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Edited by WaveOfWire
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Two days… It had been two days that Tracy had gone to sleep while Harrison was working, only to come back in the morning to see him still in the workshop. She knew he was damn productive, sure, but that really couldn’t be healthy. Apparently, it had something to do with the weird bowl of orange… soup… that Cera gave him. No way was it just caffeine; any amount of the stuff would have been filtered out of his system by now. He mentioned a tingling feeling too…
Damn, she did not know enough about drugs to even start assuming what that massive alien had Harrison fucked up on. At least the scanner said he was ‘fine’—if you ignore the other glaring issues the machine brought up. Plus, he said he didn’t mind it. Either way, he managed to complete the weaving component and a few other electrical backbones of the fabricator last night, so the project was practically done, and after seeing the engineer work himself half to death, she was dead-set on finishing it.
She was currently tits-deep into the upper manufacturing portion of the towering machine. It took a tall step-stool—on top of the nearby desk—for her to push her small shoulders through the even smaller access panels high on the everything-printer. It was difficult to fit her torso in, but she managed, holding a flashlight between her teeth as she fiddled with a stubborn series of mechanical ‘hands.’ Nothing new. The situation reminded her of the ‘shop back on Mars; it had the same ever-present scent of copper and industrial sealant. All that was missing was her dad’s ancient tunes blasting through some shitty speakers… Hold on…
The modular component in her grip was successfully attached with a resonating thock. Tracy squirmed out of the dim wire-filled crevice, trying her best to not rip her only tank-top on any bolts or corners, and getting a face-full of the bright flood-lights illuminating the workshop. She scowled and blocked out the searing light with a hand, but she was a bit too late to avoid going half-blind.
“Are the mechanical manipulators in?” Harrison grunted, poking his head out underneath the printer’s floor-adjacent maintenance hatch. She looked down at him as she tried to blink off the spots in her vision. His hair was messy, barely kept in line by his habit of combing through it with his fingers. The areas around his eyes were dark and sunken… Guess that’s what two all-nighters did to a man. He’d be seeing the hat man or start hallucinating if he didn’t get any sleep soon… but then again, the two of them were so close to finishing the fabricator…
“You bet.” She gave him a thumbs up, slamming the panel cover closed. “Feel free to test it.”
He nodded and slid back underneath the machine. “Gotcha”
She gently stepped off the stool and slid off the side of the desk, stretching herself out. If her piss-poor sitting posture or her tank-top puppies hadn’t already fucked her spine up, bending over backward to build this fabricator sure as hell would. She sat down next to the panel where Harrison resided, resting her back against the fabrication tower. Her excited voice broke the muffled noises of the engineer’s work. “So… Harrison?”
“Hmm—”
“—Mind if I play some music?”
The sounds from the hatch stopped, followed by his muffled, shocked tone echoing from beneath the fabricator. “You have music!?”
She smirked at seeing the expression on his face when his head popped out again. “I sure do… Did you seriously not download any to your data pad?”
He slipped out from beneath the fabricator fully, huffing as he took a knee beside her. The scent of melded rubber, wire, and his liquid labor reached her nose not-so-unpleasantly. “You would not believe how much of a pain it is to repair an entire barracks without it… So, yeah, I didn’t.”
“Sooooooooo, whatcha wanna listen to? I’ve got almost everything on here—besides the super niche, of course.” She pulled her data pad out, swiping to the massive music folder
“You wouldn’t like the kinda music I listen to; It’s ancient.”
She gave him a lighthearted, annoyed glare. “Welcome to the club… Now what’ll it be?”
“It’s Old Earth kind of ancient… but alright” He looked up at the ceiling in thought, lips pursed. “Do you have anything from Styx or Sweet?”
She stared at him incredulously, her smirk turning into a fully-fledged smile. “Oh my God. You are an absolute dork! You actually listen to Golden Age music?”
His brows raised, accusatory. “And you somehow know exactly who those bands were and what age of Old Earth music they came from?”
She smugly leaned in closer. “That’s because I’m just as much of a nerd with that kinda music as you apparently are.” She quickly looked upward, addressing the workshop AI. “Sebas, connect nearby speakers to my data pad’s audio.” Tracy elbowed the engineer lightly as the PA system chirped its affirmation. “Now, Mr. Golden Age music, which albums do ya want me to queue up?”
- - - - -
The two of them listened to music for hours, tossing on songs they liked as they came to mind while they worked. Harrison had a ton of recommendations that spanned all over the Golden Ages and some twenty-first century classics. She didn’t even know half of them, but she was vibing either way, adding on her own taste by intermingling some older rock tracks and newer electronic beats. The playlist was steadily built up as the day went on. Thank God her dad showed her a vast array of tunes; she might not have been able to keep up with the engineer if her old man hadn't.
It made the work go by so fast, their conversations blurring as they jumped from topic to topic. They discussed whatever came to mind—old hobbies, old jobs, and old interests. A lot was left behind in Sol… At least she knew that the only other human on the planet was more interesting than a soulless workaholic. It turned out that he was a pretty big history buff, and he apparently read a lot about the colonization of the Sol system and the various wars of independence thereafter. Curious, she asked where the interest stemmed from, and he explained that his grandfather was an admiral in the Slavic-Europan deep-ice submarine fleet, which explained how Harrison’s mother was able to afford to immigrate to Mars from Europa.
He could also play an acoustic guitar, and, unfortunately for Tracy, he wasn’t even the slightest bit interested in printing one out, citing that it was a waste of time and material that would be better used elsewhere. That didn’t stop her from writing a note on her data pad to do so later, though. She hadn’t seen someone play one of those in years—the last time was probably in some old music video from the early twenty-second century. What a shame. She would have liked to hear some of the Europan songs his grandmother taught him.
On the bright side, the man seemed to take an interest in her odd hobbies. He brought up the folder of 3D models that she accidentally uploaded to the inter-module system and asked where she got the inspiration for what was in it. Boy, was he not ready for her ‘WarHalberd40k’ lore dump. Props to the guy for not standing up and leaving the workshop throughout her rambling. He even asked questions about the different factions and their weapons, which she was more than happy to talk about.
She also ended up going over the other franchises and hobbies she was interested in, such as robotics and the like. The only interruptions to their chat were the occasional Akula or Craftsman asking for insight regarding the various tasks he had allotted to them, or Shar coming in to check up on Harrison between guard shifts.
The new dynamic of the group was pretty interesting, to say the least. Tracy hadn’t been out to interact with the whole lot of Malkrin, but she definitely noticed how they treated the engineer. They’d started to look up to him in a way ever since he started showing off technology. In a little over two days, the man had shown them that he could provide the materials for a brick house, fine clothing—especially by the alien’s standards—armor, and delicious food. That wasn’t even mentioning the other benefits the technician heard a few of the ‘banished’ talking about over their meals: heating, electric lights, and other assorted machines.
She’d be feeling pretty happy about herself if she was in his position, having so many look up to him and be grateful at the same time. He seemed to view it a lot more robotically, however, only striving to get the basics done. Luckily for him, his basics were their luxury.
That wasn’t all there was to the topic; the engineer lamented about how the colony was going through food just as quickly as materials. The meals weren’t the direct issue he had, more that he had to start focusing on long-term resource harvesting rather than directly preparing for a literal horde of monsters—which wasn’t exactly ideal. It was a good thing that they just so happened to take on an influx of Malkrin then…
Either way, they finally finished the ‘totally legal modification’ for the fabricator, meaning they could at least partially address the latter half of his worries. The whole process of ripping out an old printer and replacing the parts for a new one felt a lot easier than she imagined… even if it took her at least forty-eight hours to complete it… with help from Harrison. Maybe that was why it felt so easy… She supposed the colony overseers didn’t choose the man for no reason, so his skills made sense.
“So… what do we want to print out first?” Tracy questioned, having finished testing the last major component.
The engineer stretched his arms up into the air and rotated his shoulders, then pulled back the desk’s chair and took a seat. “I’ve had just one thing in mind since the start of this whole project.”
Her brows raised in a mix of excitement and curiosity. She leaned forward, looking at the computer monitor from over his shoulder. “Oh? What’s that, then?”
A smirk formed along his cheek, the computer mouse rapidly clicking through the blueprint folder. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about what kind of firearm we need since I started dabbling in belt-fed weapon systems.” He opened one final file, a short loading bar preceding the exploded assembly view of… “An M2 Browning machine gun. It’s more than powerful enough to kill in one shot, while also being capable of fully-automatic fire, with a capacity of however many rounds we want in a belt-box.”
“Uh…huh…” She gave a skeptical nod and took a step back, not exactly sold on the idea. “It looks ancient. It’s kinetic, right? Why aren’t we using energy-based weapons? Don’t we have a gunpowder shortage coming up?”
He moved his chair off to the side to look back at her. “We just can’t; Simple as. We’ll need who knows how many more AI cores before we can get started on that level of equipment, Trace,” he huffed, returning his gaze to the specifications of the firearm. “This isn’t the most ‘modern’ weapon we can make, but its twenty-first century counterpart helps with an improved design… somewhat. And, as I said before, it should be more than capable of killing a bug in one shot, so Shar can just tap-fire it to save ammunition.”
Her head tilted quizzically. “Shar?”
“Yup,” he returned confidently. “It’s the perfect weapon for her.”
She raised a brow. “How so?”
He held his hand up, counting his reasons on his fingers. “She’s always on the front line with a shield, she can absolutely handle the weight and recoil, her four arms make reloading it simple, plus she’ll need something with range and power that isn’t a spear. So, why not? And, if for some reason, she doesn’t want to use it, we can just convert it into a turret—which is something I was planning on doing anyways with however more M2s we print out later.”
“I doubt she’ll say no to any gun you give her,” Tracy chuckled while shaking her head, inadvertently causing her bangs to cover her eyes.
“Fair enough,” he conceded with a bob of his head. “What do you think, then? What kinda weapons do you have in mind?”
She reapplied her goggles into an impromptu hairband, feeling a smirk cross her face. “Thought you’d never ask. What purpose do we need these guns to fulfill? Hordes I’m guessing?”
“That’s the idea, yeah. That doesn’t mean they all need to be machine guns, though.” He tapped the belt-fed shotgun beside him.
“Well, lemme see what we’re working with first.” She suddenly stepped forward, leaning over Harrison’s seat to access the keyboard and mouse. Her arms briefly rubbed against him, forcing him to roll his chair backward. She suppressed a giggle at seeing his incredulous frown.
Her eyes quickly traced the hundreds of individual files, clicking through all sorts of folders, each arranged from pre-twenty-first century ‘antiques,’ to more modern iterations of kinetics and particle weaponry. There was… a lot on there—almost too much to reasonably comb through. Why? Did the colony overseers just say ‘fuck it’ and put whatever they could find on here? Were they expecting the pioneers to make a museum of everything?
She sighed, standing up straight and facing Harrison. “Y’know, I’m actually impressed you managed to find that M2-whatever in there…”
He shifted in his seat, resting an elbow on the desk. “Yup, there’s a lot. I’m almost tempted to just make several of those machine guns and just call it a day, but I feel like that’d be too much of a strain on resources, no?”
“I don’t really know enough about how you fight those spider-crab things, or how to get more gunpowder, so… maybe?” She shrugged, biting her cheek in contemplation. “You might just wanna make a few smaller caliber weapons… like, uh… those old kinetic service rifles. If your pump-action shotgun works fine, I’m sure some normal guns would work just fine for now, right?”
He hardily gripped his firearm, hauling it up to his lap. “Depends on what you mean by ‘smaller caliber.’ The whole reason why the KS-23 here works—” he pulled out a massive shell from the ammo belt, displaying it on his palm. “—is because the twenty-three-millimeter round has enough energy transfer to mess up any bug's shell and insides. I’d say the smallest rounds we could use would be point-two-forty-three caliber to get any similar results.”
Brief flickers of grungy orange shells and gnashing teeth marred Tracy’s sight. She forcibly suppressed them, distracting herself with dry humor and a strained laugh. “Guess those fuckers can really take a punch, huh?”
He shook his head somberly. “I couldn’t imagine going up against them without a gun… Anyway, I like your idea of a standard rifle for now. Then, when we have some product lines up, we can go a little more in depth into personal weapons.”
“So are you gonna take one?” She hopped up on the desk, letting her legs swing off the side.
“Don’t think so, no. I’ll stick with my shotty.” The internals of the heavily modified weapon rattled as he held it up and inspected it. “Doesn’t mean I’ll keep it as is. I’m thinking of printing a laser aiming module so I can point-fire it accurately, and maybe a melee-oriented muzzle brake or a lighter chassis to reduce weight… Not sure though.”
She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, her cheeks in her palms. “Melee-oriented? Oooooh, like a chain-sword or something?”
His short chuckle coerced a smirk to her face. “No, not like that. More something to use as a bludgeoning tool. Right before the blood-moon, I ended up getting just as much use out of this shotgun as a hammer than as a… well, a shotgun.”
“That’s pretty fuckin’ metal. So are you just gonna make the barrel into a giant bayonet?”
He nodded. “Not exactly a bayonet, but something more like a door-breaching break.”
A short silence settled on their conversation, the faint sounds of the fabricator’s hum and distant woodwork coming to light. Right, there was an outside world… She’d been too caught up talking to Harrison for however many hours it had been. She wondered how successful the fisherwomen were in collecting, and how things had been for the others working on the wood storage shack. Maybe it was already completed? The sun peered through the cargo bay door, proving that it was only about midday. What else would they work on today?
“Hey,” she ventured.
“Hm?” the engineer hummed, his eyes focused on the monitor beside the technician.
She scooted closer to his keyboard. “What’re we doing after this?”
“What do you mean?”
She leaned backward, propping herself up on two hands. “Project wise; what’s the next big thing?”
“Uhmmm…” he muttered, interacting with the computer for a few more seconds before finally meeting her gaze. “Well, I’ve just allocated the fabricator to print out the M2, three FALs—wood furniture, of course—then there’s the magazines and ammunition, so we’ve got a lot of time to kill. The next big thing is definitely going to be metal procurement, and— Oh, right!” Harrison stopped mid-sentence, reaching into his backpack and pulling out several finger-sized metallic cubes, a sudden fire in his eyes. “Okay, so a while ago, during an encounter with three colossi, Shar and Akula found a cave with some ‘surface’ metal deposits. I took a piece off to analyze, but never got the chance to until last night. Anyway, we don’t have any machines to examine the ore, so I made use of the recycler and broke it down to its baser components.”
She nodded along, seeing where he was going with his explanation. “I’m guessing those shiny cubes are the metals from the ore?”
“Sure is. So, as it turns out, we have a pretty damn close supply of not only iron, but also, zinc, sulfur, and a small amount of cadmium. I talked with Sebas about it and did a little research. We believe it’s something akin to sphalerite, given its composition and looks, which implies it’s a sedimentary exhalative deposit. That means there must have been some volcanic…”
Harrison continued talking about underwater deposits and ancient rock formations, bringing up some theories brought forward by the now 4-AI-core-powered Sebas, delving into the current land mass’ history and possible ore output. A lot of it went over the tradewoman’s head, but she still listened intently… Honestly, she could have listened to the man talk about finding metals for hours. It was sort of like the podcasts she used to listen to while completing colonist training, but even more personal and somehow easier to get lost in…
“…find some other minerals further down like silver, but it also might be an active lava zone. Again, these are all theories and this world could just throw the fundamentals of geology away as it does for physics. Anyway, sorry for going on for so long about that, just thought it’d be important for getting some metals in the future.”
“No, no,” Tracy assured, alleviating him of concern with a wave of her hand. “If there’s anything the colony overseers emphasized, it was farming and mineral acquisition. Don’t worry.” She smiled, pointing a thumb to herself. “I just wanna know how I can help.”
“Actually, I’ve a few things only you can do. I’d like to make use of your impressive drone-making expertise for a few applications, if you don’t mind.”
The task of keeping eye contact slipped into an impossible feat in the span of a singular second, planting a pang of embarrassment on her reddened face, forcing her to inspect her fidgeting hands. “I-I wouldn’t say ‘impressive’… b-but what do you have in mind?”
She could see him raise a brow out of the corner of her vision. “Well, after what you’ve shown me with the reconnaissance flyers, I’d like your help in setting up a more permanent ‘net’ of them to scour the meadow and parts of the nearby forest to look out for any approaching hordes. I don’t want to be snuck up on… again…”
‘Again.’
She noted his small frown and sunken eyes, both a little more exaggerated than they already were. It wasn’t like she’d deny his request, but the pangs of empathy over their shared situation all but solidified her resolve. It was the least she could do. She could help him. She would help him.
The technician exhaled slowly, taking on a more serious and understanding tone than before. “I… can do that. For sure. What else?”
“I appreciate it.” He gave a wane smile. “I’ll help you with whatever you need for the project. For the other drones, I’m thinking about a small exploration vehicle to map out caves around us and mark any minerals, as well as a submersible to look for potassium deposits in the ocean.”
“So… search bots?” She crossed her arms, confidence growing; those were her specialty. “Depending on how long the fabricators take and what kind of base drones are in the blueprint folders, I should be able to get those done in no time. All I need to know are the search cues for potassium and how many drones you want.”
He quickly shuffled a few folders on the computer, turning the monitor for her to see some scientific documents with various images and walls upon walls of text. “There’re plenty of resources for that on here for what to look for, and there’s always Sebas, so feel free to ask him since he can just sort through the data for you anyway. If you can, I’d like it if you could focus on the submersible after the reconnaissance drones.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll be right on it, then.” She gave him a thumbs up, slipping off his desk and toward her own.
“I’ll bring you lunch in a bit. Imma go check on the others,” he called.
Her stomach grumbled at the mention, her head turning to give him an appreciative smile. “Oh! Thanks!”
\= = = = =
Avian creatures chirped from their perches in the trees nearby. The wind softly rustled red leaves as grass gently gave way to calculated footfalls. A warm sun laid its light on Shar’khee’s neck. It was surprisingly pleasant, were one to take the time to notice. The mainland was a confusing place for the paladin, with its disparate representations of nature contrasting so heavily. Some days were filled with blood and ravenous beasts, while others were left within the domain of simplicity and beauty. She was content to have the latter, yet it felt like a facade veiling the former—a soft exterior covering the maliciously spiked interior. Never could she leave herself to carelessness, no matter how welcoming it might be.
Hence why she worked to ensure the safety of the star-sent’s castles and their inhabitants, her days largely spent patrolling for any roaming swarms that may wish to cause them harm. She typically used the routine to think, but today offered little in the way of solitude. This time, she was accompanied by the previously banished guardswoman, and was tasked with instructing the new one, though the specifics of what such lessons should entail were vague. Still, Shar’khee did all that she could so as not to disappoint Harrison, so she could only attempt to meet his expectations of her.
She told the yellow-skinned female of the threats that the settlement faced, how one was to defeat them, and what to expect from the beasts. The guardswoman was directed to practice her form with the spear in both thrusts and throwing for some time afterward, proving herself to be well-built. Such was expected of her profession after all.
It was pleasing to have another capable of patrolling the settlement’s outskirts for swarms, as it would greatly impact how effectively the colony could react to such a threat. If her routine was to suffer for the colony’s well-being, she was happy to show the new one her patrol route and note what to look out for.
The guardswoman was not a perfect student, however. Shar’khee never addressed it directly, but the yellow-skinned female obviously discredited the danger posed by the abhorrent, not-so-subtly shrugging off any warnings.
…That was until they stumbled upon the ‘hyena-boars,’ as Harrison called them.
The beasts resided in a clearing not too far from the castles, carelessly meandering across the sea of tall grass. Shar’khee quickly crouched, dragging the guardswoman down with her. Once she assessed that the creatures were not an imminent danger, she decided it would be an excellent opportunity to show the new one how to properly engage a threat. She was about to propose the idea, yet her speech was silenced just as swiftly.
Orange flashes darted through the trees around the glade. Taloned feet and gnashing teeth tore across the ground toward the unsuspecting beasts at the center. It was much too late for them. They were slow. Surrounded. Unaware. It was as quick as it was vicious, the forest’s reds turning a deeper crimson hue in a moment's notice underneath the abhorrent’s brutality.
Gangly monstrosities gnawed and ripped at the dead creatures, brief glimpses of raw flesh and white bone protruding from the small spaces between the clumped-up beasts. Repulsive wet splatters of blood and gore overlapped the calm noises of the forest, the grisly scene serenaded by the softest of nature’s symphonies. It was a sickening juxtaposition.
Shar’khee bit back the unease and steeled herself. They were within twenty paces—close enough to smell the abhorrent’s vile stench of rot and bile, yet far enough so as not to be noticed. She briefly considered backing away and retreating, her focus bouncing between the different avenues of escape, or how to cover her footst—
Crack.
Several sets of feral, eyeless maws snapped in their direction, the blood dripping off freshly dampened teeth. The guardswoman gasped, Shar’khee’s gaze following to see the mistake: a singular broken branch crinkled as a yellow-colored foot raised off the splintering twig.
The paladin exhaled sharply and smoothly stood up, brandishing two spears and her shield. Her glare settled on the still crouching guardswoman. “You are to stay behind my shield and let them appr—ch. Rem—ber what I have told you. Aim for their maws when you thrust y—r lance.”
The other female nodded, shakily pulling out her own weapons with unsteady placement hampering her grip. There was an obvious nervousness to her gaze. Hesitance. That would not do.
Shar’khee faced the prowling abhorrent her knuckles shifting hue as she prepared for their advance, for there was no chance that they wouldn’t. True to her experience, the stalking turned to a gallop with several clicks of grotesque tongues, the swarm bolting toward her as one. She snarled and slammed her bulwark into the ground, letting the approaching beasts skewer themselves amongst its spikes.
There were only ten—a paltry amount. She had defended against magnitudes more, and yet she still stood. What is more, they were mindless. Uncoordinated. They would be but stains in the cloth she used to clean her armor. Perhaps, if they were fortunate, they might leave a furrow in her shield to remember them by. Her arms tensed as the first leapt.
One by one, the abhorrent fell, their repulsive green blood splattering under her thrusts. Each awaiting corpse tore across the grove’s grass, lunging to their deaths with gaping maws and unfeeling hunger, yet she did not yield. Their shells were crushed by her shield and impaled by her Goddess-blessed spears, becoming but one more smear across their surface. Ten motionless lumps lay before her, seeping their ichor into the soil, none having passed the barrier she became. Dead, just as the Creator intended. She remained vigilant for a few moments longer, watching for any more of the disgusting creatures.
None showed themselves, finally allowing blood to flow to her fingers once again. The shield’s heavy presence weighed down her back, the blood flicked off of her spears before she returned them to their place.
“Are y–u well?” Shar’khee addressed the frozen Malkrin, wiping away the splatter on her bracers. The guardswoman stared at the small pile of deceased creatures, her heavy breaths and widened eyes moving from the spear from her singular kill. The paladin huffed. “We are fort—ate that there were so few.”
“F-Few? God help us…” Her horrified, stunned gaze slowly met the paladin’s. “Y-You said there were hundreds on the crimson nights? H-How do you… They were s-so fast.”*
”As I h–ve warned,” Shar’khee affirmed.
“You are a paladin! You all exaggerate your feats… I thought it was just a facade!”
“I have no r—son to lie,” she returned tersely, shrugging off the insult to her station and shaking her head. “The mainl—d is far more dangerous than ten gnash—g beasts; more so than that of your island hamlet. Pick yourself up. We m—t inform the others of this incursion.”
The yellow-skinned female snarled, furrowing her brows at the ground in frustration. At whom…? Shar’khee? Herself? Regardless, the female promptly gathered her composure, pushing air through clenched jaws. A step forward had her feet splash in the small pool of blood, the Malkrin nodding toward the paladin to continue back to the castles.
“…for the village.”
Shar’khee paused in her stride and faced her, frowning at the determination and anger leaking through the intent. “W—t was that?”
Her question was returned with honesty, a huffed voice marred by vexation. “Paladin, how am I to defend my village-mates as I am now?”
“‘As you are now?’ What do you m—n?”
The guardswoman stared down at her spear, wood creaking under her grip. “I have faltered before what you deem a paltry threat, and the thought of an even greater one sows dread deep within my bones. I wish… I wish to be better prepared to defend those of my village. I cannot help but see their faces on those of the furred creature in the clearing, and yet, even if I am so close, I am just as unable to protect them.”
Shar’khee stared down the yellow female, a long gaze taking in a rare showing of sincerity. “Y—r fears are one we all share, new one. Do not be ashamed of them. All t—t matters is that you do not let them rem—n mere fear, but make them your strength. So tell me, do you wish to impr—e? To ensure they do not fall while you are support—g them?”
The yellow-skinned female released a shuddering breath that bled off the worst of her indecision, a newly invoked flame flaring within her visage. “I do, paladin. I seek to protect and to be of use.”
“Then, if you wish to make y—rself resilient in the face of all that opposes us, it would be my undertak—g to forge you anew. Fortunately, Harrison has ordered such already, and his guidance shall prove ever useful, should you pursue it.”
The guardswoman shuffled in place at the star-sent’s mention, her eyes slipping downwards. “He is of a great many resources, but I would rather receive your teachings than those of a craftsman… or that of a male, deity-sent he might be.”
She placed a palm on the female’s shoulder. “He is far more than you might ever k—w. Regardless of if you ac—pt his guidance, I commend your conviction. However—” Her hand gripped tighter, though not enough to instill hostility. “—understand that you are protecting more than just your vi—age-mates.”
The new one nodded, staring up at the paladin with stallwart resolve. “Of course. I shall be in your tutelage, then.”
Shar’khee smiled. “T—n let us begin.”
\= = = = =
Akula was becoming increasingly certain that she knew how her parents once felt. The green-skinned fisherwoman was currently rotating between the many tasks placed upon her, guiding the newcomers through the minutia of their tasks so they might live up to the potential Harrison saw within them. She was gratified to have her own talents recognized by the Creator, but it also placed a great many responsibilities in her talons. Of course, she handled each new addition with finesse befitting her heritage, never once balking from the increasing demands. If anything, she felt validated; it was required of her as a female anyway, was it not? The more feminine-appropriate labor and management one undertakes, the higher authority they were granted.
It began with a simple assignment to oversee the chef’s introduction to the star-sent’s provided cooking appliances. As fascinating and convenient as utilities were, she held no interest in preparing any more food than she already had, but teaching another to operate the machines would alleviate such requirements of her. She reluctantly accepted the task when it was proposed, especially considering the fact that Harrison was much too busy with his other projects to bother with something as benign as cooking. His work was more valuable elsewhere.
The task itself went well, and the pink-skinned chef was quick to pick up on the use of the various kitchen devices, as well as the smoker. A grin had grown when she considered the possibility of all males understanding such domestic things readily, yet her mirth at removing the masculine job required of her was short-lived. Despite the newly initiated Malkrin’s success, Harrison had Akula frequently return to oversee the numerous cooking operations being conducted. That was in tandem with the back-to-back fishing trips made by both herself and the newly acquired females.
…Which was something else the green-skinned cycle-worshipper was ordered to oversee.
She had left the chef to his devices after producing another batch of partially seasoned meals, returning to the Creator with hopes of a break. He applauded her efforts with a nod and tersely spoken appreciation, then quickly pushed two spearguns into her hand and directed her to the ocean, where the twins were ‘working with jack shit,’ as the busy male said. She was to give the fisherwomen the tools and make sure they were used properly, and offer additional assistance in acquiring ‘enough fish to have us fed for a little bit.’
So, she left to complete the given task, feeling somewhat appreciative that her speargun was of superior quality to those she would be delivering—the newcomers were only afforded the lesser, roped-bolt version. It was only natural that she was in possession of their greatest assets, of course; the star-sent saw her as the only one capable of wielding such fantastic ammunition, showing trust that was rightfully placed in her. That did not mean the gray-skinned females were unsatisfied with their own gifts, however. The twins were swiftly caught up on the ‘manual of arms’ and sent to work, somehow managing to keep up with Akula in spite of their land-based origins. The two were fast enough to outpace the cycle-worshipper in sheer speed, but their lack of numerous winters spent traversing deeper waters meant they required frequent rests, breaking the ocean’s surface after every third captured fish or so.
Still, she had to appreciate their dedication to their task. They never complained about Akula pushing them further to reach the star-sent’s vague objective. Such a task was entrusted to her—and by proxy, the other two—and thus it would be completed, no matter how much her comfortable bed… couch called her tiring muscles.
The group of three hauled net after full net of fresh meat to the chef—and sewist, who later joined him—forcing him to relegate much of the catch to long-term storage as the kitchen simply could not deal with the surplus. At least three-quarters of the fish were put to slow cook in the now Malkrin-sized smoker. The craftsman had upgraded it with a kit provided by Harrison, who had recycled much of the dining room and workshop furniture to accommodate it. The Creator’s showcased urgency to gather materials was clearly not unfounded… It was admirable how he used what little he had left to ensure food would not be scarce. Additionally, the apparatus exuded an excellent scent for all the survivors to enjoy, the earthy aroma drawing in some of the other Malkrin for their breaks or meals.
Those were not the end of the cycle-worshiper’s tasks, however. She was also required to report on Shar’khee’s progress in training the guardswoman—helping to recycle the small swarm of abhorrent they cleared earlier—as well as the wood storage building’s progress. Indeed, she was advising and assisting however and wherever applicable. To say she was seen all around the settlement would be an understatement.
Nevertheless, she was appreciative to see her efforts bearing fruit by sundown. The processing of their meals from sea to plate was quite efficient, and those that Akula taught were now well-practiced in their duties. The twin fisherwomen dove from wave to wave, bringing fish back to the barracks, where the cook and sewist swiftly worked to transfer the meat to pans and smoker hooks alike. Then, the remnants of the Sea Goddess’ aquatic gifts would be subsequently recycled and given purpose anew as biofuel or perhaps future fertilizer.
The endless onslaught of duties and responsibilities had enlightened her, in a way. She could see where Harrison came from now; having a working project go from one point to another without input nor difficulty was a sight to behold, and it made her swell with pride. It was a surmountable feat to teach the barbaric ground-worshippers to do something properly.
…Well, they were not horrible Malkrin, so perhaps simply calling them ‘uninitiated’ was a more apt descriptor…
No matter the tribulations faced, and no matter how draining her new authority might be, her rest at the end of the day would be one that was well-earned, and it would be had with a sense of satisfaction. She deserved it, and perhaps that extended to the rest of the settlement as well.
- - - - -
[First] [Previous] [Next]
Next time on Total Drama Anomaly Island - Mine! Mine! Mine!

