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Where to Sell Heavy Equipment

2023.06.04 10:13 WhoBuyConEquip Where to Sell Heavy Equipment

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 10:13 WhoBuyConEquip Who Buys Heavy Machinery

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 10:12 WhoBuyConEquip I Have Equipment to Sell

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 10:12 WhoBuyConEquip I Have Construction Equipment to Sell

https://preview.redd.it/o8i2edq9my3b1.jpg?width=655&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b10754cd77d53224f12621207573cc00a655238
Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 10:12 WhoBuyConEquip Who Buys Equipment

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 08:27 WhoBuyConEquip Buy Your Equipment

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 08:27 WhoBuyConEquip Who Buys Your Equipment

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 08:01 WhoBuyConEquip Who Buys Machinery

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 08:00 WhoBuyConEquip Who Buys Equipment Near Me

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 08:00 WhoBuyConEquip Who Buys Ingersoll Rand

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Who Buys Equipment? Whether it’s running or not, Buy Your Equipment buys used equipment all around the United States and Canada. Trucks, tractors, motor graders, dozers, skid steers, backhoes, telehandlers, excavators, forklifts, and a variety of other goods are among the items we purchase. Please contact us at 945-400-6965 for the best rate on your used heavy construction equipment machinery.
We buy all sorts of equipment such as :

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2023.06.04 06:46 ladyrocky_33 New automotive student/apprentice - acquired some tools and need help identifying

hey reddit trades fam! Questions for automotive folx..
On a whim I purchased a large tool cart at a yard sale - it was FULL of tools and looked to be mostly automotive tools. Exactly what I wanted. But there's a few things I'm either having a hard time identifying OR I just don't know if I should keep or get rid of. I'm new to the trade so I want to have everything important, but it would suck to get rid of stuff that might serve me down the road or be expensive to replace.
Items included and I'm unsure if I should keep:

steering wheel puller
imperial 45 degree flaring tool (also no idea what that is?! Do I need it?)
fuel pump vacuum + pressure tester gauge
oil filter wrench (fairly heavy duty)
piston ring compressor tool
multi tool - unsure what this is for. See pic.
Kastar tool - also unsure. See pic. I thought maybe it was for measuring brake pads, as each tab has a measurement on it, but they all are identical in size when stacked??
ratchet drive handles (see pic)

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

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2023.06.04 04:00 Kazevenikov Cryptid Chronicle - Chapter 31

