Kmart sears scholarships

This is trivial, but it's burning a hole in my mind and I'm hoping someone can help me figure it out. Back in the 80s, I remember shopping at a store roughly in the current location of the 29th street mall. It was the kind of place you could buy a toaster or small kitchen appliance, a vacuum cleaner, a cordless phone or answering machine. They might have had kids bikes and larger appliances but can't remember for sure. You could do your Christmas shopping there, they might have even had layaway. It was a single story, standalone location, and I seem to remember it had brown or orange carpet. Mind you there were no department stores selling computers back then, so it's kind of similar to a Best Buy today minus computers but with warmer colors, does that make sense? (Hell it might have even been a Best Buy but I can't remember and don't think they were in Boulder back then.)
I can tell you for sure that this was not Sears, Kmart, Montgomery Ward, or Radio Shack, nor was it attached to Crossroads mall (which also brings back many fond memories). And the only other identifying detail I can remember is that across the parking lot to the southeast there was a movie theater with 3 or 4 screens, probably where the Cinemark Century Theater sits now, and you had to walk up steps to get to the entrance that faced west, (bonus points if you can also remember the name of that theater).
Edit: After typing this all up I think I may have figured it out, I think it's possible it was "Best Products" catalog showroom, that seems to fit my memory but maybe you can confirm it. Thanks.
EDIT 2: Thanks for all the comments, pretty sure now it was "Best" (at least when I shopped there in the late 80's), I had completely forgotten about the conveyor belt.
Really curious if anyone remembers the movie theater I was talking about. My memory was that the parking lots for Best and the theaters were adjacent to each other but I could be wrong. Based on Superbrainbow 's comment I think it would have been where Barnes & Noble sits today.

Hi folks. I got a lot of feedback on a recent post, and a lot of private questions, from new shareholders and new sub members, some of which can't post yet. As I was answering one question, it turned into a long answer and I thought it might help everyone who is new to get somewhat caught-up to speed. I thought I would paste that here and try to reformat it, but stay somewhat brief, hitting the most salient points. I'm going to use simple analogies and big round numbers to make it easy.
Preamble: This is no substitute for all the DD (Due Diligence) already posted over the past 3 years. Please use the DD links, sort the GME related subs by "Top - All" and read posts by the great contributors. This is one person's humble attempt to summarize. I am not giving any specific advice, and I am not a professional in any finance related capacity; I do have a graduate degree in business with a little more than average knowledge in finance, accounting, and economics. If anything here sounds like "advice" its of equal weight to any advice you would get from another non-professional like your friend or family member. This is not the greatest song in the world, this is just a tribute.

