instead of daily addiction. i miss sitting down in a restraunt, going on hikes, going to gym, tanning, basic hygiene. you know normal everyday human stuff that's shown to increase quality of your life. all the stuff that i used to somewhat do before covid pandemic. which isnt an excuse. just saying the pandemic really exacerbated my already bad situation and ended up putting blinders on. thats all. my fault 100%.
hang in there bros, you're not alone ,not now not in the past not in the future, you have more support than you know and all it takes is making those first few steps... sometimes and id probably personally even go as far to say.. most times those first steps and reaching out to someone can be the hardest. i'm living proof of that, but every centimeter you move forward is another centimeter from falling back, bros. which really makes all the difference.
really really hope everyone has a really good monday update and monday morning... and a really productive week too - y'all are on my mind all the time and i don't know where i'd be and what i'd be doing without y'all. this community has saved me and rebuilt me from the ground up too many times to count. thankyou coomunity.
also goodnight to the late night players who didnt go to bed a hella longtime ago, lolz. imma get a few hours of sleep too then need to walk across town and drop off some mail.
but yeah if anyone needs a buddy for the next few days or wants to learn some pvm/skilling tips, or even just vent for some support or something about ur addiction... i'll be around a little bit for the next week on reddit and ingame for small stuff until june 12.
also p.s. i'll end this with a hot-take: Mental health awareness event and the matching MHAW promo that ended early was absolutely terrible and did my/friends mental health no favours. which we're aware is our fault, but really just seemed like one big, poorly planned, cash grab.
have a great week y'all

We have a 4 bedroom house that is expecting new tenants. Until movers screwed them over with the dates they were going to move in on the 1st, then the 4th, and now after paying pro-rated month rent to hold the house, they will be moving in the first of July if not sooner.
We have been working our butts off with this house. I wish there was more I could have done but I’m not handy, but I can paint. We stayed over there on an air mattress and every single day while my boyfriend went to work, I would paint the house and continue helping him when he got back until around 1-3 am. I am exhausted. Painting really wears you out when painting room after room and every single door, window, and trim. 3 floors total and every single room but the kitchen was painted.
Though it’s not finished. The painting is done other than going around and doing some touch ups. But we have some more repairs that I can probably help with. But it feels like my whole body is aching and not to mention allergy season giving me congestion headaches. Mixed with paint fumes and cleaning products, it’s a lot. I was also working at least 13 hours a day given I started no later than 10 am and stopped around 2 am, for an entire week.
I feel awful for not helping anymore but I truly don’t know if my body can take it. I keep trying because I feel crappy about the job not being done, it’s driving my anxiety crazy, but whenever I go over there and attempt, it hurts. My back aches, my feet burn, my knees are bruised, even my butt hurts from sitting on stepping stools and the floor so often. I keep trying to tell myself that there is hardly any more that needs to be done and now we have at least another two weeks so he can handle it. But I feel like a buttface for not helping anymore. WIBTB if I told him I cant do anymore and give my body a rest?

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/ReddXReads/comments/13lfqkw/vulturebeard_the_legbeard_that_ruined_roomies_fo Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/ReddXReads/comments/13u79ht/vulturebeard_bad_roomies_part_2/
^{Hi again, it’s the bunny. I’ve just barely stepped into Reddx’s discord, but Ezekial is still posting this saga for me so thank you, Z.}
Trigger warning: This will deal with a lot of aspects relating to child neglect (and possible abuse) and Kid being ignored or taking the brunt of Vulture’s anger. Sorry for the spoiler as well, but I think we saw this coming, too (especially if you’ve seen Z talk in the discord). Don’t push yourself to read if you’re not okay with these concepts.
The Cast List
Bunny (author): 33, female. Recovering lifelong doormat slowly building a spine. Neuro spicy gym rat with major depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder, and most recently diagnosed with ADHD. Unfortunately, very familiar with surviving trauma.
Z (poster): My partner. 31, nonbinary (they/them), also neuro spicy with depression, anxiety, OCD, BPD, autism, and also familiar with lifelong trauma.
One Liner Beard (OLB): 33, male, neuro spicy with ADHD and depression. His nickname here comes from the fact that in messenger, he usually has one-word replies like “oof” or “mmm” as an acknowledgement he had seen the message but has nothing further to contribute.
VultureBeard (Vulture): 30, female, neuro spicy and disabled with multiple conditions. She has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, POTs (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), autism, depression, anxiety, chronic migraines, but also possibly a list of things that may or may not be real. The star of this unfortunate circus. Her name comes from how she always pops up when I’m cooking food, complaining about how hungry is and how she’s unable to cook.
Kid: 3. Female. OLB and Vulture’s child. Likely neuro spicy like we all are, but she’s also only 3 years old. Slightly speech delayed and not potty trained yet.
Take a deep breath. Now take another one. This chapter will likely make you mad.
​
Chapter Three: “Do You Want Bologna?” Or, Vulture as a Parent
Imagine this: it’s eight in the morning and you’re cozy in bed. The blankets are warm, and you hit snooze on your early alarm so you can sleep in before you have to get up.
Your peace is shattered by a toddler crying, followed by the screech of, “WHAT!” or “GET DOWN FROM THERE!”
Yeah, welcome to The Life.
Vulture has a messed-up sleep schedule. It’s partially because Kid doesn’t sleep soundly through the night, but it’s also because Vulture’s sleep schedule is essentially flipped backwards to where she stays up all night and wants to sleep during the day. Vulture says it’s “insomnia” but sometimes she’s up late gaming with Discord friends or watching anime. I couldn’t tell you which issue it was day by day. Sometimes if I go to sleep late, I hear Kid crying from her room because she had night terrors or had potty troubles. Sometimes I hear OLB and Vulture awake shuffling between rooms in the hallway.
Because of this, Vulture and mornings don’t mesh well. Kid is usually put in her room for bedtime around 7 PM, usually with her tablet to keep her company and either give her something to watch, or to play white noises for sleeping. Kid does not have a real sleep routine as well. She’s just kind of shut in her room. Sometimes there’s a bit of a routine like winding her down with chocolate milk and giving her a countdown of “okay, ten more minutes and then bedtime,” but for the most part she just does not want to go to bed. Bedtimes are met with a lot of crying, and the beardy parents telling us that she will be upset for a bit.
Kid has an attempted daily schedule, if Vulture is awake enough. Theoretically:

• 9 AM: Awake and watching TV while Vulture is on her computer in the same room
• 1 PM: In the room for naptime (but it’s usually play time)
• 4 PM: Free to run around while dad is home
• 7 PM: Bedtime (but she’s usually playing then too)

