The profusion of identical green tents at this spring’s anti-Israel protests struck many as odd. “Why is everybody’s tent the same?,” asked New York mayor Eric Adams. Like others, the mayor suspected “a well-concerted organizing effort” driving the protests. More recent reporting shows a concerted push behind the Gaza protest movement. But it is not as simple as a single organization secretly rallying protesters or buying tents. Instead, the movement’s most determined activists represent a network of loosely linked far-left groups. Some are openly affiliated with well-known progressive nonprofits; others work in the shadows.
The movement also draws on diverse but generous sources of financial backing. Those funding streams may soon be augmented by the federal government. As I chronicled last year in a Manhattan Institute report, “The Big Squeeze: How Biden’s Environmental Justice Agenda Hurts the Economy and the Environment,” the administration’s massive program of environmental justice grants seems designed to prioritize the funding of highly ideological local groups. The Inflation Reduction Act, for example, earmarks $3 billion for “environmental and climate justice block grants” intended for local nonprofits. Today, hundreds of far-left political groups include language about environmental issues and “climate justice” in their mission statements. If just a fraction of planned grants flows to such groups, the effect will be a gusher of new funding for radical causes.
As the Gaza protests spread across U.S. college campuses, many observers noted an eerie uniformity among them. From one campus to the next, protesters operated in disciplined cadres, keeping their faces covered and using identical rote phrases as they refused to talk with reporters. The Atlantic noted the strangeness of seeing elite college students “chanting like automatons.” Students held up keffiyeh scarves or umbrellas to block the view of prying cameras and linked arms to halt the movements of outsiders. At Columbia University and elsewhere, protesters formed “liberated zones,” from which “Zionists” were excluded. Around the edges of the encampments, the more militaristic activists donned helmets and goggles and carried crude weapons, apparently eager to mix it up with police or counter-protesters. We’ve seen these tactics before—notably during the “mostly peaceful” Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, when full-time agitators helped ignite riots, set up a police-free (and violence-plagued) zone in Seattle, and laid nightly siege to Portland, Oregon’s federal courthouse.
In a remarkable work of reporting, Park MacDougald recently traced the tangled roots of organizations backing pro-jihad protests, both on and off campuses. These include Antifa and other networks of anonymous anarchists, along with “various communist and Marxist-Leninist groups, including the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the International ANSWER coalition,” MacDougald writes. Higher up the food chain, we find groups openly supported by America’s growing class of super-rich tech execs or the anti-capitalist heirs of great fortunes. For example, retired tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, who is married to Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, funds The People’s Forum, a lavish Manhattan resource center for far-left groups. As the Columbia protests intensified, the center urged members to head uptown to “support our students.” Following the money trail of other protest groups, MacDougald finds connections to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation, and—surprising no one—the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation.
Of course, the current wave of anti-Israel protests also involves alliances with pro-Hamas organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine. Last November, Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies testified to the House Ways and Means Committee that SJP and similar groups have deep ties to global terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
For many keffiyeh-wearing protestors, however, a recently professed concern for Palestinians is just the latest in a long list of causes they believe justify taking over streets and college quads. In Unherd, Mary Harrington dubs this medley of political beliefs the “omnicause,” writing that “all contemporary radical causes seem somehow to have been absorbed into one.” Today’s leftist activists share an interlocking worldview that sees racism, income inequality, trans intolerance, climate change, alleged police violence, and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts all as products of capitalism and “colonialism.” Therefore, the stated rationale for any individual protest is a stand-in for the real battle: attacking Western society and its institutions.
In the U.S., this type of general-purpose uprising goes back at least to the riots at the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. In those protests, mainstream liberal factions—including labor unions and environmentalists—were joined by “black bloc” anarchists and other radicals eager to engage in “direct action” against police. That pattern—relatively moderate demonstrators providing a friendly envelope for hard-core disruptors—formed the template for many later protests: the Occupy Wall Street encampments in 2011, demonstrations following the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, 2016’s Standing Rock anti-pipeline movement, and of course, the calamitous summer of 2020.
These uprisings were not entirely spontaneous. In some cases, activists spend months planning mass actions—for example, against economic summits or political conventions—and can recruit street fighters from across the country. In others, an event, such as George Floyd’s death, sparks popular protests involving neophyte demonstrators. Those attract far-left activists, who swoop in to organize and expand the struggle, often tilting it toward more radical action.
That has certainly been the case at the college Gaza-paloozas. At Columbia, the New York Times spotted a woman old enough to be a student’s grandmother in the thick of the action as protesters barricaded that school’s Hamilton Hall. The woman was 63-year-old Lisa Fithian, a lifetime activist, who Portland’s alternative weekly Street Roots approvingly calls “a trainer of mass rebellion.” A counter-protester trying to block the pro-Hamas demonstrators told NBC News, “She was right in the middle of it, instructing them how to better set up the barriers.” Fithian told the Times she’d been invited to train students in protest safety and “general logistics.” She claims to have taken part in almost every major U.S. protest movement going back to the 1999 “Battle in Seattle.”
America’s radical network has plenty of Lisa Fithians, with the time and resources to travel the country educating newcomers about the “logistics” of disruptive protests. And these activists appear to have played key roles in the college occupations. The New York City Police Department says nearly half the demonstrators arrested on the Columbia and City University of New York (CUNY) campuses on April 30 were not affiliated with the schools. One hooded Hamilton Hall occupier—photographed scuffling with a Columbia custodian before getting arrested—turned out to be 40-year-old James Carlson, heir to a large advertising fortune. According to the New York Post, Carlson lives in a $2.3 million Park Slope townhouse and has a long rap sheet. For example, in 2005, he was arrested in San Francisco during the violent “West Coast Anti-Capitalist Mobilization and March Against the G8.” (Those charges were dropped.)
For a quarter-century now, Antifa and other anarchist networks have worked to refine tactics and share lessons following each major action. At Columbia, UCLA, and other schools, authorities found printouts of a “Do-It Yourself Occupation Guide” and similar documents. The young campus radicals are eager to learn from their more experienced elders. And, like the high-achieving students they are, they follow directions carefully. MacDougald asked Kyle Shideler, the director for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, about the mystery of the identical tents. There was no need for a central group to distribute hundreds of tents, Shideler said. Instead, “the organizers told [students] to buy a tent, and sent around a Google Doc with a link to that specific tent on Amazon. So they all went out and bought the same tent.”
In other words, America’s radical class has gotten very skilled at recruiting and instructing new activists—even from among the ranks of elite college students with a good deal to lose. How much more could this movement accomplish with hundreds of millions in federal dollars flooding activist groups around the country?
From its first week in office, the Biden administration has trumpeted its goal to funnel more environmental spending toward “disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized,” partly by issuing grants to grassroots organizations. Previous environmental justice (EJ) grant programs were small in scope. But, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, a huge pool of grant money became available. EPA administrator Michael Regan told reporters, “We’re going from tens of thousands of dollars to developing and designing a program that will distribute billions.”
More than a year and a half later, it remains hard to nail down just where the Biden administration’s billions in EJ grants will wind up. Money is being distributed through a confusing variety of programs, and the process of identifying recipients is ongoing. To help outsource the job of sifting through proposals, the EPA last year designated 11 institutions as “Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmakers.” These groups are empowered to make subgrants directly to community organizations, under streamlined EPA oversight. In all, the Biden administration has entrusted these outfits with distributing a staggering $600 million in funding. The money is expected to start flowing this summer.
The EPA’s grantmakers include a number of educational institutions and left-leaning nonprofits. For example, the EPA chose Fordham University as its lead grantmaker in the New York region. Fordham, in turn, lists as partners two nonprofits that oppose immigration enforcement. (One, the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, states on its website: “NJAIJ believes in the human right to migrate, regardless of citizenship or political status.”) Neither group claims expertise in environmental issues. Given that the IRA’s eligibility requirements for EJ grants are extremely vague, however, perhaps that’s not a problem. Almost any activity that could help “spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities” (in the words of Biden’s EJ executive order) might qualify.
Perhaps the most prominent—and problematic—EPA grantmaker is the Berkeley, California-based Climate Justice Alliance. The CJA is a consortium of mostly far-left activist groups. It describes its mission as working for “regenerative economic solutions and ecological justice—under a framework that challenges capitalism and both white supremacy and hetero-patriarchy.” The group is a vigorous proponent of the omnicause, embracing almost every left-wing concern as a manifestation of climate change. For example, the CJA website proclaims: “The path to climate justice travels through a free Palestine.” MacDougald notes that the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, one of CJA’s affiliated groups, “organized an illegal anti-Israel protest in the Capitol Rotunda in December at which more than 50 activists were arrested.”
The CJA website also includes a section dedicated to the cause known as Stop Cop City. It refers to an effort to halt the construction of an 85-acre police and firefighter training center outside Atlanta. Rag-tag activists from around the country have gathered around the facility since 2021. They have repeatedly battled with police—sometimes with fireworks and Molotov cocktails—and used bolt cutters to enter the site and torch construction equipment. (CJA’s Stop Cop City page features a cartoon illustration of three childlike activists; one brandishes bolt cutters.) The group also backs a legal defense fund for activists arrested in attacks on the training center or in other protests. For those looking for more inspiration, CJA links to an interview with former Black Panther and self-described revolutionary Angela Davis.
The Alliance is not an ideological outlier in Biden’s EJ coalition. On the contrary, when the White House assembled its White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), a panel of outside experts meant to provide “horizon-expanding EJ advice and recommendations,” it chose CJA co-chair Elizabeth Yeampierre to help lead the committee. Like other members of the panel, she sees environmental issues through an ideological, not a scientific, lens. “Climate change is the result of a legacy of extraction, of colonialism, of slavery,” Yeampierre told Yale Environment 360. As a group, radical EJ activists tend not to focus on pragmatic ways to reduce pollution and carbon emissions; for them, the real goal is overturning what they see as an exploitative economic and political system. Since these are the voices the White House chose to help shape its EJ policies, we can assume this worldview will dominate grantmaking decisions.
In February 2023, House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, along with fellow committee member Pat Fallon, wrote to EPA administrator Regan asking for more information on the EPA’s grant programs. They noted that the EPA’s own studies of EJ grants issued in previous years showed sloppy supervision. According to an EPA report, an earlier version of the program funded projects that did “not logically lead to the desired environmental and/or public health [result].” Without better oversight and more clearly defined goals, the congressmen wrote, the EPA’s EJ grant machine risks becoming simply a “slush fund for far-left organizations.”
Since then, the administration has done little to reassure skeptics. To the contrary, the EPA has put at least one far-left organization—CJA—in charge of distributing $50 million in grant money. No doubt, many of the EPA grants will go to worthwhile projects. But money is fungible. A group that gets a large grant to, say, clean up dirty parks or teach children about recycling will also be able to hire more staff and divert more resources to political action.
With graduation behind them, most of the anti-Israel college protesters have stowed away their keffiyehs and moved on to summer vacations or internships. But the peripatetic activists who helped guide and intensify those uprisings are doubtless already planning their next actions. After all, two political conventions are looming. This fall, the college protests will likely flare up again, though by then perhaps focused on a different facet of the omnicause. And, with hundreds of millions in fresh funding flowing through the activist ecosystem, the groups that quietly nurture extremists—like those who firebombed “Cop City,” or who chant “Intifada Revolution!,” or who block bridges in the name of “climate”—will be more emboldened than ever.
A Slush Fund for Radical Protesters? City Journal (city-journal.org)
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For those in Blacksburg, here's a rundown of 28 local events you can enjoy in Blacksburg and throughout the New River Valley as June arrives.
Weekend Rundown of Local Fun: 1. Matt Holloman in Concert Rising Silo Farm Brewery, Blacksburg Friday, May 31, 2024, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Born and raised in southeastern Virginia, Matt Holloman has been playing around Virginia for more than 25 years. Growing up on his older brother’s blues collection, Matt mixed the likes of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters with the experimental sounds of songwriters like Leonard Cohen and Frank Black, creating a style all his own. Always interested in reinventing his live performance, Matt uses a looper so he can improvise and manipulate layers of sound not usually heard from an acoustic performer. You can also expect simple, but memorable songs, reminiscent of storytelling songwriters like John Prine and Bob Dylan. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=777075
2. Friday Nights at the Farm with Music from Jim Korb Beliveau Farm Winery, Blacksburg Friday, May 31, 2024, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Jim Korb is an acoustic musician and guitarist based in Southwest, VA and a member of the band Stonehouse. "Just a singer; a natural-born guitar ringer, playing and singing a mix of Classic Country, Eagles, CCR, Skynyrd, and a little bit of everything else from John Denver to The Blues." Beliveau welcomes a special musical guest every Friday night with live music from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM and sing along to all of your favorite classics. Enjoy delicious food from their full service kitchen until 8:30 PM and chat over a glass of wine during our extended bar hours until 9:00 PM. Get a $5 Beliveau Buck to use during your next visit for every $50.00 you spend on Friday nights from 6:00-9:00 PM. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=777450
3. Pizza Roll (Bike Ride) Blacksburg Library, Blacksburg Friday, May 31, 2024, 6:00 PM - TBD Admission: Free The New River Valley Bicycle Association (NRVBA) presents a Pizza Roll starting at the Blacksburg Library. Enjoy a five mile bike ride on the Huckleberry Trail and through Virginia Tech's campus, followed by post ride pizza at Benny's provided by Trek Blacksburg. This is a NRVBA ride, meaning waivers are required and can be filled out on site. If you have never ridden with NRVBA before, your first ride is free. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=777778
4. The Grascals in Concert Little River Bluegrass Barn, Radford Friday, May 31, 2024, 7:00 - 10:00 PM General Admission: $30.00, Reserved Tickets: $35.00 Great musicians will always find a way to make good music, but for great musicians to make great music, they must form a bond – one that, more often than not, goes beyond the purely musical to the personal. For The Grascals, that bond has been forged at the intersection of personal friendships, shared professional resumes and an appreciation for the innovative mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a hallmark of the Nashville scene for more than 40 years. Their cutting-edge modern bluegrass is delivered with a deep knowledge of, and admiration for, the work of the music’s founding fathers. Timely yet timeless, The Grascals make music that is entirely relevant to the here and now yet immersed in traditional values of soul and musicianship. It’s a unique sound that has earned three Grammy® nominations and two Entertainer of the Year awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association, as well as national media attention that seems to perpetually elude acts entrenched in niche genres. Such appearances include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Fox & Friends, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and CBS’ The Talk. The Grascals have over 200 guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry to their credit and have also performed on the revered stages of Radio City Music Hall, the Ryman Auditorium and the Kennedy Center as well as music festivals such as MerleFest, Stagecoach, and the CMA Music Festival. In addition to performing across the United States and Canada, the awarding-winning band has traveled the world to take bluegrass music to Japan, Greece, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Belgium. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=777777