Thanks and Credits in the Comments Section due to LONG chapter.
Chapter 31: A Whale of a Tale and it’s All True
“IT’S FUCKING J-POD!”
Kalai watched in shock and awe as the two humans collectively lost their minds, hopping up and down and letting loose a series of high pitched vocalizing as she, Papa, and Mama Sakalbi stared in confusion at the two ecstatic aliens.
Andy turned and ran back to where Kalai and her parents were still staring in amazement and held his hand out, face alight and happier than she’d ever seen him before. “Binoculars! Quick! I want to see who’s out there!” Mama Sakalbi tentatively held them out, and he took them with a nod of thanks before rushing back to the bow. Kalai started as he jumped up on the bow and balanced against the roller horns to spot the black and white whales that were swimming fast towards the net.
“Eyes on Mama Shachi! Look, over there, see her?” Kalai approached cautiously as Andy pointed in the direction of a cluster of porpoising black shapes that were coming nearer.
“Eyes on! I got Grammie Slick out there too; the WHOLE POD’S HERE!” Jackie cut loose an undulating cry and waved her hands as little geysers of water and air shot out from the water on the other side of the net.
Kalai nearly jumped when a miniature version of the Orcas from the clone tank at Headquarters breached the water, leaping almost twice her height into the air before splashing back down in a massive wave.
“Look at that! Butterball’s getting some good air these days!” Andy crowed as he hopped back down from the bow and passed the binoculars to Jackie.
“Butterball?” Mama Sakalbi asked as she and Papa joined them. Kalai stared as the Orcas formed a line and charged at the middle of the ‘S’ bend in the net before diving down in front of it, sending a wave that pushed the corks back. She saw the spouts and the dorsal fins rise again for another charge at the net.
“He’s the baby, only about four years old. Grammie Slick’s taking the family hunting, see how they’re flattening the net out? We’re about to have a great fucking day!” Andy took Jackie’s shotgun and took it back to the cabin as Kalai and her parents crowded the rail.
“What are they doing?” Mama Sakalbi’s question was directed at Jackie and the woman turned to answer with a gigantic smile.
“Herding! See the ones circling around the net?” Jackie pointed to the two dorsal fins that were almost invisible in the fog that was starting to burn off in the morning sun that had started to clear the eastern mountains. “They’ll be starting to round up small schools of salmon once they’re done turning our net into a reef. Right now, they’re running along the line and probably seeing what they have to work with.”
Mama Sakalbi did a double take, “You must be joking, that level of intelligence would almost be-”
“Human?” Jackie interrupted with a smile, “Yeah, that’s our original teachers out there. We learned to fish from them.”
“I was going to say ‘sentient’, but I take your point. What I want to know is, what are they doing?” Mama Sakalbi gestured out at them, with a bewildered look on her face.
“They’re using the net as a sea wall. Thing is, the net’s hard to see in the water, but the fish can feel it. They’ll put their heads into the net, but that doesn’t catch them. They’ll try to swim around it so that’s why we put an ‘S’ bend. That’s where most of the fish get tangled.” Andy returned and picked up the explanation. “See in the center of the line? That fin with the black and white little checkmark behind it? That’s Grammie Slick, the Matriarch. She’s around sixty now, and grew up out here LONG before you all came down. They don’t always do this, but I guess with you all keeping the fishing fleets docked, she saw the net and wanted a big meal for the family. They’re going to keep pushing the net until it’s in the shape of a crescent and herd a bunch of small schools into a big baitball with pickets to keep the fish pinned in the middle. You watch, there’ll be salmon jumping all over in the middle as they school up.”
“That’s when you’ll see them charge up the center and take big old mouthfuls of salmon. It’ll be a smorgasbord for ‘em!” Jackie pulled up Andy’s omnipad and started recording.
“Wait, but you hate seals for competing with you for food, why are you this excited about Orcas who take so much more?” Papa asked as he also took out his omnipad and started recording as the pod of Orcas finished repositioning their net just as Andy described.
“Because they’re using the nets as a reef to trap the fish! See? Look! There they go! The wolves are out scaring every salmon in the area here!” Kalai dug her own omnipad out at Andy’s words and watched as the dorsal fins sank below the waves, with only a faint and fading wake to tell where they’d gone.
“Now watch ‘em set pickets! They’re going to start patrolling the outside of the net. When they get enough salmon in the middle, they’re going to charge. When they do, watch the entire middle section of our corks go under from the salmon trying to get away. They get whole heaping mouthfuls of food and we get a full net!”
Kalai watched the Orcas swimming in circles around the net like Helix Sharks, and felt a pang of fear seeing the big predators that seemed so gentle and inquisitive in the tank. “But what if they get caught in the net?”
Jackie suppressed a laugh before sweeping an arm out at the net. “I’ve never seen that happen before, and I haven’t even heard of it happening before… at least not here in the Salish Sea. All our Orcas grew up around these nets, so they’ll either avoid them or use them like they are right now.”
“I think it’s because they can see them and the fish can’t. Either way, we’re in for a show!” Andy patted Kalai on the back before pushing Kalai and Mama Sakalbi forward.
For a long while, the surface was calm, save for the circling Orcas as they all watched. Then, by degrees, there was movement on the surface of the water as fish the length of Kalai’s arm started to jump and kick in the baitball. Kalai watched, fascinated, as Orcas seemed to appear and disappear along the edges but never approached the middle of the net.
All the fins disappeared from the surface and an eerie stillness settled over the water. Suddenly, the water in the middle of the crescent erupted, with hundreds of fish shooting out of the water and a sudden surge that hit and pushed the corks outward before they sank completely out of sight. Jackie and Andy started vocalizing those strange undulating cries again, raising their fists in the air before shouting something in their language. From as best as Kalai could guess, it was encouragement as the Orcas started breaching and jumping. In those moments, Kalai could catch glimpses of their mouths full of salmon.
Kalai watched as the terrified fish swarmed towards the net, and watched as many seemed to jump over it and swim away as the Orcas gorged themselves on the enormous school of salmon they had trapped. It was an awe inspiring sight to see, and Kalai lost herself in the moment watching the amazing display of symbiotic hunting and fishing between them and the Orcas.
The engine of the boat turning over broke the spell they were all under as Andy moved the boat at a dead slow pace back towards the net. “Alright, let’s haul it in and reset for ‘em! Jackie! Get on the bow with the billhook!” Jackie whooped in agreement and gently pushed passed Kalai to grab a long pole with a small metal hook at the end.
“We’re gonna have to work fast. They’re hungry, and we all want salmon today,” Andy called over the sound of the engine as they approached the giant buoy that marked the end of the net. “Doc! Open that hatch back there and watch your step! Mrs. Vaida, stand clear in the cabin; I want no accidents today, and three on deck’s going to be a crowd with how many fish we’re going to be taking in. Kalai, I want you back in the-”
Kalai shook her head as she put her omnipad away. “I can do it! Let me help!” she was riding the high feeling of watching the Orcas, and seeing Andy and Jackie preparing to go to work while she was to be just a passenger galled her.
Kalai saw Andy give Jackie a look that she couldn’t quite interpret. “Alright, but you’ll work with me picking fish. Jackie, you’re on the Drum; trade places with me!”
Kalai saw Jackie huff and give Andy a piercing look as she handed off the billhook. “Watch out for jellies, they tend to explode,” the native woman muttered to Kalai as she took over at the net drum’s controls. Kalai was about to volunteer to grab the line with the hook, given her longer reach, but Andy had already leaned almost all the way over the side. Kalai had a momentary scare as Andy seemed to dip forward, seemingly in danger of falling overboard, until he seemed to almost levitate himself using his lower legs back into the boat and pulled the line over the roller horns. She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do when Andy braced a foot against the side and began to pull on the line and feed it back towards Jackie.
“Way, haul away, we’ll hang and haul together! Way, haul away, haul away Joe!”
Though she didn’t understand the words, Kalai knew a sailing song when she heard one and didn’t wait for any instruction. She moved forward opposite Andy and lent a hand, pulling the heavy line in to the cadence of his chant. After two verses, Kalai heard the whine of hydraulics and the slack in the line behind them went taught.
“Stand back! Here we go!” Andy called to her and the line began pulling the net back aboard. Kalai looked back to see that Jackie had wrapped the line around the center pole of the drum, with the wheel turning to pull the line and net in out of the water. A small set of guide poles that moved when Jackie twitched the controls kept the line evenly distributed on the drum as the first corks and the dripping wet net began to appear out of the water.
“Put your hoods up!” Andy yelled at her over the noise of the machines, and demonstrated the motion. “It’ll keep the water, seaweed and Jellies out of your face and eyes, and take this!” Andy tossed her what appeared to be a handkerchief and he mimed the act of tying it around her face like a mask.
“What about you? You’re sleeveless!” Kalai’s voice was slightly muffled from the cloth as she tied it around her face before pulling up both hoods.
Andy didn’t respond, except to grin at her as he leaned out to watch the net coming up out of the water before it got pulled aboard.
From behind her, Kalai heard Jackie start singing another human sailing song. It was a bit fast paced, and Andy joined in for the chorus. On the third time she heard it, she joined in too.
“Blow ye winds in the mornin’, Blow ye winds, high ho! Haul away your running gear, And blow ye winds, high ho!”
“Coming up!” Andy shouted as there were several loud thunks before six large salmon appeared in the giant fluorescent green tangle of the net. The drum stopped, bringing the fish to a halt as Andy pulled on the corkline and scurried his hands back and forth, gathering the net up as he did until he reached the first fish. Kalai watched in awe as he seemed to magically pull the fish from the tangle and shake it out onto the deck. The second one seemed to be resting on top of the tangle and he flipped it over the corkline and shook the fish out onto the deck.
“Just watch these first few. When you get a feel for how I’m doing this, jump in. Until then, slide these beauties back towards the stern. Jackie’ll pitch ‘em into the hold.”
Kalai nodded and watched Andy’s movements intently. It looked like sorcery, with how fast he moved his hands and zeroed in on a fish. As soon as he was done, he’d whistle to Jackie, who kept singing the cadence out to pull more of the net in, only to stop when more fish were pulled up and over the horns.
The song changed twice before Kalai felt confident enough to jump in. She almost got tangled in the net herself trying to pull out her first fish, but Andy gave the net a quick tug and she was free again. Maddeningly, the fish had simply fallen out of the net without any help from her, and she fumed just long enough for Andy to point to one that was closer to her.
“Hoist up the thing, batten down the whatsit! What’s that thing spinning, somebody should stop it! Turn hard to Port! That’s not Port, NOW I GOT IT! Trust me, I’m in control!”
On the second refrain, Kalai managed to dig her first fish out and drop it to the deck. She let out a whoop, and Andy paused for a moment to give her a quick applause.
“That’s one, girl! There’s a thousand left if we’re lucky!” Jackie called out as Andy sang a verse and tackled another fish in the net.
“Keep an eye on the lead line; make sure it doesn’t go over the corks!” Andy called as Kalai ran down her second fish and was about to throw the excess net over the other side. She stopped, and Andy helped her get the fish without tangling the net.
It took until the end of the song for Kalai to find her rhythm, and soon she and Andy were running down fish in the net in a crisp and quick manner. Kalai felt like she could go faster, but Andy had cautioned her to keep pace with the songs, as there was still a lot of net to go. When Kalai spared a glance at the length of net still in the water, she saw that Andy wasn’t kidding. It looked like they hadn’t even really started to reel it all in. Ok, it’s hard work, but so is sailing, and he’s my size so I should be able to keep up with him. If he can do it, I can do it!
“Haul away you rollin’ kings! Heave away, Haul away! Haul away you’ll hear me sing, We’re bound for South Australia!”
Andy was impressed. Kalai had jumped in without complaint, and she was very coachable. He could feel himself start to flag as they were starting to come to the last third of the net, but Kalai’s persistence, even though she was sweatier and more haggard than he was, kept him going.
The pile of salmon was almost as deep as their calves, and the deck was getting slick with fish slime. For that matter, so was Andy. In a momentary lull in the fish coming over the horns, Andy caught a glimpse of himself shimmering with all the scales that had flown off the fish as they scraped against the net to hit the deck, flopping. He took a big gulp of air and Kalai groaned as she straightened up, cracking her back as she twisted and bent to relieve her aching muscles.
Andy groaned a bit and looked back towards the stern. It was getting hard to see over the amount of net they’d pulled back in, but he could see Doc and Mrs. Vaida doing their best to help throw and shove the piles of salmon into the hold. Everybody’s getting their hands dirty today. Andy smiled and heaved a happy sigh. This, this is what I want. Being out on the water and doing good, hard work.
“SHIT, JELLYFISH!” Kalai shouted as she twisted away to hide her face behind her rain slicker hood. Andy blinked just in time as a wet squelching sound sent a spray of disintegrating jellyfish exploding all over the bow as the net bunched up and got squeezed together.
Andy felt it splatter all over his arms, neck, and face, before he felt it start to slide down his shirt to his chest. Almost immediately, he started to feel the burn. His arms, neck, and chest he could stand, but the blossoming pain on his lips, eyelids, cheeks, and most horribly the inside of his nose overwhelmed all his conditioned pain tolerance.
“FUCK!” Andy screamed. “FUCKING FUCKER! RIGHT IN MY FUCKING FACE! GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! FUCK!” Andy only barely avoided bringing his hands to his face. It was a hard fought thing to deny his instinct to try and scrape it off, but he felt his boots loose purchase and his feet slide out from under him. He hit the pile of fish that surrounded him hard. He was aware of Kalai yelling for her father and Mrs. Vaida, while Jackie’s braying laugh carried over everything else.
Andy felt Kalai trying to grab him, but her gloves were too slick to get a grip and all she did was spread the stingers more evenly over his arms. Andy kept his eyes squeezed shut as he heard Jackie start to direct the confused and panicking aliens.
“Hold your breath, cuz, vinegar incoming!”
Andy felt the bitter stinging splash as Jackie poured a steady stream of vinegar out from what he assumed was the giant jug he kept for these occasions underneath the little kitchenette in the cabin. Though nothing about the intensity of the burn changed, in the back of his mind, Andy knew that it was killing the stinging cells.
“Alright, Kally, take that bucket and fill it with seawater from over the side, then dump it on him.”
Andy sputtered a bit and spit as he scrabbled onto his knees. He steadied himself with one hand on the rail beside him and the other which found the corkline. He kept his eyes shut and growled as the burning spread from his hairline down to his navel. A sudden bracing splash of cold water nearly bowled him back over. Without warning, Andy hadn't had time to get a breath and he sputtered and yowled as the water soaked down under his rain gear.
Andy shook his head like a dog, whipping his braid back and forth before daring to open his eyes. “Son of a BITCH!” Andy growled as he got a look at Kalai holding an empty bucket, while Jackie was shoo’ing Mrs. Vaida and Dr. He’osforos away to give him some room.
“Jesus, quit your bawlin,’ you big baby, you’re acting like you’ve never been stung before!” Jackie called back to him as Andy ripped the gloves off his hands and plunged them over the side to clean off the stingers.
“It’s in my fucking nose you horse’s ass!” Andy shouted back as he splashed his face. A few strings of purple stingers fell into the water and Andy reared back aboard. “Ugh, get another bucket of seawater! I can still feel this shit!”
“Andrei, as a medical professional, I advise you to cease work and-”
Andy looked over as Dr. He’osforos spoke but waved him off mid sentence. “I appreciate it Doc, but I’ve had it far worse than this. There’s a brown and yellow bottle in one of the drawers under the bench that says ‘Motrin’. Get me the bottle or enough to tranq a cow, and I’ll go back to work just fine.”
Kalai let loose a piercing scream and Andy looked over just in time to see her rocketed herself backwards, dropping the bucket over the side. The Doctor caught his daughter before she fell into the hold, but he too had a look of fear plastered on his face. Andy and Jackie moved to the side to see what had scared her so badly, and the two of them couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Grammie Slick and two of her daughters were there, sticking their heads out of the water with their mouths open, while Butterball was playing with the bucket.
Jackie laughed and stuck her hand out, rubbing the Orca matriarch on the snout. “Raggedy Andy’s fine, Grammie Slick! He’s just milking it for sympathy from these gullible hwun’eetums!”
“What in the Balance of Nature is going on here?” Mrs. Vaida’s shocked voice caused Andy and Jackie to look at her as she stared dumbfounded at the Orcas that were gathering alongside the boat.
“Oh they’re just saying ‘hi.’” Andy shrugged with a smile, despite the burning.
“More like ‘What the hell, cousins, you still got fish to pick. Quit loafin’ around and get another set in!’”
“Jackie, Motrin… NOW!” Andy growled at her. Jackie blew a raspberry at him before diving into the cabin.
“They’re pretty friendly, if you’d like to be introduced,” Andy held out a hand and motioned for Kalai and her father to step forward. Andy dipped his hand in again to make sure it was clear of any stinging cells, before he gently guided the hesitant Kalai to stick her ungloved hand out toward Grammie Slick.
One of the daughters blew a spout before sliding back under water, but Grammie gave a few clicks before briefly touching Kalai’s outstretched hand. “Kalai, this is Grammie Slick, Matriarch of J-Pod. Grammie, this is Kalai… a purple hwun’eetum.” Andy laughed a bit at the look of incredulity on Kalai’s face and the concern on her father’s.
There was a series of shutter clicks from behind Andy, and he turned to see Sakalbi snapping pictures as fast as she could. Kalai was clearly torn between fear and wonder as she held perfectly still and silent for Grammie, who was letting her touch her before she slid back under the water herself. Andy laughed as several clicks and whistles from the pod reverberated through the hull of the boat and he leaned back in.
“Alright, break’s over,” Andy called as he caught the flying bottle of pills Jackie threw at him. He popped two and swallowed them dry before washing the gloves off and putting them on. The extra rinse would have to wait, and he’d have to tough it out until they got back to shore. His boots squelched as he picked his way through the fish on the deck to get back to his station and nodded for Jackie to restart the drum.
It was another twenty minutes before the last of the net was pulled aboard and they were able to clear away all the fish into the hold. Andy stuck his head in and smiled. In a single set, they’d filled three quarters of it, and they had more than enough fish for the gathering and to feed another ten to fifteen families besides. The spouts and the clicks of J-Pod hanging around the boat, however, told Andy that they wanted their reef back and were still hungry.
Andy ordered them to prep the net for another set and helmed his boat again, only to bomb out in a straight line and let J-Pod take care of the fishing from that point on. Once they’d finished, Andy moved the boat out of the Orcas’ way and stood outside the cabin with Jackie while the three aliens crowded the bow, watching and recording the whales going to work a second time.
“Ok, I think we might get a moment to talk,” Andy muttered to Jackie in Salishian. “New orders from the Council. There’s going to be a raid.”
Jackie sucked in a breath and looked at him, all levity gone. “Cambrians, Militia, or the Dummy Bunnies?”
“Militia and the Interior.”
Jackie whistled softly in surprise as her eyebrows shot up. “Really poking the bear, cuz… When and where?”
“Uncle Willy wants us to hit the Militia Supply Depot out by Tanner on Saturday,” Andy growled quietly as he watched Kalai pointing to Grammie Slick’s dorsal as she swam out on the picket around the net.
“You mean the one close to the Snoqualmish?”
“Yeah. Full raid, we’re to hit it and take any supplies, especially military, that we can and destroy what we can’t. The messier we can make it the better. We’ll meet up with the Resistance on the old Bessemer Logging road by Hancock Creek and they get half for taking the credit. Me and Chuck’ve been assigned to ‘lead’ you.” Andy nodded and tried to flick some of the fish scales off himself, but got nowhere.
Jackie sat down on the rail with a groan before looking back up at him with a smirk. “You mean babysit on overwatch while we do the real work.”
Andy pursed his numb lips together and considered the ramifications of folding his arms on the jellyfish burns that had started to go quiet thanks to the Motrin. “Grandma and the Council want me to ‘get my hands dirty.’” He gritted his teeth in frustration.
“What? I’m sorry, that sentence made zero sense.” Jackie shook her head like she’d just been slapped.
Andy couldn’t keep the frustration and anger out of his tone when he spoke. “Apparently there are doubts about my loyalty to the tribe and whether or not I’ve lost my way.”
Jackie huffed in amusement. “Everyone knows the Council’s fucking stupid, but this is a new level of dumb. You got us land back, you got them to allow you to break the rules to feed our people, they’re fixing the fuck ups on our waterways because of you and they think you’ve gone to the dark side?” Jackie started laughing at the nonsense of the politics.
“Last time we talked, you thought I was playing with fire and-” Andy started to throw back at her before she snorted loudly.
“Results talk, cuz. Three of our Hatcheries returned, and my whole family drawing good money in Imperial Credits? Fuck, even if you had sold out, we need more Clan Heads doing the same thing.” She smiled as she nodded towards their guests on the bow.
“They still don’t trust that I know what I’m doing,” Andy growled as he folded his arms unconsciously and immediately regretted it.
Jackie snorted. “Of course they don’t. You didn’t talk to them or get their permission first. Hell, I’m surprised your grandma didn’t chuck you out on your ear for even suggesting that you should work for the dummy bunnies.” Jackie stretched and hopped up and around Andy to grab a water bottle. “But it’s working out. There’s land being returned, money in our hands, and food about to be on our table. You’re doin’ what a Chief is supposed to do.”
Andy scoffed and started to object. “I’m no Chief-”
Jackie gave his shoulder a slap and grinned evilly as a starburst of pain and burning cut through the painkillers, shutting Andy up mid-protest. “You keep saying you aren’t, but that don’t make it true.” She resumed her seat as Andy fought the yowl of pain back so as not to give her the satisfaction. “I mean, case in point, what are you going to do with all these fish Grammie’s catching for us right now?”
Andy blinked a few times as he regained his composure and thought seriously about his answer. “We’ll pull fifteen for the gathering they got invited to… Then all the fish you can pack into the truck goes to the Exiles. The rest? I’ll call Chuck and get some folks from the Council to claim the rest and distribute it to the families that need it.”
Jackie deepened her voice and adopted a cowboy drawl. “He never eats until he sees the pots are full of meat in the lodges of the widows and orphans-”
“That’s Comanche Law, not Salish, and that’s from a John Wayne movie, you ass.” Andy huffed and Jackie giggled wickedly, flipped him off.
“Still haven’t refuted my point, cuz.” Jackie’s singsong voice caused Andy to glare spitefully at her, until she raised her hands defensively. “Alright, you’re not a Chief. So, Not Chief Tsu’titsi’uqw; you need to get your hands dirty and lead a raid. I’ll scrape up what we need and scout the target. You just meet up with us Saturday night at the Snoqualmish Casino and I’ll put a gun in your hands. Don’t worry, we’ll only get dirty enough to make the Council happy.”
“I’ll be a bit late; I’m escorting them to the Hwatcom Family Gathering on Friday.” Andy took a step back as Jackie stood up and twisted a bit to stretch out.
“No surprise there, grandpa’s an old school traditional Indian. They’re dummies, but they’re trying to do right by us, finally. Again, thanks to you, Chie-” Andy slapped the back of her head hard and growled at her, but she just started laughing, making him even madder.
“Alright, enough. Let’s get on the bow and not look like we’re sketchy Indians plotting to attack an Imperial fort.” Andy snarled, shoving her past him while she just kept laughing.
Andy stomped forward, aware of the wet sounds his boots made as he walked. Kalai turned and smiled at him as he moved to stand beside her and her father. “So how are they doing out there?”
“They just started their attack. This is fascinating! Their coordination, their ingenuity, and adaptation to human activity is astounding! I wish I had brought observation drones!” Sakalbi was glued to the binoculars and holding her omnipad up while she muttered observations into the speaker. Andy was content to watch as the pod put on a repeat performance and the net sagged again until they all came up and started swimming lazily around the net and the boat. All of them except Butterball and one of his older brothers. The two seemed to be getting into a jumping contest.
“He’s feeling a bit hyper. Must be nice to be full,” Jackie commented as the two whales took turns jumping out of the water and twisting in the air. Andy smiled and nodded and felt a hand go to his shoulder. He looked down and saw it was Kalai making eyes at him. Andy hid the grimace at the burn and gave her a wink.
“That one’s getting closer, should we be concerned?” Andy looked over at Dr. He’osforos and Kalai quickly moved her hand as they watched Butterball getting closer and closer with each jump.
Jackie hopped up and straddled the railing as Andy and Kalai shared a concerned look. Jackie hooked a hand around one of the roller horns and peered down into the water. “I don’t think so, I mean he knows we’re-”
The sudden appearance of a flying adolescent Orca only a scant few feet away from the boat right next to the lot of them cut Jackie off. Most of them only had enough time to watch the little playful bastard hang in the air for a moment before he twisted to almost shoulder punch the water as he came back down. Andy had just enough presence of mind to pull Kalai and her father down, and braced himself as the plume of water rose from where Butterball landed.
“Oh shi-” Andy heard Jackie say before water cascaded down on them and drenched them all, sending the boat rocking violently.
It took a moment for Andy to recover and he helped the two Shil back to their feet. “Quick check, is everyone alright?”
“HEY! WHAT THE HELL, BUTTERBALL! GRAMMIE! YOU HAVE A TALK WITH YOUR GRANDSON! HE’S GONNA GET SOMEONE KILLED ONE OF THESE DAYS!” Jackie screamed at the water, shaking her fist.
A camera shutter sounded and a dripping wet Mrs. Vaida stood, wide eyed in fear, staring out over the water.
Andy started laughing at the sight of his boss soaked to the bone, her hair and her fur a dripping mess. “That picture right there? You can title it: ‘Angry Native Woman Yells at Whale.’”
Kalai looked like she was on Krek’s doorstep. Akil’eas knelt next to her as he finished his examination and was looking over the readings on his omnipad. His daughter sat in front of the cabin on the little step, legs splayed out in front of her while she leaned against the railing on the side of the boat. Her father stood next to her as he finished a quick check of her vitals and her viral load.
“Unsurprisingly, you’re a bit elevated, but given your numbers over the last week, that’s saying that you’ve come back up to your normal levels.” Akil’eas had been worried. When they’d hauled in the net the second time, Kalai had stayed on the bow with the boy, Andy, while Akil’eas’d stood over the human woman’s shoulder and studied the controls.
Akil’ieas had also pitched in and helped fill the hold, but when he and Sakalbi could no longer stuff them in, they’d given up and stood out of the way. His old friend and colleague had spent the rest of the time recording, either the large predators that continued to circle and play around the boat, or the seemingly inefficient fishing practice of Andy and his people. No wonder he was so big, and his brother had been that strong. It beggared belief that their people worked at that backbreaking pace for so long, but there Andy stood, proud and tall at the end of it, while he and Sakalbi struggled to stay standing.
Akil’eas had to focus on keeping his hands from shaking and retrieved another water bottle for his exhausted daughter. Andy had them moving at a slow pace back towards a different harbor from the one they’d left that morning. They’d stopped briefly at the pier they’d started from to allow Jackie to disembark. The two humans packed all the fish that couldn’t fit in the hold up to Jackie’s truck and filled the bed of it without any help. She drove off with close to a hundred fish.
Now with the deck cleared, Andy told them they were on their way to the harbor most of his Band used. The trip had been slower going than the morning had been, but only because they were riding much lower in the water than they had been.
“King Triton’s farewell,” Kalai muttered looking up. Akil’eas followed his daughter’s gaze up to see a flock of white and gray seabirds calling out loudly as they kept pace with the boat as it headed towards the docks.
“It means work’s almost over. It’s a great sound, isn’t it?” Andy called out from the cabin where he sat at the helm.
Kalai shifted herself with great effort to look around the door to the cabin. “It sounds amazing.”
The smile Andy gave Kalai caused Akil’eas to have a pang of fatherly protectiveness, and only fatigue kept the scowl off his face. “Just wait, we’ll clean a few once we’ve off-loaded to the families. Fresh salmon tonight for everyone, and I’m cooking! Doc, we’d love to have you, too.”
“I’d love to but-”
Kalai grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Trust me, Papa, you don’t want to miss it.”
Akil’eas chewed his tongue for a moment, looking from Andy to Kalai. Sakalbi caught his eye and nodded emphatically. “Alright, if you’ll allow me to help. You must be exhausted.”
Andy beamed at Akil’eas, “You won’t hear me turn down free help.”
“Vaascon fellas don’t have no frills, Haul away, haul away! They’re plain and skinny as a lodthfish gill, And we’re bound away for Vaasconia!”
Kalai sat back and started singing between sips of water. Akil’eas sat down next to her and joined in the chorus for a Vaascon sailing song. It was strange to think that these humans also sang to their sea gods to placate them and coordinate the work. What else could you expect from a sailorman? Some things call to the soul across time and evidently even the gulf space and peoples.
“So heave him up my Turry Turry girls, Haul away, haul away! Heave him up and let the sails unfurl! And we’re bound away for Vaasconia!”
Andy’s voice joining in on the chorus startled Akil’eas and Kalai and they both turned to look back at him.
He gave them another wide grin, “I started learning some of the sail songs after Kalai told me about sailing on Shil.”
“Akil’eas, a word?” Sakalbi motioned with her head towards the bow and offered him a hand up. He followed her to the bow, leaving the two children singing together.
The harbor mouth was coming up fast, and between the noise of the engine and the net drum keeping them out of sight, there was some privacy. “I’ve heard some rumors about your feelings toward humans…” Sakalbi leaned against the railing, giving him the look that every teacher and professor had when questioning a belligerent student. When Akil’eas didn’t answer her, save to throw her back his own look, she continued. “Kalai is quite taken with Andy. It’s been quite a refreshing thing to see her come out of her shell.”
“It’s a vacation romance, nothing more.” Akil’eas felt his stomach clench and couldn’t stop himself from looking back.
“I don’t think so, Akil’eas. This is the first time I’ve seen her so on thorns and thistles around anyone, much less a male. She’s been very keen around him.” The smile she gave him was a bit galling, but he had to admit, he didn’t really know Kalai as well as Sakalbi and her spouses.
“He is… I’m sure he is a very nice young man, but as a fit consort for a soon to be Duchess? No, and I’ve yet to meet a human that is.” The thought of a human becoming the next Duke He’osforos was absurd. Sure there had been the occasional non-Shil Kho-liebhaberin or even the one Duke Aurar’ian He’osforos who was a Triki, but a human? “They’re far too individualistic and self centered to rise to the responsibilities of the Peerage.”
“That’s not exactly as large a sample size as you think it is, Leas. If you had Andy in your class, or on your crew, disregarding the fact that he’s human, what would your read on him be?”
Akil’eas locked his jaw and pursed his lips, defiantly. “I don’t know.”
“Come on, Leas, you’re better than me at reading people, and I’m damn good at it.” He hated how Sakalbi’s eyes flashed and her right ear would twitch when she thought she had the upper hand in an argument. He huffed a sigh and decided to play her little game, just to humor her enough so that she’d drop the subject.
“Dependable, fastidious and competent, judging by the state of his equipment and his boat. Self sacrificing, diligent, hard working, given what I’ve observed today. He’s got a temper, but it takes a bit to get there, and he’s carrying some pretty heavy emotional scars.” He’d not seen very much of Andy, but the old Sailing Master and Professor in him started to come out and assess the boy just as he would any of his students or junior sailors.
“That’s my read, too. Doesn’t sound so individualistic and self-centered to me. Blighted Nature, Leas, from what I’ve learned about him and his people, he broke with several of their traditions and customs to help us. He’s stuck his neck out far further for us than we would have for him and his people, for no other reason than to try and save his homeland. Were he an Erbian on Myr or even back home in Vaasconia, there’d be Groom-War over his hand.”
Akil’eas was a bit piqued about her statement, “What about your daughter? Kalai made no secret about little Sitry mooning after him, and her disapproval of their courtship.”
“She thinks she’s in love, and it very well might be that she is, but Kalai’s disapproval should tell you what it tells me, given your own rather astute assessment of the man.”
“HEY DOC! TAKE THE WHEEL, I GOTTA DRUM US IN!” Andy’s voice cut their conversation short as Akil’eas turned to look back around the drum. Andy waved him back as he slowed their approach to come in. “Take us to Dock 5, straight back and to port.”
“Straight back and to larboard, aye!” Akil’eas rattled off as he traded places with Andy at the helm.
Kalai heaved herself up to stand as Andy grabbed a large leather circle and ran forward to jump up on the bow. As Akil’eas piloted the boat into the harbor and made the turn, he saw a large crowd of humans gathered on the pier and the shore. As soon as they were in sight, he watched as Andy, standing tall, began to drum a beat and vocalize, projecting his voice over the water to those on shore. Akil’eas sputtered a bit in surprise as he guided the boat slowly towards the open mooring.
“That’s their call. His family’s song lets the people on shore know who he is and that he’s friendly.” Kalai looked back at Akil’eas before moving inside the cabin to stand next to her father. “All the families know it, but only he is allowed to sing it. It’s their version of a family crest and coat of arms. Elder Hwatcom taught us about those. There’ll be a reply in a second granting us permission to come ashore.”
There was indeed a response of drumming and singing from the assembly of humans as many started to crowd forward carrying what appeared to be coolers. Andy reappeared and took the controls back and reversed to kill their forward momentum as Sakalbi threw out their mooring lines to the waiting humans. Andy killed the engine and moved quickly out of the cabin to speak in a language that Akil’eas did not recognize. There seemed to be a bit of confusion from those gathered on the dock, but Andy opened the hatch to show the hold full of fish.
“Don’t thank me, thank them. Sockeye and Kings to all comers, courtesy of the Vaidas and the Vaida Warren!” Andy shouted happily in Vatikre as he pulled two giant fish out by their gills and handed them off to the applauding humans.
Sakalbi managed to shoot Akil’eas a smug look before she plunged her hands into the mass of fish and began helping Andy hand them out to the people.
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Possible Late Post Due to Vacation. I will try to post on time, but it may be as late as 6/12/23

submitted by Kazevenikov to Sexyspacebabes [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 23:56 Moncurs_rightboot Season Review 22/23

Wow wow wow wow wow. Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming. Ow ow ow ow ow, stop pinching me, OK, I'm obviously not dreaming.
We actually did it. We managed to get promoted through the playoffs. It's absolute madness. I had watched us compete in 6 playoffs, and who would have thought that 7th time is the charm!
Before I start you can read the 21/22 season review here from our season where we finished 6th and got dumped out the playoffs by Huddersfield.
You can also read the 22/23 season preview here where I predicted a very optimistic top 8 finish. No one could have predicted the season we were about to have. I'm not going to discuss promotion in depth, because it was only a week ago and probably won't sink in until the fixtures are released on June 15th.
In case you didn't know, this is what our away end looks like

Overview and Pre season thoughts

As mentioned above, I knew we would manage to keep the momentum going into this season. I just didn't expect us to gain this much momentum. Having finished 6th and on 75 points in the 21/22 season. Everything was kept steady in the off season, we recruited well, and only lost one significant player (discussed below). Throughout the off season though social media was awash with speculation that Luton Town would do a Barnsley (meaning losing in the playoffs and then battling relegation/getting relegated the following season, which Barnsley did in the 21/22 season), this was speculation was further fuelled by the signing of two of Barnsley's relegated front three (more on that later). However, one bright spark in the off season was the lads from the Second Tier Pod who went bold and predicted a solid season for Luton Town, with Ryan predicting 2nd and Justin predicting 3rd. These guys know ball. Nathan Jones was keen to kick on with the squad, and was 110% committed to the cause...

