Deer antler plaque patternseer antler pla

... is inevitably becoming an alchemist. I just can't resist the lure of all those ingredients. I tell myself this time I'll just sell them, this time I'll only pick flowers to grow in my house, and every time I find myself hunched in a corner somewhere crunching down on canis root and mushrooms and deer antlers, again. 😅

So I'm just here too vent I don't know where to start but I'll start at the beginning so some backstory, I grew up in a traditional household as in I was fending for myself from the age of 14 by that I mean that once I turned 14 I cooked my own meals I did my own laundry I cleaned my own room I did my own jobs where I got paid money for things Such as babysitting house cleaning and sitting. Also I feel like I should mention that I grew up in a sixth generational military household where we were Raised under strict discipline We were also raised to have strong moral values as in do not do anything illegal and be an upstanding citizen you see something wrong report it. So to the meat and potatoes of why I want to vent so For this we need to go back 12 years ago so I just graduated high school I decided I want to start dating so I ended up meeting the person who would become my life partner when I first met him and we were on our first date I specifically told him that if we are going to be serious there's a game changer or end of game for me would be If he Or any of his friends or family members Had a criminal record that it would be game over "sorry thanks for playing tell him what he has won Charlie". He very plainly told me that no everyone and his family and his life are good people. So I give him a chance and we ended up dating for 2 years. Eventually I ended up getting stationed far away and I asked him if he would like to move in with me and he said yes. After a short while of us living together we ended up getting pregnant with our daughter and then he wanted me to meet his parents. side note The reason why I haven't met his parents up until this point is because I was a strong believer in not meeting the in-laws until marriage was either on the table or at least in talks but I did not want to meet them unless I and he was absolutely sure that we wanted to take that step. So we eventually went to go meet his parents and siblings and his siblings kid and everything went well it was a very lovely meeting and there was nothing to complain about nothing out of the ordinary. It eventually got to the point where every weekend we would be going to his parents house and the rest of the pregnancy went by swimmingling no problems whatsoever. Eventually my daughter came into the world during the summer and she was full term healthy happy baby. After 2 months of recuperating from giving birth we went to go visit his family let them see their granddaughter, niece, cousin. When we arrived at my in-law's house his cousin was there just chillin sitting on the couch. My partner said "cousin you're out of juvee that's amazing I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon" Safe to say my eyes widen when I heard my partner say this because I flashback to when we first met and I specifically asked him if he had any family members or Or friends who Who had a criminal record. I pulled him to our room that we had aside at the In-law's house and hushley yelled at him saying that he had told me that he had no family members are friends with criminal records he very nonchalantly Said "oh cousin doesn't have a criminal record it was expunged when he turned 18" 🚩#1: I don't know about everyone else but this was a red flag when I first heard it cause he basically got me on a technicality But I still felt betrayed because his cousin was in juvee for a pretty bad crime.( Not gonna mention here but it will come into light later in the story.) I let it go for the moment And enjoyed the rest of my weekend unfortunately though I had left my ipod In my room cause I was told it would be safe there because I was also told that I should make my partner's room feel more homey to me. But when I had came back the following weekend to get my ipod it was not where I had left it I ended up tearing apart the room looking for it because it had sentimental value to me due to irreplaceable photos videos from high school of friends, friends who are no longer with us, events that I held dear from high school Especially all the events that come with senior year of high school. I asked all the family who were living in the house at the time if any of them had been in partner's room or Or borrowed my ipod and everyone said no everyone said I don't know where it is. I then asked who has been in the house during the week since I was gone and mother-in-law said oh cousin was here because he was having trouble with his girlfriend. I went to partner and asked him to call cousin to see if he borrowed my ipod because if he did then I would like it back because I have I have irreplaceable photos on the ipod. 🚩#2: Partner said no cousin wouldn't never take anything from my room cousin's not like that you're crazy why you being so upset and crazy over a few photos and a ipod. Partner also mentioned that because of my view of His cousin that that's clouding my Vision of him so of course I would automatically assume he would take it granted I did not specify he stole it I said borrowed did not say stolen please refer to previously mentioned reason why this ipod was so important to me...partner knew of the sentimental value of the ipod also that I paid for it with my hard earned money, it was the first expensive thing I had ever brought. Anyways partner had me second-guessing myself so I eventually just let go the fact that my ipod was missing I did not bring it up I should have it would save me a lot of mental health in the future anyways flash forward to 2015 my contract With the military was up I decided not to reinlist. As a goodbye gift my master chief had given me a deer antler bullet Pen that he had made personally for me. At the behest of his parents me and partner and our daughter moved into his parents place I kept the pen in a pen holder On my desk in my room At this point in time I was always out of my room and out of the house looking for a job. I didnt really need one I was making and still am making plenty from the VA. I'm sure a lot of you I probably gonna say that when I had moved in I should learn my lesson with the ipod and had installed a lock on the door but my in-laws were strong believers in a no lock policy in the house of course I did not And still do not believe in that policy I like privacy I do not like the idea of someone just randomly barging into my Space at any given moment. So eventually one of my old navy buddies had came to visit me and wanted to see the pen that master chief had given me. We wanted to compare the ones that Master chief had given both of us Every pen he had made was always unique so we wanted to see the difference Between the 2. Low and behold my pen was missing and I was devastated. And true Rinse and repeat fashion. I asked all the family members who were living in the house at the time if anyone had been in my room and took a pen they all looked at me like I was crazy and said are you going to get upset over a pen missing now and I specified that that pen was basically a parting gift from my boss for For being in the military. 🚩#3:After I realized that I was not gonna get anywhere with asking the family, I voice my concerns and grievances to my partner he also made me feel like I was crazy because he stated that "it's just a pen get over it". Eventually I did manage to get a few jobs over the next few years up until 2019 when I eventually decide I want to better my education and go to college so from June till may of 2020 I was going to college.side note: From when we had moved in with his parents all the way till even today I have been doing 90% of the housework as in I cook, I clean, I do laundry all the while working 40+ hour weeks. All partner ever does is just go do work with his dad And come home to fresh clean clothes and towel fresh out of the dryer laid out in the bathroom and a hot meal waiting on the table as I'm sure you're getting from the tone of what I'm saying right now I think you know Where this whole thing is gonna go real soon. So while I'm going to school and doing all the housework taking care of our child. My partner would come home shower do all the normal stuff and then go to bed but then he wouldn't touch me or be intimate with me he would always say I'm tired I'm not in the mood I have a headache. Maybe you dont understand partner but I never pressed on him because I assume because of certain work stressors He must be having a tough week so I never pressed him to be intimate with me. Pass to around a few weeks before Halloween I was just randomly scrolling on his phone looking at Halloween costumes for our daughter cause she wanted a very specific costume and he had gotten a text message from someone labeled under a male name and they said something that was very