Hair salon flyer ideas

The results are in for Match 6. The winner is…
9:25. Just five seconds left. 2095 danced in a furious frenzy, out of rewinds, out of tech, just the purest expression of dance and combat.
9:27. She dove full-body at Jamir, still in his point of central control, embracing him and carefully dipping him to merely an inch or so above the floor, meeting his shocked expression with a gaze of her own passionate enough to ignite the pair where they stood.
9:30. The final wave. The Ventisca De Porcelana sailed over the pair, any errant shards striking 2095 before they would strike her rival as the deep dip is held. What water clones remained were shredded. The android rose rapidly and spun Jamir out of their embrace, bowing deeply in apology for securing her own victory. In the same beat, the music reached its final climax, prompting 2095 to extend a hand with a loud stomp as if to demand the man join her in one last display of fiery footwork.

10538-2095, with a score of 79 to Jamir O Santos’s 78!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	10538-2095	14 (3+2) - 16 (4+2)	Voting had a slow start, but as the pace quickened, 2095 held a one vote lead by the skin of her teeth!
Quality	Jamir O Santos	25 (10 7 8) - 24 (8 7 9)	Reasoning
JoJolity	Tie	29 (10 9 10) - 29 (10 9 10)	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10	Nothing to report!

The android’s mind wandered as she danced face-to-face inches away from her rival. Was the answer always this simple? To act as though your ideal ‘self’ was your own? She took the lead between the two, placing a hand on his chest as the two desperately worked to keep their breath. Would they be friends after this? Enemies? She no longer cared about the ends, her ideal ‘self’ was enjoying the heat of the moment, lost in the passion of exposing herself for the world to see. She spun away from the intimate distance, joining Jamir shoulder-to-shoulder as the final seconds ticked down and their feet seemed to blur beneath them. This is what she had been after, the secret buried beneath the layers of human complexity and illogical behavior, a feeling so foreign to her but one she cannot imagine to live without from that moment on:
Passion.
Her arms lashed out, framing her new ‘self’ perfectly as she shouted with the final note.
For his part, win or lose, Jamir was satisfied. “You did you, just as I expected… no, huhu.. you exceeded my expectations.”
None of his prior aggression was there, he was just a guy congratulating a partner.
“Though… My performance has yet to conclude. There’s a small, special part, just for you.”
Before he could hand the android the contracted thumbdrive, she caught him off guard with another full-body hug. “Thank you! For everything. For helping me reach this new level of emotion! I didn’t even know if…if it was even possible for me.”
Jamir nodded, doing his best to maintain his cool nonchalance as the android continued.
“And Carmelita too…I think I’m grateful for what they did to bring this out, but…” 2095 hesitated. “I also hate them. I hate them so much. Is that right?”
"....huhuhuhu. I have tasted hate in its many forms, in fact I can say I've been molded by it. It's a fire. An intense. Burning fire..." Jamir smirked. This would be very interesting to watch indeed. "How will you use it? Will it be your dance? Will you control it, or will it control you? These are questions I cannot answer for you, you must choose the path you walk for yourself."
As his partner literally processed this information, Jamir took the opportunity to return to his planned remarks. “But this may be helpful to you.”
Still not breaking her hug, he slipped the android a thumbdrive alongside a business card.
“That there is a ’memory recording’, a vessel into which I’ve transferred some of my memories. It’s one of the many services I provide…has commentary I think you’ll find gainful.” He grinned, “Ah. Don’t worry for me, I’ve already made a copy.”
He turned about, offering 2095 a backwards wave as she released him from the embrace.
“I hope you’ll come see me again… As the Merchant of ’Desires’ there’s plenty I can offer you - not that you can’t find it on your own! Huhuhuhu~”
(Shoutouts to u/TheSlyKoopa for the match concept and mechanics!)
Scenario: Pic du Midi de Bigorre, France — 10:46 AM

Located in the French Pyrenees, the mountain Pic du Midi de Bigorre hosts the famous Pic du Midi Observatory! Construction of the observatory began in 1878 under the Société Ramond, until rising costs forced them to hand over construction to the French government. Construction was completed in 1908, and the following year, its powerful equatorial reflector was used to discredit the theory that there were canals on Mars! Today, the observatory is used for international collaborations to advance our knowledge of the cosmos!

Silence permeated the snow-packed peaks of the Pyrenees mountain range. The untouched snow and stark landscape muffled any sound outside of the howl of the freezing mountain winds. At this elevation, little life could exist—save for the scientists of the Pic du Midi Observatory and, for today only, their guests.
The search for the lost civilization of Pieduro attracted the attention of many powerful players from across the Mediterranean, all eager to get their hands on its artifacts and technology—most notably, the enigmatic House of Muses and their patron, Cullinan Dwarf Star. But the man spearheading the charge didn’t represent any of them. Over the past several months, Dédalo Viatger and his faithful companion ｢Perdida｣, intrepid explorers and part of the crew of the H.H. Typhon, had discovered several Pieduron outposts and claimed their artifacts for himself. He didn’t want them for power or money—he wanted to protect them, study them, learn from them. And day by day, Dédalo was getting closer than ever to a major breakthrough.
Today, he and a small group of other explorers were on the trail of one such breakthrough. An avalanche had broken through an ice wall on the side of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, revealing the telltale architecture of a Pieduron outpost. The journey would be treacherous, even for an explorer of Dédalo’s caliber. He needed backup.
At the mouth of the cave behind the shattered ice wall, the Pyrenees stretching out behind him like a blank canvas, Dédalo studied a Temple gifted to him by Al; a small glass orb with a crystalline compass needle suspended inside via string. The red tip of the needle pointed straight ahead, leading further into the natural cave system hidden inside the mountain.
“We’re in the right place,” Dédalo announced. “Everyone ready to go inside?”
“Gladly,” replied a shivering Ninian, immediately switching on her headlamp and heading further into the cave. “This outpost had better be a Pieduron sauna or something. Fucking freezing out here.”
“I have spare warming pads in my pack if you need them. Don’t go too far inside!” Dédalo called into the cave. Ninian ignored him, sat down in a corner, and summoned a small pile of hot sand from the recesses of Endless Rest as a makeshift campfire.
Perdida materialized beside him, concerned. “We did try to warn her about the wind-chill. And how cold leather can get in these conditions.”
“At least we convinced them to ditch the fishnets,” Dédalo chuckled. “Grey? Cody? Are you two ready to go?”
Grey Selioutsky took a moment to respond, looking up from his notepad to give a silent thumbs-up. To see a bonafide ancient civilization must have been a dream come true for a history teacher—he could be forgiven for being excited.
Cody, meanwhile, was leaning against the wall of the cave, watching the group with amusement. It wasn’t his first time working with members of the Hundred Head Voyage, having made a temporary alliance with them before to take down top members of Agoraeus. Volunteering to help them on behalf of the Coleccionistas de Karma was an easy decision to make. Plus, he’d rather be the one to be involved with Pieduro than someone like Deimos. He would have been salivating over the ancient technology, if his new body even had saliva.
After their preparations, the party traveled further into the caves, guided by the needle of Dédalo’s Temple. It led them through winding tunnels, around pits of icy stalagmites, and over near-bottomless chasms via convenient stone bridges.
“It’s like they hollowed out the mountain,” Grey muttered to himself. Perdida marveled at her surroundings with a similar look of awe. No wonder Pieduro covered most of the Mediterranean at their peak.
The group suddenly stopped. At the head of the party, Dédalo stared at the gigantic cave that spread out in front of them, illuminated by their headlamps. Stalactites hung from the high hemispherical ceiling, a wide stream of brackish water cutting through the cave and draining deeper into the mountain. Carvings covered the floor, worn by time but still recognizably man-made—words in a language that Cody could only guess was Pieduron, circling in a spiral around an altar-like stone set in the middle of the floor with seven divots carved into it.
“Any idea what this is?” Ninian asked, their voice echoing off the walls of the cave as the group surveyed the chamber. Dédalo shook his head.
“This is definitely Pieduron architecture,” he replied. “But…it’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before.”
Grey traced a finger over the carvings, studying his notebook in his other hand. “I can only recognize a few words. Temple…lock…viewer…a word that means either “Earth” or “sphere”...and heart.”
Dédalo’s hands unconsciously went to his neck. Adjusting the collar of his coat, he pulled out his necklace, a tortoise-shaped medallion with a square crystal embedded in the center. As he held it to the divots, the crystal glowed with a greenish-blue light.
“El Cor Terra…the Earth Heart,” Dédalo whispered. “Perdida, can you call the Pilots?”
Perdida focused and summoned the baseball-shaped orbs of light to her side. The numerous Temples that Dédalo had gathered on his previous adventures began to glow—and the carvings glowed along with it, the greenish-blue shimmer of Cleria Stone now visible underneath the rock. One by one, Dédalo inserted each of his Temples into the divots. His sword, his bow, his boots, his gauntlet, even the necklace that had never left his side until now.
He nodded to Perdida. She brought the Pilots closer to the altar and, with great care, infused them with each of the seven Temples.
Immediately, the carvings illuminated, bathing the darkened cave with a warm glow. The stream of water bubbled and light shone through it, refracting across the walls in an array of dazzling colors. The colors shimmered and focused into spots of light. Then, three-dimensional shapes began to form in the light. A night sky filled with stars, miniature approximations of the planets, and constellations of great beasts and serpents; humanoid figures dressed in unfamiliar but impressive regal garb, surrounded by more in similar clothing; great, towering buildings under construction in mountains and sand dunes and jungles.
“Holograms…” Cody muttered. “Sweet.”
“It’s more than that,” Dédalo wondered aloud. “It’s a theater. A theater of the history of Pieduro.”
Ninian squinted at the holograms showing the Piedurons in wartime, studying their elaborate weapons with a mix of amazement and concern. “Good thing E.E.P. didn’t find this place first. They’d have a field day.”
Wiping an immaterial tear from her eye, Perdida laid a gentle hand on Dédalo’s shoulder. “Dalo,” she whispered. “If these projections show the history of Pieduro…do you think that it shows…the end?”
Dédalo nodded solemnly. “I was thinking the same thing. It doesn’t seem chronological, but-”

