Jimmy john's caesar chicken wrap
Novak media treatment
2023.06.10 16:30 myic90 Novak media treatment
So often times in this sub, Novak fans often get a rep for being overly defensive and sensitive. These fans often counter-retort that it's because Novak gets unfair treatment. It's become a chicken/egg issue. For the most part, peers seem to like Novak, but the media tries its absolute best to portray him as a villain. When Nole fans make this claim, it sometimes gets brushed aside by neutral &/or fedal fans.
Living in Australia, I often get news feed from the major news site on my phone, and I figured, hey let's take a look at what they've written up about this Alcaraz match. The article title sure enough was incendiary, and I probed a bit further to see the latest articles about Novak.
Here is a page or so of the latest articles. Keep in mind, this is the leading news platform where your average reader gets their information and this is google's 1st page results just from this news site:
- "The crowd is furious" Boos after shock forfeit in Djokovic-Alcaraz french open ends in misery
- Shot of the century? Alcaraz brilliance stuns Djoker
- Novak Djokovic sparks fresh conspiracy with mysterious object taped to his chest
- Novak sideshow takes seriously bizarre turn (this was re: his fun exchange where he says his box doesn't give him bananas)
- Tennis star condemns Novak Djokovic Act (Norrie incident)
- Cameron Norrie says Novak Djokovic 'never apologized'
- 'Are you acting?' Tennis conspiracy erupts as Novak Djokovic blasts umpire's showmanship in fiery exchange
- 'Are you kidding?' John McEnroe slams Novak Djokovic disrespect (this is about everyone else disrespecting novak, but you don't get that from the title do you)
- Novak Djokovic causes stir with eight-word message after french open win (kosovo incident, which is the only one in this list that is truly controversial)
And the latest was a piece by John Millman (ex-oz player) that portrays Novak in a good light. To be honest, I was shocked because this is rare. And even this article was title baited: 'Star exposes whopping Djokovic secret' with a picture of Novak yelling.
You can search this for yourself, fellow OZs will know exactly which site I'm talking about.
I want to bring us back as well, to the infamous incident during AO '21 Covid when Novak was incinerated by the local media for his 'list of demands'. He was lambasted for weeks on news channels, and the entire country, it felt like, was in uproar over the spoiled entitled millionaire athlete who was above the rules of the common man who was struggling in quarantine.
So here's the original tweet:
"The list of things the Balkan has requested:
- Fitness and training material in all rooms
- 'Decent food' according to the level of the tournament and from an elite athlete
- Reduce the days of isolation for the 72 isolated players, upon carrying out more tests that confirm that all are negative
- Permission to visit your coach or physical trainer, as long as both have passed the PCR
- If the previous proposal has the green light, that both the player and his coach are on the same floor of the hotel
- Move as many players as possible to private houses with a court to train"
And this was the altered version:
"The no 1. player's demands include:
- Personal gyms in all rooms
- 'Decent food' for an elite athlete
- Reduce the days of isolation for the 72 isolated players
- Permission to visit your coach or physical trainer
- Both the player and his coach to be placed on the same floor of the hotel
- Move as many players as possible to private houses with private courts"
Any wonder why the public reacted the way they did? Keep in mind that Novak was already a beneficiary of all these things. This was a request for ALL OTHER PLAYERS TO EVEN THE PLAYING FIELD.
Tone deaf request in a country quarantined in a pandemic? sure. Was it the right thing to do as the head of the player council? Abso-fucking-lutely. But I guess this title: "Head of ATP player council issues list of requests for fair treatment across the board so as to level the playing field's preparation" doesn't generate as many clicks does it? Dude knew he'd get roasted and did it anyway because it was the right thing to do as someone in his shoes.
He then clarified his position in the following quote: "I genuinely care about my fellow players and I also understand very well how the world is run and who gets bigger and better and why. I’ve earned my privileges the hard way and for that reason, it is very difficult for me to be a mere onlooker knowing how much every help, gesture and good word mattered to me when I was small and insignificant in the world pecking order. Hence, I use my position of privilege to be of service as much as I can where and when needed. My litter to Tiley was intended as a brainstorm about potential improvements that could be made to the quarantine of players in Melbourne that were in full lockdown, and not a list of demands. There were a few suggestions and ideas that I gathered from other players from our chat group and there was no harm intended to try and help."
The media 'reported' it with the following title: "‘I’ve earned my privileges’: Djoker reveals ‘truth’ behind demands in open letter"
Are you kidding me?
So tell me, are Nole fans imagining things still? Keep in mind this is the country of Novak's most successful slam. I ask you to take a look on a Novak filter on sports. This is a good representation of a casual follower. Just see how many derogatory comments there are on the GOAT of the sport, and I invite you to gauge just how much media has had a part to play in the representation of this champion.
The point of this post is not to blindly defend a sporting icon. Is the dude perfect? no. He's had his faux pas. However, do I feel he is also unfairly judged and maligned at every possible opportunity? Well I think the evidence is damning. I feel the people who can afford the semi-final/final tickets who 'boo' this legend are the exact casuals who absorb the news articles listed above without a second thought.
More than anything, the point of this post is to invite you to keep your critical thinking hat on and just be aware of the subconscious bombardment of news and how it is presented to you, and to be able to see past the bullshit to see the forest for the trees.
submitted by myic90 to tennis [link] [comments]
Living in Australia, I often get news feed from the major news site on my phone, and I figured, hey let's take a look at what they've written up about this Alcaraz match. The article title sure enough was incendiary, and I probed a bit further to see the latest articles about Novak.
Here is a page or so of the latest articles. Keep in mind, this is the leading news platform where your average reader gets their information and this is google's 1st page results just from this news site:
- "The crowd is furious" Boos after shock forfeit in Djokovic-Alcaraz french open ends in misery
- Shot of the century? Alcaraz brilliance stuns Djoker
- Novak Djokovic sparks fresh conspiracy with mysterious object taped to his chest
- Novak sideshow takes seriously bizarre turn (this was re: his fun exchange where he says his box doesn't give him bananas)
- Tennis star condemns Novak Djokovic Act (Norrie incident)
- Cameron Norrie says Novak Djokovic 'never apologized'
- 'Are you acting?' Tennis conspiracy erupts as Novak Djokovic blasts umpire's showmanship in fiery exchange
- 'Are you kidding?' John McEnroe slams Novak Djokovic disrespect (this is about everyone else disrespecting novak, but you don't get that from the title do you)
- Novak Djokovic causes stir with eight-word message after french open win (kosovo incident, which is the only one in this list that is truly controversial)
And the latest was a piece by John Millman (ex-oz player) that portrays Novak in a good light. To be honest, I was shocked because this is rare. And even this article was title baited: 'Star exposes whopping Djokovic secret' with a picture of Novak yelling.
You can search this for yourself, fellow OZs will know exactly which site I'm talking about.
I want to bring us back as well, to the infamous incident during AO '21 Covid when Novak was incinerated by the local media for his 'list of demands'. He was lambasted for weeks on news channels, and the entire country, it felt like, was in uproar over the spoiled entitled millionaire athlete who was above the rules of the common man who was struggling in quarantine.
So here's the original tweet:
"The list of things the Balkan has requested:
- Fitness and training material in all rooms
- 'Decent food' according to the level of the tournament and from an elite athlete
- Reduce the days of isolation for the 72 isolated players, upon carrying out more tests that confirm that all are negative
- Permission to visit your coach or physical trainer, as long as both have passed the PCR
- If the previous proposal has the green light, that both the player and his coach are on the same floor of the hotel
- Move as many players as possible to private houses with a court to train"
And this was the altered version:
"The no 1. player's demands include:
- Personal gyms in all rooms
- 'Decent food' for an elite athlete
- Reduce the days of isolation for the 72 isolated players
- Permission to visit your coach or physical trainer
- Both the player and his coach to be placed on the same floor of the hotel
- Move as many players as possible to private houses with private courts"
Any wonder why the public reacted the way they did? Keep in mind that Novak was already a beneficiary of all these things. This was a request for ALL OTHER PLAYERS TO EVEN THE PLAYING FIELD.
Tone deaf request in a country quarantined in a pandemic? sure. Was it the right thing to do as the head of the player council? Abso-fucking-lutely. But I guess this title: "Head of ATP player council issues list of requests for fair treatment across the board so as to level the playing field's preparation" doesn't generate as many clicks does it? Dude knew he'd get roasted and did it anyway because it was the right thing to do as someone in his shoes.
He then clarified his position in the following quote: "I genuinely care about my fellow players and I also understand very well how the world is run and who gets bigger and better and why. I’ve earned my privileges the hard way and for that reason, it is very difficult for me to be a mere onlooker knowing how much every help, gesture and good word mattered to me when I was small and insignificant in the world pecking order. Hence, I use my position of privilege to be of service as much as I can where and when needed. My litter to Tiley was intended as a brainstorm about potential improvements that could be made to the quarantine of players in Melbourne that were in full lockdown, and not a list of demands. There were a few suggestions and ideas that I gathered from other players from our chat group and there was no harm intended to try and help."
The media 'reported' it with the following title: "‘I’ve earned my privileges’: Djoker reveals ‘truth’ behind demands in open letter"
Are you kidding me?
So tell me, are Nole fans imagining things still? Keep in mind this is the country of Novak's most successful slam. I ask you to take a look on a Novak filter on sports. This is a good representation of a casual follower. Just see how many derogatory comments there are on the GOAT of the sport, and I invite you to gauge just how much media has had a part to play in the representation of this champion.
The point of this post is not to blindly defend a sporting icon. Is the dude perfect? no. He's had his faux pas. However, do I feel he is also unfairly judged and maligned at every possible opportunity? Well I think the evidence is damning. I feel the people who can afford the semi-final/final tickets who 'boo' this legend are the exact casuals who absorb the news articles listed above without a second thought.
More than anything, the point of this post is to invite you to keep your critical thinking hat on and just be aware of the subconscious bombardment of news and how it is presented to you, and to be able to see past the bullshit to see the forest for the trees.
2023.06.10 16:24 gribbit417 Hope it is lovely lovely lumpy chicken
 | Not sure he'd be allowed it though, after the trouble with the foreign lads submitted by gribbit417 to AthleticoMince [link] [comments] |
2023.06.10 16:17 Lordgeorge16 These in-app advertisements are starting to get really weird... Thought this was r/distressingmemes but it's not.
 | Jimmy John's what the fuck are you doing submitted by Lordgeorge16 to distressingmemes [link] [comments] |
2023.06.10 16:12 TDoGGx121 Dynasty Mode will have recruiting and prospect scouting
 | submitted by TDoGGx121 to Madden [link] [comments] |
2023.06.10 16:06 walterherbst Was the Rifle In The Texas School Book Depository A Mauser
 | The rifle Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly used to shoot President Kennedy was an Italian-made 6.5 Manlincher-Carcano. However, the rifle was originally identified by Dallas police as a German-made 7.65 Mauser. Was it human error that caused this discrepancy, or was this a sign there was a conspiracy? submitted by walterherbst to ConspiracyII [link] [comments] Deputy Eugene Boone worked for Bill Decker in the Sheriff’s Department. After JFK was shot, Boone was on the 6th floor of the TSBD when he found a rifle hidden behind a stack of boxes. He credited the flashlight he was carrying, saying without it he never would have seen it. Captain Fritz and Lt. J.C. Day of the Dallas Police Department arrived next and examined the rifle. They were soon joined by Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman, who had once owned a sporting goods store, and he identified the rifle as a 7.65 Mauser. He was so certain that the next day he wrote in his deputy’s report that the rifle was a 7.65 Mauser. When he testified before the Warren Commission, he told them he had told the FBI in Dallas that the gun was a 7.65 Mauser. Sheriff’s Deputy Roger Craig said the same thing, and under oath and in sworn testimonies, both Weitzman and Craig said the rifle was a 7.65 Mauser. Captain Fritz took control of the rifle and handled it closely. He confirmed it was a German-made Mauser. He even ejected a live round from the chamber, so he had a good look at the rifle. In the early morning hours of November 23, Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade told a press conference that the murder weapon was a Mauser. Later that day, the FBI reported that Oswald had purchased a 6.5 Italian-made rifle through the mail under the name A.J. Hidell, and once that was known, all references to the Mauser disappeared and the murder weapon became a Manlicher-Carcano. There were no signed affidavits from police officers or sheriffs deputies explaining why the rifle was originally said to be a Mauser, nor was there an explanation from Captain Fritz or anyone else in authority that it was a Carcano. No one claimed to have seen or handled the rifle the day before. A receipt from Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago with Oswald’s handwriting was then found among his possessions, indicating that’s where he had bought the rifle. The Post Office receipt for the rifle should have been signed by the person who received it, which would have been Oswald. However, Postal Inspector D.H. Homes, who was also an FBI informant, somehow lost the receipt, even though the Post Office was supposed to retain it. So, an opportunity to connect Oswald directly to the rifle could not be done. The Carcano rifle had stamped on the barrel: “Made Italy” and “Cal 6.5.” How was it that so many people handled this rifle, for extended periods, on the 22nd and the 23rd, but no one noticed this? Also of interest is the story of a man who would eventually become the director of the Marine Corps in the Intelligence Center at Quantico, Virginia. He did not want his name revealed, but he is on record as saying, “I know more about the rifle found in the Depository than most people.” At the time of the assassination, he worked as a clerk for the Dallas FBI, and was asked by FBI agent Vincent Drain to build a box for the rifle so it could be flown to Washington for testing late on the night of November 23rd. The clerk’s name is in the Warren Report, his fingerprints were found on boxes on the 6th floor, and Agent Drain said that two clerks had packed the rifle, so his story is believable. The unnamed clerk would also state, “The rifle had a dirty bore…an exceptionally dirty bore,” which meant it had not been fired for quite some time. It was likely wrapped in something that collected dust particles inside the barrel. With this in mind, let’s consider the testimony of Robert Frazier, the FBI firearms expert who examined the rifle closely when it was sent to Washington. He was asked by Warren Commission member John McCloy specifically if he found any metal fragments in the barrel of the rifle. Frazier replied, “I did not examine it for that.” It seems plausible that an expert like Frazier would have checked the barrel to compare metal fragments found there to fragments removed from JFK’s and Connally’s bodies. So, he dodged the question, which suggests he did not want to honestly answer what the barrel looked like. Supporters of the Warren Commission have said that at Ruth Paine’s house after the assassination, Marina Oswald directed the police to the garage where she said Oswald kept his rifle. All that was found was a blanket. Ruth Paine never saw the rifle, so we only have Marina’s account that a rifle was there, and her testimony was most inconsistent and unreliable throughout the assassination weekend. One final point. If the Dallas Police, FBI, and Warren Commission were so sure it was Oswald’s gun that was found on the 6th floor, why did Police Chief Jesse Curry tell Dallas reporter Tom Johnson on July 16, 1964, “We don’t have any proof that Oswald fired the rifle, and never did. Nobody’s yet been able to put him in that building with a gun in his hand.” Something does not add up. For more stories like this, please check out It Did Not Start With JFK, published by Sunbury Press. https://preview.redd.it/usxa3yae675b1.png?width=473&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f9738656cb3187b6fd681f551180c81aea623df Seymour Weitzman Signed Affidavit Eugene Boone Signed Affidavit https://preview.redd.it/h1s1agsr675b1.jpg?width=89&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66fa8f2ef17ea5792cf43e551a393efe1b462c64 https://preview.redd.it/xvw3fr6s675b1.jpg?width=100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aec7d80770e5b0ad5843c3cfda3a858321d674c3 |
2023.06.10 16:04 wdmcarth Daily Bullpen Usage: 06/10/23
Last updated: 06/10/23 10:09:57 EST
submitted by wdmcarth to fantasybaseball [link] [comments]
LEGEND
| Note | Description |
|---|---|
| Italics | Pitched previous day or twice in last 3 days. |
| Pitched back to back days. | |
| Bold | Recent transaction. |
| L3:## | Number of pitches thrown in last 3 days. |
| *** | SP first start. |
| ** | SP yet to reach 5.0 innings in a game. |
| * | SP yet to surpass 6.0 innings in a game. |
BULLPEN USAGE
| Team | Opp | SP | CL | SU8 | SU7 | MID | LR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI | @DET | Ryne Nelson* | Miguel CastroL3:4, Andrew ChafinL3:19 | Scott McGoughL3:9 | Austin AdamsL3:9, Kyle Nelson, José Ruiz, Kevin Ginkel | Drey JamesonL3:46 | |
| ATL | WSN | Jared Shuster* | Nick AndersonL3:8 | A.J. MinterL3:10 | Jesse ChavezL3:25, Collin McHughL3:45, Joe JiménezL3:29, Kirby YatesL3:44 | Michael TonkinL3:33 | |
| BAL | KCR | Cole Irvin** | Bryan BakerL3:12 | Danny Coulombe, Mike BaumannL3:5, Cionel Pérez, Keegan AkinL3:18, Nick Vespi | Austin Voth | ||
| BOS | @NYY | Tanner Houck | Kenley JansenL3:17 | Chris MartinL3:10 | Josh Winckowski | Nick PivettaL3:4, Brennan BernardinoL3:7, Justin GarzaL3:15, Joe Jacques | Corey KluberL3:73 |
| CHC | @SFG | Kyle Hendricks* | Mark Leiter Jr.L3:48, | Michael Fulmer | Julian MerryweatherL3:33 | Brandon Hughes, Michael RuckerL3:37, Jeremiah Estrada | Javier Assad |
| CHW | MIA | Michael Kopech | Liam HendriksL3:14, | Joe KellyL3:18 | Reynaldo LópezL3:19 | Keynan MiddletonL3:14, Aaron BummerL3:22, Gregory SantosL3:7 | Garrett CrochetL3:15 |
| CIN | @STL | Andrew Abbott* | Alexis DíazL3:11 | Lucas SimsL3:9 | Buck FarmerL3:16 | Ian GibautL3:35, Alex YoungL3:15, Fernando CruzL3:26, Joel KuhnelL3:20 | Ricky Karcher |
| CLE | HOU | Triston McKenzie* | Emmanuel ClaseL3:23 | Trevor StephanL3:22 | Eli MorganL3:38, Sam HentgesL3:36, Enyel De Los SantosL3:15, Nick SandlinL3:13 | ||
| COL | SDP | Kyle Freeland | Justin LawrenceL3:31 | Pierce JohnsonL3:30 | Jake BirdL3:11 | Brent SuterL3:38, Brad HandL3:18, Daniel BardL3:4, Matt CarasitiL3:26 | Peter LambertL3:44 |
| DET | ARI | Matthew Boyd* | Alex LangeL3:22 | Jason FoleyL3:16 | Will VestL3:20 | José Cisnero, Chasen ShreveL3:23, Tyler HoltonL3:13, Mason Englert, Tyler Alexander | Garrett HillL3:39 |
| HOU | @CLE | J.P. France | Ryan PresslyL3:19 | Bryan AbreuL3:25 | Hector NerisL3:29 | Ronel BlancoL3:94 | |
| KCR | @BAL | Brady Singer* | Scott Barlow | Aroldis ChapmanL3:18 | Taylor Clarke | Carlos HernándezL3:16, Jose CuasL3:17, Nick Wittgren, Austin Cox, Jackson Kowar | Mike Mayers |
| LAA | SEA | Patrick Sandoval | Chris DevenskiL3:16 | Jacob WebbL3:31 | Ben JoyceL3:35, Aaron LoupL3:8, Sam BachmanL3:42, José SorianoL3:13 | Tucker Davidson | |
| LAD | @PHI | Bobby Miller* | Evan PhillipsL3:11, Brusdar GraterolL3:16, Caleb FergusonL3:10 | Yency AlmonteL3:13, Shelby MillerL3:28, Victor GonzálezL3:14, Alex VesiaL3:33, Nick RobertsonL3:22 | Tayler ScottL3:28 | ||
| MIA | @CHW | Sandy Alcantara | A.J. PukL3:14 | Dylan FloroL3:9 | Tanner ScottL3:32 | Huascar Brazoban, Steven OkertL3:16, JT ChargoisL3:16, Andrew NardiL3:29 | Bryan Hoeing |
| MIL | OAK | Julio Teheran | Devin Williams | Peter StrzeleckiL3:21 | Joel PayampsL3:14 | Hoby MilnerL3:32, Elvis PegueroL3:8, Trevor MegillL3:27, | Tyson MillerL3:10 |
| MIN | @TOR | Joe Ryan | Jhoan DuranL3:40 | Brock StewartL3:37 | Jorge López | Emilio Pagán, Jovani MoranL3:7, | Josh Winder |
| NYM | @PIT | Kodai Senga | David RobertsonL3:33, Adam OttavinoL3:12 | Brooks RaleyL3:34 | Drew SmithL3:11, Jeff BrighamL3:17, Dominic LeoneL3:14, | Zach MuckenhirnL3:45 | |
| NYY | BOS | Domingo Germán | Clay HolmesL3:16, Michael KingL3:26, Wandy PeraltaL3:1 | Ron MarinaccioL3:31, Albert AbreuL3:9, Tommy KahnleL3:13, | Matt Krook | ||
| OAK | @MIL | Paul Blackburn* | Trevor MayL3:26 | Lucas ErcegL3:40 | Sam MollL3:23 | Richard LoveladyL3:3, Shintaro Fujinami, Austin Pruitt, Sam Long | Ken WaldichukL3:54 |
| PHI | LAD | Aaron Nola | Craig KimbrelL3:34, José AlvaradoL3:22 | Seranthony DomínguezL3:4 | Matt StrahmL3:28 | Gregory SotoL3:14, Jeff Hoffman, Andrew Vasquez, Yunior Marte | Dylan Covey |
| PIT | NYM | Johan Oviedo | David BednarL3:20 | Colin Holderman | Dauri MoretaL3:17 | Jose Hernandez, Yohan Ramirez, Angel PerdomoL3:13 | Rob ZastryznyL3:62 |
| SDP | @COL | Ryan Weathers* | Josh HaderL3:37 | Nick MartinezL3:19 | Steven Wilson | Tim HillL3:10, Tom CosgroveL3:15, Brent Honeywell, Domingo Tapia | Drew CarltonL3:26 |
| SEA | @LAA | Bryan Woo** | Paul Sewald | Andrés Muñoz | Justin Topa | Matt BrashL3:40, Gabe SpeierL3:15, Penn Murfee, Tayler SaucedoL3:15 | Chris FlexenL3:32 |
| SFG | CHC | Jakob Junis*** | Camilo DovalL3:24 | Tyler RogersL3:29 | John Brebbia | Taylor RogersL3:34, Scott AlexanderL3:7, Ryan WalkerL3:22, Luke Jackson, Jakob Junis, Tristan BeckL3:34 | Sean Manaea |
| STL | CIN | Miles Mikolas | Ryan HelsleyL3:11, Giovanny GallegosL3:26 | Jordan HicksL3:43 | Andre PallanteL3:3 | Génesis Cabrera, Drew VerHagen, Chris StrattonL3:24 | Steven Matz |
| TBR | TEX | Taj Bradley* | Jason AdamL3:38 | Colin PocheL3:25 | Robert StephensonL3:13 | Jake DiekmanL3:18, Kevin KellyL3:25, Jalen Beeks, Shawn ArmstrongL3:24 | Luis PatiñoL3:37 |
| TEX | @TBR | Nathan Eovaldi | Will Smith | Josh Sborz | Grant Anderson | Brock Burke, José Leclerc, Cole Ragans, John KingL3:23 | Spencer HowardL3:35 |
| TOR | MIN | Bowden Francis*** | Jordan RomanoL3:19 | Nate PearsonL3:27 | Tim MayzaL3:3, Trevor Richards, | Mitch White | |
| WSN | @ATL | MacKenzie Gore | Kyle FinneganL3:16, Hunter Harvey | Carl Edwards Jr.L3:34 | Mason ThompsonL3:30, Chad Kuhl, Jordan WeemsL3:16, Cory Abbott | Thaddeus Ward |
TRANSACTIONS
| Date | Team | Player | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/9 | BAL | Nick Vespi | PROMOTION | Recalled from minors |
| 6/9 | BOS | Joe Jacques | PROMOTION | Contract selected from minors |
| 6/9 | MIN | Josh Winder | PROMOTION | Recalled from minors |
| 6/9 | SEA | Penn Murfee | INJURIES | Activated from 15-Day IL |
| 6/9 | TOR | Mitch White | INJURIES | Activated from 60-Day IL |
| 6/9 | CIN | Joel Kuhnel | PROMOTION | Recalled from minors |
| 6/9 | CIN | Ricky Karcher | PROMOTION | Recalled from minors |
| 6/9 | MIL | Tyson Miller | PROMOTION | Recalled from minors |
| 6/9 | NYM | Zach Muckenhirn | PROMOTION | Recalled from minors |
| 6/9 | PHI | José Alvarado | INJURIES | Activated from 15-Day IL |
2023.06.10 15:29 AlexSciChannel My idea for an action/combat Contemporary Dark Techno Fantasy story
The Mortal Roan:
If you noticed some obvious inspirations from other media, specifically anime don't be surprised. Things I do not have names for yet I used names from already existing media. But the story is entirely original.