1. Gamestop is a video game, accessories, and general technology seller. They also sell related T-shirts, collectibles, Pokemon stuff, etc.
2. Hudge Funds are organizations that often place "counter bets". Basically it's easier to bet that something will fail, than to guarantee something will succeed. You can even take action to scare people or cause failure. It's hard to "scare" people into being certain a stock will go up. But if you scream "roach in the salad" the price of salad is likely to tumble.
3. There is conjecture — (I'm not going to claim a lot of definitive statements; I'm just going to hit the basic theory. Feel free to post links to specific data, evidence, and articles in the comments, or point to established DD) — that certain Private Equity and Consulting companies have done negative business actions on purpose. In other words, rather than help a company recover from trouble, or improve their products, they took advantage of fact 2 above, and intentionally tanked some companies.
4. More on how that works with Shorting below.
5. There is some evidence that some of those orgs managed to get their own people inserted as board members, and did things like load the company up on debt, cash out that debt as bonuses to management, liquidate assets, sell off parts of the company, and basically wring all the juice out of it. Some examples are Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, Birdbath and Beyond, etc. I believe Ryan Cohen (GME) posted pictures on Twitter hinting at Sears (maybe others) showing a tractor knocking down the letters in the Sears sign.
6. If we're being very charitable, you might make the case that management knew the end was near, and it would be impossible to make the company successful, so they might as well milk it. It's important to keep in mind there are a lot of different stakeholders: Management, employees, shareholders, the consulting group, customers, and other businesses that supply to or buy from the company. Some of these choices may have benefitted management and the consultants, but harmed everyone else. You will see the term "Cellar boxing" in the DD, the idea of just punching a company down until it files for bankruptcy, usually because the stock price drops to $0 and gets de-listed from the exchange. Remember that part.
7. I believe this practice accelerated during and after the 2008 recession, and picked up when COVID started. Particularly as the Shorters/Shorts saw that physical locations dependent on public traffic would be hurt by the decrease in people going out in public.
8. Theoretically, shorts saw GameStop as ripe for a shorting. A "brick and mortar" company which could die if kids and teens' parents weren't driving them to the store, and people were saving money for necessities like toilet paper, not spending it on video games.
9. What is Shorting? Being "Long" is believing a share will hold value or increase in value. Presumably if you're "long" you are going to buy a share if you think it will rise in value in the future. That's an easy exchange. If you don't have any shares to be "long" with, you can just buy a share at the market price. If you're short, you can sell any shares that you own. But... how can we make this symmetrical, if you can't sell any shares that you don't own? A short creates this symmetry, the ability to enter an exchange when you don't hold any shares. If I want to short a Ford Mustang but I don't own one, I can borrow a Ford Mustang from my neighbor at $10,000 because I believe the value of Mustangs will go down. I sell that Ford Mustang for $10,000 while the market price is still high. Then my contract with the neighbor says I have to return his Ford Mustang in a week. So I'm hoping in a week, the market price of Ford Mustangs is now $6,000. I buy one at $6,000 and return it to my neighbor, and I pocket the $4,000 difference as profit. (Minus fees to borrow, but I won't introduce complications).
10. The thesis is that these Shorting Hedge Funds listed a Ford Mustang on Facebook Marketplace and sold it to 4 different people, but when the buyers come to collect, they only have one car. This would be a "naked short". Selling something without owning it, or having a reasonable ability to obtain those shares when required to pay them back to the lender. When you see people talking about "short interest" or "percentage of the float sold" and that number is above 100%, the implication is that someone has sold more shares than actually exist.
11. How can we allow this to exist!? Well, in theory, it's not inherently bad. Banks do what is called "fractional reserve banking" all the time. Let's say the bank has $100. They can lend, take payment, save your checking account, savings account, etc. But if they notice that at any given time, they only need $80 to operate, they say "Hey wait, there's $20 here we could be doing something with, because historically we've never needed all $100 at the same time. We could lend that $20 to someone, get paid interest, and share that between ourselves and our banking customers". It's like owning a gym, not every member could show up at the same time. So you should sell memberships until the observed number of people showing up starts to keep the gym full. If you don't you're letting assets go to waste. This concept can be abused. Shorting more shares than exist is possible on the theoretical basis that there's always shares and money flying around all the time, and there's rarely a time to "stop and settle all bets". As long as a firm believes they can keep running their business, they will push this edge as far as possible.
12. But why would someone sell more items than they believe they can obtain? This is where the de-listing and bankruptcy intersects with shorting. If a stock continues to rise (and presumably a company like that would stay in business) any gains or risks on the upside will always exist as long as the company is a going concern. But.... when a company goes out of business, or the stock is de-listed, there is nothing to repay. Let's say we move to an all-bicycle world and no one wants to buy a Ford Mustang. Then... you never have to repay the car you borrowed. So if I'm 99% sure that Sears is going out of business, I have an incentive to sell many multiples of Sears shares, because I believe it's going to go bust, and I'll never have to pay them back, so I keep all the profit I made.
13. What is gamma and hedging? Let's say I become an expert on knowing which cars are going down in popularity and I "short" cars all the time. No matter how many cars I borrow, sell, buy, and return to the lenders, for every 10 cars I'm making deals on I never need more than about 8 cars on hand at a time. So to limit my risk I buy and keep about 8 cars on hand, in case I do need them. This is gamma hedging. It keeps me from getting caught with zero cars and suddenly needing to buy a bunch.
14. The conjecture in the GME thesis is that hedge funds shorted a lot of shares that they don't actually have an ability to obtain. They thought surely GameStop was going to die. They would get to keep all their xerox copy profits. And possibly they did not fully gamma hedge the amount they should. Put a pin in this gamma hedging, this will come up later.
15. What they didn't count on was Ryan Cohen. RC believed "I can make this business work", and he became determined not to let it die. And Keith Gill / RoaringKitty / DeepFuckingValue believed Ryan Cohen would turn around GameStop. Depending on exactly when people started paying attention, GME was trading in the neighborhood of $4 to $5. Yes, four dollars and change. RK/DFV believed "this could go huge". If the stock even went to $40, you could 10x your money. As more people started learning about this and buying in, even people who bought in at $40 were able to sell when the price spiked to $400, also a 10x. If you were lucky enough to buy around $4 and sell around $400, you 100x'd your money.
16. Do some Googling on the VW squeeze. I'm not going to post a picture, just look at the images that come up from a search. It's a parabolic spike. Like this ..n...n...n...nNM^n...... Bubble, bubble, bubble, boom spike upwards. There are many articles about it. That's the best way to understand the general thesis in this case. Super short version, VW was oversold, the Porsche/VW company bought back some shares, it spiked.
17. Once you understand that, look at the GME ticker for January 2021. Compare that shape to the VW pictures you found. That peak in GME is when Robinhood and some other brokers grayed-out the "Buy" button, which panicked a lot of people who either couldn't buy, stopped buying, or sold in fear. Then the price dropped. We don't know what it could have reached that day without the scare.
18. If it's true that the SHF's never unwound their positions, then they have continued to sell fake shares. There is reason to believe all the data may be so hopelessly corrupted that there's no telling what the real short interest is. A lot of people don't believe many of the market numbers posted are accurate.
19. What is DRS? Direct registration is direct ownership of a share. When you go to a restaurant and make reservations, they don't slot your name on a specific table at a specific time, because they don't know the exact time the previous party will finish and leave. This is another example of fractional reserve. If a restaurant has a good sense of the time it takes to "turn tables" then they can use that average to multiple X minutes times Y people waiting, and give you an approximate wait time, or an approximate time to arrive for your reservation. Remember that shares and dollars are always flying around, with a somewhat reasonably assumption that "Oh well, if I have too many I can sell, if I don't have enough I can buy a few". But when a stock is very unusual, these normal expectations can be dangerous. Direct Registration is like putting your name and number on one specific share. It's the closest thing to having a physical piece of paper in your hand saying "This is my share". This has become incredibly rare, and most people don't actually own the shares on their brokerage's ledge. You and I may show we have "10" shares of GME, but Vanguard actually just keeps a pool of 20 shares total, and when you or I buy or sell, they settle the difference and give us our money or take our money. Direct Registration with ComputerShare (the agent for GameStop) is a 1:1 named ownership of a specific share. When you transfer from Vanguard or Fidelity to CS, Fidelity has to "locate" (have on hand or buy) N shares and transfer those N specific shares to CS where they are booked in your name. That takes them out of circulation.
20. Whatever amount of shares of GME are DRS's cannot be bought or sold, so the "free float" (remaining shares in the market) keeps shrinking. (You can of course sell your CS DRS's shares when you want, but this is assuming you're just holding). This is the reason behind the big push for everyone to DRS their shares to CS, to keep shrinking the pool of real shares available, making them more scarce relative to the demand SHF's have to obtain shares.
21. And... the majority of people who are long on GME believe they haven't seen any market evidence that the Shorter's have ever covered their positions. Indeed, it seems like they have continued to double-down, selling more fake shares.
22. Susan Trimbath PhD. spends a lot of time talking about FTD, which is "fails to deliver". Essentially, "Yeah, I know you bought a share from me at $X, but I don't have one to give you, sorry. Give me a few days and I'll get it to you". The fact that "FTD" is even an acceptable concept is an abuse of fractional reserve operations in my opinion. Some countries have banned FTD. If you don't have a share, you are forced to buy it at whatever the current market price and deliver the share to the buyer. That is not currently the case in the US.
23. What are calls? A call and a put are opposites. I'm going to focus on calls. You can pay a small price for a call, which is the contracted right to buy N amount of shares (generally 100 each) at a pre-determined price. Let's use current numbers approximately. RK/DFV buys 120,000 calls, giving him the right to purchase 12 Million shares at $20 (the agreed price) on or before the date of June 21. If the market price of the shares drops below $20, then he would never exercise those shares (in most cases, there could be an exception), but generally if you can just market buy at $18, why bother exercising the calls? (A put is the contract to sell an amount of shares at a pre-determined price before a set date).
24. That is what RoaringKitty's calls are about. He bought enough calls to get the right to contractually buy 12 Million shares of GME. From people with more knowledge of the market, and access to better tools (you have to pay a lot for some of these tools), it looks like all the market makers combined only have a little over 9.8 million shares combined. So there is no way they can meet his 12 million shares if he exercises those calls. (Or sells them to someone else who exercises them).
25. Since the price at the minute I'm typing this is $46, and his calls are for $20, if he exercised right now, he's guaranteed a $26 profit on every single one of those 12 million shares (roughly $312 Million net profit). (Or, whoever else he sells them to)
26. If that happens, the theory goes that the market makers will have to scramble to purchase the shares they don't have on the open market, which means buyers are in a bidding war and the price goes up. This creates a positive (moving up) cycle where the higher the share price, the more valuable the $20 calls are, which makes the market makers need those shares more, which means the price goes higher, (repeat until something breaks).
27. And if it's true that this is musical chairs and there's not actually as many real shares as there are supposed shares which have been sold... then that buyers' auction is essentially impossible, they will be bidding on shares that don't exist trying to close their positions.
28. The risk of shorting a stock is theoretically infinite, because the price of a stock can go up to "who knows". For example, I believe the highest known stock price every recorded was Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) at $610,000 per share. There's theoretically no reason GME couldn't go to $610K a share (or higher). So let's say you have 10 shares which you bought at $35 this past week. You would net about $6 Million if the share price runs up to $610,000.
29. Now... that's just one example, and it could even go higher, or it could peak much lower. Let me be clear that I don't know, and no one else does either. But it's at least a realistic number, being a price that someone has paid for a stock in he past.
30. Another way of looking at the "what if" is a percentage of movement from some established base price. Everything depends on what price you bought in, and what price you sell. But some comparisons, Overstock spiked about 968%. Tesla spiked about 67%. The Volkswagen spike was about 374%. The GME spike in 2021 was about $483 over $18, so around 2683% — and we don't know how high it could have gone without the "buy" button scare.
31. If GME were to spike 2683% now, (I'm looking at $49 in aftermarket at the moment) then that would be around $131,400 dollars (net gain, I'm subtracting the $49) per share. Multiply that by how many shares you bought at $49. If you want to generally play "the calculator game" just look at your "Cost Basis", or the amount that you paid for all your shares, divided by your total number of shares (you'll have to look this up, or do some spreadsheet math if you have shares spread around several brokers). Just take the current or your dream price you hope it's going to hit, subtract your CB from it, and multiply that net gain times the number of shares you own. (There could be some transaction fees based on your brokerage and how you trade. Personally, my Vanguard and Fidelity portfolios do not charge me any trade fees).
32. This is general knowledge to the best of my ability, and not any guarantee of results or "advice" in a professional capacity. I am an average person working a non-finance related job, though I do have a graduate degree in business and know a little more than the average bear about economics, finance, and accounting.

