Hello again!
Payment via PayPal G&S. Shipping starts at $4.50 for a small item depending on zip and increases with weight (USPS). Shipping from the East Coast. $10 min before shipping preferred. All item conditions are noted and pictured best as I can. Most are brand new.
Please don't ghost. It's okay if you change your mind. NIL based on timestamps. Note that I have some of these items listed on other platforms as well and will adjust the availability accordingly.
BN = Brand New; BNIB = Brand New In Box; BNIP = Brand New in Packaging; FS = full size; DS = deluxe size/travel size/mini; FWP = free with purchase
I'm very careful to keep my makeup clean and protected, keeping original packaging where I can. Smoke- and pet-free home. Always masking. See this wonderful feedback from previous buyer 1, 2 and 3 as references 😊
  Please comment below before sending a Reddit chat since I can't see those on mobile.  
Swaplist:
New only: Dior beige mitzah, Rose Montaigne or Pink Corolle mono eyeshadows. Trestique Summer Glow & Go set from Boxy. Try me on Sephora Lipstories balms (I already have shades 07 and 08 and a couple others), must be sealed.
 
Eyes
Mascara - $12 for all  

• Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Lashes Vol 2. travel size, BNIP - $4
• Dior Diorshow Volume Mascara, 1.5ml travel size, BNIB - $5
• MAC Stack Superstack Micro Brush mascara mini, BN - $4
• Tarte Lights Camera Lashes mascara deluxe size, BN, 1 available - $3

Eyeshadow  

• Tarte Chrome Paint Shadow Pot in Martini (bronzed olive) 3g, BNIB - $12
• Tarte Chrome Paint Shadow Pot in Wild at Heart (pink with blue duochrome) 3g, BNIB - $12
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha, swatched - $2
• Colourpop Colour Stix eyeshadow stick in Devotion, swatched & sharpened - $3
• Colourpop Colour Stix eyeshadow stick in Hyde, swatched - $3
• Nudestix Magnetic Eye Color in Smoke, FS, BN/sealed - $12
• Revlon So Fierce! Prismatic Shadow Palette, Slight Flex, swatched/light use - $3
• Sephora Collection colorful metal effect eyeshadow in 07 Volcano Land (metallic brown), arrived broken, pushed back into the pan - FWP
• Sephora Collection colorful shimmer eyeshadow in 254 Diving In (blue), very delicately swatched - $3
• Elf Bite Size Mini eyeshadow palette in Rose Water, light usage - $1 or FWP $20+
• Elf Bite Size Mini eyeshadow palette in Mint to Be, light usage - $1
• Elf No Budge Eyeshadow Stick in Champagne Crystal, used & sharpened 1x - $1
• ArtDeco eyeshadow refill, 218 - soft brown mauve, swatched - FWP
• Phase Zero shimmer eyeshadow in Nude Newbie, usage shown - FWP

 
Face

• bareMinerals Original loose powder foundation SPF 15 in Golden Fair 04, full size, ~80% remaining - $12
• Colourpop Flexitarian Super Shock Cheek highlighter, gentle use shown - $4
• Dior Forever Skin Glow Foundation sampler - FWP
• Westman Atelier Vital Skincare Complexion Drops sampler - FWP

 
Lips - New

• Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color in Ruby, travel size, BNIB - $8
• Bobbi Brown Luxe Lip Color in Parisian red, travel size, BN - $8
• Clinique Pop Plush Creamy Lip Gloss in 01 Black Honey, BNIB - $16
• Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love in Cherry, FS, BNIB - $14
• Becca Glow Gloss in Rose Gold, mini, BN - $6
• Pat McGrath Labs Lust Lip Gloss in Flesh 6, travel size, BN - $5
• Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Lipstick, Cherries in the Snow 004, BN/sealed (discontinued shade) - $10
• Catrice Plumping Lip Liner in 080 Press the Hot Button, BN - $1
• L'Oreal Infallible 8hr Pro Gloss, full size, shade Suede (peachy-pink gold duochrome), full size, BN - $4
• L'Oreal Infallible 8hr Pro Gloss, full size, shade Blush (pink shimmer), full size, BN - $4

 
Lips - Swatched or Gentle Use

• Hourglass Confession lipstick in "I Can't Wait" (refill only, will ship with no cap), swatched - $16
• Hourglass Confession lipstick in "If I Could" (refill only, will ship with no cap), used 1x - $12
• Hourglass Confession lipstick in "When I'm With You" (refill only, will ship with no cap), used 1x - $12
• Or take all 3 Hourglass refills for $35
• Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color in Ruby, travel size, gentle use - $4
• NYX Limited Edition Avatar Luminescent Lip Gloss, shade 01 Shimmering Waters, swatched - $5
• Too Faced Sex on the Peach mini lipstick, light usage shown - $1
• BareMinerals BarePro longwear lipstick deluxe mini, Petal, usage shown - FWP
• Tarte travel size busy gal gloss in Run This Town (watermelon with gold shimmer), swatched - $2
• Lipstick Queen Sinner lipstick in Peachy Nude Sinner, FS, very light usage shown - $10
• Urban Decay Vice Lipstick, Limited Edition Born to Run, Shade 66 (Rich Mauve-Nude), Comfort Matte finish, usage shown - $4
• Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love in Maroon, FS, very light usage shown - $5
• Catrice Loves PETA Limited Edition Demi Matt lipstick (similar to MAC powder kiss formula) in C01 Spread Empathy, gentle usage shown- $2
• Catrice Demi Matt Lipstick in 040 Exotic Nude, very light usage shown - $2
• Catrice Demi Matt Lipstick in 140 Breathless Berry, swatched only - $4

 
Brushes - Take all for $22

• Real Techniques Brush Crush Vol 2 Limited Edition 301 Foundation Brush in Galaxy; new, washed in unscented cleanser - $15 + free Sigma brush cleanser sample
• Luxie 231 Small Tapered Blender eyeshadow brush, washed once in unscented cleanser - $4
• Ebelin "Sommerblütentraum" Limited Edition dried flower clear handle eye blending brush, BN - $4
• Wet n Wild Pro Line Tapered Highlighting Brush P75, BN - $2
• Wet n Wild Pro Line Fluffly Blending Brush P20, BN - $2
• Wet n Wild Pro Line Dome Pencil Eye Brush, used once, washed in unscented cleanser - $1

 
Skincare - $50 shipped for all

• La Mer The Moisturizing Soft Cream mini/deluxe sample, BN - $11
• Well People Plant Powderfoliant Renewing Charcoal Exfoliating Powder, travel size 16g - $6
• Farmacy Honey Potion Plus Ceramide Hydration Mask mini, 9g, BN - $5
• Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm mini, 20 mL, BN - $5
• COSRX Hydrium Watery Tonery, 50mL, Exp. 09/21/2023, BNIB - $5
• MAC Hyper Real Serumizer, 4mL, BN - $3
• Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex II, 7ml, BNIB - $9 (one remaining)
• Proactiv Deep Cleansing Face Wash, 2 oz, swatched - $3
• Awake Balance Shot antioxidant concentrate mini, BN - $1
• Tarte Sugar Rush Don't Hate Hydrate oil-free moisturizer, 5mL - $1
• Essence Coffee To Glow undereye treatment with caffeine, new - $2

 
Skincare Tools

• FOREO Luna Play Plus in Aquamarine, New w/ Box - $26
• Revolution Skincare Cooling Eye Roller Ball, BNIB - $7

 
Fragrance, Hair & Body

• Fragrance sampler bundle: Miss Dior, Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia, Dior J'Adore, Dior Sauvage, all BN. $2 or FWP $25+
• AVEDA Nutriplenish leave-in conditioner spray, travel size 30mL - $8
• Hair ties bundle: Essence limited edition Pink & Proud scrunchie (EU exclusive); Ebelin hair claw; 6 x Esmara spiral hair ties - crystal (clear); 3 x Invisibobble hair rings (burgundy); 4 x Kitsch hair spirals (no box); 4 x Ebelin micro hair spirals, all BN - $6
• Devacurl Curl Bond Re-Coiling treatment mask, 30ml x 2 = 60ml (~$11 value) - $2 or FWP $20+
• Or take all of the above for $12
• Sanex Dermo Invisible Deodorant, 50mL, BN (EU item) - $4.25 each (3 listed, 6 total available)

 
SOLD
 

• Hourglass Confession Lipstick in "At Dusk" from the Limited Edition Sculpture Collection. Comes with the Limited Edition refillable holder and At Dusk refill (both never used). Holder fits any Confession lipstick refill BN

crash
I shot upright in my bed. My heart was pumping my blood around my body like I was in the middle of a race.
My blood felt cold as ice, too. I felt my arteries and veins in my guts and my skin pulsate and nearly vibrate as my mind pieced together reality and whatever the fuck that was.
I took a deep breath. I grabbed the sides of my bed. My therapist taught me a couple grounding techniques when this happens. Smell something strong. Eat something. Grab something sturdy and breathe. She lost me at the stuff about my childhood, though. Too murky. Too weird.
I think that’s what the dreams are about. Something related to it. Dunno.
I got out of bed just to go sit on another cushion of some sort. Couch, dining room chair, desk chair. My grounding techniques have also led me to realizing how often we sit. Or at least how often I sit.
I made my way to the kitchen, focused on coffee and whatever grainy mush I’ll make today instead of what truly started my day. On occasions I’ll get flashbacks to the dreams in my waking state, just to flicker back to life. It’s been getting worse lately, I’ve even lost a few friends because it happened in front of them. I think they want me to get more help than I already am.
click
I turned the coffee machine on. People love to talk and write and sing and dance about coffee and how they love it. I hate it. I think that’s partially why I drink it.
whirr
Sometimes I’ll let it get lukewarm just so I can chug it quickly. I treat it like an alcoholic treats vodka.
click
I sometimes consider myself an energy addict. I hate being asleep even for 20 seconds.
I poured the coffee. The one thing I do like about coffee is making it. I like the process. I also like the warmth of the machine. The warmth. Hm. I do like that.
My eyes shut quickly, like they were attached to a pulley and the weight snapped the cable.
Immediately I was floating in an empty abyss. My body was nothing and my mind was nothing. Then, light, and color. And noises. Not speech, yet, but ambience. Room noise.
I turned my head quickly. I was in a room I recognized, just barely. Not a hospital room, but some type of examination room or doctor’s office. Or something. Cold. White. Clean.
I felt fragile. Weak and brittle. My teeth chattered and my eyes hurt from the fluorescent lights above me. Suddenly a door clicked open.
“Good afternoon, Art.”
A man in a lab coat stepped into the room. The hairs on my neck stood up. Why am I scared of this motherfucker? I clenched a fist and saw it from my peripheral vision. It wasn’t much bigger than a cue ball. I instantly felt my heart rate increase. This isn’t now. This is back then. I’m small. Like 8 years old, maybe 9.
“Hi.” My child voice creaks. I sound sick.
“We just have a few more procedures and then you can go back home to mommy and daddy, okay?” The man said, a sinister smile creeping across his face. His eyes flickered bright green and then a deep red.
Involuntarily I lashed, and screamed. The coffee spilling over my bare feet and arms shocked me back to reality. This time, though, I remembered. I saw his face. I don’t know who he was, but I knew him.
Work was regular, boring. I came home to my empty apartment and watched some TV. I try to watch as much TV as possible. It keeps me awake.
I made dinner. I called a friend. I called another friend. Then, I called my sister.
“Do you remember anything weird happening to me when I was little, maybe around ‘95 or ‘96?”
“Art, you don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
“You went messing for 3 months in the woods when you were 8 years old. You just showed up back at home one day, safe and clean. You said you lived in the woods, but mom and dad always tried to get you to tell them if you were anywhere else, don’t you remember? I can’t believe you don’t remember this. I think you should really talk to your therapist about tha-“
I hung up the phone. I felt like the walls were melting around me. What? I didn’t remember that shit. I cycled through the stages of realization rapidly. I denied it. She’s lying. It’s a prank. But the dreams.
Fuck.
I called back the first friend I called, James, and asked him to come over. I never have people over, but I couldn’t be alone. Not while this traumatic shit sinks back in to my memory.
James arrived within an hour and within 30 minutes of that we were well on our way through a 12 pack of Bud Lite and barely paying attention to the shitty comedy we chose to watch. I felt better about the whole thing with him there. At least I’m here. I can figure out whatever shitty trauma occurred to me in therapy, and hell, maybe I can write a book about it.
I laid back and felt at ease. The beers were likely helping too. My eyes involuntarily shut and I drifted off. Just for a second, but it was enough to flip the switch.
The man stood over me, syringe in hand.
“That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?”
I felt hot liquids running through my veins.
Something foreign.
He moved me to some type of gurney and rolled me through a maze of hallways and labs. We entered a cavernous room with a large opening in the floor.
He guided me towards this circular porthole in the ground and helped me off of the gurney. I stepped onto a platform next to it.
“Alright, Art. It’s time for you to go back to Mom and Dad. But I will see you again. You’ll be home soon.”
He pressed a button and a beam of light shot downward, showing trees and leaves swaying in the night. I felt the pull of gravity release me as this beam carried me down, into the woods right outside of my childhood home. As I landed softly on the ground, the beam receded and I peered upwards. A giant spacecraft stood there, motionless and silent, except for an almost unnoticeable white noise. I watched as the edges of the object waved and flickered, precisely and quickly, making it camouflage with the sky. For all I know it’s still there.
My eyes shot open.
What the fuck?
My couch was wet with sticky sweat. James seemed to be long gone. Another friend freaked out by my fucking psychoses. That’s what it has to be, right? I’m going bonkers. That’s the only logical option.
I walked over to my phone to call 911. I need to be put away, or on meds, or something. As I sped towards the phone, I tripped on something. I turned and looked. One of my floorboards was completely loose, no nails or anything. I hesitantly grabbed it and lifted it up. I don’t know why I did that. Curiosity? Fate? Them?
The board lifted with a squelch. I was immediately hit with the smell of blood and shit.
What the fuck?
The empty rectangle revealed a tiny crawlspace. Inside, James sat slumped over. His eyes removed from his face and his appendages torn clean off.
I threw up my dinner. It felt good. I looked up at my window. A bright light shot into my apartment. A light white noise became apparent. It was time for me to go home.

