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This post may now be moot with indications that Hardge is walking from Mullen, but the academic side of me wants it on the record that there were clear signs that Hardge was not being on the level with his sayings and dealings. Plus the fact that I already had most of this written last night, and was waiting for Financial Journey to release the actual recording of his call with Hardge to confirm what had been said earlier.
On the one hand, Hardge has repeatedly spoken boastfully (not at all humble) of all the massive deals he personally had lined up, all of whom wanted to work with HIM and not Mullen. He then talked like he was doing Mullen and its shareholders a favor by sharing the alleged profits of these deals with Mullen. Hardge sounded quite miffed that Mullen seems to not want to agree to his terms for the deal and considers it a huge knock against his public credibility. And yet despite all this, he still wanted to try to work something out with Mullen so he can be paid the $5M that he believes the company owes him.
Let’s take what Hardge has previously claimed at face value.

• He owns the patents and IP for the EMM. So all intellectual RIGHTS and LICENSING is apparently set.
• He has multiple independent test results proving that the EMM does what he claims. So all VALIDATION of the technology is apparently set.
• He has deals with Saudis and multiple other Middle East countries ready to provide BILLIONS of dollars. He even has individual investors wanting to put “a billion dollars” into his company (15:20 mark). So all FINANCING needs are apparently set.
• He has an international manufacturing company that is ready to make tens or hundreds of thousand of EMM devices starting within 4 weeks (2:36 mark). So all MANUFACTURING needs are apparently set.

So why does Hardge need Mullen Automotive to sign any agreement at all?

What does Mullen bring to the table that Hardge did not already have in place?
He claimed that all these international agreements were in the works and ready to go BEFORE Mullen entered the picture. The only thing that Mullen would seem to do is take 51% of the revenue. LH claims he wanted to share these deals to “take the load off”. But if he had BILLIONS in financing commitments, shouldn't he be able to hire ALL the necessary labor and engineering expertise he could ever need?
Credit to Cal for asking Hardge (26:27 mark) why he doesn’t do the deal direct with the Saudis. Hardge claims he needs the engineering staff and facilities that Mullen has to do the work installing the EMM. Hardge’s response is just unbelievable, and again credit to Cal for trying to pursue it a bit further with Hardge in asking him why that would be such a big problem if the return is so much greater. Hardge claims that he would have to hire “consultants to do all of that in the midst of an already hectic business schedule.” But that’s just a basic part of running a business!
And then at the 28:48 mark Hardge talks about Mullen’s vans. Here’s a key statement Hardge makes: “They didn’t have a manufacturing for the installation, I went and got my own that I already was working on*. Now we got a deal, they can provide any numbers around the world, international manufacture*.” It sure seems like Hardge knows how to arrange for manufacturing and installation deals, which directly contradicts his explanation just a couple minutes earlier for why he wants to work with Mullen.
Hardge has also said on multiple occasions that the EMM is “easy to install” and “plug and play” such that “a high school drop-out could install this system in these vehicles” (8:15 mark in the Mullen Troy livestream). In other FB livestreams, he spoke about the EMM as an aftermarket device that the buyer would install on their own vehicle, just like putting on a window shade or cell phone cover.
In addition, Hardge himself said as reported by Cal in Twitter space meeting that Mullen engineers apparently didn't know how to do any wiring stuff, and that when he was at Mullen's Troy facility doing work on the vans that he had to do it all himself, or something along those lines. Not exactly a sign of confidence in Mullen's technical staff, is it?
It makes no sense for Hardge to say (2:09 mark) that it would take the Saudis 2-3 years to build a factory in Michigan to manufacture the EMM, given that he has said previously that the cost to make the EMM is just $85 and can be built using off-the-shelf parts from Home Depot or Lowes.
There are multiple clear contradictions between what Hardge claims he has on hand (deals, financing, manufacturing) and the degree of effort that he has put in to try to get paid $5M from Mullen to finalize the Definitive Agreement. Hence my play on Shakespeare in the title of this post: Methinks Larry doth protest too much. It seems unbelievable that anyone that genuinely has all the deals and such that Lawrence claims he has lined up would still be sticking around trying to work out some sort of agreement with Mullen. I believe that Hardge was trying to pull a fast one on Mullen from the start, and unfortunately for the company and its shareholders David Michery bought into the con and dragged Mullen into the last several weeks of buffoonery involving LH. And the damage has already been done.
EDIT: Added bullet points formatting

As we all know, multitasking is overrated. So, if you plan on becoming a career criminal, it's always best to keep it simple and only commit one crime at a time.
After all, quality is better than quantity.
Therefore, even if you think of yourself as a criminal genius, you should never try to steal a car, rob two banks, and murder five people in one day.
If you are still unconvinced, let's look at some real-life criminals who learned this lesson the hard way.
Don't leave home without your license plate!
In the summer of 1993, two police officers patrolling Long Island's Southern State Parkway decided to stop a 1984 tan Mazda B2000 pickup. Was it because the driver was a serial killer with a dead woman in the truck? Nope, but that didn't help things. Police officers initially targeted Joel Rifkin for one simple reason: his vehicle was missing a license plate.
Perhaps knowing that things wouldn't end well for him, Joel decided that instead of pulling over for the cops, he would take the scenic route. Unfortunately for him, his road trip would end roughly 20 miles later when he ploughed into a utility pole on Old Country Road in Mineola, New York.
Eventually, it would come to light that Joel had killed 17 women between 1989 and 1993. Like many other serial killers, Joel's preferred targets were sex workers. Joel would hire a sex worker and have sex with them before strangling or bludging them to death. Once dead, Joel often took the extreme step of dismembering and scattering his victims' bodies to hide their identities.
Let's jump forward a couple of years to 19 April 1995.
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper, Charlie Hanger, was on duty on this sunny spring day when he saw a rusty, yellow 1977 Mercury Marquis travelling north on Interstate 35 without a license plate.
When the patrol trooper pulled the car over, he encountered a well-groomed young man behind the wheel. The driver, a 26-year-old man, was dressed in military boots, a T-shirt with a picture of Abraham Lincoln on it, and a windbreaker. I'm assuming he was also wearing pants.
As was standard procedure then, Hanger ordered the driver out of the car. Once outside, Hanger informed the motorist that he had stopped him for not having a license plate.
The patrol trooper began questioning the driver and asked to see the car's bill of sale and insurance information. Neither was in the driver's possession. Things were not looking good for the driver. Still, it managed to get even worse when the driver informed the ever-sceptical Hanger that he was driving across multiple states because he was relocating to Arkansas and needed to bring more of his possessions with him. The car, however, lacked a suitcase and a change of clothing.
Sensing that something definitely didn't smell right; Hanger asked to see the man's driver's license. The driver reached into his pocket and brought out a Michigan license bearing the name Timothy James McVeigh.
However, when McVeigh reached for his license, his windbreaker tightened, allowing Hanger to see the outline of a gun underneath his jacket. In those days, it was against the law in Oklahoma to be armed and concealed.
The trooper arrested McVeigh for carrying a concealed weapon and transported him to the Noble County Jail, roughly 75 miles from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Only 90 minutes had passed since the bombing earlier that morning.
After that, the puzzle started to piece itself together. Timothy McVeigh would be put to death less than a decade later for perpetrating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, including 19 children.
Sticking with the traffic theme, you want to ensure you are the epitome of a perfect driver if you're also a murderer. Randy Kraft learned this lesson the hard way in the early morning of May 14, 1983. At 1:10 in the morning, two California Highway Patrol officers in the Mission Viejo area of Orange County spotted a Toyota Celica driving erratically on Interstate 5. After noticing an improper lane change, the police officers signalled for the car to stop, assuming the driver was impaired. Kraft came to a stop and got out of the car, dropping the contents of a bottle of Moosehead Lager on the ground as he exited the vehicle. Officer Michael Sterling observed Kraft's undone jeans and subjected him to a sobriety test, which Kraft subsequently failed. At this point, Sterling's partner, Sergeant Howard, shifted his focus to the individual seated in the vehicle's front passenger seat. As Sergeant Howard approached the car, he observed a young guy in the passenger seat with his eyes closed and a jacket partly covering him. There were a few empty Moosehead beer bottles and an open bottle of Lorazepam pills at his feet. Sgt. Howard tried to rouse the passenger, but he had already passed away...
https://vocal.media/criminal/why-you-should-only-commit-one-crime-at-a-time

