I’m usually not one to do this but my 2022 June Model Y Performance in multi-coat red paint looks like shit after less than a year.
It’s always garaged, rarely sits outside for longer than a few hours per week, is always washed by a touchless car wash or professional detailers and it still has some horrible markings/stains/scratches near the driver side door handle and I can see a TON of spidering happening as well.
Also I got a pretty nasty rock chip on the hood that made it pretty evident how thin the paint is. It’s all the way down to the metal of the hood.
I’m just curious if anyone else is experiencing this and if we have any recourse or “warranty” for the paint? This seems extreme to me.

Hey guys, early chapter because I'm going to be busy the next few days.
I'm also going to be overhauling the first 15 chapters to get them up to standards.
ELIJAH COMMISSION SOON!
Azeline Commission
The Little Menace
Worship Her
If you want to read ahead, check out my Patreon, I'm up to chapter 26!
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“Before the first records of history, the realm of mortals was ruled by a slew of unholy and demonic monstrosities only known as the old ones.” The Oracle said as the group approached the massive mural in the back of the temple.
Looking up both Bennett and Elijah couldn’t help but gawk like tourists and marvel at the masterful artwork displayed on the wall. Tylas was depicted with a commanding presence, holding a bleeding heart in one hand and pointing his two-pronged spear towards what appeared to be a baptismal pool. Surrounding him were what looked like common folk, kneeling and praying in reverence or offering their gifts of bread.
However, their gaze was interrupted when Azeline sent a sharp jab into Elijah’s ribs with her elbow and shot him a glare as a reminder of why they were there.“Hurry up and do whatever you’ve come here to do you fool!” She hissed in a hushed tone.
Just as Elijah dug into his pocket to grab his bio scanner, the hobbling Oracle spun around with open arms. “And these vile and wretched beings only sought the souls of mortals to fuel their never-ending machinations for power, damning whomever they consume to oblivion!” He said, looking up towards the interior of the dome.
Yanking his hands out of his pocket before the oracle saw him, Elijah nervously looked up to see what the old man was looking at. His face contorted in confusion when he only saw the untouched surface of the ceiling, and brought his hand back into his pocket.
“BUT! As the ages passed, those wretched thing’s ambitions only fattened along with their festering arrogance!” The Oracle bellowed, causing Elijah to stiffen once more. “Not even the souls of the damned could saite their infernal hunger!” The man slammed his hands down on a podium that was just in front of the pool of water. “They FLOGGED the world with their wars! Bringing nothing but butchery and destruction to the mortal realms!” he spoke with a gurgling venom as he described the unimaginable horrors their ancestors endured.
Feeling as if the oracle was yelling at them, Bennett and Elijah cringed while the elder man frother at the mouth. Used to this type of sermon, Azeline just inwardly sighed and waited for the most opportune time to interject and possibly divert the old man's attention away from them, but it seemed the old man was just too into his sermon.
“And in this time of darkness and despair… Rose a beacon of hope; Tylas! He and his peers were the first to strike down one of those false gods and claim its soul for themselves!”. The oracle continued his tale, his voice growing with excitement as turned around and gestured towards the Mural once more.
Seeing an opportunity had presented itself, Elijah bent over and brought his device just to the edge of the pool of water and allowed it to start scanning while the Oracle continued giving his oration. "With their found power, a new Pantheon was born and together, they banished the Old Ones from the mortal realms to never return! Long gone were the days of servitude! Long gone were the days where we forfeited our lives! Our souls!” Elijah’s eyes narrowed as his bio scanner displayed a green light, signaling that whatever was in the pool showed signs of a large population of whatever pathogen was plaguing the town.
Leaning his head back and letting out a cathartic sigh, a small tear fell from the old man’s eyes as he felt a surge of reverence. "And there… The heart of all Aethari. The symbol of his gift. A symbol of strength… A symbol of hope.” His hands came down slowly as she shuddered. “It serves as a reminder that Tylas had given back to us what was stolen… our souls." The oracle slowly spun around, his expression proud. "And that is why we, the oracles of Tylas, exist. For we shepherd generations yet towards the path of righteousness.”
Jabbing Bennett in the ribs with his elbow, Elijah subtly showed him his device displaying the amount of pathogens that was in the pool. “We found our contaminated source,” he said in hushed whispers.
Looking over at the device, Bennett's eyebrows raised in surprise that this town’s place of worship was actually the hotspot. "This is worrying," he said, a hint of alarm creeping into his voice. "I highly doubt the population has been shitting in here, so that means…" He trailed off a bit and went silent.
“It means someone intentionally contaminated the pool.” Elijah finished for him, narrowing his eyes. “I have no idea who’s insidious enough to poison somewhere where people pray, but we’re also not exactly in tune with the geopolitics of this world.” He whispered while scratching the side of his face.
Bennett simply gave a grim nod in agreement, "But how do we deal with this? Seeing how this dude reacted,” he pointed his entire hand at the oracle who was still orating, “we can’t exactly be like ‘oh ya, your shits fucked up sorry.” He replied.
The two men shared a difficult look when Azeline jabbed Bennett in the ribs, causing the engineer to wince and pain and look up to see the oracle staring at them. "Is everything alright, young men?" He asked with a stern look on his face.
With swimming eyes, Bennett flushed and tried to come up with an excuse on the spot. "Ahh.. yes. We were just wondering how this pool of water holds significance to uhh, Tylas’ glory." He replied, straightening up. Closing his eyes briefly to fight off the desire to pinch the bridge of his nose, Elijah simply nodded along in agreement, "Yes… We noticed how his wondrous spear was pointing towards the pool, and we couldn’t help but ask why."
Having dealt with the youth all his life, the Oracle gave a magnanimous smile. He was used to the fact young men’s attention spans were prone to wandering, but he was more than happy to answer any questions they had.
However, just as the Oracle opened his mouth to answer, a strange feminine voice emanated from one of the strange men’s chest.”Whose GLORY?” Elijah was full of panic when he tried to grab at the psychotic little fairy as she managed to unzip his pocket and darted out towards Bennett.
“Are you talking about those idiot useless LOSER brothers Tylas and Darden!?” Yana yelled, hovering in front of Bennett’s face. “You know those… those FUCKING idiots decided to lie and claim MY achievements for their own!?” She continued with her hands on her hips.
Everyone had their eyes open in complete shock as Yana stuck her finger out and jammed it into Bennett’s cheek. “I was the one who trapped that Old One, I was the one to take its soul and it was ME who shared the knowledge with others!” Yana punctuated each point by jabbing her finger into Bennett's cheek. “And what did those stupid Aethari whelplings do!? Get slapped around like IDIOTS while swinging their stupid spears around like stupid FUCKS!!“ She spat out hatefully.
Her little chest rose and fell rapidly as she shot a heated glare at the Engineer, absolutely furious the words ‘Glory’ and ‘Tylas’ were uttered in the same sentence together. Meanwhile, everyone in the temple was deathly quiet as they all struggled to regain their composure, taken aback by her sudden outburst.
Elijah stood there with hung shoulders with his hand smothering his face while a crazy cocktail of emotions flowed through him, each of them negative. Azeline, on the other hand, was standing ramrod straight as her eyes were so wide open they looked as if they were bulging out. She was in a state of utter disbelief and fear at the turn of events, never in her life would she have thought she would be in this psychotic situation.