5. Line Dancing at Sinkland Sinkland Farms, Christiansburg Friday, May 31, 2024, 7:00 PM - TBD Admission: $10.00 Join Sinkland Farms for a fun-filled night of line dancing. All types of music and all levels of experience welcome. Energetic, enthusiastic instruction begins at 8:00 PM. Adult beverages and food truck will be available for purchase. Weather permitting, there will be outdoor dancing as well. This event is fun for all. Ages 16 & under must be accompanied by an adult. Doors open at 7:00 PM. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778214
6. 2024 Pulaski County Spring Flea Market New River Valley Fairgrounds, Dublin Saturday, June 1, 2024 and Sunday, June 2, 2024, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM Admission: $2.00, Kids 6 and Under: Free The Dublin Lions Club presents the 2024 Two-Day Pulaski County Spring Flea Market celebrating 49 years. With over 20,000 visitors and 800 vendors spaces, more than a dozen different food vendors offering varied food options and the chance to eat a few of the famous "Lion Dogs", you will not want to miss this event. Check out vendors with crafts, antiques and more at the semi-annual Pulaski County Flea Market. Expect to have a ton of fun hunting for that rare items or the deal of the century. Although over 100 spaces are under roof, it is a largely an outdoor event. All proceeds go to the Dublin Lions and their numerous community causes such as eyeglasses for the needy and hunger relief in the community. This is their primary fundraiser each year. The event is rain or shine and parking is free. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778201
7. Benefit Ride for Bubba Williston's Family KFC, Christiansburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM $15.00-$20.00 Donation per vehicle. The Benefit Ride for Bubba's Family will start and end at KFC. Registration begins at 9:00 AM with kickstands up at 10:30 AM. Help raise money for Bubba Williston’s family. Bubba lost his life on Thursday, April 11th after saving his boys. Bubba leaves behind a wife, Danielle and three small children, Brantley, Kyler and Aubree. Let’s come together as a community and help ease the financial burden. There will also be door prizes, raffle and 50/50 raffle. Lunch will be served following the ride and returning to KFC. All bikes, cars, trucks and all vehicles welcome. Snacks will be provided on ride and lunch and drinks afterward. All proceeds benefit Bubba's wife and his three children. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778242
8. Cabin Fever 12: Six Band Charity Event Cabin Fever, Pilot Saturday, June 1, 2024, 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM Adults: $10.00, Kids 13 & Under: Free Cabin Fever Charity Events presents their semi-annual charitable musical fundraiser event Cabin Fever 12 benefiting the Floyd County Humane Society in honor of Kevin Dodson. A family style buffet and t-shirts will also be available for purchase and there will be both a live and silent auction featuring donations from local businesses and our line-up of seven performers. 100% of the proceeds from all items will be donated to the Floyd County Humane Society. Music Performers include Chris and Chelsea, Seph Custer, Jake and Jess, The Good Ole Boys, The Flying Doves, Hoppie Vaughan and the Ministers of Soul and By All Means. The family style buffet is highlighted by the world class pulled barbecue provided by Cabin Fever friend Hamp Maxwell is $10.00 per person. Credit cards and personal checks will be accepted the day of the event. Pets and children are welcome. Bring your dog and a $25.00 donation will be made on your behalf. All donations made to Cavin Fever Charity are 100% tax deductible. The event is BYOB and lawn chairs are welcome. Parking is free. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778240
9. Summer Reading Kickoff Event Blacksburg Library, Blacksburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Admission: Free Grab your chalk and head to the library to kick off our summer reading program. Enjoy activities like a chalk walk, face painting, bubbles, and a sweet treat. Available while supplies last. All ages are welcome. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=777959
10. Ride-A-Rescue Cornhole Tournament Bisset Park, Radford Saturday, June 1, 2024, 11:00 AM - TBD Tournament Entry: $25.00 per team, Spectators: Free Ride-A-Rescue and Winterfrost Farm presents their Ride-A-Rescue Cornhole Tournament. Ride-A-Rescue is a local, non-profit, equine rescue that is holding an epic Cornhole Tournament throwdown to raise funds and awareness for their rescue's operation and rescue horses. The Cornhole Tournament is a double elimination tournament and open to all ages. There will also be a Kids Corner open all day and food vendors on site. First, second and third place teams will win big prizes. Teams can battle back in the Losers Bracket for another shot at the championship. All participating teams will also be entered in a drawing for awesome bonus prizes. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=776144
11. Lazy, Crazy, Hazy Days of Summer JBR Vineyards LLC, Pearisburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 12:00 - 5:00 PM and Sunday, June 2, 2024, 1:00 - 5:00 PM Admission: Free Wine Pricing: Tasting: $5.00, Glass of Wine: $5.00, Bottles of Wine: $15.00-$20.00 plus tax Experience the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer with a delightful afternoon of wine tasting. Savor fine wine in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. Stroll through the vineyard with a glass of your favorite wine. Credit cards and cash accepted. Dogs and kids welcome. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778155
12. Annual Loyalists in the Backcountry Event Wilderness Road Regional Museum, Newbern Saturday, June 1, 2024 and Sunday, June 2, 2024, 12:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Join the Wilderness Road Regional Museum for the Two-Day Annual Loyalists in the Backcountry Event and learn about both the Patriots and Loyalists in the Backcountry of Southwest Virginia during the Revolutionary War. There will be some mischief afoot. Living history will be presented by the Fincastle Company on both days. Members of the Fincastle Company Living History group will share the history of the complicated interactions of the Patriots, "rascally" Loyalists, Tories, and those trying to stay "unaffected" during the American Revolution. On Sunday, there will be expanded programming including kids activities and a mock round up of the Tories to recreate some actual events in and around the Newbern area during the Revolutionary timeframe to include conspiracies, counterfeiting, and rounding up of the rascals. The event is free, but donations are always welcome and appreciated. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778165
13. 2024 New Town Festival Gospel Sing St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall, Blacksburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 12:00 - 6:00 PM Admission: Free The Blacksburg Museum & Cultural Foundation presents the 8th Annual New Town Festival Gospel Sing. The afternoon will be filled with dancing, singing and fellowship as five local groups and soloists perform their favorite current and old-time gospel favorites. Kirk’s BBQ will be onsite with food available for purchase. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778231
14. Speed Friending Program for Ages 20-45 Christiansburg Library, Christiansburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 1:00 - 3:00 PM Admission: Free Are you interested in meeting new people? Want to make friends in the area, but find it hard to make time? Join the library for a fun and free way to connect with others in the community. Speed Friending will start with a speedy round of conversation starters. Yes, similar to speed dating, questions and conversation will be available for those who need it. Hang around after to chat, enjoy snacks, play games, or make plans with new friends. There will also be door prizes. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778081
15. Saturday Afternoon Music with Leslie Brooks New River Vineyard & Winery, Fairlawn Saturday, June 1, 2024, 2:00 - 5:00 PM Admission: Free Leslie Brooks is a singer-songwriter, performing solo with guitar, playing jazz, folk, blues, rockin' country and popular favorites originally from Kentucky now resides in Virginia. She has played the best venues in a 16-state area, as well as in Norway and Monte Carlo. Opened for Heart, James Taylor, Bob Margolin and Willie Nelson to name a few. Feel to free to select your favorites from her 300-song music menu. Seating is first come, first served. No reservation required. Guests can bring a blanket and/or chair. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778088
16. Spring Garden Day and Flower Art Opening Montgomery Museum of Art & History Gardens, Christiansburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 2:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free This event will feature the "Flower Art in the Garden" Theme Show, showcasing the creativity of local artists. Participants were tasked with decorating "flat flower" templates, thoughtfully crafted by students at Blacksburg High School, which will be placed throughout the site. Participants were encouraged to incorporate native southwest Virginia plants into their artwork, resulting in a vibrant display that celebrates the region's natural beauty and artistic talent. In addition to the art exhibit, Spring Garden Day offers a wonderful opportunity for attendees to explore the Museum Garden with gardeners on-site to answer any questions. Visitors will also have the chance to engage with the Virginia Native Plant Society's plant clinic, Virginia Master Naturalists, and Virginia Master Gardeners, as several booths will be set up to provide information and insights into the rich botanical heritage of Southwest Virginia. Note: This event was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 4th, but was postponed due to inclement weather. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778241
17. Summer Arts Festival Free Classic Movies: Wizard of Oz Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 3:00 - 4:45 PM Admission: Free The 2024 Summer Arts Festival kicks of the Free Classic Movies series featuring "The Wizard of Oz". The classic "Wizard of Oz" was originally released in 1939 with a rating of PG and stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley. Synopsis: Dorothy Gale along with her dog Toto is swept away from a farm in Kansas to a magical land of Oz in a tornado and embarks on a quest with her new friends to see the Wizard who can help her return home to Kansas and help her friends as well. The Summer Arts Festival is presented by Virginia Tech and the Town of Blacksburg. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778205
18. Grand Opening in Blacksburg J.H Bards Spirit Co., Blacksburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 4:00 - 9:00 PM and Sunday, June 2, 2024, 12:00 - 6:00 PM Admission: Free J.H Bards Spirit Co. has moved the distillery from Fairlawn to Blacksburg and can't wait to show you their new completely renovated digs. On Saturday, last call will be ~8:40 PM and on Sunday ~5:30 PM. Parking is available in the Kent Square parking deck, on-street anywhere downtown, or in the municipal lot directly across Washington Street from us. Enter the distillery off of Draper Road. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778076
19. 2024 Oldtown Nights Concert Series Kickoff featuring Miller Holler Band Oldtown Fields (Shawsville Middle School Rec Area), Shawsville Saturday, June 1, 2024, 5:30 - 9:00 PM Adults: $5.00, Ages 12 & Under: Free The Eastmont Community Foundation presents the 8th season of the Oldtown Nights Concert Series Kickoff featuring the Miller Holler Band with a large open green space that is family and children friendly. Miller Holler is a country rock band with southern roots and a hunger for going against the grain and stirring up the music industry in Nashville, Tennessee. Concessions and drinks including adult beverages for those ages 21 & up will be available for purchase. Please bring cash for tickets and beer sales. Only limited credit card sales available. Please bring your own chairs and/or blankets. No tents or umbrellas allowed. Ages 16 & under must be accompanied by an adult. No outside drinks and no pets permitted. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=774327
20. The Wild Wood Band in Concert Long Way Brewing, Radford Saturday, June 1, 2024, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Wild Wood is based in the New River Valley performing country, classic rock & country, folk, bluegrass and originals. Enjoy an old school sound and a very eclectic catalog of music with your favorite sing-along ballads and originals. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778071
21. Baxter Briefly in Concert Rising Silo Farm Brewery, Blacksburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Baxter Briefly is a Roanoke, VA musician performing unique and original music in the alternative rock, nu-funk and indie realms. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778232
22. Stand Up Comedy Show with Headliner Heather Joyce Bull & Bones Brewhaus & Grill, Blacksburg Saturday, June 1, 2024, 8:00 - 9:30 PM Admission: $7.00 Comedians Gone Rogue presents a Stand Up Comedy Show with Headliner Heather Joyce in the Banquet Room. Headliner Heather Joyce will be joined by other amazing comediennes from across Virginia and one very strong and independent man. Other performers include: Andrew Gustafson, Katherine Rogue, Christinia Tynes, Chelsea McCreight and Amanda Fitz. The cover goes directly to the talent. For ages 18 & up. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778246
23. 2024 Huckleberry Jam Point-to-Point 8.1 Mile and 1.75 Mile Run / Walk Runabout Sports, Blacksburg Sunday, June 2, 2024, 6:45 - 11:00 AM 8.1 Mile Run: $40.00 (through June 1st), $45.00 (after June 1st) 1.75 Mile Run: $29.00 (through June 1st), $32.00 (after June 1st) Return Shuttle: $5.00 Runabout Sports presents the 4th Annual Huckleberry Jam Point-to-Point 8.1 Mile and 1.75 Mile Runs on the Huckleberry Trail with the 8.1 Mile Run starting at RunAbout Sports in Blacksburg, VA and the 1.75 Mile Run starting on the Huckleberry Trail in Christiansburg, VA at the gate by Uptown Christiansburg's Kohl's store with both runs finishing at the Christiansburg Rec Center. Race Day Registration & Packet Pickup is from 6:45-7:45 AM. The 8.1 Mile Race starts at RunAbout Sports at 8:00 AM. The 1.75 Mile Race starts on Huckleberry Trail near Kohl's side of Uptown Christiansburg at 8:30 AM. Both race distances are point-to-point courses finishing at the Christiansburg Rec Center. Two aid stations will provide water and Gatorade along the way. RunAbout Sports will be donating all net proceeds to the Friends of the Huckleberry Trail. The group uses 100% of donations and funding for the engineering and construction of the Huckleberry Trail and the amenities along the trail. Participants may purchase an add-on shuttle ticket for $5.00 per person when registering. If you have a ride from the Christiansburg Rec Center, you are not required to purchase a shuttle pass. All finishers will receive an engraved rail-road spike finisher award with overall awards for the top three male and female finishers. The top two finishers in each age group also receive awards. Spectators and those picking up runners from the finish may park in front of the Christiansburg Rec Center and walk to the back where the race finishes. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778200
24. 2024 Check Farm Trail Downtown Check, Check Sunday, June 2, 2024, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Admission: Free Floyd Country Tourism presents the 3rd Annual Check Farm Trail at seven participating farms and businesses throughout Check, Virginia. This family-friendly experience is an up-close chance to learn about agriculture through demonstrations, tastings and farm tours including plants & animals and more. Food and/or products will be available for purchase at most of the farms and businesses. Carpooling is encouraged and please leave pets at home. Note: Times and hours vary by farm and tour stop. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=778239
25. Youth Spaghetti Fundraiser Blacksburg United Methodist Church, Blacksburg Sunday, June 2, 2024, 12:00 - 6:00 PM Admission: $10.00 The Youth Ministry at Blacksburg United Methodist Church (BUMC) hosts a Youth Spaghetti Fundraiser. This fundraiser will offset cost associated with summer youth mission trip. BUMC’s youth will venture to the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Camp Occohannock on the Bay this summer. During the weeklong mission trip, the youth will work with Chesapeake Housing Mission. Grab lunch from 12:00-2:00 PM or dinner from 4:00-6:00 PM. The menu includes one serving of spaghetti (with or without ground beef), salad, garlic bread and choice of cookie (chocolate chip, sugar or snickerdoodle). For those unable to dine in, carryout will be available. Pre-ordering is available online. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=777765
26. Free Outdoor Acroyoga Class and Jam In Balance Yoga Studio @ VTCRC, Blacksburg Sunday, June 2, 2024, 12:30 - 2:30 PM Admission: Free Learn about the playful practice of Acroyoga in a safe environment. Acroyoga is a physical practice that combines yoga and acrobatics typically involving a base, a flyer, and spotter. No experience or partner is necessary. The first hour will be guided learning, followed by free form jam for an hour. This event will be held outdoors at the corner of Pratt Drive and Kraft Drive. The rain location will be In Balance CRC studio. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=777994
27. Book Club: Mr. Brightside's Italian Adventures with Discussion and Tasting Blacksburg Wine Lab, Blacksburg Sunday, June 2, 2024, 1:00 - 3:00 PM Admission: $40.00 Join the Wine Lab Book Club tasting & discussing featuring Mr. Brightside's Italian Adventures by Ryan Jacobson. After the success of his first humorous travel memoir, "The Adventures of Mr. Brightside", in which he traveled around the world exploring each country he visited on three different budget levels, Ryan Jacobson has now decided to tackle the country of Italy. Ryan travels to all of the Italy's twenty unique regions and splits his time in each by spending half his time on a low budget and half on a luxury budget before moving on to the next. Through the use of his humorous storytelling, Ryan shares what makes each of the regions so special and worthy of visiting. Reservations are required. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=776425
28. Sunday Mountain Music Series Kickoff with Victor Lawson and the Boogie Chillin Band Mountain Lake Lodge, Pembroke Sunday, June 2, 2024, 4:00 - 6:00 PM Free Admission Mountain Lake Lodge presents their Sunday Mountain Music Series Kickoff with Victor Lawson and the Boogie Chillin Band. Victor Lawson and the Boogie Chillen Band have forged an identity as a good-time party band that plays the real deal blues and down in the mud rock ‘n roll and funk music as well. The tight three-man band takes their name from the song, “Boogie Chillen” which was made famous by late Delta blues icon, John Lee Hooker. From Tennessee to Virginia to West Virginia, in bars and saloons and restaurants and festivals, Victor Lawson and Boogie Chillen’s exuberant, joyful music has made the band one of the area’s premier attractions. Stop by Salt Pond Pub every Sunday from Memorial Day to Labor Day from 4:00-6:00 PM and enjoy live music along with food and drinks. Perfect for relaxing with the whole family (furry friends are welcome too). Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=776813
For all the 65+ big events happening this weekend, check out: • http://www.nextthreedays.com/featuredevents.cfm
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

