#truly the pony town user of all time

[moonlightrift]

pony town isn't a game, it's an experience

[macabrecravings]

Seraphina the Camgirl

18 years old, Cisgender Female (she/her), Bisexual, 157 cm

Pinterest | Spotify | RP/Ask Blog: @xxbl00ds0akeds3raxx

Here it is. The long-awaited Seraphina lore MASTERPOST. Under the cut you will find 1,000 words describing her & her backstory, ALONG WITH a compilation of my favorite pretty pics :3!!

TW // Kidnapping, Self Harm & Disordered Eating (briefly mentioned), (Ask to Tag)

If there’s one word that describes Seraphina, it's famous. Her classmates look up to for her top grades and her delinquency. (The only thing that keeps her from being among the most popular is her relationship with Kylar. She has a soft heart and never uses her status to put others down, because she knows what it's like to be the underdog.) Most of the town is aware of her as well, particularly due to her... keen interest in exhibitionism.

At first, she began exploring this in the comfort of her own room. When she began working & saving up money to pay Bailey, she spent some of her savings to buy a laptop. Quickly, she became enthralled with the internet. She spent most of her free time playing video games or watching My Little Pony with Robin. Technology was a great escape from reality, for a while. Unfortunately, most of the content she consumed was less than stellar. She spent an unhealthy amount of time on sketchy chat rooms, threads and forums, gore sites, and porn sites. In these forums, users began to tell her that she should use her webcam and stream herself. Seeking money, attention & validation, she joined a cam site. Making money without leaving her room and interacting with the lecherous townspeople sounded like a dream and she would be able to become comfortable in her body without their gaze.

Though, this decision would prove to be more detrimental. The audience she garnered wasn't any less lecherous, and because they were online & anonymous, they were more sadistic. She'd get higher tips for increasingly awful requests, such as harming herself on camera. Due to poor emotional regulation and spite, she'd do it.

After that inkling of kindness, Kylar became fixated on her. He easily found her online and began to monitor her online presence. Sitting and watching her streams for hours on end fed his parasocial relationship. When she began to befriend him, Seraphina was completely unaware of his obsession. But once he started using throwaway accounts to threaten and harass viewers in her streams, she'd become uneasy.

Once she started to connect the dots, she started to distance herself from Kylar. He was openly dangerous; threatening people at school over her, and all in all making her uneasy. Her streams became infrequent. She returned to playing video games and spending every second with her actual boyfriend-- Robin. Her childhood best friend and the light of her life. He was her safety net and she was his- especially considering she pays Bailey for him.

The final turning point was on Halloween. She lovingly spent the day with Robin, then Whitney, and had an awful feeling about meeting Kylar in the park. Even more so when he brought her into the woods. She played along with his love potion bullshit, gave him a taste of his own obsessive medicine, but then Whitney showed up.

One thing about Seraphina and Whitney is that they are complicated. He bullied her and made her life hell for so long, yet she genuinely cares for him. They've had their sparks of love/romance, but mainly she just seeks him out to have fun. Drinking, vandalism, exhibitionism, hard sex,,, she thinks spending time with him is a blast! So, when Seraphina excitedly went along with everything he on Halloween, it destroyed Kylar. His actions that night terrified her. She moved seats in English, never left Robin's side, and secluded herself for weeks.

Kylar kidnapped her one evening after school. She wanted to buy some new clothes, but ended up bound in his basement. Eventually, she cracked. He was obviously devoted to her, and truly wanted to keep her safe, right? One look at the state of his house broke her heart. Everyone deserves a friend. He's misunderstood, he just needs someone to take care of him. Clearly, no one else would.

Her innate want/need for people to be kind to each other often makes her naïve. Like Robin, it makes living in the DOL town a huge struggle for her and her mental health. Harper requests to see her every Friday, but she doesn't listen to any of his advice. She is a masochist who copes with pain and lack of control through self harm and disordered eating (though her sensory issues play a big part of that as well.)

Speaking of sensory issues, Seraphina is autistic. Because of her line of work, she's had to learn how to be hyper aware of others and their body language. Oftentimes, this leads to her assuming everyone has the worst intentions and causes her to panic, aided by her past traumatic experiences. She has issues with clothes textures (wet fabric in particular) which honestly could aid her in how little she wears. Because she's autistic, she has a tendency to fall very deep and obsessively into interests very fast. This is how she fell so far into the internet all at once. As I've mentioned before, her special interests include MLP, Classic Creepypastas, scene/scenemo subculture, music, and dancing.

For work, Seraphina models with Niki, is the main star in shows at the brothel with Briar, helps Darryl with the club, dances for Charlie's friends, strips, bartends, and prostitutes herself. Skulduggery is something that she practices, specifically when she works at the spa or is fucking a client. (She used to rob houses, but it's dangerous for her to walk around at night now that she's so well-recognized.)

Before Seraphina was sent to the orphanage, she lived with her single mother (Rosalia the Castoff) on Domus Street. She was an accident; the result of a contraceptive failure between Rosalia and a client. Coming from poverty, Rosalia had just barely gotten on her feet financially. Still, she kept the pregnancy and had Seraphina. Try as she might, Rosalia couldn't support the both of them. This resulted in her surrendering Seraphina over to the orphanage at 6 years old and disappearing. She's presumed dead, based on the state she was in as she gave Seraphina up, but there's never been any concrete evidence. All that remains of her are musings of her name on the street, spurred on by Seraphina's presence. Townspeople note that Seraphina is following her mother's footsteps and laugh at the idea that her fate may be the same. (Especially considering her fame may as well have surpassed her mother's now.)

Gallery

1st image drawn by: @mothmanharvey-nsfw

[chrysaliseuro2019]

Deliverance

A relaxed start to the the day in Vrsar. Breakfast laid on and it was a little different. Basically at the mostly open air restaurant which was adjacent to the rooms. We sat under a large tree called a Ladonja. Famed in these parts as a tree for the locals to sit under and chew the fat. Spot on. This was in a little area opposite the main part of the restaurant overlooking the town and out to sea. Quite a panoramic spot. So panoramic was it that they had set up a false window which you could stand in front of, as if the sea and town were the backdrop view you had from your room. We of course took a photo there but were more amused by the people who took a photo from the reverse way ie. looking into the “non room” from the sea.

Breakfast was a laid back affair sitting under the tree listening to the various foreign voices around us (mostly German) and made more laid back by the same waitress we had been chatting to the night before about the Fantasy duo. She was in fine droll form.

Post breakfast we had determined to visit Rovinj. It’s regarded as the star of the Istrian peninsula. Medieval town with all sorts of stone laneways and nooks and crannies which are very attractive. Topped by the church of St Euphemia, the largest baroque building in Istria, which we made our way up to. Luckily, though it overlooks the town, it’s not too high up as temperature in the 30s and humid and the shade ran out near the top.

Rovinj is a sizeable town, full of tourist shops of all categories, from tasteful to the usual fridge magnet pap. We had arrived around 12.30 and strolled around for perhaps a couple of hours with a view to staying the night. Interestingly, accommodation was not jumping out at us. Often, the various signs “zimmer, sobe, camere, apartments, rooms for rent” and of course plain old “hotel and B&B” are very prominent but not here.

We decided that though it had plenty of charms Rovinj was not for us. At least to stay the night in. From what we could see, accommodation was costly, scant or out of town. It also wasn’t quite pushing our buttons in terms of having to stay there. A little too busy, a little too commercial and of course not user friendly in terms of bed for the night. We continued on with Liz scanning possible next destinations. She came up with Fasana. Coastal town, didn’t know too much about it but it was worth a try. As we headed there we came across a delightful little beach at a place called Peroj. Around 5 kms shy of Fazana. We turned off the main road and drove along a wide stone road, adjacent to the beach and saw a few beach umbrellas and beds but not too busy. Liz went to the local beach bar and struck a deal on a couple of beds and umbrella (just beat the German couple to the last available beds) and so we spent the next 3 hours+ relaxing in this delightful location.

I was researching ferries from Split or Zadar to Ancona for the next leg of our trip and got very close to booking but it was a prolonged research process and around 6.45 we thought we had better find somewhere to stay this night as time was marching on. Liz had been looking at Fazan but hard to get anything in town as it was booked out or prohibitive. There were some possibilities at 1.2kms out of town or 2kms +. We went into town tried the tourist bureau where they simply recommended pricey hotels. Parked up and walked into the centre by the beach looking for accommodation signs. A few apartments but they were either booked or not responding to phone calls. The delightfully named Hotel Feral was unfortunately also full. We would have loved to stay there. A couple of ferals in the feral hotel. Tried a couple of flash hotels but one was full and the other too pricey.

Now getting towards 8.00 pm and nowhere to stay the night and fair to say we were getting a little toey. Probably more because we could see this funky town and could not find anywhere close. We knew we would find somewhere but ideally didn’t want to be too far from town.