Her eyes slowly and hesitantly jerked over towards the Oracle and saw the man pointing at the Vanir with a flapping mouth and shaking limbs. “Y-Y-Yo-You!! YOU VILE THING! YOU BLASPHEMER! YOU HERETIC!” The old man screamed in a high pitched voice. “A mere PIXIE dare utter such! SUCH SACRILEGE!!” He frothed at the mouth.
“PIXIE!?” Yana shreeked as her face contorted in uncontrolled rage. “I am the great Yanaiyániuoa! You dare mistake the Goddess of magic and ALL Fae during the Autumn Solstice with a mere PIXIE!?!?” Turning her head to Elijah, she pointed at him “ELI! KILL HIM!!” She demanded.
The Oracle scoffed and opened his mouth to let out another round of insults when his face froze. He finally noticed the elemental breeze flowing from its head, the pulsating violet blur as its wings and the glow of its eyes… That was no pixie.
“By Tylas… you’re a… a…” The oracle stuttered in fear. “VANIR!!!” He screamed as loud as he could as he stumbled towards the group. “KNIGHTS! KNIGHTS HELP! GET THE DEACON! HELP ME!!!” He shouted as he ran towards the group and the grand doors.
Elijah’s eyes went wide as the yell echoed throughout the temple, he immediately looked behind him to see why such a frail man would advance towards them and saw the doors were still slightly open from when they first arrived. “FUCK!” He cursed as he and Bennett bolted forward to silence the elder man. Bennett grabbed his left arm and tried to shove it behind his back while Elijah started twisting the Oracles wrist and used his body weight to try to control him.
However, even though they both were much stronger than the old man, anyone with a lot of adrenaline coursing through them was a bitch to handle. “THERE’S A- OOF!” The old man was only able to struggle for a second before Elijah sent a vicious blow to his face stunning him. All three of them went stumbling to the ground as the Oracle’s legs gave out from underneath him causing everyone to scramble back on top of him. “A VA- ACK!” The oracle tried to finish what he was screaming about, but Elijah went around his neck locking him into a rear naked choke.
“BY THE GODS! OH HEAVENS!” Azeline yelled in complete distraught while clutching her head. Never in her life had she been so conflicted as to what to do as she watched all three of them roll around the ground while the oracle yelled in terror and flailed his arms. Should she help her companions? Should she help the oracle and pray the more than likely knights would be lenient with her? Or should she just simply flee? Suddenly the same Vanir that had caused the situation had zoomed past and placed her tiny hands on the Oracle head as he began to lose consciousness.
“H-Hold his head still!” She ordered, understanding the gravity of the situation. But just as she said that, the oracle’s arm flopped limply to the side as his eyes stared vacantly in the air. Yana then massed a large portion of her remaining power and concentrated in order to cast a powerful mind spell she had stolen from the Old Ones.
Elijah loosened his strangle hold in an effort to not kill the old man when a flash of violet nearly blinded him. “Argh!” He moaned as he and Bennett pushed themselves to their knees standing above the unconscious Oracle.
Suddenly the faint noise of an aggravated sigh came from the large Temple doors as they swung open. “Yes, Oracle? What do you want-” The knight's voice stopped as he saw the Deacon’s guests were hovering over the collapsed and limp body of the Oracle “Now…” Silence reigned as both parties stared at each other for a moment before the Oracle suddenly started violently spasming as if he was having a seizure.
“H-Hurry and get the deacon!” Elijah suddenly yelled, pointing at the door. “Quickly now! He collapsed!”
The Knight’s eyes went wide as he nervously took a step back “Y-yes! Yes sir! Right away!” He responded and started to run. Luckily, the knight didn’t even notice Yana’s tiny head sticking over Elijah’s shoulder as they stumbled out of the door in a dead sprint.
Not having the time to be satisfied with his quick thinking, Elijah quickly turned his attention back to the Oracle and watched as he convulsed and writhed violently. The rest of the group stood in confusion, unsure of what to do or how to help while they looked at each other nervously.
“Ah… ahahaha. Oops…” Yana laughed nervously. “I think I used too much mana.” She admitted, causing everyone’s heads to immediately turn towards her.
Each and every single one of them looked at her with disbelief as they struggled to grasp the insanity that had just unfolded. But before anyone could say anything, the Oracle suddenly tensed up with his back arched in an exaggerated way before falling limp back onto the ground. Again the group exchanged nervous and confused glances before Elijah cautiously reached out and checked the old man's pulse with his fingers.
…
“He’s uh… he’s dead.” The medic said flatly.
Bennett nervously ran his hand over the side of his head and pulled at his shaggy hair as he glanced nervously towards the door. "Umm… so...what do we do now?" Azeline asked, speaking up for the group as they all looked towards Elijah.
Elijah covered his mouth with his hands and kept for a while staring at the Oracle's body. The man finally let out a deep sigh as his hand dragged down his growing unkept beard before looking up at the ceiling, muttering a single word, "Why."
Taking a deep breath and standing up, shaking his head. "I guess we should just go with; he collapsed after we came to inspect the temple for contamination." Elijah shrugged, offering little reassurance to the others. “I dunno man, I got nothin’ else.”
Seeing their only source of bullshit completely stumped, silence once again filled the entire temple until it was broken by the sounds of distant yelling and clanks of metal feet just outside the temple. Realizing they had no more time to prepare, the group did what they could to muster their courage in order to keep a straight face.
Elijah knew he was going to have to be the one to do all the talking and bullshiting, so he took a deep breath and looked over to yana who was sitting on his shoulder. “Get in and keep quiet, I might be able to get us out of this.” He ordered and opened his pocket wide. “Can you do that thing again where you fry someone's brain?” He asked as the fairy floated down and pulled herself in.
Yana paused and put a finger to her head. “I can probably do it one more time, but then I’ve exhausted everything I have…” She admitted. “After the binding ritual, you two kind of took everything I have left.”
Bringing his fist to his mouth, the man thought for a second. If worst comes to worst, they’d be able to fry the Knight Captain and snag the Deacon as a hostage in order to make their escape.
“The moment I let you out, you beeline for the one in armor.” he said, looking down at the small being as she nodded her head.
With a plan of action and a contingency plan, Elijah turned around towards the grand double doors with a renewed sense of confidence. However, his confidence was short lived as he saw the individuals that came running in. A certain 6 foot, heavily armed and armored ‘Demigod’ came sauntering in with his magnificent blonde hair swaying with each step.
“Shit shit shit shit shit shit.” Elijah cursed under his breath.
It seemed if this went sour, they were really going to see if the man was a Demigod or not.
"Master Eli-jah!" Theodius called out, his eyes alight with excitement as he rushed over to the group. "Master Eli-jah, what's happened here?" He knelt down mid stride and slid next to the body, his gaze fixated on the fallen Oracle. "Pray tell, what might we be able to learn from this!?" The deacon asked eagerly, eagerly awaiting Elijah's insights.
Elijah took a step back, looking uncomfortable and bewildered, as Theodius rushed over to the group with excitement written all over his face. Salvanius and Rhea were right behind him, but Salvanius let out a sigh of frustration after he watched Theodius' reaction. “Brother, now is not the time for your strange obsessions!” He snapped.
Seeing her lieges reaction Rhea quickly kneeled down and placed a hand on Theodius' shoulder and tried to calm him down. "Deacon, we need to focus on what's important here. Let's see if we can help the Oracle." she said in a soothing voice.
Turning his head back at Rhea with a Dejected look, Theodius let out a sigh and moved his hand to the Oracle's face. “Hmm…” He murmured while opening the old man’s mouth and yanking on his tongue.
Not understanding what the Deacon was doing, Elijah’s disturbed and confused look deepened as he watched the oracles head jerk forward with a particularly hard pull before his head slammed back down onto the floor. “What the… Th-Theo- I mean your Holiness, he’s already dead.” The medic stuttered.