Napapalibutan ng tungkol sa politika si Marina Hidalgo, isang vice mayor ang kanyang ina at isa namang attorney sa public attorney’s office ang ama niya. Galing siya sa pamilyang matagal nang nagseserbisyo sa gobyerno, ngunit iba ang tumatakbo sa kanyang isipan at plano niya sa kanyang buhay. Siya lang ang sumalungkot sa generation ng pamilya nila nang kumuha siyang kursong journalism dahil gusto lang niya ng tahimik na buhay, hindi rin niya gaanong pinangangalandakan sa buong unibersidad niya na galing siya sa pamilya ng mga Hidalgo. Marami siyang iniiwasan at isa na roon ang pamilya Sanchez, ang namamayagpag ngayon sa municipality nila lalo na’t Sanchez ang nakaupo na mayor sa lugar nila at isang dahilan na kaaway na pamilya sa politika ng mga Hidalgo ang Sanchez. Pero kung anong iniiwasan niya iyon naman ang lumalapit sa kanya, nang makilala niya sa isang press conference si Filan Sanchez, ang pangalawang anak ng mga Sanchez, bilang journalism student siya ang naatasang mag-interviewed nito para sa kanilang school newspaper. It all started in the interview, press conference at ang mga tanong na kailangan niyang ibato sa batang Sanchez, akala niya roon lang matatapos ang lahat, but nag-uumpisa pa lamang ang lahat. Read more

