Found surebets / SureBet - Professional betting

Okay so I attempted to start this earlier today but I was having trouble with hiding the episode recap section as a spoiler, so we're going to just omit that section. Summary: I am all aboard this ship. They are laughing/giggling the ENTIRE TIME and you can tell they have been in frequent contact.

• Eric (Blake's podcast cohost, not Eric Bigger) makes a joke about how the episode is going to be all about him and Becca because nobody has any interest in Becca and Blake
• Eric and Blake were both at a few of the Bachelor Live on Stage shows, at one of them Blake was in the audience and people were giving him a lot of attention. Becca jokes about how Blake loved the attention, Blake says he was just happy that people were being nice to him.
• Blake acknowledges that Becca is wearing a cut-off shirt like him.
• Becca moved to LA in August - had no intention of moving there, was face-timing a friend/producer one night and they told her to just move out there. She signed a lease and paid her deposit via venmo that night without having seen the place. Becca says she's trying to be more of a "Yes Man" - she's single, she went through a major break up, she wants to be happy, wants to do things that make her happy. Is currently househunting in LA.
• One notable point during their episode recap is that they start talking about the Lumberjack group date from Becca's season - Becca jokes about how she should have/wanted to give Blake the group date rose. At one point everyone was struggling to chop wood and Blake crushed it, Becca thought it was hot af, Eric points out that Becca is blushing, Blake starts blushing, I start blushing, I love this.
• Eric asks Becca and Blake to say how many kids they want on the count of three, they both say 3. They talk about how they had talked about it during her season and they were on his bunk bed. Becca might actually only want 2 kids, Blake at one point wanted 3-5 kids, Becca says that having all boys would be her worst nightmare because how would she feed them all, all three joke about how many podcasts they would have to do to pay for these kids. They go off-topic, Eric tries to get them back on track, Becca says she could make so many jokes right now but doesn't want to give the people too much to talk about. (raises eyebrows in suspicion)
• Blake asks Eric to start the questions, Becca asks if she should start drinking more, she mentions how she has sent Blake quite a few boxes of her wine and he claims it didn't get there in time for him to drink it tonight.
• Blake says that he likes Beccas wine, he brought some for thanksgiving with his family and it was good, Becca says YEAH YOU WERE IN THE HOTTUB DRINKING IT and my eyebrows are now on the very top of my head.
• Eric asks how this happened, who slid in whose DMS first, Becca thinks it was her because she knew Blake was coming to the tour, Blake says that he remembers when he posted something on his story saying "Cornhole or Bags" and they both realize that was it. Becca slid into Blake's DMs. They restart their debate of Cornhole or Bags, Becca puts it on her story, if Becca wins then they're going on a destruction date, if Blake wins they're going horseback riding. I AM ON THIS SHIP.
• Blake asks Becca if she considers herself a wine connoisseur, she says yes but doesn't consider herself a snob. Becca likes bubbly wine and champagne, Blake asks what kind of wine Becca thinks fits his personality. She says Pinot Noir because it's smooth, everyone enjoys it, it's very drinkable. Blake says he likes Merlot and Pinot, Becca says that 2 years later she still knows him. Blake giggles and deflects, asks Eric for the next question.
• Eric asks how they've been able to stay friends, Blake says they're adults.
• Blake went into the experience knowing what he was signing up for, never held a grudge. He understood the situation. Becca says that her and Blake are very similar in how they process things and handle things. She says they formed a strong bond and that doesn't just go away. She says she has a soft spot for exes and everything they went through. "It's not a light that you can turn on and off, it doesn't go away" ALL ABOARD THIS SHIP.
• Blake says that's why she was the best Bachelorette, Becca says now she's getting hot and sweaty, they make jokes about Blakes cut-off and how his nipples are showing, Blake has very small nipples, Becca doesn't remember that, Eric says the fantasy suite must not have been very memorable, Becca says that's not what she was looking at. OH REALLY MA'AM.
• How was it rewatching the season, both acknowledge how it's so hard to go back through it and you go through so much but you can't say anything. Everyone has opinions and you can't win. Becca wishes there was more support from the show for people, Blake says that Ben was there for him and now he tries to be there for people.
• Eric asks Becca if she's currently dating anyone, she says no, Blake says she has Minno.
• Blake talks about how Becca has been through so much in the past year, says that when people had been first messaging him he was like come on just let her live her life.
• Becca says that Blake is the best hype man.
• Becca tries looking for hope in the hard times, it wasn't always easy, it caused her to look at what she believes in and what she wants her voice to be.
• Eric asks them what their favorite off-camera moment was.
• Becca's was during Blake's hometown in Denver, it was his birthday, he came over to her hotel for like 20-30 minutes, they weren't alone but they were able to see more of what life could be like. She did that because Arie did something similar for her with the alone time and afterwards the producer told her that wasn't normal and it was something special, so she had one chance to do that and she chose to do that for Blake.
• Blake's was after the second rose ceremony, everyone was in bed and most of the guys were asleep, Blake feels a tap on the shoulder from a producer, they ask him to come with them at like 3-4 am, Becca comes sprinting at him still in her gown and jumps into his arms and kisses him, the producers were chasing her and she got yelled at for doing it. She had been filming B-roll and one of the producers was drunk and jokingly asked who she should go grab and Becca said to get Blake, she got in trouble but she didn't care because she was happy, that was the moment when Blake realized he was in trouble.
• Eric asks for a second favorite, they don't answer, Becca says she's going to DM Blake and ask him.
• Blake asks Becca if she would be the Bachelorette again, she says no because she likes sleep and alone time. Also, she has had two failed public engagements and doesn't want that kind of pressure again. She wants the next one to be the one, she's not sure the show is conducive to that for her.
• Would she do Paradise? Yes, but only if she could be Wells.
• Summer Games or Winter Games? Becca is not athletic and would fail.
• Will she do Bachelor Live on Stage again? Yes, hoping to return to it in 2022. They joke about how Blake should be the DJ for it.
• Some of Becca's friends are obsessed with Blake and DM him, they joke about it. Lots of giggles.
• They talk about Minnesota, Blake has never been there, Becca says she would love it.
• They start talking about making a bet on Instagram for the Cornhole/Bags debate, what should they wager, Eric says you know what the people want.
• Blake says he doesn't have an alcohol line that he could send Becca, he could send her a "We Met at Stagecoach" shirt.
• Becca says she could be convinced to go to Stagecoach but jokes that she would stay away from Blake.
• Blake acknowledges that they almost made it through the full podcast without talking about stagecoach.
• Becca jokes about how he's single, the girls are single, he can do what he wants, but where he messed up was going to live on the beach with these same girls.
• It's the end of the podcast, it might be the longest podcast Blake has done so far.
• Eddie (editor?) says it's like the end of the date at the door where they're just standing there waiting to see what will happen, who's going to hang up from the Zoom Call first.

Does anyone else feel like something is off?
I think the fear has set in.
Even investors holding GME are scared - not knowing when to jump off, afraid they will miss more gains.
Tulip-mania is alive and thriving.
Instead of tulips, it’s short-interest stocks.
The rise of the retail investor is awesome.
It really has been great to see the average person become a millionaire at the expense of billionaires and hedge funds.
Vito’s 🎩 is off to all.
For years and decades Wall Street has tried to make all of this look so difficult and overwhelming that you bought into the system and handed over control.
They made bank and you made 6% - if you were lucky.
COVID and the rise of the Reddit, Discord or whatever is your internet fancy destination to chat stocks has dethroned some of the big boys.
For now.
I think there are some good companies that will be here for the long haul that are shorted and I believe they were shorted out of greed and in a market with no liquidity- it would have worked.
It always did.
Until now.
Short squeezes have always happened, it just wasn’t so public and in a backdrop of massive liquidity and organized legions of traders that are much smarter than they have been given credit for.
These pigs got too fat, became hogs and were slaughtered.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/steven-cohens-fund-point72-suffers-15-loss-amid-gamestop-frenzy-nyt
Now my advice, for what it’s worth, is don’t follow the same path.
Don’t be a hog.
Be a happy, full pig.
I believe the market is 100% disconnected at this point and the bubble is swelling.
Everything has been sold over the past month, growing more and more each day to raise liquidity to either cover 🩳 or buy into the other side of the trade.
What sealed it for me this afternoon was Apple earnings and the reaction by the market.
In what was probably the greatest quarter ever shown by a company and the momentum building on all their services and wearables, it went down.
Maybe it’s up tomorrow morning, but I doubt it.
Any other time other than the current micro-market we are in and $AAPL pops $20+.
The market is priced to perfection on Tech and there is not much more room against the ceiling on the FAANG’s and all their cousins and step-children.
Tech has been what propelled this market through the lows of March 2020.
What’s going to take it from here?
Who does the baton get passed to?
I think it gets dropped and there isn’t a clean hand-off.
It’s going to get rocky and turbulent, until the market finds itself again and corrects the overcorrections and tulip-mania ends.
And it will end.
It always does.
Stonks just don’t go up.
Anyone that follows me knows this and is currently feeling it.
The steel stocks, feeling heavier than the steel itself in everyone’s portfolios.
I’m a bull on steel.
I live it daily and have for 25 years.
I’ve never seen anything like what is going on right now from manufacturers idling last year to not being able to make and ship it fast enough now.
Input prices soared to record levels in second half November, December and early January.
This was due to inventories through the entire supply chain being at record lows.
However, construction and manufacturing have stayed very resilient throughout 2020 and gained steam heading into 2021.
Zero and negative interest rates have become the norm across the world, the ideal backdrop for investment and building.
Governments seem determined to spend their way out of deficits and create jobs and infrastructure across the world.
It has already happened in China.
So, why are prices going down is what everyone keeps asking and more importantly - why are steel stocks going down?!
“It’s priced in!! You are an idiot.”
This is Vito’s DM’s in a nutshell.
My answer is, it’s not.
Was I early - 100%, but March is still a ways off and June feels like next year.
Here is what’s driving prices - scrap and iron ore have pulled back to due to buyers of finished product holding off thinking the market has become overheated, so manufacturers have held off buying inputs, but here are the two most important points to consider:

1. Manufacturers order books are full for Q1 and Q2 2021. European mills are sold out. US mills have backlogs that are pushing summer. The supply chain for all finished steel products for essentially any industry is bare. The cupboards are empty.

The only reason finished product is sitting anywhere is because transportation cannot be secured to move it.
Especially, ocean freight.
The space is elusive and at prices not seen in my lifetime.
It costs 300% more to move ocean freight today than it did at this time last year and is being auctioned off to the highest bidder in many cases.
When I say the supply chain is broken, I’m talking about the entire chain - from tip to tail.
With this disruption, spot prices on anything steel are staying high and will, even if inputs drop - which brings me to point number two:

1. I have said we wanted to see prices level on inputs, if they slide a bit, even better. Why? The futures sold over the past 3 months for the next 6 months are at some of the highest price levels we have ever seen. When manufacturers have orders at $1,000+/ton for the next 6 months and inputs drop, margins expand, exponentially.

Do I think the input slide lasts and scrap and iron ore keep dropping?
No.
The Chinese came into the market today and started buying some scrap to test the price action.
European manufacturers have not yet purchased.
If the scrap price remains the same to weak, China will likely buy some more to see what price will firm the market and to put pressure on iron ore prices - as they are the biggest buyer of iron ore in the world.
It’s a game of chicken right now with many players on many levels.
The most similar, recent market I have seen was the 2017 to 2019 market.
Prices on steel and steel stocks started climbing in early anticipation of steel tariffs in the US.
However, then input prices did not move up until February/March 2018 and then the tariffs further spiked the market. Buyers rushed to get orders in and the highest costed material arrived in late 2018.
The market was overbought on oversupply.
A glutton of oversupply that carried into mid-summer 2019.
With oversupply comes lower and lower prices until equilibrium is reached.
That became a challenge as US manufacturers pumped more into the system, absolutely making those that bought imports bleed all year long.
It put many of the speculators and trading companies out of business.
2019 was death by a thousand cuts.
No one has forgotten it, too fresh.
Currently, we are not in a position of oversupply, but quite the opposite.
Shortages may have been artificial in nature due to idling and destocking in 2020, but demand is real.
Countries have already shown signs of being territorial in India and Russia, not allowing exports because of internal demand and considering penalties to discourage.
This is how I see it and my thesis still stays the same.
“What about the tariffs being removed?!”
I don’t see it happening immediately.
If they are removed it will likely be in increments of 5% every 60-90 days to not shock the market.
The tariffs have not been the benefit that many believe they have been to steel in the United States.
They artificially created a bubble that burst long ago in 2019 but no one really noticed.
The tariff is a pure tax that ends up 100% being passed on to the consumer in the end.
China actually subsidized the tariff through Value Added Tax credits on many of the products that were not already dumped in the US.
There was a massive tariff, yet product cost less than before the tariff??
Huh??
Yet no one noticed as China gave away tax credits and manipulated currency.
There was an equal sum game.
The tariff did however keep out European manufacturers that played fair.
They stand to benefit the most from tariffs being lifted in the US.
Imports are healthy if played on a level playing field, as the US cannot support all US demand on all products.
Moreover, this is a global economy and the US isn’t the only place to sell steel anymore.
In conclusion, because I know many of you are asking yourselves - “when will this DD fucking end??”. . . I believe in America. America has made my fortune, and I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but I taught her never to dishonor her family. . .and I also believe in the rest of the world pumping more liquidity into infrastructure.
I think it’s becoming quickly obvious that more stimulus is necessary, but needs to be better targeted to those that really need it.
Not to a bunch of retards putting it on red or black.
Steel is all around us and will be used for the green wave.
So will other metals from miners - zinc, copper, cobalt, rare earths.
I’ve shared in previous DD’s that militaries will also be upgraded and how much steel goes into aircraft carriers.
Steel stocks have been slipping day after day for the past two weeks.
I can’t blame you to say, “no fucking way, how many dips can I buy?!?!” - just stop asking me if you are going to print this Friday.
No.
You are not going to print on Friday.
I’m sorry.
I said this was a June play in anticipation of what I have laid out here.
I moved up to April on $MT and March on $VALE based on the sheer volume of order books.
I believed that earnings would be very good and get better through earnings season.
$NUE is tomorrow.
I’m guessing they did very well and will show beats and give decent guidance.
Stock will likely go down.
Why?
Because it’s the trend and the market is disconnected.
I’m somewhat a contrarian investor and it has benefited me more than ever in the past year.
Contrarian investing is a strategy of going against prevailing market trends or sentiment.
The idea is that markets are subject to herding behavior augmented by fear and greed, making markets periodically over- and under-priced - DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?
"Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful," said Warren Buffett, a phrase that encapsulates the contrarian philosophy - THIS IS HARD TO DO, which is why most people don’t.
Being a contrarian can be rewarding, but it is often a risky strategy that may take a long period of time to pay off - CHECK and CHECK - it has been risky and it’s taking time.
I’m still betting on it happening.
So are these guys:
https://fintel.io/so/us/clf/blackrock
I’ve always said, I’d need to be BlackRock to move a market this big. . .that’s a big stake!
I’m sure we will see others as they disclose their holdings over the next months.
Goldman Sachs has even called for the commodity super cycle
https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN29A1QM
They played it right last year and see opportunity on the horizon.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2021-01-08/goldman-traders-score-2-billion-in-commodities-comeback-year
Commodities - the shit that everybody forgot or ran away from.
The land of misfit toys with steel and oil playing nicely together, recoupling.
Since I entered the steel business as a youngster the first thing I learned is “steel follows oil - watch the oil”.
So, I always watched oil prices and they do tend to run in tandem with oil moves.
Since early 2020 those two went their separate ways, by force, not by choice.
It is common for steel market participants to refer to high correlations between oil prices and the prices for scrap and steel. Among other reasons, this is related to supply chains, because the oil industry is a consumer of steel, the price of oil affects the processing and transportation costs of scrap, and oil is viewed as a reflection of a broader economic reality
Oil is gaining strength and projected to keep gaining.
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/images/Fig6.png
EIA forecasts that global oil consumption and production will rise during 2021 and 2022, and global oil inventories will continue to decline during much of that period. EIA expects that Brent prices will average $53/b over the next two years.
“So, where does that put us with steel stocks?!”
In a position I believe to scoop up the short term, as the thrashing that has taken the market down may have finally put some companies in a position to pop off a good earnings beat. Then catch a massive wave of Q1 and Q2 goodness.
The Q2 volumes and margins will be showstoppers and I believe the stocks will be bought up prior in June.
That’s why I gave June options originally as well as common.
We caught a peak, that I did not anticipate to last so long on the downside and the short covering action was further exacerbating the decline of the entire market.
Now, these levels look like complete steals to me - but so did it yesterday and the day before that and the day before that.
Then after writing this entire DD, China announces its cutting capacity.
https://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3972342/hot-rolled-coil/CHINA-HRC-Prices-gain-amid-call-for-production-cuts.html
Sellers were motivated to raise offers amid higher futures prices, because funds flew into the ferrous market after the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on Tuesday that it will urge a cut in steel output via mixed measures, according to a Shanghai-based trader.
Huang Libin, a spokesman for the ministry, said they will forbid the increase of steel capacity and encourage mergers and acquisitions in the steel industry to help curb output...
I guess we will see what tomorrow brings.
I never thought I would utter the following words and it feels very weird to say them, but I hope it’s big green dildos.
I missed the nightly prayer group tonight.
Sorry.
Save some dry powder, don’t YOLO anything, diversify so you limit down days and if you are on the $GME merry go round, it’s ok to get off.
I know it’s crazy and you feel like you are part of something big happening, but my feeling is most of the institutions and hedge funds have handed off the baton and it’s just you guys with each other and maybe a couple more smaller positions left. They may call a truce and then it’s Lord of the Flies.
I don’t want to hear the story end that way.
I want everyone to get out and leave them busted.
Then we make the movie.
Until then, I’ll be here.
https://youtu.be/PVDH3MX4MYI
-Vito

