Rachael ray red pots and pans

Hi Guys, im new into supersoil i just wanna check with anyone more experience if im missing out something my 3 seeds sprouted a week ago, so before transplanting into their final place. They will be i the same bed 35 gal. with cover crop/mulch and all.
Here is my setup and inventory
650w OpticLed slim sunrise/sunset Specs: https://www.opticledgrowlights.ca/products/new-slim-650s-nextgen-dimmable-led-grow-light-650w-3-dimmers-3500k-uv-ir-1-1-23-release
3,000 Total LEDs 3500k White
2,880 Top Bin Samsung Horticulture LM301H EVO LED 3500k Mix 3.14 Umols/J
80 pcs Samsung LH351H V2 Deep Red LEDs @ 3.75 umols/j
32 pcs Samsung LH351H Royal Blue LEDs - 2.8 umols/j
4 pcs Dim Red LED Top Bin Samsung LH351H Infrared
4 pcs Purple LED LG UV LED
Optics: 120 Degree Primary Lens on all LEDs (Conformal Coating)
(Secondary Optics is 120 Degree reflector built into the Heatsink
PPFD @ 6": 1,554
ppf/w : 3.1 umols/J
ppf: 1,970 umols
Grams Per Watt: up to 3.0
Grow Area
5' x 5' sealed room
good ventilation - humidity control
Grow medium will be a 35 Gal (133L) raised bed
SuperSoil no till/straw/worm/tea etc...
In Stock at home
Blend potting soil/coco/perlite (50L)
5L blackstrap molasse
Ordered in mail:
1x StepWell Compost Tea Mix 1.3lbs - in process
2x PRO-MIX HP Grow Bag 1CF (28L)- received
1x Black Swallow Soil W/ Pumice & Added Biology (28L) - in process
1x Black Swallow Rice Hulls (1gal) - in process
1x Black Swallow 5 Seed Cover Crop Blend (1 LB) - in process
1x Black Swallow Organic Barley Straw / Mulch- in process
1x each StepWell Veg & Bloom Top Dressing(1veg, 1bloom)- in process
1x Holiday Perlite - 5L Bag- received
1x Microbial Mass Microbial Enhancer - Pro / 125 mL - received
2x Xtreme Gardening MYKOS (Pure Myco Inoculum) - 1 LB- received
500x red wiggler worms- in process
​
your help and input will be greatly appreciated
​
Thank you
F.R

Welcome back to another Pick'Em thread!
This post can be used to discuss your picks for 05/30/2023. If you have any feedback or suggestions on improving the thread further, drop a comment below or message the moderators.
Don't forget: picks must be submitted during the twelve-hour window before Noon EDT on game day, you can only make one selection per day, and missed days count as losses, so choose wisely and don't delay!
Games for Tuesday, 05/30/2023:

Matchup and Team Records	Probable Pitchers (Season ERA)	Estimated Win Probability
Texas Rangers (34-19) @ Detroit Tigers (25-27)	Martin Perez (3.83) / Alex Faedo (4.15)	57% / 43%
San Diego Padres (24-29) @ Miami Marlins (28-26)	Ryan Weathers (3.94) / Sandy Alcantara (4.86)	53% / 47%
Cleveland Guardians (24-29) @ Baltimore Orioles (34-20)	Cal Quantrill (4.75) / Kyle Gibson (3.82)	47% / 53%
Milwaukee Brewers (28-25) @ Toronto Blue Jays (28-26)	Adrian Houser (2.25) / Yusei Kikuchi (4.56)	43% / 57%
Cincinnati Reds (24-29) @ Boston Red Sox (28-25)	Ben Lively (2.65) / Brayan Bello (4.08)	38% / 62%
Philadelphia Phillies (25-28) @ New York Mets (27-27)	Ranger Suarez (9.82) / Kodai Senga (3.94)	44% / 56%
Kansas City Royals (17-38) @ St. Louis Cardinals (24-32)	Zack Greinke (4.55) / Miles Mikolas (4.23)	36% / 64%
Tampa Bay Rays (39-17) @ Chicago Cubs (23-30)	Shane McClanahan (1.97) / Kyle Hendricks (6.23)	57% / 43%
Minnesota Twins (28-26) @ Houston Astros (31-22)	Joe Ryan (2.21) / Brandon Bielak (3.55)	43% / 57%
Los Angeles Angels (29-26) @ Chicago White Sox (22-34)	Tyler Anderson (4.81) / Lucas Giolito (3.98)	51% / 49%
Colorado Rockies (24-31) @ Arizona Diamondbacks (31-23)	Kyle Freeland (3.86) / Zac Gallen (2.97)	39% / 61%
Atlanta Braves (32-22) @ Oakland Athletics (11-45)	Bryce Elder (2.01) / JP Sears (4.70)	68% / 32%
New York Yankees (32-23) @ Seattle Mariners (28-25)	Nestor Cortes (5.30) / Logan Gilbert (3.60)	52% / 48%
Pittsburgh Pirates (26-27) @ San Francisco Giants (28-26)	Johan Oviedo (4.70) / John Brebbia (3.68)	40% / 60%
Washington Nationals (23-30) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (32-22)	Jake Irvin (5.32) / Tony Gonsolin (1.82)	30% / 70%

1. All columns are Away / Home. Records are typically current as-of the time of posting, and do not always contain the matchup results from the day of posting.
2. A bolded matchup means that there is a "Probability of Precipitation" greater than 50% in a non-domed stadium at the time of this post.
3. An italicized matchup means that it is Game 2 of a doubleheader, which for Pick'Em purposes will not be applicable (only Game 1 is counted, but Game 2 is still included above so that you can be aware that pitching management may be different than a non-doubleheader game day).
4. Probable pitchers and stats sourced from mlb.com (via the MLB-StatsAPI); weather data soured from the OpenWeather One Call API.
5. Estimated chance of winning percentages sourced from FiveThirtyEight’s 2023 MLB Game Predictions, an ELO-based, easy to understand ratings system.

Details such as probable pitchers, winning odds, and match certainty are subject to change. Note that a pick for a team in a cancelled game (weather or otherwise) is automatically counted as a correct guess.
View Poll

Hello! My husband and I went on our first-ever cruise on the MSC Meraviglia earlier this month and it just occurred to me that it might be nice to post a review. Since the biggest questions I see people ask about with MSC are "how is the food?" and "why do people hate the food?" I thought I'd do a food review. Obviously I can't compare it with any of the other cruise lines, but we like to eat out and are willing to spend money on a great meal so that's what I am comparing it to. We've eaten at Michelin starred restaurants and typically avoid chains but on a normal day we're making spaghetti with meat sauce or dumping frozen garlic chicken pasta into a pot like the average American.
Before I get started with this, I need to note that I have been dealing with a health issue that makes me constantly somewhat queasy and have little appetite. While I've lost a bunch of weight I do not recommend this method. However, some days I feel better than others, and I had a couple of good days on the trip, enough to try a couple of specialty restaurants, but not enough to try everywhere I wanted to.
So MSC food is *different*. It's like when you go to Europe and the food isn't really unfamiliar, but you don't find the stuff you're used to eating. They don't really have fried food, they didn't seem to have bags of chips or candy. On days I didn't feel well, I ordered a chicken sandwich from room service. It came on thin-sliced white bread with no crusts, with sliced roasted chicken (not deli slices), tomato, and darker greens. The potato chips were hand-sliced potatoes and tasted like potatoes pan-fried with a little salt. There was a small side-salad too, again with darker greens, not iceberg or romaine, dressed with a little vinagrette. I got chocolate-chip cookies for dessert, and they were crisp and the size you'd get making them at home, not the giant size you usually get here. And it was all delicious! Hopefully that helps to clarify what I mean by "different".
My husband ate at Kaito Sushi by himself, and I joined him at Butcher's Cut and Ocean Cay specialty restaurants. He said the sushi was good, not spectacular, but at least as good or better than we get in our Midwestern city (which has a well-respected food scene). He liked it enough to eat there twice. At Butcher's Cut, I had bone marrow with parsley sauce for an appetizer, filet mignon and crispy fries for the entrée, and lava cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert. The steak was done perfectly medium-rare, per my request. I didn't try the sauces on the steak because it didn't need them. The scoop of ice cream with the lava cake was small but rich and creamy. Best, though, were the fries. OMG the fries were the most amazing thing I have ever tasted! I cannot express how much I loved them. Steak fries, perfectly crisp and lightly salty with almost a caramelized crust on the outside, perfectly soft and almost melty on the inside. If I could only eat those fries for the rest of my life, I would die happy. This was as good a meal as we would get at a higher-end steakhouse, and definitely worth buying the package.
At Ocean Cay, I had the crackling fennel salad (very good, and a large portion), the roasted lobster tail with bourbon vanilla cream and pureed carrots (very surprising and delicious flavors, not sure that I would have roasted lobster again) and crème brulée (large portion, very rich, so much that I couldn't finish it though I sure tried). I tried my husband's crab cakes - they were tender and seasoned fine for me but he thought they were a bit bland. His tuna steak was good, though. The waitstaff there were particularly attentive and helpful. Worth it with the package, though I got the lobster off the regular menu.
We are not drinkers so did not get an alcohol package. I got a glass of wine with supper at both specialty restaurants, but there were surprisingly few choices by the glass. They were both nice wines but I would have liked a few more options. BTW, there are AA meetings ("Friends of Bill W") every evening in the "library" - more a corner with some bookshelves - in case you need them.
We only ate in the main dining room once for supper. I would say it's like eating at a mid-range restaurant, maybe like a local chain. Not the best meal ever, but far from the worst. This is where you're most likely to find food that is closer to a typical American restaurant - they had meatloaf and potatoes as one option the night we went. Again, the staff is fantastic and are happy to give you more cheese or pepper or leave off the sauce, etc.
We ordered continental breakfast every day but one (it was free with our Fantastica experience). Pain au chocolate every morning, with fresh fruit! The only bad part was that I couldn't get a diet coke delivered with it - my husband ran up to the buffet to get some for me every morning. He said his coffee was great, though, plus he got big bottles of Sanpellegrino all day, so he was happy. We tried eggs and bacon one morning, but it wasn't that great. I had pain au chocolate with a little peanut butter and fruit the rest of the time and was quite content.
The buffet was big and very busy whenever I went to it. They had multiple stations for the more popular items, but I don't think everyone realized that. The pizza was, in fact, very good, but again it is not much like American pizza. The slices were large but had thin, flexible crusts that were not greasy and did not have tons of cheese or tomato sauce. There were pepperoni slices when I was there, but also white pizza and different kinds of veggie slices. The one closest to plain cheese was either pepperoni or one that had small slices of zucchini scattered on it that would be easy to pick off if you didn't want them. If you have a picky person in your party that intends to rely on pizza for their meals, please reconsider - it really isn't even like the Neapolitan pizza I've had here. They didn't have peanut butter out anywhere but they had it available. They had a grill section for burgers and hot dogs (I didn't get a close look, so not sure what else might be there but I didn't see chicken nuggets). They had lots of salad fixings and pasta salad and fruit and a rotisserie chicken station. A wide variety of tasty bread and rolls and real butter. Desserts were usually small - two bites - pieces of cake in different flavors, not necessarily plain chocolate or vanilla.
The chocolate place served an absolutely divine hot chocolate with whipped cream, and the gelato was stellar, but they are extra. Budget for them, both in cash and calories.
My husband gained two pounds even though he mostly lounged around and he ate constantly. I'm sure it's possible to gain a lot more but the smaller portion sizes and dearth of heavy sauces and fried food definitely helped. Neither of us felt deprived at all.
So TL;DR: MDR food was fine, specialty restaurants better and worth the package prices, but picky eaters or fried-food lovers may not be happy with food options.

