Salvatore ferragamo reversible gancini leather belt

First time buyer and reviewer!!! Please be patient with me. Hoping this is useful for the gents or ladies who buy for their gents. (Phewww….these reviews take long! Kudos to you all…). I did buy Prada loafers and a Ferragamo belt, if you ladies want a review, LMK.
● Disclosure - None.
● Seller name / contact info – Tailong https://s.cn/cAkUMa (https://s.wsxc.cn/cAkUMa)
● Price – 95 USD + 50 USD shipping (w/ 2 other items) + 5 USD PPFF
● Payment method - Paypal friend and family
● Shipping carrier / method- Fedex
● Timeline – 5/16 Messaged; 5/18 Factory Photos; 5/24 Paid; 5/29 PSPs wrong side; 6/1 PSPs of right size; 6/1 shipping; 6/8 Arrived
PHOTOS:
● Your own Photos - https://imgur.com/a/4WAI7D4
● PSPs - https://imgur.com/a/YrZLH9K
● Factory Pictures - https://imgur.com/a/AqFVehi
● Authentic Link and Pictures- https://imgur.com/a/4eqWLFZ
REVIEW TEXT:
● Quality numeric rating and assessment – 9/10. This is my first rep purchase through a seller – so overall a great experience. I love the LP look for everyday around town, as well as casual smart work attire. Very nice quality for the price. The shoes smell like leather. They wear very nicely. I am a 267mm foot size – which translates to 8.5 US or 41 EU. I ordered a 41 and it fits perfectly (YAYYYY!!). The shoe and rubber sole feels sturdy – so I am expecting some longevity to this. I bought these to replace a very, VERY, V.E.R.Y. worn out pair of Sperry loafers in brown pebbled leather. I was getting called out by friends and family for having shoes that were falling apart (most comfortable shoes ever!).
● Accuracy numeric rating and assessment – 8/10 There is definitely a difference with authentic and rep. The auth feel sturdier and weighty. Even the rep does, but not to that extent. Look wise – they look identical. The reps are definitely genuine leather. I had to burn some of the leather fuzz with a lighter. The rubber bottoms are the same off-white color. I had gone to our local Neiman Marcus to look at the shoes and try them on before I bought them through Tailong. At the store, I fit a 41 size as well.
● Satisfaction numeric rating and assessment – 10/10. Ladies, you need to stop being so hard on yourselves! We are buying reps that are 5-15% of retail price. I don’t expect the same level of material and finishing and QC that authentic items get vs reps. But I do expect quality enough that I don’t want to be called out and the item not falling apart with few uses. I think they should be okay on both fronts. I will surely come back here if they don’t!
● Seller Review - 10/10! Tailong was great to work with as a first timer, he/she was patient, provided pricing very fast, and was once again, patient. I asked for prices for so many items but ended up buying only a few. I had first asked for a 42 size, then asked for a 41. He/she had already gotten the 42 from the factory but changed them out to a 41 without ANY issues. They also provided different factories with different price points – which I appreciated. Would definitely recommend for first-timers.
CPR: 9/10. Could I have gone with fisherman for $120 and gotten better, probably. But for the price, and the look, I’m happy.
WRAP UP: I will be wearing these happily around town and to work. Overall a great first purchase experience.

Key word variety, not just looking for who has belts.
Nordstrom Rack used to have a ton of variety in men’s belts, now every rack has basically four brands with no variety other than golf, black and brown leather reversible.
I’ve searched the malls, Target, etc but they all have very standard two options and very little else. Have noticed even thrift stores have less options.
I enjoy fashion and like white belts, blue belts, cross stitch, etc.
But having difficulty finding anywhere with variety.
Maybe it’s just not possible anymore because of online (and yes I know I can shop online just tired of the hassle of returning if it isn’t what I like in the end)
Any suggestions?

I wanted to use this OC for a fic but i still need to get around that so imma drop it here for shit and giggles.
I'm following the template given by this subreddit.
====Personal Info====
Name: Paul Shinosore
Gender: Male
Age (Biological): 25
Birthday: 13/03/2035
Occupation: Criminal/Vigilante
Net worth: Rich
Height: 150 cm
Weight: 77 Kg
Hair color: Blue (turns bright or dark pink when using his quirk).
Haircut: Long surfer hair
Facial Hair: none
Eye Color: Blue (turns bright Pink when using quirk).
Skin color: flesh pink
Blood Type: A-
Distinguishing physical feature: There is a fist sized scar on the left side of his cranium where his hair stopped growing, the rest of his hair hides it well, but it's still noticeable.
====Bio====
Personal Strengths: He's very kind and fun to the people he considers friends or family, he also always strives to fulfill his promises.
Personal Weaknesses: He doesn't care about hurting people he doesn't consider friends, he thinks that "as long as they live they're fine" which results in many broken bones, and destroyed buildings. He smokes cigars.
Attitude: Always trying to have a good time and he's always trying to find solutions to his friend's problems.
Likes: Cigars, Parties, drinking, fooling around, shooting things, food in general but he prefers his Cook friend's food, being free to do whatever he wants.
Dislikes: Laws, heroes, murderers for the sake of being murderers, hitmen, dick people in general, AFO, OFA holders (mainly All Might since the guy tried to arrest him multiple times).
Habits: Smoking Cigars, travelling the world.
Fears: Thanatophobia, he fears dying or letting other people that aren't deserving die.
Reason for becoming a Villain: He doesn't like following the laws, he's also involved with many destructive fights, he also killed a few Villains in the past.
Relationship with peers: He and his closest friends mostly live together and have formed a Villain Team to make money, he likes all of them and they like to have fun with him and eachother, he considers them family.
Relationship with Family: his parents are long dead but he never really cared about them since he considers his friends more of a family than a friend group.
Relationship Status: He's an Ex-boyfriend
Number of kids: 0(Biological)+1(adopted)
Backstory (not all of it cuz it's for my fic): He was born 20 years after the first quirks started appearing. In this age quirks weren't as highly regarded as nowadays, quirked individuals were treated like monsters or weapons to use in the military.
The moment Paul manifested his quirk at age 3 his parents decided they didn't want him anymore, so they dropped him to an orphanage and were never seen again.
Inside the orphanage he was ostracized along with his only two friends, Sasaki and Adam, who were also quirked like him, Sasaki id able to secrete a liquid that heals injuries and Adam is incredibly smart and is able to inhabit electronic devices like a ghost, he lives in the orphanage till he's 14.
An accident happens with the other kids in which one of them leaves Paul on deaths door, but his friends were able to save him thanks to their quirks, however this experience leaves him so traumatized he decides to go away from the orphanage, saying goodbye to his friends he leaves in the middle of the night.
Fast forward to 11 years later and he has just been fired from his latest job, everything is going to shit, and he feels like shit because he knows he'll get old and die, he's in a weird limbo of wanting to die and wanting live at the same time, however he gets to meet his old friends again and they offer him a deal he can't pass.
The two have run some experiments on the healing quirk of Sasaki and they found out that if one is immerged inside the liquid long enough it reverses the aging process of the body and since they know how traumatized he was of death and wanting to have fun together like old times, they tell him he could join them in this reverse aging process that way they'll forever together.
Paul, wanting to rebuild their friendship and wanting to live forever, accepts.
And they go on to live up until present days, having many adventures and meeting new people, some joining them, some don't...
to be continued
====Quirk Information====
Quirk Name: Psychokinesis
Quirk Type: Emitter, (Transformation[?]), Accumulation.
Quirk Range: Sight Based
Quirk Description: His brain is connected to a smaller organ which serves to amplify and manipulate his psychic energy which he uses to telekinetically move the objects he sees, his energy can interact with an object's atoms to move them.
Being a mind based Quirk the user's emotions affect the quirk's behavior, for example, if Paul gets very angry the air around him starts to heat up as an intimidating tactic to ward off whatever it is that's pissing him off.
He can move everything in his body with his psychic energy, mainly used to not bleed to death when wounded, but it's also used to lift himself up in the air mimicking flight.
He can turn his psychic energy into fuel for his Scarlet Flame Style attacks (more on that later).
The quirk gets stronger with time similarly to OFA.
Miscellaneous Quirk Info: His hair turns pink depending on how much of his quirk he's using.
His eyes turn instantly bright pink when he's about to use or is using his quirk.
He can technically enter people's minds if he bypasses the natural psychic barrier people have.
Whenever he lights something on fire it produces red colored smoke.
Quirk Strenghts: The quirk gets stronger with time and the amount of uses is limited only by how smart the user is at using it, if the user is smart, the quirk can be unpredictable and very powerful.
Quirk Weaknesses: The user may receive painful headaches if he uses too much energy all at once.
The hair and eyes changing color are an obvious telling for when the user is about to strike.
He can't interact with other people's bodies since every person technically generates their own signature psychic energy that covers their whole body and to bypass that it would take literal hours, so it's pretty inefficient unless the target is unconcious or trapped.
Special Moves:
Heat Wave: Paul uses his quirk to move the atoms in the air heating up everything in his vicinity and then sending it towards the enemy, based off of whenever he gets angry, usually used after getting pissed off.
Golem: Paul utilizes the materials around him to build a Golem to fight for him, mainly used to play against his opponents.
Psychic Muscular System: Paul spreads his psychic energy evenly in his body, then he shapes said energy as muscles and uses it to enhance his body's speed, power and durability.
Concentrated Power Fist: Paul concentrates all of his energy in his arm and punches the enemy with immense force, the amount of energy in his arm crushes his bones so it's mainly used as a finishing move or a desperate move.
Air Blast: Paul concentrates air in the palm of his and and launches at his opponent, blasting them away.
Toughening: Paul uses his psychic energy to make himself or an object tougher, used for defensive purposes and to make his weapon very hard to break.
Room Temperature: Paul uses his psychic energy to slow down or quicken his atoms making his body colder or hotter on demand, creating a solution against fire or ice users.
Metal Shifting: By heating up metal he can easily shift it into other shapes before cooling it down.
Scarlet Flame Style
By using his quirk Paul can turn his psychic energy into a flammable source, he can then create a Scarlet colored fire that burns as long as he keeps fueling it his energy, this fire burns much hotter, much faster than if he tried to heat something up by moving it's atoms, the only downside being he drains a lot of his energy, meaning if he uses it too much he'll be unable to fight for a while.
Paul can manipulate the flame to stick on his opponents clothes or skin, making it very painful for them
Scarlet Flame Style: Fire Fist: Paul coats his fists in fire, it gives more speed and power to his punches, it also sets his enemies on fire. Can be used interchangeably with the next special move.
Scarlet Flame Style: Explosive Fire fist: Paul coats his fists in fire, and when he is about to punch the enemy, he fuels energy to his fire making it explode. Can be used interchangeably with the previous special move.
Scarlet Flame Style: FlameRain: Paul flies in the air and throws fire all over the battlefield, covering it in flames and making it hard to traverse on the ground.
Scarlet Flame Style: Flame Breath: Paul breathes in air and spews fire from his mouth. This move is mainly used to catch people off guard when being grabbed.
Scarlet Flame Style: Ultimate move: Supernova: Paul sneakily generates a giant flaming ball above the battlefield.
After the fire ball has grown big enough Paul flies inside of the ball and flies at max speed, fists first (kinda like superman), crashing into the enemy while carrying the fire ball.
Downsides
This attack needs time to be set up and it uses all of Paul's energy to attack, so it's used as a One-Hit-K.O. finishing move.
While charging the move Paul gets progressively weaker therefore he needs to run from his enemy or buy time somehow.
This move causes a lot of collateral damage, melting and destroying the surroundings.
If the enemy notices the fire ball in the sky they may try to beat Paul faster and finish the fight quicker or try to destroy the fireball.
After this attack is used, Paul will not be able to fight.
Age Quirk Obtained: 3 Years old
How the quirk first manifested: he lifted his father's desk while he was playing with letter cubes.
====Villain Information====
Villain Name: Paul.
Villain Team: The Scarlet Troupe.
Costume: A long black cloak that covers his entire upper body and reaches his shins, with Golden stripes on the edges, it's held together on the base of the neck by a pin with a blue gem in it.
Leather arm bracers.
Belt with an holster and a small ball shaped bag able to hold 15 kgs.
Sometimes wears a black medical mask and sunglasses when he needs to conceal his identity.
Gadgets/Tech/Weapons: A smart watch with a built in map in it, it's connected to his teammates watches and it's used to locate them in real time.
A Small 15 kgs metal ball used by Paul to shapeshift it in any weapon he needs, he prefers using spears, tridents and the sorts.
A S&W 350 Revolver he carries around just for show since he can output much more power with his quirk, however he can use his quirk to redirect bullets into the enemy, so it has it's uses.
It's also very useful to shut people up whenever they're being too loud or having an argument without letting him talk, just shoot in the ground so no one gets hurt.
------O-------
I wanted to ask can i post more than one OC? Cause i wanted to post all of the "Scarlet Troupe" Villain team and the rules are not clear on this sub. Also English ain't my first language so if you see errors, you know why. (Writing this on reddit is a pain ngl)

video of the glitch: https://streamable.com/ququks
I have tried:
- reinstalling XPMSE
- running Nemesis
- Reinstalling Skyrim
none of it works to fix it.
If I run FNIS at the same time as Nemesis the jump works, but then I can't use MCO, wich for me doesnt work.
Modlist is here:
(Part 1) SSE Engine Fixes for 1.5.39 - 1.5.97