Unpacking the Light Police. Light Pollution News.
Show Link: https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/unpacking-the-light-police/
Subscribe: Apple Podcast Spotify Google Podcast
Social: Instagram LinkedIn
Guests:
John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, LLC.
Kaitlyn Evans, Conservationist.
Show:
I was busted by the light police. They had a point, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.
Dana Milbank purchased a home in, soon to be not, rural Virginia. At night he kept the formerly vacant property lit to the degree that spurned one commentator to call it “spaceship lighting.”
Milbank recaps being visited by the “light police,” a group of concerned citizens who help educate neighbors and instill a sense of pride in the brilliance of their starry night skies.
At first, he was taken aback, but later, not only did he appreciate their efforts, but he also converted his blinding always on, white light flood lights to warm 2700 Kelvin motion sensing lights.
Per Ruskin Hartley, executive director of the International Dark Sky Association, “for 4.5 billion years there was no artificial light at night. It’s really only in the last five human generations that we transformed that. It’s one of the most profound transformations of our environment.”
Many of you may recall an earlier story, way back in our Hormone of Darkness episode, showcasing concerns by local residents prior to a 760 house (now 761) plus town center development moving into the Culpepper County, VA area. Per the Rappahannock News, this development features “a resort style swimming pool, clubhouse, tot lot, and multiple sports fields and sports courts, all connected by a network of biking and walking trails.”
The forgotten medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’ by Zaria Gorvett of the BBC.
Gorvett opened my eyes to something I never knew about, the medieval custom of two sleeps. For those of you unaware, two sleeps are exactly what it sounds like.
Folks would partake in a communal nap, complete with rigid sleeping arrangement conventions, between 9 – 11pm, then awaken for a few hours to do everything from hang out to brew beer! In fact, the idea of multiple sleeps crossed cultures and was found in places as far from Europe as indigenous South America.
How can one’s circadian rhythm make sense of all of this?!
Well, for starters, until the invention of the alarm clock, which humorously was invented by a clocks salesman so he could wake up and sell more clocks, people had no firm way to wake up at a consistent time. The industrial revolution enforced a new circadian standard.
And there’s some science behind this! In the 1992 study, In Short Photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic, researcher Thomas Wehr found that after four weeks of 10 hour days, his subjects began to engage in this two sleep cycle, involving a one to three hour period for which they became awake and engaged in between.
Want to Learn About Light Pollution? There’s a mini-course for that!, Jennifer Sensiba of Clean Technica.
Quoting Sensiba, “As I got older, I traveled a lot more and saw the problem more for what it is. Not only did I see that in many places there is no refuge from it, but I also saw that it was slowly growing worse. Places that had been dark 30 years ago had more and more light creeping upon the horizon.”
If you’re interested in learning more, or more importantly, know someone who might benefit from learning more, Sensiba links up to an International Dark Sky Mini-Course on light pollution, call it Light Pollution 101!
There’s a Play Date at the National Museum of Natural History: Lights Out exhibit!
But unfortunately, by the time you listen to this, and hell, by the time we talk about this, it has passed.
Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan. Sarah Parlette for Click on Detroit.
Evidently gambling websites have decided to honor April’s International Dark Sky week in a strange new content marketing campaign, which was to rank the best places in each state to see sunrises and sunsets. My favorite one, “Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan,” comes from Click on Detroit, whereby a quote “study” examined Michigan’s most populated cities.”
According to Click on Detroit, “to celebrate International Astrology Day on Saturday, staff at Great Lake Stakes, a Michigan online gambling news site, looked at light pollution in the five most populated cities around the Mitten state to determine which offers the best views every morning and evening.”
Star bathing is the new outdoor travel trend we should all be trying for Summer 2023, according to Amy Beecham at Stylist.
Evidently, as an attempt to destress and promote mindfulness, romanticism about sleeping under the stars has birthed a 70% increase in searches for the term ‘star bathing’ on Hipcamp. And to be sure, “Hipcamp recommends checking a stargazing calendar which outlines major astrological events – like supermoons, pink moons, and star showers.”
“Industry Must Face an Inconvenient Truth — Most LED Lights at Night are Unhealthy”
Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a circadian clock expert, recently published an article in LEDs Magazine chastising the lighting industry for not recognizing and reigning in the negative externalities of its products. Per the piece, such effects are, obesity, diabetes, depression, cancer, and more.
He cites three categories of industry responses, making the correlation that long term Denial or outright Ignorance of the Facts, may result in “asbestos-scale liabilities or draconian regulations.”
Per the piece, a recent survey by the Circadian Light Research Center of 2,697 peer reviewed scientific articles confirmed that human circadian clocks are highly sensitive to blue wavelengths, and that exposure to such wavelengths leads to major health disorders.
Moore-Ede calls for the industry to harvest the “commercial opportunity” to greatly limit future liability by creating and managing its own standards for circadian modulated lighting.
Unpacking the Wallpack, by Dan Weissman in LD+A Magazine.
Weissman, who recently purchased a telescope for his family in Cambridge, MA, discovered that the scope could only afford him views of some solar system objects and a few brightly burning stars.
The ire of Weissman’s pen takes the shape of a rectangular fixtures, be it box like or simply a panel these days, that typically hang off the side of an exterior wall or above an exterior door. “Devoid of aesthetic value” this light is often put up under the “pretense of security and safety” by “recommended practices and adopted municipal codes.”
Weissman recognizes labels that often accompany, what he calls, “Glare bombs,” including “contractor-select,” “energy efficient,” or “light pollution friendly.”
Further, per an earlier LD+A article, such lighting driven by its extreme contrasts is exceedingly common in minority communities where light is weaponized as a tool of power. It becomes a “device of alienation, creating a zone of control and separation.”
Weissman recognizes that the true reason such fixtures are selected often comes down to cost. He recognizes that it may take equally as much cost to persuade building and homeowners away from such lighting into the realm of more responsible, lower lumen, shielded lighting.
Weissman calls for producers of these glare bombs to be labeled as polluters, putting them in line with fossil fuel manufacturers and PFAS makers.
Songbirds, dusk and clear skies: Scientists explore migratory flights, by Erin Blakemore.
Bird migration season is ending here in the Mid-Atlantic. I was lucky enough to catch several Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings last week. Researchers looked at 400 songbirds from 9 major species, “including the yellow-rump warbler, American redstart and Bicknell’s thrush.”
The question they hoped to answer was how are these birds so darn precise in identifying the best time to take off for their nightly migration? Scientists found that 90% of the migrating birds in the study took off within 69 minutes of dusk. A “much narrower takeoff window,” that even shocked the research team!
Per the study, taking off at night is all about maximum flight time. In addition to being able to precisely schedule their take offs, a feat that every airline I’ve flown with over the past few years has proven inept at, birds also are apparently good meteorologists! They often depart when the atmospheric pressure rises over a day’s span. Other factors also trigger migration, including sex, age, and celestial cues.
‘Lights Out’ initiative appears to be saving birds from crashing into Philly buildings by Sophia Schmidt.
Preliminary results indicate that bird death counts are down 70% at one Market Street tower, since it began its participation in Lights Out. As we spoke about on a previous show, birds utilize the stars to navigate, but city lights can disorient the birds. Combine the lights with reflective or transparent glass, and that spells fatal trouble for our migrating warblers!
Per Keith Russell, a program manager for urban conservation with Audubon Mid-Atlantic, “We’ve lost almost a third of our birds – and [collisions] contributing to that. If we’re going to want to preserve the bird populations here in North America, we have to look at these types of problems. And this is a preventable one.”
The Knoxville, TN Zoo is offering up what they call “Twilight Tours” per WVLT 8. Each event will feature a guide to showcase nocturnal critters.
I did something similar in Singapore years ago. The zoo had very dim lights in the exhibits – and they kept those lights dim as you walked so that you didn’t lose your night vision. It was a very different and, might I say, peaceful experience than the typically chaotic daytime zoo.
Flashlights posing major threat to nesting sea turtles. Fox35 Orlando
Apparently, a single flashlight can deter female sea turtles from coming onto a beach and nesting. Florida, as I did not know, is home to 90% of the sea turtle nests across the world, so losing sea turtles can affect the global ecosystem.
One visitor to Cocoa Beach stated, “Just leave them alone. Stand back and look. You don’t need a flashlight.”
Another, “It’s not super surprising because more buildings go up, more technology. As it increases, nature and stuff like that decreases,” said Zoe Jovaag, whose grandfather used to take her on walks to see sea turtles.
Capture the Dark 2023 officially is under way!
The International Dark Sky Association opens up its annual photo contest complete with prizes across eight categories and an additional People’s Choice category. Voting begins on July 3rd, entries must be received by June 30th.
City Tests Traffic Light That Only Turns Green for Drivers Who Obey the Speed Limit. Erin Marquis for Jalopnik.
And hey, you better not speed in Brossard, Quebec….otherwise you may be waiting around for a while. Brossard is testing out a new traffic light that will stay red until it senses oncoming traffic. However, it will only change to green if the car is going the speed limit. Per the Jalopnik article, “FRED [the French acronym for “educational traffic calming light] forces fast drivers to stop and gives them a chance to reconsider their life choices.” Such lights are already used in Europe, but this will be the first for the Great White North.
Why the Greatest Threat to Star-Gazing Isn’t Light Pollution, and this comes to us from Dorin Elin Urrutia at Inverse.
Elin Urrutia writes, in her compelling piece, that the greatest threat to star-gazing is actually the weather. Citing notable examples of the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia (which burnt down due to bushfires) and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (which sustained structural damage following the winds of Hurricane Maria).
While the threat of human-caused climate change has presented new challenges, Elin Urrutia references proactive burns that saved Los Angeles’ Mount Wilson Observatory from flames in 2020.
On a similar note, ABC News (the Australian Broadcasting Company, not to be confused with the American Broadcasting Company), brings us “A World Without Darkness Could Be a Reality within a Few Years.”
Per Carol Redford of Astrotourism Western Australia, “There are some people in the world now who don’t actually experience darkness anymore. They’re in a city like Beijing, Toyoko, or London. In all those big cities, it’s never dark, it’s always light. During the day of course with the sun, but then during the night with all of the artificial light. They’re not experiencing darkness, and definitely not seeing those beautiful stars…”
In the 66 years since the implementation of the UN Convention on the Peaceful Use of Outerspace, around 11,000 satellites orbit the Earth. But it’s about to get wayyy busier. Driven by innovations that have led to dramatic reductions in costs, over the next ten years, Per attorney Steven Freeland, it’s anticipated that somewhere between 100,000 to 500,000 objects will be sent up. Let me pause on that for a second.
On the travel front, we stay in the land down under, “Aussie region determined to keep its darkness is a stargazer’s dream” by Chantelle Francis of News.com.AU.
The town of Swam Reach, population 270, resides in a 3200sq km region of Southern Australia that received its International Dark Sky Reserve status over three years ago. On a scale of darkness between 0 – 22, the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve at Swam Reach, measures in at a whopping 21.9!
Tourism has become a growing business. The reserve hosts numerous telescope pads and offers tours of the night sky. There’s hope that an observatory and/or planetarium may also arrive in due course.
Best smart lights for outdoors in 2023, Brittney Vincent of CBS Essentials.
Oh there’s a lot not to love here, but it does fall in line with last month’s ‘Lumens are Coming’ article.
For those of you who feel the need to light your trees, because for some reason they need light at night I guess…I’ll try and pretend it’s not solely for ostentatious and narcissistic reasons. By the way, does anyone remember when those were negative characteristics?
The article features spotlights that can be programmed to over 16 MILLION colors including…lucky for us, ALL shades of white….which you can also do for a 500 lumen flood light set.
And hey, Ring now has solar path lighting. Don’t worry though, the fixtures themselves put out up to 80 lumens of sideways light.
You know, it’s astounding when you look at some of these pictures. The amount of redundant lighting. It honestly makes no sense to me. You have a porch light, which lights up the path. Path lighting, which lights up the path. And, in the one picture, god awful frontward facing flood lights, which also light up the path. How bright do you need these paths!? I digress. But the lumens are indeed coming.
LDS Church will get to light up its Heber Valley Temple after all, but the faith didn’t get everything it wanted, Blake Apgar of the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fought hard to rid itself of any nighttime lighting responsibility by pressuring Wasatch County, Utah officials to approve new lighting rules that would enable the church to light a proposed new temple the same way it does for every other temple.
The Church received permission to uplight the temple, enabling an exception to be made in Wasatch’s rather stringent nighttime lighting rulebook. However, the temple will be restricted by the level of lumens it can use, and it must have exterior lighting turned off an hour after sunset or an hour after normal business hours.
Smart Street Lights Market is Expected to Hit USD 14,751.1 million at a 23.4% CAGR by 2030, Market Research Future Press Release
The pandemic is officially over, smart street lighting is about to boom. Combine the rush to LED fixtures with the Internet of Things, and expect to see street lights moonlighting as traffic and parking monitors, air quality meters, and more. Not to mention, “it is anticipated that camera-connected smart street lighting will increase road safety by lowering the likelihood of accidents and criminality.”
Texas now has 7 dark sky communities for spectacular star gazing, Sana Ameer, MRT.
Let’s cheer on the city of Bee Cave, everyone! Bee Cave joins a growing list of dark sky places already in the Lone Star State, including 2 Dark Sky Sanctuaries, 5 Dark Sky Parks, and 1 Dark Sky Reserve. Nighttime is alive and well in some parts of Texas!
Our Afraid of the Dark article is a bit scary! Hilton Head’s dark roads and pedestrians are deadly combo. What the town is doing about it, Blake Douglas at The Island Packet.
Per the article, 9 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred since 2018, with five occurring after dark. Prior to that period, there were 28 recorded deaths from 2000 – 2016, with 20 of them taking place after dark.
In 2018, an 11 year old resident was struck and killed while walking her dog across an intersection one night. Lighting advocates began taking shape in what otherwise is a very conservation focused island. Hilton Head, SC has a limited number of street lights, priding itself on “avoiding light pollution and blending nature with construction.”
Lighting advocates appear to be, at the very least, asking for flashing crosswalk lights on the island to indicate when an individual is crossing.
It should be noted that the article shows a chart of 9 after-dark-deaths since 2014, only two of them occurred at crosswalks. In fact, during the same time frame, 6 additional deaths occurred at crosswalks during the daytime.
As a whole, the National Safety Council reports that 74.5% of pedestrian deaths occurred at night, whereby 39.1% took place in lit areas and 35.38% took place in unlit areas.
Bryan Bloch, an auto safety expert, surmises that car companies bear some of the blame – producing cheap or ineffectual headlight fixtures, and drivers themselves, who don’t realize that they need to regularly clean their headlight lenses.
Despite opposition from residents, it appears that Hilton Head will be receiving lights at two new intersections and possibly more depending on engineering studies currently in progress.
Is lighting the key variable here? Is more light going to solve pedestrian deaths?
Our featured research article of the month comes to us from Animal Conservation, “Manipulating spectra of artificial light affects movement patterns of bats along ecological corridors.”
Bats are already known to have a wide range of responses to artificial light at night (also known as ALAN). Fast flying species tend to be more opportunistic in the presence of ALAN while slower ones tend to be more light averse. We know that “long wavelengths and reduced intensity” can minimize their environmental effects on bats. It’s not unheard of for bats to travel upwards of “tens of km per night.” Furthermore, bats are very dependent on the landscape and the structures within those landscapes.
Despite the nuances between species, the consensus is that ALAN, especially high intensity ALAN, negatively affects bats. This study attempted to answer what exactly bats do when they encounter ALAN – how do they react depending on different types of ALAN.
The study used three different light fixtures – one green, one red, and one white. The control was devoid of light fixtures. The researchers attempted to ascertain the behavior of bats as they encountered lights adjacent to woody areas. The researchers looked at three different bat groupings based on their foraging-echo location behavior, that being one of open field foraging, forest edge foraging, and narrow space – or more aptly forest foragers.
Researchers found that open and edge foraging bats increased their activity close to white and green lights, and to a lesser extent red lights. However, narrow space bats were more likely to veer away from all colors of lighting. Edge foragers were also less likely to cross a white light.
The positive effects of white and green light on open and edge foraging bats appear to be attributed to the accumulation of insects around light sources containing more blue light.
The nighttime sky over Oahu will be lit up with green lasers in the coming days. Here’s why. Hawaii News Now
Before we close up today, do you live in Hawaii? I know I wish I did!
If so, do you recall seeing green lasers streak across the night sky? Well, the Army Corps of Engineers was using lidar at night to complete a coastal mapping survey.
Why did they survey at night? Specifically, why did they do this between midnight to 5am? Simply b/c the airspace is so busy, that time was the only chance they had to complete the survey. The remaining survey was completed during daytime hours.

This is actually a true story! I wrote it in short story form and then told the story on a horror story podcast. Terrible writing but a fun scary story! I hope you enjoy it : )
I was 15 years old (1993) and it was the winter of my sophomore year
in suburban Michigan. It was Saturday night and I was
sleeping over at my friends Melissa’s house with my friend Ally and 2
other girls. Melissa lived in a secluded neighborhood about 2 miles from
a local lake called Cass Lake. We all had boyfriends at a neighboring
high school just above the lake. Melissa’s room was in the basement, a
veritable den of iniquity for teenage girls, we were listening to
Metallica way too loud, eating junk food, trying on clothes and
talking on the phone with the boys. Somewhere around midnight we
hatched a plan to walk over to their house. There was a sliding door
out of the basement that allowed us to circumvent the parental units.
There was just one thing; it was January and there was about 2 feet of
snow on the ground. It was probably 5 below zero. When we set out, I
had on jeans, a brown leather bomber jacket, no gloves, Keds, and my
Walkman. Inside was the album Nevermind (because, of course). We
started out at about 12:30, at first everything was great. We are
having fun, joking, singing, laughing, there was nobody out, we were
impressed with ourselves! About an hour in we see the lake and it’s
starting to get a lot less fun. It’s freezing, my hands are pink, they
hurt, my face burns, I’m shivering. We had a misjudged how long this
journey was going to take. We had just gotten to the lake and there
was still several miles to go. Now, this was the 90s, no cell phones
to call a ride, no way for us to call the boys to ask them to meet us
or anything. But, like bullheaded teenagers, we decided to forge
ahead. What could go wrong??
We were walking with the lake on our right side when I heard what
sounded like somebody driving with a loose muffler (by now I had given
up on my Walkman, it skipped every time I took a step)- this kind of
dragging, rattling, chugging noise. We all turn around and it’s a red,
beat up, late-model car driving really slowly in the right lane. We
don’t think anything of it turn our heads back, keep walking and the
car drives past us. About 15 minutes later we hear the SAME
chugging/dragging/rattling noise behind us and it took me a second to
realize I had heard that sound before. I look around and it’s the red
car again, coming slowly up to us. This time I look closer and and
it’s a man with a curly, bushy head of hair holding a knife! Just
holding it up as he drove slowly past us looking us dead. in. the.
eyes. He looked crazed. Manic. His eyes, they were electric, they just
shot energy into me, right into my core. HE MEANT US HARM. I don't
know how I knew that, I just knew. We are totally freaked out at this
point and kind of frozen in place. Is this real? Is it a joke? Surely
this man is fucking with us, 5 teenage girls alone at 2 am? He drives
past us slowly. We stop and discuss maybe turning back, but sigh.
We're idiots.
About 10 min later we hear the dreaded rattling. Again. WTF. Now we
know this is no joke. This time the red car STOPS next to us and the
man GETS OUT. He's holding the knife and he breaks into a run,
directly at us. One of us screams "RUN!" and we are hauling ass along
the lake. We run for what seems like forever. I'm at the very end
(Keds) and I remember thinking "Do I look back? Will that waste
time??" I look back. He's gone. "Guys!" I yell, "He's gone!". We all
stop, panting, freaking the fuck out. We collectively decide this trip
is over and we're heading home. That's when we hear it.. the rattling.
It's back. The car is coming around again. We can see the knife. This
time we book it across the street away from the lake to the houses.
Knock on a door? Get someone to let us in? By the time we reach the
house we hear him yelling "I see you! I see you!" from the car
window. We run behind the house and the flood lights turn on. I don't
know why this spooked us but we just kept running, through maybe 3 or
4 back yards. Here's the problem with winter. It's really hard to run
in snow. Now, not only are we freezing, but we're wet. And exhausted.
We stopped behind a dark house to regroup. The man is nowhere to be
seen, it's quiet. Half of us are crying, we're fighting over what to
do next. No one wants to get in trouble, at the time this seemed
important. We decide we have to go to the front and see if the man is
around. We spot a huge fir tree in front of the house with those big
vintage bulbs strung on it. We decide we're going to hide behind the
tree and scout out the road. We make a break for it, all of us
crouching into the heavy snow, wet teenage rats, shivering, crying.
No man. No car. Now what?
We decide we need a payphone, we need to call.. our boyfriends, Yeah,
I know. The problem is the closest payphone is maybe 1.5 miles back.
What if IT comes back? We're debating the issue when we hear it.. the
rattling. This time it's on our side. We see him, but we know he can't
see us. He drives by slowly, rattling, chugging. About 4 houses up he
turns around ever so slowly and comes back. His windows are down, he's
holding the knife against the steering wheel. Back and forth. He says
nothing, just stares out the window. It felt like hours, days, weeks.
I was soaked through my shoes and socks, my jacket, that I had begged
my mom for, it wasn't even brand name, just a knock off but I loved
it, was soaked through. My friends faces were smeared with mascara
from crying. This was all kinds of not ok.
We had to move. We waited until we hadn't heard him for a while and
creeped out from behind the tree, the plan was to get to the lake side
where there was less snow and run. We had crouched there for so long
that my stupid, impractical right Ked had frozen to the snow and got
pulled off as I got up. I turned back to get it but just then the car
came flying down the street at us! I bailed on the shoe and booked.
The rattling was the loudest noise I've ever heard, like it was coming
from inside my own head. We hauled it to the lake side and by then he
was out of the car. With the knife. Running after us yelling "I got
you! I got you!" "Get on the lake!", I yelled! I don't know, I thought
maybe he'd have a hard time following us? Not my best moment. I
decided to look back. Mistake. As I hit the curb I felt a sickening
lurch, my unshod ankle had buckled on the step up. I fell face first
into the grey slush on the side of the road. Ally saw my fall and ran
back, hauling me up screaming "Move!" I ran for my life, onto the
lake. One foot in just a thin white sock. But he was behind us! We had
to keep moving!
At first the ice was ok, solid, not even slippery because of the
crust. But the farther we got out the slipperier it got. I kept
looking back to see if he was there, and he was! He was running at the
edge of the lake, keeping pace. His knife gleamed in the moonlight. We
kept running. That's when we heard the first crack.
Now, in the movies, the person always falls right through. But in
reality, my reality, it was a slow process. The first crack sounded
like a giant rubber band snapping. The sound echoed over the massive
bowl of the lake. It was followed but several other loud snaps,
causing a cacophony of sound. I could see a black web forming across
the ice. We were screaming in terror now, none of us knew what to do!
We turned back to the shore. The cracks came faster and faster as we
neared the far edge of the lake. The man with the knife was a distant
fear in my mind now, I was going to die out on this ice. Frozen in a
lake. Ahead of me I saw Ally and Melissa leap onto the edge of the lake,
they made it! I was next, if I could just get there... My right foot
went through the ice. Again, unlike the movies, I didn't fall in, the
ice didn't collapse under me. I was able to pull my leg out and launch
myself onto the shore. The last 2 girls piled on top of me. Both of
them shaking and crying. We just held each other and sobbed.
I can't tell you how long it was before it occurred to us to look for
the man with the knife! He was nowhere to be seen. It was totally
silent except for our sniffles and pathetic whimpers. We were on a
different street now, but he could have easily followed us. It was
snowing gently, I remember the huge, fluffy flakes indifferently
falling on us. We got up, checked each other over. One sprained ankle,
one banged up forehead, one twisted wrist. All of us traumatized. My
right Ked and Walkman were gone. Gifts to the getaway god, I suppose.
That's it. We hobbled home slowly, no one said a word. Made it in
around 6 am. Never saw the red car again. We took hot showers and sat
on the floor shivering in silence. No one slept. We never told the
boys why we didn't make it, just that we changed our minds about
coming. I made up a story to my mom about my ankle and missing shoe.
There was just an unspoken rule that we would never talk about it. And
we never did.
(Names were changed for this because the story is true.)