alarming and I looked in the text against my better judgment And what it said was hey how about we have another car date. I didn't want to jump to conclusions so me in stealth mode I text it back saying what would you like to do during the car date and the person replied oh the same thing we do every time we go on a car date you me in the back seat and you pounding me like crazy. With you saying my name and me screaming yours. Safe to say I was sick to my stomach just from reading what the person had text I had screenshot the text and I had sent it to myself and then deleted the text that I had sent to myself from my partner's fault I then put the phone away and then partner went and got his phone and I could see his face turned pale white as he saw that the Text had been opened but he didn't make any mention even brought it up. After this I went into FBI mode and I would casually look at his phone whenever he was in the shower he would always leave it charging as soon as he got home from work and then any text messages that seemed kinda off I would screenshot them and I would look app the number at a later time and back track it via Google. The information you can find on Google is crazy to me thank God for google. I eventually would get the person he was sending messages 2 send pictures as proof that they were together And evidence was unmistakable the things that she had sent made my stomach turn lowkey I could hear just what the episode of SNAPPED would have said about me if I had listened to that inner voice. After getting plenty of proof of his infidelity I eventually confronted him And here's where red flag number 4 comes into play. 🚩#4: He stated that I had become distant from him that I was more concerned with our child and school then I was with him and then also another thing that was basically as he said the straw that broke the camel's back was that I had put on weight. at this point in time I was Only 50 pounds heavier than when I got out of the military. He also mentioned that I didn't make time for him anymore Which was far from the truth if anything I always tried to push to have time with him on his days off but he was always "with his friends" I later found out that he was with her. Another reason he had given was that our relationship had grown stale and cold and boring and he wanted something exciting and new. I gave him the ultimatum either he picks me and our daughter or he picks his side piece. And true kid mentality he said it wasn't fair because he loved both me and her and he couldn't pick and he had the nerve to come up with the idea that we do a sister wife/polygamy type of relationship. 🚩#5: He even went As far to say that we should do an open relationship but primarily one where he would be in a relationship with someone but I would have to be faithful to him.another side note:he's not morman or LDS or muslim Very nicely I state did that it would be a cold day in hell when any of those options would be even viable to me.* Again I grew up in a traditional household where monogamy is a necessity And I also made it very clear when we started dating that I was a monogamous person so how this even became an idea in his head I have no idea.* So he tells me once he sees that I am dead serious that he chooses me and our daughter and I stated good choice and I thought that was the end of it until December of that year when I had heard his phone go off while he was again in the bathroom and I went to look at it and it was her and she had stated that He had left his wallet at her place when When he had seen her last week. I was feeling mad and when he came to sit back down on the couch I threw his phone at him I Called him out for the sleazy dog that he wasAnd brought up other harsh words Regarding events that had happened in the past years Since we had moved in with his parents. 🚩#6:He stated that he hasn't seen her since I had given him the ultimatum and that she is just trying to get rise out of me because he had told her that I had found out about her. Of course I did not believe him so once he left for work the following day I checked his Google location for the day that she had mentioned that he had left his wallet and lo and behold he had been at her house during that week and then also later in the day after the text he had been at her house again this time he was at her house for the better part of 3 hours when he strictly told me that he was gonna be super busy and working with yard tools where he would not be able to hear his phone go Off whenever I text or call him. * Yes I can hear you all screaming at me that I should have left him when he first had the affair but I don't know maybe I had my daughter in my mind and didn't want her to grow up in a broken household or whatever may be the case but for some stupid God forsaken reason I gave him another chance And kept giving him chance after chance every time I saw he had gone to her house* Eventually he had grown tired of the girl and then he settled back into being monogamous again and everything for the most part especially after covid happened was quiet and calm but that's what I thought. Queue cousin entering from left stage. Cousin ended up staying with us during COVID because again he had a falling out with his girlfriend now baby mama And one particular day I came home from working limited hours due to covid and I see an iPod that looks eerily similar to the one I had. Curious I looked at the back and low and behold there was still a sticker residue from A sticker that had previous There. Fun fact about my ipod I had an anime sticker That I had personally designed. Again curiosity got the better be and I unlock the ipod and check the serial number in IMEI numbers and check the same Info on the product box that I had gotten my ipod in and lo and behold they matched perfectly to a T. Stupidly optimistic I was hoping someone had found it where it might have been misplaced and I was hoping that my photos and videos were still on the ipod. But as I'm sure you're probably already guessing it was wiped clean and it was nothing but photos of and you guessed it cousin and his baby mama and their baby. every video and pic that I had on my ipod from when I first bought it In freshman year of high school to when I had eventually had my daughter Was gone forever. Cousin came out of the bathroom and asked what I was doing with his ipod. I'm sure you know where this conversation is going so I'm not gonna repeat it but let's just say a few harsh things were said and he eventually felt guilty for not coming to me and asking if the ipod was mine. I obviously gave it back to him because it had no more sentimental value to me because all my stuff was deleted and it was basically his at this point. So later that night I again leaned on Partner's shoulder and Express my grievances and how I didn't appreciate that he gaslet me into thinking that his cousin wouldn't take something out of his room when in later years it is found out that he did in fact I asked for an apology on the matter and he stated... 🚩#7: Why are you upset over something that happened in the past and over photos that Aren't that important.* Our daughter's entire birth was on the ipod by the way Not to mention all my pregnancy bump milestone photos were there too.Also I have fertility issues and was told carry children would be difficult...I think they meant conceiving because like a unicorn no morning sickness or any of the negative things you hear that comes with pregnancy* Later in the year 2020 partner's brother ended up moving out and moving about 2 hours North of us With his girlfriend now wife. In the same fashion as us not too soon after they moved into their new place they found out they were expecting their first child together. The entire pregnancy went by just as smoothly as mine but around December, Brother-in-law and cousin decided to do cross-country trip this is all that they told us we thought they were crazy because His brother-in-law was expecting his first child and cousin was expecting his second child And the babies were going to be due any day at most within the coming weeks. Well surprise surprise we get a call from brother-in-law's frantic wife stating something happened to brother in law and cousin and that she couldn't talk about it over the phone. When she eventually arrived she was hysterical, Tears rolling down her face I actually felt A sense of concern and dread for what she was about to say to us. So long story short cousin and brother-in-law had been working for unfavorable people and transporting unfavorable items across state lines. sil and cousins baby mama knew what they were doing and would tag along, they "didn't care because the money and their lives were good" * Brother-in-law's ex then gf had previously told me that he was working for the same unfavorable people and when I brought it up to 🚩#8: partner he said x is crazy don't listen to Her. (He later told he and fam always knew what bil and cousin were doing just never brought it up because 'thats cousin and bils business to tell