1. Ultimate HD Fire Effects SSE - Ultra Resolution

A Quality World Map - Classic with All Roads
AC Valhalla Inspired Animation For All Races
AC Valhalla Inspired Animations For Player Only
Achieve That SE English
Address Library
Animation Motion Revolution
Apachii Divine Elegance Store
Apocalypse
Ars Metallica - Smithing Enhancement
Better Jumping SE
Better Third Person Selection (AE - SE)
Beyond Skyrim - Assets
Beyond Skyrim - Bruma
Beyond Skyrim DLC Integration Patch
Billyro's OldSwords
Billyro's Weapons
Bruma and Other Patches for Convenient Horses
Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer -CBBE-
Cannibal Draugr on Solstheim
Complete Crafting Overhaul Remastered
Complete Widescreen Fix for Vanilla and SkyUI 2.2 and 5.2 SE
Convenient Horses
Crafting Categories for SkyUI
customEbonyValkyrie1_2.7z
dTry's Key Utils SE
DynamicAnimationCasting
Elden Power Attack
Elden Rim - Weapon Arts English 1.9.9.2
ENB Helper SE 1.5 for SSE 1.5.97
Enhanced Blood Textures
Equippable Tomes - Belt-Worn Books - Special Edition
EVG Animation Variance
EVG Conditional Idles
Faster HDT-SMP
FSMPV
HD Reflective Ebony Armor and Weapons
Home in a Hat updated
Immersive Armors 8.1 SSE Test
Immersive Equipment Displays for 1.5.39 - 1.6.353
Immersive Equipping Animations
Immersive Interactions
Immersive Weapons
Interesting NPCs 3DNPC
JackGa's Pub - SE
JContainers SE
Kozakowy's Falka Armor UNP - SSE
KS Hairdos - HDT SMP (Physics)
KS Hairdos SSE
LeanWolf's Better-Shaped Weapons - All in One Installer
Legacy of the Dragonborn
Legacy of the Dragonborn Collectors and Vendors
Leviathan Animations II - Sprint
MCM Helper SE (1.5.97 BACKPORT)
MCO Universal Support
Nordic Faces - Complete Version
NORDIC UI - Interface Overhaul
Nordic...ish - A TrueHUD preset based on Nordic UI
Oblivion Camera
Ordinator 9.31.0
Ordinator Beyond Skyrim Bruma Patch
Papyrus Ini Manipulator
PapyrusUtil SE - Scripting Utility Functions
Payload Interpreter
powerofthree's Tweaks
Precision
RaceMenu Anniversary Edition
Realistic Water Two SE
SCAR - Skyrim Combos AI Revolution
Scriptfree Behavior Staggerlock
SkyHUD
Skyrim Unbound Reborn
Skyrim's Paraglider
SkyrimSE HD Reworked Horses
Skyshards
SkyUI_5_2_SE
Smooth Magic Casting Animation
Soaking Wet
Sonderbain's Chevalier - Randomized One Handed Block Animations
Spell Perk Item Distributor
SSE Display Tweaks
Static Mesh Improvement Mod
True Directional Movement
TrueHUD
Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch
Valhalla Combat
Veydogolt Trees
VioLens - A Killmove Mod SE
Visual Animated Enchants 2-023 Se Ae version
Weapon Styles - Draw-Sheath animations
Witchhunter Spells and Prayers Pack - Special Edition
1three-eyed swallowSE
[immyneedscake] BDOR Berserk SSE (Cloth SMP)
Abyss
ABYSSAL BLADE MCO One Handed Moveset and Weapon
Adaliya - High Poly Female Redguard Presets for Racemenu - 2 Versions
AddItemMenuSE_114_SKSE2019
ADXP I MCO Berserker guts Animation
ADXP I MCO elden rim moveset collection (SCAR)
ADXP I MCO ER Katana (SCAR)
ADXP I MCO ER Mixed Scythe (SCAR)
ADXP I MCO ER rapiers (SCAR)
Aldamar - Druid Mushroom Home
Alpha Jab -Unarmed Combat Sounds Rework-
Amber Guard
Amol Village
AnathemaStudio's Elf Ears (Enchantable)
Ancient Land
Ancient Land Patches
Animated Armoury - DAR Version - New Weapons with animations
Animated Armoury - New Weapons with animations SSE Version
Animation Queue Fix
Apachii Divine Elegance Dynamic Outfits For Nobles SPID
Apocalypse - Balance Patch
Armors of the Velothi Pt. II
ARTFUL DODGER - Dynamic Pickpocket Cap
Awesome Potions Simplified -ENB Lights
Awesome Potions Simplified by Revoith
Base Object Swapper
Beast Race Bodypaints SE -Khajiit and Argonian Themed Bodypaints Facepaints RaceMenu Overlays-
Behavior Data Injector
Better Dialogue Controls
Better Falskaar and Wyrmstooth Map With Roads
Better Vampires 8.7 SE
Bijin Skin - CBBE
Bloodborne Pack by Team TAL SSE
BodySlide and Outfit Studio
Bone Colossus- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''undead'')
Bow Charge Plus
Bow_Rapid_Combo_V2_1.4_I_Full
Bright Waterfall Fix for ENB
Campfire - Complete Camping System (Supports Skyrim VR)
Capital Windhelm Expansion
Cathedral - 3D Thicket and Dead Shrub
Cathedral Weathers and Seasons
CBBE SMP (3BBB)
CBPC - Physics with Collisions
CBPC Equipment Physics
CG4 Trees and Bushes SE
Citizens of Tamriel SE
CL's Rapier
Clean up the physics outfit - Collision Reset
Cleaned Skyrim SE Textures
Combat Pathing Revolution
Compass Navigation Overhaul
Comprehensive First Person Animation Overhaul - CFPAO
ConsoleUtilSSE NG
Controlmap.txt Fixed and Cleaned
Convenient Carriages
Corvus - Swords of Nocturnal
Cosmo-War Scythe
Crouch Sliding
Crouch Sliding TUDM Patch - Slide with Your Weapon Drawn
Customizable Camera
Daedric Armor SE
Daedric Shrines - All in One
Dark Brotherhood Armor SE
Dark Souls Pack by Team TAL
Deadly Spell Impacts
Delux ArchMage Quarters plus Mages Kitchen
Detection Meter
Dodge MCO-DXP
Dovahkiin can lean Sit Kneel Lay down and Meditate etc too
Dragon Slayer - Berserk
Dragonbane - Replacer
Drifter Armor and Outfit - My version
Dwarven Colossus - Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''dwemer'')
Dwemer Colosseum SE
DX Cassandra Frost Witch Outfit - UNP
DX Celes Nightingale Armor SSE - with Optional Heels sound and UUNP Bodyslide - Physics - UNP UNPB 7BB DreamGirl Seraphim and More
DX Druid Armor - SSE CBBE BodySlide (with Physics)
DX Druid Armor - UNP
DX Witch Hunter Armor - UNP
DX Witcher Swords - SE
Dynamic Animation Replacer
Dynamic Bow Animation
Dynamic Female Wall Leaning
Dynamic Impact - Slash Effects X
Ebonblade War Axe SE
Elden Power Attack Fix for MCO DXP
Elemental Fist - Brawler weapons
ELFX Shadows
ElSopa - Quivers Redone SE
Elven Silver Daggers by ClipsyMoon
Embers XD
Emeri's Presets All in One
ENB Light Inventory Fix (ELIF)
Enhanced Lights and FX
Eternal Flames
EVG Animated Traversal - Patch Collection
EVG Animated Traversal Addon for Windhelm Capital Expansion
EVG Animated Traversal Skyrim Integration Patch
Eviscerate
Experience
Experience - MCM
Expressive Facegen Morphs SE
Expressive Facial Animation - Female Edition
Facial Piercings SSE
Faction - Pit Fighter
Falconer Armor SE
Falskaar
Female Makeup Suite - Face - RaceMenu Overlays of Eyeliner EyeShadow Contours and Highlights - Special Edition
Ferrum Nibenis
Festus Krex Insideout Spell
FileAccess Interface for Skyrim SE Scripts - FISSES
Footsteps Sounds Overhaul
Functional Fearsome Fists - Innate Unarmed Boost
God of War Leviathan Axe
Goetia Animations - Magic Spell Casting
Granite Hill Village
Gravelords- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''dark souls'')
Griffith Armour SSE fixed and updated
HDT-SMP Infantry Armor Patch
HDT-SMP Three-eyed Swallow Armor Patch
HDT-SMP Traveler's Backpack
Hearthfire multiple adoptions - Now with custom home support for kids and spouse
Hellblade - Timed Block
High Elf Archer (Goblin Slayer) - Jinxxed Followers SSE
High Minotaurs - Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''eso'')
High Poly Head SE
High-Poly Inigo Replacer
Highly Improved Male Body Overhaul
Hogwarts in Skyrim
Hot Key Skill
House Cats- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''pet'')
Hydra's Reversed Daggers
IFrame Generator RE
Ilieh - Cry of the Damned
Immersive Diving Animation
Immersive World Encounters SE
Imps SE
Infantry Armor SE
Infinity UI
INIGO
Inquisitor HDT-SMP Armor
Inventory Interface Information Injector
Ish's Respec Mod
JaySuS Swords SE
JK's Whiterun V1.4b - SSE
JS Unique Utopia SE - Daggers
Judgement Cut End - ap05's Remake
Khajiit Eyes Extended - Khajiit Heterochromia and More
Khajiit Has Wares - A Caravan Camp Overhaul
Khajiit Overhaul SSE Unofficial Port
Knight Winds
Kurone Bell Bodyslide Preset (CBBE 3BA) And (3BA V's Cut)
Lamenthia's Marks of Beauty
Leather Armors Retexture SE
Legendary Alpha Shields
Leviathan Animations II - Female Idle Walk And Run
Leviathan Animations II - Male Idle Walk And Run
Light and Shade SE
Lupus - Swords of Hircine
Mage Backpack SSE
Magical College of Winterhold
Maleficus' Traversal (EVGAT)
Master The Summit
Max's Season 2 - RaceMenu Presets - High Poly - Low Poly - Male - Female
MEMOSPORE - UI Sound Effects
Menu Maid 2 - MCM manager
Mikan Eyes - SE
Missives
Missives - Notes Retexture
monster race crash fix
Moon Monk's Robes
Multiple Followers Framework
Mythic Dawn armor SE
Natura
New Weynon
Nicos Craftable Arrows SSE
No Recoil
No Thieves Guild Grind
Nocturnal Moths
Northern God Armor SE
Oakwood
Odium - Swords of Molag Bal
Ogres SE
Old Gods of the Hunt- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''the witcher'')
Opulent Thieves Guild
Particle Patch for ENB
powerofthree's Papyrus Extender
Project ja-Kha'jay
Quality Over Quantity - KS Hairdo's Reduced Plus HG
QuickLoot EE
RaceMenu High Heels (Height Fixes)
Raven HDT-SMP Armor
Realistic Aspen Trees SE
Redguard F Hair Grouped and Replacer
Relationship Dialogue Overhaul - RDO SE
Reversed Daggers Moveset for MCO
Ryn's Dragon Mounds Collection
Ryn's Sleeping Giant Inn
s6o6t LORE - Dark Anchors Ruins and Dolmens
Security Overhaul SKSE - Lock Variations
Security Overhaul SKSE - Regional Locks
SG Female Eyebrows
Show Player In Menus
Silver Armor SE
Simple Dual Sheath
Sindora's Hidden Hearth
SkyALERT - Detection Meter Redesign
Skyland AIO
Skyland Blacksmith Texture Overhaul
Skyrim Immersive Creatures Special Edition
Skyrim Search SE - Simply find your missing followers
Skyshards Offer Skills - Boss Containers Grant EXP
SmoothCam
SmoothCam - EasyEase Preset
Sons of Skyrim
Sprint Sneak Movement Speed Fix
Sswaye's Revenant's Sword Moveset ADXP I MCO DAR
Stave Church of Skyrim
Store Entrance Doorbells
Storm Golem- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''atronach'')
Storm Lightning for SSE and VR (Minty Lightning 2019)
Strange Runes
The Eyes Of Beauty SSE
The Welkynar Knight - Quest
To Your Face SE - AE - VR
Triss Armor Retextured SE
Triumvirate - Mage Archetypes
TUDM - Script Fixes
UIExtensions
Unarmed Moveset for MCO
Unique Bows Collection
Valkyr HDT-SMP Hairstyles
Vampire Beasts- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''the witcher'')
Vanguard - Bash Behaviors Overhaul
VIGILANT SEAE
VIGILANT Voiced - English Addon
Way of the Monk -Unarmed Combat - Extended
Whiterun Horse Statue
Wild Witch
Wind Ruler Armor SE
Wind Ruler Armor SE - hdt-SMP Patch
Windhelm Bridge Revived
Wyrmstooth
(ESL)HDT-SMP Daedric Armor Patch (4thUnknown Version)
3D Junipers - Trees and Berries
Adventurer HDT-SMP Armor
Air Dash Whirlwind Sprint
Airgetlam - Shouts SFX -
Airgetlam -Modern Magic Sounds Rework- 4.1 Redesigned
Better Ferns
Cabbage - A Cabbage Mod
Calling of the Conjurer
Cathedral - 3D Clover Plant
Constellation Magic
Dear Diary Dark Mode (warm text)
Diverse Dragons Collection SE (DDCse)
Dragon Animation Replace in Special Edition
DX Witcher Armor - UNP
Dynamic Fus Ro Dah
Dynamic Random Spell Idle
Dynamic Whirlwind Sprint
Elden Equip
ElSopa HD Shields Part I
Flame Atronach SE
For Honor in Skyrim I Centurion
For Honor in Skyrim I Gryphon
For Honor in Skyrim I Warden
For Honor in Skyrim I Warlord I Sword and shield I MCO Animation
Frankly HD Masque of Clavicus Vile
Frozen Electrocuted Combustion
Fuz Ro D-oh - Silent Voice
GoT Dragons (A Game of Thrones)
HDT SMP beast race tail
Instantly Skip Dialogue NG
Izba - An Herbalist's Cabin in the Woods
JK's Arcadia's Cauldron
JK's Belethor's General Goods
JK's Bits and Pieces
JK's Blue Palace
JK's Dragonsreach
JK's Palace of the Kings
JK's Radiant Raiment
JK's Skyrim
JK's The Bannered Mare
JK's The Drunken Huntsman
JK's The Winking Skeever
JRC's Witcher Style Sword Pack
Jump Behavior Overhaul SE
Jumping Attack
Kharoxia Armor
Landscapes - Cathedral Concept
League of Assassins Armor
Less Boring Loading Screens - SE-AE
Lux - Via
Markarth - City of Stone
Mysticism - A Magic Overhaul
Nirnroot by Mari
NPCs React To Invisibility
Rainbows Remade
Realistic Skin And Hair Shaders - Giants
Realistic Skin Shaders - Falmer and Hagravens
Remote Interactions
Ryn's Western Watchtower
Skyrim Platform
Spaghetti's Palaces - Dragonsreach
Spaghetti's Solstheim - Raven Rock
Spaghetti's Solstheim - Tel Mithryn
Spriggans SE
Stellaris
Storm Calling Magic
Stylish Dodge Chaos - DMCO
Taunt Your Enemies - Taunting Matters
The Forgotten City
Untarnished UI
Yggdrasil Music and SoundFX
XP32 Maximum Skeleton Special Extended
Attack MCO-DXP
Magical Jumping
Frankly HD Thieves Guild Armors
Desecration
Flames of Coldharbour
Vulcano
Nemesis Unlimited Behavior Engine

Hello! Thanks for reading this far, and thanks to u/MelasD for Amelia's universe! This chapter has some hardships for its characters, so if you want to skip the violent bits, I mark character transitions with ==***== or such to get back to our dragon in the making's story. Thanks for reading!
Next Chapter!
Scale of Vengance 3
As the procession of armed students, castle staff, and retainers like myself moved out of the comfort of the inner city, the mood darkened around us as we moved toward the docks of Last Anchorage. There were only cold stares at first, but then pieces of trash and cobbles torn from the road pelted us randomly from the gathering crowd. I saw my cousin Jotha fall, a bloody gash where his leather cap had been removed by a cobble’s impact.
“Shields up!” I shouted, straining to be heard above the growing riot. The Students formed a hedgehog formation which I joined, my Halberd joining the rest keeping the crowd at bay, and the cobbles and trash pelting us as often falling into their own ranks as ours.
“Damm them! You bring this on yourselves!” I shouted, my voice barely heard over the screams and roars of desperate, hungry people. I focused, tapping into my skill [Swordsmaster] I drew my bastard sword, Reliant. The faces of the students surrounding me paled, having an inkling of what was to come as I pushed out of the hedgehog to face the crowd. I was well known by the citizens of the city, so when I stood between the Academy students protecting the Palanquin carrying the dragon egg and the mob, silence fell.
“In the name of King Llywnd, disperse! Go back to your homes and families!”
A middle aged man stood forward “My daughter is dead, thanks to Llywnd!” He said, holding a cobble.
I walked forward, looking the man in the eyes “In truth, I lost my mother, and two brothers in defense of our city, I have only a single relative in all this world I claim, and he lies bleeding feet from where we stand. Go home. NOW!’
I roared the last, stepping back, just in time to intercept a cobble with Reliant thrown at me. The man in front of me turned to flee, but was held in place by the mob. And suddenly jerked, as he was ran through by one of his fellow rioters, dropping to the ground as the light of life left his eyes.
With that action, my restraint grew wings and flew away like a dragon riding a storm. To be honest, when my skill takes over, I enter what is called a Bloodwrath, where my [Swordsmaster] skill moves my body without conscious thought. I don’t remember what happened between watching that man die and reaching the docks, but we did arrive framed by the setting sun, and the mob was nowhere to be seen. That my clothes needed cleaning, and I smelled of offal and blood was not novel to me, but it stank all the same.
I took out my kerchief, and wiped first my face, then Reliant, checking it for nicks or cracking.
“My lady! You are back.” I turned to see Lady Kara, her daughter Lady Heather, and Princess Maria call to me from the ship’s deck as the palanquin traveled up the gangplank, somewhat worse for wear, carried not by the porters who left the castle, but by two pairs of the Academy Students. I’d hear the details later, but for now, I wanted to board, and set sail, the tide was turning and we needed to leave.
Later that night as the wind pulled us along, and the familiar creak of the ship riding the waves lulled me into a sense of my world shrinking, encompassing only the ship, the night sky, and the dark void of the sea I sloshed a bucket of cold seawater over me once again, trying to get clean and failing. I might not remember the events of the day, but the stink if it followed me yet as I once again lathered up, having used an entire bar of soap already.
I was joined by Lady Kara, the two person bathing area on this sloop was a luxury for such a small ship. The Andromite was a small ship, but sturdy and made good time, which was as good as her sisters speed, which would soon be used to hunt us down.
“How’s the Egg?” I asked Kara as she undressed, joining me in the artificial shower, fed by a belt driven by the ship’s motion.
Lady Kara looked serious for an instant and my heart dropped “It wasn’t injured, was it?”
She undid her braid as her hair moistened, us both lit by starlight, and a single lantern, it’s small flame shielded against the wind, but it’s wick short, to conserve the oil within.
“There is a problem. The egg is fine, very much so. It's more of a matter of how it looks that is the issue.” Kady Kara said as I passed her the soap.
She continued “You need to rest up, I think daylight may bring us some trouble.” She said somewhat mysteriously as I stepped out of the shower having rinsed off.
I put on trousers, and left for the hold, so see what had concerned Lady Kara so. I was somewhat surprised to find the egg sitting in the remains of the Palanquin. It was not the original pure Ivory, but crusted over in black scales like overlapping black armor. My breath was taken from me as I held up the lantern to examine it, and steeling myself against the influence of the void, I touched it, expecting to feel the influence of evil.
***==***
I awoke from having joined with the Time dragon in yet another setting. I tried to stand up, but I found my anatomy radically changed.
“Welcome! Glad you are awake, finally!” I looked to my right to see what the noise was about when my head smacked into the head of the Time Dragon, its black scales were at least familiar enough for me to not panic as I took in my circumstance as a two headed version of the Temperature Dragon approached me.
The dragon in question was altered greatly by it’s partner, not scaly like the Time Dragon’s head was, but smooth keratin flowing into a aerodynamic shape, it’s blue and orange coloring looking like flames lapping along it’s scales, going from blue in it’s front body to orange in its tail. It was a quite handsome thing all in all.
I also noticed that my own head was attached similarly to the Time Dragon’s body. Seeing the heads of the Temperature Dragon were similarly shaped, I used my tongue to explore my fanged mouth as my other head complained “Hey! Watch where you are swinging your head!” referring to me inadvertently having head butted it.
The Temperature dragon smiled with both of its heads “Welcome to the training grounds! Here we get to practice our powers without draining us!” It said, focusing its power on a stalagmite, turning it into first lava, then evaporating altogether as it turned into a gas.
“Neat trick.” The TIme dragon’s head said, before I felt something within me, and as I used my [Judge] skill I received a notification {[Judge] skill has been upgraded to [Draconic Judgement] Time Dragon has become a Time Dragon Embryo}
The thing I felt within me was the TIme Dragon restoring the Stalagmite, using time reversal. I felt it happening, but it was alien as to how.
“Hey?” I said looking towards the Temperature Dragon which looked at me with both heads.
“Yes?” It answered
“I can understand you, all I heard was a series of clicks when I met you before.”
The Time Dragon’s second head (I guess, they were identical) said “Before the merger, Lumm’ta spoke in her tongue, but now we speak only in the language of beasts and dragons after joining.”
“Oh” I said, before realizing something. “What do you mean by only? Can we speak in our native languages?” I asked.
My own second head concentrated, sharing a memory of being talked to by a knight, and understanding it, but not being able to talk back in return, or not being understood when they tried.
The Temperature dragon shared an internal joke, both heads chortling as one turned its head, and breathed fire in a full belly laugh.
My own companion sighed, the feeling an odd one as it forced air past my own throat as well. “So, what’s so funny?”
“I thought you were male?” One head said between giggles. The other said “I am pretty sure she was!”
I, possessing a dragon’s body was as naked as the beast I was, suddenly wanted to cover myself, and coiled into a ball, similar to how I met Cinder (My Draconic Half’s name) to hide myself from prying eyes.
My other head hissed like a boiling steampot “You used to be Female if I recall!”
“That is true, but your expression!” the Temperature dragon said before boiling over into laughter again.
Internally I reached for my other self’s mind, asking it
I thought-spoke to the Time Dragon.

The communication ended as I looked at the now recovering Temperature dragon who had laughed itself into having hiccups.
I said “Serves you right!” and as I stuck out my tongue, I felt my other head do so as well. Us both blowing the Temperature dragon a raspberry, which made us both laugh as well.