Of course this leaves out a ton of detail.
If people want to help with an area they are very knowledgeable on, I would suggest posting a comment with one of these numbers, and explain in more detail or provide links to good DD, past posts, YouTube videos, or memes.
If something here is fundamentally incorrect, please note the number, explain, and I will try to edit in a better explanation (Please don't nit-pick this to death. I'm just trying to get a simple explanation for new folks to start from).
If you're going to write an expanded explainer, do a thread search for that number first, and make sure someone else hasn't already written what you plan to say.
This does not touch on: The 4-for-1 split. The Wu-Tang album. NFT's. Acquisitions. The nearly $1 Billion recently raised by at-the-market shares sold. Or, GameStop's elimination of debt, and having ~ $2 Billion in cash on hand. Ryan Cohen and GameStop's agreements and plans to buy and trade securities as part of their business model.

The Kmart still has a Garden Shop sign! The sign was taken off in 2022 but it is surprising they didn't take off all signage. The Kmart has been closed since December 15th 2019 but has already fallen into such disrepair. The Kmart had red painting until the closing sale where some was painted brown and the rest stayed red. Kmart started painting the arches brown even though the red looks so much better. It's as if the Kmart was announced to be closed while they were repainting the arches. The store closed with international falls being the part of the final three with Rochester closing just before them. After 46 years the Kmart in St Paul's blue light went out and it already looks like it has been gone for decades. The right area was what I believe to be a Savers. If anyone knows what it was that would be a huge help (Google maps picture to visualize.) I will try to post a picture for this building. This building had a fridge for cold milk next to the checkouts. Shows how much the people in the neighborhoods relied on that Kmart. Considering they have no Sears, kmart, or Walmart it must be hard as I believe there are low income families that live there.

I'm in a season of depression. At 21, I've been the bearer of a lot of pain from my parents, who meant well but lacked the love I needed as a sensitive kid with a soft interior. I had a full-ride scholarship to college all sorted out in middle school when my mom was deported. I spent two years living alone in a scholarship residence until my chronic procrastination and poor grades got me kicked out.
Then in high school, I had a turbulent, beautiful, devastating relationship with my only friend, a highly dependent person that became so unbearably stressful I had to cut them off.
I've tried to start college twice and had to drop it because life has gotten in the way. I'll be picking it back up this next month to start a psychology degree. I've decided I'm becoming a therapist.
I've had the support of my own awesome therapist for the past two years, which I wouldn't be here without. I spent a long time deep in the throes of depression until I tried medication, picked myself up and learned to drive, got a job, and generally found a peace previously inconceivable to me.
Now that I've decided I need to move out of my parents' house, it's all bubbling back up with excruciating intensity. I feel barely human. I've been working 3 years and have $1,000 in my account. I shared my bank info with an obvious scammer years ago in a moment of absolute desperation and am only just now resolving the searing burn to my banking prospects. I'm deep in the prison I built myself and looking for any possible way to get out.
I know at my best and brightest, I'm an intelligent, gentle, wise, kind and funny young man with a heart of gold. I know my love for writing, reading, learning, and all things weird make me a brilliantly unique individual with a perspective worth sharing. I know there are features worth loving in me.
But right now, I can't see any of them. I can't even relax at all. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed anything that wasn't a YouTube video or the same video games with the same formula I play every day. I know I don't have to be perfect right off the bat, or ever. I know I don't have to have every single thing figured out or be famous or change the world for my life to matter. I just can't settle down. I can't even talk to people because I feel so distant from all of you - from life.
At my most dissociated, I think of humans as biological beings, as evolved creatures, with our biological drives and purposes that boil down to reproduction and gene transmission. I think of the futility of self, story, meaning, purpose. I see facades dissolve and leave behind a meaningless husk that feels closer to absolute existence but terrifies me and fuels the fear that I don't want to exist in this world if I have to face the pain of being alive, or of being seen.
I'm not sure what exactly I'm seeking by writing this. Just to be seen, I guess. To put myself in the painful position of being witnessed. I've retreated inwards and I hate who I am right now - who I feel like, I guess. So I'm gonna put him on display to be taken in fully, or as fully as a Reddit post allows.
Thanks to anyone who read this. Any words are welcome.

The Update Your Outdoor, E-Gift Card, and Now Trending sections on the Kmart homepage are all new! Before, they just had that “These Deals Won’t Last Forever” picture at the top and then the round buttons for all the different categories.
The Sears website is also different, they’re advertising their Memorial Day Sale, Father’s Day gifts, and Lawn & Garden stuff. It’s not one static year round page anymore.
I also noticed, as I was shopping, a lot more items sold by Kmart (and Sears) itself and not the third parties people complain about.
I wonder if they’ll keep this up? Having seasonal stuff (grills, patio furniture, summer dresses, and sandals) on the homepage instead of just one all year round page? Guess we’ll just have to keep checking back for the Fourth of July and Back To School layouts!
If I’m not mistaken, the little blue “Start Chat” button at the bottom right of the page is new, too.
I’m happy they’re putting in the effort to improve the online experience for customers.
Can’t wait to see what they do next!

So, long story short...I had a TBI, I have a hard time understanding things sometimes if it gets to complicated. It fucking sucks, I am P&T an think I'm going to be replaced at my job within the next few weeks to months again. My TBI SW recommended SSDI with a lawyer. I said I'm to young. I've tried to read the threads on here, do you meet with a councilor or something? I see people getting computers, to be honest...I'm lucky I can work my phone lol (im just not tech savvy). Idc about all that, just a job that doesn't make me feel so burnt the fuck out...it blows because my job is not to hard in theory and I know that but doesn't play out like that. Do I just meet with them and say I want to work at Kmart or sears or a type of place? I know they've offered it before.

I’m working on a new Kmart server if anyone wants to join. My one rule will be no personal drama basically, other than that I want it to just be a really chill place to hangout for kmart and sears enthusiasts. I havent made a server in over 4 years so bear with me while I add to it pls.

I know it's a SurePOS model but I am wondering what's the specific model. Since I might buy at least the "computer" part of it.

In this case, Walmart decides to try to declare war on Kmart's HQ in Troy, MI. They break windows and stuff and decide to invade Kmart stores, Thousands are injured, while hundreds are dead. Kmart tries to fight back and in 2004, they use Sears to help them. Sears joins the forces with them and the war ends in 2005, with Walmart winning.
Next scenario will be the second one (2018-present)

This information is from Wikipedia: Sears, Roebuck and Co. , commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began as a mail ordering catalog company migrating to opening retail locations in 1925, the first in Chicago. In 2005 of our timeline, the company was bought by the management of the American big box discount chain Kmart, which upon completion of the merger, formed Sears Holdings. Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. In 2018, it was the 31st-largest. After several years of declining sales, Sears's parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. It announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction, and that a reduced number of 425 stores would remain open, including 223 Sears stores.
What if in an alternate timeline Sears never filed for bankruptcy because it never suffered a decline in sales?
How much longer would Sears last without the declining sales?