So the idea for this story is to be set in the an alternate version of the modern day where the population is 40% lower than 8 billion.
Advanced prosthetics and cybernetics exist. Way more advanced than they are currently in the real world. Mostly due to the aid of electrical and gear magic. Also advanced technological databases and prophetic computer code algorithims often work as oracles or prophets.
There are three main types of beings in this world. Sorcerers, humans born with inherit magical ability that is passed on through genetics. They exhibit mana, which is the abstract essence of where their power comes from and can be detected by other mana users. Mysterious Beings, nonhuman, although sometimes humanoid mythological/folklore creatures that use magic dedicated to their realm of specialization. Ex. Werewolves - moon magic, Vampires blood magic, Lamia Serpent magic, U'tlun'ta - spear magic etc. They also have mana for their magic which is detected and acts the same way as a sorcerer's. And the last group, normal humans or sprites. They are magic-less humans that have no extraordinary supernatural abilities and rely on the protection of Sorcerers like the Roan Knights to protect them from supernatural threats from Mysterious beings.
Nick... is a normal human. He has no magical ability. He comes from an unremarkable family of Bulgarian immigrants, he is a Historical European Martial Arts practitioner in Longsword and is weak against supernatural threats. At least he was. That was until his godfather, who is also a regular human, saved him from a vampire attack using a sword and a special fighting technique called Vita-viz, a extrasensory way of converting one's own and surrounding life energy into superhuman power. Also known in eastern cultures as qi. This ability isn't inherited and isn't genetic. It is a learned ability that any living thing has the potential to use. Although being's with mana tend to have a more difficult time accessing it due to mana often interfering with their qi channels. Vita-viz takes a lot of arduous training to unlock, unlike Sorcerers' mana which provides magic free of any effort, though a sorcerer still needs to train to become more powerful.
Nick's world is rocked by a overnight camping trip in the Appalachians with his Hema buddies where the group is attacked by Vampires and brought to their lair where they are all tortured and mutilated. All of them die except Nick and his best friend at the time Ethan. Nick manages to escape due to some sorcerers passing through. They don't take note of the prisoners and after the Vampires are killed, they leave, abandoning the prisoners. Ethan is turned into a vampire and Nick is forced to stake his best friend through the heart with a broken longsword.
Nick is taught by his godfather how to use Vita-viz and joins the Roan Knights. The existence of Vita-viz has largely been forgotten by the magical world at large save for some folktales. Also none of the algorithms made any prophecies about mana-less warriors and barely any about Vita-viz. So the presence of a mana-less user going toe to toe with magical beings threatens to alter the paradigm.
Nick eventually befriends two sorcerers at the Roan Knights academy. Ave who is an esper (mind magic sorcerer) and is the quint essential Mary Sue of the overarching story and chosen one, though she is not the main character. She is descended from a famous and rich magical family known for their supernatural contributions during the American Civil War. So she is pretty privileged. The second sorcerer is John, he is a dhampire (his mother is human and he never knew his father) he is also half Cherokee. He uses blood magic and uses a double sided scythe that can detach its blades from the staff's using a chain. His mixed human and nonhuman nature makes him a product of ridicule among the Roan Knights as most are human though they do sometimes use imprisoned mysterious beings as slave soldiers. Also forgot to mention the Roan Knights academy is in the Appalachians.
Also despite what some may expect, Nick is the weakest character of the friend group power wise. The point of his character is that I wanted to make an action fantasy story where the side character is the main character. The character that doesn't come from a remarkable background, doesn't have any prophecies about him and that doesn't get pulled along by the story by some chosen one prophecy but instead makes his own story. I always find these side characters the most compelling because even though they aren't the strongest, seeing their journey is often more entertaining than the Mary Sue chosen ones.
My Probably Final Story Arc Pitch - Fake Defector:
After a couple of years and excited Nazi vampire war arcs later...
Keep in mind this is near the end of all the character's journeys and most of the main characters are unbelievably powerful at this point. The powerscaling for them would be around city to multi-city level amounts of power. Though at the beginning they'll start off grounded and more reasonably scaled.
Nick is ranked as an Top rank 6 mysterious being, specifically a vampire, under the Ash organization. An organization with the main objective of the supremacy of mythological entities over the human population. They are not Nazis though they are fascist in favor of Mysterious beings. The Nazi vampire organization in previous arcs were ethnically supremacist but used Vampires to achieve their goals (think Hellsing). But in the Ash organization, out of all the other top ranks, Nick is the only human though all the other members of the organization think he's a vampire, save for Upper 3 vampire, Melidos, and the Ash organization master.
Nick betrayed the Roan Knights after saving Melidos in the battle of London, though it wasn't known at the time as while saving Melidos, the area underwent a large explosion and Nick was presumed dead. But he met up in secret with Melidos after the battle to join his cause after being offered by him a few days earlier to be one of the architects of a new order of mysterious beings set to rule the world. But there was one condition, that if Melidos really did change and he really did value Nick's loyalty and friendship, he would allow him to join as a human. Melidos agreed and that they would disguise Nick as a newly christened vampire, Cygon, converted by Melidos to be the next member of the Upper ranks to the rest of the membership, unknown of his real name and identity. Though the organization's master knew of Nick's real identity as a betrayer, he didn't know he wasn't a vampire until later, and upon discovering it he forced Nick to prove himself by offering him to murder the vampire that originally killed Ethan and his old friends, Grimmel. Confused, Nick asked why would this be his task? As taking revenge for loved ones would be easy, especially if they were a vampire. The master replied it's not if he kills him, but how. Nick complied and kills Grimmel in the most revenge filled and sadistic way. Coating his blade in anti-regenerative serum while cutting at his vital arties so that he slowly bleeds out until he dies from blood loss, which is uncommon for a vampire. Though it was for show to prove himself, part of Nick enjoyed the torture, as it was very fulfilling to kill his friends' murderer. Yet at the same time he never wanted to feel that same feeling again, and was finally starting to grasp what he got himself in to. It was sufficient proof he was worthy to be part of the ranks and the master allowed him to stay and keep his identity under wraps.
To the other Top ranks he was the vampire Cygon, turned by Top rank 3 Melidos, and sort of taken under his wing. He used his new silver cyborg prosthetics and armor as a guise to come up with a new alias and reputation. He also wore a fully encompassing robotic mask without a helmet rim. The mask had a circular right eye slot and a horizontally ovular left eye slot with modified tech to enhance his damaged eye. Both glowed green. He also wore a tattered brown cape reaching his calves and kept his newly forged cyber sword on his back. Cygon was a cyborg vampire to the top ranks. And although he was the lowest of the top ranks number wise he garnered a reputation. Known as the physically weakest Top rank, he also became known as the most intelligent due to his immense knowledge of battle strategy and cybernetic tech. He is known to be so smart, he managed to develop the perfect mana cloaking technique. This is a guise to explain away why no one can detect mana from him. Because Nick is actually mana-less and uses the Vita-vis system instead of the expected blood magic or gear magic, though no one the upper ranks knows this except Melidos. Cygon also has the reputation as being the most tryhard in the Top ranks by the other members. They say he takes the job way to serious and stresses too much about results. Because of their position as Top ranks there hasn't been a single mission failure from any one of them since they were formed.
The only way to rise the top ranks is to challenge someone higher rank than you to a blood battle in front of the others and the victor gains or keeps the aforementioned title and drinks a large portion of the loser's blood. The loser takes the lower ranked position. Cygon hasn't challenged any of the upper ranks to a blood battle because, one he is not a vampire and doing so would expose him, and two, he wants to hide his full power from the others as to not give his enemies opportunities to study him. In reality, at full power he is worthy of rising to Top rank 4 (Mid Dragon) but is staying at Top rank 6 (Low Dragon). Melidos is Top rank 3 (High Dragon).
The whole purpose of joining the Ash organization isn't because of common beliefs. But as a secret infiltration for the Internal Mysterious Revolutionary Organization, or IMRO. A nonhierarchical organization made up of sorcerers, mysterious beings, and regular humans all of equal standing with the goal to change society to be a multicultural world of beings with different magical standings. Nick joined them and agreed to defect from the Roan Knights after being dissalusioned with them and saw them as a corrupt organization. Seeing they were nothing but pawns for the current political world powers to wield, they cared not for equality of the races. This defection happened in secret shortly before he faked his own death and his undercover mission began. Nick is acting as a spy for them in the Ash org with the sole mission to gather as much information in the org's master and kill him. John, Nick's old best-friend from his Roan days also converted to the IMRO although he is unaware of Nick's mission or that he is even alive. The mission was known by only a few people/beings of influential standing in the IMRO.
Back to the Ash organization. I am thinking of making the Master a Demon that has the special ability to summon a portal to hell. And also thinking of the Top rank 1 Mysterious being to be the Boogeyman, or at least the physical manifestation of his idea. He would be physically the embodiment of the Roko's Basilisk thought experiment. If you don't know it, it's pretty fascinating.
Conclusion:
So what do you think? I am ready for some harsh criticism but compliments are welcome as well.
submitted by AlexSciChannel to fantasywriters [link] [comments]
If you noticed some obvious inspirations from other media, specifically anime don't be surprised. Things I do not have names for yet I used names from already existing media. But the story is entirely original.
So the idea for this story is to be set in the an alternate version of the modern day where the population is 40% lower than 8 billion.
Advanced prosthetics and cybernetics exist. Way more advanced than they are currently in the real world. Mostly due to the aid of electrical and gear magic. Also advanced technological databases and prophetic computer code algorithims often work as oracles or prophets.
There are three main types of beings in this world. Sorcerers, humans born with inherit magical ability that is passed on through genetics. They exhibit mana, which is the abstract essence of where their power comes from and can be detected by other mana users. Mysterious Beings, nonhuman, although sometimes humanoid mythological/folklore creatures that use magic dedicated to their realm of specialization. Ex. Werewolves - moon magic, Vampires blood magic, Lamia Serpent magic, U'tlun'ta - spear magic etc. They also have mana for their magic which is detected and acts the same way as a sorcerer's. And the last group, normal humans or sprites. They are magic-less humans that have no extraordinary supernatural abilities and rely on the protection of Sorcerers like the Roan Knights to protect them from supernatural threats from Mysterious beings.
Nick... is a normal human. He has no magical ability. He comes from an unremarkable family of Bulgarian immigrants, he is a Historical European Martial Arts practitioner in Longsword and is weak against supernatural threats. At least he was. That was until his godfather, who is also a regular human, saved him from a vampire attack using a sword and a special fighting technique called Vita-viz, a extrasensory way of converting one's own and surrounding life energy into superhuman power. Also known in eastern cultures as qi. This ability isn't inherited and isn't genetic. It is a learned ability that any living thing has the potential to use. Although being's with mana tend to have a more difficult time accessing it due to mana often interfering with their qi channels. Vita-viz takes a lot of arduous training to unlock, unlike Sorcerers' mana which provides magic free of any effort, though a sorcerer still needs to train to become more powerful.
Nick's world is rocked by a overnight camping trip in the Appalachians with his Hema buddies where the group is attacked by Vampires and brought to their lair where they are all tortured and mutilated. All of them die except Nick and his best friend at the time Ethan. Nick manages to escape due to some sorcerers passing through. They don't take note of the prisoners and after the Vampires are killed, they leave, abandoning the prisoners. Ethan is turned into a vampire and Nick is forced to stake his best friend through the heart with a broken longsword.
Nick is taught by his godfather how to use Vita-viz and joins the Roan Knights. The existence of Vita-viz has largely been forgotten by the magical world at large save for some folktales. Also none of the algorithms made any prophecies about mana-less warriors and barely any about Vita-viz. So the presence of a mana-less user going toe to toe with magical beings threatens to alter the paradigm.
Nick eventually befriends two sorcerers at the Roan Knights academy. Ave who is an esper (mind magic sorcerer) and is the quint essential Mary Sue of the overarching story and chosen one, though she is not the main character. She is descended from a famous and rich magical family known for their supernatural contributions during the American Civil War. So she is pretty privileged. The second sorcerer is John, he is a dhampire (his mother is human and he never knew his father) he is also half Cherokee. He uses blood magic and uses a double sided scythe that can detach its blades from the staff's using a chain. His mixed human and nonhuman nature makes him a product of ridicule among the Roan Knights as most are human though they do sometimes use imprisoned mysterious beings as slave soldiers. Also forgot to mention the Roan Knights academy is in the Appalachians.
Also despite what some may expect, Nick is the weakest character of the friend group power wise. The point of his character is that I wanted to make an action fantasy story where the side character is the main character. The character that doesn't come from a remarkable background, doesn't have any prophecies about him and that doesn't get pulled along by the story by some chosen one prophecy but instead makes his own story. I always find these side characters the most compelling because even though they aren't the strongest, seeing their journey is often more entertaining than the Mary Sue chosen ones.
My Probably Final Story Arc Pitch - Fake Defector:
After a couple of years and excited Nazi vampire war arcs later...
Keep in mind this is near the end of all the character's journeys and most of the main characters are unbelievably powerful at this point. The powerscaling for them would be around city to multi-city level amounts of power. Though at the beginning they'll start off grounded and more reasonably scaled.
Nick is ranked as an Top rank 6 mysterious being, specifically a vampire, under the Ash organization. An organization with the main objective of the supremacy of mythological entities over the human population. They are not Nazis though they are fascist in favor of Mysterious beings. The Nazi vampire organization in previous arcs were ethnically supremacist but used Vampires to achieve their goals (think Hellsing). But in the Ash organization, out of all the other top ranks, Nick is the only human though all the other members of the organization think he's a vampire, save for Upper 3 vampire, Melidos, and the Ash organization master.
Nick betrayed the Roan Knights after saving Melidos in the battle of London, though it wasn't known at the time as while saving Melidos, the area underwent a large explosion and Nick was presumed dead. But he met up in secret with Melidos after the battle to join his cause after being offered by him a few days earlier to be one of the architects of a new order of mysterious beings set to rule the world. But there was one condition, that if Melidos really did change and he really did value Nick's loyalty and friendship, he would allow him to join as a human. Melidos agreed and that they would disguise Nick as a newly christened vampire, Cygon, converted by Melidos to be the next member of the Upper ranks to the rest of the membership, unknown of his real name and identity. Though the organization's master knew of Nick's real identity as a betrayer, he didn't know he wasn't a vampire until later, and upon discovering it he forced Nick to prove himself by offering him to murder the vampire that originally killed Ethan and his old friends, Grimmel. Confused, Nick asked why would this be his task? As taking revenge for loved ones would be easy, especially if they were a vampire. The master replied it's not if he kills him, but how. Nick complied and kills Grimmel in the most revenge filled and sadistic way. Coating his blade in anti-regenerative serum while cutting at his vital arties so that he slowly bleeds out until he dies from blood loss, which is uncommon for a vampire. Though it was for show to prove himself, part of Nick enjoyed the torture, as it was very fulfilling to kill his friends' murderer. Yet at the same time he never wanted to feel that same feeling again, and was finally starting to grasp what he got himself in to. It was sufficient proof he was worthy to be part of the ranks and the master allowed him to stay and keep his identity under wraps.
To the other Top ranks he was the vampire Cygon, turned by Top rank 3 Melidos, and sort of taken under his wing. He used his new silver cyborg prosthetics and armor as a guise to come up with a new alias and reputation. He also wore a fully encompassing robotic mask without a helmet rim. The mask had a circular right eye slot and a horizontally ovular left eye slot with modified tech to enhance his damaged eye. Both glowed green. He also wore a tattered brown cape reaching his calves and kept his newly forged cyber sword on his back. Cygon was a cyborg vampire to the top ranks. And although he was the lowest of the top ranks number wise he garnered a reputation. Known as the physically weakest Top rank, he also became known as the most intelligent due to his immense knowledge of battle strategy and cybernetic tech. He is known to be so smart, he managed to develop the perfect mana cloaking technique. This is a guise to explain away why no one can detect mana from him. Because Nick is actually mana-less and uses the Vita-vis system instead of the expected blood magic or gear magic, though no one the upper ranks knows this except Melidos. Cygon also has the reputation as being the most tryhard in the Top ranks by the other members. They say he takes the job way to serious and stresses too much about results. Because of their position as Top ranks there hasn't been a single mission failure from any one of them since they were formed.
The only way to rise the top ranks is to challenge someone higher rank than you to a blood battle in front of the others and the victor gains or keeps the aforementioned title and drinks a large portion of the loser's blood. The loser takes the lower ranked position. Cygon hasn't challenged any of the upper ranks to a blood battle because, one he is not a vampire and doing so would expose him, and two, he wants to hide his full power from the others as to not give his enemies opportunities to study him. In reality, at full power he is worthy of rising to Top rank 4 (Mid Dragon) but is staying at Top rank 6 (Low Dragon). Melidos is Top rank 3 (High Dragon).
The whole purpose of joining the Ash organization isn't because of common beliefs. But as a secret infiltration for the Internal Mysterious Revolutionary Organization, or IMRO. A nonhierarchical organization made up of sorcerers, mysterious beings, and regular humans all of equal standing with the goal to change society to be a multicultural world of beings with different magical standings. Nick joined them and agreed to defect from the Roan Knights after being dissalusioned with them and saw them as a corrupt organization. Seeing they were nothing but pawns for the current political world powers to wield, they cared not for equality of the races. This defection happened in secret shortly before he faked his own death and his undercover mission began. Nick is acting as a spy for them in the Ash org with the sole mission to gather as much information in the org's master and kill him. John, Nick's old best-friend from his Roan days also converted to the IMRO although he is unaware of Nick's mission or that he is even alive. The mission was known by only a few people/beings of influential standing in the IMRO.
Back to the Ash organization. I am thinking of making the Master a Demon that has the special ability to summon a portal to hell. And also thinking of the Top rank 1 Mysterious being to be the Boogeyman, or at least the physical manifestation of his idea. He would be physically the embodiment of the Roko's Basilisk thought experiment. If you don't know it, it's pretty fascinating.
Conclusion:
So what do you think? I am ready for some harsh criticism but compliments are welcome as well.
2023.06.10 14:42 Its_eliza303 A detailed writeup of the first week of my bottom surgery experience with Dr. Dany Hanna.