tl;dr: Fox News host Tucker Carlson claims that a source mailed him massively incriminating documents about Joe Biden's son that would totally sway the election for Trump, but unknown actors stole the only copies of the proof from his mail. Even the sub Conservative is skeptical about this story, with some saying it's evidence that spies are frantically suppressing the truth, or it's a Tucker ruse to force Biden to a misstep; others saying it's the most obvious "my dog ate my homework" in political history.
UPDATE: allegedly UPS found the missing package of “evidence” today, and Tucker immediately announced that everyone should leave Hunter alone because Hunter is just a sad dude with drug problems.
Background: for anyone who hasn't been following the news, a week and some ago the New York Post broke the story that Hunter Biden, son of former VP and current presidential candidate Joe Biden, has been linked to serious crimes (at minimum corruption and bribery) by a laptop of his acquired under somewhat confused circumstances. Questions have emerged about the story, as supposedly it involves the California multi-millionaire Hunter dropping off several water-damaged Apple laptops at a tiny repair place at a strip mall in Delaware near Joe's home. The story is too complex to go into, but suspicious aspects include the shop owner is legally blind and can't guarantee it was indeed Hunter who dropped off the laptop, among other people he sent copies of the hard drive to Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, lots of odd twists.
So those who are skeptical allege that in actuality, hackers (possibly foreign) stole legit emails and photos from Hunter's iCloud for credibility and then mixed in fake incriminating materials and then loaded them onto a hard drive so as to have a plausible background story without admitting to the hacking. On the opposite end, those who believe it's real are convinced this is the "nuclear bomb" that destroys Joe Biden and wins the election for Trump, and the story on fringe media and discussion has rapidly expanded from the HD showing evidence of corruption and bribery (including kickbacks to Joe), photos/videos of Hunter with sex workers and using drugs (which nobody denies he's done in the past), and moved deeper and deeper into claims the HD shows Hunter molesting his underage niece, and allegations it shows Hunter literally cannibalizing Chinese children.
NOTE: do not do not do not link directly to any Hunter materials from Reddit, as at bare minimum they involve stolen personal intimate images, potentially show illegally-acquired hacked materials, and (probably not true but just to be safe) allegedly show crimes against minors. People linking to Hunter content from Reddit have been immediately and permanently banned, don't do it.
For further context, just to address a common argument about Hunter (as neutrally as possible), while opponents say Hunter has received high paying jobs from foreign governments despite zero qualifications, to be fair he's a graduate of Yale Law School, was Executive VP at a US financial firm, worked on e-commerce programs at the US Department of Commerce, was appointed to the board of directors of Amtrak by President George W. Bush and became vice chairman, and has done a bunch of lobbying and investment activities. So it's totally fair to question the degree to which Hunter has leveraged his birth advantage, but it's also not like he was flipping burgers for crack money prior to this.
On to the popcorn: Fox News initially declined to cover the "Hunter Biden bombshell" or "hard-drive from hell" because Rudy Giuliani wasn't providing the metadata to confirm the contents are real. But some Fox News hosts were willing to report on the fact that the New York Post is talking about it. Tucker Carlson claims his sources in Washington DC obtained absolutely verifiable documents and mailed them to his Los Angeles office, and the package was intercepted and the documents removed. Conservative falls to debating how plausible this story is over a number of posts tonight:

• I'm kind of upset at TuckeFox for sitting on this. Since we know that they have copies, they must be published now! Too many people are already voting. We need to make sure the voters who have yet to vote have all the information on the Biden's so that they don't end up regretting their vote, as many already are!
• I really don’t mean this negatively, but have you considered they might just be misrepresenting how damning this evidence is? I of course have no more information than you, I just genuinely don’t see another explanation for why everything has been so vague and slowly leaked regarding this.
• I think Tucker was playing things cute because he's in the #1 slot, so why not stir up some more drama.
• Not only do they have copies but they also have the witness to authenticate them
• Mod Comment on removed thread: This is misleading. Neither Tucker in his on-air statement, nor Fox News in its news report, stated that the missing set of documents was the only copy. Nonetheless, this has given rise to claims that the missing set of documents meant Fox News does not have a copy. Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine has headlined his reporting with such a claim, as have many on Twitter who are asserting that Carlson is using “the dog ate my homework” excuse. We have learned from an extremely reliable source in a position to know that Fox News did in fact keep a copy of the documents.
• Liberals think the smartest man in DC would send the only copy. He sent it to multiple people. If you listened to him, he said that when the company searched for the contents after losing them Fox sent them a picture of what they were looking for. You have to have something to take a picture of it.
• Lol the liberals going crazy calling all of us stupid for believing Tucker and so many people talking about being former Republican voters but are now switching to permanent democrat voters and how so many republicans have been turned to permanent democrats after Trump. The idiots. This huge scandal of corruption is literally sitting right in front of their eyes, but they’re calling us stupid? This is what the next 4 years promise the country if you’re voting for Biden, and you just keep big old fat doing it anyway. How.... just how.... I bet you we’ve stolen more from their side then they’ve stolen from ours. People leaving the left are seeing reality. People leaving for the left are buying into delusions. I really just fucking hate all of it. The stupidity. It’s actually infuriating.
• The headline is completely Fake News. Other people have copies. But it is strange that a copy of incriminating documents appear to be stolen in transit.
• Why even come out with this info at all? It just makes them look like amateurs if they didn't make any copies and even makes them lose a bit of credibility for this little 'tease'
• If they managed to lose the "only copy" of the supposed bombshell documents they're beyond incompetent and their work should be questionable on that premise alone. tucker's been screaming to high heaven about how easy it is to tamper with mail wrt voter fraud but he (or his team) just casually tosses these bombshell super important documents in a priority express envelope and give it to the kid working in the mail room?
• He doesn't say it's the only copy and by the way he's talking, it seems more like a ploy to show how far Biden is going to hide and cover up his crimes - but who really knows at this point. Article linked seems like some progressive journo anyway so..
• I'm sorry is the implication some nefarious actors did something with the documents or that the fox news team is hilariously incompetent or does it mean this is all a load of bullcrap and this is an attempt at saving face?
• Or that it's all complete bullshit, and Tucker's "They opened the package and stole the documents" is a smokescreen for "It never existed in the first place". "Oh, the documents were soooooo bad for Biden. Now, we can't show them to you, and we didn't make a copy, but trust me: It could totally take him down for good! Like, for real. I promise." This is Seymour Skinner 'The Aurora Borealis is happening in my kitchen" levels of bullshit.
• The Tuck-Man! Tuckerooski, Baron von Tuck, makin’ copies!
• Nah, the mainstream media has been actively denying evidence for weeks now so most people will never ever be shown ANY evidence from this no matter what comes out. They covered Hillary's emails in 2016 and were viciously attacked for it and blamed for Hillary's loss. They will not make the same mistake twice and are willing to sacrifice journalistic credibility to do that.
• Yeah..this seems fishy...however... I’ve played poker a fair bit, and there’s a tactic called The Reverse Bluff or The Reverse Tell, where you act like you got something really good to make people think your hand is good, but your tell is so obvious that they think you can’t possibly have a good hand. They call your bluff and BOOM you suck em in and hit em with a full house. WHAT IF Tucker and Fox News are doing the reverse tell on all the lefties and the lefty media, who they know are going to call this shit out as obviously BS and suck em all into covering how dumb and fake Fox News is blah blah blah, and then BOOM hit em with the real damning documents and watch everyone lose their fucking minds. Man, that would be so awesome. It’s wishful thinking, but that would be so much fun. This is TV after all.
• They have a spy in the office or their phones are bugged. Also, sending originals is foolishness. Why not just PDF and email them. I’m really disappointed with Tucker.
• I think this was a setup by tucker tbh There is exactly zero chance that those were the only copies maybe they were the original documents but he even said he sent photographs to the mailing company to help identify the documents that were lost There’s a game being played that we don’t have full knowledge of
• There must be copies. We can only assume this is to bait the left. The point is to catch them trying to squash the story all while saying there is no story. This only adds more attraction to his own show as well.
• Tony Bobulinski is a former business partner with Hunter Biden. He has confirmed these emails himself. There’s no way this laptop and emails are not even a little true.
• Right.. it really did feel like a thinly-veiled “we have this but we can’t show it” statement. FOX is good most of the time but is still technically MSM, and Tucker still tends to buck against the pressures of that... so he’s gotta have something. He may be a far-right commentator but I don’t see him stooping to fabrication.
• Whatever happened to Hillary's 30,000 missing emails? We were promised that too a month ago or so. I think we all know, even the dems power structure know Joe profited having his family sell his name. But until there's smoking gun evidence, this is all smoke. I don't mind putting the story out there, it should be investigated. Just stop with the "Breaking news!!! Tune in at 8:00, this is the big one!!"
• He doesn’t seem as enraged as one would be if they just lost the only copy of damning evidence :/
• Him mentioning this seemed a little strange. They could have made copies (and I hope they did) and scanned them and emailed them to him when he was in LA yesterday as backup. I am hoping this is some sort of trap op.
• It's not about the documents. They were copies to begin with. Its about HOW DID SOMEONE KNOW TO STEAL THE SHIPMENT??
• I'm sorry but anyone who believes any of this is an absolute moron. We're less than a week from election day. There is historic levels of mail-in and early voting going on right now. There is absolutely no reason to be waiting on any known "surprise upset" information any longer because you would be losing swing votes right now by doing it. This never existed to begin with, or was so dubious and untrustworthy they decided to bury it. Any known "surprise" upset information would be out today. If it isn't out already, it either doesn't exist or is fake. Please, someone. Someone try to explain what logical reason there could be to wait on releasing any of this "super damning for serious guys we have it" information any longer. There's too much early voting for it to make any rational sense.
• Call me crazy but hear me out. Tucker has been in this business for awhile, and I think he is a chess player. I highly doubt he would risk anything like this, AND then come forward with the mistake. He is thinking a few moves ahead. My theory is that this is a test of the media and coverage, seeing that it has hit trending and also MSM outlets tonight. This will prove their case of the media blackout of facts, and how they are skewing things to appear like it’s all a hoax. He will come back on the air this week showing how they fell right into this trap.
• I have to assume Fox has copies. I have to assume their source has copies. There are likely a dozen people who have copies. I also assume anyone smart enough to track down and steal this package knows this. What probably happened is these were stolen to get ahead of the story. This opens up a ton of questions about what's happening behind the scenes. Most notably, is Fox being spied on? How about the half dozen other people claiming to have the hard drive? Yeah, it may be a little early to jump to those conclusions, but this is part of a much larger and horrifying pattern. Journalists were spied on and charged with crimes under Obama. Then we all know about Nunes, Gulianni, Solomon, Bongino, and others getting spied on last year. Where does it stop, and who has the assets to do this? Is this still FBI and CIA? If so, who the hell inside of the Trump administration is telling him not to fire Wray and Haspel? If we know those two are still working for the resistance, how is this not definitively known within the administration?
• If there’s one man you can trust, it’s Tony Babu. He’s a navy man and comes from a line of naval intelligence officers. Edit: if you don’t think you can trust the man who bravely came forward with evidence of Biden malfeasance, go ahead and change my mind. I’d love to hear your take on this.
• Be honest, if CNN claimed to have a bunch of documents that they said would ruin Trump's candidacy, then announced that the documents were stolen, you'd automatically assume the documents never existed. That's definitely what the left is going to say about Carlson's story.
• ·Stupidest story of the day. Biggest political scandal story ever and someone sends the originals? The originals wouldn't be in a safe for such a big story? Documents not important enough to be handcuffed to a courier's wrist and sent on a plane? Had to send originals, couldn't email them?? More holes than Swiss cheese.
• Yeah it truly is the beginning of something huge IMO. People are smart enough to notice things like this and the media’s credibility will never be able to recover from it I don’t recognize this country anymore. It’s impossible to get a real understanding of what reality even is anymore. Shit is getting crazy

