Razorback inn little rock afb lodging

THE DOG AND THE STICK

2023.05.31 10:16 JoshAsdvgi THE DOG AND THE STICK

THE DOG AND THE STICK
​
THE DOG AND THE STICK
​
This happened long ago. In those days the people were hungry.
No buffalo nor antelope were seen on the prairie.
The deer and the elk trails were covered with grass and leaves ; not even a rabbit could be found in the brush.
Then the people prayed, saying : " Oh, Old Man, help us now, or we shall die.
The buffalo and deer are gone.
Use less we kindle the morning fires ; useless are our arrows ; our knives stick fast in the sheaths."
Then Old Man started out to find the game, and he took with him a young man, the son of a chief.
For many days they traveled the prairies and ate nothing but berries and roots.
One day they climbed a high ridge, and when they had reached the top, they saw, far off by a stream, a single lodge.
"What kind of a person can it be," said the young man, "who camps there all alone, far from friends? "
"That," said Old Man, "is the one who has hidden all the buffalo and deer from the people. He has a wife and a little son."
Then they went close to the lodge, and Old Man changed himself into a little dog, and he said, "That is I."
Then the young man changed himself into a root-digger, and he said, "That is I."
(( Root-Digger A carved and painted stick about three feet long, shaped like a sacking needle, used by women to unearth roots. ))
Now the little boy, playing about, found the dog, and he carried it to his father, saying, " Look ! See what a pretty little dog I have found."
"Throw it away," said his father ; " it is not a dog."
And the little boy cried, but his father made him carry the dog away.
Then the boy found the root-digger and, again picking up the dog, he carried them both to the lodge, saying, "
Look, mother ! see the pretty root-digger I have found ! "
"Throw them both away," said his father; "that is not a stick, that is not a dog."
" I want that stick," said the woman ; " let our son have the little dog."
" Very well," said her husband, " but remember, if trouble comes, you bring it on yourself and on our son."
Then he sent his wife and son off to pick berries ; and when they were out of sight, he went out and killed a buffalo cow, and brought the meat into the lodge and covered it up, and the bones, skin and offal he threw in the creek.
When his wife returned, he gave her some of the meat to roast ; and while they were eating, the Little boy fed the dog three times, and when he gave it more, his father took the meat away, saying, "
That is not a dog, you shall not feed it more."
In the night, when all were asleep.
Old Man and the young man arose in their right shapes, and ate of the meat.
" You were right," said the young man ; " this is surely the person who has hidden the buffalo from us."
"Wait," said Old Man ; and when they had finished eating, they changed themselves back into the stick and the dog.
In the morning the man sent his wife and son to dig roots, and the woman took the stick with her.
The dog followed the little boy.
Now, as they traveled along in search of roots, they came near a cave, and at its mouth stood a buffalo cow.
Then the dog ran into the cave, and the stick, slipping from the woman's hand, followed, gliding along like a snake.
In this cave they found all the buffalo and other game, and they began to drive them out ; and soon the prairie was covered with buffalo and deer.
Never before were seen so many.
Pretty soon the man came running up, and he said to his wife, "Who now drives out my animals?" and she replied, " The dog and the stick are now in there."
" Did I not tell you," said he, "that those were not what they looked like?
See now the trouble you have brought upon us," and he put an arrow on his bow and waited for them to come out.
But they were cunning, for when the last animal a big bull was about to go out, the stick grasped him by the hair under his neck, and coiled up in it, and the dog held on by the hair beneath, until they were far out on the prairie, when they changed into their true shapes, and drove the buffalo toward camp.
When the people saw the buffalo coming, they drove a big band of them to the pis'kun ; but just as the leaders were about to jump off, a raven came and flapped its wings in front of them and croaked, and they turned off another way.
Every time a band of buffalo was driven near the pis'kun, this raven frightened them away. Then Old Man knew that the raven was the one who had kept the buffalo cached.
So he went and changed himself into a beaver, and lay stretched out on the bank of the river, as if dead ; and the raven, which was very hungry, flew down and began to pick at him.
Then Old Man caught it by the legs and ran with it to camp, and all the chiefs came together to decide what should be done with it.
Some said to kill it, but Old Man said, " No ! I will punish it," and he tied it over the lodge, right in the smoke hole.
As the days went by, the raven grew poor and weak, and his eyes were blurred with the thick smoke, and he cried continually to Old Man to pity him.
One day Old Man untied him, and told him to take his right shape, saying : " Why have you tried to fool Old Man ? Look at me ! I cannot die.
Look at me ! Of all peoples and tribes I am the chief.
I cannot die. I made the mountains.
They are standing yet.
I made the prairies and the rocks.
You see them yet.
Go home, then, to your wife and your child, and when you are hungry hunt like any one else, or you shall die."
submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments]

2023.05.31 03:11 wtfwafflezor (Selling) 800 Titles Fast & Furious Collection 1-9 MA HD $10 Dog 2022 Vudu HD $3

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Dog (2022) (Vudu/HD) $3
Don't Breathe (2016) (MA/HD) $5.50
Don't Breathe 2 (2021) (MA/HD) $7.50
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Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who (2008) (MA/HD) $6.50
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Dredd (2012) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Duff, The (2015) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Dumbo (1941) (MA/HD) $7.50 (GP/HD) $6
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Dune (2021) (MA/4K) $5.75
Dunkirk (2017) (MA/4K) $6.50
Early Man (2018) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.25
Echo Boomers (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Eddie the Eagle (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6
Edge of Seventeen (2016) (MA/HD) $3.50 (iTunes/HD) $2.25
Ella Enchanted (2004) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $6.50
Elvis (2022) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $4
Elysium (2013) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.25
Empire State (2013) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
Encanto (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) (GP/4K) $3.50
Ender's Game (2013) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
English Patient (1996) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
Equalizer (2014) (MA/HD) $3.75
Equalizer 2 (2018) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $2.75
Escape from Planet Earth (2013) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
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Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) (Vudu/4K) $8
Expendables 1-3 (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Extreme Prejudice (1987) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
F9: The Fast Saga + Director's Cut (2021) (MA/4K) $5.25 (MA/HD) $3.25
Fabelmans (2022) (MA/HD) $6.50
Faculty, The (1998) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $6.50
Fantastic Beasts Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $7.75
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) (MA/4K) $5.25 (MA/HD) $3
Fast & Furious Collection 1-9 (MA/HD) $10
Fatale (2020) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Father Stu (2022) (MA/HD) $5.50
Fatman (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.25
Ferdinand (2017) (MA/HD) $3.50
Fifth Element (1997) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $6
Fifty Shades of Black (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.50
Finding Nemo (2003) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3
First Man (2018) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $4.25
First Purge (2018) (MA/HD) $4.50
Five Feet Apart (2019) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3
Flight (2012) (Vudu/HD) $3.75 (iTunes/HD) $3
Forbidden Kingdom (2008) (Vudu/HD) $5
Ford v Ferrari (2019) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $4.75
Forever Purge (2021) (MA/HD) $5.50
Founder, The (2017) (Vudu/HD) $5 (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Fox and the Hound 2, The (2006) (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $3
Foxcatcher (2014) (MA/HD) $4.50
Frank & Lola (2016) (MA/HD) $4.75
Free Guy (2021) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $3.25
French Dispatch (2021) (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $3.50
From Dusk till Dawn (1996) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
Frozen Sing-Along Edition (2014) (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1.75
Full Metal Jacket (1987) (MA/4K) $6.50
Future World (2018) (Vudu/HD) $4
Galaxy Quest (1999) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $6
Gambler (2014) (Vudu/HD) $3.50 (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Gangs of New York (2002) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Gate, The (1987) (Vudu/SD) $4.25
Get on Up (2014) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4.50
Get Out (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3.75
Ghost In The Shell (2017) (Vudu/HD) $2.25 (iTunes/4K) $2.75
Ghostbusters (1984) (MA/HD) $3.50
Ghostbusters + Extended (2016) (MA/HD) $3
Ghostbusters II (1989) (MA/HD) $3.50
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $3.50
Gifted (2017) (MA/HD) $5
Girl In The Spider's Web (2018) (MA/HD) $4.50
Girl with All the Gifts, The (2016) (Vudu/HD) $5
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) (MA/HD) $6
Girls Trip (2017) (MA/HD) $1.50 (iTunes/HD) $1
Glory (1989) (MA/4K) $7.75
Godfather (1972) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Godzilla (1998) (MA/4K) $6.50
Gold (2016) (Vudu/HD) $1.75
Gone Baby Gone (2007) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Gone Girl (2014) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.75
Good Boys (2019) (MA/HD) $3.75
Good Dinosaur (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.50 (GP/HD) $3
Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) (MA/HD) $6.50
Goosebumps (2015) (MA/HD) $5
Goosebumps 2 (2018) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $6.50
Great Wall (2016) (MA/HD) $2.50
Green Hornet (2011) (MA/HD) $6.50
Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022) (MA/HD) $3
Green Mile, The (1999) (MA/4K) $6
Grudge, The (2020) (MA/HD) $6.50
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $4.75 (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $1.75
Hail, Caesar! (2016) (MA/HD) $3.75 (iTunes/HD) $2.25
Half Brothers (2020) (MA/HD) $5.75
Halloween Ends (2022) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $4.50
Halloween Kills (2021) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $4.25
Hancock (2008) (MA/4K) $6.50
Happy Death Day (2017) (MA/HD) $6
Happy Death Day 2U (2019) (MA/HD) $6
Happytime Murders (2018) (iTunes/4K) $1.75
Hateful Eight (2015) (Vudu/HD) $2
Heat: Director's Definitive Edition (1995) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $5.25
Heavy Metal (1981) (MA/4K) $6.50
Hell Fest (2018) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Hell or High Water (2016) (Vudu/4K) $5.25 (Vudu/HD) $2.25 (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Hellboy (Director's Cut) (2004) (MA/4K) $6.50
Hercules (1997) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5.50
Hidden Figures (2016) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2
Highlander (1986) (Vudu/4K) $5
Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) (MA/HD) $4.50
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Hocus Pocus (1993) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.25
Holiday Inn (1942) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3
Home Alone (1990) (MA/HD) $4
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) (MA/HD) $3.50
Hostiles (2017) (Vudu/4K) $4.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Hot Fuzz (2007) (MA/HD) $3.50 (iTunes/4K) $4
Hotel Transylvania (2012) (MA/HD) $6
Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) (MA/HD) $6.75
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $4.50
House of Gucci (2021) (iTunes/4K) $5
House of the Dragon: Season 1 (2022) (Vudu/4K) $9 (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Hugo (2011) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.75
Hulk, The (2003) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $6.25
Hunt for Red October (1990) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.50
Hunt, The (2019) (MA/HD) $5.75
Huntsman: Winter's War - Extended Edition (2016) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3
Hurt Locker (2008) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
I Can Only Imagine (2018) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.75
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007) (MA/HD) $3.50
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.25
Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) (MA/HD) $4.50
Identity Thief (2013) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.75
Ides of March (2011) (MA/HD) $5.25
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) (MA/HD) $5.75
Impossible, The (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
In the Heights (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Inception (2010) (MA/4K) $6.50
Incredible Hulk (2008) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5.25
Incredibles (2004) (MA/4K) $7.75 (iTunes/4K) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.75
Independence Day: Resurgence (2014) (iTunes/4K) $2 (MA/HD) $1.50
Indiana Jones 1-4 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $20
Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Inferno (2016) (MA/HD) $3.25
Infinite (2021) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) (MA/HD) $6
Inside Out (2015) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) $4.25 (GP/HD) $1.50
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) (MA/HD) $5.25
Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) (MA/HD) $6.50
Instructions Not Included (2013) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Internship (2013) (MA/HD) $3.25
Interview, The (2014) (MA/HD) $3.50
Into the Woods (2014) (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $2.25
Iron Man (2008) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $7 (GP/HD) $3
Iron Man 2 (2010) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $6.50 (GP/HD) $3
Iron Man 3 (2013) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $3 (MA/HD) $2.25 (GP/HD) $1.50
Isle of Dogs (2018) (MA/HD) $4.75
It Comes at Night (2017) (Vudu/HD) $6.25
It Follows (2015) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Jack and Jill (2011) (MA/HD) $4.50
Jackass Forever (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Jackie (2016) (MA/HD) $4.25
Jacob's Ladder (1990) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Jane Got a Gun (2016) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Jason Bourne (2016) (MA/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/HD) $3.50 (MA/HD) $3
Jay & Silent Bob Reboot (2019) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Jesus Music, The (2021) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Jigsaw (2017) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2
Jingle All the Way (1996) (MA/HD) $5.25
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4
Jojo Rabbit (2019) (MA/HD) $6.75
Joy (2015) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $4
Judy (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Jumanji (1995) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $6
Jumanji: Next Level (2019) & Welcome to the Jungle (2017) (MA/HD) $7.50
Jurassic Park (1993) (MA/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (MA/HD) $3
Jurassic Park III (2001) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (MA/HD) $3.50
Jurassic World (2015) (MA/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (MA/HD) $2.75
Jurassic World: Dominion + Extended Cut (2022) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4.25
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $1.75
Justice League x RWBY Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One (2023) (MA/HD) $4.25
Justice Society: World War II (2021) (MA/4K) $5.50
Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.75
Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016) (MA/HD) $4.25
Kick-Ass (2010) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Kick-Ass 2 (2013) (MA/HD) $5.25 (iTunes/HD) $5
Kicks (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5
Kid Who Would Be King (2019) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $4.75
Kidnap (2017) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) (Vudu/HD) $6
Kill the Messenger (2014) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5
Killer Elite (2011) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.25
Killerman (2019) (Vudu/HD) $2.25 (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Killing Lincoln (2013) (MA/HD) $5.25
Killing Them Softly (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
King of Staten Island (2020) (MA/HD) $4.75
King's Man (2021) (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
Knock at the Cabin (2023) (MA/HD) $5.50
Kong: Skull Island (2017) (MA/4K) $6.50
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) (MA/HD) $2.50
Kung Fu Panda Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $12.50
L.A. Confidential (1997) (MA/HD) $5.75
Last Christmas (2019) (MA/HD) $6.50
Last Full Measure (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Last Night in Soho (2021) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5.75
Last Vegas (2013) (MA/HD) $3
Law Abiding Citizen (2009) (Vudu/4K) $7
Lawless (2012) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Leap! (2017) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Legend of Hercules (2014) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Legion of Super Heroes (2023) (MA/HD) $6
Les Miserables (2012) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Let Him Go (2020) (MA/HD) $3.75
Let's Be Cops (2014) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.50
Life (2017) (MA/HD) $2.50
Light of My Life (2019) (Vudu/HD) $2.50 (iTunes/HD) $2
Lighthouse (2019) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Lightyear (2022) (MA/4K) $5 (MA/HD) $2.75 (GP/HD) $2
Like a Boss (2020) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Lion (2016) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Lion King 1 1/2 (2004) (MA/HD) $6.50
Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998) (MA/HD) $6.75 (GP/HD) $5.25
Little Fockers (2010) (MA/HD) $4
Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) (MA/HD) $6.75
Little Mermaid III: Ariel’s Beginning (2008) (MA/HD) $6.75
Little Monsters (1989) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014) (MA/4K) $5
Live Die Repeat: Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) (MA/4K) $6.50
Lodge, The (2019) (MA/HD) $5.75
Logan Lucky (2017) (MA/HD) $1.50 (iTunes/4K) $2.25
London Has Fallen (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.75
Long Shot (2019) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4
Longest Ride (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $1.50
Lord of War (2005) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Lords of Salem, The (2012) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
Lost City, The (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6
Love Actually (2003) (MA/HD) $5.50
Love and Monsters (2020) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $7
Love, Simon (2018) (MA/HD) $3
Lovebirds (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Luca (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $3.25
Lucy (2014) (MA/HD) $2
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022) (MA/HD) $5.50
Ma (2019) (MA/HD) $5.25
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2
Maleficent (2014) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3 (GP/HD) $1.25
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1.75
Mama (2013) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.50
Mamma Mia! The Movie (2008) & Here We Go Again (2018) (MA/HD) $6.50 $4.50 Each
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) (MA/HD) $6.25
Marksman, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5.50
Marlowe (2023) (MA/HD) $7.50
Marry Me (2022) (MA/HD) $6.50
Martian - Extended Cut (2015) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $5.25
Martian (Theatrical) (2015) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $3.25
Mary Poppins (1964) (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3
Mary Queen of Scots (2018) (MA/HD) $5.75
Matrix: Resurrections (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) (MA/HD) $5.75
McFarland, USA (2015) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.50
Memory (2022) (MA/HD) $3.50
Men (2022) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Menu (2022) (MA/HD) $5.50 (GP/HD) $4
Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 1 (2023) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $4
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) (MA/HD) $6.50
Midsommar (2019) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $4.50
Million Dollar Arm (2014) (MA/HD) $4
Minions (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.75
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) & Minions (2015) (MA/HD) $8
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $5.25
Miracles From Heaven (2016) (MA/HD) $4.50
Missing Link (2019) (MA/HD) $4.25
Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018) (Vudu/4K) $2.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Mitchells Vs. The Machines (2021) (MA/HD) $4.50
Money Monster (2016) (MA/HD) $3.25
Monster Hunter (2020) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $4.25
Monster Trucks (2016) (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Monster's Ball (2001) (Vudu/HD) $6.25
Monuments Men (2014) (MA/HD) $2
Moonfall (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5
Morbius (2022) (MA/4K) $5.25 (MA/HD) $3.25 (MA/SD) $2.25
Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2014) (MA/HD) $3.50
Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022) (MA/HD) $5.50
Mother! (2017) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Mountain Between Us (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $1.50
Mr Popper's Penguins (2011) (MA/HD) $6
Mr. Holmes (2015) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Muppet Movie (1979) (MA/HD) $7.50 (GP/HD) $6
My All American (2015) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.25
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4
My Dinner with Herve (2018) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3
My Fair Lady (1964) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $5.25
Nebraska (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.25
Neighbors (2014) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $2
Never Grow Old (2019) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Night Before (2015) (MA/HD) $4.75
Night House, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $3
Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) (GP/HD) Ports to MA $3
Ninth Gate, The (1999) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
No Country For Old Men (2007) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
No Time to Die (2021) (iTunes/4K) $3.50
Nobody (2021) (MA/HD) $5.25
Nocturnal Animals (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.25
Non-Stop (2014) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Nope (2022) (MA/4K) $8 (MA/HD) $5.75
Nope (2022), Get Out (2017) & Us (2019) (MA/HD) $10
Norm of the North (2016) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Northman (2022) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $4.50
Old (2021) (MA/HD) $4.50
Olympus Has Fallen (2013) (MA/HD) $5
On the Basis of Sex (2019) (MA/HD) $4.50
Onward (2020) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $2.25
Oranges, The (2011) (MA/HD) $4.50
Other Woman (2014) (MA/HD) $2.25
Ouija (2014) & Origin of Evil (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $9
Overboard (2016) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.75
Pacific Rim (2013) (MA/4K) $6.50
Pacific Rim Uprising (2018) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $4.50
Pain & Gain (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Paper Towns (2011) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.50
ParaNorman (2012) (iTunes/HD) $5
Passengers (2016) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $2.75
Paul (2011) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4.50
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015) (MA/HD) $4.25
Paw Patrol: The Movie (2021) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $6
Pearl (2022) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Peppermint (2018) (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) (MA/HD) $2.25
Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Pet Sematary (2019) (Vudu/4K) $4.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Peter Rabbit (2018) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $4.75
Peter Rabbit 2 (2021) (MA/HD) $4
Phantom Thread (2017) (MA/HD) $3.75
Philomena (2013) (Vudu/HD) $2
Pineapple Express (Unrated Edition) (2008) (MA/HD) $6
Pinocchio (1940) (MA/HD) $5.50 (GP/HD) $3.75
Pirate Fairy (2014) (MA/HD) $3.25
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) (MA/HD) $3.25 (GP/HD) $1.75
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) (MA/HD) $2.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Pixar Short Films Collection, Vol. 3 (2018) (MA/HD) $5.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
Pixels (2015) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
Plane (2023) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $8
Planes (2013) (MA/HD) $2.25 (GP/HD) $1.25
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) (iTunes/HD) $3.75
Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014) (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $2
Playing with Fire (2019) (iTunes/4K) $1.50 (Vudu/HD) $2
Pocahontas (1995) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998) (MA/HD) $6 (GP/HD) $3.25
Pompeii (2014) (MA/HD) $3.50
Poms (2019) (iTunes/HD) $2.50
Post, The (2017) (MA/HD) $2.75
Predator (1987) (MA/HD) $3.50
Predator (2018) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $3.50
Premium Rush (2012) (MA/HD) $3.25
Prey for the Devil (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6
Princess and the Frog (2009) (iTunes/4K) $5.50 (GP/HD) $3.25
Prometheus (2012) (MA/HD) $1.75
Protege, The (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.75
Psycho (1960) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $5
Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954), The Birds (1963), Vertigo (1958) (MA/4K) $17
Public Enemies (2009) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $6.25
Punisher, The (2004) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Purge, The (2013) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3
Purge: Election Year (2016) (MA/4K $5.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) (MA/HD) $7.50
Queen & Slim (2019) (MA/HD) $4.50
R.I.P.D. (2013) (MA/HD) $3.25 (iTunes/HD) $3
Race (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $2.75
Rambo Last Blood (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $2.75
Rambo: First Blood (1982) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) (Vudu/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Rango (2011) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Ratatouille (2007) (iTunes/4K) $8 (GP/HD) $5.50
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $2.50
Red (2010) (Vudu/4K) $6.25
Requiem for a Dream - Director's Cut (2000) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Rescuers Down Under (1990) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $4
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) (MA/HD) $2.25
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4.50
Respect (2021) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Richard Jewell (2019) (MA/4K) $6.50
Ricki And The Flash (2015) (MA/HD) $4.50
Riddick - Unrated Director's Cut (2013) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Ride Along 1-2 (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5 $2.75 Each
Rio 2 (2014) (MA/HD) $2.25
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2010) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.75
Risen (2016) (MA/HD) $4.50
Road to El Dorado (2000) (MA/HD) $5.50
Robin Hood (2018) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Robin Hood (Animated) (1973) (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $2.75
RoboCop (1987) (Vudu/HD) $7.25
Robots (2005) (MA/HD) $6.75
Rock Dog (2016) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Rocketman (2019) (Vudu/4K) $4.75 (iTunes/4K) $2.50 (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.50
Rumble (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Run Lola Run (1998) (MA/HD) $6.50
Runner Runner (2013) (MA/HD) $4
Rush (2013) (MA/HD) $2.75 (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Russell Madness (2015) (MA/HD) $4
Safe (2012) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Safe House (2012) (MA/HD) $4 (iTunes/HD) $2.50
Saint Maud (2020) (Vudu/HD) $6
Santa Clause (1994), 2 (2002), 3 (2006) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $10.50 (GP/HD) $6.50
Saving Mr. Banks (2013) (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.75
Scream (1996) (Vudu/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Scream 5 (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Scrooged (1988) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
Second Act (2018) (iTunes/HD) $1.50
Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) (MA/HD) $4.50
Secret Garden, The (2020) (iTunes/4K) $4.25
Secret Headquarters (2022) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6
Secret Life of Pets 1-2 (MA/HD) $7.50
Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $5
Secret Life of Pets, The (2016) (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (MA/HD) $2.75
Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) (MA/HD) $2
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4.50
Seriously Red (2022) (Vudu/HD) $6.75
Sessions, The (2012) (MA/HD) $4.50
Seventh Son (2015) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $1.50
Sex Tape (2014) (MA/HD) $3
Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), World's End (2013) (MA/HD) $10
Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) (Vudu/HD) $4
Shawshank Redemption (1994) (MA/4K) $6
She's Having a Baby (1988) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Shooter (2007) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Sideways (2004) (MA/HD) $5.25
Silent Night, Deadly Night: 3-Film Collection (1989-1991) (Vudu/HD) $6
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Vudu/HD) $6.25
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2007) (MA/HD) $6.50
Sing 2 (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.50
Sing Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $6
Singin' in the Rain (1952) (MA/4K) $6.50
Sinister (2012) (Vudu/HD) $3 (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Sisters (Unrated) (2015) (MA/HD) $4 (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Sixteen Candles (1984) (MA/HD) $5.25 (iTunes/HD) $4.25
Skeleton Twins (2014) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Sleepless (2017) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $1
Smile (2022) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6.75
Smurfs 2 (2013) (MA/HD) $3.25
Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017) (MA/HD) $3.25
Snake Eyes (2021) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Snatched (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $1
Snitch (2013) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $1.75
Snow White and the Huntsman (Extended) (2012) (iTunes/4K) $3.50 (MA/HD) $2.50
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Son of God (2014) (MA/HD) $1.25
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Sound of Music, The (1965) (MA/HD) $5.75
Southpaw (2015) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Southside With You (2016) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Space Between Us, The (2017) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5
Space Jam (1996) (MA/4K) $5
Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Spider-Man (2002) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
Spider-Man 2 (2004) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
Spider-Man 3 (2007) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) (MA/4K) $8 (MA/HD) $4
Spies in Disguise (2019) (MA/HD) $3.50 (GP/HD) $2.50
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2003) (MA/HD) $5
Spontaneous (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Spy (Unrated) (2015) (MA/HD) $2
Spy Game (2001) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5.75
Stand Up Guys (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Star Trek 1-3 (Vudu/4K) $18 (Vudu/HD) $9.50 (iTunes/4K) $13.50
Star Trek Beyond (2016) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.25
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.25
Starship Troopers (1997) (MA/4K) $6.50
Step Up Revolution (2012) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Still Alice (2015) (MA/HD) $3
Stillwater (2021) (MA/HD) $5
Straight Outta Compton (Unrated Director’s Cut) (2015) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.50
Strange World (2022) (GP/HD) Ports to MA $4.25
Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) (MA/HD) $3.50
Stronger (2017) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Stuber (2019) (MA/HD) $4.75
Studio 666 (2022) (MA/HD) $6.75
Suicide Squad, The (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Sully (2016) (MA/4K) $6.50
Sum of All Fears, The (2002) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.75
Super Troopers (2002) (MA/HD) $5.75
SW: A New Hope (1977) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Empire Strikes Back (1980) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Force Awakens (2015) (MA/4K) $5.25 (MA/HD) $3.50 (GP/HD) $1
SW: Last Jedi (2017) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1
SW: Phantom Menace (1999) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Return of the Jedi (1983) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (MA/4K) $7.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Rise of Skywalker (2019) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.25
SW: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1.25
SW: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $3.50
Sword in the Stone (1963) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $3.75
Tag (2018) (MA/4K) $6.50
Tarzan (1999) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5
Ted (2012) (Unrated) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse (2022) (MA/HD) $4.75
Terminator (1984) (Vudu/HD) $7
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.25
Terminator 4: Salvation (2009) (MA/4K) $6.50
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (Vudu/HD) $3 (iTunes/4K) $2.50
Terminator: Genisys (2015) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) (MA/4K) $6.50
Theory Of Everything (2014) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4
Thing, The (2011) (MA/HD) $6.25
This Is 40 (2012) (MA/HD) $3.75 (iTunes/HD) $2.50
Thor (2011) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $7 (GP/HD) $3.50
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $3.25 (GP/HD) $2
Thor: The Dark World (2013) (MA/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) $4.50 (GP/HD) $2.25
Till (2022) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.50
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4.50
Titanic (1997) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
TMNT Out of the Shadows (2016) (iTunes/4K) $4
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Tomorrowland (2015) (MA/HD) $5.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) (Vudu/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Total Recall + Extended (2012) (MA/HD) $5 (Theatrical) $4
Toy Story 1-4 (MA/4K) $23 (iTunes/4K) $21 (GP/HD) $11.50
Toy Story of Terror! (2013) (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3
Trading Places (1983) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Traffic (2000) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5.75
Training Day (2001) (MA/4K) $6.50
Trainwreck (2015) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $1.50
Transformers: Last Knight (2017) (Vudu/4K) $4.75 (iTunes/4K) $2.25 (Vudu/HD) $2
Trauma Center (2019) (iTunes/4K) $3.25
Triple 9 (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $2.50
Trolls (2016) (MA/HD) $1.25
Trolls Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $6
Tully (2018) (MA/HD) $5.75
Turning Red (2022) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $2.75
Umma (2022) (MA/HD) $4.75
Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.75
Unbreakable (2000) (MA/4K) $6 (GP/HD) $3.75
Unbroken (2014) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Uncharted (2022) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $3.25
Uncle Drew (2018) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Under the Skin (2014) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Unforgiven (1992) (MA/4K) $6.50
Unhinged (2020) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
Up (2009) (iTunes/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $6.75
Up in Smoke ‘Cheech and Chong’ (1978) (Vudu/HD) $3.50 (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Upside, The (2017) (iTunes/HD) $2
Usual Suspects, The (1995) (Vudu/HD) $6
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Van Helsing (2004) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $3.50
Vice (2015) 'Bruce Willis' (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Voyagers (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Walking Dead: Season 11 (2021) (Vudu/HD) $6.25
WALL-E (2008) (iTunes/4K) $8 (GP/HD) $5.50
War Dogs (2016) (MA/4K) $6.50
War of the Worlds (1953) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.75
War Of The Worlds (2005) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Watch, The (2012) (MA/HD) $4.25
Way, Way Back, The (2013) (MA/HD) $5.25
Weird Science (2008) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $6
Welcome to Marwen (2018) (MA/4K) $3.50
What Men Want (2019) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $1.25
What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.25
When the Game Stands Tall (2014) (MA/HD) $4.50 (MA/SD) $1.75
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) (MA/HD) $4.50
Whiplash (2014) (MA/HD) $5.75
White House Down (2013) (MA/HD) $3.50
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022) (MA/HD) $6
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) (MA/4K) $5.25
Wind River (2017) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Wings (1927) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Witch, The (2016) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Wolf Man (1941) (MA/4K) $6.50
Wolverine (Unrated) (2013) (MA/HD) $3.75
Woman King (2022) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) (MA/4K) $5
Won't Back Down (2012) (MA/HD) $4
World War Z (2013) (Vudu/HD) $3.25 (iTunes/HD) $1.50
Wreck-It Ralph (2012) (GP/HD) $4.25
X (2022) (Vudu/HD) $6.75
X2: X-Men United (2003) (MA/HD) $6.25
X-Men (2000) (MA/HD) $6.25
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.50
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $1.25
Yesterday (2019) (MA/HD) $4.50
Zathura (2005) (MA/HD) $7
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) (MA/HD) $3
submitted by wtfwafflezor to DigitalCodeSELL [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 23:14 TheFairestCastle Addam Frey, Lord of the Crossing

Character Application

Timeline

Auxiliary Character Application

Auxiliary Character Timeline

Archetype NPCs

submitted by TheFairestCastle to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 20:02 Centumviri Welcome to Green Valley: 4 Bumpkin Quest Adventures

Welcome to Green Valley

Four Merry Jaunts Through in the Bumpkin Quest Campaign

It’s a big world filled with far off folks who have far off problems. In the quaint farming town of Hills Furrow that has certainly not been the case. Here life is simple, local, and paced by the seasons. There ain’t been a need for “Venturers” and their ilk since your Papaw was just a sprout. However, the winds of change are blowin, and things are about to git just a bit more exciting round these parts.
Welcome to Green Valley, The down-home home of Rural Fantasy Misadventures and Grass-Roots Shenanigans. The Valley is Filled with Colorful Characters, Brimming with Odd Ball Neighbors, and has more than a few Local Yokels. Welcome to Bumpkin Quest. These adventures are intended to be a series of silly adventures that all go awry in some way or another and stir up trouble throughout a peaceful little village that has in many ways been overlooked by the troubles of the world “outside”.
CHAPTER 1: Green Tide CHAPTER 2: A Cartload of Chickens CHAPTER 3: Marvin the Magnificent CHAPTER 4: High Society
ADVENTURE MECHANICS - Target Character Level: Commoners - Level 1 - Target Party Size: Four Players - Average Adventure Playtime: 1-2 Hours - Tone: Rural Misadventures
I’ve also put these adventures into a PDF that includes our Bumpkin Quest: Campaign Guide which fills in the details of Green Valley pretty thoroughly. The quests are simple enough to be run in any setting you choose, but if you're interested in more the Guide as over a dozen Custom Maps, 70+ NPCs, Location Descriptions, 20+ Local Legends, and Scores of Adventure and Event Ideas. You can grab the PDF Free at the link above.

Hills Furrow

At the center of the Valley sits a patch of small grassy hills, through which the Slow Water meanders through. Built into these hills is the Village of Hills Furrow. Celebrated by everyone living in The Valley and boasting a whopping population of almost 150, Hills Furrow is the center of commerce and social importance. Well, at least as far as the locals are concerned. Realistically it would be less than a blip on the grand scale of things, a mere kernel of wheat in the silo of civilization, but to those who live here, there is nothing quite like living in the “city”.
The Village itself, like the Valley, is predominantly Halfling, and their fancy dwellings are burrowed into the hillsides as often as possible. These dwellings have been family owned for generations only becomeing available if there are no heirs to pass them along to. Other folk live in well kept two story shingled buildings, most of which house a business on the lower floor and house the Shopkeepers and their families above their workplaces, though a few live in nearby homes. There aren’t many “rental” spaces in town, as property is usually bought up quickly by the Halfling Families, but there are long term options at either of the Inns in town.
Hills Furrow: Locations 1) The Crocked Crow (Inn and Tavern) 2) The Dancing Lamb (Inn and Tavern) 3) The Moaning Toad (Tavern) 4) Granny's Groceries (General Market) 5) Get Nailed (Hardware and Distilery) 6) Gimdurh's Hammer (Smithy) 7) Brenra's Mechanicals (Tinker) 8) Hjoldren's Home Goods (Carpenter) 9) Standard Industries (Office) 10) Fit to be Dyed (Tailor) 11) The Last Loaf (Baker) 12) The Cloudy Cleaver (Butcher) 13) Nature's Medecine (Apothecary) 14) Sheriff's Office 15) Green Valley School House 16) The Waterwheel 17) The Windmill 18) The Undercloak Estate 19) Truefoot Burrow 20) The Meadows Family Hill
The people themselves are hospitable and friendly enough, but they do not really trust outsiders. Folks from foreign places are good for trade, news, and little else. Those that come through are treated well enough as long as they don’t wear out their welcome. Locals, well, that’s a bit of a different story. The city and area doesn’t operate under a written caste system or social structure, but there is clearly a pecking order, and family heritage matters a great deal to folks in Hills Furrow. Most locals, whether they’ve gotten an education or not, can easily be classified as simple. It isn’t that they are slow of mind or unintelligent, but more that they are unconcerned with matters the outside world considers important. This sentiment has created a general, but friendly, dislike between those that consider themselves Highfalutin and those that clearly are not.
Well now that I've given you the fifty cent tour. Shall we get on to adventure?

CHAPTER 1: Green Tide

We will open our journeys in the Green Valley at Green Tide, the annual celebration of Winter’s End. This adventure is designed to give a tour of Hills Furrow and introduce them to the locals. It will begin with some chores around their house to prepare for the festival and end with a battle involving an enchanted broom. If you did not do Session Zero, this chapter may take a bit longer as we get to know everyone and their characters.

ACT 1: Pre-Festival

The locals spend the week cleaning out their houses and farms. They gather old junk and unused items to be used later in the festival. They also begin preparing what food is left from winter to be used in a celebration and feasts.
Things to do! - Have the Players clean up junk around the house - Have them Find something strange (Perhaps used for a later mystery?) - Have them Decorate their Broom - Have them run a Household Errand (Meet an NPC)

ACT 2: Sweeping Day

A merry festival celebrating Spring cleaning and putting the past behind them. They form a parade, with one member from each house carrying a brightly decorated broom and using it to symbolically “Sweep Away Winter”. The rest of the family marches their winter’s trash and unused goods down to the Fairgrounds. The goods are often traded, while the trash is piled in the fire pit to await burning later. The entire day is filled with fun outdoor activities. Households also symbolically bring their problems to the bonfires to burn them later.
Things to do! - March in the Parade - Carry Junk to the Bonfire - Meet more of the Locals
EVENT: I Love a Parade
The parade will march North from near the Cross Roads in the South up around the hill and back again to the South where it will head for the Fairgrounds. There isn’t anything particularly challenging about this event, but it would be a wonderful place to start leaning into or building local rivalries.
EVENT: Never Seen a Broom Do That… As they come into the home stretch of the Parade one of the local’s Brooms will animate and take off. It will chase folks around the parade. The players can attempt to stop it, but the broom will flee soon after being attacked. It will fly up into the air, attack a flock of geese, and chase them off until it can’t be seen anymore. They can go and collect a fallen goose if they wish. I highly recommend giving it a motorcycle type sound as it flies around hitting folks. Maybe even going as far as giving it a rough gravel angry voice and letting it insult people.