My med SO is a PGY-2 so we've lived in our new city for about a year. I vividly remember what a hard time we had moving (logistically, financially, emotionally) so I've been pretty involved with talking to the MedSpouses of the incoming intern class, just to be a resource and a help to them.
One of them grew up very near my hometown so he's taken a liking to me. However, there are two big issues that I don't know how to deal with:

1. (This one isn't bad, just awkward) The person is trying to be very forceful with friendship like making lots of plans, inviting themselves over to our home for dinner, requesting to be introduced to my friends here, etc when truthfully my life here is already pretty busy and I don't have a deep interest in an intense friendship with someone new. I'd be fine with maybe grabbing drinks a few times a year and catching up at residency events. But I think this person has mistaken my initial friendliness for wanting a really close friendship with them. I'd MAYBE be open to this if it wasn't for issue #2...
2. This person is extremely judgmental and rude. Whenever we're at events together, they are constantly talking shit about our new city (the food, the people, the concerts) and about how their old city was way better. Our current city is someplace people are really proud to live and I can't tell you how offputting it is to have someone be so rude about it. I can tell other attendees at residency events are offended by what this person is saying. It also makes me not want to actually introduce my friends to them because I worry they will just talk shit about stuff my friends like.

I'm trying to be empathetic and recognize that this person is probably just having a hard time adjusting, their partner maybe didn't want to match here, and all the feelings that I know I felt at one point. And I also feel like maybe I'm doing a bait and switch by being friendly to the new SOs when I'm not necessarily looking for deep, one-on-one friendship with any of them. But none of this changes the behavior of this individual.
Do you have any advice for how I can gently encourage them to be less judgmental, or at least help them realize their judgmental attitude is offputting to potential friends? Or is this just none of my business? Feel free to tell me to butt out, I won't be offended I promise. Thank you for listening.

I have a long work drive coming up so I dropped my car off at my local mechanic for routine maintenance last Friday. I had the oil changed, tires rotated, fluids topped off, and brakes checked. They said I could use some replacement brake pads and rotors in the near future but otherwise the car looked great. I didn't drive all weekend and today my car broke down on the side of the road. My battery light came on, the car started chugging, and then I lost power steering and couldn't accellerate. I had the car towed back to the mechanic and they're saying the Alternator is shot and a belt needs to be replaced and quoted me an additional ~$1200. I find this to be an unlikely coincidence as I had just received the car back from this shop and they said everything looked great.
Is there anything I can do to get this resolved without feeling like I'm being ripped off? Am I wrong to not trust this place with any further work after this experience?
Car is a 2013 Dodge Avenger

Kita looks in her hand, holding a basket with a few veg and eggs. A little confused, she reaches for her head and feels a hair band wrapped around it as her hair drapes freely over her shoulders.
What was I doin'-
“Here you go, Kita”.
She spins in a panic, raising her hands to guard.
“Oh”, she responds as her eyes come upon the vast plantations and animal kraals, tightly surrounded by a luscious forest.
“You’re too young to be going crazy, my sweet,” says an old lady as she puts a few slices of ham into the basket. “A’jem offered a generous cow recently, so there is a little extra for everybody today”.
Kita Smiles, “Thanks, Ami. Did you do something with your hair? It's pretty,”
“Thank you, my sweet”, Ami giggles as she pushes her grey hair behind her ear.
“Today is the recurrence of me and A’jem. When the dots of Yeo appear in the night sky, we are reminded of our bond.”
“Yeo?” asks Kita.
“I won’t be able to give you the full story today, my sweet- But according to the scripts, Yeo is the spirit of provision, and due to our bond matching on this day- we are tasked with the provision of the crops,"
“I didn’t know the spirits provided our tasks?”
Ami makes her way to the nearby pile of greens that have been plucked.
“They once did… Today, they seem to be dealing with other matters,”
“What matters?”
Ami chuckles, Carefully rooting some of the nearby crops and placing them into a basket beside her.
“I’m sure your Mother would like those recipes to make breakfast, Kita. We can explore your curiosity at another time”.
“Oh... Of course. Thanks for the extra slices, Ami.” She says, turning to make her way back up the hill.
“M’pai Yeo Ket’p prauvhishk,” Ami calls out to Kita.
May Yeo continue to provide.
On her way up the hill, she can see above all the trees surrounding the farm, with the sol casting a warm, orange light against the pinnacle of the whisping greenery. The village resides atop a flat hill, making the walk up quite steep and more suited for the youth of the village. At the peak of the trail, you can see the entire surrounding area with the green extending far beyond what she initially thought. She walks this path every day. Why does it seem so unfamiliar now?
The town reaches from the North, round to the East and South. To the west is a stretch of mountains leading straight up north. Apparently, the sea resides to the South, but it can’t be seen from here.
Ta’ah and I should try finding it sometime.
She arrives on the Eastern side of the village and walks up to two large, interconnected tipis. She steps through the entrance draped with beads that clatter like a soft rain as she steps through them. Her heartbeat rises as she steps through this uncannily familiar place.
She knows she lives here, why does it feel like she hasn't been here in a while?
There's wooden art on every countertop and suspended from the ceiling of every room. Some are much bigger than others, occupying a space on the floor but standing as tall as the shelves and cupboards. In the centre of the ceiling is a chandelier, with dozens of fireflies circling around its nest in the centre.
As Kita steps into the hall of the connected tipis, she can see a lady seated in the other room, before a small fire in the middle. Kita can only see the back of her head, and hear the sound of chopping emanating from the lady's lap… she's preparing a meal.
Is she?-
Kita's eyes widen in shock as she recognizes the back of her lady’s head. Sitting in the chair she always sits in when she chops vegetables for breakfast or dinner. Kita stumbles backwards, and the basket of meats and vegetables slips out of her hand, crashing to the floor as a plethora of coin spills out.
Surprised by the coin in her basket, she looks back up to see if the lady noticed, but is met with the face of a man, looking at her with concern as he mouths some words she can't make out.
What is this?
She realizes something is off. She's not really here… is she? The fabrics of the tipi around her slowly dissipate to reveal the bodies of shoppers and residents all around her. She tries to glance past the man's head, at her lady still sitting in the chair- But all these tables and people start to get in the way.
"Mom?" Kita asks, catching the ladies' attention before she disappears.
"Perfect timing, Ki," Her soft, loving voice responds as she slowly turns her head. Kita's heart races, as the lady slowly turns around to see her- But before Kita gets the chance, she is back in the cave.
Everything comes back to her like a vortex as she hears the man's panicked voice.
"Miss, are you okay?"
What just happened? Kita tries to recall why the shopkeeper is so concerned but only remembers a moment of blackness. Noticing that her hand is trembling uncontrollably- She quickly puts her hand behind her back, hoping the man didn't notice.
Faint images dissipate in her mind as the feeling of an unfamiliar memory fades away.
She’s tired.
That's all.
"I'm fine," Kita steps away from him. Tilting her head to see past him, only to see shoppers and passers-by. She feels disappointed, as if something is incomplete. But what? What did she see? The experience slips away from her like a forgettable name, leaving her with questions and vague ideas.
She crouches down to pick up all the coin she'd dropped, then stands back up with her arm outstretched. Hoping the man just takes the coin and goes on with his day without trying to get all religious about what just happened.
He squints in confusion. Taken aback by her strange behaviour. Then he looks down at her hand, back up at her, and reaches his hand out.
"Thank you for your business, Miss,"
Kita nods her head, without saying a word. Anything she'd try to say would slur out of her mouth and make things more awkward. Now pacing away from the man's stall with haste, she massages her temple; it strains under the weight of her worrying and thinking.
Something just happened. For a brief moment, she wasn't here. Where was she?
Why can't I remember?
She doesn't want to lose it.
She sits on the floor, amongst the busy shoppers. Takes a deep breath before closing her eyes, and concentrates on the brief period of darkness. Thinking of the most immediate difference between that world and her own.
The greenery.
Air that was so… different. Every breath felt rich with substance.
"A farm?" Kita inquires, vaguely envisioning an unfamiliar old lady who accompanied it.
She tries to recall further. Who is the lady?
It is lost to her… But, a word comes to mind.
"Yeo," she says to herself. The meaning doesn't accompany the sound as it rolls from her lips.
And after that…
A numbness trickles in her stomach- Giving her the urge to throw up in discomfort. There’s something inside of her that she desperately needs to eject.
"Mother?" She whispers to herself. Her eyes whip open when she recalls what came next, and the numbness grows- a good and bad sign.
I saw my Mother.
What did she look like? She cannot place a face or even a hair colour on it. She is certain she saw her, but she also knows she didn't. This may all be fabricated.
A daydream.
This hollow feeling is irrational. Why does she miss someone she can't remember? She knows nothing about her Mother, yet the thought of whoever that might be makes Kita feel… Sad?
Is this sadness?
The distance between herself and her emotions is larger than she was aware of. She should know what sadness feels like- She should know why she’s sad… Right?
Kita stands to her feet, all the more confused by the details she barely recalls. It's unnecessarily frustrating. She'd rather go about her day than continue straining her mind over nonsense. All these thoughts of family life, religion and her past are a part of her mind she can’t deal with all at once.
It’s overwhelming.
She’s not built for that life anyway. Someone who has no grasp of their own emotions or sense of self isn’t fit for a 'regular' life. No, most people in this world haven’t had theirs taken from them. They haven’t had their entire sense of being wiped clean, as if it’s a dirty rag. Nobody could truly understand what she’s going through. Nor would they understand what she will have to do to get it all back.
She’s a monster.
A killer.
It’s the only way for her to get her soul back...
She must get it back.
^{AUTHOR'S NOTES
Read ahead on RoyalRoad [https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68702/soul-stealer-anti-hero-reincarnation-fantasy](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68702/soul-stealer-anti-hero-reincarnation-fantasy})
^{Kita's thoughts - Post Chapter 15
"Mom?"}

Sorry in advance for the wall of text and word vomit and sorta clickbait title I just need to get this off my chest amd am on mobile
I was going to go see a movie with my family and a friend on my birthday yesterday. I told that friend I was nervous about wearing my favorite comfy clothes (black sweatpants and hoodie) because my parents don't approve of them, but she enocuaged me to do it. She told me to not care what they think, and besides, it was my birthday. I agreed and put them on. When I got into the car, however my dad (the driver) said some stuff about my clothes being "dark" (in a metaphorical sense, which they aren't) as we pulled onto the street. He used a word he's used before to describe my outfit in a negative light, and the way he thinks people will think of me. Mind you, I'm already insecure about my outfits as it is. And work lately has been incredibly stressful, and I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep. I'm not normally an impulsive person, but I snapped and acted on this desperate urge to LEAVE. To be anywhere but there. I got out of the car when it was going probably 10-15 mph. It's a blur and I remember my mom there with me, curious cars pulled off to gawk. I sat there on the side of the road in the weeds, cradling my foot and feeling like none of it was real. I always thought I never would have been capable of doing something that rash and self-destructive.
​
I made the mistake of thinking my dad would be gentler, more understanding, less fucking emotionally abusive on my birthday. That's never been the case in the past, but I can't seem to help getting my hopes up. I feel like such an idiot, and a part of me wishes I died on that street, even though that wasn't my intent.
​
​
​
(Also, they took me to the ER and the nurses were understanding and generally sweet. Turns out I'm mostly fine physically, just scraped up and have an ambiguously injured foot. Today's been alright, my dad's been ignoring me and my mom seems really broken up over yesterday so she's trying to take care of me and I'm just tired and confused.) I get gaslit, emotionally abused, then love-bombed or ghosted, followed by a period of relative normalcy, and the cycle of abuse then repeats. fuck.
​
I'm so lost, I just want to be heard

I can think of multiple subreddits to post various parts of this question into, but none of them would be able to address everything, so I hope this subreddit is okay.
What I want to create:
A 3D printed (potentially resin coated for smoothness?) “river like” fountain that pools for cats to drink out of. I would like it to have full filtration (not just a sponge pad, but also carbon/charcoal filters and whatever other filters can help keep the water clear and pure) and potentially a way for a light indicator to show when the reservoir is low and it needs filling to mitigate pump burnout.
Why this when cat drinking fountains exist?
I have four cats, and all of the drinking fountains that I can find on the market don’t really consider the amount of cats, space they need, and their preferences. Yes, I’m sounding like a crazy cat parent, but hydration is critical for cats because they don’t by nature drink standing water, and this leads to kidney failure and early death.
Further, my cats are picky little shits that didn’t like the fountains that bubbled or splashed because they would get wet, and also the filters were genuinely not good enough to prevent slime from developing after just 1-2 days (when theoretically it only needs a water change once a week/7 days).
Finally: aesthetics. As many things are, I think it would be much more attractive to have a River stone water “slide” into a pool (mitigating splashes) that multiple cats could access at once. This also helps them to not get as wet/feel claustrophobic as some recent studies suggest their whiskers are very sensitive, so they will always go for a flat surface to eat or drink as opposed to a deep bowl.
Let me know if additional information is needed, but I wanted to get ideas back from engineers about considerations in all three major areas - design, electronics, and filtration.
Thank you!