I suppose the posters below will dismiss these quotes from Arab and neutral persona who witnessed the events at the time as “Zionist propaganda”. That’s their right, just as it’s my right to believe that their opinions are formed by malicious bias. They’re in no particular chronological order.
"The existence of these refugees is a direct result of the Arab States' opposition to the partition plan and the reconstitution of the State of Israel. The Arab states adopted this policy unanimously and the responsibility of its results, therefore is theirs; ...The flight of Arabs from the territory allotted by the UN for the Jewish state began immediately after the General Assembly decision at the end of November 1947. This wave of emigration, which lasted several weeks, comprised some thirty thousand people, chiefly well-to-do-families." - Emil Ghoury, secretary of the Arab High Council, Lebanese daily Al-Telegraph, 6 Sept 1948
"The Arabs did not want to submit to a truce they rather preferred to abandon their homes, their belongings and everything they possessed in the world and leave the town. This is in fact what they did." - Jamal Husseini, Acting Chairman of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee, told to the United Nations Security Council, quoted in the UNSC Official Records (N. 62), April 23, 1948, p. 14
The Arab exodus from the villages was not caused by the actual battle, but by the exaggerated description spread by Arab leaders to incite them to fight the Jews" - Yunes Ahmed Assad, refugee from the town of Deir Yassin, in Al Urdun, April 9, 1953
The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies. - Falastin (Jordanian newspaper), February 19, 1949
"It must not be forgotten that the Arab Higher Committee encouraged the refugees' flight from their homes in Jaffa, Haifa, and Jerusalem." - Near East Arabic Broadcasting Station, Cyprus, April 3, 1949
"Since 1948 it is we who demanded the return of refugees... while it is we who made them to leave... We brought disaster upon... Arab refugees, by inviting them and bringing pressure to bear upon them to leave... We have rendered them dispossessed... We have accustomed them to begging... We have participated in lowering their moral and social level... Then we exploited them in executing crimes of murder, arson, and throwing bombs upon... men, women and children - all this in service of political purposes..." - Khaled al Azm, Syria's Prime Minister after the 1948 war
"The refugees were confident that their absence would not last long, and that they would return within a week or two. Their leaders had promised them that the Arab armies would crush the 'Zionist gangs' very quickly and that there was no need for panic or fear of a long exile." - Monsignor George Hakim, Greek Catholic Bishop of Galilee, in the Beirut newspaper Sada al Janub, August 16, 1948
"As early as the first months of 1948 the Arab League issued orders exhorting the [Arab Palestinian] people to seek a temporary refuge in neighboring countries, later to return to their abodes in the wake of the victorious Arab armies and obtain their share of abandoned Jewish property." - bulletin of The Research Group for European Migration Problems, 1957
"This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boasting of an unrealistic Arab press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of some weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re-enter and retake possession of their country." - Edward Atiyah (then Secretary of the Arab League Office in London) in “The Arabs” (London, 1955), p. 183

Welcome to our latest article, where we embark on an exhilarating journey through a variety of groundbreaking scientific discoveries. This comprehensive exploration covers diverse topics, from the pressing issue of climate change and the fragile beauty of coral reefs to the enigmatic composition of the planet Mercury and the rich history of geometry. We also delve into fascinating animal adaptations, innovative advancements in clothing technology, and remarkable archeological finds. Join us as we uncover the wonders of our world and beyond, revealing the latest insights that shape our understanding of science and history.

The Wood Known as "Gold on the Ground"

The Race to Mine Precious Metals in Space

Swordfish: The Lightning-Bolt Predators of the Ocean

Rare Bird Species Discovered for the First Time in Central Vietnam

"Golden Herb" Controls Blood Sugar and Lowers Blood Pressure Effectively

Nestled Beneath a Rock: The Secrets of "Bird's Nest" Village

Net Zero: A Comprehensive Understanding and Its Crucial Role

Ethiopian Woman Claims to Have Not Eaten or Drank for 16 Years

Breakthrough Discovery: Obesity Linked to 40% of Cancers

Running a 1-Mile in Under 2 Minutes 30 Seconds Could Add 5 Years to Your Life, Study Finds

Do Female or Male Cats Live Longer?

Scientists Discover Way to Bend Light for Blazing Fast 6G Networks

The "Forbidden Land" of China: 700 Years Untouched, Until Archaeologists Uncover a Shocking Sight

Why We Never See the Dark Side of the Moon

Historic El Niño Has Ended, But "Late 2024 Will Be Severe"

Coffee Grounds Make Concrete 30% Stronger

The Health Benefits of Tomatoes: A Comprehensive Guide

China's Quantum Leap: Researchers Unveils 504-Qubit Chip, Superfast in Speed and Size

Discover the Secrets of Africa's Wildebeest in the Grasslands!

Antiquity: 6,000-Year-Old Gold Artifacts Hint at Sophisticated Ancient Civilization

Bees Team Up to Conquer Lego, Displaying Remarkable Social Intelligence

Saudi Arabia Set to Continue Construction of the World's Tallest Building

World's Longest-Lasting Battery Still Running After 180 Years

Disabled Astronaut Project: Breaking Barriers in Space

Seismic Unrest in Vogtland, Possible Magma Intrusion from Earth's Mantle

Investigation Uncovers Ogham Inscription

The World's Quietest Room: You Can Hear Your Blood Flowing in Your Head

The Mysterious Well of Yemen: A Thousand-Year-Old Enigma with an Unfathomable Depth

Rare Hornbill Bird Rescued by Ho Chi Minh City Residents

The World's Most Vibrant Birds

Ancient Beauty Secrets That Have Stood the Test of Time

Harmful Rice Varieties: Health Risks and How to Identify Them

Roman Emperor Augustus' Final Days Uncovered

Japan Begins Hunting Second-Largest Whale on Earth

Scientists Uncover Roman Tomb of Mother Cradling Daughter

Coriander: A Versatile Herb with Notable Health Benefits

China Discovers Neutral Hydrogen Galaxy 5 Billion Light-Years from Earth

Nepali Man Sets Record with 29th Everest Summit

Evolutionary Divergence of African Leopard Unraveled

How The World's Dirtiest River Was Saved

Why Do Weasels Weighing Only a Few Pounds Hunt Wild Boars Weighing 250kg?

Climate Change May Reduce Malaria Risk, Study Finds

China Launches Satellite to Rival SpaceX's Starlink

May Snowfall in Moscow: What's Happening?

What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Ramen Noodles for a Week Straight

41 Dead in Indonesia Flash Floods

Xiaozhai Tiankeng: The World's Deepest Sinkhole

Unearthing the Mystery of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum: Why Archaeologists Tread Lightly

Why Gorillas, Despite Being Vegetarian and Inactive, Maintain Muscles Humans Struggle Without Exercise

10-minute read.

Moscow's favorite archbishop

REPORTER (1in): While the protest leaders attempt to deny the Russian trace, Moscow is not hiding its strong support for Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan. Famous Russian media manager Aram Gabrelyanov recently wrote that Russian special services' ranking officials, tasked with Armenia-related activities, are impressed by Galstanyan.
What's noteworthy is that last year the same Aram Gabrelyanov wrote about the need to form a new opposition group led by a clergy member, and he even named Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan as the candidate.
This casts doubt on the spontaneous nature of Galstanyan's involvement in the protests. Gabrelyanov also mentioned a similar situation in Chechnya and that the "Chechen ethnos was saved by Haji Kadyrov". It appears the KGB has not changed its modus operandi.
The famous Kremlin ideologist Alexander Dugin, a known anti-Armenian, declared that the ongoing protests in Armenia and Georgia are polar opposites. In Georgia the protesters are Western agents, while in Armenia it's the patriots, Dugin said.
full video,

Այո, շտապեցինք

QUESTION: Do you have a consensus around a PM's candidate to replace Pashinyan?
ARCHBISHOP: That's something you should ask political parties and experts.
QUESTION: Is there any specific recommendation?
ARCHBISHOP: No.
QUESTION: On May 9 you gave Pashinyan 1 hour and 20 minutes to resign, without having a roadmap?
ARCHBISHOP: We rushed. //
Galstanyan said they are taking a break from the "street movement" but "everything that we have, all the plans, step-by-step you will know about everything. There are people fully dedicated to carrying out various activities."
Galstanyan plans to hold another meeting with political forces soon.
LHK (Edmon Marukyan's party): We held talks with Bagrat srbazan and support his movement and share his concerns regarding the border delimitation. But since the movement has turned political, we made certain proposals on how we envisage the movement's future. We need to know who the PM's candidate is. We will end our support if we see that the former regime is being given an opportunity to return to power. // [Did someone slap Edmundo last night?]
source, source, source,

video of the Kirants house that falls under the Azeri side of the border

Context in Thursday digest. The coordinates of one house with its barn, one trailer-style shop, and one garage were found to be located on the Azeri side. The owners will receive compensation from the government. The residents of the house will move out by July 24 to allow border guards to be stationed in the area.
The owner says this house was built sometime in 1972-1974 and that during the ongoing clarifications of coordinates, the government informed him that the Soviet records contained an error [leading to him receiving a cadastre certificate in independent Armenia]. This house was targeted and burned down by Azeris during the war in 1990s. The resident purchased it in 2005.
In related news. Kirants farmers will regain access to 25 hectares of land that was used as a buffer zone since 1990s.
video, video,

Foreign Minister Mirzoyan during the Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

MIRZOYAN: This year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our Organization. The Council of Europe remains one of the most important international organizations in protection of human rights and the rule of law.
As we navigate through challenging times, where the threshold for violation of these basic principles is alarmingly high, it is imperative that we recommit ourselves to the values that have guided this institution.
Unfortunately, that is not the case for all the member states not only in the context of internal democratic institutions but also in their relations with other states. Humanitarian developments have unfolded in the geographic area of the Council of Europe, particularly in South Caucasus.
In September 2023, after 9 months of blockade, the world witnessed the forcible displacement of the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijan’s military attack on the region, as documented by the Commissioner for Human Rights after her fact-finding visit in October 2023.
With the help of the international community, the Armenian Government has taken necessary measures to meet the short-term needs of the refugees. Another pressing humanitarian issue remains the issue of the release of all Armenian prisoners of war and civilians illegally detained in Azerbaijan.
Along with this, we should also note the positive developments. In April, Armenia and Azerbaijan finally started the delimitation process based on the 1991 Alma-Ata declaration, which was welcomed by many countries and organizations, including the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
We believe the Council of Europe should contribute to the democratic security of Europe and uphold the rights of all persons living in its geographical area. //
full,