Amusingly we found one B&B advertised close to town and headed there. Approaching it we started to feel a little disquieted. Scrubby old garden and gate with a bit of looped wire keeping it closed. As we stood at the gate contemplating whether to go in a man appeared out of the house. Let’s say he looked a bit like a good old boy from Deliverance the movie. Bare feet, trousers which had seen much better days (years) and possibly weren’t his. Also roaming around the yard (garden is too flattering - there was all sorts of bric a brac lying around) was a large dog I’m thinking Shetland pony size. He looked friendly enough but was of the guard dog variety (a shepherd) and the “beware of the dog sign” made us even more wary. As did his loud bark.

Anyway having come this far we called out to deliverance man, in our slowest and well enunciated English, something along the lines of “do you speak English - is this a B&B and do you have a room?” Already beginning to pray that the answer was no (to either of the last 2 questions). We could have garbled the effort as he didn’t speak English and so opened a door and called out to someone to come out from inside the house. They yelled back but did not appear so he showed us up to the room. The door being opened allowed a waft of cigarette smoke to waft out which again was unpleasant.

Meanwhile the hound of the Baskervilles took a liking to me. Liz was showing him all the affection but he was slobbering around against my leg trying to be my best mate including proudly fetching his semi crushed plastic bottle for me to see. We all four went to the room, Liz, me, Wilbur and Fido. We thought the dog was going to come into it for a mo to help us check it out but obviously he knew his place and sat by the door curiously watching on and waiting to continue his slobbering.

The room looked like it had last been occupied 10 years earlier. Possibly by the person who left our host’s trousers behind. Dark, dank, musty and very hot (the room though also probably applicable to the trousers). We couldn’t imagine spending 5 minutes in there let alone a night. Especially with the Clampetts and Rover for company. We mumbled that we would think about it and retreated as fast as we could. The old boy couldn’t have given a stuff (he was v friendly) but the dog watched us go a mite sadly I thought.

In the end we succumbed and booked a place 1.2 kms from town. Not too bad, we thought we could waltz in from there relatively easily, though we did have a bit of trouble locating it via Apple maps so another 20 mins down the drain. But eventually we rolled up. I had read an article about the locals being masters (and mistresses) at gilding the lily and making places seem much better than they truly are. Well we got dudded. 1.2 kms was to the signpost to the start of town. Let’s say it was about 4/5 kms out from the centre. Delightful landlady. Spoke German fluently but virtually no English (which forced me to try and recollect high school German from 50 years ago).

Room was fine but we realised that the walk into town was not on so pretty quickly changed and drove in. By now it was 9.00pm and they don’t eat as late in Croatia as they do in Greece. Town though was still rocking. It’s relatively small but obviously a favoured tourist destination as plenty of people (without being overwhelming) were doing their evening promenade or still having dinner by the waterfront.

We found a restaurant right on the front and had drinks followed by dinner. Grilled squid for me and mussels for Liz. Very good. Staff extremely helpful and friendly. Our seats were close to a little market area where the nearest stall was a guy blowing glass with plenty of onlookers. Great spot for people watching and we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in perfect temperatures. Liz also managed to book a hotel for the next night right smack in town so we were set up for the next day. It was one of the pricey ones from night before but obviously they had a room free for one night so brought down the price on booking.com and we were in. Great. Went for a walk around town and then headed home.

It had been yet another different day. Laid back Vrsar to kick off, followed by picturesque though touristy Rovinj, a glorious laze for several hours on the beach, serious contemplation of the next move and the ferry. Followed by a couple of tense hours looking for a place to stay including the trouble finding the location of the B&B. Then a great dinner and relaxing remainder of the evening.

Next day we were able to check out of our B&B and the room was free at the hotel. Easy switch. They also provided free car parking at a car park which was about 150 metres away so easy bag transition and nice though snuggish room, though we didn’t care, being smack in town was the key.

We had one plan for the day. Head straight to the beach of yesterday at Peroj and grab one of those few beach umbrellas and beds. Liz was getting toey as to whether we would make it in time. The transfer to the hotel soaked up a little time and of course I needed to complete suitable ablutions prior to departure. The tension was rising in the car as we headed there and a lack of beach facilities for the day was going to cause repercussions. Relief. Only one umbrella was taken when we arrived so we had the pick of 5/6 others. We chose and immediately headed to the little beach bar for a toasted sandwich breakfast. Now around 11.00am.

The rest of the day was spent lazing, swimming, sleeping, blogging, reading followed by lazing, swimming, blogging, sleeping and reading. We were feeling very chilled.

Also took a decision to forget the ferry from Croatia to Italy. Neither of us are very keen on them. Our experience, at least of overnight ferries, in this part of the world has not been great. We were also happy to drive around. Cost might end up similar when comparing ferry costs including small cabin overnight to petrol, toll and accommodation cost for one night driving around top of Italy down.

We didn’t leave the beach till 6.30 and couldn’t believe where the time went. That evening we did pretty much the same as the night before. Went to the same restaurant given it was a great place to sit and watch the sunset and passing throng and had good food and uber friendly staff. Didn’t disappoint. Grilled squid for Liz , grilled sardines for me. Went to the No1 gelato shop in town post that and strolled around the little town again before heading the 50 metres home. Great day.

[jeffrey2garner]

The Mercedes CLA-Class: A Luxurious Super Commuter

At first glance, the Mercedes CLA-Class looks frivolous. Too small to chauffeur and too expensive to truly be considered “entry level,” the CLA has primarily been viewed as the Mercedes-Benz for drivers who value style over substance—and who can’t afford to pony up for the larger and more expensive CLS-Class.

Yet after a week driving a CLA 250 4Matic around the traffic hellscape that is Boston, Massachusetts, I was anything but eager to send the car back to the fleet. The CLA may fill a small niche for Mercedes shoppers, but it does so beautifully, combining style, poise, and technology in a gorgeous package.

Looking Good in the Neighborhood

The CLA’s sloping rear deck may not be the most practical design—just ask the passengers in the back—but damn, does it look good. Few cars on the road look as sharp as Mercedes’ little 4-door coupe. With the diamond-block grille and Mercedes-Benz’s new headlamp treatment, the CLA a sharp and sophisticated look from both the front and the rear.

Painted a brilliant Polar White, the CLA wasn’t the easiest car to keep clean during a New England winter, but it shone like my own personal beacon of Florida’s South Beach every time the sun went down and the streetlights came on. This car oozes style.

A Technological Masterpiece

The Mercedes-Benz User Experience, or MBUX, serves as the CLA’s infotainment hub and the centerpiece of its impressive interior. While not quite as a large as the dual 12.3-inch screens we tested in the 2019 G-Class, the dual 10.3-inch displays that make up the CLA’s MBUX system are no less dramatic. Exceptionally customizable, MBUX takes a moment to fully understand, but once I found my bearings, navigating through the many menus and features was nearly effortless.

And it’s more than just information and entertainment. MBUX allows the driver to truly personalize the car’s interior environment. With the adjustable ambient lighting set to hues of pink and shades of blue, my test car didn’t just look like it would be at home in South Beach; inside, it practically felt like I was in one of Florida’s famous nightclubs.

Performance Made for the Urban Commute

As George Kennedy noted when he reviewed the 2020 CLA, the 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder’s 221 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque feel great in a car this size, and the 7-speed dual-clutch automatic rarely stutters around town.

Moreover, the CLA is fitted with a near-perfect suspension for city drivers, managing to be both stable and composed through turns without getting knocked off its bearings when the inevitable pothole appears. Further, the CLA’s steering rack feels quick and direct. Like a good city car, maneuvering the CLA is a simple task of point and shoot.

Yes, we know these aren’t urban landscapes. Elliot’s photos were too good not to use.

Unfortunately, when you have the keys to a car this spritely, fuel economy often becomes a casualty. During this particular week, I drove the CLA exclusively in city-driving conditions—and quickly, at that. Despite the EPA’s estimate of 23 miles per gallon in those conditions (or George’s observed fuel economy of roughly 25 mpg in combined driving), I managed just shy of 14 mpg. Gulp.

The Weekday Warrior

At the end of the day, the CLA has its own specific time and place. It’s not built for long weekend road trips. Despite the available 4Matic all-wheel drive, you’re not going to take it on a ski trip, and if you need to carry more than one other person, the passengers relegated to the backseat won’t be happy. If these tasks are prerequisites for your next car, you’d do better looking further up the Mercedes lineup, starting with the marginally larger C-Class.

But if you’re in the market for a sharp-looking, luxurious, and tech-forward commuter car, the 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class is without equal. The CLA looks and feels high-class, few competitors can hold a candle to the MBUX system in regards to functionality or style, and its driving dynamics will have you arriving at the office smiling—and can you really put a price on that?