I know absolutely nothing about HVAC and I'm overwhelmed. The evaporator coil (located in the furnace) developed a leak and needs replaced- this has been confirmed by the local HVAC company my family uses. The HVAC techs think the A/C unit, A Carrier 38EH (yes, it is very old!), should be replaced the same time the coil is. It's still working, the tank just needs recharged with R-22.
Should I replace the nearly 40 yr old functional Carrier or just the coil? I don't have much $ to spend on a new unit, so here is the estimate information I was given for two different units and coils. This is for an 800 sq ft house, by the way.
First one:
* CONCORD 4AC13L24P CONDENSING UNIT (13 SEER - 2 TON - R-410A REFRIGERANT)
* ASPEN MATCHING COIL
* NEW LINE SET/DISCONNECT/WHIP
* ALL HIGH AND LOW VOLTAGE CONNECTIONS/WIRING
* CUSTOM PLENUM TRANSITION
* 10 YEAR COMPRESSOR / 10 YEAR PARTS WARRANTY
* 1 YEAR LABOR WARRANTY
$4,275.00
Second one:
* LENNOX ML14XC1S024 CONDENSING UNIT (14 SEER - 2 TON - R-410A REFRIGERANT)
* LENNOX MATCHING COIL
* NEW LINE SET/DISCONNECT/WHIP/PAD
* ALL HIGH AND LOW VOLTAGE CONNECTIONS/WIRING
* CUSTOM PLENUM TRANSITION
* 10 YEAR COMPRESSOR / 10 YEAR PARTS WARRANTY
* 1 YEAR LABOR WARRANTY
$5,100.00
The estimate for a coil replacement is $1,695.00. I don't have any further info. I think the coil is the Aspen coil mentioned in the first estimate.
Replace the A/C and coil or just the coil? Should I ask more questions about the coil? If I went with the Lennox coil, do I have to get a Lennox A/C unit in the future, or will it be compatible with any A/C unit? Are there other questions I should be asking? Do you have any questions for me to ask the HVAC company? Please, any input at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

League rewards
Overwatch league rewards
I’m not getting any rewards for watching OWL. I’ve watched nearly every single stream for the whole amount, but I’m getting nothing. I’ve tried watching it on the mobile app, my iPhone chrome app, the offices app for the league, my computer, my school computer, hell, I’ve even tried watching it on my tv, all while getting nothing. I know I’ve connected my YouTube and battle net accounts to the league website because I’m able to get rewards from pick-em “challenges”(predict the winner of 25 minutes, correctly guess 5 winners, etc) and I’ve only gotten 9 from those. I don’t get anything from my actual predictions, nor do I get anything from watching the matches. I feel like I’m going insane. Nothing I try works. Someone please help me, I want my stuff. Also, I play on Xbox, and I’ve linked my Xbox account to my battle net account, if that has any effect on what the issue might be.
Also, if the mods delete this again, they are officially not nice

I haven't been in the airsoft game for a while so instead of my stuff collecting dust I'd rather have some cash in my pocket. Will need time to gather packing material for larger items. Gear and Accessories will be split up into bundles, no splitting up. I will do my best to answer DMs in the order received, PayPal ready gets priority. Due to the nature of airsoft, item's are sold as is. Guns were functioning before put into storage and we're lubricated and maintained regularly. Buyer pays shipping.
PLEASE READ: Items are at my parents house, if additional pictures are required, it may take a day or to for me to get them.
My previous account is OhLookItsJund which had activity on this SubReddit, but due to it being registered to an old email I no longer have access to, I couldn't update the password per Reddit and got locked out of the account.
Images:
https://imgur.com/a/E6cNKEO
Guns:
WE M4 (No Rear Iron Sight) Has an adjustable Aluminum NPAS bolt, lightweight buffer, 8 functioning mags total, 1 parts mag. SOLD
WE AK PMC with attachments, 5 extra mags with no busted feed lips. SOLD
AEG with Umbrella metal Receivers, BTC Spectre V2, 6.03 MadBull Stainless Steel inner barrel, Canted RMR, Umbrella Armory adjustable grip, MK18 Rail, Flash HideSuppressor, Light/PEQ with Dual Switch. $400
Tokyo Marui Glock 17 with 4 Glock Trade Marked TM Mags Total (1 With Rubber "Extended" plate), Aluminum Magwell, Aluminum SAI-Style slide with G Logo but no SAI Markings. Stock slide included. -SOLD
WE Glock 19 with Agency Arms Style Slide. 2 WE Extended Mags. - SOLD
KWA USP Match. - $110
Tokyo Marui Desert Warrior with Olive Magpul Grips, 4 extended Tokyo Marui mags. - $200
Attachments:
Box of random gear and attachments. (Not Separating): $200
Condor Black Battle Belt
Tac Padded Gloves
2 Random LE Stock, I believe one is MilSpec and the other isn't
Rubberized AR Grip
Black Dump Pouch
Tan Legit Magpul MBUS
Black Knockoff Magpul MBUS
Custom Kydex Mag holster for Glock and AR mag
Magpul Dynamics 1/2 Point sling
Black Grenade Pouch
3 total Magpul RSA Sling Plates
Pistol Grips off a Tokyo Marui Desert Warrior
Brill Armory (I believe) Aluminum Keymod rail with barrel nut (No screws)
(I believe this is 7")
9" Brill Armory (I believe) Keymod Rail with Barrel nut and Keymod Rails and Magpul RVG
Barrel 9.5"
Ladder Rail Covers
Random Keymod Rail segments
Pressure switch for Flashlights
Dual Pressure Switch
Non Magnified ACOG
Attachments:
Visionking Scope on LaRue mount - SOLD
Repro Magpul UBR Stock - Compatible with AEGs and GBBR's - SOLD
Blackhawk Glock 21 Serpa with belt, molle strike plate and thigh system
(Glock 21 but fit's Airsoft Glock 17's) - $110
3 G&G Mid caps 120 rounders - $25
HSGI Taco Bundle - $140
3 Double Rifle HSGI Coyote Brown Tacos
1 Rifle/Pistol HSGI Taco
Harris Style Bi-Pod - SOLD
Aimpoint Comp M4 Red Dot - SOLD
Airsoft Innovations Propane Attachment - SOLD
Thunder B Kit with Extra shells - SOLD
Zentico Style AK Grip - SOLD
Also have a Digital Desert Pants and Shirt combo, AOR1 Crye Style Pants with removable Kneepads and a Digital Desert JPC
Will bundle up all Digital Desert/AOR1 Gear for $110

First Issue!

• Author's Note: So... its been 3 months. I still live and my writing gobo too. Also I just recently realized its been a bit over 1 years since the series has begun so.... HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EVERYONE! I hope you'll enjoy the read and please let me know if you'd like me to do anything specific to celebrate 1 year of Beast World. You can support the series by donating my writing gobo a cookie here!

