I wrote a post last week about MF DOOM. I'm not going to reference that much here but if you wanted to catch up feel free: https://www.reddit.com/conspiracy/comments/lbfhtmf_doom/
This isn't much of a conspiracy post but there isn't many places online that I can truly express my thoughts and feelings with like minded enough people. This particular sub is a little strange but last week I thought, what the heck, there's at least a few people that would listen and maybe join in on the discussion. I was surprised that not only did my post get upvoted, I saw a lot of different kinds of discussion happening. There was a few references people had made that interested me, so I journeyed through those references in the following days. What happened next I wasn't really expecting.
Someone had mentioned in the comments that the interview mentioned in the song I had highlighted was an Alex Collier interview from 1995:
https://youtu.be/pM9GPFwWgnA
That particular evening I was in a rut. One of those ruts you feel inside your DNA. The kind of rut that your subconscious, or higher self knows how to move through but you're just sitting there; Stuck in your conscious meat suit slowly decaying and you can't really do anything about it. I watched the video. A lot of what Alex Collier had said spoke to me. He also affirmed a lot of internal research I was doing, which was a nice feeling for a change. I was browsing /pol/ just to see what was happening and had a very higher ground feeling to make a post, so I did. What started out slow turned into probably one of the nicest experiences I've ever had online (been online since 97'). It almost felt eerily coordinated. Every feeling I had, along side the knowledge that I was seeking, arrived in a giant flurry in one of 4chans most disruptive boards. Here's the link if you're interested:
https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/307119240/#307136699
I've been learning in the past 7 days, when you shine your own light, people feel safe to come out too, regardless of where you are. I did that for DOOM, I did that on /pol/ and I'm doing it again. I think this board is the closest to matching my vibration, even though this particular post wouldn't really belong in any kind of filing index (Think old school library drawer indexes). I personally find /conspiracy to be quite boring actually, as the theories lately are all click bait with very little due diligence... I digress.
I found navigating through my inner storm and feeling the need to express my inner connection, it guided me down a wonderful, dare I say, life altering path. I'm digging it so far and will continue to learn and move forward with it.
Okay. Back to DOOM.
As I move forward as consciousness having a human experience, I find MF DOOM always has lyrics there for me when I've leveled up, so to speak. There are very few artists I've been influenced by where I feel like I am a student. When I listen to DOOM, I feel the need to learn his songs word for word because whether I know it or not consciously, I know he's waiting for me (Actually had a dream about him and he was talking to me... I already know it's strange). I feel like DOOM laid out many keys, that will help me as an entity and I am honored to learn... Again, I digress.
I wanted to lay out some of these keys for 'us' and maybe we can chat about them, if you're up for it. I've had such an incredible time learning from all of you, like DOOM, I was hoping maybe if I kick off some lyrics, we could make something out of it. So, without further ado, here are a handful of songs / lyrics that I feel are relevant to start off a discussion. Maybe some of you could help me with my studies, breaking some of this stuff down.

Gazillion Ear: Assorted Lyrics

https://youtu.be/uPcF_xUF7mc
Grillin' stare, yeah ya boy had drama
Got em on a mental plane, avoided bad karma
Once sold a inbred skinhead a nigga joke
Plus a brand new chrome smokin' with the triggers broke
I thought I told em firing pins was separate
He find out later when he tries to go an rep it
Took a Jehovah money for a Arabic Torah
Charged in advance, translate it and ignored it sorta
One monkey don't stop no slaughta
Sick slick, hid in a book
The only way they find it if it's spittin in a hook
Listen, don't look now, keep walkin'
Traded three beans for this cow, cheap talkin'
Hawk men, stalkin', hit a weed, hawkin' often
Cough into a coffin, might as well scoff the pork then
He's like Wharf, some say stronger though
Off the top J strong bow, play along bro
Wear a mask like yo off the Gong Show
Flow slow as Mongo, Don Juan thong pro
For ya info when he's not practicin' Jim Crow
A actress and some nympho bimbo
Half cocked and half baked
Used to keep a full stock of work half rocked and half shaked
My mistake, silent track agreement
For more G's than lines and cracks in the cement
In any event it's fake like wrestlin'
Get em like Keak da Sneak on mescaline
Ahem, elixir for the dry throat
Tried to hit the high note. Villain's just a itsy bitsy zygote
By remote, send in the meat wagon
Braggin' MC's packed in with they feets draggin'
Villain, his agenda is clear
Endin' this year with dividends to spare, here
It's not meant for the scene
Went through the celin' after enterin' his center bein'
A new meanin' to sales through the roof
Guaranteed raw and saw his truth is truth, proof
We need some more oil for the machines to burn, learn
Jiminy crickets, he gets lucky like winnin' free tickets off simply lyrics
One mans waste is another mans soap
Sons fan base, know the brotha man's dope
A real weirdo, with a bug rear flow
And the way his hair grow was ugly as a scarecrow
He wears a mask so the charge won't grab
On a rooftop with a large stone slab
Heads up, talk white and thought niggerous
Refuse to walk tight and got his off the figure'ish
How he handle the money was strictly Dan Stucky
Monkey hustle, man on fire
Later for the date than the hadron collider
And cost more, if it's seemin' like a style
DOOM leave the competition steamin' like a pile
Smile, ding!
Sparkling jewels, in effect like alternate side of the street parkin' rules
Fools, the roach is never dead
Live for a week, then dehydrate with a severed head. Instead..It was depicted as Flik did
Split, the wick's lit

Great Things:
https://youtu.be/Ck1VM0DbPvo
Just put your mind to it, you'll go mad far
Like the plasma in reactors when you're headed to the stars
Let it be tomorrow, it starts on the inside
Use intuition and conscience as a guide, glide
Choose a target, however immaculate
Focus till it manifest pin-point accurate
That's a sure bet, and Villain's no gambler
Freeze frame a thought like it's caught on camera
Advice is free of charge, just pay attention
A donation as they say in this dimension
A game-winning strategy: support your favorite charity
Playing with polarity could drain a whole battery
Beware of apathy and procrastination
And put the plan in full effect for instant activation
Just a few jewels that's hidden in plain sight
Ain't nothing else to it but to do it, but do it rightAight?

Cellz Pt.1 Feat Charles Bukowski
https://youtu.be/QbP_p_hHrtU
Born like this, into this
As the chalk faces smile, as Mrs. Death laughs
As political landscapes dissolve
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey
We are born like this, into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charged so much, it's cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
Born into this, walking and living through this
Dying because of this
Castrated, debauched, disinherited, because of this
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive God
The fingers reach for the bottle, the pill, the powderWe are born into this sorrowful deadliness
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
It will be guns and roving mobs, land will be useless
Food will become a diminishing return
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many
Explosions will continually shape the earth
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
The rotting bodies of men and animals stink in the dark wind
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that, the sun hidden thereAwaiting the next chapter...

Cellz Pt.2:
https://youtu.be/M4LJOXqLK1o
DOOM from the realm of Al-Qayyum. Smelly gel fume
Separating cell womb to Mele Mel, boom!
Revelations in braille, respiration, inhaleView nations fail, shaking of a snake tail
Make due, blazing swords, traze the haze, praise the Lord
Saving grace. Lace your broad, she say she bored
A crazy straw, ink and stale-dried paraffin
Candy corn crap rappers pale by comparison
Chiefin beefin' bein' off deep ends, divine bright shines even
Dimes quiet as minds by design, mighty fine
Slight rewind, tightly bind, blind lead blind
Need minds now, that was this is then
Listenin' to sizzlin' officialtons whisperin' him again
Major vets spaded through the vest with a bayonet
Save your breath, gave a F, pay your debt, they forget
Make 'em sweat bullets, crime pays no benefits
Then it gets wilder with more childish degenerates
Yodel at your uncle flows, my motorcycle trunk fullsfrom 2, 1 to 1, loose crumbs to chunks in bundles
Hands down, better than what your mans used to get
Standin' around for where the translucent lucid spit
Missin wheel, you don't listen, you a feel head
Sittin' in the kitchen, pissin', twitchin', kissin' steel lead
Crime pays no dental nor medical
Unless you catch retirement, county, state or federal
Ya heard like roaring waters in a seashell
If a tree fell, ya couldn't tell from 3 cell
Be real careful, they tellin' by the earful
Kids doin' skid bids, acting out is terrible

Strange Ways:
https://youtu.be/T_3wjvGiWTU
Wreak havoc, beep beep it's mad traffic
Sleek and lavish people speaking leaking to the maverick
He see as just another felony drug arrest
Any day could be the one he pick the wrong thug to test
Slug through the vest... Shot in the street
For pulling heat on a father whose baby's gotta eat
And when they get hungry, it ain't shit funny
Paid to interfere with how a brother get his money
Now, who's the real thugs, killers and gangsters?
Set the revolution, let the things bust and thank us
When the smoke clear, you can see the sky again
There will be the chopped off heads of Leviathan
They pray four times a day, they pray five
Who ways is strange when it's time to survive
Some will go of they own free will to die
Others take them with you when they blow sky high
What's the difference? All you get is lost children
While the bosses sit up behind the desks
It cost billions to blast humans in half, into calves and arms
Only one side is allowed to have bombs
It's like making a soldier drop his weapon
Shooting him, and telling him to get to stepping
Obviously, they came to portion up his fortune
Sounds to me like that old robbery/extortion

"GMO"
https://youtu.be/tV1sRLYksNM
here they go, feminizing men again
Then pretend they don't know when we know it, xenoestrogen
Exorcise the jinnKeynote lecture with a spin
Meant to get c-notes from end to end
Whoever use canola oil ya soul'll boil
For a longer time than it take a diet cola to spoil
Uh, I get what you're sellin'Swellin' from alien microfilaments, it's Morgellons
Even if you're gellin'
What's that in your melon? And what the hell is they sprayin'? No tellin'
Barium strontium, aluminumWell drink responsibly, get the truth from DOOM and 'em
Can't trust the tap water much less the kettle
Double entendre to the phrase test your mettle
The rest'll settle, just to get fed well
As the livin' dead infect the red cell
Don't drink the milk, it's spoiled
The blood and stuff in it make it stink, that's why it's boiled
Snake oil sales from doorbell doctors who slip Mickey's
And trick you to strip to get jipped quickly
Kick me, you know it's gettin' worse
No help bein' upset, ya startin' to curse first
Better off with a good sense of humor
Research to know what's the truth instead of rumor
Ya partner DOOM is who'll rideOr either do or die like farmer suicide, chew your pride
Might as well start 'em out in pro boxin'
Than force-feedin' them toddler food laced with excitotoxins
They did it like the funky worm
Enough to make a junkie squirm, mice making monkey sperm
Or rice infused with diarrhea drugsWonder why it's here, well shrug, hells yeah it's bugged
And it gets bugged'er by the minute
Question: will the frankenfoods kill us?
Or turn us into thangs off Thriller, or dang gorillas?
Breeds of a needless variety
In the name of greed we get a seedless society
Flounder genes in your tomatoes
Cod in your potatoes, playin' God, retarded'er than Play-Doh
And as the juice gets sweeter
No use in bein' cute if you's a useless eater
Make it hard to keep your mattress clean
That was mean, little froggies with sex changes from atrazine
And aspartame in gum, Splenda is plenty fun
Left many strung, agenda 21Or have your third eye cry or your side blown
Well right on, forgot to sign the guide stone
Yours truly all caps DOOMSue him if you’re gloomy, or boo'em to your tomb
Slicko, it's like robitussin but toxic
She take it to feel better, but there's more to the concoction
She'll peep it
Got a lot, can you keep it?
Got these keys to the cuffs
To unlock all these secrets
Yes I'm professin', yes teachin'
With the villain, strategic
Got these apples and peaches
The size of Kelly and Regis
You won't believe till you see it
And with them come these allergies
Underage with doubles DsAw, man, ya killing me
Literally

There are more lyrics that I love but I feel they would be out of step for this sub, I fear any more and I would be exiled to /mfdoom.

