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FIRE worden in Nederland
2015.08.30 16:31 Voerendaalse FIRE worden in Nederland
Deze subreddit gaat over FIRE in Nederlandse context. FIRE staat voor Financial Independence, Retire Early - en wordt vaak ook wel 'vroegpensioen' genoemd.
2009.09.25 22:09 neofool Anticonsumption
Consumerism Kills
2011.05.20 18:01 PhillyDeFranco DeFranco
Defranco is a sub for fans of Phil. This is a place that beautiful bastards can meet and talk to one another, you can recommend stories for The Philip DeFranco Show, you can propose fun games for Phil to play with youtubers they have coming in to the studio, be a part of QnA's, community projects, and really whatever else we want. Its mainly is where Reddit comes to discuss the topics that Phil talks about and post memes of Phil
2024.05.20 02:31 tngraphix 7 IMPORTANT Reasons Real Estate Agents Will Always Be Needed
Original Video from Jimmy Burgess here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNDkSZxEAxE
Here's my take on this video:
submitted by tngraphix to realtors [link] [comments]
Here's my take on this video:
2. If you need Lasic Eye Surgery or to Upgrade your glasses prescription. Are you all of the sudden going to go out and research eye anatomy and surgery tactics or would you simply find a good optician? Consumers want convenience and smart consumers are willing to pay for it.
3. This is powerful. We talk about this a lot in our New Construction Marketing Trainings as it pertains to followup. Knowing the area you are selling new homes in (or resales) is critical. Get familiar with the area, as leads come in make sure you share your knowledge via email and conversations when following up.
4. This ties in with #3 whereas being the local expert...you have the hookup!
7. Unfortunately many agent's aren't very good at marketing. But this is where Iconic Agents shine (even with listings and our open house blueprint we give away). Understanding the market and how to market homes to obtain buyers is critical. Many Iconic agents have a database of buyers for specific communities and areas they can immediately access and use to promote their listings.
Read the summary of the 7 reasons here and comment with your thoughts.- Experience: Professional agents bring valuable experience to the table, making the process easier and more efficient for buyers and sellers.
- Convenience: People prefer to pay for professional help to avoid the stress and complexity of handling real estate transactions on their own.
- Local Insights: Agents provide crucial local market knowledge that is often overlooked in national news, helping clients make informed decisions based on local trends and conditions.
- Network and Resources: Agents have access to a network of professionals (stagers, inspectors, marketers, lenders, etc.) that streamline the buying and selling process.
- Pricing Expertise: Agents understand how to price homes accurately, using comparative market analyses to ensure homes are sold quickly and at the best price.
- Negotiation Skills: Skilled negotiators can secure better deals for their clients, making their services valuable and often cost-effective in the long run.
- Marketing Expertise: Effective marketing strategies, including AI tools and various campaigns, ensure maximum exposure for listings, attracting more potential buyers.
- Legal Navigation: Agents help clients navigate the complex legal aspects of real estate transactions, reducing the risk of legal issues and increasing client confidence.
- Stress Reduction: By managing all aspects of the transaction, agents alleviate stress for their clients, providing peace of mind and a smoother overall experience.
- Building Relationships: Agents who demonstrate their value build lasting relationships with clients, leading to repeat business and referrals.
2024.05.20 02:30 zhoq Don Quixote - Volume 2, Chapter 7
Of what passed between Don Quixote and his squire, with other famous passages.
Prompts:
1) What did you think of the discourse between Sancho and Don Quixote?
2) Sancho is back to talking more like he did in Part I. Why do you think that is?
3) What are the motives of Carrasco, the priest, and the barber, in encouraging a third sally?
4) Do you think Don Quixote would really have gone without Sancho?
5) Favourite line / anything else to add?
Free Reading Resources:
Illustrations:
Past years discussions:
Final line:
Wed, 22 May; in two days, i.e. one-day gap.
submitted by zhoq to yearofdonquixote [link] [comments]
Prompts:
1) What did you think of the discourse between Sancho and Don Quixote?
2) Sancho is back to talking more like he did in Part I. Why do you think that is?
3) What are the motives of Carrasco, the priest, and the barber, in encouraging a third sally?
4) Do you think Don Quixote would really have gone without Sancho?
5) Favourite line / anything else to add?
Free Reading Resources:
Illustrations:
- directly she espied him, she fell down at his feet
- While Don Quixote and Sancho continued locked up together, -
- - there passed some discourse between them
- for if the dove-house wants no bait, it will never want pigeons
- I can let fly a volley of proverbs as well as you
- When Sancho heard his master’s fixed resolution, the sky clouded over him
- lamented the approaching departure as if it were the death of their master
- Sampson embraced him
- and the knight and squire took their way -
- - toward the great city of Toboso
Past years discussions:
Final line:
.. Sampson returned to the village, and the knight and squire took their way toward the great city of Toboso.Next post:
Wed, 22 May; in two days, i.e. one-day gap.
2024.05.20 02:29 RodeoBoss66 Kevin Costner: No Bull, No Compromises
 | https://www.cowboysindians.com/2024/05/kevin-costner-no-bull-no-compromises/ submitted by RodeoBoss66 to YellowstoneShow [link] [comments] by Joe Leydon May 14, 2024 At the heart of HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA, the prodigiously ambitious and dramatically potent western epic starring and directed by Kevin Costner, there is a scene where the commander of a far-flung 1860s Army post (Danny Huston) explains to a concerned subordinate (Sam Worthington) why, despite the rigors of overland travel by wagon train, and despite the repeated attacks by Indians who are understandably protective of their land, nothing will stop the seemingly endless waves of pioneers bent on settling the West. “These people,” the commander says, not entirely sympathetically, “think that if they’re tough enough, smart enough, and mean enough, all this will be theirs someday. There’s no army of this earth that will stop those wagons coming. Little as they be wanted.” But what will happen when those hearty pioneers see along the sides of the trail the countless graves of those who went before them, and didn’t survive the journey? The commander shrugs. The newcomers will think they’re luckier, and that they’ll survive and thrive. “And you know what?” he adds. “Some of them will.” Costner intends HORIZON as ultimately a series of four films — with the first two opening this summer, June 28 and August 16 — that, while focusing on a roughly 15-year period before and after the Civil War, will dramatize, even-handedly and excitingly, how the allure and promise of new lives in a new land fueled an unshakable belief in what has become known, for better or worse, as Manifest Destiny. Some of the characters journey westward to fulfill dreams. Others move along to escape lives that have become nightmares. And still others — specifically, the Native Americans who inhabit the lands that the settlers covet — must cope with the repeated appearances by these intruders. Some live. Some die. And, yes, some kill. Costner earns his top billing in HORIZON with his meticulously understated yet richly detailed performance as Hayes Ellison, the traditionally laconic western protagonist who never goes looking for trouble — goes out of his way to avoid it, actually — yet finds it follows him like a faithful dog. But he is just first among many in an exceptional ensemble cast that also includes (in Part 1) Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, and Jamie Campbell Bower. I caught up with Costner in March — by sheer coincidence, the 33rd anniversary of the night he won Oscar gold as Best Director of Best Picture winner DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) — just as he was putting the finishing touches on HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA, PART II. Since he’d recently been under so much pressure while making not just one but two epics while avoiding tabloid reports about his possible departure from the popular TV series Yellowstone and the breakup of his 20-year marriage, I figured it might be a great idea to break the ice with a different spin on a predictable question. Cowboys & Indians: So, it’s been quite a while since you directed this actor, Kevin Costner. Since the terrific 2003 western Open Range, *as a matter of fact. Has he learned anything since you last worked with him?* Kevin Costner: [Laughs] It’s really hard to know. I mean, I look at this movie, and the thing that stands out to me is not what I’ve learned, but maybe what I’ve brought to bear in getting it shot in 52 days. I shot DANCES in 106, WYATT EARP (1994) was about 115, and we did this in 52 — and it’s actually as big if not bigger than both of those. C&I: But your lead actor wasn’t one of your problems? Costner: I am a better actor now than I was. I’ve consciously tried to become better — but I typically don’t give myself as much time as the other actors. And it takes somebody else to say, “Why don’t you give yourself another take?” But nobody was indulged on this movie. I didn’t move until I thought I had it. But as I’ve been in that editorial process, I can’t tell you how many times when I’ve seen a scene as I’m editing it, and I think, “Okay, that’s really good. Let’s see the second take.” And I get this dumb look from my editors and they go, “That’s all there is, one take.” And so I’ve got coverage — as you can see, it blends together really well. But we were out there on the razor’s edge trying to get through those days when you’re not doing one scene a day, but doing three. C&I: I think it’s safe to say this has been a labor of love for you. I mean, you have mentioned HORIZON *to me as a dream project several times over the years. And at one point, you even said, “This might even be three movies.” Well, you’ve kind of upped the ante a little bit, haven’t you?* Costner: Well, as Mark Twain said, “He didn’t exaggerate, he just remembered big.” It went to four — what can I say? It’s a labor of love. And the reality is, I don’t fall out of love with something I think is good. I just continue to push it. I mean, the wisdom of having the first one, written in 1988, be essentially rejected — nobody saw any value in it — and me turning around and not putting it in the drawer, but instead come out firing and write four more is kind of ... I don’t know. That’s probably therapy stuff, right? Somebody might say, “Why would you do that?” I mean, conventional wisdom was not allowing this movie to be made. But that being said, my feeling about conventional wisdom is: What if everybody’s wrong? C&I: Do you think if Yellowstone had not come along and become as popular as it has, you might still be out there beating the bushes trying to find somebody to back HORIZON? Costner: No, not at all. Because I used my own money this time. Nobody beat the door down for the four. They rejected all four. I put my own money up. I was just going to do it because I realized I needed to work more. I lost a whole year when we didn’t work on Yellowstone. And I realized that couldn’t happen again. And so I just recommitted myself to HORIZON, essentially burned my ships, and I realized it was time to do this for, really, a lot of reasons. C&I: Such as? Costner: I just thought it was a really good offering. And that’s really what I’m in the business for, to offer up a level of entertainment that gets over my bar, that I think can entertain not only the person watching it opening weekend, but somebody watching it 30 years from now. C&I: How difficult has it been for you to focus on the task at hand, which is in effect making two movies and finishing them to be released in the same year? I don’t have to tell you, you’ve had your personal life in the tabloids. You’ve had your professional life in the tabloids. How do you decide not to talk about the divorce, or Yellowstone, *and simply focus on making this scene match that scene?* Costner: Well, people are going to write what they want to write, and people are responsible for what they say in these things. And I look at what’s being said in many instances, and I know the truth, but I don’t feel the need to try to set the record straight every time there’s something going on. I mean, now I can talk about these things because we’re talking about them within the lines with my movie. I don’t try to live in the press outside of making movies. But when people are saying all these things, you don’t really see me say much. I know what’s true. And you can read between the lines. Like, you never thought I’m really a person who only wanted to work one week [on Yellowstone]? You don’t believe that was true? C&I: [Laughs] No, Kevin, I really don’t. Costner: So, I could tell you exactly how that came about, but that’s simply not the truth. And I’m always kind of disappointed that people can’t set the record straight. That’s just simply not true. I had given Yellowstone 25 days in November and December [of 2022], 25 days of my shooting, but the scripts never came. I gave them the month of March per a contract, and the scripts didn’t come. So, I really am going to make my movie, because I have 300 people waiting. So, I said, “Look, I will stop for a week before I start to shoot. And if you want to kill me, or you want to do something elegant for the show, because I love the show — I’ll give you a week.” So for them to take that gesture, and that’s all that was — and look, I don’t know any director that would take a week off before he started shooting, but I gave them the most valuable thing I had, which was time, three different times. And to turn around and use that as a statement against me is disappointing. And it was disappointing that nobody on that side would come out and say, “That’s just simply not true. He offered that as a gesture when we couldn’t figure out how to do things.” C&I: So basically what you’re saying is because of the Yellowstone *production delays ...* Costner: Let’s get the scripts, let’s go do it. But it’s hard to write that much. And there’s a tremendous load on [producer and series co-creator Taylor Sheridan], but I have to take care of myself. Make no mistake, I love Yellowstone. I love the people that love it. I wanted to keep making that and making this movie. I didn’t do HORIZON because I wasn’t doing Yellowstone anymore. I did HORIZON because I wanted to do HORIZON while I was doing Yellowstone. Yellowstone had a first position, and in each instance, it was negotiated for. I gave them a preferential spot every time. Every time. So I felt like I needed somebody on that side to speak up and say that version, and they never did. I don’t know why. I don’t know why that was so hard. It just confused the cast and it confused the people who love the show. C&I: While we’re talking, they still haven’t started filming the final Season 5 episodes of Yellowstone. *Is it reasonable to expect you’ll make some sort of appearance in at least one of them?* Costner: I don’t know that it’s reasonable. I know I’m open to it, but I don’t know that it’s reasonable to think that it can happen. I don’t have anything to do with how they are doing things. I like the character. I’d love to see it go on. I’d love for it to continue to be inventive. C&I: Let’s get back to HORIZON. Back when I interviewed you for our cover story on OPEN RANGE (2003), you mentioned that HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962) was one of your all-time favorite westerns, not only because it had spectacle, but a love story as well. How much did HOW THE WEST WAS WON influence you while making HORIZON *?* Costner: Well, I saw HOW THE WEST WAS WON when I was seven. And I think if it could engage a 7-year-old boy to not look at his watch, and be able to watch the screen on his own, it just informed me that if things are interesting, if they’re compelling, if the screen picture is continuing to change and when it changes, it changes to something equally interesting, and then it starts to form a weave and suddenly these things that you were willing to watch on an individual basis began to somehow get closer and closer together, and then all of a sudden you see intersections — I love that kind of storytelling. And that’s what I have tried to do with HORIZON. C&I: So you finished the first two, is that correct? Or are you still editing the second film? Costner: Yeah, I’m looking to finish the montage for the end of [PART] 2. Just the way you saw a montage happen at the end of [PART] 1 — it advances things — this material has to be pulled from [PART] 3. So I was actually writing [PART] 3 when I walked over here to talk with you. I was starting to bend the scene to my will. C&I: When will you know for certain you can go ahead with [PARTS] 3 and 4? Costner: Well, you know for certain I’m going to make them. C&I: There you go, C&I readers! You’ve heard it straight from Kevin Costner himself! Costner: [Laughs] But it’s not an easy task to go out and find that kind of money. I’ve run out of property I can mortgage. I mean, I see where it says something like I have $20 million into the film, right? You’ve read that. C&I: Yes, but ... Costner: Well, it’s not — it’s $38 million, okay? Cash. It’s $38 million. And if it has to be, it will be more. You might ask yourself, “A person who writes [PART] 4 when no one liked [PART] 1? What is it going to take for you to get the message?” But to me, it’s like, I will look and see what I own and maybe keep a few things that I won’t forfeit, but I don’t want to hold onto things so tight that I can’t accomplish the things I want to accomplish. Maybe the reason I have some nice things that I could risk is because this is the life I chose, and so I can identify the amount of things I need, what my family needs. But some of these other things, for as much as I’ve worked for them, and hard, I’m also not going to be a slave and hold onto them and let something else that I’m trying to do suffer when they’re sitting right there. You could, biblically speaking, look at them and go, that’s why they were there. And I’m not going to lose it. I’m going to make it. I’m going to look at those graves where those people are on the side of the road, and I’m not going to be with them, Joe. I’m going to get there. This cover story appeared in our July 2024 issue. PHOTOGRAPHY: Richard Foreman, Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures |
2024.05.20 02:29 Svastyckh ECSaharaui @ECSaharaui__ publico hace 13 horas en X:
🚨 Esto no es un campo de detención de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, ni una prisión del Holocausto, esto es Gaza en 2024.
submitted by Svastyckh to ActualidadMundial [link] [comments]
- Un escalofriante recordatorio de que la historia se repite.
- Un holocausto está ocurriendo ante nuestros ojos y el mundo está en silencio.
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submitted by vxwzkfqpjb_518644 to melt_vocalize2919821 [link] [comments]
2024.05.20 02:25 RodeoBoss66 Kevin Costner: No Bull, No Compromises
 | https://www.cowboysindians.com/2024/05/kevin-costner-no-bull-no-compromises/ submitted by RodeoBoss66 to YellowstonePN [link] [comments] by Joe Leydon May 14, 2024 At the heart of HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA, the prodigiously ambitious and dramatically potent western epic starring and directed by Kevin Costner, there is a scene where the commander of a far-flung 1860s Army post (Danny Huston) explains to a concerned subordinate (Sam Worthington) why, despite the rigors of overland travel by wagon train, and despite the repeated attacks by Indians who are understandably protective of their land, nothing will stop the seemingly endless waves of pioneers bent on settling the West. “These people,” the commander says, not entirely sympathetically, “think that if they’re tough enough, smart enough, and mean enough, all this will be theirs someday. There’s no army of this earth that will stop those wagons coming. Little as they be wanted.” But what will happen when those hearty pioneers see along the sides of the trail the countless graves of those who went before them, and didn’t survive the journey? The commander shrugs. The newcomers will think they’re luckier, and that they’ll survive and thrive. “And you know what?” he adds. “Some of them will.” Costner intends HORIZON as ultimately a series of four films — with the first two opening this summer, June 28 and August 16 — that, while focusing on a roughly 15-year period before and after the Civil War, will dramatize, even-handedly and excitingly, how the allure and promise of new lives in a new land fueled an unshakable belief in what has become known, for better or worse, as Manifest Destiny. Some of the characters journey westward to fulfill dreams. Others move along to escape lives that have become nightmares. And still others — specifically, the Native Americans who inhabit the lands that the settlers covet — must cope with the repeated appearances by these intruders. Some live. Some die. And, yes, some kill. Costner earns his top billing in HORIZON with his meticulously understated yet richly detailed performance as Hayes Ellison, the traditionally laconic western protagonist who never goes looking for trouble — goes out of his way to avoid it, actually — yet finds it follows him like a faithful dog. But he is just first among many in an exceptional ensemble cast that also includes (in Part 1) Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, and Jamie Campbell Bower. I caught up with Costner in March — by sheer coincidence, the 33rd anniversary of the night he won Oscar gold as Best Director of Best Picture winner DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) — just as he was putting the finishing touches on HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA, PART II. Since he’d recently been under so much pressure while making not just one but two epics while avoiding tabloid reports about his possible departure from the popular TV series Yellowstone and the breakup of his 20-year marriage, I figured it might be a great idea to break the ice with a different spin on a predictable question. Cowboys & Indians: So, it’s been quite a while since you directed this actor, Kevin Costner. Since the terrific 2003 western Open Range, *as a matter of fact. Has he learned anything since you last worked with him?* Kevin Costner: [Laughs] It’s really hard to know. I mean, I look at this movie, and the thing that stands out to me is not what I’ve learned, but maybe what I’ve brought to bear in getting it shot in 52 days. I shot DANCES in 106, WYATT EARP (1994) was about 115, and we did this in 52 — and it’s actually as big if not bigger than both of those. C&I: But your lead actor wasn’t one of your problems? Costner: I am a better actor now than I was. I’ve consciously tried to become better — but I typically don’t give myself as much time as the other actors. And it takes somebody else to say, “Why don’t you give yourself another take?” But nobody was indulged on this movie. I didn’t move until I thought I had it. But as I’ve been in that editorial process, I can’t tell you how many times when I’ve seen a scene as I’m editing it, and I think, “Okay, that’s really good. Let’s see the second take.” And I get this dumb look from my editors and they go, “That’s all there is, one take.” And so I’ve got coverage — as you can see, it blends together really well. But we were out there on the razor’s edge trying to get through those days when you’re not doing one scene a day, but doing three. C&I: I think it’s safe to say this has been a labor of love for you. I mean, you have mentioned HORIZON *to me as a dream project several times over the years. And at one point, you even said, “This might even be three movies.” Well, you’ve kind of upped the ante a little bit, haven’t you?* Costner: Well, as Mark Twain said, “He didn’t exaggerate, he just remembered big.” It went to four — what can I say? It’s a labor of love. And the reality is, I don’t fall out of love with something I think is good. I just continue to push it. I mean, the wisdom of having the first one, written in 1988, be essentially rejected — nobody saw any value in it — and me turning around and not putting it in the drawer, but instead come out firing and write four more is kind of ... I don’t know. That’s probably therapy stuff, right? Somebody might say, “Why would you do that?” I mean, conventional wisdom was not allowing this movie to be made. But that being said, my feeling about conventional wisdom is: What if everybody’s wrong? C&I: Do you think if Yellowstone had not come along and become as popular as it has, you might still be out there beating the bushes trying to find somebody to back HORIZON? Costner: No, not at all. Because I used my own money this time. Nobody beat the door down for the four. They rejected all four. I put my own money up. I was just going to do it because I realized I needed to work more. I lost a whole year when we didn’t work on Yellowstone. And I realized that couldn’t happen again. And so I just recommitted myself to HORIZON, essentially burned my ships, and I realized it was time to do this for, really, a lot of reasons. C&I: Such as? Costner: I just thought it was a really good offering. And that’s really what I’m in the business for, to offer up a level of entertainment that gets over my bar, that I think can entertain not only the person watching it opening weekend, but somebody watching it 30 years from now. C&I: How difficult has it been for you to focus on the task at hand, which is in effect making two movies and finishing them to be released in the same year? I don’t have to tell you, you’ve had your personal life in the tabloids. You’ve had your professional life in the tabloids. How do you decide not to talk about the divorce, or Yellowstone, *and simply focus on making this scene match that scene?* Costner: Well, people are going to write what they want to write, and people are responsible for what they say in these things. And I look at what’s being said in many instances, and I know the truth, but I don’t feel the need to try to set the record straight every time there’s something going on. I mean, now I can talk about these things because we’re talking about them within the lines with my movie. I don’t try to live in the press outside of making movies. But when people are saying all these things, you don’t really see me say much. I know what’s true. And you can read between the lines. Like, you never thought I’m really a person who only wanted to work one week [on Yellowstone]? You don’t believe that was true? C&I: [Laughs] No, Kevin, I really don’t. Costner: So, I could tell you exactly how that came about, but that’s simply not the truth. And I’m always kind of disappointed that people can’t set the record straight. That’s just simply not true. I had given Yellowstone 25 days in November and December [of 2022], 25 days of my shooting, but the scripts never came. I gave them the month of March per a contract, and the scripts didn’t come. So, I really am going to make my movie, because I have 300 people waiting. So, I said, “Look, I will stop for a week before I start to shoot. And if you want to kill me, or you want to do something elegant for the show, because I love the show — I’ll give you a week.” So for them to take that gesture, and that’s all that was — and look, I don’t know any director that would take a week off before he started shooting, but I gave them the most valuable thing I had, which was time, three different times. And to turn around and use that as a statement against me is disappointing. And it was disappointing that nobody on that side would come out and say, “That’s just simply not true. He offered that as a gesture when we couldn’t figure out how to do things.” C&I: So basically what you’re saying is because of the Yellowstone *production delays ...* Costner: Let’s get the scripts, let’s go do it. But it’s hard to write that much. And there’s a tremendous load on [producer and series co-creator Taylor Sheridan], but I have to take care of myself. Make no mistake, I love Yellowstone. I love the people that love it. I wanted to keep making that and making this movie. I didn’t do HORIZON because I wasn’t doing Yellowstone anymore. I did HORIZON because I wanted to do HORIZON while I was doing Yellowstone. Yellowstone had a first position, and in each instance, it was negotiated for. I gave them a preferential spot every time. Every time. So I felt like I needed somebody on that side to speak up and say that version, and they never did. I don’t know why. I don’t know why that was so hard. It just confused the cast and it confused the people who love the show. C&I: While we’re talking, they still haven’t started filming the final Season 5 episodes of Yellowstone. *Is it reasonable to expect you’ll make some sort of appearance in at least one of them?* Costner: I don’t know that it’s reasonable. I know I’m open to it, but I don’t know that it’s reasonable to think that it can happen. I don’t have anything to do with how they are doing things. I like the character. I’d love to see it go on. I’d love for it to continue to be inventive. C&I: Let’s get back to HORIZON. Back when I interviewed you for our cover story on OPEN RANGE (2003), you mentioned that HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962) was one of your all-time favorite westerns, not only because it had spectacle, but a love story as well. How much did HOW THE WEST WAS WON influence you while making HORIZON *?* Costner: Well, I saw HOW THE WEST WAS WON when I was seven. And I think if it could engage a 7-year-old boy to not look at his watch, and be able to watch the screen on his own, it just informed me that if things are interesting, if they’re compelling, if the screen picture is continuing to change and when it changes, it changes to something equally interesting, and then it starts to form a weave and suddenly these things that you were willing to watch on an individual basis began to somehow get closer and closer together, and then all of a sudden you see intersections — I love that kind of storytelling. And that’s what I have tried to do with HORIZON. C&I: So you finished the first two, is that correct? Or are you still editing the second film? Costner: Yeah, I’m looking to finish the montage for the end of [PART] 2. Just the way you saw a montage happen at the end of [PART] 1 — it advances things — this material has to be pulled from [PART] 3. So I was actually writing [PART] 3 when I walked over here to talk with you. I was starting to bend the scene to my will. C&I: When will you know for certain you can go ahead with [PARTS] 3 and 4? Costner: Well, you know for certain I’m going to make them. C&I: There you go, C&I readers! You’ve heard it straight from Kevin Costner himself! Costner: [Laughs] But it’s not an easy task to go out and find that kind of money. I’ve run out of property I can mortgage. I mean, I see where it says something like I have $20 million into the film, right? You’ve read that. C&I: Yes, but ... Costner: Well, it’s not — it’s $38 million, okay? Cash. It’s $38 million. And if it has to be, it will be more. You might ask yourself, “A person who writes [PART] 4 when no one liked [PART] 1? What is it going to take for you to get the message?” But to me, it’s like, I will look and see what I own and maybe keep a few things that I won’t forfeit, but I don’t want to hold onto things so tight that I can’t accomplish the things I want to accomplish. Maybe the reason I have some nice things that I could risk is because this is the life I chose, and so I can identify the amount of things I need, what my family needs. But some of these other things, for as much as I’ve worked for them, and hard, I’m also not going to be a slave and hold onto them and let something else that I’m trying to do suffer when they’re sitting right there. You could, biblically speaking, look at them and go, that’s why they were there. And I’m not going to lose it. I’m going to make it. I’m going to look at those graves where those people are on the side of the road, and I’m not going to be with them, Joe. I’m going to get there. This cover story appeared in our July 2024 issue. PHOTOGRAPHY: Richard Foreman, Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures |
2024.05.20 02:24 xtremexavier15 TMPI 13
The episode resumed on a shot of Zee and Jo, their skin tones back to normal, running up to a smiling Chris. "Welcome back," he told the camera. "Zee and helper Jo are the first to arrive here, at the world's largest mud puddle!" The camera pulled back, revealing that the trio was standing near the edge of a large lake of burbling mud, a measuring stick rising out of it at the nearest edge.
"It's eight feet deep," Chris explained over a close-up of the measuring stick showing the mud reaching up very nearly to the 8' mark, "and 200 yards across. And," the camera quick-panned to the far right side of the 'puddle', "since it's too thick to swim through," the shot cut back to the couple and Chris, "the only way to the other side is with one of you piggybacking the other."
"Umm...," Zee said hesitantly, sharing a wary look with Jo, "doesn't that mean the person on the bottom..."
"Will drown?" Chris finished. "Yes."
"What?!" Jo said in wide-eyed shock.
"Unless they use this garden hose!" Chris added, a light chime playing as he held up a length of green hose.
Zee let out a breath. "Okay then. Guess I'm on the bottom, then."
Jo's eyes widened a bit in a brief bit of surprise, and she looked at her partner. "I should be objecting to this since I'm supposed to be the helper, but hey. No heavy lifting from me."
"Yeah…" Zee agreed half heartedly.
Confessional: Zee
"I was able to hold Jo onto my back while we were skiing," Zee told the confessional. "I can still do the same while under mud."
Confessional Ends
"I know that I said you were weak in the past," Jo said, "but that was until I saw that you were able to make it this far in the game."
"You thought wrong about me," Zee replied. "I wasn’t active at first in challenges and finding food, but with Julia eliminated, I was able to grow and become a finalist."
Chris suddenly stepped between the two. "How touching. Now start the challenge."
The scene cut to Zee and Jo jumping into the mud, the former disappearing below its depths while the latter, on his shoulders, held up the length of the hose. They started moving forward, and the camera panned back to the left to show Harold, Scarlett, and Chris holding up another length of hose.
"Yeah, I'll be on top," Harold stated.
"Pardon me?" Scarlett countered, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't trust you not to let me drown," Harold told her. "Self-preservation comes first."
Scarlett groaned. "That's fair," she said, taking the hose from Chris, "but if you let me suffocate, I'm dragging you down into the mud with me."
"Crustal," Harold deadpanned, and as Scarlett crouched down, she jumped onto the brainiac's shoulders. Scarlett stood back up and put the end of the hose in her mouth, and she jumped into the mud.
The tense music faded away as the camera moved onto Chris, the host sighing as Chef walked up. "You think the mud was a bad idea?" Chris asked. "It's a little quiet… oh yeah," Chris said as if in sudden realization, "almost forgot about the Peanut Gallery. Bring 'em back in!" he said into a walkie talkie he only then pulled out.
Moments later, the wind kicked up around them, and the camera zoomed out to show the large helicopter flying in with the former contestants still hanging – and screaming as they swayed ominously – below it. "Would you let us down already?!" Leshawna shouted angrily. "It's freezin' up here!"