KRNK!

All five heads whipped downwards in the direction of the metallic crash that resounded throughout the chamber. Stood to a projection of a Pieduron warrior, a very real armored silhouette loomed over them from a previously unseen lower level, resting their hands on a massive greatsword with its tip planted in the stone.
“The Piedurons met the same fate as all living things,” a harsh metallic voice announced. “They died, decayed, and disappeared. The true question is…will you suffer the same?”
Scenario—Earlier that day
“Weaklings, the lot of them,” Errok thought aloud. He stared at the party from above, marveling at the naivete so nakedly on display. Studying weapons of great power? Protecting them?
“Hnrh. A weapon’s only purpose is to kill and maim.” An unsightly blemish against the mountain-white snow, he had been following this party of would-be adventurers since the base of the mountain, using his rotten arm to scale a part of the mountain they wouldn’t see him approaching from.
Despite his ability to keep pace, mountain climbing was far from his area of expertise; when Errok couldn’t throw himself up the mountain face with his fell arm, he lumbered and clattered around the uneven surface until he shuffled into the same entrance his prey had used. He spoke to an audience of himself as he stalked across the rafters of this strange complex, hollowed out of the mountain. “This temple could contain only that, yes…some weapon of unimaginable power. Ohohoho…what could such a weapon destroy?”
Errok knew what he was about to say was wishful thinking, but wish he did. However outside his wheelhouse this excursion was proving to be, it was far from the first indignity rained upon him. The Spaniard had left his accursed organs within Errok’s perfect form, and he had been relegated to a mere lowly thief to steal resources from others for his ‘team.’
Bah! It had weighed on Errok, this attack on the warrior of waste’s very soul, and he’d had more than enough. From this moment on, he was striking out for himself; he would suffer these slights no longer and seek a weapon to reduce anything in his path to ash.
“The soul…yes, that would be the perfect target indeed. To destroy the soul is to destroy utterly, to leave nothing behind…” Errok chuckled. “...To truly rot something away; that’s something I’d kill for!”
Engrossed in the dramatic gravitas of his soliloquy (and subsequent fit of chuckling laughter), Errok’s foot met an icy patch, and he slipped headfirst over the edge of the platform, forcing him to swing Gravetender to catch himself.
The sword snagged a crevice, wedging open some stuck aperture. His eyes darted to the opportunity, and his hand reached out to grab it. Lest he fall to the base of the mountain, ｢You Are Blood｣ burst forth, coiling into what must have been the air vent, fingers finding putrid purchase as he swung precariously, holding himself up by sheer brutish strength. Strength that so easily came to him, and let him so easily gradually rappel himself inside the temple proper.
Whatever this was, it most certainly wasn’t the traditional path inside—the creaking of machinery not meant to support him confirmed that he had broken the intended sequence. A smug grin curled across his visage as he shuffled through the narrow passage. “I have defiled this temple’s consecrated path; rot flows from my very footsteps.”
Before him was an empty chamber, grand and numinous in design; if any great and terrible was ever to be stored, it would certainly be locked away somewhere like here. The only sound was the whispering of the whelps above. Even if he did not yet have a weapon to destroy the soul, he had his trusty blade to carve through them all the same. Still ignored, he squeezed out from the vent and brandished the sword with a flourish, spinning it and slamming it into the ground with a mighty

KRNK!

Cody glanced around at the group, weapons drawn and Stands summoned. Ninian looked the most surprised to see the figure below.
“Errok?” She yelled. “What the bloody hell are you doing here?!”
“Nothing of your concern, girl,” Errok spat, relishing the menacing echo that the stone walls gave his voice. “Now, stand aside, lest your blood stain these relics of the past that you find so precious-”
Wait. Where did one of them go?
Errok ducked, nearly catching a surfboard across the jaw, as Cody skid to a stop next to him, having spiraled and surfed down from the group. The rest of the party was most immediately interested in learning about Pieduro, he was just tagging along for help and for fun. Buying them time to make the proper discovery was doing both.
“Damn. Almost got you.” Cody grinned, tucking ｢Surfin’ Bird｣ under his arm similar to Errok’s own stance. “Listen, dude, if you wanted to kill us, just kill us, ‘kay? You look scary enough as is, you don’t have to give a whole speech about it.”
“Ahahaha-” Errok rasped, his armor creaking discordantly. “This temple’s guardian, trying to prevent me from plundering its riches, superweapons sealed away for the destruction they might wreak.”
Cody blinked. “…No, I’m just a friend of Dédalo. He’s the blue-haired dude in the hat. And I’m pretty sure that the Temples are the artifacts; I think this place is actually called an outpost. Besides, we haven’t found any-”
“You haven’t found them yet!?” He barked, a revolting grin spread across his face. “Then I suggest you get out of my way, before you taste the edge of Gravetender.”
Cody quickly glanced up at the higher level. Dédalo had already disappeared, probably continuing deeper inside the outpost with the others. The carvings and holograms were beginning to shift, long-inactive mechanisms whirring to life. A section of the wall suddenly lit up like a screen, showing an image of an age long past. The rest of the expedition party was surely watching the display with academic interest, and if ‘Errok’ was going to disturb them…
“Alrighty then,” Cody pointed at the glowering titan before him. “If you want to get to the secrets of this temple, then you’ll have to get through me.”
“Very well! I will christen my conquest of this temple with your blood!” Errok bellowed, hoisting his sword into the air and tightening the gauntlet containing ｢You Are Blood｣ into a fist. “OPEN THE GAME!”(Shoutouts to u/TreeTurtle_852 for the match art!)
Location: Pic du Midi de Bigorre, France; more specifically a hidden Pieduron “planetarium” recently discovered within the depths of the mountain.
The arena is a 40m diameter hemisphere with each tile being 2x2 meters, a projection of light along the domed ceiling being the only source of light
Over time the maps will change and has 5 stages:
Stage 1 and Stage 2:

• Green Triangles are trees
  
• Small Circles are player starting positions
  

Stage 3:

• Dark Teal Squares are 2.5x2.5 buildings
  
• Cyan Arrows are Jump Pad Temples
  

Stage 4 and Stage 5:

• Pale Red Ring is a floating platform
  
• Red Frowny Face is the large face that extrudes from the mountainside in Stage 5
  
• All remaining trees will wilt at the end of Stage 5
  

Goal: RETIRE your opponents!
Additional Information: The documentary has 5 stages, each depicting a different era of Pieduro - changing the terrain and lighting along with it. Each stage lasts for about 1 minute, with the last stage remaining as is until the fight is over.
Stage 1 - Birth of Civilization

• The lights go completely dark in the circular room as a large spire of Cleria extrudes from the center (18m tall, 10m diameter). A soft, sunset orange glow illuminates the room as holographic farmers start tilling the "fields" around the central mountain. 2m tall trees will also have grown just in time for the “game” to have been “opened”. Over the course of this stage, the holographic farmers will move to areas where trees have been uprooted by players and said trees will regrow with B POW and B SPD. These trees and any components players tear off of them are Stand-affecting.

Stage 2 - Discovery of Spirit

• The lights dim once more and a crescent moon appears at the peak of the dome. White orbs will start to randomly appear across the stage to further illuminate the area. These orbs have A DUR and can be physically manipulated by Stand and user alike.

Stage 3 - Creation of Temples

• The arena makes sudden changes during this stage. Any still-rooted trees in a 5m donut around the mountain's base will wither away, and that section of ground will rise 5m. 12 2.5x2.5m hollow cubes representing buildings will erect on this new platform, evenly spaced out around the mountain similar to the numbers on a clock. Facing outward on each building is a door, in front of which is a "Temple" artifact resembling a streetlight. These can be easily pulled out of the ground and when activated, will attract all loose wood in a 1m radius around the top "light" portion of it. Also, at the base of the new raised platform in each cardinal direction, a "jump pad" Temple will extrude out of the floor. When activated, the jump pad will consume its energy source and allow its user to jump 15m up into the air and land safely back on the ground. Each Temple can be activated with one of the floating orbs formed in the previous stage. The lighting during this stage also changes to a sky-blue color.

Stage 4 - Diaspora of Influence

• The lighting changes to a deep purple color as images of famous landmarks from past civilizations appear along the walls of the dome. A large, flat, floating ring appears at the peak of the mountain that pulses with white light. The jump pad Temples from the previous Stage can allow players to jump up to this ring platform. Along the edge of the floating ring, players can find removable "Pieduron candle" Temples that can consume one of the floating orbs to eject a 2m B POW spray of fire - though each of these Temples only has one use. There are about 15 of these along the ring.

Stage 5 - Peak of Hubris

• The lighting in the room gradually shifts to an ominous red color as a humanoid face forms on the side of the mountain, the number 0 etched into its forehead. This face takes one whole minute to form, and as it finishes its eyes will suddenly flow red as well. Abruptly, all glowing orbs from Stage 2 will extinguish and all active Temples will deactivate. The remaining planted trees from Stage 1 will wither as well. Oddly enough, the floating ring platform and its pulsing glow will be unaffected. These effects will remain as is for the rest of the match.

Temple Items:

• Wood Magnets: Streetlight-looking Temples that can be easily pulled out of the ground. When activated, they will attract all loose wood in a 1m radius around the top "light" portion of it with C Power.
  
• Jump Pads: Emblemed panels on the ground around the base of a raised platform. When activated, the jump pad will consume one floating orb placed into it and allow its “user” to jump 15m up into the air and land safely back on the ground.
  
• Pieduron Candles: Small, cone-shaped trinkets that can consume one of the floating orbs to eject a 2m B POW spray of fire - though each of these Temples only has one use.
  

The whole room, and anything stated to be made of Cleria, is A DUR.

Team	Combatant	JoJolity
Bastards of Barcas	Errok	“I, Nikolas Garland, seek a true God, with true power... not some mythical deity invented to scare children!” Embody the Pieduron element of “Obsidian”, symbolizing power and its contradictory brittle nature in how it can often bring down those that use it as well!
Coleccionistas de Karma	Cody Enfield	“That's what I'm screamin'! Walls, zero; Dogi the Wall-Crusher, like, a million! Who needs doors, when they got me?!” Embody the Pieduron element of “Quicksilver”, symbolizing the chaotic flow of nature and how the clashing of the wills of mankind are constantly changing the world around them!

Link to Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!
About a week ago…
“Turn me into a pig too.”
Circe blinked. “From whence do you come, castaway?”
“Serbia. Punjab. Turn me into a pig.”
“...okay, fine.”
And Dirty Ghost became a pig. It felt the sun on its back, heard the snurfling of its piggy companions. There was no need to harm the woman who did this, no desire to disembowel her and wear her intestines as a scarf. The only thing on the swine’s mind were how nice the mud felt on its body and the warmth of the sun felt against its skin. The heat was counteracted by the cold mud, the cold was counteracted by the sun.
There is no need to push forwards. There is no need to find something stimulating and new. There is no emptiness, no boredom, no thoughts of the future or past. There is a mud puddle.
As the swine swaddled itself in its ego death, followed around by the other pigs that once comprised its ship, another castaway landed on the other end of the island. The next morning, Circe awoke to the smell of… fresh-cooked pork? And not only so, but a variety of different smells, incredible dishes made to only the finest of standards. Fresh herbs, meats cooked to perfection, a veritable buffet of mouth-watering, tantalizing meals.
…But why?
Val waltzed to Circe, crouching down to explain, ”The dinner’s almost ready, so prepare yourself for the show of a lifetime!” with that elusive charisma of hers.
Before Circe could interrupt her, she slid dish after dish towards her, pork cooked every which way, bacon, ham, soups, pomegranate punch, fig jam, and more.
”Now, let’s turn to our judge, for the final scores! Were those dishes scrumptious enough to undo my cursed luggage?” She cackled, turning to Circe. When Circe finally agreed…
”This concludes today’s episode of the Valentine Yao Cooking Hour; we certainly hope you enjoyed our program, but we must be going now!”
Val returned to her pigs, now again a realized vessel. She gathered more wood in thick slices of logs and the fibers of grasses, for the braiding of ropes
And she boarded once again, with a barrel of salt-pork in tow and her canvas under her arm.