Give him what he wants

I still don’t know why I did what I did to Michael. I’ve thought it over every way I can, turning the memory upside down and inside out until it felt like I was going insane. At the time a part of me thought it was just a bit of fun. I meant no harm. I was nineteen and hanging around outside of school waiting for my girlfriend to get out when I spotted the guy in the parking lot. He must have been there to pick up his younger sister. Like a lot of us, he wasn’t able to make it to university, or even just get a job in the city, so he was stuck at home like the rest of us. But growing up he’d been a real pain in the ass, a special kind of dweeb born out of insecurity and petty jealousy. He hated everyone. He hated the smart kids most of all, but that didn’t stop him from saving some choice words for the rest of us. All of us kids were just trying to have a good time. Smoke a little dope, get a little drunk, feel each other up… Michael would rock up to our usual haunts with the police in tow and then act high-and-mighty about it the next day.
He had thrived in a controlled schoolyard environment. But on that day, looking at him sat in his car, it dawned on me we weren’t in a schoolyard anymore. It was the real world. And in the real world there are consequences for your actions. Acting like an asshole, pissing people off… well it’s liable to get you a slap around the head. I could see him eyeing me when he thought I wasn’t looking. I knew what he was thinking as I sat there smoking. Had I turned out to be everything he hoped? Some loser with no future and no ambition? It made me angry to think of him judging me when he’d turned out no better. His sly little glances only got worse when Dave and Andy wandered past and I called them over for a chat.
He must’ve known we were laughing at him. He must’ve heard us chant his old nickname and clutch our stomachs in faux-laughter. We were doing it for his pleasure. I could see him squirm. It wasn’t meant to go further than that. I just wanted to give him something to think about. I knew he’d spend that night tossing and turning, as furious at us as were at him. But then Andy started throwing beer bottles and I should have stopped him. It was a silly thing to do. Too loud. Too angry. Too stupid. But before I’d even thought of what to say to Andy, Michael was up and out of his car and filming us with his phone.
“Please leave the premises!” he cried, his voice a little shaky. “This is a place for learning! Not for drunken yobs to pick up underage girls.”
We shouted our own replies, about his sister, his mother… Michael called us losers. We called him pathetic. If we’d left it at that, maybe it would have been fine. But it went on until Michael cried something a little too close to home.
“I hope your dads are fuckin’ proud!”
Those words hit a sensitive spot for Dave. Before I had time to think of what any of it might mean to him, the young mechanic was already charging forward. I figured he’d just hit Michael, but he slapped the boy hard around the back of his head, hard enough to daze, and then hoisted the little Michael up into the air with ease. Andy ran over and grabbed the boy’s ankles to stop him kicking, and we were all howling with laughter and excitement, just waiting to see where this was going to go.
“Time out corner!” Dave cried. “Michael you’re going in the time out corner! Just like in Mrs Ketchum’s class!”
Michael was calling us every name under the sun, but when he heard Dave tell me to pop the trunk his tone changed. In the few steps it took for Andy to cover the distance, Michael went from screaming to shouting to pleading to begging and then right back to raging. I later found out he was claustrophobic, something to do with his own dad being a real piece of work. But we didn’t know at the time. We just wanted to scare him a little…
We shoved Michael into that trunk like he was a cardboard box that wouldn’t fit. It took three attempts to slam the hatch shut. First time his ankle got in the way and that must’ve hurt, but Michael was still determined to make his way out. Second time it was his wrist, and Michael’s voice started to falter. Third time we caught his fingers, and Michael started screaming like an injured dog. I often think about him pulling his hand back into the dark. I think about it because it was the moment he gave in and it makes me feel sick to my stomach. At times I blame him for letting us do it… mostly I just hate myself for putting him in that place.
After his hand slithered into the shadows, we finally managed to close the trunk for good and shut out Michael’s hysterical crying. And then we sat, drinking beer, while Michael screamed and howled. It was a ragged desperate kind of shriek that went on rising forever like a violin crescendo, finding new and dangerous notes of despair. You ever heard a dog scream? It had that kind of animalistic quality to it. Andy would later say it was like an opera singer with his hand caught in a wood chipper. I can’t say for certain if it bothered the others as much as me, but after only a few minutes it felt like I was carrying a lead weight in my stomach. We talked and laughed and joked, but I don’t remember what about. Even as I nodded and replied, I found all my thoughts returning to the muffled cries of the young man trapped in the trunk beneath my legs.
By the time he stopped, my girlfriend was coming out the doors, and Dave and Andy said their goodbyes. Two more beers were sent arcing through the air to shatter into a thousand pieces and they were gone like we’d done nothing more interesting than just chat about the weather. I waited for them to turn the corner—my girlfriend had stopped to chat to some of her own friends and I knew I had a few minutes—and I finally opened the damn trunk. By now my stomach was in my ass, that’s how fucking bad I felt. I may have even started mumbling some kind of response. God… maybe even an apology.
But no one was there to hear it. Michael was gone. He’d torn the shit out of the fabric in my car, gouged these long claw marks into it like a pissed off cat. I touched every inch of that trunk like I was trying to find the magician’s secret hatch. By the time my girlfriend made it to my side, I’d pulled what was left of the fabric away and was getting ready to crawl under just to take a look.
“What are you looking for?” she asked, her head cocked to one side.
“N-n-nothing,” I stammered. “He must have… he must have…”
He must have what? I never finished the sentence. I rationalised it, you see. Told myself he’d gotten out, that was all. Even as I rolled past the lot and I saw Michael’s sister staring at his car, looking around for her older brother, I just kept telling myself he’d gotten out and was probably running to the police ready to file assault charges.
Course, that wasn’t true at all. From what I understand, Michael’s sister had to go back in and call her parents, who in turn called the police. I woke up the next morning to Michael’s smiling spotty face on the gazette, the picture cribbed from one of our school photos. It must have been taken at a school play with me standing just a few places over. I was nearly sick with guilt at, and I tried to pretend that my mind was playing tricks on me. Not that it stopped me going over my car with a fine-toothed comb. I’m hardly CSI, but there were a few blond hairs in the back that I’m sure he must have shed. And the scuff marks… they were never imaginary. They were real. 100% authentic. I called Dave and Andy and they confirmed what we’d done, not that they saw it with the same significance.
“Oh he musta got out is all,” Andy said. “For all we know he wandered out and straight into some serial rapist’s van. I don’t know what you’re so worried about. Is he in your basement chained up?”
“No,” I answered.
“Is he dead and buried in your garden?”
“No.”
“Did you chop him up and feed him to his family at a town barbeque?”
“No.”
“Good well chill the fuck out,” Andy said. “We played a mean prank is all. Not my proudest moment, sure. But hardly worth going to the police over.”
I convinced myself of this because it made a kind of sense. We really had just played a mean prank. We hadn’t killed anyone, or raped anyone, or stuck knives into them like they were a pin cushion. But in the background of my mind, I learned a new mantra. It was one I pictured myself saying to the police, to the press, to Michael’s weeping family. It was like a prayer that I started muttering in quiet moments between chores and work. A prayer that’s still with me. A nervous tick that I repeat incessantly in hushed breaths even though I don’t always know what it means.
I didn’t mean no harm. I didn’t mean no harm. I didn’t mean no harm.
They should’ve carved those words into my skin the day I was born. It’d save people who meet me a lot of time. Lied to my old man and got my little brother in trouble? I didn’t mean no harm. Hid my speeding tickets from my parents until the debt collectors came and took the car? I didn’t mean no harm. Got caught driving home after too many drinks? I didn’t mean no harm. Lost my first real girlfriend after I got drunk one night and sent some messages to her sister on Facebook? I didn’t mean no harm! Hell, I got a daughter I don’t see anymore after I overslept one night and didn’t manage to change her. Her mother turned up one Sunday morning to pick her up and found her watching cartoons in a shit-soaked diaper while I slept off an apocalyptic hangover. Last thing I remembered, I’d put her down to sleep and had a couple of beers.
I didn’t mean no harm.
They never found Michael. They looked and looked and, yes, they even looked at us. A few people had seen us messing around with him—some from passing cars, some from tall windows—and the police found out. Our faces were in the local papers, and some wider-reaching ones too, but it never amounted to anything because the police didn’t have a body. His parents made a few public pleas, my car was taken and searched top to bottom. They have it at a police impound where I ought to have picked it up, but never did. A psychiatrist would probably tell you that’s guilt. But fuck… there’s a good chance I left the car to rot because I just couldn’t be bothered. I’m not sure I even know myself anymore.
First time I saw Michael after the incident I was wandering out of a bar and feeling a little mean, which happens a lot when I drink alone. I had a half-bottle of beer in my hand when I passed this homeless guy sitting outside. He was new, probably a drifter, and just looking at him put all these cruel thoughts into my head. I often think cruel things, and I was ready getting ready to ignore these ones like normal, except this homeless man, he calls out and asks for a swig of the beer. And I look at this guy and all these pictures come rushing into my head. Pictures like sawdust soaking up vomit and piss. Pictures like my boss talking down to me after I used the wrong mop in the canteen. Pictures like the way the admin ladies look at me when I smile at them in the smoking area. And then there was this guy, sitting there with a blanket on his knees, absent-mindedly tilting his head side-to-side while waiting for an answer.
“Sure,” I said, and I threw the beer at him so hard it conked him right on the skull. There was a little peep there for a second, a split-second cry of pain that was cut short. It made me laugh. It really did. I hadn’t meant to hit him, just scare him. But the outcome made me giggle anyway. I was already walking away, feeling a little better, when someone else called out to me, and the sound of their voice made my blood freeze solid in my veins.
“Alex,” it said. “Psst! Hey! Alex!”
It was Michael, and I turned feeling as if the whole world was about to snap shut on me like a Venus flytrap. I nearly passed out, just crumpled to the floor then and there. I’d spent too many years telling myself that boy had disappeared on his life, just done a runner off into the horizon to go live in Mexico or Sweden or who-fucking-cares.
“Over here!”
It was coming from the homeless man. I got closer and tried looking for the voice, but all I saw was some smelly old guy, blood trickling down from his temple.
“Down here! Under the blanket.”
I pulled it aside and saw a can of lager—open but empty—resting between the man’s legs.
“That’s it! Right here!”
A finger rose up out of the empty can and wiggled at me like he was saying hello. Michael giggled.
“You found me!”
“What the fuck…?” I said. “Michael? Michael is that you?”
“You bet!” he cried. “Look, I need a favour and I think you owe me given…”
“How the fuck… what is this? A magic trick?” I reached down and took the can and held it up, turning it over and over and even shaking it thinking something would rattle. But nothing did.
“This is not a trick, Alex.”
A veiny eye bulged against the ring-pull and glared at me.
“Been a long time!” Michael said, chirpy in a way he’d never been in real life. “You gonna do me this favour or not? I mean… I don’t want to point fingers or nothing, but who’s fault is it that I’m in here, eh?”
“Uh…”
“Oh you aren’t so fuckin’ witty now, are you?” he laughed. “I didn’t mean no harm,” he added, mocking me with a faux-dumb tone. “You say that in your sleep, you know?”
“Uh huh.”
“Jesus Al, I know I called you dumb but we both know you’re better than all this uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, crap. Come on, use your big boy words!”
I held the can up to my ear and rattled it once more.
“STOP IT!”
He screamed with the authority of a drill sergeant and I dropped the can without thinking.
“Fuck. Shit. Sorry,” I mumbled. “Sorry Mike.” I picked the can up and focused on the ring pull. A single brown eye was looking at me and I felt myself shrink before the withering gaze.
“You gonna help or you just gonna keep trying to make me sea-sick?” he asked.
“Course I will,” I said, nodding. “Anything. Anything at all. You know people are looking for you, right?”
“Did I ask for your fucking advice Alex?” he snapped. “If I ever need to know how to get rid of pubic lice I’ll speak to you ASAP, kay? For now, I just need help. A tiny bit of help. That’s all.”
“Sorry.”
“Look, I think even you can manage this. Just put the can down and, you see that homeless guy? The one you knocked out like a real Good Samaritan?”
“Yeah.”
“Put his finger in the hole.”
“What?”
“The hole in the can,” he said. “Any finger. Doesn’t matter. Just do it.”
I nodded and carefully put the can back where I’d found it. I held the old man’s wrist with one hand and gingerly pinched a single finger with the other, sliding it into the can like I was slipping a wedding band on.
“That’s it,” Michael said. “Up to the knuckle if you can.”
I pushed the finger in as far as it could go without the metal cutting the old man’s skin. I was so close to the poor guy I could smell the coppery trail of blood that ran down his scalp. The realisation made me feel like a real piece of shit. I hadn’t meant to hit him, just scare him. Chance and bad luck meant the bottle had hit him. That was all.
I didn’t mean no harm.
“Oh goody,” Michael giggled after I’d wedged the finger in there good and proper. “Oh and Alex, I have one more favour to ask you.”
“Anything,” I nodded.
“Don’t look away.”
When it was over the can looked like a spent bullet, all frayed around the edges like a blooming flower. And the man was… well, he woke up when the first finger bent backwards at the knuckle. And he looked at me like I was a doctor about to explain some strange amputation. He wasn’t angry at me, he just wanted to know and somehow that made me feel even worse. I’ll never know exactly what happened to him, anatomically speaking. To put it simply that old homeless guy, he got sucked into that can, and not fast like explosive decompression either. It was real slow going, painful too, given the noises he made. And the way he ran around screaming and hollering while his arm was just torn to shreds, that’s something I’ll never forget. As a kid I watched this old horror film and a guy got sucked out into space through this tiny little hole over the space of minutes and it was just like that, only it weren’t cheap rubber and latex skin getting pulped into goo.
By the time it reached his elbow I was trying to help pull it off. Somehow, he was awake the whole time, joints cracking and snapping, bones and muscle sloughing off like melting wax. How no one came to help us I’ll never know. I screamed for help so long my throat turned raw, and I was spitting up blood for days.
Just before the end, the man went quiet and he looked at me like he was a cancer patient that just knew what was coming. The can was up to his shoulder and, without warning, he just slipped on in there. Pop! and the mess flew up into the air and only the can was left behind. You could see the inside plain as day, and there was blood and goo and even a tooth, but there wasn’t a whole human stewing around in there. More like half-a-glass’s worth, but not a whole man.
“Michael?” I whispered.
But no one answered.
They were gone.
-
“Give him what he wants,” Dave said, droning into the phone like a braindead drunk.
“Give who?” I asked.
“You know. We put him in there and he never left.”
“Dave,” I said. “Where are you? Do you need help?”
“Just give him what he wants Al,” he replied. “He’ll ask for a lot, but we owe it to him.”
Click.
The line went dead and I was already putting my coat on before another minute had passed. Dave and I hadn’t spoken in years. Hell, it had been a good four years since I’d heard any voices in cans, whatever that was. A dream, I figured, even if I did drive past some very scared looking cops outside the bar the next day. It was just a dream, I told myself. Yet I knew what Dave was talking about, and that scared the hell out of me.
I didn’t know it at the time, but the garage Dave owned hadn’t opened all day. A string of angry voicemails were left waiting on his phone and the flashing red buzzer lit up the small reception desk with Godly patience. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. I saw it through the front window with my hands cupped around my face. Dave and his family lived above that place in a small flat, and I had to break a small window around back to get inside. Dave was sat against a wall on the cold shop floor, his chin slumped down over his chest and his legs splayed out in a V. I tried the lights, but they didn’t work, and glass crunched under foot along the way. Someone had done a real number on the place. Rubber and metal lay strewn about the floor in twisted bits and pieces. Whoever owned the car Dave had been working on would be pissed. It was smashed all to hell with panels wrenched off and embedded in the shop walls and floors. The drive shaft was sticking through the back windshield and the roof had been curled back like a sardine can. It looked like it had gone through a vivisection, especially given how liquefied flesh dripped off the twisted frame like vines on an old wreck.
When I moved around to check under the hood, I saw a dense labyrinth of finely machined parts I guessed to be the engine block. Fingers jutted out of every shadowy crevice, and delicate mechanisms were choked with hair and skin. I thought of the old man and the can and felt my gorge rise. Something about the scene looked familiar and I was wondering what that was when a flash of colour caught my eye. I backed away to get a better look and, angling my light, I saw a small red shoe dangling from the bumper by a lace. It was the kind of thing a girl of eight or nine would wear, and it was dripping with blood.
I thought of Dave’s wife, of his kids… of what he’d said on the phone.
“Dave, what did you do?”
“What I had to.”
I looked and Dave was staring right at me, blood filling his mouth. He looked so pale in my light I didn’t know if he was just close to death or an actual talking corpse.
“What happened here?” I asked. “It’s like a bomb went off.”
He stared for a while longer and then lifted his arm, pointing to the car.
“I think his back is broken.”
That voice was like acid in my veins. It definitely wasn’t Dave who’d spoken. He was still staring at me like a drunk on the side of the road, his glassy eyes vacant of all thought.
“Over here Alex,” Michael said, and I followed the voice to the engine block. “Woo hoo.” A small finger wiggled at me out of a black cylinder. “Yes that’s right. Look, I need your help. I know it’s a lot to ask of someone like you, but you gotta admit, you kinda owe me.”
“Sure,” I mumbled. I was dumbstruck by the strangeness, sure. But looking back I can also remember a kind of haze, a crippling guilt so powerful it was like standing on the surface of the sun, like there was enough power in Michael to snap me in two like a bundle of raw spaghetti. “Anything you want.”
“Good,” Michael said. “That’s what I like to hear. What I need is for you to grab Dave, pull him over, and just pop him down against the engine.”
“Anything,” I repeated.
“You’re a good guy you know that Alex?” Michael said. “Just try not to fuck it up.”
I half-expected Dave to put up a fight, but as I stepped over, he just looked at me like we had a job to do. Not really thinking, I gave his shoulder a tug and he fell over. His head hit the floor with a loud crack! Poor fucker. His eyes rolled around like I’d turned his brains to omelette.
“Don’t worry,” Michael cooed. “There was nothing important in there anyway.”
“I deserve it,” Dave slurred. “Shouldn’t have hesitated when it came to my little girl. That was selfish.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” Michael agreed.
“So selfish,” Dave groaned as his eyelids fluttered and his breathing slowed.
It was hard work dragging him, but I got him there. I had to prop him up awkwardly against the slab of metal like it was some kind of upright pillow. It was a clumsy job, but good enough. A single thumb emerged from the darkness and gently rubbed a trickle of drool from Dave’s lip.
“Alex?” Michael said. “I think you know what I’m going to ask, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “I won’t look away.”
And I didn’t.
-
I didn’t have a shit childhood but it sure had its moments. Despite a father with anger issues and a mother with gin in her veins, it wasn’t too bad. The only time where I felt truly singled out for cruel and unusual punishment was the time my cousin locked me in an airing cupboard. I’d had a wicked time with night terrors growing up and it was no secret among the family. I think he thought it’d be funny, or that maybe he’d find something out about me. I don’t know. Looking back it was the first time I ever understood what real cruelty was. It was a small space he crammed me into. God no bigger than the inside of your standard washing machine. And dark, obviously. Pitch black all around me. And you gotta understand that to a kid the universe ain’t ordered and sensible. Shit just fuckin’ happens all the time.
Old dude you liked who gave you candy every weekend? He’s dead sorry. Come home to a crying mother? No one’ll tell you why. Wake up one day and your old man don’t go to work no more? He won’t say what happened, but everyone’s crying and it soon turns to fighting. Do you know what a pro-mo-shun is? Well your best friend’s dad just got one, so now you’ll never see him again. Ever.
The universe is chaos.
You will suffer.
Without warning.
Enjoy.
To me and you being locked in a room or a cupboard probably ain’t a big deal. Kick the door down. Scream. Cry. Holler. Shout. Bide your time. Do what you gotta do. But I didn’t know that. I was six and strange things happened to me all the time. How was I to know my Aunt would hear and come open the door in just ten minutes? I didn’t know someone would come for me. I didn’t even know whether this was part of the fucking plan. For all I knew I was right where my parents wanted me, and my suffering was the desired outcome.
You’d think I’d be scared of dying in there. But as I screamed so hard that my lungs turned ragged, well… it wasn’t dying I was thinking about. It was living. It was spending my whole life trapped in the dark, in the cold and lonely outskirts of existence where no one would come to get me. How long does a person live? Eighty, ninety, a hundred years? To a kid it doesn’t matter. It’s all the time you got and when you’re six you have a lot of time. And there I was in a space so small I couldn’t stand or lie down or lift my elbows more than a few inches from my side.
By the time my Aunt arrived I’d broken two fingers and dislocated a shoulder. Panic can do that to you. I remember her looking so sad and worried and confused. She asked me why I’d done it, let myself get so crazy, but I wouldn’t say. If she didn’t know already, she’d never understand. I only did what I did because of something that, deep down, all kids know. But then they grow up and forget. Or at least you’re supposed to.
You’re never alone in the dark. There’s always something waiting for you in there.
You’re not meant to remember that fact as an adult. It’s meant to burn away until it’s just ash. But something about Michael had set the thought ablaze in me again… maybe it was when I locked him in the trunk. Maybe it was when he first came back. But as time ticked on I was starting to feel like I could just about glimpse something in the corner of my eye. Like I had a taste of the truth and it was hurting me… physically hurting me like a knife in my skull being twisted around by a great big greasy fist. Sometimes I’d find myself staring at shadows and trying to look beyond the dark into the place beyond, the place I’d seen first-hand as a kid, the place that Michael had slipped into… or more-likely dragged.
“I didn’t expect her to grow up like that.”
Andy was sat next to me, his feet up on the dashboard with a cigarette between his lips. Trying not to make him look, I pulled up my sleeve and wiped away the blood collecting in the corner of my eyes. I’d been staring at the footwell for the last hour or so, refusing to blink. If Andy had thought me crazy, he didn’t say. Truth is he didn’t look so hot either. He’d had a wife once upon a time. A real battle axe. Dave and I used to joke that if it weren’t for the fact we saw the two of them in the same room, we would think Mrs Andy was just her husband in a wig. But Andy liked her. He did. He liked her a lot. And by the time we finally saw fit to contact each other, I was pretty sure Andy had already given his beloved over to Michael.
“She’s looking good,” he smiled, biting the tip of his tongue like a cherry pip.
I looked at the young woman walking down the street and I shrugged. I hadn’t had thoughts like that for a long time.
“Looks like him. You can see the family resemblance,” I said.
“Do you think he can see us? Do you think he sees everything we do?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I’m not sure he’s even human anymore.”
“Well you better hope he is,” Andy scowled. “Otherwise this plan is shot to shit. She’s a pretty thing though. Couple of ways we could show him we’re serious.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I replied. “We need to show him what he can lose if he doesn’t leave us alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean let’s try and scare him, yeah? Not piss him off even more than he already is.”
“Whatever! Now come on and get ready” Andy said, sitting upright and slapping his thighs with excitement. “Here she comes.”
Something about this experience was wearing on me. The last few weeks had started to smudge together. I wasn’t even sure how I’d gotten out of Dave’s place. It was like my brain had purged all those events from my memory and yet sometimes if I closed my eyes I’d see skin-coloured wax melting through a sieve. It made me ill every time. But it wasn’t just that rolling around inside my head, making me nervous. It was Andy. He had a nasty little look in his eye.
The girl was on her way home from college. She was all grown up since I’d last seen her standing outside her school, looking around for her missing brother. She looked like she’d grown up on the straight and narrow, and I could see a satchel bouncing around by her hips that was full of thick-looking text books. It was fucking bizarre but right before we snatched her, right before Andy lunged outta the car to hug her waist and throw her against the door, I remember thinking,
Good for her… getting an education.
And then Andy punched her so hard her head snapped back against the car window and she went out cold, sliding onto the floor.
“Got the little bitch,” Andy growled as he bundled her into the car. “Come on! Move it! Fuckin’ move! We can’t just sit here forever!”
I turned the keys and pulled outta the alley we’d been hidden in. When I looked in the rearview mirror I could see Andy staring down at Michael’s sister.
He looked insane.
-
“Don’t,” I said, and I gently pulled Andy’s hand away from the girl’s hair. He’d spent the last few minutes caressing her head a bowling ball.
“Isn’t the whole point to scare him?” he asked, flashing me a toothy grin.
“It’s me you’re scaring right now,” I said. “Just… just wait…”
“For what? She wakes up and starts crying ‘Michael Michael come save me!’?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, wiping another trickle of blood away from the corner of my eye. We were sat in our old locker room. The school had been shut down years ago and all its students sent to another place a few towns over. There was no electricity, so we had to bring our own lights. They cast harsh shadows that plucked away at my consciousness like the aura of a migraine. “Please just sit down,” I said. “And stop pacing.”
“How the fuck is this my fault?” Andy screamed, and he probably didn’t mean the words entirely for my benefit. For a brief moment he unravelled and punched a locker door so hard, and so often, that he left an impression of his knuckles as bloody dents. Only when the locker collapsed backwards did he seem to finally register where he was and who he was with, and he sucked a long breath between his teeth while trying to soothe his sore fist. Muttering furiously, he walked over to a nearby sink and washed the blood away.
“I gave him what he asked for,” he said when he finally came back. “Did everything he wanted. Not just Bethel either. The dogs. The cat. The chickens out back. Even the fucking ficus had to go. If it lived, it went.”
I just nodded.
“It wasn’t enough,” he growled.
“It never will be.”
The girl was awake and she was looking right at me. Her voice had made me think of how funeral homes smell, like it was the kinda thing that’d talk to you as you turned to mush in a crypt somewhere.
“Oh boy!” Andy cried, stepping towards her like a boxer in the ring. “Here we go sweetheart!”
He grabbed her chin with one hand, and he looked ready to crush her head in a single move. Big guy, our Andy. But for some reason I wasn’t too worried about that. It was the girl. How long had she been listening to us? And the way she looked… she didn’t seem right. Even as Andy lifted an arm and sent an open-handed slap barrelling towards her, she never looked away from me. She barely even flinched.
“Michael!” he roared, turning to every corner of the room. “We have your fucking sister! We have her and we’re not afraid to hurt her cause we ain’t got nothing left to lose! Anything we do now pal, it’s on you!” His voice was hoarse like a soldier screaming bloody murder. Like this was a battlefield and he was getting ready to face off against a final foe. Like he had it all figured out.
But I was starting to get the funny feeling we hadn’t found a winning strategy at all.
“That’s not true,” she said.
“Where’s your brother?” Andy roared, hitting her again. “Tell him to come out! Tell him to come out and face me like a fucking man!”
“What’s not true?” I asked, my words frightened whispers.
“You have plenty left to lose,” she answered. “Alex,” she smiled, her mouth all crooked from where Andy’s gorilla-fist was crushing her cheeks in his palm. “Could you do me a favour? Please?”
Andy looked at me for a moment like he thought I’d planned some kinda ambush, and her and I were in league.
“Don’t answer her,” he said. “What the fuck is going on!?”
“Don’t look away,” she said. “It’s important to him that you watch.”
“I won’t,” I whispered, and I think it was right about then that Andy’s bluster failed. I’m sure I saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes before the hand reached out of the girl’s mouth and grabbed his wrist. Andy cried for me. He cried a lot. Towards the end he cried for his mother, for Bethel too. But the girl, she never cried. What happened to her was probably just as bad as what happened to him, worse even. Bodies aren’t meant to do that. But whatever hold Michael had over her, it was strong. I guess it must be so dark inside a person…
By the end she looked like a clay statue of a girl that had been squished by a toddler’s fist, those chubby fingers gripping so hard that some parts squeezed out in funny trickles, while other bits split apart and crumbled. I remember looking into her chest cavity when it was over, looking at the way the shadows made it look so big and vacant. I’m pretty sure her head had been split open in places, but it was hard to know what was her, and what were just the dripping remains of Andy.
I was captivated by the raw destruction of the scene. I must have stayed there for an hour, just looking down at her. Sometimes I’d catch a sound, a little bit like a crying man. It sounded like Andy but it didn’t always come from the gaping hole made out of the girl’s collarbones. Sometimes it came from the lockers behind me.
If I listen carefully, I can still hear him screaming in the dark.
-
“Don’t do that again,” he said.
“I won’t.”
“Don’t try to threaten or intimidate or outwit me.”
“I won’t.”
“I’ve seen what’s on the other side.”
I nodded.
“It’s not good,” he added. “You’re not meant to have a body here. Makes you… indigestible. It’s been a real struggle, Al. You owe me for what you did, more than just a single lifetime because thanks to you I’m not going anywhere, am I?”
“No…”
“It was a rhetorical question, Al.”
“Sorry.”
“You should be,” he said.
“Are you okay?”
The words pulled me away. I’d been staring at my feet the whole time, my eyes drawn to the patch of shadow beneath my seat. The train shuddered gently as it traced the railway’s curve, the lights flickering weakly. I could feel the air growing heavy.
“What’s your name?”
The woman sat beside me and smiled. She was old and spoke with a sympathetic authority.
“Alex,” I said.
“How are you feeling Alex?”
“Not good,” I answered, and to my surprise I burst out crying. “Not good at all.”
“I’m Beatrice,” the old woman said. “But you can call me Bee.”
“Thank you Bee.”
“Do you have anywhere safe to stay, Alex?”
I nodded, wiping the snot from my nose.
“Are you going there now?”
The few other passengers aboard were looking at Bee like she’d just approached a hungry lion. They’d spent the journey doing everything to avoid me, treating me like your typical lunatic. I never tried to hide anything, never tried to hide who I was or what was going to happen. But they always thought I was talking to the voices in my head. They didn’t know I was speaking to the shadows. They didn’t know how real it was.
“Do you need any help getting home?” Bee asked. “Is there anyone I could call for you?”
“I have no one,” I said, feeling my heart break a little at the admission. When I looked up at Bee, I saw the tunnel fast approaching. I reached out and grabbed Bee’s hand so tight it must have hurt. She looked so worried, so concerned. Her eyes darted around looking for what had scared me. When she realised what had scared me, she looked relieved.
“Oh it’s okay,” she said. “Are you claustrophobic? I’ll be here the whole time but don’t you worry. The darkness always passes.”
The train entered the tunnel. There were a few gasps, one even from Bee who must’ve wondered, just like all the others, why the shadow that enveloped us was so devastatingly black. That was the last noise any of them made. There were no screams. Only a whoosh of displaced air, like I’d stood next to a speeding truck on the highway. Something enormous had just passed me by, and it took all my strength not to scream.
There were other things too. Smaller predators floating behind in a shoal, scavenging what little remained. They would ignore me if I stayed perfectly still, so said Michael. When the light returned there was there was hardly a sign that there’d ever been anyone else aboard. The sole exception being the severed hand of Bee that remained clutched in my fist. Even in plain daylight I couldn’t bring myself to let go. I just kept holding it, hoping and willing the past few minutes could somehow reverse and undo themselves. I didn’t want to be this person. I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s suffering.
“But you are,” Michael said, and when I looked back down he was there. “You are very responsible. None of it could happen without you. You think that things would be like this if it had just been Dave or Andy on top of that car? No, Alex. It was you. You remembered what lives in the dark, and they remembered you.”
I let go of Bee’s hand and it fell to the floor.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It’s too late for that Alex. You carry this darkness around like luggage. And the holes you make are getting bigger every day. A lot of those people are still in one piece. Do you know what that means? They’re alive. And there’s no time here. No death. No entropy. They will always be alive. And the things that live here just love flesh. Can’t eat it, but they sure do love to play with it. Something alive, something whole, that’s like Christmas. They spent a long time playing with me. But I’m not sure ol’ Bee will be able to strike up a deal like I did. No escape for her.”
“I should kill myself,” I whispered.
“You can,” Michael said. “But where do you think you’ll go?”
“Hell?” I asked.
“Oh Alex,” he laughed. “Hell implies another option. But this is all there is. Just an abyss. The abyss. And the things that live in it. You don’t have a lot of time in the light, nobody does. But that’s why it’s so important you put it to the best use. And, as we’ve already discussed, everything you have really belongs to me, doesn’t it?”
“It does.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“Good,” and I could hear the smile in Michael’s voice. “There’s another stop soon. Just a few more people, then we’ll move on. Gotta change it up Al. We don’t want to draw too much attention. After all, there’s so much more you can give me.”