Disclaimer: Registered trademarks and copyrights are properties of their rightful owners. As this series jumps realities very often it is hard to track that info.
DM, the Digitalman, the Scion of Variable is a creation of my good friend who does not use Reddit and is used with permission.
The Pokémon Lucario is © The Pokemon Company.
“To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter.”
Euripides
The Daughter that Follows
Chapter 27
Reunited
Part 2
Anna woke up in a mostly bare room, the only decorations were a few pictures of animals and dinosaurs that her father had collected. Rio was sitting and meditating, facing the rising sun. Anna watched her for a few minutes before standing to get ready.
“Anna...” Rio asked, some small fear was hinted at in her mental voice. “What happens to me when this is over?”
Anna paused, she was slightly confused by the question. “What do you want to do?” Anna asked.
Rio herself emanated some confusion and fear. “I don’t know. My parents will not be happy I took off the stone or that I evolved.”
Anna hugged Rio. “Well you can stay with me and my dad. Like I said, I adopted you.”
“I’m serious Anna.” Rio sighed.
“So am I.” Anna pushed the thought. “As far as family is concerned, you’re a part of mine.”
Rio let a low contented rumble escape her, then stood and walked out.
A few moments later Anna walked out into her father’s small, but comfortable living room. He had apparently upgraded from a trailer to an on site home. Dr. Wu had also apparently insisted he do so, if only because the trailer had recently lost a roof to a mysterious glowing phenomena.
“So I got eggs, toast and if you can beat Rio, bacon.” Alan laughed.
“No one beats me at bacon.” Rio smiled and yipped.
Anna laughed as she took a few scoops of scrambled eggs with a few slices of toast and bacon. Alan joined the both of them and sat smiling. “So how’s V?”
“Probably driving Salem insane.” Anna nodded.
“Not hard.” Alan chuckled. “Once we’ve had the time to relax and reconnect, I’m gonna head out, you give me a week then you follow.”
Anna nodded.
“What, no objections?” Alan laughed.
“I’m going to get my people together during that time.” Anna smiled.
“You have people now?” Alan laughed.
“Uncle Stephen.” Anna nodded, “Endara, a few others like SideEffect.”
“Jesus!” Alan jumped up and looked around. “Sorry, the fact that he exists outside of Dross City has always left a permanent fear of him just finding me.”
Anna stared and nodded at her father. “I’d say I’d invite Wraith’s variant but I don’t think that’s a smart idea.”
“No Agatha or Danny.” Alan pointed at her, “They’ll be targets.”
Anna nodded, “Oh, I know. I might get Shepard...”
Alan burst into laughter and a glint of maniacal glee glinted in his eyes. “You leave them to me.”
“Kratos?” Anna asked.
“Go ahead.” Alan smiled.
Anna shifted, slightly uncomfortable at seeing her father become slightly unhinged.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna rip apart the multiverse, I just know more than a few Shepards I can call on for help.” Alan sighed. “Trust me, please. “
Anna nodded, then perked up. “OH! The Spider-Men!”
Alan smiled, “You get the ones you met, I’ll get the others.”
“The others?” Anna asked.
Alan sighed, “Look, the less I have to explain about the Spider-Verse and the lunatics there, the better.”
“Spider-Verse? Anna laughed.
“Don’t laugh, it’s a serious thing in their section of the multiverse.” Alan explained. “Keeps all their worlds held together.”
“Through a web, right?” Anna smirked.
“The Web of Life.” Alan nodded.
Anna stopped as she realized her father was serious. “You mean that, how does that work?”
“Reality is as deep as we can perceive, and the Spiders heroes in that part of the multiverse cna perceive just that much deeper than most others.” Alan explained. “The fact that the majority are absolutely fueled by doing the right thing is a benefit those realities don’t even realize they have.”
Anna stared and blinked.
“They’re more powerful than most realize and the ones who do, usually think they’ll break at some point.” Alan laughed and closed his eyes with a sigh.
When he opened them though Anna saw something different in his eyes. A mist of white just beyond the iris seemed to be there and it called to power deep in her. Anna gasped.
“I think we both know that though.” Alan smiled. “So, you’re gonna be heroism.”
Anna blushed.
Alan looked at Rio. “They got a spot for you yet?”
Rio shook her head.
“Give’em time.” Alan laughed.
Rio grasped her Megastone and nodded.
“Think I’ll go pick up Release.” Alan laughed. “See if he wants to go for one more adventure together.”
“I think he’d love that.” Anna smiled.
“Bonds beyond life and death.” Rio nodded as she looked at her own megastone.
“Exactly.” Anna smiled. “So what’s happening today?”
“Today, I’m either going to be working with a very picky pachy, or Billy’s going to give me a call.” Alan sighed. “Tuesdays.”
Anna nodded. “I’d like to help, either way.”
Alan nodded and smiled, then a dark though clouded his joy. “Anna, what else have you fought? I know the Heartless, the Organization and Atropos’ goons.”
“And Stockman.” Rio added.
Alan nodded. “He’ll be handled. Trust me.”
“What’d you tell Perfection last night?” Anna asked.
Alan smiled. “I gave a good friend an idea for a magic lesson for his student.”
Anna paled. “You didn’t.”
“Alex needs to learn.” Alan smiled.
Anna shook her head. “Well other than them, borg-Reavers, but only at a distance.”
Alan nodded with a look of worry. “I remember that story.”
“Draal...” Anna said with a murderous glare.
Alan telekinetically moved the sharp knives he owned back into their drawers. Rio stared at Anna with a look of concern.
“While I completely agree, I can’t help but feel maybe I should be the one with that much anger towards him.” Alan gave a nervous laugh.
“He kept showing up and insisting he wanted to help.” Anna hissed.
“Yeah, I’m Tiger Dropping him into a star.” Alan growled.
“Wouldn’t that hurt?” Anna asked.
“Tiger Drop negates all damage.” Alan smiled, “Not that you’d get that. Please tell me you don’t get that? I don’t want to have to kill a Majima.”
Anna stared at her father and shook her head.
“Good.” Alan smiled and nodded.
“Rio?” Anna asked.
“I have no idea.” Rio shrugged.
“Then there’s Dinal.” Anna said. “If I ever see her again, I’m gonna nuke her.”
Alan nodded. “Not if I see her first.” He smiled.
“I don’t think the Scareek can follow me but I think I made them think humans in that reality were psychic.” Anna explained as she continued, ignoring her father's prodding.
“Damn.” Alan laughed, “We can try and fix that after.”
Anna shook her head. “I kinda should have died. Perfection saved me but made it look like I did.”
Alan stared at his daughter. “Well then they get a wonderful news flash because if Perfection’s involved there’s a plan at work and someone is getting f’d in the a.”
Anna snorted at her father’s phrasing. “No saying hi. MAybe let them see us?”
“You feel guilty.” Alan smirked.
“I...” She sighed. “I messed up big.”
Alan nodded. “Then we’ll see what we can do.”
“Oh!” Anna slammed her fist. “Sindri and Odin!”
“Right, Thor is back there too.” Rio added. “He isn’t a monster anymore.”
Alan paused and looked at Rio. “I have a distinct memory of my barriers being casually obliterated.”
“He’s changed, for his daughter.” Anna explained. “To be better.”
Alan looked at Anna and nodded. If there was one thing he could understand it was that. “Kratos okay with him?”
Anna nodded. “They’re trying to make everything as peaceful as they can, but Sindri and Odin are working with Atropos.”
“Damn.” Alan hissed. “They weren’t kidding.”
“They’ve been keeping you informed, haven’t they?” Anna asked.
Alan nodded as his phone went off with a K-pop song. He answered the phone and watched his daughter fall out of her chair laughing.
“Yeah, I can be ready in an hour. Got my kid with me, she’s got the skills to help keep one of them calm.” Alan said in a serious tone.
Anna popped back up and shoveled food into her mouth as fast as she could.
“Trike herd and...” Alan paused as he wrote it down. “They made another I-Rex?” He sighed as he clearly received confirmation. “We’ll take the Rex, you guys can handle the herd and if we have to put this one down we can do it quickly.” He ended the call and nearly tossed his phone across the room.
“It’s not a normal dinosaur is it?” Anna asked.
“Made in a lab, originally to be a more ‘exciting’ dino.” Alan hissed. “Raised it and it’s sibling without other interactions.”
“Oh god.” Anna gasped.
“It went berserk once it got out, and it’s extremely smart. Part Raptor and rex with some squid thrown in to help it cloak.” Alan explained. “This one was specifically raised to be a weapon but it’s a juvenile, it can have a chance.”
Anna nodded. “I can keep us safe.”
Alan smiled. “I don’t doubt that. You keep us safe I’ll get in her head.”
Anna smiled as she again shoveled food into her mouth.
Alan laughed. “Eat, get your gear.”
“May I stay?” Rio asked.
Anna nodded. “Are you sure?”
Rio nodded, “This area allows me to meditate with ease.”
Anna nodded and finished her meal, then ran to get ready.
(T)(D)(T)(F)---(T)(F)(T)(W)
Hours later Alan was staring at Anna’s gear, she was dressed in her red hoodie, a shirt that had a t-rex with grabby arms, torn jeans and steel toed boots. Of course under all of that was some of the best light armor that the Sixth World could afford with some bonuses only a very mean man could obtain for his goddaughter.
“Punk.” Alan nodded.
Anna smiled. “Sheena is a punk rocker.”
Alan rolled his eyes, “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given your sisters.”
Anna giggled. “At least Arlina was a proper lady.”
Alan burst into a fit of raucous laughter then stopped. “Oh, you’re serious.”
Anna blinked. “What was she for you?”
“Rebellious adult daughter who only listened to dad when she and her boyfriend caused more trouble to explode from tiny issues.” Alan smiled. “And a loyal daughter who went out of her way to protect her dad.”
Anna smiled. “She really was brave.”
Alan nodded. “Always was. She’s smiling on you kiddo.”
“All right.” The pilot said from the front of their plane. “We’re getting to the drop zone.”
“Awesome.” Alan smiled.
“Drop zone?” Anna asked.
“We’re jumping!” Alan smiled with a deeply disturbingly happy laugh as he handed his daughter a parachute and hit a button that opened the rear of the large plane they were on.
“We can fly!” Anna shouted.
Alan nodded as he put on his parachute, smiled and walked to the edge. “God I love a good jump!”
Anna watched as her father leaped out of the plane. Anna shook her head and dropped the parachute, ran forward and dove forwards as Hong Long roared to life around her. She looked over to see her father shaking his head, his parachute was still not deployed. He leaned into his dive, much to Anna’s shock. She and Hong Long Lurched forward, careening towards the ground, faster and faster. She watched her father’s parachute open two thirds of the way down. Then she felt the world pull on her less and Hong Long slowed down as a purple energy wave washed over them both. Then she passed her father’s parachute and he was no longer in it, he was now rocketing towards the ground.
“CHEATER!” Anna roared as she tried to push Hong Long’s power forward. She focused hard and grit her teeth as she watched Hong Long’s scales and mane turn golden, and they plowed straight through the field and past Alan, straight to a landing position on the ground.
Hong Long coiled and sat up straight to howl in victory.
A few seconds later Alan landed with just a flutter of the ragged edges of his now dull blue jacket. He looked his daughter and her tulpa over, then nodded in approval.
“So this is what Sayain energy does to your dragon...” Alan observed.
Hong Long nodded happily.
“Okay then.” Alan smiled, “Let’s see how much you’ve learned.”
Anna stared at her father. “What?”
“Find our target.” Alan smiled.
“I thought I was our defense.” Anna crossed her arms.
“Kid I can make a barrier that it takes a God of Thunder to break.” Alan snorted. “And I want to see you work.”
Anna gave a huff but closed her eyes to try and focus. She reached out as far as she could, which was admittedly a lot farther than it used to be. She could now reach out close to seven or eight kilometers. She felt nothing but random animals skittering and hunting, but nothing abnormally aggressive. She looked at her father and shook her head.
“Really?” Alan took a breath. “Can’t reach that far I guess.”
Anna nodded. “About eight kilometers at my highest focus.”
Alan nodded, “Well then we’re heading that way.”
“Is it that way?” Anna asked.
“Maybe!” Alan smiled.
Anna rolled her eyes but followed her father, pulling Hong Long back into her being. She was also really regretting wearing her hoodie as they had landed in a jungle, likely near the border of Central and South America. They walked for hours before Alan finally stopped and paused.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked.
“What do you hear?” Alan asked.
Anna stopped and heard nothing. The animals had gone silent.
“There’s a predator nearby.” Alan said.
Anna focused and felt a mind focused on them. It was watching and stalking from above.
“Do they hunt in trees?” Anna asked,
“No.” Alan sighed, “They don’t.”
“Then what’s hunting us?” Anna asked as a tremble of fear rolled down her spine.
“Something that’s about to make a horrible mistake.” Alan sighed. “This one doesn’t belong here.”
“NO!” The voice of Ragnis bellowed as he appeared high in the trees and tossed the stalker to the ground. He then followed the creature and lopped its right arm off at the shoulder. “It doesn’t.”
Alan pulled the arm to him and with more than enough force to turn the bones in the arm to mush, launched it skyward where it exploded in a brilliant explosion about a minute later, well above the atmosphere.
The creature laid on the ground, clearly in shock. Alan wrenched a metallic mask that was covered in bones, off the face of the green-blooded stalker. Anna saw the crab-like face and flinched, she remembered the movie this creature was from.
“This is a yautja.” Alan explained.
“I thought it was a Predator.” Anna asked.
“That’s the name of the movie.” Alan said. “These guys can be a pain or a threat.” He bent down to inspect the alien’s face.
Anna felt something hungry approaching and pressed herself against a large tree.
Ragnis moved and pulled a trident from his back which he used to pin the creature to the ground through its gut.
“Bad-blood.” Alan nodded and pointed to a burn on the alien’s forehead. “He’s been disowned by his clan for breaking sacred rules. Likely hunting young prey or unarmed prey.”
“And he’s not from the neighborhood.” Ragnis scoffed. “Honestly, she tried this? I’m bored.”
“Get him out of here, will you?” Alan asked, “We have an Indominous Rex to find.”
“Dad.” Anna nodded towards where she felt the large hunger coming from.
“Well, enjoy the hunt!” Ragnis said as he winked and vanished with the hunter.
Alan focused ahead and nodded to Anna. “Now you take the defensive.”
Anna nodded and stood next to her father. She felt another set of eyes looking at her, then another set of eyes and she froze for a moment.
“There’s a second one, dad.” Anna hissed.
“Of course this one’s social with a sibling.” Alan nodded. “Okay, so we need to take one each.”
“Dad?” Anna looked at her father.
“What have you fought?” Alan asked. “You stood up to Daleks. To Dinal. We just need to calm them down.”
Anna nodded and focused, not bringing Hong Long forward, she did not want to be seen as aggressive to whichever of these dinosaurs ended up benign her opponent.
She watched for a few minutes and then the jungle blinked and nodded at her. Then jaws caming rushing at her and her father and they each went a different direction.
\\\\
First
Previous /// Next
SPOTIFY LIST!
////
S: So clearly I did not finish this over the weekend.
DM: Nope.
S: But like half my plans didn’t pan out so I was mapping the depths of Hyrule.
Wraith: The last one was so stupidly hidden.
Perfection: And now we have a Biggorn Sword Sword.
Wraith: I have to admit the fuse system is hilarious.
Perfection: Now if Only we could sword-chuck.
Wraith: No! We are not going back there!
DM: Everytime we go there there’s one less Black Mage in reality.
Perfection: Look, I can’t help it if he pisses Wraith off.
Wraith: SPINE-ECTOMY! (rage fueled sputtering)
S: Right, well the fight will continue into the next chapter with two I-Rexes.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a vet. There was something about the thought of saving animal's lives that called out to me. However, with my below-average grades and lack of any motivation to raise them, I obviously didn't attain the As and A*s required for courses at any university. Therefore, I settled for a slightly less demanding, yet still animal-orientated course in Veterinary Nursing. I think you call them 'Vet Techs' or 'Veterinary Assistants' in the US.
In September 2014, I started University. Honestly, I loved it there. I felt independent for the first time in my life. My parents had been pretty controlling, so moving into student accommodation and being able to do pretty much whatever I wanted without the fear of them looming over me was a godsend. Anyway, this isn't really relevant to the story I want to tell. In January this year, I started my first placement. I was placed at Animal Friends Veterinary Practice in Hertfordshire, only a 30 minute bus drive from my uni. It was ideal, all the staff welcomed me with open arms, and made sure I got plenty of experience to write about for my reflective log every week. The first month flew by. I was doing pretty much everything a regular Veterinary Nurse was doing; checking on the in-patients, giving them some much-needed TLC, and of course, dealing with some of the more tragic and morbid cases that every vet practice gets.
We could never have expected Charlie, though...
Charlie's owners were a couple in their late 60's. The first time they brought him in, they were worried sick about their poor boy not eating, struggling to go to the toilet and generally looking depressed. The vet was sympathetic, and suggested that Charlie be admitted for bloodwork and some fluids. They accepted, and Charlie was brought through to us in the General Practice room.
The only word I could use to describe that dog is 'decrepit'. He looked like he had far surpassed the usual 14 years a dog can live for. Charlie's bottom teeth stuck out of his jaw in an almost impossible manner, his fur was deep black and tinged with matted grey clumps in several areas. The weirdest thing about Charlie was his eyes; they were glazed over completely and resembled two huge, opalite marbles. When I managed to get a look at Charlie's file on the online database, his profile put him at 22 years old. I can't say I was surprised, I mean he certainly looked his age. We'd seen many extremely elderly dogs in here, but twenty two years was a milestone Animal Friends hadn't come across as long as any of the vets or receptionists could remember.
Charlie was placed down on the examination table and stood there for a moment on his spindly legs, shaking constantly. As the vet prepped his syringe and sample tubes, I slowly approached Charlie and called to him calmingly. I'm not sure why, as he was probably both deaf and blind at his age, but part of my job was to make the animals feel comfortable, so I stroked him and cooed to him for a few minutes before hugging him to my chest and restraining him while the vet took bloods.
I still remember how cold he was. It was like holding a corpse. I could feel every bone protruding from his tiny frame, and he kept stiller than any dog had ever been as the vet prodded around trying to find a vein. I'd never seen anything like it, it was as if he felt no pain at all. It took a good twenty minutes for the vet to collect enough thick, dark blood to fill the sample tubes and then attach an IV drip, and as he took them up to the lab, I was left to bandage his arm.
Winding the small piece of cotton tape around his arm, I noticed Charlie was staring right into my eyes. I don't know how I could tell, his eyes were pretty much completely translucent with no pupil even visible... but he was. I could feel his gaze. Worse still, as I looked back, a red tinge began to form in them, as if rising from the centre and coming up towards the surface. Just then, the weirdest smell hit me. It was like the smell of a fireplace that hasn't been dusted out in a while, a pervasive smell of soot and ash. I knew then that something about Charlie wasn't right. I quickly scooped him and the bag of IV fluids up into my arms and took him to the kennels, putting down a nice cozy bed for him and a bowl of food and water.
I didn't see Charlie for another 5 weeks. I was off the next day, and apparently all bloods had come back normal so he was sent home with some instructions to try and feed him his favourite foods just to make sure he was eating something.
It was at the end of March that Charlie was brought in again. According to the vet that saw them, his owners didn't look so worried this time. They were more exasperated than anything. They said Charlie still wasn't eating or even drinking, and was completely unwilling to do any form of exercise. He was admitted to hospital again. This time, the same vet set up the X-ray machine to see if there was any kind of internal blockage that was making Charlie unwell. To our expectations, he needed no anaesthetic. As we lay him on the cold, metal table and placed him in the required position, he stayed there. I'd never seen a dog so compliant... so still. It made everything easier, yes, but it thoroughly baffled both me and the vet. I made sure to never look into those horrible eyes again.
X-rays showed nothing untoward. Every organ was visible and looked just the way a normal dog's looked. The vet stood there with his head resting on one closed fist, staring at the image for what I can imagine was a good ten minutes. While he did this, I picked Charlie up from the table and out of curiosity, felt his abdomen. God, the feeling still haunts me. His temperature read normal on all the thermometers we used but... It felt like I was feeling a bag of chilled meat. I felt as if I could have been sick right then and there. Finally, the vet told me there was nothing, and I could hook him up to another IV drip and put him away in his kennel.
There was something different about the way he said it that time, though. As if all the hope for this dog had gone. He shook his head sombrely as he spoke, and I remember asking if I could warm the IV bag a little to try and bring his temperature up. What the vet said chilled me worse than Charlie had.
"I guess so... but that dog is dead."
Charlie was discharged from hospital for the second time later that week. Nothing we did helped him. He was still refusing any of the food we gave him, didn't pass anything, and stayed just as horribly cold as he was when we first saw him. Worse still, the same vet that had been treating Charlie became obsessed with him. Not with finding a cure for him or finding out what was his deal... no. It was stranger than that. The vet began to mutter his name when he thought nobody was listening. I heard him one day on our lunch break. He sat motionless, staring into his untouched food murmuring things like "Charlie's dead..." and "Nothing can bring him back". I thought maybe he was trying to start a conversation at first, so I replied optimistically. No answer. They were the only phrases I could make out fully, as he started whispering gibberish to himself again. He was seriously losing it. Some of the nurses told me that he had walked out on several of his shifts, only to return the next morning saying that there had been an 'emergency' at home. Personally, I suspected that this case had seriously depressed him. Losing a patient was always hard, but knowing nothing you were doing was making any difference? That takes a serious toll on someone. I couldn't even imagine how he must be feeling. What if Charlie's owners were blaming him for his condition? Were they threatening him?
None of my questions would be answered. A few days later, the vet quit his job. He said he didn't want to be in this profession anymore, that he couldn't deal with the guilt and the suffering. We were all heartbroken, we'd lost what had been a vibrant and supportive co-worker, and the practice had lost one of it's key workers.
As a result of him leaving so suddenly, we were obliged to call up all of our customers who had regular appointments with this certain vet to tell them the bad news. Most were very sad, claiming he was always so enthusiastic about his job and he'd always treated them with kindness. One however, was a bit different. Mrs Murray had weekly appointments with her cat Lincoln, and told me that she was just in last Monday. Her voice was shaky, the same way someone is when they're holding back tears, and in that voice she told me how cold and unmoved the vet was that day. She said that he had told her there was no use in holding on to Lincoln. He would only die. There was no use postponing the inevitable.
My stomach lurched inside me. I didn't know what to say for a good few seconds. In the end, I could only apologise for his behaviour. We couldn't discuss internal matters with customers, so I couldn't even tell her that he had been depressed. She thanked me for my concern, but regretfully announced that she would not be coming back. After an appointment like that, I couldn't blame her. I would probably take my pet out of there as fast as I could if a vet, a person who was supposed to help pets live as long as possible, told me my cat was as good as dead.
Around 2 weeks later, we'd hired another vet. A lovely Dutch lady in her mid twenties who'd just finished a PhD. We learnt soon through her ramblings that she was obsessed with British Folklore, and we listened as she talked about Kelpies, Wil O' Wisps and other things that I can't remember. All in all, she was a lovely lady. Eccentric, but lovely. We got on so well that we were even arranging nights out and lunches together on our days off.
If only I'd known... God, if only I'd put two and two together and realised, I could have saved her. She'd still be here. I could have told her not to see him. That horrible, wretched dog.
As you've probably guessed, she was booked in for an appointment with Charlie's owners. As she brought him through to General Practice for what would be his third time, we all heard the talk she'd had with the owners. I remember how shocked and horrified she sounded as she told us that the owners didn't even seem to care about the dog. We were all dumbfounded as she said that when the topic of euthanasia had been brought up, they had suddenly shouted up a firm "No!" and growled that their dog could not die. If an owner doesn't want to believe their dog is sick, there's nothing we can do but carry on treating it until natural causes take it.
I knew that they wouldn't take this dog. Something inside me snapped that day, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this dog wasn't normal. I was beginning to lose hope that Charlie would ever get better, or even die. I would have asked to not work with that dog again, but my placement ended that week, so I was spared those cold, dead eyes for 6 months while I went back to University. Me and the new vet, still kept in contact. We texted back and forth about random stuff, like if there had been any angry patients in or any weird cases. I heard nothing about Charlie, so I'd hoped the owners had just given up and taken him home for the last time.
I was wrong to be so optimistic. In July, my curiosity got the better of me and I just had to know if she had seen him again
Here's a few texts we sent on the subject:
[18:06] Me: Anything else on Charlie? I'm so glad I don't have to work with him anymore
[18:08] Antje: you are lucky! him and his owners are a nightmare. he's like the lean dog of tring, he just will not die.
[18:09] Me: Lean dog of Tring? Isn't that like, 3 miles from here?
[18:10] Antje: yes! it's old folklore, i learn it at school, he's a black dog who people say is the spirit of a chimney sweeper and he roams around the streets
[18:10] Me: That's... really f***ing strange, I always thought that dog smelled like soot
[18:12] Antje: me too, his owners said he sleeps by the fire to keep warm so i thought it was just because of that.
[18:13] Me: With how cold he is I'm not surprised he likes the fire. God, this is creepy.
[18:15] Antje: dogs are a mysterious animal! he is booked in for a laporotomy on friday, wish i had my favorite nurse here to help me!
[18:16] Me: A laporotomy on a 22 year old dog?!
[18:17] Antje: yes, we all advised against it but blood results came back with no indication anaesthetic would be dangerous, so the owners wanted to try it. is it bad that i hope this puts him out of his misery? i am a horrible vet!
[18:19] Me: Not at all, Ant. I hope so too.
2 weeks later, after my end of module exams, I was getting no response to any of my texts to Antje. I was burning with curiosity over what happened to Charlie, and whether she had found anything. Most of all, I was worried as hell. I resorted to texting one of the vet nurses and asking if she was ok. Thankfully, she replied with a yes. The surgery found no foreign objects, no cancer, nothing. Charlie had been dismissed and they hadn't heard from him since.
Not even 20 minutes after hearing from the vet nurse, my phone rang. It was the number of the main surgery. Upon picking up, I heard the familiar Scottish accent of the practice manager. The sombre tone in her voice immediately gave me a feeling of dread.
Michael, the vet who had left during my last placement, was found dead in the River Colne in the south of the town.
Everything fell into place after that. This was Charlie's fault, everything that god damn dog touches is as good as dead.
After giving my condolences and quickly promising I would drop in soon, I immediately called Antje's phone. My whole body was shaking so much I could barely type in the number. I tried three times before finally I heard her pick up, and when she did I started sobbing uncontrollably. I cried that I had been so worried about her, that I was so afraid something horrible had happened to her after what had happened to Michael and that I thought this was all related to Charlie. When I calmed myself down, I waited for her response. What I heard from her sent a shockwave through my body.
"The Lean Dog has come for me. I have to go."
Just like that, she was gone. No amount of my screaming stopped her from hanging up. I never heard from her again, nobody did. I got a call from the practice manager only a week later informing me that Antje had been found dead in an alleyway not far outside the practice. Nobody told me why or how she died, but they didn't need to. Antje is gone because of Charlie. I know she is. One of the only friends I had in this world, and she's gone.
The police interviewed me a few days later. They asked if Antje had shown any signs of depression before her death. What could I tell them? That I believe a dog had driven her to suicide?! I only told them that I'd tried to call her and she sounded down, but I didn't say anything about the Lean Dog. Sometimes I think that maybe I should have... Maybe they could have investigated the owners. Perhaps this was all one huge prank.
I've recently withdrawn from University. After everything that's happened, both my parents and the course leader understood. Honestly, I don't ever want to set foot inside a veterinary practice again. I don't even want to see another dog in my life. Seeing them in the street makes me feel like I'm going to vomit, and I go out of my way to even just avoid going outside altogether now. Worst of all... I've been having these awful nightmares. A pair of red eyes, staring at me from every corner. No matter how fast I run, no matter where I look... They are always there. Staring. Waiting.
Charlie is coming for me. I can't escape the darkness. It's taking every bit of my willpower not to run out into the street right now. Hell, I don't even know how I'm still alive. Nothing matters to me anymore. I guess the reason I'm writing this is... closure. Nobody would ever believe me if I told them that both Antje and Michael are dead because of some decrepit little dog they saw at work. My parents would think I'm going insane. The police would think I'm yet another mental case dregding up the past.
But maybe you will. Maybe you all can help me see some light in this situation, because god knows I can't anymore...

