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thegreatpikminzx789 · 4 years

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A Gathering at Jail Rock - Etrian Odyssey Mobile Mythos - Chapter 2 - Thrice the Additions

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Summary: Chimo leads Eli and Sothym to where her friends were waiting, and introduces them to the prince and medic. But even after the introductions, their little plight from hours earlier catches up...

"Ugh, this crowd is so tough to see through! Move it already!"

Chimo groaned in disgust after trying for several seconds to see if her friend was in the crowd, or beyond it. The sounds of the conversations between explorers waiting in line were quite loud, as the lines were separate, but altogether, it was quite hard to hear any single individual. One would have to be very close to another just to hear them.

The prince and Sothym can see many variety of classes and races here than in the carriage. Some with canine-like ears, bunny-like ears, anthropomorphic animals, people with pointed ears longer than anyone else, and a couple of them having some sort of large coffins associated with them. Then, some classes like medics, hexers, and even some sovereigns were among them. A lot of what the white haired prince saw, were completely new to him. He wished he had the time to look more into their classes in books.

The pink haired landsknecht tried several more times to get people to move out of the way so she can see through. Despite her persistence, they hardly budged, only moving when someone way in front of them moved up.

"I don't think they can hear you, Chimo..." Eli concluded, after her last attempt of trying failed.

"To be fair," Sothym began. "It is kind of hard to hear anyone above the chatter here..."

Moments after she spoke, the three of them heard barking, but whereas Sothym and Eli were unable to determine where it came from, Chimo seemed to determine where it was coming from.

"Ah, that must be Flow!" Chimo gasped, jumping a bit in joy as she can still hear Flow's barking.

"Flow?"

That's the name of my pet!" The landsknecht responded, moving two people aside to make room for Sothym and Eli to follow her.

"Come on!"

Not wanting to question her means of getting around a crowd as big as this, the medic and prince followed her through, eventually getting to an area less crowded and noisy than the building inside. Chimo knelt on one knee as a blue wolf approached and licked her cheek, causing her to giggle with glee.

"H-hey, cut it out, Flow!"

Eli had to take a few seconds looking at the beast before being blunt with what he was about to say. "I...thought that was a dog, not a wolf."

After all, all he ever saw in the kingdom were dogs, not wolves. His mother told him that wild wolves don't make for very good pets, because they kill livestock. Hell, even a few cases his father had were regarding this case alone when he was young, so he had no idea that such a possibility existed until now.

"Well, there are such things as pet wolves." The black haired medic began. "There's also pet bears, pet tigers, and even pet pandas. People say that they're not tamable, but in my opinion, they just flat out never bothered to try having one for themselves."

"Whaaaaaaa-?!"

Sothym couldn't help but giggle in response to Eli. "I know it sounds weird, but those exist. Those are the Beast Classes, to be precise."

"O-Okay... That's something I didn't know." Eli gulped, taking a deep breath so as to recompose himself a bit.

Beast classes... At least it only applied to those four, but who the hell knows what else could've fallen under that class category had more found their way into that category. Before he could flick aside his hair again, he felt something cold touch his right hand, seeing the wolf he saw earlier sniffing it, before circling around him and Sothym. He noted that the wolf seemed to be wearing a shield of some sort on its back.

"This is Flow, my pet wolf." Chimo introduced, seeing Flow circle around the two of them. "He's quite the protector to boot. I've even given him a custom-made gun that he can use to fight back."

A custom-made gun? For a wolf? For something that already has a class?

"W-Why would you do that?" Eli questioned, very much worried about his safety with trusting an animal with a gun.

Chimo patted her leg a few times to get Flow's attention and got him to sit down. "See, Flow lost his sharp claws when I found him wonderin' about my hometown." The landsknecht pointed to Flow's paws, seeing that they were clipped off.

"So in order to compromise for it, I made him the gun for him to use. Unfortunately, he has to stand still to precisely aim and shoot at something, but we're workin' on shooting while moving." Chimo continued, showing the prince and medic the custom-made mechanism for using the gun.

Thankfully, there wasn't any gun placed anywhere visible beyond what the shield hid. Some of the strings that were dangling far above the ground seemed to indicate that when placed into position, will fire upon being pulled. From the marks of teeth that seemed to indent the gold ring the string is attached to, it seemed that Flow had to pull with his head to shoot at a single target. All of this was hidden beneath the shield he had on his back.

A most impressive feat, in Eli's eyes. Perhaps when they gather more people, they could help with developing a way to make Flow be able to move and shoot without being a standing target.

"Most interesting... How long did it take you to make?" Sothym inquired, as the landsknecht placed the shield back on Flow's back and stood up.

"It was a very expensive project, but it happened about three years ago, back when me and Flow first met." Chimo explained, groaning not long afterward. "My wallet was feeling pretty damn empty just trying to replace the parts that kept breaking."

As if the wolf wasn't already striving to get to know Eli, he felt his hand getting licked by Flow, looking down to see the wolf doing his thing, as if he was trained like a puppy.

"I think Flow likes you, already~" Chimo's voice reached Eli's ears, as he looked up to see her smiling at Flow and Eli, as the prince slowly rubs his hand through Flow's fur. The wolf panted as he allowed the prince to do so.

"Took you awhile, Chimo."

A quiet voice that Chimo was all to familiar with, turns to see a Vessel with red hair, eyes, and black skin approach him. He also had a scythe placed on his back, but thankfully, due to its machinations, the blade part is tucked away. "Sorry, things happened and..." Chimo scratched the back of her head, almost as if apologizing for being late.

Which, to be fair, she was kind of distracted by trying to grab some Pugilists' Ental away, ended up being saved by Eli, and was roped into being part of a guild by the very same man who saved her. Honestly, time can fly whenever things go unexpected.

"Well, looking for guild members didn't go exactly as planned. But these two are looking for more members!"

The landsknecht motioned to Sothym and Eli, as the Vessel's eyes turned to gaze to the white haired hero and black haired medic. He seemed to scan them for what seemed like an eternity, before seeming to nod at what Chimo was able to find. Even if it was entirely random luck that she just so happen to ran into the two of them to the Vessel's point of view.

Chimo grabbed the Vessel's hand and brought him over, surprising the man from his silent pondering. Sothym, upon noticing Chimo bringing someone over to introduce them to, tugs at Eli's cape and gets his attention, as Flow quickly retreats back to Chimo's side.