Craps at Rivers (Des Plaines, IL) - Tuesday 1/26

So, I started working as a manager in Lobotomy Corp a few days ago. PART 8

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 for context.

Ritual of initiation

Cleansing the worms proceeded without much casualties. Agent injuries were minor.
Rose: "The work of divine punishment has been apreciated by my very eyes" Justin: "I don't know what you just said but i agree" Bella: "To think we will have to do this soon..."
Onorio, Camille and Alyssia enter the room.
Camille: "¿Did you see us?" Justin: "¡Hell yeah we did!" Bella: "It was an amazing sight, i wish i can become like you" Onorio: "Give it time, in a few days you will be working side by side with us"
He gives a thumbs up.
Justin: "I took a lot of notes, especially the way Alyssia double-taps Abnormalities' corpses" Camille: "Ah, that, it's not much for that reason but more because she gets a kick out of it" Alyssia: "I call it stress relief"
Aoi and Dia came after checking no more worms were running around in the corridors below.
Dia: "¡Wassup mah frendos!" Rose: "She seems happy" Justin: "Oh, so you CAN speak normally" Aoi: "She's beginning to enjoy crushing vermin. And to be honest im starting to feel the same way too"
Belle looks at Onorio who had a bleeding scrath on his face that suddenly healed.
Belle: "¿How did you do that? ¿Was that your E.G.O.'s doing?" Onorio: "¿Healing? No, it's the regenerator working up there"
As he said that, he pointed upwards with his mace to a strange machine similar to a flat difusor stuck in the ceiling.
Justin: "¿How does it work?" Aoi: "No idea, we can ask the manager later" Belle: "¿¡You can speak with the manager?! Aoi: "Everybody can, we meet at the end of the day and we can make suggestions to improve work" Justin: "But that can't be, they told us in training speaking with the manager is... well, almost impossible for many reasons. ¿Why would HQ's manager do this?"
Alyssia comes from behind after gulping a soda can from the new vending machine.
Alyssia: "Exactly that, this is HQ, we do things differently. Comunication is very important here so everyone works together to avoid agent deaths"
As she finished talking, Alyssia crushed the can and threw it behind her. Some clerks hastily picked it up. She smirks as she listens them clean after her.
Aoi: "No agents have died so far, we are becoming the safest Lobotomy Corp facility in the region" Rose: "¿Could this be an oasis in a sieged land?" Justin: "There you go saying nonsense again"
Chitter chatter was good, but we haven't reached the quota yet. As much as i hate it i must interfere.
"As much as i would like to give you more time to talk, we must get to work now. Keep your conversation topics for the post-shift meeting"
Everyone remained in the control room as the newbies trained and the enkephalin boxes grew. Once the amount of boxes reached the target amount, all work was finished.
As is costumary, i went outside to meet with everyone.
I don't know what The Elite has told Bella, Rose and Justin but the three are apart form the rest of the group. The new additions are in front of the older employees, uptight and with a determined expression, as if presenting themselves for inspection.
I don't know what to do in this situation.
I: "Welc-" Justin: "¡It's an honor to be in your presence Sir!" Belle: "¡You interrupted him you idiot! Please manager forgive our us, we will do better next time, please" I: "Cool your jets guys, i just want to greet you"
I look at the control team who were standing behind them, they looked as if they were scoring in their minds the performance the rookies did before me. I couldn't discern any expression on their faces.
This was very creepy to say the least.
Rose: "Unclean souls, both of you"
Rose was shaking her head in dissaproval.
I: "As i was saying, welcome to the Corp, i hope we can get along. Rose: "It's a pleasure to make your acquaitance. I am Rose"
Justin and Belle looked at her in surprise, she seemed like other person entirely.
Belle: "My name is Belle, im very happy to be working for on of the Wings" Justin: "I am Justin, i am sorry for earlier. Im glad i can be of any use in HQ, i want to learn a lot of things from my stay here"
I liked these new workers. That said, i had some questions.
I: "¿What are you guys doing being apart like this?" Aoi: "We don't want to be in the way of the test" I: "¿What test?" Dia: "The first contact test, we must not bother you in your personal judgement when the new agents do their best to present themselves to you, the first impressions"
So that's what it was. They told the information team to show their best selves and let me judge what i would do with them. ¿What kind of idea do they have i judge my agents off? This reeks of cult practice, an initiation test to see if they are worthy.
Cut me some slack guys. Please.
I: "Everyone has done a good work today. Elite, you guys did a fantastic work with the cleansing"
The control team beamed at me with their smiles.
I: "And you guys, information team, also did really well. ¿Do you have abetter idea of how we do work here?"
After receiving a compliment they lifted their spirits and relaxed.
Bella: "It was an amazing first day at work Sir" Justin: "I learned a lot, i hope tomorrow we can do even more" I: "That's the spirit. Tomorrow you will work with Void Dream yourselves while the control team figures out how the new abnormality must be dealt with"
The control team seems to have done their "scoring" and joined us. We talked about trivial stuff before we parted ways.
I: "Before i forget, tomorrow i'll deal you some of the new guidelines for the control department Abnormalities. Information team tell me what you think so we can improve it over time" Rose: "Definitely, we'll hand our opinions and ideas in a document when ready" Justin: "Hey Rose, you should talk this clear more often, ¿y'know?
I left everyone and went home for real this time.
Same home, same things. I tought i would have done more things with my salary by now but im just too lazy to change or lack any real ambition. Now however i always order food, so that's that i guess.

