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cacti-are-like-flamingos · 4 years ago

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The Golden Hand

° Assassin��s Creed Odyssey Imagine °

Chapter 3

Fem! Reader

Central Masterlist | The Golden Hand

Just how was he to take you back home when he didn’t even know where to start? Alexios had not the faintest idea on how to do that; pray to the gods? They don’t always answer, and when they do, it’s just downright confusing. His only choice was to continue on his journey and hope, that by some miracle, the answer would reveal itself soon. However, as such worries and doubts continued to plague his mind, they were soon drowned out upon his eyes falling on you.

He had to admit it.

You were utterly adorable.

Your eyes, round and soft, peered at the lively scene of the marketplace with star-like sparkles. Your lips drew apart ever so slightly, a smile merrily making its way on them as you expressed a fondness to how ancient, how....different this world was. He wondered how you felt about it all. Surely you were experiencing some extreme form of cultural shock. Two days could not possibly remedy it. Perhaps your joy was a façade, a guise for the truth of your feelings.

“Ah, yes! This tells of Odysseus’s voyages and his battles.” “And this?” “That one refers to the miracles of Zeus and the gods.” “They’re so beautiful.” You murmured, admiring the paintings on the pottery. By now, Alexios had shifted his attention back to you, pushing his thoughts all the way into the back of his mind as he came to realize that he has subconsciously followed you to the front of a small pottery stand. He watched as you kindly interacted with the clerk, the elder blushing at your beauty and compliment.

“Why thank you! Although my hands and body have begun to age and wrinkle, my passion for art has yet to fade.” You smiled. He watched you for a few moments before briefly turning his attention behind you. There, not far from the two for you, was Phoibe waving her scrawny arms around as she tried hard to get the misthios attention. Chuckling under his breath, the man leaned into your ear, breathing a short, “I’ll be back” before moving away from you. Heading over to the young girl, he gave her a look.

“How’d it go with Markos?” Phoibe asked. With a small grimace on his face, he replied, ”How it always goes. I didn’t get my money and I’m running another errand for him.” Humming, she settles herself on top of a nearby rock. Crouching to her level, the conversation continues. “Why did you let him boss you around?” Her words earned herself a gentle glare from the older male, “I owe him a debt. From the past.”

“Did you borrow drachmae?” Oh the innocence of youth.

“Not that kind of debt. Few people would take in a runaway they caught thieving. I was just a kid.” Unbeknownst to him, you had accidentally caught his words.

“Huh. I’m just a kid. And I’ve done pretty good for myself.” Phoibe stated with a sense of pride earning a snort from the man. “What do you want Phoibe?” She looked over to you,” Well, I was going to ask help first but -- who is she?” Her eyes ran down you figure, sparkling with curiosity. Glancing over his shoulder, he couldn’t stop the small smile blooming on his lips as he watched you speak with another civilian. “She is...a friend.”

“She’s really pretty. Is she nice?” Alexios chuckles. “I only met her yesterday but I believe so. Now, what do you want Phoibe?” Getting back on track, Phoibe continued, ”You know Kausos?” He squinted his eyes in confusion, “The town on the other side of the island? Why?” She answered, ”People there are sick--my friend Kynna is too. There’s a blood fever. They say it’s a curse and that they need help from the gods.” “I told you, I’m not a god.” “But Ikaros--”,”Is a bird.” With an exasperated expression she yelled,” That doesn’t mean you can’t help!”

There was a moment of silence. It was his hardened expression against her own puppy yet desperate eyes.

She won.

“Agh! All right, I’ll look into it.” With that said, Phoibe let out a grin and a loud ‘Thanks!’ before running away. Sighing, the man ran a large hand over his head, massaging his temples in annoyance. First you and now this. Just how was he to-“Alexios? You okay mate?” Your voice was soft yet clear as you now stood beside him. With a glimpse he could see your concerned expression, your groomed brows knitted together. It was then that an idea struck him.

“(Y/N), since you are from the future, your people must’ve conjured many cures for various illnesses, no?” You gave him a look but nonetheless nodded. “Do you bear any knowledge of your time’s medicine?” “I’m no expert but I do have some knowledge. Although, you have to take into account that medicines are more advanced in my time. What we have, we have because of technology.” He nodded.

“We shall journey to Kausos, a town on the other side of Kephallonia. There is a blood fever. Hopefully, you can help.”

He had now realized that the two of you have managed to reach the docks. Lightly nudging you, he quietly whispered into your ear, ”

“Hopefully.”

Why did you get the feeling that today was going to take a turn for the worse?

...

The journey there was hell. There was no other way to describe it. What you could only imagine once lush and green and full of life and festivities, now seeming barren and full of death and burnt flesh. The putrid smell of corpses and of blood’s iron burning your nostrils to the point that you could barely breathe. Desperately trying to muffle the scent by placing your hand to your nose. And as the horse galloped, you watched the scene around you. Whole structures were burned either to the ground or near to it, smoke billowing out from their interiors in large clouds of black and grey. A pile of bodies, clothed in blood stained fabrics, laid beside the burning buildings, waiting to be cremated. A ring of black surrounded the pile from underneath, the dirt having been scarred from a previous cremation.

“By the gods, what has happened here?” You heard Alexios mutter under his breath as he took in the scene. Judging by the tone in his voice, you could tell that the sight had, too, taken him by surprise.

You stayed quiet, trying to focus on your breathing rather than the sound of the crows cawing loudly above your heads. It was then that you heard the cry of a man burst through the cawing, it was loud and clear.

“You’re murderers! Murderers!” What? Diverting the horse over to the origin of the voice, Alexios forced the animal to come to a stop right before a small bridge. Helping you come off the saddle, he led you over the bridge and into a situation you never thought you were ever going to be a part of.

“If the gods won’t help you, the sickness must be destroyed by our hands! We have no choice.” Spoke a man wearing dark clothing and a bow fastened around his torso. Two other men at his either side of him, surrounding what appeared to be a family.

“Help us!” Yelled one of the children as the two of you made your way over to them. His arms bound by rope.

Oh god.

“He won’t let us go!” Shouted the father.

Keeping your distance, you stayed behind the burly man. Rubbing the palms of your hands together as a way to comfort your hammering heart. Thoughts racing through your head. Alexios was expecting you to somehow save these people, but in all honesty, you had not the slightest clue as to how herbal medicine worked. I mean, you did know just a few things based on videos you had seen on YouTube but nothing that can truly save a person, much less a fucking village. Shit, now panic was setting in and that wouldn’t do any good. Steeling your nerves, you turned your attention to the conversation. Only managing to hear the last few sentences of the man’s explanation.

“...We couldn’t keep up with the bodies. It was spreading --- we had to intervene. “ He said.

“They killed our brothers! Our neighbors!” Countered the father, his wife adding on, “We survived the massacre, but he’ll kill us now!” The man, who you had now realized was most likely a Priest based on the clothing he wore, continued, “The gods have abandoned us. The sick must join the dead f we are to save the living!”

“You burned the whole village?” Alexios asked in disbelief. The Priest looked down in shame before answering,” Many nights were lost praying. We had to take action --- to scorch the blood fever out of Kausos.”

“Is there no hope for a cure?” The Priest shook his head, letting out an exasperated sigh as he answered,” Nothing has worked. Sacrifice, prayers...” The wife interrupted,” Healers won’t come near us, soldiers won’t let us leave...The gods won’t answer our prayers!” Alexios sighed, shifting his weight to his left as he spoke, “But I know nothing of the plague.”

“There is nothing you can do. If you intervene, I will be forced the defend the gods’ will.” he priest warned. “We aren’t even that sick! We’ll get better!” “Nobody gets better! This is the only way all of Kephallonia will save itself from extermination!” It was then that the Spartan turned to you, his eyes having the slightest glimmer of hope.

“(Y/N), is there anything you can do? Is there any chance that you can save them?” His voice soft and quiet. It was almost drowned out by the crackle of the fires.

You gave yourself a moment to think. If this was a virus, then the only thing they could do was ride it out... but....shit, you’re not a doctor. The hell were you suppose to do, much less say?

You could feel a knot form in your throat, a bubbling sensation blooming within the pits of your stomach --- anxiety. There was a slight tremble to your hands, but why? Why were you feeling this way? This place was a game, no? It had no real consequence, right? No, no that kind of thinking doesn’t apply here, because while to you it will always be a game, you are still quite physically present in it. There are consequences to your actions. There are right and wrong answers. So what now?

Taking a deep breath in, you briefly looked back up into his own. And with the slightest shake of your head, he knew your answer.

Sighing, he spoke, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be involved in this.”

“We don’t have to die!” The mother protested. Slamming her bound wrist onto her lap.

You wanted to say something, anything. But nothing would come out. Your lips moved, but not a sound was made. Instead you hid behind Alexios, your lips sealed shut, as he spoke with the priest once more before motioning for the two of you to walk away. It was after ten steps that they’re screams were heard.

And, as if to add salt to the wound, a lone figure ran up to you.

Phoibe.

“You...you didn’t save them? What about Kynna? She’s my friend!” You felt a tug at your heartstrings upon seeing her heartbroken expression. Alexios, who stood just a foot in front of you, tensed his shoulders. A frown on his face.

“How could I make that-”, noting the increased volume in his voice, you placed a hand to his bicep. Upon feeling your touch, he breathed. “ Listen Phoibe. I know you’re sad about Kynna --- it’s a big loss. But look around you. You want this to be like this everywhere?” He gestured to their surroundings.

The young girl frowned, “No...but maybe Kynna would get better. They could be wrong about her!” “And maybe the sickness would take the family tomorrow. It’s impossible to tell.” The misthios argued.

Folding her arms, Phoibe looked to the ground, “I hope you’re right.”

You didn’t know what compelled you to speak, you just knew you had to say something to the young girl. Licking your lips, you kneeled down to her height. A saddened look on your own face.

“Phoibe, I know we have just met but...sometimes, good people die. No matter how much we don’t like it.“ She stared at you for a moment, her eyes flickering about your face. It was a only a moment later that she allowed herself to lean closer to you.

“I know...I just wish it wasn’t true.” And with that, she walked away.

Watching her figure slowly dwindle to nothing but a mere shadow, you breathed. The smoke still burning the inside of your nostrils.

“Alexios?” “Yes?” “Let’s...let’s go...please.” Your voice quieter than the occasional breeze. You heard him grunt, “ Of course.”

Realization didn’t come quick.

It was only after you had mounted onto the house, with your hands gripping tightly onto his armor, that the realization came to you.

You had killed someone. Rather indirectly, but still.

Innocent blood was on your hands.

How did it come to this? You were but a student just a day ago.

How did everything change so quick? So...in the blink of an eye?

Alexios would never tell you, but he could feel your tears dampen his clothing.

...

(A/N): Sorry this took so long, I’m still trying to figure out how I want this story to play out and for how long.

Hope you enjoyed!

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toku-explained · 4 years ago

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The Master Swordsman

SSSS.DYNAZENON: Chise is now also practicing with DynaSoldier, doing pretty well, and Yomogi and Koyomi test DynaSoldier Striker Combine, but they struggle to balance. Yomogi and Yume meet Urita, who shares footage of Kano, while Koyomi meets with Inamoto-san, wondering if its okay to be out drinking with a married woman, and recalling a misspent youth with her. At school Yomogi and Yume wonder about Sizumu, when Chise invites everyone to Beach Land he gets himself invited, Gauma intending to use the chance to capture him. On the day, Yume notices Chise is still wearing her black sleeve with her swimsuit, Gauma orders Yomogi and Yume to act as lovers so they can catch Sizumu off guard, his attempts at catching him are held up by lifeguard warnings. There's a fun day, until Yume goes into shock after seeing a woman fall in the pool. Today's Kaiju is melting objects. Yomogi doesn't realise why Yume's freaking out, Gauma seems in rough shape. Sizumu tells Yume and Yomogi more about the Eugenecists philosophy, of humans hurting other humans and themselves because of expectations. Juuga, Onija and Mujina turn up, grabbing Sizumu for the day's operation, though Mujina at least definitely wanted to enjoy herself. Sizumu awakens Neophobia, as the team rush in as well. Neophobia prevents a proper combination into Dynazenon, targeting DynaWing, so they form DynaSoldier Striker Combine again, struggling to balance to hit Neophobia long enough to break the attack. Dynazenon forms, struggles, quickly forms DynaRex, and wipes Neophobia out. The Eugenecists head back to the pool while Onija rages until nearly being hit again. Gauma and Chise decide to have fun in the river, Yume is about to join when Urita messages, saying he can get her contact with Fuuma, who had been club vice president. She and Yomogi meet him, and reluctantly informs her that the rumour was that, Kano's death was not an accident, but suicide.

Heroes' Odyssey: After a quick look at Z Gamma Future, we look at another hero using Tiga's power, Ultraman Orb Specium Zeperion, and his battle with Maga-Basser, followed by a short look at Orb Burnmite facing Maga-Jappa, Gai battling Juggler, Orb Hurricane Slash against Hyper Zetton Deathscythe, Orb Thunder Breaster against Maga-Orochi, and the reappearance of Orb Origin.

Saber: Southern Base are highlighted to have Ikazuchi, Gekido, Suzune, Noroshi and Kaiji, and the Wonder Ride Books Lamp do Alangina, Genbu Shinwa, Hanselnuts to Gretel, Konchu Daihyakka, Ocean History and King of Arthur, with Master Logos wanting the other Seiken retrieved and Ren eliminated by Reika. Kento cannot understand Rintaro's prevailing over Zooous, and receives another vision of sealing Ikazuchi. Mei apologises to Sophia for losing the key, Yuri explains Viktor and the First, which the Northern Base knows not of, Touma decides to try and convince Kento again, while Rintaro, Yuri and Mei look for Ren. Reika raises her new concerns to Ryoga about Master Logos and the Megiddo, but won't hear it and tells her to just follow orders. Desast appears to Ren, telling him to forget Kento and join him. Touma finds Kento to talk, while Mei loses Yuri and Rintaro. Touma tells Kento what he now remembers from 15 years prior, he and Luna had fought, and when Kento brought him back to apologise the Megiddo attack was in full swing. When his saving Sophia is brought up, Kento reveals she was created by Master Logos in Luna's image as a bridge between worlds, and is needed for Master Logos to complete the Original Book. Touma asks Kento to explain his visions, and he recalls seeing Touma vanish from the world, when Master Logos appears holding his Book and Ikazuchi, while Reika appears to Ren and Desast. Kento did a bad job sealing Hayate, as Ren is still able to become Kenzan to face Sabela, but he doesn't separate the blades. Master Logos explains how he intends to make a world where he rules over all humanity. Saber Elemental Dragon and Caliber Jaaku Dragon face him, Master Logos confirms it was he who manipulated Hayato into sacrificing Luna, the fact it was a sacrifice in particular is the key revelation, but looks like Kento already knew, and Master Logos pulls out Gekido to use both Seiken against them, both swearing to save Luna. Rekka reacts again, causing Wonder World elements to appear and a gap in space with Luna, Touma runs for her but it vanishes before he gets there. Amused, Master Logos leaves. When Sabela has Kenzan on the ropes Desast joins in, allowing them to take the advantage, Desast takes a finisher for Kenzan right before Rintaro arrives. Blades Tategami Hyouju Senki forces Reika to retreat, but Ren runs off as Yuri and Mei get there. Desast reforms, and Ren, annoyed nonetheless agreesvto follow him, and defeat him in the end. Touma again asks Kento to join him, and he cobsiders it, but refuses, not saying its because Touma is doomed if they fight together. Sophia finds the book she had secured gone, and Storious is busy using it to make his own Sophia. With Luna having reappeared, Master Logos decides to open the Book of Ruin once more.

Zenkaiger: Zyuran and Magine are the only ones wary of new arrival Zox Goldtsuikar, but questions quickly turn to his sentai Gear, but he just wants to eat. He eats at Colourful along with his fellow World Pirates, younger sister Flint Goldtsuikar, and the twins, diminutive robots Twokai Katana and Twokai Riki. Secchan questions if they're connected to the Gokaigers, but Flint says after seeing them on their own world she stole their design for Twokaiser, they're originally from Kaizokutopia. They then steal Colourful's entire stock, after Yatsude frees them Kaito challenges Zox to have him pay his bill. Stacey lays into Ijirude, as does Boccowaus, and then while Ijirude works on plans, Barashitara has sent Kashiwa Mochi World out. Zenkaiser and Twokaiser battle, seeing they use Gears, Zox asks if he stole them from the Tojitendo, explaining that when the invaded Kaizokutopia him and Flint did a retaliatory raid. Kashiwa Mochi World affects Flint, Magine and Gaon, who all ate it yesterday, sending them off for more. Zenkaiser uses the Denziman Gear, activating the Denzi Punch. As more and more people go crazy for Kashiwa Mochi, with even shady dealers, Kaito tries to go help, but Zox won't stop the fight, until Riki calls out about Flint being affected. When ZenkaiZyuran and ZenkaiVroon arrive, Kashiwa Mochi World is even able to set his victims on them. Twokaiser, pissed that his sister has been messed with, changes the battle to be about who defeats Kashiwa Mochi World. Twokaiser uses a Riki Gear to join with him into Ohren Form, which appears to be inspired by Kingranger and/or Gunmazin, here he clearly has Riki's will as well as his own. He then uses a Katana Gear to join with him as Shinken Form, inspired by the Shinkenger's Super or Hyper forms. Zenkaiser rips Kashiwa Mochi World's leaf off, which allows a Shinken Issen to finish him. Dai Kashiwa Mochi World springs up, ZenkaiOh ZyuraGaon faces him and wins. Kaito is glum about failing to win, when Zox shows up at Colouful to pay his debt, since Kaito technically defeated Kashiwa Mochi World, so he also won't pillage them, and hands them some other world's currency.

Dogengers Nice Buddy: Great Z and Shaberryman celebrate Maid Shitsuji's upgrade, Great Z intends to continue the fight, but seems to become fatigued, and leaves with Shaberryman, Maid Shitsuji is also fatigued. Yabai Kamen pines for the Dogengers while refusing to look at Hanagata, Shaberryman tries to convince him to work with them, revealing they've now brought the Karamis, Marou Kaijin, Nectaris and Uzagi to the house to join the show. Yabai Kamen asks what Hanagata gets from this, and he recalls a young boy playing with a Great K sofubi, but says something different before getting a call and assigning Gulf and Gallia to CM work, Shaberryman continues trying to convince Yabai Kamen, saying something about Maid Shitsuji, which actually excites Yabai Kamen. Cut to Maid Shitsuji requesting help from the "family" of Papaqman, Mamashiron and Boy Brave, but Fukuokaliber decides to let them stay. They wonder what happened to Tanaka and Ohgaman right as they get back, revealing they wound up in Kagoshima and met with Kojjn Senshi NEW Ex. Kitaqman tries to get a rise out of Maid Shitsuji, who holds it in until Kitaqman and El Brave leave. Gulf, Gallia and Great Z film a CM for main sponsor Pizza Cooc. After Great Z broods on the legacy he's maintaining, and the Dogengers being in the way. A scene is being refined when El Brave and Kitaqman crash it, leading Great Z to warp them away. They hold him up, but Kiaqman can't get his Nice Buddy to fire, so Great Z tells the Marou Kaijin to handle it. El Brave does manage to fire, but his shots go wide. Gulf continues to fight them, with Gallia more pranking. Kitaqman gets distracted, unmasking as Taki Yuki to talk about his helmet, El Brave gets mad at him, so Kitaqman takes his mask off, but of course El Brave has his wrestling mask underneath. They then flee when Kitaqman agains can't fire, but the Affect System warps Gulf and Gallia away, confusing them.

