Plastered Paradox

Chapter 19

"Jaune, what the hell?!"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Oh, lighten up, Roman."

"Lighten up?! You're dumping another kid off on me!" Roman complained.

"Oh, please, we all know you secretly enjoy watching over the kids. And besides, it's not like this'll be the last one."

Roman was horrified. "You mean you're going to give me even more kids to look over?"

"Of course I am," Jaune said like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I mean, someone has to keep the little anklebiters away from Salem."

"Who's Salem?" Ruby asked, as innocently as possible.

"She's the Wicked Witch of the East," Jaune said nonchalantly.

"The East?" Cinder asked, surprised. "Then who's the Wicked Witch of the West?"

"That should be obvious."

"It's Glynda, isn't it?"

"In my defense, she's still really scary."

Roman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, I'll be frank. I'm not opposed to watching the kids, if only because someone has to do it and you're all vastly irresponsible-"

"That's funny coming from you," Jaune stated. "But do go on, please."

"-But seriously, what am I, a day care?"

"You are now," Cinder said evenly. She took Emerald by the shoulder and gestured towards Roman. "He's going to take care of you for a bit, okay?"

"A bit?" Emerald asked, her eyes widening. "And then… I'll be back out there?"

"No," Jaune said. "Not only no, but hell no. I'm not sending a little girl out to live on the streets of Vale by herself. I mean, have you seen the kind of diseases the homeless people around here collect? These guys swap STDs with each other like they're fucking trading cards. Nah, we're finding little Emerald a home, even if I have to adopt her my own damn self."

"You're very passionate about this all of a sudden," Raven chimed in.

"Hey, I saw my chance to save a little girl from a lifetime of trauma, and I took it. I'm not sorry."

Roman let out another sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Fine, I guess. Just… you owe me big for doing this, Jaune."

"You're damn right I do," Jaune said with a nod. "Now if you'll excuse us, we've got more stuff to do."

Minutes later, the four of them found themselves walking through downtown Vale again, spitballing ideas for how to solve the little problem with Menagerie and Atlas.

"So I figure this might actually be a huge bitch," Jaune said as they walked down the streets. "The Belladonnas are reasonable people, of course, but the issue is making sure they stay in power, because there's probably going to be an attempted coup on them at some point, which is going to get pretty ugly."

"Okay, pause," Qrow said with a grunt. "That's a big bombshell you're dropping on us."

"It gets worse."

"Of course it does," Cinder lamented.

"So, I feel the need to point out that while the Belladonnas are reasonable people, we're still human, which would be a huge turn-off for most of the people who live on Menagerie, for obvious reasons," Jaune said. "So expect whatever ground we try to make with them to be, like, twice as hard to cover as it would be if we had animal parts."

"We still have the cat ears," Raven offered.

"You do?" Cinder asked, surprised. "Why do you still... actually, you know what? Don't answer that; I'm sure whatever you were about to tell me involves sexy times with you and Jaune, and I'm probably better off not knowing anything about it."

"Why do you insist on treating us like we're a bunch of horny teenagers who just discovered that sex feels good for the first time?" Jaune asked.

Cinder gagged, and Jaune rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic."

"Getting back on track," Qrow interrupted. "We're going to need to figure this out. So, aside from the fact that none of us is a furry except for you two, but in a way that isn't helpful… what other barriers do we need to know about? Do me a solid and just lay out every way possible this plan could shit the bed, because I'd rather know about it up-front this time."

"You're awfully insistent about this," Cinder noted.

"Because the last time Jaune didn't tell us about the flaws in his so-called plans, I took multiple Aura-ignoring nut shots. I still haven't recovered, it feels like a leprechaun spent the last few days tap-dancing on my ballsack."

"Too much information, dear brother," Raven said, looking sickened.

"Yeah, well, it's also true," Qrow retorted.

"Unless Tyrian gets involved, then you'll be happy to know that there probably won't be any nutshots in this plan's future," Jaune reported.

"What are the odds that Tyrian doesn't get involved?"

Jaune paused. "...You know, we just passed a sporting goods store, so you could always go back and pick up an athletic cup."

"Fuck no," Qrow grunted. "Do you have any idea what that'd do to my chances of getting laid if I took off my pants and the lady saw the big, strong Huntsman wearing a cup? I might as well show up wearing a fucking chastity cage."