us'* Again due to COVID the court system was delayed and brother-in-law did not go to jail right away. While we were awaiting a sentencing Brother-in-law set all the family down and asked us to look over his wife and kids (yes kids plural he ended up having a second child while awaiting sentencing stupid I know.) The rest of the family said they would look out for Brother-in-law's family. But here's where I'm going to sound like an a****** but I very plainly and bluntly told him that I will not look after his family because I did not marry "wife" and I did not have "kids" I also stated that he knew that he was expecting a kid and he went to do a run even though his kid was due any day and I also mentioned that he needs to suffer the consequences of his actions. To make it short the family looked at me like I was the devil for saying this but I have made it clear of where I stand when it comes to criminals and doing illegal activities. I also have made it very clear how I feel criminals should pay for their actions. I know this will sound cheesy but if you cannot do the Time do not do the crime. In my eyes this was a textbook case of f*** around and find out. I do not feel like I should bend over backwards when I am taking care of my own family and my own problems and adding my brother-in-law's problems to my plate. Again this is where I might lose people but as I previously I grew up in a traditional household where we pull our weight and take care our ourselves. Sister-in-law is now living with us she does not have a job, she does not want a job, she does not pitch in for any expenses. I am paying over 70% of the household expenses water, gas, Wi-Fi etc. * Also after looking at the mortgage payment statements the rent I pay my in-laws to stay in the house pays for more than half of the mortgage.* Sister-in-law does not pitch in a dime. She has no disability she can work she just chooses not to. Well if you couldn't guess it the house was tense for the rest of the time that brother-in-law was in the house until he was eventually sentenced and put in jail. So since brother-in-law has been in jail I still stick to the hole I don't help sister-in-law with anything pertaining to her, I don't ask her for anything. She's been making it a habit of calling my partner and having him move my car from the spots that Im able to get in front of the house before she got into the spot to have him move the car for her because she doesn't want to walk far with The kids. This was usually how things were done until yesterday when sister-in-law was calling my partner to have him move my car and he wouldn't answer because he was asleep due to being sick. So In a begrudging fashion I assume this was for her she calls me to have me move my car, I told her I don't mind the car being moved but she would have to come get the keys to move it as I was currently busy rearranging my Space, And that I was trying to get everything i needed to get done before my day was over cause this was my only day off during the week, And in A spoiled sounding tone she says whatever Forget about it. Later in the day when my partner had woken up he Received a call from Sister-in-law stating that I was being difficult and wouldn't move the car From my spot.* I think it's fair to Mention that there are plenty of spots In front of our house but for some reason she always wants to park where I park. She never calls anyone else who's parked in front of the house ,if they're parked there, to move their cars only me or my Partner.) Also full circle, I was cleaning out our family's "junk cabinet" yesterday during my cleaning frenzy and found my deer pen it was in fils work bag, and yes its mine says my rank and full name on it.(trust me it'll come into play) So after the call with sister-in-law partner starts berating me Stating that I'm a part of this family and that I should be helping everyone out nevermind that I pay 70% expenses and more then half of mortgage,among other things. I told him very sternly that I had let her know that she could come and move the car herself but I was currently busy. I also stated that I told her when When brother-in-law asked us to help out with his family that I would not be doing any favors I will not be dropping things at the Whim of a hat for sister-in-law. I have my own things I need to do I can't just be stopping what I'm doing just to help her just cause it'll make it more convenient for her. I also stated during the convo with partner that there are plenty Of Mother's whose Partners are also in the prison system Who have multiple kids who are doing just fine by themselves. And that sister-in-law needs to women up And handle things on her own. I also stated that I did not tell her to have the kids That was all her choice. I also stated that I have never asked or received help for anything during my time with him and his family. I've been a very self-sufficient independent person. I'd like to make it known that we primarily survive off my income alone most of his income that he gives to me goes into savings because I make a Remarkably large amount of money thanks to what I get from the VA and from my 40+ hr job in the federal sector. And with the hours I work I don't have to worry about childcare as I watch my daughter during the day, When partner comes home from his long day at work I will sleep for a couple of hours before I start my night shift, I also will sleep while my daughter is in school till I have to pick her up then I do housework and take care of my child till my Partner Comes home and cook dinner. The only reason we live with in-laws is to help them with the mortgage because the mortgage is so incredibly high in the area that we live in. So to reiterate I have never asked or needed help from any of partner's family. And I find it funny that they are now preaching that we're a family we need to help each other, Yet never once while I was living with them have ever offered help offer to watch a our child for the night or anything. Not that I would accept or anything just saying it would have been a nice gesture at the very least. But after partner said that we're family, I retaliated by saying family doesn't violate personal space and go in your room and steals your stuff. He sighed and said you're on that again and I said it's not just the ipod it is also the fact that your dad stole my deer pen. And that the ipod was and the deer pen is sentimental to me. Like a broken record I stated that the ipod had everything from my past that was irreplaceable memories of friends who are no longer with us and of our daughter's first breath into the world And the fact that he is not as mad as me about the fact that we no longer have the video of our daughter being brought into the World Is eye-opening. We ended the day on a sour note where he ended up sleeping on the couch and I in our bed. which has led me to write out my emotions because I just want to scream at him for 🚩#9: everytime he gave his free time to his family,when I couldn't even get 2 hours a day to just chat, the little bit of time I did get with him he just wants to "sit in silence" where he ends spends the time on tiktok. Also whenever I find out when i have a day off usually a month in advance. I try to plan an "US" day where its just me, him, and our daughter.spoiler alert I rarely if ever get to share a day off with him and when he manages one, on the day we had plans he says something along the lines of I have to do a tree trimmng job or fix a sprinkler head, he states "won't take long" then will call and say he'll be bit longer, rinse and repeat this and he spends the whole day at his clients house fixing his fuck up. no hes not seeing AP I have untraceable GPS trackers secretly hidden in all the vehicles, and no not illegal I legally own and insure all our vehicles at my suggestion due problems with the parents. Also partner owns piece of fils business so in a way its keeping track of work equipment in case it gets stolen. I've gotten to the point where the moment he says he's gonna take longer than planned I just leave with my daughter and do what I had planned like go to the zoo, museum, trampoline park, etc. Partner does not call me all day. im at the point idc,still frustrated but don't care. Also here's the cherry on the cake usually when me and daughter go out we get back right when partner gets home and is unpacking the work vehicle and he has this look like were you out of the house all day? Which is confirm with that very question coming from his mouth. I send our child to go in the house sensing where the convo was leading to and once she was out of ear shot. Again very bluntly I tell im not gonna cancel my day if your not gonna prioritize me and our daughter's time I had plans for today I told you in advance you made your choice of which is more important so while you used your day off to do an extra job I used my day off to make memories with our child. In true child fashion he says but I wanted to go to insert place too. You should've just waited to go on a different day. I tell him that