ACT 3: Winter’s End

Winter’s End is a Combination of Groundhog’s Day and Fasnacht, this day gets a little wild. The Festival kicks off at dawn with the Great Gopher Hunt. Gophers are well known spies for The Voice of Winter and thus need to be hunted before they can tell The Voice to delay Spring. Gophers themselves are quite tasty, and are notoriously bad for crops, so this works out economically all around. Throughout the rest of the day families continue to contribute to the Bonfire Pile which often gets quite large. At dusk a large effigy of The Voice of Winter is placed on top of the pile. Once the sun has fully set they light the fire and burn the Effigy. Folk usually dress darkly during the day and brightly at night. After the burning they feast on sweets and treats that were made from goods saved up from winter storage.
Things to do! - The Great Gopher Hunt - Carry Junk to the Bonfire - Meet more of the Locals - The Fairground’s Activities
EVENT: The Great Gopher Hunt The Hunt begins at dawn and takes place all over the Valley. Locals race to collect as many Gophers as possible. It is easiest to kill the Gopher, but there are some that find that distasteful. Instead they live trap the critters. It is a bit tougher to do so, but an option should your players wish. This is most easily played out as a series of appropriate Skill Checks, in which the higher they score the more gophers they obtain.
EVENT: Trash Removal They may find some locals willing to pay them to help cart junk down to the bonfire pile. Not a lot of skill involved in this, but it is a great opportunity to meet locals, and you could throw a runaway cart at them.
Fair Activities They will probably want to take part in Fairground Activities. Players love these types of challenges. Here are a few ideas you can build on. - Axe Throwin: Basic attack rolls on a Round Target. Higher scores equal Higher points. - Bow Shootin: Basic attack rolls on Moving Targets. Higher scores equal Higher points. - Pig Chasin: Catch the greased Pig! Medium DC Challenge requiring three success before three Failures. - Mud Wrastlin: Nothing says bumpkin like a good Mud Wrastlin Pit. Contested Skill Challenges. - Sausage Eating Contest: Increasingly difficult DC Challenge. Eat till you puke! Can also be Pies or Ribs or Little Fish… you know whatever someone wants to stuff dozens of in their gullet. - Tug O’War: Team Strength Challenge. Three to Five Contested Rolls with opposing teams. - Gopher BBQ Cook Off: A Hard Culinary Challenge to see who can BBQ the best Gopher! - Races: Foot and Mount Races based on Three to Five Contested Rolls. I usually include a few odd mounts like a Giant Chicken or some such nonsense.

ACT 4: Day of Ashes

The Day of Ashes is a day of rest, recovery, and reflection. Locals take the ashes from the bonfires and rub their hands in them to symbolize the end of a hard year’s work and hardships of the past. The day ends with a large family feast, typically Pork. Activities this day are light, but many folks head to the Temple for the Calling of Spring Blessings. They put on their fancies and head down to ask forgiveness for over-indulging in the festival and for worship. Well sort of…
Unfortunately, a lot of folks take this as an opportunity to peacock about and practice their one-upmanship over other locals. If you’re looking for inspiration for their outfits look to older photos of the Kentucky Derby. Over the years this troubling practice has caused more than one fight to break out after the service.
*Things to do! * - Go to Temple and Meet More Locals - Pick a Local Patron!
EVENT: Temple Services
The majority of the town comes to Temple on this day. The service is usually longer, and a bit more “Where have most of you been all year?” But otherwise it is a call for the Divine Blessings to touch their crops and protect their lives. It ends with a ceremony in which the locals put their hands into the ashes from yesterday’s bonfire. Once services end they will head outside, where the trouble will begin. Two of the wealthier families will get into it with each other. Starting with a couple of veiled insults, probably before service and continuing afterward. If one of your players is from a local Rich Folk family then they can be right in the middle of it all, otherwise they will have to pick a side. This choice will determine their house Patron moving forward. Tension will increase until folks start drawing up sides, and then someone will throw a rotten tomato at one of the House Matrons. That will blow the lid off the incident and a yokel brawl will break out. For comedy purposes I recommend the instant appearance of several food carts filled with expired products, and maybe a six year old hustler selling big sticks for wacking folks with. As the locals brawl call for perception checks. Who ever rolls highest begins to hear… The Broom returning!
ENCOUNTER: Stick In The Eye
The broom returns ready to whoop some ash. It will be absolutely bent on cleaning anyone and everyone who is even the slightest bit dirty! If it successfully attacks a character they will have to make a Strength Saving throw or be knocked to the ground and swept clean by the broom. As this would be an awful omen for the year folks are terrified and will be running around screaming. Absolute mass hysteria. If the players were lucky enough to hear it coming they can avoid being surprised by the broom. Otherwise the broom will get a full round to attack before they have a chance to do anything. They’ll have to beat the broom into submission any way they can before it sweeps the whole town into chaos!

CLOSING

After defeating the broom things will settle back down again. Bumpkins are quick to return to normal when things go awry. However, they will have gotten the attention of one of the Wealthy Families in the area and be offered jobs. Which family is really, based on what will work best for them and you as the DM. For gags you might be tempted to have the Yokels pick them up, but that is a hard bit to sustain, and you may be better served keeping them on the side as a comic foil rather than up front. Completely up to you. The session should end with them being invited to meet their new patron tomorrow someplace important.

CHAPTER 2: A Cartload of Chickens

After successfully defeating the Enchanted Broom, our Bumpkins have gained the attention of a possible local Patron. This individual has summoned them to a nearby farm to discuss future work. That work includes proving themselves capable and not just lucky.

ACT 1: Meet the Boss

In this Act the players will meet with their new patron, one of the Family Heads, who that is entirely depends on their choices from the last game. This entire side branch is designed to flavor the background of the campaign, but if you’d rather just have them stay freelancing and independent that’s fine as well. There is also the possibility of “competing” offers should they have second thoughts for any reason. Once they arrive at the meeting spot their Patron will ask them some questions about their ambitions (Class Goals), they will then hand them off to their new “boss” who will assign them their task. They will take them to a nearby barn.
NEW NPC: “Boss”
Needs a fitting name for the Family they work for...
Character wise, what we got here is a standard “Ranch Foreman” character. They’re tough, A little mean, and completely loyal to their employer. They almost certainly chew tobacco (by the handful), have a tattoo of the Ranch’s Brand, and know where all the bodies are buried. They also have a huge and obvious scar on the side of their head where a Giant Chicken pecked a hole in their skull, so they’re not as bright as they used to be, not at all truthfully. Nor are they actually the Foreman anymore, but no one has a heart to tell them. They’ve been quietly downgraded to Chicken Handler, which is something they seem to remember quite well, but the brain damage keeps them from realizing all that. They can be found wandering the Farm giving strange orders to other Hands. These Hands nod politely and then go back to what they are doing.
Things To Do! - Meet Their Patron - Discuss Their Future - Meet Their New “Boss”

ACT 2: Chicken Dance

Boss will lead them into the odd looking barn. This building is filled with Giant Chickens. These two-three foot fouls have extremely exaggerated features, spiky looking beaks with sharp tooth like edges, big darting eyes, bumpy cracked skin, long gnarled talons, and dirty mottled feathers. They’re more beast than bird. But, they’re good for eatin! These creatures should have a stat block similar to an Axe Beak. When the players enter into the Barn the Chickens will go nuts, obviously deeply bothered by the intrusion. Boss will throw in some deer haunches and the birds will tear them apart in a feeding frenzy. They will then put on a Chicken Suit and begin a flapping dance. (Google Magnificent Riflebird) It should be absolutely captivating and the chickens will become mesmerized, watching every move. Boss will then load two dozen chickens onto a large wagon and lock it. They will have the players push the wagon out while he keeps the Chickens calm. Once outside they’ll hang heavy tarps on the sides of the wagon, and remove the suit. He will then explain to them that they need to keep the tarps on the wagon, and keep the birds well fed, or the chickens will get restless and become violent. When they do need to interact with them someone will have to wear the suit and dance to keep them calm. The bigger the person in the suit the better. Boss will then give them a Map of Green Valley and instruct them to drop off two chickens at each of the outer settlements. They have two days to get this done.
Things To Do! - Head into the barn - Witness The Dance of The Chicken - Push the Wagon out - Get the Costume and Delivery Instructions

ACT 3: Bumpy Roads

They will be off to deliver the Chickens to various locations. There is no specific order to this delivery, they just need to pick a route and go. If they’re short on time they can take the country roads that lead between the outer settlements, but these aren’t as well kept as the main roads are. Whatever road they take and wherever they decide to stop for the night there are problems they will encounter along the way. You can make them random or pick the ones that best suit your players. Most of these should at some point require someone putting on the suit and dancing for the chickens to keep them calm. I would also increase the difficulty of each event. If they fail a dance the Chickens will become restless and start attacking the cart until they are calmed down. Too many failures and the wagon’s cage will break and the remaining chickens escape. They will then have to be rounded up and the cage repaired.
Things to Do - Decide the delivery route - Deliver the chickens - Keep the Chickens calm
Possible Road Events 1) Rough roads cause problems 2) Yokels attempt to see what’s in the cart 3) Bad Weather swamps the road or scares the chickens 4) Pack of Coyotes causes trouble. 5) Chicken Rustlers! Protect the Flock! 6) Wagon breaks and needs repair 7) Cows in the road, someone’s herd is out. 8) Broken Bridge, not gone, just broken

ACT 4: Final Delivery

They’re now closing in on the final delivery. Something needs to happen here to cause them to put the suit on. Or maybe they never took it off! I love that idea, that one of your players just loves the suit and wants to be a chicken… lol… Anyway I’m a fan of having them need to get out of the suit for some reason, maybe a bathroom break, or they stand on a fire ant hill, or a snake slithers up their leg. You know something silly and fun. BUT the zipper is stuck! So they’ll have to try and unstick it and fast! Whatever happens they’re going to get shot at by some hunters looking for a big score who have mistaken the flailing caused by the stuck zipper to be the chicken attacking. After dealing with the Hunters they can go ahead and make the final drop. And head home.
Things to Do! - Head for the final delivery - Get shot at! - Deliver the last chickens
ENCOUNTER: That’s a BIG Chicken!
Having two hunters in the field is more than enough to cause a problem for the players. The hunters will almost certainly surprise the players, but you can allow them a perception check, if they succeed they’ll see the hunters just before the muskets go off. It would be OK to down the Chicken Player here if the hunters successfully hit it. They’ll have healer’s kits on hand because, well, this seems to happen to them a lot out here. After the initial attack the players can decide to attack back or try and talk the hunters down. A basic Bandit or Scout stat block should do will for the hunters. If you’re looking for a bit more mayhem, if the hunters miss the players you could have them hit the cage, and you know, bust it open. This may be especially tempting if they
POSSIBLE ENCOUNTER: Big Ol' Frog
So there is a giant frog hiding in the mud down in the creek. If a player takes cover behind the banks there is a good chance that the frog will attempt to nab the player as a snack. If it is successful in grabbing a player with its tongue it will immediately head down river, and they'll have to chase it to get their friend back.

CLOSE

When they return, Boss will reward them. How much will depend on how successful they were delivering the birds. If they did a descent job, they will be paid two day’s wages each. If they were completely successful they can have a bonus. However, if the wagon is in bad shape they might have some money deducted. After they’re paid out, they will be dismissed, and told to expect a new assignment next week.

CHAPTER 3: Marvin the Magnificent

After successfully delivering chickens Boss is going to trust them with a more important task. Their employer has requested an item to be created by Marvin the Magnificent. This is a farming community so having enchanted Farming Equipment is extremely desirable. Marvin has done a lot of basic enchantments over the years, but this new one, an The Stone Skipper, a plough whose blade goes ethereal while in contact with stones too large to push away, has really put him to the test. He needs some help with the final enchantments. The players will have to travel to the Ethereal Plane and hit the Blade of the plow with large rocks. But there’s a problem, they’re going to have mischievous Ethereal Sprites attempting to stop them! If they’re successful, which they should be, they get to take the plough for a test drive, and deal with the strange side effects of the enchantment. Angry goats that blink in and out of existence.

ACT 1: To the Tower

They’ll be summoned out to the Ranch where they’ll meet with Boss again. Once there they will notice a large pile of bent and dinged up plows. Boss will explain to them that a recent land acquisition has become problematic. The Fields are filled with large stones just under the topsoil and they’ve damaged a lot of Plow Blades. The Smithing costs are getting out of hand and so their Patron is looking for an alternate solution to the problem. He is sending them to help Marvin the Magnificent, who has taken the job, but run into some complications and needs some help. They may ask about Marvin. Or perhaps the fields that were purchased, so be ready to answer these types of questions. Once they’re done here they can head to Marvin’s Tower, which is just north of town.
Things to Do! - Meet Boss again - Ask some Informational Questions - Head for the Tower
NPC: Marvin the Magnificent

ACT 2: Marvin the Magnificent

As they approach the tower they should see an explosion at the peak of the structure. It should look similar to a fireworks mishap. When it clears there will be no visible damage to the tower, But Marvin will plummet to the earth just off to the side of them, landing in a small pond. He will then come charging out of the pond, laughing hysterically, and riding on a large turtle. Once he gets a few feet away from the pond the turtle will disappear and he will tumble to the ground right in front of the players. He will leap up quickly and turn toward the players. “Behold Travelers, You stand in the presence of Marvin the Magnificent! And everything you have witness was mostly intended!” He will then strike a cool pose with his wand pointed to the sky! “Now why do you approach my tower!?”
Once Marvin finds out they’ve been sent about the plow he will become more nervous looking. “I see, well follow me. We have work to do.” He will then start walking toward the tower… his boots squishing out water. This should give them a little time to ask a few questions. Marvin will be a little subversive about what they need to do. He will attempt to frame it very mysteriously, saying things like “All will be revealed soon.” and “Save your questions! All Answers await us… in the future!” If they ask him about what they witnessed outside, he will tell them he was working on a mount summoning spell designed for lakes and rivers.
Things to Do! - Head toward the Tower - Meet Marvin - Ask Questions

ACT 3: The Cabinet of Mysteries

The inside of the Wizard’s Tower will be far more mundane than they likely expect. At least on the first floor. It will have a sitting room, dining room, and kitchen, as well as a few odds and ends about. Nothing special at all. The second floor, are Marvin’s personal quarters and some room for study, but it is the third floor, where Marvin will lead them, and it will be more of what one would expect in a Wizard’s tower. There will be books shelves, arcane equipment, and storage for components. In the middle of the room will be a tall cabinet.
:
Marvin will explain to them that the Cabinet is a transportation device, and that he will need them to enter into it with a plow that he has recently enchanted. They will be taken to the Ethereal Plane, and once there they’ll need to take the plow outside and begin hitting it with large field stones. There is a large pile of stones just on the north edge of the tower. They’ll have to do this quickly, before the “others” show up. Who are the others? Hard to say, but there are things that live in the Ethereal Plane that don’t like intruders. The idea is to imbue the Plow with Ethereal Powers so it can pass through large stones while plowing fields. Once they return with the Enchanted Plow, Marvin will have them load it on a cart, pulled by a very smart Donkey, and send them on their way.
Skill Challenge: Enchant the Plow This skill challenge will require five successes before they’re incapacitated by the others. However they decide to do it, they’ll have to successfully hit the plow with five large stones. Failures will result in strange indiscernible entities attacking them. They do minimal damage but could knock people out if there are enough failures.
Things to Do! - Move Through Marvin’s Tower - Enter the Cabinet - Enchant the Plow

ACT 4: Blinking Goats

Upon returning to Boss with the Plow they will be happily greet and paid. Their Patron will be there and will be very pleased with their success. He will ask them to demonstrate the plow’s abilities. Once they get set up out in the field and begin plowing something weird will happen. Every time they hit a stone and the plow’s power activates an Ethereal Goat will manifest and kick or ram the plow, and then disappear. It will feel very similar to what they encountered in the Ethereal Plane. They’ll have to find a way to deal with the manifestations.
ENCOUNTER: Ethereal Goats These goats should function very similarly to Blink Dogs, but I would trim the HP and AC a little to put them in line with the party’s. They will be intent on breaking the Plow not the party, although they will attack the party if they can’t get to the Plow.
Things to Do! - Deliver the Plow - Drive the Plow - Defeat the Ethereal Goats

CLOSE

Once defeated the Boss will come over to yell at them, but the Patron will find the entire thing amusing and more importantly, another impressive demonstration of the player’s skills. He will invite them to the “House” for an important party next week.

Chapter 4: High Society

They've definitely been noticed now and have impressed with their ability, unconventional as it may be. They are invited to their patron's home, but not as guests. Though, they might think they were actually invited as guests! They have been brought in to help work the event held out at the Party Field. They will have to gather party supplies, help put up the tent, and then serve the actual guests. During the evening’s entertainment a hypnotist “The Great Dr Hypnotika” will mesmerize the crowd and attempt to rob them all. Hopefully the players don’t fall victim to her schemes. And if they do oh well, they’ll be entertained all the same.

ACT 1: Special Delivery

The players arrive at the Patron’s very nice property. They will be greeted by a properly dressed servant with a clipboard, the Party Planner. The Planner will be rigid and direct. They will immediately begin tasking them about. If they mention that they were invited to the party the servant will laugh “You didn’t think you were a guest? Oh dear, how embarrassing. You’re the help! It is still a great honor to be tasked to help at the Party, but you’re not guests. Now as for your current task. Head into town and gather these supplies. Bring them to the field by noon.” After the instructions are given the servant will go back to their tasks and expect the players to do the same. They will have three stops; The Crocked Crow for Food and Beer, Get Nailed for the Tent and Spirits, and Shalana Proud-Breed’s Tailor Shop to pick up the Dry Cleaning. Feel free to make any and all of these go sideways! Its a good place to toss in some shenanigans as well! They should also be introduced to Dr Hypnotika and her associates.
Things To do! - Go to their Patron’s Home - Meet the Party Planner and Dr Hypnotika - Run their Errands
NPC: Dr Hypnotika
Dr Hypnotika and her group will perform for the party. Hypnotica is a Tiefling Mezmerist and illusionist. She has an obnoxiously high charisma and some pretty serious skills to back up her claims. However, she uses those skills to beguile her guests, robbing them blind while they are under her spells. She wears a fine robe with a bedazzled headwrap. She has dark upward spiraling horns, light purple skin, and matching eyes. She wears a monocle and walks with a ceremonially carved staff depicting the "Struggles of the Universe". She is extremely persuasive and even more deceptive. Even if someone were to grow suspicious she can easily talk her way out of trouble.
NPCs: Clapper and Bob Hypnotika brings with her two assistants. Clapper the suit wearing Kenku who will perform wondrous displays of mimicry and slight of hand, and her strongman Bob the Kobold. Bob wears a leopard print strongman's outfit and is amazingly swole, particularly for a kobold, and capable of lifting upwards of 400lbs. Bob doesn't do much else other than get hit with things. in the act.

ACT 2: Put up the Tent

After they finish running their errands they will be tasked with putting up a large party tent. This Act is an ongoing Skill Challenge and should have a constantly distracted feel to it. First they have to unpack the tent. Then they have to realize some pieces are missing, they’ll have to form a solution to that problem. After that wind should cause some problems as the tent is at least being pulled up. This is a great moment for some wondrous tom-foolery.
Things To do! - Unpack the tent - Deal with missing parts - Secure the tent during the wind gusts

ACT 3: Put These On

After they finish putting up the tent they’ll be sent to the Servant’s Quarters to bathe and change. They’ll get a little time to explore and snoop if they wish. Afterward they’ll be tasked with helping in the kitchen, but unfortunately the cooks are going to have been playing a drinking game all afternoon and are no longer fully capable of doing their jobs. This would make a great moment for some sort of mini-game where the players have to determine whether or not the cooks are doing the right things. Once the dinner has been completed they will have to serve the guests. This is a good place to insert gossip and help them meet a few other folks.
Things To do! - Get changed for the party - Deal with the drunk cooks - Serve the guests drinks and food

ACT 4: An Evening to Remember

At some point in the evening things are going to start sliding downhill. Some of the locals will have become extremely inebriated and will need to be encouraged to leave, or just moved off to the side as they’ve already passed out, before the show begins. Once the show begins the locals will become fixated on the goings on. “The Great Dr Hypnotika” will have put an additive in the drinks for the that will make everyone more susceptible to her powers of persuasion. Once the show starts she will have them all doing silly things, those who drank have disadvantage on saves against her powers. She will end the show asking the guests to display their most valuable treasure, a with a hypnotic pattern and then send her assistants out to collect those treasures. The players will have to “do something” about the thieves.
Things To do! - Deal with Drunks - Watch the Show - Stop the Criminals
ENCOUNTER: Hypnotika's Gang This encounter doesn't have to be a fight. If Hypnotika is caught she may claim it was all part of the act and simple return the valuables with a "no harm, no foul" type attitude. This will be he go to in an attempt to avoid a fight, but if the character persist in some kind of retribution or punishment the situation will devolve into a combat. Hypnotica herself is an Illusionist Wizard but is low on spells after the show. Clapper is a low level rogue and Bob a Barbarian, and should play out as such. Even with Skills they are combat adverse and will be looking for an opportunity to flee rather than fight. They do have a getaway wagon out front that they'll be headed for if things go south.

CLOSING

We’re assuming the Bumpkins at least attempted to stop the robbery. This will draw a lot of attention to them. Their Patron will be well pleased with them, and let them know they will be getting much more important jobs in the future. The guests will also take note and will begin treating them all a bit better. They’re all essentially Folk Heroes at this point for secondary backgrounds. Their Patron should reward them with something very nice as the party kicks back in. They will need to finish out the nights work of course.

Quest-line Closing

Congratulations! Your Players have completed their first Quest-line! Hopefully it was a delightful experience. But now that they've finished what comes next? Well, here are some ideas.
*Reward Them! * They've been doing some rather Adventurous things lately, and therefore should now have a Class Level under their belt, so the real D&D world now opens to them! Maybe it is time for some real adventuring gear. No more sticks, stones, and burlap sack armor.
Folk Heroes? There's a good chance that the Valley is Speaking the News about them and their exploits while drinking in the taverns. They may have even earned the actual Folk Hero Feat! Maybe someone would be interested in giving them a task!
Simply Go Exploring! There are a lot of places in Green Valley that we only dipped our toes into. You could have them head down to Stinkmarsh, or maybe climb up the cliffs of Longridge. The world (Well, the Valley) is wholly open to them.
Explore Local Legends There are lots of local legends they can look into! Hopefully they search out something that isn't too far over their heads!
Continue Working for their Patron It would be an easy DM go to simply to have them continue working for their current Patron. They've probably been impressive enough fo a family to be interested in keeping them on.
Establish Themselves as Adventurers! Maybe they want to set up a Adventurers for Hire business? This "Heroes Guild" approach is really appealing to a lot of players and absolutely plays into Bumpkin Quest. Just remember, this is a place of low key problems that locals make really big deals out of. So the idea of slaying dragons shouldn't really be on the table... that is until an actual dragon shows up! Which one day absolutely should.
submitted by Centumviri to amplusordogames [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 17:46 BigBraxEnergy Briony Brax - Lady of Hornvale

Discord Name: tealeafy4767
Name & House: Briony BraxAge: 24
Appearance: Briony is a large-framed woman with pale skin. Her hair is light blonde and her eyes a particular shade of auburn green. She often wears ostentatious dresses of purple silk and drips with as much jewelry as she can carry at one time.
Gift: GossiperSkill(s): Deceiver (e), Burglar (e), AssassinTalent(s): Gaslighting, Creative Nickname Giving, SingingNegative Trait: Obese
Starting Title(s): Lady of Hornvale, the Biggest Unicorn (if you’re a hater)Starting Location: King’s LandingAlternate Characters: Daena Waters
Family Tree: https://www.familyecho.com/?p=T7WPY&c=tjrcbqzhhb&f=235262889631321585

BIOGRAPHY

Briony was born in 183 AC to Cadwyn Brax and Teora Banefort. A few years later in 187 AC, Briony’s younger sister Margot was born. Briony grew up as the spoiled eldest daughter who was as greedy and selfish as a magpie. She had always been a larger-framed, huskier child who grew into an even bigger young woman: an abnormality for her immediate family. The difference was so notable that when she was a child, Briony overheard some sneering servants calling her the ‘fattest unicorn alive.’ Little Lady Briony went crying to her father, who had the servants’ tongues cut out and banished them from Hornvale.
As a result of this experience, Briony grew paranoid that servants and nobles, friends and foe alike were slandering her name behind her back. Thus, she decided that the best defense was an offense. Briony began to engage in gossip, realizing that pointing the finger at someone else meant less attention was given to her (Gossiper). The rumors of her early years were innocuous, but as she grew older and smarter, her methods turned cruel. Not only did she begin to make up rumors simply for the pleasure of watching chaos ensue, Briony realized that a little bit of set up could go a long way in framing someone just so (Deceiver (e), Burglar (e)). She spent years growing up dangling her money over servants and smallfolk who would work as her agents.
Cadwyn Brax was a cruel man himself, and there was something he saw in his eldest child that reminded her of himself growing up. Thus, Cadwyn treated Briony with more favor than he did Margot. Many times, he would lament Briony not being born a boy for Cadwyn was committed to elevating the status of House Brax, and the lack of a male heir grated upon him. Without a male heir, Cadwyn would focus his fathering efforts upon teaching his squire, Robb Reyne, the lessons that he had wished to impart upon a son.
House Brax received its opportunity for regional glory when Margot Brax was married to Addam Lannister in 205 AC. The whole Brax family knew of Addam’s reputation as a drunk wastrel, but a drunk Lannister was still a golden lion after all.
206 AC also marked a year of turmoil between the Brax patriarch and Briony, for Cadwyn had decided it was high time for Briony (24) to be married at last. Cadwyn had in mind a match, which Briony did not favor. But Cadwyn was adamant upon his pick. Briony had seen her younger sister, Margot, forced into an unhappy marriage with Addam Lannister, and feared for what would come of her own match.
Briony understood her father was stubborn, but resolved to have her way in life, as was her right in her eyes. So she put into practice a plan to ensure that she would never be at the mercy of any Brax man. A few moons before the events of the Rosegold Festival, Cadwyn Brax died from a fishbone becoming lodged in his throat (Assassin). Briony had the chef killed for their negligence and made her first decree as the Lady of Hornvale: to ban the consumption of fish in the castle.
Now, as the reigning Lady, Briony intends to honor her father by continuing to elevate the Brax name and stature.

Auxiliary Character: Margot

Appearance: Margot is a thin young woman standing at around 5’6”. Pale skinned, Margot sports long light blonde curls and auburn-green eyes. Whenever she is in the same room as her husband, Addam Lannister, there is a frown upon her face.
Character Name & House: Margot Lannister (nee Brax)Age: 20
Gift: RuthlessSkill(s): Burglar, Cautious, SaboteurTalent(s): Complaining, Criticizing, Well Read on Romance Novels
Starting Title(s): Addam Lannister’s wifeStarting Location: King’s Landing
Margot Brax was born in 187 AC as the youngest daughter of Cadwyn Brax and Teora Banefort. Her elder sister Briony always made herself the center of attention. Cadwyn Brax was a cruel, cold man, instilling an unkind streak into Margot, which remains to this day (Ruthless).
Often cast off to the side, Margot found solace in reading books. The types of books her mother liked to keep around, however, were all romantic tales of chivalry and love between knights and ladies. From a young age, Margot hoped that like these stories that she would be swept off of her feet by a dashing, handsome young knight.
More often than not, Margot found herself manipulated by Briony into doing her sister’s bidding. More of a follower than a leader, Margot picked up some tricks of her own from carrying out Briony’s wishes, including petty theft and even a case of arson, which the sisters blamed upon a traveling hedge knight (Burglar, Saboteur).
When Robb Reyne came to Hornvale to squire under Cadwyn Brax, Margot finally met someone who was kind to her. Someone thoughtful who seemed to value her opinion. She came to trust Robb, and part of her even dared to hope that one day her father would marry the two of them.
At the top of 205 AC, Margot’s world fell apart when her father announced that she would be married to Addam Lannister. She knew his reputation and knew Addam to be the furthest thing from a brave knight. Despite her tears and protests, Cadwyn forced Margot into the marriage.
Margot was miserable, stuck in a marriage that neither party seems to have wanted. She began to write letters to Robb, sending them to Jeyne, the keeper of the Golden Sunset Inn in The Arch between Casterly Rock and Castamere (Cautious). She took every opportunity she could to see Robb, and forget her marital troubles. She quickly fell pregnant and gave birth to Tyrek Lannister later in 205 AC. Addam eventually brought home his bastard twins: Kennos and Perianne. Though they are under the care of a maester of Casterly Rock, Margot resents their presence, and believes that Addam brought them to the castle to torment her.
One of her happiest memories was stealing away with Robb at the Rosegold Festival; an event that ended in tragedy. The fall from grace of the Reynes has left Margot heartbroken. She remains in communication with Robb, hoping that one day they will have an opportunity to be together. In the meantime, she at least has Tyrek to love.

Archetyped NPCs

Alan Hill - Swords - A sworn sword for Briony Brax. Alan (28) is a Jast bastard who was raised in Hornvale. He is grateful to House Brax for his livelihood and remains loyal to the newly risen Lady Briony, even if he may disapprove of some of her more questionable doings.
Maester Uthor - Alchemy - A younger maester arrived to Hornvale in 206 AC who appeared conveniently when the old maester of Hornvale passed away in his sleep. Maester Uthor is a devoted flunky of Briony’s who she consults regularly.
edit: typos
edit 2: fixed timeline of Margot's marriage
submitted by BigBraxEnergy to FieldOfFire [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 10:04 LostUpstairs2255 Got kicked out of my gym for being poly

It’s been about 6 months now but I was having a conversation with a friend about this that made me realize it’s still a sore spot. My long term partner and I are both poly - we don’t actively hide it but we also don’t go around announcing this fact as it can make some people uncomfortable and I’m not here for the drama. We both train and compete in martial arts (specifically Muay Thai, BJJ and a little mma) which means a major amount of our free time and social lives are linked to our gym (think 4-5 hours per day plus regular social events with the same people). We had been at the a gym for about 2 years when we were abruptly kicked out and banned. Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, it was implied that this was related to my partner being gender fluid and us being ethically non-monogamous. This is further supported by the fact that we had no conflict with anyone in the gym but a couple weeks after it became known we are poly, a mysterious “complaint” was lodged about which we were given no details. The publicly stated reason we were kicked out was “differences in core values”. This whole thing was very emotionally hard on both of us but particularly my partner (he/they) who grew up being hated and rejected for things he could not change about himself. I wanted to go scorched earth but couldn’t without a more explicit statement from them. Unfortunately, I have since learned that this is not uncommon for them. Any member or trainer at the gym who rocks the boat or doesn’t fit the mold will be abruptly cut off and banned. The reasons are always very vague so that no complaints can be brought.
Anyway, this turned into a bit of a long story, if ya’ll have any advice on how to move past it that would be welcome, but I mostly wanted to just share with a group that I feel safe in. Thanks fam, keep being you.
TL:DR partner and I were kicked out of a gym for being poly, bigotry sucks.
submitted by LostUpstairs2255 to polyamory [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 08:43 CloutWithdrawal Solo Trip Report - 4 Days in CDMX