"Yeah, I want to cheer for Zee!" Julia chimed in.
"If I wasn't tied up right now, I'd have half a mind to pound you!" Duncan shouted at the host.
The camera focused on DJ. "Hey, Chris?" he looked forward and asked loudly. "Just bring us down before anybody else gets miffed at you!"
"No, and I don't care," Chris answered with a calm smile, until Chef whispered to him. A flat note played over a close-up of Chris staring blankly at him. "Huh...good point," he admitted. "Ooh!" he said with a sudden grin. "I just had an idea!"
A flash took the scene to Zee and Jo, the tense challenge music resuming at a low volume and slow pace in the background. They were still slogging through the mud, Zee out of sight but Jo only submerged up to her stomach. She looked back over her shoulder, smiled, then said "Keep going!" into the piece of hose she was holding. "They're way far behind!"
Confessional: Zee
"So as it turns out," Zee said, "being submerged in the mud is kinda like being trapped in the dark. But there aren't any animals below to scare me."
Confessional Ends
The music ramped up as Jo suddenly stopped moving, then seemed to turn around and start moving back towards the start. "Uh, Fruit Loop?" she asked into the hose. "We're going the wrong way!"
The camera cut to Harold, looking somewhat bored as he held the hose atop Scarlett's shoulders, before noticing the other team and frowning. "Why are they coming this way?"
"Ugh! They're too safe to sabotage each other!" came the sudden voice of Chris McLean, the camera cutting to him standing in the show's jeep with Chef at the wheel, speaking into the microphone of the jeep's loudspeaker. "Deploy the 2.0 model!"
The shot cut back to Harold and Jo as they looked around with strange expressions, the sound of something like a rocket taking off coming from somewhere in the distance. They looked up and to the left, and the camera shifted to their viewpoint to show a large object shooting up through the sky overhead...
...then abruptly diving towards them, revealing itself as a red-eyed robotic bear with small jet engines coming out of its back. Harold and Jo screamed as their respective partners continued in their previous directions, getting out of the way as the Bear landed in the mud. It hit with enough force to cause a wave of mud, which shot all the way across the puddle carrying the finalists and their helpers along for the ride. All four immediately began to cough upon landing in a muddy heap.
Confessional: Harold
"At least I have a better shot," Harold said. "We're tied right now, but who knows what other tricks Chris has up his sleeves."
Confessional Ends
A close-up of the nozzle of a fire hose in Chef's hands preceded him blasting the muddy finalists and helpers with water, all four screaming where they'd landed on the shore of the 'puddle'. Moments later, the water was shut off, leaving them drenched but clean.
"We're all tied up," Chris announced with a smile. "Perfect time for a little break. First, let's bring in the Peanut Gallery again." He took out his remote and pointed it at a patch of ground nearby, a hole opening up in it and a rather shoddy-looking set of stadium seats shooting up out of it with the ten former contestants seated – and still tied-up – in it.
"Sha-finally," Lightning said, the shot cutting to him sitting in the top row with B, DJ, Duncan, and Max and Leshawna, Ella, Julia, Sammy, and Amy in the bottom row. "Are we gonna get to watch the rest of the challenge now?"
"Yup!" Chris answered with a happy smile, pressing the button on his remote again so that a large widescreen television emerged from another hole in the ground near him and the finalists.
"Will you untie us too?" Ella chimed in.
Chris huffed. "Whine, whine, whine," he said in annoyance. "Don't I do enough for you kids as it is?"
"No," all fourteen of the season's cast members replied at the same time.
A flat note played over a close-up of the host pursing his lips. "Yeah, I owe Chef twenty bucks about that," Chris said, the camera zooming back out again to show the finalists and helpers. "Everyone, grab a seat," he instructed, and the four reluctantly sat down on the logs lying behind them. "I'm gonna show you some of my favorite clips from the show..." He pointed his remote at the TV, and the shot focused in as it switched on and started to play footage of a confessional...
"Dunderhead was already pretty useless," Jo complained. "But now he's making moves on one of the actually decent players on the team? Not on my watch!"
The camera cut in close to show Jo pausing and looking back. "Something on your mind, Anti-Squeakerbox?" she asked, the camera shifting to show B peering at her and shaking his head.
“It's not what you think it is," Jo told him. "As long as they are on this team, Julia and Zee will not date."
“Not exactly how I wanted the elimination to play, but hey. Julia’s gone and with Zee still in the game, I could manipulate him into doing whatever I say,” Jo grinned.
The footage paused, and Chris leaned out in front of the television with a wide and mischievous grin. "Seems like there isn't a shipper on deck…" he said impishly.
"So you were trying to keep me and Julia apart?" Zee said as the camera moved to him and Jo, his eyes wide with shock. "Does this mean that...,"
"Yup. I convinced Julia to quit," Jo replied. "I didn't expect her to fully go through with it since I was gonna vote you out!"
"I can't believe you'd try and do that!" Zee said with a glare!"
"If I didn't do what I did, then you two likely would've blown challenges for us like the dueling one!" Jo argued back.
The camera focused on Julia in the Peanut Gallery. "I was trying to defend my boyfriend, but sure," she said dryly.
"I'm just worried what Chris is gonna show from Scarlett," Sammy said. "It looks like he wants to mess up the finalists and their helpers..."
"Maybe he won't show anything?" Amy suggested. "I mean, it's not like Scarlett and Harold were that close to begin with."
The shot cut back to a smiling Chris. "Oh, don't worry, I have no intention of leaving those guys out of all this fun," he said happily.
"I don't see how," Scarlett said. "Harold already knows everything about me now. I’m practically an open book."
Chris laughed. "Seems you forgot that the cameras are always on. So here's some more juicy information that everybody gets to hear." The screen on the TV went from static to a scene from the fifth episode.
Scarlett herself grabbed the dueling stick Ella retrieved, fished an electric eel out of the water, and tossed it to Max. "Max!" she cried, and her teammates looked at her in confusion, prompting her to pretend that she had coughed. "Pardon me!"
“The plan was for Max to be the only one not in the trap, so the team would know he built it and vote him off!” Scarlett confessed.
"I overheard Leshawna and Harold's conversation when they were foraging together, and Leshawna being on to me is something that I refuse to let happen," Scarlett claimed. “Zee's really gullible enough to deceive, and I'll try to talk to Ella.”
A deep, dramatic note was struck over a shot of Harold in shock. "So it was you who got Leshawna eliminated!" he scowled in Scarlett's direction.
"I wasn't ready to come out just yet, and between the two of you, you were less likely to warn anyone about me!" Scarlett retorted.
"So all this time, Scarlett was aiming to usurp her master!" Max ranted.
"I don't blame her," Leshawna commented. “As much of a pain as she is, I would've done the same thing and sent your annoying behind home.”
"Okay," Chris said happily as the shot moved onto him, "I'm sensing some major hostility and I'm liking it. I'm out of popcorn, though, so we should probably get back to the challenge."
"Seriously?!" the finalists and helpers alike exclaimed.
"Obviously, the helpers aren't gonna be very helpful anymore," Chris replied. "So, instead of helpers, Jo and Scarlett will now be hinderers." As he spoke, Chef walked back into view with a pair of video game controllers, tossing one each to Scarlett and Jo. "The island is now back online," Chris continued, "and, with these controllers, they will be able to throw up obstacles to throw you down, or, completely crush you."
The shot cut to Scarlett as she looked at her controller and smirked. "Good to know."
"Looking forward to it," Jo said in determination.
Harold and Zee gulped, and Chris laughed. "That was the good part," he said. "Let me tell you the bad part. You have ten minutes to finish this challenge," he told Zee and Harold. "If neither of you do, Scarlett and Jo get to split the money."
"Dude, what?" Zee said in shock.
"You can't do that!" Harold protested.
"I can! I will! I am! GO!" Chris announced, blowing his airhorn right in Chef's face, earning an annoyed sigh from the man. Harold and Zee immediately ran off, but the camera cut to a close-up of a thoughtful Jo.
"Well...I want the money, but I'm not really comfortable with how this is set up," Jo said to herself. "But...I guess it wouldn't be too bad if I just made this a little more challenging for them..."
"Do what you want," Scarlett said, the camera panning over to show her grinning darkly with her controller in hand. "I'm getting my justice."
Confessional: Jo
“And I thought I was an underhanded person,” Jo mentioned to herself. “Velma has less morals than me and Gnome Master.”
Confessional: Scarlett
"I was snubbed in the last episode," Scarlett confessed. "And now that I've been given permission, I can stop the finalists from winning without getting electrocuted!" She pulled out the remote from the seventh episode. "I don't even need this device. I have a controller to do the job for it."
Confessionals End
A few quick drum taps opened up a deep and dangerous challenge theme, the scene returning to Zee and Harold sprinting across the open field only to gape in shock as the pine trees in the background starting launching like rockets.
"What the heck?" Harold said. "Rocket trees?"
One landed right behind them, forcing both finalists to roll forward out of the way. "This island is wild!" Zee cried as the two continued running, more and more trees landing behind them like massive spears.
The two were shown together in a brief close-up, raising their eyebrows in surprise. A quick-pan ahead revealed the landscape changing, trees and rock formations rising up out of the artificial ground to form a large, dense barrier.
Harold jumped ahead of Zee as they climbed over the first big rock formation.
Zee vaulted downward and dashing forward along a lower 'path' among the rocks. Just as he was about to jump down onto grass, however, a boulder shot upward – and he landed on it groin-first. A close-up showed him letting out a high-pitched squeal of pain.
Harold's wince drew the camera's attention back upward to show him leaping from a boulder and grabbing onto the branch of a tree, only for the tree to suddenly shoot back down into the ground – causing him to yell as it dragged him down and slammed him back-first onto a fallen log.
Zee gave him a quick concerned glance as he jumped onto the same log, then upwards onto a rock formation before climbing onward and to the right and out of sight.
The scene cut back to the hinderers, both still working their controllers with Scarlett still looking considerably happier about it. "No need to change what works," Jo said uncertainty.
"What happened to that cutthroat attitude you've been displaying?" Scarlett asked. "Don't throw it away when I can get something out of it. And lower some of those trees. They're giving them too much cover from this storm I'm whipping up."
The camera panned onto the monitor to show Zee and Harold struggling against a powerful wind as they walked through what looked like a dense forest as leaves, dust, branches, and various small woodland animals blew past them.
A focus on the monitor's screen transitioned the scene back to the challenge. "I think...I can see the finish line in the distance," Zee said, pausing for a moment as he struggled against the intense gale.
"They're not making this easy on us," Harold commented.
The pair briefly passed behind a thick and mossy pine tree, the camera zooming in slightly as they reappeared. "Would you?" Zee asked.
"...I guess not," Harold answered after a moment.
The shot cut back to the Peanut Gallery to show them watching with worry and anticipation. "C'mon, Harold," Leshawna spoke. "Just hang in there."
"I know you can win this, Zee," Julia said. "You deserve it after everything."
Then the camera cut back to the hinderers, Chris standing next to their monitor with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. "Ooh! They're getting close!" he said excitedly, prompting Scarlett to scowl and Jo to frown.
Once more the scene moved back to the finalists, their arms raised to buffer themselves against the winds – snow beginning to fall and lightning beginning to crack in the background - with Harold in the lead. "Two minutes left!" Chris called out over the island's loudspeaker. "Two minutes!"
"I...," Harold said with glee. "I think I can make it!"
"Not if I can help it!" Zee shouted, speeding up as the dense trees around him and Harold began to recede into the ground – and the tense and dangerous challenge music resumed. "If I win, me and Julia can go out and change the world together."
"I have to win this," Harold told him. "I've been undervalued and looked down on by my peers, friends, and even my family. I need to prove my might."
The snowy ground below their feet began to crack. A hollow sound played, then all at once, the ground shot up under them, earning startled yells from both. The shot soon cut to the new peak they were standing on rising up into the sky, then stopping.
"Drats..." Zee muttered, both finalists looking down with wide eyes. his final word echoed as the camera zoomed out, revealing the snowy mountain they were now at the top of.
The Peanut Gallery was shown gasping, as were Jo, though Scarlett was smiling as their misfortune. "Twenty seconds left...!" Chris said as the camera moved on to him looking at his watch.
The shot cut back to Harold. "I guess it's over," he sighed. “Scarlett wins after all.”
Zee noticed a bulge in the snow beside him. The boy shoved his hand into it and pulled out the phone Duncan stole from Chris. "I don't know how this got here, but we have to get down. Start stomping the ground."
Harold nodded and stomped on the ground at his feet, and after a few cracks, Zee hurled the phone down, breaking the device apart. Their eyes widened as the mountain began to crumble under them, and the ground imploded in on itself.
"Six! Five!" Chris began to count off, the music cutting out save for a single plodding note to highlight each number. "Four!" The camera panned onto the television, showing both finalists tumbling through the snow and rock. "Three! Two! One!" The shot cut to the finish banner, then zoomed out to show the avalanche stopping just under it – with neither finalist in sight. "GAME OVER!" he announced, blowing on his airhorn as a subdued but triumphant riff played.
Jo stood up in surprise, and Scarlett started cheering.
"My mission was a success!" Scarlett said in victory. “Now hand over my well-deserved prize!”
"Congratulations Jo and Scarlett," Chris said with his usual smile. "Revenge is sweetest-" he glanced at the monitor- "ohhhhh, what have we here?" he said with a sudden look of shock, the music cutting out as he pointed at the television screen.
A sharp note played as a familiar hand stuck out of the snow lying just past the finish line and waved. Scarlett's jaw dropped in shock, and Jo let out a sigh of relief.
The scene cut to the finish line, the camera pulling back a little ways as Chef walked up with a stretcher, dressed as a female nurse. Leshawna ran onscreen and pushed him out of the way. Chef flew off frame with a shout, and Leshawna grabbed the arm and pulled, freeing a shocked and snowy Harold from the aftermath of the avalanche. "Oh," he groaned, looking around as Leshawna dropped him on the stretcher, "what happened?" he asked as the victorious music began to play again with much more enthusiasm.
"You won, Ginger Baby!" Leshawna answered with a smile, the camera pulling out even more to show Harold looking back at the finish banner.
"I did it!" Harold said excitedly. "Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V has claimed victory! Boo yah!" he raised his arms and cheered, the shot cutting away to show all of the Peanut Gallery cheering.
“We weren't able to talk to each other as much, and it's clear we like each other as more than just friends, but how about we hang out a little bit back home and see where things go?” Leshawna suggested.
“As long as we don't rush into a committed relationship, I'd like that,” Harold smiled back.
The camera panned to the left to show Julia frantically pulling a dazed and half-conscious Zee from the rest of the avalanche, and picking him up onto her back.
"Julia," Zee said weakly, "I'm sorry that I-"
"Be quiet," Julia said with a weak smile as she carried her boyfriend over to the stretcher and set him down next to Harold. "You need to rest."
"But-" Zee tried to say.
He was cut off by Julia grabbing his head and kissing him full on the lips. "You didn’t win the money, but we can still provide for the world in our own ways, and with the power of love," she said with a smile as she broke the kiss, leaving Zee looking dopey.
The capstone theme began to play as the footage skipped ahead to a shot of the open sky, the double-rotored helicopter soon flying up into view. "That's it for this very, very off season," Chris began, standing in the open doorway with Zee and Julia sitting on the edge letting their legs dangle freely with Julia leaning into Zee; Harold and Scarlett standing on either side of Chris, the latter annoyed and the former grinning while holding the suitcase full of money to his chest; and the rest of the cast, crouching down and peering over in the gaps between and behind the rest, constantly jockeying for position as they tried to get one last shot of themselves on camera.
"This is Chris McLean, saying if you can't stand the pain-" the handsome host continued, the shot cutting in closer- "stay off the Total! Drama! Paaaahkitew Island!"
"RE-VENGE!" Max suddenly yelled from behind Scarlett, shoving her out of the helicopter, and the brainiac screamed as she fell.
The camera lingered on the dumbfounded looks of Chris and the other ex-campers, all of them staring at Max in shock. "This is how a traitor should be rewarded," he said, crossing his arms and closing his eyes defiantly.
The ex-campers and host burst out laughing, and a fun and energetic tune started to play. The camera panned over to the windshield to show Chef laughing along with the rest of the cast from the pilot's seat, and the helicopter flew away.
The music soon faded away, though, and the scene quick-panned down to show a screaming Scarlett landing in the giant mud puddle. She quickly surfaced with a shocked splutter, and pulled herself out onto dry land. "How am I going to get home now because of those imbeciles?!"
A few ominous notes were struck, and a ferocious growl caught Scarlett's attention. She looked up, and the camera zoomed out to show Scuba Bear 2.0 standing over her, eyes red. "Heheh," the brainiac laughed nervously. "You're not going to hurt me are you?"
The scene abruptly cut outward to the full long-distance shot of the island, the ominous music ending as Scarlett's scream and Scuba Bear's snarl echoed across the lake.
(Roll the Credits)
Lightning - 14th
DJ - 13th
Amy - 12th
B - 11th
Julia - 10th
Max - 9th
Leshawna - 8th
MERGE
Jo - 7th
Duncan - 6th
Ella - 5th
Sammy - 4th
Scarlett - 3rd
Zee - 2nd
Harold - 1st
submitted by xtremexavier15 to u/xtremexavier15 [link] [comments]
"It's eight feet deep," Chris explained over a close-up of the measuring stick showing the mud reaching up very nearly to the 8' mark, "and 200 yards across. And," the camera quick-panned to the far right side of the 'puddle', "since it's too thick to swim through," the shot cut back to the couple and Chris, "the only way to the other side is with one of you piggybacking the other."
"Umm...," Zee said hesitantly, sharing a wary look with Jo, "doesn't that mean the person on the bottom..."
"Will drown?" Chris finished. "Yes."
"What?!" Jo said in wide-eyed shock.
"Unless they use this garden hose!" Chris added, a light chime playing as he held up a length of green hose.
Zee let out a breath. "Okay then. Guess I'm on the bottom, then."
Jo's eyes widened a bit in a brief bit of surprise, and she looked at her partner. "I should be objecting to this since I'm supposed to be the helper, but hey. No heavy lifting from me."
"Yeah…" Zee agreed half heartedly.
Confessional: Zee
"I was able to hold Jo onto my back while we were skiing," Zee told the confessional. "I can still do the same while under mud."
Confessional Ends
"I know that I said you were weak in the past," Jo said, "but that was until I saw that you were able to make it this far in the game."
"You thought wrong about me," Zee replied. "I wasn’t active at first in challenges and finding food, but with Julia eliminated, I was able to grow and become a finalist."
Chris suddenly stepped between the two. "How touching. Now start the challenge."
The scene cut to Zee and Jo jumping into the mud, the former disappearing below its depths while the latter, on his shoulders, held up the length of the hose. They started moving forward, and the camera panned back to the left to show Harold, Scarlett, and Chris holding up another length of hose.
"Yeah, I'll be on top," Harold stated.
"Pardon me?" Scarlett countered, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't trust you not to let me drown," Harold told her. "Self-preservation comes first."
Scarlett groaned. "That's fair," she said, taking the hose from Chris, "but if you let me suffocate, I'm dragging you down into the mud with me."
"Crustal," Harold deadpanned, and as Scarlett crouched down, she jumped onto the brainiac's shoulders. Scarlett stood back up and put the end of the hose in her mouth, and she jumped into the mud.
The tense music faded away as the camera moved onto Chris, the host sighing as Chef walked up. "You think the mud was a bad idea?" Chris asked. "It's a little quiet… oh yeah," Chris said as if in sudden realization, "almost forgot about the Peanut Gallery. Bring 'em back in!" he said into a walkie talkie he only then pulled out.
Moments later, the wind kicked up around them, and the camera zoomed out to show the large helicopter flying in with the former contestants still hanging – and screaming as they swayed ominously – below it. "Would you let us down already?!" Leshawna shouted angrily. "It's freezin' up here!"
"Yeah, I want to cheer for Zee!" Julia chimed in.
"If I wasn't tied up right now, I'd have half a mind to pound you!" Duncan shouted at the host.
The camera focused on DJ. "Hey, Chris?" he looked forward and asked loudly. "Just bring us down before anybody else gets miffed at you!"
"No, and I don't care," Chris answered with a calm smile, until Chef whispered to him. A flat note played over a close-up of Chris staring blankly at him. "Huh...good point," he admitted. "Ooh!" he said with a sudden grin. "I just had an idea!"
A flash took the scene to Zee and Jo, the tense challenge music resuming at a low volume and slow pace in the background. They were still slogging through the mud, Zee out of sight but Jo only submerged up to her stomach. She looked back over her shoulder, smiled, then said "Keep going!" into the piece of hose she was holding. "They're way far behind!"
Confessional: Zee
"So as it turns out," Zee said, "being submerged in the mud is kinda like being trapped in the dark. But there aren't any animals below to scare me."
Confessional Ends
The music ramped up as Jo suddenly stopped moving, then seemed to turn around and start moving back towards the start. "Uh, Fruit Loop?" she asked into the hose. "We're going the wrong way!"
The camera cut to Harold, looking somewhat bored as he held the hose atop Scarlett's shoulders, before noticing the other team and frowning. "Why are they coming this way?"
"Ugh! They're too safe to sabotage each other!" came the sudden voice of Chris McLean, the camera cutting to him standing in the show's jeep with Chef at the wheel, speaking into the microphone of the jeep's loudspeaker. "Deploy the 2.0 model!"
The shot cut back to Harold and Jo as they looked around with strange expressions, the sound of something like a rocket taking off coming from somewhere in the distance. They looked up and to the left, and the camera shifted to their viewpoint to show a large object shooting up through the sky overhead...
...then abruptly diving towards them, revealing itself as a red-eyed robotic bear with small jet engines coming out of its back. Harold and Jo screamed as their respective partners continued in their previous directions, getting out of the way as the Bear landed in the mud. It hit with enough force to cause a wave of mud, which shot all the way across the puddle carrying the finalists and their helpers along for the ride. All four immediately began to cough upon landing in a muddy heap.
Confessional: Harold
"At least I have a better shot," Harold said. "We're tied right now, but who knows what other tricks Chris has up his sleeves."
Confessional Ends
A close-up of the nozzle of a fire hose in Chef's hands preceded him blasting the muddy finalists and helpers with water, all four screaming where they'd landed on the shore of the 'puddle'. Moments later, the water was shut off, leaving them drenched but clean.
"We're all tied up," Chris announced with a smile. "Perfect time for a little break. First, let's bring in the Peanut Gallery again." He took out his remote and pointed it at a patch of ground nearby, a hole opening up in it and a rather shoddy-looking set of stadium seats shooting up out of it with the ten former contestants seated – and still tied-up – in it.
"Sha-finally," Lightning said, the shot cutting to him sitting in the top row with B, DJ, Duncan, and Max and Leshawna, Ella, Julia, Sammy, and Amy in the bottom row. "Are we gonna get to watch the rest of the challenge now?"
"Yup!" Chris answered with a happy smile, pressing the button on his remote again so that a large widescreen television emerged from another hole in the ground near him and the finalists.
"Will you untie us too?" Ella chimed in.
Chris huffed. "Whine, whine, whine," he said in annoyance. "Don't I do enough for you kids as it is?"
"No," all fourteen of the season's cast members replied at the same time.
A flat note played over a close-up of the host pursing his lips. "Yeah, I owe Chef twenty bucks about that," Chris said, the camera zooming back out again to show the finalists and helpers. "Everyone, grab a seat," he instructed, and the four reluctantly sat down on the logs lying behind them. "I'm gonna show you some of my favorite clips from the show..." He pointed his remote at the TV, and the shot focused in as it switched on and started to play footage of a confessional...
"Dunderhead was already pretty useless," Jo complained. "But now he's making moves on one of the actually decent players on the team? Not on my watch!"
The camera cut in close to show Jo pausing and looking back. "Something on your mind, Anti-Squeakerbox?" she asked, the camera shifting to show B peering at her and shaking his head.
“It's not what you think it is," Jo told him. "As long as they are on this team, Julia and Zee will not date."
“Not exactly how I wanted the elimination to play, but hey. Julia’s gone and with Zee still in the game, I could manipulate him into doing whatever I say,” Jo grinned.
The footage paused, and Chris leaned out in front of the television with a wide and mischievous grin. "Seems like there isn't a shipper on deck…" he said impishly.
"So you were trying to keep me and Julia apart?" Zee said as the camera moved to him and Jo, his eyes wide with shock. "Does this mean that...,"
"Yup. I convinced Julia to quit," Jo replied. "I didn't expect her to fully go through with it since I was gonna vote you out!"
"I can't believe you'd try and do that!" Zee said with a glare!"
"If I didn't do what I did, then you two likely would've blown challenges for us like the dueling one!" Jo argued back.
The camera focused on Julia in the Peanut Gallery. "I was trying to defend my boyfriend, but sure," she said dryly.
"I'm just worried what Chris is gonna show from Scarlett," Sammy said. "It looks like he wants to mess up the finalists and their helpers..."
"Maybe he won't show anything?" Amy suggested. "I mean, it's not like Scarlett and Harold were that close to begin with."
The shot cut back to a smiling Chris. "Oh, don't worry, I have no intention of leaving those guys out of all this fun," he said happily.
"I don't see how," Scarlett said. "Harold already knows everything about me now. I’m practically an open book."
Chris laughed. "Seems you forgot that the cameras are always on. So here's some more juicy information that everybody gets to hear." The screen on the TV went from static to a scene from the fifth episode.
Scarlett herself grabbed the dueling stick Ella retrieved, fished an electric eel out of the water, and tossed it to Max. "Max!" she cried, and her teammates looked at her in confusion, prompting her to pretend that she had coughed. "Pardon me!"
“The plan was for Max to be the only one not in the trap, so the team would know he built it and vote him off!” Scarlett confessed.
"I overheard Leshawna and Harold's conversation when they were foraging together, and Leshawna being on to me is something that I refuse to let happen," Scarlett claimed. “Zee's really gullible enough to deceive, and I'll try to talk to Ella.”
A deep, dramatic note was struck over a shot of Harold in shock. "So it was you who got Leshawna eliminated!" he scowled in Scarlett's direction.
"I wasn't ready to come out just yet, and between the two of you, you were less likely to warn anyone about me!" Scarlett retorted.
"So all this time, Scarlett was aiming to usurp her master!" Max ranted.
"I don't blame her," Leshawna commented. “As much of a pain as she is, I would've done the same thing and sent your annoying behind home.”
"Okay," Chris said happily as the shot moved onto him, "I'm sensing some major hostility and I'm liking it. I'm out of popcorn, though, so we should probably get back to the challenge."
"Seriously?!" the finalists and helpers alike exclaimed.
"Obviously, the helpers aren't gonna be very helpful anymore," Chris replied. "So, instead of helpers, Jo and Scarlett will now be hinderers." As he spoke, Chef walked back into view with a pair of video game controllers, tossing one each to Scarlett and Jo. "The island is now back online," Chris continued, "and, with these controllers, they will be able to throw up obstacles to throw you down, or, completely crush you."
The shot cut to Scarlett as she looked at her controller and smirked. "Good to know."
"Looking forward to it," Jo said in determination.
Harold and Zee gulped, and Chris laughed. "That was the good part," he said. "Let me tell you the bad part. You have ten minutes to finish this challenge," he told Zee and Harold. "If neither of you do, Scarlett and Jo get to split the money."
"Dude, what?" Zee said in shock.
"You can't do that!" Harold protested.
"I can! I will! I am! GO!" Chris announced, blowing his airhorn right in Chef's face, earning an annoyed sigh from the man. Harold and Zee immediately ran off, but the camera cut to a close-up of a thoughtful Jo.
"Well...I want the money, but I'm not really comfortable with how this is set up," Jo said to herself. "But...I guess it wouldn't be too bad if I just made this a little more challenging for them..."
"Do what you want," Scarlett said, the camera panning over to show her grinning darkly with her controller in hand. "I'm getting my justice."
Confessional: Jo
“And I thought I was an underhanded person,” Jo mentioned to herself. “Velma has less morals than me and Gnome Master.”
Confessional: Scarlett
"I was snubbed in the last episode," Scarlett confessed. "And now that I've been given permission, I can stop the finalists from winning without getting electrocuted!" She pulled out the remote from the seventh episode. "I don't even need this device. I have a controller to do the job for it."
Confessionals End
A few quick drum taps opened up a deep and dangerous challenge theme, the scene returning to Zee and Harold sprinting across the open field only to gape in shock as the pine trees in the background starting launching like rockets.
"What the heck?" Harold said. "Rocket trees?"
One landed right behind them, forcing both finalists to roll forward out of the way. "This island is wild!" Zee cried as the two continued running, more and more trees landing behind them like massive spears.
The two were shown together in a brief close-up, raising their eyebrows in surprise. A quick-pan ahead revealed the landscape changing, trees and rock formations rising up out of the artificial ground to form a large, dense barrier.
Harold jumped ahead of Zee as they climbed over the first big rock formation.
Zee vaulted downward and dashing forward along a lower 'path' among the rocks. Just as he was about to jump down onto grass, however, a boulder shot upward – and he landed on it groin-first. A close-up showed him letting out a high-pitched squeal of pain.
Harold's wince drew the camera's attention back upward to show him leaping from a boulder and grabbing onto the branch of a tree, only for the tree to suddenly shoot back down into the ground – causing him to yell as it dragged him down and slammed him back-first onto a fallen log.
