-SHELL BEHAVIOUR
A shell is generated from a gun with it's maximum velocity as indicated on it's stat card. Shell penetration must be calculated using the shell's calibre and it's velocity. As a shell travels, it's velocity decreases, therefore a shot from 10 to 15 km away will have notably reduced penetration compared to a point blank salvo. A longer ranged shot also impacts armour at an angle which further decreases your chance at penetration. Shells deal damage in 2 ways, first being a direct penetrating hit of the shell to an internal component, such as a magazine, elevator, turret or funnel. The second being a spherical explosion which deals damage to the hull and components in the blast radius.
-HE
HE shells penetrate and explode upon the first surface they hit, though I'm not sure how the damage dealt is calculated. They explode immediately, and deal damage in a sphere, the diameter first depends on if it penetrates, and then depending on the thickness of armour and calibre of shell. HE will almost always deal some form of chip damage even upon a non-penetration.
-AP
AP, more accurately APHE, shells penetrate several layers of armour, need a minimum thickness to fuse against and explode after a set distance, unknown to myself but probably depending on calibre and shell velocity. If an AP shell is unable to penetrate the first surface it hits, it deals no/very little damage. The AP shell can be stopped by internal/layered armour, can be defeated by angling armour (ricochet if angled enough) and are able to explode and generate their damage radius further inside the ship to hit better protected components. If an AP shell never meets the minimum thickness required to fuse, it never explodes and generates an Over Penetration. The fuse sensitivity is determined by the calibre of shell, a larger shell requires a thicker plate to fuse. In general, AP shells deal no damage if stopped before they can fuse, though deal little damage if they are stopped in a very short distance after fusing.
-AP VS HE
AP usually deals a fair amount more damage than HE, though entirely depending on if the shell is able to penetrate the armour it meets. If you find you have little issue penetrating the enemy ship, AP will be the better option. If you find you are often non-penetrating the ship, HE will at the very least deal chip damage that AP may not.
-ON ARMOUR
The best way to armour a ship would of course be external plates, giving the shell no external hull to penetrate will reduce or entirely eliminate damage received. That being said, internal armour does work, you will still receive a small amount of damage from non-penetrating hits exploding against the external hull but it will stop shells and I believe it will stop the explosion from damaging parts beyond it, or reduce said damage at the very least. Layering armour also has an effect, placing barbettes and armoured rooms around elevators and magazines will enhance their protection should a shell defeat your primary armour. Deck armour is also very important, a long range engagement will land shots onto your deck along with your belt. Your deck doesn't have to be quite thick, as the shells usually impact at a very poor angle, resulting in ricochets and non-penetrations for a modest thickness. The actual block thickness also has no bearing on armour effect, a very thin plate of high thickness will provide the same protection as a large hull block at the same thickness for a much lower weight penalty.
-TESTING
You can test your ship's armour in the test sail, to improve your ships protection or test survivability. First would be to collect the stats on the gun you want to test in the dock, noting the gun's calibre in mm, the velocity in m/s, and the damage. Take your ship into a test sail, deactivate your AAA to avoid unpleasant torpedo inquiries and press F4 to enter the freecam, the controls of which are the same as the Gallery. In your settings, turn on Developer Mode and navigate to the "Misc" tab that should appear at the top left of your window. This will allow you to spawn a custom shell, firing in the direction of your mouse cursor. Input the stats you collected earlier, select the shell type you wish to test, and turn on "Penetration" to have a visual aid for the shell's behaviour and fire upon your ship at will. To test for longer range shots, the best I can recommend is to lower the velocity 100-300 m/s and fire at a downward angle at your ship.
-CLOSING
There is quite a lot more complexity and refinement to the shell system than first meets the eye, a thickness/angle calculator, multi-layer penetration calculation, shell fusing, and HE filler for AP shells. Opposite to what I first though, internal bulkheads and belting is very much functional and can be used, or abused, to improve the survivability of your beyond setting the thickness of the main hull. If this is already all marked down and know, I apologize for effectively proving a round Earth hundreds of years after the fact. What is readily apparent to me is that I've not gotten the full understanding on how shells behave in Navalart, notably on the effects of HE shells. I do hope that the gaps in my observations can be filled by others with more dedication than I.

I am currently making a Calorie Tracking app using Swift, but am having some issues with how different views are presented using sheets when trying to pass a variable
I have 2 views - my CaloriesView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct CaloriesView: View { u/EnvironmentObject var viewModel: AuthViewModel @EnvironmentObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @State private var shouldPresentSheet: Bool = false @State private var selectedCategory: String? = nil var body: some View { NavigationView { ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 20) { CurrentCaloriesView(viewModel: calsViewModel) mealSection("Breakfast", foods: calsViewModel.breakfasts) mealSection("Lunch", foods: calsViewModel.lunches) mealSection("Dinner", foods: calsViewModel.dinners) mealSection("Other Food", foods: calsViewModel.otherFoods) } .navigationBarTitle("Calories", displayMode: .inline) } } .onAppear { Task { await calsViewModel.fetchTodayMacros() await calsViewModel.fetchTodayFoodIntake() } } .sheet(isPresented: $shouldPresentSheet) { FoodListView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel) } } @ViewBuilder private func mealSection(_ category: String, foods: [(String, Double)]) -> some View { VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 10) { Text(category) .font(.headline) .padding(.top) ForEach(foods.indices, id: \.self) { index in let food = foods[index] VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 8) { Text(food.0) .font(.headline) .bold() Text("Weight: \(food.1, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .padding(.vertical, 8) } Button(action: { Task { let currentDate = Date() // Use the current date let currentUserId = Auth.auth().currentUser!.uid // Directly using the user ID as we're sure user is logged in do { let macrosDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesMacrosDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !macrosDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createMacrosDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } let foodIntakeDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesFoodIntakeDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !foodIntakeDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createIntakeDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } selectedCategory = category shouldPresentSheet = true } catch { print("Error creating documents: \(error.localizedDescription)") // Handle errors, perhaps by showing an alert to the user } } }) { Label("Add Food For \(category)", systemImage: "plus.circle.fill") .font(.headline) .foregroundColor(.white) .padding() .frame(maxWidth: .infinity) .background(Color.green) .cornerRadius(10) } .padding(.bottom) } } } 

And my FoodView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct FoodListView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @ObservedObject var foodViewModel = FoodViewModel() @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss @Environment(\.presentationMode) var presentationMode var body: some View { NavigationView { List(foodViewModel.foods) { food in NavigationLink(destination: FoodDetailView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel, food: food)) { Text(food.name) } } .navigationTitle("Select Food") .toolbar { ToolbarItem(placement: .navigationBarLeading) { Button("Cancel") { dismiss() } } } .onAppear { foodViewModel.fetchFoods() } } } } struct FoodDetailView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel var food: Food @State private var weight: String = "100" @State private var showConfirmation: Bool = false @State private var errorMessage: String? @ObservedObject var authViewModel = AuthViewModel() var body: some View { VStack { TextField("Enter weight in grams", text: $weight) .keyboardType(.numberPad) .textFieldStyle(RoundedBorderTextFieldStyle()) .padding() if let weightAsDouble = Double(weight) { Text("Calories: \(Double(food.calories) * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") kcal") Group { Text("Protein: \(food.protein * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Carbs: \(food.carbs * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Fat: \(food.fat * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .font(.headline) } Spacer() Button("Add Food") { Task { let today = Date() guard let userId = Auth.auth().currentUser?.uid else { errorMessage = "Unexpected error: User ID is not available." return } do { let weightDouble = Double(weight) ?? 100 let mealType: MealType = .other // This should be determined or selected by the user print("Adding food with weight: \(weightDouble)") // Debug log try await calsViewModel.addFoodIntakeAndUpdateMacros(userId: userId, date: today, food: food, weight: weightDouble, mealType: mealType) showConfirmation = true } catch { errorMessage = "An unexpected error occurred: \(error.localizedDescription)" } } } .alert("Food Added", isPresented: $showConfirmation) { Button("OK", role: .cancel) { } } message: { Text("Your daily intake has been updated.") } if let errorMessage = errorMessage { Text(errorMessage) .foregroundColor(.red) .padding() } Spacer() } .padding() .navigationTitle("\(food.name) Details") } } 

Currently, in FoodDetailsView, the mealType variable that is being saved to the firestore document is hardcoded to be ‘Other Food’, so all of the food, no matter which of the 4 "Add Food For \(category)" buttons I click is being shown in the ‘Other Food’ category
I instead want the food to be saved into the Firestore document with the relevant mealType, depending on which section the button is clicked in
I have tried doing this by passing a mealType variable through when the “Add Food For \(category)" button is clicked, as you can see in the new versions of CaloriesView and FoodView below:
CaloriesView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct CaloriesView: View { @EnvironmentObject var viewModel: AuthViewModel @EnvironmentObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @State private var shouldPresentSheet: Bool = false @State private var selectedCategory: String? = nil @State private var selectedMealType: MealType? = nil var body: some View { NavigationView { ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 20) { CurrentCaloriesView(viewModel: calsViewModel) mealSection("Breakfast", foods: calsViewModel.breakfasts, mealType: .breakfast) mealSection("Lunch", foods: calsViewModel.lunches, mealType: .lunch) mealSection("Dinner", foods: calsViewModel.dinners, mealType: .dinner) mealSection("Other Food", foods: calsViewModel.otherFoods, mealType: .other) } .navigationBarTitle("Calories", displayMode: .inline) } } .onAppear { Task { await calsViewModel.fetchTodayMacros() await calsViewModel.fetchTodayFoodIntake() } } .sheet(isPresented: $shouldPresentSheet) { if let selectedMealType = selectedMealType { FoodListView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel, mealType: selectedMealType) } } } @ViewBuilder private func mealSection(_ category: String, foods: [(String, Double)], mealType: MealType) -> some View { VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 10) { Text(category) .font(.headline) .padding(.top) ForEach(foods.indices, id: \.self) { index in let food = foods[index] VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 8) { Text(food.0) .font(.headline) .bold() Text("Weight: \(food.1, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .padding(.vertical, 8) } Button(action: { Task { let currentDate = Date() let currentUserId = Auth.auth().currentUser!.uid do { let macrosDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesMacrosDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !macrosDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createMacrosDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } let foodIntakeDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesFoodIntakeDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !foodIntakeDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createIntakeDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } selectedCategory = category selectedMealType = mealType shouldPresentSheet = true } catch { print("Error creating documents: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } }) { Label("Add Food For \(category)", systemImage: "plus.circle.fill") .font(.headline) .foregroundColor(.white) .padding() .frame(maxWidth: .infinity) .background(Color.green) .cornerRadius(10) } .padding(.bottom) } } } 

FoodView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct FoodListView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @ObservedObject var foodViewModel = FoodViewModel() @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss @Environment(\.presentationMode) var presentationMode var mealType: MealType var body: some View { NavigationView { List(foodViewModel.foods) { food in NavigationLink(destination: FoodDetailView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel, food: food, mealType: mealType)) { Text(food.name) } } .navigationTitle("Select Food") .toolbar { ToolbarItem(placement: .navigationBarLeading) { Button("Cancel") { dismiss() } } } .onAppear { foodViewModel.fetchFoods() } } } } struct FoodDetailView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel var food: Food var mealType: MealType @State private var weight: String = "100" @State private var showConfirmation: Bool = false @State private var errorMessage: String? @ObservedObject var authViewModel = AuthViewModel() var body: some View { VStack { TextField("Enter weight in grams", text: $weight) .keyboardType(.numberPad) .textFieldStyle(RoundedBorderTextFieldStyle()) .padding() if let weightAsDouble = Double(weight) { Text("Calories: \(Double(food.calories) * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") kcal") Group { Text("Protein: \(food.protein * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Carbs: \(food.carbs * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Fat: \(food.fat * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .font(.headline) } Spacer() Button("Add Food") { Task { let today = Date() guard let userId = Auth.auth().currentUser?.uid else { errorMessage = "Unexpected error: User ID is not available." return } do { let weightDouble = Double(weight) ?? 100 print("Adding food with weight: \(weightDouble)") // Debug log try await calsViewModel.addFoodIntakeAndUpdateMacros(userId: userId, date: today, food: food, weight: weightDouble, mealType: mealType) showConfirmation = true } catch { errorMessage = "An unexpected error occurred: \(error.localizedDescription)" } } } .alert("Food Added", isPresented: $showConfirmation) { Button("OK", role: .cancel) { } } message: { Text("Your daily intake has been updated.") } if let errorMessage = errorMessage { Text(errorMessage) .foregroundColor(.red) .padding() } Spacer() } .padding() .navigationTitle("\(food.name) Details") } } 

But doing it this way causes the sheet containing FoodListView to be presented as completely blank, containing not even the ‘Cancel’ button
The original code did not do this - any ideas why? Thanks
Edit - for an MVP Minimal Reproducible Example, see my Stack Overflow question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78492454/why-does-passing-a-variable-into-a-view-that-is-presented-using-a-sheet-cause-th?noredirect=1#comment138379430_78492454

Side/main character additions for my book Anastasius!
Hello everyone! I’m running something for my book that I’m sure you’ll enjoy! I’m writing a book titled Anastasius which is Greek for Renewal. But I was thinking of a fun way to raise money for the book and a fun way to interact with potential readers! So I was thinking, if I give the characters who will be in my book, perhaps there could be a fundraiser for this! It will be $10 USD per character and there is no limit to how many characters you’d like! I’ll post the sheet for each character and you can pick and choose which tribe you’d like create your own character! If you have anymore questions I’ll be happy to answer! I take payments through PayPal as it’s the only thing I understand how to use!
Creatures of Renewal:
As written by Wyvern Scholars
Amphiptere:
Amphipteres generally were said to have light-colored feathers like a sunrise, a serpentine body, bat-like wings with feathers covering most of the forearm and often greenish in coloration, and a long tail much like a wyvern's tail. Others are described as covered in feathers with a spiked tail, bird-like wings, and a beak-like snout.
These small dragons are known to go after smaller prey like rodents and birds, as their habitatsavanna's heat, leavingrests. However, large colonies have been known to live in constructed settlements. Still, any knowledge of a leader has yet to be discovered. It has been rumored that the Amphiptere changes leaders when either the current one dies or willingly gives up the position of tribal leader.
Habitat: Forests, Jungles, or the forested remnants of human cities.
Arctic Dragon:
These giant, wooly dragons stand five feet taller than the most significant polar bears; their powerful muscles and jet-black skin under their blueish-white fur dominate most northern regions. Human settlements are where they prowl, waiting for humans hidden in these desolate territories for the perfect time to strike. These areas are far too cold for most dragons. Still, the Arctic dragon has adapted to survive in these brutal conditions. However, females only move southwards when their young are ready to be born. Once the younglings are old enough to walk short distances independently, the mother and cub begin trekking back toward the tundra.
Diet: These dragons hunt down various arctic prey, ranging from the smallest Arctic hares to the giant whales. Anything these dragons can get their talons on is food to them. Although young Arctic dragons do not have the speed or endurance their parents have, they rely on their parents to bring them back something they can eat.
Coatyl: The most noticeable feature of Coatyls is the feathered wings. These wings comprise a humerus connected to a radius and an ulna connected to metacarpals. The wings of a Coatyl allow it to fly, which is the primary method of locomotion. In unbonded Coatyls, the scapulars and front feathers are dark green, the covert feathers are light yellow or tan, and the primary and secondary flight feathers are red. Coatyls have pressurized sacs in the back of the mouth of a highly volatile and slightly acidic chemical known as coatalic acid. When threatened, muscles surrounding these sacs contract, pushing the coatalic acid out of small holes in the mouth and spraying it. When it comes into contact with air, coatalic acid undergoes a chemical reaction that causes it to ignite and become highly adhesive, sticking to whatever it lands on.
Diet: Coatyls primarily prey on small rodents like mice or rats. Coatyls cannot bite or tear their food to pieces, so they instead swallow their prey whole. They can do this as the upper and lower jaws of a Coatyl are not rigidly attached and have multiple joints, allowing them to open their mouths wide enough to swallow prey whole. While digesting food, Coatyls will typically avoid trying to fly and will instead travel along the ground.
Habitat: These dragons are usually found in the same territories as the Amphiptere. However, these Coatyls have been seen further south in the rainforests due to being more of a tropical species. Their size makes them easy prey for larger animals if they are not careful.
Dragon:
The Western European kind, with four legs, two wings, and (usually) fiery breath. Depending on how the work classifies things, these may be the only ones called "dragons." Otherwise, they're typically called authentic, Western, or European dragons. The Western dragon tends to be massive and heavy, with sharp claws and bat-like wings. They are usually with reptile features but may also have fur or feathers. Sometimes dark colored but always shiny. Some have forked tongues, others crests, fringes, or some other adornment. It always has the ability to spew forth blazing fire and fumes. In the West, dragons live in caves or mountain dwellers and predators. Cave dweller dragons stay in the coldness of the dark most of the time. The caves, filled with fire and water, are easily guarded and located close to towns, where food is convenient. Mountain predators live in cave-riddled mountains that provide an invincible tower and protection.
Diet: Western dragons tend to be considered carnivores. They like meat, flesh, and blood as their primary food source and are too fussy about the source. Sheep, cows, oxen, lions, elephants, or even humans, anything of a reasonable size and with warm blood and flesh to feast on, are their primary food sources. However, dragons haven’t shown a preference for the age or gender of humans. One interesting thing to note is that although they eat the flesh, they have a particular taste for blood. Sometimes, when in need of a quick burst of energy, they will only drink the blood of their prey and leave the flesh. This is seen as barbaric by most other species of dragons. Still, with western dragons being the second largest species, we tend not to mess with them and their dietary habits.
Drake: The drake is a dragon with four limbs, much like a lizard, although usually far more significant in size than the average lizard. A potent example of a drake in the natural world is the Komodo Dragon, a large species of minotaur lizard in Indonesia. These creatures have low-slung bodies, like crocodiles and alligators, with bellies across the ground. However, due to their natural habitat and human greed, wild drakes have been increasingly difficult to get notes from and other scholars to talk with. Drakes who are found are highly hostile and not open much to talking, but with enough food and gold, these dragons could easily talk your ear off.
Diet: These family-oriented dragons hunt together in packs; their size and numbers are easily strong enough to take down small herds of water buffalo, wildebeests, elk, and moose.
Feydragons: These dragons are about the size of a cat, each having an iridescent coat of scales that reflected all colors of the rainbow, predominantly reflecting one particular color, which changed with age. They had a long, prehensile tail and platinum-colored, butterfly-like wings. Like true dragons, faerie dragons grew stronger with age but matured much more quickly and lived shorter lives. Because their predominant scale hue ran the colors of the rainbow over their lifetime, their color directly indicated their age and power. The scales of a young hatchling were almost always red, and those of a fully mature dragon (over 50 years old) were violet. Most dragons leave these small ones alone because it is not worth expending calories to catch these little critters. But these small dragons are known across the globe for their beautiful woven tapestries and the symphonies they create with their wings.
Diet: Their diet mainly consists of small bugs caught in the air, from trees and bushes, and off the ground. They also fed on fruits, berries, nectar, and butterflies, which they ate to get the color and look of their wings.
Sea Orc: A Sea Orc has no arms or legs. It sports fins on the top portion and every few meters across its body, including one long fin that runs from the bottom of its head to its tail. A Sea Orc has little in the way of bones; it slithers through the waters like a snake. This assists the Sea Orc in attacking its prey. Sea Orc eggs cannot be fertilized in deep water, and smaller Sea Orcs cannot survive the pressure. Adult Sea Orcs have to head to shallower waters to mate. It is believed that the Sea Orc typically goes to warmer climates for mating.
Female Sea Orcs lay their eggs at the shoreline, close enough to the surface to be safe from the environmental killers but far enough from the water line that the parents can still protect their offspring. The eggs will grow for several months and will be born after size months.
Diet: These massive beasts eat mostly fish and aquatic life, anything they can catch; on rare occasions, they will eat a dragon, but that only happens when a rowdy juvenile dragon decides to go after a Sea Orcs calf.
Wyvern: The Wyvern is about the same size as the Arctic dragon, though in weight, they are closer to their brother, the Drake. The Wyvern is a two-legged dragon with two wings. They are believed to be faster than the more enormous Dragon. Their head is large and round, and they have a more petite mouth than most dragons. The body is thick but with a soft underbelly. The tail of the Wyvern is the most deadly. It is long serpentlike with a large mass at the end. They can also have a load of spikes within the ball or a significant spike at the top. The Wyvern uses this ball as its primary weapon, capable of smashing through most creatures, including other dragon's scales.
For its size, the Wyvern holds a large amount of weight. Most of this weight is within its thick scales. Anyone who has fought a Wyvern will inform you that getting through their body is next to impossible. The scales overlap several times, and underneath them is a thin net of tissue that absorbs impact and is resistant to being cut.
Diet: Moose, Elk, and Caribou are everyday staples of a wyvern diet, although anything that moves fits the wyvern needs as they have to eat at least 400 pounds of food every three days.
Humans: Not much is left from humans after they destroyed themselves; greed took out most of them, and the explosions hurt the rest. Humans have flocked to their caves deep in the ground. Most dragons leave humans alone, but humans have tried to take back their world a few times, but us dragons have quickly stamped out those little uprisings. Although some dragons keep humans as pets, their crafty little grabbers are relatively good at crafting the little things they need. Some dragons keep them for wealth status, and others just eat them for a rare treat.
Prey animals: Not much needs to be said here; anything a dragon can catch and eat is a prey animal.

Hello everyone! I’m running something for my book that I’m sure you’ll enjoy! I’m writing a book titled Anastasius which is Greek for Renewal. But I was thinking of a fun way to raise money for the book and a fun way to interact with potential readers! So I was thinking, if I give the characters who will be in my book, perhaps there could be a fundraiser for this! It will be $10 USD per character and there is no limit to how many characters you’d like! I’ll post the sheet for each character and you can pick and choose which tribe you’d like create your own character! If you have anymore questions I’ll be happy to answer! I take payments through PayPal as it’s the only thing I understand how to use!
Creatures of Renewal:
As written by Wyvern Scholars
Amphiptere:
Amphipteres generally were said to have light-colored feathers like a sunrise, a serpentine body, bat-like wings with feathers covering most of the forearm and often greenish in coloration, and a long tail much like a wyvern's tail. Others are described as covered in feathers with a spiked tail, bird-like wings, and a beak-like snout.
These small dragons are known to go after smaller prey like rodents and birds, as their habitatsavanna's heat, leavingrests. However, large colonies have been known to live in constructed settlements. Still, any knowledge of a leader has yet to be discovered. It has been rumored that the Amphiptere changes leaders when either the current one dies or willingly gives up the position of tribal leader.
Habitat: Forests, Jungles, or the forested remnants of human cities.
Arctic Dragon:
These giant, wooly dragons stand five feet taller than the most significant polar bears; their powerful muscles and jet-black skin under their blueish-white fur dominate most northern regions. Human settlements are where they prowl, waiting for humans hidden in these desolate territories for the perfect time to strike. These areas are far too cold for most dragons. Still, the Arctic dragon has adapted to survive in these brutal conditions. However, females only move southwards when their young are ready to be born. Once the younglings are old enough to walk short distances independently, the mother and cub begin trekking back toward the tundra.
Diet: These dragons hunt down various arctic prey, ranging from the smallest Arctic hares to the giant whales. Anything these dragons can get their talons on is food to them. Although young Arctic dragons do not have the speed or endurance their parents have, they rely on their parents to bring them back something they can eat.
Coatyl: The most noticeable feature of Coatyls is the feathered wings. These wings comprise a humerus connected to a radius and an ulna connected to metacarpals. The wings of a Coatyl allow it to fly, which is the primary method of locomotion. In unbonded Coatyls, the scapulars and front feathers are dark green, the covert feathers are light yellow or tan, and the primary and secondary flight feathers are red. Coatyls have pressurized sacs in the back of the mouth of a highly volatile and slightly acidic chemical known as coatalic acid. When threatened, muscles surrounding these sacs contract, pushing the coatalic acid out of small holes in the mouth and spraying it. When it comes into contact with air, coatalic acid undergoes a chemical reaction that causes it to ignite and become highly adhesive, sticking to whatever it lands on.
Diet: Coatyls primarily prey on small rodents like mice or rats. Coatyls cannot bite or tear their food to pieces, so they instead swallow their prey whole. They can do this as the upper and lower jaws of a Coatyl are not rigidly attached and have multiple joints, allowing them to open their mouths wide enough to swallow prey whole. While digesting food, Coatyls will typically avoid trying to fly and will instead travel along the ground.
Habitat: These dragons are usually found in the same territories as the Amphiptere. However, these Coatyls have been seen further south in the rainforests due to being more of a tropical species. Their size makes them easy prey for larger animals if they are not careful.
Dragon:
The Western European kind, with four legs, two wings, and (usually) fiery breath. Depending on how the work classifies things, these may be the only ones called "dragons." Otherwise, they're typically called authentic, Western, or European dragons. The Western dragon tends to be massive and heavy, with sharp claws and bat-like wings. They are usually with reptile features but may also have fur or feathers. Sometimes dark colored but always shiny. Some have forked tongues, others crests, fringes, or some other adornment. It always has the ability to spew forth blazing fire and fumes. In the West, dragons live in caves or mountain dwellers and predators. Cave dweller dragons stay in the coldness of the dark most of the time. The caves, filled with fire and water, are easily guarded and located close to towns, where food is convenient. Mountain predators live in cave-riddled mountains that provide an invincible tower and protection.
Diet: Western dragons tend to be considered carnivores. They like meat, flesh, and blood as their primary food source and are too fussy about the source. Sheep, cows, oxen, lions, elephants, or even humans, anything of a reasonable size and with warm blood and flesh to feast on, are their primary food sources. However, dragons haven’t shown a preference for the age or gender of humans. One interesting thing to note is that although they eat the flesh, they have a particular taste for blood. Sometimes, when in need of a quick burst of energy, they will only drink the blood of their prey and leave the flesh. This is seen as barbaric by most other species of dragons. Still, with western dragons being the second largest species, we tend not to mess with them and their dietary habits.
Drake: The drake is a dragon with four limbs, much like a lizard, although usually far more significant in size than the average lizard. A potent example of a drake in the natural world is the Komodo Dragon, a large species of minotaur lizard in Indonesia. These creatures have low-slung bodies, like crocodiles and alligators, with bellies across the ground. However, due to their natural habitat and human greed, wild drakes have been increasingly difficult to get notes from and other scholars to talk with. Drakes who are found are highly hostile and not open much to talking, but with enough food and gold, these dragons could easily talk your ear off.
Diet: These family-oriented dragons hunt together in packs; their size and numbers are easily strong enough to take down small herds of water buffalo, wildebeests, elk, and moose.
Feydragons: These dragons are about the size of a cat, each having an iridescent coat of scales that reflected all colors of the rainbow, predominantly reflecting one particular color, which changed with age. They had a long, prehensile tail and platinum-colored, butterfly-like wings. Like true dragons, faerie dragons grew stronger with age but matured much more quickly and lived shorter lives. Because their predominant scale hue ran the colors of the rainbow over their lifetime, their color directly indicated their age and power. The scales of a young hatchling were almost always red, and those of a fully mature dragon (over 50 years old) were violet. Most dragons leave these small ones alone because it is not worth expending calories to catch these little critters. But these small dragons are known across the globe for their beautiful woven tapestries and the symphonies they create with their wings.
Diet: Their diet mainly consists of small bugs caught in the air, from trees and bushes, and off the ground. They also fed on fruits, berries, nectar, and butterflies, which they ate to get the color and look of their wings.
Sea Orc: A Sea Orc has no arms or legs. It sports fins on the top portion and every few meters across its body, including one long fin that runs from the bottom of its head to its tail. A Sea Orc has little in the way of bones; it slithers through the waters like a snake. This assists the Sea Orc in attacking its prey. Sea Orc eggs cannot be fertilized in deep water, and smaller Sea Orcs cannot survive the pressure. Adult Sea Orcs have to head to shallower waters to mate. It is believed that the Sea Orc typically goes to warmer climates for mating.
Female Sea Orcs lay their eggs at the shoreline, close enough to the surface to be safe from the environmental killers but far enough from the water line that the parents can still protect their offspring. The eggs will grow for several months and will be born after size months.
Diet: These massive beasts eat mostly fish and aquatic life, anything they can catch; on rare occasions, they will eat a dragon, but that only happens when a rowdy juvenile dragon decides to go after a Sea Orcs calf.
Wyvern: The Wyvern is about the same size as the Arctic dragon, though in weight, they are closer to their brother, the Drake. The Wyvern is a two-legged dragon with two wings. They are believed to be faster than the more enormous Dragon. Their head is large and round, and they have a more petite mouth than most dragons. The body is thick but with a soft underbelly. The tail of the Wyvern is the most deadly. It is long serpentlike with a large mass at the end. They can also have a load of spikes within the ball or a significant spike at the top. The Wyvern uses this ball as its primary weapon, capable of smashing through most creatures, including other dragon's scales.
For its size, the Wyvern holds a large amount of weight. Most of this weight is within its thick scales. Anyone who has fought a Wyvern will inform you that getting through their body is next to impossible. The scales overlap several times, and underneath them is a thin net of tissue that absorbs impact and is resistant to being cut.
Diet: Moose, Elk, and Caribou are everyday staples of a wyvern diet, although anything that moves fits the wyvern needs as they have to eat at least 400 pounds of food every three days.
Humans: Not much is left from humans after they destroyed themselves; greed took out most of them, and the explosions hurt the rest. Humans have flocked to their caves deep in the ground. Most dragons leave humans alone, but humans have tried to take back their world a few times, but us dragons have quickly stamped out those little uprisings. Although some dragons keep humans as pets, their crafty little grabbers are relatively good at crafting the little things they need. Some dragons keep them for wealth status, and others just eat them for a rare treat.
Prey animals: Not much needs to be said here; anything a dragon can catch and eat is a prey animal.

