Dominican barber shops near me

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Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 2)
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I closed my eyes, resting my head against the seat of the car as we drove. I could feel Dom’s hand resting over mine, reminding me of his presence.
​
Neither of us spoke… and really, I wasn’t sure what there was to say. The night before as we’d sat in the ruined church, watching Puriysk burn, we’d talked a little bit about what was waiting for us but I honestly don’t remember much about that conversation. We hadn’t talked much about what had happened in Bakersfield or Rankin Mills although we both knew what we’d lost. Friends, family, and things we would never get back. I suppose we both knew that there’d be time to mourn afterward if there even was an afterward.
​
Right now, the grief wasn’t important.
​
What was important was getting to Parsons, killing Ben Calhoun, and doing it before he either dragged another town into this Hell he had created or the hive-minded God we’d unleashed found a way to escape.
“We should count ourselves lucky that Milo had foresight…” Gretchen said, drawing Dom’s attention away from me.
​
“Why’s that?” He asked.
“These rounds are already cursed. Saves me the trouble… it must have taken a considerable amount of time to set that up. I suppose it makes sense, he most likely brought these along intending for them to be used on the Nightwalkers. Cursing them is simply pragmatic.”
“And he didn’t think to give me some of those?” Nina asked, pretending to sound hurt.
​
“You were meant to be a more subtle operator… presumably as a joke,” Gretchen replied. “This kind of firepower would have been impractical. The men in Puriysk were intended as more of an assault team. Milo’s goal was to take Parsons by force. Crush them with overwhelming opposition. Besides… judging by the stores I saw in the armory, Milo clearly did not expect to have to deal with the Nightwalkers on the scale that we encountered them last night. I don’t think he anticipated that Calhoun would have the means to control them and to be fair, neither did I. Had that possibility occurred to me, I would have warned him. Either way, it hardly matters. Those munitions would not have been sufficient to repel that kind of assault. Really, I’m not sure anything in our arsenal could have.”
​
“Well that’s reassuring,” Nina murmured. “It’s not like we’re about to knock on his door in the next few hours.”
“We’ve survived once, so it’s statistically possible that we can survive again,” Gretchen replied.
“Statistically po… well thanks for the vote of fucking confidence!” Nina snapped, “You got any other words of inspiration?”
“Not of inspiration, no. Would you like me to prophecies our doom instead?”
If looks could kill, then the glare that Nina shot Gretchen would have ended her.
“I’m not talking to you anymore!”
​
Strangely enough, watching those two bicker was kind of comforting and made me crack a slight smile. I wondered if they both knew that too, and were only arguing like an old married couple because it made them both feel better about what was to come.
I suspected it did.
​
***
​
Through the mist up ahead, I could see a stone archway in the road. It was far more ornate than anything I’d ever seen before, looking more like something out of a fairy tale than anything else. From the corner of my eye, I could see Dom staring intently at it.
“That’s it…” He said softly, “That’s the gate.”
​
Underneath the gate, I could see several parked cars, forming a makeshift barricade and a pair of men standing in front of them, guns at the ready. One of them was already starting to approach the car, a hand held up and warning us to stop. Nina seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally slowing down.
​
“Dom, pass me my gun,” She said calmly before putting her mask on and rolling down the window.
“Wherever you’re coming from, Parsons is closed!” The man in the road called, “Turn around and go back! Go any further and we will shoot!”
“The fuck it’s closed! I’ve got people from Thompson Falls in here!” Nina called back, “Some kind of bullshit happened the other night, I need to get these people to safety!”
​
The man in the road looked over toward one of his companions who came up and said something to him.
“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to turn around and go back the way you came,” He said. “There’s some kind of infection out there. We’ve got strict orders not to let anyone in!”
“Yeah, we’re aware of the infection, fucknuts! Why do you think we’re wearing masks? And where the fuck else are we supposed to go? Bakersfield and Rankin Mills are all fucked up, somebody set Puriysk on fucking fire! I’ve got one of your boys in here, he told me where to go, and I’ve got a doctor in here! She could help!”
Again, the man in the road consulted with his friend.
​
“We can talk to Sheriff Brown about letting you in, and we can let you past this archway while you wait. But we need to confirm you’re not infected first. We need everyone in the car to stick out a hand. I’m going to take a lighter, and see how you react to the flame, does that sound fair?”
“Sheriff Brown…?” Dom asked before realizing what that probably meant.
​
Judging by the look on Nina’s face, I knew she’d figured it out too. Looks like McClellan had already been replaced.
“Do what you’ve got to do,” She asked not dropping the act. Dom passed her the shotgun and we watched as one of the men behind the cars went over to a small house behind the archway. I saw him coming out with a phone and yelling something to the guy in front of our car.
“Before we start, I’m gonna need some names for the Sheriff. We’ve got him on the phone.”
“Tell him we’ve got Dr. Morbius in here, he’ll know who it is!”
​
The guy in the road relayed the name back to the guy on the phone, who was quiet for a moment. Then, he turned and said something quietly to one of the other men near him, watching us intently all the while. The man he’d spoken to walked out to whisper to the man in the road, who just kept staring at us.
They knew who we were. I was certain of it.
“I’m gonna need you people to stay put for a minute,” The man in the road said, “We’re gonna let you in… but first we need to confirm you’re not infected. Alright?”
​
He held up his hands to show they were empty, then reached down into his pocket for a lighter before slowly approaching us, moving off to the side as he went toward the driver's side door and out of the way, giving his buddies by the cars a clear target. I could see them taking aim and knew they’d probably start shooting before their friend actually got there.
​
Nina looked over at Gretchen, who gave a knowing nod.
​
In one fluid motion, Nina took her hands off the wheel and grabbed the gun out of her lap. She fired out the window twice, bathing the man in the road in fire before he could take a single step closer. The car was launched forward as she hit the gas and Gretchen grabbed hold of the steering wheel, keeping it straight as Nina fired blindly toward the other men, showering them in sparks and lead.
“IT’S MORBIN TIME!” She howled, cackling like a complete psychopath as she did.
​
Gretchen gave a violent wave of her hand. I watched the ground beneath the cars barricading beneath the archway shift, pulling them out of our way. One of the men topped to the ground, losing his footing and ending up under the wheels of our car as we sped through. Nina fired at the men behind us a few times, although I don’t think she actually hit any of them. Looking back at the archway as we left it behind, I could see two men impotently shooting at us, over the bodies of about two or three of their friends.
​
Parsons was just ahead of us now. No going back. The mist grew lighter as we left the forest behind, and with the trees gone, I looked upon the town of Parsons for the first time in my life. The sight of it almost left me speechless.
​
Parsons reminded me a little bit of the town we’d seen in Estonia. There was a certain kind of timeless beauty to the architecture there. Lovingly crafted brick buildings and cobblestone streets awaited us ahead. The sun shone brighter here than I’d seen anywhere else too. The mist wasn’t quite so thick, and it made the quiet streets seem so much more picturesque. I hadn’t thought that something so beautiful could exist here… and yet here it was. I looked up at the buildings we passed, utterly spellbound by them and I almost felt sorry that Nina was probably going to set everything on fire in the next hour or so.
​
“Fascinating…” Gretchen said, already reaching for her notebook, “This architecture clearly was not part of Parsons when it disappeared! Calhoun has certainly made some improvements. I wonder who designed these?”
​
As I explored the skyline, my eyes were drawn to one building in particular, a large house near the center of town. Something about its architecture of it was… strange. It was hard to look at it clearly and trace where some parts began and others ended. Trying to figure it all out gave me a headache.
“That’s Calhoun’s house,” Dom said, pointing at it. “If we’re going to find him, that’s probably the place to look.”
“Let’s go see if he’s home,” Nina replied, steering down one of the cobblestone streets toward Calhoun’s house.
​
As we drove, I noticed just how empty the streets were. In Puriysk, we’d at least seen a few people out and about but Parsons seemed almost completely abandoned. I wasn’t the only one who noticed it either.
“Thought this was supposed to be a town… y’know, with people living in it,” Nina murmured.
​
“Given the threat of the Rosen Prince, Calhoun may have had the foresight to either get them out or lock them down,” Gretchen offered. “At least until he could deal with the problem directly.”
“In the event of an emergency, we did a few drills on how to get people out,” Dom said. “I think McClellan’s predecessor set it all up although McClellan himself only really did the drills out of obligation.”
​
“They had an actual emergency plan here?” Nina asked, half impressed.
“Like I said, it was the Sheriff before McClellan who set it up. Supposedly the plan was to have something similar in all the towns, although McClellan always said we didn’t have the resources for anything like that.”
“Right, no resources…” Nina said, looking out the window as we drove past a statue of Calhoun set in a lush green park. “Dare I ask how McClellan ended up Sheriff, and what happened to the other guy?”
​
Dom shrugged.
“Y’know, now that I think about it nobody ever really discussed it. The whole thing was before my time but I heard some rumors. Supposedly he’d had an ‘accident’ outside one night. Got torn apart by the Nightwalkers. But the Nightwalkers were never as much of a problem in Parsons. And I’ve heard a few of the older Deputy’s mention how Calhoun and the old Sheriff had some sort of falling out.”
Nina whistled.
“Wow… shocking,” She said.
​
As we turned down another road, I heard a crackle of static coming from the streets around us, followed by a voice.
“Nina Valentine? You know, McClellan didn’t think you’d ever make it to Parsons but I had a gut feeling you would… you’re not as stupid as you look.”
​
That cold voice sent a chill through me, and I swear I saw Dom tensing up as well. It’d been a few days since we’d heard the voice of Kevin Brown, and the knowledge that he was still alive was anything but pleasant.
“Oh hey, Kev’s here!” Nina said, sounding almost happy to hear him.
​
“So in anticipation of your arrival, and to protect against whatever plague you and your people unleashed against us, I’ve made sure to take every precaution in ensuring that you and your friends receive a warm Parsons welcome!”
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Almost on cue, I saw Sheriff’s Boys running out onto the street ahead of us and heard the gunshots almost immediately. Nina ducked down, swerving the car as bullets shattered the windshield. She hit the gas, speeding toward the Sheriff’s Boys and barreling into them at top speed. Through the cracks that spiderwebbed across the windshield, I saw one body crashing against the hood of the car and rolling up onto the roof.
​
The SUV crashed hard into a nearby building, causing Nina to slam against the steering wheel. Dom and I were thrown against the seats in front of us although Gretchen barely seemed to move.
“FUCKER!” Nina spat, before grabbing her shotgun, and ducking down as another hail of gunfire erupted from behind us, ripping apart the rear window of the SUV. Dom and I both ducked down to avoid getting hit, as did Nina.
​
Gretchen just calmly looked back through the rear window, as if nothing was wrong.
“That’s inconvenient,” She said before fixing her jacket and casually opening the door to the car.
“The fuck are you doing?!” Nina snapped.
“Attribution spell,” Gretchen replied, and without another word stepped out of the car.
​
I watched her through the window as the Sheriff’s Boys took aim at her, and I could see the bullets hitting the bricks of the building behind her. I could see the way her body moved every time a bullet struck her.
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But not a single mark appeared on her.
​
Looking over the seat, I saw that the same could not be said for the Sheriff’s Boys. Several of them now lay dead on the ground, while others clawed at their wounds, screaming in pain. Most of those still standing had stopped shooting and had paused, now regarding Gretchen with quiet horror, trying to make sense of the impossible thing that had just happened to them.
“Are we finished?” She asked, “Excellent! Now…”
​
The ground moved beneath her. I saw her dagger appear in her hand as she drew it violently across the throat of the nearest member of the Sheriff’s Boys. The other shrank back in fear, one mindlessly shooting at her. His bullet struck her in the head, and so his own skull burst in response.
​
Gretchen moved on to the next, moving the ground beneath his feet to bring him closer to her, and driving her knife into his stomach. One of the other Boys reached for his own dagger and lunged for her, driving it into her back. He screamed in pain as the wound appeared on him instead and Gretchen just calmly turned around and sank her fangs into his throat. With a flick of her wrist, the cobblestones in the road were torn up, bombarding the remaining Sheriff’s Boys who tried to flee in a blind panic, only to find themselves downrange of Nina as she got out of the car, and unleashed burning hell upon them with every pull of her trigger.
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Gretchen pulled the screaming man closer, her mouth wet with his blood. Then, as he gurgled and choked she tossed him back to the ground.
“Inadequate,” She said, taking a handkerchief out of her coat and daintily wiping her mouth with it, “Very poor quality.”
​
Dom and I got out of the car next.
“We’ve still got a few blocks to Calhoun’s place,” He said. “We should move, now!”
Before Nina could respond to that, more gunshots rang out from down the street.
​
“Listen up, Boys, we have four high priority targets on the streets of Parsons right now!” Kevin announced, “Get out there and start shooting, and for whoever brings me the head of the blonde one… I’ll make it worth your while. Happy hunting, Boys!”
​
As the Sheriff’s Boys shot at us, Nina took off toward the nearest building, gesturing for the rest of us to follow her. Dom and I started running immediately, but Gretchen held back. I saw her eyes drift toward one of the nearby buildings. She focused on it for a moment, before reaching out, curling her fingers as if she were grabbing hold of something. I saw the building move. I saw the brick starting to crack. She seemed to pull at it, gritting her teeth as she did. The building buckled slightly and Gretchen finally let it go, allowing gravity to do the rest of the work as she ran to follow us.
​
