[Orchard] The Orchard of Once and Onlies, Chapter 3
2025.01.26 07:31 meowcats734 [Orchard] The Orchard of Once and Onlies, Chapter 3
Her first shot blew the spective’s torso apart in a torrent of glinting red. The subsequent blast of subzero breath halted the tentacles on the wall mid-swing, the freezing impossibly thorough and quick.
An unearthly warbling roared out as the spective screeched in pain, their body reforming from the wetness on the floor.
“STOP IT!” they screamed. “You’re hurting me!”
And I would have stopped if I could. But the time to reach out a hand had ended the moment we’d discovered that those people were still conscious under the wax. So I stuck to Ana’s back as she took another bite from the enchanted ice cream cone and exhaled frost in the spective’s direction. After Ana’s first devastating shot, the air had turned crystalline and strangely floral; I estimated she could use maybe one or two more artifacts before the context clash killed us.
For now, though, it was manageable. Although the ambient magic caused bits of the atmosphere to congeal and shatter like glass, as long as I kept my airway clear it was harmless to us, and the reality disruption was worth it. The tentacles on the walls and floor were utterly immobilized by the surreal frost Ana belched.
The spective switched tactics, the liquid at our feet climbing our suits and trying to entomb us, but Ana must have considered the possibility from the moment we stepped into this house, because her counter was instantaneous and effective. She’d used an enchanted handheld fan to blow the spective’s body apart earlier, and she aimed it downwards with a mechanical whirr. Though it was nowhere near enough thrust to achieve liftoff, the gale blasted the spective’s fluids clear of us in a two-meter circle.
“I just wanted a little longer,” the spective said, voice cracking in panic as they realized they were outmatched. “I’ll let them go when I’m finished. I’m not hurting anyone! I promise!”
My heart ached for the damn kid who never got a chance to grow up before their powers consumed them, and if I was the one with the aeroblasters and ice-spitters I would have set them down for a second chance.
But Anachel was the reason I was still alive, and I trusted her in this as she trusted me in peace. She fired the fan in a recoilless violation of kinematics, hurling another round of what was supposed to be compressed air at the door. Unfortunately, physics was breaking down from the presence of so many separate magics, and what came out of the blades of that magic fan was more like a spray of high-velocity glass. It ripped a half-dozen holes through the locked door and penetrated into the walls beyond, but didn’t blow the door bodily off its hinges like Ana had been hoping.
“STOP.” The spective drew inwards, a torrent of wax swirling around the child’s body like a cloak, but Ana scarfed down the last of the ice cream cone and unleashed frost of a kind that the world would never see again. Whatever sorcery the spective was about to unleash was abruptly aborted as their body became a statue of snow-coated red.
Ana’s fan finally sputtered to a halt, but no more attacks streaked after us. Maybe the spective was having a hard time with the chaotic aftereffects of too many magics intermingling, or maybe they were simply exhausted after being blasted and frozen time and time again.
Or maybe they were scared of Ana. They were just a kid, after all.
Whatever the reason, even though Ana kept her guard up and a mundane pistol in her hands, we fled the final stretch of wax with no issues. The worldskein was intact enough that the air no longer tinkled like shattered glass, so I tapped Ana on the shoulder and indicated my helmet
Diligent as she was, she lugged us two blocks away from the red, smoking house before finally helping me out of the tightly-strapped helmet. Wordlessly, I rested my bare forehead against her faceplate. After a gentle, cool moment she unbuckled her own helmet, shaking out her short, dark hair and kissing my forehead.
It was over. We were out.
I let out a long, shuddery sigh. “We’re going to have to take a different job, aren’t we?”
She nodded. “We should get paid for the intel, at least. But depending on how permanent the damage is, we may have taken an outright loss when we factor in repairs, unless we want to seek proof of conviction.”
Ugh, we’d be in even deeper trouble if things came to conviction. “No, I’m done with this neighborhood.“
As always, Ana took charge where I was weak. “Then let’s hit the trams, yeah? You can find something nice for us to do tomorrow. Calming.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” I nuzzled her plastic-sheathed shoulder, and Ana scratched the top of my head affectionately. “Tomorrow will be better, I’m sure.”
Ana chuckled. “Hey, Tsu? When you pick a job posting, make sure to steer clear of a spective that specializes in dramatic irony.”
And on that cheerful note, Ana and I began our long, defeated walk back to Songserra.
A.N.
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2025.01.26 07:31 smugfruitplate When does this show take place?
The people have smartphones, but their computers and cars look like anywhere from the 70s to the 90s. I'm getting heavy Archer vibes here.