I saw someone else do this a couple weeks ago and it really helped me know what to expect going into this, so I figured I'd pay it forward and do one as well! So here goes:
I was able to get a pretty quick surgery date. I did my consult in February. I had previously done a consultation at Crane center, but I really didn’t feel like they cared about me and they were hard to get a hold of. But Hanna Gender Center was the complete opposite. He took the time to listen to all my questions and answers versus he could, the patient care coordinators are amazing, and the staff at Carrolton regional has been great as well. I drove up to Dallas on Tuesday, May 30 and went to a nice dinner. Wednesday was Bowel prep day. It actually wasn’t too bad but it definitely drained all my energy. They have you mix an entire bottle of laxative into 64 ounces of Gatorade, and drink it all. Honestly, I think the worst part about the bowel prep experience was not being able to eat all day lol. DAY ONE (surgery day) I went to sleep and arrived at the hospital at 7:15 AM. I was taken to the prep room really quickly where they gave me wipes to wipe down my whole body for disinfectant reasons, I changed into my gown, and talked to all the nurses. at this point, I feel like I should mention that I’ve never had a surgery or anesthesia or anything before so I was a little bit nervous. Dr. Hanna came in and talked to me a bit about the procedure, answered any questions I had, and then he left. In about 15 minutes, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a muscle relaxer through my IV which felt excellent. I started spacing out pretty quickly after that. They wheeled me to the OR, and I remember, transferring to the OR table and laughing, and making jokes with all the nurses, and then the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the rest of the anesthesia. I was out instantly, and it felt like I just blinked and was in the recovery room. It was hard to wrap my mind around. I was pretty disoriented when I got to the room, but after a few hours I started feeling better. I was able to order food, which was actually really good as soon as I got to the final room. I don’t think my pain has ever been above a five out of 10 which has been great. I took a little bit of Oxsee and some Tylenol but my plan is to take the pain meds as little as possible. I own a company, so I’m trying to be as clear headed as I can, so I can work remotely. As of right now, it’s 10:15 pm so about 12.5 hours after the surgery started. At this point my pain is about a three. I just feel this crazy pressure like I have to pee. Everything is still pretty numb down there though. DAY 2 I didn’t sleep very well because the nurses were coming in and out every hour or so last night to check my vitals, do bloodwork, etc. Dr. Hanna came in to talk to me around 7:30 am. Today was actually harder than yesterday. The anesthesia is worn off by now so things are a bit more painful but still mostly manageable. My pain has been steady around 3-5 on the pain scale today, but there was one point where my nerves were reconnecting, and it felt like I got tazed in my hoo-ha, 9 or 10 on the pain scale. Not fun. I can also feel my stomach and digestive system waking up which is a little uncomfortable. I still haven’t been allowed out of my bed and I can’t really move my legs, so I’m getting very restless. I’m hoping to be able to get up tomorrow, but it could be as late as Sunday. I think I will feel much better when I’m allowed to walk around. DAY 3 I needed some heavier pain pills to sleep last night, but I was able to get about 6 hours total. My biggest issues since yesterday evening has been gas buildup in my stomach. It’s been deeply uncomfortable and causes some nausea every once in a while. I can’t let it out because my body is numb from laying in the same spot since Thursday afternoon, so it’s just turning in my stomach. I really can’t stress enough how difficult it has been to not be able to move. It’s also been difficult for me to eat today, but I’ve been in less pain. Mostly just focused on my stomach issues. Dr. Hanna came in and said that he would come in first thing in the morning tomorrow and take my dressing off and I can walk after that. My lower half is still in what is essentially a body cast. The nurses here are wonderful. We’ve been trying to blend of different meds, and I was able to take a three hour nap today. It’s been really rough and hard to stay positive but I’m getting through it. My mom just left to get me a smoothie in case that would help. I am hoping I can find a good cocktail of drugs to where I can get better sleep tonight. Edit: the smoothie saved my life. I got a super food smoothie from smoothie king and it was the most satisfying thing I’ve had this whole stay. I’m pretty much feeling better tonight. Can’t remember my last pain med. I’m cozying up with a movie. I’m gonna try to get some good sleep, as tomorrow is a big day getting the dressing off and walking. DAY 4 I slept a lot better last night but the gas pain was still really really bad. I pretty much needed painkillers to sleep. Woke up this morning and still cannot stomach any food so I got more smoothie king and that helped a lot. Dr. Hanna came in at about 10:15 AM and took my dressing off. That sort of hurt but wasn’t a huge deal. I got to see my vagina for the first time and it looks incredible. My mom set up a mirror at the end of my bed, and I just sat there staring at it for almost an hour. I expected it to be really bruised and bloodied, but it was neither. It just looked really good. It was very emotional for me and it is taking a lot of brain power to process that this is actually mine. He wanted me to rest for a few more hours, and then get up at 2 and try to walk for the first time. I got some nausea and pain meds and passed out again. When I woke up, the nurse came in and helped me get up. This was by far the worst, most painful part of everything. My whole body was fatigued from laying in one spot, and it felt like every way I moved pulled on the surgical site. It took me about 10 minutes to get sat up on the side of the bed, and I had to sit for a little bit, because I got lightheaded. With the help of two people, I was able to eventually stand up and grab a hold of a walker. My mom said I went ghost white and I genuinely felt like I was gonna pass out. I slowly made way to the bathroom where I was finally able to take care of my stomach issues which felt a million times better. They switched out my sheets and I got back in bed and took a pain pill. After the pain from that experience subsided, it actually went down to about a 0 or 1 on the pain scale. Clearing my stomach made the biggest difference. I’m supposed to get up again this evening and I feel like I might be able to do that a bit easier. Tomorrow I’m discharged and go back to the hotel, so I really hope I’m ready to make that walk. Today was crazy but seeing it for the first time and seeing how good the results were made all of this worth it. I’m so incredibly happy. Day 4 edit: I was able to get up a second time and it was about 1000 times easier. I feel much more hopeful for tomorrow. DAY 5 Discharge day! I asked the nurses last night to bother me less so I could get a good night's sleep. Since my vitals have been stable the whole time, they obliged. I was able to sleep undisturbed from 11pm to 5am when they came in and drained my catheter. I went back to sleep till 7 at which point they all came in to wake me up for vitals, meds, drain check, and breakfast. I ate about half an omelette (first solid food I could really stomach in 2 days) and watched TV. I got up and went to the bathroom which was surprisingly easy. I also changed out of my gown and into an extra oversized t-shirt in anticipation of the ride home. I sat on my donut pillow in the hospital recliner for the first time which was surprisingly comfortable. They came in and said I was ready to leave, so I packed everything up and waited on them to come by with the wheelchair and discharge paperwork. Dr. Hanna was off today so he didn't personally discharge me, but I got a call from one of his staff and he emailed me all the info I need. They were originally not gonna send me with a walker but I told them there was no way in hell I could make it to my hotel room without one so eventually they sourced one that I could take home. They brought me down to the entrance in a wheelchair at which point I got into my moms car. I had the seat all the way back so I was sitting on my tailbone and not the surgical site. We drove about 10 mins back to the hotel which was fine, but i was sort of using my legs and arms to lift myself up when she went over bumps. Having the window down and getting fresh air was AMAZING. I was able to walk from the car to the hotel room, but that definitely drained my energy for the day. I laid in bed for awhile with some pillows under my knees, and ate some chicken tenders from cane's which went down well. I was feeling REALLY good most of the day. Sadly, after getting up from the hotel bed about an hour later, I was in excruciating pain. I think I was putting more pressure on the surgical site than I realized, because it felt just as bad as it did 2 days ago. I made it to the bathroom and cried, a lot. I got myself to the office chair and have been sitting on my donut for about 30-45 mins which has been more tolerable. I think it will take some work to figure out how to be in bed comfortably. I'm pretty wiped today, and I really look forward to getting these drains out because I think they are my main source of pain when moving. As far as the surgical site, I still have basically zero bruising, it hasn't swelled up much more than it was on day 3 when the packing came off, and it's only been bleeding a little bit which is a relief. That's about it for today, I'm gonna go try to rest and find a way to get comfortable and get a good night's sleep. Day 5 part 2 (night). Adding a second update for this day, because I had a significant breakthrough after posting the first part. I tried to rearrange my mountain of pillows and finally found an extremely comfortable position in bed. I had two pillows under my knees, and a weird slope of about 4 pillows behind my back, similar to the incline of the hospital bed. Once I was able to get into that spot, I started feeling amazing. My pain went down to a zero and for the first time, I felt happy and at peace. I played xbox and just enjoyed being comfortable and having all my comfort items around me (blankets, stuffed animals, music, games, etc). I got the best sleep I've had all week! I passed out around 10 and woke up about 4 am needing to use the bathroom. I was scared to get up, but it was pretty easy (comparatively). Made it to the bathroom, and ended up walking around the room for a good 20-30 minutes which is definitely more than I walked before. All with no pain! As for the surgical site, my swelling has honestly been about the same since the end of day 3 which is great. Still no bruising really. There is a bit of bleeding from the canal area (I got minimal depth so I have like a 2-3 inch canal) but that has slowed quite a lot. I got back into bed and achieved all of that with minimal pain. Definitely took that as an accomplishment! DAY 6 This morning was great. I feel like these updates will be just about the same until my next milestone in 2 days when I get my drains and catheter out. I woke up this morning and again had much more improvement in my movement, and also my mental clarity. I worked on my laptop at the hotel desk and took calls from 8:30 to 1:30 which was great. I needed to catch up on work badly. Around 1:30 though I felt drained and took a nap. My mom helped me wash my hair in the sink since I haven't showered in 6 days which felt AMAZING. I had my best friend come visit for awhile in the evening, sat on the couch for an hour or so (improvement there too), and now I'm getting ready for bed. I'm experiencing some increased swelling in the area above my vagina and it's currently my biggest source of pain but still very manageable. The swelling was putting tension on where the drains were taped down, so i re-taped the drains with more slack and that helped a bit. I sent an email to the clinic with a picture of the swelling just to be safe. I'm very excited for my post-op appointment because these drains and this catheter are driving me absolutely insane. Overall, today was much better and I feel much more myself. DAY 7 Today was about the same as yesterday but the big difference was that mentally I had much more energy. It was the first day I was able to work the whole day which was nice. I moved a lot less than I did yesterday because I felt like I overdid it and my swelling was bad. It’s been better today for sure. I’ll have much more to report tomorrow after my post op. I think I’ll do updates tomorrow and the day after to document my journey home, and that’ll be it for these updates. I may make another post with a list of things that made it easier for me in the hospital and during the first week of recovery. DAY 8 / 9 this is the last update that I’ll do on this post. I went to my postop appointment, which was my first time at Dr. Hanna‘s office. I got to meet all the other stuff that I have talked to on the phone for these past few months. Everyone was so sweet! I went into a room where he put my legs up in stirrups and talked to me about everything. This was a fun, lighthearted conversation. He pulled the drains out which I didn’t even feel, then pulled the catheter out which hurt but it was immediate relief when it was out. He handed me a mirror and pointed out different things to keep an eye on. It looks like I’m healing good so far! He also gave me some gel to apply daily to help with swelling. After that, I got dressed and went to the front where he took a Polaroid picture with me and gave me a copy. I got to choose a spot on the wall in his office for his copy. I had a pretty emotional moment where I hugged him and got to thank him for changing my life. It felt like an amazing way to finish out this first chapter of my recovery. I went back to the hotel and could not believe how much easier and less painful everything is with the drains out. Huge difference! I took it easy though, as I was pretty tired, and woke up the next morning to do my 3 1/2 hour drive home. The drive was OK, I sat on my donut pillow with the seat pretty reclined and I made it fine. Note that I was a passenger, I didn’t personally drive. We only had to stop once. I am now back home, and I feel thrilled to have made it through that week. That’s all for now, but feel free to comment on this at any time and ask me any questions I didn’t cover. ❤️
submitted by Its_eliza303 to MtF [link] [comments]
I was able to get a pretty quick surgery date. I did my consult in February. I had previously done a consultation at Crane center, but I really didn’t feel like they cared about me and they were hard to get a hold of. But Hanna Gender Center was the complete opposite. He took the time to listen to all my questions and answers versus he could, the patient care coordinators are amazing, and the staff at Carrolton regional has been great as well. I drove up to Dallas on Tuesday, May 30 and went to a nice dinner. Wednesday was Bowel prep day. It actually wasn’t too bad but it definitely drained all my energy. They have you mix an entire bottle of laxative into 64 ounces of Gatorade, and drink it all. Honestly, I think the worst part about the bowel prep experience was not being able to eat all day lol. DAY ONE (surgery day) I went to sleep and arrived at the hospital at 7:15 AM. I was taken to the prep room really quickly where they gave me wipes to wipe down my whole body for disinfectant reasons, I changed into my gown, and talked to all the nurses. at this point, I feel like I should mention that I’ve never had a surgery or anesthesia or anything before so I was a little bit nervous. Dr. Hanna came in and talked to me a bit about the procedure, answered any questions I had, and then he left. In about 15 minutes, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a muscle relaxer through my IV which felt excellent. I started spacing out pretty quickly after that. They wheeled me to the OR, and I remember, transferring to the OR table and laughing, and making jokes with all the nurses, and then the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the rest of the anesthesia. I was out instantly, and it felt like I just blinked and was in the recovery room. It was hard to wrap my mind around. I was pretty disoriented when I got to the room, but after a few hours I started feeling better. I was able to order food, which was actually really good as soon as I got to the final room. I don’t think my pain has ever been above a five out of 10 which has been great. I took a little bit of Oxsee and some Tylenol but my plan is to take the pain meds as little as possible. I own a company, so I’m trying to be as clear headed as I can, so I can work remotely. As of right now, it’s 10:15 pm so about 12.5 hours after the surgery started. At this point my pain is about a three. I just feel this crazy pressure like I have to pee. Everything is still pretty numb down there though. DAY 2 I didn’t sleep very well because the nurses were coming in and out every hour or so last night to check my vitals, do bloodwork, etc. Dr. Hanna came in to talk to me around 7:30 am. Today was actually harder than yesterday. The anesthesia is worn off by now so things are a bit more painful but still mostly manageable. My pain has been steady around 3-5 on the pain scale today, but there was one point where my nerves were reconnecting, and it felt like I got tazed in my hoo-ha, 9 or 10 on the pain scale. Not fun. I can also feel my stomach and digestive system waking up which is a little uncomfortable. I still haven’t been allowed out of my bed and I can’t really move my legs, so I’m getting very restless. I’m hoping to be able to get up tomorrow, but it could be as late as Sunday. I think I will feel much better when I’m allowed to walk around. DAY 3 I needed some heavier pain pills to sleep last night, but I was able to get about 6 hours total. My biggest issues since yesterday evening has been gas buildup in my stomach. It’s been deeply uncomfortable and causes some nausea every once in a while. I can’t let it out because my body is numb from laying in the same spot since Thursday afternoon, so it’s just turning in my stomach. I really can’t stress enough how difficult it has been to not be able to move. It’s also been difficult for me to eat today, but I’ve been in less pain. Mostly just focused on my stomach issues. Dr. Hanna came in and said that he would come in first thing in the morning tomorrow and take my dressing off and I can walk after that. My lower half is still in what is essentially a body cast. The nurses here are wonderful. We’ve been trying to blend of different meds, and I was able to take a three hour nap today. It’s been really rough and hard to stay positive but I’m getting through it. My mom just left to get me a smoothie in case that would help. I am hoping I can find a good cocktail of drugs to where I can get better sleep tonight. Edit: the smoothie saved my life. I got a super food smoothie from smoothie king and it was the most satisfying thing I’ve had this whole stay. I’m pretty much feeling better tonight. Can’t remember my last pain med. I’m cozying up with a movie. I’m gonna try to get some good sleep, as tomorrow is a big day getting the dressing off and walking. DAY 4 I slept a lot better last night but the gas pain was still really really bad. I pretty much needed painkillers to sleep. Woke up this morning and still cannot stomach any food so I got more smoothie king and that helped a lot. Dr. Hanna came in at about 10:15 AM and took my dressing off. That sort of hurt but wasn’t a huge deal. I got to see my vagina for the first time and it looks incredible. My mom set up a mirror at the end of my bed, and I just sat there staring at it for almost an hour. I expected it to be really bruised and bloodied, but it was neither. It just looked really good. It was very emotional for me and it is taking a lot of brain power to process that this is actually mine. He wanted me to rest for a few more hours, and then get up at 2 and try to walk for the first time. I got some nausea and pain meds and passed out again. When I woke up, the nurse came in and helped me get up. This was by far the worst, most painful part of everything. My whole body was fatigued from laying in one spot, and it felt like every way I moved pulled on the surgical site. It took me about 10 minutes to get sat up on the side of the bed, and I had to sit for a little bit, because I got lightheaded. With the help of two people, I was able to eventually stand up and grab a hold of a walker. My mom said I went ghost white and I genuinely felt like I was gonna pass out. I slowly made way to the bathroom where I was finally able to take care of my stomach issues which felt a million times better. They switched out my sheets and I got back in bed and took a pain pill. After the pain from that experience subsided, it actually went down to about a 0 or 1 on the pain scale. Clearing my stomach made the biggest difference. I’m supposed to get up again this evening and I feel like I might be able to do that a bit easier. Tomorrow I’m discharged and go back to the hotel, so I really hope I’m ready to make that walk. Today was crazy but seeing it for the first time and seeing how good the results were made all of this worth it. I’m so incredibly happy. Day 4 edit: I was able to get up a second time and it was about 1000 times easier. I feel much more hopeful for tomorrow. DAY 5 Discharge day! I asked the nurses last night to bother me less so I could get a good night's sleep. Since my vitals have been stable the whole time, they obliged. I was able to sleep undisturbed from 11pm to 5am when they came in and drained my catheter. I went back to sleep till 7 at which point they all came in to wake me up for vitals, meds, drain check, and breakfast. I ate about half an omelette (first solid food I could really stomach in 2 days) and watched TV. I got up and went to the bathroom which was surprisingly easy. I also changed out of my gown and into an extra oversized t-shirt in anticipation of the ride home. I sat on my donut pillow in the hospital recliner for the first time which was surprisingly comfortable. They came in and said I was ready to leave, so I packed everything up and waited on them to come by with the wheelchair and discharge paperwork. Dr. Hanna was off today so he didn't personally discharge me, but I got a call from one of his staff and he emailed me all the info I need. They were originally not gonna send me with a walker but I told them there was no way in hell I could make it to my hotel room without one so eventually they sourced one that I could take home. They brought me down to the entrance in a wheelchair at which point I got into my moms car. I had the seat all the way back so I was sitting on my tailbone and not the surgical site. We drove about 10 mins back to the hotel which was fine, but i was sort of using my legs and arms to lift myself up when she went over bumps. Having the window down and getting fresh air was AMAZING. I was able to walk from the car to the hotel room, but that definitely drained my energy for the day. I laid in bed for awhile with some pillows under my knees, and ate some chicken tenders from cane's which went down well. I was feeling REALLY good most of the day. Sadly, after getting up from the hotel bed about an hour later, I was in excruciating pain. I think I was putting more pressure on the surgical site than I realized, because it felt just as bad as it did 2 days ago. I made it to the bathroom and cried, a lot. I got myself to the office chair and have been sitting on my donut for about 30-45 mins which has been more tolerable. I think it will take some work to figure out how to be in bed comfortably. I'm pretty wiped today, and I really look forward to getting these drains out because I think they are my main source of pain when moving. As far as the surgical site, I still have basically zero bruising, it hasn't swelled up much more than it was on day 3 when the packing came off, and it's only been bleeding a little bit which is a relief. That's about it for today, I'm gonna go try to rest and find a way to get comfortable and get a good night's sleep. Day 5 part 2 (night). Adding a second update for this day, because I had a significant breakthrough after posting the first part. I tried to rearrange my mountain of pillows and finally found an extremely comfortable position in bed. I had two pillows under my knees, and a weird slope of about 4 pillows behind my back, similar to the incline of the hospital bed. Once I was able to get into that spot, I started feeling amazing. My pain went down to a zero and for the first time, I felt happy and at peace. I played xbox and just enjoyed being comfortable and having all my comfort items around me (blankets, stuffed animals, music, games, etc). I got the best sleep I've had all week! I passed out around 10 and woke up about 4 am needing to use the bathroom. I was scared to get up, but it was pretty easy (comparatively). Made it to the bathroom, and ended up walking around the room for a good 20-30 minutes which is definitely more than I walked before. All with no pain! As for the surgical site, my swelling has honestly been about the same since the end of day 3 which is great. Still no bruising really. There is a bit of bleeding from the canal area (I got minimal depth so I have like a 2-3 inch canal) but that has slowed quite a lot. I got back into bed and achieved all of that with minimal pain. Definitely took that as an accomplishment! DAY 6 This morning was great. I feel like these updates will be just about the same until my next milestone in 2 days when I get my drains and catheter out. I woke up this morning and again had much more improvement in my movement, and also my mental clarity. I worked on my laptop at the hotel desk and took calls from 8:30 to 1:30 which was great. I needed to catch up on work badly. Around 1:30 though I felt drained and took a nap. My mom helped me wash my hair in the sink since I haven't showered in 6 days which felt AMAZING. I had my best friend come visit for awhile in the evening, sat on the couch for an hour or so (improvement there too), and now I'm getting ready for bed. I'm experiencing some increased swelling in the area above my vagina and it's currently my biggest source of pain but still very manageable. The swelling was putting tension on where the drains were taped down, so i re-taped the drains with more slack and that helped a bit. I sent an email to the clinic with a picture of the swelling just to be safe. I'm very excited for my post-op appointment because these drains and this catheter are driving me absolutely insane. Overall, today was much better and I feel much more myself. DAY 7 Today was about the same as yesterday but the big difference was that mentally I had much more energy. It was the first day I was able to work the whole day which was nice. I moved a lot less than I did yesterday because I felt like I overdid it and my swelling was bad. It’s been better today for sure. I’ll have much more to report tomorrow after my post op. I think I’ll do updates tomorrow and the day after to document my journey home, and that’ll be it for these updates. I may make another post with a list of things that made it easier for me in the hospital and during the first week of recovery. DAY 8 / 9 this is the last update that I’ll do on this post. I went to my postop appointment, which was my first time at Dr. Hanna‘s office. I got to meet all the other stuff that I have talked to on the phone for these past few months. Everyone was so sweet! I went into a room where he put my legs up in stirrups and talked to me about everything. This was a fun, lighthearted conversation. He pulled the drains out which I didn’t even feel, then pulled the catheter out which hurt but it was immediate relief when it was out. He handed me a mirror and pointed out different things to keep an eye on. It looks like I’m healing good so far! He also gave me some gel to apply daily to help with swelling. After that, I got dressed and went to the front where he took a Polaroid picture with me and gave me a copy. I got to choose a spot on the wall in his office for his copy. I had a pretty emotional moment where I hugged him and got to thank him for changing my life. It felt like an amazing way to finish out this first chapter of my recovery. I went back to the hotel and could not believe how much easier and less painful everything is with the drains out. Huge difference! I took it easy though, as I was pretty tired, and woke up the next morning to do my 3 1/2 hour drive home. The drive was OK, I sat on my donut pillow with the seat pretty reclined and I made it fine. Note that I was a passenger, I didn’t personally drive. We only had to stop once. I am now back home, and I feel thrilled to have made it through that week. That’s all for now, but feel free to comment on this at any time and ask me any questions I didn’t cover. ❤️
2023.06.10 14:42 Recent-Development10 [A Terran Space Story: Lieutenant Saga] - Chapter 120
The fight continues, but something feels off to John. Is his intuition correct? And where does the fight? I hope you enjoy!
The next chapter will be out on Monday. Today is LeMan's, which means i am going to be doing a whole lot of nothing besides watch the race. I am hoping to get a few chapters written. If I get enough done I am hoping to go back to 3 chapters/week so we can wrap up the story at the end of the month.
Terran Space Story: The Lieutenant Saga
Academy Days First Previous Next
The Icarus was taking fire from all sides. But her point defense weaponry was doing a stellar job of eliminating the incoming threats. The remaining pirate ships had begun to fall back to their fleet’s command ship to aid in her defense.
Though that number was shockingly small, the kill ratios of the frigate squadrons were absurdly high. The assistance was desperately needed as the sheer number of projectiles that were incoming was more than the Icarus and her friendly cruisers could handle. There was a problem with that strategy though, the pirate ships were densely, relatively speaking, packed together.
“Not many rounds are getting through,” Willy said, “There are so many overlapping defenses that barely anything is getting through.”
“Keep secondary rail turrets aimed at their critical systems,” John said, “Change targets on our forward ones to their remaining cruisers and support ships. Tessa, advise the fleet to conserve their missiles and torpedoes.”
“Aye aye,” Tessa said.
John began to look at his fleet’s remaining armaments. They weren’t critically low on missiles yet, but they were at sub-optimal levels. The fight could continue but any hope of overloading their targeting systems would not happen.
Six pirate vessels blew up one after another in short succession. Withering rail gun fire caused each of the explosions. Two cruisers and four frigates of theirs ceased to be in the span of a pair of heartbeats. This reduced the amount of anti-missile fire but even with those new losses, there was still an overwhelming amount of it left.
The way the pirates were regrouping was also weighing his mind. This was clearly a delaying tactic. Delaying for what though?