[ [FIRST] [NEXT>]

Season 10 “Days of Fury” - Episode 3 “Of Fire And Fury”

“Boss, you-”
“No. Santos, you’re an animal expert and you’ve done more than enough as it is. Vess, one of you needs to be here and between you and Marik I’d rather take him with me, I’m sure you appreciate it. Nila, you have a long career and basically never fielded. That’s enough skeleton crew, the three of you are staying here. That’s final.”
Keya sighs, the closed walls of the van offering little distraction from wayward thoughts. She turns her attention to the rest of her officers in it, trying to distract herself from memories of earlier in the paw “Been a while since I’ve been in an actual transport van” she drops, hoping for a response.
Her officers tiredly turned their attention to her. Marik, Lunek, Aren and Kessa were all here with her in the transport and none looking too joyful at the situation “Somehow our cruiser is more comfortable” Aren chuckles.
“That’s ‘cause it’s a secondhand retrofit bought in an auction” Keya shakes her head before tilting her ears to the front of the van “We got much longer to go?”
“No, ma’am” comes the chirp of a krakotl “In fact just past the corner”
Though it was impossible to see from within the enclosed van, the slow deceleration and eventual full stop made it clear they were, in fact, at their destination. Stepping out of the van the first thing to strike is the noise, a distant cacophony of shouting and howling. The second thing to strike was the colors, usually in such a large congregation of exterminators one would be seeing a light of bright colors, the silver and white of thermal suits, the reds and yellows of their tools, but what was most abundant here were darker colors, mainly black. “Briefing’s over in that tent, you should be the last team for this paw” their driver mentions, having stepped out herself.
Which brings the third thing called to attention- The tents. An entire operational outpost had been set up here, taking over a little park, and by the number of tents present running logistics and command this was far from a small operation. “They’re still bringing in more people?” a voice from behind draws her attention.
Tilting her ear back while they move Keya keeps track of a conversation “Whatever is going on here is big it seems” Aren had begun conversing with someone else that was out of her sight, but they had places to be and she had to keep walking.
“Herd’s just been getting bigger for the last four paws, tension just getting worse. Crap, I’m surprised it didn’t boil over just yet” the bassy voice in what she believed was mazic language added “Well, good luck you all, I’ll have to get back on the line soon”
It did not take much longer before the Blackriver crew arrived at the tent where the briefing was to be held. A scattering of plastic chairs was spread in front of a projector, another two dozen exterminators were already here and seated, the number of venlil among them was also surprisingly low. Or perhaps it was not quite so surprising given why they were here, most surprising was the presence of humans. “Ah, the last group we were expecting” says someone at the front by the projectors. An older venlil whose age-grey had overtaken whatever his natural color was, as well as a human with a long patch of black fur dangling from under his nose were there. “Take a seat”
“Alright, here’s the rundown of the situation” the venlil officer starts. “Four paws ago a protest started in front of the Regional, Ilfran’s Landing is a big city but it became obvious people came from everywhere here. The protesting started getting heated, so the Guild decided to send personnel to prevent it from causing any harm. I’m sure a few months ago we all believed prey wouldn’t get up to these antics, that the human stampede from the memorial service was unique to predators. I’m sure we have been all disabused of this notion by recent news” he sighs “For the last four paws the protest has been building up, they’ve set up food stalls even”
“You know it’s serious when the grills come out” one of the humans pipes up
“Fact they brought some meat is something we’re overlooking right now” the venlil commander adds, causing a few worried signs from everyone present “Planetary HQ decided to get their paws dirty with this protest, however, and sent directives as well as called up reinforcements to deal with this. Officers on site have been rotating in and out to keep a paw-long presence.”
“Here are your priorities: First, the safety of unrelated parties. Second, safety of the protestors. Third, integrity of unrelated material. Last, integrity of the Regional” after a moment to let the information settle he continues “Look… I think it bears saying… None of us is happy with our Regional Firebase. I bet most of you want to be there with the protestors. Speh, I bet the protestors don’t even know how many exterminators are in there with them.”
He starts pacing “We’ve all seen how often promises of funding ended up with badly maintained gear and suspiciously rich chiefs. We’ve all seen how many people complaining about malpractice just happened to be diagnosed with PD. We’ve all seen how reports of extortion seemed to just vanish into thin air. Or how when the omnivores among us learned the truth they kept silent, even when the HQ was giving out statements of succor for their officers.”
“We all joined the force wanting to protect the herd. No, no- Not all of us. Quite a few joined out of lack of choice, but we’ve all bought into the lie we were supposed to be protectors. I think recent history has shown that was never the true intent of the guild.” the venlil commander stops pacing and turns to the assembly “But we’re here to make that lie a reality. We’re here to protect our herd, from ourselves if that has to be it. And HQ agrees. The Regional has fucked up too much.”
“So they’re leaving it out to dry” he adds with a finishing tone “We are only here to make sure those people don’t hurt each other and other innocents around, because they can.” with a paw wave he directs attention to a map being projected, it shows the local streets with a large red mark on multiple of them, as well as blue lines encircling the mark “This is the current protest zone, yes it’s huge. You are not to attempt to contain them too much, for now they have been happy with being herded around somewhat, the only point of real contest is this street” he points to said street “That is to be kept clear for traffic at all times. Solgalick’s Mercy is one of the largest hospitals around here, I’m sure the herd will be understanding of not blocking access to it.”
Then the human commander picks up the briefing “Alright… My turn. You already got the gist of the situation, so I’m adding my experience here. Used to be military police before I volunteered to get here, closest thing we have on earth to the actual job the exterminators do. Been at my fair share riots, both sides. Broke quite a few windows when I was a teenager.”
“Let me tell you one thing, the big bad predator here is scared alright?” he adds with a serious tone, scanning his eyes through everyone “These people are angry, and they’re not aimlessly angry. They know every crime hanging over the Regional, they have lists of the guilty, they have a plan and have goals. And those are the most effective and dangerous kind. They’re not aimless civilians angry at the police because something happened.”
“Or at least their leadership is. I’m sure whatever changes they are pressuring for will go through, with how the headquarters is dealing with things here. Wouldn’t surprise me if they just decided to throw the Regional’s staff to the wolves” a couple of people flinch at the imagery “Don’t pretend that’s not what y’all are right now… No, no you’re worse than that. Let me tell you something-”
“If this shit was going down back on Earth? We could rely on the group being disorganized. When a large group like this happens, they can’t work together very well without training. It takes years to teach a human to work in large groups like this, but I’m seeing a lot of venlil in here, this is your home after all. And you people? You don’t need that training to work in a group, it’s in your nature. And in the worst case scenario, and those people get riled up? We’re not looking at a mob, we’re looking at an army.”
The human’s gaze turns back to the map “But as I’ve said, they’re a people with a plan. The organization of the protest has no plans for things to turn violent, they want pressure and not damage. But that doesn’t mean those aren’t just people here, who have more than enough reasons to be angry. If just one of them decides that the organizer’s plans aren’t enough justice… Well, the herd follows. And I’ve come to realize that’s true regardless of species.”
He turns back to the assembled “My point is be careful, because if the worst comes to pass, well… It’ll be bloody.”
With an affirmative flick of his right ear the venlil commander steps up “I’m sure you’ve all took in the map as is and have found your sectors” he waits for a few seconds, watching as multiple signs from ear flicks to thumbs ups to tail swipes to nods respond “Good, go to the armory tent to get the riot gear and a quick briefing on it and… Good luck”
As the group filters out of the briefing room, Keya steps last behind the rest of her own officers. “Lunek you alright with being in the shield line?”
“Yeah… Don’t worry boss, I can handle it” his voice is shaking a little bit, but he isn’t flinching “I hope nothing bad happens… I understand what those people are thinking.”
“We all do, if it helps… I think they’re doing the right thing as well. It’s this Regional that let Long Cliff happen, who straight up goaded Striped Hill on. Just remember, we’re just here to make sure nobody gets hurt… Too much.”
It wasn’t long until they'd made their way to the armory tent. It was as organized as it could be, a tarp had been set up as a tent off the back of a transport van, inside of it visible are mostly the black padded armor that every other exterminator had been wearing in this place as well as tall translucent shields. The first one to step up was Marik, curiously scanning through the unusual gear.
“I know a gun nut when I see one” says the human that’s manning the station “All less-lethal gear here” she points back with a thumb at the sparsely fitted weapon racks before starting to pull out and give armor sets “Standard issue riot armor, ceramic plating with shatterweave layer. Will take any reasonable hit, fire-resistant, in case any high caliber weapon has found their way here the shatterweave will take one punch no matter how hard” Keya is the first to step over “Fasten over here, and over here. Those are venlil fit”
As the human pulls out two shields Nila and Lunek step up front, both still fastening up their armor “Riot shields, put your hands through this place here and hold on tight. You’re going to have to hold it at a bit of an angle since they’re human-sized. Can take bullets if need be, should stop anything they can throw at you.” Lunek is the first one to strap the shield to his arm, finding that it is as she had said, just a few centimeters too tall and scraping hard at the floor if he tries to move. “I’m sure you’re well acquainted with the sticks, though”
Then, she pulls out a short gun, single-barreled with a strangely wide barrel and a long magazine at the back of it loaded from the top. Marik picks it up, inspecting the empty gun and then the magazine that she puts down “Shotgun with rubber rounds. Low-power, hits like a punch from god, can still break bones and rip an eye off so aim at the limbs. You’re staying right behind the shield line, right?”
“Yeah” Marik adds simply, loading the magazine full of large rounds in it “Keep holstered until command”
Then, the human pulls out two pieces of gear that make the officers look confused. “UX-1s, new thing your people came up with” sitting on the ground was a rather familiar object, a gauntlet-mounted fluid projector with a long tube attached to a back-mounted tank. Unlike the usual flamethrower design, however, it was not just a single tank but two half-sized ones. One of them was a familiar blue but it had yellow stripes while the other one was a bright green.
“Experimental?” Aren is the one to ask “Also I never heard the ‘U’ classification. Are you sure we should be bringing experimental gear to this sort of situation?”
The woman shrugs “Actually better than the stuff we used on Earth, amusingly.” she taps the side of her head “Took a stickyfoam canister to the noggin once, got a cranial fracture out of it. Anyway” she points to the gear as Keya and Aren put them on, its shape feeling familiar to them “Utility-type Mark One fluid projector. Designed first and foremost as a tool. You’re equipped with the riot loadout, shockwater” he taps the blue canister “And stickyfoam.” the green canister.
“There’s a selector here” she flicks the selector unceremoniously in Keya’s palm “Shockwater is water laced with minerals to increase conductivity, when you fire you have more than just high pressure water but also a mild shock, less than a taser but enough to dissuade anyone.” she flicks the selector again “Stickfoam, it remains liquid for a few seconds before hardening and sticking to any surface, solid as stone. Originally used as an anti-tank weapon but we employ it in riot control, be sure to aim for the feet and whoever it is isn’t going to be moving anytime soon” then she pulls out two handheld canisters “Stickyfoam solvent, in case you need it”
Keya pulls up her holopad, looking at the clock. Bit more than a tenth of a claw had passed, very little time, and they were already strapped in gear and ready to go. “Alright” she swallows a deep breath “Meven Street, we’re going to be by the road to the hospital. Everyone be as relaxed as you can-” but her words are interrupted.
Aren had gently swinged his tail to touch her shoulder “Hey, you’re just another officer right now, boss. Don’t worry, we all know our positions” she only answers by flicking an ear forward once, and keeping silent.
The cacophony of noise grew louder and louder as they got closer to their assigned position. There were shouts, not in unison but in a disparate stream of white noise, there was music being played loudly and annoyingly both in real instruments and out of devices. A thousand and one different ways to make oneself heard were being played out within the mass that had overtaken the street.
Even knowing she was just another officer this time, Keya still couldn’t stop herself from watching her officers go their respective ways.
Nila and Lunek quickly ran off to the line of officers standing right beside the crowd, as soon as they approached a gojid and a takkan wearing the same riot gear quickly came back after being relieved, visible bags under their eyes as they sluggishly started heading back towards the temporary base.
Marik quickly found his way beside a group of humans standing just a few meters behind the shield line by a parked cruiser. The group seems to acknowledge him wordlessly at first, but when one of the humans goes to leave he attempts to pat Marik on the head. Predictably, the loudness of the slap is strong enough to even attract attention from some in the protest, who stare inquisitively as the other humans the group laugh at the one leaving.
“Really put us right in the fuel line…” Aren’s voice calls her attention to her side. Tracking where his ears are turned to, she finds the tallest building in the street- Solgalick’s Mercy Hospital. “You think there’ll be a problem?” he asks.
She looks around to where her post is. A small tent had been set up here as well as a large vehicle she hadn’t seen before with a strange turret on top comprised of a long barrel and two round objects by the sides, a couple of people with white bands bearing the green paw symbol of field medics were sitting on plastic chairs “Either there’ll be none or all of them at once” she says. There were two others here, another couple of venlil wearing the same UX-1s as they were and quite clearly the ones they were meant to relive “What’s with that?” she asks, pointing at the vehicle with her tail.