For more auto news, check out these articles:

The Range Rover Sport HST Hits the Sweet Spot

With the 2020 Infiniti Q50, Style Comes Standard

The Jaguar F-PACE SVR: A Modern-Day Supercar

Photos by Elliot Haney.

The post The Mercedes CLA-Class: A Luxurious Super Commuter appeared first on The CarGurus Blog.

from The CarGurus Blog https://blog.cargurus.com/2020/03/05/the-mercedes-cla-class-a-luxurious-super-commuter via Car Gurus from Blogger http://jeffrey2garner.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-mercedes-cla-class-luxurious-super.html via IFTTT

[veekay2321]

Buffalo Bill & How Social Media Networks

Identity Theft is a term that is often related to social security cards, bank accounts, online information, and hackers. However, identity theft is nothing new. The idea of taking people’s identity as their own has been around since biblical times. A notable era of prevalent identity theft is the Wild West era, which was in the 19th century. Friesen discusses the life of Buffalo Bill and the many newspaper articles that would be released with incorrect information, as well as death announcements for the same man. Identity Theft in the 19th century wasn’t known as identity theft. It was known as being an imposter or impersonating somebody else. It usually didn’t have anything to do with stealing anything, but instead dealt with claiming to be somebody you were not or a claim to fame by relation. Buffalo Bill was a symbol for the American Frontier. He worked on a wagon train, the gold rush in Colorado, and rode for the Pony Express. He also served as a scout for the Union Army during the last years of the American Civil War. He received by killing 4,280 buffalo during an 18-month stint for the Kansas Pacific Railroad in the late 1860s and was deemed to have an expert shot. He then began performing in shows that depicted life as a cowboy on the frontier and the wild west. His legend began spreading when he was 23 years old. So as far as the wild west was concerned, he was a celebrity. The article by Friesen explains that because the technology wasn’t available, and social media wasn’t invented or even thought about, identity theft was a lot easier. Impersonating somebody, or claiming to be somebody you weren’t, was very easy. Cameras were being used in the 19th century, but due to the lack of quality, it was easy to resemble somebody and be mistaken. Also, newspapers often would just print a description of the person and not an actual image. As Friesen states, anybody with a mustache, goatee and long hair could and would pose as buffalo bill. There were so many people who were either claiming to be buffalo bill or claiming to be related to him in some manner, that it made piecing history together rather difficult. They would have to trace his exact travel paths to see if the crimes these people are claiming happened by Buffalo Bill were possible in the time and space it happened. For instance, on March 22, 1876, a newspaper article came out that claimed Buffalo Bill shot the town sheriff through the heart and killed him. However, after researching Buffalo Bill’s true whereabouts they knew that he had just performed a show in Indiana and then continued to Pennsylvania and Ohio, which would have made it impossible for him to be in Texas on that date. There were multiple Buffalo Bills, but there was only one William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, and even more imposters of buffalo bill. The crimes were stacking against buffalo bill, and sometimes he would get arrested for it and other times it would be his imposters. Nobody truly knew who the criminals were or who was responsible for the crime. This was popular in the 19th century. Likewise, people were able to die multiple times due to incorrect information being printed. Mark Twain made the famous statement “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” and Buffalo Bill wrote a letter to his friend saying “The newspapers think it’s up to them to kill me off every little while. During the Indian Wars, they killed me about once a month, now about three times a year. But I’m still kicking.” People would take on the identity as Buffalo Bill mainly to possess his invisibility of never being caught and also being a dangerous man. Also, this allowed many true criminals to get off the hook and this one man to take the wrap for all of it. As Friesen says, imitation was not always flattery. In some ways, technology has made it easier for people to steal other’s identity, and in some ways harder. Of course, there are privacy settings in place, encryption, and levels of security on certain information that is online. There is less protection on social media. People’s identities are now able to be duplicated online and transformed into a new person. Although it does not seem common, social media identity theft affects millions of consumers every year. The harm for the victim racks up in hours spent solving the problem and cash to provide the technical support. This issue is not on the cover page of mainstream media concerns but with the increased hacks, it soon will be. There are many factors that, combined together, are the reason for social media identity theft: the lack of knowledge among the consumer base about privacy settings, the at-ease nature people have with social media, the business aspect of social media platforms, and the lack of discipline of these platforms to implement and police user-friendly and hacker-proof sites. The way these platforms up raise their revenue is through targeted advertising which happens through the access of personal information in the database. Because of this, platforms usually encourage and often times force, to some extent, that users share personal information. These platforms have also the ability to track someone’s social media presence and how often and influential they are through algorithms. They can send personal messages encouraging posting, tweeting, etc. For example, Instagram will send a notification letting you know that you have not posted in weeks and that everyone is wondering what you are up to. Obviously, this is not the case but the simple reminder that you have not posted in a while triggers the instinct to and the more social you are on these platforms, the more you risk identity theft. The most common personal information facts that are later used to steal identities are full names (especially middle names), date of birth (which is the majority of the time required by sites to be filled out), hometown, relationship status, school location/graduation dates, pet names and other information. The answer to this issue is not canceling all social media accounts. The first step is to become educated on how to protect yourself and those around you. Take advantage of the present privacy settings provided to you by whatever social platform you are using, make unique passwords and different passwords for different sites and change them often. Simple steps like this can significantly decrease the likelihood of someone getting access and being able to steal your identity.

Like in the western times, there was no guaranteed way to prevent your identity being stolen. It is not something many people plan for. The two readings also show that this issue has been around for centuries and the means of stealing may have changed but the human urge has not. 

How Social Media Networks Facilitates Identity Theft and Fraud: https://www.eonetwork.org/octane-magazine/special-features/social-media-networks-facilitate-identity-theft-fraud

Buffalo Bill Murder? Identity Theft in the Wild West: http://goldentoday.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/BB_Summer_2015_newsletter.pdf

[chwrpg]

Good goin' stranger!

A NOTE FROM ADMIN R: This acceptance has been waiting for a while, for that I apologize. But welcome to CHW, Aurora !!! Thank you so much for taking on, Sloane/Stella from Desperately Seeking Susan. This application was truly incredible and I’m beyond excited to see you take on this complex character. Thank you so much for this application !!!

OOC NAME/ALIAS, PREFERRED PRONOUNS, AGE & TIMEZONE:

aurora, she/her, 25, pst.

DESIRED CHARACTER:

sloane/stella tran.

HOW ACTIVE WILL YOU BE?

8.

SECONDARY CHOICE:

n/a.

DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER:

Sloane was dealt a shitty hand from the start but she plays the best game she can with the cards she was given. As a girl she dreamed of a loving family and ballet classes and a pony. She got bounced around from place to place instead. She was neglected and taken advantage of until she realized she could finesse her way through life. Sloane can walk into any room and become a shadow leaving with your wallet, car keys, or heart. Her relationships (romantic and otherwise) are fleeting and meaningless — she’s a fantasy. She’ll let you project onto her until it’s time to move on. When her back’s against the wall she’s a user and a liar and a master manipulator. She’s scamming today before today scams her. It’s a lonely existence, but she does what she has to survive. The little girl who dreamed of family still lives inside of her — she doesn’t need anyone and she doesn’t have anyone but she might still want someone to see her — and she’s fighting her way to the surface. Her world has been flipped on its head as of late where she has to face the father that abandoned her while being the daughter he kept. Personality wise. Sloane is attractive, charming, a chameleon, easy to get along with, vengeful, an escapist, she runs from her problems, guarded, transient.

SAMPLE WRITING:

It was an eventful childhood growing up in the foster care system. She was born to an average mother and had never met her father (she heard whispers that he’d skipped town upon hearing the news of her arrival) who was deemed unfit to parent. She wasn’t too sure about that one. The life she had before the system came in waves sometimes though. She was four the day two police officers and a woman with a kind face arrived at her door. The manager of the motel she’d been living in with her mother had reported a small child wandering around the parking lot by herself every night without supervision. He didn’t know the last time he’d seen her mother and neither did she. “Hello, Sloane.” The woman with the kind face and slicked back bun kneeled for her. She wore brown leather shoes and a navy blue skirt and spoke to Sloane in a calm voice. “I’m Sheila. I see you like to draw.” The social worker made her comfortable while the investigation happened. The motel room was all but trashed and her mom was nowhere to be found. She was given twenty minutes to pack up her entire life — it seemed cruel. She didn’t have many toys, or much of anything, really, but she collected what she did have and the picture of her father. Sloane’s mother showed up to court once before she stopped coming all together.