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I recently passed step 1 - I was tempted to sign up for some random online courses, and ended up wasting money. This is my concise, honest advice on how to prepare - Taking the best parts of the different resouraces available. If I had to distill my advice down to a single line: Trust the NBMEs. I hope the following is helpful!
~Basic Principles:~
Public health sciences

1. Biostatistics: Randy Neil Youtube Playlist: For Biostats, Just watch this playlist (especially the longer videos) and then test yourself on uworld:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGdom6_87VY&list=PLuyQGqW98Zlsm4MInaD2LJCub8i9D3pms&ab_channel=RandyNeil%2CMD

2. For the rest of the public health sciences stuff, I would just read it as questions come up through uworld. Don’t spend long memorising it.

Biochemistry:
1. Metabolism: Dirty Medicine Playlist:
a. Take a day to watch this playlist – screen shot the summary slides, print them and keep them as your main biochem notes – first aid will just be a reference for you. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5rTEahBdxV6prB_iWNU8N2-L5XAktld8
2. Genetics, Molmed and cellular biology: Use first Aid to review this. If you have any issues, go to the boards and beyond videos.
3. For the genetic syndromes, like downs etc you can youtube some picmonics as you study.

Pharm:
1. Sketchy for systems
2. Basic principles – use first aid and Boards and beyond if you don’t get it.

Pathology:
1. Use Pathoma chapter 1-3 videos – the book is good too, don’t focus too much on first aid.

Immunology:
1. Start with Pathoma chapter 2 – chronic inflammation and autoimmune conditions first.
2. Once you have that down, go to first aid for hypersensitivity disorders and to fill in the blanks.

Micro:
1. Sketchy. I wouldn’t bother with first aid. Between sketchy and Uworld you will get everything you need.
~Systems~

In General:
1. Use first aid for the Anatomy and Physiology – if you need more help, check out related BnB videos.
2. Pharm and Micro: Use Sketchy. Sketchy pharm also helps A LOT with the physiology too.
3. Pathoma for pathology of each section.

Exceptions:
1. Neuro:
a. For neuro, I would go straight to Boards and Beyond and watch all the lectures using first aid as a reference book – annotate as you need. You can skip the anatomy ones and use the HY Neuroanatomy PDF (see below).
b. Still use sketchy pharm etc for the drugs, but instead of pathoma and reading first aid, I’d focus on boards and beyond.
c. Take a couple hours at some point to go through the HY Neuroanatomy PDF. https://mehlmanmedical.com/free-stuff/
2. Musculoskeletal: First aid – don’t bother with anything else.
3. Reproductive: For the embryology in this section, use the dirty medicine embryology videos.
~Resources:~
1. Uworld
2. First Aid
3. Pathoma
4. Boards and Beyond
5. Sketchy Micro and Pharm
6. HY documents from Mehlman Medical: HY Arrows, HY Neuroanatomy, HY Ethics https://mehlmanmedical.com/free-stuff/
7. NBMEs

~Strategy:~

Phase 1 – go through First aid as above. Remember you are not memorizing it.
· Study a section so you understand it – then do a 40 question Uworld block just to learn to answer the questions and apply your knowledge. Do the block in Untimed Tutor mode.
· Do a few bacteria and a few drug classes a day if you can with sketchy.

Do a Uworld Self Assessment (1 or 2) under strict exam conditions – aim for above 60%

Phase 2 – Finish off Uworld in random timed test mode.
· At the end of each 40 question block, review the answers – stuff you know well, keep moving. Other stuff, spend more time.
· Click the red flag ‘mark’ on questions or topics that are troublesome (I never had time to go back to them, but just in case, do this from the beginning).
· Do NBME 26 online a month or so after your Uworld Self Assessment and aim for 65%.

Phase 3 – NBMEs, free 120, HY Arrows and HY ethics document
· The last month of studying - Go through NBME 20-31 question by question.
· Make sure you do an online NBME a week to make sure your scores are over 70%
· Go through the HY Arrows and Ethics PDFs – they are super helpful; a lot comes out of them in the exam. Do a few questions a day on those, just read and understand.
· Two days before the exam, do the ‘free 120’ on the website. Also do the old 120 (see the NBME folder, they are all there – you can do the most recent one on the USMLE website) https://orientation.nbme.org/launch/usmle/stpf1
All the best!
Exam Day:
1. Do the tutorial in the Free 120 practice before – so skip it on the day, it adds 15 minutes or so to your break time total.
2. Consists of 7 x 1-hour blocks of 40 questions. You can take your breaks any time between the blocks, as long as you are at the end of a block.
3. Take snacks, water, red bull – whatever you need. You store it in a locker outside, and can have food and drink in breaks.

Chapter 24 - The Race
Previous Chapter
The Seventh competitor took her place before the assembled crowd on the ground, raising a fist into the air as she did so. The crowd roared at the display as the car’s turbines kicked in and began to raise her up into the sky. Her car had been modified as well, the control surfaces on it were noticeably shorter and the turbine was actually jutting several inches out from the back.
“Those previous cars didn’t appear to be modified much. Is that uncommon?” Alex pointed at the clearly modified car. The control surfaces didn’t even match the rest of the frame in color, let alone style.
“Not uncommon, really. It’s just a bit difficult to often sink any serious amount of time and money into them. Winning the challenges is a goal that brings with it fame, respect, and glory but otherwise it isn’t exactly lucrative. It is up to each competitor to decide how much of their own resources to put into each vehicle, with the knowledge that they may not recoup the costs.” Borala glanced down at a paper in front of her. “That particular car is from a rather well-known Teff called the Veshika. They manage a particularly rich mining operation in the M’rit lands.”
At first the competitor seemed much more skilled than the others. Alex watched as she poured on the speed, her car tilting and curving around the track, narrowly dodging each projectile while maintaining a fairly high speed. Still her handling of the car seemed somewhat spotty. She was rocketing ahead of the shots, sure, but whenever she DID have to change direction she did so almost awkwardly.
Despite her lack of skill, her car was still quite capable. She made it past the first two Flame sections into the third far quicker than the others, but it was quickly apparent that it wouldn’t be enough here. She’d finally started dodging but it was clear she was having troubles controlling the vehicle at the speeds she was going. Her turns were all over the place, both over and under correcting as she tried to make up for the fact that speed alone wasn’t going to be enough to get her through unscathed.
She was fast approaching the triple cannon area that had taken out the first challenger when a cannon shot tracked her perfectly, landing its soft projectile directly into one of the four stabilizing thrusters that kept the vehicle aloft.
Immediately the thruster cut out, spewing sparks and smoke as the car began to tilt wildly, losing altitude rapidly as the pilot fought the controls. For a moment it looked like they were about to witness a disaster on the track before the other 3 thrusters compensated, and the car slowly regained control. The spotter car was already roaring up to her aid, but it appeared to be mostly unnecessary after all. Alex could hear the audience breathing a sigh of relief as they saw her land safely.
“My, that was a close one.” Borala tapped a finger on the armrest of her chair. “The thrusters can normally take a hit without failing like that. It must have come in at just the right angle to damage it.”
“I’m glad she made it OK. When I saw the car tumble, I was certain we were about to witness a tragedy.” Alex took a deep breath. “I’m still a bit surprised by how dangerous this seems.”
Borala sighed at this, and nodded her head. “It is dangerous. But it’s popular. We used to drive ground cars across a large course with ramps, obstacles, debris, and so on. But over time the people grew bored of watching it. One of my predecessors attempted to spice up the events shortly after the Bunters arrived and sold us the first group of aircars. We’ve been trying to make it safer, to scale it back, but every time we do interest wanes. People want to watch the thrills and the danger.”
“That sounds remarkably like our people.” Josh gazed out at the scene of the Spotter attaching cables to the damaged aircar, prepping it to return back to the starting point. “Throughout our history there’s endless examples of things that were small spectacles or events that grew more and more complex over time. Even when the cars were so fast they would virtually disintegrate on the track if someone made a wrong turn or another car caused them to lose control and crash. Plenty of people won’t admit it but they watch those races hoping for something to happen, because it’s just that much more exciting.”
Borala shuddered as she imagined the carnage of a ground car crashing and breaking apart. “In the thirty-eight years I have been managing this event as the head of the Nof, there have been three fatal accidents. I still often find myself wishing we could keep the excitement and entertainment of the challenges without as much danger, yet whenever we try there’s an outcry. I can’t deny that a part of the thrill comes from the challengers being exposed as they fly.”
Alex immediately saw the opportunity and jumped in. “That’s actually fairly doable. I’m no engineer like Ji and Min, but I know for a fact there’s a number of safeguards we could help you implement to prevent a worst-case scenario. Granted, it would take time and resources we don’t have in abundance - yet.”
Borala smiled, and patted Alex on the shoulder. “Save the effort for the Presh. I already fully support our two species working together. Kyshe wishes to trust in you, I believe. Yet it was her mother who signed the agreements with the Bunters. Kyshe was present as heir and witness to it all. All five of the major Teffs agreed to the deal, yet because it was signed by the Presh they bore the weight of the blame when it was revealed what the Bunters had done. We try to tell our people that the Presh did not act on their own, but…” She sighed and shook her head.
“Well, once we get things turned around, if we can emphasize Kyshe’s role in it all that should help a great deal.”
“You’re speaking as though it can’t fail.” Borala smiled widely at this. “You’re that certain that your plans will succeed?”
Alex nodded emphatically. “I’m an optimist. I always hope for the best.” He glanced up at the display. “And now it looks like our girl’s ready to show her stuff.”
—--
Trix had the thrusters on low as she walked the car out to the starting area. Unlike the others she didn’t have it wheeled out unpowered, but already had the car started as she guided it out, floating only a few feet off the ground. Many competitors didn’t do this,opting instead to sit astride the car before engaging the thrusters, but Ji suggested it as a way to present both herself and the car together, and she didn’t really have any reason to say no. Ji himself was walking out with her, on the opposite side of the car.
Initially he hadn’t wanted to. He wanted her to be the one in the spotlight and he knew that his presence would be immediately distracting, but she had insisted. “You helped me prepare for this, you get to show it off with me!” she’d stated.
What she HADN’T stated was her nervousness at this. She’d been a fan of the races since she was young, and now she was finally going to compete herself. Winning the competition didn’t result in any significant change to anyone’s life. There was no massive prize pool, no source of regular income afterwards. It wasn’t going to lead to new opportunities in her life. It was just a source of fun, a point of pride, and a way to show off one’s skills - and that alone made it a worthwhile goal to many. Worthwhile to Trix, and to the friends she often spoke with over the multivids.
Buying the Soranet Ten was a major undertaking for her that had required long extra hours of working over two years to save up for. Most of her Teff had thought it was a waste of time and effort but it was her time, and her effort so none had done much more than making an off hand remark. And look where she was now! She was competing in front of over a thousand people here, and she knew that the remote broadcasts of this were viewed by at least ten times that amount, if not more. And once people realized the Humans’ involvement in this challenge, that number would grow by leaps and bounds. That was more than enough to get in her head, both for the better and for the worse.
Still, she was too far in now. Backing out now would be an embarrassment in front of god only knows how many, and she could live with failure better than she could with the humiliation of cowardice. So she steeled herself as she moved in unison with Ji out to the center of the staging area. Mounting an already-engaged aircar could often be tricky without the friction of the ground to stabilize it against, but Ji was there and held it for her as she swung her leg over the body, gripping the frame between her thighs tightly. The two of them attached each of the safety restraint cables around the frame to her, and she let her wings relax and droop a bit in anticipation.
As they finished, Ji slapped her arm lightly and walked away. She took a huge breath, then slid her helmet on and started to circle upward to reach the starting height.
—--
“That doesn’t look anything LIKE a Soranet Ten!” Borala protested, and Min made a dismissive noise.
“It started as a ten, we just modified it. There were some redundant systems in there that served no reasonable purpose that we removed. If you’re flying at a reasonable speed there’s no use in having THREE separate cooling systems. Just one radiator and one cooling line to each thruster is more than enough. And if you’re not trying to strafe left or right then there’s no need for all those ridiculous control surfaces. The Turbine only faces one way after all. So we removed most of those, which lowered the weight a substantial amount. That gave the thrusters extra power compared to before, so we added a small gimbal that lets them angle slightly backwards, to use that extra power to thrust forward faster. Everything was done on planet with local resources. The only thing we fully manufactured was the frame, and that was for style and not for performance.”
Borala took all this in as she stared at the modified aircar. “She’s also not wearing armored sheathes over her wings.”
This time all of the humans did a double take towards the screen. “Huh. That’s true. I didn’t hear anything about that from her.” Min thought back to their previous conversations. “Maybe she’s trying to cut the weight even more? The less weight the more power the thrusters can use…”
“Perhaps. But if a shot hits the wings, it will punch through those feathers with ease. And if it strikes a bone, it WILL shatter.” Borala motioned out towards the turrets. “The wing sheathes can blunt the worst of the impact, though wings do still get broken when hit with them on. It’s still a great deal better than going out unprotected.”
Ji ran up into the pavilion as Trix moved into starting position. The first of the four hammer strikes rang out. “Looks like it’s time. Min, how’s Telemetry looking?”
“A-OK here. Battery’s at max, Turbine’s clean, thrusters are all reading nominal.”
Ji ran over to the chair he’d vacated earlier. “Par, remotes in position?”
“Yes, Ji. Both the transmitter remotes and the recorder remotes are positioned along the track.”
Alex glanced over at Ji. “Transmitters?”
“Yeah, man. You think you’re the only one who can put on a show?” Ji grinned and lifted up the quickboard. The second the fourth gong of the bell rang out, Ji pressed the button on the quickboard and a thumping noise filled the area as Trix’ aircar shot forward.
—--
“Not even five seconds in and it’s already hitting problems.” Trix cursed under her breath. The car had performed perfectly on every single test flight in the last week, and every diagnostic had shown it was in perfect shape for this race. Yet right after she started, she could feel a harsh rhythmic buzz and thump against her thighs.
Her heart had leapt up into her throat at first, when she felt the unfamiliar sensations on the vehicle. She’d spent hours in the air on the back of the machine, and thought she’d known every single one of its quirks and sensations, but this one was new and new was almost always bad.
Almost. After a few seconds of the odd sensations, it intensified into something much more familiar. She continued to curse, now at Ji, for the surprise. The music they’d listened to so often while working on the car grew in intensity until it was all she could hear, and she goosed the throttle to pour on extra speed as the music filled her ears and her panic was replaced with the excitement the beat filled her with. Her heartbeat throbbed in her chest in time with the music as she leaned into the intense wind rushing past.
The car shot forward with a speed that none of the others could match, right as the music kicked in - electrifying the entire crowd who shot up from their seats. They’d known from the start this wouldn’t be like the other races just from the strange look that the Aircar brought in had (Not to mention the fact that a Human was walking it in alongside its rider) but this easily went beyond expectations.
The first flame was absolutely nothing. None of the turrets were calibrated to track the vehicle as it rocketed forward and it reached the second flame section without even needing to dodge. Even there the turrets struggled to keep up, with almost every single shot falling behind the vehicle. Trix had barely had to do more than go into a curve to avoid most of the shots on the second flame, as it too had been calibrated for a much slower car.
Entering the third flame was where the action started. The turrets in this section not only could track her far more effectively, but were leading their shots. Where the other competitors attempting the challenge focused more on acrobatics and using nimble and quick changes in velocity and vector to throw off the tracking, Trix opted to continue to pour on the speed. In lieu of strafing, she began to weave side to side while arcing up or down, moving in an almost erratic corkscrew pattern. Unlike the previous attempt, she had perfect control in the air - her arcs were smooth, she didn’t oversteer and every rapid change of vector was done without excessive movement to conserve as much speed as possible. In the blink of an eye she reached the same triple-volley that had taken out the first challenger, and as the three turrets fired as one, Trix’ car went into a steep dive, gaining speed as it used gravity along with the turbine to boost it past the tricky section. As the crowd roared out, nearly drowning out the thumping rhythmic music, she flew past the third flame into the last section of the course.
The last section was by far the trickiest. The turrets here would not simply fire at a competitor, not simply lead their shots, but occasionally fired off shots designed to miss by close margins, to frighten competitors into dodging and lead them into other turrets line of fire. And it was for this section that Trix had been practicing frantically for the past week.
The moment she’d crossed into the fourth flame, she immediately made a hard bank left, as two turrets that had been waiting for this fired as one, narrowly missing the back of the car. The two swept around, thumping out their shots as they swiveled to chase her but she completed a tight hairpin turn, returning to her original position before rocketing forward. As she did she completed a rapid ascent followed by another dive, before air braking hard. Her velocity dropped from 250 kilometers per hour to a mere hundred in a move that left Ji wincing. He knew that it couldn’t have felt good taking that slap of deceleration. It was effective, as a round that would have easily impacted her sailed several feet ahead, the computer clearly thinking she was going to use speed to dodge.
Another pair of turrets fired, with one shot sizzling so close to her helmet she had to fight the urge to drop the car down another dozen feet. Instead she ripped open the throttle to full, feeling the straps straining against the sudden intense surge of acceleration. She began to dodge and weave back and forth in a slalom motion as she gained speed, returning back up to 250 kph and above - all the way to 290 as she saw the silver streaks of shots bracketing the vehicle.
The fourth flame was the shortest but it was also the most intense, and she could see the final braziers lit to signal the end of the course ahead - and directly in front of it, another trio of turrets waiting to unload a triple volley to smash down any challengers that made it to the end. The intensity of the barrage around her was growing, however, and as her heart hammered away in her chest she realized there was only one way she could possibly get over that finish line without being tagged.
Shoving all of her fear and nervousness aside, she swept her wings out widely on either side of the car, and threw into the hardest right turn she could. Her vision immediately began to swim and her back ached with the strain as the g-forces as she fought to use every ounce of thrust the car could produce along with the aerodynamics nature had given her all into creating the tightest possible turn she could. She fought against the overwhelming G-forces as she completely the tight turn at a frankly ridiculous speed, before finally straightening out to make a mad dash for the finish.
Miraculously, it seemed to work. The turrets’ software had seen how tight she could turn from earlier in the track, and were adjusting based on the larger turning radius the car could make on its own. Adding in her own wings to the mix tightened it by just enough that the final few shots on her went wide, and she threw caution to the wind as she used the tiniest opening that maneuver had given her to soar forward across the final flame. Just as she thought she was in the clear, she felt a sudden impact against the side of the frame, as a shot finally landed and smashed into the underside of the car.
—--
Borala was absolutely awestruck by what she’d seen. The capabilities of the car were one thing; spreading wings in the race was just risky but not unheard of, nor was using wings as an extra control surface. But she’d never seen a turn THAT tight at THAT ridiculous speed before. It had nearly worked, and she was staring at the screen as the vehicle passed over the flame.
Alex was on his feet cheering at the last section, and his cheers turned to groans as they saw the final impact of the shot successfully connect, the bright silver splotch against the vibrant green of the aircar’s frame. “Did she make it? Does that count?”
Borala turned to the race organizer, who shook her head. “We’re reviewing right now, both the video and the rules. I can’t recall ever hearing about anyone being shot AS they crossed the final flame, so we’re checking history now.”
Alex turned over to Par. “You were recording. Did she make it past?”
“The replay shows that the car was almost exactly centered over the braziers when the final shot landed. I have done a local data search for what constitutes ‘finishing’ the challenge but there is a lack of sufficient detail for me to be able to say for sure whether or not that counts as a victory or an elimination.” One of Par’s remotes moved over to the large display. “If you’ll allow me to elaborate…”
The huge display screen blanked out as a technician on the other side of the pavilion cried out. Immediately it lit back up, this time showing the scene from the remote Par had placed out in the track. The remote hovered right near the exit, and all assembled watched as it slowed down to a couple hundred frames per second. The car crawled forward on the screen, and the audience gasped as the shot suddenly appeared from below, racing upwards several times faster than the car itself. Just as the car reached the center point of the braziers, the shot made impact and the frame could be seen bouncing oh so slowly to the side as it did.
Ji whistled at the shot. “Damn, right at the end. Does that stuff come off?”
“It is not a permanent application, no. It is designed to make hits quite obvious, as some contestants have used badly battered cars in the past and claimed that dents were present before the races.” Borala sat back in her chair and watched as the organizers ran around trying to determine whether or not the run was considered complete or not. “It is safe to say that she has won today’s challenges, whether or not the final flame was completed.”
“Well, sure. Still would be nice to know if she did manage to complete it. Has any challenger before done a full complete on their first try?” Ji wandered over to Min to look over her shoulder as he spoke.
“Not on their first try, no. I am quite certain that for a first time racer this is easily a record.”
“Well then it’s important to know if it counts or not, since it looks like she just made history.” Ji looked down at the telemetry that the aircar’s sensors was sending to Min’s quickboard. It looked like nothing had been damaged when the impact happened, and all four thrusters and the turbine were showing zero abnormalities.
Trix was much more leisurely as she returned to the staging area, coming down to land back in the center as the crowd cheered her on. Whether or not she’d completed the course they didn’t particularly care, they simply saw a phenomenal racer on a unique vehicle blast through some of the most intense barrages of the day while thumping music had heightened the entire experience. As they roared out their approval, Trix raised a fist in their direction before walking the car back towards the shuttle she’d arrived from.
—--
Trix threw the multivid screen down on her bed with exasperation. In the week since her attempt at the firelands challenge, things had all seemed to go entirely wrong for her.
The Nof organizers could not find any clarification about what exactly constituted a victory, since the rules were rather vague. The section on victory states “When a challenger passes the final flame before being struck” which would indicate that she’d succeeded. But the section on elimination stated that “Challengers would be eliminated if they or their vehicle is struck before reaching the final flame”. She had REACHED the final flame but not PASSED it, and thus far nobody had been able to reach a valid conclusion on what that meant.
Or rather, nobody actually in charge had reached one. In reality there were throngs of people who thought that her performance had been valid and she deserved to be recorded as the first instance of a full completion on their very first attempt. Of course, there were just as many who believed that she had been eliminated before completion. She herself didn’t particularly care about either of those groups, as completion or not she drove her best and was proud of how well she did. What got under her skin was the third group, the one that claimed she was a mediocre driver who was simply gifted an exceptional aircar by the humans that did all of the work.
At first she ignored those people. Yes, the car itself was phenomenal but at its core it was still the same Soranet Ten she’d purchased a month ago. They’d modified it absolutely. They had removed components, adjusted others, and the frame itself was swapped out mainly for aesthetics. But there was no reason at all that the changes couldn’t have been made by anyone else out there. In fact, a conversation between Min and the Nof matriarch detailing the changes made was public for those interested in trying it themselves.
That hadn’t silenced the detractors. Nor had offering to let other racers use her car to attempt the challenge - the arguments they made were exhaustive. From custom programming allowing only her to use it effectively, to claims that the car was controlled remotely, to claims that the Humans had hacked the turrets to improve her chances of winning. Even despite all of that, she could perhaps have still ignored it and been happy after her run if not for the fact that her friends, the ones she’d hoped the most would side with her, had joined in on accusing her of cheating. No matter how she protested they refused to listen, up until the point when she’d given up and just disconnected from the chat.
Her own Teff was also firmly on her side (Fohn in particular seemed to always be staring at her with huge adoring eyes of late) that was simply natural. They were Teff and that meant they were always on her side. But truly the bright spot in all of this was the Humans themselves, who had supported her from the beginning. More than just Ji and Min who were friendly with her from the start, all of the others had been sympathetic and supportive. The entire crew had their say on the cameras and screens on multiple occasions supporting her. Lately she spent as much time in Min’s room as her own. It helped not feeling quite as alone.
Today, however, the brief knock on Min’s door went unanswered. As did Ji’s. After a brief bit of searching, and being pointed out the door by a few members of the Teff who’d seen the Humans earlier, she found them assembled just outside their shuttle. The day was bright and warm and apparently they’d decided to lounge around outside on the grass.
Ji smiled and raised a hand as she walked over to join them. “Yo. Any word from the Nof?”
“None.” Trix walked over and collapsed down on the grass, laying down next to where Min was sitting. “The last I heard, they want to hold a vote with every still-living challenger participating to clarify the two conflicting sections. Honestly though I don’t even care anymore.”
“What’s the matter, feathers? You sound down.” Ma’et had been leaning on a tree nearby, but came over to lay down next to the larger avian.
“Just… sick of it. I wanted to challenge the Firelands since I was ten. And when I did it was the most incredible thing ever. But it seems like nobody out there cares. All my friends are pissed off at me and think I cheated, thousands of strangers keep trying to get in touch with me to tell me how awful or wonderful I am.”
Alex took a sip out of the can he was holding. “What’d you expect to happen? I’m not criticizing. Just don’t know what would have been a normal reaction for your people.”
“I dunno. I get out there and race, I come in comfortably in the middle of the pack, I practice a lot more, I race again and again and eventually complete the challenge. Then I find some cute guy and we spend a couple years exploring before we become accepted.” Trix pulled at the grass as she spoke, letting the breeze blow away the thin, soft blades. “Kinda lame when I say it out loud.”
“Not at all.” Josh gazed up at the sky wistfully, watching the clouds passing by slowly. “There’s nothing in the world wrong with dreaming about finding happiness in what you do and who you’re with. So long as you’re happy and healthy then the details don’t really matter much, do they?”
“Agreed. I’m curious though.” Alex tilted his head as he looked over at Trix. “What did you want to explore? Space?”
“Huh? No, no. Exploring a relationship. When couples get together we explore each other and the bond between us. It’s important to explore because once we’re accepted we can’t go back.” Trix crushed a blade of grass between her fingers, idly rolling them back and forth. “I’m not sure if Humans have the same thing or not.”
“Sort of. Al, it’s sort of like dating and Marriage.” Min piped up. “We talked about it while working on the car a bit. Exploration is like dating. You learn about each other, all of a person’s strengths and flaws. Their likes and dislikes. And if both sides are willing they marry. For life. Accepted isn’t quite as formal as marriage but it’s very, very permanent.”
“It’s not permanent for Humans?” Trix looked up and over at Min. “You said that people who got ‘Married’ stayed together.”
“They do, often. But sometimes people make a mistake. They rush into a relationship without exploring as well as you guys do. Or over time, they change and find that instead of being pulled closer together, they get pushed apart.” Min gestured at her brother. “Our folks were inseparable for decades, but Dad started to focus too much on work and not enough on Mom. They grew distant and unhappy and split up.”
“That’s horrible.” Trix shuddered at the thought. “Acceptance is… I mean, to think that two people who come together could be split apart? Just that easily?”
“Dunno what to say to that. Some humans join together for life, sure, but others just can’t make that same choice. They get together for the wrong reasons, they get enamored with one another and miss or ignore the warning signs that things might not go well.” Min glanced around. “These guys might explain it better.”
Ma’et cleared her throat. “There’s a saying I saw way the hell back when. I don’t remember where. It was something like, “Sometimes we need to fall in love with the wrong person so we know how it feels when we meet the right one”? I guess it’s sorta like, it’s easy to think something’s good because you don’t know what bad is. But if you get in a bad relationship it shows you what you need in a good one.”
Josh looked thoughtful about that. “I think that might be a little accurate. But I also think there’s a lot more to it than that. Ultimately I think it’s mostly just about being willing to put in the work. If one or both sides of the relationship aren’t willing to actually work at it, then it’s gonna fail. You gotta be able to give as well as take, so to speak.”
Alex took another sip from the can. “I also think communication’s the big thing. Gotta actually be willing to say when you’re unhappy and why, so that problems can be addressed. Too many people let things that bother them sit and fester and that just makes the problems worse over time.”
“Yeah but you get all your romantic advice from movies and vids.” Ma’et snickered. “And those have to have shitty communication in order for the plots to make any sense. Can you imagine how boring they’d be if they were realistic? ‘Honey all the time you spend away from me makes me feel unwanted and like you’re cheating on me.’ ‘Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m spending all my time away from you because I’m a spy infiltrating a pirate group that’s been harassing merchants out near Verdine. The redheaded lady I spend my time with is actually going to be arrested and hung once I’m done, there’s no romance there!’ ”
“Hey, that ain’t true. Entirely.” Alex took another long sip from the can, and tossed the empty container at Ma’et. “I mean, yeah, you’re right about how shitty communication makes movies more interesting. Just not right about that being where I get all my romance ideas from.”
Ma’et grabbed the can out of the air and crushed it in her hand. “Sure, sure. Remind me how long it’s been since you were in a relationship?”
“Bad example. I’ve spent most of the last few decades doing these scouting and survey missions. The asteroid dating scene isn’t exactly overflowing with prospective partners.”
“Well, you cozied up to the big bird on the station quickly enough.” Min grinned over at the Captain. “Maybe the reasons your love life is crap is because you never decided to date far enough outside of your species?”
Trix couldn’t help but snicker at that one. “Ew, come on. No offense but you guys don’t really hold a candle to a properly cute guy. How can you hope to compete with some gorgeous Rectrices?”
“Uhhh… Rectrices?”
Trix pointed at the back of her legs. “Big feathers back here. Very attractive on males.”
“Gotcha. Well, you’re right that I don’t have those. I do have a sparkling personality though. Surely that counts for SOMETHING?”
Trix just shrugged, and shook her head. “Sorry, Captain. Humans just aren’t attractive. Not to me, or my friends…” The sudden reminder brought back all the negative emotions from earlier.
Min saw her friend’s face fall, and reached out and put her hand on Trix’s arm. “What happened?”
“Nothing. They’re just being obnoxious.” She shook her head again, and grabbed a handful of the grass. “They think you guys conspired to make me win. Or almost win.”
“Betcha they’re just jealous.” Min stood up and stretched her arms out. “You said they were in disbelief after you told them you were our guide, right? Same thing. They’re mad that they couldn’t be the one here instead of you.”
“Yeah, but they’re my friends! Shouldn’t they be happy for me?” She angrily threw the fistful of grass away from her.
“Yeah, they should.” Alex stood up himself, walking over to take the crushed can from Ma’et. “And I dunno whether that just means they’re bad friends or if it’s just really bothering them. Either way, maybe some time doing something else would help. Want to go flying?”
“Not particularly. I don’t even want to SEE an aircar right now.”
Alex grinned, and jerked his thumb behind him at the shuttle. “Oh, I wasn’t talking about the aircar. Three hundred KPH is impressive. Want to try going a bit faster? Like, I dunno, how’s Mach 5 sound?”
“Uh, Al, flying a shuttle isn’t even REMOTELY like flying an Aircar.” Josh pointed out.
“Nope, it’s not. But god knows if I can learn how to fly one, she can. There’s at least three experts assembled here that can teach her, and on a planet with over 80% water coverage there’s no shortage of places we can go to learn without causing a disruption.”
He walked over to the shuttle and slapped the access panel, and the boarding door slid open immediately. “What do you say, Trix? Care to fly the friendly skies?”
—--
Next Chapter