Hey! I’m currently looking for a girlfriend 😊 I’m a very sweet, loving and loyal guy. I will always treat my girlfriend with respect and my goal is to always make her happy 😊 I’m a little shy at first but I’ll open up to you when we get to know each other better.
Just to get an idea what I look like I have longish blonde hair blue eyes and about 6’2.
Some of my interests are anime (I’m a really big otaku tbf :3 lol), video games and going on walks.
If interested, send me a message and tell me a little about yourself (^{ω^})

Hi everyone! My 5yo daughter has shoulder-length frizzy, curly hair and I really need some product recommendations from Priceline to wash and maintain her hair. She is very resistant to hair-washing (awaiting a possible neurodivergency diagnosis) but I try my best to get it done so anything that makes that fun or easier gets bonus points haha
I have straight hair so I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm sick of her hair looking like a frizzy mess all the time. After googling curly hair types I think she might be a 2B or 2C but I am just guessing here. Please help!

So my wedding is tomorrow. Yay! It's not a huge affair at all, but we are having about 30 guests, a ceremony,a cake reception, and champagne toast. As such, I am having my hair and makeup done. So my hair is very long (mid back) and a 2B-2C curl type, fine texture/aka frizzy, and the actual volume is very thick. I did a very thorough wash yesterday and applied some basic curly hair styling stuff. Since then it's just been chilling. So since tomorrow will technically be day three hair, should I wash it tonight? I've always heard it's best to style slightly dirty hair. If that isn't the best idea, do I apply any product after my shower? I usually just do a leave in conditioner and some curly cream. I'm fine doing whichever, but not sure what is best. Thanks everyone!

As the title suggests this post is about a writing prompt I'm doing where I make up an entirely new Descendant for the game. This might be the only post I do for that as I will shift onto doing some potentially new enemy types for the next bit for my writing prompts.
A lot of playstyles are already represented in the game, and to be entirely honest I did not have a clear image in mind at first. This went through many changes, so much so that in the process of making this character they were instead split into two separate characters due to some ideas not fully merging together. I hope you enjoy what came out of both.
​
General appearance of the first character, that I will thus name Natasha, will be a heavily armored woman in the same vein as Ajax with a few distinctions. Her armor has specific segments around the joints that pulse a green energy. Those joints will signify points where her limbs can disconnect and act independently of the main body, and when they do, new arms or legs formed of poisonous slime will take their place.
Basic inspiration for the design concept is a slime girl in heavy armor.
Passive(Wasteful Spillage)-When Natasha casts an ability she will leave behind a trail of slime that will slow the movement speed of enemies by 30% while applying 1 stack of poison every 2s they remain in the pit. Similarly allies, including Natasha, will gain a movement speed buff of 30% while in the slime. Each trail will remain for 16s before disappearing. The farther an ability travels the more slime that will cover the ground.
Notes: The passive was initially going to be something completely different, but due to input from a friend they had this wonderful idea. This encourages trying to use abilities from as far away as possible then closing the distance with the increased movement speed, or by smartly throwing abilities out to create lines in the sand that enemies must struggle to cross. Sometimes missing on purpose can be valuable.
First Ability(Need a Hand?)-Upon activation she shoots out an arm that will seek out a target to latch onto. She will grow a new arm in place of the one she shoots out. Whatever enemy has been grabbed onto will receive small amounts of damage and become stunned. The CC applied will last for 4s while the ability itself has a 12s cooldown. If this ability is recast within the first 4s of the ability she will trigger a “Knockback” effect on them to pull them towards her. How strong the knockback will be similarly be based on the size of the enemy.
Notes: This could combo rather easily into pulling enemies into the “Wasteful Spillage” to proc poison effects or to pull an enemy into a trap set up by a teammate. More importantly however, this combos rather well with the next ability.
Second Ability(Time to Kick it Off)-When activated she kicks off her leg and sends the detached limb flying, similar to "Need a Hand?” to pierce targets in a straight line to knock each one back while applying one stack of poison. Similarly all hit targets will be linked together and if any of them grow too far apart the link will snap to stun them for 2s while applying 2 more stacks of poison on them. This ability will have a 15s cooldown.
Notes: This is the main crowd control tool for Natasha as “Need a Hand?” only targets one person. You’ll notice a trend how a majority of her CC doesn’t affect mobs of enemies like how Lepic can just toss a traction grenade and effectively affect everything. This is mainly since every ability she has possesses some form of CC, similar to Viessa and how her passive works.
Third Ability(Tag out)-Once triggered Natasha will leap backwards a short distance leaving behind a clone with 35% of her health that will taunt nearby enemies into attacking it. Any enemies that hit it will have a stack of poison applied to them each time. Once the clone’s health is reduced to zero, or the ability is recast, it will self-destruct which will deal large amounts of damage. This ability will have a 40s cooldown.
Note: This is her emergency button if she’s ever in true danger. With all the stuns and movement buffs/debuffs she has I’ve heavily defined Natasha as an Evasion Tank where she wants to keep people just out of range and pinned down to stop them from doing anything. If they ever get too close, this is how she deals with it.
Ultimate(Reactor Meltdown)-Upon activation all enemies that are standing within “Wasteful Spillage” will gain double their current stacks of poison as well as a new debuff called “Meltdown” that triggers upon death. When they die they will explode, applying poison to all nearby enemies while also creating a pool of “Wasteful Spillage” at the point of death. The cooldown for this ability will be 60s.
Note: This will be her main execution tool that she wants to build up to. Over the course of constantly stunning, slowing, displacing various enemies, and applying new coats of poison this will become her trump card.
​
Next up would be the character that was made after the split. A friend of mine gave feedback that the kit and appearance of the character didn’t match for some of the abilities I had come up with. Hence instead of scraping those abilities entirely I made a new character from the ground up to fit around them.
​
Appearance wise they’re a small slovenly character with droopy dark purple hair. They wear a heavy trench coat with a missing belt, so they often hold it closed around their chest with one arm. Whenever they cast certain abilities various aspects of them will change, as will soon be mentioned below. This character will be named Benjamin.
Basic inspiration would be old Noir Detective with supernatural powers, think Dresden Files.
Passive(Hidden Arsenal)-Whenever Benjamin swaps weapons the gun he swapped into will be instantly reloaded if it has 50% or less of its magazine filled. This ability will have a 20s cooldown and will be lowered by 1s for each enemy that they inflicted damage upon 3s before their death. AKA he lowers the cooldown based on kills/assists. Additionally he has one more passive that increases his Weapon Swap Speed based on how many bullets are in his current gun’s magazine scaling from 10/20/40% increase based on 80/40/0% of the magazine. If he swaps out a weapon while it's empty the animation for the weapon swap will be changed to the gun disappearing in a puff of smoke only to be replaced with a different gun.
Notes: This was the original passive for Natasha, albeit with a few things different such as the ability to lower the cooldown was added. I really wanted a character that could weapon swap like this, and some Runes in game if I recall actually did this already which is what gave me the idea for this. Additionally some of my favorite games like Sanctum 2 did this as well where weapons would reload while unequipped.
First Ability(Disposing Evidence)-When activated Benjamin will reach into his trench coat to pull out a strangle clock to chuck it into the air. From there it will begin floating and taunt enemies to move towards it. The clock will explode after 6s. Alternatively, if he shoots it out of the air the bullet will split into 12 other bullets that each do 30% of the original bullets damage that will randomly target nearby enemies. This ability will have a 12s cooldown.
Notes: I love the idea of abilities creating objects the player can interact with, and since his passive is all about constantly shooting why not have the main mode of interaction be by shooting it. The explosion would be a better AOE tool while shooting the clock would be better for single target elimination since it would massively increase the damage of just one bullet.
Second Ability(Open Doors)-Once activated Benjamin will fold in on himself and collapse into the trench coat's hidden portal so he will teleport a short distance away. Upon coming out of the Rift it will knock back all nearby enemies while doing moderate damage to them. He will specifically teleport in the direction he is looking at, but if the ability is held down he will instead teleport a short distance directly behind him. However, if he chooses to teleport behind him there will be no AOE upon landing and instead leave behind an explosion from where he first casted the ability. This ability will have a 20s cooldown.
Notes: This would be his engagement and escape tool, it’s rather simple for a mobility option, yet shockingly enough no other character has something similar to this. The flexibility this provides could benefit any possible playstyles for this guy going from classic unga-bunga with a shotgun to a cool and collected sharpshooter that won’t ever let them get close.
Third Ability(Locked Doors)-Upon activation he will throw out a key straight into the air where it will begin to descend back into the ground. It will take around 6s for it to touch ground and when it does it will trigger a stasis explosion that will create a dead zone that lasts for 8s, any enemies that are in that zone or enter it will be stunned. Alternatively, if Benjamin shoots the key out of the sky it will fire off chains that seek out nearby enemies to bind them together that will slow their Attack Speed by 40%. Additionally, damage is shared between all targets, so if one target gets headshot that damage will be split amongst all of them. This ability will have a 30s cooldown
Notes: This may have a long CC but I believe it's counter balanced by how long it takes to actually proc the CC. The alternative effect is more for effective AOE rather than CC due to the ability to damage multiple targets by just focusing on one which is likely infinitely more powerful. Letting the key fall all the way is situational, but potentially life saving.
Ultimate(My Friends from the Other Side)-When this is activated Benjamin will release two ghost-like creatures from the portal within his trench coat. These creatures will use copies of his current weapon and deal 60% of his current damage. Additionally if he is aiming down sights they will shoot exactly where he is shooting to set up a firing squad, otherwise if he is hip-firing they will shoot at a different target instead. Then if he is sprinting the ghosts will break off from him to collect pick-ups for him like additional ammo. Finally, if Benjamin attempts a melee attack while the ghosts are out he will instead command the ghosts to have one drag an enemy to him while the other shanks them while Benjamin is free to pop their head off afterwards if they survive the shiv. This ability will last for 20s with a 60s cooldown.
Notes: This is a refashioned version of Natasha’s old ultimate. A lot of details about it have been changed and I’m quite happy with how this has turned out at the moment. I have heard mention that the command for the melee attack may be clunky, but was mostly fine so I'm curious if anyone else would prefer a different command tied to that.