But a lot of times, that schedule gets thrown out of whack depending on if Vulture gets up on time. When she sleeps in, Kid is in her room from 7 PM to 1 PM. Sometimes Kid will make a fuss to make Vulture get up earlier than 1 PM, and Vulture will be grouchy because she “went to bed at four in the morning” because she either had “insomnia” (read: gaming or watching anime) or because Kid wouldn’t sleep. Or Vulture will be up to take care of Kid and make sure she is in a clean pull up and has eaten. Then she shuts her into her room and goes back to sleep. Sometimes if Kid is too much of a handful, Vulture will say, “It’s 12:45. That’s close enough to 1.” And put Kid in the room because that’s close enough to nap time.
Sometimes because Kid won’t go to sleep, she’ll still be up at 9 PM and that breaks her schedule too. A lot of times, it works out that OLB is the “fun” parent while he’s home, because he’s up at 4 AM to leave for work by 6 and doesn’t come home until between 4 or 5 PM. Then she spends time with him while he’s home.
There’s also a child lock on the inside of Kid’s bedroom door, those doorknob covers that you have to push and turn, so she can’t open the door and wander around unsupervised. I was originally the one who suggested the child lock, back when she was younger, and they didn’t have the secondary child gate they currently do now that’s stored in the garage. Since then, with her potty training and Vulture’s likewise awful sleep schedule, I’ve suggested more than once that they take the door handle blocker off and put up the second kiddy gate they have to block the living room and kitchen off, so she can get up if she needs to, but the child lock still remains. At most, she would have access to their room, since it doesn’t have a kiddy lock on it. Me and Z’s bedroom has a child lock on it, as well as the bathroom door. She could freely wander between her room and her parents’ room that way.
I hear Kid playing in her room by herself a lot, squealing and having fun and playing pretend. Or moving her furniture around. And no, the furniture is not secured to the wall, so she can move her bed around the room. I’ve also told OLB and Vulture they needed to make sure she can’t topple it and chain it to the wall but, yeah, that hasn’t been dealt with.
When Kid really needs attention, she will cry and wail. And I mean wail. The two beardy parents don’t have baby monitors or anything that can hear into her bedroom, so she has to wail loudly enough to be heard through the walls. Luckily, the house has thin walls. Because of her early bedtime, she’s often awake early in the morning. Sometimes Vulture will respond, sometimes Vulture won’t wake up until around noon.
Yes, that means Kid is by herself a lot.
Kid is a bubbly three-year-old. She loves it when Z and I give her attention, which admittingly isn’t as often as I would like to give her. With my own Depression™, I spend so much time fighting to just gather enough mental energy to be a productive human. Despite me wandering in a mental fog, Kid remains a bright spot in my day. I met her when she was a fresh baby bean just barely out of the hospital, and I immediately fell in love. Since then, I’ve seen her grow almost her whole life, except for when they were all in north Texas. She has blue eyes and brown hair that will curl on its own. She loves dinosaurs, Baby Shark, Octonauts, and occasionally whatever anime the parents are watching. Don’t ask me how many times I’ve heard the Baby Shark song. I don’t want it stuck in my head for another solid week.
She used to watch a lot of Ms. Rachel’s Songs For Little videos, because originally Vulture wanted Kid to learn sign language to help communicate. I’ve rarely seen Vulture attempt to upkeep the sign language lessons. She did at one point. I think after Kid started becoming more vocal, the idea was dropped. I have heard some of the familiar videos so often that even I learned the kid’s songs, but I guess that’s also part of the collateral when dealing with kid’s media.
Kid usually exists in a half-dressed state, usually just wearing a pull up and that’s it. Unfortunately, because Vulture is so hard on her tangles when she tries to brush her hair, Kid doesn’t like hair care and will fight being brushed. Her hair used to exist in a perpetual state of being matted with at least one major knot, until Vulture’s mom ended up giving her a bath and getting her to stay still enough to endure the brushing, even with the wailing of a protesting Kid going strong. Her hair was then cut to make it more manageable, and strangely, that fixed a lot of the matting problems.
Kid is let out of her room when Vulture wakes up, usually needing a diaper change. At three years old, Kid is not potty trained yet. Just from what I’ve heard from my bedroom, it sounds like OLB and Vulture are finally starting to step up on potty training, but it’s been an uphill fight. I know a few of my other parent friends have had an extremely hard time potty training their kid. I’m not a parent, so I don’t actually know how challenging it can be. I do know though that it shouldn’t sound like the toilet is some kind of punishment for peeing in her cloth panties that they’re trying to switch her to. Or, that they try to get her to sit on the toilet when she has no interest in it and she ends up throwing a tantrum. Unfortunately, without much context, that’s how some bathroom trips sound.
Kid wears pull-ups to bed and the cloth underwear during the day, or sometimes just pull-ups. They’re trying to teach her how to recognize when her body has the potty urge, which she still doesn’t quite get right now. She has literally peed on the tile floor through her cloth undies. Vulture messaged the house chat once saying, “Kid just lifted her leg while in the rolling chair and peed all over the floor.”
You know. Like a dog.
With the potty-training trouble and Kid only sometimes in pull-ups that can contain her mess, Z and I don’t let her into our room as often as we’d like to, because she doesn’t recognize when she has to go. It sucks, because Kid adores spending time with us and our room has cool animals, like my retired psychiatric service dog and our three ferrets. She loves the ferrets. But if we spend time out in the living room with everyone, Z’s patience tends to have a shorter fuse because they can’t stand Vulture (that’s also another tale I have). We’re also stuck out in the general mess of the living room if we are out there with her. It’s either the general mess that toddlers make, spilled food, and general filth. The best times we’ve had spending time with Kid is just chilling in our room as she ooh’s and ahh’s over the ferrets or watches TV with us. Z and I quote SpongeBob line by line daily, and she has watched some of the show with us.
I feel awful about shutting Kid out so much, when I see the way Vulture interacts with her. On Vulture’s bad days (if you read the previous post, that’s almost every day), she acts like Kid is a chore. She will snap at Kid, act like Kid is choosing to act out of maliciousness and make “tired mom” jokes that sound like she just flat out doesn’t like Kid. When I had liquor in the fridge, Vulture would ask if she could take a shot because, “I need it. She’s trying me today.”
Some choice quotes talking down about the kid:
“I’m being hard on her because she’s not using her words. Like I know she can. She just doesn’t want to.” This was what Vulture said to me after Kid kept trying to get her attention and wouldn’t explain what she wanted. Kid was just making noises at her and getting frustrated. Vulture full on shouted, “WHAT!” at her, then turned to me to try and explain why she shouted.
“This is the bad part about being a mom. She’s not letting me do anything right now.” This was said after Vulture cleaned her desk and was attempting to watch YouTube videos and play her Switch.
On her good days, Vulture will be that kind of smiling parent that does some art activities and engages with Kid in a way that’s more than just screaming. They color together. She offers Kid choices so Kid can have some control over what happens in her day, like, “Do you want bologna or fruit?” It has helped Kid become more vocal and even though she’s still speech delayed, she talks more and has a bigger vocabulary.
The house has a different atmosphere when OLB is home, compared to when Vulture is just watching Kid by herself. I’ve told OLB that I think Vulture is burned out. Her entire life is her disabilities and being a mom. She only has friends on Discord really, and OLB had to push her to start talking to them again just so she had someone to socialize with.
Old Doormat me pitied her at the beginning of our friendship. I tried being her friend. I tried to include her and Kid in a lot of things. My own mental health, my daily obligations, my gym schedule, and just me changing rapidly since 2020 altered my life, exhausted me, and left me unable to deal with Vulture talking a million miles a minute, info dumping about whatever she’s currently doing every single time I run into her. And as I shed my doormat self, I started seeing her clearly.
I told OLB once that if Vulture is truly burned out or if her health problems are causing that much trouble, Kid might need daycare or another caregiver to help. OLB is aware but can’t afford other care. He’s working for bottom of the barrel pay at a full-time job. Most days after work, he just wants to zone out to his own games in front of his computer but has to step in and parent both Vulture and Kid, because Vulture often needs help organizing through executive dysfunction to do something. Or, because she will call for his help.
There was one time where Kid climbed on top of her, and Vulture called for OLB – who was in the same room – to pull Kid off her. There are quite a few times where Vulture calls for OLB for help with Kid, and I’ve heard him say that he’s also busy too. One time he asked, “Why are you asking for my help when you’re closer?”
Z has offered to look after Kid at times because they don’t mind Kid being in our room or just hanging out. She has hung out with us when I also have the mental energy and the room is clean enough to accommodate a toddler crawling on everything. The problem that we both see is that our stepping in isn’t a full solution. She can spend a few hours with us, but ultimately after, she goes right back to Vulture and OLB. Vulture is the one who acts like being a parent is a chore.
There are times that OLB has snapped at Vulture for the way she gets on to Kid, emphasizing, “She’s just a child.” Their parenting styles are like looking at two entirely different planets and trying to find similarities. OLB is very much into the gentle parenting side of Tik Tok. He talks about breaking generational trauma. He’s usually gentle with Kid, explaining why she’s not allowed to do things like stand on top of her highchair or why I’m too busy to play with her as I’m zooming around the house in and out repeatedly some days. He has talked her down from meltdowns and keeps his voice even to where she can’t bounce off him to amplify her tantrums. He spanks her, but as a last resort, and then also talks to her about why the punishment happened. She will wail through everything and likely isn’t fully listening, but ultimately, I see him trying to work with her. He very rarely loses his actual temper with her.
Vulture is the total opposite. She yells at Kid, spanks with no hesitation and doesn’t explain why. One of Kid’s favorite games to play is “Block the door” when I’m trying to get through the house. She will block my bedroom door, cling to me, then circle around me as Vulture or OLB tries to distract her or lure her away by asking “do you want chocolate” or some other treat. Sometimes Kid just likes to play ring-around-the-rosie around my legs, as her parents try to grab her. I try to make it fun and seem like I’m not mad at her, because I’m never actually mad at her for blocking my way. Usually, I’m just in the middle of some arbitrary task or running an errand or coming back from the gym with my one remaining brain cell barely hanging on for dear life. I try to engage with her and play it off as a game because she’s not actually doing anything wrong.