Theodius' excitement spiked again as his head swiftly snapped towards Elijah with Eyes ablaze. “He’s dead? How do you know? What tests have you developed to check for true death?.” The man shotgunned questions causing the subject of his interest to slowly recoil away further. “How do you make a diagnosis! YOU MUST TELL ME!”
Salvanius clicked his tongue, “BROTHER, PLEASE! FOCUS!” He shouted in frustration.
Looking between her Liege and the Deacon anxiously, Rhea quickly knelt down and put her hands around his shoulders. “Y-your holiness, please. We can indulge your curiosity after we finish.” She said, helping the man stand to his feet. “I shall even see to it that your every question be answered.” She said, shooting Elijah a look.
Theodius nodded, looking momentarily remorseful. "Of course, I apologize. I simply got carried away," he said, composing himself. "It’s not often I’m in the presence of a man more learned than myself. Regardless, let's focus on finding out what caused the Oracle's collapse."
Nodding in satisfaction, Salvanius felt his frustration dissipate. "Good good. I apologize for raising my voice brother." he said before glancing at Elijah. “Now, you said the Oracle had already passed?”
Taken aback by the strange scene in front, Elijah simply nodded and explained his findings. "Yes, we can confirm death if the heart is no longer beating," he said. He was about to elaborate on the idea of brain death and the time frame that typically occurs after the heart stops beating, but he decided against it. The Oracle simply knew too much to be worth raising any suspicion that there was a chance of resuscitation.
Rhea furrowed her brows. "That makes sense… The heart IS the most important part of the body.” She spoke to herself with her arms folded. “But did he collapse?" The Knight Captain asked, looking up at Elijah. “He was rather old and somewhat sickly, but he seemed fine earlier in the day when I last saw him.” Salvanius chimed in, his tone laced with suspicion, "Yes, I agree, For him to just collapse and die like that seems rather peculiar…” He said, rubbing his smooth chin. “. What business did you have with Oracle in the first place?" Salvanius asked, looking at Elijah inquisitively.
Bennett and Azeline shifted nervously in the background as they eyed the two large doors, plotting their escape plan in case they had to flee. Elijah quickly inhaled a deep breath, knowing full well they were in a dangerous position and their lives hung in the balance of how well he could bullshit. "Well, we were only here to ask him a few questions, but he ended up having an impassioned sermon about the virtues of Tylas after he learned we were foreigners." Elijah explained while shrugging. “I’m not quite sure why he collapsed, but he seemed quite sluggish and unsteady when we first came in.” He tried to make it sound like he wasn’t quite sure why the Oracle collapsed.
Rhea removing her helmet, Rhea revealed her striking features and long black hair tied in a bun as she stared at Elijah with a stern expression. "You're telling me that's all that happened? You merely asked the Oracle a few questions?” She asked with a piercing gaze. “Your task was to uncover the source of the Miasma, not take a tour of the temple. What type of questions could you have possibly had for the Oracle?" Rhea continued with a skeptical tone, clearly not content with Elijah's answer. "It's concerning that a healthy man suddenly died right after you spoke with him. Why would a foreign visitor take an interest in our patron Lord?”
Seeing Salvanius’ eyes start to narrow as his hand rested on the pommel of his sword, Elijah felt the conversation had started to turn for the worst. It was obvious these people weren’t stupid since they were a part of literally this world's version of the inquisition and had potentially years of hunting down heretics or whatever. But it also wasn’t like he had much to work with in the first place.
“Look, we weren’t here for pleasure, but every source of water in the town is clean and this place was the logical conclusion for possible contamination.” Elijah defended himself and rested his hand on his chest, right next to the zipper. “This place has a water source, so we came to check it out.”
Salvanius' expression hardened as he listened to Elijah's explanation. "You… You dare!?” He barked out. “Barge into these sacred grounds and utter such… such HERETICAL accusations!?”
Just before Rhea opened her mouth to voice her agreement, she paused and furrowed her brow as her eyes glanced over at the body on the ground.
Ignoring Rhea’s reaction completely, Salvanius gripped his sword tightly and stepped forward with fury on his face. "The Oracle was nothing but a SAINT to me and my Knights! And you dare accuse him and these hallowed halls of containing corruption!?" The Demigod’s voice became dangerous, sending a chill down Elijah's spine.
Rhea’s eyes shot up to Elijah while he slowly retreated from the bellowing Demigod with a difficult look on her face. She didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t help but remember how adamant the Oracle was for her and the rest of her knights to pause and take part in a divine ritual where they consumed this temple's holy water. Rhea of course refused the lowly Oracle's attempts at Ingratiating himself tremendously above his station, but there were still a few of her men and women that took him up on his offer.
And every single one of them lay sick with the miasmatic plague in the makeshift hospital…
Glaring at Elijah intensely, Salvanius' face soured further when he finally noticed the odd mana that was lingering in the air. “I’d also like an explanation as to why I sense traces of magic only used by the most powerful Mages in the air.” The scowl on the Demigod’s face deepened as he slowly drew his sword.
Seeing the situation rapidly deteriorate, Theodius stood there flabbergasted, unsure what to do.
On one hand he wanted nothing more to cast Elijah a life line, so sure the man had no involvement with whatever befell this old man. However, never in his life could he go against his brother, especially when it came to his sacred duty of stamping out corruption and protecting Tylas’ faithful.
Elijah's right hand gradually moved towards the back of his waist, while his left hand firmly clasped the zipper that housed Yana. It appeared that they were going to test if a 'Demigod' could die just like everyone else. However, he still had the added benefit of plausible deniability and he could still make one last effort at deflecting blame. “Your uh, holiness. I can easily prove my innocence.” He said with confidence.
The look of interest flashed across Salvanius' face as he narrowed his eyes at Elijah. “Make your case mortal, or I shall have you burned at the stake.” He said with venom in his voice.
“It’s simple, all you have to do is ask those who are sick if they drank from this pool or not.” Elijah said absolute confidence. “And ask those who are still healthy, if they did not.” He finished, returning Salvanius glare with conviction.
Doubt momentarily clouded Salvanius' vision as he looked down in thought, but he looked up in rage. “LIAR-”
“My lord!” Rhea spoke up, cutting the Demigod off, causing him to snap his head towards her. With that statement from Elijah, Rhea had made her decision and looked Salvanius dead in the eyes.
“My lord, I believe there's… there’s a great deal of merit in his words.”
​
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My group is bound and determined to use the Rosewood firehouse as a base. We've walled it off, barred all windows, replaced the front doors with jail doors, walled off one garage door, and put a chain gate across the other. (A small built cabin in the back serves as the actual safehouse.)
I had just finished plumbing the sinks in the upstairs kitchen and the downstairs laundry room. I went back to our old base to grab rain barrels, frozen food, and a freezer. Halfway through loading the van, the server kicked me and restarted.
Joined back in, finished loading, headed back, and there were two zombies inside the completely sealed garage, one beating on the chain fence, the other beating on the steel door I put between the garage and the rest of the firehouse.
Upstairs, two more were beating on the steel door to the roof.
I can hear at least one more inside. I'm leaving it for my friends. I'm a builder, not a fighter.
But everything I have read says that this is impossible. Even if there was a breach in our walls, there's no breach in the firehouse. On top of that - our server settings have zombie respawns disabled!
What the heck is going on? Is is because the firehouse is a player spawn location? That's the only thing I can think of that isn't addressed in various other posts on this topic.