There's some steals in here that I could've priced higher, but because I love you guys and I'm lazy, go find them for 25 cents. Please message me the team and letter(s) for each card you want! Thanks! :)
Edit: Hey Guys! I’m currently getting Spammed with like 2 messages a minute. I am going to do my best to go in order of time I received the comment/pm and get back to everyone as soon as I can. Thanks!
25-cent card team links
NL East
Mets: https://imgur.com/a/2CHMGZG
Phillies: https://imgur.com/a/pVyUZf4
Braves: https://imgur.com/a/cNvHGZG
Marlins: https://imgur.com/a/nfA9DUq
Nationals: https://imgur.com/a/yWKqGwk
NL Central
Cubs: https://imgur.com/a/9j2sz9w
Reds: Sold Out
Pirates: https://imgur.com/a/SECnF1O
Brewers: Sold Out
Cardinals: https://imgur.com/a/visOnFi
NL West
Padres: https://imgur.com/a/3nygbld
Dodgers: https://imgur.com/a/TJ7SbhC
Rockies: https://imgur.com/a/YLGta0v
Diamondbacks: Sold Out
Giants: https://imgur.com/a/plOsZTy
AL East
Yankees: https://imgur.com/a/oP7lgTV
Red Sox: ​​Sold Out
Blue Jays: https://imgur.com/a/MVTolOl
Orioles: https://imgur.com/a/yO2Li2I
Rays: https://imgur.com/a/p1ip8aC
AL Central
Royals: https://imgur.com/a/CXvqnGm
Tigers: https://imgur.com/a/IzSG99Y
White Sox: https://imgur.com/a/nKvS3I0
Twins: https://imgur.com/a/nzjvEsx
Guardians: https://imgur.com/a/oUe2iID
AL West
Rangers: https://imgur.com/a/LDtnsqs
Athletics: https://imgur.com/a/m7BBlNH
Astros: https://imgur.com/a/2vRCp4N
Mariners: https://imgur.com/a/SHfDMuf
Angels: https://imgur.com/a/wBSnEaR