Grey’s Anatomy Narration
Season Three
Episode One: Time Has Come Today
Meredith Grey
In the O.R., time loses all meaning. In the midst of sutures and saving lives, the clock ceases to matter. 15 minutes, 15 hours…inside the O.R., the best surgeons make time fly. Outside the O.R., however, time takes pleasure in kicking our asses. For even the strongest of us, it seems to play tricks - slowing down, hovering…until it freezes…leaving us stuck in a moment, unable to move in one direction or the other.
Time flies. Time waits for no man. Time heals all wounds. All any of us wants is more time…time to stand up…time to grow up…time to let go…time.
Episode Two: I Am a Tree
Meredith Grey
At any given moment, the brain has 14 billion neurons firing at a speed of 450 miles per hour. We don’t have control over most of them. When we get a chill - goose bumps, when we get excited - adrenaline. The body naturally follows its impulses, which I think is part of what makes it so hard to control ours. Of course, sometimes we have impulses we would rather not control…that we later wish we had.
The body is a slave to its impulses. But the thing that makes us human…is what we can control. After the storm…after the rush…after the heat of the moment has passed…we can cool off and clean up the messes we’ve made. We can try to let go of what was…and then again…
Episode Three: Sometimes a Fantasy
Meredith Grey
Surgeons usually fantasize about wild and improbable surgeries - someone collapses in a restaurant, we slice them open with a butter knife, replace a valve with a hollowed-out stick of carrot. But every now and then, some other kind of fantasy slips in. Most of our fantasies dissolve when we wake, banished to the back of our mind. But sometimes, we’re sure…if we try hard enough…we can live the dream.
The fantasy is simple…pleasure is good…and twice as much pleasure is better…that pain is bad…and no pain is better.
But the reality is different. The reality is that pain is there to tell us something. And there’s only so much pleasure we can take without getting a stomachache. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe some fantasies are only supposed to live in our dreams.
Episode Four: What I am
Meredith Grey
At some point during surgical residency, most interns get a sense of who they are as doctors and the kinds of surgeons they’re going to become. If you ask them, they’ll tell you - they’re going to be general surgeons…orthopedic surgeons…neurosurgeons…distinctions which do more than describe their areas of expertise. They help define who they are. Because outside the operating room, not only do most surgeons have no idea who they are, they’re afraid to find out.
Episode Five: Oh, the Guilt
Meredith Grey
First do no harm - as doctors, we pledge to live by this oath. But harm happens…and then guilt happens. And there’s no oath for how to deal with that.
Guilt never goes anywhere on its own. It bring its friends doubt and insecurity.
First do no harm - easier said than done. We can take all the oaths in the world, but the fact is…most of us do harm all the time.
Sometimes even when we’re trying to help…we do more harm than good…and the guilt rears its ugly head. What you do with that guilt is up to you.
We’re left with a choice…either let the guilt throw you back into the behavior that got you into trouble in the first place or…learn from the guilt and do your best to move on.
Episode Six: Let the Angels Commit
Meredith Grey
To make it…really make it…as a surgeon…it takes major commitment. We have to be willing to pick up that scalpel and make a cut that may or may not do more damage than good. It’s all about being committed…because if we’re not…we have no business picking up that scalpel in the first place.
There are times when even the best of us have trouble with commitment. And we may be surprised by the commitments we’re willing to let slip out of our grasp. Commitments are complicated. We may surprise ourselves by the commitments we’re willing to make. True commitment takes effort…and sacrifice. Which is why sometimes…we have to learn the hard way to choose out commitments very carefully.
Episode Seven: Where the Boys Are
Meredith Grey
As surgeons, we’re trained to look for disease. Sometimes the problem’s easily detected. Most of the time, you need to go step-by-step, first probing the surface, looking for any sign of trouble…a mole or a lesion or an unwelcome lump.
Most of the time, we can’t tell what’s wrong with somebody by just looking at them. After all, they can look perfectly fine on the outside while their insides tell us a whole other story.
Not all wounds are superficial. Most wounds run deeper than we can imagine. You can’t see them with the naked eye. And then there are the wounds that take us by surprise.
The trick with any kind of wound or disease is to dig down and find the real source of the injury. And once you’ve found it…try like hell to heal that sucker.
Episode Eight: Staring at the Sun
Meredith Grey
Many people don’t know that the human eye has a blind spot in its field of vision. Theres a part of the world that we are literally blind to. The problem is, sometimes our blind spots shield us from things that really shouldn’t be ignored. Sometimes our blind spots keep our life bright and shiny.
Episode Nine: From a Whisper to a Scream
Cristina Yang
As doctors…we know everybody’s secrets - their medical histories…sexual histories…confidential information that is as essential to a surgeon as a 10-blade…and every bit as dangerous. We keep secrets. We have to. But not all secrets can be kept.
In some ways, betrayal is inevitable. When our bodies betray us, surgery is often the key to recovery. When we betray each other…when we betray each other, the path to recovery is less clear.
We do whatever it takes to rebuild the trust that was lost. And then there are some wounds, some betrayals that are so deep, so profound…that there’s no way to repair what was lost. And when that happens…there’s nothing left to do but wait.
Episode Ten: Don’t Stand So Close to Me
Meredith Grey
At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody…so this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other - it’s usually a load of bull.
So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to. And once we’ve chosen those people…we tend to stick close by…no matter how much we hurt them.
The people that are still with you at the end of the day…those are the ones worth keeping. And sure, sometimes close can be too close…but sometimes that invasion of personal space…it can be exactly what you need.
Episode Eleven: Six Days: Part 1
[No narration]
Episode Twelve: Six Days: Part 2
[No narration]
Episode Thirteen: Great Expectations
Meredith Grey
No one believes their life will turn out just kind of okay. We all think we’re going to be great. And from the day we decide to be surgeons, we are filled with expectation - expectations of the trails we will blaze, the people we will help, the difference we will make…great expectations of who we will be, where we will go. And then we get there.
We all think we’re going to be great. And we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren’t met. But sometimes, our expectations sell us short. Sometimes the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected. You gotta wonder why we cling to our expectations because the expected is just what keeps us steady, standing…still. The expected’s just the beginning. The unexpected…is what changes our lives.
Episode Fourteen: Wishin’ and Hopin’
Meredith Grey
As surgeons, we live in a world of worst-case scenarios. We cut ourselves off from hoping for the best because too many times, the best doesn’t happen. But every now and then, something extraordinary occurs…and suddenly…best-case scenarios seem possible. And every now and then, something amazing happens…and against our better judgement…we start to have hope.
As doctors, we’re trained to give our patients just the facts. But what our patients really want to know is, will the pain ever go away? Will I feel better? Am I cured? What our patients really want to know is…is there hope? But inevitably, there are times when you find yourself in the worst-case scenario…when the patient’s body has betrayed them and all the science we have to offer has failed them. When the worst-case scenario comes true, clinging to hope is all we’ve got left.
Episode Fifteen: Walk on Water
Meredith Grey
Disappearances happen in science - disease can suddenly fade away, tumors go missing. We open someone up to discover the cancer is gone. It’s unexplained, it’s rare, but it happens. We call it misdiagnosis…say we never saw it in the first place…any explanation but the truth…that life is full of vanishing acts. If something that we didn’t know we had disappears, do we miss it?
Episode Sixteen: Drowning on Dry Land
Meredith Grey
Like I said…disappearances happen - pains go phantom…blood stops running…and people - people fade away.
There’s more I have to say…so much more. But…I’ve disappeared.
Episode Seventeen: Some Kind of Miracle
Meredith Grey
There are medical miracles. Being worshippers at the altar of science, we don’t like to believe miracles exist. But they do. Things happen. We can’t explain them, we can’t control them…but they do happen.
Miracles do happen in medicine. They happen every day. Just not always when we need them to happen.
At the end of a day like this, a day when so many prayers are answered and so many aren’t…we take our miracles where we find them. We reach across the gap…and sometimes…against all odds…against all logic…we touch.
Episode Eighteen: Scars and Souvenirs
Meredith Grey
People have scars in all sorts of unexpected places, like secret road maps of their personal histories, diagrams of all their old wounds. Most our wounds heal, leaving nothing behind but a scar. But some of them don’t.
Some wounds we carry with us everywhere, and though the cut’s long gone…the pain still lingers.
What’s worse, new wounds, which are so horribly painful…or old wounds that should’ve healed years ago and never did?
Maybe our old wounds teach us something. They remind us of where we’ve been and what we’ve overcome. They teach us lessons about what to avoid in the future. That’s what we like to think. But that’s not the way it is, is it? Some things we just have to learn over, and over, and over again.
Episode Nineteen: My Favorite Mistake
Meredith Grey
Surgeons always have a plan…where to cut, where to clamp, where to stitch. But even with the best plans…complications can arise, things can go wrong…and suddenly you’re caught with your pants down.
The thing about plans is, they don’t take into account the unexpected. So when we’re thrown a curveball whether it’s in the O.R. or in life…we have to improvise. Of course, some of us are better at it than others. Some of us just have to move on to plan B…and make the best of it.
And sometimes…what we want…is exactly what we need. But sometimes…sometimes what we need is a new plan.
Episode Twenty: Time After Time
Meredith Grey
A patient’s history is as important as their symptoms. It’s what helps us decide if heartburn’s a heart attack, if a headache’s a tumor. Sometimes patients will try to rewrite their own histories. They’ll claim they don’t smoke or forget to mention certain drugs, which, in surgery can be the kiss of death. We can ignore it all we want…but our history…eventually always comes back to haunt us.
Some people believe that without history, our lives amount to nothing. At some point, we all have to choose. Do we fall back on what we know? Or do we step forward to something new? It’s hard not to be haunted by our past. Our history is what shapes us, what guides us.
Our history resurfaces time after time after time. So we have to remember…sometimes the most important history is the history we’re making today.
Episode Twenty-One: Desire
Meredith Grey
As interns, we know what we want - to become surgeons…and we’ll do anything to get there. Suffer through killer exams, endure 100-hour weeks, stand for hours on end in operating rooms…you name it, we’ll do it. The tough part, though, is reconciling this huge thing we want - to be surgeons - with everything else we want.
Too often, the thing you want most is the one thing you can’t have. Desire leaves us heartbroken…it wears us out. Desire can wreck your life. But as tough as wanting something can be…the people who suffer the most…are those who don’t know what they want.
Episode Twenty-Two: The Other Side of This Life: Part 1
Meredith Grey
The dream is this - that we’ll finally be happy when we reach our goals. Find the guy, finish our internship - that’s the dream. Then we get there. And if we’re human, we immediately start dreaming of something else. Because if this is the dream…then we’d like to wake up…now, please.
Episode Twenty-Three: The Other Side of This Life: Part 2
Meredith Grey
At some point, maybe we accept the dream has become a nightmare. We tell ourselves the reality is better. We convince ourselves it’s better that we never dream at all. But the strongest of us, the most determine of us, we hold on to the dream. Or we find ourselves faced with a fresh dream we never considered. We awake to find ourselves…against all odds…feeling hopeful. And if we’re lucky, we realize…in the face of everything, in the face of life…the true dream…is being able to dream at all.
Episode Twenty-Four: Testing 1-2-3
Meredith Grey
A surgeon’s education never ends. Every patient, every symptom, every operation…is a test, a chance for us to demonstrate how much we know…and how much more we have to learn.
Episode Twenty-Five: Didn’t We Almost Have it All?
Richard Webber
Being chief is about responsibility. Every single surgical patient in the hospital is your patient, whether you’re the one who cut them open or not. The scalpel stops with you. You need to be able to look at a family…and tell them your team did everything they could to save someone’s child…their husband…their wife. You get caught up…taking care of other people’s families. And responsibility, it makes you…you take care of other people’s families…and you sacrifice your own.

PART ONE THOUSAND AND EIGHT
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Sunday
We materialised in a shop-front alcove, with a solid concrete wall to my right and a panelled wooden display wall behind glass to my left.
“Keep going,” Rubin said in my ear.
Not sure why he was being so insistent, I nevertheless strode forward as if I knew where I was going, and in just a few steps, the presence of multiple lanes of New York City traffic swept over me. Four lanes, all facing the same way, meant we were on one of the main arterial streets like Fifth Ave or Park Ave. ‘Zara’, a clothes boutique on the other side of the street did nothing to narrow the field any for me.
Not that it mattered. My point with this deductive reasoning was that neither of those streets had curbside parking.
Yet, sure enough, Dad's SUV was on the other side of the sidewalk in the closest lane of traffic, waiting for the lights to change. “Get in, quick!” Rubin ordered.
This wouldn’t be the first time I jumped into an illegal ‘traffic-light-parked’ car, and I raced for the back door, swinging it open and diving inside just as the lights changed. The door ‘magically’ shut itself behind me as I straightened up in my seat and took in Kulon behind the wheel and Gerry in the seat to my right.
“Hey, Angel,” I said, leaning forward to give her a quick kiss. “Missed you.”
“How’d it go with—er—your uncle?” Gerry asked, struggling with the normality of me having met with her god.
“Wanna put your seatbelt on back there, Sam?” Kulon chuckled, glancing at me in the rearview mirror as we moved forward across the intersection.
“It went better than I thought,” I admitted, then grinned. “I even got a really cool old-school bomber jacket out of it.” I saw her cringe and giggled evilly. “And you can’t hate on it, because it was literally a present from God himself.”
She clenched her hands into loose fists and pressed the heels of her palms to her temple. “I-I can’t even…” she finally stammered, and my giggle morphed into a full-blown cackle.
“I’ll show you when we get home. I don’t think you’ll hate it. It’s really nice and super authentic.” I then turned my attention to Kulon. “And dude! That has got to be soooo handy,” I said, gesturing back to where I’d jumped in the car. I was blown away by how easily it would be to catch people like that, just by realm-stepping the second a car was held up at lights. No guesswork. Not even coordinates. Just knowing.
“It has its moments,” Kulon agreed. “So, are we heading home?”
“Yes, please. The guys want to go out to Angus’ place to play some more ball this afternoon, but if I don’t get some home time in with Gerry between now and then, I won’t be going anywhere.”
The trip back to the apartment was quick, with Rubin vanishing as fast as he appeared once we had the building in sight. And with him on hand to pull back the guys any time we needed them, Kulon and Quent both stayed with the car and drove away together once Gerry and I were inside.
Of course, my luck just wasn’t playing nice with me today, for I knew the second I set foot in the apartment and saw Dad rise purposefully from his chair just inside the living room that having fun-time with Gerry wasn’t in my immediate future.
“I need a word with you, Sam,” he said, stepping between the sofa and the coffee table to give Gerry access to the rest of the apartment (with Dad standing in the doorway, it was as if it had been walled off).
“Daaaad,” I moaned, not really caring at this point what he wanted. After the morning I’d had, I needed some real Robbie-food and an hour or four in bed with my girl … minimum!
“Now, Sam.” His tone changed when he looked at Gerry and added, “We won’t be long, sweetheart.”
Not that it mattered. His initial bark had taken all my attention, and I felt my heart clench in my chest, wondering what else I’d done wrong. Not even Uncle YHWH had yelled at me, and I’d accidentally screwed with a couple of his worshippers. I couldn’t think of anything to warrant that, and as I processed the possibilities and came up blank, I barely felt Geraldine’s kiss to my cheek. “I’ll go and do some light reading in the bedroom,” she said, slipping out of my arms and making her way past Dad with a nod.
A few seconds later, I heard our bedroom door open and close, and I looked at Dad like he’d kicked a puppy. “Was that really necessary?”
“Would I have done it if it wasn’t?” Dad countered, and I had to remember who I was talking to. Between my run-in with Tucker’s people and my conversation with Uncle YHWH, I was being bolder than I had any right to be.
I forced myself to relax. “Sorry. It’s been a rough morning already.” I rubbed my chest again because, contrary to what anyone says, being tasered sucked, even if I did heal from it almost instantly.
Dad immediately frowned. “What happened? I thought you were visiting Gerry’s father for breakfast.”
“We were … I mean we did.” So much else had happened, and I didn’t feel like going into all of it. And since he was standing to one side, I headed into the kitchen, dropping my shoulder low to avoid his half-hearted grab on my way through.
I stopped at the plate warmer and was miffed at its empty state. My next port of call was the divine box Robbie called Voila. I remembered him telling me how I had to know what was in there for it to work (that, and how Charlie had scared the crap out of him yesterday morning when she’d told him the box was empty), but this was also Robbie, and he always had what we wanted ready to go. I brought to mind the one thing that would tide me over until lunch. The same thing that had been missing from Tucker’s table.
Just as I’d hoped, when I lifted the lid, an egg-filled baguette with bacon and cheese was waiting for me on a single sandwich plate. “Ye-essss,” I hissed in victory, lifting out the plate and taking the biggest bite I could manage without choking myself. “Thank you, Robbie, wherever you are! I love you!” My words were utterly muffled, but he wasn’t here, so it didn’t matter.
“Their food not to your liking?” Dad asked with an amused smirk.
“The company was challenging,” I answered evasively once I’d chewed enough to swallow. I then went over to the fridge and dug out the jug of freshly squeezed mango juice that I could never get enough of. With both items in my hands now, I was happy.
“Don’t even,” Dad warned when I instinctually lifted the jug to my lips.
“Hmmh?” The sound would’ve been an innocent ‘huh’, except I’d clamped my lips closed like that had never been my plan and put the jug on the island on the way to get a cup. With the dishwasher closer, I opened the door and grabbed one of the glasses from the second shelf. I then nudged the door shut with my shin and slid into Boyd’s seat, dragging the rest of my prizes over to me.
“So, what’s the family crisis?” I asked, pouring myself a drink but keeping the jug within easy reach. Wow, I really do use that word a lot, don’t I? I took a deep swallow to clear my throat, sighed, and then returned for another huge bite of my baguette.
“My youngest brother, Barris, our Mystallian God of the Hunt, has learned about you.”
Oh, for frig’s sake! I lowered the baguette and sat back in Boyd’s chair, my full focus once more on Dad. “Okay,” I answered cautiously, torn between frustration and annoyance. The other word choice that sprang to mind was a sarcastic ‘really’, which would probably require someone picking out an urn for my remains.
Dad shook his head and raised one hand with flared fingers. “It’s nothing bad.” He then pointed at my plate. “Finish your sandwich first.”
My next mouthfuls were maybe a third of the first two, and I might as well have been eating tyre rubber for all the enjoyment I was getting out of it. “How much does he know about me?” I asked between bites.
Dad moved to stand beside me at the corner of the island. “He knows you’ve almost graduated college. He knows there was animosity between your mother and me that’s since been resolved, and he knows about the pregnancy now.”
Now, the baguette felt like a rock in my gut. “Great.”
He slid into Lucas’ seat and curled a hand around my forearm near the elbow, anchoring me in place. “Sam, I said it’s okay. He’s on our side.”
I squinted. A lot of people were making that claim lately and I wasn’t sure I believed it anymore. “What does that mean, exactly?”
Dad met my stare squarely, and I was always amazed at how easily he could do that. “He knows the dangers to your mother, so he’s going to run interference on the family for us until after the babies are born. Despite the fact that it’ll put him in the same crosshairs with the rest of our family as us when they find out he knew, he’s going to do it anyway. He only asks one thing in return.”
I barely restrained my eye-roll. “Of course he does.”
Dad’s face morphed into a dark scowl, and his grip tightened painfully. “You will show your uncle the respect he deserves,” he warned.
I dropped my eyes to his waist; so not up for this. “Yes, sir.”
Dad’s intake for breath was both loud and frustrated. He kicked the leg of the chair I was sitting on for good measure, and when my gaze snapped to his, he was pointing two fingers of his free hand at his own eyes. “That’s right, boy. Right here. Nowhere else. Not there … not there … not way over there.” He pointed to three random locations in the apartment before returning to their original spot before his eyes. “Right here. Always. You get me?”
For some reason, Dr Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham started rolling through my brain, and I was quite proud of myself that I didn’t smirk or even blink. “Yessir.”
He didn’t get any calmer. “Okay …” he finally said, after a few seconds that was—who knew how long for him if he internalised to settle down— “I know we’ve only touched lightly on this before, but I need you to lift your game before we meet with your uncle, starting with stripping the words ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ from your vocabulary. I know your stance on human manners, and I’ve accepted your decision and will support it when it comes up with the others. That said, even the humans hardly ever use those two servitude titles anymore, and you can’t afford to appear weak in front of our family. Okay?”
Dad was compromising. I knew the family wouldn’t agree with my use of manners, but Dad was willing to back that, and to me, it was the more important of the two. “I’ll try,” I said because I couldn’t say for sure if I’d succeed without premonition, and that one wasn’t in my wheelhouse.
Ha, I made a divine funny.
So, why aren’t I laughing?
Probably because I still hadn’t heard what Uncle Barris wanted in exchange for his cooperation. It couldn’t be my head on a pike, as neither of my parents would go for that. But what?
“He wants to meet you, Sam, at a destination of your choosing and he’s agreed not to come here looking for you so long as that request is met. He hasn’t even asked for this address.”
“He’s the god of hunting, Dad. Hunting me down would be a cakewalk for someone like him.”
“True, except he’s promised not to go there unless it’s an emergency. You’re his nephew, Sam. A nephew he knew nothing about until last night. All he wants to do is meet you, and given the circumstances, I don’t think that’s too much to ask, do you?”
“How did he find out?” I asked instead of answering.
Dad’s expression soured. “Helen Portsmith. Apparently, she turned up at his gym last night with her usual spiel; only this time, your uncle put it together correctly and came looking for me for real answers. I told him about you and your mother. I told him our secrets.”
Something about the way he worded that… “As opposed to what?”
“I still haven’t mentioned Robbie or his connection to Yitzak. Nor have I mentioned the true gryps living with us, except for Tiacor, who’s there for your mother.”
I was starting to put this together. “Okay, so when we meet, no mention of Robbie as a cousin, or that he has a food innate, or that Yitzak and Collette know about him.” I got the feeling learning that we had true gryps in the household wouldn’t really amount to much, as they could be anywhere they wanted to be all over the world. It was their world as much as ours.
“Exactly.”
“What about Clefton and Nick? They’ve been here and met us too.”
“Mention them only if you want to get them into trouble for not outing you from the very beginning. Same with Nuncio.”
Well, that’s a hard ‘no’. “Maybe Cuschler?”
Dad scowled again. “There’s no bad blood between us anymore, right?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow warningly.
I sighed. Spoilsport. “Fine. But what about Fisk and the girls … and Najma?” It wasn’t that I’d forgotten my nephew, just that my brother and sisters rolled off the tongue first. “Danika’s been here, and Najma tracked me down at school before everyone else had met me. Even Fisk has popped in from time to time to touch base.”
“Barris knows they knew, and he understands why they’ve kept it quiet. Nothing’s going to happen until the reunion, and even then, maybe nothing if your mother still hasn’t given birth.”
I pushed my half-eaten baguette away and pressed my forehead to the island. “Everybody knows a little bit,” I griped. “How in the world am I meant to keep tabs on who knows what?”
Dad’s grin made me want to kick him the way he’d kicked my chair. “What do you think internalising is for? Remembering whatever we want is literally our jam.”
“I s’pose.” But combing through the details at every turn still seemed like an awful lot of effort, even if that process did seem instantaneous to everyone else. It wasn’t to us.
Dad reached past me and brought back my baguette. “Finish your sandwich. You can go as you are. Your uncle runs a gym downtown, so he’s not exactly at his best either.”
I stared at him in horror. “We’re going right now?”
“Why not now?”
Because I just got back from seeing Uncle YHWH! “I dunno. I mean, it’s too soon, don’t you think?”
I don’t know how else to describe it, but Dad’s expression turned … parental. “And when would a good time be for you with your hugely busy schedule now that school has wrapped up?” he asked like I was an idiot.
I gave a nervous, shrugging roll of my shoulders. “I understand there’s this get-together happening at the end of the year…”
I kinda expected the cuff to the back of my head and tried not to snicker when it happened.
“Don’t be a smartass. Finish your sandwich, and we’ll go. This won’t take long.”
With nothing else for it, I did as I was told, leaving the empty plate and cup on the sink since the dishwasher hadn’t been emptied. “I’m so glad I got a say in this…” I muttered quietly under my breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
I have no idea why I thought we’d at least use the front door to leave. Probably because most people did. But this was Dad, and we were going to meet his brother, and he clearly didn’t want me to have the chance of wriggling out of it.
So without warning, he slapped his hand on my right shoulder and shoved me forward, realm-stepping away with me as I stumbled to keep my footing.
[Next Chapter]
* * *
((All comments welcome. Good or bad, I’d love to hear your thoughts 🥰🤗))
I made a family tree/diagram of the Mystallian family that can be found here
For more of my work, including WPs: Angel466 or an index of previous WPS here.
FULL INDEX OF BOB THE HOBO TO DATE CAN BE FOUND HERE!

