Between these 3 options, which one is the best for beans quality?

1. Single dose airtight. Ranging from Weber Bean Cellar all the way to IKEA ÖRTFYLLD. All the cellavials are pretty much airtight storage with more expensive options having a CO2 escape valve.
2. Multi dose air displacement. Essentially keeping the beans in the resealable bag they came in with a squeeze. Or something like Airscape canister.
3. Multi dose with vacuum. Something like Fellow Atmos

Specifically, I'm not clear whether keeping an airtight single dose is better than keeping in vacuum but reopening often. For example consider the very last dose of of a standard 12oz/340g bag. In scenario #1 it was exposed to air once and kept airtight all the way till the brewing. In scenario #3, it was exposed to air 17 times (340g / 20g), but was kept in a vacuum.
Vials/cellars:
https://weberworkshops.com/products/bean-cellar-resin?variant=40760961663029
https://craiglyn.com/bean-vaults/
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/oertfylld-spice-jar-glass-stainless-steel-60391350/
​
I watched James Hoffman video but it did not include the single dose cellars. It seems that his conclusion for espresso is that vacuum is slightly better than airtight, but it does not take into account multiple air exposures.

FOR STEAM, ROCKSTAR, AND EPIC LAUNCHER VERSION OF GTA ONLINE PC

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Hoping for some advice
We recently bought our first property, it’s a conversion of an old terrace house into four flats in London. When we viewed the property initially, it was still being converted. One of the things we really liked about the flat was that it included a terrace . When we viewed the property the first time the agent told us that we would have access to the full terrace and it would have a perimeter glass balustrade. (We cannot attach photos to this group, but the size was meant to be 3m squared terrace with glass balustrade, this was how it was marketed to us and what we were told it would be on viewings).
We completed a few weeks ago, one of the last things to be finished was the terrace (the week before completion). The timings meant that we never saw the finished terrace and stupidly we didn’t ask for evidence that it had been finished before we completed.
We moved in, and to our shock have been greeted with a 1.6m squared perimeter balustrade, the balustrade is not glass but polycarbonate and it’s 1.7m high. Having reviewed planning forms it’s clear the seller never had consent to build a perimeter balustrade and instead only 1.6m squared and the council made the balustrade 1.7m to protect the privacy of neighbours.
Throughout the purchase the estate agent told us it was going to be a glass balustrade around the perimeter and never mentioned the 1.7m. Naively we trusted the agent and unfortunately our solicitor seemed to missed this and failed to flag any of the planning issues to us. We were never told about the height or size restrictions.
We are trying to seek compensation for the above as we think we have been misled and have made a complaint against the estate agent. Should we also be doing something similar with our solicitor for missing the planning?
Has anyone had any experience with similar situations? If so, should we be taking legal advice here, and if so, what type of solicitor should we speak with? Any advice would be welcomed and greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much in advance

Hey guys looking to clear out some items
Time stamps: https://imgur.com/a/7HFhXS1
GoXLR +shure mvy + Samson boom arm - 650
Apex mw2 controller - 140$ needs new sticks can be bought from apex for 15$
Blue ps5 controller brand new used for 15 minutes can’t use cause it doesn’t have padels 60$ paid 100 at Walmart
Pulser v2 mouse with glass feet 75$
Final mouse starlight medium poseiden - 220$
Z490 apex - 120$
Stream deck XL - 200$
Feel free to correct me on any prices just prices that I thought would be fair
Have a amazing day

Chapter 1
June 12, 2036, Franklin, North Carolina
I walked through the front yard to the front door. I dropped my duffel bags on the porch and stepped up to the front door and knocked. Mom answered with surprise and worry on her face.

 'Oliver? What are you doing here?' she hugged me as I stepped across the threshold. Winston, sniffed my legs wagging his tail in excitement. 'Long story, Mom, I’m out of the Army, for good.' she nodded but didn’t ask any further questions. We moved into the kitchen and sat at the table to drink mugs of strong coffee. 'Do you want to tell me what happened?' she asked. 'Things went sideways,' I said. I realized I wasn't ready to talk about it just yet. 'I thought I could try and start up Dad’s welding business. I was always good at it, and I think I could drum up his old clients and stay busy with some work.' 'Well, it would be nice to have you around, honey. You’ll need to look through all his business paperwork and get caught up on all that.' I nodded, 'We have time. I want to ensure I’m doing it right.' 'I understand, Ollie,' she said and smiled, 'let's go to the diner tonight, my treat.' 'I could go for some peach cobbler and ice cream. Sure, Mom sounds perfect,' I said, and we rose. I went to the guest room and changed out of the clothes I had spent the last 22 hours traveling in. I grabbed the truck keys, and Winston followed us down the hallway to the front door. 'Hold down the fort, Winston,' he wagged his tail in response. 'You want to drive?' Mom asked. 'I haven't had a chance to drive around Franklin in a long time,' I said, and Mom climbed into the passenger seat of the Tesla. Mom turned the radio to a classic rock station as I backed out of the driveway. I drove along the winding asphalt road to town. 'Hope it isn't too packed, it is Friday night,' Mom said. 'I'm sure we'll be ok; it's still early enough. I bet we beat the dinner rush.' J's Diner was the only diner in town and could fill up quickly. I passed the large, green, metal sign welcoming drivers to Franklin, and approached the historic square of town. I made a couple of left turns to the diner's street parking and came to a stop. There were only two other cars. 'See, Mom, I think we'll get our cobbler pretty quick,' I said. I walked just behind her; the jingle of a bell announced our entrance. 'Just seat yourself; I'll be right with you,' a female voice called from behind a counter in the kitchen. 'Ok, thanks,' Mom answered. We found a booth in the back corner of the small, red and white decorated restaurant. It had a 1950's theme and even a tiny 1957 Chevy hung from the ceiling. A waitress came around the front counter, her brown, hair in a messy bun and two menus in her hands. 'Here you are, Mrs. Banks,' she said, setting the menus before us. 'Can I get you two anything other than water?' She looked at my face and froze, 'Oliver, is that you?' 'Lacy?' I asked, now understanding why her voice sounded so familiar. 'I didn't know you were back in Franklin,' she said, smiling. I also noticed a large grin on Mom from her side of the table. 'Just got back, actually, a few hours ago.' I explained. 'Done seeing the world?' She said, her hands in the front of her apron, she sounded genuinely curious. 'You could say that,' I said. Lacy seemed unable to think of another question for me. 'Sorry, umm, just waters?' she shook her head. 'Waters are fine, sweety,' Mom answered, glancing between the two of us. Did Mom think this was actually going to work? 'No problem, I'll be right back,' and Lacy walked off. 'Don't be so weird, Mom,' I said, and she just shrugged her shoulders innocently. Our phones on the table between us began to flash and buzz loudly. I picked mine up and read the Alert Message, it read. ***THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION HAS DETECTED AN IMMINENT ELECTRO-MAGNETIC SPACE THREAT TO PLANET EARTH. A SOLAR FLARE-GENERATED WALL OF SPACE WEATHER WILL IMPACT EARTH IN APPROXIMATELY 5 MINUTES. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. IF YOU ARE INDOORS, STAY INDOORS. IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS, SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER IN A BUILDING. REMAIN INDOORS, WELL AWAY FROM WINDOWS. IF YOU ARE DRIVING, PULL SAFELY TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND SEEK SHELTER IN A BUILDING OR LAY ON THE FLOOR. WE WILL ANNOUNCE WHEN THE THREAT HAS ENDED. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION MEASURES.*** 'What the hell does that mean?' Mom asked, jerking her head up to look at me, panic creeping into her features. 'The message said five minutes, assuming there was a good flash to bang from the message being created and sent out,' I said. Suddenly, our phones’ screens flashed white and winked out, going black. The diner's lights began to flicker on and off until they dimmed too. 'We have to get out of here, Mom,' I said, sliding out of the booth. 'Ollie, what's happening?' she asked, following me. 'We have to get home, now,' I grabbed her elbow and began to steer her to the exit. I opened the door, and we stepped out onto the sidewalk. The early evening sky was streaked with green and purple ribbons of bright, glowing light. The northern lights were flashing and strobing over Franklin. It was beautiful and terrifying. Mom muttered something under her breath at my side, but I couldn't hear. The streetlights, had just started to turn on for sunset, flashed and remained off. All the stoplights around the town square shut off. Cars were strewn about the streets, people stood next to them, staring at their phones, and fear on everyone's face. Off to the south, a loud rushing of air could be heard. I stepped out onto the street to get a better look. A large commercial airliner jet was careening out of the sky directly at the center of town. 'Mom, get down,' I yelled, throwing her to the ground and covering her with my body. The explosion as the jet crashed into the northern edge of town was deafening. The earth shook, windows around us shattered and glass struck the asphalt and concrete nearby. I remained lying over Mom until the roar of the blast faded. I stood and stared north. A giant ball of flame still rose into the sky, visible over the three-story buildings of the town. 'Oh my god, those people,' Mom gasped, 'we have to help.' 'They can't be helped,' I said. The text message and what was happening before my eyes started to fit together in my mind like a puzzle. Suddenly Buddha, was standing by me just a couple of feet away. He looked real, solid, his good eye catching mine. 'You have to get your Mom home, Stone,' Buddha said, 'this place is about to turn into a freaking madhouse, and you know it.' He was right, no matter how weird the conversation with my old mentor was. 'Come on, Mom, we can't stay here. We have to get home to the cellar and hold up,' I said. I climbed into the pickup and Mom got in the passenger seat. I hit the push start, but nothing happened. It was dead. 'We have to walk,' I said, 'Come on, Mom, it's only a few miles.' I got out of the truck and helped Mom out of her side. She stared at the streaks of northern lights, waiting for another jet to plummet down on top of us. We walked the sidewalk to US 56, the highway that would take us out of town to the homestead. We turned and began the upward climb out of the shallow valley Franklin sat in the bottom of. We summited the last hill, longer and steeper than the first couple we had climbed. 'Stop, catch your breath Mom,' I said. She had done well. Mom was fit for a woman in her mid-fifties but the adrenaline was starting to wear off. She turned and looked back down the valley toward town and gasped. The whole northern half of town appeared to be on fire. 'The whole town is burning,' she said. Her voice reminded me of shell-shocked soldiers I had seen. 'Main Street and Garfield should keep the fire contained to those current blocks, I think,' I said. I hope it saves the grocery and hardware store. This isn't going to be wrapped up and back to normal anytime soon. At 2100 hours, we turned up the driveway and back to the house. We entered the front door and checked each room in the house. The power was off in every room. I lit a fire in the living room fireplace, and we sat in silence. Winston hadn't calmed since we entered, continuously trying to climb into our laps for comfort. Mom eventually let him onto the couch, and he laid his head on her lap. 'Ollie, did you understand the message?' she asked, still looking into the fire and stroking Winston's head. 'Just from some basic space weather information I hear in briefs,' I said. 'Space weather changes based on the Sun, what kind of radiation is coming off the Sun's surface and hitting the Earth at any given time. The message said a flair, so the Sun must have blasted a huge amount of radiation at a given time, and it fried everything.' 'So, when does it all come back on?' she asked. 'Hard to say, if it hit the whole country,' I paused,' then it doesn't.' 'God help us,' Mom breathed. 

"Get over here, gonna need your help fighting the Red Menace again." "Communists, huh?" "Worse. Tomatoes!"
In the late 70s, the United States of America were terrorized by the greatest threat they had ever faced. Tomatoes, unable to be reasoned with, unable to be stopped, unable to hold back their relentless bloodlust. It took a group of specialists put together by the president to discover their one weakness, using it to negate the fruit threat. Ten years of peace passed, aided by the U.S. Congress outlawing tomatoes, and the new generation grew up unknowing of the menace once posed. This was until Professor Gangreen found a way to transform tomatoes into personal soldiers, planning on reminding the world of why they once feared them as he became its ruler.

Legend

1 - Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
2 - Return of the Killer Tomatoes!
3 - Killer Tomatoes Strike Back!
4 - Killer Tomatoes Eat France!
C-# - Attack of the Killer Tomatoes novelization, chapter #

Strength

Killing / Eating

• Bites off the fingers of a man^C-6
• One regular sized tomato kills a woman¹
• Takes out a helicopter pilot¹
• A herd of tomatoes eat a biker¹
• A large swarm of tomatoes kill a forty foot long squid^C-4
• A giant tomato eats a kid¹
• Another one eats a kangaroo^C-22
• One tomato gets placed in a small tank with five piranhas that would otherwise be the deadliest creature on Earth, and kills and eats all of them³

Striking

• Staggers a man with strikes³
• Knocks a biker off of his bike¹
• Smash through windows at a laboratory³
• Breaks through the back of a police car¹
• One takes down a helicopter^C-2
• Presumably a group of large tomatoes knock over a tank^C-17

Other

• One rolls over an elderly soldier, squishing him flat^C-17

Durability

Blunt Force

• One tomato doesn't splatter after attacking a woman repeatedly^C-1
• Form a barrier to block and hurt a giant squid^C-4
• A pyramid of tomatoes stop several motorbikes faster than their riders expected, though those directly in the path of the bike's wheels don't survive^C-6

Other

• At the start of their first invasion, it's said that chemicals, bugs, and bullets don't work¹
  • That being said, shortly after a shotgun is able to dispatch regular sized tomatoes¹
  • The novel specifies that bullets can stop them, but they're just difficult to hit, and that the bugs mentioned are aphids^C-2
• A giant tomato no-sells a number of point blank rifle shots¹
  • They need to be shot 67 times to be made to stop eating people^C-17
• When sliced into many little pieces, a tomato continues to move, only stopping on being smeared all over the carpet^C-24
• A humanoid tomato survives being in a gas chamber meant to execute prisoners²
• Tomato juice is said to still be living^C-1

Mobility

Ground

• Repeatedly dodges knife stabs from a woman in the nick of time, with the last attack not being telegraphed by a shout^C-1
• Keeps up with a fleeing man¹
• Rolls up a flight of stairs¹
• Appears out of a sink's garbage disposal before rolling out of said sink¹

Flying / Throwing Themselves

• Throw themselves at a car¹
• Hits a helicopter pilot¹
• Hit British planes in the air^{C-22 (Redux)}
• Bounces off of a wall to hit a woman that dodged an initial attack^C-1
• Levitates around a woman while attacking her³
• Two tomatoes fly around a group with a rope, tying them up⁴

Other

• Moves through water to attack women¹

Unique Forms

F.T.

• A failed experiment of Professor Gangreen's, a large, furry tomato that leaps up to a light switch²
• Leaps into a tree and potentially gets shot out of it²
• Gets beaten up by a crowd on a street²
• Gets launched out of a sewer and hit by a truck²
• Jumps on a grenade and survives²
• Wields a paintball pistol³
• Somehow drives a car⁴
• Somehow drives a quad bike²
• Speaks English⁴

Tomatozilla

• An enormous tomato in New York knocked over buildings at it rolled around^C-25
• Takes a hit from a giant robot that knocked down buildings^C-25
• Dodges projectiles from an equally enormous robot^C-25
• Still capable of fighting after being roasted by a flamethrower^C-25
• After being cut in two, the goo on its inside rises up and is capable of dissolving a giant robot before finally disappearing. Like this, it gets splattered apart by a missile, but still burns away at metal^C-25

Other

• Tara was a humanoid tomato that was Professor Gangreen's assistant, capable of speaking perfect English, cooking 815 international dishes, performing 637 sexual acts, and using all the popular home appliances²
  • Doesn't eat vegetables, instead opting for meat or plant food²
• A giant tomato with the destructive force equivalent to 5,000 killer tomatoes⁴
  • Eats a woman⁴
  • Breathes fire⁴
• One man is killed by drinking tomato juice¹
  • This tomato juice is said to still be living, and to taste like death instead of regular tomato juice^C-1
• A man is eaten by a BLT sandwich¹
• At least one elephant-sized tomato is seen to have grown a face, arms, and legs^C-24
  • It instantly regenerated its leg when it was cut off, before sprouting many more limbs and faces^C-24

Equipment

• A tiny shuriken and nunchucks³
• Hockey masks and chainsaws³
• A tiny gun³
• Dynamite that blows up a tank and a launcher for it⁴

Music Effects

Transformation

• Tomatoes dipped in toxic waste can be exposed to music, changing into different humanoid forms based on the type of music they hear²
  • One song turns tomatoes into soldiers with guns, capable of breaking plant pots with a punch and a wooden board with a hammer²
• Professor Gangreen claims they can be made to resemble anyone existing²
• They revert back to being a tomato on hearing a strain from Beethoven's 5th, and Tara returns back to her humanoid state with the chimes of a clock²
• On being shot, humanoid tomatoes revert into their usual state as they're splattered²
• Exposure to a gas used to execute prisoners leaves a humanoid tomato unable to transform when exposed to music²

Weakness

• When subjected to the song Puberty Love, tomatoes initially retreat before being shrunk back to their regular size and being depowered so that people can freely stamp on and destroy them¹
  • Puberty Love is said to be the worst song ever made²
  • In the novel, it causes them to flee without attacking,^C-19 though they still revert to normal tomatoes with exposure^C-27
• The person who initially discovered this tossed a previously-exposed tomato to another person, saying that it had been rendered harmless¹
• One giant tomato wore earmuffs so they couldn't hear the song, but was affected nonetheless when it was shown the sheet music to Puberty Love¹