#toku explained #kamen rider saber #ssss.dynazenon #kikai sentai zenkaiger #dogengers

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keywestlou · 4 years ago

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Ho Ho Yogi Bear

DAY 11…..Greece the First Time

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Key West Lou

Ho ho Yogi Bear! I am having a terrific time!

Donkeys have become a part of my life all of a sudden. First in Navaro when I discovered horse meat and donkey meat were sold in butcher shops for human consumption. Donkey was viewed to horse meat as veal is to cattle meat. Now donkeys in Santorini.

Before I made the trip, many told me to be sure to ride the donkeys up and down the hill. The hill that in reality is a mountain of lava.

I saw the donkeys yesterday for the first time. I was taking a walk along the other road. The road that runs between the cave hotel apartments and lesser accommodations. Actually the other side of the road is where the working people of Santorini live. Much like Stock Island is to Key West.

All of a sudden, I came upon eight donkeys on the side of the road. All saddled up and ready to go. What beautiful animals! I am a horse lover of sorts. The horses that race at Saratoga. Especially up close. Magnificent beasts. So too were these donkeys. Beautiful shiny coats. Ears standing straight up. Big bright eyes. Muscular legs. Very muscular.

These donkeys carry people up and down the side of a nearby lava mountain. On a path running along the side. Along a five foot wide path has been constructed 2,000 feet plus long. It consists of 500 plus steps. The steps of varying widths. A short 3 foot wall on the ocean side.

The ride did not appeal to me. I did not wish to be an ass on an ass. I was fearful of either the donkey or me or both of us falling over the wall. I raised that issue with the man in charge of the donkeys. I think I insulted him. He told me very firmly that no donkey or person had ever even fallen off the path into the ocean.

The path was made of dirt and rocks.

I had Nikos give me a ride in his car down the mountain.

The volcano sitting out in the water is like a magnet. It draws me to it. I have decided to visit the volcano in the next few days. I want to look into the opening and its depths. I want to view the smoke and sulfur and whatever else my eyes can see.

The volcano is not too high. Most of it sunk into the sea. So I should be able to walk to the top.

There is an added attraction. There are springs periodically spraying water and smoke. Baths from the emissions are available on site. I want to bathe in these waters. Supposedly healthful, I will be doing it merely for the experience.

Santorini is the largest of the several islands which were born 3,500 years ago when the volcano had its major eruption. It is big. How large, I am not sure. Larger than Key West I do know.

The whole island has a mere 13,000 permanent residents. Compared to Key West which has 19,000.

Santorini is the name of the whole island. There are several villages and towns located on the island. I am staying in Oia, one of those towns. People are nice here. Just as in Key West.

Sociable, helpful.

I spoke of beauty parlor proprietor Catherine Risvani yesterday. Catherine owns the only beauty shop in Oia. One to a town, I guess. Called Hair & Soul. It is a beautifully done small place. Two chairs, two sinks, a manicure station and a counter. Two lovely ladies working for her. Catherine gave me a manicure this week.

Catherine is lovely in appearance. A typical Grecian beauty. Tall, thin and blond. Hair swept up and somehow tied in back. Interestingly, I have yet to find a Grecian woman who wears her hair down. Catherine also has high cheek bones. Another trait of Grecian women.

The bill for the manicure was 20 euros. About $28 american money. I was out of euros. I asked Catherine if she took credit cards. No. So I took out one of my $100 bills and told her to hold it while I went to the ATM machine for euros. She would not take the $100. Strangers though we were, she trusted me. In a tourist town. Typical of the Greeks here.

Which brings me to Nikos and Maria. Proprietors of my cave accommodation. Nikos and Maria are around 60. Own the Filotera Cave Houses aka Filotera Villas. A superior accommodation. Consistent with historical Santorini.

They and their son Adonis work their asses off. They have staff, but work along with staff from very early morning to late at night.

When I first arrived and met Maria, she was in a dress and apron. Smiling always. She does not speak English. I no Greek. Yet we have had several conversations. Each of us has spoken our native tongue. We understood each other!

I figured after first meeting Maria that she was the typical Mama Mia. A dress and apron. Always cooking and cleaning. Always watching the grandchildren.

Was I wrong!

The next time I saw Maria she was in peddle pushers and a tee shirt. Directing the employees.

Nice people these two.

It was Maria’s birthday the day I arrived. She sent a piece of birthday cake to my rooms. Nikos picked me up at the airport. Nikos drives me where ever I have to go. And picks me up. Their caves are lovely and clean. Very clean. Take a look at them. www.filoteravillas.gr, www.filoteravillas.com and www.santorini.com/hotels/filoteravillas. These sites will give you a flavor of cave living. They will surprise you!

The second day here, their son Adonis showed up with a bottle of wine. He said it was from his father’s vineyards. A special brew. Please enjoy it. I did, the next day. A cross between a white and red. A distinctive special taste.

Yes, Nikos and Maria besides owning the cave villas also own a vineyard and wine producing facility on Santorini. They ship world wide.

Nikos and Maria live across that street I mentioned earlier. In a small apartment less accommodating than the caves. In November, it gets cold on Santorini. They move to their home on the other side of the island. When it gets colder, they move to their home in Athens. During the winter months, they generally take a one to two month trip to the Caribbean or South Pacific.

It gets better.

Santorini and the Greek isles are not the United States. Many amenities we are accustomed to do not exist or are not provided. Like my clothes getting washed and ironed.

I was warned before I embarked on this odyssey that such would be the case. I came prepared. Purchased shirts and shorts at Orvis. That special material that is light, easy to wash and dry. Generally requiring little or no ironing.

I wash my own clothes. For real. Easy. In the bathroom sink. Drop some dish washing fluid on the clothes. A bit of water. Wash with my hands. Then shake dry.

The clothes still need hanging. Dryers are not common place on the island. Could not hang the clothes in front of my cave accommodation. It would not look right nor would it be proper.

There are clothes lines across the street at the cheaper accommodation. I hung my first washing there to dry. When I returned that evening, Maria came out to greet me. She insisted on ironing my clothes. My savior in disguise!

If you ever plan to come to Santorini, stay with Nikos and Maria. You cannot do better. Their telephone number is 003022860 71110. Fax number 003022860 71555. E-mail [email protected].

Enough for today.

There is much still to share.

This afternoon I am going to a beach somewhere on this island. Where I am guaranteed seeing bare breasted women. And, if I am lucky, some bare assed ones.

Enjoy your day!

As I have said in the past, vaccine distribution to Monroe County and Key West is not good. We seem to be forgotten. It appears political pull helps in getting enough vaccine to take care of an area.

Monroe County and Key West seem to be lacking in that regard.

I am happy for the person in Pensacola who was reported to have had excellent service. Not the case here. And none of us are doing anything wrong!

This morning’s Citizens’ Voice had two interesting comments re vaccine distribution/availability.

“Citizens of Monroe County should be outraged that the Medical Center at Ocean Reef, a private club, was allowed to administer 4,000 vaccines that were not available to the public, only to club members. This represents over 85 percent of the vaccine provided Monroe County.”

“Now I know why after five tries I am unable to get an appointment for the vaccine: politics trumps health.”

Eugene Robinson is one one of the Washington Post’s finest columnists. He also has a touch of Key West in him. Every year, he and his wife spend one month in Key West. Normally January. They were not here in January. Probably the virus.

Robinson’s Washington Post column this morning is titled “To Rebuild the Grand Old Party, First Tear It Down.”

A passage from the column: “Before a sane, responsible political party can rise like a phoenix from the ashes of today’s dangerously unhinged GOP, there must be ashes to rise from. The nation is going to have to destroy the Republican Party to save it.”

Biden has been impressive so far. As he will continue to be. I have faith in the man.

He is moving fast. The stimulus package, foreign matters, vaccine, etc.

It is very true that you cannot please all of the people all of the time.

Biden spoke before the National Prayer Breakfast. Called out white supremacy and domestic terrorism. And a multitude of other things.

Brian Burch is the President of CatholicVote. After the Breakfast, Burch slammed him for backing abortion and transgenderism. I do not know if Biden mentioned either during his talk. I suspect not.

One old, the other relatively new. Burch forgets that Biden, as with any President, represents all the people and not just one segment.

John Kennedy had a similar problem. Directed primarily at his Catholic faith. His response simple and understandable: “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s.”

Christopher Plummer died. An outstanding actor. His age at death 91. Did not pass away under normal circumstances. He fell and struck his head. The blow to his head resulted in his death.

One of Plummer’s most famous roles was that he performed in The Sound of Music.

His movies many. However, Plummer most enjoyed his Shakespearean performances. He considered himself a Shakespearean actor rather than a movie one. His famous Shakespearean parts were his performances in Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, and as Mark Anthony.

He won his first and only Oscar at age 82. He also was rewarded with 2 Tony and 2 Emmy Awards.

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was published this day in 1937.

Steinbeck had a marked influence on my young life. My parents had purchased several volumes of Steinbeck’s works. For their enjoyment, not mine.

I was about 10. The books attracted me.

I would sit in a huge easy chair in the living room. A thick red dictionary at my side.

The first work I read was Of Mice and Men. Obviously I did not understand everything. One thing the book did however was to increase my vocabulary and expose me to a world I did not know. Some of which I was happy not to have experienced.

Over a period of time, I also read The Grapes of Wrath and several other Steinbeck works whose names at the moment I cannot recall.

Looking back, the reading I did probably was not uncommon. There were no television or cell phones in those days. Yes, there was radio. However radio did not particularly turn me on except for baseball.

Enjoy you day!

Ho Ho Yogi Bear was originally published on Key West Lou

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theshatteredrose · 5 years ago

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Turquoise Lotus Father (Treasure Seekers Saga 2) - Chapter 4 - Etrian Odyssey 5 Fanfiction

AN: Sorry for the wait! I was too distracted playing Pokemon Shield, but I did dabble at this in-between. It’s also a longer chapter, which is another reason for taking so long (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it). So, enjoy~!

Ao3 | Wattpad | FFNet

Chapter 4:

The morning air was cool and crisp as Drayce led his guildmates to the entrance of the labyrinth. Blayke was directly behind him with Caelem huddling close to him out of nerves. Upon seeing that sight, Drayce had to smile to himself when he remembered how Blayke greeted him when he returned to the Crescentia after his little errand.

“C-Caelem actually has a tail,” he uncharacteristically stuttered at him the moment he stepped through the doors.

Caelem, with a tail as long and fluffy as his hair, stood a few feet away behind him, looking confused.

Drayce had spent the next few minutes reassuring Caelem that Blayke’s reaction wasn’t negative. He just thought his tail was cute. Which prompted Caelem to start blushing and stuttering. And Blayke spent the rest of the night trying to act cool.

The whole thing was fun, honestly.

Next to Caelem walked Faelen, Nashoba by his side. Their presence offering the Therian a sense of comfort.

While his tail was hidden from view at current, he too seemed to appreciate the fact that he didn’t have to hide while inside the Crescentia. Unsurprisingly, his tail was the same unique colour as his hair. But was far fluffier than Drayce had anticipated.

It made him wonder just how…uncomfortable it was for them to have to hide their tails like that. He also couldn’t help but feel that there was another reason why they kept them hidden from view when out in public.

Zohar took the rear, leisurely keeping pace as he pulled his coffins alongside him. He took the whole therian tail reveal with ease. Likely having known beforehand.

The entrance of the labyrinth was bustling as usual at this time of the morning. With the sky a clear blue, not a cloud to be seen, it was no surprise that other guilds were also milling about, ready to conduct their own exploration.

“You guys ready to head to the second floor?” Drayce asked as he glanced over his shoulder.

“We’re ready,” Blayke was the one to respond on everyone’s behalf, completely unbothered that Caelem was sticking incredibly close to him. “Let’s hope out first time there goes smoothly.”

He honestly did, too.

As they headed toward the once heavily fortified and barricaded entrance of the labyrinth, Drayce immediately remembered the rune stone that he had learnt about and altered their direction slightly.

“Ah, before we head in; I’ll show you what Virgil showed me yesterday,” Drayce explained as they turned right from the entrance and down a small path that led to a clearing in the forest that surrounded the labyrinth.

Unsurprisingly, the rune stone was still there, in one piece, and with only two gemstones amongst the thirty shining softly. Immediately, a few murmurs of surprise and interest erupted behind him.

“This?” Blayke questioned as he and the others inspected the rune stone.

“Yep, this is it,” Drayce answered. “See those crystals? They are set to transport you to a particular set of stairs. Only after they’ve been activated.”

Faelen inspected the crystals curiously. “There’s…thirty of them. Wait, does that mean there’s thirty floors?” he asked as he spun around to look at Drayce in surprise.

Drayce smiled as he adjusted the holster of his shield. “That’s the consensus.”

“We’ve got a long way to go…” Blayke murmured.

Drayce slapped him on the shoulder in a friendly matter. “And we’re in no hurry. Anyway, let’s get going.”

Heading into the labyrinth, they turned to the right in order to reach the stairs. And in his usual spot, surrounded by his faithful and loyal chickens, was Virgil. He appeared to be speaking with a guild, likely novices on their first mission.

As soon as he was done seeing off the other guild, Virgil turned to likely greet another potential guild. His expression, however, immediately lightened when he recognised them. “Oh, good morning.”

“Moring, Virgil,” Drayce greeted cheerfully as he paused in front of the friendly guard. “We’re popping up to the second floor today, so we shouldn’t be in your hair. Lucky you.”

Virgil chuckled before an expression of realisation appeared on his face. “Ah, your first time, yes? Do you mind if I ask you something before you travel forward?”

Drayce adjusted the band that kept his shield on his back and nodded. “Sure. What’s up?”

“I take it you know of those golden treasure chests that are quite visible around this floor,” Virgil started.

“Like that one behind you?” Drayce returned, his gaze flicking toward the golden treasure chest that seemed to both blend in but stand out amongst the greenery of the labyrinth. “Yeah, I’ve noticed them.”

Virgil shifted on his feet. “You haven’t inspected them?”

Drayce shrugged. It made sense that Virgil would be asking him why he hadn’t broken his neck trying to get to them. He may not know that he’s a treasure hunter, but it was still a valid question.

“I’ve been a tad busy the few times I’ve been on this floor, but I have noticed them,” Drayce explained before he shrugged again. “I take it they’re to help boost morale for the rookie explorers?”

Virgil was momentarily surprised before he smiled politely and nodded his head. “Yes, that’s right. For the first two floors at the very least.”

Yup. Nothing more tempting to a rookie guild than a golden treasure chest in full view. For seasoned treasure hunters, the treasures that were hard to locate or even see held the most value.

Like the Radiant Moon of Compassion, for example. Hidden on the first floor, in a place that was inaccessible and yet people passed by all day, every day for nearly a thousand years. It was right there and no one knew.

That was the kind of treasures that Drayce was interested in.

“Yeah, I had thought as much which is why I haven’t been breaking my neck to get to them,” Drayce replied.

That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t curious to know what was inside those golden treasure chests!

“Ah, I see. I’ve been curious,” Virgil said before he went on to explain further. “We guards have been ordered to ensure that the treasure chests are well stocked but with all the new explorers lately, it’s been hard to remember who had retrieved the treasure inside the chest and who hasn’t.”

Drayce immediately understood what he meant. “Don’t want anyone doubling up. Fair enough. I’ll leave those treasure chests alone for now. For these two floors at least. I can’t promise anything about the higher floors.”

Virgil laughed. “That’s more than reasonable.”

“Besides, I’m more interested in what’s hidden than what is in plain sight.” Drayce adjusted his grip on his shield and straightened. “Well, better get a move on. The second floor won’t explore itself.”

“I best get back to work also,” Virgil said as he glanced over Drayce’s shoulders. “Have a good day.”

Drayce nodded his head and motioned for the others to follow him. “And you.”

“Oh, don’t forget the crystal,” Virgil reminded.

“Got it!” Drayce said as he waved back, still leading the party to the stairs.

“Crystal?” Blayke questioned and Drayce simply sent him a smile.

“You’ll see~”

Passing through a set of doors and between two small streams of water they came across a simple stone and wooden structure. Inside was a set of stairs, made from stone and spiralling upwards. As they stepped inside, the lightening immediately waned. Not to pitch black, but visibility was definitely affected. It thankfully wasn’t stifling inside, nor was it a long spiralling staircase. About twenty steps in total.

They ascended the stairs in silence and soon stepped through onto the second floor. The same lush greenery and clean air greeted them as they stepped out into the sunlight.

As the others filed out from the stairs, Drayce turned to look back toward the archway. He quickly inspected the stonework and it wasn’t long until his gaze fell upon a small crystal nestled within the stone and moss. Clearly, that was the crystal that Virgil told him about.

Faelen seemed to have noticed the gemstone, also, as he moved to stand next to him and tugged on the sleeve of his coat. “Is this linked to that Star Jump you told us about?”

“I think so,” Drayce replied. “Apparently, you have to activate it in order to be transported to these set of stairs. I assume it’s nothing more than just touching the crystal. I take it we all need to do it.”

Drayce raised his hand and slipped off his glove. He then gently brushed his fingers against the simple light green gemstone. Just as his fingers touched the smooth surface, it flickered a soft, subtle light. It lasted only a second, but Drayce was certain its reaction indicated that he crystal, and possibly the deva within, had accepted him.

He didn’t receive a negative reaction, after all.

He took a step back to allow the others to introduce themselves to the gemstone as well.

“Go ahead,” he urged.

Faelen was the first to step up, and he did so eagerly. As he brushed his fingertips against the stone, he received the same reaction, the crystal flickering lightly.

One by one the other stepped forward and tapped the crystal with their fingertips. And they all received the same reaction.

Well, that turned out easier than expected. Which was a good thing. He just needed to remember to introduce the others to the warping crystal the next time they venture into the labyrinth.

“Well, with that out of the way, let’s get exploring, shall we?” Dayce instructed before he turned his attention to Faelen. “Ready to map with me, Fae?”

“Yup!” Faelen immediately responded, full of enthusiasm.

“Let’s just focus on the mapping today, yeah?” Blayke suggested. “We’ll look for that other hidden staircase later.”

“Sounds good,” Drayce immediately agreed as he reached into his coat to pull out the parchment of which he would use to draw their map. “Now, which direction should we head in first?”

“There’s a place where we can pick herbs and flowers not far from here,” Zohar supplied for them. “There is also a place quite close to the stairs that is quite ideal for a campsite.”

Drayce looked up at him, surprised. “Really? Ah, you’ve been to this floor before, then?”

Zohar nodded his head once slowly. “A few times in my travels, yes.”

From where he stood between Caelem and Faelen, Blayke roughly crossed his arms across his chest plate. “So, you know about those large monsters, then.”

Again, Zohar hid head. “Toxipedes, yes. They will prove to be no trouble. Unless provoked, of course.”

Well, they had better try not to provoke them then. Those Wild Dogs of the first floor were bad enough. The monsters that dwell on this floor are said to be even more dangerous than them.

“However, if you spy any animated fungi, immediately head in the opposite direction,” Zohar suddenly warned, sounding unnervingly serious.

Drayce blinked. Fungi? “Ah, ok?”

Zohar wouldn’t say anymore, so Drayce decided to ask him more about the inhabitants of this floor later. He wanted to avoid any battling today. Mapping was their only concern, really. Of course, one could never predict what the monsters of the labyrinth would do. Hopefully, if they left them alone, the monsters would leave them alone.