Who left, and who did we sign?

The most significant outgoing was that of Kal Naismith, who was the fans player of the season in 21/22. The manner in which he joined Bristol City left a sour taste in the mouth of the Hatters, with the club not knowing he had agreed terms, with the Welsh wannabes announcing him a whole 24 hours before Luton Town. Also the fact that he was chatting some boilerplate shite in his introduction interview, about being excited about getting to work with "the best manager in the league". A truly absurd statement that even Stevie Wonder could see was the dumbest thing that anyone could ever say in the history of mankind. Regardless, Hatters were annoyed and concerned, mostly because Kal was a good player, he made that LCB role his own, and was a vital cog in our 21/22 playoff machine, and scored a significant and wonderful goal against Bournemouth that pretty much kickstarted our playoff push after the long covid/midseason break - hey guys, remember covid?
Less significant outgoings on the pitch were Peter "I should be starting every game" Kioso (to Rotherham) and Danny Hylton (to Northampton). With Kioso leaving, we were losing depth in the defensive unit, whereas with Danny Hylton, we were losing part of the furniture at the Kenny. Sure Danny had never hit the heights of his League 2 bagsman days after his nasty injury in League 1, but he scored some vital goals in 21/22 - grabbed the point at Bristol City and sealed the win against Derby with a wonderful strike. Also his head of hair is one of the greatest come back stories in modern times.

We brought in some numbers in the off season, although as discussed on social media, these players seemed to be "for the future":

Alfie Doughty (undisclosed) - From Stoke, he hadn't hit the heights expected following his transfer from Charlton, having spent the season on loan at Cardiff in 21/22 (along with Cody Drameh - more on him later). Regardless he was one Nathan Jones was tracking for a long time.
Cauley Woodrow (undisclosed) - From relegated Barnsley, it was a little homecoming for Cauley having come through our academy and left us for Fulham as a fresh faced 16 year old.
Matt Macey (undisclosed) - From Hibernian, the former loanee raised eyebrows amongst the fan base. People said, well he's shit, and then others said, nah that was Stuart Moore, Matt Macey was the decent one. Spoiler alert - they are both shit.
Louie Watson (undisclosed compensation) - From Derby, we capitalised on the financial straits at Derby and came out with one of their prized academy assets. He was seen as one for the future.
Luke Freeman (free) - From Sheffield United, he was seen as a broken thing, with injuries having caught up with him during his time at Sheffield United, again one that Nathan Jones was very keen to work with, having played together at Yoevil.
Carlton Morris (fee in region of £1.5m) - From relegated Barnsley, we didn't know what to expect from him considering he was a striker that had never scored more than 10 goals in a season. Also he had just been relegated with Barnsley. However, he added much needed depth and support up top for Elijah. At this point we knew him as the player that scored that wonderful goal in our 2-1 victory over Barnsley in 21/22, where he skinned Naismith, and sat Osho down before dinking it over Shea.
Ethan Horvath (loan) - From Nottingham Forest, fresh from having won promotion through the playoffs with Forest last season, he was seen as a good keeper to have in the team, and he was desperate for first team football. Rumours were that there was an option to make the loan permanent. After last season where we went through 6 keepers, we needed consistency between the sticks.
Then we had some strictly developmental signings; Tobias Braney (who looks a proper player and has been bagging goals out on loan), Daniel Idiakhoa (who has since been released in the retained list), Jayden Luker (who remains under contract at the club), John McCatee (who was immediately loaned back out to Grimsby) and Aribim Pepple (who was loaned to Grimsby, but they sent him back, regardless, he's been good in our development squads).

How did we do?

I write this with a big smirk on my face. Because it still hasn't sunk in.
Like the 21/22 season, it was a season of two halves (and two managers), unlike last season whereby there was a covid break, this season we had a conveniently placed World Cup. I always thought Winter World Cups were the greatest idea, and certainly never ever criticised FIFA, The Qatar WC bidding buddies, or the countless executives that have become incredibly wealthy from the previous World Cup who effortlessly and repeatedly moved not only the goal posts but mountains in order to give us what we all wanted, the first World Cup in the Middle East - in the middle of fucking winter.
Anyway, I'm veering off topic. I'm not doing a monthly breakdown by the way, you can get that off wikipedia. I'm sure the 10 people who read this will be wildly disappointed.
We can break the season down in two ways - Luton under Nathan Jones and Luton under Rob Edwards. I'll do the stats after this overview.
Nathan Jones took us almost the whole way to the World Cup break, but he was just itching to move. Our start to the season was mediocre, we were struggling to win games. In fact we didn't win a game until our 5th game of the season against Swansea, with 2 draws and 2 losses to start the season, including the second worst performance of the season against Bristol City, leaving us 23rd in the table. After that we had a mini purple patch, completing the welsh double beating Cardiff and drawing with Sheffield United. Which took us up to 9th in the table. Before throwing the game away against Wigan "prompt wage payment" Athletic. Fortunately we then hit a 7 game unbeaten run, which shot us up to 4th in the table. Which took us into the match against them lot down the road. We were in great form, they were already on their second manager (more on that first manager in a bit), everything was aligned for us to go there and turn them over. But disaster struck, we were utter shit and lost 4 - 0. On the bright side it gave them a high point for the season. Post match, Nathan Jones had plenty of excuses, mentioning stomach bugs, he couldn't fill the bench etc, but the eventual reality was more concerning. We only picked up 1 win from the next 4 games, culminating in an abject display against his former side Stoke, where it all but confirmed that Jones would be leaving the club. This would take us to the end of Nathan Jones' tenure. Jones moved (amicably and with massive compensation) to Southampton - where he wouldn't stay for long, but reports surfaced after his move that Southampton had been in negotiations with him for 5 weeks prior. No surprise he didn't give a shit post match against Watford. Regardless, he moved in in better faith than when he did against Stoke, He left the club in 9th place, and paved the way for Mick Harford to coach for the last game before the World Cup break, a 1 - 1 draw against Rotherham. We entered the World Cup break in 10th place, and it gave us time to pick our manager properly.
Nathan Jones stats P20 - W7 - D8 - L5 - GF 22 - GA 21 - Pts 29 - WinP 35% - PpG 1.45 Mick Harford stats P1 - W0 - D1 - L0 - GF 1 - GA 1 - Pts 1 - WinP 0% - PpG 1.0
At the end of last season (I know this narrative has been done to death, but keep with me here). Watford appointed Rob Edwards from Forest Green Rovers, a young up and coming manager, to take over from Roy Hodgson, a legend who got Watford relegated at Selhurst Park, and then had the balls to clap the Crystal Palace fans (as his last season there was behind closed doors), whilst ignoring the Watford fans who had travelled to South London, because they were too far away. This is made even funnier due to the fact that he returned to Palace, and absolutely turned their season around. Anyway, Rob Edwards was the man to replace the Hodge. Scott Duxbury, Watford CEO stated "Rob will be backed through hell and high water". It turned out that translated to 10 league matches, of which he had only lost 2, this included beating Burnley, who would go on to leave the Championship quivering in their wake.
During the winter break, the Luton board were very impressed with Rob Edwards as a candidate, and made the bold decision to employ him. In addition to this our January window included the loss of James Bree, who moved to Southampton to join up with Nathan Jones and Harry Cornick to Bristol City, fair play to them, they signed our best striker. Cameron Jerome also left by mutual termination, as he wanted to move back up North to his family. We replaced Bree with Cody Drameh on loan from Leeds and replaced Cornick with Joe Taylor, an unproven striker who was yet to break into the first team at Peterborough. However, Big Mick swore by him, and has been tracking him for years. We also brought in Marvelous Nakamba on loan from Aston Villa (who would turn out to be the difference maker, more on him later). Although, the general consensus was that we were too threadbare at the back, and up top, as injury could expose our lack of depth.
But in Rob we trust, and we haven't looked back since. Since his appointment, we have only lost 3 matches in the league, one of which was his first game in charge, and even in that game we played sensational stuff for the first 35 minutes against Middlesbrough, ~~our eventual opponents in the playoff final.~~ After that loss we had a great Christmas period with 3 wins against QPR, Norwich and Huddersfield. Before a loss against WBA who were in phenomenal form. They managed to overturn a 2 nil deficit in the second half, and fair play to them. We then won another 3 in a row, drew 2 in a row before a hard to take defeat against Burnley, where the fair result would have been a draw. But then we didn't look back, finishing the season with a 14 game unbeaten run, which led us to our highest finish in the Football pyramid since, well, last season. Which was our highest finish in the football pyramid since the 1981/82 season where we also got promoted to the top tier. This was made all the more sweeter by getting some payback against Watford, sure it wasn't 4 - 0, but it was a significant moment for the fans and Rob Edwards, as that was when a lot of us felt, we would be making the playoffs. We eventually finished 3rd, thus making it 8 successive seasons where we have finished higher than the previous season.
To cap off a totally wizard season, we then had the playoffs, and the rest as they say, is history.
Rob Edwards stats P25 - W14 - D8 - L3 - GF 34 - GA 16 - Pts 50 - WinP 56% - PpG 2.0 *Excluding playoff results

Time for some RAPID STATS

Luton Town lost 18 points from winning positions under Nathan Jones
Luton Town lost 9 points from winning positions under Rob Edwards
James Bree still leads the team for chances created (60), he left in January. Next highest is Alfie Doughty with 54.
Luton Town had the second best away record in the league (41 points), only behind Burnley (47 points).
Carlton Morris is the first Luton player to score 20 or more goals in the second tier since Brian Stein (1981/82 season).
Luton Town were joint second in clean sheets with Coventry, our eventual playoff final opponents, with 20 apiece.
Luton Town had the second lowest xG conceded (44.6), behind Burnley 39.1. Meaning we didn't give away many chances to the opposition.

How did our players do?