Vulture has lured her away with chocolate and treats, with offers of food, with trying to get her to pick a show to watch. If that fails, she will come and fetch Kid by hand. One time involved yanking her physically off me and spanking her on the bare bottom because Kid was happy playing a game instead of listening.
The bare bottom is a thing, too. Because Kid used to live in soiled diapers for much longer than she was supposed to, she had constant diaper rash that she had to see the doctor for sometimes. She also didn’t want OLB or Vulture to change her diapers and would scream when it was diaper change time. I don’t blame her. The diaper rash hurt, and Vulture wasn’t exactly gentle with changing. Kid bled sometimes with the changings. So now, sometimes Kid will be dressed like Donald Duck in only a top to air out her bottom. Or because now, with the cloth undies, she will pee straight through them, and they just let her air out after.
Kid always smells a bit like pee. So does her room. And her bedding. After I pointed out that her bedding straight out of the dryer smelled like urine, OLB went about cleaning the washing machine with a machine cleaner, and bought scent beads to help cut the smell, after I told him that a little vinegar in the wash load will cut the smells down. Now her bedding doesn’t smell so much like urine, but it’s still there.
Her bedroom frequently smells like a public bathroom. It always looks like her bedroom has been turned upside down, with toys everywhere, her bed pushed to the middle of the room, the mattress on the floor. Books she was given were shredded, even the cardboard ones. There was straight up garbage left in her room because she was given food to eat there that had wrappers. It usually takes Vulture a full day of cleaning to get the room organized when she had the energy to do it, but she usually sanitizes with just a baby wipe, if she does at all. Maybe a pet cleaner sometimes.
There was one time where I was letting the dogs outside and I stepped in a puddle on the tile floor. That was when I realized that it was a pee puddle and Kid’s cloth underwear was dripping. I asked Vulture to clean the puddle up. When she asked to use my steam mop, she didn’t clean the cloth pad after, so when I turned the mop on next, it smelled like hot, steamed urine. I had to clean the mop pad off myself and rinse the pee out of it. When Kid again peed in front of the TV in her cloth undies, I told OLB that if they’re going to use my steam mop to make sure that the mop pad is rinsed off or it will smell like pee the next time it’s used, but he said he was just going to use his mop and bucket. Thankfully.
Because of the diet that OLB and Vulture has, Kid also eats like them. She gets a lot of macaroni, a lot of random odds and ends like pieces of bread, baggies of cheerios, sometimes fruit and vegetables. Lots of chicken nuggets and frozen instant food. Occasionally, Kid will have an interest in vegetables she sees us cook with or that she’s never had. Like once she insisted that she wanted to eat canned peas, until she tasted them. She chewed on a lettuce leaf and put it down, then asked for another one because she wanted to eat something, and it looked tasty to her.
The two halves of the household make separate foods now and keep out of each other’s food, but sometimes Vulture will give Kid some of the food I cooked because Kid saw my spaghetti noodles in a bowl and insisted on having them by way of tantrum. Instead of asking me if it’s okay (which obviously, I’d say yes, Kid can have some), Vulture just gave her my food and then told me after. Maybe I’m just projecting my own frustration, but it feels like Vulture uses Kid as a shield sometimes, to get food. Unless I have a specific purpose for food like what I put in my meal prep containers, I wouldn’t say no to Kid.
Kid’s diet makes me worried for her as she grows up. OLB is big and tall, over 6 feet tall and over 300lbs. They aren’t an active family at all. Kid drinks soda when they get fast food. She eats as much processed food as Vulture. Right now, she’s growing like a weed and is tall and actually has some power in her tiny limbs, which is most noticeable when she climbs you like a ladder, but her parents are gamers that just sit around. Her own screen time is almost as lengthy as theirs is.
I worry about Kid, constantly. Z does too. We have theorized calling CPS, or trying to adopt her, or just getting her away from Vulture. We have thrown around ideas about talking to OLB and convincing him that Vulture isn’t a good person for Kid. A lot of it has stayed in theory because the anxious part of me is still afraid to make life-altering waves like that. I second-guess and gaslight myself into realizing how bad things are, but then telling myself, maybe I’m just blowing it out of proportion. Maybe it's just something they have to handle. Maybe it’s something a first-time parent needs to learn. Maybe Vulture just isn’t feeling good that day. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
It’s a leftover of the doormat I used to be, and I know that. The tiny fragment of anxiety that tells me I’m blowing things up into too big a deal. The tiny fragment that escaped a toxic marriage and just wants peace after arguing every single day. The side that hates confrontation.
Maybe I’m just a plain ol’ coward. I don’t know yet. I just know my patience is running thinner with every passing day.
I don’t think I could convince OLB to dump Vulture. From what I’ve seen on the surface, they’re not openly affectionate. Vulture complains all the time that OLB doesn’t give her any physical affection, and she (unfortunately) tells me when they’re intimate, which doesn’t sound often. They almost look like they could be friends that are co-parenting. She calls him her husband when they’re out in public, and OLB has stated that he doesn’t want anything to happen to her, because he doesn’t want a single parent. I assume at the very least that he does love her, even though he sounds exhausted all the time. Z and I wonder if maybe he feels trapped.
OLB is good at asking for help if he needs it, although he hates being a burden to others. He will speak up if Vulture needs a ride to a doctor’s office, and he forgot to leave the car seat at home. I’ve driven to his work to pick it up after he messaged me asking if I could. They ask his family to babysit Kid if they want to go out and just have a good date or see a movie together. They are clearly capable of asking for help.
This is just an acceptable standard for both, or at least that’s the way it seems to me. Sometimes, I don’t truly know if OLB is aware of what Vulture does while he’s at work. He didn’t know that she used his 11-year-old dog as a vacuum cleaner to clean up spilled table scraps until I pointed it out and then he pieced together why his dog wasn’t losing weight on a reduced kibble diet. Sometimes I have pointed out things to him that he might not notice in the house chat.
I started keeping a log in Google Docs about things I notice, and Z and I talk about it in discord, so it’s not heard by ears that are too close to our bedroom. The log started helping me see that I’m not just blowing out of proportion and that in turn helped me come here to reddit. As a former doormat in recovery, I still have to tell myself that it’s okay to realize that something is wrong, and that I may need help getting my voice to speak up.
I haven’t worked since 2017, when my mental health took a sharp nosedive. Z is currently looking for work. Both of us are home all day exposed to Vulture and how she treats Kid. With my own daily tasks, errands, struggling with mental health, there’s still a side of me that berates me that I need to be taking care of Kid. Getting her up, making sure she eats. Pestering Vulture to get up. This is also where I tangle with the former doormat that still lives in me, because one, I don’t want to enable Vulture to get even worse. With someone taking the burden off of her, that gives her more free time to just sit back and game. It isn’t my job to make sure that Vulture is a good parent, yet somehow, I feel like it’s also my fault that she’s as bad as she is while I sit by the wayside and just talk about her behind her back. There are times where I have pestered OLB through discord about Kid crying, or how Kid is trying to beat the door down, or asking if Vulture is up for the day because I haven’t seen her up at three in the afternoon.
I started speaking up when I noticed something that’s off. I call this the “cheese incident.” We had a block of cheese that was cut in the wrapper and not in anything else, so the exposed end got all hard and inedible. I cut it off and threw it away. Vulture made her way into the kitchen because Kid saw me cutting cheese and wanted some.
Vulture: Who threw away that cheese?
(SHE PICKS IT UP OUT OF THE TRASH CAN)
Me: Yeah, it’s got that hard bit
Vulture: So? I know someone who will eat it.
(She calls Kid over)
Me: But it was in the trash.
Vulture: It’s okay, I cut off the part that was touching the trash.
Me: Dude, that’s fucked up.
Vulture: (hesitating now) Should I not?
Me: That’s probably going to make her sick again.
(Kid has been sick back-to-back at this point)
Vulture: Okay, then I won’t.
(To this day, I don’t know if she threw the cheese away or ate it herself, and I’m afraid to ask)
That was the point where I started pointing out that what she’s doing is problematic. It’s a slow process, but it’s helped me put the doormat side of me away again. I’ve explained to Vulture that Kid isn’t crying to be malicious, she just can’t express what she wants. Especially with Kid’s speech delay! Kid gets frustrated fast when adults don’t understand her, and the wailing begins. There’s no maliciousness behind it, just frustration. Or how Kid doesn’t like being told “no” because she doesn’t always understand why. Strangely, every time I call something out, she doesn’t really have much of a fight against it.
But why am I having to say it in the first place?
There’s little things that just rub me the wrong way in how they interact. Sometimes Vulture will call Kid over in the same way you’d call a dog. Repeatedly. Sometimes Vulture, in a state of migraine or other illness-related grouchiness will scream at her “Leave me alone!” and OLB will have to fetch Kid. One time, Z told me that Vulture outright mocked her crying by making her own crying noise.
What’s awful to watch in person is that when Vulture’s mom or siblings are over, Vulture is suddenly a doting mom who isn’t perpetually exhausted or loudly complaining about how her “everything” hurts. She talks in an overly sweet voice to Kid. It unsettles me with how two-faced it seems. OLB, Vulture, and Kid go have dinner with OLB’s family every Sunday evening, and I can’t help but wonder how two-faced she is there, as well. Some of OLB’s family doesn’t like Vulture to begin with.
Slowly, I am losing patience at how Vulture behaves, especially with the Kid. I had to un-gaslight myself, start logging her behavior, and talk to other people to really see it for what it was. I told multiple friends about it and we all generally have the same consensus that Vulture is just an unfit parent. If her chronic illnesses are truly interfering with her life that much, she shouldn’t be the majority caregiver through the day. But it’s not like OLB would be able to work from home or be the stay-at-home parent. In a perfect world, I would be able to help more as well, but I’m barely the “fun” aunt. I’m barely equipped to help care for a three-year-old. Hell, most days I’m barely an actual person.
Kid deserves better.
Bottom line, Kid deserves better than what this house can give. I am upset with myself over my lack of action, but the logs have only been growing bigger. Every day, the doormat dies a little more.
Vulture herself though, will likely always be a side show. One thing that Z pointed out to me was that, as the doormat I used to be, I would give everything to help someone even when I was mentally exhausted. I enmeshed myself too much into the lives of my friends because I loved making them happy and making their lives easier. It’s gotten me into some awkward territory with Vulture, because some things were interpreted as more than friendship.
You ready to cringe more? Because the next part is going to deal with polyamory, the desire for open relationships, and the main reason why Z despises her – and that’s putting it mildly.
Take a moment to un-cringe yourself. It ain’t over yet.