Hi All,
Last night it seems as if someone broke into my dad's garage. He's positive it was locked, and if not locked then closed securely. This morning he found the door wide open. I asked him if he's rung the police yet, he hasn't. I don't think he will.
Is there a way I can get the police to come around the street and ask the neighbours (and my dad) about some suspicious activity reported in the area? Without him knowing it was me.
Any advice is recommended.
Cheers
Edit:
I've had my question thoroughly answered, thanks to all who took some time to give advice.

Hello. I'm new here. I've had OCD in the past as a middle school/teem with rituals. And they went away. I've always been one to unplug stuff if leaving for several days but wouldn't double check that I did. 2 years ago the toilet in my master bath had a leak and when I got home from work our upstairs mastehallway had inches of water, plus it's a 3 story townhouse and it leaked through into the dining room below and then down in the basement room. We've since repaired that but within a couple months I was having OCD type checking/compulsions and I feel understandably so. But now I'm tired of it. It's taking so much time to leave my house. I feel anxious when driving more than 30 miles away. I'll drive back to check my garage door is shut. I have to check to make sure everyday: shower is off, toilet isn't leaking, faucet is off, heater unplugged, kitchen faucet is not on, toaster unplugged, all doors locked, dryer is off and then I'll go back upstairs if it "doesn't feel right" and recheck again and maybe again.
Has anyone been able to stop doing these checks and if so how did you exposure therapy? What types of things did you do or say to stop the checking.
It's to the point where I've stared at a turned off faucet for a minute not trusting my eyes that its turned off, or will touch the faceplate an outlet to feel nothing is there. I even make sure my fridge is closed??? Which makes no sense.
Anyways, thank you for any advice!

Anyone else experienced a power surge? It took out most of our big appliances (fridge/microwave/tv/oven), lots of bulbs and our garage door opener. Wondering if anyone else also went through the same?
I'm still trying to wrap my head around it and wondering if anyone is responsible for this? can I hold pg&e responsible and pay for the replacement costs?

We begin with Laura peeking inside the window looking at some of the fine goods in Oleson's Mercantile, speculating on what her birthday present might be. Laura thinks it might be a new doll (since when does she play with dolls? -- unless she's still hoping for a replacement for the one that was broke in "The Raccoon" way back in season 1). Or maybe it's something else. Mary joins in and she doesn't know, but wouldn't tell if she did (true to form). Laura gives her some crap over all of that, but Mary is totally in the right here -- as a kid I learned it's much better if you wait than try to act surprised when the big day comes. Speaking of which, the big day has come as Pa hands Laura her gift, which turns out to be...a new dictionary. This is sort of a slap in the face to both Mary and Laura as Mary wanted one badly in "The Award" and worked her butt off to get it and never did, but Laura doesn't want it and gets it. Laura fakes some enthusiasm the way you would if someone gave you socks for Christmas. That night, Charles is in bed with Caroline when he admits he sucks at reading a room. Caroline humors him by saying that's exactly what she would have picked out. This is one thing I hate about Caroline, she rarely has the chutzpah to call out Charles when he is wrong. I miss the Caroline from the pilot movie that was full of backtalk and sass and implied insults. Next we find Laura window shopping at the Mercantile once more, where this time she's joined by Anna, a friend that stutters. They both look over the things they can't have, sadly. Just then, Nellie announces she's forming a new club and invites Laura into the house. Nellie invites Anna, but as soon as everyone gets up there, she announces Anna can't be in the club because of her speech impediment. Laura and Anna are ready to leave, but Harriet announces she's made punch and sandwiches for everyone. How nice of Harriet! There's a swarm at the door as everyone heads downstairs and in the process, Laura stays behind and swipes a music box out of Nellie's room. Laura takes it back to the Ingalls barn and immediately starts playing it. The next part is really corny as Laura smiles and dances like she's in some sort of bizarre, euphoric trance. She hears the barn door shut and senses someone has come, so she rushes over to close the music box. It falls to the ground in the process. We get some tremendous camerawork as Laura peeks in on the situation upside-down from the loft, and sure enough the shot is upside-down. Turns out it was just the wind blowing the door open and shut. She goes back to check the status on the music box, but it's all distorted and weird. That night, Laura has a nightmare about being found guilty of her crime and sentenced to 100 years of school. This wakes Mary up and they have a doozy of an argument as Mary suggests Laura try to dream of something else next time. I'm not sure which side I'm on here since Mary should know people really can't control their dreams, but it's pretty obvious that Laura's theft influenced this dream, so there's that.
Laura is walking to school one morning when she is approached by Nellie, who offers her a gumdrop. Laura accepts, which is pretty brazen considering she stole Nellie's music box, broke it and didn't tell her about it. Nellie invites her to lunch at the club, but Laura says she's still debating her membership. Anna says she'll come, but is denied again. Laura then informs Nellie that she wouldn't be in her club for all the gumdrops in the store. Nellie mocks Anna's stuttering, which is a mistake since Nels overhears and orders her inside and tells her to get the strap ready. Nellie rushes over to Harriet, who plays moderator for the whole situation. She's able to get Nels to back off a whooping if Nellie agrees to apologize to Anna and her parents. Nellie doesn't know the way to Anna's house however, so she stops by the Ingalls place for directions. In the barn trying to escape Jack's wrath, she finds Laura attempting to fix the music box, to no avail. Nellie calls Laura out on the theft, but Laura feverishly denies taking it. Nellie counters that there were only two of them made (one in her room and the other in the store), but Laura continues to double down on the lying. Finally, Laura caves and confesses. So Laura broke an almost one-of-a-kind item. Charles comes in and Nellie bails Laura out by saying she gifted the music box to Laura and they're friends now. Nellie heads over to Anna's place and apologizes. That night, Laura has another nightmare, this time that she's in shackles and being kept in some type of cellar (foreshadowing?). Harriet comes in and throws some scraps of food to her and all the other children. Nellie comes in with some KFC and holds out a chicken leg for Laura, who rushes over to accept, but gets bopped on the head with it, which is apparently enough to knock her out. Nellie exits and Laura pounds on the door, then the scene transitions to Laura pounding on the wall in the real world. That racket has awoken the entire household, so Pa asks what's going on. Laura asks Mary to cover for her. Mary obliges and (flatly) tells Pa that Laura fell out of bed. At school, Laura ditches Anna in order to play with Nellie and company.
Suppertime at the Ingalls finds Mary and Laura being quiet after they apparently had an argument about the Anna situation. They head up to the loft, where the argument quickly resumes. Oh Laura, what makes you think you can win a debate with the Moral Authority? Laura accuses Mary of jealousy (?!), but Mary counters than she wouldn't join the club for all the gumdrops in Oleson's store. Can Mary read minds or something? Laura said that exact phrase earlier and Mary wasn't around for it. Pa joins in and Mary gives Laura a pretty vicious takedown over the events and Pa is NOT pleased. He orders Laura to inform Nellie she's quitting the club, then orders the sisters to make up. Laura and Mary have a "sorry, not sorry" exchange. That night, Laura has yet another nightmare, this time that she is hung for her crime. This is pretty damn graphic for a family show in the 70's. The next day, Laura tells Nellie that she's revoking her club membership. The club meets in Nellie's room, where Nellie humiliates Anna some more. Anna runs off crying.
Laura finds Anna crying by a tree and actually manages to salvage the friendship. That night, she comes home soaked from the rain and chooses that time to confess her crime. Laura attempts to justify the stealing, talks about how scared she was and tries to blame the entirety on Nellie. Laura is using every trick in the book here and of course Pa lets her off easy. So just to recap, Laura stole an expensive and rare item, broke it, lied repeatedly about it, made life hell for two people and manages to get off with literally zero punishment. Unreal. As if that wasn't enough, Nellie does get whooped, then Laura and Anna dump buckets of water on Willie just because they can.
So I guess the moral of the story here is if you're Laura Ingalls, you can do whatever you want and not have to face the consequences.
EPISODE WINNER - Not really much to choose from here, but I'll go with Harriet for being such a gracious hostess.
EPISODE LOSER - Laura for her crime, dishonesty and all around maliciousness, although Pa deserves a mention for his crummy present that was insulting on so many levels and was the catalyst for everything that transpired here