“What are they waiting for? Why aren’t they retreating?” Ingrid asked innocently.
“Order the fleet to begin pulling away from the enemies,” John said, “This doesn’t feel right.”
“Spidey sense tingling?” Walter said from behind him, “That’s a ripe environment for targets though.”
“That it is, but it’s too ripe. Barbara, all ahead flank. I don’t like this at all,” John looked over at Tessa, “Hail Oscar, have they detected any coded transmissions?”
“Contacting the Basilone now, sir,” Tessa said as she looked down at her console.
“The fleet is repositioning itself. The pirates are pursuing one of the frigate squadrons,” Willy said.
“Tessa, advise the Orlando to break off at flank speeds, and disengage from combat entirely,” John said as he stroked his chin, “What is their play?”
“Gotta be reinforcements, but they aren’t in real space and there are no messages being exchanged,” Chester said from the rear of the bridge.
“The Basilone isn’t reporting communications being sent anywhere,” Tessa said, “Orlando has confirmed receipt of orders and is breaking away from combat.”
“Are you always this discouraged when things go your way, Captain?” Ingrid sounded almost pained to ask the question.
“Sometimes the enemy is stupid, and they gift you stuff. Something stinks about this situation, no matter how dire it feels for them. Are any of our ships in range of one of their small ship’s wrecks?” John asked.
“We are, there’s a corvette twenty thousand klicks off our starboard side,” Willy said, “Increasing scan resolution. What am I looking for?”
“Recent signs of life. Organic molecules,” John said, “Basically I want to know if those small ships were manned or unmanned.”
Willy looked frustrated working with the scanners. The oftentimes violent, evasive maneuvers made it difficult to keep the scanners focused on the target to do their work. Five minutes of painful frustration later he had an answer.
“That corvette had a crew of four people. Should be the minimum necessary to operate a ship like that.”
“Something doesn’t feel right here. ETA on our reinforcements?” John grumbled about his question.
“Ten hours, they are pushing as hard as they can,” Tessa said, “Eight hours is a possibility if things calm down.”
“Plan on ten then,” Walter said, “If things get heavy on our end you know it’s not going to be smooth sailing for reinforcements.”
“Too right,” John quipped, “How do we avoid…”
“CONTACTS!” Willy shouted, “Twelve slip space ruptures forming!”
“Advise all ships to fall back to the shipyards. Delta contingency plan is now in effect,” John said as he stood up from his chair, “Barbara, we need to draw them to us. Change heading to one-four-six, flank speed.”
“Sir?” Barbara was surprised by the order.
She still inputted it in but hadn’t activated it. John simply nodded at her. While it was an unusual command she trusted in her captain. The change in course was laid in, the Waukesha adjusted its course rapidly and steamed towards the mass of pirate ships. And the nearest four slip space ruptures that were belching out pirate vessels.
“We’re going to draw them away from our forces. I got our fleet into this new mess, which means I am getting this ship and all of you properly stuck into this fight,” John said calmly, “Walter, weapons free, launch anything and everything you’ve got. Do as much damage as possible to draw their ire at us, not our compatriots. Barbara, take us in as low as you can to the moon’s surface. We need to be screaming fast.”
“Understood.”
John walked back to his chair and sat down. Ingrid looked at him and was surprised at how non-emotional he appeared. Her heart was racing, emotions were flooding her senses. Yet there her captain was calm as ever.
That was not the truth at all. Internally John knew that the Waukesha was most likely properly fucked. Their speed and momentum would help them immensely, but the moon was large. It wasn’t going to be of much use to avoid enemy fire. It was all they had though, if they didn’t die in the next ten minutes then John figured they stood about an eighty percent chance of living through to the next day.
The odds of surviving the next ten minutes, however, weren’t great. Though their allies did them a solid by conducting a fighting withdrawal. Lances and rail gun fire continued to pound the pirate fleet. Their reinforcements took casualties almost immediately upon fully transitioning back to real space.
John looked at the tactical display and began his cold calculations. Ingrid had noticed him typing on the holographic keyboard. She didn’t catch what precisely he was doing, but it seemed like that was but one more thing in a long list of things John had planned and accounted for.
“Chief, all reserve power to forward shields,” John said pressing the intercom button to main engineering, “Shit’s going to get bumpy momentarily.”
Grumbling was the only reply that was given. But the order was fully complied with. All available power was rerouted to the kinetic and electromagnetic shields. In just the nick of time too.
Dozens of lances and laser battery volleys came towards the Waukesha. Some were dissipated by the shields. Most flew by the large cruiser harmlessly. Truth be told, John wasn’t worried about these weapons. It was unlikely that they would do any lasting damage to the Waukesha.
Rail guns were the weapons that John was worried about. At least the scariest guns in the pirate fleet were knocked out of commission. But there were an awfully large number of those pesky guns in the pirate fleet. And more ships continue to stream into real space. The one thing working in favor is that despite the large quantity of guns they were all relatively small caliber, not meant for hunting such large game.
“Barbara, that course is going to have to work,” John said calmly, “Walter, weapons are still free, fire at will.”
“Been doing that for a while now, sir,” Walter grinned, “This is a weapon’s officers wet dream.”
“Ewww,” Tessa said from her console.
“Seconding that,” John grinned, “He’s not technically wrong though. That is a target-rich environment.”
Every single one of her rail turrets was volley-firing as soon as new rounds were loaded. To an outside observer, it would be an impressive sight. The pirates were hard-pressed to do anything to the angry cruiser. It deftly avoided most of their fire, and what ordinance that was fired true did little to nothing to impede them.
The pirate frigates and cruisers had been brutally battered. The angry cruiser in front of them was terrifyingly accurate. Those that were coming in as reinforcements were forced to hold fire for worry of friendly fire and couldn’t maneuver their bows into a firing solution that worked. Luck, it seems, was on the Waukesha’s side during their mad dash through the new pirate fleet.
In fact, dozens of railgun rounds from the pirate corvettes had struck the Waukesha’s shields. Through the grace of God, her shields held together. But each round wore down her shields bit by bit. They were barely halfway through the pirate fleet and the Waukesha was dying slowly from a thousand cuts.
They were successful in drawing all eyes onto them. The pirate ships that had gone after the other retreating Confederate ships turned back, yet another wave the Waukesha had to successfully fight through before they were free.
“Waukesha, new contacts, adjust course to three-one-six, down forty,” radioed the communications officer from the Basilone, “Previously unseen and unaccounted for pirate forces.”
Barbara shook her head as she furiously entered course corrections, “No no no no.”
“Walter, fire a full salvo of multi missiles, set release point to be five hundred klicks off the bow,” John said.
“Aye aye.”
“You’re hoping to confuse…” Ingrid began to say before the Waukesha shook violently.
“Aft kinetic shields have buckled. Round impacted on the round. Looks to be a cruiser round.”
“ETA on getting out of this fucking mess,” John asked politely and calmly.
“Five minutes,” Barbara took a deep breath.
“Focus, keep driving ahead,” John said before clicking on the intercom button, “Chief, I want a process that will automatically kick in if the main drive cone is knocked out of commission. We need thrust.”
“Already done captain,” Marty said.
“FUCKING BOOM!” Walter shouted, “The Flock of Abraham just ate it.”
“Good fucking riddance,” Walter said.
The viewscreen zoomed in on the large cruiser. A large blue explosion was all that remained of the one-time Alliance cruiser. Her shields had been shredded during the initial attack. Walter had made it a point to pepper the poor ship with more fire on their way. A parting gift of sorts.
One more well-known ally of the Icarus had been put down. The pirates would at this point be frothing at the mouth. John’s fleet had successfully driven them mad with revenge. More than that, live or die, the Icarus was greatly diminished in influence. Her oldest and best supporters had now either been atomized or turned into scrap metal and human popsicles.
If the Waukesha was destined for death this day, she was going down kicking and screaming. That was the fourteenth ship kill she had chalked up during this desperate dash to freedom. The more they weaved through and around masses of ships, without dying, the more John began to believe they would not die on this day.
“Walter, if you can pop off any shots at the Icarus, target here,” John shared some tactical data through his armrest console to his weapons officer.
“I’ll let the VI create another subroutine and pop off a few rounds,” Walter said, “If we take out enough slip generators, we will be keeping her in the system.”
“More of the smaller ships are beginning to follow us. Their capital ships don’t have the acceleration or momentum to keep up with us. It’s only a matter of time until they overtake us though,” Willy said.
“Tessa, has the Orlando messaged us yet?”
“They have…” Tessa paused, “'In position' was their…”
The Waukesha rolled over unexpectedly. She had suffered a massive impact, several kinetic shielding arrays flared out as they had been overloaded. Despite the advancements made in anti-gravity plating and internal inertia dampers, everyone felt the ship suddenly spin. Five to eight G’s were felt throughout the ship.
As it finished its second roll the engines fired up again and slowly corrected the spin. The downside was they were now heading back in toward the pirates that they were trying to outrun. More time, and desperately, more momentum was lost.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Barbara said as she scrambled to adjust the ship’s course,” Gotta keep up our momentum.”
“So yeah, that was the primary drive cone. She gone,” Marty said dryly over the intercom, “You still have full power and full speed available to you though.”
The Waukesha was rattled two more times. Two of the three aft rail turrets suffered glancing blows. The armor held but was now weakened. One of the turrets didn’t have the benefit of kinetic shields anymore.
“Scratch two more wee ones,” Walter said, “We’re a couple of minutes from being swarmed.”
“Their capital ships no longer have a line of sight on us. We are out of range of their guns now.”
John nodded, “Good, Barbara, kill the main engines and flip us around. I don’t want the mosquitos pecking at our drives. Use maneuvering thrusters to keep us on course.”
“We’re going to bleed…” Barbara said as she looked at her console, then reverified what it was she was seeing, “Bloody brilliant, we’re going to use the moon to increase our speed.”
“We’re still bleeding some momentum but it’s a necessary evil. Also, I’d appreciate it if you keep us from beaching the ship though. That might not end well for us,” John said calmly, “Walter, begin picking off the lead ship one after another.”
The crew did as they were told. The Waukesha rolled over. The forward kinetic shields were still not only active but only lightly damaged. None of her shielding arrays had survived unscathed. Proof positive was looking at all the pot markets in her armor plates.
She had survived. But she was still being doggedly pursued. It didn’t seem to matter how many of the diminutive, relatively speaking of course, ships she ended. The swarm seemed to be getting larger and larger.
The lances and laser batteries looked like an automatic rifles with how quickly they were firing off shots. That the lances could still shoot was fairly impressive. That they were still accurate was just another check John had managed to get God to cash. The rail guns were the tried and tested weapon of the day. Her turrets unleashed hell with each volley.
“We’re going to be intercepted in thirty seconds,” Willy said.
“Barbara, what is the ETA for our arrival at the waypoint?”
“Forty-five seconds.”
“Once they overtake us angle our ass end to the moon. Walter, focus all of our fire behind us. Don’t worry about the ships that overtake us,” John paused, “And if they get in tight make sure the VIs will use our point defense weapons against them.”
“Uh, sure, captain. But we are going to have to deal with the swarm that overtakes us.”
“Please follow my orders,” John almost sighed as he remained stoic in his chair.
Thirty seconds later the swarm of corvettes and shuttles from the pirates finally overtook the Waukesha. True to his orders, the ship reoriented itself using its maneuvering thrusters. It kept the weakest part of the ship facing the moon. While there was a fair amount of space between it and the surface of the barren moon, none of the pirates had opted for that intercepting route.
But in overtaking the Waukesha, the small ships were bruised and battered. The kill total continued to increase with every volley fired. Walter, and his VI, were deadly accurate. They were firing weapons designed to take on other cruisers and frigates. The caliber of the weapons was akin to using a bazooka to go deer hunting.
“There’s no kill like overkill,” John said quietly as he watched one ship after another be eliminated from the tactical display.
“Our K/D ratio is out-fucking-standing,” Walter said with a menacing glee from his weapons station.
“The problem is they can slow us down enough for…” Ingrid smiled and let out a deep breath of relief.
An unholy amount of incoming fire was directed at the pirates from ahead of them. Fifty of the pirate vessels that were pursuing them were instantly deleted. What was once a swarm had been drastically reduced. Almost as if a semi drove through the swarm.
“Tessa, please give the Orlando and her squadron my, and our, thanks,” John said as he stood up, “Walter, I don’t want to see those gnats around us anymore.”
“Eliminating the bugs, captain.”
“Barbara, all ahead full. Take us to the shipyard. It’s time to begin duct tape repairs. We’re going back at them soon.”
“How in the hell did you know they’d be there?” Ingrid asked incredulously.
John smiled as he exhaled, “I sent them a message when they bugged out. Kinda figured we’d need some backup just in case. How badly banged up is the ship?”
Awkward grunting could be heard from the rear of the bridge. John looked back at Willy as he saw his operations officer shake his head. He looked at his operation's officer and waited, somewhat impatiently, for an answer to his inquiry.
“We properly beat to hell, an impressive amount of superficial damage too. We’ll need to replace at least half, if not more, of our armor plates when we get back home. We really need to replace two of them before we set off again,” Willy said.
“Yeah, we’re probably going to need to weld some ablative patches over the dinged-up areas,” John said.
“No, starboard plate Bravo-Two-Two-One is no more. It literally doesn’t exist anymore,” Willy said, “Speaking frankly sir, we were a pubic hair away from being crippled ourselves.”
“Only today will I accept being lucky more than being good,” John said, “Coordinate with the shipyard, we need to replace that. I also want patches placed anywhere we can on our ablative armor.”
“All of our lances are in need of replacing. And our primary drive cone. And good god, our shields are a fucking mess, sir.”
The swarm of pirate ships was killed by the last ship. None escaped the wrath of the Confederates. While they did technically retreat, the Confederate forces lost a grand total of thirteen militia corvettes. None of the capital ships of the proper Navy were lost. Every last ship suffered some form of damage though. And munitions were now running low. The pirates lost all but four of their initial fleet. And lost a quarter of all their small ships in the attempt to cripple the Waukesha.
Was it a victory or failure? They drew breath and their ship could fight on, after some minor repairs. John didn’t care how the history books, or Fleet Command, would label this battle. They inflicted a grievous wound on the pirates. But the fight wasn’t over, the Icarus still drew breath. They needed to get back into the fight and end things, once and for all.
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The next chapter will be out on Monday. Today is LeMan's, which means i am going to be doing a whole lot of nothing besides watch the race. I am hoping to get a few chapters written. If I get enough done I am hoping to go back to 3 chapters/week so we can wrap up the story at the end of the month.
Terran Space Story: The Lieutenant Saga
Academy Days First Previous Next
Chapter 120: Murphy’s Law Strikes Back
45 Minutes Later. March 20th, 2267. 04:57 Tau Ceti Prime’s MoonThe Icarus was taking fire from all sides. But her point defense weaponry was doing a stellar job of eliminating the incoming threats. The remaining pirate ships had begun to fall back to their fleet’s command ship to aid in her defense.
Though that number was shockingly small, the kill ratios of the frigate squadrons were absurdly high. The assistance was desperately needed as the sheer number of projectiles that were incoming was more than the Icarus and her friendly cruisers could handle. There was a problem with that strategy though, the pirate ships were densely, relatively speaking, packed together.
“Not many rounds are getting through,” Willy said, “There are so many overlapping defenses that barely anything is getting through.”
“Keep secondary rail turrets aimed at their critical systems,” John said, “Change targets on our forward ones to their remaining cruisers and support ships. Tessa, advise the fleet to conserve their missiles and torpedoes.”
“Aye aye,” Tessa said.
John began to look at his fleet’s remaining armaments. They weren’t critically low on missiles yet, but they were at sub-optimal levels. The fight could continue but any hope of overloading their targeting systems would not happen.
Six pirate vessels blew up one after another in short succession. Withering rail gun fire caused each of the explosions. Two cruisers and four frigates of theirs ceased to be in the span of a pair of heartbeats. This reduced the amount of anti-missile fire but even with those new losses, there was still an overwhelming amount of it left.
The way the pirates were regrouping was also weighing his mind. This was clearly a delaying tactic. Delaying for what though?
“What are they waiting for? Why aren’t they retreating?” Ingrid asked innocently.
“Order the fleet to begin pulling away from the enemies,” John said, “This doesn’t feel right.”
“Spidey sense tingling?” Walter said from behind him, “That’s a ripe environment for targets though.”
“That it is, but it’s too ripe. Barbara, all ahead flank. I don’t like this at all,” John looked over at Tessa, “Hail Oscar, have they detected any coded transmissions?”
“Contacting the Basilone now, sir,” Tessa said as she looked down at her console.
“The fleet is repositioning itself. The pirates are pursuing one of the frigate squadrons,” Willy said.
“Tessa, advise the Orlando to break off at flank speeds, and disengage from combat entirely,” John said as he stroked his chin, “What is their play?”
“Gotta be reinforcements, but they aren’t in real space and there are no messages being exchanged,” Chester said from the rear of the bridge.
“The Basilone isn’t reporting communications being sent anywhere,” Tessa said, “Orlando has confirmed receipt of orders and is breaking away from combat.”
“Are you always this discouraged when things go your way, Captain?” Ingrid sounded almost pained to ask the question.
“Sometimes the enemy is stupid, and they gift you stuff. Something stinks about this situation, no matter how dire it feels for them. Are any of our ships in range of one of their small ship’s wrecks?” John asked.
“We are, there’s a corvette twenty thousand klicks off our starboard side,” Willy said, “Increasing scan resolution. What am I looking for?”
“Recent signs of life. Organic molecules,” John said, “Basically I want to know if those small ships were manned or unmanned.”
Willy looked frustrated working with the scanners. The oftentimes violent, evasive maneuvers made it difficult to keep the scanners focused on the target to do their work. Five minutes of painful frustration later he had an answer.
“That corvette had a crew of four people. Should be the minimum necessary to operate a ship like that.”
“Something doesn’t feel right here. ETA on our reinforcements?” John grumbled about his question.
“Ten hours, they are pushing as hard as they can,” Tessa said, “Eight hours is a possibility if things calm down.”
“Plan on ten then,” Walter said, “If things get heavy on our end you know it’s not going to be smooth sailing for reinforcements.”
“Too right,” John quipped, “How do we avoid…”
“CONTACTS!” Willy shouted, “Twelve slip space ruptures forming!”
“Advise all ships to fall back to the shipyards. Delta contingency plan is now in effect,” John said as he stood up from his chair, “Barbara, we need to draw them to us. Change heading to one-four-six, flank speed.”
“Sir?” Barbara was surprised by the order.
She still inputted it in but hadn’t activated it. John simply nodded at her. While it was an unusual command she trusted in her captain. The change in course was laid in, the Waukesha adjusted its course rapidly and steamed towards the mass of pirate ships. And the nearest four slip space ruptures that were belching out pirate vessels.
“We’re going to draw them away from our forces. I got our fleet into this new mess, which means I am getting this ship and all of you properly stuck into this fight,” John said calmly, “Walter, weapons free, launch anything and everything you’ve got. Do as much damage as possible to draw their ire at us, not our compatriots. Barbara, take us in as low as you can to the moon’s surface. We need to be screaming fast.”
“Understood.”
John walked back to his chair and sat down. Ingrid looked at him and was surprised at how non-emotional he appeared. Her heart was racing, emotions were flooding her senses. Yet there her captain was calm as ever.
That was not the truth at all. Internally John knew that the Waukesha was most likely properly fucked. Their speed and momentum would help them immensely, but the moon was large. It wasn’t going to be of much use to avoid enemy fire. It was all they had though, if they didn’t die in the next ten minutes then John figured they stood about an eighty percent chance of living through to the next day.
The odds of surviving the next ten minutes, however, weren’t great. Though their allies did them a solid by conducting a fighting withdrawal. Lances and rail gun fire continued to pound the pirate fleet. Their reinforcements took casualties almost immediately upon fully transitioning back to real space.
John looked at the tactical display and began his cold calculations. Ingrid had noticed him typing on the holographic keyboard. She didn’t catch what precisely he was doing, but it seemed like that was but one more thing in a long list of things John had planned and accounted for.
“Chief, all reserve power to forward shields,” John said pressing the intercom button to main engineering, “Shit’s going to get bumpy momentarily.”
Grumbling was the only reply that was given. But the order was fully complied with. All available power was rerouted to the kinetic and electromagnetic shields. In just the nick of time too.
Dozens of lances and laser battery volleys came towards the Waukesha. Some were dissipated by the shields. Most flew by the large cruiser harmlessly. Truth be told, John wasn’t worried about these weapons. It was unlikely that they would do any lasting damage to the Waukesha.
Rail guns were the weapons that John was worried about. At least the scariest guns in the pirate fleet were knocked out of commission. But there were an awfully large number of those pesky guns in the pirate fleet. And more ships continue to stream into real space. The one thing working in favor is that despite the large quantity of guns they were all relatively small caliber, not meant for hunting such large game.
“Barbara, that course is going to have to work,” John said calmly, “Walter, weapons are still free, fire at will.”
“Been doing that for a while now, sir,” Walter grinned, “This is a weapon’s officers wet dream.”
“Ewww,” Tessa said from her console.
“Seconding that,” John grinned, “He’s not technically wrong though. That is a target-rich environment.”
Every single one of her rail turrets was volley-firing as soon as new rounds were loaded. To an outside observer, it would be an impressive sight. The pirates were hard-pressed to do anything to the angry cruiser. It deftly avoided most of their fire, and what ordinance that was fired true did little to nothing to impede them.
The pirate frigates and cruisers had been brutally battered. The angry cruiser in front of them was terrifyingly accurate. Those that were coming in as reinforcements were forced to hold fire for worry of friendly fire and couldn’t maneuver their bows into a firing solution that worked. Luck, it seems, was on the Waukesha’s side during their mad dash through the new pirate fleet.
In fact, dozens of railgun rounds from the pirate corvettes had struck the Waukesha’s shields. Through the grace of God, her shields held together. But each round wore down her shields bit by bit. They were barely halfway through the pirate fleet and the Waukesha was dying slowly from a thousand cuts.
They were successful in drawing all eyes onto them. The pirate ships that had gone after the other retreating Confederate ships turned back, yet another wave the Waukesha had to successfully fight through before they were free.
“Waukesha, new contacts, adjust course to three-one-six, down forty,” radioed the communications officer from the Basilone, “Previously unseen and unaccounted for pirate forces.”
Barbara shook her head as she furiously entered course corrections, “No no no no.”
“Walter, fire a full salvo of multi missiles, set release point to be five hundred klicks off the bow,” John said.
“Aye aye.”
“You’re hoping to confuse…” Ingrid began to say before the Waukesha shook violently.
“Aft kinetic shields have buckled. Round impacted on the round. Looks to be a cruiser round.”
“ETA on getting out of this fucking mess,” John asked politely and calmly.