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2025.01.26 07:31 briedaniellemm Sports wax for sale
Prismatic ETB- $100 Prismatic Binder Collection - $60 Prismatic Poster - $30
2024 Topps Chrome Update - $75 2024 Topps Bowman Draft Baseball Edition Box - $600 2024 Topps Bowman Draft Baseball Edition Case- $6,800 2024 Topps Triple Threads Boxes - $590 2024 Topps Triple Threads Cases- $5,999 2024 Topps Definitive Boxes - $2,250 2024 Bowman’s Best Hobby Box - $335 2024 Topps Archives Hobby Box Cases - $1,350 2024 Bowman Best sealed Hobby Cases - $3,000
2024 NFL Prizm Blaster Sealed Case $700 2024 NFL Rookies & Stars Longevity Box $70 2024 - mosaic fat pack case- $1750 2024 - Donruss Blaster cases - $590 2024 - Absolute blaster cases- $550 2024 NFL Panini Prizm Hobby Box- $1,250 2024 NFL Panini Prizm Hobby Case- $15,000
2024/25 Panini Prizm Basketball Hobby Case presale $10,900 23/24 Topps Cosmic Chrome Basketball Case $2400
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2025.01.26 07:31 Creepy-Move-9230 Salje li neko sandru afriku, prijovicku ili rozgu da drkamo
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2025.01.26 07:31 Queasy-Region-2115 Cards issues
https://trans.info/en/tachograph-card-spain-403968
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2025.01.26 07:31 Heavy_Rutabaga_3581 selling isf tickets
selling tickets lower then mrp dm tanishq_wadhwa
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2025.01.26 07:31 Designer_Ad_9528 alone
i’ve started to hate being alone. i’ve never cared before, i’ve always found peace in the quiet, i can express myself by myself without a fear of judgment. but lately idk i’ve just been missing so much. you came into my life in a way i never asked for. i actually asked for the opposite. you pushed and showed up completely uninvited. and i cared too much for you and not enough for myself to stop it sooner. but since it’s stoped, since i’ve left i’ve just had this horrible aching yearning in my chest, and it’s not all of the time it’s only when i’m completely alone. when everyone else is asleep i just realize how truly alone i am. it makes me miss us, what we could’ve been if i could’ve gotten over my discomfort. and that is so insane i know i shouldn’t think i need to get over my discomfort especially when you deliberately did the opposite of what i told you i needed every single time. the feeling in my chest is like a deep deep fiery pit that goes beyond me, straight through me and into my bed keeping me completely tied. when i feel like this all i can is hope our time together meant something, maybe it was something i needed to be able to stand firm in my boundaries and to stop overly apologizing. when you reached out i told you those were things i’ve had to relearn, tell myself it’s okay to have my own feelings and i don’t need to apologize for them or my boundaries. you said something about “but i never abused you” and that’s when i think i really realized you’ll never understand the weight of your actions. you’ll never understand me the way i so desperately wanted you to months ago. you were literally picking apart my biggest fears and insecurities to twist them into something they weren’t to try to get some weird depraved attention from me. you’re a lair and a manipulator and i need to stop trying to think of you differently. i need to get it through my head that i did absolutely everything i could to be in your life despite my struggles and you were too wrapped up in your own bullshit to try for me.
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2025.01.26 07:31 Only-Show-544 OSS to Aarhus University,
Hihi!!
If anyone has been to AU before, I would love to know more about your experience and if you have any tips as I am looking at going there for OSS.
Also, I saw they have some English Proficiency Test to take, I am still checking with the coordinator about that. If you have any idea on whether we need to take it before applying to AU could you lmk please, thank youuu!
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2025.01.26 07:31 Mildish_Shambino Got hard carried last night, at least I can say I contributed a little bit
 | It was 1 of those games where my 2 teammates were hard pushing every squad they met and every time I arrived at the fight it was pretty much over. We won the game with 9 Team Kills and I believe I finished with 1 Kill and 87 Damage. Thank you random Teammates for bumping me up a Rank 🫶🏻 submitted by Mildish_Shambino to apexlegends [link] [comments] |
2025.01.26 07:31 Anon_yatta Can I use a keyboard for Tekken 8 on a PS5
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2025.01.26 07:31 Beautiful-Cat-635 Can I wear this in mains
Please halp
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2025.01.26 07:31 AGOTFAN 🇮🇹 Italian box office Saturday January 25
Source:
https://cineguru.screenweek.it/2025/01/10-giorni-con-i-suoi-guida-la-classifica-il-box-office-di-sabato-25-gennaio-44962/
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2025.01.26 07:31 Character-Resist-239 Why has the game become like this? No dribbling, no speed for the attackers, even the midfielders, you don't feel them during the game, in addition to the lack of luck in getting players 😡
 | submitted by Character-Resist-239 to EASportsFCMobile [link] [comments] |
2025.01.26 07:31 WanderEatRepeat LG QNED85 vs Samsung Q72D?