After taking a moment to get a bearing of where they were on the map, Drayce folded the parchment and placed it securely in his jacket. He then took hold of his shield and took the lead.

“Don’t wander too far forward, Faelen,” Blayke fussed as they walked through the pathways of spiralling trees and stone.

“I won’t!” Faelen said as he slowed his steps slightly so that he was walking between Drayce and Blayke.

Drayce chuckled softly at their youngest teammate’s enthusiasm before he turned his gaze to their surroundings. The foliage of the second was exactly the same as the first. Flowers of yellow, white, pink, and purple nestled within the fallen limps of trees and stones covered in moss.

There was another thing that caught Drayce’s attention. “Hm, curious.”

“What is?” Faelen asked him.

“There are pools of water on this floor, too,” Drayce said as he lifted his chin to motion toward the natural water features. “I wonder why it hasn’t trickled down to the lowest floor yet. Water usually settles in the lowest place possible, after all.”

Blayke glanced over at the pools of water and his brow immediately furrowed. “If there are pools of water on this floor, then there’s probably some on the higher floors. I just hope one of them doesn’t decide to burst on top of us.”

“Ah, yeah, there’s that, too,” Drayce nodded his head as he glanced up at the ceiling that was lost of the canopy of green leaves and moss-covered branches. “But there’s also the possibility of caches of previous jewel heists hidden on this floor, too.”

Blayke suddenly, and rather rudely, snorted. “No time for a swim.”

Drayce immediately pouted and turned to look at him. “Dude, I wasn’t going to suggest it.”

“Yet.”

“Rude.”

Faelen laughed at the two of them, while Caelem chuckled into his hand. From where he stood at the back of the party, Zohar, too, wore an expression of amusement on his face.

But then Caelem suddenly stiffened, his ears perked straight up on top of his head. He appeared tense, nervous even. And he looked around skittishly. That obviously alarmed Drayce. Before he, or anyone else for that matter, could ask him what was wrong, Caelem abruptly turned to face everyone.

“What’s that?” he asked, his eyes wide.

Drayce immediately stopped walking, pulling everyone else to a stop also. “What’s what?” he asked as he turned his attention toward the red-haired masurao.

“You can’t hear that music?” Caelem unexpectedly asked as he nervously wrung his hands together in front of him.

“Music?” Drayce questioned before he fell silent and shared a look with Blayke, the fencer looking puzzled. They remained silent for a few seconds, but could only hear the sounds of birds chirping in the trees around them. Drayce couldn’t hear anything that could be confused with music. And from the arched eyebrow of concern from Blayke, he couldn’t either.

“No, we can’t hear anything,” Drayce said as he turned to look back to Caelem.

Caelem immediately looked deflated. “B-but…” he murmured and shook his head frantically before he looked over at his teammate. “Faelen?”

Faelen’s ears twitched a couple of times before he shook his head. “I can’t hear anything either.”

An express of distress appeared on Caelem’s face and his ears flatten atop of his head. “But…”

Drayce may not be able to hear anything, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t something out there to hear.

“Easy,” Drayce said in a hopefully soothing tone and reached out to place a hand upon Caelem’s shoulder. “Remember the Radiant Moon? I was the only one who could see its light. So, follow the sound. We’ll follow you.”

Caelem appeared uneasy. But he squared his shoulders and nodded his head. “Ok.”

Drayce gave his shoulder another comforting squeeze before he dropped his hand to his side and took a step back. Everyone fell silent as lifted his head up, his ears twitching amongst his red hair.

“It’s…coming from around here,” he said as he turned to face west and walked cautiously close to the forest wall.

Drayce was immediately behind him, one hand upon his shield while the other rested on the holster of his weapon. He was readying himself for calling a Decoy Shield at the slightest hint of danger. After a few steps, Caelem stopped and looked curiously down at the ground.

“It’s…coming from here,” he said as he looked up at Drayce, his expression a mix of curiosity and unease.

“I can sense some mana within the area,” Zohar announced.

Drayce nodded his head. “There might be something buried here. Where about is it, Cal?”

“Ah…here,” Caelem pointed to the ground directly in front of him.

Drayce glanced down at the ground and studied it carefully. There appeared to be a very slight depression in the ground. If he hadn’t studied as closely as he was, he wouldn’t have given the spot a second glance. He still couldn’t hear anything, but with the way that Caelem’s ears were twitching, he could.

Only one thing to do.

“Nashoba? If you could.”

Faelen moved forward toward the small indentation and knelt down. He then pointed to the spot and clicked his tongue as he uttered Nashoba’s name. Immediately, the white-furred wolf moved to stand directly over the spot and dug hastily and quickly at the soil without any hesitation.

Nashoba managed to dig himself a reasonable size hole before his claws scraped across something hand and Caelem immediately perked up.

“That’s it!” he said as he dropped to his knees and brushed aside some clods of dirt. “That’s where the music is coming from.”

Drayce still couldn’t hear anything, but maybe he truly wasn’t the one who was supposed to.

With Blayke cautiously keeping guard, as per usual, Drayce slid off his shield and propped it to his side. He then knelt down and inspected the hole as well. He spied a rectangular object and he helped Caelem tug it out from the dirt and roots of plants and trees.

As he brushed the clumps of soil aside, Drayce noted that the object was obviously man-made. A simple wooden chest. About medium size. Something that could easily be carried with one set of arms. It didn’t feel that heavy, either.

But the silver lock on the side was definitely curious.

“There’s a lock on it,” Drayce announced as he continued to study their mysterious discovery. “Shouldn’t be too hard to crack.”

“Should we do it here, though?” Blayke, the ever cautious one, asked a very good question.

“Probably not,” Drayce questioned as he took a cautionary glance around their surroundings, also. “Let’s take it back to the Crescentia. Cal, is it still playing music?”

Caelem shook his head. “No, it’s stopped now. But it was definitely coming from that chest.”

Interesting…

In any case, they were going to cut their trek today short. For now, at least. They might return this afternoon just to give the area another going over. But for now, they needed to return to the Crescentia and inspect what they found in a secure environment.

Had to take those bandits into consideration, after all.

As they took a moment to clear off some of the dirt in order to carry the chest out of the labyrinth without gaining too much attention, Drayce paused. He felt a sudden prickle race across his neck.

Drayce glanced over his shoulder, suddenly realising how silent their surroundings were. “That feeling…” was familiar somehow.

“What?” Blayke asked quietly as his brow furrowed protectively. “What’s wrong?”

Drayce didn’t reply immediately. He took a few more long seconds to study the shadows within the foliage. “It’s…nothing,” he finally said and shook his head. “I just thought I heard something behind us. Probably a monster.”

Blayke didn’t look convinced but nodded his head. “As long as it doesn’t try to ambush us, the bastard can stay there.”

Agreed.

Nevermind that. They were heading back to the Crescentia for now, anyway. Hopefully they found something of interest. Maybe they were lucky and found something that would lead them to the stairs!

With their new discovery safely within their possession, Drayce took the lead once more. “Let’s go and see what we’ve got.”

… … … … …

The trek out of the labyrinth was thankfully an easy one. No troubles from either monsters or other inquisitive explorers. And, most appreciative of all, no sign of those bandits. Though…he did get that uneasy feeling as they headed to the stairs of the second floor.

That faded as they stepped out upon the first floor, though.

Feeling more at ease as they left the busy entrance of Yggdrasil they headed toward the comforting sight of Crescentia. There was a sense of urgency in their steps, though it was from curiosity and intrigue. Blayke, on the other hand, was on edge. Ever cautious and protective.

“We’re back!” Drayce announced as they hurried into the foyer of their guildhouse.

Appearing from the top of the stairs, Ashton hastily made his way down. “Hm? You’re back early. What happened?” he asked, his brow furrowed and his gaze critical as he inspected them all for the slightest injury or discomfort.

“Easy, no one’s hurt,” Drayce immediately reassured as shrugged off his shield and armour. “We just found something curious and interesting.”

Shashi, along with Kamali and Fiorello, also appeared suddenly and made their way down the flight of stairs. “I can sense the mana already. What is it?”

Drayce retrieved the chest from Caelem and carried it into the lounge area. “Here it is. First, I need to pick this lock.”

As he placed it upon an empty table, he reached into his jacket to pull out his lock-picking kit. He kept with him at all times. You never know when you needed to pick a lock, after all.

Behind him the others gathered. “A wooden chest?” Ashton questioned as he peered over his shoulder. “Ah, maybe you found one of those hidden jewel caches.”

Drayce shrugged as he dragged over a chair to sit down. “Maybe,” he said as he dropped down upon the chair and opened his kit. “Won’t know until I open it.”

Everyone chatted quietly amongst themselves, Faelen explaining to Shashi and Kamali of how they had stumbled across their discovery. Drayce tuned out their voices as he studied the lock. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to pick. A couple of tools would be more than enough.

Picking out his tools, he focused his full attention on the small silver lock. He had to remind himself to take it slow. He was eager to see what was inside, yes. But he had to take it slow so he wouldn’t mess up the lock.

Drayce unconsciously chewed on his bottom lip as he slowly eased the lock open. When he heard that satisfying click and watched as the lock sprung open just a fraction, he smiled widely. “And done.”

“What’s inside?” Caelem eagerly asked as he huddled closely against his back.

Drayce slowly pulled back the lid and was greeted with something he hadn’t been expecting. A small chest, carved from dark wood. Spirals and carving that appeared to be ancient hieroglyphics adorn the lid. Most prominent was a small plate of gold with a small indentation at the very centre. An indentation that gave the indication that something had once sat there. Or needed to be placed within.

“Hm?” he murmured as he tilted his head to the side as he carefully lifted the chest from its confinement. “It seems like one of those personal trinket chests. I think it’s sealed in some way, though.”

“So, there’s a box within a box?” Blayke muttered with a sense of exasperation. “And this box has a seal on it? Figures.”

Drayce rolled his eyes slightly at his friend’s lack of enthusiasm. But that was just Blayke for ya.

Before Drayce could make some quip about Blayke being a party-pooper, Caelem suddenly fell against Drayce’s back, his hands on his shoulders in an attempt to get a closer look at what he was holding. Drayce blinked at the sudden movement, but managed to keep still.

“W-what, that’s the symbol of the lotus!” Caelem all but shouted in realisation and surprise.

Drayce blinked again and peered up at Caelem, still not moving an inch. “Hm? Wait, is that the same symbol of the one from your village?”

“I-it is,” Caelem immediately replied, his eyes wide. “C-can I see it?”

“Have at it.”

Caelem immediately, but carefully, took the trinket box from Drayce and seemingly unaware that he had been resting against Drayce’s back, having all but launched himself there, took a step back. He held their discovery in his two hands and carefully lifted it this way and that to look at it from every angle.

“It’s definitely the same crest as my village,” Caelem finally stated. “But…there’s no lock. I can’t see anyway to open it.”

Drayce stood in front of Caelem. “Looks like the only way to open it is to find a charm or amulet in the shape of a lotus to fit in here,” he said as he tapped at the lid with his index finger.

Caelem looked at where he had indicated and it took a second for him to realise what that meant. And he immediately deflated, his ears drooping atop of his head in disappointment. “Oh…”

“Sorry, Cal. Sometimes it’s like that,” Drayce said as he retrieved the trinket box from him and handed it over to Shashi, who eagerly snatched it up and began to inspect it.

“But maybe it’s somewhere in the second floor of the labyrinth?” he suggested as he reached out to place a hand on Caelem’s shoulder once more. “I know it’s a long shot, but it probably has some mana on it. So, there’s a chance that Kamali or Zohar will be able to sense it. Or maybe you’ll be able to sense it.”

Although still disappointed, Caelem seemed to accept that. “You’re probably right.”

“If all else fails, we’ll try blowing it up,” Drayce half joked with a smile.

That got a small laugh from Caelem and he shook his head. “I hope we won’t have to do that.”

Caelem may laugh, but blowing things up was still something that would be considered for the truly stubborn locks. The cannons dragoons used wasn’t just for monsters, after all.

“These symbols are intriguing,” Shashi commented as he placed the trinket box upon another table and pulled out a notebook from his pocket. “Are they of ancient Therian dialect?”

“I think so,” Caelem answered before suddenly looking sheepish. “But…I can’t read them.”

Shashi simply nodded his head absentmindedly as he continued to study his latest project. “What of you, Faelen?”

Faelen, of course, squeaked in surprise as the question. “M-me? No, I can’t read them either.”

Again, and completely unperturbed, Shashi nodded his head as he jotted a few notes down upon his notepad. “Well, no matter. I’m sure I can get my hands on a book that will help translate what these symbols mean. It’ll just take a little longer than usual.”

Drayce was immediately reminded of how lucky he was to have such an unfaltering scholar on his side. “Anything you discover would be awesome.”

Shashi made a few more notes in a hurried flourished before he stood up straight. “I’ll get to work then,” he said as he turned to leave the room.

As he did so, however, he walked past Ashton. Whom of which was shaking his head in exasperation.

“Don’t sigh and frown at me, Ashton,” Shashi chided as he slapped the man lightly on his arms that were folded tightly over his chest.

Ashton continued to looked exasperated. “At least there were a couple of days of peace,” he muttered aloud for everyone to hear, to which was immediately waved off by Shashi as he disappeared up the stairs.

“Oh, you enjoy this stuff as much as anyone else,” Drayce couldn’t help but tease.

Ashton arched an eyebrow at him, but smiled nevertheless. “Ah, can’t deny that,” he said as he unfolded his arms and gave Drayce a rather…terse look. “But I am your caretaker, after all. I won’t hesitate to use force.”

Drayce nearly broke out into a cold sweat upon that…threat. “I-I’ll remember that.”

Ashton continued to stare threateningly at him to get his point across just that little bit more before he relaxed and smiled a friendly grin. “Well, that didn’t take you very long, did it?”

Drayce shrugged and grinned also. “Well, I am a treasure hunter. Finding mysteries and treasures is what I’m all about. At least with this one we might have a slight head start on it.”

Faelen made his way to Drayce’s side and tugged on the sleeve of his coat again. “What do we do now, Dray? Should we head back into the labyrinth?”

Drayce mulled over the question for a moment before he nodded his head. “We probably should. We weren’t in there for very long. I’m curious about those gathering points anyway. Coming, Cal?”

From where he stood with Kamali, Caelem immediately stiffened at being called. “Oh, yes, coming!”

Kamali gave Caelem’s arm a slight squeeze as he walked past him to head upstairs himself. “I’ll try to find what I can on this Turquoise Lotus Father figure of yours.”

“Th-thank you, I appreciate it,” Caelem immediately replied.

Snatching up his shield and armour, Drayce led his guildmates once more. “Tell Shashi not to push himself too hard!”

#Etrian Odyssey #etrian odyssey 5 #turquoise lotus father #the treasure seeker #fanfiction #Angelward Guild

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thegreatpikminzx789 · 6 years ago

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Yggdrasil’s Nexus: Prologue (Chapter 1) - Etrian Odyssey Nexus Fanfiction

Wattpad|Ao3|Fanfiction.Net

Summary: Korey wishes upon a single star in the night, wishing to be reunited with his loved one. His previous searches yielded no results, so he hopes that all the friends he made along the way may have had some clue to where she might have been in the time Korey was gone. He had to hope that they had found some means of getting his old guild to reach him...

But perhaps hope lies within the Maginia, and its promise of a new journey.

Introduction (You are here)|Next Chapter

AN: Man, writing this was soooo worth it, especially towards the ending of this chapter. I probably might not want to wait until I reach the specified point in Beyond the Stars, so the next chapter may likely contain a spoiler. Maybe. Depends on how long I wanna delay the next chapter so I can write it, which is honestly gonna drag me down so far behind like I did with BtS...

I decided to go with a rather different method of having my characters meet each other, as I feel like what I had written in my draft was good enough for a start, though the other characters meeting likely won’t come until the next chapter... Oh, and did I mention that this is a little over 7200 words on Wattpad (Almost 7600 words on Fanfiction.Net)? I’m quite glad with how this turned out that I went a little further. Sometimes the extra details is what’s really needed in the long run~ :3

Lynus and Drayce, although both are mentioned, belong to @theshatteredrose

The night sky was always a pleasant sight to behold. Shirota and Shira definitely had some fun watching the night sky before the Dancer let out a yawn. A side effect that mostly came from her efforts of using her dance skills to assist with the exploration of the Sacred Mountain's labyrinths earlier today for a quest.

"I'm glad I'm able to spend some more time with you, mom. I wanted to make it up to you, so I hoped this was a start..." Shirota began, smiling as she placed her head on her mother's shoulder.

"Me too, my sweet sunshine," Shira replied, in a soothing tone, looking at her daughter's eyes, and smiled back at her. "I hope we can do more of this, soon..." She continued, hoping to spend more time with her daughter and catch up with what she's been up to the past few months.

"We will, don't you worry." Shirota hummed, starting to make her way over to the bed with her warm pair of clothes on her. She wasn't willing to get the cold over being through cold temperatures, so some warm clothes really helped her thrive in the cold region of the Sacred Mountains, and the often cold winds that arrived during her time in Tharsis.

"For now though, I'm gonna get some shut eye." Shirota sighed, falling onto the bed and placing the sheets over herself. The silver-clad Imperial knelt beside her bed.

"Very well. Good night, Shirota. I love you." Shira cooed, getting a little chuckle out of Shirota.

"I love you too, mom." Shirota responded, feeling her mother place a kiss on her cheek before getting up and make her way out of the room, closing the door behind her. It certainly felt like years since she spent time growing up alongside her daughter.

Whenever Imperial duties weren't weighing on her shoulders, she would teach her daughter the ways of dancing. It was always something to help pass the time, and to get close to each other as mother and daughter. Ever since her disappearance though, she was worried her lessons would be for naught.

A faint recalling of her memory reminded her that she talked to his husband about the possibility of her being unable to return. There was a village of dancers not far from the presumed location of civilization beyond the Cloudy Stronghold, and she had suggested that they live there should anything happen to her. She might not be aware of how happy her husband is, but the letter she received back from him a few days ago was reassuring , and that he was soon coming to Tharsis.

Needless to say, Shira and Shirota couldn't be anymore happier. Soon, they were going to be reunited as a family... Kurita and her sisters were still looking for their father, but the guild searched everywhere in search for him, and so far, turned up nothing.

Glaring up from the ground, she noticed that someone was on the balcony. A man with long brown hair and wore clothes from the Highlander tribe, staring at the night sky... Shira placed a hand on her hips, unable to help ponder to herself why he would be out at a time like this. She was usually strict about being able to sleep on time, so seeing their guild leader not get any sleep is a bit worrying, both as a friend, and as a mother.

Without regard to her movement, Shira walks up to him, hoping to question the man who refuses to sleep. "You know you should be asleep by this time. So why are you still up?"

Startled, Korey turns to see Shira approaching him, with a rather stern look on her face. It's only been a few weeks since Shira joined his guild, but her stern look reminded him of his mother whenever she was crossed... He took a few seconds to recompose himself.

"I just... couldn’t sleep, Shira." Korey replied, taking a deep breath as he looks back at the sky. "I thought looking at the night sky would help tire me out, but every time I look at them, it reminds me of my time back home..."

The brown skinned woman soon relieved herself of the stern expression upon hearing his reason. The night sky was always such a wonderful thing to look at, no matter where they are in the world. "I remember watching the night sky as I slept in, waiting til the day I get to see my daughter again..." She commented, placing her hands on the railing as she stared at the millions of stars in the sky.