“Five minutes,” Barbara took a deep breath.
“Focus, keep driving ahead,” John said before clicking on the intercom button, “Chief, I want a process that will automatically kick in if the main drive cone is knocked out of commission. We need thrust.”
“Already done captain,” Marty said.
“FUCKING BOOM!” Walter shouted, “The Flock of Abraham just ate it.”
“Good fucking riddance,” Walter said.
The viewscreen zoomed in on the large cruiser. A large blue explosion was all that remained of the one-time Alliance cruiser. Her shields had been shredded during the initial attack. Walter had made it a point to pepper the poor ship with more fire on their way. A parting gift of sorts.
One more well-known ally of the Icarus had been put down. The pirates would at this point be frothing at the mouth. John’s fleet had successfully driven them mad with revenge. More than that, live or die, the Icarus was greatly diminished in influence. Her oldest and best supporters had now either been atomized or turned into scrap metal and human popsicles.
If the Waukesha was destined for death this day, she was going down kicking and screaming. That was the fourteenth ship kill she had chalked up during this desperate dash to freedom. The more they weaved through and around masses of ships, without dying, the more John began to believe they would not die on this day.
“Walter, if you can pop off any shots at the Icarus, target here,” John shared some tactical data through his armrest console to his weapons officer.
“I’ll let the VI create another subroutine and pop off a few rounds,” Walter said, “If we take out enough slip generators, we will be keeping her in the system.”
“More of the smaller ships are beginning to follow us. Their capital ships don’t have the acceleration or momentum to keep up with us. It’s only a matter of time until they overtake us though,” Willy said.
“Tessa, has the Orlando messaged us yet?”
“They have…” Tessa paused, “'In position' was their…”
The Waukesha rolled over unexpectedly. She had suffered a massive impact, several kinetic shielding arrays flared out as they had been overloaded. Despite the advancements made in anti-gravity plating and internal inertia dampers, everyone felt the ship suddenly spin. Five to eight G’s were felt throughout the ship.
As it finished its second roll the engines fired up again and slowly corrected the spin. The downside was they were now heading back in toward the pirates that they were trying to outrun. More time, and desperately, more momentum was lost.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Barbara said as she scrambled to adjust the ship’s course,” Gotta keep up our momentum.”
“So yeah, that was the primary drive cone. She gone,” Marty said dryly over the intercom, “You still have full power and full speed available to you though.”
The Waukesha was rattled two more times. Two of the three aft rail turrets suffered glancing blows. The armor held but was now weakened. One of the turrets didn’t have the benefit of kinetic shields anymore.
“Scratch two more wee ones,” Walter said, “We’re a couple of minutes from being swarmed.”
“Their capital ships no longer have a line of sight on us. We are out of range of their guns now.”
John nodded, “Good, Barbara, kill the main engines and flip us around. I don’t want the mosquitos pecking at our drives. Use maneuvering thrusters to keep us on course.”
“We’re going to bleed…” Barbara said as she looked at her console, then reverified what it was she was seeing, “Bloody brilliant, we’re going to use the moon to increase our speed.”
“We’re still bleeding some momentum but it’s a necessary evil. Also, I’d appreciate it if you keep us from beaching the ship though. That might not end well for us,” John said calmly, “Walter, begin picking off the lead ship one after another.”
The crew did as they were told. The Waukesha rolled over. The forward kinetic shields were still not only active but only lightly damaged. None of her shielding arrays had survived unscathed. Proof positive was looking at all the pot markets in her armor plates.
She had survived. But she was still being doggedly pursued. It didn’t seem to matter how many of the diminutive, relatively speaking of course, ships she ended. The swarm seemed to be getting larger and larger.
The lances and laser batteries looked like an automatic rifles with how quickly they were firing off shots. That the lances could still shoot was fairly impressive. That they were still accurate was just another check John had managed to get God to cash. The rail guns were the tried and tested weapon of the day. Her turrets unleashed hell with each volley.
“We’re going to be intercepted in thirty seconds,” Willy said.
“Barbara, what is the ETA for our arrival at the waypoint?”
“Forty-five seconds.”
“Once they overtake us angle our ass end to the moon. Walter, focus all of our fire behind us. Don’t worry about the ships that overtake us,” John paused, “And if they get in tight make sure the VIs will use our point defense weapons against them.”
“Uh, sure, captain. But we are going to have to deal with the swarm that overtakes us.”
“Please follow my orders,” John almost sighed as he remained stoic in his chair.
Thirty seconds later the swarm of corvettes and shuttles from the pirates finally overtook the Waukesha. True to his orders, the ship reoriented itself using its maneuvering thrusters. It kept the weakest part of the ship facing the moon. While there was a fair amount of space between it and the surface of the barren moon, none of the pirates had opted for that intercepting route.
But in overtaking the Waukesha, the small ships were bruised and battered. The kill total continued to increase with every volley fired. Walter, and his VI, were deadly accurate. They were firing weapons designed to take on other cruisers and frigates. The caliber of the weapons was akin to using a bazooka to go deer hunting.
“There’s no kill like overkill,” John said quietly as he watched one ship after another be eliminated from the tactical display.
“Our K/D ratio is out-fucking-standing,” Walter said with a menacing glee from his weapons station.
“The problem is they can slow us down enough for…” Ingrid smiled and let out a deep breath of relief.
An unholy amount of incoming fire was directed at the pirates from ahead of them. Fifty of the pirate vessels that were pursuing them were instantly deleted. What was once a swarm had been drastically reduced. Almost as if a semi drove through the swarm.
“Tessa, please give the Orlando and her squadron my, and our, thanks,” John said as he stood up, “Walter, I don’t want to see those gnats around us anymore.”
“Eliminating the bugs, captain.”
“Barbara, all ahead full. Take us to the shipyard. It’s time to begin duct tape repairs. We’re going back at them soon.”
“How in the hell did you know they’d be there?” Ingrid asked incredulously.
John smiled as he exhaled, “I sent them a message when they bugged out. Kinda figured we’d need some backup just in case. How badly banged up is the ship?”
Awkward grunting could be heard from the rear of the bridge. John looked back at Willy as he saw his operations officer shake his head. He looked at his operation's officer and waited, somewhat impatiently, for an answer to his inquiry.
“We properly beat to hell, an impressive amount of superficial damage too. We’ll need to replace at least half, if not more, of our armor plates when we get back home. We really need to replace two of them before we set off again,” Willy said.
“Yeah, we’re probably going to need to weld some ablative patches over the dinged-up areas,” John said.
“No, starboard plate Bravo-Two-Two-One is no more. It literally doesn’t exist anymore,” Willy said, “Speaking frankly sir, we were a pubic hair away from being crippled ourselves.”
“Only today will I accept being lucky more than being good,” John said, “Coordinate with the shipyard, we need to replace that. I also want patches placed anywhere we can on our ablative armor.”
“All of our lances are in need of replacing. And our primary drive cone. And good god, our shields are a fucking mess, sir.”
The swarm of pirate ships was killed by the last ship. None escaped the wrath of the Confederates. While they did technically retreat, the Confederate forces lost a grand total of thirteen militia corvettes. None of the capital ships of the proper Navy were lost. Every last ship suffered some form of damage though. And munitions were now running low. The pirates lost all but four of their initial fleet. And lost a quarter of all their small ships in the attempt to cripple the Waukesha.
Was it a victory or failure? They drew breath and their ship could fight on, after some minor repairs. John didn’t care how the history books, or Fleet Command, would label this battle. They inflicted a grievous wound on the pirates. But the fight wasn’t over, the Icarus still drew breath. They needed to get back into the fight and end things, once and for all.
2023.06.10 14:15 Or-this We ran out of room for pepperoni on the inside. So we put more on the outside. Domino's
 | submitted by Or-this to u/Or-this [link] [comments] |
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submitted by gymnasticsdonut to DiscountNacreous [link] [comments]
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submitted by ExpensiveClick7831 to doordash_drivers [link] [comments]
I always place another order with the money that’s left and let my account go into the negative. I get 2x as much food for the cost of 1x the food.
Did I win??
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2023.06.10 10:55 lady-of-hell Midnight Train: Origins [Part 4] - Gifts
My name is Billie and I was a passenger of the Midnight Train. Last time we had a little adventure outside and returned with a new friend. In this part, we'll see a familiar face again.
A day after the ordeal in the corridors, I was on my way to purchase a chocolate bar from one of the vending machines. It wouldn't be nearly enough to repay John for saving my life, but I figured I'd just start with something I knew he liked and then take it from there. That little plan was the only reason why I was in one of the common wagons in the early morning, Kira next to me as always.
I was looking at the display of the vending machine, trying to decide what John would like the most, when I felt someone tug on the sleeve of my jacket. Turning my head I already expected the worst, but I found myself relieved when I saw the Distributor looking up at me. "Hey buddy", I greeted the black-eyed kid with a smile. "Here to save my life again?"
His face betrayed no sign of emotion. All he did was reach into his bag, like he always did, and pulled out yet another object he apparently wanted me to have.
"What the hell?" I took the gun he offered hesitantly. It wasn't the first weapon he had handed me – I had used the knife he had given me to kill, after all – and it wasn't the first time I held a gun in my hands, but it still scared me a bit. Last year, when my father had shown me how to use a gun, the targets had been bottles and tin cans. I was convinced that this gift wasn't meant for an equally inanimate target.
The Distributor didn't answer – not that he could, considering the thread that held his mouth shut. He simply turned around and walked away, his purpose fulfilled.
Thoroughly confused, I checked the gun to find that there was only one bullet in it. Not sure if that fact made the situation better or worse, I decided to hurry up and turned back to the vending machine, picking a random piece of chocolate. I longed for the safety of my compartment, where no inhuman could enter.
When I turned away, I was met with the terrified face of a fellow passenger and a wagon that was covered in ash.
I remember the face of the man in great detail. Dark hair, greenish blue eyes, beard stubble, a rather large nose, thin lips, a silver piercing through his left eyebrow. He might have been talking, but if he was, I couldn't hear him over the blood rushing in my ears.
I was terrified. There was no way I could make it out alive of the ash world twice. I was panicking as I could already see the ash monsters – the Cinder Queen's guards – walk down the hallway, towards the other man and me. She had already spared me once, I didn't expect her to do it again.
I remembered seeing Derek turn into an ash monster.
Then gun was heavy in my hand and I silently cursed the Distributor for handing me a weapon with a single bullet against several ash monsters. My aim wasn't good enough to even take out one, and that was assuming that bullets could hurt these creatures.
There was another option, of course. Another way this gun could save me from the cruel fate of turning into one of the Cinder Queen's servants. A single bullet... but I couldn't bring myself to lift the cold metal to my head. Not when there was one other way. One that could result in me making it out alive.
Derek had told me not to run from the ash monsters. He'd called them predators and had said that running away would set off their instincts and make them chase me. But the thing about predators was that they went for the weakest animals in the herd. The old or wounded ones. And that fact was my way out.
I didn't get the chance to overthink my plan, as the ash monsters were approaching quickly. In the fracture of a second I made my decision, raised the gun and pulled the trigger.
The dark-haired man looked at me with wide eyes as blood seeped through the light fabric of his shirt. He slowly raised his hands to press them against the wound in his stomach as the ash monsters roared behind him. I let the gun slip from my hands, but the sound of it hitting the floor drowned in the monsters' screams.
Not wasting any more time, I turned and ran towards the next door, away from the Cinder Queen and her monsters. "Kira!", I screamed for my dog, but didn't turn around to see wether she was following me. I had to get out quickly.
I ran as fast as I could, threw the door to the next wagon open, stumbled over the threshold and breathed a sigh of relief when I found my surroundings free of ash. With shaking hands and a racing heart I leaned against the nearest wall and tried to catch my breath as I realized that there was no time for me to rest. Pallid white smoke was rising from the ground.
The Fog.
Fuck!
"Kira!", I screamed again as I sprinted forward. I had to reach the compartment now, or I was dead. Things were going from bad to worse and I cursed the Midnight Train as I hurried down the hallway. Cool fog gathered around my feet. Kira barked somewhere behind me. Again, I didn't turn around. The Fog felt like needles digging into my skin.
I saw the door to John's compartment.
Without knocking I barged through the door, spun back around without saying a word to John, and screamed for my dog again. She was hurrying down the hallway, still so far from the open door, as the Fog rose higher and higher.
Then, suddenly, the door was slammed shut in front of me and I turned around to see John stand right next to me. "What are you doing?", I screamed at him.
"We can't let the Fog get in!"
"Kira is outside!"
"The Fog is outside!", he repeated urgently. "It's going to kill us, Billie!"
"It's going to kill my fucking dog!" Tears were streaming down my face at this point.
"It's too late. I'm sorry." He sighed. "Why were you outside anyways?"
"The Cinder Queen... she... oh my god, John, I saw a man die!", I sobbed. It was such a blatant lie. I had shot a man, I had killed him, but I hadn't watched him die. But I couldn't tell John that, I couldn't handle whatever reaction he might show to that reveal. I couldn't let him know I was a murderer.
As I slowly began to understand what had just happened and the gravity of the situation settled in, I fell to my knees, sobbing hysterically. When John pulled me into a hug, I dug my fingers into the fabric of his suit and leaned my head against his shoulder. I cried for what felt like hours, for a man whose name I'd never know. And for my Kira, who I had left to die.
I left the compartment as soon as the Fog had faded, hoping beyond hope that I'd find Kira alive. I held onto John's hand, gripping it so tightly that my knuckles turned white.
She wasn't far from the compartment door. Lying in the middle of the hallway. A choked sound escaped my throat as I recognized the mess of black fur. I knelt down next to her and hesitantly touched the corpse. Empty, Derek had described the victims of the Fog. Hollowed. He'd been right, there was nothing left of my dog but skin and bone, I could feel it as I cradled her head in my lap.
"I'm so sorry, baby", I sobbed and the tears started to fall once more. "I'm so sorry."
I barely noticed John sitting beside me, combing his fingers through Kira's fur.
We stayed like this until the Conductor showed up eventually and took the body away. The events after that were blurry. I was detached, numb, wether because of the unknown man or Kira or both I had no idea. Days passed and I forgot to count them, they all blurred together to a jumbled mess of meals in the dining wagon, monosyllibic conversations, nights on the floor of John's compartment, and nightmares that had me waking up screaming. The train was quiet without my loyal dog by my side. I almost expected the silence to drive me insane.
I didn't know how long it took me to recover at least enough to function again. I wasn't sure what made me feel better eventually, maybe I'd just had enough time to grief. It didn't matter though. I felt almost okay when I sat next to John in one of the common wagons, still leaning against him for comfort like I had done every day since Kira had died. That was the day he finally asked the question I had been expecting since the beginning. "Why did you enter the Midnight Train, Billie?"
I sighed. Even though I had expected this, it wasn't a particularly pleasant memory to revisit and to be honest, I was kind of scared to tell my only friend about it. There was a good chance that he would hate me, be disgusted by me, never talk to me again. "Guess I owe you this", I admitted with a tight-lipped smile. "Promise you won't leave me?"
He raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"
"Okay..." I took a deep breath. "The day I came here... my parents caught me with someone. I was making out with someone from school and they freaked out. I overheard them talking about sending me away and I panicked, so I packed my stuff and ran away. Got into the train just to get some distance between me and them, so they wouldn't find me", I explained quickly. "I have an uncle in california. That's where I wanted to go."
He nodded, though there was confusion written all over his face. "If you don't mind me asking, why would your parents react so drastically to catching you with a boy?"
I could have simply kept my mouth shut, told him that I didn't want to answer this. But I took a moment to look at him, look at his bright blue eyes, and decided to take a leap of faith and trust the man who had been there for me from the beginning once more. "It wasn't a boy", I blurted out. "They caught me with a girl, okay? I'm a lesbian!"
I could watch the realization dawn on his face. "Oh. I see", he said, slowly nodding.
"So... you hate me now?"
"Why would I?", he replied. "It doesn't affect me, Billie, why should I care?"
I shrugged. "Don't know. Lots of people do."
"I'm sorry you had to go through this." He sounded so sincere, I actually ended up crying again and hugged my friend tightly.
"And why are you here?", I asked after a few moments, my arms still wrapped around his shoulders.
"Nothing particular." He chuckled, but there was little joy in it. "I was on my way home, you know? It was a normal day, I've worked some overtime at the office, got a drink in a nearby bar and then entered the wrong train. A mere accident."
"That sucks", I said.
He shrugged. "Yes. I guess it does."
It was later that very same day when we were on our way from the dining wagon back to our compartments. We wandered through the hallways in comfortable silence and I was looking forward to laying in my bed and listening to music for a little while, when suddenly the lights started to flicker.
I turned my head to look at John. "What's going on?", I asked urgently.
"I don't know. This doesn't fit any entity I know." While speaking, he had knelt down on the floor and opened his briefcase.
"The lights are going out!" I pointed at the lightbulbs as they flickered faster. Although I didn't know what was going to happen, I didn't want to wait for darkness to fall. This was the Midnight Train after all, and nothing good would wait for us once the lights were out.
"I know!", John replied. "I assume that's why the Distributor handed me this." He rose to his feet again and showed me a flashlight.
"Okay. Cool. Or maybe we could just..." Run, I wanted to say, but in that moment the lights went out, effectively cutting me off. A low growl echoed through the darkness and I grabbed John's arm, holding onto him for dear life. "Oh my god, we're dead!", I screeched.
John didn't say anything to that, just turned the flashlight on and made white light breach the shadows.
I wasn't sure what I expected to see, but never would I have imagined what stood right in front of us. The thing was made of sentient shadow, negative space in the all-consuming darkness. Its broad form was melting into the shadows around it, making it impossible to determine its outlines. There were legs, claws, but they seemed to be placed in random spots on the body, some stretching into a direction where it would never touch the ground. It had three mouths, each with a unique set of teeth, and these maws were placed just as randomly. However, other facial features were missing entirely, no ears or nose or eyes could be seen anywhere on the bizarre creature.
"What is this?", I whispered, not daring to move an inch.
"A new entity, I assume." John's answer was unreasonably calm, considering the situation we were in.
"How the actual fuck are you not panicking?"
"I have a theory", he informed me. "One I haven't been able to confirm until now. This might be the chance."
I wanted to ask him if he really thought that this was a good opportunity to test some random theory about... whatever, and if he could maybe wait with that until we weren't in an acutely life-threatening situation, but I didn't get the chance to speak. The beast in front of us growled, snapped two of its maws shut as a warning, and slowly advanced on us. I grabbed John's arm tighter, nauseous with fear as I realized that we were going to die.
John, who had me wondering wether he had lost his mind, took a step forward, towards the growling monster. "No!", he told the thing firmly.
The threatening noise stopped.
"No!", John repeated and took yet another step forward – and dragging me along with him because I refused to let go of his hand. "Bad dog! Sit!"
I seriously wondered wether I was dreaming when the creature actually closed its mouths and lowered itself onto the ground.
"No... no, it can't be...", I whispered as realization dawned on me. I let go of John and closed the distance between the creature and me, kneeling down next to it. "Kira?"
And indeed, the monster twitched at the mention of that name. One of its paws reached for me and I hesitantly lifted my hand to meet it halfway. The touch was unpleasant, like needles digging into my skin, but I forced myself to ignore the pain. "Hey, baby", I greeted her, my voice shaking. "What happened to you, hm? What did the train do to you?"
"Those who die here turn into new entities." John sat down next to me and Kira – or the monster that had once been Kira – reached for him too. He didn't hesitate, just let her giant paw touch his hand as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "It's not only the Cinder Queen with her ash creatures, it applies to everyone. When the Fog killed Kira, she became... this."
"That was your theory?"
"Yes", he answered.
"So if I die here..."
"You'd become an entity as well."
I nodded slowly. It was a huge revelation, sure, but it didn't change much for me. I still wanted to get out – hell, I didn't want to end up as a monster – and this fact didn't help me with my goal. "I'm just glad you're back, baby", I told the creature and reached with my other hand for her to cuddle with her.
An angry hiss came from one of her throats, she bared a row of needle-like teeth and I immediately pulled my hand back.
"Be careful with her", John warned me. "That's not Kira anymore. I'm not sure if she'll continue to remember us."
I had expected that. Of course my Kira was gone, I had seen her dead body. But it still hurt to hear these words, to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I had lost my beloved friend for good. I blinked the tears away and looked at the monstrous thing in front of me. "Darkbeast", I decided.
"Excuse me?"
"She needs a new name, doesn't she? So, can we call her the Darkbeast? I want her to have a good name..." I trailed off. "It's stupid, right?"
"I think it's only fitting that you choose her name", he replied. "Darkbeast it is."
And so I sat on the floor of a dark wagon, in the small beacon of light the flashlight provided, holding the hand of a monster made of shadows, and all I said was: "I still love you, baby."
The Darkbeast didn't reply.
We eventually made it out of the wagon alive and unharmed, of course. Things were as peaceful as the train could be after that and the supposed earth-shattering revelation that all entities had once been human didn't change anything for us. What did it matter that the Cinder Queen or the Distributor had once been like us? They weren't anymore, that was all that was important.
Day after day went by and the more time passed, the less I believed I'd ever reach my goal and leave the train. I almost resigned myself to my fate, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad as long as John was with me. Having a friend made this place bearable.
"What would you do if you got to leave?", John asked me one day, when I was sitting on the floor of his compartment.
"Move in with my uncle and his boyfriend. And then... I always wanted to become a vet, you know?", I told him, smiling about this dreamed I'd had since childhood. "What about you?"
He just shrugged. "Nothing different, I assume. Work at the office, visit the bar... maybe I'll get a goldfish."
"Hey, goldfish are cool", I joked as I noticed how indifferent he sounded, hoping to lighten his mood a little.
"I guess they are, Billie." He looked almost sad as he replied. "I guess they are."
But all of that was hypothetical, of course, because we didn't have tickets and we'd never be able to leave the train.
Or so I thought.
The beginning of the end was a day like every other. John and I sat in one of the common wagons, me with a small pack of chips and him with a chocolate bar, when the Conductor suddenly approached us. "Excuse me, sir?", he said, looking straight at John. "The Midnight Train will arrive at your destination shortly. Please make sure you have your ticket ready and leave none of your belongings behind."
"What the fuck?" I spun around, staring at my friend with wide eyes while the Conductor was walking away again. "What's that supposed to mean? Destination? Ticket? You don't have one!"
"I do", he replied, not meeting my eyes.
"What?"
"I do have a ticket." He shrugged. "I lied to you, Billie."
Now that hurt more than it should. I knew he owed me nothing, but I'd lie if I said I wasn't mad at him for deceiving me for so long, playing along while knowing that he'd get out of here eventually. I didn't say anthing, mostly because I wasn't sure wether I'd snap at him or just start crying.
"Think about it", John said when he noticed my lack of reaction. "Admitting to own a ticket is dangerous. Desperation drives people to do terrible things, I couldn't be sure you wouldn't kill me and take my ticket."