Azerbaijan plans to settle 1,200 Azerbaijani students to study at Artsakh State University in occupied Stepanakert

The regime is accused of altering buildings and churches in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh to remove all traces of the indigenous Armenian population.
source,

Belarus leader Lukashenko visited occupied Shushi, prompting criticism from opposition leader Tikhanovskaya

Yesterday his big mouth spilled some beans about the preparatory phase of the 2020 war. On Friday the two dictators traveled to various regions of Karabakh, and Shushi, located in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Lukashenko wants to have a piece of the construction pie; he wants to build a village for 420 families. He gifted several tractors to Aliyev and an hourlong fellatio, praising Aliyev as the de facto "leader" of the "entire South Caucasus".
Belarus's opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya criticized Lukashenko: "Ironically, the Belarus dictator once again undermines Armenia, his ally in the CSTO, and flies to assist Azerbaijan in Karabakh. This illustrates the weakness of Russian 'military alliances' and Lukashenka’s own hypocrisy. The criminal regime only cares for its own survival at all costs."
source, source, source, source, video,

parliament leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met second time in Geneva under the Inter-Parliamentary Union framework

Alen Simonyan and Sahiba Gafarova Farquaad met on Friday. No details as of writing this. Their first meeting took place in March.
source,

IRS collected 8.5% more taxes in Q1 2024 but didn't meet the goal

Collected: ֏501B (only taxes & duties)
YoY change: +8.5%
Performance rate: 92% (fell short by ֏44B)
ACSES analytical center: They set a high bar in 2023 but today the taxes are not growing as fast; the vehicle resale business isn't as large. If in 2023 the top 1000 taxpayers paid 15% more, this year they paid 2% more. //
Q1 expenses: ֏526B (+24% YoY, -17% from target)
Q1 revenues: ֏525B
Deficit: ֏1B (vs. expected ֏74B)
source,

parliamentary committee greenlights a bill to impose administrative liability for filing an inaccurate tax return

The government suggests that administrative liability be introduced for providing inaccurate data in tax returns, that is, data that is not directly related to calculating taxable income, but is significant for analytics

The bill will oblige taxpayers to provide full and accurate information when filing tax returns and seeks to specify the list of violations subject to inspection by the IRS.
There will be a warning for first-time violators. Failing to provide the correct data within a month will lead to a ֏10,000 ($25) fine and ֏50,000 ($130) for subsequent violations.
source, video,

last month IRS issued ֏251 million in penalties to over 600 companies for evading taxes through cash register receipt machinations

Grocery stores, cosmetics & beauty shops, gas stations, appliance stores, etc.
source,

customs authority raided the Evrika shopping center in Yerevan

It belongs to the Usabov family. Last month alone they received a ֏20 million fine for allegedly violating cash register laws.
source, source,

the Mayor of Yerevan visited Paris where he met a French architect to discuss architectural proposals for the Cascade that recently went under the city's control after decades of neglect

Avinyan visited the office of Wilmotte & Associés Architectes and met with Jean-Michel Wilmotte.
Wilmotte recently traveled to Yerevan to inspect Cascade and the Noragyugh quarter of the city. He presented two potential projects on how to complete the Cascade. Mayor Avinyan will soon present them to the public.
Wilmotte also presented a project seeking to renovate the Noragyugh quarter, located near the center of Yerevan. The project is aimed at solving some of the city’s decades-long issues.
See the Cascade video here: video
TIGRAN AVINYAN: The Cascade project will be presented to the public soon. The second program is the reconstruction of Noragyugh. It will essentially become the "new center" of Yerevan. It's a very large project, an entirely new district with elements borrowed from the Tamanyan style. This is going to be one of the most important projects in Yerevan.
WILMOTTE: It's important to finish the construction of Cascade with simple, modest, but at the same time interesting solutions. We propose building a music hall and a gallery inside the facility. I think this will be a wonderful plan for Yerevan. I will be happy to bring my ideas to Yerevan. The city has a circular shape and it's interesting that Noragyugh will also be circular. It will be a modern district and become a symbol of the capital.
source, source,

Փարիզում Շառլ Ազնավուրին նվիրված հուշատախտակ է բացվել

photo,

Moldovans will hold a referendum in October to decide if they want to join EU

President Sandu singled out Russia and corruption as the biggest threats to the sovereignty of Moldova.
In contrast, the pro-Russian opposition parties want to improve ties with Russia and oppose Sandu's rapid drive for European integration and claim the referendum is an attempt to improve Sandu's chances of winning elections.
source, source,

Armenian parliament's answer to Valentina Matvienko:

"Yes", but we aren't even going to respond to your letter.
story & context,

EBRD assists Armenia to reduce energy dependence on Russia

EBRD: We are working on the development of renewable energy, which is very important in terms of supporting the green agenda. It is also important in terms of increasing energy security and reducing dependence on third countries. We had seen the risks of extreme dependency in Europe. The issue is being discussed with the government of Armenia and the assistance in this direction will continue.
We plan to invest €500 million in Armenia this year, a historic figure, and we hope to maintain this level of investment in the future. Some €640 million have already been invested in Armenia over the past 5 years, half of which in the private sector. //
source,

culture ministers of Armenia and Turkey met in Turkmenistan to discuss the reconstruction of the Ani bridge and the benefits of having cultural cooperation

Part of an international forum by Culture Ministers.
source,

Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan provides details about the EBRD forum that was held in Yerevan this year

REPORTER: This was an international-level meeting with over 3,000 delegates and officials from 74 countries. Why was it held in Yerevan this year?
MINISTER: In 2019 PM Pashinyan met the President of EBRD and suggested holding the forum in Yerevan in 2021. EBRD sent a delegation to assess Armenia's potential to see if we are capable of organizing such a large event. It was approved, but COVID delayed it.
REPORTER: Does organizing it in Armenia bring any benefits?
MINISTER: Of course. It's important to hold as many international forums as possile to place Armenia on the map. The quality of the event organization is also important. Many colleagues told us that this was at an "unprecedented" level and they were pleased that Armenia was able to show that it's a great place for investments and that we are moving forward. The forum was split into two parts: meetings by EBRD officials and ministers to draft plans and hold votes, and meetings with the private sector.
REPORTER: Examples of important events...
MINISTER: Tens of panel discussions and meetings. A very good event was held at the TUMO center attended by the EBRD leader; everyone was very impressed by the students. The EBRD elected a president and worked on its strategy for the coming years. Many panel discussions for digitization, green energy, etc. There were discussions about logistics routes. They highlighted that Crossroads of Peace and Armenia must be part of the regional transport routes. There are active talks around the Middle Corridor that connects Europe to China. Armenia found itself as part of these programs.
REPORTER: There were also publications about North-South's Sisian-Kajaran road and the construction of a new logistics center in Syunik.
MINISTER: This year we launched the construction of part of the southern section of North-South. There is going to be a very big tunnel as well. We involved our important partners: EBRD, ADB, EIB, and the French government. Together we are going to build this 60 km section. A loan agreement was signed with EBRD worth €236 million. Similar agreements will be signed with the other partners for other sections. This is part of the Crossroads of Peace as well. Regarding the construction of a new center in Syunik, it will be for customs and logistics. It will serve the entire cargo traffic, faster and more accessible.
REPORTER: But the EBRD president said they plan to invest €500 million this year. So what about the rest of the funds?
MINISTER: The remaining part will be invested in the form of agreements signed with the private sector, not the government. They will cooperate with private banks and the TUMO center. These loans will help Nagorno-Karabakh refugees, SMEs, etc.
REPORTER: So we will have a relatively cheaper loan portfolio?
MINISTER: Usually yes. The international organizations will ensure liquidity for the banks. It will be possible to provide these resources at a cheaper price to private companies. The loans will be insured. In other words, EBRD guarantees to pay the bank if the business doesn't repay the debt to the bank.
REPORTER: Overall, how will this forum's results affect Armenia's economy?
MINISTER: Holding it in Armenia has greatly improved Armenia's reputation as a place for private investments. Many private investors visited Yerevan and saw how well the events were organized; they were presented with various programs. It's an opportunity to attract new investors and increase demand for bonds issued by Armenia. The President of EBRD informed the whole world that they are investing in Armenia and that others should join as well to take advantage of the opportunity. I expect to see new investors within the next 1-2 years.
REPORTER: Archbishop Galstanyan organized protests right next to this forum, "directed" at this forum. Did this help or harm in any way?
MINISTER: When we learned about their plan to hold the protest nearby, the EBRD leadership and various ministers became concerned for safety. There were even talks about not attending the opening ceremony in the opera building. We had to ask the police to provide additional safety measures. I do not understand why they decided to hold the protest simultaneously with this forum.
REPORTER: Were you ever able to figure out why? [here comes Petros, he is about to start...]
MINISTER: No. If they disagree with certain government decisions perhaps interfering with this forum was not the best way to express it. Harming the organization of this forum is the same as harming Armenia. However, the protest played into our hands because the guests noted the democratic nature of Armenia where everyone has the right to express themselves.
REPORTER: The opposition says there were so many police officers brought there, that it amounted to repressions. Maybe the guests thought Armenia is a "police state"?
MINISTER: No. That morning we met the EBRD secretary who was concerned and didn't know what to do. We reassured them that additional safety measures would be implemented. They thanked us, and I'd like to thank our police officers for preventing problems. Even many guests who gathered at the opera backyard had no idea there were protests not far away.
source,

Date: 05/17/2024

Reading time: 10 minutes, 2071 words

🏛️ Politics & Government

The government's housing security program for the people of Artsakh will not be effective. Hayk Khanumyan

Artsakh, under blockade since December 12, 2022, was exhausted for serious resistance. Mass deportation of Artsakh residents to the Republic of Armenia began on September 24. At the beginning of October, the number of forcibly displaced citizens who crossed the Hakari bridge to Armenia reached 100,617.

CivilNet

Armen Grigoryan denied Dmitry Peskov's statement about the border guards

Armenia proposed to Russia and Moscow accepted that only Armenian border guards should carry out service at Zvartnots airport. Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan denied the statement of the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, that the Armenian side requested that the Russian border guards stay on the Armenia-Turkey and Armenia-Iran border. Peskov confirmed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on May 8.

CivilNet

Border residents overnight on highway to protest Armenia’s

Residents of Kirants continue to express outrage over the government’s decision to cede land to Azerbaijan.

PanArmenian

Armenian, German Foreign Ministers discuss security situation in South Caucasus

The parties noted with satisfaction the active dynamics of the high-level political dialogue between the two countries. Issues of cooperation with international partners in this direction were discussed. There was also an exchange of views on regional economic programs.

Armenpress, Armenian, German FMs discuss security situation in the South Caucasus

Armenian, Austrian foreign ministers discuss the course of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg met with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Strasbourg. He discussed bilateral and EU cooperation as well as the state of Armenia-Azerbaijan talks.

Armenpress, Armenian, German FMs discuss security situation in the South Caucasus

EU welcomes continuation of border delimitation process between Armenia, Azerbaijan

EU welcomes progress made in the framework of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation process. The EU encourages parties to take further decisive steps to tackle other outstanding bilateral issues.

Armenpress, CoE Committee of Ministers welcomes border delimitation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe welcomed the demarcation process, Georgia welcomes launch ofborder delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan - Kobakhidze, CoE Committee of Ministers expresses support to Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process

Delegation from the German Bundestag to visit Armenia

Members of the Social-Democratic faction of the German Bundestag will arrive in Armenia on May 20-22. The delegation from Germany will be received by the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly.

Armenpress, Armenian, German FMs discuss security situation in the South Caucasus

India awaits clear proposals from Armenia on Chabahar Port use - Ambassador

India is waiting for details from the Armenian side regarding use of Chabahar port. Ambassador Nilakshi Saha Sinha: "We will definitely take it into account when we receive clear proposals" Armenia needs more communication projects, ambassador says.

Armenpress

Ruben Vardanyan’s family call on the international community to demand for Vardanyan's unconditional release

The family of Ruben Vardanyan call on the international community to demand for his unconditional release. The family’s international legal counsel stated that the extension of pre-trial detention is a flagrant violation of his rights. Azerbaijan has proclaimed to be the "COP of peace"

Armenpress, Ruben Vardanyan's family calls on the international community to demand the release of Armenians held in Baku, Ruben Vardanyan’s family calls on international community to demand unconditional release forArmenian prisoners

Armenia reaffirms its commitment to the lasting, stable peace in the South Caucasus – Mirzoyan

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said at the 133rd Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. He said Armenia reaffirms its commitment to the lasting, stable peace in the South Caucasus based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity.

Armenpress, Armenian, German FMs discuss security situation in the South Caucasus, Armenia reaffirms its commitment to lasting, stable peace in the South Caucasus – FM

Minister Zhanna Andreasyan departs for Turkmenistan

Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport departs for Turkmenistan on three-day visit. Zhanna Andreasyan will participate in international conference dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the poet Magtymguly Fragi. Conference will be attended by high-ranking delegations from different countries, heads of international organizations, representatives of the scientific and creative community.

Armenpress

Tavush governor meets Kirants residents

Hayk Ghalumyan, governor of Tavush, visited the village of Kirants and met the residents of the village. The closed-door meeting was brief, and the governor left without providing any details to the journalists. Residents have been blocking the Kirants-Voskepar road to protest the agreements reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding border demarcation.