Introduction: Mexico City has been a recent interest of mine ever since the YouTube algorithm started recommending me videos on this mega city. Like most Americans, I was ignorant and incorrectly under the assumption that Mexico City was sketchy and had nothing to offer for travelers other than poverty tourism. However, after watching YouTube videos and reading more about this city, I quickly learned that Mexico City, and Mexico in general, has a very rich culture and history. It also is the biggest city in the Western Hemisphere. I was locked in this point to explore this city so close to home.Booking this trip was very random, I originally booked a vacation to go to EDC Vegas with friends (insanely fun time btw) but I wanted to extend my PTO for the rest of the week after because I was already taking a day off to rest and had the Friday off for MDW.
After exploring other options in the US like possibly other areas in the south west like Utah or Arizona I quickly realized how expensive this would be. Vegas has great prices on flights so I wanted to take advantage of that and go somewhere international, due to my recent interest with Mexico City and how it isn’t too expensive, it just made sense. I booked the flight and hotel instantly so I wouldn’t think too much about it.
I invited some other friends at first and received some maybes, ultimately I knew that this would end up being a solo trip. I have some experience with solo trips, my first one was Hiroshima while I was studying abroad in Tokyo, that trip gave me my first powerful global experience that has ultimately became my goal when i travel now. I also did Denver last summer to see a red rocks show ( stayed in a hostel which ended up being the same price as a decent hotel in CDMX 🤣). I didn’t have much of a structured plan for this trip except to see the historic district and maybe teohiucan if it wasn’t too difficult to get there.
Logistics: I stayed in a Roma Norte hotel from Tuesday Night - Sunday Morning.
Interests: architecture, food, electronic music, nature, history
Day 1: Arrival
I arrived into CDMX around 1045pm via Volaris. The Volaris experience sucks, honestly worse than Spirit lol. For about an hour we were sitting on the runway not moving without AC in the Vegas heat. Apparently this is due to them not having runway rights? Not sure about this but that’s what some googling told me.
For some reason I exchanged usd for pesos at the cash exchange counters instead of using an atm to take out pesos. Not sure why I did because I have travelled internationally and know that ATMs are usually the best options. Whatever, I just took the L there. I called an Uber to my hotel after rejecting many taxi drivers.
I arrived to my hotel hungry and looked for open places to eat that were close to the hotel. I did not want to walk too far as I heard that night time gets sketchy. I ended up finding a taco place right across the street from my hotel so I went there. The place was called Taquería LOS HUARACHINES (ROMA). Ordering was a bit tough due to the language barrier but I got 2 Al pastor tacos, a plate of carne asada with about 5 tortilla, and a Coca Cola. This was an amazing meal and exactly what I wanted. The Al pastor was incredibly juicy and probably were the best tacos I had in my life at this point. I’m currently based in Texas so I’ve had real tacos before but these were just something else. I walked back to my hotel and quickly went to bed.
Day 2: Roma Norte & La Condesa
I had no official plans for this day. I was still tired from EDC Vegas so I woke up pretty late and didn’t get out of the hotel until around 1130-12. Once I did get out, I originally just planned to walk around neighborhood and see what piqued my interest. I started with a coffee. I got an iced coffee as it was hot out, I don’t think iced coffee is a thing anywhere else besides the US so this was also a little harder to order due to language barrier. Luckily someone spoke English at the counter and helped me order.
I began to walk north, I stopped at plaza rio de janiero to smoke a cigarette (I’m not a regular smoker except on vacation and when I go to raves lol). Very cool spot. My first impression of the Roma Norte neighborhood was that it was a nicer, greener, cleaner version of nyc with a European flair.
Next, I ended up at I believe Zona Rosa? It was a pedestrian only area with a lot of shops and restaurants. I stopped in a few shops maybe looking to buy sunglasses or a shirt but ultimately did not. I continued my walk.
I saw there was some sort of park near me called Bosque de Chapultec. I decided that would be my next destination to walk to. I passed the el Angel de la indepencia which was very impressive. I finally got to the park and was wowed by how nice it was. I didn’t know it was such a big destination until I got there and saw there a bunch of museos and vendors set up. I bought a pair of sunglasses as it was bright out and walked around a bit to take it in. Finally, I decided to check out a museum. I chose Museo de Arte Moderno as I wanted to see some art. I much prefer modern art over traditional art too. I really liked this museum and connected with a lot more paintings that I thought I would. About of 1/4 of the way through I realized can use Google translate to read the descriptions for some of the paintings. I wish I took down the artists who created some of these paintings but I think I can find the artists again if I really wanted to.
I went outside to the sculpture garden and this was a little underwhelming tbh. I was also getting hangry so I went through it quick. I decided to get lunch at Los Pancheros as it was nearby and the Google reviews seemed good. I ordered Plato rachero & caldo xochitl. HUGE portions and incredibly good. I really liked the soup though, it was some sort of chicken and rice soup. It took a little bit for the check to come but it finally did and I paid and left.
I ate way too much and I had to lay down somewhere so I went back to the park and found a nice place to lay where other people were. It was some sort of fountain that I can’t find on Google maps but even though it wasn’t exactly “grand” it was very chill and everyone there just seemed relaxed lol. I laid there for about 20-30 mins until I was ready to go again. I saw on Google maps that there was a castle in the park!? I really wanted to see that. I decided to walk in that direction and also passed Lago de Chapultec. Wow that was beautiful, I wish I took my rest time there lol.
I finally got to the castle entrance but they weren’t letting people in anymore as it was too late, damn. I should’ve paid more attention to the times, I didn’t realize all the museums closed at 5. I decided to finish up my park experience and Uber to the historic center just to check it out. However Ubers were very hard to get at this time as it was rush hour and traffic was insane outside the park. I had multiple people cancel on me, I also canceled on someone after seeing how long it would take to pick me up and drop me off to the historic center. I eventually decided just to walk back. It was about an hour walk back so I had to tough it out.
Not much happened on this walk, just continued to take in the city. Stopped at glorieta de Los insugentes to take a break and smoke a cigarette. I felt a little sketched out here due to all the people constantly moving. I was a bit worried about being pick pocketed but I think it was just the tiredness making me anxious. I got out of there relatively quick and made it back to my hotel to rest before dinner.
At this point I decided I wanted to go to teohiucan the next day. I explored my options for getting there and eventually just decided on Uber because I don’t really like being in a group when going to tourist sites as I’m a bit “quirky” and like to take weird routes and repeat some areas a few times I also keep an inconsistent pace so that made the group experience out of the question. I could’ve taken the bus but did not want to deal with the stress that public transit can be in a foreign country lol. For dinner, I made a reservation at the sushi place Makoto as I wanted something other than Mexican food. Fabulous place, I ordered a glass of wine, sushi sampler, and the fatty tuna nigiri.
Day 2: Teohiucan
I woke up somewhat early for this day. I ordered an Uber and was off. It was really interesting to see Mexico City outside the nicer neighborhoods. I think this is what most Americans imagine when they hear Mexico City. It looked like the COD MW2 map Favela. I wondered what life was like in this area of Mexico City. I even saw a ski lift in use to bring people up the mountain to their house maybe?
I got dropped off at Teohiucan and entered in. I skipped breakfast because I assumed they would have something there. I was half right, they had some convenient stores. I just bought a pack of crackers and a electrolit and hoped that would get me through the whole time I was there lol.I walked around all the pyramids, I was hoping to climb them but I saw they were closed for climbing, honestly a good thing, I imagine they were getting a lot of wear and tear from that. I feel like these pyramids are underrated in terms of world wonders. They’re pretty big and the city itself was apparently one of the biggest cities in the world at the time.
My favorite part about this visit was this path that you can take that allowed you to walk on the outside of the main path. It was super peaceful and you got to see the pyramids at different angles with no people around. In terms of my favorite structure, I liked the citadel a lot due to the intricate designs on it. Some random things I liked there were the jardin and the things the vendors were selling that made the animal noises 😂 I thought it was hilarious how everyone was basically spamming it in chat. I should’ve bought one looking back
I was a little anxious about getting an Uber back but I got one relatively quick and got back to my hotel. When I got back I was very hungry and I found this place near my hotel with a deal that gave 5 al pastor tacos and a cervesa for $100 pesos. Amazing deal but then I saw the al pastor looked like it was dry and has been out for awhile. Unfortunately i felt too awkward to leave after sitting, a mistake that I learned from later if you keep reading. However the tacos were still decent. I was still pretty hungry and found a street vendor selling hamburgers, I ordered con queso and it was insanely good. I ate it in a park and then got some churros from Churrería El Moro which were also good.Again I was way too full and had to lie down. I went back to my hotel and took a nap.
When I woke up I was still full but I started experiencing the first signs of montezumas revenge. However it didn’t seem that bad and I wanted to go out for a rooftop drink. I went to Supra Roma. Great vibe. I had to stand by the bar the whole time due to not having reservations but the views were fantastic and the dj was decent too. She was playing house music. I definitely want to bring my friends here if they ever want to come to cdmx. I had 1 cocktail and 2 beers there. Was thinking about talking to people there but mostly everyone was speaking Spanish so I decided not to.
I left and was gonna call it an early night but heard some more house music being played across the street at departmento. I decided why not and paid the cover to check it out. It was ok. Dj was decent but the vibe seemed kind of “basic” other than the music. Nothing too unique about this place, just a terrace playing music with young people hanging out. I had 2 drinks and left and got a torta. I made it back to my hotel around 12am and this when things started to go south unfortunately. Montezumas revenge came back and this time even stronger than earlier. The alcohol definitely did not help. It quickly kept getting worse in terms of cramping and the ability to not go to the bathroom for more than 20 mins. I think it was the Al pastor tacos from earlier today. I did not get much sleep this night and was basically in survival mode lol luckily I had some water bottles to stay hydrated but I knew I would have to venture out to get more eventually. I basically spent the whole night on the toilet or curled up in pain.
Day 3: Recovery
I was hoping I’d feel feel better in the morning and I was somewhat correct. After 12 hours I could walk again although it was definitely difficult. I managed to make it to a farmacia where the pharmacist recommended me treda. I got that and more water + electrolit. It was around 1pm so I sat outside and drank my electrolit to see if I strong enough to do some sort of activity. After about 20 mins of sitting outside I decided I definitely could not and decided to just take the L for today so I could be full strength for tomorrow. I took my treda and was able to get some rest. When I woke up I was still feeling montezumas revenge a little bit but I knew I had to eat something. I ended up using Uber eats to get consomé de pollo from this place called Toks. It seemed like a safe option as it looked like a chain and I assumed chains usually have somewhat good hygiene standards. It ended up being way better than expected and I managed to put down most of it.
After eating, I took a walk to get more electrolit. I was still a little weak so I just went back to the hotel and went to bed. I was a bit bummed I lost a day but anytime you’re in a 3rd world country you should budget a day for stomach issues.
Day 4: Castillo De Chapultepec & Historic Center
I woke up feeling a lot better. It was actually crazy as 24 hours ago I couldn’t even walk straight. I took my treda and headed out. I was debating on if I should go back Chapultepec park to see the castle or if it would take too much time as I was planning to go to the historic center today. I decided to see the castle as I was thinking about it too much to skip it.
I took an Uber there this time and paid the admission. It was definitely worth it. The castle was so beautiful and there was so much history inside. I learned a lot about Mexican history and was able to take in some nice views of the city. My favorite part were the murals inside and the jardin. After, I walked to 7/11 to get more electrolit. I also got pringles as I was hungry but my stomach was still a little rough. From there I ubered to the historic center.
When I got to the historic center I was instantly overstimulated lol. It was a Saturday afternoon so it must’ve been the most popular day. It was a lot bigger than expected too. I didn’t really know where to start so I just started walking. My first stop was actually the adidas store as I needed to get my bearings and am a fan of adidas lol unfortunately there wasn’t much in there though that seemed exclusive. I know in Tokyo they’ll have exclusive stuff but didn’t see anything like that in Mexico City, bit disappointed but otherwise it provided a place for me to take a breath. I got out and started walking towards zocalo plaza.
Zocalo Plaza was just epic. The big Mexican flag with the cathedral behind it had so much swag for lack of a better term lmao it showed off the immense pride that Mexico has for itself. I really liked this area a lot.
I continued walking and ended up at these streets with vendors. This was even more overstimulating than the other areas. So much noise and people. I stopped in a store and got a can coke and kept on trucking along.
I decided to go to palacio de bella artes. I really liked palacio de bella artes as well. The architecture and colors were stunning. The Torre Latinoamericana building was also interesting. I decided to check out the museum inside palacio de Bella artes. At first i thought it was a bit underwhelming. I was not too big of a fan of the murals and it seemed like some areas were closed. I then came across the Dioses y Maquinas exhibit by Santiago Sierra Soler. This exhibit was an “immersive cinema installation” that told the story of the aztecs getting colonized by Spaniards. It was very powerful and really made me understand some of the politics of Mexico. Also globalism in general and how colonization impacted the world. It gave me that powerful global experience that I mentioned before. I think everyone who visits cdmx should experience this exhibit to really wrap your head around the politics of the country and how it became what it is today. When I walked out I began to see the two sides of Mexico, the native side and european side and how they interact with each other.
That exhibit made me want to learn about the Aztecs more so I ended up going to museo del templo mayor. This place was also impressive with countless exhibits about the Aztecs. It’s insane to me how there was an ancient city right under us. By the time I was done there I was getting hungry so ironically I got McDonald’s as my stomach needed something familiar. I got it to go and ate it near the palacio de bella artes. I wanted to go the sears rooftop after but couldn’t find the entrance so I just walked around the surrounding neighborhood. This part reminded me a lot of Manhattan.
I walked through the Barrio Chino and thought it was hilarious tbh. I did not see any Asian people and there wasn’t much Asian culture other than the lanterns i guess lol the restaurants also did not look too good. Cool experience nonetheless.
I ended my walk at a plaza San juan to call an Uber as it was about to start raining. I found the torre de telefons de Telmex structure also super interesting. I made it home and rested before dinner.
For dinner I went to this Argentinan steak house called Gardela. A bit risky after my stomach issues but I wanted to get a nice dinner on my last night. I got a dry aged New York strip and it did not disappoint. I ordered it medium rare but it was a bit more rare than expected. I ate it anyway and was wowed. One of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Amazing service too, can’t recommend this place enough if you want a good steak.
When I got back to my hotel I was having an internal debate if I should go out. I had an early flight and was already pretty tired and full. I decided to go out anyway as it was Saturday night and didn’t get to do anything the day before. I ended up at this techno club called yuyu. Pretty intimate spot. The techno was very good and creative. The crowd was also fun, I had a few shallow conversations with people but nothing deep. Mostly my fault though as I wasn’t making much conversation. I just drank beer, smoked cigarettes, and listened to good electronic music which is a solid night for me. I headed home around 2 and went to bed for my flight.
Closing remarks:I really enjoyed my time in Mexico City. Im not sure what my expectations were for the city but they were definitely exceeded. Definitely an underrated city as there is so much culture and history but I never here much people talk about it in the states. I will definitely be back as I feel like there’s still so much to discover and it was pretty cheap to get there and get lodging.
Not gonna lie though, I was bit nervous going solo here but once I got there most of the anxiety went away. In terms of safety, just be where you’re supposed to be (tourist areas & safe neighborhoods), keep your possessions zipped up, and don’t walk at night. I felt more sketched out in most US cities
submitted by CloutWithdrawal to MexicoCity [link] [comments]

2023.05.30 08:28 CloutWithdrawal Trip Report: 4 Days in Mexico City

Introduction: Mexico City has been a recent interest of mine ever since the YouTube algorithm started recommending me videos on this mega city. Like most Americans, I was ignorant and incorrectly under the assumption that Mexico City was sketchy and had nothing to offer for travelers other than poverty tourism. However, after watching YouTube videos and reading more about this city, I quickly learned that Mexico City, and Mexico in general, has a very rich culture and history. It also is the biggest city in the Western Hemisphere. I was locked in this point to explore this city so close to home.Booking this trip was very random, I originally booked a vacation to go to EDC Vegas with friends (insanely fun time btw) but I wanted to extend my PTO for the rest of the week after because I was already taking a day off to rest and had the Friday off for MDW. After exploring other options in the US like possibly other areas in the south west like Utah or Arizona I quickly realized how expensive this would be. Vegas has great prices on flights so I wanted to take advantage of that and go somewhere international, due to my recent interest with Mexico City and how it isn’t too expensive, it just made sense. I booked the flight and hotel instantly so I wouldn’t think too much about it.
I invited some other friends at first and received some maybes, ultimately I knew that this would end up being a solo trip. I have some experience with solo trips, my first one was Hiroshima while I was studying abroad in Tokyo, that trip gave me my first powerful global experience that has ultimately became my goal when i travel now. I also did Denver last summer to see a red rocks show ( stayed in a hostel which ended up being the same price as a decent hotel in CDMX 🤣). I didn’t have much of a structured plan for this trip except to see the historic district and maybe teohiucan if it wasn’t too difficult to get there.
Logistics: I stayed in a Roma Norte hotel from Tuesday Night - Sunday Morning.
Interests: architecture, food, electronic music, nature, history
Day 1: Arrival
I arrived into CDMX around 1045pm via Volaris. The Volaris experience sucks, honestly worse than Spirit lol. For about an hour we were sitting on the runway not moving without AC in the Vegas heat. Apparently this is due to them not having runway rights? Not sure about this but that’s what some googling told me.
For some reason I exchanged usd for pesos at the cash exchange counters instead of using an atm to take out pesos. Not sure why I did because I have travelled internationally and know that ATMs are usually the best options. Whatever, I just took the L there. I called an Uber to my hotel after rejecting many taxi drivers.
I arrived to my hotel hungry and looked for open places to eat that were close to the hotel. I did not want to walk too far as I heard that night time gets sketchy. I ended up finding a taco place right across the street from my hotel so I went there. The place was called Taquería LOS HUARACHINES (ROMA). Ordering was a bit tough due to the language barrier but I got 2 Al pastor tacos, a plate of carne asada with about 5 tortilla, and a Coca Cola. This was an amazing meal and exactly what I wanted. The Al pastor was incredibly juicy and probably were the best tacos I had in my life at this point. I’m currently based in Texas so I’ve had real tacos before but these were just something else. I walked back to my hotel and quickly went to bed.
Day 2: Roma Norte & La Condesa
I had no official plans for this day. I was still tired from EDC Vegas so I woke up pretty late and didn’t get out of the hotel until around 1130-12. Once I did get out, I originally just planned to walk around neighborhood and see what piqued my interest. I started with a coffee. I got an iced coffee as it was hot out, I don’t think iced coffee is a thing anywhere else besides the US so this was also a little harder to order due to language barrier. Luckily someone spoke English at the counter and helped me order.
I began to walk north, I stopped at plaza rio de janiero to smoke a cigarette (I’m not a regular smoker except on vacation and when I go to raves lol). Very cool spot. My first impression of the Roma Norte neighborhood was that it was a nicer, greener, cleaner version of nyc with a European flair.
Next, I ended up at I believe Zona Rosa? It was a pedestrian only area with a lot of shops and restaurants. I stopped in a few shops maybe looking to buy sunglasses or a shirt but ultimately did not. I continued my walk.
I saw there was some sort of park near me called Bosque de Chapultec. I decided that would be my next destination to walk to. I passed the el Angel de la indepencia which was very impressive. I finally got to the park and was wowed by how nice it was. I didn’t know it was such a big destination until I got there and saw there a bunch of museos and vendors set up. I bought a pair of sunglasses as it was bright out and walked around a bit to take it in. Finally, I decided to check out a museum. I chose Museo de Arte Moderno as I wanted to see some art. I much prefer modern art over traditional art too. I really liked this museum and connected with a lot more paintings that I thought I would. About of 1/4 of the way through I realized can use Google translate to read the descriptions for some of the paintings. I wish I took down the artists who created some of these paintings but I think I can find the artists again if I really wanted to. I went outside to the sculpture garden and this was a little underwhelming tbh. I was also getting hangry so I went through it quick.
I decided to get lunch at Los Pancheros as it was nearby and the Google reviews seemed good. I ordered Plato rachero & caldo xochitl. HUGE portions and incredibly good. I really liked the soup though, it was some sort of chicken and rice soup. It took a little bit for the check to come but it finally did and I paid and left.
I ate way too much and I had to lay down somewhere so I went back to the park and found a nice place to lay where other people were. It was some sort of fountain that I can’t find on Google maps but even though it wasn’t exactly “grand” it was very chill and everyone there just seemed relaxed lol. I laid there for about 20-30 mins until I was ready to go again. I saw on Google maps that there was a castle in the park!? I really wanted to see that. I decided to walk in that direction and also passed Lago de Chapultec. Wow that was beautiful, I wish I took my rest time there lol.
I finally got to the castle entrance but they weren’t letting people in anymore as it was too late, damn. I should’ve paid more attention to the times, I didn’t realize all the museums closed at 5. I decided to finish up my park experience and Uber to the historic center just to check it out. However Ubers were very hard to get at this time as it was rush hour and traffic was insane outside the park. I had multiple people cancel on me, I also canceled on someone after seeing how long it would take to pick me up and drop me off to the historic center. I eventually decided just to walk back. It was about an hour walk back so I had to tough it out.
Not much happened on this walk, just continued to take in the city. Stopped at glorieta de Los insugentes to take a break and smoke a cigarette. I felt a little sketched out here due to all the people constantly moving. I was a bit worried about being pick pocketed but I think it was just the tiredness making me anxious. I got out of there relatively quick and made it back to my hotel to rest before dinner.
At this point I decided I wanted to go to teohiucan the next day. I explored my options for getting there and eventually just decided on Uber because I don’t really like being in a group when going to tourist sites as I’m a bit “quirky” and like to take weird routes and repeat some areas a few times I also keep an inconsistent pace so that made the group experience out of the question. I could’ve taken the bus but did not want to deal with the stress that public transit can be in a foreign country lol. For dinner, I made a reservation at the sushi place Makoto as I wanted something other than Mexican food. Fabulous place, I ordered a glass of wine, sushi sampler, and the fatty tuna nigiri.
Day 2: Teohiucan
I woke up somewhat early for this day. I ordered an Uber and was off. It was really interesting to see Mexico City outside the nicer neighborhoods. I think this is what most Americans imagine when they hear Mexico City. It looked like the COD MW2 map Favela. I wondered what life was like in this area of Mexico City. I even saw a ski lift in use to bring people up the mountain to their house maybe?
I got dropped off at Teohiucan and entered in. I skipped breakfast because I assumed they would have something there. I was half right, they had some convenient stores. I just bought a pack of crackers and a electrolit and hoped that would get me through the whole time I was there lol.I walked around all the pyramids, I was hoping to climb them but I saw they were closed for climbing, honestly a good thing, I imagine they were getting a lot of wear and tear from that. I feel like these pyramids are underrated in terms of world wonders. They’re pretty big and the city itself was apparently one of the biggest cities in the world at the time.
My favorite part about this visit was this path that you can take that allowed you to walk on the outside of the main path. It was super peaceful and you got to see the pyramids at different angles with no people around. In terms of my favorite structure, I liked the citadel a lot due to the intricate designs on it. Some random things I liked there were the jardin and the things the vendors were selling that made the animal noises 😂 I thought it was hilarious how everyone was basically spamming it in chat. I should’ve bought one looking back
I was a little anxious about getting an Uber back but I got one relatively quick and got back to my hotel. When I got back I was very hungry and I found this place near my hotel with a deal that gave 5 al pastor tacos and a cervesa for $100 pesos. Amazing deal but then I saw the al pastor looked like it was dry and has been out for awhile. Unfortunately i felt too awkward to leave after sitting, a mistake that I learned from later if you keep reading. However the tacos were still decent. I was still pretty hungry and found a street vendor selling hamburgers, I ordered con queso and it was insanely good. I ate it in a park and then got some churros from Churrería El Moro which were also good.
Again I was way too full and had to lie down. I went back to my hotel and took a nap. When I woke up I was still full but I started experiencing the first signs of montezumas revenge. However it didn’t seem that bad and I wanted to go out for a rooftop drink.
I went to Supra Roma. Great vibe. I had to stand by the bar the whole time due to not having reservations but the views were fantastic and the dj was decent too. She was playing house music. I definitely want to bring my friends here if they ever want to come to cdmx. I had 1 cocktail and 2 beers there. Was thinking about talking to people there but mostly everyone was speaking Spanish so I decided not to.
I left and was gonna call it an early night but heard some more house music being played across the street at departmento. I decided why not and paid the cover to check it out. It was ok. Dj was decent but the vibe seemed kind of “basic” other than the music. Nothing too unique about this place, just a terrace playing music with young people hanging out. I had 2 drinks and left and got a torta.
I made it back to my hotel around 12am and this when things started to go south unfortunately. Montezumas revenge came back and this time even stronger than earlier. The alcohol definitely did not help. It quickly kept getting worse in terms of cramping and the ability to not go to the bathroom for more than 20 mins. I think it was the Al pastor tacos from earlier today. I did not get much sleep this night and was basically in survival mode lol luckily I had some water bottles to stay hydrated but I knew I would have to venture out to get more eventually. I basically spent the whole night on the toilet or curled up in pain.
Day 3: Recovery
I was hoping I’d feel feel better in the morning and I was somewhat correct. After 12 hours I could walk again although it was definitely difficult. I managed to make it to a farmacia where the pharmacist recommended me treda. I got that and more water + electrolit. It was around 1pm so I sat outside and drank my electrolit to see if I strong enough to do some sort of activity. After about 20 mins of sitting outside I decided I definitely could not and decided to just take the L for today so I could be full strength for tomorrow. I took my treda and was able to get some rest. When I woke up I was still feeling montezumas revenge a little bit but I knew I had to eat something. I ended up using Uber eats to get consomé de pollo from this place called Toks. It seemed like a safe option as it looked like a chain and I assumed chains usually have somewhat good hygiene standards. It ended up being way better than expected and I managed to put down most of it.
After eating, I took a walk to get more electrolit. I was still a little weak so I just went back to the hotel and went to bed. I was a bit bummed I lost a day but anytime you’re in a 3rd world country you should budget a day for stomach issues.
Day 4: Castillo De Chapultepec & Historic Center
I woke up feeling a lot better. It was actually crazy as 24 hours ago I couldn’t even walk straight. I took my treda and headed out. I was debating on if I should go back Chapultepec park to see the castle or if it would take too much time as I was planning to go to the historic center today. I decided to see the castle as I was thinking about it too much to skip it.
I took an Uber there this time and paid the admission. It was definitely worth it. The castle was so beautiful and there was so much history inside. I learned a lot about Mexican history and was able to take in some nice views of the city. My favorite part were the murals inside and the jardin. After, I walked to 7/11 to get more electrolit. I also got pringles as I was hungry but my stomach was still a little rough. From there I ubered to the historic center.
When I got to the historic center I was instantly overstimulated lol. It was a Saturday afternoon so it must’ve been the most popular day. It was a lot bigger than expected too. I didn’t really know where to start so I just started walking. My first stop was actually the adidas store as I needed to get my bearings and am a fan of adidas lol unfortunately there wasn’t much in there though that seemed exclusive. I know in Tokyo they’ll have exclusive stuff but didn’t see anything like that in Mexico City, bit disappointed but otherwise it provided a place for me to take a breath. I got out and started walking towards zocalo plaza.
Zocalo Plaza was just epic. The big Mexican flag with the cathedral behind it had so much swag for lack of a better term lmao it showed off the immense pride that Mexico has for itself. I really liked this area a lot.
I continued walking and ended up at these streets with vendors. This was even more overstimulating than the other areas. So much noise and people. I stopped in a store and got a can coke and kept on trucking along.
I decided to go to palacio de bella artes. I really liked palacio de bella artes as well. The architecture and colors were stunning. The Torre Latinoamericana building was also interesting. I decided to check out the museum inside palacio de Bella artes. At first i thought it was a bit underwhelming. I was not too big of a fan of the murals and it seemed like some areas were closed. I then came across the Dioses y Maquinas exhibit by Santiago Sierra Soler. This exhibit was an “immersive cinema installation” that told the story of the aztecs getting colonized by Spaniards. It was very powerful and really made me understand some of the politics of Mexico. Also globalism in general and how colonization impacted the world. It gave me that powerful global experience that I mentioned before. I think everyone who visits cdmx should experience this exhibit to really wrap your head around the politics of the country and how it became what it is today. When I walked out I began to see the two sides of Mexico, the native side and european side and how they interact with each other.
That exhibit made me want to learn about the Aztecs more so I ended up going to museo del templo mayor. This place was also impressive with countless exhibits about the Aztecs. It’s insane to me how there was an ancient city right under us. By the time I was done there I was getting hungry so ironically I got McDonald’s as my stomach needed something familiar. I got it to go and ate it near the palacio de bella artes. I wanted to go the sears rooftop after but couldn’t find the entrance so I just walked around the surrounding neighborhood. This part reminded me a lot of Manhattan.
I walked through the Barrio Chino and thought it was hilarious tbh. I did not see any Asian people and there wasn’t much Asian culture other than the lanterns i guess lol the restaurants also did not look too good. Cool experience nonetheless. I ended my walk at a plaza San juan to call an Uber as it was about to start raining. I found the torre de telefons de Telmex structure also super interesting. I made it home and rested before dinner.
For dinner I went to this Argentinan steak house called Gardela. A bit risky after my stomach issues but I wanted to get a nice dinner on my last night. I got a dry aged New York strip and it did not disappoint. I ordered it medium rare but it was a bit more rare than expected. I ate it anyway and was wowed. One of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Amazing service too, can’t recommend this place enough if you want a good steak.
When I got back to my hotel I was having an internal debate if I should go out. I had an early flight and was already pretty tired and full. I decided to go out anyway as it was Saturday night and didn’t get to do anything the day before. I ended up at this techno club called yuyu. Pretty intimate spot. The techno was very good and creative. The crowd was also fun, I had a few shallow conversations with people but nothing deep. Mostly my fault though as I wasn’t making much conversation. I just drank beer, smoked cigarettes, and listened to good electronic music which is a solid night for me. I headed home around 2 and went to bed for my flight.
Closing remarks:
I really enjoyed my time in Mexico City. Im not sure what my expectations were for the city but they were definitely exceeded. Definitely an underrated city as there is so much culture and history but I never here much people talk about it in the states. I will definitely be back as I feel like there’s still so much to discover and it was pretty cheap to get there and get lodging. Not gonna lie though, I was bit nervous going solo here but once I got there most of the anxiety went away. In terms of safety, just be where you’re supposed to be (tourist areas & safe neighborhoods), keep your possessions zipped up, and don’t walk at night. I felt more sketched out in most US cities
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2023.05.29 23:36 JoshAsdvgi THE BUFFALO ROCK

THE BUFFALO ROCK
​
THE BUFFALO ROCK
​
A Small stone, which is usually a fossil shell of some kind, is known by the Blackfeet as I-nis'-kim, the buffalo stone.
This object is strong medicine, and, as indicated in some of these stories, gives its possessor great power with buffalo.
The stone is found on the prairie, and the person who succeeds in obtaining one is regarded as very fortunate.
Sometimes a man, who is riding along on the prairie, will hear a peculiar faint chirp, such as a little bird might utter.
The sound he knows is made by a buffalo rock.
He stops and searches on the ground for the rock, and if he cannot find it, marks the place and very likely returns next day, either alone or with others from the camp, to look for it again.
If it is found, there is great rejoicing.
How the first buffalo rock was obtained, and its power made known, is told in the following story.
​
Long ago, in the winter time, the buffalo suddenly disappeared.
The snow was so deep that the people could not move in search of them, for in those days they had no horses.
So the hunters killed deer, elk, and other small game along the river bottoms, and when these were all killed off or driven away, the people began to starve.
One day, a young married man killed a jackrabbit.
He was so hungry that he ran home as fast as he could, and told one of his wives to hurry and get some water to cook it.
While the young woman was going along the path to the river, she heard a beautiful song.
It sounded close by, but she looked all around and could see no one.
The song seemed to come from a cottonwood tree near the path.
Looking closely at this tree she saw a queer rock jammed in a fork, where the tree was split, and with it a few hairs from a buffalo, which had rubbed there.
The woman was frightened and dared not pass the tree.
Pretty soon the singing stopped, and the I-nis'-kim [buffalo rock] spoke to the woman and said: "Take me to your lodge, and when it is dark, call in the people and teach them the song you have just heard.
Pray, too, that you may not starve, and that the buffalo may come back.
Do this, and when day comes, your hearts will be glad."
The woman went on and got some water, and when she came back, took the rock and gave it to her husband, telling him about the song and what the rock had said.
As soon as it was dark, the man called the chiefs and old men to his lodge, and his wife taught them this song.
They prayed, too, as the rock had said should be done.
Before long, they heard a noise far off.
It was the tramp of a great herd of buffalo coming.
Then they knew that the rock was very powerful, and, ever since that, the people have
taken care of it and prayed to it.
​
(( Note.))
— I-nis'-kims are usually small Amtnonites, or sections of Baculites, or sometimes merely oddly shaped nodules of flint.
It is said of them that if an I-nis'-kim is wrapped up and left undisturbed for a long time, it will have young ones; two small stones similar in shape to the original one will be found in the package with it.
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2023.05.29 23:28 ralo_ramone An Otherworldly Scholar [LitRPG, Isekai] - Chapter 7

As the pack of Black Wolves swarmed the Wendigo, Elincia and I crawled behind the ferns trying to get away from the fight. Part of me knew I was being a burden to Elincia. With her night vision and elvish agility, she could probably break through the circle of Black Wolves.
The fight intensified, the chaotic barking of the wolves was deafening and the screeching cries of the Wendigo filled the valley as it clawed and crushed the lesser monsters in its wake.
Suddenly, a Black Wolf landed in front of us. Elincia's eyes were wide open and her face blanched, devoid of the little color it naturally had. The Black Wolf was wounded, its hind legs broken and its ribs exposed like white knives protruding through its skin. Elincia nocked an arrow but she wasn’t fast enough. The wolf let out a long howl before the arrow landed between its eyes.
Elincia’s eyes reflected pure and distilled terror as the Wendigo leaned over the ferns, just by our side, with its eyes fixed on the corpse of the Black Wolf. For a brief moment, the moon lit up the body of the monster. It was a tall bipedal creature with leathery slate-black skin. Its limbs were long and gnarled, and ended in long brackish claws. Its face was covered by an ivory deer-like skull. The slits in the skull revealed two bloodshot eyes that surveyed the surroundings with ill intent.
The System description said that the Wendigo was once a powerful shaman who got turned into a monster by corrupted mana. A shiver ran down my spine as I wondered what kind of unholy metamorphosis had created such a creature.
The Wendigo waded the fern bed, just above our hideout. I could hear the Wendigo’s heavy breathing above my head. The smell of rot was almost unbearable. Elincia covered her mouth with both hands as the creature’s arm touched the ground a few centimeters from my leg. I changed the weight of my body and tried to fold my leg. A twig broke under my hand.
[Awareness]: You have been spotted.
The Wendigo’s eyes snapped directly to Elincia and before I realized what I was doing, I pulled the trigger, shooting point blank directly into the creature’s head. The muzzle flash lit the forest for an instant and my ears rang. The Wendigo stumbled back, burying its claws on a tree to not fall. The creature clung there as the blood poured from its shattered skull.
“Gottem!” I yelled, thinking the Wendigo was as good as dead.
Elincia grabbed the neck of my jacket and pulled me back through the ferns just as the Wendigo raked its claws in a deadly arc just a few centimeters from my face. The creature screeched in anger.
“How in the flying spaghetti monster is that fucker’s alive?!” I said as Elincia pushed me behind a boulder, out of the Wendigo’s reach.
“I don’t know what spell you just used, but stay put.” The woman yelled but her voice came muffled under the insistent ringing in my ears. Luckily, [Awareness] helped piece together what she had said.
Without waiting for any confirmation she turned around and ran through the forest, putting some distance between herself and the Wendigo. Elincia’s bright emerald eyes shone behind the bushes as she nocked an arrow and pointed at the creature. I noted a surge of mana emerging from the woman's body and the arrow head shone with a silvery gleam. She let go and the arrow whistled with an unnaturally high pitch, burying deep into the wendigo's calf.
Piercing Arrow. [Identify] Basic archery skill that improves the projectile’s piercing capacity.
The Wendigo’s screech rocked my spine and I knew I needed to put an end to the fight quickly. If the creature had enough defense to withstand a point blank shot, it should also have similar offensive capabilities.
Ignoring Elincia’s commands, I peeked over the boulder. The forest was pitch-black and the skeletal figure of the Wendigo blended with the trees.
“Come on, Robert, use your head.”
I hoped Elincia’s night vision didn’t make her eyes too sensitive to bright lights.
Pushing the mana out of my body I conjured a cold blue flame in the palm of my hand that illuminated the forest around me. Shredded corpses of a dozen Black Wolves covered the landscape.
The Wendigo stopped in its tracks and turned its head towards the flame of mana in my hand.
“Crap.”
Without hesitation, I raised the muzzle of my shotgun and fired. The spray of metal shredded through the Wendigo’s spidery arm, leaving it hanging from a single tendon. The wound was gruesome but it wasn’t enough to stop it. The Wendigo glared at me and crossed the distance between us in a heartbeat.
With no time to reload, I dropped the shotgun and reached for my knife.
My hand closed around the handle of my knife and set my mana free. A swirl of shining blue particles surrounded me and turned the small knife into a blazing shortsword that lit the forest around me.
[Swordsmanship] injected information directly into my brain. Distance, speed, trajectory. The Wendigo tried to tear me apart but I sidestepped to the right just in time to dodge, then, I hacked diagonally but the mana sword bounced off the Wendigo's healthy arm, leaving only a small scratch.
It was harder than the Elder Black Wolf.
My mana sword was enough to cut the skin of the creature, I only needed more power. I poured even more mana into my knife turning it into a blue beacon in the dark casting the shadows of the forest away. The mana blade grew until it was the length of a two handed sword.
Blood stained the Wendigo’s cracked skull and its wounded arm flailed around lifelessly. It might not be weak to buckshot but it was weak to magic. And I had a lot of magic. The Wendigo followed me with its gleaming red eyes. Its movements were cautious but I didn’t let my guard down. I had to fight defensively. If the monster reached me once, it was over.
Suddenly, an arrow bounced off the Wendigo’s skin. The creature seemed to forget about me because it turned around and bolted towards Elincia. Just as the Black Wolf had attacked me back in the ravine, the Wendigo seemed to prioritize the weaker combatant.
“Run, now!” Elincia yelled at me. She stood her ground, nocking a second arrow and aiming at the three meter tall creature running her way.
“You run!” I replied as I ran behind the Wendigo while [Awareness] fed a stream of information directly into my brain. I couldn’t let it reach Elincia.
There was no time to retrieve and reload my shotgun and no time to experiment with [Mana Manipulation]. I remembered my new skill. [Stun Gaze].
Without even reading the skill’s description, I looked at the Wendigo and activated [Stun Gaze]. The spell hit the creature and bounced back at me. A stabbing pain shot through my eye, and into my brain. I let out a grunt of pain and pressed my free hand against my face.
Skill failed! Wendigo Lv.39 cannot be stunned. [Identify] Your level is too low to perform this action successfully.
[Stun Gaze] seemed to anger the Wendigo because it tried to stop its frantic race towards Elincia, stumbling on its ruined arm and crashing against a tree. I pumped even more mana into my knife and the blade got longer, broader, and heavier. Part of my brain wondered why a mana blade could have weight if the mana itself was weightless, but the wounded screech of the Wendigo silenced my thoughts.
I couldn’t allow fear to paralyze me if I wanted to save Elincia.
[Awareness]: Frightened status, resisted.
I let my mana flow free, further increasing its length until it was hard to wield. Suddenly, I felt as if I had been thrown into an ice-cold pool. A shiver ran down my spine and I knew I couldn’t sustain my technique for long. My mana pool was getting dry.
You have obtained Mana Depletion (Advanced). Temporary
I ignored the system prompt. The Wendigo towered over me and tried to reach me with its sharp claws. I blocked with my mana sword and with a furious strike, I shredded the Wendigo’s claws. The creature staggered back as I waved the sword around like a giant torch on its face.
Another shiver ran down my spine, threatening to lock my joints in place, and I knew I didn’t have much mana left at all.
I used [Stun Gaze] again and braced for the pain. The spell ricocheted back at me and I felt a stabbing sensation in my eye. This time, the Wendigo froze for a millisecond, just enough for my [Swordsmanship] to find an opening. I slashed downward from left to right, putting all my strength in a single attack.
The blade sliced through the Wendigo’s skin, meeting more resistance as it went deeper into the creature’s body until it lodged deep within its chest. Instinctively, I tried to retrieve the sword but it was stuck. I closed my eyes and waited for the Wendigo’s claws to shred my body. But the blow didn’t arrive.
Dark crimson bloom of blood stained the Wendigo's hide, illuminated by the fading light of the mana blade. The Wendigo produced one last weak screech and fell to the ground just as the light of my blade failed.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
You have obtained Mana Depletion (Critical). Temporary
My vision blurred and my legs faltered, the only thing that kept me on foot was the mana sword stuck in the Wendigo’s spine. When my last speck of mana was burned, the blade disappeared and I fell back but before I could hit the ground, Elincia caught me.
“We fucking did it!” Elincia said with a frenzied smile on her face. Then, she wrapped me in a tight hug that pushed all the air out of my lungs. I couldn’t help but notice how strong her arms were.
If I had to guess, she had leveled up a couple of times.
I didn't want the embrace to end but Elincia pushed me back and helped me sit on the forest bed. The moonlight shone a hole in the canopy, casting silver sparkles on her hair. She smiled enthusiastically and patted my back with a little too much strength.
“I swear I thought we were dead, but then you raised the metal thingy and bam! One arm less! You were pretty cool out there.” Elincia beamed. Her chest went up and down at an alarming rate and she had to take a moment to calm down. “I think I’m still a little deaf.” She added with a smile from ear to ear.
Leveling up was a hell of a drug.
“Praise me more.” I rasped as I let out a weak laugh. Both my body and my mana pool felt like a piñata at a children’s party.
Elincia’s expression suddenly became serious and a shadow of embarrassment flirted with her face. “Thanks for not ditching me back there, and I’m sorry if I was too harsh with you. You are a good man, Robert Clarke.”
I didn't know how to answer. It had been quite a while since I had received a compliment and my brain was too tired after being overfed by [Awareness]. I mumbled something unintelligible. Not even [Master of Languages] could help me to find the right words, however, I didn’t have to search more because a sudden prompt slapped my field of vision.
New title acquired!
Hot for Teacher. [Identify] Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad, I’m hot for teacher.
“I’m not a pathetic dude who falls for the first girl that talks nice to me…” I stuttered as my consciousness slowly slipped away. The edges of my sight slowly blurred.
You have obtained Denial Lv.1. Temporary.
“Oh, fuck off.”
Elincia’s worried face floated in front of me. “Rob? Are you okay? If you talk in your weird language I can’t understand.” She said with a hint of panic in her voice.
It might come off as judgmental and foolish, but I didn’t believe in love at first sight. It seemed too frivolous to me. No matter how cute, funny, and caring Elincia was, there was no way I was falling for her. And there was the fact she had a kid and, probably, a husband.
You have obtained Denial Lv.2. Temporary.
I wanted to fight back, fight against the idea I was falling in love, but my mouth couldn’t move anymore. The world around me darkened and my body became too heavy to sit straight. Elincia tried to keep me awake, first softly hitting my cheeks then shaking my shoulders. I tried to growl but no sound came through my lips.
“Rob? Rob? Don’t close your eyes, Rob.” Elincia said.
But I was so tired.
Elincia frantically searched her pouch for a small vial of translucent liquid. She pulled the cork and smelled the contents. Whatever scent she was looking for, it seemed to make the grade. Elincia opened my mouth and poured a drop beneath my tongue. I felt the effects of the potion spreading through my body, filling the hole inside my mana pool if only a little bit.
“Rob?”
The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was Elincia’s concerned voice.
* * * * * *
I woke up with the first rays of sunlight next to the remains of a campfire. More specifically, my [Awareness] skill awakened me with a stream of information filling my brain. The sound of the birds, the position of the sun, my bodily condition. I ignored it all. I felt drained. If a creature wanted to eat me I couldn’t do much to defend myself.
No. I had made the decision to stay in this world, now I had to face the consequences of my actions. Begrudgingly I opened my eyes just to find Elincia sitting on the other side of the campfire, by her side there was my shotgun and my knife.
“Morning.” I greeted, stiffly sitting up and taking a long sip from my water bottle.
“Morning, hero.” She greeted me with one of her mischievous smiles. However, this time I noted a hint of mistrust in her voice.
“Something happened?” I cautiously asked. After receiving that silly title from the System I had dropped like a sack of potatoes. I glanced at Elincia, searching for answers, and I couldn’t help but notice both my weapons were on her side of the campfire.
“Look, I’m not accusing you of lying or anything, but you are not a Scholar.” Elincia said with a conflicted tone. “After what you did to the Wendigo last night I know you have a fairly high level. What are you really? A Runeblade? A Spellblade?”
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.
Elincia’s bow rested on her lap.
“Killing a Wendigo isn’t a feat a low level Scholar could achieve, I’m not that dumb. So tell me what those skills were.” Elincia replied pointing at my weapons. “Your explosive spell pierced through the Wendigo’s skin but Scholars can’t learn Elemental magic. Much less such powerful spells. Same goes for your [Mana Blade]. That’s a Spellblade skill, not a Scholar skill.”
I stretched my back and drank another sip from my water bottle while [Awareness] filled my brain with information. Elincia’s accusations revealed that she couldn’t peek into my status screen. It was a relief to know the System had some sort of privacy settings in place considering my last title, but privacy also made things more difficult.
“The artifact you have next to you is called a shotgun. It is a non-magical item that shoots high speed metal pellets created by a… Tinkerer.” I explained but Elincias facial gesture still showed doubts. “You probably tried to use it but it doesn’t have ammo in it. You can’t shoot a bow without an arrow nor can you shoot a shotgun without one of these.” I added pulling one of the remaining two shells from my pocket.
“Explain.” She said.
Next, I proceeded to explain how to operate the shotgun. Elincia opened the barrels and I explained how the explosive powder sent the pellets through the barrel at ridiculously high speeds.
“I’m not going to perform a demonstration because I only have two shells left. Without ammo, a shotgun is as good as a club.” I said as Elincia tried the mechanism without a shell inside the chamber. Bow and arrow safety might be similar to trigger discipline because Elincia kept the muzzle away from any of us and only put the finger on the trigger when she was going to shoot.
“What about the [Mana Blade]? There is no way your knife is a magic item, no matter how much mana I poured into it I couldn’t make it work.” Elincia continued with the interrogation.
“What do you mean? That was [Mana Manipulation].” I replied, summoning a small mana knife in the palm of my hand with the leftover magic power I had. Elincia’s mouth gaped.
“You are mana depleted! You are not supposed to be able to do that!” The half-elf woman jumped on her feet. “You can’t materialize a magic blade without the proper skill!”
I shrugged my shoulders and shaped a second mana knife.
I already suspected that my mana pool was something out of the ordinary and now I knew to what degree. The amount of mana I had was probably thanks to the System. The thought of telling her about my world crossed my mind. A world without magic, without classes, and without skills. A world where one had to practice for years and years to become minimally proficient at any task. I wanted to tell Elincia about the marvels of the modern world but I feared she took it as the words of a madman.
People who claimed to have traveled to other dimensions were deemed crazy back on Earth. In these lands it couldn't be much different. For Elincia, a systemless world might sound like a thing from fantasy.
In another situation I would’ve dismissed the allegations calling them baseless, however, deep down I wanted Elincia to believe in me. I scratched my chin, deep in thought. Actually, there was something I could try that might prove that I was a Scholar.
I used [Identify] on her.
Name: Elincia Rosebud, Half-Elf (Light-Footed, Night Vision).
Class: Alchemist Lv.26
Titles: Governess, Wild Child, Bad Reputation, Loner, Copper Alchemist, Favorite Teacher (5).
Passive: Archery Lv.3, Tracking Lv.5, Farsight Lv.1, Foraging Lv.5, Purify Water.
Skills: Potion Crafting Lv.3, True Shot Lv.1, Piercing Shot Lv.1.
Elincia’s potion pouch hit my face before I could react, breaking the skill contact and vanishing her character sheet.
“Hey! Are you identifying me?” She said in an unusually high pitch.
The half-elf cheeks were fiery red, contrasting with her usual paleness. While her hand searched for another projectile to throw in my direction, I pondered about my findings. Elincia’s skills and passives were fairly low level compared to her class level. It was possible both numbers were independent from each other. Class level might rise by gaining experience from monsters while passives and skills might grow by mastering said skills.
A twig hit my forehead, crashing my train of thought. At least I had discovered the etiquette regarding identifying other people. Despite the fact I would’ve died of shame if someone saw my titles, I tried to identify Elincia one more time as vengeance for the twig.
“Okay, okay, okay! You are a Scholar, I believe you! I’ll fulfill my part of the bargain. I’ll take you to Farcrest.” Elincia said, trying to regain some composure. She was still red as a beet. “But that doesn’t mean I completely trust you, hero.”
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2023.05.29 20:53 JoshAsdvgi The Boy Magician