"Eli, Sothym, this is Tenma; a Vessel who came far away and we ended up bumping into each other one day and becoming friends." She introduced, letting go of Tenma's hand as she spoke.

Eli had to scan Tenma top to bottom to make sure it wasn't his eyes playing tricks when it came to seeing how much muscle Tenma had in his arms. Even the weapon of choice seemed a bit off to him.

"He looks...a bit frail. Is carrying that scythe any good for him?" The prince had to inquire, to which the Vessel immediately took as a sign to counteract.

"Hey chump." Tenma huffed. "Just because I look weak doesn't mean this scythe is for show. I can handle holding a scythe all on my own; I've practiced ever since I was entrusted with this scythe."

"Tenma, believe it or not, is remarkably strong in terms of physical strength. Which is quite a rarity among the Vessel race, if I must say so." Chimo added, hinting that what Tenma said was true, and that Chimo has seen that strength before.

Tenma grabbed his weapon and activated it for the sake of a demonstration. His stance was firm once the blade was unsheathed, posing there with the scythe open for a few seconds before deactivating the scythe and placing it back on his back. "See? Perfectly capable of wielding a scythe." The Vessel sighed, flicking the hair in front of his left eye, only to have it fall back in place.

"Most interesting..." Sothym mused to herself. "If I was a researcher, I'd jog that down, but I'm not, so..."

Looking over to Sothym like she had something to say for a moment, Eli outstretched his hand to Tenma. "Well, would you like to join us, Tenma?"

"Not like I got any other choice in the matter. If Chimo trusts you, then I'll stay by her side." Tenma groaned after thinking about it for a bit.

"But," The Vessel continued. "If you so much as think of betraying us, this scythe will have your head."

Eli shuddered and gulped from the threat the Vessel had proclaimed to him. "Heeeey, maybe we shouldn't resort to threats, Tenma. They wouldn't betray us, I promise." Chimo exclaimed, wanting everybody to get along without issue.

Tenma relaxed a bit as he turned to Chimo. "I know, but you never know what kind of thoughts people hide until they tell you in the act." The Vessel tried to explain himself before he was approached by Sothym.

"Anyways, it's a pleasure to meet you and all that jazz. We should get our tickets before we forget." Sothym hummed, pointing back to a line that was running out of explorers in a line.

With a nod from the group, they head over to get their tickets without issue.

"Thank you for your purchase. The boat heading to Jail Rock will arrive in two hours, so please standby." The man giving out the tickets explained, which made Chimo groan as they left the line.

"More waiting... What're we supposed to do, now? We've done, like, every introductory thing in the book!"

Tenma glanced Chimo a confused look. "Are you sure about that, Chimo?"

"I dunno, Tenma, don't quote me on that..." Chimo placed a hand on her chin, trying to think of something to do to pass some time.

Well, two hours would easily go by with a nap, from Eli's perspective. But there had to be something to do. Standing around, easily won't accomplish much, aside from hurting their legs from standing up too much.

"Well, grabbing some food to snack on while we travel on boat isn't a terrible idea. I assume all of us must be getting hungry." Sothym addressed, seeing Chimo quickly look through her bag to find nothing small she stashed away to eat.

The prince had ran out of his food supply hours ago when he was running away from home, and although he hadn't felt hungry in some time, he was getting to that point of needing food. The walk from the food district and buying enough food- within their budget, should be more than enough to stall some time before they have to head back. Anything to waste a potential full day of waiting around.

"Everyone! To the food district!" Chimo exclaimed as she ran past the group.

Tenma sighs before yelling at the landsknecht, "Other way, Chimo!"

Luckily, she did hear that, and stopped to turn around, walking past the group in the direction that Tenma pointed.

"Oops, my bad." She chuckled, as Tenma mumbled about something incomprehensible to the princes' ears before the group followed the landsknecht to the food district.

.....................................................................................................

Sothym looked at the food supplies the group gathered once they spent enough time looking for fresh food. "Meat, vegetables, fruits, bread... Not too bad for our first outing, though I wish you would've helped with the Ental payment, Chimo." Sothym noted, since she noticed that she was paying very little when it came to buying food.

"Hey, I have an important reason why I'm saving up my Ental, Sothym." Chimo responded defensively, to which the medic can only sigh in annoyance, not wanting to discuss it any further. She turned to see Eli, who had a...bag of sardines?

"...Eli."

"Yeah?"

"...Why do you have a bag of sardines?" Sothym inquired.

Eli shifted his arm that carried the bag as he looked at Sothym. "Cause I wanted to try and cook fish. Plus, it's our food backup supply!" He explained, being at least honest with trying to do more than just the constant training he had growing up.

"A food supply that may not last for all of us..." The red haired Vessel argued, not seeing how a bag of sardines would be a good enough backup supply.

"Trust me, it'll totally save the day one of these days. You never know what the power of fish may bring." Eli hummed, totally confident sounding to himself, but sounding completely ridiculous to the others.

Flow turned his head in confusion, and Chimo could only shrug in response to Flow's confusion. Whatever was going through Eli's head on what he believed and didn't believe, Chimo found it strange that he'd think fish can do anything as remarkable as that. If it was a fish monster, totally. But these were just regular fish from the ocean, not monsters from the labyrinth.

"Eli, you sound like a child who just believed some random thing his friend told him that totally isn't a thing. Just how ridiculous can you get?" Sothym groaned, as she and Eli began to argue back and forth.

Chimo placed her arms behind her head as she leaned up against a building, making sure not to have the bags of food be behind her. "Those two are quite the pair." She commented, hearing Tenma huff a bit.

"Yeah... Just as long as they don't argue in their sleep..." He started, but trailed off as he wanted to listen in.

"Eli, for one, a bag of fish at that size-"

"There they are!"

Sothym, Eli, and Chimo freeze up as they turn to see both Ira and Gori coming right at them, moving aside any ignorant people that were in the way. It hadn't even been two hours yet, and here they are, looking for more trouble. And from the looks on their faces, they were quite mad.

"Ack! They're back!" Eli screamed, nearly losing the bag of sardines as he catches it and held it in his arms. Sothym shook off her flinched state, and made sure Eli was following her.

"Make a run for it!" She exclaimed to Tenma, who was completely confused on what was happening.