Took a short break to play games. Was a good time.
​
[First] [Prev] [Next] [Wiki]
​
Last chapter was something right? Well this one might annoy some people as well. But as always, tell me what you think. So I hope you enjoy this new instalment as much as I enjoyed writing it and thank you for sticking with me!
Enjoy!
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​
Michael slowly opened his eyes as the weight bore down on his chest once again. A familiar feeling was creeping down his stomach, pleasantly chilling his muscles, one that he had become quite used to, however. "Nope. Get off." He grumbled out, pushing Srettia off to the side as he finished forcing his eyes open.
"What?! Why?" She asked, confused at this turnabout.
"Because someone messed with my dudes without asking last night, so we're going to wait a few days for the nanites to run their course." Michael replied, though pulling Srettia onto his chest for a hug as she pouted.
Srettia sighed as she savoured the heat she was receiving from Michael, her tail slowly curling around his leg. "Oh... I guess I wasn't really thinking that part through."
"You said a bit back that you would have to learn how to control your instincts. Perhaps starting with that would help." Michael returned, running his hand through his wife's hair.
"That's unfair. I haven't had time to practice or meditate on it yet." She returned with a slight pout.
"Meditate? I didn't think you were the type."
Srettia glanced over to the clock with a side-eye before pushing into Michael's chest." My people have never needed to control ourselves. We just accept that this was the way of things. So most of the knowledge I need would be within your people's database. Meditation was one of the first things I came across at first glance."
"I'm not judging. Just curious if it was something your people did since you've never mentioned it." Michael replied as he pulled Srettia up to a sitting position. "Lots of work today."
"Yeah, we're going to have to speak with a mayor and that Admiral today." Srettia replied as she reluctantly separated from her mate. "Shall we clean and begin breakfast?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael stepped out of the armour cradle as it opened with a hiss, his weapons replaced with a shield generator and a heavy shield. "Ain't this a bit much?" He asked, looking over his weapon complement a second time. "I mean, I get the generator but a shield too? All I have on me is a knife and pistol now."
"Commander is afraid you might get shot in the face again and made this request." Rowan replied sternly, hitting a few commands into his consol as Srettia exited her own cradle. "You're both good to go meet the locals."
"Thanks, Rowan." Michael replied, walking towards the open shuttle, waving at the armoured Vattitha, Ankiah, and Resima. "Looks like Rowan already kitted you three out. It seems that trust is a bit lacking with the Admiral and her soldiers."
"It was my suggestion." Resima replied in turn, walking into the shuttle as Michael approached the door. "With everything that has happened, they may see us as traitors trying to convince them to turn on our people." She continued, watching as Michael entered and made his way towards the cockpit. "The armour will most likely colour their perspective of our loyalty. But regardless, I feel safer in this protective armour."
"I see." Michael replied, sitting down and powering the shuttle engines as the diplomats began to take their seats. "This doesn't have anything to do with me being shot in the face, does it?"
"Perhaps." Vattitha replied, cutting Resima off. "My medical armour will also be an asset in case of any unexpected problems."
Srettia entered the shuttle and observed the three Voktlix, though noticing Resima was the only one with a rifle as Ankiah relaxed with only a pistol. "Are you okay, Ankiah? You don't need any more rest?"
"I have the most experience with both yours and Michaels species. I think it would be best if I were here regardless of my tiredness. But thank you, Srettia, I appreciate the concern." Ankiah replied, waving the diplomat off as she entered the cockpit.
"Everyone ready?" Michael asked, waiting for the full green's before lifting the shuttle off and slowly hovering across the hangar deck. "Let's try to get this over with quickly. The longer we wait, the more people suffer." He said to no one, guiding the shuttle through the hangar barrier and out of the ship.
Leaving the ocean and guiding the shuttle into the air above the harbour, doing a quick circle over the city as he took it in for the first time. Michael finally saw the full scale of destruction that was wrought on the city. Though having an outer and inner wall saved many lives, the sheer scale of what was lost was astounding. Hundreds of houses now lay empty as people walked through the streets with what little belongings they had, making their way towards the inner wall.
"What a disaster." Michael mumbled out, though not as quiet as he had hoped, as Srettia nodded along with his statement.
"We should try to leave for the central continent tonight or tomorrow. the faster we can spread the word, we will be coming to help, the faster we can leave to return with it." She stated, noticing the large buildup of Voktlix at one of the inner wall gates. "Looks like trouble."
"There is always trouble in these situations." Michael returned, though deciding to hover in place so he could scan the area for a moment. "Looks like they're just doing security checks. Not sure why they would need to, though."
"They're just trying to make sense of things and keep living as normal as possible." Resima answered from her sitting position, observing the scans Michael sent to the passengers. "Following normal procedures will help calm the masses down and reassure them that peace officers are still in control of the area."
"Michael nodded and guided the shuttle towards the middle of the inner city. Though it did take a bit of scanning, Michael eventually found what he was looking for. The location of the Admiral and her forces. "Alright, found where we're supposed to be. Think they'll have the city Mayor with them yet?"
"No." Resima answered, still eyeing the incoming scans. "The Mayor will try to be the last one to arrive. Making someone wait is a common tactic among elected officials when attempting to press the fact that they are the one in control."
"Stupid." Srettia said, pointing out an excellent place for Michael to land. "I wish they would stop these games. We have no time for it."
Michael nodded as he set the shuttle down in an empty park, blowing dust and grass in all directions as the shuttle slowly reached the ground and began powering down its engines. "It's their way, though I agree it's getting annoying."
Resima rose from her seat, perhaps too quickly as she stumbled in her armour for a moment before catching herself on one of the overhead braces. "I feel I will require more training in this armour."
"You'll get used to it." Vattitha responded, walking over to the shuttle door and waiting for it to open. "Though I agree. I wish I had more practice in my own as well."
Michael hit the door key and rose from his couch, helping Srettia out of her own as she finished up some commands on her side. " You can spend the rest of the day in practice after we deal with the Admiral and Mayor. For now, just bear with it, please."
"You misunderstand, Captain. I appreciate the caution and steps being taken to ensure our safety." Resima stated, walking down the ramp behind Vattitha as they exited the shuttle.
Michael only nodded as he and Srettia followed the three Voktlix out of the shuttle, taking a quick look around at the surrounding nature park before pinging the location on the map for the group to follow. "The Admiral should be over here."
"Understood." Ankiah replied, taking the lead and walking towards the point. "Anything I need to know before we meet this Admiral?"
"I'm unsure. We didn't really talk much. Her name is very similar to the city name, though." Michael replied, looking around at the scenery.
A short walk, one that took the group through an open area and around many empty vendor stalls, the area silent. One would have a hard time accepting just what was happening the previous day. As they finally exited the park, Michael noticed the first batch of tents, ones near some houses that were now obviously supplying the soldiers with rations and cleaning materials.
"I hope they didn't 'coerce' the locals for those supplies." Srettia said, attempting to scent the air out of reflex, only to taste the inside of her helmet in annoyance.
"It wouldn't be hard for them to do so." Resima replied, looking around as the soldiers sat on anything they could find.
As he approached the new location of the cavalry camp, Michael stopped just outside the perimeter, looking at the soldiers with annoyance as he waited for one of them to approach, though none did. "Fuck it. I'm just going to walk in and find her myself then." He stated, annoyed that the soldiers were seemingly ignoring his presence.
"Not like they could stop us." Ankiah replied, stepping aside and allowing Michael to lead the group into the small camp.
Keeping an eye on the soldiers and their mounts as he walked down the street, Michael exhaled in relief as none of them seemed to outright attack him, though he was familiar enough with the Voktlix now to understand they didn't seem to want him around either.
"You arrived!" Admiral Yluoenor stated loudly, walking out of a nearby house and into the street to greet the group. "Welcome to my motley camp. The Mayor should be arriving sometime soon."
"Of course. Thank you for the welcome." Michael replied, following Yluoenor as she waved him over to a table set. "So what can I expect from this Mayor?" " He continued, looking around for something sturdy to sit on.
"Do you not trust the chair?" Yluoenor asked, eyeing the alien with suspicion.
"This armour weights quite a bit, is all. I'm not sure the chair could hold my weight." He replied, deciding on standing rather than risking the chair.
"I see. Well, that's a shame." Yluoenor returned, looking over to Srettia curiously. "And you are?"
"I am Diplomat Srettia Esithn Graeme of the Aasteran people. It's a pleasure to meet you." She replied, expertly hiding her annoyance and mild anger.
"Aasteran? I see... The other three are also Aasteran?" Yluoenor asked, still eyeing Srettia in wonder. "I would like to see what you really look like under that fantastic armour. After all, it's not everyday one gets to meet with an alien."
"Not happening." Srettia curtly replied, tilting her nose up in the air to look down on the Admiral.
Yluoenor nodded at the reply and waved her hand as a nearby assistant. "I see. We must first build up trust then, is it?"
Srettia looked over to the chair and decided on standing, locking her leg joints in place as she relaxed near the table. "I will not risk my life with all these weapons about Admiral. I am far too important to my people to risk my life here."
Michael nodded and moved closer to the table, Ankiah, Vattitha and Resima following close behind him as he did. " Our time is short, Admiral. As such, If you will, I would like to ask a few questions before the Mayor arrives."
"You may ask. Though if they pertain to the safety of this city, I would prefer to wait for the Mayor to arrive." Yluoenor replied, taking up a chair as the assistant brought out beverages from a nearby house.
"They do not." Michael quickly replied, keeping an eye on the assistant as they laid out beverages. "I wish to know how you stayed alive in the forest. It is of great importance that I learn this."
"Is it important enough for you to remain here with your ship and guard the city?" Came a voice from behind Michael as a Voktlix made her way out from the nearby soldiers.
Michael watched as the portly female continued to make her way over to the table. Her white dress was exquisite, with blue metal accents and yellow pins adorned throughout. A small thin hoop with a gem pierced her nose, and her fur obviously artificially dyed to look red. "You are?"
"I am Ethres. I run the Merchant fleet of this city." She replied, taking a seat at the table and leaning back in her chair.
"Why are you here?" Michael asked, eyeing the female with distrust.
Ethres seemed shocked at the question, though quickly brushed her surprise aside to regain her composure. "I run the only merchant fleet in this city. If not for me, we would not have a navy."
"Okay." Michael replied, looking to the Admiral in annoyance. "Why is she here?"
Ethres face contorted in a scowl, leaning forward to eye the alien as the Admiral began to speak. "Are you daft? I run the merchant fleet. The ONLY merchant fleet in this city. That makes my input on this discussion just as important as the Admiral or Mayor. As WITHOUT ME, we would have no navy."
"You finance the navy to protect your ships from pirates." Srettia calmly replied, looking at the female in anger. "I doubt you would do so otherwise. And at the moment I understand there is no navy." She continued, looking over to the Admiral. "Her presence here is not required. Please have her removed and answer Captain Michael's question about how you can survive in the forest."
Yluoenor was amazed at the stern disregard for the wealthy merchant. Did neither of these two aliens realize that without their financing, the world may possibly fall apart? Though she had to admit it was enjoyable to see Ethres in such a state. "My apologies, Ambassador. I would request you wait for the Mayor to arrive before we make any hasty decisions. As for how my crew were able to survive in the forest. I once again apologize as myself, and my forces are oathbound not to disclose our ways by the Mayor."
"That's stupid." Ankiah interjected, cutting off the smug merchant before she could voice her opinions. "You need to tell us how you did it so we can save you. Is your oath worth more than our people?"
"Our people?" Yluoenor replied, eyeing Ankiah with a new outlook. "You are Voktlix?"
"I am." Ankiah replied, waving to both Vattitha and Resima. "As are they. The Terrans and Aasterans have done nothing but help us out of their selfless desire to save our people. Yet, at every turn, they come across snivelling merchants barring their way and those willing to keep secrets that would help them in their task. I am deeply ashamed of our people." Ankiah calmly said, looking over to the fat merchant and the curious Admiral. "I once stood before billions of Terrans and asked them to save our people, and they agreed. Now, the more I see how selfish we are, the more I think we may deserve to be destroyed."
"That was a rather nice speech Miss Ankiah. But I doubt they are helping us out of the kindness of their own hearts." Ethres replied, picking up a glass of water. "They will need to prove they have our best interest in mind before we reveal our ways to them."
Michael scowled at the merchant and looked at the Admiral. "Is this your stance? You will not tell us how to survive the forest and demand that we prove to you that we aren't hostile?"
Yluoenor threw a scowl at Ethres for a quick moment before calming herself and looking back at Michael with a gentle face. "You must understand our position, Captain. I will not break my oath to the Mayor or President until I am sure you intend us no harm. If the Mayor approves it when she arrives, I will gladly tell you."
"Good luck at that." Resima said, looking at the smug merchant. "I would bet she's in this merchant pocket. How much would it cost for the information we seek?" She finished, looking at Ethres in anger.
"Ohh, Perhaps one of those nifty flying machines you seem to employ would do." Ethres calmly replied, ignoring the insinuation.
"We're done here." Michael replied, unlocking his armour and turning away from the table. "I don't have time to play your shitty games and refuse to deal with scum like her."
Srettia nodded along and unlocked her own armour, turning away from the table. "It was a waste of time just coming here. You are all insane."
Ankiah unlatched her helmet and looked the merchant directly in her eyes with a fury she had not felt since her abduction. "What part of me being ashamed of our people, don't you understand? You are worthless! A speck of dust in a storm of lightning." She finished, spitting at the merchant's feet and looking at the Admiral. "You disgust me."
Resima nodded and turned to walk with Vattitha as Michael and Srettia walked towards the shuttle. "I apologize for my kin. She said quietly, taking a quick step behind Michael.
"It's not your fault. Your people have their own ways of doing things. It's just a shame they can't see that it's killing them." Michael answered, using his rear camera to look back at the confused Admiral. "An oath is nothing if your species is dead."
​
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<-- Previous thread

Overall summary

Name	Club	Apps: starts (from the bench)	Minutes played	Goals	Assists	Clean sheets (GK only)	Note
Matej Kovar	Swindon Town (League One)	21 (0)	1890	0	0	1	Loan ended: recalled back to Man Utd
Joel Pereira	Huddersfield Town (Championship)	1 (0)	90	0	0	0
Jacob Carney	Brighouse Town (Northern Premier League)	4 (0)	360	0	0	1	Loan ended
Jacob Carney	Portadown FC (NIFL Premiership)	0 (0)	0	0	0	0
Max Taylor	Kidderminster Harriers (National League North)	10 (0)	841	1	0	-	League suspended until February 1st
Di'Shon Bernard	Salford City (League Two)	14 (1)	1322	2	2	-
Diogo Dalot	AC Milan (Serie A)	11 (4)	1077	1	1	-
Ethan Laird	MK Dons (League One)	2 (1)	210	0	1	-
James Garner	Watford (Championship)	13 (8)	1248	0	1	-
Dylan Levitt	Charlton Athletic (League One)	5 (0)	386	0	0	-	Loan ended: recalled back to Man Utd
Aliou Traore	SM Caen (Ligue 2)	4 (10)	531	0	0	-
Andreas Pereira	SS Lazio (Serie A)	3 (14)	478	1	1	-
Max Haygarth	Brentford B (-)	7 (4)	628	3	0	-	Loan ended: moved to Brentford on a permanent deal
Tahith Chong	Werder Bremen (Bundesliga)	5 (10)	534	1	2	-
Amad Diallo	Atalanta (Serie A)	0 (2)	41	0	0	-	Permanent deal to join Manchester United

Diogo Dalot (AC Milan)

Played 90 minutes in 2:0 win against Cagliari in Serie A. Was unused substitute in 0:3 loss against Atalanta BC in Serie A. Was selected to Serie A WhoScored Team of the Week.
Selected highlights:
Individual highlights vs Cagliari
WhoScored.com rating vs Cagliari: 8.1/10 (team average: 7.08) (3rd highest rating on the pitch)
Stats vs Cagliari:
Shots (on target): 2 (1)
Possession: 4.8%
Touches: 72
Accurate passes/Total passes (success %): 39/46 (85%)
Key passes: 0
Dribbles won/Dribbles attempted (success %): 2/3 (67%) (joint most dribbles won on the pitch)
Dribbled past: 1
Aerials won/Aerial attempted (success %): 2/2 (100%)
Tackles won/Tackles attempted (success %): 4/5 (80%) (most tackles won on the pitch)
Clearances: 4 (joint most clearances on the pitch)
Interceptions: 4 (joint most clearances on the pitch)
Corners (accurate %): 2 (100%)
Dispossessed: 0
Errors: 0
Fouls: 4 (most fouls on the pitch)
Offsides: 1
Fans' opinion after game vs Cagliari:
“- Dalot: Meh. He's ... "OK *shrug" 85% of the time, 15% of the time he tries to go forward and attack. But the difference between him and Theo seems to be, when Theo plays, his teammates just know he's going to bomb up and down like mad the whole time; that energy rubs off and the rest is also forced to go forward. Dalot by being rather passive in the majority of the time, doesn't spark this energy to go forward for the rest of the team.”* ~Nickenator85 on /ACMilan
“2 seasons ago this current Dalot would be our best fullback, now we're spoilt with Theo, Calabria and soon Kalulu. He's decent, but nothing spectacular in comparison” ~Gaverini on /ACMilan
“Dalot was inconsistent, we're used to the best left-back in the world and it's obvious that the Portuguese can't be at that level.” ~Lambro on AC Milan Forum
“I don't think he's performing bad as people make it out to be. Clearly being right-footed playing on the left is hindering him. All season we've been funneling our attacks through Theo so it's almost like a baptism of fire for the team to adapt to Dalot who'll have to take that extra second to cut inside.” ~fray on The Red&Black Forums
“5/10. Not a convincing performance. Is he an AC Milan player? As a left-back he seems to struggle and not just a little. In the end, when Conti came on, he was advanced to midfield and the outcome seemed to be better.” ~@RedellePagelle on Twitter

Tahith Chong (Werder Bremen)

Was unused substitute in 0:1 loss against Borussia Moenchengladbach in Bundesliga. Was unused substitute in 4:1 win against Hertha Berlin in Bundesliga.