The Boy Magician
​
The Boy Magician
​
In the heart of the wilderness there lived an old woman and her little grandson.
The two found no lack of occupation from day to day, the woman busying herself with cooking and cleaning and the boy with shooting and hunting.
The grandmother frequently spoke of the time when the child would grow up and go out into the world.
"Always go to the east," she would say.
"Never go to the west, for there lies danger."
But what the danger was she would not tell him, in spite of his importunate questioning. Other boys went west, he thought to himself, and why should not he?
Nevertheless his grandmother made him promise that he would not go west.
Years passed by, and the child grew to be a man, though he still retained the curiosity and high spirits of his boyhood.
His persistent inquiries drew from the old grandmother a reluctant explanation of her
warning.
"In the west," said she, "there dwells a being who is anxious to do us harm.
If he sees you it will mean death for both of us."
This statement, instead of frightening the young Indian, only strengthened in him a secret resolution he had formed to go west on the first opportunity.
Not that he wished to bring any misfortune on his poor old grandmother, any more than on himself, but he trusted to his strong arm and clear head to deliver them from their enemy. So with a laugh on his lips he set off to the west.
Toward evening he came to a lake, where he rested.
He had not been there long when he heard a voice saying: "Aha, my fine fellow, I see you!"
The youth looked all round him, and up into the sky above, but he saw no one.
"I am going to send a hurricane," the mysterious voice continued, "to break your grandmother's hut to pieces.
How will you like that?" "Oh, very well," answered the young man gaily.
"We are always in need of firewood, and now we shall have plenty."
"Go home and see," the voice said mockingly.
"I daresay you will not like it so well."
Nothing daunted, the young adventurer retraced his steps.
As he neared home a great wind sprang up, seeming to tear the very trees out by the roots.
"Make haste!" cried the grandmother from the doorway.
"We shall both be killed!"
When she had drawn him inside and shut the door she scolded him heartily for his disobedience, and bewailed the fate before them.
The young man soothed her fears, saying: "Don't cry, grandmother.
We shall turn the lodge into a rock, and so we shall be saved."
Having some skill in magic, he did as he had said, and the hurricane passed harmlessly over their heads.
When it had ceased they emerged from their retreat, and found an abundance of firewood all round them.
Next day the youth was on the point of setting off toward the west once more, but the urgent entreaties of his grandmother moved him to proceed eastward--for a time.
Directly he was out of sight of the lodge he turned his face once more to the west.
Arrived at the lake, he heard the voice once more, though its owner was still invisible.
"I am going to send a great hailstorm on your grandmother's hut," it said.
"What do you think of that?"
"Oh," was the response, "I think I should like it.
I have always wanted a bundle of spears."
"Go home and see," said the voice.
Away the youth went through the woods.
The sky became darker and darker as he neared his home, and just as he was within a bowshot of the little hut a fierce hailstorm broke, and he thought he would be
killed before he reached shelter.
"Alas!" cried the old woman when he was safely indoors, "we shall be destroyed this time. How can we save ourselves?"
Again the young man exercised his magic powers, and transformed the frail hut into a hollow rock, upon which the shafts of the hailstorm spent themselves in vain.
At last the sky cleared, the lodge resumed its former shape, and the young man saw a multitude of sharp, beautiful spear-heads on the ground.
"I will get poles," said he, "to fit to them for fishing."
When he returned in a few minutes with the poles he found that the spears had vanished.
"Where are my beautiful spears?" he asked his grandmother.
"They were only ice-spears," she replied.
"They have all melted away."
The young Indian was greatly disappointed, and wondered how he could avenge himself on the being who had played him this malicious trick.
"Be warned in time," said the aged grandmother, shaking her head at him.
"Take my advice and leave him alone."
But the youth's adventurous spirit impelled him to see the end of the matter, so he took a stone and tied it round his neck for a charm, and sought the lake once again.
Carefully observing the direction from which the voice proceeded, he saw in the middle of the lake a huge head with a face on every side of it.
"Aha! uncle," he exclaimed, "I see you! How would you like it if the lake dried up?"
"Nonsense!" said the voice angrily, "that will never happen."
"Go home and see," shouted the youth, mimicking the mocking tone the other had adopted on the previous occasions.
As he spoke he swung his charmed stone round his head and threw it into the air.
As it descended it grew larger and larger, and the moment it entered the lake the water began to boil.
The boy returned home and told his grandmother what he had done.
"It is of no use," said she.
"Many have tried to slay him, but all have perished in the attempt."
Next morning our hero went westward again, and found the lake quite dry, and the animals in it dead, with the exception of a large green frog, who was in reality the malicious being who had tormented the Indian and his grandmother.
A quick blow with a stick put an end to the creature, and the triumphant youth bore the good news to his old grandmother, who from that time was left in peace and quietness.
submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 19:15 M_Tootles The Recursive Homecomings Of Petyr & Theon Part 7: Sights-Seen While Sight-Seeing (Spoilers Extended)

This post is part of a series looking at the massive amount of 'rhyming' (and occasionally rhyming) recursivity I believe exists between (a) the homecoming of Petyr Baelish to the Fingers and (b) the homecoming of Theon Greyjoy to Pyke.
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
NOTE: In what follows, all uncited quotes are from ASOS Sansa VI, which describes Petyr's homecoming to his "Drearfort" tower of the 'Smallest Finger', or ACOK Theon I, which describes Theon's homecoming to "drear" Pyke.
As in past posts, I sometimes use "→" as shorthand for "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
This post picks up straight-away from where Part 6 left off. You can read Part 6 [HERE].
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE]. The other posts in this (sub)series are indexed at the link.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…
To me, much of that language from Petyr's 'sight-seeing tour' feels immediately like a kaleidoscopic, 'rhyming' recursion of what he read when Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by:
The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
In an appendix, I attempt to map out in detail how this 'rhyming' works, but it's my hope that having read those passages, you can already 'smell' the 'rhyming', such that the appendix is skimmable overkill underlining a mostly-obvious point.
Here I'll just note a few highlights (all of which are further explained in the appendix):
  • "bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" [on which the Greyjoys and their servants live] ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog"
  • three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale
    "three bare…" → "thirty feet…" [see: 'bare feet']
  • "the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
    Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest. (TWOIAF)
  • "the angry waves foamed and crashed among… a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple" created when those "angry waves… hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed… [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past

All That Remained

We're told that three rock islands and twelve stacks of rock, likened to "some sea god's temple", were "all that remained" of Pyke's sword-shaped penisula after the angry waves "hammered" it:
All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
This 'rhymes' first of all with Petyr's boulder "chiseled [with] the seven-pointed star of the new gods" being all that remains to "mark… the place… the Andals had landed" with their steel swords.
But it also 'rhymes' with and prefigures the "hermit's cave" (another rock formation!) being all that remains of the hermit that used to live on Petyr's land:
There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now…."
Notice that the Greyjoy rock formations (a) number three and twelve, which are highly significant numbers in Christianity (twelve apostles, holy trinity), and (b) are likened to "some sea god's temple". Petyr's hermit's cave thus 'answers' Pyke's 'temple', because hermits are traditionally associated with religion, especially Christianity. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit.)

Remained → Rained?

Consider also the lines that set the stage for the sight-seeing 'field trip' Petyr takes Sansa:
It was eight long days until Lysa Arryn arrived. On five of them it rained, while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old blind dog.
Compare with the line about the sea god's "temple":
All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
  • Three barren islands remained → On five days of eight it rained (such that three rain-free — i.e. 'barren' — days remained)
  • Angry waves foamed and crashed → days of rain + (mad, angry) Lysa Arryn (and her "storms") arrived
  • structure: "while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old dog"
    "foamed and crashed" → "sat bored and restless"
    "among them" → "by the fire, beside the old dog"
  • numbers: three, twelve → eight, five

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport

After Theon takes in the sight of castle Pyke from the deck of the Myraham, he goes below deck, where he makes the captain's daughter swallow his "seed". He then tells her he'll be leaving her behind when they reach shore and goes back up on deck to take in the sight of Lordsport:
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.
Notice that Theon is pretty much explicitly sight seeing there (inasmuch as he "moved to the bow for a better view".)
Where Theon leaves the captain's daughter, whom he's grown bored of, to (in effect) go sight-seeing (which causes her to start crying), Petyr relieves the Hand's daughter's boredom by taking her sight-seeing (after it stops raining):
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.
Theon's view as he comes on deck to survey the approach to Lordsport seems to (further) inform some of the things Petyr sees when walks around his rocky holding holdings with Sansa. Compare this—
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.
—and this:
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.
I'll detail this 'rhyme' in an appendix, but I hope you can already smell it. The bottom line(s):
  • "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (where his holding are a rocky point)
  • "Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
    tacking (cog) → tacky → sticky → peat bog (sticky place to get stuck)

Lords Botley & Baelish

Theon then sees the castle of Lord Botley:
He saw the castle first, the stronghold of the Botleys. When he was a boy it had been timber and wattle, but Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground. Lord Sawane had rebuilt in stone, for now a small square keep crowned the hill. Pale green flags drooped from the squat corner towers, each emblazoned with a shoal of silvery fish.
The sight of the stone castle causes Theon to remember something from his boyhood that isn't there anymore (i.e. Lord Botley's old timber and wattle tower), much as the sight of the hermit's cave reminds Petyr of the hermit from his boyhood. And just as Petyr's hermit is missing, so is Lord Botley, who Theon think might come to meet him—
As the Myraham made her way landward, Theon paced the deck restlessly, scanning the shore. He had not thought to find Lord Balon himself at quayside, but surely his father would have sent someone to meet him. Sylas Sourmouth the steward, Lord Botley, perhaps even Dagmer Cleftjaw.
—but who does not.
Where Theon's sight-seeing entails a keep "rebuilt in stone" that triggers memories of Robert Baratheon's invasion, Petyr's sight-seeing entails a chiseled boulder that marks the spot of the Andal invasion of the Vale.
Where the first thing Theon sees as he approaches port is a "small" stone keep with "squat" towers, the first thing Petyr points out to Sansa as they approach land is his own "small", three-story stone tower.
It also 'just so happens' that Lord Botley's sigil—
a shoal of silvery fish on pale green
—prefigures both Petyr's current sigil—
a field of silver mockingbirds on green
—and, by virtue of being "pale green", the "light green" of Petyr's grandfather's sigil as well.
Lord Botley's name, "Sawane", reads almost like a phonetic spelling of [Samhain]. Given the 'rhyme' between the Botley and Baelish arms, this simply piles more fuel on the fire of Littlefinger being involved in some kind of religious heresy. (See my Littlefinger is Hoare-ish series.)
Finally, I wonder whether this line re: Botley's tower—
Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground.
—may have informed this description of Baelish Tower:
A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower, grazing on the thin grass that grew between the sheepfold and thatched stable. Sansa had to step carefully; there were pellets everywhere.

Dubious Protection, Animal-Ridden, Aswarm With Sh__.

The next line of ACOK Theon I continues the prefiguration of Petyr's homecoming — including quite specifically those "pellets everywhere" — in all kinds of ways:
Beneath the dubious protection of the fish-ridden little castle lay the village of Lordsport, its harbor aswarm with ships.
Where Lordsport is "aswarm with ships", the Drearfort's yard is aswarm with shit, so to speak. (Sheepshit.)
Where Botley's is a "fish-ridden little castle", the Drearfort has recently been rid of six of its sheep—
How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
—and it's a 'dog-ridden little castle' for certain:
Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.
Where Botley's stronghold offers "dubious protection", "guard" duty at the Drearfort is carried out by the 'dubious' tandem of an eighty-year old man and his dogs—
He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …
"…Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."
—dogs who are 'dubious protectors' of the very thing they're supposed to protect most: Petyr's "vast herds" of sheep:
"There was nine and twenty [sheep], but Bryen's dogs killed one…."

Invasions & The Faith

As Theon's sight-seeing continues, we are told all about Robert's invasion:
When last he'd seen Lordsport, it had been a smoking wasteland, the skeletons of burnt longships and smashed galleys littering the stony shore like the bones of dead leviathans, the houses no more than broken walls and cold ashes. After ten years, few traces of the war remained.
The reference to "leviathans" (i.e. whales) on "the stony shore" prefigures the whale-like "blowhole" on Petyr's (verbatim) "stony shore".
And where "few traces" of Robert's invasion "remained… after ten years", after thousands of years, "few traces" remain of the Andal invasion: just the boulder "chiseled" with "the seven-pointed star of the new gods" on Petyr's own bleak, desolate, unpopulated shore.
That chiseled holy boulder is prefigured by what Theon sees next: "cut stone" and the foundation of an abandoned sept.
The smallfolk had built new hovels with the stones of the old, and cut fresh sod for their roofs. A new inn had risen beside the landing, twice the size of the old one, with a lower story of cut stone and two upper stories of timber. The sept beyond had never been rebuilt, though; only a seven-sided foundation remained where it had stood. Robert Baratheon's fury had soured the ironmen's taste for the new gods, it would seem.
Just as the Faithful of the Seven have abandoned their sept, so have the holy warriors who chiseled the "star of the new gods" on Petyr's boulder long since moved on. (Nor is there any sign of the Faith at the Drearfort nor once Littlefinger accedes to rule the Eyrie.)
(Do the "hovels" of the smallfolk here presage the "huts" of Petyr's smallfolk, as well? The "new hovels" being "built… with the stones of the old" 'rhymes' with the "huts" on the Smallest Finger being made of "piled stone". And the "fresh sod" on their roofs 'rhymes' with the "peat bog" beside the Baelish "huts".)

Spiraling Recursion

Yes, I know: I'm pointing out multiple prefigurations and resonances for many things. E.g. Theon sees his dozen stacks of rock, then his dozen fishing boats, and both vignettes resonate with Petyr's dozen families and their huts, as do the hovels of Lordsport with their fresh sod roofs, perhaps. But that's the point, I think. The books are constantly recursive. Spirals upon spirals! There's a reason the triple spiral of House Massey — a house with almost no role in the story prior to ADWD — is singled out as "an ancient sigil for an ancient house" in TWOW Theon I. I suspect spirals are where it all began, in a way, in that recursivity is the core of GRRM's project in ASOIAF. The Song is all about 'rhyming'.

END

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 8: Sylas Sourmouth & Silas Marner; Theon's Uncle & Petyr's Hermit; Petyr Pan & Wendamyr Darling

APPENDIX TO MAIN POST

Appendix

This appendix will further breakdown and detail a few major 'rhymes' between Theon's sight-seeing trips to the deck of the Myraham and Petyr's sight-seeing tour of his lands, as mentioned in the main body of the post. It's hopefully superfluous overkill as regards establishing the general resonance between the passages in question, but it may nevertheless be of interest to those interested in going down the rabbit-hole, so to speak.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by, we read:
The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…
In what follows, I'll map some ways in which the bolded language from Petyr's homecoming feels like it could be a kaleidoscopic recursion of the bolded langauge from Theon's homecoming.
(Again, in what follows, "→" means "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".)

A Dozen Stacks of Rock, A Dozen Huts of Piled Stone

"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
How so?
Consider…
bare and barren islands → farther inland
  • islands → inland
  • bar- and bar- → far-
  • bare and (furthermore a.k.a. farthermore) barren → farther
  • thus: bare and barren islands → farther inland
towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone
  • towering ≈ towers → huts
  • stacks of rock ≈ piles of stone → piled stone
  • thus: towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone
a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone
  • a dozen → a dozen
  • towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone (see above)
  • families (Greyjoy and servants) live on those towering stacks of rock
  • thus: a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone
the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  • the "stacks of rock that rose from the water" ≈ the stacks of rock rose from the sea
  • "huts of piled stone beside a peat bog" ≈ the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  • thus: the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
And thus…
"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

The Stacks of Rock Come Round Again

  • "towering stacks of rock" (where 'stacks' connotes money/wealth and where it sounds like rocks are stacked like coins) → Petyr "owned a lot of rocks"
  • "a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" → "the tide came jetting up… to shoot [as if fired from a gun] thirty feet into the air"
    "dozen" → "thirty"
    "rock" & "water" → (implied) fire & "air"
    "rock that rose from the water" → "tide came jetting up… into the air"

Three & Thirty

  • "three bare…" → "thirty feet…"
    three → thirty
    bare → feet [as in 'bare feet']
  • three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale

Angry Waves & Andals

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
How so?
Consider…
  • "the angry waves" → the Andals… came across the sea"
    confirmed by the wave of Andal conquest in TWOIAF:
    Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest.
  • "foamed and crashed" → "to wrest"
  • "them" = Pyke's "towering stacks of rock" on which ironborn kings live → the mountainous Vale in which First Men kings lived
And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"

Angry Waves & Andals 2

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"
How so?
Consider…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"
  • "the angry waves" → the Andals, who "came across the sea"
  • "crashed" → "landed" ('crash-landed')
  • thus: "the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"
Consider also…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" = the angry waves crashed among…
…a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple…
…created when the angry waves…
…hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past.
  • the angry waves "hammered" → the Andals "chiseled"
  • "point of land" → "pointed star"
  • Pyke's "point of land" was "hammered" into a dozen stacks of rock → Petyr's boulder was "chiseled" with a seven-pointed star
  • "some sea god" → "the new gods"
  • "some sea god's temple" → the sign "of the new gods"
  • one (point), three (islands), a dozen (stacks) → seven (sacred numbers)
  • thus: "the angry waves… hammered… the point of land" into "a dozen… stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple… thousands of years past…" ➔ "the Andals… chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past per ADWD Jaime I:
    Only no one knows when the Andals crossed the narrow sea. The True History says four thousand years have passed since then, but some maesters claim that it was only two. (ADWD Jaime I)
And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport Redux

In the body of the essay, I talked about how this bit of Theon's approach to Lordsport—
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.
—prefigures in particular two passages from Petyr's sight-seeing tour:
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.
Consider:
"The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (a rocky point)
  • The Myraham carries Theon and the captain's daughter
  • Theon & the captain's daughter (child-groomer and his prey) → Petyr & Sansa (child-groomer and his prey)
  • thus: The Myraham → Petyr & Sansa
  • "The Myraham was rounding…" → "Petyr walked with her [Sansa] around…"
  • Petyr's "holdings" ≈ "He owned a lot of rocks" ≈ rocky, and…
  • Petyr's "holdings" ≈ the Smallest Finger, and…
  • the Smallest Finger ≈ a point of land, and fingers point, so…
  • Petyr's "holdings" ≈ a rocky point
  • a wooded point → a rocky point, so…
  • "a wooded point" → "his holdings" (a rocky point)
  • thus: "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her around his holdings" (a rocky point)
And consider:
"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
There's a fair bit of overdetermination here.
  • a dozen fishing boats → a dozen families
  • pulling in their nets → liv[ing] in [their] huts
  • a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets → a dozen families living in their huts
  • "huts of piled stone" ≈ piled stone huts, so…
  • pine-clad bluffs → piled stone huts
  • a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine-clad bluffs → a dozen families living in their piled stone huts
    Given that "Bog devils" are fishing geniuses who wield nets…
  • fishing (boats) and/or nets → peat bogs
  • pine-clad bluffs → peat bog
  • thus: "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" → a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside a peat bog
    But also re:
    The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.
  • big cog → peat bog
  • b-ig c-og → bog
  • tacking ≈ tacky ≈ sticky ≈ getting stuck
  • bog ≈ place to get stuck:
    Sansa shuddered. They had been twelve days crossing the Neck, rumbling down a crooked causeway through an endless black bog, and she had hated every moment of it. [I]f you were stupid enough to leave the causeway to pluck them, there were quicksands waiting to suck you down…. (Note the literal rhyming wordplay: pluck/suck.) (AGOT Sansa I)
    "The bogs here are impenetrable, full of quicksands and suckholes (lol)…. To assault any of the towers, an army would need to wade through waist-deep black muck…." (AGOT Catelyn VIII)
  • so: big cog tacking → peat bog
  • the big cog tacking "stayed well out" from the fishing boats → the peat bog being "farther inland"
    but also…
  • The fishing boats being perforce well in (toward land) from the big cog → the families huts lying "farther inland" besides the peat bog
    Thus we might say…
  • Well in from the tacking big cog, "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" ➔ Farther inland, beside the peat bog, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts
    and/or…
  • The big cog stayed well out from the dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine clad bluffs ➔ Farther inland, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside the peat bog
Anyway, however you care to slice it, this—
"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking."
—can be read as 'rhyming' with and recursively prefiguring this:
"Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

END APPENDIX

submitted by M_Tootles to asoiaf [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 19:13 M_Tootles The Recursive Homecomings Of Petyr & Theon Part 7: Sights-Seen While Sight-Seeing (Spoilers TWOW)

This post is part of a series looking at the massive amount of 'rhyming' (and occasionally rhyming) recursivity I believe exists between (a) the homecoming of Petyr Baelish to the Fingers and (b) the homecoming of Theon Greyjoy to Pyke.
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
NOTE: In what follows, all uncited quotes are from ASOS Sansa VI, which describes Petyr's homecoming to his "Drearfort" tower of the 'Smallest Finger', or ACOK Theon I, which describes Theon's homecoming to "drear" Pyke.
As in past posts, I sometimes use "→" as shorthand for "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
This post picks up straight-away from where Part 6 left off. You can read Part 6 [HERE].
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE]. The other posts in this (sub)series are indexed at the link.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…
To me, much of that language from Petyr's 'sight-seeing tour' feels immediately like a kaleidoscopic, 'rhyming' recursion of what he read when Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by:
The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
In an appendix, I attempt to map out in detail how this 'rhyming' works, but it's my hope that having read those passages, you can already 'smell' the 'rhyming', such that the appendix is skimmable overkill underlining a mostly-obvious point.
Here I'll just note a few highlights (all of which are further explained in the appendix):
  • "bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" [on which the Greyjoys and their servants live] ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog"
  • three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale
    "three bare…" → "thirty feet…" [see: 'bare feet']
  • "the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
    Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest. (TWOIAF)
  • "the angry waves foamed and crashed among… a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple" created when those "angry waves… hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed… [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past

All That Remained

We're told that three rock islands and twelve stacks of rock, likened to "some sea god's temple", were "all that remained" of Pyke's sword-shaped penisula after the angry waves "hammered" it:
All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
This 'rhymes' first of all with Petyr's boulder "chiseled [with] the seven-pointed star of the new gods" being all that remains to "mark… the place… the Andals had landed" with their steel swords.
But it also 'rhymes' with and prefigures the "hermit's cave" (another rock formation!) being all that remains of the hermit that used to live on Petyr's land:
There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now…."
Notice that the Greyjoy rock formations (a) number three and twelve, which are highly significant numbers in Christianity (twelve apostles, holy trinity), and (b) are likened to "some sea god's temple". Petyr's hermit's cave thus 'answers' Pyke's 'temple', because hermits are traditionally associated with religion, especially Christianity. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit.)

Remained → Rained?

Consider also the lines that set the stage for the sight-seeing 'field trip' Petyr takes Sansa:
It was eight long days until Lysa Arryn arrived. On five of them it rained, while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old blind dog.
Compare with the line about the sea god's "temple":
All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
  • Three barren islands remained → On five days of eight it rained (such that three rain-free — i.e. 'barren' — days remained)
  • Angry waves foamed and crashed → days of rain + (mad, angry) Lysa Arryn (and her "storms") arrived
  • structure: "while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "while Sansa sat bored and restless by the fire, beside the old dog"
    "foamed and crashed" → "sat bored and restless"
    "among them" → "by the fire, beside the old dog"
  • numbers: three, twelve → eight, five

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport

After Theon takes in the sight of castle Pyke from the deck of the Myraham, he goes below deck, where he makes the captain's daughter swallow his "seed". He then tells her he'll be leaving her behind when they reach shore and goes back up on deck to take in the sight of Lordsport:
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.
Notice that Theon is pretty much explicitly sight seeing there (inasmuch as he "moved to the bow for a better view".)
Where Theon leaves the captain's daughter, whom he's grown bored of, to (in effect) go sight-seeing (which causes her to start crying), Petyr relieves the Hand's daughter's boredom by taking her sight-seeing (after it stops raining):
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.
Theon's view as he comes on deck to survey the approach to Lordsport seems to (further) inform some of the things Petyr sees when walks around his rocky holding holdings with Sansa. Compare this—
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.
—and this:
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.
I'll detail this 'rhyme' in an appendix, but I hope you can already smell it. The bottom line(s):
  • "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (where his holding are a rocky point)
  • "Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
    tacking (cog) → tacky → sticky → peat bog (sticky place to get stuck)

Lords Botley & Baelish

Theon then sees the castle of Lord Botley:
He saw the castle first, the stronghold of the Botleys. When he was a boy it had been timber and wattle, but Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground. Lord Sawane had rebuilt in stone, for now a small square keep crowned the hill. Pale green flags drooped from the squat corner towers, each emblazoned with a shoal of silvery fish.
The sight of the stone castle causes Theon to remember something from his boyhood that isn't there anymore (i.e. Lord Botley's old timber and wattle tower), much as the sight of the hermit's cave reminds Petyr of the hermit from his boyhood. And just as Petyr's hermit is missing, so is Lord Botley, who Theon think might come to meet him—
As the Myraham made her way landward, Theon paced the deck restlessly, scanning the shore. He had not thought to find Lord Balon himself at quayside, but surely his father would have sent someone to meet him. Sylas Sourmouth the steward, Lord Botley, perhaps even Dagmer Cleftjaw.
—but who does not.
Where Theon's sight-seeing entails a keep "rebuilt in stone" that triggers memories of Robert Baratheon's invasion, Petyr's sight-seeing entails a chiseled boulder that marks the spot of the Andal invasion of the Vale.
Where the first thing Theon sees as he approaches port is a "small" stone keep with "squat" towers, the first thing Petyr points out to Sansa as they approach land is his own "small", three-story stone tower.
It also 'just so happens' that Lord Botley's sigil—
a shoal of silvery fish on pale green
—prefigures both Petyr's current sigil—
a field of silver mockingbirds on green
—and, by virtue of being "pale green", the "light green" of Petyr's grandfather's sigil as well.
Lord Botley's name, "Sawane", reads almost like a phonetic spelling of [Samhain]. Given the 'rhyme' between the Botley and Baelish arms, this simply piles more fuel on the fire of Littlefinger being involved in some kind of religious heresy. (See my Littlefinger is Hoare-ish series.)
Finally, I wonder whether this line re: Botley's tower—
Robert Baratheon had razed that structure to the ground.
—may have informed this description of Baelish Tower:
A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower, grazing on the thin grass that grew between the sheepfold and thatched stable. Sansa had to step carefully; there were pellets everywhere.

Dubious Protection, Animal-Ridden, Aswarm With Sh__.

The next line of ACOK Theon I continues the prefiguration of Petyr's homecoming — including quite specifically those "pellets everywhere" — in all kinds of ways:
Beneath the dubious protection of the fish-ridden little castle lay the village of Lordsport, its harbor aswarm with ships.
Where Lordsport is "aswarm with ships", the Drearfort's yard is aswarm with shit, so to speak. (Sheepshit.)
Where Botley's is a "fish-ridden little castle", the Drearfort has recently been rid of six of its sheep—
How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
—and it's a 'dog-ridden little castle' for certain:
Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.
Where Botley's stronghold offers "dubious protection", "guard" duty at the Drearfort is carried out by the 'dubious' tandem of an eighty-year old man and his dogs—
He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …
"…Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."
—dogs who are 'dubious protectors' of the very thing they're supposed to protect most: Petyr's "vast herds" of sheep:
"There was nine and twenty [sheep], but Bryen's dogs killed one…."

Invasions & The Faith

As Theon's sight-seeing continues, we are told all about Robert's invasion:
When last he'd seen Lordsport, it had been a smoking wasteland, the skeletons of burnt longships and smashed galleys littering the stony shore like the bones of dead leviathans, the houses no more than broken walls and cold ashes. After ten years, few traces of the war remained.
The reference to "leviathans" (i.e. whales) on "the stony shore" prefigures the whale-like "blowhole" on Petyr's (verbatim) "stony shore".
And where "few traces" of Robert's invasion "remained… after ten years", after thousands of years, "few traces" remain of the Andal invasion: just the boulder "chiseled" with "the seven-pointed star of the new gods" on Petyr's own bleak, desolate, unpopulated shore.
That chiseled holy boulder is prefigured by what Theon sees next: "cut stone" and the foundation of an abandoned sept.
The smallfolk had built new hovels with the stones of the old, and cut fresh sod for their roofs. A new inn had risen beside the landing, twice the size of the old one, with a lower story of cut stone and two upper stories of timber. The sept beyond had never been rebuilt, though; only a seven-sided foundation remained where it had stood. Robert Baratheon's fury had soured the ironmen's taste for the new gods, it would seem.
Just as the Faithful of the Seven have abandoned their sept, so have the holy warriors who chiseled the "star of the new gods" on Petyr's boulder long since moved on. (Nor is there any sign of the Faith at the Drearfort nor once Littlefinger accedes to rule the Eyrie.)
(Do the "hovels" of the smallfolk here presage the "huts" of Petyr's smallfolk, as well? The "new hovels" being "built… with the stones of the old" 'rhymes' with the "huts" on the Smallest Finger being made of "piled stone". And the "fresh sod" on their roofs 'rhymes' with the "peat bog" beside the Baelish "huts".)

Spiraling Recursion

Yes, I know: I'm pointing out multiple prefigurations and resonances for many things. E.g. Theon sees his dozen stacks of rock, then his dozen fishing boats, and both vignettes resonate with Petyr's dozen families and their huts, as do the hovels of Lordsport with their fresh sod roofs, perhaps. But that's the point, I think. The books are constantly recursive. Spirals upon spirals! There's a reason the triple spiral of House Massey — a house with almost no role in the story prior to ADWD — is singled out as "an ancient sigil for an ancient house" in TWOW Theon I. I suspect spirals are where it all began, in a way, in that recursivity is the core of GRRM's project in ASOIAF. The Song is all about 'rhyming'.

END

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 8: Sylas Sourmouth & Silas Marner; Theon's Uncle & Petyr's Hermit; Petyr Pan & Wendamyr Darling

APPENDIX TO MAIN POST

Appendix

This appendix will further breakdown and detail a few major 'rhymes' between Theon's sight-seeing trips to the deck of the Myraham and Petyr's sight-seeing tour of his lands, as mentioned in the main body of the post. It's hopefully superfluous overkill as regards establishing the general resonance between the passages in question, but it may nevertheless be of interest to those interested in going down the rabbit-hole, so to speak.

Theon's First Sight-Seeing Trip To The Deck of the Myraham → Petyr's Sight-Seeing Trip With Sansa

When Theon is standing on the deck of the Myraham in order to take in the sight of castle Pyke as the ship sails by, we read:
The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
When Petyr and Sansa go on a sight-seeing tour of his lands, we read:
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said. There was one place where the tide came jetting up out of a blowhole to shoot thirty feet into the air, and another where someone had chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder. Petyr said that marked one of the places the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea to wrest the Vale from the First Men.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog. "Mine own smallfolk," Petyr said, though only the oldest seemed to know him. There was a hermit's cave on his land as well, but no hermit. "He's dead now, but when I was a boy my father took me to see him. The man had not washed in forty years…
In what follows, I'll map some ways in which the bolded language from Petyr's homecoming feels like it could be a kaleidoscopic recursion of the bolded langauge from Theon's homecoming.
(Again, in what follows, "→" means "prefigures" and/or "informs" and/or "is reworked by" and/or "finds a recursive 'rhyme' in".)