As per my writer idol Mister PDW, these ratings were picked on a whim, don't shoot the messenger. This shows appearances (sub appearances), minutes played, goals, assists and WhoScored rating. I'm using a letter grade system for the squad, this is down to a whim and may contain some bias, take the ratings with a pinch of salt. Stats from WhoScored - League stats only (including playoffs). Sorted by most minutes played.
Ethan Horvath 47 appearances/4261 minutes 19 clean sheets - 6.48 B It was a steady enough season from the US Stopper. He did make some absolute howlers at some points during the season, but never went full 19/20 Sluga (look it up, his howlers were legendary). Although he finished with 19 clean sheets, a lot of his shortcomings were covered up by how the team defended as a whole, shown by our very low xG conceded. I appreciate his time at the club, but I wouldn't take him back here permanently.
Amari'i Bell 46(1) appearances/4167 minutes 1G/1A - 6.78 A+ Amari'i is quite literally the unsung hero of the playoff winning campaign. Having played at left wing back last season, and filling in for Alfie Doughty when he was unavailable this season. He played the majority of the season at left centre back, the position vacated by Kal Naismith. He was spectacular and offered so much more from that position than Kal did. He could carry the ball infield, he had the athleticism to make penetrating underlaps into the box and after all the stick he got from Blackburn fans, he can now stick two fingers up at them, and show off his medal.
Carlton Morris 44(3) appearances/3693 minutes 20G/7A - 7.21 A+ It was a slow start for Carlton as he bedded into the Luton lineup. He didn't make an impact until he scored his first goal of the season against Swansea, which was also our first win. But, after that goal he didn't look back. He also managed to kick on further under Rob Edwards. He is simply a player that has a bit of everything in his locker, able to score from 3 yards or 30 yards.
Tom Lockyer 42 appearances/3638 minutes 4G/1A - 7.13 A+ Considering Locks couldn't buy a game at the beginning of the season, having only come in to the squad for the Carabao Cup game against Newport, where we lost. Swansea was also a watershed moment for him, just like Carlton. This season Hatters saw the finest defensive displays courtesy of Locks, and absolute colossus at the back. It was very concerning when he collapsed during the playoff final. However, we have been told that he is absolutely fine, and will be ready for pre season. Hopefully meaning we will tie him down with a longer contract.
Elijah Adebayo 42(3) appearances/3523 minutes 8G/4A - 6.72 A Sure Elijah didn't hit the heights (goalwise) that he did last season. However, he formed a solid partnership up top with Morris. Fortunately it meant that the heavy burden didn't all sit on Elijah's shoulders. If anyone doubts what Elijah brings to the team, just watch his assist for Jordan Clark's goal in the playoff final. His run, his feet, his turning Kyle McFadzean inside out before his pass to find Clark, shows you what he brings to the team. Even playing a three at the back system, any defenders are going to have a shit day trying to stop Elijah and Carlton from executing their movement. Also, it was great to see him get a stab at the playoffs this season after cruelly missing out last season.
Jordan Clark 37(4) appearances/3390 minutes 3G/4A - 6.83 A This season, we all saw what Clicker was about, his movement, intelligence and passing were fully on display. It's remarkable that he was signed as a right winger and has been reboxed as an attacking midfielders, he brings the attributes and movement of a winger and takes it between the lines, making him nigh on impossible to pick up for the opposition. Having a similar trajectory to Luton, having been playing for Hyde against Luton in our final conference match. He deserves a shot at the Premier League, and his journey is also remarkable. Just like Luton making it from conference to Premier League in 9 seasons.
Allan Campbell 38(5) appearances/3273 minutes 3G/2A - 6.52 B+ I'm being incredibly tight with these scores. Sorry Wee Al. He had a good season, not as stellar as last season, but he brought the same attitude on the pitch, he runs and presses like he has 5 lungs. He also has an eye for goal from midfield with some spectacular hits, most importantly putting the cherry on top of the Watford game, and forever writing himself into Hatters folklore. Unfortunately, with Nakamba entering the fray in January, he was the unfortunate one to miss out on those two remaining midfield spots.
Alfie Doughty 28(3) appearances/2438 minutes 2G/5A - 7.14 A+ What a player we have on our hands with Alfie, he will seamlessly move up to the Premier League like he's easing himself into a nice warm bath. Pace, trickery and a delivery to match, he has been a joy to watch play this season. Fans were concerned about the speed at which he was being eased in at the start of the season, but I guess when you have had the injury record that Alfie has, it just makes sense. Also, that goal against QPR was just spectacular.
James Bree 27 appearances/2430 minutes 0G/4A - 6.99 A Football can be a cruel game, it can also be incredibly ironic, and that irony can be absolutely hilarious. James Bree was both promoted and relegated this season. He did well for the first half of the season, needing to fill in right centre back, which he did well, whilst also contributing many key passes to the Hatters cause. However, the simple fact is, when Osho came in to the right centre back role, we looked a lot better defensively, and that showed with our climb up the table. I'm still disgruntled about the fee being £750k, what with his contract expiring. But sometimes the grass isn't always greener, is it, James!? Well, at least he's getting a promotion medal.
Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu 27(6) appearances/2394 minutes 3G/1A - 6.62 A This man is a modern Luton Legend. He gets better every season, and he has been worth every penny of the £50,000 that John Still paid for him as a 19 year old back in the Conference. Did you know if plays one minute in the Premier League, he would be the first player in history to have played in the top 5 levels of the English Pyramid for one club? Of course you did, it's been all over the news. He deserves everything he gets, and I'm delighted the club have offered him new terms, Pelly deserves the world.
Gabe Osho 25(5) appearances/2273 minutes 3G/0A - 6.64 A The only reason this isn't an A+ is because of his first half of the season. He is the biggest beneficiary of Rob Edwards coming in at Luton. Under Nathan Jones he looked edgy and shit scared to make a mistake, however, under Edwards he was calmness personified with his big runs out of defence with the ball seemingly glued to his foot. He also scored some vital goals, the first against Watford, and then the goal against Sunderland in the away playoff leg to get us up and running. He is another that his currently being negotiated with for a new deal, and he deserves it.
Dan Potts 24(2) appearances/2020 minutes 1G/0A - 6.84 B Another player who has been on a spectacular journey with Luton after being signed by John Still in League 2. He started as a left back, but with our formation change over the last two seasons has been re-engineered as a left centre back, which in my opinion is a much better position for him. He doesn't give you the athleticism that Bell gives, but if a ball comes into the box, he will get his absolutely beautiful head onto that ball. He had solid performances this season, however, the emergence of Bell as well as a pesky back injury kept him out for a good chunk of the season. He also scored what turned out to be the winning penalty in the playoff final.
Marvelous Nakamba 19(1) appearances/1726 minutes 0G/0A - 6.93 A+ I remember saying on the Oak Road Hatter podcast when Marv came in, he was the difference between getting into the playoffs and not getting into the playoffs. How wrong I was. He was an instrumental cog in the machine that got us promoted. I hope Villa are sensible with their valuation for a player that they simply don't want, so we don't have to shoot our transfer load prematurely on a player that wants to be at Luton. Marv also stepped up in the playoff final shootout and cooly slotted away his pen, which was remarkable considering during games he would always pass the ball rather than shoot.
Cody Drameh 19 appearances/1581 minutes 0G/2A - 7.19 A We were all very nervous when Bree left, because were losing a solid option at right wing back. However, enter Cody Drameh. Another bitten by the cruel irony of football, with Leeds being relegated as he makes the step up to Premier League. However, Cody will be alright, with Luton attempting to re-sign him as well as Burnley having a go too, he's got a Premier League move lined up. As he started with Luton you could see he had not played a lot of football, but he found his feet very quickly.
Reece Burke 15(7) appearances/1417 minutes 2G/0A - 6.71 B+ At the start of the season, if you had asked me who our best centre back was, it would have been Reece Burke. However, he seemingly has hamstring issues that have prevented him from being a top defender. Remember Hull signed him for £2m as a highly rated 21 year old. Regardless, this season he has scored 2 sensational goals; the piledriver against Blackburn, and then the intricate passing play against Huddersfield where he was instrumental throughout the build up. It would have been a B, if it had not been for his display in the playoff final, where he came on much earlier than expected for Tom Lockyer. If we can stay injury free, we have a Premier League quality defender on our hands.
Sonny Bradley 14(5) appearances/1219 minutes 0G/0A - 6.56 B- Sonny is leaving Luton Town at the end of his contract, and he has been a stellar figure for Luton Town. We won promotion to the Championship in his first season at the club, he was key in stabilising the club in the Championship, before pushing on up the league, and eventually winning this second promotion. However, it is known the personal issues he has been experiencing off the field, with his father Ray passing, suffering from long covid and issues with his child's health. No matter who you are, if you are hit with that many gut punches, you will stay down. But Bradley didn't because he's a hard bastard. The cherry on this cake was, a disgusting aerial challenge from Yakou Meite, from which Bradley landed horrendously, and it looked like a season ending injury. But Bradley being the hard bastard he is, he recovered, and plugged gaps in our defence towards the end of the season. Regardless, Sonny was getting exposed by some of the better strikers in the league, Gyokeres and then Archer had a lot of luck running beyond him, but in all fairness, they are both exceptional players. I'm delighted he's leaving us on a high, as he deserves it, and I hope he stays in the Championship and gets a move that works for him.
Luke Freeman 10(16) appearances/988 minutes 2G/1A - 6.41 C+ I wasn't expecting Luke Freeman to pull up trees this season, we all know about his injury history that restricting his appearances at Sheffield United. He showed glimpses of what he could do, the goal against QPR was a highlight for me. However, a troublesome groin kept him out for the majority of the season. He does a good job of looking busy on the pitch, without he had a flurry of creating chances at the beginning of the season, but went off the boil fast as his groin caught up with him. The + is purely because he managed to bag some goals and an assist.
Cauley Woodrow 5(22) appearances/741 minutes 2G/1A - 6.35 C+ I was expecting a lot from Cauley this season. Certainly more rotation with the front two, who ended up playing a tonne of games, because Cauley was picking up niggling injuries, with the last one keeping him out of the playoffs completely, he couldn't get any momentum during the season. He offers something completely different to our attack and his special touches can be seen at times. Regarding Nathan Jones deciding to play him as a 10, no. Just no. He is not a 10. Look at the goal against Norwich, what a strike. I hope he stays fit next season, because he has unfinished business in the Premier League.
Harry Cornick 7(12) appearances/740 minutes 1G/3A - 6.31 C- After his barnstormer of 21/22 I thought maybe Harry would kick on, but unfortunately not. He has always been very streaky in front of goal, but his finishing looked to have gone up a notch. Regardless, he wasn't getting enough first team minutes here and Bristol City needed a striker. So they signed Harry. Allegedly he went for more money than James Bree, which is absolutely criminal, considering they both had 6 months remaining on their contracts. Regardless Bristol City got a good, honest, hard working lad, and I hope he has a good season next year. Fortunately we sold him for more than we bought him, which is a great return on investment.
Fred Onyedinma 6(13) appearances/696 minutes 0G/2A - 6.35 C There is most certainly a player in there. Unfortunately with Fred, he is such an athlete he is prone to many injures. When he sets off one on of his sprints you just worry that he's going to pull a hamstring. If he can get through an entire season without injuries he would be flying. Perhaps his best role is as an impact sub, because currently he is unable to string back to back 90 minutes together.
Luke Berry 4(19) appearances/695 minutes 3G/0A - 6.43 B We know that Luke Berry is now mostly an impact player, who will happily step into the starting lineup when required. He is yet another that has been on a fantastic journey with us from League 2, and for him it's even more impressive because like Clark and Pelly he has made it from Conference football too. He is a scorer of vital goals, his three vital goals this season were; the late levellers against Rotherham and Millwall, as well as the winer against Blackpool. Love Bezza.
Henri Lansbury 6(4) appearances/458 minutes 1G/0A - 6.65 B When required Henri did a job, however, it is clear to see that he has lost his legs and maybe his passion for football, considering he has a new passion, mowing lawns. Although, he will be remembered this season for his absolute shitpinger against Hull City. He's now leaving the club, I don't see him joining another team, I reckon he's going full time lawn lad now.
Cameron Jerome 0(21) appearances/333 minutes 1G/1A - 6.22 C+ Considering his extremely limited role purely as an impact sub, Cammy J was an exceptional professional. Unfortunately the distance between his family up north was too much, therefore we agreed to mutually terminate his agreement. Shame he missed out on promotion with Bolton. I feel he would have continued to be a great depth option for us in the second half of the season. His legs have most certainly not gone, he is still a supreme athlete at 36 years old.
Louie Watson 3(2) appearances/220 minutes 0G/0A - 6.51 B- Most definitely one for the future, but in his little flurry of starts around the time of Rob Edwards first games was a great indicator of the tidy passing he could bring. However, the signing of Nakamba pretty much put a ceiling on his minutes with the first team, also I think the Grimsby FA cup replay might have given Rob Edwards second thoughts about playing him, I don't know, I'm not part of the Luton coaching staff! He can still continue to develop, and I would like to see him get first team minutes next season in the Championship.
Joe Taylor 1(5) appearances/130 minutes 0G/0A - 6.02 B- Definitely the best beneficiary of Cornick and Jerome leaving in January and Cauley's injury issues, as it immediately propelled him to third choice striker. However, Edwards was very reluctant to chuck him on the pitch. He was highly spoken of by Mick Harford and Darren MacAnthony, I don't put stock in what DMac says (although he does have an eye for attacking talent), but Mick knows recruitment and had been tracking him for years prior to the move. Joe was unfortunate to have his strike ruled out in the playoff final, but he showed great big balls to step up and take the second penalty. I reckon a championship/league 1 loan is in the pipeline for next season.
Admiral Muskwe 1(1) appearances/105 minutes 0G/0A - 6.51 F I'm at a loss with Muskwe, considering he is more senior than Joe Taylor and was recalled from Fleetwood on the same day we signed Joe, why wasn't he anywhere near the squad? He's most definitely one that we will be looking to cut our losses on next season. He had one flurry of good form, prior to AFCON last season, and since then, he has not hit the heights expected. His loan spell at Fleetwood consisted of 14 games, 3 goals (2 of those being pens). I wouldn't expect to see him here next season.
Harry Isted 1 appearance/90 minutes - 5.78 D I like Harry, but his only match this season was the 2-0 loss against Stoke, sure the rest of the team didn't do him any favours, by letting Stoke score two unmarked strikes from two crosses that were allowed to be sent in. I feel the club have done him a disservice, he has obvious talent, reflexes and shot stopping ability, he has shown that at Barnsley, and against Chelsea last season in the FA Cup. However, we opted to bring in emergency loans instead of giving him a chance (I know it was risky considering in 21/22 we were going through keepers like Spinal Tap go through drummers). He's left the club now, and I hope he gets a chance with a Championship club, he could do it.
James Shea 1 appearance/90 minutes - 6.54 C Shea got a chance with the final game of the season against Hull and managed to keep a clean sheet. He did really well to come back from an awful injury. However, I do not see him being first choice next season. Potentially second or third choice depending on how good Jack Walton is...
Elliot Thorpe 0(3) appearances/68 minutes - 6.19 C His season got off to a shit start, being loaned to Burton and not played. However, I don't know what we do with Elliot Thorpe, he was brought in with high expectations from Tottenham, he dropped down so he could stand a better chance of playing first team football, and he's ended up getting shunted out to the right wing back position. He look great in his cameo against Hull, but I thought we were getting a box to box midfielder. We've triggered an extension in his contract, I don't know if that means we are looking to get a fee by selling him, or whether we want to keep him about for further development.
Joe Johnson 0(2) appearances/38 minutes - 6.28 B I'm very excited about JJ, he's 17 and managed to not only break onto the bench, but get some vital first team minutes, with his first minutes coming in a high pressure game against ~~eventual playoff winners~~ Middlesbrough. Lots more to see of him, and possibly the start of the academy assembly line roaring back into gear.

What next?

One thing that is guaranteed is that we will be finishing higher than we did this season, Even if we finish 20th. You know what, I'm sure we are going to give it a good go. I don't think we will try and sign proven Premier League talent, but we are more likely to hoover up some of the hot talent in the Championship and League 1/League 2 for further development.
I expect quite a big clearout with lots of the players who haven't gotten near our squad to be moved on; Glen Rea is all but gone (well done to him for recovering from his horrendous injury too), Aribim Pepple needs a loan and Dion Pereira, who Bradford were begging to rejoin has barely played this season. Carlos Mendes Gomes is one I would like to see around the first team squad next season. Lots of headaches for Rob Edwards, Richie Kyle and Paul Trollope.
Exiting news to look forward to, the renovations are under way at the Kenny to welcome Premier League cameras and media teams, and ground will be broken at Power Court on 19th December 2023. These are amazing times to be a Hatter.
Bold early early early pre pre season prediction. Luton Town are finishing 17th next season!
I hope you enjoyed reading this.

COYH

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2023.06.03 23:47 OneBoredMan02 Time to be a Hero Volume 24