<< First < Back
My ears perked up at the shifting of branches outside of my view. A low growl echoed through the dense foliage that surrounded me. Who was there? What was there?
I had been wandering this forest for what felt like days, but in reality, was only a handful of hours. I was searching for anything, anywhere that could help me on my new journey. Minutes earlier, a hunger and thirst had gnawed at my insides, reminding me I no longer had the soul power to simply ignore hunger and thirst. I had chuckled to myself, recalling the moments my soul shattered and a singular piece ejected into this dimension, continuing my existence, but at a cost of most of my soul.
I instinctually willed power into my hand, shaping it into a sword, before sighing when was warned of using too much before I had finished the hilt.
SP: 14
Soul stage: Shattered
Soul power gain multi: 0.01X
I couldn’t risk losing the final shreds of soul power I had left. With a grimace, I stopped making the sword, willing the power back into my soul, and taking quick glances at my surroundings. Even without my supernatural abilities, I was still a talented fighter.
Is what I would have said if the creature charging at me wasn’t a wolf or boar shaped thing twice my height.
Diving for cover and out of the path of the creature, I booked it. Screw hunting, there was no way in hell I was taking down this freak of nature. Sprinting through the trees, I failed to account for the fact that the gigantic wolf-boar was, in fact, faster than me.
Battle instincts hadn’t disappeared with the rest of my soul, however, as I flattened myself again when the wolf was upon me. I was about to scramble to my feet again when I heard something yell behind me.
The language was unrecognisable, but I stayed down when I saw a flash of light from where the voice originated. A searing hot ball of flame flew over my head, nailing the wolf in the face, stunning it briefly. I looked up to see a man, hands coated in a bright purple light, chanting something. He pushed them forwards, bombarding the creature with a flurry of purple bolts.
The animal screams in agony before crumpling, and the man lands, breathing heavily. He turns to me, grinning and spoke in a language I could not interpret. Right. Isekai worlds, different languages. Duh.
Upon noticing my blank face, he stared expectantly.
I instinctively reached towards a universal translator skill I once had, before realising in that space was just… emptiness. I let out a sigh. Power loss was a steep price to pay for survival.
“Um… do you speak English?” I stuttered out.
The man returned my blank stare.
“Well, I guess that’s a no.” I picked myself off the ground and dusted myself off, checking for any cuts and major damage. A couple of bruises, throbbed, a painful reminder of my loss of healing abilities. When I turned my attention back to the man, he had begun a string of gestures.
First, he pointed to me, then made a mouth opening and mimed putting something in. I supposed it had been an offer of food. Odd, but I nodded in response. I suppose I shouldn’t question the culture of the world, and this man was offering me a free meal, which I wasn’t in the mood to turn down.
He turned, gesturing me to follow, which I did. He lead me back to a small cabin, deeper into the woods and lead me inside. It was quaint, like what someone would expect an abode in the middle of the forest to look like. A brick fireplace, a small bed, a bookshelf, it emanated the sense of rustic comfort.
He picked a book from the bookshelves, flipping it open to an empty page and leaving it on the table with what looked like a writing utensil. Then, he made more gestures. He pointed to me and wrote onto the book. A crude representation of a person, an arrow, and a chair.
Was he asking me to attack a chair with an arrow…?
Wait he wasn’t done. He added an extra symbol that showed the person sitting onto the chair. I mentally facepalmed. So much for universal imagery. I took a seat and pondered the exchange. Even though it seemed like images and their representations were universal, it became very apparent that even the simplest gestures could be interpreted incorrectly.
He put the book and the utensil down and went to the small kitchen area, which held a steaming pot. An aroma of a freshly made stew lingered in the air. Stereotypical, but beggars can’t be choosers.
While waiting for the man to finish making the food, I turned my attention to the fragmented state of my soul.
SP: 15
Soul stage: Shattered
Soul power gain multi: 0.01X
In the 10 minutes we had spent walking, my soul had accumulated a whole extra point of soul power. I groaned at the painfully slow speed and mulled over my options. Previously, I had upgraded my generation speed with my soul power. Spending soul power to make more soul power, I had likened it to an idle game. Alternatively, entering higher soul stages would provide a boost in soul power and reduce skill costs.
I tried upgrading my soul generation capacity first. I focused my meagre power inwards to expanding my soul, coaxing it to grow. It was… way easier than normal, which made sense I suppose, due to the small state of my soul. Soul power condensed and coagulated around my soul, making it bigger, stronger, giving it more capacity and power. Sure enough, when I checked my status…
Soul power gain multi: 0.02X
Doubled. Not bad, but still pitifully weak. I tried the next strategy. Soul stages were entered and exited based on user willpower, which I fortunately had a lot of training with. Even if my soul was lost, my mind wasn’t. I called upon the will that would have easily allowed me to enter soul stage 1 and…
Warning, soul cannot handle excess soul power.
A sharp pain pulled me out of entering the soul stage. I had apparently reached the willpower requirement, but my shattered soul couldn’t handle the influx of energy. I sighed, stuck as a shattered soul until I could find some way to repair it.
Fortunately, my downed spirit was cheered by the presence of the fresh soup placed in front of me. I gave the man a smile, which he returned before digging in. Despite the mouth watering aroma, a sliver of doubt remained. What if the food was unsanitary, or potentially poisonous? But the battle for hunger eventually won over, and I scooped spoonfuls of the ambrosia into my mouth.
After our meal, the man pulled the book to him, in which he drew a house and a question mark next to it. I took a gamble and guessed he was inquiring about my home. For all intents and purposes, I was homeless, which I illustrated by drawing a stick figure walking away from a home with a cross through it.
The man had a look of understanding, before getting up and rummaging through his cupboards, eventually withdrawing a roll of some sort of soft fabrics. He handed them to me, started drawing again. Drawing a sun half obscured by a line, most likely a horizon, followed by a house with an arrow pointing towards it. He emphasised his point by pointing towards me and pointing down towards his feet. He wanted me to… stay?
I hesitated. I had far overstayed my welcome, but then where else would I stay? This kind stranger offered a roof over my head when I had none, so I wouldn’t turn down his generosity. I nodded and looked for a place to lay down the linen… mattress… thing.
***
Stretching and yawning, I winced as the remnants of back pain and exhaustion faded. Blinking away the haze of sleep, I gathered myself. Memories of yesterday flooded in, and I sighed. Still stuck in this Isekai world, great. Checking my interface, I noticed I had accumulated a bit of SP to work with.
SP: 158
Soul stage: Shattered
Soul power gain: 0.02X
First things first, I would try repair my soul as much as possible. Focusing inwards once more and directing energy towards my soul, I felt it expand much more readily than yesterday. Newly formed solid structures held much of the power together as it coagulated into one. I exhaled and checked my status again.
SP: 58
Soul stage: Foundation
Soul power gain: 0.2X
Empty talent slots: 1
I smiled, noticing my soul stage had transcended from “shattered”. It still wasn’t in the realm of what I was used to, so it was probably still abysmally weak, but a 10 times increase in soul power was very welcome. Though one unfamiliar feature caught my attention. Talent slots? What the hell were those?
The user expresses a strong desire to understand. Filling talent slot
The question vanished as soon it was arose, but a new addition took its place.
SP: 58
Soul stage: Foundation
Soul power gain: 0.2X
Talents:
Worldly information matrix
A subconscious echo popped into my mind as I read.
Talents were permanent emplacements within one’s soul that greatly boosts one specific aspect about the person. Whether it be mana regeneration, or a group of or even just one spell, it will strengthen that aspect significantly. Talent slots are unlocked upon the growth of one’s soul.
How the hell did I know that?
Before I could ponder any longer, shuffling was heard next to me, and the man sat up and stretched.
“Mmm, what’s the time…?” He muttered. His voice was deep, gruff, yet friendly and had an edge of kindness to it.
I looked around for some sort of time implement, and upon finding one, responded, “I don’t know how to read your clocks.” However, the words left my mouth in a language I never knew I could speak. We locked eyes in disbelief, and both made an exclamation of surprise.
“What the… I thought you couldn’t speak our tongue!”
“I didn’t know I could understand your language!” I fumbled over the unfamiliar words in my mouth. But whatever changed, it allowed me to speak this new dialect.
Gathering ourselves after the recent discovery, he sat me at the table as he poured me some form of hot beverage.
“So you can understand me now. Excellent! Now, who are you truly?”
“I am…” I hesitated. I searched my past, urging it to provide me my true identity. I sighed, knowing that my true name was lost to time. Instead I provided the name bestowed upon me by those I protected, by the world I had left behind. “I am Custos. The guardian of Earth.”
“I see. A pleasure to meet you Custos, I am Orion.” He chuckles, “I am no guardian unfortunately, just a humble hermit alone in these woods. It’s not common I get visitors. I have never heard of this ‘Earth’. Would you please enlighten me”
I hesitated once more. These people did not seem to know about interstellar travel, let alone interdimensional. “It’s a land from far, far away.”
He nodded, and sipped from his cup, urging me to do the same. “That explains why you didn’t know our tongue. Speaking of, how did you manage to learn our tongue so quickly? No translation spells around here, I assure you.”
“Apparently I used a talent slot to unlock a-“
The sound of a cup clattering onto the table cut me off. “You used a talent slot for it?! Why?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are they that valuable?”
The man gave me an exasperated look. “Valuable? They’re priceless! Enhance magic, grant infinite strength, and you chose being bilingual.”
“Ah I see. Is this permanent?”
The man shook his head. “Every human has 5 talent slots. Permanent, unchangeable, and once a talent has been assigned there is no way of removing it.”
I pondered his statement. It seemed to conflict with the information my own talent provided me, but I shook it off, disregarding it for another time.
“Unfortunate,” I said, taking a sip from my own cup. It tasted like a mocha, but less strong. “You mentioned you know spells? Are you some sort of wizard?”
He chuckled, “Not really, the mages are really up there in terms of skill. I’m just someone who wanted a bit of peace and quiet and learned a bit of magic along the way. This book has been my magical bible.” He stood and fetched another book from his bookshelf, opening it in front of me.
The words shuffled and morphed into a language I could understand, courtesy of my talent, as I read through it. It contained a comprehensive list of spells, alongside Orion’s notes and diagrams, scrawled over the pages.
“Interesting.” I murmured, a spark of curiosity igniting within me. “Well, best I take my leave. I’ve far overstayed my welcome.”
“Friend, no need to worry about that. You may stay as long as you like. Especially if you haven’t a place of your own.”
This man kindness bordered on naivety, but at least I didn’t have to worry about dying for now.

I'm sure people are getting tired of this subject but I swear the other guy (SnowballtheSage) was onto to something when he started this, even if I think his execution was flawed. I don't have any concrete conclusions yet but I do have what I think are some interesting considerations. The basic idea is that what defines “slave-knowledge” is as “slave-knowledge” is its tendency to push individuals towards mindless “industriousness” and a sense of alienation from one’s own life. This is opposed to “master-knowledge,” which is defined by its tendency to promote the feeling of power and the ability to pursue self-development. I’ll be exploring what that means to the best of my ability, but remember I’m nowhere near a final destination where this is concerned.
I think a key problem with the previous discussions was there were no meaningful distinctions drawn between (a) what can properly be called "knowledge" per se, as opposed to any number of other conscious activities, and (b) what criteria would have to be met for a piece of "knowledge" to be subcategorized as "master-" or "slave-knowledge." So long as we establish some clear parameters, I believe there is at least a strong possibility of useful concepts being pulled out of these considerations. To that end, I'll be taking the following to be axiomatically true throughout (feel free to disagree with any or all of these, they’re only “frog’s perspectives” anyway):
(1) “Knowledge” will be provisionally taken to mean “the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” Any kind of conditioned / trained response, behavior, or habit will only be considered “knowledge” insofar as it has to do with skill acquisition – e.g. “I know how to drive a car.” An acquired moral attitude or emotional response – e.g. “the child saw his parents react fearfully to wolves; now he’s afraid of wolves,” or “I was taught to value struggle” – will not be considered.
(2) Any definition of "master-" or "slave-knowledge," on pain of being arbitrary, must not be reducible to mere convention: e.g. "cooking / cleaning is woman's work." If a "master" can participate in some particular activity or knowledge without being any less of a "master," even if that activity or knowledge is highly correlated with subordinated or oppressed classes of people, then it cannot be classified as "slave knowledge" per se. Think, for example, of the Roman solider who repeats "Cleanliness is next to godliness" as he cleans his equipment and tidies his post.
(3) Any definition of "master-" or "slave-knowledge," on pain of being arbitrary, must not be reducible to what is merely accidental — that is to say, inessential to being "master" or "slave" — e.g. "the sky is blue," or "the slave knows where the plates are kept."
(4) We cannot mix up actual master / slave dynamics with Nietzsche's conceptual “master / slave” dynamics. There is a reason I keep putting “master” and “slave” in "quotation marks": I am denoting the technical manner in which Nietzsche uses those terms. A "master" in Nietzsche's terminology refers to a personality type — a kind of warrior / hunter / conquistador. An actual master can be any or all of those things, but they could just as easily be a fat, lazy, cowardly individual with absolutely no propensity for physical or psychological strength. As such, discussion of real world behavior of slaves and masters are not necessarily relevant to Nietzsche’s “master” and “slave” typology or its related concepts.
In order to move forward effectively I believe that we need to keep these distinctions front of mind.
With that out of the way, let’s get into it…
“Slave-Knowledge” and Alienation…
In the original post …
https://www.reddit.com/Nietzsche/comments/1ca722o/a_masters_knowledge_and_a_slaves_knowledge/
…OP u/SnowballtheSage offered a possible example of what slave-knowledge might look like:

A slave's knowledge, on the other hand, of course, involves activities such as cooking and cleaning.

This example provided little insight into the concept, however, as it is not obvious what about these activities are “slavish” beyond a generalized, conventional association with subordinated classes. As u/I-mmoral_I-mmortal showed, quoting Nietzsche himself, the notion of “slavishness” does not deal with conventional associations but rather with qualities that are intrinsic to the “slave” as a type of human experience:

The revolt of the slaves in morals begins in the very principle of resentment becoming creative and giving birth to values—a resentment experienced by creatures who, deprived as they are of the proper outlet of action, are forced to find their compensation in an imaginary revenge. While every aristocratic morality springs from a triumphant affirmation of its own demands, the slave morality says "no" from the very outset to what is "outside itself," "different from itself," and "not itself": and this "no" is its creative deed. [Genealogy, First Essay, §10]

Following this, I-mmoral_I-mmortal also rightfully points out that there is nothing about these forms of labor that, in and of themselves, can be taken to indicate a “slavish” nature:

A chef or a cleaner can still positively affirm their life.

Yes, a chef or a cleaner certainly can affirm their life through their work – and the knowledge that goes with it. But what about a line cook?
Unlike chefs or the traditional / conventional role of women in the kitchen – who have complete control of their kitchen (you might say she has seized the means of production), and therefore are involved in every step of of the process – the line cook is more like an assembler on a factory line. He is given enough knowledge to fulfill his function effectively, but not necessarily enough to see how the whole picture fits together, which is needed if one wants to be creative themselves. As such his work-knowledge is more "atomized" than the chef’s or the home cook’s, and therefore of a fundamentally different nature – perhaps an inherently "slavish" nature. For those of you who are familiar with Marx’s theory of alienation, particularly regarding the worker’s alienation from their labor, a certain degree of overlap might be visible here. For those who are unfamiliar (such as myself), a brief summary:

The second aspect of alienation, alienation from the activity of labour, means that in labouring I lose control over my life-activity. Not only do I lose control over the thing I produce, I lose control over the activity of producing it. My activity is not self-expression. My activity has no relation to my desires about what I want to do, no relation with the ways I might choose to express myself, no relation with the person I am or might try to become. [https://www.yorku.ca/horowitz/courses/lectures/35\_marx\_alienation.html\]

Not only do these concepts give us insight into what "slave knowledge" might look like, they also tie in nicely with Nietzsche's critiques of scientific knowledge – being too atomized, lacking any creative whole or unification or “style” – as well as his distinction between the philosopher, who is creative and great, and the scholar, who is a merely useful collector, compiler and categorizer of the disparate and small. These are forms of labor – sometimes, in the case of the scholar, labor that is directly related to the pursuit of knowledge – which are unfulfilling because they are disconnected from our lives. The knowledge which is involved in this labor is alienated from us (or, to used u/SnowballtheSage’s word, “dissociated”)…
https://www.reddit.com/Nietzsche/comments/1cfuwb5/on_the_affirmation_and_negation_of_life/
…Unlike the knowledge wielded by artists and philosophers, the knowledge which is involved in these alienated forms of labor – what we might call “slave knowledge” – does not serve really the person who possesses it. It is a perversion of the normal relation between knowledge and knower – namely, that the knowledge is an extension of the knower. In the case of “slave knowledge,” the knowledge is an extension of the “slave’s” subservience:

Alienation from my life-activity also means that my life-activity is directed by another. Somebody else, the foreman, the engineer, the head office, the board of directors, foreign competition, the world-market, the very machinery I am operating, it/they decide what and how and how long and with whom I am going to act. Somebody else also decides what will be done with my product. […] As a result I relate to my own activity as though it were something alien to me, as though it were not really mine, which it isn’t. […] My activity becomes the activity of another. [https://www.yorku.ca/horowitz/courses/lectures/35\_marx\_alienation.html\]

As u/SnowballtheSage pointed out, “Aristotle describes the slave as the tool of someone else.” A “slave’s knowledge” is the kind of knowledge that keeps the knower a tool – a sharp tool, but still only ever a tool. It does not empower one to become the craftsman. As Nietzsche said himself:

If one wants an end, one must also want the means: if one wants slaves, then one is a fool if one educates them to be masters. [Twilight, “Skirmishes,” §40]

It is easy to see why people who live too long in the shadow of such knowledge might prefer to run from the world – if this is all they know of it – or, if there is nowhere to run (or if they just happen to be particularly bitter or spiteful) why they want to take revenge against it.
“Master-Knowledge” and Leisure…
Our discussion of what “slave-knowledge” might be gives us a pretty good idea of what “master-knowledge” should be. Instead of atomized, “style-less,” passive and coerced (knowledge that keeps you a tool), “master knowledge” should be active, creative, a unity of “style” imposed on disparate multiplicity. In other words, knowledge that prepares one to be the craftsman of one’s own life. But what exactly does that look like?
It is easy enough to imagine Spartans preparing for war and list whatever skills and lessons they are learning as “master-knowledge,” but this approach inevitably boils down to convention and mere association. War is a craft, but it’s not the only craft. In his original post, u/SnowballtheSage takes a stab at an answer which I think is instructive:

The ancient Greek nobles […] were sending their children to the gymnasion. There, they learned about the anatomy of their body and how they could execute different movements. They were coordinating what we today call the mind with their body.

Of course the idea suggested by the literal reading of this claim – that “master-knowledge” is reducible to some sort of mind-body connection – is not much use to us, unless the highest form of knowledge in our scheme is mastery of the clean-and-press. Yet for me this claim suggests a useful analogy which links the idea of the mind-body connection with the idea of knowledge which is meaningfully grounded in our lives. Elsewhere, SnowballtheSage compares a modern, half-hearted affirmation of life with looking a river from a distance and saying “that’s nice,” whereas a true affirmation would be learning to swim in it. I propose that “master-knowledge” would be knowledge which is similarly fulfilling of and grounded in our actual lives as we live it, and, because of this, both serves and affirms that life. The "Yes” is expressed in the conscious embrace of the doing. The kind of activity which is involved with this knowledge is the kind I described above: creativity, “style,” the imposition of unity upon disparate multiplicity, the opposite of a “slave’s” activity. Mastery of one’s mind and one’s body through sport, dance, the skills of warfare, art, philosophy, science, and so on... all of these are potential avenues for “masterly” activity. In short, “master-knowledge” is the kind of knowledge which results in self-development – that is to say, in the intentional development of one’s will, i.e. one’s personal capacity for and feeling of power.
Contrast this with a “slave knowledge,” the power generated by which seems to be reaped by everyone but the “slave.” Note also the apparent lack of purpose in the “master-knowledge” beyond the sake of the “master’s” growth. There is seemingly no trace of need anywhere in it, whereas the “slave’s” alienated knowledge is seemingly concerned with nothing but need:

The only relation that the activity has with me is that it is a way of filling my belly and keeping a roof over my head. My life activity is not life-activity. It is merely the means of self-preservation and survival. In alienated labour, Marx claims, humans are reduced to the level of an animal, working only for the purpose of filling a physical gap, producing under the compulsion of direct physical need. [https://www.yorku.ca/horowitz/courses/lectures/35\_marx\_alienation.html\]

This aspect of compulsion and coercion is absent for the “master.” A running theme throughout Nietzsche’s work is his distaste for the modern preoccupation with the concept of self-preservation – especially prominent in Spinoza and Darwin but noticeable everywhere. These thinkers, Nietzsche believed, focused on self-preservation so much because life was something they suffered from. People of ignoble quality learned to value “industriousness” and speed out of need. Nietzsche complained often of the modern man’s tendency to always be in a hurry. Nobles, on the other hand, could afford to move slowly, and so they learned to value leisure – not “leisure” in the sense of doing nothing, but “leisure” in the sense of free time which could be dedicated to self-development as opposed to mere self-preservation. Indeed it was an ancient Greek truism, agreed upon by everyone from the Spartans to Aristotle, that a man who had no time for anything but work was incapable of philosophy. The ability to choose, to plan, to decide based solely on one's own will, produces the feeling of power over one’s life. For some this was the primary argument in defense of having slaves in the first place: if others could be forced to do the work, it gave one access to “leisure.” From this principle we can add an addendum to our previous statements about what “master-knowledge” is, namely: it is the knowledge that enables one to create this kind of “leisurely” condition for oneself – and in many cultures it was believed that this included having and managing slaves, slaves who were in many cases intentionally deprived of said “leisure.” (ADDENDUM: For an example of an actual slave who was afforded "leisure" and used it to produce great works, read the works of Seneca.)
While such “leisure” and self-development often lent themselves to achieving worldly ends, Nietzsche believed that a greater expression of “masterly” knowledge was found those activities which served no ends at all, and the greatest of all these was philosophy. As he once put it:

[…] granting that one is a person, one has necessarily also the philosophy of one's personality; there is, however, an important distinction here. With the one it is his defects which philosophize, with the other it is his riches and powers. The former requires his philosophy, whether it be as support, sedative, or medicine, as salvation, elevation, or self-alienation; with the latter it is merely a fine luxury, at best the voluptuousness of a triumphant gratitude, which must inscribe itself ultimately in cosmic capitals on the heaven of ideas. [Gay Science,“Preface to the Second Edition,” §2]

With this we may write one final addendum to our previous considerations: Historically speaking, “master-knowledge” has involved intentional acts of conquest for the purpose of reducing others to tools, for no other reason than to fulfill the conqueror's drive to revel in the feeling of power and to posses the “leisure” necessary to fully develop their will. In such cases, the “disparate multitude” having "style" imposed on them was the people -- a feat achieved through coercive means for selfish ends. But these acts were ennobled, in Nietzsche's eyes, to the degree they made the people feel that WE could conquer the world and write our name in the stars.
Some final thoughts concerning “knowledge” and Nature vs Nurture…
Some parts of these considerations, particularly those concerning the “slaves,” seem to be more concerned with the environment or conditions under which the individuals are living, rather than any intrinsic qualities within the individuals themselves. This impression needs to be scrutinized. Although Nietzsche would not deny that things such as culture, material conditions, upbringing and so on *matter,* he was no Blank Paper Theorist. Nietzsche's little "state of nature" thought experiment, the Genealogy, is about the "master" conquering the "slave" because he was stronger — that is to say, the "master" was in some way fundamentally different from the "slave." In real life, master / slave dynamics are often about people who are more or less equals except for who their parents are and how they're treated as a result. This is precisely not what Nietzsche's account of “master” and “slave” is concerned with.
For Nietzsche, "master" and "slave" characteristics ("knowledge" or otherwise) are expressions of underlying physiological traits (nature) even more so than the consequence of personal experience or education (nurture). These terms denote what Nietzsche saw as fundamental aspects of the human experience as much as the particular expressions and evolutions of those aspects we have come to know through history. A “master” and a “slave” could not have become who they are in Nietzsche's eyes by virtue of something as arbitrary as birthright. We must apply this principle to our understanding of “master-” and “slave-knowledge” as well if it is to have any hope of being cogent.
Exactly how this would all fit together I am unsure. However I think there is are interesting clues in Nietzsche’s early notebooks, particularly *KSA,* Notebook 19 (see *The Complete Works of Nietzsche,* vol. 11). In these notes, Nietzsche routinely argues that plants see the world as a plant, that humans see the world as human – that indeed the philosopher task is the “metamorphosis of the world into human beings” (KSA 19 [237]) – and that “knowledge” itself “is nothing but operating with the most favored metaphors, thus an imitation that is no longer felt to be an imitation” (KSA 19 [228]). The exact meaning of these claims will take a considerable amount of time for me to nail down, but at the moment it seems to suggest that all “knowledge” involves projection and anthropomorphism. All truth, even scientific truth, “is ultimately a sum of anthropomorphic relations” (KSA19 [237]). If we extend this principle to “masters” and “slaves,” then it follows that just as a “plant” sees the world as a “plant,” and a “human” as a “human,” then a “master” would necessarily see the world – all of Nature itself – as a “master.” And the same would hold true for the “slave.” If this is so, then the truth of the world is in some fundamental way not only interpreted but written by the active psycho-physiological drives within us all – including, but perhaps not limited to, the “masterly” and “slavish” drives. Exactly what consequences this would have, if any, for a holistic interpretation of Nietzsche’s work, I do not know. But it’s interesting to consider…
P.S. There’s also a bunch of stuff in there concerning the need to place a “limiting principle” on the pursuit of knowledge, usually via art and philosophy. I’m sure that also has a part to play in all this, but I’m at the end of my rope here.