"And that you did. I just hope that would soon happen with me." Korey's repeated sigh soon turned Shira's attention from the sky to the person beside her.

"I’ve been praying ever since I started my journey that one day, I will reach her. And ever since I gained my sudden amnesia, I’ve been lost, with this ring as my only guide... I feel like I'm never going to find her, no matter what I do."

Shira places her hand on the Highlander's shoulder, his gaze turning to a concerned mother that Shira's aura resonated. "I’m sure you will, Korey. Perhaps there might have been a reason she could not have found you sooner, or even the other way around." She began.

"I know how much it feels to worry about loved ones, but you just need to trust your heart to not worry. That’s how I managed to get through." Shira continued, hearing Korey scoff at himself. "If only I can keep that advise to heart."

He heard giggling from Shira. "Maybe you should get it memorized." She suggested, unable to hold back a few more giggles she tried to withstand.

Korey's eyes soon gazed at something else that caught his attention. Something gleamed off of the silver armor, turning his head back to see... "Ah, a shooting star! Gotta make a wish!"

Korey clasps his hands together and closed his eyes. Before Shira questions what he's doing, she too spots the shooting star, and proceeds to mimic the pose Korey is in. Silence filled the air for a while, before the two of them opened their eyes to see that the shooting star is gone.

"Shooting stars are always the prettiest things the sky has given us." Shira commented, smiling almost as if she didn't have a care in the world. She gazed at Korey as she places her hands back on the railing. "So, what’d you wish for?"

What he wished for... It felt obvious to the Highlander, but Shira won't know unless he spoke it to her. "I wished to be back with my beloved Hilda, no matter how long it takes."

Shira could only chuckle in response. "Heh, maybe I shouldn’t have asked..." She muttered to herself, hardly surprised by the wish she heard from Korey.

"Well, it’s only fair to ask what you wished for after I told you mine. So tell me already." Korey urged, like a little child asking their parent to read them a story.

Shira couldn't help but giggle at his need to know her wish. "Alright, fine." She sighed, giving into the plea. "I wished for you to live the happiest life you can, as you make others happy."

She spots a smirk come onto Korey's face, chuckling a little bit as he scratched the back of his head. "That wish of yours feels like I might have spoken some words similar to what you said to a guild I was in back in High Lagaard. God, it felt like it was just yesterday..."

"How so?" The silver-clad Imperial inquired, personally intrigued. "We were facing a dangerous creature on a floor hardly anyone else knew about." The Highlander began, placing a finger on his chin as he began to recall the exact moment in time.

"In the spur of the moment, my mind thought back to a similar event where things were as desperate as it can be, but managed to make it through in the end. I ended up speaking about wanting to make people smile, and to live their lives like one happy family. And the rest was just a blur as we, alongside a certain guild I met in Lagaard, took down the destructive creature."

"I see..." Shira hummed to herself, more than satisfied with the answer she hear from Korey. Her eyes gaze at him again, seeing his eyes closed from the corner of her vision. Was he thinking about something? "Something wrong?"

Korey opened his eyes when he heard the question. "O-Oh, nothing. Just pondering to myself, is all." He assured, turning around and grabbing his bag, placing it on his shoulder, before turning to the silver Imperial.

"I’m gonna go get some shut eye. I’ll see you in the morning, Shira." Shira nodded, silently motioning him to get going. She didn't need to reassure him any further regarding his sleep schedule.

Once he was out of sight, Shira turned to look at the stars above her. She couldn't help but ponder on his wish, despite showing little interest earlier. "Perhaps he might get his wish granted faster than we’d expect. Fate does work in mysterious ways, after all..."

.........................................................

The morning came and went, as the Refulgent Guild was taking the day off from exploring to do whatever they wanted until something was discussed. Soon enough, the afternoon started to arrive without much of a care. Though Korey didn't mind. After all, talking with Baldur, Logre, and Shirota was going rather smoothly.

They had visited some shops earlier, likely to stock up for medicine and whatnot, and nesting on the porch of their guild house was a way to relax after a typical shopping spree. They were just talking about whatever came to their mind, whether it was in the past or plans for the upcoming future. It was right around then that the noise of shifting armor caught Shirota's attention, gazing upon tons of Tharsis' soldiers.

"Is it just me, or is there a lot of guards today making their way to the Count’s place?" She couldn't help but question, as the others turned to see what she was talking about. They also spotted some soldiers that weren't of Tharsis origin.

"That certainly is quite the number. I wonder why the need for that many guards..." Baldur pondered, as Logre's eyes soon spotted some figures of extreme importance.

"Perhaps those two likely explain the protecting formation the soldiers are in." He explained, pointing to a woman with orange hair, and rather unique golden armor, walking beside a man with black armor and white hair. They were walking alongside the soldiers to the Outland Count's place, likely to discuss something with the Count in particular.

"You certainly don’t see people like them everyday." Shirota commented, rather amazed at the armor the woman wore. "Not really, though I wonder why they’re here. They don’t seem like bad people..."

As they see the two regal looking figures walk off in the distance, Shirota spots Anai from the corner of her eye, seeing the Medic approach them as the young girl smacks her hands on the table, startling the boys and turned their attention to her.

"Guys, you’ll never believe what I just saw! It was... oh my god, it was huuuuuge!" Anai blurted, almost about to go on a never ending talk about whatever she witnessed.

Shirota quickly urged the young Medic to calm down. "What is it that you saw?" Baldur questioned, which only made Anai squee with excitement.

"I-It’s just better to show you guys! Come to the entrance!" Anai urged, rushing ahead of them.

Well, who were they to question Anai's sudden thrill of excitement? The group of four got up from their chairs, making their way to the entrance of Tharsis, spotting Anai wave her hand at them, meeting up with the Medic at the spot she stood.

"What might be so important to get our attention over?" The prince inquired, seeing the Medic swiftly turn and point at something. "Take a look at that!"

Everyone's gaze turns to where the purple haired girl was pointing, getting a few surprised gasps and looks from the group. There appeared to be a huge ship docked next to the city's entrance, putting the airships that Korey and the Empire's had to mere shocking levels of mediocrity. Baldur noticed that there were buildings on the ship, hardly able to witness a few figures over in the distance walking around as if they live on it.

"A floating city?" Baldur was only able to speak after having confirmed his thoughts on the matter. Logre smirked, rather impressed about the huge ship.

"Heh, rather impressive someone managed to make a combination of a flying ship and a city to live on for the people on it. That’s an impressive feat that nobody's ever managed to accomplish." He commented, feeling like he could take up his regarded Whirlwind name and start a new life there...

"Ugh, silly me. I almost forgot something..." Anai groaned, reaching into her bag and grabs a letter, handing it to Korey as he reads over the letter's details.

"Somebody sent you a letter, Korey. From what I can tell, it’s very important." Korey gazed at Anai, unable to help but wonder something.

"You didn’t take a peek at it, did you?" He questioned, the young Medic quickly shaking her head to prove her innocence. "Just from the royal seal that I saw on the letter was what gave me the hint that it was important." She explained.

Baldur placed a finger on his chin once he heard word of a royal seal. "Did you catch a name of sorts?" The prince asked.

"No, just the symbol was all I saw, Baldur." The girl replied, leaving Korey to stare at the letter for a while. "So, guild leader, what’s our next move?" Logre queried, wondering when Korey was gonna speak up or simply stare at the letter for a while.

Korey blinked for a few seconds, looking at the Imperial that had asked him a question. "Logre, Baldur, Anai, gather everyone in the guild. I suppose this letter is considered an important thing everyone should know." Korey issued without further delay.

"Why not just have me get everyone? I always seem to enjoy the easier tasks you give me." Logre jested, smirking as he did so.

"Just get going, Logre!" Korey urged, hearing him chuckle as he motions for Baldur and Anai to follow him. Shirota soon starts following them, before turning to the Highlander.

"I’ll see if I can help in getting everyone. See you later!" Shirota chirped, turning to follow the trio she was following, not wanting to lose sight of them.

Korey looks at the letter once again, seeing a rather interesting topic that peaked his interest. "...Guess I made the right call to have a meeting with my guild." He uttered to himself, as he began to head back to the guild house.

..............................................

After nearly an hour of waiting for everyone in his guild to come, every member of the Refulgent Guild was here at last, gathered in the lobby. Everybody was talking among themselves, waiting for Korey to come down and issue the meeting. A white haired Vessel huffed, not liking the crowded situation he found himself to be in.

"I don’t see the point in us being here. Weren’t we just fine doing our own thing until something was planned?" Silvius argued, staring rather coldly at everyone, despite his calm demeanor he typically has with them.

"This is the part where something just came to our guild leader’s attention, Silvius." Wufan began, sighing upon hearing Silvius complain. "Despite being the White Vessel, you should know that if something is important, you hear it out."

"That’s true," Kibagami chimed in. "I’m sure Korey has a great reason for calling us all here."

The blonde haired Medic with black clothes soon spotted Korey coming down the stairs. "Ah, here comes Korey." She exclaimed, getting everyone's attention as the Highlander made his way to the center of the room.

"Terribly sorry I’m late, I had to make sure I read the contents the letter contained." Korey apologized, immediately getting some of his guild members telling him that they understand the wait.

"No need to worry yourself about it, Korey." The white haired Nightseeker woman known as Elma spoke up, adjusting the red garb around her as she sat up. "Please, do speak about what this letter delightfully entails." The black haired Imperial known as Akhos urged, adjusting his glasses as he spoke.

Korey took a few seconds to clear his throat before beginning. "The letter seems to have been written by somebody from the flying ship me, Logre, Baldur, Anai, and Shirota witnessed earlier this afternoon, as it was hand delivered from Anai to me. It says that the leaders of the airship are talking with the Outland Count to speak about getting explorers to join them on the Maginia for a new journey."

Kurita's older sister and landsknecht, Jayla, tilted her head, a bit puzzled. "Maginia? Is that the name of that ship thing?" "I would assume so, Jayla." The purple haired landsknecht sitting right beside Jayla, named Eliza, guessed her answer on the subject.

"A new journey sounds rather exciting. But why the discussion with the Count?" Sakuma wondered, before the sound of an open door can interrupt anyone who was going to express their opinion.

"I believe I can answer that myself, lass." A familiar voice chimed in, as the Count allowed himself into the guild house. "Hello, Mr. Count!" Kurita greeted, waving a hand in his general direction.

"Hello to you too, Kurita." He greeted back. "I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything."

Korey shook his head. "No, you weren’t. I’m honestly at a loss as to what the letter I got earlier could mean." Korey stated, explaining the situation he and his guildmates have found themselves in.

"Oh don’t trouble yourself with the details. I’ll explain everything I know." The Count hummed, closing the door behind him so no one else could interrupt him.

"You see, I’ve had a meeting with the founders of the floating city, the Maginia. They spoke with me about having explorers from all of Tharsis to come and assist them search for some treasure in a far off island." He explained.

"Island? Like, lonely continent, island?" The red haired Sentinel named Hiraku inquired, getting a sigh from the brown skinned Vessel next to him.

"I’m sure that’s what he means..." Seti argued, feeling a small bit of movement from the blue-haired female Runemaster next to him as she peeked her head to see the Count. "It's still strange as it is, considering that’s exactly what the letter entailed as well- minus the treasure part..." Haruka exclaimed, causing the Count to pace back and forth for a few seconds.

"If I had to conjure a guess, I surmise that the most likely possibility is that the Refulgent Guild has been selected to board the Maginia to travel to this new place." The Count concluded, getting several gasps from the people in the room. "Isn’t the thought of searching through a new land exciting? It’s just like how you explored new lands with your airship when you finished your first labyrinth..." He reminisced, feeling like it was only yesterday when he had met the Highlander and his guild.

While some liked the idea of traveling to a new land... Some, like Kurita, had some thoughts of her own. "I’ve grown to like Tharsis, though... It would feel weird to leave it and potentially leave it in danger." The blonde Runemaster spoke up.

"That certainly is a lot of pressure, especially for me..." Lysandra groaned, still unsure about her decision. It was a fifty-fifty situation, and it was hard to know whether they would want to go or not.

"How long would the Maginia stay here, if I may ask?" Korey inquired, wanting to know at least that before making a formal decision. "For a few days, from what the orange haired woman told me. She wanted to be sure that she wanted to give explorers a fair chance to make up their minds, and not pressure anyone."

A few days... That was more than enough time. At least for Korey. The others will likely have their answers sooner than his.

"Then what of the guild house? Will it remain intact for us, or not?" Logre inquired, wondering about the possibility of them all saying yes to going on the Maginia.

"That’s something I would like to discuss when you are ready to travel on the Maginia. Please take your time, and come visit me if you all have decided." The Count gave a reassuring smile, before bidding them a good day, leaving the building to head back to his place.

Silence filled the room again. Everybody exchanged looks at each other, almost worried to express their thoughts on the subject they were left with. Even Frederica Irving and Yukina were rather silent about the whole ordeal.

Before long, Shira got up from her seat and cleared her throat. "I must admit, although the Empire has been me and Shirota’s home for some time, I feel like we should take the time to see if we’re truly ready to move on from Tharsis, judging from everyone's reaction. Sounds good to everyone?"

Her objective for everyone was rather clear, yet it felt like a mission discussion towards everyone in the room. But if they had to be honest, the pressure was sort of huge. They needed some time to at least come to terms with what they plan to do. Everyone ends up nodding, as some of them mutter a positive reaction to having to spend some time to think about this situation.

Soon, the room was suddenly filled with discussion, as if the embargo had just been lifted. Although it was a little complex to have Korey gather his thoughts alone in peace, turning around and making his way back upstairs.

The prince couldn't help but follow the Highlander. Despite the rather tough crowd of people in the lobby, it wasn't hard to get to his destination without further issue. He climbed the stairs, feeling others follow behind him, likely wanting to converse in their rooms.

Reaching the balcony, Baldur spots the brown haired Highlander looking through the busy streets of Tharsis. "Mind if I join you up here?" Baldur inquired, getting a short gaze from Korey as he approaches him.

"I just need some time to myself..." He groaned, looking away from the prince, almost acting like the first time he had met the Prince. Baldur wasn't going to take it at face value this time around. "Can’t I be concerned for someone who is going to be my future guild leader?"

Huh? Future guild leader? The Highlander turned to face the prince, seeing his eyes rather determined, much like the time they were trying to give chase to him in the Cloudy Stronghold.

"I’ve debated on it for a while, ever since the Yggdrasil Curse had been removed from me," Baldur continued. "I saw how hard and dedicated one must be to exploring. After much discussion with everyone else for the past few days, I decided I want to become an explorer, starting with wherever this Maginia will take us too."

This... Was this even a dream? Cause it freaking felt like one to Korey, alright! The fact that Baldur is going to be giving exploring a chance, is honestly rather surprising.

"That’s what I’ve decided, Korey. I’m sure Logre would agree with me one-hundred percent on this." He concluded, starting to feel the wind blow through his hair.

Well, who was a leader if he wasn't willing to give someone a chance?

"I can tell that it'll be a good start for you, Baldur. I’m all in on letting you explore with us." Korey grinned, seeing the prince smile for the first time in his life.

"Thanks for understanding, Korey." Baldur thanked, letting the wind be their source of sound, along with the people down below them. Time flew by for a bit, before he heard Korey sigh, getting up from the position he was standing in.

"I might be taking a little longer to debate on my current position. Cause every place I’ve been to feels like home." Korey recalled the open thrill of Etria, the great comfort in High Lagaard, the amazing view of the ocean in Armoroad, and the land of Tharsis was quite beautiful. Each place truly felt more unique than the last.

"But I know my hometown is out there somewhere, and with the thought that I might one day return and leave everyone I know behind to return home is just... worrying." The Highlander groaned, looking down at his ring that he still wore throughout every travel and journey he had this far.

Baldur couldn't help but feel like he had a point. When he was recovering with the Refulgent Guild, it felt rather worrying that it felt like he was leaving the people of his empire to suffer. But with each Imperial visiting Tharsis, things felt more better, despite the curse that was placed on him in the aftermath of summoning the titan.

"To straight up leave and search for my old guild, and my wife... It's a painful thought that never left my head." Korey's voice brought Baldur back to the conversation, placing his hand on the Highlander's shoulder.

"You have us to help you with that search, you know? Doing it alone won’t get you anywhere, as far as I’m aware." Baldur insisted, reminding Korey that he had another option the whole time.

"You’re right, Baldur. I’m sorry, I just feel like I don’t want anyone else to help in my search, due to how much trouble it will be." The brown haired man apologized. "I’ll see if I can change my mind about that... is that alright?"

"Fine by me." The prince chuckled, removing his hand from Korey's shoulder. "I’m going to see if the others made up their minds yet. I’ll see you later."

"See ya." Korey replied, seeing the prince head down the stairs, waiting until he was out of sight to ponder something to himself. "Would it really be worth leaving, knowing I may not find her there in our next destination?"

After all, his previous searches held nothing. All the hints he may have had an inclination to, were wrong by a million miles more than the last. It felt like he was following a dead trail, hoping it still went onward.

Finding his old guild felt like finding a group of friends lost in a huge public area... And that was the worst kind of situation he could ever find himself in. "Perhaps a walk can ease my nerves. I can't think about getting on the Maginia without having some more time to myself." He concluded, making his way downstairs.

He heard the conversations had died down a little, likely guessing some of them made their decision on the matter. The lobby was also less cluttered with people walking about, making his path to the door a lot more simple. Before he could leave, he felt Shirota's eyes catch him as he touched the door handle.

"Where’re you heading, Korey?" Shirota queried, seeing Korey turn his head a little to face her. "Just gonna go for a walk, Shirota. I shouldn’t be long."

Well, as long as he had something in mind, he was all set to go. "Alright. Stay safe, Korey." She hummed, seeing him leave the building before focusing her attention back to the conversation at hand.

..............................................

He found himself sitting down on a bench near the water fountain. Despite the roads being somewhat busy with adventurers, they were more focused on getting preparations, or just chatting about by their front doors, helping citizens one last time before they likely headed out to explore, or to go to the Maginia. While Korey didn't get a great glimpse of the Maginia in full, he had to trust the Count's word that it was a floating city. It was the only thing that can keep his mind on track with what he was currently thinking.

"This Maginia seems like a great place to live for the time we’ll likely be spending our days in our next destination. But who knows if I’ll ever see some friends from my hometown, or from Lagaard. I already miss seeing Lynus, and god knows how long it’s been since I’ve seen Drayce..." Korey pondered, soon clutching his head upon remembering Drayce.

He was the guy who got him and his previous guild into treasure hunting. The guy who came down from a descendant of treasure hunters, and the first guild he ever met that was all filled with boys. His mind felt like it was starting to remember more and more, but even when it fit one piece of the puzzle, another piece just wasn't adding up.

"Ugh, this damn amnesia is driving me crazy!" He growled to himself, rubbing his head in an attempt to calm himself of the headache he felt. Korey desperately wished there was a much more better solution to fixing amnesia instead of waiting it out, cause each second he wasted felt like it was just more trial and error for his mind to fix the puzzle.

He was unsure how much time passed as he attempted to calm himself, while trying to speak out certain connections that his memories might eventually come back. "Excuse me, sir..." A voice called out to him, tugging on his pants alongside speaking out to him.

"Huh?" Korey turned his head and sees a child who was about a few inches taller than Korey's legs in his current sitting position. He couldn't help recognize the white hair the child had, noticing his eyes are the same color as his own. And while he was unsure if the landsknecht armor was just for show or not, it seemed as if he was wearing the clothes Tharsis landsknecht males typically wore.