Sandusky OH 10/10 I know Sandusky is not a major city but it's my favorite place in Ohio and I have lots of great memories here, some cool lighthouses and obviously cedar point
Beaufort NC 10/10 again another water front smaller area, lots of fun things to do and made many memories here over thr last 12 years I've been going there, lots of cool shops as well.
Traverse city MI 10/10 Ohioans all hate Michigan and vise versa but yet again another water front area with lots of fun things to do.
Chagrin Falls OH 10/10 This place is really awesome, everything is walkable here theres shops and restaurants everywhere and also The creator of Calvin and Hobbles based it on this town.
Cincinnati OH 9/10 Cincinnati is the best of the 3 C's in my personal opinion, lots of preserved historical areas, Cincinnati tops Columbus in mostly everything according to US N&WR, I will probably move here to go to collage in around 2 years
Pittsburgh 9/10 Downtown Pittsburgh is a very fun experience and it's very walkable, the water front is really great as well, I haven't been here in around 5 years but I enjoyed it.
Charlotte NC 7.5/10 I never really got to explore Charlotte but the part I went to was pretty nice but legit kinda boring, the reason i felt it was boring is because there is not much real culture left in Charlotte, its all been taken over by nissan altimas with dented bumpers. there is some high crime rates in Charlotte but the majority of it was alright. it's a pretty good place overall but I wish it had some of its original culture left.
Columbus OH 7/10 Columbus is the most midwest feeling city in Ohio, everyone moves to Columbus for work and collage mostly and that's why personally think it's the most boring of the 3 C's, there is some cool neighborhoods like German village that are similar to Cincinnatis historical homes. But theres 100s of new genfrcation building that dont have the same downtown feel as it should. Basically when people think Ohio they think Columbus.There is a new Intel plant being built in Columbus which will bring some more money to the states economy.
Richmond VA 7/10 I haven't explored Virginia as much but I have been to Richmond, it was a pretty good place. Richmond has excellent food and some cool historical homes. Outside of the city is just your basic american metropolitan area but overall it's alright.
Akron OH 7/10 My hometown and current place of living, there has been a lot of improvement over the past 10 years to akron and there is lots planned for the next coming 5 years. Akron has the beat metro parks in the state and also has The CVNP starting at merriman Valley. Our downtown is pretty small but very walkable and there restaurants and bars everywhere, what we need downtown is more stores but the main income goes to The restaurants downtown. We also have lots and lots of old homes, my personal favorite style is the tutor style house. All down portage path and merriman road are all all historical homes. The worst parts of Akron (east side) are basically the average neighborhood in Cleveland which I why I think akron Is 100% a better place than Cleveland. Basically if you got rid of the shitty cleveland like east side it would give akron a giant boost.
Winston salem NC 7/10 This city reminded me of akron a lot, the metropolitan size of it is basically the same, the downtown isn't as fun in my opinion but Akrons isn't all that either. I stayed in the worst area to stay at in winston salem tho (hanes mall) but I wad only there at night so it wasn't all day. If I where to move somewhere out of state it might be here just because I got used to it so easily and have family close in SC. Pilot mountain is also worth visiting and has some great hikes and views, you can see the phallic building of WS from the peak lmao.
Norfolk VA 6.5/10 the area we stayed at here was legit pretty dangerous, my grandma booked a hotel in the shittiest neighborhood at a days inn, but I still am a huge fan of naval shit so this place was awesome. There's tons of boating stuff to do here and some really cool miltary equipment to look at. Honestly if we didn't stay in the worst part of this place it probably would of gotten a 7 but maybe I should try it out again.
The rest will be posted later after this