he always postpones or comes up with a reason not to go (too expensive, too hot, will be crowded, blah blah blah) so instead I will make the plan to go tell him ahead of time if he takes time off great if not no sweat im still going. Boy he got so irritated for being called out especially when our daughter yelled from the doorway dad you always cancel on us. BTW daughter is unaware of partners affair on the day that I confronted him a close friend that I had told of my situation told me and partner that her daughter wanted to do a sleepover I was unaware this was her sneaky way of helping me. I just took advantage of the empty nest situation I'm sorry if this is more of a rant but my anger and emotions all over the place I'm half tempted of just ending things cutting ties with him and his family because they expect me to change my morality, which I'm very uncomfortable with that. Everything that I was taught respect the relationship your in, respect the law, dont do anything illegal etc these are basic common sense things. Mil, bil, and partner did not respect their relationships or partner. Mil and partner cheated (not with eachother gross but with other people). Bil left pregnant wife alone, due to have a baby anyday, to do something illegal. Also the mental abuse i deal with Partner's sisters bullying me by critiquing how my parents raised me, on my parenting, calling me a hypocrite on my morality because I was trying to pin a baby on partner (was not true he was given the choice to leave all the way up until before delivery) I'm just mentally, physically and emotionally tired. And separation is looking really like a good idea. I've asked for family and couples counseling, inlaws and partner say "we don't have issues you do,why dont you get it, your too needy and selfish always wanting to spend alone time with partner" Thats why I'm turning to reddit one to vent/rant and two for second opinions. I try to limit what I tell bout my family to my parents friends and sibs partly because I hate painting people I've chosen to keep in my life in a bad light also my dad and brothers wouldve have made partner and inlaws take a dirt nap in the desert if I had told them what they've been putting me through and what partner did around time of covid, no trace or evidence think scene from boondocks of the assassin who "took care of" the entire family.only my close friend has seen and knows the full extent of what I've gone through, so she could be a witness to my family if partner tries to spin this around in his favor. But also she suggest the reddit route so I can get opinions and see if maybe I'm seeing this in a different light like seeing this though a different POV. Any advice or insight would be appreciated. I know I most likely am gonna get hate for this next thing I about to say as well But when we found out she was pregnant with the second kid I said with a great deal of concern that she should "take care of it" because "if you arent sure if you can handle two kids while brother in law is away then maybe keeping this one isn't the best choice" Again family looks at me like I'm the devil for suggesting this.Just so It's made clear I was not pushing her to get an abortion I was just trying to make it clear to her that she is going to be having 2 kids under the age of 2 in her care While her husband is away. Also for further insight cousin broke up with baby mama while she was pregnant with second kid but after it was too late to do anything about it when baby mama announced her pregnancy (prior to the crime) i voiced my same concerns with her,in standard young dumb full of it fashion she state "we are in this ride or die" and now she cries to me saying she can't handle two kids and "why did i have a second one" baby mama is now regretting her decision.For any single parent taking care of two kids is a daunting task so I was just looking out for her mental health due to the fact that she would be Taking care of 2 kids by herself at the same time her partner was going to be going to jail for an undisclosed amount of time and at the time not knowing if she might have ppd like some people have after having Irish twins.

My normal posts are 2-5 paragraphs. This is long because it's a starter.
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The sloping ground around the Kiaurk family mesa had been sculpted into shelves or terraces, and it was on one of those upper terraces that Kiaurk Nshurr now lounged beneath a pergola anchored to the striated stone face behind her. The mesa rose at her back: an enormous, looming, almost sheer outcrop that her family's dwellings had been carved into the face of. Wide, shallow steps cut into the artificial (but entirely convincing) sandstone wound their way up between landings and porticos leading inward, between tiny balconies shaded by bright solid-colored canopies, between rooms with flat walls and rounded corners that came jutting out to shadow the steps below. Rriigkhans rarely used glass as window barriers; smooth-edged holes had been cut through the rock in varying shapes and sizes. It could be difficult to tell which apertures were windows and which were entryways. A physical barrier that kept out the elements was obsolete in all but the crudest dwellings, though some of these larger holes were curtained with braided string or strips of cloth that served a purely decorative purpose.
From her high vantage point Nshurr could see the shelves stretching out below her as the base of the mesa leveled out to flattish terrain that was a wonderland of vegetation in muted rainbow colors: mustard yellows, clay reds, earthy browns and the occasional dash of sage or dusty blue. This scrubland lay like a blanket around everything below that was not part of the village between the mesas. Down there, adobe compounds never taller than two or three storeys seemed so squat compared to the mesas that Nshurr could see towering in the distance, many of those family mesas only a few hours walk from her own if she traveled by foot. The village sprawled, with tile parkways winding in serpentine fashion between the various buildings, courtyards, parks, and ponds. There were no property lines, no clear division of the land into neat little plots owned by the individuals who lived and worked in these places. It all seemed to be part of a whole, with a single unifying aesthetic. The village housed those rriigkhans of the lower castes, the kharratah and chelhautah, and the humans which were a caste all their own, haukagh-ar, except for a small number who lived with their employers in the caverns of the mesas or up on the plateau.
This planet, Sgarrl, terraformed over three hundred years ago, was home to more humans than any other Ssaarian world – aside from Earth, of course, discovered eighty years ago. The fact that humans shared so much in common with rriigkhans made them the perfect species to incorporate into the rriigkhan caste structure. They breathed the same mix of gases and required similar gravities, and their nimble little fingers were very useful for all sorts of work.
Still, despite the weird pidgin humans had made of her language and their English, she liked the little creatures. She had come to live with her Grandmother on Sgarrl only a month ago, and had never encountered them before. The males only stood as tall as her collar. The females were shorter still, much like the males of her own species.
To human eyes Nshurr was a feline, with a muscular swimmer's body and the broad muzzle of a big cat, with watchful, forward-facing predator's eyes that seemed unexpectedly expressive, because rriikghans had almost as many muscles around their eyes as humans did around their mouths to convey the nuances of emotion. Despite being larger than even many Earth men, she was considered sleek by rriigkhan standards. She made up for that with her broader crest.
The rriigkhan crest was something like the crest of Utahceratops – a keratinized plate growing up out of the skull, except divided into three lobes instead of two, with scalloped edges along the outer rim. Unlike depictions of Utahceratops, the rriigkhan crest was not covered by skin. At least, not on the top. Thick ropy veins squiggled under velvet fur on the underside, closer to the neck. (A thick, arching neck muscular enough to support the weight of that crest meant that Rriigkhans walked with a stoop that made them seem hunchbacked, to humans.) The surface of the plate on top was often rough, even bumpy or corrugated like deer antlers in some areas, smooth in others. Every female crest had four tines jutting from the front – a pair several inches above the eyes, and another pair further up.
Nshurr's crest was wider than average, her upper tines spaced further apart, and combined with a compact face this made her look top-heavy. (A human might say that she was more snow leopard than lion.) Most female crests did not interfere with the movement of the ears – highly mobile, highly expressive paddle shaped things – but the edges of Nshurr's crest did jut out enough to almost shield them.