Serious Issues - Time to be a Hero - Volume 24
Sunday 24th June 2017
WARNING: THIS VOLUME CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE!
It's been ten days since Natsuki got kidnapped and held hostage by the recently arrived agents from Coomer. We beat them and promptly moved base to this little cabin like structure just at the outskirts of town, it's run down in places but it's nothing we can't fix up! Since last week nobody has reported any sightings of any Coomer agents which is expected, but I know it's just part of how they work. They look for a trial and follow it, until they find you. But when they do, they don't attack, they hang back for awhile and watch, waiting for a moment to take you by surprise. Stalking you. Assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Waiting for an opportunity. When they do make their move, they are quick. They are precise. They are calculating. They do not make mistakes. They do not get cocky. They do not let up for a second. That's why we all need to be on high alert and wide eyed. Hell, normal patrol is more dangerous now than ever! We just need to get permission and recognition from everybody else if we want to patrol for the night! Thankfully we came up with a secret code for the group chat, just in case that anybody that hacks into our group chat will not recognise what we are talking about right away. Basically we use emojis to let the others know about certain things, it's a code and it confuses me at the best of times. But Sayori did put this together on a whim so we should be just that little bit safer now. Right now I'm sitting in my apartment watching tv as I wait for Monika to come back from visiting her parents. She asked me if I wanted to come along but I declined her offer, I just want to rest a little bit from working hard to make the base for us. I had Sayori on my back telling me the various things she wanted, it was like her telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas! It was a ridiculous amount of things I had to make and it really took the wind out of my sails! So here I am, just relaxing I guess... I look at the tv show I was watching, it's some random programme about a teacher making drugs or something? I don't know about it, it's kinda funny I suppose, yet I can't really sit down and just enjoy it. In the back of my mind, I'm worried sick about Monika! She's been away for an hour now and I feel like it's been far too long for her to be out and not at least send me a text or whatever! But I shouldn't think too much of this, I'm just stressed out of my mind and very tired. I rub my eyes as I try to return back to the programme, but I just can't. Now that I've acknowledged the worry I can't get it out of my head! Fuck it! I toss away the remote and grab my phone, I'll just give her a text. Ask her how she's getting on with her parents. I shoot Monika a text in our chat reading:
'hey honey! just checking up on u and ur parents, how is it all going??' I set down my phone and wait for a reply...
one minute passes...
She still hasn't seen my text! Argh! Botan, give her time to pull out the phone and have a look at her notifications! She's with her parents for goodness sake, she can't just focus on me all the time! I need to settle down more! Maybe if I do some chores? I stand up and look around the apartment? What could I do? Maybe give the carpet a vacuum? Yeah! I head over to the closet, pull out the vacuum and bring it over to the centre of the living room. I turn it on and start the routine of clearing up the floor. I move the couch and get under it as I make my way around the room. Reaching into little corners and below the tv stand as I make sure everything's clean! I smile as I turn the vacuum off and see that the carpet is now much cleaner! I smile as I put the vacuum back into the closet. I then head back over to the couch and pick up my phone, Monika still hasn't seen my message? I'm getting concerned now, it's been unread for seven minutes, maybe I should phone her?? I go to select the call option but I stop myself, I am just....overreacting. Give her time. Maybe she left her phone in another room? She's at her parents' house after all? Or maybe she still hasn't gotten a chance to? Right, well what now?
…
Guess some dinner wouldn't hurt? I walk into the kitchen and have a look around the fridge for something to eat? Hmmm, maybe Monika would like something for when she gets back? I grab my phone and give her another text. 'would u like something 4 dinner?' I put my phone back into my pocket as I have another look. Guess I'll have some pizza with some chips! I take out a bag of frozen chips and a pepperoni and cheese pizza, setting them both onto the kitchen counter. I grab a tray for both pizza and fries and set them both out. I head over to the cooker and pre-heat the oven as I give it a minute or so. I then put my chips in first, followed by the pizza and close the oven door. Time to let them cook! I head back over to the living room and sit down. Got to give them time to cook, so what now? I look at the time, it's just coming up to eight? Hmmm, Monika did say she'll be back at around eight so....where is she? Botan! Stop it! I slap myself in the face! I really need to get a grip of myself! Maybe I can destress with a nice bath? Yeah, that will help! I walk into the kitchen and set a timer on the electronic clock for my food to be taken out. I then head into the bathroom and start running the bath. After a few minutes the bath is filled up and has plenty of bubbles going as I take off my clothes, here we go! I step in as the warm water quickly makes me jump in surprise at the heat! I then quickly get in as I relax. Oh yeah, this is much better! I smile, it's almost like I wasn't panicking about my girlfriend potentially going missing when she's out right now! ….urgh! I cover my face in water and take a deep breath. I just need to calm down. That's all. Monika can handle herself. The worse thing that could happen is that she gets killed and I never see her again...rgh! That temper I have, I almost forgot! Jeez, no more thoughts like that! Jesus, why did I even think of that?? Am I really wanting to push myself to burst out there and go looking for her? She's fine! As soon as I think that I hear my phone vibrate in the pocket of my shorts! Oh! That's probably her! I reach over to my towel, drying my hands before grabbing my phone. I take look at the message I just got, it's from Yuri?
Y: 'Hi Botan, I know this may seem a little short notice but can you please come down to the shop? I require your assistance with something' …sigh, fuck off man! I shake my head and chuck my phone away! Fucking Yuri! Why does she have to ask me of all people?! Why not her fucking boy toy?! sigh...calm down man. I'm losing it. Having no Monika around is really bad for me. She's the only thing keeping me from floating away from reason. With Coomer now here too, I guess it's all starting to pile up somewhat? Sigh...right. I pick my phone back up and send Yuri a text.
B: 'kk Yuri, give me 5 mins' I sigh as I sit up, so much for this bath? I quickly get out and dry myself off with a towel. I then walk out of the bathroom after pulling the plug on the bath, my phone vibrates again? I check it, another message from Yuri.
Y: 'thank you very much, please bring your best suit too!' ...oh right! I quickly dry off my hair and get in costume before running to the window-wait! I check on the timer in the kitchen, there's still around fifteen minutes to go? I turn the heat down to the minimum and make the adjust on the time, I just to be sure I don't want to burn down my new home. Monika would kill me. I leap out of the window into the dying light of the day! Okay, to the store! I don't know what's going on with Yuri but she might need my help! Although her texts were quite casual there? No matter! I swing into the air and land on a roof as I see the shop in the distance! Right, be ready for anything! I jump across a gap and leap off of a roof to see Yuri in front of the store? She looks....glum? I land not too far away from her as she looks at me, she doesn't look happy that's for sure? "Thanks for coming Sparrow." She's using my hero name?
B: "Of course citizen? What do you need?" I walk up to her as she looks around herself?
Y: "Uhm, well... there's a person in the store who's...well..." Yuri looks into the store and shivers? "I don't think he's mentally well at all..."
B: "What do you mean?" I look into the store as I spot a man? He's throwing things about in a crazed like fashion?
Y: "I would deal with this myself but..." Yuri whispers as she eyes one of the numerous cameras in the store. "I can't really run off and just come back you know?"
B: "I understand, well what do you think is wrong with him?" She shrugs?
Y: "He came in normal at first, he smiled and even said hello. Next thing I knew he started screaming all of sudden?" We look at the man as he climbs on top of the counter? "I've never seen anything like this before?"
B: "Calm down Yuri, I'll take care of it...did you call for police and an ambulance? This might be a drug related issue."
Y: "I have Sparrow don't worry. All the doors are locked so it will only be you and him in there. Just try not to make too much of a mess please?"
B: "Got it." I walk into the store slowly as most of the lights are off? I look back at Yuri who only locks the front door behind me and gives me an encouraging smile. I think she's a little scared to be in this type of situation. After all...it is very dark, and I'm not too fond of this situation already. I grab a torch from my pouch and get moving, the store just frozen in silence it seems? Okay, come on Botan. You got this. You've dealt with much worse things than just a potential drugged up man. This should be a piece of cake...hopefully? "Hello??" I call out rather nervously, but the silence I get in return just makes my spine shudder. "I'm here to help, please make yourself known!"
…
?: "YAH!!" A sudden scream comes from my left as I see the man on all fours quickly moving about between the stalls?! What the hell has gotten into him?! I look around before getting the good idea of zipping myself up to the roof to get a birds eye view of the whole store. I do just that and shine my torch downwards, quickly spotting the man huddled over some flowers as he eats them?? Jeez, this man's not right at all! He looks at me with a crazed look before slowly turning. "Ah! baga to yos!" He stares at me as he talks gibberish. "Joka in plot bin!" I just feel sorry as he stares at me, he needs serious help. "Ah! Yoga bob!" He picks up a candle and throws it at me! I'm able to get out the way but it lands me back onto the store floor and out of sight of the man. I can hear him moving about as I try to keep quiet, I need to get the jump on him. I don't want to hurt him of course, this could be some sort of episode he's suffering from? I spawn in some sleeping gas as I look around for him, just going to put to him to sleep so that I can start to look him over. This must be some- "Yawh!" The man jumps on my back as I stagger for a second! He hits me or rather slaps me in the head a few times before I grab his arm and throw him off of me! I'm not too hard as I only pull him off and get in front of me as he tries to scramble to his feet, but sadly for him I'm too quick as I hook his head and apply the gas to his mouth and nose. The man struggles at first but starts to slow down as he eyes close and then he's out. I set him down into the recovery position as I look at him. Poor guy, what was the cause of this? I look at his face as...hold on? I know this guy? That's....Nick! The guy who I saved on my first night here! What's he doing back here?! Nick looks a little worse for ware, his beard is a lot longer as is his hair. He looks like a wild man if anything. His clothes are rather nice though? I get a closer look at him as he breaths gently. I told him not to come back! Or...did he choose to come back? Maybe he was found by some of the big mans' guys? I look at Nick for any sign of some drug use, he couldn't have a mental condition like that? Soon I find two needle marks in both his neck and right arm? Two marks? Hmm, why did he get injected twice? What is this stuff? I take a capsule and a blood sample for later. Sayori and Yuri can take a look at that. If the drug runs in the blood then that will be where our answers lie. The room then gets lit up in blues and reds as the police arrive first! I pick up Nick and carry him to the door as Yuri sees me coming. She unlocks the door as she looks at me.
Y: "Thank you Sparrow! What was wrong with him?"
B: "Drug." I say to her and she subtly nods. The police come over and start talking to Yuri as the ambulance arrives shortly after. I give them the run down of Nicks' actions as well as another sample of blood for them to test, the authorities could do with a heads up about what this drug actually is. Nick gets carted away as things get rapped up rather quickly as the ambulance goes off to take Nick to hospital and the police leave after they take our statements and have a general look around. Soon it's only me and Yuri again, she looks at me.
Y: "Thank you again with your help Botan, I just didn't really know what to do...that was so sudden."
B: "Don't mention it...here..." I hand her the sample as she looks at it.
Y: "Is that from the man?" She asks wearing a serious expression.
B: "Yeah, you and Sayori can look it over. You two are the brains after all..."
Y: "Very well then..." She pockets it as she looks at me again. "What's wrong? You look...rather sombre?"
B: "I knew that guy...Nick."
Y: "Were you friends or...?"
B: "Well, do you remember my first night in town?" Yuri thinks before she puts the pieces together.
Y: "Was that the man you helped?"
B: "It was. I told him to leave Yuri, and never come back. But..."
Y: "Did you think he was brought back here against his will?"
B: "He had two clear injection marks Yuri, one on his arm and another on his neck."
Y: "Hmmm...maybe he was jumped with that drug and let loose....like a guinea pig?"
B: "Maybe...or perhaps this was a message?"
Y: "What do you mean?"
B: "...the big man knows a lot Yuri, a whole lot more than we think he does." Yuri swallows as I sigh. "I need to get going, I have somewhere to be."
Y: "Oh okay, have a nice night! Thank you again!"
B: "Of course, see you later!" I swing away back home as I'm left feeling rather down. Poor Nick, I didn't wish to see him again but...to see him reduced to that? Is just sad... I arrive back home as I quickly head into the kitchen. I hope the food wasn't burnt! I check the food and see that it's...okay? It's fine I guess? I pull it out and look at it... you know what? I think that-
Knock! Knock!
There's two quick knocks at the door and then shortly a giggle?
M: "Guess who's back~" ….oh fuck! I throw the food into the bin quickly and spawn in some replacement food as Monika comes into the kitchen! "Hey honey, why are you in gear?"
B: "Oh? I was just helping Yuri is all!" She nods as she looks at the food.
M: "Awww, you really made some dinner for us~?" I just nod as I take off my mask.
B: "I guess..." Monika smiles as she sniffs the air?
M: "hmm? Funny?" She then checks the bin... "....ohoho! Did it not go right the first time?"
B: "Uhhhh...no comment?"
M: "ehehe! It's fine Botan! Don't worry about it!" She sits down as she rubs her head. "aww, what a day. What did Yuri want with you?" Monika looks a little....jealous? Is it? I can't really tell. "I'm not jealous Botan." ...oh...
B: "Sorry! I just...it's been a pretty rough night." I sit beside her as she rubs my back.
M: "How'd you mean? You look pretty upset?"
B: "I just...I went to the shop because a man was...well for a lack for a better word, crazy." Monika nods for me to continue. "Yuri didn't want to run off to get changed so she called upon me."
M: "Why you?" Monika asks rather sternly?
B: "I don't know? Maybe she thought I was best suited to deal with this? I went in there and well..."
M: "Well?"
B: "It's...it was the guy who I helped on my first night. He was drugged Monika. Probably dragged back here in this mess, taken away from the chance I gave him! I just...don't think that's fair at all..." Monika nods slowly.
M: "Well...was he okay or...?"
B: "He was crazy. Acting like a wild man. A primate. He was eating flowers Monika!" Monika sighs.
M: "Poor guy...what was his name?"
B: "Nick."
M: "Sigh...well? Did you get a sample of his blood or something else?"
B: "I did, it's just...I thought I really helped him Monika. I thought I gave him a way out but...it wasn't enough..." Monika rests her head against my shoulder.
M: "You tried Botan. You tried, and that's good enough for me."
B: "It's not good enough for me though. Nick deserved a life! He didn't deserve that! To be someone's guinea pig!"
M: "Just relax darling...just...it's okay..." I sigh as Monika smiles sadly. "Hey? How about we go lie down and eat this food okay? Let's just snuggle together while eating pizza huh?" She smiles as I nod.
B: "Okay..."
M: "Good boy..." She helps me up and takes the pizza as we go through to the other room to rest.
- Yuri's perspective -
Look at this mess! Was it too much for me to ask Botan to at least help me tidy this up? Sigh...I'm going to be here forever! As I'm sweeping the floor the lights suddenly come back on?
Y: "Huh?" I look at the lights as someone enters the store? "Hello?" …
A: "Boo!" I jump as I see Alex behind me?!
Y: "What?!"
S: "ehehe!" I see Sayori also come skipping in as I relax.
Y: "oh, guys don't do that!"
A: "Sorry Yuri! It was too good to let this pass! What's going on by the way? Why was the place dark, and why is it a mess?"
S: "Are you okay Yuri?"
Y: "I'm fine, it's just...well a man came in with some sort of drug in him." I show Sayori the sample Botan gave me.
S: "Huh? Is this his blood?"
Y: "Yes." Sayori takes it and has a look.
S: "hmmm, if it's a drug I'll find out what drug it is!"
Y: "Thank you."
A: "Did you hurt yourself at all?"
Y: "No I'm fine! I just got Botan to help me is all!"
A: "...I see?"
Y: "I didn't want to disturb your night out guys, after all...I know you two really want to build bridges again after that whole duplicate incident."
S: "Yeah, we're getting better. Slowly but getting there!"
A: "Yeah! Just a few more nights out and we're golden!"
Y: "Just don't try anything together..."
S: "ohoho! I wouldn't worry about it Yuri! I'm not about to steal your man away from you~"
Y: "What?! No! We're just friends!"
A: "Sayori, really??"
S: "Man you two are just hopeless...ah well! You want our help Yuri?"
A: "Yeah! We can help tidy up!"
Y: "That would be grand, thank you!" Alex heads off as does Sayori as I continue sweeping. The three of us focus on cleaning up for awhile as the shop looks a little better! A few minutes have passed and we've managed to pick up most of the destroyed products as well as mop up the floor. Sayori is busy re-arranging the flower display as I finish up collecting the rest of the ruined flowers. I smile as I dump the rest of them into the bin and turn around to see Alex moving a few boxes. I glance over to Sayori, she seems to have this faraway look in her eye? She seems sad? uuu, I want to say something to her but I don't want to say the wrong thing! I walk up to Alex as he looks at me.
A: "Hey Yuri, what's up?"
Y: "Um, it might be just me but.... have you noticed Sayori has been quiet for the past ten minutes or so?" We glance at her as she's smiling while looking at a few flowers.
A: "Well... yeah. I didn't want to say this in front of her but, tonight was one of her quiet nights." I look at him as Alex looks generally worried. "She was... you know?" I nod.
Y: "I see... her rainclouds must of came in again..."
A: "Yeah... I didn't want to provoke her in some way so I just let her be."
Y: "That's probably the right move, she might just be having one of her down days..." We look on in silence as Sayori suddenly turns around and smiles at us.
S: "Okay! I'm done here, what about you guys? Is there anything else to do??"
A: "Uh...Yuri?" I look around... everything seems to be in order? If not, I'll just sort it out for tomorrow.
Y: "It's fine! I think we've done everything we could! Thank you for your help guys~"
A: "Of course!"
S: "You're welcome!" Sayori smiles as she skips to the front door. "I'm going to go ahead a little early if that's okay, I'm rather tired..."
A: "Are you sure? We should go together, that way Coomer can't pick you off Sayori."
S: "It's okay! I'll get the bus! Thanks for your concern~"
A: "...right."
Y: "Well if you're sure, then goodnight Sayori~"
S: "Goodnight guys!" Sayori leaves and skips down the street.
A: "Well... we should think about leaving too."
Y: "Yeah... let me get my bag."
A: "Sure!" I head into the office to grab my things, only to notice the face in the corner of my eye! I turn to see nothing...uh? I could've sworn there was a face peaking into the shop? It might just be me, I've been very paranoid lately... Well, I'm sure it was nothing to worry about...
S: "sigh... so they both noticed me... I'm so fucking worthless..."

submitted by OneBoredMan02 to DDLC [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 22:36 cleanmanclane John Deere 750 3 point hitch

The ball on the left arm of the 3 point hitch on this John Deere fell off. Is this fixable with a new piece or do I need to replace the whole arm?

submitted by cleanmanclane to tractors [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 20:26 club32 Club car rear bumper crack

My dad just test drove a nice 2018 club car prec. Asking price is $6.7k
I don’t mind paying the price but it should be near perfect imo.
It was a fleet cart, not a problem Batteries were refurbished, could be an issue Nice seat replacement front and back Nice light package Nice new ss wheels/rims
My concerns after driving are…
Dog ass slow. Top speed 15mp Up a steep hill 9mph (granted two big dudes in front seat)
The other issue is that the rear bumper has a crack in it. About 4 inches in the corner. Not dented just cracked and pushed in a bit.
I’d like to fix the bumper and maybe replace but replacing looks like a $500-800 cost, just for the part. Also a pita to replace with taking back seat off and pealing old bumper off for replacing
So, we negotiated down to $6.4. But this cracked bumper needs to be factored in.
How much more should the price be adjusted because of this?
I’m telling my dad to ofer $5.7k and walk away.

submitted by club32 to golfcarts [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 19:51 Party_Theme_7412 Irrelevance: Michaels brand

Anyone remember about 5 years ago Michaels was bragging that the company had so much positive brand recognition that they were the #20 ranked company in the USA?
Today they have disappeared and aren't even in the top 100 as of the new 2023 index (which is re-ranked from positive to negative impression). Hobby Lobby is the only top 100 brand in craft retailers and they're ranked #68. The #1 company is Patagonia, followed by Costco, John Deere, Trader Joe's, and Chick-fil-A.
Michaels has alienated so many customers (and former employees who would never return as a customer after working there) that they are disappearing entirely, despite the fact that they have added at least a hundred stores over the same time frame. Customers are forgetting that Michaels even exists faster than they can add new (unprofitable) small format stores that so far are universally hated by the customers who all want more choices not less. For decades when American customers thought Arts and Crafts they thought of Michaels. No more - now they think of Hobby Lobby as their FIRST CHOICE. (Hmm... Hobby Lobby promises "super prices and super selection"... The two areas Michaels is arguably destroying almost as fast as the employee experience)
The failure of Michaels falling behind Hobby Lobby is that in order to survive they have to become superior to them. Michaels arts and crafts core businesses were better in the past (remember that HL was mostly home decor, furniture, fabric and floral stems). But now that they're laser focused on moving to 100% Walmart/Kmart quality store brands in every product category, higher prices, terrible in stocks and zero service (no TM hours/self checkout only hours) they are becoming the gift that keeps on giving for Hobby Lobby. Even people who had moral objections to HL are obviously switching to shopping there because Michaels no longer has the selection, price, service or quality they expected.
The leadership of this company is leading it to the corporate graveyard. No Arts and Crafts retail experience amongst the overpaid leadership team. Horrific financial management. Buyers and merchandisers who continue to double down on a failed strategy change that is over 5 years old now (to replace the existing customers and embrace "makers" who own small Etsy type businesses - the folks who all know too much to shop at a Michaels). Nobody knows what Michaels means anymore, nobody knows or wants what they sell, and nobody wants to work there (except at the Vice President or above level where apparently no skill, experience, or success is required).

submitted by Party_Theme_7412 to MichaelsEmployees [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 18:15 420MacMan [USA-CA][H] PS1+2+3+4+Vita, XBox OG+360+One, Gamecube, N64, SNES, Wii, Switch, DS, 3DS, Manuals/Covers/Cases [W] Paypal

Have a few items i'm trying to clear out all in great condition, noted if games are loose or CIB. Open to Offers on bigger bundles for some discounts.
Shipping starts at $5.00 with Free Shipping on Bundles over $75 with Pics upon request.