On the morning of December 8th, 1941, enlistment offices all across the United States began to be filled by young men eager to enact revenge for what the Empire of Japan had done at Pearl Harbor. The offices would stay busy for a long, long time. It was a dangerous job, with life and limb at serious risk, and many more young men would join the Army and Navy by conscription. Lesser celebrated, and likely they’d have it no other way, were whole second armies of support personnel. These would be nurses, middle-aged clerks too old and or fat to fight, surveyors, engineers, and merchant sailors.
Some would be spies or intelligence men working for the Office of Strategic Services. Others were mysterious ne’er-do-wells, scoundrels who were very good at the procurement of various goods. Some would be anthropologists and translators, eager to help obscure native communities deal with the technologically advanced war tearing the island worlds asunder. Some would be entertainers for the USO, there to help with morale, doing what they were best at, whether it was telling jokes or dancing beautifully. Others might be war correspondents, to communicate, in a highly censored way, what was going on to the folks back home. Then there were the bean counters. Everybody overlooked the bean counters.
Many of the combat veterans, and even some of the non-combat personnel, would never make it home again. Others made it home, but only after being maimed and scarred in body and mind. Yet most would make it home. All of them would have stories to tell, though many would never tell their stories. There was a culture of silence during the war, ‘loose lips sink ships.’ It wasn’t just a catchy phrase, people took it to heart. It became a habit. Even long after the war was over people kept their lips zipped shut.
And yet, there were still millions and millions of stories, and some of them would be recorded. They might be memoirs committed to paper years later. Then again, many of these people kept diaries. They would write home every chance they get. Officers as a regular part of their duties were constantly writing up reports. Every single one would end up being read by someone, somewhere, and passed up the chain depending on its importance, or filed away if the chain ended there. With every battle won or lost, extensive analyses were conducted on what went right and what went wrong, and how we could do better. Actions of bravery were written up for recommendations for medals or promotions. Every serious infraction meant a court-martial, and court martials left transcripts. Bitter denouements and protests were written when it was felt officers weren’t living up to their duties, and in these cases, the lips were zipped especially tight, but the reports themselves were poured over. Every location where the U.S. went, whether it was the location of a battleground, a ranging area for artillery, site for a depot, or a road used to transport was thoroughly mapped and described in detail.
Then there were the bean counters. How many 20 mm shells does it take, on average, to knock down a Val dive bomber? How many pints of A-positive blood should be stocked in a forward field hospital? How many gallons of ice cream are needed to keep a company of Marines in good fighting spirit? The bean counters might not know, but they recorded everything down just in case you wanted to sift through the data, and a lot of people did. The data would end up having a massive contribution to the war effort.
Last were two groups of material that were never meant to see the light of day. The sort of thing that ought to be recorded, but then hidden away only for the purview of top men. The first is information you might expect would cause classification or a cover-up. Disastrous friendly fire incidents. Accusations and or confessions of war crimes. State secrets involving intelligence on enemies and allies both.
Then there’s the other tranche of material. The stuff that defies explanation. Secrets from the hidden corners of the earth that were never meant to be revealed until some young farmboys from a country far away showed up in places where they were never supposed to be.
The following provides an example.
Excerpts from the personal diary of Second Lieutenant Yvette Morgan, Army Nursing Corps, 231st Hospital Group, Normandy region of France, July and August 1944. Aged 20 at the time of writing.
Note: Most American personnel in WWII were restricted from keeping personal diaries for counterintelligence purposes. It was not uncommon that this restriction was flaunted, particularly among personnel with the luxury of a little bit of privacy. Lt. Morgan seems to have understood the purpose of the restriction, and so the redactions in the following excerpts are her own. A careful eye will note she’s made a couple of errors, which is why censorship should be left to the professionals.
July 30th, 1944- Just got off the truck and finally made it back ‘home.’ Just spent all ‘day,’ helping set up the field hospital. We’ve commandeered a high school in the little town of St. A. I think it’s going to work out pretty well. There’s a gym with a tall ceiling and high windows, which means good natural lighting, so we’re setting that up as an operating room. We’ve got about six beds in each classroom, which is just about the number you’d like. The corridors are nice and wide enough to handle gurneys, and there’s plenty of room out front for the ambulances. I don’t think we could have found a better location outside of a purpose-built actual hospital.
The real work starts tomorrow. Well, today, I guess. They ought to be taking patients right about the time I’m writing this. I drew the short stick, and now I’m stuck with the overnight shift. That’s my luck for you. Back home that would have meant at least it would be pretty quiet, but I don’t think that’s going to apply to this kind of duty.
“Home” is actually this nice little old cottage they’ve set me up with, and four other girls. It’s in the tiny commune of L. It’s actually about ten miles from the hospital, not far from the sea. Every shift they’re going to drive us back and forth in these trucks. Seems like an awful waste of gasoline to me, but what do I know? The whole reason they’re doing this is because the hospital’s technically in range of German artillery, and they like to keep staff like us out of harm's way when we’re not needed. I suppose we won’t be in range much longer anyway. That said, Capt. G says the front line’s been stalled out for a while. He says it’s slow going with all these enormous hedgerows they grow everyplace around here. I never knew they could grow so big, they must be hundreds of years old. I thought the poplar windbreaks they started growing back home after the Dust Bowl were impressive, but they’ve got nothing on these things. We can still hear the guns, though. They’re a long way off, and kind of sound like thunder, though you can tell they’re not because the sky is perfectly clear. At least, I hope, they’re mostly our guns.
The morning’s still a little chilly, but it promises to be a warm day. I’m going to have to get used to sleeping through it. After long last summer is really here. The cottage itself is lovely. I can’t help but wonder about the people who really make this home. There’s a delightful flower garden in front and just the most precious herb garden right outside the kitchen window. When I get married and we have a home, I’m going to insist on one just like it.
The other girls? Well, what can I say. 5 of us all sharing this little place, at least we’ll be working different shifts mostly. I’m sure we’ll get by swimmingly.
July 31st- Just got back and finished breakfast for dinner. Part of me still wishes I were at work. If I were at a civilian hospital I still would be. Funny how the military insists on sticking to the scheduled shift and they order me to go home and get some sleep. I might get used to such regimentation.
I say this as if I’m not completely exhausted and overwhelmed. I’m sure I’ll sleep tonight. Today, whatever. As I’d suspected, we had our first wounded in during the morning shift. Most of them had been through the Mobile Advanced hospital and had been at least looked over by a doctor. Plenty had already gone through an initial surgery, just to stabilize them, close gaping wounds, and tie off arteries. It was really crude stuff, but I suppose that’s the point. Our doctors opened them back up and fixed them up properly. There were a few walking wounded, shrapnel wounds, and nasty burns we were able to help out too. I feel glad to be part of such a great team. I spent the first half of my shift assisting in two different surgeries. Then the last half attending the wards.
I had hoped that would be more peaceful. Our boys are so brave, even when you can tell they’re really broken up over what they’ve been through. And yet it wasn’t meant to be.
I mentioned that St. A.’s was within range of German artillery. Well, there was an attack last night, early this morning, I’m still not used to the schedule. They didn’t hit the hospital. They hit the other side of town. It was loud enough to shake all of the windows, and even the ground shook. It scared the daylights out of me. Some of the boys yelled too. A couple of them fell out of their beds and tried to hide underneath. I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through that a second time, let alone time after time, day after day like our boys.
I was just starting to get things settled down and everything squared. Then there was commotion. A bunch of orderlies, then nurses, then doctors running around the front main hall. We were expecting wounded. They’d hit an old medieval church on the other side of town. The Church of Saint Adalthred. There had been a platoon of soldiers sleeping there. Now they were bringing the survivors in.
I had never done triage before, though I remembered my training. You divide the patients into three groups. The group that needs surgery absolutely immediately if they’re going to live. The group that can wait for surgery. And then there’s the group that will die regardless.
There were two young men that were in the last group. The first had a massive open head wound. The strange thing was he was perfectly conscious and capable of speaking, despite the injury. There was just nothing that we could do for him. He was alert for about an hour, and then he simply passed away. Is it horrible to think that was something of a mercy?
The other suffered terrible burns, and apparently some of the blast as well. After the triage, I was assigned to care for him. The doctor had estimated over 90 percent of his body suffered burns in the third degree. The kind of amount that really makes you question your faith. I’ve seen burn patients, but not when they get first arrive like this. His eyes and ears were gone. A strange thing was, he wasn’t screaming like we’d expect burn patients to do. The doctor said his vocal cords were burnt out, but his lungs were relatively free of smoke damage, and he didn’t have that horrible cough. The doctor said it was like “he’d inhaled flame.” He was simply silent. He’s not expected to last the night. Day, I mean. I suppose I won’t see him again. I suppose that’s mercy too.
I mentioned yesterday that I think a school building serves as a fine hospital in a pinch. I’m not sure about that anymore. It’s the ventilation. There isn’t any in the school. Fumes from the ether linger everywhere. So does the stink of infection, no matter how much we fight it. And that last patient. It was like he was roasted. Literally. I thought I’d be sick.
August 1st- The truck ride back is starting to become my favorite part of the day. This one was a long one, despite being the exact same length as all the other shifts. We’re really packed now. The minute we get one patient ready for transport back to England, another takes his bed. They say the war might be over before Christmas. I hope. Don’t know how I’ll be able to keep up this pace for so long.
The little old priest whose church got blown up by the Germans came around to volunteer at the hospital. Poor old thing has nowhere else to go. He’s helping us roll bandages, working the autoclaves, and helping the chaplain out with the prayers. He seems to be helping with morale, god bless him. Particularly the chaplain’s. The priest doesn’t speak English and the chaplain doesn’t speak French, but they both speak Latin well enough to get by. I’ve never heard it spoken before. I grew up Lutheran, and it seems so strange. I’m a long way from home.
The burn patient is still alive. I was really surprised when I got in and found out. Apparently so are the doctors. Of course, I’m attending him again and was asked to change his bandages. Most of the rest of his skin that hadn’t already sloughed off last night did so while I was changing them. I didn’t see any sign of infection yet, though of course, we all know what’s coming. Other than that there wasn’t much I can do. He’s started letting off this low moan. The doctor said he was not really conscious. I can’t imagine he would be, he’s still getting so much morphine.
He was already bleeding through before my shift ended, so I thought I’d do the next shift a favor and take care of it a second time on the same shift. This time the doctor had me place his arms over his chest and belly, and bandage them all together. Also, he had me bandage his legs together. The doctor said that if there’s a miracle and somehow he manages to pull through, it will be because he somehow beat the infection. And if he’s going to have any chance at all then we’ll need to minimize his contact with bandages until can receive grafts. When I was done he ended up looking like a mummy, right out of the pictures. I don’t think it will matter much, and neither does the doctor. But we have to keep trying.
August 2nd- Just got back. The burn victim is still alive. It’s so strange. It’s all I can think about now. When I first got in I went straight to his room. I was absolutely shocked, it was gruesome. His bandages were positively soaked through. There was more red than white. I was just about to chew out the girl on the shift before me. I thought that nobody had changed the bandages since my last shift, but then she told me that she’d just changed them two hours previously. I couldn’t make head or tales of it. So I just got to work changing them myself. It felt so odd, the way the other patients in the room were looking at us. Like they knew there was something off about the whole thing. The patient’s moaning is getting louder too. It must be so unnerving to the others sharing the room.
Then, of all things, Maj. P and Col. S came in to observe. I haven’t seen either of them since we started setting up the hospital. They don’t usually stay up so late. They were washed up and decided to help me bandage the patient. As if they weren’t just there to observe me, but wanted to be a part of it too.
Sure enough, after only a couple of hours, the bandages were soaked through again. I’ve never seen such terribly bleeding. I asked the doctor if it could have possibly been hemophilia. It’s something I’ve only heard about but haven’t seen. He only shook his head like he was sure that it wasn’t. Yet he also looked even more confused than I was. We’ve been giving the patient transfusions. But at this rate, I just don’t know where it’s all coming from.
I know I shouldn’t be writing this sort of thing down, but the doctor confided that he’s thinking of reducing the morphine, maybe the patient will be more lucid. I don’t know how the doctor expects him to communicate with his vocal cords destroyed, or what he could possibly have to say even if he could talk. Well, it’s not my place to decide. I think he knows more about what’s happening to the poor man than I do.
It was all just blood too. In the bandages. No pus at all. I don’t know how he’s not becoming infected.
August 3rd- There’s a great deal of strangeness happening at the hospital. I saw the General’s staff car the moment our truck pulled around to drop us off, the little flags on the front gave it away.. Instead of starting my shift, they asked me to come back to Col. S’s office. My first thought was that I was in trouble, and they’d somehow find this diary. Both Maj. P and Col. S. were there, along with Gen C. who’d driven down from Corps HQ with a couple of his staff. There were also two men from what might have been regular Army, except they wore two long dark coats. I didn’t get their names.
Apparently, they’d all been there for hours and were wanting to debrief me. Well, it sure was intimidating, but they just wanted me to tell them what I’d seen. Fair enough. The patient was burned all over his body. He probably should have died the first night but hasn’t. There’s an awful amount of bleeding which I can’t account for. There’s also no pus or smell of infection, which also didn’t make sense. I told them about how he’s been given large amounts of morphine, though I didn’t say what Cap. H had said about reducing it. No, he had never been capable of speaking since brought in. No, he hadn’t been wearing his dog tags, but between the blast, and the length of time he’d been burning, he must have stripped everything off. Surely they were back in the rubble of that church. Then they thanked me and told me I could go back to work.
Well, I’d just about had it. I stood up and demanded that if they knew something about my patient that they weren’t telling me and that if they did I could take better care of him, well then they had better tell me. I think I even swore though I didn’t mean to. Maj. P almost laughed and Col. S just gave me that stupid patronizing smile. Told me I was already doing everything that I could, and that they were proud of me. He’s a good man, but I’m getting really sick of this Army “that’s on a need-to-know basis” crap.
Rest of the shift was just the usual. Strange how it's become the norm now. No, there was something else. The burn patient was in his room by himself. They’d moved the other beds out. They didn’t tell me why. Probably because his moan’s getting worse. And raspier. I still don’t think he’s out of the morphine stupor though.
Alright, it’s later the same day, the second. I’ve just woken up and had a serious chat with Kathy, the nurse from the second shift, and she’s had a lot to talk about. Rumors are swirling. I don’t know how much of this is true. My gut instinct? It’s all true.
Those men in the long coats? The rumor is they were Army Intelligence. That didn’t make a lick of sense to me at first, but then it started to come together. It turns out there were supposed to be 30 men, including the C.O., in that church that night it got shelled. Nobody else. Except when they added up all the survivors (who’ve moved on to the front), all the wounded that were taken to our hospital, and those who died, which took a while to count, then it all added up to 31 men. So somebody was there who wasn’t supposed to be there, and nobody knows who it is. They think they’ve got all of the dog tags accounted for, which might have been why they asked me about it when I came in later that night. And the one person they can’t account for seems to be the burn victim.
So they didn’t know who it was. Nobody from the St. A.’s was missing. None of the French Resistance were around that night (apparently Intelligence asked them? How else would they know?). So it's really suspicious and they were worried he might be some kind of spy or infiltrator. They still don’t even know why that church was shelled in the first place.
So they started asking questions of that poor old priest who’s been volunteering. We know because they let the chaplain sit in with him, but it seems both of the intelligence guys spoke fluent French. They asked him if there were any kind of acolyte or initiate or whatever sort of junior clergy he might have could have been there. He said no, and anybody who might have was accounted for and healthy. He asked if there was anything valuable that could have been stolen, or maybe he feared could be looted (would our boys do that?). Well, he didn’t think so. There was the holy font, which was an antique, but there were many like it and it was hardly easy to move. There was the Bible at the altar. It was very old and had great sentimental value, but again it would have no value to thieves. There was the tomb of St. Adalthred himself, which was priceless to his community but was a part of the church itself. Why the church had been built in the first place. Impossible to steal.
Then they asked the priest to come and view the patient. Perhaps seeing his proportions, perhaps it might have helped him recollect a similar person he’d seen lately. I understand why they did it. He, the burn victim, does seem shorter than any soldier I’ve met, skinner too. I wish they hadn’t, though. The chaplain said the priest had cried over seeing all those bloody bandages. There wasn’t a point, because the priest said he didn’t recognize him. The strange thing was, the chaplain had said that the priest's behavior seemed really strange. Like they got the really strong sense that the priest was being cagey, and lying to them. Not that he recognized the figure per se, but that he was thinking of something that he wasn’t telling them. He also insisted on saying a prayer over the burnt figure before he left, and they let him.
When I asked why they’d moved all the other beds in the room, Kathy said a little while after the priest had left the burn victim had started screaming, really bad. The other patients asked if they could leave the room, and because of the mystery, Col. S. agreed to it so they could isolate the burnt man. He was only calmer when I arrived later because they’d given him more morphine. When Kathy told me how much my jaw hit the floor. That part has to be baseless rumor.
August 8- I’m back in England. I’ve been too worked up to write, and worried, of course. After it happened, they put me in a truck, drove me to L. to pick up my things, and then I was on a Skytrain back to Cornwall. I guess we stopped at the cottage as a courtesy, it was on the way to the airfield. I was worried they’d find this diary, but they never searched. I don’t think they know what to do with me. I’m not sure what they should do either. They might just send me home, I suppose. I wouldn’t protest that. I just want to get on with things.
So. That night. The 4th.
I’ll start when I get off the truck. That moment when you hit the ground after jumping out of the bed is so sharp like it just sets your whole day. Like a starter pistol at a race. Something about it seemed off just as I was walking towards the door. Now I get in, and the front gallery, ever since that night of the triage, is a pretty empty place. But somebody was waiting for me, and it was Col. S. He came right up to me the moment he saw me. What an upside-down experience.
He starts leading me down the side hall, towards the back of the hospital/school where his office was. So of course I expected he needed to talk to me about something in his office. Only it turned out it wasn’t his office anymore. I thought something was off when I saw two armed guards on either side of the door to his often. Almost as soon, I heard the screaming.
I have just enough time to puzzle together what’s happened when Col. S walks right in, me in tow. They’d moved the burn patient to Col. S’s office, and he’d cleared out. The reason was obvious. The patient was screaming. Really, really loud. It hurt my ears in such a small office. The office was as about as far removed from the rest of the patients as they could move him. His bandages were soaked through, totally bright red. Jet red? Is jet red a thing? If you saw him, you’d say it was. It looked like they had been in the middle of starting to change his bandages, or just about to finish. Because there were parts of his flesh that were exposed. I didn’t realize it at first, and could only tell because of the texture.
I was just staring at him for a while. Jaw wide open. Then I looked at Col. S. He had been watching my reaction. He had such a sympathetic look. I asked him “How long has he been like this?”
“For hours,” he said. Like he was apologizing.
“How much morphine did you give him?” I asked. He was a doctor in his own right, of course. He didn’t get a chance to perform much surgery now that he’s the administrator, but I don’t think that ever leaves you.
He looked like he was about to cry.
“Lethal?” I asked.
“More,” he whispered.
We stood there silent for a few moments. Then he explained the situation. The only people allowed in the room would be doctors. Myself, and he explained I was the nurse with the most experience with him, and that I was the one he trusted the most. I’d have no other duties this shift. The chaplain was allowed in, and the priest. Also, the two guards out front, and that was it. He told me “The men from intel will be back, and a couple of spooks. We’ll figure it out then.” I had no idea what he meant by that, but I just nodded.
Well, the chaplain was there, though he looked a total mess. And it turned out the priest had stayed late but had gone home, exhausted.
So I did my duties. Changed bandages. Changed IV bottles. There were two chairs in the room, one for me and one for the chaplain. With only the one patient sometimes I’d wait. We couldn’t really chat. The screaming was too loud. I don’t think either of us got used to it.
I suppose it was about 3 AM. Mom used to call that the witching hour. Around three it started to change. The screaming that is, the cadence of it. Is that the right word? He started screaming words. Very garbled, but words. That was when I remembered the doctor had said his vocal cords had been destroyed. Had he been wrong? It had to be. Both I and the chaplain were standing over him then. The chaplain whispering prayers. Sometimes we’d look at each other like maybe the other knew what was happening. There were no answers.
The words started getting clearer. Not that we understood them, but they kind of sounded like they were French. Both I and the chaplain thought he, the patient, was becoming lucid. The chaplain opened up the door and told the guards to get the colonel, also to send somebody to find the priest. I suppose anybody could have translated, or so I thought at the time, but getting the priest sounded right.
Well, the colonel wasn’t in, but Maj. P. was. He spoke a little French, but he couldn’t understand the words. I’m still glad he was there. As a witness. I’m glad me and the chaplain weren’t the only ones. It was like the patient was chanting.
It was, maybe ten minutes after the major arrived. The screaming just stopped. No words. Just heavy breathing. Hyperventilating maybe. It occurred to me then that the bandages had become soaked through again. I’d been there the whole time. Watching. Only now had I noticed. He was glistening. The bedding was bloody too, of course. It was everywhere. And then…
Then it happened.
I had been facing another direction. But there was a sound. Like a massive, loud inhalation of are. There was this bright light, like when a lightbulb is about to short out. Except I felt the heat, and I turned. The patient had burst into flames.
I screamed. I think the chaplain and major did too. The two guards ran in. Maybe they sent somebody else to fetch the priest. They just yelled and weren’t able to do anything else. In a normal circumstance, I think somebody would have fetched an extinguisher. Except the patient suddenly sat straight up in his bed. We were positively paralyzed. He was screaming again, and all we could do is watch. His bandages and bedding all burned away. Only then he stopped.
There was this man before us. He had no skin. No eyes. Glistening red, and patches of black where the ash still clung to him. He looked at us. Looked at me. There were two black holes in his face, above the hole for his nose, and his mouth, lips burned away and teeth missing. But the holes for his eyes… I could feel him looking at me despite having no eyes.
Then he spoke. It was French again, at least I thought. I couldn’t understand it. Full sentences. Raspy, but clear. No sign of pain or duress. Yet it was authoritative like he was in full command of his faculties.
I don’t think it lasted long before the priest came rushing in. The priest said something like “sortie” and then the Major told us to get out, the chaplain and I.
We did and closed the door behind us. The two guards were further down the hall, clearly rattled.
We could hear the priest and the burned man talking. Clearly, through the door. The burned man was distinguishable by the rasp in his voice, the commanding tone. Yet as we listened, there was something off. The burned man’s French was different than the priest’s French. It was like they didn’t understand each other. It was like they were speaking two different dialects, and I didn’t realize until I heard them both being spoken next to each other.
There was a pause of silence. And then the priest started speaking in Latin. I saw a look of relief on the chaplain’s face when the burned man responded, also in Latin.
The two spoke, the burned man and the priest. They went on and on, me not understanding any of it. The burned man seemed to calm, the priest becoming more anxious as they went. Then I turned to the chaplain again. His attention was totally focused on the closed door, but he was listening to the priest and the burned man talk.
He was shaking, and pale as a ghost. I’ve seen men shake. I’ve seen them shake from the effects of blood loss and shock. I’ve seen them shake because they’ve been mad from war. I’ve seen them shake from hypothermia and hypoglycemia and drug overdoses. I’ve seen no end of fear in their eyes. Fear as they’re going under anesthesia, or having their limbs removed, or knowing they’re about to die from their wounds.
I’ve never seen a man so afraid or shaken than that chaplain on that night. And all because he was able to follow that conversation in Latin.
The door suddenly opened. The priest waved us aside, looking more determined than I’d ever seen him. We pressed ourselves against the wall to get out of the way. The burned man followed him. Silent. Walking. We watched them walk down the hallway. The guards turned and fled. Then the priest and the burnt figure turned the corner, and that was the last that I saw of them.
I remember looking back into the room and seeing the Major, slumped in a chair, hands covered his face. The smoke from the burning bandages and bedding still hung in the air, sweet and strong and foul due to the lack of ventilation.
The two men in the long coats showed up. There were also a couple of men in suits. Civilians, I guess. They sort of took charge. Then they just put me on a truck, didn’t even ask me any questions.
And that’s what happened.
I’ve been on this base for a couple of days. They seem to be giving me a lot of freedom, they let me go into town yesterday. I went to a library. It wasn’t a very big one, but I guess it didn’t need to be. I found a hagiography. Or, I guess, a sort of encyclopedia on the subject of saints.
There was a very small entry on the subject of Saint Adalthred. Very little was known about him. He’d been a saint in early medieval France. He’d preached to royalty. The Marrowvingians I think it said, I don’t know what that is. Like all saints, he’d performed three miracles. Like all saints, he’d been martyred. He’d been burned at the stake. His last miracle had been his own resurrection.
I don’t know what to do with this diary. I never should have started it, and yet I think it’s important that I did. I think I’m going to turn myself in and give it to them. I suppose they’ll court-martial me over it, send me home. I don’t want to go home, but maybe I deserve it. At any rate, clearly, there are higher powers than me at work here.
-End copy.-
All of the documentation by the U.S. during the war was massive. All of the officers, nurses, spies, bean counters, and everybody else contributed to the pile. This was long before the digital age, or even microfiche, so the sheer scale of the paperwork is hardly conceivable. It could have been measured by the cargo holds of liberty ships.
After the war, the Army and Navy needed someplace to store it all. Any of it could have had unforeseen value, and destroying it was never an option. In 1951, with the Korean War raging and threatening to exacerbate the document problem, the Department of Defense decided to build a massive new warehouse archive to store it all. In 1956, the Military Personnel Records Center was finished. Ostensibly the archive was meant to store personnel records, but the military being the military, and the warehouse being of such a huge scale, it housed other records as well. Records such as the nurse’s diary, records of things unnatural. Supernatural. Only to be seen by top men.
One of the items discussed during the facility’s construction was the inclusion of a sprinkler fire prevention system. There was a concern that such a system could leak, and cause water damage to all the important documents. So the archive was built without one.
In 1973 the building burned down, taking millions of documents with it. The cause was never officially determined. At the time, and for many years after, the biggest problem was the bureaucratic nightmare it caused for millions of veterans and collecting the benefits they were entitled to.
To a very small community, namely us, the damage was a travesty. That’s the purpose of this project. To retrieve the documentation, study, and catalog it, this entry is only the first example. Naturally, the question arises- how do we retrieve these files if they were all destroyed in the fire? Well, that’s on a need-to-know basis, Lieutenant, and you don’t need to know.
​
Author's Notes: The War Files is meant to be an on-going series of horror stories set in and around WWII, and the very real Archive Fire. Maybe it would make a good podcast? This was sort of a pilot episode and thought it would fit the theme of this month's event. If you liked the story and want to read more, I'll probably post them either to my subreddit EBDavis or my substack ebdavis.substack.com

Any suggestions are appreciated!
We're in our 50s, kids are adults with their own cars. My husband would like to see me in a "nice car" but I'm looking for something he'd be happy with too. He likes cars with power (V8s); he's a big/tall guy. Generally speaking we're part of the last owners club and drive cars until the very end.
Location: Northeast USA
Price range: under $25k usd if possible
Lease or Buy: Buy or Lease
New or used: Used
Type of vehicle: Luxury-ish but not necessary, maybe SUVs, convertibles
Must haves: Reliability and longevity, not crazy insurance payments is important to me. I'm not looking for expensive repairs.
Desired transmission (auto/manual, etc): Auto
Intended use: Daily use, occasionally long drives in potentially snowy conditions with salt on the roads.
Vehicles you've already considered: pretty open but looking at car rental car sales (Budget, Enterprise, Avis, etc)
Is this your 1st vehicle: No
Current vehicles. 07 Honda Pilot, 09 Chrysler 300C? 300S?, it's the one with Hemi?
Do you need a Warranty: not necessary
Can you do Minor work on your own vehicle: (fluids, alternator, battery, brake pads etc): Yes, but we're likely going to pay someone
Can you do Major work on your own vehicle: (engine and transmission, timing belt/chains, body work, suspension etc ): No
Additional Notes: I love my Honda Pilot but he generally complains about the car not having enough power. I plan on keeping the Pilot for his local Home Depot trips so he's not ruining my "new" car.