That her crest was weighty, that it was inconvenient, that she was often aware of it – this was Nshurr's pride. Her long tail curled happily when she caught males looking at it. Humans seemed to be intimidated by it sometimes, as if she might decide to stab them with her “horns.” She considered herself a confident person; not a braggart, but self-assured, and to carry her jhekaah so visibly pleased her to no end.
Her fur was an almost peachy off-white, but a mask of pale peach shaded each seafoam green eye. The mask blended into the white further up her forehead until fur gave way to bone-tan crest, and was split between her eyes by the white of her nose. Oblong spots in that same peachy color, each blending from dark to light, streaked down her sides.
These weren't the natural colors of her distant ancestors. It was unheard of to see a rriigkhan who was not gene-modified in some way, even if those modded genes had been part of rriigkhan life for so long that no one thought of them as mods any longer. She also thought nothing of the subtitles her augmented reality implant displayed whenever a human spoke, AI translated to help her decipher the pidgin. AR was simply a part of her, had been since she was a kit.
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OOC Information:
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For this particular prompt I imagine you'd play a human, probably a new arrival to Sgarrl but maybe someone who was born there. Even though I've set up a situation where my character would have a lot of power and yours very little, I want to clarify that I'm only looking for a mutually loving, slow burn romance.
My “type” that I'd like you to play would be an average man in the 40-60 age range, with realistic personality flaws.
I prefer partners who like to reply more than once a day. 2-3 replies per day would be ideal, but I understand life gets in the way. I usually write 2-5 paragraphs, or 150-450 words per post. This starter is much longer than my typical post length, but my lengths really vary a lot. If I'm introducing a new character or scene, my post might be 1,000 words, or it could be 100 words if our characters are in the middle of a conversation.
Please send a writing sample if you have none in your post history. No need to custom write anything for me, old samples are fine.

My normal posts are 2-5 paragraphs. This is long because it's a starter.
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The sloping ground around the Kiaurk family mesa had been sculpted into shelves or terraces, and it was on one of those upper terraces that Kiaurk Nshurr now lounged beneath a pergola anchored to the striated stone face behind her. The mesa rose at her back: an enormous, looming, almost sheer outcrop that her family's dwellings had been carved into the face of. Wide, shallow steps cut into the artificial (but entirely convincing) sandstone wound their way up between landings and porticos leading inward, between tiny balconies shaded by bright solid-colored canopies, between rooms with flat walls and rounded corners that came jutting out to shadow the steps below. Rriigkhans rarely used glass as window barriers; smooth-edged holes had been cut through the rock in varying shapes and sizes. It could be difficult to tell which apertures were windows and which were entryways. A physical barrier that kept out the elements was obsolete in all but the crudest dwellings, though some of these larger holes were curtained with braided string or strips of cloth that served a purely decorative purpose.
From her high vantage point Nshurr could see the shelves stretching out below her as the base of the mesa leveled out to flattish terrain that was a wonderland of vegetation in muted rainbow colors: mustard yellows, clay reds, earthy browns and the occasional dash of sage or dusty blue. This scrubland lay like a blanket around everything below that was not part of the village between the mesas. Down there, adobe compounds never taller than two or three storeys seemed so squat compared to the mesas that Nshurr could see towering in the distance, many of those family mesas only a few hours walk from her own if she traveled by foot. The village sprawled, with tile parkways winding in serpentine fashion between the various buildings, courtyards, parks, and ponds. There were no property lines, no clear division of the land into neat little plots owned by the individuals who lived and worked in these places. It all seemed to be part of a whole, with a single unifying aesthetic. The village housed those rriigkhans of the lower castes, the kharratah and chelhautah, and the humans which were a caste all their own, haukagh-ar, except for a small number who lived with their masters in the caverns of the mesas or up on the plateau.
This planet, Sgarrl, terraformed over three hundred years ago, was home to more human servants than any other Ssaarian world – aside from Earth, of course, discovered eighty years ago. The fact that humans shared so much in common with rriigkhans made them the perfect species to incorporate into the rriigkhan caste structure as servants. They breathed the same mix of gases and required similar gravities, and their nimble little fingers were very useful for all sorts of work.
The rriigkhan language was not necessarily too complex for humans, but it was wholly unfamiliar – too many phonemes that did not fit comfortably in human mouths, from grunts to huffs, to rolling trills that might by voiced or not, sometimes rumbling out like a purr. To a human, Nshurr's name was a sigh and a trill, and yet she was accustomed to humans vocalizing her name in their heavy, slurring way: Na-Shuurr! Nasher! Sometimes simply: ɽ͡r! which she recognized more easily as her name, or at least part of it, and not some random sounds.
Still, despite the weird pidgin humans had made of her language and their English, she liked the little creatures. She had come to live with her Grandmother on Sgarrl only days ago, and had never encountered them before. The males only stood as tall as her collar. The females were shorter still, much like the males of her own species.
To human eyes Nshurr was felinoid, with a muscular swimmer's body and the broad muzzle of a big cat, with watchful, forward-facing predator's eyes that seemed unexpectedly expressive, because rriikghans had almost as many muscles around their eyes as humans did around their mouths to convey the nuances of emotion. Despite being larger than even many Earth men, she was considered sleek by rriigkhan standards. She made up for that with her broader crest.
The rriigkhan crest was something like the crest of Utahceratops – a keratinized plate growing up out of the skull, except divided into three lobes instead of two, with scalloped edges along the outer rim. Unlike depictions of Utahceratops, the rriigkhan crest was not covered by skin. At least, not on the top. Thick ropy veins squiggled under velvet fur on the underside, closer to the neck. (A thick, arching neck muscular enough to support the weight of that crest meant that Rriigkhans walked with a stoop that made them seem hunchbacked, to humans.) The surface of the plate on top was often rough, even bumpy or corrugated like deer antlers in some areas, smooth in others. Every female crest had four tines jutting from the front – a pair several inches above the eyes, and another pair further up. Directly above the lowest set of tines were twin holes, the howrf channels, just big enough for a human to insert a finger. These holes were very much like nostrils – much deeper, but damp inside, and lined with short, fine hairs to protect the sensitive mucous membrane from debris. The organs housed within these channels were the heart of rriigkhan culture, the foundation of all relationships, of sex.
Male rriigkhans, of course, had only their neotonous crests: diminutive, mostly smooth with rounded edges, without tines or howrf channels. Cute.
Nshurr's crest was wider than average, her upper tines spaced further apart, and combined with a compact face this made her look top-heavy. (A human might say that she was more snow leopard than lion.) Most female crests did not interfere with the movement of the ears – highly mobile, highly expressive paddle shaped things – but the edges of Nshurr's crest did jut out enough to almost shield them.