Hello everyone! Back at it again with another reddit Dhgate Best Finds List! This one might be the biggest dhgate finds list I have ever made. NOTE: I have not bought all of the items on the list, but all of them are manually collected from positive reviews and from different dhgate hauls. (Check the reviews of each item or massage the seller for QC pictures before you buy.)
T-SHIRTS / HOODIES / JACKETS

1. Stone Island Hoodie
2. Stone Island T-shirt
3. Palm Angels Sprayed T-shirt
4. Palm Angels Tracksuit
5. The North Face Puffer Jacket
6. Balmain T-shirts
7. Canada Goose Vest
8. Balenciaga BB Logo T-shirt
9. Nike Tech Fleece
10. Moncler T-shirt
11. Gucci Spray Letters T-shirt
12. LV Skeleton T-shirt
13. Supreme x Kaws Box Logo T-shirt
14. Moncler Maya
15. Ralph Laurent Bear T-Shirt
16. Ralph Laurent Polo T-shirt
17. Off-White T-shirts
18. Stussy Hoodie
19. Burberry T-shirts
20. Lacoste T-shirt
21. Vlone Friends T-shirt
22. Vlone Flames Logo T-shirt
23. More Vlone T-shirts
24. Vlone Hoodies
25. Rhude T-shirt
26. The North Face Vest
27. The North Face x Brain Dead Jacket
28. Moncler Vest
29. Fendi Puffer Jacket
30. Long Moncler Jacket
31. Prada Zip Pocket T-shirt
32. Prada Puffer Jacket
33. Drew House Hoodie
34. Louis Vuitton Patch T-shirt
35. Louis Vuitton Stickers T-shirt
36. Palm Angels Velvet Tracksuit
37. Palm Angels Pattern Tracksuit
38. Palm Angels Bear T-shirt
39. Palm Angels Back Logo T-shirt
40. Palm Angels Spray Heart T-shirt
41. More Palm Angels T-shirts
42. Juicy Couture Tracksuit
43. Sp5der 555 Hoodie
44. Sp5der T-shirt
45. The North Face Light Jacket
46. Moose Knuckles Jackets
47. Ralph Lauren Zip Hoodie
48. Polo Ralph Lauren Jumper
49. Ralph Laurent Collared Shirts
50. Lacoste Polo T-Shirt
51. Balmain Sweatshirt
52. Burberry Rider T-shirt
53. Burberry Side Logo T-shirt
54. Bottegga Veneta T-shirt
55. Canada Goose Jacket
56. Trapstar Irongate Jacket
57. Trapstar Tracksuit Set
58. Trapstar Black And Yellow Set
59. Trapstar Shooters Tracksuit Set
60. Trapstar Summer Set
61. Gucci Tiger T-shirt
62. Gucci Sweater
63. Fendi T-shirts
64. Bape Shark Hoodie
65. Bape Camo Logo T-shirt
66. Bape x Undefeated T-Shirt
67. Bape x Heron Preston T-shirt
68. Nike x Fear Of God T-shirt
69. Fog Essentials Hoodie
70. FOG Essentials T-shirt
71. Gucci Snake Polo T-shirt
72. Gucci Bear T-shirt
73. Comme Des Garcons Hoodie
74. Comme Des Garcons Sweatshirt
75. Comme des Garçons T-shirt
76. More cdg T-shirts
77. Gap x Balenciaga Hoodie
78. Balenciaga Sweater
79. Balenciaga Hoodies
80. Balenciaga Reflective Logo T-shirt
81. Adidas x Balenciaga T-shirt
82. Balenciaga Logo Hoodie
83. Balenciaga Spray Logo T-shirt
84. Balenciaga I Love Paris T-shirt
85. More Balenciaga T-shirts
86. Kenzo Tiger T-shirt
87. Kenzo Flower T-shirt
88. Boss T-shirt
89. Celine Hoodie
90. Chrome Hearts Dagger Hoodie
91. Chrome Hearts Longsleeve
92. Chrome Hearts T-shirt
93. Gallery Dept T-shirt
94. Gallery Dept Hoodie
95. Stone Island Sweatshirt
96. Stone Island Longsleeve
97. Stone Island Zip Hoodie
98. Stone Island Jacket
99. Louis Vuitton Pattern Jacket
100. Louis Vuitton T-shirts
101. Louis Vuitton Camo Logo T-shirt
102. Nocta Jacket
103. Fendi Eyes T-shirt
104. More Fendi T-shirts
105. Rhude Racing Team T-shirt
106. CPFM YE Must Be Born Again Hoodie
107. Kids See Ghosts Hoodie
108. Amiri T-shirts
109. Amiri Crewneck
110. Amiri Cupid Hoodie
111. More Amiri T-shirts
112. Moncler Polo T-shirt
113. Moncler Sweatshirt
114. Versace Robe
115. Moncler Robe
116. Tommy Hilfiger Collared Shirt
117. Alexander McQueen T-shirt
118. Alexander McQueen Sweatshirt
119. Carhartt Hoodie
120. Balmain Denim Jacket
121. C.P Company Zip Up
122. Represent T-shirt
123. Fendi Sweater
124. Gucci Hoodie
125. Gucci Polo T-shirt
126. Gucci T-shirt
127. More Gucci T-shirts
128. Kith T-shirts
129. Prada Triangle Logo T-shirt
130. Prada Sweater
131. Prada Shirts
132. Prada Vest
133. More Moncler Jackets
134. Astroworld T-shirts
135. Gucci Pattern Polo T-shirt
136. Another Ralph Laurent Hoodie
137. Moschino Italy Bear T-shirt
138. More VLONE T-shirts
139. Christian Dior Atelier T-shirt
140. CDG T-shirts
141. Prada Puffer Jacket
142. Louis Vuitton Puffer Jacket
143. Louis Vuitton University Jackets
144. Revenge Hoodie
145. Revenge T-shirts
146. Philip Plein T-shirts
147. Nike x Fear Of God T-shirt
148. ASSC T-shirt
149. Louis Vuitton Knit T-shirt
150. Drake Nocta Hoodie
151. PSG Tracksuits
152. The North Face x Gucci Jacket

ACCESSORIES / VARIOUS

1. Louis Vuitton LV Belt With Box
2. Rolex Watch With Box and Receipts
3. Goyar Cardholder
4. AP Watch With Box
5. MCM Backpack
6. Swatch x Omega Planets Watch
7. Gucci Shoulder Bag
8. Prada Shoulder Bag
9. BB Simons Belt
10. LV Gradient Belt
11. LV Pattern Belt
12. Yves Saint Laurent Wallet
13. Yves Saint Laurent Cardholder
14. YSL Bifold Wallet
15. Trapstar Irongate Shoulder Bag
16. PSD Boxers
17. Louis Vuitton Messenger Bag
18. Salvatore Ferragamo Belt
19. LV Wallets with box
20. Hermes Wallet
21. Louis Vuitton Cuban Link Bracelet With Box
22. LV Women wallet with box
23. LV Scarf And Beanie set
24. Burberry Scarf
25. Iced Out Cuban Link
26. Goyard St. Louis Tote Bag
27. Christian Dior Saddle Bag
28. Gucci GG Belt
29. Gucci Snake Belt
30. Gucci Snake Printed Belt
31. Gucci Ring
32. Gucci Keychain
33. Dior Pattern Belt
34. MCM Pattern Belt
35. Hermes Belt
36. Versace Belt
37. Nike Socks
38. Supreme Backpack
39. Louis Vuitton Backpack
40. Alyx Backpack
41. Supreme Shoulder Bag
42. Supreme Face Mask
43. Supreme Dice
44. Air Pods Max
45. Balenciaga Socks
46. Prada Necklace
47. Prada Bucket Hat
48. Marc Jacobs The Tote Bag
49. Chanel Flap Bag
50. Louis Vuitton Card Holder
51. Louis Vuitton Pattern Duffle Bag
52. Louis Vuitton Transparent Duffle Bag
53. Louis Vuitton Chain Wallet
54. Lv Purse
55. LV Waist Bag
56. LV Alpha Messenger Bag
57. Hermes Blanket
58. Hermes Pillows
59. Gucci Towel Set
60. Louis Vuitton Wool Blanket
61. Chanel Bath Towels
62. Chanel Sunglasses
63. Celine Cat Eye Sunglasses
64. Celine Hat
65. MCM Leather Hat
66. ICON Hat
67. Amiri Hat
68. Gucci Hat
69. Gucci Snake Hat
70. Prada Hat
71. Burberry Hat
72. Coach Tabby Pillow Bag
73. Bottega Cassette Crossbody Bag
74. Vevine Westwood Necklace
75. LV Millionaire Sunglasses
76. LV Cyclone Sunglasses
77. LV Ring
78. LV Earrings
79. LV Emilie Wallet
80. Various LV Bags
81. LV Sunglasses
82. LV Keychain
83. Chanel Earrings
84. Clear Cartier Glasses
85. Cartier Nail Bracelet
86. UGG Gloves
87. Tiffany Bracelet
88. Tiffany Hearts Ring
89. Tiffany Solitaire Ring
90. Tiffany Earrings
91. C.P COMPANY Beanie
92. Canada Goose Beanie
93. Prada Beanie
94. Louis Vuitton Beanie
95. Balenciaga Beanie
96. Gucci Shocks
97. Balenciaga Side Logo Hat

PANTS / SHORTS

1. Eric Emanuel EE Shorts
2. Corteiz Cargo Pants
3. Essentials Sweatpants
4. Amiri Jeans
5. Rhude Shorts
6. Gallery Dept. Sweatpants
7. Stone Island Cargo Pants
8. Lululemon Yoga Pants
9. Flower Jeans
10. True Religion Jeans
11. Gucci Shorts
12. Essentials Shorts
13. More Amiri
14. Stone Island Sweatpants
15. Stone Island Shorts
16. Gucci Shorts
17. Balmain Jeans
18. DSQARED2 Jeans
19. Amiri Jeans
20. Amiri Angel Jeans
21. Dsquared2 Jeans
22. Bape Shorts
23. Palm Angels Shorts

SHOES / SLIDES

1. Alexander McQueen
2. Versace Chain Reaction
3. MSCHF Big Red Boots
4. More Alexander McQueens
5. Selehe Bembury x Crocs
6. Foam Runners
7. Balenciaga Triple S
8. Balenciaga Speed Runner
9. Balenciaga Track
10. Balenciaga Slides With Box
11. Burberry REGIS
12. Bapesta
13. Bapesta Sk8
14. Gucci Ace
15. Gucci Rhython
16. YSL Heels
17. Rick Owens
18. Dior Boots
19. Hermes Sandals
20. Chloe Sandals
21. UGG Slippers
22. Gucci Heels
23. Prada Heels
24. Valentino Shoes
25. Louis Vuitton Trainer
26. Louis Vuitton Slides
27. Dior B22
28. Dior B30
29. Christian Louboutin
30. Gucci Flashtrecks
31. Gucci Slides
32. Gucci Floral Slides
33. Givenchy Slides With Box
34. New Balance 550
35. New Balance 2002R
36. Birkenstocks
37. Off-White Low Top Sneakers
38. Nike x Nocta Hot Step
39. Nike Dunk
40. Fragment Lows
41. Jordan 1
42. Jordan 3
43. Jordan 4
44. More Jordan 4s
45. Jordan 5
46. Jordan 11
47. Air Force 1
48. Nike x Tiffany Air Force 1
49. Skeleton Nike Air Force 1
50. Air Force 1 Supreme
51. Nike Air Max Plus
52. Nike Air Max 97
53. Nike Vapormax Plus
54. Revenge x Storms
55. Kobe 6
56. Yeezy 350 v2
57. Cheaper Yeezy 350
58. Yeezy 350 v1
59. Yeezy 700
60. Yeezy 500
61. Yeezy 380
62. Yeezy Knit Runner
63. Yeezy Slides
64. Yeezy NSLTD Boots

https://imgur.com/a/a3DBmb9
WTS my heavily discounted decant collection for $100 shipped.
All atomizers are full and missing no more than 1 spray.
I take Cashapp, Venmo, and Paypal. Add 3% for G&S fee if needed.
See below for list and what I paid for singles:
1.2ml Calvin Klein Defy ($3) 1.2ml Invictus Platinum ($3) 1.2ml Moschino Toy Boy ($3) 1.2ml Ralph’s Club EDP ($3) 1.2ml Spicebomb Night Vision EDT ($3) 1.5ml Terre d’Hermes EDT ($3) 1.5ml Tom Ford Black Orchid Parfum ($9) 2ml D&G Light Blue Forever ($5) 2ml Dior Homme Parfum ($10) 2ml Mancera Red Tobacco ($5) 2ml Montale Starry Nights ($5) 2ml Prada Luna Rossa Black ($6) 2ml Versace Pour Homme Oud Noir ($5) 2ml YSL Y EDP ($5) 2ml YSL Y Le Parfum ($6) 5ml Acqua di Gio Profumo ($17) 5ml Maison Margiela Replica At The Barber’s ($15) 5ml Paco Rabanne Invictus ($12) 5ml Prada L'homme Leau ($20) 5ml Tom Ford Ombre Leather ($17) 5ml YSL EDP Intense ($17) 10ml Acqua di Gio Profondo ($16) 10ml Armani Code Profumo ($15) 10ml Calvin Klein Eternity Man ($6) 10ml Dior Homme Original ($19) 10ml Dior Homme Intense ($17) 10ml English Laundry Oxford Bleu ($6) 10ml Ferrari Musk Essence ($10) 10ml Fusion D’issey Extreme ($10) 10ml Hugo Boss Urban Journey ($8) 10ml John Varvatos Artisan Pure ($12) 10ml Lacoste L.12.12 Blanc EDP ($12) 10ml Lattafa Khamrah ($10) 10ml Maison Alhambra Fabulo Intense ($8) 10ml Mancera Red Tobacco ($15) 10ml Mercedes Benz Club Black ($16) 10ml Rochas Moustache EDT ($10) 10ml Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo Signature ($14) 10ml Sean John Unforgivable ($6) 15ml CK Shock ($5)
Also willing to hear offers to separates, but prices will be much closer to the listed ones.

This post is part of a series looking at the massive amount of 'rhyming' (and occasionally rhyming) recursivity I believe exists between (a) the homecoming of Petyr Baelish to the Fingers and (b) the homecoming of Theon Greyjoy to Pyke.
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger (including every post in this sub-series) [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
NOTE: In what follows, all uncited quotes are from ASOS Sansa VI, which describes Petyr's homecoming to his "Drearfort" tower of the 'Smallest Finger', or ACOK Theon I, which describes Theon's homecoming to "drear" Pyke.
As in past posts, I sometimes use "→" as shorthand for "'prefigures' and/or 'informs' and/or 'is reworked by' and/or 'finds a recursive rhyme in'.
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
This post picks up straight-away from where Part 8 left off. You can read Part 8 [HERE].
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE].

The Myraham's Prophetic Cargo

After Theon makes port, the captain of the Myraham announces his cargo to the people on the docks of Lordport and we read about the offloading of the Myraham:

"We're out of Oldtown," the captain called down, "bearing apples and oranges, wines from the Arbor, feathers from the Summer Isles. I have pepper, woven leathers, a bolt of Myrish lace, mirrors for milady, a pair of Oldtown woodharps sweet as any you ever heard." The gangplank descended with a creak and a thud. "And I've brought your heir back to you."

Most of what we read there seems to be reworked in and around Littlefinger's homecoming in ASOS Sansa VI, when the Merling King brings the Dreadfort its heir, Littlefinger, as well as the seeming heir to Winterfell, Sansa. This begins with the Arbor wine and fruit we see off-loaded from the Merling King:

Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions. Among the loads he brought ashore were several casks of wine. Petyr poured Sansa a cup, as promised. …
… The wine was very fine; an Arbor vintage, she thought. It tasted of oak and fruit and hot summer nights, the flavors blossoming in her mouth like flowers opening to the sun. She only prayed that she could keep it down. Lord Petyr was being so kind, she did not want to spoil it all by retching on him.
… "Grisel," he called to the old woman, "bring some food up. … Oswell's brought some oranges and pomegranates from the King." …
Grisel reappeared…, balancing a large platter. … There were apples and pears and pomegranates, some sad-looking grapes, a huge blood orange.

Besides the straight repetition of Arbor wine, oranges, apples, and heirs, the repeated Oldtown motif is baldly reworked by Sansa's description of the wine, which is patently Oldtown-summer-esque, per the only substantive pre-AFFC description of Oldtown, which associates it with hot, fruity summer nights:

"King Maekar's summer was hotter than this one, and near as long. … [T]he heat was fierce while it lasted. Oldtown… came alive only by night. … I remember the smells of those nights, my lord—perfume and sweat, melons ripe to bursting, peaches and pomegranates, nightshade and moonbloom." (AGOT Eddard V)

The Myraham's "mirrors for milady" prefigure Sansa being figuratively groomed by Petyr and literally grooming herself in Petyr's Eyrie after he takes over:

When Gretchel fetched her Lysa's silvered looking glass, the color seemed just perfect with Alayne's mass of dark brown hair. (AFFC Alayne I)

The Myraham's "woodharps sweet as any you ever heard" presage Sansa being attacked by Marillion, whose "voice was strong and sweet", (AFFC Sansa I) after he sings a song (about blowjobs?) called "Milady's Supper" (supper a la the Myraham-ish fruit Sansa eats for supper when she lands) during Petyr's wedding bedding:

Lady Lysa's singer launched into a bawdy version of "Milady's Supper"….

The Myraham's "woven leathers" and "Myrish lace" are reworked into the "laces unlaced" i.e. unwoven during said wedding:

By the time they had gotten him into the tower and out of his clothes, the other women were flushed, with laces unlaced, kirtles crooked, and skirts in disarray.

That it's a "bolt of Myrish lace" is interesting: After Sansa boards the Merling King, she sees a singular "bolt" from a crossbow strike Dontos, and then two more:

Lothor Brune dipped his torch. Three men stepped to the gunwale, raised crossbows, fired. One bolt took Dontos in the chest as he looked up…. The others ripped into throat and belly. (ASOS Sansa V)

Three crossbow bolts? What does that remind us if not… a Myrish crossbow:

"The king is playing with his new crossbow," Tyrion said. Ridding himself of Joffrey had required only an ungainly Myrish crossbow that threw three quarrels at a time…. (ACOK Tyrion VI)

What about the Myraham's "pepper"? I suspect this gets box-checked first by Sansa trying not to "retch" as she is off-loaded along with the wine with which Littlefinger tries to settle her tummy, as just two chapters later peppers are tightly linked to "retching" of the sort Sansa feels like doing:

[Tyrion] found himself on his knees retching… that double helping of fried eggs cooked up with onions and fiery Dornish peppers. (ASOS Tyrion X)

GRRM seems to play off the "pepper" motif in other ways, as well. Consider that the gathering to meet the Myraham and the shouted questions that prompt her captain to announce her cargo—

A handful of Lordsport merchants had gathered to meet the ship. They shouted questions as the Myraham was tying up.

—get reworked by Petyr's household all gathering "to meet" the Merling King and by their peppering one another with questions:

Servants emerged from the tower to meet them; a thin old woman and a fat middle-aged one, two ancient white-haired men, and a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye. When they recognized Lord Petyr they knelt on the rocks. "My household," he said. "I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."

She's a "popper", then, in case we didn't catch that retching → peppers. (This also reworks Theon "popping one off" with the captain's daughter, who is in many ways reworked by Kella, as will be discussed below.)