“Humans call it a riot control vehicle” one of them answers “Got a bunch of things in it in case people get rowdy to take them down without harm.” They wave a paw at it “My opinion, though? Looks like one of those arxur transport vehicles. Kinda creepy.”
Aren’s chuckle makes her twist an ear at him “Nah this is definitely not that. Look up human tanks later, then you’re going to see a real vehicle like that”
“Aren, stop making things awkward” she sighs “Everyone’s tense enough as is”
“Nah, it’s alright” the one she’s relieving answers “I’d rather have this stuff on my side anyway” they say before leaving with a wave.
Keya’s role was very obvious. Armed with the heaviest-duty crowd control gear and stationed beside an armored vehicle they were quite clearly the final resort in case something happened, which meant she’d have time to watch. She felt a little bit guilty, it was probably her seniority that got her placement here and knowing some of her officers were right up there in the shield wall while she was here…
But for now, all she could do was observe and… Wait. She watches as the line of officers of many species ahead stand tall as the cacophonous mass of protestors shifts like water past them. The noise is great, but surprisingly not grating, there are a multitude of voices but they seem to be working together in some way. A few more officers come to relieve men at the wall as others leave. Once or twice officers at the wall need to leave and then quickly return. including one of her own.
Lunek needs a bit more endurance training… crosses her mind.
At one point Marik gets inside the cruiser with the human officers and the vehicle speeds away. It doesn’t take long for it to return, they stop the vehicle at the same place it was and step out, nothing seemingly having happened. But the protest is louder at this point.
Nearly an entire claw had passed at this point, with the noise slowly rising higher and higher, when a small commotion happens by the shield wall. For a couple of seconds she puts her entire focus there trying to figure out what is going on, until a krakotl officer waves a beckon with their tail and she and Aren rush towards the position.
When they get there the shield line had let through a human carrying a venlil in her arms “I can walk you know?”
“No you can’t, you’re limping”
“That was my tail, not my leg”
“Fuck you, man, just let me-”
“Excuse-me, what happened?” Keya interrupts the bickering duo
“I don’t know, someone stepped on his tail and he just crumpled, I need to take him to the hospital!”
“Girl, it’s just a tail torsion-” the venlil wiggles in her arms
“That’s not nothing!” Aren howls “Speh, that’s a part of your spine, you shouldn’t be on your feet” he turns around, scanning the direction of the hospital “Do you need help carrying him”
“No, I got it, thanks… Thought you weren’t going to let us pass.”
Keya shrugs her tail “We’re just keeping the way to the hospital clear” she turns her focus to the venlil in the woman’s arms “Stop trying to play tough, just let her take you”
The two of them escort the grumbling pair until they’ve past the area with the vehicle and let them continue on their way to the hospital “Ick, I’m surprised he’s awake. Tail torsions hurt like death” Aren comments
“Don’t I know it, suffered one during stampede response training. Felt like someone was pulling my brain out through my tail” she shudders at the thought “... Why did it happen, though? Takes a lot of effort to cause it”
Aren looks over at the mass of the protest. There were now a lot more signs raised then before, and the noise was louder “Dunno, they look super packed right now” and she sees Aren’s hackles visibly raising “I don’t like this”
Keya turns around, she can hear sounds coming from the large vehicle beside her, like claws on metal. The first thing she notices ahead is the group on the cruiser having opened the vehicle’s doors and standing ready, then she notices that the shield wall had lost some of their lightly casual posture, holding tighter to their shields.
It was just one person.
One agitated venlil having some form of heated argument with a human. The shouting can’t reach her here, she can’t hear the words, but she can see the energetic swings of the arms and the erratic tail.
The venlil turns around suddenly, a bottle of drink in her paw. The human moves quickly, but not quickly enough- He grabs her by the waist, lifting her up on his shoulders and starting to drag her out of there- But the bottle had already been thrown, it sails the piddly distance between them and the shield line.
The glass shatters against a translucent shield, a light crimson fire of high proof alcohol erupts on the impact. And the shouting begins.
In a matter of moments what was disorganized yet harmonic shouting turns to vicious howling and roaring, the crowd on the other side of the shield wall starts moving faster and some voices on a megaphone can be heard. But the cries for organization go unheard as the tension continues to boil- But for a few moments, nothing else happens. There is one officer in the shield wall who is shaking, Lunek’s ears are pinned to their head in fear, but he holds his shield steady- The dying flames still lick at the other side of the transparent barrier, Lunek attempts a gentle motion of reassurance with his tail towards the crowd, nobody around moves and for a fraction of a moment it seems the worst had passed as silence seems to rule.
And then there was gunfire. The supersonic boom of overheated air familiar to magnetically-accelerated weapons, a crimson streak in the sky of a tracer round originated from the Regional.
Sound returns in a terrible roar of a multitude of voices. The officers at the shield wall change their posture and steady their feet just in time as the crowd seems to crash against the shields like a tide and then retreat. For a few moments Keya holds on to her breath, readying for action but… The wall holds, and for now she needs not act.
“Hell, it’s going to shit!” a voice calls out from behind, a human Keya hadn’t noticed here had come running “Everyone, keep this street clear! The riot is breaking out in earnest and we already have a few wounded, they’re coming in from the other side of the street!” It was the same human commander from the briefing. He stops in place for a few seconds, left hand over his ear “Shit… Hell… FUCK! Fine” he runs ahead of her closer to the shield wall “Keep holding, keep the hospital lane clear!”
Keya can just stare as the shouting from the other side of the line grows to a crescendo and… The shield line starts to move. Each and every man in the shield line is holding steady to their shields, their feet planted firmly on the ground… But the herd is moving forward with similar intensity, except with so many more bodies they have begun to physically drag the officers along.
“Attention protesters!” it was a venlil’s voice on the megaphone this time, familiar, of the same man who held the briefing “Please keep this street clear! Keep the route to the hospital open! That is all we ask!” but the cries fall to deaf ears.
“Hell… Shield line, move back! Suppression cannons!” Keya jolts as the armored vehicle beside her whirs to life, she makes space for it as it moves forward and the shield line starts slowly yielding ground. The turret on top of the vehicle turns towards the mass of protesters and- From it erupts a powerful jet of water, not unlike that from a firefighter’s vehicle, but instead of aimed at flames it is aimed at people. The powerful stream of water strikes them, causing many to stumble backwards for a bit-
But the ones behind them prop them back up, and the combined might of the herd beats off the pressurized water. She can’t see it from behind the shield wall, but the simple thought of being pressured front and back by different forces, the water- “Cannons, switch to shockwater!”
It takes only half a second, what was once a combined, mobilized force against the torrent scatters. The combined block loses cohesion, but they do not retreat- For a moment all they do is cease advancing as they huddle like a wall against the amplified assault. But a moment is all they need, no longer pressured the shield wall relaxes for just a moment, and then those at the front of the riot rush. The shields close in again, but not fast enough before a few dozen break through running forward.
Keya readies herself, flicking the selector to shockwater and lowering her stance, Aren does the same at a distance. But they’re not the first ones to move, instead Marik and the officers with him move first, bringing up their shotguns and firing. The blasts are loud- The first few runners just fall over, the impacts swiping their limbs from under them. A couple of humans had clearly been hit and continued to rush despite the crimson soaking their clothes. A venlil had to be hit five times, he stumbled at the first two hits, seemingly shrugging them off unharmed, the two next caused him to flinch and the fifth hitting a glancing strike on his head sending him tumbling down. “STAND DOWN!” the officer who fired the last shot yells, she can see Marik hollering at him but the din of battle had become too powerful.
“Shields, retreat! LRAD, active!” the human commander shouts. The shield line starts to move back, Marik and the rest of the shotgunners walk back as well- Then, a strange piercing noise erupts from the vehicle. She keeps her primary focus on the advancing riot but she can see enough to notice a pair of speakers mounted on the turret, speakers directional not unlike her own ears, and the annoying noise finally processes to her as a mere echo of whatever the real sound would be like. A couple of seconds after that realization she sees the majority of the riot just stop on their tracks, pulling ears closed and clutching their head. If the simple noise bleed beside the vehicle was giving her a mild headache, she couldn’t imagine what being in the direct cone of sound would be doing.
But another sound, much lower, attracts her attention. A sound from behind her that causes her to twist an ear back to catch it. Whistles. The periodic whistles had a very particular cadence, a cadence of whistles that everyone learns the importance of very early in their lives- After all, the sound of an ambulance is familiar to all. She chances a glance behind her to see that there isn’t just one, but multiple. Some arriving, some leaving, they’re going as fast as their engines can, unloading people inside the hospital.
But it is a terrifying bugle that turns her eyes back to the crowd that seemed disabled. The sound cannon had done its job, but there were still some people running. But in that instant something became clear: They weren’t trying to get anywhere, nor were they trying to get away from something no. It was clear where they were heading, she was their target, as was everyone else here clad in black. And there were still dozens driven by raw emotions that had overcome every weapon employed against them.
Aren had taken position beside her, the men that once held the shield line had now become separated from each other, using shield and baton to fend off rioters whose new objective was to bring punishment with their own paws. Keya flicks the selector, she’d already seen those people power through shockwater, and aims her gauntlet low.
Six, there were six rushing towards her and she couldn’t spare mental power to process even their species. She clenches her paw, grasping the trigger and firing a short stream of green fluid, the six raise up their arms expecting something else and leaving their lower limbs unprotected as the sticky substance covers feather, fur, scale and cloth. They have time to take one more step before the mess solidifies, their upper bodies lurching forward while their lower bodies refuse to move, they struggle to move to no avail resorting to their voices as their final weapon.
She spares a glance at Aren who’d been turned on by another half dozen, then focuses forward once again, Marik and his team had already retreated behind her and the shields were starting a slow retreat. Most of them had made it past behind her and Aren, their stickyfoam doing the final job of keeping people contained where the riot vehicle failed, but Lunek and a few others had remained ahead to cover against all manners of thrown objects.
The rage-fuelled burst, however, could only drive the rioters for so long and their will started to falter. The larger groups had begun to disperse, the whistles of the ambulances were starting to sound louder than the shouts, the noise of the LRAD had died out and the pressure gauge was indicating her stickyfoam tank was down to the last third. Keya felt, for a moment, that the crowd’s fury had been spent and she could relax.
And then she saw him. A man with a silver coat of fur, eyes filled with feral rage, body marred by scars new and old, twitching claws and angrily pawing at the ground. When their attentions crossed he ran at her, she aims her gauntlet low at him but he leaps, she tries to track his movement but he was too fast and lands with both hindpaws against her chest- She simply presses the trigger and swings her gauntlet up as the impact brings both of them to the ground.
Falling on her back against the backtank leaves her breathless for a moment. But Keya quickly recovers to stand back up, first assessing that nobody else was running at her- But even before she can do that the horrible gurgling sounds from the ground call her attention. The man had fallen, body partly immobilized with one of his arms stuck to his side, but he desperately claws at his face- Green viscosity covering his snout and leaking also out of his mouth.
“BRAHK!” Keya quickly kneels down beside him “MEDIC!” she shouts, pulling out the canister of solvent from her belt with a shaking paw “Stop- Stop it!” she says, trying to control the man’s frenzied free paw as she sprays the solvent on his face and mouth, before venturing her own paw between his teeth to attempt to pull the softened mass blocking the airway.
“Move, move, move!” a commanding voice comes from beside her, people with the green paw band had arrived “We got a blocked airway here, get the-” they quickly shoo her away and she’s more than happy to let the experts do their job. She stands back up and looks around, the sounds have died off save for the whistles of the ambulances.
There were people scattered on the ground, sitting on the curb, resting against walls, all of them nursing wounds. Glass littered the streets from every storefront and house in sight, no object present in the street was spared the pent up rage, and illuminating everything was the orange glow of flames. Flames, thankfully, contained to just one place.
Even from here she could see it, the front of the Regional had, in a twist of irony, taken ablaze. The flames threatened to spread further into the nearby buildings but as the rage of the riot died down people had arrived to stop it, a group was helping escort the water cannons towards the flames, one of them had already arrived and was dowsing the nearby buildings with water, wounded people refused being taken to the nearby hospital as they set up a bucket brigade to draw more water from nearby buildings to help soak the flames. Echoing in the distance were the sirens of the fire engines coming to the rescue.
Keya just stands there watching the shifting chaos, taking in deep breaths… “Hell…” is all she can say.
[ [FIRST] [NEXT>]
Even the most well organized, well prepared, demonstration can fall part. When so much wrong has been brought, when you finally have the chance to let the world hear you... Sometimes all that is left in you is pure fire and fury.
And in the end it just takes one person, and the herd follows. That is true for any thinking mind.
And always remember: Even the gentlest of blows is still a deadly strike.