Name Subject Object Determiner Pronoun Reflexive he/him he him his his himself she/her she her hers hers herself ae/aer ae aer aer aers aerself ay/em ey em eir eirs emself fae/faer fae faer faer faers faerself xe/xem xe xem xyr xyrs xemself ze/hir ze hir hir hirs hirself ze/zir ze zir zir zirs zirself co/cos co co cos co's coself e/em e em eir eirs emself e/em/es e em es ems emself hu/hum hu hum hus hus huself ne/nem ne nem nir nirs nemself ne/nir ne nir nir nirs nirself peper per per per pers perself s/he s/he hir hir hirs hirself thon/thons thon thon thons thon's thonself ve/ver ve ver vis vers verself vi/ver vi ver vis virs verself vi/vim vi vim vis vims vimself zhe/zher zhe zher zher zhers zherself bun/bun bun bun buns buns bunself tei/ter tei ter ter ters terself e/hem e hem hes hes hemself they/them they them theirs theirs theirself eero er ero eros eros eroself thou/thee thou thee thy thine thyself pi/pika pi pika pika pikas piself fai/fairy fai fairy fair fairys fairyself Hy/hym Hy hym hys Hys Hymself Poison/Poison Poison Poison Poisons Poisons Poisonself CeCerise Cer Cerise Cerise Cerises Ceriseself mao/mao mao mao maos maos maoself mrmrrp mrr mrrp mrrps mrrps mrrpself pittepatter pitter patter pitters patters pitterself deity/deity deity deity deitys deitys deityself xey/xem xey xem xyr xyrs xemself hy/hyp hy hyp hyper hypers hypself Honk/Honk Honk Honk honks honks Honkself puppy/puppy puppy puppy pups pups pupself cloud/cloud cloud cloud clouds clouds cloudself bat/bat bat bat bats bats batself fox/fox fox fox foxs foxs foxself nya/nyan nya nyan nyans nyans nyanself kitty/kitty kitty kitty kittys kittys kitself pup/purr pup purr pups pups purrself stastar star star stars stars starself Pup/Pup Pup Pup Pups Pups Pupself zhe/her zhe her her herz herzelf ro/rose ro rose roses roses roseself Dex/Dex Dex Dex dexz dexz Dexself Gi/Gir Gi Gir Gir girs Girself Be/Berry Be Berry berrys Berrys Berryself Ci/Cipher Ci Cipher ciphers ciphers Cipherself Deu/Deu Deu Deu Deus deus Deuself SeSera Ser Sera Seras seras Seraphself in/indo in indo indols indols indolentself slo/sloth slo sloth sloths sloths slothself a/arro a arro arrogas arrogas arrogantself pri/pride pri pride prides prides prideself glu/glutto glu glutto gluttony gluttonys gluttonyself vo/vor vo vor voraci voracis voraciousself wra/wrath wra wrath wraths wraths wrathself fu/fury fu fury furio furious furiouself en/envy en envy envys envys envyself je/jeal je jeal jeal jealous jealouself lu/lust lu lust lusts lusts lustself rep/tile rep tile reps reps reptileself lasci/lasciv lasci lasciv lascivious lascivious lasciviouself gre/greed gre greed greed greeds greedself li/liz li liz lizards lizards lizardself abey/abem abey abem abir abirs abemself aby/abm aby abm abeir abeirs abmself yo/yom yo yom yor yors yomself jun/junt jun junt juntos juntos juntoself mach/machi mach machi machin machines machineself ca/care ca care cares cares careself bea/beam bea beam beams beams beamself Mura/Murasa Mura Murasa Muras Muras Murasakinoself vjo/vjol vjo vjol vjolas vjolas vjolaself ro/rox ro rox roxos roxos roxoself lanu/viole lanu viole lanus violes lanu violeself phe/phere phe phere pher phers phereseself Fia/Fialo Fia Fialo Fialovs Fialovs Fialováself wun/wung wun wung wungus wungus wunguself zamb/zamba zamb zamba zambar zambars zambarauself li/lil li lil lilas lilas lilaself momor mor mor mors mors morself siyo/siyoh siyo siyoh siyohr siyohrs siyohrangself pofor por for porffors porffors porfforself mfu/mfus mfu mfus mfusas mfusas mfusaself el/eles el eles eleses eleses eleseself ons/onsom ons onsom onsomis onsomis onsomiself shi/shiy shi shiy shiyas shiyas shiyaself kwa/kwam kwa kwam kwamis kwamis kwamiself tic/tic tic tic tics tics ticself toutoure tour toure tourettes tourettes touretteself Knu/Knul Knu Knul Knullas Knullas Knullaself Vio/Viole Vio Viole Violetti Violettis Violettiself cotton/candy cotton candy candies candies cottonself ly/lyc ly lyc lycans lycans lycanself bite/bite bite bite bites bites biteself pop/bop pop bop bops pops bopself vi/vik vi vik vikins viking vikingself chem/chemic chem chemic chemical chemicals chemicself t/t t t t's t's tself iv/iv iv iv ivs ivs ivself z/z z z z's z's zself se/hir se hir hir hirs hirself phi/phim phi phim phir phirs phirself ye/yem ye yem yer yers yemself we/wem we wem wer wers wemself ve/vem ve vem ver vers vemself ue/uem ue uem uer uers uemself te/tem te tem ter ters temself se/sem se sem ser sers semself re/rem re rem rer rers remself qe/qem qe qem qer qers qemself pe/pem pe pem per pers pemself oe/oem oe oem oer oers oemself de/dem de dem demo demos demoself fi/fien fi fien fiend fiends fiendself de/dim de dim dis dis dimself eel/eel eel eel eels eels eelself lamprey/lamprey lamprey lamprey lampreys lampreys lampreyself fae/faen fae faen faer faers faenself fla/flae fla flae flaem flaes flaeself exe/exe exe exe exe exes txtself nyc/nycto nyc nycto nyctos nyctos nyctoself cry/cryp cry cryp crys crys crypself me/mem me mem mer mers memself le/lem le lem ler lers lemself ke/kem ke kem ker kers kemself je/jem je jem jer jers jemself ie/iem ie iem ier iers iemself he/hem he hem her hers hemself ge/gem ge gem ger gers gemself fe/fem fe fem fer fers femself ee/eem ee eem eer eers eemself ce/cem ce cem cer cers cemself Be/Bem Be Bem Bir Birs Bemself Ae/Aem Ae Aem Aeir Aeirs Aemself bri/brigh bri brigh brigh brighs brightself Kie/Kym Kie Kym Kir Kirs Kymself Nie/Nym Nie Nym Nyr Nyrs Nymself Sie/Sym Sie Sym Ser Sers Symself Xe/Xym Xe Xym Xyr Xyrs Xymself Mie/Mim Mie Mim Mir Mirs Mimself idol/idol idol idol idols idols idolself ce/cer ce cer cem cers cerself 3/3 3 3 3s 3s 3self vi/vir vi vir virus virus viruself han/ham han ham hans hans han selv king/king king king kings king's kingself ix/ix ix ix ixs ixs ixself sly/slim sly slim sleir sleirs slimself sli/slime sli slime slimes slimes slimeself sly/sly sly sly sly’s sly’s slyself doll/doll doll doll doll’s doll’s dollself xe/xet xe xet xet xets xetself ith/ith ith ith iths iths ithself baby/baby baby baby baby's baby's babyself Miku/Miku Miku Miku Mikur Mikurs Mikuself wol/wolf wol wolf wolf wolfs wolfself hohorse hor horse horse horses horseself boom/boomer boom boomer booms boomers boomerself go/goth go goth goths goths gothself vivirg vir virg vir virgs virgoself le/les le les lesb lesbians lesbianself catboy/catboy catboy catboy catboys catboys catboyself radio/radium radio radium radios radioactives radioactiveself cacaru car caru cariad cariads cariadself ef/fe ef fe ei ei ei hun angel/angel angel angel angels angels angelself Ze/zim Ze zim zir zirs zimself mi/mim mi mim mimicks mimicks mimickself you/you you you your yours yourself hx/hxm hx hxm hxs hxs hxmself bug/bug bug bug bugs bugs bugself pocket/pocket pocket pocket pockets pockets pocketself li/lim li lim liz liz lizelf h/hm h* hm hs hs hmself dae/daem dae daem daer daer daemself Xe/Xim Xe Xim Xe's Xis Ximself fla/flare fla flare flares flares flareself spark/spark spark spark sparks sparks sparkself lul/lul lul lul lulz lulz lulself were/were were were wolf wolfs wereself Medi/Medical Medi Medical Medical Medicals Mediself ai/ai ai ai ais ais aisself mi/mis mi mis mis mist mistself Fa/Faun Fa Faun Faun Fauns Faunself py/pyl py pyl pylx pylx pylxself tee/tee tee tee tees tees teeself fe/fea fe fea feas feas featherself coo/coo coo coo coos coos cooself zi/zip zi zip zips zipps zipperself cryp/crypt cryp crypt crypt cryptis cryptidself pey/pen pey pen pens pens penself ce/cev ce cev cevs cevs cevself se/sev se sev sevs sevs sevenself the/then the then thens thens thenself Ze/Zer Ze Zer Zer Zers Zeroself Brai/Brain Brai Brain Brains Brains Brainself leo/leo leo leo leos leos leoself Ti/Tiel Ti Tiel Tiels Tiels Tielself Chi/Chit Chi Chit Chits Chits Chitterself ciph/ciph ciph ciph ciphs ciphs cipherself dae/daer dae daer daer daers daerselr ciph/cipher ciph cipher ciphz ciphz cipherself moon/moon moon moon moons moons moonself mew/mew mew mew mews mews mewself sno/snow sno snow snows snows snowself pos/sum pos sum poss summ possumself meow/meow meow meow meows meows meowself nyan/nyan nyan nyan nyans nyans nyanself 0/0 0 0 0s 0s 0self lin/linen lin linen linens linens linenself xe/xen xe xen xeno xenos xenoself li/lum li lum lumi lumis lumiself zie/zier zie zier zier ziers zierself Abyss/Abyss Abyss Abyss Abyssal Abyssals Abysself rulerule ruler rule rulers rulers rulerself zie/vaer zie vaer vaer vaers vaerself yo/yor yo yor yors yors yordleself glock/glocken glock glocken glockenspiels glockenspiels glockself wick/wick wick wick wicks wicks wickself 3rr03rr0r 3rr0r 3rr0r 3rr0rs 3rr0rs 3rr0r$3lf 90/90 90 90 90r 90s 9self0 ehs/reh ehs reh reh sreh flesreh eh/mih eh mih sih sih flesmih yeht/meht yeht meht rieht srieht flemeht poppy/seed poppy seed poppyseeds poppys poppyseedself poppyseed/poppyseed poppyseed poppyseed poppyseeds poppyseeds poppyseedself of/of of of ofs ofs ofself choke/choke choke choke choke chokes chokeself mon/ster mon ster monsters monsters monstelf that thing/it that thing it its that thing's itself obje/ctum obje ctum objectum objectums objectuself xhee/xhim xhee xhim xhir xheis xeeself stim/stim stim stim stims stims stimself price/princes price princes prince’s prince’s princeself ze/zem ze zem zer zers zemself k9/k9 k9 k9 k9s k9s k9self co/co co co cos cos coself ne/nym ne nym nir nir nymself shae/shade shae shade shade shades shadeself aw/warm aw warm warms warms warmself lea/leaf lea leaf leaves leafs leafself shey/shem shey shem sheir sheirs shemself hal/hallo hal hallo hallos hallos halloweenself pu/pum pu pum pums pums pumpkinself Xi/Xem Xi Xem Xer Xers Ximself lux/lucif lux lucif lucifs lucifs luxself h3/h1m h3 h1m h15 h15 h1553lf raw beef/raw beef raw beef raw beef raw beef’s raw beef’s raw beef’sself e/e e e e e e N/N N N Ns N's Nself bun/bun bun bun bun’s bun’s bunself Che/Chev Che Chev Chevs Chevs Chevself anti/anti anti anti antis antis antiself Witch/Witch's Witch Witch's Witch's Witches Witchself cocorpse cor corpse corpse corpses corpself ang/angel ang angel anges angels angelself 6/6 6 6 6s 6s 6self ne/nim ne nim nier niers nierself ci/her ci her her hers herself v/v v v vs vs vself vee/vee vee vee vees vees veeself pen/pent pen pent pentas pentas pentagramself hann/hans hann hans hánum sín hann ci/cir ci cir cir cirs cirself auti/auti auti auti autis autis autiself ci/hir ci hir hir hirs hirself dae/dem dae dem deir deirs demself fufren fur fren friends friends friendself zi/zim zi zim ziz ziz zizelf pika/pika pika pika pikas pikas pikaself Dey/Dem Dey Dem Der Ders Demself Sh3/H3r Sh3 H3r H3r H3rs H3rself 9/9 9 9 9s 9's 9self Drop/Drip Drop Drip Drops Drips Dropself note/note note note notes notes noteself ghost/ghost ghost ghost ghost ghosts ghostself Co/Coin Co Coin Coins Coins Coinself wing/wing wing wing wings wings wingself fin/fin fin fin fins fins finself ceph/cephalopod ceph cephalopod cephas cephas cephaself squid/squid squid squid squids squids squidself eye strain/eye strain eye strain eye strain eye strains eye strains eye strains self thy/thm thy thm thir thirs thmself plu/plur plu plur plural plurals pluralself sy/sys sy sys sys systems systemself ti/mul ti mul multi multis multiself ti/multi ti multi multi multis multiself rad/radi rad radi radis radis radiself Sae/Saer Sae Saer Saers Saers Saerself Sae/Sae Sae Sae Saer Saer Saerself 7/7 7 7 7s 7s 7self ei/eim ei eim heir heirs heimself zhey/zhem zhey zhem zheir zheirs zhemself hug/hug hug hug hugs hugs hugself bey/bem bey bem beir beirs beeself that/that that that it's it's itself vae/vaem vae vaem vaeir vaeirs vaemself th3y/th3m th3y th3m th31r th31rz th31mz53lf cub/cub cub cub cubs cubs cubself lolord lor lord lords lords lordself cocorps cor corps corpses corpses corpself bon/bone bon bone bone bones boneself sal/sal sal sal sals sals salself bin/binn bin binn binns binns binnselph prox/proxi prox proxi proxis proxis proxiser an/anim an anim animal animals animalself nine/nine nine nine nine nines nineself ae/aeth ae aeth aethe aethes aeself ti/ger ti ger tigers tigers tigerself a/aro a aro aro aros aroself a/ace a ace aces aces aceself vi/vil vi vil vila vilas villainself di/div di div divis divis divineself cie/cir cie cir cir cirs cirself Mage/Magi Mage Magi Mages Mages Mageself she/hyr she hyr hyr hyrz hyrzelf z3/z1m z3 z1m z1r z1rz z1rzelf azu/azur azu azur azur azurs azurself fool/fool fool fool fools fools foolself che/chem che chem chems chems chemiself gho/ghost gho ghost ghost ghosts ghostself min/mino min mino mino mino minself mush/mushs mush mushs mushs mushs mushself diz/dizs diz dizs dizs dizs dizself sun/suns sun suns suns suns sunself sun/sun sun sun suns suns sunself heiheir heir heir heir heirs heirself multiple/multiple multiple multiple multiples multiples multipleself bork/bork bork bork bark barks barkself bork/borks bork borks bark barks borkself mad/mad mad mad mads mads madself ram/ram ram ram rams rams ramself necro/necrom necro necrom necrom necrom necself ce/cet ce cet cets cets cetself plural/plural plural plural plurals plurals pluralself multi/multi multi multi multis multis multiself dy/dyke dy dyke dykes dykes dykeself ma/smart ma smart smarts smarts smartself wa/watt wa watt waterm watermelon watermelonself thin/thim thin thim thir thirs thimself patch/patch patch patch patchx patchxs patchsxlf vut/vut vut vut vuts vuts vutself vut/vuts vut vuts vuts vuts vutself chey/chem chey chem cheir cheirs chemself be/ber be ber bis bis bisself hex/hex hex hex hex' hex' hexxelf le/lim le lim lis lir limself vxy/vxm vxy vxm vxr vxrs vxmself straw/berry straw berry strawberrys strawberrys strawberryself meh/meh meh meh mehs mehs mehself ani/anim ani anim animals animals animalself mo/gai mo gai mogai mogais mogaiself kya/kya kya kya kyas kyas kyaself mu/musi mu musi music musics musicself fix/fix fix fix fixs fixs fixself mii/miir mii miir miir miirs miirself woo/wool woo wool wools wools woolself sheep/sheep sheep sheep sheeps sheeps sheepself ring/ring ring ring rings rings ringself pol/polyb pol polyb polybi polybius polybiuself amp/amper amp amper sand sands ampersandself and/and and and ands ands andself tey/tem tey tem teir teirs temself .mi/.mid .mi .mid .midi .midis .midiself eye/strain eye strain eyes strains eyestrainself ca/cav ca cav cadav cadavers cadaverself bee/beep bee beep dee dees bpdself arcade/arcem arcade arcem arcades arcades arcadeself syl/sylv syl sylv sylvs sylvs sylvself fel/feli fel feli felis felis feliself It/It It It It Its Itself fae/faem fae faem faer faers faeself shy/hyr shy hyr hyr hyrs hyrself vhe/vher vhe vher vheir vheirs vherself 0/0r 0 0r 0r 0rs 0self pup/pups pup pups pups pups pupself po/pom po pom pos pos poself hie/hir hie hir hier hiers hirself va/vaem va vaem vare vares vabself to/toad to toad toads toads toadself fre/fir fre fir feir feirs ferself ea/er ea er erre erres erself the/thim the thim thir thirs thimself cat/cats cat cats cats cats catself ax/axo ax axo axol axols axolotlself Sy/Syx Sy Syx Syxx Syxxs Syxself rat/rat rat rat rats rats ratself rat/rats rat rats rats rats ratself Mew/Meow Mew Meow Mews Meows Meowself Comrade/Comrade Comrade Comrade Comrades Comrade’s Comradeself foforest for forest forests forests forestself fi/fire fi fire fires fires fireself wy/wyv wy wyv wyvern wyverns wyvernself euph/euphonium euph euphonium euphs euphoniums euphoniumself babari bar bari baritone baritones baritoneself tromb/trombone tromb trombone trombones trombones tromboneself pypyro pyr pyro pyrs pyros pyroself kni/knight kni knight knights knights knightself fli/flight fli flight flights flights flightself pubby/pubby pubby pubby pubbys pubbys pubbyself dead/dead dead dead deads deads deadself grime/grime grime grime grimes grimes grimeself survivosurvivor survivor survivor survivors survivors survivorself officeofficer officer officer officers officers officerself giggle/giggle giggle giggle giggles giggles giggleself lol/lol lol lol lols lols lolself joke/joke joke joke jokes jokes jokeself Adorbz/Adorbz Adorbz Adorbz Aborbz’ Adorbz’ Adorbzelf NY4/NY4 NY4 NY4 NY4Z NY4Z NY4ZELF theri/ther theri ther ther theria therianself pro/proc pro proc yons cyons procyself pra/pras pra pras pras praseos praseoself voi/void voi void voids voids voidself lo/loo lo loo loops loops loopself jo/jot jo jot jotunns jotunns jotunnself red/red red red redr redrs redself bee/bem bee bem bee bees beeself x9/x9 x9 x9 x9s x9s x9self sy/sky sy sky skys skys skyself xo/xox xo xox xox xoxs xoxself sol/sun sol sun suns suns sunself wy/wir wy wir wire wires wirself lan/tern lan tern terns terns lanternself kan/kandi kan kandi kandi kandis kandiself fleufleur fleur fleur fleurs fleurs fleurself ae/ae ae ae aes aes aeself sie/sier sie sier sier siers sierself fei/fein fei fein feir feirs feinself pri/prin pri prin prinz prinz prinzelf FouFour Four Four Fourth Fourths Fourthself fang/fang fang fang fangs fangs fangself zae/zaer zae zaer zaer zaers zaerself zom/zom zom zom zoms zoms zomself gigir gir gir girs girs girself wiworm wir worm worms worms wormself teddy/teddy teddy teddy teddybear teddybears teddybearself rot/rot rot rot rots rots rotself la/lace la lace laces laces laceself au/aur au aur auras auras auraself xe/xir xe xir xirz xirz xirself en/by en by enbys enbys enbyself spi/spin spi spin spinel spinel spinelself quee/queer quee queer queers queers queerself geo/geode geo geode geodes geodes geodeself fie/fire fie fire fires fires fireself rae/ren rae ren rae raes renself xei/xev xei xev xeis xeis xevself phy/phym phy phym phym phyms phymself punk/punk punk punk punk’s punks punkself ve/ven ve ven vens vens venself xe/xer xe xer xer xers xerself se/ser se ser ser sers serself whisp/whisp whisp whisp whisps whisps whisperself hum/hum hum hum hums hums humself lae/lace lae lace lais lais laceself fuz/fuzz fuz fuzz fuzzes fuzzes fuzzself ny/nym ny nym nym nyms nymself Stag/Stags Stag Stags Stag Stag's Stagself si/sin si sin sin sins sinself de/dev de dev devil devils devilself rawrawr rawr rawr rawrz rawr's rawrself trick/treat trick treat tricks treats trickself/treatself Hop/Lop Hop Lop Bun Rens Hopself Foe/Foe Foe Foe Foe's Foe's Foeself fi/fizzy fi fizzy fizz fizz fizzself fi/fizz fi fizz fizz fizz fizzself irk/irk irk irk irks irks irkself py/pyr py pyr pyr pyrs pyreself gli/glitch gli glitch glitches glitches glitchself la/stel la stel stels stels stellaself zy/zyn zy zyn zyns zyns zynself ae/av ae av aer aers avself co/com co com cor cors corpself vo/vome vo vome vome vos vomeself vo/void vo void voir voirs voidself BeBerry Ber Berry Berrys Berrys Berryself ChaChar Char Char Char's Charlie's Charlieself sqid/squid sqid squid squids squids squidself oct/oct oct oct octs octs octoself vee/veem vee veem veemo veemos veemoself splats/splat splats splat splats splats splatself Ceph/Ceph Ceph Ceph Cephs Cephs Cephself neb/nebula neb nebula nebus nebus nebulaself fluff/fluff fluff fluff fluffs fluffs fluffself dis/disease dis disease diseases diseases dseaself ay/am ay am ayr ayrs ayrself No/Non No Non Nons Nons Nonself Bun/Bunny Bun Bunny Bunnys Bunnys Bunself woom/woomy woom woomy woomys woomy's woomyself Avi/Avian Avi Avian Avians Avians Avianself Dra/Drag Dra Drag Dragons Dragons Dragonself oce/ocem oce ocem oces oces oceanself hae/hae hae hae haes haes haloself dia/diam dia diam dias dias diaself Stag/Stag Stag Stag Stag's Stag's Stagself Ree/Ree Ree Ree Ree's Ree's Reeself Scree/Scree Scree Scree Scree's Scree's Screeself E/Eem E Eem Eem's Eem's Eemself core/core core core cores cores coreself kandi/kandi kandi kandi kandis kandis kandiself rave/rave rave rave raves raves raveself emo/emo emo emo emos emos emoself ke/chem ke chem chems chems chemicalself in/inv in inv invas invas invaderself pon/zi pon zi pons zis ponziself rofl/rofl rofl rofl rofls rofls roflself ka/kan ka kan kans kans kandiself Pan/Pand Pan Pand Panda Pandas Pandaself Cass/Cass Cass Cass Cassi Cassis Cassiusself c/Cass c Cass Cassi Cassis Cassiuself sta/static sta static stas statics staticself cryp/cryp cryp cryp crypts crypts cryptidself Cas/Cas Cas Cas Casi Casis Cassiuself gut/gut gut gut guts guts gutself rai/rai rai rai rains rains rainself .exe/.exe .exe .exe .exes .exes .exeself et/ete et ete etes etes eteself eche/veria eche veria ver veries echeself Jul/Jul Jul Jul Juli Juli Julietself sie/sie sie sie ihr ihrs sich hen/hen hen hen hens hens henself vam/vamp vam vamp vamps vamps vampself eeri er eri eris eris eriself purpurr purr purr purrs purrs purrself byte/byte byte byte bytes bytes byteself ic/ice ic ice icy icy iceself thy/thyn thy thyn thy thy thyself x3/x3 x3 x3 x3s x3s x3self dei/dei dei dei deis deis deiself au/auti au auti autis autis autiself owo/owo owo owo owos owos owoself ne/nep ne nep nept neps nepself faun/faun faun faun fauns fauns faunself plum/plum plum plum plums plums plumself fun/fun fun fun funs funs funself xae/xaem xae xaem xaes xaes xaeself vo/voi vo voi voix voix voiself hu/hush hu hush hushs hushs hushself ce/cir ce cir cirs cirs cirself su/sucre su sucre cres cres sucreself lu/luna lu luna luns lunas lunaself ga/gal ga gal gala galax galaself pi/pi pi pi piscs piscs pisceself umb/umber umb umber umber umbers umberself mye/myr mye myr myr myrs myrself goo/goo goo goo goos goos gooself sof/soft sof soft softs softs softself ae/em ae em aes aes aemself ci/ciph ci ciph cipher ciphers cipherself uwu/uwu uwu uwu uwus uwus uwuself Fae/Fem Fae Fem Faer Faers Faerself am/amo am amo amor amors amorself lo/love lo love loves loves loveself lo/lov lo lov love loves loveself mo/mem mo mem moth moths mothself mo/moth mo moth moths moths mothself XD/XD XD XD XDs XDs XDself scene/scene scene scene scenes scenes sceneself aeaer aer aer aer aers aerself ae/aes ae aes aes aes aeself paw/paw paw paw paws paws pawself fe/ler fe ler ler lers lerself sh/hr sh hr hr hrs hrself kai/kaim kai kaim kais kais kaiself hy/hymn hy hymn hymns hymns hymnself hen/henom hen henom hens hens hen själv he/hel he hel hells hells hellself fri/fer fri fer frid frida fridayself flutteshy flutter shy flutters flutters flutterself fla/flag fla flag flags flags flagself fi/fidge fi fidge fidges fidges fidgetself fern/fern fern fern ferns ferns fernself eu/euro eu euro euros euros euroself embeember ember ember embers embers emberself dem/demon dem demon demons demons demonself de/dea de dea death deaths deathself dan/dango dan dango dans dans dangoself da/dan da dan dance dances danceself cute/cute cute cute cutes cutes cuteself ci/cin ci cin cinns cinns cinnself bloo/blook bloo blook blooks blooks blookself ab/abba ab abba abbas abbas abbaself tric/trick tric trick tricks tricks trickself sheri/sheriff sheri sheriff sheriffs sheriffs sheriffself pip/pip pip pip pips pips pipself pix/pixel pix pixel pixels pixels pixelself Shad/Shade Shad Shade Shader Shaders Shadeself Ni/Nigh Ni Nigh Night Nights Nightself Is/Im Is Im Iir Iirs Immel caw/crow caw crow caws caws crowself corrupt/corrupt corrupt corrupt corrupts corrupts corruptself deca/decay deca decay decays decays decayself hunt/hunt hunt hunt hunts hunts huntself ey/eye ey eye eyes eyes eyeself dea/death dea death deaths deaths deathself haun/haunt haun haunt haunts haunts hauntself gun/gun gun gun guns guns gunself claw/claw claw claw claws claws clawself blee/bleed blee bleed bleeds bleeds bleedself bloo/blood bloo blood bloods bloods bloodself god/god god god gods gods godself clown/clown clown clown clowns clowns clownself disc/discord disc discord discords discords discordself chao/chaos chao chaos chaos chaos chaoself gore/gore gore gore gores gores goreself end/ender end ender enders enders enderself trick/trick trick trick tricks tricks trickself crypt/cryptid crypt cryptid cryptids cryptids cryptidself freak/freak freak freak freaks freaks freakself wolf/wolf wolf wolf wolfs wolfs wolfself bow/bow bow bow bows bows bowself end/end end end ends ends endself e/hir e hir hir hirs hirself :3/:3 :3 :3 :3s :3s :3self mob/mob mob mob mobs mobs mobself rabbi/rabbit rabbi rabbit rabbits rabbits rabbitself hab/habit hab habit habits habits habitself rodent/rodent rodent rodent rodents rodents rodentself rod/rodent rod rodent rodents rodents rodentself fufur fur fur furs furs furself racc/raccoon racc raccoon raccoons raccoons raccoonself racc/raccoons racc raccoons racc raccoons raccoonself nya/nya nya nya nya nyas nyaself cy/cyb cy cyb cyber cybers cyberself vix/vixen vix vixen vixens vixens vixenself rabi/rabid rabi rabid rabids rabids rabidself rab/rabie rab rabie rabies rabies rabieself cu/cubu cu cubu cubu cubus cubusself Fa/Falle Fa Falle Falle Falles Fallenself vy/vym vy vym vyr vyrs vyself .doc/.doc .doc .doc .docs .docs .docself squi/squish squi squish squishes squishes squishself kin/kin kin kin kins kins kinself ko/ik ko ik ki kos koiself he/her he her her his herself she/him she him his hers himself ba/bat ba bat bats bats batself walk/walk walk walk walkers walkers walkerself zomb/zomb zomb zomb zombs zombies zombself corp/corpse corp corpse corpse corpses corpself corps/corps corps corps corpses corpses corpself hei/heim hei heim heir heirs heimself rot/rots rot rots rots rots rotself si/sidhe si sidhe sidhes sidhes sidheself cocorv cor corv corvs corvs corvidself ri/ribb ri ribb ribbits ribbits ribbitself vi/viv vi viv vivs vivs viviself li/lumi li lumi lumis lis lumiself ⚣/⚣ ⚣ ⚣ ⚣s ⚣s ⚣self ⚲/⚲ ⚲ ⚲ ⚲s ⚲s ⚲self dai/dai dai dai daiz daiz daizelf see/seer see seer seers seers seerself hop/hop hop hop hops hops hopself n3/n1m n3 n1m n15 n15 n1m531f ȝhey/ȝhem ȝhey ȝhem ȝheir ȝheirs ȝhemself bit/bit bit bit bits bits bitself floflora flor flora floras flors floraself ]/] ] ] ]s ]s ]self bai/bai bai bai bayou's youns bayouenself jo/joi jo joi jois jois joiself pep/pip pep pip pips peps pepself ay/air ay air arei dose areiadōself splash/splish splash splish splosh splish splishself gi/grr gi grr grr grrs grrself kyuu/kyuu kyuu kyuu kyuus kyuus kyuuself ai/ain ai ain ains ains ainself et/et et et ets ets etself e/im e im is is isself ce/cim ce cim cys cys cimself mae/maer mae maer maer maers maerself Stick/Stickers Stick Stickers Sticks Sticks Stickself Sea/Sear Sea Sear Seas Seas Seaself Ra/Rat Ra Rat Rats Rats Ratself cri/cryp cri cryp cryps cryptis cryptidself be/beo be beo wulf wulfs beowulfself sy/syn sy syn synth synths synthself poss/possum poss possum possums possums opossumself fo/for fo for fores forest forestself ey/em ey em eir eir emself ee/im ee im is is imself ✨/✨ ✨ ✨ ✨s ✨s ✨self gli/glim gli glim glims glims glimself mint/mint mint mint mints mints mintself myu/myur myu myur myur myurs myurself mo/moch mo moch mochi mochis mochiself Sak/Ura Sak Ura Ura Uras Sakuraself fawn/fawn fawn fawn fawn fawns fawnself hi/hime hi hime hime himes himeself nov/nova nov nova nova novas novaself sta/star sta star star stars starself ne/neon ne neon neons neons neonself mi/mist mi mist mists mists mistself se/sym se sym syr syrs symself ve/vir ve vir vir virs virself an/xi an xi ety etys xiself Alo/One Alo One Alon Alons Aloneself fae/fae fae fae faer faers faeself meo/meow meo meow meow meows meowself Bell/Bell Bell Bell Bells Bells Bellself Dulce/Dulce Dulce Dulce Dulces Dulces Dulceself Moo/Moo Moo Moo Moos Moos Mooself Pep/Pep Pep Pep Peps Peps Pepself div/div div div divs divs divself ✨/✨s ✨ ✨s ✨s ✨s ✨self woof/woofs woof woofs woofs woofs woofself bi/birch bi birch bir birs birchself rev/rever rev rever rie ries reverself rau/aur rau aur ror rora auroraself rai/rain rai rain rains rains rainself so/sol so sol sols sols solaireself lav/laven lav laven lavend lavends lavendself pi/pin pi pin pine pines pineself hyt/yim hyt yim yis yis yimself ath/athyr ath athyr athyrs athyrs athyrself ith/imth ith imth irth irth imthself be/bet be bet geu geuse betelgeuseself kei/kem kei kem keir keirs kemself ve/vym ve vym vyr vyrs vymself dea/deam dea deam deas deams deaself gol/gold gol gold golds golds goldself pluplur plur plur plurs plurs plurself hi/hem hi hem hes hes hemself ci/cen ci cen cen cens cenself en/en en en ens ens enself sol/sol sol sol sols sols solself hey/hem hey hem heir heirs hemself vie/vyr vie vyr vem vers vemself ve/vim ve vim vis vis vimself thone/thone thone thone thones thones thoneself caet/caet caet caet caets caets caetself cae/caem cae caem caer caers caemself cae/caer cae caer caer caers caerself vae/vaer vae vaer vaer vaers vaerself Ci/Cem Ci Cem Cen Cens Cenself one/one one one one's one's oneself eth/eth eth eth eths eths ethself cele/cele cele cele celes celes celeself Vul/Vulp Vul Vulp Vulps Vulps Vulpself xie/xer xie xer xer xers xerself fey/feym fey feym feir feirs feirself kit/kit kit kit kits kits kitself si/hyr si hyr hyr hyrs hyrself zie/hir zie hir hir hirs hirself zee/zed zee zed zeta zetas zedself zme/zmyr zme zmyr zmyr zmyrs zmyrself se/sim se sim ser sers serself ze/mer ze mer zer zers zemself zie/zem zie zem zes zes zirself zie/zir zie zir zir zirs zirself jee/jem jee jem jeir jeirs jemself peh/pehm peh pehm peh's peh's pehself sie/hir sie hir hir hirs hirself thon/thon thon thon thons thons thonself ip/ip ip ip ips ips