There have been a few posts lately related to books and referees and which ones to buy. This is an updated repost of my own survey of books and who they might be useful for, so here I present Frescanation’s Incredibly Incomplete Guide to Ancient Numismatic Literature. It is incomplete because there are tons of books and other scholarship on ancient coins, some of it going back hundreds of years. An exhaustive study would be worth its own book, and this is a guide for new and new-ish collectors. All of these books will be helpful to you in some way as you go on a collecting journey, but not all of them are necessary by any means. Many are out of print, often long so, and books on ancient coins are specialty works and frequently expensive (like a college textbook is). The out of print books can be hard to find and might require using a used or even specialty bookseller (which is often easy now thanks to Amazon and B&N). I am primarily going over the general references. There are plenty of specialty texts, often looking at a single ruler or city or a narrow time period. Warning - this will be a long post.
Books for Complete Beginners
Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins, Zander Klawans ($15 new)
This is a small paperback book about half devoted to Greek and half to Roman coins. The Greek section is a survey by city and region. The Roman section has a survey by ruler. There is a good intro to reading inscriptions and recognizing reverse types (if you have wondered how someone tells the difference between Fortuna and Providentia, this is a good place to start).
Pros: Cheap, small and easily portable. Readily available. Very easy to use and understand.
Cons: Extremely limited in scope. If you stick with the hobby, you will outgrow this book pretty quickly, replace it with something below, and never look at it again.
Ancient Coin Collecting, Wayne Sayles (6 volumes, $25-50 each used)
This series came out in the late 90s and was a gateway drug for many of us. The series consists of 6 slim hardbound books with great photos and clear text by one of the great educators of the hobby. The six volumes are on General Collecting, Greek, Roman, Roman Provincial, Byzantine, and Non-Classical Cultures in that order. You certainly don’t need a volume for a field you aren’t interested in, but they are all good reads (and might get you interested in something you currently know little about).
Pros: Relatively inexpensive. Gorgeous photographs. If you want to get into ancients but you aren’t sure which segment to collect, this will help you choose.
Cons: This is very much an introduction and not a set of reference books. They won’t help you identify coins beyond the absolute basics. Like Klawans, you will outgrow these and likely not look at them again.
Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins, David Van Meter ($40-75 used)
This book was an attempt to create a “pro” reference for the Everyman collector. The book presents a broad survey of coins by ruler and type from Augustus to the fall of the Western Empire. It contains all of the inscriptions and the majority of the reverse types for each emperor. This is the first book on this list that will really help you identify and date a coin from scratch (you’ll be able to use it help answer those “hey what is this” posts here). There is a decent but limited amount of history on each ruler.
Pros: Reasonably complete. If your budget is very limited and you can only get one reference book, this is a good choice. It is particularly easy to use.
Cons: The production quality is not the best. This is still not a standard reference, and you will never see a coin cited by Van Meter number.
Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, David Vagi, (2 volumes, $50-200 used)
This is an unusual reference. The first volume is all history, and contains pretty complete biographical information for everyone who was on a Roman coin. Some of these are quire extensive, such as the sections on Augustus and Trajan, and some are very limited, as there are many men known only to history by their coins. The value of the history volume may be questionable in the days when a guy like Majorian can easily be looked up online, but Vagi is a good and engaging writer and the whole volume is an entertaining read. The second volume is all coinage, and somewhere between the single and five-volume Sear in scope. Rough values are given in terms of “rarity bands”, and the photography is quite good. If you buy this online, make sure you are getting the complete set.
Pros - Very well-written history. The coin reference is very easy to use.
Cons - This never quite became standard, and you won’t see coins cited by Vagi number. The book doesn’t go into minor variations of type, and is actually much more limited than Van Meter in this regard. Photos are limited to one per ruler, and you won’t get much help identifying a coin with incomplete legends. Pretty much everything in the history volume is on Wikipedia and similar.
Late Roman Bronze Coinage, Guido Bruck ($25 new)
Disclaimer - I don’t own this, but a friend recommended it. This book is designed to help collectors attribute Roman 4th and 5th century bronzes, especially if poorly preserved or damaged. Since these are often the exact coins a beginner first encounters, it might be useful, especially if you have a coin and all you can read is D N CON and part of a reverse legend.
Pros - Cheap, and If you are collecting a lot of $20 and under bronzes, this will save you a lot of trips to Reddit for attribution help (or you can start providing it)
Cons - Very limited in scope, not a true reference
Books for Intermediate Collectors
Roman Coins and Their Values, David Sear (5 volumes, $50-100 each new)
If you are serious about Roman coin collecting, this series is about as close to must-have as you can get. This is the current printing and massive revision of one of the classic Roman coin references. It presents a highly complete ruler by ruler list with a complete catalogue of legends. It then goes through each known reverse type of each denomination in alphabetical order, including minor variations. Each volume contains the same full section on identifying reverse types and dating, so if you only get one or two volumes, you still have it. Each type is listed with a value. These are not always accurate, but very useful in a relative sense. If a coin is listed at $20,000, odds are you didn’t find it for $15 on Ebay. There are photographs for every reverse type (although not for every variation), which helps enormously with attribution. This is always the first place I go when researching a coin. If your focus is narrow, you can easily get by with just one volume.
Pros - This is a standard reference, and citing a coin by Sear number is pretty common. You will be highly unlikely to come across a Roman coin that is not listed here. The culmination of the life’s work of a numismatic legend. It is still available new, and will likely get pricier over time.
Cons - Harder to use, and you do need some idea of what is on the coin to get started. The complete set will run over $300, which is going to seem daunting if buying a $30 coin is a big deal for you, and you’d rather buy coins than books about them.
Special Note- the older, single volume edition is still widely available used for around $50 and under. It only contains about 20% of what is in the new edition, but that 20% is great, and includes most coins you will likely encounter. The photography is not quite as good, and the values are wildly out of date, but it can easily serve as the only reference you ever have.
Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins, 2nd Edition (ERIC II), Rasiel Suarez ($80 new)
This is the newest entry into the field of general Roman coin references and was published in 2011. I really like this book, and if you are a Roman coin collector with a limited budget, get this. Like Sear, it goes ruler by ruler, gives an exhaustive list of legends, obverse types and reverse types, and has representative photography of all reverses. Like Sear, if you know who is on the coin and can read most of the legend, you can can use this to attribute the coin. As a bonus, the book covers the entire Roman period including the East after 476. I’m unaware of any other reference that includes Eastern/Byzantine and traditional Imperial coinage in one volume.
Pros - Aims to a be a single-volume resource for all things from Augustus to Constantine XI, and largely succeeds. Photography is in color and excellent. An absolute bargain for what you get
Cons - You need to know who is on the coin to get started. It’s a big, heavy book. A lot of what it does can be duplicated by online databases.
Roman Silver Coins, H.A. Seaby et al (5 volumes, $25-50 each used)
All silver, nothing but silver, but extending from Republican times through the end of the Western Empire. The best feature of this book is the extensive photography which covers basically all silver reverse types. It is also the best easily available reference that covers Republican silver in any kind of detail. Values are given, but the most recent edition is from 1982 and these are wildly out of date, to put it mildly. (Who’d like to buy an EID MAR denarius for 7000 GBP? Everyone!)
Pros - A lot of collectors focus on denarii, and if you do, these books are hard to beat. The first two volumes will take you from the Republic to Commodus, which will cover Twelve Caesars and Adoptive Emperors, which covers two of the major areas of specialty collecting.
Cons - Obviously, not a bronze coin to be found. For the money, I’d rather have the 5 volume Sear if I had to choose one.
Greek Coins and their Values, David Sear (2 volumes, $50-75 each)
This is the first appearance of a Greek-only reference on this list. Greek Coins are a lot harder to reference and far fewer books have been written for newer collectors.. Roman coins can easily be arranged by ruler and denomination. Greek Coins are arranged by geography, starting in Western Europe and going clockwise around to Africa. Looking up a coin requires knowing that Tarentum is in southern Italy, or that Athens is in Attica and and is listed after Boetia. This was written in the late 70s and has not been revised.
Pros - If you want to collect Greek coins, and don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on books, this is about it.
Cons - Substantially harder to use than Sear Roman, but that’s mostly the fault of the coin series itself rather than Sear.
Greek Imperial Coins and Their Values, David Sear ($40-75 used)
Greek Imperial (now usually called Roman Provincial) coins are frequently neglected by newer collectors. The Romans typically allowed cities to continue to strike their own coins, and many places int he Roman East did so for many years. The legends are in Greek but the types are usually Roman. Sear’s volume is the simplest reference for a diverse series of coins. As a disclaimer, I don’t collect these coins and don’t own this book.
Byzantine Coins and their Values, David Sear ($40-75 used)
Chronologically the last in Sear’s trip through ancient coinage, this is the best introductory reference for coins of the Roman East from the reforms of Anastasius to the fall of Constantinople. As a disclaimer, I don’t collect these coins and don’t own this book.
Coinage of the Roman Republic, Michael Crawford ($130 new)
This is the moist comprehensive and definitive reference for the coins of the Republic. If you collect Republican coinage to any great degree, you need this book. Fortunately, the whole thing is also available online for free at http://numismatics.org/crro/
The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators, David Sear ($75 new)
This is a very limited book, covering only the period from Caesar crossing the Rubicon to the defeat of Mark Antony at Actium. But that short, tumultuous period is covered in great detail. There is a ton of history, and the book is exhaustive for the period covered. If you are interested in Caesar, Antony, Pompey, or the other figures of the period, this is an irreplaceable book.
Late Roman Bronze Coinage, Carson/Hill/Kent ($50 used)
Note that this is not the same book as the Bruck title noted earlier. This borders on advanced and goes over every minor variation from every mint. This is probably a book that if you really need it, you already know about it.
Books for advanced collectors
I will mention these to mention them. If you are into ancient coins enough to potentially need any of these, you are already well aware of their existence.
The Roman Imperial Coinage, Mattingly et al (10 volumes, $100-250 each)
This is the major scholarly reference for Roman coinage. It is exhaustive to the point that “not in RIC” is a big deal. It is not very user friendly, but if you are advanced enough to need it, you can probably figure it out. If you are a specialized collector, you might only need one volume of this. A full set will easily run $1500, but it will hold its value very well and will likely be easier to later sell than any coin in your collection.
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum. Various (many volumes, $100-500 each)
There is no RIC for Greek Coins, but this series probably comes closest. It started as a British project to catalogue the great collections of Greek coins. There are 13 volumes in the original series. The project spread to other countries, and there are now over 120 individual volumes under the SNG umbrella. They are usually referred to by the country they come from (e.g. SNG Copenhagen is the Danish Royal collection, SNG America is the American Numismatic Society collection). A specialized Greek collector would be interested in the various volumes regarding their special interest. By the time you need SNG, you won't need my advice on getting it.
Byzantine Coins, Phillip Grierson ($200-400 used)
Probably the best respected single volume reference for Byzantine coinage. Mainly for advanced collectors, but would qualify as the only volume on Byzantine coins you are ever likely to need. Note that Grierson also wrote a book called Byzantine Coinage that is a much more general survey, as well as an intro to the Dumbarton Oaks collection (see below). This book is much cheaper (around $75) and shouldn’t be confused with the more expansive reference.
Catalogue of Byzantine Coins in the Collection of Dumbarton Oaks, Grierson et al (6 volumes, $200 each)
There is no RIC for Byzantine coinage either, but this probably comes closest. It is the catalogue of what is easily the best Byzantine/late Roman collection in the world. The collection itself is searchable at https://www.doaks.org/resources/coins/catalogue#b_start=0