Zee gave him a quick concerned glance as he jumped onto the same log, then upwards onto a rock formation before climbing onward and to the right and out of sight.
The scene cut back to the hinderers, both still working their controllers with Scarlett still looking considerably happier about it. "No need to change what works," Jo said uncertainty.
"What happened to that cutthroat attitude you've been displaying?" Scarlett asked. "Don't throw it away when I can get something out of it. And lower some of those trees. They're giving them too much cover from this storm I'm whipping up."
The camera panned onto the monitor to show Zee and Harold struggling against a powerful wind as they walked through what looked like a dense forest as leaves, dust, branches, and various small woodland animals blew past them.
A focus on the monitor's screen transitioned the scene back to the challenge. "I think...I can see the finish line in the distance," Zee said, pausing for a moment as he struggled against the intense gale.
"They're not making this easy on us," Harold commented.
The pair briefly passed behind a thick and mossy pine tree, the camera zooming in slightly as they reappeared. "Would you?" Zee asked.
"...I guess not," Harold answered after a moment.
The shot cut back to the Peanut Gallery to show them watching with worry and anticipation. "C'mon, Harold," Leshawna spoke. "Just hang in there."
"I know you can win this, Zee," Julia said. "You deserve it after everything."
Then the camera cut back to the hinderers, Chris standing next to their monitor with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. "Ooh! They're getting close!" he said excitedly, prompting Scarlett to scowl and Jo to frown.
Once more the scene moved back to the finalists, their arms raised to buffer themselves against the winds – snow beginning to fall and lightning beginning to crack in the background - with Harold in the lead. "Two minutes left!" Chris called out over the island's loudspeaker. "Two minutes!"
"I...," Harold said with glee. "I think I can make it!"
"Not if I can help it!" Zee shouted, speeding up as the dense trees around him and Harold began to recede into the ground – and the tense and dangerous challenge music resumed. "If I win, me and Julia can go out and change the world together."
"I have to win this," Harold told him. "I've been undervalued and looked down on by my peers, friends, and even my family. I need to prove my might."
The snowy ground below their feet began to crack. A hollow sound played, then all at once, the ground shot up under them, earning startled yells from both. The shot soon cut to the new peak they were standing on rising up into the sky, then stopping.
"Drats..." Zee muttered, both finalists looking down with wide eyes. his final word echoed as the camera zoomed out, revealing the snowy mountain they were now at the top of.
The Peanut Gallery was shown gasping, as were Jo, though Scarlett was smiling as their misfortune. "Twenty seconds left...!" Chris said as the camera moved on to him looking at his watch.
The shot cut back to Harold. "I guess it's over," he sighed. “Scarlett wins after all.”
Zee noticed a bulge in the snow beside him. The boy shoved his hand into it and pulled out the phone Duncan stole from Chris. "I don't know how this got here, but we have to get down. Start stomping the ground."
Harold nodded and stomped on the ground at his feet, and after a few cracks, Zee hurled the phone down, breaking the device apart. Their eyes widened as the mountain began to crumble under them, and the ground imploded in on itself.
"Six! Five!" Chris began to count off, the music cutting out save for a single plodding note to highlight each number. "Four!" The camera panned onto the television, showing both finalists tumbling through the snow and rock. "Three! Two! One!" The shot cut to the finish banner, then zoomed out to show the avalanche stopping just under it – with neither finalist in sight. "GAME OVER!" he announced, blowing on his airhorn as a subdued but triumphant riff played.
Jo stood up in surprise, and Scarlett started cheering.
"My mission was a success!" Scarlett said in victory. “Now hand over my well-deserved prize!”
"Congratulations Jo and Scarlett," Chris said with his usual smile. "Revenge is sweetest-" he glanced at the monitor- "ohhhhh, what have we here?" he said with a sudden look of shock, the music cutting out as he pointed at the television screen.
A sharp note played as a familiar hand stuck out of the snow lying just past the finish line and waved. Scarlett's jaw dropped in shock, and Jo let out a sigh of relief.
The scene cut to the finish line, the camera pulling back a little ways as Chef walked up with a stretcher, dressed as a female nurse. Leshawna ran onscreen and pushed him out of the way. Chef flew off frame with a shout, and Leshawna grabbed the arm and pulled, freeing a shocked and snowy Harold from the aftermath of the avalanche. "Oh," he groaned, looking around as Leshawna dropped him on the stretcher, "what happened?" he asked as the victorious music began to play again with much more enthusiasm.
"You won, Ginger Baby!" Leshawna answered with a smile, the camera pulling out even more to show Harold looking back at the finish banner.
"I did it!" Harold said excitedly. "Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V has claimed victory! Boo yah!" he raised his arms and cheered, the shot cutting away to show all of the Peanut Gallery cheering.
“We weren't able to talk to each other as much, and it's clear we like each other as more than just friends, but how about we hang out a little bit back home and see where things go?” Leshawna suggested.
“As long as we don't rush into a committed relationship, I'd like that,” Harold smiled back.
The camera panned to the left to show Julia frantically pulling a dazed and half-conscious Zee from the rest of the avalanche, and picking him up onto her back.
"Julia," Zee said weakly, "I'm sorry that I-"
"Be quiet," Julia said with a weak smile as she carried her boyfriend over to the stretcher and set him down next to Harold. "You need to rest."
"But-" Zee tried to say.
He was cut off by Julia grabbing his head and kissing him full on the lips. "You didn’t win the money, but we can still provide for the world in our own ways, and with the power of love," she said with a smile as she broke the kiss, leaving Zee looking dopey.
The capstone theme began to play as the footage skipped ahead to a shot of the open sky, the double-rotored helicopter soon flying up into view. "That's it for this very, very off season," Chris began, standing in the open doorway with Zee and Julia sitting on the edge letting their legs dangle freely with Julia leaning into Zee; Harold and Scarlett standing on either side of Chris, the latter annoyed and the former grinning while holding the suitcase full of money to his chest; and the rest of the cast, crouching down and peering over in the gaps between and behind the rest, constantly jockeying for position as they tried to get one last shot of themselves on camera.
"This is Chris McLean, saying if you can't stand the pain-" the handsome host continued, the shot cutting in closer- "stay off the Total! Drama! Paaaahkitew Island!"
"RE-VENGE!" Max suddenly yelled from behind Scarlett, shoving her out of the helicopter, and the brainiac screamed as she fell.
The camera lingered on the dumbfounded looks of Chris and the other ex-campers, all of them staring at Max in shock. "This is how a traitor should be rewarded," he said, crossing his arms and closing his eyes defiantly.
The ex-campers and host burst out laughing, and a fun and energetic tune started to play. The camera panned over to the windshield to show Chef laughing along with the rest of the cast from the pilot's seat, and the helicopter flew away.
The music soon faded away, though, and the scene quick-panned down to show a screaming Scarlett landing in the giant mud puddle. She quickly surfaced with a shocked splutter, and pulled herself out onto dry land. "How am I going to get home now because of those imbeciles?!"
A few ominous notes were struck, and a ferocious growl caught Scarlett's attention. She looked up, and the camera zoomed out to show Scuba Bear 2.0 standing over her, eyes red. "Heheh," the brainiac laughed nervously. "You're not going to hurt me are you?"
The scene abruptly cut outward to the full long-distance shot of the island, the ominous music ending as Scarlett's scream and Scuba Bear's snarl echoed across the lake.
(Roll the Credits)
Lightning - 14th
DJ - 13th
Amy - 12th
B - 11th
Julia - 10th
Max - 9th
Leshawna - 8th
MERGE
Jo - 7th
Duncan - 6th
Ella - 5th
Sammy - 4th
Scarlett - 3rd
Zee - 2nd
Harold - 1st
2024.05.20 02:23 NotSoSlimShady1001 The Spirit of a Predator - Chapter 25: An Open Door
[ First / Previous ]
Memory Transcription Subject: Hileen, Krakotl Fugitive Recovery Agent
Date [standardized human time]: November 28th, 2136
It'd been a while since I sat in Marlig's office for a talk face-to-face. Given the agency's secluded location at the edge of the downtown region, it was a chore to drop by when it wasn't for business, but I'd deemed the matter at hand to be worth my time.
I passed by Nampi at her desk on my way to the door and she gave me a coy glare as I carried on. Trying to ignore her risible ear waggle, I turned the corner to the door with my boss’s name painted on the glass panel where I could hear the frantic crumpling of paper.
Quietly, I entered Marlig's office without prompt as I knew he hated to be spooked by knocking. My mentor was surprisingly spry for a bird at his age, sorting through papers with one wing and an eye while using his talons with the other to set away the papers he had splayed out.
“Hileen!” he chirped. “Glad you could make it in today. I was just finishing up my paperwork. Take a seat.”
It was always nice to hear him drop the professional motif for a more grandfatherly attitude when speaking in person. I did as he suggested and took a seat while he grumbled to himself over the sorting. My eye caught a few of the old contracts he was rifling through and saw that some dated back to his days as an agent.
Eventually, he left some sitting out as he sequestered the rest back into their files, sorted by a dichotomy that only he and Nampi could comprehend fully. He motioned with a wing for me to peruse and I turned the first one to face me to find it was my first contract, signed by me in a sloppy fashion. “This takes me back a couple of years.”
“Slick bastard thought he could get away on a forklift but you showed him! Certainly more exciting than my first day!”
“Mm-hmm. And it was when I nearly got impaled that you had the idea to commission all of us utility vests.”
He chuckled, “I really should’ve done so sooner. Cuts and scratches were already a risk, but a forklift was a new one!”
I flipped through the pages of each report, finding that Marlig's notes were filled with praises of my work. There were highs and lows, but I was flattered to find that the grizzled krakotl held my performance in such high regard.
“Flawless interception!” read one footnote about me catching a runner. “Couldn't have done it better myself!”
Marlig waited patiently as I browsed quickly through each page, realizing more and more how the notes also marked improvements in my work. How I found it easier to talk down a rowdy client, or apprehend them in the case that they were beyond helping on my part. Flowery language plastered most pages with him fawning over my work as a doting father would to his prodigal child.
The trend took a sharp turn as the notes became fewer and more critical the closer the dates reached to the present. I brushed the others aside with a wing to peruse the final paper. “And this…”
“Is Tac. Your latest contract. The most recent in a line of declining performance since the interview. This has become a pattern, Hileen, and its consequences are beginning to reach beyond yourself. Paji and Vesek resigned recently for personal reasons, which leaves us even less hands on deck than before. That's four people to cover the entire municipal region, and maybe even beyond, should needs arise. Three, if we include this little probation I have you on.”
“What was I supposed to do? Marlig, these ‘jobs’ you've got us working on overstep the contracts we were signed on with. Our job is to make sure people obey their court-mandated duties, not drag them off to the facilities ourselves!”
“... So the trip we took to the facilities did bother you.”
A sigh clicked in my throat as he reminded me. “Is that what happens to the people we take in, Marlig? Is that what would've happened to your wife?”
His feathers ruffled.
“That's what happens to those who are too dangerous to the general public to be left roaming free. Not everyone we deal with winds up there, but everyone can be subject to it. Miskela sued for her exoneration and proved in court that she was not diseased. I brought you there to show you how it helps the people, but I see now that it was a mistake. I understand why you were so perturbed, really, but it's how things have been for centuries. It's how we've protected ourselves from the dangers out there.”
“You were willing to let Barsul be interned there, too.”
Marlig flinched and sighed as he swept the papers towards himself once I'd signaled I was done. He turned one eye to me while he sorted them.
“There's no room for favoritism, girl. I negotiated for him to be allowed to walk free, and look where that got me. That boy - your neighbor - suffered the consequences of my nepotism. So too would the girl, had nobody intervened.”
“Like Richard.”
“The human, yes. Or you. Or the police. Where does this sudden obsession with humans come from, anyway? I get notifications of you talking about the acceptance of them all the time on forums.”
“Does it even need explaining?”
“Well, I guess not, no, but it's certainly an about-face from the way you used to talk about them with me beforehand.”
“People can change, for better or worse. Which one I fall under remains to be seen.”
Marlig stroked at the plumage on his neck as he finished his sorting. “I hope it's the former, for your sake. Was there any reason you came to talk, or were you just checking that I hadn't gone senile?”
“Well, I was hoping to borrow your secretary for the evening.”
He perked up while his eyes narrowed and he laced his fingers together with curiosity. “You… want to spend an evening with Nampi?”
“It's not what you're insinuating, but yes.”
“I was insinuating nothing,” he warbled coyly. “Go ahead and take her, and make sure to split the bill at dinner.”
“Pain-in-the-ass geezer. I'll keep in touch if your friend causes any more trouble.”
“Keep in touch regardless. Miskela and I get lonely in our old age,” he called back. “Take care.”
I stepped out into the hallway and turned toward the desk where I could hear the secretary's claws tapping furtively at her keyboard. Nampi sat silently with her ears and tail in a relaxed position that implied a bored demeanor. There was barely any response as I stood before her, waiting politely for her acknowledgment that never came.
Hesitantly, I cleared my throat.
An ear raised in acknowledgement, but her focus remained on the screen of her computer. “Mhm?”
“Do you…?”
Her ear rotated toward me, though she still maintained a passive attitude as she continued to glare mindlessly at the monitor.
“Are you free this evening?”
“Well, I'm quite booked, I believe. Why do you ask?”
I was surprised at her curt, dry tone. She hadn't spoken with me like this since we first got to know one another.
“Well,” I started. “I realized something. Every time we went out, whether it was clubbing, or dinner, or even walking around the parks, you always footed the bill. And so…”
Slowly, her other ear perked up and I saw her keystrokes slow down as she listened in.
“I wanted to return the favor?”
Her lips smacked as she opened her mouth, though paused before she spoke. “How could you possibly do that?”
“With a little gesture of friendship.”
Nampi's horizontal pupil turned up toward me and her tail twitched.
I continued, “So that belt you're wearing? It's the same belt you've worn since we first met. And I know you're the pragmatic type who'd never spend a credit more than she needs to, except for all the times you do"- her ears twitched in indignance -"I wanted to see about getting you a little something… extra?”
Her paws raised from the keyboard and she leaned in, resting her snout on her palms. “Go on.”
The bubbly venlil's tail sold out her collected facade as it twitched with anticipation. She was cornered and she didn't even know it yet.
“Well, I found just the place on the other side of town where we can start. It's a place almost as rich and indulgent as yourself.”
“The Platinum Paw? I mean3”
Her ears folded back in embarrassment as she cracked. She wasn't cut out for acting anyway.
“So that's what it's called! Jeez, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was called. Now what do you say? We go over there and find you something nice—”
I hadn’t even finished my thought before Nampi had grabbed her bag and was out the door, giving me a playful tail flick that said come and get me.
The place I suggested was in a shopping center on the opposite side of town, though easily accessible because of its proximity to the transport rails. Nampi had insisted on grabbing something to eat beforehand and so now gleefully bit into a bundle of stalks that had been “grilled” as explained from the food truck we'd stopped at.
Her tail flicked back and forth with her usual enthusiasm as we entered the massive complex of stores. The roofless plan allowed the natural, orange sun to flood the upper levels while artificial lighting illuminated the ground level wherever the light couldn't reach.
The place was built in the last decade by the previous City Magister in a bid for popularity, though ultimately for naught as he would lose the vote following a scandal involving an iftali priestess and a carved bar of soap. I had to say that despite being sick in the head, he sure had a great sense of decor.
Nampi snacked away, joining me in admiring the scenery as we continued to the place I’d planned out for us. Aimless chatter all melded together into a single, thrumming murmur as pedestrians navigated the many levels and stores offered in the place.
A troupe of children passed by us, held in a chain of tails and arms as they were escorted by a pair of venlil who I assumed were students and teachers on a school trip. I caught a whiff of a sweet, aromatic breeze and found it to come from a perfume shop on the same level as us; naturally, venlil were not to be found inside.
We passed a fountain where a couple sat on the edge, their tails twined together as they giggled and flirted. I turned and caught Nampi watching them as well, though she awkwardly returned to sucking the remains of her meal from her claws when we made eye contact. Her ears lifted when I raised a wing to signal to the store we were going to stop at first.
“Platinum Paw, The Greatest Fashion Emporium For Everyone!”
The title alone was painfully cliche, taken to the tenth power by the brightly lit store taking up three department slots. Despite the flashy exterior, though, it was the best place to shop for belts, brooches, and bracelets alike. Customers who looked like they earned my yearly salary in a week browsed the higher end brands while I brought my friend to the section I wanted to show her.
Her ears were held up as we stood together next to a shelf chock full of fashionable bags and bandoliers of every variety.
“Pick one,” I told her.
Nampi's ears shot to a straight pose in surprise, “Any?”
“Within reason. I've got a few extra credits to blow and I know nobody better to spend it on.”
With an inviting headtilt, I let Nampi peruse the shelves at her leisure. Her lips pursed together and her tail flicked with glee as she fingered at every piece that caught her eye. I chuckled at her outburst of enthusiasm while turning to find my own items to gloss over.
A breeze from outside nipped at my beak while I considered what I’d like to purchase. The place dripped with an atmosphere of faux hospitality, from the bright blue-stained floorboards to the radio prattling off advertisements in a sickeningly sweet tone to the faint, fruity aroma of scented cleaner. It was oppressive as only a fissan-owned company could be to the senses.
What I wouldn’t pay to see how a human would fare in such an environment.
I knew they were social creatures at least, but I had no doubt that the predatory senses of a human, so honed to hunting, would get overstimulated in this center of gaudy indulgence. Knowing I was something of a predator myself made me sympathize provided that even I had to squint to keep the pale lights inside from searing my eyes. I could only imagine how the arboreal eyes of a Terran would fare. I was so lost in thought imagining how lost the Terrans would be that I could almost ignore the obnoxious giggling and metallic rattling coming from behind me.
Risking a peek at the source, into my sight came a pair of venlil, one a male carrying a pair of bags as well as a couple more strapped to his belt. The bored expression in his eyes was not one of a man who was in high spirits. The other venlil was a woman who was the source of the noise.
Her mottled gray pelt was accented by a tasteful belt design, free of almost any practical functions but not flashy or excessive in garnishment either. At least, that’s what I would say, were it not for the braid of beads that dangled on the belt, jingling with each bounce of the lively woman’s stride. It was clear that such a gaudy accessory was intended to draw attention to her, though why was a mystery. Certainly, the shiny braids seemed designed as decoration first and practical second.
She turned about and I faced back to my browsing before she could catch me staring. Nampi was nowhere in sight, though I figured she was somewhere behind the shelf, sifting through every accessory on the section I'd suggested.
Clink.
Something pelted to my immediate right. I tilted my head to spot a tree nut shell clattering to the floor. Without being able to guess where it came from, I had to wonder what could've launched it over this way. Even with my keen eyesight, nobody in the crowd seemed to be a suspect.
Clink.
Another shell pelted my vicinity, ricocheting off of the floor and hitting the shelf I was standing next to. I ruffled my feathers in frustration - clearly, someone was trying to get my attention, though I couldn't make out who it was. Out of the corner of my vision, the woman from before eyed me curiously as I looked about, though I wasn't interested in engaging with her.
Thwack.
One more shell came flying and, unfortunately, the aim on this one was true, nailing me on the beak. Irritated, I stormed out of the store to find the source of the instigator. I scanned over the bodies to find anyone who could've been responsible for this indignity, eventually concluding that it came from the dining area across the walkway.
Whoever was responsible was in for an earful and I was already structuring which of the offender's family members would be acceptable as fodder for stray words. As I approached, I found the tables were mostly empty save for one, which made my heart begin to drop as I met eyes with the only occupant. Suddenly, I was much less inclined to hurl insults.
“Oh, hi there!” Qitel called out in a sickly sweet tone. “Come, take a seat! We have much to discuss!”
The Exterminator clutched a bag of tree nuts in his claws, a pile of discarded shells already gathered on the table next to him. He grabbed another as I approached, effortlessly prying the shell in half between two claws and tossed the contents into his mouth. “Good protein, these,” he commented as I sat down.
“Must be for that good arm you've got there,” I mumbled. I caught sight of a couple of bags beneath his chair, seemingly from one of the tech stores contained within the center.
“Bah, it's guesswork. So how are you? I haven't heard from you since we worked together!”
“I was just spending time with a friend, shopping and enjoying my time off.”
“Your time off? Oh, am I interrupting something?”
His snide tone irked me, though now wasn’t the time for interjections. “You are, Qitel,” I replied with no shortage of vitriol in my tone. “But I see no harm in chatting for a bit.”
“Good, because I have some merchandise”- he reached into his belt pocket and deposited a couple of items onto the table -“and you’re just the person to look into it, human sympathizer.”
I drew a terse breath in shock, but my worries were quelled when I considered that if Qitel had the power to do anything about it, he would’ve done so instead of approaching me so discreetly. A glance down at the item on the table showed that he was presenting what looked to be a tracker as well as a personal drive. “Found in the garbage,” he told me.
“The guild resorts to dumpster diving when they already have such a bloated budget now?”
“No, featherbrain, I have decided to keep this for myself. These items were found together, sealed in a plastic pouch, and placed in a garbage bin. The city has bans against electronics being placed into public bins, and so I was curious why this wound up in there. Managed to get my coworker, a techie, to crack it open and…”
Qitel reached into his belt again, glowering at me with the same condescending gaze he’d given me when I first saw his face. He seemed to revel in digging for the item as slowly as possible to waste my time. Finally, he found whatever he was looking for and revealed it as a printed piece of paper, folded into eighths. The snobby yotul threw the unfurled paper on the table and rolled it toward me.
I craned my neck to look at the parchment, though I was immediately perplexed by the text on it; it appeared to be some sort of form, going by the boxes with words on the inside, followed by blank lines. “Found on the drive, here,” Qitel told me, jabbing a claw to the storage. “Translator shows it as Terran writing.”
Drawing my holopad from my satchel, I held it over the paper with the translator to get an understanding. Surely enough, the language on it came up positive as a variant of Terran writing and I was affirmed in it being a form of some sort based on the wording of the text. The boxes seemed like an odd sort of job application, asking for the typical name, contacts, and prior work experiences, but quickly took a strange turn as it began asking for where their home on Earth was prior to arrival, what family they had on Venlil Prime if any, and where they worked, implying that they were seeking individuals who were already employed.
I knew little about human employment methods, but I didn’t imagine that sourcing individuals from other jobs was the most efficient way to gain a workforce. Terran service industries already dotted the planet while many humans also found work in local environments. So what was the angle that the creator of this application was going for?
Most concerningly was that the paper had no insignia, identifying marks, or noted address to return the form to. “And where did you find it again?”
“In the garbage, alongside this intact tracker that was activated at the time of recovery. Y’know, when I was dumpster diving. Text on the document showed it was addressed to one ‘Choctaw Nexus’.”
“A pseudonym of some sort?”
“Clearly. Short sorting through the archives shows the first name traces back to the group out east - perhaps you've heard about them. How the name and the items we have here are connected is beyond my understanding, but-”
“Well, this has been an absolutely riveting discussion about your collection of trash, Qitel,” I told him as I stood up to leave. “But this really sounds like an issue to be resolved by your fellow guildsmen.”
The sound of another shell splitting rang out as I turned away.
“I'm not through talking with you, predator.”
The sting as a piece nailed me in the back of the head prompted me to whirl back around, sticking my beak in the insolent yotul's snout. “Perhaps you've forgotten, little man,” I cooed in an equally bittersweet tone to the one he gave me before. “The krakotl never had a problem with settling issues the old-fashioned way before the interview. Try me and find out why I'm in the line of work I am.”
“Oh, we wouldn't want that in such a"- he waved his paw to a group of passersby who had stopped to gawk at my display -”public forum. Please, contain yourself.”
I had to force the feathers on my back to settle and I raised my head away from him. “What else is it you wanted, then?”
“Well, I'd appreciate if you took this merchandise off my paws,” he told me as he brushed the electronics and printout toward me.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you're closer to the humans than I'd ever care to be, and may be able to find out who this Choctaw Nexus is. Something about the package just feels… off. And I know when to trust my feelings. Besides, we both know that you know where Tac is, don't we?”
“I don't-”
“We have videographic evidence that you conspired with a human - of the aforementioned squatters, no less - and let the kid escape. You're not as sneaky as you think, and if we find this ‘Choctaw Nexus’ turns out to be a bad actor that can be traced back to them - and by extension, you - well, there’d be no talking down my boss from having you dealt with. By helping me find out who this is, you may yet be able to clear your name of any wrongdoing.”
I clenched my beak tightly to maintain a straight face. Qitel stood up with a flourish and discarded the bag he was carrying in a bin.
“See, the krakotl were never special for using threats and bullying to get results. It's because you were good at killing predators,” he jeered. “Now, if you don't mind, this primitive has appointments to attend to… old lady who got trampled courtesy of the humans and all. You stay out of trouble, Hileen, and stay in touch.”
The self-assured marsupial melded into the crowd in a matter of seconds, leaving me with a table containing dumpster trophies and a pile of shells. Reluctantly, I swept the shells into my wing and dumped them into the bin before gathering the other two items he'd left me and stuffing them into my bag. I'd been gone from Nampi long enough and she would notice my absence before long.
Crossing the walkway again, I could spot from where I stood that Nampi was indeed still in the Platinum Paw. I approached, and soon I found that while she didn't seem to have noticed me stepping away, she was definitely in a soured mood based on the sagging of her ears and tail. With my talons clacking on the floorboards, I hustled to her side and her mood chippered up ever so slightly as she heard me approach.
I chimed in, “Find anything?”
“Everything. I want everything, Red, and I can't decide on what I want. They all just look so great!”
From behind, a voice called out, “Nampi!”
We both jumped at the exclamation and turned about to spot the venlil lady I'd seen before spring from behind the shelf. The man poked his head from behind the shelf too, though less enthusiastically and with yet another bag in his clutches. My friend's eyes widened in surprise with her tail and ears perking up in kind. With a light in her eyes, she exclaimed, “Nalek!”
The two embraced with shrill squeals and laughter as Nalek's accompaniment and I traded awkward glances.
“It's been too long!”
“You never stayed in contact!”
The women exchanged giddy greetings and the pompous stranger turned to me, leering over me as though she was sizing me up.
“Who's your friend here?”
“Oh she's actually my-...”
Nampi paused for a moment, looking back to me.
“Yeah, she's a friend.”
“A friend,” Nalek repeated while her eyes flicked between Nampi and I. “Right.”
Somehow, I get the impression that that was judgemental.
“I'm Hileen, by the way,” I chirped, “if names are to be exchanged.”
“Hileen, that's a lovely name! And such plumage to match, it's a wonder you aren't swarmed by suitors!”
Internally, I groaned at the notion. The idea of being approached by someone to state their interest in me made me queasy, to say the least. Thankfully, I never had that issue growing up as most of the other drakes in school were too busy chasing girls who didn't have a lousy pigmentation mutation such as myself.
“I'm flattered,” I told Nalek before turning to the man whose name had yet to be introduced. “May we get your name?”
“Sask.”
His response was succinct and tonally flat, though there was a brief silence as I expected him to elaborate. Nalek's beads jingled as she lashed him on the calf with her tail.
“I'm Sask, Nalek's fiancée,” he added, throwing her a look to see if she was satisfied.
Nampi gasped with her paws over her snout. “Fiancée! Nalek, you're getting married and you never even told me!”
“Well, I felt a little guilty since it technically broke our pact we made when we were pups. You remember that?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? ‘Let she who bonds through betrothal first be cast out unto the world for all to admonish her!’”
Sask and I both gave inquisitive expressions. “You two spoke like that as pups?” Sask asked.
“Well, I'm paraphrasing,” Nampi admitted with a playful ear waggle. “But you get the gist.”
“Indeed, they do, sweet Nampi. Now, may I ask what you're doing bringing your avian friend here into this store on this fine claw?”
“Oh, no no, she's the one treating me! Isn't that right, Red?”
I saw her tail twitch and was sure it took restraint not to tickle my neck with it as we stood before her old friend.
“She's been a good friend,” I explained. “So I wanted to reverse the roles for once and treat her to something myself.”
Nampi skipped over to me and wrapped her arm around me, glancing back to her old friend. “See? We'd all be so lucky to have a… friend like her.”
“So I've witnessed. But perhaps you're a bit stuck, as I've seen you prancing up and down these aisles for a while, no? Maybe you don't know what you want?”
“Nalek, you know I've never been good about making my mind up.”
“Some things never change, you ditz. Tell you what: you and Sask go find us a seat and we can catch up all we'd like when we're not taking up aisle space, yes? So shoo! I'll help Hileen here pick one out for you!”
With a bored grunt, Sask made off with the goods he had strapped to himself, followed by Nampi who gave me one more playful tail flick before dashing off into the crowd. I looked back to the mottled snout of Nalek who watched her friend wander off with a wistful glance.
“She was my first, you know.”
“Your what now.”
“Love. Way back when we were growing from pups into young adults back in private education, we explored much together. We saw each other through a lot, including the less savory parts of finding a mate. When Nampi realized it wasn't the boys she was into, she turned to me, and I offered my hand as her stalwart companion… to a point.”
“You weren't interested in her the same way?”
“I'd grown up seeing her as a sister of sorts, so ultimately, when we split it off, we stayed close as friends and she never seemed to be bothered by it. She struggled to find others in school who had the same interests as herself, but she never fussed about it.”