Another morning came upon the Tuskir settlement, which's inhabitants have been shambling about with a bit less tension in their steps.
The perimeter walls of their small village have been reinforced by Runhar's earth molding magics. Rok and Brekda have been assisting him in keeping the perimeter watched at all times.
This precaution was necessary as a lot of the Tuskir village's able bodied fighters have been rendered less than optimally effective in combat. Although generally safe, a small tension filled thought gnawed at the back of their minds. The chance of a second assault was something the tribe considered.
Honestly, at a first glance this would be a most opportun time to assault the place, especially with their elder and most skilled healer, Urla, still mostly bed ridden due to exerting herself when healing others.
Still, they tried to go back to a normal state of operating as best as they could, having to make certain compromises. Discussing among themselves the whole group decided to give as best an aid as possible to the two wounded Hay-yen that they still found alive within their walls, asking their previous captives, the ones more willing to co-operate to take care of them. The procurement of constant supplies of food and water up to the present time made them quite willing to assist.
During this time Michael had been spending his time along Zurra and Woh. Zurra, having taken on the responsability to assist the, hopefully temporarily, crippled hooman, has been going about this task while giving aid in any other mundane endeavors like taking care of the children along side Runny, Brekda's wife.
In one such moment did Michael find a moment to reflect upon the situation as he was left at the base of Spek's tree alongside Woh. Still, contemplation would have to wait as the human's amphoran companion seemed rather excited for chit-chat, indicated by repeating irregular and excited croaks leaving her throat.
"Michael! Michael! Its been a few days! Can you walk, yet?" Woh asked her question with such a light hearted and casual tone as if she expected Michael to grow back his legs if he actually lost them.
The young man, taking a moment to process the question, shook his head while arching an eyebrow. "Pfft. I'd wish, honestly. To be fair they hurt as all hell, but I am glad whatever herbs Zurra's been reapplying my bandages with have been numbing them. I don't know how well healing magic will work to help me if... at all, but I have been terrified that... I might not walk again. At least... not properly." Michael said choking a bit on his words.
Nervousness washed over him as he looked down at his wrapped up legs, faint blood stains covering them here and there. He only looked at his legs once when Zurra was changing the bandages, he was numbed up good, but the sight of them was something too visceral to not make his mind aware of the pain he should be in. Although suppressed, he could feel his legs burn in a muffled agony.
The mana burn had turned the young man's skin and toe nails to actual ashes that Zurra had to clean off, a rather painstakingly slow endeavor due to how caked in blood the ashes were. From bellow the knees the young man was akin to one of those skinless statues showing the human's body muscular fiber, only minor patches of actual skin hanging on here and there.
Woh kind of grew silent for a moment, before shaking her head as her big round eyes looked at Michael. "W-well don'tcha worry! Even if you can't walk we're here, s-so... we'll be able to help! If I was bigger I wouldn't mind lugging you about like a sack of timber! 'Cause you'd be the best sack of timber to ever be and 'cause we're friends." Woh said with a happy croak, trying her best to cheer up the young man.
Michael snickered and smirked and he shook his head, petting Woh's covered back. "Thanks. It'll be my honor to do my best interpretation of a heavy sack, but I'm hoping I can be fixed." After taking a moment to lean back against Spek's trunk and to look up at his crown of branches and leaves, the young man took in a deep breath. "Woh... I'm going to need your help with something. I know you might be not too happy about it, but if you'll allow it...I'd like us to make some vials of your poison, even if it is distilled with some water."
"O-oh... uhm... well... uhh... ya been sayin' that it doesn't do you much harm and... it has been helping you fight, so maybe I don't mind if we make a small bottle or two of it, but ya gotta promise to still be careful, ok?! Ribbit, last thing I want to do is hurt you with it." The tiny pink frog like woman said with a small croak of worry leaving her throat.
Michael sat silent a moment as he looked at his hands and forearms and at the slight yellowish hue they had. His skin has taken to the color just recently, bit by bit. His brown irises with eyes ever so faintly yellow as well, would look at Woh, a small smile accompanying it, although preceeded by the human sucking in his lips slightly. "Y-you won't be hurting me. You can trust that. Hell after what happened, you're the last person that could do that. So no need to be afraid. Whatever choices you make, you can do me no foul."
Woh looked at him, with an ease washing over her tiny form. "Fair enough then. Say. Since its been kinda borin' around 'ere, mind using your magic thingy, what ya called it... ah! Your phoon! To put on that one song you said it is about happiness and not worrying? I liked how it sounded."
"Hah. Gladly. We'll be around here a while, at least until Zurra wants to do my physical therapy. Still kind of regreting telling her about that when she asked about what my kind do to help maintain one's muscles when they can't train and how to deal with pain." Michael said with a small laugh, followed by a grunt of discomfort caused by a stab of his sore body at itself due to the contracting muscles. He'd soon go through his phone and put the tune in question to play on repeat.
"Hah~ there it is... I don't get why, but the song does make me happy. Thanks!" Woh said with a greatful ribbit as she laid down inbetween some of Spek's roots and using them like a lounging chair. She would look up at the tree for a moment too, mouthing a silent 'thank you' to it.
The day would go on to pass as calm as can be, until the late afternoon, when Runhar nearly had a scare for a moment, when he saw torch light coming from deeper within the woods. Still, with a sniff of the air and feeling the scents of Gharna, Oinna, Azhul and Yenna, the guard captain would calm down as he then asked Rok to prepare opening the gates.
When the group came within sight they could be seen pausing as they looked about, their heads clearly turing to examine the surrounding outskirts of their village on the outside.
"What in the name of The Hunt Father happened?!" Gharna yelled out eventually as they got closer, their pace having increased as they saw their home in shambles. "The wall is lookin' like a mess. Is everyone alright?"
"Most, aye!" Runhar yelled and after a moment paused. "Come, there's more to discuss!" The guard captain added as he descended from the watch tower he had climbed up on while on watch.
The group of four was eventually welcomed in and after a quick retelling of their journey and a quick stock of what they brought, which was pulled to storage, Runhar would recount the events that occured here. The whole endevour was burned upon his mind... he couldn't help himself to not go into details, some of which made him visibly look saddened or furious. He eventually even backtracked to what happened to Spek and... how it happened.
To say the least... it was a lot to process, and the news about Spek becoming a... tree... had a mix of reactions.
"Gah... the situation is shite, but I'm kinda pissed I missed ma' using the family technique. I still can't do it nowhere as good as her. Got the getting bigger part down somewhat though." Azhul said with a huff.
"S-seriously? That's yer first concern?!" Gharna added with a snort as she stared up at her bigger hunt sister.
"What do ya wan' me tha do?! Cry about it? I feel like shite, but I ain' gonna break apart over it. Not when we have tha keep things together." Azhul oinked back in retort.
"I-... I have to agree with Azhul. I will check on Urla and see to who's still wounded. If Michael is taken care of at least somewhat for now, I will see to make sure everyone else that can be dealt with quicker, is up on their two feet!" Oinna said with a determined huff as she excused herself and trotted off.
"I'mma be sleepin' a bit. Sleepin' on the road has been a pain." Yenna added with a half dozing off snort as he left. Although he was hit by the initial shock of the situation as well, it only added to the mental exhaustion that traveling has taken on him.
Azhul and Gharna were still lightly huffing at one another, until the latter's eyes sparked with a realization. Gharna's eyes would look at Runhar. "Say, cap'. Ya said Zurra's been takin' care of Michael. Thought we should talk with her, too. Where's she?" She asked very curious, a snort leaving her flat nose.
"Ah... think she might be in his shack with 'im. She said that she wanted to do- " Before Runhar could finish his sentence properly, Azhul seemed to be hit by panic.
It didn't take long to the large Tuskir woman to realize what Gharna was asking and partially hearing Runhar's reply, sent her in nearly a frenzy of embarrasment. "DO HIM?! MA! STOP!"
On the way here Azhul tried telling herself it wasn't possible for something like this to happen, but as her heart rate spiked she attempted to take off toward's Michael's hut.
The nearly stampede like charge though, would be prematurely stopped by Gharna, who wrapped her arms arounds Azhul's waist. While trying to not snort out of sheer amusement, she coughed trying to sound serious. "Wait a wee moment. If ya barge in there while she's doin' him, ya really want tha see that? Might be better to see what the situation... pft... ahem... is... quietly."
Runhar a bit surprised by this whole situation, wanted to finish his sentence, only to be interrupted by Gharna's clear gaze to not utter another word. He even took a moment to chuckle internally, appreciating the bit of amusement after the shit show they have been through.
"Y-yeah... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah... Don't wanna make it worse... oh... h-ho... Hunter Father... please don't let it be too late." Azhul muttered as she walked at a really fast, yet quiet pace.
Gharna would follow up after whispering some words of thanks to Runhar. "Ya kno' can't really blame her, if Michael faught like Runhar says he did. Yer mother did always... pft... ahem... a-appftt... preciate a... ahem... sturdy warrior type o' man."
"I will wrangle your throat if ye utter another bloody word." Azhul said to Gharna, without even looking back.
Still, as they approached Michael's hut and listened, Azhul's expression would only change to that of someone who has seen or heard the most disturbing of the secrets held by eldritch gods of the cosmos.
The sound of a creaking bed frame, the moans of Michael in a mix of pain and pleasure and the groans of Zurra as if she was riding a most unruly beast. The trifecta of trauma had fully hit Azhul into a silent stunned coma as he charge stopped to a full halt.
"Agh- god... you're working the knots out of me." Michael could be heard groaning in pain before letting a grunted moan of relief.
"Told ya boi. If we huff... just changed positions a bit and ye gave me a pointer or two... I could get ya done. Ya ain't so different from any ol' tuskir man. Huh... yer givin' me a bit o' a workout." The older smithy woman could be heard lightly panting.
Gharna got silent as well, feeling embarrased as all hell, but nowhere nearly as bad as Azhul, who seemed to have been shell shocked, her eyes staring into nothingness.
"O-oh! Oh no! Hah! That's sensitive t-take it easy on me a bit! Hah!" The young man groaned, which prompted Azhul to crumble to her knees.
The sudden sound of the short fall made the sound from the hut stop. Heavy steps would soon approach the door and open it, as Zurra looked out towards the two.
"Oh! Yer back! Glad to see ye two fine an' well. Uh... what are ya doin'?" The old Tuskir woman asked as she stretched herself a bit, then popping her knuckles.
The two younger women stood silent, until Gharna could finally utter something. "We-... uh... we're good. W-what... uhm... what were ya doin'?" She said nearly choking.
"Ah. Just givin' da boi a massage. After the fight we had he's in shambles if ya haven't 'eard. Gettin' a wee bit tired, so I could use a hand." Zurra said most casually.
To this reply, Azhul go on her palms as well and pressed her snout to the ground. "Thank ye, Hunt Father... oh huh... thank you..." she said whispered, in a slightly whimpering tone, with sighs of relief leaving her.
Gharna calming down too, nodded. "Ye. Gladly." As she passed by Azhul though, she snickered and whispered to her. "Nearly had tha call 'im daddy there, ay?" She asked before stepping up and inside.
Azhul took a moment to calm down, as she contemplated the repercussions of murder, before approaching the shack and talking with her mother. Glad to see one another, the two went into detail about all the events that happened, together with Michael, who was happy to see them both her and Gharna.

Hi there,
I'm a 27-year-old guy from just outside Orlando, Florida and I am seeking a real connection with a dominant woman who knows what she wants, and how to get it. Feel free to reach out if this stands out to you, I'd love to talk. I live alone and have been described by close friends as silly and compassionate, inclusion is one of the most important things in my life. I'm seeking a female-led relationship, the type of dynamic I am looking for is a life partner who is firmly in control, to what extent we can determine what works best for us. I would be more than happy to be your life partner who defers to you on the bigger decisions though I would love for you to have me in mind when making them. I recognize you are a real person so a constant dynamic isn't always realistic.
About me:
Basic stuff: I work a full-time job but also have a side hustle writing, I promise this is not nearly as exciting as it sounds but it is an increasingly lucrative thing that I'm looking to make my full-time focus sooner than later, still figuring out when sooner is though. I'm 5'7, about 140 lbs, here's a recent picture of me for reference. And as I recognize this is important to some people, I do not drive, my eyesight is very poor and as a result, I cannot legally drive, this, however, does not stop me from living an entirely independent life, most people don't actually know/can't tell until I tell them that I cannot drive.
Personal Interests: I love hanging out with friends and doing who knows what, I will admit that I am a bit of a homebody but my greatest joys in life are typically with other people, doing pretty much whatever. I am sober as in I do not drink or smoke but totally cool if you do as long as it is responsibly. I love going to thrift stores, eating great food, and really just exploring. I'm pretty nerdy in that I would say my single favorite thing to do is learn be that via YouTube videos, Reading or just getting out and trying something new, Psychology however is what interests me most and I could spend hours and hours talking about the weird ways people act and why. I also really enjoy movies and would love to know your favorite, I love anything funny or scary, and the Shrek series has a special place in my heart. Also love staying active, recently got back into going to the gym and an avid NBA followefan.
Fun Stuff
I am relatively inexperienced but I am someone who learns quickly and has done a thorough amount of research, enough that I feel that I can confidently serve a woman, the biggest part of all of this to me is the sense of belonging, the feeling of being owned by someone who wants the best for me and thus inspires me to want to be the best possible version of myself for them. I do not take this role lightly and it would be a privilege to be yours.
The Person I'm looking for:
I'm looking for a dominant woman either In Orlando or located somewhere in North America with the intention of this becoming an in person thing, I'm very open to relocating for the right situation and while I do like Orlando there isn't anything keeping me here. My ideal partner would be someone emotionally intelligent and capable of communicating in a healthy, consistent way, nothing excites me more than knowing exactly where I stand with you, for better or worse. (So I can improve to better serve.) Body type is unimportant to me as all women are beautiful in their own unique ways, as long as you take care of yourself you are my type. Age and your experience level are mostly unimportant to me as long as you're 20+ and know what it is you're looking for. Just to reiterate the connection is what is most important to me, knowing that someone has my best interest at heart and I have theirs, knowing that while I am still very much a person with real feelings but I want to be yours, completely.
Thank you for taking the time to check this out, I look forward to speaking to you soon.

I noticed my hairline receding back and my crown thinning badly. I have dirty blond hair so it’s already light as it is. Every haircut it’s more and more apparent and it’s embarrassing. I went to the doctor and the only recommendation they had for me was a hair transplant.
I got tested and my testosterone levels have increased significantly, I’m getting a lot more body hair which I like. I was already hairy before but anyways. They told me since it’s thinned so fast, monoxidil/finesteride are out of the question. By the time I saw hair regrowth, I would’ve lost 5x more than what regrew.
I’m coming to terms with needing to go bald in the very near future and I’m having a hard time with that fact mentally. I don’t think I’ll look bad bald whatsoever, it’s just the social aspects behind it. Being bald is the butt of every joke, every insult that someone could throw at you. I’m scared of rude comments or being laughed at once the time comes that I decide to shave it.