Nina paused, looking back as the building collapsed down onto the oncoming Sheriff’s Boys, and blocking off the rest of the street. I saw her struggling not to look impressed as she traded a look with Gretchen.
“So you could just do that the whole time, and you still let the Rosen Prince out?” She asked.
Gretchen just sighed and shook her head, as we disappeared into the building.
​
Once upon a time, I think the building we were in used to be a cafe. Now it was silent and empty. Dom pulled ahead of Nina as we made our way through.
“If we can get over to the next street, I think we can get back on track,” He said. “That should be Parsons main street.”
“Great, think we can collapse any more buildings to make it easier?” Nina asked.
“I can try,” Gretchen said, “Although if you must know, that isn’t exactly easy for me. It’s not an ability that comes naturally and I’ve never used it on this kind of scale before.”
“Well, you’re gonna learn,” Nina said with a shrug as we went out back through the kitchen. Dom led us through a back door, into an alley filled with dumpsters and drainage pipes.
​
“This way,” He said, gesturing for us to follow. Up ahead, through another alley leading to one of the streets, I could see one of the Sheriff’s Boys rounding the corner. He froze at the sight of us and raised his rifle, but Dom shot first. The sparks caught on his clothes, making him stagger back although he didn’t fall. An open flame had caught on his sleeve, leaving him screaming and swatting frantically at it before Dom fired again, sending him tumbling to the ground.
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I saw two more of his buddies rounding the corner to investigate. The first one took an entire barrel of flaming shotgun pellets to the face, courtesy of Nina. He was dead before he’d even finished rounding the corner. The other one made the mistake of turning to look at his dead companion and was blown away as well.
"Well… good news, it’s just these assholes we have to deal with,” Nina said as we went back into the alley. “Kinda nice, for a change!”
​
We cut through the alley, making it back out onto the street. I could see some more of the Sheriff’s Boys, although they took care of themselves by shooting at Gretchen as we dove back into cover.
“We’re not done just yet,” She warned, irritably fixing her coat again. “Let’s go.”
​
“So you’ve come, in defiance of everything I’ve done to stop you?” A calm voice asked through the speakers. I recognized this one as Calhoun’s. “I have been kind. I have been patient… I let you take Puriysk and when you were done, I pushed you to leave. But you don’t respond to kindness, do you? No. You need a firmer hand and you leave me with few other choices…”
​
The street we were on grew darker, and all of us paused, looking up toward the sky. We watched as the sun… or whatever it was in this world that we called the sun, began to change. It seemed to flicker around the edges, the flickering growing more and more violent, like a candle about to go out. A shadow seemed to bleed in from the outside as the sun faded away, dissolving into a darkening sky until nothing was left and shrouding the street around us in darkness.
“Well that’s not good,” Nina said, looking up at where the sun used to be.
​
Almost like a comedic afterthought, the lanterns on the street flickered to life, casting a dull electronic glow on us.
“Attention, attention! All members of the Sheriff’s Boys get to cover, immediately!” Kevin said over the PA, “I repeat, all members of the Sheriff’s Boys get to cover immediately!”
​
Nobody needed to say it out loud, we all knew that we needed to run.
​
We took off down the street, guns at the ready as we made our final push to Calhoun’s house. Up ahead, I could see several of the Sheriff’s Boys ushering more of their buddies out of one of the alleys. I noticed one of them glancing in our direction, although nobody gave them the opportunity to start shooting. The one who’d looked at us was hit dead on by burning shotgun shells, screaming as he caught fire. I saw some of his friends jump back and heard one yell:
“GET DOWN!”
​
It didn’t do a hell of a lot of good. Nina and Dom cut ahead of us, firing at the fleeing Sheriff’s Boys, although once they noticed they had no intention of shooting back at us, they left them alone and kept on running.
​
Calhoun’s house was just up ahead, I could see it now. The twisted, impossible architecture looked almost as if it were ensnared by roots or vines, although they seemed to be part of the stone and not actually part of some plant.
“Just up ahead…” Dom said, cutting ahead of the pack a little, although when the gunfire started again, he went crashing to the ground, diving for cover behind the stone stairs of one of the nearby buildings. I think he might have sworn, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of gunfire. I noticed him pressing a hand to his shoulder and dove down by the stairs to join him.
​
“Are you alright?” I asked, trying to get a look at the wound.
“I-I’m fine, just a graze…” He stammered, before peeking out over the stairs to see Gretchen standing between us and the Sheriff’s Boys, trying her damndest to hold them off.
I saw Nina just up ahead, taking advantage of Gretchen’s distraction to get around them. I could see the flash as she unloaded her shotgun at the unseen gunmen. I counted about six of them, taking refuge on the other side of the street. One was struck by a cobblestone Gretchen had pulled up and knocked out into the open, only to be set alight by a blast from Nina’s gun. Another was trying to get around Gretchen, and I raised my .22 to take aim at him.
​
Taking a deep breath, I pulled the trigger. My first few shots missed, but the third or fourth caught him in the stomach, sending him down to the ground. He tried to stand and I aimed down the sight, squeezing the trigger two more times. I know that at least one of them hit. I saw him press a hand to his neck, as he collapsed onto his side and even through the darkness I could see his eyes burning into mine.
​
Those eyes… I knew I’d never forget them.
​
Nina kept shooting, pushing the Sheriff’s Boys back the way they came. Her gun clicked, and I saw her reach for the pistol she kept and shoot with that instead. I saw one man fall, while the others retreated into an alley between the buildings.
"Get up!" I urged, Dom. “We’re almost there!”
​
I pulled him to his feet, keeping my gun trained on the alley the Sheriff’s Boys had run into as if I knew what I was doing. He found his legs quickly as we made our way to the gates of Calhoun’s house and into his courtyard.
​
The courtyard was lush and overgrown with greenery. With the right hands, it could have been a beautiful garden, but instead, Calhoun had allowed weeds and vines to grow rampant instead. Even the fountain near the center was almost overflowing with vines and the water from it only flowed at a pathetic trickle.
​
Nina looked back anxiously out onto the street, before looking ahead to Calhoun’s house. I imagine it was just as much of an eyesore to her as it was to me.
“You’re wounded,” Gretchen said, coming to Dom’s side.
“Just a graze,” He assured her, “Honestly considering how many people were shooting at us, I think we’re lucky that’s all we got!”
​
Gretchen ignored him to examine the wound instead, although stopped fussing once she saw that it really was just a graze.
“Listen up, Boys! If you’re not in cover, find it now! We’ve got reports of Nightwalkers in the lower districts! We’re sending in heavy armor! Get off the streets, now!” Kevin said over the PA.
“Welp, you heard the man,” Nina said. She took the magazine out of her shotgun and replaced it with a spare before heading toward the house although she paused when she saw what else was looming in front of her.
​
We saw the eye first. The sigil of a single, crimson eye burning through the darkness. Then we saw the beast, lumbering out of the shadows. Its body was massive and thick with muscle. Its head was pale and emaciated, with sunken beady eyes and a lipless mouth lined with jagged teeth. Atop its head were jutting elk horns, overgrown with moss and weeds. The sigil burned bright on its forehead and marked it as Calhoun’s final emissary.
​
“Yup… that seems just about right,” Nina said with a sigh as the Horned Nightwalker lumbered toward her. She raised her shotgun and got off only a few shots before it hit her, launching her across the courtyard and sending her to the ground in a tangled heap.
​
Dom was up next, shooting at it as it came for us, although before it could get close, the ground beneath it shifted, bringing it closer to Gretchen. The Nightwalker almost fell but recovered quickly. It brought one massive hand down on the spot where she’d been just a few moments before, as the shifting ground moved her away from it and closer to the fountain. Gretchen gestured with her hand, pulling the water out of the fountain and forming it into a jagged shard of ice. With a flick of her wrist, that ice pierced the chest of the Nightwalker, earning a cry of frustration from it.
​
Nina had stumbled to her feet again and was taking aim at the Nightwalker, firing round after round at it. It tried to shield its face as the moss on its body was set alight. Despite the flames, the Nightwalker hardly seemed phased. Even as Gretchen impaled it on another spear of ice, it only struggled to get free, either unwilling or unable to die.
​
“Must I do this for all of your pawns, Calhoun?” Gretchen growled, reaching for the revolver in her coat, she took a step back to aim it, although before she could fire, something lunged at her from the shadows, knocking her off her feet. The revolver skidded out of her hands, landing near the fountain.
​
In the low light, I watched as Gretchen tried to fight off the thing that had landed on her. It looked almost like a lion or a tiger, although the face was all wrong and the mouth was too wide. I saw it clawing at her, before leaping back suddenly as the gashes appeared on its own stomach. The Tiger Nightwalker hissed, glaring at Gretchen before noticing Nina taking aim at it. It had just enough time to give one last roar before she shot it, engulfing it in flames and sending it tearing away at top speed, although it didn’t seem to make it far before it was on the ground, screaming and rolling to try and get the fire out.
​
Gretchen tried to crawl toward the gun, reaching a hand out to beckon it closer to her. I saw the gun move about an inch before the Horned Nightwalker came for her.
​
Its fist came down hard on her leg, hard enough that it should have broken it. Although instead, I saw the Nightwalker’s leg bend violently. It screamed in pain, sliding down further along the spear of ice Gretchen had impaled it with, before grabbing her by the leg and hurling her across the courtyard. She hit the ground hard, and let out a cry of genuine pain before trying to pick herself up.
“Valentine… the Gun!” She gasped.
​
I saw Nina make a mad dash for the revolver, as inhuman cries sounded all around us. I could see other Nightwalkers coming. One that looked like a gray, naked man sprinted toward Dom and I. Dom blew it away with a blast from his shotgun.
​
Nina almost made it to the revolver, just as the Horned Nightwalker broke free of the ice spear. It swept its fist, knocking Nina forward and over the fountain, before lumbering toward her.
​
Dom was busy with the Nightwalkers, and I could see the revolver. I ran for it, grabbing it off the ground and taking aim at the Horned Nightwalker as it advanced on Nina. I took aim, just about to pull the trigger when from the corner of my eye, I saw headlights shining into the courtyard as a truck sped in.
“Let’s see you assholes live through this!” A voice on a megaphone called out from inside.
​
Kevin.
​
I noticed something on top of the truck, and only had half a second to move once I realized what it was. There was some kind of gun on top of that truck.
​
It had started shooting before I dove behind the fountain. I saw Dom stumble back, running for cover as well. Over the megaphone, I could hear Kevin laughing.
​
The truck circled the fountain, only barely missing the Horned Nightwalker, who ignored it in favor of chasing Nina. I watched as Nina leaped into the fountain itself and ducked low, trying to keep herself from being shot and crushed by two different problems.
​
On the far side of the courtyard, Gretchen was on her feet again. I heard the scrape of the earth as she moved the ground underneath the truck, causing it to fishtail. The rear end of it slammed against the fountain. I saw whoever was manning the gun at the top of the truck slam against their gun, before hastily righting themselves. They looked at Gretchen, who stared them down knowingly and waited for them to open fire.
​
It went about as well as one might have expected.
​
He pulled the trigger, unleashing a hail of bullets onto her and as he did, I saw his body torn apart by the impact.
“JESUS CHRIST!” I heard Kevin say from inside as the truck's tires squealed and the driver tried to move it again.
​
I looked over at Nina and saw her still in the fountain, trying to use the lovingly sculpted tiers, overgrown with vines to keep the Horned Nightwalker from getting to her. It just smashed them without a second thought and shrugged off the idle blasts from her shotgun that she fired to try and cover her retreat as she scrambled out of the fountain again. Dom was running to Nina’s side, trying to distract it and cover her escape.
​
I raised the revolver, taking aim at the Nightwalker again, before noticing that the space around me had suddenly grown a lot brighter. I turned to see Kevin’s truck racing toward me and tried to hastily stumble out of the way.
​
I wasn’t fast enough. The truck clipped me, sending me to the ground. The revolver slipped out of my hand, landing in some of the nearby vines. My ears rang and white hot pain erupted through my body as I tried to convince my body to move. I looked up toward the truck, to see it skidding to a halt and I saw somebody pushing the dead man out of the gunner's seat. Somebody new replaced him, and though I could only barely see his face, I already knew who it was.
​
Kevin.
​
He took aim at me, and I stared down the barrel of his gun, waiting for him to fire. But before he could, something gangly and luminous leaped onto the back of his truck, clawing frantically to climb up and reach him. Kevin jerked the gun around, eyes widening in horror as he came face to face with the Rosen Prince.
​
Unfortunately, he had the good sense to start shooting.
​
The familiar scream of the Rosen echoed through the courtyard. I looked over toward the gate to see countless more, just like the one Kevin was trying to kill pouring in and climbing the fence. I saw a few of them sprint across the courtyard, leaping onto the Horned Nightwalker, and unleashing their shimmering spores onto it.
​
I reached for the cluster of vines I’d seen the revolver fall into, only to feel Gretchen’s hand gripping the back of my shirt and pulling me to my feet.
“The gun!” I cried, trying to gesture to where it was.
“No time,” She replied, before putting her hand on the fountain.
​
I felt the ground shift beneath us as the entire fountain rotated, bringing us closer to the door. The Horned Nightwalker clawed at the Rosen upon its back, and I could see Kevin had become more preoccupied shooting at the newcomers, as opposed to shooting at us. Nina and Dom were already running for the door.
“Just fucking go!” Nina yelled, waving us inside.
​
Gretchen and I turned, running up the steps and toward the twisted door ahead of us. I was the first there. My hand closed around the doorknob and I threw it open and barreled inside. Once the others were through, I slammed it shut.
​
As soon as it was closed, I watched Gretchen take her knife from her coat. She hastily cut open her palm and marked a sigil on the door in her own blood.
“This should keep them out for a while,” She said, “But I’d suggest we conclude our business here quickly,”