Jeysus it was a mess, I paid to rent a chainsaw so I can cut a tree limb my insurance company wanted me to take care of. The stupid thing won't start. I look up the manual online (the rental came with zero documentation, real classy) and from what I could tell it just wouldn't. I call em up, they ask me if I pressed every switch and told me just to bring the thing in.
Im angry but I was taught respect. They didn't give me a busted chainsaw on purpose, so I drive up there and they confirm it won't work(I got to keep my man card there, 😅) they give me a new one. It runs!
I take it home, get the tree limb down. I turn it off to xlimb down the ladder, go to start it again.
It wont.
I check gas and oil, press every button while tuggin on the cord, try locking and unlocking the blade...nothin.
Worst part is the limb was blocking a road leading to a different house, it was too heavy to move easily, so I had to use my hand saw to trim off the longer branches and get it out of the way. It's still just a giant tree limb sitting next to my fence so thats great. Could have been worse.
I have had a life long fear of heights and ladders, but I bought a house last year and I had to buy a ladder accept that I would have to climb it.
It's been a tough year. And Home Depot selling me crap equipment didn't help me at all today, but I got the tree limb cut and my insurer will be pleased.
Update: returned the saw this morning, they had two diff guys try to start it. Second got it running of course so I couldnt get a full refund, but they did give me 20% off. Ended up only paying $30, which is still better than the $350 I was quoted from a trimming service.

Good evening (or anytime when you read this).
51yr old male living in Lansing, Michigan.
I genuinely want to find someone to spend some time together with.. it doesn't even have to be serious, and right now, this is so much less about physical as it is about just making a good connection. You don't have to be local, since the mental and emotional connection can be from any where or anyone. I do travel, and i own my own home so.. it's open to what may be. My interests are varies and I'm pretty open with them, since ultimately I'd love to find a kindred spirit. Or, maybe a few things catch your eye and you can introduce me to your world, too.
​
I am a bigger guy, and I've been depressed since my break up, so I have some work to do to get back in a better shape. I won't talk about my break up or sound down to you when we talk, I am not here to dump.. I've done it, already.. I'm looking forward.
​
I reply at a steady pace and always try to say when I will not be able to talk (sleep, work, etc) so I dont leave My friends hanging unless its out of my control.
​
I am not going to respond to requests from blank profiles. Even if you're real, serious and not a scam bot.. if you message Me, make it count.. or I'll skip.
My Interests; Movies (Sci-fi, horror, action, anime & kaiju) TV(Family Guy, Bobs Burgers, American D4d & some streaming shows) Games (Pokemon Go & Guild wars 2 + Board and cards) Nerdy (Collecting Transformers& Kaiju figures) Sports & Entertainment (Football,Autoracing & WWE) Music (Eclectic tastes in most genres) Animals(3 Dogs, 2 golden doodles & yorkie) Outdoors (Road trips,traveling to other states, swimming, kayaking and light hiking) Food(Sushi, Mexican and Steak) Drink (Water, Soda & Beer) Humor(Quirky, bad jokes, bad puns and sometimes dark) Flirting (Open to it)
I am not into any drugs, I do not smoke.
If you find this post months from now (mid 2024) looking for Michigan friends, feel free to HMU anyway.. who knows. My best friend just may not have created a reddit account, yet.

[Housing] Large Private Room in Massive Spacious Loft - $1200 - Westlake near DTLAHello, we had good luck finding our last roommate on here a year ago, so let’s give it another shot! Looking for a sublease to fill my room in our massive (4000 sqft) 5bedroom penthouse loft in Westlake, available from July 1st to October 1st. Please consider reaching out even if the dates don't match up perfectly, the constant roommate search is inevitable. Rent for the available room is $1200, comes with a massive bedroom (fully furnished - bed, couch, tv, iMac), and an isolation booth for recording VO/vocals. Utilities averaging $50/mo. Security deposit is $600.
We're four roomies ranging from mid twenties to mid thirties. One is an actor, one is in law school, one is a podcast/livestream engineer, one works retail in vintage clothing, and I am a freelance producer and recording artist. I built a small professional studio in my room that you would have full access to (see pics). My room is especially friendly to recording artists and producers.
Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/8va3BII
From our two private patios, we have a panoramic view of Los Angeles from the Hollywood Sign thru DTLA down to LA Live and everything in between. There's a stage in the living room where my roommate hosts bi-weekly shows under the instagram handle: thelullabyloft
These events take place in the common area, they are professionally recorded and live-streamed, and we have a cap of 30 people in attendance (typically we average 15 people). I strongly encourage you to get involved with these events! They are great networking opportunities, and my roommate is always looking for an extra hand to help run them if you are available/interested
Important facts:- Shared bathroomParking is included, but not in-building. It's one block away in an underground lot by the Home Depot with a security patrol.
- Internet is $10 a month
- Our work habits are a mix of WFH and not. The apartment is big enough where everyone has their own space to isolate, but also collaborative if you come out into the common area.- Laundry is in-building on the 3rd floor, paid via app
- We have both men and women as roommates; just no couples or pets please. Other fun facts:
- We have a ping pong table.
- The loft is so large I can forget people are home for hours at a time.
- Nearby Food:- The best Indian spot in LA is two blocks away (Bombay Beach) and also will deliver you groceries if you want.
- Two of the best taco tents you'll ever visit are within a block. If you get tired of those there's another four to choose from that are also great.
- Langer's is a short walk down the road.
- There is a Metro bike-share kiosk directly outside of the building.bus stop right outside our spot and closest metro is 8 min walk- You can walk to the grocery store on 6th/Union.
- It's Westlake, so manage your expectations about the area. We've never felt unsafe in the 4 years we've lived here.
- The room is available for 3 months from July 1st - September 30th. However, even if your availability ranges outside of these dates, I still encourage you to reach out! If I can’t find anyone for next month - - I’ll still be looking for August. Also, with 5 roommates at the loft - new rooms open every so often… so I could keep you in mind for a later date if something opens up!
Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/8va3BII
If you're interested, please PM me with a little about yourself (work, hobbies, etc). I will contact you to schedule a video chat and or phone call, and then set up an in-person tour if it seems right. Thanks, and looking forward to hearing from you.

Send me a message and I’ll reply with my picture.
A short biography - Hi, I'm B - I currently live in Southeast Michigan after living in New York City for about a decade - 31, 6'2", 220lbs, fit former D1 athlete - Ivy League educated - Exceptionally successful career
What I'm looking for I want to make a mutual commitment with a woman to a traditional relationship. Generally, I take pride in being a leader, provider, and protector and looking for a woman who is gentle, nurturing, and enthusiastic. My life goals - that I'd want to share with my partner - include becoming financially independent earlier in life, having multiple children, providing them with an excellent relationship with both of their parents, and owning a second home in a warm place :)
My personality - I am confident, decisive, and described by my friends and colleagues as a well-respected leader. However, I am also a good listener, gentle, and kind. - Well-organized: My home is clean, I cook and do laundry for myself, and I'm usually the one organizing the group trips with my friends - Community-oriented: volunteer, mentor, with a wide circle of both close friends and acquaintances locally - Relationships - romantic and friendships - are extremely important to me. I protect the people I'm close with and take pride in helping them. I'm grateful they have and continue to do the same for me. - In my free time, I like playing pool, taking my boat out on Cass Lake with my friends, collecting fine wines, traveling and exploring other cultures, going to the gym and staying in shape, getting out in nature by hiking and skiing, road trips in my sports car, and cooking
My commitments to you in our relationship - You will always have a roof over your head, food in your refrigerator, and be protected from harm. We will live a comfortable and, on occasion, even a luxurious lifestyle. - When we disagree, I will do so lovingly and with respect. Your point of view will always be taken into consideration. - I will always make decisions that are in the best interest of our family as a whole. - I will stay healthy and in shape. - I will always be honest, faithful, and act with integrity towards you. I will always express thanks and appreciation for your contribution to our family, which I see as no less important than mine. - Our relationship will lead to marriage. I will plan nice, thoughtful dates (and vacations) for us to nurture our relationship before marriage and throughout. You will never be expected to pay for these dates.
My expectations from you in our relationship - Nurturing the family - being a wife and mother - is your primary focus. I will never ask you to work, but won't stop you if you need the outlet, as long as our family remains your top priority. That said, I’m very supportive of your interests and hobbies - let’s go to that concert/show/travel/store! It’s important to me to be your friend as well as your partner. - We will have children together, and raise them in a loving, respectful, and emotionally sensitive environment. - When I make strategic decisions about our family, you will provide your perspective if you have one, but also support those decisions once I make them. - You are comfortable with submitting sexually - for my part, I will always show you through my commitments, words, and actions that I am worth submitting to. - If you are unhappy, or if you feel I am not living up to my commitments or what you need from me, you will express those feelings to me so we can work it out. - You will take pride in your appearance.
If you're interested in discussing more, send me a message.