I was in the tub and started thinking about all the occurrences of Nintendo threatening to pull out of stores that refused to stop carrying unlicensed games. [1] What I started to wonder, though, is that while they could push around smaller mom-and-pop type shops, I don't see how Nintendo could just pull out of places like Toys-R-US, Kmart, Target, Walmart, Sears (who still had a big electronics section at that time), KB Toys, and similar without hurting themselves without giving Sega (especially after Sonic the Hedgehog had been released) (and even NEC) more visibility while reducing their own.
I also wonder if any of the big retails called Nintendo's bluff? A lot of the instances that I read about were in the late 80s and early 90s when Sega was already gaining some good traction and the Super Nintendo wasn't out yet or was young. These big stores were how I and many others were able to really see the SNES up close and really get a feel for it and play Super Mario World (or any other title that was in the display kiosk, though my recollection was SMW in every store we went to) so without that visibility in the big outlets, where one could try it out, instead people would be playing Sonic and such at the Sega display.
Could Nintendo really afford to pull out of such places, especially with the SNES coming out soon (late 80s, early 90s) or soon after it launched, and give up the biggest venues for hands-on and general visibility? Or was this just simply scare tactics that they could only really follow through on with small shops?
[1] Interestingly, I can't find any evidence of them doing this for peripherals, and there were plenty not licensed, as I remember seeing many on store shelves back then.

I am willing to bet that Rite Aid doesn’t survive past 2025 AT BEST. Here are my top 5 reasons why:

1. They are selling the underperforming stores and scripts to CVS or Walgreens making their competitors stronger!!
2. A weak company going in and out bankruptcy like this can only afford to pay its employees bottom dollar and will not attract top shelf talent. Therefore any new hires are people who have been passed up by other companies they interviewed with and settling for Rite Aid. The management is ready to sell off the remnants of the company to enrich their own pockets at the expense of store employees.
3. Rite aid is in massive debt to creditors. Profits they earn will not be invested back into the company to improve stores or reward employees rather… profits will first be used to pay back interest… and corporate bonuses.
4. Rite Aid is a pharmacy that happens to have a store NOT a store that happens to have a pharmacy (Walmart, Kroger, ShopRite, Giant Eagle, Meijer etc.) ALL THE PROFIT has to come from the pharmacy and unlike CVS who has a PBM (Caremark) they cannot get reimbursement rates that CVS gets. And NO: no one is coming to buy Nintendo Wii games of Denise Austin workouts or Dinty Moore canned stew two months away from expiration… nor will Thrifty ice cream or PawTown pet products save Rite Aid when Craftsman and Martha Stewart couldn’t save Kmart and Sears.
5. Customer Perception… when customers/patients see so many closed Rite Aids or dirty Stores with bare shelves they’re going to associate the store with failure. Pizza Hut for example is in a similar situation where they’re more known for their decline in quality and their closed stores repurposed as other businesses rather than their goods and services.

Rite Aid is screwed.. like 1945 Germany and the Russians and Americans are <100 miles away from Berlin levels of screwed.. desperate measures are too little too late to turn the tide. Any stressed employees have already left and any optimistic employees holding out are in denial.