i either watched this on nickelodeon, CN or possibly kidsco, although i have no idea. most likely it is the former, but my searches have come up with nothing. this series was a 3d animation, all characters had relatively big heads and lanky bodies with noodle-like limbs. looked pretty smooth, maybe even clay-like. the main character is a teenage boy with brown hair who owns a skateboard and often gets in trouble on purpose. he has a friend (or a sister) with pink hair, either she had two ponytails or buns, dunno, and there might've been a third friend of his who i don't remember. the girl wore green clothes. i watched this most likely after 2010. i remember there was an episode where they were supposed to dissect a frog at school. i think in particular the designs in this show caught my attention as a kid, i'm not sure what was so special about them exactly, but they looked different from everything i've seen. uhhh, i also remember rabbit toys the kids had ???

Hello!! I left my hairdresser rather…disappointed the other day. My goal was to go from a bleached, ashy white blonde to a color that resembles my natural hair color (natural blonde, but darker) as closely as possible.
Well, when I got to the salon my hairdresser found an almost exact match to my natural color (the hair sample read Igora Royal, 8-1). I was beyond the moon, however, she said that things wouldn’t work out the way I had imagined. According to her, she did not want to touch my bleached ends because apparently they “wouldn’t take on the color anyway, it could look super bad” and she didn’t want to risk that, so she applied the dye to my roots only and then later worked it in in a way that would resemble a balayage.
I mean, it doesn’t look too bad right now, but it’s just not what I wanted. I know sometimes some things are not feasible and it is her job to assess the situation, but now I’m left with light blonde lengths and ends which is exactly what I wanted to avoid because all of the haircare efforts to keep the hair from being brassy and yellow is just not feasible for me right now, especially from a financial standpoint. I just would have liked a uniform color, a one and done.
Could someone explain to me her reasons as to why she did what she did? When I asked her to explain she just reiterated the same things as written above. And is there no other way to go to a darker blonde, does that mean I have to grow the bleached part out completely to achieve my natural color?
I’m not too well-versed in haircare-science, so I apologize for my ignorance and appreciate any answer!!

Ok bear with me here because I read this a long, LONG time ago.
It was a historical romance book about a maid and the king she served. They have a forbidden affair. I’m pretty sure it was a Wattpad book and had explicit scenes (maybe even BDSM). The most detail I can remember is a scene where the maid (who has black hair and pale skin I think?) breaks a very expensive vase in a room at the palace. Might have been called “Maid” or “King’s Maid” something like that.
If you have any idea what book this is, please let me know!

Every time I have a feeling of a hair popping out, I know where it is and I am able to collect it by running my fingers through my hair at that location. If I run my fingers through a location when there is not a pop, I get nothing. It just keeps happening. Ideas?

Anyone have recommendations for hair salons they’d like to share. I’ve been loyal to the same salon for many years, but after not being able to get an appointment and being on the cancellation list for 3+ weeks with no response, I think I have to unfortunately look elsewhere.
Need someone who can do curly/wavy hair and do a layered cut . Mine has grown out and flattened but is normally short and wavy with lots of layers.
Bonus points for salons on the north side that do not charge ridiculous prices for women’s haircuts.
Thanks all!