… [Petyr]… gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one. "Who fathered this one, Kella?"
The fat woman laughed. "I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. … "How long will you be in residence?"
"As short a time as possible, Bryen, have no fear. Is the place habitable just now, would you say?"
"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung." Petyr turned to Sansa. "Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now. Umfred's my steward, and Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord.…"
… Petyr gestured toward the fat woman. "Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"

A gathering, and questions, questions, questions, as when Theon docks.
Recall that Bryen and Umfred come from shore to offload Sansa (who's just been promised a cup of wine to help with her upset "tummy") from the Merling King's rowboat:

The two old men waded out up to their thighs to lift Sansa from the boat so she would not get her skirts wet.

This reworks the "shorehands… off-loading… casks of wine" from a Tyroshi trader docked with the Myraham—

[Theon] spied a Tyroshi trading galley off-loading…
Shorehands rolled casks of wine off the Tyroshi trader, fisherfolk cried the day's catch, children ran and played. A priest in the seawater robes of the Drowned God was leading a pair of horses along the pebbled shore, while above him a slattern leaned out a window in the inn, calling out to some passing Ibbenese sailors.

—which itself prefigures the above-quoted off-loading of the Merling King (when "Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions" including "several casks of wine", from which Petyr immediately "poured Sansa a cup, as promised").

Kella & The Slattern

What about that "slattern lean[ing] out a window" to greet "some passing… sailors" while "children ran and played"? I submit that she is one of several motifs from Theon's homecoming prefiguring Petyr's servant Kella. I'll explain.
Consider that Petyr's servant Kella has many bastards i.e. children, popping one out every few years:

"I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."

We only see one; presumably the others are off somewhere, running and playing, perhaps.
Kella happily greets Petyr as he comes ashore, much as Lordsport's slattern "call[s] out to some passing Ibbenese sailors". Note that the sailors on the Merling King are likewise 'passing' — passing through:

"From here the King turns east for Braavos. Without us."

Consider most of all that Kella's something of a slattern herself: She's "not one for telling them no".

"I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."

Indeed, something Lysa says pretty clearly codes Kella as a verbatim "slattern", underlining the recursion:

"How would you like to spend your life on that bleak shore, surrounded by slatterns and sheep pellets?" (ASOS Sansa VII)

So I think the vignette with the slattern and the children in Lordsport pretty plainly prefigures Kella. But I think she's prefigured by two more pieces of Theon's homecoming.

Kella & The Captain's Daughter

Keeping in mind that Kella has a bunch of bastards ("she pops one out every few years) and that she's "not one for telling them no", consider also that she is (a) literally 'with child' — or rather, with a child—

a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye

—that she's (b) "fat"—

"Who fathered this one, Kella?"
The fat woman laughed.

—and that she's (c) coded as a bit stupid:

"Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
She had to think a moment. "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."

All like Theon's "captain's daughter".
The captain's daughter is "plump", as Kella is "fat":

The girl was a shade plump for his taste…

She is likely pregnant with Theon's bastard, a la Kella the bastard-popper.
She tells Theon…

"You can put it in me again, if it please you…"

…and accedes to his request for a blowjob, so she's "not one for telling them no."
She thereby helps Theon 'pop one off', a la Kella "pop[ping] one out".
Like Kella, she seems a bit stupid:

She looked rather stupid when she smiled, but he had never required a woman to be clever.
The stupid girl did not seem to be listening.
She… learned quickly for such a stupid girl….
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.

And finally, she offers to work in Theon's castle—

I'd work in your castle, milord.

—just as Kella works for Petyr.

Kella: The Spreading Patch of the Smallest Finger?

Besides the "slattern" and the captain's daughter, I suspect Kella may also riff on — of all things — the "spreading patches" of "lichen" on "wet" Pyke as Theon sails by:

[Pyke was] wet by the same salt waves, festooned with the same spreading patches of dark green lichen, speckled by the droppings of the same seabirds.

Get it? A spreading 'patch'? In combination with "lichen" a la "licking" and Pyke being "wet"? And not just wet, but "wet by… salt waves", when as we know from the captain's daughter, semen tastes "salty", "like the sea". It's like Pyke is being described as a turned-on "slattern" with her legs spread.
A Hoare, we might say.
This connects to Kella, specifically because of her name: Kella is a near anagram for "kale", a dark green plant, like the "dark green lichen".
Actually, the name Kella may have anothere precursor in Theon's story: "Qalen", the maester Theon asks Helya about upon his arrival at Pyke:

"And what of Maester Qalen, where is he?"

Qalen would be pronounced Kalen. Qalen → Kalen → Kale → Kela → Kella. Anyway…

Grisel & The Captain's Daughter

Something similar is going on with Petyr's servant Grisel, the "thin old woman" who was his wet nurse but who "keeps [his] castle now":

"Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now.

Grisel is similarly prefigured by two people from Theon's homecoming, including first the captain's daughter who wants to work in Theon's castle as Grisel works in Petyr's "castle".
Consider first that Grisel, like the captain's daughter, seems slightly stupid (but eager to please), as she fails to grasp Petyr's sarcasm and takes his derisive joke about gulls' eggs and seaweed soup as an order:

"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home. When I break my fast on gulls' eggs and seaweed soup, I'll be certain of it."
"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.
Lord Petyr made a face.

Then there is the captain daughter's resume:

"I'd work in your castle, milord. I can clean fish and bake bread and churn butter. Father says my peppercrab stew is the best he's ever tasted. You could find me a place in your kitchens and I could make you peppercrab stew."

This surely prefigures what we're told about Grisel making a sea-based soup of her own (i.e. the just mentioned "seaweed soup"), baking bread, and churning butter for Petyr:

Grisel reappeared before he could say more, balancing a large platter. She set it down between them. … The old woman had brought a round of bread as well, and a crock of butter.
Grisel climbed up to the bedchamber to serve the lord and lady a tray of morning bread, with butter, honey, fruit, and cream.

Where Grisel used to be Petyr's wet nurse, Theon suckles the captain daughter's nipple as if she's a wet nurse:

Theon's finger circled one heavy teat, spiraling in toward the fat brown nipple. … He took her nipple in his mouth….
"You can put it in me again, if it please you," she whispered in his ear as he sucked.

And finally, where Theon kisses the captain's daughter on the ear—

[Theon] drew the captain's daughter close and kissed her on her ear.

—Littlefinger kisses Grisel on the cheek:

Oswell and Lothor splashed their way ashore, as did Littlefinger himself. He gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one.

Helya & Grisel (& Gretchel)

Grisel also rhymes with and reworks Helya, who keeps Balon's castle:

A bentback old crone in a shapeless grey dress approached him warily. "M'lord, I am sent to show you to chambers."
"And who are you?"
"Helya, who keeps this castle for your lord father."

Get it? "Helya and Grisel", a la "Hansel and Gretel".
(Gretel is a variant of "Greta". "Grisel" sounds like gristle, whereas in Hansel and Gretel the witch is trying to fatten Hansel up — she don't want no stringy meat! Note the thematic symmetry as well: By treating Hansel kindly and feeding him delicious treats, the witch is essentially "grooming" him for her own benefit/consumption, as Theon and Petyr groom the captain's daughter and Sansa, respectively, for their own benefit. Finally, note that "pebbles" are a key motif in Hansel and Gretel, prefiguring the proliferation of "pebbles" on Pyke, the 'rhyming' "pellets" on Petyr's Finger, and the isle of "Pebble" that leads to Petyr's Finger.)
The two "old" castle keepers neatly invert one another. Consider Grisel's comments about the old rushes and fire in Petyr's tower:

"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung."

That's a recursive reversal of Helya's (lack of) preparation for Theon's visit: Where Grisel has a fire going even though she didn't know Petyr was coming, and where she proactively apologizes for not changing the rushes, telling him "we would have laid down fresh rushes… if we knew you were coming", Helya neither lit a fire nor changed the heavily foregrounded "old and brittle" rushes in the rooms Theon is given—

"I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. "See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."

—despite having ample forewarning of his coming:

It was not as though they had no word of his arrival. Robb had sent ravens from Riverrun, and… Jason Mallister had sent his own birds to Pyke….

The joke is underlined by the introduction of "Gretchel" — Gretel with a borrowed H from Helya/Hansel — who fetches washbasins of water (which, see below), "la[ys] a fire in the hearth" and "tend[s] to the fire", brings food and discusses food storage in Petyr's Eyrie in AFFC Sansa I & Alayne I. (In other words, she 'keeps his castle.')

'Rhyming' Interiors

That's just the beginning of the reversals in the many recursions between Theon's lodgings at Pyke and Sansa's in the Drearfort.
Where Helya leads Theon to his rooms on his orders—

"Show me to my chambers, woman," he commanded. Bowing stiffly, [Helya] led him across the headland to the bridge. …
Whenever he'd imagined his homecoming, he had always pictured himself returning to the snug bedchamber in the Sea Tower, where he'd slept as a child. Instead the old woman led him to the Bloody Keep.

—it's Petyr who leads the way into his tower, casually inviting Grisel (and everyone else) to follow him:

"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.
Lord Petyr made a face. "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." He led them up the strand…

Petyr jokes about his hall being "dreary", and perhaps it is, but while it's "small" and "even smaller" within, his tower is also home to his servants, and hence very well lived-in.

Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs. Above that was a modest hall, and higher still the bedchamber.

(Note that the "mastiff", which we see as Petyr leads Grisel in, recalls Helya bowing "stiffly" before leading Theon to his rooms.)
This sharply reverses the situation Theon finds at Pyke, when he's deposited not in a single room shared by a bunch of people who've lived in it forever and warmed by a hearth with a burning fire, a la Sansa, nor in the "snug bedchamber" in the Sea Tower he'd anticipated (which sounds like Littlefinger's little "tower" by the sea), but in the Bloody Keep, in a whole-ass "suite" of large but "chilly", even "cold" rooms with incredibly high ceilings — rooms which haven't even been opened, much less lived-in, for "years", and which are the very definition of "dreary":

The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp. Theon was given a suite of chilly rooms with ceilings so high that they were lost in gloom. [Omitted but see below.]
[Omitted but see below.] It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste. The wall hangings were green with mildew, the mattress musty-smelling and sagging, the rushes old and brittle. Years had come and gone since these chambers had last been opened. The damp went bone deep. "I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."

A ton of the motifs here (including the omitted stuff, which I'll return to) get recycled and reworked in Petyr's tower.
Most obviously, Theon's request for hot water prefigures Sansa's request for a hot bath:

"Might I have a hot bath as well?" asked Sansa.
"I'll have Kella draw some water, m'lady."

Note that Kella fulfills the request, not Grisel. This 'fits', as it's not Helya who brings Theon's water, but "two thralls".
Note also that Sansa requests her bath after thinking…

She desperately needed a bath and a change of clothes.

…whereas Theon changes his clothes immediately after the quoted passages.
Slightly less obviously, the "wall hangings [that] were green with mildew" are reworked by Petyr's own green 'wall hanging': his grandfather's shield, which is painted with a "light green field" and which "hung… above the hearth". The "mildew" is reworked by the fact that the paint is "cracked and flaking" i.e. flawed. And maybe also by the "light green field", since a field grows crops which get milled and which get dewy.

Brittle Bryen's Brigantine, Brindled Mastiff, & Old Blind Dog

As mentioned, the motif of unchanged rushes from Theon's homecoming recurs when Petyr comes home. But Petyr's homecoming also lexically riffs on Theon's rushes being quote-unquote "old and brittle" by giving us Bryen in "brigantine" who is very "old" but not, seemingly, brittle, as he still walks watches, not with his "old blind dog", but with a "brindled mastiff":

"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …
"Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."
Sansa found Bryen's old blind dog in her little alcove beneath the steps…
The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.

Is the brindled dog a "mastiff" 'only' a wink at Theon going mast-stiff for Asha? (See Part 4.) Maybe. But it's worth mentioning that when Theon is first being stirred by Pyke's banner and it's being battered about like the shield we see in the Drearfort three sentences after the mastiff, it's also (a) flying from a very stiff "mast" and (b) juxtaposed with a very large 'dog' of sorts:

The banner streamed from an iron mast, shivering and twisting as the wind gusted like a bird struggling to take flight. And here at least the direwolf of Stark did not fly above, casting its shadow down upon the Greyjoy kraken.

Musty Old Mattresses

The old, "musty-smelling and sagging" mattress (in the chamber that has just been re-opened after long periods of being closed and uninhabited) from Theon's homecoming is answered in Petyr's homecomiong by Lysa, who arrives a few pages later in the chapter, eager to finally have sex again with Petyr. "Mattress" is slang for a sexually available woman (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mattress) and Lysa sags—

Lady Lysa was two years younger than Mother, but this woman looked ten years older. Thick auburn tresses fell down past her waist, but beneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged.

—and smells stale. (Note that Lysa is on a mattress here.)

Her aunt was drenched in sweet scent, though under that was a sour milky smell. Her cheek tasted of paint and powder.

Lysa's "cheek tast[ing] of paint and powder" riffs on the line about Theon's "distaste" and "fear of ghosts":

It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste.

The distaste wordplay is obvious: Lysa tastes bad. As for the "fear of ghosts", Lysa (whom Sansa fears) being covered in "powder" reminds us of Sansa being afraid of a "spirit" covered in powdery flour:

When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white and moaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs…. Arya stood her ground and gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with flour. (AGOT Arya IV)

This line—

The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp.

—is reworked by Lysa as well, who is big and well-dressed ("better furnished", so to speak)—

[B]eneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged. Her face was pink and painted, her breasts heavy, her limbs thick. She was taller than Littlefinger, and heavier; nor did she show any grace in the clumsy way she climbed down off her horse.

—but cold to Sansa and horny/wet/"damp" for Petyr.
Given that Theon's rooms are in several ways like Lysa (newly 'open for business' after a long period of being closed and untouched by men, etc.), and pronouncing aunt like antler, we also might say that where the Lysa-like rooms are "cold" and "damp", Lysa herself is Sansa's "cold" aunt. Rhyming 'rhyming'.
That "years had come and gone since" the room with the Lysa-like mattress "had last been opened" is reworked not just by Lysa getting laid, but textually when Sansa is told Lysa is coming to the Drearfort (where she is 're-opened', so to speak):

It had been years since Sansa last saw her mother's sister…"

I wonder whether Lysa crying and speaking to Sansa of being "bound by blood" to her—

Tears welled suddenly in Lady Lysa's eyes. "We are women alone now, you and I. Are you afraid, child? Be brave. I would never turn away Cat's daughter. We are bound by blood."

—might not be in part a play on the fact that "the damp went bone deep" in the Bloody Keep. By saying that, Sansa's damp (i.e. crying) aunt "went bone deep", so to speak. (If you're "bound by blood" to someone, you have a "bone deep" bond with them. Also, bone → bound wordplay?)

Braziers → Bracing?

Did Theon's attempt to drive away "the chill" and damp of the salty sea air of Pyke using "braziers"—

See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill.

—inform (via wordplay: braziers → bracing) Petyr's line when the Merling King pulls up to the Drearfort?

Lord Petyr came up beside her, cheerful as ever. "Good morrow. The salt air is bracing, don't you think? It always sharpens my appetite."

And/or is that "sharpening" motif a recursion of Theon sharpening his dirk immediately after said braziers are lit?

After some time, they brought the hot water he had asked for. … While two thralls lit his braziers, Theon stripped off his travel-stained clothing and dressed to meet his father. … He hung a dirk at one hip and a longsword at the other…. Drawing the dirk, he … pulled a whetstone from his belt pouch, and gave it a few licks. He prided himself on keeping his weapons sharp.

Gods Be Good!

The motifs of Theon yelling "gods be good" at his servant and of "ceilings so high that they were lost in gloom" are recursively reworked when Lysa summons Sansa (like a servant) to speak with her the morning after she weds Petyr. Sansa responds to the summons by thinking, verbatim, "gods be good", and is then told they'll be heading to the Eyrie, which we know is "so high you can stand on the parapets and look down on the clouds", i.e. it has parapets 'so high that they were lost in the clouds':

Lady Lysa was still abed [like a good mattress!], but Lord Petyr was up and dressed. "Your aunt wishes to speak with you," he told Sansa, as he pulled on a boot. "I've told her who you are."
Gods be good. "I . . . I thank you, my lord."
Petyr yanked on the other boot. "I've had about as much home as I can stomach. We'll leave for the Eyrie this afternoon."
Seven towers, Ned had told her, like white daggers thrust into the belly of the sky, so high you can stand on the parapets and look down on the clouds. (AGOT Catelyn VI)

The notion of a "ceiling" so high it is lost in gloom is perhaps also reworked by the story Lysa tells Sansa about Petyr's "rise" to power: She says she "always knew how high [Petyr would] rise", and it's my belief that said rise has likely seen him 'lost', spiritually, in 'darkness'. (Note that ceilings are a frequently invoked metaphor when talking about climbing the corporate ladder.)

"Half his teeth were gone, and his breath smelled like bad cheese. I cannot abide a man with foul breath. Petyr's breath is always fresh . . . he was the first man I ever kissed, you know. My father said he was too lowborn, but I knew how high he'd rise. Jon gave him the customs for Gulltown to please me, but when he increased the incomes tenfold my lord husband saw how clever he was and gave him other appointments, even brought him to King's Landing to be master of coin. That was hard, to see him every day and still be wed to that old cold man.

(Recall that the motif of bad/fresh breath there reworks the "winey stench of the old man's [Sylas Sourmouth's] breath", which Theon thinks about roughly ¼ page prior to being shown his suite in the Bloody Keep.)

Butchered Sons & Brothers

Lysa continues to rant:

"Jon did his duty in the bedchamber, but he could no more give me pleasure than he could give me children. His seed was old and weak. All my babies died but Robert, three girls and two boys. All my sweet little babies dead, and that old man just went on and on with his stinking breath. So you see, I have suffered too." Lady Lysa sniffed. "You do know that your poor mother is dead?"
"Tyrion told me," said Sansa. "He said the Freys murdered her at The Twins, with Robb."

Those references to (a) a bunch of dead "babies", including two brothers, one of which was "murdered" when Lysa's father, Hoster Tully, who ruled the Riverlands, betrayed Lysa's trust; and to (b) foul smelling breath, a la Sylas, and finally to (c) the Red Wedding — a bloody betrayal of Sansa's brother, who was King of the Riverlands — particularly (per Sansa saying "Tyrion told me") as it's described by Tyrion—

Sansa did not need to hear how her brother's body had been hacked and mutilated, he decided; nor how her mother's corpse had been dumped naked into the Green Fork in a savage mockery of House Tully's funeral customs. (ASOS Tyrion VII)

—are one of the ways ASOS Sansa VI rejiggers the part of Theon's description of his Bloody Keep suite I "[omitted]" earlier, which entails betrayals, murdered brothers, a River King, slaughter, and bodies "hacked to bits".