Chapter 1
Tears
​
There were many things they never told her about the cure.
Rain fell heavy on the bridge as a cloaked woman hurried over the trench of Skingrad. She glanced over the side, marveling at how quickly the city's runoff was flooding the entryway. True to its reputation, this was the most impregnable settlement in Cyrodiil outside the Imperial-
She stopped. A flash of lighting illuminated her face. Her small horns and angular features betrayed her Bosmer heritage. But her eyes, wide with fear, glowed pale gold as the light faded. She stared intently at the boulder below, desperate to spot the figure she could swear had just been there. Three seconds, and the expected clap of thunder prompted her to hurry on.
"Hard night to be out, miss" said the woman behind the bar at the inn. "Especially for a little thing like you."
The inkeep looked kindly at the young woman in front of her, studying those strange eyes. Solid black like some sort of nocturnal creature. A Wood Elf, alright. The poor thing was soaked through. Once she was satisfied with the girl's gold for the room, of course, she compassionately ordered her maid to run a hot bath and lay out some dry nightclothes. She also happened to be working on a fresh batch of cider and her famous spice cake, and so she offered to send some up to her room when finished, free of charge.
Such kindness overwhelmed the girl, who stammered her thanks and refused, at least, the cake. Despite not eating in over a day, she wasn’t hungry. She was hardly ever hungry, anymore.
Zealné, after warming her frozen bones with a bath and cider, laid over the covers and stared into the ceiling. The old linens felt like the finest silk on her cleansed skin. Even as her body sunk into the gentle comfort, she could only quietly curse herself. In a hundred and forty-six years of bloodsucking, she had become quite adept at little tricks of illusion to conceal her vampiric eyes, and to control unwitting victims.
If only they warned her about the eyes… They were mortal, almost, but nothing like before she had turned. Her new mortality was decorated with pale amber irises. Unassuming enough, but they changed drastically at night, turning a pale gold. When the light caught her eyes just right, they flashed gold from the back of her pupils, enough to give the appearance of a vampire. She learned quickly that even an ex-vampire could not walk freely among mortals.
After all she went through to be free of that life, after spending months plotting her escape from her Clan, and the sacrifices necessary to restore her mortality, she still had to resort to all the same tricks to survive. At least she took it easy on the charm spell, she assured herself. She still had to pay the woman for her room, right?