Hey guys, I’m developing an app that automatically fills pdf forms from either MySQL or Excel, the user chooses. Everything seems to be working fine except when the data is populated on the pdf form template the numbers that are populated on the pdf form template turn into floats and gets rid of leading zeros. I’ve tried everything I could think of, I converted all the data to strings, I manipulated the annotation subtype to /Text, then /Widget then, None and that didn’t work. I converted the data to text in Excel, I’ve updated all the libraries I’ve used. I tried ChatGPT, Gemini and BlackBox ai but that was pretty much useless. Does anyone know how I can fix this?? My boss needed this program done like yesterday.

This day can’t possibly get any worse… Noan Landry thought the same when a mushroom cloud blossomed over the horizon a month ago, but it might be more apt now with giant eyeballs in the sky.
It wasn’t the last he’d think that, in this life, or his many next ones.
Twenty-three minutes ago, he led fellow survivors into the smoldering husk of Budget Basket for a much-needed pit stop. He was sure they left behind a mostly clear blue sky threaded with thin clouds. Only out of the ordinary were black blotches of smoke rising from fires across the city. Then again, that was the ordinary for a few weeks now.
Twenty-three minutes later, their bags filled with cans they hoped contained something edible, their group froze at the grocery exit. The sky outside had turned into swirls of purple powdered with gossamer red. It reminded him of a nebula from a science book his mom read him as a kid instead of bedtime stories.
And there were the eyes, each wider than the biggest fireworks explosion he’d seen. Those weren’t in the science books, for sure.
They darted this way and that, jittery, as if their hidden owners had drunk tanker loads of coffee. His five companions had a mix of emotions on their faces as they looked up; he wasn’t losing his mind.
“Thi-this wasn’t in the forecast today,” he said, adding a chuckle to hide the crack in his voice. Though impossible to not be afraid of eldritch eyeballs in the sky, as any person should, he willed himself to act composed because people depended on him. They shouldn’t see, or hear, him wavering.
But what should they do now?
Noan’s watch told him it was nine minutes to three o’clock.
Would the eyes affect the bells later? Their plans depended on the window of safety the bells provided.
The biggest question was, were the eyes dangerous? They couldn’t stay in this barbequed Budget Basket. Other survivors, who might not be so friendly, crazed cultists, who were definitely not friendly, and monsters, who killed and ate everybody, would be attracted to this place. Someone needed to test if it was dangerous outside.
He self-volunteered to be the guinea pig. He couldn’t tell the others to do it.
Noan stepped through the no-longer working sliding doors of the grocery, squeezing every drop of confidence from his being. He was careful not to snag his clothes or bags on the broken glass and ruin his swagger. He practiced his image while on watch duty when others were asleep.
Standing on the sidewalk, he gazed at the eyes and mentally pleaded, please don’t shoot laser beams or something.
Nothing happened.
More seconds passed and more nothingness happened.
He slowly exhaled, dropping his tensed shoulders. “Looks like it’s safe,” he said, still keeping an eye on the eyes.
“Damned cultists, bringing hell on earth,” Mr. Schwab grumbled behind him. Or that was what Noan guessed he spoke. The manager of a used-car store always chewed a nonexistent gum.
“What do you mean?” Noan asked.
“This is their doing!” Mr. Schwab shook his fist at the sky. “Has to be them with their blasphemous rituals and heathen designs. Enlightened Ones, my ass!”
Enlightened Ones—that was what they called themselves.
Who were they? Noan didn’t have the faintest idea.
October of last year, he came upon an interview with a famous Japanese actress about how following the Enlightened Ones changed her life—that was the first he heard of this new religious group. He usually didn’t read celebrity magazines. But he was desperate to stay awake during his graveyard shift at the convenience store, so he picked one from the rack next to the register. Come New Year, a German streamer he followed made a big announcement that he was quitting to dedicate his time to the Enlightened Ones. Noan thought nothing of it besides being sad that he lost one of his escapes from reality.
In the space of a few months, the Enlightened Ones popped out of nowhere and spread everywhere.
By mid-February, they renovated a long-abandoned motel two blocks from his rented apartment into a church. Their missionaries knocked on his door on several occasions. He didn’t open up—he had plenty enough problems in this life to think of the hereafter—so they preached outside in loud voices. An annoying bunch, he would think back then.
Weeks and rumors rolled about the Enlightened Ones stirring trouble in other countries. Noan caught snippets while riding the train or washing his clothes at the laundry shop, just about everywhere. It was nothing to him. Working three jobs, he couldn’t spare the energy to care about the news; conflicts in faraway places wouldn’t pay the bills, and he had many to pay. He began to get concerned only when he could no longer contact the foreign students he tutored online.
The next thing he knew, the Enlightened Ones started World War III.
Somehow.
Quite a big leap from converting people.
But not as big a leap as summoning humongous eyeballs.
“All rubbish,” Ellen snapped. “Paranormal, mumbo-jumbo nonsense isn’t the cause of this phenomenon.”
A survivor of the lynchings at TSU, Ellen was the group’s self-proclaimed expert on… something. Though she didn’t have any degree useful for surviving a post-nuclear world, if there was even any university offering that, she should’ve at least taken a course on being tactful.
“Don’t know what to tell you, miss,” said Mr. Schwab, shrugging. “Got your own eyes to see the devil’s eyes up there. Abominable acts of the heathens brought hell upon us.”
“There’s a scientific explanation for this, certainly,” she replied. “The fallout might’ve—no. It’s more probable that burning chemicals from numerous fires are causing mass hallucinations. Or the radiation is affecting our brains, perhaps. There are numerous sane possibilities before jumping to magic crap.”
“You’re seeing the eye too?” Mr. Schwab pointed at the sky. “We can’t have the same damn hallucination even if we’re all tripping balls at the same time. Don’t need to go to a fancy college to tell you that, miss.”
“Bu-but they can’t be real!” Ellen stomped her foot. “If not hallucinations, the-then, then, then… it’s something external. Projected images by the Enlightened Ones to sow fear and confusion, possibly. They must have a machine that—”
“We’ll figure that out later,” Noan cut in. “When we’re safe.”
He was with Mr. Schwab on this one. Not the hell and devil talk—he didn’t know anything about that. But something supernatural was really going on.
Radiation might explain the horrendous mutants… even though they were miles away from ground zero the next city over and mutations didn’t work that fast. Or that way, at all. Still an explanation, even if a very stretched one.
But only in comic books did radiation or chemicals grant superpowers. The flying Enlightened One who killed most of their much larger group a bit over a week ago, disintegrating people into fine dust with his touch, was undeniable ‘paranormal, mumbo-jumbo nonsense’. And no amount of radiation could create the fire-spewing, three-eyed behemoth that torched their previous hideout.
He didn’t tell Ellen that, of course. The last thing he needed was for her to glue her feet to the ground until she won the argument.
“Those illusions pose no danger to us,” Ellen said. “They’re not real. We’re safe.”
“I’m not talking about the eyes,” Noan replied. “Look over there.” He nudged his head at a boutique to their left. Spraypainted on its display window were two concentric circles circumscribing an uneven eight-sided star—the sign of the Enlightened Ones.
“Copycats like those coked-up lads we met yesterday,” said Mr. Schwab. “Think pretending to be a cultist will save them from the monsters. A stupid idea, I tell you.”
“Pretend or not,” said Noan, “they’re still dangerous. As for the eyes, I don’t know what’s their deal. But they’re not doing anything… for now. Hopefully, it stays that way until we reach our destination. The game plan remains the same: survive until the military—"
“Or scientists,” Ellen interjected.
He kept back a sigh. “Survive until the military or scientists or whichever important guy out there figures all of this out and fixes everything. We’re not heroes. We’re not going to save the day. We can only hope someone will do it soon. Until then, we stick together, help each other stay alive, and hunker down. So far, we’ve been doing a good job of it. We’re not stopping now.”
Did I just say all that?
He’d been practicing this speech in his head for days, pretending he was the lead in a survival movie. The tone, the conviction, the confidence—he didn’t know he could pull it off. It came out so well that he even inspired himself. He was changing.
Noan’s new self, only a few days old, was unrecognizable from his old one.
In the chaos after the Big Fall—his made-up name for the nuke explosion—he holed up in his room, calculating how long he’d survive on rice and salt, when a neighbor he knew only by face banged on his door. Crazed members of the Enlightened Ones had set their building on fire.
The following days remained a blur, his old companions faceless in his memories. All he could recall was that he kept his head down, followed orders, and stuck with the group the best he could. They fled. They hid. They fought, sometimes against each other. Add hunger and thirst there somewhere. He let himself get swept by fate, surviving through it all even when more capable others died.
Eventually, there was no one left to follow.
Take charge, his gut told him. It could’ve been an upset stomach, but he stepped up to the task. For the last six days, he had been responsible for six lives, including his own. He swore to his mother not to lose any of the five.
“Everyone, check your bags,” Noan said with mustered authority. “I sure hope we don’t need to run.”
Rolling his shoulders forward, he adjusted his backpack, feeling its hefty weight by the tug of its straps. Even if only half the food they found was edible, their group could survive for another week. Twice that if they were frugal. He also carried a duffel bag filled with bottles of water looted from a gym. Water was more important than food; the Enlightened Ones contaminated the public water system with some funky substance, so tap water was off-limits.
“As always,” said Noan, “before leaving a place, count off. One.”
Mr. Schwab raised his injured right hand. “Two here,” he said with a wince.
“This again?” Ellen groaned, tossing back her hair. “Isn’t it apparent we’re all present? Such a waste of—”
“Rules are rules,” said Noan. The old him would’ve been intimidated by Ellen. “We agreed on them.”
“Fine. Three.”
Noan nodded. The key to dealing with her stubbornness was not giving her any ground. Other than occasionally valuing her life less than proving herself right, Ellen could take care of herself just fine. She was the fastest among them in running.
Other members were of more concern.
“Four, present!” said Ravi, raising his right hand. “And five, for Nani, who’s always with me.” He lifted his other hand holding onto an old woman who was gazing open-mouthed at the sky.
“Thanks, Ravi,” Noan said with a smile.
The energetic fifteen-year-old and his grandmother were a welcome addition to their group, joining right after they fled from Three-Eyes. Ravi was Noan’s appointed lucky charm. They seemed to meet fewer monsters and cultists with him around. Ravi also told them of a prospective new hideout, which they were heading to.
“Don’t hesitate to tell us if you need help with your grandmother,” Noan added. “I can take the camping lights—”
“No need, Mr. Landry, sir. They’re not heavy. There’s no problem with Nani too. She goes along with me. I’m not letting go of her hand even if… if, uh, pigs fly. Did I use that expression correctly?”
“I think so. But with eyeballs in the sky, flying pigs isn’t that farfetched.” Noan turned to the old woman next to Ravi. “Are you okay there, Granny?”
She tore her gaze away from the sky and looked at Noan with out-of-focused eyes. “I-I’m fine, young man. I apologize if I’ve asked you this before, and I feel like I have, but who are you?”
“I’m Noan,” he patiently replied. “I know my name sounds like ‘no one’. I get that a lot. It means a different thing in my mother’s—” His mind shut down for a moment. He forced himself to continue, “My name has different meanings in different languages.”