Her first foster home had locks on all the doors and a grumpy old lady who sat in the front room watching court shows and yelled if the kids spoke above a whisper. Sloane sat by the door the way dogs waited, hoping and wishing someone would rescue her, the kind faced woman, or her mom (who had never been much of a protector), until she didn’t anymore. After awhile she forgot what her mother look liked. All she could remember was red rimmed eyes and dark hair and emptiness. Breakfast was served at 6 a.m sharp and if you weren’t awake you didn’t get to eat the cold porridge sat out for you. Chores were mandatory, split between the seven children who lived there — Bobby, who was the oldest, a boy from Kansas with shaggy hair and a lisp, was in charge of punishment if they misbehaved — Sloane got punished twice before she learned how to properly wash a dish. They were to be in bed by 6 o’clock and attend church every Sunday. Sloane turned five, and then six, but in her seventh year the old woman died sitting in her chair. She’d never known anyone who died, and she felt wrong for being happy about it.

She was placed with another family soon after, Ted and Nancy Barber, an odd couple with no children and a house big enough for several. A silver lining presented itself when she and one of the girls from her old house were paired together. Margaret, who was a year older, acted as if they were sisters, and Sloane returned the favor by being nice. They shared a bed covered in plastic sheets and walked to school hand in hand, telling each other secrets and playing school girl games. She started to notice that when Margaret got good grades she was rewarded with dessert and new clothes so Sloane begin to do the same. In the summer, Margaret got adopted by a family in Wisconsin with a dog and never wrote like she promised, but Sloane didn’t have time to care, the slot for favorite foster kid opened up and she took it. Nancy was nice enough and kept her neat, but Ted….Ted took to her like picasso to a canvas. He took Sloane on solo fishing trips and made her sit on his lap while he baited the line. He spent his days off buying her things and creating secret hideaways, they shared secrets and laughter. Sloane had never had a father before and took his behavior as law. One night, without Margret to keep her company, Sloane was kept awake by their arguing, it was the worst argument to date. Ted’s shouting was hushed, but Nancy’s was slurred yet somehow clear as day: “I want that little bitch gone!”

Sloane lost count of how many foster homes and group homes she lived in before she was eighteen. The caseworkers changed with the families but somehow remained the same. They took her to McDonald’s or some other cheap eatery like they were doing her a favor and flipped through the pages of her miserable life until they landed on the big red sign that said flight risk. And shortly after she was placed her with a family they believed could handle her. She became the queen of pretend and a model kid. At the Cooper’s she mastered the art of stealing food. She learned lock-picking and lying and manipulation. She learned to drive and ripped off every person she came in contact with. She kissed boys who had girlfriends and befriended people to get closer to what they had. It wasn’t all bad though. She took violin lessons for the five months she lived with a single woman who’d gotten her tubes tied just for her husband to marry and impregnate his mistress. She taught her about music and art, took her to gallery’s and fancy resturants and even tried to teach her a new language before letting her day drink and max out her credit cards. Between foster homes she drifted through towns and crashed on couches until the police caught up with her, and they usually did, it wasn’t hard to spot a wayward teen, but she wasn’t going to quit running, not until she found what she’d been looking for.

She was a long way from foster care, just shy of twenty-one, when a whim, an inkling of a clue (the worn photograph of her father), and the gull to find out for herself, led her to Rosewood. She found a cheap walk-up and slept all day to hang out all night — the night crowds were far nicer than the snooty day crowds. She let a stray cat live with her and named him binx. “We’re the same, me and you, I don’t have a family either,” she told him while they watched old movies and fell asleep on the couch together. She made fast friends with her neighbor and the old war vet who ran the store at the corner, but it was a few weeks before she finally took her neighbor up on her offer to go to Damon Winston’s club. Her money was drying up, and she needed a to replenish it, besides, her quest to find her father had hit a dead end and she was running on fumes.

“You shouldn’t be drinking alone.” Sloane pretended to be surprised by the stranger’s presence. It was an interaction that happened by chance, he saw a pretty girl and he went for it, that’s what he believed and Sloane was happy to play along. But he’d been her target the entire night. She spotted his car out front — a Benz — and sought him out in the dark club, positioned herself in his line of sight, laughed at an unfunny joke to grab his attention and took to the dance floor like a jaguar. Since her last trip she’d learned Damon’s club was a breeding ground for marks.

“Then don’t make me.” Sloane patted the bar stool with a succulent smile and he made himself at home. They talked about the club, or he bragged about knowing the owner, and didn’t let her get a word in edgewise, but she stayed attentive and interested with her wide eyes and an expressive smile. He bought her drink after drink without asking what she liked, she could feel his slime from her seat, he was the kind of guy who deserved all the bad luck he got. “If I didn’t know any better i’d think you were trying to get me drunk,” she chuckled and swept hair out of her face, playing dumb. He was too focused on her hand on his thigh to notice she’d been swapping their shot glasses back and forth the entire time; she was sober as a nun and he was drunk as a fish. He leaned in to kiss her and she brushed him off by laughing into his shoulder, slim arms wrapped around his waist and filled his mind with sinister thoughts — their embrace was short lived, but her slender fingers dipped into his back-pocket before it ended and fished out his monogrammed wallet. “I need to use the rest room,” she lied with ease. He all but begged her to stay and when she promised to return he lets her wrist go.

Sloane slipped into the thick of the crowd and looked down at the wallet in her hands. “Asshole,” she murmured, looking at his i.d before tossing it into a plant. Benjamin was a stupid name for an even stupider man. She counted out five large bills and pocketed a Starbucks gift card. Sloane was so busy assessing her earnings that she didn’t notice a tipsy blonde headed in her direction, dancing along to the music.

“Hands off!” She yelled at what she thought was the owner of the wallet, but instead found the blonde, smiling at her like she knew her or something.

“You’re drunker than I thought,” the blonde giggled now and Sloane’s face contorted. Her expression was weary but her voice was stern, “You’re the drunk one.” She looked around, hiding her nerves well, but wanting to get lost sooner than later, before Benjamin could discover what she’d done and seek revenge. “Let go of me.” She twisted out of the girl’s grip, ready to admonish her, but she was interrupted by another voice entirely.

“There you are!” When Sloane turned to see who the voice belonged to, she froze in her tracks, a total deer in headlights. In time travel you were supposed to avoid yourself at all cost or risk ruining reality as you know it, but Sloane felt as if she’d stumbled into a ripple in the space time continuum and faced herself, like she’d seen a ghost — except she wasn’t in a scifi movie, or the twilight zone, and she was very much alive. She stared at this mirrored version of herself and the mirror stared back, just as shocked as she was, confusion dancing across their eerily identical features, even their eyebrows threaded in the same fashion. She’d come to Rosewood to find her father, but she’d found a sister instead. Wait, she had a twin sister?

“I think I need some air.”

ANYTHING ELSE?

1985.

[activefamily]

There’s so much to do in Argyll

With Argyll Holidays currently celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary, and summer now in full swing, what better time for us to compile 50 things to get up to in Argyll over the coming months!

1 - Bag a Munro 

Climbing a mountain is one thing, but in Scotland there are 282 mountains with a summit of more than 3000ft, including 19 right here in Argyll & the Isles.  These can be tricky to navigate, but are certainly rewarding when you get the views from the summit. Click here for more information.

2 - Shoot Some Zombies

Don’t worry – we don’t mean literally! Argyll Adventure - based just outside Inveraray – offer hours of endless fun with their zombie-themed paintball & crossbow games. They’ve also recently invested in a state-of the-art indoor laser storm venue, perfect for families, hens & stags, or groups of friends. You can book here, with Argyll Holidays guests receiving 10% discount.*

3 - Sample the Local Produce

We’ve a delicious range of food & drink producers on our doorstep, from locally reared venison and Scottish Atlantic halibut, to cheeses, jams and home ground coffee. Food from Argyll brings together suppliers from across the area, and not only have they opened a fab new café in Oban, but we’re delighted to offer their hampers as an optional extra to our holiday guests. Click here for more info.

4 - Strip the Willow at a Ceilidh 

No trip to Scotland’s West Coast is complete without an evening spent at a ceilidh. The traditional Gaelic gathering offers the opportunity to enjoy a drink and a dance, whilst getting a little dressed up on your holidays.  You can find a list of upcoming ceilidhs (and other events) here.

5 - Compete in a Highland Games

Taking place in Dunoon from 24th-26th August, Cowal Highland Gathering attracts the finest athletes, dancers, pipers and drummers to battle it out for the championship titles. Competitors can sign up here but don’t worry if you don’t want to take part, the games also attract thousands of spectators annually. Tickets can be purchased here.

6 - Visit a Famous Castle

Towering at the edge of the quaint town of Inveraray, the iconic Inveraray Castle is the ancestral home of the Duke of Argyll, Chief of the Clan Campbell and a must-see visitor attraction on the West Coast of Scotland. You can tour around the castle, or simply take a trip around the beautiful gardens. Argyll Holidays guests receive 20% discount* on admission, and you can find more info here. 