If you are interested in something, lmk and I can send or upload pics and pull model numbers. If you are interested in a bunch, we can setup a time to come by.
Sometime the week of 6/12 whatever is left will be donated to the tool library/maker spaces/Habitat Restore.
Corded power tools in great shape with storage cases if they came with them.

• Makita 5007MG 7 1/4" circular saw + a variety of blades, several brand new
• HPT corded 1/2 drill
• HPT grinder, brand new
• Dewalt sawzall
• B&D Jigsaw
• HF Belt Sander
• Bosch fixed & plunged base router kit, opened but never used. Includes a dozen or so router bits.
• 12 inch Hitachi c12rsh dual bevel sliding compound mitre saw + custom rolling base & cabinet with 4 foot foldable extensions (one for each side) & some blades (new/used)
• 12 inch harbor freight (chicago electric) dual bevel sliding compound mitre saw with blade, used for a few cuts.
• Tons of 12 inch blades, lightly used or brand new
• 1 rockwell oscillating saw
• 1 oscillating saw (forget brand, acquired at costco)
• Several dozen new oscillating saw blades
• 20 year old craftsman 1/2 inch drill, well used but very reliable

Large corded tools:

• Dewalt D24000S 10" wet saw with blade, clean water bucket, pump, slides, stand, power source, etc.
• Delta 10" contractor table saw model 34-444 with base. Original fence & rails as well as 50" biesemeyer clone fence & rails, blade guard, etc. Cast iron table is perfectly flat, unpitted, no rust. Includes original stamped wings in good shape. It's the last model made in USA before Delta closed the tupelo plant.
  • Tons of blades including Forrest Woodworker II (needs manufacturer reconditioning which is like $75 + shipping), various others new & lightly used) & some Diable blades
  • Also has mitre guide, stacked dado set, low insert plates for some of the blades, paste for the top, lube/grease for the mechanisms, other extras
  • I may have some planejoint & other jigs that will be included if they can be located.
• Older Delta DC-380 15" four poster planer in good shape & working, dust extraction hookup & feed tables. Needs plug replaced as it was damaged when relocating. Will consider it a part out piece if I cannot replace plug before you come to look at it.
• Older craftsman radial arm saw on mobile base, + 7 or so blades

Pneumatic tools

• Porter Cable 16, 18, finish nailer & pin nailer pneumatic nailers
  • tons of unused nails
• Porter Cable 5 gallon oilless compressor, lightly used
• Sanborn Magna Force 25 gallon oil compressor, good shape. Needs the regulator knob replaced ($40 part online) but working otherwise
• Several air compressor cords, various lenghts 10 ft to 50 ft.
• HPT stapler & staples
• Freeman pneumatic flooring nailer, opened never used.
• Ramset w/ nails & powder cartridges

Wood/Woodworking

• 1400 - 1600 sq ft of 3/4 inch x 3.25 inch rustic white oak solid hardwood flooring, new in bundles. A couple bundles were opened. Includes a dozen packs or so of oak splines, possibly underlayment.
• A variety of stain-grade wood including red oak, white oak, maple, poplar, hickory, walnut. Mostly oaks & maple (some but not much tigeburled maple). It's all full dimension 1x1, 1x2, 1x3 in 8'-16' lengths for cabinet face frames. Stacked together, it would be 6-8' tall x 2.5' wide. Most of it is longer lengths.
  • Can include a lumber storage shelf that is 16' l x 3' w x 12'.
• Large chemical resistant work table & base, 3'x7'
• 20 or so rough sawn 1x6 or 1x8 ~16' local blue stain pine boards.
• A dozen or so pairs of Bessey 3/4 inch pipe clamps, 4-8' long
• A few pairs of 1/2 pipe clamps, 4' long
• 8 pair folding saw horses

Remodeling

• Never installed 60" inch vanity, white with separate molded counter & sinks. Will include delta faucets new in box if I still have them
• Several vanity style mirrors 2x4
• Black granite single basin large & deep sink with American Standard garbage disposal & kohler commercial style pull down faucet (stainless). Installed then pulled. I think the sink is Frankie. Never caulked in & I believe we have the top mount & flush mount hardware & cut templates.
  • Also have a matching black granite baprep sink. Opened, never used. Includes installation templates, etc. Frankie brand
• American standard garbage disposal new in box
• New door handles, hinges, hardware in aged bronze (color matched to Kwikset handles & Delta fixtures). Also matching curtain rods, other hardware, new. Also some matching 3 or 4 light wall mount light fixtures.
• Paper backed bat insulation for 2x4 & 2x6 exterior walls. Never opened.
• Never installed light grey large format tiles, enough for 1.5 5' tub surrounds (front, back, side)
• 1 gallon flexcolor CQ grout in light steel grey unopened
• 2 pieces 1/2" x 3' x 5' durock cement board
• 2 @ 1 gallon AquaDefense unopened
• 1 @ ~20 lb bag Easy Sand 90 joint compound unopened
• 1 @ 50 lb bag Planitop 330 Fast wall leveling compound unopened
• 1 @ 50 lb bag ultraflex LHT mortar unopened
• Several pieces of new 4'x8' 1/2 & 5/8 inch drywall
• 1 pack of drywall shims
• Bunch of 4" mdf trim 8' or 10' lengths. New
• 2 pair extendible/adjustable halogen work lights (2 lights each)

Appliances

• Set of 2 year old LG stainless steel kitchen appliances. 25 cu ft fridge, gas range + gas convection oven, dishwasher. Verifying length left on extended warranty.
• 36 inch black range hood exhaust. Opened never installed.
• Whirlpool commercial standup garage freezer, 28 cu ft, white, approximately 12 years old. Great shape.
• Danby 20ish cu ft garage freezer, 2 years old.
• 20 year old whirlpool clothes washer & dryer. Well maintained, 3 year old heater core. Washer has a $4 coupling (still available on amazon) that has to be replaced every 7 years or so. $20 because nobody ever seems to take it when it's "free"

Networking/electrical

• Dozens of new work/old work outlet boxes
• New circuit breakers for GE panels including AFCI & 80-100W breakers
• 14 gauge romex rolls, 100' or 250'
• Heavy duty 25' electrical cords, used for 20 amp tools
• 2 spool of cat 6 ethernet. About 150' on each. Will include fishtape, pull rods, connectors & pull reiliefs, crimp tools, line testers, etc.
• A 2 post network rack, full sized
• Server cabinet, full-sized with fans.
• Rackmount power ports
• 2 24-port gigabit switches (Cisco). I believe they are POE. Will verify when I get the model #s

Storage/furniture

• 6' x 2' x 7' steel adjustable storage shelf. Great shape used for steel/metal storage, never been able to overload.
• Various other wood/basement storage shelving sized for 45 gallon storage tubs. 6-8 long, 8' tall
• T5 grow adjustable shelf with 3 @ 4'x8' T8 light fixtures. Can convert to LED by removing the ballasts. Built out of pine 1x4s.
• Folding 3'x6' Costco composite table
• Solid Oak child's low dressor & high dressor. Painted white.. Needs a bit of cleanup but built like a tank.