Second week, day 2: The dance of the nails

When i opened the door of the manager's room i saw Angela waiting for me.
Angela: "As you know, there are a lot of employees working for the company" I: "No way, i would have never figured that out"
She glances at me as if saying "Don't come at me with sarcasm".
Angela: "Most of them want to know more about you"
I can see where this is going.
Angela: "Some will show intitiative and aproach you first. However this has been one of the few times the contrary has been true, where the manager aproaches the employees first" I: "I take pride in my way of doing things, i am now the HR supervisor too" Angela: "They are not aproaching because they want to "befriend" you. It's funny, really, they think knowing you in person will improve their odds" I: "I can't speak for all of them as i don't know them completely, but i honestly think they are very dedicated to the corporation" Angela: "Listen manager, there are no regulations that prevent you from interacting with them in person, it seems the one who made the rules didn't consider situations like this" I: "And it shouldn't be prevented either" Angela: "I understand how you feel, it is a good opportunity to show them that you care, words travel faster than you might think. I am not going to stop someone from reaching you, but you don't have to do everything they want. Just thank them for their effort and tell them you wish they would keep up the good work. ¿Are you following me? What they need is a gesture of good will, nothing more. Don't go overboard" I: "¿Why are you so opposed to me reaching out to my agents? The energy production has been splendid, my agents are top-notch. There is nothing you should lecture me about in this regard. ¿Are you done?" Angela: "Im warning you, give them a vending machine and they will demand a bar, i expect you to make the right decision" I: "Sure thing Angela"
Angela stays silent for a moment and speaks again after a sigh.
Angela: "I am not your enemy, i am here to help you. Let's make some thing clear. The energy output is increasing, i know that very well. You have proved everyone and even yourself that you are capable and the high echelon is watching you. 'A', the founder, is among them.
That guy, huh. I need to talk to that person to ask him some things.
As if she read my mind, she continued:
Angela: "¿Do you know anything about 'A'? He is a visionary. He may want to see you in person soon, if that happens, you can make your dreams come true. I: "He sounds more of a fairy-tale urban-legend kind of guy judging by what you just said" Angela: "I'm being serious here" I: "You sure look up to him" Angela: "¿Me? of course, i admire him. To be fair, he is the creator of me" I: "No wonder you paint him as a wish-granter savior" Angela: "He is also enigmatic. Only a few would understand him. In fact, understanding someone is difficult. ¿Will the day come i understand you completely?"
After saying that she left again. ¿Why does she do this everytime we discuss about something? She ends the conversation saying something "deep" and runs away to do other things.
Now i needed to meet with Yesod, at least he shares my vision about manager-employee relationships ¿right? He seemed cool the other day i met him.
I go to the control room and there he was.
Yesod: "Manager, you represent the company. I think your outfit is not up to company standard" I: "¡Oh hey Yesod! ¡Nice to meet you too! My gods i bet you are the life of the party wherever you go" Yesod: "Im only a Sephira, so i can't do anything about it, just saying" I: "¿And why should i listen about fashion standards from a closeted emo? Look at yourself" Yesod: "I see you can't see things clearly yet" I: "Im just ranting because you are being too negative for starters. Honestly i am just dressing with the suit the company gave me, if you give me tips about dressing code i am willing to listen. So let's start again and forget about all this"
I said this with a smile on my face, i don't want to make the middle management angry. Yesod takes some air before giving it another try.
Yesod: "I am Yesod, the Sephira of the information team. I am in charge of processing and archiving all the data of the company. We need to concentrate and focus on our job all the time. Like the curators of a library. A single mistake from us could cause a disaster. I am sure you'd understand the gravity of my work."
I: "It must be a lot of pressure on your shoulders"
Yesod: "It is, every bit of data we have... cost us blood and lives. You should show some respect"
I: "¡Hey closeted emo, im literally saving people's lives with my efforts, why don't YOU show some respect!
Yesod: "..."
I: "That's right, i tought i said we would start this conversation better ¿right? Let's change the topic then. ¿Why tell me to dress better when you are... dressed up like that?
Yesod: "I am a little allergic to... revealing clothes"
I: "¿For real? It can't be that bad.
Yesod: "I hate revealing clothes. I don't know why or since when though. Probably before i got into the company."
I tought Yesod would be more reasonable than Angela or Malkuth, but his whole being screams "Issue". I wonder if he was like this before he got here or if this place changed him for the worse.
suddenly a Sephirai knew but never met before in person showed up.
Netzach: "Yesod, ¿Do you have some paper?"
Yesod: "Netzach, you know the rules, we are not supposed to trade stuff between teams"
That sounds like a stupid rule. I may change that in the future.
Netzach: "Pfft, Yesod the Viper is not in a good mood"
Yesod: "..."
Netzach: "I am leaving ¿ok?"
Yesod: "¿Why, is this entertaining to you?"
Oh please, dont tell me the Sephiras have quarrels between themselves too.
Yesod: "My apologies, i... overreacted a bit. Other Spehiras are making fun of me, but i know employees hate me. I know my nickname is not a positive one. But i like it, i earned it on purpose. I tells others who i am.
I: "So you ARE a closeted emo"
Yesod: " ¿What do you think of my nickname?"
I: "closeted emo suits you better"
Yesod: " Well, i like Viper anyway. I should go now"
And like that he left. I hastened my pace in leaving all the new documents and guidelines in all the main rooms.
Now that the problematic guys had been dealt with, i could focus my attention in guiding people who are actually doing their best and are nice to talk to.
As always, the Elite came first. Aoi, Dia and Onorio were level 3 agents right now, that means they had become valuable assets not only for my facility but for any they could be tranfered to. Level 3 agents were not something you would find everyday.
Camille and Alyssia were level 2, good all rounders who could tank work with most TETH class Abnormalities.
The information team came a bit later. They were only level 1, fresh meat in the meatgrinder. Or that is what they are considered anyways.
By the way, i gave the Information Team E.G.O. gear this time. Belle is the stringest rookie right now and a good contender for Information team captain so i gave her Herts gear, the other two got Void Dream's suit. Weapons also got a change of hands. Penitence (skull's weapon) are now in the hands of the rookies so the higher damage weapons are in hands of people who could wield them better.
Camille: "Nice going yesterday with the manager, you are now manager aproved members of HQ"
¿What are these guys talking about?
Bella: "I was really nervous, but you guys were right. I heard about the amount of death L.Corp facilites had but knowing i am more valuable alive than dead and there is someone moving things aorund to keep us safe is reassuring"
She must meant that speech i did that day. Angela was right, words DO travel really fast.
Justin: "I didn't know the manager does secret tests when he sends us to work to see if we are worthy of our position as employees of HQ. You guys have helped us a lot with your advice"
¿What? ¿Who came up with that nonsense?
Onorio: "When he sends you to confess to the floating skull, it's to see your honesty, to know you won't keep secrets from us, from him"
¡No! ¡Stop coming up with things that are not true!
Camille: "He trains us with work not only to generate energy, not only to fortify our physical and mental virtues, but also to makes us grow spiritually and as individuals"
¡NOOO! ¡Im just training you so you don't die when the dusk ordeal comes!
Rose: "We are now brothers and sisters in this facility, agents who share the same blood" Aoi: "That's exactly right, we will save the world with our energy production" Dia: "I knew the training textbooks were right"
¡¡STOP MAKING STUFF UUUUUUUP!!
Stupid 'A' and his stupid textbooks, im gonna give him a word or two about this crap for real when he comes down from his "upper echellon" nonsense.
Aoi: "It's time to perform the ceremony"
Oh no.
The information team handed Aoi their maces and kneeled down before the Elite.
Aoi: "As the former wielders of this purifying weapon, we are honored to cede them to you. Shall the victories and glory we experienced with these maces accompany you like it did with us"
As she said that, Aoi, Dia and Onorio gave the maces to Bella, Rose and Justin, who were still kneeling but with their arms reaching above, waiting to feel the weight of the weapon.
As they did, Aoi said: "The ceremony is completed" and everyone went to their natural positions as if nothing had happened.
¿How did things go from some employees wishing to do their best at work to a freaking cult?
Onorio brought a spanish deck of cards and they were playing an adapted version of poker in the control room. It was not yet the time to start the shift.
Aoi: "Check this out, these are the new guidelines for One sin and hundreds of good deeds, 1.76 MHz and Opened can of Wellcheers"
Everyone starts reading the new guidelines.
Aoi: "Seems someone won't have fun after performing work with the Static room" Alyssia: "¡Cmon! ¡Beating things up after working with it was my favourite thign to do!" Dia: "¿What does it mean to not rush work with Wellcheers?" Camille: "Be honest, you loved working with those shrimps, you always say out of work "oh man, i love the soda of Wellcheers" all the time" Dia: "It's not that much..." Aoi: "You get along too much with those shrimp people, this may be a callout to you" Dia: "Shut up" Justin: "¿What does forbidden mean in this case? Rose: "I guess it means we can't work on that even if it's technically possible" Alyssa: "I don't know man, i still think it's too overcomplicated" Justin: "I think is useful" Onorio: "Shifts about to start guys"
After that everyone went to their respective departments except Aoi, who was sent below to make the first work with the new Abno.
On the way there, Belle, Rose and Justin were inspecting with eyes full of illusion their new weapons. Aoi looked at them like a proud superior.
Above, knowing they weren't expected to work until an Ordeal happened, Onorio, Dia, Camille and Alyssa kept playing cards.
Aoi enters the Abnormality's chamber to perform Instinct work.
The room is darker than normal, she squints her eyes. Below her there are lots of small spiders running around. Above, a giant bud with many eyes lays dormant.
Aoi: "Creepy"
Aoi moves around trying very carefully to not squash any spider walking below, some start climbing on her and make their way up.
Aoi: *deep breath* "It's okay"
Since she is performing instinct work, she orders a jar of dead insects, which is warped in front on her.
The rest of the work is spent with her feeding the spiders and trying not to crush any of them. Before leaving, she checks her clothes to not carry any of them with her.
Bella: "¿How's it?" Aoi: "very creepy, it's all spiders" Bella: "You are kidding me" Aoi: "I wish i was"
After confirming Instinct work was better and that none of my employees had level 1 prudence, i called Aoi up.
"That's all the work i need you to do for now, now is the time for the Information team to work"
She went up and joined the card game with the others.
Work went excellent the rest of the day. All of them were well prepared.

Ordeal: Dawn of Violet

The warning came up and i inmediatly notified all agents. This was a new, unseen ordeal for me so my strategy was to band everyone together and then take decisions based on what spawned.
Suddenly, weird purple maggots with scriptures written on tablets embeded on their bodies warped inside the facility.
Clerks were both losing sanity and getting black scarrs on their skin.
"Black damage..."
This was my first time confronting this danger.
"Yesod installed a G.O Visualization which lets me see the geometric biometric information of both Abnormalities and employees. These enemies are TETH level so if you all go together you can eliminate them pretty easy"
My reasoning was that if they dealt damage, then they couldn't cause a breach.
Just when the control room was cleansed from the maggots a "BOOM" resounds trought the halls. And then the unison of screams from all the panicked clerks from below.
Dia: "¿What was that?"
First warning banger starts to play trought the speakers.
Camille: "A breach"
Crap, this is the first time i dealt with a real breach, a living entity running aorund the halls, not like the static propagation which took place past week. My heart started to pump faster.
I should have let the sheep go around and avoid the lights, waiting for it's eventual return to the chamber, but i was nervous because at that time i didn't know i could wake up sleeping employees.
So, the whole gang went there.
They warped below trough the elevator and found the sheep right there, face to face.
Supression started inmediatly.
-Aftertoughts-
Sup, I hope you are having a good day/afternoon/night. Today i bring you a big chapter. In part because i felt i presented you very few content these past days, in part because i felt bad by letting you know i may not update tomorrow or even the next day, in part because i just felt like writting a lot.
Again, i apologize for any typos you may find.
I felt very inspired today, i got many big ideas for this series, but im still undecided.
¿Want to know what i listen to while i write? Probably not, but if you are one of the few that are curious about these things, i'll leave you a link here for some of them: Webcore 1 and Webcore 2. Also some episodes of The Twilight Zone.
¡I hope you enjoyed this episode too! ¡I love this game, a love this community and i love you all!
PD: While i was writting before i mistakenly published this chapter unfinished. i quickly erased it but i apologize if this has caused any issue.