"I wouldn't have done that", I whispered, although I understood exactly what he meant.
"I couldn't be sure", he repeated.
Now that I'd had a few minutes to process the shock, I was able to smile at my friend. "I'm happy for you", I said and it wasn't even a lie. "Seriously, at least one of us gets to go home, that's awesome. I mean..." I paused, noticing the somber expression on his face. "Hey, why aren't you happy? You should be celebrating right now."
"I guess you're right", he agreed with a bitter smile. There was no idication that he actually wanted to celebrate his departure.
"I want to see you off, okay? Not gonna try to steal your ticket, promise! I just... I want to say goodbye."
"Of course."
I held his hand as we walked towards the nearest doors while the train slowed down. Neither of us looked happy. The doors were open when we arrived and John opened his briefcase, from where he retrieved an ordinary train ticket. "So that's why you never let go off that thing", I joked, pointing at the briefcase.
John chuckled. "I've grown quite attached to it."
And there we stood, in front of the open doors, looking at the small, deserted train station outside. John held his ticket in his hand, there wasn't even a hint of a smile on his face when he looked at what I supposed was his hometown's train station. For a few seconds, there was absolute silence. The Conductor, who stood next to the doors, looked patiently at John.
"So... that's it, hm?", I said after a while. "I'm gonna miss you, you know? If I ever make it out of here, I'm gonna visit you." I blinked a few times, trying to make the tears disappear. "Do I get to make a last wish? If you ever buy that goldfish, name him after me, yeah?"
Only then he looked at me, serious as ever. "You want to become a vet", he said, more statement then question.
"Uhm... yeah?" I was confused then, unsure where he was going with this.
"This uncle of yours... will you be okay when you stay with him?"
"Well, I haven't seen him in a few years because mom and him don't talk anymore, but I always liked him. He's a good guy, owns a car repair shop... John, why are you asking this?"
He looked at the ticket in his hand, over at the Conductor and at the open doors. The freedom waiting right behind this threshold.
And he shook his head. "Take it, Billie!", he said, offering me the ticket.
That will be all for this part. The next one will be the great finale, where our fates are finally decided.
Until then, hold on to your dreams.
They might just come true one day.
- To Be Continued -
submitted by lady-of-hell to LadyOfHellWrites [link] [comments]
A day after the ordeal in the corridors, I was on my way to purchase a chocolate bar from one of the vending machines. It wouldn't be nearly enough to repay John for saving my life, but I figured I'd just start with something I knew he liked and then take it from there. That little plan was the only reason why I was in one of the common wagons in the early morning, Kira next to me as always.
I was looking at the display of the vending machine, trying to decide what John would like the most, when I felt someone tug on the sleeve of my jacket. Turning my head I already expected the worst, but I found myself relieved when I saw the Distributor looking up at me. "Hey buddy", I greeted the black-eyed kid with a smile. "Here to save my life again?"
His face betrayed no sign of emotion. All he did was reach into his bag, like he always did, and pulled out yet another object he apparently wanted me to have.
"What the hell?" I took the gun he offered hesitantly. It wasn't the first weapon he had handed me – I had used the knife he had given me to kill, after all – and it wasn't the first time I held a gun in my hands, but it still scared me a bit. Last year, when my father had shown me how to use a gun, the targets had been bottles and tin cans. I was convinced that this gift wasn't meant for an equally inanimate target.
The Distributor didn't answer – not that he could, considering the thread that held his mouth shut. He simply turned around and walked away, his purpose fulfilled.
Thoroughly confused, I checked the gun to find that there was only one bullet in it. Not sure if that fact made the situation better or worse, I decided to hurry up and turned back to the vending machine, picking a random piece of chocolate. I longed for the safety of my compartment, where no inhuman could enter.
When I turned away, I was met with the terrified face of a fellow passenger and a wagon that was covered in ash.
I remember the face of the man in great detail. Dark hair, greenish blue eyes, beard stubble, a rather large nose, thin lips, a silver piercing through his left eyebrow. He might have been talking, but if he was, I couldn't hear him over the blood rushing in my ears.
I was terrified. There was no way I could make it out alive of the ash world twice. I was panicking as I could already see the ash monsters – the Cinder Queen's guards – walk down the hallway, towards the other man and me. She had already spared me once, I didn't expect her to do it again.
I remembered seeing Derek turn into an ash monster.
Then gun was heavy in my hand and I silently cursed the Distributor for handing me a weapon with a single bullet against several ash monsters. My aim wasn't good enough to even take out one, and that was assuming that bullets could hurt these creatures.
There was another option, of course. Another way this gun could save me from the cruel fate of turning into one of the Cinder Queen's servants. A single bullet... but I couldn't bring myself to lift the cold metal to my head. Not when there was one other way. One that could result in me making it out alive.
Derek had told me not to run from the ash monsters. He'd called them predators and had said that running away would set off their instincts and make them chase me. But the thing about predators was that they went for the weakest animals in the herd. The old or wounded ones. And that fact was my way out.
I didn't get the chance to overthink my plan, as the ash monsters were approaching quickly. In the fracture of a second I made my decision, raised the gun and pulled the trigger.
The dark-haired man looked at me with wide eyes as blood seeped through the light fabric of his shirt. He slowly raised his hands to press them against the wound in his stomach as the ash monsters roared behind him. I let the gun slip from my hands, but the sound of it hitting the floor drowned in the monsters' screams.
Not wasting any more time, I turned and ran towards the next door, away from the Cinder Queen and her monsters. "Kira!", I screamed for my dog, but didn't turn around to see wether she was following me. I had to get out quickly.
I ran as fast as I could, threw the door to the next wagon open, stumbled over the threshold and breathed a sigh of relief when I found my surroundings free of ash. With shaking hands and a racing heart I leaned against the nearest wall and tried to catch my breath as I realized that there was no time for me to rest. Pallid white smoke was rising from the ground.
The Fog.
Fuck!
"Kira!", I screamed again as I sprinted forward. I had to reach the compartment now, or I was dead. Things were going from bad to worse and I cursed the Midnight Train as I hurried down the hallway. Cool fog gathered around my feet. Kira barked somewhere behind me. Again, I didn't turn around. The Fog felt like needles digging into my skin.
I saw the door to John's compartment.
Without knocking I barged through the door, spun back around without saying a word to John, and screamed for my dog again. She was hurrying down the hallway, still so far from the open door, as the Fog rose higher and higher.
Then, suddenly, the door was slammed shut in front of me and I turned around to see John stand right next to me. "What are you doing?", I screamed at him.
"We can't let the Fog get in!"
"Kira is outside!"
"The Fog is outside!", he repeated urgently. "It's going to kill us, Billie!"
"It's going to kill my fucking dog!" Tears were streaming down my face at this point.
"It's too late. I'm sorry." He sighed. "Why were you outside anyways?"
"The Cinder Queen... she... oh my god, John, I saw a man die!", I sobbed. It was such a blatant lie. I had shot a man, I had killed him, but I hadn't watched him die. But I couldn't tell John that, I couldn't handle whatever reaction he might show to that reveal. I couldn't let him know I was a murderer.
As I slowly began to understand what had just happened and the gravity of the situation settled in, I fell to my knees, sobbing hysterically. When John pulled me into a hug, I dug my fingers into the fabric of his suit and leaned my head against his shoulder. I cried for what felt like hours, for a man whose name I'd never know. And for my Kira, who I had left to die.
I left the compartment as soon as the Fog had faded, hoping beyond hope that I'd find Kira alive. I held onto John's hand, gripping it so tightly that my knuckles turned white.
She wasn't far from the compartment door. Lying in the middle of the hallway. A choked sound escaped my throat as I recognized the mess of black fur. I knelt down next to her and hesitantly touched the corpse. Empty, Derek had described the victims of the Fog. Hollowed. He'd been right, there was nothing left of my dog but skin and bone, I could feel it as I cradled her head in my lap.
"I'm so sorry, baby", I sobbed and the tears started to fall once more. "I'm so sorry."
I barely noticed John sitting beside me, combing his fingers through Kira's fur.
We stayed like this until the Conductor showed up eventually and took the body away. The events after that were blurry. I was detached, numb, wether because of the unknown man or Kira or both I had no idea. Days passed and I forgot to count them, they all blurred together to a jumbled mess of meals in the dining wagon, monosyllibic conversations, nights on the floor of John's compartment, and nightmares that had me waking up screaming. The train was quiet without my loyal dog by my side. I almost expected the silence to drive me insane.
I didn't know how long it took me to recover at least enough to function again. I wasn't sure what made me feel better eventually, maybe I'd just had enough time to grief. It didn't matter though. I felt almost okay when I sat next to John in one of the common wagons, still leaning against him for comfort like I had done every day since Kira had died. That was the day he finally asked the question I had been expecting since the beginning. "Why did you enter the Midnight Train, Billie?"
I sighed. Even though I had expected this, it wasn't a particularly pleasant memory to revisit and to be honest, I was kind of scared to tell my only friend about it. There was a good chance that he would hate me, be disgusted by me, never talk to me again. "Guess I owe you this", I admitted with a tight-lipped smile. "Promise you won't leave me?"
He raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"
"Okay..." I took a deep breath. "The day I came here... my parents caught me with someone. I was making out with someone from school and they freaked out. I overheard them talking about sending me away and I panicked, so I packed my stuff and ran away. Got into the train just to get some distance between me and them, so they wouldn't find me", I explained quickly. "I have an uncle in california. That's where I wanted to go."
He nodded, though there was confusion written all over his face. "If you don't mind me asking, why would your parents react so drastically to catching you with a boy?"
I could have simply kept my mouth shut, told him that I didn't want to answer this. But I took a moment to look at him, look at his bright blue eyes, and decided to take a leap of faith and trust the man who had been there for me from the beginning once more. "It wasn't a boy", I blurted out. "They caught me with a girl, okay? I'm a lesbian!"
I could watch the realization dawn on his face. "Oh. I see", he said, slowly nodding.
"So... you hate me now?"
"Why would I?", he replied. "It doesn't affect me, Billie, why should I care?"
I shrugged. "Don't know. Lots of people do."
"I'm sorry you had to go through this." He sounded so sincere, I actually ended up crying again and hugged my friend tightly.
"And why are you here?", I asked after a few moments, my arms still wrapped around his shoulders.
"Nothing particular." He chuckled, but there was little joy in it. "I was on my way home, you know? It was a normal day, I've worked some overtime at the office, got a drink in a nearby bar and then entered the wrong train. A mere accident."
"That sucks", I said.
He shrugged. "Yes. I guess it does."
It was later that very same day when we were on our way from the dining wagon back to our compartments. We wandered through the hallways in comfortable silence and I was looking forward to laying in my bed and listening to music for a little while, when suddenly the lights started to flicker.
I turned my head to look at John. "What's going on?", I asked urgently.
"I don't know. This doesn't fit any entity I know." While speaking, he had knelt down on the floor and opened his briefcase.
"The lights are going out!" I pointed at the lightbulbs as they flickered faster. Although I didn't know what was going to happen, I didn't want to wait for darkness to fall. This was the Midnight Train after all, and nothing good would wait for us once the lights were out.
"I know!", John replied. "I assume that's why the Distributor handed me this." He rose to his feet again and showed me a flashlight.
"Okay. Cool. Or maybe we could just..." Run, I wanted to say, but in that moment the lights went out, effectively cutting me off. A low growl echoed through the darkness and I grabbed John's arm, holding onto him for dear life. "Oh my god, we're dead!", I screeched.
John didn't say anything to that, just turned the flashlight on and made white light breach the shadows.
I wasn't sure what I expected to see, but never would I have imagined what stood right in front of us. The thing was made of sentient shadow, negative space in the all-consuming darkness. Its broad form was melting into the shadows around it, making it impossible to determine its outlines. There were legs, claws, but they seemed to be placed in random spots on the body, some stretching into a direction where it would never touch the ground. It had three mouths, each with a unique set of teeth, and these maws were placed just as randomly. However, other facial features were missing entirely, no ears or nose or eyes could be seen anywhere on the bizarre creature.
"What is this?", I whispered, not daring to move an inch.
"A new entity, I assume." John's answer was unreasonably calm, considering the situation we were in.
"How the actual fuck are you not panicking?"
"I have a theory", he informed me. "One I haven't been able to confirm until now. This might be the chance."
I wanted to ask him if he really thought that this was a good opportunity to test some random theory about... whatever, and if he could maybe wait with that until we weren't in an acutely life-threatening situation, but I didn't get the chance to speak. The beast in front of us growled, snapped two of its maws shut as a warning, and slowly advanced on us. I grabbed John's arm tighter, nauseous with fear as I realized that we were going to die.
John, who had me wondering wether he had lost his mind, took a step forward, towards the growling monster. "No!", he told the thing firmly.
The threatening noise stopped.
"No!", John repeated and took yet another step forward – and dragging me along with him because I refused to let go of his hand. "Bad dog! Sit!"
I seriously wondered wether I was dreaming when the creature actually closed its mouths and lowered itself onto the ground.
"No... no, it can't be...", I whispered as realization dawned on me. I let go of John and closed the distance between the creature and me, kneeling down next to it. "Kira?"
And indeed, the monster twitched at the mention of that name. One of its paws reached for me and I hesitantly lifted my hand to meet it halfway. The touch was unpleasant, like needles digging into my skin, but I forced myself to ignore the pain. "Hey, baby", I greeted her, my voice shaking. "What happened to you, hm? What did the train do to you?"
"Those who die here turn into new entities." John sat down next to me and Kira – or the monster that had once been Kira – reached for him too. He didn't hesitate, just let her giant paw touch his hand as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "It's not only the Cinder Queen with her ash creatures, it applies to everyone. When the Fog killed Kira, she became... this."
"That was your theory?"
"Yes", he answered.
"So if I die here..."
"You'd become an entity as well."
I nodded slowly. It was a huge revelation, sure, but it didn't change much for me. I still wanted to get out – hell, I didn't want to end up as a monster – and this fact didn't help me with my goal. "I'm just glad you're back, baby", I told the creature and reached with my other hand for her to cuddle with her.
An angry hiss came from one of her throats, she bared a row of needle-like teeth and I immediately pulled my hand back.
"Be careful with her", John warned me. "That's not Kira anymore. I'm not sure if she'll continue to remember us."
I had expected that. Of course my Kira was gone, I had seen her dead body. But it still hurt to hear these words, to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I had lost my beloved friend for good. I blinked the tears away and looked at the monstrous thing in front of me. "Darkbeast", I decided.
"Excuse me?"
"She needs a new name, doesn't she? So, can we call her the Darkbeast? I want her to have a good name..." I trailed off. "It's stupid, right?"
"I think it's only fitting that you choose her name", he replied. "Darkbeast it is."
And so I sat on the floor of a dark wagon, in the small beacon of light the flashlight provided, holding the hand of a monster made of shadows, and all I said was: "I still love you, baby."
The Darkbeast didn't reply.
We eventually made it out of the wagon alive and unharmed, of course. Things were as peaceful as the train could be after that and the supposed earth-shattering revelation that all entities had once been human didn't change anything for us. What did it matter that the Cinder Queen or the Distributor had once been like us? They weren't anymore, that was all that was important.
Day after day went by and the more time passed, the less I believed I'd ever reach my goal and leave the train. I almost resigned myself to my fate, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad as long as John was with me. Having a friend made this place bearable.
"What would you do if you got to leave?", John asked me one day, when I was sitting on the floor of his compartment.
"Move in with my uncle and his boyfriend. And then... I always wanted to become a vet, you know?", I told him, smiling about this dreamed I'd had since childhood. "What about you?"
He just shrugged. "Nothing different, I assume. Work at the office, visit the bar... maybe I'll get a goldfish."
"Hey, goldfish are cool", I joked as I noticed how indifferent he sounded, hoping to lighten his mood a little.
"I guess they are, Billie." He looked almost sad as he replied. "I guess they are."
But all of that was hypothetical, of course, because we didn't have tickets and we'd never be able to leave the train.
Or so I thought.
The beginning of the end was a day like every other. John and I sat in one of the common wagons, me with a small pack of chips and him with a chocolate bar, when the Conductor suddenly approached us. "Excuse me, sir?", he said, looking straight at John. "The Midnight Train will arrive at your destination shortly. Please make sure you have your ticket ready and leave none of your belongings behind."
"What the fuck?" I spun around, staring at my friend with wide eyes while the Conductor was walking away again. "What's that supposed to mean? Destination? Ticket? You don't have one!"
"I do", he replied, not meeting my eyes.
"What?"
"I do have a ticket." He shrugged. "I lied to you, Billie."
Now that hurt more than it should. I knew he owed me nothing, but I'd lie if I said I wasn't mad at him for deceiving me for so long, playing along while knowing that he'd get out of here eventually. I didn't say anthing, mostly because I wasn't sure wether I'd snap at him or just start crying.
"Think about it", John said when he noticed my lack of reaction. "Admitting to own a ticket is dangerous. Desperation drives people to do terrible things, I couldn't be sure you wouldn't kill me and take my ticket."
"I wouldn't have done that", I whispered, although I understood exactly what he meant.
"I couldn't be sure", he repeated.
Now that I'd had a few minutes to process the shock, I was able to smile at my friend. "I'm happy for you", I said and it wasn't even a lie. "Seriously, at least one of us gets to go home, that's awesome. I mean..." I paused, noticing the somber expression on his face. "Hey, why aren't you happy? You should be celebrating right now."
"I guess you're right", he agreed with a bitter smile. There was no idication that he actually wanted to celebrate his departure.
"I want to see you off, okay? Not gonna try to steal your ticket, promise! I just... I want to say goodbye."
"Of course."
I held his hand as we walked towards the nearest doors while the train slowed down. Neither of us looked happy. The doors were open when we arrived and John opened his briefcase, from where he retrieved an ordinary train ticket. "So that's why you never let go off that thing", I joked, pointing at the briefcase.
John chuckled. "I've grown quite attached to it."
And there we stood, in front of the open doors, looking at the small, deserted train station outside. John held his ticket in his hand, there wasn't even a hint of a smile on his face when he looked at what I supposed was his hometown's train station. For a few seconds, there was absolute silence. The Conductor, who stood next to the doors, looked patiently at John.
"So... that's it, hm?", I said after a while. "I'm gonna miss you, you know? If I ever make it out of here, I'm gonna visit you." I blinked a few times, trying to make the tears disappear. "Do I get to make a last wish? If you ever buy that goldfish, name him after me, yeah?"
Only then he looked at me, serious as ever. "You want to become a vet", he said, more statement then question.
"Uhm... yeah?" I was confused then, unsure where he was going with this.
"This uncle of yours... will you be okay when you stay with him?"
"Well, I haven't seen him in a few years because mom and him don't talk anymore, but I always liked him. He's a good guy, owns a car repair shop... John, why are you asking this?"
He looked at the ticket in his hand, over at the Conductor and at the open doors. The freedom waiting right behind this threshold.
And he shook his head. "Take it, Billie!", he said, offering me the ticket.
That will be all for this part. The next one will be the great finale, where our fates are finally decided.
Until then, hold on to your dreams.
They might just come true one day.
- To Be Continued -
2023.06.10 09:20 gridfour So… I used to love this place but I can no longer support them due to the recent allegations
 | submitted by gridfour to jimmyjohns [link] [comments] |
2023.06.10 08:56 BlairDaniels 23andme says I have a second mother.
This summer, I decided to get my DNA sequenced by 23andme. I wanted to know my ancestry, as well as find out if I'm a carrier for any genetic disorders, since my husband and I want to try and get pregnant soon.
When the results came back, everything was what I expected. I was Romanian and German. I had the sun-sneeze reflex. Etc. The surprise came when I clicked on the "Relatives" tab. At the top of the list, it showed my parents.
Except, there weren't two parents.
There were three.
John T.
Father, 50.0% DNA shared
Agnes T.
Mother, 50.0% DNA shared
G
Mother, 50.0% DNA shared
I stared at the last one. Uh… what? I scrolled up and down the list, but the rest looked normal. One of my brothers came up, along with an aunt and some cousins.
Curious, I clicked on G's profile. But there wasn't any other information. To see details, like her ancestry or shared relatives, I'd need to 'connect' with her.
Probably just a glitch or something. Or maybe my mom made two accounts by accident. I closed my laptop and tried to forget about it.
But for the rest of the day, it bothered me. Like a little itch in the back of my brain. Maybe it isn't a duplicate account or a total glitch. Maybe she's some secret aunt or something, and 23andme just overestimated the shared DNA. I'd read the horror stories, of 23andme uncovering family secrets like that.
So that evening, I decided to hit "Connect." I didn't really expect her to accept.
But just a few days later, she did.
I went over to the 23andme website, my heart pounding. When I scrolled down, I saw my ancestry composition and G’s, side-by-side. Her ancestry looked like my mom’s—almost 100% Romanian. But… it was slightly different.
My heart pounded faster. I opened three tabs: my mom’s ancestry, my dad’s, G’s, and mine. My eyes darted between them, comparing them. Studying them. And after several minutes, I realized it.
I was 1% Scandinavian. But neither my mother nor my father had any Scandinavian ancestry.
Only “G” did.
A chill went down my spine. I stared at G’s profile. At her empty profile picture.
Who is she?
***
I told my husband all about it. He thought I was overreacting. “It’s just some glitch,” he said, as he flipped the chicken on the stove. “23andme must’ve sequenced the DNA wrong, or mixed up the samples, or something.”
“It’s creepy though, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He opened the cabinet, rummaging around for plates. “But there’s just so much room for error with that DNA stuff.”
I tried not to think about it. But my night was plagued with nightmares of G—a faceless woman, calling from the forest. Who had my long dark hair and tall stature. A second mother who, somehow, had given me her DNA.
When I woke up, though, I realized something. If I shared 50% of my DNA with my father, and my mother, and G—well, 50% + 50% + 50% did not equal 100%.
One of my parents had to share DNA with G.
I called my mom on the way to work. “Did you see anyone listed in your DNA relatives named ‘G’?” I asked, as I pulled onto the highway.
“G?” she repeated.
“Yeah. There’s just… a person named G who keeps popping up on my DNA relatives.”
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “But I don’t know. The website is kind of hard to use. Brandon was helping me with it.”
“Could you ask—”
“Yeah, sure. Gotta go now, though.”
With that being a dead end, I decided to bite the bullet and send G a message. Most likely, it’d be some big misunderstanding. G was probably some stranger living on the other end of the country with no connection to me whatsoever.
Hey, I noticed 23andme listed you as a relative. Do you have any family members with the last name T--- or K---, especially in the northwest US? Are you related to my mother, Agnes T---?
The response came less than an hour later. And when I read it, a slow chill ran down my spine.
you will find out soon enough.
That was the whole thing. The whole response. Those cryptic six words. I quickly shot a message back: Are you related to me? Or my mom?
No answer.