In the Late Cretaceous of a fairy tale world much like our own live critters, familiar yet strange. Dinosaurs and mammals kill and die like animals, but think and speak like men. One devours the other, but might chat a bit before. In this society of physiological unequals, the mammals form the downtrodden. And, like in our world, where there are downtrodden, there is music.
Subtropical forest covers what will someday be New Jersey. A hollow earthen mound four meters high and twelve across nestles among the flowering trees. A sign sits out front announcing the mound's name, The Dugout, and purpose, as a venue for bands. Inside lies an elevated stage lit by torches and a skylight and fronted by six logs for seating. The seats are quickly filling up with dozens of mammals of various sizes and diets. On stage are four didelphodons, mammals of contemporarily large size.
The stage mammals are each nearly a meter long from the top of their head to the tip of their tail. Right now, they stand like men, eighty centimeter tall men. Three brothers and a sister, they are both siblings and bandmates. One brother, Eddy, is the singer for the band and the star of our tale.
Eddy is the youngest and the shortest but has a voice that could make a T-Rex swoon. A crop of long blonde hair sits atop his head, contrasting his otherwise brown fur. His clawed hands pluck and tune an acoustic guitar of exceptional quality. On its back are inscribed these words, "For our little rock star, Eddy, love Mom and Dad."
Eddy looks around at the other members of the band.
There is his brother Tommy, their lead guitarist and second oldest. He wears both a bandana and a bad attitude but Eddy knows the kindness and patience he can show when giving a guitar lesson.
His brother Sparky, their drummer and second youngest, gnaws on his sticks with a crazed look and spiky hair. After all these years, he is still charged with energy from the lightning strike.
His sister Lucy, their bass player and oldest sibling, stands nearest. Her flowing blonde hair hides her face but he knows she is always watching. She has been the siblings' rock ever since Mom and Dad's death.
All six logs are filled to the brim, a crowd of nearly a hundred. A full moon hangs in the meter-wide skylight. Eddy steps forward to the wooden funnel which serves as a microphone.
"Thank you all for coming out tonight," he says. "We have some great music ahead, but first let me introduce you to the band. There's my brother, Tommy, my brother, Sparky, and my dear sister, Lucy. Together, we are Bad Litter!"
Eddy then steps back for a second, closes his eyes and imagines the faces of his parents.
"Mom, Dad," he says, "if you're watching from heaven, I love you."
Then, he begins to sing:
"When the sun comes out, and I see you there. My heart begins, to burn again. In this big world, it's just you and me. With you at my side, I'll always be free—"
"Dryptosaur," screams someone from the crowd as a shadow passes across the stage. Perching in the skylight, blocking the full moon, is a five meter long raptor-like dinosaur with a red and white coat of feathers indicative of a female.
Eddy stops singing. Tommy and Lucy stop playing. Sparky, slow to the uptake, keeps banging his drums. The dryptosaur puts an end to it by crushing him with one taloned foot.
Tommy, never quick to anger, charges at his brother's killer and strikes the dryptosaur on the shin with his guitar. The guitar breaks at the neck. The dryptosaur breaks Tommy's neck.
Lucy shields Eddy behind her, determined to protect her youngest and only remaining brother. His eyes transfix on her long hair as he watches her rise into the air by way of the dryptosaur's clawed hand.
With the other hand, the dryptosaur casually snaps Lucy's neck. Her struggling stops and her body becomes as limp as her hair. Then into the jaws of death she goes. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The dryptosaur sits down on the stage beside Eddy, her collossal legs stretching out to the third row of the now empty seats.
"Hey," she says.
Eddy says nothing.
"That's okay, I understand, you've been through a very traumatic experience. We'll have plenty of time for conversation later."
With bloodstained fingers she pulls Eddy to her side.
"Congratulations, Eddy, you just enrolled in my school of life."
BREAK
The sun rises over the forest, its rays poking through the dense foliage to pattern the ground. Bad Litter's devourer slumbers on a pile of fallen leaves, her head tucked into her arms and her tail wrapped around her whole. A beam of light prods her eye and she wakes with a yawn.
Not seeing Eddy anywhere, she briefly panics before remembering that she is sitting on him, gently, like an egg, so way he cannot escape.
"Sorry if it was a little hard to breathe," she says, "I haven't incubated in years."
Eddy lies face up and spread out. He takes one, deep, grateful breath but is otherwise stoic.
"I wish I'd suffocated," he says at last.
"Poor Eddy," says the dryptosaur, peeling him from the ground and cradling him in her arms. "What misfortune has befallen you? No, wait, I remember."
She laughs in Eddy's face, but loosens her grip enough for him to fall back onto the ground.
"What do you want from me?," says Eddy.
"Your company. I have business to take care of in the Appalachian Mountains. It's a five day journey and I could use some entertainment."
"Then play with yourself."
"I'd much rather play with you. Really, what happened to the little song rat from last night?"
"He died with his band," growls Eddy.
"Well," she growls mockingly, "whomever I'm speaking to currently should get ready to set out."
"You expect me to travel with a stranger who murdered everyone I love?"
"Stranger? That's right, I never properly introduced myself. My name's Tava."
A pause ensued as she obviously wanted him to ask what "Tava" meant.
"What does that—"
"I'm glad you asked Eddy. The name is Tave 'cause I'm hot like lava (tsss). Just replace the 'l' with a capital 'T.'"
Tava pinches Eddy's cheeks and moulds them like putty.
"Say it with me, Tah-vah."
"Trrr-vrrr," says Eddy.
"Close enough. Let's go."
Eddy's guitar sits in its case at the trunk of a nearby tree. Eddy shuffles over to grab it as Tava starts along the path. By the time he has the case in hand, she is ten meters away—far enough for an escape. In a flash of action he drops the guitar case and sprints away on all-fours. He gets some distance before a shadow blots out the sun and a feathered tail slaps him down.
"Eddy," says Tava, now holding him to the ground with one hand, "how could you attempt an escape without your guitar?
Tava opens the case and picks up the guitar with her other hand. Held between her thumb and forefinger, the instrument looks like it is meant for a doll.
"What a work of craftsmanship," says Tava. " And look, something's written on the back. 'For our little rockstar, Eddy. Love Mom and Dad.' How sweet. Maybe you can take me to see them once my business in the Appalachians has concluded."
"They're both dead," says Eddy.
"Any other relatives?"
"I'm all that's left."
"A one-of-a-kind treasure! And I will treasure you."
Tava retracts her grip on Eddy but presses her snout into him. Her yellow eyes drill yet further.
"Don't even think about escaping," she says. "I'm faster, I'm stronger, and, most importantly, I'm smarter than you."
Tava recedes to let oxygen refill Eddy's lungs before clasping him again in her free claw. She places him in the valley between her neck and arch of her back.
"I'll tote you for a while. You know, as a favor. After all, what are friends for?"
Eddy does not answer, nor does he speak much over the next three days. He and his guitar are mere passengers on a walking, feathered prison. He dismounts only to eat, a terrible process in which Tava forces bugs and water down his throat, and sleep, again with her sitting on him like an egg.
The scenery changes throughout the third day from a coastal forest to one more suited to hills. Trees are more spaced out, undergrowth lessens and streams cut ravines several times deeper than Tava is tall. Eddy begins to have morbid daydreams in which Tava slips and he falls off into a ravine, hitting head first onto a boulder strewn streambed.
His daydream stops when they encounter a large duck-billed dinosaur blocking their path. The creature is a sessile herbivore and there are many other paths, but Tava is in a fighting mood.
"Move your ass duckface!," she yells.
"There are plenty of other routes around me," responds Duckface in speech garbled by a mouth full of leaves and stems.