The Future That Never Was: KITTY KITTY - #3 THE INELUCTABLE DUEL

RR link
Previous chapter (#2 - THE TWISTED HEIST)
#3 - THE INELUCTABLE DUEL
Observers of the Middle System had named it Rosetta. This comet was a newcomer. It had started its long dance within Solaris beyond the dwarf planet of Eris. Its veil of ice had amazed many despite the disastrous consequences. For Rosetta had crossed the highway linking Mars to the main belt, wreaking havoc throughout the area. Its marbles, sometimes the size of a basketball, hit several ships at a prodigious speed.
And guess who was in the middle of it all? Me, the Kitty and to get lost in the details: Ali.
“We’re gonna die!” she shouted as the sound alerts from our radar were tearing my eardrums apart. “Look at the screens! We’re gonna fucking die!”
The control computer calculated the best trajectory, but was unable to find a path safe enough to lead us to safety through the tail of the comet.
“Full steam ahead, Kitty!” I roared as the first impacts could be heard on the armor.
Already, the cockpit windows cracked under the shocks. We had to fold up the metal flaps and continue blind. At the speed we were flying, it didn’t make much difference anyway. It was then a long quarter of an hour like a winter night; listening to the rain falling on the roof. Except that we weren’t warm under the quilt. It wasn’t rainfall! And, yes, we were most certainly going to perish pulverized!
A more violent impact suddenly shaked the cockpit. The dashboard abruptly turned off. A few sparks came out of the control panel and the life support systems. Shortly afterwards, a slight hissing sound of depressurization escaped from the cargo bay behind us.
“Hold on, Kitty! I trust you, darling!”
Then everything stopped. The Swallow had passed through Rosetta’s trail. Miraculously, we were still breathing.
“Are we alive?” Ali asked, patting my lower back.
“For the moment, we are. But not for very long.”
Indeed, on the central polychrome monitor of the dashboard, the control computer was listing the damages by order of seriousness. Without emergency intervention on the drive, now shut down, or the air filters of the LSS, we were doomed.
“What is the nearest station?” I asked.
Her harness unstrapped, my human opened the system map on the side CRT while I was trying to restart the Baltimore reactor despite the numerous leaks of Blue. A column of azure bubbles escaped from the hold then floated across the cabin. The liquid was penetrating through the electronic instruments.
Cleaning the cooler off her blond hair, Ali answered me between two very distinguished swearwords:
“Yggdrasil! A few hours away from here… fairly isolated from the celestial highway.”
Yggdrasil? This name hadn’t been heard for a long time. Once, it was a simple M-type asteroid that escaped from the main belt. It had been used as a base of exploration before setting up colonies on Ceres, Vesta and Pallas then quickly abandoned. It was many of them’s fate when the new generations of post-nuclear engines, developed by Lucie Baltimore and her engineers, flooded the market.
At the peak of its glory, however, Yggdrasil had transformed itself into a station in its own right, where even real earth had been brought back from the original Blue Planet. The first settler families had grown a wonderful tree in the heart of the gardens. This tree had quickly become gigantic thanks to the reduced gravity.
“Do you think it’s still inhabited? It’s no longer a listed port,” Ali pointed out.
“That’s because it doesn’t belong to any corporation…”
But Yggdrasil was more than busy. Once in range, a couple of days later, we could guess an asteroid teeming with life. The station had been dug into the pure ore which was now only an indestructible shell. Numerous cylindrical windows dotted its surface. On the other side, lush gardens mottled the rock walls. It was like a gigantic celestial terrarium of nickel and glass.
But the most impressive was indeed this titanic tree that occupied the entire planetoid in its height. Its trunk and leaves were perfectly white which gave a wonderful contrast with the emerald forest that covered its roots.
“I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long time,” Ali said.
Yet it was just a simple tree, dirt and tons of mutagenic green moss. Humans were so melancholy about our home planet that I couldn’t understand why they had ravaged it in this way.
But the station was more impressive once inside. People lived all over the inner surface, in burrows and anchored nests covered by round vegetation. There were no taxicabs, nor any traffic for that matter. One could only take comfort from the birds’ singing and the wind turbines’ whirling, ensuring the good circulation of air. This piece of cosmic heaven had nothing to do with the shipyard of yesteryear.
We clamped the Kitty in one of the only two pods of Yggdrasil, run by a Lilliputian with shoulders so broad that one would have thought she was a dwarf from ancient tales if her beard had been bushier. Alas, just like the children of Vala Aulë, she announced a huge bill for the realization of her art. But it was unfortunately justified. Rosetta had absolutely ravaged our only means of transport.
My beautiful Swallow…
“All we have to do now is find a small job!” Ali had confessed to me while I was verifying one by one the expenses on the receipt in recycled bark.
“Alas! I doubt that there is an interesting contract under this thick foliage.”
I was right. The following days were nothing but disillusionment. There was work on Yggdrasil, but no one wanted to entrust it to two marauding bounty hunters. To be perfectly honest, this was the case in most stations and towns in the system. The Alliance wasn’t a respected institution. Auxiliaries were more hated than the F musical note or We Built This City song.
“Scratch again, I spotted something in the green spot!” Ali guided me.
She had refused to dive to the bottom of the dumpster herself. I had to submit to the search for nutrigel residues floating in the hazardous gravity.
“There is nothing! All we have to do is eat moss!”
I had come up to the surface to find her crouched in the grass, a winged caterpillar in hand. The bryophyte and its fauna were once again going to be our evening meal when a young boy landed barefoot in our organic banquet.
“Can I ask what ye, scummy bounty hunters, are doin’?” he questioned us as he snapped one of the multicolored slap bracelets on his arms.
He then introduced himself under the name of Benàn. He was the son of Yggdrasil’s main gardener whom we met shortly afterwards when the teenager invited us to his house for a real dinner. His family lived in a gigantic sclerotic tinder mushroom against the metal wall of the ancient asteroid.
“May ye forgive the folks here. Isolation has made them bitter. And abundance stingy,” his father, Alàn, apologized with the same nordic accent as his son.
He was a little man with a wide neck and sparkling yet tired eyes. Very jovial, he didn’t care that we were auxiliaries. His mustache and braided coppery beard jumped at every word. Despite his wife’s efforts to wash him, his face was constantly stained with brown mud.
“Hold op, Diligua! Would ye want to stop?” he cried.
Diligua scolded him, unhappy with her husband’s marshy appearance in front of her guests. She was his exact opposite, tall, fine and elegant. And without clods of dirt in her blond hair. She was wearing them twisted and braided in a bun on the back of her head, as expected to be in a micro-g environment.
Alàn was at first reluctant, but soon entrusted us with the simplest work in exchange for a roof and a good daily meal. We finally had enough to survive in this Smurf Village.
As for our invoice, Diligua had gone to negotiate with the dwarf of the hangar to obtain an amendment. She was the engineer in charge of the wind turbines and often had spare parts to trade for services.
“Decent people here”, Ali said to me once in our own private room at the top of the giant family mushroom, after our first day of work.
“For a change…”
The following days on Yggdrasil were pleasant. The company of this family proved to be very much appreciated. Benàn, for example, was an energetic teenager. He kept talking about his dreams of escape and space conquest. He was fed up with living in that aquarium, but his father had always resisted a premature departure.
“He promised to buy me a roun’ trip to Ceres-by when I was twelve years old then a secon’ one when I was sixteen. And finally, let me leave for the Marine Academy once I will reach my majority,” he told us once we were chilling under the shade of a giant dandelion. “But he had always refrained from keepin’ his word so far! He thinks I’m not ready!”
In a rage, he closed his record player and threw away the last can of Pepper Coke soda from our picnic as it slowly swirled near a rotten log.
I was surprised when he mentioned the Academy.
“I thought you wanted to be a pirate. Why would you join the Marine Corps?”
“To learn how to handle weapons! My pa refuses to let me use his and the armor he hides under his workbench. I don’t even know how to wield a revolver!”
Ali then passed him her gun, barrel in hand, without a word. I didn’t even realize she was listening. It was a habit of hers; following a conversation while sleeping.
The boy feigned hesitation, but the sparks in his eyes betrayed his excitement. My human didn’t need to insist any further, because seconds later he already had the gun between his fingers.
“It’s so frackin’ heavy," he said. "It’s different with my virtual reality console.”
“Try it out,” Ali proposed as she put the needle back on the first track after reopening the portable turntable.
From her chin, she then pointed to the can Benàn had thrown a few minutes earlier. Together, they practiced in music all afternoon. The yardman’s son had almost exhausted Ali’s ammunition when Diligua picked us up on her sail Solex for dinner.
This was our daily routine for the next two weeks: working in the morn, hanging out in the evening. We had been so productive that Alàn no longer needed us to maintain the station. To be fair, I suspected that he had dismissed us because of the meager gardening skills of my sapiens. That girl had two left hands but no green thumb. And it wasn’t the funniest part.
“What’s happening to me?” Ali asked one night, feverish.
“Unbelievable!” Diligua answered, staring incredulously at the thermometer going up. “You are allergic to real vegetables! Nobody’s allergic to real vegetables! What kind of human being are you?”
“Gimme pizzas...” muttered my dying nutrigel-raised partner, white as the giant tree’s leaves.
The next morning, Benàn finally introduced us to his spaceship. He had begun to assemble it by repairing the worn parts of the hangar with his mother’s tools. Its name testified to his ambitions: The Arcadia.
I had to reckon. This taciturn rascal was a mechanical genius. However, he needed my skills to set up the control computer and program the out-of-gravity draining of the post-nuclear engine. My sapiens, meanwhile, was improving the prototype of a jet-pack, a slice of pizza between the teeth. The young boy had stolen it from a pirate who stopped by a couple of months ago.
In the following evenings, Ali and Benàn often exchanged stories of buccaneers and adventurers. He was fascinated by the freebooters from the Golden Age of Jupiter’s colonies: King Xiao and the Lost Triad, Amadeus the Traveler, Osborn the Freak or Marcellàn Iron Fists and his famous hand-to-hand fights. The latter was the boy’s favorite and he would talk about him for hours.
What they had in common was that they showed Goldsun, the privateer, the respect he deserved. And this even though he sided with the Marine on the recent conquest of Pluto.
“It is said that the Sun King, Goldsun’s vessel, shines like a star. Forstår du? And that is how he camouflages himself in the celestial firmament!” Benàn exclaimed. “His fleet is so frackin’ fast that even the Marine’s Interceptors can't compete in pure speed!”
Our amateur raconteur wasn’t holding back his ardor. He knew hundreds of stories about pirates. Like everybody in Solaris, we already knew some. In fact, there were so many of them that we didn’t distinguish the truth from the myth. Indeed, the majority of these criminals and adventurers had never existed.
But the vacations were shortly ending. It was only missing a few coats of paint on the Kitty and Alàn boasted every night that he would soon have one last job for us. However, I suspected him of monopolizing the floor so that his son would no longer broach the subject of his emancipation. And this was confirmed in the following twilight:
“Wait! Both of you. I gotta talk to ye.”
He took a look at Benàn, who had grabbed his virtual reality console before going outside.
“Amalrik, the station storekeeper, told me that ye’ve emptied his entire soda supply…” he began, clearing the remains of his nattmal.
But that wasn’t the most important thing.
“...and .50 AE ammunition. The kind of bullets we used to hunt hvaler... whales or Soviet cosmodons!’
“We shouldn’t have hidden this from you, Alàn, we’re sorry,” Ali apologized. “We just wanted to teach the kid how to shoot.”
We saw Alàn smiling shyly through his beard.
“There’s no harm, rest assured,” he said after a short silence. “I just yearn this pirate story would get outta his head…”
“He’s a descendant of the first settlers… of course he has a taste for adventure,” I reported.
“Ja! I know. ‘was like him…”
Our host’s eyes were full of nostalgia.
“You wish…” corrected his wife, who was fixing a modulator in a corner of the room. “This child has more potential than the whole clan put together. He has passed the age to play with his Spirograph.”
“Again, I know. ‘saw the boy handling the absurd handgonne Ali uses as a gun,” admitted Alàn. “And for sure, he’s also undoubtedly smarter than me.”
“So why not let him go?” Ali asked.
The gardener then showed us his right leg by putting it on the table. His calf was studded with scars and burns. The same wounds slept under the dry earth that permanently covered his hands.
“There was an age when I craved to see what was happenin’ in the solar mines of Mercury and the colonies of the Outer Worlds. T’was a beautiful time of freedom that was already comin’ to an end,” he said as he readjusted his pants to hide his pink topographic map of Mars. “What will he find now? The ruthless Marine and this durn Technocratic corruption? Cyber-psychos on the run? Irradiated moons? Nej. There’s nothin’ for him in the deep space.”
“The armor was from when you had served?” I asked, alluding to Benàn’s words about the assisted exoskeleton.
“Served? I’ve never served anyone but the giant plants of Yggdrasil,” he said.
He scratched his beard; his gaze was lost in time. Then, when he addressed us again, he made us promise to stop encouraging his son’s sweet utopias. After that, he floated off to his workbench on the second floor.
“How can we tell him that he’s living in his own illusion?” Diligua asked rhetorically.
Diligua had finished repairing the modulator, but she threw it in the garbage anyway. Tomorrow, Benàn would secretly retrieve it to improve his radar system. She ultimately left the room after wishing us a good evening. The sadness could be seen on her face.
She was right, though. When their child celebrates his eighteenth Martian spring, Benàn will leave for Ceres or the Red Planet… if not before. Yggdrasil and his burrows were far too small for a boy like him.
“My father was like that too,” Ali concluded.
The final days were quieter. Diligua and the station’s technicians had activated the wind turbines. This ingenious system dispensed a fine mist inside Yggdrasil. The fog had invaded the large windows separating the pastoral town from the vacuum. A curious surrealist vibe reigned from then on.
With the humidity, Ali’s haircut had doubled in volume, giving her a Bob Ross vibe. Benàn and I both enjoyed seeing her like this before she threw her iron cup at us. Despite the lack of gravity, it almost tore off my right ear.
“The mist will only last a few days. It’s good for the skin. Just like the mud and…” Alàn preached.
“Alàn—” his wife started.
Diligua’s commentary was interrupted by a knock on the giant mushroom’s door. It was strange because since the beginning of our stay, nobody had come to visit Benàn and his family. From the yardman’s opinion, this didn’t bode well.
“Enter!” he shouted as he slid off the table to face this unexpected intruder.
The door opened slowly before a man in a beige raincoat rushed inside. Water was dripping from the edges of his round hat and long pointed nose. He wiped his mustache from the back of his sleeve then plunged his gold circled gray eyes into each of ours. When he met Alàn’s gaze, he gasped.
“What a shock! What they say is true!” he shouted with a thick english accent, hands on his hips. “Marcellàn Iron Fists lives on this moldy stone!”
Marcellàn? Was he mentioning the pirate? Marcellàn Iron Fists who pulverized his opponents with the strength of his fist? That Marcellàn would be Alàn?
Ali didn’t seem to make the connection. She was for the moment too busy finishing her meaty dagmal, the bottom of the bowl almost stuck to her forehead.
“I don’t know what ye’re talkin’ ‘bout,” replied our host coldly.
“Cut the crap, old man!” the visitor laughed. “I am responsible for some of the scars on your back.”
He then opened his coat, revealing an AAJ’s badge and the stock of a rifle with a scope hanging from his shoulder.
I recognized him. We were looking at Nigel Hemingwest, a second-generation bounty hunter. Obnoxiously famous for his gross blunders from which he had always come out as white as snow.
“Marcellàn, who fought bare hands in his shiny red titanium armor, relegated to the simple rank of a gardener! This is beyond prodigious!” Hemingwest continued, taking a step towards the table.
He was stopped by Diligua, a sharp knife ready:
“If you’re not here for any Yggdrasil-related business, I’d appreciate it if you’d get the hell out!”
Hemingwest stumbled backward, hands up, but visibly amused by the situation. His smile faded as he looked at Ali who had now put his bowl back on the table. His eyes lingered for a moment on her own badge.
“Lovely wife. Anyway, I see that the bounty is already coveted…”
My partner wiped the tip of her nose with the back of her hand, also revealing her .50 caliber before granting her unexpected opinion on the matter:
“We ain’t give a shit about the dollar credits. Alàn has offered us shelter and food. No harm will come to him.”
Hemingwest opened his eyes wide. It must have been a long time since he had been so dissed, but unfortunately that was Ali’s trademark.
Nevertheless, my associate had just indicated that she wouldn’t fulfill a contract, which wasn’t common for an auxiliary. Unusual and punished by a severe reprimand if the high authority got wind of it.
“Whatever,” Hemingwest squeaked. “But I’m no fool, Alàn the florist. I’ll be waiting for Marcellàn and his armor at the foot of the Big Tree for a duel tonight. A legend like him can’t refuse, even if he had pissed calcium for twenty years by living in low G. Because, otherwise, the whole system will learn where his family is hiding… rightly or wrongly!”
And he left by slamming the door.
“Well, that explains all the praise for Marcellàn coming from Benàn!” I said to Ali, breaking the awkward silence.
“There’s no way I’m goin’ to accept this cursed challenge,” Alàn grumbled, back at his seat.
Benàn had risen, red with anger:
“Ye’re goin’ to let yerself be humiliated like that?”
“Can’t you see that your father has moved on?” his mother spoke in the same tone.
We didn’t say a word. Ali grabbed me by the paw before leaving the table. She had judged that the rest of the conversation had nothing to do with us. But when we arrived at the front door, Benàn passed us and withdrew first, visibly furious at Diligua’s answer.
“This Hemingwest klaphat hasn’t turned over a new leaf and I know him, he won’t let go,” Alàn grunted with his hands on his eyes.
“We ignore if he has any hard evidence. But if he does, I’ll bet he has nothing solid and is attempting to bluff us…” tried to reassure his wife before we closed the door.
Outside, against his mother’s flying Solex, Benàn was tearing off the pieces of moss covering the ramp to their fungal home. His anger had subsided and his eyes filled with tears when he saw us:
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who my pa was… but you were bounty hunters…”
“All fathers have secrets,” I replied. “Yours is worth a lot of dollar credits. And this Hemingwest is no joke…”
“My pa hasn’t wrestled for decades,” Benàn explained. “And yet, even with porous bones, he could crush this rat’s skull if he wasn’t such a coward!”
I noticed he had lost his nordic accent.
“Your father is anything but a coward, you know…” Ali intervened, sitting next to him.
“Is he? Then why does he refuse to fight? Why did he stop his life as a pirate and adventurer? Why does he prevent me from leaving?” Benàn shouted as he stood up. “Because he’s a fraud!”
He then swam in the void before disappearing into the fog.
“What an ingrate!” grumbled my human.
“Don’t blame the boy,” said his father, who had now joined us. “He also inherited the worst of his parents’ nature… especially his mother.”
A cast-iron cup from the house brushed against his head before getting lost in the mist.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“This afternoon? Dig out the contours of the water recycler. And if ye’re not ashamed to help an old pirate, I can employ you for that last job,” he says. “As for tonight? Absolutely nothin’. Hemingwest could wait for the Ragnarök that I wouldn’t give him satisfaction.”
Then we worked. But not without concern. Because we had no news from Benàn for the rest of the day. By dinner time, he was still missing, which worried his mother. And rightly so.
“Alàn! Alàn!”
The voice came from outside. The station storekeeper, Amalrik, stood below.
“Alàn! You’re not gonna believe your ears!” he continued after we had joined him. “The pirate Marcellàn is on Yggdrasil… and he’s struggling with Nigel Hemingwest!”
The real Marcellàn jumped and grabbed the flying Solex before his wife took control of it. The machine unfolded its wings and made its turbine roar then took off, forming a tunnel in the fog. After storming out of the house, Ali and I chased them to the foot of the Big Tree. It was there, in the center of the station, that Hemingwest had set its cruel rendezvous.
Unfortunately, just like our hosts, we arrived too late. The fight was over.
“By the 79 moons of Jupiter… no…” I meowed.
Hemingwest, who had disappeared, had mercilessly crucified his victim with huge cactus thorns on the gigantic white trunk.
“It can’t be…”
Thanks to the clan, Alàn and his wife were able to quickly take down the exoskeleton of the tree. As I thought, inside lay Benàn, shot from behind with a bullet in the back of the neck.
“Alàn? I recognize these colors and this symbol! Is this the armor of Iron Fists?” asked a technician in a brown work suit.
“Is this ye boy, Alàn? What is he doin’ in the exoskeleton of a pirate!” wondered the Nelwyn of the garage.
“Enough!” Diligua bellowed as Alàn was frantically removing the last metal plates.
Silent and livid, the gardener then took the body of his son in his arms. On his knees, he cried. His tears mingled with the droplets from the haze.
We subsequently left on foot to the tinder house after Diligua had collected the pieces of armor. But we ran into another surprise. Hemingwest was waiting for us at the foot of the access ramp, leaning against the trunk of a butterfly tree. He was polishing his rifle threatened by humidity.
“Ye!” shouted Alàn, putting his son in the arms of his wife.
“What? You can only blame yourself, Alàn the florist,” Hemingwest said. “You’re the one who should have been in armor under that tree. Not your foolish child. As far as I’m concerned, I was just doing my job! And giving you a chance on top of that!”
Alàn wanted to punch the murderer but Diligua stopped him immediately:
“Marcellàn! Not here. Not now.”
He understood. They had a child to bury.
Diligua transported Benàn’s body a few meters further, at the foot of the wall against which their house was fixed. Alàn moved silently towards it without adding anything more. Unlike his wife:
“He will meet you under the tree. Tomorrow. At dusk.”
Hemingwest withdrew, a smile up to his ears.
The funeral service was brief. Contrary to galactic custom, Benàn was buried in the soft earth of Yggdrasil. For his final journey, he was dressed in his father’s armor. There were no stones nor grave; just a rhodiola with yellow petals that the mist could never hide.
“We should have done something earlier,” my partner said as she was folding our luggage, the next day. “Did we fuck this up?”
“It's not like Marcellàn was a saint. It was nothing but a truce,” I answered. “Staying out of this was our choice.”
She sighed. I could see anger in her eyes.
“That’s just another way to say we fucked up...”
“These kinds of things sometimes just happen, Ali...”
But it wasn’t the end of it.
“Hemingwest made its last mistake there!” she exploded. “Leave him to us, Alàn!”
The former pirate, who until now had been listening to us from afar, entered the room.
“Definitely not. I’ll take care of this,” he declared. “My mistakes. My boy.”
He grinned. His eyes were still red with pain, but he was smiling. It was also the first time we saw him without a trace of dirt on his face or hands.
“But how are you going to do without your armor?” I asked.
We had the answer in the evening. Alàn, the father and not Marcellàn the pirate, was waiting for his opponent at the foot of the Big Tree. All around the improvised arena, the community of Yggdrasil watched anxiously.
Hemingwest was late and the crowd began to express their dissatisfaction. Only Alàn remained calm as a monk, searching for his foe in the fog that was finally dissipating.
A spark ignited the white foliage where Hemingwest had hidden for his ambush. A gunshot followed. The deceiver must have used the same strategy the day before.
The gardener was hit in the shoulder and fell to his knees. Then, a second bullet struck him in the middle of the thigh, knocking him against the ground.
“Alàn!” cried Diligua as she tried to reach him.
Hemingwest, delighted with his ploy, let himself slide down to the roots not without tearing a whole chunk of bark with his reinforced gravity-boots. With the rifle now stowed in his holster, he exalted as he prepared a fatal stab.
“Is that all Marcellàn can do without his armor? A miserable snail out of its shell, that’s what you are now! I wasted my time!”
He laughed at his joke and was the only one.
But that was short-lived. Alàn had recovered as if nothing had happened. Left shoulder and leg backwards, fists clenched in front of his jaw, his body moved into a fighting position.
Hemingwest swore and threw his knife, which slithered into his opponent’s forearm. The latter withdrew it immediately before tossing it into the peat slightly further. With a quick gesture, the bounty hunter then grabbed his rifle and leaped about ten meters back. His reflex was too slow because the pirate was already on top of him. His rain of punches met with little resistance.
Hemingwest was knocked to the ground with a sweeper, but not without giving back a few blows. When he tried to get up, Alàn gave him an uppercut and then a hook that pushed his right cheekbone trough the nasal walls. Hemingwest spat out teeth and crushed flesh before escaping inaudible gurgling noises. The murderer was being reduced to a bloody mush by Alan’s long trained gardener hands.
One never truly knew if the stories were authentic or if the exploits of these yesteryear’s legends were pure fabrication. But on that day, the gardener reminded Yggdrasil what a freebooter’s fury was. Alàn was a real brute even without his armor.
“Have you had enough?” asked Alàn, grabbing the murderer’s throat. “Because I want ye in yer ship and far from here in the next half-Martian hour.”
Hemingway nodded slowly in approval, risking losing what was left of his cervical vertebrae. But when Alàn turned away from him, the bounty hunter had his rifle in his hand again.
“Watch out!” I yelled.
Fortunately, Ali was even faster. She had fired instantly and her projectile had hit Hemingwest’s fingers, tearing off his index and thumb. He wanted to scream in pain, yet Diligua silenced him with a last kick to the gut.
She then ran to her husband and they just went home.
Shortly after that, the onlookers had abandoned the scene. None of them will ever talk about this fight or acknowledge the presence of a certain Marcellàn on their station. All that remained was Nigel Hemingwest, still breathing the filtered air from this haven of paradise.
With the surviving fingers stuck in the dirt, the bounty hunter had started crawling to the hangar where our respective ships were parked when we fell on him. Actually, it wasn’t difficult to follow his tracks because of the bubbles of blood and the urine’s smell that he had sown in his path.
“What the hell do you want from me?” he stammered as he replaced his incisors at each syllable. “You’re finished too, once the Alliance is informed.”
As my human sat on his back, with a heel against his neck, I climbed on his hand while he tried to grab his rifle under his coat.
“The Alliance is far too tolerant nowadays,” I said. “Because of sleazeballs like you, we have a tainted reputation.”
“Even worse than criminals,” my partner added. “And we don’t have stories singing about our deeds. Something I’d surely like to.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” screamed Hemingwest.
“Ali. Stay focused, please.”
She then continued:
“I don’t know what doggone protection you got, but let’s make a deal, dick-nose. You don’t tell anyone about this story and we’ll forget your new little blunder that cost our friend Benàn his life and dreams.”
An agreement like this one was yet a gut-wrenching affair.
“Screw you, punks! My brothers are going to…”
My sapiens smashed his skull with her foot before placing the still hot barrel of her gun at the base of his neck. She then concluded:
“Who cares about your brothers, may they be Vito Corleone or cousin Vinny. Am I right, Lee?”
“Indeed, partner.”
Without further hesitation, yet a few punches in the nose, Hemingwest finally accepted the arrangement. A minute later, he was gone.
The next day, it was Diligua who came to say goodbye once the Kitty was completely repaired and ready for flight. She entrusted us with some equipment from her son’s ship as spare parts, his virtual reality console and the jet-pack my associate had worked on.
“Where are you going? If it’s not indiscreet,” she asked us while finishing to screw a last rivet badly tightened under the wing of our beautiful Swallow.
“Towards the belt… Ceres,” I replied. “Hunt down real gnarly guys, sleep under the gaze of the nebulae and, why not, pursue the majestic Wes Goldsun on Pluto.”
Diligua smiled.
“All the same! Why do you have to run after chimeras?”
“What else do we have left?” concluded my sapiens.
The ramp closed, the control computer greeted us. As for the engine, it hummed as its first day.
Back to business…