so i’m moving from my apartment to another one in a week, since i told my renter he always walks by my apartment and “checks” the internet router. i went back to my town this weekend and the guys in the near rooms told me he’s being doing the same, but did nothing because they always stayed near. i don’t know what he’s planning but i’m going to put my old cell phone to record my room while i’m not here, anyone knows about an app that does that and saves it in to a cloud or something? like an app to turn my phone into a security cámara idk

Hi! Looking for any feedback from folks have done either of these routes.
Route choice:
Debating between Pinyons and Pines route: http://danaernst.com/PinyonsPines/course2022/ or The Coconino Loop : (https://bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-coconino-loop/)
My Plan:
Fly into PHX on Saturday May 6th. Groome Shuttle to take me to Flagstaff. Drop bike bag off at bike shop. Get a room. Start ride on Sunday - spend the next 6 days riding. Get back to Flagstaff on Friday the 12th, get a room. Morning of the 13th take shuttle back to PHX and fly home.
Pace:
I have 6 days to ride and would like to use all that time to ride. Based on my trip on the Queens Ransom in 5 days, I think ill be plenty knackered doing either of these routes in 6 days plus filming
Bike Choice:
Debating between my El Jefe with 120mm front Suspension or my Transition Spur 130/120. Seems like I might have a bit more fun on my Spur! I haven't done a ton of Bikepacking on the Spur though. I think both would be up for the task. I am more comfortable bikepacking on the El Jefe and have slightly more carrying capacity on the el Jefe.
Why I'd choose one route over the other:
I'd RATHER do a route that:

• Has easier water logistics (more water reup opportunities) - Planning to carry around 6 liters but have capacity to carry up to 8
• Is generally cooler (Is at higher elevation / has less exposed sections) I am anticipating that it could get cold (freezing) and hot (in the 90s) on either route. I do better in cold weather than in the heat though.
• Has LESS hike a bike. I am anticipating both routes to have a fair amount of hike a bike. Would prefer the one that has less.
• Is actually ridable when I plan to go! I am watching snow levels... the Pinyons and Pines race starts May 18th, so I figured im in the right ballpark timing wise.

If anyone has feedback/experience on either route i'd love to hear it! Thanks!