​

Pot 1	Coeff	Pot 1/2	Coeff	Pot 2	Coeff	Pot 2/3	Coeff	Pot 3	Coeff	Pot 3/4	Coeff	Pot 4	Coeff
Winner of CL 22/23		Inter	96.000	Real Madrid	121.000	Shakhtar	63.000	RBSalzburg	59.000	Real Sociedad	33.000	Union Berlin	17.000
Winner of EL 22/23		Feyonoord (or Pot 3)	51.000	Man United	104.000			Milan	50.000	Celtic	31.000	Lens	12.232
Manchester CityL	143.000			Dortmund	86.000			Lazio	42.000	Newcastle	21.799
Barcelona	98.000			Atletico	85.000			Red Star Belgrade	42.000
Napoli	81.000			Leipzig	84.000
Bayern Munich	136.000			Porto	81.000
PSG	112.000			Arsenal	76.000
Benfica	82.000

​
We just gained 24 pts the most since form this year and dropped 12 points from 17/18.
The most since 2006/07
Here is our coeff history.
We are finally healing. Hopefully we can move into Pot 2 over the next 2 years with consistent results.
​

Year	Ranking	Coeff	Coeff over 5 years
2022/23	36th	24.000	50.000
2021/22	45th	7.000	38.000
2020/21	53rd	12.000	31.000
2019/20	81st	0.000	19.000
2018/19	78th	7.000	19.000
2017/18	53rd	12.000	28.000
2016/17	41st	2.8500	47.666
2015/16	25th	2.3000	67.087
2014/15	22nd	3.8000	83.102
2013/14	11th	18.8332	98.387
2012/13	14th	19.8832	93.829
2011/12	12th	22.2714	89.996
2010/11	10th	18.3142	94.110
2009/10	9th	19.0856	99.867
2008/09	5th	14.2750	110.582
2007/08	2nd	17.3825	119.934
2006/07	1st	27.9360	133.808
2005/06	1st	26.0675	129.020
2004/05	3rd	31.6200	121.191

A quick note before reading: I am an insomniac and wanted to write a story that blended Slavic folklore, a fever dream, and crazy pot hallucinations all in one. Here is that result...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the shady valley, where the sundials were made of shadows and doubt, and the rivers ran with the whispers of babbling dreams, there lived an insomniac named Vanya. Time held no meaning for Vanya, for he was the village watchman forever ensnared by the grip of sleeplessness. His sleep number, he would jokingly say, was imaginary.
Under the perpetually drowsy sun, he wandered through the quaint village, past the cottage where the blind witch divined secrets from her cauldron of whispers, through the field where the blacksmith shaped the iron winds into mundane realities, and into the dense woods inhabited by creatures of old lore. Each day was a delirious ballet of Vanya's continuous wakefulness and the eccentricity of his companions in the village.
One twilight hour, as the village faded into a monochrome dreamscape and Vanya's eyes began to droop, he would see Baba Yaga, her chicken-legged hut pirouetting through the mushroom-dappled forest clearing, spun by unseen threads of an ancient lullaby. A talking fox would appear, his silver fur shimmering like stardust under the moonlight, spouting intricate philosophies that made less sense than the patterns of the Milky Way. In Vanya's waking dreams, logic, like his sleep, was an elusive specter.
A nocturnal sunflower, the Zorya, would bloom, its golden petals glistening like a sun trapped in a blossom. With her soothing voice, it would spin tales of the Chernobog, the creature of darkness that lived under Vanya's bed, feeding on his absent dreams. Yet when Vanya would peer under his bed, only dust bunnies and forgotten shoelaces met his gaze.
He would walk on moonbeams, following the Stuzhka, a river made of forgotten lullabies, only to find himself at the foot of Jack's towering beanstalk, where the echoes of a dragon's snore reverberated from above. But the dragon, Vanya knew, was just an old, worn-out windmill, creaking and groaning in the distance.
Each day was a fantastical adventure, each hallucination more absurd than the next. In the cool embrace of the night, Vanya would lay under the stellar canopy, a parody of sleep that did little to quench his weary spirit. He would trace constellations in the stars, spinning tales of knights and dragons, of witches and lost children until the first rays of dawn chased the darkness away.
His hallucinations slowly dissipated with the morning light, leaving Vanya alone in his wakeful reality. He would laugh at the absurdity, lighting his morning pipe with a nod to the fading shadows. "My sleep number is imaginary," he'd chuckle as if sleep were another character in his fantastical narrative.
Despite the ethereal chaos of his existence, Vanya found solace in his fevered wakefulness. His dreams, or rather, his lack thereof, were the brushstrokes on the canvas of his life, rendering it into a masterpiece of delightful lunacy. In the Slavic folklore of his lineage, in the playful whimsy of his world, the line between the real and the imagined blurred into obscurity.
Vanya's life was an insomnia-laden fever dream, a nonsensical Disney movie drawn by a stoner's hand. It was a dreamscape of eternal wakefulness, where sleep was as imaginary as Baba Yaga and her dancing hut. Amidst the daily humdrum and the nightly hallucinations, Vanya found his peace, living his story in the crooked valley beneath the sleep-starved sky.
His erratic yet mesmerizing visions drew the villagers' attention, transforming his life into a nightly spectacle. They would gather around the bonfire, their faces bathed in its warm glow, and listen as Vanya painted vivid images of his nightly adventures with the finesse of a seasoned bard. His tales wove a spell around the village, and he was no longer just a watchman but a weaver of dreams, a creator of fantastical realms.
One day, under the watchful gaze of the sun that never slept, an outsider arrived in the crooked valley. She was an intriguing maiden named Marusya, who claimed to be a Dreamcatcher. She had hair as dark as the Chernobog's shadow and eyes that shimmered like the Stuzhka under the moonlight. She held a tapestry of woven dreams, intricate and vibrant, a cosmic map of someone's slumber.
Marusya promised to lure sleep into Vanya's wakeful nights. She seemed like a surreal apparition from his hallucinations. Vanya half-expected her to vanish in a puff of smoky dream dust. Yet, as days turned into nights, she remained, gradually becoming a part of his colorful reveries. Their shared laughter and stories filled the once-quiet nights, turning them into a nocturnal symphony.
Marusya began to spin her dream tapestry around Vanya, weaving threads of starlight, whispers of the Zorya, and melodies of lullabies. Night after night, they would sit under the celestial dome, Marusya's fingers dancing on her loom of dreams and Vanya's voice breathing life into his hallucinations. They were a peculiar duo, one coaxing dreams from the universe, the other narrating tales of whimsy and wonder.
One fateful night, under the cosmos' twinkling gaze, Vanya, amid recounting his encounter with Jack's dragon windmill, felt his eyelids grow heavy, a sensation as foreign as the idea of a silent night. He blinked at Marusya, whose gentle smile felt like a lullaby, and he slept for the first time since he could remember. His last conscious thought was that maybe, his sleep number wasn't as imaginary as he had always believed.
Vanya's slumber was a spectacle, as villagers silently gathered around, watching their watchman adrift in the sea of dreams. They marveled at Marusya's gift, the Dreamcatcher who wove sleep into their storyteller's life. It was a quiet celebration, a testament to the magic of dreams and the power of stories.
Vanya awoke to a world where the line between his visions and reality seemed even more blurred. His dreams were a continuation of his waking hallucinations. Yet, they bore an indescribable warmth, an echo of Marusya's soothing presence. He mused that his sleep number was no longer imaginary but rather a great enigma, entwined with the essence of his hallucinations, dreams, and the folkloric charm of his existence.
In the crooked valley under the watchful, sleepless sun, Vanya lived his life on the cusp of dreams and wakefulness. His tale became an anthem, a lullaby, a dream, whispered and shared, echoing across the landscape. And in his story, the village found a comforting paradox – that in a world where dreams could be caught, sleep could also be found in the realm of the imaginary.