PS4

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir Storybook Edition SEALED $140
Metro Redux CIB $15
Rise of the Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary Extras Only No Game $10
COD : Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition CIB $10
Plants vs Zombies 2 : Garden Warfare $10
Has Been Heroes CIB $10
The Division $5
Deus Ex MD $10

XBox One

One Lords of the Fallen $10
Phantom Black Controller CIB USED $30 (Controller is 7/10 cosmetic wise with bottom back bumpers having heavy scuffs & 9/10 overall function wise)

PS Vita

Toukiden: Kiwami $35
The Walking Dead: Season 2 $30
Hot Shots Golf World Invitational $30
Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel 1 $60
Dynasty Warriors Next $25
Stranger Of Sword City $30
Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space $30
Ragnarok Odyssey Ace $45
Shantae Half-Genie Hero [Risky Beats Edition] $60
UnEpic SEALED $130
Risk Of Rain SEALED $45
Aqua Kitty SEALED $60
Grand Kingdom Case $10
Toukiden : Kiwami Case $15
Reverie $40
Sir Eatsalot $50

3DS

Legend Of Legacy Launch Edition SEALED $65
Crush 3D Loose in 3DS Case $10
Cubic Ninja Loose in 3DS Case $10
Codename S.T.E.A.M $5
Warioware D.I.Y Loose in 3DS Case $30
Smash Bros 3DS CIB $17
Steel Diver CIB $8
Rodea the Sky Soldier Launch Edition CIB $30
OEM Charging Base for original 3DS $20

PS1

Fighter Maker Loose $10
FF Tactics GH CIB $30
FF9 CIB (Case damaged) $15
Crash Bandicoot 2 Loose in Twisted Metal GH Case $15
Sim City 2000 Game+Case (damaged) $10
Oddworld Abes Oddysee CIB $20

DS

Intec DS Case $10
Score 6x Game Cartridge Case $10
Bleach Blade Of Fate Loose $15
Advance Wars 2 Days of Ruin Loose $30

N64

N64 Console with hookups and 1x OEM Grey Controller (Controller is in good condition 8/10 and analog stick is 8/10, console was painted with black acrylic spray paint from previous owner and cartridge slot has been modded to play Japanese N64 carts so doesn't include the slot flaps) $70 shipped - https://imgur.com/a/d83hiHu
007 GoldenEye Loose $35
Beetle Adventure Racing Loose $20
Snowboard Kids 1 Loose $50
007 The World is Not Enough $20
Quake 2 $20
Rush 2049 (damaged label) $40
Armorines Project SWARM $15
Pokemon Puzzle League $30
WCW vs NWO Revenge $15

PS3 $6 Each unless Noted

Final Fantasy X/X2 Remaster Limited Edition CIB $15
NiNoKuni 1 Steelbook CIB $30
Tales Of Symphonia Chronicles CIB $20
Zone Of The Enders HD Collection CIB $15
Yakuza 3 Loose $15
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Loose $15
Genji Days Of The Blade $20
Genji Days Of The Blade Loose $10
South Park : The Stick of Truth SEALED $10
Need for Speed Most Wanted CIB $10
Infamous
Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty Ghost
Need for Speed Pro Street
Call of Duty Modern Warfare
Red Faction Guerilla x2
Battlefield 3
MoH Warfighter LE Loose
Darksiders
Darksiders 2
Crysis 2
Deus Ex HR
Call of Duty 2 Steelbook
Mercenaries 2 in Generic Case
Warhawk
Call of Duty MW3 x2
Assassins Creed 4 BF
Beyond Steelbook Bad shape broken at spine
Uncharted Dual Pack in Custom generic case

PS2 $6 Each Unless Noted

Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec $10
Soul Caliber 2 CIB $15
ATV Offroad Fury 4 $10
MDK 2 Armageddon Loose $10
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 $10
The Getaway $10
Samurai Showdown Anthology $30
007 Agent Under Fire Loose $10
Test Drive GH $10
FIFA 2001 CIB $10
Star Wars The Force Unleashed CIB
Army Men Soldiers of Misfortune
Welcome to Jumpack Demo Disc
Metal Arms in Generic Case
MX vs ATX
Army Men
Rocky
NCAA Football 2004
Army Men : Sarges Hero
Full Spectrum Warrior
FIFA 2001 MLS
NCAA Football 2003
NCAA Football 2004
Eye Toy Antigrav with Eye Camera $20
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
Wheel of Fortune
Motorcross Mania 3
Seaworld Deep Sea Adventures
Socom US Navy Seal
Red Faction Case $5
Final Fantasy X-2
ThrillVille
Call of Duty 2 The Big Red One in generic Case

Snes Games

Mortal Kombat 2 (label is damaged) $10

XB360 $7 Each unless Noted

Zone Of The Enders HD Collection Limited Edition SEALED $60
The Evil Within
BF3 Limited Edition
Kinect Adventures
Motionsports
Call of Duty Ghosts
3rd Party Controller $10
Darksiders 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance in Gamestop Case $10
OEM Black Controller with Battery Pack $20

OG Xbox $7 Each unless Noted

Fable The Lost Chapters PH $15
TRON 2.0 Killer App $15
Testdrive
Call of Duty 2 $10
Need for Speed Underground $10
Midnight Club 3 Case with Burnout 3 Disc
Wreckless
Unreal Championship 1
Mace Griffon
Cabelas Deer Hunt 2005
Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball
Chase : Hollywood Stunt Driver
Star Wars : Obi-Wan CIB $10

Gamecube

GB Player OEM Case Holder *Missing outer cardboard and Manual $25
NFL2k3 CIB $8
Monopoly Party+Manual in Blockbuster Case $10
Star Wars Rogue Leader+Manual in DVD Case $15
Spiderman 2 Player's Choice (Missing Manual) $15
Megaman Anniversary Collection (Missing Manual) $20
MC Groovez Dance Craze$10
Fifa Soccer 2002 $10
Spiderman 1 Case $5
007 NightFire Case with Fantastic Four Games $5

Switch

TechKen Switch Pro Wireless Controller Purple $20
Ys VIII Lacrimosa Of DANA (PAL Version) CIB $40

Wii

Nights Journey of Dreams in Gamestop Case & Manual $10
Generic Dual Wiimote Charging Dock $10

Covers, Cases and Manuals

8x Universal Game Cases (N64,SNES,Genesis,etc) $8 Each
3DS Persona Q : Shadow of the Labyrinth Case $15
Wii Dragon Quest Swords Manual $7
Wii Monster Hunter 3 Manual $5
Wii Elebits Manual $5
GC Ghost Recon Case & Manual $7
GC True Crime Streets of LA Case & Manual $10
GC Spiderman 1 Case Only $7
GC Dead to Rights Case & Manual $10
GC Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow Case & Manual $10
GC Hitman 2 Case & Manual $10
GC MoH Frontline Case & Manual $7
GC Rainbow Six 3 Case & Manual $7
PS2 Call of Duty FH Case & Manual $7
GC NFL 2K3 Case $5
GC Turok Evolution Case & Manual $5
PS4 Nioh Case $5
PS Vita Exist Archive Case $5
PS3 Zone of Enders HD Collection Case & Manual $10
PS2 Dragon Quest 8 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Onimusha 2 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Tekken 5 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Kingdom Hearts 1 GH Case & Manual $10
PS2 Kingdom Hearts 2 GH Case & Manual $10
PS2 Area 51 Case PAL version $5
GC NBA 2K2 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Final Fantasy X-2 Case $ Manual $10
PS2 Starwars Battlefront Case & Manual $10
GC Prince of Persia Cover & Manual $10
GC Viewtiful Joe 1 Manual $20
PS2 Katamari Damacy Cover & Manual $10
GC Burnout 3 Takedown $5
PS2 Nightmare before Christmas Oogies Revenge Cover & Manual $15
PS2 GTA San Andreas Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Capcom Classic Collection Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution Manual $5
PS2 Megaman X Collection Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Star Ocean Till the End of Time Cover & Manual $10
PS2 R-Type Final Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Soul Caliber 2 Cover $7
XB Panzer Dragoon Orta Cover & Manual $30
XB Ninja Gaiden Black Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Mad Maestro Cover & Manual $10
PS2 007 Everything or Nothing Manual $5
PS2 Half Life 2 Cover $10
PS2 Devil May Cry 3 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 FF X-2 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 REZ Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Rygar Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Chaos Legion Manual $7
PS2 Zone of Enders 1 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Final Fantasy 12 Manual $7
PS2 Front Mission 4 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence Cover $7
PS2 Escape from Monkey Island Cover $7
PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles GH Back/Front Cover & Manual $10
PS1 Tenchu 1 Cover & Manual $15
PS1 Final Fantasy 7 GH Front/Back Cover & Manual $15
PS1 Buster Bros Collection Cover & Manual $20
GC Zelda Master Quest Manual + Windwaker $30
PS2 Black Case & Manual $10

submitted by 420MacMan to GameSale [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 17:55 NotAmusedDad Doctor weighing in

So I'm a physician that has been kept up at night because of similarities between myself and John.
I never worked in cassville, but I've worked in a lot of the other small towns in the Missouri / Arkansas / Southeastern Oklahoma area. And I've also been subject to irrational child support and maintenance demands from this area as well.
A lot of these small towns and small hospitals are very rewarding to work in, both in terms of professional satisfaction and financially. There is quite a bit of subsidization by the government to keep clinics and hospitals open, to the point where at a rural health clinic you might literally get $78 for a Medicaid patient that you might make $14 on in a city. But, you also get the chance to do a lot more procedures and Hands-On stuff. Whereas a family doctor in the city might just see coughs and colds all day, in this area they may deliver babies or do vasectomies in the office at 500 bucks a pop. And, especially if you live in the town, you become kind of the Old country Doctor affecting the lives of many of your neighbors, and are part of the community.
It's a lot of fun, and financially rewarding. I always drew in the top 1% of specialty specific physician earnings, as did my colleagues. So John's crypto involvement notwithstanding, there is a lot of money involved, and the amounts cited are not unusual.
But the lifestyle can be brutal. You're on call most of the time, and hiring partners or even getting replacement coverage to go on a vacation can be very difficult. Therefore, a lot of facilities rely on travel physicians, which John may or may not have been. A lot of the smaller facilities also don't have on call rooms anymore, so it's not unheard of for doctors to drive a couple of hours to a travel location, or have an RV to sleep in in order to save on hotel fees in the like, even though travelers get more compensation on average.
So bottom line there, even if you're making a crap ton of money you often don't get a chance to enjoy it. But whoever you're married to usually will... And doctors have a notoriously high divorce rate due to practical problems like not being available to their spouse due to 80 hour weeks, as well as personality conflicts and the like.
And that's where I found myself. I was married for about 10 years, and made the mistake of getting married young, which prevented both of us from not really knowing what we wanted in life, but also prevented me from seeing my ex-wife's mental illness, which manifested in her late twenties. Even though the stereotype is domestic violence against women, this was a case of someone with borderline personality disorder and delusional tendencies being emotionally as well as physically abusive against a man. One of her delusions was that, because her birth experience did not go the way she wanted it to, "her doctor raped her." Yes, it is as odd as it sounds, but unfortunately being someone who delivered babies, it was physically dangerous for me to be around her. And unfortunately due to my medical training, I saw it as an illness rather than a criminal or personal failure, and so I was not as assertive as I should have been in either getting her help, or enforcing boundaries.
Anyway, after a while we separated, and the ex-wife took my two children. Despite the history of abuse, because of the significant differential in our pay, I was ordered to pay about $10,000 a month in combined maintenance and child support. It wasn't that big of a deal to me at first, because I wanted to make sure the kids were taken care of, and I again was used to not being able to enjoy high earnings anyway due to the time commitment. But I had to continue to work to pay that. When I first got out of residency, my ex-wife would gaslight me into taking extra shifts, etc in order to " pay down student loans or get a jump start on the mortgage or start some investments," but looking back with a more mature vision, I should not have done that. I was exhausted all the time, to the point where it was potentially dangerous ( if you go 24 hours without sleep, your cognitive and physical abilities are at least as impaired as somebody that blows a point one on a breathalyzer. If I'm impaired enough that I should not be driving, I surely should not have taken care of patients). But even though I argued that, it became my "demonstrated earnings potential."
Unfortunately, and fortunately, two things then changed: I burned out, and financial obligations be damned, took a new job which paid a lot less. I am thankful that even though I was working potentially dangerously, I never had a bad outcome. But it would only be a matter of time, and I refused to put people at risk anymore.I also got engaged to a wonderful young lady.
Two consequences came from this, the first is that it set off my ex-wife to the point where she literally stalked my fiance, sending pictures of our house to her ex-husband, making threats against us to " ruin our lives" and even calling her work supervisor to get more information on her. Basically, anytime I made an appropriate motion in court, she would respond with an extra judicial retaliation. And what is most concerning is that as part of her borderline diagnosis, once she zeros in on somebody who she perceives to have slighted her, it's all or nothing, and she never stops. So, I've been having to deal with that.
But working through the divorce modification process and children's division courts has been a nightmare. In the rural circuit court system it usually takes at least 3 months to actually get an issue decided, and in the interim you have to make sure that you don't fall behind on payments and such. My new job, after taxes, would barely allow me to make the divorce payments, and did not even leave me enough to pay my $3,600 a month in medical malpractice insurance. So, I argued the fact that marital abuse notwithstanding, my ex-wife was capable of working, the amount of alimony I've already paid ( 7 years) in terms of years exceeds the reasonable and customary durations of payment, and the job that I had at the time of the divorce 7 or 8 years ago was a unicorn, and those positions just aren't available to switch to on a whim, and most importantly it is dangerous for me to continue working at that level. The response that the court gave was "if you're a professional blackjack player, you'd better make sure that you continue to have a lucky streak to meet your obligations."I am still fighting this, but in the meantime have had to exhaust investments and retirement funds just to keep up with child support and maintenance obligations.
And why? Because in Missouri, if you fall behind more than $3,000 or 3 months, whichever is less, you lose your professional license (you also have to be up to date on payments in order to renew it). And if you fall more than $5,000 behind, it's felony non-support, and a felony conviction would ensure that you essentially could never work as a doctor again. And although I understand the states aggressiveness for child support enforcement to prevent deadbeat dads, the reality is that it would take most people months to years to fall behind on those kind of numbers...But I would fall behind in a matter of days, and I presume that John could have as well.
And so, it is exceedingly easy to get into a cycle where you cannot pay your child support, but by not paying child support you're not able to work professionally at the job that allows you to pay the high level of child support. And it has been my experience that the courts have been rather indifferent even with significant circumstance changes.
So I don't know, maybe he had significant revenue from his crypto business, but I doubt it. Even with crypto dropping so much over the last few years, if there was an asset division a couple of months ago, a lot of that would probably have gone to his ex-wife, and if he was using that money to make money, he would not have access to that capital to continue that revenue source.
So, I have to conclude that the similarities between his case and my own experience, and that this happened just a little while after the child support ruling, I could easily see him getting into a cycle of despair, because there really is no way out if you were to get into that situation (my attorney and my fiance keep telling me that things will get better, but we're a year and a half into this now, and they have not, and my position continues to worsen). Combine that with the significantly elevated rate of suicide in physicians, and I think that's a likely explanation, and feel for him because I understand just how bad it is to go through that process and not see a way out due to a broken system (and before you ask, no I'm not suicidal, it's just a crappy situation).
Or, maybe he had a crazy ex-wife as well.
I do think it is odd that there was a second vehicle involved, and run through the scenarios in my mind. Sure, it could be a foul play or something else is going on situation, like a secret affair, or someone pointing a gun at him and telling him to get in and driving him away from town.
But, it's also equally likely that it was by his own volition, and the driver actually had no idea what he had planned whatever it was. It might have been someone he knew and trusted and met up with that gave him a ride (if he was a travel physician that usually drove an rv, he probably did not have a car of his own in town, and folks that I know like that are pretty good at asking friends to drive them to the next city over if they need to run an errand, and didn't want the hassle of driving the rv), or even getting an Uber or private taxi (there aren't any real taxi companies in these small towns, but a lot of private drivers provide long distance transportation for hire, particularly for Amish and Mennonite workers, so it really wouldn't be weird for him to hire somebody to drive him an hour away). So, a lot of doctors kill themselves, but a lot also tend to be smart in planning, and want to prevent the additional trauma to family members of discovering the body, or seeing a lethal wound. So there is a disproportionate number who simply "disappear," or who use unusual methods (a few years ago there was a trend amongst med students and doctors to use inert gas asphyxiation by helium). My gut feeling is that this is one such situation.
So yeah, i apologize for the trauma dumping, but I hope that it also may be illustrative of how something so routine and boring as working through a child support process when you're already overextended and mentally exhausted can actually be as dangerous and damaging as any nefarious crypto gang scenario.

submitted by NotAmusedDad to DrJohnForsythMissing [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 16:59 Chazzyphant Fun with apps: Acloset AI suggestions: do they work? Let's investigate