Thanks and Credits in the Comments Section due to LONG chapter.
Chapter 31: A Whale of a Tale and it’s All True
“IT’S FUCKING J-POD!”
Kalai watched in shock and awe as the two humans collectively lost their minds, hopping up and down and letting loose a series of high pitched vocalizing as she, Papa, and Mama Sakalbi stared in confusion at the two ecstatic aliens.
Andy turned and ran back to where Kalai and her parents were still staring in amazement and held his hand out, face alight and happier than she’d ever seen him before. “Binoculars! Quick! I want to see who’s out there!” Mama Sakalbi tentatively held them out, and he took them with a nod of thanks before rushing back to the bow. Kalai started as he jumped up on the bow and balanced against the roller horns to spot the black and white whales that were swimming fast towards the net.
“Eyes on Mama Shachi! Look, over there, see her?” Kalai approached cautiously as Andy pointed in the direction of a cluster of porpoising black shapes that were coming nearer.
“Eyes on! I got Grammie Slick out there too; the WHOLE POD’S HERE!” Jackie cut loose an undulating cry and waved her hands as little geysers of water and air shot out from the water on the other side of the net.
Kalai nearly jumped when a miniature version of the Orcas from the clone tank at Headquarters breached the water, leaping almost twice her height into the air before splashing back down in a massive wave.
“Look at that! Butterball’s getting some good air these days!” Andy crowed as he hopped back down from the bow and passed the binoculars to Jackie.
“Butterball?” Mama Sakalbi asked as she and Papa joined them. Kalai stared as the Orcas formed a line and charged at the middle of the ‘S’ bend in the net before diving down in front of it, sending a wave that pushed the corks back. She saw the spouts and the dorsal fins rise again for another charge at the net.
“He’s the baby, only about four years old. Grammie Slick’s taking the family hunting, see how they’re flattening the net out? We’re about to have a great fucking day!” Andy took Jackie’s shotgun and took it back to the cabin as Kalai and her parents crowded the rail.
“What are they doing?” Mama Sakalbi’s question was directed at Jackie and the woman turned to answer with a gigantic smile.
“Herding! See the ones circling around the net?” Jackie pointed to the two dorsal fins that were almost invisible in the fog that was starting to burn off in the morning sun that had started to clear the eastern mountains. “They’ll be starting to round up small schools of salmon once they’re done turning our net into a reef. Right now, they’re running along the line and probably seeing what they have to work with.”
Mama Sakalbi did a double take, “You must be joking, that level of intelligence would almost be-”
“Human?” Jackie interrupted with a smile, “Yeah, that’s our original teachers out there. We learned to fish from them.”
“I was going to say ‘sentient’, but I take your point. What I want to know is, what are they doing?” Mama Sakalbi gestured out at them, with a bewildered look on her face.
“They’re using the net as a sea wall. Thing is, the net’s hard to see in the water, but the fish can feel it. They’ll put their heads into the net, but that doesn’t catch them. They’ll try to swim around it so that’s why we put an ‘S’ bend. That’s where most of the fish get tangled.” Andy returned and picked up the explanation. “See in the center of the line? That fin with the black and white little checkmark behind it? That’s Grammie Slick, the Matriarch. She’s around sixty now, and grew up out here LONG before you all came down. They don’t always do this, but I guess with you all keeping the fishing fleets docked, she saw the net and wanted a big meal for the family. They’re going to keep pushing the net until it’s in the shape of a crescent and herd a bunch of small schools into a big baitball with pickets to keep the fish pinned in the middle. You watch, there’ll be salmon jumping all over in the middle as they school up.”
“That’s when you’ll see them charge up the center and take big old mouthfuls of salmon. It’ll be a smorgasbord for ‘em!” Jackie pulled up Andy’s omnipad and started recording.
“Wait, but you hate seals for competing with you for food, why are you this excited about Orcas who take so much more?” Papa asked as he also took out his omnipad and started recording as the pod of Orcas finished repositioning their net just as Andy described.
“Because they’re using the nets as a reef to trap the fish! See? Look! There they go! The wolves are out scaring every salmon in the area here!” Kalai dug her own omnipad out at Andy’s words and watched as the dorsal fins sank below the waves, with only a faint and fading wake to tell where they’d gone.
“Now watch ‘em set pickets! They’re going to start patrolling the outside of the net. When they get enough salmon in the middle, they’re going to charge. When they do, watch the entire middle section of our corks go under from the salmon trying to get away. They get whole heaping mouthfuls of food and we get a full net!”
Kalai watched the Orcas swimming in circles around the net like Helix Sharks, and felt a pang of fear seeing the big predators that seemed so gentle and inquisitive in the tank. “But what if they get caught in the net?”
Jackie suppressed a laugh before sweeping an arm out at the net. “I’ve never seen that happen before, and I haven’t even heard of it happening before… at least not here in the Salish Sea. All our Orcas grew up around these nets, so they’ll either avoid them or use them like they are right now.”
“I think it’s because they can see them and the fish can’t. Either way, we’re in for a show!” Andy patted Kalai on the back before pushing Kalai and Mama Sakalbi forward.
For a long while, the surface was calm, save for the circling Orcas as they all watched. Then, by degrees, there was movement on the surface of the water as fish the length of Kalai’s arm started to jump and kick in the baitball. Kalai watched, fascinated, as Orcas seemed to appear and disappear along the edges but never approached the middle of the net.
All the fins disappeared from the surface and an eerie stillness settled over the water. Suddenly, the water in the middle of the crescent erupted, with hundreds of fish shooting out of the water and a sudden surge that hit and pushed the corks outward before they sank completely out of sight. Jackie and Andy started vocalizing those strange undulating cries again, raising their fists in the air before shouting something in their language. From as best as Kalai could guess, it was encouragement as the Orcas started breaching and jumping. In those moments, Kalai could catch glimpses of their mouths full of salmon.
Kalai watched as the terrified fish swarmed towards the net, and watched as many seemed to jump over it and swim away as the Orcas gorged themselves on the enormous school of salmon they had trapped. It was an awe inspiring sight to see, and Kalai lost herself in the moment watching the amazing display of symbiotic hunting and fishing between them and the Orcas.
The engine of the boat turning over broke the spell they were all under as Andy moved the boat at a dead slow pace back towards the net. “Alright, let’s haul it in and reset for ‘em! Jackie! Get on the bow with the billhook!” Jackie whooped in agreement and gently pushed passed Kalai to grab a long pole with a small metal hook at the end.
“We’re gonna have to work fast. They’re hungry, and we all want salmon today,” Andy called over the sound of the engine as they approached the giant buoy that marked the end of the net. “Doc! Open that hatch back there and watch your step! Mrs. Vaida, stand clear in the cabin; I want no accidents today, and three on deck’s going to be a crowd with how many fish we’re going to be taking in. Kalai, I want you back in the-”
Kalai shook her head as she put her omnipad away. “I can do it! Let me help!” she was riding the high feeling of watching the Orcas, and seeing Andy and Jackie preparing to go to work while she was to be just a passenger galled her.
Kalai saw Andy give Jackie a look that she couldn’t quite interpret. “Alright, but you’ll work with me picking fish. Jackie, you’re on the Drum; trade places with me!”
Kalai saw Jackie huff and give Andy a piercing look as she handed off the billhook. “Watch out for jellies, they tend to explode,” the native woman muttered to Kalai as she took over at the net drum’s controls. Kalai was about to volunteer to grab the line with the hook, given her longer reach, but Andy had already leaned almost all the way over the side. Kalai had a momentary scare as Andy seemed to dip forward, seemingly in danger of falling overboard, until he seemed to almost levitate himself using his lower legs back into the boat and pulled the line over the roller horns. She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do when Andy braced a foot against the side and began to pull on the line and feed it back towards Jackie.
“Way, haul away, we’ll hang and haul together! Way, haul away, haul away Joe!”
Though she didn’t understand the words, Kalai knew a sailing song when she heard one and didn’t wait for any instruction. She moved forward opposite Andy and lent a hand, pulling the heavy line in to the cadence of his chant. After two verses, Kalai heard the whine of hydraulics and the slack in the line behind them went taught.
“Stand back! Here we go!” Andy called to her and the line began pulling the net back aboard. Kalai looked back to see that Jackie had wrapped the line around the center pole of the drum, with the wheel turning to pull the line and net in out of the water. A small set of guide poles that moved when Jackie twitched the controls kept the line evenly distributed on the drum as the first corks and the dripping wet net began to appear out of the water.
“Put your hoods up!” Andy yelled at her over the noise of the machines, and demonstrated the motion. “It’ll keep the water, seaweed and Jellies out of your face and eyes, and take this!” Andy tossed her what appeared to be a handkerchief and he mimed the act of tying it around her face like a mask.
“What about you? You’re sleeveless!” Kalai’s voice was slightly muffled from the cloth as she tied it around her face before pulling up both hoods.
Andy didn’t respond, except to grin at her as he leaned out to watch the net coming up out of the water before it got pulled aboard.
From behind her, Kalai heard Jackie start singing another human sailing song. It was a bit fast paced, and Andy joined in for the chorus. On the third time she heard it, she joined in too.
“Blow ye winds in the mornin’, Blow ye winds, high ho! Haul away your running gear, And blow ye winds, high ho!”
“Coming up!” Andy shouted as there were several loud thunks before six large salmon appeared in the giant fluorescent green tangle of the net. The drum stopped, bringing the fish to a halt as Andy pulled on the corkline and scurried his hands back and forth, gathering the net up as he did until he reached the first fish. Kalai watched in awe as he seemed to magically pull the fish from the tangle and shake it out onto the deck. The second one seemed to be resting on top of the tangle and he flipped it over the corkline and shook the fish out onto the deck.
“Just watch these first few. When you get a feel for how I’m doing this, jump in. Until then, slide these beauties back towards the stern. Jackie’ll pitch ‘em into the hold.”
Kalai nodded and watched Andy’s movements intently. It looked like sorcery, with how fast he moved his hands and zeroed in on a fish. As soon as he was done, he’d whistle to Jackie, who kept singing the cadence out to pull more of the net in, only to stop when more fish were pulled up and over the horns.
The song changed twice before Kalai felt confident enough to jump in. She almost got tangled in the net herself trying to pull out her first fish, but Andy gave the net a quick tug and she was free again. Maddeningly, the fish had simply fallen out of the net without any help from her, and she fumed just long enough for Andy to point to one that was closer to her.
“Hoist up the thing, batten down the whatsit! What’s that thing spinning, somebody should stop it! Turn hard to Port! That’s not Port, NOW I GOT IT! Trust me, I’m in control!”
On the second refrain, Kalai managed to dig her first fish out and drop it to the deck. She let out a whoop, and Andy paused for a moment to give her a quick applause.
“That’s one, girl! There’s a thousand left if we’re lucky!” Jackie called out as Andy sang a verse and tackled another fish in the net.
“Keep an eye on the lead line; make sure it doesn’t go over the corks!” Andy called as Kalai ran down her second fish and was about to throw the excess net over the other side. She stopped, and Andy helped her get the fish without tangling the net.
It took until the end of the song for Kalai to find her rhythm, and soon she and Andy were running down fish in the net in a crisp and quick manner. Kalai felt like she could go faster, but Andy had cautioned her to keep pace with the songs, as there was still a lot of net to go. When Kalai spared a glance at the length of net still in the water, she saw that Andy wasn’t kidding. It looked like they hadn’t even really started to reel it all in. Ok, it’s hard work, but so is sailing, and he’s my size so I should be able to keep up with him. If he can do it, I can do it!
“Haul away you rollin’ kings! Heave away, Haul away! Haul away you’ll hear me sing, We’re bound for South Australia!”
Andy was impressed. Kalai had jumped in without complaint, and she was very coachable. He could feel himself start to flag as they were starting to come to the last third of the net, but Kalai’s persistence, even though she was sweatier and more haggard than he was, kept him going.
The pile of salmon was almost as deep as their calves, and the deck was getting slick with fish slime. For that matter, so was Andy. In a momentary lull in the fish coming over the horns, Andy caught a glimpse of himself shimmering with all the scales that had flown off the fish as they scraped against the net to hit the deck, flopping. He took a big gulp of air and Kalai groaned as she straightened up, cracking her back as she twisted and bent to relieve her aching muscles.
Andy groaned a bit and looked back towards the stern. It was getting hard to see over the amount of net they’d pulled back in, but he could see Doc and Mrs. Vaida doing their best to help throw and shove the piles of salmon into the hold. Everybody’s getting their hands dirty today. Andy smiled and heaved a happy sigh. This, this is what I want. Being out on the water and doing good, hard work.
“SHIT, JELLYFISH!” Kalai shouted as she twisted away to hide her face behind her rain slicker hood. Andy blinked just in time as a wet squelching sound sent a spray of disintegrating jellyfish exploding all over the bow as the net bunched up and got squeezed together.
Andy felt it splatter all over his arms, neck, and face, before he felt it start to slide down his shirt to his chest. Almost immediately, he started to feel the burn. His arms, neck, and chest he could stand, but the blossoming pain on his lips, eyelids, cheeks, and most horribly the inside of his nose overwhelmed all his conditioned pain tolerance.
“FUCK!” Andy screamed. “FUCKING FUCKER! RIGHT IN MY FUCKING FACE! GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! FUCK!” Andy only barely avoided bringing his hands to his face. It was a hard fought thing to deny his instinct to try and scrape it off, but he felt his boots loose purchase and his feet slide out from under him. He hit the pile of fish that surrounded him hard. He was aware of Kalai yelling for her father and Mrs. Vaida, while Jackie’s braying laugh carried over everything else.
Andy felt Kalai trying to grab him, but her gloves were too slick to get a grip and all she did was spread the stingers more evenly over his arms. Andy kept his eyes squeezed shut as he heard Jackie start to direct the confused and panicking aliens.
“Hold your breath, cuz, vinegar incoming!”
Andy felt the bitter stinging splash as Jackie poured a steady stream of vinegar out from what he assumed was the giant jug he kept for these occasions underneath the little kitchenette in the cabin. Though nothing about the intensity of the burn changed, in the back of his mind, Andy knew that it was killing the stinging cells.
“Alright, Kally, take that bucket and fill it with seawater from over the side, then dump it on him.”
Andy sputtered a bit and spit as he scrabbled onto his knees. He steadied himself with one hand on the rail beside him and the other which found the corkline. He kept his eyes shut and growled as the burning spread from his hairline down to his navel. A sudden bracing splash of cold water nearly bowled him back over. Without warning, Andy hadn't had time to get a breath and he sputtered and yowled as the water soaked down under his rain gear.
Andy shook his head like a dog, whipping his braid back and forth before daring to open his eyes. “Son of a BITCH!” Andy growled as he got a look at Kalai holding an empty bucket, while Jackie was shoo’ing Mrs. Vaida and Dr. He’osforos away to give him some room.
“Jesus, quit your bawlin,’ you big baby, you’re acting like you’ve never been stung before!” Jackie called back to him as Andy ripped the gloves off his hands and plunged them over the side to clean off the stingers.
“It’s in my fucking nose you horse’s ass!” Andy shouted back as he splashed his face. A few strings of purple stingers fell into the water and Andy reared back aboard. “Ugh, get another bucket of seawater! I can still feel this shit!”
“Andrei, as a medical professional, I advise you to cease work and-”
Andy looked over as Dr. He’osforos spoke but waved him off mid sentence. “I appreciate it Doc, but I’ve had it far worse than this. There’s a brown and yellow bottle in one of the drawers under the bench that says ‘Motrin’. Get me the bottle or enough to tranq a cow, and I’ll go back to work just fine.”
Kalai let loose a piercing scream and Andy looked over just in time to see her rocketed herself backwards, dropping the bucket over the side. The Doctor caught his daughter before she fell into the hold, but he too had a look of fear plastered on his face. Andy and Jackie moved to the side to see what had scared her so badly, and the two of them couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Grammie Slick and two of her daughters were there, sticking their heads out of the water with their mouths open, while Butterball was playing with the bucket.
Jackie laughed and stuck her hand out, rubbing the Orca matriarch on the snout. “Raggedy Andy’s fine, Grammie Slick! He’s just milking it for sympathy from these gullible hwun’eetums!”
“What in the Balance of Nature is going on here?” Mrs. Vaida’s shocked voice caused Andy and Jackie to look at her as she stared dumbfounded at the Orcas that were gathering alongside the boat.
“Oh they’re just saying ‘hi.’” Andy shrugged with a smile, despite the burning.
“More like ‘What the hell, cousins, you still got fish to pick. Quit loafin’ around and get another set in!’”
“Jackie, Motrin… NOW!” Andy growled at her. Jackie blew a raspberry at him before diving into the cabin.
“They’re pretty friendly, if you’d like to be introduced,” Andy held out a hand and motioned for Kalai and her father to step forward. Andy dipped his hand in again to make sure it was clear of any stinging cells, before he gently guided the hesitant Kalai to stick her ungloved hand out toward Grammie Slick.
One of the daughters blew a spout before sliding back under water, but Grammie gave a few clicks before briefly touching Kalai’s outstretched hand. “Kalai, this is Grammie Slick, Matriarch of J-Pod. Grammie, this is Kalai… a purple hwun’eetum.” Andy laughed a bit at the look of incredulity on Kalai’s face and the concern on her father’s.
There was a series of shutter clicks from behind Andy, and he turned to see Sakalbi snapping pictures as fast as she could. Kalai was clearly torn between fear and wonder as she held perfectly still and silent for Grammie, who was letting her touch her before she slid back under the water herself. Andy laughed as several clicks and whistles from the pod reverberated through the hull of the boat and he leaned back in.
“Alright, break’s over,” Andy called as he caught the flying bottle of pills Jackie threw at him. He popped two and swallowed them dry before washing the gloves off and putting them on. The extra rinse would have to wait, and he’d have to tough it out until they got back to shore. His boots squelched as he picked his way through the fish on the deck to get back to his station and nodded for Jackie to restart the drum.
It was another twenty minutes before the last of the net was pulled aboard and they were able to clear away all the fish into the hold. Andy stuck his head in and smiled. In a single set, they’d filled three quarters of it, and they had more than enough fish for the gathering and to feed another ten to fifteen families besides. The spouts and the clicks of J-Pod hanging around the boat, however, told Andy that they wanted their reef back and were still hungry.
Andy ordered them to prep the net for another set and helmed his boat again, only to bomb out in a straight line and let J-Pod take care of the fishing from that point on. Once they’d finished, Andy moved the boat out of the Orcas’ way and stood outside the cabin with Jackie while the three aliens crowded the bow, watching and recording the whales going to work a second time.
“Ok, I think we might get a moment to talk,” Andy muttered to Jackie in Salishian. “New orders from the Council. There’s going to be a raid.”
Jackie sucked in a breath and looked at him, all levity gone. “Cambrians, Militia, or the Dummy Bunnies?”
“Militia and the Interior.”
Jackie whistled softly in surprise as her eyebrows shot up. “Really poking the bear, cuz… When and where?”
“Uncle Willy wants us to hit the Militia Supply Depot out by Tanner on Saturday,” Andy growled quietly as he watched Kalai pointing to Grammie Slick’s dorsal as she swam out on the picket around the net.
“You mean the one close to the Snoqualmish?”
“Yeah. Full raid, we’re to hit it and take any supplies, especially military, that we can and destroy what we can’t. The messier we can make it the better. We’ll meet up with the Resistance on the old Bessemer Logging road by Hancock Creek and they get half for taking the credit. Me and Chuck’ve been assigned to ‘lead’ you.” Andy nodded and tried to flick some of the fish scales off himself, but got nowhere.
Jackie sat down on the rail with a groan before looking back up at him with a smirk. “You mean babysit on overwatch while we do the real work.”
Andy pursed his numb lips together and considered the ramifications of folding his arms on the jellyfish burns that had started to go quiet thanks to the Motrin. “Grandma and the Council want me to ‘get my hands dirty.’” He gritted his teeth in frustration.
“What? I’m sorry, that sentence made zero sense.” Jackie shook her head like she’d just been slapped.
Andy couldn’t keep the frustration and anger out of his tone when he spoke. “Apparently there are doubts about my loyalty to the tribe and whether or not I’ve lost my way.”
Jackie huffed in amusement. “Everyone knows the Council’s fucking stupid, but this is a new level of dumb. You got us land back, you got them to allow you to break the rules to feed our people, they’re fixing the fuck ups on our waterways because of you and they think you’ve gone to the dark side?” Jackie started laughing at the nonsense of the politics.
“Last time we talked, you thought I was playing with fire and-” Andy started to throw back at her before she snorted loudly.
“Results talk, cuz. Three of our Hatcheries returned, and my whole family drawing good money in Imperial Credits? Fuck, even if you had sold out, we need more Clan Heads doing the same thing.” She smiled as she nodded towards their guests on the bow.
“They still don’t trust that I know what I’m doing,” Andy growled as he folded his arms unconsciously and immediately regretted it.
Jackie snorted. “Of course they don’t. You didn’t talk to them or get their permission first. Hell, I’m surprised your grandma didn’t chuck you out on your ear for even suggesting that you should work for the dummy bunnies.” Jackie stretched and hopped up and around Andy to grab a water bottle. “But it’s working out. There’s land being returned, money in our hands, and food about to be on our table. You’re doin’ what a Chief is supposed to do.”
Andy scoffed and started to object. “I’m no Chief-”
Jackie gave his shoulder a slap and grinned evilly as a starburst of pain and burning cut through the painkillers, shutting Andy up mid-protest. “You keep saying you aren’t, but that don’t make it true.” She resumed her seat as Andy fought the yowl of pain back so as not to give her the satisfaction. “I mean, case in point, what are you going to do with all these fish Grammie’s catching for us right now?”
Andy blinked a few times as he regained his composure and thought seriously about his answer. “We’ll pull fifteen for the gathering they got invited to… Then all the fish you can pack into the truck goes to the Exiles. The rest? I’ll call Chuck and get some folks from the Council to claim the rest and distribute it to the families that need it.”
Jackie deepened her voice and adopted a cowboy drawl. “He never eats until he sees the pots are full of meat in the lodges of the widows and orphans-”
“That’s Comanche Law, not Salish, and that’s from a John Wayne movie, you ass.” Andy huffed and Jackie giggled wickedly, flipped him off.
“Still haven’t refuted my point, cuz.” Jackie’s singsong voice caused Andy to glare spitefully at her, until she raised her hands defensively. “Alright, you’re not a Chief. So, Not Chief Tsu’titsi’uqw; you need to get your hands dirty and lead a raid. I’ll scrape up what we need and scout the target. You just meet up with us Saturday night at the Snoqualmish Casino and I’ll put a gun in your hands. Don’t worry, we’ll only get dirty enough to make the Council happy.”
“I’ll be a bit late; I’m escorting them to the Hwatcom Family Gathering on Friday.” Andy took a step back as Jackie stood up and twisted a bit to stretch out.
“No surprise there, grandpa’s an old school traditional Indian. They’re dummies, but they’re trying to do right by us, finally. Again, thanks to you, Chie-” Andy slapped the back of her head hard and growled at her, but she just started laughing, making him even madder.
“Alright, enough. Let’s get on the bow and not look like we’re sketchy Indians plotting to attack an Imperial fort.” Andy snarled, shoving her past him while she just kept laughing.
Andy stomped forward, aware of the wet sounds his boots made as he walked. Kalai turned and smiled at him as he moved to stand beside her and her father. “So how are they doing out there?”
“They just started their attack. This is fascinating! Their coordination, their ingenuity, and adaptation to human activity is astounding! I wish I had brought observation drones!” Sakalbi was glued to the binoculars and holding her omnipad up while she muttered observations into the speaker. Andy was content to watch as the pod put on a repeat performance and the net sagged again until they all came up and started swimming lazily around the net and the boat. All of them except Butterball and one of his older brothers. The two seemed to be getting into a jumping contest.
“He’s feeling a bit hyper. Must be nice to be full,” Jackie commented as the two whales took turns jumping out of the water and twisting in the air. Andy smiled and nodded and felt a hand go to his shoulder. He looked down and saw it was Kalai making eyes at him. Andy hid the grimace at the burn and gave her a wink.
“That one’s getting closer, should we be concerned?” Andy looked over at Dr. He’osforos and Kalai quickly moved her hand as they watched Butterball getting closer and closer with each jump.
Jackie hopped up and straddled the railing as Andy and Kalai shared a concerned look. Jackie hooked a hand around one of the roller horns and peered down into the water. “I don’t think so, I mean he knows we’re-”
The sudden appearance of a flying adolescent Orca only a scant few feet away from the boat right next to the lot of them cut Jackie off. Most of them only had enough time to watch the little playful bastard hang in the air for a moment before he twisted to almost shoulder punch the water as he came back down. Andy had just enough presence of mind to pull Kalai and her father down, and braced himself as the plume of water rose from where Butterball landed.
“Oh shi-” Andy heard Jackie say before water cascaded down on them and drenched them all, sending the boat rocking violently.
It took a moment for Andy to recover and he helped the two Shil back to their feet. “Quick check, is everyone alright?”
“HEY! WHAT THE HELL, BUTTERBALL! GRAMMIE! YOU HAVE A TALK WITH YOUR GRANDSON! HE’S GONNA GET SOMEONE KILLED ONE OF THESE DAYS!” Jackie screamed at the water, shaking her fist.
A camera shutter sounded and a dripping wet Mrs. Vaida stood, wide eyed in fear, staring out over the water.
Andy started laughing at the sight of his boss soaked to the bone, her hair and her fur a dripping mess. “That picture right there? You can title it: ‘Angry Native Woman Yells at Whale.’”
Kalai looked like she was on Krek’s doorstep. Akil’eas knelt next to her as he finished his examination and was looking over the readings on his omnipad. His daughter sat in front of the cabin on the little step, legs splayed out in front of her while she leaned against the railing on the side of the boat. Her father stood next to her as he finished a quick check of her vitals and her viral load.
“Unsurprisingly, you’re a bit elevated, but given your numbers over the last week, that’s saying that you’ve come back up to your normal levels.” Akil’eas had been worried. When they’d hauled in the net the second time, Kalai had stayed on the bow with the boy, Andy, while Akil’eas’d stood over the human woman’s shoulder and studied the controls.
Akil’ieas had also pitched in and helped fill the hold, but when he and Sakalbi could no longer stuff them in, they’d given up and stood out of the way. His old friend and colleague had spent the rest of the time recording, either the large predators that continued to circle and play around the boat, or the seemingly inefficient fishing practice of Andy and his people. No wonder he was so big, and his brother had been that strong. It beggared belief that their people worked at that backbreaking pace for so long, but there Andy stood, proud and tall at the end of it, while he and Sakalbi struggled to stay standing.
Akil’eas had to focus on keeping his hands from shaking and retrieved another water bottle for his exhausted daughter. Andy had them moving at a slow pace back towards a different harbor from the one they’d left that morning. They’d stopped briefly at the pier they’d started from to allow Jackie to disembark. The two humans packed all the fish that couldn’t fit in the hold up to Jackie’s truck and filled the bed of it without any help. She drove off with close to a hundred fish.
Now with the deck cleared, Andy told them they were on their way to the harbor most of his Band used. The trip had been slower going than the morning had been, but only because they were riding much lower in the water than they had been.
“King Triton’s farewell,” Kalai muttered looking up. Akil’eas followed his daughter’s gaze up to see a flock of white and gray seabirds calling out loudly as they kept pace with the boat as it headed towards the docks.
“It means work’s almost over. It’s a great sound, isn’t it?” Andy called out from the cabin where he sat at the helm.
Kalai shifted herself with great effort to look around the door to the cabin. “It sounds amazing.”
The smile Andy gave Kalai caused Akil’eas to have a pang of fatherly protectiveness, and only fatigue kept the scowl off his face. “Just wait, we’ll clean a few once we’ve off-loaded to the families. Fresh salmon tonight for everyone, and I’m cooking! Doc, we’d love to have you, too.”
“I’d love to but-”
Kalai grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Trust me, Papa, you don’t want to miss it.”
Akil’eas chewed his tongue for a moment, looking from Andy to Kalai. Sakalbi caught his eye and nodded emphatically. “Alright, if you’ll allow me to help. You must be exhausted.”
Andy beamed at Akil’eas, “You won’t hear me turn down free help.”
“Vaascon fellas don’t have no frills, Haul away, haul away! They’re plain and skinny as a lodthfish gill, And we’re bound away for Vaasconia!”
Kalai sat back and started singing between sips of water. Akil’eas sat down next to her and joined in the chorus for a Vaascon sailing song. It was strange to think that these humans also sang to their sea gods to placate them and coordinate the work. What else could you expect from a sailorman? Some things call to the soul across time and evidently even the gulf space and peoples.
“So heave him up my Turry Turry girls, Haul away, haul away! Heave him up and let the sails unfurl! And we’re bound away for Vaasconia!”
Andy’s voice joining in on the chorus startled Akil’eas and Kalai and they both turned to look back at him.
He gave them another wide grin, “I started learning some of the sail songs after Kalai told me about sailing on Shil.”
“Akil’eas, a word?” Sakalbi motioned with her head towards the bow and offered him a hand up. He followed her to the bow, leaving the two children singing together.
The harbor mouth was coming up fast, and between the noise of the engine and the net drum keeping them out of sight, there was some privacy. “I’ve heard some rumors about your feelings toward humans…” Sakalbi leaned against the railing, giving him the look that every teacher and professor had when questioning a belligerent student. When Akil’eas didn’t answer her, save to throw her back his own look, she continued. “Kalai is quite taken with Andy. It’s been quite a refreshing thing to see her come out of her shell.”
“It’s a vacation romance, nothing more.” Akil’eas felt his stomach clench and couldn’t stop himself from looking back.
“I don’t think so, Akil’eas. This is the first time I’ve seen her so on thorns and thistles around anyone, much less a male. She’s been very keen around him.” The smile she gave him was a bit galling, but he had to admit, he didn’t really know Kalai as well as Sakalbi and her spouses.
“He is… I’m sure he is a very nice young man, but as a fit consort for a soon to be Duchess? No, and I’ve yet to meet a human that is.” The thought of a human becoming the next Duke He’osforos was absurd. Sure there had been the occasional non-Shil Kho-liebhaberin or even the one Duke Aurar’ian He’osforos who was a Triki, but a human? “They’re far too individualistic and self centered to rise to the responsibilities of the Peerage.”
“That’s not exactly as large a sample size as you think it is, Leas. If you had Andy in your class, or on your crew, disregarding the fact that he’s human, what would your read on him be?”
Akil’eas locked his jaw and pursed his lips, defiantly. “I don’t know.”
“Come on, Leas, you’re better than me at reading people, and I’m damn good at it.” He hated how Sakalbi’s eyes flashed and her right ear would twitch when she thought she had the upper hand in an argument. He huffed a sigh and decided to play her little game, just to humor her enough so that she’d drop the subject.
“Dependable, fastidious and competent, judging by the state of his equipment and his boat. Self sacrificing, diligent, hard working, given what I’ve observed today. He’s got a temper, but it takes a bit to get there, and he’s carrying some pretty heavy emotional scars.” He’d not seen very much of Andy, but the old Sailing Master and Professor in him started to come out and assess the boy just as he would any of his students or junior sailors.
“That’s my read, too. Doesn’t sound so individualistic and self-centered to me. Blighted Nature, Leas, from what I’ve learned about him and his people, he broke with several of their traditions and customs to help us. He’s stuck his neck out far further for us than we would have for him and his people, for no other reason than to try and save his homeland. Were he an Erbian on Myr or even back home in Vaasconia, there’d be Groom-War over his hand.”
Akil’eas was a bit piqued about her statement, “What about your daughter? Kalai made no secret about little Sitry mooning after him, and her disapproval of their courtship.”
“She thinks she’s in love, and it very well might be that she is, but Kalai’s disapproval should tell you what it tells me, given your own rather astute assessment of the man.”
“HEY DOC! TAKE THE WHEEL, I GOTTA DRUM US IN!” Andy’s voice cut their conversation short as Akil’eas turned to look back around the drum. Andy waved him back as he slowed their approach to come in. “Take us to Dock 5, straight back and to port.”
“Straight back and to larboard, aye!” Akil’eas rattled off as he traded places with Andy at the helm.
Kalai heaved herself up to stand as Andy grabbed a large leather circle and ran forward to jump up on the bow. As Akil’eas piloted the boat into the harbor and made the turn, he saw a large crowd of humans gathered on the pier and the shore. As soon as they were in sight, he watched as Andy, standing tall, began to drum a beat and vocalize, projecting his voice over the water to those on shore. Akil’eas sputtered a bit in surprise as he guided the boat slowly towards the open mooring.
“That’s their call. His family’s song lets the people on shore know who he is and that he’s friendly.” Kalai looked back at Akil’eas before moving inside the cabin to stand next to her father. “All the families know it, but only he is allowed to sing it. It’s their version of a family crest and coat of arms. Elder Hwatcom taught us about those. There’ll be a reply in a second granting us permission to come ashore.”
There was indeed a response of drumming and singing from the assembly of humans as many started to crowd forward carrying what appeared to be coolers. Andy reappeared and took the controls back and reversed to kill their forward momentum as Sakalbi threw out their mooring lines to the waiting humans. Andy killed the engine and moved quickly out of the cabin to speak in a language that Akil’eas did not recognize. There seemed to be a bit of confusion from those gathered on the dock, but Andy opened the hatch to show the hold full of fish.
“Don’t thank me, thank them. Sockeye and Kings to all comers, courtesy of the Vaidas and the Vaida Warren!” Andy shouted happily in Vatikre as he pulled two giant fish out by their gills and handed them off to the applauding humans.
Sakalbi managed to shoot Akil’eas a smug look before she plunged her hands into the mass of fish and began helping Andy hand them out to the people.
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Possible Late Post Due to Vacation. I will try to post on time, but it may be as late as 6/12/23