Fear Induction

• Halfway through the first movie, merely saying the word 'tomato' is enough to instil mass panic¹
• Tara changing into a tomato in a restaurant instantly incites fear and clears it out²
• A tomato's presence on a street causes a crowd to gather to try and destroy it, and for them to chase after a 'tomato lover' who tries to rescue it²
• Following the first movie, the American congress banned tomatoes²

Other Capabilities

• Communicate with an understandable, translatable language¹
  • People are capable of speaking it³
  • Speak English in the fourth movie⁴
• Undoes a screw from the inside of a vent³
• Drive a van³
• Pile up on British ships until they sink under the weight of tomatoes^{C-22 (Redux)}
  • Potentially do the same with England as a whole after overwhelming their army^{C-22 (Redux)}
• Capable of taking people hostage³

Other

• Starting with the third movie, the tomatoes have faces for some reason³
• Preceding their first attack, tomatoes began growing at an unusually rapid pace^C-1
• A cherry tomato can become bigger than a bowling ball, with other tomatoes being of a size comparable to people¹
• After being struck through, large tomatoes become stuck on a woman's limbs and don't come off^C-12
• Are capable of burning, pillaging, and raping¹
• Rendered inert by a fire extinguisher³
• Won't eat their own kind, and so a person covering themselves with ketchup won't be attacked by them³
• Follow proper martial arts protocol^C-22

Girls: Izzy
Boys: Ezekiel, Mal
Episode 26: Hawaiian Punch
"Previously, on Total Drama World Tour!" Chris said, the first clip of the recap showing a pan from the wrecked plane to Izzy, Mal, and the host himself. "The Final Three took off like bats out of Drumheller," Chris continued as Mal was shown ducking behind a rock with a smirk, Izzy and Topher took off into the air in a makeshift hot air balloon, and Ezekiel was reading a newspaper in the train's passenger car.
"Unfortunately, Izzy brought Topher the plane-wrecker along for the ride," Chris added as the two teens were shown flying into the hailstorm. "Even more unfortunate? A broken yeti heart." Mal was shown being disgusted by the yeti kissing him.
"Thankfully, Ezekiel Clone made things less crappy to watch," the host conceded as Ezekiel Clone was shown chasing Ezekiel around the dessert cart. "Good times!" the host added as Ezekiel's boat hit a naval mine and were blown into the air.
"In the end, Mal the Mayhem King reached Hawaii first," he said as Mal's triumphant arrival on the beach was shown. "And Captain Canada and Princess Destructo tied for second place," he added as Ezekiel's boat was shown crashing into Izzy's, sending both finalists and Topher flying onto the beach at the same time. Chris laughed as the Final Three reacted with shock at the tie.
"Who will Mal face in the final challenge?" Chris asked, the recap ending with a flash to the beach, where the Final Three were lined up behind him. "And who will go home with a million dollars?!" he exclaimed in a dramatic emcee's voice. "Iiiiiit's finale time! Right here, on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
XXXXX
"Welcome to the live finale of Total Drama World Tour," Chris said, a triumphant tune already playing as the camera zoomed in on him, the finalists, and Dawn and Harold standing on the beach. "Moments ago, these guys tied for second in a boat sandwich," he said, the shot zooming in on the finalists before he stepped over to join them. "Tasty!" he added.
"During the break, we sent them to vent in the confessional. Check it!" Chris told the camera.
Confessional: Izzy
Izzy was first, and the new Hawaiian confessional seemed to be a roofless wooden outhouse set up somewhere in the jungle, based on the vines that were drooping into it.
"Finale time!!! I can't wait to purchase my very own race track and monster truck!" she cheered. "Granted, I tied with Ezekiel to the finish line, but I think I can handle him."
She paused for a moment. "It's Mal that's the most challenging. He shouldn't be in juvenile detention. That guy belongs in jail!"
Confessional: Ezekiel
Ezekiel's confessional started with a whoop of joy. "I can't believe how close I am to the million dollars! With that amount of money, I can hire more teachers to homeschool me and buy new and advanced books to study from."
He facepalmed his head. "I just have to beat Izzy and Mal in order to reach that goal."
Confessional: Mal
Mal was next. "Getting rid of the fifteen past losers was like scraping gum off my shoe. A bit sticky, but oh so satisfying! And with Mike trapped in my subconscious, that million dollars is mine!"
He delved into maniacal laughter once more, with the background fading into a fiery inferno before the shot zoomed into his subconscious again.
Mike, Manitoba Smith, Vito, Svetlana, and Chester have reached the top, panting in exhaustion from the stairs they had climbed.
Mike, who still had Chester on his back, walked over to a red button in the center of the room. "Oh, come on. We came all the way up here for a lousy button?" Mike complained.
"It's a destruction button, you ninny!" Chester stated.
"What? What does it do?" Svetlana asked.
"You see this tower here?" Chester started. "You press this button, and the tower goes kaboom!"
"Why would Mal have a self-destruct button?" Vito asked incredulously.
"Mal made this tower and since his head is all swelled up, he put this button there just to mock us for not being able to stand up to him," Manitoba deduced.
"But what if it hurts all of us?" Mike asked in concern.
"It's not going to kill us. That's not how DID works!" Chester moaned. "Mal will lose control of his body when his tower is destroyed."
"And after that, Mike and Mal will have to go one-on-one to see who'll claim control!" Svetlana realized.
"Hold up. I have to fight Mal?" Mike said in shock.
"You two are the most dominant out of us," Vito reasoned. "If me or anyone else tried to face him, we'd lose immediately."
"And if Mal defeats you, we'll be back to being under his control, and so will you, for the rest of your life!" Manitoba emphasized.
"That means I won't see my family or friends ever again," Mike gasped. "I have to do this!"
\
"Go Team Ezekiel!" Sadie cheered, drawing attention to the stands just off to the side where most of the rest of the cast were seated. "Your team is rooting for you!" she said, waving a small flag with the home-schooled guy's face on it.
"Why are they in teams?" Mal asked Chris, stepping towards him and shooting a skeptical look towards the gallery. "And why do I not have one?"
"The Peanut Gallery's playing a major role in choosing a winner," Chris explained, earning a cheer from those in the stand.
"Sweet," Duncan grinned. "I guess we're all voting on the winner again."
"A vote?" Mal said blankly and nervously.
"Yep. If you can't tell, you're done for," Noah smirked.
"We are here for you Izzy!" Owen said. "So show them you're the boss!"
"But first," Chris said as the music turned tense, "we gotta break a tie. Mal," he turned to the evil personality, "you won the race to Hawaii, so, your reward is this advantage: you can select the tiebreaker yourself, or you can let Izzy or Ezekiel do it."
"Like I'd give these short sacks a choice," Mal said with a chuckle. "I'll do it!"
"I was hoping you'd say that," Chris said with an ominous laugh that caused Mal to raise an eyebrow.
\
"Ta-da!" Chris said as the footage skipped forward to a close-up of a clear glass booth with some sort of yellowish bulb filled with small balls on top. "Each ball inside our challenge booth has a different tiebreaker written on it," he said, gesturing to the bulb as the shot pulled back to show the Final Three on the left and the Aftermath hosts behind the booth on the right. "So, take your pick!"
"This is going to be such a thrill," Mal said cynically before walking into the booth.
The door was closed and the machine whirred to a start, challenge music playing as Mal was pelted with the white golf balls of the challenge booth. "Are these golf balls?!" Mal yelled, wincing with every hit and causing the Peanut Gallery to laugh.
"I know for a fact that we only put ping pong balls in there," Harold said nervously, Dawn nodding in agreement.
"I know," Chris told them, "and I'm not mad. Just disappointed. I had to dial it up to meet my usual high standards!"
"Enough!" Mal said, still wincing with every hit. "This should stop right-" he said, tilting his head up as he tried to reach for the bottom of the bulb – the source of the balls. He was cut off abruptly, and suddenly put a hand to his throat. His eyes starting to bulge, he barged his way out of the booth and began to gag.
"No ball, no exit," Chris told him. "Back you go!"
Mal stayed put, grabbing his throat as he coughed and choked about. Eventually, he spat up a ball, and it landed in a small pool of spit in the sand.
"Dawn, Harold, go ahead and read that, would you?" Chris asked them.
"Yuck," Dawn winced, crouching down to pick up the spit-covered golf ball in two fingers. "Mal has selected the Traditional Hawaiian Fire Dance of...Death?" she announced, ominous music playing as Ezekiel frowned at the news while Izzy clapped for it.
\
The same Hawaiian tune that had been used in the past couple of episodes was playing as the footage skipped ahead to Ezekiel and Izzy standing on opposite ends of a wooden platform in the ocean, each dressed in coconut bras and grass skirts and holding padded jousting sticks. Between them was Mal, tied up tightly to a pole in the center of the platform.
"Why does a male warrior have to wear a coconut bra," Ezekiel commented, motioning to the odd piece of equipment.
"Forget about tradition?" Mal griped as the Hawaiian music cut out. "I'm stuck to a pole!"
Those in the gallery laughed. "He's funny when he's tied up and can't hurt me!" Owen laughed.
"Once I win this finale!" Mal countered, "you will all treat me with the utmost respect! I will not be forgotten again!"
"Right," Chris told him, the shot cutting to him and Chef on the beach – the hulking man in a floral-print skirt with a bow in his hand and a quiver of arrows on his back. "The first person to free Mal wins the last spot in the Final Two," Chris announced, "and a shot at the million!"
"I have one more question," Izzy spoke up. "If no one frees him, would that make me and Ezekiel the Final Two?"
"Hey!" Mal said in outrage.
"Won't work, I already checked," Chris answered. "Chef, would you do the honors?" he asked his assistant, the man drawing back two flaming arrows and releasing them with a twang. They struck a darkened patch on either side of the platform, just behind each competitor, which promptly burst into blazing fires that startled Izzy and Ezekiel.
"Oh, and stay out of the water," Chris added. "Starting...," Chef shot off another pair of arrows, these ones tipped with steaks, "now!" The arrows landed in the water where a pair of shark fins were already circling; one rose up and swallowed an arrow just as it plunked into the water.
"Good thing we're out of the game," Ella whispered over to Sadie.
"And rekindled our friendship in the process," Sadie agreed as challenge music began to play.
The gallery began to cheer and holler as the camera zoomed in on the platform, Izzy quickly taking the offense by swiping at Ezekiel with her jousting stick. "Prepare to go down!" she said, slamming her stick down hard against his as he tried to block.
"I'm too young to die, eh. I'm gonna take you down!" Ezekiel glared and blocked Izzy.
"Stay on your guard, Zeke!" Topher encouraged him.
"Go for her legs! It's easy!" Shawn spoke out as well.
"Alright, Izzy! You can pound him into meat!" Eva shouted.
"I'd ask any of you for my encouragement, but it'd be useless," Mal mumbled.
"I don't support people who mess with my best friends!" Sky said firmly.
Mal scowled back at her, and an arrow from Chef hit the pole he was tied to, causing it to burn up while Mal tried to blow it away.
His view was covered by Ezekiel having the upper hand on Izzy and thrusting her back. "Save yourself the trouble and let me win!" he said and continued to push his jousting stick onto Izzy and send her closer to her edge.
"Someone better win or I'm going to burst into flames!" Mal yelled impatiently.
Izzy struggled under Ezekiel's stick, but an idea formed in her head. "Hey Ezekiel, I see a hawk that's flying towards you," she fibbed.
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Ezekiel said. "Nice try."
"Darn it!" Izzy cursed under her breath.
Ezekiel pushed her to the ground, and just as he was about to swipe her off, Izzy lifted her stick and hit Ezekiel's foot with it. The homeschooler howled in pain and let his guard down, and Izzy used the opportunity to jab the padded end of her stick at his chin, knocking him a couple inches into the air and allowing his jousting stick to sink into the water.
He landed on the platform on his back, and Izzy quickly ran over to Mal. The camera angle switched to show her hands darting to the knot on the back, already partially undone, and seconds later the ropes slid off Mal as the challenge music ended.
"It's about time you got me out!" Mal whined. "You took too long to beat Ezekiel of all people."
"You leave him alone!" Izzy snapped. "He's proven himself to be more capable than any of us this season, and he is twice the person you will ever be!"
Ezekiel, still lying on his back, took the moment to smile. "That really means a lot coming from you," he told Izzy.
"Sorry I had to defeat you just to reach the finals," Izzy said as he helped Ezekiel back on his feet. "Are you going to be fine with taking third place?"
"I'm not going to win the cash prize," Ezekiel admitted, "but I've made friends, improved my views on the outside world, and gained a girlfriend from this show. That's more than enough for me now!"
Mal rolled his eyes, and someone in a hazmat suit appeared on the platform with a fire extinguisher. As they began putting out the flame on the fallen charmer's side, the former Final Three made their way to the edge of the platform to the general cheering of the unseen gallery.
\
The scene skipped forward to Izzy (back in her usual clothing) and Mal standing on the beach with Chris, the person in the hazmat suit clinging to the burning and sinking wreckage of the platform in the background.
"Now that we have our Final Two," Chris said with a broad smile, "it's my pleasure to announce the Peanut Gallery will not be voting for the winner."
"Yeah!" Mal said in triumph.
"Wait," Topher spoke up. "You said we were supposed to be playing a major role."
"Yep," Chris told him. "Just not in a vote-y kinda way. Prepare to have your minds blown out by the most lethal challenge in Total Drama history!" he announced dramatically.
"Izzy," he said as a shot of The Psycho Hose Beast smiling goofily against a red background, "versus Mal," a shot of The Malevolent One grinning darkly against a bluish background took over the screen, "versus the Volcano!" The shot changed to a distance shot of a volcano as it belched out a plume of smoke.
"Back in the day," Chris said as the scene cut to him standing between the two finalists; Mal on his left behind a light blue rug, Izzy on his right behind a light red rug; "human sacrifices were tossed into Kilauea volcano to appease the Gods. Sadly, the lawyers won't let me use real people as sacrifices. So! Mal and Izzy will have to make sacrifice stand-ins, using the island's most abundant resources."
The camera followed off-screen, landing on a pile of "Pineapples, and driftwood!"
"And to make it nice and symbolic," Chris continued as the shot cut back to him and the finalists, "you guys have to make dummies of each other to dump in the volcano. Now, you each get to pick two helpers."
"I'm not letting either of you pick me," Duncan immediately told them.
"I'll pick Eva," Izzy said immediately.
"Great!" Eva said standing up. "We'll win this one!"
"Exactly," Izzy smiled. "And my second choice is Noah."
"I normally don't care about contests, but this is one I can't sit out on," Noah said with a smile of his own.
"Sorry, Big-O! I need Team E-Scope for this part!" Izzy told her boyfriend.
"No problem. I want you to win with the best of the best," Owen told her.
Mal looked at the Gallery nervously, the camera panning across Peanut Gallery, all its members glaring at him. "Do I have to pick two?" Mal asked the host.
"Definitely! And all of them hate you." Chris snickered.
Mal groaned under his breath. "In that case, I'm choosing Sky first!"
"I'll help…but only for Mike!" Sky enforced.
"And lastly," Mal scanned the Gallery again, "I'll take Shawn!"
"I would refuse, but the rules won't allow me to do so," Shawn shrugged.
\
"Okay! We have our helpers!" Chris said as the scene flashed back to the two colored rugs; Izzy by the light red with Eva and Noah, Mal by the light blue with Shawn and Sky. "Now, Izzy and Mal, you have to stay on your mats and direct your helpers to bring you logs, driftwood,and pineapples that resemble parts of your opponent. And to make things a little more rhymey~!" He added with an excited smile as the all-to-familiar dings sounded and the musical note icon appeared on-screen.
///\
[A reverent, almost chanted riff opened as Sky and Shawn looked up and back, and the colors of the scene shifted to something more animated: the two in blue, against a background of reddish-pink flowers. The shot changed so that it seemed to be looking up at a blue volcano as it erupted against the floral background, and a blue and almost larger-than-life Mal emerged from its peak and with a laurel wreath on his head.]
"Hey peons, you should head straight! Don't ask, it'll make me ache!"
[He sang commandingly as a hip-hop tune began; holding out his arm as if to catch something before an almost cartoonish thunderbolt appeared in his hands. He threw it, and the camera followed it down to Shawn and Sky. They were forced to flee before the bolt struck where they'd been loitering along the ground.]
"You two, get me; wood shaped, like Izzy's tiny fe~et!"
[His helpers ran to a titanic pile of neatly-stacked blue logs, and the shot cut back to Mal idly examining his fingernails before turning to his helpers and smirking as he finished the line. The shot panned to the right to a red volcano as it, too, erupted; a red Izzy emerged from it, also wearing a laurel wreath.]
"Come on, come on, move it fast! Hurry, hurry, won't be last!
[She sang as another cartoonish thunderbolt appeared in her hands, casting her opponent a disparaging glance then throwing the bolt over her head down at the red Noah and Eva below. They too were forced to flee before the bolt struck where they'd been loitering.]
"Find wood that looks like him, so pencil-like and sli~im!"
[The camera continued to follow Eva and Noah as they ran past Sky, who was securing a rope to a peg on the side of a large hunk of wood. She briefly turned her head to watch them, then turned back and tugged the rope extending up off-screen.]
"I'm gonna win it (Yeah!) And you can't take it (No!) I'm right here in it (Yeah!) But you just fake it! (Oh!)"
[The two finalists sang, together even with the chanted words in the background. As they dueled the shot moved from Mal, his hands alternately throwing lightning bolts at his helpers, to Scarlett, throwing only one bolt, to both as they turned to one another and sent their god-like abilities at each other, resulting in an explosion of purple smoke that took over the scene.]
"Are these legs thin enough?"
[Eva called out, the smoke dissipating into her close-up before the shot zoomed out to show her standing on a pale gray scaffold next to another large chunk of wood suspended by a rope tied to a peg.
"Uh-huh!" Izzy replied from off-screen.
"H~ey!" Mal sang, the camera panning up to a higher level of the scaffold where Shawn was standing next to a rather thin piece of wood, also suspended point-down on a rope.
"Man, is this neck squeezed enough?" he asked, receiving a red thunderbolt for his trouble.]
"Whoo! Now it's psycho versus insane; Mal and Izzy cause some pain and!"
[The purple smoke cleared to show Shawn in his Drama Brothers outfit and a mic in his hand; the beat changed slightly as he began to rap from a small pillar of rock between the two finalists. The camera rotated about him as he gestured over his shoulder first at the finalists.]
"All this tension for the million; to that I have no opinion!"
[The camera zoomed in as he smirked and threw a dollar bill in the air, then zoomed back out as he got in front of Izzy, who threw a thunderbolt at him.]
"That is good, hurry back; I need arms weak and slack!"
[Mal continued in a commanding tone as Shawn, now riding atop another cone-like piece of wood as it was carried along by the attached rope, met up with Sky who was in a similar position and the shot cut back to Mal.]
"Her butt is su-per flat; And don't forget that!"
[Mal sang. He then turned to Izzy and shot her a mocking smile.]
"Get me two stringy knees; and hands like flat cheese!"
[Izzy responded, throwing another thunderbolt at her two tiny followers. Eva quickly ran away but Noah stayed in place and looked at her.]
"One more thing should be said; Don't forget his big head!"
[She pointed to a pile of giant red pineapples. Noah nodded then ran off.]
"I'm gonna win it (Yeah!) And you can't take it (No!) I'm right here in it (Yeah!) But you just fake it! (Oh!)"
[The two finalists repeated, once again sending their lightning towards their respective helpers before turning their god-like powers on each other.]
"All of this hard work; won't make me go berserk!"
[Eva sang, the smoke dissipating to show her on the scaffold once more next to a long and surprisingly arm-like piece of wood. The shot zoomed out to show it already affixed to her team's effigy – currently a long piece for the chest, a slightly bulkier piece for the waist, and two skinny legs; all pieces were connected by the shorter wooden pegs the ropes had been tied to. On the other side of the scaffold was the effigy Mal's team had created – two small, thin pieces for the chest and waist, two thin arms and a somewhat curvy leg; the effigy was kept upright by a rope tied around the short peg where the neck would be.]
"Now place the head right there; Pineapple, not pe~ar!"
[Izzy told her, looking down before the shot cut to Noah trying to push a massive red pineapple across the ground.]
"I'm gonna win it (Yeah!) And you can't take it (No!) I'm right here in it (Yeah!) But you just fake it! (Oh!)"
[The finalists repeated a third time, sending their lightning towards their helpers at a slightly faster pace than before. And still, they ended up turning their god-like powers towards one another to cause another purple explosion.]
"I'm gonna cash it! (Yeah!) You'll never win it! (No!) You should trash it! (Yeah!)"
[They continued as the smoke dissipated to reveal Eva and Noah carrying their red pineapple, before gaping in shock as Sky managed to slot her team's head down in its proper place.]
"'Cause I just did i~it!"
[Mal sang triumphantly, the shot pulling back to show Sky sighing in relief, Shawn on the other side wiping the sweat from his face. The scene finally cut to reality as the song ended, Mal smiling smugly with Sky and Shawn beside him, the two of them not looking at all enthusiastic.]
///
"And Mal takes the lead!" Chris announced over a shot of Izzy squinting at her opponent. "Next step, haul your sacrifice to the top of Kilauea and toss her into the volcano, like so!"
The shot quick-panned away from the host all the way up to the crater where a person in a hazmat suit tossed a crash test dummy into the magma below. This, however, caused molten rock to splash back up, partially coating the person in the hazmat suit. They screamed in pain as fire engulfed them, and ran away scorched.
"Yeah," Chris said as the shot cut back to him, "watch out for the back-splash. We'll be right back with all the hardcore lava-riffic sizzling finale action," he told the camera, "here! On Total! Drama! World Tour!"
\
(Commercial Break)
\