A Dozen Stacks of Rock, A Dozen Huts of Piled Stone

"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
How so?
Consider…
bare and barren islands → farther inland
  • islands → inland
  • bar- and bar- → far-
  • bare and (furthermore a.k.a. farthermore) barren → farther
  • thus: bare and barren islands → farther inland
towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone
  • towering ≈ towers → huts
  • stacks of rock ≈ piles of stone → piled stone
  • thus: towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone
a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone
  • a dozen → a dozen
  • towering stacks of rock → huts of piled stone (see above)
  • families (Greyjoy and servants) live on those towering stacks of rock
  • thus: a dozen towering stacks of rock → a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone
the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  • the "stacks of rock that rose from the water" ≈ the stacks of rock rose from the sea
  • "huts of piled stone beside a peat bog" ≈ the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
  • thus: the stacks of rock rose from the sea → the huts of piled stone rose by the peat
And thus…
"bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" ➔ "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

The Stacks of Rock Come Round Again

  • "towering stacks of rock" (where 'stacks' connotes money/wealth and where it sounds like rocks are stacked like coins) → Petyr "owned a lot of rocks"
  • "a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water" → "the tide came jetting up… to shoot [as if fired from a gun] thirty feet into the air"
    "dozen" → "thirty"
    "rock" & "water" → (implied) fire & "air"
    "rock that rose from the water" → "tide came jetting up… into the air"

Three & Thirty

  • "three bare…" → "thirty feet…"
    three → thirty
    bare → feet [as in 'bare feet']
  • three bare and barren (as in infertile) islands in the sea → a blowhole where the tide "came jetting… to shoot thirty feet into the air", like a sperm whale

Angry Waves & Andals

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"
How so?
Consider…
  • "the angry waves" → the Andals… came across the sea"
    confirmed by the wave of Andal conquest in TWOIAF:
    Even the ironborn—the fierce, sea-roving warriors who must have at first thought themselves safe upon their isles—fell to the wave of Andal conquest.
  • "foamed and crashed" → "to wrest"
  • "them" = Pyke's "towering stacks of rock" on which ironborn kings live → the mountainous Vale in which First Men kings lived
And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals… came… to wrest the Vale from the First Men"

Angry Waves & Andals 2

"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"
How so?
Consider…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"
  • "the angry waves" → the Andals, who "came across the sea"
  • "crashed" → "landed" ('crash-landed')
  • thus: "the angry waves foamed and crashed" → "the Andals… came across the sea [and] landed"
Consider also…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" = the angry waves crashed among…
…a dozen towering stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple…
…created when the angry waves…
…hammered at… the point of land… thousands of years past.
  • the angry waves "hammered" → the Andals "chiseled"
  • "point of land" → "pointed star"
  • Pyke's "point of land" was "hammered" into a dozen stacks of rock → Petyr's boulder was "chiseled" with a seven-pointed star
  • "some sea god" → "the new gods"
  • "some sea god's temple" → the sign "of the new gods"
  • one (point), three (islands), a dozen (stacks) → seven (sacred numbers)
  • thus: "the angry waves… hammered… the point of land" into "a dozen… stacks of rock… like the pillars of some sea god's temple… thousands of years past…" ➔ "the Andals… chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder", thousands of years past per ADWD Jaime I:
    Only no one knows when the Andals crossed the narrow sea. The True History says four thousand years have passed since then, but some maesters claim that it was only two. (ADWD Jaime I)
And thus…
"the angry waves foamed and crashed among them" → "the Andals had landed, when they came across the sea … [and] chiseled the seven-pointed star of the new gods upon a boulder"

Sight-Seeing At Lordsport Redux

In the body of the essay, I talked about how this bit of Theon's approach to Lordsport—
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
The Myraham was rounding a wooded point. Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking. Theon moved to the bow for a better view.
—prefigures in particular two passages from Petyr's sight-seeing tour:
When the rains let up, Petyr walked with her around his holdings, which took less than half a day. He owned a lot of rocks, just as he had said.
Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog.
Consider:
"The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her [i.e. Sansa] around his holdings" (a rocky point)
  • The Myraham carries Theon and the captain's daughter
  • Theon & the captain's daughter (child-groomer and his prey) → Petyr & Sansa (child-groomer and his prey)
  • thus: The Myraham → Petyr & Sansa
  • "The Myraham was rounding…" → "Petyr walked with her [Sansa] around…"
  • Petyr's "holdings" ≈ "He owned a lot of rocks" ≈ rocky, and…
  • Petyr's "holdings" ≈ the Smallest Finger, and…
  • the Smallest Finger ≈ a point of land, and fingers point, so…
  • Petyr's "holdings" ≈ a rocky point
  • a wooded point → a rocky point, so…
  • "a wooded point" → "his holdings" (a rocky point)
  • thus: "The Myraham was rounding a wooded point" → "Petyr walked with her around his holdings" (a rocky point)
And consider:
"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking." → "Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."
There's a fair bit of overdetermination here.
  • a dozen fishing boats → a dozen families
  • pulling in their nets → liv[ing] in [their] huts
  • a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets → a dozen families living in their huts
  • "huts of piled stone" ≈ piled stone huts, so…
  • pine-clad bluffs → piled stone huts
  • a dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine-clad bluffs → a dozen families living in their piled stone huts
    Given that "Bog devils" are fishing geniuses who wield nets…
  • fishing (boats) and/or nets → peat bogs
  • pine-clad bluffs → peat bog
  • thus: "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" → a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside a peat bog
    But also re:
    The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking.
  • big cog → peat bog
  • b-ig c-og → bog
  • tacking ≈ tacky ≈ sticky ≈ getting stuck
  • bog ≈ place to get stuck:
    Sansa shuddered. They had been twelve days crossing the Neck, rumbling down a crooked causeway through an endless black bog, and she had hated every moment of it. [I]f you were stupid enough to leave the causeway to pluck them, there were quicksands waiting to suck you down…. (Note the literal rhyming wordplay: pluck/suck.) (AGOT Sansa I)
    "The bogs here are impenetrable, full of quicksands and suckholes (lol)…. To assault any of the towers, an army would need to wade through waist-deep black muck…." (AGOT Catelyn VIII)
  • so: big cog tacking → peat bog
  • the big cog tacking "stayed well out" from the fishing boats → the peat bog being "farther inland"
    but also…
  • The fishing boats being perforce well in (toward land) from the big cog → the families huts lying "farther inland" besides the peat bog
    Thus we might say…
  • Well in from the tacking big cog, "a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets… below the pine clad bluffs" ➔ Farther inland, beside the peat bog, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts
    and/or…
  • The big cog stayed well out from the dozen fishing boats pulling in their nets below the pine clad bluffs ➔ Farther inland, a dozen families were living in their piled stone huts beside the peat bog
Anyway, however you care to slice it, this—
"Below the pine-clad bluffs, a dozen fishing boats were pulling in their nets. The big cog stayed well out from them, tacking."
—can be read as 'rhyming' with and recursively prefiguring this:
"Farther inland a dozen families lived in huts of piled stone beside a peat bog."

END APPENDIX & END POST

submitted by M_Tootles to pureasoiaf [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 17:58 TallLab1036 An in depth profile of myself.

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I should also mention that, for the most part, age isn't an issue. To some extent it will be of course, but I don't mind a bit of an age gap in either direction at all. If it's an issue for you, that's understandable; however, if you think it will be for me, well the only way to really find out is to message me, now isn't it?
I'm open to anyone who sees this and is interested (including those of any experience level) as I don't want to limit myself when I could possibly find chemistry with someone.
Also, while I am in general an emotionally intelligent, nurturing and supportive person, I'm also a massive sadist. To be more specific, I enjoy psychological sadism (although physical sadism is definitely fun too) and that is reflected in my kinks and, to some extent, my personality. While I believe boundaries and limits are to be respected at all times, and I don't enjoy anything if my partner doesn't, I absolutely love teasing, tormenting and torturing my partner in both play and everyday life.
Prepare for a mountain of text! It's a bit long, but I assure you it's worth the read. I decided that since I'm putting myself out there with a post, I want to truly and fully put myself out there and represent myself. I'm hoping that those reading this will recognize the effort that was put into this and get a good feel for who I am as a person. If you feel it's too much, save it for later, skim or even just message me if you would rather get to know me more naturally.
My post is cobbled together from thoughts, beliefs and realizations that I have come upon in my years in the lifestyle (which is why you might see slightly different styles of writing in different parts, this post is taken from my kink profiles and are the sum result of over ten years of experience that I find I still add to every now and then. I try to edit and organize it a bit from time to time, but it's difficult due to the fact that there's so much that I wish to include.)
Long story short, I can be a bit...rambly, sometimes. So apologies in advance for that, although I have recently made great strides in editing my post. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
While it's certainly a lengthy read, it's not nearly as bad as it seems. I recommend reading the whole thing (obviously since I wrote it), especially if you're interested in getting to know a kinky, geeky and empathetic person.
Now that I've covered that, it's time to get to the part you've been waiting for.

About me:

I decided to put this part first because I believe that, above all else, the people involved should connect on a personal level and "click", if you will. This tells about who I am and my hobbies and such. If someone can't accept this part of me, how could we possibly get along?
I'm a lighthearted, playful and fairly laid back, yet somewhat serious minded, person who's rather upbeat and probably too curious for his own good. I'm also kind, caring, friendly, sometimes cynical and often sarcastic (although in a lighthearted manner, and never at the expense of others.) There's nothing I love to do more than laugh; I love most things involving humor, although I do believe there's a very fine line between hilarity and stupidity.
Now, for some little bits of trivia about me:
  • According to the Myers-Briggs system, I'm an INFP. Online tests can give you an idea of where to start, but they're not that reliable and the results can change depending on your mood that day. To truly discover your type requires self-reflection to learn about your cognitive functions, and while doing so I learned a lot about myself. I don't follow it religiously, but I believe there are some elements of truth to it.
  • I'm definitely a Type B Personality.
  • I'm a hopeless romantic, an old soul who's young at heart, a cynical optimist and a realistic dreamer.
  • I'm definitely that type that believes in better safe than sorry, and one of my mottos is "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." I also tend to do copious amounts of research before any big decision.
  • I consider myself to be a very grounded, down to earth and genuine person.
  • I'm extremely friendly and believe in treating others with the same respect that you would like to receive and generally try to do what I feel is "right" by others (more on that in a bit.)
  • I like to believe in the best of human nature, although I seem to be let down a fair bit. Even so, I don't want to let that stop me.
  • I have very strong values and ideals, and an even stronger moral compass.
  • I believe people are free to do and believe what they want, so long as they don't harm themselves, harm, cause trouble for or inconvenience others, or attempt to force those beliefs on others.
  • I believe that a life lived for others is the only life worth living.
  • I believe that there's no point in worrying about things that you can't change. If you let yourself get dragged down by it and obsess over it, you'll find yourself crushed under the weight of all the injustices in the world.
  • I've been told (rather often actually) that I have a very nice voice, frequently being told that I should go into radio or be an announcer of some kind. I'm very expressive and my voice reflects that, having lots of highs and lows. Truthfully, I believe it's one of my better features.
  • I much prefer talking to typing in general, especially when first getting to know someone as you get a much better idea of their personality. Also, I feel like I come across kind of...stiff in my writing style when that's very much not me, so voice allows me to showcase my truest self.
  • I tend to be a confidant of sorts; due to my open and genuine nature and what I've been told is a welcoming...aura, I suppose, people tend to find me easy to talk to and trust, coming to me to confide things and seek out advice. This is something that brings me great happiness and pride as having the trust of others is important to me.
  • Promises are very important to me; once I give my word in regards to something I'll keep it, even if I don't particularly want to. As cheesy as it might sound, to me my word is my bond.
  • Admittedly, subtlety is not one of my strong points. I'm a very open, upfront and honest person. I'm terrible at lying (I hate doing it and I just give away that I am) and can't keep a straight face to save my life. If I were an actor, I would probably be Jimmy Fallon.
  • I welcome people to give me constructive criticism and feedback as I'm constantly looking to improve myself. Yes, that even includes those that message me saying my post is far too long.
  • I can't fake a smile to save my life, it has to be genuine for me. One of the many reasons I hate having photos taken of me.
  • I find intelligence, humor and kindness to be the most desirable traits in a partner (although being easy on the eyes doesn't hurt.)
  • My senses are all very sensitive, and can sometimes overwhelm me when I'm introduced to new stimuli.
  • I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too. Wait, I'm just kidding, just wanted to throw a little Mitch Hedberg in here. I don't drink, smoke or do drugs. While I have no issue with those who drink, I do tend to avoid smokers and hardcore drug users.
  • Despite what the length of my post may say about me, I absolutely hate writing.
  • I enjoy visiting places but hate the actual traveling (which is one of the reasons why if I could have one power it would be teleportation [actually if I could have one power it would be the ability to manipulate space and time, however for simplicity's sake I'm just going to say teleportation for now {not Star Trek teleportation though, fuck that.}])
  • I hate waiting and I hate making others wait.
  • I love the symbolism of trees and what they represent: strength, vitality, protection.
  • If I had to rank the seven deadly sins in the order that I'm guilty of from most to least, it would go: Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Lust, Envy, Greed and Wrath.
  • If I were to list the Magic the Gathering colors that I most identify with from most to least, it would go: White, Blue, Green, Red and then Black.
  • Growing up I was all about DBZ, Dinosaurs, Gargoyles, Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, Pokémon, Power Rangers, Spider-Man & X-Men.
  • I absolutely love animals and have two cats of my own, Ivy and Jasmine (there are wonderful stories behind both names), that I love to death. I probably talk to them like people a bit too much.
  • I spend far more time living in my head than I should.
  • I firmly believe that breakfast offers the best food. I could eat waffles everyday.
  • I call Gatorade by their flavors as opposed to their colors.
  • I absolutely love when I'm thirsty and soda burns my throat.
  • You won't catch me running unless something is chasing me. Partially because I have asthma, but mostly because running is awful.
Over the past several years I've come to appreciate music a lot more than I used to (before it was simply used as background noise as I can't stand silence) and have discovered that I'm a fan of alt-metal, heavy metal and hard rock more than anything else.
Some bands I enjoy include:
Adelitas Way, Amaranthe, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, Evans Blue, Five Finger Death Punch, Gemini Syndrome, Otherwise, Pop Evil, Sevendust, Shinedown, Shaman's Harvest, State of Mine, Theory of a Deadman, Three Days Grace (before Adam Gontier left)
I enjoy other types of music as well, for example another band I like is Bowling for Soup as I love their sense of humor; it's great to see people not taking music so seriously. I'm also a fan of big band music, which I actually have Fallout 3 to thank for. I enjoy classical musical as well and, despite having no real knowledge of it and most of it sounding the same, I find it incredibly relaxing and peaceful.
While I enjoy relaxing and watching television, I have trouble watching hour long shows as I can only focus on it for so long before my attention wavers, around that time I start looking at my phone and just waiting for it to be over. It's also why I don't watch too many movies; I need my entertainment bite sized. I'll watch movies every once in a while, but they generally need to be 100 minutes tops (unless it's something I'm super into.).
I have difficulty getting into things that are realistic; they usually need to be fantastical in nature and capture my imagination. My preferred genres are comedy, horror (mainly supernatural, no slashers) and most things involving special powers or abilities, however I can sometimes get into action or drama as well. I also have a love for the world of animation, possibly because they tend to be more creative and aren't limited by reality; it's part of why I'm so partial to anime.
Some shows that I'm fond of are:
Animation: Adventure Time, American Dad, Archer, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bob's Burgers, Bojack Horseman, [China, IL], Disenchantment, Futurama, HarmonQuest, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, King of the Hill, Metalocalypse, Mike Tyson Mysteries, Mr. Pickles, Rick and Morty, Robot Chicken, South Park, Superjail, Ugly Americans, Venture Bros.
Live-action: Arrested Development, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Carnivàle, Dexter, Eureka, Friends, Game of Thrones, The Good Place, House, The Lost Room, Monk, The Muppets (2015 series), The Office, Parks and Rec, Psych, Stargate, Stranger Things, Walking Dead, Warehouse 13, Wilfred
I definitely binge my shows, I like to wait for a season (or preferably an entire series) to be done before I jump into it. I'm also the type that's fine watching something just once. If I ever feel the need to watch it again it will be many, many years later. This extends to games as well, I generally need things with replayability such as MOBA's or Rogue-likes.
Gaming is easily one of my biggest hobbies and has been for many, many years now. I see it as an art form, as a way to tell a story that you can deeply immerse yourself in and get pulled into, something that can captivate you and make you lose all track of time because it's simply so engrossing. It's also a damn good way to have fun and kill time, especially when you're playing with friends. It's a big part of my life and something I have spent quite a bit of time and money on. Some people may be put off by this, but it a part of me that I will not deny or hide; after all, if someone has an issue with that then how compatible could we possibly be?
Some video games that hold a special place in my heart are:
Action/Adventure: Alan Wake, Assassin's Creed, Bastion, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Bayonetta, Brütal Legend, Bully, Darksiders, Dark Souls (first one), Deadly Premonition, Dead Space, Devil May Cry (3 & 5), Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Heavy Rain, Hellblade, Infamous, Last of Us, Legend of Zelda (A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker), Luigi's Mansion, Metal Gear Solid (Twin Snakes, 3, 4 & 5), Ninja Gaiden (2004), Overlord, Phantom Crash, Resident Evil 2 remake, Saint's Row 2, The Saboteur, TMNT: Turtles in Time
Fighting: Anarchy Reigns, Blazblue (series), DBZ: Budokai, Dragon Ball Fighterz, Marvel vs Capcom (2 & 3), Mortal Kombat (9 & 11), Soul Calibur 3, Super Smash Bros. Melee
MOBA: Dota 2, Guardians of Middle Earth, Heroes of the Storm
Rogue-like: Binding of Isaac, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Don't Starve, FTL, Monster Train, Slay the Spire
RPG: Bravely Default, Dragon Age (Origins and Inquisition), Dragon's Dogma, Elder Scrolls (Oblivion and Skyrim), Fable (1 & 2), Fallout (3 & New Vegas), Final Fantasy (IX, X & Tactics Advance), Grim Dawn, Mass Effect 2, Pillars of Eternity (series), Pokémon (Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver & Stadium), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Suikoden 2, Tyranny, The Witcher (2 & 3)
Shooter: Bioshock (series), Battlefield Bad Company (1 & 2), The Darkness, Deep Rock Galactic, Gears of War (1 & 3), Left 4 Dead, Shadowrun (2007 FPS), Team Fortress 2 (when it first came out, it's a little much now), Vanquish
Simulation: Animal Crossing (first one), Doki Doki Literature Club, Harvest Moon, Life is Strange, Pokémon Snap, Tabletop Simulator
Strategy: Civilization (3 & 4), Endless Legend, Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers (2012 & 2013), Portal, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Warcraft 3
Not only that, but I've also gotten into tabletop gaming, including both board and pen and paper games (such as Dungeons and Dragons.) I initially got into the latter as an exercise to strengthen my creative muscles but found it was a fun way to goof off with friends. For the former, it's almost gotten to the point that I enjoy them more than most video games as it provides an experience that you don't get anymore; friends gathered around and competing against one another or cooperating against a common foe, something that's disappeared with the advent of the internet.
Some board games that I love are:
BANG! The Dice Game, Dead of Winter, Dice Throne, Epic Spell Wars, King of New York, Lords of Waterdeep, Munchkin, Pandemic, Red Dragon Inn
I enjoy reading as well, although I find it difficult to find a book that can keep my focus and really draw me in like I crave. I'm constantly on the prowl for new material, and my favorite genres would probably be apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, dystopian, horror and dark fantasy/grimdark, although I'm certainly in the market for something that has a good element of humor to it as well. If you have any recommendations, I'd absolutely love to hear them!
Bring up video/board/tabletop games, super powers, comics, cartoons, anime, manga, sci-fi, fantasy or technology and I'll happily chat your ear off. I'm quite social and love to talk, however I'm also an introvert so there are plenty of times where the pressure of constant social interactions with others gets to me and I need to take some time to myself to mentally recharge.
As I mentioned, I absolutely adore animals. Seriously, if you want to make me hate a bad guy, have him hurt an animal. Ironically, I'm practically a carnivore. I'm convinced that I would starve if I had to hunt for my own food just because I couldn't bring myself to hurt them.
Speaking of food, I'm a bit of a foodie (I dislike that word, but it's accurate.) I'm all about sauces, seasonings and spices, not to mention a love for anything deep fried. I love experiencing different tastes and textures while trying new things...as long as they're not vegetables. No veggies, except corn and potatoes; those two get a pass as they're amazing. I also enjoy onions and peppers in small quantities in dishes.
I've got a nice guy next door look in that I have no tattoos or piercings, have glasses, stay clean shaven and have a bit of a baby face (as in I look rather young, I often get mistaken for being in my mid 20's). I wouldn't say that with my look I would be called handsome, sexy or hot (however I am often called cute (I've also been called handsome a fair amount, it still feels weird though.) I'm also rather pale due to the fact that I stay indoors most of the time (if you can't tell from that, I'm white.) Because of my appearance, and my friendly and laid back nature, people tend to view me as rather innocent. I suppose that isn't entirely incorrect though, I'll admit that I can be a bit naive at times in regards to people and the world.
As for politics and religion, I tend to try to stay away from both.
While I believe I'm somewhat in the middle for the former, as I have views from both sides, if I had to choose I'd say I definitely lean way more towards the left. I believe in the greater good, the needs of the many over the needs of the few, in advancing science and finding alternative fuels and materials that don't pollute or destroy our environment in the process, in trying to create a brighter future, etc, etc. I'm definitely not on the far left however, and hate social justice and cancel culture. I'm empathetic and all, but people need to stop getting offended by every tiny thIng and creating problems that don't exist. That's definitely not exclusive to the left, the right is very guilty of it as well.
For the latter, I generally just consider myself not religious as I don't think or care about it too much. If I had to classify it though I'd say I'm agnostic. This means that, while I don't believe in any god or gods, I acknowledge that they might exist. While I'm 99.3̅3̅3̅% certain that there is no grand creator or afterlife, there's no real way we can know for certain. We're a very young and ignorant species, there's much about life and the universe that we are unaware of or don't understand yet.
I just try to focus on being a good person and doing right by others, not for some earthly or heavenly reward, or for a smug sense of self satisfaction, but because it's simply what I want to do. It's who I am and what makes me feel good about myself.
I try my best to live by The Golden Rule (also known as treat others you the way you wish to be treated or do unto others as you would have them do unto you), being guided by own moral compass that directs me in how I interact with others. I always do my very best to make others feel wanted, cared for, appreciated and understood, to give them validation; I never want anyone to feel left out or unwanted, for any reason at all. Perhaps it's from my own difficult childhood, since I felt that way when I was young and don't want others to go through the same things that I did. Whatever the reason, whenever I say or do anything I tend to, without even realizing it, think about how it will affect the other person and the different ways that it could be taken. I strive to treat others with the courtesy and respect that I believe that they deserve.
As I mentioned, I have a strong moral compass. The only problem is, this is true North for my compass; I feel that's the correct way to treat and interact with others, and I believe that's what everyone should do. So when other people don't act in the way that I believe they should, even though I know everyone is different and everyone has different thoughts, feelings and experiences that led them to those (we are the product of our environments after all), it can bother me. I've come to realize that this is due to holding myself to extremely high standards, and often holding other people to the same standards to which I hold myself.
Unfortunately, that can lead to conflicts with others, sometimes over things that they might feel to be insignificant. It doesn't happen very often though as I can recognize whether something is actually a big deal or not and put it to the back of my mind; I wouldn't be a very good friend or partner if I nitpicked over every little thing, now would I? Despite being very much driven by my moral compass, I'm also calm, collected, understanding and logical by nature.
I've realized that I used to put a lot of pressure on myself when interacting with others, trying to be funny and entertaining, overall trying to make sure that they were having a good time and enjoying themselves. If, for whatever reason, I felt that they were bored I ended up trying even harder to keep them engaged and joyful. It was somewhat of a bad habit of mine; I suppose I just felt like I had a personal stake in everyone that I interacted with, a responsibility almost, and didn't want to leave them wanting. I still do this to some extent, but not as much as I used to; as I've grown and matured, and my anxiety has lessened, I've learned to pull back a bit and that I don't need to carry everyone's burden on my shoulders. I still wish to keep people engaged and happy, and still take on more responsibility than I probably should, however I imagine that I'll always be that way; it's just in my nature.
I'm an emotionally intelligent and extremely empathetic person who's well aware of his inner workings due to my introspective nature. I'm easily able to see things from multiple perspectives, which I believe is because of how I process empathy. I don't necessarily feel the exact pain of others, but I mirror it; it's second nature for me to put myself in their position which allows me to understand the plethora of ways they can think and feel. This is something that is a core part of who I am and that I take great pride in.
I feel deeply, which can lead to me taking things to heart and sometimes reading too much into things or overanalyzing them. Thankfully, due to my great experience in emotional control and regulation (which I'm about to go into), I'm generally able to take a step back from my emotions and understand the intent and meaning behind words and actions so there's less of a chance of misunderstanding.
Because I feel so deeply, that caused problems for me when I was younger. My emotions were a swirling vortex, out of control and ready to burst out at any second. Puberty certainly didn't make this any easier either.
It's been said that our personal identity is 80% environmental and 20% genetic. While I might be genetically predispositioned to feeling so deeply, a lot of it likely comes from traumas experienced in childhood and my inability to process them properly. They left scars that I'm still dealing with today, and as a result of said scars, growing up I was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, depression and OCD, on top of the ADHD that I already had. However, I'm thankfully in a very good place thanks to a combination of past therapy, current medication and constant reflection.
I've done a lot of work to be able to get a handle on my emotions. Because I got used to having them under such control, I've been told that at times I can come across as kind of indifferent or hard to read. That's one of the reasons that I'm such an upfront, open, honest and expressive person; I want people to be able to understand me and I generally tell exactly what I'm thinking or how something makes me feel so that others can do that.
Honestly, one of my biggest fears is that no one will ever be able to understand me like I understand myself. It's right up there with a fear of the unknown (one is the reasons I don't do deep water, I don't want to fuck with any Cthulhu monsters that are down there) and losing my memories, as in the end we're just a sum of our memories and I don't want to lose who I am.
I never claimed to be perfect; I have my flaws as well, and try to work on them every day to improve myself as a person. Since I've already put so much of myself into my profile, I thought that it was only right to put the negative parts in as well.
While some of these things could certainly be considered negative traits, I believe that they help make me the Dom that I am. Because I AM so compassionate, because I AM so empathetic, because I HAVE been through so much and still keep going, I feel that I can give a sub or a slave what she truly needs to thrive in her environment. Feel free to read more about that below.

My Beliefs:

If I had to break down why this all appeals to me to one reason, to put it simply, I'd have to say that I'm the kind of person who wants to be needed. I find that, overall, I feel more driven and fulfilled if I know that I have someone that depends on me. If I have someone whose best interests I must keep in mind, who I need to protect and care for, I feel a greater sense of purpose than the humdrum rumblings of everyday life.
When you combine that with my nurturing and empathetic nature this type of relationship is the natural choice for me (more on that next). I believe that's also why I find myself naturally drawn to the weak, the helpless and the damaged. I have an overwhelming desire to heal them, to help and protect them while nurturing them and watching them grow into who I know they can be, which goes with what I was saying before.
A sub knows that her Dom loves her unconditionally and only wants what is best for her. While I do certainly enjoy doing this, I primarily do this to help my sub above all else. I'm a nurturing soul who wishes nothing more than to protect his partner. To take care of her and help her when she needs it. To be her support and her life line. To give her the guidance, structure and discipline she needs to feel fulfilled in life. To set rules and guidelines so that she can move freely within those set limits and be happy. To help her decide what is best for her when she herself doesn't know. To provide the security and comfort of knowing that she is being taken care of and that she has someone she can talk to about anything without any sort of judgment or prejudice. I want her to thrive and become the person that she was always meant to be. I enjoy pushing my sub to explore her boundaries and limits, within reason of course. I simply wish to see her flourish and blossom, to help her become what I know she can be and reach higher plateaus.
I realize the previous paragraphs could sound condescending in some ways, however that couldn't be further from the truth. I see my partner as an equal, someone who simply has different needs that I can fulfill so that they can live a fulfilling life themselves, and in turn by fulfilling those needs of theirs, I feel fulfilled as well. We ultimately form a symbiotic relationship of sorts.
Make no mistake, I have no desire to micromanage every tiny detail of my sub's life, nor form a codependent relationship where she's entirely reliant upon me for her mental and emotional needs. The level and extent of the D/s relationship is decided after long discussion and input from both parties.
Some believe that being a Dom is just telling people what to do and getting what you want while getting off, but it's so much more than that. It's not as easy or simple as it appears, you must always keep what is best for your sub in mind, even if it conflicts with your own immediate or future interests. You must constantly be aware of her needs and desires while providing checks and balances to help her live a life worth living. Anyone can simply give a sub what she wants, it takes a true Dom to say no because you feel that is what is best for her.
At least that's how it should be. There are so many "Doms" out there that don't care about their subs at all, only themselves. They don't care if they're suffering physically or emotionally, they simply use them as toys they can play with and then toss aside when they're bored; they abuse them and hurt them simply because they get a kick out of it. A real Dom/sub relationship is a very special and strong bond, much more so than a vanilla relationship in my opinion. So many people seem to have issues understanding that unfortunately, there's a certain stigma associated with this and preconceptions are formed before they even learn anything about it.
Truthfully, I believe the sub holds the power in the relationship in many ways. She is the one that is choosing to submit after all, to give up her power and control to the Dom. Despite that, she is the one that has control over the power of safe words, that can stop an activity with a single utterance. Her subservience is completely voluntary, something that many people don't seem to think about. It's not simply about someone bossing someone around because they can, it's about someone choosing a partner that they feel is worthy to give their all to.

What I'm looking for:

I'm not here looking for a booty call or one night stand, but to find a potential partner in crime, possibly for life if a connection is made. More than anything, I simply wish to find someone who looks at me the way this girl looks at her prom date.
While the following is my ideal, as I said at the beginning, I'm open to talking to anyone that reads this. However, I'm not particularly interested in "littles" or "brats".
Ideally my partner would be what is typically called an adult babygirl, and I'd like to elaborate on that term since some might not be familiar with it. Essentially it's someone who enjoys the nurturing, loving and structured aspect of a Daddy Dom or DD/lg relationship but isn't a little themselves; meaning that they don't have a mental age that they regress to, among other things. (I don't identify as a Daddy myself, however due to my protective and supportive/nurturing nature you could say I'm Daddy leaning.)
Some people have their entire lives revolve around the lifestyle, going to munches, conventions, parties and attempting to reach out to their community and find a place to belong. That might work for them, but it's of no interest to me. While I'm certainly not opposed to chatting and making friends and connections, I have no desire to be a part of a community. I'm simply seeking one whose ideas and beliefs line up with my own for a symbiotic relationship as I mentioned before
If I had to describe such a relationship, it would definitely be on the lighter side of the spectrum in regards to what daily life would be like. I'm seeking a 24/7 TPE, however I also enjoy being casual with my sub. Perhaps in some ways it's more similar to a vanilla relationship with strong Dom/sub undertones than a typical BDSM relationship.
In my perfect situation, we would still be able to joke around, have fun and be very close and romantic; however there is also the constant understanding that I am in charge, and what I say goes. No matter how much fun we may be having or what we might be doing, she should always know her place, even if it's only in the back of her mind. There are rules in place for her benefit, and if she breaks those rules she will be punished.
By what I say goes, I mean I have the final say in subjects because, as a submissive, she has given the reins of power over to me. She trusts me to make her decisions for her and to do what is best for her, to take care of and protect her. I'm never the type to say "this is how it's going to be, I don't care what you want, end of discussion" as discourse is the only way two people can truly understand one another. I always value my submissive's input and always want her to give her opinion and speak her mind if something is bothering her.
My ideal sub would be one that is loyal and devoted above all else, but also one who is looking for a Dom she can actually have a connection with. One that, not necessarily needs, but craves guidance, support, structure and discipline in their life; whose life does not feel complete without this, like there is a void deep inside her that cannot be filled unless she has a Dom to guide and take care of her, that she can in turn make happy and serve to the best of her ability.
Beyond anything else though, I want to like them as a person before I love them as a sub. My perfect partner would be someone who is intelligent, kind-hearted, earnest, funny and a has a fair touch of dorkiness in her. I want her to be someone that actually has personality, that I can laugh with and talk to for hours upon hours on end and still hate the thought of leaving. Someone that will either indulge my love of games and geekery or join me because she's just as much of a fan of those things as I am. Someone who loves how I tease and torment her, keeping her on the edge and revelling in the pleasure I get from watching her squirm.
One thing to note is that just because I am very friendly (sometimes people are surprised when I begin acting more Dominant, others aren't as they say they can "sense it in the way I present myself", even while being friendly and joking around) doesn't mean that I'm not strict when I have to be. I have no problem at all with enforcing rules and giving out punishments, although it's certainly not my favorite aspect of the relationship. I would prefer to reward, encourage and nurture my sub, however there are times when discipline is necessary; if one feels the need to act up, one must be ready accept the consequences after all.
If I had to describe my style of dominance, or what makes me dominant, I suppose that would be a little tricky. I don't feel the need to control everything, nor do I attempt to, and I have no problem with kicking back and letting others take the reigns in everyday situations if I feel they're more qualified or I just plain don't feel like it. Nor am I the type that "oozes" dominance, I don't care for confrontation and am a very easy going, go with the flow person. What I believe it boils down to is I simply feel comfortable with power and, quite frankly, enjoy it. I bear the burden of leadership well, it comes naturally to me and I thrive when I have the weight of another's life on my shoulders; I have little trouble making hard decisions when I need to. It also helps that my sexual inclinations line up with this nicely. If it doesn't last quite some time and doesn't end with both parties panting and soaked in sweat, I'm not particularly interested in it.
On that note, I have quite the kinky side despite my friendly and charming exterior. I suppose I should list it here because, while certainly not the primary focus of my interest in this, sexual compatibility does factor in to some extent.
My kinks are:
Anal, begging, biting, blowjobs, body worship, bondage, choking, cock worship, consensual non-consent, creampies, crying (the good kind), cumplay, deepthroating, degradation, desperation, dirty talking, face fucking, facials, free use, hair pulling, hole stretching (basically pushing my partner to her limits), humiliation, hypnosis, name calling, objectification, orgasm control (which includes edging, forced orgasms, orgasm denial and ruined orgasms), public play (in a discreet manner), slapping, spanking, spitting and teasing.
One thing I feel I should mention is that the acts of degradation and humilation are limited to play time and only sexual in nature, never attacking my partner in any way.
I also believe very strongly in aftercare and safe words as the mental and emotional well being of my partner is very important.
I realize there's no one way to live this lifestyle, but I feel like a lot of what I said should be obvious and general knowledge in regards to this; however from my experience it doesn't seem to be that way too often (not referring to the that are inexperienced in this, more those that do this for the wrong reason), which is why I wanted to share my views in such detail.
I feel like I've rambled on enough already and am dangerously close to having a TL;DR (yeah, I hit that ages ago), so I'll just say that if you're interested in learning more about me and getting to know me, you can give me a message and we'll see where things go. I like to get to know people naturally, just talk with them and see where things lead, whether that be a short chat, a simple friendship or something more. It seems silly to have expectations when you don't even know the person or how you'll get along.
Even if you're nervous or anxious, you think you might not be good enough, doubt my intentions or anything along those lines, still give me a message. After all, what do you have to lose?
Thanks for taking the time to read my little novella, I hope to hear from you soon. So long, and thanks for reading!
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2023.05.29 17:47 JoshAsdvgi The Beaver and Muskrat Story

The Beaver and Muskrat Story
​
The Beaver and Muskrat Story
By Roy Moses
​
The old lady settled herself comfortably on the caribou skin mats and called for my attention.
"Do you know how the Muskrat came to crow flats.?" She asked.
Of course I did not know.
She ordered her tea cup to be filled and that I sit and listen.
This is when she told me the story of the Beaver and the Muskrat.
The young Muskrat had strayed from it's family and wandered up and down the river, enjoying the summer.
In the same area, a young Beaver was having the same adventure.
He had been kicked out of his parent's lodge as it was getting over crowded .
Soon the leaves were drying and the grass was withering, the air was getting crisp.
The young Beaver had decided to build a lodge on the small creek that ran into main river. He dammed the creek to raise the water, then build a lodge in the bank upstream from the dam.
The Muskrat was encountering some difficulties on the river.
The swift water was getting colder and ice was forming on the shores.
He managed to climb a bank near a small stream that ran into the river.
Some distance back from the river, there was a small lake.
The Muskrat explored it and found that there was plenty of vegetation at the bottom of the lake and along the shore.
He soon found a suitable bank and dug out a den.
This is how these two animals spent the winter at the head of the waters.
The snow had melted, the sun was shining, birds were singing.
Spring had arrived at the head of the waters.
There were squeaking and cracking sounds coming from the river.
Suddenly, and without warning, there were thundering, grinding sounds coming from the river.
The ice was breaking up and flowing down the river.
In the mean time, the Muskrat discovered the Beaver's dam.
The Beaver was well aware of the ice breakup and somewhat anxious for the river to clear so that he could travel.
Little did he know what lay ahead!
The two met on the small creek where the Beaver had his lodge.
They became aquatinted and soon referred to each other as cousins.
The two were very anxious to travel so they went to the river.
There were logs and much debris drifting down the river.
They climbed onto a log that was drifting near the shore.
This was the beginning of their journey down river which is now known as the Porcupine River.
Whenever they got tired, they would swim ashore and rest.
After they replenished themselves by feasting on the new willow shoots and fresh grass, they would resume their journey by swimming out and climbing onto another log or a drifting pile of debris.
They made a practice of sampling water in any creek or river that joined the great river.
Very early one morning they came drifting around a long bend and saw a river jointing the great river from the north.
Their log drifted into an eddy at the point where the two great rivers joined.
The Beaver immediately sampled the water and was convinced that it came from lakes.
The Muskrat was also convinced that this river came from lakes but was quick to discourage the Beaver from exploring further.
They crossed the new river and landed on the north shore to rest.
Curiosity overwhelmed the Muskrat.
He told his cousin that he would go for a walk.
The Beaver, not one for traveling over land, decided to satisfy his hunger with the new willow shoots and fresh grass on the river shore.
Later, he got comfortable in the warm sunshine and slept.
In the meantime, the Muskrat started up the hill toward the mountain (which is now known as Crow Mountain.)
The Muskrat soon found a caribou trail that went directly north toward the mountain.
It was trampled down by herds previously headed north in the spring migration.
The Muskrat followed the trail until he came to the top of the first mountain.
From the top of the east end of the mountain he could not believe what he saw.
There were lakes! Hundreds of them, as far as one could see.
Just pass the next mountain, but there they were.
The Muskrat sat down and rested, then resentfully started on his return walk.
Because if he did not return, the Beaver was sure to follow him and he definitely did not want to share the many lakes with anyone.
He came up with an idea when he was walking down the hill through a rocky creek bed.
He stubbed his toe! After stumbling further, he bruised his feet by dropping a handful of rocks on them.
When he finally returned to the river, the Beaver helped him with his wounds and decided to delay their journey.
But the Muskrat being anxious to be rid of the Beaver, encouraged him to continue his journey by himself.
So the Beaver prepared himself to leave.
He returned to the shore one last time.
This was farewell.
As friends often do when they part, the Beaver and the Muskrat traded gifts.
They traded tails!
The Beaver, secretly being suspicious of the Muskrat's journey up the hill, told him, "My long tail is easier for you to walk through the grassy areas, your flat tail will help me signal danger and will also be useful when building dams and lodges."
With that he swam out and climbed onto a log and drifted down the river.
As he disappeared around the bend, the Muskrat leaped to his feet with joy and headed directly north for the lakes which is now known as the Crow Flats.
This is how the Muskrat came to live in Vuntut!
​
My great grandmother Myra Moses told this story to me when I was 9 years old.
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2023.05.29 17:35 TheScribe_1 [The Book of the Chosen] - Chapter Eleven - The Room of Doors