"Wha-Whoa!" He tried to ask, but didn't had any chance to continue as his hand was grabbed by Chimo, who wanted to get the hell away from the Pugilists as fast as she can. Flow ran beside his owner, who had to be wary not to turn sharply and possibly trip on him.

"Where do ye think ye're goin' punk?!" Gori shouted, which started to cause a little of a panic in the food district as everybody scattered around, thinking they were after them. Tenma soon felt his hand be free from Chimo's grip, as he looked at the black haired medic, questions running through his head.

"Who the hell are they, and why are they chasing us?!" Tenma questioned, seeing Sothym look back behind her before glancing at the Vessel.

"I'll tell you later! Right now, we gotta lose them somehow!" Sothym insisted, wanting to focus on escaping again and answering questions later.

Glancing ahead, she spotted three paths that branch off to different areas. "Everyone! Split up and try and lose them!" The medic explained loud enough for everyone to hear, seeing them nod in response.

Sothym continued forwards, while Flow, Tenma, and Chimo turned right. Eli turned left, purely because he didn't want Sothym to end up taking the brunt of the Pugilists' rage, too. The twins soon arrived, but upon looking upon the three paths, they were a bit thrown off until Ira spotted Eli's cape vanishing behind a building. He notified the other Pugilist with a silent point in direction and the twins headed down the same path Eli took.

Eli could hear their huge steps, each step feeling like an earthquake was slowly approaching him. He tried to look back to see if he can see where the Pugilists were, but soon hits something solid and and grunts in pain, before looking to see that there was a huge wall in front of him. And there wasn't a single path along the way that he noted of.

"Uh oh..." Eli gulped, turning as he hears the Pugilists fast approaching. The two of them stopped just short of a couple of feet away, panting and breathing from all the running they did, before recomposing themselves menacingly.

"Alright you brat. You may have escaped us the first time..."

"But there's no way you're doing it a second time!"

Eli pressed up against the wall, seeing them take a few steps closer towards him. He had to think of some way to get out of this... Maybe trying to convince them would work?

"Uuuuhhh... C-Can't we just-"

"If you're thinkin' of tryin' to convince us, it ain't gonna work, buckaroo!" Ira interrupted, seeing what Eli was attempting to do from a mile away.

Well, that plan clearly didn't work if they can predict it. Thinking back on his words... He looked at his bag of sardines, then, gathering the strength to throw something, grabbed onto the bag and threw it at Ira.

...Who catches it rather easily. Eli stood there looking like he was befuddled and confused.

"...I was...honestly hoping you'd just take the hit and fall..." Eli blinked, leaning back against the wall now that his only means of defense was in the hands of the enemy.

The twin Pugilists had a look of confusion upon looking at the bag full of fishes. "Sardines...? You think something like this will do us any harm?" Ira questioned, before ripping open a part of the bag with his finger, big enough for the two of them to grab at least a handful of fish.

"Well how about you try them for a spell?!" The Pugilists threw a few sardines at Eli, as he couldn't dodge them in time. He got pelted with sardines for a little bit before they stopped.

"D'ooooh, come oooon... I just BOUGHT these clothes...!" Eli groaned, smelling the fish that were around him. Though maybe it could've been the garbage they were next to...

"Well boohoo! A couple o' fish ain't gonna do HARM to you!" Ira mocked, before throwing the bag behind him, as a few sardines fell out from the bag, all but a few amount remained in the bag.

The pugilists then cracked their knuckles and readied their gauntlets. "Not unless we beat you up for intervening in that fight earlier!" Gori yelled, as they approach him.

"C-Crap... what was that Hero cloning spell again...? Um..."

As Eli tried to remember, a robed figure lands in front of him, stopping the Pugilists in their place. He seemed to be a bit taller than the prince himself...and he wasn't sure why.

"Huh?"

"What now?" Ira growled, as Gori stepped towards the figure.

"Come on, this is just gettin' pretty annoy-"

Before the Pugilist can finish, the robed figure threw some jars at them, as the two of them recoiled and stepped back from the jars exploding on them. The green haired Pugilist began to yawn. "...Actually, I think it's time for our scheduled nap, Ira."

"I think... you're... right..."

With that, the twin Pugilists fell to the ground, sound asleep. Eli cautiously approached the robed figure, standing beside them as he looked down on the pugilists. He glanced at the figure looking at him and struggled a bit to find the words to say.

"Oh... w-well, um... Thank you, sir?" Eli thanked, a little confused on if he was going to reply. The silence between them was getting a little too tense for the princes' liking. "I-If you'll excuse me, I'll-"

Eli tries to leave past the Pugilists to get his bag of sardines, but several spears appear from nowhere and pin him to the nearest wall. "W-What's the meaning of this?! What's going on?!" He yelled, as he tried to move around to no avail.

The figure's robe moved all on its own, seeming to change into a long cape of sorts, as the figure's appearance was made clear. A tall man wearing black clothes, almost akin to that of royalty, white hair, and red eyes. He also noted that his skin color was much like his own.

"I must say, I have to thank these bumbling Pugilists for leading me right to you. Saved me the trouble of huntin' you down on that boat in broad daylight." The man began, looking down on the Pugilists that he put to sleep earlier.

Hunting...? Who exactly was...

"W-Wait, y-you're a-!" Eli soon gasped at the realization. He was quite literally staring at an assassin. Who seemed to be quite highly of spears.

The man smirked a little. "So, you do have some knowledge about assassins... Fairly knowledgeable, for a runaway prince." He scoffed, as he stood before the pinned prince.

"I am Ragna De Valvatorez. But just Ragna would suffice..." Ragna began, introducing himself to the white haired prince.

"...Not that it will matter to you anyways. I've come to claim my prize, and just trying to think of the ways I can kill you was so tough to decide, I couldn't decide on just one..." The man continued, snapping his fingers as he made a spear appear in his hand; much akin to a Highlander's spear than the spears that pinned Eli down.

Eli knew he was in danger, but he couldn't muster the courage to scream for help. Even if he did, it would've been in vain. And he thought he'd meet his end by his guards, not by an assassin... All that was on his mind was escaping, somehow... Perhaps this man would be more swayed than the Pugilists...

"So, farewell, Prince Eli of-"

Something stopped Ragna from fully striking Eli. Something about the smell felt...off, to Ragna. He tries to home in on the smell, getting close and getting a whiff of the smell emanating off of Eli. Although he was getting rather uncomfortably close to Eli's personal space.