I have lived in the place I live now for 8 years. There is this neighbor girl who is a couple of years younger than me who I believe is using me to try and get to my husband.
Keep in mind, she has invited another woman's husband in my neighborhood to a place she was housesitting at and his wife tracked his ass there and went and made a scene at 3 am. She swore up and down they didnt sleep together. Yeah. Ok.
So I saw her over the weekend and she was telling me how she was in sooo much pain because she had slipped down the stairs at Christmas time and landed on her tailbone. She said she thought she may have fractured her pelvis.
She then ran into my husband that same day and proceeded to tell him that she hurt her pelvis "working out". She does NOT work out.
Um that's a completely different story. So it seems she is trying to impress my husband lol and I'm sorry but she doesn't have even a slight chance.
So she tries to hang out with me constantly and I either ghost her or tell her we will and then I flake. She is not getting the message!! I don't want to have to be straight up with her because that could get ugly. She lives three doors down from me and her kid is in my kid's class in school.
Please help me find the best way to approach this situation without an all-out brawl ensuing. Thanks in advance for your advice.

my neighbors are preppy, yuppy pieces of sh*t. they have the requisite 2.5 kids, fancy big house, and, as of june 2022, added a purebred bernese mountain puppy they spent a couple thousand bucks on, from a breeder. shortly after getting the puppy, they had a company come over who installed an invisible fence around their yuppy property. i didn’t pay much notice of them or their bratty, spoiled little kids (who roam around their property acting feral, much of the time). but, being a huge dog lover, i DID take notice of how they were taking care of their puppy…or, rather, how they WEREN’T taking care of him. their front lawn was strewn with toys for their dog, from big soft stuffed toys to massive rawhide bones. at first i thought that, aw, they love their puppy and are doting on him. but it soon became apparent that they were just throwing the toys outside for him so they wouldn’t have to pay attention to him. they never bring him inside to be with his family. when their kids get off the school bus, the dog runs up to them, CRAVING love and attention, and the kids just kick him in the chest and go in the house, leaving him desolate and alone again. when winter set in (a harsh, ny state winter) the dog was left outside constantly. no dog house. no straw bedding. nothing. he was and IS outside ALL THE TIME. these bastards get around the law by keeping their (north-facing) garage door open all day and all night. the garage is his “shelter” and he either lays outside in the snow, or on the icy driveway, or on the cold concrete garage floor. our area has had a succession of days and nights of sub-zero temps with howling winds (north winds, blowing into their north-facing open garage). i have talked to them on a few occasions. i have been polite. i have appealed to them to take him inside. i have shamed them that dogs—even bernese mountain dogs—can get frostbite on their paws and noses and after hours out in the cold they are susceptible to hypothermia. they admitted to me that they are DOCTORS, which i shamed them about to their faces even more, that they OF ALL people should know better than to neglect a poor dog. but they don’t care. after my attempts to appeal to their consciences failed, i contacted our local anti-cruelty dog enforcers, but they basically told me, “the garage is considered ‘shelter’ and we can’t do anything unless ‘more serious infractions’ occur.” which is a load of total bs. other neighbors have noticed the dog’s situation and have tried to show some sort of kindness to that poor lonely dog. but, there doesn’t seem to be much any of us can do to help the dog who’s basically a PRISONER, who can’t run away because he understands too well that he’ll get ZAPPED by the invisible fence collar they keep on his neck. it is a cruel situation and i don’t know what to do. it’s heartbreaking.