Nalek's claws browsed over a set of pouched bandoliers made with intricate embroidering. “Have you two… spent the night together? Alone?”
Spiritually, I reeled from the inquiry. The whiplash from that question was equitable to being smacked by a human. “Wha- why? How's that pertinent to the subject at hand?”
“That sounds like a ‘yes’ to me,” she purred with a smug glance my way.
I didn't need to begin to list the different ways such a question was violating to our privacy, and yet this woman was treating it like a game.
“Not really your concern, ma'am.”
Nalek chuckled as she picked out one of the bandoliers and inspected it with her claws. “I'd like to think that she and I still have that old connection, despite everything. And to that end, I know that she's no slag and doesn't trust easy. To see her be so vulnerable around you and to talk so highly of someone who's clearly below her income level as a predator…”
She stretched the bandolier out to appreciate the design in its entirety.
“Well, that's something special. Here"- she foisted the accessory into my wings as I stood gobsmacked -"this just screams her name.”
“This is, like, double my budget.”
“Love don't come cheap, darling. You wanna see good things happen, sometimes you've gotta step out of your comfort zone and grasp for it!”
“I'm being lectured by a rich woman on finances.”
“It's a philosophy that goes beyond money, ‘Red.’ The humans have a saying, in their horrendously predatory nomenclature, that contains a kernel of truth: ‘you miss every shot you don't take’.”
Yep, that's definitely a human phrase.
Nalek's steely braid rattled with every flick of the tail as we proceeded through the checkout.
“You want things to change between you and her?” she continued. “Don't just wait for it to happen.”
She let the conversation rest there as we finished the purchase, possibly to let me recuperate mentally from the damage done to my account. Outside, we found our respective partners sitting at a table with Sask looking up in boredom as Nampi chatted away, though she immediately shut up and turned to me with excited flicks of her tail as she saw what I was carrying.
I held it toward her and she happily shot to her feet, effortlessly removing the tags with her claws and clipping it to her belt. Nalek clapped and waggled her tail as the giddy lady did a whirl about to let us admire the accessory. While I'd have preferred one with pockets to give it a more practical use, I decided to let Nalek have the victory as our mutual friend clearly enjoyed it.
The rest of the paw was a blur as the two friends chatted without end until Sask eventually reminded his betrothed that they had a schedule to attend to. Though Nalek offered to call us a taxi home as a gesture of kindness, I saw through her ruse to determine that she was trying to pull a fast one on me - the clever ear flick she gave as we boarded the automated vehicle sold it for me.
We sat in the seats as the vehicle took the express ride home.
Nampi cleared her throat before she spoke, “Thank you for taking some time to spend with me, I know you've had a lot less free time as of late.”
“It's a prison of my own design, if I must be honest. A feedback loop of working a job that doesn't guarantee a paycheck to pay for rent that keeps going up, and thus needing to work more.”
The venlil giggled and chided me, “You really should've stayed in university.”
“There's a lotta 'should haves’ that've led me to this point. No use wondering what could have been.”
“There's always a use for wondering what could have been, Hileen.”
She wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“Every decision I make, I always wonder what I could've done differently that it'd have turned out better,” she explained as she waved her free paw to the sky. “It's how you grow as a person, Red.”
Her silky pelt felt heavenly in contrast to the chilly air from outside, making it hard to let her words sink in.
“You rich types seem chock full of philosophy. I wonder if I'll become a brooding orator when I get some cash to my name.”
The cab filled with laughter as we veered around the final corner to my neighborhood, as it was the closest stop. The door popped open accompanied by a chime from the drone, signaling for me to depart.
But before my talons could even hit the pavement, I felt Nampi's scrawny arms wrap around my waist and she let out a pitiful mewl again.
“You don't need to get off here,” she told me with a pouty expression. “We can spend the rest of the paw at my place.”
“I'd love it, but I need to water my plants and get the month's bills sorted before they're due. Again.”
One claw at a time, I plucked her paws from around my waist and the childish venlil conceded, giving me another ear waggle as I departed. “I'll see you tomorrow?” I asked her.
“If you still have eyes by then, then you can bet your ass!”
“I still don't gamble.”
“You'll come around to it eventually.”
I shut the door to the taxi and watched as it carted away the one venlil who I ever truly felt on the same wavelength as. Fiddling with the lock felt like more of a chore than usual at this time as I felt a little voice tugging at the back of my head.
“You miss every shot you don't take.”
The lock felt jammed as I began to jiggle it more vigorously with the electric key. Either the RFID or NFC readers were messed up, as the lock refused to accept my key. I looked up and down the street, though Nampi was now long gone for me to rescind my earlier rejection.
“Every decision I make, I wonder what I could've done differently.”
The door rattled as I grew more and more infuriated with the lock. Qitel's smug expression as he threatened me so boldly in public played back in my head, and I wondered what would've happened had I decided to go through with insulting his mother. Better yet, I wondered what could've been had I not backed down in the face of his unflinching confidence.
Bzzt. The lock rejected my key again.
“Raagh! You fucking useless hunk of junk!”
I squawked in anger and kicked against the door, careless of the consequences of having Markol back down here to admonish another of his tenants for causing a ruckus. The walls were surprisingly sturdy for how ineffective the venlil architecture looked on the surface and I reeled back in pain as my leg throbbed.
Click.
I looked to my left to see that it wasn't my door that came open, but that of the twins. The door cracked open ever so slightly, no doubt nudged by the force of my tirade and I sighed. Nobody was expected to be home at this time, with Vili being away and Luka leaving early to get a head start.
Luka had been given a stern talking-to by the landlord for allowing one of those cats into his apartment through neglect, and I was disappointed that he seemed to have not learned his lesson this time. In fact, it seemed he hadn't even thought to lock the door this time.
I took it upon myself to shut the door for him before turning back to my own apartment door. Grasping the key with one talon, I turned it ever so gently, though the lock still refused to give in.
With a bit more force, the torsion applied to the key felt as though it should've snapped it by now. Markol sure didn't waste any expense for the security for this place, doubtlessly as a result of his history in electronic security, but I wished now that he had provided a way in that didn't rely on privately sourced locks.
Considering my options as I stood trapped outside, I realized that I had never gotten around to paying for a new lock for Tadi. I'd considered contacting her to inform her that Tac had made it out of town safely, but that'd involve also telling her that her son was now in the care of humans, as if that was a better outcome to her.
Stepping out front, I realized that there was one more option I hadn't considered: my window. I usually forgot to lock it after I was through letting air circulate and I was silently grateful to myself for this absentmindedness now more than ever. Sticking a foot on the threshold, I lifted myself in a way that'd allow me to have leverage to force the window open.
The window made me fight for every inch, but I felt a strange satisfaction as it slowly opened up into an entrance that I could squeeze my way through. I let out a sigh as my talons clicked against the cool floor and slid the window shut.
I laid my satchel on the couch and turned back to the door, ready to unleash my fury on the disobedient object. But as I reached for the lock to manually open the door, I noted that the lights on the RFID interface both flashed at once, blinking erratically. Red and green flickered without rhyme or reason, indicating that it was both active and inactive.
As pretty as the colors were, I now knew that Markol's locks were not as reliable as he had touted them about: typically, such would not occur unless the device was damaged deliberately, and yet nothing indicated that I'd had uninvited guests. One could pray that those cats didn't secretly know how to cobble together an ECM jammer, but my personal wager was on faulty equipment.
Settling in, I browsed my favorite soaps on the television. For what was intended to be a day of relaxation and show of affection for a friend, I found myself rather wound up over all the things that added up. Couples threw around flowery words and swooned over one another on screen as I felt the tension diffuse. My holopad rang and I turned it over to spot that Nampi was informing me that she'd arrived home safely.
>>> Feels empty here, all alone.
She made sure to drive the point home with a sticker of a venlil making a pouty expression.
Next time, I thought to myself, I'll get it right for you, Nampi.
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submitted by NotSoSlimShady1001 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
Memory Transcription Subject: Hileen, Krakotl Fugitive Recovery Agent
Date [standardized human time]: November 28th, 2136
It'd been a while since I sat in Marlig's office for a talk face-to-face. Given the agency's secluded location at the edge of the downtown region, it was a chore to drop by when it wasn't for business, but I'd deemed the matter at hand to be worth my time.
I passed by Nampi at her desk on my way to the door and she gave me a coy glare as I carried on. Trying to ignore her risible ear waggle, I turned the corner to the door with my boss’s name painted on the glass panel where I could hear the frantic crumpling of paper.
Quietly, I entered Marlig's office without prompt as I knew he hated to be spooked by knocking. My mentor was surprisingly spry for a bird at his age, sorting through papers with one wing and an eye while using his talons with the other to set away the papers he had splayed out.
“Hileen!” he chirped. “Glad you could make it in today. I was just finishing up my paperwork. Take a seat.”
It was always nice to hear him drop the professional motif for a more grandfatherly attitude when speaking in person. I did as he suggested and took a seat while he grumbled to himself over the sorting. My eye caught a few of the old contracts he was rifling through and saw that some dated back to his days as an agent.
Eventually, he left some sitting out as he sequestered the rest back into their files, sorted by a dichotomy that only he and Nampi could comprehend fully. He motioned with a wing for me to peruse and I turned the first one to face me to find it was my first contract, signed by me in a sloppy fashion. “This takes me back a couple of years.”
“Slick bastard thought he could get away on a forklift but you showed him! Certainly more exciting than my first day!”
“Mm-hmm. And it was when I nearly got impaled that you had the idea to commission all of us utility vests.”
He chuckled, “I really should’ve done so sooner. Cuts and scratches were already a risk, but a forklift was a new one!”
I flipped through the pages of each report, finding that Marlig's notes were filled with praises of my work. There were highs and lows, but I was flattered to find that the grizzled krakotl held my performance in such high regard.
“Flawless interception!” read one footnote about me catching a runner. “Couldn't have done it better myself!”
Marlig waited patiently as I browsed quickly through each page, realizing more and more how the notes also marked improvements in my work. How I found it easier to talk down a rowdy client, or apprehend them in the case that they were beyond helping on my part. Flowery language plastered most pages with him fawning over my work as a doting father would to his prodigal child.
The trend took a sharp turn as the notes became fewer and more critical the closer the dates reached to the present. I brushed the others aside with a wing to peruse the final paper. “And this…”
“Is Tac. Your latest contract. The most recent in a line of declining performance since the interview. This has become a pattern, Hileen, and its consequences are beginning to reach beyond yourself. Paji and Vesek resigned recently for personal reasons, which leaves us even less hands on deck than before. That's four people to cover the entire municipal region, and maybe even beyond, should needs arise. Three, if we include this little probation I have you on.”
“What was I supposed to do? Marlig, these ‘jobs’ you've got us working on overstep the contracts we were signed on with. Our job is to make sure people obey their court-mandated duties, not drag them off to the facilities ourselves!”
“... So the trip we took to the facilities did bother you.”
A sigh clicked in my throat as he reminded me. “Is that what happens to the people we take in, Marlig? Is that what would've happened to your wife?”
His feathers ruffled.
“That's what happens to those who are too dangerous to the general public to be left roaming free. Not everyone we deal with winds up there, but everyone can be subject to it. Miskela sued for her exoneration and proved in court that she was not diseased. I brought you there to show you how it helps the people, but I see now that it was a mistake. I understand why you were so perturbed, really, but it's how things have been for centuries. It's how we've protected ourselves from the dangers out there.”
“You were willing to let Barsul be interned there, too.”
Marlig flinched and sighed as he swept the papers towards himself once I'd signaled I was done. He turned one eye to me while he sorted them.
“There's no room for favoritism, girl. I negotiated for him to be allowed to walk free, and look where that got me. That boy - your neighbor - suffered the consequences of my nepotism. So too would the girl, had nobody intervened.”
“Like Richard.”
“The human, yes. Or you. Or the police. Where does this sudden obsession with humans come from, anyway? I get notifications of you talking about the acceptance of them all the time on forums.”
“Does it even need explaining?”
“Well, I guess not, no, but it's certainly an about-face from the way you used to talk about them with me beforehand.”
“People can change, for better or worse. Which one I fall under remains to be seen.”
Marlig stroked at the plumage on his neck as he finished his sorting. “I hope it's the former, for your sake. Was there any reason you came to talk, or were you just checking that I hadn't gone senile?”
“Well, I was hoping to borrow your secretary for the evening.”
He perked up while his eyes narrowed and he laced his fingers together with curiosity. “You… want to spend an evening with Nampi?”
“It's not what you're insinuating, but yes.”
“I was insinuating nothing,” he warbled coyly. “Go ahead and take her, and make sure to split the bill at dinner.”
“Pain-in-the-ass geezer. I'll keep in touch if your friend causes any more trouble.”
“Keep in touch regardless. Miskela and I get lonely in our old age,” he called back. “Take care.”
I stepped out into the hallway and turned toward the desk where I could hear the secretary's claws tapping furtively at her keyboard. Nampi sat silently with her ears and tail in a relaxed position that implied a bored demeanor. There was barely any response as I stood before her, waiting politely for her acknowledgment that never came.
Hesitantly, I cleared my throat.
An ear raised in acknowledgement, but her focus remained on the screen of her computer. “Mhm?”
“Do you…?”
Her ear rotated toward me, though she still maintained a passive attitude as she continued to glare mindlessly at the monitor.
“Are you free this evening?”
“Well, I'm quite booked, I believe. Why do you ask?”
I was surprised at her curt, dry tone. She hadn't spoken with me like this since we first got to know one another.
“Well,” I started. “I realized something. Every time we went out, whether it was clubbing, or dinner, or even walking around the parks, you always footed the bill. And so…”
Slowly, her other ear perked up and I saw her keystrokes slow down as she listened in.
“I wanted to return the favor?”
Her lips smacked as she opened her mouth, though paused before she spoke. “How could you possibly do that?”
“With a little gesture of friendship.”
Nampi's horizontal pupil turned up toward me and her tail twitched.
I continued, “So that belt you're wearing? It's the same belt you've worn since we first met. And I know you're the pragmatic type who'd never spend a credit more than she needs to, except for all the times you do"- her ears twitched in indignance -"I wanted to see about getting you a little something… extra?”
Her paws raised from the keyboard and she leaned in, resting her snout on her palms. “Go on.”
The bubbly venlil's tail sold out her collected facade as it twitched with anticipation. She was cornered and she didn't even know it yet.
“Well, I found just the place on the other side of town where we can start. It's a place almost as rich and indulgent as yourself.”
“The Platinum Paw? I mean3”
Her ears folded back in embarrassment as she cracked. She wasn't cut out for acting anyway.
“So that's what it's called! Jeez, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was called. Now what do you say? We go over there and find you something nice—”
I hadn’t even finished my thought before Nampi had grabbed her bag and was out the door, giving me a playful tail flick that said come and get me.
The place I suggested was in a shopping center on the opposite side of town, though easily accessible because of its proximity to the transport rails. Nampi had insisted on grabbing something to eat beforehand and so now gleefully bit into a bundle of stalks that had been “grilled” as explained from the food truck we'd stopped at.
Her tail flicked back and forth with her usual enthusiasm as we entered the massive complex of stores. The roofless plan allowed the natural, orange sun to flood the upper levels while artificial lighting illuminated the ground level wherever the light couldn't reach.
The place was built in the last decade by the previous City Magister in a bid for popularity, though ultimately for naught as he would lose the vote following a scandal involving an iftali priestess and a carved bar of soap. I had to say that despite being sick in the head, he sure had a great sense of decor.
Nampi snacked away, joining me in admiring the scenery as we continued to the place I’d planned out for us. Aimless chatter all melded together into a single, thrumming murmur as pedestrians navigated the many levels and stores offered in the place.
A troupe of children passed by us, held in a chain of tails and arms as they were escorted by a pair of venlil who I assumed were students and teachers on a school trip. I caught a whiff of a sweet, aromatic breeze and found it to come from a perfume shop on the same level as us; naturally, venlil were not to be found inside.
We passed a fountain where a couple sat on the edge, their tails twined together as they giggled and flirted. I turned and caught Nampi watching them as well, though she awkwardly returned to sucking the remains of her meal from her claws when we made eye contact. Her ears lifted when I raised a wing to signal to the store we were going to stop at first.
“Platinum Paw, The Greatest Fashion Emporium For Everyone!”
The title alone was painfully cliche, taken to the tenth power by the brightly lit store taking up three department slots. Despite the flashy exterior, though, it was the best place to shop for belts, brooches, and bracelets alike. Customers who looked like they earned my yearly salary in a week browsed the higher end brands while I brought my friend to the section I wanted to show her.
Her ears were held up as we stood together next to a shelf chock full of fashionable bags and bandoliers of every variety.
“Pick one,” I told her.
Nampi's ears shot to a straight pose in surprise, “Any?”
“Within reason. I've got a few extra credits to blow and I know nobody better to spend it on.”
With an inviting headtilt, I let Nampi peruse the shelves at her leisure. Her lips pursed together and her tail flicked with glee as she fingered at every piece that caught her eye. I chuckled at her outburst of enthusiasm while turning to find my own items to gloss over.
A breeze from outside nipped at my beak while I considered what I’d like to purchase. The place dripped with an atmosphere of faux hospitality, from the bright blue-stained floorboards to the radio prattling off advertisements in a sickeningly sweet tone to the faint, fruity aroma of scented cleaner. It was oppressive as only a fissan-owned company could be to the senses.
What I wouldn’t pay to see how a human would fare in such an environment.
I knew they were social creatures at least, but I had no doubt that the predatory senses of a human, so honed to hunting, would get overstimulated in this center of gaudy indulgence. Knowing I was something of a predator myself made me sympathize provided that even I had to squint to keep the pale lights inside from searing my eyes. I could only imagine how the arboreal eyes of a Terran would fare. I was so lost in thought imagining how lost the Terrans would be that I could almost ignore the obnoxious giggling and metallic rattling coming from behind me.
Risking a peek at the source, into my sight came a pair of venlil, one a male carrying a pair of bags as well as a couple more strapped to his belt. The bored expression in his eyes was not one of a man who was in high spirits. The other venlil was a woman who was the source of the noise.
Her mottled gray pelt was accented by a tasteful belt design, free of almost any practical functions but not flashy or excessive in garnishment either. At least, that’s what I would say, were it not for the braid of beads that dangled on the belt, jingling with each bounce of the lively woman’s stride. It was clear that such a gaudy accessory was intended to draw attention to her, though why was a mystery. Certainly, the shiny braids seemed designed as decoration first and practical second.
She turned about and I faced back to my browsing before she could catch me staring. Nampi was nowhere in sight, though I figured she was somewhere behind the shelf, sifting through every accessory on the section I'd suggested.
Clink.
Something pelted to my immediate right. I tilted my head to spot a tree nut shell clattering to the floor. Without being able to guess where it came from, I had to wonder what could've launched it over this way. Even with my keen eyesight, nobody in the crowd seemed to be a suspect.
Clink.
Another shell pelted my vicinity, ricocheting off of the floor and hitting the shelf I was standing next to. I ruffled my feathers in frustration - clearly, someone was trying to get my attention, though I couldn't make out who it was. Out of the corner of my vision, the woman from before eyed me curiously as I looked about, though I wasn't interested in engaging with her.
Thwack.
One more shell came flying and, unfortunately, the aim on this one was true, nailing me on the beak. Irritated, I stormed out of the store to find the source of the instigator. I scanned over the bodies to find anyone who could've been responsible for this indignity, eventually concluding that it came from the dining area across the walkway.
Whoever was responsible was in for an earful and I was already structuring which of the offender's family members would be acceptable as fodder for stray words. As I approached, I found the tables were mostly empty save for one, which made my heart begin to drop as I met eyes with the only occupant. Suddenly, I was much less inclined to hurl insults.
“Oh, hi there!” Qitel called out in a sickly sweet tone. “Come, take a seat! We have much to discuss!”
The Exterminator clutched a bag of tree nuts in his claws, a pile of discarded shells already gathered on the table next to him. He grabbed another as I approached, effortlessly prying the shell in half between two claws and tossed the contents into his mouth. “Good protein, these,” he commented as I sat down.
“Must be for that good arm you've got there,” I mumbled. I caught sight of a couple of bags beneath his chair, seemingly from one of the tech stores contained within the center.
“Bah, it's guesswork. So how are you? I haven't heard from you since we worked together!”
“I was just spending time with a friend, shopping and enjoying my time off.”
“Your time off? Oh, am I interrupting something?”
His snide tone irked me, though now wasn’t the time for interjections. “You are, Qitel,” I replied with no shortage of vitriol in my tone. “But I see no harm in chatting for a bit.”
“Good, because I have some merchandise”- he reached into his belt pocket and deposited a couple of items onto the table -“and you’re just the person to look into it, human sympathizer.”
I drew a terse breath in shock, but my worries were quelled when I considered that if Qitel had the power to do anything about it, he would’ve done so instead of approaching me so discreetly. A glance down at the item on the table showed that he was presenting what looked to be a tracker as well as a personal drive. “Found in the garbage,” he told me.
“The guild resorts to dumpster diving when they already have such a bloated budget now?”
“No, featherbrain, I have decided to keep this for myself. These items were found together, sealed in a plastic pouch, and placed in a garbage bin. The city has bans against electronics being placed into public bins, and so I was curious why this wound up in there. Managed to get my coworker, a techie, to crack it open and…”
Qitel reached into his belt again, glowering at me with the same condescending gaze he’d given me when I first saw his face. He seemed to revel in digging for the item as slowly as possible to waste my time. Finally, he found whatever he was looking for and revealed it as a printed piece of paper, folded into eighths. The snobby yotul threw the unfurled paper on the table and rolled it toward me.
I craned my neck to look at the parchment, though I was immediately perplexed by the text on it; it appeared to be some sort of form, going by the boxes with words on the inside, followed by blank lines. “Found on the drive, here,” Qitel told me, jabbing a claw to the storage. “Translator shows it as Terran writing.”
Drawing my holopad from my satchel, I held it over the paper with the translator to get an understanding. Surely enough, the language on it came up positive as a variant of Terran writing and I was affirmed in it being a form of some sort based on the wording of the text. The boxes seemed like an odd sort of job application, asking for the typical name, contacts, and prior work experiences, but quickly took a strange turn as it began asking for where their home on Earth was prior to arrival, what family they had on Venlil Prime if any, and where they worked, implying that they were seeking individuals who were already employed.
I knew little about human employment methods, but I didn’t imagine that sourcing individuals from other jobs was the most efficient way to gain a workforce. Terran service industries already dotted the planet while many humans also found work in local environments. So what was the angle that the creator of this application was going for?
Most concerningly was that the paper had no insignia, identifying marks, or noted address to return the form to. “And where did you find it again?”
“In the garbage, alongside this intact tracker that was activated at the time of recovery. Y’know, when I was dumpster diving. Text on the document showed it was addressed to one ‘Choctaw Nexus’.”
“A pseudonym of some sort?”
“Clearly. Short sorting through the archives shows the first name traces back to the group out east - perhaps you've heard about them. How the name and the items we have here are connected is beyond my understanding, but-”
“Well, this has been an absolutely riveting discussion about your collection of trash, Qitel,” I told him as I stood up to leave. “But this really sounds like an issue to be resolved by your fellow guildsmen.”
The sound of another shell splitting rang out as I turned away.
“I'm not through talking with you, predator.”
The sting as a piece nailed me in the back of the head prompted me to whirl back around, sticking my beak in the insolent yotul's snout. “Perhaps you've forgotten, little man,” I cooed in an equally bittersweet tone to the one he gave me before. “The krakotl never had a problem with settling issues the old-fashioned way before the interview. Try me and find out why I'm in the line of work I am.”
“Oh, we wouldn't want that in such a"- he waved his paw to a group of passersby who had stopped to gawk at my display -”public forum. Please, contain yourself.”
I had to force the feathers on my back to settle and I raised my head away from him. “What else is it you wanted, then?”
“Well, I'd appreciate if you took this merchandise off my paws,” he told me as he brushed the electronics and printout toward me.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you're closer to the humans than I'd ever care to be, and may be able to find out who this Choctaw Nexus is. Something about the package just feels… off. And I know when to trust my feelings. Besides, we both know that you know where Tac is, don't we?”
“I don't-”
“We have videographic evidence that you conspired with a human - of the aforementioned squatters, no less - and let the kid escape. You're not as sneaky as you think, and if we find this ‘Choctaw Nexus’ turns out to be a bad actor that can be traced back to them - and by extension, you - well, there’d be no talking down my boss from having you dealt with. By helping me find out who this is, you may yet be able to clear your name of any wrongdoing.”
I clenched my beak tightly to maintain a straight face. Qitel stood up with a flourish and discarded the bag he was carrying in a bin.
“See, the krakotl were never special for using threats and bullying to get results. It's because you were good at killing predators,” he jeered. “Now, if you don't mind, this primitive has appointments to attend to… old lady who got trampled courtesy of the humans and all. You stay out of trouble, Hileen, and stay in touch.”
The self-assured marsupial melded into the crowd in a matter of seconds, leaving me with a table containing dumpster trophies and a pile of shells. Reluctantly, I swept the shells into my wing and dumped them into the bin before gathering the other two items he'd left me and stuffing them into my bag. I'd been gone from Nampi long enough and she would notice my absence before long.
Crossing the walkway again, I could spot from where I stood that Nampi was indeed still in the Platinum Paw. I approached, and soon I found that while she didn't seem to have noticed me stepping away, she was definitely in a soured mood based on the sagging of her ears and tail. With my talons clacking on the floorboards, I hustled to her side and her mood chippered up ever so slightly as she heard me approach.
I chimed in, “Find anything?”
“Everything. I want everything, Red, and I can't decide on what I want. They all just look so great!”
From behind, a voice called out, “Nampi!”
We both jumped at the exclamation and turned about to spot the venlil lady I'd seen before spring from behind the shelf. The man poked his head from behind the shelf too, though less enthusiastically and with yet another bag in his clutches. My friend's eyes widened in surprise with her tail and ears perking up in kind. With a light in her eyes, she exclaimed, “Nalek!”
The two embraced with shrill squeals and laughter as Nalek's accompaniment and I traded awkward glances.
“It's been too long!”
“You never stayed in contact!”
The women exchanged giddy greetings and the pompous stranger turned to me, leering over me as though she was sizing me up.
“Who's your friend here?”
“Oh she's actually my-...”
Nampi paused for a moment, looking back to me.
“Yeah, she's a friend.”
“A friend,” Nalek repeated while her eyes flicked between Nampi and I. “Right.”
Somehow, I get the impression that that was judgemental.
“I'm Hileen, by the way,” I chirped, “if names are to be exchanged.”
“Hileen, that's a lovely name! And such plumage to match, it's a wonder you aren't swarmed by suitors!”
Internally, I groaned at the notion. The idea of being approached by someone to state their interest in me made me queasy, to say the least. Thankfully, I never had that issue growing up as most of the other drakes in school were too busy chasing girls who didn't have a lousy pigmentation mutation such as myself.
“I'm flattered,” I told Nalek before turning to the man whose name had yet to be introduced. “May we get your name?”
“Sask.”
His response was succinct and tonally flat, though there was a brief silence as I expected him to elaborate. Nalek's beads jingled as she lashed him on the calf with her tail.
“I'm Sask, Nalek's fiancée,” he added, throwing her a look to see if she was satisfied.
Nampi gasped with her paws over her snout. “Fiancée! Nalek, you're getting married and you never even told me!”
“Well, I felt a little guilty since it technically broke our pact we made when we were pups. You remember that?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? ‘Let she who bonds through betrothal first be cast out unto the world for all to admonish her!’”
Sask and I both gave inquisitive expressions. “You two spoke like that as pups?” Sask asked.
“Well, I'm paraphrasing,” Nampi admitted with a playful ear waggle. “But you get the gist.”
“Indeed, they do, sweet Nampi. Now, may I ask what you're doing bringing your avian friend here into this store on this fine claw?”
“Oh, no no, she's the one treating me! Isn't that right, Red?”
I saw her tail twitch and was sure it took restraint not to tickle my neck with it as we stood before her old friend.
“She's been a good friend,” I explained. “So I wanted to reverse the roles for once and treat her to something myself.”
Nampi skipped over to me and wrapped her arm around me, glancing back to her old friend. “See? We'd all be so lucky to have a… friend like her.”
“So I've witnessed. But perhaps you're a bit stuck, as I've seen you prancing up and down these aisles for a while, no? Maybe you don't know what you want?”
“Nalek, you know I've never been good about making my mind up.”
“Some things never change, you ditz. Tell you what: you and Sask go find us a seat and we can catch up all we'd like when we're not taking up aisle space, yes? So shoo! I'll help Hileen here pick one out for you!”
With a bored grunt, Sask made off with the goods he had strapped to himself, followed by Nampi who gave me one more playful tail flick before dashing off into the crowd. I looked back to the mottled snout of Nalek who watched her friend wander off with a wistful glance.
“She was my first, you know.”
“Your what now.”
“Love. Way back when we were growing from pups into young adults back in private education, we explored much together. We saw each other through a lot, including the less savory parts of finding a mate. When Nampi realized it wasn't the boys she was into, she turned to me, and I offered my hand as her stalwart companion… to a point.”
“You weren't interested in her the same way?”
“I'd grown up seeing her as a sister of sorts, so ultimately, when we split it off, we stayed close as friends and she never seemed to be bothered by it. She struggled to find others in school who had the same interests as herself, but she never fussed about it.”