" U-Um, what are you doing...?" The prince questioned, seeing him open his eyes and noticed how close he was, before backing away a few steps.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I just...caught whiff of a familiar smell." Ragna replied, trying to pinpoint something that smelled familiar to him. "Something like...sardines..."

Eli blinked a few several times, before recalling the thing he was attempting to reach earlier before being pinned. "Well," The prince began. "I tried to smack those Pugilists you put to sleep earlier with a bag of sardines, and-"

"A...bag of sardines?"

That apparently was all that Ragna needed to know. The man followed the smell a bit more, seeming to be a bit aimless in his search, before Eli tapped his shoulder and pointed to the bag near the Pugilists. Ragna's expression beamed with delight, immediately rushing over to the bag, picking it up in his arms.

"Oh, delightful day indeed!" His voice, suddenly more cheery and delighted than the intimidating cold, haughty voice he had seconds earlier, echoed through the alleyway. He quickly vanishes for a few seconds, before appearing near the pinned prince, with small plate of food on a miniature table that appeared to fold its legs inward. The plate, filled with meat, vegetables, and the sardines from the bag he swiped, had such a delightful aroma, Eli tried to move towards the plate himself, before remembering that he was pinned.

The assailant began to eat the food in front of him, leaving Eli to stay in place, pondering how the hell he could turn this situation around before he goes back to killing him for real. Gulping, he asked, "Um... are you...a big fan of seafood, or...?"

Ragna swallowed the food in his mouth before he turned his slightly towards the prince. "Nonsense! I just love the taste of sardines whenever I combine it with food! It's a rather great substitute than drinking human blood, these days..."

"Human...blood...?" Eli gulped, trying to desperately to remember the name of those who turn into bats, and drink from human blood. It took about several minutes, but he recalled back on his fathers' words, when he was still alive... The red eyes, fangs, the clothes that Ragna bore; there was no shadow of a doubt that Ragna is a vampire.

He had only seen them in certain books; each records of the vampire kind having reports of different hair color, yet their eyes, attire, and fangs were the only key indicators to identify a vampire. It wasn't until his great great great grandfather's age where one can identify a vampire merely by seeing smoke rise from the vampire when they are exposed to the sun's rays. Still...there must be something Eli can do to survive another day.

"W-Well, um... I-If I may suggest, there, there could be something we can discuss, i-if you're up to it...

"Oh do you...?" The vampire sharply turned his head, glancing at Eli with a stare that the prince could only describe as a paralyzing glance, as he seemed to stop moving when he looked at him. Ragna stood up, grabbing his food as he took a bite of it as he approached the prince.

His cloak seemed to form a makeshift chair, as the vampire sat down and continued to stare at the prince. The way the cloak moved reminded Eli of several Hexers that he had seen on his way out of his kingdom. "Normally, when a target tries to bargain with me, they usually end up getting away and not fulfilling their promise, giving me all the more reason to kill them the next time we met. Why should you be the exception?" The assailant continued, taking another bite afterward.

"Just listen to me, please..." Eli pleaded with every ounce in his voice, seeming like it had no effect on the vampire. Ragna scanned Eli from head to toe, seeing that he wasn't really moving all that much, as he expected the runaway prince to be doing so right about now. Was this man bold enough to attempt to convince that his life was worth living for than the bounty that Ragna undertook?

It was interesting to the vampire, as he crossed his legs and leaned back against the makeshift chair. "Very well, then." Ragna declared. "Explain yourself, runaway prince."

"First of, it's Eli." Eli sighed, getting rather tired of the vampire assassin addressing him by his runaway status. "Second...perhaps I can give you something that you haven't accepted before, e-even if it's a higher Ental ratio!" He continued, seeming to blurt out, at the time, a dud idea that was doomed to fail.

Ragna raises an eyebrow as he places the fork down, his full attention being on the prince and whatever the heck the prince said. "Explain yourself, prince." He demanded.

"Well, what if we made a...a promise, of sorts?" Eli gulped, a little nervous to continue on. "Y-You let me live, a-and in return, we can explore Jail Rock and get you the biggest supply of sardines the world has ever seen?"

Silence filled the air for what seemed to be an eternity, before Ragna laughed at Eli's mere suggestion. "That's just rich," Ragna sighed as he settled back to being serious. "You, trying to get the biggest supply of sardines in the world? That'd be the entire population, mate!"

"I know," The white haired prince groaned. "But I don't know what else to give you. Some of the items I have are personal belongings that my family gave me, and-"

"Uggh..."

The sound of Ira's groaning seemed to indicate that they were waking up. Both Eli and Ragna turned to look at the twin Pugilists, seeing them using each other as a means of standing up. Before long, they noticed Eli and Ragna.

"Oi, who the bloody hell are you?!" Gori questioned Ragna, who seemed to remain silent.

"Never mind him, Gori. That meddlesome prince is pinned and ripe for the punishment!" Ira pointed out, as Gori grinned with delight.

Where they intending to finish off Ragna's job for him...?

"Meddlesome pests!" With a sudden declaration from Ragna, the spears removed themselves from the wall pinning Eli, turning his attention to the Pugilists and throws a lot more spears towards them, sending them flying to the faraway building, pinning them and catching them off guard.

Eli was stunned at what Ragna had done. At least he was relieved that his life wouldn't end then and there. After checking for any holes in his cape, he stood up and approached Ragna. "R-Ragna... T-Thank you."

Ragna merely huffed a sigh, finding it pointless for the prince to thank him. "Don't mention it. Just keeping a promise." He replied, as Eli lets out a silent gasp in surprise to his last sentence.

"A-Anyway, we better find my friends. They should still be around here somewhere." Eli exclaimed, as he heads back through the alleyway that he had went through, as Ragna puts up a hood of sorts and followed Eli, passing by the two pinned Pugilists.

"Oi! Get back 'ere!" Ira yelled, struggling to move from his position.

"You know, when ye really think about it, this isn't that bad." Gori began.

Ira growled as he tried pulling his arm forward, only to have it be restrained to the wall. "Can it, Gori! We're never gonna catch them in time!"

"Hey, hey, relax, bro! We'll get them!" Gori insisted. "...Just probably less stealthy than last time."

That sentence only threw Ira into a fit. "LESS stealthy?! What the bloody hell do ya mean 'less stealthy'?!"