Council removed stuff in our driveway and thought it was rubbish (by accident for sure). We didn't call them for hard waste removal.
These items are in a private property. Its obviously not rubbish and was even arranged near garage doowall (outside).
We have video captured of the said council vehicle (got a lot stickers both sides saying council name).
We called council and got an email about the issue reported.
We want the items to be returned as is or reimburse them.
While waiting for their resolution/reply, what else do you suggest we do?

my neighbors are preppy, yuppy pieces of sh*t. they have the requisite 2.5 kids, fancy big house, and, as of june 2022, added a purebred bernese mountain puppy they spent a couple thousand bucks on, from a breeder. shortly after getting the puppy, they had a company come over and install an invisible fence around their yuppy property. i didn’t pay much notice of them or their bratty, spoiled little kids (who roam around their property acting feral, much of the time). but, being a huge dog lover, i DID take notice of how they were taking care of their puppy…or, rather, how they WEREN’T taking care of him. their front lawn was strewn with toys for their dog, from big soft stuffed toys to massive rawhide bones. at first i thought that, aw, they love their puppy and are doting on him. but it soon became apparent that they were just throwing the toys outside for him so they wouldn’t have to pay attention to him. they never bring him inside to be with his family. when their kids get off the school bus, the dog runs up to them, CRAVING love and attention, and the kids just kick him in the chest and go in the house, leaving him desolate and alone again. when winter set in (a harsh, ny state winter) the dog was left outside constantly. no dog house. no straw bedding. nothing. he was and IS outside ALL THE TIME. these bastards get around the law by keeping their (north-facing) garage door open all day and all night. the garage is his “shelter” and he either lays outside in the snow, or on the icy driveway, or on the cold concrete garage floor. our area has had a succession of days and nights of sub-zero temps with howling winds (north winds, blowing into their north-facing open garage). i have talked to them on a few occasions. i have been polite. i have appealed to them to take him inside. i have shamed them that dogs—even bernese mountain dogs—can get frostbite on their paws and noses and after hours out in the cold they are susceptible to hypothermia. they admitted to me that they are DOCTORS, which i shamed them about to their faces even more, that they OF ALL people should know better than to neglect a poor dog. but they don’t care. after my attempts to appeal to their consciences failed, i contracted our local anti-cruelty dog enforcers, but they basically told me, “the garage is considered ‘shelter’ and they can’t do anything unless ‘more serious infractions’ occur.” which is a load of total bs. other neighbors have noticed the dog’s situation and have tried to show some sort of kindness to that poor lonely dog. but, there doesn’t seem to be much any of us can do to help the dog who’s basically a PRISONER, who can’t run away because he understands too well that he’ll get ZAPPED by the invisible fence collar they keep on his neck. it is a cruel situation and i don’t know what else to do. it’s heartbreaking.

dogs #AnimalCruelty #DogRescue

I hit a parked car last year (12/2021) and the owner agreed to let me pay him $1k in Venmo in exchange for not reporting it to insurance. Apparently, he did report it to insurance. He took photos of both cars, and accepted my Venmo payment.
I got a notice from my car insurance company almost a year later that I had to give a statement about hitting his car or "I was going to get sued," by his insurance company. I completely spaced it, ignored my insurance company, and now 16 months after the fact, I have a random guy coming to my door every day and banging on it. He's driving a nice car, tinted windows, comes around 2 pm. I called the cops and they said it sounds like he's trying to serve me papers. This is the only thing I can think of that would make sense. I'm still never opening that door. I go out the garage to get to my car, but I am completely freaking tf out.
What do I do?

I was 22 and in grad school when LOST came out. In the months leading up to it, the ads on ABC made it seem like it was a cheesy Jurassic-Park-for-television venture that was bound to fail. People commented on its "Michael Crichton vibe." I wasn't interested.
But then my friends illegally downloaded *ahem* taped the first two episodes, so I joined them in watching it anyway, expecting the worst. "Pilot, Part 1" didn't do much for me (because of the ads, I was still convinced it was just a dinosaur), but everything changed the moment the polar bear arrived.
After that I was obsessed.
I taped every episode, and was so paranoid that if one tape broke I'd be SOL until the DVDs were released, so I gave every episode its own tape. I literally have 100+ VHS tapes of the original airings of the show.
Every Wednesday, I'd watch the new episode. Then the next night I would watch it again. And then the following week, I'd watch it again the night before the new episode aired. Then I would binge the current season once or twice around Christmas.
Because I was obsessed.
The only regret I have is that I'm not a LOST University graduate. I wish I had participated in that, but I had a shitty summer job that year that I hated and was constantly stressed about, so I didn't do it.
The mystery of who the Others are was solved on the show, but somehow it's remained in my subconscious. I still have recurring dreams about who they are and where they come from. The dream goes like this: I'm on the Island, and I key into this ultramodern, air conditioned building. Then I take an elevator downstairs, but when the doors open, I'm not in any building anymore, I'm outdoors in some kind of extradimensional world, yet another sunny beach island that is somehow in the basement of the building on the first Island. It's here where the Others live.
Does anyone else who was a fan from back then still have recurring dreams about the show? I get them about twice a year. I've watched LOST through only twice since 2010, and the last time was in 2017.

Thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for the universe!
I'm deeply appreciative of u/Acceptable_Egg5560 for their help with editing!
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Chapter 13: Bohemian
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Memory transcription subject: Vekna, Venlil Investigative Journalist
Date [standardized human time]: December 7th, 07:24, 2136
It’s a longer drive to the hangars than it was to the museum, mainly because of the “airfield’s” elevated position. From what I understood, this was to make it easier for show pilots to gain speed for their stunts. For us, however, it serves only as a hindrance for our Jeep to overcome. Jeep, Jeep. Such a funny word. That’s what Chase calls his car. Well, technically, it’s the company that made his car. He explained that the name was derived from that of an ancient car that was used at the same time as those Tiger tanks. It even had a gas motor! Well, to be fair, most vehicles at that time did, but after growing up surrounded by fusion-electric engines and plasma thrusters, it was still breaking new ground for my engineering side.
I’m still brimming with excitement as we finally make it up to the airfield. I look out the window as it enters my line of vision. I’m sorely let down. Standing opposed to the grand spaceports of Venlil Prime, this place consists of a row of metal, semi-circular structures lining the side of a long, wide strip of concrete. How plain… The data dump had said that most terran vehicles before 2047 didn’t have VTOL capabilities, so a long run of space to build sideways speed was necessary for their flight. Function before form, I guess. Can’t complain about that.
As we drive by the structures, I spot letters and numbers above the wide doors on each one. I assume they correspond to the planes inside, as I recognize a few of them. PBY-5, BF-109, YAK-15, and a few more that I didn’t care to read pass us by as we make our way down the strip of tarmac. Translators always did struggle with such naming conventions, but I’ve gotten used to it by now. Still, too many can give you a terrible headache. The one we come to a stop in front of, though, has a simple designation upon it; F-14. I tilt my head slightly. I don’t recall ever seeing an “F-14” on display, and if Chase had a model of it, it wasn’t one that I was allowed to touch. As we disembark from our trusty land vehicle, I have no idea what to expect. That’s the most exciting part!
As we approach a side door, Chase gives me a bit of history regarding this F-14. “This bad boy was pulled from active service after an air confrontation in the 1970s.” Chase began commenting, taking the familiar tone of museum guides the galaxy over. “The Pilot lived, his copilot didn’t, and it was inactive for the rest of the Cold War. Eventually, it got abandoned in a scrapyard for a century or so as part of the usual retirement of such craft. When the previous staff found her, she was apparently in pretty bad shape, but they managed to fix her up and get her airworthy again. She flew shows for the museum for about 20 years until the F-22s and F-45s were up and ready to go. Then it was back to the scrap heap for her. Or at least, that's what was supposed to happen.” Chase winks at me, a human gesture meant to convey slyness or deception. Any other Venlil would have been horrified by that, but it goes without saying I’m not any other Venlil.
“I came across her a month or so after they sold her off and got pennies on the dollar!” My translator didn’t even attempt to make the currency conversion. “I’ve been keeping it here ever since. It’s in much better condition than at the scrapyard, and I intend to keep that way. I’ve made it my personal pet project to keep her ready to fly at a moment’s notice, but I haven’t had the chance to for a while. But we have time now! You wanna see?”
I don’t even need to talk to answer, my tail doing all the work for me. I’m going to get a personal air show, of course I want to see! I can barely contain my excitement as we approach the access door. We soon reach it, Chase opening it slowly so as not to break the frostbitten hinges. It’s pitch black inside, with only the silhouette of a landing gear visible thanks to the limited morning light. It’s only when Chase flicks on the lights that I’m truly floored. In front of me stands a massive aircraft, sleek in design and wide in stature. The wings of the vehicle stretched for what must be tens of meters, with two massive jet turbine engines in the rear of the plane. Even its very aesthetic is almost predatory in nature, its elongated nose and thin physique almost reminding me of a Krakotl. It's primitive but… brahk it, it’s beautiful! From what I can see, there are two seats in the cockpit, a thought forming in the back of my mind at that sight. Reason tells me otherwise, but…what if I got to fly in this thing? I’m brought out of my mind by the loud thunk and the sound of liquid flowing. I look over to see Chase connecting the plane to a large metal tank. Ah, that must be the fuel.
“Fueling it up, Chase?”
“Yeah, what else? We can’t fly on an empty tank, after all!”
…We?! I nearly pass out as I realize my wildest hopes Are coming true. I was going to get to fly in this thing!! It’s honestly hard to remember what happened between then and now as I’m being helped into the rearmost seat by Chase. Something about safety checks, I think? Who cares?! I’M GOING TO FLY!! As I’m being strapped in, I notice something. There are a sphekload of gauges, switches and buttons back here! I assumed they all had a purpose, but I remember Chase telling me that I wouldn’t need to press them at some point. Thank the Herd, my translator is killing itself trying to translate all this! One thing I would have to just deal with is the seat not being built for someone with a tail, but that’s not too big a deal. If I’m remembering my physics correctly, most of the g-forces would be directed downwards, and given Venlilian skeletal structure, I should be a-okay. Our only weak points are our knees!
Eventually, Chase disconnects the fueling line once we have enough and he climbs into the cockpit, a special helmet on his head. I’m also wearing a similar helmet with a small microphone extended close to my snout. I have to keep my ears pressed against my head for it to fit, but an ear piece allows us to communicate freely. Chase opens the humongous hangar door with a remote, the entire front section of the massive building parting to admit us into the cool, Canadian air. Chase toggles something up front, as I soon hear the combustion-powered jet engines whine to life. It sounds almost like a malfunctioning fusion engine, but Chase assures me that sound is normal. Did we say that? I can’t tell over the whining! Suddenly, I see something I didn’t even know this plane could do. The wings of the aircraft pull back like a bird before we start to taxi out to the start of the runway. The automated air traffic control system verbally informs us that we’re clear to go, with a set flight range for him to fly about within.
He extends the wings back out as he looks back at me. “Ready to have some fun, Vekna?”
OH BRAHK YES!!! I can’t help but give an excited bleat as my heart races in my chest. I’m glad that it’s from excitement this time, though Chase has given me my own inhaler in case a shortlung attack happens during the flight. I give a thumbs-up, another human gesture, as Chase grabs the throttle and pushes it all the way forward. I’m quickly pressed into the back of my seat as we quickly accelerate up to flight speed. Okay, forgot about forward momentum! Readjusting tail! I can hear the usually whiny engines roaring through my headset, making it clear as to why I was given it in the first place despite my head shape. It only takes a few seconds before I feel the vehicle lifting up, the ground receding from view below us as I feel the landing gear pull in. This is incredible! I’m flying! I’M FLYING!!! I can see the peaks of snowy mountains all around us as we fly higher and higher. I can’t help but giddily giggle at the thrill of this flight.
Hearing my excited chittering, it seems Chase gets an idea. “You like that, eh? Try this on for size!”
The entire planet then rolls along our plane’s central axis, and before I know it, the ground is above me. It’s a surreal sight, but before I can process it fully, I feel myself getting pushed down into my seat once again as we pitch down into a canyon. Flying! In the air! Look at the ground speed past! I scream in joy a little as Chase masterfully maneuvers the aircraft so low to the ground I can practically lick the snow! I was flying myself above the chasm! How can I even describe these feelings? These wonderful feelings that I would like to feel forever! They’re too great for words to possibly do justice! Listen to yourself ramble! You’re flying!!!
We continue doing tricks for an incredible while longer until we hear an alert in the cockpit. Chase looks over to the blinking red light, presses a button, and after a moment both sound and sight stop. He then says words that I never want to hear again. “Alright, looks like we’re low on fuel. I only filled her up enough for a short flight, anyways. Let’s get down and give this old bird a rest, eh?”