That her crest was weighty, that it was inconvenient, that she was often aware of it – this was Nshurr's pride. Her long tail curled in pleasure when she caught males looking at it. Humans seemed to be intimidated by it sometimes, as if she might decide to gore them with her “horns.” She considered herself a confident person; not a braggart, but self-assured, and to carry her jhekaah so visibly pleased her to no end.
Her fur was an almost peachy off-white, but a mask of pale peach shaded each seafoam green eye. The mask blended into the white further up her forehead until fur gave way to bone-tan crest, and was split between her eyes by the white of her nose. Oblong spots in that same peachy color, each blending from dark to light, streaked down her sides.
These weren't the natural colors of her distant ancestors. It was unheard of to see a rriigkhan who was not gene-modified in some way, even if those modded genes had been part of rriigkhan life for so long that no one thought of them as mods any longer. She also thought nothing of the subtitles her augmented reality implant displayed whenever a human spoke, AI translated to help her decipher the pidgin. AR was simply a part of her, had been since she was a kit.
Reclining as she was on a padded lounger in front of an iron brazier, full of cold ashes from last night's fire, Nshurr was dressed in a pale coral shift only a few shades darker than the peach of her fur. Medallions trailing fringes of cloth had been sewn onto the front bottom half of the knee-length garment. A row of those ornate medallions defined a plunging neckline that bared much of her chest, muscular and broad, possibly even masculine to a human. Her breasts were lower on her body and similar in appearance to a mare's udders: long nipples on a pudge of fat nestled close together on the pelvis, just above the place where her thighs joined her body. They were only small lumps beneath the shift when Nshurr stretched out her legs so that the thin fabric fell across them. It was the roundness of her hips and buttocks that marked her female to the human eye. (As if her crest didn't make that obvious!)
She was listening to the sound of two younger female cousins wrestling on a nearby terrace, and although from her vantage point Nshurr could not see them, she could imagine the scene from what she heard: Fherou and Lahk growling while they grappled with their arms, the crack of crest hitting crest and then the scrape of tine sliding against tine. Each was fighting to control the other's head, each trying to bite the other. It wasn't easy when each had a shaggy ruff to protect her neck, and any attempt to bite the other's face would be thwarted by an interposing crest. Rriigkhan hands were less dexterous than human hands, more pawlike with stubby fingers, but capable of delivering hard blows, and once or twice Nshurr heard a cousin snarl in response to a strike against her body.
The competitive pheromones her cousins exuded from their unextended howrfs, quite unconsciously, were beginning to make Nshurr's own heart beat faster. The end of her long tail, where it hung down from the reclining chair, lashed in agitation. She was beginning to imagine sinking her teeth into someone's skin herself, and if her cousins had not been so much younger and smaller than herself she might have gone down to their terrace to show them a thing or two. It was putting her off the human flute music she'd been listening to, fed directly into her own brain through her implant for her private enjoyment. (Certain aspects of human culture were very popular here on Sgarrl; she'd been curious about it.)
She did not feel like going inside to escape the pheromones; Nshurr craved the warmth of the sun on her fur, not the cool stone and artificial light of those warrens. Most of her male cousins had gone into the village for boating today. Well, perhaps she would go down and join them after all.
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OOC Information:
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For this prompt I imagine you'd play a human servant, probably a new arrival to Sgarrl but maybe someone who was born there. Even though I've set up a situation where my character would have a lot of power and yours very little, I want to clarify that I'm not interested in abusing your character I am looking for a slow burn interspecies romance that develops naturally. This story may deal with power imbalances and even speciesism, but I'd like to explore those topics realistically.
I want to explore all aspects of loving relationship... Flirting, cuddling, kissing, lots of romantic scenes and character growth. My “type” that I'm most attracted to are men with average bodies in the 40-60 age range, with realistic personality flaws. I am more than willing to tailor my character's personality and physical attributes to suit your tastes, within reason. I appreciate partners willing to do the same.
I prefer to reply more than once a day. 2-3 replies per day would be ideal, but I understand life gets in the way. I usually write 2-5 paragraphs, or 150-450 words per post. This starter is much longer than my typical post length, but my lengths vary according to need. If I'm introducing a new character or setting a scene, my post might go up to 1,000 words.
Please send a writing sample if you have none in your post history. No need to custom write anything for me, old samples are fine. Click here to PM me!

So when I picked up a deer demon kintype I thought it was mainly because of Hazbin Hotel. But demon forms usually come from the life of the person. At first I didn't realise why I was guided to this kintype, but after I realised it's linked to the wendigo.
A wendigo apparently comes to life when a person is rejected by someone they love. This happened to me. The wendigo has a heart of ice which is hypothetical for me being caedromantic (aquired aromanticity).
And wendigos are usually depicted with deer antlers.
My transformation was supposed to be an experiment but it seems very spiritual now. Feel free to share similar experiences.

A local Muntjac deer has decided they like to either eat the conifer or use it rub their antlers on it and made a bit of a mess of what is supposed to be a statement tree. Is it likely the tree will regrow out to cover this? Any tips for protecting the tree from deer?

Baby teeth are, by function, non permanent parts of the body that a lot of creatures have and lose. The animal is obviously not harmed by this, and it was never intended to be permanent, thus I would say it's a byproduct, albeit one that you can only really collect once. Deer antlers would be another one I would be curious about, since it's a similar thing to baby teeth, but they very commonly lose and regrow them. Thus, would baby teeth broth, or deer antler broth, technically be a vegetarian meal? (Albeit not very nutritious of one.)

[INDEX]
With a tug of the reins, Horse and I headed south to Wendleton road.
My Transit Map showed a dirt track labeled “Old Fort Galos Road” that lead 3 miles south to Wendleton road, and then I could head west to Wendleton itself which would have been Denver in my world. There were no details on the city, but Fort Galos had (ruins) in the information screen. I wondered what had happened here and why it wasn’t rebuilt.
I nudged Horse into a trot as the trees closed in around us and the trail sloped slightly downwards. I could see old wagon ruts in the packed soil of the trail where grass hadn’t reclaimed the area. This wasn’t anything like the Colorado I’d grown up in, not outside of a national park anyway, there were tons of enormous trees and plenty of underbrush here. A mile later the trees thinned out and opened into an arid landscape. Tough yellow grass and hardy brush grew as far as the eye could see, with occasional clusters of trees breaking the monotony. A small spring emerged from between two waist-high boulders about 100 yards from the tree line and formed a pool of clear water before overflowing and meandering alongside the trail. Bonus camping gear was included with the purchase of Horse but no supplies, and I suddenly grew quite thirsty at the thought of being on a 30 mile ride in the summer heat with no water.
A glance at my ever-present and slightly annoying Heads-Up-Display told me that it was currently 17:30 and my battery had already dropped to 95%. I’m guessing Battery is how tired I am and it’ll recharge while I sleep. I hope it recharges while I sleep. Where the hell would I even plug myself in to recharge?