Both TVs are 75” and cost $1000. The LG comes with a $50 gift card. Any opinions on these two?
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2025.01.26 07:31 Weak_Seaweed_3304 Some Games Not Showing Controller HUD/Layout
I’ve noticed that some games don’t display the correct controller HUD/layout. Instead of showing the proper button prompts (like A, B, X, Y), they show keyboard keys (like "Press E" instead of a controller button).
I’ve run into this issue with games like Delta Force and World War Z, but I’ve seen it in others too.
Is this something that developers need to implement separately, or is there a setting I might be missing? I’m using the device in controller mode, so it should detect it as a gamepad.
Would appreciate any insights! Thanks.
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2025.01.26 07:31 SandwichCreative2972 Is that true Damian ? hehe 🫣
 | submitted by SandwichCreative2972 to SpyxFamily [link] [comments] |
2025.01.26 07:31 SpiritedPlastic4240 Boards Layout
Adding on to all the other complaints
Why on earth did Pinterest's update make the header for "Your Saved Ideas" so big??? I can only see 1 row of boards at a time. And I have so many boards :(
Pinterest needs to stop ruining its app.
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2025.01.26 07:31 xadros V15s constantly requires filter cleaning
Hello, my v15 requires filter cleaning (almost) after every use. Even though the filter is visually still clean. I also gently taped the machine onto a hard surface until all the dust stoped coming, but it is still the same. Even compressed air does not help. Tried all of those steps many times. Then I guess it is more stuck in the cyclones and vacuum needs repair?
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2025.01.26 07:31 coopflm33 New Build Boot Issues
Everything is new, only thing I’m reusing is the gpu from my other pc (it’s not installed yet). Everything else is assembled. Pc turns on, but does not boot into bios, no display on monitor. It is a ryzen 7 9700x in a Gigabyte b650 Aorus elite ax. I assumed I needed to update bios because the cpu is newer. I tried using bios flashbacks to update it but it doesn’t seem to work. It’s my first build so maybe it is something simple, any suggestions? Thanks.
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2025.01.26 07:31 BriaReed83 Snapchat RoyalVapes2022 - Get Plugged In 🔌
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2025.01.26 07:31 MrHawkeye76 din Kennzeichen behalten
habe die Möglichkeit, ein Fahrzeug zu übernehmen mit DIN-Kennzeichen, allerdings in nem anderen Kreis und Bundesland angemeldet. gibt es eine Möglichkeit, wie ich das Auto mit dem Kennzeichen übernehmen kann?
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2025.01.26 07:31 SNLFanatic8H Timothée Chalamet: Outlaw Blues/Three Angels (Live) - SNL
 | submitted by SNLFanatic8H to LiveFromNewYork [link] [comments] |
2025.01.26 07:31 mactan400 Bigger than BIN LADEN
https://x.com/secrubio/status/1883296982346944822?s=46
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-may-put-very-big-bounty-taliban-leaders-secretary-state-rubio-says-2025-01-25/
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2025.01.26 07:31 Appropriate-Job7813 Req ($250 ) (Montrose, Colorado, USA)(will repay 360$ on 1/30/25)(cashapp, Venmo, Apple Cash)
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2025.01.26 07:31 Ok-Satisfaction5385 WHO WAS THE FUCKING ASSHOLE WHO THOUGHT HAVING TO FIGHT ALL OF THE THREE FINAL BOSSES ON SONIC UNLEASHED IN A ROW WITH NO CHECKPOINTS AND STARTING ALL THE WAY FROM THE FUCKING EGG DRAGOON EVERYTIME YOUR GAME IS OVER WAS A GOOD IDEA?!
 | I wanna hang the assholes at the Sonic Team who came up with this idiotic shit by the fucking balls. This is bullshit. Everytime I lose I have to FIGHT the Egg Dragoon and the first form of Dark Gaia all over AGAIN just to get to Perfect Dark Gaia. Every. Single. Fucking. Time. I mean, Jesus fucking Christ, was making you start all over again from the beginning intended as a fucking punishment or what? Because that'd make sense. Seriously, why there are no checkpoints? WHY THERE ARE NO FUCKING CHECKPOINTS?! WHY?! WHYYYYYY?! I just can't destroy all of the snakes on the final battle, then I die over and over again. So I always end up losing all my lives. I always lose. I just can't defeat that fucker. Why can't I continue from where I left off? WHY?! WHYYYY?! submitted by Ok-Satisfaction5385 to SonicTheHedgehog [link] [comments] |