Misc Tools

• 6-8 foot i-beam & box levels, like new
• Ridgid shop vac
• Husqvarna battery operated string trimmer with charger, string
• Worx corded blowevac
• Dozens of unopened caulk & sealent.
• 28' warner aluminum extension ladder
• several aluminum or fiberglass extension & step ladders 10-18 feet
• Plumbing tools
• Large variety of drywall knives
• Variety of cement/tile/mortar hand tools

Miscellaneous

• Oreck XL Gold stand up vacuum
• Several Cabela's rod with various bait casting or spin casting reals. Spooled & ready.
• Pair of harbor freight loading ramps, 7.5' long
• Heavy duty furniture dolly & wheeled furniture movers
• Variety of unopened SW paint. Also some opened containers of paints, stains, primers, cleanup materials, thinners, etc. It's all been set aside at the shop so no more of the unopened buckets will walk off
  • Unopened:
  • 1 @ 5 gal SW ellie grey super paint
  • 1 @ 1 gal SW ellie grey super paint
  • 5 @ 1 gal SW silver plate super paint
  • 2 @ 1 gal SW pure white pro classic
  • 2 @ 1 gal SW alabaster pro classic
  • 1 @ 1 gal site white SW resilience exterior
  • 2 @ 1 gal network grey SW resilience exterior
  • 1 @ 1 gal sundried tomato SW resilience exterior
    • Most of the above have a few to several 1 gal partially used if you want them.
  • Opened:
  • 1 @ 5 gal kilz original oil primer, ~3 gal left
  • 1 @ 1 gal kilz original oil primer 80% left
  • 1 @ 1 gal zinsser cover stain primer 90% left
  • 1 @ 5 gal BM white ceiling paint, 4 gal left
  • Several 1 gal containers of exterior stains, 50-80% left.
  • Lacguer thinner, mineral spirits, paint thinner, wood conditioner (pre-stain), floetrol, penetrol.
• Tons of new roller covers/brushes purdey & wooster mostly
• Some heavy duty paint tarps
• 1 roll 12' x 100' 4 mil clear plastic sheeting

Edit: had a work issue come up this AM. Getting back to it. I apologize & thx for your patience!

This Cuisinart Dcc-3,200 14-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker Is The Ultimate Coffee Machine For Coffee Lovers Who Want To Enjoy Hotter Coffee And Richer Flavor At Home. This Coffeemaker Features Advanced Technology That Delivers Optimal Brewing Temperature And Quality. You Can Choose Your Preferred Brew Strength (Regular Or Bold) And Set The Timer Up To 24 Hours In Advance For Convenience. The Lcd Display Is Backlit And Easy To Read, And The Ready Tone Can Be Turned On Or Off As You Like. The Coffeemaker Also Has A Self-Clean Function, A 1 To 4 Cup Setting, And An Auto Shutoff Feature For Safety And Energy Saving. The Gold Tone, Commercial Style Permanent Filter Eliminates The Need For Paper Filters And Reduces Waste. Whether You Want A Single Cup Of Coffee Or A Full Pot For Guests, The Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker Can Handle It With Ease. It Is The Best Coffee Maker For Your Kitchen If You Want To Enjoy Hotter Coffee, Better Flavor, And More Control Over Your Brewing Process.

8:02pm With a spark of excitement, I took out my bag of dried mushrooms and measured out four grams. I eagerly placed them in my mouth at my desk, ready to embark on a creative journey. I gave myself a reassuring smile and thought, “It’s been a while since I’ve done this.” As I swallowed the mushrooms, I felt my anticipation build for what was to come. I was ready to take on a new art project or whatever else the mushrooms had in store for me.
8:42pm I felt absolutely fine and was still glued to my phone like I always am, which reassured me. I began to relax, leaning back in my chair and waving my hands in the air with a smile on my face. I then turned my attention to the ceiling, watching the patterns twist and distort as I focused my gaze on them. It was only when I paid attention that I saw this phenomenon occurring.
9:30pm I felt absolutely ecstatic as I went about my chores in the kitchen. My mind was flooded with positive thoughts and emotions, and I felt a renewed sense of self-confidence. Even taking out the garbage in the dark was an enjoyable experience. I felt a sense of forgiveness and love for myself and others as I went about my tasks. It was an incredibly empowering and uplifting experience.
10:03 pm I was in a state of euphoria after ingesting 2 additional grams and listening to more music. I felt like I could really connect to the vocal elements of the music and I was able to stay focused on my thoughts without getting too distracted. I was so immersed in the music that I was really enjoying the moment and felt like I could let go and get lost in the sound.
11:41pm I had a fiendish desire to consume an additional 5 grams of shrooms, so I decided to take the plunge. The experience that ensued was intense, and when I went to clean the bathroom I realized that it was a task that I was not up to. I was zoning out and my mind was in a state of mental exhaustion. Despite the fact that I was feeling overwhelmed, I was determined to make it through the night on a positive note.
12:30am I walked back into the kitchen and leaned against the counter, sighing as I tugged at my hair gently. I closed my eyes and felt the soothing massage of my scalp. As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a mesmerizing sight. The counter top seemed to have transformed into a pattern. When closing my eyes there was 3D colored geometry like a rainbow laser. The more I starred, the more detail emerged and formed, captivating my attention.
12:55am I felt like I was almost done with the experience, but my positive mood had begun to dip. As I watched television, I saw Joe Biden rambling, and this was where I started to feel the most intense effects. I wanted to find something more uplifting to watch, but I couldn't seem to find anything that could help me. Despite my efforts to focus, the visuals persisted and my concentration was waning. It was clear that I had reached a point of diminishing returns.
2:07am I was well into the trip when I started to feel a sense of dread. My imagination was running wild and I was feeling a discomfort in my muscles that I was struggling to shake off. Despite my anxiety, I was able to ignore my hypochondria and focus on the journey ahead.
2:30am I couldn't help but giggle as I went back to my desk and put my ear buds in. The screen of my device had been given a facelift, but after a few unsuccessful attempts, I realized that the update hadn't been applied. I was having difficulty with my executive motor functions, so I found it difficult to refill my mechanical pencil. After a few minutes of frustration, I concluded that the issue was with the pen itself and decided to stick with a regular pencil.
3:06am It was now towards the end of the hallucinogenic effects and I had a few sips of 7up, beer and a saltine cracker to balance myself out. The effects had been intense but the combination of refreshment and sustenance provided me with a sense of resolution. I felt ready to rest and my mind drifted into sleep.