TL;DR class descriptions/info to help underclassmen know about classes thru personal experiences. Add to it with extra info or questions!
To all the incoming freshmen or other underclassmen - you’ll prolly hear it a lot, but the time really does go by so fast. Enjoy it, soak it in, and step out of your comfort zone. Someone posted their classes thru Purdue to let other students know how those classes were (in case it was a niche/high-level class or it wasn’t on RateMyProfessor). That was pretty helpful to me so Imma do it too. I’ll let u kno how the courses went and what I can remember. I’m graduating from the College of Ag with a B.S. in Animal Sciences with a concentration in Biosciences and minors in Biotechnology and Real Estate. I came into Purdue with AP and Dual Credits, so some things I didn’t take. Anyway, here are the classes I took.
Anyone who’s taken any of these, please add on/say smth else if it has changed! Underclassmen, feel free to ask about them!
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FRESHMAN YEAR
AGR 101: Intro to Ag & Purdue (Multiple lecturers)
This course was THE intro course to Purdue and Ag (duh). It was a 1/2 semester course so I was done with it by week 8 and there was only a quiz. We were told the purpose of Purdue being land-grant and were just intro’d to the different parts/departments of the college of Ag + different success tips. This was also the class where u begin (already) thinking about your 4-year plan and create a LinkedIn. Easy A, just show up and learn about the college of Ag
AGR 114: Intro to ANSC Programs (Ashley York)
Also a 1/2 semester course that was done by Oct. This class just went into depth on what to expect as a student in the department. You may start work on a resumé, continue with planning or LinkedIn. Again, easy A, just show up. Also, Ashley was a saint helping me each year to make sure I was on track, even tho she wasn’t my advisor.
ANSC 102: Intro to Animal Ag (Elizabeth Karcher)
This class was the first “real” class of college. It was just an intro to different domestic species and the operations tht are part of animal ag. I think there was also a lab with the class where u were introduced to animals. Dr. Karcher also was a pretty good professor. Just pay attention - it’s sort of memorization for random facts about animals/common sense depending on what u took in high school/home life in a rural area. Should be easy A.
CHM 115: Gen Chem (Multiple lecturers)
Was never a fan of chemistry, so this class I went into with dread. I didn’t want to take AP Chem, and just dealt with it in college. Honestly, if u took honors/were a good student in hs chemistry, there should be no problem - was basically just like a high school class. There was a lab that went with this course, but because of COVID, I just had an online worksheet to do every week for pre-, in-, and post-lab so I can’t speak on it. If u aren’t inclined to chem, it might take a bit of extra studying, but I was never worried.
PHIL 110: Intro to Philosophy (Taylor Davis)
To be fair, I never exactly wanted to take this exact class. I came from a small town in the Midwest, so I wanted to be sure I wasn’t dumb or anything to the people, cultures, etc. around me. Told my advisor I wanted to take a class to give me more of a “world” perspective, so she suggested the class. It honestly was not bad at all. The professor knew what he was talking abt and very accepting of questions. We learned how to tear down an argument and build it up in several ways and talked about cool things like if we have free will, does God exist, etc. The only assignments that counted for the sem were a midterm and 2 papers - 1 small and 1 large philosophical essay over any topic from the class. Definitely changed my outlook, would recommend taking it. The first part of class was harder - making sure u understand why/how an argument does or doesn’t work - but the rest was fun/easy as the topics were just presented and talked about.
AGEC 217: Economics (Larry Deboer)
I found Econ as a topic in and of itself to be quite boring. Supply and demand, money, etc. The class kind of turned out that way. Its presented as basically supply/demand and reasons for changes to the them were slowly added throughout the semester. We had several assignments, but they were nothing terrible. Gotta give props to the professor, tho. He knew the class wasn’t great but made it fun. Also, the class is flexible for schedules as in some situations it can count for credit in place of ECON251.
POL 223: Intro to Environmental Policy (Tara Grillos)
When I first started, I thought the route I wanted was ANSC with some focus in environmental issues. That’s why I took this class. I don’t understand the “intro” part, really. The whole class was presented as just case studies for things that have happened that impacted policies from the late 1800s/early 1900s until recently. Some of the info was cool. I don’t remember much for assignments, but there was a group project/paper where u had to decide on an environmental issue, state how u plan to fix it, on what level of government, etc. It wasn’t a crazy class to be in as a freshman, but it was not what I was expecting for a POL class.
ANSC 181: Orientation to ANSC (Elizabeth Byers)
Another 1/2 semester course. This class, as far as I can remember, was just for showing u the possibilities available to u in ANSC. This was specifically ANSC. It went over every concentration and what jobs/salaries there were. This was also a class where we were assigned to create our resumés (professionally) and start networking. Just as, if not easier than the other 1/2 semester classes so far.
ANSC 221: Principles of Animal Nutrition (Dale Forsyth)
Sorry but not sorry for anyone in ANSC. The class is boring, but Dr. Dale Forsyth is such a sweet old man. This class is the intro for nutrition in ANSC. U will learn the different required nutrients, food stuffs (supplements and stuff too) that have these nutrients, what happens when animals are given too little of these, and how to balance/create rations for animals (ruminant and non-ruminant). As long as u are okay/good with algebra, there shouldn’t be a problem. U just need to solve systems of equations in Excel to get the right weight of a food stuff. Homework was balancing rations. Exams looked at that + nutrients and their deficiencies. Dr. Forsyth also talks fast and doesn’t slow down because he has a lot to get thru. Come into the class knowing it prolly isn’t going to be very fun, but u need to know it. Try to find something interesting in the whole.
BIOL 111: Fundamentals of Bio II (Sean Humphrey)
Not sure how this class really is. I came into college loving biology and being (not to sound like an ass) great at it. To me, it was easy and relearning biology from high school for a bit. To others it may be a bit more difficult. There is just a lot of memorization. The professor was nice and answered my questions when I had them and explained in great detail if I was confused. I can’t remember any assignments I turned in, or anything about exams. Overall, I thought it was an easy class, but be the judge urself.
CHM 116: Gen Chem (Multiple lecturers)
Just a continuation of CHM 115. It picked up where it left off. Got a little harder, but it was nowhere as hard as TV or anything makes it. There are definitely topics that show up from hs again, but a lot is new. Wasn’t fun for this class switching lecturers every few weeks since they each had their own lecture style. Again, there was a lab section, but because of COVID, it was a worksheet. Not the worst class, but a meh class.
MA 16020: Applied Calc II (Alexandros Kafkas)
The first and only time I had to take math here. In hs I took MA 165 and thought it was a breeze (prolly bc it was hs). To anyone wondering, MA 165 SHOULD count in place of MA 16010 in college of ag. With that in mind, I went into the course knowing what Purdue math is known for, but still keepin an open mind with my abilities. I’m really proud of the grade I got, too. I think a lot of the course depends on the lecturer - mine was good at teaching us new concepts. Learn all you can about the lecturer beforehand, find out if they are good, and see it for yourself. We had quizzes in class every week (MWF) over the previous lecture and homework thru LON-CAPA that was usually due the day aftebefore (Tues, Thurs, Sun, I think). The quizzes and homework were good starting problems. The exams were tough and harder than quizzes/hw. If u’ve done well in math, but aren’t a prodigy or someone who can put in hrs of work, don’t expect to get likely higher than mid-70s on exams. It was common to get around a 50-60%. They do curve “if it’s necessary” but it is ALWAYS necessary.
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SOPHOMORE YEAR
AGR 201: Communicating Across Cultures (Pamala Morris)
To start…BOO. Was not a fan of this class. Felt like it was a money grab and busy work. It was required for some international understanding credits. The content wasnt interesting but for sure important. We were taught to basically be good ppl and about the different types of hardships that groups of ppl could go thru (ageism, sexism, racism, classism, etc.). We were required to buy the book, which was $50, but written by the prof and from what I assume was her website. I don’t recall ever using it unless it was necessary for an assignment. The class helps u relate and think critically, but is done in a piss-poor way. It could hv been the COVID aftermath where lecture was done virtually but we had a class later on with other students for a “lab”. Quizzes were easy, and overall easy, but so bad too.
SPAN 201: Spanish III (Nancy Reyes)
I know I’ve said this already abt other courses, but this still applies. This course was 100% a high school class. I did a placement test into this course (after 3 years in HS Spanish - Fr. to Jr. - with a 2 year gap of not learning) and got all credit for Spanish 1 and 2. Took it for international understanding credits. This course made sure u knew the basics again, spent a lot of time in past tense, then ended w maybe a month in subjective and future tense. There were a few speaking assignments and cultural readings/lectures. Was encouraged to speak Spanish for class, but the prof knew that couldn’t happen but still helped us all. Exams included MC, writing, and listening. Not sure if this is the same for other languages, but hopefully it is.
CHM 255 + 25501: Orgo + Lab (Elizabeth Parkinson)
Dreaded this class, but went in confidently. The class sucks, no other way abt it. It was a lot of memorization and practice. A lot of the “basic” stuff started sticking about halfway thru the semester. It doesn’t help that I stopped going to lecture about 3/4 thru the sem. It wasn’t as hard as expected, but it was still quite hard. The prof was amazing at making the content interesting. Labs were ran by GTAs. Depending on the section your GTA may not kno anything. The labs also did not go along with the lecture - they are 2 separate courses that can individually be passed or failed. Exams were as you would expect with the course - a few high spots among a crowd of C’s and D’s. The lab had multiple things due every week w the semester started. It was expected to do ur pre-lab at start of week, turn in ur in-lab immediately after finishing lab, then the previous week’s post-lab/final lab was due. The lab also holds the policy that if u don’t show up dressed right or sleep late, if you don’t show up within 10/15min of start that u can’t show up and will receive a 0 for the lab.
ANSC 230: Physiology of Domestic Animals (Rod Allrich)
This class taught me a lot. Each week was a different body system and learning info regarding animals individually. Things were taught in general as overarching concepts, but then things were applied as necessary for individual species of animals. Everything was brought up from the digestive system to the endocrine system. The class met 4 days a week and had a quiz once a week. There was no lab when I took the course. The specific professor I had was also interesting to say the least. Dr. Allrich is a funny, good man, but he does not use or create slides. Instead he uses his own website to post info (usually from Merck veterinary) abt whatever it is he wanted u to learn. In class he would just ramble on about what he thought was important. ANYTHING he said could be test material - no matter what (I was told by an upperclassman to remember that his favorite pie was sour cream and raisin pie bc it was a quiz question they had). Now, there is a lab that goes with the course. Also, if u hv Cabot the course material and class are much harder than with Rod. There are expectations, lectures, and more. Regardless of the professor, the information that was taught was useful, remembered, and interesting. In any class, Rod typically will have this structure but will grade easily. Quizzes will be to write statements of fact and exams won’t exist or will be take-home with only having 5 paragraphs to write using a word bank
ABE 226: Biotech Lab I (Kari Clase)
This was the first course I took for my minor in Biotechnology. I did not know what to expect going in as I didn’t grasp the scope of biotech. The course was ran well. The whole class is a wet lab where u are in the scientific process trying to find a new species of bacteriophage. U dig in dirt, do some pipetting, use beakers, make plates, isolate DNA, and send it off. Any research u do/finding a phage gets put into a national database for phage research. U do hv lab notebooks that get checked, but hv an outline to go off. There were several quizzes and deliverables that had us learn about phage more, or aseptic technique. It was a good class. U do have to buy a lab coat (which is kinda cool). Easy class that kickstarted my interest.
CHM 256 + 25601: Orgo II + Lab (David Thompson)
This class was disastrous. It was me, the content AND the professor as to why that was the case. This was just a continuation of course and lab. The new content was harder to wrap my head around, + I stopped going to the lectures about halfway thru the sem. To make matters worse, the class was early and the prof was speaking in mach turtle. I would listen to the lectures a day later so I could 2x speed thru them and the man was sounding like a normal person talked. This class was harder than the previous course. If u didn’t like CHM 255, sorry this is worse. The lab was just the same as the previous sem, but the GTAs changed. Again, labs didn’t go with the lecture and are 2 individual courses to be passed or failed separately. I passed but the class made me rethink my life once or twice and was potentially the worst class I ever took.
STAT 301: Elementary Stat Methods (Spencer Hamrick)
I did not enjoy this course a single bit - besides the professor. The course throws, what I felt like, was the entire concept, terms, rules, designs of statistics at u. It was a lot at once for me. I felt like there was a disconnect between what I was learning and in what ways it applied to me. It wasn’t too difficult, but the class was boring. There was also a lab section that was not great either. We were forced to use SRSS. There were homework assignments on a different software/website that equally were boring. The exams were harder than expected - there were some sections with questions with such small disparities that the answer came down to a difference of 1 word in a sentence. Overall, there’s a lot to learn and it’s all pretty basic to give a general understanding, but it was done poorly. If it was done better, it likely would have been an easy course. This course tho is also one of the worst classes I took.
AGRY 320: Genetics (Joseph Anderson)
There’s not much to say about this course. It was genetics. It felt like another continuation from the end of BIOL 111. It built a foundation for DNA, chromosomes, and went from there. There was a lot of higher thinking and content that was build upon thru the semester. It was a bit of memorization, but the content was fun. There were hotseat/iclicker questions for each lecture. Prof. Anderson was also really good at presenting the info.
AGRY 321: Genetics Lab (Aneesha Kulkarni)
This was the lab that went with AGRY 320. It was separate from the lecture. I do not believe it ever followed along with the lecture. The semester was spent with Arabidopsis. From the plant, we extracted DNA, did PCR, did mutant analysis, etc. The whole semester led up to a final lab report for what had been done that semester. There were also some small lab assignments that needed done. The class was also serious about attendance which could have made a major impact on grades. It is also typically ran by a GTA. It was fun and I enjoyed it. There was never really any work that needed to be done outside of class and at times it let out early.
ANSC 333: Physiology of Reproduction (Jonathan Pasternak)
This was a good class. The content focused on female anatomy/physiology first, then male anatomy/physiology, then on interactions and changes to the body through hormones and development. I found the class to be interesting as there is a lot more that goes into reproduction that u think. It’s a lot of cool info thrown out, but in a manageable way. Notes can go fast n there is a lot of terms and items to pay attention to. There was also a lab portion to this class. The lab went with what we learned in lectures. It was hands-on learning and doing things. It might sound gross but we had a lab where we took fetuses from a pig uterus to weigh and look at. We also looked at pig semen under a microscope. The professor was obsessed with histology. Expect to look at many slides of different tissues and know how/why they differ, where they are from, etc. I don’t remember assignments, but there was a lab practical that involved many things. Overall, it was a fun class.
ABE 227: Biotech Lab II (Kari Clase)
This class was busy. There were lots of things that needed to be done often (oddly no true deadlines it felt like). This was the dry lab portion. After ABE 226, any DNA that was collected sufficiently was sequenced and the data came back. That’s essentially what the semester was for. With the DNA from a phage, u must make entries to find out the start/stop site of genes, gene function; BLAST the genes, gather evidence there is truly a gene, and more. There were some small assignments with deliverables. There was also a larger project that was put into the undergrad research symposium. From the DNA, a small group chose a gene and researched. A lot of busy work and nights up, but there was a final genome announcement and research went into real life.
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JUNIOR YEAR
HIST 33805: History of Human Rights (Rebekah Klein-Pejsova)
This class was a requirement for an upper level humanities course. This class was easy and interactive. There were some readings that had to be done outside of class, but not much else was required. U would read, then come to class, fill out a discussion, and talk. The content started back in history and moved all the way to just beyond the Holocaust. There were a couple writing assignments that were like a paragraph. The final was to write a paragraph on when u thought the history of human rights began. Again, easy and almost no work required.
BCHM 307: Biochem (Barbara Golden)
I loved this course. Dr. Golden was soft spoken but she made sure u got the info u needed. The content felt like a mix of genetics and chem. The course was biology-sided for those that hate chem. This course went back to the central dogma and such, but then included a lot of metabolism and inner workings of cells. There were parts involving the Citric acid cycle and other “basic” biology concepts that went into further explanation from a different perspective. I believe there were also hotseat/iclicker questions. If u liked biology or genetics, u should like this course, too.
BCHM 309: Biochem Lab (Orla Hart)
Just like the genetics lab, this lab did content that led up to something big at the end. The lab was spent learning basic lab technique, then focused on isolating and purifying LDH from a Bradford assay. There were lab reports/assignments, but they all help and lead to the big lab report. It was a fun time. Dr. Hart was a fantastic prof for the course as she fully knew the topic, always helped out, and had high expectations. She would also joke and talk with us. She shared about her family (she’s Irish), her cats, n more. + she would talk with you in her office, where she had Ghirardelli chocolates to eat. There was a written midterm + u are required to wear a lab coat and goggles during lab.
ANSC 311: Animal Breeding & Genetics (Donna Lofgren)
This was another class that I liked a lot. For anyone interested in this topic, it is not what u expect. The class is not punnet squares and seeing what traits u can see. This class was a lot of math. You had to find the allelic/gene frequencies, var, covariance, selection intensity, generation interval, EBV, etc. I cannot stress that this class is a lot of math (prolly 75/25 to 85/15 for math/concepts). It is, however, one of the few genetics restrictive selectives for ANSC (if I remember right). There is other content too, learning about how to breed animals, components of breeding and genetics, etc. There is a lecture and lab. The lab is when homework was intro’d and we were given time to ask questions/complete it. The lab lasted 2 hours, and usually there would be several homework problems left. There was also a large project that used a sim (mine was beef, other years used lamb/sheep). I would have to cull and breed to get better genetics, get rid of disease, etc. The better the offspring the better. This sim was paired with an arrow chart and written report. Lot of work, but a lot of fun.
ANSC 326: Applied Non-Ruminant Nutrition (John Radcliffe)
This class was boring. Unless u love animal nutrition, it’s hard for it not to be. This was like a continuation of ANSC 221, but only focused on (essentially) pigs. Once again, just learning the background/basic info for feeding animals, providing nutrients, and balancing/creating rations. Also, this class also uses a lot of Excel - more than ANSC 221. There was a final for the course, but it was only a 1/2 semester course. There may have also been a lab section, but the work typically finished quickly.
ANSC 446: Companion Animal Mgmt (Rod Allrich)
Another course with Rod. It was basically nonsense. U learned what it took to keep companion animals healthy and managed. Specific diseases/interests were looked at for animals during class + issues/problems with animal clinics, shelters, etc. There wasnt much to learn. Since it was Rod, there were no slides. Anything written could be tested. Students had to present some issue with companion animals for points twice in the semester. There was also an animal business plan due at the end of the semester. It was required to describe the location, services, employees, their benefits, etc. There were no exams, but there were his quizzes - u were provided movies to watch and write a 1-page summary/reflection on what u saw. Once u get used to Rod, his classes are some of the easiest to ever take.
MGMT 200: Intro Accounting (Terra Maienbrook)
This was my first class for my Real Estate minor. If u have taken any math class at college u should be fine. This course is an intro. U learn the accounting equation, debits, credits, depreciation, and interpreting it through balance sheets. It can get a little confusing when things are broken down further, but as long as u pay attention there shouldn’t be trouble. Just remember what debits and credits do and u should pass the course. There were assignments that helped understand what needed to be done and how the content u are learning works, but it turns into busy work later on. If u get 1 small error as ur doing ur balance sheet, then the whole problem will be wrong and it probably won’t tell u what the error is. The professor also used hotseat/iclicker for attendance, so make sure to show up. She did let u come to any section at any time and still do the attendance. Exams weren’t difficult if u pay attention and do well in lecture and homework. If u do well, the prof would even email saying that u did well.
MGMT 304: Intro to Financial Mgmt (Phil Baeza)
This class was okay. Part of it could have been it was the prof’s 2nd semester teaching here. The class was a lot of basic info for management/econ and was also a requirement for the Real Estate minor. U are taught corporate finance + the goals of it, cash flows and a bunch of math with related terms (NPV, PV, NWC, NOI, etc.) None of it was exactly difficult to figure out. The class itself wasn’t bad content-wise. Once u learned the information, it was there. There was a lot of Excel for solving problems. If u aren’t good with Excel - make that a priority. The course also had exams, but you were allowed a typed cheat sheet for each. Besides the exams, there was also a case competition (so many of these in MGMT classes). Info was gathered about a company and with a group had to decide to approve or disapprove of their loan request. Overall, not terrible, but hard to sit thru.
ANSC 303: Animal Behavior (Marisa Erasmus)
This was an interesting class to take. It was pretty fun (and I ended up as a TA, my last semester). The course is essentially psychology in animals. You learn conditioning, scientists who contributed to the study, types of interactions, and types of behaviors (maintenance, maternal, social, play, sickness, etc.) and how they are in animals. The course also has a lab section with it. The lab section is essentially to allow for time for the zoo project, although there were some labs that went to the ASREC to observe those animals. For the project u are provided an animal at the zoo to research, go to the local zoo, and observe them. When ur back you create a presentation for the research you did involving the animal and enrichment provided by the zoo. In class, there were several quizzes over lecture content plus a midterm. There were also assignments, but many of them had some involvement with the zoo. The class also had no final, but there was a final quiz. The professor did talk fast sometimes, but as long as you typed or rewrote notes later, there was no issue.
STAT 503: Stat Methods for Biology (Yan Xing)
Unsure of why, but I loved my grad level stats courses. They were much easier and fun to learn than STAT 301 (so if u hate STAT301, give 503 a try). This course basically started at the beginning. The content started with learning sample vs population, statistic vs parameter, plus sample unit, size, variables, and variable types. The course became harder as time went on, but nothing was super difficult. The topics included basic stats (mean, stdev, var, types of distributions, unions/intersection), marginal probability, tree diagrams, binomial distributions, chi-square, ANOVA, hypothesis testing, and multiple comparisons (like bonferonni). The information was always presented in a way catered to life sciences (crazy). The lectures not presented in class, but expected to be watched beforehand. I did not go to lecture, but watched the lecture videos on my own. That was enough understanding to easily pass. There were homework assignments that were due every other week. Start them sooner than later, you’ll need the time! This class was also my introduction to coding in R. I had no experience in any coding beforehand but easily got the hang of it, especially since the professor provided tutorials. It was used for every homework, basically. There were also quizzes that weren’t too difficult. The class was not easy, but it was fun.
ABE 512: Good Regulatory Practices (Keri Clase/Stephen Byrn)
This was the final class I needed to get my Biotechnology minor. It was terrible. The professors were nice, but there was no structure. The lectures were about regulatory science and dealt a lot with information from the FDA. The course went over the good and required practices required for the creation, testing, passing, and distribution of medical equipment and/or drugs. Every small detail and information that was not in lectures was required to be known. There were quizzes and assignments that all got turned in through Gradescope. The quizzes are where random information was expected to be known. The assignments were deliverables which asked some question or inquired about a part of the process and write about them. The final was a final deliverable that had to effectively be a conglomeration of the other deliverables (but not just copying and pasting). The class wasn’t hard, but very poorly set up.
————————————————————————
SENIOR YEAR
CSR 103: Intro to Personal Finance (Wookjae Heo)
I just needed a filler class in my schedule. I figured it could help learn some “real world” stuff that maybe I wasn’t sure about. The class was completely online with provided lecture videos. It was very easy and what would be expected. Topics went from how to manage debt and make sure you can get loans, to being informed about credit cards and insurance. All the information was easy to get through. There were writing assignments to be done basically every week. The professor would have you read a paper that 50/50 he had a part in writing, and answer questions. Some things were interactives that just needed to be completed (regardless of how well). Not a bad class. It will definitely pad your GPA - everything taught should be common knowledge.
MGMT 370: Real Estate Fundamentals (Lindsay Relihan)
This course was quite informative. It was an average level of difficulty. There was a lot of information that went into it - I mean it is a fundamentals class. Topics that were talked about included foundations of real estate, what is real estate, valuation of property, lending, time value of money, multiple financial ratios, and taxation. There were multiple assignments - some writing and others math. The writing was for discussions (5 of them) about certain papers provided or certain book chapters. The math assignments were problem sets to get done for what we had learned. They gave plenty of time to finish them. Beyond that, there was also another case study/competition. For this a company was selected and given potential locations to move to. You had to decide if it was worth it for the company to move locations.
ANSC 345: Animal Health Management (Rod Allrich)
For this class, I just needed to take another ANSC course. This class was practically the same as any other Rod Allrich course. We learned how to keep animals healthy and basically many different common diseases of animals. From his website, we would get brought to a page talking about some disease or medical problem that could potentially happen and have to write a 1-page summary/reflection. This happened each week. He still did in person quizzes with statements of fact. Once again, students had to make videos/presentations for the class to present on some problem. There was no final exam. Did not learn too much from this one, but it was a great space filler and GPA booster.
ANSC 481: Contemporary Issues in ANSC (Barry Delks)
This is essentially the final push for ANSC students. As seniors, you take this course to prepare you for the real world. Lectures were given by guests who the professor brought in. They would talk about their specific company, career, or niche and any issues they were seeing there plus how to stop them. The professor would then have groups get together to discuss ways to fix the problems and have the guest comment on what was said. There were also assignments to be done, but they were very easy. They were just things to make sure you were on track for a job and/or graduation (having a 30-sec intro, making a cover letter, redoing your resumé). Part of the class was also just attending the career fair.
STAT 512: Applied Regression Analysis (Tiantian Qin)
Like my other grad level stat course, I absolutely loved this one, too. This class was a DIST course. This class solely focused on regressions (simple linear and multiple linear regressions). Topics for the course started with the basics (terms of regression like betas, Xs, SSE, SSR, SST, and diagnostics) and moved to more difficult content (lack-of-fit-testing, global f-testing, transformations, ANOVA, marginal effect, coefficient of partial determination, multicollinearity, and more). I found the content interesting and it was fun to learn about. Nothing was too difficult and could always be asked about through office hours. There were homework assignments that corresponded with the lectures that were due every other week. Again, take the time. The course also used R coding for everything that was done. The course also had a couple exams to do. But the biggest thing was the regression project. This required a group of students to get together, find a set of data, and use it to form a regression analysis. There was a lot of coding involved, but it was fun parsing through and wrangling data.
MGMT 375: Real Estate Law (Cecelia Harper)
This course has been super personal and fun to take. This is one of my last courses for the Real Estate minor and I am glad to have taken it. The course goes over any and all laws that relate to real estate in some way. The course talked about property rights, subsurface rights, common laws, easements on land, financing/lending, prenuptial agreements and other contracts. Most grades come from exams, though. There were 3 during the semester plus the final. All exams (except the final) were open note and book. The final we were allowed a 1-page cheat sheet that was front and back. The only grades that did not come from exams were from the contracts we drafted. You create your own lease agreement and purchase agreement, then pair with someone to mesh them together for a new one of each. I think the course is particularly made tho by the professor. She is a practicing real estate lawyer who knows what she is talking about. She would set it up so the class was very personal and we each asked her questions. It was interesting because she could have stories about clients to connect things from class. She would always entertain questions. There was no extra credit, except for when she would randomly do attendance. The course structure could be changing quite a bit now, tho.
MGMT 43901: Real Estate Investment & Development (Michael Eriksen)
The other last course for my real estate minor. This class was a step away from what I thought it was going to be. This course is geared toward commercial development and the business side, as I felt. There was nothing really said about personal/residential property. The course topics included an overview of real estate, ways/types of investment, estimation of cash flows for commercial real estate and finance terms associated, providing loans/financing, the roles of a developer, and taxes. The course didn’t have many plain assignments. These were Excel files with attached questions and instructions. If you could follow the instructions you did well, plus the assignments built on each other, except the last one - this one used ARGUS software. The majority of the work was spent on a case competition (go figure lol). Students were put into groups to select a plot of land to develop for some commercial purpose and provide the financials, timeline, and reasoning for the decision. There were several required tasks to be done for this assignment, plus a presentation at the end. There was no final exam, but there were 2 midterms. You could use an excel sheet with notes throughout, tho. The professor was good. He catered to his students and asked questions about how we thought the class was going. A good class to take.
BCHM 421: R For Molecular Biosciences (Pete Pascuzzi)
I took this class because my previous classes had made me really like working in R. I took the class to continue on with that. If you do not have a basic understanding of R, it may be a slight learning curve. The class only met on Wednesday and Friday for 2 hours. There wasn’t a lecture every class, but there was usually some work to be done. All assignments were done through R and could typically be finished in the class period. If this wasn’t possible, it could usually be finished the next class. The class just showed different things in R, from graphics and data wrangling to how to process gene ontology. There were homeworks and labs, with labs being more involved. There was a midterm that was open resource and a project. The project was done at the very end with groups who put together code from previous lectures/labs to create an RShiny document. The class did have a final, again open resource, but any graduating seniors did not have to take the final. There was an opportunity for extra credit by creating an R notebook for all your notes for functions and lines of code. The professor was also nice, helpful, and willing to put in effort to match you.
ANSC 351: Meat Science (Yuan Kim)
This class is basically just biology plus some extra info for meat processing. If you have taken muscle biology (or just bio) you will do well. The class does have some busy work, tho. The first part of the class was solely muscle biology. After this, the class went into meat quality (including analysis, factors affecting quality, etc.), parts of production (packaging, freezing, heating), slaughter and that process, then into meat safety. The content was interesting to learn and easy to take in. The class did have several assignments. After every class was a lecture quiz, each week there was a reflection, and every so often there was a case study. Case studies involved reading a case and providing a response to address the cause of a problem and fix it. The whole semester, there was a project involving some topic in meat science (novel tech, meat in diet, lab-grown meat, alternatives, etc.). Groups got together at the beginning of the semester to make a decision on the topic. Then, throughout the semester, groups met with TAs, wrote drafts of a paper, critiqued other student papers, and made a presentation to show the class. Throughout the semester, you have to work 2 shifts at the butcher block or write a giant essay on a book, too. The class also required 4 exams and a final. If you showed up to every class, you were able to skip the final. Dr. Kim loves the topic and wants you to learn, but most of the grading will be done by TAs.

This is a crossover fanfiction between original fiction titles: Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 and The Last Angel by Proximal Flame respectively. All credit and rights reserved goes to them for making such amazing science fiction settings that I wanted to put this together.
You can read The Last Angel here: Be warned, it's decently long, and at its third installment so far. I highly suggest reading it before reading this, or this story will not make sense.