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It was dawn when the iron doors beneath the Red Keep, in the torchlit dungeons far below the main castle, when one of the doors that led to the exit tunnels that emptied into Blackwater Bay was shoved open. A Weequay guard fell forward, his throat slit, his corpse slamming down on the cobblestones. Jon Snow loomed in the doorway behind the dead alien, his sword slick with the guard's blood. He wiped his brow and said, "Thank you" to the dead man before kicking him aside and dragging himself forward.
Jon had spent the night slowly making his way toward the Red Keep, creeping among alleyways and the ruins of houses to avoid patrols of guards or droids. He had eventually managed to ambush a guard and take the Weequay hostage. Jabba's men, as it turned out, were cowardly when faced with someone stronger than they and the guard had been all too eager to lead Jon to a secret entrance into the dungeons to save his own hide. It hadn't saved him, of course, and Jon had taken a grim sense of pleasure in slitting the man's throat when he thought himself safe.
Jon grabbed a torch from the wall and removed it. With Longclaw in one hand and the torch in his other, he stumbled forward, his pace slow, every muscle in his body demanding he lie down and rest, collapse into the blissful state of unconsciousness. Jon ignored them and pushed them aside, forcing himself forward. Daenerys needed him. And he wouldn't give up, not for anything, until he had wrested her from the grasp of Jabba the Hutt.
He walked for sometime, nothing to join him in this march toward the slimy overlord of King's Landing but his own footsteps. However, coming to a passage he suddenly heard whispering around the corner. Halting and keeping to the shadows, his black leather of the Night's Watch keeping him well hidden, Jon peeked around the corner and looked to the source of the noises.
To his surprise, he saw someone he didn't think was still among the ranks of the living. Cersei Lannister was on her feet inside a cell, the door ajar. Her once proud dressed had been reduced to tatters, exposed her bosom and bountiful flesh beneath. Her hair was a wild mess and her features curled in disgust as a creature loomed over her. Jon narrowed his eyes, beholding the hideous form of Bib Fortuna, the loathsome Twi'Lek looming over Cerseri. One of his dexterous clawed hands was stroking her face, lithe fingers dancing through the locks of her golden hair. His pants were lowered, his stiff erection shoved inches from her pretty face, a lecherous grin upon his fanged features.
"Jabba may get to pamper his lusts with the four beauties upstairs," Fortuna hissed at Cersei. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and jerked it backwards, Cersei giving a cry as her lips were forced to meet the tip of Fortuna's quivering member. "But I have you all to myself."
"How lucky." Cersei spitefully hissed through clenched teeth, gazing upon his cock with a truly disgusted expression. Jon grimaced, his gloved hand curling around Longclaw's hilt. As much as he'd like to leave the Lannister bitch to her fate, there was no honor in letting Cersei be raped by this monster. No one deserved that, not even her.
So Jon Snow burst from the shadows and gave a whistle. Fortuna spun around with a snake-like hiss, releasing Cersei. His eyes widened and he fumbled for his communicator, a cry of "Guards-" slipping from his lips.
Which was soon silenced as Jon buried his blade in the foul Majordomo's heart. The momentum carried Bib Fortuna backwards, blood spewing from his fetid lips, his red eyes wide with horror. His hands scrambled at Jon's chest, clutching desperately to hold onto life. Fortuna gurgled and sputtered before Jon ripped Longclaw free in a spray of alien blood. Fortuna's corpse slid down the bars and crumbled to the floor, the Majordomo dying a most undignified death.
Cersei instantly scrambled to her feet, clutching the remains of her dress to cover her nakedness. She looked at Jon, her rescuer, to Fortuna's corpse with surprise. A myriad of emotions went through the woman's face before she finally locked eyes with Jon and snarked,
"Well, well. I never thought I'd be saved by a bastard. Much less a Stark."
"And I never thought I'd be rescuing a incestuous bitch but here I am," Jon snarked right back, turning to face his longtime foe. "You're welcome, by the way."
"What, you want a thank you?" Cersei chuckled, her lips twisting in a humorless smile. "Please. I haven't lost ALL my dignity. I didn't think you were still alive."
"I feel dead and sometimes I wish I was," Jon grimaced, hand clutching his sword tightly. "But Daenerys is up there. She needs me. I won't fail her as I did my men."
"Oh yes...you're the serious one, duty bound and all that," Cersei clicked her tongue. "I guess sticking your cock in that dragon whore really-"
Jon raised his blade warningly, its tip right against her throat. A dark expression was upon his features as he said, icy calm but with a terrifying tone, "I've had a long day. I've thought about killing you many times over these years, you and your entire fucking family. Don't push your luck. I promise I won't hesitate if any more foul words slip from these serpentine lips of yours."
Cersei eyed the sword and swallowed. She could see Jon wasn't kidding. "Perhaps," She said, managing to speak as Longclaw continued to press against her throat. "I can help you. You know, a reward for saving me from that foul pervert."
"I only want one thing." Jon moved closer and his teeth clenched. When he spoke, it was with the fierceness that the North was known for and even Cersei cowered before the wild fury of Jon Snow.
"Where is Jabba the Hutt?"
***********************************************************************************
Jabba normally slept very late until at least noon, sleeping off nights of debauchery and partying. But this day he rose early, perhaps emboldened by his orgy with his four slavegirls last night. And so, in the early hours of the morning, Jabba guided his dais back to the throne room, taking his usual spot before the Iron Throne. He was absolutely giddy, his ego and pride soaring to new heights. Enough time had been spent in King's Landing. It was time to expand his empire even further, beyond the boundaries of Westeros! A Hutt's greed was never satisfied. Jabba needed more. More lands to grind under his slimy heel. More riches to wrest from the hands of kings and queens. More women to defile...although he didn't think any would match his four personal pets. But his harem needed more bodies, not just for himself, but his men who shared in a fraction of lusts and perverted personality. More!
His slavegirls were lying before him in various positions. Within the curl of Jabba's mighty tail were Arya and Margaery. Margaery lay against the side of his girthy appendage, deliberately grinding her perky ass into the slimy folds of the the huge thing that surrounded her. Arya, meanwhile, was lying on Margaery, her head cushioned against Margaery's impressive bosom. Margaery was petting Arya's short black hair, running her dexterous, soft fingers through it as she looked at the throne room before her. Arya was stone faced but seemed to be grudgingly enjoying the attention and made so room to escape Margaery's grasp, their leashes intertwining in a pile as they flowed down the sides of their bodies into the nest of pillows cast here and there across Jabba's dais.
Meanwhile, Sansa and Daenerys were standing on either side of Jabba, their skirts fluttering in the small morning breeze passing through the open window in the throne room. Jabba cooed as he admired their luscious backsides and round, firm asses barely hidden by their fluttering, long slavegirl skirts. Sansa seemed more composed than Daenerys, the Stark sister staring ahead with a stoic expression, occasionally betraying her humiliation at Jabba's eyes on her with nervous licks of her ruby red lips. Daenerys, meanwhile, glowered openly at Jabba, throwing glares over her bare shoulder at the Hutt repeatedly. Jabba just laughed, Daenerys's defiance amusing him and arousing him. His tail flopped and wiggled next to Sansa's booted feet, as he lightly played with the chains of Sansa and Daenerys clutched in his fat fist.
"Summon Fortuna!" Jabba boomed, slamming his free fist onto the side of his throne, rattling the bowl full of frogs. Juices of water escaped the aquarium and splattered on Daenerys, the last Targaryan giving a startled squeal of disgust. "It is time to plot my battle strategy for CONQUERING the rest of this planet, ho ho ho! Soon, the Empire of Jabba shall stretch not to one measly continent but the entire world. All shall worship me, all shall serve MY desires."
"Yes, my lord," A Goldcloak bowed to Jabba before turning to find Fortuna in the room he had taken over within the depths of the palace. Jabba purred in pleasure, thrusting his free hand into the bowl and snatching up a screaming frog.
Margaery's eyes glistened with intelligence. She continued to pet Arya's hair non-chalantly but her eyes studied the throne room carefully. At this early hour, there were limited guards, only a smittering handful around. A few alien men armed with vibro pikes and blasters, along with two or three Goldcloaks. The Goldcloaks Margaery wasn't worried about. If this plan worked, then they might throw aside their forced loyalty to Jabba and help them. As for the others...well, with luck either the Goldcloaks or Arya would deal with them.
The plan, as she had come up with, had come from careful observations during her time of the palace, as well as information gained from Jabba's men she had quite literally milked for information. Jabba was a Hutt and although he looked like the very picture of a slovenly, fat bastard, in truth his hide was packed with layers of muscle. His hide was resistant to blaster fire and he could even shrug off injuries that might fell a normal human. The only past his layers of defenses was his neck. For Jabba to die, he'd need to be strangled to death. There were other options of course but none Margaery had access to. And of course, she couldn't exactly strangle Jabba with her bare hands.
But Jabba had leashed them all, with iron chains for Sansa and Daenerys and long fibro leashes for her and Arya. If they worked together...all four of them could wrap their chains around Jabba's foul neck and strangle their master to death.
A bold plan, mad perhaps, perhaps doomed to failure. But it was the best one Margaery's clever mind had come up with. The other girls had agreed, each desiring freedom from their abusive lord. If they distracted him and caught him unawares...this just might work.
Margaery whispered in Arya's ear, pulling locks of black hair aside as her dainty lips whispered in the Stark girl's ear: "Let's begin." Arya grimaced, Margaery understanding why. None of them were particularly ready for what this entailed. But it was necessary. Jabba was ruled by lust, like any other man. So...to distract him, they needed to seduce him. To pretend to willingly give into his foul charms. To appreciate him, as he had so often taunted them with.
But before Margaery or Arya could signal the other two girls, the door to the hall was suddenly kicked open. Guards jolted and raised their blasters, Goldcloaks forming ranks and drawing swords. Jabba made a blubbery noise of confusion, his tail slapping against Sansa's leg as he looked to the front of the throne room, eyes narrowing.
Sansa was the first to react, a gasp escaping her lips. Daenerys next. Both of them exclaimed, in absolute delight at the same time, "Jon!" Arya instantly burst free from Margaery's bosom and crawled forward, a grin splitting her lips as she went to the edge of the dais. Margaery raised a quizzical eyebrow before pushing aside her and Arya's leashes, leaning over Jabba's huge tail to peek at what lay ahead.
Jon Snow stood in the threshold, Longclaw at his side, Bib Fortuna's blood splattering upon the cobblestones. His eyes went to each of the girls and he felt his heart swell with fury. He gazed upon Sansa, his lovely sister, so innocent and sweet, the pride of the Stark family. Now dressed in a horribly skimpy outfit even a Flea Bottom wench would sniff at her, a chain around her neck like some dog! She smiled at him but he could see the pain in her eyes and he shuddered to think about what Jabba had done to her.
And then there was Arya, someone wearing even less than Sansa, garbed in a fishnet outfit that hugged her athletic curves and long legs while leaving nothing to the imagination. She also grinned at Jon, genuine happiness on her expression even through the black makeup that decorated her face. Jon's fury grew as he could see she was leashed too.
And the apex of his rage. Daenerys, his love, the proud conqueror, dressed in a similar skimpy garb to Sansa's and also chained at the neck. Daenerys smirked at him and put her hands on her wide hips. Jon swallowed slightly, trying not to be distracted with how her long white skirts fluttered between her curvy thighs or how well framed her bosom looked stuffed into that metal bra. He could see a glimpse of a final grin, decorate in green straps with long hair, also leashed but he didn't know her and paid her no mind.
"Jon Snow," Daenerys said with a chuckle, some of her old humor returning upon seeing her lover. "What took you so long?"
Jon tried to smile back but it wasn't easy, the sight of his sisters and lover in bondage was fanning the fires of his already wrathful mood. "Well, I had a few houses dropped on me," He said, his eyes dancing to the aliens and Goldcloaks who now formed a blockage to Jabba's throne. "But I'm here now, my queen."
Daenerys grinned and tried to speak further. But Jabba growled angrily and PULLED savagely at the chains he clutched. With a violent yank, Sansa and Daenerys were pulled off their feet with a cry, falling with a squish into the depths of their master's enormous gut. Jabba kept pulling, Sansa and Daenerys clutching at the collars as they were violently strangled, thrashing and squirming on their master's doughy, slimy gut. Sansa's booted heels scrambled for purchase at the edge of the throne, her wriggling causing her red skirt to flip this way and that, offering glimpses of her cunt beneath them. Daenerys meanwhile PULLED desperately at her collar, coughing and gasping for air but even her own strength proved useless against Jabba's dominant hand as usual and she was left squirming desperately for relief on his fat belly.
Arya snarled at Jabba, her bravery returning at the sight of Jon. She moved to lunge at him to stop him from abusing her sister but Margaery quickly grabbed her arm, stopping the younger Stark sister. Arya snarled at Margaery, hissing: "Let me go! We should act now!"
"Not yet," Margaery growled, pursing her lips. Arya stopped, sensing the firmness in Margaery's tone as Margaery guided her back into the curl of Jabba's huge tail. "An opportunity will present itself...but not yet. I'm afraid this man has just blown my plan wide open."
"That's my brother!" Arya bit back. She whirled around, twisting to watch the ongoing confrontation. "Just you watch, he's going to kick this slug's fat ass!"
"So!" Jabba growled, his booming voice filling the chamber. He relaxed his grip on his slave's chains. "A member of Daenerys's little army survived, hmm?" He laughed, recovering from his initial shock. This was just one man and he was severely outnumbered. Sansa and Daenerys tried to rise from his belly, to pull away from the layers of their master's slimy fat, but he pulled them back, his tail thrashing beside Sansa's thigh.
"Survived and more," Jon said, raising Longclaw which caught the glint of the torches. "I'm here for my sisters and Daenerys, Jabba. Release them and begone from Westeros. Take your army of monsters back to the stars. This land will never yield to you."
Jabba erupted with laughter, a laugh taken up by his guards. His tail slithered forward and wrapped around Sansa's leg like an exploring serpent, Jabba giving her succulent thigh a firm squeeze with the appendage. Meanwhile, his other hand began to stroke Daenerys's hair, roaming through her unique white locks, twisting and playing with them between his sausage-like fingers, so soft in contrast to his rubbery, filthy hide. Both girls moaned in disgust, Sansa offering no resistance as the tail coiled around her leg while Daenerys slapped ineffectually at Jabba's bloated hand. Jon's face turned purple with rage at the sight of the two women being molested by the fat slug.
"This land has already yielded, I possess strength of arms and technology far beyond this primitive planet!" Jabba spewed back at Jon, slime spewing from the depths of his rotund maw to shower his slavegirls. "You, boy, have made a very foolish mistake. I admire your courage and your tenacity to sneak into MY palace..." Jabba paused for emphasis, before wrapping one chubby arm around Sansa and Daenerys both. He cuddled them together, his tongue emerging to give Daenerys's cheek a slobbery lick with his slimy, girthy tongue while his tail squeezed Sansa's thigh possessively, its tip teasing her skirts, a thin layer of cloth all that separated her lady parts from being violated once more by the monstrous member. The two girls moaned in horror as Jabba cuddled them, looking at Jon with desperate, pleading eyes.
"I will NOT give up my favorite decorations," Jabba growled, waving his chain wielding hand at all four women, the chains of Sansa and Daenerys clanking with the motion. "I like Sansa, Daenerys, Margaery, and Arya where they are. And now..." Jabba licked his scum coated lips and laughed. "And now, boy, they get to watch you DIE.'
Jabba pointed one fat finger at Jon and barked to the small amount of guards in the room, outnumbering Jon eight to one:
"KILL HIM! Bring me his head!"