Previous Chapter - Read 10 weeks ahead on Patreon - Read the story so far on Royal Road
*
Chapter Eleven - The Room of Doors
‘Get moving!’
Sara watched the men readying their horses, squinting at the brightness of the stone. The courtyard was full of the sound of boot-steps and creaking leather. Overhead, a thin veil of rippled grey hung over the early winter sky, and the dawn sun tugged gleaming at its edges. Overhead, the dull black shape of an old stormtower bled the sky. Empty, just like the rest of them. There was something very jarring, Sara decided, about the worn jerkins and stubbled cheeks of her father’s men, ensconced in a pillared courtyard of vast stone. They were out of place, and they had been every moment since arriving in Uldoroth, she realised. They didn’t belong here. Her own anxiety was mirrored imperfectly with the relief on their weary faces, and the dark rings under their eyes seemed just a little less deep. There may be Black Hand to deal with, back in the Westmere, but it was home. At least there your enemies had the decency to show themselves. Sara realised she was chewing her lip. At her back, two of the Black Guard waited wordlessly in their gold-touched armour, much more in keeping with the finery of the courtyard, and everything else in the capital. They were waiting to escort her away to the Queen, unaware they found a girl not so eager for the honour as she had been, just a few days before.
‘Father!’ She called out, spying him across the writhing mass of men in their moss green cloaks, but he seemed not to hear her. He was standing near the arched cloister at the far side of the square, cloaked and ready for travel, in hurried conversation with a shaded figure standing beyond the marble facade. She squinted, trying to make out the other man, but there was nothing but a dark shadow to trace.
‘Well then, M’lady.’ A voice said beside her, and she turned to find Halin looking down at her, a kind smile on his broad face. ‘You’ll be a right proper Princess when I next see you, methinks.’
Sara smiled at him and shook her head sheepishly. ‘Uldoroth is not my home, yet, Halin. I won’t forget.’
‘Be careful you don’t, Lady Sara.’ Halin glanced distrustfully at the Black Guard behind her. ‘Lots of fancy folk here. Fancy folk with fancier lies.’
‘I’ll be careful, Halin.’ She told him seriously.
He smiled again, and the sternness dissolved away from his face.
‘Take care, M’Lady.’ He told her, dipping his head politely. She returned the gesture, dropping into a small curtsy.
‘Look after my father, will you?’
‘Always, M’Lady.’
Halin hurried off into the throng in the square, and Sara watched him go, feeling her the knot in her belly tighten. The conversations with her unexpected visitors had left their mark, a nagging uncertainty gnawing at the excitement that had carried her through her first few uneventful days in the capital. The little comfort she had taken in the presence of her father and his men was a loss she could ill afford. She watched her father’s back, frowning softly to herself. Her thoughts were not what she had imagined, when she had thought of him leaving. A hundred different times, and more. Had she expected tears, grief at the parting? Relief? Instead, there was only the fear, a dull, leaden weight in her belly, clammy-cold as marsh-water.
‘Come on, you whoresons! I want to be on the road before lunch!’ Halin roared, and the men quickened their work. Her father had not moved, still deep in conversation, just out of sight. She peered a little closer, and for a moment the pale sunlight crept over the top of the square, flashing against a colourful doublet marked with a silver brooch. The Fox’s lips barely moved as he spoke from the shadows of the cloister, and her father was scowling. Sara frowned.
‘Mount up!’
The ornate wagon that had been her home all those weeks trundled into the square, then, drawn by a pair of stout horses. Sara saw her father turn reluctantly towards it, striding out into the square. Sara peered past him into the cloister, and for a moment Lord Bywood’s sharp eyes caught hers. Then he smiled, dipping his dark, smooth head, and vanished himself away into the shadows.
‘Father!’
Sara hurried out into the crowded square, leaving her escort behind, darting between the shifting limbs of the horses. Her father turned towards her as she approached, and smiled small smile, in two parts, one weary, one sad.
‘Sara.’
She threw her arms around him and pressed her head against his chest for a moment, and he put an arm around her shoulders. She knew her role, and the knowing of it made her safe for a moment. Then she stepped back, looking up at him.
‘I thought you were going to leave without saying goodbye.’
‘I… There was much preparation to do.’
Sara did not reply. His eyes had that same distance that they had had since they arrived in the capital. Uldoroth had worn at him, as if all the brightness and finery had made his skin dull, eyes darkened like the contrast of shadows in bright sun.
‘Will you write?’
He blinked as she spoke, then smiled, and the tiredness fell away from him for a moment. He took her chin gently in one hand, tilting it up to meet his eyes.
‘Yes, I will write.’ He told her, and she saw again that fierce ambition in his eyes, the look she had known so well on their journey from the Westmere. Swollen around the soft, lazy ease of diminished strength. ‘And I shall expect news in return. The Rose of Westmere will show these fools how a real lady charms.’
Sara smiled and lowered her eyes self-consciously.
‘I… I will not disappoint you, father.’ She said quietly, and found, in spite of herself, that there were tears in her eyes.
‘See that you do not.’ He replied. Then he let go of her chin and climbed quickly into the carriage. He leaned out from the window for a moment, before they were gone, banging a hand against the wooden panels of the door impatiently.
‘Move out!’
‘You heard him!’ Halin bellowed in response, holding his horse in check beneath him. ‘Back to Westmere, before your wives go straying!’
With that, her father’s men spurred their horses away into the white corridors of the citadel, bound for the sky-cages and the city below. They had arrived on foot, leading their steeds, but they left by horseback, hurried by grave purpose towards the long road west. She watched the window of the carriage as it trundled away with the horses, but her father did not appear again. She stayed there, staring after them, until the party were out of sight and the great gate of the keep heaved closed behind them, slamming into the distant stone with a resounding thud.
‘M’Lady.’
She turned to find the Black Guard waiting, watching her with dark eyes through the narrow slits of their polished helms. For a moment, the suddenness of the departure threatened to overwhelm her. What was it he had told her, slurring over his unfinished dinner, in the pristine perfection of their lodgings, surrounded by invisible eyes? Power belongs to the strong. To those who take it. Just then, standing in the courtyard, watching alone as her father departed, she realised that he was right. And he wasn’t strong enough. She took a deep breath, smiling for the Black Guard, and followed them out of the ancient courtyard into the halls beyond.
*
The broad, open avenues and garden-ways of the Keep of Eranor closed in to interior corridors rather quickly, when you knew the way, and soon Sara was following her black-gilded escort through pale passageways lined with statuettes and tapestries, ceilings lost far overhead to the flickering light of amber flames. An occasional glimpse of pale sunlight leaped out across the stone floor, shimmering through shifting motes of dust. Sara was her Lady-self again, graceful and poised, gliding over the polished floor after her escort. The giant corridors were a maze of twists and turns, past fragment-views of gardens and libraries and sitting-halls and galleries, but she was dimly aware they were moving towards the Hall of the King. The thought made her a little giddy.
‘Will I be received in the King’s Hall?’ She asked as they walked, but the Black Guards didn’t reply, and their armour clinked in the quiet. Sara frowned, following them. The passage curved, rising, and she found that the wall on her right side suddenly gave way to the hall below. One of the galleries, set high in the rafters of the King’s Hall. She stopped, putting her hand on the balustrade and peering out over the ledge, into the vaulted, silent emptiness of the hall. Some fifty foot below, the patterned black and white marble of the floor gleamed in flashes of reflected amber, quiet and empty. At the far end, pale sunlight caught the Night Throne, setting fire in the mirrored stone. Overhead, the matching nightglass ceiling gleamed like a lake in starlight, and swirling figures swept back and forth across it in the shifting light of the chamber. Sara felt a little thrill run over her neck.
‘Sara.’
Sara blinked, starting, and found Dana standing beside her.
‘Sister!’ Sara took hold of her sister’s hands and rose onto her tiptoes, pressing a kiss against her cheek. ‘Here to welcome me into the fold?’
She was struck again by the strangeness of her sister, the difference in her. Dana wore black, a dress of simple lines and inlaid jet, at once relaxed and taut as a lute string. Her pale hands were folded over her belly, and her muddy dark hair was pulled back into a bun. The Black Guards halted behind her, waiting.
‘I am to escort you to the Queen’s chambers.’ Dana said simply. With that she turned and began to walk away along the balcony, towards a closed door at the throne-end of the hall. Sara frowned, hurrying after her.
‘Do the King and Queen not share chambers?’ She asked as they walked, and the hall below drew on beside them.
‘Their Majesties prefer… to keep their own space.’
The Black Guard fell into step at a respectful distance behind them, armoured heels clicking against the stone.
‘How many others are there?’
‘How many what?’
‘Handmaidens. How many does her Majesty keep?’
Dana did not break stride. ‘Two others, and the Matron.’
‘I suppose we shall not have servants of our own.’ Sara said quietly, eyeing the shadows shifting over the nightglass ceiling. ‘No need to spy on us when we are so close.’
‘Sara-’ Dana began, but Sara cut her off.
‘Father is gone, you know. This morning.’
‘I know.’ Dana replied, looking ahead.
‘You did not come to see him.’
Dana did not turn.
‘I’m sure he will miss you terribly, sister.’
Sara bristled suddenly, grabbing her sister’s arm.
‘I did not ask for it!’
Dana looked down at the hand on her arm, frowning. ‘What?’
‘Any of it!’ Sara told her, angry now, her whisper cracking. ‘I didn’t ask to stay. I didn’t ask him to send you away. I would have given anything to go with you. I thought he would never let me leave.’ She lowered her voice, flicking an eye back towards the waiting guards. ‘I did not ask for the way he… the way he…’
She took a breath, swallowing, and straightened, looking her sister in the eye.
‘There are worse things than being ignored, Dana.’
Dana’s hand folded over hers.
‘Let’s… let’s put it behind us.’ She said quietly. ‘You are here, now.’
Sara blinked at her, nodding. She wanted to say more, but her words would not come, locked away from her tongue by the choked gulping of her breath. She lowered her eyes, and Dana squeezed her hand.
‘Sara, listen to me.’ Dana murmured, leaning close. ‘You must be careful. The Queen-’
The door at the far end of the gallery swung open, creaking on its hinges. The pair fell silent, frozen, and whatever Dana might have said, she held instead.
*
‘Wait here.’
The Matron, the head of the Queen’s Keepers, was an elderly woman with rounding hips and hair the colour of ash tied into a tight bun behind the worn-leather creases of her forehead. She was wearing black, same as Dana, though her smock was somehow plainer, when she opened the door onto the gallery, ushering the sisters wordlessly into the corridor beyond. Dana had bowed her head deferentially, withering under the Matron’s hard eyes, and quickly disappeared into one of the many doors of the hallway. Sara almost asked for her to stay, but instead she steeled herself, remembering her lessons, and followed the stern old woman down the long, flickering hallway. The corridors of the keep were all severe, all lit by weak, flickering torchlight and gleaming the gleam of cold stone, but here they were particularly bare. There were no busts, no tapestries, no mosaics. Nothing but cold, dead rock, lent a little life by the dim thrustings of infrequent braziers. In her own apartments, she had understood the quiet, but here, in the keep proper, there was an eery silence to the corridors that jarred with Sara’s anticipation. Where were the nobles in their gay clothes, where was the music and laughter of a King’s Hall? Sara frowned to herself, and kept walking.
The room at the end of the hallway was broad and rounded, like a kind of circle made out of many flat edges, each holding the low light of a brazier. The marble floors were black and white and patterned like a gamesboard, empty but for a broad nightwood table at its centre, matching the room itself for its odd roundness. On the far side, a wall of shutters opened out onto a large, bare balcony, and over the intricately wrought stone balustrade, Sara could see the City of the Moon below, sweeping away towards the edge of the Heartspire, empty stormtowers stabbing black into the sky. Beyond, the great emerald plains of Valia stretched out into the west, past the fiery line of the river Arq, scored with jagged, dark rock and silver streams. Sara swallowed, realising she’d never been so high up.
‘Wait here.’
‘But-‘ She protested, frowning, but the Matron was already gone, turned on her heel and disappeared back the way she had come. Sara flinched as the door slammed shut behind her, and the silence of the room prickled at her skin. The breeze rustled over the balcony, swirling about the pillared windows, but the air inside was still as the grave. She stepped slowly over to the table, touching the polished wood. This much nightwood would have cost more than a wagonload of gold. She traced the knotted lines across the black surface, trying to ignore the cold weight churning in her gut.
Time stretched on around her, and the minutes dragged by like years. Despite the open air flooding through the windows, the chamber was not cool, warmed by the subtle glow of the braziers, and she felt a little wetness beginning to build under her arms. She looked about herself, trying to calm her heart. There were four other doors in the room, besides the one they had entered through, all dark and heavy looking, and each bore a pattern of silver on its face. There was a cradle, and opposite it, a pendant with teeth like a wolf. Beside the cradle door, a small drinks table, a glass jug of purple wine atop it, with a pair of matching glasses. The two doors closest to the balcony bore a sun and a crescent moon. She looked a little closer, and realised that the markings were not moonsilver, merely an imitation in gleaming silver paint, and the door she had entered through bore no markings at all. Sara watched them, imagining the rooms that lay behind each. Which one was the Queen behind, she wondered, and her heart quickened at the thought, stomach churning. She was stranded, here, now, in the capital. What if the Queen didn’t like her? What if she said something wrong? Would she be sent away again, back to her father?
‘Lady Westmere.’
The crescent moon had swung open, and the Queen glided through, a beautiful shadow in a studded black dress, arms glistening with little sharpened sequins the colour of midnight. Her hair had been contorted into an elaborate maze of raven curls over her pate, and her pale skin took on a translucent sheen in the pale light from the balcony doors. The throat of her dress was open, as it had been in the King’s Hall all those days ago, and she wore the same golden necklace, its myriad points sharp like daggers with their drops of ruby blood.
Sara blinked, then remembered herself, and dropped into a low curtsy, bowing her head.
‘Your Majesty.’ She said quietly, keeping her eyes on the floor.
The Queen did not reply. Sara was dimly aware of her shadow moving across the floor, crossing to the drinks table beside the cradle door. Sara risked a glance up, then, and found the Queen’s slender back to her. When she at last turned, she had a glass goblet of wine clutched in her narrow fingers. Sara lowered her eyes again.
‘You are a pretty one, aren’t you.’ The Queen said quietly, as if to herself. Her voice was cold, like ice leaking over lakewater, deep and still. She took a sip from her cup, and Sara could feel the cut of her eyes against her skin. ‘What did the Weasel of Westmere do to sire such a pretty daughter. Your sister, maybe, I understand, but you…’
Sara forced herself not to frown.
‘Well trained, I see.’ The Queen murmured, smiling coldly. She took another sip of her wine. ‘Your mother’s touch, I assume, not your father’s.’
Sara hesitated. She glanced up at the Queen, then lowered her eyes again, nodding.
‘I hear she is unwell.’
Sara looked up again, braver this time, and found the Queen’s dark eyes watching her over the rim of her glass.
‘She has an affliction, Your Majesty. She does not eat, and rarely sleeps. The Keepers say it is a disease of her mind.’
‘The one thing none of us can escape.’ The Queen sighed, toying idly with her glass and looking out of the window over the city below. ‘Still, there are worse places to be sickly than a Lord’s hall.’
‘I suppose… I suppose that is true, Your Majesty.’
The Queen raised an eyebrow. ‘Suppose, do you?’
Sara squirmed for a moment under the weight of her eyes, but then the Queen turned away, stepping slowly around the edge of the table till she was standing beside the open windows. She took another sip of her wine, back to Sara again.
‘Your sister met you, this morning.’
Sara hesitated, thrown for a moment by the abruptness of the statement.
‘Yes, Your Majesty.’
‘And she came to you yesterday, in the apartments Bywood found for you.’
‘Yes.’ Sara felt the cold weight return in her belly. She thought of what the Fox had warned her. There is always someone watching. She cast her mind back to her conversations with Dana. Gods. What had they spoken of? Had she said something out of turn?
‘Curious, that she did not seek out your father.’
Sara let out her breath slowly. That was not a particularly well-hidden curiosity.
‘Dana must have been very busy, Your Majesty.’
‘She is as busy as I make her, and that is rarely too taxing.’
Sara sighed. ‘They have… sometimes not seen eye to eye.’
‘And you?’ The Queen turned as she spoke, fixing her eyes to Sara’s again. Behind her, the distant sounds of the city drifted lazily up through the air, swirling around far-off columns of wispy smoke. ‘What do you say of him?’
Sara hesitated again, stuttering. ‘He is my father, Your Majesty. I trust that he always knows what is best for his daughters.’
‘In my experience it is fathers who know the least about their own daughters.’ The Queen replied dryly, sipping again. ‘Come, let me look at you, then.’
She came back around the nightwood table, her long, narrow limbs gliding over the polished floor, and stopped in front of Sara, setting her glass down beside them. She took Sara’s chin in two spindly fingers and tilted it upwards so that she was looking her in the eye, only a few inches from her face. Sara realised again how tall she was, as tall as her father, at least, though her slender frame made her seem much smaller. She tried not to squirm, but she found that the Queen’s fingers dug uncomfortably into her chin, dark eyes flitting back and forth across her face like a hungry wolf.
‘Yes, very pretty.’ She said at last, not releasing her chin. Sara could feel her breath on her face, smelling softly of dark wine. ‘No wonder. You look like her, you know.’
‘Who-‘ but the Queen had already turned away, back to the table, picking up her wineglass in one bone-stretched hand.
‘The Matron will meet you outside. She will give you your tasks and show you to your chamber. You will begin tomorrow.’
Sara flinched, realising she had been holding her breath. She curtsied to the Queen’s back, suddenly a little giddy.
‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’
‘You may go, girl.’
Sara turned to go, not at all sure what to make of the encounter. She paused at the door, looking back over her shoulder, but found the Queen looking out over the city silently again, wineglass in hand, black dress glistening with jet. Sara hesitated a moment longer, then hurried out into the corridor beyond the unmarked door, closing it behind her.
*
The night before her father leaves, she wakes in darkness.
She does not open her eyes, but she knows it is not yet dawn. The sounds of the garden beyond her shutters are soft and murmuring, wind-stirred and drip-spotted.
She can feel him over her, the tense stillness of him, closer than shadows. He smells of wine. Sweat. She is cold, but she does not move. She dares not move. She can feel the weight of his eyes, dulled with drink, tracing the lines of her. His breathing sounds like anger.
She does not know how long she waits there, frozen. But she does not open her eyes. Not once. Time stretches out before her in that moment, an eternity of breathless terror.
Then he leaves. The smell of him lingers long after the door has closed behind him. She lays there a while longer, motionless, dead as stone. Then she curls into her own arms, and weeps silently until the dawn.
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2023.05.29 17:33 TheScribe_1 [The Book of the Chosen] - Chapter Eleven - The Room of Doors

Series Page - Read 10 weeks ahead on Patreon - Read the story so far on Royal Road
*
Chapter Eleven - The Room of Doors
​
‘Get moving!’
Sara watched the men readying their horses, squinting at the bright-ness of the stone. The courtyard was full of the sound of boot-steps and creaking leather. Overhead, a thin veil of rippled grey hung over the early winter sky, and the dawn sun tugged gleaming at its edges. Over-head, the dull black shape of an old stormtower bled the sky. Empty, just like the rest of them. There was something very jarring, Sara de-cided, about the worn jerkins and stubbled cheeks of her father’s men, ensconced in a pillared courtyard of vast stone. They were out of place, and they had been every moment since arriving in Uldoroth, she real-ised. They didn’t belong here. Her own anxiety was mirrored imper-fectly with the relief on their weary faces, and the dark rings under their eyes seemed just a little less deep. There may be Black Hand to deal with, back in the Westmere, but it was home. At least there your ene-mies had the decency to show themselves. Sara realised she was chew-ing her lip. At her back, two of the Black Guard waited wordlessly in their gold-touched armour, much more in keeping with the finery of the courtyard, and everything else in the capital. They were waiting to es-cort her away to the Queen, unaware they found a girl not so eager for the honour as she had been, just a few days before.
‘Father!’ She called out, spying him across the writhing mass of men in their moss green cloaks, but he seemed not to hear her. He was standing near the arched cloister at the far side of the square, cloaked and ready for travel, in hurried conversation with a shaded figure stand-ing beyond the marble facade. She squinted, trying to make out the oth-er man, but there was nothing but a dark shadow to trace.
‘Well then, M’lady.’ A voice said beside her, and she turned to find Halin looking down at her, a kind smile on his broad face. ‘You’ll be a right proper Princess when I next see you, methinks.’
Sara smiled at him and shook her head sheepishly. ‘Uldoroth is not my home, yet, Halin. I won’t forget.’
‘Be careful you don’t, Lady Sara.’ Halin glanced distrustfully at the Black Guard behind her. ‘Lots of fancy folk here. Fancy folk with fan-cier lies.’
‘I’ll be careful, Halin.’ She told him seriously.
He smiled again, and the sternness dissolved away from his face.
‘Take care, M’Lady.’ He told her, dipping his head politely. She re-turned the gesture, dropping into a small curtsy.
‘Look after my father, will you?’
‘Always, M’Lady.’
Halin hurried off into the throng in the square, and Sara watched him go, feeling her the knot in her belly tighten. The conversations with her unexpected visitors had left their mark, a nagging uncertainty gnawing at the excitement that had carried her through her first few uneventful days in the capital. The little comfort she had taken in the presence of her father and his men was a loss she could ill afford. She watched her father’s back, frowning softly to herself. Her thoughts were not what she had imagined, when she had thought of him leaving. A hundred dif-ferent times, and more. Had she expected tears, grief at the parting? Re-lief? Instead, there was only the fear, a dull, leaden weight in her belly, clammy-cold as marsh-water.
‘Come on, you whoresons! I want to be on the road before lunch!’ Halin roared, and the men quickened their work. Her father had not moved, still deep in conversation, just out of sight. She peered a little closer, and for a moment the pale sunlight crept over the top of the square, flashing against a colourful doublet marked with a silver brooch. The Fox’s lips barely moved as he spoke from the shadows of the cloister, and her father was scowling. Sara frowned.
‘Mount up!’
The ornate wagon that had been her home all those weeks trundled into the square, then, drawn by a pair of stout horses. Sara saw her fa-ther turn reluctantly towards it, striding out into the square. Sara peered past him into the cloister, and for a moment Lord Bywood’s sharp eyes caught hers. Then he smiled, dipping his dark, smooth head, and van-ished himself away into the shadows.
‘Father!’
Sara hurried out into the crowded square, leaving her escort behind, darting between the shifting limbs of the horses. Her father turned to-wards her as she approached, and smiled small smile, in two parts, one weary, one sad.
‘Sara.’
She threw her arms around him and pressed her head against his chest for a moment, and he put an arm around her shoulders. She knew her role, and the knowing of it made her safe for a moment. Then she stepped back, looking up at him.
‘I thought you were going to leave without saying goodbye.’
‘I… There was much preparation to do.’
Sara did not reply. His eyes had that same distance that they had had since they arrived in the capital. Uldoroth had worn at him, as if all the brightness and finery had made his skin dull, eyes darkened like the contrast of shadows in bright sun.
‘Will you write?’
He blinked as she spoke, then smiled, and the tiredness fell away from him for a moment. He took her chin gently in one hand, tilting it up to meet his eyes.
‘Yes, I will write.’ He told her, and she saw again that fierce ambi-tion in his eyes, the look she had known so well on their journey from the Westmere. Swollen around the soft, lazy ease of diminished strength. ‘And I shall expect news in return. The Rose of Westmere will show these fools how a real lady charms.’
Sara smiled and lowered her eyes self-consciously.
‘I… I will not disappoint you, father.’ She said quietly, and found, in spite of herself, that there were tears in her eyes.
‘See that you do not.’ He replied. Then he let go of her chin and climbed quickly into the carriage. He leaned out from the window for a moment, before they were gone, banging a hand against the wooden panels of the door impatiently.
‘Move out!’
‘You heard him!’ Halin bellowed in response, holding his horse in check beneath him. ‘Back to Westmere, before your wives go stray-ing!’
With that, her father’s men spurred their horses away into the white corridors of the citadel, bound for the sky-cages and the city below. They had arrived on foot, leading their steeds, but they left by horse-back, hurried by grave purpose towards the long road west. She watched the window of the carriage as it trundled away with the horses, but her father did not appear again. She stayed there, staring after them, until the party were out of sight and the great gate of the keep heaved closed behind them, slamming into the distant stone with a resounding thud.
‘M’Lady.’
She turned to find the Black Guard waiting, watching her with dark eyes through the narrow slits of their polished helms. For a moment, the suddenness of the departure threatened to overwhelm her. What was it he had told her, slurring over his unfinished dinner, in the pristine per-fection of their lodgings, surrounded by invisible eyes? Power belongs to the strong. To those who take it. Just then, standing in the courtyard, watching alone as her father departed, she realised that he was right. And he wasn’t strong enough. She took a deep breath, smiling for the Black Guard, and followed them out of the ancient courtyard into the halls beyond.
*
The broad, open avenues and garden-ways of the Keep of Eranor closed in to interior corridors rather quickly, when you knew the way, and soon Sara was following her black-gilded escort through pale pas-sageways lined with statuettes and tapestries, ceilings lost far overhead to the flickering light of amber flames. An occasional glimpse of pale sunlight leaped out across the stone floor, shimmering through shifting motes of dust. Sara was her Lady-self again, graceful and poised, glid-ing over the polished floor after her escort. The giant corridors were a maze of twists and turns, past fragment-views of gardens and libraries and sitting-halls and galleries, but she was dimly aware they were mov-ing towards the Hall of the King. The thought made her a little giddy.
‘Will I be received in the King’s Hall?’ She asked as they walked, but the Black Guards didn’t reply, and their armour clinked in the quiet. Sara frowned, following them. The passage curved, rising, and she found that the wall on her right side suddenly gave way to the hall be-low. One of the galleries, set high in the rafters of the King’s Hall. She stopped, putting her hand on the balustrade and peering out over the ledge, into the vaulted, silent emptiness of the hall. Some fifty foot be-low, the patterned black and white marble of the floor gleamed in flashes of reflected amber, quiet and empty. At the far end, pale sun-light caught the Night Throne, setting fire in the mirrored stone. Over-head, the matching nightglass ceiling gleamed like a lake in starlight, and swirling figures swept back and forth across it in the shifting light of the chamber. Sara felt a little thrill run over her neck.
‘Sara.’
Sara blinked, starting, and found Dana standing beside her.
‘Sister!’ Sara took hold of her sister’s hands and rose onto her tip-toes, pressing a kiss against her cheek. ‘Here to welcome me into the fold?’
She was struck again by the strangeness of her sister, the difference in her. Dana wore black, a dress of simple lines and inlaid jet, at once relaxed and taut as a lute string. Her pale hands were folded over her belly, and her muddy dark hair was pulled back into a bun. The Black Guards halted behind her, waiting.
‘I am to escort you to the Queen’s chambers.’ Dana said simply. With that she turned and began to walk away along the balcony, to-wards a closed door at the throne-end of the hall. Sara frowned, hurry-ing after her.
‘Do the King and Queen not share chambers?’ She asked as they walked, and the hall below drew on beside them.
‘Their Majesties prefer… to keep their own space.’
The Black Guard fell into step at a respectful distance behind them, armoured heels clicking against the stone.
‘How many others are there?’
‘How many what?’
‘Handmaidens. How many does her Majesty keep?’
Dana did not break stride. ‘Two others, and the Matron.’
‘I suppose we shall not have servants of our own.’ Sara said quietly, eyeing the shadows shifting over the nightglass ceiling. ‘No need to spy on us when we are so close.’
‘Sara-’ Dana began, but Sara cut her off.
‘Father is gone, you know. This morning.’
‘I know.’ Dana replied, looking ahead.
‘You did not come to see him.’
Dana did not turn.
‘I’m sure he will miss you terribly, sister.’
Sara bristled suddenly, grabbing her sister’s arm.
‘I did not ask for it!’
Dana looked down at the hand on her arm, frowning. ‘What?’
‘Any of it!’ Sara told her, angry now, her whisper cracking. ‘I didn’t ask to stay. I didn’t ask him to send you away. I would have given any-thing to go with you. I thought he would never let me leave.’ She low-ered her voice, flicking an eye back towards the waiting guards. ‘I did not ask for the way he… the way he…’
She took a breath, swallowing, and straightened, looking her sister in the eye.
‘There are worse things than being ignored, Dana.’
Dana’s hand folded over hers.
‘Let’s… let’s put it behind us.’ She said quietly. ‘You are here, now.’
Sara blinked at her, nodding. She wanted to say more, but her words would not come, locked away from her tongue by the choked gulping of her breath. She lowered her eyes, and Dana squeezed her hand.
‘Sara, listen to me.’ Dana murmured, leaning close. ‘You must be careful. The Queen-’
The door at the far end of the gallery swung open, creaking on its hinges. The pair fell silent, frozen, and whatever Dana might have said, she held instead.
*
‘Wait here.’
The Matron, the head of the Queen’s Keepers, was an elderly wom-an with rounding hips and hair the colour of ash tied into a tight bun behind the worn-leather creases of her forehead. She was wearing black, same as Dana, though her smock was somehow plainer, when she opened the door onto the gallery, ushering the sisters wordlessly in-to the corridor beyond. Dana had bowed her head deferentially, wither-ing under the Matron’s hard eyes, and quickly disappeared into one of the many doors of the hallway. Sara almost asked for her to stay, but instead she steeled herself, remembering her lessons, and followed the stern old woman down the long, flickering hallway. The corridors of the keep were all severe, all lit by weak, flickering torchlight and gleaming the gleam of cold stone, but here they were particularly bare. There were no busts, no tapestries, no mosaics. Nothing but cold, dead rock, lent a little life by the dim thrustings of infrequent braziers. In her own apartments, she had understood the quiet, but here, in the keep proper, there was an eery silence to the corridors that jarred with Sara’s anticipation. Where were the nobles in their gay clothes, where was the music and laughter of a King’s Hall? Sara frowned to herself, and kept walking.
The room at the end of the hallway was broad and rounded, like a kind of circle made out of many flat edges, each holding the low light of a brazier. The marble floors were black and white and patterned like a gamesboard, empty but for a broad nightwood table at its centre, matching the room itself for its odd roundness. On the far side, a wall of shutters opened out onto a large, bare balcony, and over the intricate-ly wrought stone balustrade, Sara could see the City of the Moon be-low, sweeping away towards the edge of the Heartspire, empty stormtowers stabbing black into the sky. Beyond, the great emerald plains of Valia stretched out into the west, past the fiery line of the river Arq, scored with jagged, dark rock and silver streams. Sara swallowed, realising she’d never been so high up.
‘Wait here.’
‘But-‘ She protested, frowning, but the Matron was already gone, turned on her heel and disappeared back the way she had come. Sara flinched as the door slammed shut behind her, and the silence of the room prickled at her skin. The breeze rustled over the balcony, swirling about the pillared windows, but the air inside was still as the grave. She stepped slowly over to the table, touching the polished wood. This much nightwood would have cost more than a wagonload of gold. She traced the knotted lines across the black surface, trying to ignore the cold weight churning in her gut.
Time stretched on around her, and the minutes dragged by like years. Despite the open air flooding through the windows, the chamber was not cool, warmed by the subtle glow of the braziers, and she felt a little wetness beginning to build under her arms. She looked about her-self, trying to calm her heart. There were four other doors in the room, besides the one they had entered through, all dark and heavy looking, and each bore a pattern of silver on its face. There was a cradle, and opposite it, a pendant with teeth like a wolf. Beside the cradle door, a small drinks table, a glass jug of purple wine atop it, with a pair of matching glasses. The two doors closest to the balcony bore a sun and a crescent moon. She looked a little closer, and realised that the markings were not moonsilver, merely an imitation in gleaming silver paint, and the door she had entered through bore no markings at all. Sara watched them, imagining the rooms that lay behind each. Which one was the Queen behind, she wondered, and her heart quickened at the thought, stomach churning. She was stranded, here, now, in the capital. What if the Queen didn’t like her? What if she said something wrong? Would she be sent away again, back to her father?
‘Lady Westmere.’
The crescent moon had swung open, and the Queen glided through, a beautiful shadow in a studded black dress, arms glistening with little sharpened sequins the colour of midnight. Her hair had been contorted into an elaborate maze of raven curls over her pate, and her pale skin took on a translucent sheen in the pale light from the balcony doors. The throat of her dress was open, as it had been in the King’s Hall all those days ago, and she wore the same golden necklace, its myriad points sharp like daggers with their drops of ruby blood.
Sara blinked, then remembered herself, and dropped into a low curt-sy, bowing her head.
‘Your Majesty.’ She said quietly, keeping her eyes on the floor.
The Queen did not reply. Sara was dimly aware of her shadow mov-ing across the floor, crossing to the drinks table beside the cradle door. Sara risked a glance up, then, and found the Queen’s slender back to her. When she at last turned, she had a glass goblet of wine clutched in her narrow fingers. Sara lowered her eyes again.
‘You are a pretty one, aren’t you.’ The Queen said quietly, as if to herself. Her voice was cold, like ice leaking over lakewater, deep and still. She took a sip from her cup, and Sara could feel the cut of her eyes against her skin. ‘What did the Weasel of Westmere do to sire such a pretty daughter. Your sister, maybe, I understand, but you…’
Sara forced herself not to frown.
‘Well trained, I see.’ The Queen murmured, smiling coldly. She took another sip of her wine. ‘Your mother’s touch, I assume, not your fa-ther’s.’
Sara hesitated. She glanced up at the Queen, then lowered her eyes again, nodding.
‘I hear she is unwell.’
Sara looked up again, braver this time, and found the Queen’s dark eyes watching her over the rim of her glass.
‘She has an affliction, Your Majesty. She does not eat, and rarely sleeps. The Keepers say it is a disease of her mind.’
‘The one thing none of us can escape.’ The Queen sighed, toying idly with her glass and looking out of the window over the city below. ‘Still, there are worse places to be sickly than a Lord’s hall.’
‘I suppose… I suppose that is true, Your Majesty.’
The Queen raised an eyebrow. ‘Suppose, do you?’
Sara squirmed for a moment under the weight of her eyes, but then the Queen turned away, stepping slowly around the edge of the table till she was standing beside the open windows. She took another sip of her wine, back to Sara again.
‘Your sister met you, this morning.’
Sara hesitated, thrown for a moment by the abruptness of the state-ment.
‘Yes, Your Majesty.’
‘And she came to you yesterday, in the apartments Bywood found for you.’
‘Yes.’ Sara felt the cold weight return in her belly. She thought of what the Fox had warned her. There is always someone watching. She cast her mind back to her conversations with Dana. Gods. What had they spoken of? Had she said something out of turn?
‘Curious, that she did not seek out your father.’
Sara let out her breath slowly. That was not a particularly well-hidden curiosity.
‘Dana must have been very busy, Your Majesty.’
‘She is as busy as I make her, and that is rarely too taxing.’
Sara sighed. ‘They have… sometimes not seen eye to eye.’
‘And you?’ The Queen turned as she spoke, fixing her eyes to Sara’s again. Behind her, the distant sounds of the city drifted lazily up through the air, swirling around far-off columns of wispy smoke. ‘What do you say of him?’
Sara hesitated again, stuttering. ‘He is my father, Your Majesty. I trust that he always knows what is best for his daughters.’
‘In my experience it is fathers who know the least about their own daughters.’ The Queen replied dryly, sipping again. ‘Come, let me look at you, then.’
She came back around the nightwood table, her long, narrow limbs gliding over the polished floor, and stopped in front of Sara, setting her glass down beside them. She took Sara’s chin in two spindly fingers and tilted it upwards so that she was looking her in the eye, only a few inches from her face. Sara realised again how tall she was, as tall as her father, at least, though her slender frame made her seem much smaller. She tried not to squirm, but she found that the Queen’s fingers dug un-comfortably into her chin, dark eyes flitting back and forth across her face like a hungry wolf.
‘Yes, very pretty.’ She said at last, not releasing her chin. Sara could feel her breath on her face, smelling softly of dark wine. ‘No wonder. You look like her, you know.’
‘Who-‘ but the Queen had already turned away, back to the table, picking up her wineglass in one bone-stretched hand.
‘The Matron will meet you outside. She will give you your tasks and show you to your chamber. You will begin tomorrow.’
Sara flinched, realising she had been holding her breath. She curt-sied to the Queen’s back, suddenly a little giddy.
‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’
‘You may go, girl.’
Sara turned to go, not at all sure what to make of the encounter. She paused at the door, looking back over her shoulder, but found the Queen looking out over the city silently again, wineglass in hand, black dress glistening with jet. Sara hesitated a moment longer, then hurried out into the corridor beyond the unmarked door, closing it behind her.
*
The night before her father leaves, she wakes in darkness.
She does not open her eyes, but she knows it is not yet dawn. The sounds of the garden beyond her shutters are soft and murmuring, wind-stirred and drip-spotted.
She can feel him over her, the tense stillness of him, closer than shadows. He smells of wine. Sweat. She is cold, but she does not move. She dares not move. She can feel the weight of his eyes, dulled with drink, tracing the lines of her. His breathing sounds like anger.
She does not know how long she waits there, frozen. But she does not open her eyes. Not once. Time stretches out before her in that mo-ment, an eternity of breathless terror.
Then he leaves. The smell of him lingers long after the door has closed behind him. She lays there a while longer, motionless, dead as stone. Then she curls into her own arms, and weeps silently until the dawn.
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2023.05.29 09:44 FluffWrites The Dark Road Ahead. Chapter 8 Part 1: Misfortune from the Land of Tides