7 - Attend a Music Festival

Argyll and the islands are not short of family-friendly music festivals, celebrating traditional West Coast music, and offering a chance to soak up the Scottish culture. The popular EDF is a little further afield but offers fantastic music in breathtaking surroundings, whilst the Argyll Gathering have announced a huge line-up for the highly anticipated first year of their event. Best of the West Festival is also perfect for all ages, and offers something to do later in the year. And if you fancy a trip to Campbeltown, why not give MOKfest a visit? Read all about the festival scene in Argyll here.

8 - Feed a Highland Cow

Get up close to our hairy highland friends - adorable ‘Heilan coos’ can be spotted throughout Argyll, and are often the highlight of many visitors’ trip to the local area. Click here to find out more about highland cattle.

9 - Go on a Loch Cruise

What better than witnessing the sheer beauty surrounding the famous ‘Bonnie banks’ than from the loch itself? Cruise Loch Lomond, in Tarbet, and Sweeney’s Cruises on the East side of the loch both offer breath-taking cruises, with 15% discount for Argyll Holidays guests*. Cruise Loch Lomond have recently added to their fleet as well, so it really is the perfect time to try them out! Bike hire is also available from their Tarbet base.

10 - Have a Treetop Adventure

TreeZone offers an adrenaline rush from the treetops overlooking Loch Lomond. Featuring zip wires, balance beams and tight ropes, this is truly an unforgettable experience. More good news; Argyll Holiday guests get 10% off* their visit to TreeZone, so you can try out a new experience for less.

11 - Treat Yourself to a Massage

We all know it can hectic on holiday, so why not relax and revitalise after a long day of activities? With a range of holistic and beauty treatments, The Treatment Rooms are guaranteed to help you unwind.

12 - Admire the West Coast Sunset

With summer comes longer evenings, and often breath-taking sunsets. There are many spots in Argyll that make for the perfect location to sit back and catch a glimpse of the stunning colours in the sky as the sun disappears below the horizon – check them out here.

13 - Take a Pony Ride

Fancy a pony ride in some of the most stunning surroundings? Argyll Adventure offer scenic treks alongside Loch Fyne, as well as faster rides, and even lessons, making it perfect for all levels of expertise. Argyll Holidays guests receive 10% off rides.*

14 - Embark on a Doggy Adventure

Grab a poo bag, a handful of treats, and embark on an adventure with your four-legged friend.  With an abundance of local tracks, streams, woodland and even caves, they’ll be in doggy wonderland! Read all about walking in Argyll.

15 - Go Wild Swimming

You can try loch swimming in a wetsuit or go in search of somewhere quieter – there are many rivers, waterfalls and pools waiting to be explored in Argyll, and there’s nothing more refreshing than going for a dook on a warm day. Read more about safe wild swimming.

16 - Wakeboard on Loch Lomond

If you’re into the adrenaline rush then you might want to try this - Loch Lomond Wakeboard is Scotland’s first purpose-built wakeboard school and they guarantee you the ride of your life, on the calm waters of Loch Lomond. Argyll Holidays guests enjoy 20% off wakeboarding excursions & lessons.*

17 - Taste Award-winning Seafood

Loch Fyne Oysters are renowned for supplying delicious seafood across the world, but their small oyster bar on the banks of Loch Fyne is where it all started, and we simply couldn’t put together a list without mentioning them. Pop into the restaurant for a bowl of the most delightful haddock chowder, hand dived scallops or crispy oysters with horseradish.

18 - Enjoy a Singalong in a Local Bar

What better than sitting back with a cold beverage in your hand, whilst enjoying some live music? The Goil Inn in Lochgoilhead hosts live music evenings most Fridays, with regular jam-sessions from local acoustic performing residents ‘The Goilers’ providing the perfect evening singalong.

19 - Get out on Two Wheels

Cycling is one of the best ways to explore Argyll - With striking scenery, off-road trails and quiet country roads, you’ll be experiencing cycling and mountain biking at its very best. Bike hire is available from Drimsynie Estate in Lochgoilhead and Hunters Quay in Dunoon. View our favourite routes here.

20 - Go on a Romantic Stroll

While visiting Argyll, you’ll want to make sure you take full advantage of the magnificent landscape. With plenty of routes for walking and exploring, you can truly immerse yourself in the great outdoors, and some of the most romantic locations in the world.

21 - Visit an Island

Argyll has 25 inhabited islands – more than any other region in the country. Cal Mac runs regular ferry services to most of these islands, meaning you can visit as part of a day trip. Add to this the rich history that these islands possess, and the fact there’s so much to explore, and it’s easy to see why this is an essential ‘to-do’ when visiting the area. Visit the Cal Mac website for a full list of destinations.

22 - Board a Famous Steamboat

The iconic Waverley is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world. Magnificently restored with towering funnels, timber decks, gleaming varnish and brass, it offers the perfect opportunity to explore the lochs & islands off the West coast of Scotland. Argyll Holidays guests enjoy a kids-go-free incentive* (exc Saturdays). View timetables.

23 - Tour a Working Brewery

Located at the head of Loch Fyne, Fyne Ales state-of-the-art brewery offers guided tours to see exactly how their wonderful beers are made, as well as tutored tasting. Afterwards, you can sit in their courtyard and enjoy the sun with a pint of your favourite beer – we recommend Jarl!

24 - Meet the Birds of Prey

Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre is situated in a stunning location within the Lomond Shores complex. If you are looking for a Bird of Prey encounter then this is the place to head - There are over thirty five birds of prey and owls - so why not get close to these amazing creatures? Argyll Holidays guests receive 20% off entry.*

25 - Scale the Heights

The giant custom-built climbing wall at Hunters Quay Holiday Village offers a great deal of fun for all ages (well most ages… it’s 7+), and is a popular attraction. Users can choose whether to take a climbing lesson, or go freestyle – it’s completely safe, but can prove trickier than it looks!

26 - Hit the Beach

Golden sands and light blue seas: some of Scotland’s most beautiful beaches can be found across the coastline of Argyll and the Isles. Whether it be the two-mile stretch of Mahir Bay in Islay, or Ostel Bay on Argyll’s secret coast, it’s the perfect opportunity to have a picnic, go a stroll, or fly a kite. View a complete list of beaches in Argyll here.

27 - Explore Glorious Gardens

In a magnificent mountainside setting on the Cowal Peninsula lies Benmore, an enchanting Garden steeped in history and surrounded by dramatic scenery. The park is managed by experienced rangers, and offers a host of guided walks, explorer tours and kids activities. Benmore offers 2 for 1 admission for Argyll Holidays’ Guests.*

28 - Go Fishing

Argyll is well known for being a fishing paradise, with its well-stocked shores, lochs and rivers attracting many keen anglers, and there's no shortage of opportunities. Inverawe Country Park - just past Loch Awe - offers trout lochs and salmon rivers for all levels. The fantastic instructors can even offer lessons, getting you hooked on a life-time hobby.

29 - Try Your Hand at Archery

Ready? Aim. Fire! Let an experienced Archery leader show you how to shoot a high performance bow with accuracy and hit the gold with ease, at Drimsynie Estate or Hunters Quay. With fun, games and competition, there is something in the sessions for everyone.

30 - Sledge Down a River

River sledging is big in the US and New Zealand, but it’s relatively new to the UK, so it’s fair to say that this activity is creating a lot of excitement around Loch Lomond. In Your Element are the new activity provider on the ‘bonnie banks’, and this is perfect if you’ve got the taste of adrenaline and adventure. Even better, Argyll Holidays guests get 10% discount.*

31 - Travel Under a Mountain

On the face of it, the trip to a power station that generates up to 440MW on the National Grid might not seem that exciting. However, add to this the fact that the hydro station is hidden deep inside the Ben Cruachan ‘hollow mountain’, and it makes for a fantastic adventure. The guided tour will take you deep inside the mountain, as the experienced guides tell you all about the fascinating history behind this engineering feat. You can read more here, plus Argyll Holidays guests get an exclusive discount.*

32 - Sample Some Tubing

To get to the location, involved travelling on one of the most scenic routes in the country, and we just couldn’t put together a list of things to do without mentioning tubing at Glencoe Mountain. What is tubing you ask? It involves sitting on a doughnut, and sliding down an artificial ski slope - great fun for all ages!

33 - Experience Life Behind Bars

…don’t worry, they’ve promised they’ll let you out! Stepping through the doors of Inveraray Jail is stepping back in time to a 19th-century prison. Experience what life was like for the men, women and children who were locked up here. Explore the historic buildings and meet the costumed characters who animate the past in this unique living museum.