Nalek's claws browsed over a set of pouched bandoliers made with intricate embroidering. “Have you two… spent the night together? Alone?”
Spiritually, I reeled from the inquiry. The whiplash from that question was equitable to being smacked by a human. “Wha- why? How's that pertinent to the subject at hand?”
“That sounds like a ‘yes’ to me,” she purred with a smug glance my way.
I didn't need to begin to list the different ways such a question was violating to our privacy, and yet this woman was treating it like a game.
“Not really your concern, ma'am.”
Nalek chuckled as she picked out one of the bandoliers and inspected it with her claws. “I'd like to think that she and I still have that old connection, despite everything. And to that end, I know that she's no slag and doesn't trust easy. To see her be so vulnerable around you and to talk so highly of someone who's clearly below her income level as a predator…”
She stretched the bandolier out to appreciate the design in its entirety.
“Well, that's something special. Here"- she foisted the accessory into my wings as I stood gobsmacked -"this just screams her name.”
“This is, like, double my budget.”
“Love don't come cheap, darling. You wanna see good things happen, sometimes you've gotta step out of your comfort zone and grasp for it!”
“I'm being lectured by a rich woman on finances.”
“It's a philosophy that goes beyond money, ‘Red.’ The humans have a saying, in their horrendously predatory nomenclature, that contains a kernel of truth: ‘you miss every shot you don't take’.”
Yep, that's definitely a human phrase.
Nalek's steely braid rattled with every flick of the tail as we proceeded through the checkout.
“You want things to change between you and her?” she continued. “Don't just wait for it to happen.”
She let the conversation rest there as we finished the purchase, possibly to let me recuperate mentally from the damage done to my account. Outside, we found our respective partners sitting at a table with Sask looking up in boredom as Nampi chatted away, though she immediately shut up and turned to me with excited flicks of her tail as she saw what I was carrying.
I held it toward her and she happily shot to her feet, effortlessly removing the tags with her claws and clipping it to her belt. Nalek clapped and waggled her tail as the giddy lady did a whirl about to let us admire the accessory. While I'd have preferred one with pockets to give it a more practical use, I decided to let Nalek have the victory as our mutual friend clearly enjoyed it.
The rest of the paw was a blur as the two friends chatted without end until Sask eventually reminded his betrothed that they had a schedule to attend to. Though Nalek offered to call us a taxi home as a gesture of kindness, I saw through her ruse to determine that she was trying to pull a fast one on me - the clever ear flick she gave as we boarded the automated vehicle sold it for me.
We sat in the seats as the vehicle took the express ride home.
Nampi cleared her throat before she spoke, “Thank you for taking some time to spend with me, I know you've had a lot less free time as of late.”
“It's a prison of my own design, if I must be honest. A feedback loop of working a job that doesn't guarantee a paycheck to pay for rent that keeps going up, and thus needing to work more.”
The venlil giggled and chided me, “You really should've stayed in university.”
“There's a lotta 'should haves’ that've led me to this point. No use wondering what could have been.”
“There's always a use for wondering what could have been, Hileen.”
She wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“Every decision I make, I always wonder what I could've done differently that it'd have turned out better,” she explained as she waved her free paw to the sky. “It's how you grow as a person, Red.”
Her silky pelt felt heavenly in contrast to the chilly air from outside, making it hard to let her words sink in.
“You rich types seem chock full of philosophy. I wonder if I'll become a brooding orator when I get some cash to my name.”
The cab filled with laughter as we veered around the final corner to my neighborhood, as it was the closest stop. The door popped open accompanied by a chime from the drone, signaling for me to depart.
But before my talons could even hit the pavement, I felt Nampi's scrawny arms wrap around my waist and she let out a pitiful mewl again.
“You don't need to get off here,” she told me with a pouty expression. “We can spend the rest of the paw at my place.”
“I'd love it, but I need to water my plants and get the month's bills sorted before they're due. Again.”
One claw at a time, I plucked her paws from around my waist and the childish venlil conceded, giving me another ear waggle as I departed. “I'll see you tomorrow?” I asked her.
“If you still have eyes by then, then you can bet your ass!”
“I still don't gamble.”
“You'll come around to it eventually.”
I shut the door to the taxi and watched as it carted away the one venlil who I ever truly felt on the same wavelength as. Fiddling with the lock felt like more of a chore than usual at this time as I felt a little voice tugging at the back of my head.
“You miss every shot you don't take.”
The lock felt jammed as I began to jiggle it more vigorously with the electric key. Either the RFID or NFC readers were messed up, as the lock refused to accept my key. I looked up and down the street, though Nampi was now long gone for me to rescind my earlier rejection.
“Every decision I make, I wonder what I could've done differently.”
The door rattled as I grew more and more infuriated with the lock. Qitel's smug expression as he threatened me so boldly in public played back in my head, and I wondered what would've happened had I decided to go through with insulting his mother. Better yet, I wondered what could've been had I not backed down in the face of his unflinching confidence.
Bzzt. The lock rejected my key again.
“Raagh! You fucking useless hunk of junk!”
I squawked in anger and kicked against the door, careless of the consequences of having Markol back down here to admonish another of his tenants for causing a ruckus. The walls were surprisingly sturdy for how ineffective the venlil architecture looked on the surface and I reeled back in pain as my leg throbbed.
Click.
I looked to my left to see that it wasn't my door that came open, but that of the twins. The door cracked open ever so slightly, no doubt nudged by the force of my tirade and I sighed. Nobody was expected to be home at this time, with Vili being away and Luka leaving early to get a head start.
Luka had been given a stern talking-to by the landlord for allowing one of those cats into his apartment through neglect, and I was disappointed that he seemed to have not learned his lesson this time. In fact, it seemed he hadn't even thought to lock the door this time.
I took it upon myself to shut the door for him before turning back to my own apartment door. Grasping the key with one talon, I turned it ever so gently, though the lock still refused to give in.
With a bit more force, the torsion applied to the key felt as though it should've snapped it by now. Markol sure didn't waste any expense for the security for this place, doubtlessly as a result of his history in electronic security, but I wished now that he had provided a way in that didn't rely on privately sourced locks.
Considering my options as I stood trapped outside, I realized that I had never gotten around to paying for a new lock for Tadi. I'd considered contacting her to inform her that Tac had made it out of town safely, but that'd involve also telling her that her son was now in the care of humans, as if that was a better outcome to her.
Stepping out front, I realized that there was one more option I hadn't considered: my window. I usually forgot to lock it after I was through letting air circulate and I was silently grateful to myself for this absentmindedness now more than ever. Sticking a foot on the threshold, I lifted myself in a way that'd allow me to have leverage to force the window open.
The window made me fight for every inch, but I felt a strange satisfaction as it slowly opened up into an entrance that I could squeeze my way through. I let out a sigh as my talons clicked against the cool floor and slid the window shut.
I laid my satchel on the couch and turned back to the door, ready to unleash my fury on the disobedient object. But as I reached for the lock to manually open the door, I noted that the lights on the RFID interface both flashed at once, blinking erratically. Red and green flickered without rhyme or reason, indicating that it was both active and inactive.
As pretty as the colors were, I now knew that Markol's locks were not as reliable as he had touted them about: typically, such would not occur unless the device was damaged deliberately, and yet nothing indicated that I'd had uninvited guests. One could pray that those cats didn't secretly know how to cobble together an ECM jammer, but my personal wager was on faulty equipment.
Settling in, I browsed my favorite soaps on the television. For what was intended to be a day of relaxation and show of affection for a friend, I found myself rather wound up over all the things that added up. Couples threw around flowery words and swooned over one another on screen as I felt the tension diffuse. My holopad rang and I turned it over to spot that Nampi was informing me that she'd arrived home safely.
>>> Feels empty here, all alone.
She made sure to drive the point home with a sticker of a venlil making a pouty expression.
Next time, I thought to myself, I'll get it right for you, Nampi.
[ First / Previous ]
2024.05.20 02:23 NunyaBuzor Does anyone know the best practices for captioning your dataset of images?
How should I label/caption my images? I use https://github.com/jhc13/taggui to label my images using a 1.6B moondreamer2 model. It takes about 1 second per image for captioning a dataset.
taggui also allows a system prompt for a VLM captioner.
I am currently tagging images from free stock sites(not sure all the sites permit ai training but pexel's license seems permissive and permits AI training) and some public domain art and modifying the captions in case of hallucinations. I plan to use this for finetuning models like CommonCanvas when details on how to finetune it comes later.
I'm not sure what is the best practices for captioning would would be. I am adding terms for things like size shots and angle shots.
My system prompt is:
submitted by NunyaBuzor to ethicaldiffusion [link] [comments]
taggui also allows a system prompt for a VLM captioner.
I am currently tagging images from free stock sites(not sure all the sites permit ai training but pexel's license seems permissive and permits AI training) and some public domain art and modifying the captions in case of hallucinations. I plan to use this for finetuning models like CommonCanvas when details on how to finetune it comes later.
I'm not sure what is the best practices for captioning would would be. I am adding terms for things like size shots and angle shots.
My system prompt is:
An image description is a written caption that provides essential information about images, like photos, graphics, gifs, and videos. It should be objective, concise, and follow a logical sequence: describing the main focus, actions of the image as well as the angle shot. The description starts with a general overview and adds specific details, using descriptive words for a vivid depiction. Personal opinions and non-essential details are avoided, avoid talking about the mood of the scene or what emotions are being invoked.I wonder what I could use to improve this.
Please describe the image using the following tags as context and consideration: {tags} and summarize it in only 1 paragraph.
2024.05.20 02:15 munisme 240520 r/bangtan Books with Luv: May Book Club Discussion - ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig
Hello bibliophiles of bangtan!
It has been an insane month but who’s complaining? May has almost passed us by and that means only one thing. Jin is almost home! We’re at D-23 days so well done, army spouses! But before that, RPWP drops on 24 May so let’s gear up to support our dear bookworm!
How are you all finding the time to read our May book on top of everything that’s happening? It’s a feat and the dedication is real! Having said that, I know we’re all itching to discuss The Midnight Library so let’s get to it!
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the book or the thread, feel free to tag me or any of the mods or BWL Volunteers.
with luv,
…and the bangtan Mod Team
submitted by munisme to bangtan [link] [comments]
It has been an insane month but who’s complaining? May has almost passed us by and that means only one thing. Jin is almost home! We’re at D-23 days so well done, army spouses! But before that, RPWP drops on 24 May so let’s gear up to support our dear bookworm!
How are you all finding the time to read our May book on top of everything that’s happening? It’s a feat and the dedication is real! Having said that, I know we’re all itching to discuss The Midnight Library so let’s get to it!
’The Midnight Library' by Matt Haig
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. A book on the many lives a person could have led, Namjoon was seen recommending this book in In the Soop Season 2.Come sit, let’s talk
Below is a discussion guide. Some book-specific questions and other sharing suggestions!- What were some of the ideas or instances that you liked from The Midnight Library?
- Upon walking into The Midnight Library and finding out what it is and how it works, Mrs. Elm asks Nora what she would have done differently to address her regrets. Is this something you have thought about as well?
- No matter the reality, Nora realizes that the good also comes with the bad. What is the author trying to tell us?
- What do you think were Nora’s worst and best plots?
- I couldn’t not ask this question - did reading this book affect you in any way when you watched the music video for Come Back To Me? Did it give you a different perspective?
- In both the book and the music video, there is a guiding figure who helps the protagonist come to terms with and accept themselves for who they are. What are your thoughts on this?
B-Side Questions/Discussion Suggestions
- Fan Chant: Hype/overall reviews
- Ments: Favorite quotes
- ARMY Time: playlist/recommendations of songs you associate with the book/chapters/characters
- Do The Wave: sentiments, feels, realizations based on the book
- Encore/Post Club-read Depression Prevention: something the book club can do afterwards (on your own leisure time) to help feel less sad after reading.
ㅠㅠ (Credit Roll) but no fear, we’ll be back again
It’s always so much fun chatting with all of you and we’ll be sure to be back for the next Books With Luv selection. But before we head to that, we’d like to let y’all know that we’ll be taking a break for the month of June. We’ve not had any announcements yet but with Jin returning and Festa in June, we thought it might be a good time for a breather. Fret not and look forward to July!If you have any questions or concerns regarding the book or the thread, feel free to tag me or any of the mods or BWL Volunteers.
with luv,
…and the bangtan Mod Team
2024.05.20 02:15 No-Pudding7670 Passed my SIE exam yesterday! 1 week of Study!
Wanted to share my experience doing crash course studying for 7 days and passing the SIE first attempt! I never post anything on here, but others posts made a big difference for me, so here goes!
TL;DR:
I passed my SIE yesterday after only 7 days of study. Intense! I used Pass Perfect, spent 50 hours studying total. If you only have a week or two before your test, DO NOT take a bunch of notes on everything! Read the content, take the quizzes and test, take notes on those answers and explanations!
VERY IMPORTANT: Use the two free Achievable SIE dump Sheets and watch both the S7g.u.r.u and S7 Whisperer 60 min crash course SIE YouTube videos the day before or day of test! I’ve included links at the bottom of this post. Be sure to memorize the dump sheet tricks and formulas, and decide what’s most important to reference. The test center gives you two laminated sheets and dry erase markers you can use as soon as the test timer starts. Be ready to write down key formulas, acronyms, timeframes, etc. Mine were the Options 4 square box, SLoBS & BLiSS, yield teeter totter and Key Open vs Closed end market notes. (All on the achievable dump sheets except Open/Closed Markets).
My Story:
In late April I was hired by Vanguard for a position starting May 28. I’d been a contractor doing customer service in an unlicensed VG position for about 10 months (no finance background before that); with the goal of getting hired in a licensed, permanent role within a year. I worked hard and got hired! The position requires SIE, S7 and S63. After my start date they pay me to do nothing but study and take exams for 9 or 13 weeks (depending on whether I’d passed the SIE prior to start date), which is awesome, but there’s a $5000 bonus if the SIE is passed at least a week before start date.
Note: I did have a little familiarity with basic terms and what’s required for account opening, due to my contractor position).
I originally scheduled my exam for May 13. I had about a month from hire date to May 13, and VG paid for the Pass Perfect course. I started some light studying the first week, thinking I had 3 more weeks and was on track. Then I got really sick for 2 weeks! I’m talking bed ridden, definitely no studying. So May 10 I rescheduled my exam to May 18! I had to pay $40 but figured it was well worth it not to fail, lol.
I was finally well enough to start studying on May 11, giving me 7 days. 😅 I had retained very little from my initial studying so I started over. I thought “I can do this!” I figured I’d had to do similar in college while working full time. Boy it was rough!
7 Days to PASS the SIE:
The first 3 days I had all day to study: Sat, Sun and Mon (had the day off for my original test date).
THE PLAN 41+ hours 5 practice tests, scoring at least 75%
Days 1-3 (full days) - 8+ hrs per day - Complete Pass Perfect Course (16 chapters) start to finish (reading and all quizzes, chapter tests)
Days 4-5 (Tues, Wed) - 5 hrs each day (2 before work and 3 after) - Take 1-2 Pass Perfect Final exams (1 hr 45 min each) each day, taking time to focus/take notes on anything I missed - Goal of 4 total tests, with 75% or higher on 3
Day 6 (Friday, day before the test) - 5 hours (2 hrs before work, 3 hours after) - Take 1 FINRA practice SIE exam before work (free on FINRA website) - after work, Review all Difficult Topics - Listen to S7g.u.r.u & S7 whisperer on YouTube. (They each have a 60 minute crash course review, recommended for day before or day of test). - Print out Achievable Dump Sheets - add my own notes to dump sheets
Day 7 (Day of Test) Test scheduled for 2pm (1:30 registration) - 2 hours Notes and Dump Sheets Review in morning - Leave for Test at 11:30, arrive 12:30 (45 min drive) - One last Review of Dump Sheets for 45 min, take a break before registration
Great Plan Right?! Wellll, I didn’t quite stick to it. 🤣
What Actually Happened: 52 Hours 4 Practice Finals (71% average)
Day 1 (Sat): 7 hrs Completed first 3 chapters, taking tons of notes on a Google doc, color coded and highlighted. I’ll do more tomorrow I thought, my brain is fried
Day 2 (Sun): 10 hours Completed chapters 4&5 again taking tons (too many) notes, taking quizzes and Tests multiple times, worried I wasn’t getting the concepts and terms well enough. Getting really worried about my pace now, but “hey I have tomorrow. I’ll crush it and catch up”. Maybe I won’t get to tests until Thurs.
Day 3 (Mon): 7 hrs (I was exhausted and burnt out, still not 100% from being sick) Chapter 6 OPTIONS… the death of me, soooo much to learn. Barely got through chapter 6. Full panic has now set in! I have to work full time the next 4 days!
Day 4 (Tues): 6 hrs ( 6pm-12am) Intense panic and anxiety, how the hell am I going to finish?! Screw notes, get through the chapters! Completed chapters 7-10 Whew, these chapters weren’t as bad, I think I remember a good amount. Better wrap this up tomorrow!
Day 5 (Wed): 5 hrs Very worried, but I’ll finish today and take lots of tests the next 2 days! Completed chapters 11-13 😫 OMG I’m still not done with the course and I have 2 days left!
Day 6 (Thurs): 6 hrs in the evening - Completed remaining chapters 14-16, course done 8pm. Whew, content done. Worried about not taking any tests yet, but at least I feel like I know the content decently! Took my first Pass Perfect Test, score 71% not as bad as I thought but that’s not a lot of margin for error! (Need 70% to Pass actual SIE test). At that point I’m calculating how much each point is worth, looking up suggestions online and praying, lol
Day 7 (Fri): 7 hrs Took 2 Pass Perfect tests, reviewing missed answers carefully and taking notes. Scores: 71% and 73%. Took FINRA SIE test (on their website), 69%. Omg I’m gonna fail tomorrow.
Friday night I thought “Hmm Maybe I can reschedule for Monday (the deadline to pass for bonus). Two more days and I get get this!” So I go to the Prometrics website and try to reschedule, seeing one slot for Monday at a site 2 hrs away… awesome.. NOPE, NOT AlLOWED less than 3 days before scheduled exam! So I called customer service, begged and told them I had been sick, since they said I could not reschedule the day before the test, I asked if they could cancel it and schedule a new appt for Monday? DENIED. So I take a deep breath and come to terms with it. This test is happening tomorrow. 😫
Friday night 9pm: As recommended by colleagues and online forums, I listen to S7 whisperer 60 min crash course on YouTube; no notes, listening in bed). Ok, learned some things, great overview/review. Maybe I can pull this off afterall..
Saturday, May 13… Day of Test (2-4pm)
7am woke up, ate a good breakfast, prepared everything I needed to take and do. Now what? Should I take another practice test? Review my notes? Listen to video? I decided no more tests, I’ll listen to the other crash course (S7g.u.r.u 60 min crash course on YouTube).
8am—11:30 Crunch time. Im determined to pass this exam!! Spent 3 hours listening to the 60 min S7g.u.r.u video, pausing when needed, replaying as needed. Took 11 pages of color coded notes on the most important points and formulas I needed to remember, mainly on Regulations (what market does it impact, what type of product, who, timeframes). I knew this was going to be at least 15% of test (I was right) and these were the main questions I missed on my Practice Finals
11:30am Renewed Faith 🙌 DAMN I learned a LOT. I’m gonna pass this thing! I was already getting low 70s on Thursday practice tests and I KNOW I learned enough from the video to pass several more questions. S7g.u.r.u literally saved me, pulling it all together in my mind!
12pm Went to UPS store, printed the 2 Achievable dump sheets and my 11 pages of notes from the video! I scanned them at every red light on the way 😂
12:59 arrived at test center. Spent 20 minutes reviewing dump sheets and drilling in my mind what to put on the 2 pages they give me for notes (specifically below and in links)
1:20 walk in, first one there.. registration complete at 1:35. To my surprise, they seat me and I can start test immediately!
As soon as the timer started my hands were flying on the 2 laminated sheets they gave me. I spent the first 15 min vigorously writing out things I wanted to reference. 90 minutes left for 85 questions. Watched the timer closely to stay on pace. Used the notepad on the test platform for each question to write out calculations, or break down what each part of the question meant, used critical thinking for answer, marking questions for review when I was stuck between 2 answers. Most importantly, I followed my gut. I knew this stuff! Used calculator for EVERY calculation, even easy ones. Finished all questions with 5 minutes remaining. Reviewed marked questions and changed only 3, if I was SURE my original answer was wrong.
I hit Sum it and hold my breath. OMG, does that say PASS?!!! Yes, I actually Passed! I cried out of happiness and relief, was on cloud 9. I will never cram like this again! S7 and S63 will be better, lol.
SO here’s how you can have a better experience than me if you’re a week or two away and wondering how you can possibly pull this off. YOU CAN DO IT!
TIPS FOR CRASH SIE STUDYING (learn from my mistakes)
1 NOTE TAKING: I’ve always learned best by taking a ton of notes, color coded on a google doc. Taking notes reinforces it in my brain and helps me find ways to remember it for myself. However, if you are crash course Studying for the SIE, you do NOT have time to do this, lol. Honestly I barely looked at those notes in the end.
TIP: Read through the content quickly and only take notes when it tells you it’s likely a testable question! Take all quizzes and tests, REVIEW the quiz/test answers (in PP the answers also give you a brief explanation of the concept) and take light notes on that! Do NOT replace reading with the videos! The first 4 chapters I tried to save time doing this and wondered why I was failing the chapter tests. The reading content had way more info than the video! Don’t shoot yourself in the foot!
2 DON’T SPEND TOO MUCH TIME on EARLY CONCEPTS! The earlier (and for the most part, less valuable - less test questions) content will be reinforced throughout course. Most of the concepts build over the course, so the basics are reinforced later anyway. I wasted several hours!
3 EXPECT 20-25 hours are needed to complete the course/learn the concepts! Give yourself a day on REGULATIONS and 5 hours on OPTIONS , these comprised a LOT of questions on the test, could make or break you!
4 TAKE at least 4 PRACTICE FINALS with a goal of 75%, but if you’re not improving, use the crash course Videos, learn the content! Don’t take 5 more tests in lieu of learning!
5 SPEND A FEW HOURS on (free) ACHIEVABLE DUMP SHEETS and S7g.u.r.u & S7 Whisperer crash course review videos on YouTube! I would not have passed without these! Reviewing them for 4 hours and using them for key points on my tests sheets saved my ass!
I’ve included links below for the FREE Achievable Dump Sheets and the 60 minute crash course videos. Feel free to message me for more help!
GOOD LUCK! It IS Possible to pass in a week!
SIE DUMP SHEETS: (scroll to bottom of the page):
https://achievable.me/exams/finra-sie/overview/#resources
S7g.u.r.u 60 min crash course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hQRLmVspNE
S7 Whisperer 60 min crash course
https://youtu.be/_-x-RFmFAD0?si=i_ZDrrFIWuMOTK6A
submitted by No-Pudding7670 to Series7exam [link] [comments]
TL;DR:
I passed my SIE yesterday after only 7 days of study. Intense! I used Pass Perfect, spent 50 hours studying total. If you only have a week or two before your test, DO NOT take a bunch of notes on everything! Read the content, take the quizzes and test, take notes on those answers and explanations!
VERY IMPORTANT: Use the two free Achievable SIE dump Sheets and watch both the S7g.u.r.u and S7 Whisperer 60 min crash course SIE YouTube videos the day before or day of test! I’ve included links at the bottom of this post. Be sure to memorize the dump sheet tricks and formulas, and decide what’s most important to reference. The test center gives you two laminated sheets and dry erase markers you can use as soon as the test timer starts. Be ready to write down key formulas, acronyms, timeframes, etc. Mine were the Options 4 square box, SLoBS & BLiSS, yield teeter totter and Key Open vs Closed end market notes. (All on the achievable dump sheets except Open/Closed Markets).
My Story:
In late April I was hired by Vanguard for a position starting May 28. I’d been a contractor doing customer service in an unlicensed VG position for about 10 months (no finance background before that); with the goal of getting hired in a licensed, permanent role within a year. I worked hard and got hired! The position requires SIE, S7 and S63. After my start date they pay me to do nothing but study and take exams for 9 or 13 weeks (depending on whether I’d passed the SIE prior to start date), which is awesome, but there’s a $5000 bonus if the SIE is passed at least a week before start date.
Note: I did have a little familiarity with basic terms and what’s required for account opening, due to my contractor position).
I originally scheduled my exam for May 13. I had about a month from hire date to May 13, and VG paid for the Pass Perfect course. I started some light studying the first week, thinking I had 3 more weeks and was on track. Then I got really sick for 2 weeks! I’m talking bed ridden, definitely no studying. So May 10 I rescheduled my exam to May 18! I had to pay $40 but figured it was well worth it not to fail, lol.
I was finally well enough to start studying on May 11, giving me 7 days. 😅 I had retained very little from my initial studying so I started over. I thought “I can do this!” I figured I’d had to do similar in college while working full time. Boy it was rough!
7 Days to PASS the SIE:
The first 3 days I had all day to study: Sat, Sun and Mon (had the day off for my original test date).
THE PLAN 41+ hours 5 practice tests, scoring at least 75%
Days 1-3 (full days) - 8+ hrs per day - Complete Pass Perfect Course (16 chapters) start to finish (reading and all quizzes, chapter tests)
Days 4-5 (Tues, Wed) - 5 hrs each day (2 before work and 3 after) - Take 1-2 Pass Perfect Final exams (1 hr 45 min each) each day, taking time to focus/take notes on anything I missed - Goal of 4 total tests, with 75% or higher on 3
Day 6 (Friday, day before the test) - 5 hours (2 hrs before work, 3 hours after) - Take 1 FINRA practice SIE exam before work (free on FINRA website) - after work, Review all Difficult Topics - Listen to S7g.u.r.u & S7 whisperer on YouTube. (They each have a 60 minute crash course review, recommended for day before or day of test). - Print out Achievable Dump Sheets - add my own notes to dump sheets
Day 7 (Day of Test) Test scheduled for 2pm (1:30 registration) - 2 hours Notes and Dump Sheets Review in morning - Leave for Test at 11:30, arrive 12:30 (45 min drive) - One last Review of Dump Sheets for 45 min, take a break before registration
Great Plan Right?! Wellll, I didn’t quite stick to it. 🤣
What Actually Happened: 52 Hours 4 Practice Finals (71% average)
Day 1 (Sat): 7 hrs Completed first 3 chapters, taking tons of notes on a Google doc, color coded and highlighted. I’ll do more tomorrow I thought, my brain is fried
Day 2 (Sun): 10 hours Completed chapters 4&5 again taking tons (too many) notes, taking quizzes and Tests multiple times, worried I wasn’t getting the concepts and terms well enough. Getting really worried about my pace now, but “hey I have tomorrow. I’ll crush it and catch up”. Maybe I won’t get to tests until Thurs.
Day 3 (Mon): 7 hrs (I was exhausted and burnt out, still not 100% from being sick) Chapter 6 OPTIONS… the death of me, soooo much to learn. Barely got through chapter 6. Full panic has now set in! I have to work full time the next 4 days!
Day 4 (Tues): 6 hrs ( 6pm-12am) Intense panic and anxiety, how the hell am I going to finish?! Screw notes, get through the chapters! Completed chapters 7-10 Whew, these chapters weren’t as bad, I think I remember a good amount. Better wrap this up tomorrow!
Day 5 (Wed): 5 hrs Very worried, but I’ll finish today and take lots of tests the next 2 days! Completed chapters 11-13 😫 OMG I’m still not done with the course and I have 2 days left!
Day 6 (Thurs): 6 hrs in the evening - Completed remaining chapters 14-16, course done 8pm. Whew, content done. Worried about not taking any tests yet, but at least I feel like I know the content decently! Took my first Pass Perfect Test, score 71% not as bad as I thought but that’s not a lot of margin for error! (Need 70% to Pass actual SIE test). At that point I’m calculating how much each point is worth, looking up suggestions online and praying, lol
Day 7 (Fri): 7 hrs Took 2 Pass Perfect tests, reviewing missed answers carefully and taking notes. Scores: 71% and 73%. Took FINRA SIE test (on their website), 69%. Omg I’m gonna fail tomorrow.
Friday night I thought “Hmm Maybe I can reschedule for Monday (the deadline to pass for bonus). Two more days and I get get this!” So I go to the Prometrics website and try to reschedule, seeing one slot for Monday at a site 2 hrs away… awesome.. NOPE, NOT AlLOWED less than 3 days before scheduled exam! So I called customer service, begged and told them I had been sick, since they said I could not reschedule the day before the test, I asked if they could cancel it and schedule a new appt for Monday? DENIED. So I take a deep breath and come to terms with it. This test is happening tomorrow. 😫
Friday night 9pm: As recommended by colleagues and online forums, I listen to S7 whisperer 60 min crash course on YouTube; no notes, listening in bed). Ok, learned some things, great overview/review. Maybe I can pull this off afterall..
Saturday, May 13… Day of Test (2-4pm)
7am woke up, ate a good breakfast, prepared everything I needed to take and do. Now what? Should I take another practice test? Review my notes? Listen to video? I decided no more tests, I’ll listen to the other crash course (S7g.u.r.u 60 min crash course on YouTube).