The child tilted his head, trying to get a grasp on the details of Korey's face, eyes, and hair color. "You look a bit like my father. You almost sound like him, too." He commented, feeling like he's heard the voice somewhere before.

"Your father?" Korey felt rather confused as to where this was going, but decided to ask anyways. "Yeah, he’s been missing for two years, and mommy really misses him."

Two years? Had it really felt like it was two years? He felt like it was just countless days, but if what he said about his mommy missing him... Korey felt placed his hand on his chest, almost recalling the exact moment he felt the missing link when he once woke up to find himself in some unknown place.

Hilda... He felt her miss him, almost as if their link was somehow re-established somehow. He wasn't sure how, but upon gazing at the kid before him, he feels like he's seen him somewhere before.

"You look familiar, but I can’t seem to place a finger on your name... Mind telling me your name?" Korey inquired, wanting to confirm something that was nagging on his mind.

"My name’s Karim." He introduced himself. Korey felt like his heart was pounding, yet he wasn't sure why. Was it because he was aware of the name and just hadn't remember, or...

His mind was telling him that he was close to the answer, but if he had to be sure of himself, there had to be something he can do to confirm his identity to Karim... He looked back at the white haired child, who quickly stares back at him, almost as if he was like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Any chance you happen to know your father’s name? And was he wearing anything that would be the key to finding him?"

Two questions was all that it took for Karim to ponder to himself. "Well, my daddy's named Korey... From what mom told me, he always wore a ring that had her name and dad's name on it, as it was the ring she bought for him."

If Korey could express his shock right now, he would. He got off the bench and knelt down to Karim’s height, removing the ring on his hand and held it up for the kid to see it clearly. "Would this be the ring in question?" He asked, as Karim squinted his eyes to try and read the font indented on the ring.

The kid let out a gasp as soon as he saw his mother's name, alongside Korey's own name. He looked up at Korey, who quickly looks at him, before feeling the child wrap his arms around him. "I finally found you, papa! I've missed you sooooo much!" Karim beamed, rubbing his head against Korey's chest.

He... found his son. Korey forgotten his son due to the amnesia... To think he was so focused on finding his wife, that he had forgotten the child that they were raising together. He felt nothing but a rush of happiness and sadness taking over him, soon wrapping his arms around Karim.

"My son... I thought I’d never see you again..." Korey cried, feeling water come down his cheeks and into Karim's hair. "I was afraid my efforts of trying to return to you and Hilda were for naught... But I’m glad they weren’t!"

Korey continued to bawl for a few minutes, feeling his son comfort him the best he can. He soon felt the tears slowly come to a halt, rubbing a finger against his eyes to remove anymore that dared to escape at the last second.

"Feeling better, daddy?" Karim asked, separating from the hug he initiated. "Yeah... I'm feeling better, my child."

Korey grew a smile on his face, as he picks up Karim and sits on the bench, placing Karim on his leg. Whatever thoughts about the Maginia were tossed aside, as all Korey wanted was to reconnect with the son he had forgotten.

"Tell me, what have you, Hilda and the others been up to while I was away?" He asked, his voice acting much more fatherly than it previously was seconds ago.

"Oh, you know, school and homework..." Karim began, his voice filled with enthusiasm. "Aunt Misaki has been helping me with some of the schoolwork as well." He added.

Korey let out a sigh of relief, glad to hear that his biological sister was still around. "Glad to know sis is doing just fine. I’m sure she must’ve been worried about me, much like Hilda." Korey pondered, considering not seeing her big brother was likely shocking for her.

"She certainly was, though only for a month." Karim noted, causing Korey to blink in surprise. "Only a month? Here I thought it would be more than that..." The brown haired Highlander commented, amused by the answer his son gave him.

"Aunt Misaki’s really grown up! She said she wanted to find you as much as all of us back in Iorys did!" Karim explained, causing Korey to chuckle in amazement.

"I see. I might just have to speak with her myself when I see her again..." He imagined she might have grown a few inches taller since they last saw each other, if two years of missing her birthday only now smacked him hard in the face.

"By the way," Korey continued, looking over Karim's clothes. "Where’d you get the small armor set for Tharsis’ Landsknecht clothes?"

Karim tilted his head for a moment, lost in a thought of his. "Oh, mommy allowed me and Ms. Brown Haired Lady to go get me some clothes from here." He responded, catching Korey off guard with the nickname he said out loud. "You mean-"

"Karim, there you- agh?!" A familiar voice called out, before somehow tripping and hitting the solid ground before them. Korey gasps, recognizing the girl before him. Her ears were rabbit-like, and her brown skin and brown hair easily could look like it would mix together any second. She also appeared to be wearing a necklace of sorts- and that necklace was familiar to him as well!

Korey places Karim down on the bench as he placed down his bag and sat Keiko up. "K-Keiko! Are you okay?!" He exclaimed, looking quickly over the injuries she had. Unlike the first time she ran into him, the ground definitely wasn't something to mess with in regards to getting hurt.

"I-I’m f-fine..." Keiko groaned, before blinking several times after registering the voice in her head. She looked towards the man tending to her injuries... His hair color was familiar, his eye color was the same, even his voice was the darn same!

"K-Korey?! Is that you?!" Keiko yelped after speaking, feeling her arm sting a bit in pain. "H-Hold still, Keiko, I can’t tend to your wounds if you move around!" Korey grunted, looking where the bits of her skin bled.

"Not moving." Keiko silenced herself afterward, letting Korey do his thing. Seemed like she got a few abrasions on her skin. If the advise he learned from Lynus was correct, he needed to scrub and clean the wounds off before they get infected.

Korey turned his head to turn to Karim. "Hey, Karim, there's a bottle in my bag that contains purified water. Can you get it for me?" Karim nodded, getting up from the bench and walked over to his bag, opening it and started searching through it.

"O-Oh, I see you found Karim, Korey..." Keiko hummed, trying not to speak a lot due to her injuries. "Moreso he found me. I'm so glad to see him again." Korey chuckled in response, soon grabbing the bottle of water Karim found.

"Now, this may sting a bit, but I gotta apply water to the places that your skin scraped against. Just try and endure it, okay?" Korey warned, seeing Keiko nod in response. He opened the water bottle, and dripped water on her arm, letting the water drip to the side where the wound was visible.

Keiko winced in pain, but tries her best not to express her pain. "Karim, there should be some gauze that I can use. Do you see it in my bag anywhere?"

Karim looks further in the bag, seeing a box with a label written 'gauze' on it. "I believe this is the one, papa." He hands it over to Korey, as the Highlander places the water bottle beside him, and opens the box, grabbing one of the translucent fabrics and placed it over the wound, moving it over the surface of the skin to pick up some of the light debris that made it onto her skin.

To be honest, Korey was glad he taken some interest in healing without having the direct skills of having a Medic nearby. Situations like this usually saved some rather regrettable injuries, like back in Armoroad, where Yukina taught him some of the ways to treat open wounds. Alongside the advise from Anai that he learned, he was making sure that he recalled the exact steps needed to heal the wounded areas.

Time felt like an eternity, as he had to make sure to apply the right amount of pressure. He had Karim assist him with grabbing some items, as he did not want to keep his eyes off the injuries for more than a few split seconds. Certain spots took longer than most, but it was better to cover all open wounds and prevent them from getting worse.

Part of Keiko's arms, hands and leg were wrapped in bandages, with some spots having some wet drips of purified water on it to help hasten the recovery time. He took his time with the few injuries on her face, wanting to make sure that the wounds were covered and well moist before moving on to the next. "This should be the last one. Just wait a little longer, Keiko..." Korey huffed, hearing Keiko gulp, still wincing from the last open wound on her body.

"Woooow, father’s so good at healing Ms. Brown Haired Lady!" Karim couldn't help but utter to himself in excitement. "For the last time, Karim, her name is Keiko." Korey overheard him, correcting him on the name of the Therian before him.

"H-Hey, I-I don’t mind the name." Keiko stuttered, wincing a bit more from the gauze that touched her cheek. "But you and Demetria basically share the same skin, eye, and hair color, Keiko! That naming scheme Karim has is gonna be confusing to me as it is!" The Highlander argued, before shutting himself up so he can focus on treating the last wound.

After waiting for a few minutes, Korey dipped his finger in the water bottle, quickly touching where the bandage was located, hoping to keep it moist for a while. Korey took a huge breath in relief, thankful he didn't mess up anything. "That ought to do it. Now, for the love of all that is the Heavenbringer, do not trip from this point on, Keiko!"

The brown haired Therian tilted her head in confusion. "What’s the Heavenbringer?" Korey brought his hand up to his face and shook his head in disappointment.

"Never mind, forget I said anything..." He sighed, placing the lid on his bottle and placed everything that Karim had placed inside his bag. Korey help assisted Keiko stand up, as she took a couple of seconds to get her balance.

"Now, make sure that the covered wounds remain moist if they start to become dry, and make sure you get plenty of rest." Korey began, moving away from the Therian after she was able to stand on her own. Though Korey couldn't send her back without doing something to get Hilda or the other old members of his guild to come to him...

"In fact, why don't you go head back to the Maginia, and get some guild members of mine to come visit me?" Korey inquired, seeing Keiko nod in response to his request. "S-Sure thing, Korey. Just gotta- ooooh, get back without causing more injury to myself." Keiko yelped in pain a little bit, but stood her ground to still stand tall.

"Make sure you yell mommy I found daddy, Ms. Brown Haired Lady!" Karim added, giving the Therian a rather cheery smile. Keiko couldn't help but smile back at Karim.

"Don't worry, Karim, I will." Keiko giggled, before she begins to make her way back to Tharsis' entrance, at a reasonable walking speed. After seeing her off, Karim turned to face his father, who picked up the bag and placed it on his back.

"So papa, what have you been doing in the two years you were gone?" He asked, seeing Korey look at him with a satisfied smile on his face. "I hope you love loooong stories, son. Cause my tales of adventuring will likely last us all the way to our destination on the Maginia." Korey responded, lowering his hand to Karim.

"In the meantime, why don't I give you a head start on meeting my current guild? I'm sure you’ll love them." Korey asked, feeling his sons hand grab his own hand.

"Sure! Let's go, go, gooo!" Karim chirped, jumping up and down with excitement. Korey couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"Alright, little one, patience... Let’s just take the opportunity to walk together. After all, it has been years, hasn’t it?" Korey hummed, seeing his son stop jumping the moment he heard patience come out of his father's mouth.

"Oookaaay..." The white haired child sighed, feeling his arm move due to Korey trying to cheer him up a little. "Come now, Karim- allow me to give you a tour of my recent adventuring guild in my resident guild house!" Korey declared, hyping up his child to wonder what sort of people Korey has met with.

Today was gonna be quite the busy afternoon, but it was gonna be worth the wish he hoped for the night before today.

#eo #eon #Etrian Odyssey #Etrian Odyssey Nexus #writing

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redsteroo · 6 years ago

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35. The Photograph

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others.” --- Cicero (106-43 BCE)

Four months after my departure from the hospital, my birth family sister Kathy finally got around to sending me a photo of my birth sister Betsy. I was up in our bedroom, where my odyssey all began, when I opened the oversized envelope and pulled out a framed glossy color photo of the sister I had never known. She was standing, I would later find out, near the docking pier of the Balboa Island Ferry near her home in Southern California, a beautiful West Coast sunset in the background. She had long brown hair and deep blue eyes, and her smile, radiating love and kindness, seemed to go right through me, making my heart both swell and ache at the same time.

Kathy had affixed a poem over the photo. It was written by David M. Romano in 1993, and was called “When Tomorrow Starts Without Me.”

*******

When tomorrow starts without me, and I’m not there to see, If the sun should rise and find your eyes All filled with tears for me; I wish so much you wouldn’t cry The way you did today, While thinking of the many things, We didn’t get to say. I know how much you love me, As much as I love you, And each time you think of me, I know you’ll miss me too; But when tomorrow starts without me, Please try to understand, That an angel came and called my name, And took me by the hand, And said my place was ready, In heaven far above And that I’d have to leave behind All those I dearly love. But as I turned to walk away, A tear fell from my eye For all my life, I’d always thought, I didn’t want to die. I had so much to live for, So much left yet to do, It seemed almost impossible, That I was leaving you.

I thought of all the yesterdays, The good ones and the bad, The thought of all the love we shared, And all the fun we had. If I could relive yesterday Just even for a while, I’d say good-bye and kiss you And maybe see you smile. But then I fully realized That this could never be, For emptiness and memories, Would take the place of me. And when I thought of worldly things I might miss come tomorrow, I thought of you, and when I did My heart was filled with sorrow. But when I walked through heaven’s gates I felt so much at home When God looked down and smiled at me, From His great golden throne, He said, “This is eternity, And all I’ve promised you. Today your life on earth is past But here it starts anew. I promise no tomorrow, But today will always last, And since each day’s the same way, There’s no longing for the past. You have been so faithful, So trusting and so true. Though there were times You did some things You knew you shouldn’t do. But you have been forgiven And now at last you’re free. So won’t you come and take my hand And share my life with me?” So when tomorrow starts without me, Don’t think we’re far apart, For every time you think of me, I’m right here, in your heart.

**************

My eyes were misting as I put the picture carefully up on the dresser and continued to stare at it. She looked so strangely, hauntingly familiar. But of course, she would look that way. We were blood relations and had shared more DNA than any other people on the planet with the exception of my other two biological siblings. Whether we’d ever met or not, Betsy and I were deeply connected.

The next morning, I was in our bedroom reading more of the Elisabeth Kugler-Ross book “On Life After Death” when I came to a story about a twelve year old girl who underwent an NDE and at first didn’t tell her parents about it. Finally, however, she could no longer keep it to herself and confided in her father. She told him about traveling to an incredible landscape full of love and beauty, and how she met and was comforted by her brother.

“The only problem,” the girl older her father, “is that I don’t have a brother.”

Tears filled her father’s eyes. He told the girl about the brother she did indeed have, but how had died just three months before she was born.

I stopped reading. For a moment I went into a strange, dazed space, not really thinking or not thinking, just......absorbing something. Some thought that was right on the edge of my consciousness but hadn't quite broken through.

Then my eyes traveled over to the bureau, and the photo that Kathy had sent me. The photo of the sister I had never known. Whom I knew only through the stories that my birth family had related of what a hugely kind, wonderfully caring person she had been. A person, they had often said, who was so kind she was practically an angel.

Without the powder blue and indigo dress, without the heavenly light of the Gateway around her as she sat on the beautiful butterfly wing, she wasn’t easy to recognize at first. But that was only natural. I had seen her heavenly self---the one that lived above and beyond this earthly early, with all its tragedies and cares.

But now there was no mistaking her, no mistaking the loving smile, the confident and infinitely comforting look, the sparkling blue eyes.

It was she.

For an instant, the worlds met. My world here on earth, where I was a doctor and father and a husband. And that world out there--a world so vast that as you journeyed in it you could lose your very sense of your earthly self and become a pure part of the cosmos, the God-soaked and love-filled darkness.

In that one moment, in the bedroom of our house, on a rainy Tuesday morning, the higher and the lower worlds met. Seeing that photo made me feel a little like the boy in the fairy tale who travels to the other world and then returns, only to find that it was all a dream--until he looks in his pocket and finds a scintillating handful of magical earth from the realms beyond.

As much as I’d tried to deny it, for weeks now a fight had been going on inside of me. A fight between the part of my mind that had been out there beyond the body, and the doctor---the healer who had pledged himself to science. I looked into the face of my sister, my angel, and I knew--knew completely--that the two people I had been in the last few months, since coming back, were indeed one. I needed to completely embrace my role as a doctor, as a scientist and healer, and as the subject of a very unlikely, very real important journey into the Divine itself. It was important not because of me, but because of the fantastically, deal-breakingly convincing details behind it. My NDE had healed my fragmented soul. It had let me know that I had always been loved, and it also showed me that absolutely everyone else in the universe is loved, too. And it had done so while placing my physical body into a state that, by medical science’s current terms, should have made it impossible for me to have experienced ANYTHING.

I know there will be people who will seek to invalidate my experience anyhow, and many who will discount it out of court, because of a refusal to believe that what I underwent could possibly be “scientific”---could possibly be anything more than a crazy, feverish dream.

But I know better. And both for the sake of those here on earth and those I met beyond this realm, I see it as my duty--both as a scientist and hence a seeker of truth, and as a doctor devoted to helping people---to make it known to as many people as I can that what I underwent is true, and real, and of stunning importance. Not just to me, but to all of us.

Not only was my journey about love, but it was also about who we are and how connected we all are---the very meaning of all existence. I learned who I was up there, and when I came back, I realized that the last broken strands of who I am down here were sewn up.

YOU ARE LOVED. Those words are what I needed to hear as an orphan, as a child who’d been given away. But it’s also what every one of us in this materialistic age needs to hear as well, because in terms of who we really are, where we really came from, and where we’re really going, we all feel (wrongly) like orphans.

Without recovering that memory of our larger connectedness, and of the unconditional love of our Creator, we will always feel lost here on earth.

So here I am. I’m still a scientist, I’m still a doctor, and as such I have two essential duties: to honor truth and to help heal. That means telling my story. A story that as time passes I feel certain happened for a reason. Not because I’m anyone special. It’s just that with me, two events occurred in unison and concurrence, and together they break the back of the last efforts of reductive science to tell the world that the material realm is all that exists, and that consciousness, or spirit---yours and mine---is not the great and central mystery of the universe.

I’m living proof.

*******From Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife by Even Alexander, M.D.******* Visit him at www.lifebeyonddeath.net

#hope I didn't make too many typos #walk by faith #don't stop believing #when you are walking in the dark....whistle #SMILE #LAUGH OUT LOUD #I'M STILL DANCING #and smiling #Cause Ya Can't Keep a Good Red Down #LMAO

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dailyaudiobible · 3 years ago

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08/21/2021 DAB Transcript

Job 1:1-3:26, 1 Corinthians 14:1-17, Psalm 37:12-29, Proverbs 21:25-26

Today is the 21st day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we bring to the close another one of our weeks together and even as we do that, we’re opening the books on a brand-new book, and some brand-new territory that we haven't been in yet. So, we wound our way all the way in the book, from the book of Genesis and met Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all their children and the tribes and we’ve gone the journey with Moses. We have learned of the kings, we have met some of the prophets, we have learned of the exile, we have even learned of the return from exile and we have moved through the short story, but the potent story of Esther which we finished up yesterday and so now were turning into a new genre and some new territory.