[Theon] might have been more impressed if he had not known that these were the very chambers that had given the Bloody Keep its name. A thousand years before, the sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.
But Greyjoys were not murdered in Pyke except once in a great while by their brothers, and his brothers were both dead.

Lysa's speech with its reference to her abortion and to the Red Wedding (and to stink-breath like Sylas's) isn't the only (or even the main) way Petyr's homecoming chapter refracts those images from Theon's homecoming, though.
Littlefinger is himself a kind of River King (as Lord Paramount of the Trident), right? And note that we read all about his "slaughtered" "sons" just before he enters the tower, wherein we then see the foul betrayers who murdered their 'brothers'. I'm talking, of course, about his sheep and his sheepdogs:

"How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home.…" … "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." … A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower…. …
Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.

Note the kitchen, recalling that the Bloody Keep is paired with the Kitchen Keep as Theon first gazes on Pyke:

Farther out were the Kitchen Keep and the Bloody Keep, each on its own island.

Note, too, that the sheep are coded as Petyr's "sons", in a way (a la the "slaughtered… sons of the River King" Theon remembers in his Bloody Tower rooms), and not just because he owns them. He says that Kella has lots of bastards and that she minds his sheep, right? And what else does he say of Kella, in jest? That she 'is' the "mother" of his "daughter," "Alayne Stone":

"Alayne . . . Stone, would it be?" When he nodded, she said, "But who is my mother?"
"Kella?"
"Please no," she said, mortified.
"I was teasing.

The joke foregrounds the notion of Petyr as the father of Kella's children. And while she supposedly has a bunch of bastards, we don't see them. We just see the one girl with the livestock-evoking eye with a sty. It's almost like the sheep she looks after are her children. And thus like Petyr is their father.
(Note the word "mortified". This points straight back to Theon in his Bloody Tower for two reasons: First, greyscale, which mortifies the flesh, killed Balon's brother Harlon, who died "in a windowless tower room" at Pyke. Second: Theon will, in his next chapter, be truly mortified by the realization that "Esgred" is his sister Asha, where that masquerade in turn prefigures Sansa masquerading as Alayne.)
So the "cold" Bloody Keep with its partner the Kitchen Keep and its story of a "slaughter", betrayal, brother killing brother, a River King's sons' bodies "hacked to bits in their beds" — all these motifs are reworked by Kella's account of one of Lord Paramount Petyr's sheep-'sons' being killed by its lexicial 'brothers', the very "sheep-dogs" who were supposed to guard it, and of other sheep-'sons' being verbatim "butchered", i.e. slaughtered on a killing bed and in the process surely hacked into pieces that were then preserved against spoilage for future consumption, such that the resulting "cold salt mutton" could be used as travel rations. Which jibes with Theon's language, creatively interpreted:

[T]he sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.

(They were slaughtered and hacked to bits only so as to properly preserve them against spoilage during their upcoming journey "back to their father on the mainland", you see!)

Theon's Honor Guard

The conditions in Theon's rooms are consistent with the cold welcome he receives, both from Aeron—

The priest's manner was chilly, most unlike the man Theon remembered.

—and Balon—

Theon pulled off his gloves. "… Why is my father not here to greet me?"
"He awaits you in the Sea Tower, m'lord. When you are rested from your trip."
And I thought Ned Stark cold.

—and they're thus part of a broad yin/yang 'rhyme' with Petyr's initial homecoming, which is warm and welcoming and full of familiar faces, whereas Theon knows no one, such that he thinks:

It is as if I were a stranger here….

The reversal is wryly underlined when Petyr is greeted at the shore by his "captain of the guards", Bryen:

"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man.

Thus Petyr ironically gets the "honor guard" welcome Theon hoped he'd get on his arrival 'home':

[Theon] saw… no honor guard waiting to escort him from Lordsport to Pyke, only smallfolk going about their small business.

Notice that where no one stops what they're doing for Theon, everyone stops when Petyr arrives. And of course, everyone in his household recognizes him, whereas no one recognizes Theon. Which is telling, because in a deep sense, that's all Theon really wants, deep down: a little recognition.
Littlefinger has it… but it's not enough.

(SUB)SERIES CONCLUDES IN PART 10: Oswell & Aeron; Lothar & Dagmer; The Closing Twist

This post is part of a series looking at the massive amount of 'rhyming' (and occasionally rhyming) recursivity I believe exists between (a) the homecoming of Petyr Baelish to the Fingers and (b) the homecoming of Theon Greyjoy to Pyke.
While this series/post can be read simply as a study 'for its own sake' of the curious recursion between these storylines, it is my belief that the 'rhyming' explored here between the stories of Petyr and Theon exists (at least in part) to foreshadow that, like Theon, Petyr Littlefinger, is (among other things) a scion of ironborn kings, because Petyr is Hoare-ish: I.e. because Petyr's blood is (in some part) the blood of the ironborn kings of House Hoare of Orkmont and, later, Harrenhal.
You can find an index of every post I've made on the topic of a Hoare-ish Littlefinger (including every post in this sub-series) [HERE].
Even if I'm wrong about Littlefinger's lineage, the 'rhyming' recursivity between the homecomings of Theon and Petyr detailed in this series remains, and certainly merits attention.
NOTE: In what follows, all uncited quotes are from ASOS Sansa VI, which describes Petyr's homecoming to his "Drearfort" tower of the 'Smallest Finger', or ACOK Theon I, which describes Theon's homecoming to "drear" Pyke.
As in past posts, I sometimes use "→" as shorthand for "'prefigures' and/or 'informs' and/or 'is reworked by' and/or 'finds a recursive rhyme in'.
As in: ACOK Theon I → ASOS Sansa VI.
This post picks up straight-away from where Part 8 left off. You can read Part 8 [HERE].
If you want to begin at the beginning, Part 1 is [HERE].

The Myraham's Prophetic Cargo

After Theon makes port, the captain of the Myraham announces his cargo to the people on the docks of Lordport and we read about the offloading of the Myraham:

"We're out of Oldtown," the captain called down, "bearing apples and oranges, wines from the Arbor, feathers from the Summer Isles. I have pepper, woven leathers, a bolt of Myrish lace, mirrors for milady, a pair of Oldtown woodharps sweet as any you ever heard." The gangplank descended with a creak and a thud. "And I've brought your heir back to you."

Most of what we read there seems to be reworked in and around Littlefinger's homecoming in ASOS Sansa VI, when the Merling King brings the Dreadfort its heir, Littlefinger, as well as the seeming heir to Winterfell, Sansa. This begins with the Arbor wine and fruit we see off-loaded from the Merling King:

Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions. Among the loads he brought ashore were several casks of wine. Petyr poured Sansa a cup, as promised. …
… The wine was very fine; an Arbor vintage, she thought. It tasted of oak and fruit and hot summer nights, the flavors blossoming in her mouth like flowers opening to the sun. She only prayed that she could keep it down. Lord Petyr was being so kind, she did not want to spoil it all by retching on him.
… "Grisel," he called to the old woman, "bring some food up. … Oswell's brought some oranges and pomegranates from the King." …
Grisel reappeared…, balancing a large platter. … There were apples and pears and pomegranates, some sad-looking grapes, a huge blood orange.

Besides the straight repetition of Arbor wine, oranges, apples, and heirs, the repeated Oldtown motif is baldly reworked by Sansa's description of the wine, which is patently Oldtown-summer-esque, per the only substantive pre-AFFC description of Oldtown, which associates it with hot, fruity summer nights:

"King Maekar's summer was hotter than this one, and near as long. … [T]he heat was fierce while it lasted. Oldtown… came alive only by night. … I remember the smells of those nights, my lord—perfume and sweat, melons ripe to bursting, peaches and pomegranates, nightshade and moonbloom." (AGOT Eddard V)

The Myraham's "mirrors for milady" prefigure Sansa being figuratively groomed by Petyr and literally grooming herself in Petyr's Eyrie after he takes over:

When Gretchel fetched her Lysa's silvered looking glass, the color seemed just perfect with Alayne's mass of dark brown hair. (AFFC Alayne I)

The Myraham's "woodharps sweet as any you ever heard" presage Sansa being attacked by Marillion, whose "voice was strong and sweet", (AFFC Sansa I) after he sings a song (about blowjobs?) called "Milady's Supper" (supper a la the Myraham-ish fruit Sansa eats for supper when she lands) during Petyr's wedding bedding:

Lady Lysa's singer launched into a bawdy version of "Milady's Supper"….

The Myraham's "woven leathers" and "Myrish lace" are reworked into the "laces unlaced" i.e. unwoven during said wedding:

By the time they had gotten him into the tower and out of his clothes, the other women were flushed, with laces unlaced, kirtles crooked, and skirts in disarray.

That it's a "bolt of Myrish lace" is interesting: After Sansa boards the Merling King, she sees a singular "bolt" from a crossbow strike Dontos, and then two more:

Lothor Brune dipped his torch. Three men stepped to the gunwale, raised crossbows, fired. One bolt took Dontos in the chest as he looked up…. The others ripped into throat and belly. (ASOS Sansa V)

Three crossbow bolts? What does that remind us if not… a Myrish crossbow:

"The king is playing with his new crossbow," Tyrion said. Ridding himself of Joffrey had required only an ungainly Myrish crossbow that threw three quarrels at a time…. (ACOK Tyrion VI)

What about the Myraham's "pepper"? I suspect this gets box-checked first by Sansa trying not to "retch" as she is off-loaded along with the wine with which Littlefinger tries to settle her tummy, as just two chapters later peppers are tightly linked to "retching" of the sort Sansa feels like doing:

[Tyrion] found himself on his knees retching… that double helping of fried eggs cooked up with onions and fiery Dornish peppers. (ASOS Tyrion X)

GRRM seems to play off the "pepper" motif in other ways, as well. Consider that the gathering to meet the Myraham and the shouted questions that prompt her captain to announce her cargo—

A handful of Lordsport merchants had gathered to meet the ship. They shouted questions as the Myraham was tying up.

—get reworked by Petyr's household all gathering "to meet" the Merling King and by their peppering one another with questions:

Servants emerged from the tower to meet them; a thin old woman and a fat middle-aged one, two ancient white-haired men, and a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye. When they recognized Lord Petyr they knelt on the rocks. "My household," he said. "I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."

She's a "popper", then, in case we didn't catch that retching → peppers. (This also reworks Theon "popping one off" with the captain's daughter, who is in many ways reworked by Kella, as will be discussed below.)

… [Petyr]… gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one. "Who fathered this one, Kella?"
The fat woman laughed. "I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. … "How long will you be in residence?"
"As short a time as possible, Bryen, have no fear. Is the place habitable just now, would you say?"
"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung." Petyr turned to Sansa. "Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now. Umfred's my steward, and Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord.…"
… Petyr gestured toward the fat woman. "Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"

A gathering, and questions, questions, questions, as when Theon docks.
Recall that Bryen and Umfred come from shore to offload Sansa (who's just been promised a cup of wine to help with her upset "tummy") from the Merling King's rowboat:

The two old men waded out up to their thighs to lift Sansa from the boat so she would not get her skirts wet.

This reworks the "shorehands… off-loading… casks of wine" from a Tyroshi trader docked with the Myraham—

[Theon] spied a Tyroshi trading galley off-loading…
Shorehands rolled casks of wine off the Tyroshi trader, fisherfolk cried the day's catch, children ran and played. A priest in the seawater robes of the Drowned God was leading a pair of horses along the pebbled shore, while above him a slattern leaned out a window in the inn, calling out to some passing Ibbenese sailors.

—which itself prefigures the above-quoted off-loading of the Merling King (when "Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions" including "several casks of wine", from which Petyr immediately "poured Sansa a cup, as promised").

Kella & The Slattern

What about that "slattern lean[ing] out a window" to greet "some passing… sailors" while "children ran and played"? I submit that she is one of several motifs from Theon's homecoming prefiguring Petyr's servant Kella. I'll explain.
Consider that Petyr's servant Kella has many bastards i.e. children, popping one out every few years:

"I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."

We only see one; presumably the others are off somewhere, running and playing, perhaps.
Kella happily greets Petyr as he comes ashore, much as Lordsport's slattern "call[s] out to some passing Ibbenese sailors". Note that the sailors on the Merling King are likewise 'passing' — passing through:

"From here the King turns east for Braavos. Without us."

Consider most of all that Kella's something of a slattern herself: She's "not one for telling them no".

"I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."

Indeed, something Lysa says pretty clearly codes Kella as a verbatim "slattern", underlining the recursion:

"How would you like to spend your life on that bleak shore, surrounded by slatterns and sheep pellets?" (ASOS Sansa VII)

So I think the vignette with the slattern and the children in Lordsport pretty plainly prefigures Kella. But I think she's prefigured by two more pieces of Theon's homecoming.

Kella & The Captain's Daughter

Keeping in mind that Kella has a bunch of bastards ("she pops one out every few years) and that she's "not one for telling them no", consider also that she is (a) literally 'with child' — or rather, with a child—

a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye

—that she's (b) "fat"—

"Who fathered this one, Kella?"
The fat woman laughed.

—and that she's (c) coded as a bit stupid:

"Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
She had to think a moment. "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."

All like Theon's "captain's daughter".
The captain's daughter is "plump", as Kella is "fat":

The girl was a shade plump for his taste…

She is likely pregnant with Theon's bastard, a la Kella the bastard-popper.
She tells Theon…

"You can put it in me again, if it please you…"

…and accedes to his request for a blowjob, so she's "not one for telling them no."
She thereby helps Theon 'pop one off', a la Kella "pop[ping] one out".
Like Kella, she seems a bit stupid:

She looked rather stupid when she smiled, but he had never required a woman to be clever.
The stupid girl did not seem to be listening.
She… learned quickly for such a stupid girl….
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.

And finally, she offers to work in Theon's castle—

I'd work in your castle, milord.

—just as Kella works for Petyr.

Kella: The Spreading Patch of the Smallest Finger?

Besides the "slattern" and the captain's daughter, I suspect Kella may also riff on — of all things — the "spreading patches" of "lichen" on "wet" Pyke as Theon sails by:

[Pyke was] wet by the same salt waves, festooned with the same spreading patches of dark green lichen, speckled by the droppings of the same seabirds.

Get it? A spreading 'patch'? In combination with "lichen" a la "licking" and Pyke being "wet"? And not just wet, but "wet by… salt waves", when as we know from the captain's daughter, semen tastes "salty", "like the sea". It's like Pyke is being described as a turned-on "slattern" with her legs spread.
A Hoare, we might say.
This connects to Kella, specifically because of her name: Kella is a near anagram for "kale", a dark green plant, like the "dark green lichen".
Actually, the name Kella may have anothere precursor in Theon's story: "Qalen", the maester Theon asks Helya about upon his arrival at Pyke:

"And what of Maester Qalen, where is he?"

Qalen would be pronounced Kalen. Qalen → Kalen → Kale → Kela → Kella. Anyway…

Grisel & The Captain's Daughter

Something similar is going on with Petyr's servant Grisel, the "thin old woman" who was his wet nurse but who "keeps [his] castle now":

"Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now.

Grisel is similarly prefigured by two people from Theon's homecoming, including first the captain's daughter who wants to work in Theon's castle as Grisel works in Petyr's "castle".
Consider first that Grisel, like the captain's daughter, seems slightly stupid (but eager to please), as she fails to grasp Petyr's sarcasm and takes his derisive joke about gulls' eggs and seaweed soup as an order:

"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home. When I break my fast on gulls' eggs and seaweed soup, I'll be certain of it."
"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.
Lord Petyr made a face.

Then there is the captain daughter's resume:

"I'd work in your castle, milord. I can clean fish and bake bread and churn butter. Father says my peppercrab stew is the best he's ever tasted. You could find me a place in your kitchens and I could make you peppercrab stew."

This surely prefigures what we're told about Grisel making a sea-based soup of her own (i.e. the just mentioned "seaweed soup"), baking bread, and churning butter for Petyr:

Grisel reappeared before he could say more, balancing a large platter. She set it down between them. … The old woman had brought a round of bread as well, and a crock of butter.
Grisel climbed up to the bedchamber to serve the lord and lady a tray of morning bread, with butter, honey, fruit, and cream.

Where Grisel used to be Petyr's wet nurse, Theon suckles the captain daughter's nipple as if she's a wet nurse:

Theon's finger circled one heavy teat, spiraling in toward the fat brown nipple. … He took her nipple in his mouth….
"You can put it in me again, if it please you," she whispered in his ear as he sucked.

And finally, where Theon kisses the captain's daughter on the ear—

[Theon] drew the captain's daughter close and kissed her on her ear.

—Littlefinger kisses Grisel on the cheek:

Oswell and Lothor splashed their way ashore, as did Littlefinger himself. He gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one.

Helya & Grisel (& Gretchel)

Grisel also rhymes with and reworks Helya, who keeps Balon's castle:

A bentback old crone in a shapeless grey dress approached him warily. "M'lord, I am sent to show you to chambers."
"And who are you?"
"Helya, who keeps this castle for your lord father."

Get it? "Helya and Grisel", a la "Hansel and Gretel".
(Gretel is a variant of "Greta". "Grisel" sounds like gristle, whereas in Hansel and Gretel the witch is trying to fatten Hansel up — she don't want no stringy meat! Note the thematic symmetry as well: By treating Hansel kindly and feeding him delicious treats, the witch is essentially "grooming" him for her own benefit/consumption, as Theon and Petyr groom the captain's daughter and Sansa, respectively, for their own benefit. Finally, note that "pebbles" are a key motif in Hansel and Gretel, prefiguring the proliferation of "pebbles" on Pyke, the 'rhyming' "pellets" on Petyr's Finger, and the isle of "Pebble" that leads to Petyr's Finger.)
The two "old" castle keepers neatly invert one another. Consider Grisel's comments about the old rushes and fire in Petyr's tower:

"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung."

That's a recursive reversal of Helya's (lack of) preparation for Theon's visit: Where Grisel has a fire going even though she didn't know Petyr was coming, and where she proactively apologizes for not changing the rushes, telling him "we would have laid down fresh rushes… if we knew you were coming", Helya neither lit a fire nor changed the heavily foregrounded "old and brittle" rushes in the rooms Theon is given—

"I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. "See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."