8am—11:30 Crunch time. Im determined to pass this exam!! Spent 3 hours listening to the 60 min S7g.u.r.u video, pausing when needed, replaying as needed. Took 11 pages of color coded notes on the most important points and formulas I needed to remember, mainly on Regulations (what market does it impact, what type of product, who, timeframes). I knew this was going to be at least 15% of test (I was right) and these were the main questions I missed on my Practice Finals
11:30am Renewed Faith 🙌 DAMN I learned a LOT. I’m gonna pass this thing! I was already getting low 70s on Thursday practice tests and I KNOW I learned enough from the video to pass several more questions. S7g.u.r.u literally saved me, pulling it all together in my mind!
12pm Went to UPS store, printed the 2 Achievable dump sheets and my 11 pages of notes from the video! I scanned them at every red light on the way 😂
12:59 arrived at test center. Spent 20 minutes reviewing dump sheets and drilling in my mind what to put on the 2 pages they give me for notes (specifically below and in links)
1:20 walk in, first one there.. registration complete at 1:35. To my surprise, they seat me and I can start test immediately!
As soon as the timer started my hands were flying on the 2 laminated sheets they gave me. I spent the first 15 min vigorously writing out things I wanted to reference. 90 minutes left for 85 questions. Watched the timer closely to stay on pace. Used the notepad on the test platform for each question to write out calculations, or break down what each part of the question meant, used critical thinking for answer, marking questions for review when I was stuck between 2 answers. Most importantly, I followed my gut. I knew this stuff! Used calculator for EVERY calculation, even easy ones. Finished all questions with 5 minutes remaining. Reviewed marked questions and changed only 3, if I was SURE my original answer was wrong.
I hit Sum it and hold my breath. OMG, does that say PASS?!!! Yes, I actually Passed! I cried out of happiness and relief, was on cloud 9. I will never cram like this again! S7 and S63 will be better, lol.
SO here’s how you can have a better experience than me if you’re a week or two away and wondering how you can possibly pull this off. YOU CAN DO IT!
TIPS FOR CRASH SIE STUDYING (learn from my mistakes)
1 NOTE TAKING: I’ve always learned best by taking a ton of notes, color coded on a google doc. Taking notes reinforces it in my brain and helps me find ways to remember it for myself. However, if you are crash course Studying for the SIE, you do NOT have time to do this, lol. Honestly I barely looked at those notes in the end.
TIP: Read through the content quickly and only take notes when it tells you it’s likely a testable question! Take all quizzes and tests, REVIEW the quiz/test answers (in PP the answers also give you a brief explanation of the concept) and take light notes on that! Do NOT replace reading with the videos! The first 4 chapters I tried to save time doing this and wondered why I was failing the chapter tests. The reading content had way more info than the video! Don’t shoot yourself in the foot!
2 DON’T SPEND TOO MUCH TIME on EARLY CONCEPTS! The earlier (and for the most part, less valuable - less test questions) content will be reinforced throughout course. Most of the concepts build over the course, so the basics are reinforced later anyway. I wasted several hours!
3 EXPECT 20-25 hours are needed to complete the course/learn the concepts! Give yourself a day on REGULATIONS and 5 hours on OPTIONS , these comprised a LOT of questions on the test, could make or break you!
4 TAKE at least 4 PRACTICE FINALS with a goal of 75%, but if you’re not improving, use the crash course Videos, learn the content! Don’t take 5 more tests in lieu of learning!
5 SPEND A FEW HOURS on (free) ACHIEVABLE DUMP SHEETS and S7g.u.r.u & S7 Whisperer crash course review videos on YouTube! I would not have passed without these! Reviewing them for 4 hours and using them for key points on my tests sheets saved my ass!
I’ve included links below for the FREE Achievable Dump Sheets and the 60 minute crash course videos. Feel free to message me for more help!
GOOD LUCK! It IS Possible to pass in a week!
SIE DUMP SHEETS: (scroll to bottom of the page):
https://achievable.me/exams/finra-sie/overview/#resources
S7g.u.r.u 60 min crash course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hQRLmVspNE
S7 Whisperer 60 min crash course
https://youtu.be/_-x-RFmFAD0?si=i_ZDrrFIWuMOTK6A
2024.05.20 02:09 radulfthegrey Am I INFJ? Previously tested as INTP and INTJ
Hello everyone. I have been down a little rabbit hole today trying to find myself. Aren't we all at some point? Up till today, I thought I was an INTJ. So I posted on INTJ and some said I could be, most said I sounded more INTP. So I then posted virtually the same thing over at INTP. I mostly took the 16 personalty tests and fruity tests. I do not want to spam the the same post, (that's dull) so I need help from the fellow INFJ community helping me help myself find myself. ha
I took the keys 2 test recommended on the Post Guide and scored INFJ. A good start. Right before, I took this Michael Caloz test, pretty neat and I like the colors. https://www.michaelcaloz.com/personality/index.html?screen=last&Ti=7&Te=0&Fi=0&Fe=15&Si=0&Se=3&Ni=13&Ne=6&SJ=0&NF=1.5&NT=1.5&SP=0&iFi=0&iTi=1&iSi=0&iNi=0&iFe=0&iTe=1&iSe=1&iNe=0&E=0&I=2&N=2&S=0&T=2&F=0&J=0&P=2
Also scored INFJ.
So about me. I am a 35 yo male, married with a 2 year old and another kiddo on the way.
I have, for as long as I can remember, been obsessed with ancient history, ancient cultures, anthropology, archaeology and the hidden mysteries. Secret, forgotten knowledge of the world. I wanted to be an archaeologist for the longest time. Okay, paleontologist since I saw Jurassic Park at age 5 in 1994. lol. I was never good at sports, pretty lazy growing up. I loved to play with friends as a kid but had a hard time with getting bullied. I hated confrontation growing up. Now, I handle confrontation tactfully and sooner rather than later as I know It can develop into something potentially worse if I don't do something about it.
I want to get along with everyone. I hate when people are taking advantage of others, especially my loved ones. Sometimes I run thru scenarios in my head when I feel someone is going to be taken advantage and how I can stand up for them. Im not that charitable though in the traditional sense. I do not like the thought of volunteering because I want time to be with my family and my hobbies. Mostly my hobbies are researching my favorite subjects. Ancient history, anthropology, psychology, science, engineering, economics, urban planning. I am into investing now because I dream of being able to have money in 30 years and focus on traveling the world more with my wife.
I enjoy traveling as often as I can. Even if it is just to go to the beach. 25 minutes away. Get out with my thoughts and enjoy the waves. Im big into people watching. I don't go out of my way to meet or talk with people. But if people talk with me, I open up. I smile a lot to let them know I am receptive and keep the conversation going. If it's heading in a bad direction, I try to make the conversation pleasing to keep it harmonious. I like to be polite because they came up to me and started talking. I feel the pressure and responsibility to socialize even when I feel I might not want to sometimes because it feels like the right thing to do. Example, if its been 2-3 weeks and we haven't reached out to our neighbor who watches our baby every now and then, I reach out to her just to say hi or invite her over for grilling on the weekend. So she doesn't think we are ignored her too long. lol
I have flipped flopped majors for so long. I have the hardest time finding my true passion. I did the Air Force for 8 years and I am out of the military now pursuing Engineering. Either Mechanical or Biomedical Engineering. Biomedical engineering would be sweet because I can help others without being a Doctor or Nurse. That would just be too much for me, I feel.
I always know something is going to happen before it does. My wife is constantly annoyed by it. I get upset inside when people don't listen to my advice. But I have been told I am a good listener and I do like to listen to peoples problems and make them feel heard and safe. I'm pretty physically affectionate with my loved ones. My favorite dates with my wife are to a nice restaurant (Italian mostly) lol and to the movies when we get a sitter available. Sometimes, axe throwing or bowling is cool.
I don't have any friends right now because I feel that there are sensor types everywhere that I do not relate to. I also am skeptical and have trust issues. I can sense people when they have bad intentions instinctively even before they make their move. I really want to have a a real, true friend or two. In the past, I have made friends by pretending to be more "extraverted, spontaneous, physical, drinking, partying, etc." But it's left me heartbroken because it was not my true self and I feel I only attracted people by being someone else. Even know I know that it would work I hate that it did.
I have been told I can walk into a room and light it up or I can bring it down if I am having a bad day. Does this sound like INFJ or some other type?
TL/DR
I’m a 35-year-old married man, father to a 2-year-old and another child on the way, with a lifelong fascination for ancient history, cultures, and hidden mysteries. I’ve always been more inclined towards intellectual pursuits over sports, and I now handle confrontations tactfully, a skill I’ve developed over time. My hobbies include researching various subjects, and I dream of financial freedom to travel the world with my wife. I’m currently pursuing Engineering after serving in the Air Force for 8 years, and I have a knack for sensing what’s about to happen. I’ve been told I can either light up a room or bring it down if I’m having a bad day. Does this sound like INFJ or some other type?
submitted by radulfthegrey to infj [link] [comments]
I took the keys 2 test recommended on the Post Guide and scored INFJ. A good start. Right before, I took this Michael Caloz test, pretty neat and I like the colors. https://www.michaelcaloz.com/personality/index.html?screen=last&Ti=7&Te=0&Fi=0&Fe=15&Si=0&Se=3&Ni=13&Ne=6&SJ=0&NF=1.5&NT=1.5&SP=0&iFi=0&iTi=1&iSi=0&iNi=0&iFe=0&iTe=1&iSe=1&iNe=0&E=0&I=2&N=2&S=0&T=2&F=0&J=0&P=2
Also scored INFJ.
So about me. I am a 35 yo male, married with a 2 year old and another kiddo on the way.
I have, for as long as I can remember, been obsessed with ancient history, ancient cultures, anthropology, archaeology and the hidden mysteries. Secret, forgotten knowledge of the world. I wanted to be an archaeologist for the longest time. Okay, paleontologist since I saw Jurassic Park at age 5 in 1994. lol. I was never good at sports, pretty lazy growing up. I loved to play with friends as a kid but had a hard time with getting bullied. I hated confrontation growing up. Now, I handle confrontation tactfully and sooner rather than later as I know It can develop into something potentially worse if I don't do something about it.
I want to get along with everyone. I hate when people are taking advantage of others, especially my loved ones. Sometimes I run thru scenarios in my head when I feel someone is going to be taken advantage and how I can stand up for them. Im not that charitable though in the traditional sense. I do not like the thought of volunteering because I want time to be with my family and my hobbies. Mostly my hobbies are researching my favorite subjects. Ancient history, anthropology, psychology, science, engineering, economics, urban planning. I am into investing now because I dream of being able to have money in 30 years and focus on traveling the world more with my wife.
I enjoy traveling as often as I can. Even if it is just to go to the beach. 25 minutes away. Get out with my thoughts and enjoy the waves. Im big into people watching. I don't go out of my way to meet or talk with people. But if people talk with me, I open up. I smile a lot to let them know I am receptive and keep the conversation going. If it's heading in a bad direction, I try to make the conversation pleasing to keep it harmonious. I like to be polite because they came up to me and started talking. I feel the pressure and responsibility to socialize even when I feel I might not want to sometimes because it feels like the right thing to do. Example, if its been 2-3 weeks and we haven't reached out to our neighbor who watches our baby every now and then, I reach out to her just to say hi or invite her over for grilling on the weekend. So she doesn't think we are ignored her too long. lol
I have flipped flopped majors for so long. I have the hardest time finding my true passion. I did the Air Force for 8 years and I am out of the military now pursuing Engineering. Either Mechanical or Biomedical Engineering. Biomedical engineering would be sweet because I can help others without being a Doctor or Nurse. That would just be too much for me, I feel.
I always know something is going to happen before it does. My wife is constantly annoyed by it. I get upset inside when people don't listen to my advice. But I have been told I am a good listener and I do like to listen to peoples problems and make them feel heard and safe. I'm pretty physically affectionate with my loved ones. My favorite dates with my wife are to a nice restaurant (Italian mostly) lol and to the movies when we get a sitter available. Sometimes, axe throwing or bowling is cool.
I don't have any friends right now because I feel that there are sensor types everywhere that I do not relate to. I also am skeptical and have trust issues. I can sense people when they have bad intentions instinctively even before they make their move. I really want to have a a real, true friend or two. In the past, I have made friends by pretending to be more "extraverted, spontaneous, physical, drinking, partying, etc." But it's left me heartbroken because it was not my true self and I feel I only attracted people by being someone else. Even know I know that it would work I hate that it did.
I have been told I can walk into a room and light it up or I can bring it down if I am having a bad day. Does this sound like INFJ or some other type?
TL/DR
I’m a 35-year-old married man, father to a 2-year-old and another child on the way, with a lifelong fascination for ancient history, cultures, and hidden mysteries. I’ve always been more inclined towards intellectual pursuits over sports, and I now handle confrontations tactfully, a skill I’ve developed over time. My hobbies include researching various subjects, and I dream of financial freedom to travel the world with my wife. I’m currently pursuing Engineering after serving in the Air Force for 8 years, and I have a knack for sensing what’s about to happen. I’ve been told I can either light up a room or bring it down if I’m having a bad day. Does this sound like INFJ or some other type?
2024.05.20 02:07 SanderSo47 Directors at the Box Office: Clint Eastwood (Part 2)
 | https://preview.redd.it/va70nf0l3h1d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=021d936ee0a724ca428d8559f5823592404d1822 submitted by SanderSo47 to boxoffice [link] [comments] As Reddit doesn't allow posts to exceed 40,000 characters, Eastwood's edition had to be split into two parts because his whole career cannot be ignored. The first part was posted yesterday.Million Dollar Baby (2004)¨"Beyond his silence, there is a past. Beyond her dreams, there is a feeling. Beyond hope, there is a memory. Beyond their journey, there is a love."His 25th film. Based on stories from the 2000 collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole, it stars Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The film follows Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald, an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer to achieve her dream of becoming a professional. Paul Haggis wrote the script on spec, and it took four years to sell it. The film was stuck in development hell for years before it was shot. Several studios rejected the project even when Eastwood signed on as actor and director. Even Warner Bros., Eastwood's longtime home base, would not agree to a $30 million budget. Eastwood persuaded Lakeshore Entertainment's Tom Rosenberg to put up half the budget (as well as handle foreign distribution), with Warner Bros. contributing the rest. The film had an incredible run in limited release, breaking many records for Eastwood's career. It eventually earned a fantastic $216 million worldwide, becoming his highest grossing film ever. It received critical acclaim, and it was named as one of his greatest films. It won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (for Freeman). Eastwood became one of the very few directors to make two films to win both Best Picture and Best Director.
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)"A single shot can end the war."His 26th film. Based on the book written by James Bradley and Ron Powers, it stars Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Paul Walker, Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper, Robert Patrick and Neal McDonough. The film follows the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were involved in raising the flag on Iwo Jima, and the after effects of that event on their lives. The film received positive reviews, but it bombed at the box office with just $65 million against its huge $90 million budget.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)"The completion of the Iwo Jima saga."His 27th film. Based on Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi, it stars Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryō Kase and Shidō Nakamura. It's a companion film to Flags of Our Fathers, and portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers. In the process of reading about the Japanese perspective of the war for Flags of Our Fathers, in particular General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Eastwood decided to film a companion piece with this film, which was shot entirely in Japanese. The film was shot back-to-back, starting filming just one month after Flags of Our Fathers wrapped filming. Despite being seen as the least accessible of both films, this film was much more successful at the box office than the previous film (including a colossal $42 million in Japan alone). It also received critical acclaim, particularly for how it handed the depiction of good and evil from both sides. It received 4 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Changeling (2008)"To find her son, she did what no one else dared."His 28th film. It stars Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, and is based on real-life events, specifically the 1928 Wineville Chicken Coop murders in Mira Loma, California. It follows a woman united with a boy who she realizes is not her missing son. When she tries to demonstrate that to the police and city authorities, she is vilified as delusional, labeled as an unfit mother and confined to a psychiatric ward. The film earned $113 million worldwide, barely breaking even at the box office. The film received mixed reviews, but Jolie received praise for her performance. She was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress.
Gran Torino (2008)"Ever come across somebody you shouldn't have messed with?"His 29th film. It stars Eastwood, and follows Walt Kowalski, a recently widowed Korean War veteran alienated from his family and angry at the world, whose young neighbor, Thao Vang Lor, is pressured by his cousin into stealing Walt's prized Ford Torino for his initiation into a gang. Walt thwarts the theft and subsequently develops a relationship with the boy and his family. The film received great reviews, as well as praise from the Hmong community. It ended up becoming a sleeper hit, and it earned $270 million worldwide, becoming his highest grossing film.
Invictus (2009)"His people needed a leader. He gave them a champion."His 30th film. It stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Following the aftermath of the apartheid, President Nelson Mandela decides to unite his people by supporting a rugby team in their bid to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The film earned $122 million worldwide, barely breaking even. It received positive reviews, and Freeman and Damon received Oscar nominations for their performances.
Hereafter (2010)"Touched by death. Changed by life."His 31st film. It stars Matt Damon, Cécile de France, Bryce Dallas Howard, Lyndsey Marshal, Jay Mohr and Thierry Neuvic. An American with a special connection to the afterlife, a woman with a near-death experience and a young English boy, who lost his loved ones, cross paths in an effort to find closure in their lives. Despite mixed reviews, it managed to earn $107 million, turning a small profit.
J. Edgar (2011)"The most powerful man in the world."His 32nd film. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, and Judi Dench, and follows the career of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, focusing on Hoover's life from the 1919 Palmer Raids onward. The film received mixed reviews; while DiCaprio received praise, the technical aspects of the film were criticized. It earned $84 million, making it a box office success, but far below what DiCaprio usually makes at the box office.
Jersey Boys (2014)"Everybody remembers it how they need to."His 33rd film. Base on the 2004 jukebox musical, it stars John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, Vincent Piazza and Christopher Walken, and tells the story of the musical group The Four Seasons. It received mixed reviews, with praise for the musical numbers but criticism for the narrative and runtime, and failed at the box office.
American Sniper (2014)"The most lethal sniper in U.S. history."His 34th film. It is based on the memoir by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice, and stars Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller. The film follows the life of Kyle, who became the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history with 255 kills from four tours in the Iraq War, 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense. While Kyle was celebrated for his military successes, his tours of duty took a heavy toll on his personal and family life. In 2012, Cooper and Warner Bros. bought the rights to the memoir. Cooper wanted Chris Pratt to star as Kyle, but WB told him they would only greenlight the film if he stars in it. After Kyle's murder in 2013, Steven Spielberg signed to direct. Spielberg had read Kyle's book, though he desired to have a more psychological conflict present in the screenplay so an "enemy sniper" character could serve as the insurgent sharpshooter who was trying to track down and kill Kyle. Spielberg's ideas contributed to the development of a lengthy screenplay approaching 160 pages. Due to Warner Bros.' budget constraints, Spielberg felt he could not bring his vision of the story to the screen. So Eastwood was brought in to direct. The film attained a solid, but not extraordinary response from critics. It also attracted some controversy over its portrayal of both the Iraq War and Kyle himself. The box office though? To say that the film had a fantastic run would be selling it short. It opened on Christmas Day in 4 theaters, and it earned a huge $633,456 ($158,364 PTA). But the following weekend, it actually increased despite playing at the same amount of theaters, adding $676,909. That translated to a $169,227 PTA, becoming the highest second weekend PTA in history for a live-action film. And on its third weekend, it earned $579,518 ($144,879 PTA), becoming the first film to have three weekends above $100,000 PTA. In the 22 days it played in just 4 theaters, it earned $3,424,778. On its first wide weekend, the film shook the industry by opening with a colossal $89 million. That was almost as much as the other 2014 blockbusters, and given that the film didn't have 3D pricing, it's very likely it sold far more tickets than them. It broke the January opening weekend record by twice as much, and the second biggest for an R-rated title. With insane word of mouth ("A+" on CinemaScore), this film had the legs. In less than one week, it became Eastwood's highest grossing film domestically. On its second weekend, it dropped just 28% and made $64 million, which was the biggest second weekend for an R-rated film (a record it still maintains) and crossed $200 million domestically. And by March, the film overtook The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 ($334 million) as the highest grossing 2014 film in North America. After an insane run in theaters, it closed with a gigantic $350 million domestically, which made it the second highest grossing R-rated film in North America. Overseas, it was also very strong, and it made a huge $547 million worldwide. It was easily Eastwood's highest grossing film, even adjusted for inflation. One of the greatest box office runs in recent memory. It received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Cooper, ultimately winning one for Best Sound Editing. The biggest surprise of the 2010s? Perhaps. Cause let's face it, when 2014, did any of you had this as the top film of the year? Or even in the Top 20? Please.
Sully (2016)"The untold story behind the miracle on the Hudson."His 35th film. Based on the autobiography Highest Duty by Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles, it stars Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, Autumn Reeser, Holt McCallany, and Jamey Sheridan. The film follows Sullenberger's 2009 emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, in which all 155 passengers and crew survived and the subsequent publicity and investigation. The film received strong reviews, and earned over $240 million worldwide, becoming one of his highest grossing films.
The 15:17 to Paris (2018)"The real heroes."His 36th film. Based on the autobiography by Jeffrey E. Stern, Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos, it stars Stone, Sadler, and Skarlatos as themselves and follows the trio through life leading up to and including their stopping of the 2015 Thalys train attack. Despite choosing Kyle Gallner, Jeremie Harris and Alexander Ludwig as the leads, Eastwood decided to cast the heroes to play themselves, which was met with confusion as they lacked acting experience. And that was reflected on the final film; it received negative reviews for its acting, and it bombed at the box office.
The Mule (2018)"Nobody runs forever."His 37th film. Based on the 2014 The New York Times article The Sinaloa Cartel's 90-Year-Old Drug Mule by Sam Dolnick, it stars Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Wiest, and Andy García. Due to financial issues, horticulturist Earl Stone becomes a courier for a drug cartel. Slowly, he grows closer to his estranged family, but his illegal activities threaten much more than his life. It received good reviews (although some questioned its story and tone), and earned over $173 million worldwide.
Richard Jewell (2019)"The world will know his name and the truth."His 38th film. The film stars Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, and Olivia Wilde. The film depicts the July 27 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and its aftermath, as security guard Richard Jewell finds a bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and alerts authorities to evacuate, only to later be wrongly accused of having placed the device himself. The film received positive reviews, but several journalists criticized the critical portrayal of the reporter that first accused Jewell: Kathy Scruggs (specifically for trading sex for stories). The film marked another commercial failure for Eastwood.
Cry Macho (2021)"A story of being lost and found."His 39th film. Based on the novel by N. Richard Nash, it stars Eastwood and Dwight Yoakam. Set in 1979, it follows a former rodeo star hired to reunite a young boy in Mexico with his father in the United States. Nash tried to get this film made all the way since 1970s, but no studio was willing to pick it up. He restructured his films as a novel, was successful and studios were now interested. There were a few candidates for the leading role; Robert Mitchum, Roy Scheider, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eastwood himself. Arnie was willing to star in the film back in 2003, but put it on hold when he was elected Governor. He was set to star after leaving office, but the project was scrapped after his affair scandal was made known. In 2020, Eastwood signed to return. The film received mixed reviews, particularly for its writing and acting. It was also a huge flop at the box office, and marked Eastwood's least attended film as leading man. David Zaslav criticized the studio's decision to finance the film. Warner executives allegedly said that although they knew the film was unlikely to turn a profit, they felt indebted to Eastwood for his decades-long relationship with the studio and his consistent ability to deliver films under budget and on time.
The FutureHe recently wrapped post-production on his 40th film, Juror No. 2. It stars Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb, Chris Messina, J. K. Simmons and Kiefer Sutherland, and follows a juror serving on a murder trial who realizes he may be at fault for the victim's death.MOVIES (FROM HIGHEST GROSSING TO LEAST GROSSING)
The VerdictInsanely profitable.Even the bombs do not taint this kind of reputation. Eastwood has made all these films under budget and never past its deadline. That's something that has to be treasured for studios, no wonder he's been staying with Warner Bros. since 1976. His ability to get films ready in short notice is impressive; Richard Jewell started filming in June and it was on theaters in December. One of the most impressive actors who transitioned into directors. You can tell that Sergio Leone and Don Siegel taught him well. Now of course, his method of directing can also have its setbacks: he's often known for not asking for multiple takes and he skips rehearsals. So that means the performances of his actors aren't always the best they could've done. Which is why, despite making some masterpieces or fantastic films, he's also made a few films with weak technical aspects: poor lighting (J. Edgar), questionable logic (Cry Macho), obvious props (the fake baby in American Sniper), and some bad acting (Gran Torino and The 15:17 to Paris). At the same time, it's clear he can also get extraordinary performances through these methods; Gene Hackman, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman won Oscars for starring in his films. He also proved old age doesn't prevent you from continuing to work. He's turning 94 in a few weeks, and he's still directing films. Manoel de Oliveira directed films until he was 104, so perhaps we still have a few more years with Eastwood behind the camera. P.S. Ever since I started this series, there's been suggestions that I should do "Actors at the Box Office" multiple times. While the idea is intriguing, that doesn't seem feasible for me. I'd have to categorize whether the actor is leading, supporting, original IP, adaptation, remakes, etc. Besides, with the continuing decline of star power, it's tough to decide what actor is truly moving the needle at the box office. That's why I'm making solely "Directors at the Box Office", because the director is responsible for the production. If the film succeeds, the director will get credit. And if the film flops, the director will be blamed. So this is the closest you'll get to "Actors at the Box Office". Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the wiki for this section. The next director will be Robert Zemeckis. One of the biggest falls from grace. I asked you to choose who else should be in the run and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. It had to be a controversial filmmaker. Well, we'll later talk about... Zack Snyder. Oh, BoxOffice chose fuego 🔥 This is the schedule for the following four:
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2024.05.20 02:05 TheGDC33 The case for $KENDU Info Journal #1
 | Here is the first installment of data/information on $KENDU, a memecoin built with a plan around a strong dev with experience and vision. THIS IS NFA, but merely sharing of my perspective on this coin. I have been in the crypto space since 2017 and as of about six weeks ago I had avoided touching memecoins altogether. I had a plan, but it all got derailed when I kept digging and reading and looking at KENDU. Yes, I have a bag, but that doesn't mean I am trying to tell you to buy. I merely want to provide an avenue for you to see the facts and come to your own financial choice (As of starting this and writing I have already read a couple additional posts from KENDU members and it is really really hard to keep up with these Chads and Chadettes. We don't gamble, We Work is just as much that calling card as it is the ethos!) submitted by TheGDC33 to SatoshiStreetBets [link] [comments] Historically as the godfatheHBIC/Champion of crypto-BTC ebbs and flows and all others follow it. After the halving historically BTC has topped out about 12 - 18 months later. Yes, I know that a new ATH happened pre-halving, but all metrics point to this pattern still holding up, so let's presume we have 11- 17 months to go. That would put us in October 2025. Point #1: THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME with a low marketcap and constant growth (holders and TG members). This brings me to my first point $KENDU has plenty of time to keep growing organically where holders and TG members keep going up, price will follow when it damn well wants to. I love KENDU because the roadmap is laid out. Right now could be a great time to buy if you feel it is right for you. I surely would love to have gotten in at this purchase price, but the road to the top is NEVER a straight line. Kendu Miazaki is targeting a 20 billion market cap. If you were to be ultra conservative with your investment and say 500 million market cap, that is still 25x away. SHIB 50% retracements throughout most of its rise to stardom Our community member circled all the places $SHIB retraced 50% or more from Feb 2021 - to May 2024 (I can't even keep up. I wanted to see a comparison of any hyper successful memecoin's path and there it was in the TG)insert Ethos. Check other successful memecoins with meteoric rises (DOGE, PEPE, WIF, FLOKI, BONK) for yourself. Those who can understand the vision and goals laid out by our fearless leader Kendu Miazaki will see this coin is still in its infancy. It could retrace another 20% or start rising meteorically ( I started this a couple hours ago and that retrace which I was targeting as a buy in price and then went all in anyway, has already hit), but my job is to arm you with facts to inform you on your journey. TLDR: $KENDU is going to sendu and help you make monstrous gains if you invest. This really could be the bottom or it could go down a bit more, but here is what I would share to encourage confidence Cowboy of Crypto Checks Holder Wallets of KENDU (TIME STAMPS: 18:25 - 27:00 then he buys...he was talking to me about clipping the video, but he didn't know I wasn't smart enough to figure it out and a 1 minute clip was not enough). It took me a while to figure it out, but I did the same thing with a number of wallets and I couldn't even find any sells (I did find my own wallet). The top holders are doing just that: HOLDING or BUYING more. Happy to answer any questions, but go easy on me as this was my first foray into trying to share. Next Episode = Point #2 The Community my experience. |
2024.05.20 02:04 chatsifieds Don't Get Scammed! Your Guide to Safe Social Media Interactions - Your IT and Tech Mates Cybersecurity Tips
 | Don't Get Scammed! Your Guide to Safe Social Media Interactions - Your IT and Tech Mates Cybersecurity Tips submitted by chatsifieds to chatsifieds [link] [comments] Hey there! Let's talk about something super important: staying safe online and not falling for scams. I know social media is a great way to connect with people, but there are also some shady characters out there trying to take advantage of people. Don't Get Scammed! Your Guide to Safe Social Media Interactions - Your IT and Tech Mates Cybersecurity Tips Imagine your friend Sarah gets a message from this company called "Lucky Lifestyle Co." promising an easy way to make money from home. It sounds too good to be true, right? Well, that should be your first red flag. They start with a slick sales pitch video, trying to reel her in. Then they put on the pressure with an "exclusive" opportunity that she has to act on right away. Warning bells should be going off by now! The scammers try to rush her into making a decision without doing any research. A legit company would encourage you to look into things thoroughly before signing up. Sarah was smart enough to dig a little deeper and found negative reviews exposing Lucky Lifestyle as a scam. What is the moral of the story? Be super cautious about unsolicited messages or offers that seem too amazing to be true. Don't fall for high-pressure tactics or unrealistic guarantees. Always do your own research before handing over any money or personal information. And if something seems fishy, report it! At the end of the day, using some common sense and a healthy dose of skepticism can go a long way in protecting yourself from online scams. Stay safe out there! Scammers are getting trickier, but you're smarter. By Your IT and Tech Mates, Fast & Fair, We Fix It All. Computers, Phones, Big & Small. |
2024.05.20 02:01 Lady-of-Bronze [US] [SELL] Brand NEW products, half off retail prices!