That level is:
• Relatively safe
• habitable
• Few entities
The level is a basically endless set of martial arts training rooms, and the hall you enter in that level varies wildly. It could be a Boxing training hall, a Karate Dojo, a Shaolin Temple, any space like that!
These places have exit doors, but they just lead to more and more different training halls, and it's easy to get lost along these paths. The appliances are in great condition, like brand new, like no one has used them before! In the closets of these rooms, you can even find martial arts costumes such as Karate Kimonos, Kung Fu Tchen Moous and even Sumo Mawashis, but they are not much better than ordinary clothes, they do not protect you from attacks or give you more speed, but if you want it, you can take it!
From time to time, you can find sports locker rooms, but in contrast to the clean halls, they are full of slime, rusty lockers and leaky showers that flood the floor. It's a pretty chaotic, uncomfortable scene and you'd want to stay the hell away from them!
However, in the midst of these training halls, you can find the Championship Stadiums: they are places that have large audiences of empty chairs, with mats on the court below. But the good thing about these places is that there are Food Machines, where you can get Energy Bars and Super Almond Water! To get this, you'll need a Gold Coin for every item you want, and you can find them by scavenging the benches in the grandstands! It can take a long time, but on the other hand, the machines are never empty, as they are replenished in a supernatural way!
When approaching some training objects, you will have an instant reaction of wanting to try them, and when you touch them, a motivation to practice that martial art will appear in your head, and soon you will be practicing. And even with no one to train you, you will see several books in the academies, teaching you the fundamentals of each art!
Even if you've never practiced or shown interest in a martial art, it will seem like the most fun and enjoyable thing in the world to you! And if you already practiced, you'll love spending a lot of time at that level!
Those who went through the level report the constant feeling of strengthened muscles, zero sleep and improved concentration, which extended a little further, when they left the level, showing themselves stronger, faster and with martial techniques worthy of a black belt!
The most important things you need to look for are the weapons of these martial arts, but not just any weapon! Because normal weapons like sticks, knives and others are very common! There are specific weapons that will save your skin in the Backrooms! Are they:
Tyson Gloves: These are a pair of gold boxing gloves, with the Tyson signature on the left hand, presumably a reference to boxer Mike Tyson. They are made of foam, but when punching with them, the impact is overwhelming, capable of throwing objects weighing more than 100 kg away! You get them if you walk into a boxing ring and punch the punching bag for 12 hours straight! They appeared in your hands at the end of that time!
Lee's Nunchaku: A black nunchaku, with two engraved dragons and a golden chain joining them together. His name is a reference to martial artist Bruce Lee. The impact of these nunchakus is even stronger than Tyson's gloves, with the difference that, after repeated attacks, it starts to catch fire, but without injuring the user. It will only incinerate the target it hits, which will be consumed by flames in seconds! You can get it at the Kung Fu Hall, needing to do 100 fingertip push-ups and stay 5 minutes in the Mabu base, the most exhausting Kung Fu pose. The nunchaku will be in the center of a mat with the Yin Yang symbol. Good luck!
Kusarigama: is a weapon composed of a metal scythe and a chain that is somehow infinite when the scythe is thrown. This scythe is insanely fast, being able to slice through multiple entities quickly at once! It is obtained in the Ninjutsu room, after you hit 10,000 shurikens in the center of the target, and it has to be in the middle, around doesn't count! When you succeed, the weapon will come down from the ceiling, hanging from the chain.
Musashi's Katana: It is the strongest weapon among all these. A sword from the Edo Period in Japan, which belonged to the legendary Miamoto Musashi! Wielders of this sword have already been able to slay countless Partygores, slicing them into pieces at Fun Level, and even kill a Death Whale at level 4000! The wielders of these swords have superhuman strength and speed, so any entity that is tangible will be slashed.
However, obtaining this sword is the most risky of challenges, and it is in this challenge that the only real danger of this level lives, The Samurai Challenge, and its only entity!
To find her, you must spend a lot of time in the Kendo Hall. How much time? It is not known, perhaps a matter of days or a week. Who says you should make 10,000 strikes with a training sword, it's not known for sure, but believe me: it's better to spend all that time training!
When you least expect it, you'll see a door that wasn't there before. Upon entering that door, you find a Championship Hall, but not an ordinary one, one specific to traditional Kendo in Japan. In the arena, you will see a box with Japanese inscriptions that say:
“Power must be earned. Prove yourself now!”
When you open it, you'll have access to the katana, but when you turn around, the whole scene changes!
If you were alone just now, you will have right in front of you an entity in the form of a samurai, in armor that seems to be rusted and worn by time and marks of combat, which earned him the nickname of Rusty Musashi.
Sometimes his katana varies in size, being little more than a kitchen knife, or even a huge 2 meter blade.
If everything was silent before, you can now hear screams and roars from the audience, even if there is no one in the pews! And now, you'll have to fight that samurai!
Combat with him is pretty tricky, as he seems to be experienced, but his armor is heavy and he moves slowly. Make no mistake though: his attacks are explosive and take you by surprise, and he's very strong with every hit! Agility and strategy are your best bets to win!
If you get hit, it's your death, but if you win, you'll be applauded by the audience, and you can take that weapon with you. So, throughout your stay, train Kendo until you're sharp, and don't fight the samurai until you're sure you're good enough!
Appetizer:
• Enter the hall with the “Martial Goods” sign at level 33
• Beat a level 4000 island native in a melee fight
• Ritual of the Mountain King has a 40% chance to bring you here
• The Red Knight can take you here if you ask to learn to fight, but it's not 100% sure
• Beat a fighting game at level 849
• Reading the book “The Way of War” in the level “The end is near” will get you here!
Departures:
• Using a lot of Incense to meditate will get you to Level 5000
• Upon exiting Samurai Challenge, you will exit at The Hub
• Finding a 90's phone in one of the stadium's bleachers will take you to Level 11.
• Diving into the Buddha-like fountain in the Shaolin Temple will take you to the Poolrooms, but touching the moss at the bottom of the fountain will land you in the Rotting Pools level!
• Trying to break into a Vending Machine will get you to the “You Cheated” Level, you greedy bastard!
• If you try to escape the Samurai Challenge through the door you came from, you'll exit the Run for Your Life Level, without your sword!

I (25F) have a little child who soon turns 4. I’m a single mom, in a foreign country, divorced and poor.
Almost 3 years ago I got sick, and basically never recovered. It started with me being very tired and I never got better (Epstein barr virus). Now I live with chronic fatigue everyday and experience allot of flares and post exertional malaise. Since my daughter started kindergarten I’m completely gone. Household? I barely manage. I barely have money or energy to cook good food, so it has to be something quick and easy. Best case, something in the oven or one pot. I feel like such a bad mother. I always wanted (and was in the beginning) more like a crunchy mom. Not fully but it went into the direction. Now I let her watch too much tv, let her eat too much candy and fast food. I’m sorry, I just don’t manage. Since we live in an apartment, i only ever walked my elderly dog, because i never had the energy to take long walks to the playground with my daughter. For the first few months we never really went out. Maybe a few times a month. Most of the time I would just lie in bed or on the couch and watch my phone. Or sleep. I hate that this is what my daughter will remember me by. I often regret leaving her abusive father for my safety, because I robbed her of a childhood on the countryside as a farmers child, driving tractor and eating fresh tomatoes out of the greenhouse and oh, all the bunnies and chicken we had. I robbed her of this. It’s easier to put away the phone, if I can be in nature with her. But now nature isn’t in front of my door anymore. I’m all alone in this. No one to help me out, no mobility aid to support me.
I only this year started to take care of my health, two years after the break up. Possibly CFS/ME? Maybe. For my mental problems I finally take medication. Oh, my muscles are getting weaker and hurt much more easily and often since 6-7 years? Muscular Dystrophy? Maybe. My blood work is fine tho, says my doctor, so he doesn’t take more steps. So just forget it, it’s in my head. So I hurt myself again because I do more than I can and should. Get more post exertional malaise. People started talking to me, saying how I look extremely exhausted or like I’m in allot of pain. I am, so easily. So I changed to another doctors office now, new doctor, hope they help me better. Send a request to the neurologist myself. And I feel like it will take so long until I can even see a specialist.
Without diagnosis I can’t get more money. Which I need. I can’t work, because I’m too unwell. Physically and mentally. But invisible.
I so wish I could afford to pay my bills and healthy food. I so wish I could rent a tiny house with a big kitchen so I don’t have to reach over my head for things, in my tiny apartment, and that don’t have to walk my dog so often because she had a garden. I wish I had money to buy a wheelchair, so I could still be able to go out on family trips on the weekends and not need to stay at home from the 4km i have to walk everyday with my daughter for kindergarten.
Today my daughter cried allot, telling me that I don’t watch a film with her. I’m sorry, i just don’t have energy for you. I want to distract myself with my phone and the stress cigarettes I got from my neighbor. I don’t know why I wanna hurt myself with these nasty smoke sticks again... I just need a distraction from how drained I am, how I’m already in pain by lunch and I know I can’t fix my hair roots because i can’t hold up my arms for long. I know it’ll give me muscle soars for days if I do. So on top of that I look musty with my outgrown roots. I wish I had money for a hair dresser to do it…
Whatever I do, i have to pay for it. A sathurday one hour walk? One week extreme fatigue, muscle pains and soars as if I ran a 3 day marathon. Having a child on a farm? Getting an abusive cheating SAing husband. Wanting a hobby? Too tired to do it. Wasted money. Wanting some clothing that fit and I feel good in? Struggling with food for a month.
I so want to date again, but I never have energy, and if I do they don’t have time. But it’s ok, because i never met a good man since right after I left my ex. That man is still in my mind, top tier, no man came even remotely close with the way he communicated, looked, lived. It’s so hard to find someone, who checks of all. I long for love and intimacy but who would want someone like me anyway? A single overweight mom with possibly a disability?
I’m overweight bc eating gives me 15min of acute energy, but then I can’t move allot because of my illness. Working out? Absolutely not possible. My treadmill is for sale, even tho wanted it for so long but now I can’t use it anymore…
I’m so blessed I didn’t got pregnant with a second child. I’m so blessed my child is so easy and calm in her personality. I’m pretty sure I did allot right, but I just can’t give her more than my openness, empathy and deep cuddles at night. I wouldn’t survive with a child that always needs more, protests allot or just having two instead of one.
But still, I’m sad she’ll remember me like this. And I’m also sad I don’t even remember her first years. Everything before 3 is such a blurr to me. So less videos and pictures. And only a handful with me in it.
I’m embarrassed by my situation. And I feel lonely. I don’t have energy to make friends. Or to find a partner. I’m poor because I can’t work. I don’t wanna go to the socials and ask for complete financial support either because i won’t have the energy to do what they ask me for. I’m embarrassed my next doctor is gonna put it on my mental health and I’m never gonna get a wheelchair. I could go in so much more into details, of my illness, my finances, my parenting. But this is enough for me.
I now have to clean as much as i can so I can sleep tomorrow if I manage it to my appointment and the kindergarten… I promised my daughter, that I’ll watch a movie with her before bed. No phone allowed. And I’ll keep it.