Edit: this is a message I sent to an ex lover, turned friendship(?!?!)
Your needs are always above mine. I guess that’s my fault for basing our relationship based off of what Iiiiii could do for you!! It became more about appeasing and catering to you like my life depended on it. Even though doing so, gave me nothing but further problems. I realize the only good thing you brought was making me miserable enough to want to run in the opposite direction. I tried. Multiple times. And was met with the anxiousness that I would normally embody. I don’t when exactly things went wrong, that’s all I seek to understand now. One of the first things you said to me was how you wanted a family with me.. maybe that’s a red flag in and off itself. It seemed like the best and most realistic option.. to try for the best of what we had. To try again. Especially after going through the most horrendous situations back to back.. you told me you’d be there. But not when it counted. Right? It is always your wires word against mine. The wires of the truth seem to always get crossed. To suit what cause or to what fun perplexes me further. What is there to gain when we both lose the potential of this ? On god… You will feel this. But you’ll have a better chance, because you actually have people who accept you taking care of them physically (at the exchange of your time and fulfillment) so then they care for your emotional I told you, and spiritually well-being. As long as you, right? Until it is… then what? You think your situation is so unidealistic.. but you’ve never known true defeat to the degree I face in my life. Ive seen people make it out of worse, they all say mindset is an it takes. An idea is just an idea without action. The people I put my trust into create further obstacles on my path, blame me for being there or whatever I do to ease the stress of that situation … seldom has it panned out actually. Any leaps of faith I’ve taken to better myself outside of this situation is met with judgement and indifference. Does any of this sound within the realm of possibility to anyone? I feel I’m out of moves here… I’ve had the mindset. Even when it took me time to build… I’ve had endless drive. It is all equally met with opposition. I will not tolerate this any further. I deserve a chance like everyone else. I am not the problem. I have a problem, a state of emergency really. And no liable way out of it.. even the resources to help myself!! I’ve gone hoarse asking.. this is clearly a dead end. So fine, I let go. I let you go, for once. I deserve to see what my life can become. There is nothing here anymore..
Edit: I received: how do you end a relationship without hurting someone? So I ask. Is there any justification for leaving a relationship at the most critical point in your partners life? (I.e. dealing with life altering circumstances) And is there ever a circumstance where they may speak true of a persons capacity for authentic love?

I was a life long supporter of the NDP since before I could even vote. My mom and I campaigned for Notleys previous election win and I couldn't have been more ecstatic. I was a "hard core lefty" who considered themselves willing to do anything to see the "retarded God loving bigots" of tje right get crushed and have their "stupidity" constantly shown for me to ridicule and generally shit on in anyway possible.
There was a time I would have argued (and perhaps even considered) Danielle Smith to be at best a deluded ignorant imbecile who should have likely been in jail not the premiers office.
What a difference a few years makes?
I will NEVER vote for a party who is so obsessed with hypersexualization of our ELEMENTARY aged school kids. I literally have a GAY teacher friend who retired over what's going on in classrooms today. These teachers have seemed to have forgotten that they are there to teach NOT INDOCTRINATE innocent and confused little kids who would do whatever or say whatever to make adults around them happy.
TEACHERS: NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR GENDER ISSUES, YOUR SEXUALITY OR FRANKLY ANY OF YOUR POLITICS.
Period.
School is about teaching kids to make an educated and informed decision about these topics WHEN THEY ARE READY. Here's an idea: let's take puberty (the most confusing of times for kids already) and totally just make that one billion times more difficult and confusing for them. I'm sure your pronouns and propaganda is making that infinitely more clear and understandable for these poor kids.
BUT TO ACTIVELY AS AN educational facility work to lie to parents, keep them out of the know and actively not consult or even be TRUTHFUL with students parents is beyond words for me.
THESE. PEOPLE. NEED. TO. GO. TO. PRISON. Until a child is 18 they literally have no rights that do not need to be discussed with the guardians of that child period. Christ we couldn't go swimming or on a field trip without parental consent in the 90s.
Not to mention some of the literature being introduced into our ELEMENTARY school libraries. I've had the displeasure of actually re reviewing it myself it is PEDOPHILIA. Plain and simple. One "book" I saw was literally about how an older adult was grooming/training a 13-14 year old child on how to give blowjobs and handjobs, but even worse really tried to normalize this grooming behavior as being okay.
THIS IS PEDOPHILIA. THIS IS CRIMINALLY MISLEADING PARENTS. What if the internal struggle is so intense that the child acts violently towards themselves or others? God people should sue every person involved into oblivion.
So I'll admit I have no idea of the number of trans kids on average k-6. What I do know is that before these pedophile obsessed "teachers" were around back in my day there were a whopping ZERO.
Every sick twisted regime with generations of death and destruction associated with them always followed two strategies:
1: Go after the children. They will repeat and parrot the most aweful things and then go on to repeat them. Hitler, Stalin.and dozens of others new this and exploited it. Within a generation you're ready to purge the "anti revolutionaries" (people old and wise enough to see the insanity for what it is) to make room for the most virulent, brainwashed and completely committed to the cause who are of course fresh from years of unfettered indoctrination, some of whom EVEN RATTED OUT THEIR OWN FAMILIES!
2: Argue that any "unpleasantness" or trampling of our charter rights for example, is for "THE GREATER GOOD". The worst atrocities and genocides ever carried out in human history have been "for the greater good". WHEN YOU HEAR THIS BECOME EXTREMELY SUSPICIOUS AND ON GUARD. Ffs in the cultural revolution of the 60s Mau literally had the population of china convinced that it was the sparrows eating the tiny grain off the crops that were responsible for the famine that killed 10s of millions.
His solution: get the citizens to chase these poor birds around banging pots and pans until the.birds literally died of exhaustion. )Think of the calories it takes to do that? THATS WHERE THIS LEADS PEOPLE. INSANE LEADERS MAKE FOR INSANE TIMES.
Notley can take her masks, her media pysop (remember when on one day the front page of the sun tried to turn a 13 year old childs death from cancer in "COVID death" right beside the picture of the ICU units full of patients (CPR dummies)?!?
The masks were fake. The disease was fake. The infringement of our charter rights was fake. Guess why every parliament building has a big open courtyard etc? BECAUSE THAT'S OUR SPACE TO BE USED FOR PEACEFUL GATHERING AND DISSENT.
Just remember 50 percent of us feel this way but can't say anything or it's a hate crime. White? Terrorist. Christian? Extremist.
Last thing I'll say is people need to toughen up. Sticks and stones man ffs. Someone mis gendering you isn't a hate crime. It's not GENOCODE (my personal favorite). Someone calls you something you don't like knock them out. Name call them back. So anything but cry about it 24 hrs after on reddit like some kind of political badass. You cant censor this away. Just because, God forbid, we make it a crime to hurt someone's feelings, doesn't make those "racists" suddenly see the light and instantly have a change of heart.
Words matter. Orwell was VERY SPECIFIC about this and we literally walked right down the INGSOC road. Pathetic.
Anyone who's been to jail knows people organized by culture and race. Always have always will. But just because I hate onions doesn't mean I think the very idea of onions should be declared"thought crime" and that every onion,along with those who enjoy them, should be eradicated.
Danielle Smith is the only one telling the truth about what's happening. She's always in hot water for some comment she's said like "the unvaccinated were the most discriminated group of people since perhaps the Japanese in WW2. I couldn't go anywhere. Use public services I PAY FOR, and I lost my job.
Conspiracy theorist I was called. Conspiracy theories have sure become conspiracy fact though huh? We were right all along.and will continue to be so.