I stared at the screen, my heart pounding. Then, in one swift motion, I moved my cursor up and removed her as a connection. Just a troll. A scammer. Something weird like that.
A few days later, I checked 23andme again—to find that G had removed her account. Or, possibly, that the glitch had been fixed. Because G was no longer listed as my mother, or a relative at all.
Weeks went by and I forgot about the whole thing. Work got busy, gardening season was in full swing, and my hours were spent either working late in the office or slaving over my plant babies. I didn’t even give G a second thought—
Until, one morning, it all came crashing down.
Two pink lines. My husband and I spent the morning crying, hugging each other, overjoyed about this little person we would bring into the world.
Until I went to the mailbox.
Inside was a folded piece of pink paper, tied off with black ribbon. No stamp—it must’ve been hand delivered. My throat went dry as I flipped it open and read the words on the page.
meet me at d--- park at midnight tonight.
-G
submitted by BlairDaniels to blairdaniels [link] [comments]
When the results came back, everything was what I expected. I was Romanian and German. I had the sun-sneeze reflex. Etc. The surprise came when I clicked on the "Relatives" tab. At the top of the list, it showed my parents.
Except, there weren't two parents.
There were three.
John T.
Father, 50.0% DNA shared
Agnes T.
Mother, 50.0% DNA shared
G
Mother, 50.0% DNA shared
I stared at the last one. Uh… what? I scrolled up and down the list, but the rest looked normal. One of my brothers came up, along with an aunt and some cousins.
Curious, I clicked on G's profile. But there wasn't any other information. To see details, like her ancestry or shared relatives, I'd need to 'connect' with her.
Probably just a glitch or something. Or maybe my mom made two accounts by accident. I closed my laptop and tried to forget about it.
But for the rest of the day, it bothered me. Like a little itch in the back of my brain. Maybe it isn't a duplicate account or a total glitch. Maybe she's some secret aunt or something, and 23andme just overestimated the shared DNA. I'd read the horror stories, of 23andme uncovering family secrets like that.
So that evening, I decided to hit "Connect." I didn't really expect her to accept.
But just a few days later, she did.
I went over to the 23andme website, my heart pounding. When I scrolled down, I saw my ancestry composition and G’s, side-by-side. Her ancestry looked like my mom’s—almost 100% Romanian. But… it was slightly different.
My heart pounded faster. I opened three tabs: my mom’s ancestry, my dad’s, G’s, and mine. My eyes darted between them, comparing them. Studying them. And after several minutes, I realized it.
I was 1% Scandinavian. But neither my mother nor my father had any Scandinavian ancestry.
Only “G” did.
A chill went down my spine. I stared at G’s profile. At her empty profile picture.
Who is she?
***
I told my husband all about it. He thought I was overreacting. “It’s just some glitch,” he said, as he flipped the chicken on the stove. “23andme must’ve sequenced the DNA wrong, or mixed up the samples, or something.”
“It’s creepy though, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He opened the cabinet, rummaging around for plates. “But there’s just so much room for error with that DNA stuff.”
I tried not to think about it. But my night was plagued with nightmares of G—a faceless woman, calling from the forest. Who had my long dark hair and tall stature. A second mother who, somehow, had given me her DNA.
When I woke up, though, I realized something. If I shared 50% of my DNA with my father, and my mother, and G—well, 50% + 50% + 50% did not equal 100%.
One of my parents had to share DNA with G.
I called my mom on the way to work. “Did you see anyone listed in your DNA relatives named ‘G’?” I asked, as I pulled onto the highway.
“G?” she repeated.
“Yeah. There’s just… a person named G who keeps popping up on my DNA relatives.”
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “But I don’t know. The website is kind of hard to use. Brandon was helping me with it.”
“Could you ask—”
“Yeah, sure. Gotta go now, though.”
With that being a dead end, I decided to bite the bullet and send G a message. Most likely, it’d be some big misunderstanding. G was probably some stranger living on the other end of the country with no connection to me whatsoever.
Hey, I noticed 23andme listed you as a relative. Do you have any family members with the last name T--- or K---, especially in the northwest US? Are you related to my mother, Agnes T---?
The response came less than an hour later. And when I read it, a slow chill ran down my spine.
you will find out soon enough.
That was the whole thing. The whole response. Those cryptic six words. I quickly shot a message back: Are you related to me? Or my mom?
No answer.
I stared at the screen, my heart pounding. Then, in one swift motion, I moved my cursor up and removed her as a connection. Just a troll. A scammer. Something weird like that.
A few days later, I checked 23andme again—to find that G had removed her account. Or, possibly, that the glitch had been fixed. Because G was no longer listed as my mother, or a relative at all.
Weeks went by and I forgot about the whole thing. Work got busy, gardening season was in full swing, and my hours were spent either working late in the office or slaving over my plant babies. I didn’t even give G a second thought—
Until, one morning, it all came crashing down.
Two pink lines. My husband and I spent the morning crying, hugging each other, overjoyed about this little person we would bring into the world.
Until I went to the mailbox.
Inside was a folded piece of pink paper, tied off with black ribbon. No stamp—it must’ve been hand delivered. My throat went dry as I flipped it open and read the words on the page.
meet me at d--- park at midnight tonight.
-G
2023.06.10 08:12 alurry [US] [Selling] Entire 4K SteelBook Collection (250+)
I am selling my entire personal collection. 95% of these were purchased new by me. Immediately after purchase I put them into the plastic protectors and haven't removed them since. None are heavily damaged (bending, major dents, multiple large scratches, etc.). There may be tiny dents, scratches, and the odd spine slash here and there. When you are ready to purchase I will let you know if I see any noticeable damage, however minor or major.
These are all used and opened and none contain the digital code or j-card. The vast majority contain all the original discs but a few might be missing the regular blu-ray. Most discs have never been played but I have watched a few once or twice. No issues while playing any of them.
I will ship for free via Media Mail. If you would prefer I ship using First Class or something else we can work out an extra fee. I would prefer to use PayPal F&F but will accept G&S if you insist. I will ship with the plastic protector (or with the slipcover that originally came with the SteelBook) and I will ship securely in a box with lots of bubble wrap (see picture below).
(https://imgur.com/a/tfyky1A)
Prices are somewhat firm but it's hard to say what a lot of these are worth so feel free to make an offer. The more you buy the better deal I can give you. 10% off (possibly more) if you buy 2 and it only goes up from there. I would prefer to keep most of the collections together for now but could sell individually for the right price.
Proof (https://imgur.com/a/UOAZ2UL). If you want more assurance I have 224 transactions in DigitalCodeSELL (check my post history). I can also link you my eBay page if that is allowed. 3.6K items sold with 100% positive feedback.
submitted by alurry to MediaSwap [link] [comments]
These are all used and opened and none contain the digital code or j-card. The vast majority contain all the original discs but a few might be missing the regular blu-ray. Most discs have never been played but I have watched a few once or twice. No issues while playing any of them.
I will ship for free via Media Mail. If you would prefer I ship using First Class or something else we can work out an extra fee. I would prefer to use PayPal F&F but will accept G&S if you insist. I will ship with the plastic protector (or with the slipcover that originally came with the SteelBook) and I will ship securely in a box with lots of bubble wrap (see picture below).
(https://imgur.com/a/tfyky1A)
Prices are somewhat firm but it's hard to say what a lot of these are worth so feel free to make an offer. The more you buy the better deal I can give you. 10% off (possibly more) if you buy 2 and it only goes up from there. I would prefer to keep most of the collections together for now but could sell individually for the right price.
Proof (https://imgur.com/a/UOAZ2UL). If you want more assurance I have 224 transactions in DigitalCodeSELL (check my post history). I can also link you my eBay page if that is allowed. 3.6K items sold with 100% positive feedback.
Metal Tin SteelBook Collections (https://imgur.com/a/tzS3F1q)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mad Max Complete Collection (4K) | Zavvi | $100 |
4K SteelBooks (Collections) (https://imgur.com/a/3J3XUjU)
| Title | Retailer | Total SteelBooks | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Boys 1-3 | Best Buy | 2 | $45 |
| Back to the Future 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $100 |
| Bond 1-5 (Craig) | Best Buy, FNAC | 5 | $140 |
| Cars 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Dark Knight Trilogy | Zavvi | 3 | $130 |
| DCEU 1-12 | Best Buy + Amazon.es + Zavvi | 12 | $450 |
| Equalizer 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $45 |
| Frozen 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $75 |
| Godfather 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $60 |
| Godzilla + Godzilla vs Kong | Best Buy | 2 | $60 |
| Halloween (78, 18, 21, 22) | Best Buy | 4 | $165 |
| The Hitman's Bodyguard 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| The Hunger Games 1-4 | Best Buy | 4 | $70 |
| The Incredibles | Best Buy | 2 | $90 |
| Indiana Jones 1-4 | Best Buy | 4 | $55 |
| Jack Reacher 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $75 |
| John Wick 1-3 | Best Buy | 2 | $60 |
| Jumanji 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $55 |
| Jurassic World 1-6 | Best Buy | 2 | $70 |
| Kingsman 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $50 |
| The Lion King (94,19) | Best Buy | 2 | $50 |
| Maleficent 1-2 | Best Buy + Zavvi | 2 | $45 |
| MCU 1-30 | Best Buy | 30 | $1200 |
| Matrix 1-4 | Best Buy | 2 | $95 |
| Men in Black 1-4 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Mulan (98, 20) | Best Buy | 2 | $70 |
| A Quiet Place 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $50 |
| Scream (96, 22) | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| The Shining/Doctor Sleep | Best Buy | 2 | $150 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Space Jam 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $35 |
| Star Wars 1-9 + Solo & Rogue One | Best Buy + Zavvi + FNAC | 11 | $500 |
| Terminator (91, 19) | Best Buy | 2 | $35 |
| Top Gun 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $75 |
| Toy Story 1-4 | Best Buy | 4 | $100 |
| Trolls 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $35 |
| Venom 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Wreck-It-Ralph 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $45 |
| Zombieland 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $30 |
Mondo X SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/76drd4b)
| Title | Retailer | Mondo # | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boyhood (HD) | Best Buy Canada | #002 | $25 |
| Ghost in the Shell (HD) | Best Buy | #018 | $15 |
| It (HD) | Amazon.it | #022 | $30 |
| Friday the 13th (HD) | Amazon.it | #023 | $25 |
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (HD) | Amazon.it | #025 | $50 |
| Justice League (HD) | Amazon.it | #026 | $25 |
| 300 (HD) | Amazon.it | #028 | $25 |
| Wreck-It-Ralph (HD) | Zavvi | #034 | $30 |
| Avengers (4K) | FNAC | #039 | $35 |
| Doctor Strange (4K) | Zavvi | #041 | $45 |
| Black Panther (4K) | FNAC | #042 | $40 |
| Captain America: The First Avenger (4K) | Zavvi | #043 | $40 |
| Thor (4K) | Zavvi | #045 | $40 |
| Ant-Man (4K) | Zavvi | #047 | $40 |
| Blade Runner: 2049 (4K) | FNAC | #049 | $100 |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier (4K) | Zavvi | #050 | $40 |
| Thor: The Dark World (4K) | Zavvi | #051 | $40 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (4K) | Zavvi | #052 | $40 |
| Avengers: Age of Ultron (4K) | Zavvi | #053 | $40 |
4K SteelBooks (Individual Movies) (https://imgur.com/a/RvIWYiY)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Air Force One | Best Buy | $25 |
| Alien Covenant | Best Buy | $20 |
| Almost Famous | Best Buy | $45 |
| Animal House | Best Buy | $25 |
| Apollo 13 | Best Buy | $40 |
| Babylon | Best Buy | $30 |
| Beauty and the Beast (1991) | Best Buy | $50 |
| Beetlejuice | Best Buy | $40 |
| Bloodshot | Best Buy | $30 |
| The Blues Brothers | Best Buy | $45 |
| Boyz N the Hood | Best Buy | $60 |
| Brave | Best Buy | $25 |
| A Bug's Life | Best Buy | $45 |
| Bullet Train | Best Buy | $30 |
| Bumblebee | Best Buy | $30 |
| A Clockwork Orange | Best Buy | $30 |
| Cold Pursuit | Zavvi | $50 |
| Coming to America | Best Buy | $15 |
| The Dark Tower | Best Buy | $15 |
| Deadpool 2 | Best Buy | $20 |
| District 9 | Best Buy | $45 |
| Downton Abbey | Best Buy | $15 |
| Dracula | Best Buy | $25 |
| Edge of Tomorrow | Best Buy | $55 |
| Ex Machina | Zavvi | $40 |
| Frankenstein | Best Buy | $30 |
| Forrest Gump | Best Buy | $40 |
| Gattaca | Best Buy | $25 |
| Ghost in the Shell (1995) | Best Buy | $20 |
| Gladiator | Best Buy | $100 |
| Godzilla (1998) | Best Buy | $25 |
| Goodfellas | Best Buy | $70 |
| The Goonies | Best Buy | $50 |
| Grease | Best Buy | $45 |
| The Green Mile | Best Buy | $30 |
| Heat | Best Buy | $50 |
| Home Alone | Best Buy | $40 |
| Howard the Duck | Best Buy | $35 |
| How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) | Best Buy | $80 |
| The Hurt Locker | Best Buy | $30 |
| Inception | Best Buy | $80 |
| Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Best Buy | $20 |
| Inglorious Basterds | Best Buy | $25 |
| Inside Out | Best Buy | $35 |
| The Invisible Man (1933) | Zavvi | $25 |
| The Invisible Man (2020) | Best Buy | $25 |
| It (2017) | Best Buy | $25 |
| It's a Wonderful Life | Best Buy | $20 |
| Jaws | Best Buy | $35 |
| Joker | Best Buy | $40 |
| Jungle Cruise | Best Buy | $25 |
| Kick-Ass | Best Buy | $35 |
| King Kong (2005) | Best Buy | $30 |
| Knives Out | Best Buy | $50 |
| La La Land | Best Buy | $20 |
| Last Action Hero | Best Buy | $25 |
| The Last Duel | FNAC | $85 |
| Léon: The Professional | Best Buy | $65 |
| Lightyear | Best Buy | $25 |
| The Little Mermaid | Zavvi | $45 |
| Logan | Zavvi | $50 |
| Looper | Zavvi | $45 |
| Luca | Best Buy | $55 |
| Mad Max: Fury Road | Best Buy | $55 |
| Mary Poppins Returns | Best Buy | $20 |
| Mission Impossible: Fallout | Best Buy | $20 |
| Moana | Best Buy | $30 |
| Monster's University | Best Buy | $25 |
| Moonfall | Best Buy | $25 |
| Morbius | Best Buy | $25 |
| Mortal Engines | Zavvi | $20 |
| The New Mutants | Zavvi | $40 |
| Nightmare Alley | Best Buy | $35 |
| Nope | Best Buy | $25 |
| The Northman | Zavvi | $55 |
| The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Best Buy | $15 |
| Oblivion | Amazon.fr | $75 |
| Ocean's 8 | Best Buy | $15 |
| Old | Best Buy | $15 |
| Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Best Buy | $20 |
| Onward | Best Buy | $60 |
| Parasite | Zavvi | $35 |
| Passengers | Best Buy | $35 |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | Best Buy | $15 |
| Pokémon Detective Pikachu | Best Buy | $30 |
| Pulp Fiction (Brand New) | Best Buy | $35 |
| The Princess and the Frog | Best Buy | $30 |
| Ratatouille | Best Buy | $70 |
| Raya and the Last Dragon | Best Buy | $50 |
| Rear Window | Best Buy | $35 |
| Red Sparrow | Best Buy | $30 |
| Requiem For a Dream | Best Buy | $40 |
| Reservoir Dogs | Best Buy | $20 |
| Robocop (1987) | Best Buy | $45 |
| Rocketman | Best Buy | $15 |
| Saw (2004) | Best Buy | $30 |
| The Secret Life of Pets 2 | Best Buy | $15 |
| The Shape of Water | Best Buy | $55 |
| The Shawshank Redemption | Best Buy | $45 |
| Shrek | Best Buy | $40 |
| Shutter Island | Best Buy | $35 |
| Sing | Best Buy | $20 |
| Skyscraper | Best Buy | $20 |
| Soul | Best Buy | $60 |
| Spartacus | Best Buy | $65 |
| Speed | Best Buy | $60 |
| Spies in Disguise | Best Buy | $20 |
| The Spine of Night | Best Buy | $15 |
| A Star is Born | Best Buy | $40 |
| The Sting | Best Buy | $25 |
| Super 8 | Best Buy | $25 |
| Tangled | Best Buy | $65 |
| The Ten Commandments | Best Buy | $25 |
| Tenet | Best Buy | $20 |
| The Thing | Amazon.it | $50 |
| Total Recall | Best Buy | $35 |
| The Town | Best Buy | $70 |
| Turning Red | Best Buy | $20 |
| The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent | Best Buy | $35 |
| Unbreakable | Best Buy | $40 |
| Uncharted | Best Buy | $25 |
| Unforgiven | Zavvi | $40 |
| Universal Soldier | Best Buy | $20 |
| Us | Best Buy | $20 |
| Vertigo | Best Buy | $35 |
| Wall-E | Best Buy | $100 |
| West Side Story | Best Buy | $25 |
| Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Zavvi | $40 |
| Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory | Amazon.it | $35 |
| The Wizard of Oz | Best Buy | $70 |
| The Wolf Man (1941) | Best Buy | $15 |
| The Wolf of Wall Street | Best Buy | $15 |
| Zootopia | Best Buy | $25 |
Regular Blu-ray SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/i8u4gnU)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| The Breakfast Club | Best Buy | $15 |
| Cinderella | Best Buy | $15 |
| Django Unchained | Best Buy | $15 |
| Ex Machina | Zavvi | $45 |
| Plaines, Trains, and Automobiles | Best Buy | $15 |
TV Show SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/CR27Ciu)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| House of the Dragon S1 (4K) | Best Buy | $35 |
| Westworld S2 (4K) | Best Buy | $55 |
| Westworld S3 (4K) | Best Buy | $55 |
2023.06.10 08:09 alurry [US-TX] [H] Entire 4K Collection (250+) [W] PayPal
I am selling my entire personal collection. 95% of these were purchased new by me. Immediately after purchase I put them into the plastic protectors and haven't removed them since. None are heavily damaged (bending, major dents, multiple large scratches, etc.). There may be tiny dents, scratches, and the odd spine slash here and there. When you are ready to purchase I will let you know if I see any noticeable damage, however minor or major.
These are all used and opened and none contain the digital code or j-card. The vast majority contain all the original discs but a few might be missing the regular blu-ray. Most discs have never been played but I have watched a few once or twice. No issues while playing any of them.
I will ship for free via Media Mail. If you would prefer I ship using First Class or something else we can work out an extra fee. I would prefer to use PayPal F&F but will accept G&S if you insist. I will ship with the plastic protector (or with the slipcover that originally came with the SteelBook) and I will ship securely in a box with lots of bubble wrap (see picture below).
(https://imgur.com/a/tfyky1A)
Prices are somewhat firm but it's hard to say what a lot of these are worth so feel free to make an offer. The more you buy the better deal I can give you. 10% off (possibly more) if you buy 2 and it only goes up from there. I would prefer to keep most of the collections together for now but could sell individually for the right price.
Proof (https://imgur.com/a/UOAZ2UL). If you want more assurance I have 224 transactions in DigitalCodeSELL (check my post history). I can also link you my eBay page if that is allowed. 3.6K items sold with 100% positive feedback.
submitted by alurry to SteelbookSwap [link] [comments]
These are all used and opened and none contain the digital code or j-card. The vast majority contain all the original discs but a few might be missing the regular blu-ray. Most discs have never been played but I have watched a few once or twice. No issues while playing any of them.
I will ship for free via Media Mail. If you would prefer I ship using First Class or something else we can work out an extra fee. I would prefer to use PayPal F&F but will accept G&S if you insist. I will ship with the plastic protector (or with the slipcover that originally came with the SteelBook) and I will ship securely in a box with lots of bubble wrap (see picture below).
(https://imgur.com/a/tfyky1A)
Prices are somewhat firm but it's hard to say what a lot of these are worth so feel free to make an offer. The more you buy the better deal I can give you. 10% off (possibly more) if you buy 2 and it only goes up from there. I would prefer to keep most of the collections together for now but could sell individually for the right price.
Proof (https://imgur.com/a/UOAZ2UL). If you want more assurance I have 224 transactions in DigitalCodeSELL (check my post history). I can also link you my eBay page if that is allowed. 3.6K items sold with 100% positive feedback.