The twin Pugilists begin to argue, hardly even moving from the spot they were in to give chase to Eli and Ragna, more intent on trying to figure out their next move...if they ever stop arguing, that is.

.....................................................................................................

"Where the hell did that fool go...?" Tenma groaned, looking around with Chimo, Flow, and Sothym in an attempt to find the white haired man.

Chimo placed a finger on her chin as the group stopped moving. "I honestly thought he was right behind us..." She pondered, more than likely doubting her thought process several minutes ago.

Sothym was a bit quiet, almost as if in deep concentration. "You don't think those Pugilists could've-"

"Heeeey!"

A familiar voice rang in everyone's ears, stopping Sothym mid-sentence. Eli, along with a robed figure, approached the group as Chimo hugs the prince. "Thank the gods you're OK!" Chimo breathed a sigh of relief.

A smile came to Eli's face, glad that the friends he made so far weren't the ones to just abandon him after what he nearly went through. Sothym tried to decipher who the robed figure is, hearing Flow growl a bit. "So uh, mind introducing your robed friend to us?" Sothym inquired, as Eli heard the man beside him sigh.

"I suppose this robe does feel to boldish to wear in the shade of the sun." Ragna scoffed, snapping his fingers as the robe begins to contort and move on its own, forming back to the vampire's cape.

"What the-?!" Sothym, Tenma, and Chimo exclaimed at once, quite surprised at the reveal. To think that Eli had found a vampire in a city like this...

It didn't take Chimo long to recover from her shocked expression. "Holy crap Eli! What can't you do?!" She beamed, excitement flowing in her voice.

"Never mind that," Sothym began, her gaze fixated on the prince. "How the hell did you manage to escape from the Pugilists?"

With a groan, Eli explained how he brought the Pugilists into the alleyway he was in, and how Ragna, after some last minute decision making, tagged along and pinned the Pugilists to a wall as a means of stalling for time. The red haired Vessel tried desperately to grasp the situation the prince had described.

"So," Tenma started, having some time to comprehend Eli's story. "In exchange for keeping you alive, you're not only bringing him with us, but are going to get more sardines for him...?"

Eli nodded in response. "Apparently it's his favorite food topping." The prince commented, hearing Ragna exclaim 'hey' in response, not liking that little fact to be blurted aloud. Of course, Eli couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well...it's certainly nice to meet you, Ragna." Sothym began, her more serious side coming out again. "The name's Sothym." She introduced herself properly to the vampire, shaking his hand before moving aside as Chimo took her place.

Although Chimo outstretched her hand first, it took Ragna a few seconds to decide if he wanted to shake hands again or not. He merely did one out of mere instinct, so Ragna didn't understand why he was suddenly hesitating now. But knowing that it'd probably be rude to leave someone without shaking their hand, the vampire lets out a sigh as he begins to shake the landsknecht's hand.

"I'm Chimo, and this is Flow, my pet wolf!" Chimo introduced, as Flow took several seconds to sniff Ragna, before letting out a bark. The two separated from the handshake as the vampire glances over to the Vessel.

Noticing the attention, the Vessel glanced up a bit, staring at the vampire assassin. "And I'm Tenma." Tenma introduced, looking back at something he was seeing in the corner of his eye. "A pleasure to meet you, I guess." He continued, starting to sound a bit cold to the vampire in front of him.

The vampire would've snapped at Tenma for not paying full attention to him, but he let it slide just this once, given that they are just introducing each other. "Well, it certainly is wonderful to meet the runaway princes' friends." Ragna spoke aloud, unaware of what he just declared, as Chimo's gasp of realization quickly made the vampire regret it quite quickly.

"Ohmigosh, nobody told me that Eli's a pr-!!!"

Chimo was silenced by Sothym and Ragna, as both of their hands covered the landsknecht's mouth. "Keep it down for fucks sake." Sothym whispered, wanting the landsknecht to be more quiet on how she spoke that sentence. Once she and Ragna got the landsknecht's assurance that she'll keep her voice down, they moved their hands away, permitting the landsknecht to speak again.

"E-Eli's a prince...?" Chimo whispered at a volume the group can hear, without having other people eavesdropping in on.

"I'll be honest," Tenma began. "He doesn't seem to be a prince with the get up he has."

Sothym placed a hand on her hip as her eyes gazed at the red haired Vessel. "Exactly what I had said to him earlier when we met." She recalled, back when Chimo was also on the same carriage as her and Eli. "We tried to make him blend in with the general public, but I guess it was just crazy enough to have an assassin join us."

Ragna could only smirk at the Medic's comment. "Just as long as nobody else with ill intent knows about Eli's status, things should be relatively fine." At least, the vampire had hoped no one else would dare to kill his original target. If they did, they'd have to go through him, first.

"Attention; the boat to Jail Rock will arrive soon. Please head to the port as soon as possible."

The announcer's voice rang through several speakers, catching everyone's attention, especially catching the shopkeepers off a bit. "Repeat, the boat to Jail Rock will be arriving soon." The voice repeated, before seeming to hang up, as the other explorers started to hurry up whatever they were doing prior to the announcement.

"Ack, it's getting close! We better go!" Chimo yelped, rushing off in the wrong direction at first, before recalling the path to the dock.

Tenma gained a surprise face as he notice Chimo almost spilling the bags of food they bought, as he began to run after the landsknecht. "Wait a second Chimo, don't spill the food we got!" He yelled, as Flow began to tail the Vessel and its owner.

"Well, a sixth guild member isn't what I expected," Sothym pondered aloud. "But unless we get four more, I wouldn't say that we'd have enough for a set of ten explorers for our guild." She continued, positive that there would barely be the time to get some other guild members before they enter Jail Rock.

Eli gave the Medic an assuring pat on her back. "It'll be fine, Sothym. Everything will work out all on its own...in due time." He said, starting to doubt his own word choice at the end.

"And here I thought I was the most serious one of the group..." Sothym groaned, face palming and shaking her head, before taking a deep breath and began to follow everyone else, who were quite ahead of them. "Come on, you two; that boat won't wait all day."

No need to tell them twice. Eli began to walk beside Sothym as Ragna covers himself with his robe and followed the two of them. Jail Rock was calling, and they didn't want to try and keep it from being as delayed as possible.