Armenpress

Armenia to hold taxpayers liable for filing inaccurate tax returns

Armenia’s National Assembly committee on economic affairs adopted a bill that seeks to introduce administrative liability for filing inaccurate tax returns. The bill seeks to oblige taxpayers to provide full and accurate information when filing tax returns and to specify the list of violations subject to inspection by customs and tax authorities. Failing to provide correct data within the next 30 days will result in a 10,000 AMD fine.

ArkaAm

Armenian FM reminds Council of Europe about Karabakh refugees and Armenian prisoners of war, held in Azerbaijan

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan reminded the human rights organization about the Karabakh refugees and Armenian prisoners of war, but noted positives in negotiations with Azerbaijan. He said: 'With the help of the international community, the Armenian Government has taken necessary measures to meet the short-term needs of the refugees'

ArkaAm, Armenia reaffirms its commitment to lasting, stable peace in the South Caucasus – FM

Luxembourg parliament adopts motion supporting Armenia, peace, stability in South Caucasus

Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg unanimously adopted a motion expressing support for Armenia. Motion condemns the forced exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijan's unjustified military operation. Motion calls for the immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijan.

ArkaAm

Armenian Ambassador discusses regional processes with Rep. Mark Green

Armenia’s Ambassador to US Lilit Makunts met with Congressman Mark Green (R-Tennessee) on May 16. The interlocutors discussed the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations.

ArmRadio

Henrikh Mkhitaryan draws international community's attention to the problem of captives held in Azerbaijan

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has taken his Instagram to share the news about the extension of the arrest period for the military-political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh held in Azerbaijan. The former captain of the Armenian national football team and the Inter Milan midfielder took his Instagram photo to share.

Armenpress

Ambassador of Armenia to the Holy See presents credentials to His Holiness Pope Francis

The Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the Holy See Boris Sahakyan presented his credentials to His Holiness Pope Francis. Ambassador expressed gratitude for Pope Francis' support for Armenian Genocide. Pope Francis wished success to the newly appointed Ambassador in his mission.

Armenpress

Alen Simonyan addresses students' questions at the University of Geneva

Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, met with the students of the University of Geneva. He answered the questions of students about domestic and foreign policy, inter-parliamentary and interstate negotiations.

Armenpress, Allen Simonyan and Sahiba Gafarova also in Geneva, The heads of the parliaments of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Geneva, Armenian, Azerbaijani Parliament Speakers meet in Geneva, Armenian, Azerbaijani heads of parliament meet in Switzerland

Xi Jinping declared the need to create a new global security structure

President of China, Xi Jinping, believes that in order to settle the Ukrainian crisis, it is necessary to create a new effective structure for ensuring global security. The message says that the solution to any serious problem should be aimed at eliminating not only the symptoms, but also the root cause.

Armenpress

Reverend Bagrat met with ANC representatives

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan met with representatives of Armenian National Congress (ANC) Four people from the ANC were present, including ANC vice-presidents Levon Zurabyan and Aram Manukyan. The first president of Armenia, ANC chairman Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was not present at the meeting.

CivilNet, Archbishop Galstanyan meets with Ter-Petrosyan’s ANC party, Archbishop Bagrat met with representatives of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's party

Renowned French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte presents two projects on Yerevan’s Cascade

Yerevan’s Mayor Tigran Avinyan visited the Paris office of Wilmotte & Associés Architectes and met with a renowned French architect. The mayor also presented a project seeking to renovate the Noragyugh quarter, located near the centre of the city.

ArkaAm

💵 Economy

Acba Bank to allocate 50 million euros for development of SMEs in Armenia

In cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Acba Bank will allocate a total of 50 million Euros for financing and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Armenia. For the first time, the EBRD will share the risk of repayment of loans provided by a financial institution. This cooperation will further expand the financial support provided to SMEs.

ArkaAm, EBRD provides $10 million to Armeconombank toboost support for micro, small and medium-sized businesses in Armenia, EBRD assists Armenia to reduce energy dependence on third countries – President, Akba Bank will allocate 50 million euros to the development of SMEs in Armenia

The Armenian Diocese of Canada denies the financial abuses attributed to Bishop Bagrat

Presbytery of Armenian Diocese of Canada issued statement regarding financial abuses attributed to former leader of the Diocese, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan. Decision on administrative and financial matters of Diocese are made by Diocesan Council and not by the leader, so imputing misconduct to the leader is fabrication and slander.

CivilNet

🎭 Culture

Armenian, Turkish ministers emphasize cultural cooperation's role in the regulation of relations

Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia Zhanna Andreasyan met the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. The ministers emphasized the importance of cultural cooperation between Armenia and Turkey.

Armenpress, Zhanna Andreasyan discussed the restoration of the Ani bridge with her Turkish counterpart

⚽ Sport

Armenian women's basketball player wins Kazakhstan club championship

Inga Manucharyan, a player of the national women's basketball team of Armenia, became the winner of the Kazakhstan club championship. The Armenian player scored 23 points, took possession of the rebounding ball 11 times and made 8 effective passes.

Armenpress

Armenian Chess Players Draw Matches in Sharjah Tournament

Chess players Shant Sargsyan, Manuel Petrosyan and Hayk Martirosyan continue their performances at the Sharjah Masters Masters tournament. Shant ended their matches in a draw in the 3rd round of the 7th tournament in the UAE.

Armenpress

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Hi!
I was wondering if anyone could help out with this one-
My 3g grandmother was Bridget Carey (April 1846-1910). She was born in County Clare, Ireland, and per her obituary, she moved first to Bradford, McKean, PA with her father. On the census, she lists her arrival as 1849. After growing up in Bradford, she married Dennis O'Keefe (1843-1924) and they bought and operated a hotel in Addison, NY for the rest of their lives. I haven't been able to connect her to Irish family, except her brother Michael D. Curry (assume the name was modified a little).
Michael (1843-1886) shows up in Hornell, NY records in 1860? I think. I can't find much on him, but my grandma has many DNA matches through his children, and several kids/kids in law attended Bridget's funeral.
I haven't been able to find any record of her in Bradford, PA before her marriage in the late 1860s. I also cannot find them in the 1870 census. In 1880, they are living in Kendall, McKean Co, PA.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-gazette/147538495/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-gazette/27447018/
Here are clippings from her obituary and funeral.
Through my grandmother's DNA test, I had a hunch that she was born around Cooraclare, Clare, Ireland. Probable DNA match relatives were in this parish, and there is a Bridget Cary baptized July 1846 with a brother Thomas (doesn't match up with Michael D.?) baptized July 1843 with parents John Cary and Mary Gorman. Additionally, their grandfather was probably Dennis Gorman, who sponsored the baptism.
Thanks for any help!

Valeriya Novodvorskaya was born on 17 May 1950 in Baranavichy, Byelorussian SSR to a Jewish engineer, Ilya Burshtyn, and a pediatrician, Nina Novodvorskaya, who came from a noble Russian family. She took her mother's surname because, as Burshtyn noted, because of the ‘poisoning doctors’ case’ and the case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, “Jewish surnames were unpopular”.
Novodvorskaya had been active in the Soviet dissident movement since her youth and was first imprisoned by Soviet authorities in 1969, when she was 19, for distributing leaflets criticising the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia .
On 5 December 1969, at an evening dedicated to the Constitution Day of the USSR in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, before the premiere of Vano Muradeli's opera October, Novodvorskaya scattered handwritten leaflets with an anti-Soviet poem of her own composition about the Soviet Communist Party:
Thank you Party
For all the falsehood and lies,
For all the denunciations and informers,
For the shots in Prague's square,
For all the lies you've yet to tell.
For the paradise of factories and of flats,
All built on crimes in the torture
Chambers of yesterday and today
And for our broken and black world.
Thank you Party
For our bitterness and despair,
For our shameful silence,
Thank you Party.
When she was arrested, investigators didn't believe she acted alone. In Lefortovo prison she behaved defiantly brave, calling the investigator ‘an inquisitor, a sadist and a collaborator with the Gestapo’. Even in prison, she did not stop her activities; she wrote her anti-communist poems on paper and scattered them in the prison yard. She was eventually sent for a psychiatric examination and diagnosed with ‘Sluggish schizophrenia’. This diagnosis was used in the Soviet Union to deprive dissidents of their rights and send them to compulsory psychiatric treatment. Being in compulsory psychiatric treatment was much worse than being in prison, because under the guise of treatment dissidents were subjected to torture and abuse. Novodvorskaya described the torture in Soviet psychiatric hospitals for political activists:

• Beating
  
• Tying the patient to the bed for a few days until numbness sets in.
  
• wrapping the patient in wet towels and sheets. When the cloths dried, they soaked into the body causing terrible pain.
  
• Drilling healthy teeth without anaesthesia until the drill bit goes into the jaw, removing the dental nerve without anaesthesia and then filling.
  
• Injection of sulfazine, medicine was used only in the USSR, and caused terrible pain for a few days, temperature up to 40 degrees and thirst, with almost no water given
  
• Subcutaneous injection of oxygen. A large swelling occurs at the injection site and the prisoner feels as if his skin is being ripped off.
  

Novodvorskaya stayed in this ‘treatment centre’ from June 1970 to February 1972, after which she was released
From 1977 to 1978, she attempted to create an underground political party to fight the CPSU. On 28 October 1978 she became one of the founders of the ‘Free Interprofessional Association of Workers’. She underlined her programme with the regime from the only revolutionary whose books were available to her - Vladimir Lenin. Novodvorskaya and her associates again acted in a demonstratively open manner and even held a congress of the underground party and invited foreign journalists (the congress was held in the flat of one of the participants). The KGB persecuted Novodvorskaya and again sent her to psychiatric hospitals, but to general hospitals where there was no torture. Although sitting in a hospital with seriously mentally ill people for several months for a healthy person is also a form of torture. The congress was eventually dispersed and Novodvorskaya was arrested several more times for throwing leaflets in Moscow. She was again placed under compulsory psychiatric examination and the torture returned, but only for a fortnight. After two weeks, Gorbachev came to power and Valeria was released due to ‘changes in the situation in the country’
On 8 May 1988, she became one of the participants in the creation of the first opposition party in the USSR, Democratic Union. Since 1988 she regularly appeared in the illegal newspaper of the Moscow organisation of the Democratic Union ‘Svobodnoe Slovo’, and in 1990 the newspaper's eponymous publishing house published a collection of her articles. In September 1990, after publishing an article entitled ‘Heil, Gorbachev!’ in the party newspaper Svobodnoe Slovo and speaking at rallies where she tore up portraits of Mikhail Gorbachev, she was accused of publicly insulting the honour and dignity of the USSR president and insulting the state flag
After the collapse of the USSR, she supported Boris Yeltsin, but demanded from him the development of success - a complete ban of the Communist Party. In September 1993, after President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree to dissolve the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, she was one of the first to support this decree. She organised rallies in support of the president. After the storming of the Supreme Soviet building by troops loyal to Yeltsin, Novodvorskaya drank champagne and treated passers-by in the street in honour of his victory over the Congress and Parliament
In March 2010, she signed the Russian opposition's appeal ‘Putin must go away’
On 12 July 2014, she was hospitalised in intensive care, as reported by a number of media outlets, she died in her 65th year of life from phlegmon of the left foot complicated by sepsis. According to her relatives, she had received the injury on her left foot six months earlier and tried to cure it on her own, because Valeria feared and hated doctors
Novodvorskaya did not marry or start a family, because, according to her, ‘the KGB deprived her of such an opportunity back in 1969’. ‘A person who condemns himself to fight the KGB cannot be responsible for his children, cannot vouch for their fate. He makes them hostages... The mother is in one camp, the father in another. What should a child do in this situation? In my opinion, complete irresponsibility.’ Novodvorskaya has held liberal views all her life. She was a consistent opponent of communism and fascism. From a young age she was convinced that as soon as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union stops ‘raping’ the people, ‘they will immediately start enjoying freedoms and rights with joy, with delight, and will begin to build capitalism’. She also advocated a boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Communist China, explaining that democratic nations had no right to support a totalitarian country. In many ways, her views were close to libertarian, although she called the libertarian party's programme unserious and, if anyone tried to implement it seriously, even dangerous
Some Russian liberals called Novodvorskaya the grandmother of Russian democracy and the eternal oppositionist

Sources: russian-language and English-language wikipedia and memoirs by Novodvorskaya herself

Talios had found himself training in a nameless, yet tall mountain. Even nameless, it seemed as if there was a path already carved to the top, as well as... A nicely shaped, round area to train in. How convenient. Someone probably trained here before him, Talios thought.
Talios rolled a relatively large boulder into the center of the area. First, strength optimization. He already makes good use of his strength enchantments, but not enough. He can feel mana going to waste in the runes. It's not optimized enough...
So, Talios punched the boulder, pumping his strength enchantments into the punching arm. Then, he did it again with his other arm, quickly swapping the strength enchantments. But he could feel the mana wasted when he swapped.
"Just how would I go about this..."
《Greater Perception》
Footsteps. Someone's approaching. Talios turns to the staircase carved into the mountain that had led him up here. He watched an old man's head slowly come up from the steps. Then his body. He looked startled, when he had noticed Talios.
"Oh! Didn't think anybody would find my lil hidey-hole! Haha!"
Even with age, he has a hearty laugh. The man is wearing an oversized sweater, and... Boxing shorts? He has wrappings around his hands.
"...I'm surprised you aren't cold up here."
The man would glance down at his clothing, then let out another hearty laugh.
"I've been comin up here for decades, cold up here ain't shit!"
What a peculiar old man... The old man would approach Talios and his punching boulder. Inspecting him. The boulder. The old man would raise his hands up at the boulder. No way he's going to punch it-

CRASH!!