"But I like this one. Remove yourself or I'll remove you, one piece at a time."
Duckface's tail swings at Tava. She dodges but flings Eddy and his guitar case in the process. Tava leaps about before finally tricking Duckface into headbutting a tree and knocking himself unconscious. Tava grabs Eddy and his guitar and passes through.
The encounter makes Tava cheerful and keeps her so into the night. Instead of smothering Eddy, she decides to sleep on her back and let him rest on her heaving chest.
"The moon is starting to wane," says Tava. "Pretty soon the stars will practically explode out of the black sky. Some see pictures in the stars, caricatures of creatures drawn onto the sky. Would you like me to show you?"
Eddy moans lowly.
"I'll list them then," she continues. "There's the raptor, the rat, the fish, the seabird, the crocodile, the caterpillar. It's all a fantasy to make life more than it is, to project ourselves onto an immensity we cannot know. I hope you're turning this rant into a song. Hey!"
Tava grabs Eddy who curls tighter. She then pries him open and flattens him out. Tears and snot reflect on his face in the moonlight.
"Why?," says Eddy.
"Why what, dear?"
"Why do you torture me?"
"Isn't it obvious? Because you were born weak and I strong. Because life is torture."
"No, no," he says, shaking his head, "life is beautiful."
"You of all people should know better than that."
"Life can be ugly but can also be love, and family, and music, and—"
"Enough! Let me tell you about life, my delusional little friend. Life, for all creatures, is the struggle not to starve, to consume anything and anyone you can fit in your mouth and swallow without choking. We are but walking digestive tracts, gnashing teeth on one end and excreting waste out the other."
Eddy curls back up and begins to whimper.
"You'll see soon enough," says Tava, rubbing her gurgling stomach.
Night turns into day accompanied by the chirping conversations of treetop birds. The ancestors of orchids bloom all around. Eddy sits a few meters from a stream with his guitar in hand. He carefully replaces a broken string then tunes the whole guitar. Tava, who had "a matter to attend to," emerges from the bushes.
"I had feared that our little rumble might have ruined your guitar," she says. "I underestimated your talents."
Eddy remains silent.
"How about a song to celebrate its repair."
"Sing away," says Eddy
"Stoicism is the enemy of musicians everywhere. But I have the cure. Get up and follow me."
Eddy follows Tava into the underbrush.
"I think you'll like what I've cooked up," she says. "I'm surprised that it took this long, but I suppose I'm not young anymore."
Eddy and Tava come to a small clearing with something steaming at its center. As he looks closer, a red bandana becomes visible. His face contorts into a look of pure horror as he realizes what it is that he sees.
"The band is reunited!," says Tava.
"M-my family."
"Oh that's right, it's also a family reunion too."
Tava leans over and shares Eddy's eye level.
"Do I spot a family resemblance?"
Tava walks away in a fit of laughter while Eddy collapses into tears.
BREAK
On day five, Tava hikes through the ever thinner tree cover with Eddy and his guitar tied to her back with a piece of vine. She climbs atop a rock outcrop and spies three dryptosaurs standing near a pond a few hills over.
"Well, well," says Tava. "How would you like to go for a swim, Eddy?"
"I would like you to drown me," he responds.
"No can do, my macabre little friend. But I think I'll show you off to some admirers of mine. Get ready to sing."
Tava makes footfalls softer than the rustling of her feathers. She is mere meters away from the three dryptosaurs by the time they are aware of her. Smaller than Tava, their colored feathers distinguish them as males. Tava unties Eddy and his guitar case as the group ahead starts to run away.
"Don't bother," says Tava, "you know I'm twice as fast as any of you. Besides, I come in peace. Eddy, may I introduce my friends, Alexander, Montgomery, and Laurence."
"Don't think we forgot what you did to poor Laurence two months ago," says Alexander. "He still walks with a limp."
"It's true!," says Laurence, shrinking into himself.
"We're not your friends," says Alexander, "and you're not welcome here, Lucille."
"My name's Tava now."
"Tava?," says Alexander. "Let me guess, you changed the "l" in lava to a 'T.' Lava is hot so Tava is 'too hot.'"
Tava twitches.
"You're lucky I'm already pregnant, otherwise I'd give you a limp too, Alexander."
"Pregnant?," whispers Laurence.
"Then what do you want, Tah-vah?," says Alexander.
Tava holds Eddy out like a new toy, shaking him mildly.
Behold," she says, "my new song rat. Give them a sample Eddy."
"That couldn't be . . .," says Laurence.
"Would any of you be kind enough to kill me?," says Eddy in a monotone voice.
"A real vocal icon you have there," says Alexander. "Does he dance too? Perhaps the Stand-Still Boogie?"
Tava sets Eddy down and storms up to Alexander, who shrinks a little. Montgomery backs him up but Laurence slips away.
"Perhaps you'd like to dance," says Tava. "I'm proficient at the Bruised Danube."
Eddy looks up to find Laurence standing over him.
"I don't believe it," giggles Laurence, "you're Eddy, the lead singer of Bad Litter! I am a huge fan. W-where's the rest of the band?"
Eddy points to Tava.
"Shat out," he says.
Laurence looks at Tava then jerks his gaze away in horror.
"She, she, she ate them? But why did she leave you?"
"I don't know. I wish she hadn't. Could you kill me? I don't care to live anymore."
"Y-yes. Yes, of course, anything to help. But since you're the only surviving member, could you sign this t-shirt for me first?"
"If that's the price of relief, sure."
"Thank you so much. It really means a lot to have—"
"Get away from my pet, Laurence!"
Laurence turns to see Tava a nose length away. He grabs his t-shirt and runs away.
"Because you three were so rude," says Tava, "I'm not letting you hear a single note from my song rat."
Tava hangs Eddy over her shoulder like a rag and starts to walk away before turning her gaze back to the three dryptosaurs now huddling together for safety.
"But don't worry, boys, I'll be back to take what I want from you."
Eddy watches the three dryptosaurs shrink in his vision, knowing they might be his last chance at freedom, or at least the release of death. On Tava's back and in motionless despair, he rides into the mountains. Vegetation becomes scarce and bare rock erupts everywhere. The path winds through limestone which formed before either dinosaurs or mammals even arose.
The fifth day transitions into the sixth without Tava stopping for rest. She marches through the night under the light of a three-quarters moon. Eddy is able to take short naps because Tava is as soft as a feather bed and more than a match for anything that would want to harm him.
"Geeeyaaat!"
Eddy wakes to the sight of a blazing noon sun. Tava is kneeling on a granite plateau, holding her abdomen and screeching in pain.
"Oh, oh ho ho, right on time!," she says. "Get off, I could use some help."
Tava loosens the vine holding Eddy and his guitar case and both slide off her back. She then walks over to a pair of dry, dead bushes and snaps most of their branches off.
"What are you—," Eddy begins.
"Shut up. They're coming. Gotta build a nest."
She weaves the branches into a rough circle, collapses on top and pulls Eddy close.
"Now, keeyeeyeep your eye on the birdie."
A blood-soaked egg peeks through. Eddy places his hands on it, though remains baffled as to what Tava expects him to do. She enlightens him by giving a hard push and ejecting the egg on top of him. It is fifty centimeters long and weighs almost as much as Eddy.
"It's beautiful," he says.
"Glad you like it 'cause there're two more coming."
Sure enough, the process repeats twice more. Eddy corrals the triplets into a triangle.
"Yeah. It will make a good trade."
"What?"
"Since we're so close I'll tell you. I made a deal with a monastery up ahead. I give them a child to raise, I get some sacred knowledge. Only one child is part of the deal, the other two are extras, just mouths I'll have to feed. Plus they're Laurence's. End their pathetic existence before they hatch into this hellhole of a world."
Eddy rolls one toward the edge of the plateau. It is a ten meter drop, more than enough to kill the unhatched dryptosaur. But he shakes his head and backs away.
"Now, Eddy!"
"I can't kill a child, even yours."
"For God's sake, I don't have time for your moral bullshit."
Tava kicks the egg off the cliff and twists around to Eddy. Their eyes lock as the sound of cracking shell reverberates up.