Introduction to the Book of Job:

We’re moving into the book of Job, and Job is a part of a collection of books in the Bible, known as wisdom literature underneath its narrative are lessons for us to mind and meditate upon and this territory that we’re going into deals with some of the more difficult things that we face in life be, unexplained things. The things that leave us going, why? Why me and how is this just and how is this fair. And if God is all-powerful and why can this kind of evil exist? Theologically, this is known as the Odyssey, like the defense of the goodness and the power and might of God in the face of evil, unspeakable evil. And, this has obviously, since this is very old texts, then wrestled with for thousands and thousands and thousands of years and we continue to wrestle until today in an attempt to understand and even as we moved through Job, we still end up with plenty of questions about plenty of things but we’re given perspective and a place to aim our hearts in these situations. But as tragic as some of the story of Job is, is it is still considered one of the most beautiful pieces of literature in the Bible for sure, but it's well-respected external to the Bible as well. And for as important of a topic where this text came from is disputed, mostly because there's…there's not a lot, I mean, there's plenty in the book but there’s not a lot of historical context, and there's not a lot of names, there are names, but they’re hard to find historically to pinpoint, to have something to hold onto historically, which then leads to a lot of conjecture which happens so often in so many different parts of the Bible. So, some scholars accept that Job could be one of the more ancient books in the Bible if not the most ancient book in the Bible. But even in the Hebrew Jewish tradition, the opinions are varying. Some think that there's archaic Hebrew being used, and so it's very, very ancient. A lot of words are used in the book of Job. Hebrew words that aren’t found anywhere else in the Bible. So, some have concluded maybe this is old as Abraham. This is a story that goes back that far. Then there are other scholars that believe this was probably written from the exile, or just after, like a returning exile who…who didn't speak Hebrew, might've been a Hebrew person but had grown up in exile and so didn't speak Hebrew as native tongue. And so, that would explain this…this word use. Other scholars will hold to the tradition that Job was collected, or are even written by Moses and if that were the case then maybe he was writing down oral traditions like a story that had been passed down orally throughout the generations to deal with the issue of unexpected suffering and tragedy and evil. There aren’t a ton of characters in the book of Job, so we’ll meet the people as…as they, as they come to the story. We’ll meet some friends of Job who traveled pretty distant to comfort their friend who has really gone through worst things pretty much any of us ever, ever will. So, the bulk of the narrative really is a conversation between Job and his friends. And, Job will insist until the very end that he has done nothing wrong and that this is not just, and that he needs an explanation and he doesn't want an explanation from his friends. He doesn't want an explanation from another human being for that matter, he feels like he's a human being and he's not stupid, he's wise, he's always been considered wise and so he knows as much, as his friends who are also wise, have to tell him, and it's not sufficient. He needs an answer from God and he doesn't know how to get that or even what he would do if he did get that. And, his friends are counseling him and we’ll notice that the things that they say they don't, it doesn't seem like they’re crazy, it’s the kind of stuff that we might find ourselves saying as well, but it does get contentious and argumentative. Because Job will not relent that he is innocent and they can't find any grid that would allow him to be innocent and his stories still make sense. And so, with all of that we dive into this new territory. Job chapters 1 through 3 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for bringing us through another week successfully together and as we turn into this new territory and Job, we invite Your Holy Spirit to come, speak to us, guide us, direct us, correct us, comfort us, lead us forward into all truth, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus we ask expectantly. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is, well, that’s ground zero, that’s home base, that's where the Daily Audio Bible lives on the Internet. Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can access all of the stuff on the web within the app as well, pretty much. And so, that makes it convenient if you’re using the app, check that out, but that's the home of the Global Campfire. That's where we find out what's going on around here. So certainly, want to be aware of the Community section, this is where to get connected. Be aware of the Daily Audio Bible Shop. This is where there are a number of resources in a number of categories more than fun things to wear and, just things to carry around with us to remind us that we’re a part of a Community moving through the Bible in a year, but there are also resources for taking the journey deeper, resources for journaling and that sort of things and so, certainly check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, we thank you from the depths of our hearts from a grateful place. We thank you, we wouldn't be here if we weren't together as a community taking this journey and well, for all these years we have been exactly that. And so, thank you for your partnership, especially as we navigate the heat of the summer. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayers and Encouragements:

This is Protected by His Wings in Eastern Tennessee. Dear heavenly Father we pray for the country of Afghanistan today. Lord, we plead Your hand of mercy upon the people of Afghanistan who are fleeing for their lives. The government and security forces who are fleeing. Those who were assisting and helping Western governments and militaries in the past decades who now are in fear of their lives. If not, who are already fleeing for their lives. Lord, we ask Your hand of protection over these people. May Your will be done on earth as it is heaven and the country of Afghanistan. Lord, we pray that the countries of the world, including Afghanistan would seek Your face for the answers to the questions that they have on what to do next and how to rule such a country. Lord, protect Your people, provide a way where we see no way, provide a way, provide hope where we don’t see any hope. We pray this in Jesus precious name. Amen.

Hi this is Bonnie from Virginia. Today is Saturday August 14th. I just listened to the prayer request that Jonathan from Denmark called. I was so amazed to hear someone who is only 20-years-old and being so honest, expecting and requesting prayer from the group. And he said he has only started listening to DAB for about a month or over a month. But thank you for trusting us and requesting for your praise. We will be praying for you, my son. There are so many young adults or kids of your age who are still ___ and not realizing their sin or mistake. But you are at the right place now everyone will be praying for you and thank you for being honest. God loves those children. So, every time if you are being tempted to look at the pornography just think about God saying to that prostitute lady when pharisees brought her over to Jesus and told Jesus to stone her but Jesus did not stone her and told her that go and do not sin anymore. So, you just think of those words also anytime you get tempted. And I hope that will help you. We will be praying for you.

This is a word of encouragement for Dr. John. I am a Dr. John in Illinois and I pray for my brother; I pray for my fellow DABer and I ask Lord that he provide you supernatural healing restoration in your eyes. I pray for peace, sometimes even we grow weary and working with our patients, always being in the business of trying to help others and sometimes neglect of ourselves. So, I asked fellow DABers let’s stand together for our brother-in-the Lord, for this doctor. So often he has called in and prayed for the needs and concern for the needs of others in his practice and just in the business of supporting us. So, let’s lift our brother up and I say to you, Dr. John, God Bless you brother for your gifts that you willingly give to the Lord in your heart that you give to us and I pray the Lord will make you well from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. He provide you freedom from fear and freedom from pain and misery and that He can do all things. His timing is perfect in His ways are right so we trust in that above all else. God bless your brother and know that there’ll be a lot of __ praying for you daily and we pray for a good report. And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus and for His sake. Amen.

Hi, it’s Deborah, Sheltered in Maine. Oh, my word. So, I did not listen to the Daily Audio Bible for almost four months. A little intermittently in between. About five days ago I realized that I felt empty, I was empty. So, I started back listening and I tell you I am so grateful for this…this place because I felt like I was coming home. This is where is home. You guys, you…you…you help to fill me up. I don’t even know how to explain it. Jessica from California, God Bless you, my sister. I so love you; you are like, I don’t even know how to explain how I reacted to your message. I’m just so proud of you and so proud of what God is doing in you. And I pray my sister that you would continue in your walk and rejoice in all that He’s given you. Thank you, my family. You are wonderful. And I don’t think I’m gonna be able to leave this again for a very long. Praise the Lord in all you do, rejoice and be glad in Him. Thank you.

Good morning my DAB family. This is…I was getting ready to say DAB-C…good morning my DAB family, this is Lady of Victory. And it is Tuesday morning August 17th about 6:37 central standard time. Just wanted to come on, I know it has been way, way, way, way long. But I wanted to come on just to thank all of the DAB-Cs and the DABers for just all of your love, your prayers, your support. During a very, very, very, very difficult time for myself and Kingdom Seeker Daniel at the loss of my son on July 10th unexpectedly. And, just wanted to say I could not have and cannot walk this journey without your guy’s prayers and so I appreciate them. The support, the love and the care that you guys have expressed to Kingdom Seeker that he has expressed to me the journey is still long it’s only been about 6 weeks. Three weeks since we actually funeralized him on July 24th, so the journey is very, very long, very, very fresh. And so, I still need your guy’s prayers and just want you to know how much I appreciate you. Don’t want you to think that it’s gone unnoticed even though I have been MIA. Certainly, you can understand. But again, thank you so much for all of your prayers, your support and your concern and we appreciate you guys more than you’ll ever know. Be encouraged. And God Bless you.

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lavotha · 6 years ago

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Embracing all clean-energy sources to protect our ecosystem

Yesterday, Thursday, July 12, 2018 was the opening ceremony of the 5thedition of the Solar & Energy Boat Challenge that runs from July 12-14, dedicated to promote and optimize innovations in propulsion systems, with this year expanding from the solar-powered boat to embrace all clean-energy sources. Bernard D’Alessandri, General Secretary of the Yacht Club of Monaco introduced H.E. Serge Telle, Minister of State of Monaco, who gave a brief presentation, followed by Bernard Fautrier of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Marco Casiraghi, who is at the initiative of this project, accompanied by other personalities and supporters.

Marco Casiraghi said: “The aim of this project is to highlight the enormous potential of our young engineers supported by the shipyards. We have a common goal, which is to work together to build the leisure boats of tomorrow.”

HE Serge Telle with Marco Casiraghi, Bernard Fautrier, Bernard D’Alessandri and other personalities during the opening Ceremony of the Solar Boat and Energy Challenge 2018 – YCM @Celina

HE Serge Telle, Bernard Fautrier and Marco Casiraghi at YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Organized by the Yacht Club of Monaco in collaboration with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Hydros Foundation and International Power Boating Federation (UIM), this competition is unique in the world, giving young engineers an opportunity to reinvent boating to meet future energy and environmental imperatives. The 30 teams with 400 participants include students from colleges and universities, engineers and people from other industries. The boats are grouped in three categories: Solar Class with 21 teams, 6 nations; Offshore Class with 5 boats doing a round trip Monaco-Ventimiglia, or 16 nm; and new this year the Energy Class.

For the new Energy Class category the Yacht Club of Monaco, in collaboration with the Hydros Foundation arranged the construction of five identical catamaran hulls in Dubai. “These teams of college Engineering students and industrials must on their own assemble the cockpit and install a proper propulsion system,”explained Bernard D’Alessandri, YCM General Secretary. The five sources of clean energy they could choose from are: electricity, hydrogen, comprised air, recyclable waste and biosourced gas.

“The purpose of this event is to bring new solutions and compare them. You need to know that the internal combustion engine in terms of pure propulsion gets only 30% out of the energy contained in 1 litre of fuel, compared to a fuel cell that attains about 80%. So why aren’t we seeing more fuel cells and new more efficient systems than the combustion engine?” asks Jérémie Lagarrigue, General Manager of Hydros Efficiency and organiser of the Hydrocontest in Saint-Tropez, first student competition dedicated to maritime energy (working on hulls).

The cutting edge participating teams

During the opening ceremony the different teams took the stage to introduce themselves.

Solar Class

AGH Solar Boat Team YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Antwerp Maritime Academy YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

HAN Solarboat YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

HZ Solarboat Team YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Skipper Solar Team YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Solar Team Sneek YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

VHL-Nordwin Zonne Boat Team

Tecnico Solar Boat YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

BME Solar Boat Team YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

CLAFIS Victron Energy Solar Boat Team YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

DB-20 Racing Team YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Dutch Solar Boat YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Engineers of Innovation YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

NHL Solarbaotteam YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Solar Boat Twente YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

TU Delft Solar Boat Team YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Team Clean Mobility Solar YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Sunderbird YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Offshore Race heads to Italy

Another edition, another destination for the offshore race, which this year heads to Ventimiglia in Italy. Boats must comply with YCM Offshore Class rules, which means being able to take three people and comply with technical specifications defined with the UIM. Five teams are all set to do this 16 nautical mile race (there and back).

“The aim is to highlight the enormous potential of our young engineers supported by the shipyards. We have a common goal, which is to work together to build the leisure boats of tomorrow,” explains Marco Casiraghi, himself an engineer and the man behind the project. The two harbours are set to be interconnected soon. Meanwhile this race serves as a big test for boats, close to commercialization, with an eco-responsible propulsion on the sea.

Offshore Class – Ernesto Riva Innovation YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Offshore Class – T5 Powered by Terra Modena YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Offshore Class, Politecnico Milano YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Featuring a few Solar Boats

Antwerp Maritime Academy YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

SUNFLARE – YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Solar Team Sneek YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

ROCvA Maryland YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Dutch Solar Boat YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Plastic Odyssey

Find new more sustainable solutions and apply them to boats is the challenge that is inspiring a new generation like Bob Vrignaud, responsible for R&D and Simon Bernard, co-founder of Plastic Odyssey, a 25m catamaran powered by plastic waste.

It is a concept that became obvious faced with the urgency of the situation, one where, they explain that, “every minute plastic waste the equivalent of the weight of three elephants is dumped into the oceans.” Plastic Odyssey is a round the world expedition on a laboratory boat, totally autonomous thanks to plastic, the waste we collect at each port of call being recycled on board. The goal of this project is not to cleanup the oceans, already widely polluted by plastic. Indeed, once it is in the sea, it’s too late: only 1% of plastic waste floats to the surface, with the remaining 99% breaking-down into micro-particles and carpets the seabed. The goal is to demonstrate that it is too valuable to end up in the ocean.”

Bob Vrignaud of Plastic Odyssey – YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Plastic Odyssey, Incubator for the propulsion of tomorrow YCM 2018@CelinaLafuentedeLavotha

Experience the thrill of the event

Bertrand Piccard, the man behind Solar Impulse, the first fuel-less zero-emissions plane with limitless autonomy in which he flew round the world, agreed to sponsor this fifth edition. “I’m delighted to see what can be achieved with clean energy sources. These boats can compete in races full of suspense and all without any noise or pollution. It really is something that needs to be encouraged.”

World’s largest civilian drone 

A showcase for new technology after Planet Solar in 2014, the 2018 Solar & Energy Boat Challenge hosts the oceanic drone Sphyrna, the largest civilian surface drone in the world (17m), with an electric motor powered by solar, wind and tidal energy. It is here on a mission this summer to help assess noise disturbance on cetaceans in the Pelagos Sanctuary, supervised by Professor Hervé Glotin from Toulon University and François Sarano, former scientific advisor to Captain Cousteau and member of the YCM’s Explorers Club.

Exchanging ideas to build a clean future for yachting

It is just over a century since the first powerboat meetings were held in Monaco, attracting the world’s industrialists to see the latest innovations in internal combustion engine technology. Today, the Principality continues a long tradition as a laboratory for progress, focused today on clean energy sources. For the 5thedition, all participants are invited to exchange ideas at daily Tech Talks (see program) in the format of round tables and present their ideas on Open Source. A jury of specialists, including members of SMEG (Société Monégasque de l’Electricité et du Gaz) like Anthony Dupont, responsible for controlling energy use, and Sales Director Pierfranck Pelacchi, will present a special innovation prize at the closing ceremony on July 14.

After its success last year, UIM (International Powerboating Federation) will be holding its international workshop once again, focused on the environment and watersports. Speakers include representatives from authorities and international sports federations who will discuss challenges facing the application of sustainable energy sources for motorboats.

Program

The Solar & Energy Boat Challenge Village will be open to the public, with a host of activities going on in the paddocks where everybody is welcome to get close to the action.

Today’s Quote

“Solar power, wind power, the way forward is to collaborate with nature – it’s the only way we are going to get to the other end of the 21stcentury.”Bjork

Solar & Energy Boat Challenge – Monaco sails into the future riding on clean energy Embracing all clean-energy sources to protect our ecosystem Yesterday, Thursday, July 12, 2018 was the opening ceremony of the 5thedition of the Solar & Energy Boat Challenge that runs from July 12-14, dedicated to promote and optimize innovations in propulsion systems, with this year expanding from the solar-powered boat to embrace all clean-energy sources.

#Bertrand Piccard #Clean energy #ecosystem #Hydros Foundation #International Power Boating Federation #Plastic Odyssey #Principality of Monaco #protecting the oceans #Solar & Energy Boat Challenge #solar energy #sustainable solutions #Yacht Club of Monaco

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wrydsigil · 4 years ago

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HOUSE-BOUND INTROSPECTIONS FROM AN AGING LIFE

These days my wife cares for my needs. It comes with age, I suppose, this realization it will end one day, this mystery of an Earthbound life. One thinks he drank too much from the cup. I’m spent and can’t get it up. Tuckered out from my heighten adrenaline fueled rough and rowdy ways. Not really. Pretty mild mannered, and avoid conflict if I can.

It was after my close call with gall bladder cancer decades ago. If you don’t care, mindful of the thoughts you create from the abyss of the subconscious’ metaphysical dreamscape, I followed a mosaic path lined with twinkling kaleidoscope of crystals in my mind cinema. Distractions, life choices, what we do today plants a randomness of the future events to unfold.

Take a risk with magic and love, my life is a rom-com feature, unbathed in my naked naivety of how to monetize my American existence.

Outside my home, things go on all around me, unfazed that I'm sinking into the past of memories. The seasonal temperature fluctuates from winter freeze to desert heat, and nature's way will out last.

One's life of decades span, full of fresh events and strife, those accomplishments and failures, are now all spent. We all leave a legacy, usually not in the way we want.

In my house-bound remoteness fragments of memories enter my mind. Unknowing the side effects, regrets and happiness will arise. With resolve in my heart, seclusion and privacy bring a settling peace. Regardless of the daily turmoil's going on in the world that exist in a vacuum of pain; I can breathe deep into serenity for this discord is behind me now, tranquility prevails, my heart is at ease.

Oh how life is a constant challenge, this I now see. When the decisions made turned out to be my own undoing, causing other misery. Seeking consolation, solace or even relief, what disquieting acts I have committed are now released.

Imaginative illusions that drove my perceptions from classical literature in my youth, those golden years promised elude me now, what was it all worth?

Physical stamina is waning as age creeps over me. Perhaps it pushed me to reflecting on this connection to the Soul within me. Ancient esoteric rituals of energy alchemy now come to me in round about ways. But what I always came back to was "...ask and it shall be given unto you" my salvation.

On my shelves are stacked the chronicles I transcribed from daily events. The Grimoire rituals, shaman crafting seals.

Honing a way to express myself, for good or bad. Nothing mattered more, than to learn about what I didn't know behind the illusion that would make me sad.

I was transported into a world of other dimensions. There are others that came along later, mystical out of body excursions that I couldn't explain. Because the system of civilization dictated to me a punishing conformity to live and act the same.

You get a spark of inspiration so nothing else matters. There is a natural feeling to it when it comes. You read the words that speaks to your heart. The muffled Lord vernacular that carries you down those deserted roads to ancient ruins where the beginning of our story is told.

So, I ventured out to get an informed view of the world. My own odyssey prevailed to guide me that became an unknown swirl. I disentangled the lies that veiled the Truth, and deciphered the ancient wisdom that illuminated my youth.

This was the standard to live by, chaos at every turn. Unlike everyone else, things stuck with me, especially the ones with wounds I cared for, being human for all it was worth.

High drama makes demands on us, so the narrative related remains intense. Dramatic encounters were sought as a test, to set me apart from the herd.

Then there are allegories from the prophets that came along. You tolerate their belligerence, as they all react differently to the same situations expecting pay, that's a fact. Make it plain and understandable, that's all I say.

The tapestry of history carved in cryptic sacred imagery within temples and shrines.

A catastrophic storm came along one day. Some were lead to God. Hindu myths, Greek deities, the coronations of anointed the kings were all left to bespeak.

High brow or low brow, they wrote the embodiment of their affidavits upon their Souls. As we were left to interpret whatever they meant, the words were just paradoxes that abandoned us by evening in a pouring rain that wouldn't relent, the chimes of golden bowls rung the toll.

The path of my purpose as savant of encrypted prophecy is based on the Tetractys of divine power.

That theme works its way into my day, today. I see the Oneness of archetypal powers, my tablet of enlightenment points to the Golden Ratio, the exact science.

Once I was an innocent youth. Then the war of horror stories emerged. It gives you concern for others, this I learned.

Once upon a time I had big dreams, loving life, now it is being shot to pieces. Falling rain, muddy roads, pandemics, all life is breaking down all around you, but I have the foundation of the Universe built within my solitude.

Warfare has no limits. No matter how it is defined. Birds perched on the cadavers, paying it no mind. Nothing else is possible. Merciless attacks prevail. Open your heart to being turned into an adversary of that morality of humanity and you'll see yourself in hell.