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​
Synopsis:
Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.
Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.
​
Chapter 91: Matters Of Etiquette
The Duchy of Aquina's treasury was as scandalous as I imagined.
It was less a treasury room and more a dragon's cavern.
Ornate chests vomited gold and silver crowns, unlocked strongboxes proudly revealed glittering gemstones and breathtaking jewellery, and open armoires boasted suits of armour decorated with gilded crystals and weapons which shimmered with the opulence of the finest pearls.
Everywhere I looked, illegally undeclared taxable income spilled from every orifice as the accumulated wealth of Aquina filled my vision.
Piles of coins lay scattered with little attention to detail or proper bookkeeping, ensuring that no tax inspector would be seeing the light of day for many weeks once this veritable hoard was presented to the Royal Treasury for counting.
And yet it all paled in comparison to the wealth exhibited by the second most beautiful being in this room.
Sitting on her makeshift throne of snow and coins, a woman whose likeness was that of a young elven maiden wore a dress of purest snow as she basked in moonlight streaming from corners where no window to the sky existed. Her dress was unembellished and unadorned, and yet the overwhelming delicateness of its material put the richest velvet to shame.
She was the Winter Queen. And when she moved, her garment didn't simply move with her. It fluttered like a silken curtain. As did her wings.
Hers possessed no colour. It was a shimmering mirror, a waterfall of images and lights reflecting all the treasures around her. Within those butterfly-like wings, I saw all the crowns and treasures of Aquina glimmering back at me, waiting to be retrieved.
And I would.
But like all things, there was an order to things. And I was no Snow Dancer. Etiquette had to be entertained.
Thus, I walked up to the Winter Queen–and then began to sweep snow and coins onto the spot just opposite her.
“Coppelia, help me make a chair.”
“Got it!~”
Before the raised eyebrow of the Winter Queen, my future handmaiden and I wasted no time. Rolling up our sleeves, we piled snow and coins onto the point I designated with professional workmanship.
A few moments later, an extremely unfashionable chair was now raised before the Winter Queen.
It was something which couldn't even be exhibited in a contemporary art museum, the graveyard where all talentless hacks sent their works to die these days. But appearance was secondary.
Height was all that mattered.
I hopped before clutching the edge of the seat. My foot failed to find purchase in the chair's uneven slope as coins rained down. Coppelia skipped up and offered her hand. I accepted, allowing her to pull me atop the freshly made chair.
I carefully turned and sat, crossing one leg over the other as I officially bested my opponent in inches from the ground.
Then, I offered a frown to the fae whose appearance belied the years swirling in her arctic eyes.
“Winter Queen,” I said, now able to converse appropriately. “It's unseemly for me to present myself to a monarch sat on a throne within the lands of my own kingdom.”
She sipped at her teacup. A liquid so clear shimmied that for a moment, I'd believed it to be empty.
“Princess of Tirea. It's also unseemly to kidnap the monarchs of other kingdoms.”
I considered her argument. Then nodded. As did she.
“How is the chair?” she asked, placing her teacup atop her head.
“Extremely comfortable,” I replied, as my derrière burned from the cold. “My future handmaiden's skill in carpentry is as famed as her tact and discretion.”
Coppelia was stood right beside the Winter Queen, leaning in while taking in everything from the fae's tall figure to the mirror wings and the teapot atop her head.
She waved at her reflection in the Winter Queen's wings as her eyes brimmed with curiosity. Then, she breathed a puff of warm air at the mirror sheen, watching as the condensation slowly evaporated.
But not before drawing a smiley face first.
“That's … That's so cool!” she said, her own expression matching the one she'd just drawn. “You have mirrors on your back! That's … well, it's totally useless! Unless you want to accidentally blind someone when the sun catches you! You're literally a walking health hazard! Amazing!”
The Winter Queen glanced at Coppelia.
“My wings do not simply reflect light, clockwork doll. They amplify it. When I soar beneath the mortal sun, every eye to bear witness to my splendour winces in uncontrollable discomfort as colour spots plague their vision for months.”
Already, Coppelia's eyes were lit up with sparkles. She was already affected. The poor thing.
“That's soooooo pointless! I wish I had wings like that!”
“That wish cannot be made reality, even were you created in the land of the duskless dawn. I regret to say that the wings you see are mine alone. They are unique amongst the fae. Even my sisters who–”
“Also, why do you have a teacup on your head?”
The Winter Queen pursed her lips.
Clearly, she wasn't used to being interrupted while speaking. A terrible bout of impoliteness by Coppelia. And wonderfully, immaculately timed.
That's right! Do not allow this queen who wishes to appear stately any opportunity to control the flow of this conversation!
“I wear a teacup because I wish to,” she explained simply. “As Winter Queen, whether I choose to wear a teacup or a cat atop my head is my royal prerogative.”
Coppelia hummed as she peered this way and that as she took in the new headpiece.
“Want me to make you a hat? Because I can make you a hat.”
The Winter Queen paused.
“What kind of hat?”
“How about a beret?” Coppelia clapped her hands together, the force causing several coins to shimmy in movement. “They're always fashionable!”
“... Then that will do, thank you.”
“Decorations?”
“A tapestry of the 1172 Battle of Remansille, featuring the fall of King Reorick the Wolfenheart as he is betrayed by the lance of Sir Jorund the Gladiator, and his subsequent avengement by the first Reisenritter of Sophista.”
I nodded.
A fine choice. The Royal Villa had a copy of the very same 104 metre long tapestry. It'd spawned more narrative poems and epic ballads than any other cultural work of the 12th century. And uniquely, also didn't include any tasteless nudity.
Coppelia blinked.
In that moment, I could hear a thousand cogs and gears whirring away as she put every morsel of thinking power into dreaming the Winter Queen's request into reality.
Eventually, she nodded, raising her fists in a vow of commitment before she went to work. The sound of snow being padded together soon filled the air.
“An excellent handmaiden,” said the Winter Queen, balancing the teacup atop her head with practised precision. “Alas, my own handmaidens are more keen to frolic in the snow than rush to my aid.”
I smiled as the first compliment concerning my hiring processes reached me. Many more would come.
“Coppelia has much to learn, particularly concerning the ability to throw herself in harm's way for me. However, nothing concerning her spirit or loyalty can be faulted.”
“Then I'm free to offer my envy. It's been some days now since I was cruelly snatched away from my abode, and yet the only ones steadfast enough to reach me are my own snow ducks.”
She pointed at the fluffy white duck by the foot of her chair, its crystalline beak pecking at the only copper crown in the treasury.
A worthy pet. Should a copper crown fall before me, I'd also expect Coppelia to do away with it. Preferably by paying it towards the cost of an apple.
Even so, a protest needed to be lodged.
“Do your minions have the authority to trespass upon the Kingdom of Tirea, Winter Queen?”
She shrugged.
“No more than yours have the authority to kidnap the ruler of the Winter Court, befouling the Frozen Palace and slaying dozens of my subjects in the process.”
I considered her point. Again, I nodded. As did she.
“It's been, my, at least two centuries?” she mused, taking down her teacup to enjoy a sip of the clear liquid. “How nostalgic. I've almost missed being stolen for use in some predictably unimaginative scheme. I suppose I was long overdue.”
The Winter Queen looked around at the sight of a cavern filled with wealth. Not a single item impressed her by the size of her yawn. She sat back in her chair, her wings fluttering as her arctic eyes took in my poise. Just as I did hers.
“So you say. But perhaps you'd be harder to steal if you didn't take the guise of a crown. Quite the ruse. I take it that being placed on the head of fair maidens is related to your lack of blemishes?”
The Winter Queen made no denial. She lifted her hand to her lips, mouthing a silent giggle.
“A worthwhile exchange. I bequeath unimaginable power onto those of great will and a highly unattainable standard of youth and beauty, then allow them to build wrinkles in my place. Wonderful, no?”
I nodded my head.
If I were in her place, I'd do the same. Especially after seeing how her skin remained smoother than the snow despite the untold years she had lived.
“And how often do you permit yourself to be stolen, say, by an elven sword saint whose appearance is wasted on her rather bizarre personality?”
The Winter Queen smiled.
“Less than I'd like. It's been far too long since my last host found itself wanting against the Summer Queen's flames. And there's only so long one can remain a crown without the need to stretch their wings.”
I glanced tellingly at the dark ceiling.
“And yet I see that the sky remains closed to you.”
“Not all things go to plan.” The Winter Queen took another sip from her teacup before raising it atop her head. “The Snow Dancer's lack of ambition being one of them. The way she tossed me between her hands was particularly inglorious. But even that paled in comparison to the way she punted me away without a second thought. The humiliation will take another century to recover from.”
“I imagine it could be worse. What if someone puts you on whose wrinkled appearance you have no wish to take? An old hag in a hut? A peasant in a field? Or any man, for that matter?”
“Oh, then I just consume their soul.”
“Ah.”
The Winter Queen adjusted her teacup, then crossed one leg over the other.
“Now, to the drudgery of business?”
I offered her my most stately frown. Her response would determine whether it became a scowl.
“To recompense, actually. You permitted yourself to be stolen. And now your Winter Court sits in the Wovencoille, sealing off our rightful ability to cut down the ancient trees you planted for use in our bed frames. This is unacceptable.”
“Whether I permitted it is irrelevant. Crime is a crime and to steal a sovereign is quite the mark of disrespect. But you needn't fear. It is simple theatrics. Or was. I expect that your kingdom will be razed in ice should I not return in good time. And yet here I am, neither used nor worn. And so I ask you, what is the shallow boon that is pleaded of me? The witless wish for which I was stolen? The bargain for which I will never acquiesce? Is it the gleam of treasures greater than a dragon's heart that is desired? A weapon to break all shields? A vial to twist love and hatred?”
I opted to maintain my frown. For now.
“I cannot answer that, Winter Queen. I was not the one who stole you.”
“I know. Which is why I'm asking him.”
The Winter Queen indicated with her chin behind me.
I leaned out from my chair, peering back towards the treasury entrance.
There, standing alone in the arched doorway, was the treasonous ruler of the Duchy of Aquina.
Greying, and yet boasting more colour on his clothing than all the banners in his castle combined, Duke Valence wore a flowing cloak upon a wide suit of armour fit to carry both the size of his waistline and his ambitions.
My, such regal attire.
Were anyone to witness him in such fine uniform, they would be mistaken in their belief that he was someone of importance. Someone of royalty.
A wish, I knew, which would never be realised. Not least by the hands of the fae.
No matter how he begged or threatened, the Winter Queen would not grant whatever request this bumbling oaf wished to see fulfilled. Just as this man held no power over the Kingdom of Tirea, he held no power over the Winter Court.
Because the Winter Queen, now here in her true form, saw no interest in him.
She did not even bother to assume the guise she used to invite those foolish enough to test her unbreakable willpower. And so she merely looked on as I did, bored and unconcerned as the errant Duke of Aquina strode forwards.
He stopped before the Winter Queen's throne, without once pausing to look at the princess he served. Of all his crimes, that was the greatest.
At the end of his tenure, pettiness was all this man could achieve … even as he drew a glimmering sword from the sheath by his side.
It was no practised manoeuvre. No unfurling of a weapon by a knight.
Even so, both I and the Winter Queen eyed it, waiting to see how this man would choose to meet his end.
Lifting it–he slammed the tip down into the treasury floor, bending a knee as a crack appeared in the ground.
“Winter Queen,” said the Duke, not yet daring to look up at the face of the bemused fae. “The shallow boon I ask is your rule. The witless wish your protection. And the bargain I offer is Aquina. I swear to the Winter Court the fealty, devotion and vassalage of all my subjects and myself, and ask for nothing but your grace in return.”
The Duke lifted his head.
And to this–
The Winter Queen smiled.
​
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This is the second house I've owned and I never once recall a bird flying into my old house. Birds constantly fly into this house. It's ridiculous. I notice it like 4 or 5 times a day and I honestly worry about the birds. Doesn't matter which window. The big windows get hit just as much as the small windows. The last hit got me a little worried cause it looked like the bird was bleeding from its head after it fell to the ground. It ended up flying away, but I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to protect the birds.
My house is a light green color. They also hit the side with the brick face though, so I feel like color isn't the only thing at play. I do live near a park with some large wooded areas so perhaps there are just a lot more birds nearby to crash into my windows. Thoughts? Does everyone have this happen so much? I can't recall one hit at my old house and I lived there 5 years.

So I hadn't been very active after my posts about my Hunger Games experience -- mostly because I had to go back the the drawing board 3 (!!!!!) Times with medication protocols, and then once we figured that out, i had an extended time on birth control (pesky cysts they wanted to follow). So, there wasn't a whole lot to update on aside from "spinning my wheels."
I am still very hesitant to post here for fear of jinxing something and breaking my own heart. But.. this is hopeful infertility, so i choose optimism, and to share my update to give others hope as well.
I had been getting these ongoing "cyst monitoring" ultrasounds for way too long, and of all days, I had another one scheduled on my birthday (may 25th). Well, instead of it ending up as yet another cyst check, it turned into my lining check.. and the doc 1000% dropped in my lap that "hmmm, okay! Well, I'll see you back in 1,2,3,4,5,6 days (counts on calendar) and it's Go Time!"
I was like, what?? Literally stunned and didn't know what to say. I was completely expecting it to be at least 2 or 3 weeks out.... and that was whenever we made it past whatever hoop was next.
My transfer day was May 31. And it was a complete blur, and very surreal. The embryologist hand delivered an utterly fantastic "first photo" of the embryo they were transfering, proof it survived the thaw and had already started expanding like crazy. She was SO excited by how great it was, it was hard not to get excited too... and By the time we were in the surgery suite, it had fully hatched, and was blowing all the staff's mind. I was foggy due to meds, which I am thankful for because I had no idea HOW TENSE I WAS until my first sigh after the Valium happened. OMG.
I had read on our forums here that some people test positive as early as 4 days post transfer, and even though I didn't put much stock in that kind of response for me, lo-and-behold, I got my faint line 4dpt. I had a bunch of internet cheapies from Amazon, and today (6dpt) I finally caved and got some higher quality ones from the store. Lines are MUCH darker, and the digital is also positive. I guess I needed that very stupid validation, to comfort my scared self. I laugh at myself because it makes no sense.
When you arrive for your FET, my fertility clinic gives you a package that includes a lab form preemptively scheduled for blood draw 9dpt, which is Friday for me. Now, I'm just super nervous about Values being high enough, or doubling, or whatever it is....
this time frame, for me, is so scary. I know it's officially there, now I'm just terrified of it going away!! Trying my best to stay on the light side!
The thoughts that trip me up the most is "how far along i am".... from transfer? 6 days.. embryo was 5 days tho. But technically I'm 3 weeks, 5 days? I can't focus.
Additional: we knew we had a day5/boy and a day6/girl, and they did ask us if we wanted to pick. We had mutually agreed it was damn near impossible to choose something like that (what if it failed, guilt, etc) so we let them pick which one they thought would be the most successful.