—despite having ample forewarning of his coming:

It was not as though they had no word of his arrival. Robb had sent ravens from Riverrun, and… Jason Mallister had sent his own birds to Pyke….

The joke is underlined by the introduction of "Gretchel" — Gretel with a borrowed H from Helya/Hansel — who fetches washbasins of water (which, see below), "la[ys] a fire in the hearth" and "tend[s] to the fire", brings food and discusses food storage in Petyr's Eyrie in AFFC Sansa I & Alayne I. (In other words, she 'keeps his castle.')

'Rhyming' Interiors

That's just the beginning of the reversals in the many recursions between Theon's lodgings at Pyke and Sansa's in the Drearfort.
Where Helya leads Theon to his rooms on his orders—

"Show me to my chambers, woman," he commanded. Bowing stiffly, [Helya] led him across the headland to the bridge. …
Whenever he'd imagined his homecoming, he had always pictured himself returning to the snug bedchamber in the Sea Tower, where he'd slept as a child. Instead the old woman led him to the Bloody Keep.

—it's Petyr who leads the way into his tower, casually inviting Grisel (and everyone else) to follow him:

"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.
Lord Petyr made a face. "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." He led them up the strand…

Petyr jokes about his hall being "dreary", and perhaps it is, but while it's "small" and "even smaller" within, his tower is also home to his servants, and hence very well lived-in.

Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs. Above that was a modest hall, and higher still the bedchamber.

(Note that the "mastiff", which we see as Petyr leads Grisel in, recalls Helya bowing "stiffly" before leading Theon to his rooms.)
This sharply reverses the situation Theon finds at Pyke, when he's deposited not in a single room shared by a bunch of people who've lived in it forever and warmed by a hearth with a burning fire, a la Sansa, nor in the "snug bedchamber" in the Sea Tower he'd anticipated (which sounds like Littlefinger's little "tower" by the sea), but in the Bloody Keep, in a whole-ass "suite" of large but "chilly", even "cold" rooms with incredibly high ceilings — rooms which haven't even been opened, much less lived-in, for "years", and which are the very definition of "dreary":

The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp. Theon was given a suite of chilly rooms with ceilings so high that they were lost in gloom. [Omitted but see below.]
[Omitted but see below.] It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste. The wall hangings were green with mildew, the mattress musty-smelling and sagging, the rushes old and brittle. Years had come and gone since these chambers had last been opened. The damp went bone deep. "I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."

A ton of the motifs here (including the omitted stuff, which I'll return to) get recycled and reworked in Petyr's tower.
Most obviously, Theon's request for hot water prefigures Sansa's request for a hot bath:

"Might I have a hot bath as well?" asked Sansa.
"I'll have Kella draw some water, m'lady."

Note that Kella fulfills the request, not Grisel. This 'fits', as it's not Helya who brings Theon's water, but "two thralls".
Note also that Sansa requests her bath after thinking…

She desperately needed a bath and a change of clothes.

…whereas Theon changes his clothes immediately after the quoted passages.
Slightly less obviously, the "wall hangings [that] were green with mildew" are reworked by Petyr's own green 'wall hanging': his grandfather's shield, which is painted with a "light green field" and which "hung… above the hearth". The "mildew" is reworked by the fact that the paint is "cracked and flaking" i.e. flawed. And maybe also by the "light green field", since a field grows crops which get milled and which get dewy.

Brittle Bryen's Brigantine, Brindled Mastiff, & Old Blind Dog

As mentioned, the motif of unchanged rushes from Theon's homecoming recurs when Petyr comes home. But Petyr's homecoming also lexically riffs on Theon's rushes being quote-unquote "old and brittle" by giving us Bryen in "brigantine" who is very "old" but not, seemingly, brittle, as he still walks watches, not with his "old blind dog", but with a "brindled mastiff":

"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …
"Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."
Sansa found Bryen's old blind dog in her little alcove beneath the steps…
The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.

Is the brindled dog a "mastiff" 'only' a wink at Theon going mast-stiff for Asha? (See Part 4.) Maybe. But it's worth mentioning that when Theon is first being stirred by Pyke's banner and it's being battered about like the shield we see in the Drearfort three sentences after the mastiff, it's also (a) flying from a very stiff "mast" and (b) juxtaposed with a very large 'dog' of sorts:

The banner streamed from an iron mast, shivering and twisting as the wind gusted like a bird struggling to take flight. And here at least the direwolf of Stark did not fly above, casting its shadow down upon the Greyjoy kraken.

Musty Old Mattresses

The old, "musty-smelling and sagging" mattress (in the chamber that has just been re-opened after long periods of being closed and uninhabited) from Theon's homecoming is answered in Petyr's homecomiong by Lysa, who arrives a few pages later in the chapter, eager to finally have sex again with Petyr. "Mattress" is slang for a sexually available woman (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mattress) and Lysa sags—

Lady Lysa was two years younger than Mother, but this woman looked ten years older. Thick auburn tresses fell down past her waist, but beneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged.

—and smells stale. (Note that Lysa is on a mattress here.)

Her aunt was drenched in sweet scent, though under that was a sour milky smell. Her cheek tasted of paint and powder.

Lysa's "cheek tast[ing] of paint and powder" riffs on the line about Theon's "distaste" and "fear of ghosts":

It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste.

The distaste wordplay is obvious: Lysa tastes bad. As for the "fear of ghosts", Lysa (whom Sansa fears) being covered in "powder" reminds us of Sansa being afraid of a "spirit" covered in powdery flour:

When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white and moaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs…. Arya stood her ground and gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with flour. (AGOT Arya IV)

This line—

The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp.

—is reworked by Lysa as well, who is big and well-dressed ("better furnished", so to speak)—

[B]eneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged. Her face was pink and painted, her breasts heavy, her limbs thick. She was taller than Littlefinger, and heavier; nor did she show any grace in the clumsy way she climbed down off her horse.

—but cold to Sansa and horny/wet/"damp" for Petyr.
Given that Theon's rooms are in several ways like Lysa (newly 'open for business' after a long period of being closed and untouched by men, etc.), and pronouncing aunt like antler, we also might say that where the Lysa-like rooms are "cold" and "damp", Lysa herself is Sansa's "cold" aunt. Rhyming 'rhyming'.
That "years had come and gone since" the room with the Lysa-like mattress "had last been opened" is reworked not just by Lysa getting laid, but textually when Sansa is told Lysa is coming to the Drearfort (where she is 're-opened', so to speak):

It had been years since Sansa last saw her mother's sister…"

I wonder whether Lysa crying and speaking to Sansa of being "bound by blood" to her—

Tears welled suddenly in Lady Lysa's eyes. "We are women alone now, you and I. Are you afraid, child? Be brave. I would never turn away Cat's daughter. We are bound by blood."

—might not be in part a play on the fact that "the damp went bone deep" in the Bloody Keep. By saying that, Sansa's damp (i.e. crying) aunt "went bone deep", so to speak. (If you're "bound by blood" to someone, you have a "bone deep" bond with them. Also, bone → bound wordplay?)

Braziers → Bracing?

Did Theon's attempt to drive away "the chill" and damp of the salty sea air of Pyke using "braziers"—

See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill.

—inform (via wordplay: braziers → bracing) Petyr's line when the Merling King pulls up to the Drearfort?

Lord Petyr came up beside her, cheerful as ever. "Good morrow. The salt air is bracing, don't you think? It always sharpens my appetite."

And/or is that "sharpening" motif a recursion of Theon sharpening his dirk immediately after said braziers are lit?

After some time, they brought the hot water he had asked for. … While two thralls lit his braziers, Theon stripped off his travel-stained clothing and dressed to meet his father. … He hung a dirk at one hip and a longsword at the other…. Drawing the dirk, he … pulled a whetstone from his belt pouch, and gave it a few licks. He prided himself on keeping his weapons sharp.

Gods Be Good!

The motifs of Theon yelling "gods be good" at his servant and of "ceilings so high that they were lost in gloom" are recursively reworked when Lysa summons Sansa (like a servant) to speak with her the morning after she weds Petyr. Sansa responds to the summons by thinking, verbatim, "gods be good", and is then told they'll be heading to the Eyrie, which we know is "so high you can stand on the parapets and look down on the clouds", i.e. it has parapets 'so high that they were lost in the clouds':

Lady Lysa was still abed [like a good mattress!], but Lord Petyr was up and dressed. "Your aunt wishes to speak with you," he told Sansa, as he pulled on a boot. "I've told her who you are."
Gods be good. "I . . . I thank you, my lord."
Petyr yanked on the other boot. "I've had about as much home as I can stomach. We'll leave for the Eyrie this afternoon."
Seven towers, Ned had told her, like white daggers thrust into the belly of the sky, so high you can stand on the parapets and look down on the clouds. (AGOT Catelyn VI)

The notion of a "ceiling" so high it is lost in gloom is perhaps also reworked by the story Lysa tells Sansa about Petyr's "rise" to power: She says she "always knew how high [Petyr would] rise", and it's my belief that said rise has likely seen him 'lost', spiritually, in 'darkness'. (Note that ceilings are a frequently invoked metaphor when talking about climbing the corporate ladder.)

"Half his teeth were gone, and his breath smelled like bad cheese. I cannot abide a man with foul breath. Petyr's breath is always fresh . . . he was the first man I ever kissed, you know. My father said he was too lowborn, but I knew how high he'd rise. Jon gave him the customs for Gulltown to please me, but when he increased the incomes tenfold my lord husband saw how clever he was and gave him other appointments, even brought him to King's Landing to be master of coin. That was hard, to see him every day and still be wed to that old cold man.

(Recall that the motif of bad/fresh breath there reworks the "winey stench of the old man's [Sylas Sourmouth's] breath", which Theon thinks about roughly ¼ page prior to being shown his suite in the Bloody Keep.)

Butchered Sons & Brothers

Lysa continues to rant:

"Jon did his duty in the bedchamber, but he could no more give me pleasure than he could give me children. His seed was old and weak. All my babies died but Robert, three girls and two boys. All my sweet little babies dead, and that old man just went on and on with his stinking breath. So you see, I have suffered too." Lady Lysa sniffed. "You do know that your poor mother is dead?"
"Tyrion told me," said Sansa. "He said the Freys murdered her at The Twins, with Robb."

Those references to (a) a bunch of dead "babies", including two brothers, one of which was "murdered" when Lysa's father, Hoster Tully, who ruled the Riverlands, betrayed Lysa's trust; and to (b) foul smelling breath, a la Sylas, and finally to (c) the Red Wedding — a bloody betrayal of Sansa's brother, who was King of the Riverlands — particularly (per Sansa saying "Tyrion told me") as it's described by Tyrion—

Sansa did not need to hear how her brother's body had been hacked and mutilated, he decided; nor how her mother's corpse had been dumped naked into the Green Fork in a savage mockery of House Tully's funeral customs. (ASOS Tyrion VII)

—are one of the ways ASOS Sansa VI rejiggers the part of Theon's description of his Bloody Keep suite I "[omitted]" earlier, which entails betrayals, murdered brothers, a River King, slaughter, and bodies "hacked to bits".

[Theon] might have been more impressed if he had not known that these were the very chambers that had given the Bloody Keep its name. A thousand years before, the sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.
But Greyjoys were not murdered in Pyke except once in a great while by their brothers, and his brothers were both dead.

Lysa's speech with its reference to her abortion and to the Red Wedding (and to stink-breath like Sylas's) isn't the only (or even the main) way Petyr's homecoming chapter refracts those images from Theon's homecoming, though.
Littlefinger is himself a kind of River King (as Lord Paramount of the Trident), right? And note that we read all about his "slaughtered" "sons" just before he enters the tower, wherein we then see the foul betrayers who murdered their 'brothers'. I'm talking, of course, about his sheep and his sheepdogs:

"How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home.…" … "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." … A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower…. …
Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.

Note the kitchen, recalling that the Bloody Keep is paired with the Kitchen Keep as Theon first gazes on Pyke:

Farther out were the Kitchen Keep and the Bloody Keep, each on its own island.

Note, too, that the sheep are coded as Petyr's "sons", in a way (a la the "slaughtered… sons of the River King" Theon remembers in his Bloody Tower rooms), and not just because he owns them. He says that Kella has lots of bastards and that she minds his sheep, right? And what else does he say of Kella, in jest? That she 'is' the "mother" of his "daughter," "Alayne Stone":

"Alayne . . . Stone, would it be?" When he nodded, she said, "But who is my mother?"
"Kella?"
"Please no," she said, mortified.
"I was teasing.

The joke foregrounds the notion of Petyr as the father of Kella's children. And while she supposedly has a bunch of bastards, we don't see them. We just see the one girl with the livestock-evoking eye with a sty. It's almost like the sheep she looks after are her children. And thus like Petyr is their father.
(Note the word "mortified". This points straight back to Theon in his Bloody Tower for two reasons: First, greyscale, which mortifies the flesh, killed Balon's brother Harlon, who died "in a windowless tower room" at Pyke. Second: Theon will, in his next chapter, be truly mortified by the realization that "Esgred" is his sister Asha, where that masquerade in turn prefigures Sansa masquerading as Alayne.)
So the "cold" Bloody Keep with its partner the Kitchen Keep and its story of a "slaughter", betrayal, brother killing brother, a River King's sons' bodies "hacked to bits in their beds" — all these motifs are reworked by Kella's account of one of Lord Paramount Petyr's sheep-'sons' being killed by its lexicial 'brothers', the very "sheep-dogs" who were supposed to guard it, and of other sheep-'sons' being verbatim "butchered", i.e. slaughtered on a killing bed and in the process surely hacked into pieces that were then preserved against spoilage for future consumption, such that the resulting "cold salt mutton" could be used as travel rations. Which jibes with Theon's language, creatively interpreted:

[T]he sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.

(They were slaughtered and hacked to bits only so as to properly preserve them against spoilage during their upcoming journey "back to their father on the mainland", you see!)

Theon's Honor Guard

The conditions in Theon's rooms are consistent with the cold welcome he receives, both from Aeron—

The priest's manner was chilly, most unlike the man Theon remembered.

—and Balon—

Theon pulled off his gloves. "… Why is my father not here to greet me?"
"He awaits you in the Sea Tower, m'lord. When you are rested from your trip."
And I thought Ned Stark cold.

—and they're thus part of a broad yin/yang 'rhyme' with Petyr's initial homecoming, which is warm and welcoming and full of familiar faces, whereas Theon knows no one, such that he thinks:

It is as if I were a stranger here….

The reversal is wryly underlined when Petyr is greeted at the shore by his "captain of the guards", Bryen:

"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man.

Thus Petyr ironically gets the "honor guard" welcome Theon hoped he'd get on his arrival 'home':

[Theon] saw… no honor guard waiting to escort him from Lordsport to Pyke, only smallfolk going about their small business.

Notice that where no one stops what they're doing for Theon, everyone stops when Petyr arrives. And of course, everyone in his household recognizes him, whereas no one recognizes Theon. Which is telling, because in a deep sense, that's all Theon really wants, deep down: a little recognition.
Littlefinger has it… but it's not enough.

(SUB)SERIES CONCLUDES IN PART 10: Oswell & Aeron; Lothar & Dagmer; The Closing Twist

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Timestamp and Noods: https://imgur.com/a/oTLxezh

Alright. This is a big one for anyone out there who’s looking to really shake things up.
I got my hands on a pair of E90 Dakota Terra Leather Sport seats from a 2006 330xi.
I had originally expected that I might have to remove the E46 seat wiring harness and repin those wires to fit the E90 wiring harness I also pulled from that same 2006 330xi.
I was incredibly wrong.
So: if you are planning on doing this, you will need to know some very important things.

1. The E90 seat modules require a 5-9v pulse to the KBUS/Canbus chip that allows the computer module under the drivers seat to ‘wake up’ and allow the seat to function.
   
2. The seat rail width on E90 seats is smaller than the width of the E46 seat rails.
   
3. The E90 seat buckle receptacle will not accept an E46 seat belt buckle.
   

————————-
So, here are your possible options for each issue:

1. Module ‘Wake up’ —————

• Install an electrical timer with a 555 chip and a buck converter (Voltage step-down board) to the existing +/- wires for this function.
  
• Strip the seat module from the seat, and rewire the entire seat.
  
• Any other possibilities require substantial modification, and without a machining shop, I believe any other options are out of range.
  

————- 2. Seat Rail Width Difference ————-

• Custom fabricate metal brackets both easy enough to drill through and strong enough to be safe in a car crash.
  
  • Drill new mounting points for the seats.
  • Swap the rails from the E46 seats (This is a huge process in which you will also have to re wire everything as the seat electrical and motors are affixed to the rails). There will also be a major fitment issue afterwards.

———— 3. Seat Belt ————

• Swap E46 belt receptacle to the E90 seats and retain the E46 Belt.
  
• Swap the E90 Belt to the E46 and retain the E90 buckle.
  

—————
Oh! I shouldn’t forget to mention that there are absolutely no guides to do this project anywhere. There are a small handful of videos on complete hardwiring jobs to completely different cars, and a few of those show how to build a timer board.
There is a single post on E46Fanatics where a person swapped E90 seats to an E46, but only included some slight information about custom fabricating brackets to mount the seats in the E46.
———- WIRING ————
——-The Issue———-
There is also extremely limited information anywhere online on plain colour coded diagrams for the E90 seats and the E46 seats. Now, why is this? Well, BMW used different pins & colours for a wide variety of seats in a wide variety of years.
Ex. Standard power seats will have different pins / colours than sport seats, and the differences could be different even in the next year of the same chassis.
So, you are on your own for this - except you’ve got this post.
With substantial trial & error, buying diagrams, learning how to read wiring diagrams, learning electrical, etc. I have figured out all of the pins on my car & E90 seat.
So - if you have a Facelift Sedan with standard seats with power & heating, and pre-2007 E90 sport seats, I may be able to help you.
———What I Did————-
I decided it would be best to strip the seat module from the drivers seat and hardwire all of the motors to a new custom switchboard.
With OEM E90 wiring, there are 2 positive & negative wires powering the seats. One set is for the heated elements, and one is for the motors.
With the module stripped, I wired 6 individual positives and 6 individual negatives to the OEM seat function positive and negative wires.
(Learn about wire gauges, voltage/amperage limits for the gauges/types of wires you use, etc. be safe.)
Why did I have to replace the switch module too? Because the computer module was essentially ‘decoding’ the signal from the switch module, not allowing you to bypass the computer module and retain the switch module.
These wires are then connected to 6 double-pole double-throw momentary toggle switches.
Picture a 6 pack of pop / soda from the top down. You’ve got 6 poles.
The middle two will be your positive & negative in, on their respective sides.
The top two will be wires with splices to cross diagonally to the bottom two.
So, your top left pole wire will bounce over to the bottom right pole, while also having an ‘out’ connection point. This allows you to use reverse polarity to reverse the positive & negative signal to the affixed motor, allowing you to move a seat forwards and backwards.
——-Custom Switch Board———
These 6 switches were mounted on a custom carbon fiber board.
I tried to use the seat electrical cover (the long black plastic section housing the switches and covering the seat rails) but ultimately I cut out the existing switch module mount points (plastic) and tried to plastic weld the board on. This didn’t work since the plastic was essentially just covering the carbon fiber board. Upon pressing a switch, the whole board would pop out.
I tried self tapping screws, they hollowed out the carbon fiber instead of creating grooves, so this didn’t work either.
I gave up and straight-up JB Welded the board to the plastic, from the inside. It’s solid now, and not visible from the exterior.
————————————-
This is where I am currently at.
To get the heated seat function to work, I will need to buy a second passenger seat heating module, as the drivers heating module is a part of the seat module I stripped.
The passenger side module is standalone and only requires +/- input so it is pretty straightforward.
I also still need to make brackets for the rails - I bought some stainless steel brackets, but I can’t drill through them for the life of me.
I’ll be sure to update this post as I progress.
Best of luck!
TL;DR, don’t swap for E90 seats unless you are an electrician & machinist.
Edit: Attempted some mobile formatting.