I started a contest with my husband where every day that passes, starting on June 1, is $1--for him no YouTube and for me no clothing shopping. Whoever cracks first has to pay the other person the accumulated dollars when/if they crack. Well I cannot be the first one to crack, especially since he's so convinced it's going to be me!
Therefore it's time to find other ways to enjoy fashion and style without shopping. I downloaded a new closet app, Acloset, after watching a Youtube video (heh) about it. I've downsized my wardrobe in the recent past--about 200 items total (including special occasion wear, winter sweaters, summer linens, etc) so it only took a couple hours to upload and detail all the items.
I suspect the "AI" is a tool that works like the front end of Whering's paper doll function, where it simply loads your items on a carousel and uses tags to combine them, which is fine. It's fun to see what they come up with.
The AI outfit suggestions are amusing and inspirational (to a point), there's multiple categories:
Outfit based on occasion: I really like this. When setting up one's wardrobe, there are tags to specify the occasion (work, party, daily, etc). So the AI presumably pulls from those tags to make suggestions. The options are casual, smart casual, and formal.
How about we add a pop of [color]? This is the most amusing to me as they include white, beige, gray, and black. Is there such as thing as a "pop of beige", Acloset? At any rate, the app choses 1-2 items in that color and makes an outfit.
Just right for the weather: this is based on your location. It's typically rather bland business-casual or smart casual suggestions with either sweaters and boots or dresses and sandals type thing.
[Specific garment] outfit ideas: I like this--it basically wardrobes your one item with multiple suggestions.
Features: this I really like: you can instruct the AI not to pair certain items as mismatched categories. For example, the system kept pairing a bulky, boxy sweatshirt with a slim, narrow, lightweight coated canvas jacket. It also kept pairing a dress with a shirt (?) and a sweater or similar. It's easy to instruct the AI to cut that out. Like this this really irritates me as who is going to wear a full length dress marked formal, a dress shirt, a blazer, and sneakers. I actually love the sneakers + formal dress but come on. That's the type of thing you mark "mismatched categories".
You can save outfits and add to them (similar to other apps) or delete items.
Pros: I really like the multiple approaches--occasion, weather, wardrobing an item. I always enjoy building outfits and seeing how AI combines clothing. It gives me tons of new ideas.
Cons: The outfits feel random--much more random than OpenWardrobe.
The app does not consider weight or texture of them item or comfort--for example, it paired a snug, sheer skirt with over the knee boots (one of the single most uncomfortable outfits I've ever tried on) because the skirt is cream and black and the boots are black (or that's my guess at least). Urg.
The app seems very focused on a few items to the exclusion of others. For example, I have a single sweatshirt loaded, a "Grailed"-style item I found in a vintage store. It's a paint splattered Sherman Williams sweatshirt that I cut the cuffs off of and hardly ever wear as it's not conventionally flattering, but it's a hella cool item. For whatever reason, Acloset has made dozens of suggestions with this damn thing, to the point I'm tempted to tell the app to exclude it from suggestions. My guess is that I didn't upload many casual tops and therefore whenever the outfit calls for a casual top, that gets picked. But come ON.
The app makes outfits without shoes. It includes bags on the reg but not shoes. I mean...
Shoes are often the most difficult part of an outfit to me, so much so that I've built outfits "shoes up" rather than adding shoes last. So a full outfit with shoes is a valuable function of the app. So much so that I'm tempted to remove or forbid bags and see if the app will put in shoes instead.
Okay the best part: outfit examples:
Flatlay 01: Banana Republic silk camisole, Lilith blazer, FP pants, Donna Karan Collection bag, no shoes suggested
Result in person okay I don't hate it. The top handle bag + camisole and blazer feels a little mumsy to me, despite the funkiness of the blazer and the artsy details on the bag. These FP pants I had the hem lowered and they are still really hard to pair shoes other than sandals with. A B+ outfit.
Flatlay: the sweatshirt, By Marlene Birger skirt, Tory Burch boots an adorable idea, SUPER uncomfortable outfit. It can be styled two ways
Style option 01
Style option 02, which I prefer you can tell by the look on my face I find this a little ridiculous.
Would not wear in real life, so a fail. I will say I did put the boots on over bare legs/feet which was a very unpleasant experience, and one I wouldn't do in real life. So the idea of a shorter skirt, OTK boots and a boxy, oversized top is not misplaced. Just not for a warm, humid late spring day after a full day of work.
Flatlay 03 Universal Standard dress, Prada mules, Target clutch. Wow do I love this. The app stumbled on exactly what works about all three of these items--the sleek yet artistic / interesting minimalism of them all. I would love to find an occasion to which to wear this.
In person I just love this. I look very "over it" in the pictures but that's just my face, heh. Totally chic and interesting outfit, A+.
Flatlay 04 Madewell shoes, Target clutch, That Freaking Sweatshirt, Wit and Wisdom jeans
It's cute I mean, it's not reinventing any wheels and it's not something I wouldn't come up with on my own, but I do love the idea of a clutch with casual clothing. A- because LET IT GO on the sweatshirt, app.
Flatlay 05 Anine Bing tee, Lilith blazer, Vince pants, Donna Karan bag, no shoes suggested
It's...fine it's a business casual inoffensive outfit. I paired it with loafers because that seemed like the best bet. So the thing is...that tee shirt is not a layering piece. It's oversized and draped and it doesn't fit under the snug arms of the coated canvas jacket. B+
Unrelated to the app, I'm also questioning the Donna Karan bag, as it seems really mumsy and staid and 'St. John Knits' with these outfits? Maybe it's the pin + paracord, which I added. Maybe not? Anyhoo, it's in purgatory because it's not quite working for me and I have MANY bags.
I'm also iffy on the Vince pants, which makes me REAL sad. They're lightweight and long enough for me, which never happens. But they wrinkle so severely at the slightest touch, which makes them look cheap and sloppy. They were an outlet find so they weren't that pricey but do I need them? I dunno. I'm wary of getting rid of items during a time I can't replace them, so maybe "purgatory" while I figure it out.
Alright, so there you have it, Acloset review! Do you use Acloset or other apps? Share to us!

submitted by Chazzyphant to fashionwomens35 [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 16:50 MjolnirPants Gary and the Nightmare: Part 4

Part 3
The landscape changed as Gary prowled through it. It started as the farmland he remembered so well. Small copses of trees began to appear as he moved around, hunting. Between them, individual trees began to appear. The buildings, small houses and sheds, mostly, thinned out as the trees grew thicker. The ground grew steeper and mountains rose around him.
Before long, he was prowling the slopes of a narrow wooded valley. He could see ixlets darting through the woods around him. He glanced down the slope and saw a mix of greasers and Taliban, moving through the trees.
He moved further down the valley, towards the Taliban and greasers. They ignored him, except to keep their distance. That suited Gary just fine, as he was after a different prey.
Down below the greasers, the landscape changed again. The trees thinned out and vanished, replaced by rocky, windswept tundra, dotted by small lakes. He found a ruin there, massive gray stones emerging from the ground.
He moved past the ruin. Trees appeared again, but instead of oak and ceder and ash, he found mangroves and pines and huge ceibos. They came together, getting denser and denser until he stepped out onto a large rock and could see the town of Esteli spread out before him.
He continued on, into the narrow streets. The buildings crowded together, wall to wall. There were signs everywhere; for the shops that dotted the streets, for American companies that selflessly graced the slums of Nicaragua with their business, for local brands, for strip clubs and bars.
The people crowded the streets, competing with the tiny cars and occasional donkey. Gary moved on.
The streets changed. The crowds changed, too. They had darker skin and wore less clothes. Trikes began to appear, enclosed three-wheeled ramblers built around a motorcycle frame. A sign pointed him to Clara Town in English.
This time, Gary paused. He remembered this place. Monrovia, Liberia. On the west coast of Africa. His first contract for the Agency had brought him here. The spook he was here to protect had been a stupid little shit that had ruined his own operation and gotten them into a gunfight. He'd met Drake here, as well. The younger man's bright pink hair had stood out to Gary, a massive cross-section on his gaydar.
He remembered being holed up in a run-down hovel following the fight. Everybody was injured, but nobody had died. Gary was down to two mags, one of them in his rifle and the other half-empty in a pouch on his chest. Drake had offered him a blowjob for the half-empty mag, confirming Gary's suspicions about which way he swung. Gary had handed it over without a word, but as they rode away in a beat up minivan driven by one of their assets, he'd leaned over and asked Drake to pay up, half jokingly.
Well, maybe a quarter jokingly.
That had been a bad day, but far from the worst he'd seen. And not someplace he would find the bugbear.
"Where the fuck are you, ya foggy little goblin?" Gary muttered. This place felt wrong. He remembered what Inanna had said, somewhere else.
"...They're not intelligent, though they can speak."
Gary glanced around. This place... This was not a place of fear. This was a place of a curious, entertaining memory. Frustrating, at the time, and painful as well. But not frightening. Not like those fields where he'd killed the boys.
The bugbear wasn't here, he realized. It hadn't been any of the places he'd been. Instead, it had been sending him away from it. Sending him to places where he'd hunt the thing, while it...
Gary knew where to go.
He pictured the park and began to walk.
He tried to work it out. He was in his own head. He needed to get out, to get back to the real world. He reached out with his magical senses, feeling the world around him. It felt... Delicate. As if it would fall apart at a simple touch. Experimentally, he reached out with a bit of magic. The buildings on one side of the street crumbled.
He pushed out harder, reaching out all around him, tearing the world apart with magic, until he floated in a deep void. From here, he could feel the real world. It was up. He turned his face in that direction and flew.
----
Inanna Williams, Fucking Shit Balls, Motherfucking Cock Sucker
She would not call Jerry. Or Yarm, or Sookie, or anyone else who might be awake right now. But she was getting pretty fucking disgusted with this thing. Suzanne crouched below one of the picnic tables as Inanna held her sword in her hands and kept herself between the bugbear and the girl.
Her sword blazed with fire, of course. Drawing flame from metal was one of the simplest acts of magic, an effect easily imbued into any artifact. And the weapons forged by Grandfather were works of art, pristinely forged and crafted and eager to soak up any enchantments they could. The flames were good, they helped. They weren't the problem.
Keeping magic suffused through her body was the problem.
She'd already moved around more magic today than she had in the last week. The effort had exhausted her. She barely had the strength to hoist her sword. And she was making a continuing effort to keep enough magic in her body to actually hurt the bugbear.
She didn't know how long she could keep this up.
The bugbear lunged again and she whipped her blade up, tip menacing the thing. It growled and hissed and spat, but it had already learned what pain that weapon could inflict.
Inanna glanced over to where Gary had collapsed, only to realize he was not there. His sword and shield lay on the ground, but Gary was gone. She carefully flicked her eyes from the bugbear to different areas of the park, searching for him. She saw no sign of him whatsoever. Gary had vanished.
A grin split her features.
"You are in for a world of hurt, you ugly motherfucker," she said menacingly. The bugbear ignored her, of course. It was a beast, after all.
----
Gary Johnson, Fucking Pissed
He didn't even bother with his weapons. He remembered Inanna's words, and the effect Percy's punches had on the thing. He pulled in his shield, burying it just below his skin. He poured more magic into it, thickening it, strengthening it.
He could feel the tension of the shield as he crept off into the shadows. The bugbear was menacing Inanna, who menaced it right back with her big ass sword. She looked exhausted, like she might fall over at any minute. Too much magic use, Gary thought. The rituals had each taken a toll on her, and he knew from experience how difficult teleporting someone who wasn't touching him was.
He snuck around behind the thing as Inanna said something he didn't catch. He idly wondered why she hadn't called Jerry, but the answer presented itself before the question had even been formed. It was pride, of course. She could not bring herself to ask for assistance defeating something she'd dismissed as 'not particularly tough'.
Gary got to within tackling distance and then brought his wet blanket back up and threw it over the monster. Its blurry form solidified, the pale white face and dark body coming into focus. Its limbs were long, with long claws on each finger. Its elbows and shoulders were bulbous, its chest sunken, its hips protruding. It noticed, of course. It snarled at Inanna, but before it could strike, Gary rushed it, his temper cheering at the thought of getting his hands on the thing.
It spun at the sound of his feet pounding on the grass, so Gary swung a textbook perfect punch right between its eyes. The blow clotheslined the beast, flipping its feet forward, tossing it on its own head and neck with a sickening crack that would have killed any mortal.
Razor sharp claws lashed out at him as he threw himself on top of the thrashing monster. They scratched at the top layers of his skin, but the wounds closed and they couldn't penetrate past his shield.
He used his left hand to interfere with the claws, getting his forearm onto the bugbear's and pressing down. With his right hand, he pounded at the beast's face, over and over. Each blow crunched into the thing with the force of a freight train, the unfocused magic in his body turning itself into raw physical power.
The bugbear roared in pain and rage, so Gary opened his mouth and roared right back. The beast slipped its arms free and jammed them into Gary's sides, but he ignored them and got his left hook working the thing as well.
Snarling in rage, he snatched his knife off his chest and brought it down into the thing's throat. Its roars turned into a wet, gurgling sound. Gary pulled the knife out, then thrust it into its belly and ripping up, the force of the move shattering ribs and spraying Gary with a black ichor.
He growled deep in his chest, pulling the knife back out and slamming it into the bugbear's neck again, this time from the side. He left it there and resumed punching it, slamming his fists down with enough force to shatter the bones in his hands, leaving them just enough time to heal between blows.
He struck the beast over and over and over, ignoring the pain in his hands, focused only on hurting the thing. He kept going long after it stopped fighting back, stopping only when he felt a small hand on his back. He spun, his eyes wild and angry, but it was only Inanna there.
"You got him, Yarm," she said wryly. Gary stared, uncomprehending at her for a moment. Then it clicked. He barked a short laugh out and rolled off the thing, sitting on the grass next to the unmoving body.
"Is it dead?" he asked, his chest heaving from the exertion.
Inanna held a hand out towards the bugbear. "Yeah, it's dead."
"Good," Gary said. They sat in silence for a moment.
"The girl all right?" he asked.
Inanna nodded. "Yup." She looked over her shoulder and called out, "It's okay, hun. You can come out, now." A tiny figure moved hesitatingly towards them, stopping at the dead body of the bugbear and looking down at it.
"It's dead, darlin'," Gary said. "Nothing but a bag o ectoplasm, or whatever that black stuff is."
"Ectoplasm," the girl said quietly. Gary nodded and looked back at Inanna.
"Did you just call me Yarm?" he asked. She chuckled. "You reminded me of him just then. You were fighting like him."
"Heh," Gary said. "Balls to the wall, unchecked aggression."
"Yup," Inanna agreed.
"Don't tell nobody, but I gave a bit of thought to dropping trou and squeezing out a stink pickle on the thing's face. Just for a second, mind."
Inanna laughed. "Why didn't you?" she asked. Gary shrugged. "No point. It's long past caring what I do to it."
"Now there's the Gary I know," she said. Then she looked at Suzanne and frowned. "The Washingtons are dead. She's got nowhere to go."
"I might have a lead on that," Gary said. "In the meantime, she can come stay with me."
Inanna scoffed. "You'll adopt her within a month," she said. Gary just shrugged. "Maybe. Like I said, I got a lead."
----
Liam MacReady, On His Day Off
Liam answered the door to reveal an older guy standing there. He had a big, bushy beard that was mostly gray, a leathery face, and a figure that suggested a lot of time in the gym. He had a veteran's air about him, too, Liam noticed. It was in the insouciant sloop of his shoulders, the stiffness of his lower back, the way he stood with his hands on his hips.
"Can I help you?" he rumbled.
"Liam MacReady?" the man asked, his voice tinged with a backwoods twang. Liam nodded, so the man held out a leather mitt. "My name's Gary Johnson. I'm with the Divine Crisis Management Group. I have some records here that say you applied to become a foster parent about two years ago, is that right?"
Liam frowned even as he shook the man's hand. He had a firm grip, but he didn't try to crush Liam's hand. Which was good, because Liam had mastered that particular show of dominance long ago.
Still, he didn't like this. "Why you looking into me, bro?" he asked.
"There's a little girl, goes by the name of Suzanne," Johnson said. Liam's hard look evaporated at the mention of the little girl he'd tried to take in.
"I know that look," Johnson said in a softer voice. "I got a daughter of my own. Can I come in?"
Liam thought about it. A cop would ask him to step out, not ask to come in. Unless he wanted to search for something. But Liam could kick him out if he started poking around. He pushed the door open wider and stood to the side.
Johnson walked in. He didn't poke around, but went straight to the living room and waited for Liam to join him. Liam closed the door and walked into the room, taking his favorite chair and gesturing at the couch for Johnson to sit. He did.
"So what's this about Suzanne?" Liam asked.
"Can you tell me how you know her?" Johnson asked.
Liam threw up his hands. "Brother, can we just get to the point?"
"This is the point, Mister MacReady," Johnson said. "I need to ask you some questions about her."
"When'd you serve?" Liam asked.
"Eighty-seven to oh-seven," Johnson answered without hesitation. "You?"
"Oh three to twenty-ten," Liam answered. "Second Ranger Battalion."
"Fifth Group," Johnson said. Liam quirked an eyebrow. "Green berets. Choice gig, that."
"Kinda sucked, to be honest." Lian chuckled at his answer.
"So how did you meet Suzanne?"
Liam rubbed his chin, thinking. After organizing his thoughts a bit, he spoke.
"Dated a girl a couple years ago. Suzanne's mom. She was a train wreck, but it took me a while to realize it. The girl..." Liam chuckled again.
"She was scared of me at first. I got these burns," he gestured to the side of his face, "In Kandahar. Don't do a lot to make me pretty, you know? But she warmed up to me in time. Sweetest little thing, she was. I never really thought of myself as a parent, you know? Always had too much going on, what with work and the club. But I loved spending time with that girl.
"I'd have dumped her mom's druggie ass much sooner, if not for her. When I finally had enough of her shit, I called CPH. Left an anonymous tip. I put in my application to be a foster parent, knowing that they'd rather her go with someone she knows. But they denied me. The club, me being single... I guess I can't blame them."
Johnson had been carefully watching Liam's face as he spoke, and Liam felt a strange sensation in the air. The temperature had dropped, and the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up.
"You gotta good heart, Mister MacReady," Johnson said.
"Uh, thanks, I guess," Liam responded. Johnson pointed at Liam's kutte. "What's the missing rocker?" he asked.
Liam looked down, noticing the threads still hanging out. "Master-at-arms," he said, touching it with one blunt finger. "I stepped down back when I was trying to become a foster parent. Freed up more of my time, you know?"
"Would you like to see Suzanne? Spend the afternoon with her?"
Liam leaned forward, his interest thoroughly captured. "Yeah. You can make that happen?"
Johnson raised a finger. A few seconds later, Liam heard a knock on the front door. He stood and answered it to find a bookish-looking man in a suit and bowtie standing there. He was flanked by two more figures. One was a short, brunette knockout. She had a middle-eastern cast about her, curves like a scenic railroad track and tits that could stop all conversations within a dozen yards. But she wasn't the one who caught his eye.
"Mister Liam?" Suzanne asked. Liam's face lit up in a wide grin as he knelt down and threw his arms out.
"Hey punkin!" he cried as she rushed into them. He hugged her carefully for a long moment.
"Mister MacReady," the nerdy guy said. "I know about the troubles you had applying to become a foster parent. There's nothing we can really do about that, it's a state matter. But we have lawyers in all specialties, including family law. I'm confident we can arrange a private adoption. We've already contacted her mother at the MCI women's facility, and she's agreed to relinquish custody."
Liam stood, still clinging to Suzanne, who gripped him tightly.
"Why?" he asked.
"We want her to be with someone who loves her. And Gary is quite sure that's you."
"Uh..." Liam wasn't good with this kind of stuff. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, that's me." Johnson stepped past him and all three of them stepped off the stoop.
"I'll be back around nine," Johnson said. He handed Liam a pair of cards, which he took and carefully examined over Suzanne's shoulder. Both were for the same company he'd mentioned earlier. One had his name on it, and the other had a woman's name.
"Call the woman, Astrid, when you're ready to move forward on the adoption," Johnson said.
"And the other?" Liam asked.
"Call me if you ever find yourself willing to give up the outlaw life and work a steady, good paying job," Johnson told him. He met Liam's eyes and then nodded.
"I missed you so much," Suzanne said as Johnson followed the other two out to a black Humvee parked by the curb. Liam grinned so wide his face hurt.
"I missed you too, punkin," he said.
The End.

submitted by MjolnirPants to JerryandtheGoddesses [link] [comments]