James Garner (Watford)

Was unused substitute in 1:0 win against Barnsley in Championship. Was unused substitute in 2:1 win against Stoke City in Championship.

Ethan Laird (MK Dons)

Played 57 minutes and got an assist in 3:1 win against Fleetwood Town in League One. He has been selected to League One Team of the Week.
Selected highlights:
Assist
WhoScored.com rating: 7.7/10 (team average: 6.91) (3rd best rating for MK Dons)
Stats:
Shots (on target): 1 (0)
Possession: 1.6% (joint least possession on the pitch)
Touches: 27 (3rd least touches on the pitch)
Accurate passes/Total passes (success %): 8/13 (62%) (3rd worst passing accuracy for MK Dons)
Key passes: 1
Dribbles won/Dribbles attempted (success %): 1/2 (50%)
Dribbled past: 0
Aerials won/Aerial attempted (success %): 2/2 (100%)
Tackles won/Tackles attempted (success %): 2/2 (100%)
Clearances: 0
Interceptions: 1
Dispossessed: 2
Errors: 0
Fouls: 3
Offsides: 0
Russell Martin (MK Dons manager): "[Ethan Laird getting kicked a lot and coming off?] Yeah, I think he's just getting used to life in League One. I'm sure he will be fine. But I was pleased, really pleased with him. We need to get some work into Ethan so that he understands fully what we're doing, but he shown real glimpses of what he's about. So yeah, I've been pleased with Ethan and he's got a lot of improvements to make as well."
Fans' opinion:
“Ethan Laird is absolutely unreal. Too good for league one. Bossing it on the right so far tonight, got an assist too” ~@KieronDay03 on Twitter
“Unreal. Is it me though or do you sometimes watch him go in to defend and initially he’s slow and then shows he has she acceleration and you think why didn’t you just get there quicker from the statt.... dons it a few times tonight.” ~@pdmkd on Twitter
“Laird is my new God. All Hail!” ~keyser soze on The Concrete Roundabout Forum
“Laird has a lot of swagger and a more natural option on the wing.” ~cornerdon26 on The Concrete Roundabout Forum
“Thought the defence looked shaky second half once Ethan laird came off” ~Donsduck on The Concrete Roundabout Forum

Jacob Carney (Portadown FC)

Matthew Tipton (Portadown FC manager): "The goalkeeper position is so important, if the foundation is right then everything else works better - defenders can move higher up the pitch and the attacking players get the ball in better positions to hurt the opposition, with the overall play a lot sharper. The distribution is vital and that can be having a goalkeeper comfortable with the ball at his feet playing it out from the back or having the speed of thought to identify opportunities playing it upfield. We know what Gareth can bring given his Irish League experience but Jacob has come as a 19-year-old on loan from Manchester United and settled really well, looking very sharp. Both goalkeepers are working hard and have adjusted to our training and gameplan.”

Joel Pereira (Huddersfield Town)

Was unused substitute in 0:1 loss against Millwall in Championship.

Aliou Traore (SM Caen)

Came on from the bench and played 31 minutes in 3:1 win against EA Guingamp in Coupe de France. Was not selected in matchday squad in 1:2 loss against Rodez AF in Ligue 2.

Andreas Pereira (SS Lazio)

Played 59 minutes and got assist in 2:1 win against Parma in Coppa Italia. Was unused substitute in 2:1 win against Sassuolo in Serie A.
Selected highlights:
Assist vs Parma
Good through ball resulting in a chance for Lazio
Corner followed by a good scoring chance that hit the post
SofaScore.com rating vs Parma: 7.0/10 (team average: 6.81)
Stats vs Parma:
Shots (on target): 1 (0)
Hit woodwork: 1
Big chances missed: 1
Touches: 37
Accurate passes/Total passes (success %): 13/17 (76%) (worst passing accuracy for Lazio)
Key passes: 3 (most key passes for Lazio)
Big chances created: 2
Dribbles won/Dribbles attempted (success %): 1/4 (25%)
Dribbled past: 0
Aerials: 0
Tackles: 0
Clearances: 0
Interceptions: 0
Corners (accurate %):
Fouls: 0
Offsides: 0
Fans' opinion after game vs Parma:
“I was sorry to see him go off so early, he wasn't playing great but he wasn't that bad either. I still think his role is as a midfielder and not as a second striker, I'd try him there from the start with Sassuolo. It's true that he's a bit too fond of the ball, but I don't see him in the middle of the pitch as a second striker. He's a very technical player, the kind who has to touch lots of balls to make an impact.” ~Stock on SS Lazio Forum
“It's a shame about Pereira, he could have played a bit more because he has unquestionable quality, although I don't see him as a replacement for Correa but more as a replacement for Luis Alberto.” ~@GladiatorFabry on Twitter
“Would really like for him to be a part of this team. Both parties want to stay together so I expect United to get a fee for him regardless of what the price is. Lazio and United usually have good business together so I expect permanent move at the end of the season.” ~TheSoccerguy124 on /soccer
“For me, at this moment Pereira in midfield you can't put him. Not along with one of Milinkovic or Luis. Tactically he struggles so much.” ~HummingBard on Lazio.net
“Andreas Pereira a player of the highest calibre.” ~Saymyname on Lazio.net

Di'Shon Bernard (Salford City)

Played 90 minutes in 2:2 draw against Harrogate Town in League Two.
Selected highlights:
Error leading to goal
Wonderful long ball pass
Poor marking in the box which leads to a chance for Harrogate Town
WhoScored.com rating: 5.5/10 (team average: 6.49) (worst rating on the pitch)
Stats:
Shots: 0
Possession: 6.2% (2nd most possession for Salford City)
Touches: 63 (2nd most touches for Salford City)
Accurate passes/Total passes (success %): 41/56 (73%)
Key passes: 0
Dribbles: 0
Dribbled past: 0
Aerials won/Aerial attempted (success %): 4/8 (50%) (joint most aerials won for Salford City)
Tackles won/Tackles attempted (success %): 1/1 (100%)
Clearances: 5 (most clearances for Salford City)
Interceptions: 1
Dispossessed: 0
Errors: 1 (most errors on the pitch)
Fouls: 3 (joint most fouls on the pitch)

Next up

January 26th:
At 7 PM Garner's Watford plays Millwall and Joel's Huddersfield Town plays Bristol City in the Championship. Laird's MK Dons play Charlton Athletic in League One. Bernard's Salford City plays Cambridge United in League Two.
At 7:45 PM Carney's Portadown FC plays Crusaders in NIFL Premiership.
January 27th:
At 5 PM Dalot's AC Milan plays Inter Milan in Coppa Italia.
January 30th:
At 2 PM Dalot's AC Milan plays Bologna in Serie A.
At 2:30 PM Chong's Werder Bremen play Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga.
At 3 PM Joel's Huddersfield Town plays Stoke City in the Championship. Laird's MK Dons play AFC Wimbledon in League One. Bernard's Salford City plays Oldham Athletic in League Two. Carney's Portadown FC plays Warrenpoint Town in NIFL Premiership.
At 6 PM Traore's SM Caen plays FC Chambly in Ligue 2.
January 31st:
At 2 PM Andreas' SS Lazio plays Atalanta in Serie A.
^{*All times are GMT.}