I don’t want to. I want to stay up here and keep flying where the realities of my existence can’t touch me! Where I am free from the bounds of the world! But, tragically, I’m not in control. I can only watch as we slow our airspeed, adjust our heading, and come in for a gentle landing. The gears screech in protest underneath us as they decelerate the plane to a stop, bringing an end to the best moment of my life. It felt like the best kind of forever, but was …already over. We taxi back into the hangar, coming to a stop as Chase powers down the plane. It takes a while to go through the shutdown process, and I remain in the cockpit for most of it. Anything to allow me to replay the flight in my mind as many times as I can. Eventually, though, that too came to an end as Chase moved the ladder to retrieve me. I hold out my arms as he unbuckles me and lifts me out of the seat, removing my helmet lastly.
“So, how did you like all that, Vekna?”
I don’t have the words to express my enjoyment. I was in the air, away from all my problems and with one of the few people to have treated me like an actual person. I’m unfortunately reminded of my strife by this happy thought, and I come down from my flying high enough to respond.
“Y-Yeah, it was great! Can we do that again soon??”
He laughs as we sit on a bench in the hangar. I lean against him as he wipes the sweat from his brow from having cleaned and prepared the F-14 for another stint of inactivity.
“Sure, but how about we try another plane next time, yeah?”
Next time! I’m about to affirm when a loud alert sounds from Chase’s pad. He mutters something under his breath and checks what it is. Curiously, I look too. There’s a small, top-down silhouette of the airstrip in the middle with rings coming off of it. A ways away, a red dot is shown approaching. Unlike some of the other aircraft, each with their own designations above them, this one is unmarked. It isn’t heading towards us, but it is going in the direction of Vancouver. I don’t see anything particularly wrong with that, but Chase is a different story altogether. He says something about poop under his breath as he hastily stands and starts donning his winter gear once again. I’m left confused on the bench at Chase’s concern.
“Chase? What’s wrong? Why did that alert sound?”
He looks over at me as he’s getting dressed. His eyes are dilated far past their usual. Whatever he knows must be really scaring him. What does that mean for me? “No transponder. I know what that means all too well. Black Ops”
Oh, that’s what that means for me. Speh.
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Memory transcription subject: Elijah Morrisson, UN Pilot Ace
Date [standardized human time]: December 7th, 05:00, 2136
I stand outside on the pad as I wait for the two bucketheads General Meiers assigned to this mission to arrive. I had already gotten the shuttle prepped for flight an hour ago, its Venlil-tech fusion engines purring like a contented cat. Though how a fusion engine can purr, I can’t begin to speculate. They didn’t have the most thrust, and were very civilian oriented, but I had to admit their lack of sound was useful for practical concealment, far outperforming the quietest craft we had that weren’t helicopters. It was a far departure from the F-55 I flew in the Satelite Wars, but that’s by design. I kind of missed that old bird. I bet I could probably kick a rookie pilot’s ass in one if I were given the chance. They think they’re all hotshots in their F/A-72s, pah! What was I going to do again? Oh, yeah, bitch about those good-for-nothing NCOs. I look at my watch, seeing that it’s already 05:02. Where are they? As soon as I think that, I see the door to the pad’s gantryway open, flashing me with the blinding white fluorescent light from the airlock. There they are! About damn time! I wave the pair down as they approach at a steady pace, careful not to slip on the ice coating the catwalk.
“Glad y’all could finally join me. Any longer and the general’d have us court-martialed!”
I receive a couple of groans from the two as they lug their bug-out bags into the cargo storage area. “Yeah, you try packing up all your shit without anyone noticing you’re going! We couldn’t even say we’re transferring even if we were asked! That secrecy takes a while.”
“I did. That ain’t no excuse for tardiness, Anderson. And what about you, Xhen? What took you so long?”
He stands quiet for a moment, looking between me and the backside of Anderson as he struggles to get his oversized bag to fit in the cramped personal cargo compartments. He soon succeeds, patting the compressed luggage pridefully before turning back to me.
“Waiting for Lieutenant Anderson, sir!”
I can’t help but laugh at that, earning me a scornful look from the now-standing lieutenant.
“Ah hah. Ah hah hah. Let’s just get going before we’re caught and tried for treason or some other trumped-up charge.”
Xhen and I both salute our current commanding officer as we load into the shuttle. Thankfully, there are four seats up front. Anderson taking the co-pilot position and Xhen taking the co-pilot-passenger position behind him. We strap in, and I ready the shuttle for flight. Unlike the fighters I was used to flying pre-contact, this shuttle did almost everything for me including flying the damn thing, and I could still make it do that, too! Once we were firmly in the air, I could set autopilot and comfortably do whatever while in route. Those Venlil pilots must be some spoiled sons-of-bitches. After making sure everybody is strapped in, I activate the VTOL functionality as we quickly rise above the treeline.
The two boots gripped their seats in fear. Heh, I forgot that they didn’t have their sky-legs yet! Well, who was I to deny them their first proper Morrisson flight experience? I shove the throttle forward and switch to frontal propulsion. The shuttle lurches forward, quickly surpassing the sound barrier with a passing boom. Once we’re supercruising, I slip the shuttle into autopilot and lean back, the other two still scared stiff from our departure. Calm down you babies, I hope that once we arrive, we won’t have to stay for long. I wanna be home in time for Christmas, dammit! But…I can’t cover up my grievances with jokes forever. Besides, I might Jinx it if I say it aloud.
“Some warning next time would be nice, Morrison!” I hear Anderson sputter next to me.
I just chuckle a little and turn my flight seat towards him. “I thought you had flight experience too, Lieutenant! What, can’t handle a little jolt?”
“That was more than a little jolt, Morrisson! If you’re going to keep flying like a crackhead, I’m going to take those controls from you and fly us all there myself!”
I chuckle at that as I prepare one of my signature Air Force quips. “Good luck with that! You can barely find your own flight stick!” At that, he gives me a side eye that could level mountains. Mountains, maybe, but not me.
“You’re lucky we’re stuck in this suicide squad together, or I’d have you dishonorably discharged for that.” Xhen snickers behind him. “I’m not- you know what? Screw you guys. I’m going to go to the back and finish my night’s rest.” He then unbuckles himself from his seat and makes his way to the back of the shuttle. I watch to see if Xhen will follow suit, and sure enough, he also yawns.
I sigh, deciding that he needs his rest too. “You sleepy, private?”
He snaps to attention, though there’s a noticeable lag to his actions. “No sir! Just recovering from the unexpected awa-”
“Just go. Only two people are required in the cockpit at all times. With how advanced this computer is, I’d count it as one. You’re dismissed.”
Xhen blinks at me in confusion. “So…I can go to sleep?”
Oh for God’s sake, these privates. “I said dismissed!”
I turn back around to face forward, hearing Xen hurriedly march into the back of the shuttle behind me. Which leaves me alone. Again... With nothing to do but wait, my mind turns to Vekna. I don’t know why she ran, and I don’t know where she went. If Beech has her, I’m going to do what I should’ve done years ago. I’m going to complete my mission, I’m going to get some answers, and I’m going to find that damn Venlil, whether she wants me to or not. I’m coming, Vekna, and hell nor high water's gona fuckin’ stop me.
… Oh Lord, when did I get so dramatic?
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It's been a while since one of these footers, hasn't it? Well, that's because there's some news to share! If you followed this story in the MCP, you'd know that this is where it previously ended. But no more! In the works are two extra chapters for you all on Reddit, along with an exciting announcement or two under the last chapter! I won't spoil anything now, but I'd just like to say that I'm incredibly excited for the future of the Rouge Chronicles and the NOPCU as a whole! Thank you all for reading, and I look forward to sharing the next chapter as soon as it's complete!

Can anyone confirm the height of the 2023 TRD Pro with the roof rack? The spec sheet simply says “72” w/o TRD Pro roof rack”. Trying to decided if it will fit in my garage with a 78” door opening.

Basically one of my family members left the car on in the garage with the garage closed for about 15-20 minutes by accident, no one was in the garage and the door to the house was closed my concern is that it permeated through the cracks of the door and into the house. I went in to go get a drink from the garage and also breathed it just a bit in until I noticed and opened the garage. I opened the windows in the house to air out. Can such small exposure cause brain damage? I’m only asking because I’m a bit of a hypochondriac and keep reading about any exposure causing brain damage online. I have no symptoms not even a headache I am just a bit tired probably from a coffee crash though. I am 18 male 130 pounds