First, Next
​
Chun shuffled in her chair, she was only a mortal boar-kin, why did she have the misfortune of taking the hidden master up to his room. Now this Mei of the Iron Paw sect had cornered her in the Inn when she arrived for the morning shift.
Mei shoveled rice into her mouth from an oversized bowl as she spoke, “Tell me exactly what happened last night when you led the hidden master to his room. I want to know everything you know about him.”
Again Chun shuffled, “I actually met him before that, he was alone at the table near the exit. It was odd because everyone tries to move to the kang to keep warm, but this man simply sat at his table as though the cold meant nothing to him.”
Mei stopped eating, “He was here while we were eating? What was he doing?” She demanded.Chun recoiled a bit, “He just seemed to be watching everyone, including your table. When I brought him his food and drink I warned him to stop staring or he would draw someone’s wrath upon him.”
Mei nodded, if she couldn’t sense him, she obviously couldn’t expect a mere mortal to know what they were dealing with. “What did he do after that?”
Chun took a deep breath, “He seemed to just sit there and eat his meal until the warning bell sounded. When you and your sisters left he asked me how much he owed, dropped coins on the table and left the inn. I didn’t see him again until after the battle.”
Mei sat back and thought, “He paid for his meal you say?”
Chun nodded, “He didn’t even complain or haggle, he simply dropped the coins as if they were nothing and walked out. Huang has told me not to accept payment if he asks when he comes down this morning.”
Mei nodded, “A wise choice, now that he is no longer hidden he may decide to toy with you, it is best for you to play along.”
Chun looked around the inn as customers started to come in for breakfast, it was still early, the sun had barely breached the horizon.
Mei sighed, “Bring me another bowl of porridge, I will await the hidden master, his name was Cain, correct.”
Chun stood quickly before bowing, “He stated his name was Victor Cane, Mistress Mei.”
Mei sat back in her chair and shoo’ed the boar-kin mortal away. Her sisters had taken shifts to ensure from a distance the hidden master had not left. More information on this male was needed, and she expected to gather it for her sect.
She would already be renown for the twenty two instinctual cultivators slain here yesterday, particularly as she had only lost 7 sisters. Three to one was not a feat to be trifled with when it came to instinctuals. The problem was, at least ten of those were from this hidden master that she knew next to nothing about.
She would await him here, and eat her fill to replace her spent energies.
_________________________
DAILY MAINTENANCE COMPLETE
ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL
SUBSPACE LINK : NO CONNECTION
RADIO LINK : NO CONNECTION
POWER CORE : 100%
CAPACITOR CORE : 100%
TIME 0700
ACTIVATE WAKE UP ALARM
​
Victor slowly regained consciousness after sleeping like the dead. New gene-mod updates, transmat accident, small firefight with ware-wolves and one cute tiger lady had really kicked his ass. “Computer, turn off that damn alarm.”
He opened his helmet as he sat up from the horrible bed. He had never seen a mirror as poorly made as the one in front of him, maybe it was tarnished bronze? He recalled his scout drones and sent them to storage before reaching in and pulling out his overnight bag.
After washing his face in the not-too-clean sink and brushing his teeth he made his way to the chamber pot by the bed. After relieving himself he decided breakfast was in order. He put his overnight bag into dimensional storage and made his way downstairs to the inn proper.
As he slowly walked down the stairs, hoping the wood could hold his three hundred kilo weight a second time he noticed Mei sitting at the same table as the night before. As usual, the patrons around them gave her a wide berth. Well, judging by the way Mei’s eyes never left him he assumed she wanted to talk to him.
“Hello Mei, how are you doing this morning? He asked innocently enough.
She looked at him stone faced, “I spent most of the night burying my sect sisters, then caught a few hours sleep while we waited for you to wake up.” She stated as she crossed her arms.
Well, this was more new information, evidently there was some camaraderie within the sects. He wasn’t sure of that until now. Evidently cultivators do care for each other, if they care little or nothing for the average peasant.
Victor decided it was best to seem the aloof master rather than the bumbling fool he obviously was and change course, “Chun, could you bring me whatever you have for breakfast, oh, and some more of that wine!”
Mei’s eyes flared at Victor, if looks could kill he’d be scorched right now, “Who are you? I just reminded you that 7 of my sect sisters were buried last night and you call to a mortal for food?”
Victor turned back to her, his officer face was back on again, “Is this your first war Mei?”
Mei sat back and batted her cup back and forth in her hands as she looked down at the table, “Yes, while I’m older than some of my sisters, war hasn’t visited the Celestial Empire in decades, if not centuries.”
Victor reached out a hand and placed it over one of Mei’s. She froze at his touch, a male cultivator touched her, a lowly cultivator of the second tier. “This is not mine, I have lost count of the small fire-fights and battles I’ve been a part of of my last twenty years. Or the soldiers I have lost.”
Mei blinked, fire-fights, like what he did last night was considered small, she had never seen creatures burn like that, wait, did he say the last twenty years. She cleared her throat, “Um, please excuse this lower cultivators curiosity, but you have been in battles for the last twenty years? You look no older than I at twenty eight seasons, how is that possible?”
Victor removed his hand as Chun brought him a huge portion of porridge, rice, pork sausage, eggs and wine. He looked up to her as she bowed down, “Thank you Chun, you are dismissed. Yeah, I don’t age like other people. Actually, I don’t age at all.”
Chun turned on her heels and nearly sprinted back to the kitchen. She had gotten a small taste of Mei’s killing intent when she glared at the hidden master, while she nearly dropped to her knees, the master didn’t even seem to notice.
Victor popped one of the sausages into his mouth as he watched Mei nearly drop her jaw in astonishment. Victor pointed to his plate, “Would you like one? They are quite good.”
Mei shook her head, “You’re an immortal and you thanked that peasant? Do you care nothing for face?”
Victor looked back as he chewed, “Chun? Yeah, she works hard, least I can do is thank her for her efforts. Someone should do something about the turnips though, they are horrible.”
Mei crossed her arms, “I cannot tell if you are toying with me or not. You have an Imperial accent, one that requires training from birth, you fight as if you are a divinity, and you show appreciation to mortals?”
Victor shrugged, “I’m not a complicated man, I’m just passing through the Empire looking for a way home. Speaking of which, you mentioned the Eternal Empress, would you say she is the most powerful person in the land?”
Mei uncrossed her arms before leaning in, “You mean to tell me you don’t know about the Eternal Empress yet you are hundreds of li into her Empire?”
Victor mixed his eggs and sausage into his rice bowl and then looked despairingly down at the chop sticks. He reached into his dimensional storage and produced a spoon, which to Mei seemed to appear from nowhere and scooped out a portion before taking a bite and pointing at Mei with his spoon. “Well, it’s not grits, but it will do in a pinch. No, I don’t know about the Empress, that’s why I’m asking you, if anyone knows how to get me home it might be your Eternal Empress, so how do I get an audience with her?”
Mei sat back in her chair once more, holding the hand Victor had recently touched under the table, “That might be easier than you think, but you may not like the outcome. I sent ahead to my sect leader one town over and she will be using a calling stone to reach the Imperial Palace, I’m sure they will have questions about the foreigner who is also a hidden master.”
Victor stopped eating and sat back in his own chair, “Ah, you say I may not like the outcome, why is that?”
Mei shrugged, if he didn’t know how things worked she didn’t see the harm in telling him. “The Eternal Empress has been said to be a bit temperamental, particularly to foreigners entering her lands. Yes, she is said to be the wisest in the land, and many millennia old. Her magic defends this land and its people.”
Victor took another slow bite with his spoon, “So she may know how to get me home, or she may try to have me killed. No way to know until I meet her eh?”
Mei nodded before stopping, “Wait, you said she may try to have you killed, not that she would have you killed or kill you.”
Victor grinned at her, “Well, I’m not about to make it easy on her if she tries. Listen, I’ve got some things to get done, so in the mean time, here.” He then presented her with a silver bauble with a red gem in the center that dropped from nothingness into his hand. “Take this with you, and give it to the Empress, it will allow her to communicate with me no matter where I go.”
Mei stared at the piece of exquisite jewelry, it would be worth many fortunes over in the Celestial city, and he just handed it to her? “Wait, I can’t just let you leave, you are a foreigner in our lands, it is my duty to keep a watchful eye on you.”
Victor walked over to the bar where Huang looked nervous and dropped a large pile of copper coins before walking to the door.
Mei stood, kicking the chair behind her and stomped towards the exit only to see the hidden master take flight again on wings of fire. This time he did not stop at the bell tower, but continued to fly towards the mountains. “Damn that man to the divinities she shouted as even she lost sight of him in the clouds.”
______________________
“Activate camouflage mode.” Victor spoke into his helmet as his armor took on the the colors surrounding him. It wouldn’t fool anyone close up, but from the distance he was from the village now he doubted even the cultivators could make him out from the sky.
With any luck, Mei would get that communicator back to the Empress, who might know how to get him home. In the mean time though, he reached into his dimensional storage and brought out a satellite probe. He had used the full capacitor load on his jump jets and was still eighteen thousand meters up, more than enough for the probe to reach geosynchronous orbit.
After launching it he looked for a good patch of ground to land. He found one at the base of a mountain range, it even came with a mountain stream. Firing his retro-rockets he landed soft enough and sat on a particularly smooth boulder.