I feel like I’m going crazy. I’m paranoid, I can’t sleep, I can’t stand this anymore. I need to tell someone what’s going on.
It started last month, when I was walking to the bus stop to get to work. I don’t drive, not since my car accident about two summers ago. Car got totaled and getting a new one just wasn’t in the cards. Since there was a bus stop less than a mile from my apartment anyway, what was the big deal?
I wouldn’t have run into them if I did have a car though.
A pair of guys were at the stop. Both were probably around my age, both were clean cut, wearing white button ups and ties, and both wore matching blue disposable face masks. One of them was tall and scrawny, a toothpick of a guy, a bag full of papers slung over his shoulder. The other wore glasses and was about my height, and uh, let’s just say I’m not exactly a tall lady, and he was trying to hand out said papers… which were so clearly religious pamphlets.
I thanked Christ my bus was pulling up right then. Jehovah’s Witnesses are a menace. The shorter guy cleared his throat as I passed and was likely about to start his spiel. I cut him off with ‘I have to get on this bus’ before he could even get started. I was not in the mood, I had things to do and I did not want to get preached at.
I practically forgot about them by the time I got to work anyway. I cracked a few jokes about it to my coworkers, we laughed, then we got our heads down and went to work. Wasn’t worth the second thought. By the time I clocked out and got on the bus to go home, I was thinking about dinner and how to extend my groceries a little longer so I could save up for a new laptop.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got off the bus and those two guys were still there. Tall guy with his bag of pamphlets, shorter guy trying to strike up a conversation with less than interested people passing by. Even if they were still the same guys, I could tell they were disheartened. The tall guy was starting to nod off from where he sat on the bench and even the upbeat short guy was losing steam. I got off the bus just in time to hear a passerby tell him to fuck off and the poor short guy looked like a kicked puppy. I’d bet twenty bucks they hadn’t given away a single pamphlet all day.
“Excuse me, miss?”
I felt bad for them, even if I find what they were doing completely obnoxious. So I slowed down.
“Yeah?”
The short guy’s eyes went wide. I thought it was because he was shook someone actually stopped but it was actually for something else.
“Hey, you passed by this morning!” He reached up and tapped his mask. “I recognize the cats on your face mask. I remember thinking how cute they were.”
I laughed weakly before glancing at him and his buddy. “Have you seriously been here all day?” I asked.
“Yeeeaaahhh… keep telling the minister that we’d probably get better success stories if we weren’t in these monkey suits,” The guy pulled at his shirt collar and mock gagged, “Everyone just thinks we’re Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
“Wait, you’re not?” I blurted out. I couldn’t help it, but can you blame me?
The guy chuckled, the area by his eyes crinkling as he no doubt was smiling. “Hell no. We’re a bit different. Hey, it’s about time to give up for the day. Peter and I are gonna go grab a coffee, how do you take yours?”
I snorted. “Just because I’m being nice doesn’t mean I’m gonna listen to whatever crap you want to tell me,” I said.
“If you don’t tell me, I’m just gonna get you a caramel macchiato.”
I sputtered for a moment while Peter gathered up his bag of pamphlets. The short guy held out his hand.
“I’m Sam. Do you want a caramel macchiato or not?”
In the end, I accepted the free drink. It was cold, I didn’t want to seem like a jerk, and I enjoyed it outside with the pair of weird street preachers. Now that they were done with their thing, both had immediately relaxed their wardrobe. Both had ditched their ties, Peter had pushed up his sleeves to show off a fantastic flower themed sleeve tattoo on his right arm, and Sam had untucked a necklace from his shirt that had a bunch of little strange silver charms on it.
Sam sipped at his latte while we made polite conversation. Turned out Peter wasn’t really the chatty type, only offering a ‘mmhmm’ and ‘sure’ every now and then to the conversation, but Sam was the one carrying the conversation. He had to take off the mask to enjoy his drink and he was actually kinda cute, completely inoffensive appearing human being. We didn’t talk religion. We just talked about our days, what we do when we’re not at work or preaching to uninterested people on sidewalks, and by the end of it I figured they weren’t so bad. I only took a pamphlet after Peter offered one the second time, turned out Sam wasn’t the only one who could look like a kicked puppy. I left figuring I’d never see them again, that this was just a funny little coincidence and it’d make a great story.
Now I can’t help but wonder if they had stayed at the bus stop waiting just for me to come back.
The next day I was heading back from work when I heard someone call my name.
“Amy! Amy, wait up!”
It was just Sam, now dressed down in a t-shirt and jeans, still wearing that goofy charm necklace but now wearing a neat custom face mask with little skulls dotted all over it. Under his arm he was lugging along a laptop. I stopped and he caught up, a little bounce in his step as he pulled his mask down to reveal his beaming smile.
He raised the laptop up to me. “For you,” He said.
I stammered and immediately went to reject it. “I can’t accept this-”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Sam laughed, “When you said yesterday you were trying to be a writer but your laptop wouldn’t stop freezing when you tried to do anything on it, I remembered I had my old laptop just chilling in my closet. So what the hell, better put it to better use, right? If it makes you feel better, consider it a loaner until you get one for yourself.” Once again, he presented it.
I won’t say it was like brand new, but it was clearly bought within the last two years. And man, a free laptop. I chewed the inside of my lip before I slowly reached up to take it. “It’s a loaner, then. It’s yours when I get my own. How often do you get new laptops?” I asked.
“Practically every other year,” Sam grinned sheepishly, “I play a lot of video games, and I always want the best. I can afford it.”
“Didn’t think that giving out Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets paid that much,” I said as I continued to examine the laptop.
“Funny,” Sam scoffed. “You didn’t even read that pamphlet, did you?”
I knew I was blushing, I always do when I’m embarrassed. Sam, thankfully, didn’t seem all that offended. “It’s cool. I know you were trying to be polite. I won’t tell Peter, but if you ever see him again, he’ll totally figure out you didn’t. And he’ll be grumpy. He’s pretty passionate about this sorta thing, you know?”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll read it once I’m home.”
“Great! I gotta get going,” Sam rolled his eyes, “Pamphlets to give out, people to talk to. Ta for now!” With that, he pulled his mask back up and hurried back the direction he came from.
I took my new treasure home and almost immediately booted it up. It ran like a dream compared to my old computer. I was thrilled to bits and resolved to read that pamphlet while I worked on dinner, as my thank you to these pair of weird street preachers.
The pamphlet itself wasn’t too bad. It was white, with a black clip art oil lamp on the front and Times New Roman font reading ‘The Enlightened’. Inside was more basic clip art of people holding hands and it really just gave off the really basic feeling of community and raising each other up. The first line read ‘The age of enlightenment is upon us. The reason behind everything exists with us.’ Sure, I laughed, that sounded cheesy as hell. But I read the whole thing, and it didn’t seem all that nutty off the bat. The whole message can be summed up as how we’re here to lift each other up in this world and that should be our goal in life.
I had just finished boiling the noodles for my spaghetti when I heard a knock at my door. I didn’t think much of it, wondering if it was just a late package as I headed for the door.
I opened the door and there they were. Sam and Peter, back in their clean white shirts and ties, Sam raising his hand to knock again.
We both froze. Sam’s eyes bugged out before he chuckled. “Huh. Funny coincidence. Hi, Amy!”
I cleared my throat. “Hi… how did you find out where I lived?” Get that question out first.
“We didn’t,” Sam shook his head, “We’re just going door to door to see if we can get more pamphlets out and if anyone that took one has any questions. Did you read it?”
He sounded honest, completely innocent of anything creepy. I glanced around the door to make sure there wasn’t about to be like a mob coming in to murder me and steal my stuff. “Yeah, while I was cooking dinner. It’s… interesting?”
I could tell both guys were smiling. Sam pulled his mask down. “Then can we come in? We’ve been already going door to door for like an hour, and we’re supposed to be out until eight. Love to kill some time just chilling with a friend.”
I don’t know why I didn’t say no. They were near strangers. Maybe I felt obligated because of the coffee and the computer to at least give them some of my spaghetti, let them do their little ‘come to god’ thing before finding a way to shoo them out the door.
Honestly? I would’ve taken Jehovah’s Witnesses over this. This was on the same level as Scientology for me, as in it was completely freaking batshit insane.
The Enlightened aren’t a Christian sect, Sam explained as we ate dinner and I tried to remain as open minded as I physically could. They worshiped the Beings, well, not really worshiped. Peter cut in to say it’s more like they respected the Beings, relied on them for guidance. The Beings were here before humans were, and oh, how did humans get here? They were originally fish swimming through space, finally coming to earth and evolving into life as we know it.
Oh, and apparently, the sun is apparently a portal to hell. No. I’m not shitting you. The sun. Is a portal. To hell. It took literally all of my restraint not to bust out laughing at that point. I would’ve thought they were pulling my leg if Sam hadn’t said it all so calmly and matter-of-factly. By the end of our meal, I almost gave Sam his laptop back. This was absolutely ridiculous and I wanted no part of these crazy people.
But before they left, Peter took my hand. He didn’t even ask.
“The Being I rely on most is called Yehunee,” He said, which was the longest sentence he’d said all night, “She can see the future. I’d like to see your future.”
I tried jerking my hand back but Peter had a firm grip. My heart started to pound a bit and I started thinking of how stupid it was to let two strange men into my place when Sam grabbed Peter’s arm.
“Peter, let her go, you’re freaking her out.”
Peter released me before Sam turned to me. “I’m sorry, he was a raised Enlightened and I swear that broke his brain from common sense. Just let him do the reading, it’ll be like a minute, and then we’ll go. We hope to hit a few more doors tonight.”
I sighed. If this was the best way to get them out of here, so be it. I gave Peter my hand back and he stared at my palm so intently it made me want to squirm. I almost expected him to start speaking in tongues.
“… Don’t be afraid of strangers, they’ll mean well and be there for you when you’re in a bind. You’ll find what you love doing is not only an option but a profitable one as well. Look out for hooligans, they won’t try to hurt you but they won’t know their own strength. And by the end of the week, you’ll need your love to keep you going.”
Peter finally released my hand and I sighed with relief. “Right, so you said you had to be going?” I said, practically jogging to the door to escort them out.
“Yup! Thanks for letting us take a break tonight!” Sam grabbed his face mask and headed out, Peter right behind him. “Hope to see you again sometime!”
When I closed the door behind them, I was already thinking about how to get to work without going to that specific bus stop. Thanks, but no thanks.
It was just too uncanny that the next day Peter’s prophecies began to fulfill themselves.
I was picking up my groceries, since I no longer needed to get a laptop I splurged a little, got a few wants along with all my needs. For me that made it all the more humiliating when I reached for my wallet and it wasn’t there.
My face turned tomato red as I dug through my purse before checking all of my pockets, the girl at the register looking less and less impressed by my insistence that it ‘had to be here somewhere’. I wanted to melt into the floor when I confirmed that somehow, one way or another, I’d lost my wallet. God. Damn. It. I could just feel the judgment from everyone witnessing this.
Then I felt someone tap my shoulder and I turned to see the elderly woman in a nice red coat who had been in the line right behind me. I opened my mouth to apologize and she held up a hand. Then she looked at the cashier.
“May I pay for this girl’s groceries?”
I nearly started crying. I almost told her to not bother, but something stopped me. And that something was Peter’s freaking voice in my head saying ‘Don’t be afraid of strangers, they’ll mean well and be there for you when you’re in a bind.’ So instead I thanked her, again and again, while she laughed and said it was hardly a big deal. In this world we’re here to look out for each other, after all.
I didn’t notice until I was about to walk away that this woman had a few pins in the lapel of her coat. The two that stuck out the most were a small fish and a lamp. An oil lamp.
I just thanked her once more before I excused myself out of there. It was a coincidence, of course. I knew of a few Christians that also used fish as a religious symbol, same with the lamp. It was just bizarre.
It was when I was heading home that I got the sudden impression that I needed to duck. I practically dove to the ground, and it was lucky for me that I did that. A glass bottle flew through the air right where my head had been, shattering on the wall behind me. It had come from a black car whizzing by, and judging by how loud and rowdy they sounded, they were probably drunk and just having a good time. The car sped down the street and rounded the corner with a screech of the tires. Like that, they were gone, off to keep on partying and doing whatever a bunch of drunk morons do on a weekday.
‘Look out for hooligans, they won’t try to hurt you but they won’t know their own strength.’
My skin, I swear it crawled as I remember Peter’s third prophecy. I reminded myself that there was just no way he could tell the future. It was just a bizarre coincidence.
I got home, I made dinner, and I crawled into bed.
The next morning I woke up to several missed calls from my boss. He was so apologetic, but it was an emergency, and he recommended I turn on the local news for the full effect.
I won’t be too specific where I work, because I don’t know who’s reading this, but where I had worked had burnt to the ground. It looked like faulty wiring had just taken the building down, thank god no one had been inside when it ignited. But because the kind of work I typically do isn’t really one you can do from home, I was now out of work.
‘By the end of the week, you’ll need your love to keep you going.’
My head swam as I instinctively headed for my new laptop and started scrolling through my email, looking through all the writing jobs that I had been wanting to apply for but never had the time for. Submissions for magazines or anthologies, things like that. I wanted to test something and that something was Peter’s only unfulfilled prophecy.
‘You’ll find what you love doing is not only an option but a profitable one as well.’
Sure enough, by some miracle or whatever, I got an email back from one of the jobs I threw my name in the hat for. They liked what I had to offer and were going to pay me double the rate if I could it done by the end of the week. Which I could, because I had a lot of sudden free time.
Every single prophecy. Every single freaking one. Just as Peter had told.
But I couldn’t shake this nagging feeling that these prophecies were self fulfilling. I felt like I was being played with, and I wasn’t going to accept this at face value.
So. I started by googling the name of the editor of the magazine that had offered me the job. He was pretty internet absent shockingly enough, but I found his Facebook page. It was practically vacant, except for two things-
He was friends with the old lady from the grocery store and a Samuel Sutton. And the one thing he’d liked was The Enlightened Facebook group.
Samuel Sutton didn’t have a picture on his Facebook profile that was of his face, but I recognized the charm necklace he was putting together in one of the public photos. Sadly, The Enlightened Facebook group was not public, at least it wasn’t now. Maybe it had been in the past. I don’t know. Either way I was definitely spooked. I knew I was right to be suspicious.
Of course this is when my internet started cutting in and out on my laptop, making further research from there damn near impossible. So the rest had to be done from my phone, all while I side eyed the innocuous laptop from where it sat on the table, the webcam now covered with duct tape.
I didn’t have any scotch tape and I was starting to feel rightfully paranoid.
I googled The Enlightened and didn’t come up with much other than a webpage clearly designed in the 90’s. I scrolled through the bad website design and I came up with basically nothing new, other than the Enlightened were founded in the late seventies by a man named Ray White, formerly Ray Bram. He’s now ‘forever with the Beings’, aka he’s food for the worms… or whatever the Enlightened do to their dead. I do not want to know.
I blamed my following dreams that night about all the Enlightened crap floating through my brain. I dreamed about floating through space, followed by thousands of others just like me. Not floating… swimming. We saw the beautiful blue orb that grew bigger with every moment, until I realized that the blue orb was a planet. There was a golden light in the distance that also attracted by attention, and although its warm pulled at me, I knew I had to go to that blue planet. So down I went, through the atmosphere, through the clouds, and into the ocean below.
I woke up before I started turning into a person, because I presume I was one of those stupid fucking fish Sam talked about. I hated it.
What I hated more is that Sam just ‘bumped into me’ while I was out for coffee. Nevermind I’d never seen him at that coffee shop before he got me that stupid macchiato that started all this in the first place, and now suddenly he was there, acting like he’d been getting coffee there his damn life.
He perked up when he saw me and waved. “Hey, Amy, you’re usually at work right now, right? Something happen?” He said, sounding so casual and relaxed.
My stomach twisted. “I’m just here to pick up my coffee and go, I’m busy,” I said, trying to hold back the shakes that came from seeing him here. “When do you want the laptop back?”
“When you don’t need it anymore. But hey, if that one’s not working out, I can see if Peter’s willing to give up any of his old machines,” Sam laughed, “But I doubt it. He still has one of his dad’s laptops, the thing’s practically a blunt weapon with how heavy it is.”
“Yeah, I have to go,” I said, almost dropping my coffee with how fast I grabbed it.
“Same, see you again, Amy.”
Sam left just in front of me, and when I left the coffee shop I swear my heart stopped. I dropped my coffee and didn’t even try to pick it up as its contents spilled out all over the sidewalk.
Sam was getting into his car. A black car. Not unlike the black car I saw that night with all the ‘hooligans’ inside. He noticed me staring real quick and managed to pull off confusion pretty frikken’ well.
“You good, Amy? You need a ride? I just have to make a stop back the church, but I can get you home.”
I swallowed, shaking my head. “I… I’m good,” I murmured before I walked away, using all my restraint not to bolt down the sidewalk and get away from what was no doubt an actual fucking crazy person. Some sort of deranged stalker hiding behind his bizarre religion to freak me out and try to manipulate me.
I threw the laptop away in the dumpster. I locked my door and all of my windows. I drew the shades, I curled up on the couch and dug out my emergency wine stash. I did not want to be sober anymore.
I don’t think I drunk that much. I don’t know anymore. Because I remember pouring myself a glass and the next thing I was waking up in bed, and I could hear someone in the kitchen. Someone was humming.
I was still wearing the clothes I had been the day before, which was a fucking relief, but I still crept out into the kitchen expecting to see a psycho. Instead, it was just Sam, frying up some eggs and bacon, buttering toast and looking perfectly natural.
“What the fuck?!”
Sam looked up and winced. “Ooooh, that’s how bad the hangover is, huh?” He said.
True, my head was killing me, but I wanted to run. Run like hell. “How the hell- why are you-”
“Did you forget?” Sam walked over, his brow knitting in concern. “You called me last night and asked if I could come over.”
“I don’t have your number,” I said.
“I gave it to you yesterday at the coffee shop. You wrote it down on your hand.”
I was trembling as I raised my hand up.
It was a phone number, in blue ink, my handwriting, in my palm. Like where I write everything that I’m scared of forgetting.
“I didn’t call you,” I said, shaking my head.
“You did, and you sounded… really drunk,” Sam exhaled as he went back to the stove to turn over the bacon. “You were crying about losing your job? I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t mean to come off as insensitive or anything yesterday, I didn’t know about the fire until you told me.”
I bolted for the living room, my head throbbing so bad I wanted to vomit. I picked up my phone and unlocked it, checking my outgoing calls. Sure enough, around eleven I’d made not one, not two, but five fucking phone calls to the number scrawled on my hand.
“I was worried, so I came over. You cried all over my t-shirt, you were upset and I didn’t really know what else to do. So I helped you get to bed and I figured I should stay, just in case you got sick or something. I was worried, Amy.”
I shook my head. “I locked my door though, windows too,” I said.
“Did you?” Sam frowned. “I let myself in after you didn’t answer. I didn’t check the windows though-”
I did. I ran around the apartment like a chicken with its head cut off, checking everything. Windows weren’t locked, my emergency wine bottle was empty even though I can only remember that one glass. My makeup was all ran like I had been crying, like Sam said I was. Everything lined up with what he said had happened, except for my own memories.
When I finally returned to the kitchen, Sam had two eggs, two pieces of toast and a stack of bacon ready on a plate and was pouring a glass of orange juice for me. He still looked worried. “You look a little pale, Amy, are you okay? You look messed up.”
I opened my mouth to respond but instead just ended up running for the sink to vomit. Sam held my hair back and just patted my back while I vomited up was I presume was the oh so lovely mixture of stomach bile and wine.
“You know what? How about you go lay back down, I’ll bring you your breakfast in a bit. You got tums or advil for the pain?”
I shoved Sam away, wiping the puke off my mouth best I could. “I don’t remember calling you. I know I locked the door, I know… I know I did. I threw away your laptop. I didn’t drink that much, what the fuck is going on?” I sounded pathetic I’m sure, but you try sounding great during what felt like the worst hangover of my life.
“You what?” Sam left my side and poked his head into my office before he laughed. “What are you talking about, Amy, my laptop’s right there. Christ, how wasted did you get?”
No. No way. Despite the room spinning around like I was on a carnival ride, I ran to the office. The laptop was still there. Not broken. Not even dirty.
Had I thrown it out after all? I can’t even tell you for sure now. I just sunk to the floor, ready to start crying, while Sam squatted down next to me.
“I… I…” I swallowed. “I need to be alone. Or, I need my mom, she’s not far from here…”
Sam handed me my phone, I’d probably dropped it somewhere along the way during my run around the apartment panic. “Go ahead. I gotta go to church anyway. If you need some support while you’re between jobs, I promise, The Enlightened can give you any help you need,” He said, giving my back a final pat before he got up and left the apartment.
I didn’t end up calling my mom. We’re not that close. I’m not really close to many people, if I’m honest. I lost a lot of my friends after high school when they all took off for college and I hung behind to join the work force. It’s not like they dumped me on purpose, we just lost contact. I wasn’t really close to my coworkers either, I’d chat with them but I never really made plans with them. I’m not lonely, or I don’t think I am. Maybe I am. Maybe that’s why I talked with Sam and Peter that day. I was that pathetic and lonely that I talked with two randos I thought were Jehovah’s Witnesses.
This all started a month ago and I keep finding Sam and Peter in my life. Mostly Sam, and never Peter without Sam. I’ve refused all other fortunes from Peter, which clearly upsets him but I don’t know if I care about his feelings. I am getting more writing jobs thanks to that first connection I made with that editor, but I am not using the laptop Sam gave me. That’s currently in a box, that’s in another box, that’s duct taped shut and shoved to the back corner of a closet.
I don’t know how Sam’s wormed his way into my life so efficiently, but now I even find myself calling him on my own. It feels like he’s always been there. Sometimes I even see him in my dreams, laughing or smiling at me, looking at me with fondness and warmth that makes me feel… good about myself. I sometimes wonder how good I felt before I met him, if I felt this good before.
But I don’t know. My brain’s been so turned around. I don’t know how much I can trust myself, if I’m losing my mind. I know I cannot join the Enlightened, even if Sam and Peter are okay at times. It’s nuts, right? It’s all crazy talk. There is no Being in my dreams telling me it’s okay to doubt, but it’s never okay to assume something’s wrong from the get go. His name isn’t Riesis, and I know that those shadows outside my window aren’t people watching me, it’s just trees.
I don’t know anything anymore. I just. Don’t. All I know is that every time Sam asks me to go to the Enlightened Church with him, it’s becoming harder and harder to say no.