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Ninth Entry
Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 2)
​
I closed my eyes, resting my head against the seat of the car as we drove. I could feel Dom’s hand resting over mine, reminding me of his presence.
​
Neither of us spoke… and really, I wasn’t sure what there was to say. The night before as we’d sat in the ruined church, watching Puriysk burn, we’d talked a little bit about what was waiting for us but I honestly don’t remember much about that conversation. We hadn’t talked much about what had happened in Bakersfield or Rankin Mills although we both knew what we’d lost. Friends, family, and things we would never get back. I suppose we both knew that there’d be time to mourn afterward if there even was an afterward.
​
Right now, the grief wasn’t important.
​
What was important was getting to Parsons, killing Ben Calhoun, and doing it before he either dragged another town into this Hell he had created or the hive-minded God we’d unleashed found a way to escape.
“We should count ourselves lucky that Milo had foresight…” Gretchen said, drawing Dom’s attention away from me.
​
“Why’s that?” He asked.
“These rounds are already cursed. Saves me the trouble… it must have taken a considerable amount of time to set that up. I suppose it makes sense, he most likely brought these along intending for them to be used on the Nightwalkers. Cursing them is simply pragmatic.”
“And he didn’t think to give me some of those?” Nina asked, pretending to sound hurt.
​
“You were meant to be a more subtle operator… presumably as a joke,” Gretchen replied. “This kind of firepower would have been impractical. The men in Puriysk were intended as more of an assault team. Milo’s goal was to take Parsons by force. Crush them with overwhelming opposition. Besides… judging by the stores I saw in the armory, Milo clearly did not expect to have to deal with the Nightwalkers on the scale that we encountered them last night. I don’t think he anticipated that Calhoun would have the means to control them and to be fair, neither did I. Had that possibility occurred to me, I would have warned him. Either way, it hardly matters. Those munitions would not have been sufficient to repel that kind of assault. Really, I’m not sure anything in our arsenal could have.”
​
“Well that’s reassuring,” Nina murmured. “It’s not like we’re about to knock on his door in the next few hours.”
“We’ve survived once, so it’s statistically possible that we can survive again,” Gretchen replied.
“Statistically po… well thanks for the vote of fucking confidence!” Nina snapped, “You got any other words of inspiration?”
“Not of inspiration, no. Would you like me to prophecies our doom instead?”
If looks could kill, then the glare that Nina shot Gretchen would have ended her.
“I’m not talking to you anymore!”
​
Strangely enough, watching those two bicker was kind of comforting and made me crack a slight smile. I wondered if they both knew that too, and were only arguing like an old married couple because it made them both feel better about what was to come.
I suspected it did.
​
***
​
Through the mist up ahead, I could see a stone archway in the road. It was far more ornate than anything I’d ever seen before, looking more like something out of a fairy tale than anything else. From the corner of my eye, I could see Dom staring intently at it.
“That’s it…” He said softly, “That’s the gate.”
​
Underneath the gate, I could see several parked cars, forming a makeshift barricade and a pair of men standing in front of them, guns at the ready. One of them was already starting to approach the car, a hand held up and warning us to stop. Nina seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally slowing down.
​
“Dom, pass me my gun,” She said calmly before putting her mask on and rolling down the window.
“Wherever you’re coming from, Parsons is closed!” The man in the road called, “Turn around and go back! Go any further and we will shoot!”
“The fuck it’s closed! I’ve got people from Thompson Falls in here!” Nina called back, “Some kind of bullshit happened the other night, I need to get these people to safety!”
​
The man in the road looked over toward one of his companions who came up and said something to him.
“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to turn around and go back the way you came,” He said. “There’s some kind of infection out there. We’ve got strict orders not to let anyone in!”
“Yeah, we’re aware of the infection, fucknuts! Why do you think we’re wearing masks? And where the fuck else are we supposed to go? Bakersfield and Rankin Mills are all fucked up, somebody set Puriysk on fucking fire! I’ve got one of your boys in here, he told me where to go, and I’ve got a doctor in here! She could help!”
Again, the man in the road consulted with his friend.
​
“We can talk to Sheriff Brown about letting you in, and we can let you past this archway while you wait. But we need to confirm you’re not infected first. We need everyone in the car to stick out a hand. I’m going to take a lighter, and see how you react to the flame, does that sound fair?”
“Sheriff Brown…?” Dom asked before realizing what that probably meant.
​
Judging by the look on Nina’s face, I knew she’d figured it out too. Looks like McClellan had already been replaced.
“Do what you’ve got to do,” She asked not dropping the act. Dom passed her the shotgun and we watched as one of the men behind the cars went over to a small house behind the archway. I saw him coming out with a phone and yelling something to the guy in front of our car.
“Before we start, I’m gonna need some names for the Sheriff. We’ve got him on the phone.”
“Tell him we’ve got Dr. Morbius in here, he’ll know who it is!”
​
The guy in the road relayed the name back to the guy on the phone, who was quiet for a moment. Then, he turned and said something quietly to one of the other men near him, watching us intently all the while. The man he’d spoken to walked out to whisper to the man in the road, who just kept staring at us.
They knew who we were. I was certain of it.
“I’m gonna need you people to stay put for a minute,” The man in the road said, “We’re gonna let you in… but first we need to confirm you’re not infected. Alright?”
​
He held up his hands to show they were empty, then reached down into his pocket for a lighter before slowly approaching us, moving off to the side as he went toward the driver's side door and out of the way, giving his buddies by the cars a clear target. I could see them taking aim and knew they’d probably start shooting before their friend actually got there.
​
Nina looked over at Gretchen, who gave a knowing nod.
​
In one fluid motion, Nina took her hands off the wheel and grabbed the gun out of her lap. She fired out the window twice, bathing the man in the road in fire before he could take a single step closer. The car was launched forward as she hit the gas and Gretchen grabbed hold of the steering wheel, keeping it straight as Nina fired blindly toward the other men, showering them in sparks and lead.
“IT’S MORBIN TIME!” She howled, cackling like a complete psychopath as she did.
​
Gretchen gave a violent wave of her hand. I watched the ground beneath the cars barricading beneath the archway shift, pulling them out of our way. One of the men topped to the ground, losing his footing and ending up under the wheels of our car as we sped through. Nina fired at the men behind us a few times, although I don’t think she actually hit any of them. Looking back at the archway as we left it behind, I could see two men impotently shooting at us, over the bodies of about two or three of their friends.
​
Parsons was just ahead of us now. No going back. The mist grew lighter as we left the forest behind, and with the trees gone, I looked upon the town of Parsons for the first time in my life. The sight of it almost left me speechless.
​
Parsons reminded me a little bit of the town we’d seen in Estonia. There was a certain kind of timeless beauty to the architecture there. Lovingly crafted brick buildings and cobblestone streets awaited us ahead. The sun shone brighter here than I’d seen anywhere else too. The mist wasn’t quite so thick, and it made the quiet streets seem so much more picturesque. I hadn’t thought that something so beautiful could exist here… and yet here it was. I looked up at the buildings we passed, utterly spellbound by them and I almost felt sorry that Nina was probably going to set everything on fire in the next hour or so.
​
“Fascinating…” Gretchen said, already reaching for her notebook, “This architecture clearly was not part of Parsons when it disappeared! Calhoun has certainly made some improvements. I wonder who designed these?”
​
As I explored the skyline, my eyes were drawn to one building in particular, a large house near the center of town. Something about its architecture of it was… strange. It was hard to look at it clearly and trace where some parts began and others ended. Trying to figure it all out gave me a headache.
“That’s Calhoun’s house,” Dom said, pointing at it. “If we’re going to find him, that’s probably the place to look.”
“Let’s go see if he’s home,” Nina replied, steering down one of the cobblestone streets toward Calhoun’s house.
​
As we drove, I noticed just how empty the streets were. In Puriysk, we’d at least seen a few people out and about but Parsons seemed almost completely abandoned. I wasn’t the only one who noticed it either.
“Thought this was supposed to be a town… y’know, with people living in it,” Nina murmured.
​
“Given the threat of the Rosen Prince, Calhoun may have had the foresight to either get them out or lock them down,” Gretchen offered. “At least until he could deal with the problem directly.”
“In the event of an emergency, we did a few drills on how to get people out,” Dom said. “I think McClellan’s predecessor set it all up although McClellan himself only really did the drills out of obligation.”
​
“They had an actual emergency plan here?” Nina asked, half impressed.
“Like I said, it was the Sheriff before McClellan who set it up. Supposedly the plan was to have something similar in all the towns, although McClellan always said we didn’t have the resources for anything like that.”
“Right, no resources…” Nina said, looking out the window as we drove past a statue of Calhoun set in a lush green park. “Dare I ask how McClellan ended up Sheriff, and what happened to the other guy?”
​
Dom shrugged.
“Y’know, now that I think about it nobody ever really discussed it. The whole thing was before my time but I heard some rumors. Supposedly he’d had an ‘accident’ outside one night. Got torn apart by the Nightwalkers. But the Nightwalkers were never as much of a problem in Parsons. And I’ve heard a few of the older Deputy’s mention how Calhoun and the old Sheriff had some sort of falling out.”
Nina whistled.
“Wow… shocking,” She said.
​
As we turned down another road, I heard a crackle of static coming from the streets around us, followed by a voice.
“Nina Valentine? You know, McClellan didn’t think you’d ever make it to Parsons but I had a gut feeling you would… you’re not as stupid as you look.”
​
That cold voice sent a chill through me, and I swear I saw Dom tensing up as well. It’d been a few days since we’d heard the voice of Kevin Brown, and the knowledge that he was still alive was anything but pleasant.
“Oh hey, Kev’s here!” Nina said, sounding almost happy to hear him.
​
“So in anticipation of your arrival, and to protect against whatever plague you and your people unleashed against us, I’ve made sure to take every precaution in ensuring that you and your friends receive a warm Parsons welcome!”
​
Almost on cue, I saw Sheriff’s Boys running out onto the street ahead of us and heard the gunshots almost immediately. Nina ducked down, swerving the car as bullets shattered the windshield. She hit the gas, speeding toward the Sheriff’s Boys and barreling into them at top speed. Through the cracks that spiderwebbed across the windshield, I saw one body crashing against the hood of the car and rolling up onto the roof.
​
The SUV crashed hard into a nearby building, causing Nina to slam against the steering wheel. Dom and I were thrown against the seats in front of us although Gretchen barely seemed to move.
“FUCKER!” Nina spat, before grabbing her shotgun, and ducking down as another hail of gunfire erupted from behind us, ripping apart the rear window of the SUV. Dom and I both ducked down to avoid getting hit, as did Nina.
​
Gretchen just calmly looked back through the rear window, as if nothing was wrong.
“That’s inconvenient,” She said before fixing her jacket and casually opening the door to the car.
“The fuck are you doing?!” Nina snapped.
“Attribution spell,” Gretchen replied, and without another word stepped out of the car.
​
I watched her through the window as the Sheriff’s Boys took aim at her, and I could see the bullets hitting the bricks of the building behind her. I could see the way her body moved every time a bullet struck her.
​
But not a single mark appeared on her.
​
Looking over the seat, I saw that the same could not be said for the Sheriff’s Boys. Several of them now lay dead on the ground, while others clawed at their wounds, screaming in pain. Most of those still standing had stopped shooting and had paused, now regarding Gretchen with quiet horror, trying to make sense of the impossible thing that had just happened to them.
“Are we finished?” She asked, “Excellent! Now…”
​
The ground moved beneath her. I saw her dagger appear in her hand as she drew it violently across the throat of the nearest member of the Sheriff’s Boys. The other shrank back in fear, one mindlessly shooting at her. His bullet struck her in the head, and so his own skull burst in response.
​
Gretchen moved on to the next, moving the ground beneath his feet to bring him closer to her, and driving her knife into his stomach. One of the other Boys reached for his own dagger and lunged for her, driving it into her back. He screamed in pain as the wound appeared on him instead and Gretchen just calmly turned around and sank her fangs into his throat. With a flick of her wrist, the cobblestones in the road were torn up, bombarding the remaining Sheriff’s Boys who tried to flee in a blind panic, only to find themselves downrange of Nina as she got out of the car, and unleashed burning hell upon them with every pull of her trigger.
​
Gretchen pulled the screaming man closer, her mouth wet with his blood. Then, as he gurgled and choked she tossed him back to the ground.
“Inadequate,” She said, taking a handkerchief out of her coat and daintily wiping her mouth with it, “Very poor quality.”
​
Dom and I got out of the car next.
“We’ve still got a few blocks to Calhoun’s place,” He said. “We should move, now!”
Before Nina could respond to that, more gunshots rang out from down the street.
​
“Listen up, Boys, we have four high priority targets on the streets of Parsons right now!” Kevin announced, “Get out there and start shooting, and for whoever brings me the head of the blonde one… I’ll make it worth your while. Happy hunting, Boys!”
​
As the Sheriff’s Boys shot at us, Nina took off toward the nearest building, gesturing for the rest of us to follow her. Dom and I started running immediately, but Gretchen held back. I saw her eyes drift toward one of the nearby buildings. She focused on it for a moment, before reaching out, curling her fingers as if she were grabbing hold of something. I saw the building move. I saw the brick starting to crack. She seemed to pull at it, gritting her teeth as she did. The building buckled slightly and Gretchen finally let it go, allowing gravity to do the rest of the work as she ran to follow us.
​
Nina paused, looking back as the building collapsed down onto the oncoming Sheriff’s Boys, and blocking off the rest of the street. I saw her struggling not to look impressed as she traded a look with Gretchen.