Darkness covered the funeral as those black clouds rained onto black umbrellas. Most of the policemen were gathered to put Sergeant Ventura into the ground. Detective Winters turned from the man's family, Police, and with a scowling cigarette, he headed back towards his car.
"Did it go well?" I asked him from where I had waited in the back seat.
"You know I told them exactly what happened?" He asked me, after a moment of silent conversation. The rain was making a soothing noise on the roof and windshield, repetitive, insistent and natural. I listened to that, instead of the rest of his monologue: about filling out a report, and then talking about the report to his superiors, and now telling me the whole story. I looked out the window as he went on and on, and watched the various policemen and their wives filing away. I noticed only half of them had wives and only one had a male partner. I wasn't sure if he was to be referred to as a 'wife'. Can't be a 'spouse' in this state. "And for all that they just made me write that I had accidentally shot the corpse-shaped booby trap that killed Sergeant Ventura."
"You finished?" I asked while he stopped to catch his breath.
"Yes. Thank you. I feel better." He claimed. He started his car and we drove back to the hotel.
"You just gonna stay here with me?" I asked him as I headed past the beds for the bathroom. I intended to have a shower, thinking: "I admit I don't get them very often, living outdoors."
"I wouldn't dream of leaving you. You are the love of my life. I can't sleep when you aren't in that bed over there, in the same room as me. Meals just don't taste as good without you." Detective Winters had an odd tone of voice as he said all of that. I decided to just leave it alone.
While I was showering, I realized I was afraid of him. I was harmless compared to him, and I could kill someone to protect something I couldn't even explain. What would he do if I tried to escape? I decided it was best to accept this path. I wanted to make recompense for taking a life. It meant something to me, even if I avoided Earthly justice.
I shaved off my beard and tied my hair back with my bandanna. I looked like a human-being. I finally put on the clothes Detective Winters had bought for me at the thrift store. I looked like a decent person. Cory tilted his head at me.
"Looks like you could find a mate." Cory complimented me.
"Think so?" I asked, blushing.
"Amen." Cory squawked supreme affirmation. I presented myself to Detective Winters.
"Thank you." He muttered, with a cigarette towering ash atop a filter on his mouth, as he lay on his back with a towel over his eyes. He was thanking me for cleaning up.
I too got some rest. It seemed like all we did was sit at the policestation and fill out paperwork. I had started pacing and found I was not allowed out of his sight. Being confined was strangely exhausting.
I laid there and started to fall asleep. It was strange, sleeping indoors again. It had taken me so many nights in that bed to get used to it. My dreams were of distant times and places. Sometimes I saw Khurl and primitive humans in my dreams. Those were strange nights. The hotel window was open, and the sounds of people softly shuffling by, or arguing in the distance, or watching an infomercial all night on full volume, drifted in with the cool breeze. The world was outside and I had learned to sleep in a new place. A strange kind of sleep.
The phone rang and I awoke and sat up. Cory was watching me in the darkness. He asked:
"What is that?"
"It's Detective Winters's phone." I told him.
After it stopped ringing he woke up and got it and called back. He was laying there half asleep.
"You called?" He sounded quiet and spoke slowly. "I was asleep. I saw that you just called. I want to talk to you. Are you okay? I miss you. Hello?"
Someone might be talking to him. He was listening, there in the darkness. Then he looked at the phone, acknowledging that the call was ended. He gently set the phone down and rolled back over. I could only presume he was trying to fall back asleep.
Then his phone rang again and he answered it and asked in a voice I only heard him use there, at night:
"Please tell me what it is. I want to hear it." And there was a pause as he waited for a response. But it was his boss instead, and after chuckling: he told Detective Winters that he was needed at the scene of a murder. I could hear it.
"Let's go." He looked over and saw I was awake. We dressed and went to the car. The cool night air greeted us and Cory outstretched his wings, loving the breeze.
We got out of the car, at those last moments of night, at a hiking trail that led up Grandfather Hill, after crossing Sunberry Creek. I've tasted the legendary sunberries. They aren't meant for human consumption. I wouldn't recommend them.
Forensics had a van near the head of the trail. The body was about to get removed. They had waited for Detective Winters.
"There is the trail they made to get to her." Detective Winters had his last cigarette and lit it with his 'little red riding hood and wolf eyes' lighter. He took a death-sucking drag from it and pointed with it while he exhaled unhealthy air. "I want us to go the long way. I want to know the rest of her story."
I stood quietly and shivered. Cory clicked that there was a path if I turned around. It was a click that meant it was only the first step. There were three or four to find the path. He'd not tell me there were a series of steps, because crows don't think of numbers in the same pattern as humans. Numbers are magical, in their symbolism, to crows. Crows can count to a degree, but they will often stop counting if the number matches the same meaning they identify with the bushels they are counting. Thus the number three, to a crow, is also essentially female, as a symbol. Therefore when counting a group of females, there would necessarily be three. Every number had such a meaning.
I found a stone and when I stepped upon it I knew the path across the roots. It appeared when we got to the top of the hill. It led down to where the creek was. I stopped to get Detective Winters and heard him behind me:
"I'm following." His voice sounded like he had his eyes on me and couldn't really see the path. Cory kept urging my steps and then told me:
"This is where it first found her." Cory hopped down and pointed with his beak. "I think it is like a man. See its funny footstep?"
"What happened?" I asked.
"How should I know, my Lord? You always task me so." Cory flitted up to my shoulder and trembled and whispered into my ear: "It killed her, I am guessing. What do you think?"
I listened then. I had heard the forest once before. I knew this place, it could whisper, in that same tone. For just a moment it was almost a glimmer of a feeling, a childish emotion, a very crude and simple feeling, like just one note of a song. I glanced up and smiled.
"Cory." I said softly, smiling. He drilled a long series of clicks that was his most hilarious laugh.
"My Lord?" Cory wanted to hear what I was thinking.
"It is like Beauty and the Beast. This footprint, that is like a man. It is a man that is like a beast. He wanted her, loved her, followed her."
"Killed her." Cory added.
"That wasn't the plan. See how carefully it hid." I pointed where the shafts of sunlight lit each footprint perfectly. Such a thing could not step out of the bounds that were set for it by nature. Each of its movements in the forest was perfectly synchronized. Until something on its trail changed. Its movement pattern changed. It was following her, although still very careful as it went.
"What godless beast saw this woman and looked so intently?" Cory sounded interested. I could not guess, while I studied its saddest footsteps.
"This is where it retreated." I pointed to the path of its egress from the kill site. The sunlight danced through the trees as though the light were floating through the forest. In those strange shadows I could imagine the rest:
Hunched and breathing in the moonlight it had watched her approach. She had seen its eyes and perhaps she had screamed, fled, panicked. On instinct the beast had forgotten its fascination and attacked. Her fragile body stood no chance and it left her there and fled this direction. I was walking its path.
"I am going to get dogs out here. Wait!" Detective Winters called after me. He sensed the terrible danger and wasn't driven to it as I was.
"Must go now." Cory was insisting. My crow was also afraid.
"I want to see for myself." I also insisted. I was afraid too, but the quality of my fear was merely a sail to the fears lurking upon my path. I could not turn back and face those darker gazes. They could see into my soul and ignore me, cosigning me to the void.
The full moon still stood overhead and shone down in the lighting sky. In the eerie green light of the forest I found a clearing. I had followed the trail, losing the policemen and the detective. They would eventually find me.
The clearing was ringed by mustard colored toadstools all around its edge. A man lay in the bloodied pelt of a wolf as it peeled from his body. His claws held the earth and were caked in gore. Now I only felt the terror of my action. I had ignored my fear, for fear of being ignored by my own lucky stars. Now I was terrified of the thing before me, the deadly and unnatural visage of it.
The beast was breathing a painful mist onto my hand. He was a little more man, than creature, as his stillness grew; from moment to moment. He looked up at me.
"Know we see you." Cory spoke in his most sincere and clearest English.
"Why have you come to see this?" The man-wolf asked in a voice, broken by remorse, tired by rage, shamed by murder and driven to isolation. Besides the inhuman growl that its voice was composed of. Its yellow eyes stared, bleeding tears across a face not yet human and no longer an animal.
"Did you love her?" I asked. "Before she saw you, nothing happened to her."
"Melody! Oh god no! She followed me!" He exclaimed. When he said 'me' he began to howl dismally. This broke into an unearthly and almost inhuman cry of agony, straight from his soul. Hearing it, and knowing the fruit of his lamentation, is what turned a streak of my beard and hair white, and the white feather on Cory drained of color at that same time.
We stood in the morning light and waited. The cursed creature in front of us sobbed miserably. He said:
"I should be dead, not her."
"Death will always happen." Cory told him.
"Not for me." He wept bitterly.
"He understood you." I noticed.
"Indeed. I think it shows he is not so bad. You listen well enough to understand an animal." Cory spoke to me and then to him. He just stared at my crow. Then he confessed:
"It is the beast that is evil."
"She loved you too." I was sure. "Twas the beast that killed her, for that love."
"She did love me." He told the truth and the hot tears washed some of the blood off of his face.
Dogs and policemen arrived. The moon was gone and the sunlight was warming the forest. They trampled the toadstools and put the decomposing wolf's skin into evidence bags. They put the cursed one in handcuffs. An irony that the cuffs could only hold him while he was relatively harmless, not when he was the beast, of course. I was sure of that too, as I looked at a tree he had struck in his bestial fury, cutting into it like the wood of oak were soft.
"What will happen?" I asked Detective Winters.
"You know as well as I do." He replied. "Crazy guy like that will get the best care of modern medicine."
"That's probably for the best." I surmised.
"Yeah?" Detective Winters complimented me, as he lit a smoke he had bummed off of someone. "I believe you. You know I do."
"Thanks."

I sat in the parking lot of McDonald's feeding french fries to my talking crow. We were in the back of Detective Winters's car. He was having the large coffee that cost only a dollar. He had told me he liked it better than Starbuck's, as he took it black.
"Sergeant Ventura was a good cop." Detective Winters was talking about the policeman that had gotten killed at the crimescene.
"Did he have family?" I asked.
"He was divorced." Detective Winters sounded like he could cry for the dead man. "We were his family."
I ate my cheeseburger in silence. Cory hopped onto the fries and scattered them to the floor. He looked up at me without an apology for his behavior before he went to go eat some of them.
We were taken to a hotel where we became roommates with Detective Winters. The maid knocked on the door as I was taking off my boots. He answered it with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth that he had lit with hotel matches.
"What is it?" He asked her. I listened, genuinely curious.
"No animals." She pushed past him slightly and spotted Cory. Presumably, she would go get the hotel manager.
"It's okay, he is with me. I am a detective. I am solving murders." He told her, and showed her his badge with a well-rehearsed gesture. She gave him a very admonishing look and left without saying more. I wondered if our sleep would be interrupted. I was very tired and went right to bed.
In the morning the same maid was back, prompting me to wonder if she had worked all night. She glared at us as we left and she went in to clean.
Detective Winters took me to the station and made me sit around with him all day while he did paperwork. He had interviews with people and more paperwork. His job suddenly seemed very boring to me. I already longed to go outside and discover the world out there. I was his hostage because he knew I knew that I was his suspect in a murder.
"I want you investigating this. Looks like it might be the hitchhiker killer. If you can get some cooperation from you-know-who, maybe we can call the FBI on this one." The boss of Detective Winters walked over to his desk and gave him a thin file on a crime scene secured earlier.
"Let's go." Detective Winters got up and I followed.
"Who was he talking about?" I asked.
"A possible serial killer. I know a guy who knows a lot more than he is telling us. First we need to go see the crime scene. Forensics is already there so you will have to wait outside." Detective Winters was talking fast. He was excited about this for some reason.
"You know this serial killer?"
"Yes. If it is the same one then we've had several killings already. I will need to go see our friend. Then we call the FBI." Detective Winters explained.
"Is that how it's done?" I asked.
"It is how we are gonna do this. You wouldn't understand." He started his car and we left.
"You like it when people say 'you wouldn't understand' to you?" I asked after awhile.
"Not really. Sorry. I just don't like feeling like I am explaining myself to someone." Detective Winters gave me some kind of crude apology for the way he had spoken to me.
"Well, I don't really like listening to you anyway." I offered. After that we just drove in silence. After we arrived at the crime scene, Cory went to the floor of the back seat to feed on the drying fries left there. Detective Winters asked someone he was passing for their cigarette, took it, and smoked it, as he walked away. We were left there alone in his car.
I was tempted to just get out and walk away. I felt that it would be dishonorable. Therefore I stayed, out of a sense that I was doing the right thing.
"What a mess." Detective Winters came back after awhile. He fished a half smoked butt out of his ashtray and lit it with the car's lighter. Then he rolled down the window to exhale smoke as we drove away.
We arrived at a small trailer where a column of smoke arose from out back. Detective Winters said: "Come with me."
The man was just throwing the last papers and files out of an empty banker's box and tossed it aside where several others sat empty.
"Daniel Barrow." Detective Winters spoke so he would turn around. The man gestured at the destructive act he had committed and shrugged and smiled.
"What can I say?" Daniel Barrow asked. "I don't work for you. I am a private eye. You know, an investigator-for-hire."
"I could arrest you for destruction of evidence." Detective Winters told the private eye.
"Then do so. I am merely destroying my own pictures and notes. Personal property." Daniel insisted.
Then we left him there, smoke trailing away with bits of white ash in his hair.
"What a dick..." Detective Winters used a bad pun.
I chuckled and replied: "He seemed crazy."
Something dawned and Detective Winters held his hand up at me for a second while he thought. Then he lowered it and brightly added:
"Dellfriar Asylum." Detective Winters decided.
"Where crazy people are?" I tried to follow his jump to a conclusion. I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Where Doctor Evans was killed. That is how I met our friend for the first time. He was caught snooping around that crime scene too." Detective Winters recalled.
I said nothing as we drove to Dellfriar and gained access to the ancient and fearsome looking seaside castle. It was still medieval compared to other mental hospitals. I had only seen it in pictures, but now the place creeped me out.
"What are we doing here?" I asked. "If Doctor Evans was killed by the same person Daniel Barrow would have told you about: then you already know who it is."
"You are right." He stared up at the terrifying structure. "Jesse Darling. She was a patient here. We have a copy of her file. You are right. There is something more I wanted to see again."
"I'd rather wait here." I told him. He nodded and left us in the parking lot.
When he came back he looked disappointed. We drove back to the hotel in silence. The next day he met with the FBI and told them what he knew, about a serial killer named Jesse Darling.
Then he found me and told me: "Her name is Scarlet. She was friends with Daniel Barrow. He visited her often."
"Now that you have completed that path, why not try another?" I asked him.
"Scarlet is who we should be looking for." Detective Winters agreed. "We will never find Jesse Darling."
"Then let's start at the beginning." I advised him. And so we drove back to the crime scene we were at before.
His decision was to drive along the highway from there, heading away from Dellfriar. Detective Winters said:
"I think she has killed six men and she tried to kill Daniel Barrow. He survived."
As it grew dark a light rain began to fall. The sound of the windshield wipers kept going. My hand began to ache. Up ahead stood someone in a red hoody, hitchhiking with their left thumb. We pulled over.
"Must go now." Cory cawed.
"Sounds anxious." Detective Winters noted.
"He is saying we must leave." I translated. "He gets jittery."
"He got a name?"
"Cory." I took my crow to my lap and gently held him while the back passenger door opened. I looked over at the dark shape in the red hoody. Lightning flashed behind her before she got in to sit with me in the back.
I could feel the damp cold air coming off of her hoody as she seated herself. She was young, although her face was kinda mean looking. As she spoke, she gestured with her left hand, her right never appearing. She said:
"I was walking and this rain started. I just need a lift into town." And she tried a fake little laugh and smile.
"We can give you a lift." Detective Winters offered. We started back onto the highway and she reached up with her left hand and got her seatbelt on.
"The hand is silver and it can cut like a knife. Maker of dead men, from living ones. She actually likes doing it, you could learn from her." Cory told me about our guest.
"Your bird talks." She smiled. This smile looked real, but still predatory.
"If you call that talking." Detective Winters chuckled with a masculine disregard.
"I don't know." I stammered. I was frozen in fear. This was surely our hook-hand hitchhiker. She was definitely Scarlet. I could imagine her weapon striking away half my neck in one instant swipe, out of nowhere. She'd kill the detective next. Only she was wearing a seatbelt: so our corpses would get ejected into the darkness. She'd stay belted to her seat.
"I can understand him." She smiled coyly.
"You can?" I was choking. Sweat beaded my forehead and terror gripped my heart.
"He says I am pretty and sweet and that you already like me." She sighed.
"He said that." I breathed mechanically.
We pulled into a gas station. Scarlet stayed seated, smiling endlessly at me, her eyes shiny like glass. I had to pee yet couldn't move. I was afraid that if I tried to get out: she would slaughter me.
Detective Winters took his time filling gas, making a long phone call, buying cigarettes and smoking about half the pack. I was in agony: it was either pee myself and probably trigger her killing me, or get out and die trying.
"I really have to pee. Is it okay if I go and go pee?" I squeaked.
"Sure. Come right back." She was still smiling like a golden devil at me. I crept away from her and shut the door. Cory was on my shoulder as we obtained the key, attached to a real goat's leg, hoof and all. I went into the bathroom and peed.
As we came out with the goat leg in one hand, zipping up with the other, the parking lot lit up. Police cars swarmed from all around, surrounding Detective Winters's car. I watched while armored SWAT had to drag Scarlet from the vehicle.
Scarlet managed to slash them anyway, drawing blood from three of them. Her hidden prosthetic arm was indeed like a sharp pair of hooks. She whipped out a knife and got one of them in the groin. Blood spurted from his wound and he staggered and fell over.
Finally, they had her restrained and arrested. I went into the gas station to return the goat's leg bathroom key. Detective Winters came into the gas station behind me and selected a lighter to buy. It was with a bunch of lighters with tattoo art on them. His had a little red riding hood, looking scared, and standing in front of a wolf's eyes.
"You're still alive." He told me and flicked his lighter's flame in front of me before he went back out to the car.
"Death will always happen." Cory agreed with him.
I just sighed and tossed the goat's leg onto the counter.