Horseshoe, Hammond, IN -- Report

1.09 Survival isnt that bad. A freshies experiences

Just finished my complete Ys series marathon, and here are my thoughts on the series!

Intro

So before anything, hi, I'm theultimategamer95/PenguinTM from Youtube (both names were taken here, sigh), and since around... somewhere between the end of July and start of August (I think) I've been playing through pretty much the entire Ys series, because well... I was bored out of my mind and I wanted to eventually anyway (I DID first start playing the series mid last year, though). Was fun though, I enjoyed pretty much every second of it (with some exceptions, we'll get to that later)! But yeah, I felt the urge to share my thoughts on here now that it's all over, so... here we are. As you can see my tier list is at the top of the page, and I'll be giving my general thoughts on the games, etc below (in the order of the tiering, too). Oh yeah, and I also threw in a pic to flex the achievements I got for the game, too.
I also have Ys 9's limited edition on pre-order for those who care. SO hyped for it!

https://preview.redd.it/a2ozi316ndo51.png?width=1009&format=png&auto=webp&s=4bae98521e62aa849f34924cb26bba9a2f3cf214

https://preview.redd.it/5zldzmk7ndo51.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae402b4638274302c8bd18d2c6f3c11b28259ff2

Reasonings/Thoughts

Ys 8

Should be obvious why this is number one. I DID want to move this down a notch though, if I'm being honest (but won’t). Because:

The way the epilogue is executed STILL triggers me to this day (though that credits sequence is perfect and always makes me tear up).
After having played through this 3 times now... raids can definitely get repetitive. They're still bearable to play, but still.
Half the bosses aren't really that memorable compared to other Ys games imo (and actually fuck Gargantula, Kiergaard and Magamandra on Inferno). There for sure are actual good and fun ones in there (like, especially Io; my 2nd favourite fight in the series), but yeah (can't just be me, right?).
Actually who's fucking idea was that final hunt? It's literally just enemy spam galore and not fun at all. Fire that dude.
It's basically impossible to grind on Nightmare and Inferno until midgame or so, lol.
Not sure if you'd count this as a negative but... As someone who's played this game through on both PC (twice) and PS4, I vastly prefer it on PC because of less frame drops and a faster save/load system.

But yeah, other than that, absolutely fucking amazing game, I gotta say. Positives include:

Good story... up until the epilogue, at least (like seriously, it could've been executed SO much better...)). And also, the optional segment in chapter 6 with Dana (the one where you fight Io) still confuses the hell out of me. Her era story should've been over since she sealed herself, right? So why did she suddenly go back to the village after that? Is it non-canon or is it set inbetween a couple of events or what? Or was I just not paying attention?
Good characters in general (except Carlan, fuck him), development and interactions. Hummel is my second favourite character in the series; cool guy and busted in battle.
Amazing combat (whether you hate the flash move and party system or not, you can't deny it). Man, I still remember the first time I played this game and experiencing the combat for the very first time after washing up on the island... I was in awe at how fast and fluid it felt. Man, take me back.
The OST from this game is actually my favourite OST in all of gaming; it's just that good (could listen to it all day, any day. only track I'm kinda eh on is the swamp theme) :)
Way better and more exciting open world exploration than Celceta tbh. Celceta's was OK, just... it was far from perfect, let's just say.
Bit random, but I'm SO thankful you can open chests, even if you're surrounded by enemies now (well, not QUITE, but it's not far off, and a lot easier now).
And pretty everything else, really.

Ys 6

Might get hate for this one but... As for being the first game that used the Napishtim engine, it was pretty simplistic, and I like that (idk, I have a really soft spot for the combat in this game).
Positives:

Really like the bosses in this game (except that wall one, fuck him (Orjugan I think it is)). Probably my favourite Ys game for bosses after 7 (or Origin, idk; 2nd or 3rd place for sure tho).
Good characters (imo) (especially Geis, my favourite character in the series tbh) (I also like on how they improved on Terra from 5 (bring her back as a playable character someday pls?)).
Serviceable enough dungeons and story, though wouldn't ever say they're anywhere near the best in the franchise.
Love how the upgrade system works in this game. Pretty refreshing to only be required to upgrade the swords you have, rather than having to constantly worry about buying new ones.
Oh yeah, and I also have quite the soft spot for the OST in this game. Lovely little underrated package.
I seriously love the addition of Catastrophe mode. Why doesn't every other Ys game have this (I'm talking Ys 7 and beyond)!? Doing every boss in the series being locked out of items would be interesting :3

Negatives:
Notice how I haven't mentioned any negatives yet, well... Now's the time. Pretty much the only gripes I have with this game are the fact that there's no sprint button (you get used to it as you play, but still), and the platforming is actual ass (everyone who's played this game will know what I mean). The platforming could've easily been fixed with the addition of a sprint button though. So yeah, sprint button is basically the only issue for me, lol.
I play on the PC version of 6 btw, whereas you get warping. From what I've heard, on other versions such as PS2 and PSP, you don't actually get warping and there's a lot of backtracking. Not sure if it's true, but yikes, that sounds nasty (don't think I ever wanna try those versions tbh, even if there is voice acting there).

Ys Origin

Positives:

Actual good characters all around!
The tower being the only dungeon kinda reminds me of Persona 3, which is my favourite Persona game. The dungeon of which never gets boring in either game imo (yes, I went there). Especially in this game though, as the scenery keeps changing to keep things fresh.
The Roo scenes are genuinely fucking adorable <3
The Epona and Hugo love story is actually amazing; pretty awesome how there's actual canon romance stories in an Ys game! Easily my favourite scenes in the game tbh (Epona's death in Hugo's route still hits me hard).
In fact, the story as a whole in this game, with all 3 characters, is amazing! Yunica is freaking adorable and Toal is a badass with a pretty feelsy story. Honestly, it does make me quite sad that Toal's route is the only canon one. That being said though, I definitely DO feel like there are events from the other 2 routes that are still canon in Toal’s route, just we don’t get to see them (for example, Hugo with the Hammer in Devil’s Corridor).
The bosses in this game are actually amazing all around! Well... with the exception of one or two (and it's not what you'd expect), I'll get to that in a bit.
The OST in this game is up there with one of my favourite in the series. Probably 3rd or 4th (Celceta/4's OST is most likely second)? Idk. Really good though.
INSTANT ABILITY TO WARP! Thank the Goddesses! Why doesn't every Ys game before this have this!?
The "item get" jingle in this game is the best one in the series. Change my mind.
Best (MAIN) boss theme in the series tbh. Scars of the Divine Wing is my jam!