Hi all, I'm moving soon, so cleaning out and trying to get together some money!
Shipping is not included in the prices, but I use PirateShip so I promise you're getting the best deal :)
Free sample for every $5 spent -- they are at the end so just take your pick.
Verification
Cleansing:
PanOxyl - 10% Benzoyl Peroxide Foaming Wash, 5.5 oz - BNIB - $4
Lancome - Miel-en-Mousse Cleansing Makeup Remover, 1.7 fl oz - BN - $10
Murad - Clarifying Cleanser, 1.5 fl oz - BN - $7
Cle de Peau - Softening Cleansing Foam, 20 mL - BN - $7
Pacifica - Coconut Milk Cream to Foam Face Wash, 5 fl oz - BN - $8
The Creme Shop - Rosewater & Coconut Towelettes, 20 ct - BN - $3
IPSY refreshments - Cleansing Face Wipes, 30 ct - BN - $5
Face/Body Moisturizing:
Wander - Dive in Moisturizer, 50 mL - BNIB - $40
Cure - Water Treatment Skin Cream, 100 g - BN - $10
Clinique - Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, 1 fl oz - BN - $4
AHAVA - Time to Hydrate Day Moisturizer, 2.5 fl oz - BN - $20
Hero - Clear Collective Prebiotic Moisturizer, 70 mL - BNIB - $6
Bath & Body Works - Tropidelic Body Cream, 2.5 oz - BN - $5
PINK - Honey Body Lotion, 3 fl oz - BN - $7
Spa Luxetique - Moonlight Magic Body Oil, 3.2 fl oz - BN - $5
ESPA - Smooth & Firm Body Butter, 100 mL - BN - $20
Skylar - Hydrating Body Lotion, 1 fl oz - BN - $4
Hemp Heaven - Coconut Body Lotion, 12 oz - BN - $6
SRMKND - Black Blossom Hand Serum, 50 mL - BN - $15
Serums/Exfoliating:
Cure - Natural Aqua Gel, 250 g - BN - $15
Sweet Chef - Ginger + Vitamin C Tonic, 130 mL - BN - $9
TULA - Exfoliating Sugar Scrub, 11 g - BN - $6
Clinique - Moisture Surge Eye Concentrate, 15 mL - BN - $3
Earth Harbor - Aurora Luminance Ampoule, 1 fl oz - BN - $14
Human+kind - Moisturizing Hand Scrub, 2.5 fl oz - BN - $5
Trader Joe's - Rose Water Facial Toner, 4 fl oz - Sprayed once, lid cover missing - $2
Miscellaneous:
Dolce Glow - Self-Tanning Mist, 6.4 oz - BN - $25
Bondi Sands - Gradual Tanning Milk, 12.7 fl oz - BN - $10
Kneipp - Mineral Bath Salt, 60 g - BN - $5
Natural Konjac Facial Sponge - BN - $1
June - Feminine Hygiene Wipes, ~8 ct - BN - $2
Degree - Cool Rush Antiperspirants Spray, 1 oz - BN - $2
Free Samples (Or $1 for 4):
submitted by Lady-of-Bronze to skincareexchange [link] [comments]
Shipping is not included in the prices, but I use PirateShip so I promise you're getting the best deal :)
Free sample for every $5 spent -- they are at the end so just take your pick.
Verification
Cleansing:
PanOxyl - 10% Benzoyl Peroxide Foaming Wash, 5.5 oz - BNIB - $4
Lancome - Miel-en-Mousse Cleansing Makeup Remover, 1.7 fl oz - BN - $10
Murad - Clarifying Cleanser, 1.5 fl oz - BN - $7
Cle de Peau - Softening Cleansing Foam, 20 mL - BN - $7
Pacifica - Coconut Milk Cream to Foam Face Wash, 5 fl oz - BN - $8
The Creme Shop - Rosewater & Coconut Towelettes, 20 ct - BN - $3
IPSY refreshments - Cleansing Face Wipes, 30 ct - BN - $5
Face/Body Moisturizing:
Wander - Dive in Moisturizer, 50 mL - BNIB - $40
Cure - Water Treatment Skin Cream, 100 g - BN - $10
Clinique - Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, 1 fl oz - BN - $4
AHAVA - Time to Hydrate Day Moisturizer, 2.5 fl oz - BN - $20
Hero - Clear Collective Prebiotic Moisturizer, 70 mL - BNIB - $6
Bath & Body Works - Tropidelic Body Cream, 2.5 oz - BN - $5
PINK - Honey Body Lotion, 3 fl oz - BN - $7
Spa Luxetique - Moonlight Magic Body Oil, 3.2 fl oz - BN - $5
ESPA - Smooth & Firm Body Butter, 100 mL - BN - $20
Skylar - Hydrating Body Lotion, 1 fl oz - BN - $4
Hemp Heaven - Coconut Body Lotion, 12 oz - BN - $6
SRMKND - Black Blossom Hand Serum, 50 mL - BN - $15
Serums/Exfoliating:
Cure - Natural Aqua Gel, 250 g - BN - $15
Sweet Chef - Ginger + Vitamin C Tonic, 130 mL - BN - $9
TULA - Exfoliating Sugar Scrub, 11 g - BN - $6
Clinique - Moisture Surge Eye Concentrate, 15 mL - BN - $3
Earth Harbor - Aurora Luminance Ampoule, 1 fl oz - BN - $14
Human+kind - Moisturizing Hand Scrub, 2.5 fl oz - BN - $5
Trader Joe's - Rose Water Facial Toner, 4 fl oz - Sprayed once, lid cover missing - $2
Miscellaneous:
Dolce Glow - Self-Tanning Mist, 6.4 oz - BN - $25
Bondi Sands - Gradual Tanning Milk, 12.7 fl oz - BN - $10
Kneipp - Mineral Bath Salt, 60 g - BN - $5
Natural Konjac Facial Sponge - BN - $1
June - Feminine Hygiene Wipes, ~8 ct - BN - $2
Degree - Cool Rush Antiperspirants Spray, 1 oz - BN - $2
Free Samples (Or $1 for 4):
- Caudalie Vinoperfect
- Gloves in a Bottle Lotion
- Peach & Lily Matcha Pudding Cream
- Derma E Crepey Skin Repair Treatment
- Derma E Crepey Skin Exfoliating Scrub
- Chanel Hydra Beauty Serum
- Compressed Facial Mask x 2
- Tarte Maracuja Oil
- Bobbi Brown Eye Cream
- PINK Coco Lotion x 3
- Sunday Riley Good Genes
- La Mer Moisturizing Soft Cream
- GlamGlow Youthmud
- Freeman Mud Mask
- FAB Niacinamide Serum
- SkinCeuticals Discoloration Defense
- Biore Pore Strip
- Palmers Hemp Body Oil x 2
- TULA 24-7 moisture
- Bergman Kelly Body Lotion
- Replenix Redness Reducing AOX Cream
- It's Skin Propolis Formula
- It's Skin Syn-Ake Formula
- Renew Pure Radiance Oil
2024.05.20 02:00 ItsssYaBoiiiShawdyy Theories on Theories: Assessing the Potential Magnitude of the May 17th Prospectus Filings, Part II, Is the Reverse Uno is Upon Us?
 | Edit: Of course I fucked up the title. Lol. Is the Reverse Uno Upon Us?* submitted by ItsssYaBoiiiShawdyy to Superstonk [link] [comments] Hello again, Apes. I have gotten a solid 4 hours of sleep and am ready to keep plugging along. Disclaimer: Nothing of which I discuss is financial advice and not indicative of what you should do with your money or investments. Make your own decisions. I have no idea what I am talking about. Link to Part I of my little write-up, recommended that you read that first: https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/1cvo4hw/theories_on_theories_assessing_the_potential/ TL;DR for Part I: After 3+ years of working in near silence, Gamestop has dropped a reverse uno time-bomb nuke on shorts, and I don't believe we have fully comprehended just how big and effective of a nuke it will be. They finally released their plans to end the abusive short-selling once and for all... I believe the details in the filings have the answers. Need more eyes. We just need to HODL and let RC & Team work their magic. This was precisely timed and will be executed precisely. I believe they are about to throw the whole kitchen sink at em. Shorts r truly fuk. To be continued. TL;DR for Part II: Although you should really read through this to get super jacked...Predicition: Gamestop will lay down the reverse uno... the company will protect its shareholders through a slew of new, private, non-dilutive security offerings that we get first dibs on, and that are backed by our current/future holdings. Cash/non-cash dividends from the proceeds of the sale of those securities (units) are on the table. Thus, forcing shorts to either pay or close. MOASS is inevitable. Many Apes have stepped up to begin analyzing these filings. Thank you! The goal with my analysis is to continue to educate Apes on what all this jargon means, shine more light on the specificities of the filings and to speculate (for fun) as to what I think Gamestop is going to do based on the specificities. In the first part, I discussed Book Entry Securities issued via the DTC (the stock we all know and love), Preferred Stock (the juicy and scare new stock on the block), and the mysterious "Preferred Stock Depositary" (PSD) and its proposed role in the issuance and management of Gamestop's preferred stock to Apes worldwide, keeping it away from abusive short sellers and directly in the hands of Apes. In my first part, I speculated that the unnamed PSD would likely be computershare. But the more I think about it, the more I am unsure of that. And maybe that is why it is unnamed as of yet. Many Apes from different parts of the world have been unable to DRS, so that means they have been unable to access/use Computershare to hold/manage their shares and the DTC shit the bed one too many times when they committed international securities fraud on the splividend. So, I am thinking its possible that Gamestop secures another entity with more accessibility worldwide, or perhaps is even in the process of creating their own depositary for their newly-issued securities (dare I say, units?), to manage their "Global Securities" (a term they use in the filings). Tory vs. TaryChat GPT: In the context of stocks, both “depository” and “depositary” refer to entities that hold securities, but they serve different functions:
It seems there is more to come here as to what exact role the depositary will serve. Notice the phrasing \"series of securities that differ from the terms described here\" Tinfoil: We have seen some evidence of and speculated that Gamestop is looking more and more like they are positioning themselves to not only be dominant in retail gaming, but also serve as a holding company, potentially even serving as their own "bank". Could a brand new, currently unknown arm of Gamestop BE the unnamed depositary??? Warren Icahn anyone? https://preview.redd.it/j1dmqz31lg1d1.jpg?width=748&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d8ff6dbd7a37307413c79f9527508194a509031 If so, what role would Computershare then play? This was speculated long ago and I am thinking these filings are just a peek inside the inner workings of such an entity. Subscriptions, Warrants, and UnitsSounds a lot like "series of securities that differ from the terms described here", doesn't it? In part I, I left off with a couple teasers and I look to close the tinfoil loop on those here.GPT: Stock subscriptions and warrants are both financial instruments related to the stock market, but they serve different purposes:
Here's where I use a whole roll of Reynolds Heavy Duty Tin Foil:Sooo, in Part I, I offer the notion that Gamestop isn't going to just do one or two of these proposed offerings, they are going to do them all and they're telling us how. What I am gathering so far is Apes/holders/longs will get a chance to suck up the (45M, but up to 1B) book-securities shares faster and cheaper than you can possibly imagine through the simultaneous issuance/use of Warrants and Subscription Contracts. These investment vehicles will be issued to all record holders in "Units". And there's a lot of juice to squeeze outta this IMO.Notice here, mention of \"unit agent\" and again in the bulletpoints, they mention \"a bank or trust company\" that governs the \"units\". I'm thinking they will likely be the same entity that manages it all. Gamestop's TL;DR on units: We can issue any number of combinations of two or more of the aforementioned securities/vehicles (Warrants Subscriptions, Common Stock, Preferred Stock) which we call "Units". They may be transferable as a single security that holds multiple securities within it. Our unit Agent (a designated trust or bank) will distribute and manage the units. AND, the units might not even be listed on any securities exchange. (Privately held, hard to trade, hard to access, hard to fuck with UNITS of securities?) So, hypothetically, all shareholders of record on a given record date determined by a supplemental filing will get FIRST DIBS to purchase en masse, a lot of Gamestop stock, perhaps cheaper than ever before. The warrants give us the opportunity to buy at a pre-determined price, the subscriptions contracts give us the chance to not dilute our value in our holdings. Gamestop is literally going to nearly GIVE us a shitload more stock, securely, and through a private, exclusive offering. And here's where it gets even more juicy...I think they're gonna do it DFV style...in reverse order, relative to the order of each type of offering listed in their filing. Protect Ya Neck, Shorts! There's gonna be a rush to grab GME stock!The PlanSee if you can follow me here...in order...
I'm sitting here thinking...what if, as a "thank you" to loyal shareholders, they invest it back into shareholder accounts through an immediate cash dividend? Why would you want to leave if you're getting sick divvies on all your newly acquired stock (common and/or preferred)? You just spent $ buying preferred stock, why not delight investors by giving some right back? Awh but that would be expensive for the company! Nope. It would be expensive for the SHORTS who are responsible for paying that dividend! https://preview.redd.it/a4on4059ug1d1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21617ee7dff5ddb3e2a4046e481a47dbb464bddb GPT: When you short a stock, you’re borrowing shares from someone else (typically your brokerage firm) and selling them on the open market12. The person or entity from whom you borrowed the shares still technically owns them. If the company issues a dividend during this time, the original owner of the shares is entitled to that dividend12. However, since their shares have been sold to a third party (by you, the short-seller), you are responsible for making the dividend payment to the original owner12. This means that if you have a short position on a stock when it goes ex-dividend (the date by which you need to own the stock to receive the dividend), you will owe the amount of the dividend to the lender of the shares12. So, in summary, if you’re short a stock and that stock pays a dividend, you’ll be responsible for paying that dividend to the person or entity from whom you borrowed the shares12. This is an important consideration to keep in mind when deciding to short a stock, especially one that pays dividends. So, let's say the shorts are still regarded af...and they have the $ to pay the dividend(s), cool. What if GME issues multiple or even monthly dividends? (There are currently 80 stocks that issue monthly dividends) Well, one, they can only pay for this for so long on top of the collateral and capital required to maintain their short position... Then, boom goes the dynamite. And if THAT doesn't work, gamestop could just choose to issue a non-cash dividend...which they outline below... Wombo Combo? Gamestop's ELI5: In the event that we issue a non-cash dividend, the PSD (depositary) will distribute the PROPERTY received by it TO the record holders of the depositary (preferred) shares entitled there to, IN PROPORTION to the number of depositiary shares owned by those holders. UNESS...the PSD determines that it somehow cannot be done...THEN the PSD may take that PROPERTY...and sell it publically or privately, and then the proceeds from that public/private sale will go directly to holder of the preferred stock. Tinfoil? They're gonna try and issue/distribute the Wu-Tang Album or some other non-fungible property via a non-cash dividend. If that can't be done for whatever reason, they will sell the album/property at auction...all proceeds go back to preferred stock holders. No matter what, holders of the preferred stock win. My last bit of tinfoil sounds crazy but, again, in part I, I spoke about filings saying the stock can be issued permanently, or even temporarily. Gamestop sucks back up a ton of their class A common stock through buy backs. They may already be beginning to do that while the price is cheap, eventually leaving only a small amount of shares, or even just preferred stock available, privately held in the names holders. Non-diluted, more scarce, more valuable, and unable to be fucked with. GME becomes its own bank. Shareholders get the protection they deserve. MOASS happens through one of many ways... I understand this is NOT proof that they are buying back...just speculation. Once Gamestop has the shorts off their back finally, and the capital they want/need...they then go about what they really want to continue to GROW the company...mergers/acquisitions? Also, some other Apes have said that its possible the Gamestop is offering the shorts a way out. And while personally do not think this is fair or likely, I think its possible and would not surprise me. But what if Apes/longs suck up all the shares at these offerings before shorts even get a chance? Then they're still fucked. Still needed our shares and they're now EVEN HARDER to get. https://preview.redd.it/xooxvb412h1d1.jpg?width=1516&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9ce6f25167ee4b65852e83e3697898217bc4d04 No matter what, I AM JACKED. I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE WHAT IT ENDS UP LOOKING LIKE. Apes together Strong. TL;DR: Although you should really read through this to get super jacked...Predicition: Gamestop will lay down the reverse uno... the company will protect its shareholders through a slew of new, private, non-dilutive security offerings that we get first dibs on, and that are backed by our current/future holdings. Cash/non-cash dividends from the proceeds of the sale of those securities (units) are on the table. Thus, forcing shorts to either pay or close. MOASS is inevitable. |
2024.05.20 01:53 Ecstatic_Share_1740 Never thought my Bestie would be a bridezilla
Sorry there is A LOT here A little background : I have gone back and forth on posting this, BUT due to how things ended and how hard it still is for me because she was my longest friendship, I feel like at least posting my side here, even though she probably won't see it (unless she follows you) I'd at least be able to give my side of the story. I am married, but instead of having a wedding ceremony my husband and I decided to elope because we weren't really ready for wedding drama and because we wanted to have a little more money before we had a wedding ceremony. Originally we were going to elope in October, but our apartment wasn't moved in ready yet so we had to wait a month. I wanted my former Bestie and her maid of honor (who is also my friend) to witness our elopement, but the weekend they were supposed to come down I found out that they didn't agree with me eloping so that was our first big fight we had. We said things we both didn't mean, but couldn't take back even if we wanted to. My former Bestie never met my now husband and was worried that I was rushing into marriage, BUT we both have been ready since our one year anniversary and we were just trying to figure out when to get married. Even though she said she wasn't jealous, part of me still feels like she is or at least was at the time of me wanting her to witness our elopement and also because she never met my now husband. We made up from that fight, but I still feel like we never fully got over the hurtful words we said to each other even though I still would have let her be my maid of honor at my wedding ceremony next year (2025).
I'm starting to work on wedding stuff now, but I have seen how stressful weddings can be and I know how stressed she ended up getting, BUT the way she did me and her maid of honor was a crappy thing for a so called best friend to do.
Here's what happened:
I (30Female) met my former Best friend (28 female) 10 years ago at college. We've been best friends for 10 years, but honestly probably only the first 3-4 years of knowing each other because ever since she graduated, we have been 9 hours apart and we only saw each other in person once for a few days when I visited her the Christmas after she graduated. Distance sometimes makes the heart fonder, but with us, distance made our friendship harder. Anyway, we always talked about being each other's Maid of Honor while we were in college. I always assumed we would do that for each other no matter the distance. She got engaged last September and planned a wedding this spring (it was last weekend). It was hard, but due to being 9 hours away I was okay with being her bridesmaid. A few weeks before her wedding her maid of honor and myself needed to get some things off our chests about how she was making us feel. Granted at first, I was venting to the maid of honor about different things our so called bestie was saying and doing which led to the maid of honor speaking her mind and me agreeing to her first message, BUT I was working so I wasn't able to see everything else she said until after I was kicked out of my so called bestie 's life because I told her how I felt since she told me how she felt about things. Apparently only the bride can speak her mind. No one else can 🙄🙄🙄🙄 The fight got soo petty that after she removed us from Facebook (just unfriended not blocked) she made a public post making God the reason she kicked us out of her life. She publicly told the maid of honor that she purposely made the post public so we could see just how crappy a friend we were to her even though we did nothing wrong. Saying God removed us out of her life when in fact it was because she couldn't be an adult about us saying how we felt and then when we did she shifted blame saying we weren't there for her at all when I physically can't be due to distance and having to work to pay for rent cause the economy and cost of living REALLY sucks right now AND I've been asking her since November how wedding planning was going. A friend of hers asks her what happened in the comments and instead of saying DM me or just saying don't worry about it she said some awful things about the maid of honor and myself in the comments for us to see. I chose the high road and didn't react or comment on her post, but the maid of honor reacted and commented on the post since you know she made it public for us to see. I could literally go on about this, but even though it's been hard losing someone I've known for ten years it made me closer to my friend who was also kicked out and to my friends who I've been neglecting lately. Don't worry my former Bestie will not be my maid of honor next year because the week of her wedding I finally blocked her and her now husband. It still hurts, but it will definitely take some time for me to get over losing a 10 year friendship. On a happier note, my husband and I love your videos ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️
submitted by Ecstatic_Share_1740 to CharlotteDobreYouTube [link] [comments]
I'm starting to work on wedding stuff now, but I have seen how stressful weddings can be and I know how stressed she ended up getting, BUT the way she did me and her maid of honor was a crappy thing for a so called best friend to do.
Here's what happened:
I (30Female) met my former Best friend (28 female) 10 years ago at college. We've been best friends for 10 years, but honestly probably only the first 3-4 years of knowing each other because ever since she graduated, we have been 9 hours apart and we only saw each other in person once for a few days when I visited her the Christmas after she graduated. Distance sometimes makes the heart fonder, but with us, distance made our friendship harder. Anyway, we always talked about being each other's Maid of Honor while we were in college. I always assumed we would do that for each other no matter the distance. She got engaged last September and planned a wedding this spring (it was last weekend). It was hard, but due to being 9 hours away I was okay with being her bridesmaid. A few weeks before her wedding her maid of honor and myself needed to get some things off our chests about how she was making us feel. Granted at first, I was venting to the maid of honor about different things our so called bestie was saying and doing which led to the maid of honor speaking her mind and me agreeing to her first message, BUT I was working so I wasn't able to see everything else she said until after I was kicked out of my so called bestie 's life because I told her how I felt since she told me how she felt about things. Apparently only the bride can speak her mind. No one else can 🙄🙄🙄🙄 The fight got soo petty that after she removed us from Facebook (just unfriended not blocked) she made a public post making God the reason she kicked us out of her life. She publicly told the maid of honor that she purposely made the post public so we could see just how crappy a friend we were to her even though we did nothing wrong. Saying God removed us out of her life when in fact it was because she couldn't be an adult about us saying how we felt and then when we did she shifted blame saying we weren't there for her at all when I physically can't be due to distance and having to work to pay for rent cause the economy and cost of living REALLY sucks right now AND I've been asking her since November how wedding planning was going. A friend of hers asks her what happened in the comments and instead of saying DM me or just saying don't worry about it she said some awful things about the maid of honor and myself in the comments for us to see. I chose the high road and didn't react or comment on her post, but the maid of honor reacted and commented on the post since you know she made it public for us to see. I could literally go on about this, but even though it's been hard losing someone I've known for ten years it made me closer to my friend who was also kicked out and to my friends who I've been neglecting lately. Don't worry my former Bestie will not be my maid of honor next year because the week of her wedding I finally blocked her and her now husband. It still hurts, but it will definitely take some time for me to get over losing a 10 year friendship. On a happier note, my husband and I love your videos ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️
2024.05.20 01:42 kyllo Meet Report: 2024-05-18 USPA Drug Tested Emerald City Classic
Summary
I competed for the first time at the USPA Drug Tested Emerald City Classic hosted by DOP Strength Gym in Kirkland, WA on May 18th, 2024.Here's my Instagram post with videos of my third attempts and a photo with my participation medal (I was the only 110kg submaster male lifter).
I went 9/9 with no red lights, broke my gym PRs on squat and deadlift, and had an awesome time. I competed in the submaster 110kg class in raw full power, weighed in (24h before) at 105.7 kg, and totaled 545kg. I planned to take very light openers, big jumps for my second attempts (15kg for squat and deadlift, 10kg for bench), and then smaller jumps (7.5kg for squat and deadlift, 5kg for bench) for my thirds, and I stuck to that plan. All of my lifts felt great and moved fast except for my third bench, which was a little bit of a grind. My strategy paid off because I had a much more enjoyable day going 9/9 a little light, compared to how I would have felt if I had missed any of my first or second attempts--which I saw happen to plenty of other lifters.
The gym was a little crowded with 60 lifters in 4 flights but the meet was super well run, with good vibes all around. The meet director was super clear at the rules briefing and the spotteloader crew absolutely hauled ass and the whole meet was over at 3 pm. I also got to see several master's lifters set state and national records, including a 72 year old woman, so that was awesome to watch.
My friend and training partner, who is an experienced master's lifter and meet judge, showed up to handle me and that made a huge difference in my experience. He really helped me a ton with understanding the pace, timing my warmups, loading the bar, chalking my back, cheering me on, telling me when to rest, eat, hydrate, everything. He really did a fantastic job.
Prep
I took Steve DeNovi's free 3x Bench - Conventional Deadlift program and ran Block 3 and the peaking block (10 weeks), with modifications to the accessory selection and split to make it 4 days a week. My weekly split was:- Mon: Primary squat, OHP, pull ups, bicep curls
- Tue: Primary bench, secondary deadlift (cluster singles), chest supported rows, face pulls, tricep pushdowns
- Thu: Secondary squat, paused squat, tertiary bench (Larsen press), lat pulldowns, DB incline press
- Fri: Primary deadlift, paused deadlift, secondary bench, bent over rows, lateral raises
Squat
Squats felt great in prep. My training max for the first block was 425 lbs and I upped it to 435 for the second block. I didn't feel like I under or overshot any of my prep lifts, my RPEs felt accurate.There was a little confusion about whether squats would be done on a 25kg squat bar or a 20kg power bar, but they ended up using the 20kg Kabuki power bar. The knurling felt great on my back.
- 170kg. The main thing in my head was to take my time setting up, which I did, and I think it helped calm my nerves. When I unracked, the bar tilted to the right slightly, but I was able to level it out as I walked out. Stance felt solid, got a strong brace, weight felt light and moved fast.
- 185kg. Better unrack. Felt lighter than I expected.
- 192.5kg. Beat my gym PR of 415lbs. My handler said my third looked like it moved better than my second. I felt a cramp in my right inner hamstring as I locked it out though, and it's feeling sore today. I felt in control the whole rep but I think I kinda dive-bombed it and went a little too deep and that over-stretched my hammie. Looking back at the videos, I think I rushed the descent on all my squats, even though I had been practicing a slower descent during prep. Something to work on cleaning up before my next meet.
Bench
I kind of wrote off bench for this meet since I made poor progress in prep. For the first 5 week block my training max was 265 lbs and I felt like I was undershooting, so I increased it to 275 lbs, but once I started hitting singles at 250+ they weren't moving well and my butt started coming off the bench. I fixed that issue late in prep by setting my feet further back. My left shoulder had also been bothering me a bit lately, plus I started getting some tennis elbow on my left from the bent over rows or something. So I went with attempts I knew for sure I could hit, and didn't get too excited for bench. I also really felt that bench was a natural "valley" between the peaks of squat and deadlift, in terms of the energy level of the meet.- 100kg. A gimme attempt just to practice the commands for real.
- 110kg. This was the best bench single I've had lately--setup, foot placement, arch, unrack, controlled descent, pause, and press, everything felt solid and it went up so fast that my friend who was working the scoring table shouted "Put some weight on the bar!"
- 115kg. Unrack felt great, controlled eccentric and pause felt good, got a fast press command, but I think my back slipped a little on the pad, which was kind of slick, and I didn't get enough leg drive, and forgot to cue bar path, so I pressed it straight up off my chest and hit a sticking point, then my back cramped up and my arms started shaking. I barely got it locked out. I originally wanted to aim for 120kg on my third attempt but now I'm glad I didn't because I for sure would have missed it.
Deadlift
Deadlifts are my best event (long arms) and the pauses and cluster singles in DeNovi's program really helped dial in my setup and make me stronger off the floor. Having access to a deadlift bar in training was nice, as the whip might have thrown me off if I had only ever trained on a stiff bar. Liquid chalk + hook grip + Kabuki bar = unlimited grip.Toward the end of prep I changed my setup to get rid of my dynamic "hip pump" wedge and just sink straight into my starting position, set my hook grip, and just patiently "leg press the floor away." This change really paid off because it helped me get the most out of the deadlift bar and made my lockouts a breeze.
I was worried about the back cramp during my third bench interfering with my deadlift, but as I started warming up, my back felt fine, however I was feeling that third squat in my right hamstring. Thankfully the pain subsided once I got warm again.
- 215kg. Felt light, as it should have, like a last warmup. Not much else to say.
- 230kg. My handler said "earn your third attempt!" I executed my setup and pull exactly like my first attempt and was surprised by how fast it broke the floor and how easy the lockout was. I heard someone say "that's a good hinge!"
- 237.5kg. I almost went for 240 but kept it conservative because I was worried about my hamstring. I kinda regret holding back now. I took a couple extra seconds to build up a really hard brace before methodically executing my setup. Just as the bar passed my knees they shook a little, and the crowd started cheering for me, but the bar didn't slow down at all so I knew I had it in the bag for 9/9 and just felt ecstatic.
Next steps
Now that this meet's behind me, my main training priority will be getting my bench up. I'm going to reevaluate my approach to frequency, volume, specific vs. hypertrophy work, and my diet.For squat, I think I'll continue doing pauses and maybe add tempo descent work or something to break my dive-bombing habit because I don't want to pull a hammy with a heavier weight at my next meet.