Talios could barely tell what happened. The man threw a punch, and... The boulder was cleaved clean in two. How...
"...You must have a large reserve of mana, old man."
"Ha! Hardly! I just got a few tricks up my sleeve and time on my side."
Hm. Talios has heard something like that before. He would snap his fingers as it would suddenly strike him, although it's more of a metal clank thanks to his armor.
"Time manipulator."
"Righto! Clever one, ain't ya? Haha! But that wasn't it, not this time. Besides, my time manipulation is really not much... But it's unique, most would say."
"Then how..."
"Enchantment optimization. It's what you were trying to do earlier, yeah?"
"...Just how sneaky are you, old man."
"Not that sneaky. Just observant. And please..."
The old man would hold out his hand.
"Call me Valas."
Talios would give Valas a firm handshake.
"In case ya couldn't tell, I've been around the block a couple times. I have a... Unique enchantment system. One much more dynamic. Want some pointers with them rune enchantments of yours?"
"What's your cost."
"Just spendin some time with this old geezer, ha!"
Talios is suspicous... But ultimately, he has no reason to not accept the offer. Worst case scenario, if the old guy tries to kill em, he'll just... Beat up an old guy. So, for the next two weeks... Talios trained under the tutelage of Valas, the Time Manipulating Brawler. He learned his techniques. His abilities. He learned... About him.
"Y'know, back in older days, I fought in underground arenas and shit believe it or not!"
Valas would let out a burp and a laugh immediately after, slamming down even more ale in his log cabin, isolated in the middle of nowhere. Talios sat quietly with the old man, letting him ramble on and on about his life. He seemed... Happy, having someone to talk to.
Then, Talios was training in that round arena on the the mountain.
《Strength x2》
Talios wound up the punch, pouring his strength enchantment into his arm.
"Just as you feel your fist connect, forcefully dispel the mana flowing into your arm!" Valas yelled. He was a strict teacher.
Talios punched the boulder. Just as his fist connected...
《Dispel: Strength x2》
Dispelling the enchantment forcefully causes the mana maintaining it in the area, in this case, Talios's arm, to suddenly surge with power as it would have to rush back into the strength runes to remain stable, after the connection with the rune is severed from the dispel. This causes a very brief surge of strength within the area, allowing for feats of strength over 200% of a beings normal capacity.

CRASH!!

For Talios... This boulder was not just cleaved. A clean hole would be shot straight through the boulder, and it would collapse. Valas claps.
"Ya did it Talios! Knew ya had it in you ya bastard, haha!" Valas is genuinely proud of his tutelage.
But... As he would be laughing, he'd suddenly hack and cough... He'd cover his mouth. Talios would walk over in concern.
"Valas? Are you alright?"
He would wave him off with the hand he had covered his mouth with, and Talios would catch a glimpse... Of blood.
"Valas. You're coughing up blood..."
"I'll be fine ya dope... Come on, let's head to my cabin. I'll... I'll tell ya."
And so, the two travelled back to Valas's cabin. Talios kept a careful eye on Valas... There was a somber look in his eyes. And yet he was smiling the whole time. Eventually, they made it to the cabin... Talios sat down in the wooden chair, creaky as always. Valas poured two drinks for him and Talios, even though Talios never drank it. Then he sat down.
The two sat in silence for a bit. Valas taking a few swigs every little bit. Finally, Valas broke the silence.
"So... Y'know how I'm a time manipulator?"
Talios would nod.
"I didn't have these abilities right away. I guess I just... Didn't know I had em. My ma and pa... Sent me away when I was a baby. Don't remember why. I just know that that was the last time I saw em."
"That was the last time I saw any of my clan. The Iron Dragons, we were called."
"What... Happened?" Talios is hesitant to ask. He doesn't know which questions to ask...
"Killed. All of em. Except for me. I was sent away during it all afterall. But I had nobody to learn my abilities from. So, for years... I thought I just, barely could use magic. Only thing I had to my name was enchantments. I didn't even know my own name. Just that it had a V."
Talios would simply stay silent. Valas would take another swig of ale.
"Until one day, I learned my clan name. From there I searched every god damn corner of the world... Till I found this."
Valas would stand up from his chair, walking over to a safe. He'd input the dials, and pop it open. Inside, numerous trophies would sit. Bronze. Silver... A few golds. He truly was an accomplished tournament fighter. Valas would move the the trophies aside, grabbing at a lone scroll.
"A scroll from my ma and pa. The last thing they ever wrote. The only thing to learn my abilities from. They kept it hidden in the ruins of my village... Ha. Sneaky bastards..."
Valas would put the scroll away.
"But these abilities... They come with consequence."
"And that consequence..?"
Valas would point to himself in response.
"I've only lived 40 years."
What? But... He looks 70, early 80's even. How is that...
"Every second I spent using my time manipulation built up. Added to my age over time. Every second spent Flash Stepping, Speed Blitzing, Time Stopping... It caught up. It caught up-" Valas would suddenly hack and cough again. Blood would be spit onto the table.
Talios is growing increasingly concerned.
"It caught up with me, heh... I didn't even get to pass on the clan..."
There's a tinge of sadness in his voice. The silence would consume the room... Until Valas would let out a hardy laugh.
"Ahh, don't worry about it man! It's about time we hit the hay. Well, I do. You... Don't. Heh. Anyway, same time tomorrow yeah? See ya Talios."
Talios would oblige, leaving the log cabin for the night and leaving Valas to his own devices... But he couldn't help but still feel a bit of concern.
In the morning, Talios had returned to the mountain once more for more training. Valas was waiting for him as always, and they wasted no time training. From dawn... All the way to dusk. The sun had begun setting.
"Say, I've always been meaning to ask ya, Talios... What's with the hourglass?"
Valas would point at the Sands Of Time attached to Talios's belt.
"A time manipulating artifact."
"Ooh. How does it work? Got me curious now!"
And so Talios explained how the Sands Of Time worked. It seemed Valas was thinking of something...
"Huh. Hmm... I got it Talios! Charge up that artifact, and I'll teach ya something."
And so, the training continued well into the night, the moon rising high in the sky while the stars dotted the rest of the empty space... Valas slowly taught Talios to use Flash Step, using himself for demonstrations... And each Flash Step Valas demonstrated... He could feel the end creep closer. It was breathing down his neck now.
After 5 hours, Valas had taught Talios Flash Step. And soon after... He collapsed.
"Valas!"
Talios rushed to his side. Valas weakly patted the ground next to himself.
"C-come on... Lay down with me bud..."
His voice was hoarse. Coughs raked his body every few moments. Talios regardless, obliged. Laying down next to Valas. Watching the stars.
"Best... Cough! Star gazin in the whole world, lemme tell ya..."
Valas would sigh.
"Y'know. I hadn't actually done much with my life... I fought. I... Cough I drank. But that's it. I never settled down until... R-recently."
"Why'd you teach me Flash Step... When you knew this'd happen."
"Because... Cough Because now I can say I've passed on my... Clan..."
It'd hit Talios like a semitruck. He had. Without even realizing... Valas had passed on his clan heritage to Talios with that ability.
"Ha... You sneaky bastard Valas."
"Damn... Right I am... Say. The stars are more beautiful than usual... Aren't they..."
"...You might be right, Valas."
Valas would not respond.
"...Valas?"
Talios would turn his head to look at him. No movement. He would scramble to his knees, checking Valas's pulse.
Nothing. Valas is dead. Talios would take off his helmet, placing it next to himself as he'd kneel over Valas's body. He's... Faintly smiling, it seems.
"You died doing what you wanted... Gazing at the stars. Knowing that you're clan is kept alive, huh..."
"I'll make sure to remember the Iron Dragons. I'll carry on their legacy."
"I promise."
《Sands Of Time: Flash-Step》
Manipulating time on a smaller scale, Talios can manipulate his position in time, allowing him to move a short distance instantly. Costs 15% charge to use.
(The character used in this, Valas, is based off of an old and abandoned character who holds a special place in my heart as my first wizardposting character. I wanted to make something to reference him, even if nobody but me got it... And im proud of this. If anybody who reads this recognizes the character... Good on you.)

Saint Jonah Moiseyevich Atamansky was born in Odessa on September 14, 1852 (according to another source, 1855) into the family of Deacon Moses Florovich Atamansky, who served in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. His father died when he was three (according to another source, seven) years old. His mother, Glykeria, wanted him to follow in his father's footsteps and sent him to church as an altar boy. On her death bed, she blessed him to be a priest, saying: "I want you to be a good pastor."
So, while still very young, Jonah was left a complete orphan. He spent many days and nights at the cemetery at his parents' graves, picking flowers and weaving wreaths for them. He had no refuge except the cemetery, but the cruel watchman beat him and drove him out even from there.
The child began to wander on the streets and on the sea shore, feeding on the contents of dustbins and sleeping at night on garbage-dumps outside the city. He found a refuge for himself in one of the Odessa bell-towers, but was driven out of there by cruel people.
Finally his uncle had pity on him, and then his former nanny. They gave him shelter and sent him to school. But he never ceased to feel that he was an orphan. He studied in a church school, where his teachers noticed his good qualities. Having a good voice, he took part in a church choir. The boy grew up to be God-fearing and religious, praying without ceasing to God.
In 1884 he was ordained to the diaconate, and two years later - to the priesthood. On that occasion his Grace Bishop Nicanor said to those around him: "Take Father Jonah's blessing... I felt a special grace in him, his soul is burning with a sacred flame. He will be a distinguished priest."
In 1897 he began his service in the Odessa Dormition cathedral. He was greatly loved by his flock, all of whom tried to be present at the early Liturgy, which he usually celebrated. They hung on his every word. His house was open for all those in sorrow or homeless, and no one left him unconsoled. He knew people well, could read their thoughts and penetrate into their souls. He could find good in people which no one else saw. He was especially compassionate to orphans, sheltering, feeding and clothing many. He was kind and attentive to all. He constantly served in church, and preached sermons after every service. At home he prayed without ceasing, getting up at midnight to pray for everyone. During storms he would always be in church, praying for those at sea. At night he would serve the midnight service and read akathists, and noone who was present at those night services will ever forget them.
In 1901 Father Jonah became pastor of the maritime port church of Saint Nicholas. Thousands of people were cured of physical and spiritual infirmities through his prayers. He built a hostel at his church where many vagrants, travellers and demon-possessed people whom he had cured found refuge. Through confession, Communion, prayer and conversation he brought them to life again, and they became respectable and orderly people.
He was a second John of Kronstadt, a wonderworker of the south, and was glorified by the same good works for which his contemporary in the north was renowned. When people came to Father John of Kronstadt from the south, he would say: "Why have you travelled to see me? You have your own John of Kronstadt in Father Jonah!"
Very early in his life the grace of the Holy Spirit began to act and manifest Himself in Father Jonah. While yet a deacon he had begun to work miracles. Vera, his oldest daughter, died while still an infant. Father Jonah took the dead child in his arms, fell to his knees before the icon of the Mother of God and began to pray. Little by little the baby returned to life and recovered. She was his favourite daughter and outlived him.
In Odessa there lived a famous doctor, Professor V.P. Filatov. Once a peasant woman brought him her two-year-old son, who had been blind from birth. But the Professor after examining him said that he could do nothing for him; science was powerless in such cases. The sorrowful mother then took the child to Father Jonah. For nine nights Father Jonah stood praying for the child, ceaselessly serving molebens and akathists. On the tenth day he returned the child to his mother, completely cured.
People began to talk about the miracle, and the Soviet authorities decided to conduct an investigation. They called Professor Filatov and tried to get him to accuse Father Jonah of deceit and blackmail. But the professor insisted that this was the child he had examined, and that a miracle had taken place. "How can you admit a miracle here?" they asked him mockingly. But he stood his ground, and the trial ended inconclusively; noone was punished but religious faith was strengthened in the city.
A certain peasant had a twelve-year-old son who was born blind. Hearing that Father Jonah was healing the blind, he brought his son to him. Father Jonah sent the parents and their son to Dr. Filatov. "Only a miracle can help him," was the physician's diagnosis. They then returned to Father Jonah, who ordered that they leave the boy with him (this took place during the Great Fast), and began to pray for him and give him Communion. Within two weeks the child began to see.
After this incident Dr. Filatov began to visit Father Jonah and a friendship grew up between them. When they asked him how he had discovered his method for the transplantation of corneas he replied: "Through the help of Father Jonah's prayers."
Another time there was brought to Father Jonah a possessed man who began to scream. Batiushka said some prayers and told the evil spirit: "Depart from him!" "I am fearsome," replied the demon. "A righteous man is not afraid of you; and a sinner cannot see you. Leave, I tell you!" This happened three times. After the third time the demon departed.
Because of the expulsion of his demons, the enemy of mankind took cruel revenge upon the family of Father Jonah. He had but to begin to cast out a demon and a fire would break out in his house without any apparent cause, or the cats would go mad. Thus the beleaguered family was not at all pleased when the possessed were brought to Father Jonah for healing, for they knew that there would again be misfortunes.
One day Father Jonah stood at the altar table during the all-night vigil, but suddenly he fell silent, his body grew stiff, and a short while later he raised his hands and exclaimed: "Praise ye the name of the Lord! Praise ye the name of the Lord!... Alleluia! Alleluia!" So they led him from the church to his home, his hands raised on high, face streaming with tears, and uttering these words, though he had not finished the service. Those present understood that Batiushka had had a vision. His eldest daughter Vera had seen only part of the vision: the entire sanctuary had been filled with fire. Later, Father Jonah related what he had seen: Christ had come, and after Him priests who were rending the garments on Him. With the Lord came Saint Seraphim, who was weeping bitterly. But the Lord said to him: "Weep not. They will repent!"
Father Jonah endured much persecution and many misfortunes, not only at the hands of invisible foes, but of visible enemies as well. One day, a crowd of seamen, unbelievers, fell upon him; they threw him down and began to choke him, damaging his vocal chords to such an extent that for the last few years of his life he spoke so softly that the sexton had to stand at the doors of the altar during the Divine services amd repeat Batiushka's exclamations so that they would be audible to the faithful.
The enemy also wreaked vengeance upon Father Jonah through his own children: they were almost all sorry failures: they were expelled from school, misfortune haunted them; their marriages were unhappy. All of this was the devil's revenge.
The most extraordinary things happened to Father Jonah. Often, on leaving his bedroom in the presence of his family, he would vanish and at that very moment appear at a village outside the city where some possessed people whom he had cured lived. Or he would leave his home on foot but show up suddenly in his bedroom, even though the doors were shut.
One day, Father Jonah left with his sacristan for the Convent of Saint Michael, which he supported. Having served the all-night vigil there, he left to return home. When he had reached the escalier at the foot of which were located the chuch and the home in which he lived, he suddenly vanished. Only his boots remained near the escalier; these the sacristan took home. That night two peasants, a man and his wife, were travelling towards the city on a cart. By dawn they had reached the Convent of the Annunciation, which located near the church and the home in which he lived. Coming into the Convent, they saw a priest kneeling. Drawing nearer, they found the priest's riassa, but he himself had vanished. Picking up the riassa, the peasants proceeded to the city, went to the church of Father Jonah, related what they had seen and brought out the riassa to show around. Those who served in the sanctuary recognized it as Father Jonah's; Father Jonah, as it turned out, had found himself in his bedroom at dawn, clad only in his undergarments. Handing over the riassa and saying some prayers in the church, the peasants returned to their inn, but the horses they had left there in the morning had disappeared. In tears they hastened back to Batiushka to tell him of their misfortune. Father Jonah told them: "Go to such-and-such an inn; there you will find your horses; take them away with you." The animals were indeed found where Batiushka had said they would be.
An extraordinary thing happened to Batiushka one summer in Kishinev; it was even reported in the local newspaper. The article appeared under the title: "What is this - a dream or reality?" One day in the month of June, a certain woman went to the cemetery to visit the grave of her mother. There she suddenly became aware of a marvellous peaceful singing. Turning towards the voice, she saw a tall, pale priest who was chanting "Holy God...!" She drew closer, but the priest moved farther away. Try as she might, she could not get any closer to him. The priest was not walking, but rather floating above the graves, praying and conversing with the departed. She pursued the strange priest for quite some time, but finally gave up, exhausted. Suddenly the priest sat down on a grave, pulled a prosphora from his pocket and crumbled it up for the ants; he then raised his head and said to her: "Well, you're all worn out from chasing after me, poor Natasha. Here's a prosphora for you!" With these words he handed her a piece of prosphora and added: "Wretched woman, you haven't prepared to receive Communion for fifteen years!" And he vanished...
Astounded by his words and at a loss as to how he could have known about her, the woman began to run about the cemetery, searching for the priest; but she could find him nowhere. Tired, she returned home, but was unable to sleep, amazed was she by the pale priest with the gentle eyes and quiet voice.
Early the next morning, after a sleepless night, she left her home and went to the cathedral square. Near the cathedral she saw two night watchmen disputing amongst themselves. One said: "It was John of Kronstadt!" The other maintained: "No! Father John was of medium stature; this priest was tall!"
When she approached them, the watchmen related to her the following. At dawn of the morning of the previous day they had seen in the sky a dark spot moving towards the city. They thought it was an airplane, but when the spot drew closer, they saw that it was in fact a huge flock of crows, and in their midst was a man whom the crows were harrying; he in turn was fending them off with his cane. The crows settled on the cathedral square and again took to flight, soaring over the trees and the domes of the cathedral. The man, who had also descended to earth, shook with his cane at them, saying: "Cursed ones! Have you flown off?!"
The man, it seems, was a priest with a pale face, tall of stature. He then began to wipe the blood and sweat from his face, and afterwards went up to the doors of the cathedral, entered, and began to pray, making prostrations. Matins and the Liturgy came to an end, and the strange priest approached to kiss the cross. The local priest gave him a prosphora and asked him who he was and where he was from; but the stranger, making no reply, left the cathedral. On the porch he began to distribute money amongst the poor, but to some of them he said: "You are drunkards; you'll just waste it on drink!" And to such he gave nothing. To one old woman he gave some money, saying: "You are a struggler! Pray for the world!" And he vanished...
On hearing all this, the woman concluded that this was the same priest that she had seen in the cemetery. She had not been dreaming! Then she had but one desire: to find that priest. She began to travel from one city to another, going from one church to another in search of him. When she arrived in Odessa, she stopped at the church of St. Nicholas. On seeing Father Jonah, she cried out: "That's him!" - and fainted on the spot. Regaining consciousness, she related everything to Batiushka and presented him with a copy of the Kishinev newspaper.
One of Father Jonah's spiritual daughters related this incident to a certain elder when she was in Moscow. The elder explained: "Angels used to carry Father Jonah to various places. The demons saw this, waylaid him and carried him off to Kishinev. The angels then bore him home again."
During the first years of Soviet power, the authorities did not touch Father Jonah. Then they began to conduct searches in his house and summon him to interrogations. During the removal of church valuables they also took many things from him. Then they tried to arrest him, but the workers and peasants raised such a tumult that they had to let him go quickly.
Father Jonah died after a long and painful illness on May 17/30, 1924. His funeral was extraordinary. Not only the inhabitants of Odessa - all the poor, the tramps, the stevedores and waterfront workers who knew and loved him - but people from outlying villages, towns and neighbouring cities came together to bury their intercessor and benefactor. The authorities forbade them to bury him on Sunday, hoping to avoid a huge assemblage of people; but on Monday even more people came. All of the vast escalier of Odessa, at the base of which stood the church of Saint Nicholas and the house in which Batiushka lived, as well as the waterfront were packed so densely with people that the coffin of Father Jonah, borne aloft by those who honoured him, moved with extreme slowness. Workmen had requested that the burial itself be postponed until after four o'clock in the afternoon when they finished work for the day. They began to carry the coffin to the cemetery at four o'clock, reaching it only in the dead of night, the interment taking place at midnight, so slowly and solemnly did they carry the much-suffering body of Father Jonah, stopping frequently to serve litias.
Father Jonah did not allow his relatives to raise the question of burying him in the church. He prophesied: "They will raze the church; it will no longer exist." He ordered that he be buried in the midst of the nature he loved, "so that the birds may sing over me... Do not build a church; bury me near my relatives."
His grave became a place of prayerful assembly for the believers. A lampada always burned in front of the icon, and the venerators of Father Jonah came to his grave on his namesday and on feastdays, seeking his intercession and kissing his portrait.
Father Jonah died as a result of kidney failure. His bedroom was small and narrow, furnished only by a bed, an armchair and a plain wooden chest of drawers in which he kept a multitude of icons framed behind glass. On the twentieth day after his repose, those who revered him visited this bedroom. During his lifetime he used to sit in the armchair, for he was unable to lie down; and it was in this armchair that he surrendered his soul into the hands of the Lord. One of those who visited his bedroom was a woman with a little boy. On entering the room the child exclaimed, pointing to the chair: "Grandfather is sitting there!" Father Jonah used to receive visitors in his bedroom seated in that chair, and there it was that he had spent the last days of his earthly life.
(Sources: "Father Jonah Atamansky", Orthodox Life, no. 2, 1979)