Negatives:

So those bosses I was talking about earlier. Yeah, one of them is Zava. Why do I hate her fight? It's extremely tedious and slow no matter what difficulty you're on (still a hot villain tho). Period (and I ain't afraid to admit she took me a few minutes to beat on Very Easy with Yunica...). Bet you were all expecting Pictimos eh? Nah, I actually really enjoy that fight. One of my favourite in the series, maybe (yes, I'm serious).
And another boss... actually fuck the true final boss. Why? It's unbalanced af on Nightmare and heavily luck based. Fun, but HEAVILY luck based.
The fact (fact, haha) you have to play through the game 3 times to get the FULL experience can be tedious (but is definitely bearable, since the game isn't that long).
FUCK that demon trap at the start of the game with Toal on Nightmare... Really badly designed. Try it on Nightmare and you'll see what I mean.
The game had a pretty nice ending, but I hate that we never got proper closure on Hugo and Epona :(
Fuck grinding out achievements in this game, it's just plain painful. So this and Oath were the last to go through in my Ys binge, right (replaying for achievements)? At this point I was pretty burnt out and just wanted it to all be over. So yeah, I honestly just got the easy ones and quit. Err, just look at the achievement lists and you’ll understand the salt. Arena mode is really boring btw, so I couldn’t be bothered.

Ys 7

Now... I really did want to put this in S tier, I really did. This is probably my favourite Ys game in terms of "pure fun", honestly.
Positives:

The game is really fast paced.
Spam rolling is extremely fun.
This game has the best designed dungeons and probably bosses too (overall anyway, there are a couple I dislike) in the entire series imo (Ys 9 might change that when I play). The Earth Dragon though, holy shit. Still my favourite Ys boss of all time, honestly.
Pretty damn decent cast of characters, though not really as good as 8 or Origin. I really love especially how you get to play as Dogi and Geis in this game (just wish Geis was more useful; legit never used him at all apart from skill grinding in my second playthrough (and I played on Nightmare both playthroughs)).
Good OST as usual. Not sure where I'd rank this one (again, probably 3rd or 4th; torn between this or Origin being better). "Lost Harmony Among People" is my favourite Ys song of all time though, so there's that (seriously, how can you not love this song?).
Best title screen music, easily.
People like to give the story a lot of slack in this game (from what I've seen), but I actually really like it. It is as cliche as a lot of people say? Yes, but isn't every other games' story too? Think about it. Just saying.
Some really fun skills to use in this game. Aisha/Sigroon's and Adol's Pentagram especially (why did Pentagram never come back!?)
Quite like how this game handled the Flash System, with only having Flash Guard that lasts a split second. I do enjoy Ys 8's system a tad more, but it would be interesting to see how other games would use what this game did with it.
The "save anywhere" system in this game they introduced is actually a godsend.

Mid:

The ending was pretty neat and heartwarming, but I do genuinely wish there was more to it. Something like... actually show what's going on in the other villages, rather than just explaining it, and actually have Geis give Adol a proper goodbye (since he's probably never returning again (unless Ys 10 says otherwise), RIP).

Now for the negatives... OH BOY, DO I STILL feel sad I can't put this game in S tier.

No Time Attack. Every mordern Ys game (which starts at 6, not this game imo) has a Time Attack mode. There is NO excuse for this game not to have it. Because of this I had to make a save right before every boss in my second playthrough, in case I ever wanted to play them again. I can live without a NG+ (since I never actually play NG+ unless it's for extra achievements in this series), but NOT a Time Attack. Actually fuck you, devs.
As much as I like using skills in this game, the learn/level up system was done TERRIBLY (I could definitely feel it on my 2nd playthrough). Why do I have to LEARN skills by having a certain weapon equip until they reach level 1? WHY are there 10 levels for each skill!? That's pretty dumb tbh. Thank GOD Celceta and later fixed this. And also thank God there was no "max every skill in the game" Steam achievement, otherwise I would've gone ballistic, ngl.
Not really a big fan how you have the option to buy AND synthesize equipment. Just make it one or the other, seriously. Fuck grinding money AND materials. I mean, fair enough for the ultimate weapons, they make sense, but otherwise no.
Speaking of materials, the harvesting system sucks. On paper it can be pretty ok but... Most of the time your party members won't even help you harvest the materials, since there'll most likely be enemies nearby and they'll go attack those instead. And if there's NOT enemies nearby, there's still a 50/50 chance they'll just stand there anyway out of laziness. Also yeah, this is something else that Celceta and later fixed; they made it much easier to grind materials. Again, fuck the harvest system.
Another thing that Celceta and later improved on was the side mission system. Now I'm not going to say it was straight out bad here but, don't expect me to talk to every single person in each village everytime I visit to check if they have missions or not. Seriously. Once you know where the locations for the missions are after playing through the game once, it ain't so bad, but still.
WHY do you not get warping until beating the third temple/shrine/whatever? Bit late if you ask me.
And in case you're wondering which bosses I dislike from what I said in the bosses bit earlier... Ghilda Ros (feels like a difficulty spike early game tbh) and The Sea Dragon (hard to predict, moves fast, and is really cluttered in the side cave where you have to attack his back).
Really easy to get lost in Altago City on your first playthrough (I know I did a couple times).

Minus the time attack and ending points, the positives pretty much outweigh the negatives here. But yeah, now you see why I can't come to put this in S tier. So close, but not quite there, sadly.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana

Positives:

Some really nicely designed dungeons here, actually. Well, for the most part at least. I have two which I straight up dislike which are the Abandoned Mine and the Lava Zone. Fuck those two. Also I'm kinda 50/50 on the final dungeon... I like how it's designed, but at the same time it's enemy spam galore, eh.
The story and writing (the ending of this game actually felt like the most "complete" one in the series thus far tbh (well, between this one and Dawn of Ys)) is where the game really shines imo. So good.
The OST is really freaking good in this game! Sadly though, I probably wouldn't even put it in my top 5, nor would I listen to much of it outside of playing the game.

Mid:

Not really a negative point, but the cast in this game is pretty weak compared to other Ys games if you ask me. Outside of Adol, Dogi, Chester, Elena (underrated girl tbh), Fran, Cynthia and Adonis, everyone else is just... "there" for me? Like, they aren't bad characters by any means, just yeah.
Some cool bosses, but nothing too mindblowing. Like in 8, half them are pretty forgettable here imo, and... Yeah, I'll get more into this in the negatives. Ones I really love though are that dog wolf guy, Gyvala (Yes, seriously. Looks like a Sonic Rivals boss, ngl) and Galbalan (best final boss in the series imo; really does feel like one).
You have to actually unlock Inferno mode... Which can be a pain, since you have to an extra playthrough, but eh. At least it's optional and doesn't provide extra experience to the game like Origin's 3 playthroughs. Didn't actually bother me that much tho, since my first Nightmare playthrough and the second playthrough on Inferno were months apart.

Negatives:

UNBALANCED AF! Seriously, whoever designed the difficulty balancing in this game deserves to be fired. This is coming from someone who beat both Nightmare AND Inferno (bonus boss inc) btw (never did manage to beat Nightmare boss rush tho... it’s way harder on patience than you think).
I find it hard to believe that Adol survived a 10k ft fall without a scratch after the Chester 1 fight.
What the actual hell is that dub? The VAing in this game is laughably mediocre tbh; sounds more like a fandub than an official one. And why the hell do the naration and Galbalan have voices? It just feels... wrong. Though... Elena has a semi-cute voice though, I like Fran's, and Dularn's voice really suits him (her?). But otherwise, could definitely be better, and takes a while of getting used to.
Speaking of the VAing, skipping through the dialogue will cause it to echo (in my headphones when there's no BGM at least), and it can be pretty annoying, ngl.
And yeah, again, badly designed achievements that try to force multiple playthroughs for the easiest tasks (why?). Ok, so I was fine with Celceta doing this, as you only needed to blaze through the game a second time to get the rest of the ultimate weapons, but this game requires playthroughs on EVERY difficulty for the said tasks in achievements. I just cannot be assed (anyone could do these anyway tbh (except maybe the Nightmare and Inferno playthroughs)). And in Origin... you need to playthrough the game like 8 times overall (literally just straight playthroughs), just because "hey, extra achievements :)". I did the multiple playthrough achievements anyway cause I'm stupid.
During the campaign, the Ligaty boss won't even trigger unless you speak to the mayor at some point, which the game does not indicate. Haven't actually tested if you can boss skip with this, but I assume you can't (I did go on ahead a bit, but not too far. Assuming certain story events don't trigger.).
Everything else is pretty much mentioned in positives besides certain comments.

Honestly though, despite its shortcomings, I've come to really respect this game and could probably play through it any day of the week (well, as long as those playthroughs aren't so close together that I'd burn myself out). Part of me was saying to bump this up to S tier after replaying it, honestly, and then there's another part telling me to knock it down to B tier because of the unfair difficulty. But again, since I'm torn, I'm leaving it be in A.

Ys 5

I had some good fun with this one tbh. I really do hope this game gets remade someday, preferrably in the Napish engine.
Positives:

Really refreshing to see a "classic" Ys game that decided to finally grow out of the bumper system.
No grinding is required! The game is that easy you basically don't need to grind the entire game, if you don't want to, and is awesome. I decided to anyway, since I actually like to grind in Ys games, lul.
Quite like the story in this game tbh. And imo it's one of the darkest in the series. Like, you actually get to see people being sacrificed for the ritual (speaking of which happens quite often, by the looks of it)? Damn.
Pretty in the middle OST with this one, but there are a couple I really like (I forget the names).
The dungeon design in this game is pretty cool, ngl. Nowhere NEAR the best in the series... But for what they were, I did like them :p

Negatives:

Only 3 save slots when the Ys 4 games had more (Mask of the sun with 5(?) and Dawn of Ys with 15)... Cmon...
Menuing in this game was super weird. Like you could lay the menu out however you wanted and it always changed depending on how you menu. It really is... eh?
Can we STOP with the hidden item in the wall thing? I appreciate how Ys 4 never really did this, and they really had to go back to it here? Ugh, just put every item in a chest, ffs.
I actually enjoyed the bosses in this game, but they're a bit too easily to be that memorable (until near the end at least), sadly.
It's REALLY easy to get lost in Kefin, aka the end game dungeon.
Enemy hitboxes are pretty crap in this game. I appreciate the effort, and it isn't completely unbearable for it being the first non-bump combat game, but yeah. I feel a lot of time I should've been hitting normal enemies way more than I was, and they hit me more than they should've, idk.
Bit of a nitpick, but it's really easy to fall off narrow ledges from platforming and it triggers me.
Minus the initial fire magic you get (and are forced to make), magic is basically useless in this game. Like, the animations are way too long and they don't serve any real purpose. Again, except the fire one.

Ys 4: Mask of the Sun

HEAR ME OUT! Please don't instantly hate me for this. Ok so... The two Ys 4 games were actually the last ones I did my "first playthrough" on. This game is NOWHERE near as bad as people say it is imo. Nowhere near.
Positives:

It's fast paced as HELL and I LOVE it for that! Until this game I never actually liked a classic Ys game with the bumper system (minus Ys 1/2 Chronicles), because idk, they felt too slow or weird to control. This one though, oh, I had fun with this.
Say what you want, but the dungeons are ALL well designed imo (well, all except that silver temple thing before the tower near the end, fuck that maze-y place). Like seriously, the sand dunes in the first dungeon was a poggers idea! And the list goes on.
The game is pretty linear in general up until again, the silver temple, which I also really like. Usually when it comes to classic Ys games I'd have to follow a guide to know where I'm going. Whereas in this game I just went in on my own, completely blind, and did 90% of the game no problem.
For a classic Ys game, the story was ok. A bit better than 5's I'd say.
The game actually had an ending, unlike Memories of Celceta, and it's actually decent imo!
Bosses are quick and snappy, which makes them fun. I actually wish there was a Time Attack in this one, would've been cool.
Good OST. Was nice hearing the original songs that Memories of Celceta took from.
Lol at the "all right, no time like the present!" jump moment near the end of the game.

Negatives:

Karna and Leeza are DICKS in this game! :(
Whilst I did say the bosses are fun, what I do NOT appreciate is the fact that half the bosses in this game have instant kill attacks. They're hard to see coming, too. WHO'S idea was this!?
Again, the silver temple place.
Only 5 save slots. Would've liked more so I could've replayed bosses more easily.
Magic, again, was useless in this game. Like, I don't really care since I probably would have never used it anyway, but just putting this here.
I find it hard to believe Adol survived a lightning explosion without a scratch in that one scene...

Ys 2 Chronicles

Yes, I feel this and Ys 1 Chronicles deserve to be seperated, since:

I like them for different reasons.
I like this one better than Ys 1.

Positives:

If it weren't for the maze like dungeons in this game, this would've easily been my favourite bumper combat game tbh.
The edition of the magic system was well implemented here actually. Probably the best magic system in an a bumper combat game, easily.
I'm surprised at how nice the story was in this game, and how much effort they put into that ending, damn.
There are literally NO bad bosses in this game (which I think this is the ONLY Ys game I can say that for). I wish I was joking. Fuck Dalles on Nightmare though; my only complaint.
Whilst I did like the level 10 limit in Ys 1, I do appreciate them buffing it to a lot higher in this game; actually gives you a reason to fight stuff.
That ice/snow dungeon was really cool tbh (no pun intended).
Sleeping in beds was uh... a nice touch :eyes:

Negatives:

Again, the maze-like dungeons leave a bad taste in my mouth.
A lot of looking up guides to figure out what to do at the start of the game, meh.
FUCK that escort mission with the kid in the lava cave. NEVER want to go through that again.

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Oh boy, do I have a lot to say about this one... So originally, right, I did my first playthrough of this game coming right out of Ys 7 and thought it was the most boring game ever and had a lot of beef with it. I cannot stress enough how happy I was to be done with my first playthrough back then. HOWEVER, after playing through the game again (yes, it was a NG+, but it's still something), I've actually come to respect the game quite a bit, for a good number of reasons.
Positives:
So I've already said what this game improves upon over Ys 7 in my Ys 7 thoughts, so I won't say them again (character limit).
Ok so... What other positives are there? Well...

Karna best girl. My personal favourite Ys girl of all time (well, this game's version of her at least). Seems like a fun one to hang out with. She also has really fun combat! Probably the most fun in the game actually. What is it with pierce users being super fun?
Frieda 2nd best girl. As well as my favourite DESIGNED Ys character of all time (her EXTRA with Hero Ring on is also damn cool). Second most fun in combat imo.
Really like how they handled Leo in this game tbh. Rather than being a Wario-like antagonist they made him a cooler comedic character. Don't get me wrong, I do like Dawn of Ys' version of him, but yeah.
In fact, I'd honestly have to say this game does comedy scenes best in general. Had me giggling a few times.
Griselda... she's a hot mommy tbh, and I bet she'd make a good dom :3 Far from my favourite girl in the series, but she's hawt. That said I'm sad she never got any romance moments in Ys 8 :(
OST is easily one of the best in the series (second place tied with the original 4 games, easily. there's SO many good tracks in here).
The SECOND half of the game has some neat dungeons and bosses (keyword: SOME). That tower inparticular was a pretty badass dungeon, ngl.
I think the graphics are decent in this game. Except the menus though; they look so basic, it hurts, ugh (too lazy to put this in negatives, but yeah, it is one). Still remember saying to myself when installing this game for the first time though "oh wow, that is one CLEAN looking Adol model". Easily the worst graphics of the modern Ys era, but they definitely have their charm.
Ninja running in this game when you unlock the shoes artifact thing is actually AMAZING! This game does it much better than Ys 8 imo (feels barely a bit faster than normal in that game). This might just be my favourite mechanic in the whole series just due to how fun it is.
The fact that this game shows you stats for each character's skills is actually really nice. It's such a shame the other games don't do this, because it makes skill builds so much easier.
Chasing a Mishy down and being able to access a 3D Roo's nest!? Yes please! I love it tbh. Sorry Ys 2, but yours was ok at best.
Spam rolling is still fun, but not really as much as in 7 (though I do appreciate how much smoother Duren's rolling feels compared to Dogi/Mustafa/Cruxie).
Holy shit, after my second playthrough I can't get over how they removed the switching during EXTRA attacks feature after this game. I think it's really cool and it makes bosses feel faster, just saying.
Combat is actually quite fun in this game... ONCE you get used to it. Again, took me almost an entire playthrough to get used to it. I do like it now though. Again, Karna and Frieda in particular are my favourites to use, followed by Calilica and Adol with Aura Fencer and Duren with Phoenix Kick.