Previous Chapter <-> Next Chapter
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“Blessed accessories of all varieties. Come sway fortune in your favor with trinkets blessed by the very own Beucara of the seven jaws of the mystic mother themselves, brought to you all the way from the land of tides Nami-Kuni.” The short old lady announced to bypassers using what little voice she had to try to attract the customer to her miniature stand.
A small huddled-up figure of a boy sat on the adjacent sidewalk with arms wrapped around his head with the sound of sniffing and weeping emitting from him
“Young lady, come here. This necklace blesses one's body with great fertility if you desire-“ She tried to grab the attention of a couple walking nearby, but they passed by her without even granting her a glance.
“Sir, Sir. If you could .…” It was no use. No one cared enough about her simple wares, especially with how old her stand looked. However, the wailing of this kid wasn’t helping either and as a matter of fact, it was starting to get really repetitive.
“Shoo. Get out of here, kid. Loiter around some other stand, before someone comes and kidnaps you. Go scare someone else’s customers off.”
But he paid her no heed, just like the others.
“Tsk. I swear parents these days don’t bother raising their kids themselves-“ She stepped off the wooden crate that she was standing on and grumbled her way toward Zekes to scold him. But stopped in her tracks once she once got a better look at him She took a look at the poor boy, who had curled up into a ball and dug his nails into his arms. His cries screamed of a pitiful state of resentment.
“Are you alright, boy? Are you lost?” She called out to him as she tried to put a hand on his shoulder, which he immediately shrugged off.
This made her flinched for a second. “You got a lot of attitude for such a young man.” She commented tiredly, yet the boy still disregarded her comments.
“Listen, kid. I don’t know what has led you to huddle up all by yourself next to my stand during this busy time of day. But you are scaring off my customers and last time I checked jinn doesn’t grow on trees. So could you kindly step away?” She pleaded, but Zekes stayed resilient in his stubbornness.
She let out a weary sigh. “If I weave your fortune, would that cheer you up enough to stop you from crying at the very least?”
Zekes slowly raised his head revealing a snot-covered face and puffy eyes.
“You can … tell my fortune?” He answered in a nasal tone.
“Something of that sort.” Zekes watched her march back to her stall, struggling to get onto the crate again. He vaguely remembers a story from a book about traveling chosen from an eastern land of beauty and festivals.
“Do you want your future told, or would you rather keep gawking at me?”
“Ah, sorry.” He quickly got on his feet, repulsively wiping off his snoot on his arm as he made way.
“Ugh.” The sound of disgust escaped her. “Don’t touch anything unless I tell you to, otherwise you are paying for it.” She warned him before he sat down.
“If I remember correctly, it should be somewhere right here.” She fumbled tirelessly under the table, before thumping a heavy oval object dressed in cloth in front of her, all sitting tightly on a thick cushion. Wiping the sweat off her brows, she unraveled a large glass disk.
The old lady breathed a bit of pride as she presented it to him.
“Bet you have never seen diffusion glass this large before?”
She waited for Zekes’ reaction, but his once emotionally charge face had only a dull expression to give in response.
“So it was all a sham.” He said with disappointment in his eyes.
“Sham?!?” She repeated loudly.
“It is just a fancy-looking diffusion glass. You are just gonna use it to dictate my type of Beucara and start spouting nonsense. You got my hopes up for nothing.” He pouted at the glass disk.
“It is a multipurpose tool, kid. If you doubt me so much feel free to leave any time you want, it is not like I made you pay for this.” She reminded Zekes. ”Now put your hand upon the crystal and concentrate on filling it up with your raw Beucara and spare me of your mockery.”
Zekes didn’t protest, for she did only ask him to stop crying in exchange.
He complyingly put both his hands on the crystal and tried to feel as if little currents of air blew out of his pores. A small amount of dark gaseous fluid crept through the glass like smoke through an amber.
“Ah, that is good. I see you are well-rehearsed in utilizing your Beucara. That should be enough.”
At the base of the cushion, he could barely see a slab of stone with a concave surface, it was perfectly designed to let the glass have the freedom to rotate while it was on top. Skillfully, she balanced the top of the disk with her finger and began spinning it with her other hand. Slowly the dark gas started separating into clouds of 2 different colors, an orange-colored mass and a smaller blue one.
“It appears that you are a quite blessed elemetasis with a bit of sorcesis Beucara. A lil’ master of the elements in the making I see. Not much of a rare combination. Often people with your attributes are able to control and manifest a material, such as fire and wind.” She scoffed.
“I am not a little master of anything.“ He pouted. “Regardless, why don’t you tell me something I don’t already know.”
“Don’t take it so personally. I have seen many elementosorcesis pull off inhuman feats. A guy I crossed paths with once was able to become invisible by bending light around him. But if you think this is the extent of what I can do then, you ain’t seen a thing, kid!”
She rubbed the palm of her hands together as she murmured a prayer-like verse.
“Bless us with your sight, she whose jaws still ache. When the coastal breeze turned our tint blue, was it not you who weaved our clothes from your mane,? Was it not you who called for grief when the blood of our ephemeral protectors soiled the currents of our streams? Was it not you who taught the blind stars how to shine, so that the moon needn’t to lead the night alone? So who is it if not you that will guide this gentle seedling through the torrents of uncertainty, for it shall surely bear fruit in your great plan by your clairvoyance.”
The tip of her thumb and index finger from both her hands were now aligned against each other with the empty space between them adopting the shape of an oval flower. She gently placed her palms up against the glass just before a bundle of silk-like projections entered the glass. They danced and darted through the two masses inside, like a careful hand knitting a scarf, barely reducing with each emergence as the color quickly shifted from one to another.
“What are they trying to do?” Zekes was dumbfounded.
“This is not what is really important for you. What is important mostly for you is what color they end up tampering your Beucara into.”
“But they look like they are trying to turn it into something.”
“Beucara is shapeless, kid. No mold can redefine its shape, for it will always revert back to its most relaxed form. Just like the pattern of your eyes, the color is also unique to each person. No two beings share the same exact color and behavior of Beucara. Almost as if the strings of fate have already seen through your whole being. Writing your existence through shades our mind can only hope to decipher the nick of.”
“But as the great scholar Axtutan once said: “To guess at a being’s nature is the most essential step to its nurture”.
“That is why my people have dedicated their lives to mastering the art of revealing and interpreting this secret hue, in the hopes of providing ease to those minds whose thoughts agonize for what is to come. Like a shepherd judging if the clouds in the sky proclaim of an incoming storm so that he hastens the flock’s grazing.” She ended by enveloping the disk in the cloth it was packed by. “Now we let it rest for quite a while, then your destiny shall be revealed to you.”
The eyes of the boy in front of her were now gleaming in awe.
“How did you do that? That was so beautiful”
“Hmph.” She scoffed, before declaring proudly. “What else would you have expected? You are looking at an art that has been honed through a thousand years of fine work by the greatest of Sorcesis users.”
“You whispered something right before the squiggly line came out of your hands. Was that how you were able to use your power?”
“Those squiggly lines you are talking about aren’t of my own power. I prayed to the mystic mother to grant me her blessing for nothing more than a moment. It is through the mystic mother’s Beucara that weavers are able to shape the colors. She is the lifeline of all that we hold dear and all that we strive to accomplish. If not for her, our ancestor's refuge after the Great Ascension, Nami-Kuni would have never come into existence. And for that, we are in eternal gratitude, so the least we can do is chant our personal prayer.”
“You really hold that lady in such a high place. She must have helped a lot of people. Can you teach me how to do that thing with the squiggles? Please. Pretty please.” He begged.
“Sorry, can’t.” She made sure the glass was wholly covered in the cloth.
“Come on, why? I promise not to bother you again. I really do mean it this time. So please just teach me, please.”
“Sorry, kid. I won’t budge on this. So let go of it already.”
“Well then. I refuse to leave you alone till you teach me how.”
Zekes crossed his arms in protest as he pouted.
The boy was as stubborn as they come. His face was clearly soft and his hands were still smooth. The signs of an easygoing life, the life most kids are fortunate enough to live, but this one had clearly gone a level deeper as his entitlement spelled out how spoiled he was. A subject of unconditional love, which one could not blame him for embracing. But it had the unforeseen side-effect of denying him from learning how to take no for an answer.
A bothersome sigh escaped her.
“You can’t get everything you want in life, kid. Fate has given each of us our own share of capabilities. Just like how I can’t easily make a fortune by blessing items like those damned Aurasis users, you also don’t have the right attribute to do fortune weaving, even if you did only those personally blessed by the mystic mother are able to borrow from her powers.”
“But … I also have sorcesis Beucara in me. Y-you saw it, didn’t you?”
“Sorry, kid. But it ain’t enough to do you any good here. You must at least primarily be a sorcesis to have the knack for it.”
“This isn’t fair. I want to become stronger. I need to become stronger. If I can’t become better, then it will be so long before I can see his uncle again.” This train of thought was the result of his sorrows from feeling abandoned by his uncle. The truth is Rafik’s words managed to lodge themselves deep within his heart because, despite his childishness, a part of him knew that the reason his uncle sent him to Arobolus with Rafik was to become stronger and learn from him. So if that was all he needed to do, then he had to become strong as fast as he could, so that he could show his uncle that he was worth something.
“Don’t sulk on it for too long. Just because you didn’t have your luck with this method, it doesn’t mean there isn’t something out there more suited for your Beucara. You know they have a saying in Nami-Kuni: “If the Kunji vines bloomed every season, it would lessen from the beauty of spring.”
Zekes lowered his gaze visibly trying to make sense of what she quoted.
“What it means is that if everyone was able to weave their fortune, then fortune weaving wouldn’t be so valuable anymore. But the fact that we are different makes it so that can accomplish feats that would be nigh impossible for anyone else.”
“But my Beucara isn’t really something that can tell the future or cure people of illness by a few fancy punches. I don’t have the potential to become strong. All I can do is open up little rifts and run-” Suddenly he cut himself off, remembering his uncle’s words of caution.
“Hmph. If that is what this is about then …” She pointed behind him.
In the middle of the bazaar stood a well-built man wearing a baggy sharwal and a sleeves grey shirt imbued with red patterns. The man’s feet danced around elegantly as two long sticks with both ends on fire spun between his gloved hands. The crowd around him cheered as he threw the sticks in the air and spat fire from his mouth like a furnace, right before jumping through the same fire he spat fire and caught both his sticks mid-air in an extraordinary show of athleticism. He was one of the street performers Zekes was looking forward to seeing. It seemed like he had failed to notice that one was performing was only a few stands away from him while he was in the depth of despair.
“How did he do that?” He asked without even shifting his eyes from the performer.
“Years of practice and unwavering will, that’s how. That kid is the youngest of a lineage of ignis dancers, not as old of a tradition as us fortune weavers, but old enough that one could say they are the progenitors of their art of flame manipulation.”
“Huh, so lucky to be blessed with such a talented bloodline of ignis dancers. Not so lucky for me.” Zekes disappointedly sighed as he rested his head between his arms.
“Well, he most definitely did inherit the passion for it, but the ability to perform it, not so much."
Zekes looked back with a raised eyebrow.
“But how? He can clearly do all the jumps and stuff?”
“Tell me, what do you think it takes for one to be able to become an ignis dancer?”
“Huh?!? …. Hmm, let's see.” He ruminated intently while observing the ignis dancer perform. “Well, you would surely need to be able to breathe fire … oh, and having strong legs would really help.” He answered, eagerly waiting to see if he had answered correctly.
“Yes, one would need to be able to control fire and have “strong legs”, but more importantly he must be able to be one with the fire.”
“Be one with the fire?” He repeated after her the moment she explained.
“Don’t interrupt me in the middle of my sentence, kid.” She was quick to scold him. “To be one with something is for both of you to be able to accept each other without bringing harm to one another. It is an essential rule that is important for anything that wants to be whole and content. Just like how a sculptor must make sure the edge of the chisel he uses is only pointed towards the rock he is carving, lest he carves himself into the very same sculpture he was sculpting.”
She gave a pause to let Zekes digest her words.
“The boy was born with a defect that let the very fire he produced burn its maker. An omen that could only spell the end of this longstanding tradition with him. A curse almost as if made by design to mockingly leave him by a hair's breadth reach of attaining his one desire. He was ready to give his soul and body to the flames, yet they only rejected his touch.”
“A word of wisdom for you, youngling. I have studied the shades of fate for decades on end. Many say that fate is blind to pleasures and agony or that fate favors the virtuous, but from what I have seen it has a taste for ....” She leaned forwards to whisper the last word to him. “IRONY. If cruelty was an art, his birth would be but one of many punchlines. If people can laugh at the face of fate, then it is only expected for fate to laugh back at them.”
“And yet … he performs! Look at him!” She declared in amazement.
“Tell me what else do you see when you look at him.”
“But I have already-“
“Look, boy. Look!” She insisted. “Ignore your presumptions and see beyond the facade of an easy life.”
He complyingly observed with his eyes squinted in search of the core of this tremendous showmanship. Just in a matter of seconds, he was able to make an obvious sign that he had previously missed somehow.
“His mouth and jaw … they are as red as molten steel.”
“Right, right. Now look closer. Look at his arms.” She pointed.
“They seem … tight as if the skin has been stretched out. They must have been burned.” He deduced smiling back at her from feeling a sense of accomplishment at noticing such an unfortunate thing. The old lady’s slow nod confirmed his suspicions, making him change into a more appropriate sad expression.
“Scars can hold more stories than words and this boy’s burn marks are not much different. Days and nights, his family pleaded with him to abandon his risky endeavor. They used their connections to offer him effortless jobs, many beautiful women’s hands in engagement, and many more happy outcomes just to get him to quit. But he held on like a she-wolf holding onto the scarce meat she managed to scavenge for her cubs. Though his family loved him dearly they could not allow him to throw away his life in pursuit of the unattainable. So they came to me in hopes that if he saw his future, it would put reason into him. And though I was reluctant at first, when I saw a light kindling from his heart to his eyes I knew that even if he were to see his own self turn to crisps right in front of him his will would still refuse to waver.
“I pitied the kid’s burning desire, but also empathized with the parent’s worry.” She paused. “… because the joy of their children is the fruit of all hardships they are willing to endure. And to stand idle as this fruit rots is a sin against one’s purpose and existence, such actis only committed by the most selfish and the least shameful.” Her eyes seemed teary and her words sounded burdened. “As a mother, I could not let the situation stay the same as it had presented itself to me, but it is hard to change the mind of those who come to you with a sense of desire. But thankfully I needn’t do that cause when two people desire the same thing, a compromise can always be made as long as they are both satisfied. And what they both wanted was for him to have a long-lived happy life, and the only thing impeding between them was doubt, the weed that I had to uproot to let the sprout flourish.”
“I accepted to read the boy’s fate, but only with two conditions in mind. First, they had to understand that to question the strings of fate is to refute the very sacrality of the art itself, an act of disrespect against the Mystic mother. Naturally, they agreed, but when I told them that my second term was for them to support the boy in his aspirations no matter the outcome, they lashed out at me, calling me all kinds of slurs and profanities. I was quick to remind them of my first condition and how whether he is to be relieved or ruined is not for any of us to decide, but what he thinks of his family at the end of his life can be changed. Of course, it did little to appease them and as they were about to leave, the boy did something even I couldn’t have foreseen. He stepped in to make his own terms. He reasoned that if they were to see he would vanquish to the flames, he would happily retire from ignis dancing and live the rest of his life in accord to his parent’s wish. Otherwise, they would have to let him do as he wishes. The boy had been resilient on only becoming an ignis dancer up till now, so why the sudden change of mind, I thought to myself.”
The bickering stopped when his parent’s temper seemed to ease up to the proposal. They agreed thinking there was nothing to lose. I thought about advising him to reconsider and coming back another time, but I knew he wouldn’t have made such a risky gamble if he hadn’t already set his mind on it. I did what only I could do then and put his future in fate’s hands. You could imagine our surprise when the weaving read as someone greatly favored by fate, emitting a color keener to an exceptionally talented hunter than a prey of the hunt. The mark for a soul to thrive beyond its primal circumstance. It was a color far too grand and unusual for someone who wanted to participate in the endeavor of showmanship.
“After that, the boy silently walked away from my stall, while father wanted to curse me knowing that what I had told him would only encourage him to continue if not push him to live more recklessly, yet he had surprisingly chosen not to as to respect our arrangement, so they quickly paid their due and left.”
“It was not an atypical outcome to see for us fate weavers. Nothing feels worse than losing all the work you had put in by only a few words, but I hoped that I at least gave them the comfort that their kid wasn’t gonna get himself killed.”
“Later the boy came back to me alone, apologizing for his family’s behavior, offering to pay me from his own savings as reconciliation. Of course, I refused and reminded him how now that it was certain for him to become a great ignis dancer there are better things he can spend it on than an old woman selling charms in the middle of the street.” Despite his insistence, I only took no for an answer. He then promised me that he would pray to the gods for the longevity of me and my descendent as long as he can bear flames. Lately, he had begun to become indecisive as everyone around him suffocated him with doubtful remarks, he confessed to me. He had only wanted to spread the happiness that had once received from seeing other artists perform. But seeing how I fought for him, despite there being so little reason to, finally gave him the bit of courage he needed to properly stand up for himself.”
“Now even after years of trials and tribulations, even though he still makes mistakes, he had not missed a single day to show up to perform in ‘his favorite spot’.” She satirically expressed. “The surface of his hands had deformed into a leather-like hide, leaving them with the mobility of a crab’s claw. Yet when he conceals his deformity, but he does not do so out of shame, rather to keep his hands as an instrument of joy. For he knows that he must keep up the illusion of an easy hardship to ease the hearts of his admirers. He hides his weakness as to become their strength.” She monologued. “Those are the hidden signs of true strength. It looks easy because you had never felt the fire scorch against your skin. I bet, even now, whenever a sweat dribbles down his arm, it is from his fears weeping for him to cave into what is sensible. But his very being rejects it as if it could not have lived any other way. His core of strength was not gifted to him but shaped by his very own hands like a river carving the rigid stone to what its currents are at ease with the most. Just so that he can be that last candle that still holds the dim flame even in the darkness of the night.”
“In a sense, every other ignis dancer danced in the flames. But him,” She scoffed. ”he manipulates the temper of the flames as he barely lets them reach him like a gentle hand striking the sharp strings of a Shamisen to produce its dreamy sounds, making him the only one who truly dances with the flames.”
She took in a deep breath as she finalized her story, letting the sound of the noisy bazaar take over the narrative once more.
“So … what was the point of the story.”
“The POINT is that everyone has the potential, but it is the consistent drive to improve that separates those who protect from those who need to be protected. Only the tallest plants thrive, while those under survive. But if you asked me about it, you could do yourself a great favor by stopping this pursuit of power altogether. You are just a kid after all and all that power accomplishes is giving you more things to burden your life with. It won’t lead you to what you desire. I stopped seeking it long ago even though I was ever so close to becoming one of the seven jaws of the Mystic mother and despite all, there hasn’t been a sour thought about it in my mind ever since.”
The wooden crate creaked below her as she readjusted herself into a more comfortable sitting position. Zekes silently stared at the feeble old woman in front of him who was struggling to crack her back.
“Hmmm … what are you gawking at?” She caught him.
“No-nothing,” he averted his gaze. “… but I mean … you are saying that you were once powerful enough to become one of the jaws of the Mystic mother. … I am not really sure how strong they are, but from the way you talked about them, they sound like a pretty big deal. And I mean ….” He hesitantly eluded.
“Huuuuhhhh. So now you doubt my honesty? Shameless I say, shameless!” She let out a regrettable sigh. “But I cannot blame you for having such an impression of me. I have long forsaken the potential I once had and now I only remain as a rusty tool, made to use only due to convenience. … just barely sufficient enough to get the job done …. a sad old woman that leaves behind a legacy of minor acts of kindness in people’s subconscious.”
Seeing how his unneeded question ended up burdening her heart made Zekes feel guilty inside.`
“I am sorry for making think such bad things. I was only trying to think how I can get back to my uncle.” He lowered his gaze in shame.
“You have too gentle of a heart for the things you desire. I was merely reflecting on myself. All that I have done was of my own devices, so save your pity for those whom it can help.”
He lifted his head to the sound of her scouring through her pockets.
“There it is.” She cried out before producing a small stack of colorful light crystal panels with their ends attached to each other by a piece of string. The crystals dangled down from her hand revealing a collection of pictures. She pointed towards one containing a well-built lady with a thick white braid holding a bundle of fibers in her palms.
“That’s me back when I was still perfecting my weaving, in order to be admitted as an official fortune weaver.” She then pointed to the one below it. It was of a plaza with many waterways running in between, decorated with flowers and flags and filled with colorful tents that people gathered in. “This is the kunji blossoms festival, where we give to the less fortunate, in order to pass on the kindness the Mystic mother has shown us. It is also required for fortune weaver initiates to practice on passersby as to strengthen their connection and control of the blessing.”
Zekes’ eyes were gleaming with fascination. He only had a vague idea of what Nami-Kuni was like from years of reading through his uncle’s library, but it was the first time he had seen Nami-Kuni itself. Part of him wished that he could have appeared there at the snap of a finger.
“It looks … so different.” He struggled to find the right words.
“Different is one way to describe it. Every year for seven days, people would take up to the streets and sing folklore songs of the great heroes whose lives were forfeited protecting the land and waters of Nami-Kuni. The beautiful melody of the Shamisen would echo throughout every house and temple, while the needle-beaked lillas listened to every stroke of the string so that they could sing it back to people weeks after the festival was concluded. The smell of pastries would overcome the smell of the fresh dirt for the first three days as the bakeries would lay out the soyan root pats that they had been tirelessly growing for the last two months. Oh, what a pleasure it is for the mouth. Sweet and stringy. Made from the soyan bean’s sweet roots. Dried and boiled til the honey-like nectar spewed out and then hardened into a delicate glass-like brittle stone that just dissolved in your saliva.”
Zekes’ mouth dribbled before she even finished her sentence. The steamed milk buns he had prior, now felt more like stale bread compared to the soyan root pats she was describing.
“So to say it is different is to do it injustice. It was the life many aspire to live. So you could imagine my disappointment in having to work in a colorless city like this with the personality of a dead weed.” She exclaimed out of frustration, but no one paid her any attention.
​
Previous Chapter <-> Next Chapter
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2023.05.29 07:57 SoftPois0n What's new on Max in June 2023

What's new on Max in June 2023
​
# Name Year Released Genres
1 3:10 to Yuma 2007 Family, Western
2 A Star Is Born 1954 Drama, Music, Romance
3 A Star Is Born 1976 Drama, Music, Romance
4 Army of Darkness 1992 Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
5 Balls of Fury 2007 Comedy, Crime
6 Beautiful Creatures 2013 Drama, Fantasy, Romance
7 Big Daddy 1999 Comedy, Drama
8 Breach 2007 Crime, Drama, Erotica, Family, History, Thriller
9 Bulworth 1998 Comedy, Drama
10 Class Act 1992 Comedy, Drama
11 Click 2006 Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
12 Dave 1993 Comedy
13 David Copperfield 1935 Adventure, Drama, Family, Romance
14 Demolition Man 1993 Action, Crime, Science Fiction
15 Diggers 2006 Comedy, Drama
16 Dog Day Afternoon 1975 Crime, Drama, Thriller
17 Dolphin Tale 2011 Drama, Family
18 Dumb and Dumber 1994 Comedy
19 Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd 2003 Comedy
20 Eastern Promises 2007 Crime, Mystery, Thriller
21 Edge of Darkness 2010 Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
22 Enter the Dragon 1973 Action
23 Fame 1980 Drama, Music
24 Fifty Shades Darker 2017 Drama, Romance
25 Fifty Shades Freed 2018 Drama, Romance
26 Gold Diggers of 1933 1933 Comedy, Drama
27 Gold Diggers of 1935 1935 Comedy, Romance
28 Grease 1978 Comedy, Romance
29 Hairspray 2007 Comedy, Drama, Romance
30 I Origins 2014 Drama, Science Fiction
31 I, Tonya 2017 Drama
32 Jackie Brown 1997 Crime, Drama, Thriller
33 Jeremiah Johnson 1972 Adventure, History, Western
34 Jersey Boys 2014 Drama, Music
35 Just Mercy 2019 Crime, Drama, History
36 Knock Knock 2015 Drama, Horror, Thriller
37 Little Shop of Horrors 1986 Comedy, Horror
38 Magic Mike 2012 Comedy, Drama
39 Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat 2002 Comedy
40 Military Wives 2020 Drama
41 Moneyball 2011 Drama
42 Monster-in-Law 2005 Comedy, Romance
43 Monsters vs Aliens 2009 Adventure, Animation, Family, Science Fiction
44 Moonlight 2016 Drama
45 Narc 2002 Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
46 National Lampoon's European Vacation 1985 Adventure, Comedy, Romance
47 Never Say Never Again 1983 Action, Adventure, Thriller
48 Objective, Burma! 1945 Action, Drama, War
49 On Moonlight Bay 1951 Comedy, Family, Music, Romance
50 Operation Crossbow 1965 Action, Drama, War
51 Police Academy 1984 Comedy, Crime, Erotica
52 Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment 1985 Comedy, Crime
53 Police Academy 3: Back in Training 1986 Comedy, Crime
54 Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol 1987 Comedy, Crime
55 Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach 1988 Comedy, Crime
56 Radio 2003 Drama
57 Ready Player One 2018 Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
58 Romance on the High Seas 1948 Comedy, Romance
59 Selena 1997 Drama, History, Music
60 Sex and the City 2008 Comedy, Drama, Erotica, Romance
61 Sex and the City 2 2010 Comedy, Drama, Romance
62 Sunday in New York 1963 Comedy, Erotica, Romance
63 Tea for Two 1950 Comedy, Music, Romance
64 The Big Wedding 2013 Comedy, Family
65 The Blackcoat's Daughter 2015 Horror, Thriller
66 The Boy Next Door 2015 Thriller
67 The Drop 2014 Crime, Drama
68 The Evil Dead 1981 Horror
69 Evil Dead 2013 Horror
70 Evil Dead II 1987 Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
71 The Family 2013 Action, Comedy, Crime
72 The Hurt Locker 2008 Drama, Thriller, War
73 The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete 2013 Drama
74 The Lodge 2019 Drama, Horror, Thriller
75 The Nun's Story 1959 Drama
76 The Painter and the Thief 2020 Documentary
77 The Saint 1997 Action, Adventure, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller
78 The Turning Point 1977 Drama, Romance
79 Tooth Fairy 2010 Comedy, Family, Fantasy
80 Woodstock 1970 Documentary, History, Music
81 X-Men: Days of Future Past 2014 Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
82 You're Next 2011 Horror, Mystery, Thriller
83 Magic Mike's Last Dance 2023 Comedy, Drama, Romance
84 Avatar: The Way of Water 2022 Action, Adventure, Science Fiction, War
85 A Star Is Born 2018 Drama, Music, Romance
86 American Pain 2022 Documentary
87 RED 2 2013 Action, Comedy, Crime, Thriller
88 Vacation 2015 Comedy
89 How Do You Measure a Year? 2021 Documentary
90 The Stroll 2023 Documentary, Erotica
91 Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music 2023 Documentary
92 Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed 2023 Documentary, Erotica
93 John Early: Now More Than Ever 2023 Comedy, Music
94 Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham 2023 Action, Animation, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery

List of New Movies / Films Coming To HBO Max in June 2023

Poster View of Movie Details June 2023
Table View Of Max Movies Details June 2023
# Name Year Released Genres
1 Eli Roth Presents: The Legion of Exorcists 2023 Horror
2 The Dead Files 2011 Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Reality, Science-Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
3 Painting with John 2021 Comedy, Documentary, Reality
4 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days 2017 Documentary, Reality
5 Battle on the Beach 2021 Home and Garden, Reality
6 The Idol 2023 Drama, Erotica
7 Louisiana Law 2021 Reality
8 Bugs Bunny Builders 2022 Animation, Children
9 Ghost Adventures 2008 Documentary, History, Mystery, Reality
10 AEW: All Access 2023 Reality
11 Build it Forward 2022 Documentary, Home and Garden, Reality
12 Walker 2021 Action, Crime, Drama, Western
13 Celebrity IOU 2020 Home and Garden, Reality
14 Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens 2020 Comedy
15 Outchef'd 2022 Food
16 Hoffman Family Gold 2022 Reality
17 Meet the Batwheels 2022 Animation
18 The Cabin Chronicles 2021 Home and Garden
19 Beachside Brawl 2022 Food
20 The Righteous Gemstones 2019 Comedy, Drama
21 We Baby Bears 2022 Adventure, Animation, Children, Comedy, Fantasy, Travel
22 Street Outlaws: Mega Cash Days 2021 Reality, Sport
23 7 Little Johnstons 2015 Comedy, Family
24 And Just Like That... 2021 Comedy, Drama, Romance
25 Christina on the Coast 2019 Home and Garden, Reality
26 Downey's Dream Cars 2023 Documentary
27 Rich & Shameless 2022 Documentary, Erotica
28 Teen Titans Go! 2013 Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Fantasy, Science-Fiction
29 Chopped 2009 Food, Game Show, Reality
30 Ten Year Old Tom 2021 Animation, Comedy
31 Warrior 2019 Action, Crime, Drama, History
32 Beachfront Bargain Hunt: Renovation 2015 Home and Garden, Reality

List of New TV Shows / Web Series Coming To HBO Max in June 2023

TV Posters of Max TV Shows Details June 2023
Table View of MAX TV Shows Details June 2023
[Note: You can find more of such articles & Source here Simkl , If you want know how to create such list & poster images, Feel free to DM me ]
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2023.05.29 06:35 JoshAsdvgi THE BADGER AND THE BEAR

THE BADGER AND THE BEAR
​
THE BADGER AND THE BEAR
​
On the edge of a forest there lived a large family of badgers.
In the ground their dwelling was made.
Its walls and roof were covered with rocks and straw.
Old father badger was a great hunter.
He knew well how to track the deer and buffalo.
Every day he came home carrying on his back some wild game.
This kept mother badger very busy, and the baby badgers very chubby.
While the well- fed children played about, digging little make-believe dwellings, their mother hung thin sliced meats upon long willow racks.
As fast as the meats were dried and seasoned by sun and wind, she packed them carefully away in a large thick bag.
This bag was like a huge stiff envelope, but far more beautiful to see, for it was painted all over with many bright colors.
These firmly tied bags of dried meat were laid upon the rocks in the walls of the dwelling. In this way they were both useful and decorative.
One day father badger did not go off for a hunt.
He stayed at home, making new arrows.
His children sat about him on the ground floor.
Their small black eyes danced with delight as they watched the gay colors painted upon the arrows.
All of a sudden there was heard a heavy footfall near the entrance way.
The oval- shaped door-frame was pushed aside.
In stepped a large black foot with great big claws.
Then the other clumsy foot came next.
All the while the baby badgers stared hard at the unexpected comer.
After the second foot, in peeped the head of a big black bear!
His black nose was dry and parched.
Silently he entered the dwelling and sat down on the ground by the doorway.
His black eyes never left the painted bags on the rocky walls.
He guessed what was in them.
He was a very hungry bear.
Seeing the racks of red meat hanging in the yard, he had come to visit the badger family.
Though he was a stranger and his strong paws and jaws frightened the small badgers, the father said,
"How, how, friend!
Your lips and nose look feverish and hungry.
Will you eat with us?"
"Yes, my friend," said the bear.
"I am starved.
I saw your racks of red fresh meat, and knowing your heart is kind, I came hither.
Give me meat to eat, my friend."
Hereupon the mother badger took long strides across the room, and as she had to pass in front of the strange visitor, she said:
"Ah han! Allow me to pass!" which was an apology.
"How, how!" replied the bear, drawing himself closer to the wall and crossing his shins together.
Mother badger chose the most tender red meat, and soon over a bed of coals she broiled the venison.
That day the bear had all he could eat.
At nightfall he rose, and smacking his lips together, -- that is the noisy way of saying "the food was very good!" -- he left the badger dwelling.
The baby badgers, peeping through the door-flap after the shaggy bear, saw him disappear into the woods near by.
Day after day the crackling of twigs in the forest told of heavy footsteps.
Out would come the same black bear.
He never lifted the door-flap, but thrusting it aside entered slowly in.
Always in the same place by the entrance way he sat down with crossed shins.
His daily visits were so regular that mother badger placed a fur rug in his place.
She did not wish a guest in her dwelling to sit upon the bare hard ground.
At last one time when the bear returned, his nose was bright and black.
His coat was glossy.
He had grown fat upon the badger's hospitality.
As he entered the dwelling a pair of wicked gleams shot out of his shaggy head.
Surprised by the strange behavior of the guest who remained standing upon the rug, leaning his round back against the wall, father badger queried: "How, my friend! What?"
The bear took one stride forward and shook his paw in the badger's face.
He said: "I am strong, very strong!"
"Yes, yes, so you are," replied the badger.
From the farther end of the room mother badger muttered over her bead work: "Yes, you grew strong from our well-filled bowls."
The bear smiled, showing a row of large sharp teeth.
"I have no dwelling.
I have no bags of dried meat.
I have no arrows.
All these I have found here on this spot," said he, stamping his heavy foot.
"I want them! See! I am strong!" repeated he, lifting both his terrible paws.
Quietly the father badger spoke: "I fed you.
I called you friend, though you came here a stranger and a beggar.
For the sake of my little ones leave us in peace."
Mother badger, in her excited way, had pierced hard through the buckskin and stuck her fingers repeatedly with her sharp awl until she had laid aside her work.
Now, while her husband was talking to the bear, she motioned with her hands to the children.
On tiptoe they hastened to her side.
For reply came a low growl.
It grew louder and more fierce.
"Wa-ough!" he roared, and by force hurled the badgers out.
First the father badger; then the mother.
The little badgers he tossed by pairs.
He threw them hard upon the ground.
Standing in the entrance way and showing his ugly teeth, he snarled,
"Be gone!"
The father and mother badger, having gained their feet, picked up their kicking little babes, and, wailing aloud, drew the air into their flattened lungs till they could stand alone upon their feet.
No sooner had the baby badgers caught their breath than they howled and shrieked with pain and fright.
Ah! what a dismal cry was theirs as the whole badger family went forth wailing from out their own dwelling!
A little distance away from their stolen house the father badger built a small round hut.
He made it of bent willows and covered it with dry grass and twigs.
This was shelter for the night; but alas! it was empty of food and arrows.
All day father badger prowled through the forest, but without his arrows he could not get food for his children.
Upon his return, the cry of the little ones for meat, the sad quiet of the mother with bowed head, hurt him like a poisoned arrow wound.
"I'll beg meat for you!" said he in an unsteady voice.
Covering his head and entire body in a long loose robe he halted beside the big black bear. The bear was slicing red meat to hang upon the rack.
He did not pause for a look at the comer.
As the badger stood there unrecognized, he saw that the bear had brought with him his whole family.
Little cubs played under the high-hanging new meats.
They laughed and pointed with their wee noses upward at the thin sliced meats upon the poles.
"Have you no heart, Black Bear?
My children are starving.
Give me a small piece of meat for them," begged the badger.
"Wa-ough!" growled the angry bear, and pounced upon the badger.
"Be gone!" said he, and with his big hind foot he sent father badger sprawling on the ground.
All the little ruffian bears hooted and shouted "ha-ha!" to see the beggar fall upon his face.
There was one, however, who did not even smile.
He was the youngest cub.
His fur coat was not as black and glossy as those his elders wore.
The hair was dry and dingy.
It looked much more like kinky wool.
He was the ugly cub.
Poor little baby bear! he had always been laughed at by his older brothers.
He could not help being himself.
He could not change the differences between himself and his brothers.
Thus again, though the rest laughed aloud at the badger's fall, he did not see the joke.
His face was long and earnest.
In his heart he was sad to see the badgers crying and starving.
In his breast spread a burning desire to share his food with them.
"I shall not ask my father for meat to give away.
He would say 'No!' Then my brothers would laugh at me," said the ugly baby bear to himself.
In an instant, as if his good intention had passed from him, he was singing happily and skipping around his father at work.
Singing in his small high voice and dragging his feet in long strides after him, as if a prankish spirit oozed out from his heels, he strayed off through the tall grass.
He was ambling toward the small round hut.
When directly in front of the entrance way, he made a quick side kick with his left hind leg.
Lo! there fell into the badger's hut a piece of fresh meat.
It was tough meat, full of sinews, yet it was the only piece he could take without his father's notice.
Thus having given meat to the hungry badgers, the ugly baby bear ran quickly away to his father again.
On the following day the father badger came back once more.
He stood watching the big bear cutting thin slices of meat.
" Give -- " he began, when the bear turning upon him with a growl, thrust him cruelly aside. The badger fell on his hands.
He fell where the grass was wet with the blood of the newly carved buffalo.
His keen starving eyes caught sight of a little red clot lying bright upon the green.
Looking fearfully toward the bear and seeing his head was turned away, he snatched up the small thick blood.
Underneath his girdled blanket he hid it in his hand.
On his return to his family, he said within himself :
"I'll pray the Great Spirit to bless it."
Thus he built a small round lodge.
Sprinkling water upon the heated heap of sacred stones within, he made ready to purge his body.
"The buffalo blood, too, must be purified before I ask a blessing upon it," thought the badger.
He carried it into the sacred vapor lodge.
After placing it near the sacred stones, he sat down beside it.
After a long silence, he muttered: "Great Spirit, bless this little buffalo blood."
Then he arose, and with a quiet dignity stepped out of the lodge.
Close behind him some one followed.
The badger turned to look over his shoulder and to his great joy he beheld a Dakota brave in handsome buckskins.
In his hand he carried a magic arrow.
Across his back dangled a long fringed quiver.
In answer to the badger's prayer, the avenger had sprung from out the red globules.
"My son!" exclaimed the badger with extended right hand.
"How, father," replied the brave;
"I am your avenger!"
Immediately the badger told the sad story of his hungry little ones and the stingy bear.
Listening closely the young man stood looking steadily upon the ground.
At length the father badger moved away.
"Where?" queried the avenger.
"My son, we have no food. I am going again to beg for meat," answered the badger.
"Then I go with you," replied the young brave.
This made the old badger happy.
He was proud of his son.
He was delighted to be called "father" by the first human creature.
The bear saw the badger coming in the distance.
He narrowed his eyes at the tall stranger walking beside him.
He spied the arrow.
At once he guessed it was the avenger of whom he had heard long, long ago.
As they approached, the bear stood erect with a hand on his thigh.
He smiled upon them.
"How, badger, my friend!
Here is my knife.
Cut your favorite pieces from the deer," said he, holding out a long thin blade.
"How!" said the badger eagerly.
He wondered what had inspired the big bear to such a generous deed.
The young avenger waited till the badger took the long knife in his hand.
Gazing full into the black bear's face, he said:
"I come to do justice.
You have returned only a knife to my poor father.
Now return to him his dwelling.
His voice was deep and powerful.
In his black eyes burned a steady fire.
The long strong teeth of the bear rattled against each other, and his shaggy body shook with fear.
"Ahow!" cried he, as if he had been shot.
Running into the dwelling he gasped, breathless and trembling, "Come out, all of you!
This is the badger's dwelling.
We must flee to the forest for fear of the avenger who carries the magic arrow."
Out they hurried, all the bears, and disappeared into the woods.
Singing and laughing, the badgers returned to their own dwelling.
Then the avenger left them.
"I go," said he in parting, "over the earth."
submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments]

2023.05.29 04:46 scarlet2248 Recommended Wedding Venues by State Part I

Recommended Wedding Venues by State Part I

California Wedding Venues

Carneros Resort and Spa

Located at 4048 Sonoma Hwy, Napa. It has a rustic charm where you can see vineyard views and rolling hills. Also offers a hilltop restaurant with an outdoor venue that can accommodate up to 300 people. Catering, wedding planning, floral arrangements, photography, and other services are available. And the starting price is $200 per person.
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Park Winters

Located at 27850 County Road 26, Winters. This is a five-star wedding venue and estate located in the middle of a farmland. There is a historic inn and event barn. This would be perfect for those who love a natural outdoor wedding surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Mountains. Catering, wedding planning, floral arrangements, photography, and more are available. Prices start at $150 per person and can accommodate up to 200 guests.