I purchased a property from a local land bank auction in 2021. In order for the original seller, which is the city, to release any interest they have in the property, the property must meet their compliance requirements. Those requirements are for us, at minimum get (wateelectric) utilities turned on, install furnace & water heater along with having a functional bathroom and kitchen.
I paid $1,100 plus $800 closing cost for the property. In order to get the home in a livable/sellable condition the property would need about $7,500 in materials. I operate my own handyman business and I would be performing all the necessary work needed to rehab the property. Due to the fact my credit score is not the greatest I haven't been able to secure any outside funding for the project, not even a Home Depot credit card. So I've been looking into finding private lenders that could cover the cost of materials, so I could complete the work needed to sell the home.
Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck with the private lendehard money route either. Currently I'm trying my luck with a eBay listing hoping that will help me find an investor to cover the material cost of my rehab project. Anybody have any suggestions for me on options I may have to secure funding for this rehab with not so great credit. The goal is to fix and flip this property asap.
Quick info about me. I've been running my handyman business for about 5 years now professionally but I've always been a backyard builder my whole life. I just recently completed the training required for me to be able to take the state of Michigan Residential Builders Exam. I have a total of 20 residential lots throughout the state of Michigan that I plan to use to build homes in the future. Selling my land is a worst case scenario, one that I believe will be counter-productive for my future in this business.
The first project is always the hardest but after that life begins.
I always believed teamwork makes the dream work but I was always told a closed mouth doesn't get fed. Here I am. Point me in the right direction. All feedback and suggestions is greatly appreciated.Thank you reddit family.

I officially got fired at exactly 4:30 in the afternoon. .... I have a friend that works at Lowe's ... All I have to do is pass a drug test..... ( I'll officially be a Lowe's employee ) . ..... Question/statement,,, I think Home Depot and Lowe's do business together ' what a coincidence I get fired from one . and hired at the other, 🤔.... And they're only three streets apart. Home Depot is located on a main road. And the lows that hired me is located behind a neighborhood... ( Something fishy ) . But thanks to my hookups they told me I just have to pass a drug test. 😎.... Back to the topic I think Lowe's and Home Depot do business together " because something there is something off. Why would be they be so close to each other ?

Yesterday someone came in looking for an ironing board, they were told “there are none in the store try the Walmart down the road.” As opposed to saying “try HomeDepot.com, you can order one and have it shipped to the store/your home.” Did the person do the “wrong thing” by doing this? Could they get in trouble for it?