Saint Jonah Moiseyevich Atamansky was born in Odessa on September 14, 1852 (according to another source, 1855) into the family of Deacon Moses Florovich Atamansky, who served in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. His father died when he was three (according to another source, seven) years old. His mother, Glykeria, wanted him to follow in his father's footsteps and sent him to church as an altar boy. On her death bed, she blessed him to be a priest, saying: "I want you to be a good pastor."
So, while still very young, Jonah was left a complete orphan. He spent many days and nights at the cemetery at his parents' graves, picking flowers and weaving wreaths for them. He had no refuge except the cemetery, but the cruel watchman beat him and drove him out even from there.
The child began to wander on the streets and on the sea shore, feeding on the contents of dustbins and sleeping at night on garbage-dumps outside the city. He found a refuge for himself in one of the Odessa bell-towers, but was driven out of there by cruel people.
Finally his uncle had pity on him, and then his former nanny. They gave him shelter and sent him to school. But he never ceased to feel that he was an orphan. He studied in a church school, where his teachers noticed his good qualities. Having a good voice, he took part in a church choir. The boy grew up to be God-fearing and religious, praying without ceasing to God.
In 1884 he was ordained to the diaconate, and two years later - to the priesthood. On that occasion his Grace Bishop Nicanor said to those around him: "Take Father Jonah's blessing... I felt a special grace in him, his soul is burning with a sacred flame. He will be a distinguished priest."
In 1897 he began his service in the Odessa Dormition cathedral. He was greatly loved by his flock, all of whom tried to be present at the early Liturgy, which he usually celebrated. They hung on his every word. His house was open for all those in sorrow or homeless, and no one left him unconsoled. He knew people well, could read their thoughts and penetrate into their souls. He could find good in people which no one else saw. He was especially compassionate to orphans, sheltering, feeding and clothing many. He was kind and attentive to all. He constantly served in church, and preached sermons after every service. At home he prayed without ceasing, getting up at midnight to pray for everyone. During storms he would always be in church, praying for those at sea. At night he would serve the midnight service and read akathists, and noone who was present at those night services will ever forget them.
In 1901 Father Jonah became pastor of the maritime port church of Saint Nicholas. Thousands of people were cured of physical and spiritual infirmities through his prayers. He built a hostel at his church where many vagrants, travellers and demon-possessed people whom he had cured found refuge. Through confession, Communion, prayer and conversation he brought them to life again, and they became respectable and orderly people.
He was a second John of Kronstadt, a wonderworker of the south, and was glorified by the same good works for which his contemporary in the north was renowned. When people came to Father John of Kronstadt from the south, he would say: "Why have you travelled to see me? You have your own John of Kronstadt in Father Jonah!"
Very early in his life the grace of the Holy Spirit began to act and manifest Himself in Father Jonah. While yet a deacon he had begun to work miracles. Vera, his oldest daughter, died while still an infant. Father Jonah took the dead child in his arms, fell to his knees before the icon of the Mother of God and began to pray. Little by little the baby returned to life and recovered. She was his favourite daughter and outlived him.
In Odessa there lived a famous doctor, Professor V.P. Filatov. Once a peasant woman brought him her two-year-old son, who had been blind from birth. But the Professor after examining him said that he could do nothing for him; science was powerless in such cases. The sorrowful mother then took the child to Father Jonah. For nine nights Father Jonah stood praying for the child, ceaselessly serving molebens and akathists. On the tenth day he returned the child to his mother, completely cured.
People began to talk about the miracle, and the Soviet authorities decided to conduct an investigation. They called Professor Filatov and tried to get him to accuse Father Jonah of deceit and blackmail. But the professor insisted that this was the child he had examined, and that a miracle had taken place. "How can you admit a miracle here?" they asked him mockingly. But he stood his ground, and the trial ended inconclusively; noone was punished but religious faith was strengthened in the city.
A certain peasant had a twelve-year-old son who was born blind. Hearing that Father Jonah was healing the blind, he brought his son to him. Father Jonah sent the parents and their son to Dr. Filatov. "Only a miracle can help him," was the physician's diagnosis. They then returned to Father Jonah, who ordered that they leave the boy with him (this took place during the Great Fast), and began to pray for him and give him Communion. Within two weeks the child began to see.
After this incident Dr. Filatov began to visit Father Jonah and a friendship grew up between them. When they asked him how he had discovered his method for the transplantation of corneas he replied: "Through the help of Father Jonah's prayers."
Another time there was brought to Father Jonah a possessed man who began to scream. Batiushka said some prayers and told the evil spirit: "Depart from him!" "I am fearsome," replied the demon. "A righteous man is not afraid of you; and a sinner cannot see you. Leave, I tell you!" This happened three times. After the third time the demon departed.
Because of the expulsion of his demons, the enemy of mankind took cruel revenge upon the family of Father Jonah. He had but to begin to cast out a demon and a fire would break out in his house without any apparent cause, or the cats would go mad. Thus the beleaguered family was not at all pleased when the possessed were brought to Father Jonah for healing, for they knew that there would again be misfortunes.
One day Father Jonah stood at the altar table during the all-night vigil, but suddenly he fell silent, his body grew stiff, and a short while later he raised his hands and exclaimed: "Praise ye the name of the Lord! Praise ye the name of the Lord!... Alleluia! Alleluia!" So they led him from the church to his home, his hands raised on high, face streaming with tears, and uttering these words, though he had not finished the service. Those present understood that Batiushka had had a vision. His eldest daughter Vera had seen only part of the vision: the entire sanctuary had been filled with fire. Later, Father Jonah related what he had seen: Christ had come, and after Him priests who were rending the garments on Him. With the Lord came Saint Seraphim, who was weeping bitterly. But the Lord said to him: "Weep not. They will repent!"
Father Jonah endured much persecution and many misfortunes, not only at the hands of invisible foes, but of visible enemies as well. One day, a crowd of seamen, unbelievers, fell upon him; they threw him down and began to choke him, damaging his vocal chords to such an extent that for the last few years of his life he spoke so softly that the sexton had to stand at the doors of the altar during the Divine services amd repeat Batiushka's exclamations so that they would be audible to the faithful.
The enemy also wreaked vengeance upon Father Jonah through his own children: they were almost all sorry failures: they were expelled from school, misfortune haunted them; their marriages were unhappy. All of this was the devil's revenge.
The most extraordinary things happened to Father Jonah. Often, on leaving his bedroom in the presence of his family, he would vanish and at that very moment appear at a village outside the city where some possessed people whom he had cured lived. Or he would leave his home on foot but show up suddenly in his bedroom, even though the doors were shut.
One day, Father Jonah left with his sacristan for the Convent of Saint Michael, which he supported. Having served the all-night vigil there, he left to return home. When he had reached the escalier at the foot of which were located the chuch and the home in which he lived, he suddenly vanished. Only his boots remained near the escalier; these the sacristan took home. That night two peasants, a man and his wife, were travelling towards the city on a cart. By dawn they had reached the Convent of the Annunciation, which located near the church and the home in which he lived. Coming into the Convent, they saw a priest kneeling. Drawing nearer, they found the priest's riassa, but he himself had vanished. Picking up the riassa, the peasants proceeded to the city, went to the church of Father Jonah, related what they had seen and brought out the riassa to show around. Those who served in the sanctuary recognized it as Father Jonah's; Father Jonah, as it turned out, had found himself in his bedroom at dawn, clad only in his undergarments. Handing over the riassa and saying some prayers in the church, the peasants returned to their inn, but the horses they had left there in the morning had disappeared. In tears they hastened back to Batiushka to tell him of their misfortune. Father Jonah told them: "Go to such-and-such an inn; there you will find your horses; take them away with you." The animals were indeed found where Batiushka had said they would be.
An extraordinary thing happened to Batiushka one summer in Kishinev; it was even reported in the local newspaper. The article appeared under the title: "What is this - a dream or reality?" One day in the month of June, a certain woman went to the cemetery to visit the grave of her mother. There she suddenly became aware of a marvellous peaceful singing. Turning towards the voice, she saw a tall, pale priest who was chanting "Holy God...!" She drew closer, but the priest moved farther away. Try as she might, she could not get any closer to him. The priest was not walking, but rather floating above the graves, praying and conversing with the departed. She pursued the strange priest for quite some time, but finally gave up, exhausted. Suddenly the priest sat down on a grave, pulled a prosphora from his pocket and crumbled it up for the ants; he then raised his head and said to her: "Well, you're all worn out from chasing after me, poor Natasha. Here's a prosphora for you!" With these words he handed her a piece of prosphora and added: "Wretched woman, you haven't prepared to receive Communion for fifteen years!" And he vanished...
Astounded by his words and at a loss as to how he could have known about her, the woman began to run about the cemetery, searching for the priest; but she could find him nowhere. Tired, she returned home, but was unable to sleep, amazed was she by the pale priest with the gentle eyes and quiet voice.
Early the next morning, after a sleepless night, she left her home and went to the cathedral square. Near the cathedral she saw two night watchmen disputing amongst themselves. One said: "It was John of Kronstadt!" The other maintained: "No! Father John was of medium stature; this priest was tall!"
When she approached them, the watchmen related to her the following. At dawn of the morning of the previous day they had seen in the sky a dark spot moving towards the city. They thought it was an airplane, but when the spot drew closer, they saw that it was in fact a huge flock of crows, and in their midst was a man whom the crows were harrying; he in turn was fending them off with his cane. The crows settled on the cathedral square and again took to flight, soaring over the trees and the domes of the cathedral. The man, who had also descended to earth, shook with his cane at them, saying: "Cursed ones! Have you flown off?!"
The man, it seems, was a priest with a pale face, tall of stature. He then began to wipe the blood and sweat from his face, and afterwards went up to the doors of the cathedral, entered, and began to pray, making prostrations. Matins and the Liturgy came to an end, and the strange priest approached to kiss the cross. The local priest gave him a prosphora and asked him who he was and where he was from; but the stranger, making no reply, left the cathedral. On the porch he began to distribute money amongst the poor, but to some of them he said: "You are drunkards; you'll just waste it on drink!" And to such he gave nothing. To one old woman he gave some money, saying: "You are a struggler! Pray for the world!" And he vanished...
On hearing all this, the woman concluded that this was the same priest that she had seen in the cemetery. She had not been dreaming! Then she had but one desire: to find that priest. She began to travel from one city to another, going from one church to another in search of him. When she arrived in Odessa, she stopped at the church of St. Nicholas. On seeing Father Jonah, she cried out: "That's him!" - and fainted on the spot. Regaining consciousness, she related everything to Batiushka and presented him with a copy of the Kishinev newspaper.
One of Father Jonah's spiritual daughters related this incident to a certain elder when she was in Moscow. The elder explained: "Angels used to carry Father Jonah to various places. The demons saw this, waylaid him and carried him off to Kishinev. The angels then bore him home again."
During the first years of Soviet power, the authorities did not touch Father Jonah. Then they began to conduct searches in his house and summon him to interrogations. During the removal of church valuables they also took many things from him. Then they tried to arrest him, but the workers and peasants raised such a tumult that they had to let him go quickly.
Father Jonah died after a long and painful illness on May 17/30, 1924. His funeral was extraordinary. Not only the inhabitants of Odessa - all the poor, the tramps, the stevedores and waterfront workers who knew and loved him - but people from outlying villages, towns and neighbouring cities came together to bury their intercessor and benefactor. The authorities forbade them to bury him on Sunday, hoping to avoid a huge assemblage of people; but on Monday even more people came. All of the vast escalier of Odessa, at the base of which stood the church of Saint Nicholas and the house in which Batiushka lived, as well as the waterfront were packed so densely with people that the coffin of Father Jonah, borne aloft by those who honoured him, moved with extreme slowness. Workmen had requested that the burial itself be postponed until after four o'clock in the afternoon when they finished work for the day. They began to carry the coffin to the cemetery at four o'clock, reaching it only in the dead of night, the interment taking place at midnight, so slowly and solemnly did they carry the much-suffering body of Father Jonah, stopping frequently to serve litias.
Father Jonah did not allow his relatives to raise the question of burying him in the church. He prophesied: "They will raze the church; it will no longer exist." He ordered that he be buried in the midst of the nature he loved, "so that the birds may sing over me... Do not build a church; bury me near my relatives."
His grave became a place of prayerful assembly for the believers. A lampada always burned in front of the icon, and the venerators of Father Jonah came to his grave on his namesday and on feastdays, seeking his intercession and kissing his portrait.
Father Jonah died as a result of kidney failure. His bedroom was small and narrow, furnished only by a bed, an armchair and a plain wooden chest of drawers in which he kept a multitude of icons framed behind glass. On the twentieth day after his repose, those who revered him visited this bedroom. During his lifetime he used to sit in the armchair, for he was unable to lie down; and it was in this armchair that he surrendered his soul into the hands of the Lord. One of those who visited his bedroom was a woman with a little boy. On entering the room the child exclaimed, pointing to the chair: "Grandfather is sitting there!" Father Jonah used to receive visitors in his bedroom seated in that chair, and there it was that he had spent the last days of his earthly life.
(Sources: "Father Jonah Atamansky", Orthodox Life, no. 2, 1979)