I have a collection of 3 haunted dolls. They are in my house. I have stated to them to be respectful to people in the house.
My first experience with one of them was asking to knock if your present. I got a knock. I wanted to confirm this so I asked again. Knock. Ok I'll ask one more time, before I finished the sentence Knock....
Great experience.
I put one doll on a dresser in the summer, very warm in the house. I put my hand near her and it was ice cold. Like she was a tiny air conditioner.
I put all 3 dolls in front of my audio recorder and asked questions. The first question, how are we doing tonight? Response, a drawn out deep voice saying Okkkkk....
I installed cameras in the room the dolls were in and my phone would get notifications if something happened. Sometimes I would lose connection to a camera. I'd have to reset it. Other times I would watch from one camera and see the others flip to night vision and back to daytime vision.
Interesting...
Edit: I forgot to mention I bought those balloon lights or whatever they are called. You can set to barely turn on, like the flashlight game. I would ask them to try and turn the lights on and sure enough I would get some to turn on.
That was a great experience.
Now this is why I created boundaries.
One night I was about to go to bed. I walked into my room and started having a panic attack. Sure I have a history of them but this was different.
I said, if your are in my room. I beg of you to respect my boundaries and not be in my room when I go to bed.
I felt as if a person filled with anxiety walked right past me and out my door. My anxiety vanished.
This was the most intriguing experience I just encountered.

The death of Adam David Shaw, UK.
The death of a man found naked and wrapped in tarpaulin with his clothes in a neat pile next to him remains a mystery. Adam Shaw, from Weston Coyney, was found in a remote beauty spot with his clothes in a neat pile next to him. A camper discovered his body at Key Wood near the River Churnet, just a short distance from Alton Towers. Strangely, his phone, coat, trainers and wallet have never been found.
The 41-year-old's worried family had reported him missing to Staffordshire Police almost four weeks earlier on September 20 last year after he failed to collect his prescription.
It wasn't until October 11 that Adam's body was finally found in dense woodland on the other side of the river where there is no crossing. PC Adam Coomer told the hearing: "We believe that Adam and his female companion had bought drugs from a dealer and were en-route to a caravan park where they could use those drugs recreationally. However, the caravan park was busy so they tried to go to Hawksmoor instead. They got stuck trying to park. The female companion was seen walking along the road toward Cheadle on September 17.
"The naked body of Adam was found wearing no clothes, under a piece of tarp as if it was a blanket. His clothes were folded up next to him. It was very difficult as there was no obvious pathway and the items at the camp were very old. At the centre there was a fire pit but there was nothing to suggest there had been a fire.
forensic examination showed no signs of any disturbance or struggle at the camp. There was no obvious external injury. There was no clear pathway across the River Churnet, it is a wadable depth. His phone, coat, trainers, wallet have never been found. The car keys were found on the ground near where the car had been stuck.
Staffordshire Police launched a missing person's appeal with eye-witnesses coming forward. A statement was read out on behalf of Michael Stone who said: "I was walking my dog in Hawksmoor Nature Reserve on September 17. I go there regularly to walk my dogs.
"I saw a male, who has since been identified as Adam and female in a car that was obviously stuck. They had parked with their back wheels over the embankment
"The male was out of the vehicle with the female sat inside. I asked them if they needed help, to which the male responded that someone was coming with a truck. His speech was very slow and noticed there was a small amount of blood coming out of his nostril. Later that day, the same vehicle was in the same position with the pair eating a sandwich inside." Eye-witness Marek Simanski said: "I arrived in Hawksmoor on the evening of September 17. I walked past a car that had been stuck. We paid no attention to it.
"We camped where we normally do. We heard shouting from far away. But we couldn't tell the direction it was coming from. When we were walking back the next evening it was dark and we were looking for mushrooms.
"I was shining my light about and my light landed on a man standing there. It made me jump. He was standing near the river, staring off into the distance. I asked him if he was ok and he didn't respond. He was just staring away from me.
"We came back at around 5pm or 6pm on October 2 and we heard shouting coming from a direction. We didn't know where. It sounded a little panicked. We were back on October 8 to our campsite. We had left a single potato out. Someone had peeled it and cut it into the shapes of French fries.
"There was no knife left so they must have brought one themselves. There were also full water bottles left. A few days later, we came across a little camp on the other side of the river. There we found a tarpaulin covering the body of a deceased man. I bought a new phone and called the police the next day, giving my name as John. I did not want to be involved with it."
A post-mortem examination revealed no evidence of any hemorrhage or any acute traumatic injury. The medical cause of death was unascertained as they taking blood samples was not possible. There was no suggestion he had been assaulted. From the evidence we have, I am afraid I am unable to say how he died. I am satisfied there was no evidence of trauma or anyone else at the scene. There is no positive evidence that allows me to rule a drug-related death.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/mystery-after-dead-man-found-27063659.amp
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1777866/mystery-death-adam-david-shaw-tarpaulin/amp

Epilogue

A brief, beautiful series of vignettes. We close the loop on some emotional beats, as well as receive promises/foreshadowings of further adventures.

Epigraph

The opening verses of Rumor Born, and possibly my favorite piece of poetry in the whole novel. It took me until this epigraph to realize that the title itself is referring to the city of Darujhistan and it's history. That said, given the fact that the work describes the events of the novel itself, and is written by the same guy who wrote Anomandris, then either Fisher was a Seer of incredible power or else has an immensely long lifespan. Possibly both, although the fact that Fisher's birth date is unknown implies the latter. Even at the end, answers only invite further questions.
The only other point of note is the reference to the "Gates of Nowhere" but I'm unsure what that might mean. The SCDAT?

The Epilogue Itself

The remaining Bridgeburners land back where they'd initially launched from at the beginning of Book 3, preparing to await their Moranth escort. Quick Ben and Whiskeyjack watch Moon's Spawn drift south, possibly to find another contest, this time against the Pannion Seer. Whiskeyjack's headaches have been lessening, possibly in response to his loosening heart, less guarded than the one he bore into Darujhistan. His cool reference to the loss of three members not being "that bad, considering" and Mallet's pained response shows the change has yet to take in full, but the Seargent has begun a slow road back to humanity. We leave the Bridgeburners with an ominous note, that Quick Ben has hatched another scheme, a big feint, one which might run over poorly with Whiskeyjack.
Captain Paran watches his men below on the beach, contemplating everything it cost him to get here. His... unique nature has granted new senses, and a growing awareness of Silverfox. Whether or not the romance between Paran and Tattersail was Oppon compelled or not, the two resolve to reunite in time. Mysteriously, they communicate over vast distances, although it seems to be an unreliable process. He has buried Lorn, now finally a soldier, holding in the position once held by the very man who warned him against this path, walking a path of ruin himself. Ganoes Paran, the gods have noticed you, and their gaze is unlikely to fall from someone who survived their use — what will you make of yourself?
Kalam, Fiddler, Apsalar, and Crokus sail west for Dhavran. The former claw is amused by the two youths and their naive innocence. Crokus asks after Unta, and they speak of leaving others behind, and moving forward. Kalam holds nothing against Apsalar, she's just a girl, after all. Crokus objects to this and discards the Coin, no longer in need of luck. Circle Breaker, even here barely noticed, decides to inform the Eel one last time that the Coin Berrer has freed himself, then looks forward, anticipating a new life. Also, the monkey's a demon, which probably means something that it decided to stick around.
And so, with beautiful prose and bittersweet optimism, so ends the first tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Gardens of the Moon

An excellent start all around! We've yet to see how fitting it may be for the rest of the series, but for now, I'm hooked! So much of this rode on Erikson's ability to pull off this massively ambitious departure from the commonplace, and he managed to pull it off far better than could be expected. While I recognize his inspirations in histories and anthropology, being able to port one form of literature to another, not only across genres but the fiction/non-fiction divide, is seriously impressive. While doing so without sacrificing much of the strengths of either format; even leveraging them to complement one another, is a staggering feat. I'll be breaking things down, although these categories are listed in no particular order, into Plot, Characters, Setting, Cosmology (encompassing the more fantastical elements from magic to races), and Prose/Format.