Should you buy Amazon stock or has it run out of growth opportunities? What is my price prediction for Amazon? Read until the end of the post as I reveal my price target for Amazon and why I believe it can deliver insane returns!
~Warning! Very Very Long Post~
[Disclosure: I made this DD 2 weeks ago & I wasn't part of this Subreddit until the last few days]
[Wanted to post this before the next Amazon earnings later tonight!]
Hello everyone and welcome to another stock price prediction! Today we are going to talk about Amazon and what’s the upside for the company! So, let’s go over the company a little before moving on to some fundamental, technical analysis, predictions and my price target for the stock in the next years & months.
So, let’s start by talking a little about Amazon, yeah, I know it’s one of the biggest companies in the world, but I believe Amazon is still undervalued & underappreciated compared to some of the highflyers that have generate insane returns in the past months, though most of them are still far from profitability and don’t have the growth across all the board like Amazon.
Maybe the market doesn't put as much attention in the numbers as I do but I would rather invest in a business which I consider to be healthy and growing rather than a what if stock like many of the recent inflated IPOs. Amazon is a trillion-dollar company growing at a double-digit pace as many companies that are a fraction of their size would kill for this numbers, but this hasn’t helped Amazon since September.
On a global scale e-commerce is expected to increase from 16% to 22% of retail sales by 2023. With the U.S. expected to increase its retail e-commerce sales from $374 billion to $476 billion by 2024.This is another thing that supports the growth that e-commerce has in front of it, both as total and as a % of the total retail sales. With the latest report showing a 24% increase in holiday e-commerce transactions and a 19% increase for the 2020 fiscal year.
E-commerce is showing signs that it will continue to gain share of the total market as a recent report projects that digital sales during the Black Friday-to-Cyber Monday period will grow by about 35% YOY, reaching penetration of around 32% and growing by more 10B, as this continues to eat up market share from more traditional B&M retailers.
I think one of the biggest problems the company has, it’s the actual share price of the company, not the value. We have seen that a stock split can and will attract more buyers and the share price would probably see an accelerated rate of growth, just look at what happened with Tesla and Apple recently. By splitting the stock just like Apple has done a number of times, this allows more individual investors to invest in the company, as they will be attracted by the cheaper share price. Amazon hasn’t done a share split since the dot com era, and it might be time for the company to take advantage of this hot bull market to actually go ahead with something like at least a 5-10:1 split.
So, let’s go a little through the latest quarter results and guidance. The company increased the operating cash flow by more than 55% to over $55B for the latest twelve months, with free cash flow also increasing by $6B, while they managed to avoid significant dilution of the company, with only 7M additional shares being outstanding.
The net sales also increased 37% in the last quarter to just over $96B, an increase of more than $26B over 2019, which is an insane 36% increase y/y yet again.
This year Amazon has also pushed their Prime Day ahead of schedule, which resulted in the two biggest days ever for third-party small & medium sellers, which saw an increase in sales of over 60% over 2019, even bigger than Amazon own retail business.
Amazon continues to expand into multiple revenue streams, with the first Amazon Fresh grocery store opened in California, which is offering both in-store and online products.
We also saw Amazon’s more profitable revenue streams meaning the services revenues increasing, with Amazon Studios continuing to produce original movies and TV-series while also expanding their offering to live sport games.
The company is also seeking to expand into the red-hot Video Gaming market, as they launched a new service Prime Gaming, available for free for Prime Members and also announced Luna which will be a cloud gaming service that will allow customers to play high-quality games on previously owned devices, thus not requiring bigger investments for many customers. They also continued to improve their devices like the Echo, Alexa, Ring and FireTV line of products, which feature more & more AI Improvements.
Amazon has also announced an expansion into the pharmacy business which put a lot of pressure on traditional pharmacy companies like CVS & Walgreens, while also announcing a new Halo service, aimed at helping customers improve their lifestyle.
I like companies that make me a lot of money, but I also like that they are involved in projects aimed at helping poorer communities around the world, with their latest Project Kuiper, being a low-earth orbit satellite constellation that is aiming to provide reliable & cheap internet access around the world.
And last but not least, let’s not forget about the biggest income provider as margin goes, the Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon continued to see significant customer demand for this product with multiple big companies like Global Payments & Moderna using their services. Alongside these 2 companies we also saw AWS providing even more data services for the NFL and many more other companies. AWS has been a terrific revenue stream for Amazon, with AWS having 1/3 of the market share for cloud infrastructure in the first half of 2020, as the compound annual growth of AWS has been 40% in the recent years, just below the other profitable services they offer on subscriptions services, advertising & payments, with the only revenue stream seeing a negative growth being the physical stores.
Overall, the company has seen a 28% compound annual growth in revenues since 2016 and an even bigger 68% growth in earnings/share, which is incredible to say the least.
So, before even starting, you should now that I am bull on Amazon but I am willing to hear other opinions so don’t be afraid to leave a comment down below!
I have made some predictions based on the growth rate of the company, the latest plans announced by them and used some estimates. So, keep in mind this are only projections and are calculated by myself, this is not an investment advice and you should do your own research and so on…
Firstly, let’s start with the Guidance that Amazon gave us for the 4th quarter, as they are expecting net sales between $112B and $121B implying a growth of between 28-38% over 2019. They also provided guidance for the operating income but this is heavily impacted by the problems we had in 2020 and that still continue to be around.
The company also is aiming to optimize the free cash flow which was up 26% y/y for Q3, as they are trying to dilute the shares as little as possible. The total net SALES for the last twelve months is nearing $348B which even adjusted for forex is still up 31%. Amazon has only 12% of their revenues coming the AWS right now, but this is by far the most profitable revenue for the company, as the increases in AWS sales have led to an over 90% increase in operating income from the previous year.
Let’s take a look at the last quarter’s results. We saw a big INCREASE in all 3 big revenue streams for Amazon, with the first 9 months of 2020 brining over $160B in sales in North America, $67B from International sales and almost $33B from AWS. For my projections I actually just added another quarter like this one to the end results, which actually is a conservative estimate of $96B compared to the guidance of $112B, and the growth rate that Amazon’s net sales has seen in the past year, with North America Sales rising by 37%, International by 31% and AWS by 30%.
For the cost of sales, I did pretty much the same, and with cost margin standing at 75% of net sales for the last quarters I think this is pretty safe to say it will remain mostly the same if not even improve due to bigger revenues from the AWS. I also estimated the full yearly costs by adding another identical quarter, just like for the revenues, so that things stay even.
For the other operating expenses, I also took this from their financials as I expect both SG&A and R&D expenses to start to normalize a little after the huge spending to ramp up capacity this year due to the increase in demand, while I also did the same thing for the Capex spending of Amazon, as they have invested massively in the last 12 months to ramp up things.
Meanwhile for the interest income and expenses I also just averaged things out for the full year while maintaining the other sources of income, but these have such a small impact that they don’t even matter.
Amazon has had a pretty wild effective TAX RATE in the past decade, but I decided to see what the avg was for the last 4years, and that was 16%, but for safety and due to the change in administration in the US I decided to bump this up a little to 18%.
And one last number that is important is THE earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which has seen a 36% increase y/y for since 2016.
I like to value companies based on multiples of future price earnings. So, let’s take a look at what Amazon earnings/share will be by 2025.
I implied for the 3 main streams of revenues which are North American Sales, International Sales and AWS sales a rate of growth similar to the one we had this year but with gradual declines each subsequent year. I also used pretty much the same average cost of sales which includes the actual cost of sales and the fulfillment costs. This has stood at about 75% of the net revenues for the past years and might actually improve, but I do want to stay on the safe side. So, by 2025 the gross REVENUES should reach around $244B, assuming margins stay pretty much in line, though it’s likely they will improve margins, with International sales becoming a little more profitable and AWS brining more & more money.
We also have to estimated what the Capex & Operating expenses would be by 2025. I think Amazon should see somewhat of a slowdown of Capex, R&D & SG&A spending, as they have seen a huge boost in the past year, and I think it should normalize, so I will imply an 8% annual growth for these, which is still very high.
Next, we look at the interest income, expense and other losses or incomes for the company. This numbers are small compared to the vast cash flows of the company that they can even be ignored, but let’s assume they see a 10% decrease both in income and expenses related to interest while also not suffering losses but having a smaller other income by 10%/year. This would results in an almost $114B income pre-tax for 2025.
As I showed you earlier, the effective tax rate for Amazon has been around 16% in the past 4 years, despite the nominal US tax rate. For safety reasons I will use an 18% tax rate, though this should stay closers to 16% on the back of the International taxes. So, with an 18% tax rate, the FINAL income for the company after everything has been taken into consideration should be $93.25B.
For the outstanding shares, I will be conservative and imply a .5% increase in outstanding shares, as the company has been very careful in avoiding the dilution of the stock. So, with that increase by 2025, we should have around 531M shares.
So, BASED on Price to Future Earnings/share we can see Amazon is currently trading at almost 18 times 2025 earnings/share, which compared to the 90 multiple it’s trading right now would be insanely low. I can see Amazon continuing to trade at very high P/E for the foreseeable future. So, with a 25 PE price the company should trade at 4400$, while with a 50 PE ratio, the stock should be close to 9000$/share, which is insane when you think about that number, but maybe Bezos will listen and split the shares finally.
So, after all these estimates what are my price targets? HERE are my actual price targets… I think the bear case 2025 price we can see Amazon trade at is $4828 which would imply a return of over 54%, while my base case and my pretty safe assumption is that Amazon will trade at 6145$/share by the end of 2025, implying a 96.5% return on the current price. My most bullish case though is $7900, which would imply a return of 152%, with that number being mind-blowing given the current valuation of the company… but I guess we do have to start getting used with such high numbers… I guess decades ago when we saw the first millionaire or billionaire, people would have also thought that it was crazy… but crazy is for the limited minds only I believe.
So yeah guys, here is my OVERALL price targets for 2025, my bear case is an average of the 25 & 30 PE ratio, while the normal case is the average between the 30 and 40 PE’s with the most bullish case valuing the company between a PE of 40-50.
So HERE is the full spreadsheet that I have projected for Amazon by 2025, if you do have another opinion or a suggestion please leave a comment down below, I think I have been conservative in most of my projections, but feel free to give your opinion.
Keep in mind, these targets might sound ridiculous, but just look at the growth Amazon has in the past. The company has increased in value by more 450% in just the past 5 years and is over 160.000% up since it started trading. So yes, the valuation is mad right now for the company. So, are you willing to bet against one of the biggest and fastest growing companies in the world?
The company also has pristine FINANCIALS, with more than $112B in current assets vs only $102B in current liabilities, with over $282B in total assets. So, the company is way more than solvable at any point in the near future.
And let’s also take a look at what the estimates are from the analysts. We can see that the analysts expect a similar EPS by 2025, of around $166 compared to $171/shares that my Growth Valuations are projecting. So, it seems that this could be a very reasonable upside for the company.
So, what do I expect in the next couple of days, weeks and months for Amazon?
Let’s look at this CHART, so starting with the high the stock made before the September sell-off. The stock has been trading in this wedge formation for the last couple of months with increasingly higher lows. The stock isn’t overbought and hasn’t been since it saw an RSI of 73 when it reached the all-time highs. I think with this wedge formation building up, with increasing higher lows and with the pattern of trading likely being an Elliot Theory 5 WAVE formation, I think it’s very likely we see a breakout in the near future, maybe just before earnings, and I expect this breakout to mimic the last run the stock had of about 23% up. So, with that 23% increase mirrored that would result the stock should peak around $3900, which I expect to see by the end of the year.
And let’s take a quick look at what 47 analysts on wall street are saying. They are mostly very bullish on the company with an average price target of $3800 and a high price target of $4600 which is insane for a return in the next 12 months, as 46 of the 47 analysts are either bullish or very bullish on Amazon. So yet again, the $3900 isn’t that out of possibilities even as Wall Street’s analysts expect
So, what would I do? Well, I own Amazon stock and I believe it still has tremendous room to grow, so I would start building a position as I expect the company to resume its uptrend sooner rather than later and the next catalyst may be just a couple of weeks away with the last quarter earnings expected to be announced early in February.
And I shouldn’t forget to mention that I believe Amazon is one of the most stable stocks out with very good leadership, and with large institutional holders like Vanguard, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley owning huge amounts of the company.
So, THIS are my projections and my expectations for the company, and if you do want to check out the spreadsheets you can find the link HERE
Thank you everyone for reading🙏 Hope you enjoyed the content! Be sure to leave a comment down below with your opinion on the stock market! Have a great day and see you next time❗

I was playing a 5/10 home game with a few friends of mine. Pretty casual, we all bought in for like 1k, drank a few beers as we played, re-bought a few times if we busted out - like I say, it was very relaxed. I was playing pretty tight since a lot of the guys I play with are kinda spewy and have leaks in their game I thought I could exploit. Anyway, here's an interesting hand I wondered if I could run by you guys to have a look at my play.
I have a 1.8k stack at this point, BB is deepstacked at ~2.3k. Anyway, it folds around to the cutoff who raises it up to $30. Hero on the button looks down at 5d7h. I have position but I don't want to flat because my equity isn't that good if I get called multiway, so I 3bet squeeze to $90. SB folds, BB 4bets to $175, CO calls. Some brief history on BB: his range can be very wide and his play is far from GTO-optimal - prone to spewing, barrelling hands without blockers, and getting himself into nasty situations in big pots.
At this point I'm getting pretty good odds to call. I don't want to be 3bet folding very often because it makes me exploitable, and I think I can outplay my opponents post-flop. Obviously I consider 5betting but even if my 5bet range should be ahead of BB he's spewy enough to make the call so I elect to peel it off and let's take a flop.
Flop ($535) 6d As 9d BB bets $200, CO folds.
Analysis: BB betting out of position is weird and bad, but he has lost a few pots to me tonight and seems to want to run me over instead of me aggressing on him. I briefly consider letting my hand go, but my hand doesn't have much fold equity and I have very good implied odds against BB since hitting the 8 will likely allow me to stack him with my unexpected straight, plus I have a back door flush draw and block 78s. Loads of broadway cards in BB's range didn't hit the flop and are just betting for protection. This bet size is really suspicious, I don't think he bets so small if he really is nutted here. I decide to peel it off, and let's take a turn.
Turn ($935) 7d BB bets $400.
The line BB is taking doesn't really make sense. BB is cbetting out of position on the flop but continues betting big on the turn when the flush draw gets there? I tank trying to decide what he's up to - I'm somewhat drunk at this point, so my mind isn't working so well. A lot of BB's 4bet range missed the flop and will fold to aggression, while I block any of his hands that make the straight, so I'm safe from it. I conclude that his story doesn't check out and elect to peel off the re-raise, bluffing the diamond draw. The board has coordinated for me, and I'm ready to drop some heat on BB. Even if my raise gets called, I still have the gut shot straight draw and flush draw, so my implied odds are through the roof. BB decides to peel it off, and let's take a river.
River ($1735) Jc BB bets $725
All in all, a really good hand for my continuing range and I'm shocked he doesn't check. Neither of my draws get there, sure, but there's no way he's 4betting 810s, so he hasn't made the straight. Really, what does BB have that I'm not folding out here with aggression? It's a snap jam except for the fact that the Jack gets there on the river so some of the broadway hands that my one pair was ahead of don't get there anymore. On the other hand, my range is well ahead of his - I don't have AA in my 4bet call range, sure, but I could easily have A10s or something that's way ahead of him. In the back of my mind I consider flatting and playing pot control but I know that I can always rebuy if I end up with a bad beat here and my implied odds are great if BB is bluffing. My hand is essentially a very strong bluff catcher at this point - the question is, was BB betting as a bluff or for value? A lot of strong pocket pairs like QQ are way behind the higher end of my value range, so if I jam I'm heavily representing Ax maybe on the diamond draw. The nice part about shoving is that it polarizes my range and puts BB in a really tough spot to call. I've already played pretty gutsy on the hand and it would be a shame to give up now, so I decide to raise jam my entire stack (~$1100). BB thinks about it for a while, but we're both in the mood to play a 3k pot so he peels off the call and we look it up.
I think my line is pretty solid throughout the streets though it's definitely a little exploitative in places. One notable plan I considered was jamming on the turn instead of the river to put BB in a tough spot. Gunna refrain from posting results for now so that there can be unbiased discussion on the hand for a bit before I post em. Lmk if you guys like my line and thought process throughout.
EDIT: Villain had AdAh and took my money. Bad beat