I felt very weird. I could really notice it and at the same time I couldn't. I was in a kind of trance. I had been given a shot of some kind of drug. Several minutes after the drug was in my bloodstream. Even though I was unconscious I could feel that fucking burning running through my veins, up and down and all over my body. It was horrible, like I was being put in a bonfire. Suddenly that ardor stopped, suddenly, as if the fuel that feeds a candle had run out. I opened my eyes and saw only a white world. No horizon, no sun, no sky, no earth. A totally white world, like a torture room. I couldn't tell if I was awake or not, if I was in some kind of dream or in the real world.
A very loud noise resounded throughout that kind of room. I covered my ears as hard as I could, trying to prevent that shrill sound from penetrating my eardrums. It was in vain. I fell to my knees on the ground, with my hands in my ears and with a major headache. It was worse than Umbrella's training tests. I almost preferred to flog myself to continue suffering the pain caused by that damned sound. Suddenly, the sound disappeared. Just as it began, it went. I got up, little by little, because my knees trembled a lot and I was panting, from fatigue and tiredness. It was as if all my life energy had been consumed. I couldn't fully compose myself and stood on all fours on the ground, panting and sweating like a chicken. About two or three minutes passed, perhaps some more because measuring the notion of time in that white environment, without references, was impossible. I was able to fully compose myself. An explosion of images came to me, suddenly, as if they were flashbacks to my past. I walked among that string of memories and images until I stopped at a specific one that had managed to capture my attention.
I was face to face with that image, floating. There were no cables or connections of a screen or anything similar. It was very strange. I took a couple of small steps forward, to get a little closer. I was a bundle of nerves, trembling like a flan or a jelly on a plate. A sense of sadness, agony, mixed with indifference and distance enveloped me and stirred my insides. The memory was reproduced. It was on a mission, unspecified, as if it were some kind of fictional construction to terrorize me. “This can't be real” I kept repeating myself over and over in my mind. A deep echo invaded that room and those words that I pronounced, in my sepulchral silence, resounded throughout the room, as if I heard them through a loudspeaker. I stared at the scene. I saw myself, as if I was facing a trial and a recording of guilt was being exposed.
It was one of many missions carried out. It didn't have much in particular, it didn't even seem to differ from some scenes I'd already seen. But no, something caught my attention. I saw myself, in cold blood, putting a lot of innocent people to the knife. He seemed to enjoy it, a smile escaped the protagonist of those actions in those images. It was as if he gloated in the morbidity of seeing so much blood, he seemed to enjoy it. I just felt indifference. Suddenly the scene stopped as the boy in the picture looked straight into my eyes. It was as if we were face to face.
I could glimpse everything of him, because he was a tall boy, he probably measured one meter and seventy-six centimeters and had a fairly young appearance, I think he could be sixteen years old, with silky blond hair, short and with entrances in the right area, he was also well combed to the left, he had like black highlights in that area of the right. The hair revealed the features of his face, a medium nose, ears thrown back a little and fleshy and well-defined lips. That arrangement of that boy's hair revealed several scars on his face, on the right hemisphere of his head. It was a large scar that came out of the hair area to the eyebrow, vertically. It merged in the eye area with a spot of the same color that surrounded all the corners, the eyelid and under the eyebrow.
The scar extended downwards, towards the neck area, and there disappeared like the Sun on the horizon. The rest of his face had many scratch marks and small scars, as if it were an eternal sign of all the missions and extreme situations lived, as if it were a condemnation to remember all that past so that it would never fall into oblivion. He also appreciated a metallic tone in his right ear, in the lobe area and part of the outer area. The rest of the features were well defined, as was the chin. He was usually a rather handsome boy, but he radiated a very gloomy feeling, as if he had a significant lack of emotions and feelings.
I kept staring at the boy, up and down. He also wore a very strange dress. A suit a little tight that made him mark the musculature, the little he had, because it was defined, but it was not exaggerated. It looked like a rather comfortable clothes, that kind of black mesh was crowned with a zipper and two very bright turquoise rectangles. The area of the sleeves was a little wider and was decorated with traces of red and turquoise, culminated with the Umbrella logo, the red and white octagon, in the shoulder area, as well as a pair of metal clamps that covered both arms, between the wrist and the elbow. On the back peeked a handle covered as leather and brown ropes, which was attached to a pair of straps with velcro fastened on both sides of the pectorals. He assumed that the handle was from a sword. He also had black pants like mesh, with a thin mesh of very metallic steel that covered them. He was fastened to a belt with several spaces for cartridges and weapons and quite thick boots, together with the whole suit, with red and white laces.
I stared at the boy in the picture. I could only focus on his blue eyes. They were a blue-green hue, although the one on the right was much brighter, like an electric blue. That piercing gaze, it was as if he was also looking at me. Suddenly the boy threw like a small smile, it was a slight curvature of his lips, as if he was telling me to come closer. I was too intrigued. I was really out of my boxes. I didn't understand anything at all and, to make matters worse, I wasn't able to perceive reality, whether I was alive or dead, whether I was delirious or had gone mad at all. My heart was beating a thousand an hour, I was trembling with fear.
"Come closer," said the boy in a rather imposing voice.
I approached little by little, taking short but steady steps. Everything trembled, although I really resigned myself to being afraid, it was what invaded me from top to bottom. I sharpened all my senses as a sign of caution, as if I were a prey being stalked. I was about a meter away from that strange image. From there I could perfectly see some features in his right eye, as if they were metal, in the area of that strange dark spot. He also came a little closer, or so I perceived at first, it was as if it were a kind of watery or liquid mirror.
The boy suddenly let out a much wider, more macabre smile, as if expelling hatred and rage everywhere. It was creepy, and a chill ran through my body at the speed of light. I reached out my right hand, slowly, to touch the surface of that strange mirror. The boy did the same. When I touched that screen a couple of waves came out, as if it were water or some liquid. It was a bit slimy. We both touched our palms, and I could feel it, as if he was there with me, even if it was impossible.
Then a strange wind whipped in my face and the landscape that I saw in the reflection was horrible. Everything was still white except the picture. A city completely razed, devoid of life, without trees, with buildings bare like mannequins, as if they were dying. The beams and debris were well seen, some walls that barely stood up. A battle was being fought behind the boy's back. A heart-wrenching echo could be seen in each explosion. A shock erupted to give way to a false calm, because the smoke coming out of the craters was very black. It seemed to carry the sobs and cries of pain, of rage, of hatred, of the people who were perishing. Soon the sunlight became dimmer. The thick smoke made it not penetrate, and everything became more apocalyptic. The sounds of bullets penetrated the ears incessantly, as did the cries of agony. I could only star, astonished, at that cruel and terrible scene. It was the incessant roller of war. A butchery carried out on behalf of powerful corporations. I lowered my hand slowly at the same time that a sensation, unknown to me, invaded me: it was sadness.
"Do you feel it?" —said the boy in a friendly tone, fixing his gaze on me.
"What do you mean?" —I replied confused and nervous.
"Do you feel it?! —repeated the blond boy again, this time with more anger and hatred than ever—. It's your fucking creation," he continued in a more furious voice.
I took a step back. I was really confused and could not process the information that this young man was throwing at me. “Creation?” I thought. I was really overwhelmed and overwhelmed by that reaction. I felt the fear run through my veins, but so did a lot of adrenaline that kept me on constant alert.
"I'm not going to let you forget, Elian, let you forget us," said the young man.
"Elian?" —I replied in confusion but holding my gaze.
"Have you seen what you forced me to do?" —continued the boy with a threatening look and maintaining the tone of rage.
"I still don't know what you mean," I concluded between murmurs.
"You forced me to kill them," said the boy, letting out a faint and macabre laugh, as if possessed by madness.
I looked away and made a gesture of disagreement, because that shrill laughter pricked my ears as if they were thin and small blades piercing my skin. A feeling of rage and anger towards that boy caused my reticence to cease and I was in a phase of absolute lack of control.
"Enough! I exclaimed angrily as I furrowed my eyebrows and squinted a little, casting a murderous look at that boy, who was still laughing at my words. I don't even know who the fuck you are, but I'm not going...—I couldn't finish the sentence because the young man interrupted me from the other side of the mirror.
"I am you," he replied. And you have forced me to kill them, you are full of hatred and madness," concluded the boy between that macabre laugh.
"No... No... can... "I said between disbelief and denial. I wasn't willing to accept that, by any means. Stop playing with me! I exclaimed angrily.
Blood began to drip from the boy's hands, at the same time he sculpted that smile again, like something out of a horror movie, and that macabre laugh.
"You didn't understand anything," the boy reproached me in an affable tone.
I kept looking at that boy who claimed to be me. A wave of perplexity suddenly assailed me, although I kept denying those words in my mind. I assumed I was done freaking out. I turned my gaze to the boy's hands, just as he looked at mine. I followed the deep red color of the blood dripping from his hands, which did not reach the ground because, luckily for my sanity, it was still only in that kind of projection. Although I was wrong. A pool of blood gushed on the ground, staining the white ground with intense carmine. I looked at my hands nervously, as I began to understand the boy's words. The image also mimicked my gestures. I raised my hands, at the height of my pectorals, and looked at them with suspicion and disbelief. My hands were covered in blood, just like the boy's, and it dripped exactly the same.
"Do you feel it yet?" —the boy redounded again, with even more anger.
"Enough is enough! I answered him again, shouting, in a trembling voice, almost not believing what I was saying.
The boy again fixed his gaze in my eyes and let out that damn laugh again accompanied by the characteristic macabre smile. The young man stammered a couple of words, which I did not hear. I locked myself back in thought, trying to dig a very deep cave to try to take refuge from the whole situation I was involved in. I was totally overwhelmed and overwhelmed, it was as if I received a lot of stab wounds in the side and back, a stabbing pain that made me scream inside myself, as if I was in a fucking prison.
I looked up at the young man again. He did the same. However, this time he raised his hands, palms facing his head. Inexplicably I did the same, as if there was a strange force pulling me. That confirmed to me that he was not crazy, or maybe he was. The boy, who was self-determined Elian, sank his chin into his bloody hands, at the same time as I did too. A few seconds later he showed his new face. His pale skin now had a pile of blood on his face, and his eyes turned a very deep red, macabre, as if it was a scary movie scene. The boy let out a powerful scream that penetrated intensely into my head and reverberated throughout my body.
"You've killed them all," he cried agonizingly. No one is left alive," he continued, clenching his fists tightly.
I was just looking at him. He was bordering on a state of intense madness. I didn't know whether to run, scream, cry, or try to punch him. I was totally paralyzed. I didn't know what to do.
"We are a monster, Elian," he spoke again between sobs as he glimpsed what looked like a human corpse, while holding a bloody sword in his left hand.
I stuck my sword in the ground as I watched the scene. I was still incredulous, not knowing how to process that information or understand what was happening. I was trying to remember that event, but my mind didn't want to give me any memory back. It was as if many of my memories had been locked in a locked drawer. I looked again at my hands, which were still covered in blood. A tear ran down my left cheek like a dagger tearing my face, a tear of an intense, dark color, leaving a faint trail of blood where it slipped. I was in a lot of pain, but I couldn't comprehend that feeling. At that instant an icy breeze rose. I hugged myself for cover from the cold and fell to my knees, interspersing glances at the ground and at the boy. The emotions I was feeling were intertwined with each other. Everything was a sea of feelings, although anger, rage and sadness predominated. I was swimming between two seas, between emotions I had not felt before and a lot of anger and pain. Between resignation and disbelief, I inhaled a breath of air and shouted in anger.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh," I said, letting out a liberating cry as I stared at the ground on all fours.
"Oh my god, now you're playing hard?" —asked the young man between taunts and hesitations.
"I don't know who the fuck you are, or what you want, but you're going to leave me alone, by hook or by crook," I said as I rested one hand on the floor, the other on my right knee and slowly sat up.
"How do you not know who I am?" —he asked, smiling angrily and jokingly, while stroking his hair, which turned reddish tones because of the blood on his hands—. You're looking in a mirror and you still haven't realized that I'm you, or do you still think you're like them? —he snapped with a laugh.
"What the hell do you mean?" —I answered him by moving my right hand, from the area of the pectorals to align it with my body.
The boy took a few seconds to breathe several times. The blood kept falling through his hands as if it were an infinite source, until he closed his eyes, sighed, and opened them again in a brilliant way. It was as if that look glared at me instantly, those red eyes stuck on me, as if they were stakes.
"You're not like them, you're just looking to serve your masters, to give them everything no matter who you're going to fuck up life for. You're a monster, Elian, or do you still not see it? —he replied with a threatening voice full of anger at the same time that he intoned that laugh again.
I screamed again in rage. I was about to lose all the self-control I had been able to store in my being. Yelled. I shouted several times in the air, without vocalizing a word. Just rage. I turned my gaze to that mirror and could make out the same boy pointing to several silhouettes, pulling the trigger. “A good soldier does his bidding” rumbled in my head. I knelt down again, holding on to my left knee, reneging. He was not willing to accept that situation, although he did not know very well what he meant. I reneged again. I kept reneging until a voice interrupted my thoughts again.
"You're not normal, Elian. You are not normal. You're not! He said in a haughty tone, gradually increasing the tone of voice, at the same time that his face became apathetic and expressionless, as if it were made of stone.
"Maybe you're right," I said in a satyr tone and with my eyes fixed on the ground. Or maybe not—I was trying to sing a false sense of security and confidence in the face of a speech that I didn't believe myself.
"You know that lying has never been one of your strengths," replied the boy in a mocking tone while stroking his hair.
"Shut up, you don't know anything about me! I exclaimed angrily as I glared at the boy.
"I've already told you everything you needed to know," said the young man assertively as he wiped his hands in his pants.
"Stop repeating all that shit," I shouted angrily as I clenched my right fist and dodged his gaze.
"I'm not the one who killed innocents in cold blood, Elian," he replied with the same smile, knowing that those words were sticking in my being like daggers. Your hands are stained with blood, of all the innocents who have died at your hands, while you swore allegiance to a damn corporation that only seeks its own benefit," he snapped at me again in an angrier tone.
I could only scream, uncontrollably, in anger. I closed my right fist, again, and carried it towards my back to release it directly against the boy in the picture. He was angry but the blow only pierced that kind of mirror. Inertia made me stumble forward, almost falling. I turned around and saw the boy laughing out loud clean.
"And I thought that self-control was one of your strengths," cried the young man in a mocking tone, pricking me not to contain my anger.
"Leave me alone! I shouted as I pulled out one of the pistols, I had in one of my trouser holsters.
I pulled the trigger, several times, as if my life was out of it. Four bullet casings fell to the ground, making a rather faint metallic sound. Everything became calm. A little gunpowder was impregnated in my hands, because they were still wet with blood. The boy disappeared without a trace, it was as if after a storm calm had come. A tense calm. It was a feeling I didn't like at all. Smoke kept coming out of the barrel of the gun he had just fired. I put the gun in the belt holster and fell on my knees. Exhausted, exhausted. It was as if that state of madness had consumed all my energy. He was tired, of mind. Everything was in my head, or so I thought because that white room still extended everywhere. The pool of blood was still in place. I sighed as I thought it was all over. Naive of me.
A few minutes later, between three or four, I tried to sit up. I also didn't feel the notion of time. It was as if hours or days had passed. A sudden burning began to erupt inside my body. A feeling like I'm baking in an oven. The white space turned with ochre, reddish, orange and yellowish colors. Tongues of fire enveloped me as my heart-rending cries of pain merged with the latent silence of the moment. I asked for help, but no one seemed to answer me. A voice began to resound, far away as the horizon, but clear enough to understand what it was saying: “EL.9.1.14, wake up”.
I sobbed and everything vanished before me. I could barely open my eyes. He was totally stunned, as if he was under the influence of some drug. I felt an immense burning in my left arm. I turned my head to try to catch a glimpse of what was causing me to burn. It was a pathway that introduced me to a kind of viscous liquid of bluish green color. I was a little dizzy. It was the same feeling that I had that time on the walls. He could make out a figure of an older person, although he couldn't see it clearly enough, but he knew it was Ava Paige. It was impossible to forget that face.
I cast a quick glance all over the room I was in. I was on a kind of stretcher, tied up, unable to move. I noticed it when I tried to move my arms or legs, but I couldn't. There were several scientists at work, looking at data on computers, mixing products in test tubes and other activities I couldn't make out. The room was crowned by a large transparent window that allowed you to see the hustle and bustle of people coming and going in the corridor. It was really as if I was in some kind of insane asylum, because I thought I had already lost all my sanity. I let out a light sigh, as if facing a surrender, and dropped my head on the cushion of the stretcher.
Several minutes passed, who knows if hours, eternal. I didn't have any kind of reference I could take to make an estimate of what time it was. Suddenly the room became calm, all the scientists had left it, previously passing through a kind of lobby that proceeded to its decontamination. I didn't pay attention to those events. I was immersed in myself. I wished I could be a prisoner of my mind so I wouldn't have to endure that damn agony. A voice rumbled through the room making me come back from my little slumber. It was Ava.
"Well, subject EL.9.1.14, now you will tell us everything we want to know and why you are here," Ava said from the other side of the glass.
I joined and I was able to differentiate it among the people. She wore a white coat and a carmine blouse, she was blonde, with wrinkles and could be around one meter seventy or one meter seventy-five. His great character countered all the speculations I had made about a possible weakness in his raison d'être.
Although I could not remember beyond the events on the walls of Birmingham, my head was still functioning moderately well. And I say moderately well because I was mentally exhausted, but something called me not to trust these people at all. Maybe the survival instinct or a mere hunch, but I knew, for sure, that I shouldn't trust these people.
"What... It makes you... think... what do I want... collaborate with you? —I said between babbling and coughing a little, with expressive grimaces of pain on my face.
"You have no alternative," the doctor snapped at me in a sweet, friendly tone of voice, as if trying to persuade me.
"There is always... "I concluded between gasps and closing my eyes with signs of pain." In addition... It's rude," he babbled between moans, "not to look... to people... As I spoke...—I concluded, dropping my head into that comfortable pillow.
"Maybe I could show a little more hospitality," Ava said as she pressed a key on a console on the other side of the glass, which caused the stretcher to slowly fold into a chair.
"Wow... This is hospitality," I said mockingly to hide the pain I felt for my body.
Actually, being in that position, sitting, only increased that kind of torture. I started to see double, with distorted colors. A severe dizziness whipped me as if a dagger had been stabbed in my head. They were the longest seconds of my life. I also noticed that he had some bruises on his arms, which made me suspect that he had been examined by these people for some time, although I was not able to determine how much.
Ava entered the room through the decontamination zone. It was really fast because I could not see that I was not in front of the window. Behind them were only curious people and two figures that I could not distinguish either, and, evidently, I could not perceive or relate their conversation. She really looked quite angry, but with some tension. I turned my gaze to the door and to Ava Paige. She just sat next to it, her gaze lost. It turned my stomach. I didn't really understand what the purpose of this was.
"Well, my colleagues, especially Thomas, whom you probably don't remember anymore, are pressuring me to leave you alone," the doctor announced with considerable concern and indifference, as she crossed her arms and rested them on her torso.
"I am totally indifferent to what you think, both you and your acolytes," I said in a haughty tone and staring at her, in anger. It's no way to deal with people, Mrs. Paige," I concluded, not looking away from her and taking a deep breath.
"So... people... right? —he replied assertively as he got up from his seat and approached the window facing the opposite side of the aisle glass. She stood facing herself, hands clasped behind her back.
"What do you mean?" —I asked between babbles and with a slight tachycardia. I was facing the same situation as in that kind of dream with that boy.
"It's not what I mean, but the reality that you're not human," he replied calmly but imposingly to my question.
I could only resign myself to such statements. Probably it was because of the serum, or whatever the hell, they were putting me in. It was that stupid feeling of feeling contrary to my own reality. “Of course, I am a person”, I said to myself in my thoughts. A chill ran down my spine, as if a piece of icy metal had been passed down my spine. My breathing began to stir and my pulse quickened a little. I heard the beeps of the machine that measured vital signs. That made me lose my sanity more. It wasn't right and I could tell.
"Don't worry, subject EL.9.1.14, it's not that we're doing everything we can to finish you off, but you could come to us very much as a test subject in the laboratories," continued the doctor, aware of my poor state. Although we can always wait for you to develop, or implant, a new model of consciousness that makes you put yourself at our level," the doctor snapped as she walked towards me.
"You're not going to get anything from me. You hear me!? —I shouted with all my might in an outburst of getting rid of those bonds that kept me in bed.
"Don't worry, by now your brain will have been watered with an enzyme that suppresses the will. The fact that you're a cyborg has only made things easier for us," he concluded, putting his hand on my right shoulder.
I threw a growl and a few words of resignation, between murmurs and babbles.
"Please don't make this harder than it already is," he concluded as he headed to the door to leave.
-----------------------------------------
"Do you see it, Teresa?" We cannot continue to stand idly by and watch these people harm innocent people. I can't take it anymore," said the boy in a tone of resignation and looking away from the glass.
"No, Thomas. Everything is based on the end to find the cure. You were the one who was most in favor of all this. Besides, it can't be that you're arousing appreciation for that boy, or am I wrong? Teresa replied, a little angry and shaking her hands angrily.
"Aren't you saying that this boy...?" Thomas asked before being interrupted.
"He's not human, Thomas. He is a cyborg. It's not like us—Teresa tried to fool Thomas, without much apparent success.
"Then you don't deserve the torture process you've been subjected to, do you?" I mean, what the fuck are we going to get clear if this kid can't be infected by the Flash? —nodded the young man in a furious tone and gradually moving away from Teresa.
At that moment Teresa's thoughts were invaded by Paige's voice calling her to continue with the investigations.
—We cannot deny that the path Thomas has chosen puts us in a situation... "very delicate," Ava said to question Teresa, who was hidden in her thoughts.
-----------------------------------------
Several hours had passed. I was able to orient myself a little by the sunlight coming in through the large window of the room. It was as if an ethereal entity kept my being between normality and madness. As if joining both states by a thin thread about to break. I was mentally and physically exhausted, remarkable since I was able to get some sleep.
I noticed again a puncture in one of my arms and also hands that touched my hair. I was able to get up, to my surprise, because I didn't remember that I was tied to the stretcher. I didn't hesitate to spin two plus two and think about why I could move.
"This should give you back the memories of the events that gave you your real name," said a dark-haired boy wearing a white coat and a blue T-shirt, a little threadbare.
"Why are you helping me?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes and winked to dodge the daggers of intense light that were piercing my pupils.
"WCKD won't stop until he destroys you, Elian. Cyborg or not, you are still human. You think like us, you eat like us, you talk like us. A mechanical implant does not make you less. That's what I want you to understand," the boy told me in a friendly, smiling tone.
"I'm aware of where I'm in, but you helped them hold me back," I said in a dry tone and looking away from him, suspiciously.
"You're not good about reversing that situation, huh?" The boy said in a mocking tone as he scratched the back of his neck. In fact, I have given you back that essential memory. Your name. You are not a machine, although I do not ask you for any iota of confidence, but you could show a little more willingness with me," he concluded, fixing his gaze on me.
"To trust or not is my thing, because neither I know you nor you know me. It's that simple," I said with resignation and hesitation as I cleaned my shirt.
"Thomas. You can call me Thomas, and then you will have a small ray of hope to trust me," the boy replied aloud. I will begin tomorrow the Maze trials, and I will remember absolutely nothing, except the name. It gives us our own identity of being. I don't know where you would come from, but calling yourself “subject EL.9.1.14" is not very dignifying, isn't it?
I continued to distrust him. I couldn't give a single inch of confidence to the people who were holding me in this horrible place. Suddenly a memory came to mind. This time I could make out several people in it. I couldn't identify the whole scene; it was still pretty blurry. “Elian looks good, don't you guys?” that rumbled in my head and made me stunned and open my eyes like saucers. “It's quite ingenious to take the serial number and transform it into letters of the alphabet to complete the name” said a voice, quite sweet and jovial that, unfortunately, I could not identify either.
I got up from the stretcher and walked over to a small sink. I turned on the faucet and it took a while for the water to come out. I put my hands underneath, in the shape of a bowl so I could get some water. It was quite cold. For some strange reason I liked that feeling. I had some water in my hands and plunged my head into it, splashing a little. I felt like I had to wash my face to try to clear myself. I was really overwhelmed with everything that had happened in this short period of time.
I noticed that, to my left, between the test tubes and the remains of some failed experiment, there was a small mirror on the wall. I felt like my insides were torn apart. I plucked up the courage to face my own being, my own self. I had never put myself in front of my own being. He really did have behaviors typical of a robot, such as lack of compassion or indifference and coldness to adopt certain positions in key or adverse moments of great emotional charge. I looked in front of the mirror the reflected face was exactly like that of the boy who tormented me in that kind of catastrophic vision. I turned pale. It could have been a ghost if not for the deep blue color of my right eye and that I did not have all the blood stains that I carried in my vision.
—Is this the face of an Umbrella creation? A being capable of isolating emotions and strictly complying with the protocols of a corporation that uses you as if it were a fucking puppet – I said to myself with resignation and anger. I'm sorry Thomas, but my own conscience gives me away," I said as I contained the rage inside.
I threw a punch at the mirror. I felt no pain, but a little blood was gushing from my knuckles, for the crystal was so thin that it had pierced my skin a little. I went to the window and stared at the sky. It was still a sea of doubts, grudges, emotions and insecurities. Of fears and tears. Although a certainty did fly over my battered mind: “Umbrella, I swear with all my being that I will destroy you”.