I guided Horse up to the pool and dismounted. Reaching into the saddlebags caused an Inventory screen to pop up. Looks like Horse comes equipped with 20 slots for stashing gear. Selecting a canteen from the saddlebag inventory, I filled it with cold spring water and splashed some on my face while Horse slurped loudly. Does a summoned mount even need to eat and drink? I probed through the bond with the question and a sense of eating apples came back to me. I’m going to take that as a definite maybe.
A loud rustling in the brush made my heart skip a beat. Quickdraw activated and my pistol was snapped out of the holster in a blur. Moments later, a jackrabbit the size of a bulldog emerged with his nose twitching, then stood on his hind legs to watch me. Jesus Christ, the thing was huge. An absolute unit of a rabbit with teeth the size of my thumb.
I considered what I was about to do, conflicted with the knowledge of knowing how to spit roast a rabbit over a campfire despite never having done it before. The runestones under my palm tingled as I mentally selected Kinetic Bolt and squeezed the trigger. The gun jerked in my hand with a loud crack as a fist-sized blue ball of energy exploded from it and smashed into the jackrabbit. The animal went flying arse-over-ears back into the brush and I waited for a few seconds, listening.
Easing around the pool I poked through the brush and spotted my prey twitching on the ground, stunned and struggling to get up. I put a stone bullet through its head with another loud report from my pistol, flinching as blood and brains scattered across my boots. Part of me was disgusted by my first experience with real-life gore, but that part was an echo overwritten by the experiences that had downloaded into my brain. I was a Bounty Hunter now, and since Ranger was included in the Class, hunting and preparing wild game were included. The fact that my mind had been tinkered with bothered me on some visceral level, but I was still me, right? I felt the same, mostly. I think I’m me therefore I am me, right?
I ejected the spent shells and pocketed them, noticing that the silvery runes that once lined the brass had been tarnished black. The knowledge pack also let me know they could be recharged. Reloading from my belt, I holstered my pistol and turned my attention back to examining what was probably going to be dinner. The Kinetic Bolt had broken several of the rabbit’s ribs and a leg. I made a mental note that while it was less lethal than stone bullet, a head shot at close range would probably kill someone. At best it would probably feel like getting kicked in the face by a mule.
I’d never killed anything before, nor had I dressed and skinned anything either, but my Bounty Hunter profession included field dressing game, so I was confident I could manage the task.
\Ding**
Another pop-up ad appeared at the bottom of my vision and enlarged when I concentrated on it.
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🧤❌🧼 "Why get your hands dirty when you can use Disassembly?
⚙️ With the Disassembly skill, you can render any corpse into valuable parts in moments!
🍖 Disassembly yields more meat, more magical components, and higher-quality mana stones!
🪙 When it comes to looting corpses, Disassembly is the best!
📌 NOTE: Disassembly is part of the Psychic Skills pack [Learn More?]
💰 Cost: 50 credits 🧠 Memory: 20 🔋 Requirements: Battery 🛒 In-App Purchases: None.
-=-
The mini-movie included with the ad showed me holding my hands over the rabbit and it vanishing into blue sparks, leaving behind meat, hide, and a tiny red stone. This world had some seriously convenient aspects despite the bullshit pay-to-win pop-up ads.
I mentally selected the [learn more?] button to learn about Psychics. No point in buying one skill if there’s a deal on the entire lot.
-=-=- - Psychic Skill Pack - Unlock amazing mental powers with the Psychic Ability! A Psychic doesn’t require a Mana Service Provider to use their abilities! Psychics use Battery power instead of Mana! Battery power recharges while resting or sleeping, no mage tower required! Unlike the Mage Class that has to buy or craft spells, all Psychic abilities are innate and can be self-learned or taught by another Psychic!
Includes Aura Manipulation: Use your aura to access all Psychic skills. Includes Auric Sight: See the energy that surrounds all living things. Includes Dreamworld access. Includes Mind Over Matter: Convert Battery into physical buffs. Includes Regeneration: Use Battery to repair damage to your body.
Bonus! Disassembly included! Loot corpses with style!
Cost: 2000 credits Memory: 120 Requirements: Battery In-App Purchases: 30 - 1500 credits. -=-=-
No MSP required? Uses Battery instead of Mana? Recharges itself? I can use Battery to heal myself and increase my physical attributes? What’s not to like about this? But… 2000 credits? Fine.
-=- Downloading: … 25…50…75…88… Installing: …25…50…75…100… Battery: 1440 @ 83% -=-
My heart hammered in my chest like it was going to explode while my body flushed with fever. A strange prickling sensation started between my eyes, growing in intensity until it felt like someone was trying to bore a hole through my forehead with a dull drill. The sensations vanished after a minute and I opened my eyes to a completely new world.
I could see the life around me. The golden glow surrounding healthy plants, the damaged or diseased leaves on the plants, the bright sparks of insects and tiny creatures as they scurried about. The effect seemed to be limited to about 30 feet or so. I glanced at Horse and discovered that he was lifeless as a brick, except for a bright spark in his chest and a thin silver thread that ran from it to my navel. It sort of made sense I suppose? Horse was a summoned mount, a creature created by atmospheric mana. Which was my personal Battery power now, I suppose. I really need to discover more about how this world works and just how much of a freak of nature I really am.
The corpse of the jackrabbit by my feet was leaking green-gold sparks that vanished into the aether. I placed my hands over the corpse and mentally triggered Disassembly.
- Disassembly: Convert [All / Standard / Valuable / Itemised]
I didn’t expect to have a choice. Selecting [All], I watched as the corpse exploded into a million motes of light and vanish into my palms, leaving behind a pile of meat, guts, hide, and a tiny mana stone. I totally didn’t expect a pile of guts. All means all after all and I have no one to blame but myself.
- Converting acquired Mana to Credits: +10
Well, well, well. There’s something new — I can earn credits by killing things. It’s like experience points in a game, I suppose.
I placed the meat and hide into Inventory and examined the tiny mana stone. It was a dull green chip, about the size of my little fingernail. Dropping it into inventory I opened the description.
- Tiny green mana stone Crystallised mana that accumulates in all life forms. Green stones are useful in Illusion. Used for spells, enchantments, and potions. Can be converted to Credits or used in an Expansion slot. - Use for Expansion [Y/N]?
I selected Y and popped open the System screen.
-=- HumanOS Version: 1.0 Model: Vincent J. Carter Serial: 987-65-4329 Battery: 1560 @ 94% Memory: 253/640 Provider: None Network: (PSY) Credits: 740 Expansion: tiny green mana stone (unprimed) -=-
Cool. Now I have an expansion mana stone. What’s it good for?