I attended an event by Habitat for Humanity about involving volunteers in the "off season", when there is not house building or home repairs going on. Much of it ended up focusing on challenges to involving volunteers in ReStores.
Here are my notes. What's YOUR experience in your ReStore?

• Most affiliates that participated have regular volunteers in their ReStore EVERY day.
• Most affiliates have groups of volunteers in their ReStore every month (many have a waiting list).
• “All of our store positions include ‘working with volunteers’ in the job description.” Management sets expectations of managers regarding volunteer engagement.
• Many affiliates have so many people wanting to help as volunteers in their ReStore, they have a waitlist (Vancouver, Washington).
• Volunteers are potential donors. And that is how they are treated by Habitat and ReStore staff. They are added to the database and receive regular communications, just like any donor.
• “All of our store positions include ‘working with volunteers’ in the job description”
• “When we get push back from staff (about involving volunteers in the ReStore), we show the data of the amount of inquiries we receive from volunteers asking to support us.”
• “We have people from different churches that come in regularly and pick up material to display at their churches. They are regular volunteers.”
• A lot of ReStores don’t really see themselves as a part of Habitat. Staff at ReStores need to be continually reminded and continually included so they understand what Habitat is all about and why volunteers are valued and ESSENTIAL and there needs to be a mandate to involve them and well-support them.
• “To ignore volunteers in the Restore is to ignore community and Habitat is all about community.”
• If a ReStore manager and staff are reluctant to involve volunteers, it may be time for senior management to explain to them that it is a part of their mandate.
• Getting buy-in from ReStore staff to involve volunteers is a problem at many ReStores.
• Be clear and upfront with groups that, at a certain group number level (say, more than 20), there is a sponsorship fee, and this is why (it takes so much more staff to work with such).
• Someone noted that they had seen a conversation on an online group complaining about a thrift store that was NOT a ReStore, saying that it was always messy, no one helped, and someone responded and said “go to the ReStore, there’s always a volunteer there to help!” Great PR.
• Idea: Volunteer snack bags - young volunteers, even kids, put together paper bags of snacks and water. They decorate them and these are distributed to volunteers on the site.

…are they just using the water to prevent “hot lunch” (“scooby snacks” - “the hot embers that can land on your tongue, uvula, or throat when using a glass bowl”)?

I can't tell if my crush sees me as a goddess or if he thinks he's entitled to me because he likes me. I most likely have BPD or NPD, but my crush has NPD. I know that like anyone else, NPD's feelings for people fluctuate. But he has NPD

• Told me a traumatic story within two weeks of knowing him. I was too shy to share any traumatic stories of my past
  • The first time he ever got angry with me was a few minutes later
• Will sigh or roll his eyes at the most random times (and over the smallest things)
• Made some indirect posts on me on his Twitter (which I don't follow, but stalk sometimes) because supposedly I was playing with his feelings
  • In the next few weeks, he fluctuated between being his normal self and being cold and distant (e.g. not wanting to be alone with me, preferring to talk to other people but me)
• Is clearly attracted to my physical appearance. He's told me, and he exhibits all those classic signs of attraction (eyebrow flashing, feet pointed in my direction, etc)
  • People consider me above average looking, and I've had a bunch of guys like me. He's a skinny nerdy guy with glasses, but I think he's hot
• If we haven't seen each other for long periods of time, he'll get really shy and I usually have to initiate. He'll be blushing with a big smile when I initiate

For a long time, I thought there was no greater feeling of dread than clocking into a job you hate. Three days a week after school and every other weekend, there I was, standing in front of the time clock at Sunset Grove. By the time I was sixteen, my parents told me that I had to find a job and start working. Unfortunately, there weren’t many options for a sixteen-year-old looking for work in Driftwood. It was either fast food, retail, or a retirement home. For whatever reason, I chose the retirement home.
It’s not that I had a problem with starting work at that age, it’s just that scrubbing pureed vegetables and mashed potatoes off fifty plates a night, with the cook yelling over my shoulder to pick up the pace, wasn’t exactly fulfilling work. The pocket money was nice, though. There’s nothing better than being a teenager with almost nothing but disposable income.
I watched the digital clock tick over from 3:59 to 4:00, begrudgingly typed in my employee ID, and made my way to the kitchen. As always, there was a stack of dishes left over from the shift before mine that would leave me playing catch-up for the rest of the night.
Becca, a thirty-something waitress with pale skin and a slim figure, swept through the doors as I was working through my stack. She was the only member of the wait staff I knew who could manage to keep a sunny disposition no matter how bad the day got.
Her shoulders seemed to relax a little when she saw me. “Hey, Arty, I need glasses.”
“Got it,” I replied.
“Thank you!” she said in a sing-song voice as she picked up a tub of silverware and rushed back out the doors. The wait staff was always in a rush this time of day. They only had about a half-hour to set the tables before some of the early-birds started showing up for dinner.
I loaded a tray with glasses and sent them through the commercial steam washer to my left, pulling the hood down with a heavy metal clunk. Once they were done, Becca came through and took the tray out to the dining room.
Before long, the cook began setting out room service trays. I never understood why it was the dishwasher’s job to deliver room service, but nevertheless, I began loading the trays into my cart. Most room service orders came from the same residents, which meant I’d long since worked out the most efficient way to load the cart. As I was loading, I noticed one of my regulars, room 2H, was missing. It could have been that she just decided to have dinner in the dining room today, but as long as I’d been working at Sunset Grove, I’d never known 2H to have dinner anywhere but her room.
As I walked down the hallway past 2H, I realized why. There on the door was a small laminated sign with a photo of the woman who’d lived in 2H.
Lilith Holmes 1928 - 2014
That was it. Just a name and a pair of dates. Not even a “Rest in Peace.” But it got the point across. I felt a tinge of guilt at the fact that I hadn’t known the woman’s name. I’d been working at Sunset Grove for a year, and I still referred to most of the residents by their room numbers.
This wasn’t the first of these types of signs I’d seen. There had been two or three deaths in the past year, each one memorialized with a cheap laminated sign that would be taken down after a week or two. It may sound callous, but I was never bothered by the deaths. They were simply a fact of life working in a place full of people entering the final phase of their lives. It helped that I didn’t make much effort to get close to the residents. I never wanted this place to bleed into what I considered to be my real life, so whenever I was at Sunset Grove, I was in “work mode.” I would put on a kind face, greet coworkers and residents with a smile, and otherwise speak only when spoken to. It was easier that way.
​
Room 2H stayed empty for a month. The sign, as they always do, disappeared after a while. I wondered if that meant they’d already cleaned out all of Mrs. Holmes’s belongings or if they were still entombed behind that locked door.
Eventually, the day came that I had a room service tray for room 2H again. It seemed so sudden. I hadn’t heard anything about a new resident moving in. I shrugged it off and loaded the tray onto my cart, thinking it must have happened on one of my days off. I hoped the new tenant wouldn’t be a handful. I may not have known Mrs. Holmes well, but she was always nice and courteous to me when I brought her her food. It’s more than I could say for some of the other residents.
I rode the elevator up to the second floor. Room 2H was my second stop from there. I knocked and pushed open the door into the dimly lit room. The blinds were all drawn, and there was only a single table lamp turned on in the corner across the room. I could see the new tenant sitting in a recliner on the opposite wall. It was a woman, with curled white hair that fell to her hunched shoulders. In the dark, I couldn’t make out her face, but her form was familiar. As I got closer, I realized it was Mrs. Holmes sitting in the chair.
I faltered. “I... have your dinner here for you, ma’am,” I stammered.
“Oh, good,” she said. “Set it on the table here, dear.” Her tone was jovial like always, though it felt strained. As if she were forcing it.
I set the tray down on the end table beside her. As she turned to look at it, her eyes seemed to catch the tiny amount of light in the room and glowed for a split second.
“Thank you,” she chimed.
“You’re welcome,” I said, turning on my heel and heading for the door.
I stopped by the second floor nurse’s station on my way down the hall and found Ted inside. He was a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair, known around the facility for his eccentric taste in scrubs. Today’s were navy blue with a messy pattern of stars. Ted was the only nurse I knew by name, mostly because he gave me no other choice. It was common knowledge at Sunset Grove that if Ted wanted to chat you up, there was nothing you could do to stop it.
“Hey, Ted,” I said, poking my head around the door.
“Arthur!” he called, sitting back in his chair. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I saw Mrs. Holmes is back,” I said. “What happened? Why was she gone?”
“Sorry, bud, I shouldn’t really be gossiping about that.”
“I understand. It’s just... there was that sign on her door a while ago. I thought she died.”
“Oh, that,” Ted laughed. “That was a little misunderstanding. But as you saw, she’s alive and well.”
“Right,” I said. “I should go. I’ve still got a cart full of meals to deliver.”
“Best not keep ‘em waiting!” Ted joked as I left the nurse’s station.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Mrs. Holmes for the remainder of my shift that night. How could the nurses make such a drastic mistake, confusing a resident for dead? And where exactly had Mrs. Holmes been for the past month? At the hospital? With family? The whole thing irked me more than it probably should have. I didn’t like thinking about this place during my time off, but thoughts of Mrs. Holmes stuck with me all week.
I delivered room service to her the rest of the week. Each time I entered 2H, the blinds were drawn, the room kept dark. As always, I set her tray down on the end table next to the recliner, she thanked me, and I moved on to the next room.
The next stop on my route was 2K, Ms. Ganz, whose name I only knew because she had a reputation around the building for being very outwardly spoken. There was rarely a week that went by where I wasn’t overhearing the nurses laughing about something Ms. Ganz had said that day.
Most days, Ms. Ganz left her door open. I knocked anyway and passed through the open frame. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, rubbing her temples before she looked up and saw me.
“Set it down right there,” she instructed, pointing to the rolling TV stand where she took her dinner every day.
I did as she said and set the food down on the stand, forcing a smile for good measure. She scooted off the bed and hobbled over to the chair to sit down. I pushed the stand closer to her and lowered it down so she could reach. She examined the tray, then picked up the pudding cup and handed it to me.
“You take that,” she said. “I don’t need it.”
“That’s alright,” I protested. “I don’t need it either.”
Ms. Ganz pawning her desserts off on me was beginning to become a habit. As I tried to set the pudding cup back on the tray, she pushed it back toward me. It clearly wasn’t a fight I was going to win, so I relented and accepted the pudding.
Ms. Ganz got to work preparing her coffee, which she had with every meal. I always loaded her tray with three creams and three sugars, but I’d learned in time to wait until she finished mixing before I left because, more often than not, she’d ask for more.
“Is this decaf?” she asked.
“That’s right,” I said.
She grumbled. “I need caffeine. People keeping me up all night. Knocking on my door.”
“Knocking on your door?”
“Middle of the night,” Ms. Ganz exclaimed. “They come, they knock, I open the door, and they’re gone. My family doesn’t pay $2000 a month for me to get pranked all night long.”
“Have you talked to the nurses about it?” I asked.
She snorted. “They’re probably the ones doing it.” Ms. Ganz winced and reached for her forehead. “Now, I’ve had this headache all day thanks to them.”
“Sorry about that. I hope you feel better,” I said as I made my way out of the room.
It became apparent very quickly Ms. Ganz wasn’t the only resident dealing with these problems. I overheard the nurses talking about multiple residents on the second floor complaining about someone knocking on their door at night. It only got worse throughout the week, with even more residents complaining. There were more complaints of headaches, too. Some residents even started exhibiting symptoms of fever.
When I came to serve Ms. Ganz her dinner a week later, her door was shut. I knocked and turned the handle. It wasn’t locked, so I went inside. Ms. Ganz was lying in bed, a fresh sheen of sweat shimmering in the light across her forehead. She hadn’t even touched her lunch. I quietly swapped the trays, trying not to disturb her and tip-toed out of the room, stopping by the nurses’ station before I got back to work. Ted was there again, wearing a loud, floral-patterned set of scrubs this time.
“Hey, Ted, is Ms. Ganz alright?” I asked.
“She’s just a little under the weather,” he said. “She’s not the only one. There’s some kind of bug going around.”
Ted scooted his chair across the room and pulled something out of a box. He tossed me a medical mask.
“You should probably wear one of these while you’re goin’ into rooms,” he said.
I nodded and put the mask on, leaving Ted to his work. There were four more residents laid up in bed on the second floor. Weirdly, no one on the first or third floor seemed to be affected.
Things only seemed to get worse as the days went on. More and more residents were laid up with fevers. Soon enough, no one on the second floor was healthy enough to go to the dining room, which meant my room service runs were getting longer by the day. Now that I had to deliver trays to every room on the second floor, there was no way I could get it done on my own, but even with Becca helping me with runs, I was still clocking out of work an hour late most nights.
As we rolled the cart up to room 2H, Becca hesitated.
“Do you mind getting this one?” she asked.
I raised an eyebrow. “Sure.”
I had no problem bringing Mrs. Holmes her food. What caught me off guard was the way Becca seemed to give the room a wide berth as we passed and the trepidation in her voice as she spoke.
“Thanks, Arty,” Becca said. “Something about her just creeps me out. Don’t you feel that?”
“It’s a little weird how she sits in the dark all the time,” I admitted, “but I wouldn’t call it creepy.”
“So brave,” Becca teased. “I’ll bring Ms. Ganz her tray and meet you down the hall.”
“Sounds good.”
I knocked on the door and went into 2H. As expected, Mrs. Holmes was seated in her recliner with the blinds drawn and the single lamp on in the corner. Sometimes I wondered if she ever even moved from that spot.
“How are you feeling, Mrs. Holmes?” I asked through the medical mask I was now required to wear at all times while on the second floor.
“Are you a nurse now?” She asked. Her tone seemed intended to be joking, but it came across more accusatory.
“No, it’s just that we can’t seem to get rid of this bug going around. I was just curious if you were still feeling alright.”
“I’m fine,” she said flatly.
Mrs. Holmes was the only resident on the second floor who wasn’t sick. The bug hadn’t spread to any of the staff members either. A thought occurred to me.
“Have you heard anyone knocking on your door at night?” I asked.
Mrs. Holmes’s eyes shot to mine, momentarily glowing in the light as they had once before. She stared at me with wide eyes that seemed to be studying me.
Finally, her tight lips peeled apart and she simply said, “I have not.”
Suddenly, I understood why Becca hadn’t wanted to come in here. I could feel the goose flesh spreading across my arm and a shiver run down my spine. I didn’t want to linger here any longer than I had to.
“Have a good night,” I said, mimicking my usual tone, before hustling out of the room.
I grabbed the cart and pushed it quickly down the hall toward Ms. Ganz’s room where I would find Becca, but as I rounded the corner, I saw a crowd of nurses surrounding the door. Becca was standing off to the side, a distraught look on her face.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I went in to give her her food,” Becca choked out. “Her eyes were open, so I thought she was awake. So, I asked her if she had enough cream and sugar for her coffee, but she didn’t respond.”
“Oh no,” I realized.
“That’s never happened to me before,” Becca said. “I’ve never seen one of them after... after they died. Sorry, Arty, I need to take five. Do you think you can finish this yourself today?”
“That’s fine. I’ve got it.”
Becca laid her hand on my shoulder as she walked away, her other hand combing through her hair.
Becca didn’t come in the next day. With the wait staff being short handed, I had to do the room service deliveries myself. I hesitated before going into 2H, but when I reached for the handle, I was relieved to find that it was locked. Some of the nurses must have been inside, so I left the tray by the door and went on my way.
As I passed by Ms. Ganz’s room, I saw the sign.
Mallory Ganz 1939 - 2014
She was about ten years younger in the photo, smiling next to her daughter. I felt a tug inside my gut and suddenly realized I wanted to know what was happening. Where was this sickness coming from? Why wasn’t it affecting the residents on the first or third floors or the staff? And why was Mrs. Holmes the only resident on the second floor who was still healthy?
I finished delivering trays and stashed the cart in the corner. I figured I had at least ten more minutes before my boss would start wondering where I was, so I found Ted in the nurse’s station.
“Hey, Ted, are you busy?” I asked.
“Never not busy, Arthur,” he grinned. “What can I do for you?”
“You’ve heard the residents complaining about someone knocking on their doors at night, right? Do you have any idea what that might be about?”
He sighed. “Yeah, I’ve heard all about it. Best I can figure, it’s someone screwin’ around on the night shift.”
“Well, there are cameras, right? Couldn’t we find out who’s doing it?”
Ted’s brow furled. “Why are you so interested?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. “I guess it’s just that, whoever it was, they were bothering Ms. Ganz. I thought maybe we could find them and get them to stop to, like, honor her in a way.”
Ted pushed an office chair toward me with his foot. “Sit down a minute. I’ll pull up the footage.”
“Thank you.”
I sat down and watched Ted scrub through last night’s security footage. It was strange seeing the hallway so empty. During the daytime hours, there were constantly nurses or housekeepers coming up and down the halls, but at night, they were dead.
Suddenly, there was a flash of movement on the screen. Ted let go of the mouse and let the footage play out in real-time. I felt my chest tighten as I recognized the figure on the screen. Mrs. Holmes. I watched her walk down the hall, moving with an unnatural weightlessness for her age. She stopped in front of Ms. Ganz’s room and knocked on the door. Then, all of a sudden, she just faded away.
I leaned in closer to the screen. Ted sat upright in his chair.
“Was that a glitch?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The timecode looks normal, but it must’ve been. Either way, I guess we know who’s been causin’ trouble at night. I’ll have a word with Mrs. Holmes.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I blurted out.
Ted looked at me quizzically. I didn’t know how to explain it, but I knew something was off about Mrs. Holmes. There was no telling what would happen if someone confronted her, but how was I supposed to convince Ted of that?
“Sorry,” I said. “Thanks for the help, Ted.”
I left the nurse’s station without saying another word. I could only hope that my initial warning would be enough to make Ted hesitate until I could figure out what to do next.
My heart dropped when I couldn’t find Ted the next day. He was always there. Every single weekday, he was there.
None of the other nurses had seen him either. Apparently, he hadn’t called out sick or anything. As far as anyone knew, he simply hadn’t shown up for work. But I knew better. I knew he’d gone and talked to Mrs. Holmes, and she’d done something to him. Could he still be there, inside room 2H? Was he still alive? Had he mentioned me?
I worked the first hour of my shift constantly looking over my shoulder. By 5:00, the cook started lining up room service trays. I was on my own again. Apparently, Becca was taking some time off after what she’d been through. I couldn’t blame her, but I found myself desperately wishing I didn’t have to be alone.
My heart thumped with dread every step I took toward room 2H. I prayed the door would be locked again, but no such luck. I pushed the door open slowly and let the light from the hall flood into the dim room. Mrs. Holmes was in her recliner, but as I got closer, I noticed her eyes were shut. She was asleep.
I set the tray down quietly and made for the door, but before I left, I felt curiosity tug me back. I wanted to know what happened to Ted. If there was any trace of him in the room, this might be my only chance to find it.
I inched heel-toe back through the entryway and into the bedroom. I found an antique lamp on the nightstand and flipped it on, bathing the room in a hazy yellow light. The room was pristine, not even a crease in the bedding. I didn’t know what I was looking for. Blood? A body? Just anything that would confirm the insane thoughts that were running through my mind.
I moved to the bathroom, but, like the bedroom, it was spotless. I checked every inch of it, even getting down on my hands and knees to inspect the bath mat for blood stains. I was starting to feel like a lunatic. Maybe everything that was happening was exactly what it seemed, and the rest of it was all just in my head.
Feeling a little ridiculous, I stepped out of the bathroom, gently closing the door behind me.
“What were you doing in there?” Mrs. Holmes’s voice was sharp and sent a jolt of fear through my body.
I turned and saw her standing in the corner by her recliner. She looked tall—her shoulders not slumped like usual, and her eyes were glowing in the light again.
I didn’t know what to say. “S-sorry,” I spat out, then hurried for the door. Mrs. Holmes stood motionless, watching me go.
Thanks to my little investigation, dinner was nearly over by the time I got back to the kitchen, and there was a mountain of dishes waiting for me by the sink. I shook off the unsettling thoughts plaguing my mind and got to work. It was going to be another late night, and it only got worse when the cook brought over a stack of burnt pans that would take ages of scrubbing to get clean.
It was nearly an hour past the end of my shift by the time I’d finally finished all the dishes. The wait staff had clocked out thirty minutes ago. That was fine. I was used to being the last one in the kitchen. It was the dishwasher’s job to clean the floors at the end of the night after everyone else had gone home. That night, though, I should have been scared, but the weight of being alone hadn’t hit me yet. My mind was too preoccupied with work.
I finished mopping the floor, meaning all that was left was to take the trash out to the dumpster. I gathered up all the bags and took them out into the hallway, then out the back door. I set the bags down and propped the door open with a pen. After 8:00, the building locked down, and I would need a keycard to get back in, something the facility didn’t grant to dishwashers.
I hoisted the garbage bags into the dumpster and turned back toward the building. Before I could even take a step back toward the door, though, I heard it clunk into place. I ran over and tugged on the handle. Locked. I’d have to walk all the way around the building and come in the front entrance, probably scaring the hell out of the secretary at the reception desk, who certainly wouldn’t be expecting anyone to come in at this hour.
Crickets chirped loudly in the fields around the parking lot as I rounded the building. There was no one at the reception desk when I walked in. The secretary was probably out having a cigarette somewhere. I walked through the dining room and back into the kitchen, letting the door swing freely behind me. I heard it brush across the frame once, twice, then suddenly stop. I didn’t think much of it until I heard a knock on the door.
My heart froze, fear tightening an ice-cold grip around my throat. I turned and, through the window, saw a pair of glowing eyes on the other side of the door. Ever so slowly, the door started to push inward as Mrs. Holmes crept inside. I felt like I should have screamed in that moment, but nothing came to me. It felt as though my lungs had completely deflated at the sight of her.
She stepped toward me. I stepped back until I felt my back press against the counter behind me. I wanted to run, but something told me I couldn’t outrun whatever was standing in front of me. My hands reached onto the counter and felt for anything I could use to defend myself. I felt the lukewarm touch of the porcelain plates and wrapped my fingers around the rim of one. I waited as Mrs. Holmes inched closer until, finally, I whipped my arm around and smashed the plate against her head.
She wailed and faltered a few steps, buying me enough time to run deeper into the kitchen, toward the knives. She was on me again before I could reach them. I felt a wet sting on my calf and looked down to see her there, latched on with her teeth sinking deep into my flesh.
I fell onto the concrete floor, my left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. I tried to crawl away but couldn’t break free of her inhuman weight. With my free leg, I kicked at her head as hard as I could until she released me. Her bloodstained mouth hissed at me as I scrambled to my feet.
I ripped the largest knife I could find out of the block and spun around, ready to drive it into Mrs. Holmes’s chest, but she was gone. My eyes flicked frantically around the room, looking for any sign of her. Then I felt something drip onto my cheek. In the reflection of the knife blade, I could see the drop of blood rolling down my cheek. I looked up, and there she was.
She wasn't suspended from the ceiling; she was floating. As soon as I laid eyes on her, she dropped, falling right on top of me. I managed to raise the knife high enough and felt it pierce her gut as she landed on me. I think that was the only thing that saved me from her teeth sinking into my neck.
Mrs. Holmes reeled from the knife wound. She swung her arm out, and I felt the tremendous weight and strength behind it as it crashed into my side and threw me across the room. Pain shot through my back as I collided with the stainless steel of the dishwasher. I knew I couldn’t afford to waste time licking my wounds. I pulled myself up to my feet just as Mrs. Holmes ripped the knife free of her gut. Coagulated blood seeped out of the gaping wound like thick mud.
Mrs. Holmes hunched over like a predator waiting to pounce. My heart raced, waiting for the moment. Like a bolt of lighting, it came. She leapt across the room at me. My instincts kicked in, and I ducked to the right. I heard a loud metallic crash as Mrs. Holmes’s body slammed into the dishwasher. I looked up and saw her top half lodged in the machine. Without even thinking about it, I yanked the lever, sending the hood down just far enough over Mrs. Holmes’s thin body to activate the machine.
She howled and screeched as the steam inside the dishwasher boiled her skin. I didn’t wait around for the cycle to finish. I saddled the pain in my back and my leg and ran out of the kitchen before she had a chance to escape. I didn’t dare look back.
​
Sunset Grove closed down last year, three years after I left for good that night. I never found out what became of Mrs. Holmes, but I don’t think she ever left. The article detailing Sunset Grove’s closure cites financial difficulty after a spike in mortality rates, and there had been more than one story about staff members going missing over the years. Ted was the first of them. I would have been the second.
For a long time, Sunset Grove haunted me. I would dream about being back in room 2H, cowering under Mrs. Holmes’s impossibly tall form, her skin blistered and rubbery from the burns I gave her. In time, those dreams faded. It hadn’t seemed possible, but my life started to return to a sense of normalcy.
Reading the article on Sunset Grove brought those memories crashing back. I tried to tell myself that I was safe, but... I don’t think I am anymore. Not since I heard a knock on my door the other night. I wanted so badly to believe it was nothing, just neighborhood kids messing around, but my head has been pounding ever since I heard it, my stomach twisted in knots, my breath short. I can’t sleep through the night anymore. I find myself staring out the window, watching. Sometimes, among the twinkling fireflies at the edge of the woods, I could swear I see a pair of glowing eyes watching me in the dark.