Jaune went to reply, only for something up ahead to catch his attention – a flash of silver hair, just out of the corner of his eye. His eyes widened; at first, he thought it was Mercury, but closer inspection revealed it was someone who looked very similar. And Jaune had a very good idea of who it was.

"Marcus Black," Jaune said.

"Who?" Cinder asked.

"Marcus Black," Jaune repeated. "Assassin, wife-beater, child-abuser… and the father of someone I know from the future."

"Ah," Raven said. "So, I take it you want us to kill him?"

"Believe me, it couldn't happen to a better target."

"But Menagerie-" Qrow began.

"That can wait," Jaune replied. "For now, I'm taking the opportunity to steal away another of Salem's recruits. His son was a total asshole in my future, but his dad's a complete bastard, and I figure he'll be a lot less of an asshole if we save him now. Any objections?"

"Nope," Raven said. "Let's merc this guy."

"Ha," Jaune said. "You said we should merc him. That's funnier than you know."

They tracked Marcus Black back to his home, a little shack out in the sticks on the outskirts of Vale. It was nightfall by the time they managed to get there.

"This place is a shithole," Cinder observed.

"Of course it is, it's Marcus Black's house," Jaune stated. "He's a dirtbag. Dirtbags tend to have shitty houses, unless they're Jacques Schnee. Then their houses are very nice."

"Let's focus," Qrow urged. "How do we want to-"

Raven didn't wait for him to finish. Instead, she marched right up to the front door and knocked on it. Everyone watched in surprise as the door came swinging open, revealing Marcus Black, a bottle of cheap whiskey already clutched tightly in one hand. Even from this distance, Jaune could tell that his knuckles were bruised, like he'd just been punching something. It didn't take him much to realize what he'd likely been practicing his strikes on.

"The fuck are you?" Marcus asked.

"Child protective services," Raven said, completely straight-faced.

Marcus blinked, then looked down at her waist. "...They send you out dressed up like that?"

"Yes. They also send me out with a fuckoff-huge sword I know how to use very well, and unless you'd like to become intimately familiar with the pointy part of it, I suggest you hand over the kid immediately."

Marcus barked out a laugh. "The fuck you want that little failure for? That kid's nothing."

"Then you won't mind if I take him with me."

"Nah. He's nothing, but he's still my flesh and blood."

"How quaint. I'm sure that brings him a lot of comfort when you're busy beating the ever-loving shit out of him."

Marcus' eyes narrowed. "How did you…? Bah, never mind – you ain't getting your hands on my son, so you might as well fuck off."

"I don't think you understand," Raven said as the others fell in behind her. "We're not asking. You can either hand over the kid you're using as a punching bag, or we can beat your ass and then take him from you."

"Am I supposed to be threatened?" Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Your little entourage consists of you, a woman who's way too old to be wearing a miniskirt that small, a man who smells like alcohol and is walking like someone stomped him in the 'nads a few too many times, a teenager, and a man who looks like a gay porn star."

"Gay porn star I'll take, but nobody calls Raven old and gets away with it except for me," Jaune growled. "You just stole my comedy bit. That's it, buddy – you and me, right here, right now."

"Somehow, I'm not scared," Marcus Black said with a scoff.

"You will be," Jaune threatened. "You will be."

Exactly thirty-one seconds later, and Jaune was standing over a collapsed Marcus Black, raining down blows on him while he tried to protect himself in vain. Everyone sat back and watched, their arms crossed.

"Should we do something?" Cinder asked.

"Why?" Raven replied. "This guy's a complete scumbag. He deserves every bit of this and more."

"Oh, I'm not arguing that. It's just… his kid is watching."

Sure enough, Mercury was standing in the doorway, watching his father get beaten up. Cinder expected him to be shocked or sad, but he wasn't – rather, Mercury seemed downright ecstatic at the fact that his dad was getting the tar beaten out of him.

"Go, random stranger!" Mercury cheered. "Kick his ass!"

"Fuck you, kid!" Marcus managed to get out. "Your mom should have swallowed you!"

Cinder's gaze narrowed. "On second thought, the kid seems into it. I say we let nature take its course."

"No arguments from me," Qrow grunted.

And so, they sat back for another few minutes until Marcus finally had enough. He spat out shards of his teeth, then laid back, his chest heaving. Jaune paused, one fist still cocked back, and watched as Marcus reluctantly spat out two words.