His heads up display showed him his probe had reached geosynchronous orbit and was gathering data. “Well, this is going to take some time.” He thought to himself as he ordered his AI to split his armor. To anyone else watching this would have probably been horrifying as the scout armor appeared to break apart and separate into two halves joined together by a hinge.
Victor took a sniff of himself and groaned, “Good thing the suit is sealed, being in that thing for almost two days and I am ripe!” He thought as he found a nice place in the woods to relieve himself in a way he couldn’t with his armor on.
After that he removed the boxers he wore in his scout armor and placed them on the boulder and stepped across the pebbled beach into the stream. He instantly regretted it, gene-mods or not, a mountain stream in the fall is still cold! After washing as best he could he walked back to his armor, reached into his dimensional storage, produced a towel and fresh boxers and dried off while sunning himself on his rock.
His AI sounded in his inner ear. IMMEDIATE AREA SURVEY COMPLETE.
He kicked off his boulder and climbed back into his now somewhat aired out armor and checked out the results. A mountain in this range was nearly perfect for his needs, abundant metal and mineral deposits, and a valley with a small but very useful petroleum reserve, as well as some natural gas deposits, although those were less than 6% on the scan.
Victor checked that his jump jets capacitor were sufficiently charged and set his jump vector for a somewhat flat ridge three quarters of the way up the mountain, just below the snow caps. Four minutes later, he landed, staring at a nearly sheer cliff face that raised up the mountain another 20 meters above him.
He reached into dimensional storage and retrieved a mining laser. These were a bit expensive, but necessary to start any good mining operation. Mining drones were not good at starting a mining shaft. Oh, it could be done, but it was usually done slowly and crudely. Best to set the aperture to four meters square and crank up the power.
The laser had a magazine of some miracle crystal that put out about ten seconds of power before it was exhausted and was then discarded. He squeezed the trigger and watched as the sheer rock face before him seemed to literally disintegrate as the shaft began to deepen to a depth of about four meters in.
The laser chimed and ejected the magazine as the barrel smoked from the immense heat it had just endured. Victor carefully sat down the mining laser and opened his dimensional storage once more to bring out four mining drones, two forge spiders, and four scout drones.
He set the mining drones to work digging into the mine shaft with gusto the seven dwarfs could never match. Then turned his attention to the scout drones, he sent them off in a patrol pattern to watch over the mountain for any sign of trespassers. Then he remembered the satellite and set it to watch over his piece of paradise as well.
He also thought about retracing his helmet but the temperature outside was just above freezing and decided it best to have a seat and wait a bit for the mining drones to get some work done. On a whim he checked his database, yup, there were 86 different versions of Snow White, might as well pick the Disney one from antiquity, he’d never seen it anyways.
One hour and twenty three minutes later the film was over, and his mining drones and forge spiders had deepened the shaft another five meters. A small pile of ingots had been dropped off by the spiders, the air around them giving off a small mirage effect from the heat they radiated.
"Computer, have the nano-forge produce proper steel doors, tracts, motors, and security to cover the dimensions of this shaft." The AI took measurements, produced the adjusted prints, sent them to Victor for approval, then started crafting the necessary materials. Then Victor’s stomach growled.
Sighing, he went over to the pile of fresh ingots, some iron, some copper, others tin and silver.
Retracing his helm he found that although the temperature hovered around 2 degrees celsius, near the ingots it was quite a bit warmer, if you didn’t mind the metallic smell, which it didn’t. Reaching into dimensional storage he found his ration stash, while he had hoped this would be what he would use to fashion himself a life after he left the Imperial Guard, there was a chance he would never get home.
“Resources are there to be used.” He quoted to himself as he took a bite from a bar he hoped wasn’t made from corpo-starch, but as it had no ingredient list he had no way of knowing. Finishing his ration bar, the densely caloric and extremely nutrient bar would play havoc with his bowels later. He noted getting living quarters up soon would be a really good idea.
He slid his helm back into place, “Computer, have the mining drones level off and begin to dig a cavern to fit the small hab module in dimensional storage, have them oversize it by a meter on all sides, I want some clearance when I bring this out of storage.”
The AI complied and he watched his mini-map on his hud as the drones turned ninety degrees and started opening up a new cavern. A few minutes later, the computer chimed to let him know the doors were complete and ready for installation.
A good thing he had his scout armor, these doors were five centimeters thick and three meters high and wide. They weighed almost four tons a piece, which was right at the limit of what his power armor was capable of. Pulling out the necessary tools he installed the tracts above and below, then setup the motor controls before pulling the doors out of storage and setting them into the tracks.
After testing and adjustment he was satisfied that not only were they very secure, they even seemed to blend in well with the sheer cliff wall. “Not a bad job if I do say so myself.” Victor said as he began setting up production orders for ventilation, water drainage, and lighting with his AI to start construction while he waited for the chamber to be completed.
A full six hours later and several movies of varying degrees of watchfulness, his computer chimed letting him know the new cavern was complete and the mining drones were continuing their downward path towards the more dense metal reserves deeper in the mountain.
He stood, stretched his back, and ordered the massive steel doors to open, walking the gently sloping shaft down the ten meters to the new cavern. The walls were smooth and the entrance seemed just about right for the habitats air lock door to fit flush with the mining shaft.
A few minutes later and a loud bang as the habitat module appeared from dimensional space and then found that gravity existed again, slamming it the few centimeters to the floor of the cavern. “Oops!” Victor said to himself hoping he didn’t break anything.
Nothing appeared to be damaged, after all, these habs were basically mini-bunkers designed for anything from death worlds to deep space mining. Fifteen meters on each side and four meters high, it gave him an excellent respite from the world around him. Indoor plumbing, central heating and air, entertainment center, kitchen, bath, and a bed.
He entered the habitat and sealed the airlock to the mine shaft. The internal temperature of the hab read twenty one degrees celsius, so he shed his armor, placed it in the airlock rack and connected it to the habitat’s power and computer system before opening the inner airlock.
“Home sweet home, at least until I find a way back." Then he thought about it, would the Guard blame him for the transmat accident? Sure he lied about having anything on him in dimensional storage but he knew guys who smuggled things around all the time and something like this never happened to them. "Hope I don’t look at a court martial if I ever to get back home for going AWOL or some such bullshit.” He muttered as he headed for the shower. That mountain stream was freezing!
______________________
“What to you mean he flew away?” Shihan looked at Mei from across her desk.
Mei shifted uncomfortably in the rickety chair that sat across from the elder cultivator in front of her. The room was also cold, and Shihan had set the desk low so that she could sit on the kang and keep warm while others had to endure. “He said he had important matters to attend to and flew away on wings of fire.”
Shihan shook her head, “Lazy eggs, all of you. We lost seven Iron Paw warriors in your battle three days ago, and probably would have lost you all if not for this hidden master. I have reached out to the the sect mistress who will be informing the royal court at this weeks meeting with the Empress. Do you have anything else to report?”
Mei nodded and set the jeweled bauble on the desk in front of the elder sect leader, “The hidden master, Victor Cane presented me with this. He stated to give it to the Empress and they would be able to communicate no matter the distance.”
The older lady stared at the priceless looking item before slowly looking back up to Mei, “I feel no chi coming from this item, how could it possibly do what he says. Even our best calling stones can barely reach three hundred li, how could this tiny broach communicate anywhere?”
Mei had thought long on this, “I do not know mistress, however, I do know that not once did I feel any chi from this hidden master either. I believe it is his cultivation technique, as he must use near perfect yang energy to power his creations. Can you detect pure yang, head mistress?”
Shihan shook her head, “I cannot my student, for that is only in the realm of the highest levels of male cultivation, and to my knowledge, no male alive can use pure yang energy, hence why they are inherently weaker as they cultivate some yang and some yin, their meridians are out of balance.”
Mei nodded, this was the same conclusion she had reached as well, “I watched him create multiple items from thin air, some for weapons, one was a simple soup spoon, we know most men use their cultivation for crafting, perhaps this hidden master is so adept at it he uses pure yang energy that we simply cannot sense.”
Shihan’s eyes widened with the implications, “That means he would appear as just a normal mortal until he decided to act, just as he did in your report.” She then looked down at the silver jeweled broach that sat on the desk. “The craftsmanship of this object is superb, its gem is absolutely flawless, I have never seen silversmithing so pure. Were this not to be sent to the Empress its sale would keep the Iron Paw clans coffers full for seasons on end.”
She sighed, “No, we cannot abandon our duty, I will send this item to the Empress herself, and as this Victor Cane had entrusted you with it, I feel that you should be the one to deliver it to her yourself.”
Mei gasped before bowing, “I will not fail you head mistress.”
Shihan sat back on her cushions enjoying the warmth of the kang under her, “See to it that you do not, for the Empress does not take kindly to fools who waste her time.”