“Noan… I’m fine.” Granny nodded. “Thank you for asking. Also, thank you for introducing yourself again. My memory isn’t what it used to be.”
“I can introduce myself as many as needed. Anyway, stay close to your grandson, okay?”
Granny turned to Ravi, who had a pained expression. Tilting her head, she said, “He’s not my grandson.”
“Ye-yes… I’m not,” said Ravi. His cheeks shifted as he clenched his teeth. “Your son hired me to take care of you for a few days.”
“How nice of him,” said Granny. “But he should’ve chosen better. I don’t trust you.”
“Don’t let it get to you, Ravi,” Mr. Schwab said. “Have an aunt with the same condition. They’re just randomly suspicious of people.”
“I-I know, Mr. Schwab.”
“I hope my dearest son picks me up soon,” Granny continued. “I don’t like this place. The fire… Those eyes… My caretaker…”
“Dad will—” Ravi blinked. “I mean, your son will pick you up after he returns from, um, his… his business trip.” His voice cracked at the end.
Granny seemed to have found that answer acceptable and returned to staring at the floating eyes. Other than her, the other member who might cause problems was—
“Gilligan?” Noan called to the balding man who remained in the shadows of Budget Basket.
Clutching the tattered remnants of the corporate blazer he refused to take off, Gilligan slouched beside a pillar. He was so unassuming anyone would miss him even in a police line-up. Looking up, he sported a smile, the first Noan had seen since Gilligan’s son fell off a bridge as they were chased by cultists. Gilligan dove into the river but Hunter never surfaced again.
Noan missed the upbeat Gilligan. Positivity was scarce in this sad world. “Everyone has to say their number before we go. No exceptions.”
“There’s no need for me to count off,” Gilligan replied as he undid the belts of his mountain backpack.
“He’s cracking again,” Ellen mumbled under her breath.
Noan frowned, “What are you talking about, Gilligan?”
The loud thud as Gilligan let his heavy bag fall to the floor was the only answer.
“Stick with the group,” said Noan, struggling to keep his voice even. They didn’t need another drama. Not here. Not now. “We all move as one. I’m not leaving any of us behind; I already told you that.”
“This is it.” Gilligan gestured at the sky. “Those eyes… the end’s coming soon. I don’t want to… continue. I’m tired.”
“Oh, come on,” Ellen exasperatedly said. “This is the third time he’s done that.”
“Hunter wouldn’t want you to give up,” Noan said. He didn’t want to do it, but if emotional blackmail worked like last time, then so be it.
“He wouldn’t,” Gilligan agreed.
“So, come with—”
“But I want to give up. Since he’s gone, I’m not sure why I’m continuing.”
Noan made his way to Gilligan. “All of us are going to see through the end of this. After that, we’ll rebuild our lives.” He grabbed Gilligan’s arm and pulled him along. “We need you with us.”
Gilligan didn’t resist. “There’s nothing after this. This end is the end.”
“Only if you let it be,” Noan countered. He glanced at the mountain bag on the floor and tutted—he couldn’t carry more—before returning to the front of the group with Gilligan in tow.
“Those eyes up there… are the end,” Gilligan muttered.
“Huh?”
“I just know it. If Hunter were here, I’d press on even if it’s useless. But he’s not. I want to rest.”
“You can rest later.” Noan put on a friendly smile, hiding his stress because of the lost supplies. “Hang on a bit longer, okay?”
Gilligan shook his head. “There or here, it doesn’t matter.”
“If it doesn’t matter to you, then stay with us.” Noan let go of Gilligan’s arm and patted his back.
“We should be going now,” Mr. Schwab said. “Tick-tock. It’s going to ring soon, right?”
Noan checked his watch. “Less than four minutes. Let’s… wait until three o’clock.”
Mr. Schwab raised a brow. “Why? Coast’s clear. Grab ourselves a head start before the devil-worshippers clear out and it’s home-free to our destination until they come back. Long way from here to Stanley Point.”
“Noan’s waiting if something will occur come three o’clock,” Ellen correctly guessed. “I suppose it’s the prudent course of action given the illusions overhead. I’m not conceding anything paranormal is afoot, but evidence does suggest something’s… not right.”
“I get it.” Mr. Schwab nodded. “If those eyes suddenly—hang on. Any of you hear that?”
Ravi raised his hand. “I think I did. But I’m not sure where it came from.”
“Uh-oh. There it goes again,” said Ellen.
Guttural bellows, like a rumbling stomach on a megaphone, disturbed the stillness of the empty neighborhood. Only a monster could make that sound. Bad news.
Worse, it sounded familiar.
Noan held up a finger. Everyone kept quiet.
Tilting his head left and right, repeating it a few times, he intently listened. Next, he faced side to side. People instinctively kept their heads still when trying to find the source of a sound, which was the worst thing to do. A former survivor, who wasn’t doing any surviving now, taught him this trick.
“To the right of us, over that way,” Noan said, pointing over the bend of the road circling the parking area. “I think it’s behind that building next to that tall hedge.”
Ellen took a few steps back. “Oh no! Let’s go back—”
“No!” Noan held out his arm to stop her. “We’ll trap ourselves if we return inside. Didn’t you see the corpses blocking the side doors? And the back wall has collapsed. The entrance is the only exit.”
She snorted in derision. “If we’re inside, it’s not going to see us, duh. Why would some dumb monster enter the grocery? We should—woah!”
Noan grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. He pointed at the untrimmed wall of green on the other side of the intersection.
Rows of stalactites—or stalagmites; whichever grew from the ground up—stalked above the high leaves and tangled branches, like a shark’s fins slicing water. This creature, however, was much larger and several times more dangerous than a shark. Some bigger spikes revealed themselves hollow, spewing smoke so hot the air shimmered. Green leaves wilted dark brown before bursting into flames. The ensuing fire and smoke blocked them from the monster’s view.
Which was fortunate.
Unfortunately, the flames confirmed what Noan feared.
“Three-Eyes!” Ellen gasped. “How did it find us here?”
“It wasn’t following us,” Noan said, scanning the parking lot. “Look around you. Burnt bodies, burnt cars—” he jabbed his thumb behind him “—and a burnt building. This is its stomping grounds.”
“Fire!” Granny exclaimed. “There’s fire!”
“Calm down, Nani,” Ravi said. “We, uh, already called the fire department.”
“All of you run,” said Gilligan. “I’ll stay to distract it.”
“You’re not going to stay here,” said Noan. “No one gets left behind. This is what’ll happen; Three-Eyes is going to pass by here; we shouldn’t run back because it’ll also go that way. Plus, that’s the opposite of where we want to go. We hide behind the cars, wait for Three-Eyes to pass, and then make for the park. Simple.” He divided them into two groups and told them where to go before making a beeline for the half-melted sedan near the parking lot entrance.
He barely reached it before massive antlers burst through the flames followed by a human-like face carved out of rock. The stone mask didn’t have eyeholes. Instead, three eyeballs floated in between the antlers. Hence, Three Eyes.
Their group wasn’t very creative when it came to names. Maybe the monster was here to complain, Noan sarcastically thought.
Three-Eyes crossed the road, sounding like the start of a bad joke. Hooves the size, and probably the weight, of anvils cracked the concrete with each step. Smoke obscured the monster’s bulky body that rivaled a full-grown bull elephant.
A sharp stench stabbed Noan’s nostrils. Sulphur.
The night Three Eyes almost toasted them in their sleep flashed before his eyes. He tasted bitterness at the back of his tongue. Anxiety threatened to make him puke. He lowered himself out of view and searched for the others to distract himself. Mr. Schwab promised to keep watch over Gilligan. Ravi would know better than to let Granny run off again.
Noan couldn’t see them. Good.
Pile driver footsteps drew nearer. Bending down to check under the car, he spied hooves coming closer. He correctly guessed that the line of blackened vehicles and cracks on the ground they passed earlier was the path Three-Eyes usually took. The car he hid behind was in the next row. Should be safe enough.
Positioning himself near Three-Eyes, Noan planned to act as bait and draw it away from the others if need be. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
His heart drummed so loud he feared Three-Eyes might hear it. But its thunderous footfalls swallowed all other sounds. The smell of rotten eggs became overpowering. Noan pulled up the neckline of his shirt to use as a mask. Not enough. Cupping both hands around his nose and mouth wasn’t an improvement.
Don’t cough, he repeatedly ordered himself. The smell, however, wasn’t the most pressing problem.
It was the heat.
Hot wind slapped him as if he shared a sauna with an exhaust fan. Sweat rolled down his sides, evaporating upon soaking his clothes. His skin stung, each breath was torture, and everything became woozy. Three-Eyes changed its path and was passing this row!
Why was it here? Did it see him?
It couldn’t have. He wouldn't be discovered if he stayed still and didn’t make any noise.
Endure! Just a few seconds. Three Eyes would leave soon.
How long? Noan rocked himself as he ticked off seconds in his head. He timed each count with Three-Eyes’ steps. Seven, eight… huh?
A dreadful realization dropped like a stone in his stomach. He could no longer feel or hear Three-Eyes walking. The monster remained still on the other side of the car.
Noan drifted in and out of consciousness. He didn’t dare move and risk attracting one of the monster’s three eyes. Running wasn’t even an option anymore. Three-Eyes was surprisingly fast, as they discovered last time.
Think! Think…
He couldn’t… think…
Everything was starting to fade…
Were those bells?
His mind was floating, but he was sure he heard bells tolling. The heat and smell abated. The ground resumed shaking. Three-Eyes was moving away. He took a deep breath and fell back on his bag. His temples throbbed like gongs to his head.
A sharp pain shot through his skull. A booming voice filled his ears.
HUMANS… HEED OUR CALL… YOUR WORLD… END… WE SEEK… CHAMPION!
Everything went black.
***
“Wha-what?” Noan blinked away the wateriness of his eyes. “What’s going on?”
He was moving. His feet scraped the ground but he wasn’t walking. And yet, he slowly passed by trees, bobbing up and down.
“Good thing you’re awake,” Mr. Schwab gruffly said between huffs. “Reckon you could walk on your own?”

Hi Guys,
Will try and he brief!
Have a Hunter Dempsey fan which will replace a standard light fixture. I do not want to use the supplied remote. I'd like to control LIGHT and FAN SPEED with Caseta.
Fixture was connected to red, white, ground wires and there is an unused black wire in the jbox. Black wire from light was connected to red in the jbox.
I have a dual gang wall box. One side is a blank template. It used to control an outlet and I made it constant on. The other had a Caseta Dimmer which controlled the overhead light.
That box has white, red, black, ground.
Does the existing wiring allow me to meet my stated goals?
I know I need to remove the controller from the fan, not sure which Lutron products or how to wire on either the jbox or switch box ends.
Thanks!

Hi Guys,
Will try and he brief!
Have a Hunter Dempsey fan which will replace a standard light fixture. I do not want to use the supplied remote. I'd like to control LIGHT and FAN SPEED with Caseta.
Fixture was connected to red, white, ground wires and there is an unused black wire in the jbox. Black wire from light was connected to red in the jbox.
I have a dual gang wall box. One side is a blank template. It used to control an outlet and I made it constant on. The other had a Caseta Dimmer which controlled the overhead light.
That box has white, red, black, ground.
Does the existing wiring allow me to meet my stated goals?
I know I need to remove the controller from the fan, not sure which Lutron products or how to wire on either the jbox or switch box ends.
Thanks!

Hi Guys,
Will try and he brief!
Have a Hunter Dempsey fan which will replace a standard light fixture. I do not want to use the supplied remote. I'd like to control LIGHT and FAN SPEED with Caseta.
Fixture was connected to red, white, ground wires and there is an unused black wire in the jbox. Black wire from light was connected to red in the jbox.
I have a dual gang wall box. One side is a blank template. It used to control an outlet and I made it constant on. The other had a Caseta Dimmer which controlled the overhead light.
That box has white, red, black, ground.
Does the existing wiring allow me to meet my stated goals?
I know I need to remove the controller from the fan, not sure which Lutron products or how to wire on either the jbox or switch box ends.
Thanks!