"Take him…"

That was all Jaune needed to hear. He gave Marcus one last strike to the head that knocked him out, then stood up, shaking the blood off his knuckles as he did so. He approached Mercury, who stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Wow…" Mercury breathed. "I've been waiting for someone to take care of that fucker for years. Who are you?"

"Jaune Arc," Jaune replied. "How'd you like a home where you'll actually get three meals a day and won't get beaten, kid?"

Mercury grinned even through the bruises on his face. "Sign me the fuck up!"

Needless to say, Roman was not amused.

"Seriously?" he said.

"Come on, man," Jaune pleaded. "The kid was being abused by his own father. I did the world a favor by taking him in."

"Be honest – does he become a villain in the future?"

"Are you asking that because you think it's the only reason I'd ever show interest in him?"

"No, I'm asking that because he's currently holding a cookie over Ruby's head while she desperately tries to jump and get it."

Jaune turned towards the kids, and sure enough, that was exactly what was happening. Slowly, he turned back towards Roman.

"...If I say yes, will it make you more likely to take him in?"

Roman sighed tiredly, bringing a hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose. "Just… call me next time before you send any more strays my way, would you? I need some time to get them set up with their own rooms and all that shit."

"Sure, sure," Jaune said.

Roman paused. "That was not an invitation for you to send more children my way, by the way."

"Too late, I'm already interpreting it as such."

"Damn it."

"It's really not that big a deal," Qrow pointed out. "You're just being babysitter for a bunch of little kids for a bit while we sort this whole Salem thing out. Besides, chicks dig guys who are good with kids."

Roman raised an eyebrow. "I don't know if you've realized this, but there's an old man in my head. Getting laid is the last thing on my mind right now"

Roman suddenly broke into convulsions for a bit, and for a moment, Jaune was worried he was having a stroke or something, but he soon realized it was just Oz taking over.

"It has been awhile, though," Ozpin pointed out. "Perhaps you should change that, Roman."

There were another few seconds of convulsions, and Roman suddenly thumped himself in the side of the head. "Yeah, yeah – I don't need an old, crusty-ass wizard telling me that I'm on a dry spell."

"We could always try and set you up with someone," Jaune offered.

"Lovely," Roman said dryly. "Know any cute redheads, by any chance?"

Jaune opened his mouth to respond.

"Besides Summer."

Jaune closed his mouth.

"Oh, come on, you've got to know somebody from your future," Raven said.

"Not really," Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head. "I only ever even met a few redheads. One of them is currently, like, seven, so she's out, but there's her-"
He suddenly paused. "...Alright, well, when we head to Atlas, we'll have to stop in Argus, because I need to find out if a certain someone's mom is single or not."

"That's gonna be a hell of a question," Roman grunted as he reached for a cigar. "I'm not even gonna ask how you intend to approach that specific topic."

"I mean, it's that or we can set you up with Glynda."

"Get out."

The next morning, the four of them found themselves at the airport, looking for a Bullhead that would take them to Menagerie.

"This is still probably the dumbest thing we could possibly do right now," Cinder said without looking up from her new scroll.

"Why's that?" Jaune asked. "Is it because we're human? Are you being racist right now, Cinder?"

"No, I'm stating the fucking obvious," Cinder replied, again without looking up. "Being a human in Menagerie is like being a Faunus in Atlas."

"Pretty sure one of us already made that joke yesterday, but it's honestly one of the better quips to come out of this idiotic group recently, so keep saying it, I guess," Qrow interjected.

Jaune's eyes narrowed as he stared at Cinder's hands while she typed a message on her scroll. "Hang on, who are you texting?"

"Nobody," Cinder said hurriedly.

"Liar. Are you texting a boy?"

"What? No. Boys are dumb morons, as you and Qrow have proven endlessly. Why would I want to text them?"

"Because you're a teenager and your hormones are no doubt going crazy right now. I was a teenager once too, you know – I remember what it was like."

"Are you trying to insinuate something?"

"No, no, he's right," Raven concurred. "I'm pretty sure that's the case for every teenager. At that stage in life, everyone is like a dog in heat."

"This conversation is getting uncomfortable very quickly," Cinder said.

"Hand over your scroll and it can end," Jaune said, holding his hand out.