Plot

Favorite plots include the whole Jaghut Tyrant arc (for obvious reasons), Paran's Excellent adventure, and the whole Coll/Lady Simttal arc.
The deep lore cuts of all the Jaghut and T'lan Imass storylines are incredible, worldbuilding on a scope that allows for geological/evolutionary implications. The powers at play boggle the imagination and feel realized despite their incomprehensibility. Not necessarily "cosmic horror" although that plays a part, but a cosmic spectacle nonetheless. Ending, of course, with an apocalyptic battle feeling like the climax of a series of epics we barely get to glimpse. Looking forward to seeing so much more of this side of the Malazverse. I will say, the T'lan Imass gathering never really occurred, but I expect that's still coming.
Paran's whole plotline, beginning with quickly snuffed youthful aspirations, to political maneuverings, to being a pawn in the interplay between many gods and ascendants, to shaking free of the powers chaining him, if not necessarily free of what has happened to him, was great to watch unfold. It was the most straightforward "quest fantasy" of the book, touching on many cool places and meeting a wide variety of characters. Paran's brute "I'm already dead anyway so I may as well attack things head on" strategy was refreshing to watch, his relationships to Topper, Tattersail, and Toc were all great and helped to show his evolving character. Connecting with the Bridgeburners and helping them sort everything going on out was cathartic. And of course, the elephant in the room, the Dragnripur episode was fascinating and haunting and I need more.
Then there was the whole Oppon-infused plan regarding Lady Simtal and particularly its climax, was fantastic. I'm a sucker for plotlines that were technically successful yet have the characters involved come away regretting it happening in the first place. The solidarity between the Phoenix Inn regulars was great, as well as untangling their connections to one another. No there's no objective reason this one stood above the other Darujhistan plotlines, but I jive with it.
Other plots, such as all the Tiste Andii background intrigue, Crokus's whole ordeal, as well as Tattersail's plotline are great as well.
Most of the Tiste Andii stuff needs to be unpacked more fully down the road, as is we have only a brief glimpse into this massive, alien world on Moon's Spawn. Caladan Brood, Kallor, the unseen Prince K'azz, and Crone all seem to have their own intrigue going on, keeping someone reigned in. As for that someone, Anomander Rake's whole deal is a whole deal, I'm enthralled to see more of this obsolete great desperately try to get his people to care about anything again. The dragons are all tangled in this as well. Yea, I did just spend a lot of words just implying things without divulging much of what it meant, but so did Erikson and I'm hooked.
So Oppon's big plan seems to just keep nudging this one unwitting kid around via hormones and coincidence to drag the genuinely important players around. This is fascinating because it seems all Oppon wanted to do was mess with the Empire. For reasons that aren't quite clear yet, the gods seem terrified of this growing coalition of power on the part of the mortals and are doing what they can to slow this down. Even more interesting, they'd likely be able to curb-stomp the mortals pretty easily if they all weren't in their own cold war with one another. Oppon did seem to be multitasking a bit with messing with Shadow, but I'm less certain why they'd have beef outside of each operating in the "screw with stuff we shouldn't" domain.
Tattersall's (or now Silverfox's) arc is of course left wide open by the end of this, but is great. The Deck of Dragons is a fantastic narrative device, as we get assurance of the god's machinations in the background without having to pull the curtain back all the way. Also, one of the lingering questions I have is who the Ascendant that messed with the reading she did with Tayscheren was. I guess Shadowthrone? The whole soul-shifting arc and rebirth sequence are haunting and more than a but disturbing, but that speaks to the alternatives she could have undergone from her stunt in body-hopping. Her relationship with romance was a bit, odd, but there's a non-trivial element of divine meddling so it's cool ig.
The plotting is currently the strongest element of M:BotF thus far. That we had like 14 different plot threads splitting off and overlapping and drawing together over the course of the narrative is insane. That many of these plot threads managed to enliven and enlighten one another, narratively, thematically, and lore-wise, only makes the whole multiplicatively stronger than the sum of its parts. Everything felt pretty natural, with the threads that did overlap often doing so secondarily, as natural consequences rather than merging together into one mega-climax. I mean, we did get one mega-climax-sequence, but that was far more due to their proximity rather than each even being doomed to become defined by one another. Events that started separately for separate reasons stayed separate, but the shared pool of locations and characters helped to cause each of these to be deeply interconnected in the lives of those characters. Speaking of which...

Characters

My relationship with the characters of this novel is a bit interesting. They serve their plots wonderfully, and nearly every one of them has several standout moments in both word and deed. Yet, on the whole, they're, fine. I guess they're... exactly the sum of their parts? Don't get me wrong, these are extremely good parts they're made of. New character archetypes, old ones played extremely well, old ones given genuinely inventive twists. These are very good characters, but possibly the weakest pillar of the novel. The dialogue is weighty and meaningful, betraying a depth to the world and the people in it. Actions are (usually) thought out, exceptions to this rule are all true to a character or under extenuating circumstances. I want to see more of all of them. It's just, there isn't much of that "x factor" a lot of great character writers bring out.
I've already praised Paran, his attitude, and his motives. He's way over his head at the best of times and just has to bluff and namedrop long enough to survive to a point where he can effect genuine change. That effort changes him pretty drastically, and while he is somewhat better off for it, it is a sad thing to see the naive kid in him die off so soon.
Tattersail is interesting to me, I like her, but as a character she's on the weaker end of the cast. We do see her strong emotions and compassion explored a bit, but she takes a pretty hard left turn plot wise before that goes much of anywhere. We'll have to wait and see how Silverfox pans out.
Whiskeyjack fascinates me, we don't get too much of who he is, just all that's left of him of being ground into the dust. I can't wait to see Whiskeyjack the Old Guard thaw off more, as well as Whiskeyjack the man.
Quick Ben and Kalam probably stand as my current favorite Bridgeburners, their bromance being a highlight of the novel all while standing as fascinating characters on their own. Quick Ben has, all kinds of backstory running around, as well as secrets on top of that, but what we know of him so far is great. Kalam's just world-weary, yet he can't help but keep moving forward until he can bow out legitimately. The two of them are so much fun on top of being fascinating.
Dujek and Tayscheren, while not super present in the novel, are pretty great characters in their own right. Dujek, last of the Old Guard with any real power, just trying to do what he can for his men. And Tayscheren, not necessarily evil, but just a guy swallowed up in his own job.
Hairlock, while not making too much of a splash in the grand scheme of things, was an incredibly fun inclusion and a great initial antagonist. Just a power-mad goofy little guy who doubles as our first major look into this world's magic and cosmology.
Adjunct Lorn was one of the standout characters of the novel, a woman enslaved to her own self-justification. Torn between the scared girl trapped in the mines and the unfeeling super claw, unable to reconcile the two before the end. Her constant contradictions and tensions within her character were fascinating to watch.
And Toc, poor Toc man. A great guy who I'd loved to have seen more of, just being such an interesting character on top of being fun. I feel he's introduced some interesting concepts, from the "inner sight" superstition of Seven Cities to whomever his dad is, but the credits have rolled and my guy is still down for the count, so I'll be interested to see how these elements are brought back.
Crokus Younghand stands out in this novel as the one, lone dumbass. Stop being literally me Crokus, you're embarrassing us. His interactions with everyone are great, quickly vacillating between idealism and stubbornness, romanticism and a parody grimdark woe-is-me view of reality. Every interaction he has with a woman is golden, but not particularly a glowing performance on his end.
Magnanimous Kruppe the First is the indesputable highpoint of this esteemed tale, and I will not hear otherwise. He is of course, bestowed of many virtues, chief among so his delight in the many pleasures of this world, second among so his capacity to indulge in any virtue or pleasure at will. Cleverest of anyone we see here, able to run conversations by himself with faux humility (for what does Kruppe have a need to be humble about?) and keep the magnificent city of Darujhistan in his pocket. There is a power vacuum of sorts our dear Eel needs to fulfill, and there is plenty of the rotund mage to explore each new crevice.
Rallick Nom and Murillio are great as well, in many ways they act as foils of one another. Rallick does what he does because he sees this as his only path through life, holding onto the concept of his actions benefiting others to preserve his mortality. Murillio, on the other hand, has a moral code of sorts but will transgress it if he feels there is a way to benefit a friend sufficiently. In the end, they both wind up morally bankrupt.
Lady Simtal and Turban Orr were fun villains. Not particularly unique but pulled off extremely well.
High Alchemist Baruk seems to have a whole bunch of layers to him. We keep getting allusions to a whole bunch of relevant stories with this man, such as his ascendancy or close friendship to Rallick Nom, but we don't get to see much of it, which I feel is a shame.
Raest is an awsome force of nature villain, believably evil for the sake of it. Namely, his evil is specific which is what makes for great villains of this sort. Raest wanted control over the longterm development of his world, to fundamentally remake things after his own nature.
Anomander freaking Rake. Nuf said.

Setting

While this is our first real look into Wu(?) as a whole, I'll mostly focus on modern-day Genebakis.
A great setting, with a bit of ecological and cultural diversity, although mostly hyperfocused on the city of Darujhistan. Perhaps a bit more could have been done in the set-dressing department. Genebaris received no real description, despite apparently existing in a different biome than the more southern cities. Similarly, he evidently passes through a forest, but of what kind? Touches like these could help further drive in the scope of the narrative physically in a similar manner to the temporal scope. It also is a bit disappointing because when Erikson did go the extra mile to do so, such as Kruppe's dreams or the like, two up-close descriptions of Darujhistan (besides just being big, blue, and copper from far off) were great. Actually, the lack of Darujhistan descriptions was possibly the biggest missed opportunity.
But what we do get in the City of Blue Fire is great and evocative. From the infrastructure to the politics to the culture and religion, it all stands out even among other great fantasy cities.
The Rhivi, Moranth, and Bhargast can all stand to be expanded on, but I get the sense that they'll be more than able to provide on that front once it becomes time. I'm curious to see how southern Genebakis contrasts to the northern reaches, but we'll get to that when we get to that.
Erikson's experience as an anthropologist really shines through, with the breadth, depth, and specificity of the world-building and cultures. I anticipate this element of the BotF rising to the top for me personally once we have more time to watch it unfold.

Cosmology and Magic

So my takes on these have been... rather well received, it seems. I love what tiny bit of the magic and cosmos of the world I've seen so far and look forward to understanding more!
In a lot of ways, it seems magic in this world is itself undergoing an evolutionary process, with all the Elder Warrens to Warrens ascendants and gods, and mortals evidently now being potent enough to overpower the gods themselves. If we expand on this analogy, then a lot of the confusion might be due to poor terminology. E.g. define a fish. Now define a Warren. There seem to be multiple related things all lumped under the same blanket term, despite their functional difference. The magic super highways and demi-planes and isolated pockets within objects (Dragnupir and the Finnest) are all roughly related (fish) while being intrinsically different and likely further classifiable as such (trout, squid, and sharks if you will).
But aside from that residual speculation and just generally saying its cool, I don't got much to say here.

Prose and Format

The prose of GotM was pretty good! Not the best, but serviceable, engaging, and evocative with a handful of really standout passages. I cannot wait to see this take a ten-year leap in Deadhouse Gates!
The formating was interesting. Many chapters were wonderfully interwoven PoV's all complimenting each other. Some could have conceivably been split into multiple quite comfortably, other blended. Makes me wonder why Erikson collected things as he did. Chapter 9 was basically 4 self-contained sequences each a chapter long, lol. ... It's because the Odessy has 24 chapters, isn't it? The book breakdown was terrifically effective, while Books 4, 5, and 6 largely blended together PoV-wise, they each still had their specific goals and arcs.
I'm a major fan of Epigraphs, and these were all great! (Despite my constant timeline and poetry scruples) A lot of my more out-there theorizing tended to be a bit more playful with the epigraphs than I think Erikson ever got, but that's more my own biases talking. I will say, if I ever get around to writing anything, I'd love to go ham on epigraph shenanigans.
All in all, this profoundly unique PoV structure (not so much unique in form as in just how broad and ambitious it is) works to elevate the whole experience. That Erikson so radically adheres to 3rd limited can get somewhat constraining at times, especially when we're not privy to info our PoV has, but overall, it works.

Final Thoughts

So, with all my nit-picking, critiques, and half-praise, did I even like this novel? No, I LOVE it. It is in many ways as advertised, a messy first step into a unique and wildly ambitious new direction, and I'm wholly invested in watching the rest of this unfold!
And now for one last pass through the ancillary goodies:
Dramatis Personae
Is actually quite funny in retrospect. But first:
Sorry is mentioned as a killer in the guise of a young girl. Obvious when you're in the know but it doesn't give the answer right away.
Dancer is mentioned as the advisor (right-hand, if you will) right out of the gate, D'oh.
Toc the Elder disappeared during Laseen's purges, interesting.
Kruppe: a man of false modesty, TRUE
Coll being merely listed as a drunk, technically true.
Chert: "an unlucky bully" lol
Mammot is listed as a High Preist of D'riss, D'oh.
The Eel is listed independently of Kruppe, good cover.
K'Rul is listed as the Maker of Paths, D'oh.
And that's more or less it. (I mean, I only skimmed it before, so its not like a missed anything)

Glossary

Not too much to say here, but a few notes:
Poliel, Missteres of Pestilence, and Soliel, Missteres of Healing have rather similar names, which is interesting.
The Warrens here are all listed as what their actual domains are, which is a nice aid. There don't seem to be any more than the ones named somewhere within the text, which is fine, but a couple odd notes:
Meanas is listed as the Path of Shadow and Illusion, Tattersail mentioned the two domains are connected, whereas Quick Ben (once a High Preist of Shadow) had seemed to regard the two as separate. There's a story there.
Also, Thyr, Tattersaill's Warren, is the Warren of Light, given the apparently... interesting relationship between Light and Dark, particularly Lights evident "corruption" I'd love to see the implications of all this.
The K'chain Che'maille's Elder Warren is not listed, either because it doesn't exist (once again proving them the worst Elder Race, nerds got soloed by some snow, lol) or it was simply never mentioned. Given we have seen at least one magic relic from them, likely the latter.
Also, the Azath is nowhere mentioned, which is interesting in itself.
Well, that's that! See y'all in a week or so, once I've gotten a test out of the way, with the beginning of Deadhouse Gates!