We all have problems as kids, right?
But they’re not adult problems. Those come later.
Kid problems are much easier to deal with. Kid problems might seem ridiculous now, but back then they were practically the end of the world for some of us. Playground politics was a thing—who was friends with who. If we didn’t wear nice clothes, kids would laugh. If we didn’t like the things other kids liked, we were weird. We were a hive-mind, obsessed with being liked, being appreciated and accepted. High school sucks, sure, but elementary school is just as bad. Nobody says it these days so I will.
Kids can be fucking cruel.
I remember my biggest problem that morning being that I hadn’t gotten the new Pokémon game—Diamond and Pearl, I think it was called. I’d begged my parents for a Nintendo DS when it came out and had opened up a brand new light pink DS Lite on my 10th birthday, the day before. I wanted the game that all the other kids were playing, but according to mom it was too expensive. Instead, I got Barbie Horse Adventures: Summer Camp.
Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled with it.
It was raining that day.
I remember watching big, fat raindrops run down the classroom window, my head pressed to my desk and turned towards looming grey clouds. I liked pretending the raindrops were racing each other and mentally cheering them on.
I was too embarrassed to pull out my DS practically burning a hole in my skirt. I’d made the stupid mistake of telling everyone I was getting the new Pokémon game for my birthday, and the idea of admitting to them that I actually hadn’t—instead having some stupid Barbie game that I was pretending I liked—was making my stomach twist.
Still though, the rain was nice to watch. Since the weather wasn’t that great, we’d been strictly told to stay inside, though some kids had decided to ignore the teacher and go outside anyway so the classroom was mostly empty. I was watching one particular raindrop dance across the glass, when a laugh startled me out of my thoughts. When I lifted my head, I saw the usual suspects gathering around Lily’s desk.
They were bullying her again.
Licey Lily. That’s what everyone called her. Mom told me to stay away from the girl—though I think that was a universal thing all the parents told their kids. Lily came to school with clothes which didn’t fit her and holes in her socks and her shoes falling apart around her feet. When I sat behind her, sometimes I’d glimpse red markings on her wrist and her ankles. Lily didn’t wear winter clothes when it snowed. I remember when she came in late one day and wasn’t even wearing a coat. I’d heard from other kids her parents didn’t look after her, while others spread a rumour that she was an orphan. Lily had thick blonde curls that fell in front of her face in tangles and knots. Mrs Lewis tried to help her. She was maybe the only one who cared.
Mrs Lewis made sure Lily had a thick, woolly coat to play outside in. When Lily walked into class with her hair looking like a bird's nest, Mrs Lewis made it look pretty again. I liked Lily’s hair when it was brushed and in ribbons.
In kindergarten I was convinced she was a princess because her hair, despite being messy, looked like it was glowing, caught up in ethereal light from the sun.
I was sure the other kids were jealous. That was why they bullied her.
That day Lily’s hair didn’t look pretty—she didn’t look like a princess. The bright red ribbons Mrs Lewis had put in on Friday were still clinging to clumpy tangles of blonde, and she was wearing the same knitted cardigan she was wearing on Friday over a creased skirt and shoes that were too big for her. Though it wasn’t her clothes, or even the state of her hair that had attracted her usual tormentors. Lily had been scratching her head all the way through class. It wasn’t like normal though. Usually, she idly scratched maybe once or twice, but that day it had been a constant scratch, scratch, scratch all the way through class. Of course Scarlett Maine noticed.
The girl had waited until Mrs Lewis left the classroom before sidling over to Lily’s desk.
“Do you even wash your hair, Licey Lily?” Scarlett had dark hair pulled into pigtails that bobbed when she giggled. She leaned towards Lily. Scarlet acted older than she was—probably because she had a sister in high school. “My mom said only dirty kids like you get lice, and your hair is so gross.”
Lily didn’t move, her mess of blonde curls hanging in front of her face.
“Hey.” Scarlett grabbed a handful of her hair and tugged violently, “Licey Lily, why aren’t you talking to us?” She jumped back suddenly with a choked laugh. “Urgh, you can see them! They’re wriggling in her hair!”
“Scarlett.” I said. “Cut it out.”
I was ignored. If I tried to stop it, I knew what would happen. It always happened. Anyone who tried to help Lily, or told Mrs Lewis about the bullying, either got outcasted or bullied too. I opened my mouth to speak again, louder this time, but the others were in their own world—like tormenting Lily was their own personal fantasy and nobody could penetrate that little bubble of theirs. Freddie Caine who had been hovering over Scarlett with an identical cruel grin let out a disgusted snort. He grabbed Scarlett’s arm and the two of them stumbled back.
“I can see them!” He pointed, his eyes wide. “They’re all over her back! There are so many!”
More murmurs. Giggling. Some kids jumped up from their own desks and joined the growing crowd surrounding Lily. Freddie edged forwards like the desk was teeming with crawlies. “Did you make friends with them?” He whispered in Lily’s face. When the others laughed at that, Scarlett being the loudest, he shoved Lily hard.
“I bet you did.” Freddie grinned, “That’s why you’re always scratching. They’re your only friends.”
Scarlett nodded. Giggling, she rushed to her desk and grabbed her bag, pulling something out. The kids laughed harder. It was a water bottle—but it definitely wasn’t filled with water. Lily seemed to notice this too. She came back to life, lifting her head, glistening eyes widening in panic. I already knew what Scarlett was going to do, but nobody could stop her. Scarlett rounded Lily’s desk and held the bottle up high over the trembling girl’s head.
“Bath time!” Scarlett giggled, tipping the bottle.
I was aware of something that wasn’t water splashing down on a squeaking Lily’s head. She cried out, trying to shield herself. When she tried to jump up, tears welling in her eyes, Freddie and two other girls held her down. Scarlett didn’t stop until the bottle was empty and Lily was soaking wet, her cardigan glued to her, a huge wet patch on her skirt. When Lily lifted her head, her sopping knotted curls hung in clumps in front of her eyes. The bottle hit the ground and Freddie picked it up with a frown.
“What is that?” He sniffed it and pulled a face. “That stinks!”
The other kids murmured in agreement, and Scarlett shrugged. Her gaze pierced Lily, who was crying, her entire body trembling with the force of her sobs. “It’s apple juice, dummy! “ She said, “My mom wouldn’t let me fill my water bottle and my big sister was in the shower, so I got some apple juice from my dad’s office. It was on his desk.”
Freddie pinched his nose. “That’s not apple juice!” His voice was all nasally, “It smells like old socks! And it’s green!”
“You’re going to get in trouble.” Jasper Parker spoke up. He sat across from me and barely ever spoke- unless it was to brag about how smart he was. He’d been organising his gold sticker collection, though the splash had made him jump. He wasn’t smiling, though the muscles in his face were gradually contorting into one. Jasper wasn’t fooling me. I knew he only pretended to be nice so he could maintain his position as best student. He found it funny. I could see it in the sparkle in his eyes, his smirk when Scarlett and Freddie shoved Lily into her chair.
“Yeah?” Freddie’s gaze found Jasper’s. “Are you going to tattle, Goody Two Shoes?”
Jasper shrugged. “No.” He went back to his gold sticker collection, though his voice had softened a little. Goodie Two Shoes was his nickname in 3rd grade. Not just that—Jasper was obsessed with being the teacher’s pet. He had been as unpopular as Lily before bringing in Pokémon cards one day, and suddenly he was cool. Jasper had all the special sparkly ones he happily traded, so naturally the other kids had decided he wasn’t so bad after all. “She needed a bath. She stinks.”
“Stinky Lily!” Isabel Hades laughed, the others joining in – including Jasper, bowing his head further.
Ignoring them, Scarlett’s attention was on Lily, who had stood up, her hair dripping. All of her was dripping. Her clothes, her face—her eyes. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and yet they still laughed, pushing and shoving her. “See?” Scarlett’s voice was sugary sweet. “I’m so nice, Licey Lily! I even gave your friends a bath!”
Lily didn’t speak. She only ran out of the classroom, the others laughter chasing her all the way down the corridor. When the girl was gone, the other kids returned to their desk and Scarlett acted like nothing had happened. Jasper grabbed a mop from the janitor's closet, lying that Lily had spilled her water and cleaned up the mess on his own. He always did that— always helping someone or doing something helpful for his own gain.
When Jasper was mopping up the mess, I was frowning at him.
Well, not him. Because we all knew if you looked at a boy for too long you would explode or get cooties.
I wasn’t looking at Jasper, or the giant spot on his chin. No. I was staring at the liquid pooling at his feet which definitely wasn’t water. It was a funny green colour, and it was maybe a little thicker. It reminded me of Nickelodeon slime if it had been watered down. The green so-called water was giving me the creeps. I was looking at it for maybe a little too long, because Jasper noticed my gaze when he looked up.
He didn’t look happy.
It was an unwritten rule that boy’s and girl’s didn’t talk to each other unless they wanted a song being made about them. I could still remember when Sara Jacobs and Josh Simons had been caught talking to each other together in the playground. The next day, everyone was talking about it—and Scarlett was skipping around the two of them, singing that stupid rhyme that always got stuck in my head.
“Sara and Josh sitting in a tree! K. I. S. S. I. N. G.”
Jasper bugged out his eyes. “What are you looking at?”
“What’s that you’re cleaning up?”
“Apple juice.” Jasper said, not sounding sure.
“Uh-huh.” I folded my arms. “And why are you cleaning it up? That’s Scarlett’s mess.”
He stuck out his tongue, going back to mopping up. “None of your beeswax.”
I scoffed. I’d picked up the other kids' taunts over the years—and they felt natural coming off my tongue, slick like honey. This is where I admit I was no different from the others.
“You’re just being a teacher’s pet as usual.”
Jasper didn’t lift his head, but I noticed his mopping slowed a little—his fingers tightening around the handle.
“I know your secret.”
“My secret?”
Jasper nodded. “You have a Barbie game.” He giggled. “I saw you playing it under your desk.”
“And?”
He scrubbed a little harder. “If you call me that again I’ll tell everybody you play Barbie games.”
Jasper had won.
I stood down.
Lily came back before class started again. Since it was raining, she matched a bunch of other kids who had gone outside to play in the shower. So she too had been yelled at by Mrs Lewis. The teacher had handed out towels so they could dry themselves, and it hadn’t been long before Freddie had snatched Lily’s and screwed it into a ball, throwing it to the back of the classroom. Lily trembled all the way through math. At first I thought it was because she was cold, but when I lifted my head from my drawing, I saw her body was quivering—her pale hands gripping her scalp, fingernails scratching at her forehead. She was whimpering to herself, hiding behind her book.
The scratching got worse until she curled into herself, her fingers clawing at her curls.
It was endless. The noise didn’t stop all the way through class.
When I was trying to answer questions, all I could hear was scratch, scratch, scratch. “Lily?” Mrs Lewis stopped explaining multiplication. “Are you okay?”
The girl’s head bobbed up and down in a sharp nod, and Mrs Lewis went back to teaching.
“Licey Lily.” Scarlett, who had insisted on sitting behind Lily, kicked the back of the girl’s chair.
“Her friends are dancing.” She said, loud enough for us to hear, but not the teacher.
Everyone giggled, and Lily scratched harder—until she was squeaking, scratting at her scalp.
I caught Jasper staring, his eyes wide. He wasn’t smiling or laughing like the others.
Instead, he was frowning at the floor where the mess had been.
At lunch it had stopped raining and I was relieved to get out of the classroom. I ate my lunch in the cafeteria before heading outside. There was a game of Tag happening, but the last time I’d joined in I’d ended up with skinned knees. Instead, I headed to the jungle gym—and there I found Lily. She was sitting on the very top, her legs dangling off the edge. Lily wasn’t wearing a coat and I remember feeling a chill down my spine when I noticed how pale her exposed arms were. The girl was shivering, her head of blonde curls pressed into her lap.
She was scratching again, scratching, scratching, scratching – and I swore when her fingers left her hair, I could see flecks of white stuck in her nails. Lily lifted her head. She wasn’t looking at me, her gaze on something else far away. It was the first time, I remember thinking—the first time I’d seen her face in a while. She always had her head bowed and was hiding behind her hair. Her cheeks were white, her lips twisted into a pained cry. “They won’t stop.” She was whispering to herself, her hands like claws going back into her hair and grasping at clumps of ratty gold and ragging violently. Her whole body shuddered, “They won’t stop.”
“They’re mean.” I said, “Don’t listen to them, okay? I like your hair. It’s really pretty!”
Lily didn’t respond, raking her fingernails down her face. “They won’t stop. Won’t stop. Won’t stop!”
Swallowing hard, I took slow steps towards her. “Lily?” I reached into my pocket to pull out my DS. My first thought was to let her play it. Maybe that might make her feel better. When I was pulling it out, though, Lily startled me with a shriek. “Stop!” Her hands balled into fists and she slammed them into her head, her sobs growing progressively more hysterical. Lily was running her hands through her hair and then staring down at the palms of her hands with a look of fright of terror. It hit me, then—that she wasn’t talking about Scarlett and the others. I felt myself take a slow step back. Lily was talking about the lice—the bugs crawling in her hair.
“Mommy.” Lily whimpered, her shaking fingers entangled with knotty curls. “I want my mommy.”
“I’ll get Mrs Lewis.”
But Lily wasn’t listening. She was swaying slightly, squeezing her eyes shut.
When I ran back inside, lunch had ended and everyone was heading to class. I flew directly into Mrs Lewis in my rush. Normally, I’d squeak out an apology or run away, but the words were already streaming from my mouth before I could help them. I could still see Lily in my mind—swaying back and forth, her eyes flickering, the red staining her fingernails. “It’s Lily!” I shrieked. “She’s outside, and she’s crying,” I gestured with my hands, pointing to my own head. “She had bugs in her hair. Like, humongous bugs, and she keeps scratching and the bugs are really big—”
“Miri.” Mrs Lewis cut me off, “Calm down. First of all, we don’t say bugs. They’re called lice, and they’re completely normal. All kids your age will get lice.” Her eyes found the end of the corridor. “Where is Lily now?”
“She’s on the jungle gym.” I said, “Is Lily going to be okay? Is she going to give us all lice?”
The teacher’s eyes turned sharp, and I automatically knew I’d said the wrong thing.
“Okay, Miri. Tell everyone I’m going to be a little late. I’ll go and find Lily.”
When I went back to class, someone had drawn a stickwoman on the board with a giant bug on her head.
I slumped in my chair and turned to Jasper, who was organising his crayons in order of shade.
“Hey.” I pointed to the board. “Who drew that?”
“Scarlett.” He muttered. “I’ve already wiped it off three times.”
I was daydreaming, counting clouds in the sky—trying to ignore Freddie and Scarlett singing about bugs, when Mrs Lewis came back. She was hand in hand with Lily, who looked better. I wasn’t sure how, but the girl seemed different. The way she moved, holding her head high as she skipped to her desk. Lily was skipping. She was smiling. Her eyes were bright—a glitter in her demeanour that none of us knew. We only knew the girl who stared down at the floor, peering through straggly hair. It’s not like her hair was better. It was worse, matted to her back.
When she found her seat, giggling to herself, her hands went back to her hair—scratching.
But she was smiling, giggling, laughing, as her scratting got more intense, raking her scalp. Her fingernails—I thought, something slimy creeping up my throat. Lily’s fingernails were still red, and the white flecks had turned fleshy pink. It was like jello, stuck to her nails and splattered on her palms. I didn’t want to think about what the goop was. I was squinting at the wooden grains of my desk to avoid barfing, when a shadow loomed.
I looked up to find Mrs Lewis glaring down at me.
“Miri, I am very disappointed in you. Lily is perfectly fine. If I hear you saying things about other children I will be talking to your mother. Do you understand me?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off.
“Would you like it if some of your friends said mean things about your hair?”
“But Mrs Lewis,” I whispered, “She did. I saw the bugs. They were making her cry.”
The teacher shook her head. “I combed through Lily’s hair several times. She does not have lice.”
If Mrs Lewis had combed through her hair, it wouldn’t still be a mess.
Why was she lying?
“She does though.” Jasper spoke up. “I saw them crawling in her hair.”
“Jasper!” The teacher’s voice hardened. “Of everyone in this class, I didn’t expect you to join in this bullying.”
“It’s not bullying!” He said, “Mrs Lewis, she has lice! Like, crazy lice!”
The teacher ignored us and went back to the front. I was surprised that Scarlett hadn’t spoken a word.
“Get out your workbooks.” Mrs Lewis told everyone.
“I was going to let you write stories today, since it’s coming up to the holidays, but since all you can do is make mean remarks against your friends, I want you to work in silence. Do the activity on pages 5, 6, and 8. Jasper, put your hand down. Yes, I know you’ve already done them—you can turn to the back and do question 10.”
Mrs Lewis cleared her throat. “Is that understood?”
“Yes, Mrs Lewis!” Lily chirped.
I heard the collective breath from everyone.
It was the first time in days that Lily had spoken without being forced to. There was something strange about her face. When I looked at the girl for long enough, she didn’t move, didn’t blink, her lips splitting her mouth apart into a smile. But her hands kept going—kept scratching, even when the fleshy pink built up in her fingernails. The teacher smiled, seemingly failing to notice the state of Lily. If she did, she didn’t care.
“Well done, Lily.”
I went through my workbook, struggling with the questions, especially when Lily would not stop scratching at her head. It was driving me crazy and knowing the damage she was doing to her head, seeing her wearing that unnerving grin—she was scaring me. I wanted to tell Mrs Lewis there was something wrong, but the words wouldn’t form in my mouth. I didn’t want to get in trouble again, but Lily’s scratching was unbearable.
When we were done, Mrs Lewis went around the class asking for answers.
Only two hands shot into the air.
Jasper, as usual— and to my surprise, Lily. Mrs Lewis looked equally baffled. Still, she nodded and smiled at the girl. “Lily, do you have the answer to—” she flicked through the workbook. “Question two?”
Lili shook her head. “No, but I have the answer for the one you’re doing.”
“Hmm?” The teacher looked confused, and Lily giggled, pointing to the red notebook on her desk.
“That one! The question you’re looking for is X=2. If you divide—“ Her words didn’t make sense to me, just like gibberish. I’d never heard of that kind of math. We were doing division, and I was still struggling with the basics.
Lily had never answered a math question, though I’d noticed her workbooks had always been coloured in green marker pen and glittery stickers. I guess it made sense that she was smart at math, but I didn’t understand how she’d somehow gotten the answer to the problem in Mrs Lewis’s private notebook.
“Lily, that’s not the question I’m asking. What’s the correct answer to question two?”
“Three.” Lily said. “Duh. You just divide 21 and 7.”
“That’s right.” Mrs Lewis’s lips pricked into a smile. “However, we do not say that word.”
Lily nodded and sat down with a bounce, her hands going back to scratch at her hair.
Behind me, Jasper grumbled. "I knew that."
When the day was over I was ready to get home—away from Lily and the smile that was stuck to her face.
Lily was packing up her stuff when Scarlet shoved past her.
“Get out of my way, Licey Lily! Don’t touch me.”
To my surprise, Lily laughed. She reached out her hand, giggling, and tucked a straying strand of Scarlett’s hair behind her ear. Beaming, Lily’s expression glittered with something I couldn’t and never would understand.
They looked strange—her eyes, I mean. They looked like they were moving, her pupils growing larger and then smaller, bouncing up and down like in cartoons. I had to blink to see if I was seeing things. When I turned around, Jasper was staring too, his mouth open, gaping.
Lily tugged her pigtails—hard.
I’d never seen Scarlett look scared. She always looked happy, always gleeful.
And yet then, I only saw terror. I saw a whole new shade of her personality bleeding through.
“They like your hair, Scarlett.” Lily murmured. “They’ve been talking to me and they want to eat it all up! And then they want to eat up your brain too!” Still laughing, Lily pressed her head to Scarlett’s. The girl didn’t move. Freddie, standing nearby, looked shaken, his lips twisted in disgust. And then I knew why. Because when I looked at Lily properly, I saw that her hair was moving. Twitching. I could see them, I could see bugs skittering across her head. I saw tiny legs peeking from her hairline. Freddie hissed out. “Hey.” His voice was shaky.
“Stop that.”
Scarlett stumbled back, clinging to Freddie.
“You’re so gross.” She managed to hiss. “Get… get away from me.”
Lily’s pupils shrunk to a dot. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
She was skipping away before any of them could respond.
That night I told mom to wash my hair three times just in case.
A sicky feeling had followed me to the Elementary school gates the next day.
I kept my head down for most of the morning. Scarlett was quiet and Lily had stopped scratching—she’d stopped everything though. Lily didn’t raise her hand to answer questions or work in her books.
She just sat there staring at nothing and smiling. Like she could see something I couldn’t.
I noticed scratching during reading period. When I lifted my head though, it was Freddie scratting his curls.
The scratching spread like a virus. By the end of the class it was everyone. Even Mrs Lewis.
At recess, I went to the bathroom to hide from Lily, who was eagerly dancing across the classroom and pressing her head to other kids.
They didn’t run though. They just stood and let her. When I was washing my hands, a stall creaked open, and Scarlett came out. She didn’t look like she usually did. Her hair was a tangled mess, no longer in pigtails, instead hanging in her face. Scarlett’s eyes didn’t find me, instead flicking to the mirror. Taking slow steps, she went over to the mirror and clawed at her hair, yanking and pulling at it.
“Make it stop.” She whispered, nails like claws scratching at her head, and then her face. Her eyes were red, and when I looked closer—I had to swallow a cry. Scarlett’s hair was moving. Just like with Lily. I saw them, bulging black bugs sticking to her hair and scuttling across her forehead. The girl’s arms were wild, trying to dig and claw and pull them off, but they were merciless, sticking into her skin and not letting go. She lunged forwards, her body swaying like she was dizzy before slamming her head into the mirror with a wet splat. My body froze up.
Blood, I thought.
There was blood.
“Stop.” Scarlett’s head hit the mirror again. Splat. More blood. More blood smearing the glass. I felt my legs give way and my knees hit cold tiles, my eyes glued to the bugs burrowing under her hair, clawing into her skin.
“They’re in my head.” She whimpered, her eyes flickering. Her pupils were bulging, growing bigger and then smaller, and the skin of her face contorted, like they were under there too. They were everywhere, I realised.
They were in her hands, bulging bumps writhing under the skin of her flesh when she tried to claw at her hair—but her hands fell limp by her side. Like they were stopping her. Puppeteering her.
“I can… hear them.” Scarlett’s contorting pupils found mine. When she opened her mouth to scream, I spied tiny holes on her tongue. “They’re in my head,” her voice was light, almost dreamy. “I want my… I want my mommy.”
Scarlett held out her hands, staring wide-eyed at fleshy pink covering her skin.
Mommy. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
When I saw tiny black dots writhe across the whites of her eyes, bulging into her pupils like it was taking over—
I screamed.
I just remembered screaming, and the BANG when Scarlett’s head hit the mirror again, and again.
Until her head didn’t look like a head.
“Miri?”
The familiar voice made me cry harder.
Jasper stumbled in, one hand covering his eyes, the other grasping at the wall to balance him. “This is the girl’s bathroom! I could get a disease here,” He groaned. “Why are you screaming? Is there a spider?”
“Scarlett!” I managed to whisper when the girl flopped to the ground. “It’s Scarlett!”
“What’s wrong with her?“
“Miss Lewis.” I backed into the wall, watching her body flailing. “Get Miss Lewis!”
Staggered footsteps.
The door shut, and I was alone with Scarlett.
And it was the first time I heard it.
Staring down at my lap, I refused to look at Scarlett, at the smear of red on the mirror. I was counting my breaths when I heard it—skittering and twitching. I heard them burrowing into Scarlett’s head, dancing across her hair.
SKKRR. CHH. CHH. CHH.
I was sobbing when Mrs Lewis hurried in, Jasper at her side. His hands were still over his eyes.
“Miri!” Mrs Lewis hissed out. “What’s going on?”
“Scarlett.” I whimpered into my dress. “She’s—”
I opened my mouth to speak, but then my eyes caught Scarlett standing in front of the mirror. She looked normal again. There was no splash of deep red painting her face, no dent in her head where she’d smashed her face into the mirror. I noticed there was dripping toilet paper tinged red balled in her fists. She’d wiped it off, I thought. Scarlett had cleaned the mirror. When the girl faced the teacher, her eyes were funny—like Lily’s.
“Yes, Mrs Lewis?”
I squinted, catching movement on the shrinking crack in the mirror.
Tiny black dots— like ants— crawling across the glass. They were fixing it, I realised.
Like the dent in Scarlett’s head.
Had they fixed her too?
Jasper peeked through his hands. “Is it okay to look?”
Mrs Lewis was red-faced. “This is the second time, Miri!” She yelled. “This isn’t an isolated case, this is crying wolf!”
I didn’t know what that meant.
Slowly, I got to my feet. I was trembling.
“Miss Lewis.“ My voice was shaking. “Scarlet had—“ I reached into my own hair. “Magic… magic bugs—"
“Lice?” The teacher finished. “I’m going to talk to your mother. This is unacceptable behaviour.”
She gestured to the door. “Girls. Get to class. Jasper, stay behind. I’d like to talk to you.”
Jasper squeaked. “Me? Why?”
“Just a talk, Jasper.”
“But—I didn’t do anything!”
I didn’t want to leave Jasper—but I didn’t have a choice.
On the way back to class, I considered going home. I wanted to run away—back to mom. Someone’s hand clawed in my hair, entangling in my ponytail. I cried out, pulling away. It was Scarlett with eyes that weren’t hers anymore. “Pretty hair!” She sang, tugging on my hair. “Pretty, pretty, pretty hair!”
I was the only one not scratching my head when I went back to the classroom. The other kids continued playing, laughing, talking—scratting at their heads. Lily sat at her desk—as did Scarlett and Freddie. They didn’t move. They didn’t join in. Freddie’s fingernails were red, but he didn’t care, scratching and scratching and scratching.
I pressed my hands over my ears to block out the noise.
When Jasper sat back in his seat, his eyes were red. I turned to him quickly. “What did she say?”
The boy glowered at me. “I’m not the star student anymore,” He mumbled. “Mrs Lewis said I can have my stickers back when I stop being mean to Lily.” His eyes narrowed into slits. “This is all your fault, Miri. You’re the one who keeps saying there’s bugs in kids' hair. You made me go in the girl’s bathroom, so now I’ve got girl cooties.”
Jasper rested his head in his arms. “Mrs Lewis was weird too. She kept touching my head.”
“What?” I hissed, leaning my chair against his desk. “Jasper, what happened?”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” He grumbled into his arms. “Go away.”
Jasper wasn’t lying. He ignored me for the rest of the day. Even when I offered him the cupcake my mom had packed me. He ate it in one bite and went back to glaring at his own lunch. I wanted to talk to him, because he was the only one who wasn’t acting weird. The other kids started to follow Lily and Scarlett and Freddie. They stopped playing, stopped talking and laughing, and just sat in silence. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand the scratching. I wanted to go home. When I told Mrs Lewis I felt sick, she just smiled and told me I was crying wolf.
It was only much later on when I realised I was the only one left. I was writing about panda’s when I heard it coming from behind me. It started slow, soft, and then grew louder. When I turned around, it wasn’t Ella or Jack or Sara scratching their heads. Instead, I glimpsed Jasper attacking his dark brown curls with his nails.
He wasn’t doing math problems like usual.
I should have noticed sooner.
I should have noticed his heavy breathing, panicky breaths coming out in hysterical sobs that the rest of the class and teacher ignored. I know, looking back, I didn’t want to. I was in denial that it had spread to our side.
“Jasper?” I said with a tangled tongue. I wanted to ask if he was okay, but when he lifted his head, I saw the exact same—that look of fright and pain I’d seen in Lily and Scarlett. Fear—the kind of fear I’d never expected a kid to feel. His whole body was quivering, contorting. His skin looked like it was rippling, like something was underneath. I caught something moving behind his ear, far more visible on short shaggy curls. Legs. But not tiny ones. I could see them scuttling down his neck. When I leaned forward, I could see them. But they weren’t in his hair, they were in his skin. They were twitching in his nose and trickling from his lips, choking his panicked sobs.
“Miss Lewis.” He finally whispered, spitting out writhing black. It hit the desk, crawling across his book.
“There’s something… in my head.” Jasper sobbed. “Something… in my… in my head.”
Mrs Lewis didn’t stop writing on the whiteboard. “Don’t be ridiculous, Jasper.”
I couldn’t move. If I did, I was scared I’d catch them too.
That my head would start scratching.
“But there is.” Jasper’s voice was strange. Dreamy. “They’re telling me they’re going to eat my brain.”
Like Lily, like everyone else, his eyes found nothing.
And he smiled—like he was seeing something beautiful.
When my teacher exploded I was writing.
I didn’t want to look at Jasper, whose eyes were funny, or the others—who had turned to Jasper like they were waiting. I didn’t fully register my teacher being there one second and then gone the next. I saw it as an explosion.
Not like fireworks, sizzling colours streaming across the night sky.
More like a bang. A sudden bang that sent my world spiralling. My pen dropped from my hand. I’d been writing about— about pandas. And for some reason I wanted to continue. I wanted to write more. I wanted to write pages and pages and pages of panda facts, and maybe if I was lucky, things might go back to the way they were. Maybe if I wrote enough Jasper would stop screaming. Maybe he’d stop scratching.
I didn’t register something warm hitting my face. It was the same colour as Freddie’s fingernails.
Red blurring my vision and spattering my desk and workbook.
Nobody cried out.
Jasper was the only one screaming, pulling at his hair, stumbling and staggering. But I was too busy staring at the writhing pieces of Mrs Lewis on the ground. Moving. Bugs streaming out of her and crawling across the floor. I wondered if I was one of them. If I was infected too. Because I sat too- staring at what was left of Mrs Lewis. The bugs worked in harmony, crawling across desks and streaming into my classmates' ears.
But when I looked at Holly Henderson and Nick Jacobs, they were laughing.
“That tickles!” Lily squealed when one wormed its way through her lips, and nose. And then Lily started to come apart slowly, still smiling. It was like the bugs—the lice—were folding her inside out like she was one of my dolls.
Bugs erupted from her grinning mouth, her eyes, tiny legs coming from her head, before she, like Mrs Lewis—
Popped.
That’s what it sounded like.
Pop! Lily sounded like a balloon.
I didn’t look. I squeezed my crimson eyes shut.
But I still heard her. Them. I heard them writhing through the speckled pieces of Lily.
SKRRR. CH. CH.
When I lifted my head, kids started to pop like Lily. I was so busy staring, watching them disappear in shades of red, I didn’t notice Jasper had grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. The world spun around me and I blinked.
I felt like I was floating—flying, my feet slipping on the floor.
Jasper’s cry.
“Get them off me!”
When he opened his mouth to cry, there were holes on his tongue.
And the bugs came popping from his lips like maggots, gagging his cries.
Jasper was grasping hold of his head, cradling it, because he knew.
He’d seen what had happened to the others.
I didn’t want to look. I didn’t want to look. But I found my gaze flicking to the back of his head, which was— twitching. There was something there, something fighting to get out. The boy moaned, falling to his knees.
“Get them out of my head! Get them out!”
Jasper was crying, slamming his head into his desk, his trembling hands going to his neck— and I realised he was trying to choke himself, or more accurately, choke the crawlies bulging in his throat.
I remember grabbing hold of him, wrapping my arms around him. I don’t know what I was trying to do.
I think I was trying to pick them off him in the hysteria building and building—- I remember he hit the ground and took me with him. I was picking bugs from his face, trying not to look at his eyes, dancing pupils multiplying into ones and twos and threes expanding and shrinking.
I was staring at him, trying to choke out his name when I knew it wasn’t really him anymore. It couldn’t be. Jasper didn’t have three pupils.
“Jasper.” I was saying his name over and over again. “Why do you have funny eyes?”
I said it like a mantra.
I wouldn’t stop until he answered me.
That was before the bright red. It was hitting me in the face, and my hands were in front of me trying to find Jasper, but only clawing thin air. At my feet I knew he was there, like the others, glittering scarlet contorting beneath me.
And the bugs that had spewed out of him.
But I didn’t want to think about that.
I was going to pick the bugs off of Jasper. I was going to save him from Lily’s lice.
I was still trying to find Jasper when men in white came and pulled me away.
Away from my classroom filled with writhing black.
I was still trying to find him when they sprayed me with ice cold water.
When I was in my mom’s arms, she wore a protective suit, my face pressed against her visor.
“Mom, where’s Jasper?”
She didn’t reply, hugging me tighter. I could feel her gloved hands in my hair, feverishly flitting through strands.
When a man shaved all my hair off I didn’t complain.
The school was shut down, and mom and I moved to Canada.
I was 16 when I started growing my hair out again.
When I was 19, I caught someone scratching their head in college class.
I excused myself and went back to my dorm.
I spent hours going through my hair.
Checking.
I’m 23 now. It’s been 13 years and what happened to my fourth grade class—I’ve mostly suppressed. It was a virus, I was told. Except I knew exactly what it was. Lice. Lice that had turned my classmates into squiggling red.
I just remember squiggling red.
Yesterday, I was on the Subway to a friend's place. It’s the first time I’ve been in the US since I was 10. I could barely keep my eyes open and the light rocking of the carriages was sending me to sleep. I was squashed between a guy in ray bans with his head bowed, probably asleep, and an elderly woman with a dog. I was staring down at my lap when the guy lay his head on my shoulder. I wasn’t a fan of touching people in public, but he was warm and wouldn’t move when I tried to shove him off, so I left him.
I drifted off myself.
When I heard it.
SKRRRRRR CH CH CH.
My head jerked up, slivers of ice sliding down my spine. The train was still moving. I wasn’t dreaming.
I could hear people talking around me, a kid crying, and a teenager’s music blasting.
But it was still there. I could hear it. So close.
It was so… close.
SKRRRRRR CH CH CH.
Looking up, I realised something.
I’d never looked at the guy sitting next to me.
That was my first mistake.
My first mistake—and I can’t stop thinking about it— even now. Almost three hours later.
I can’t get his words out of my head.
As I scratch.
I keep scratching.
I can’t stop.
Because the guy sitting next to me wasn’t a stranger. Without his raybans when he slid them off, I recognised those eyes, and that stupid smile from all those years ago. His face had been carved with age—and adulthood had been good to him, a bedhead of messy light reddish curls falling in flickering eyes that drank me in feverishly—pupils that expanded and multiplied in twos, threes and fours. Jasper. When I jumped up, he reached and pulled me back down with strength that sucked the breath from my lungs.
“Well, would you look at that? We finally found you.” He said, his voice a mixture of a child and an adult—as well as an insect-like chitter. I could only stare at him, a scream clawing at my throat.
In the corner of my eye, I glimpsed blonde curls.
Another chitter, which Jasper reacted to.
Like a signal.
“Ten minutes.” He murmured, snuggling into me with a sigh. His whole body was writhing with them. I felt them tickling my ear. When I looked down, scuttling black dots ran across my shoes. “That’s how long it took for them to put us back together.”