All those power grabbers, stinking up your nostrils, in the trenches of their torture chambers of riches, they refuse to be accountable by throwing curses down your well.

Yesterday I tried to save a wounded dog. You have to finish the job, like a Roman soldier and be careful of those Germanic girls, I wasn't myself, this I could tell.

There can just be a miscalculated equation that skews the mind; we call it an anomaly all the time. Put the historical legends of war tablets down that lavish discourse of fallen heroes. Lyrics that spin an epic tale like a Greek mythological, Hermetical awareness.

I once read about warfare making heroes, but their underworld ain't talking to me now. I got good common sense, you see, in case they were cursed to come after me as ghosts in the night.

I learned to protect myself with spell-crafting incantations from bohemian wizards, shamans and the like. Resurrect the Spirit Angels from cosmic dust through chaos protocols that reflect the Light.

Metaphysical aliens are an optical aberration in the Third Dimension, but when flooded with DMT, hold on to your true nature sense of self. Nature abounds in molecular orbs spinning in fluctuations around electromagnetic frequencies, photons and protons, the Milky Way of star-studded energy passes through you.

You realize, you physical form is transparent, as only the essence of your spirit enlightens one to the divine flow of life’s other language, a cypher coded symbolic portal of ancestral interpretations, now you understand the origin our existence upon the Blue Planet..

The long journey home, it was full of pitfalls and dangers from trouble makers I recall. This could make me deranged if not for the other means of meeting interesting people who explained it all.

So you ain't talking to me unless you use kind words. Otherwise, it's futile, I won't hear your terms.

The ballads of hating words, left to wonder while such close calls from spitting vitriol verbal bullets zipped past my ears. Treachery swarms all around this world, that was all I came to know over the years. People exist in their beliefs out of fear.

You're given two paths to choose from in the trenches of the life and both are doomed to fulfill their destiny, regardless of your flight.

Some gods and goddesses want to protect you, while others want to infest you with plague and gloom. There is a way to overcome this archaism, I thought to myself, sequestrated in solitude, in my throne room.

I recalled I shared my bed with the wrong woman once, that angered the people I shouldn't have done. Something to remember, don't get into a mess, it can't be undone.

The wind blew across the desert plain when I returned to my realm, finding that misfit rivalries, those cagey squatters have moved in causing my betrothed goddess' skin to grow thousands of rose thorns.

But the misfits fled, forever banished when I charged the sky with a thunderous scornful damnation rage. When the real life feud fell quiet, my goddess' thorns fell away. She embraced me with loving heart as rose petals fell from the heavens, whispering My freedom fighter has thus slayed.

I told her of all my adventures, adorned her with artifacts and rare coins from places and cultures distant and far, before I settled down into a deep sleep, with Angels all around.

So if the story moves you, evokes your Soul to emerge, that's all that's important, these are just wyrds.

What does it all mean makes no difference to me. For everyone else has their own perceptions projected upon thee.

Beliefs and Duality is the trappings of death. Everyone has their own projection, an image of perception that they think they must protect.

Yet, this tale of chaos inflicted upon the rational mind, has just influenced your subconscious to join with mine.

You’ll see the angels around you when death is near.

Now, put this on a shelf, and forget you ever read it.

The magical wonders of Life are about to happen to you, as they have for me, for we another of ourselves.

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weareigloo2 · 4 years ago

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The Top 15 Influencer Marketers Must Know in Dubai

Marketing is seen as a core part of every business, with each requiring a marketing strategy in order to best their competitors. Nonetheless, the strategies are as wide and varied as the number of businesses employing such methods. The wiser the business is in coming up with its marketing mix and implementing it, all are important factors that’ll determine how well the business performs in present business conditions. Social Media in Dubai has created a cheap and easy way to reach marketing platform for most businesses. Nevertheless, when all is said and done, nothing beats a marketing strategy and delivers results on investments like using people, well-known people – to increase your awareness and presence in the industry.

These have over the years been given a term – influencers! Influencers in Dubai are making a living the easy way – all they have to do is stay relevant in their market niche and say a thing or two on their social handles about your product and puff! You are good to go. Nevertheless, you still need the right influencers for your particular brand who will not fail to impress. In that bid, we set out to compile a list of the most ‘must-know-of’ influencers in Dubai that you should have known of yesterday.

Huda Kattan

Her success story began even before 2013; but after her strategy of uploading beauty tutorials on YouTube and consecutively launching Huda Beauty with her sisters Alya and Mona, her story would only begin to climb the ladders which many celebrities only dream of. The 34-year old American is now boasting of a massive follow up of 27 million followers on Instagram and is quite the spitting image to attach your product with.

Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed popularly known as Fazza has hit both the business world as the Crown Prince of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and also as a popular poet. The guy has been involved in massive business deals and even been elected in bodies and councils governing the people of Dubai. With such popularity and love from the populace, it is no wonder the guy can walk shoulder high with a following of more than 2 million on Facebook and an even larger fan base of 6.5 million on Instagram. When thinking of social media influencers in Dubai, such figures are not to be left out of the equation.

Hanadi Diab

The Lebanese blogger living in Germany can claim to have a follow up of 471,000 fans on Instagram. With her popularity, she was able to open her beauty line with a range of liquid lipsticks and lashes that have successfully sold in more than 300 drug stores in Germany. Get a taste of her sassy vibe on her blog as you make your product known.

Nilo Haq

Nilo’s story started out after launching the popular Saudi Beauty Blog in the year 2012. Some of her most-recognized works include a salon in Toronto, Canada, & partnering works with huge brands such as Toni & Guy and MAC Cosmetics. These have all played a major role in forming the hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and provide a valid source of marketing for other brands. Join the Nilo train today.

Joelle Mardinian

Some people think beauty is totally objective until they find themselves bewitched and entranced with a face, a voice and a body which will have you following every laid out command. When it comes to beauty, glamour and glance, Joelle knows all about it and hasn’t been afraid to use that woman power in driving sales for various businesses. With millions of followers on Instagram, the icon is not only making it in the Arab world but has amassed popularity worldwide. The 40-year old Lebanese went on to found Maison De Joelle in 2008; the leading beauty salon in the Middle East promises to give you a lavish experience like no other.Digital marketing agencies in dubai

Hayla Al Ghazal

At only 21, Hayla has come out to breach the social media based in Dubai with a subscriber base of 3.8 million YouTubers on her YouTube lifestyle channel. She also founded Hayla Couture, a successful bridal and evening gown boutique store. She is most famous among the youth populace and idolized as the ideal youth entrepreneur with beauty to accompany that.

Elias El-indari

When it comes to blogging, no one does it better than Elias El-indari. The stylish blogger has influenced the Arab men on both sides; from the cheap and really outgoing looks to the very stylish and posh ones, to make a man appear like two! He has gained hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and is seen as a rising voice on Twitter.

Saudi Gamer

Chill out once in a while and let off some steam with the best games from Saudi Gamer. The big titles to be found here include Assassins Creed Odyssey, God of War, Call of Duty Black Ops, Kassandra and Spider-Man among many more. Stay informed on their Instagram page which is almost hitting the 2 million mark.

Samer Khouzami

Beauty has a way of appealing to more than people’s sense of sight – it goes much deeper than that. Samer Khouzami, termed as the “master of contouring” has exploited this market niche to form a makeup range that has gained approval with the Dubai market. He has been seen holding workshops and masterclasses all around the world sharing his tips on storming the beauty and fashion industry. This has not only gained him a big audience on Instagram, but it has also secured a large fan following on Facebook and loyal YouTube subscribers. When it comes to coming up with eye-catching images and complete facial makeovers, you need the hands of a master – you need Samer Khouzami, and so does your brand.

Lojain Omran

When thinking of influencers in Dubai, you cannot fail to mention the ‘darling of the nation’ and the host of the TV show, Sabah El Kheir Ya Arab. The Social Media personality and the brand ambassador has been at it on all Social Media platforms with the biggest following reaching 6.5 million fans on Instagram. She is known to carry the voice of the people and has sparked massive debates and controversies about different topics over the years. When thinking of a brand promoter, you definitely want a voice that is heard and valued by the people – who better to do that than the top Social Media Dubai influencer with looks and guts?

Other Personalities

The above are some of the biggest names that both startups and well-established businesses can make use of to influence their outreach in the Middle East market. However, they are not the only personalities and were I to mention all of them; the list would be quite long. Some of the not-so-spoken names which also make contributions in different market forces might also be a good tool for your business. They include bloggers, journalists and upcoming artists who seek to make a difference.

Azadeh Akbari

A champion for women’s rights and also a musician, this fashion and beauty artist is found to have an engagement rate of 16.9% on Instagram – not bad huh! Her easy to use and readable blogs have impressed most Arab readers who follow her.

Goalkeeper Station

You have all come by sites offering the best sports outfit and attire. What you haven’t come across is a site dedicated to the goalkeeper only. The site offers a store for all goalkeepers’ accessories and is slowly finding loyal fans, especially on Instagram, amongst the football lovers.

Sonia & Fyza Ali

Meet the Kardashian’s of UAE! The two makeup artists have partnered together over the years in a ‘sisterhood’ manner to form a stronger bond hence a much stronger brand. It is no wonder their fan base is almost reaching 1 million on Instagram.

David Warren

Influencer marketeering is all about making it in your particular niche with an additional quality. It is that added touch that has seen David Warren make a name for himself for only dealing with jewelry, yet, his name is one of the most outspoken ones. Join him on Instagram for the latest posts and trends as concerning the jewelry world.

Dubai Design District

Influencers in Dubai can also be a community of people with common goals and needs. The Dubai Design District is a one-stop place for people to get fashion tips you might never get anywhere else, immerse in architecture and design, shop and eat the best from the Arab worlds. It is fast growing on different Social Media especially Instagram where posts are updated on a daily basis keeping the fans informed.

Whatever or whoever you decide to use as a Social Media influencer in Dubai, you have to factor in not only the attributes of the individual or community but also the costs with each. Many agencies have come up to specialize in hooking up businesses with the ideal influencers. You, therefore, need not worry about the hassle of going about it and attaching your brand with the biggest names in the Middle East. Whatever you do, be sure to have at least one of these Social Media influencers – it is good for business.

youtube

#digital marketing companies

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lesbian-sora · 7 years ago

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Winter Wonderland

Day eight!

Summary ~ In a last-minute attempt to get away from his family for the holidays, Dan rents a cabin in the woods of North Western America. He knows for a fact that this Christmas will be the perfect Christmas no matter how hard he tries.

Meanwhile, Phil is running from his feelings and responsibilities by hiding out in his aunts’ cabin. He knows it’s not a perfect solution, but he needs to get away from his usual Christmas traditions.

As they say, great minds think alike, but maybe sharing a cabin with a stranger wasn’t what they meant.

Genre ~ Fluff, strangers to lovers, family angst

Words ~ 2.3K/~10K

Warnings ~ Only swearing in this part, but referenced character death later on

Author’s Note ~ Yay! I’m gonna try to do a multi chaptered fic again! It won’t be super long, so I’ll probably be done in maybe a week, but I’m planning to get out a chapter every day until it’s done. If this fic isn’t your thing, that’s okay! I’ll still be uploading a Christmas fic every day, too. Here we go!

Next chapter!

Prompt me!

Buy me a coffee!

Yesterday’s fic!

The snow was falling lightly on the mountain, but the narrow road that wound up it stayed clear and cut a dark spiral through the white powder. A lone bright yellow cab made its slow but steady trek up. The December air was cold, but inside was warm and soft Christmas music played over the speakers. The driver just hummed and drummed his fingers against the wheel to the tune of the song, but his passenger in the back seat was staring out the window and talking on the phone.

“Dan, I can’t believe you’ve run off to America and left me here alone at Christmas,” Louise whined across the line. “You could have at least given me a warning so I had a chance to give you your Christmas present. Now I’ll have to wait until New Years to give it to you and that’s just ridiculous.”

“People give each other Christmas gifts late all the time,” Dan corrected her. Remember year before last when we were both so busy that we didn’t manage to get our gifts delivered until February.”

“That was awful! We swore we’d never speak of it again! I had a wrapped gift on my hearth for almost three months!”

“Actually, we never swore to anything, you just told me not to,” Dan smirked. “Besides, that’s just proof that you’ll be fine keeping my gift for an extra week. If you want you can come pick me up from the airport and give it to me then.”

“You wish. I don’t give festivity deserters rides anywhere.”

“You’re so mean to me,” Dan whined half-heartedly. As he said this, the car rolled to a halt, but when he looked outside, the cabin was nowhere to be seen. “Anyway, I have to go. I’ll call you when I get settled.” He hung up and leaned forward to get the driver’s attention. “Hey, why are we stopped?”

“This is as far as I can take you,” the driver explained. “That’s the driveway, but it requires four-wheel drive, which I don’t have. Sorry, but I gotta leave you here.”

Dan quickly pulled up his maps and groaned. “But I have luggage! And it’s snowing!”

“Sorry, pal,” the driver shrugged. “Nothing I can do.”

Muttering darkly to himself, Dan paid the man and got his bags out of the back of the car, relieved that he’d left in such a hurry that he didn’t have time to pack as much as he normally would have. Thankfully, the snow was light, and he started his hike through the woods. About three minutes in, he discovered that his shoes were not at all designed for this, and all he could do was hope that his sneakers weren’t ruined.

Ten minutes later, he made it to the cabin and was surprised to see an old beat up blue truck parked outside. He assumed it belonged to a groundskeeper or cleaner and shrugged. Maybe they’d be willing to show him where everything was. As soon as he hauled his things up the last few stairs, he immediately started shedding his damp clothes and made a beeline for the lounge (or should he call it a “living room” now that he was in America?) to start a fire and get warmed up. Much to his surprise, there was already a small fire crackling away happily, so he sat down right in front of it, and let his eyes slip closed at the feeling of warmth.

“Uh, hello?”

Dan’s eyes snapped open to see a man, probably around his height, standing in front of him with a confused expression and a thick blanket. Dan smiled and offered a hand. “Hi, I’m Dan; I’m renting this place for the next couple weeks. Do you work here?”

“Uh, no, I don’t work here,” the man said, and Dan could hear a familiar accent coloring his tone. “And what do you mean you’re ‘renting’ it?”

“I mean I went on Airbnb and booked it through New Year’s,” Dan said. “And if you don’t work here, what are you doing here?”

“This is my aunts’ place,” he said. “They’re letting me stay here for the holidays while they’re in Italy.”

Dan flushed darkly and covered his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry. I must have the wrong address or something.”

The man laughed. “No problem. Who are you renting from? I haven’t been here for years, but I may know them. I could give you a ride so you don’t have to walk.”

Still a bit rosey-cheeked, Dan smiled up at him. “That would be great. I’m renting from the Moore-Davies and their place is called Badger Rest. Do you know it?”

The man sputtered. “I, uh, yeah, I know it.”

Dan beamed. “Great! Let me grab my stuff and I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.”

The man groaned. “No, look. I know Badger Rest because my aunts are Sara and Jessica Moore-Davies. I convinced them to name it Badger Rest because this is where I got my pet badger.”

“Jessica Moore-Davies is your aunt?” Dan clarified. “The same Jessica Moore-Davies that I’ve been chatting with for a week about renting this place?”

“Yeah,” the man said. “She married my Aunt Sara, who I talked to day before yesterday. They must not have talked to each other about letting people stay here.”

“What am I gonna do?” Dan moaned, burying his face in his hands.

“Hey, hey, don’t worry!” the man said, a twinge of panic to his voice. “I’m not going to kick you out or anything. You paid good money to stay here, I’m sure. Besides, I doubt you have anywhere around here to stay anyway. If you want, we can share. At least for today.”

Dan peered up at him through his fingers. “You’d really do that for me?”

The man grinned. “Of course! Besides, this works out. Now I can be sure that you’re not going to throw any wild house parties and ruin my aunts’ cabin.”

Dan snorted. “As if I could throw a party.”

The man chuckled and offered a hand. “Phil Lester is the name. I was about to get started on dinner. Do you have a problem eating stir-fry? I’m not the best at cooking, but I think I’ve got this down at least.”

Dan took the hand and surprised Phil by using it to pull himself to his feet. “Dan Howell. Do you want some help cooking?”

“Yeah!” Phil nodded. “Careful with the cabinets, though. I’m notorious for leaving them open and I don’t want you to hit your head on the corner or anything.”

“Duly noted.”

Together, they chopped vegetables and sauteed meat and cooked rice, chatting the entire time. There was one instance where Phil almost caught a tea towel fire, but Dan managed to snatch it off the hot eye before any real damage could be done. As they talked Dan quickly learned that he and Phil had basically the same set of interests, just with varying levels of enthusiasm. When Dan learned that Phil had brought his entire Switch system and several games, he almost kissed him.

“Dinner was great, thanks,” Dan sighed, letting his eyes slip closed with a contented sigh.

“I’d say you’re welcome, but you kicked me off the stove halfway through,” Phil teased.

Dan grinned. “I said what I said.”

Phil snickered. “Do you want to play Mario Kart? I’ll pick up the dishes if you go get everything set up.”

“You are like a gift from god.”

“Sure. Give me your plate.”

Dan did as he was told and scurried off to set up their game. Phil had only gotten to the cabin less than an hour before Dan, so the system was still in its traveling case on the floor next to the TV. Thankfully, setup didn’t take too long, and after he untangled and plugged in the wires, Dan was shuffling through Phil’s games. At first he’d thought it was adorable that Phil carried his games around in their original boxes instead of a travel case like everyone else, but soon learned that Phil was an actual demon.

“Hey, so I--”

“These are all in the wrong cases, you absolute trollop!” Dan interrupted gently chucking the box for Mario Odyssey (which contained Zelda) at Phil’s shins.

Phil just giggled with no shame. “I’m pretty sure Mario Kart is in the Splatoon case.”

Dan shot him a glare and opened the box, sure enough finding Mario Kart right where Phil said it would be. “You’re an awful, despicable person,” Dan informed, sitting himself on the couch next to Phil as the menu screen popped up. He handed the blue controler over to Phil who quickly selected the game.

“Who do you normally play as?” Phil asked casually, roaming his cursor over all the characters, not stopping on one for too long.

“Usually, I just play as my Mii, but I don’t have that here so I guess I’ll be one of the Squid Kids. You?”

“Uuuuhhh,” Phil frantically switched from character to character until he finally decided. “Tanooki Mario!”

Dan cut him a playful side glare as Phil picked a cup and course and the race started. “Is this your way of telling me you’re a furry?”

“I dunno,” Phil said, totally deadpan, more focused on the game. “Is this your way of telling me you’re whatever a squid furry is called?”

Dan laughed. “First of all, definitely yes. Second, I guess they’d be squishies or something? I mean technically furries are all manner of anthropomorphised animals, so furry works anyway.”

Phil sputtered out a laugh. “Alright, good to know. Not sure I want to know how you know that, but I guess I’m glad I do now.”

“Oh, please. It’s like you don’t even internet, Phil.”

“Stop making me laugh, this is cheating!” Phil giggled as his character was fished out of the water.

“Maybe you should just get better at Mario Kart. Wait-- Hey!” Dan laughed as Phil abandoned his own controler to try and knock Dan’s from his hands. “This is blatant cheating.”

“Maybe you should just get better at Mario Kart,” Phil mocked. They tussled for a moment before the final horns sounded on the game.

Dan glanced at the screen, gaping. “Fifth? I came in fifth?” Phil was now wheezing with laughter, so Dan tossed his controller aside to continue their miniature wrestling match, this time with more tickling.