#etrian odyssey #eom #etrian odyssey mobile #eo #writing #story based on an obscure game

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transamorousnetwork · 5 years

Photo

Welcome back.

Last time I wrote about Joe (not his real name) a client who met his ideal match in a transgender woman. Joe was excited about this. He felt the Universe designed this gathering.

It did.

But the “why” wasn't what Joe thought.

This post details what happened after Joe’s initial excitement and enthusiasm. It also sheds more light on our framework. Why it is so powerful. And why we guarantee you’ll get your ideal match.

That and a whole lot more. Let's get started.

• • •

By his ninth session, Joe's enthusiasm disappeared. He was low-energy. Not the excited person from our cancelled seventh session.

Turns out Cassandra (not her real name either), the transgender woman he met, hadn’t spoken to him in a while. Despondent, Joe had all kinds of negative stories about why. Stories about the experience. Stories about himself. Stories about our approach.

Joe's grumpiness matched all these stories. Joe thought something went wrong.

Nothing went wrong.

Instead, Joe's life experience showed him what he must change if he wants his ideal partner. Remy says this all the time. If you want your ideal match you must become a match to them.

Joe is not yet a match. So he drew to himself someone who matches where he is. The gift of this perfect relationship connection is, it showed this to him.

That doesn't mean he liked what he saw.

But had he been able to, he would have benefitted even more from the experience.

Life is eternal. You always get more chances so nothing is lost. Nothing goes wrong. Ever.

The relationships with Cassandra didn't show up as the relationship Joe wanted. But it did show Joe many of his disempowering stories.

And it showed him how his relationship behavior matches those stories.

Joe moved too fast. His stories about relationship scarcitycaused had him cling to this relationship. As if there weren't going to be any others.

Out of his desperation to have a relationship, he asked Cassandra if she was seeing anyone else, implying energetically, of course, that he’d prefer he be the only one she was seeing.

After all, he wasn't seeing anyone else. But the reason he wasn't seeing anyone else wasn't because he had other opportunities. It's because he is grasping desperately for THE relationship. Instead of enjoying life.

When Cassandra said she wasseeing others, Joe played it off. But it was obvious in our call that answer was not the right one. It did match his stories though.

• • •

We know at The Transamorous Network that stories create reality. We also know momentum of stories told often enough can’t be avoided. That’s not how life works.

To slow old story momentum, a person must tell new stories. New stories which, over time, will build enough momentum in their own right. Meanwhile, old story momentum deactivates. They have less effect on reality. Including one's behaviors.

Joe didn’t focus on new stories after that exchange. That focus takes effort, which is why we offer our framework. Joe is only starting. So he doesn't realize yet how to check in with his emotions early enough to halt old story momentum.

It's a rare skill among people. Hardly anyone has the discipline and rigor to do such work on their own. Hardly anyone understands why we have emotions. We offer our framework for that reason.

So rather than focusing on new stories he is working on in our sessions, Joe allowed his old stories to continue creating his reality. Disappointment he felt isn't about how the relationship turned out (it ended). Although that's what Joe thinks is the reason he's disappointed. He feels disappointment (and frustration and sadness and more) because he's focusing on his reality. The reality his old stories are creating. Realities not matching what he wants.

Again, Joe is just starting. So he doesn't get how important it is to understand the purpose of emotions. So instead of using his emotions they way they're intended, he tries to behave in spite of them.

Meanwhile, his behavior faithfully creates outcomes matching his old stories.

For example, one night frustrated in not hearing from Cassandra, Joe drunk-dialed her. That didn’t go well.

Drunk-dialing is a classic knee-jerk reaction to strong negative emotions triggered by negative stories about relationships playing out in physical reality. Thinking that behavior would bring relief, people drink to numb the emotion.

But alcohol amplifies negative emotion. It adds momentum to stories. That momentum draws to it other stories like it. Your stories are living things. Not just words. Stories like company. They draw to themselves stories like themselves. That's how story or belief constellations happen.

That's also why drinking to numb pain usually begins a downward spiral. When it comes to a "failed" relationship, that spiral often includes drunk-dialing.

Remember, in the last post I cautioned Joe about what was happening. I said Cassandra was a perfect match to Joe’s stories. That she is a perfect match is an excellent indicator.

What do I mean by that?

I mean, Joe got to see exactly how his stories create his reality. A reality which includes transgender women not all that interested in Joe for Joe.

To Joe, she seemed interested. At first. But later she wasn’t.

By our ninth session, Joe was not in a good place at all. He couldn’t see the extraordinary benefit of a relationship like the one he got.

• • •

Then one day, Cassandra contacted him after a long absence. He said she asked him to pay for something for her. Joe didn’t have the money. He hasn’t heard from her since telling her so.

Of course, Joe’s old beliefs showed up again. “That’s all she wanted me for”, He told me during our session.

That story can be extended more broadly about all his relationships with transgender women, women who usually are sex workers.

Joe left session nine pretty negative.

If Joe continues the work, this could be a turning point for him. His stories are screaming out loud. Now that he has some grounding in “Stories” and how they create reality, he is getting first hand experience in his own life experience how stories do that.

He’s not happy about that.

But this is the process. It's how it works.

I reminded Joe his unhappiness is an emotion telling him something important. It’s telling him his stories about this situation aren’t consistent with what’s really happening.

Again, of course, Joe didn’t want to hear this. He defended his stories as “true”, which they are. But he refused to understand that they are only true because his stories have created a reality consistent with them. They are no more true than any other story he might tell often enough to create momentum and a new reality consistent with that.

And that is the work. Using one’s life experience as a living classroom, our framework shows clients how to tell new stories. New stories told frequent enough so their reality changes to match them.

Then they have a new truth. A life experience that contains everything they want.

Including their ideal partner.

Joe is continuing the work. We'll see whether his relationship with Cassandra was the last one he'll let his old stories dictate.

#transgender #transamorous network #trans attracted #mtf #m2f #tfm #transdating #dating transwomen #girlslikeus #transgirls #Tgirl

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positivlyfocused · 5 years

Photo

Welcome back.

Last time I wrote about Joe (not his real name) a client who met his ideal match in a transgender woman. Joe was excited about this. He felt the Universe designed this gathering.

It did.

But the “why” wasn't what Joe thought.

This post details what happened after Joe’s initial excitement and enthusiasm. It also sheds more light on our framework. Why it is so powerful. And why we guarantee our results.

Let's get started.