Memory Transcription Subject: Doctor Tadegs of the Zeyzell Science Organization, Medical Division - Genetics Subdivision. Class 4/5 Personnel
The xenos who’d captured me were far from friendly. They didn’t quite do what High Captain Ferlinn’s tormentors had done to her. No, what they did was worse. I languished against a wall as waves of hunger swept through my body. All around me were the Zeyzell that had been captured alongside me, most of them suffering similar fates. We’d gotten desperate at some point and tried to eat the leaves and fruit the xenos had left us. As expected, it’d done nothing except make us nauseous. The idiotic things didn’t even understand the basics of biology.
Well, perhaps that wasn’t exactly true. I shakily raised a paw and stared at it, as if I could see my altered DNA in my pads. The things had… changed us. Most of us at least. I stared at a spot on the floor of this musty cell where Kidah had died. The xenos fed her some meat rations and sat back and laughed as she thrashed around and eventually died. It was a shame. She had a great mind. My eyes drifted to the transparent door to study the cell adjacent to us. The Deathwatch Guards had been separated from us after the third escape attempt and had obviously attracted their attention.
We’d been “cured” and they seemed to be content to let us starve to death while they studied the much more interesting Guards. I let out a small chuckle. The xenos had been driving themselves insane trying to apply their cure to the Guards only to run into roadblock after roadblock. Their cure, as expected, was ineffective against the Guards. All they knew was that the Guards’ genetic code had somehow been “hardened” against unauthorized tampering. Which it was, but I’d eat a kit if the xenos figured out how. Ah, the wonders of nanotechnology.
I glanced back to the other Zeyzell and shook my head. Many of them had been lobotomized after they’d refused to stop resisting after they’d been altered. Terrible wastes indeed. I tongued the explosive trigger in my mouth. I not only could end the torment right here, but it was technically my duty to do so. The only reason I didn’t was a mixture of cowardice and… fascination.
As much of a disgrace to science as these xenos and their experiments were, I was supremely interested in their work. The minor alterations we made to the Deathwatch Guards’ genetic codes usually took months and yet these things had rendered us not only unable to process meat, but consuming meat actually caused such a severe allergic reaction that the victim died. I theorized that they’d found a way to force the immune system to go haywire if it detected enzymes usually found in flesh, although I was uncertain.
I wondered what would happen if I engaged in auto-cannibalism. Would the cure reject its own host? Would I choke to death on my own constricting throat if one of my teeth were knocked out? Could blood even trigger the reaction, or was it just flesh? There were so many questions and so little answers. I glanced once more at my weakening frame. Our ancestors lived in a world of constant scarcity and starvation, forcing them to evolve to last longer without food. Nevertheless, I was running out of time.
Perhaps-
I startled when the door slid open to reveal a small squad of xeno soldiers and one of the lead “scientists.” The xenos marched over to me and yanked me to my feet, shoving me out of the room. I was marched into an interrogation room behind a plexiglass wall and the “scientist” took a seat opposite me.
----------
Memory Transcription Subject: Dr. Bopjin, Kolshian Commonwealth Geneticist
A month.
A fucking month.
A month of absolutely no progress on curing these things. Oh, sure, the other Zeyzell had been successfully cleansed of their filthy meat-eating habits, but these so-called “Deathwatch Guards” hadn’t been changed at all. I looked at the security feed of the group of predators. We’d captured over fifty of the things from that ship and within just a few weeks developed a cure for them. The stubborn things still refused to eat plants but I suspected that starvation would overcome their pride soon enough.
But no matter what we did, the Guards refused to change. And that wasn’t the only thing, We’d practiced a few lobotomies on the other Zeyzell who were still too aggressive and successfully tempered them down. I remembered what had happened when we tried to do the same thing to a Guard. As soon as the procedure began, its skull exploded, taking the surgeon’s tentacles along with it. Interrogation of the normal predators revealed that every Guard had an explosive device in their heads that were set to go off when any unauthorized surgeries or brainscans were committed. All in the name of secrecy.
When we tried to force one of the things to tell us how to deactivate the failsafe, they crunched down on something and just… died. The same happened when we tried again with another “4/5” ranking predator. Autopsies revealed that a tiny hole had been blown in their own brains, less violent that the Guards, but just as effective. Only one of the high rankers were still alive, “Doctor” Tadegs its name was. There was something peculiar about that one. We’d cured it the same as everything else but… rather than acting horrified like its brethren, it seemed almost fascinated.
And so here I was, sitting in front of a plexiglass wall and staring the “scientist” down. The predator’s fur hung off of its frame, a clear sign of starvation. Rather than pretending to be scared like the rest, it simply studied me with those horrifying eyes. As its body decayed, its mind only seemed to grow sharper.
“You know you can end your fellow predators’ suffering if you just tell us how to cure those ‘Deathwatch Guards.’ That’s all you need to do. A short conversation and it’s over.”
Tadegs stared at me.
“And by suffering, I assume you mean the horrors of eating meat?” it rasped. “I would rather not condemn my projects to that. They’re much too valuable to tamper with like that.”
“Projects?” I asked.
Perhaps I could trick it into slipping up.
A gloating tone entered its voice.
“Indeed. They’re among the Science Organization’s greatest achievements. Superior to other Zeyzell in practically every way. The perfect killers. By our standards at least.”
“How did you make these things?”
It laughed.
“I’m not an idiot, xeno. Nice try. Lesser fuck.”
“Listen to me, predator! You are the lesser being by design! I-”
“You claim to be so superior,” it interrupted. “and yet you have an atrocious understanding of biology and practically every other field of science. I’ve made more scientific progress in my career than you things have done in centuries. You may have better control over your instincts than those other animals that call themselves sapient, but your unwillingness to learn, to progress, is what makes you so inferior. You couldn’t understand the first things about the Guards. They are infinitely more complex than this… cure you’ve given me.”
I couldn’t believe the gall of this thing! It literally survived by killing other creatures and it had the audacity to call us inferior?
“Perhaps we should drag the information out of you instead,” I threatened.
“Go ahead and try. See how fast it takes for me to blow a hole in my brain. I don’t want to die, but I will if that’s what needs to happen. You try to remove it and you’ll get the same result.”
I clenched my tentacles in rage. The only thing that stopped me from lashing out at the horrible creature was the glass in front of me. The predator noticed this and chuckled.
“What’s the matter, xeno? Ice-hopper bite your shins?”
I had no idea what an “ice-hopper” was, nor did I care. I forced myself to calm down. I needed to sweet talk this thing. Torture would just end up with a literally brainless predator, and that’s not what we need at the moment. I decided to redirect the conversation for the time being.
“Why do you call me ‘xeno,’” I asked it.
“The same reason you call me ‘predator,’” it replied. “You’re not us, so you’re the enemy. Simple as that.”
I was genuinely surprised by the answer.
“That didn’t stop you from allying with the Humans.”
“I certainly didn’t agree with that. Shit, it was almost a blessing when you fucks killed the Council. Edo has the right idea. You lot are much too dangerous to just leave alone. There’s only one path to peace: your extinctions.”
I wasn’t going to try and correct it about the bombing’s perpetrator. They’d accused us of the attack this entire time and they wouldn’t listen to anything to the contrary. It was frustrating, really.
“You expect me to believe that you’re coming after us because you want some twisted form of peace? We’re your prey. That should be reason enough.”
“That’s the thing, xeno. For us, there are no predators or prey in this galaxy. There is only us and you. The Humans and Arxur can go ahead and fuck off as well. We don’t need anyone other than ourselves.”
I sat back, processing its words.
“I must say,” it continued. “I am fascinated by this cure of yours.”
I eyed it.
“Are you now?”
“Indeed. The Deathwatch Guards are only subjected to minor changes to their genetic code, a process which can take months, and yet here you are, changing a new species’ diet in only a week. For a bunch of bumbling, idiotic xenos, I have to give credit where credit is due.”
I scoffed. I had an idea where it was going with this.
“I’ll shut you down right there, predator. You’re never getting your claws on the cure. Your species will either learn to be herbivores, or die.”
It thrashed its tail in amusement.
"What's so funny, predator? We've already begun producing the cure for your species and soon this war will be over. You are far from home in the worst place possible for you."
It tilted its head ominously.
"On the contrary, I think that I am exactly where I want to be."
Then the alarms started blaring.
"That was actually amazing timing," it snarked.