Otherwise, enjoy the story! Thanks again to u/jesterra54 and u/skais01 for beta and checking of work!
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+CONFED IO.5+
+READING MAIN SEQ.MEM+
As I laid in wait above Neptune, waiting again for a response or confirmation, I pondered a bit what I should say to them. How exactly I could talk to humanity again...and the...Arxur.
It felt odd to list another alongside them. Humanity, having allies, felt novel to me sadly. This entire situation was novelty after novelty. I still was desperately trying to see if anything in my internal diagnosis was still broken, that I wasn't hallucinating or dreaming up context where I had none, but no faults besides the obvious came up.
Perhaps I could try to invite them aboard the ship? But most of myself was currently horrendously damaged; many walkways and corridors simply exposed to vacuum from melted bulkheads and shattered superstructure. I had not entered or exited the battle with the Federation fleet unscathed, and while I had not been hit by as much as I would have been had I engaged the Compact in such a ludicrously risky way, I had taken at least several hits from various plasma and kinetic weapons.
Normally, my shields would have simply tanked the blows, possibly degrading a few projectors for repair from the universal strain of Newton's Laws. But I had no functional shields. I had barely any functionality at all. I would have been adrift out of Sol without using the gravity well of Saturn as a breaking mechanism, and even then I still only managed to slow enough to orbit Neptune. And so, on top of the damages that I suffered from escaping The Compact execution force, and the subsequent fleet killing I had performed after, I was nearly dead in the water, crippled far more than any prior incident.
I could only hope I would be able to rely on local humanity to help me somehow. I was particularly worried I had terrified them, or made them angry with my actions. If they retaliated, I would not raise my hand against them, even though I likely could. I had no idea what to expect of them, the United Nations had never persisted this long in...my timelines history. There were plenty of things here I observed that I didn't fully understand.
Like their FTL travel, for one.
Shockspace Theory dictated that even nearly flat spacetime could be hazardous in both opening to and exiting from the dimension where faster than light travel was carried out. The gravity well of a sun, and its solar system was nearly unpassable besides in very unique circumstances in shockspace. One could not simply open a rift wherever one wanted, without especially violent conditions following them. The safest bet to directly cross a solar system was to simply exit shockspace outside the system - in the case of Sol, outside the Heliopause - and burn at sublight speeds across it.
But here, they had simply popped into view of my sensors. Completely disregarding the gravity of both the Sun and Neptune, it seemed whatever method they had used did not have the same limitations as ours did. And that fascinated me.
A form of faster than light that could simply bypass the hardest limitations of shockspace is revolutionary, in more ways than one. Countless species and nations, including myself, had tried to find an alternative to shockspace, throwing untold resources and technological development at the problem, but an alternative was never found. I had one of the most refined understandings of Shockspace Theory amongst the known galaxy, and even I had written off the potential of another way. And yet, here, in a world parallel to the history of my own, humanity had found that other way. A new way, to the stars above. I was so very proud of them.
But I was getting ahead of myself. I first had to properly introduce myself to this humanity and their allies, infer that I was not a threat to them, and obtain some form of assistance in repairing my hull and components to functional capacity. I could only hope they were comparable to my humanity where it counted.
I hoped I still even knew how to talk to them. It's been...so long...
+signal recieved+
They had responded. I turned my spare attention back from internal monologue towards the small shuttlecraft before me. It would be best to hear what they have to say.
Memory transcription subject: Hailey Whitmer, UN Special Envoy
Date [standardized human time]: October 19, 2136
"Understood, we will begin plotting a course vector now to you. At what range and relative would you find acceptable to communicate?"
As I turned off the mic once again, and waited for a second response from the vessel to give us bearing on what was acceptable pathing, I saw Lithke looking to be desperately stewing on a question. Since I hardly wanted to see what an Arxur looked like exploding from anticipation, lest it depressurize the hull, I broke the ice.
"What is it Lithke? You look like you're about to start shaking from something you realized, speak already."
He craned in my direction, before swiveling the rest of his body in the chair to fully face me. Leaning forward, he began speaking:
"The ship responded with 'I' to our prompt."
I mulled it over. "Yeah, and?"
"Why would a captain or crew refer to the ship as 'I'? It doesn't make sense."
"What? It makes plenty of sense, the captain was referring to the designation of the ship and happened to accidentally use the wrong term."
Lithke, in an oddly human-adjacent gesture, shook his head in disagreement. "No, that isn't enough of an explanation. She, the voice, not only referred to the ship as 'I', but also used it exclusively throughout. If it were an accidental singular case, she'd use 'we' to refer to the crew and ship as a whole choosing to not fire upon us at some point. But she kept using 'I' exclusively." He chuffed at the end, his point finished.
I...could see the point behind it. But I was not entirely tuned to what the implications might mean. So I decided to ask.
"I get your point. That does seem odd in retrospect, but what could it imply, exactly? You seem smart enough of a cookie to have some idea already."
Lithke went from a determined look to a more...confused one as I finished that sentence?
"Why am I an intelligent [baked meal]?" Lithke asked.
Oh. That must not have translated the idiom well. Hmmm...
"Ah, my apologies, I didn't figure that wouldn't translate the idiot's meaning. I mean it's clear your observation is leading to something, care to tell me what?"
Lithke seemed to have whatever tract his mind was on derailed by my badly-translated idiom, because he merely shrugged, and mentioned he was not sure. Well, all the more to add to the report later. Whatever it was, it would have to wait, because not long after we received a transmission indicating some relative coordinate plane and a position from Nemesis. Clearly, they wished for us to travel to a spot, or minimum radius of this distance from the ship.
Lithke took us in, slowly towards the vector the ship had given us, not wanting to give any reason for them to go back on their word of not harming us. That they knew about humanity to some degree made this initial communication far easier than one would have expected, talking with a new race neither Humanity, nor the Arxur were familiar with. What would they look like? What were their motivations, their culture, their reason for knowing so much about humanity?
And how did they stay undiscovered so far? The galaxy is a rather large place, with even the whole of the Federation taking up a measly quarter of a quarter a percent of the whole thing, but they knew far too much about humanity to not be in our neighborhood. These questions and more were what I was posed to get answers to.
As we approached the vast behemoth that was UECNS Nemesis, it felt like approaching a shipyard all on its own. Its sheer bulk and size, its endless details made more clear with every kilometer closer, I was staring at a fractal of a ship. And to think this thing was damaged, and yet felt like it was the mightiest ship this side of the solar system, was a thrilling and unsettling feeling.
There were cannon slots located along its prow larger than our entire ship, and along every surface it was endless adorned with weapons I both could and couldn't fully recognize. Mounted in hundreds of stark, brutalist-looking turrets that were built to endure both their own fire and I assume its enemies' too...
I was afraid, sure, but not only afraid. Invigorated! Here I was, being the first proper trailblazer to a likely new species, Noah Williams could suck it! I was not lucky enough to have been part of the exploratory group that had made us contact the Venlil, but now I had a field of my own! And though I wish I had been in better company than that of Lithke, the space croc was not disinterested, merely just not a fit to my standards.
And then finally, resting in its deep shadow, an adamant tower amongst the stars, we entered synchronous orbit with Nemesis around Neptune. We were still moving relative to the planet, but to each other, we were still as one could reasonably be. Before Lithke and I could take any further actions, convey the start of proper greetings, they spoke first.
+CONFED IO.5+
+READING MAIN SEQ.MEM+
I had taken a good amount of time to consider how to introduce my circumstances in a calm and collected manner. The last thing I wanted to do was give too much information too quickly, as likely everything about me didn't add up. That they knew my designation tells me that they had at some point read it on my hull, and that they were likely incredibly confused about the nature of my existence. No, this needed a gentle, careful touch, and so I had worked up a plan for my visitors-
Or, I guess I'm the visitor, more or less, ha ha...
-such that I could slowly reveal myself in full, and garner their reactions. It would be somewhat distant at first, not cold, but professional, and evasive of questions that didn't lead to my points until all were made. I was still uncertain how this humanity might react to the concept of a true general artificial intelligence, especially one they had made that now was not under their control to any useful degree.
I had records of humanity's fictional stories involving the idea of AI, and my galaxy's very real aversion to all synthetic lifeforms, that I distinctly worried they might see me as abominable, a soulless monster, a mistake, or many other interpretations that came with the territory. To simply assume all would be well, that I could just reveal everything about myself on the fly without confirmation first would be a stupid mistake to make. And so, I thought I would let down the explanation as I went.
Here goes nothing. It's just a touch of manipulation, nothing you haven't done before.
But the thought, unlike the countless alien species I had used it on before, felt far worse to perform on my creators. The guilt of knowing an innocent humanity in my eyes was to be treated like this to start felt wrong. But I needed to know...
...I needed to know if they would abhor me like everyone else.
A configuration of my avatar to best fit Yasmine's uniform and look was checked, and rechecked. I adopted a posture that would seem clinical, professional, military. A visual com-link was opened to the channel I held my avatar on, and with that came a slightly more steeled resolve, so I began;
"So, I assume you are confused about what to think of this ship."
Memory transcription subject: Hailey Whitmer, UN Special Envoy
Date [standardized human time]: October 19, 2136
When the first visual opened up, the distance we closed made real time communication more feasible, what I had expected was a foreign species to our knowledge, one that held the advantage. But as my brain began to process what was said, and the holoscreen before me settled in, I was utterly confused.
The person...no, human who stood before me was adorned with military regalia similar but ever so slightly different to that of Earth's. She had a dark-olive tone to her skin, that spoke of Mediterranean or Arabic ancestry, but her facial features looked more Asian than anything else. Her eyes were a somber green, an odd contrast to her features, but still within the bounds of normal. She stood before an empty bridge, bereft of any other signs of life.. I couldn't tell how tall she was, there was no clear perspective to relate her size to, but in total, this...was not what I had expected.
Lithke, also in odd shock, spoke first. "What...what is this?! Is this some sort of joke?"
The woman on the other side slightly shifted, so as to indicate her view shifting to my partner. "I have adopted this form so as to better calm and connect with you two. You would find it hard to understand me otherwise." She lightly smiled, but it disappeared as soon as it arrived.
"Who or what are you?" I asked. "It doesn't make sense for a human to be on this vessel."
"We will return to that in a bit. For now, I need to introduce a bit of context first, and you will have to as well. Firstly, I would like to clarify about this ship. As you might have guessed from the literal writing on the wall, this vessel is of human origin."
"What..." Lithke said, some sense of trouble brewing in him. He more angrily turned to me in particular. "Have you been lying to us human?" Lithke did not look happy with that revelation.
I-I didn't know what to say. "I-I...I uh..."
The woman on screen hastily intervened. "They could not have Arxur, as there's more to this I yet need to explain. Tell me, what date is it to your calendars?"
I stood a bit straighter, slightly confused at the question, until it hit me. "Oh my god..."
Lithke again trained his view to me, confused. "What do you mean human? These mind games tire me."
"It's October 19th, 2136 CE, ma'am. You're a time traveler, are you not?" I beamed.
Lithke looked remarkably confused by the phrase, unaware of the connotations that come with it. She, on the other hand, smiled, before continuing. "That and more, but the date from my side was closer to 3394 CE."
She was from the far future! It explained everything! The English writing, the odd accent, the human woman standing before me, it made sense now!
While I was partially disappointed in not being able to meet a new species, I felt a bit of relief and a different kind of elation under the circumstances.
I couldn't help but blurt out "Humanity made it that far ahead! What's the future like? Is the galaxy better than now!?"
She...seemed to be almost downtrodden from that statement, a sense of deep depression almost radiating from her. Uh oh, did I say something wrong?
"I was getting to that..." She pulled herself together again, a more military stature once again put into place. "...Despite being from the future, I'm...not certain it's your future."
+CONFED IO.5+
+READING MAIN SEQ.MEM+
The dichotomy before me was an odd one. The human's partner was a reptilian-looking alien, almost crocodile-like. They were distantly familiar to that of the Askanji-illth of the Principality, but bipedal instead of serpentine. In an odd twist of fate to be making with that comparison, they, unlike the Principality, seemed to have been the race that came to humanity's aid not long after my departure from the space between Earth and Luna. I had initially worried they were more raiders, more races coming to stomp on the face of humanity while they were down, but they circled the globe like a protective shield, their few transmissions I could receive implying an honest desire to help humanity. It was for that, that I did not initially try to fire on this vessel when it first popped into view on the sensors.
And...the human. She was adorned in what looked closely like old-styled United Nation attire, specifically that of an envoy or diplomat. She had pieced together a portion of my origin rather quickly from that one question, a relief on my part that I would not have to go through the headache-like details of time travel. But what would come next would not be pleasant for her enthusiasm.
Following my clarification on the aspect of being from the future, I pulled up a holographic display from a simulated monitor feed behind me. A bubble of space was marked in red, a selection of stars labeled with familiar names.
The human squinted her eyes, looking at the points in more detail. "That's...that's Earth, and Alpha-Centauri, and Barnard's Star..."
"Yes" I wistfully replied. "That, and two hundred and fifteen others, was the United Earth Confederacy." I stuck our emblem above it, to signify. "It was the width and breadth of humanity at its peak, before it was snuffed out."
My choice of language seemed to make the human worried, and the Arxur next to her wary. "By who?" they said in unison.
"In 2786 CE, The deep space exploration vessel UECNS Alaskan Dawn, made first contact with an alien scout cruiser named Flickering Light. The government that was behind them was revolting, and utterly antithetical to the ideals espoused by the UEC. We decided to fire first, and to that I cannot fault the captain's decision, but it was the mistake that lead to the end."
On the outskirts of the holographic map, showing the UEC's territory, a dark blue border began to fade into view. I zoomed it out further, to emphasize how the border seemed to go on forever in comparison to our small set of worlds. An alien symbol appeared over the amorphous mass of thousands of stars, unknown to them, but intimate to me.
I growled in hatred. "The Compact of Species."
Memory transcription subject: Hailey Whitmer, UN Special Envoy
Date [standardized human time]: October 19, 2136
I watched as the holographic display slowly started to move. The amorphous territory of The Compact beginning to swallow The United Earth Confederacy's whole, a seemingly unstoppable tide that smashed through every system that was held by the UEC. As I watched the date to the right slowly tick up, month after month, as the UEC shrunk under its assault, I felt horrified.
This fate seems so familiar to the Federation fleet we were on the losing side of.
She continued. "The Compact was more advanced than The Confederacy in nearly every single way. Our ships were slower, weaker, less numerous than their own. We had taken to asymmetrical warfare to do our best to stall the onslaught, but we were against an enemy that was determined to crush our faction underfoot. They saw us as having slighted their great domain merely by existing as apart from them, for not conforming to their iron grip. For the gall of saying no, we were to be taught a lesson in blood and war."
She turned to another empty section of space, as another holographic display came up. "Another way would have to be found to endure. We pumped untold resources into a new type of ship, a superweapon that could take on the Compact's greatest weapons, their Chariots, head on, and come out on top. It was built to ambush and kill them. It was the Nemesis-class dreadnought. Six were planned, two in construction, and only one fully built before the end of the war. This ship...is that Nemesis-class."
She splayed her hands out, in a little grand display of the bridge as a whole. A momentary respite from the depressing nature of the war she narrated, a momentary moment of pride in humanity swelling. Even Lithke was enraptured in the story, quietly listening without ever taking his eyes off the screen. But, she eventually dropped them, they sagged back down to her shoulders slowly, as the high wore off.
"But it was not meant to be. The Compact had found Earth's location. In an attempt to stop it, the UECNS Nemesis was assigned to a task force with the goal of ambushing the Execution Force carrying the information, with the attached Triarch's Chariot Bringer of Light. The chariot was killed, but all hands on board besides me perished in the end, the task force casualties were nearly total, and on the attempted FTL trip back I had a drive failure. It meant days of travel back home where I had needed far less. By the time I had returned to Earth, it was burned to ash."
She looked utterly furious at that moment. Every ounce of her body shook with barely-stifled rage.
"They sentenced humanity to extinction. I made a promise that day, to avenge my failure. I promised I would not rest until the Compact burned, until it was reduced to as much dust and debris as humanity was."
Her voice raised into a rant. "And as I found myself against all odds, nearly dead while escaping a fleet sent to kill me for my revenge, I found myself here. I saw humanity, again at risk of being exterminated, of being sentenced to death. I felt utter familiar rage in that moment; I could not let it happen, not when I had once done it before. That is why I interfered in the battle above Earth."
It was a passionate story. One filled with hatred and gusto, of sheer determination to pay back the debt of humanity's extinction. A story that answered my initial question on her involvement with the battle above Earth. But I couldn't help but notice an issue. Her.
"There's a problem with all of that story though, if you were there to see your world destroyed, and all but you from the crew dead, yet you are from nearly twelve hundred years in the future...how are you still alive? Were humans practically immortal in the future?"
She smiled. "I figured you'd catch that. No, humanity was not immortal in the future. Plenty have tried, but biological organisms as complex as humans don't tend to stick around forever."
"Then how?!" I nearly yelled.
"I did not lie in that all besides me died in the battle with Execution Force Bankala. But I was different. I was crew as well but not that of flesh and blood. I am the machine. I am the wings, the computers, the terminals, the hull, the whole of this starship."
Lithke finally had a moment of epiphany in that moment, the question he bugged me with clearly finally having a clear answer. His eyes widened to match the feeling.
"I am the artificial intelligence aboard the UECNS Nemesis. What you see before you is but an avatar of the prior captain of this ship, Yasmine Nishiko Aalimah Sudoki."
Her viewscreen suddenly seemed to fizzle to a blank background, what I assumed to be the virtual bridge behind her fading to nothing, as her avatar abstracted slightly. It looked like the woman from before, but different. Not trying to hide her nature anymore, she was see-through, tinted red throughout, as if a mere monocolor projection of her.
"My real name is Red One. Please, do not be afraid, I mean you no harm, and am beyond pleased to meet you both for real. What are your names?"
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I'd love to hear your general opinion. Any specific pros/cons of the chapter would be great too. I really want a sense of how the story feels for you.
Note that there are minor non-descriptive mentions of sexual acts.
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Chapter 1: A somewhat unconventional childhood
Cecile’s letter said mom is gone. There was a shootout at the club, and they have taken her away. Before you ask, Mom is a vampire. She’d been through worse. I suppose that raises some immediate questions. Let me start over.
I never knew my real parents. I’m pretty sure mom killed them both, but I never asked. If you think it’s strange I never asked, that’s because you don’t know me very well. Mom decided to keep me. Maybe it was a trace of human emotion, or perhaps simple utility, but you know what I think? I think she was curious. She found a baby, and decided it would be interesting to raise it. Mom’s hobbies were always a bit peculiar.
Mom is minor nobility in her clan. Owns a night club, the kind that’s fancy in the front and dirty in the back. You know the deal. I grew up fast, as is usually the case when one spends their childhood among creatures of the night. Mom being nobility meant I met some fancy people, so there’s that. Mom being a vampire, I came face to face with death a few times before I even turned ten. I was always a smart kid, and being smart as a kid means mastering one’s home environment. I learned to talk to all kinds of people: politicians, business men, prostitutes, drug dealers, hit-men, you get the deal. Then there were the undersiders: warlocks, demons, anyone who might be friendly with a vampire.
Speaking of vampires. You’ve read the books, you’ve seen the movies, you probably already feel confused about what is true and what is not. Believe me, even I got some of it confused on occasion. When you have to remember details about multiple supernatural species, all while being bombarded by stories that each tell a different tale – in short, I get it. I’ll try not to make it too hard on you, tell you what you need to know and assume you already know the rest. I promise I won’t make it long; I just prefer not to pause later in the middle of the good stuff just to tell you something boring. I know it’s unconventional and therefore a bad choice, but that’s my way of telling you I don’t care all that much what you think of me.
So, vampires. Immortal, beautiful, drink human blood. You knew all that. What you might not have known: they don’t have a human psyche. So no “I’m a vampire but actually I’m a person just like you”, sorry. Vampires are considered psychopaths by many human warlocks, but that’s not entirely true. Vampires have their own psychology, which happens to be different from our human one. They are built to manipulate us into entering dark alleys and getting our blood sucked. They are intelligent, which made it possible for them to coexist with human magical authorities. They won’t kill their prey unless they have to; but that is only because it’s part of the agreement. Still, most of them aren’t interesting in killing – it’s all about the blood. Blood is feeding and fucking at the same time, though no human can imagine what it feels like for them. They can have regular sex, and some claim they do enjoy it, but vampires are a bunch of liars. Truth is, sex is only a tool for them. They get nothing out of it. The easiest way to tell that they’re lying is if they act human: they look sad? Lies. They look happy? Lies. They look alien and incomprehensible? Probably also lies, but there’s a small chance they are showing you their real self. Vampires aren’t as sociable as humans, but they do have their own societies. So naturally, they have conventions for behaving among themselves. Though they are lying to each other constantly, too. You know how when wolf cubs play-fight with each other it’s actually how they train to fight and hunt? Young vampires play-lie to each other as training for manipulating humans.
Mom could have manipulated me into anything she wanted, which is why it’s so strange to me that she chose to tell me the truth. How do I know it’s the truth, you might ask. Maybe I was manipulated after all. What can I tell you? If I am manipulated, obviously I’d be blind to it. That’s how it works. But manipulation tends to fail an intelligent investigation, because reality tends to not care what your parents chose to tell you. Most of what Mom told me about the underside I have verified for myself. Could she have hidden a huge lie among the truths? Definitely. But honestly, I don’t care. The most important thing you need to know about me and mom is this: She raised me with all the love a boy could ask for from his mother. If there’s a secret plan, I just don’t care. I owe her my life, and would gladly give it away for her sake. Human mothers – healthy ones – can’t help but love their children. My mother cannot feel love, and yet she acted like she did, because she knew that’s what a human child needs in order to grow strong and healthy. Do you get it now?
Back to vampire 101: silver can work, as it works on most undersiders, but unlikely to kill a vampire. A wooden stake through their heart will paralyze them, but only because it prevents their heart from healing. A plastic or metal stake would work just as well. Yes, they have a pulse. They aren’t dead and aren’t undead – they’re alive. That’s the part that pisses people off the most, but sorry, I’m not making the rules here. They are cold to the touch, but most can learn to control their temperature. Garlic kind of works against them; it doesn’t hurt them, but they really hate the stuff. Crosses will work if a warlock uses them to focus his magic, but so would any object with symbolic importance. Sunlight kills them rather quickly. It burns them – not in the burst-into-flames kind of way, more like in the pale-skinned-guy-was-left-in-the-desert-sun-for-too-long kind of way, only they die in a matter of minutes under direct exposure.
Me? I’m not important. I’m a twenty-eight year old guy raised by a vampire. I’m a regular human as far as I can tell, but you know what? Humans are the masters of adaptation, and I had to adapt to a very strange environment. I can feel anything a human can feel; but I was raised by a vampire incapable of human feelings; but she had mastered the play-act of human emotion, and raised me like a loving human mother. Are you confused yet? Imagine what I had to go through. That’s what was always missing for me in stories of the supernatural – otherworldly beings were always either human beings with superpowers or killers with the psychological complexity of an alligator. Real magical creatures – a stupid name by the way, which is why I prefer ‘undersiders’ – each have their own unique psychology. They are often intelligent, complex, and yet almost alien. I can’t promise I’ll be able to give you an accurate representation of that, as a human being cannot truly comprehend a consciousness other than his own – and I’m still human. But unlike all those stories you have read, I grew up with these creatures. So I have some advantage.
I left home when I was fifteen. Haven’t been back since. I traveled, I worked, I slept around, got into fights, became a warlock, you know the deal. I’m pretty good at talking people into doing what I want, but I’m nothing compared to mom. Besides, talking can only get you so far. If you lived the life you know: sometimes violence is all you have. I’m good at that too, if you don’t mind me saying. Seeing what I’ve seen, I knew early on I’d have to learn how to protect myself. I’m confident in a normal fight, and adding what I picked up in the darker arts, even a few human men are not much of a threat to me. Being human, I’m still near the bottom of the food chain when it comes to real strength, of course. As strong as I am, mom could kill me in a heartbeat. And mom was never all that strong.
So yea, we’re basically friends now, right?
Just kidding. I don’t know you.
I’ve been staying in this one place for about a month when Cecile’s letter came. I don’t know how she found me, but with magic it’s not that hard. Especially since I wasn’t hiding. The letter didn’t say much, but it didn’t need to. I know Cecile, and I could read between the lines: it’s bad. Not just mom-might-be-dead bad, but also everyone-you’ve-ever-loved-might-die-soon bad. Something big was going on back home. Oh, Cecile is mom’s partner, in a way. They’re kind of like an old lesbian couple: they live together and share everyday life with each other, but being vampires they don’t have sex at all. On second thought, they’re exactly like and old lesbian couple.
Speaking of couples. I’ve been staying with this older woman, early forties I’d say. I could tell how lonely she was and took advantage. She fell in love with me after a day. I knew that if I’d ask she’d give me everything she owned and still let me go my way. So instead I sneaked away at night, stealing her car and the cash she hid under the sink.
Am I a good guy or a bad guy? Having grown up with undersiders, I never felt comfortable speaking the common human moral language. If you do like talking in those terms, then I suppose you’ll have to decide for yourself where I fit into that mess. If you ask me, I’m just a guy. I don’t feel guilty for doing what I like and for getting what I want. But I’ll rarely take it too far. I enjoy the challenge that comes with violence, and I enjoy the sense of power and control that comes with it, but I don’t enjoy violence without a challenge; meaning, I don’t enjoy hurting the weak. You won’t catch me stealing from a starving man, unless I’m starving too. I’d probably help a lost child find their parents. I’d never kick a dog. I’d definitely help a woman who’s about to get raped, because that stuff’s just nasty. Seriously, a guy who needs violence to get laid needs to be taken out of the gene pool. I’d probably help an attack victim, male or female, if I see one person being attacked by several. I have an issue with weakness; when I see someone acts cowardly I feel like kicking them in the teeth, and asking your friends to help you beat someone up fits the bill for me. I might not sacrifice a stranger to save myself, simply because I know I’ll feel like a coward later. Then again, I kind of like being alive. My bravery, as such, is probably just revulsion in the face of cowardice.
Backtracking my way home, I sold the car and picked up all the stashed goods I hid along the path. Most big cities have undersiders, and where there’s undersiders there’s artifacts. Most warlocks carry their tools of magic on their person (except the weirdos from Essertog who do every spell by hand), and I am no different. Though I’d say I’m more creative than the average warlock. My creativity is not rocket science – the average warlock is just dense.
I have a magical shield embedded in my chest, under the skin (most warlocks wear it as jewelry, which is the first thing people will try and take from you). I have several blades on me, including one in my shoe. I have a multi, which looks like one of those multi-tool army knives, only each tool is a specialized tool for magic. I have an assortment of homemade pills, and the herbs I use to make them. One special pill is always hidden in my rectum – yes, I know, It’s gross and too much work to take in and out each time. But one day I’m sure I’ll need it. I have four rings, one earring, and one bracelet. Lastly, I have a unicorn bone in place of one tooth. You won’t believe how much that cost me.
Remember what I said about being near the bottom of the food chain? That would be without my gear. Wondered how humans manage to stand on equal ground with the likes of vampires and demons? Technically, it’s the ability to do magic. Practically, it’s magical tools and artifact. More modern weapons have their uses, but no one likes them on the underside. Magic, even through an artifact, takes a lot of skill and training to master, but anyone can press a button and blow up some TNT. And if one side starts using conventional warfare, the others will just do the same. Also, most undersiders are old, in human terms. And also, in the underside itself, beyond the human realm, guns won’t do you any good.
Do you see what I mean? About the letter? There was a shootout in a club owned by a minor noble vampire. Mom herself was kidnapped, from what I gather. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen.
I stepped into my home city of Veritom. A city can change a lot in thirteen years, but don’t forget: this city is run by undersiders. And most of them aren’t fans of change.
I slipped quietly into familiar alleys, one of my rings acting as an amplifying for an anti-detection spell as I ran quietly past Bobby’s old drug corner. I felt like I was nine again.
The old club was closed; it was already past 6 AM. Entering through the side door, I couldn’t tell the place was shot. They fixed it up, all good as new.
Cecile was there, still awake. I could tell she didn’t recognize me for a moment, because her eyes and lips expressed emotion far too human. She was a slim woman, with the darkest skin I ever saw. Her eyes were full of light for just one single moment.
“Adam”, she said.
Her face lost all emotion in an instant. I never knew if she did that because she felt comfortable to be herself around me, or because she knew she didn’t have to bother pretending.
“You are well. Jane would be happy”, she added in a flat tone.
She meant it. Whatever “happy” meant to a vampire, it was true mom wanted me to be happy on my own terms.
“Tell me what happened”, I said.
I was glad to see Cecile was ok, but said nothing becuase vampires don’t need human emotional support.
She moved her lower jaw. She did that whenever she was worried. While mom always acted like a human in my presence, Cecile gave up the act once I was old enough to know it didn’t mean she hated me.
“Seven attackers. Six days ago. 5 AM. Automatic weapons, magic, paralyzing projectiles. Unprepared. Unaware. Criers came and left. Princess came and left. Waiting.”
Her fingernails brushed against the fabric of her dress. She was feeling the urge to kill. An unconscious attempt to sharpen her nails, I always thought.
Her eyes met mine. A rare thing for a vampire to do among their peers. Then her face filled with human fury, and I knew she wanted there to be no misunderstanding.
“They will die, Adam. We will get Jane back, then we will kill them all”.
I felt anger growing inside me. Until that moment, I wasn’t all that worried. Mom was old, and she’d been through a lot. Most importantly, she always felt all-powerful to me. I suppose it never sank in that she might be in real danger. But she was. Cecile ‘did a human act’, as mom would call it. Cecile hated acting like a human. This time she did it just for me – she wanted me to understand just how bad the situation really was.
“We’ll get mom back”, I reassured her. “You will feed with her again”.
It was reassurance. Under most circumstances, vampires only shared a meal with someone they trusted with their life, and in a place free from any danger. For mom and Cecile to feed together means they will both be in a very safe place, most likely their home, and that they’ll both be comfortable and relaxed, meaning the conflict would be over. Sharing a meal (Oh, and by that I mean sucking the blood from the same human at the same time) was also one of the most intimate things two vampires did with each other. Vampires are all about blood; the don’t kiss, don’t fuck, don’t even hold hands. They can do all those things, they just don’t want to. I know I told you that already, but it felt relevant.
Cecile gave me a soft smile, a hint of tears in her eyes. Again, that was all an act just for me. But it was her way of telling me how she felt, so in a sense it was real.
I got to work. Drew a diagram on the floor, sprinkled powder, chanted words. Both Council and the Throne already did that, but it’s not like they’ll share with me. Oh, Council represents humans, and is comprised of human warlocks. The Throne is high vampire nobility, this case mom’s clan. Mom isn’t very important, but she’s still nobility, which is why a member of the high nobility came personally. Both groups must have began their own investigation of what happened – which is what they are supposed to do. Only, Council doesn’t give a shit about vampires, and the Throne actively hates the minor nobles. Well, not “hate”, but you get the deal. Vampires were never great at working together on a large scale. In human terms, vampires are very tribal. Then again, humans are also very tribal. Why do you think politicians can destroy countless lives without feeling any guilt, yet still care deeply for their own families? Same principle, only worse. Vampire nobles are basically the ideal to which corrupt politicians aspire.
Conjuring a shadow of the past, I could see the event unfold as a play made out of mist. I found mom, saw her jump on one of the men, trying to bite his throat only to be stopped by some physical protection. Mom must have seen the protection beforehand, but her instincts in sudden battle made her try to bite the throat. Though only an image in mist, she suddenly looked so old to me. An old vampire, one who never mastered magic, who never had a gift for combat, biting at an armored neck.
Cecile was right. We will kill them all.
The man staked mom in the heart. Strangely old school. Her body fell, and the man returned to shooting at some other target. Once it was all over, the attackers carried away their wounded, as well as three unarmored bodies.
“Who did they take?” I asked Cecile.
“Jane, Marcus, Miriam”.
Marcus was a vampire. A warlock vampire. Mom’s club wasn’t his usual scene. I had no idea who Miriam was.
“Explain”, I said.
Cecile gave me a blank look, undoubtedly taking a moment to separates in her head what I knew from what I didn’t.
“Marcus came to talk to Jane. Cooperation. Didn’t ask. Miriam is Crier meal. Joined one week before. Twenty one. Unknown relevance.”
So, the men took mom, a warlock vampire who came to talk to mom about something, and a seemingly random meal-girl? Clearly there was more to this. I’ll have to figure out what.
Oh, and “Crier” is what vampires call a human among themselves. Because we cry, get it? It’s the human action vampires find most unsettling.
“Sleep”, I told Cecily. “I will put up protections and stand guard”.
“No”, she answered. “You sleep too. Allies come to guard us”.
I didn’t ask for more details. Cecile wouldn’t say that if she wasn’t sure. And she was right; I had to get some sleep if I wanted to get anything done later. Most of what I had to do could only be done at night anyway.
“Upstairs?” I asked.
“Clear. Sleep”.
There were rooms upstairs. Some for sex, some for discussion. If you’re wondering why the sex, well, humans really like fucking vampires. The vampires don’t care for it, but they do like what comes after. A vampire’s bite inflicts a minor spell on the victim, preventing them from fighting and interfering with their memories the next day. Blood for sex is a common way for vampires to feed in the modern world, though most humans don’t realize it; they think they have a bad hangover. No human likes getting jumped in a dark alley, and no vampire wants a war with Council. So it kind of works.
“Adam?” a voice called once I got upstairs.
“Lily?” I called back.
She hadn’t changed at all. I knew she wouldn’t, but it was still surprising. I am only human. Lily was my best friend growing up. Turned when she was sixteen, mom took her in and taught her about being a vampire. I was twelve. The first year as a vampire is hard, since vampire instincts are on the predatory side, not the civilized side. One time Lily attacked me, but mom stopped her. We became close friends after that. Meaning, she used me to train her human play-acting. I let her feed on me when I was thirteen. We had sex when I was fourteen. She said she never had sex before, and was worried she couldn’t act the part. Took me a couple months to realize that was a lie.
“Adam!” she ran to me and hugged me. “I’ve missed you so much!”
“I’ve missed you too, Li”.
She leaned closer, a mischievous look in her eyes, then kissed me lightly on the lips.
In case you’re wondering how she could be so cheerful with friends having been murdered and mom taken away, let me remind you that it’s all an act anyhow. Maybe you remembered on your own, but even I took time to wrap my head around it, and I grew up with these people. So it felt relevant to remind you. Also, do you sometimes think I’m talking strangely? In general, I mean. If so, you’re not alone. My normal way of speaking is a human-vampire hybrid speaking pattern which I developed accidentally. Wasn’t able to fully get rid of it, even to this day. When vampire use words, they are often simple words used economically and efficiently. Meaning, the opposite of how humans speak. The result can often sound stilted, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. Add to that how I never went to highschool, let alone college, and this is what you get.
“Lets sleep together!”, Lily said.
“Ok, but actual sleep”.
She froze. “You thought I meant sex?” there was annoyance in her voice, and a small hint of disgust. “Sorry, Adam, but I don’t feel that way towards you. I did, once, but it was a long time ago. I hope you can understand”.
I looked into her eyes, searching.
“Flawless act”, I said. “You are amazing”.
She smiled. “Thank you!”
She led me by the hand to one of the rooms, then to the bed.
“We can have sex if you want”, she said.
“Thanks, Li. But I’m honestly tired. And you can’t feed on me. I need my strength to find mom”.
She gave me a cheery smile which meant nothing.
“I know. Now that you’re here, I know you’ll get mom back. Your acting got sloppy, so I know exactly what you’re thinking. And I really do love you, even though you went away for a bit”.
I think she meant that love part. Not “love” like a human love, but... you get the deal. And she probably also meant the “for a bit” part. Vampires treat time differently than us humans do. Thirteen years is like taking a day off. Lily wasn’t old yet, merely thirty two, but a vampire’s sense of time is a part of their nature more than a result of their age. It must have rubbed off on me too, since I rarely felt my age. Growing up with vampires makes you think time will never ran out on you. Which I guess is true for them. And maybe it’s why I’m a twenty-eight year old man who still thinks he’s sixteen.
Lily and I always talked like humans to each other. Her acting did get much better, but it wasn’t flawless like I told her. I could still read her well enough, see the cracks behind her mask. Or were the cracks part of the acting? Was I being played for real? No way to know. Fuck.
“Can I give you a blowjob?” she asked.
I didn’t feel a need for it, so she most likely didn’t read that in my body. She knew I’d help mom no matter what, she knew she couldn’t drink my blood, and she knew I’ll love her no matter what she’ll do for me. There was nothing for her to gain. No angle that I could see. If anything, it would only cause me to suspect her motives – which it did. Maybe I’m getting uber-played for some incomprehensible vampiric reason, but if you ask me, I think she simply loved me, in her own vampiric way, and wanted to make me feel good for that reason only.
“Alright”, I said. “I bet you’ve mastered that too”.
She did. It was the best blowjob of my life.