34 - Visit a Whisky Distillery

You don’t have to be in to your malt whiskies to know how special they are throughout Argyll and the Isles. With 14 world-class distilleries dotting what’s known as the ‘whisky coast’, there’s nothing quite like taking a tour, and finding about the history and culture behind this industry – And, of course - sampling a dram straight out the cask. Find your nearest distillery.

35 - Chill in an Outdoor Pool

Brand new to the shores of Loch Fyne, Portavadie’s leisure and spa complex offers the ultimate in relaxation – you can chill out and watch the world pass by, in a heated outdoor therapy pool, right on the edge of the loch, appreciating all that Argyll has to offer – bliss!

36 - Get Close to the Local Sea Life

The Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary near Oban, and the Sea Life Loch Lomond Aquarium both offer the chance for groups to get up close to the local sea life.  The two attractions host a series of events over the summer, as well as live talks, feedings and the opportunity to hold some of these interesting creatures.

37 - Tone Up

Want to tone up over your holiday in Argyll? Look no further than Quay Fitness. Offering classes including Freestyle Aerobics, Pilates, Zumba, Kettlebells and much more, this is a fantastic way to shape up over the summer.

38 - Have a Picnic with a View

There’s no shortage of locations in Argyll which are easily accessible, and allow you to admire the views up high. Pick a local spot, (this website is good), pack a picnic and set off with your family for a lunch with a stunning view.

39 - Get the Hot Tub Experience

You know the saying “there ain’t no holiday like a hot tub holiday?” Okay, we just made that up. But what better way to chill out on a break to Argyll, than in a private hot tub watching the world pass by? Argyll Holidays’ Hot Tub Collection is all about luxury and indulgence, and can add that extra something special to your holiday.

40 - Have a BBQ

It’s not been a proper summer until you have a BBQ – right? Dig out your portable BBQ and get the burgers sizzling, or head to the shops and grab a couple of disposables. If you don’t fancy the cooking yourself, you can head along to one of the regular summer BBQ’s throughout Argyll.

41 - Follow a Gruffalo Trail

Ardkinglas Woodland Garden lies in the small village of Cairndow and is renowned for its fine collection of conifer trees. The new Gruffalo Trail will be sure to capture the imagination of your little ones, as they embark on an adventure, following the mouse to find the Gruffalo. A perfect family day out.

42 - Enjoy First Class Leisure Facilities

The indoor heated swimming pools at Drimsynie Estate and Hunters Quay can be used to relax in, to keep fit or to have fun throughout your stay in Argyll. Or why not relax and indulge yourself in the modern sauna, steam room or Jacuzzi? After all, you deserve to relax whilst on holiday.

43 - Experience Quad Biking

If the idea of an off-road, mud-churning adrenaline adventure excites you, then look no further than getting out on the quad bikes at Drimsynie Estate. The Quad trails are simply breath-taking – you will enjoy panoramic views over Lochgoilhead whilst blasting through the open hillside and rugged forest terrain.

44 - Dine Out

Dining out is an essential part of a holiday, or a trip away. So it’s important that you browse around, and pick a café or restaurant that suits your taste buds. Hunters Bar & Grill – at Hunters Quay Holiday Village, Drimsynie Estate’s Rob Roy Lounge, and The Goil Inn all offer delicious bar meals prepared by experienced chefs. Whether you’re after West coast fish & chips, or spicy Mexican enchiladas, you’ll be sorted.

45 - Captain Your Own Boat

Nestled on the shores of Loch Goil, Loch Goil Cruisers have a fleet of day boats for hire that are perfect for enjoying the stunning scenery, the diverse wildlife, on-board picnic-ing and fishing. Take your own boat out with friends or family come rain or shine, and enjoy all that this stunning loch has to offer. Guests of Argyll Holidays can take advantage of free fishing rod hire.* 

46 - Attend a Sheep Show

Argyll is rich in farm life, so you can do worse than to attend a local sheep show to revel in the local culture. Taking place at Corrow Farm on 22nd July from 130pm, Argyll Holidays 50th Anniversary Sheep Show offers just that – with sheep dog trials, sheep shearing demonstrations and even a good old-fashioned tug ‘o war, you’ll be sure to have a great time.

47 - Go on a Road-trip

What better than grabbing the keys, jumping in the car, and going on a road-trip? Well, there’s plenty of country roads and fascinating drives throughout Argyll. We’d recommend the secret coast, which is an area of natural beauty, consisting of wild and rugged land (and sea), perfect for a photo opportunity. Click here for more information on the secret coast 

48 - Play a Round of Golf

There are ample opportunities for a round of golf within Argyll & the Isles, with some of the most scenic and well-kept courses in the country that’s home to the famous game. Drimsynie Estate is home to its very own 9-hole golf course overlooking Loch Goil. This great little course spans 3604 yards, is a Par 62 and is open all year round.

49 - Tour a Farming Township

Step back in time and discover Scotland’s rural history at Auchindrain, just a short drive from Inveraray. Auchindrain is the most complete and well-preserved example of a Scottish Highland farm township, and offers a deep insight into way of life for inhabitants of the this area, deep in the hills of Argyll. Argyll Holidays guests can enjoy 20% off entry.*

50 - Walk on Water

With Argyll Holidays WaterWalkerz, you can experience a thrill like no other. Located at Hunters Quay & Drimsynie Estate, try and try again to walk, balance and run inside a giant inflatable ball on the water – it can be trickier than it looks!

With all of these, and so much more to do in Argyll over the summer, it’s the perfect time to book an Argyll Escape - you can view the latest deals on short breaks to Argyll here.

*T&Cs apply. For more information click here.

[wonderfull800-blog]

Dress him up any way you like by choosing from a wide selection of fur colors, hats and glasses. Even so, it can be slowed down by properly working out your brain and this can be completed by playing memory games. But ever considering the fact that the evasi0n7 jailbreak came, I decided to stop posting my visite site get more read more visite site far more hacks from now on. Basically upload your game directly to the Addicting Games website working with the game submission form We'll take a peek, and if it checks out, we'll promote it on our internet site, give you all the credit and hyperlink back to your internet site. Carnal Cards: For a common deck of cards, make a list of foreplay or sex play activities corresponding to each card (52), colored card (26 red & black) or worth Ace to King (13). The mobile games are usually constructed for the operating technique that the phones have. Federal servers typically host the games that permit quantity of users to play simultaneously at the exact same time as is necessary in huge players games like Ever Quest. The most effective point to do is to have an understanding of what sort of hacks your game is vulnerable to. Post your very best time to the leaderboards and unlock achievements with full Game Center help. The Hack Tool for Dragon Land also work for Android, iOS and Facebook which you decide on prior to applying the generator and comply with the instructions. While this was much more widespread in the past, contemporary games are created with robustness against network and packet modifications, and the terms of service for most games explicitly forbid this form of cheating. It certainly works on Tiny Village , and an individual else had results with Fantasy Town , but some have pointed out it does not perform with My Small Pony , Tiny Empire , or DragonVale Really feel totally free to tell us which games worked for you in the comments below.

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[ask-de-writer]

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROM : Origin of the Rom, part 7 :  MLP Fan Fiction : Part 3 of 6

A Brief History of the Rom and Their Customs

Or:

How Luna and Celestia Discovered the Rom of the Equestrian Roads

the Seventh part in the origin of the Rom

ORIGIN OF THE ROM SERIES in reading order.  (will be completed as the stories are posted in linked form)

Part One : NORE’S CHOICE, which starts HERE

Part Two : WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA! which starts HERE

Part Three : FAIR AND UN-FAIR, which starts HERE

Part Four : ON THE ROADS OF EQUESTRIA, which starts HERE

Part Five : THE FIRST ROM HEARTHWARMING,  which starts HERE

Part Six : SANDO’S LAKE, which starts HERE

Part Seven : A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROM, which starts HERE

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

© 2014 by Glen Ten-Eyck

Cover art by Alte Seele

17062 words

Writing begun 04/28/14

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author. //////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Gently, she returned to Carolan and said, “I begin to see what you mean. If these petty nobles in my Guard are so rude and unpleasant to me, in public yet, what must they be like to the ones that they consider inferior? Supposedly they are under military discipline and have orders to serve me, their Princess. Instead, they interrupt and try to dictate to me. It must be far worse for you.

“Now, we are far from what I wanted, which was simply to hear some of your music and to learn about your - - instrument. I can see that it is not a harp. Where may I get one?”

Blind Carolan could sense that under the Princess’ calm something truly monstrous was stirring. Still, he pointed down the Midway a few booths. “This that I play is a lyre. There is the booth of Sa-Inat the luthier. He makes all manner of instruments besides lyres. He trades to both the music of ponies and Rom. His prices are most reasonable for such fine workmanship.

“The tune that you want me to play is called the Two Green Vines.”