“Stop, stop, you win!” Phil choked out. Dan backed off and they laid there panting for a moment before Phil looked over with a wide grin. “So, round two?”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

They played Mario Kart into the night, later than Dan was happy to admit, but when Dan fell asleep mid-race, they decided to call it quits. That’s when realization washed over Dan. “Phil there’s only one bed here.”

Phil grimaced. “I totally forgot about that. Maybe they have and air mattress somewhere?”

Dan was doubtful. “I dunno, your aunt was pretty adamant about making sure I knew there was only one bed.”

“Yeah, but we might as well look.”

“Might as well. I’ll check the bedroom, you check the hall closet.”

“I’ll check the attic, too,” Phil said. “I know they used to keep all kinds of stuff up there.”

Dan nodded and wandered off down the hall to the bedroom with ensuite. He doubted there was going to be an air mattress stored in the bedroom, but you never knew. He checked the closet and under the bed, but was met with the expected clothes and storage boxes. Nothing even remotely helpful here. The story was the same in the bathroom, and Dan returned to the lounge empty handed.

Phil showed up carrying an armful of blankets, but when he saw Dan with nothing his face fell. “Well, these won’t be very useful.”

“Don’t worry about it, I can just kip on the sofa,” Dan shrugged.

“Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” Phil protested. “You paid to sleep here, the least I could do is let you use the bed.”

“You were already nice enough by not kicking me out into the snow earlier,” Dan pointed out.

“Any decent human person would do that, though.”

“You’d be surprised at how few decent human people there are.” Seeing Phil’s mouth open to argue, Dan added, “How about this: I’ll take the bed tonight, and if for some reason we’re both still here tomorrow night then we’ll swap.”

“I doubt either of us are going anywhere,” Phil mused. “There’s only one hotel in town, and since it’s going through renovations I doubt there’s going to be any available rooms.”

“Then it’s settled,” Dan decided. “I’ll sleep here tonight, and you can tomorrow.”

Phil shrugged. “I guess that’s fair.” He smiled warmly at Dan. “See you in the morning.”

“Night, Phil.”

They went their separate ways for bed, and Dan changed and curled up on the couch to sleep. It was a nice couch, but there was a metal rod that cut it in half for support that hit him right on the hip, and his long limbs just barely fit on the cushions. However, easily the worst part was how cold it got so quickly. The south wall was made up entirely of windows that overlooked a beautiful, serene lake during the day, but Dan had no idea how quickly it could sap the room of warmth with the fire doused.

Dan laid there shivering and trying to fall asleep for a good half hour before the hallway light came on an a silhouetted figure stood in the doorway. Dan sat up and watched Phil come in, weighed down with a couple heavy-looking blankets and two cup of what Dan assumed was hot chocolate.

“Can’t sleep?” Dan whispered. For some reason he felt like if he dared speak any louder, something would break.

Phil smiled softly at him. “Yeah. Plus, I remembered how cold it gets in here from when I was a kid.”

Dan took the hot chocolate offered to him, and he and Phil sat together watching the snow fall outside the panoramic window. They were silent until Dan heard a soft snore from Phil. He gently woke up the other man and ushered him back to bed. When he returned to the lounge, it seemed warmer than before.

Next chapter!

Prompt me!

Buy me a coffee!

Yesterday’s fic!

#phan #phanfiction #phan fluff #Phanfic #strangers to lovers #ficmas 2k17 #Bee Writes

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yvocaro · 7 years ago

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Time again for the weekly handheld gaming news! It was an exiting week for me an my family as Sinterklaas once again found our door. I’ve mentioned this celebration in the Netherlands before, celebrating the birthday of Saint Nicholas. Lots of gift giving an writing verse, a cosy night with the family and to my joy, lots of sweet candy.

What an exiting couple of weeks it has been here on the site, as another great writer joined our ranks with a personal story about how her love affair with the DS came about!

The link to the first part of her story is here.

Vic shared her insights on the future of handheld gaming with us, which always gets us gamers going with some nice discussion. As she is also the one that started the successful Facebook group Handheld Gaming Network two years ago, she has seen the way we game change.

Her insights are here.

But, lots more happened this week, so lets go!

The Game Awards 2017: Breath of the Wild is winner

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was announced Game of the Year! And not just that, the game was also voted Best Action/Adventure game and won in Best Game Direction. Of course, there where many more awards to be given, and these stood out to me. If you want to see the entire list, you can find it here.

Best RPG: Persona 5

Best Family Game: Super Mario Odyssey

Best Strategy Game: Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Champions Ballad, DLC for BotW

Nintendo took the opportunity to release DLC pack 2, the Champions Ballad and showed the trailer at the awards show. In case you missed it, the DLC is downloadable now!

The Champions’ Ballad DLC Pack adds a new dungeon, an original story, and even more new challenges. Many of these will guide you towards finding new outfits and armor. If you follow these, you will be able to find Zant’s helmet, Phantom Ganon’s armor, Ravio’s hood, and a royal guard’s costume. Most importantly, you be able to find Link’s lobster pajamas from The Wind Waker.

There is also a quest for an ancient bridle and saddle for your horse, which makes it easier to teleport them right to you and spur faster. Your journal will send you to a few locations to speak with locals or find journals with hints leading to these items. As for the awesome bike that is shown at the end, the Master Cycle 0, it can be unlocked once you clear the new DLC content.

In order to access the Champions’ Ballad quest, you will need to complete all four Divine Beasts and the quests surrounding them. When you’ve done that, you should hear a message from Zelda telling you to go to the Shrine of Resurrection. Go back, place your Shiekah slate in the terminal you find there and you’ll start up the DLC.

The Lost Sphear demo on Switch

The Lost Sphear demo has finally made it outside of Japan. North American and European gamers can head to the Nintendo Switch eShop to get the free demo for Lost Sphear. The demo is about an hour long, and it will give you a sample of what to expect. You go to the beginning of the game, exploring the initial town. When the final version arrives you can carry the data over too!

Monster Hunter Stories on mobile in Japan

Now this was a surprise to me: We’ve only had Monster Hunter Stories in the West for a couple of months, but Japan has had the game on 3DS for a year now. Still, it surprises me that Capcom has released the game on mobile in Japan.

You can try the game for free on both iOS and Android and then purchase it for 1.900 Yen, for the full game. That’s about $ 17, a lot cheaper then the 3DS version.

Stardew Valley will come to the PS Vita

Well, well! Good news if you have a Vita, and haven’t played one of the console versions yet: Stardew Valley will come to the Vita too. It’ll be available next year, and it will have cross-buy too, so if you’ve got Stardew Valley on Playstation 4 you won’t need to buy it again to play it on your PS Vita. However, it’s worth noting that the multiplayer update, that will come to the console versions, won’t reach the Vita.

New street view in Pokémon Go

If you’ve been into your Pokémon Go recently, you might have seen a change. Niantic is no longer working with Google Maps, but with open-source, user-generated OpenStreetMap. This means that they are now using maps that have been made using data people all over the world provide. I just now checked, and saw an immediate change. We are having a weather alarm today, as lots of snow is expected. And that’s exactly the info I got in Pokémon Go, along with snow on my screen. Nice!

World of Final Fantasy Meli Melo releasedate

Last week I mentioned the new World of Final Fantasy games that is making its way to mobile. WOFF Meli Melo got a release date: December 12 in Japan. Plus, the game reached 500,000 pre-registrations, so that means players will get all pre-registration bonus rewards, including the 4-star Shiva Mirage for hitting 500,000. No news yet about a Western release.

RPG Dragon Fang Z will hit eShop in America

A new, rogue-like title will soon hit the American Switch eShop: Dragon Fang Z: on December 19. Toydea, the creator of the game wanted to make an RPG with over 200 monsters that appear with the possibility of befriending them. Monsters have abilities that will come in handy during your journey too.

In addition to taking on dungeons the game offers plenty of other elements such as weapon and armor creating, item appraisals, item storage, monster fights and evolutions, score attack, monster bestiary, achievements, 50 stages rule practice puzzle dungeons, and high-difficulty long-dungeons for advanced players.

Enough for this week, right? I’m going to go back to playing Portal Knights on my Switch. I also bought Xenoblade chronicles 2 yesterday, a game that I’m not sure of yet. But a couple of my readers who tend to like the same games I do are very enthusiastic about it, so I’m giving it a go!

Have a great gaming weekend, thanks once again for reading!

Handheld Gaming News week 49 Time again for the weekly handheld gaming news! It was an exiting week for me an my family as Sinterklaas once again found our door.

#2017 #2017 Friday&039;s coffee #Breath of the Wild #demo lost sphear #DLC pack 2 Champions #Dragon Fang Z #Friday #game of the year #Meli melo #monster hunter stories on mobile #open street map #pokemon go #Stardew Valley Vita #world of final fantasy

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purplesurveys · 5 years ago

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612

Describe your hometown. What's it like there? Manila, at its core, is either mega rich Chinese people or steeped in poverty, traffic congestion, and poor waste and flood management. I’m more than happy my parents made the move to transfer to Rizal, which is a lot more peaceful. What did you do yesterday evening? I ate dinner for a bit then spent the whole evening in my room reading up on serial killers, watching two episodes of a docuseries and Try Guys videos. I went up to my room way earlier than usual because my sister’s boyfriend was over and I’m just not close with him, and because he also brought his dog, who turned out to hate everyone that isn’t him or my sister.

Are you comfortable with leaving the house without any makeup on? I always leave the house without makeup on. I feel uncomfortable when I am out with makeup just because I don’t like the feeling of having stuff on my face. Do you have any expensive hobbies? My newest hobby is gem painting and it can be a liiiittle expensive. A kit costs around ₱750, which isn’t the most student-friendly price. What length do you like to keep your nails at? I don’t have a preference but it’s always a lot more pleasant to have it cut short.

What's your favorite memory with your last ex? Not really applicable to me. Have you ever felt physical pain in a dream? I don’t think so. I’ve had dreams where I was shot but I woke up as soon as it happened, so I didn’t feel the pain. What is the oldest online account that you still use? Twitter. My older account was made in 2008 but that got spammed so I haven’t used it since around 2011. I made a second account in 2010 which was originally meant to be my Kristen Stewart stan account, and it’s the one I still use today, although I’ve been using it as my personal account for a very long time now. Have you ever had Christmas carolers come to your house and sing for you? Not in our current house because it’s a little secluded and is too far from the main road of our village. But we did have carolers in our old house when I still lived with extended families. Do you know anyone whose family has lived in the same house for 3+ generations? I probably do. What was the last video game you beat? I’ve never beaten any video games, mostly because I find all of them too hard hahaha :’( What's your favorite Studio Ghibli film? Grave of the Fireflies. What did you learn from your last failed relationship? No matter the effort you put in, if that person wants to be let go or has other priorities then you have to respect that. What country does your favorite band hail from? America, but specifically from Franklin, Tennessee. :) What's something on your to-do list that never actually gets done? Watching the TV series and movies that I’d tell myself I’d watch once I have the time. Have you ever been really passionate about something but then lost interest? If so, what was it? Yeah, that happens a lot. One of them would be my hobby of coloring, which didn’t last very long because I realized how much arm work it demands lol.

Do you sleep with the TV or the radio on? Neither. I prefer complete silence or white noise at most when sleeping. But at times when I find the quiet unbearable, I put on YouTube videos. What's the worst thing about being male/female (whichever you are)? Being objectified, catcalled, whistled at, looked at as an easy target. What movie has the best special effects? I’m a little biased so I would say 2001: A Space Odyssey. How many work hours per week is too much for you? I’ve never worked so I dunno what I would feel is too much just yet. What habit is essential to your daily life? Combing my hair. What is your favorite documentary? Jiro Dreams of Sushi, hands down. When did you last have a vision test? A year ago when I was reapplying for my driver’s license. What do you typically eat for breakfast? Fried rice, eggs, and hotdogs are my mom’s favorite to make. What are three things you need to do tomorrow? Feed my dog, take a bath, go to my tita’s house for Christmas.

#survey #surveys

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itinerantscribe-blog · 5 years ago

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Day 5 of 56

So, first weekend of latest foray into abstinence upon me. 5 days in, usual suspects, I mean symptoms in evidence. Wait, wait, they aren’t symptoms at all, they are not even by products, they are the beneficial effects of expunging alcohol! They are welcome. Once again I find myself up by 5 am, witnessing the wondrous birth of a new day over and over again. The euphonic choral accompaniment to to the onset of a new dawn of potential, of energy, of peace, received so differently according to which period is in ascendancy, tea totality or its opposite. In these phases of liberation, I embrace this chorus with good cheer and a ready welcome, my winged friends and I sharing those early moments in concert and harmony. When the contrary phases achieve dominion, the mellifluous song morphs into an unbearable cacophony, cleaving my soul and shattering my slumber forcing me to wake to to endure yet another cursed aftermath of the morning after the night before. What an extreme contrast between which I oscillate. The blackbird, the robin, the chaffinch and warbler too, just a few of my early morning companions who bless or haunt me with their inevitable vocal presence and my inevitable one of two states. Extremes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6_LYIdYxz4

Absence of alcohol, all of it, it just entirely re-defines and re-shapes in such an indescribably beneficial manner my outlook, my sentiment, my sense of well being, my health, my everything. Why oh why do I not remain on this path in perpetuity? Why do I re-visit the very thing that with the flick of a finger re-edits all of the above? Why oh why for the sake of a few hours of indulgence in some coloured, sugar infused liquid, do I sacrifice the unsullied delight in the simplest of things like a bird’s song? Is it worth it? After nearly 6 decades on the planet you think I’d know the answer.

The young lady I am assisting, she has made her first 5 days alcohol free for longer than she will admit. We both know it’s longer than she has pretended it to be. I am not her father, not her mentor, not her guide nor her conscience. But I am proud that she has managed to achieve a milestone. I thought she would falter last night. She had warned me the night before that she believed she would stumble barely out of the blocks. She was almost apologising in advance of the transgression. It was a meeting you see, a large gathering which was hers to conduct and oversee. To speak even, to a large audience, a frighteningly large audience. Public speaking. Standing there as a throng of anonymous faces direct their unbroken gaze on you, piercing, probing, collective eyes boring into your soul and penetrating your essence. Oh my. I didn’t know she would be speaking. I had sent her a text early morning however, just to fortify her resolve. In the text exchange that follows, I shall refer to her simply as her. As always, no clues as to her identity are contained within that which ensues and if appropriate, I have excised anything that would compromise her. I have told her I think she too should blog, illuminate her situation, declare to the world proudly and boldly. She won’t do that. Yet. She thinks such a path would make it too real. Think about that. She thinks it would make it too real....

So, just to repeat the context. She had advised me on day 3 that she would be hosting a large event on day 4 late afternoon and that she had little faith in the likelihood of surviving sober something that is not an infrequent activity within her working remit but which to date has been underpinned with excessive ingestion of booze. Hard booze. My first text went out 8.21 am yesterday.

me: Are you going to have to have a drink every time you have an event like today? For the rest of your life? Four weeks time sober you could have an event like this everyday without a second thought. Don’t sacrifice all the benefit you are engineering for yourself for the sake of one meeting. Don’t go if there is even MINIMAL risk.

I received no response and just got on with my day, bearing in mind I have my own position to consider and cultivate. Understand please do, lest you level accusations of hypocrisy my way, that it was and is in my interests also that she doesn’t fall. I will not drink while she doesn’t, of this I am certain. At 10.35 I tried again.

me: So? How’s the day looking for you?

her 10.48: I don’t feel well. Am in (city). Dressing the part. Acting the part. All while eyeing up the cast and extras with deep suspicion. Everything feels wrong.

(Gotta admire her euphemistic use of language. I wish I could feign ownership of that metaphor, but alas, all her work)

me 10.50: Don’t catastrophize. Look for evidence that everything is wrong. You won’t find any. Don’t let your mind betray you.

me 11.55: Don’t look for excuses TO drink.

Then our exchange ceased. I returned to my quotidian activity, thinking before expelling further consideration to the subject that she would not survive. It wasn’t until 7.07 pm that the crisis erupted and texts assumed complexion of ferocious ping pong exchanges.

her 19.07: I think one is ok.

her 19.08: We can agree that one. (She’s seeking a collective alliance, share the liability, dilute individual responsibility. She’s seeking endorsement)

me 19.08: No we can’t.

me 19.08: We have already agreed something else.

her 19.08: Please.

her 19.08: Just one.

her 19.09: Say yes.

me 19.09: I can’t stop you. You can stop you. You haven’t even given it a chance. If not now, when? There is no when. There is only now.

By now I am thinking she has already had one, by now I am trying to call her but the phone moves straight to voicemail. By now I believe she doesn’t want me to talk to her, she doesn’t want me to try talking her out of a step that would bring to a highly premature conclusion this enterprise. Finally, she answers the phone. I have no idea at this point that she has already completed the most arduous element of the event, the public speaking element. But indeed she has completed it. She had completed it unaided by chemical or pharmaceutical or alcoholic participation. The conversation was protracted, she told me how the hall was awash with available alcohol. I had to remind her England, and the rest of the western world and much of that beyond is awash with alcohol, there is always temptation, accessibility. The call ended. She told me normally at these things she would drink until the early hours, leave only when she would otherwise be the only one left. I was sure she would succumb, it was only 4 days into her own odyssey, she had exposed herself too soon, she had placed too much pressure on her fragile shoulders. She shouldn’t have gone....

her 22.07: Done. Heading home.

me 22.08: Drink free?

her 22.09: 100%

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxAKFlpdcfc

me 22.11:Truly well done. You haven’t sacrificed tomorrow for a couple of hours tonight. Thought you’d crack today.

her 22.12: So did I, with your help (that was nice of her, no need, I’m doing it for me as much as her) and a colleague at the event steering me away from the bar anytime I got near, it was a success. Don’t feel great for it yet but hoping I will.

me 22.12: You absolutely will.

I mean really, how great is that? How well do that girl do? Outfuckingstanding. So, so impressed with her resolve, especially given the additional ingredient of what would be a nerve challenging ordeal of public speaking for anyone!

me 07.53 this morning: How do you feel gliding soberly into a weekend free of roughness probably for first time in years?

her 08.12: Odd, I woke waiting for the usual to hit me and then remembered, I’m fine (how lovely is that feeling!!!). For the first time in forever I don’t feel like a failure, I don’t feel pathetic, I don’t feel useless. There is hope. I am ok! Feel a bit embarrassed about the evident desperation which must have been observed last night (who cares? she succeeded, who cares what anyone else thinks?) but I think I might be able to actually do this. (she had better not split an infinitive again lol)

me 08.15: Careful with what you think! Positive is good but gentle! That breeds complacency. Day by day. Aren’t you pleased you didn’t drink yesterday? You wait til you pass weekend.

me 08.17: Carry a Mars bar with you at all times (she doesn’t know I am a major shareholder in Mars Ltd, ssshhhh). That pack that comes in two small ones. it’s your emergency measure!

her 08.17: Extremely pleased. I’ll go to the shop in a bit.

End of transmission.

How good is that? I am so, so pleased for her. I admire her strength. But eh, wait a minute. Why can’t anyone talk to me like I spoke to her? Why can’t I talk to me like that?? How come then, that given my quarter of a century seniority on her, I have not yet conquered this in entirety? Are we back to choice? Is it because I had no-one with similar exposure talking to me when I was her age? Well, I have some thoughts on that, well of course I do! But I think for now, this blog will take refuge in weekend respite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy9_lfjQopU

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