"Poor Eddy," says Tava, "his conscience won't let him kill the offspring of his family's devourer. I'll raise the other spare if you like, raise it to eat only your kind. I and it will go back and swallow every one of your concert's audience. We'll shit them out and stick your nose in it."
"You can't shock me anymore."
Tava bares her teeth in full.
"Help me, Eddy," she says softly. "I'm still alive in here."
"What are you doing?"
"Reciting what your dear sister Lucy said as she slid down my throat."
"No, I watched you snap her neck before eating her. She was dead."
"That's what I thought too. But she was alive. I heard her inside of me. I felt her squirm."
"Liar!," screams Eddy.
He leaps at Tava who dodges easily. He gets up and tries again. This time she rolls onto her back and catches him between two toes. She flings him across the small plateau. He hits hard and suffers a broken nose. He slowly stands up but waves any new effort away. He looks at her with tear-filled eyes.
"Why won't you just kill me?," cries Eddy. "Please, please, please. Just let me join my family."
"Poor, delusional Eddy. I have no intention of killing you. You have and will provide me with entertainment. You'll be my prisoner for the rest of your natural life."
The monastery bell starts ringing. A bolt of lightning flashes behind Tava, turning her into a black silhouette.
"Back to the subject of your sister," she says, "Lucy was probably still conscious when she fell on top of her dead, digesting brothers."
Eddy launches himself at Tava, landing on her lowered face.
"That's right, Eddy! Go for the eyes!"
He tries to gnaw one of her eyes out. But she is still too quick and very much in control. The flick from a single finger knocks him off. He recovers in an instant and tackles her gut. It, of course, has little more effect than just sending him backwards.
"Now this is more like it. Where has this Eddy been the whole time?"
He ignores her and refocuses on a new target. A serpentine pattern gets him around Tava and to the two eggs. In an adrenaline-fueled feat of strength, he hoists it onto his back and runs toward the plateau's edge.
"Yes, yes, yes!," cheers Tava.
Eddy heaves the egg over the edge. Panting through gritted teeth, he runs back to grab the other one but Tava swats him down with her tail.
"That's enough destruction for now, my pet. We have an appointment to keep."
Eddy calms down. Tava allows him to walk beside her as she concentrates on carrying the egg.
A storm gathers in the distance as they walk into the monastery courtyard. Cloak-wearing monks of every species move calmly across the paving stones. Mammalians who would normally scatter at the sight of Tava take no precautions as their dinosaur brethren have sworn to defend them.
A single monk emerges from behind the bell. He is of Eddy's species but larger and at least three times as old.
"You have what we asked for?," says the monk.
"Right here, Elder," says Tava.
She places the egg on the ground and allows the Elder to inspect it with a tenderness its mother could never show.
"We thank you for the addition to our ranks," says the Elder. "I wish you peace and—"
"No games, I want my reward."
"Certainly."
A stone tablet is brought to the Elder Monk who then hands it to Tava.
"That is the culmination of tens of millennia of observation and study by hundreds of generations of monks who dedicated their lives to—"
"I'm leaving but feel free to continue your monologue."
Eddy and Tava return to the rocky plateau where the last few rays of sunlight shine down. She reads the tablet aloud but Eddy does not comprehend.
"You don't understand the significance of what I'm reading, do you?," says Tava.
"Dig sites, cross-reference, live specimen; sounds like gibberish."
"It talks of a past world very different from our own and promises a future that is likewise."
"Things change, and saying so doesn't add anything."
"It's more than that. The world we live in is much much older than anyone realizes—millions of our lifetimes old. How many people have come and gone before us? A million million? A million million million? And for what purpose did they live and die?"
"To become someone's next meal."
"Yes! The boy learns at last! But that's just the past and present, there's still the future. Another million million million suffering and dying for nothing. To eat or be eaten, this is our fate forever and ever."
The rain starts coming down in large and heavy droplets. Eddy stares up with hate in his eyes.
"You're cruel, sadistic and beyond evil," says Eddy.
"Oh, Eddy, you do know how to flatter a girl. But am I not right?"
Eddy hangs his head. His tears mix with the downpour.
"You're right."
"It's about time you wised up. I ate your family in front of you, abused you in every way I could imagine. Honestly, you should be ashamed that it took this long."
"What should I do now?"
"Sing," says Tava caressing Eddy's chin with her forefinger.
Eddy breathes deeply ang begins:
"Here on the mountain, I am repentant. Resplendent in transcendent notion, that life is incident. Birth and death, ignorant to our animal sorrows. So conscience I set ablaze, and put away my hippy days."
"Splendid!," says Tava, nuzzling Eddy.
The thunderstorm dies down enough to hear the distant monastery bell ring its somber tone.
"Hear that, Eddy? It is our wedding bell. You're mine forever."
BREAK
Tava and Eddy descend the eastern slopes of the Appalachians in half the time it took to get up them, not only because it is easier, or that Tava is no longer laden with eggs, but because she has won.
They reach the three dryptosaurs' pond in a day. Alexander, Montgomery and Laurence are nowhere to be found.
"Smell that air," says Tava, gulping down oxygen as if giving chase. "The weaker sex of my species has a certain revolting stench. If I hadn't needed that egg, I would never have touched Laurence."
Eddy giggles while making a snow angel in her feathers.
"It's too bad your reputation is now so tarnished," he says.
"Maybe not. The trio isn't likely to go around spreading Laurence's shame. We can kill them, easy, and eat the bodies. Have you ever had dryptosaur?"
"Would love to try it."
"I'll save you some breast meat, that's the juiciest part."
Small birds and mammals watching from the few trees climb to yet higher branches on hearing Tava and Eddy's awful plans.
"We have an audience," says Tava. "Why don't you pull out your guitar and play for them."
"Any requests?," says Eddy.
"Something morbid, I suppose. I really don't care. I'm taking a dip in the pond to wash off the blood still caked on my ass from the eggs."
"I'll make our audience fall from the trees in despair."
"Atta boy."
Tava submerges herself in the crystal clear water as Eddy tunes at his guitar to create a more melancholy sound. Something crashes into the nearby bushes and stops his work. A long feathered tail, caked in mud, now sticks out of the far side while a snout, also caked, pokes out near him.
"Psst," says the snout. "Over here. Come on, while she's busy."
Eddy, lacking any desire for self-preservation, stumbles into the bushes. There he finds Laurence, covered in mud from head to toe.
"Masking your scent was a good idea," says Eddy.
"I had to come back and save you," says Eddy.
"Because you're the voice of Bad Litter—"
"They're all dead if you haven't noticed."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to dig that sorrow back up."
"No sorrow. I accept the fate that our weakness brought on."
"Lucille's had nine uninterrupted days to mess with your head. That's more torture than anyone should receive. But come with me and I swear we'll reverse the damage."
"You know, Tava and I were just talking about you. Let me go get her."
Laurence turns Eddy back around. Though gentle, he still manages to take a chunk of the didelphodon's fur off. Laurence now sees how patchy his former idol's coat is, how bloodshot and crazy are his eyes, how little flesh clung to his bones. Eddy was a walking corpse.
"There's no saving you," whispers Laurence to himself.
Eddy's neck snaps even easier than Laurence had expected. The dryptosaur weeps as he wraps his idol's little body in the Bad Litter t-shirt and buries him in a hastily dug grave. Atop the dirt clods he lays Eddy's guitar so that "For our little rock star, Eddy, love Mom and Dad," faces upward and serves as epitaph.
"Go now," says Laurence, "be with your family in heaven."
Splashing water sounds Tava's emergence, but Laurence tiptoes away without raising her alarm. Ten minutes later and far away, he hears her roar in defeat.
(END)