I’ve been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately, so my therapist recommended yesterday that my husband and I do our check-ins earlier in the day. We just had a totally disastrous check-in that leaves me feeling like we can’t build anything at all, and should stop with the check-ins and maybe even separate.
I’ve been having a rough few days anyway, partly my own shit, partly watching my husband stop really working, being more and more passive and less and less mindful as things have eased up with him, since we’ve started settling into whatever new phase we’ve been in.
I guess I need to vent, hear any reality checks (am I thinking completely wrong here? If I weren’t on mobile, I guess I’d pick the “Am I crazy?” tag). And I really need some validation. I started a new group last night but haven’t made friends with anybody yet, don’t see my therapist for another week, and my husband was my only person - and he’s clearly not safe for me right now.
Some background: the weekend was busy. Neither of us really worked on This Thing a whole lot, it was just kind of in the background. I read and posted here, read some of my books a little, listened to a couple of podcasts, did some mindfulness work, but I kind of backed off on the intensity of how I’ve been going for the last three weeks because I am, frankly, burned out. Kids were with us this weekend, so most of our energy was spent on engaging them, family/house stuff. He did work really hard, especially on Sunday. He was busy. But.
I was already feeling bad, like the self-loathing thing. The more I think about it, the more I realize how fucked up I am, apart from how fucked up he is and our relational struggles. I had thought, for the last nine years, that I had overcome some of that as I internalized what he told me he thought about me. I knew I hadn’t healed all of my fucked-upedness from (waves hand) my entire 48 years, but it had healed enough that it wasn’t the primary thought of my every day, and I thought that was good enough. And of course, that’s all been ripped open again, and some extra salt of insecurity from the nature of his betrayal. Ngl, feeling pretty overwhelmed at the thought of fixing myself, fixing 40+ years’ worth of fucked-upedness. I feel so defective. I don’t even feel human right now. So that’s had me down the last four or five days, just feeling really bad about myself. But I’ve been trying to examine it, observe it, think about how to address it in therapy, figure out the order of operations of all the many pieces of work I need to do to get to a better, more stable place.
So I hadn’t, like, really dug into it yet; I’d tabled it, because it’s just so painful, and I’m trying to respect my limits in the service of self-care, as long as I return later to work on the things I can’t face in any given moment. But of course, between that and Trauma Surprise, I’ve just been having a hard time, and it leaks out unexpectedly, even when otherwise I’ve had a pretty good day. Often this leakage occurs during our check-ins, which we do daily.
Heretofore, it’s been OK. I wail about my pain and just kind of think out loud to him, which helps me but also gives him insight into my interior, you know, kind of like what I’ve been asking for from him. STILL being vulnerable with him. STILL treating him like my person. And that’s been going well, until today. He had not, before today, gotten defensive. He was listening to me. I felt like he was hearing me instead of thinking up counter arguments. Which, you know, is pretty necessary at this point, to have that deferential attitude from him, for him to hold space for my emotions without rebuttals. That was part of why I had eased up on him, he was doing that piece really well (though to be fair to myself, while it’s good and necessary, it also fairly passive, for him to sit back and listen to me crying about my feelings for what he’s rained down on us. On me. Not a lot for him to do besides keep his mouth shut and process his feelings separately and appropriately with the tools and support he’s been building the last three weeks).
But over the weekend, he got so busy and unmindful that he tripped some of my triggers, lost his shit over not being able to find blue cheese dressing for the Super Bowl wings and I had to come in and look for it because he was talking to himself loudly about it and was clearly distressed, and overall he just didn’t do much in the way of reading or the homework his therapist gave him or anything. I had to remind him to call his new sponsor, who had asked him to call every day to “exercise the calling muscle.” Just, it seemed like since things had eased up some and I wasn’t at his throat and wasn’t super micro-managing his recovery, some days we even hugged each other, he let things slide and stopped being proactive. Put it in cruise control. Higher power take the wheel, I’m just gonna have a little snooze real quick while you fix this up for me, let me know when we’re there!
Which is something I’ve been afraid of. I reckon the 3-week mark is about when I expected it to happen, but I was hopeful it wouldn’t. He’s so fucking convincing. But then, I think he really believes all his bullshit. And he’s not making more than a nominal effort so he can congratulate himself for all his hard work, he’s not actually doing the work of recovery, not even trying to practice his tools, just saying he knows going forward he needs to be more mindful. Promises without practice. He called himself a dry drunk after our check-in today, and yeah, I think that’s what I’ve been getting.
Yesterday was bad. Our accountability software picked up a bing hit on his ipad on Sunday. Not an actual search, just www.bing.com. I noticed it and asked him about it yesterday. Of course he didn’t know what it was. And honestly, he was so busy making party food on Sunday, I’m not sure how he had the time to access bing (his preferred porn search engine, apparently, and consequently a trigger for me). He swears he didn’t, that maybe one of the recipe sites or a game he accessed on Sunday had hit bing. He swore up and down he didn’t know what it was about, which of course is laughable, that I’m supposed to take his word for it. He deleted the game.
He was clearly frustrated. He said he understood why I didn’t believe him, but he obviously felt it was unfair that the report had something he couldn’t defend. Which I gave him an earful about, like the fucking entitlement for him to cry about “unfair,” since we wouldn’t be where we are if it hadn’t been for his unfair behavior and lies and secrecy. I should have recognized it in the moment for the defensiveness it was, i like to think I’d have called his ass out on it.
Last night was pretty unpleasant. I didn’t have anything to say to him, and he was tiptoe-ing around me. By the time I woke up this morning, though, my anger had dissipated enough that I felt OK being coolly cordial with him.
Until our check-in this afternoon. I had some lingering talking points from yesterday (that had I said them yesterday, I would have spat them at him and it wouldn’t have been constructive or productive), mostly about his cruise control thing and his renewed passivity, and about his entitlement. Entitlement to change the rules of our marriage without telling me, entitlement to “fairness” when he was acting grossly unfair, entitlement to thinking 3 weeks of hard work was enough so he could hold out his arms and be showered with The Fix while he declared all his hard work successful and a job well done, entitlement to my being more ok and ready to move on to the next phase even though he keeps saying he knows it’s not a linear process but he’s still expecting it to be and he’s surprised when it’s not, stuff like that. I was presenting these points pretty dispassionately, like I wasn’t yelling or literally finger-pointing or anything. But I could see the wheels turning in his head, he wasn’t listening to me, he was formulating his rebuttal. And then it came.
“It’s like you expect me to be perfect at this already.” He explained how hard this is (!!! Because this has been a goddamn cakewalk for me!) and said he feels like I haven’t given him credit for what he has done. Super defensive and self-pitying. The fucking gall.
I completely lost it. I had to walk away for five minutes to pull my shit together. When I came back inside, I screamed at him that his entitlement to “credit” is complete bullshit. I have given him credit, in the form of easing up and examining and managing my feelings and trying to find healthy ways to express myself to him. Every fucking time I’ve let him hug me has been credit. I’ve given him occasional attaboys when he’s really taken initiative to think about me and do something thoughtful, but of course, that initiative has kind of stopped for the last week or so, going along at 55 mph on cruise control, and he’s crying about how he isn’t getting any fucking credit. I could have puked, but my mouth was too busy giving him what-for to stop for anything but word vomit and bile.
I told him that his resentment was something that we can address in couple’s counseling if our relationship gets that far, but that now, at just 3 weeks and 2 days out, he needs to zip it and take what I have to give him, whether he likes it or not. I am not in a place to receive his self-pitying pushback. After the years of bullshit he gave me, even though I wasn’t bright enough to see what a load of shit it was, the least he can do is keep his goddamn mouth shut while I share my feelings about what he did to me.
He backed down immediately, and I felt like a bully (but I also don’t think I’m fully wrong) and then he started yelling at himself about how badly he’d fucked up, and I told him to do that out of my earshot (I had to tell him yesterday too when he was loudly muttering to himself about how he hadn’t gone to bing and it’s just so unfair and why did that show up on the report). I told him it feels performative and indirectly aggressive, and owing to the abusiveness of my first marriage, I feel triggered when he gets loud like that and he knows it but he was so stuck in his self-pity and entitlement to not feeling uncomfortable that he couldn’t even stop himself after he knew he’d stepped in it BIG TIME. And then he did it again as he was leaving the room when I said I was done with that conversation, when I had just asked him not to do it, out loud, so I know he heard me. I didn’t even get to finish everything I had to say about how I felt about yesterday because he derailed it all so successfully.
I did have one more thing to say after I thought I was done, and that is that he gets credit every time I’m vulnerable with him and share my real feelings, even the ones that are painful for him to hear, and that even when he says he needs to be more mindful, he’s taking every opportunity to carelessly trample on me while mouthing words about how fucking hard this is and how hard he’s trying. Which, like, let me get out my tiny violin. CRY ME A FUCKING RIVER. I know it’s hard, god knows I know, but he’s not the only person in the shit, you know? And it’s hard to take, him crying about how hard this is when he did it to himself, and did it to me, and is still doing it to me on the regular.
He’s as fumbling and bumbling as he was the week after d-day. He’s got more tools and support now and he’s not actually using them, just tucking them away to keep in the hoard like he used to do with porn. Saving them for a rainy day, or perhaps collecting them as souvenirs for all the hard work he’s done. Which, I’m not saying he’s done nothing, but I do not have it in me to indulge his self-pity and flailing around helplessly when he abandons the work and stops practicing the tools and assumes the hard part is over and yet still demands that I give him a cookie for his efforts, ignoring the cookies I have given him when he was actually putting in more than lip service about the hard work, and he hasn’t stopped shitting all over me.
And I realized that I have been still, even after all of this, treating him like my person, and operating in good faith, and maybe I just can’t do that with him right now. If he’s going to be defensive and unreceptive to hearing me, then what even is the fucking point of these check-ins? So he can give me pretty words about how hard he’s working so I’ll give him gold stars in the manner of his choosing while he puts it in cruise control and stops doing anything but the bare minimum passive shit?!?
But how can we build anything new if we don’t have this check-in process? Is it even possible? More and more I’m thinking we should separate so he can do his work (or not, as I increasingly feel the case may be) and I can do mine. I am still feeling very intense, so I’m hesitant to pull that trigger until I talk with my therapist (not until Monday!!!), but the reality is that I was giving him credit for being someone safe when... he’s just not.
I feel so bad. And scared. And weak. This is the first time I’ve really thought this might not work. Or, this is the first time I’ve felt that it probably won’t. I’ve been telling myself that my work is to prepare for being OK no matter what happens with us, but I don’t think I had honestly faced the idea that it might not actually be doable. I think I still thought we could actually pull this off. I’m so in shock, I think I still haven’t really digested the idea. And I’m just so heartbroken. I’m in so much pain. Please give me what you’ve got. I need something so bad, and right now there is nobody in this house who can give me it, not him, not me. Whatever “it” is.
Edit: I told him I needed him to leave for the night, I can’t stand being in the same space. He asked if I meant the room or...? And I told him I cannot share a bed with him. So he is going to a hotel tonight. He tried to hit me with an “I’m sorry” (he just had to tell me, he said), but he didn’t acknowledge the impact or offer any actions or amends, just those two worthless words. I cut him short and told him he does not get to make himself feel better by saying something so value- and content-free. I won’t hear it until he can do it properly. I’ve asked for that before, don’t cheapen your “I’m sorrys” with meaningless apologies, here’s the form I want you to use when you apologize to me and I don’t want you apologizing frivolously and broadly. But I guess he just forgot, or didn’t think about it, and he’ll say out loud if I call him out on it that he needs to get better, but then he’ll keep doing the same thing over and over again, not listening to me, much less hearing me, when I directly ask him for something, until I get so upset at not even being seen by him that I go nuclear. Lather, rinse, repeat. Again and again.
I yelled at him some more and he looked pissed and perturbed and said he’d have to take his laptop or his phone to the hotel so he could do the 7:30 SA meeting he does Tuesday nights, and I told him just leave after the meeting because so help me god, if he takes a device with him tonight and slips, or slips and buys some bourbon so he can get drunk and feel sorry for himself with bullshit ersatz apologies and defensiveness and crying because he’s worked so hard for THREE WHOLE WEEKS and he’s not gotten any credit and hasn’t gotten anything for his heroic efforts but a mean old erratic unfair wife who won’t even give him the credit he so richly deserves, I am of the mindset of being done. Permanently.
My boundary work is nascent and I haven’t got the consequences fixed (this is high priority for me in therapy), but the way I feel right now, I have no buffer for anything right now, in any sense of the word, and there is no margin for error for him in the next 24 hours.
I swear, I am angrier tonight than I was the day after d-day. He’s undone everything that made me feel secure the last three weeks. I feel like I’m back at zero today.
Edit #2: after his meeting was done, he packed a bag and fed the dog and said, “See you in the morning” and I asked him if he had done any of the pet stuff (fed the cats, walked the dog, was gonna slide on outta here without saying anything about the pet status - the pet stuff is something he usually does).
Feels like pitching a fit to me, him all sulking and thinking, “Well maybe if I don’t tell her what pet things still need to be done she’ll see how hard it is to live without me. It’ll be extra hard for her and set her off-kilter and confuse her if I don’t mention anything about the pet status as I have every other night I’ve stayed in a hotel since January 17.” A fit of pique to show me, which is the kind of thing he did on Christmas Eve 2019, which sent us into couples counseling. It feels like the same fucking thing I’ve already seen before, not often, but enough it isn’t entirely alien to me.
I I’d bet folding money it crossed his mind and lingered there, to put me on my back foot and make me uncomfortable with his lack of communication. He couldn’t be bothered to tell me what care the pets would still need. When he has always done so when he’s left. Hell, he gives me updates on the pet status when I’m sitting beside him on the couch. He also didn’t tell me where he left his devices, which he often does (even here at home) by way of being careful to pre-assure me of his explicit efforts to honor what it takes for me to feel safe with him. None of that tonight.
Tonight he had nothing but a grim, “Good night. See you in the morning” that I bet he felt was just polite and incomplete enough to really spite me and demonstrate his disapproval of me calling him out on his shit. And I bet he comes back tomorrow, reads this, and declares himself innocent of anything deliberate and then thinks I’m mean for even suggesting he’d do something like that. When he did just that sort of thing 13 months ago. His words and actions aren’t a match.
He may be sober, but he is not active in his recovery. Even after all the things he keeps saying he’s realizing about, even after he says out loud that he needs to do better, but just somehow always slips his mind in the moment because HE WONT EVEN BOTHER WITH THE TOOLS AND SUPPORT HE HAS. Even after all of this, he leaves the house with what reads to me as a petulant, spoiled, entitled temper tantrum. He really is a bull in a china shop. He’s breaking my heart. He’s not trying at all, he’s just saying he is and hoping he can get away with it like he always has. Telling, not showing. Still. It makes me so sad. He’s still lying to himself and he can’t even see it. Or won’t. Am I expecting too much, too soon? Am I being too harsh or gratuitous or mean or wrong?