On mobile so sorry about format. Rant.
I just talked to my manager and she just about fired me from my job because of how I come off to other coworkers.
She said that because she has had multiple complaints of me overstepping and being rude to other (senior) staff.
She likes me and wants me to work on it but she said that there have been multiple different staff that have complained about me and my attitude.
I work in a restaurant (pub) as a server. I have over 10 yrs experience in the restaurant industry both FOH and BOH (used to be a chef).
It is a busy place so there is quite a lot of staff. I am the type of person that if there is something that needs to be done, and no one else is doing it, I do it.
This is because I have the mentality that I am working, being paid, so I should be working all the time I am there. Even if my section is busy or not I try and help all the other staff. (Which is easy because it is not my house and I get money so my brain doesn't stop me, it is the exact opposite of how the rest of my life works.)
Here is where I might come off as too blunt/rude??
If I see a dirty table, I clean it. And sometimes others don't wipe off the table good enough (patio) so I re wipe it. If I see it is still sticky or has food stuff on it I wipe it, I'm going to do my own tables anyways so might as well.
If I was a customer I would like a clean table, I thought that was a given but apparently not if it is in another section I shouldn't clean it?
And if the server is busy, and a table walks in I'm only supposed to drop off menus and not ask them anything else or tell them the specials, or give them water until their server is free?? Apparently that's poaching the table??? Even though I tell the table that their server will be right with them?
Or if the kitchen messes up a bill, I tell them and ask them to correct it. I try to always say can you or would you be able to... and none of them have seemed mad at me about anything I suggest. Or I mention that the soup of the day is a bit salty, maybe add something to fix that. Or hey this was for staff so nbd but they said no jalapenos, so you don't have to remake it but if it was a customer you would have had to, please read the whole bill. I try to mod everything that needs to so that everything is clear. But yet I'm still overstepping??
I feel like I use all my social and physical energy to help all my other coworkers and be super polite (in my head) for it to come off all wrong.?..???
There are so many rules that they say they follow but, in reality they have other unwritten rules that literally I am supposed to know when they only tell me once..
but again in a restaurant my brain goes "everything has to be clean. People eat here." So don't overlook anything, and tell staff (foh or boh) if I see anything that is a health risk (washing hands, rotating sauces FIFO, no mark's on the glasses, straightening all the tables, etc). This is the kind of place where I actively try to make everything ok in a customer's/health inspectors eyes.
Because I can't do it at all in my own house, but where it is somewhere else I go into cleaning overdrive that it comes off as rude???
Idk I'm always just trying to help, and explain why I am suggesting to clean certain things.
Or if I'm closing and there is still tasks to do (shutting down the bar or tidying up the patio at the end of the day there is literally a list of closing duties) I want to make sure they are all done for the next person the next day. And if the bartender is not doing the tasks, I'll just start doing them, because they need to be done.
Again overstepping????
I don't know. I just feel so bad because I'm trying so hard to do good and keep this job because I actually like it and it works with my school schedule. And restaurants are fun to me. Everyone seemed so nice and like they liked me, but I guess not?
Anytime there was a misunderstanding I would try to clarify or apologize, and I thought that was that, we could move forward. But no....
Thankfully the manager is going to give me another chance working more during her hours...
I don't know. Rant over.
I'm just maybe asking if anyone else feels like even though they are trying their hardest to be "good" at their job, they still come off as "bad" or "not a good fit for us". Either because of tone of voice or body language or not understanding the "unwritten down rules of the social interactions expected between coworkers "

The Costco you know today is light years different from it’s early days when it comes to merchandising. The first Costco was VERY much a warehouse with low light, lots of walls in strange places, and a lot of product jammed into every available spot. Most manufacturers believed that Costco was just a low quality discounter selling “seconds” (products that weren’t first quality), and so they didn’t want to sell to Costco because they felt it would diminish their brand, or it would violate their exclusivity agreements with other retailers.
To combat this, the founders of Costco made sure there was a huge sign behind the membership desk proclaiming the 100% return guarantee on products sold. It sent a clear message that Costco was not a junk dealer, and that did help a few vendors to agree to sell to Costco. Those first brave companies were rewarded with tremendous loyalty in their relationship with Costco, and the bond stayed strong despite the otherwise fickle world of wholesale/ retail.
So, what was selling, and what eventually went away?
1) several categories were much more prominent in the early days. Automotive aisles had engine hoists, ramps, air tools, jack stands, and more. The tool aisles were loaded with inexpensive tools made by Allied, and it was very similar to Harbor Freight. There were multiple aisles year round of what is often called knock-down furniture. O’Sullivan was the brand name, and the member had to assemble it like an IKEA product. The boxes were enormously heavy, but Costco sold a gazillion bookcases that way. As Costco grew, the realization that it had to focus on reaching higher levels of quality caused it to switch to better furniture brought in seasonally, and as fewer people were working on their cars, the sales diminished on those items to a level requiring the auto aisles to be greatly reduced to mostly oil and windshield wipers.
Tools were another issue. Home Depot, Lowe’s, and some local places like Eagle ( that later got bought by Lowe’s) all monopolized the big brands like Dewalt, and those tool companies believed that if they sold to Costco, their relationship with the hardware stores would suffer significantly. To this day, Costco still struggles to find quality tools to sell.
2) some categories were HOT! Cameras and film were tremendous sellers. Costco usually has 10+ SKUs of cameras, and had a whole pallet island of film. Kodak film, Fuji Film, and Polaroid film was in almost every member’s cart. Unfortunately, Polaroid film was also in the top ten of stolen items! Organized groups would swoop in, fill bags/ pockets with it, then dash out the door. Undercover employees could usually be found staking out that section. All this went away when phones started taking the place of cameras.
3) office supplies had multiple aisles of product. Copy paper sold out quickly (even today, Costco keeps it’s wholesale title by selling truckloads of it to school districts, etc.). Computer paper was a must have—-remember the stuff that had little holes on each side so a gear could pull it through a printer? “Green bar” paper sold like crazy. Office chairs had 6 or more styles, and members would race each other down the aisles in them if they weren’t cabled to the steel. The rise of what came to be known as Category Killers lead to the office department’s reduction to just an aisle. Office Depot, Office Max, etc all could match or undercut Costco on the best sellers by selling all the other items that they carried at a higher mark-up to offset the loss leader.
4) I always felt bad for the bread and potato chip vendors. In the early days, they would be in the aisles for hours before opening because they had to take two retail size packages and use tape guns to create a two-pack of everything. Their companies in the early days refused to believe that customers would be crazy enough to buy huge bags of chips or super long loaves of bread, so for several years they made their route drivers lives miserable. Today, when I see what a supermarket calls “ family size” for a bag of chips, I can only laugh—it looks like an individual serving size compared to Costco! Also, the route drivers LOVE Costco, because it’s typically just one stop and they’re done until they have to come back and restock/ face the product later in the afternoon
5)So very much of Costco in the early days was focused on the commercial size products. Many of the canned food items came only in #10 cans ( the big ones that are almost the size of a bowling ball). There was no option for a smaller can. Eventually, as the membership grew to be dominated by retail shoppers, Costco started the separate Business Center division, and those allowed Costco to have the space for things like 6 packs of small cans instead.
6) Bonus memory! Clothing in the early days was often described as dowdy, old lady clothing that no one would want except at Halloween. Certainly it wasn’t THAT bad, but almost no clothing vendors would sell to Costco directly, so most was bought from middle men selling what no one else wanted. Worse, Costco had huge, ugly clothing racks made from 2x4s and pipe to display the clothes, so it was all displayed like you’d see in your closet. Shoulder view only! Costco put the clothes on a table eventually, and the sales skyrocketed. With the shear volume of people picking through them, it is very, very labor intensive to keep the tables looking clean, neat, and straight, but it’s worth it. The vendors soon saw the incredible sales Costco was doing, and now most sell direct. A few (Harley Davidson apparel for example) are still hold-outs.
Kinda long post, but I hope you enjoyed it enough for me to do more.

Every Compat is causing an issue and I'd really like to have it, but I'm not versed well enough to solve this. Please Help?
Crash log follows:
---- Minecraft Crash Report ----
// You should try our sister game, Minceraft!
​
Time: 2023-06-01 13:38:47
Description: Mod loading error has occurred
​
java.lang.Exception: Mod Loading has failed

at net.minecraftforge.logging.CrashReportExtender.dumpModLoadingCrashReport([CrashReportExtender.java:55](https://CrashReportExtender.java:55)) \~\[forge-1.19.2-43.2.11-universal.jar%23332!/:?\] {re:classloading} at net.minecraftforge.client.loading.ClientModLoader.completeModLoading([ClientModLoader.java:167](https://ClientModLoader.java:167)) \~\[forge-1.19.2-43.2.11-universal.jar%23332!/:?\] {re:classloading,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.lambda$new$2([Minecraft.java:585](https://Minecraft.java:585)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:cgm.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:blueprint.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.block\_manipulation.MixinMinecraft\_B,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.sync.MixinMinecraft\_RedirectedPacket,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:cloth.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:fabricapi.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:immersiveengineering.mixins.json:accessors.client.MinecraftAccess,pl:mixin:APP:flywheel.mixins.json:PausedPartialTickAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:quark.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:byg\_forge.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:create.mixins.json:WindowResizeMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.Util.m\_137521\_([Util.java:438](https://Util.java:438)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:mixin,re:classloading,pl:mixin:APP:bettermineshafts.mixins.json:SuppressLogMixin,pl:mixin:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.lambda$new$3([Minecraft.java:579](https://Minecraft.java:579)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:cgm.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:blueprint.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.block\_manipulation.MixinMinecraft\_B,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.sync.MixinMinecraft\_RedirectedPacket,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:cloth.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:fabricapi.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:immersiveengineering.mixins.json:accessors.client.MinecraftAccess,pl:mixin:APP:flywheel.mixins.json:PausedPartialTickAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:quark.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:byg\_forge.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:create.mixins.json:WindowResizeMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.LoadingOverlay.m\_6305\_([LoadingOverlay.java:135](https://LoadingOverlay.java:135)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:classloading,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.renderer.GameRenderer.m\_109093\_([GameRenderer.java:885](https://GameRenderer.java:885)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.m\_91383\_([Minecraft.java:1115](https://Minecraft.java:1115)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:cgm.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:blueprint.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.block\_manipulation.MixinMinecraft\_B,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.sync.MixinMinecraft\_RedirectedPacket,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:cloth.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:fabricapi.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:immersiveengineering.mixins.json:accessors.client.MinecraftAccess,pl:mixin:APP:flywheel.mixins.json:PausedPartialTickAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:quark.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:byg\_forge.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:create.mixins.json:WindowResizeMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.m\_91374\_([Minecraft.java:700](https://Minecraft.java:700)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:cgm.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:blueprint.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.block\_manipulation.MixinMinecraft\_B,pl:mixin:APP:imm\_ptl.mixins.json:client.sync.MixinMinecraft\_RedirectedPacket,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:cloth.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:physicsmod.mixins.json:fabricapi.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:immersiveengineering.mixins.json:accessors.client.MinecraftAccess,pl:mixin:APP:flywheel.mixins.json:PausedPartialTickAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:quark.mixins.json:client.MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:byg\_forge.mixins.json:client.MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:create.mixins.json:WindowResizeMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.m\_239872\_([Main.java:212](https://Main.java:212)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:classloading,re:mixin,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main([Main.java:51](https://Main.java:51)) \~\[client-1.19.2-20220805.130853-srg.jar%23327!/:?\] {re:classloading,re:mixin,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke([NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77](https://NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77)) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke([DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43](https://DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke([Method.java:568](https://Method.java:568)) \~\[?:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.loading.targets.CommonClientLaunchHandler.lambda$launchService$0([CommonClientLaunchHandler.java:27](https://CommonClientLaunchHandler.java:27)) \~\[fmlloader-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar%23101!/:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.LaunchServiceHandlerDecorator.launch([LaunchServiceHandlerDecorator.java:30](https://LaunchServiceHandlerDecorator.java:30)) \[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar%2388!/:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.LaunchServiceHandler.launch([LaunchServiceHandler.java:53](https://LaunchServiceHandler.java:53)) \[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar%2388!/:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.LaunchServiceHandler.launch([LaunchServiceHandler.java:71](https://LaunchServiceHandler.java:71)) \[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar%2388!/:?\] {} at [cpw.mods.modlauncher.Launcher.run](https://cpw.mods.modlauncher.Launcher.run)([Launcher.java:106](https://Launcher.java:106)) \[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar%2388!/:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.Launcher.main([Launcher.java:77](https://Launcher.java:77)) \[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar%2388!/:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.BootstrapLaunchConsumer.accept([BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:26](https://BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:26)) \[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar%2388!/:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.BootstrapLaunchConsumer.accept([BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:23](https://BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:23)) \[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar%2388!/:?\] {} at cpw.mods.bootstraplauncher.BootstrapLauncher.main([BootstrapLauncher.java:141](https://BootstrapLauncher.java:141)) \[bootstraplauncher-1.1.2.jar:?\] {} 

​
​
A detailed walkthrough of the error, its code path and all known details is as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
-- Head --
Thread: Render thread
Stacktrace:

at jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass([BuiltinClassLoader.java:641](https://BuiltinClassLoader.java:641)) \~\[?:?\] {} 

-- MOD everycomp --
Details:

Caused by 0: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77](https://NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77)) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45](https://DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstanceWithCaller([Constructor.java:499](https://Constructor.java:499)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance([Constructor.java:480](https://Constructor.java:480)) \~\[?:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.javafmlmod.FMLModContainer.constructMod([FMLModContainer.java:68](https://FMLModContainer.java:68)) \~\[javafmllanguage-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar%23329!/:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.ModContainer.lambda$buildTransitionHandler$10([ModContainer.java:121](https://ModContainer.java:121)) \~\[fmlcore-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar%23328!/:?\] {} at [java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run](https://java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run)([CompletableFuture.java:1804](https://CompletableFuture.java:1804)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.exec([CompletableFuture.java:1796](https://CompletableFuture.java:1796)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec([ForkJoinTask.java:373](https://ForkJoinTask.java:373)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.topLevelExec([ForkJoinPool.java:1182](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1182)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.scan([ForkJoinPool.java:1655](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1655)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker([ForkJoinPool.java:1622](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1622)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at [java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run](https://java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run)([ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165](https://ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165)) \~\[?:?\] {} 

​

Caused by 1: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/simibubi/create/content/decoration/palettes/ConnectedGlassPaneBlock at net.mehvahdjukaar.every\_compat.forge.EveryCompatForge.lambda$new$7([EveryCompatForge.java:69](https://EveryCompatForge.java:69)) \~\[everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar%23273!/:?\] {re:classloading} at net.mehvahdjukaar.every\_compat.EveryCompat.addModule([EveryCompat.java:123](https://EveryCompat.java:123)) \~\[everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar%23273!/:?\] {re:classloading} at net.mehvahdjukaar.every\_compat.forge.EveryCompatForge.([EveryCompatForge.java:69](https://EveryCompatForge.java:69)) \~\[everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar%23273!/:?\] {re:classloading} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77](https://NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77)) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45](https://DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstanceWithCaller([Constructor.java:499](https://Constructor.java:499)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance([Constructor.java:480](https://Constructor.java:480)) \~\[?:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.javafmlmod.FMLModContainer.constructMod([FMLModContainer.java:68](https://FMLModContainer.java:68)) \~\[javafmllanguage-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar%23329!/:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.ModContainer.lambda$buildTransitionHandler$10([ModContainer.java:121](https://ModContainer.java:121)) \~\[fmlcore-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar%23328!/:?\] {} at [java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run](https://java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run)([CompletableFuture.java:1804](https://CompletableFuture.java:1804)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.exec([CompletableFuture.java:1796](https://CompletableFuture.java:1796)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec([ForkJoinTask.java:373](https://ForkJoinTask.java:373)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.topLevelExec([ForkJoinPool.java:1182](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1182)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.scan([ForkJoinPool.java:1655](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1655)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker([ForkJoinPool.java:1622](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1622)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at [java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run](https://java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run)([ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165](https://ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165)) \~\[?:?\] {} 