Metal Tin SteelBook Collections (https://imgur.com/a/tzS3F1q)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mad Max Complete Collection (4K) | Zavvi | $100 |
4K SteelBooks (Collections) (https://imgur.com/a/3J3XUjU)
| Title | Retailer | Total SteelBooks | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Boys 1-3 | Best Buy | 2 | $45 |
| Back to the Future 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $100 |
| Bond 1-5 (Craig) | Best Buy, FNAC | 5 | $140 |
| Cars 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Dark Knight Trilogy | Zavvi | 3 | $130 |
| DCEU 1-12 | Best Buy + Amazon.es + Zavvi | 12 | $450 |
| Equalizer 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $45 |
| Frozen 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $75 |
| Godfather 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $60 |
| Godzilla + Godzilla vs Kong | Best Buy | 2 | $60 |
| Halloween (78, 18, 21, 22) | Best Buy | 4 | $165 |
| The Hitman's Bodyguard 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| The Hunger Games 1-4 | Best Buy | 4 | $70 |
| The Incredibles | Best Buy | 2 | $90 |
| Indiana Jones 1-4 | Best Buy | 4 | $55 |
| Jack Reacher 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $75 |
| John Wick 1-3 | Best Buy | 2 | $60 |
| Jumanji 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $55 |
| Jurassic World 1-6 | Best Buy | 2 | $70 |
| Kingsman 1-3 | Best Buy | 3 | $50 |
| The Lion King (94,19) | Best Buy | 2 | $50 |
| Maleficent 1-2 | Best Buy + Zavvi | 2 | $45 |
| MCU 1-30 | Best Buy | 30 | $1200 |
| Matrix 1-4 | Best Buy | 2 | $95 |
| Men in Black 1-4 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Mulan (98, 20) | Best Buy | 2 | $70 |
| A Quiet Place 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $50 |
| Scream (96, 22) | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| The Shining/Doctor Sleep | Best Buy | 2 | $150 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Space Jam 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $35 |
| Star Wars 1-9 + Solo & Rogue One | Best Buy + Zavvi + FNAC | 11 | $500 |
| Terminator (91, 19) | Best Buy | 2 | $35 |
| Top Gun 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $75 |
| Toy Story 1-4 | Best Buy | 4 | $100 |
| Trolls 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $35 |
| Venom 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $40 |
| Wreck-It-Ralph 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $45 |
| Zombieland 1-2 | Best Buy | 2 | $30 |
Mondo X SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/76drd4b)
| Title | Retailer | Mondo # | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boyhood (HD) | Best Buy Canada | #002 | $25 |
| Ghost in the Shell (HD) | Best Buy | #018 | $15 |
| It (HD) | Amazon.it | #022 | $30 |
| Friday the 13th (HD) | Amazon.it | #023 | $25 |
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (HD) | Amazon.it | #025 | $50 |
| Justice League (HD) | Amazon.it | #026 | $25 |
| 300 (HD) | Amazon.it | #028 | $25 |
| Wreck-It-Ralph (HD) | Zavvi | #034 | $30 |
| Avengers (4K) | FNAC | #039 | $35 |
| Doctor Strange (4K) | Zavvi | #041 | $45 |
| Black Panther (4K) | FNAC | #042 | $40 |
| Captain America: The First Avenger (4K) | Zavvi | #043 | $40 |
| Thor (4K) | Zavvi | #045 | $40 |
| Ant-Man (4K) | Zavvi | #047 | $40 |
| Blade Runner: 2049 (4K) | FNAC | #049 | $100 |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier (4K) | Zavvi | #050 | $40 |
| Thor: The Dark World (4K) | Zavvi | #051 | $40 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (4K) | Zavvi | #052 | $40 |
| Avengers: Age of Ultron (4K) | Zavvi | #053 | $40 |
4K SteelBooks (Individual Movies) (https://imgur.com/a/RvIWYiY)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Air Force One | Best Buy | $25 |
| Alien Covenant | Best Buy | $20 |
| Almost Famous | Best Buy | $45 |
| Animal House | Best Buy | $25 |
| Apollo 13 | Best Buy | $40 |
| Babylon | Best Buy | $30 |
| Beauty and the Beast (1991) | Best Buy | $50 |
| Beetlejuice | Best Buy | $40 |
| Bloodshot | Best Buy | $30 |
| The Blues Brothers | Best Buy | $45 |
| Boyz N the Hood | Best Buy | $60 |
| Brave | Best Buy | $25 |
| A Bug's Life | Best Buy | $45 |
| Bullet Train | Best Buy | $30 |
| Bumblebee | Best Buy | $30 |
| A Clockwork Orange | Best Buy | $30 |
| Cold Pursuit | Zavvi | $50 |
| Coming to America | Best Buy | $15 |
| The Dark Tower | Best Buy | $15 |
| Deadpool 2 | Best Buy | $20 |
| District 9 | Best Buy | $45 |
| Downton Abbey | Best Buy | $15 |
| Dracula | Best Buy | $25 |
| Edge of Tomorrow | Best Buy | $55 |
| Ex Machina | Zavvi | $40 |
| Frankenstein | Best Buy | $30 |
| Forrest Gump | Best Buy | $40 |
| Gattaca | Best Buy | $25 |
| Ghost in the Shell (1995) | Best Buy | $20 |
| Gladiator | Best Buy | $100 |
| Godzilla (1998) | Best Buy | $25 |
| Goodfellas | Best Buy | $70 |
| The Goonies | Best Buy | $50 |
| Grease | Best Buy | $45 |
| The Green Mile | Best Buy | $30 |
| Heat | Best Buy | $50 |
| Home Alone | Best Buy | $40 |
| Howard the Duck | Best Buy | $35 |
| How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) | Best Buy | $80 |
| The Hurt Locker | Best Buy | $30 |
| Inception | Best Buy | $80 |
| Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Best Buy | $20 |
| Inglorious Basterds | Best Buy | $25 |
| Inside Out | Best Buy | $35 |
| The Invisible Man (1933) | Zavvi | $25 |
| The Invisible Man (2020) | Best Buy | $25 |
| It (2017) | Best Buy | $25 |
| It's a Wonderful Life | Best Buy | $20 |
| Jaws | Best Buy | $35 |
| Joker | Best Buy | $40 |
| Jungle Cruise | Best Buy | $25 |
| Kick-Ass | Best Buy | $35 |
| King Kong (2005) | Best Buy | $30 |
| Knives Out | Best Buy | $50 |
| La La Land | Best Buy | $20 |
| Last Action Hero | Best Buy | $25 |
| The Last Duel | FNAC | $85 |
| Léon: The Professional | Best Buy | $65 |
| Lightyear | Best Buy | $25 |
| The Little Mermaid | Zavvi | $45 |
| Logan | Zavvi | $50 |
| Looper | Zavvi | $45 |
| Luca | Best Buy | $55 |
| Mad Max: Fury Road | Best Buy | $55 |
| Mary Poppins Returns | Best Buy | $20 |
| Mission Impossible: Fallout | Best Buy | $20 |
| Moana | Best Buy | $30 |
| Monster's University | Best Buy | $25 |
| Moonfall | Best Buy | $25 |
| Morbius | Best Buy | $25 |
| Mortal Engines | Zavvi | $20 |
| The New Mutants | Zavvi | $40 |
| Nightmare Alley | Best Buy | $35 |
| Nope | Best Buy | $25 |
| The Northman | Zavvi | $55 |
| The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Best Buy | $15 |
| Oblivion | Amazon.fr | $75 |
| Ocean's 8 | Best Buy | $15 |
| Old | Best Buy | $15 |
| Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Best Buy | $20 |
| Onward | Best Buy | $60 |
| Parasite | Zavvi | $35 |
| Passengers | Best Buy | $35 |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | Best Buy | $15 |
| Pokémon Detective Pikachu | Best Buy | $30 |
| Pulp Fiction (Brand New) | Best Buy | $35 |
| The Princess and the Frog | Best Buy | $30 |
| Ratatouille | Best Buy | $70 |
| Raya and the Last Dragon | Best Buy | $50 |
| Rear Window | Best Buy | $35 |
| Red Sparrow | Best Buy | $30 |
| Requiem For a Dream | Best Buy | $40 |
| Reservoir Dogs | Best Buy | $20 |
| Robocop (1987) | Best Buy | $45 |
| Rocketman | Best Buy | $15 |
| Saw (2004) | Best Buy | $30 |
| The Secret Life of Pets 2 | Best Buy | $15 |
| The Shape of Water | Best Buy | $55 |
| The Shawshank Redemption | Best Buy | $45 |
| Shrek | Best Buy | $40 |
| Shutter Island | Best Buy | $35 |
| Sing | Best Buy | $20 |
| Skyscraper | Best Buy | $20 |
| Soul | Best Buy | $60 |
| Spartacus | Best Buy | $65 |
| Speed | Best Buy | $60 |
| Spies in Disguise | Best Buy | $20 |
| The Spine of Night | Best Buy | $15 |
| A Star is Born | Best Buy | $40 |
| The Sting | Best Buy | $25 |
| Super 8 | Best Buy | $25 |
| Tangled | Best Buy | $65 |
| The Ten Commandments | Best Buy | $25 |
| Tenet | Best Buy | $20 |
| The Thing | Amazon.it | $50 |
| Total Recall | Best Buy | $35 |
| The Town | Best Buy | $70 |
| Turning Red | Best Buy | $20 |
| The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent | Best Buy | $35 |
| Unbreakable | Best Buy | $40 |
| Uncharted | Best Buy | $25 |
| Unforgiven | Zavvi | $40 |
| Universal Soldier | Best Buy | $20 |
| Us | Best Buy | $20 |
| Vertigo | Best Buy | $35 |
| Wall-E | Best Buy | $100 |
| West Side Story | Best Buy | $25 |
| Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Zavvi | $40 |
| Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory | Amazon.it | $35 |
| The Wizard of Oz | Best Buy | $70 |
| The Wolf Man (1941) | Best Buy | $15 |
| The Wolf of Wall Street | Best Buy | $15 |
| Zootopia | Best Buy | $25 |
Regular Blu-ray SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/i8u4gnU)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| The Breakfast Club | Best Buy | $15 |
| Cinderella | Best Buy | $15 |
| Django Unchained | Best Buy | $15 |
| Ex Machina | Zavvi | $45 |
| Plaines, Trains, and Automobiles | Best Buy | $15 |
TV Show SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/CR27Ciu)
| Title | Retailer | Price |
|---|---|---|
| House of the Dragon S1 (4K) | Best Buy | $35 |
| Westworld S2 (4K) | Best Buy | $55 |
| Westworld S3 (4K) | Best Buy | $55 |
2023.06.10 07:56 KoopaDaQuick My peanut allergy is mild -- Is it maybe OK if I eat Five Guys?
So a new store opened up not that long ago in Cedar Falls, the first Five Guys in my area. Before then, I've heard horror stories about just how abundant the peanuts were. However, I've gotta ask, after the changes not that long ago where peanuts are no longer on the dining room floor, is it safe for me in particular to eat (at least picking up, avoiding the dining room) Five Guys?
As a little kid, I remember eating Texas Roadhouse as a kid, and even as my family ate peanuts around me and had shells all over the floor, I'd generally be fine. I've noticed that my allergy is triggered a lot more being physically around candy and peanut butter than actual, raw peanuts. And I know about the peanut oil thing too, but I've had Chick-Fil-A and Jimmy John's chips before w/o reaction, so unless Five Guys' oil is a lot less processed than them, I'm not that concerned. I'm not a big fry person, anyways. :P
submitted by KoopaDaQuick to fiveguys [link] [comments]
As a little kid, I remember eating Texas Roadhouse as a kid, and even as my family ate peanuts around me and had shells all over the floor, I'd generally be fine. I've noticed that my allergy is triggered a lot more being physically around candy and peanut butter than actual, raw peanuts. And I know about the peanut oil thing too, but I've had Chick-Fil-A and Jimmy John's chips before w/o reaction, so unless Five Guys' oil is a lot less processed than them, I'm not that concerned. I'm not a big fry person, anyways. :P
2023.06.10 07:49 followonspotify Artists: Mac DeMarco, Alex G, Frank Ocean, John Mayer, Daniel Caesar, Lana Del Rey, Ben Howard & more
submitted by followonspotify to spotify [link] [comments]
2023.06.10 07:49 followonspotify Artists: Mac DeMarco, Alex G, Frank Ocean, John Mayer, Daniel Caesar, Lana Del Rey, Ben Howard & more
submitted by followonspotify to SpotifyPlaylists [link] [comments]
2023.06.10 07:39 squirellydansostrich An Unexpected Journey, or So Long and Thanks To All The Fish: The story of my first stage.
I wrote this in reply to someone asking about their first stage, but I kinda got into it. Hope you do too, chef.
My first stage, fresh out of cooking school (but with about 12 years of kitchen experience already under my belt) was under an accomplished master chef at a restaurant I would call home for a bit over five years. Usually they start their stages on GM, but for some reason, possibly my experience, he threw me onto Rotiss, the coal-powered grill station with a wood-burning rotisserie attached, both keeping the coals alive and cooking whole chickens and prime ribs above.
This night, I would be cooking in-house-cut ribeyes, striploins, lamb sirloins, flatirons, bison flanks, salmon, halibut, the occasional burger, grilled romaine, and naan bread on that grill, keeping the coals from getting too low (failing which would mean refilling during a rush, a big no-no when there's food on the grill because igniting coal crackles and spits black particles in all directions, including at the food) or too high, which would char the fucking lamb sirloins, ribeyes, and striploins, in the bad way, chef.
I later learned that I hadn't burned my body with fire until I burned it with coal, but I didn't know that yet, chef.
I started out confident in my skills, impressed that he expected I use the same 3-turn for grilling I learned about in school, dressing burgers and grilling lettuce for the 4:30 crowd, not yet paying full attention but still thinking everything was going great. First seating finally got its push, and I got a few flatirons and bison flanks on and off the grill, cooked properly, under the watchful eye of my shadow trainer, and even managed to hit my stride getting a couple naans up and out at the same time for firsts. Things were going well.
Then, tragedy struck. My trainer had to go offline to take off the rotisserie chickens, and I was on my own.
The first pickups for mains were fish. 1 salmon, 1 halibut. Oui. I knew enough, I thought, to be able to tell when fucking halibut was done without having cooked a dense fish like hali before. No, chef.
When one passes two items for the same table, they both have to be perfect, at the same time. It mattered not that the salmon was right, the halibut to go with it was only just rare in the middle, when he wanted it a touch past med rare, where the juices start to glisten and the fish changes from pale grey to warm pearl inside. His glare alone made me catch my breath, and I realized that I had been overconfident in my abilities, overzealous and way too fucking ambitious to cook fish on my own.
Remake. Heard. Fired. Sent. Next bill.
Striploins, one med rare, one medium. I had cooked steaks before, but, you know, the fuckinga restaurant name that ends in s ones that are all the exact same shape and density, their fat caps never even seen or heard of, never mind the varying marbling that comes from grass-fed beef from small-town Alberta ranchers. I pulled them from the cooler, seasoned and oiled them up, moved the coals over so they'd give a good sear, and got ready to fire. It was fine until the first turn of the steak. I'd looked at the bottom and the colour was looking good. I turned both, onto spots of similar heat, and turned around to build a set for some burgers that were close.
Now, I didn't mention yet that this was not only an open kitchen, but that rotiss station has barstools all around it, which on busy nights has 12 to 15 guests at all times. I looked up from my happy burger place to see the faces of my closest guests illuminate, as their eyes stretched to the ceiling. Fuck. Fire, I turned around and moved the strips off the hot spot, smelling their pungent, acrid odour and seeing dark, sour smoke marks along the fat caps which had rendered, in turn causing the coals to get even hotter and ignite the grill and the meat.
Embarrassed, I collected myself and told him, "refiring 22, chef" and I thought he was going to hit me. The whites of his eyes were all I could see in that moment, because if I met his gaze I felt I could melt. It felt safer returning to my grill and standing next to 1100 degrees of ignited coal than bearing the shame.
"Well, get it on, then."
"Yes chef, heard chef, firing now."
"You mean refiring now?"
The question, that awkward sense of seeming completely rhetorical, but also being somehow more, made my ears ring as though he had hit me. He was staring through me as though expecting an answer, but at the same time daring me to speak
"Yes chef." Was all I knew how to say. Steaks fired. Trainer still MIA, turned out he was firing more chickens for the rotiss, and I also now needed to build up the fire with birch so the birds could get a crispy skin, before reducing the temp with cherry wood. All while cooking this refire. Orders were now piling in, first seating was in full swing, and firsts from the early stages of second seating were starting to be taken, meaning I'd soon need more steaks on the grill so they could rest. I had to fight my senses now, leaving my strips just a little longer on the first turn, watching for flare-ups on the second. and by the time I had my med rare almost ready, I had the medium one off and resting. I pulled the med rare as well and chef came over, showed me how to rub them down both sides with cold butter to arrest the rushed cook. No compliment, no acknowledgement save a nod that I could go on next.
I got two more strips a bill or two after that, cooking them accurately but missing the rendering of the fat cap during the cook, where leaving them on their side to render properly would make overcooking inevitable, and I'll never forget this moment. He brought my trainer back on line to cover me, and called me back behind the rotiss.
"Do you have a fucking learning disability or something?"
"Yes chef, well, no, chef, but I might be a slow learner when it comes to this, chef."
"Get the fucking striploins into your seasoning pan immediately, so they warm up to room temp. Don't over-oil them, look at the side, what is that made of?"
"Fat, chef"
"Yes, fat. Do you know what each of these strips costs me? About what you make in an hour. Do you have four hours to pay me back?"
"No, chef."
"Then don't fucking burn any more."
"Yes, chef."
I got back out there, miserable and defeated. We finished service a touch over 450 covers, in a meat-heavy restaurant, my first service in the books. We flipped, stocked, and smoked, as is tradition. As I was wrapping my knife roll up and getting ready to wrap the station for the night, my trainer came over with a big piece of foccacia. He split it horizontally, dunked the pieces in the resting tray, and threw them down on the hot part of the grill to blacken and burn. He took them off and offered me one, and we munched, both staring into the black abyss of the rotisserie.
"I've been working for chef for years and I've never seen him cut someone up like that on his first day. He must really like you."
He gave me a knowing smile, because he already somehow fucking knew I'd be back.
"Good job tonight."
"Thanks, Mike."
And I would. Chef called me the next morning and asked if I would be interested in coming in to work dinner.
"Yes chef."
"Well, everybody around here usually comes in at least an hour early (unpaid, but that's another story), so I'll see you at 1:30."
"Yes chef, see you then."
It's been 25 years since I started cooking professionally. I worked my last day in a kitchen a couple months ago. I hated every fucking minute, but I have never found any other work that made me as satisfied and angry at the same time. Good riddance and best wishes, chef. And Mike? Thanks for showing me the real heart of the industry, you big fucking freight train of a man.
Bye, chef. See you tomorrow.
--Honestly, I'm turning this into a post on main becauseno one will ever see it here I'm vain and want someone to see my work, but thank you for inspiring me to write about my experience itsnotyourfault- I owe you a debt of gratitude.
TLDR: Don't be a dick, render those fat caps, and be kind to your brothers, chef.
submitted by squirellydansostrich to KitchenConfidential [link] [comments]
My first stage, fresh out of cooking school (but with about 12 years of kitchen experience already under my belt) was under an accomplished master chef at a restaurant I would call home for a bit over five years. Usually they start their stages on GM, but for some reason, possibly my experience, he threw me onto Rotiss, the coal-powered grill station with a wood-burning rotisserie attached, both keeping the coals alive and cooking whole chickens and prime ribs above.
This night, I would be cooking in-house-cut ribeyes, striploins, lamb sirloins, flatirons, bison flanks, salmon, halibut, the occasional burger, grilled romaine, and naan bread on that grill, keeping the coals from getting too low (failing which would mean refilling during a rush, a big no-no when there's food on the grill because igniting coal crackles and spits black particles in all directions, including at the food) or too high, which would char the fucking lamb sirloins, ribeyes, and striploins, in the bad way, chef.
I later learned that I hadn't burned my body with fire until I burned it with coal, but I didn't know that yet, chef.
I started out confident in my skills, impressed that he expected I use the same 3-turn for grilling I learned about in school, dressing burgers and grilling lettuce for the 4:30 crowd, not yet paying full attention but still thinking everything was going great. First seating finally got its push, and I got a few flatirons and bison flanks on and off the grill, cooked properly, under the watchful eye of my shadow trainer, and even managed to hit my stride getting a couple naans up and out at the same time for firsts. Things were going well.
Then, tragedy struck. My trainer had to go offline to take off the rotisserie chickens, and I was on my own.
The first pickups for mains were fish. 1 salmon, 1 halibut. Oui. I knew enough, I thought, to be able to tell when fucking halibut was done without having cooked a dense fish like hali before. No, chef.
When one passes two items for the same table, they both have to be perfect, at the same time. It mattered not that the salmon was right, the halibut to go with it was only just rare in the middle, when he wanted it a touch past med rare, where the juices start to glisten and the fish changes from pale grey to warm pearl inside. His glare alone made me catch my breath, and I realized that I had been overconfident in my abilities, overzealous and way too fucking ambitious to cook fish on my own.
Remake. Heard. Fired. Sent. Next bill.
Striploins, one med rare, one medium. I had cooked steaks before, but, you know, the fucking
Now, I didn't mention yet that this was not only an open kitchen, but that rotiss station has barstools all around it, which on busy nights has 12 to 15 guests at all times. I looked up from my happy burger place to see the faces of my closest guests illuminate, as their eyes stretched to the ceiling. Fuck. Fire, I turned around and moved the strips off the hot spot, smelling their pungent, acrid odour and seeing dark, sour smoke marks along the fat caps which had rendered, in turn causing the coals to get even hotter and ignite the grill and the meat.
Embarrassed, I collected myself and told him, "refiring 22, chef" and I thought he was going to hit me. The whites of his eyes were all I could see in that moment, because if I met his gaze I felt I could melt. It felt safer returning to my grill and standing next to 1100 degrees of ignited coal than bearing the shame.
"Well, get it on, then."
"Yes chef, heard chef, firing now."
"You mean refiring now?"
The question, that awkward sense of seeming completely rhetorical, but also being somehow more, made my ears ring as though he had hit me. He was staring through me as though expecting an answer, but at the same time daring me to speak
"Yes chef." Was all I knew how to say. Steaks fired. Trainer still MIA, turned out he was firing more chickens for the rotiss, and I also now needed to build up the fire with birch so the birds could get a crispy skin, before reducing the temp with cherry wood. All while cooking this refire. Orders were now piling in, first seating was in full swing, and firsts from the early stages of second seating were starting to be taken, meaning I'd soon need more steaks on the grill so they could rest. I had to fight my senses now, leaving my strips just a little longer on the first turn, watching for flare-ups on the second. and by the time I had my med rare almost ready, I had the medium one off and resting. I pulled the med rare as well and chef came over, showed me how to rub them down both sides with cold butter to arrest the rushed cook. No compliment, no acknowledgement save a nod that I could go on next.
I got two more strips a bill or two after that, cooking them accurately but missing the rendering of the fat cap during the cook, where leaving them on their side to render properly would make overcooking inevitable, and I'll never forget this moment. He brought my trainer back on line to cover me, and called me back behind the rotiss.
"Do you have a fucking learning disability or something?"
"Yes chef, well, no, chef, but I might be a slow learner when it comes to this, chef."
"Get the fucking striploins into your seasoning pan immediately, so they warm up to room temp. Don't over-oil them, look at the side, what is that made of?"
"Fat, chef"
"Yes, fat. Do you know what each of these strips costs me? About what you make in an hour. Do you have four hours to pay me back?"
"No, chef."
"Then don't fucking burn any more."
"Yes, chef."
I got back out there, miserable and defeated. We finished service a touch over 450 covers, in a meat-heavy restaurant, my first service in the books. We flipped, stocked, and smoked, as is tradition. As I was wrapping my knife roll up and getting ready to wrap the station for the night, my trainer came over with a big piece of foccacia. He split it horizontally, dunked the pieces in the resting tray, and threw them down on the hot part of the grill to blacken and burn. He took them off and offered me one, and we munched, both staring into the black abyss of the rotisserie.
"I've been working for chef for years and I've never seen him cut someone up like that on his first day. He must really like you."
He gave me a knowing smile, because he already somehow fucking knew I'd be back.
"Good job tonight."
"Thanks, Mike."
And I would. Chef called me the next morning and asked if I would be interested in coming in to work dinner.
"Yes chef."
"Well, everybody around here usually comes in at least an hour early (unpaid, but that's another story), so I'll see you at 1:30."
"Yes chef, see you then."
It's been 25 years since I started cooking professionally. I worked my last day in a kitchen a couple months ago. I hated every fucking minute, but I have never found any other work that made me as satisfied and angry at the same time. Good riddance and best wishes, chef. And Mike? Thanks for showing me the real heart of the industry, you big fucking freight train of a man.
Bye, chef. See you tomorrow.
--Honestly, I'm turning this into a post on main because
TLDR: Don't be a dick, render those fat caps, and be kind to your brothers, chef.