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Gabriel lay on the bed, his hands behind his head, squinting at the ceiling. He was deep in thought and barely noticed as Madeline came out of the shower and plopped down.
“Still no name?” She asked him, a towel over her shoulder.
“Naming a spaceship is harder than I expected,” Gabriel said. It had been two days after the inspection and Gabriel had tried to explain Star Trek, Star wars, and whatever other sci-fi he remembered to get some help finding a name.
“Understandable,” Madeline said while drying her head.
“Titanic? no, that ship sank, likely a bad choice. Enterprise? probably not,” Gabriel mused. “Any suggestions?”
“None, this one is all on you,” Madeline grinned and settled down, laying her head on his shoulder.
“Thanks...” Gabriel sighed. “The… no, I got nothing.” He sighed and rubbed his face. “What do you Zilgi name your ships?”
“We include size class, general-purpose, and either a number or name. For example… Transport 3 Titanic,” Madeline said. “But this is not a Zilgi ship and you’re not Zilgi. What do humans name their ships?”
“Anything really,” Gabriel said. “A friend of the family had a boat called The unsinkable 3.” Madeline snorted as Gabriel continued. “Otherwise they can be named after people, places, or other… well I don’t think there are any rules.”
“So you have every option available to you,” Madeline said.
“I guess,” Gabriel said and sighed again. “If we hadn’t just gotten up, I would sleep on it.”
“You still have time,” Madeline said and ran her fingers through her damp fur. “I know we have nothing today, but was there anything planned for tomorrow?”
“Selecting a name, deciding on a plan of operation… and I think that’s it.”
“What do we get to decide?”
“Not much I expect, maybe we’ll just get to hear the plans Krihana has cooked up.”
“Yeah, should we lay in bed all day today or get some breakfast and go out?”
“Breakfast in either case,” Gabriel said and sat up. “Maybe we should get something done, work out at least.”
“Yeah, probably,” Madeline said in agreement and got out of the bed. “Though we can get some training done in bed as well. It’s been a few days.” She leaned down and kissed him, then lightly nibbled on his lower lip.
“You make a good point,” Gabriel said, he put his hand on her hips, just as his stomach rumbled. “...Breakfast first?”
“Yeah, I’m hungry as well,” Madeline chirped. She very deliberately brushed against him and swayed her butt as she walked over and grabbed a sweatshirt. “You coming?”
“Temptress,” Gabriel muttered with a smile and grabbed a shirt.
Breakfast was as usual a mix of just about everything. Gabriel chose bread and various spreads and cold cuts. Madeline picked something akin to beans and sausage. Gabriel was getting used to being stared at by this point. Over the last few days though, some attitudes had changed. There was much less hostility. Still some hesitation and caution, but most looked curious. As one would seeing a new alien for the first time Gabriel supposed. All this assuming he could read expressions correctly at a glance which might be a stretch.
Still, he had more important things on his mind. In particular the red and green alien across from him that was licking her lips seductively. They both quickly finished their breakfast before Madeline grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the elevators. They quickly headed to their room and shut and locked the door.
Madeline pulled off her sweatshirt and threw it on a chair, she sat down on the bed facing him, “You know I have to take another shower after this, hope you can make it worth it.”
“I’ll do my best ma’am,” Gabriel said with mock seriousness. He threw his shirt over his shoulder and walked over.
Madeline smiled and put her hands around his neck, pulling him down on top of her, “See that you do,” She chirped and kissed him. Gabriel got his knees under him and let a hand wander up her shirt. Madeline moaned softly and pulled at his shirt.
“Easy,” Gabriel chuckled, “Let’s take it slow.”
Madeline feigned a pout, “Not going to take me like a wild savage alien then?”
“... I mean,” Gabriel began. Madeline began chirping again and kissed his neck.
“Fine, but we can go slow without clothes,” Madeline relented and pulled at his shirt again.
“I can’t really argue with that,” Gabriel shrugged and pulled his shirt off. Madeline ran her hands down his chest and stomach.
“Now my turn,” Madeline said and stretched her arms up. Gabriel began pulling up her shirt, kissing her stomach as he went. He pulled the shirt up over her head but stopped at her hands, keeping them pinned over her head. “Mhm, do I get tied up and taken after all?”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” Gabriel said and pulled the shirt tighter around her hands, “But we can give it a shot.”
“Do I get to tie you up next time?” Madeline asked and wrapped her legs around his back.
Gabriel grinned, “Do you need to? you still seem in control.”
“That’s irrelevant, now kiss me,” Madeline said.
“Gladly,” Gabriel said and did just that. They kept it up for a few minutes while Gabriel's free hand was caressing her body, provoking soft sounds and moans.
“That’s good, now lose the pants,” Madeline more or less commanded.
Gabriel released her hands and sat up, undoing his pants, “The Endeavour!” He exclaimed.
“What?”
“The ship! The Endeavour,” Gabriel said again. “The Human Endeavour?”
“Did you...” Madeline paused for a second before breaking into chirping so hard she put her hand over her stomach. “I… I love you, Gabe.” She said catching her breath.
“I love you too,” Gabriel grinned back and peeled off his pants, “So?”
“What?” Madeline asked, wiping away tears and giggling.
“The name?”
“It’s good, yeah, I like it,” Madeline said smiling broadly and undoing her pants. “It’s just the timing, now help me with this.”
“Yeah, of course,” Gabriel laughed and reached down, taking another opportunity to plant kisses as her pants came off.
An undetermined amount of time later, Gabriel once again sat on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The Endeavour. He liked the name, but maybe it needed something more. Like the Terran Endeavour, or maybe Human was better after all. He would give it some thought. Maybe naming after his family would not be a bad choice either. Walker De León? De León Walker?
Though his mother had taken his father's name when they married it still sounded quite good. Walker De León would mean from León though. And while Gabriel had visited several times, he had never lived there. Still, his mother's family lived there, maybe they still do, a few generations later.
Madeline stepped out of the shower, wearing only a towel that she was currently using to dry her head. Gabriel quickly broke out of his thoughts to stare at his alien lover.
“What?” Madeline asked as she caught him staring.
“Just wondering if we have time for another round,” Gabriel mused.
Madeline chirped, “I’ve just taken another shower, maybe tonight.” She dressed and sat down on the bed, brushing her tail. “Are you getting bored with all this waiting or is it just me?”
“Not just you,” Gabriel said and rubbed his face. He moved over and took the brush from Madeline. She let him brush away and picked up her pcu.
“I know we are leaving in three days, but as nice as it is going shopping or eating at restaurants, I want to go to space,” Madeline sighed and leaned against him.
Gabriel smiled and kept brushing, “I know how you feel, while space travel can get boring, it’s still space travel.”
“Yeah, arriving at a new planet is hard to beat. Still, this might be our last free day until we leave, we should do… something,” Madeline said.
“I agree, but I’m new to space, what do we have to choose from?”
“Well… I don’t know,” Madeline shrugged, “Should we ask Cani and Sen’Chakar if they want to do something? Deana is still in jail right?”
“Yes to the second question,” Gabriel said. “She gets out when we leave, and we can ask. I haven't seen them since we landed.”
“Take a shower, I’ll call them,” Madeline said and grabbed the brush again. Gabriel obeyed and headed off. A refreshing shower and beard trim later he walked out and began digging through his new Union clothes. Madeline was typing on her phone but looked busy. Gabriel selected a pair of black pants similar to Chinos and a V-neck shirt that was popular, or so he was told.
“Right, so Sen’Chakar has accepted a role on the ship, as your guard I’ve been told. Cani is the third pilot as well if you hadn’t heard,” Madeline said as Gabriel pulled on his shirt.
“I hadn’t, that’s good news.”
“Sen’Chakar is however busy for the day, and said he might be free later after dinner, Cani is free and said available for whatever, as long as it ends with alcohol.”
“So we have to end the day in a bar?” Gabriel asked.
“Yep,” Madeline said. “There is a game center not too far from here, maybe we can try some of them.”
“Oh? what kind of games?”
“I guess similar to those old arcade games you talked about. No, maybe not. You pay and receive a booth where you can play virtual reality—that was what you called it right?” Madeline asked. Gabriel nodded and she continued. “Yeah, so VR games. I think you can order food and drinks as well. But no alcohol.”
“We can go there after lunch then,” Gabriel said. “Do you think anyone else is free?”
“Everyone else we know is on work hours, maybe after dinner,” Madeline said.
“Right, of course, what time is it?”
“About a movie-length until lunch,” she said.
“Subtle, what do you want to watch?” Gabriel chuckled.
“The second part of that crime mystery we watched earlier.”
“The Roniean one or the Kirini one?” Gabriel asked and tried his best to navigate the screen on the wall.
“Kirini.”
Gabriel found the movie even better than the first one. The Kirini liked to split their movies into two hours parts which meant the first was more to set up the premise and introduce the characters. This second part was when the action and mystery began. They were also good at subtle hints and letting the audience come to their own conclusions. Gabriel had always been annoyed at moves that treated their audience like idiots. He always liked the phrase show, don’t tell.
“That was good,” He said after it finished, “I almost missed the hint about the damaged jacket.”
“Yeah, that was sneaky,” Madeline agreed. Her pcu pinged, “How about lunch?” she asked looking at it. “We’ll meet Cani at the game center after.”
“Sounds good to me,” Gabriel said. They ate a quick lunch at the hotel restaurant, Gabriel chose a light salad, in case the VR games induced some motion sickness.
“Excuse me.” Gabriel looked up from his meal to a pair of Quizeaterans.
“Hi, can I help you?”
“I apologize if we are bothering you, but may our son take a picture with you, he is trying to get one with every race you see,” the male finished.
“Oh, sure, that’s fine,” Gabriel said smiling but made sure not to show teeth.
“Does he have one with a Zilgi?” Madeline asked.
“I’ll bet he does not have one with a human and a Zilgi,” Gabriel said.
“No to both,” The male said and waved his son over. “He will be bragging about this to everyone for weeks I think.”
A smaller Quizeateran walked over with an object that was likely a camera. He looked a little unsure but handed the camera to his father.
“So, should I strike a pose?” Gabriel asked happily.
Madeline chirped and got out of her chair to kneel beside the kid, “Let’s get the more common one out of the way first,” she said and faced the camera. Her fur ridge rose, showing her race's version of a smile, a gesture she used less and less around Gabriel. The father took a picture and Madeline turned to Gabriel.
“My turn?” Gabriel asked. He kneeled as well, “Should we get a professional picture, a funny one, or both?” He gently asked the kid.
“Um, both please,” the kid answered carefully. Madeline stayed for the first picture, then moved out of the frame for the second, while Gabriel did his best to look happy without too much of a smile.
“Right, now for the funny one, what should we do?” Gabriel asked and rubbed his chin. “Wanna ride on my shoulders?” The kid nodded and Gabriel smiled. He leaned down and picked him up, placing him on his shoulders. The father took the picture and while showing his kid, the mother walked up.
“Thank you, that was kind.”
“No problem, I’m happy there are at least some willing to talk to me,” Gabriel said. “I think there are still some bad rumors floating around.”
“I will not deny that, but we will tell our friends they are false. Now, we’ll leave you to your lunch, sorry for disturbing you,” She said and bowed. Gabriel and Madeline returned the gesture and the family walked off.
“That was nice,” Gabriel said and sat down to finish his salad.
“Yeah, but we should get going if we want to meet up with Cani,” Madeline said and finished the last of her meal. Gabriel quickly did the same and they started down the street towards the game center. It was relatively close, meaning about a 20-minute walk. When they reached the building Cani was waiting outside on a bench.
“There you are, right on time,” She said and stood. She shook hands with both of them. “It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it’s been a strange few days,” Gabriel said.
“That I can agree with,” Cani said. “Shall we? there is a new game I want to try out.”
They headed into the game center and got a room, the room itself had two areas for VR, a section with couches and a table and two screens showing each player's perspective separating the play area from the seating area.
“Cool,” Gabriel said.
“Yep,” Cani said and pointed to one area, “Now get those glasses on, we’re going into battle,” She grinned.
Gabriel walked over and found several boxes on the wall, “So, what do I do?”
“You need to select a pair,” Madeline said and walked over. “I suppose Roniean glasses will fit best, or maybe Kirini.” She opened two boxes and handed Gabriel two pairs. Kirini fit better as Ronieans had quite a bit broader noses. The glasses were see-through but clumsy and narrowed his vision. Then, after Cani had selected a game, a controller resembling a rifle popped out.
“You know how to shoot right?” Cani asked him.
“Yep, so what is this game?”
“Standard shooting game hit the red silhouette and don’t get shot.” She pressed a button on her controller and Gabriel’s glasses darkened before a screen turned on. The resolution and frame rate were excellent, though the graphics were simplified. The walls were grey without much texture, same with the cover and ground. But it was simple enough to dodge and shoot, and Gabriel found it fun. It turned out to be a cooperating shooter, where some weak points on enemies were only visible for one player.
It did take a death or two for Gabriel to get into it and figure out everything but after that, it was smooth sailing.
“That was fun,” Gabriel said after they died on the boss on level 30.
“Yeah, more challenging than the previous game,” Cani said. “But we did well, now I need a drink.”
“My turn then, Gabriel are you good for another game?”
“Yep, what are we playing?”
“I only recognize one, so that,” Madeline said and pulled on glasses. The game was a rhythm game where orbs appeared that needed to be touched on beats. Gabriel had fun punching and kicking the orbs and they played several songs before Madeline called it. “Alright, that’s enough for me,” she said fanning her face.
“Yeah, I could use a break,” Gabriel agreed. They joined Cani on the couch and ordered drinks. “So, Cani, what have you been up to?”
“Well, after giving my statement to the security after Deana was arrested I needed to spend some time getting my ship properly stored.” She sighed and shook her head. “Very annoying that. This city is compact and they don’t have many hangars that it could sit in for any length of time. Then I visited Deana a few times, talked with Sen’Chakar a bit, and did some maintenance on my ship. Finally fixed some small problems that were bugging me.”
“So not as unproductive as we have been,” Madeline said smiling.
“I’ve kept busy, but I haven’t arranged a ship to Roniean II in search of kidnapped humans,” Cani countered.
“Fair point,” Madeline said. “But I suspect those plans were underway before we came here. At least part of it.”
“It did seem that way yes,” Gabriel agreed. “I’m happy you decided to join us on the trip.”
“Well, I’m not swimming in credits.” Cani shrugged. “Besides, I never got to take Deana on that date. But speaking of dates, I hope you two have had one.”
“Well,” Gabriel began and looked over at Madeline.
“Somewhat,” Madeline said. “We had a double date that served to arrest some thugs that were causing trouble. Was fun though,” she admitted. “But we have had some private movie dates.”
“Nothing wrong with those,” Cani nodded. “About the only one you can have on a ship, at least if you want it private.”
“Then we need to buy more movies,” Madeline said just as her pcu pinged. “Oh, Sen’Chakar can join us for dinner.”
“I know a great bar,” Cani said and sat up straight. “They serve Roniean and Cecaiampal alcohol,” she said excitedly.
“So Cecaiampals enjoys a drink as well?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes, correct me if I’m wrong but they, us Roniean and Kirini are the only ones that had to make alcoholic drinks to kill germs right? Long before space travel I mean.” Cani asked Madeline.
Madeline shrugged, “That sounds correct, we technically used a poison to kill germs, gives other races a stomach ache if they drink too much.”
“Right, same with Igris. Though I suppose alcohol is a poison,” Cani said. “But I’m not well versed in early civilizations. Not my own and less everyone else's.”
“We fermented drinks as well, though I supposed you already guessed that,” Gabriel added. “I would like to try some different stuff later though.”
“That can be arranged, I will recommend stuff for you,” Cani grinned. “But now, back to the games.”
They played several different games, all were made to be played in a stationary area, and while the area did sometimes change, there were no running around. But, as Gabriel was just getting used to it, that suited him just fine. When the time for dinner approached, they headed out and met up with Sen’Chakar at a bar that Cani recommended. The clientele were mostly Ronieans, Cecaiampals, and the occasional other race.
“Been busy?” Gabriel asked Sen’Chakar.
“Yes, I’ve given my statements about the… s” He paused for a moment, no one seemed to be listening in but his head moved slightly side to side. Gabriel assumed he was looking around, but with no visible pupils that were hard to see. “About the gang and location where we found ourselves. I have also been in contact with my old employer and explained the situation. And of course, began preparation to join you on the trip.”
“Not that I don’t appreciate you joining us, but don’t you have friends and family back home?” Gabriel asked him.
“I do, more friends and less family. Though this is important, and not something I will let go of, they would want me to do this.”
Gabriel nodded, “Alright, I just don’t want to force any of you on a trip you don’t feel like taking. Cani, you said you weren’t going into danger again. Maybe not with those words but still.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m staying on the ship,” Cani said grinning. “With all the guards, it will be safe. Unless the Roniean government sells us out that is. However, allowing criminals to attack a Union Ambassador’s ship will mean a lot of trouble and very heavy fines and restrictions that I hope they want to avoid.”
“What if they are sneaky about it?” Gabriel asked. Cani shrugged and took a sip of her drink.
“Every civilized dock has guards, usually quite a lot of them, especially Ronieans. We combine our space docks with our version of Union Security.”
“I see, so attacking a docked ship is equal to attacking the local Security force?”
“Yeah, sort of. They are right next door. If you are very sneaky I suppose you could get on board a ship and cause some trouble, but if they are alerted, you can't escape.” Cani shrugged, “I mean in theory, we have scanners for weapons and such as well.”
“Well, I feel better about the trip,” Madeline said and held up her glass, “To the Endeavour,” she said.
“To the Endeavour!” Gabriel said, raising his glass. “The stand-in name for our ship!” He added as Cani and Sen were giving him looks.
The rest of the evening was filled with drinking, pleasant conversations, and good food. They eventually said goodby, Sen’Chakar taking Cani back to the hotel where they both had been places and Madeline and Gabriel walking back to their place.
Gabriel would be busy the next few days and couldn’t wait. He was getting restless and wanted to get going. The sooner they left, the sooner they could find Victoria. Though he had to admit, going with Justicars and security members was the smart choice. He sighed and squeezed Madeline's hand as they walked. She leaned on his shoulder and they enjoyed the weather, the scent of rain was in the air but no drips fell before they entered their room and turned in for the night.
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