My deadlift feels locked in, so I'm not going to fix what isn't broken. I want to work in some RDLs in my offseason since I haven't done them in a while, but that's it.
There's another USPA meet at the same venue in late September which is kinda soon but I'm really tempted to do it so I can go in more confident, open a little higher, set some new meet PRs, and get my money's worth with this USPA membership. It's about 17 weeks away now so that's enough time to have a few weeks of offseason before another prep cycle.
2024.05.20 01:40 hilightnotes Some highly critical first impressions of Legendary Tales
This post is very long. This first section, before the first triple-line-break, is the summary. Details follow that.
__________________________________________
SUMMARY
__________________________________________
So, I was very much looking forward to Legendary Tales for a while now after hearing so many great things.
I bought it on sale a couple days ago and played the first hour or so, completing the tutorial and entering the main hub. Then I uninstalled and refunded it.
This is not a 'hate post' and I hope that this post will not only help people understand some of the issues of this game, and what this game is NOT, but also help people understand what this game is and why you might love it. I talked about my criticisms with others who love the game to help me approach this and hopefully deliver some useful thoughts. It's worth noting that I got lots of agreement about my criticisms from the people I talked to - who still love the game.
In short,
People love this game for the combat development in the context of a 40+ hour adventure. All the depth to the skill trees, which of course in my hour I didn't touch. The creativity of building the mechanics of a character RPG style - except you get to physically battle in VR. The reward of unlocking that cool skill you've been excited to try out, or finding a legendary that's a blast to use. Even in my short time with the game I could feel the beginnings of this with the parry system. I did have fun fighting skeletons with a simple sword and no skills, and felt the challenge as I had to aim my sword deflections well and time my counterstrikes. There is an effective mechanic preventing waggle-fest and I can begin to imagine all the room to develop your combat mechanics in a way that is, fun and rewarding, and uniquely VR.
Sounds great right? To some it truly is.
But to me, not so much. Why? Because everything else is lacking to a degree I did not expect.
I've been playing a lot of The Light Brigade lately. And although these two games are totally different, it's a useful game to bring up because The Light Brigade excels in all the ways that Legendary Tales significantly falls short.
Atmosphere - music and sound, lighting and colours, art design, character and enemy models
Interfacing - Onboarding and intuitive learning, UI design and fluidity, control mapping, options, grabbing/interacting with objects, general polish
Storytelling - Plot, lore, world building, characters, character and enemy expressiveness, writing
For many people who play games, combat is at the forefront of their interests. For me, it always takes a backseat priority - if its present at all - to the above three aspects. The combat in Bloodborne is great, but it is because it excels in those 3 aspects that it's one of my favourite games. I also love lengthy games like Pentiment, Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment, and Pathologic 2, which have minimal or no combat and lots of reading!
Legendary Tales is simply mediocre in those three bolded aspects and for me that's a hard pass. If these aspects were serviceable to me - done well enough to facilitate the combat - I might have kept going. But I don't use the world 'mediocre' lightly. This is the appropriate word to me, and because of that, I did not want to spend 40+ hours in this world.
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DETAILS
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For those interested, or for the developers, I will continue with a breakdown of these aspects I am criticizing, trying to go through everything I felt about them in the first hour or so of playing.
Main menu was my favourite part. I liked the scene + music together. Nice. I was looking forward to playing and this had me feeling fuzzy and ready to enjoy the game. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
The very first issue I noticed was that the game felt washed out. Even in that main menu I liked, I was feeling like it was a bit washed out. So I tried adjusting brightness down... then the darker areas felt better, but the light areas felt off. The more I played and tried to adjust to find the right equilibrium, the more I realized the lighting and contrast is just not good and adjusting brightness can't save that.
The second issue I noticed was the menu cursor to select things. It felt like an early VR game that hadn't quite figured out VR menus yet. It's useable but not fluid and pleasing.
The third issue I noticed was the unintuitive controls. I thought that this was the kind of game, kind of like a Souls game, where you aren't taught everything but learn things as you go in an organic manner. Maybe some of that exists in this game, but mostly it's simply bad control design and a bad tutorial. It's the difference between having barriers that have purpose, purposeful friction, and feel good when discovered vs barriers that feel pointless and just build frustration without purpose. The controls feel like a mess and while it's apparent that people can get used to them as they play more, it's not in a justified sense.
Along with this are interfacing issues. For example, grabbing items feels very awkward. The motions are clunky, for example the way a weapon will slowly glide into place in your hands. There's so many interfacing issues. The interface to see weapon/item stats on weapons that are laying about is clunky, the interface to switch weapons is clunky, the magic interface is clunky, dialogue boxes feel clunky,... all of these things feel clunky both in terms of feel and also aesthetic.
A very straightforward and obvious example is dialogue. Character dialogue is presented in a large bland text on a page. To progress through the dialogue, there's no obvious place to click or button to push. In fact, you have to click a particular area of the page, which feels totally arbitrary and unintuitive. Sure, once you learn, you can do it fine, but it's just bad interface design.
To go back to The Light Brigade, think about the difference in both feel and aesthetic to opening a chest or breaking a pot. Grabbing a gun and how it arrives to your hand. The attractive dialogue boxes. Watching a reward pop out of a chest, picking a tarot card. Putting objects into your waist pouch or taking them out. These interactions are all comfortable, beautiful, fluid, and intuitive.
The next thing on my mind was sound.
As I played the tutorial, the soundscape was barren. There was a wind loop, which didn't loop correctly leaving a solid second of space between the end and beginning. Sounds didn't feel like they were placed quite right in 3D space. Point-based sounds (like the crackling of a campfire, that comes from a specific point in space) had too small of a zone (the sound should be heard from further away). In general the soundscape was very barebones. And when I encountered the first character, not only did the character look totally goofy and out of place, but they made no sounds when 'speaking', not even grunts or gibberish sound.
To skip ahead for a moment, I also felt the music did not match the environments enough. The music was quite pretty - that's not the problem. It just didn't feel like the environments were quite synergized with the music.
Again for both music and sound, think of the gun sounds, the ability sounds, the sound of the enemies as they spot you, the sound of the environment, the footsteps and dash, the grunts of characters when the speak, the music... not only does it all sound great, but it all feels like expressions of the unique world of The Light Brigade. This is excellent sound and music design, that truly bring the world to life.
Although a minor complaint, I also noticed lots of grammar and spelling errors. Although I understand the team is in South Korea, and I appreciate the challenges of translation, just like with everything else I was just expecting... more polish. I thought it would feel like a full package, at indie scale. But it feels very much like a partial package.
And that segues into the writing...
There are games with simple and/or unmemorable story, where the story is still servicing and facilitating the gameplay.
And then there is just plain bad writing.
This is very much the latter.
Maybe a bit of this goes back to translation but I am doubtful that it fares much better in original Korean in essence.
The writing is goofy, juvenile, poorly structured, and generic.
I was also seriously turned off by a couple lines in particular, that I'm sure affect me more than most but I will mention anyways. One was something like "valuable gem missing. And a hot girl". Like... There's nothing inherent about calling a woman (or a man) hot that I don't like. Yes gamers, you are allowed to find women attractive, relax. But it's the way its written,... I'm not going to turn this into an essay about male gaze but the way its written simply services a particular male audience that casually objectifies women.
Even worse was the final line I read, a quest line. Paraphrasing, but the primary descriptive words are all exact: "Go kill 10 kill peasants in a refugee camp". I don't think I need to elaborate, people who are on a similar page to me will understand why this was just an incredibly gross line.
I know the above two dialogue criticisms will not be shared by everyone and not affect everyone the same way. I am expressing them as part of what I felt, my personal criticisms and experience, just like the rest of what I'm sharing.
Again to compare to The Light Brigade... every line feels thoughtful and builds character and develops the lore. Whether its the forlorn lines of NPC members of The Light Brigade, or the scenes that appear between runs, and other bits and pieces you get. The Light Brigade develops so much world with few words, it's quite impressive and again a beacon that Urban Wolf Games can learn from.
The final issue I'll discuss was something that struck me earlier on. That is, player character model and lack of customization.
First of all - again an issue that the majority here probably won't be affected by - I could not pick my character model until after completing the tutorial. Specifically, I was forced to do calibration as a male character model, and then had to play the tutorial as this character. Minor complaint but again just another polish issue.
Both male and female models are just... boring designs, and the female model is again very juvenile, obviously serving a primarily male audience, whether intentionally or not.
But more importantly, there's no character customization. Not even the tiniest bit. Even the ability to change just skin colour and hair only would go a long way. Especially in a lengthy adventure like this, I need to be able to identify with my character. Especially with multiplayer it seems essential to me, but even if it were single player, and as someone who plays primarily in single player, character customization is hugely impactful to me.
This does not really have a contrast in The Light Brigade - there's no character customization in The Light Brigade either, although the kind of game it is, it's not as relevant. That said, I do think it would be a nice touch if there WAS some minor character customization in The Light Brigade, and especially if you could play as a woman instead of man if you so choose. Although maybe lore-wise it is intended that all members are male except for 'Mother'. This hasn't been established with any good reason though. So on this point I would lightly criticize The Light Brigade as well.
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ENDING THOUGHTS
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Ultimately, Legendary Tales is quite simply a very indie game that probably had a very small team and limited funds. I don't know for sure, but probably there *wasn't* a dedicated writer, a dedicated UI and interface designer, etc.
However, these things are still failings of the game and its design. The greatest indie games to me are ones that successfully recognize their scope limitations and develop something complete within that scope. Whether it's the roguelike world of The Light Brigade, or the very short and stylish Tiger Blade, or Jeff Minter's trippy games like Akka Arrh and Polybius, or the retro Silent Hill aesthetic of Organ Quarter, or the suspenseful hotel of Propagation Paradise Hotel... all these games are made by small teams but successfully navigate their limited funds to deliver a full package within an appropriately limited scope.
On the one hand, I really value and support BJ's push for indie games to be respected and for that respect to reflect in the price consumers are prepared to pay. But after being totally on board with the price of Legendary Tales based on what I read from BJ and reviewers and many regular players too, I have to disagree with this game's pricing. This game is not polished enough, and is not a full package. That the game sucked out so much funds is an error of scope.
Maybe I will be in the minority, and Legendary Tales has been a success so it seems that I am, and so good on them for knowing the value of their game to the demographic they targeted I guess. And regardless, even if the pricing and attempted scope of the game are an error on the dev's part, I'm glad for the dev to earn back as much as they can, or even turn a profit hopefully.
But to me, reflecting back to the question the devs put forward: "Do you want to see deep combat development like this in VR for a 40+ hour adventure from indie devs?" The answer is no, I don't. I do consider the scope of this game an error on the part of the developers. It sounds like they did not even turn a profit enough to allow them to expand their team (but maybe I'm misunderstanding). I hope that they do continue with VR development, but instead focus on a much smaller scope game. Deliver a polished, complete package within a smaller scope, implementing a much tighter budget that will allow for potential turning of profit with an appropriately lighter sale price (maybe targeting a $30 game?).
If that is successful, do it again, and again, until they can expand and eventually work toward their dream adventure RPG, hiring actual writers and UI designers and sound designers etc. For me personally, this is simply not the kind of game you can half-bake. It should be attempted again when, and only when, they feel they have budget to do this in a truly full and polished manner.
I had the pleasure of meeting BJ briefly at PAX East. He struck me as friendly, kind, totally genuine, and incredibly passionate as a game developer and a VR game developer in particular.
I do wish this team good luck and despite my own harsh criticism I am glad so many ARE enjoying this game, and also feel the price point is justified. I want devs to earn money, including Urban Wolf Games. And I hope that they will continue to develop and bring more VR to the world.
I hope that my criticism is constructive and useful toward these same goals.
submitted by hilightnotes to PSVR [link] [comments]
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SUMMARY
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So, I was very much looking forward to Legendary Tales for a while now after hearing so many great things.
I bought it on sale a couple days ago and played the first hour or so, completing the tutorial and entering the main hub. Then I uninstalled and refunded it.
This is not a 'hate post' and I hope that this post will not only help people understand some of the issues of this game, and what this game is NOT, but also help people understand what this game is and why you might love it. I talked about my criticisms with others who love the game to help me approach this and hopefully deliver some useful thoughts. It's worth noting that I got lots of agreement about my criticisms from the people I talked to - who still love the game.
In short,
People love this game for the combat development in the context of a 40+ hour adventure. All the depth to the skill trees, which of course in my hour I didn't touch. The creativity of building the mechanics of a character RPG style - except you get to physically battle in VR. The reward of unlocking that cool skill you've been excited to try out, or finding a legendary that's a blast to use. Even in my short time with the game I could feel the beginnings of this with the parry system. I did have fun fighting skeletons with a simple sword and no skills, and felt the challenge as I had to aim my sword deflections well and time my counterstrikes. There is an effective mechanic preventing waggle-fest and I can begin to imagine all the room to develop your combat mechanics in a way that is, fun and rewarding, and uniquely VR.
Sounds great right? To some it truly is.
But to me, not so much. Why? Because everything else is lacking to a degree I did not expect.
I've been playing a lot of The Light Brigade lately. And although these two games are totally different, it's a useful game to bring up because The Light Brigade excels in all the ways that Legendary Tales significantly falls short.
Atmosphere - music and sound, lighting and colours, art design, character and enemy models
Interfacing - Onboarding and intuitive learning, UI design and fluidity, control mapping, options, grabbing/interacting with objects, general polish
Storytelling - Plot, lore, world building, characters, character and enemy expressiveness, writing
For many people who play games, combat is at the forefront of their interests. For me, it always takes a backseat priority - if its present at all - to the above three aspects. The combat in Bloodborne is great, but it is because it excels in those 3 aspects that it's one of my favourite games. I also love lengthy games like Pentiment, Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment, and Pathologic 2, which have minimal or no combat and lots of reading!
Legendary Tales is simply mediocre in those three bolded aspects and for me that's a hard pass. If these aspects were serviceable to me - done well enough to facilitate the combat - I might have kept going. But I don't use the world 'mediocre' lightly. This is the appropriate word to me, and because of that, I did not want to spend 40+ hours in this world.
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__________________________________________
DETAILS
__________________________________________
For those interested, or for the developers, I will continue with a breakdown of these aspects I am criticizing, trying to go through everything I felt about them in the first hour or so of playing.
Main menu was my favourite part. I liked the scene + music together. Nice. I was looking forward to playing and this had me feeling fuzzy and ready to enjoy the game. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
The very first issue I noticed was that the game felt washed out. Even in that main menu I liked, I was feeling like it was a bit washed out. So I tried adjusting brightness down... then the darker areas felt better, but the light areas felt off. The more I played and tried to adjust to find the right equilibrium, the more I realized the lighting and contrast is just not good and adjusting brightness can't save that.
The second issue I noticed was the menu cursor to select things. It felt like an early VR game that hadn't quite figured out VR menus yet. It's useable but not fluid and pleasing.
The third issue I noticed was the unintuitive controls. I thought that this was the kind of game, kind of like a Souls game, where you aren't taught everything but learn things as you go in an organic manner. Maybe some of that exists in this game, but mostly it's simply bad control design and a bad tutorial. It's the difference between having barriers that have purpose, purposeful friction, and feel good when discovered vs barriers that feel pointless and just build frustration without purpose. The controls feel like a mess and while it's apparent that people can get used to them as they play more, it's not in a justified sense.
Along with this are interfacing issues. For example, grabbing items feels very awkward. The motions are clunky, for example the way a weapon will slowly glide into place in your hands. There's so many interfacing issues. The interface to see weapon/item stats on weapons that are laying about is clunky, the interface to switch weapons is clunky, the magic interface is clunky, dialogue boxes feel clunky,... all of these things feel clunky both in terms of feel and also aesthetic.
A very straightforward and obvious example is dialogue. Character dialogue is presented in a large bland text on a page. To progress through the dialogue, there's no obvious place to click or button to push. In fact, you have to click a particular area of the page, which feels totally arbitrary and unintuitive. Sure, once you learn, you can do it fine, but it's just bad interface design.
To go back to The Light Brigade, think about the difference in both feel and aesthetic to opening a chest or breaking a pot. Grabbing a gun and how it arrives to your hand. The attractive dialogue boxes. Watching a reward pop out of a chest, picking a tarot card. Putting objects into your waist pouch or taking them out. These interactions are all comfortable, beautiful, fluid, and intuitive.
The next thing on my mind was sound.
As I played the tutorial, the soundscape was barren. There was a wind loop, which didn't loop correctly leaving a solid second of space between the end and beginning. Sounds didn't feel like they were placed quite right in 3D space. Point-based sounds (like the crackling of a campfire, that comes from a specific point in space) had too small of a zone (the sound should be heard from further away). In general the soundscape was very barebones. And when I encountered the first character, not only did the character look totally goofy and out of place, but they made no sounds when 'speaking', not even grunts or gibberish sound.
To skip ahead for a moment, I also felt the music did not match the environments enough. The music was quite pretty - that's not the problem. It just didn't feel like the environments were quite synergized with the music.
Again for both music and sound, think of the gun sounds, the ability sounds, the sound of the enemies as they spot you, the sound of the environment, the footsteps and dash, the grunts of characters when the speak, the music... not only does it all sound great, but it all feels like expressions of the unique world of The Light Brigade. This is excellent sound and music design, that truly bring the world to life.
Although a minor complaint, I also noticed lots of grammar and spelling errors. Although I understand the team is in South Korea, and I appreciate the challenges of translation, just like with everything else I was just expecting... more polish. I thought it would feel like a full package, at indie scale. But it feels very much like a partial package.
And that segues into the writing...
There are games with simple and/or unmemorable story, where the story is still servicing and facilitating the gameplay.
And then there is just plain bad writing.
This is very much the latter.
Maybe a bit of this goes back to translation but I am doubtful that it fares much better in original Korean in essence.
The writing is goofy, juvenile, poorly structured, and generic.
I was also seriously turned off by a couple lines in particular, that I'm sure affect me more than most but I will mention anyways. One was something like "valuable gem missing. And a hot girl". Like... There's nothing inherent about calling a woman (or a man) hot that I don't like. Yes gamers, you are allowed to find women attractive, relax. But it's the way its written,... I'm not going to turn this into an essay about male gaze but the way its written simply services a particular male audience that casually objectifies women.
Even worse was the final line I read, a quest line. Paraphrasing, but the primary descriptive words are all exact: "Go kill 10 kill peasants in a refugee camp". I don't think I need to elaborate, people who are on a similar page to me will understand why this was just an incredibly gross line.
I know the above two dialogue criticisms will not be shared by everyone and not affect everyone the same way. I am expressing them as part of what I felt, my personal criticisms and experience, just like the rest of what I'm sharing.
Again to compare to The Light Brigade... every line feels thoughtful and builds character and develops the lore. Whether its the forlorn lines of NPC members of The Light Brigade, or the scenes that appear between runs, and other bits and pieces you get. The Light Brigade develops so much world with few words, it's quite impressive and again a beacon that Urban Wolf Games can learn from.
The final issue I'll discuss was something that struck me earlier on. That is, player character model and lack of customization.
First of all - again an issue that the majority here probably won't be affected by - I could not pick my character model until after completing the tutorial. Specifically, I was forced to do calibration as a male character model, and then had to play the tutorial as this character. Minor complaint but again just another polish issue.
Both male and female models are just... boring designs, and the female model is again very juvenile, obviously serving a primarily male audience, whether intentionally or not.
But more importantly, there's no character customization. Not even the tiniest bit. Even the ability to change just skin colour and hair only would go a long way. Especially in a lengthy adventure like this, I need to be able to identify with my character. Especially with multiplayer it seems essential to me, but even if it were single player, and as someone who plays primarily in single player, character customization is hugely impactful to me.
This does not really have a contrast in The Light Brigade - there's no character customization in The Light Brigade either, although the kind of game it is, it's not as relevant. That said, I do think it would be a nice touch if there WAS some minor character customization in The Light Brigade, and especially if you could play as a woman instead of man if you so choose. Although maybe lore-wise it is intended that all members are male except for 'Mother'. This hasn't been established with any good reason though. So on this point I would lightly criticize The Light Brigade as well.
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
ENDING THOUGHTS
__________________________________________
Ultimately, Legendary Tales is quite simply a very indie game that probably had a very small team and limited funds. I don't know for sure, but probably there *wasn't* a dedicated writer, a dedicated UI and interface designer, etc.
However, these things are still failings of the game and its design. The greatest indie games to me are ones that successfully recognize their scope limitations and develop something complete within that scope. Whether it's the roguelike world of The Light Brigade, or the very short and stylish Tiger Blade, or Jeff Minter's trippy games like Akka Arrh and Polybius, or the retro Silent Hill aesthetic of Organ Quarter, or the suspenseful hotel of Propagation Paradise Hotel... all these games are made by small teams but successfully navigate their limited funds to deliver a full package within an appropriately limited scope.
On the one hand, I really value and support BJ's push for indie games to be respected and for that respect to reflect in the price consumers are prepared to pay. But after being totally on board with the price of Legendary Tales based on what I read from BJ and reviewers and many regular players too, I have to disagree with this game's pricing. This game is not polished enough, and is not a full package. That the game sucked out so much funds is an error of scope.
Maybe I will be in the minority, and Legendary Tales has been a success so it seems that I am, and so good on them for knowing the value of their game to the demographic they targeted I guess. And regardless, even if the pricing and attempted scope of the game are an error on the dev's part, I'm glad for the dev to earn back as much as they can, or even turn a profit hopefully.
But to me, reflecting back to the question the devs put forward: "Do you want to see deep combat development like this in VR for a 40+ hour adventure from indie devs?" The answer is no, I don't. I do consider the scope of this game an error on the part of the developers. It sounds like they did not even turn a profit enough to allow them to expand their team (but maybe I'm misunderstanding). I hope that they do continue with VR development, but instead focus on a much smaller scope game. Deliver a polished, complete package within a smaller scope, implementing a much tighter budget that will allow for potential turning of profit with an appropriately lighter sale price (maybe targeting a $30 game?).
If that is successful, do it again, and again, until they can expand and eventually work toward their dream adventure RPG, hiring actual writers and UI designers and sound designers etc. For me personally, this is simply not the kind of game you can half-bake. It should be attempted again when, and only when, they feel they have budget to do this in a truly full and polished manner.
I had the pleasure of meeting BJ briefly at PAX East. He struck me as friendly, kind, totally genuine, and incredibly passionate as a game developer and a VR game developer in particular.
I do wish this team good luck and despite my own harsh criticism I am glad so many ARE enjoying this game, and also feel the price point is justified. I want devs to earn money, including Urban Wolf Games. And I hope that they will continue to develop and bring more VR to the world.
I hope that my criticism is constructive and useful toward these same goals.
2024.05.20 01:33 Dawg605 New Beta BIOS for MSI PRO Z790-A WIFI - Includes "Intel Default Settings"
https://i.imgur.com/h8ZAc51.png
Has anyone tried the new beta BIOS for MSI motherboards? I specifically have the PRO Z790-A WIFI board, but I'm sure this beta BIOS is out for a bunch of other MSI motherboards too. According to MSI's Support page for the PRO Z790-A WIFI board, the BIOS was released 4 days ago on May 15th, 2024. The previous day, a non-beta BIOS was released, but the changelog only lists "Improve memory compatibility."
I'm more interested in the beta BIOS though because the changelog states:
- Replaced MSI's own tweaked system power settings with added Intel Default Settings, and users can still optimize system performance with alternatives from MSI.
I'm very curious what they've changed in the BIOS if you enable Intel's Default Settings. I know I've watched videos from Buildzoid on YouTube and he talked about testing out motherboard's from other manufacturer's that put out beta BIOSs for Intel's Default Settings and he wasn't impressed with most of what he tested. So I'm curious if MSI got it right or not. If anyone has tested the new BIOS and the Intel Default Settings, do tell!
submitted by Dawg605 to MSI_Gaming [link] [comments]
Has anyone tried the new beta BIOS for MSI motherboards? I specifically have the PRO Z790-A WIFI board, but I'm sure this beta BIOS is out for a bunch of other MSI motherboards too. According to MSI's Support page for the PRO Z790-A WIFI board, the BIOS was released 4 days ago on May 15th, 2024. The previous day, a non-beta BIOS was released, but the changelog only lists "Improve memory compatibility."
I'm more interested in the beta BIOS though because the changelog states:
- Replaced MSI's own tweaked system power settings with added Intel Default Settings, and users can still optimize system performance with alternatives from MSI.
I'm very curious what they've changed in the BIOS if you enable Intel's Default Settings. I know I've watched videos from Buildzoid on YouTube and he talked about testing out motherboard's from other manufacturer's that put out beta BIOSs for Intel's Default Settings and he wasn't impressed with most of what he tested. So I'm curious if MSI got it right or not. If anyone has tested the new BIOS and the Intel Default Settings, do tell!
2024.05.20 01:31 Sudden-Objective-700 [WTS][WTT] Silver goodies
Hi I have for sale some cool colelctible silver items. Some I poured myself they look sparkly in the sun and are below spot! All has been sigma tested and I guarantee it to be .999 silver or your money back! Check out my feedback on these pours. Can do trades for other silver or preferably gold too. Thanks for looking!
----2factor authenticated----
Proof pic https://imgur.com/a/3XCjMBr
Pictures don't do the Galaxy pours justice. Look at this video of it in the sun!🔥🔥 https://imgur.com/gallery/lWQ07rl
sigma test https://imgur.com/a/uWDldQM
----.999 Silver Galaxy bars n stars ----
1 - 4.6oz Galaxy Star = $133
2 - 4.5oz Galaxy Star = $130
3 - 4 oz Galaxy Star = $116
4 - 4.9oz Mirror Star = $142
5 - 2.7oz Sm Galaxy Star = $78
6 - 2.4 oz Sm Galaxy Star = $69
7 - 2.6oz Sm Galaxy Star = $75
8 - 2.3oz Sm Galaxy Star = $67
9 - 2.3oz Sm Galaxy Star = $67
10 - 33Gram Galaxy Bar = $31
11 - 2oz Galaxy Bar = $58
12 - 100 Gram Galaxy Bar = $90
13 - 46 gram galaxy bar = $40
14 - 65 gram galaxy bar = $60
AK Rounds pure silver @ $45 each
https://imgur.com/a/vqDAbQj
(1) size 11 brushed silver ring for $20
(1) Size 10 polished silver ring for $25
--- Silver Coins ---
1957 - 1963 Mexican Un Peso = $3 each
2oz Tudor Beast (2023 Yale of Beaufort) = $70
2oz Tudor Beast (2022 Lion of England) = $70 OR TAKE BOTH FOR $135
5.50fv Barber Halves = $12 each OR TAKE ALL FOR $130
17 DOLLARS OF 40% Kennedys = $80 per $10fv! BELOW SPOT!! TAKE ALL FOR $ https://imgur.com/a/s4s9C24
1830 Bust Half in XF condition = $150 https://imgur.com/a/AZ49JS0
Watch out for scams out there. Dont click on the links on messages stating you have been banned. If you can still post then you are not banned. Make sure to 2 factor authenticate your password. Dont let those scammers win!
Can take payments through GOLD 😁 , Venmo, Cashapp, PP, Zelle and silver.
Shipping will be $5.50 for under 9oz and $10 for over. I provide proof of drop off receipt as well. Thanks for looking!
submitted by Sudden-Objective-700 to CoinSales [link] [comments]
----2factor authenticated----
Proof pic https://imgur.com/a/3XCjMBr
Pictures don't do the Galaxy pours justice. Look at this video of it in the sun!🔥🔥 https://imgur.com/gallery/lWQ07rl
sigma test https://imgur.com/a/uWDldQM
----.999 Silver Galaxy bars n stars ----
1 - 4.6oz Galaxy Star = $133
2 - 4.5oz Galaxy Star = $130
3 - 4 oz Galaxy Star = $116
4 - 4.9oz Mirror Star = $142
5 - 2.7oz Sm Galaxy Star = $78
6 - 2.4 oz Sm Galaxy Star = $69
7 - 2.6oz Sm Galaxy Star = $75
8 - 2.3oz Sm Galaxy Star = $67
9 - 2.3oz Sm Galaxy Star = $67
10 - 33Gram Galaxy Bar = $31
11 - 2oz Galaxy Bar = $58
12 - 100 Gram Galaxy Bar = $90
13 - 46 gram galaxy bar = $40
14 - 65 gram galaxy bar = $60
AK Rounds pure silver @ $45 each
https://imgur.com/a/vqDAbQj
(1) size 11 brushed silver ring for $20
(1) Size 10 polished silver ring for $25
--- Silver Coins ---
1957 - 1963 Mexican Un Peso = $3 each
2oz Tudor Beast (2023 Yale of Beaufort) = $70
2oz Tudor Beast (2022 Lion of England) = $70 OR TAKE BOTH FOR $135
5.50fv Barber Halves = $12 each OR TAKE ALL FOR $130
1830 Bust Half in XF condition = $150 https://imgur.com/a/AZ49JS0
Watch out for scams out there. Dont click on the links on messages stating you have been banned. If you can still post then you are not banned. Make sure to 2 factor authenticate your password. Dont let those scammers win!
Can take payments through GOLD 😁 , Venmo, Cashapp, PP, Zelle and silver.
Shipping will be $5.50 for under 9oz and $10 for over. I provide proof of drop off receipt as well. Thanks for looking!