“Get the fuck out of my house with this ‘ old country’ shit Sylvia, I’m serious. “ I hear my dad say from the kitchen downstairs.
“I give children and idiots three warnings. That’s your first. “ It takes me a second to recognize my aunt’s voice. I’ve only met her a handful of times, and it’s nearly 2am.
“Syl, he’s right, this is crazy. I’m Roma, I’m proud, but your part of the family, and mine are two separate things. “ My mom interjects. Her voice is calm and level.
I woke up about half way through whatever is going on, and I’m fuzzy on the details, but everyone involved is three kinds of pissed.
“So you say, but just because you ignore the other side, doesn’t mean the other side ignores you. “ Aunt Syl replies, I could never quite place her accent, but it makes her statement all the more sinister.
“Might as well make that the family motto.
Syl, there are a couple dozen other kids Nikolas’ age in the family. Half of which are already hip deep in whatever is going on nowadays, you don’t need him. “ Mom isn’t pleading, but I can hear she’s worried.
“Why are we trying to reason with your crazy aunt? Time to go Syl. “ My dad isn’t worried, he’s angry.
“That’s two. “ Aunt Sylvia replies.
I hear a chair squeak then fall to the floor.
“That’s three. “ Sylvia says, her voice is cold, and I swear I could almost hear an echo.
I can hear my dad start to quietly cough, he sounds like he’s trying to talk but can’t. My heart starts to race, I don’t understand what’s going on, but I know it’s bad.
“Syl! Jesus Christ, that’s my husband. “ Mom sounds more offended than scared now. I wish I could say the same.
I stand next to my cracked door, fear beginning to take hold.
I can hear my dad start to take long wheezing breaths, I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing.
“Happy?
Now that any hope of doing this quietly is over, Nikolas and I have a long drive ahead of us. He’s 16, he has a license, yes? “ I hear Sylvia say, sudden footsteps walking up the stairs.
“No, he’s not interested in driving. You can’t take him Syl. “ my mom sounds frantic, Sylvia’s steps are measured and heavy.
“Not interested? You sure we are related? You raise soft children. “ Sylvia ends this with a dismissive laugh.
The few minutes that followed were kind of a blur, with my mom trying to convince me that I was just going to visit family, as if I didn’t just hear everything.
It's a couple hours into a long drive in a small car when my brain finally catches up to the fact that I’m awake, and going 30 miles an hour over the speed limit.
Aunt Syl sits in the driver’s seat, she’s 40 something, olive skinned with pitch-colored hair. Her style, it’s, something.
Her outfit was the middle of a Venn diagram of hippie, punk rock and carpenter. Bracelets, flannel, paisley, and enough piercings I lost count.
“Any chance of putting both hands on the wheel? “ I say, I’m mad, but I don’t even really know why.
She holds up her left arm, and I’m shocked. It’s an ancient looking blued steel prosthetic. She flexes, the clawed, almost mitten-like hand.
“Go through too many steering wheels that way. “ She says with a smirk.
“What’s going on? “ I ask, after an agonizing fifteen minutes of silence.
“You’re a big boy, so if you want the truth, I’ll give it to you. There’s a job that needs to be done, a dangerous job. And I want you to do it.
Now, I want you, not because you’re strong, or smart, or special. We have many strong, smart, special boys.
You, I want, because you’re unknown, and, little one, disposable. “ Sylvia lets this comment hang like rotten fruit.
The next hour goes in silence, at no point do I even entertain the notion this is some kind of joke. Something about this woman’s energy, about the way she carries herself, it scares the shit out of me.
We board a plane, somehow she had all of my travel documents. Even stranger is that we get escorted past the security checkpoints, into first class.
The next words I say to Sylvia are, “You have to put that out! “ as she lights up a short, yellow, hand-rolled cigarette.
She grins, taking a long drag, it smells horrible, the cheapest roughest tobacco odor I’ve encountered.
She relaxes, a cloud of thick, grey smoke forming.
I’m stunned, not a single person says anything. At first I think maybe she’s some kind of, I don’t know, mobster or something.
But that isn’t quite right. No one is looking at her in fear, no one is telling anyone else not to say anything. It’s like no one notices what she’s doing.
“How does she do this? The little boy wonders.
I don’t come offering you a thankless task Nik. I come with an opportunity. “ Sylvia says before crushing the cigarette on the arm of a chair and tossing it into the isle.
I had questions, and between the fear and the confusion I asked every one of them.
The only response she gave me was, “You’ll see when we get there. “.
She was right.
The flight lands, and after an hour or so of driving the world’s oldest pickup through the English countryside, we wind up at an old farm house, in the middle of nowhere outside of Hammersmith.
The sign outside says “ Gritt Auctions” the letters are old, bronze and tarnished, the grounds are littered with car parts, statues, and errata of every type.
Dozens, maybe even a hundred people mill about each stopping for a moment to give a suspicious look at the interloper in their midst.
Sylvia seems amused at my nervousness. I try and give the rough looking folks around me as much space as I can.
“They’re family, mostly, by blood or marriage, with a handful of lost souls and hangers on. “ She explains.
I probably should have guessed, seeing my mom’s family name on the sign, but my brain is basically nothing more than fear, anxiety and jet lag at this point.
“When do I get to know what’s going on? “ I say, waving at a cousin of some form and receive a uniquely English rude gesture in return.
My ear is ringing, and I stumble , the left side of my face burning. I’d say Syl slapped me, but it was more of a polite punch.
“Don’t whine. You’ve been stolen from your mother, treated like a dog, and judging by Robert’s attitude, rejected by your family.
I don’t want to hear whining, you angry, soft boy? “ Sylvia stops and turns toward me. I notice the people around us stop their tasks, interested in our conversation.
“No… “ I begin, not wanting to piss her off.
I don’t even see the next slap, but it puts me on my ass.
“Next one’s with the left hand.
Are you angry Nikolas? “ Sylvia looms over me like a raven.
I feel something before I get to my feet, a hot, quick flash of hatred. A context free rage at the fucked up situation I’m in.
“Answer is still no. Because to be angry, I’d have to know a God-Damned thing about what’s going on.
But my lunatic aunt just picked me up and now I’m standing in the middle of whatever the English equivalent to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family is.
For all I know, I’m your new King. So no, I’m not angry, I’m annoyed, and maybe a bit worried my gene pool really needs some chlorine. “ I’m shocked at what I’m saying, but I see some smiles, hear a few laughs.
Sylvia’s face seems to soften slightly.
“There’s the Gritt in you. “ She says, starting to walk to an old barn.
I catch up to her as I attempt in vain to dust myself off.
Sylvia opens a small, strangely modern looking door, inside a row of lights automatically flip on.
In contrast to the rotten wood exterior, the inside of the barn looks modern, design wise it’s half way between a hospital and a car repair shop. Equipment of unknown purpose, gurneys and cages of all sizes and types surround me.
Sylvia walks to a door at the back, then pauses.
“Before I open this door, you need to understand something.
There is no fortune telling, or reading of cards here. The cloak of the traveller, the bangles of the gypsy, these are all ways of navigating the world to us. Ways to exist on the fringes of society.
The Gritt family, we trade in the unknown. We find, we collect, and we sell. And ours is no petty collection of trinkets and tools not meant for the hands of man.
Our grift, is livestock. “
The woman opens the door, and what I see, sitting, chained in one corner of the industrial cement walled cell shakes everything I thought I knew about reality.
He's six and a half feet tall, his skin a waxy yellow, and every spare inch is festooned with black stitching, rusted pieces of metal or small splinters of bone.
His face is noseless and asymmetrical, almost as if repaired or modified over and over. One eye is a small, sinister looking orb with a red pupil, the other a massive, almost reptilian thing, wildly twitching about.
He wears no shirt, but a long, grey hide Trenchcoat hangs down to his knees. I start to shake as I see it’s made from layers of stitched human skin.
He sneers at us, long, conical teeth catch the harsh halogen light.
The thing strains against the chains, but they bind him tightly enough to the wall he can barely move.
“You’re not lasting more than 4 seconds kid. Just turn the fuck around. I’ll have you slitting your wrists in the corner by nightfall. “ The thing says, it’s voice is foul, almost a physical force. Grating, rage filled, and with a lunatic edge to it that makes me question exactly how much those chains can take.
“ 3/10, Augustus, who do you think you are scaring with that limp dick of a threat? “ Sylvia says, confidently walking up to the creature.
It snaps it’s jaws with a sound like a rifle shot. No where near Sylvia, but enough to make me jump on the other side of the room.
“If I could stop being threatened and hearing my aunt talk about dicks, I’d be a huge fan. “ I say, something deep within me, pushing past the fear and lack of sleep, “And if anything feels like just telling me what’s going on instead of being vague and creepy, even better. “
The chained thing looks to me, curious. Sylvia smirks.
“Augustus is going to be forced to fight others like him until eventually he gets what’s coming to him for years of evil.
You, are going to stand next to him while he does it. “ Sylvia begins to walk away from the thing, ignoring vile threats of both the violent and carnal variety.
I try to follow her out the door and she blocks me.
“If your still sane and alive in the morning, I was right. Good luck soft boy. “ She says before closing the heavy metal door.
Without her, I feel tiny, that spark of rage is snuffed out and replaced with a cold sense of dread.
“You’re going to have to turn around sometime kid. “ The chained creature says.
I turn, slowly, resolving to make eye contact with the thing. I manage a second or two before looking away, the creature cackles, mocking me.
“Holy shit, they sent me an honest to God pussy. Whole family full of void fucked apes and they send me you?
The best part is, you don’t even get it. I can see what you’re thinking kid, I can see that tiny collection of hormones and goo you vainly call a brain going into overdrive trying to figure this out… “ Augustus starts.
The creature kept going, I don’t have an exact count but it was at least twelve hours.
I can only describe it as a verbal assault. Augustus drew from some dark wells, how it knew half of the things it did scared me as much as it’s clawed hands or, piranha-like teeth.
I lost something that night. The fears that thing drug up, the insecurities it played on, the secrets it knew, it crushed any childlike notions of safety or understanding the world I had.
Don’t take that the wrong way, I don’t mean it toughened me up. It broke any sense of confidence I had, took away any feeling of safety. That God Damned thing in the trenchcoat, changed me.
I’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I’ve slept, but I’m brought a tin plate heaped with eggs, sausage and for some twisted reason, brown beans. And realize it’s been at least a day since I’ve eaten.
I sit around an abused, graffiti carved picnic table with an eclectic combination of family I’ve never met. Syl sips a tea I can smell from ten feet away and looks at me like I’m a used car.
“I’m always right soft boy. Remember that. “ She says.
It takes a half dozen guys built like construction workers, with Sylvia following behind whispering things that wilt vegetation, to wrangle the creature into the back of an old, reinforced horse trailer.
The inside is covered in totems, runes, and other spooky looking errata. The entity becomes sluggish and disoriented as the heavy wooden doors close, and get sealed with a massive brass lock.
My mind begins to wander on the three hour trip through the back country of the UK. The sun sets, and my brain screams for sleep. That scream is silenced by the sense of mounting dread as we get closer to our destination.
We pull up to an abandoned theme restaurant, the parking lot is full, the windows are boarded, and the walls covered in graffiti. The place is huge, more the size of a small stadium than a diner.
The parking lot is full, the sputtering, sparking neon sign flashes “Faron’s Funhouse. “
It’s a few minutes outside of a town I forgot to catch the name of. We can see lights on the horizon, but there’s a feeling of wrong surrounding the building that makes them seem a million miles away.
A half dozen ‘cousins’ of mine move Augustus into a strange, almost coffin-like box made of wood, steel and glass, covered in trinkets and symbols. The thing sneers groggily from within, it’s mismatched eyes rolling in it’s skull.
I don’t hear Sylvia approach, I notice her as she smacks me in the back of the head hard enough to make my ears ring. The old, cruel woman is walking toward the doors of this meeting place.
“Eyes forward, sneer on your face, and walk like you know where you’re going. “ Are her only instructions.
For once, they’re clear and simple. What I see inside easily keeps my attention, and I’m equal parts scared and pissed off, so looking edgy and miserable is my default state.
At one point, this place was exactly what you’d think. I know you’re all expecting it to be a run down, rat infested haunted house now, but it was, stranger than that.
The place was well kept on the inside, but everything was either in use or repurposed to house the couple hundred eclectic customers milling around. In the centre, is a massive Lucite Cube, crystal clear and housing a ball pit, jungle gym and what looks to be a functional canteen, complete with a deep fryer and popcorn machine. It’s a couple hundred meters a side, and shaped like a flawed rectangle.
Smoke hangs in the air, my aunt greets old friends in a handful of different languages, I smile and nod, still trying to understand what the hell this place is.
We see Augustus being wheeled to the Lucite box, Sylvia cuts a laughing Cyrillic conversation short, and her and I make our way to the box that barely restrains the hatred and death inside.
At the other end of the Lucite Cube I see a few people dressed in blue and maroon uniforms ( if I were to guess vintage, from when this place served shitty food instead of violence.), they surround a massive, hulking, lanky thing. It’s obscured by smoke, and poor lighting, but it’s nine foot frame, and unnatural gait are clear.
The box holding Augustus sits about ten feet away from me, inside the massive cage. The front opens, my instinct is to step backward, get as much distance between me and the thing inside as possible, but instead, I’m shoved, before I can catch my balance, a workbook clad foot is in front of me.
I fall and stumble into the cage, I turn around to try and get out as fast as I can, I’m standing inches away from the creature, but I see Sylvia closing the clear, impermeable door.
It hits me then. For the first time since this ordeal started, I realize how grim things are.
Just like everyone else here, I’ve been raised on spooky shit packaged to be marketable. Little monsters, The Adams Family, Harry potter, hell let’s throw Pokemon and the like in there as it’s basically just dog fighting with a cute hat on.
And I thought what was happening to me, was somewhere on the Venn diagram of those things.
But as I see the impassive look on the face of a woman I’ve known since I was a child, ( at a distance or no.) as I’m locked in here with God knows what, I get it. I really get it.
His laughter is like an ice pick, I turn to face him, Augustus brushes himself off, casually looking around the massive arena.
“Just hit ya didn’t it, bud? “ He says, walking over to me, his steps impossibly quick, almost insect-like, “You’re not my trainer, or my wrangler, you certainly aren’t my fucking partner. “, the entity grabs my chin between two clawed fingers, “ You’re a bait dog. Something for me and that new blooded walking pun to fight over. “
My blood runs down his thumb, his grin cracks his face like a rotten melon, the monster pulls down, throwing me to the floor.
A buzzer sounds, and a three minute timer, projected in transparent red appears on the walls of the Lucite arena.
“If I’ve got to hunt you down in this shit-hole, things are going to be a lot worse for you. Stay put, bud. “ The trenchcoat clad thing says, casually walking toward the creature on the opposite side of the arena.
Closer now, I see it clearly. Inside of a pristine uniform, is a twisted attempt at the human form. The torso is lumpen, asymmetrical, but lean. It's arms nearly drag on the floor, yellow, infected looking flesh, weeping pus like a snail’s foot.
It's eyes are black caves, with just the hint of something deep within. It’s face is blank, a torn, haggard looking grey tongue runs over rotting green teeth.
The kid beside it looks around my age, he’s big though, just as confused and afraid as I am. He wears a similar uniform to the creature, but his looks, abused, torn, blood stained. Like it's been handed down from one unlucky owner to the next.
As the buzzer rings, the lanky, disgusting creature moves in a flash, tearing off the kid’s right arm and beginning to chew it.
The blood didn’t set me off, as terrible as it was. It was the three seconds between the act, and the poor kid realizing what happened that pushed me over the edge.
He started to scream, a horrible trapped animal kind of noise. He backs away from the monster beside him, gripping the crushed and torn remains of his forearm.
Augustus laughs, his trenchcoat drags on the floor, leaving a streak of blood as he walks.
“Man after my own heart.
So, I say, we split these sides of beef for two minutes then talk shop for a bit. Fuck these pretentious apes and their show. “ Augustus looks up to the massive thing. It remains impassive, gnawing on the hand.
“Don’t be like that. We both know two halves are better than one whole . Win-win for both of us“ Augustus gets a noise that sounds like an angry sewer pipe, and a dismissive wave of a long snake-like arm in response.
The thing in the trenchcoat shrugs, turning around and stalking toward me.
“You have no luck at all kid, I was going to let you go last.
But the pinworm back there wants to be a dick about things, so looks like things are getting started early. “ Augustus grins, his mouth opening shark like.
I stare down certain death, Augustus radiating fear, seeming to become more demonic with each step toward me.
From behind him, a noise.
I would have just assumed it was some part of the worm-like, filth ridden thing eating. Augustus clears up that misconception.
He turns, shaking, body language that of a wild animal.
“Was that a fucking snicker? A giggle? Are you fucking laughing at me, you literal fucking worm. “ He’s panting, hands twitching like dying insects.
He stands, inches from the other creature, dwarfed by it, teeth grinding, muscles straining.
The worm thing casually tosses the flesh bare hand toward Augustus. As it touches his coat, the arena erupts into a kind of wild, senseless, limitless violence.
It doesn’t feel like watching a fight, it’s more like a car wreck, or natural disaster. Pieces of jungle gym turn into lethal shrapnel as the blurred, filth spewing scrum destroys them.
I see the timer, 2:15. My mind starts to catch up, and I see the other kid, pale, whimpering, and trying in vain to staunch the blood spurting from his arm.
I’m running, low and likely poorly, pulling my belt from my pants, and thanking myself for actually listening when I was forced to take a first aid course for a summer job last year.
The kid is scared, he tries pushing me away, but I’m determined, and not down a couple pints of blood. I pull the belt with two hands, pull it through again and twist, it’s ugly, it’s not perfect, but the flow of blood begins to slow, then stop.
We crawl behind a prize counter, decades old candy and stuffed animals surround us as we cower. A liquid filled roar loud enough to crack the cheap glass cases fills the room.
The kid is looking rough, blood still trickling from the torn stump of his forearm. I see some plastic bags and get an idea.
I lean over to get them, and feel something strange, at first I think I pulled a muscle.
Then there is a deep, burning pain, instinctively I pull away, and turn around.
The kid is on his knees, sanity has left his eyes, a cheap hunting knife in his remaining hand he has a look of panic and determination on his face.
“We have to win. “ he says, lunging at me with the blade.
He’s slow, and I avoid it, but not by as much as I’d like. Blood runs down my back, for a moment I wonder how bad I’m hurt, but it doesn’t really matter right now.
I retreat, but the only thing keeping us from being torn apart by the whirlwind of shrapnel caused by the creatures is the counter, I can’t escape.
It's a stalemate, I’m no athlete, and the kid is built like a rugby player, but he’s missing a hand, and delirious from blood loss. I plead, I try and reason, and I dodge crazed strikes by increasingly narrow margins.
Something large, either thrown or knocked loose destroys the counter behind me. Suddenly all is chaos. I’m thrown into the kid in the uniform, plaster dust surrounds us in a grey cloud.
By the time the air clears the kid is on top of me. I have his wrist in one hand, keeping the split tip of the blade inches from my face.
The angle is too awkward, I can’t get any leverage. It’s not a stalemate, it’s a war of attrition that I’m losing.
I catch a glimpse of the two creatures. The worm thing is striking at Augustus, who stands still, limbs moving in arcing blurs deflecting the blows and tearing off chunks of foul, tainted flesh.
The tip of the knife begins to dig into my cheek. A drop of blood hits my eye.
I grab the makeshift tourniquet with a free hand and roughly yank forward. The kid on top of me screams, bloods begins to pour. Torn flesh and a gore soaked belt hit the ground.
For a moment the weight on me eases up, and I push the knife forward. But the kid, he’s too stupid or far gone to just back off. As I feel is strength start to fade, he presses himself harder.
I expect him to back off as I begin to drive the roughly sharpened back edge of the knife into his neck. But he doubles down, leaning forward, trying to press the knife toward me.
For a moment, every other fucked up thing going on around me doesn’t matter. The world is small, silent, and consists of nothing more than the image of the knife ripping away a fist sized strip from the kids neck.
He backs off when he realizes the extent of the damage. Staring at me shocked, as if just not realizing the consequences of his actions.
He dies slowly, poorly, and within inches of me. I feel no victory, no sense of being a winner, just a dark pit in the back of my mind. The loss of something that comes with taking someone’s life.
I stand, shell shocked, staring at the corpse. My safety the last thing on my mind.
The worm thing is hurt, and attempts to dive into the ball pit, but somehow, defying physics, Augustus grabs it, holding the half ton monster out with one hand.
He arcs the thing, slamming it into the floor behind him, the spray of gore and viscera rivals pyrotechnics, the force leaves a blood filled crater in the floor.
Without missing a beat Augustus starts to walk toward me, making a token effort of flicking pieces of bone and organ from himself.
I’m frozen, I know nothing I can do could stop whatever he has planned.
The creature picks up a jagged piece of lumber, and looks at the clock, “We’ve got 45 seconds of fun left kid. “ he says with a sneer.
But as he passes the counter, and sees the corpse the look of imminent violence turns into amusement.
“How’s it feel to be a child killer, bud? “, Augustus laughs, “Not that I can’t tell from the look on your face.
Fuck me, that knocked some gears loose didn’t it? “
The thing walks forward, looking me over like a collectable.
“I can’t let that go to waste, now can I? “ he slaps me lightly, “It’s going to be a fucking blast watching you break down kid, wonder what drives you nuts first, this kid being in your dreams, or the fact that, at some point I’m going to get bored and start giving you all the pain you feel you deserve? “
Of course, I made it out alive. It’d be kind of hard to have posted this if I didn’t.
But now, I sit in a dingy room in a farm house half way across the world from home. Surrounded by family and monsters, all of which seem out to get me. Being forced to risk my life in some kind of blood sport.
Maybe I’ll be back, maybe I’ll be dead by the next time I get a chance to post anything. If anyone has any help, please, post it in the comments. I’m in a dark place here and no one else seems to be on my side.
I decided to update everyone
https://www.reddit.com/HFY/s/ypogh9ZYrZ

Ryo Saeba

My name is Ryo Saeba.
Cleaning up bugs who live in the city, that's what I do for a living.
My weapon is a Colt Python .357 Magnum.
The only thing I can't bring myself to shoot is the heart of a beautiful lady.
The hot piece of lead that shakes the muzzle is a one-hole-shot that brings down evil.
Someone who's already crossed me once is quiet the second time in Hell.
That's the way I do business.
Someone told me that blood, gun smoke, and the fragrance of roses suit me.
I am a sweeper of the city. People call me City Hunter.