“So you could just do that the whole time, and you still let the Rosen Prince out?” She asked.
Gretchen just sighed and shook her head, as we disappeared into the building.
​
Once upon a time, I think the building we were in used to be a cafe. Now it was silent and empty. Dom pulled ahead of Nina as we made our way through.
“If we can get over to the next street, I think we can get back on track,” He said. “That should be Parsons main street.”
“Great, think we can collapse any more buildings to make it easier?” Nina asked.
“I can try,” Gretchen said, “Although if you must know, that isn’t exactly easy for me. It’s not an ability that comes naturally and I’ve never used it on this kind of scale before.”
“Well, you’re gonna learn,” Nina said with a shrug as we went out back through the kitchen. Dom led us through a back door, into an alley filled with dumpsters and drainage pipes.
​
“This way,” He said, gesturing for us to follow. Up ahead, through another alley leading to one of the streets, I could see one of the Sheriff’s Boys rounding the corner. He froze at the sight of us and raised his rifle, but Dom shot first. The sparks caught on his clothes, making him stagger back although he didn’t fall. An open flame had caught on his sleeve, leaving him screaming and swatting frantically at it before Dom fired again, sending him tumbling to the ground.
​
I saw two more of his buddies rounding the corner to investigate. The first one took an entire barrel of flaming shotgun pellets to the face, courtesy of Nina. He was dead before he’d even finished rounding the corner. The other one made the mistake of turning to look at his dead companion and was blown away as well.
"Well… good news, it’s just these assholes we have to deal with,” Nina said as we went back into the alley. “Kinda nice, for a change!”
​
We cut through the alley, making it back out onto the street. I could see some more of the Sheriff’s Boys, although they took care of themselves by shooting at Gretchen as we dove back into cover.
“We’re not done just yet,” She warned, irritably fixing her coat again. “Let’s go.”
​
“So you’ve come, in defiance of everything I’ve done to stop you?” A calm voice asked through the speakers. I recognized this one as Calhoun’s. “I have been kind. I have been patient… I let you take Puriysk and when you were done, I pushed you to leave. But you don’t respond to kindness, do you? No. You need a firmer hand and you leave me with few other choices…”
​
The street we were on grew darker, and all of us paused, looking up toward the sky. We watched as the sun… or whatever it was in this world that we called the sun, began to change. It seemed to flicker around the edges, the flickering growing more and more violent, like a candle about to go out. A shadow seemed to bleed in from the outside as the sun faded away, dissolving into a darkening sky until nothing was left and shrouding the street around us in darkness.
“Well that’s not good,” Nina said, looking up at where the sun used to be.
​
Almost like a comedic afterthought, the lanterns on the street flickered to life, casting a dull electronic glow on us.
“Attention, attention! All members of the Sheriff’s Boys get to cover, immediately!” Kevin said over the PA, “I repeat, all members of the Sheriff’s Boys get to cover immediately!”
​
Nobody needed to say it out loud, we all knew that we needed to run.
​
We took off down the street, guns at the ready as we made our final push to Calhoun’s house. Up ahead, I could see several of the Sheriff’s Boys ushering more of their buddies out of one of the alleys. I noticed one of them glancing in our direction, although nobody gave them the opportunity to start shooting. The one who’d looked at us was hit dead on by burning shotgun shells, screaming as he caught fire. I saw some of his friends jump back and heard one yell:
“GET DOWN!”
​
It didn’t do a hell of a lot of good. Nina and Dom cut ahead of us, firing at the fleeing Sheriff’s Boys, although once they noticed they had no intention of shooting back at us, they left them alone and kept on running.
​
Calhoun’s house was just up ahead, I could see it now. The twisted, impossible architecture looked almost as if it were ensnared by roots or vines, although they seemed to be part of the stone and not actually part of some plant.
“Just up ahead…” Dom said, cutting ahead of the pack a little, although when the gunfire started again, he went crashing to the ground, diving for cover behind the stone stairs of one of the nearby buildings. I think he might have sworn, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of gunfire. I noticed him pressing a hand to his shoulder and dove down by the stairs to join him.
​
“Are you alright?” I asked, trying to get a look at the wound.
“I-I’m fine, just a graze…” He stammered, before peeking out over the stairs to see Gretchen standing between us and the Sheriff’s Boys, trying her damndest to hold them off.
I saw Nina just up ahead, taking advantage of Gretchen’s distraction to get around them. I could see the flash as she unloaded her shotgun at the unseen gunmen. I counted about six of them, taking refuge on the other side of the street. One was struck by a cobblestone Gretchen had pulled up and knocked out into the open, only to be set alight by a blast from Nina’s gun. Another was trying to get around Gretchen, and I raised my .22 to take aim at him.
​
Taking a deep breath, I pulled the trigger. My first few shots missed, but the third or fourth caught him in the stomach, sending him down to the ground. He tried to stand and I aimed down the sight, squeezing the trigger two more times. I know that at least one of them hit. I saw him press a hand to his neck, as he collapsed onto his side and even through the darkness I could see his eyes burning into mine.
​
Those eyes… I knew I’d never forget them.
​
Nina kept shooting, pushing the Sheriff’s Boys back the way they came. Her gun clicked, and I saw her reach for the pistol she kept and shoot with that instead. I saw one man fall, while the others retreated into an alley between the buildings.
"Get up!" I urged, Dom. “We’re almost there!”
​
I pulled him to his feet, keeping my gun trained on the alley the Sheriff’s Boys had run into as if I knew what I was doing. He found his legs quickly as we made our way to the gates of Calhoun’s house and into his courtyard.
​
The courtyard was lush and overgrown with greenery. With the right hands, it could have been a beautiful garden, but instead, Calhoun had allowed weeds and vines to grow rampant instead. Even the fountain near the center was almost overflowing with vines and the water from it only flowed at a pathetic trickle.
​
Nina looked back anxiously out onto the street, before looking ahead to Calhoun’s house. I imagine it was just as much of an eyesore to her as it was to me.
“You’re wounded,” Gretchen said, coming to Dom’s side.
“Just a graze,” He assured her, “Honestly considering how many people were shooting at us, I think we’re lucky that’s all we got!”
​
Gretchen ignored him to examine the wound instead, although stopped fussing once she saw that it really was just a graze.
“Listen up, Boys! If you’re not in cover, find it now! We’ve got reports of Nightwalkers in the lower districts! We’re sending in heavy armor! Get off the streets, now!” Kevin said over the PA.
“Welp, you heard the man,” Nina said. She took the magazine out of her shotgun and replaced it with a spare before heading toward the house although she paused when she saw what else was looming in front of her.
​
We saw the eye first. The sigil of a single, crimson eye burning through the darkness. Then we saw the beast, lumbering out of the shadows. Its body was massive and thick with muscle. Its head was pale and emaciated, with sunken beady eyes and a lipless mouth lined with jagged teeth. Atop its head were jutting elk horns, overgrown with moss and weeds. The sigil burned bright on its forehead and marked it as Calhoun’s final emissary.
​
“Yup… that seems just about right,” Nina said with a sigh as the Horned Nightwalker lumbered toward her. She raised her shotgun and got off only a few shots before it hit her, launching her across the courtyard and sending her to the ground in a tangled heap.
​
Dom was up next, shooting at it as it came for us, although before it could get close, the ground beneath it shifted, bringing it closer to Gretchen. The Nightwalker almost fell but recovered quickly. It brought one massive hand down on the spot where she’d been just a few moments before, as the shifting ground moved her away from it and closer to the fountain. Gretchen gestured with her hand, pulling the water out of the fountain and forming it into a jagged shard of ice. With a flick of her wrist, that ice pierced the chest of the Nightwalker, earning a cry of frustration from it.
​
Nina had stumbled to her feet again and was taking aim at the Nightwalker, firing round after round at it. It tried to shield its face as the moss on its body was set alight. Despite the flames, the Nightwalker hardly seemed phased. Even as Gretchen impaled it on another spear of ice, it only struggled to get free, either unwilling or unable to die.
​
“Must I do this for all of your pawns, Calhoun?” Gretchen growled, reaching for the revolver in her coat, she took a step back to aim it, although before she could fire, something lunged at her from the shadows, knocking her off her feet. The revolver skidded out of her hands, landing near the fountain.
​
In the low light, I watched as Gretchen tried to fight off the thing that had landed on her. It looked almost like a lion or a tiger, although the face was all wrong and the mouth was too wide. I saw it clawing at her, before leaping back suddenly as the gashes appeared on its own stomach. The Tiger Nightwalker hissed, glaring at Gretchen before noticing Nina taking aim at it. It had just enough time to give one last roar before she shot it, engulfing it in flames and sending it tearing away at top speed, although it didn’t seem to make it far before it was on the ground, screaming and rolling to try and get the fire out.
​
Gretchen tried to crawl toward the gun, reaching a hand out to beckon it closer to her. I saw the gun move about an inch before the Horned Nightwalker came for her.
​
Its fist came down hard on her leg, hard enough that it should have broken it. Although instead, I saw the Nightwalker’s leg bend violently. It screamed in pain, sliding down further along the spear of ice Gretchen had impaled it with, before grabbing her by the leg and hurling her across the courtyard. She hit the ground hard, and let out a cry of genuine pain before trying to pick herself up.
“Valentine… the Gun!” She gasped.
​
I saw Nina make a mad dash for the revolver, as inhuman cries sounded all around us. I could see other Nightwalkers coming. One that looked like a gray, naked man sprinted toward Dom and I. Dom blew it away with a blast from his shotgun.
​
Nina almost made it to the revolver, just as the Horned Nightwalker broke free of the ice spear. It swept its fist, knocking Nina forward and over the fountain, before lumbering toward her.
​
Dom was busy with the Nightwalkers, and I could see the revolver. I ran for it, grabbing it off the ground and taking aim at the Horned Nightwalker as it advanced on Nina. I took aim, just about to pull the trigger when from the corner of my eye, I saw headlights shining into the courtyard as a truck sped in.
“Let’s see you assholes live through this!” A voice on a megaphone called out from inside.
​
Kevin.
​
I noticed something on top of the truck, and only had half a second to move once I realized what it was. There was some kind of gun on top of that truck.
​
It had started shooting before I dove behind the fountain. I saw Dom stumble back, running for cover as well. Over the megaphone, I could hear Kevin laughing.
​
The truck circled the fountain, only barely missing the Horned Nightwalker, who ignored it in favor of chasing Nina. I watched as Nina leaped into the fountain itself and ducked low, trying to keep herself from being shot and crushed by two different problems.
​
On the far side of the courtyard, Gretchen was on her feet again. I heard the scrape of the earth as she moved the ground underneath the truck, causing it to fishtail. The rear end of it slammed against the fountain. I saw whoever was manning the gun at the top of the truck slam against their gun, before hastily righting themselves. They looked at Gretchen, who stared them down knowingly and waited for them to open fire.
​
It went about as well as one might have expected.
​
He pulled the trigger, unleashing a hail of bullets onto her and as he did, I saw his body torn apart by the impact.
“JESUS CHRIST!” I heard Kevin say from inside as the truck's tires squealed and the driver tried to move it again.
​
I looked over at Nina and saw her still in the fountain, trying to use the lovingly sculpted tiers, overgrown with vines to keep the Horned Nightwalker from getting to her. It just smashed them without a second thought and shrugged off the idle blasts from her shotgun that she fired to try and cover her retreat as she scrambled out of the fountain again. Dom was running to Nina’s side, trying to distract it and cover her escape.
​
I raised the revolver, taking aim at the Nightwalker again, before noticing that the space around me had suddenly grown a lot brighter. I turned to see Kevin’s truck racing toward me and tried to hastily stumble out of the way.
​
I wasn’t fast enough. The truck clipped me, sending me to the ground. The revolver slipped out of my hand, landing in some of the nearby vines. My ears rang and white hot pain erupted through my body as I tried to convince my body to move. I looked up toward the truck, to see it skidding to a halt and I saw somebody pushing the dead man out of the gunner's seat. Somebody new replaced him, and though I could only barely see his face, I already knew who it was.
​
Kevin.
​
He took aim at me, and I stared down the barrel of his gun, waiting for him to fire. But before he could, something gangly and luminous leaped onto the back of his truck, clawing frantically to climb up and reach him. Kevin jerked the gun around, eyes widening in horror as he came face to face with the Rosen Prince.
​
Unfortunately, he had the good sense to start shooting.
​
The familiar scream of the Rosen echoed through the courtyard. I looked over toward the gate to see countless more, just like the one Kevin was trying to kill pouring in and climbing the fence. I saw a few of them sprint across the courtyard, leaping onto the Horned Nightwalker, and unleashing their shimmering spores onto it.
​
I reached for the cluster of vines I’d seen the revolver fall into, only to feel Gretchen’s hand gripping the back of my shirt and pulling me to my feet.
“The gun!” I cried, trying to gesture to where it was.
“No time,” She replied, before putting her hand on the fountain.
​
I felt the ground shift beneath us as the entire fountain rotated, bringing us closer to the door. The Horned Nightwalker clawed at the Rosen upon its back, and I could see Kevin had become more preoccupied shooting at the newcomers, as opposed to shooting at us. Nina and Dom were already running for the door.
“Just fucking go!” Nina yelled, waving us inside.
​
Gretchen and I turned, running up the steps and toward the twisted door ahead of us. I was the first there. My hand closed around the doorknob and I threw it open and barreled inside. Once the others were through, I slammed it shut.
​
As soon as it was closed, I watched Gretchen take her knife from her coat. She hastily cut open her palm and marked a sigil on the door in her own blood.
“This should keep them out for a while,” She said, “But I’d suggest we conclude our business here quickly,”