There was no chance I was going to make it to Wendleton before nightfall and this spring was a perfect location for camping. I scraped out a fire pit and surrounded it with nearby stones, then gathered up some firewood. Ranger instinct allowed me to locate some dried “Yellow sagebrush” which would help flavour the rabbit when I cooked it.
The camping gear in Horse’s Inventory was as basic as it got. Two heavy waxed tarps, 50’ of rope, 100’ of twine, a thick wool blanket, a cast iron dutch oven, two skewers, a tin plate, tin cup, steel cutlery with deer antler handles, a flint striking tool, a small box of spices, a tin coffee pot, a pound of coffee, 30’ of fishing line, 5 fish hooks, a box of matches, and wonder of wonders — a genuine multi-purpose steel entrenching tool; a tactical shovel with serrated edge that was useful for digging foxholes to cover your ass and latrines to empty your ass. Also useful for pounding stakes, chopping down small trees, pick-axing stubborn rocks, or swinging at an enemy when you’re out of ammo.
I dug a small hole a dozen yards away from my campsite and buried the rabbit guts, reminding myself to choose one of the other options next time. Then I cleared out a spot between two large bushes and dropped a tarp on the ground, spreading the other one over the bushes to create a makeshift tent to keep the morning dew off. Whittling a dozen pegs from the surrounding bushes with the rusty knife, I staked the tarp to prevent it from blowing away.
It was early evening and still hot as blazes, but I started a small fire anyway because I was looking forward to some spit-roasted rabbit. White smoke rose into the clear blue sky and the air was soon filled with the savoury smell of rabbit stuffed with free-range herbs.
I pulled the rusty knife from inventory and spent a few minutes honing it against one of the boulders, knocking off the majority of the rust and returning something of an edge to it. There was good metal under the rust and some oil and a whetstone would probably make it serviceable again. I’d pick up a better sheath in town, or a better knife depending on the price. Project completed, I pushed the small boulder into inventory. Never know when you’ll need one, right?
My memory dropped to 3/640 Well darn. It appears that there's a weight limit too? I put the boulder back.
Howls in the distance caught my attention and I looked up to see a wild-eyed woman fly up the trail on a horse, screaming at me. Time seemed to slow a bit as adrenaline flowed my system in shock at this unexpected company. Blonde hair streamed past her shoulders revealing a sharply curved ear pierced with three silver rings.
At this moment, I’m thinking that she would probably be kinda cute if she didn’t look terrified. And that ear? Straight outta some fantasy book. I’d bet my gun she was an Elf.
“TY TUNTU VEMUS!” she screamed, thundering past me.
What the hell? What was that all about?
A pack of wolves came howling up the trail after her.

My name is Lucian, and for the past 14 days, I have been chased by a monster.
I should begin this by saying, I am not a good person, and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die here, so this is my confession.
It all started around three weeks ago, I was low on cash and about to be evicted. Me and my friend Jesus, a fat guy with ADHD who always seemed to look on the brightside, were living in a bad part of town so we were willing to do almost anything for a few bucks. We were planning on selling some of our stuff when one of our roommates came in. Will was a short skinny guy, had long hair and a mustache and always had on this stained blue hoodie. He told us that a rich old guy was moving in near us and that we could do a quick snatch and run, then pawn the items.
We had all stolen before, for Jesus it was games, for Me it was weed, and for Will it was cash. We were not strangers to the idea but also didn't want to jump to it. Jesus was the first to reject.
“Come on, man, just 10 minutes in that house and we can pay off any of our debts and more!” Will was enthused about this idea of his.
“What in there is even worth grabbing?” I couldn’t help but question this considering I didn’t want to rob an old man for nothing.
“He’s some collector of artifacts and stuff, one of them archaeologists or whatever.” Will seemed proud of himself for this fact.
Me and Jesus looked at each other before nodding. We were at the end of our lines, and Will had convinced us.
On the night of the break-in we pulled up to the house in my van. We had all brought masks and gloves. I had also brought a gun, just in case we had run into something, but thinking about it now, what was the old man gonna attack me like some feral animal? We made it into the house after Jesus climbed the fence and unlocked the gate from the inside, for being the heaviest, he was athletic. Will went in through a window, and opened the door for us.
We started creeping around the guys house, and contrary to what Will promised, there was nothing but talismen and notes. There was a few skeletons of animals around, but nothing worth big money. So we split up, all going in different directions.
I was the one to come across it. In the study of the house was this leatherbound book with strange engravings on the front, it had jewels inlaid within the cover, and it was just sitting on a desk. Around the room were several notes hanging from boards all with strange symbols. I picked up the book, reading through it. One of the pages caught my eye, on it was the drawing of some sort of skinny creatuere with long arms and legs, its head was some sort of deer skull. The writing seemed to be Latin and I tried mumbling the words out loud. I felt a prick from my finger and the book felt warmer.
From the doorway, the old man shouted “STOP!” But it was too late. I dropped the book in surprise and pulled out my revolver, shooting the old man twice. Once in the chest, the other in the neck. I grabbed the book and ran, the realization of what I had done setting in. Jesus was already back over the fence and Will dived out the window to get back to the car. I got in the driver's seat as Will entered in the back and Jesus was in the passenger's seat. I started driving.
I was about to go when Will shouted that something had his leg. I turned around and saw Will with some sort of dark clawed hand grasped around his ankle. I pulled out my revolver and shot. The bullet hit the hand, but pierced Will’s leg. I started driving, and from the side mirror I could see something pulling itself from the ground. Then, it started to run on all fours, this shambling mound of bones and rot. It was keeping pace with us. People saw us, people heard us, we had to keep moving. Not to escape the law, but to escape that thing.
I drove all night, Jesus had checked his phone and our names were starting to spread. Will had used his belt and a pen to make a tourniquet for his wound. At some point we lost track of that thing. We stopped at a gas station and got supplies for Will. We also got food and water considering we were now wanted and probably not gonna be able to show our face for awhile.
As I was unhooking the pump from my van, I saw it in the distance. Some black mass scuttling in our direction. I squinted and sure enough, there were two antlers. I quickly got in my car and drove. We kept driving, with me and Jesus swapping as drivers. Will started complaining about his leg and there were scratch marks on it, heavily infected. Black goop seeped out of the slashes and I helped wash it out and wrap it up. We talked about what it was, the thing following us, and I admitted that the book had something to do with it.
We talked for a while, but after 4 days of traveling away from this relentless thing, we started to lose hope, even with translations, the book told us nothing. Will started to grow pale and started to get reclusive, not talking. We kept on, a steady pace, a few miles above this thing, just hoping it would leave.
It has been 13 days, Will died yesterday. He begged me to end his pain, and after clumps of flesh from his leg started falling off, I used my revolver to help him. We have run out of food. It hasn’t stopped and we are about to run out of gas. I have 2 bullets left and I’m hoping that whoever reads this doesn’t make the same mistakes as me. Me and Jesus hope that God forgives us.