2023.06.03 14:49 chuckhustmyre [TH] Mirror Image

By Chuck Hustmyre
William Bailey's forehead shattered the mirror like a sledgehammer. The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was the feeling that he was falling through the mirror. Sub-cranial hematoma, a concussion, maybe even a cracked skull--that had to be the reason for the strange feeling. The mirror was mounted on the wall just to the right of the bar, four feet tall by about three feet wide. As consciousness slipped away, common sense and his strong belief in the rational world told him that he couldn't fall through the mirror. He must have bounced his head off the wall and be falling toward the floor.
It seemed like just a second or two before William's eyes popped open. He lay on his back, on the hard wood floor of Fausto's, with Johnny Davis towering over him. Big Johnny probably wanted to finish him off, maybe kill him, and finally end their twenty-year-old feud. Either Big Johnny Davis and the ceiling lights above him were spinning, or William's head was spinning, but either way something wasn't right.
He raised his head and looked to his left, toward the bar. Except the bar wasn't there. Instead, he was staring at the bathrooms. That didn't make sense. It must be his brain that had gotten spun around. William turned his head and peered over his size-ten wingtips at the busted mirror. The wooden frame and most of the glass still clung to the wall, the rest sat broken on the ground. The bar had to be on his left. He looked again, and still saw the bathrooms. A brain bruise, maybe some fluid pressure building up might be the cause of it.
"Get up!" Big Johnny Davis said.
William looked up at him. Johnny stood behind him, just beyond his shoulders. Perfect place for him to stomp my head into the plank floor. Except Johnny Davis was holding out his hand.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here."
Davis looked scared. It was the first time William Bailey could ever remember Johnny Davis looking scared. William had always been scared of Big Johnny, but Big Johnny wasn't scared of anything or anyone.
Police sirens wailed in the distance.
Johnny glanced over his shoulder. William craned his neck to look where Johnny was looking, saw he was staring at the front door like a man terrified something bad was going to come through it. Big Johnny looked down at him again and pumped his hand. "Come on, get up. They'll be here any second."
"Who?" William asked. "Who'll be--" But before he finished, Big Johnny Davis reached down, grabbed him by both arms, and jerked him to his feet.
As he was dragged toward the door by the only man in town who truly hated him, William glanced up and saw the rusted metal sign nailed above the door. He had to have a concussion, probably severe; that had to be it, because the letters on the sign were backward. It said TUO.
As Johnny Davis pulled him out the door, William heard tires skid on the pavement.
"Where's your car?" Johnny asked.
William twisted away from the big man's grip, then turned to his left. "In the alley." He started to run, still not sure exactly what he was running from.
Behind him, Big John shouted, "The alley's over here."
William kept running but turned his head back toward Johnny. "I know where the alley--"
Something hit him across the midsection and toppled him to the ground. He got his hands up just in time to break his fall and managed to keep his head from slamming into the sidewalk. When he looked up he saw a shopping cart tumbled onto its side.
Once again, William found himself lying flat on his back, this time amid the spilled contents of the cart. It had been filled with junk: paper bags full of dirty clothes, canned food, bags of potato chips, a diamond shaped, orange road sign, and other trash that looked like it had been collected from back alley garbage bins.
The homeless man who'd been pushing the cart was scrawny, and wafer thin. His skin was the color of old shoe leather, and he wore a long gray beard, tangled and matted with food and bits of filth. He was sprawled on the ground next to his cart, half sitting up, staring at William with his bright blue eyes.
Car doors slammed, men shouted.
"You better get going," the homeless man said, as he cocked his head. "The police after you?"
Police!
Before William could assure the old man that the police weren't after him--he was a respected businessman and family man--someone behind him grabbed him under both arms and pulled him to his feet. William turned and found himself staring into the face of Johnny Davis. "The alley's that way," Johnny said, pointing to the other side of Fausto's. With one hand gripping William's jacket, Johnny dashed across the front of the bar toward the alley. The alley--right there, plain as day--on the other side of Fausto's, right where it shouldn't be, where it couldn't be. William had been here a thousand times. As you stepped out of the bar, the alley was on the left, Brockton's Ace Hardware on the right. Now everything was mixed up and in the wrong place.
Johnny Davis turned down the alley, dragging William behind him. After just a few steps, a spotlight flashed in front of them.
"Stop!" a voice commanded. "Get on the ground."
William couldn't see because Johnny was in his way. "Who's that yelling?" he asked.
Big Johnny stopped and William plowed into his back.
"Get on the ground," the voice boomed again.
William poked his head out from behind Johnny Davis's back. The blinding white light was in his face. He couldn't see a thing.
POP! POP! POP!
Gunshots.
Big Johnny sagged, then crashed to his knees. Instinctively, William bent forward and grabbed hold of Johnny. "What's the matter?"
More pops.
Johnny's big hand reached out and shoved William back toward the street. "Back door," he wheezed, then plunged forward onto his face.
William stood alone. Behind the white spotlight he saw blue police lights flashing. He was totally exposed.
POP! POP!
He saw flashes--little yellow spurts of flame--as something tugged at his jacket.
William had said "back door." What back door? Fausto's had a back door, but it didn't lead anywhere except to the open space behind the building used for trash and deliveries. Twenty feet of asphalt between the bar and the back of the building on the next block. William had parked his car at the end of the alley, but the police cars--or whatever they were--had the alley blocked off. The building behind Fausto's also had an alley that ran alongside it, but the owner had closed it off to keep the bums out. He'd put up a gate, padlocked it, and topped it with razor wire. It was a dead end.
Two more pops. Dead end or not it was better than standing here and getting shot. William turned and ran. He burst through the front door of Fausto's, dashed through the bar, past the shattered mirror, hit the back door at a dead run, and was outside behind the bar within seconds.
He could see the tail end of his car sticking out from the corner of the building, but with the cops blocking the alley, his car was useless to him. William glanced across the open space to the alley that ran next to the other building. The gate, the padlock, the razor wire--all still in place. To his right an overflowing garbage dumpster sat beside the back of Fausto's, jammed against the fire ladder.
The fire ladder.
An iron ladder bolted to the cinderblock wall.
William looked up. The top of the ladder was lost in shadow, but he knew it went up two stories to the roof. Last summer, when the toilet had stopped up, he'd come out back to take a leak and had stood behind the dumpster, peeing against the wall like a kid, one hand draped over the bottom rung of the ladder.
He slipped behind the dumpster. The smell made him gag. The bottom of the ladder was four feet from the ground. William reached up as high as he could, grabbed hold of the third rung, then hauled himself up.
Through the partially open back door came the sounds of heavy feet pounding on the hard wood floor of the bar.
Halfway up the ladder, he was exhausted--and scared. Shaking, he white-knuckled the ladder. Being more than ten feet off the ground terrified him. He needed a break, just a second or two to catch his breath. There was enough moonlight so he could see into one of the second story windows. Inside, junk was piled everywhere. Old barstools, a busted jukebox, furniture stacked almost to the ceiling. Years ago, old man Fausto lived on the second floor, but Jake, who'd bought the place from the old man and had decided to keep the name, used it for storage.
Below him, William heard the back door thrown open so hard it banged against the wall. He scrambled up until he reached the top of the ladder, then hoisted himself over the edge of the roof. Down on the ground a voice shouted, "There he is, up there."
Another gunshot. What the hell was going on?
The unmistakable sound of feet--fast feet, in shape feet, boot shod feet--scurrying up the ladder. Standing on the tar and pebble roof, William glanced around for something he could use as a weapon, shocked he was even thinking of such a thing. A five gallon plastic bucket was all there was. It stood upright, filled with rainwater. He picked it up and peered over the edge. A uniformed policeman was three quarters of the way up the ladder. Two more cops were right behind him.
William looked at the heavy bucket in his hands, thought about just dumping the water onto them but knew it wouldn't stop them. There was only one way to stop them, and that was to knock them off the ladder. He thought about warning them, maybe trying to scare them away. But they were cops. You couldn't scare them away.
So why had they shot Johnny Davis, and why were they shooting at him?
The first officer looked up and saw William staring down at him with the bucket in his hands. Their eyes locked for just a second and the cop stopped. In those eyes that stared back at him, William saw an almost maniacal determination that sent a shiver down his spine. The officer held his grip on the ladder with his right hand while his left dropped to the pistol resting in his gleaming leather holster. In one smooth motion he drew his gun and raised it toward William.
William Bailey tossed the bucket down the ladder. A shot rang out an instant before the heavy bucket thudded into the cop's head. Like a gruesome traffic accident happening before his eyes, William couldn't help but watch as the policeman fell, taking his two partners down with him. The last thing William saw before he turned away was a jumbled heap of black uniforms resting on the concrete below the ladder.
* * *
Hiding in the shadow of a telephone booth, thinking. Home. He had to get home. Had to get back to Marge and the kids. Maybe somehow he could explain what had happened. Vincent, his attorney, he would know what to do--maybe--but he was a civil lawyer not a criminal attorney. He wrote contracts and did personal injury on the side; he didn't get people out of jail who'd killed a cop by dropping a bucket of water on his head and knocking him and his buddies off the side of a building.
As the cab he'd been waiting for pulled up, William stepped out from the dark and climbed into the back seat.
The driver turned around. "Where to?"
William pulled the door shut. "Uptown. 1721 Audubon Court."
"Fare's gonna be about fifteen dollars. After dark, I gotta have the money up front."
"What?"
"Company policy." The cabbie shrugged. "A lot of drivers been getting stiffed."
William opened his wallet, pulled out a twenty and handed it across the seat. The driver took it and almost slipped it into his cash box, then took a second look at the bill. His face tightened. "What the hell is this?"
"Huh?"
With the bill stretched between his hands, the cabbie stared at it for a second then looked up at William. "You're either the dumbest counterfeiter who ever lived or you've been had."
"What you are talking about?"
The driver faced the bill toward William but didn't hand it back to him. "It's printed backwards."
William looked at the twenty-dollar bill in the man's hand. It looked like--it was--an almost brand new bill, nothing wrong with it as far as he could tell.
"Get out of my cab," the driver said.
William didn't know what the man was talking about but knew he didn't want to get out. This cab was his only way home. He reached for the twenty. "If you don't like that one I've got another--"
The driver pulled his hands away. "I ain't giving this back. I got to turn it in to the police." He dropped one hand behind his seat back, then came up clutching a pistol, an old German Luger by the looks of it, the muzzle aimed straight at William's face. "In fact, I bet they give me a reward if I bring you in with it."
William jerked the door handle and rolled out into the street. He sprang to his feet and ran, the driver's yells just background noise. Has everyone gone crazy or is it just me?
Home. He had to get home.
* * *
Rain. Driving, relentless rain. William was just two blocks from Fausto's. In two hours, that's as far as he'd gotten--one block an hour. Police cars prowled the neighborhood, shinning spotlights into every nook and cranny, lighting up every shadow. Everyone in Fausto's knew his name. He'd been going there three or four nights a week after work for years. The cabbie had his address. William had given it to him when he told the hack driver where to drop him.
Ten o'clock at night, with nowhere to go and no way to get there, William sat behind the closed Goodwill store, under an overhang that barely kept the rain off of him.
Huddled in the dark, head sunk between his knees, he hadn't heard anyone approach.
"You don't look so good."
Startled, William looked up, prepared to run again. It was the homeless man he'd knocked over outside the bar. The one with the shopping cart and the leathery skin. William relaxed a little. "Excuse me?"
The man pushed his cart closer. "You're not supposed to be here."
William looked around. "Why not?"
The old man grinned, half his teeth gone.
William found it nearly impossible to tell his age. The guy could be forty and maybe had lived a hard life, or perhaps he was a well-preserved seventy, pickled by a lifetime of booze. William waved him off, expecting a plea for money. "I can't help you."
The old man stopped just a few feet away. "Everything's out of place isn't it?" He had a strange lilting voice. Almost like an accent.
And he was right. Everything was out of place--from Johnny Davis to the cab driver--everything was wrong.
Strapped to the back of the old man's shopping cart was a plastic sign about the size of a loaf of bread. William recognized the sign, the words, the colors, the logo of a local supermarket chain, all were familiar to him, but the letters were backward, unreadable.
Rainwater ran down William's face. He pointed to the sign. "Why's it written like that?"
The old man looked at the sign then back at William. "Like what?" he said, then shuffled away behind his basket.
* * *
The rain came down even harder. William slouched in a darkened doorway across the street from Fausto's. Nothing made sense. Everything was messed up, backward, out of whack. Almost like this wasn't his home, like he was a stranger seeing it for the first time.
But that was crazy. He'd grown up here, gone to Brother Martin High School, dated Jenny Underhill who went to Cabrini, lost her to Johnny Davis, then got her back only to lose her again the first year of college to some kid who drove a Mustang. Two years later William married Marge at Saint Luke's. They had two kids.
This town was his home. He recognized it. He knew the people here, Big Johnny and Zeke, the bartender at Fausto's. But things were different, little things. John Davis for one. In trying to help him, the big man had gotten himself killed. That wasn't John Davis--at least not the one William Bailey had known since seventh grade. Everything looked the same but wasn't. Nothing was quite right.
But they knew him--or someone like him.
A strange sensation crept over him that made the hair on the back of his neck rise. Maybe he didn't belong here. Maybe everything wasn't as it appeared. Maybe this wasn't his home. But if that were true, then whose home was it? Another thought, even scarier seeped through his brain. If he was here, who was there--at his home?
Crazy.
William dropped his head into his hands. Just considering such nonsense was a waste of time. Yet, here he was scanning the street, thinking of going back inside Fausto's, back to that mirror.
Not much time to think about it. The bar closed at three AM and it was already two-thirty. When he'd left--run for his life with Big Johnny--most of the mirror was still in the frame hanging on the wall.
Something about that damned mirror.
But Fausto's was dangerous, so a couple of hours ago William had found another mirror. In the men's room of a twenty-four hour gas station. The Chevron on North Rampart.
He had approached it cautiously, afraid he was going mad. As he peered over the sink into the mirror, he saw what he always saw, his own reflection. Holding up his left hand, he looked at the image in the mirror, at the watch strapped to his wrist. He noticed that the man in the mirror wore his watch on his right hand. Just the opposite.
William stood in the gas station bathroom for twenty minutes before he worked up his nerve. Finally, he took a deep breath, leaned back, then slammed his forehead into the dirt-streaked mirror. The glass shattered and cut his head. Blood dribbled off the tip of his nose into the sink. His reflection stared out at him from the other side of the mirror, blood running down his face, too.
I have gone crazy!
So the gas station hadn't worked out. Ducking police cruisers, William had wandered the streets, his head reeling. What was he doing?
On the sidewalk, he found a sopping wet magazine that the wind had blown up against the side of a newspaper machine. The cover caught his eye. He picked it up. It was printed backwards, the letters reversed, words running right to left. The spine was on the right. As he flipped through the pages, he couldn't read a thing. Then William had an idea.
In the bathroom of an all night restaurant he held the wet magazine up to the mirror. Perfect. The reflected image was normal, spine on the left, words running left to right, all the letters printed correctly. He could read it clearly. But what did it mean?
Then he drove his head into that mirror. The glass cracked. Someone walked in, a skinny waiter wearing an apron. He stood gawking as William leaned over the sink with tears of pain filling his eyes.
The waiter looked at the broken mirror, then jabbed a finger at William's bloody forehead. "What the hell are you doing?"
"An accident," he mumbled, pressing his fingers against the fresh cut.
The waiter turned. "I'm calling the cops."
William Bailey ran.
Now he was huddled in the rain staring at Fausto's across the street. Because he had nowhere else to go.
He stood and walked toward Fausto's. When he was halfway across the street, a police car glided around the corner, headlights reflecting off the wet pavement. The cops in no hurry, just cruising. William forced himself to keep walking, not to run. One foot in front of the other. In the downpour, odds were that the cops wouldn't even recognize him.
But they did recognize him.
The police car slid to a stop as its high beams clicked on and its blue strobe lights started popping. Both front doors flew open.
Like a sinner seeking the sanctuary of a church, William ran straight for Fausto's door. As he burst inside, Zeke looked up from behind the bar. "William! What the hell are you doing here?"
He ignored the bartender, running right past him, eyes focused on the broken mirror and its busted frame hanging on the wall.
Zeke again, "The cops been looking all over for you. Say you killed two officers and--"
Behind him the front door banged against the wall. "Police!" a voice behind him commanded. "Stop."
But William didn't stop. He kept running--running straight for the mirror. Reflected in its fragmented pieces he saw two uniformed police officers behind him, heard their boots pounding on the wooden floor. Just ten feet separated him from the mirror. At full speed he took two strides then dove. He stretched his arms out overhead and tucked his chin into his chest as his feet left the floor.
He felt one hand hit wall and the other strike broken glass. Then his head hit. More glass cracked, more skin split.
Darkness.
* * *
William's eyes popped open. He was staring at the ceiling. Rough voices, even rougher hands. They rolled him over onto his stomach and jerked his arms behind his back. He felt cold steel on his wrists and heard the metallic ratcheting as the handcuffs tightened and bit into his skin.
He tilted his head up and rested his chin against the floor. Blood poured down the side of his face; he watched it pool on the floor then seep between the wooden planks. By rolling his eyes up he could just see the empty spot on the wall where the mirror had hung. Lying on the floor, three feet from his head, was the broken frame and the rest of the glass.
The two cops grabbed his arms and yanked him to his feet, sending waves of pain through his shoulders and wrists. As they spun him toward the door, one of the officers said, "You're under arrest."
"Why?" William asked.
The officer pressed his face into William's. "Murdering your family for starters."
"My...my family." William felt his stomach cinch and his bowels turn to ice. A thought he'd had earlier in the night echoed inside his head. If he was here, who was there--at his home.
As the cops dragged him across the floor, William glanced up and saw the rusted metal sign nailed above the door.
OUT.
He was home.
THE END

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