• • •

By his ninth session, Joe's enthusiasm disappeared. He was low-energy. Not the excited person from our cancelled seventh session.

Turns out Cassandra (not her real name either), the transgender woman he met, hadn’t spoken to him in a while. Despondent, Joe had all kinds of negative explanations about why. Explanations about the experience. Explanations about himself. Negative explanations about the Positively Focused approach.

Joe's grumpiness matched all these beliefs. He thought something went wrong with the framework.

Nothing went wrong.

Instead, Joe's life experience showed him what he must change if he wants his ideal partner. The key to Joe finding his perfect relationship is, he must become a match to that relationship.

Joe is not yet a match to what he wants. So he drew to himself someone who matches where he is now. The gift of this perfect relationship connection is, it showed this to him.

The framework works. That doesn't mean Joe liked what he saw.

Had he been able to, he would have benefitted even more from the experience.

Life is eternal. You always get more chances so nothing is lost. Nothing goes wrong. Ever.

The relationship with Cassandra didn't show up as the relationship Joe wanted. But it did show Joe many of his disempowering beliefs.

And it showed him how his relationship behavior matches those beliefs.

For example, Joe moved too fast. His beliefs about relationship scarcity had him cling to this relationship. As if there weren't going to be any others.

Out of his desperation to have a relationship, he asked Cassandra if she was seeing anyone else, implying energetically, of course, that he’d prefer he be the only one she was seeing.

So he doesn't have any.

When Cassandra said she was seeing others, Joe played it off. But it was obvious in our call that answer was not the right one. It did match Joe’s beliefs though. 😃

• • •

Beliefs create reality. Belief momentum can’t be avoided. That’s not how life works.

To slow old belief momentum, a person must create new beliefs. New beliefs which, over time, will build enough momentum in their own right. Meanwhile, old belief momentum deactivates. They have less effect on reality. Including one's behaviors.

Joe didn’t focus on new beliefs after that exchange. That focus takes effort, which is why we offer our framework. Joe is only starting. So he doesn't realize yet how to check in with his emotions early enough to halt old belief momentum.

It's a rare skill among people. Hardly anyone has the discipline and rigor to do such work on their own. Hardly anyone understands why we have emotions in the first place. We offer our framework for that reason.

So rather than focusing on new beliefs he is working on in our sessions, Joe allowed his old ones to continue creating his reality.

Disappointment he felt isn't about how the relationship turned out (it ended). Although that's what Joe thinks is the reason he's disappointed.

He feels disappointment (and frustration and sadness and impatience) because he's focusing on his reality. The reality his old beliefs are creating. Realities not matching what he wants.

Again, Joe is just starting. So he doesn't get how important it is to understand the purpose of emotions. So instead of using his emotions the way they're intended, he tries to behave in spite of them.

Meanwhile, his behavior faithfully creates outcomes matching his old beliefs.

For example, one night frustrated in not hearing from Cassandra, Joe drunk-dialed her.

That didn’t go well.

Drunk-dialing is a classic knee-jerk reaction to strong negative emotions triggered by negative beliefs about relationships playing out in physical reality. Thinking that behavior brings relief, people drink to numb the emotion.

But alcohol amplifies negative emotion. It adds momentum to beliefs. That momentum draws to it beliefs like it. Beliefs are living things. Not just words. Beliefs like company. They draw to themselves beliefs like themselves. That's how Belief Constellations happen.

That's also why drinking to numb pain usually begins a downward spiral. When it comes to a "failed" relationship, that spiral often includes drunk-dialing.

Remember, in the last post I cautioned Joe about what was happening. I said Cassandra was a perfect match to Joe’s beliefs. That she is a perfect match is an excellent indicator.

What do I mean by that?

I mean, Joe got to see exactly how his beliefs create his reality. A reality which includes transgender women not all that interested in Joe for Joe.

To Joe, she seemed interested. At first. But later she wasn’t.

• • •

By our ninth session, Joe was not in a good place at all. He couldn’t see the extraordinary benefit of a relationship like the one he got.

One day, Cassandra contacted him after a long absence. He said she asked him to pay for something for her. Joe didn’t have the money. He hasn’t heard from her since telling her so.

Of course, Joe’s old beliefs showed up again. “That’s all she wanted me for”, He told me during our session.

That belief can be extended more broadly about all his relationships with transgender women, women who usually are sex workers.

Joe left session nine pretty negative.

If Joe continues the work, this could be a turning point for him. His beliefs are screaming out loud. Now that he has some grounding in how beliefs create reality, he is getting first hand experience in his own living laboratory how beliefs do that.

He’s not happy about that.

But this is the process. It's how it works.

I reminded Joe his unhappiness is an emotion telling him something important. It’s telling him his beliefs about this situation aren’t consistent with what’s really happening.

Again, of course, Joe didn’t want to hear this. He defended his beliefs as “true”, which they are. But he refused to understand that they are only true because his beliefs have created a reality consistent with them. They are no more true than any other belief he might tell often enough to create momentum and a new reality consistent with that.

And that is the work. Using one’s life experience as a living laboratory, our framework shows clients how to tell new stories. New stories told frequent enough so they become beliefs. When that happens, one's reality changes to match the new stories.

Then they have a new truth. A life experience that contains everything they want.

Including their ideal partner.

Joe is continuing the work. We'll see whether his relationship with Cassandra was the last one he'll let his old stories dictate.

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cryptocleveland-blog1 · 6 years

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I used to have a blog here.

I spent hundreds of hours pouring my heart into long posts that hardly anyone read. Some were just text, like this one. Some were elaborate, multi-installment series laced with photos and detailed graphics. The effort that went into these posts, and the lack of response, was both highly therapeutic and soul crushing at the same time. It was a way for me to feel creatively stimulated, and to participate in a community at a time when I was unemployed and socially isolated, but not yet cynical about my future prospects.

I had just finished grad school, studying urban planning, and I had also just fulfilled one of my long-term ambitions, to appear in a feature film. As a way of promoting the movie, the director of that film had begun a blog where he talked at length about film theory, art, and contemporary culture. One of the other actors in the film started a blog about her life as an aspiring actress so I followed suit, choosing to concentrate on that subject which I knew best, and was, at that time, most passionate about: Real Estate Development in the City of Cleveland; with the occasional post devoted to my main hobbies, acting and photography.