​

Mod File: /C:/Users/Ethan/curseforge/minecraft/Instances/Modded 1.19.2/mods/everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar Failure message: Every Compat (everycomp) has failed to load correctly java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException: null Mod Version: 1.19.2-2.4.9 Mod Issue URL: [https://github.com/MehVahdJukaaevery\_compat/issues](https://github.com/MehVahdJukaaevery_compat/issues) Exception message: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.simibubi.create.content.decoration.palettes.ConnectedGlassPaneBlock 

Stacktrace:

at jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass([BuiltinClassLoader.java:641](https://BuiltinClassLoader.java:641)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass([ClassLoader.java:520](https://ClassLoader.java:520)) \~\[?:?\] {} at cpw.mods.cl.ModuleClassLoader.loadClass([ModuleClassLoader.java:137](https://ModuleClassLoader.java:137)) \~\[securejarhandler-2.1.4.jar:?\] {} at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass([ClassLoader.java:520](https://ClassLoader.java:520)) \~\[?:?\] {} at cpw.mods.cl.ModuleClassLoader.loadClass([ModuleClassLoader.java:137](https://ModuleClassLoader.java:137)) \~\[securejarhandler-2.1.4.jar:?\] {} at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass([ClassLoader.java:520](https://ClassLoader.java:520)) \~\[?:?\] {} at net.mehvahdjukaar.every\_compat.forge.EveryCompatForge.lambda$new$7([EveryCompatForge.java:69](https://EveryCompatForge.java:69)) \~\[everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar%23273!/:?\] {re:classloading} at net.mehvahdjukaar.every\_compat.EveryCompat.addModule([EveryCompat.java:123](https://EveryCompat.java:123)) \~\[everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar%23273!/:?\] {re:classloading} at net.mehvahdjukaar.every\_compat.forge.EveryCompatForge.([EveryCompatForge.java:69](https://EveryCompatForge.java:69)) \~\[everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar%23273!/:?\] {re:classloading} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77](https://NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77)) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45](https://DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstanceWithCaller([Constructor.java:499](https://Constructor.java:499)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance([Constructor.java:480](https://Constructor.java:480)) \~\[?:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.javafmlmod.FMLModContainer.constructMod([FMLModContainer.java:68](https://FMLModContainer.java:68)) \~\[javafmllanguage-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar%23329!/:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.ModContainer.lambda$buildTransitionHandler$10([ModContainer.java:121](https://ModContainer.java:121)) \~\[fmlcore-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar%23328!/:?\] {} at [java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run](https://java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run)([CompletableFuture.java:1804](https://CompletableFuture.java:1804)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.exec([CompletableFuture.java:1796](https://CompletableFuture.java:1796)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec([ForkJoinTask.java:373](https://ForkJoinTask.java:373)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.topLevelExec([ForkJoinPool.java:1182](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1182)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.scan([ForkJoinPool.java:1655](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1655)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker([ForkJoinPool.java:1622](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1622)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at [java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run](https://java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run)([ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165](https://ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165)) \~\[?:?\] {} 

​
​
-- System Details --
Details:

Minecraft Version: 1.19.2 Minecraft Version ID: 1.19.2 Operating System: Windows 10 (amd64) version 10.0 Java Version: 17.0.3, Microsoft Java VM Version: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (mixed mode), Microsoft Memory: 407197840 bytes (388 MiB) / 2084569088 bytes (1988 MiB) up to 8589934592 bytes (8192 MiB) CPUs: 12 Processor Vendor: AuthenticAMD Processor Name: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor Identifier: AuthenticAMD Family 23 Model 113 Stepping 0 Microarchitecture: Zen 2 Frequency (GHz): 3.59 Number of physical packages: 1 Number of physical CPUs: 6 Number of logical CPUs: 12 Graphics card #0 name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Graphics card #0 vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de) Graphics card #0 VRAM (MB): 4095.00 Graphics card #0 deviceId: 0x21c4 Graphics card #0 versionInfo: DriverVersion=31.0.15.1694 Memory slot #0 capacity (MB): 8192.00 Memory slot #0 clockSpeed (GHz): 3.00 Memory slot #0 type: DDR4 Memory slot #1 capacity (MB): 8192.00 Memory slot #1 clockSpeed (GHz): 3.00 Memory slot #1 type: DDR4 Virtual memory max (MB): 28604.86 Virtual memory used (MB): 11274.75 Swap memory total (MB): 12288.00 Swap memory used (MB): 426.25 JVM Flags: 4 total; -XX:HeapDumpPath=MojangTricksIntelDriversForPerformance\_javaw.exe\_minecraft.exe.heapdump -Xss1M -Xmx8192m -Xms256m ModLauncher: 10.0.8+10.0.8+main.0ef7e830 ModLauncher launch target: forgeclient ModLauncher naming: srg ModLauncher services: mixin-0.8.5.jar mixin PLUGINSERVICE eventbus-6.0.3.jar eventbus PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar slf4jfixer PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar object\_holder\_definalize PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar runtime\_enum\_extender PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar capability\_token\_subclass PLUGINSERVICE accesstransformers-8.0.4.jar accesstransformer PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.2-43.2.11.jar runtimedistcleaner PLUGINSERVICE modlauncher-10.0.8.jar mixin TRANSFORMATIONSERVICE modlauncher-10.0.8.jar fml TRANSFORMATIONSERVICE FML Language Providers: [email protected] [email protected] kotori\[email protected] [email protected] Mod List: YungsBetterDungeons-1.19.2-Forge-3.2.2.jar YUNG's Better Dungeons betterdungeons 1.19.2-Forge-3.2.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE bettercrafts-1.2.0.jar bettercrafts bettercrafts 1.2.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE v\_slab\_compat-1.19.2-1.4.jar Vertical Slabs Compat v\_slab\_compat 1.19.2-1.4 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE naturalist-forge-3.0.3a-1.19.2.jar Naturalist naturalist 3.0.3a COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE paragon-forge-3.0.2-1.19x.jar Paragon paragon 3.0.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE rsgauges-1.19.2-forge-1.2.18.jar Gauges and Switches rsgauges 1.2.18 COMMON\_SETManifest: bf:30:76:97:e4:58:41:61:2a:f4:30:d3:8f:4c:e3:71:1d:14:c4:a1:4e:85:36:e3:1d:aa:2f:cb:22:b0:04:9b mcwfurnituresbop-1.19.2-1.2.jar Macaw's Furnitures - BOP mcwfurnituresbop 1.19.2-1.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE cookingforblockheads-forge-1.19.2-13.3.2.jar CookingForBlockheads cookingforblockheads 13.3.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsApi-1.19.2-Forge-3.8.9.jar YUNG's API yungsapi 1.19.2-Forge-3.8.9 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Powah-4.0.10.jar Powah powah 4.0.10 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE additional-guns-0.8.2-1.19.2.jar Additional Guns additionalguns 0.8.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE guardvillagers-1.19.2-1.5.5.jar Guard Villagers guardvillagers 1.19.2-1.5.5 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Steam\_Rails-1.2.6+forge-mc1.19.2.jar Create: Steam 'n Rails railways 1.2.6+forge-mc1.19.2COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE balm-forge-1.19.2-4.5.7.jar Balm balm 4.5.7 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE cloth-config-8.2.88-forge.jar Cloth Config v8 API cloth\_config 8.2.88 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE soundphysics-forge-1.19.2-1.0.18.jar Sound Physics Remastered sound\_physics\_remastered 1.19.2-1.0.18 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE indreb-1.19.2-0.14.2.jar Industrial Reborn indreb 1.19.2-0.14.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE nocubes\_create\_compats\_1.0.0\_forge\_1.19.2.jar Create Compats (by NoCube) acc\_nocube 1.0.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE corpse-1.19.2-1.0.0.jar Corpse corpse 1.19.2-1.0.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE FarmersDelight-1.19-1.2.1.jar Farmer's Delight farmersdelight 1.19-1.2.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE torchmaster-19.2.0.jar Torchmaster torchmaster 19.2.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE energyconverters-1.0.jar Energy Converters energyconverters 1.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE wthit-forge-5.16.1.jar wthit wthit 5.16.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE curios-forge-1.19.2-5.1.4.1.jar Curios API curios 1.19.2-5.1.4.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE IC2Classic-1.19.2-2.0.5.jar IC2 Classic ic2 1.19.2-2.0.5 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE advgenerators-1.4.0.5-mc1.19.2.jar Advanced Generators advgenerators [1.4.0.5](https://1.4.0.5)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE deeperdarker-forge-1.1.6-forge.jar Deeper and Darker deeperdarker 1.1.6 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE architectury-6.5.85-forge.jar Architectury architectury 6.5.85 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE mcw-furniture-3.1.0-mc1.19.2forge.jar Macaw's Furniture mcwfurnitures 3.1.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE framework-0.4.2-1.19.2.jar Framework framework 0.4.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsBetterMineshafts-1.19.2-Forge-3.2.0.jar YUNG's Better Mineshafts bettermineshafts 1.19.2-Forge-3.2.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE geckolib-forge-1.19-3.1.40.jar GeckoLib geckolib3 3.1.40 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE elytraslot-forge-6.1.1+1.19.2.jar Elytra Slot elytraslot 6.1.1+1.19.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE cgm-1.3.4-1.19.2.jar MrCrayfish's Gun Mod cgm 1.3.4 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE redstonepen-1.19.2-forge-1.2.20.jar Redstone Pen redstonepen 1.2.20 COMMON\_SETManifest: bf:30:76:97:e4:58:41:61:2a:f4:30:d3:8f:4c:e3:71:1d:14:c4:a1:4e:85:36:e3:1d:aa:2f:cb:22:b0:04:9b jei-1.19.2-forge-11.6.0.1015.jar Just Enough Items jei 11.6.0.1015 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE caelus-forge-1.19.2-3.0.0.6.jar Caelus API caelus 1.19.2-3.0.0.6 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE bdlib-1.25.0.5-mc1.19.2.jar BdLib bdlib [1.25.0.5](https://1.25.0.5)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE MoGuns-1.9.2-1.19.2.jar Mo' Guns moguns 1.9.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE createchunkloading-1.3.0-forge.jar Create Chunkloading createchunkloading 1.3.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Clumps-forge-1.19.2-9.0.0+14.jar Clumps clumps 9.0.0+14 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE journeymap-1.19.2-5.9.7-forge.jar Journeymap journeymap 5.9.7 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE TravelersBackpack-1.19.2-8.2.25.jar Traveler's Backpack travelersbackpack 8.2.25 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE NaturesCompass-1.19.2-1.10.0-forge.jar Nature's Compass naturescompass 1.19.2-1.10.0-forge COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE createlectrified1.19.2pre-v0.1.jar Create: Electrified createlectrified 0.0NONE COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE artifacts-1.19.2-5.0.2.jar Artifacts artifacts 1.19.2-5.0.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE SereneSeasons-1.19.2-8.1.0.24.jar Serene Seasons sereneseasons 0.0NONE COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE badpackets-forge-0.2.1.jar Bad Packets badpackets 0.2.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE everycomp-1.19.2-2.4.9.jar Every Compat everycomp 1.19.2-2.4.9 ERROR Manifest: NOSIGNATURE netherdepthsupgrade-3.0.0-1.19.2.jar Nether Depths Upgrade netherdepthsupgrade 3.0.0-1.19.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE OreBerries-Replanted-1.19.2-0.2.2.jar Oreberries Replanted oreberriesreplanted 0.2.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE blueprint-1.19.2-6.1.2.jar Blueprint blueprint 6.1.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE immersive-portals-2.3.5-mc1.19.2-forge.jar Immersive Portals immersive\_portals 2.3.5 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE CraftTweaker-forge-1.19.2-10.1.44.jar CraftTweaker crafttweaker 10.1.44 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Mekanism-1.19.2-10.3.8.477.jar Mekanism mekanism 10.3.8 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE MekanismGenerators-1.19.2-10.3.8.477.jar 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Got progressives after having non progressives for 3 years and after a day my eyes still get strained and the vision is still quite blurry from middle down. Since I've never worn progressives I'm wondering is this normal? I know the bottom is for up close and the middle is for medium distance but it really seems like the middle is just a big blur and the bottom well is obviously a blur in most cases. I know they take time to get used to but I have to look through the top half to see anything clearly it seems (my computer screen even which isn't that far away).
OLD GLASSES
OD: SPHERE -3.00 CYLINDER -0.25 AXIS 090 OS SPHERE -4.50 CYLINDER -0.25 AXIS 155
TO
NEW PROGRESSIVES
OD: SPHERE -3.50 CYLINDER (BLANK) AXIS (BLANK) ADD +2.50
OS: SPHERE -5.00 CYLINDER 0.25 AXIS 155 ADD +2.50
Any help is appreciated and sorry to anyone seeing this again posted it yesterday but I realized I wasn't specific enough.

Hi everyone, i need help looking for a game and i need your help.
My memory is unfortunately really vague, i'll say everything i remember.
​
It's a pc point and click game, likely around the 1990-2000 mark.
I remember it being horror, or at least very scary for a kid. There were several monsters: i am fairly sure there were spiders and it's possible there were snakes too. They could kill you, and each of them had a unique animation for when you died.
The graphic was cartoon-ish, similar to Encantia. It was in color, not black and white.
I clearly remember a scene where you were chased by a monster and had to run away from a screen and into another one. I unfortunately don't remember the monster.
I remember a witch being an antagonist, though i am not sure if it was a random enemy or the main antagonist.
The last thing i recall clearly is the cursor being replaced with a magnifying glass for most of the time.
​
Thank you all in advance, i'll answer any questions if at all possible.

media.tenor.com/ydMWvQCt6MIAAAAC/horny-shrek.gif
Video: Mirror - Shrek
This is part of a series exploring the hidden motives and actions of the main players during Robert's Rebellion, named LBJ in reference to the influence of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War on GRRM's views and writings on war. LBJ also indicates considerations over whether Lyanna + Bobby B = Jon Snow. Previous installments include:

• Rhaegar Had To Be A Warrior
• Why Did Rhaegar Crown Lyanna?
  • Ice, Ice Baby?
  • Political Suicide?
  • Was She 'A Very Kinky Girl'?
• The Forging of Lightbringer: Blue Flowers & Narrow Visors
• Rhaegar Mistakenly Crowned Lyanna
• I am not fond of fish, but when fish is served, I eat it.
• All is fair in love and war...
• Kingsguard Loyalty
• Southron Ambitions & Lies
• The Return of the Prince: Éowyn at the Trident

In the last part, we combed through evidence that Lyanna fought disguised as Rhaegar at the Trident. We'll now examine why Cersei's torture of the Blue Bard indicates that Rhaegar was tortured by Robert, for the crime of crowning his beloved Lyanna with winter roses in front of half the realm.

"It saddens me to see Your Grace so careworn. I say, run off and play and leave the King's Hand to hear these tiresome petitions. We could dress as serving girls and spend the day amongst the smallfolk, to hear what they are saying of the fall of Dragonstone. I know the inn where the Blue Bard plays when he is not singing attendance on the little queen, and a certain cellar where a conjurer turns lead into gold, water into wine, and girls into boys. Perhaps he would work his spells on the two of us. Would it amuse Your Grace to be a man one night?"

- A Feast for Crows Cersei VIII

Mirror on the Wall: King Robert vs. Queen Cersei

Robert is practiced at shutting his eyes to things he’d rather not see, like when he can’t admit he’s too fat for his armor (like Cersei assumes washerwomen shrunk her gowns) or when he pretends wine made him hurt his queen (which Cersei reenacts on Taena, but is frustrated when that Myrish slut enjoys it). Robert fills his court with corrupt lickspittles and admits on his deathbed that he was a bad king when previously he expected Ned to say otherwise. Likewise, Cersei assumes she’s a political mastermind, basically Tywin with teats. In answer to Robert grooming Barra's barely pubescent mother, Cersei grooms and psychologically scars young Lancel (and Tyrek too for all we know). Robert incestuously cheats with his Estermont cousin early in his reign, so Cersei rekindles incest with her brother Jaime. Cersei has bastards killed who could threaten her own children's claims, and Robert tries to have Dany and her unborn child killed to protect the throne from dragonspawn. Robert pretends to care about his baseborn children, and people doubt Cersei loves anyone as more than an extension of herself (although Varys disagrees). Robert does seem to realize he doesn’t love his heirs, which raises the question of whether or not he knew they were bastards.

To her credit, Cersei did not look away. “He saw us. You love your children, do you not?”
Robert had asked him the very same question, the morning of the melee. He gave her the same answer. “With all my heart.”
“No less do I love mine.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard XII
King Robert and Queen Cersei are an exercise in avoiding hypocritical analysis; any fault decried in one is reflected in the other in a role-appropriate way. Both lie to themselves and others, drink in excess, have cruel tempers, are physically and sexually abusive, and are terrible parents and rulers. Martin has clearly written Robert and Cersei to mirror one another, and if we saw Robert’s inner monologue, surely it would reveal that he’s just as arrogant and delusional as his wife.
It’s often claimed Robert was unaware of the illegitimacy of his heirs, as he would have gone berserk had he known. If one believes Robert would have executed Cersei for cuckolding him, then it must also be true that Rhaegar incurred Robert’s hatred when he crowned Lyanna with sexually suggestive winter roses in front of half the realm. In fact, we know he did:

As for Robert Baratheon himself, some say he laughed at the prince’s gesture, claiming that Rhaegar had done no more than pay Lyanna her due…but those who knew him better say the young lord brooded on the insult, and that his heart hardened toward the Prince of Dragonstone from that day forth.