Now ko lang narealize na ang fucked-up pala ng childhood ko tipo na kahit gaano pa kasaya, icoconsider ko sya as fucked-up since di ko deserve ma-sexually assault at the very young age.
bagong lipat kami sa lugar na yon, 5 years old pa lang ako non and i'm a type of tomboy girl na mahilig makipaglaro sa mga batang lalake, mahilig sa larong panlalake kaya mostly ng mga kaibigan ko, ay mga lalake din.
Hindi naman kasi kami well-off kaya wala ako masyadong gadgets that time. Until dumating sa point na tinatake advantage na nila ako para makalaro ako. gusto nila hawakan nila private parts ko. Akala ko normal yon. akala ko okay yung ganon na trade kasi sabi nila, ganon din ginawa nila sa iba kaya pumayag ako.
Grabe, ayoko alalahanin pero clear and vivid pa rin yung scene na yon. Imagine ang liit ko pa tas yung mga kalaro ko nasa 12 yrs old ata pinakamatanda tas the rest nasa 8-10 yrs old na. Sobrang dami nila non siguro yung circle nila around 8 na tao?
I remembered dinala pa nila ako sa abandoned clubhouse ng village na yon para don gawin kababuyan nila. pinahawak, pinasubo, at lahat yon pumatong sakin. Naalala ko yung pag sabi ko ng ayoko na. Naalala ko yung sinabi ko na gusto ko na umuwi. Naalala ko yung sinabi ni stephen na bawal ako magsumbong, bawal ko sabihin yung nangyari. naalala ko yung pag-assure nila na normal lang yon. TANGINA NYO! NAGSUSUFFER SANA KAYO NGAYON!
Well, nakarating naman yung chismis na yan sa family ko since sinabi ni stephen sa pinsan ko na ka-age nya that time at kalaro na "nakntt nila ako." grabe trauma non sa akin. imagine ako na yung victim, sakin pa sila nagalit. Ako na yung nawalan ng innocence, ako pa yung nagkaroon ng punishment. after non, never na akong pinalabas sa bahay.
Naalala ko din na napag-usapan to kasama yung barangay pero hindi naging success dahil nung iniinterview ako, wala akong naibigay na statement. Pinakwento sakin ano nangyari, hindi ko naikwento dahil nauna yung hiya ko.
Matagal ko binaon sa limot to pero nag relapse na naman dahil may nabasa ako about s.a.
anw, hindi pa dyan natapos yung kalbaryo ko. at the age of 11 or 12, kamag-anak ko naman mismo ang gumawa sa akin.
Pinsan ng tatay ko. Nakikitira lang sya sa amin that time dahil may part time work sya within the city. para makatipid, samin na lang muna sya pinatira. Ang kasama ko lang that time sa bahay ay mga pinsan ko at lola dahil bakasyon ito. ang parents ko ay nag-out of town. dahil may kalawakan ang bahay namin, 2 ang salas, 3 ang kwarto, magkakahiwalay pa rin kami.
sinamahan ako ng tito ko na yon sa kwarto na walang pinto at tanging kurtina lang yung harang at niyakap. akala ko normal na paglalambing lang dahil mag tiyuhin kami pero hindi pala.
Sinumulan nya ako halikan sa leeg, at pumiglas ako. humigpit ang yakap sabay sabing wag ako aalis. Hindi ako umalis, pero patuloy ko syang pinipigilan sa ginagawa nya. Kinocomplement nya na ang ganda kong bata. tinanong nya kung ano kulay ng panty ko di ko sinabi kaya binuksan nya shorts ko tinanong ko sya kung ano ginagawa nya hindi sya sumagot. Tinaas nya yung damit ko at hinawakan nya yon kahit na sabi ko ayoko.
Nagpumiglas ako don, pero tuloy pa rin sya. Niyakap nya ulit ako sabay umikot sya para nakapatong na sya. Ramdam ko yon. ramdam ko yung gusto nya iparamdam. Alam ko kung ano yung dumidikit na yon. habang nakapatong sya, binibigyan nya ako ng sunod-sunod na kiss. Nagdahilan ako na naiihi ako kaya pinaalis nya ako pero sinundan nya ako hanggang banyo. buti na lang, naisara ko. Paglabas ko ng banyo, naalala ko na binuhat nya ako papunta sa isang kwarto. kwarto ng parents ko.
Buti nalang. buti naka lock. sa isip ko ngayon, kung nagkataon na bukas yon, narape na ako.
after ng unsuccessful attempt nya, umalis na sya. ako? napaiyak. natakot. at nagsumbong pero sa online friend ko. naalala ko, umiyak ako sa likod bahay non kasi takot ako na makita sya. pero sya? acting cool as if walang ginawang kagaguhan.
hindi halata na nangyari sakin to at ginawa nya kasi after non, kinakausap ko pa rin sya. hindi ko pinahalata na may ilang dahil natakot ako malaman ng iba. natakot at nahiya na naman ako magsalita. feel ko isa sa factor na natakot ako na makita yung vulnerability ko dahil nga tomboy ako. takot ako makita yung weakness ko. gusto ko makita nila yung masculinity ko.
ilan taon rin yung lumipas na di kami nagsama sa iisang bubong pero this time, at one occasion, napagsamantalahan na naman ako. 14 or 15 yrs old ako non. mabilis lang yung pangyayari, niyakap nya ako sabay hawak sa tyan at tumaas papunta sa boobs ko sabay hinawakan at pinisil. Nagulat ako sa bilis ng pangyayari, buti na lang, nakita ng lola ko yung nangyari.
Tinanong nya ako, ni-confront nya ako. tinaning nya ako kung hinawakan ba yung dd ko.
Sorry.
Napangunahan na naman ako ng takot at hiya. gusto ko na sana magsalita kaso ayoko masira yung gabi na yon dahil sa akin. for the 3rd time around, natakot at nahiya na naman ako. kaya sinabi ko na, "hindi. tiyan ko lang yon".
Hindi ko alam sa sarili ko bakit hinayaan ko na naman na palagpasin yung ganon pagkakataon. sorry.
ang tagal na taon na hindi ko na ulit sya nakita. 2 years? 3 years? tapos ito na naman. Nawalan sya ng trabaho kaya bilang tulong sa kanya, samin na naman sya pinatira.
anw, nasa legal age na ako that time. so, ito na nga hindi ko matiis na araw-araw ko nakikita sa bahay yung abuser ko. araw-araw ako wala sa sarili non. kinakausap ko sya casually kasi kailangan ko ng tulong nya. Pero hindi ako nag-stay ng matagal sa lugar na nasan din sya. Ilap ako, kung tutuusin. kung maiiwan ako kasama sya, magkukulong ako sa kwarto.
until one time na sobrang uncomfortable na talaga ako sa presence nya kasi iba na sya makatingin, nag burst out na ako. nag sumbong na ako. finally, yung bigat na nakapagsabi ka sa parents mo, nawala yung bigat. hahahaha
akala ko mawawala yung bigat pero hindi pala. lalo lang nadagdagan. TANGINANG BUHAY TO! Tagal ko kinimkim, tapos hindi ako paniniwalaan.
grabe lugmok ko non. pinaalis ako. oo. ako yung pinaalis. grabe yung gulo na inabot nito sa pamilya namin. nagsumbong ako sa sa nakatatanda kong pinsan. grabe. iba sa feeling na meron naniniwala sayo. grabe yung revelation that night. puro iyak at galit. that night ko nalaman na even my dad was his victim too. and this made me wonder, bakit hindi ako pinaniwalaan? don ko nalaman na sa family talaga namin may mga manyakis, my lolo, my uncle, tanginang pamilya to.
kung tatanungin nyo, kamusta ako ngayon. okay na ako pero nandon pa rin yung trauma. hindi na mawawala to. okay na kami ng family ko. natutunan ko na lang tanggapin na hayaan nalang yung nangyari pero di ko kakalimutan. ganon naman talaga filipino mentality e mas katanggap-tanggap pa maging manyakis at rapist kaysa maging bading sa pamilya.
alam nyo ba ngayon, sobrang libog kong tao. grabe yung mga words na lumalabas sa bibig ko walang filter. sobrang hilig ko sa sex pero hindi naman ako sex addict. mahilig manood ng porn but wala naman ako porn addiction. i just found out na naging comfortable ako sa usaping sex and kabastusan dahil naging coping mechanism ko to sa trauma ko.
ps. i filtered some roles para di malaman sino ako just in case, lumabas to sa ibang platform.