I was really proud of some of those early posts, they were written with the confidence of someone who thought that the years of hard work were behind him and that life could only get better from here on out. But months went by, and years went by. It became obvious that my big break was never going to happen, the movie was never going to find distribution, it was never going to be the stepping stone to my next project.

Eventually people stopped commenting on my posts, and I ran out of things to talk about. My blog became less regular and more introspective. The director and actress followed suit, refocusing their blogs onto current affairs and personal interests. I started getting into disagreements. I argued with the director over his political positions, I alienated the young actress by teasing her a little too frequently about her favorite band.

It became clear that I was beating a dead horse. My illusions were starting to fracture. My acting career was stagnant, the only film work available where I live was in cheesy local commercials and I was too poor and too indebted to move elsewhere, nor was I brave enough to move away from my family and support network. In my professional career things were no better, the rejection letters were starting to add up, and the longer I’d been out of school the fewer interviews I got.

I started using this blog to vent my frustration. After a couple internships that led nowhere. I accepted a job I hated, that I wasn’t any good at, and that I got fired from within six months. That didn’t help my resume. I started working part time minimum wage jobs just to have an income. One night on the news I saw that a local school district was paying $180 a day for temporary substitutes during a teachers strike. I’d worked as a sub before and enjoyed it so it seemed like good opportunity to make some money.

I had planned on being there for two weeks, but the strike lasted eight. It was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life, but I was fired from that job too. I had been taking night classes at a community college, and the lack of sleep caught up with me. I was sad when it was over because there was one student in particular who I became emotionally attached to and I’d never gotten a chance to say good bye.

I wish I had, because then I might not have gone to visit her place of work a few months later, I might not have tried to stay in touch with her, I might not have deluded myself into thinking we were friends or that she cared about me half as much as I cared about her. I could have just tied a nice happy bow around the relationship for being what it was and moved on to the next thing. But its hard to move on when you have nothing to move on to.

When you wake up feeling like a failure every morning its easy to get obsessed, your thoughts naturally drift to the last thing you can remember making you feel happy and important. I shared these sentiments in posts I made on this blog, and other darker thoughts. After the fact I felt ashamed and decided to remove them, in an attempt to clean up my online fingerprints.

Its all gone now, good and bad; I’ve long since lost access to the email address I originally signed up for a tumblr account with and so my original account was deactivated, along with all its content, when tumblr updated its TOS a few years ago. I miss it dearly.

I don’t miss the toxic anxiety dump it became, I miss the escapism, the potential it once had to remove me from a hopeless situation and allow me to pontificate about how things ought to be. I miss the ability to express myself anonymously, warts and all, and not fear being held accountable or publicly shamed for feeling angry and resentful, for admitting that I wanted more than I was entitled to.

When I stopped blogging I tried to find new communities to immerse myself in. I stopped auditioning for the local agency and started training with a local stunt coordinator because the stunt guys seemed to be the only locals getting any work whatsoever. I switched from Tumblr to Youtube and started down a rabbit hole about Historical European Martial Arts. I grew my hair and beard out, attempting to assimilate into that subculture. I stopped applying for jobs and started my own consulting business doing drafting and 3d printing.

I’d like to say that my efforts have improved my situation, economically or otherwise, but alas its more of the same. More auditioning for parts that were already cast long before you ever saw a breakdown. More skeptical looks and rejection letters whenever I convince myself that I’m broke and have no choice but to find a real job. I’m still treading water, and badly.

A couple of years ago I started having panic attacks. I’d gone to visit the highschool girl (now in college) one too many times; panicked because I suddenly felt that I was crossing a line, and abruptly broke off contact . Then I felt bad about it and started following her on social media, which eventually confirmed my belief that I had hurt her. I felt guilty about that too, and had another panic attack, so I tried to contact her again and offer an apology, which obviously backfired. Then every few months I’d have another panic attack and make another ill conceived attempt to fix the situation.

Things came to a head about a year ago. Each time I tried to reconnect and failed to repair the relationship, my anxiety got progressively worse. In a last act of desperation, I reached out to a mutual acquaintance who immediately outed me as a crazy person and posted the conversation online. Nothing had happened, but being forced to confront my own inappropriate behavior and to acknowledge that Google was no longer my friend was embarrassing enough that my anxiety jumped an order of magnitude overnight. I went from merely not being able to sleep, to not being able to breath or speak. I wasn’t just depressed, I was physically ill.

This convinced me to seek treatment. About six months ago I started taking medicine for insomnia, anxiety and depression, and also ADHD which I think is the root problem. The jury is still out as to whether any of its working or whether I actually have any of those issues. I did switch medicines a while back because the cocktail was making me feel like a listless zombie. And I have seemed more productive in the past month, but that could be attributed to my impending birthday.

As I’ve reflected over the past few months, I’ve determined that I’d never really given myself a chance as an actor, I’ve always treated it as an embarrassing secret that I don’t like to talk about, and that was one of the things causing me anxiety and potentially caused me to self sabotage any hope of finding full time career with my degree.

I thought I had long ago made peace with the fact that I was never going to find success as an actor because only those who were born rich, in LA, and with the right connections ever got the opportunity to make movies for a living. But then the young actress I was in a movie with once proved me wrong. She’s not the only one, I now have a number of acquaintances who work regularly, but in the time since I originally started this blog she has made the leap from depressed, socially awkward, nobody living in their parents house in Cleveland, to something more than that; while I’m still spinning my wheels. Its a humbling thought and rather than be jealous of her success I’d like to try and emulate it.

I wanted to make a good faith effort to put myself out there before I turned 35, so I spent the last month filming a demo reel to submit to managers. If I get no response, that means I suck and I should move on. And that knowledge is infinitely better than continuing to surround myself with people who tell me what I want to hear but have no power to help me achieve my goals.

Yesterday was my birthday. I decided it was finally time to watch the movie. I’d put it off because I didn’t want to burst my bubble. Originally I was holding out for the premiere, I wanted to watch it for the first time on the big screen. Eventually it just became a crutch, I didn’t want to see it because its my only credit and I’m barely in it. The reality is the film is good, but the acting isn’t going to win awards. I can be proud of it as a good first film, an excellent learning experience, and a stepping stone to greater things; which is all it was ever meant to be. The rest is up to me.

I’ve decided to rededicate this blog to my documenting my career as a struggling actor from Cleveland Ohio.

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