- The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring The World of Ice and Fire
Given his family history of Targaryen betrayal, when the Laughing Storm rebelled against the Iron Throne over a broken betrothal, as well as his possessiveness of Lyanna, Robert would seek vengeance over Rhaegar's actions at Harrenhal. So when Robert talks about Rhaegar raping Lyanna, it’s easy to imagine that he’s reinforcing a lie to himself. Similar to how he projects Lyanna onto Cersei on their wedding night, Robert is capable of projecting his own actions onto Rhaegar. Robert is the person who actually had sex with Lyanna… but only once.

The king touched her cheek, his fingers brushing across the rough stone as gently as if it were living flesh. “I vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to her.”
“You did,” Ned reminded him.
“Only once,” Robert said bitterly.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard I
This subtext is mirrored by Jon Connington's implied love for Rhaegar. Connington laments that Rhaegar ass-ended his tower only once, then indicates that all the girls cried when Rhaegar played his harp, implying that Lyanna crying over Rhaegar's music was nothing special.

Yet when they parted, Jon Connington did not go to the sept. Instead his steps led him up to the roof of the east tower, the tallest at Griffin's Roost. As he climbed he remembered past ascents—a hundred with his lord father, who liked to stand and look out over woods and crags and sea and know that all he saw belonged to House Connington, and one (only one!) with Rhaegar Targaryen. Prince Rhaegar was returning from Dorne, and he and his escort had lingered here a fortnight. He was so young then, and I was younger. Boys, the both of us. At the welcoming feast, the prince had taken up his silver-stringed harp and played for them. A song of love and doom, Jon Connington recalled, and every woman in the hall was weeping when he put down the harp. Not the men, of course. Particularly not his own father, whose only love was land. Lord Armond Connington spent the entire evening trying to win the prince to his side in his dispute with Lord Morrigen.

- A Dance with Dragons The Griffon Reborn
Robert's false accusation of rape mirrors Lord Mathis Rowan's daughter's lie which landed Dareon, a singer and harpist, on the Wall; if Arya had this information, maybe she wouldn't have murdered him for desertion.

It made her angry to see Dareon sitting there so brazen, making eyes at Lanna as his fingers danced across the harp strings.

_

He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince. And the singer should be on the Wall.

- A Feast for Crows Cat of the Canals
So when one considers that our favorite evil queen had an innocent singer imprisoned and tortured on trumped up charges, it then should not come as a shock that the fan-favorite warrior king would do something similar.

The Blue Bard Mirror

Cersei has the Blue Bard arrested and tortured in the dungeons, framing him for seducing Margaery. Afraid of Maggy the Frog's prophecies and thus jealous of Margaery, Cersei imprisons the young queen's favorite musician, accusing him of bedding her. She enlists Qyburn to torture a false confession from the Blue Bard and lies to herself about its veracity. The main beats of Cersei's motives and actions here 'rhyme' with what actually happened to Rhaegar: jealous over the prophecy-minded, musical prince's use of pale blue roses at Harrenhal, which according to Bael the Bard's song indicates a desire to bed and father a child on a Stark maiden, Robert imprisoned and tortured Rhaegar, also having Lyanna imprisoned in the tower of joy with Dorne's help, raped her, and lied about Rhaegar's guilt.
What follows is an examination of the Blue Bard torture scene from A Feast for Crows, Cersei IX.
Like Bael the Bard, the Blue Bard is linked to pale blue roses, signaling that his story is relevant to mysteries surrounding Lyanna.

“Not kind,” said Cersei, “merely truthful. Taena tells me that you are called the Blue Bard.”
“I am, Your Grace.” The singer’s boots were supple blue calfskin, his breeches fine blue wool. The tunic he wore was pale blue silk slashed with shiny blue satin. He had even gone so far as to dye his hair blue, in the Tyroshi fashion. Long and curly, it fell to his shoulders and smelled as if it had been washed in rosewater. From blue roses, no doubt. At least his teeth are white. They were good teeth, not the least bit crooked.
“You have no other name?”

His eyes are like Robert's eyes, beckoning readers to 'see':

A hint of pink suffused his cheeks. “As a boy, I was called Wat. A fine name for a plowboy, less fitting for a singer.”
The Blue Bard’s eyes were the same color as Robert’s. For that alone, she hated him. “It is easy to see why you are Lady Margaery’s favorite.”
“Her Grace is kind. She says I give her pleasure.”
“Oh, I’m certain of it. Might I see your lute?”
“If it please Your Grace.” Beneath the courtesy, there was a faint hint of unease, but he handed her the lute all the same. One does not refuse the queen’s request.
Cersei plucked a string and smiled at the sound. “Sweet and sad as love. Tell me, Wat . . . the first time you took Margaery to bed, was that before she wed my son, or after?”
For a moment he did not seem to understand. When he did, his eyes grew large. “Your Grace has been misinformed. I swear to you, I never—”

vs.

For a moment Robert did not seem to understand what Ned was saying. Defiance was not a dish he tasted often. Slowly his face changed as comprehension came. His eyes narrowed and a flush crept up his neck past the velvet collar. He pointed an angry finger at Ned. "You are the King's Hand, Lord Stark. You will do as I command you, or I'll find me a Hand who will."

- A Game of Thrones Eddard VIII
Not only do these passages share certain words and syntax, but they also reinforce both Cersei and Robert's rash, retaliatory natures. Both expect to be obeyed.
Cersei's violence towards the singer even evokes Robert smashing the rubies off Rhaegar's armor at the Trident.

“Liar!” Cersei smashed the lute across the singer’s face so hard the painted wood exploded into shards and splinters. “Lord Orton, summon my guards and take this creature to the dungeons.”
Orton Merryweather’s face was damp with fear. “This . . . oh, infamy . . . he dared seduce the queen?”
“I fear it was the other way around, but he is a traitor all the same. Let him sing for Lord Qyburn.”
The Blue Bard went white. “No.” Blood dripped from his lip where the lute had torn it. “I never . . .” When Merryweather seized him by the arm, he screamed, “Mother have mercy, no.”
“I am not your mother,” Cersei told him.

Cersei retorts that she's not the Blue Bard's mother, before having Wat tortured out of jealousy of her step-daughter Margaery, who she thinks is the younger queen from Maggy's prophecy. This is clearly meant to reflect the story of Snow White, in which her vain and wicked step-mother is told by a magic mirror that the princess is more beautiful, leading her to send a huntsman to kill her. He takes Snow White into the deep of the wood but lets her flee, presenting a boar's heart to the evil queen instead. Similarly, Robert is a huntsman who is killed by a boar, with the aid of strongwine supplied by Cersei.

Dorcas put a silver looking glass into her hand. Very good, the queen thought, smiling at her reflection.

- A Feast for Crows Cersei V
I've previously argued that the queen of love and beauty's laurel at Harrenhal was actually formed from white roses and mistaken as pale blue like frost in shadow. "The Blue Bard went white" is just one of many pieces of text that foreshadows this reveal. Azor Ahai forges Lightbringer, so it makes sense that solutions to major mysteries would involve light phenomena.

Even in the black cells, all they got from him were denials, prayers, and pleas for mercy. Before long, blood was streaming down his chin from all his broken teeth, and he wet his dark blue breeches three times over, yet still the man persisted in his lies. “Is it possible we have the wrong singer?” Cersei asked.
“All things are possible, Your Grace. Have no fear. The man will confess before the night is done.” Down here in the dungeons, Qyburn wore roughspun wool and a blacksmith’s leather apron. To the Blue Bard he said, “I am sorry if the guards were rough with you. Their courtesies are sadly lacking.” His voice was kind, solicitous. “All we want from you is the truth.”
“I’ve told you the truth,” the singer sobbed. Iron shackles held him hard against the cold stone wall.
“We know better.” Qyburn had a razor in his hand, its edge gleaming faintly in the torchlight. He cut away the Blue Bard’s clothing, until the man was naked but for his high blue boots. The hair between his legs was brown, Cersei was amused to see. “Tell us how you pleasured the little queen,” she commanded.

vs.

There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.

- A Game of Thrones Prologue
Qyburn slices off the Blue Bard's nipple and the wet red eye weeps blood... Margaery may favor his music, but it's obvious they did not have a sexual relationship. Lyanna also was moved to tears by Rhaegar's music, but that doesn't mean she desired him. This series is called A Song of Ice & Fire, so it's appropriate to hide major clues to its most important mysteries in a singer's tale.

“I never . . . I sang, was all, I sang and played. Her ladies will tell you. They were always with us. Her cousins.”
“How many of them did you have carnal knowledge of?”
“None of them. I’m just a singer. Please.”
Qyburn said, “Your Grace, mayhaps this poor man only played for Margaery whilst she entertained other lovers.”
Lord Qyburn ran a hand up the Blue Bard’s chest. “Does she take your nipples in her mouth during your love play?” He took one between his thumb and forefinger, and twisted. “Some men enjoy that. Their nipples are as sensitive as a woman’s.” The razor flashed, the singer shrieked. On his chest a wet red eye wept blood. Cersei felt ill. Part of her wanted to close her eyes, to turn away, to make it stop. But she was the queen and this was treason. Lord Tywin would not have turned away.

vs.

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying she poured wine over his head.

- A Storm of Swords Bran II
Like Cersei mentally distorts reality to believe Margaery seduced the Blue Bard, it's easy to imagine Robert convincing himself that Lyanna tempted Rhaegar, to try to make sense of the insult at Harrenhal:

In the end the Blue Bard told them his whole life, back to his first name day. His father had been a chandler and Wat was raised to that trade, but as a boy he found he had more skill at making lutes than barrels. When he was twelve he ran off to join a troupe of musicians he had heard performing at a fair. He had wandered half the Reach before coming to King’s Landing in hopes of finding favor at court.
“Favor?” Qyburn chuckled. “Is that what women call it now? I fear you found too much of it, my friend . . . and from the wrong queen. The true one stands before you.”
Yes. Cersei Robert blamed Margaery Tyrell Lyanna for this. If not for her, Wat Rhaegar might have lived a long and fruitful life, singing his little songs and bedding pig girls princesses and crofter’s lord’s daughters. Her scheming forced this on me. She has soiled me with her treachery.

Cersei urges the Blue Bard to recant certain accusations, reinforcing the fact that people of means have privileges, a theme of King Robert's reign:

"Not true, Your Grace," protested a wispy young man who must have been Caswell. "What is mine is yours."
"Whenever someone said that to my brother Robert, he took them at their word," Renly said.
"Do you have daughters?"
"Yes, Your Grace. Two."
"Then thank the gods that I am not Robert. My sweet queen is all the woman I desire." Renly held out his hand to help Margaery to her feet. "We'll talk again when you've had a chance to refresh yourself, Lady Catelyn."

- A Clash of Kings Catelyn II
vs.

By dawn the singer’s high blue boots were full of blood, and he had told them how Margaery would fondle herself as she watched her cousins pleasuring him with their mouths. At other times he would sing for her whilst she sated her lusts with other lovers. “Who were they?” the queen demanded, and the wretched Wat named Ser Tallad the Tall, Lambert Turnberry, Jalabhar Xho, the Redwyne twins, Osney Kettleblack, Hugh Clifton, and the Knight of Flowers.
That displeased her. She dare not besmirch the name of the hero of Dragonstone. Besides, no one who knew Ser Loras would ever believe it. The Redwynes could not be a part of it either. Without the Arbor and its fleet, the realm could never hope to rid itself of this Euron Crow’s Eye and his accursed ironmen. “All you are doing is spitting up the names of men you saw about her chambers. We want the truth!”
“The truth.” Wat looked at her with the one blue eye that Qyburn had left him. Blood bubbled through the holes where his front teeth had been. “I might have . . . misremembered.”
“Horas and Hobber had no part of this, did they?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not them.”
“As for Ser Loras, I am certain Margaery took pains to hide what she was doing from her brother.”
“She did. I remember now. Once I had to hide under the bed when Ser Loras came to see her. He must never know, she said.”

The previous line draws attention to a gaping hole in the Rhaegar red herring: Rhaegar believed his children by Elia were heads of the dragon, his son Aegon the prince that was promised, and yet he allegedly left three Kingsguard with Lyanna while leaving none to protect his other children. He also failed to explain their disappearance, when doing so would have gone a long way towards keeping his and Lyanna's families alive.

“I am not lying. Ser Amory dragged Princess Rhaenys out from under her father’s bed and stabbed her to death. He had some men-at-arms with him, but I do not know their names.” He leaned forward. “It was Ser Gregor Clegane who smashed Prince Aegon’s head against a wall and raped your sister Elia with his blood and brains still on his hands.”

- A Storm of Swords Tyrion IX
Wat is kept in the black cells and given milk of the poppy for his pain. He is told by Cersei that he can take the black if he lies sufficiently, so he continues to lie when the Faith gets ahold of and also tortures him. Ned was likewise kept in the black cells, feverish from his broken leg but denied milk of the poppy, then was given a similar deal, the black in exchange for lying and dishonoring himself, before being beheaded on the steps of the Sept of Baelor.

“I prefer this song to the other.” Leave the great lords out of it, that was for the best. The others, though . . . Ser Tallad had been a hedge knight, Jalabhar Xho was an exile and a beggar, Clifton was the only one of the little queen’s guardsman. And Osney is the plum that makes the pudding. “I know you feel better for having told the truth. You will want to remember that when Margaery comes to trial. If you were to start lying again . . .”
“I won’t. I’ll tell it true. And after . . .”
“. . . you will be allowed to take the black. You have my word on that.” Cersei turned to Qyburn. “See that his wounds are cleaned and dressed, and give him milk of the poppy for the pain.”
“Your Grace is good.” Qyburn dropped the bloody razor into a pail of vinegar. “Margaery may wonder where her bard has gone.”
“Singers come and go, they are infamous for it.”
The climb up the dark stone steps from the black cells left Cersei feeling breathless. I must rest. Getting to the truth was wearisome work, and she dreaded what must follow. I must be strong. What I must do I do for Tommen and the realm. It was a pity that Maggy the Frog was dead. Piss on your prophecy, old woman. The little queen may be younger than I, but she has never been more beautiful, and soon she will be dead.

Ahem...

It rained all through that night, and come morning Ned, Lem, and Watty the Miller awoke with chills. Watty could not keep his breakfast down, and young Ned was feverish and shivering by turns, with skin clammy to the touch.

- A Storm of Swords Arya VIII
Of interest, the only time our author's name appears in the canon is applied to Lord Confessor George Graceford, a notorious torturer during the reign of Aegon III who had a knack for extracting false confessions. Because of this, and in light of mirrored text during Qyburn's torture of the Blue Bard, surely this scene is of utmost importance in unravelling hidden truths.
Like Cersei with the Blue Bard, Robert may have wanted to witness the torture of Rhaegar. Previously, we saw indications that Rhaegar and/or his companions were held in Ghaston Grey, the Alcatraz-style island prison in the Sea of Dorne. Yet it's also possible Rhaegar was held for a time on the mainland, perhaps at Summerhall or even Storm's End, where Robert lingered while trying to consolidate his military power:

The king's voice was thick with anger. "My brother had a gift for inspiring loyalty. Even in his foes. At Summerhall he won three battles in a single day, and brought Lords Grandison and Cafferen back to Storm's End as prisoners. He hung their banners in the hall as trophies. Cafferen's white fawns were spotted with blood and Grandison's sleeping lion was torn near in two. Yet they would sit beneath those banners of a night, drinking and feasting with Robert. He even took them hunting. 'These men meant to deliver you to Aerys to be burned,' I told him after I saw them throwing axes in the yard. 'You should not be putting axes in their hands.' Robert only laughed. I would have thrown Grandison and Cafferen into a dungeon, but he turned them into friends. Lord Cafferen died at Ashford Castle, cut down by Randyll Tarly whilst fighting for Robert. Lord Grandison was wounded on the Trident and died of it a year after. My brother made them love him, but it would seem that I inspire only betrayal. Even in mine own blood and kin. Brother, grandfather, cousins, good uncle . . ."

- A Storm of Swords Davos IV
In testament to how easy it is to be duped into supporting conflicts based on lies, just as Robert and his allies garnered support for the rebellion based on malicious propaganda, consider this fact about the film The Rock, set at Alcatraz:

A scene from the film was the basis for incorrect and false descriptions of the Iraqi chemical weapons program. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service was led to believe Saddam Hussein was continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction by a false agent who based his reports on the movie the false claims of weapons of mass destruction were the justification for UK’s entering the war.)

Video: The Rock - Ranger Bob
Going forward, we'll continue the examination of evidence that Robert Baratheon truly earned his moniker the Demon of the Trident, showing that he went along with a deceptive plot to overthrow the Targaryen dynasty, and even raped Lyanna after his loss at Ashford. We will then conclude by examining Ned's inner turmoil, indicting his best friend and king. To preview where this series is headed, in its full audio/visual glory with greater detail, look here.