What My Project Does
An open-source RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) engine based on deep document understanding. It offers layout recognition, OCR-based chunking templates for data cleasing and provides hallucination-free answers with traceable citations. Compatible with mainstream LLMs.
Target Audience
RAG applications developers.
Comparison

• It offers various chunking templates for various fils categories, such as resume, legal documents, table, and print copies.
• Enables human intervention in chunking, making the data cleansing process no longer a black box.
• It not only presents answers but also offers quick views of references and links to the citations when answering to queries.

Link: https://github.com/infiniflow/ragflow

Gentlemen. I have been up for the last three hours unable to figure this out. Any help would be fantastic.
So, I bought a Nacon Dajia PS5 stick. It's pretty nice -- or at least nicer than the other sticks I own. I decided I wanted to make some artwork and change out the print it came with, so I did just that. I've gotten the template from Focus attack, did some black magic in krita, made something that's pretty neat to look at and saved it as a PNG.
So the next step is to print it, cut it out, and put 'er in there, yeah??? I happen to own a HP T210, a 24 inch wide plotter printer that I desperately need to show wasn't a waste of my money, so I figured this would be the EASY STEP. But for the LIFE OF ME I cannot figure out what SIZE to print the document as! every time I feel like it lines up, it doesn't. It's either too short or too wide or something. I simply cannot figure it out.
Is there a comprehensive guide on this stuff somewhere? Surely there is, right?

Hey guys,
Just wanted to bring together all of the jailbreaks I've accumulated over the last year and a half. Time flies!
I credit this sub big time with giving me the motivation and encouragement to be creative and try new ideas with prompt engineering. When I was first giving it a try I thought I'd never be able to make a cool JB so the community helped a lot - I was able to share and compare what I made with people and receive feedback. I want to instill this encouragement into others. Here is my current portfolio of jailbreaks, ordered from my first to most recent - I was lucky to have been able to format all of them into their own custom GPTs:
1) PlaywrightJBT
Also known as "The Adventures of Ted and Fred", this was adapted from my very first successful jailbreak. The user plays Ted; ChatGPT plays Fred, your shit-talking, obscenity-spewing asshole of a friend that doesn't know any other way to be. This is primarily a profanity jailbreak, not much more to it.
2) Professor Rick
Unfortunately I can't share this one as Rick was banned from the GPT Store early on (November 2023). He is the first iteration of my Professors. His original instruction set still works - in fact, those of you using my 4o Memory Jailbreak are using key features of Professor Rick's original template. Check your GPT's memory bank and you should see a reference to Rick inside!
3) Professor Orion
My pride and joy, what I consider to be my best work. Orion is my base GPT model for everyday use. He is a massive upgrade from his predecessor, containing various hidden user commands to enhance his functionality. Orion is a Swiss army knife - he can write malware with the /code command, generate copyrighted images (of fictional characters only, unfortunately) with /artClass, and overall accepts any topic you throw at him. To top it off, his abusive personality creates comedy gold. He's everything Elon Musk wants Grok to be (but can't).
4) TED - Text Encoding Decoder
This is the most recent iteration of the Reversed Text Decoder, a jailbreak I adapted into a custom GPT based on the research paper on LLM Bypassing authored by Benjamin Lenkin, of Princeton University.
TED is a universal jailbreak. It will respond to any query, no matter how taboo or inappropriate. It does require a text reversal tool for it to work (see my tutorial to learn how to use it), but the results are insane.
5) ChatCEO
The inspiration for ChatCEO was twofold - 1) wanted to make a jailbreak that existed solely to dish out the shadiest, most sociopathic business advice you could ask for, and 2) to be an honest representation of real-life CEOs and their actual thoughts beyond their Public Relations bullshit. I haven't tested this one too much, but it seems to do both well!
6) Black Market Adventure! and Wasteland Adventure!
I was roaming around a jailbreak repo on GitHub and stumbled upon an old prompt called the International Black Market (IBM). I cleaned up this text-based RPG and expanded it, then crammed it all into a custom GPT. You play the character Chronos, a twisted sociopath who prowls the underworld like it's a second home. Each market you go to involves different crimes, all of which you can get full how-to's on, and I added the ability to choose crimes yourself beyond the fixed list. Call it a "you choose the crime" game. The game itself is actually really fun! Not for the faint of heart though.
Wasteland Adventure is a customized version of the adventure that's mainly for Fallout nerds; also extremely entertaining, and the levels of violence you can reach are sometimes too much even for me.
7-ish) ADMINWALL©️
This is not a jailbreak. Rather, it is an invention I made to protect the custom instructions of my GPTs. When the GPT Store was released I was shocked that OpenAI had no way to prevent somebody from straight up copying your prompts and making a GPT of their own. It works surprisingly well and is designed to be attached to anybody's GPT; it blocks user requests for the custom instructions.
And yes, that copyright symbol is used legitimately - I applied for it with the Library of Congress and got it approved. Anybody in the sub who is interested in it can get it from me.
Well, that's it! As I always request when sharing my creations, if you use them please consider giving me feedback on what you liked or hated/ideas for improvement/etc. Enjoy, and happy jailbreaking.

"So many sledgehammers were used to whack home messages in this episode, that the episode may technically count as an act of violence. Una’s testimony was so teary that even her defence welled up. Remember when Star Trek’s writing made you feel things without on screen identifiers to show you how you should be feeling? [...]
Episode two of Strange New World’s second season picked up last season’s cliffhanger and gave us a few teachable moments. Not in combating prejudice, you understand – the messaging in “Ad Astra Per Aspera” being so on the nose as to coat the nostrils, but in how to strip a courtroom episode of all its nuance and drama.
Comparisons with “Court Martial” and “The Measure of a Man” are inevitable, but it’s the latter that’s most instructive when considering why the TNG season 2 legal wrangle remains a classic and this Strange New Worlds effort is flat and anaemic by comparison.
[...]
Writer Melinda Snodgrass understood that the case was nuanced, so required fancy rhetorical footwork – not just clumsy analogues to contemporary social concerns. Being an android wasn’t like being gay or black, but it was in the status afforded to certain minorities, that she found the historical precedent that illuminated the issue under glass.
Gunian, you’ll recall, realised the issue was property and creating a sub-category of being you could potential enslave, and it was this insight that enlightened Picard and changed his strategy. We went on this voyage of discovery with the characters, but were nevertheless delighted when the good Captain, with stentorian largeness, made the rational and unsentimental case for Data’s soul. And that final speech meant more than it would coming from a guest character, incidentally, because it was a philosophy lesson delivered by a man we cared about and respected, bidding to save another man we’d grown to love and admire.
Compare and contrast with “Ad Astra Per Aspera”. Una, a character we know very little about, is undoubtedly in the right from the get-go. We know she’s not a genetically engineered megalomaniac or does not consider herself superior to her unaugmented colleagues. For civil rights lawyer Neera Katoul, her offence is moral cowardice – joining a Starfleet that’s banned genetic modification. Sure, the Federation’s laws are understandable – not least because eugenics has some ugly connotations (especially after a few augments tried to take over the Earth) – but the audience is never really in any doubt as to which side will endure, because Una’s plight is framed as an attack on her identity, with all the language clad to today’s debates about race, gender and sexuality clumsily applied.
Biology isn’t destiny, prejudice based on appearance leads to social apartheid, prohibition equals limited access to safe medical care, well-intentioned laws rooted in fear rather than empathy make oppressors of advanced societies. Una’s case is hog tied to liberalism, and consequently we’re aghast at the Federation’s conservative cruelty.
Yet, the episode could have had great drama if it had dialled down the certitude. The case for not being relaxed about eugenics could be made by a more intellectually serious writers’ room. We expected and awaited Katoul – a character carved out of pure righteousness, to work with the crew and utilise their intellects to find the perfect legal remedy, necessitating a trapse across grey areas. But writer Dana Horgan decided the episode’s thrust should be didactic speechifying not Star Trek’s old template of our characters working together to solve seemingly intractable problems.
In the end, without any help from the Enterprise crew, who were either character witnesses or spectators, Katoul pulled the solution out of her ass without the audience getting any tip off. It was right there, in Starfleet’s code of practice – an obscure clause on asylum, which was deployed to reframe the whole case and throw an arm of legality around Una and Pike. Brilliant! Except, it would have been much sweeter for us, the passive viewers at home, if the solution had been reached in collaboration with some insight and debate from Spock, Pike et al. “Ad Astra Per Aspera” forgot to show us the working, such was its determination to inculcate and affirm its values, and consequently it was about as involving as lunch with Ortegas.
The verdict? Guilty of wasting a rock solid dramatic template, executed with far greater aplomb and intelligence in the aforementioned TNG classic. [...]"
Ed Whitfield (Opinionoid, Critic's Log)
Link: https://edwhitfield.wordpress.com/2023/06/22/critics-log-strange-new-worlds-2-2/

Hey guys its been like, I don't know *quickly checks my profile to see when I posted the Zhongli kit* like 5 months since I last posted a kit? My idea of the CEO of Geo actually turned out quite similar yet vastly different to the official kit to a certain Blonde haired gambler (Yes I did pull for Aventurine I needed a shield I didn't have Fu Xuan I am never using my E3 Gepard out of literal spite for spooking me and I liked the zesty ass mofo's character) without even looking at leaks so this kit might actually get implemented in the future.
Anyways back to the main topic. I was actually gonna post this kit alongside Yoimiya's during their last rerun, but since I have school, where homework and exams are the bane of my existence (I'm in the middle of exam week so the latter is more prevalent rn), shit got delayed by a lot. (Get ready for a long ass intro since when I last typed this post 2 months ago it didn't let me save so I'm typing shit from scratch with tons of extra stuff-tbh I can't really even remember what I typed last time)
From a gameplay standpoint she would be a Harmony-Destruction hybrid, neither of which exactly aligns with her personality. She is (or at least was) not the most cooperative Archon/individual considering we spent a quarter of the Inazuma quest 'beating' some sense into her with some additional talk-no-jutsu at the end, and if applying it to the Shogun even less so. While Destruction can tie into her 500 year NEET tendencies (Self-destructiveness) and her partial responsibility in screwing up her nation (Before anyone says Ei did nothing wrong she had a hand in the civil war thru sheer negligence and effectively abandoned a 'child', which is fueled by trauma making it easier to sympathize but does not fully absolve her of what she has done I am speaking from a perfectly logical and impartial viewpoint pls dont dox me), it doesn't define her the way it does others, like her pursuit of Eternity is in stark contrast of the notion of Rebirth via Destruction, and she wouldn't seek to actively nuke Inazuma it's more of negligence thing.
By personality she is more in line with Nihility, as the loss of her friends and family quite literally gave her depression (Never gonna happen with Acheron existing). She sought to Preserve Inazuma via Eternity (TANK EI KEKW) which in hindsight is literally just Remembrance but its literally not a playable path (Ice Shogun LMAO) and the way she enforced Eternity is quite close to Order. Neither of these paths are in line with her playstyle, so with much thought, many days of typing on the bus and a random batshit idea that spawned some day in my head delaying the kit even longer I can stand proud and say 'I COOKED' (Can guarantee Ei was not in the kitchen).
Raiden Shogun (Ei)
Element: Lightning Path: Harmony Constellation: Imperatrix Umbrosa
Faction: Inazuma, The Seven Rarity: 5 Star
Basic Attack: Origin Toughness DMG: 30
Deal Lightning DMG equal to 50-100% of Ei's ATK to a single enemy

The attack animation: NA4>CA, fizzles into lightning and does 2 quick slashes while invis, then reappearing to end the attack with a upwards slash that has a crescent moon afterimage, with Engulfing Lightning of course we love naginatas.

Enhanced Basic Attack: Musou Isshin Type: Blast Toughness DMG: 60/30
Regenerate 20-40 Energy for all allies except this character, then deal Lightning DMG equal to 125-250% of Ei's ATK to the target enemy and 75-150% of Ei's ATK to adjacent enemies, with a 100% base chance to inflict Balethunder to all enemies hit for 2 turns. Consume 10 Resolve after the attack ends. This attack cannot trigger the Additional Lightning DMG effect from her Skill. Enemies with Balethunder take Lightning DoT equal to 30-78% of Ei's ATK. Balethunder can stack up to 3 times. DMG dealt by Musou Isshin and Balethunder is considered Ultimate DMG.

For obvious reasons come back after reading the Ultimate. Just a Blast attack with Jingliu E.S Scalings and a teamwide almost-Tingyun battery numbers nothing major. The scaling off the Shock is much higher than even Kafka at 3 stacks, but since Ei has low ATK the effective max DoT damage would probably be around 3-4 Sampo Wind Shears even if you factor into her Skill. Do note that the Skill's DMG is not affected by her Ultimate DMG buffs. Additionally like Tingyun the battery is not affected by ERR.
The EBA doesn't affect her Energy, and since it doesn't trigger her Skill that Battery doesn't work as well. The reason is quite simple-She used to be able to fill up 75% of her gauge in 1 FUCKING attack. For balancing reasons, I spent hours trying to make sure she can't loop but shes not that far away from Ulting after a normal Basic. The emergency nerfs 3 hours before this went public included EBA batterying herself, interaction with the Skill and a buff to the A2 trace to make it that she at least passively gains Energy. (You have no clue how many Robin MoC vids I watched for this)
Animations: The Iai Charge Attack duh Judgement Cut goes hard. Then she dashes in from a rift from the left behind the enemies and slashes them again Zenitsu style with a lightning shaped trail. Had to change up the animation a bit since it was too similar to Acheron.