26Mar2023 0010
Another day passed, Without much thought for myself, But it could be worse.
Recently I've fallen into a downward trend of thought associated with being stagnant in my career stuck with seemingly menial tasks in place of being allowed to go about more fulfilling duties and opportunities. Sometimes I find myself wondering how I ended up where I am today, was it really meant to bring me into adulthood or is it just something that happened because I didn't completely weigh my options with proper thought of the long term effects. Anyways being kind of stuck in my position could have been worse had I succeeded in my initial positions responsibility of becoming qualified and scoring high enough to continue in that pipeline. Instead I failed out of the pipeline however I'm stuck with near a year of which I can't disclose the content I spent 12+ hours a day for study. I'm glad I got out of the situation but the overlooking feeling of failure from doing so makes it feel so bad inside. What's worse is I haven't made any new relationships for the past year or so, my friends back home have all but grown into different people who u can still speak with luckily but there are some very large barriers of understanding. Alright it's really quite early so I'll have to try and sleep before waking up for work.

My mom had a company move and store her furniture while waiting for her house to be built. She paid a hefty fee for an air conditioned/climate controlled unit and was told everything would come out the same as it was when stored. Her furniture was worth around $40k and she bought insurance coverage up to 60k. Upon receiving her furniture into her new house, she was told by the guys who did the moving, that they did not retrieve her items from an air conditioned unit. Almost everything was ruined. Her bed was broken. All of her white furniture had turned a very grimy yellow and light colored cushions turned purple. The insurance company wants to give her less than $3000, stating that they will cover the broken bed, but nothing else. They said that the discoloration is essentially normal wear and tear to be expected from aging (one year vs having had it for several years with no discoloration or damage whatsoever) and being stored without sunlight. Again, she was not told this would happen, in fact, she was told the opposite. It seems odd to me that if this is to be expected, anyone would bother paying nearly 15k to have that furniture moved and stored. She essentially paid to have her furniture ruined. At the very least I'd expect her to get the cost of storage returned.
Is there anything that can be done? Insurance companies are the worst, I know. The inspector who came to see her stuff even agreed that it was ruined beyond repair and that the damage was very bad. No cleaning would make it better. Is this something a lawyer could likely assist with?
Thank you for any advice you might have to offer

That’s it. I parked my car outside of the Foursquare Church on St Elizabeth Dr yesterday evening, and when I returned today it was already gone. It drove red Hyundai Elantra 2013 and it is very possible that one of the windows was smashed. Please, if you saw similar vehicle near Fruitdale, let me know.
For the people who once was in a situation like this: are there any chances that police will find the car? How much of the car cost was covered by insurance company?
Thank you all. Please, be careful in those uncertain times.

An example is like this It looks like an nice spot to practice tennis at please comment! I am going to be present in the shade and watch the neighbor kids play. Hi, I would prefer it not be judged. However, I have a bit more shabby.
Looks like the picture only a bit more than $1700 which I feel it. Curious if anyone works there and can access the roof, looks like it would be fire. She does have a crosswalk. Where in Seattle can I optimize my food budget dropped by 1/3 to nearly 1/2.
It happened when I cough. My husband also promised him a yard someday and I really don't want to redo my front yard. Okay so what is yalls favorite strain for a home!! She is a smoke shop near my house that sells THCA vape pens. I fished a little box that I dump unsmoked bud in there how would I go about filtering the ashes out.
I never go out, so I don't live in a direction to go?

”Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, "Treatment is simple. Great streamer Mr. Girl published his Destiny report today. Go and read it. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says, "But doctor...I am Mr. Girl.” - Alan Moore, Watchmen
Step One: Someone Asks You A Question
It’s a trap.
Step Two: Respond in a Concise, Direct, and Coherent Manner, In A Way That Lets Them Know You Know What’s Going On
“Okay, so when you ask me a question like ‘What is your name?’, I can answer in two ways, where one, I can say “Oh my name is Mr. Girl”, in which case the trap I’m falling for is people calling me insane because I’m an on stream persona and a character who of course shouldn’t be writing a serious report like this, or I can tell you “Max”, in which case it’s oh well he’s just saying that to ingratiate himself more to his audience and make him seem more personable, so you’re basically leaving me with a SHUT THE FUCK UP SHUT THE FUCK UP SHUT UP AND LET ME FUCKING FINISH and no, I get it, of course you have to say “I’m just asking you your name, what the fuck are you talking about?” because now I look like the crazy one for even asking, and it just happens to be a coincide that something I noticed a lot in the Destiny orbit was people asking other people for their names and him telling them to tell the audience who you are to subtly put you down, and I have to accept that of course you actually don’t know who I am and you’re not just telling me you don’t and PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU HAVE TO LET ME FINISH okay so what I was saying is that I recognize it’s a trap, but it’s such an ingeniously designed trap that if I just outright say it’s a trap and don’t explain it’s a trap then that’s of course it’s own trap, and then OUTSIDE of that trap is another even bigger trap but that trap is hidden by a sign that says “GOOD FAITH AND HONEST” but the sign’s written in the blood of abused women, and I have to explain all the traps to even get out because if even a single one of the traps gets me then I lose and I get reinterpreted and reread, not just by Destiny who is always watching us, even in the complete darkness even when we’re alone even when…. but also the subreddit, and that “oh good faith he’s such a good faith effort poster he wouldn’t say anything mean about anyone” Wannabe_Sadboi, and he’s not even taking blood money he’s just taking the blood upvotes and blood reddit awards, and he’s sitting with the rest of that amorphous blob with a thousand eyes called DGG, the thing that slumbers in the cold at the bottom of the ocean in the ancient sunken city of R’leyh, where they dream and whisper to themselves of secrets that no man was supposed to know, and hunger for nothing but content, dead but not dead, but SHUT THE FUCK UP THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT YOU NEED TO LET ME FINISH I ALREADY KNOW WE WILL NEVER SPEAK AGAIN and of course I can’t say any of this because to even speak about it paints me as crazy, and of course you’re very rational, and I’m sure you’ve never met Destiny before nor know anything I’m fucking talking about, so yeah, I just felt like I needed to call that out. Does that answer your question?”
Part 3: Convo Ends
Part 4: Remain Vigilant
He’s been defeated and his traps disabled, but he is only one of a near infinite horde. The irony, of course, is that it’s them you’re doing it for. They walk around, brainwashed to be hostile to you, never knowing how much you’re doing for them.
But it doesn’t matter. Because you’re the hero the internet deserves, but not the one it needs right now. You’re letting them hunt you because you can take it. Because you’re not their hero. You’re a silent guardian. A watchful protector.
The internet’s dark knight.

Hi, a possible to be gf asked me to come shopping with her. Do i need to pay for her shopping too 😕
How to politely not pay?

i have a store leader who sits in the office all day. and when he comes out he’s usually complaining and yelling at us.
example: i’ve always been able to get trucks finished on saturdays because i had my 1 stocker and then my mid shift manager and closing manager working on the truck. ever since he switched to saturdays, it is nearly impossible to get truck done because he’s not helping. instead of working a consumable pallet, he’ll start on overstock (which isn’t supposed to be worked until the day after the truck). it’s just so frustrating to be doing the best we can with the slim hours we’re given, but still be pushed down into the dirt because HE believes we’re not good enough.
just yesterday i said “i think we’re doing a pretty good job arent we?” and he said “you tell me” but he has absolutely no issues telling us we’re slacking or that we’re so far behind. IM JUST TIRED AND FRUSTRATED.
we were ALSO late getting the dog reset done because he would take my associates scheduled in POGs to do something he didn’t want to do.

I'm on LoA from UCR and I am gonna move back home with my parents, I need my lease relet. It's $880/month for a private room and it's on the same block as Stonehaven UCR apartments. RTA bus stop is right outside my room, free parking, across the street from Lot 26 (near the baseball diamond) and easy access to Stater Bros., UV, and has in-unit laundry/kitchen. I'm able to move out as soon as someone can relet for me, but I'd prefer to move sooner rather than later. Can be out by April if you need a place by Spring Quarter. Questions, PM or comment.

So I am currently DAW shopping and I'm narrowed it down to these two. I am just now getting in the music production but I have a background with keyboard/piano. I want to make samples soul and drill style production. I don't have any hardware but I'm looking to purchase something in the next coming month but until then I wanted to grab a DAW to get started. I have a strong PC so I can pretty much run anything but I've narrowed it down to these two. Which one will be more beginner friendly with lots of value for its price point? As far as it goes for hardware, I'm considering a MPC Live 2, Maschine, or MPC X. I honestly think I'll start with Maschine due to its lower price (even lower price if I can get my older brother to sell me his since he's upgraded to the Live 2 and MPC One) and I'll probably graduate to either the Live 2, X, or XL reumored to be around the corner. Again I personally narrowed it down to these two but I'm also looking for a suggestions for somebody who is essentially completely new to music production and DAW. Thank you

My ex bf has changed so much since our breakup 6 months ago, but for the worst. The energy I feel off him now is so off-putting to me. He's so focused on sex that it's... Damn near concerning. He's neglected his spiritual path to a considerable degree, especially considering it was once his driving focus. It's like all he cares about is fking. I think he's in a relationship with someone rn, but he's seeking to build connections with women outside their relationship. He's lying through his teeth about so much. I think he's lying to such an extreme that he's even convinced himself that his lies are true.
We're not talking, so there's nothing I can really do. But I hate watching this decent into what he's becoming. It is like he's lost himself... Or he doesn't want to see himself. So he has just buried his focus in selfish and carnal pleasures.
He broke up with me, by the way. In the worst way he could. Our relationship has been demolished and I don't really see a way of redemption. I feel him think of me quite often still, but it never goes beyond his thoughts of me. He doesn't want to talk to me. And I don't really want to talk to him. I just hate to see/feel what he's doing to himself.

Long bit short: my mom was abusive during my childhood. Goaded & hit my dad, caused bruises & blood to my brother & I. She was later diagnosed with Bipolar, but she always maintained that my dad was abusive. (He was not. He rarely did more than hold his hands up to prevent her blows from landing. When he did more, it was to take away whatever she was swinging.) As recently as 10 years ago she went off her meds & was back at the abuse - ended up in hospital after threatening suicide. So I'm jaded as hell coming into this vent, I admit.
Now my dad is suffering from very early stages of some form of dementia & my mom says he is getting angry & violent when no-one else is around. I know this is common with dementia sufferers (although not early on.) My mom has always exaggerated & blown things out of proportion, so currently I'm not believing it. I do believe she is going to a dementia caregivers support group & getting her head filled with horror stories that she's bringing home & molding to my Dad's situation.. I watched my dad get justifiably annoyed with her after she raged at him for not knowing where some kitchen gadget was & he went huffing off to elsewhere in the house. My mom then told me that his huffing off was "Sundowners". I've read enough to know he does not have sundowners, he was just pissed off at her habit of testing his memory like this. (She was not in need of the gadget. She was mad that she had found it in the wrong spot.) After he huffed off, she told me that he had shoved her into the fridge the previous night. That he was abusing her due to sundowners.
When I hear her say these things, I have horrible thoughts. "Well, now you get to see what abuse actually looks like!" Or "Huh, didn't bother you any when you were doing it to us?" All horrible intrusive thoughts which I'm having trouble dealing with. Plus, I have thoughts that my mom is probably abusing him, thoughts that she might somehow be causing this if only by being such a stressor in his life. (But maybe she's lost it & is poisoning him... again, intrusive thoughts. I'm 90% sure that isn't happening.)
I have indeed seen signs of memory issues with my dad. Repeated stories, not understanding simple things off & on. He worked in computers then IT his whole career, starting in the 60's. Worked for a software company you've heard of. Yesterday I had to prevent him from putting his email password into a login screen for his mesh system where the user name was the email address. It confused him. I helped him troubleshoot his home network which he couldn't get set back up after moving his office to a different room. A year ago he wouldn't have had trouble with any of that, & would have understood how his email address can be a user name. There are definitely memory issues. He's still active - goes to Ace for supplies to keep the house up, goes grocery shopping. Seems ok except for "shit for brains" which he jokes with me about.
Also yesterday, Mom came home from an out of town trip. I'd been with my dad all week. He was not angry once. We had a great time. She walked in the door in a foul mood, started harrassing him immediately about "where's this, where's that, don't you remember XYZ conversation we had before I left?" Giving me knowing glances when he couldn't answer these absolutely stupid questions. I didn't know half of the things she was asking about & it seemed like goading my dad into anger. Then I changed the conversation, revived the pleasant chat we'd been having before my Mom came home about books he'd read in high school & my mom says out loud "Nobody cares, Jeff!!!" slams her hands on a counter & says to me "See what I deal with?! Day in & day out!!!" My dad was hurt. I'm pissed. Intrusive thoughts going wild in my head.
About his supposed violence against her - I am going to have to see some inkling of proof before I believe her. She's already managed to get a durable power of attorney, she's trying to get all the money away from him, I don't think he's even got an actual medical diagnosis yet despite all the dragging to the Dr's that she's done to him. She's telling me Dr's aren't listening to her & now they "know her" & won't schedule enough time for all of her questions. She's talking about putting him in memory care because of the "violence"...
I really feel like she may be the one who needs to be institutionalized. When I gently brought up that she may simpy need some extra help around the house & I want to start going to my Dad's appointments she exploded. She said this is exactly what the people in her support group say happens. Nobody believes the caregiver. She won't allow me to go to the Dr's appointments because I'm against her.
I'm really just stuck & don't know what to do. Thank you for allowing me to vent. I have an appointment with a therapist for myself.
I'd love to hear from anyone who has been in this insane situation. Surely I cannot be the only one.