• ​

Mist covered the streets in the early morning. A pale autumn sun hung low, deceptively cold behind hazy rose wisps, clinging to the horizon. The little elf stepped out and squinted in the brightness. The cure had saved her from burning in the sun, but she found she could never quite get used to the light. Or perhaps she was just tired, she thought, sighing. She hadn't slept a full night since the day she was cured. Nor could she recall ever dreaming. Pressing forward, she had much to do before she could attempt a nap in the afternoon.
The School of Julianos opened at ten. Zealné risked being seen, but needed supplies for whatever journey lay ahead of her. She suffered the morning to spend the last of her gold at the market and secured her haul at the inn behind an illusory sigil.
Precisely on schedule, the city echoed with first bell. Class was in session. Zealné hid among the throng of worshippers eager to resume their studies, and slipped in unnoticed.
In his office, Father Cantus Acutulus kept his back to the elf girl seated behind him. The midmorning light drifted lazily through the window, warming his office and giving him a most splendid view of the West Weald. Plots of grazeland, vineyards, orchards, and crops, islands of fall-colored trees between them, stretched for miles over the city’s walls. But today, his focus was on the shimmer of gold reflected in the glass before him.
"I'm afraid I have to deny you access to our records, Miss Erulind." He said, in an even tone.
"But..." she carefully replied. "this is the house of Julianos. I thought you welcomed inquiring minds."
"We welcome scholarship, yes. We especially encourage the young to seek our knowledge." The man turned to face her. His eyes were piercing, but not hostile. "But you will not tell me what it is you are looking to study."
"I told you, I-"
"What you told me was a lie, miss. Just like your name, and just like those eyes."
Zealné tensed, but didn't act. Focusing magicka into her palms, incantations and equations filling her mind, ready to launch a flurry of spells if she needed to. But she prayed she could still talk her way out of this. Her magic was strongest in the sun these days, but her body couldn't hope to keep up a drawn out fight in its exhausted state.
"Those illusions are impressive. But you're not the first errant student to try a charm spell on me. And no glamor can hide a curse that powerful from a reflection."
"... I can-"
"Relax, child. I know you aren't a vampire." The graying man said, sitting himself formally at his desk across from her. "At least, not anymore."
The Bosmer studied the priest's face. Instinctively, she sniffed the air. Though her senses were pathetically dulled since the cure. A vampire can smell blood from miles away. A Bosmer should be able to smell adrenaline. All she could smell were old tomes, leather bindings cooking in the sunbeams. Perhaps a hint of wood varnish? Still, she chose to trust her instincts, and lowered her guard, just a bit.
"The God of Logic teaches that Truth, above all else, is the most sacred gift of men and mer. To distort the truth will lead even the most practiced of thinkers down the Path of Fallacy and misinformation. I recognize your need to hide what you are, miss. But I cannot allow you to bring false pretenses into our archives."
Amber eyes studied his grayish blue. In the day, she merely had an unusual eye color for a Bosmer. But she had been cold and wet and shaken the previous night, and unwittingly convinced the innkeeper that her eyes were black, as they had been before she was Turned. A moment of nostalgic weakness. Most humans in this part of Tamriel had never seen a Bosmer without at least a quarter Altmeri blood before. Her alien black eyes and horns would likely be a curiosity now, and so she had to keep up the glamor all day. Seeing how her lies had turned against her, she thought that Julianos' teaching was perhaps well-founded. Still..
"Let me offer you this. I swear to you right here that I shall not divulge your mission or your identity to anyone. On my life. If you tell me the truth. Right now."
Nineteen months of running, of concealment, and the guilt of a new mortal soul had fallen away. Somehow, this stranger had cut through her defenses with precision. She left out many details, but tears fell into her lap as she nonetheless blurted out her story.
"So the Lyrezi Clan is still after you?" asked Cantus, softly, when her tears had stopped and enough silence had passed.
"They want revenge for leaving them."
"And you believe you can find a way to stop them in our archives?"
"...yes." Her throat was dry. "My clan is bound to Molag Bal through an altar in our.. in their lair. It flows with our combined mortal blood. Mine is still mixed in."
"And that is how you believe they can track you?"
"Yes. Even without being one of them... I'm still connected. I can feel them, closing in around me. But there's stories of an artifact that-"
"The Font of Julianos!" the old priest interrupted, eagerly. "Yes, I have studied its legends extensively. A humble inkpot, blessed by the Father of Wisdom, that vanishes whatever ink is put inside. All of it. Even when it is already written down. An instrument of confession."
Zealné paused for a moment, comparing this version to her own. "We called it the Well of Secrets. But it's supposed to be an artifact of Herma Mora, and it specifically erases the bonds of blood. Dunmer used to use it to cut off disinherited children from calling on their ancestors."
"There are many versions of the legend." the priest nodded. "In any case, your plan is quite fascinating! But there is one problem with it. When you were cured... did they tell you about your blood?"
"I... they didn't tell me anything."
"Well, have you considered that there may be side effects to being an ex-vampire?" He asked a little too excitedly. His enthusiasm too thick to see her glare at him. "Your Clan may not be after you just for petty revenge, or even to protect their secrets!"
She watched the priest in bewilderment as he hurried over to his own personal bookshelf. For the first time, she actually saw that they were all dedicated to vampire lore. Copies of tomes she had seen a thousand times in her Grandmaster's own study turning violet in the light of the setting... When did the sun start to set?
"Yesyesyes, it's right here!" He said, excitedly flipping through a tome. When he was satisfied he had the right page, he turned toward the girl, carrying the open book in one hand, and in the other, a metallic clamp with a needle at one end. "Black soul shines like the sun. Blood with a stolen life is aetherium vitae!"
The sun set below the horizon and navy ichor slowly dripped down into the purple sky. Zealné could feel her magicka flow restricting as the night dulled her power. She noticed the faint glow of sigils, now showing through abstract patterns in the rug, carved into the desk, the door, even scratched faintly into the glass of the window. She recognized them all. Illusion magic. Dulling her sense of time, charming her and misdirecting her attention. How did she not notice this? Was this mortal better than her?
Even as she tried to bring herself to run, her body felt sluggish. Exhaustion started to overwhelm her mind as he cautiously approached her with his device.
"I have spies throughout this city, miss. Trained to spot vampires, cultists, and other servants of the Princes. But when they described you, well... I knew we had quite the opportunity."
Sleep. All she wanted was to sleep…
"Your blood is more valuable to a vampire lord than a thousand healthy thralls. But so few bodies can survive resurrection after undeath. No wonder they're after you! But imagine what we can learn from you! How can one corrupted soul be repaired by another? Where does all the raw power go? Perhaps with your help, we can learn how to cleanse the scourge of vampirism for good!"
Just a pinch. The device clamped around her limp arm barely felt like a needle. This was much nicer than the first bite.
"You, my dear, are truly one in a mil-"
The tip of a dagger stuck out through the front of his robes where his heart should be. His black and green vestments, dulled in the darkness, began to turn shining scarlet in her eyes. The priest stood in shock for a moment, until a small hand reached around him, and pulled it from his heart. A dark-haired adolescent stepped around the body and pushed it thoughtlessly over, hitting the floor with a dull thud.
"Are you serious, Zee?" They said. Their playful eyes glowed the color of the harvest moons. She saw their fangs glint as they tasted the priest’s blood on their dagger. "You of all people fell for this?"
"Alistair." She said with some effort, shaking the cobwebs as the sigils’ power faded with their caster's life. In a moment of clarity she summoned all her feeble stores of magicka and her hands lit up with fire. "Don't come any closer!"
"Relax, Zee. You're safe." The kid said, assuredly. "Like I'd give you over to the boss."
"Don't play games with me, Al! I know the whole Clan is tracking me. The Grandmaster wants me dead!"
"Oh no. What he wants for you is much worse. And not just for leaving. Now come on. This lunatic's got some kind of secret police all over the city. They're bound to figure out something went wrong soon."
"I'm not going back! Forget you saw me!"
They looked at her with a mix of pity and understanding. "Zee..." they finally said. "Everyone was pretty mad when you left. I was too... but I know why you did it. And as soon as I found out what he plans to do to you, I got out too. I even have a new crew now."
Zealné didn't notice when the sound of shouting and spellfire started filtering in through the window. But the howl halted everything, just for a moment. A bloodcurdling siren that was soon joined in chorus.
"Speak of the daedra."
-------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2
The Butcher
​
The child hurried through the back alley that night in Alcaire. Their hands nervously fondled the hilt of the dagger hidden in their sleeve. They had been abandoned by their friends at the seedy tavern across town, and had to find their way home in the dark alone. Easy prey.
ꍩꌅꂵꂠꋊ silently crept over the rooftop, sizing up her target. An unworthy opponent for a Hunter of the Green, but an all-consuming hunger compelled her to press on. She cursed what had become of her. With a lifetime of training, she could have gone days eating only insects before her body was taken from her by that damnable clan. Now she was stalking rooftops, chasing human children.
She remembered how they stalked her for weeks, driving her each night farther away from her people, deep into the domain of the Ouze. Unfamiliar territory. She slept during the day, above the canopy where she thought she'd be safe. But after weeks, she was too hungry and exhausted to realize how much cover lay just below her perch, and she was pulled under just as she had lulled herself to sleep one early morning.
They forced her to drink their mingled blood, and after three agonizing days, she turned. She was reborn in a cell, already starving, and still they let her waste away. When they finally threw some helpless thing into her cell with her, all she could think about was tearing out its throat. Her captor's voices relentlessly repeated their Creed into her mind. It took days, but they had beaten her. She killed the poor manling. Sustenance brought her clarity for a day, enough to know what would become of her. Soon, she was going mad with hunger again, until she broke and fed. Again. And again.
By the time they let her out, she was willing to do whatever they wanted for fresh blood. She swore loyalty to Clan Lyrezi, and was rewarded with one final indignity. One baritone voice silenced the others in her head. He reached into her head and sealed away her true name. She was given a new name, seared into the same part of her brain, in memory of an Aldmeri saint. She tried her best to refuse. To summon her own name when she thought of herself. But all that surfaced was noise.