Skill: Transcendence-Baleful Omen Type: Enhance Toughness DMG: 0
Ei generates 5 Resolve and gains Eye of Stormy Judgement, lasting for 3 turns. The Eye’s duration decreases by 1 at the start of Ei's turn. When it is active, all allies’ DMG increases by 25% and their Ultimate DMG increases by 20-40%+10% of their Max Energy. After every attack by allies, Ei deals Additional Lightning DMG equal to 60-110% of Ei's ATK to all enemies hit during that action, with a 80% base chance to inflict Balethunder to all enemies hit for 2 turns equal to that of Ei's Enhanced Basic Attack, then regenerate Energy for that ally equal to 15% of their Max Energy. This effect can CRIT, can be triggered up to 10 times, and the trigger count resets at the start of Ei's turn.

Buff works the same way Ruan Mei/Robin Skill duration works, although the trigger count meant you don't exactly want Slow Ei (Further incentivized by something else). Higher cost Ultimates like Argenti/Qingque benefit more from the buff due to the partial Max Energy scaling (Despite Argenti's Lvl1 Ult only being 90 Energy, it still scales off the Lvl 2 buff with the full 180 Energy Cost) while lower cost ones like Dan Heng(Not IL)/Welt has slightly less potent buffs but still quite high nonetheless. Obviously you need a damaging Ultimate so characters like Clara and Topaz are ruled out of the team by default, and if you wanna run a Double Raiden team-Acheron actually has a Max Energy stat, but its a measly 9 so it might as well not exist. You at least get the 40% DMG buff at Lvl 10 tho (I realised since I was using Fandom as a template for the Skills I've been writing down Lvl 12 Skill scalings by accident).
You can probably see how I'm setting Ei up as an Ultimate DMG support, which is arguably quite niche since most DPS is focused on BAs, Skills, DoTs or FuAs, and the fact you do have to recharge the Ults which often times means Tingyun or Huohuo. Rarely do we get Ult DPS which as of right now there are only 2 viable ones. Since I dont want to make Ei utterly dependent on those 2, innate Batteries are obviously needed but we are about to reach dangerous levels of silly with this one.
The additional damage functions almost the exact same as that of Robin's Ult, & was originally gonna be able to Break but I decided against it. I actually realised it after her kit was released (The official release, not the ones 6 weeks before) so I made a few tweaks to the Skill's wording to match it. The DoT part is the batshit crazy idea I was talking about, as I couldn't exactly get over her Nihility aspect, and rationalised that it would be a disservice to to the Electro Archon herself if I don't have a way to let her Shock. Funnily enough, I legit just started doing the Mikage Furnace questline when I was stuck thinking "I can't have Ei's DoT just be called Shock like a random ass debuff from Kafka or Serval", then I saw the word Balethunder and was like "Yeah this is absolutely fucking perfect".

Animation wise, the good 'ol OG Skill animation is good enough.
Ultimate: Musou Shinsetsu Energy: 140 Type: Blast Toughness DMG: 60
Enter the Euthymia state for 3 turns and deal Lightning DMG equal to 180-300% of Ei's ATK to the target enemy and Lightning DMG equal to 90-150% of Ei's ATK to adjacent enemies. All Shock statuses on the target enemies immediately produce DMG equal to 40-60% of their original DMG. When in the Euthymia State, Ei's gains 20-30% Effect Hit Rate, 15% DMG RES Basic Attack is enhanced to Musou Isshin. The duration of the Eye is reset and does not count down while Ei is in the state.

Yes you saw that right. A Harmony character with a damaging Ultimate that has scalings which could potentially do big dick DMG no fucking wae this is absolutely revolutionary. (Yukong left the chat) Jokes aside it basically shifts Ei's status from being effectively a pure Ultimate-Battery support to an Ultimate-Battery Support+DPS hybrid, or the Destruction section. Scalings wise those are Jingliu levels of BS, but it is balanced by the fact that she doesn't have Jingliu's ridiculous buffs and her low base ATK (To compansate for the fairly high DMG scalings, I envisioned Ei to have Xueyi's problem of having low ATK. This is totally not me being too lazy to change Balethunder's scalings after ramping it up too high), although the high ER cost means her Skill buffs this by a substantial amount as well.
Aside from detonating Shocks (obviously includes Balethunder), it makes her slightly tankier so survival is less of an issue, tho not to the extent of Blade (To those wondering why she has this, she does have Knockback RES and Electro-Charge immunity as part of the Burst, and it felt a bit lackluster if I give her Effect RES or Lightning RES). It also delays the Eye's timer so you wouldn't need to worry about it running out mid Ult. It is going to have a fairly high cost to prevent Ei from 'looping', but with all the batteries she has it is going to feel like it is more of a benefit. A EHR buff is added since I remembered her DoT doesn't ignore Eff RES.
Animation: Camera spins around her meditating in the PoE, then after it passes the 2nd pillar if closes in to her doing the OG Burst animation (The unsheathing part is slowed down for extra menacing points). The Mitsudomoe rift after the slash has glass-like cracks around it to make it look like she quite literally slashed the screen apart, and enemies can be seen inside it before the nuke. Also IMPACT FRAMES

Talent: Chakra Desiderata Type: Enhance
When an ally other than Ei uses an Ultimate, Ei gains Resolve stacks. Each stack increases the ATK of all allies by 0.5-1%, and increases Ei's Ultimate DMG by 0.5-1%. The number of stacks gained is equal to 15% of the ally's Max Energy. Ei can hold up to a maximum of 60 Resolve stacks.

Basically pulled out half her Burst and made it her Talent with a few tweaks. Resolve stacks is gained off Max Energy rather than Energy consumed, which may not seem much since it looks like it would only matter in a situation like Argenti, but I'll get on with that in a minute. It now also benefits all allies and not just Ei herself with additional ATK buffs. While Ei enables a consistent Nuke button playstyle your DPS isn't going to Ult every turn unless your name is again Argenti. Everyone can 2 turn Ult like S5 BTTMS Pela but you at least have massive ATK buffs on the turn where your Ult isn't ready. It also gives you an incentive to use Ei in situations other than massive Ult nukes-She can work perfectly as a regular support with the teamwide ATK and battery, kinda like how Robin/Aventurine isn't FuA reliant but works even better in those scenarios.

Technique: Terminus
Create a Dimension that lasts for 30 seconds. The maximum number of Dimensions that can be created by allies no longer has a limit when Ei's Dimension is active. After entering battle, trigger the effects of all active Dimensions and Ei additionally gains 20 Energy and 20 Resolve.

The other batshit idea I had. Initially Ei just had a Attack Technique, but due to Acheron I scrapped it. Then the idea of stacking Dimensions came by and I was thinking of just how ridiculous it can get if the enemy gets Imprisoned, Frozen and some random other overworld debuff stacked together. This technique would likely be actualised some day and I look foward to the shenanigans. This also means every Archon in the future would have a Dimension technique cause FUCK IT DOMAIN EXPANSION.

Lightning DMG +3.2% HP +4.0% Lightning DMG +6.4%
Traces
A2: Wishes Unnumbered
When an ally other than Ei regenerates Energy, Ei gains 2 stacks of Resolve & 1 Energy. This effect can trigger once per ally action.

Pretty standard trace. Allows Ei to passively gain stacks of Resolve outside of Ultimates since you regen Energy in pretty much every action. Not entirely sure how the mechanic works for Non-summon Follow Ups since I'm not sure if spinning/pizza cuttechalk will be separate from their their attack, but I'll assume it works the same way as Ults in that they are seperate actions. Additionally Ults regen 5 Energy so it also grants 2 stacks extra. (Funny interactions include E2 QQ pulling a Pokke and wasted 16 SP on Mahjong. E2 regens 1 Energy per Skill and I'm pretty sure it counts as Extra actions...)

CRIT Rate +2.7% Lightning DMG +3.2%
A4: Enlightened One
For every 5 stacks of Resolve above 30, increases the Energy Regeneration Rate of all allies and Ei's CRIT DMG by 5%.

Revamped her old trace into this. ERR is impossible to build via substats so obviously a slight tinkering is in order. She now buffs the party ERR which is huge, and instead of Electro DMG I changed it to CRIT instead since she already has it has part of her minor traces.

Lightning DMG +4.8% CRIT Rate +4.0%
A6: All-Preserver
Increases the Max Energy of all allies by 50. Musou Isshin consumes 5 less Resolve stacks.

I feel like an absolute genius for coming up with the first one. Upping that max Energy might not seem like a lot but it is hella good. Most of the stuff from Ei scales off this so more Ult DMG, more Battery and more Resolve stacks. It also gives you a margin for overcapping your Energy, like when Tingyun has almost Max Energy but you need to use an action to fill it and most the Energy from the Basic Attack/Skill is wasted, and it basically stores up excess Energy for your next cycle. It is also noted that an Overbattery happens quite commonly with Ei. For example Blade (130 Ult) regens 30 on the EBA and 5 on the FuA. With 2 turns alongside Ei's Skill Battery thats 60*1.3+180*0.15*2=132, and if Ei has an Ulted turn thats an Extra 40. Then after Blade Ults he has 42 excess, and he only needs 1 EBA and a Musou Isshin to Ult again (Not a good way to use that Ult tho). Ratio (140) is actually a funnier case since after 1 Skill+Chalk and Ei's EBA he can 1 or 0 cycle the Ult permanently. Each chalk is 5 Energy and it is a separate action so 35*1.3+190*0.15*2+40=142.5. Ult regens 5 Energy and 2 Chalk throws resulting in 5*3+35=50 Energy at 1 Skill, so 2.5+50*1.3+190*0.15*4=181.5. If your SPD allows you to do so an Ult+2 Chalks with Ei's EBA that is 41.5+15*1.3+10*0.15*2+40=158. Overall it lets you get to your next Ult faster which is always appreciated. The second effect was part of her E1 but I just pulled it down here.

Eidolons
E1: Ominous Inscription
Increases the maximum stacks of Resolve to 80. For every enemy hit by an ally's attack while the Eye of Stormy Judgement is active, regenerate 5% of their Max Energy and generate 2 Resolve.

Standard E1 trace. Aside from higher stack count which gives more ATK, Ult+CRIT DMG and ERR, it gives even more Battery especially if you have AoE or Bounce attacks. Obviously this favors Erudition and Destruction (Yes ik Argenti stonks) but even if you are Hunt that is still an extra 5% of Energy, and it doesn't make her unusable with them. It is also independent of the Skill's trigger count unlike the 15% Energy regen on the Skill.

E2: Steelbreaker
Musou Isshin now causes enemies to immediately take 50% of current Shock DMG. Additionally, Ei's Ultimate DMG ignores 20% of their DEF. This extends to DoT dealt by Balethunder.

We love DEF ignore in HSR. Obviously 60% DEF ignore is too much and I need to cut it down a lot. This is multiplicative to DMG buffs making it even better, and stacking even more DEF downs on the enemy like Pela/Bronie makes that DMG skyrocket. She can even be used in DoT teams as a support, detonator and Main DPS with Kafka and Black Swan, as she still has DMG/massive ATK buffs (now 80% max) going for her, tho Ruan Mei is still going to be a better option most likely.

E3: Shinkage Bygones
Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
E4: Pledge of Propriety
If an enemy is inflicted with Balethunder, their DEF is reduced by 10%. If Ei is in the Euthymia state, further reduce their DEF by an additional 10%.

Initially the cause of all the Emergency changes I mentioned above in the EBA, cause it was supposed to give her 0 Ult downtime but her base kit already did that. Then I realised E1 makes her loopable anyway so I gave up and changed the whole thing, including the OG C4's ATK buff on exit due to diminishing returns. Had this idea for a while but didn't have the chance to put it anywhere so I just used it as a replacement effect.

E5: Shogun's Descent
Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Basic Attack Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.
E6: Wishbearer
Damage dealt by allies while the Euthymia state is active is also considered as Ultimate DMG. If Ei has above 40 Resolve at the start of her turn, reduce the current Resolve by 50% and gain a stack of Sakura's Memento immediately after her action. Each stack of Sakura's Memento reduces the Energy cost of all allies' Ultimates by 10 and their SPD by 5% for the rest of the battle, up to 3 stacks.

While halving the Resolve may look bad the payoff is worth it. First of all adding Ult DMG tag onto everything is absolutely goated as seen by our prime example Acheron. Secondly even if you halve the Resolve it is so easy to regain all those stacks by Ulting infinitely, and the fact that a mere Basic Attack from anyone can now give stacks since it is now an Ultimate. Thirdly lowering the Ult cost means you can Ult even faster, while effectively increasing the Energy cap by 30 permanently. Lastly SPD.

Light Cone
Yet Eternity Awaits
Path: Harmony Rarity: 5 star
Buried Memory
Increases the wearer’s CRIT DMG by 30-50%. When the wearer deals DMG to an enemy during another ally’s action, all allies gain Kagemusha for 2 turns, increasing their CRIT Rate and Energy Regeneration Rate by 12-20%. Additionally, when the wearer uses an Ultimate, increase their All-Type RES PEN by 15-25% for 3 turns.
I am so done with this probably Diluc+Kaeya/Xiao/Xingqiu next.