Hi lovely people
I don't often see Australian centric recaps, so here is my contribution! My husband *gasp* and I got married a few weeks ago in Sydney, Australia. It was fully paid for by us, other than my family paying for my wedding dress/alterations. My partner's family gave us a cash gift as a wedding present later, so we've used some of this to offset some of our costs.
The Background
Both of us are expats, so settling on a European vs ANZ location was always going to be tricky. We decided that the most fair option was to make all of our family and friends travel, as it wasn't going to be convenient for anyone, and then at least it was convenient for us. This meant our families could at least use the trip as an opportunity to spend time with us, rather than just us jetting in and out to a honeymoon later. We also wanted to book something local to Sydney, so that everyone would land and then not need to travel again regionally.
Guests
Total invited: 143 including us (knowing many of these were family who could never afford to come)
Total RSVPs: 82
Total attended: 80
Venue capacity: 107
We did invites (no save-the-dates) in stages. Stage 1 was all global family and close friends who would have to travel significant distances (~24 hours), and we gave them 14 month notice so they could decide/book flights at cheapest possible 12 month mark. We asked them to decline ASAP if they couldn't make it, which helped smooth out the next round. Stage 2 was all friends who would have to travel less but still significant planning (~4 hours), and we gave them 10 months notice. Stage 3 were local friends, we gave them 5 months notice. I don't know about other AU planners, but I've received 1 save-the-date in all the weddings I've ever been to - all others have been direct invites and around 6 months in advance.
We had 2 late notice cancels due to family emergencies the week of, but otherwise no other cancellations. We had 1 late addition of a very new newborn who ended up being too hard to find care for as the time came around. We didn't hear them once, slept through the whole wedding. We did not invite children as our venue was completely not suitable for anything other than babes-in-arms.
Wedding Party
We had a semi-informal group of wedding-mates - I had 3 girls and 2 guys, partner had 3 guys. It worked completely fine. We didn't do formalities and didn't ask them to walk in officially, once pre-photos were taken they became like usual guests.
The Week Plan
As we had so many people travelling, our families really wanted multiple events. I was ok with drinks, but wasn't so much on brunch. It's really hard to find venues that we wouldn't end up spending $5k on a group of 40 people for breakfast, and it just wasn't in our budget. We compromised with a day after picnic, and international drinks on the Thursday prior. No rehearsal dinner as our wedding party weren't a part of the ceremony.
The Day Plan
My partner got ready in a hotel 10mins down the road, I got ready at home. I fully, fully condone sleeping alone the night before your wedding. I had 9 hours of sleep and woke up excited and refreshed for the day. My girls arrived at 7:30am, we walked down to a hair salon and did hair together in one block. I invited closer family to join this too. Make up was done 1 by 1 at our place while we snacked on breakfast and chatted. We then were picked up by BMW vans separately, and met at a garden spot in the city for first look and family/bridal party pics from 2pm-3:45pm. We then met our bridal party +1s and wider family at a bar near the venue for a pre-wedding drink (paid by us), and then headed to the venue with just immediate family. Bridal party were then guests from meeting their +1s onwards. The ceremony was from 6:15pm-6:45pm, canapés and cocktails happened while we took 15mins of pics. We joined the reception at 7pm, in time for our MC to start! The event wrapped at midnight, we danced everyone out and were the last people there. We even snuck off for a cheeky after drink with some friends to their place after. In bed by 2am. Big day!
The Venue
Our venue was fairly all inclusive, and had a day of coordinator attached. I don't recall anything about them other than a brief intro, but nothing went wrong so (I guess?) everything was fine. We decided on an open bar last minute which was less expensive than I expected. We also opted for the more luxe beverage package that had more wine & beer options. Our package included Chefs Selection Canapés (3 pieces pp), shared cheese & meat boards for the table, 3x shared platter mains, 3x sides, sourdough rolls & butter, 3x roving dessert canapés. We opted for them to make the cake too (70x fingers, served roving). Amazing feedback on all the food, we were super happy. They were generally easy enough to deal with but found the coordinator in the lead up a bit challenging.
Music
I really wanted both a band AND a DJ for the wedding. We managed to find a duo who did both, which was absolutely awesome. 100% can recommend if you want their details - DM me.
Budget Recap
Flowers were not a priority, so we did wedding party bunches only, plus bouts for men + corsages for mums and spent on fairy lights that the venue set up. No videographer, but the most epic photographer ever. We did all our own printing for welcome signs, menus and seating charts. My partner designed everything. We did digital invites only.
​

Ceremony & Reception, (inc Cake and Decorations)	$18,413
Photographer - 12 hours + Engagement shoot	$4,400
Celebrant & Paperwork	$1,490
Band/DJ Duo - 6 hours	$2,970
Bar tab (fully open, house spirits)	$1,500
Flowers	$1,147
Printing	$322
Hair (7 people, mix blow dries and styles)	$690
Make up (4 people)	$600
Vans (3 hours)	$660
Drinks for minivans	$300
Hotel for groom	$568
Thursday Welcome drinks + food	$3,500
Sunday picnic	$1,334
Drinks pre-wedding with family	$800
Honeymoon	$6,830
Total	$45,604

What we paid ourselves/out of my family's dress contribution:
​

Dress (Anna Campbell)	$6,750
Alterations	$1,200
Veil	$250
Shoes	$200
Dry cleaning	$700 (veil + dress)
Wedding bands	$3,000
His suit	$1,000
Total	$13,100

As he paid for my (very expensive) engagement ring, I opted to pay for our wedding bands myself. He paid for his own suit. We didn't have wedding party formal outfits, just asked everyone to wear something navy/charcoal for men and black dresses/nude shoes for ladies.
Total... for real.... $58,704 (rounded up to $59k for the heading). I can't say what else we spent on Ubers, quick car rentals for chores, etc - likely in excess of $61k across the time of planning/organising. We also took our families out for a thank you dinner at the end of the week for $1,500, not included above.
What went well/badly
Nothing really went wrong. The weather could have been better that week (very seasonally warm for the city), but aside from that, it was fine. My hair dropped quickly due to sweat, but I can't complain - my make up stayed put which was more important!
Our family and friends went above and beyond for us. We received over $15k in cash gifts from our friends and family at the end, which we put towards our honeymoon and funding a few other things. The rest will go back into savings!
Advice
It does go by very fast. Enjoy every moment of the week, it's a super special time. Also, HOLY HELL dry cleaning is expensive.

At least I'm alive, I guess.
How can this shit ass situation even be possible in the richest country in the history of the planet?
I'll be careful not to be too specific so I don't reveal anything and get myself fired, but I'm beyond frustrated by this whole thing.
I work for one of the 20 largest companies on the planet earth and I got hit by a car while biking in to work and open the store. Long story short I was in the crosswalk and the guy ran me over cause he didn't look to his right as he was focused on the traffic to his left and just started to go, I think he was surprised to hit me as he continued accelerating for a second after the impact before stopping.
The guy and I exchange phone numbers, I call myself from his phone to make sure it's the right phone, he was extremely apologetic and was offering to call the police or an ambulance for me but we ultimately agreed to exchange insurance information later via text so I can go open the store, since I'm now running late and have 20 people waiting for me. I fucked up by not pressing the issue immediately, I know, but more on this later.
I get to the store and open it up blah blah and the next manager gets in about 45 minutes after I do, immediately sending me to the ER as the left side of my body was pretty banged up, swollen and bruised from the impact.
I text the guy that I'm at the hospital getting X-rays and if he could send me his insurance info so I can pass it along to cover the medical expenses and his response is, "I'm not providing it, traffic was coming from the left so I don't have to look to the right before pulling out, it's not my fault."
I try a few more times, pleading that I was in the crosswalk and that he ran me over, but no avail. So I call the non-emergency police line, their response is "since he gave his phone number we can't cite him for hit and run or failure to provide documentation, sorry not sorry."
So I decide to send an email to my benefits team at work and see what they can do and see if I can just resolve it that way while I wait for my bills to come in.
The Bike shop quotes my bike repairs at $1600, my medical bills for the ER visit, Xray and damages etc came out to $3200 total (in total I had a badly sprained left knee + a knee contusion, badly sprained wrist and a sprained ligament in my thumb from the fall, and a contusion on my left arm, so thankfully no long term structural damage).
Benefits team responds saying the only thing I could take advantage of is a free consultation with an in-house attorney to help me out, I call and they say since all I have is the guys number and not his full legal name or address there's nothing I can do even if they're 100% sure I'd win, since they can't even legally serve someone without said information. (I used so many services to try and track it by his phone number but no dice)
So the police can't help, dude won't provide his information or help in any way, lawyers won't help and one of the richest companies in Earth's history won't assist me with the situation in any way and I'm shit outta luck.
I had just taken steps to fix my finances and with a recent promotion I've finally began paying off all of my debt and getting everything going in the right direction and then this happens.
My credit cards are no longer maxed out for the first time in 5 years but the bike repairs alone would max them back out, let alone the medical bills that are due on the 31st of this month that I have no way of paying and will likely end up going to collections and destroying my credit.
I don't know what to do, I've had to Uber to and from work in the meantime (at first because of my injuries and next because my bike is totaled), but for this next pay period I'm just going to walk the 6 miles each way to save on the uber expenses and then spend part of the savings on a beater bike so I at least have transportation.
I'm able to save about $400 a month now, which is much more than I've ever been able to in my life, but even at that it's gonna take me forever to fix this situation even though it's no fault of my own.
It just fucking sucks man.
Anyways, just wanted to get that off my chest, I work for one of the richest companies on the planet and live in the most prosperous country EVER, how is this even a possibility lmao.

Hey everyone. It’s time to replace some gear.
Up next is the jacket. I don’t even know what to shop for, specs to look for, possible amenities, etc.
I mostly ski in Colorado, but hit Montana this year and likely Canada next year. Montana really knows how to 🥶🥶🥶🥶
I see people skiing in jackets that look much thinner and flexible than my current one. It seems like they’d freeze!! What are they wearing and is it deceptively warm, or are they just tougher than I am?
Please let me know what to look for and some suggestions. TIA

Hi everyone! I am moving to Wichita Falls soon and I'd love to know more about your town. Is there a creative community in WF? People looking to collaborate? Is there a place or part of town that's good for creatives? Cool brew pubs and coffee shops? Live music? What about outdoor stuff? I hear your Mountain biking trails are pretty impressive?
BTW, I'm a man in my early 50s, so I'm looking for open-minded friends. I'd love to hear your response, and if anyone is interested in collaborating with a compelling writer in scifi, horror, and suspense, also quite competent with a DSLR and an expert digital editor, please feel free to send me a DM.
Thanks! See you soon.