Carolan readied his lyre and began with a strumming stroke from high notes to the bass strings. He began to dexterously pluck the the tune. Luna’s forehooves did unconsciously begin to dance, raising little puffs of midway dust. Her face settled into a true smile as she relaxed.

A pair of mares in gorgeous sashes, harness and plumes, approached to the tinkle of bells hung from parts of their harnesses. They awaited the ending of the tune.

They curtsied to Princess Luna and asked, “Our pardon please, Princess. We wish to borrow Carolan for some dance music …”

One of the Guard officiously tried to butt in, snapping, “Go away, you Rom Trash! The Princess is …” was as far as he got.

Midnight magic, so dark as to be near black and shot through with stars that looked more like the corrupt light given by a rotting corpse, slammed him back into the formation! He was driven so hard that his hinder hooves sank into the turf enough to trip him up and make an armor clattering nine-pins strike of the whole formation!

Luna turned to the Guard as they picked themselves up. Her usually blue eyes had gone to the pale glowing light of corruption. The Guard could see the fangs in her mouth as she Canterlot Voiced, for all to hear, “FIVE PACES BACK AND SILENT! How is that too hard for you? Are you Nobles so worthless that you cannot follow the SIMPLEST OF ORDERS?”

Turning back to the shocked dancers, Luna smiled her normal sweet smile and said, “Please, forgive the interruption. Some ponies never grew up to good manners and need the occasional slap on the butt to keep them in line. A few are so utterly stupid and useless that nothing can penetrate the armor of their Place In Society.

“You wanted Carolan to play some dances for you? I do think that I would love to see and hear that!

“Here, Carolan, I almost forgot because I had to discipline these unruly idiots that masquerade as my Guard.” She dropped another two golden bits into his change box.

One of the dancers, wide eyed at the sight of gold in Carolan’s box, helped the blind lyrist to his feet as she whispered into his ear, “Five golden bits she has given you!”

He leaned on the mare for guidance. The other gathered his blanket, change box and Lyre. Luna observed, from the familiarity with which they did it, that this was a common thing for them to do.

Luna approved entirely. The able helping the less able so that those could make themselves an honest living.

She happily trotted along behind the mares and Carolan.

They came to a cleared space, staked and roped off. The mares fussed over helping Carolan to get ready. There was a drummer and a flutist already waiting.

Rom standing about tilted their heads back and emitted loud trills as the mares took the center of the dancing area. The drummer started to lead off with a sensuous beat.

One of Luna’s Guard let out a loud fart sounding raspberry. Luna spun about on her hind legs, eyes aflame, if the phosphorescence of corruption could be likened to a flame. Her horn blazed with a putrid white magic, shot through with streamers of pus like green.

Her striking forehooves crushed in Sargent Hopwell’s brestplate like tinfoil. The slime-like magic siezed his hind hooves and pulled them forward between his forehooves, flipping him flat onto his back.

The magic lifted the hapless Hopwell by his hindhooves and dropped him headfirst into a garbage bin. Her roar was not merely the Royal Canterlot voice. Her voice housed the roars of every predator ever to strike fear into a pony as she demanded, “SILENCE! I SHALL BE VIOLENT WITH THE NEXT TO INTERRUPT!”

Turning back to the Rom, she said, in the gentle tones usually associated with Princess Luna, “Pray forgive the disturbance. My Guard has made me utterly ashamed of the nobility of Equestria. Your Princess begs you to forgive the need to discipline them like the motherless brats that they are behaving as.

“Please honor me with restarting the tune and dance.”

The dancers made a quite good curtsy to Luna and hit their opening poses again. This time the only interruption was Sargent Hopwell’s hooves scrabbling for purchase as he struggled to free himself from the garbage bin.

The dancers swayed and began to spin. From some hidden place they produced long gauzy veils that swirled about as if they had a life of their own. The dancers seemed to almost float above the ground at times. At others, their stamping hooves raised small clouds of midway dust.

When the dance was done, the dancers were in a deep bow toward the Princess. All about them, the horns of the Rom tilted back as they raised their heads and trilled loudly. Watching ponies clapped their hooves.

Luna, catching that the trill was the Rom version of applause, tilted back her head and trilled too. A number of the watching ponies, seeing the Princess trill, stopped clapping and trilled too.

Luna, smiling broadly, Luna gave each of the performers, including the musicians, another golden bit. She got up and walked over to blind Carolan and gave him his bit in person.

For once, following orders, her Guard stayed in tight formation five paces behind her and silent. They were glaring menacingly in all directions.

Smiling happily she asked, “Do you have many dances such as that one?”

The dancers shrugged, “Perhaps as many as a hundred and fifty discrete dances. We also do dance medleys and some simple free form dances, just for fun.”

“That is wonderful. Would your troupe be willing to perform for me up in the palace?”

The dancers and musicians looked at each other uncomfortably. Finally it was blind Carolan who spoke. “There are laws against it, Princess. Neither Canterlot nor any other town will allow us into it, save for passage on a Royal Road.

“It is against Rom traditions too. We do not go closer to Canterlot than the shadow of its walls. It has always been so, for so long as Rom have been on the Roads of Equestria.”

The Major, hearing Carolan, began to grin meanly.

“I regret to say this, Princess, but given that the laws forbid it already, we have to say that we do not wish to break the laws.”

Luna was just starting to say, “I see …” When the Major and the Guard charged past her screaming, “TREASON! Take the Traitors! They have all defied the Princess!”

She heard the splintering crash of Carolan’s lyre being destroyed. There were the screams of injured and horrified horses. She cold hear the thud of hard bucking blows and the breaking of bones. She smelled blood …

She yelled at the Guard in the loudest Royal Canterlot Voice, “Halt! Formation, NOW!”

She saw the grinning Major look up from pummeling the blind Carolan. “Can’t, Princess! Gotta take care of this nest of traitors first!”

The next sound that the Guard heard was a roar, so loud that it dislodged stones from the cliff of Canterlot’s mountain. It left searing frost behind it as the voice of the Embodiment of All Nightmares ordered, “FORMATION, NOW!”

The Major looked up from his assault on the helpless. It was not Luna there. It was not the Alicorn Nighmare Moon that he expected. No.

Reared onto her hind legs was the True Embodiment of All Nightmares. Her eyes flamed with a color that could only be called the phosphorescence of decay. Her forehooves were glowing flame. She was so black that there was no way to distinguish details that were not outlined, like the huge bat-like wings, the fangs, the magic pale, rotting corpse like and shot through with a greenish slime, already gathered about a horn longer than the Major was tall.

Simply to look at her was to know the terror of the worst nightmare that any seeing her had ever experienced.

Most of the Guard were sprinting to make formation. Sargent Hopwell was holding two mares by force and trying to clear his armor. Without looking up, he snapped back at the voice, “Got couple of Whorses! Be there as soon as I gets a little fun!”

For those watching, it was a scene out of nightmare. A living scene in a living nightmare. Hopwell struggled with the mares and strove to get his armor out of the way of his “fun.” The True Embodiment of All Nightmares took a single stride in his direction. As in a nightmare, the stride covered all the ground between them. A hoof of flame rose and slammed down.

There was the sickening crashing crunch of failing metal. The stench of burning flesh. The stench of splattered guts. Sargent Hopwell’s back plate was level with the ground. It was glowing red hot in the shape of a gigantic hoof print. His gore and blood burst out between the plates of the shattered armor.

The True Nightmare grabbed a hind hoof sticking up at an impossible angle. She ripped the corpse from the ground and hurled it at the formation. His mangled body hit, bounced once, and came to rest exactly at his position in the rank.

The Major, whose real battle experience was nil, was frozen to the spot, straddling the blind Carolan. He was staring directly at the Monster of all nightmares and he was terrified to paralysis. He saw the monster turn his way and begin a stride.

He ran, gibbering in horror, to the formation. He got there only fractions of a second ahead of the Nightmare beast. He stood in his exact spot, rooted there, shivering. He could not take his eyes from the still glowing, shattered armor that held Hopwell’s body.

Luna’s normal and gentle voice coming from the monster that was no longer pony like at all, though it still had a horn and bat wings, caused the surviving Guard to quake where they stood. She said softly, “Explain yourselves. You cried treason. What treason was there?”

Fearfully biting a lip because he feared a trap in the simple question, the Major swallowed hard and replied, “They refused your order for a command performance at the palace, Your Highness.”

“They did? I was not aware of it. I made no such order.”

“You asked them if they wanted to perform. Your request is an order. They defied you. We gave them the punishment due to traitors.”

Flatly, Luna’s gentle voice declared, “I asked a preference which they answered honestly. You have said that my request is an order. Defiance of my request is treason subject to violent punishment before an arrest or a trial. These things you have just said.

“Since leaving the palace you have been constantly ORDERED to remain five paces behind me and NOT INTERFERE in my conversations with my subjects. You have defied me. You are traitors. You shall receive the harm that you have given!”