Now before I begin, I had experiences with Nuzlockes for a long time, that I turned into a Masochist, playing Ori on Hard Mode, playing Mega Man X7 from start to finish, played all 3 Pathways of Fire Emblem Fates, and even playing through every King of Fighters game, now I’m not gonna beat around the bush, so it’s time to talk about my first time trying out my new Nuzlocke Rules, for a refresher, in this playthrough you can only catch the first Pokemon you run into in each area, you have to nickname all the Pokemon you catch, and if a Pokemon Faints it’s dead, in addition to these core rules, I’m adding in a new rule.
This needs some explaining so take a seat, there are 2 Boxes, the Death Box and the Graveyard Box, the Graveyard Box is where Pokemon that faint go into and they can be brought back from the dead only once, in order to do that you need a Death Token, the afterlife box is where Pokemon are dead permanently, how do you get a Death Token? You get them by defeating the Gym Leader of that town, and the Death Token can only do 1 thing if your Pokemon is in the Graveyard, you have to revive one of your dead Pokemon in exchange for 1 Pokemon in your party, but you have to use it as soon as the gym leader is defeated, but if you don’t have any Pokemon in your Graveyard, then you can save it for later or use that Token to catch any Pokemon you want in a previous route, but you have to put your 1st encounter in the Afterlife Box, or revive one of your Party Members when they faint, but one of your Pokemon in your Box must be sacrificed.
Once you lose a battle and still have Pokemon in your graveyard, you can continue, but you’ll be penalized for it, you’ll have to skip out on your next encounter, and you’ll have to put one of your Boxed Pokemon into the Afterlife Box, and if all your Pokemon are in the Afterlife Box, then you will lose the challenge, but once you reach the Elite 4 and Champion, you’ll have to use all of the Death Tokens that you didn’t use, and if you don’t have any Death Tokens, you only have 1 shot to defeat the Elite 4 and Champion, because if you don’t then it’s all over, I call it the Reincarnatelocke got it? Good!
Now I’m playing Pokemon Platinum because I was leaning heavily towards that game to try my Nuzlocke Rule, Platinum is hard, but is the definitive way to play the Sinnoh Games, Diamond and Pearl were criticized for being so slow, a limited Pokedex and teams that trainers don’t normally use, and BDSP were bashed for being the worst remakes in the franchise, it was way too faithful to the original and it was outsourced, at least we got faster gameplay, and removed HMs, but I don’t own any of them, and I still have my copy of Platinum, but when I used that new Nuzlocke Rule, I lost to Roark, and I can’t comprehend how many times I’ve lost every Platinum Nuzlocke I’ve attempted, even when I cheated in an EXP Share, but I remembered something that the legendary Alpharad said, long story short, Grinding is cringe, and Cheating is Based, so as you can tell I’m packing Rare Candies from my Homebrewed 3DS and no I’m not editing Pokemon to have illegal moves, I’m just packing Rare Candies because I took Jacob’s word for it, and now I’m not playing around anymore, now let’s go to the Sinnoh Region and see what happens.
I was dragged out of my home, Barry went out of his way to go into the Tall Grass until Rowan stopped us, and Rowan gave us a Pokemon, since I was having worse luck with Chimchar, and Budew is a pain in the ass to evolve, I decided to go with Turtwig, I named him Leonardo, and beat up Barry’s Chimchar, blew my money on Potions, and PokeBalls, caught a Starly named Skystar, in Lake Verity, Memelord the Bidoof in Route 201, and Spark the Shinx in Route 202, therefore I went north to find a Budew named Masque, so I have a substitute in case Leo Kicks the Bucket, however I was training up my Pokemon for some precious EVs, and I ran into Alucard the Zubat, and I trained up Leo for Roark, and I went ahead and easily took out Barry with Skystar, and caught a Magikarp named Ocean King, then when I arrived at Orburgh, I skipped my Orburgh Mines encounter because I wasn’t paying attention and these early Rock Types are worthless since you gain a better one later either Cranidos or Shieldon, therefore I went in to Roark’s gym and have Leo go all out, so once I withdrew 3x, the Geodude got 2 Crits, and Leo still lives since I used Absorb in between Withdraws, both Geodude and Onix were absorbed to death, and the reason why I kept withdrawing, it is because of his ace Cranidos.
Cranidos is the more offensive Pokemon and since earlier I taught Leo Razor Leaf, it ended up getting critted after tanking a Headbutt, and won me my 1st Death Token, and my 1st Gym Badge, since no Pokemon are in my graveyard, I decided to save the Death Token for a later time, and then finally Skystar evolved, and Spark evolved into Luxio, now when I fought a Bug Catcher, I was fighting a Kricketot when he used bide, he lived 2 bites from Alucard, he is gonna die if I used another Bite, but I have to resort to a Sacrifice, and use up my Death Token, so I sent in Ocean King and I think you know what happens next, but Memelord was willing to give up his life to save Ocean King so I used the Death Token, and Memelord took Ocean King’s place, I brought in Viola, and I went to the Valley Windworks to capture a Shellos named Muddy that’s just in case Ocean King joins Memelord when he kicks the bucket, and since Rare Candies misses out on some precious EVs and I’d be forced to resort to Vitamins.
So I brought Ocean King to a high enough level to evolve into Gyarados so I can be able to beat Mars with no problem, and at least he won’t be over Gardenia’s Level, oh and I didn’t mention that I can’t overlevel to beat the next Gym Leader’s Ace easily, then I fought Mars, Alucard took out her Zubat no problem, then when Purugly came out, I was ready to intimidate attack drop, until it’s attack is absurdly low, when I brought out Skystar, Ocean King, and Spark to be intimidate happy, Spark finished off her Purugly, we made it out with no casualties, then I was adamant to get a Ponyta, and…I ran into a Pachirisu, I depressingly caught the Pachirisu and named it Fail, when I got through Eterna Forest, Leo Evolved, and we went in Gardenia’s Gym, and I had a plan to take her team down, Stealth Rock to lower her health a bit, and have Alucard and Skystar to take down her team, Both Roserade and Alucard crit each other and Alucard hung in there, while Roserade was done for, Badge 2 and another Death token was ours.
When I entered the Galactic Building, I used the same pussy strat, but Stuntank killed Spark, so I tried to kill him with Leo, but he killed him too, I had to choose who to send to the graveyard until I get another Death Token, so I left Spark, and kept Leo, and sent Fail into the Afterlife, to revive Leo, I was so pissed, so I brought in Masque, as a substitute for Leo if he dies again, so I am not gonna sugarcoat it, Cynthia gave me an Egg to take care of, So I took it and it already hatched and I named her Ellie, so when I went to Wayward Cave, I was hoping to get a Gible but…I couldn’t pass on an encounter so I depressingly caught the Onix and named it Useless also showing my frustration over not getting a Garchomp, but when I went into Mt. Coronet, I found a Bronzor and named him Ring, I’ve decided to bring him on the team, then I finally got Alucard to evolve into Crobat, and Bebe the operator of the Sinnoh Storage System gave me an Eevee I named Robin after the character from Fire Emblem: Awakening. I then took both Ocean King and Alucard to go all out, but Ocean King fought Mismagius the Mismagius critted, and Ocean King perished to confusion.
I then took out Alucard to finish the job, but Ocean King will live on in memory, gone but not forgotten, Badge 3 was ours, but I gave up Viola to bring back Spark, and now it is time to fight Barry and Spark mopped the floor with his Buizel, and his Staravia, Skystar and Alucard together took out Monferno, I decided to send in Ring to fight the Roselia, because he didn’t have much time to shine, but he got Stun Spored, and Leech Seeded, so I sent in Alucard to kill the Roselia, when I went to the next route, it was my last chance to get a Ponyta, so I ran into a Geodude, and it self-destructed, and Ring tanked it like a champ, Ring lives another day.
When I went to the Solacion Ruins, I went over to find a Stone for Robin, I found a Water Stone, I gave it to her, and now Vaporeon is mine, I was not adamant for Maylene though, since her team is ridiculous, Meditite, Machoke, and Lucario, but I realized Vaporeon only learns Water Gun by Level up and it is past her own level, so I just decided not to use Robin until I get Surf, and then once fighting this father and daughter, the Daughter’s Ponyta took out Skystar, I was almost finished but Spark and Alucard managed to pull through, I was planning to get Seizure Bait, and called the Porygon Seizure, since I had that Upgrade in my bag, I gave it to Seizure and I called someone, Myself from another region, now we got my counter to Crasher Wake’s Gym, and backup in case Spark bites the dust, but I put Seizure in the box but I brought in Lola because since I was trying to play it smart, but then I developed a Gambling Addiction, got Ice Beam for Robin and Thunderbolt for Seizure, I moved on.
When I made it into Maylene’s Gym, she was a pushover, she had no counters against Alucard, Meditite, and Machoke took a bit to take out because of Rock Tomb, however Lucario was just not that challenging, the only move it had to damage Alucard was Metal Claw, I taught Alucard Roost so I had no problem defeating Maylene, she gave me the Death Token to give Lola the means to resurrect Skystar, then when I went to Valor Lakefront at route 214, another Graveler flat out Exploded, and Spark said “I’m not going to die here!”
When I reached Pastoria City, all my Pokemon are way too underleveled, so I went back to a previous area and robbed all the trainers blind, while training up my team, to get good EVs, and then when I went in the 7 Star Restaurant, Ring got killed by a Rhyhorn’s Horn Drill, come on that’s a low accuracy move, because of that Robin took it out, I was in a big fit of rage, but then I reached the Pastoria Gym, when fighting this tuber and his Bibarel…
A Hyper Fang killed Spark, once he died, I decided to go get Goro…It’s Time Goro, you’re the only one that can bring us to victory, so I leveled him up, called to borrow the Pidgey again, to evolve Goro again, now I brought in Daisy to sack, and thanks to Seizure and Leo, Crasher Wake was a complete pushover, and sacking Daisy to get back Ring, gave him drugs until he evolved, because I’m a shameless lunatic, and then Team Galactic set off a Bomb, and Cynthia asked me to give her Grandma her Charm in Celestic Town, when I arrived, I gave her the charm, and Cyrus goes on a tangent of everything is imperfect so he has to destroy the world and bullshit.
I then got Trick Room, which is incredibly useful for Ring, since he gets the benefit of going first, and when going to the Fuego Ironworks I went and caught a Magmar, and I finally got a Fire Type Pokemon, and my counter to Candice's Gym, now I need a Magmarizer, I named him Schomer, because a YouTuber by the name of Michael Schomer used Magmar in his commentary on a convicted criminal, on his worst Death Battles, and his commentary on Metal Blade’s response to RealmWarsll, but I’m going to say that none of that matters, Robin and Alucard managed to survive, and I’m adding him to the team, found the Magmarizer, traded, got Magmortar, moving on.
Then I made it to Canalave City and then Barry’s Infernape killed both Alucard and Ring, That was the last straw, I then gave a lot of Vitamins to my Pokemon, and went to find the Metal Coat so that Useless can evolve, at least I got 2 Counters to Candice’s Gym that being Schomer, and Goro, speaking of Schomer, Robin, Leo and Schomer mopped the floor with Byron because I had counters to most of his team, but since I had Skystar in my party and Alucard died, I had to give him up to bring Alucard back, Did I have a choice?
So Team Galactic set off another Bomb, and then I went to get the Metal Coat, and a Shiny Stone, I took out Useless, so I can give it to him, and she’ll be no longer useless, but while doing that, unfortunately Alucard died, so it was a waste and my day was ruined, thanks to that freaking Staraptor, therefore I had enough bullshit for one day, so I set the Trade up, and Useless Evolved, and I changed the name to Ironrock, then I managed to evolve Masque and Ellie and since I needed a Flying Type and Masque is going to be needed later, so I decided to shamelessly get Heart Scales, evolved Ellie again, and teach her Air Slash.
Well before you snarky people in the comments say “You Cheater, you got a lot of Rare Candies, and Heart Scales.” Well in my defense Jan of Pokemon Challenges said in his reaction to Jacob’s Perfect Nuzlocke saying that it doesn’t matter if you get infinite money, infinite Rare Candies, or Infinite Heart Scales, this is just a demonstration of how to do the Nuzlocke Rule I made up.
I easily mopped the floor with Saturn when investigating Lake Valor, I also took out Mars with a close match because Hypnosis was giving me problems, but luckily Robin froze the Purugly solid, after surviving a Slash, but it gave me a heart attack, because she almost died, on my way to Snowpoint City, I had Schomer warm me up and one of my favorite Pokemon’s pre evolution Sneasel went in front of my face, OK, let’s go Ardyn, well when I arrived at Snowpoint City, I went in the Gym, and unless you have a tolerance of this ear rape, This sound is pretty self explanitory.
Then when I reached Candice, I had Schomer burn most of her team to the ground, Sneasel, Froslass, and Abomasnow while Goro Cross Chopped her Piloswine, and you're asking why Cross Chop? Well Machamp has No Guard meaning all moves from him and targeting him, never miss so that meant Cross Chop's accuracy is guaranteed to hit, we walked out of the gym all swag, with the Death Token and the Badge, and I reached Lake Acuity and saw that Barry got his ass kicked, and Jupiter already went to Veilstone, when I went in the Galactic Warehouse I found a Dubious Disk, I gave it to Seizure and traded again, and I felt sorry for him for being cut from the anime completely, and Seizure kinda avenged Squoop when I mopped the floor with the Scientist that killed him, you’re welcome Jaiden, then when fighting Cyrus he spit bullshit again, it was a tough battle, Seizure got frozen so I switched to Schomer to take out the Sneasel.
However the problems were his Crobat, he used Poison Fang but luckily Robin didn’t get poisoned, because when he brought out his Honchkrow he almost killed Robin, luckily she hung in there and killed the Honchkrow, when I yanked his Master Ball off his hands, while my Pokemon took out Saturn’s team, I freed the lake guardians, when I arrived at Spear Pillar, Mars and Jupiter tried to stop me but Barry came out of nowhere and fought with me, I decided to target Mars first and then take out Jupiter, easy dubs, I studied Cyrus’ team and Cyrus has a Houndoom with Will-o-Wisp, and his Weavile is speedy, but frail, so I went back to get a Rawst Berry to get seizure to hold it, then I went into the Distortion World, when I made it to the bottom, Cyrus was there standing there, menacingly!
Then Seizure mopped the floor with most of his team when Weavile Ice Punched it, and it lived on a red health bar, so one last Signal Beam and that Weavile was finished, I max potioned Seizure when his Crobat came out, and Seizure one shotted him, Cyrus steps aside, and I came face to face with Giratina, Giratina asks for what I desire, I asked him for his help, the Master Ball fell out of my pocket, I grabbed it and threw it and it was over, now to go to Sunnyshore to get my final Gym Badge, but first I renamed Steelix into Ironrock, went to Sunnyshore City and Ironrock was fighting like a real Pokemon, I got my final gym badge and Death Token, so I got my Great Marsh encounter which was a Quagsire my HM Slave, and went to Victory Road, but since I got that Razor Claw earlier I gave it to Ardyn and when Night Fell, he became one of my favorite Pokemon, then I headed to the Underground to mine for treasure, taught Ardyn Ice Punch, and I gotta get Swords Dance even though I need enough coins to get it, but the Gambling Addiction in me never faded, so back to the slots for me.
I was able to get Swords Dance, but I went back to Wayward Cave, and did the dumb thing to save Ardyn from getting killed by Cynthia's Garchomp, or Flint's Team, by boxing him and caught a Gible I named Cloud after the character from Final Fantasy 7, however that meant I had to use my 7th Death Token to say farewell to Ironrock the Steelix I only had 1 left, Cloud needed some EV Training before he’s ready to fight the Elite 4 because they are merciless, Aaron has mostly Bug Types, and a Drapion, and if Ellie misses an Air Slash on Heracross, and that Heracross lands a Stone Edge, she’s dead, and Bertha has a Rhyperior that has Rock Wrecker and Megahorn, and if Masque doesn’t one hit kill that Rhyperior he is dead, then there is Flint, Robin has a decent chance against them but combining Solarbeam with Sunny Day from his Magmortar can pose a threat against Robin, but it can be able to tank it but if he gets a Crit, Robin is dead, then there is Lucian, he has a Gallade, and Ardyn has a weakness to Drain Punch, and Cynthia’s Garchomp is self explanitory.
So I ended up robbing trainers of their cash blind and using it on Vitamins, now I am at the Pokemon League, now let’s just go on in and kick…
Barry: Wait a minute, You and I have unfinished business.
“Sick Em Seizure!”
Barry: Not this time!
Then Infernape came out and killed Seizure.
That was the last straw, Cloud, murder him.
*Boom!*
Schomer killed his Roserade and Goro took out his Snorlax.
So Masque was willing to give up her life, the death token was his, and Seizure was brought back to life, so I ended up giving my entire team Sweet Drugs to level 60, Barry can finally rot in hell, my team was Cloud, Robin, Schomer, Goro, Seizure, and Leonardo, alright it’s time to end our journey.
So Schomer killed most of Aaron’s team, while Seizure took out his Heracross, and Cloud took out his Drapion, when I made it to Bertha, I had no trouble plowing through her, Leo and Robin took her out with ease, and then Cloud mopped the floor with Flint.
Then I went into Lucian’s Room, I wasn’t being very confident, so I taught Cloud Shadow Claw, to kill Lucian’s Entire Team, but Espeon Survived, so I sent him back, to bring in Seizure and he hit half health when his Bronzong calm minded a few times, and I Thunderbolted Him however I wasn’t feeling confident when fighting Cynthia, it’s time to end our journey.
So once she sent in Spiritomb, Leo managed to take him out, however, instead of sending out Garchomp, she sent out Togekiss, and Togekiss got paralyzed by Seizure, however when Lucario came out, he crit Aura Sphere, and Leo died, Cloud took it out out of vengeance, then her Garchomp came out…I kept in Cloud…I wasn’t feeling confident, they traded blow to blow, but Cloud immediately got taken out in 1 shot Dragon Rush, my plan didn’t work…all this effort was for naught, I sent in Robin, the Garchomp used Earthquake, it was all over…there was nothing I can do to beat her, if I sent in Seizure he might get outsped crit, and die, if I sent in Schomer, he might get outsped and die to Earthquake, if I send in Goro, then he might get outsped barely survive, land a Cross Chop and then die…but that’s what I would have said if Garchomp landed a critical hit on Robin, Robin actually survived, it felt like my fallen comrades from the Afterlife sent by Arceus came down to protect Robin as gratitude from Giratina, and I showed that Garchomp what it is like to get one shotted, then Ice Beam killed the Garchomp, everything went according to plan, we still had a chance, Schomer burned her Roserade to a crisp, then came out her final Pokemon, Milotic, Seizure went in for the Thunderbolt, but it lived, Seizure survived the surf, and landed one more Thunderbolt.
We did it, we won, Cynthia congratulated me and then I was really happy that I finally won a Pokemon Platinum Nuzlocke, even when my previous plans didn’t work, our partners died while thinking of a plan, even when one shotting Cynthia’s Garchomp with Cloud, Masque’s soul can now rest in peace, she left Seizure’s body and now Seizure can rest in peace.
That meant Robin, Goro, and Schomer were the survivors, therefore I went into the hall of Fame and sat on the Champion’s Throne, now an honorable effort but I had a blast trying out my new rule, if I’m not counting Seizure since he was reincarnated and can finally rest in peace, Robin the Vaporeon was my MVP because out of all my alive Pokemon, and not my Reincarnated Pokemon, Robin was the longest surviving Pokemon, and the one that saved us from a crushing defeat twice, but it wasn’t over it is time to promote this new rule, this may be intimidating for Hardcore Nuzlockes, but it can help you in regular nuzlockes.