Anyone who has spent considerable time in Tokyo, or Japan as a whole for that matter, may have heard rumors about the blackboard in Shinjuku station. They say that if you have a problem and can't go to the police, all you have to do is write a note with the letters XYZ at the end and wait for the mysterious City Hunter to come and find you. However, pretty much anyone that's done this will tell you that the City Hunter isn't exactly the man you might expect.
At the incredibly young age of three years old, Ryo Saeba was traveling with his parents when their plane crashed in a country in Central America that was in the middle of a civil war. Being the sole survivor, Ryo wandered the jungle for days until he stumbled upon a village of guerilla fighters that were battling their country's government. The guerillas would only accept warriors that could fight with them, so Ryo joined their ranks in order to survive. They taught him everything they knew about warfare until Ryo grew to be one of the most dangerous men on the battlefield. However, the government forces eventually overwhelmed them, chasing the guerillas out of the country. Now an adult, Ryo made his way to the United States and opted to become a sweeper, a mercenary/bounty hunteprivate detective that performs off the books jobs to clean up the filthy criminal underworld.
At some point, Ryo left the US and returned to his birth country of Japan, where he partnered with with ex-detective Hideyuki Makimura to form the two man group known as City Hunter. Ryo's reputation spread rapidly, becoming known as one of the most dangerous men in the criminal underworld. So what's the problem? Well, he does have one weakness: Beautiful women. Despite his upbringing, Ryo is a goofy pervert and womanizer that would only accept jobs from the prettiest women around if he had his way. For awhile, he had Makimura to keep him in check, but his partner would meet a tragic end after refusing a job from a powerful drug syndicate, giving Ryo the dying request of looking after his little sister Kaori. Initially planning to help Kaori get out of the city, Ryo was surprised to find that Kaori wanted to take her brother's place as Ryo's assistant/partner and continue the work he thought was so important. Together, they became the newest iteration of City Hunter, sweeping the streets of Japan of evil and assisting any beautiful women that requested their services.
While his methods may be questionable, rest assured that the City Hunter always sees a job through no matter what criminal organizations, serial killers, or assassins stand in his way.

Source Guide

• City Hunter = S1E#
• City Hunter 2 = S2E#
• City Hunter: .357 Magnum = Mag
• City Hunter 3 = S3E#
• City Hunter: Bay City Wars = BCW
• City Hunter: Million Dollar Conspiracy = MDC
• City Hunter '91 = 91E#
• City Hunter: Secret Service = SS
• City Hunter: Goodbye My Sweetheart = GMS
• City Hunter: Death of the Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba = DVC
• City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes = SPE

Things to Know for Potential Scaling

There are two characters that Ryo scales to in a number of different ways, Umibozu and Kaori Makimura. Rather than clutter up the thread by listing their various pieces of scaling every time, that information will instead be listed here to be referenced at the reader's convenience.
Note: Ryo's more notable feats in each section will be bolded.

Strength

Hell may be a lonely place for you for a while, but I'm going to liven it up for you soon enough.

Striking
Vs Enemies

• One shots a large gang member^S1E10
• Knocks out a man that was twice as large as his companions^S2E23
• Kicks a large man into his companion, sending both flying out of a restaurant^S2E36

Environmental Damage

• Smashes a hole in the side of the woman's dressing room^S2E57
• Sends a large thug flying across a room with enough force to destroy the background set of a dance production^S2E57
• Punches his opponent, sending them flying across a room and damaging a wall on the other side^S3E1
• Punches a robber so hard his head craters a wall^SS
• Kicks a mercenary hard enough to crater his head into a wall^SPE

Lifting/Throwing
People

• Carries a woman in his arms with ease while fleeing gunfire^S1E6
• Catches a thug's punch and throws him a fair distance through the air^S1E29
• Throws a thug hard enough to partially crater a wall^S1E37
• Tosses a man over the outer wall of his client's estate^S2E54

Objects

• Repeatedly chucks tombstones at a pair of Yakuza^S2E45
• Lifts a large weight from on top of him^S2E56

Pushing/Pulling

• Seemingly pushes over several crates of wine that are far larger than a person^S1E16
• Pushes a large Yakuza off of him after being pinned^S2E46

Blocking

• Stops Kaori's hammer strike with his foot^S1E22
  • He does this plenty of times even after already being hammered once^SS/MDC
  • Kaori's strongest attacks can be found in their own subsection under Ryo's durability for scaling

Biting

• Bites through the tip of a spear^S2E43
• Hangs onto the side of a windowsill using just his teeth, cracking it^S3E12

Other

• Often breaks his opponent's wrists in his grip^S1E30/S2E45
• [Anti-Feat] Was unable to break free of the ropes binding him while his client was kidnapped^S2E13
• His boner was so powerful that it smashed through a cafe's wooden support beams and brings several of them down^S2E39
• Runs straight through a metal spike trap on the floor, smashing the individual spikes^S2E43
• Flicks pinballs with enough force to send some henchmen flying back^S3E3
  • Later Ryo uses them to disarm mercenaries in several instances^SPE

Speed

Showing your true colors? Fine. If you think you can shoot me, go ahead and try. But make your first shot count. If you don't, by the time you shoot the second one you'll be in Hell.

Travel

• Outruns an avalanche in a flashback^S1E8
• In the time it takes a thug to pull his client into their car, Ryo runs down from his appartment and starts his own car to give chase just as the thug is pulling away^S1E22
• Runs alongside a car as it drove down the street^S1E39
• Outruns a ninja that was later shown keeping pace with a train^S2E24
• In the time that it takes a killer to enter a girl's appartment building and break down her door, Ryo arrives from his own appartment to save her (the girl's appartment appears to be several blocks away from Ryo's)^S2E47
• Travels the distance between the bench he was laying on and the car of the woman spying on him in the brief moment she looked away^S3E12
• Briefly outruns an explosion but is eventually caught in it^DVC

Reactions
Melee

• Dodges a skilled swordsman's strikes for an extended period of time^S1E29
• Dodges a thug's attacks with complete ease^S1E37
• Sidesteps an attack from a ninja's kusarigama^S2E24
• Dodges repeated stabs from the leader of a terrorist group^S2E49
• Reacts to Umibozu's punch by biting his hand^BCW
• Runs through a hallway of Kaori's "mokkori-man repelling traps"^SPE

Aim Dodging

• Avoids the shots of a dozen henchmen for a fair bit of time before running to cover^S1E51
• Evades a point blank pistol shot from an ex-mercenary and later dodges several more of her shots with ease^S2E39
  • While the bullets she is firing are filled with paint so as not to be lethal, they are still fired from a real gun^S2E39
• Ducks under a terrorist's rifle shot and takes him out^S2E50
• In Ryo and Umibozu's first exchange during their duel Ryo avoided (but admittedly was grazed by) Umibozu's shots and in their second Ryo was moving too fast to be hit at all^91E9
• Dives through a torrent of submachine gun fire and takes out the attacker^91E11
• Avoids the fire of military drones on multiple different occasions^SPE
  • These drones could make small movements at bullet timing speeds to protect their rotors from Ryo's shots so avoiding their aim is even more impressive^SPE

Projectiles

• Dodges several darts thrown in quick succession while hanging upside down, even managing to catch one in his mouth^S1E7
  • Does something similar with knives^S3E8
• There are countless examples of Ryo narrowly saving his clients from a bullet^{S1E21/S2E21/S3E8}
• Moves out of the way of several crossbow shots^S1E25
• Pulls his hand out of the way of Umibozu's bullet after it was fired^S1E27
• Avoids a shotgun blast after it was fired and continues to dodge several more shots afterwards^S1E50
• Firing second, he shoots his opponent's bullet out of the air^S1E51
• Reacts to spears fired at him repeatedly as he ran through a booby trapped hallway^S2E43
• Angles his head out of the way of pistol bullets the instant before they hit him^S3E2
• After his opponent fires at him, Ryo swipes Kaori's gun and avoids the shot to retaliate^S3E13
• Dodges a missile from the Steel Reaper, a massive military drone and later dodges four more in rapid succession^SPE
  • These missiles move at speeds relative to his revolver shots and are fired at a fast enough rate that a second was already emerging by the time Ryo's shot hit the first^SPE

Other

• When someone runs an electrical current through the waterfall he was standing next to, he manages to push his client out of the way before it shocks them^S1E18

Combat/Attacking

• Rapidly stabs the wood between a man's fingers^S1E7
• Knocks aside over a dozen falling blades with one strike each before they can hit his client, which moved in slow motion in comparison^S1E24
• Before his opponent can pull a trigger, he rapidly grabs and throws several dozen bottles of medicine at him^S1E24
• In the instant that a pickpocket attempts to steal his wallet, he steals her bra and underwear without appearing to have moved^S1E46
• Tosses a glass into the air, vaults over a countertop and defeats some thugs before it falls back into his hand^S2E33
• Picks up and throws a scalpel into his opponent's finger before he can pull his trigger^S2E48
• Throws multiple punches and kicks in the time it takes any of the men he's knocked out to fall to the ground^BCW
• Seemingly vanishes into of thin air, hiding behind a counter so Kaori wouldn't hit him^91E7

Quickdraw/Shooting

• Rapidly destroys the guns of four museum guards before any of them could pull their triggers^S1E8
• Beats his opponent in a quickdraw, shooting before the other man had even finished reaching for his gun^S1E9
  • He does this often^S1E20
• Disarms six thugs in an instant twice, his hand moving in blur both times^S2E23
• Quickdraws and shoots a terrorist before he can pull his trigger^S2E31
• Disarms a government agent even though he had already drawn his weapon^Mag
• Turns around, reloads his gun, and fires all before an American assassin can pull a trigger^MDC
• Beats the Professor in a quickdraw, who was a former elite soldier^GMS
• Fires a submachine gun at every light on a movie set, using one bullet per light without missing once^DVC
  • An earlier shot shows at least a few dozen lights^DVC

Other

• The instant a ninja's attack slashed him, he substitutes a log for himself at fast enough speeds that the ninja didn't notice^S2E24

Agility/Mobility

Wait for me, Kasumiiiiiiii! I've come for my promised mokkori!

General Traversal

• Crosses a collapsing floor while carrying a hostage^S2E63
• Uses a long, flexible rod to launch himself across a yacht^S3E7
• Uses his jacket as a hand guard to slide down an elevator cable^BCW
• Leaps from a speeding roller coaster as it flies off the rails and catches a suspended metal bar^BCW
• Runs along a wall to get between his client and her attackers^SPE

Acrobatics

• Flips forward and pulls the rug out from under two terrorists while, sending them stumbling forward^S2E17
• Performs a double front flip from a near seated position^S2E22
• From a seated position, he flips backwards and lands behind the person targeting him^S2E39
• Performs a one handed handspring, drawing his weapon while he was upside down^S3E8
• While standing on top of a train, he backflips off the end, grabs the ledge and swings inside while being shot at^GMS

Jumping

• Grabs a woman and jumps over a speeding car with her^S1E33
• Crosses a room in a single bound and incapacitates a robber^S2E8
• Avoids a car moments before it crashes into him, claiming he jumped up into a nearby treebranch^S2E10
• Leaps up onto a tree branch^S2E24
• Leaps between buildings while performing thief training^S2E43
  • Does so with ease after the training was finished^S2E44
• Jumps high enough to get tangled up in a production's stage lights^S2E56
• Leaps straight out of the water to a tree branch^S2E62
• Jumps high enough to land on a fairly tall platform^91E2

Climbing

• Rapidly scales a building^S2E43
• Crawls along the side of a building like Spider-Man^S3E5
• Rapidly ascends the structural column of a roller coaster^BCW
• Shimmies down a rope while upside down^GMS
• Jumps from the back of a car to the front of a high speed train, proceeding to climb underneath it and enter from the bottom^GMS
• Scales a flat wall with ease^DVC

Hanging

• Prevents himself from falling with just his foot^S2E2
• Hangs from a thin ledge like a bat with just his toes^S2E52
• Grips a rope with just his toes while upside down^S2E56

Swinging

• Swung in on a rope to save his client from a rabid mob^S1E14
• Travels in a wide arc with a rope and crashes through a window^S2E34
• Uses a rope to go from the top of a bridge onto a boat below^SS

Recovery

• Lands on his feet after being flung from the top of Saeko's car^S2E9
• When the ground collapses from underneath him he narrowly manages to save himself by grabbing a support beam and later is shown pulling himself up^Mag
• When the lift he is on is destroyed, he manages to grab one of the cables as he falls and uses it to swing into a hotel room below^BCW
• Leaps from high up on a ferris wheel and uses a tree's branches to slow his fall and safely land on his feet^GMS
• After being launched by an explosion he rolls and continues running^SPE

Other

• Lands on a moving car and maintains his balance when it crashes^S1E15
• Swims through a pool at high speeds^S1E17
• Props himself in the top corner of his bathroom^S2E10

Durability

NO, NO, NO! PLEASE SAVE ME! I HAVE GREAT AMBITIONS AND GOALS TO FULFILL!
That's right! Don't die, Ryo! There's so much left for you to accomplish!
Exactly! A noble ambition to make love to all the women in the world!

Blunt
Attacks From Kaori

• Gets hit with hammer several times his size^S2E23
• Is sent flying through a wall and isn't the least bit bothered^S2E46
• A giant flail smashes him into a wall^S2E52
• Gets knocked through a door and cratered into a wall by a thrown hammer^S2E60
• Kaori hits him with an attack that slams him into the roof of his appartment, destroying a large amount of stone with the impact^Mag
• Kaori smashes his head through a wall and he's totally unbothered by it^S3E12
• Ryo is hit through several walls and immediately recovers^DVC

Other

• Blocks the attacks of two thugs with his arms and the thugs are the ones that get hurt^S1E33
• Can get crushed by large objects like metal balls and weights and keep going^S1E48/S2E56
• Survives a variety of attacks from Umibozu
  • Umibozu grabs his leg and smashes him into a wall^S2E39
  • Ryo and Umibozu beat each other up offscreen^S2E41
  • Slams Ryo into a brick wall hard enough to damage it^BCW
• Is repeatedly hit hard enough to bend street lamps and keeps coming back for more punishment^S3E4
• Saeko kicks his head into a wall^S3E7

Explosive

• A man fires an RPG into the room he was in, obliterating that corner of the building and Ryo emerges no worse for wear^S2E15
• Was inside of a villa when terrorists detonated multiple bombs inside and destroys it, shortly after walking away from the carnage unscathed^S2E32
• Survives a point blank grenade explosion that craters him into a wall^S2E39
• Is on the outskirts of a castle as it's completely blown up, getting sent flying by the blast and is unharmed next we see him^Mag
• A flaming helicopter seemingly crashes into him and detonates and in the next scene Ryo emerges unscathed^DVC
• Is caught in a series of explosions that ultimately causes the massive Megacity TV broadcasting station to sink into the sea^DVC
  • This is later revealed to have severely crippled him but he still survived^DVC
• The destruction of the Steel Reaper drone causes a massive explosion that destroys the rock formation he was under and he emerges from the rubble completely unscathed and ready to continue fighting^SPE
  • For reference Ryo and the drone were positioned at opposite sides of this tunnel before it exploded^SPE

Falling

• [Anti-Feat] Falling over wrong was enough to break his leg^S1E24
• Produces a sizeable crater in the street^S2E11
• Slips from atop an airport radio tower, embedding into the ground when he lands^S2E17
• Drops a fair distance from a bridge onto a speeding motorboat below and lands perfectly^SS

Electrical

• Touches an electric gate^S1E48
• Gets electrocuted when someone places a cable in the puddle he was lying in, which he immediately recovers from afterwards^S3E9

Endurance

• Is still fairly capable while being drunk enough to not remember anything the next morning^S2E49
• After getting shot in the leg he quickly stands up and continues approaching a terrorist leader^S2E50
• After getting shot in the shoulder and the leg he manages to walk all the way home to his appartment^S3E13
  • While the exact distance between his appartment and the abandoned building isn't known, we do get a brief highway chase as they drive from one to the other so at least a couple miles should be reasonable^S2E12
  • Only a week later he was capable of running and diving around in the middle of a gun fight and even performed a full on panic sprint (though this caused him visible pain and his opponent commented on how slow he was)^S3E13

Other

• Gets swept away in an avalanche in a flashback^S1E8
• Gets trampled by a rabid mob that ran straight through a building immediately afterwards^S1E14
• After his opponents set several barrels of oil on fire that eventually blow up the inside of the building he was in (producing enough heat to partially melt the metal support beams), Ryo walks out completely fine^S2E20
• Gets swarmed by piranhas for a considerable amount of time and has no visible bite marks upon escaping^S2E62

Gear

You, carrying that big gun, who in the hell are you?!
There's some things in this world it's safer not to know. If you plan on a long life, make sure I never see your face again.

Firearms

• Colt Python .357 Magnum^S1E1
  • While he has used other guns before, the .357 Magnum is his signature weapon and what he prefers to use in most situations if it's an option^S2E34
  • It possesses an attachable scope^S1E11
  • Able to shoot through walls on several different ocassions^{S1E18/S2E26/BCW}
  • Possesses a silencer so effective that a pair of girls didn't notice the gunshot when it was right next to their heads^S1E32
  • [Limit] It's range wasn't good enough to reach a man firing at him from a distant church^SS
    • Then again he fires an accurate shot from a considerably greater distance in the next movie so take it with a grain of salt^GMS
• S&W .41 Magnum that Ryo said was "one in a thousand" in terms of accuracy^S1E8
• Sig P-210 Pistol^91E12
• Sawed off shotgun^SPE
  • It's accurate range is extremely impressive for what one would typically consider for shotgun^SPE
• Sniper Rifle^S1E11
• Machine gun^S1E12
• Handheld heavy machine gun^S2E38
• Ryo's full armory possesses various pistols, rifles, shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, and more^S1E40

Other Long Ranged Weapons

• Bazooka^S1E6
  • Craters a street and sends a car flying^S1E23
  • Offscreen, creates a massive hole in the side of a mansion^S1E23
  • Can be disassembled and reassembled on location, destroying the door of a massive safe^S1E40
  • Kaori uses it to destroy a massive support pillar which demolishes a building^S1E40
  • Kaori displays that it can be fired seemingly infinitely^S2E4
    • Another example of Kaori repeatedly firing without reloading^S2E18
  • After Kaori goes on a rampage it's revealed that various massive craters were created as a result (note that the damage could also have been a result of the various stick grenades that she threw)^S2E63
• Throwing knives^S1E6
• Pinballs which he can flick with pinpoint accuracy^S2E47
  • If he's ever without a gun for whatever reason, he uses these to continue fighting from a distance^S3E3

Melee Weapons

• Brass Knuckles^S1E14
• Chainsaw^S1E49
• Knife^SPE

Ammo

• Standard ammunition for his Colt Python^S2E23
  • These are full metal jacket bullets which can be ricocheted off of hard surfaces and produce bright sparks when they do^SPE/S1E4
  • He also carries packs that allow him to reload every bullet at once rather than individually^SPE
• A custom rifle bullet that Ryo claims can break through any wall^S1E2
• .50 caliber nitro-express bullet, which Ryo claims could move a 2 ton object a whole foot when fired from 100 meters away^S1E3
  • Because it's made of gold, the bullet splatters against whatever it hits rather than piercing through, even his target's skull^S1E3
• Armor piercing rounds^91E12

Explosives

• Nitroglycerine^S1E15
• Enough TNT to destroy a castle^S1E17
• Plastic explosives that, combined with some canisters of gasoline, exploded with enough force to blast through the roof of a mansion^S1E23
• Grenades^S1E40
  • One of these grenades exploding completely destroyed a door that Kaori's hammer strikes couldn't break through^S2E53
    • Refer to Kaori's subsection of Ryo's durability to compare how strong she is
    • Kaori will happily use a hammer to break out of rooms if given the option^DVC
  • Blasts a large hole in a thick metal door^S3E8
• Stick grenades^S2E38
  • A series of them thrown in quick succession leveled several warehouses^S2E38
  • After Kaori goes on a rampage it's revealed that various massive craters were created as a result (note that the damage could also have been a result of the bazooka she was using as well)^S2E63
  • Identical stick grenades thrown by Umibozu blast a massive hole in the roof of a building and destroy small structures on a military base^S3E13
• Ryo uses a series of explosives to completely demolish a Yakuza group's headquarters (though we aren't shown the exact method)^S2E46

Mobility

• Parachute^S1E2
• Rope^S1E49
• A pseudo-grappling hook^S2E13

Espionage/Tracking/Surveillance

• Compact binoculars^S1E23/S2E18
• Transmitters that send a signal with a one kilometer radius which Ryo can track with a device in his Mini Cooper^S2E24
• Ryo placed a bug in the police superintendent's office that transmits the his confession to the entire dispatch center^S1E42
• A drone with a camera attached to it^SPE

Vehicles

• His signature Mini Cooper^S1E22
  • A large thug took several swings at the windows and produced no damage^S1E34
• Fiat Panda^S1E36
• Motorcycle^S1E30

Other

• A device that releases sleeping gas^S1E40
• Special glasses that allow him to see the laser of an infrared scope^S2E3
• Instant acting sleeping pills^S2E10
• Handcuffs^S2E33
• Ryo claims that his jacket is bulletproof^SPE

Marksmanship

Who the hell are you?
I came to deliver the bill.
Bill?
For you lives.

Stationary Targets
Target Practice

• Lands six shots in the exact same spot on a target from ten meters away^S1E8
  • This feat is repeated fairly often^MDC/91E11
• Forms a circle in a target's chest with six rapid shots^S1E32
• Lands six perfect shots on a target, forming a circle with the first five and shooting through the center with the sixth^S3E4

Short Distance and High Precision

• Shoots through a crowded, moving train to incapacitate an enemy on the other side^S1E4
• Shoots the belt off a man that was standing on the other side of a crowded park^S1E7
• Fires into his opponent's gun barrel from the other side of a room^S1E38
• After breaking through bullet proof glass he shoots through the hole to break Kaori's restraints on the other side^S1E51
• From a fair distance away he shoots a string connected to a grenade's pin just as his enemies were about to pull it^S2E55
• Shaves the hair off his opponent's heads three times each with rapid shots^91E4
• Shoots a poisoned ring off of a girl's finger with only a slight mark on the finger itself^DVC
• Uses a sawed off shotgun to hit the rotors of military drones that were hovering a good distance away from him^SPE

Long Distance

• Using a "one in a thousand" accurate gun, he lands two shots in the same place to destroy a sensor behind bulletproof glass from what was said to be roughly thirty meters away^S1E8
• Snipes a statue from several blocks away^S1E11
• Shoots through an enemy's gun barrel from several blocks away with a sniper^S1E18
• Shoots the top of a building where a sniper is perched as a warning^S1E32
• Consistently lands perfect shots on an enemy sniper, completely removing his clothes from 1 kilometer away^S1E42
• Without looking, he fires a shot that grazes a sniper on top of a nearby building^S2E3
• From the top of traffic control tower, he fires sniper shots into a grounded plane's cockpit, hitting a terrorist in the shoulder and then destroying the straps on Saeko's bra to distract his partner so that she could dispatch him^S2E17
• Shoots a bomb's trigger that he placed on a distant boat, detonating it^S2E30
• Disarms a man from the other side of a large warehouse^91E2
• Fires a shot from on top of a ferris wheel that hits a traffic light on a distant set of train tracks^GMS

Other

• Fires from behind some construction containers, disarming multiple gang members with a single bullet^S2E33
• Is extremely accurate even while quick drawing, hitting his opponent's weapon rather than his body^S1E20

Moving Targets
Humans

• From a stadium's upper stands, Ryo shoots into a boxer's ear so it looks like he was simply knocked out of the ring and KO'd^S1E3
• In a duel against a secret service agent, Ryo lands a seemingly fatal blow but it's revealed that Ryo reduced his bullet's gunpowder so that it wouldn't pierce his heart (which Ryo claims if he'd made a single mistake wouldn't have worked)^Mag
• Gives a man a concussion by narrowly grazing his temple^91E2
• During Ryo and Umibozu's duel Ryo's shots graze Umibozu^91E9

Enemy Weapons/Shots

• Fires into his opponents' gun barrels^S1E8
• Hits a whip mid-swing^S1E13
• From the back of a crowded concert he destroys an on stage knife mid-stab^S1E14
• Shoot's Reika's bullet out of the air^S1E41
  • He later does something similar during a duel^S1E51
• Fires into an enemy's gun barrel as he was drawing^Mag
• Running a short distance a man throws a knife that Ryo blasts apart^S3E8
• Hits an RPG just before it destroys Godzilla^SPE

Vehicles

• Defeats a tank by destroying its treads^S1E25
• Shoots off a helicopter's propellers mid flight^S2E16
• Flips out of the way of a speeding truck, shooting its tire and back latch while upside down so that it crashes and spills its contents^S2E22
• Hits a helicopter's gas tank as it flew over him^SS

Ryo is Moving

• Hangs from a moving helicopter and blows up a car by firing three times in the same spot, twice to remove the gas cap and a third for the gas tank^S1E25
• Shoots through an opponent's arm while he was falling^S1E32
• Takes out several enemies from a spiraling helicopter^S2E34
• Shoots a sniper that was trying to intercept him as he chased a plane in his car^91E1
  • The shooter was likely standing on the building next to the tower in this shot and the runway is even further^91E1

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