Cinder rolled her eyes, but obliged, passing him her scroll. Jaune took one look at it, then looked back to her in surprise. "Cinder, what the fuck is this?"

"It's my blog site I just started with help from Neo," Cinder answered.

"Blogging? That's so twenty years ago."

"It is twenty years ago," Raven pointed out.

"Oh. Well, that makes sense, I guess. Well, I suppose that's fine, then – just don't post slutty pictures of yourself online or talk to grown adults in private chatrooms and you'll be fine."

"What are you, my dad?" Cinder said with a scoff as she took her scroll back.

"I mean, he is the closest thing you've got," Qrow said. "And you two get along well enough, so he's clearly not doing that bad a job at it."

"This reminds me that I should totally get in on some of that sweet, sweet insider trading with my hot future knowledge," Jaune said aloud. "Think about it – I'll be rich without any effort. Hell, with the right trades, I could be the richest man on Remnant."

"Really?" Raven asked. She suddenly cuddled up to him and began tracing circles on his chest with one finger. "Mm… have I ever told you how attractive you are, Jaune?"

"Get a room, please," Cinder said.

"Oh, we will," Jaune promised. "A room in an investment bank, even. I'm gonna be rich! Hell, I'm gonna drop fat financial bombs on you all."

"Bomb?!" some random guy in the airport suddenly said.

Jaune's eyes widened. "Uh-oh."

"Bomb!" the man repeated.

And just like that, all hell broke loose. Everyone in the airport except for the four of them began hauling ass out of the building. People tripped over each other in the stampede, and somehow, someway, a trash can caught on fire out of nowhere. Someone threw a chair and then it turned into an out-and-out brawl, and/or small-scale riot. Jaune and friends could only sit back and watch the pandemonium.

Of course, the police were there in an instant, and just like that, it was mostly contained.

Mostly.

"Which one of you idiots said bomb?!" one of the officers demanded from behind his drawn gun.

"It was this guy!" one of the other bystanders said as he pointed to Jaune.

Jaune just sighed tiredly. "Alright, yup. I can already see how this is gonna go."

Not even a second later, he was being handcuffed and led away to an interrogation room. Qrow and Raven took a moment to point and laugh at him, until it became clear that they, too, were in hot water, and soon enough, they were both being led away in handcuffs, too.

Cinder, meanwhile, continued to just type away on her scroll.

"Hey, kid," one of the officers said. "You with those three?"

Cinder looked up from her blog. From across the room, she could see Jaune being yelled at in the interrogation room, Raven being tased, and Qrow being bent over a table while the biggest, meanest-looking officer pulled on a rubber glove. She blinked once, then looked back to the officer.

"Never seen those three before in my life," she answered, as honestly as she could.

"Alright, so I guess now we're boating to Menagerie, since we're all on the no-fly list," Jaune said a few hours later as they all walked down the streets of Vale again.

"Yes, and whose fault is that?" Cinder asked.

"Oh, come on, how the fuck was I supposed to know that you can't say 'bomb' in an airport? This was supposed to be before the White Fang started martyring themselves, I actually had no way of knowing otherwise. It's bullshit, is what it is."

"We could always steal an airship," Raven offered.

"No thanks, I learned my lesson after doing that in my timeline," Jaune said.

"They cavity searched me…" Qrow whimpered. "Why was I the only one to get cavity searched…? It felt like the guy put his whole fucking hand in there… Traveling with you people is hazardous not only to my health, but to my sanity…"

"You're just now realizing that?" Raven asked. "Well, it's no matter. Guess now we need to find a boat, because some idiot got us all on the no-fly list."
"I'm not," Cinder pointed out.

"Yeah, thanks for throwing us under the bus, by the way."

"Hey, just because you got tased doesn't mean I have to be. And I am not getting cavity searched the way Qrow did, so don't even bring that up as being within the realm of possibility."

"Qrow just has really bad luck," Jaune said. "It really sucks to be Qrow."

"You're damn right it does," Qrow said with a sigh of resignation. "Whatever. Let's just get on this stupid boat and head to this stupid island so we can fix this stupid dispute they're having with the stupid racist floating city so we can appease the stupid Gods, already."

"The most surprising thing about that sentence is that it actually makes complete sense in context," Cinder said. "But yes, I agree. Let's not waste any more time."