The ghastly form of the True Embodiment of All Nightmares reared before him. A vast flaming hoof swung. The Major flew across the Midway. He hit a tree to the crunch of smashing metal. Ribs breaking and leg bones shattering were clearly heard. The Major fell to the tree’s roots. The glowing hot hoof print on his breastplate started some of the grass there to burning but it was green and went out quickly.

The True Embodiment of All Nightmares surveyed the scene of carnage. There were the shattered instruments of the musicians. Carolan’s beautiful lyre in a shatter of fragments and tangled strings. The Lovely dancers, one with a broken foreleg, the other with two. An uninjured curved horn mare cradling Carolan’s head and weeping.

Luna’s eyes looked out of the Nightmare. Speaking with complete concern, she asked, “What is it? How bad are his injuries?”

As the mare looked up, she realized that, of all that monster, her eyes were safe to see. She wept, “He is dying. I can hear his lungs bubbling.”

Still looking the mare directly in the eyes, Luna replied, “I used to be a very good battlefield surgeon. Do not be afraid of my magic. The color is only a seeming.” Her magic, looking like the pus of a rotting corpse, settled into Carolan. Soon she withdrew it.

“If I am to save him, I will need help. It is far easier to become a Nightmare than it is to awaken from it. I will call for help now.”

Up in the palace, Celestia was in a huddle with both Guards and Regular Equestrian Army. The wide spaces of the throne room smelled of smoke. She was saying, “General, your troops are doing an admirable job. You have the list. Carry on with sealing the city and sending pegatroopers to the estates of any who you have any doubt might escape.

“We all heard my sister’s order to Formation. She cannot use that voice unless the Nightmare has emerged. She promised me, at the end of the last Nightmare War that she would never allow it again unless at the greatest need. I fear something terrible has happen …”

The roar shook the mountain. Hoarfrost formed on all the walls and the hearers were rooted with a plain to see terror.

“Celestia! Come quickly! I need you!” It was a voice freighted with the inescapable grief of a Nightmare with no awakening. It found some purchase out on the plains and it echoed back to the mountain’s side, “Celestia! Come quickly! I need you!” The grief of it reverberating back and forth from Mountain to plains and back.

Of the hearers, Celestia alone raised her head. Magic of the sun and day boosted a return call that was near equally loud. “I am coming, my Sister! I am on my way!”

General Hurricane V shivered but came straight to the point. “That was not the Nightmare Moon, was it, Princess? It was a far worse thing, I would guess.”

“You are correct, General. The Alicorn, Nightmare Moon, could never have stood against us through the ten years of the Nightmare Wars. She was a fiction to help allay the fears of the populace. This is the Embodiment of All Nightmares. She is my sister and I must go! I trust you to finish the work that we have begun.”

She spun about and sprinted for a balcony of the Throne Room, her Guards behind her. She turned to them and said, “These are your orders. Do no thing to interfere with the Nightmare or what it is doing. NO THING AT ALL. You simply find me a safe landing spot as close to the Nightmare as possible and secure it for me.

“Launch!”

The Guards leaped and began the fast stooping dive to the Canterlot Fairground, far below. Celestia was close behind them. A few hundred feet up, the big Alicorn banked off into a circle while her Guard found the safe spot and landed, forcing the few civilians there out of the way, to safety.

Celestia dropped down hard, like a striking hawk to her landing. Bunching, she jumped past her Guard, landed and jumped again. She was beside the Monster that her sister presently was.

All that she said was, “How can I help you, Luna?”

Weeping tears of blood and fire, a flaming hoof pointed to Carolan. “I need to awaken from the Nightmare and awakening will be too slow to save him.”

Not questioning her sister’s reasons, Celestia gathered her magic of many hues and enwrapped her sister in it. As her magic entered, the Embodiment of All Nightmares began to shrink and turn to a familiar dark midnight blue. In seconds, it was Princess Luna who stood there.

Her magic quickly gathered her new kitchen knife set as she sprinted for the fallen Lyrist. She told the mare, “Please keep holding his head. Keep his mouth open and tongue out so that it cannot block his breathing. I will make him sleep deeply so that he will not move. I am going to have to physically cut into his chest to fix this, but I can do it if we are in time!”

Celestia came and knelt to Carolan’s other side as Luna’s razor sharp knives began their cuts. Many hued magic reached into the cuts, alongside her sister’s midnight magic. Bleeding was stanched. The cuts opened wide to make Luna’s work easier.

Seeing the astonishment on the mare’s face, Celestia explained gently, “Luna is far the better surgeon of us two. I doubt that there is a better surgeon in all of Equestria. I do well as an operating nurse for her.” She turned back to the delicate but swift work at hoof.

Luna spoke for the first time since the cutting began. In a neutral voice, she said, “I am about to enter his chest. When I do, he will stop breathing. Do not be alarmed.

“Celestia, be very careful as you spread the wound. He has many broken ribs. Some are already damaging his lung. I need them lifted out carefully so that I can seal the injuries. Then, I have to get the blood out of his chest.

“It would help if I had some absorbent cloths to catch it.”

She continued to cut swiftly and with precision. In moments, a gaping hole opened in Carolan’s chest. Some fragments of bone lifted out with care to cause no further damage.

Luna’s normal midnight Magic reached in and damaged bits of lung came out of the wound. A towel caught them. Luna was concentrating ferociously. Sweat began to run on her forehead. A towel caught that too.

Without looking up, she said, “Cloths at the ready. There is a lot of blood in here.”

Her magic was lifting out globs of partly jelled blood. As fast as it came out, it was caught and taken away.

Luna’s magic began to pull severed membranes together all but a small part. Muscles were next. As many hued magic pulled things close, midnight magic brought them to a perfect fit and they sealed together as if never cut.

Luna leaned forward and sucked air out of the hole that she had left. As she sealed it, Carolan’s damaged chest began to heave. The mare holding his head was openly crying.

TO BE CONTINUED

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CRAGENMARE (1 Part) :MLP Fan Fiction : Tales to Read AFTER the Lights are OUT!

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CRAGENMARE

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

559 words

© 2017 by Glen Ten-Eyck

Writing begun 10/12/17

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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It was not a dark and stormy night.  It was nice, with barely any bite of chill.  The Moon shone down indulgently on the usual swarms of Nightmare Nighting foals.  The few thin clouds reflected the light of the moon, which lent them either glowing silver or darker centers with glowing silver outlines.

Down on the cobbled streets of Ponyville, groups of costumed foals escorted by costumed ponies were going door to door, filling the night with their chant of, “Nightmare Night!  What a fright!  Give us something sweet to bite!”

As the many loot bags filled with candy and other treats, the ponies mostly led their charges to the many assorted Nightmare Night parties.

One group made its way up the crags, far out of town, following an antique road that was much fallen to disrepair.  It led to the reputedly haunted ruins of the ancient castle of Cragenmare, supposed home of the spirit of Drastin, cursed hero of Cragenmare.  

It was well known that Drastin had finally found his true rest, his ancient curse finally ended.  That was now centuries past but, as with any good tale, many believed the ruin to be haunted by many of the other arrogant nobles of that long past age, before Cragenmare had been made a part of the peaceful realm of Equestria, centuries before the settlement of Ponyville.

Tired fillies and colts finally made it to the forbidding archway in the crumbling, moss grown wall of Cragenmare.  Everywhere that they looked, the thousand years and more since it was abandoned were apparent.  Brush and OLD trees had pried up the stone pave of the courtyard, seeking secure root hold.

Though the antique doors were long fallen, the aged feasting hall was still in surprisingly good repair.  The roof of stone slate shingles had done well at keeping the worst of foul weather out, allowing the monster beams that held up the roof to cure with age, rather than rot away.

Stone slates had been used to prevent pegasus dropped fire from taking hold and burning the castle.  They and the beams under them now gave a home to the nests of ages of birds.

At floor level, the old central fire ring had a fire in it for the first time in who knew how long?  Its light showed trestle tables set with a plenteous meal.  A good thing altogether.  That much hiking is hungry and thirsty work!

They were attended to by solicitous mares and stallions in the bardings of ancient Cragenmare.  The foals were simply told that they were from out of town.

Besides the feast, there were foal games, ranging from apple ducking to throwing REAL darts with sharp points!  Ring and toss games were popular too!

Finally, the last of the foals were tucked in for a well deserved rest.

In the morning's light, the foals found only their guide and the remains of their feast from last night.

After breaking their fast, the youngsters followed their guide back to the woods at the edge of Ponyville.  There, he let them go to find their homes.

Up in the craggy hills, ancient Cragenmare crouched on its hilltop.  Its many ghosts dreamed of the day to come when they would have done enough good to balance their ancient evils so that they could truly rest at last.

~THE END~

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