Mid:

The story is pretty ok imo, but pretty average for an Ys game. I will say though the "oh no, the criminal Adol is back!" when you enter a new village gets annoying after the first time.
Not sure entirely how I feel about Adol speaking so much in a canon game (I'm talking the memory cutscenes)...
There are WAY too many dialogue choices. I do like these but... again, feel they are way too oversaturated, and that they do try to force humor (I did laugh at quite a few of them, but still doesn't excuse the fact).

Negatives:

Ok, so despite what I said about the combat in positives, I STILL can't forgive what the game does with the "skill finish", "excellent finish" and "aerial finish" messages and animations whenever you killed normal enemies with them, which... Yeah. They just flat out ruined the flow of things, honestly. And overall the combat just didn't feel as exciting as 7, or even other games for that matter. Again though, after my second playthrough, I DO enjoy it now (to some extent), but again, not nearly as much as the other games.
Pls Falcom, NEVER bring that Misfortune ailment back. EVER.
Swimming in this game feels like a BIG nono. It's fine in other Ys games, but just feels way too slugish and boring in this game imo.
Dungeons in general... at least ones that involve swimming, genuinely suck. Like seriously, fuck dungeons that involve swimming. They feel slow and boring.
And speaking of dungeons... the mandatory Slate Fragment collecting in the first couple of dungeons were really stupid. If I wanna blaze through a dungeon without caring for something like this, I should be able to. Surely there are better ways you can encourage exploration?
Up until like halfway through the game, the bosses are really hit or miss, but CAN be enjoyable if you really try to.
Not really a massive fan of how Flash Guard works in this game. It works like 7's where it only stays active for a split second, but I'm fine with it in 7, it feels like its own thing. Here though I don't like it because the Flash system feels a lot more like 8's, which leaves me comparing this game to 8, and 8 does Flash Guarding way better (if that makes sense). Also I swear in this game you can easily still get hit if you Flash Guard anyway, so it doesn't 100% make you invincible in this game, which can be slightly annoying.
Getting 100% map in this game is a major annoyance (wasn't ANYWHERE near as bad in 8). Hugging every possible wall is... just super annoying.
That ending... Might the WORST ending I've ever seen in a video game. AT LEAST MAKE SOME EFFORT... Like, even Ys 8's ending isn't this bad... Freaking Mask of the Sun, a SNES game, had a way better ending than this.
You do all that work for Rabbit and Pigeon and they don't even get a satisfying ending to their arc. It pissed me off. In a romantical sense, I mean.
There's a side quest near the end of the game where you have to kill a certain amount of enemies with probably the weakest sword in existance. If you did this yourself you KNOW how pisstaking it can be; ESPECIALLY on Nightmare.
Why is it required to start a NG+ to unlock Time Attack? Why? Just put the shit on the main menu like you do every other game.
Hey, you get warping at the start of the game like in Origin! ...LIMITED warping, though. Basically you can warp to any momument that has the same colour as the one you're warping from (and later on they add the same SHAPE rule too... why?). Why not just give us the full package from the getgo? Makes NO sense whatsoever. I hate the fact that it also literally takes HALF THE GAME to get the full one, ugh.
WHY should I have to keep constantly switching Duren into my party just to fucking open chests!? WHO thought this was a good idea? Same goes with other party members tbh. Like, for example, it's basically mandatory to keep Calilica in your party in the tower dungeon for her out-of-battle ability. Feel like this is going to be a recurring thing in Ys 9 too for some reason... Which I'm not looking forward to, but hey.
TOO MANY TUTORIALS SCREENS FOR ME TO SKIP REEEE (no, seriously, there are a LOT in this game).
I'm gonna be honest, after playing through this game a second time months later, the lack of camera control can be annoying in the open world (like, I found myself opening the bigger minimap a lot just to see where about I was). In 7 it felt like everything was placed sensibly with the camera in mind tbh. Fighting the forest super boss is especially annoying because of this (would be a lot easier otherwise).
Those early game areas that repeat the same path over and over until you pick the right way... ugh.
I really, REALLY do not the weapon/armor enhancement system in this game. Just feels out of place for an Ys game.
I wish we got to see that date with Sandra in the endgame :(

Despite its shortcomings though, again, I really have gained quite a bit of respect for this game after playing through it a second time for achievements, not enough for it to be B tier or above, but I originally put this game in C tier, and have bumped it up to the borderline tier.

Ys 4: The Dawn of Ys

Ok so... I DO understand why people love this game so much. Gameplay wise though... Meh. I'm probably gonna get some hate for this one, but whatever.
Positives:

The voice acting (especially for a fan dub) and animated scenes were fucking great.
Again, good OST. Was nice hearing the original songs that Memories of Celceta took from.
An 8-way movement system in a classic Ys game before 5!? POGGERS!
Oh hey, there's actually a decent amount of save files this time.
Better story than Mask of the Sun (even though I DID like the one there), and holy shit, the addition of Leo (he honestly reminded me of Wario with those laughs tbh)!
That ending especially man... Idk if it's my favourite ending in the series, but definitely in my top 3. SO good. This is the reason why the game is in the borderline tier btw. If it weren't for the ending, it would've been C tier.
Karna and Leeza aren't dicks in this game (and are actual good characters now) (comparing to Mask of the Sun)! :)
Holy shit swimming as a Roo is amazing! My favourite part of the gameplay, probably. Yes, I'm aware you can also do this in Memories of Celceta, but it feels way too slow there to be enjoyable.

Negatives:

Oh no, the return of maze like dungeons :(
After transitioning from this game from Mask of the Sun... The gameplay felt way too slow, I'm sorry. Like, both from a control standpoint and recovering health (in Mask of the Sun, it'd recover to max in basically a few seconds; here it takes like a century. by standing still, btw.). Again, I do appreciate the 8-way movement, but yeah.
Bosses are fun, but terribly unbalanced since imo they have way too much health (for the bumper system, at least). I'll make an exception here for like the last 4 or so bosses, since they actually feel ok.
Takes a goooooood while for you to get warp magic in this game... Which is annoying, because this game isn't anywhere near as linear as Mask of the Sun, whereas I was ok there at the timing you got warping because of it.
There's an optional section near the end of the game where you can get the highest tier of equipment from Leo after he dies, but it's a massive pain to do (look it up). Not even worth it anyway tbh, since you'll be fine with the penultimate tier equipment easily.

But yeah... The negatives outweigh the positives here, I'm sorry to say (notice how I only put 1 (or technically 2) minor gameplay positive point down). Apart from the voice acting and animated scenes, I don't like this game as much as other people (yeah I know, my taste is trash, roast me in the comments).

Ys 1 Chronicles

After putting down the og Ys 1 after half an hour of playing (I really didn't care; you'll see why after), this felt really refreshing tbh. I really like the amount of detail that went into this game and Ys 2 Chronicles.
Positives:

So yeah, nice attention to detail. For Ys 2 Chronicles also, but too lazy to scroll up and add it there. Like seriously, feels like a breath of fresh air seeing seagulls fly around in a nicely graphic'd environment in a classic Ys game. Also nice how you can see Adol behind buildings, etc in the overworld.
Decent bosses tbh, I like these ones. Well, all except (check negatives)...
Good story.
Good OST, as usual. One of the least memorable ones for me though, sadly. Probably in like... 7th or 8th place. But still good.
Darm Tower is a fun dungeon.

Negatives:

Maze-like dungeons that are worse than Ys 2. They're also boring and flat in this game. Again, excluding Darm Tower, which I quite liked.
Vagullion (third boss)... Everyone who's played this game will know why he's here. No explanation needed. Dark Fact isn't going here because he's actually a fun boss, even on Nightmare.
Whilst I do appreciate what they tried to do with the level cap being 10, would've been nice to actually have a reason to fight normal enemies besides enemy book registration beyond that. Also feels like a boss or two weren't designed with the level cap in mind (on Nightmare, at least).
Again, a lot of looking at the guide to figure out what to do. Mainly due to the first negative point I made. And also, the plains can be really easy to get lost in, which is also a pain.

Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga

Honestly not much to say about this game since it isn't even fully translated yet (I think it was menus and a few other words here and there?) apart from the gameplay feels like a really clunky version of Ys 7's engine, which it plays in. Despite that though, I had a blast from what I played of this; feels preeetty freaking fun, ngl. If it was as fluid as Ys 7, probably would've been at least a B. Also, it's fucking cool that you can put Adol against Chester Ys 7 style :3
...Despite the story not being translated though, it does look pretty damn weird from what I've seen.

Typing of Ys

Again, not really much to say for this one either. It's a typing game, and a pretty fun one at that. Really short though (10-15 mins at best) and probably wouldn't ever touch it again unless I've got absolutely NOTHING to do (like AT ALL). But yeah, good for what it is imo. Moving on.

Ys 1/2 OG

As explained earlier in my Ys 1 or 2 Chronicles section, I only played Ys 1 for about half an hour before dropping it due to how slow and weird it felt. Nothing more to say tbh.

Ys 3

It's a sidescroller, and a bad one at that. Please never make another Ys sidescroller again. Thanks. The hitboxes are pure SHITE in this game. Maybe I'm just bad, but never made it past the first dungeon of this game and just dropped it lol.

Ys Strategy

This game doesn’t exist, shush.

Additionally, I have created a Pastebin (link below) with my thoughts on the Ys 1/2 anime, along with some mini Ys tier lists, as I felt like throwing them in. Reason I'm not putting them here is because the character limit keeps cucking me, so yeah.
https://pastebin.com/317SdPmr

And finally, in case you're wondering, I played the Ys games in this order (first playthrough wise)

Ys 8
Ys 6
Ys: The Oath in Felghana
Ys 1/2 OG (for what I played at least)
Ys 3 (for what I played at least)
Ys 7
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Ys Origin
Typing of Ys
Ys Strategy (for what I played at least)
Ys 5
Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga
Ys 1 Chronicles
Ys 2 Chronicles
Ys 4: Mask of the Sun
Ys 4: The Dawn of Ys
Soon to be Ys 9

Yes, I spent a shit ton of free time typing all this out, but whatever.
Anyways... it's been a fun ride tbh. Again, for the most part, I genuinely have enjoyed my time with these games. Might do another binge one day, who knows. If you have any questions, ask them below and I'll get back to you. Peace out.

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4/10 Lay Bet Craps Strategy. Close. Vote. Posted by just now. 4/10 Lay Bet Craps Strategy. youtu.be/TKmmdd... 0 comments. share. save. hide. report. 100% Upvoted. Log in or sign up to leave a comment Log In Sign Up. Sort by. best. View discussions in 2 other communities. no comments yet. Be the first to share what you think! When craps players bet against the shooter in a casino table, the most common strategy is to play don’t pass and don’t come. Backing those bets by laying the free odds cuts the house edge to the bone for “Dark Side” or “wrong bettor” – as the majority who bet with the shooter refer to don’t players. Besides the first deposit bonus many online casinos offer free spins to new players. Most of the time the free spins are offered on a specific slot machine, usually Lay Bet Craps Strategy a new or Lay Bet Craps Strategy promoted slot machine. Popular slot machines for free spins are Starburst, Gonzo’s Quest, Warlords, Mega Fortune Dreams, Scruffy Duck and Dazzle me. The Lay Bet in Craps. T he Lay bet is basically opposite of the Buy bet. You bet that a 7 will appear before one of the point numbers (i.e., 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 Craps Lay Bet Strategy. Craps can be a daunting game for most including ourselves if we are honest and is not a game we normally play but here is the craps lay bet strategy and explanation of what exactly a lay bet is in craps. When placing lay bets on craps you have no complicated or confusing bet combinations or hedges that are needed. Craps is a dice game in which players place wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. Players may wager money against each other (street craps, also known as shooting dice or rolling dice) or a bank (casino craps, also known as table craps). The ‘Lay the (4) or (10) Betting Strategy works great on cold and choppy tables, but keep in mind, no betting strategy will change the house edge on the bet. VARIATIONS As simple and effective as this bet is, there are many ways to play this at the tables. Lay bet strategy in craps gambling is used by a don’t bettor to bet on point numbers that don’t appear frequently. For instance, betting on a 4 or a 10 is a perfect example. When you go to the layout, tell the stickman ‘Lay 4’. In case a 7 appears before the 4, you win. Lay Bet and True Odds. The pay-off of the Lay bet is based on true odds. However, the odds are different for each point number the player bets on. There are three variations of the bet, including Lay bet for the 4 and 10, Lay bet for the 5 and 9 and Lay bet for the 6 and 8. The true odds for placing a Lay bet on 4 and 10 are 1 to 2. When it The lay bet works almost the same way, except it is the opposite. This time you wager on the point number and that the shooter will roll a seven before the point. Home Learn How to Play Craps Dictionary of Craps Terms Odds and Probabilities Payout Charts Rules of the Game Strategy for Craps Dice Control and Setting Free Flash Craps Good

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CRAPS: Place, Buy, and Lay Bets Explained - YouTube

Watch me employ my strategy to turn $300 into over $4000.Practice for free at http://wizardofodds.com/play/craps/ Lay Bets - craps payouts are the opposite of Buy bets. You are betting the seven will show before one of the point numbers. Lay bets pay at the true odds of ... Full Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLALQuK1NDrj7DaGymT8e8PmguI64cu-P--Like these Gambling Lessons !!! Check out the official app http://ap... About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators ... Don't try this Strategy, unless you want to win - Craps Betting Strategy. This is a Don't strategy by John Patrick. This craps betting strategy is called the... Craps Best lay betting strategy Craps Lay bets on either the four or the ten #eltorodiceclub. @El Toro Dice Club @Color Up @Vince Armenti @Uncle Angelo @CEG ... 1. Gamble at your own risk. 2. This is what I do so if you have any questions- comment and i can give you an answer 3. happy betting 4. This is version 1 ; F... If you have a system to play: I'll play it. If you have a specific bankroll or table min request; I'll play it. Just comment or email me. Drunk Guy Explains ... This is my favorite craps betting strategy. Do I always win with this craps strategy? Actually I rarely do. But hear me explain in this video why I still rea... Do you adjust your craps strategy if you are losing? What if you have lost half of your bankroll? Maybe it's time to consider a halftime adjustment with your...

Craps: Lay the 4 or 10 Betting Strategy – Craps Secrets

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So, I started working as a manager in Lobotomy Corp a few days ago. PART 8

Ritual of initiation

Second week, day 2: The dance of the nails

Ordeal: Dawn of Violet

The Future That Never Was: KITTY KITTY - #3 THE INELUCTABLE DUEL

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1.09 Survival isnt that bad. A freshies experiences

Just finished my complete Ys series marathon, and here are my thoughts on the series!

Intro

Reasonings/Thoughts

Ys 8

Ys 6

Ys Origin

Ys 7

Ys: The Oath in Felghana

Ys 5

Ys 4: Mask of the Sun

Ys 2 Chronicles

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Ys 4: The Dawn of Ys

Ys 1 Chronicles

Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga

Typing of Ys

Ys 1/2 OG

Ys 3

Ys Strategy

And finally, in case you're wondering, I played the Ys games in this order (first playthrough wise)

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CRAPS: Place, Buy, and Lay Bets Explained - YouTube