Montage Laguna Beach

The address is 30801 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. This romantic waterfront venue offers a lush grassy setting looking out over the coastline and blue sky. The largest ballroom has 7,500 square feet of space and can accommodate up to 500 people. Prices start at $250 per person. Services offered include catering, wedding planning, spa, music, and much more.

Oregon Wedding Venues

Sentinel Hotel

Located at 614 SW 11th Ave, Portland. This hotel is housed in a historic downtown building dating back to 1909. There are several exquisite banquet rooms to choose from, ranging from 50 to accommodate up to 900 people. The ballrooms are ornately decorated with elaborate carvings and elegant chandeliers. Prices start at $150 per person. Necessary wedding services are also available.

Mt. Hood Oregon Resort

The location is 68010 East Fairway Avenue, Welches. Which can give you a dream forest wedding surrounded by lush forests and the majestic mountains of Mt. Hood National Forest. Unlike other wedding venues, guided hikes and rafting excursions are available here. There is also a golf course for your use. The largest venue can accommodate up to 400 people. Prices start at $100 per person.

Lakeside Gardens

Located at 16211 SE Foster Rd Portland, Lakeside Gardens offers essential vendors for photography, videography, flowers, DJs, and hair and makeup services. It is surrounded by a lake and offers a natural view of the garden. The largest hospitality venue can accommodate up to 300 people. Prices start at $100 per person.

Washington Wedding Venues

The Edgewater Hotel

The luxury hotel at 2411 Alaskan Way, Seattle, was named "Best Classic Hospitality Venue in the Seattle Area" by Seattle Bride magazine. With views of Elliott Bay, the Olympic Mountains, and the Seattle skyline. The ballroom can accommodate up to 220 guests and prices start at around $200 per person.

Sodo Park

Located at 3200 1st Avenue South, Suite 100 in Seattle. This is a century-old building factory with a different style that makes it very popular in Seattle. The high beams and steamy ceilings make it unique. The entire venue can accommodate up to 300 guests and costs around $150 per person.
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Cedarbrook Lodge

The address is 18525 36th Ave S, Seattle. Here you will find a lush garden setting and luxurious accommodations. Indoor and outdoor hospitality venues are available to choose from, starting at $150 per person.

Arizona Wedding Venues

Boulders Resort & Spa

The address is 34631 N Tom Darlington Dr, Scottsdale. This resort has a fantastic desert and rocky landscape. With open views and the vibrant colors of the desert sky at sunset. Offers a luxurious spa, and outdoor ceremony space. Prices start at $200 per person and can accommodate up to 300 guests.

The Phoenician

Located at 6000 East Camelback Road Scottsdale. There are various styles of venues to choose from, whether it be lush green gardens, sparkling waterfalls, or breathtaking valley views. There are also several sizes of banquet rooms to choose from. Prices start at $250 per person.

Arizona Biltmore

The resort is located at 2400 E. Missouri Ave Phoenix. Nestled among palm trees and mountains. A magical oasis forms at the base of the Phoenix Mountain Reserve, enjoying a tranquil desert setting. There are also two pools available and a total of six wedding venue options for up to 400 people. Starting at $150 per person.

Nevada Wedding Venues

The Venetian

An old-school luxury hotel located at 3355 South Las Vegas Boulevard, it can bring you the most traditional and unique Las Vegas-style wedding. Here you can admire the Italian style of architecture. Featuring indoor and outdoor ceremony spaces, and luxury accommodations. Starting at $200 per person.

Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa

Located at 11011 W Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas. Unlike other luxury hotels, here you have a view of the Red Rock Canyon. The hotel offers five ballrooms and wedding venues that can accommodate up to 300 people. Prices start at $150 per person.

Neon Museum

Want to try something different for your wedding venue? Choose the Neon Museum at 770 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, with its vintage neon signage, outdoor ceremony space, and unique atmosphere. You can take very vintage and fun photos. Prices are $2,500 for a two-hour rental, perfect for smaller weddings.
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Idaho Wedding Venues

Boise Depot

Located at 2603 W Eastover Terrace, Boise. This is a historic Spanish-style building that was once used as a waiting room with the building. 8-hour rental is $1,455 and can accommodate a minimum of 165 people. It is important to note that government-owned venues like this have strict rules of use. So it is best to check carefully before renting.
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Chateau des Fleur

The French-style building at 176 S. Rosebud Ln, Eagle. The largest ballroom features ivory walls, beautiful windows, an outdoor exit to the garden, gold chandeliers, and delicate gold wall sconces. Seating for up to 240 guests starts at $100 per person.

Still Water Hollow

Located at 18120 Dean Ln, Nampa. Has a rustic style and offers brand new indoor barn facilities. Tables and chairs for 150 people, pond with waterfall, fountain, and bridge. Rustic and elegant style venues can be designed for different styles of weddings. 12-hour rentals start at $5,500.

Utah Wedding Venues

Castle Park

A full-service event venue located at 110 South Main Street Lindon. Featuring an old castle-style building with outdoor ceremony space. Starting at $5,500 for a 12-hour rental. Catering, wedding planning, and other services are also available.

Red Butte Garden

Magnificent gardens at 300 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City. With expansive views of mountains, valleys, and gardens, offering a beautiful backdrop of plants. There are also waterfalls, ponds, and many more beautiful spaces. We recommend coming during the growing season of the plants which is the warmer months. This allows for a ceremony to be held in the stunning rose garden. Four-hour rentals from $2,500.

Log Haven

Located at 6451 E. Millcreek Canyon Road Salt Lake City has a spectacular mountain wedding and reception venue. With countless natural features and waterfalls, the area also offers activities including skiing, hiking, biking, and golfing. Prices are affordable, with menu pricing starting at $32 per person.

Montana Wedding Venues

Chico Hot Springs

Located at 163 Chico Road Pray, Montana, this is a great year-round destination for weddings in Montana. Offering a variety of natural beauty and architectural features. Besides the historic stone houses, there are also mountain views. You can also soak in the hot springs to relieve the fatigue from the ceremony after a long day. Four-hour rentals start at $2,000.

Rockin' TJ Ranch

The address is 651 Lynx Ln, Bozeman, with unparalleled views of the Bridger Mountains and open meadows. This wedding venue has been a professional wedding service for 20 years and offers full-service planning. Basic venue packages start at $9,495.

The Ranch at Rock Creek

Located at 79 Carriage House Ln, Philipsburg, this large ranch allows the exploration of five mountain peaks. Find nature's rest and inspiration in the peaceful, storied West. It is also the world's first Forbes Travel Guide 5-star ranch. With ten square miles of rivers, forests, valleys, and vistas.
Of course, this luxury experience comes with a hefty price tag. Charters start at $90,000 per night for groups of 21 or more, plus 23% of the ranch fee.

Wyoming Wedding Venues

Jackson Lake Lodge

Located in Moran, Grand Teton National Park, this is a beautiful lodge less than five minutes from Jackson Lake. Known for its iconic views of the Teton Mountains. It is a must-see venue for couples who love nature. Because of its location within the National Park, Jackson Lake Lodge is open seasonally from mid-May to early October. Rates start at $150 per person.

Shooting Star Jackson Hole Golf Club

The address is Shooting Star, 6765 Crystal Springs Rd, Teton Village. In addition to the golf course view, a pond, lake, or stream is one of the beautiful views. Starting price is $200 per person.

Wyoming Stargazing

Are you an astronomy enthusiast? Check out the Stargazing Agency located at 1135 Maple Way G1, Jackson. Their wedding packages include the opportunity to learn about the constellations, planets, and the fascinating stories behind them. Stargazing tour leaders will guide the group through the night sky, answering questions and gaining insight into the beauty of the stars. This will be one of the most unique themed weddings guests have ever attended. Prices start at $175 a person.

Colorado Wedding Venues

Boettcher Mansion

Located at 900 Colorow Rd, Golden's premier historic event venue, the Boettcher Mansion offers unparalleled service in a meticulously maintained estate. Along with the beautiful mansion, there are mountain views for you to enjoy. The ballroom can accommodate up to 150 people with six-hour rentals starting at $3,500.

Butterfly Pavilion

The Butterfly Pavilion at 6252 W 104th Ave, Westminster can turn your wedding into a fairy tale. Offering outdoor venues such as gazebos, gardens, and a theater. There is also a popular and unique butterfly release ceremony. It is important to note that there are a variety of butterflies and plants, so please treat them with care. The minimum venue rental is $1,800.

Great Divide Brewing Company

Great Divide Brewing Company, located at 1812 35th St, Denver, allows you to host a beer wedding. Up to 75 guests can be accommodated so they will be in the middle of a keg. The atmosphere will be more relaxed and enjoyable, and a bar and drinks, planning, equipment, and servers will be provided. Rentals are for 6 hours and start at $3000.

New Mexico Wedding Venues

La Fonda on the Plaza

The hotel at 100 E San Francisco St, Santa Fe has a long history as well as a cultural background. It can provide an elegant atmosphere for your wedding, with unique hand-carved furniture in each room. There are four ballrooms to choose from, with authentic New Mexican décor. This includes charming fireplaces, hand-punched pewter chandeliers, and traditional terracotta tiles. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $4,000.

Loretto Chapel

Located at 207 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe's Museum of Historic Places is perfect for weddings. Accommodating 139 guests, the interior of the chapel features original stained glass windows and an ornate altar. In particular, the church's famous spiral staircase is the star of many articles and is worth a look. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $2,500 and services include the use of the church and wedding coordinator.
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Albuquerque Balloon Museum

This is the hot air balloon museum located at 9201 Balloon Museum Dr. NE, Albuquerque. It offers soaring spaces and panoramic views of the Rio Grande Valley and the Sandia Mountains. The museum features displays of hot air balloons of all colors and eras, including a weather lab. The price to rent the entire museum and North Plaza for six hours is $6,000.

North Dakota Wedding Venues

Red River Zoo

The Zoo at 4255 23rd Ave S, Fargo will be the most interesting wedding venue. The zoo is home to animals such as red pandas, gray wolves, and Pallas cats. There is plenty of space for outdoor weddings as well as indoor receptions, and a carousel is available in one of the venues. Saturday weddings start at $1,500 and services include tables, chairs, and access to the zoo exhibits.

The North Dakota Heritage Center

The address is 612 E Boulevard Ave, Bismarck. The museum showcases the state's rich history from its earliest geological formations to the present day. Offering a variety of indoor spaces, including galleries and a theater, it provides a unique and educational wedding experience. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $1,500.
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Avalon Events Center

Prefer a more modern style wedding? The Event Center at 2525 9th Ave S, Fargo, while historic, offers five function rooms and new audio technology. Five ballrooms offer seating for up to 700 people and a full bar. Saturday weddings start at $2,000.

South Dakota Wedding Venues

Chapel in the Hills

The church at 3788 Chapel Ln, Rapid City is a place of beauty and inspiration. There are museums, trails, and hillsides to host services. Weddings are performed by the Chapel's pastor and it is open for weddings from May 1 to September 30 each year. The price is $400 for the use of the chapel and courtyard area. This includes a $100 minister's fee.
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The Lodge at Deadwood

The address is 100 Pine Crest Lane, Deadwood and the backdrop will be the beautiful Black Hills. With four adjoining event rooms and the main ballroom, it provides the perfect space for weddings of any size. Wedding packages are available at a variety of prices, with the least expensive buffet package starting at $65 per person for a minimum of 100 people.

Buffalo Ridge Resort

A rustic resort located at 1312 Coteau St, Gary. Offers charming and historic wedding venues including a restored barn and beautiful chapel. The venue can accommodate up to 300 people and prices start at $4,500 for a Saturday wedding.

Nebraska Wedding Venues

Scoular Ballroom

The Ballroom at 2027 Dodge St, Omaha, is located just minutes from downtown. Located in the historic Scoular building, from the grand Italian marble floors of the atrium to the romantic balcony overlooking the spacious and inviting ballroom. Offering a modern and elegant wedding venue with a grand ballroom and beautiful outdoor terrace. Accommodates up to 300 guests and starts at $4,000 for a Saturday wedding.

Rococo Theatre

The theater at 140 N 13th St, Lincoln can give you a movie-like wedding. The theater has seating for up to 500 guests. The bride and groom can get married on stage while the guests sit in the first few rows of seats. Saturday weddings start at $2,500.

The Barn at the Ackerhurst Dairy Farm

Located at 15220 Military Rd, Bennington, this is an Omaha landmark and a historic site in the area. This wedding venue can accommodate up to 450 guests and includes an outdoor ceremony space and a large terrace with a fireplace. Off-season wedding rental rates start at $2,500.

Kansas Wedding Venues

Madison Avenue Central Park

Central Park at 512 E Madison Ave, Derby features a lawn, theater, and playground. And in the southwest corner, there is an event center including an indoor reception and outdoor patio. Accommodating up to 370 people, rates start at $800 for an 8-hour rental.

Petroleum Club of Wichita

The address is 100 N Broadway St 900, Wichita. this is a rooftop wedding venue located on top of the iconic Ruffin Building. With views of the skyline and city, it offers personalized service and beautiful décor. Wedding venue fees start at $4500.

The Oread Hotel

Located at 1200 Oread Ave, Lawrence, the hotel has two large outdoor patios. The patio overlooks the city and the Kansas River. There are nine different banquet rooms to choose from, the largest of which can seat up to 275 people. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $4,000.

Oklahoma Wedding Venues

The Dominion House

The main house is located at 602 E. College, Guthrie. The boutique hotel offers both intimate and grand wedding packages, including romantic indoor and outdoor venues. The outdoors includes a wedding garden and a four-season chapel, while the grand ballroom is designed in the opulent style of the 1920s. Wedding packages start at $2,000.

Glass Chapel

This is an intimate wedding venue located at 1401 West Washington St S, Broken Arrow. This chapel offers a unique and romantic wedding venue with a beautiful glass chapel and outdoor garden. The triangular roof and all-glass walls will make you feel like you are in a fairy tale world. Outside, the gardens and woods complement the modern design. The church can accommodate up to 100 guests and wedding packages start from $2450.

The Springs Event Venue

This is a wedding planning company that offers multiple venues. Event venues are located in various cities throughout Oklahoma, including Edmond, Norman, and Tulsa. Versatile and affordable wedding venues are available with a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $3,950.

Texas Wedding Venues

Grand Galvez

This is a historic hotel located at 2024 Seawall Blvd, Galveston. The hotel is surrounded by lush gardens, expansive green spaces, and sparkling beaches. An indoor ballroom and terrace are included, and the ballroom features floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the bay. Up to 200 guests can be accommodated for a great wedding service. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $10,000.

The Bell Tower on 34th

This beautiful clock tower is located at 901 W 34th St, Houston, and has a castle-like interior with a magnificent grand staircase, arches, and marble floors. Every aspect of the building is luxurious. Wedding packages are available on an all-inclusive basis, with prices starting at $10,000 for a Saturday wedding.

The Oasis on Lake Travis

This restaurant is located at 6550 Comanche Trail, Austin.Along with an event center located 450 feet above Lake Travis, offering unparalleled views. An outdoor patio overlooking the lake is available. Up to 400 guests can be accommodated and prices start at $5,000 for Saturday weddings.

Minnesota Wedding Venues

The Gale Mansion

This mansion at 2115 Stevens Ave, Minneapolis is also a very popular wedding venue. With a warm atmosphere and inviting decor, it offers an elegant and convenient space to host the wedding of your choice. 12 hours of rental costs a total of $5,700 including the rental of the mansion and ballroom.

The Outpost Center

The address is 6053 US-212, Chaska. Built on 32 acres of rolling hills and woodlands, it is a beautiful and peaceful venue close to the city. The main venue's red facade and green roof create an oil painting-like backdrop. It has the ambiance of a barn wedding with all the amenities and gorgeous rustic grounds. Wedding packages start at $4675 for 50 guests.

Nicollet Island Pavilion

The event venue at 40 Power Street, Minneapolis is full of unique charm and style. Exposed brick walls and tall industrial ceilings create an open atmosphere full of character. You can have the best views of the Minneapolis bridges and skyline at this venue. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $3,500.

Iowa Wedding Venues

Brenton Arboretum

This is a botanical garden located at 25141 260th St, Dallas Center. It has approximately 2,500 plants representing more than 500 different species, cultivars, and hybrids. Offers great outdoor views and can accommodate up to 300 people. Saturday weddings start at $2,500 and services include access to the gardens and a wedding coordinator.

The Temple for Performing Arts

Located at 1011 Locust Street, Des Moines, it offers a large auditorium, recital hall, and suites for weddings. The Grand Hall can accommodate up to 450 people and features a tinted glass skylight and a magnificent original light fixture and a sculpted ceiling. High-season wedding receptions start at $4000 for the venue.

Figge Art Museum

The Art Museum at 225 W 2nd St, Davenport. The museum's lobby can accommodate 200 guests and has a modern design with high ceilings and terrazzo floors. The striking river view offers countless possibilities. The outdoor terrace provided also offers a magnificent view of the Mississippi River. The rental fee for the lobby is $2,500.
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Missouri Wedding Venues

Lemp Mansion

Located at 3322 Demenil Pl, St. Louis, this mansion was once the home of a beer magnate but was the site of three suicides. It has since been turned into a restaurant and hotel, offering historical and ghost tours. The mansion has four sites, including a mansion, terrace, auditorium, and loft. Ceremony fees range from $950-$1900 and meals start at roughly $47 per person.

Jewel Box

The public gardening facility in Saint Louis is made of glass plates and copper frames. It has a variety of flowers and plants and is filled with bright sunlight perfect for wedding photography. It can accommodate up to 250 people as a ceremony venue and costs $1,000.
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Wild Carrot

Located at 3901 Shaw Blvd, St. Louis, with indoor hospitality space and loft and terrace. Includes renovated industrial building and outdoor patio. Prices for Saturday weddings start at $4,000 and can accommodate up to 200 people.

Arkansas Wedding Venues

Castle on Stagecoach

This is an old castle located at 6601 Stagecoach Rd, Little Rock. Offering intimate indoor spaces, the castle's unique architecture and décor provide an elegant and luxurious setting. The venue includes a lawn, barn, and stables. Prices start at $6,673 for 50 guests.

The Brick Ballroom

The event space at 119 B S Broadway St, Siloam Springs, was formerly a Chevrolet dealership. The building is 100 years old. Inside are black walls and original tin ceilings, vintage glass chandeliers, blue benches, and a built-in bar with a sink. There are also 5,000 square feet of covered balconies and gardens. The starting venue fee for a high-season wedding is $3,000.

Osage House

Located at 243 Pace Ln, Cave Springs, offers a beautiful and modern wedding venue. The venue is suitable for couples seeking minimalism, with architectural designs mostly in black and white. A chapel will be located a short distance from the lobby and included in the wedding package. With a maximum capacity of 428 people, wedding venue rentals start at $2800 in high season.

Louisiana Wedding Venues

The Elms Mansion

Located at 3029 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, the mansion is a typical Italianate-style building. It features an imported hand-carved marble mantel, decorative cornices, 24-carat gold sconces, and a 48-foot ballroom. Accommodates up to 400 people and starts at $4,500 for a Saturday wedding.

The Presbytère

This museum is located at 751 Chartres St, New Orleans, and has a rich history. A collection of elaborate carnival artifacts and memorabilia. You can hold a ceremony among the beautiful exhibits and rich artifacts and enjoy a fun evening with your family. Accommodates up to 500 guests, starting at $6,590 for 50 guests.

Race + Religious

It is located at 510 Race Street, New Orleans, and has three buildings with brick courtyards filled with greenery. The hotel has 4,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space on the ground floor. Dinner parties can accommodate up to 90 people, and prices start at $7,500 for Saturday weddings.

Alaska Wedding Venues

Alyeska Resort

This is a leisurely resort located at 1000 Arlberg Ave, Girdwood. is Alaska's premier year-round destination. Featuring more than 300 guest rooms, many fine dining experiences, a saltwater pool, a ski hill, and bike park, and a brand-new Nordic Spa. The ballroom can accommodate up to 220 guests. Reception rentals range from $500 to $1,000 and include five hours of event time.

The Alaska Zoo

The Alaska Zoo is located at 4731 O'Malley Rd, Anchorage. Inside are animals such as polar bears, wolves, snow leopards, and other rare species. The zoo has very spacious halls and lawns and a bright greenhouse. Hospitality hall rentals start at $800. Lawn rentals start at $1,450. Greenhouse rentals start at $675.

Hotel Captain Cook

Old fashioned hotel located at 939 W 5th Ave, Anchorage. One of the meeting and function rooms has a stunning panoramic view and fireplace. Panoramic views of the Chugach Mountains and Cook Inlet. Accommodates up to 600 guests and Saturday weddings start at approximately $5,000.

Hawaii Wedding Venues

Haiku Mill

The address is 250 Haiku Rd, Haiku, a unique European-style building amid Maui's lush surroundings. With over 150 years of history, it is an important landmark. A quaint and beautiful ceremony can be created. The venue can accommodate up to 100 people and prices start at $6,500 for a Saturday wedding.

Kauapea Beach

Also known as Secret Beach, has a 3,000-foot-long North Shore beach. Enjoy a sparsely populated stretch of beach with breathtaking views of Moquawe Island and Kilauea Lighthouse. Perfect for your seaside wedding venue. You can look for the right wedding contractor to prepare everything for you and prices will probably range from $800 to $1500.

Moana Surfrider

The resort is located at 2365 Kalākaua Ave, Honolulu. First opened in 1901, it is just steps from the perfect shores of legendary Waikiki Beach and within walking distance of Honolulu's most popular shopping, dining, and entertainment attractions. There are seven event rooms in total, and the ballroom can accommodate up to 300 people. Wedding packages range in price from $3,500 to $9,500.

To be continued

After introducing the most popular and unique wedding venues in the western and central states, we will continue to cover the wedding venues in the eastern states. Stay tuned for part two of our wedding venue recommendations. In the meantime, if you choose an outdoor wedding venue, check out our multi-sized, stylized wedding tent. it will ensure that your outdoor wedding is not disturbed by the weather.
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2023.05.29 03:36 Random3x (FHM) Meet the Parents: Ironwoods

Start of Alex Series Start of Teacher Series: Lesson 1 Previous: Meet the Parents: Fated Victory Party Next Royal Road / Class Picture Alex and Freki Artwork /Sub: Random3X (lore and more) Discord
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July 20th, year 024 Angels Descent
The class, with two of their teachers, were en route to the Ironwoodlands. They had been on the road for a few days as the Ironwoods themselves were at the far west of Greed’s domain, and the gate was more central to the region.
“So, you kids ever been to the Ironwoods?” All but Tasha and Alex shook their heads to indicate no.
“I’ve apparently only been once when I met Elissa’s father… at least that’s what my journal said… memory is still hazy for me… Yuu, you’ve been here a few times, right?”
“Yeah, when master got tired of me making machines that destroyed buildings, he threw me to the elves to ‘play’, as he called it.”
“Any advice? Elissa hasn’t really talked about her home much, so I’m kind of in the dark myself.” The class focused their attention on Yuu, who held her hands to her hips and puffed her chest with pride.
“Of course, young one, I shall educate you as you do your students. After all, I am an expert in interacting with Ironwood Elves!!”
“Yuu… you are like a few hours older than me; I wouldn’t call me young?”
“Silence, young one!”
“So what should we do then? Are there any rules like for courting an Ironwood elf?” Maxwell asked, glancing at Tasha.
“Well, first off, ignore Tasha,” Yuu said bluntly. “Second, a big thing to remember is there are three clans of Ironwood elves. First are the worker folk; they do the everyday stuff. The second is the warrior clans; they are self-explanatory. Finally, there are the outside clans.”
“Outside clans?” Bea repeated.
“Oh, I’m part of that!!!” Tasha said, beaming a smile at everyone.
“They are clans not taught the normal ways of Ironwood elves. This is so they can actually interact with the outside world and not cause a diplomatic incident.”
“Uh… what do you mean?” Daisy asked, only to follow Yuu’s gaze towards Alex.
“Oh yeah… Elissa is part of the Warrior Clan, and the first time I met her, she gave me a friendly little bump to the chest.”
“That sounds cute,” Daisy muttered, thinking of all the times she had seen the pair be so lovey-dovey.
“Cute bit was when he flew through three walls and shattered his spine.”
“WHAT?!!!”
“Yeah, the warrior clan greet people they consider as friends with a full-force punch. It’s why their warriors are weirdly durable and able to endure considerable pain,” Yuu explained, glancing at Tasha, who had learnt such a skill from Elissa herself.
“So first rule, you see any elf with a weapon, flip them off, stick out your tongue and be as rude as possible. The second they think you are a friend, you will suffer for it.”
“My brother has been brought here?” Daisy muttered, feeling a pang of panic about her brother receiving such treatment.
“Oh, don’t worry; Elissa will keep them safe.”
“So, will they treat the Big Chief like a friend?”
“Oh yeah, certainly… this one, however,” Yuu said, gesturing to Alex.
“I’m technically rather hated by the Ironwood elves.”
“Why? Aren’t you marrying their princess?” Daisy asked, shocked.
“Well, need I remind you her brother took an arena full of noble children with high-ranking lords hostage to rescue her? They adore Elissa. I’m just the human bastard who stole her away.”
“To be honest, sir, from what Miss Yuu has told us, why don’t they just kill you?”
“Blunt question Maxwell but a thing to remember Elves live for a very long time. They see me more as a short fling that’ll last a few decades, maybe a century or two. After which, I’ll die, and she’ll move back.”
“And you’re ok with this?”
“Maxwell… a thing you’ll learn when you find the one… you will never care what the world thinks so long as you can be with her,” Alex replied as he looked out the window wistfully.
“We’re almost at the first town,” the carriage driver announced. “I ain’t gonna take you any further.”
“Good, we can get some rest in a real bed,” Kline grumbled.
Stepping out of the carriage, the class came face to face with their first experience of an elf settlement. They had originally had the image of what had always been written about elven homes. Buildings entwined with trees. Great structures as if moulding nature itself.
The image before them was an entirely metallic set-up. Every building was coated in metal plates and had countless spikes. Worse still was the severed monster heads resting on each building's roof.
“Big Chief?”
“You won’t get much rest outside the Ironwoods capital. This region is infested with monsters that attack every night.”
“Why would they settle in a region with monsters?!!!” Kline cried out.
“The majority of their population are warriors. Where else can they get a good fight?” Yuu replied.
“So Miss Elissa had to fight every night since she was a child?” Daisy asked once again, feeling worry begin to bubble up.
“You didn’t?” Tasha asked, looking perplexed. “Everyone around here, regardless of clans, learns how to fight monsters from when we first can walk. Only the warrior clan focuses on it and gets all the fun.”
The class decidedly ignored Tasha’s comment and chose a fortress-looking inn for where they would rest for the evening. Though they weren’t certain how much rest they’d get, especially after seeing the monster head hanging near the entrance. The innkeeper welcomed them with open fists, only to be rebuffed as they had been instructed to do.
“Fine, here’s your keys, you ungrateful pieces of crap!”
Throwing the key at the class, they only barely dodged as they lodged themselves into the wall behind them. A wall they couldn’t help but notice had numerous holes from past throws of the keys.
“Me and Yuu are gonna settle in at the tavern and have a few. You can get some rest,” Alex said as he sat at a table, ignoring the baleful glares pointed in his direction.
“Come get us if you need help,” Yuu added as she ignored an elf actively punching her in the face.
The class settled into a large room with bunkbeds enough for the whole class and their teachers. As they rested, trying to clear away the fatigue of a long journey, the hours began to pass.
“So Tasha… what are your parents like?” Maxwell asked, looking up from his spot on a bottom bunk.
“They are rather boring. Daddy works as a clerk in Hades seat. Mum works as a monster cleaner.”
“Monster cleaner?” Daisy repeated.
“Yeah, the dead bodies of monsters we slay we display on our buildings to show how strong a monster we beat. Well, after a while, they go icky and need cleaning. Mum handles that.”
“So, the really big monster head we saw near the entrance?”
“Yeah, means the guys here must be really strong.”
“I’m starting to wonder what I should fear more, the monsters or the elves,” Bea muttered as she snuggled on Gunter’s chest.
“Not sure what you mean… but I’m sure my family will love Stampy,” Tasha proudly took the small creature out of her travel bag, where it proceeded to munch on a piece of plant she offered it.
“Kwooooon!!!”
“I’m more wondering what they’ll think of me,” Maxwell muttered to himself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing!”
“Sparky… come on, boy, I got some snakkums for you,” Daisy said as she held out a piece of travel jerky for her duck-sized dragon. The small creature poked its head out of her travel pack and snatched the dried meat before retreating.
“He’s been rather scared lately,” Daisy muttered.
“Probably the field of danger here,” Tasha replied as she scratched Stampy’s long neck.
“Danger field?” Kline echoed, looking nervous.
“Can’t you feel it?” Tasha asked, looking confused. “Try to feel the aura.”
Relaxing, the class focused their senses, and that was when the pressure began to rise. They had been able to ignore it so far as it had become more like background noise. It was nowhere near as bad as when their instructors pressured them directly. But it was enough to cause minor discomfort.
“What is that, Tasha?” Bea asked.
“That is, um… it's all the monsters' aura getting spread across the woods.”
“So what we are feeling is…” Kline began before trailing off with a look of horror.
In one of their lectures with Alex, he had taught them you can increase the density of aura in an area by focusing and compacting it, but the problem with that is it reduced the range. Another option was you could increase the number of people releasing aura. Experiencing this pressure from a vague distance meant the numbers must be considerable or very strong. Likely both from what had been described.
“Why in the hell would people live here?!!!”
“Well, the trees were the original reason,” Tasha replied, oblivious to how nervous Kline was starting to become.
“The trees are really big, and iron whatsits grow through them. That’s why they call them ironwood trees. Also, my ancestors liked fighting and making friends, so here they could do both.”
As the class began to ponder who unhinged and crazy Tasha’s people must actually be, the entire inn violently shook. Jumping from their beds, the class immediately went into action mode and rushed down the stairs to find several of the inn’s staff rushing out the front door with weapons.
Looking around, they found their teachers relaxing with drinks, still having a friendly conversation as if they were oblivious to the dangers outside. Running towards the pair, they stood at the ready.
“Oh hey kids, me and Yuu were about to grab a deck of cards. Want to join in a game or two?”
“Sir, the inn is under attack!” Daisy shouted indignantly.
“And?” Alex replied, tilting his head.
“We should help!” Maxwell answered as if stating the obvious.
“Why?” Yuu answered this time. Both teachers looked confused. Ignoring the cries for help and pained screams coming from outside.
“Because, sir, you have the power to help!!!” Daisy shouted.
“And that makes me beholden to them? Daisy, I gained this power to ensure my freedom to do what I wanted. It may seem callous, but just because I have the power to help does not mean I or anyone else are under any obligation to help.”
“Big Chief, please help!!” Gunter pleaded.
“Sorry, but the dork is right. We may have the strength to help resolve many situations, but people do not grow if someone else solves every little thing.”
“Kids… this is a lesson you will need to learn someday… You can’t help everyone, and in reality, you shouldn’t. You will either run yourself ragged or become someone else’s tool. Gain power to ensure freedom. If you kids want to help, you can go and help. But me and Yuu here will be starting a professional game of snap.”
“Fine, we will go out and help them!” Bea shouted indignantly as the class stormed out of the tavern and out into the town.
The sight that greeted them was one of abject chaos. There were already a few collapsed buildings, and they could see people running around in a panic. Down the road from their inn, they could even see the remains of one of the attacking monsters.
It was a giant beast about the size of a two-storey tall building. It was covered in boney plates that, even from how far away they were standing, looked needlessly thick. While its tail looked like a massive boney club, the kind used by giants.
“Earthen Drakes… Armoursauses, if I had to guess,” Maxwell said, looking at the remains.
“What can we do then?” Bea asked as she channelled her energy into bringing out her possession summon.
“We can spread out in teams of two. One enhancer and one projection and focus on the small fry,” Kline suggested as he fired an accurate shot that took the head off a small turkey-sized lizard monster.
“Ok, Kline and Tasha, you go that way. Gunter and Bea, you go to the south. Maxwell, you and me will head east,” Daisy declared. Maxwell hesitated for a moment looking at Tasha before nodding. With their plans decided, the class split up to face the attack.
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