Luckily, it didn't take them long at all to find a boat, and just a short while later, they were all sailing the high seas. Jaune was thankful that his motion sickness had been taken care of long ago, because otherwise, it would have been unbearable.

"You know," Raven said as she came up alongside him. "I'm surprised you were able to talk the captain into letting us hitch a ride."

Jaune shrugged. "They may not like humans, but they still need a Huntsman escort to help fend off sea Grimm. Hopefully we won't have to actually do that, because I could use a break for once in my fucking life, but if we have to, at least we'll know we earned our passage here."

Raven looked around. "Where's Qrow and Cinder?"

"Qrow's scouting ahead in bird form," Jaune told her. "Personally, I think he just wanted to get away from it all for a bit, and I can't blame him after all the shit he's been through. Cinder... honestly, I don't even know where she is. She must be going through her rebellious phase."

"I'm right here, actually," Cinder said as she rounded the corner on the deck.

"Where have you been?" Jaune asked.

"Is that an accusation?"

"Should it be? Are you putting on a show for the sailors? Let me know now so I can keelhaul them."

Cinder shook his head. "No, I was taking selfies for my blog. Look, see?"

She turned her scroll around and showed pictures of her standing at the front of the ship, a grin on her face as the wind blew her hair around. Jaune stared at it for a moment, then looked back to her.

"Alright, I may not understand kids these days, but you keep doing you, I guess," he conceded.

With that, Cinder walked off, typing on her scroll the whole time. Raven watched her go, then turned back to Jaune.

"Be honest with me for a minute," she said. "Cinder was evil in the original timeline, wasn't she?"

Jaune hesitated. "...You have to promise to never tell her," he said.

"Yes."

"Say the words, Raven."

"I promise I won't tell her any of this," Raven said. "I swear I won't."

"Good. But to answer your question... yeah, she was. She's the mastermind behind an attack on Beacon that killed a lot of people and hurt a lot more. She personally killed my best friend that day, and injured several others... Yang included."

Jaune expected Raven to march off then and there to try and have a word with Cinder, but she didn't. Instead, she just stod there, completely nonplussed.

"You're taking this rather well so far," he observed.

"Just keep going," she said. "I want to hear the whole story."

"Alright. After that, she kept working with Salem and was a royal pain in the ass wherever she appeared. She put us through a lot of hell until we finally managed to convince her to abandon Salem's side. Even then, she wasn't an ally – she handed over the Relics, and then bolted to parts unknown afterwards. We never found out where she went or what she was doing. And that's her story, basically – she killed a lot of people and was generally a complete fucking monster."

"And yet you decided to take her in," Raven observed.

"That was a mistake, actually," Jaune said with a small laugh. "I didn't know it was her at the time. Honestly, it's a mistake I'm glad I made – I got there just in time to save her from going down a really dark path. Now, she's just a regular teenager. Admittedly, it's sometimes a bit tough to reconcile that with the Cinder I used to know, but I don't care. She's not the same person as she was back in my timeline, and I intend to keep it that way. Hell, she's actually happy now – did you see those pictures? I think the blogging thing is dumb, but I'll take a Cinder who's falling into stupid teenage fads over the Cinder who murders people and is obsessed with power any day of the week."

"Sounds like you changed things for the better, then," Raven observed.

"I'm surprised you're not torn up about her cutting Yang's arm off."

Raven shrugged. "That's never going to happen now, so I have no reason to be angry with her about it."

"True, true." Jaune looked out over the ocean, leaning against the guardrail as he did. "Honestly, I just hope I'm able to change more stuff for the better."

"I'm sure you will," Raven said as she rested a hand on his shoulder.

Roman stormed into the room, already fuming. He kicked the door in, not even bothering to look around before he stood up straight and crossed his arms.

"Who. Did it?" he demanded.

All the kids blinked in surprise, then shared a glance with each other before looking back to him.

"What are you talking about, Uncle Roman?" Ruby asked, as innocently as she could.

"Don't play dumb with me, Red," Roman said dismissively. "You all know exactly what I'm talking about. One look at the top of my head will tell you that."

"Hey, you're right!" Yang said. "Sorry about your bald spot, Uncle Roman."

"Yes, that's-" He paused. "...What? I don't have a bald spot."

"Sure, you do. I see it right there."

His eyes narrowed. "You are trying to trick me. It's not going to work. I know for a fact that I'm not going bald, it's just that my hat is missing."