ꌅꐞꈼ꒒ꇒ could no longer hold back. Licking her lips, she stepped forward, knocking a loose shingle off the roof. The child spun around and stared at the spot where their stalker stood and saw only stars. Careless! The invisible vampire would never have made such a mistake in life! All she could do was wait for the poor thing to drop their guard again so she could pounce.
*Mrowl\*
The young vampire had failed to notice the black cat sharing the roof with her. It growled and hissed directly at her. The mortal stared at the cat for a second, then back through her. The faintest shimmer of the stars behind her gave away the disguise. Eyes filling with fear and realization, they bolted for their life.
Zealné cursed. She leapt off the roof, dropping her cloak and started firing spells at the kid, who rolled and dodged with surprising grace. They were good. And Zeal… and ꂦꋖꍩꂑꈼ was completely at the mercy of these instincts. In life, she had learned to see herself as an animal. As equal to the animals she hunted. To trust her instincts in battle. But a starving beast makes a foolish hunter and she was starving. She ceased fire, and focused on bridging the distance between them. She was faster than the kid. Much faster. But they knew these streets better and ducked down another pathway just in time for her to overshoot. Twisting her momentum, she quickly rounded the corner and followed her nose to the child. That last bolt of lightning definitely seared flesh. The smell of death was easy for her to track now. Easier than ever.
Her nose guided her to the castle gardens. Every poisonous plant that could grow in this climate was available there. The new Duke obviously had a hobby. From what she’d heard of Iliac Bay politics, the elf had little doubt how he attained his position. But this child was very good. Her senses were quickly overwhelmed by a whole bouquet of death! It was an excellent place to lose a vampire. Her new clan must have a reputation in this country. It was then she remembered these gardens should have been carefully guarded. Where the hell were the guards?
Subtly rustling leaves gave her prey away. The child had shifted their weight, just for a moment, while ducked behind a hedge on the far wall of the garden. Memory flashed in the vampire's mind of a similar mistake she had made weeks ago. It cost her own life as well. She played like she hadn't noticed and kept walking. Then, using all her new instincts, she seamlessly wove the darkness around her as she crossed a pillar, vanishing from sight. Though her heartbeat was an unchanging dirge, she felt something akin to adrenaline rush to her head. At last. Blood. Blood! Blood! BLOOD!
Zealné was on the pathetic thing in only a second, just as it realized its mistake. It struggled vainly against her strength. She fed, and almost bled it dry. Almost… She let the darkness fall away from her, savoring the kill. She wanted the blood-sack to see its grinning doom. They looked into eachother's eyes, and… Zealné saw the golden glow of her own reflected in the gloss of this child's tears. It.. they were worthy prey. They fought with a clear head and a strong will to live. They gave her an honorable hunt.
Something streaked down the vampire’s cheek. She felt it run cold from her eye. A drop of it fell and splashed on the child's pale, sunken face. It was blood. Even her tears were dead. The dying child breathed shallow, their jaw twitched as they fought the blood loss to say what they knew would be their last words, but Kyne wouldn’t spare them enough breath.
Zealné knew she had taken too much. She never intended to kill for those creatures. Not ever. But this manling would die, convulsing and helpless, if she did not end their suffering. She drew her dagger. A ceremonial blade of the Hunt made of bone and obsidian. She once used it to reward a worthy foe with a swift death, and then as cutlery to devour the body. Other cultures found the practice barbaric, but to her people it was kindness.
Eating wasn't an option anymore. Even if she spared the child this suffering, she would have to leave the drained corpse to rot. Her hand shook. Her religion didn't account for this. What was right? She couldn't let her failure stain the child's death. She couldn't let them…
-
"An interesting choice" the Grandmaster's voice echoed in her mind as she walked away from the dagger, buried in the soil outside the Duke's poison garden. "You are quite honorable. That was one reason why I chose you. On the other hand, you were far more reckless than we expected. I wanted you for your skills as a hunter, Miss Zealné. Perhaps I was wrong."
Zealné ignored him. He took her from her home. He took her name. Her life. Her religion. He would not take her pride. Not ever.
-
In another city, in another era, a Bosmer woman slowly stirred from her fitful slumber. Her amber eyes surveyed the stone room she found herself in. Daylight bled through cracks in the trap door over the stairs in the corner. Dusty shelves overladen with baking ingredients lined the walls. She sat up. Evidently, she had slept on the floor, a sack of flour for a pillow. A large, scratchy coat had been placed over her as a blanket. It smelled like wet dog.
"So.. you're finally awake." Alistair greeted her from atop another crate in the other corner, playing with a set of calipers they'd found. "You were out for almost a day."
This news should have caused her to panic. The events of that night flashed in her mind, but it was drowned out by one thing.
"I had a dream!" She exclaimed out loud to herself. Her first dream since she turned all those years ago. Her heart beat faster with excitement. Did this mean she was becoming… more alive? Was she not finished yet?
Alistair carefully closed the calipers around their fang, playing like they were going to pull it out.
"Grd drea’, I hophe." They said casually, before quickly losing interest in the bit.
"Just…” Zealné studied them for a moment. “Just memories."
Her hand was shaking again. She gripped her wrist to steady it. "Why don't I remember what happened? How did we escape the city?"
"We didn't." They hopped off the crate and gave her an admonishing look. "It was going well at first. Then you started lagging behind. So I paralyzed you, and Hjalmek carried you on his back. But that crazy priest's spies cut us off. We were lucky to make it into the sewer."
"Who's Hjalmek?" She replied, pushing past the indignity.
"He's the guy who figured out you hadn't eaten in days. He's making breakfast."
"I had a stamina potion! If you had let me take it-"
"You didn't eat anything, Zee. You would have thrown it up. You're mortal now, remember?"
A palpable silence fell on the two. Static filled the room from her resentment pressing against their annoyance. This was not how their relationship was supposed to go. She protected them for over a century! Their hotheaded permanent adolescence, a constant liability. When did they get more mature than her?
The cellar door burst open, dispersing the charge. Down the stairs came a large, hairy nord in tattered clothes, a frilly apron splattered in blood, and a copper platter in hand. The disheveled man barely fit under the ceiling at his full height. His icy stare may have seen even more death than she had, and his muscles bulged in odd places, showing the wear of repeated mutation. Zealné tensed at the sight of him. He would have been a deadly opponent even at the height of her power.
"It sounded like arguing down here!" his booming voice opened with a grin. "Hope that means you got your appetite back!"
Hjalmek proudly unveiled his creation. She covered her nose and looked in horror at the layered mess of raw, bloody meat and marrow. Its revolting stench made her gag.
"What?" he asked, hurt. His imposing presence melted away as he fretted with the dish. "I-I promise this isn't a werewolf thing! I was served this in Silvenar! I heard you were from Valenwood.."
Zealné cursed herself. The sting of her lost culture cut into her soul.
"I can't… anymore."
"Oh… Oh gods, I'm so sorry!” The nord cried in a panic. “I didn’t think… I… How about some… porridge?"
"Thank you."
The Bosmer clutched her stomach, waiting for the offending smell to dissipate, and for the changeling to be out of earshot.
“A werewolf, Al?” She finally said, as quietly as her terror would allow. “Really?”
“Werewolves, actually.” They laughed, “The other two couldn’t make it into the city before the lockdown. We got a message out that we’re alive. Just waiting for them to secure a meeting place.”
“And what’s to stop them from killing us? After all our history?”
“They have their reasons, Zee. You’ll have to ask them.”
Zealné was having none of this, but the vampire refused to give any more details about their new “pack” except that they had only worked together for a few months to track her down. They were almost strangers, and still Al vouched for them. This tugged on her stupid mortal heart. They had only ever shown this kind of loyalty to her before. She put her life on the line for them when they were turned against the Grandmaster’s wishes, and countless times since. But how could she possibly trust a pack of Hircine’s dogs? She wanted to respect their judgment, but she was afraid and pushed back, pressing for a better reason to risk everything for whatever plan they had cooked up.
A gentle knock on the trapdoor interrupted their bickering. Zealné tensed, realizing she hadn’t sensed the intrusion. It definitely wasn’t Hjalmek, but somehow it smelled similar. It was familiar, too…
“Sorry to interrupt, dearies.” Came the kindly voice of the innkeeper as she descended the stairs, breakfast tray in hand.
“You!”
“Yeah, it’s me.” The woman laughed. “Nice work on that charm, kid. Not a lot of witches can get past my defenses. Now, you try that again, we’re going to have problems.”
Zee didn’t know how to respond to that. The tension was cut by the smell of hot food in her hands. She had made an effort to tune out the wonderful aromas since she awoke. She realized then that this must be the same inn she was staying at. The familiar spice of the cider still lingered in the air, calling to her from the floor above. But there were eggs and porridge already within reach, and she felt instincts, not unlike the ravenous thirst she felt as a vampire start to creep up on her mind.
Maddeningly, the woman placed the tray atop Al’s last perch and stood between it and the starving girl. “You can eat, but I’ll have a look at ya first.”
She had been through too much to let some old mortal slit her throat. Ignoring the screaming of her instincts, she attempted to appear disinterested.
“Thank you” She said, unconvincingly, “But I’m fine.”
The redguard woman just laughed. “Sure ya are. I’m lookin’ anyway, love. I’m sticking my neck out for ya. Ought to know if yer likely to survive to be worth it.”
Without waiting for the girl’s retort, the woman examined Zealné with care. No one, living or otherwise, had been so close to her without violence since she was alive. Earlier, even… Her fear slowly subsided as the feeling sparked something long dormant in the back of her mind. A sense-memory. She recalled flitting images of auburn hair and a noble set of antlers, silhouetted by a break in the canopy. The figure loomed over her, but she felt so safe.
The moment ended instantly when her lips were unceremoniously parted to inspect her canines like some lapdog. Alistair’s cackling prompted her to swat the hand away. She would rather starve than be gawked at any further.
“Alright. S’pose you’ll live.” said the woman with a look of warning before conceding. “I already had a batch going, but Hjalmek seasoned it and made the eggs. Seemed embarrassed to bring it down himself.”
While Zee devoured her breakfast, Nestra introduced herself, urging the Bosmer in vain to go slow. Though she hardly had time to enjoy it, the memories seared into her brain of the first good meal she had eaten in a century and a half. The porridge had fresh weald berries and cinnamon. The yolk ran down her chin as she noted the perfect portion of salt, minced garlic, and flakes of some sort of herb, though she didn’t know what kind. She suppressed a tear as she finished. Nestra had left, and Al sat themself down cross-legged in front of her.
“Alright, then.” They said. “Here’s the plan.”