I broke my ankle 2 years ago while ice skating. The recovery after surgery was long but everything healed up fast and I was able to resume my workouts within 2 months after surgery. I did have a horrible allergic reaction to chloroprep though. It took lots of meds to calm my skin down. I was a fool to agree to get the hardware removed (really want to ski and skate again)! The procedure was a month ago and I am still suffering. They used chloroprep again even though I begged not to. The allergic reaction was worse this time. I was scratching like crazy. Was put on so many meds. The rash is gone but… now I have a pimple on the incision site and redness and sores and it looks like the incision is opening up! The doctors says “I am not concerned” and put me on 2 antibiotics. I have no idea what’s going on. It’s also hurting when I walk. And I think it’s not ok. He told me to resume my workouts and I have been doing that but now I realize it’s not a good idea! The X-rays look good but the skin looks horrible and I am so so worried he will have to doc another surgery on me because there is an infection or something! He says I am sensitive to sutures this time. But how is it possible? They are dissolvable ones. The pimple is on one side of the incision and it’s really hurting. Is it going to burst? I see two sores right on the incision. Is it opening up? Anyone has had this? And that one yucky sore looks disgusting and infected to me!

11th Moon, 19th Year After Gaunt’s Advent Mountains of the Moon, Near Mooncrest

The day’s work is nearly done, with the sweltering sun beginning to descend over the distant mountain side. Sweat, blood, and grime coats Kurz’ body from seared head to charred toe, with soot and ash nearly staining his hands black.
The Burned Men brought fine materials from the wake of their raids upon the fertile valleys: farm tools, cutlery, serveware, and more, to be melted down to raw metal once again and reshaped into weapons. They never had enough weapons.
The Burned Men come to him for axes, swords, spears, and shields, hungering for iron and steel as ravenously as mutton or beer, and always crave more. Did their ancestors think the same of the men who worked bronze or tempered stone for the first time?
The gift of God continues giving. Even in this primitive and primal fashion, it glows within his crude forge of stacked stones and stolen metal. Even this measure is temporary. All of the clan’s combined suffering, stagnation, and prosperity would become small in His second coming. Kurz feels it deep in his aging bones that the time for the father of dragons to crest the very peaks of the world once again is soon at hand. Every drop of the Burned Men’s sweat, blood, and tears spilled on the mountain soil draws His chosen people closer.
Determination shone in his eyes like the glow of the forge, especially as the molten metal of a plowhead was poured into a crude mold of an axe’s head. A gift for the red hand, who championed Gaun without peer. It was a suitable end to his tenure at this humble workshop; when morning comes, he plans to rest his hammer at his belt and take up the sword until the bones of Gaun are found.
There is no doubt the toll this campaign will take on his body. The pain of Gaun’s first flame still runs deep through Kurz’ flesh, and strains his breath as he walks. Hours in the forge traded for hours in battle make him a man that feels twice the weight of his forty years. A rattling breath nearly escapes him when the sound of rough feet scattering over the rocky ground draws close behind him.
It comes paired with the clang of metal, like armor, and bids the smith to pause and turn towards the noise. A boy, nearly six years old, comes brandishing a thick band of gnarled, rotted wood like a club, and a pot still bearing the remains of a peasants’ stew stubbornly clinging to the metal over his head like a helmet.
“Oi, da!” he shouts, nearly falling and tumbling as he reaches the bottom of the hillside. In a crude imitation of his father, dirt clings his fingertips and stains his cheeks. He grins ferociously, with missing teeth leaving gaps as black as coal.
Kurz does not soften at his son’s approach, but tucks his forge hammer at his belt and drops to a knee. The heat of the hammer nearly stings his deadened flesh, but he is ignorant of the pain.
“You’s bring me a hammah?” he questions, but his enthusiasm forces the words out like a demand. He adjusts the pot hanging over his head, where tufts of brown hair peek out. It reveals a huge swath of charcoal stains from his jaw to his shoulder: a crude imitation of Ottar son of Errok, the red hand of the Burned Men.
“I’s be ready, da,” he insists, before Kurz can even refute him, “De da of drahgons don’t care how tall I am. Jus’ how strong I can be.”
Kurz lifts the pot from his head and sets it on the ground. The child, no matter how filthy he is, only reminds him of the family he’s left behind. He has his father’s eyes, and Kurz has his own father’s. The gaps in his teeth remind him of his meagre-built brothers he left behind in the Andals’ fertile valleys before the coming of Gaun. No matter how far his father had gone to be one of the Burned Men, Kennet, son of Kurz, is of Andal blood.
“No raider of the Burned Men will take a child with a pot for a head, Kennet,” Kurz says, briefly swallowing to fight back a cough, “Gaun needs strength, he needs wisdom. And wisdom is only earned through fire and blood, little warrior.”
He ruffles Kennet’s head, staining the soft brown hair partly-black with soot. Kennet pulls back, his bony hands grasping the band of wood defensively as he makes a play for the pot laid on the ground. Kurz snatches his son up with his strong arms, with laughter filling the calm between both of them. Kennet’s father feigns the effort needed to wrangle him away from his ‘helmet’, but inevitably wins, and hoists the boy of six aloft.
“But you have a vast and immeasurable soul, lad,” Kurz praises, “If Gaun is to come in your lifetime, he will need warriors just like you.”
Kennet feebly wields the club of rotted wood and swats it against his father’s arms, each punctuated with a snarl or cry like a feral beast.
“I’m da fis’ of Gaun!” he cried, flailing and kicking, “Da fame of Gaun!”
The Andal doesn’t register most of his son’s juvenile babbling. His young delusions of grandeur and flights of fancy, interposing legendary knights for savage raiders and zealous Burned Men. For the first time in nearly twenty years, Kurz feels a singular pang of doubt. He does not doubt the scale and power of Gaun and the promise he made to his chosen people, but only whether it would be him or Kennet who lived to see it.
“I will forge you a hammer, little flame,” Kurz promised, “And you will bring His works after me.”