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Bvlgari pour homme
Armaf Tres nuit pour homme
Armaf blue homme
Chrome azzaro
Nautica voyage
Armaf club de nuit intense man pure parfum
Armaf club de nuit sillage
Ferragamo intense leather
Coach man edt
Paco rabanne invictus intense
Paco rabanne one million
Issey miyake l’eau d’issey pour homme
Davidoff cool water
Jaguar vision III
Issey miyake l’eau d’issey pour homme summer
Acqua di Gio prufomo
Sterling perfumes icon oud
Jaguar classic blue
Davidoff adventure
Zara lisboa
Zara blue spirit
Zara night 2 pour homme
Zara night 2 pour homme winter
Cartier declaration
Rasasi attar al mohabba
Rasasi Hawas
Rasasi pour lui
Rasasi al wisam day
Azzaro wanted by the night
Chopard black intense malaki
Dior sauvage
Hugo boss dark blue
Lattafa oud for glory
Missoni wave
Lattafa qaeed
Afnan 9 pm
Lattafa asad
Versace dylan blue
Ysl Y EDP
D&G light blue eau intense
D&G light blue forever
JPG Le male Le Parfum
Salvatore Feragammo acqua essenziale BLU
Rasasi fattan
Ahmed al magbiri leather
Victor & rolf spicebomb xtreme
Prada l’Homme
Albait aldimashqi L’nuit
Albait aldimashqi bleu de chanel
Albait aldimashqi eros
Maison al hambra woody oud

< Skip to Part 25>
Past the miniature amphitheater, they found their path splitting. One was labeled as a general lounge, the other as ‘quarters block C’.
“Just once,” Layna said, moving her head in a circle, “I’d like to have a nice, straight path through this goddamned ship.”
“I think you’re out of luck unless you want to go outside,” Mark said. He let the comment settle for a moment, then his face perked up. “Actually—”
“We’re not going outside,” Layna said. The annoyance was plain in her voice.
Mark shook his head. “Fine, we’ll do it the boring way. At least outside we don’t have to deal with people trying to kill us.”
“I feel like the lounge is the best bet,” she said, peering toward the path to the crew quarters. “Especially if we want to avoid running into anyone that still has some fight in them.”
Mark nodded. “Crew quarters are usually arranged in a grid pattern, anyway,” he said. “Easier to get lost in there than in a nice, open lounge. Plus they’re bound to have a bar.”
Layna shot him a look. “A bar?”
“What?” He lifted his palms into the air. “My head hurts like hell. I could use a drink or two.”
Thomas imagined what Mark would have been like to drink in a casual setting. He’d never been much of a drinker, himself—but the people he worked with on Earth were typically more comfortable in bars than anywhere else. Having a drink with them was often the only way to get them to open up.
He wondered if he could have gotten Mark to open up to him.
“Lounge it is, then,” Layna said, stepping into the hall.
It took a sharp turn to the right, no doubt conforming to the architecture of the crew’s rooms. After a short stretch and a sharp left, they found a door marked as ‘Executive Lounge C’. The words were reversed out of the frosted glass door. A long, thick crack ran through the center, spreading from a small chip near the handle of the door.
The handle itself was tied shut with a leather belt.
“Well, that can’t be anything good,” Layna said, her light shimmering against the silver buckle. She leaned forward and pressed her ear to the glass, holding her breath as she listened.
“Neyland said it was going to look pretty bad up here,” Thomas said. “You think the captain locked these people in here?”
Layna shook her head. “Someone wanted these people trapped. I still don’t believe it was the captain, though.”
Mark reached forward and tugged at the belt. It didn’t come free at first, so he tucked his light under his arm and gripped it with both hands. With a grunt, he managed to pull it tight enough for Layna to move the pin away and free it.
“Just like our boy Tommy,” he said, tossing the belt to the floor. “Just because you met the captain a few times doesn’t mean she wasn’t evil. Hell, I think you’ve gotta have at least a little evil in you to take command of something like—”
He swung the door open, the sight beyond stealing his words.
“Oh,” he said, stepping gingerly into the room. Thomas and Layna followed behind, splitting their beams in three different directions to take in the scene as a whole.
The lounge itself was significantly larger than the theater they’d passed earlier. A bar ran along the right wall, split into even sections by two doors leading to what Thomas assumed was a kitchen. Whatever bottles once lined the shelves had been scattered about the room from the ship’s turbulence.
Circular tables filled the rest of the space, a small circular stage sitting in the center of the room. Each table had six stools; nearly every stool had a body handcuffed to its base. Many were twisted into unnatural positions. The gravity shifts no doubt twisted them about, their cuffs and ties keeping them from flying around the room entirely.
It was difficult to move through the space without stepping in blood. Thomas shined his light along the floor, grimacing whenever it passed over one of the bodies. Several shimmered beneath the beam, shards of broken glass littering the poor people’s flesh.
“The fuck happened here,” Layna said, approaching the nearest table. She crouched near the body of an older woman, scanning the body with her light.
Thomas examined a younger man dressed in a red suit and bowtie. A server, from the look of him. But when the end came, he was tied to a stool with everyone else. Thomas leaned forward, bracing himself against the table, and checked the back of the boy’s neck.
“No rash,” he called out. “I don’t think these people were infected.”
“Same here,” Layna said, shaking her head. The woman she knelt next to wore a long, flowing blue dress. “This one was shot in the head.”
Thomas eyed the server. “Chest here,” he said.
Mark stepped around a table a few spots down. “Looks like some of them accepted it, some tried to wriggle free and fight it.”
Layna stood and lifted her forearm to her nose. “The captain wouldn’t have ordered something like this. She couldn’t have.”
Mark shook his head. “I’m telling you, Layna, you didn’t know her. Not really. We don’t know how many generations passed in the clone line here. Even if the woman you knew couldn’t have done this—”
“He’s right,” Thomas said, rising to his feet.
Layna shot him a look.
“About the clone generation,” he explained. “We might have left Earth a hundred years ago by now. They say the process was perfected, but… we don’t know what the latest generations were like. Maybe the captain just lost her mind.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, now. She’s dead either way.”
A sudden, bright flash forced Thomas to bring a hand to his eyes. He squinted, peering through his fingers as best he could. It took a moment for him to realize the lights had come back on. There was no sound this time to warm them. No clanks or thuds. No electrical woosh. Just a sudden burst of bright light from a few dozen holes in the ceiling.
“I don’t think we want to be in this room for the next shift,” Thomas said, his eyes darting from one shard of glass to another.
Layna nodded and moved toward the door at the far end. Mark followed behind, taking less care to avoid the corpses along the floor. Thomas heard at least three distinct crunches as Mark’s boot fell upon people’s hands.
Layna made it to the door first—Mark was quick to join her side. But Thomas was a bit slower. The pain in his side made it difficult to move with any real speed, let alone with the care required to step through a sea of bodies. He was near the last table in the hall when the lights flickered.
It wasn’t a shift this time—not at first, anyway. It was more of a quick bump. He felt almost weightless for half a second. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to lose his balance. When he once again felt the full force of his own weight, he felt his left foot slide along a thick patch of blood.
He threw his arms out to his side, trying to stay upright. His right foot searched for a solid surface behind him, instead landing on some dead man’s arm. The limb rolled beneath his foot and Thomas continued his tumble, now realizing he was past the point of stopping it.
Another flicker from the lights and he felt the pressure leave his body once more. His elbow knocked against a table, then he slowly drifted into the air. Once he realized what was happening, he flailed about, trying to grab something solid behind him. But it was too late. He was drifting upward, watching the ceiling draw nearer.
The lights remained on, but dimmer than they had been. He began to panic. Shards of glass floated beneath him. If the gravity shifted and threw him to the ceiling, the glass would follow behind. If it came back in full force, he’d land on glass and broken bone. Neither seemed like a good option.
“We’ve got to find something for him to grab,” Layna said.
Thomas craned his neck and found her in the doorway, clinging to the frame. Mark was behind her, clutching the door handle.
“If you go out there and this thing sends us for a loop you’re both fucked,” Mark said. “Try to throw something at him, get some momentum going.”
She shook her head. “There’s not time for that. We need to—”
The lights dimmed further, then bounced back to life. The gravity remained off.
“Fuck this,” Layna said. “I’m going after him.”
Thomas glared at her. “No, don’t come out here, I’ll find something to—”
He couldn’t stop her. She moved along the wall, pushing herself upward, then twisted and positioned her feet.
“Get ready,” she said. Then she pushed off and hurled herself in Thomas’s direction.
He held his breath and braced for impact. She collided with his chest, causing him to call out in pain. She didn’t hit the broken rib directly, but he couldn’t imagine that would have hurt much more than this. They flew backward toward the door they’d entered the room through, spinning in circles as they moved. Layna kept her arms wrapped tight around him, ready to help absorb the impact.
The room brightened one last time and the gravity kicked back in. They were near across the room when it activated, dropping them to the carpet in an instant. Thomas cried out once again when they hit the floor.
Layna rolled off of him, laying on her back. The room went dark.
“Thanks,” Thomas said through a grimace. He lifted his head, trying to orient himself in the room.
Layna climbed to her feet and then helped him up. “Couldn’t just leave you hanging up there,” she said.
Thomas chuckled, then winced at the pain the action caused.
“Come on,” Mark called from across the room. “Let’s get the hell out of here before that shit happens again.”
Part 25>

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1. Art and History: Florence is known for its rich history and stunning art collection. This city is home to some of the most famous museums and galleries in the world that showcase the work of legendary artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Botticelli.
   
2. Architecture and Landmarks: The city is also famous for its beautiful architecture, such as the Florence Cathedral, the Uffizi Gallery, and the historic Ponte Vecchio bridge.
   
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When it comes to entertainment in Florence, there is no shortage of options. During the summer months, there are various outdoor concerts and festivals that you can enjoy, and all year round, there are plenty of bars, cafes, and restaurants where you can relax and unwind.
The best time to visit Florence is during the spring (April to June) and fall (September to November) when the weather is mild, and the crowds are relatively low. However, if you want to experience the famous Palio (horse race) in nearby Siena, you should plan your visit for July or August.
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