"Whatever you say," Yang said tentatively.

Roman sighed tiredly. "Damn kids are going to be the death of me…" he muttered. "Anyway, which one of you stole my hat? Speak up now so I can properly punish you for it."

"It was Emerald," Mercury said without a moment's hesitation.

"It wasn't me!" Emerald said. "Living here is the best thing that's ever happened to me! Why would I ruin it by stealing your hat?!"

Roman sighed again. "Mercury, just tell me where it is."

"Fine, fine," Mercury acquiesced. "I hid it in a pillowcase in one of the service closets."

"Was that so hard?" Roman asked. He turned to Emerald. "By the way, I want him to have nightmares tonight. There's ice cream in it for you if you do it."

Emerald's face lit up and she gave Mercury an evil smirk. Mercury, for his part, actually seemed somewhat worried for a second before he managed to wipe the look off his face and replace it with smug neutrality.

"Hmph. Like I care," he said.

"Hey, no fair!" Yang announced. "How come Emerald gets ice cream?"

"Because she just made herself useful to me," Roman pointed out. "Remember, kids – only the useful people get rewarded."

Ruby and Yang both pouted, and Roman rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine… everyone but Mercury. But Emerald gets a double, because it's her reward for giving him nightmares."

Everyone but Mercury cheered. Roman gave him a smug grin.

"It was a nice try, kid, but next time, don't pin the crime on someone so obvious," he said. He reached out to give Mercury a mocking pat on the head; Mercury glared at him and batted his hand away. Roman was unfazed. "Anyway, I've got to be going now. See you kids later."

With that, he left the room in search of his hat. They all waited for the door to close, and then Ruby and Yang turned to Mercury in awe.

"Wow…" Yang breathed. "You really are a master at this sort of thing."

"I know, right?" Mercury asked, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Dumbass didn't even notice the spot where I shaved his head while he was asleep because he was so preoccupied with his stupid hat."

"But what happens when he does find out?" Ruby asked. "He's gonna know it was you."

Mercury paused, his smirk fading. "...Shit."

"Well, guess you're not as good at this as you think," Emerald said. "Thanks for the ice cream, though."

With that, she walked off. Mercury watched her go, his jaw on the floor.

"Wait, Em!" he called. "You're not actually gonna give me nightmares tonight, right?"

Suddenly, Torchwick let out a loud, angry yell. Emerald looked over her shoulder and gave him a wide grin.

"I was going to, but I don't think I need to anymore," she said. "You should probably run, by the way."

Mercury didn't need to be told twice.

Yes, this chapter is coming out much later than usual, but in my defense, this has been an extremely busy week for me. My sister and her boyfriend visited for a few days, plus my actual job kept my very busy this week as well. I've gotten barely any writing done this week; I'll likely just consider it a complete wash until this weekend.

Anyway, that aside, I do have some exciting news – my second original book is now available for purchase through Amazon. You can find it by searching for 'Dead World' by John Haruspex. As I've previously stated, it's a more serious story heavily inspired by Fallout 3, but set within the same multiverse as the first book. You don't need to have read the first book to read this one, however – I'm purposely writing these first few books to stand alone from each other. In any case, I'll include a link to the book at the end of this AN; hopefully the link works through FFN's dumbass filter, lol. If it doesn't, just search 'John Harupsex' on Amazon and you should be able to find it. I hope you check it out and enjoy it, and a big thank you to everyone who's been supporting me by buying my books!

Also, a huge thank-you to my friend Ickbard for helping me with writing both my originals and my fanfics. I really appreciate you, man.
Past that… IDK. I don't really have much else. I think I'll just leave it there since it's pretty late and I have work tomorrow. I hope you all enjoyed the story, and I sincerely hope those of you who decide to check out the new Amazon original enjoy that as well. See you next time!

Enjoy my work and want to help me out a bit? You can support me, as well as read more of my writing, over on Amazon. My second original story is available for purchase now, you can find it by going on Amazon and searching for 'Dead World' by John Haruspex. The story is available now for three bucks in ebook format (or free with Kindle Unlimited) or twelve bucks in paperback format, if you prefer physical media. (Remove the spaces)

www . amazon Dead-World-John-Haruspex / dp /B0C2RPGXVC / ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1682982861&sr=8-2

My first original story is also still available at the following link as well:

www . amazon dp/ B0BLFL72MX